La dolce vita

New (& possibly improved) Blog

2008-08-11T13:47:00.001-07:00

Find it here!

Oh, the things we take for granted

2008-01-22T13:18:00.001-08:00

There are so many nameless things that we human beings take for granted…things we couldn’t possibly think of until something randomly happens that makes us realize that it’s something we, until the present, took for granted.

I have happened upon such an occurrence in that sitting down causes me pain. Yep, the mere act of sitting upon my derriere causes me uncomfortable displeasure. It started a couple months ago as a very mild discomfort and has slowly increased until last week when it was so uncomfortable that I decided to see my doctor. I also happened upon the internet for a little research and was convinced that a pilonidal cyst is causing all of this great irritation. The doctor suggested x-rays and blood work as the first course of action to rule out a fracture and arthritis. During the 6 long days of waiting for x-ray results, I’d re-convinced myself that it was a fracture rendered by a fall at my bachelorette party (oh, what a wonderful war story!) that would cause immense pain for months to come and prevent me from riding a bicycle. Today’s results proved that my tailbone is fracture- and arthritis-free. That’s the good news. I do not yet know the bad news, although my tailbone is still causing me pain every time I sit, which is quite often as you might imagine. I am scheduled to see the doctor again tomorrow and, although the pilonidal cyst has not been ruled out, I am finished with any self-speculation and diagnosis. I will leave all diagnosing up to the doctor. I do speculate, however, that upon sitting comfortably again (hopefully that will be soon), I shall be very grateful on the occasion.

2008 Goals

2008-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

I won’t call them resolutions because we all know those are made to be broken, but I have been making a mental list of things I’d like to accomplish this year. I write them out here so you can help keep me accountable!

House Goals – Justin and I have completed most of the major projects since we bought our house in December 2005, but there are still some loose ends. I need to make curtains for our guest room, paint our two upstairs bathrooms, hem the living room drapes, and organize the basement, among other things. By the end of 2008, I want our home to feel like it’s “finished.”

Health Goals – Mainly, I’d just like to continue what I’m doing now, which includes seriously reducing the amount of “bad” carbs and excess sugars I put into my body (white bread, white pasta, sweets, etc.), eating more protein, and heavy weight training. I’m really good at keeping up a regular workout routine, but the eating is sometimes a challenge for me, especially on the weekends…I like my treats!

Personal Goals – I’ve noticed recently that I’m constantly obsessing over the status of my marriage. Are we happy? Do we have a good marriage? Is something wrong? The answers to those questions are “YES! YES! And NO!” so I need to learn how to just sit back and enjoy the ride, appreciate what we have, and enjoy being a newlywed. When I allow myself do that, I realize that everything’s fabulous and I’m truly a lucky, lucky girl.

Other personal goals are to read more this year and keep a book journal to document what I’ve read. I also want to get outside more this year. I love the outdoors and I don’t seem to enjoy them enough, especially in the winter when it’s easy to blame laziness on the frigid temps (just put on some cold weather gear and get your arse outside!).

In memory...

2008-01-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

When my mom married her husband, John, we not only gained a really caring and generous stepfather, but we were welcomed into his huge Italian family, which included John's father, Vince. Unfortunately, Vince passed away yesterday morning after a two-month-long fight with stomach cancer. His obituary does a wonderful job of catching the spirit of this one-of-a-kind man, so I'll post that, but I will mention that I'll always remember Vince for his "Carpe Diem" look on life and his jolly personality.

Vincent J. -----, of Penndel and long-time Bucks County Realtor, passed away on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 in Newtown, Pa.

Mr. -----, a first-generation Italian-American, and member of Our Lady of Grace Church, graduated from Conshohocken High School and served in the U.S. Army, stationed first at Ft. Hood, Tex., then in Germany. Upon his return, he worked for the Allen Wood Steel Co. and graduated from Pierce Business College. He became a partner at The Skyline Agency in Penndel, was an original founder of the Penndel Wildcats Baseball Club and a member of the Bella Gente Lodge.

In 1970, Mr. ----- founded ----- Real Estate where he was a trusted Realtor, Tax Accountant and advisor to his many friends and family for 38 years. He enjoyed a wonderful and fun-loving marriage to his wife, Betty, for 40 years before she passed away in 1994.

Family meant everything to Vincent and he was a devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is survived by his four children and their spouses, Linda and Tom ------ of Alexandria, Va., Joseph and Lisa ----- of Langhorne, Karen and John ------- of Penndel, and John and Sharon ----- of Falls Township; four grandchildren, Gabriel V. ------, Jamie Lyn ------, Zachary ------- and Karly -------; four great-grandchildren, Gabriel J. ------, Joseph ------, and Sophia and Ava ------; his beloved friend of nine years, Sandy ----------- of Langhorne, Pa.; his brother Joseph of Conshohocken; several aunts and uncles; many cousins, nieces and nephews; his sisters and brothers-in-law; and a lifetime of friends all of whom knew him as Daddy, Vince, Uncle Ace or Pop-Pop Vinny.

Vince lived his life as if each day was his last and inspired his children and everyone who met him with his "Carpe Diem" personality. When he wasn't in his office, he liked to play golf, enjoy a day at Philadelphia Park with family and friends, and traveled throughout the U.S., Caribbean and several European countries. Many years, on the first Saturday in May, he could be found in Louisville at the Kentucky Derby, one of his favorite trips.

Daddy will be forever missed and lovingly remembered by his children and we invite all who knew our father to celebrate his life with us.

