063. Christmas Tree Disposal.

So, how do you get rid of a dried out, dying Christmas tree when you live in a second floor condo without making a mess through the entire building?

Why you throw it off the balcony of course!

Some how I managed to not take a picture of the tree in the yard. Here's where it landed though.

Tomorrow is trash day so we needed to get the tree out tonight.

Tonight my dad and brother came by to install my new dishwasher. They were in my kitchen when dinner was done so I didn't snap a picture (too much going on), but I made a really yummy quiche. Chris love quiche, and I think it's a great way to use whatever produce I have hanging out in the fridge. Tonight's quiche included broccoli, a chopped onion, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, spinach, and Dubliner cheese I picked up at Trader Joe's. The quiche tasted awesome!

My dishwasher is currently doing it's first load. We'll see how the dishes come out in the morning (and if this dishwasher can handle my oatmeal bowls!), but for now, here it is in all it's dishwashing glory.

I didn't make it to yoga tonight due to dishwasher installation, but I did stop slacking and Whittle My Middle. Unfortunately, while I was doing my core work, I discovered there's something wrong with my wrist. When I did my first plank, I collapse almost immediately from a sharp pain in my right wrist. I'm going to ice it tonight, and see how it feels over the next couple days, but if it doesn't start getting better a trip to the doctor may be in my near future. In the mean time, I'll be doing some modified planks.

062. Blogger Fail

I was a bad blogger this weekend. Yesterday was my planned work/ blogging day, but I had a serious case of the blahs so rather than be productive I called up my mom to go shopping/ run errands. I’m feeling much better today though. We’ll do a quick recap of my weekend. Unfortunately since I was in bad blogger mode, I don’t have photos for you.

Friday Evening
After work we headed out for a happy hour for my co-worker/ friend Lauren’s birthday. My plan was to have a beer or two and call it an early night. Things did not go quite as planned. Several Effen and cranberries and a few shots later, we were both pretty tipsy and getting on the El to go home around 10:00! Ooops!

Saturday
I woke up early Saturday morning because I had agreed to help my friend Jennie and John move into their new house. I also needed to get to the post office to pick up my copy of The Spark and (finally!) mail the care package to my friend Dan. The majority of my day was spent helping load and unload the truck and unpack things.

My tip for moving/ unpacking: Unpack the kitchen first. Having piles and piles of boxes staring you in the face begging to be unpacked is overwhelming, and it’s usually hard to decide where to even start. I’ve found the kitchen is always the best place to start.

Unpacking a kitchen is fairly straight forward. Most items are going to go in to cabinets or on the counter top. The only decision you really have to make is which specific cabinet. I’ve almost always used the same organization pattern in my kitchen, and it’s based on what I grew up with. This makes the “where to put it” decision easier. Plus, you’ll end up refining your kitchen organization as you use it.

Getting an entire room unpacked reduces the amount of boxes looking back at you and gives you a sense of accomplishment. I find this usually provides me with enough motivation to tackle something else. (Generally I go for the bedroom next and unpack clothes and my every day items.)

Having a functional kitchen is important if you want to be able to cook for yourself and eat. Since cooking and eating are some of my favorite things to do, the kitchen is definitely a priority for me.

Sunday
As I mentioned Sunday was shopping and running errands with my mom. The highlight of my day was purchasing a new dishwasher for my condo. I went with the Whirlpool DU1300 in white. The reviews I’ve read are all pretty positive saying it’s a good machine particularly for the price. It was delivered about an hour ago so I’m very excited to go home and wash my first load of dirty dishes!

(On a side note: Isn’t it kind of lame the things we get really excited about as we get older?)

I ate dinner at my parent’s house, and after I picked Chris up from work we watched Angels & Demons.

Angels & Demons quick review
Angels & Demons was pretty much what I expected. I went it expecting it to be similar to The Da Vinci Code in terms of direction and production. I was dead on. Overall, I felt the movie was slow moving, but was a good adaptation to the screen.

I did prefer The Da Vinci Code to Angels & Demons; however, I think it’s because I saw movie before I read the book. With Angels & Demons, I already knew all the “interesting stuff” about it so in some ways it was just a slow-moving movie.

In addition to being a bad blogger this weekend, I also failed at getting any work-outs in. I've taken about 6 rest days from Whittle My Middle this past week, but I'm ready to get my act together this week!

