Weekend in Review: January

I really liked having a way to look back and see what I did on the weekends.  That when I do a lot of interesting stuff and I really liked having that record last year... so I want to continue that, but of course that means I need to catch up on my weekends.  Let's see what I remember from the last month (how soon you forget you know?)

Mostly we haven't done much of anything - January is cold and we just don't go out as much... or at least I don't want to go out as much.

On January 10th, Dan and I went to happy hour together.  We went to 54 Street and it was nice.  We didn't stay too long or drink to much but it was nice going out somewhere.

On January 11th we celebrated my cousin's son's 3rd birthday.  They had a kid party first (we got Ari a truck that moves and makes noise).  Then the kids left and they had a more adult party.  It was pretty fun... although some people that my cousin is still friends with (that are friends with my ex) were there and it was awkward... I just don't know how to act with them since they really aren't my friends anymore.  Honestly I didn't know what to even say.... but I got through the night and overall had a really good time.

On January 12th Dan's sister, Amy, had her baby shower.  It was a really nice event.  It was I didn't know tons of people there, but I sat with his grandma and her friends and it was fine.  She had a lot of presents to open!  I got her a pair of overall (so darn cute), a parrot toy that looked a bit like Quina and Goodnight Moon.

On January 17th we went up to the hospital to visit Dan's mom after she had surgery.  We went again on Sunday, the 19th... she was so much better that day - it's amazing what a difference a day can make.  On Saturday, January 18th my grandma was staying at my mom's house.  I went over there and we went out to breakfast/lunch at Bob Evans.  Then we went and saw Saving Mr. Banks.  I really enjoyed the movie.  It was interesting to see behind the scenes glimpse of the making of Mary Poppins.  That night we hung out with Kyle.  We were going to have a game night, but that sorta ended up a bust.  We had pizza and ended up getting Dairy Queen blizzards and watching TV.  It was still a fun night.

I was off on MLK Day on January 20th.  Susan and I made plans to get pedicures and go to happy hour at Patricks.  It was a lot of fun hanging out and I love getting my toes did.

Finally, this past weekend... on Friday we visited Dan's mom at her home.  We went early to Pappy's and brought that over for lunch.  We were the first ones there!  It was so delicious and it was very nice to spend some time with her.  She's doing real well!!

On Saturday we did nothing all day... finally I was ready to get out of the house so we went to dinner at 3 Monkeys.  It was delicious.  We were going to hang out with some friends after that, but that ended up not happening.  On Sunday we grocery shopped and then hung around the house.

Some overall reflections of the month of January: 

• I have been cross-stitching a lot.  I've been trying to take pictures every hour to see my progress... something about that has made me do it more often.
• At the beginning of the month I started Weeds and finished in last week.  I really enjoyed the first few seasons of that show, but it kinda go bad after awhile... and honestly wasn't a huge fan of the ending.
• Since finishing Weeds I've started Friday Night Lights... (how I spent last weekend).  I've already watched about 15 episodes and I'm hooked.  I know my mom loved the show and I've noticed a lot of people talking about it on the blog-o-sphere including Reality Steve calling it one of his all time favorites which is why I checked it out... um loving it so far!
• I've also teleworked quite a bit this past month.  It's not a weekend thing, but just wanted to throw it in here.

2014 Resolutions

Wow - I've been terrible this month!!  I am bound and determined to get my 2014 Resolutions out there before the end of the month.

• Be healthier... and this year I really need to lose weight.  I know  I'm about the sing the same song I've sung before... but in the last few weeks I've already been making some lifestyle changes including cutting out soda/sugary drinks (while upping my water intake) and trying to overall eat less food.  I really need to concentrate on this one this year.

• I want to start wearing makeup to work more and doing my hair each day... it's about time I become a girl!

• I want to start accomplishing house related things - dining room table, hanging up stuff, etc

• I want to continue to cook and bake and try new recipes (and blog about them... with more pictures)... going along with this I want to eat at home more... I've been ok, just want to be better.

• Continue to blog about what's going on - I was a lot better about it last year and it was fun to pour through for my recap post - I've done so many things I forgot about if I didn't blog... I do need to take better pictures.

• Develop a better budget and save some moolah.

Goals should be measurable - so here they are in easy measurable terms...

1. Lose weight - be less than I weigh now by June
2. Complete a house project every month
3. Try a new recipe twice a month
4. Blog more than I did last year - 11 posts a month will do that
5. I'm not sure how to put the save one here... but I guess have something to show for this year?

Wish me luck!!  What are your goals for the next year?

2013 Resolutions: Revisited

Let's take a look back at how I did on my resolutions for 2013.