Here we go again…

2008-01-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

With the holidays successfully under our belts, we’ve turned our attention back to the wedding. That’s right, people; we have more wedding festivities to plan! Our casual at-home reception will take place in March and I am crunched for time in sending invitations, and that’s the first to-do in a long list of to-dos, which includes making a to-do list. You got that? Truth be told, I’m so ready for all this wedding stuff to be over. Planning a wedding can be STRESSFUL and I’m sure planning this reception will have its stressful moments as well (oh wait, it already has!). BUT, I’m sure we’ll have fun and this will give us the chance to celebrate with ALL of our friends and family, including those who couldn’t make it to Jamaica. I’m actually really excited about the caterer we found. She’s a Jamaican woman located in the Bronx (New York), which is about two hours from us. I found her through a Google search and didn’t think she would deliver to our area, but she was just as excited about us contacting her all the way from Philadelphia. She’s put together the most amazing menu for us and we’re excited to be having some traditional Jamaican cuisine at our reception. Since we stayed at a Spanish resort, the fare may even be more Jamaican than most of what we ate in Jamaica!

Classic Jen Moment

2008-01-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

You could say "that was a classic Jen moment" to anyone who knows me even slightly well and they'd know exactly what kind of Jen behavior you are talking about.

This morning at work, I went in to heat up my oatmeal while everyone else is toasting bagels, choosing their muffins, and so on (our company supplies a bagel, donut, muffin, etc. breakfast every Friday). While my oatmeal is in the microwave, I’m getting coffee and filling my water bottle, all while chatting with co-workers. Here are bits of the convo:

St (while attempting to heat his breakfast): Oh, there’s something in the microwave.
Si: Yeah, I don’t know whose it is…it must’ve been in there for a while and I need to use it too.
St: Would it be rude to take it out?
Me: No, it’s been sitting in there for a long time, just take it out.

…………………………

Me (after a long pause): Oh God…that’s mine!!! I’m so sorry.
Everyone laughs
Me: I’m sorry St, I haven’t had my coffee yet.

I used to have air headed moments all the time. I’ve gotten better, but this was classic Jen. My mom used to say that I should’ve been a blonde =o) At least I can laugh at myself!

Poor Puppy Girl

2008-01-03T10:08:00.001-08:00

I feel like such a bad pet owner. Daisy’s been acting funny since Monday. We woke up at Justin’s sister’s house early to head to Baltimore for the day. As I was in the shower, Daisy hopped in with me. I thought she was just being silly (this is completely unlike her) so I just gave her a bath while she was in there with me. Afterwards, she was shivery and acting very clingy (again, very unlike her). I figured she was just cold from her bath, so I wrapped her up in a towel and held her until she dried off and then I bundled her in her winter coat. We dropped her and Bruiser off at Justin’s mom’s house (they watched our pups while we were in Baltimore) and scooted on our way. When we picked them up on Tuesday, Daisy seemed fine and then started acting clingy and shivery again yesterday. I made an appointment with the vet and Justin and I spent last night feeling so sorry for her and discussing what could be wrong. Sure enough, this morning the vet diagnosed Daisy with a serious yeast infection in her ear. This is where I feel like a bad pet mommy. The ear infection showed up a couple weeks ago, right before Christmas. I decided not to take her to the vet right away, but began cleaning her ear every day to see if it would clear up. The redness and stinky smell went away, while the scabbiness stuck around, but Justin and I figured that it was getting better. That is, until she started acting really funny yesterday. So, I let my dog go two weeks with an ear infection getting worse and worse, then I left her at my mother in law’s house while I gallivanted around Baltimore before I finally noticed that my puppy girl is in some serious pain (hence the shivering). The vet gave me some ear cleaner and medicine, which will clear it up, thank goodness, but he said this will most likely be a recurring problem since terriers are prone to chronic ear infections. This could be the first of many more, though I hope not for my little Daisy girl’s sake. In the meantime, I’ve learned a lesson and I will not put off a vet visit ever again!

A New Year to Remember

2008-01-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

We had such a great New Year’s weekend. Saturday and Sunday was spent with Justin’s family. Little Carter will be a year old already in February! Although we live 3 hours away, we feel lucky that we’re able to visit about once a month and we’re always surprised at all the new things he’s learning and how big he’s getting. Here are a couple pictures of him opening the gifts we got him at Christmas. Isn’t he adorable?!

Carter loves his Uncle Justin, especially when Uncle Justin lets Carter pull his hair!

On Monday morning, we drove to Baltimore and visited the National Aquarium. We had a great time admiring all the sea life, which reinforced Justin’s desire to get SCUBA certified. Some of the awesome creatures we saw were…

The octopus!! This picture isn’t very good, but this guy was so neat!!

The electric eel. There was a meter over his tank showing how much electric he gives off. When he’s still, you hear a constant thumping, almost like an electric heartbeat, and when he’s swimming, it gets faster and faster, like a quick bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Puffer fish are so cute! I’ve never seen one puff though.

And the dolphin show was so much fun to watch. I think the people who work with and train animals on a daily basis have the best jobs. I’m so jealous!

We saw a lot of other cool creatures, including monkeys, sharks, birds, frogs, sea turtles, crocodiles, and all types of fish. I was a little disappointed that this aquarium didn’t have any penguins, but other than that, I give this aquarium an A+. I’ll just go to the New Jersey State Aquarium for my penguin fix.

For dinner, we met up with Justin’s friend John from his hometown and John’s wife Heather. I had only met Heather briefly once at their wedding reception, but her and John are a great couple and we enjoyed spending some time with them. We had dinner at this awesome seafood restaurant called River Watch that was a little off the beaten path. I’ve been on the hunt for crab cakes sans filler, which Justin insisted didn’t exist, and I found them!!! They were the best crab cakes I’ve ever had, and it was nice to be right =o)

Bitches be crazy for Clutch!!
After dinner, the four of us got changed into our concert clothes and headed to Ram’s Head Live for the Clutch concert. Ram’s Head is a really cool standing-room-only venue and we got a great spot right at the railing on the balcony with a great view of the stage and direct access to the bar (score!). A band we’d never heard of, Priestess, opened for Clutch and we really liked them. We bought their CD and listened to them all the way home yesterday. Clutch, as always, was awesome. We’re never disappointed by a Clutch show, only that it doesn’t seem to last long enough! Hopefully they’ll be in Philly again soon!

