Resolutions for 2010

I never came and wrote out my complete resolutions, so to make sure I follow them this year I thought I would post:

1. Get married (probably the most important).
2. Back to better health and nutrition (green smoothies/juices, more of a vegetarian/pescatarian diet).
3. Back to the gym… exercise at least 3 times a week (losing 20 pounds is ideal here since I have a wedding dress to squeeze into).
4. Learn where my food comes from and eat more local/organic (join the CSA).
5. Continue to drop the plastic and paper bags in the store and use my Baggu bags.
6. Get to bed before midnight so I can get up earlier.
7. Read one book a month (did well with this one last year).
8. Make one new recipe from my cookbooks each week.
9. Knit myself a sweater (have always wanted to and never have).

Of course the only resolution from last year I did well with was the reading. I far surpassed my goal of one book per month and read nearly 24 books! Take a look:

1. Eat, Pray, Love / Elizabeth Gilbert
2. His Dark Materials Omnibus / Philip Pullman
3. Wicked / Gregory Maguire
4. Son of a Witch / Gregory Maguire
5. Angels & Demons / Dan Brown
6. The Last Lecture / Randy Pausch
7. Sex and the City / Candace Bushnell
8. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer
9. New Moon / Stephenie Meyer
10. Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer
12. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog / John Gorgan
13. Three Cups of Tea / Greg Mortenson
14. The Secret Life of Bees / Sue Monk Kidd
15. The Friday Night Knitting Club / Kate Jacobs
16. Knit Two / Kate Jacobs
17. Knit the Season / Kate Jacobs
18. A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini
19. The Kite Runner / Khaled Hosseini
20. Q&A / Vikas Swarup
21. Dead Until Dawn (Sookie Stackhouse 1) / Charlaine Harris
22. Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse 2) / Charlaine Harris
23. Green Smoothies Diet / Robyn Openshaw (only half)
24. Julie & Julia / Julie Powell (only half)

So now I have to work on my reading list for this year, and so far I have only come up with 11:

1. Julie & Julia / Julie Powell (only half – finished right after the new year)
2. My Sister’s Keeper / Jodi Picoult (already started)
3. Green for Life / Victoria Boutenko
4. Food Inc. / Karl Weber
5. In Defense of Food / Michael Pollan
6. The Lost Symbol / Dan Brown
7. Silence of the Lambs / Thomas Harris
8. Hannibal / Thomas Harris
9. Tunnels / Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams
10. Deeper / Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams
11. A Lion Among Men / Gregory Maguire

New Books for the New Year

Since the new year is… well, tomorrow… I went ahead and got a few new books to add to the reading list for 2010. New Year’s always brings about resolutions, and with a wedding on the horizon, better eating and losing a few (okay, 25) pounds is essential. My biggest goal for the new year is to get back to the way I used to eat… primarily organic and mostly veggies and fish. I think I’m honestly going to give the Pescatarian eating a try for a while. I also want to make a good attempt at getting to know where my food comes from, like joining a local CSA. These are two books that explain where our food comes from and why it’s so important. I wanted to join the CSA last year but didn’t have the money for even a half share. This year I want to make that a priority. I’ve also been lacking on my green smoothies and want to try to get those back into my diet.

It’s time to make the decision to be in better health… and after I recover from the potential (okay, inevitable) hangover tomorrow, we’re going back to the gym. I’ve only been donating for half a year now.

So, see you in the new and healthier new year!

Engaged…. again

We’ve decided to try again and on Christmas Eve David proposed to me for the second time. This time he gave me a diamond wedding band to prove that he is committed to the end result. I couldn’t be happier and hope that things go a little smoother this time around.

IMAG0038.jpg

We bought granite on Saturday!

We got up on Saturday and decided to trek to the ReStore to see what we could find and we got this!!! It was $113 and can be cut, delivered and polished for another $125. But for less than $250, we’ve now got granite for the downstairs bathroom! Here’s a close up: HERE. I’m worried that there isn’t enough of our green in it to match, but I guess the room can be repainted if necessary. I’m hoping it will work once we get it… should be sometime after the New Year.

They also had a piece that was brown (and almost twice the size) that would have fit the guest bathroom for $200, but David wouldn’t let me get it too… maybe I’ll have to sneak over there tomorrow. Happy Holidays to us… Santa got us rock!

Countdown to Christmas

I wanted to share what I made and sent to the younger kids in the family… it is an advent calendar with a twist. The round tins are magnetic and have a “little surprise” inside each one starting Dec. 1 and going all the way to Christmas morning. Here’s another view.

I wanted to do something a little special to remind the little ones of what Christmas should mean and the things they should enjoy. I also thought that each day (if I remember) I will try to post the little notes that I put in each one… please consider doing these with us and post what you think or how you celebrated each one (posting pictures would be even better!!!). It is not necessary to do these, but I just thought they might reinforce the simple joys of the holiday… some things you may have already done or maybe you haven’t even thought of them so far, but you can try to plan it for the week or post about it later (there’s no pressure here… just good ol’ fashioned fun).

PLUS, I thought it would be a nice way to bring the family together through activities without us actually “being together.” This way we can all watch a movie together or drink cocoa together, etc. So here we go… bring on the Holiday Spirit:

Dec. 1: Have a house lighting ceremony, complete with a tongued drum roll! (like in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation)

Moon Cookie Attempt #1 for David

I tried my first attempt at making David’s favorite cookie tonight. The best ones are found in NY at Wegmans and we don’t have one here. I thought I would try in honor of his homecoming today. While it doesn’t taste exactly like the ones from Wegmans, its a pretty good runner up. I found the recipe online and modified it slightly. I’ll be sure to post the recipe after I get David’s feedback.

Viva la moon cookie.

Beautiful Graffiti

Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread

I think I need to try this recipe this weekend. It came from Starbucks and I am hoping it is just like their banana pound cake, which is one of my favs. Now I just have to hold out and hope they might share their Marble Cake and Vanilla Scones.

I have also started adding some recipes to my FlickR page in a set called Family Recipes. I saw on Martha that people are doing this, extending FlickR past just a photo storage place, and I thought it was cool. So when I have a picture of whatever it is, I will try to include the recipe if I have one. I only have a few up there now, but I included the picture of this recipe card in there.

My ICA Show buys