Working on these resolutions.

I have been strangely tired for the past couple of days.  Not my favorite feeling when I had to go back to the hospital yesterday for my internship.  It felt like such a long, slow day.  Hopefully tomorrow is better and I can pull myself together a little bit today!  I have to finish my application for the field placement that I'll have next week and I want to set myself a deadline.  Friday sounds good to me :)


Yesterday morning I had oatmeal.

I also had to pack my lunch for work, which included a Morningstar burger and a pita, yogurt, a Pecan Pie Larabar (not a huge fan), and carrots.

I also had an apple on the way to the hospital and a cupcake that someone had brought in.  When I got home, I had one of my scones to hold me over to dinner- we had to take Ollie to the vet last night for his last round of vaccinations.  This was the first time that we've left without another appointment!  Neutering comes soon though, so we'll be back (and Ollie will be unhappy with us) soon.

Dinner was roasted shrimp and broccoli with spanish rice.  It turned out really nicely and I wouldn't mind putting this into the dinner rotation.

I really love broccoli.


This morning I had another bowl of oatmeal, but somehow forgot to take a picture.  I want to take Ollie for a long walk, but I'm not sure if I can handle the cold weather.  Walking him more often was one of my resolutions, and I really want to get him (and me!) more exercise! 

How are your resolutions coming along?

Sleepy day.

Oh man, I am so tired.  It's just been one of those days, I guess.  I went to Target and TJ's earlier to get some stuff for the house and groceries.  I actually ended up buying a lot of vegetables that I've never tried before, so we'll see how they work out. 


I also bought some pretty awesome things from TJ's (which is pretty much always guaranteed).  I got some smoked salmon for $2 and had a mini bagel with it when I got home.

Dinner was potato and leek soup and salad (x2).  The soup is okay; kinda bland, but still has some good flavors and textures in it.  Maybe I'm not meant to make French foods.

Another awesome TJ's find: macarons.  I've been seeing these everywhere online lately and I found them in the frozen section!  They were really yummy and not overly sweet.

I don't have any more energy for anything else tonight.  I go back to my internship tomorrow, so I need to start winding down anyway. 

Puppy trouble.

Good Monday afternoon!  This is my last real "off" day.  I want to take full advantage of it and tie up all of the loose ends on my to-do lists.  I've got a pretty good start so far with working out and such, so I just need to get to Target and the store and then get right back to it!

Breakfast was an english muffin with peanut butter.

After I worked out with My Fitness Coach (more about that in another post), I had some pita chips and hummus.

Most of my day has been spent trying to keep the dog out of trouble.  He's too smart for his own good and he knows what things he's not supposed to play with (namely, gloves and socks).  And we have a huge pile of laundry on the couch.  Bad combo.


I had the rest of my asparagus.




I eat out of tupperware a lot.

And another strawberry pecan scone.

Okay, it's definitely time for me to put the puppy away so I can get on with my chores and errands!

I love Sundays.

Today was the perfect Sunday for me; I got up and drank coffee with Sunday Morning, got a lot of chores done and crossed things off of my to-do list, baked, and generally relaxed.


I woke up to oatmeal (nothing better when it's cold! Except maybe pancakes...).

I went to the gym and just walked on the treadmill because I'm feeling a little sore.  But I thought that something was better than nothing.  Ollie was in a mood

all day today.

I had some leftover mashed potatoes for lunch.  No gravy because it didn't really microwave well :(

Later on I had an apple and peanut butter.

We had some strawberries that I had bought and were getting ready to turn, so I decided to make some strawberry pecan scones that I based off of this recipe.

  They turned out really yummy!  And multiply that by 2.  I should know better than to leave stuff out; it always gets eaten :p

I also put up some shelves and decorations that I had bought a while ago.  1. They might be crooked and the pics make them look worse.  2. I'm not sure if they look cheesy.  I'm definitely open to comments!

For dinner I made chicken scarpariello with egg noodles. 

I've been really proud of myself with chicken lately!  I haven't been burning it or overcooking it or anything!

I also forgot that I had some asparagus, so I roasted it and ate half.

With a little parmesan cheese.  I think that asparagus is moving up on my veggies list.  I really want to try making artichokes because I've been reading about them in Julie and Julia.

Now I'm just finishing out my Sunday with some cocoa.  This week is back to the hospital and then I'm taking a class next weekend, plus all the various appointments and such.  I don't want to leave my vacation!!  Back to the real world... 

Fun new dinners!

Last night I made a dinner that had really stuck out to me in one of my new Ina Garten cook books; her parmesan chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy.  I was a little bit worried becauseI'm never that good at cooking chicken for some reason.  Let's just say that this was a major confidence boost.  Me and G both really liked it a lot.

Plus, I made homemade gravy for the first time!  It wasn't as good as my mom's, but still good.  I also made some black eyed peas and spinach from my Moosewood book, which G ate so that was also a triumph.

 

I've been topping my nights off with hot cocoa.  Probably a good dessert choice for my new year's resolutions.

This morning I had apple cinnamon oatmeal.