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2008 treats you well!

New Years Eve Memories

2007-12-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

For some reason, New Years Eve is always a big deal to me. I feel the need to ring in the new year in style and I’ve had some pretty fun NYEs. I’ve also had some pretty lame ones, but I’ve at least been lucky enough to spend those with people I love (alcohol helps too)! My earliest and fondest memories of New Years Eve are spending the night with my mom and little sis watching the ball drop on TV in our PJs and then banging pots and pans outside yelling “HA-PPY NEW YEEEAAARRRR!”

Our first NYE as boyfriend and girlfriend, Justin stayed home by himself on NYE while I hung out with my mom, stepfather, and uncle. I wanted to do something with my new boyfriend, but he was being a bum. I’m sure I got mad at him, but thankfully he’s been pretty gung ho to enjoy NYE with me every year since (well, when he hasn’t been traveling for work).

Last year, we headed down to Baltimore with friends for a Clutch concert at Ram’s Head Live. It was fun, but we drove home afterwards and vowed never to do that again. We were all exhausted by the time we got home at 5am. This year, we’re going to Baltimore for the Clutch concert again, but we'll be staying in a hotel. We’ll leave early on NYE morning, visit the National Aquarium, have a nice seafood dinner, and pre-game before the concert (the bar is very far away from the stage, which makes it inconvenient to drink there!). I’m very excited about all of it, especially about the aquarium since I’ve never been. It will be our first married NYE!

I wish you all a fun and safe NYE and a wonderful and happy 2008!

And finally...wedding photos!

2007-12-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

Mom-Mom helping me get ready...

My bridesmaids zipping and taping away...

Just me...

Justin getting ready...

The first time my mom saw me (I adore this photo)...

Laughing at something...

Adoring my handsome husband...

Love Melissa's face here (What do you want NOW?!)...

Our good-looking wedding party...

Cheers sister!...

(Insert caption here)...

The rings...

This is the gazebo where we were supposed to get married (it rained)...

Day after photos...

I want to go back!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

I have to say that although my 5 day Christmas weekend went by WAY too fast, it was really, really nice. On Friday, I shopped, baked, and cooked until my body HURT. All was in preparation for our HUGE Christmas dinner for both of our families on Saturday. I made brined turkey, bourbon glazed ham, homemade mac & cheese, cornbread sausage stuffing, green beans with proscuitto, a couple appetizers, apple cake, pecan pie and more. I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out, although my mashed potatoes were uncharacteristically gummy (I think that’s just what happens when I try to mash all 8 pounds of potatoes at once). Between the 15 of us, we drank several bottles of wine and alcohol and we all had a great time. I learn a lesson each time I make a big meal like that. This time (besides the gummy potatoes), I learned that I’ll need a bigger kitchen before I’ll make a meal like that again. Two ovens please! Next year will be way scaled back.

We gave and got some really nice presents this year. My favorites were the framed wedding photos we gave to my grandparents, my mom and stepfather, and Justin’s mom, the presents we gave to Justin’s nephew Carter, and the donation to our local public library. I have really cute pictures of Carter opening his presents and I’ll post them soon!

Social Circle

2007-11-28T09:53:00.001-08:00

I need to expand my social circle. As disappointing a revelation as it is, I am just not being fulfilled by my current circle (if you can call it that). For instance, I have been reading a book a week for the past three weeks and I feel a strong urge to discuss them with someone who is as intrigued and moved by them as I am. Therefore, I have decided to join a book club. Other areas of interest where I need some social support: health & fitness, shopping, cooking, sewing, girl talk. I think my New Years resolution will be to make a new friend.

Taking the bad with the good

2007-11-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

As far as weeks go, this one has been pretty emotional. It’s only Wednesday, but enough has happened for it to feel like Friday. On Monday, we learned that my stepfather’s dad has inoperable stomach cancer. He will receive two chemo treatments to stop the tumor(s) from bleeding and slow the growth. From my understanding, there are no other treatments beyond that, so the chemo will only prolong the inevitable.

Yesterday, I received my review and a raise at work. Both were excellent and provided a great reason to celebrate. So, Justin ordered Chinese food from our new favorite place and gave me the go-ahead to hire the cleaning lady that gave us a bid in August. :::happy dance::: I take after both of my parents in that I like to have a very clean house. However, I just can’t seem to keep up with it unless I spend all my free time cleaning, which is not very fun and has, at times, put some strain on our relationship. As we build a marriage, we’d like some free time to enjoy each other and the housekeeper will be a life saver. And, as a very dear-to-our-hearts bonus, she LOVES our animals. Justin’s bird, Chipper, even lets her hold and pet him.

Yesterday also marked the release of (drum role please) Rock Band. Justin turned 10 years old yesterday when he purchased this and begged me to play with him. This game comes with a set of drums, a microphone, and a guitar (all fake, of course). Up to 4 players (singer, drummer, bassist, and guitarist) can stand in front of the TV pretending to be a real rock band. I reluctantly gave in and after two and a half hours of playing, I have to admit that my bass playing skills are pretty sweet. Tonight I’m going to be the singer. But, let me just tell you how dorky we are standing in front of our huge plasma TV in PJs and slippers, Justin beating at some plastic drums while I’m strumming a fake guitar. Oh well! It’s fun and arguably a more intelligent activity than sitting like zombies in front of the boob tube. At least we get to listen to some good music.

Finally, my mom calls me this morning with some awful news. My Mom-Mom had a follow-up visit with her oncologist yesterday and the cancer levels in her blood are up. Looks like her stomach cancer has returned. In the meantime, my Pop-Pop hasn’t been feeling well and has been noticing some blood in the toilet. His doctors think he has a bleeding ulcer, which is likely to be cancerous. Today he is on his way to the hospital, where he will probably spend Thanksgiving.