Here are my goals copy and pasted from my post last year.  My comments are in red.

• Okay, just getting this one out of the way early... I want to be more healthy. I need to find a good balance between eating what I like to eat and being healthy. I also bought a gym membership (it was a Living Social deal in December). I hope that I am able to add some exercise into my life. I'd like to lose some poundage too - but hope that comes with being healthier. I'm going to call this one overall a big fat fail... there were points I was doing better but not overall... this will be on next year's too... 

• I would like to move out of my mom's house this year Accomplished!  I even bought a house, how crazy is that?!?

• I want to continue to maintain my financial spreadsheet. I want to continue to put money into savings every paycheck and when I move out I want to develop a good more in-depth budget. This was about half - I did continue to maintain my spreasheet, but I haven't figured out an in-depth budget yet... honestly being on my own has been an adjustment financially that I'm still figuring out.  I don't want that to be negative, because it's not, it's just all these bills that aren't as consistent and figuring out grocery costs, etc etc... hopefully this is also something I'll be able to work on in the next year. 

• I would like to start doing more artsy/crafty projects - how about one crafty project a month. Let's see - I don't think I got up to 12 crafts last year... Here's a link to all my craft posts from the last year.  I count a measly 4!!  BUT in my defense on was the baby blanket that took be awhile to complete so that has to count as more right??  And I've been working on the stocking too... so... Half??

• I would like to start cooking baking more - so one new dish every month. I'm going to call this one a success!!  I counted 17 different recipes I shared with you and I know for sure there were more that I didn't.  I'm really enjoying cooking and baking lately - it's nice to have most all the ingredients on hand and just deciding spur of the moment I'm going to bake cookies today.

• I want to start wearing make up to work... I'll just look better... let's face that. FAIL... forgot it was even a resolution... maybe next year... moving on...

• I would like to blog more. Last year I only completed 50 blog entries (30 of which were short I'm Thankful posts) I would like to get back to what I was doing in 2010 and 2011. So let's make a goal of 120 posts - which averages 10 posts a month. I hope to blog about some of those craft projects and baking dishes. This is a success!!  I had 128 posts last year!! Woohoo!

• Finally, I'm going to try to read more. I couple of years ago my goal was to read 25 books in the year. I made it to 15 books that year (2010). I hope to reach that same goal of 15 book in 2013. I already have some books I got for Christmas - I can't wait to read them. Last year I read and blogged about seven books... It kinda fell by the wayside after August... but I do like reading so hopefully I'll get back into that groove soon.

It will be fun to see how I do this year - I've enjoyed this tradition

2013 Recap

Gosh I'm so late to the game on these, but whatever - this is a fun recap of what went down in 2013.

I'd say the biggest highlights of my year were the five trips I took and BUYING MY HOUSE!!

January:
I went to the YMCA trivia night with my dad (right before my brother left for DC) and made brownies.  I also did a bunch of other random things like switch my work schedule, hang out with my family and start hanging out with my cousins more.

February:
I was still reading back then (man totally forgot that was 2013).  We went to Mardi Gras.  And I had an awesome Valentines Day.  We also did things like Motorcycle Racing on Ice and Roller Derby. Michelle and I also started our Fantasy Reality TV game.

Mardi Gras

March:
A big month - Dan and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  We saw Book of Mormon at the Fox.  I also celebrated my 29th birthday!!  Mom, Lindsey and me went to visit Keith in Washington, DC (Getting There, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4)

WWII Memorial

April:
We had a big party for Dan's 30th Birthday.  I made him a pie (my first!)  We also went to a trivia night and concert.

Rhubarb Pie!

May:
We hung out with my cousins a bunch.  We went to Art in the Square.  Celebrated Mother's Day.  And went to a Gateway Grizzlies game.

Cousin fun at Hot Shots

June: 
I went shopping and got pedicures with a friend (um this happened a lot last year).  I celebrated Father's Day with my dad.  Mom and I went to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  I also began the house buying process this month, although I didn't blog about it.

Dad and Me on Father's Day

July:
We celebrated Fourth of July by watching fireworks.  I announced I was house hunting.  Lindsey and I took a trip to Daytona.  And I put a contract on the house!!!

Reading and enjoying the beach from afar

August:
Dan, Kyle and myself took a trip to Colorado (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  I took a trip to Chicago with my dad (Part 1, Part 2).  I gave Susan the baby blanket I'd worked on for her.  Oh and I purchased a house!

Dan and I in Colorado

September:
Dan and I started to get settled in the house.  Bought some couches.  I started thrift store shopping more.  I went to a wedding.

