Winding Down...

Well, we are officially closing on our house in 2 weeks! Because the current owners are moving out the weekend after our Friday closing, we wont get to move for another 3 weeks, but we are both so excited. And anxious. And nervous. And just about every other emotion you can imagine. I'm sure that's normal, right? And I also suppose I should start packing even if our new house is 6 minutes away from my current location :) I have already done so much shopping, and have just about everything we need for the house. Of course, being the cheap person I am, it was all severely discounted, given to us, or some items were even found at Goodwill.

I have been so swamped at work lately, that I have not had any type of a social life. I have 2 huge projects due at the end of the month, which have caused me to work ridiculously long hours. Luckily, I will be taking off a full 5 days for the first time in my life upon moving into our new house. I have never taken off a full work week, and know I will still be checking my email and taking calls from home. I can't completely give up my career for a full week!

Here's my office in all its glory. I am on the second floor to the top!

Next weekend I am having a Girls Night Out with my 2 best friends, which is definitely needed. AND, tomorrow we are being nerds and attending the Home and Garden Show to check out landscaping/fencing options. I also have a groupon for a delicious, hip restaurant to top off our day.

Also, my current annoyance is the excessive amount of people at the gym. I am so sick of waiting for a treadmill, elliptical, cycle, etc. Please go away new resolutioners! Those of us who have been dedicated to the gym for so many years are sick of you taking up space and texting/talking on the phone/or barely moving while you are on a machine!

P.S. I know it is only Friday, but I have planned our meal for Sunday, and am so excited to indulge! I am finally going to try my crock pot recipe for baby back ribs (a once a year treat for us), along with a side of southern style coleslaw, salt encrusted baked potatoes and sweet corn. ::DROOL:: Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The Christmas Pig

These past few weeks have been a blur, filled with fun memories and lots of great food! On my last post I left off at discussing B's birthday weekend. That Friday I surprised him and we ventured to Christmas at the zoo. We both have a huge passion for animals, so I thought this would be a fun thing for us to do together.

We looked at the animals and light displays, and shared a few sweet treats from The Outpost.

We then went to the White River Gardens and explored the beautiful greenery and flowers they on display for Christmas.

On Saturday, I confirmed our reservations at The Melting Pot, and we enjoyed a delicious, three course meal of the following:

Fiesta Cheese Fondue


Shrimp & Sirloin in Court Bouillon


Chocolate S'more Fondue with strawberries, cheesecake, rice krispie treats, marshmallows, and pound cake




It was a great birthday weekend together, and I look forward to many more with him!

The following weekend we headed up to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas with B's family. We had a wonderful weekend, and received lots of items for our house. Since this is our first home, we are needing a lot of the basic necessities. To name a few, we received a crockpot, food processor, spice rack, extra spices, mixing bowls, blankets, wine rack, etc. We also went to a beautiful steak restaurant called Mr.B's. I was a little concerned about what I was going to order since I rarely eat meat, but I was happy to find a pasta section and tried their eggplant rigatoni with a side wedge salad. It was AMAZING. It was so creamy and flavorful, and I would definitely order it again. We also went a little early before our reservation and hit up the happy hour. I am so glad we did this because we were able to try the duck fat fries and steamed mussels for a fraction of the cost. I paired mine with a gingerbread flavored cocktail, and it was delicious.



This past weeekend was Christmas which was celebrated at my parents house. It was a pretty eventful weekend as I had offered to help babysit/foster an adorable piglet named Bacon. He came from a neglected household, and I could not possibly turn him down. Knowing nothing about pigs, I offered to help care for him, and quickly fell in love. However, the day before I picked him up, his foster mommy bathed him in puppy shampoo and he had a severe allergic reaction. Two days later, after waking up to him with a fever and seeing his small little body covered in bright red/orange blisters, I called her up and asked if she would nurse him back to heatlh. Because she was a vet tech at an exotic animal clinic, I felt she was much more equipped to care for the little guy, and emotions aside, I had to do what was best for him. That being said, I took him back to her house on Christmas morning, and cried the whole way home. This week, I am spending some time looking for a happy home for him, and can't wait to see him grow into a healthy young boar.



Here are two more photos of Bacon with my parents dog, Duke. They were the most unlikely pair, but became good friends in a few short days.





Anywho, that is what I have been up to the past few weeks. I have also tested/created some yummy dishes in between those weeks, and promise to post more recipes on my next post. Hope everyone has a great week, and a very happy and safe new year!