Like I said, it’s been an emotional week. At least we have some good mixed in with the bad, but I would certainly trade all the good that’s happened this week if only there were some way to erase the bad.

I’m a very optimistic person, almost to a fault as I tend to sometimes be over-optimistic (oooh, he’ll be FINE, what are you so worried about?!). My grandparents, especially my Pop-Pop, have had some serious battles with cancer and somehow they’ve always made it through. I can’t help but to think that their good luck has to run out at some point. It’s a sad thought, and not very positive, so of course I hope I’m wrong. I also hope that they both have the strength to continue fighting and to support each other through whatever battles they’re facing. I’m worried about my mom as well. She’s a strong woman, but everyone has a breaking point and I pray she has the strength to support her husband through his father’s battle with cancer while also supporting her parents through theirs.

I know I owe you all some more wedding updates and I promise they’re on the way….

Wedding Debauchery: Starting with the Bachelorette Party

2007-11-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Some people call it a Stagette. Did you know that? It’s mainly a Canadian term.

I’m way behind, I know, seeing as I’m not even a bachelorette as of 12 days ago. But, the b-party was great, so I’m going to blog about it. I'll get to the rest of the debauchery when I can finally upload our vacation photos from my camera.

We started out at a really nice restaurant in Yardley called Christine’s. It’s a BYOB, so my mom brought my fave wine – a nice Cab Sauv – and adorned me with a clip on veil. My sister presented me with a scrapbook she’s been keeping since I started the whole wedding planning beeswax. She included emails, pictures of the resort and various wedding details, and pictures from my shower. Of course, it made me cry. After dinner, a few of us went to a bar. It was the weekend before Halloween, so you’ll notice some of the silly costumes in these pictures.

Here is me with my most adorable sister.

And me with my most adorable momma.

And me with my mom's best friend (she's known me since I was a fetus), MaryBeth.

Here I am posing with all the Hanley girls...love them like a second family!

A self-portrait of all us girls (Dugan, Karin, Me, Melissa) who went to the bar for some after-dinner debauchery.

The Philly Phanatic was humping me.

And these guys were such an unlikely group (note the costumes), we just had to take a picture.

Boy oh boy!!!

2007-10-26T12:37:00.001-07:00

Life has been busy lately preparing for the wedding and vacation. Justin had a great time at his bachelor party last weekend. It was nice for him to have all (well, most) of his friends together...about 16 total. Being the good little homemaker, I cleaned up their pre-party mess, which consisted of 61 bottles/cans of beer and about 8 pizza boxes. I mistakenly put the pizza boxes outside at the trash when one of the boxes had about 5 slices in it. It had been sitting out for a few hours, but I should’ve known that drunken men will eat whatever greasy food is available (even old, cold mushroom pizza) because when they got home at 3am, they scavenged through the pizza boxes sitting on top of the trash can to eat that aforementioned old, cold, mushroom pizza!

My bachelorette party is tomorrow. We’re starting it out all classy-like at Christine’s restaurant in Yardley with the moms and the grandmoms. After that, the younguns (hey, the moms were invited!) are heading to a bar on Street Road called Kenny’s. They’re having a live band, which is preferable to me than, say, club music, and of course it’s their Halloween party and we aren’t dressing up, so we’ll have to pay the $7 cover. We rarely go out to bars and such, so hopefully we’ll like this place…it got a good recommendation from a few folks. Don’t know what else the girls have in store for me…penis veils, blow up dolls, treasure hunts…but hopefully it’ll be interesting! I’ll be sure to post some tame pictures from my b-party!

9 more hours of work before my 2 week vacation begins!!!!

I think I'm going to need sedatives...

2007-10-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

…to deal with my extreme level of excitement that only seems to progress as our day of departure and subsequent nuptial exchange draws ever closer. As of today, I have 6 more days of work before we leave for Jamaica in 11 days and bite the dust in 14. Tomorrow is Justin’s bachelor party and my bachelorette party is the following weekend. We are both so excited about everything that is happening. We have lots to accomplish over the next 11 days, but it’s a manageable to-do list.

I just can’t ever remember being THIS excited. The only thing that comes close is when we went to Disney World when I was 9 and maybe that Christmas when I was so excited I couldn’t sleep all night and made my family wake up at 4am to open gifts. I can’t even imagine what my excitement level will be the night before we leave or the night before the wedding.

Funny thing. I told Justin that I would need sedatives for this whole excitement thing and he said, very seriously, “Where are you going to get sedatives?” Uh, babe, it was a joke =o)

I’m so excited!

Apparently we're a very good looking family

2007-10-16T08:51:00.001-07:00

Justin and I hosted a house party a few weeks ago. Several of Justin’s friends made comments about my mom looking like “the third sister”. One was disappointed to learn that she’s married and that my stepfather was also at the party! My mom gets comments like this pretty often, actually. When we were shopping at Nordstrom’s for a mother-of-the-bride dress, the sales woman asked us where the mother was, wondering why we wouldn’t bring her to shop for her own dress! She was genuinely shocked to learn that the mother was the one asking where we could find the formal dress section.

I learned later that a couple of Justin’s friends were also talking about how hot my sister is. One said she looks hotter now than the last time he saw her and the other said “no, man, she’s always been hot”. She was probably only 15 or 16 the last time they saw her. Good one.

Upon discussing this with my mom and Mom-Mom this weekend, my Mom-Mom said “Well, it’s a good thing I wasn’t there!” And it’s true. She’s classy, sassy, and stinking cute!

Here we are at my bridal shower in July.

YOUR APPROVED (regardless of credit)

2007-10-12T07:05:00.001-07:00

This sign is hanging at a shady little car dealership on the road I take driving from my mom’s house to mine. It’s made me cringe each time I’ve passed it for the past two years that we’ve lived in our house. Why? Because it is a huge sign that is grammatically incorrect.

