I'm drooling...

...over this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. We'd have this for dinner, if not for no potatoes.

Headed home

I've put in a 12-hour day at the office. I'm excited to watch Grey's Anatomy tonight and to see my sister. I'm more excited to go to sleep tonight and wake up, knowing that it's Friday. I'm not quite into the swing of things with the "blog every day" thing, but I do like the challenge.

Hey, here's something cool to check out: Mamalode. I know the gal who started this magazine, and I think it's great, even though I'm not yet a mom!

Golly...busy day. Not quite into this "every day" routine. I'll get better, I promise!

Commitment. Go.

In an effort to do a little something fun every day, I'm going to commit to writing something on my blog every day, even if it's tiny. I love this blog, and I see what others are sharing with their blogs, and I want to do the same.

Something fun I've found recently: Silver Pencils, authored by my favorite Bee, Mrs. Espresso! I loved reading about her wedding and I'm loving her blog. Her pins and hair flowers are pretty darn cute, too!

So, I hope you stay tuned, whoever you are, because I'm committing to you a little bit more. :)

What a day...

...and I don't mean this in the exhausted, I'd-like-to-complain-about-my-job way (like some people I know) but in the "wow, I changed how I do a few things, and what a difference it made!"

My new position is recruiting. That means I have to talk to a lot of people. I have to motivate people who are my "centers of influence" to talk to a lot of people. Which means, in turn, that it's important for me to talk on the phone and schedule appointments. My consultant (who is a total rockstar, by the way) and I talked yesterday, and she said, "Every day, from 8-10 AM, close your door, put a note that says, 'On the phone, out at 10' and get on the phone. Schedule it. Don't do anything else." Guess what? I did that today and I made 20 calls and about 10 appointments. (I left a few messages.) I had an unbelievable time of focus. It totally rocked.

This year is going to be great for me and the Mr., I just know it! I'm loving the new year and my new position, and I'm loving the challenge. It keeps me busy and excited and happy. Sure, it's stressful, but it's fun.

How are you feeling?

Art. Love it.

What a great concept. I'm definitely keeping this on my radar.

I think I oughtta bake

This week has been a crush of reality; we've spent the last two weeks preparing for Christmas and my sister's wedding, spending very little time in the real world of work and phone calls and saying the right thing and playing the numbers game. So this week, we are both tired. Last night was the first night this week that I didn't dream about work. Nice.



Tonight, I know the Mr. is planning on watching some big football game; I'm thinking I'd like to read and maybe bake some banana bread. I'm sorta in the mood to experiment. I really like the looks of this recipe from Orangette. I love how Molly writes about food and life, and I love her book. You should read it, really. It makes me want to cook.

I'm thinking, though, for this recipe, that I'd like to try a little experiment. What do you think would happen if, instead of honey, one used molasses? How might that turn out? I might try it, and let you know what happens.

Happy New Year...

The holiday season seemed like such a whirlwind. We've been doing a ton of traveling between the ranch and Missoula for the past month with the holidays and my sister's wedding on January 2. Everything was beautiful and went off without a hitch, and my sister and her husband had a wonderful wedding; it truly was a fabulous party. This week, my Mr. and I are recovering from weeks of parties and traveling; we're both moving slow this week and are looking forward to a weekend with no plans, just wherever the wind blows us.

I don't do New Year's resolutions; mostly because I find I never keep them and I always feel like a loser if, when I wake up February 1, I realize that I've totally failed. But, my mom sent me a lovely "Handbook 2010" email with several great ideas for the new year. A couple of them I already do, like drink plenty of water and most of the time, I get enough sleep. However, with the start of my new job, I find myself (in my seven hours of sleep) dreaming about my job and things I have to do. I've got to try to find a way to make that go away, because really, I need my sleep. I want to dream about things like horses, time at the ranch, summer, and fun. So, that's a resolution, I suppose, for me: to get restful sleep. Any ideas?

Hope you all had a fabulous new year and a wonderful Christmas.

Experiment: red wine risotto

I have been craving some risotto lately. I know, right off the top of my head, that I am missing about 50 percent of the ingredients for any of my previous risotto recipes. However, I had a thought: maybe I'll just experiment. What's the worst that could happen? We'd eat the left over mac and cheese from Sunday. It's edible.

I'll keep you posted.