Big Ten Game & Lots of Food

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

It's another busy work week for me! Even though I have Friday off so we can celebrate Christmas in Wisconsin, I will still be working 40+ hours, on top of finishing up Christmas shopping, wrapping last minute gifts, running errands, and cooking things for my office to enjoy. I must admit, however, that despite the insanity, I do love this time of year.

Anywho, a few weeks ago we had family down from Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin was playing in the Big Ten Championship football game, and we of course had to celebrate and cheer them on. It was great to see B's family and friends, and we had a wonderful time showing them around our town. This picture was taken outside in the cold while we were tailgating and watching the Marquette basketball game. They are such troopers! ;)



The morning of the game, I made a big breakfast consisting of a variety of juices, muffins, fruit salad, blueberry skillet coffee cake, and a creamy potato casserole. Everything tasted delicious, and it kept us full until we ate later that day.

The Blueberry Skillet Coffee Cake is a Paula Deen recipe, and is super easy and tasty. The recipe can be found at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/easy-blueberry-skillet-cake-recipe/index.html or here:



Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) of unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Coffee Cake:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) of butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 (12-ounce) tube buttermilk biscuits
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

For the streusel topping: Combine the almonds, sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon until large crumbs form.
For the coffee cake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a 9-inch cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet, cook the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until melted. Arrange the biscuits in a single layer in the skillet. Scatter the blueberries over the biscuits, and then distribute the streusel topping over the berries. Bake until the biscuits are golden, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve from the skillet.

The potato casserole was the perfect accompaniment to the coffee cake. I prepped it the night before, and popped it in the oven right before serving. I got the recipe at http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/11/creamy-potato-casserole-aka-football.html , and have also listed it below.

Ingredients:

1 (28-32oz) bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
16 oz sour cream
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups corn flakes, crushed
1/4 cup butter, cubed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients, except corn flakes, and spread into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Top with crushed cornflakes and dot with cubed butter. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Tomorrow is B's 28th birthday, and my mom wanted to have him over for his favorite meal. This past weekend I took him to Christmas at the Zoo on Friday, and the Melting Pot for a 3 course fondue dinner on Saturday. We had a wonderful time, and I am so lucky to have him as my partner. More pictures to come later :)

Perfectionism

Sometimes (most of the time) I ask myself why I put so much on my plate. I am a perfectionist to a fault, and drive myself crazy trying to maintain perfection in every aspect of my life.

I work very hard at my job, and often work late nights and compulsively check my email after I leave the office. No email can go unanswered before my head hits the pillow. Unfortunately, I work with doctors. I have concluded that they do not sleep. Ever. I will receive an email at 2 or 3 in the morning, and always feel the need to wake myself up and answer their questions. I have been in this position since I graduated from college (a little over 2 years ago), and have definitely learnt a lot about working for an institution, and how to work my way up the corporate ladder. I have made some great contacts along the way, and hope these will come in handy in the future. I am not sure where my career path is going to lead me, but I will not accept anything but success.

After a long day of meetings, answering people's questions, and explaining how to complete a project, I head to the gym, return home to do the laundry, clean furniture around the house, run miscellaneous errands, and/or begin dinner. I do LOVE to cook, but sometimes I am exhausted, and just want something to instantly appear with no effort involved.

There are also very, very few days (if any) where I am able to sit down and relax before ten or eleven p.m. I am ALWAYS doing something, and even when I am supposed to be "relaxing," I have a million things running through my head. When I eventually retire to my television at night, I am either cutting coupons to save money, making lists of lists of food to cook, items to buy, things to prep, and/or spending time on my personal appearance which is not limited to re-shaping my eyebrows, painting my nails, and straightening my hair. Due to these things, I very rarely find myself in bed before 12 or 1 in the morning.

Because of these actions, I drive myself crazy.

I think with the new year rolling around, I am going to make more of an effort to take time out for myself. It will be hard with my upcoming move with the boyfriend, but for my sanity (and his), I need to accept that I can not and do not have to be perfect. Don't get me wrong, I do love my life and am grateful for the people and things in it. And despite my neurotic tendencies, I do experience all of the fun things that accompany working hard. However, I need to accept that everything around me can not be perfect at all times.

I have to remind myself that...