Your is a possessive form of the word You (i.e. Your credit score, Your car dealership, Your grammar sucks)

You’re is a contraction, a combination of the words You and Are (i.e. You’re stupid, You’re NOT approved)

This sign should say YOU’RE APPROVED (because YOU ARE approved – regardless of YOUR credit).

I’ve often fantasized, to myself, Justin, or anyone else in the car with me, of spray painting this sign so that it would read properly. Of course, I’m not that rebellious. And yes, I imagine that the Grammar Police who undertook this horrible sign are somewhat rebellious. Smart and rebellious.

So, imagine my utter joy and amazement a couple weeks ago when driving along this road, knowing that I would not be able to peel my eyes from this train wreck of a sign (apparently I am passionate about grammar), upon realizing that someone had actually taken the effort to teach this shady car dealership a lesson on the proper usage of the English language. I said “No WAY! That is FLIPPING FANTASTIC!” I feel as though I’ve lived vicariously through them (if only I could meet them!) and I just had to take these pictures. It doesn’t look like the sign is going anywhere since it's still displayed with these markings. The car dealership doesn’t seem to mind their mistake. But at least it won't be such an eye sore to me or anyone else who happened to notice the incorrect grammar.

Notice the note in this picture: "Grammar Check!" I love it.

Comfort Food Time!

2007-10-11T13:41:00.001-07:00

In general, I don’t get out-of-the-blue cravings. I just eat the foods that I keep in the house and make meals that I’ve planned for the week. But today, at around 11:15am, I was struck with a very acute craving for traditional Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup with crumbled Saltines (aahhh…memories of Mom-Mom making me Noodle-Os!). I didn’t feel like going to the store to get these things, so I just ate the lunch I packed and the craving faded pretty quickly anyway. But, it got me thinking about the comfort foods that I’ll make this Fall/Winter season. I love soups, casseroles, chili, mac & cheese, you name it. My dilemma – Is it possible to make healthy versions of these belly-warming dishes? Last year, Justin’s brother-in-law shared his out-of-this-world chili recipe with me. I lightened it up by making it with lean ground turkey rather than ground beef and no one even noticed. The problem is that this chili recipe calls for a cup of sugar and if you try to cut that back, it totally messes with the flavor. It’s still yummy, but the trademark of this chili is the spicy start followed with a sweet finish…it’s harmony on your tongue. In this case, I’ll probably suck it up and eat the extra sugar, but in most cases, especially with soups, it’s very easy to lighten recipes. That’s my goal this Winter - to make all of my favorite comfort food recipes healthy yet just as yummy as the “real” thing. For some recipes, I’ll have to get creative on my own, but I also have this handy dandy Cooking Light cookbook that I love.

I think I’ll try some black bean soup and beef stew. Last year, I made some delish chicken barley stew and chicken cacciatore. I’m sure I’ll make those tried and true recipes again.

It's all about Carter

2007-10-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend visiting with Justin’s family. The best part of any visit there is Justin’s 7 and a ½ month old nephew, Carter. Before his birth in February, we were always pretty regular with our visits, but Carter keeps us coming at least once a month and each time we see him we’re amazed at how much he’s changed since our previous visit. Since our visit just three weeks ago, his hair has grown and become wavier, he’s gained a couple pounds, and he’s become even more interactive. He’s such a cool, fun baby. I took a bunch of pictures, but here are the two that I was really after.

When Carter is sitting on Uncle Justin’s lap, he stares up at Justin’s face in complete amazement and with the most serious face you’ll ever see on a baby. While trying to capture this with the camera, Carter kept looking at me right before the picture was taken. After about 5 attempts, he finally got bored with looking at the camera and held his gaze on Justin. I adore this photo.

Carter has the two cutest teeth growing out of his bottom gums. They only show with his biggest smiles and I tried to capture them all weekend. Of course, his mom was doing the obligatory silly stuff to keep him laughing and after another ten photos, I finally got lucky with this shot.

I think I can call myself a runner

2007-09-18T06:36:00.001-07:00

I don’t run long distances (yet) and my time is currently stuck at 10 mins per mile, not to mention that my current distance of 2.5 miles is absolute torture for me, but I have confidence that this will all improve. Why? Because I LOVE it! Despite being out of breath and wanting to collapse on the basement floor after a 2.5 miler, running makes me feel strong, energized, and alive (excuse the cheese). When a few days pass without running, I miss it and crave a good spin on the treadmill. I love being able to set short-term running goals to keep up my motivation. My current goal is to be running 3 miles within the next two weeks and I plan to run the Monster Dash 5K on October 27^th, which also happens to be the day of my bachelorette party and a week before my wedding =o) Once I get back from Jamaica, I plan to make a new running goal. I’m not sure what it will be yet, but I’m thinking of either training for a 10K or for the Broad Street 10 mile run in May.

Next order of business…getting fitted for new running shoes! Mine are about a year old and my knee started hurting last night while I was running, so I know I’m way over due. I’m a bad, bad runner =o(

Oops! Left out 2 fun weekend facts!

2007-09-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

My previous blog should have had two more items, so here they are:

4. We bought a new digital camera! We’ve been saying for months that we would get a new one before our wedding/honeymoon in Jamaica. This weekend, I was disappointed that I’d forgotten our camera and wouldn’t be able to take pictures at Kathy’s wedding. So, we did some quick research and bought what Justin’s calls “the best point and shoot digital camera on the market”. I’m very excited. I love taking pictures, but our old digital made a little inconvenient because I lost the charger years ago, so we were constantly replacing AA batteries and because it was just too big and cumbersome to carry around. I’m no aspiring photographer, I just wanted something that would be easy to carry, have a quick shutter time, and allow us to document our lives with a bit more ease. Here she is! Once we get more familiar with her, I will start posting some photos.