On our first Christmas

Technically, this isn't our "first" Christmas. The Mr. and I have been together for three Christmases now, but this Christmas is the first we will spend together as a family. Tonight, we'll be with his parents and brother, then attend our church's midnight service. Tomorrow morning, we'll get up early and head to the ranch for Christmas morning. It feels different that I'm not with my family today, tonight, and first thing in the morning, but I understand the compromise that comes with being a new family. We've done a lot to make Christmas seem more like "home as usual:" we have a little Christmas tree in our little apartment, we have wrapped gifts under the tree, we'll be going to Christmas Eve service together, and we'll wake up to each other on Christmas morning. I'll make coffee, we'll drink it by the Christmas lights. We'll try to get to the ranch in time for my mom's breakfast casserole.

Today, we're at the office for a few hours; then we'll do a bit of last minute shopping. I need to bake some Christmas goodies and finish laundry, and get us packed for the weekend.

In other news, I'm behind on the 52 books in one year challenge. I finished my third and fourth books and am almost finished with my fifth. With any luck, I'll get back on track over the next couple of weeks.

Merry Christmas, everyone! May your season be blessed.

Reading material...if you're looking

This was a fun article, pointed out by Cup of Jo.

The magic of Christmas

If you've been missing me, I'm sorry! The last couple of weeks have been busy with training a new person at the office, moving office furniture, and waiting for a new laptop to show up. I've been transitioning into a new role at my office, which is wonderful; I'm looking forward to the challenge. And as of yesterday, we got all of the furniture moved so I have a real office now. Things are coming together.

Last night, the Mr. and I and my sister (who's getting married in 15 days!) drove around town, looking at Christmas lights. The night was lovely; we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse, then drove around in the heavy fog of Missoula, looking at the the lights.

The first place we stopped is a house where the Mr.'s family stops every Christmas eve. This couple fills their yard, deck, trees, garage, windows with Christmas decorations. You can walk around their driveway and check it out up close (including the Porky Pig who sings "Blue Christmas," stutter and all.) The photos above are from this first stop.

My sister is a little kid when it comes to Christmas. Last night was almost like driving around with a small child in the car; I don't mean this in a bad way at all! It just means that when we're talking Christmas, my sister still sees the magic of Christmas with the heart of a child. She loves Christmas lights. She oohs and ahhs over the most fantastic of displays and does nearly the same thing when someone has a single string of lights on a single tree on the single decorated house on a street. She eats it up.

My sister finished finals week for her first semester of Physical Therapy school yesterday. She was ready for some fun. Also, I don't think she's been able to really think about her wedding because she's been so busy with school. I'm glad that she has the next two weeks to really soak up the magic that is the last 15 days before a wedding. I'm so happy for her and her guy. I can't wait for their wedding, and I'm happy that she is so happy. Their wedding will be amazing: a day filled with laughter, love, and fun times.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

(With any luck, I'll write again before Christmas.)

I can't help myself.

Today is that one day a month when I feel really crummy. I make myself better when I feel this way by eating whatever I feel like.

Whatever. I. Feel. Like.

So, for instance, I eat lots of macaroni and cheese, pasta in general, candy, you name it. I allow myself this because I never do this otherwise, and I've been working out.

Additionally, I don't do anything I don't want to do for this day. I think my emphatic nature toward this is evident if someone says, "Hey, can you do this?" And my response, in general, is "Nope." No further explanation necessary.

Gotta go. I need a candy bar.

Majorly absent

Well, I just realized that I haven't written anything since last Tuesday.

Bad, bad, bad.

It's just that I've been so busy...

...which is such a poor excuse. We're all busy. We're all tired. I've been feeling a lot of that, and rather than be one of those people who complains incessantly about it, I just don't write.

I'm so happy, happy, happy that the holidays are here. We have a wonderful little tree in our tiny apartment, and even though half of the lights stopped working, we still love it. It still brings a bit of Christmas into our house. I have a few pine boughs out on the deck, and I'm trying to think of something to do with them that is festive and fun.

Tonight, I think I'm going to take some time to catch up on some housework, read, and do laundry.

Anyway, I haven't disappeared (and, my lovely few readers probably know that, since I talk to you daily anyway...).

Merry Christmas!

Excellent holiday idea

Sometime this weekend, I think I'll whip up some of this lovely cookie dough.


Heart of Light posted this recipe (and photo) and I agree: what a great way to have desserts on hand, or to whip up something quick for a fast Christmas gift?