Subject to inspection and appraisal...

we have a house! After 6 months of searching, studying locations, crunching numbers, and planning for our big move, we have found the perfect house for the 2 of us(4 if you include the pups). This house is perfect for us because it is our house, in which we can create memories, and make it our own. We found out the sellers accepted our offer last Friday, and our closing date is at the end of January. Our inspection is this Wednesday, so please keep your fingers crossed. The house is only 4 years old so we aren't expecting anything major, but I am still nervous. Here is a photo of our biggest purchase to date...

P.S. The shutters and front door are all the same color, despite the coloring in the photograph :)

Along with being busy at work, I have been doing a lot of cooking/creating in the kitchen. I am really looking forward to having my own kitchen to cook in, along with having my own space. I have SO many recipes I can't wait to try out, and thanks to B's mom, I am now the proud owner of two more boxes of books to add to my collection!

Working 40+ hours a week, going to the gym, taking care of multiple dogs, executing the daily household chores, all while trying to maintain a social life can be hectic. We all have those days where we get home, exhausted, and don't know what to whip up for dinner. I had one of those days last week and threw together this super simple, but tasty meal.

It is more of a summer salad due to its fruit selections, but you can enjoy it any time of the year with the right choice of fruit.

Summer Salad
Salad Ingredients:
Bag of fresh spinach or arugula salad
Handful of freshly sliced strawberries
Handful of blueberries
1/4 cup of pecans (or cashews)
2 grilled & sliced chicken cutlets (optional)

Dressing Ingredients:
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 T chopped garlic
Dash of sugar
Dash of salt & black pepper

Toss together freshly washed spinach, strawberries, blueberries, pecans, and chicken. In separate bowl, whip the vinegar while adding in the garlic, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Slowly add in the olive oil while whisking. Toss dressing on salad, and serve immediately.

I also served this salad with gorgonzola garlic bread. It is so easy to make, and puts a different twist on your average garlic bread.


Gorgonzola Garlic Bread
Ingredients:
1/4 cup margarine (softened)
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese
1 T chopped garlic
1 T chopped basil
Dash of salt & black pepper
1 baguette, cut into slices

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Whip together the margarine and cheese. After chopping the garlic, add in this along with the basil, salt, and pepper. Spread the cheese mixture on top of the sliced baguette pieces. Place into 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted. For extra flavor, you can top slices with parmesan cheese upon removing from the oven.

Happy cooking!

"A charming woman is a busy woman." -Loretta Young

Good morning, blog followers! It has been awhile since I have posted, so I thought I should update you all on a few things...

The bf and I still haven't heard anything regarding the offer we put on the short sale house. Yes, it has almost been 3 months. We are continuing our house hunt, but because his lease is up at the end of January, we would like to have something finalized by the end of this year. We are looking at multiple houses this weekend, so we will see what that brings.

I have been doing a lot of fall cooking, and love the rich, hearty recipes that accompany this season.

Here are a few of my favorite dishes as of late:

Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Mexican Flautas

Tortilla Soup with Avocado and Cilantro

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

The stuffed peppers were vegan, and turned out delicious. I also make tortilla soup quite frequently because I LOVE all of the flavors, and can add as much or little hot sauce as I like. Finally, the pumpkin cookies are the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving dessert table. They are full of flavor and perfectly fluffy. I found the recipe here...http://www.nutmegnanny.com/2009/11/24/pumpkin-cookies-with-brown-butter-icing/

I have been super busy this fall, and am sure things will get even more busy as the holiday season approaches.

In the past 30 days I have done the following...

Visited B's family in Wisconsin and had a fun alcohol-free night of celebrating Wisconsin's win against Nebraska.

Gone to the baptism of B's first nephew wearing the cutest outfit I have ever seen (a Ralph Lauren onesie & shoes I bought him)!

Golfed at a country club for the first time, and surprisingly didn't do too bad.

Visted Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland to see my dad's side of the family...I literally shopped until I couldn't see my toes from all the bags I was holding. Did I mention Times Square was extra insane with the Occupy Wall Street Protestors there?

And, my adorable pup, Tinky, attended his first dog costume party (dressed as a turtle) where he partied with Peyton Manning's dog, Presley.

Duke also dressed up...as a fat pumpkin.

In conclusion, life is busy, but really good. I am getting excited for Christmas, and can't wait to get more kitchen gadgets for our house, and other decorating things. Tis the season!