5. We purchased tennis rackets! Funny thing is, Justin has never played tennis and I haven’t played since high school in gym class, which I never took seriously, so this new venture should prove to be quite interesting! I hope it doesn’t turn out like our fishing venture earlier this year in which we purchased new poles, equipment, and fishing licenses and never went =o) Well, to be fair, Justin went fishing twice this spring. *Sigh* Here is my pretty, girly tennis racket. She's actually purple, not pink. I'll be happy to support breast cancer research while I get frustrated at my apparent lack of athletic ability.

Three Facts about the Weekend

2007-09-17T13:04:00.001-07:00

Since I’m all about lists and getting organized this week, I’ll start ya out with this one…

1. Justin’s sister, Kathy, got married on Saturday. She was an amazingly beautiful bride and the day was perfect, from 7:30am getting ready festivities to 2am clean up! Four things that made their wedding day unique: 1. Her dress. She bought it from David’s Bridal, which is not unique, but the bodice and train were absolutely one-of-a-kind and stunning in their design. I wish I could find photos online, but I can’t, so you’ll have to wait until I post pics =o) 2. They worked with their pastor to incorporate their son and Kathy & Justin’s deceased father into the ceremony. After they said their vows, their son was brought to the alter and the pastor said a blessing as Kathy and Tim held Carter (7 months). The blessing was said from the point of view of Kathy’s dad as if he was asking God to bless the family. It was beautiful. 3. Rather than having a receiving line, Kathy and Tim released people row by row (traditionally a job reserved for ushers or groomsmen), so all attendees were able to have a moment to congratulate the newlyweds. I stood at the exit to hand people rice (bird-friendly, of course) and there were very few dry eyes walking out of that church. They sure do have a lot of loving people in their lives. 4. The reception hosted not one, but two, spontaneous dance offs. It was Guys vs. Girls and the teams performed such dances as the well-known “going shopping” or “starting a chainsaw”. They also made up their own, so we saw “catching a fish”, “scratching balls”, etc. The dance off came to an abrupt halt when one guy was dropped on his head when trying to do “the keg stand”. The girls won both rounds.

2. Apparently I looked damned good in my red bridesmaid dress because all in one night I was stunning, beautiful, and hot as hell, according to Justin. That’s definitely a compliment record for him! Hopefully he’ll beat that record (with sincerity of course) on our wedding day =o)

3. Justin and his family had to put down their dog, Chrissy, yesterday. She had been suffering from arthritis in her hips and being overweight for the past few years, but yesterday morning she started favoring her left side when she walked and she fell down the stairs while Justin’s stepfather was trying to take her outside. After that, she couldn’t walk and he decided to take her to the vet. Figuring she’d probably be put to rest, the whole family went to bid her farewell. It was a tough day and although it wasn’t the best time for it to happen (considering that Kathy had just gotten married the day before), Justin is grateful that it happened on a weekend while we were visiting so he was able to see her one last time. Chrissy lived a full 13-year life and she had a lot of people who loved her. Justin told me fondly that she used to run and greet them every day after school. She was always so excited to see them. Even yesterday Justin noticed a faint twinge of excitement in her behavior when the whole family was together. Poor Chrissy. She’ll be remembered.

Busy as heck this month!

2007-09-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

First weekend in September = painting hallway, spackling guest room

Second weekend in September = visiting Justin’s friends/family in Central PA and his sister Kathy’s bridal shower

Third weekend in September = Kathy & Tim’s rehearsal and dinner (Thursday), getting nails done, decorating reception hall, and shopping for wedding gifts (Friday), getting ready and wedding (Saturday), driving 3 hours home to clean and workout (Sunday)

Fourth weekend in September = Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning while Justin’s spackling, spackling, spackling to get ready for…

Fifth weekend in September = PARTAY! Yep, we’re hosting a party, which has been the motivation to finally finish the hallway and guest room.

Somewhere in the last two weeks of the month, in addition to the above, we need to hang curtains in the office, paint the guest room (the spackling is the most time-consuming and tedious part…don’t even get me started), have a 2^nd dress fitting for my bridal gown, bake sugar cookies using different recipes in order to find the best one (wedding-related), get Bruiser’s kennel cough shot and get him registered at Puppy Daycare for when we go to Jamaica, and fit in at least 11 more workouts.

Once again, a bunch of wedding-related stuff is being pushed back another month. But, I’m predicting that it will be manageable in October since I refuse to make any weekend plans besides my bachelorette party on the 27^th. October is officially WR month since we leave for Jamaica (ya mon!) on November 1^st.

My mom told me I’m a procrastinator the other night. That stung a little bit. I told her “I don't procrastinate, I prioritize”. If I procrastinated, I’d probably spend most of my time relaxing and since I rarely get to relax, I refuse to think of myself as a procrastinator!

Good Weekend

2007-09-10T13:05:00.001-07:00

On Friday, Justin, me, and the pups headed to his hometown of Mifflintown, PA for a visit and for his sister’s bridal shower. It’s always nice to visit with his family and this time I got to hang out with his friends a bit too. Justin was part of two groups in high school. His friends called him the cool nerd, so you can quickly deduce which two groups they were. Friday night was a reunion of sorts with the “cool” friends. (It seems weird calling them that now because in our mid to late twenties we don’t really think of them that way…everyone’s “cool” and “nerdy” in their own way, right?) Anyway, this group of high school buddies was back together almost in their entirety and we both had a great time. His friends are good, fun people. They told stories this weekend about Justin that I’ve only heard from him, but of course they told them with a lot more hilarity and detail. For example, in their senior year of high school, Justin was supposed to pick up his friends before the SATs. They had all been drinking the night before and Justin pulled up in his legendary Plymouth Volari mere minutes before they were supposed to start taking the test. To make them even more late, Justin had to go back home because he’d forgotten his calculator. During the SATs while it was uber quiet, Justin started scratching insanely at his leg, disrupting people’s concentration and causing his friends to shake their heads and chuckle. I crack up at how similar he is now to his cool, nerdy high school self. I envy Justin in his friendships because they all joke around, saying whatever they want and never getting angry. I know Justin has a special place in his heart for his “buddies”.