Selfie at Debra's wedding

October:
My friend Melissa came to visit.  Went to a Cardinals playoff game.  Went to Rocky Horror Picture Show.  And I hung out with a my family.

Mel and I at Botanical Gardens

 

Cardinal's Playoff Game!

November:
I blogged everyday for the month of November.  Lindsey and I got tattoos together.  I went to a football game with my dad and friend Michelle.  We went to Omaha to celebrate Lindsey's birthday. (Part 1, Part 2)  We celebrated Dan's sister - Amy's wedding.

Omaha Zoo

 

Dan and I at Amy's wedding

December:
I got to put up my Christmas decorations for the first time in 2 years.  Went to a Blues game. And enjoyed the Christmas season!

Christmas tree!

Stay-cation

With where the holidays fell this year combined with my off days (every Friday) I decided to take a bit of vacation.  I used 40 hours and was off work for 8 work days in a row... (Dec 25-Jan 6)  Then we got a crazy blizzard that pretty much closed St. Louis.  I was able to telework that week.  I ended up going to the office for a couple of hours on January 9th only to be sent back home... since I also teleworked on December 23rd and 24th... which means I was pretty much away from the office from December 19-January 13.  Man looking at it spelled out that way that's almost a month!

So what did I do with all that time off?  Well, at the time it didn't feel that long, but looking back it's like what did I do?!? 

Well, Daniel was off work, so there was a fair amount of time spent with him.  I managed to do some exciting things like clean out my closet and organize the bathroom closet...

I also hung out with my Dad and brother... we went to Final Cut Steak House at Hollywood Casino.  It was so delicious (and I'm not even a steak fan!)  Afterwards we hung out in the casino until nearly 1am!  It was fun hanging out with the two of them!

My mom's travel buddy, Joe, was also in town for awhile.  We had a game night with him where we ordered Imos pizza and played game.  I love playing board games!!  It was a really fun night.

We also decided to have an impromptu New Years Eve party.  I made WAY too much food including bacon wrapped smokies, spinach artichoke dip, monkey bread, chocolate chip cookie dough dip, and rye bread pizzas (why do I feel like I'm missing something?).  Kyle made chili cheese dip and Dan grilled some pork steaks.  So much food and it was so delicious! 

NYE was a lot of fun, we had Kyle, Michelle, Liz and Ken over.  We toasted champagne at midnight and shot off some fireworks.  We played Cards Against Humanity.  It was the perfect night in my opinion.

What else? What else?  I worked on my cross-stitch a bunch.  I thought it might be fun to show these two pictures (so pictures right?)  This depicts how much I can get done in one hour.

Beginning

One Hour Later

Not that big of a difference huh?!?

I also watched some of Weeds on Netflix, I'm up to season six I believe.  Also watched way too many Law and Order SVU episodes.

We hung out with Kyle a few times including going to a Mexican dinner with him and a couple of his friends - a lot fun.

The negative part was I did have a bit of a cold this week... sadly it's still a bit with me... but a lot of people got a stomach bug so I'll take my pesky cold over there.  Speaking of - I'm hardly ever sick... so when something silly like a cold happens I'm just a big baby about it.

I had to deal with the DMV.  I had a bit of trouble getting my car inspected.  Turns out it was leaking fuel.  Luckily for me it was covered under a recall.  So I finally sat down to get the new stickers and they couldn't verify my insurance information online womp womp.  So I went to the DMV on the last day of the year (totally smart call wouldn't you say?)  It ended up being just fine, but geez, I was worried there for a minute when I had been standing there 5 minutes and the line had not moved AT ALL. 

Hmm... what else what else?  Honestly, I was a bit like a kid, I stayed up way late and slept in late too... it was awesome!  Overall I think I was pretty lazy, but it was great to be off that long!!  It was like a school-aged kid's winter break... or what teachers get... all for 40 hours of annual leave.

Given by the end Dan and I had spent about 3 weeks non-stop together - so it was really nice to come back to work.

Christmas 2013

I thought I might do an individual post on each of my Christmas celebrations, but it's January 14th right now... and it's just not going to happen... plus I am bad at the picture taking so they would probably be five pretty boring picture-less posts.  So instead you get one boring, picture-less post that talks about the FIVE Christmas celebrations I went to.  Yes, you're hearing that correctly, FIVE Christmases.

The first one took place on December 22.  This is what I call my Dad's Family's Christmas.  It involves going to my aunt and uncles house and celebrating with that side of the family - including my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We ate a big meal (there were three kinds of meat) and chatted with everyone.  Then we played Rob Your Neighbor.  I ended up with a Breathalyzer (tried it out, but I question it's accuracy).  I also helped my dad by wrapping up my Grandpa's gift to his kids (my dad, aunt and uncle).  It was a large sum of money and I wrapped it in a creative way.  All I can say is I'm super glad that large sum of money didn't stay in my possession too long.  I kept worrying about someone breaking into my house and stealing it and how terrible it would be... either way I got the gifts delivered and out of my hands.