I'm also pushing back my 7 Day Vegetarian Challenge a week, but that post will come a little later.

051. Errand Girl

Tonight I ran a bunch of errands. I had three missions tonight.

1. Buy some YakTrax so I can try and start getting some outdoor runs in again.
2. Check out books on container gardening from the library
3. Get a cute black crop sweater/ shrug to wear over my dress on Saturday.

I was successful in 2 out of the 3.

Mission One: Buy YakTrax Verdict: Mission Failed

My friend Courtney has mentioned getting a pair Yaktrax on a couple occasions. I finally got curious and Googled them. For those of you unfamiliar Yaktrax is a traction device for running (or walking) on snow and ice. The snow and ice has really put a damper on my running recently. I loathe the dreadmill, and while I do have access (free!) to a nice indoor track, I really prefer running outdoors. I'm sure this is true for most runners.

I've read a couple reviews of Yaktrax and the majority of reviews on Amazon are positive, and I really want to give them a try. I decided to hit Sport's Authority as it fit neatly in the path of the rest of my errands. Unfortunately, they only had 4 pairs of the Taktrax walkers left - no Yaktrax Pro. The sales girl said their truck comes on Tuesday so to try back then. I'll probably call first.

Mission Two: Get books on container gardening from the library Verdict: Mission Accomplished

One of the things I want to do in the coming year, and I forgot to consider in my 10 in 2010, is to grow some of my own produce. Since I don't have a yard, I'm limited to container gardening. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about gardening and even less about container gardening. I'm not much of a green thumb either. I'm the girl who has killed three basil plants in two years. I really want to have my own garden though. It's cost effective, healthy, and green. What more can a girl ask for.

Since it's the dead of winter here in Chicago (hence the need for the YakTrax and probably also the reason I didn't think to include "start a container garden" in my 10 in 2010), I'm going to spend some time doing my homework and researching container gardening. Hopefully this will up my chances of successfully growing some edible fruits and veggies (and herbs). Tonight I picked Container Gardening for Dummies and Reader's Digest Crops in Pots. I'll be sure to post reviews as I get through them. I'll probably also do a post (or series or posts) on container gardening as I learn more about it.

If anyone has any additional suggestions on books about container gardening, or gardening in general, I should read, please share!

Mission Three: Get cute crop sweater Verdict: Mission Accomplished.

Initially my plan was to go to Kohl's, but I decided I might have been luck at one of the "trendy" stores. They just opened a Forever 21 in the mall near my house so I decided to check it out. I ended up finding a black 3/4 sleeve sweater similar to this one. (I could go take a picture of the actual sweater, but I'm feeling lazy. Maybe tomorrow)

I must voice a couple complaints though. What is up with the sizing?! First of all in all the sweater browsing I did, I don't think I saw a single item bigger than a size medium. What, is it store policy to not carry anything larger than a medium? Second of all, who the hell do they size this stuff for, children? The sweater I ended up buying is a medium, but it only kind of fits. I'm not even close to being able to button it. I can't even get it to close over my boobs. It serves the purpose I need it to serve - covering my shoulders at a January 2nd wedding in cold, snowy Chicago, but seriously, what the hell people?! I've never understood why stores size their clothes for infants.

I did accept an extra mission of buying a pair of shoes for the wedding as well. I was wandering the shoes section at Kohl's and came across these. They are totally not my style, but I was instantly attracted to them. I carried them around the store with me for at least 15 minutes debating, and I sent a photo text to my best friend for her opinion. Ultimately I ended up buying them (they were $30) with the thought that if they don't look good with the dress I can always return them.

Anyway, it's already 10:30, and I still need to take a quick shower so it's time to call it a night.

028. Plans

My calendar is filing up very quickly. I didn’t realize how much I had planned until I took the time to write it all out.
You should know -I always carry a planner with me, but I’m awful about actually writing in it. I always have the best intentions and the worst execution when it comes to organization.

Despite that looking pretty jam-packed (and even missing a few commitments) things have been falling into place nicely though so I don’t feel like I’m over-doing it or passing on things I want to do because I don’t have time.