On the wedding front, I am extremely happy to announce that Justin has a best man!!! Justin met Bob over 6 years ago at work when Justin moved to this area to begin his IT career. Bob has been planning Justin’s bachelor party, but didn’t think he and his wife would be able to come to Jamaica with us. Despite that, he’s been diligently searching for great deals online and finally found one that’s amazing, so he called Justin on Saturday night to ask if he still needed a best man. Um, YES! Previously we thought that Justin’s brother in law would be the only groomsman to my three bridesmaids and I know Justin was pretty bummed about it. Justin and Bob talked on the phone last night again and I hadn’t heard Justin so excited about the wedding/vacation until now, so it makes me really happy that Bob put so much effort into doing this for Justin. 53 days to go and I’m really looking forward to spending some quality vacation time with our guests! Some more of Justin’s friends might be booking soon because of this great deal that Bob found, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it works out!

Production & Reflection

2007-09-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

First of all…Wow. I’ve read some blogs and it sounds like some of you had some really amazing Labor Day weekends! Traveling, spending time with family and friends, eating…perfect! My weekend was amazing in a different way…we finally accomplished a task that has been on our House To-Do list since we bought the house in December 2005. We finished painting our stairway and hallway! We’d started this project LAST summer before Justin broke his back in a motorcycle accident. A few months ago, his back really started feeling fully recovered so we’re finally able to pick up on our house projects. Next, we’ll be spackling and painting the guest room. UGH! What a project! We ripped down paneling that the previous owners had installed, which produced a lot of holes and damage in the underlying drywall. But, it’s our last major project and since we have a brand new comforter and some pretty blue paint waiting to decorate that room, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully we can use that as motivation to finish quickly!

Monday (Labor Day) marked the 2 month countdown to our wedding! I can’t believe that our wedding and 8-day vacation in Jamaica is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! We have a lot of preparations over the next couple months, and while it can be a bit stressful at times, especially with other events and social engagements happening over the next eight weeks, overall I am just so EXCITED. Justin and I got engaged on June 30, 2006. The +12 months since have been the best months of our relationship. For at least a year before we got engaged, we constantly discussed getting engaged/married, but the engagement period has been an intense time of reflection and preparation for our MARRIAGE, not just our wedding. In two short weeks, we’ll celebrate our six year dating anniversary. With 6 years under our belts, 4 years of which we’ve lived together, I am confident that we have a strong foundation on which to continue a very successful and happy relationship, start our married lives, and continue building our lives together. It’s a very surreal and humbling time in my life and I’m enjoying every moment of it.

Life's Lessons

2007-08-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Justin and I have been together for nearly 6 years. We started dating at 20 years old. People do a lot of growing up in their 20s, so together, we’ve learned a lot of what I call (you guessed it!) life’s lessons.

Yesterday, Justin was the recipient of one such lesson. It wasn’t a major lesson, but he’ll remember it nonetheless.

Keep your keys on your keychain.

Yep. See? Pretty simple.

A few weeks ago, Justin got his car inspected. When the key was returned to him, he never found the time to put the key back onto his keychain. For weeks, it was floating BESIDE the other keys, but was not secured WITH the other keys. I’m sure you can guess what happened next.

He lost it.

To replace it, he borrowed the key that I normally carry for his car. This key ALSO was never secured with the other keys.

If you’re thinking “Uh oh, this does not end well”, you’re right. But Justin did not LOSE this key, he left it in the ignition with the car running after lunch yesterday.

Of course, being the best fiancé around, I rescued my dear forgetful (not typically, just yesterday) Justin. I went home and FOUND his key amongst his laundry. Lucky for him, I happen to know that he always leaves stuff in his pockets, so it only took 10 minutes of searching and reciting the St. Anthony Prayer* to find the key. Grab the jumper cables from the basement (great spot for them, by the way) and off I was for a 40 minute drive to Justin’s place of employment. After we secured both car keys onto their proper key chains and jumped his car, Justin took me out for a yummy sirloin and shrimp dinner. It was a good day.

*I’m not religious, but the St. Anthony prayer is something my mom taught me when I was younger and I’ve always found the object I’m looking for while reciting it. It’s definitely superstition! Here’s how it goes: Dear St. Anthony please come around, something’s lost and can’t be found. Try it!

Broken

2007-08-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh…the treadmill broke! Right at the end of my Couch to 5K training, no less! It’s a 10 week program and I’m on week 8. Justin called Pro-form and ordered the broken piece last night. Eighty dollars and 5 days later, we hope to have the treadmill back in working condition. I’m sure it will postpone my training though. My next run is supposed to be a 2.5 miler at 10 minutes per mile. Without running for over a week, I highly doubt my lungs will be able to handle that distance. My legs say “GO”, but my lungs say “NO”. In the meantime, I’m doing the Turbo Jam cardio videos. They’re pretty good, but I don’t get quite the satisfaction with them as I do with a good go on the treadmill. Come back TM, we miss you!

Finally, a relaxing weekend! And, Tater Tot Casserole.

2007-08-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

I had planned to paint all weekend, but when I tried to get my butt in gear on Saturday, I found that the brushes were still wet. Silly me had left them out in the rain this week…oops! So, Justin and I decided to go to the pool instead. We spent a few hours there, then came home and I got a really good strength work out in while Justin did some school work. Melissa (my best friend) came over and we all went to a new Mexican place on Street Road called Tijuana Flats. I guess it’s most similar to Baja Fresh, but I like the atmosphere and the food better. Plus, it’s a BYOB…’nough said. They have 15 hot sauces that you can try, ranging from very mild to suicide hot. I LOVE hot sauce, so I skipped the mild and tried all but the hottest…Justin said one drop seared his tongue and I wanted to enjoy my burrito. My favorite part of Tijuana Flats is that they serve any of their dishes with whole wheat tortillas!

