Totally Thursday

 Here is the March recap.
I visited Samir and a very pregnant Laura. The 30 toes and fingers should be here anytime now.
Science wise, we are moving forward with my first paper, and I celebrated with a nice Sunrise, complete with the fruity umbrella and cherries:

In the garden, we have expanded operations. Our plants take about one third of our balcony, and we have agreed to stop at that. Our lettuce is doing great, and we are nursing new seedlings for the summer. We started a few seeds too and have some petunias. Our mums from last year had been outside since last year, and they needed a bit of TLC. So they are now on the balcony and have recuperated nicely.

In the kitchen, we are gradually eating more fresh food, and I love having lettuce on the balcony. Yum!

Thai shrimp noodles

Shrimp taco with avocado

Chris, Tom's friend from Wisconsin, dropped by for a couple of days.On Tuesday, Chris, Buster, and Tom went for a day hike at Sipsey. After all the rain from this weekend, there was a lot of water in the park. In all their years of going to Sipsey, neither Tom nor Buster had seen as many waterfalls as this time.

Chris enjoying the Sipsey water

Tom's birthday was yesterday - happy birthday! I went to his indoor soccer game, and then hung out with the team at Courtyard 280. The lemon bars were a hit.

Finally Friday, part deux

This is totally the song of the day. No more experiments for paper #1 until the reviewers tell me to. a.k.a I'm Walking on Sunshine!

Finally Friday

Finally Friday this week is dedicated to Katie Brown.
Since we don't have cable we are at the mercy of what the rabbit ear catches (Fox, NBC, CW21, ABC, CBS, my68, and a few others). We watch a lot of PBS, including the Create channel. About 6 months ago, I was introduced to the Katie Brown Workshop. She cooks, crafts, and gardens! She talks in this super cute way. Think of her as a young, more hip and vibrant, Martha Stewart.Katie does it all from a barn.
Guess who will have a craft barn when she finally buys her house?!!!
She has a website (http://katiebrown.com/) and a blog (http://katiebrownblog.com/).
There's a nice article about her as well: http://www.newyorkfamily.com/newyork/article-704-sweet-and-simple.html

Her tag line: "if you keep it simple, you can't go wrong"

Check your local listing for her show. It's definitely worth it.

Totally Thursday

 

Emily inspired this post: being grateful. Here are a few things that I'm grateful for (not in any specific order): 

Spending an amazing weekend with Laura and Samir Tom Finally recovering from whatev bug/allergy I had Having the Internet at home Skype My sister Raising Cane's in Dallas Writing club Catching up with Susie Beth LIFE The balcony garden Spring Lettuce from the garden My parents Talking to my mom when I was sick Tea with Paula Great landlords MagicJack Having the option to walk to work Ceiling fans  Discovering Homegoods Publix 25 cent a day coffee at the Institute Cooking with Tom Packing yummy lunches this week Tulips  Katie Brown's Blog

Ultimate gold stars winner of this week:
Tom for getting me donuts and juice when I was miserably sick for 7 straight days. And he made tacos tonight! yum!

Things that I am looking forward to:
The last cool days before an excruciating summer
SCIENCE! woot woot!
Gardening this weekend
Tom's birthday week
Crafting with Kelly on Saturday
A visit from Wisconsin Chris

Daydreaming about our next trip

Tasty Tuesdays

The first Tasty Tuesday: How to make healthy items into not-so-healthy

A few weeks ago, Tom suggested Egg Benedict with Hollandaise sauce for weekend brunch:
First time I poached eggs
First time I made Hollandaise from scratch
Result: I'm glad we went for a two-hour walk around the neighborhood after that meal - way too rich!

Egg Benedict on English muffins

Coconut Rum Apple with coconut ice cream

Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu (with a twist), with steamed asparagus

The healthiest version:

One of Tom's favorites: Cajun boiled shrimp,  with homemade horseradish sauce

And today, I had my first salad made with lettuce from the garden!

Something is broken

I apologize for the interruption of my blog due to the home Internet being broken :( When I get back online, I will have Dallas pictures, garden updates, and kitchen treats! Yum!