Tomorrow is out company holiday party. The bus leaves the office for Lucky Strike Lanes at 11:30. Woo-hoo half day of work! I’m sure the party will be a great time. I’ll also be forced to keep my drinking in check because…

…I have a doctor’s appointment first thing Saturday morning and they’re doing follow-up blood work. This means Friday will be an early night since I can’t eat or drink anything after about 8pm.

After my doctor’s appointment, I’m going right to my parent’s for Gingerbread Fest ’09.

Sunday I’m meeting my friend Colleen for lunch. She’s one of those friends I wished I got to see much more often, but our schedules are so conflicting we’re lucky if we can get together once every other month.

I also hope to finish off the rest of my Christmas shopping on Sunday. My two brothers are really the only two I have left to shop for, and I am totally stumped on what to buy for them. What do you get a 22 year old and a 16 year old that basically have everything they could need/ want? I told them if they didn’t get me ideas soon they were both getting socks and underwear.

Next week I have dinner with an agent on Wednesday evening and lunch with an agent on Friday afternoon.

Saturday morning we’re packing up to head down to Eastern Illinois University to watch Nick and Nicki (my brother and his girlfriend). We’ll also be packing up the rest of Nicki’s stuff to move her back home. We’re spending Saturday night in Charleston (College bars here I come! lol), and then on Sunday I’m stopping in Urbana to visit with my friend Emily.

This actually could not have worked out any better. Emily was my last roommate in college (and one of two to whom I still speak), and she’s currently in grad school at UCSB. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to make it up to Chicago to visit while she’s home on break. Since Urbana is literally on the way to/ from Charleston, it would be silly for me not to stop and visit.

Then we’re just a few days form Christmas. On the 23rd we have out Children’s Party at work. People bring their kids (or grandkids) to work and we have crafts and games and pizza and Santa. We also more or less get a half day out of the deal.

This (holy crap!) bring us to Christmas plans!

I’ll be spending Christmas Eve with my family: Dinner at my parent’s house and then midnight mass. We used to spend Christmas Eve with my dad’s side of the family since it was my grandmother’s birthday, but since she passed and the only other relatives on my dad’s side live in Colorado, we not just spend the evening doing dinner and church. We have a pretty decadent and indulgent dinner though. Every year we have Alaskan king crab legs, filet mignon, and crème brulee for dessert. It’s gotten to the point where we don’t even make vegetables with the meal anymore. I think I might lobby for (or bring) some broccoli. My healthy conscious won’t allow me to not eat at least a little bit of veggies.

Christmas Day Chris and I will be heading to my parent’s in the morning and his mom’s in the evening. I’m going to make breakfast at my parent’s house and then we’ll open gifts and hang out for a while. Originally, I invited my family to my place for breakfast and gifts, but it seemed easier for the two of us (Chris and I) to go to them rather than the six of them come to us. In the late afternoon/ early evening we’ll head over to Chris’ mom’s house for Christmas dinner and more gifting.

This post actually went off in an entirely different direction that I think I originally intended. Oh well! What are your plans for the Christmas? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, do you celebrate a winter holiday? Which one? What are you plans for that?

021. Totally Random Smattering

So, first of all, I've got a few photos of random eats photos that never got posted. These are from the last two weeks or so.

Broccoli, onion, canadian bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese omelet.

Homemade whole wheat toaster waffles with pomegranite arils and a pumpkin sauce.

French toast stuffed with cream cheese frosting.

Lightened up Chicken Parm - there was also a heaping pile of spaghetti squash that was eaten later due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. Chris bought a squash too big to fit in the microwave so I had to bake it.)


Alright, now on to today's eats.
Breakfast was an Arnold Sandwich Thin with Trader Joe's Almond Butter and Sorell Ridge Black Raspbery 100% Fruit spread.

The photo is actually from dinner last night, but lunch today was leftover Pasta e Fagioli.

Dinner was just some scrambled eggs. My stomach has been bothering me most of the afternoon so I opted for something pretty bland.

I believe I also promised pictures of my Christmas decorations thus far.

From the inside...(I apologize, it's a pretty poor picture)

and from the outside...


Obviously, I'm the top left unit.

I need to get going. I was supposed to be on the road to Chris' dad's about an hour ago, but since I overslept this morning and was late for work, I ended up staying a late. Time to pack up and head out for more Christmas decorating tomorrow!

I've got the camera packed!