My next celebration was on December 23rd after work.  We had to do it this day in order for my step-brother to make it.  It was weird because I worked from home that day (and the next).  That house we always do more party food/appetizers.  I made sausage dip and cake balls.  It was a really nice celebration.  It's always nice to get everyone together and I got some really great gifts.  Even more so than that, I think my gifts to my dad and step-mom were well received.  My big gift from here was a sewing machine.  I hope to learn to use it and make something by the end of the year.

The next night, on Christmas Eve, we had my mom's family's Christmas.  This takes place at my aunt and uncle's house in O'Fallon.  We get there and eat.  Then we watch A Christmas Story until my aunt and uncle get back and open gifts.  My grandma gave me a couple of nice dresses and a cardigan.  Everyone likes the PJs we shopped for weeks before.  Then we played a version of Rob Your Neighbor.  Instead of the traditional way I come up with a list of items and if you fit into that you have to trade your present (i.e. if you are wearing green, or if you have blue eyes).  It's fun and I got some puzzle sets.  We stayed there until late and I went home with my mom and spent the night at her house.

On Christmas Day we had a traditional Christmas morning!  We woke up and opened the MANY presents my mom likes to spoil us with.  Seriously, I got too much stuff - clothes, MAN Y things for my house, a new coat.  I also really enjoyed seeing what everyone else got and how much my family enjoyed the things I selected for them.  Seriously, it's the best part!  Then we ate a HUGE, yummy breakfast and played board games the rest of the day/night.  I love this about Christmas, especially now that my brother has moved away.  Having him back home, playing board games in a PJs - I mean that's what Christmases should be like!

Finally, we celebrated with Dan's mom (and his sisters and their significant others)  She prepared a delicious breakfast.  Then we sat around and played board games (ha- I fit in well).  We stayed pretty late, they even ordered some pizza.

Overall Christmas this year was incredibly awesome, but just went so freaking fast.  It was sad to take down all my decorations, but Christmas 2014 will be here before we know it.

How was your Christmases?

It's been a minute and Cake Balls

Well... I haven't posted anything in awhile... geez.  Mostly because I had a couple of weeks off work and just kinda did a computer detox (yes, still checked things on my phone, but writing a whole entry on my phone isn't the most fun)...

Then we had a crazy winter storm and I was teleworking all last week.  By the end of the day I was so sick of my stupid laptop.  I mean, I'm sure I'm about to sound spoiled now, but going from two large monitors to a tiny laptop screen would make anyone crazy!

So here I am... almost the middle of January with SO MUCH to catch up on!

Here are the things I want to write about to capture my own memories:

• Christmas
• Stay-cation
• 2013 Wrap Up
• 2013 Resolutions - How did I do?
• 2014 Resolutions

Since I don't want this post to just be a teaser of all the things I'm meaning to write about... I'll write about cake balls.

These are what I make for Christmas... over at my dad's family they just love them.  I've made them for a few years now... Looking back, I'm not sure I've posted about this before...

Anywho - I always use red velvet cake combined with green chocolate.  This way when you bite into them they are red!  I add Christmas colored sprinkles to the top.

This year I did something a bit different with them.  The last couple of years my dad said he thinks they would be even better with a cream center.  My brother has always disagreed.  This year I decided to research and see if it was possible to put in a cream center.  So I googled and found this recipe.  It seemed easy enough so I went for it.

Making the cream filling was a bit challenging because I did not need to make as much as the recipe called for since I was only filling half of the balls with cream (man I'm feeling like there's some dirty jokes in here or at least a good 'that's what she said')  It was a fair amount of guessimation on my behalf, but I think I figured it all out - just kept tasting and adding things.

I made little holes in half the balls and added the cream through a make-shift piping bag (Ziploc with a corner cut off)... I'm not going to lie - I really enjoyed this part, maybe I need to pipe things more often?  Then you cover the cream with a bit more cake ball mixture.

Half with holes

Cream filling!

I got a mixed reaction at Christmas about which were better - cream or no cream... I think the no cream won out, however everyone told me that both were good.  I know it's weird, but I don't really eat them, so I can't tell you which I think is better either :)

All pretty and finished - the dark green had no cream and the light green did

Oh and for whatever record in case I look back on this next year and wonder what I did - I bought 4 bags of chocolate this year (2 of each color) and ended up only using 2... in years past when I've tried that I always ended up needing more... figures huh?