Happy St. Patty's Day Y'all!

Finally Friday - cuteness edition

Picture from the Daily Mail

Baby Spider Monkey Estela:
Read the full story about this spider monkey, who was rejected by her mother. She is really tiny, and really cute!

Getting Organized

As I multitask tonight, I realized that having a blog is one more thing to keep organized. I tend to blog several things, once a week. How 'bout I break it down, building on the Drankas Wordless Wednesdays:

Tasty Tuesdays: Kitchen happenings
Totally Thursdays: Everything else
Finally Fridays: Cute things from this week
Sunny Sundays: Gardening updates

Let's see how this works.

(I blog from home - not supposed to do it from the Institute; don't have a smart phone (yet) to blog on the go)

50 States

Life goal: Visit all states. So far: 16 (17 counting Washington DC); Following Kelly's style, the list is now at the bottom of the blog :)

Goals

Every year, I set goals for the year - and come this time of the year, I usually give in and say, there's always next year. For those who know me, I need someone to do it with me and/or push me, push me a lot! Well, I'm glad to say that there are a few goals this year, and they seem to be well on track.
Goal 1: No fast food.
On our way out of Wisconsin, Tom and I decided that we would not eat fast food for the month of January. Did we have fast food? Yes, but on Feb 12th! I am excluding Subway and the time that Paula and I went to Pop's Delis in Five Points for her birthday and I had a burger. So, I'll say this was ok.
Goal 2: Lose weight.
I put on a few pounds when I worked my second job. I always had meetings, and the only time that worked for meetings, were lunch or dinner meetings. Consequence = eat out almost every meals. I could afford it, so why not? Well the pounds added up. Goal: Lose 10 lbs. On Monday, got on the scale. Drum roll. Pounds lost so far: 17 LBS!!!! So new goal 2: Lose 4 more lbs.
Strategy: eat out less (see goal 3 below), cook healthy food, bring in lunch, have a healthy snack drawer, a few workouts when I can, eating half tablespoon of ice cream every so often instead of a bowl, and walking to work almost every day (except on weekends, when we have horizontal rain, and at times on Mondays because of night class).
Goal 3: Eat out only once a week.
I love Surin, Taj's and Sitar, Newks etc... but because of the lbs (goal 2), and not having a second job (less money), I decided to eat out only once a week. I think on average, I've eaten 0-1 times a week. Today, we went to Newks for lunch. So no more this week.
Goal 4: Save money.
I've gradually worked my way out of debt and my second job had afforded me a lot of flexibility: shopping and travel. It was always the debate: having money but no time or having time but no money (although now that I'm getting ready to graduate, I don't have time either). Anyways, I have a goal to have x amount in savings by the time I defend. I already have 80% of this - so working on the last 20%
Goal 5: Travel.
It's my life goal to visit all 50 states of the US and I want to achieve this by visiting 3 new places every year. Last year, it was Minneapolis, La Crosse, Denver, and San Diego. Minnesota and Wisconsin were two new states.
So far this year, I haven't been anywhere new. This year, I'm going to Rhode Island for a conference, and will stop in Boston. Third place, don't know yet. Maybe the Carolinas?
Goal 6: Be more social.
New friendships, forged over Packer power. Enuf said. Rekindling old friendships. Went to the penthouse for the first time in almost 2 years. Talking more to the family.
Goal 7: Become a domestic goddess. 
OK - I'm the domesticated type. But I want a garden. Full of veggies and flowers. Cook more confidently, and adventure (fits with goals 2 and 3). Let's see what happens.


So resolutions and goals this year: WINNING! 

Garden Day 15

Everyone's still doing well. The muscari flowers are coming up! I never worked with these flowers before and was worried that I would have two pots of grass for the entire spring.
Tom chipped in and seeded Morning Glories. He also split the lettuce heads to bigger pots. No dahlias yet. The lettuce seeds have started to sprout. All but two of the greenhouse seeds came up already. A complete review to follow. We had a second strawberry flower, but no fruits yet :(

Morning Glories

Muscari!