After working out, I finished off the rest of the veggies from last night (maybe I could get him to eat them once, but there was no way that G was going near them again).

A little later I had a banana muffin.

Then, for some reason, we had the idea that the weather would be okay for a walk to Fell's Point.  This was probably a bad idea.  It was so cold out.  But I guess worth it for the food.  We went to BOP Pizzeria for lunch and I got a Greek salad.

They have really, really great pizza, but I just wasn't in the mood.  I had a bite of G's pepperoni-pepperoncini pizza and it was good as always.

Then what I was really waiting for!  Mr. Yogato!  It's probably a good thing that we aren't closer to it, because I would be trying to get all of the topping combos that I could possibly think of.  Today I got what I've been getting, though: tangy with kiwi, coconut, and chocolate jimmies.

Did I mention that I got a slow cooker for Christmakkuh from my momma?  And that we watched Julie and Julia?  And that after watching it, G decided that he wanted to try beef bourguignon?  Yes.  And lucky enough, there was a recipe in the little book that came with my slow cooker.  So all day, we had a nice smell in the apartment as it cooked.  The final result, with buttered noodles and bread:

This was good, but really, really rich.  I guess a lot of French food is like that.  Plus, I'm not a huge beef eater to begin with.  Maybe this is more appropriate for a bigger crowd and smaller portions.  But still, really flavorful and tasty!

Now I'm having my cocoa again.  I keep saying that I need to get around to the huge pile of clean laundry that needs to be folded.  Maybe tomorrow...

How do you get the motivation for chores that you hate doing?

Looking back and going forward

I wanted to start this post with my review 0f 2009 and my resolutions for 2010. Looking back, this was a really big and exciting year for me. My family and friends were healthy and happy for the most part and I had some huge life changes. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things, but here are some big ones that I remember.

• Went to President Obama's inauguration.

• Started blog!
  
• Saw Duff speak

• Finished Help Center
• Graduated from UMD with my bachelor's in psychology

• Saw Paul McCartney!

• Moved to Baltimore in August with my boyfriend

• Started Master of Social Work program at UMB
• Started field placement at hospital in pediatrics
  
• Got on-call job with hospital in the domestic violence office
  
• Got Ollie!

Looking forward into the new year, there are some things that I want to work on.

School:
I want to dedicate more time to my school work.  This semester wasn't too hard for me because it was a lot of psychology review, but I know that it's not going to be like that the whole way through.  I want to be more organized with my studying and continue to set deadlines for myself and know my best habits.

Eating:
I've gotten into a habit of feeling like I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and that's just not true.  I need to get back into moderation and balance.  Moving in with a guy who can practically eat whatever he wants and 2x more than me was something I didn't realize would effect me the way it did.

Working out:
I want to be more serious about it.  I've gotten really lazy and sometimes go weeks without going to the gym.  I want to be held accountable for working out because I know that it makes me feel better.  I need to get a workout in 3-5 days a week along with yoga.

Weight:
Right now I am at the highest weight that I can ever remember being.  I am not happy about it.  I want to lose 14 pounds.  I don't think that I need to go on and on about this because it's something that a lot of us struggle with, but I know if I concentrate on my other goals then weight loss will come naturally.

Ollie:
I want to take Ollie on one long walk per week while it's cold out and then increase that a lot when the weather starts getting nicer.

Others:
-Drink more water
-Relax more
-Go on a real vacation! (even for a couple days)
-Explore Baltimore more and do more of the Baltimore 100
-Cook more from cookbooks
-Eat at least one vegetarian dinner per week

That was one of the longer posts that I've had for a while!  I was going to include my eats for the past few meals, but I'll hold off for another post since this one was so long.

What was your favorite part of 2009?  What are you looking forward to in 2010?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Wow, 2010?  That's pretty crazy.  This year went by so quickly and so many great things happened.  I wanna get to that, but first I've been having some pretty amazing food over the past couple of days.


Yesterday for lunch I made a BLT, with real bacon, which I've never done before.  And it was quite yummy.

I should also mention that I've been having a major downfall to these almond biscotti.  I hope they disappear soon (which means I just need to eat them faster!).

Since we had to have a pretty lowkey night last night, we decided to make it awesome with food.  We started off with some steamed shrimp from the grocery store.

I thought their texture was kinda funky, but G didn;t have a problem with them.  But the main event was food from Trinacria.

Right here we're looking at cheese lasagna, a couple of meatballs, some garlic bread and some asparagus that I made.  YUM.  I want to live inside of that place.

I also wanted to make a special dessert and tried for molten lava cakes, but they didn't bake right.

Still tasted good, though!  I think I just needed to leave them in longer.  I've made them successfully before with a different recipe, so maybe next time.

This morning I made us a new year's breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and 1/2 english muffin.

For lunch it was more leftover lasagna and an apple.

Man, I really want to try everything that that market sells.

I also made some banana muffins and I just finished snacking on one.

I'm making a couple of recipes from my new cook books tonight!  I'm really excited!  Don't forget to eat your black-eyed peas on New Year's day!

What is your favorite cook book?

What are your New Year's traditions?