Yesterday, we met up with Val and Jess and went to the Philadelphia Art Museum. Val is the wife of one of Justin’s really good friends from his hometown, Mifflintown PA, and Jess is Val’s sister, who graduated with Justin. Val and Jess are in town for the American Idol auditions going on today. After the Art Museum, we trekked over to South Philly so Val and Jess could try a real Philly cheese steak at Pat’s. I don’t indulge in cheese steaks but maybe once a year, so it was a really fabulous treat.

After our day on the town, I took a nap while Justin did some more school work, woke up around 6pm to make dinner and cleaned/did laundry the rest of the night. We’re going to take advantage of our pool as much as possible this week since it will be closed after the coming holiday weekend (yay, 3 day weekend coming up!).

Several people have asked me for my Tater Tot Casserole recipe. This is a very yummy comfort food dish that (I believe) originates from the Midwest, where it is commonly called Tater Tot Hotdish. I first made this recipe a few years ago when I was following Weight Watchers, so it can be made to be diet-friendly. I’ll post the healthier ingredients as well. If you follow WW, one serving (1/12 of the casserole dish) is 4 points. Pair it with a salad and you’ve got an indulgent comfort food meal that also happens to be quite healthy.

1 lb. ground beef (ground turkey is also good – you really can’t tell the difference)
1 bag tater tots
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (diet-friendly – use Healthy Choice soup)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup (see above for diet-friendly)
Frozen Mixed Veggies (carrots, corn, green beans, etc.) – use as much as you like, I usually use about ¾ of the package
Cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese mix (diet-friendly – use low fat or 2% cheese) – again, use as much or as little as you like

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Spray casserole/lasagna dish with Pam. Lay tater tots in rows along bottom of dish. Brown ground turkey or beef and drain in a colander. Prepare frozen veggies as directed on package. Mix soups and veggies into ground beef/turkey. Spread this mixture over the tater tots. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the beef/turkey mixture. Bake on bottom rack for about 50-55 mins. Enjoy!

Frickin Wonderful

2007-08-25T00:05:00.001-07:00

It's 3:05am and I can't get back to sleep. Fabulous. I passed out on the living room floor around 10pm, woke up at 2:43 and went through the bed time routine, and now I can't sleep. My forever faithful dogs actually snuggled up next to me on the floor. I simultaneously think that's cute and pathetic. I wouldn't have blamed them for sleeping in bed with Justin, who woke up when I came to bed and said "I was wondering why you weren't in bed yet." No silly, you were sleeping, you weren't wondering pewp. He swears he tried to get me to come to bed, but we were both buzzed...who knows what happened!

We had friends over tonight for the famed Tater Tot Casserole. We ate, we drank, we started to watch a movie. Story of my Friday night life. Remember when I said I passed out at 10pm? Yep, Karin and Chris were still here (sorry guys!). Unless I'm taken out of my element on a Friday night, I'm probably gonna pass out at 10pm. It's sad. Hi, I'm 60 years old!

As I performed the getting-ready-for-bed routine, I realized how obsessive I am about it (thanks mom!*). I don't skip the wash hands, wash face (twice), apply eye cream, brush teeth, and remove contacts curriculum for anything...even during the sloppiest of drunken nights. On the rare occasion that I do skip it, mom's voice echoes "Yeess, you DO have to do it EVERY night" in my brain. I can probably thank her for my practically cavity-free mouth** and white teeth.

Off to participate in some tired web surfing (do people still call it that? surfing the web?) until I'm tired enough to join the fam*** in bed.

*No sarcasm used in this exclamation...it's an expression of sincere appreciation.
**I had a teeeeny tiiiiny cavity several years ago that most dentists don't even see in the ex-rays. Sometimes I tell people that I've never had a cavity, but this is my blog, so it's full disclosure here.
***Fam=family, which for me consists of my fiance and 2 dogs. The bird is just a friend, not a family member.

And here we begin...

2007-08-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

I guess I’ve finally done it. I’ve created a blog. For now. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve got a lot to say. Would I call my blabber interesting? Maybe. Do I think you’ll find it interesting? Well, I happen to like reading other people’s blabber, so Maybe to that too, although I happen to think other people’s blabber is more interesting and articulate than mine.

To start this blog off, I’ll explain myself a bit. I like when new bloggers do this in their first posts.

1. I’m a red head. I’ve come to love this about myself. It makes me unique.

2. In my case, what they say about red heads is true. Just ask my fiancé. He definitely knows best. I’m feisty and I have a temper.

3. I’m getting married in Jamaica 70 days from now. I won’t blog about it obsessively, but it’s on my mind 99 percent of the time, even when I’m sleeping, so it’ll make occasional appearances.

4. I love my life. I couldn’t ask for a better future husband. I have very supportive family and friends. I own a house and I have two furry kids who adore the crap out of me. I’m healthy and happy.

5. I am a busy body. I have a million hobbies and to-do lists. I’m always doing something and thinking about doing 500 other things. I have a hard time relaxing.

6. I’ve spent my life wanting to be like other people. Within the past few years, I’ve started to become really comfortable with ME. I’m nice, patient, silly, hardworking, and cute.

7. I find people interesting. You’ll rarely hear me say something bad about someone or refusing to talk to someone because they have a characteristic that isn’t ideal or the norm. People enrich other people’s lives and it’s true for just about everyone you’ll come into contact with.

8. That’s not to say that I LIKE all people. I just DEAL with all people. I’m patient and tolerant. To each his own!