I Know This Much Is True: A List

1) I am old. How else does one give oneself a charley horse by merely attempting to exit one's car while carrying one's handbag, laptop, XL regular from Dunks and tray of pumpkin cupcakes (to bribe coworkers with)? Clearly too much going on for this old gal. I am sure my coworkers enjoyed seeing me carefully maneuver out of my car with all this crap and then become stricken and almost fall down in pain. Misfortune is the mother if Hilarity, oui?

2) It may be unromantic of me to say so, but I never claimed to have the "bride gene". Getting married is annoying. I'm sure being married is swell but between caterers and venues and budgets the rigmarole of planning a party for 130+ people? Sweet Jesus! No wonder (smart!) people elope.

3) I went food shopping today and our total for the week, a weeks worth of breakfasts and lunches and dinners? $50.18. This time I really did make the bagger give me a high five. Boo freakin YEAH. Lower cost/lower calorie items on the menu this week include Turkey and Balsamic Onion Quesadillas, Macaroni and Cheese and Tex Mex Taco Salad .

4) I've decided to spice things up and go slightly redder (vis a vis my hair color) and go back to using Aveda Color Depositing Shampoo/Conditioner (which I have had great luck with!) for a little while. By the by if you google "Aveda Color Depositing Shampoo" my blog comes up before the actual Aveda website. So where is my free lifetime supply?

5) Earlier today I tweeted about how our Comcast bill is sucking my will to live and lo! A Comcast rep contacted me and after a short conversation with Nancy in the corporate office I am now paying $120 less a month. While I still think Comcast is a little shady, but I am glad that they pay attention to their customers and attempt to make them a little more happy and a little less poor! And I am happy to have $120 a month more to put towards the aforementioned annoying wedding :-P

A Mighty Salad / A Tragic Loss

I put Adam and myself on a meat-reduced diet.


We are chicken, pork, and steak folk up in here. In that order too. We have chicken the most. Followed by pork, and then the occasional steak or beef stew. We are also hardcore into a serving of veggies and a starch with this meat. It works for us.

However in an effort to expand our culinary horizons, I decided that for at least three days each week - we will not have meat with our dinner. At least not the trifecta of meat we are used to. In my mind sometimes one of these meals can be pasta, or sometimes fish, and then something vegetarian-y or vegan-y and that rounds out our three meatless dinners a week.

Last night, since they had some GORGEOUS salmon at Stop and Shop. And I love love love salmon. Guess what we had for dinner?

Wanting to experiment with different ways of serving it, and using a Sandra Lee recipe as a jumping off point, I decided to serve it atop a delicious and hearty salad. You see, dinner is my main meal of the day. For breakfast I usually have a Fiber One bar and maybe some yogurt. And I cannot abide a "real" lunch during the work day. I am usually too busy to go out and am never hungry enough to have leftovers from dinner the night before. So lately I have been getting a multigrain bagel from Dunks in the morning with my coffee and having that for lunch. Or a slim fast meal replacement bar and some almonds. So dinner is my big meal of the day and it needs to be a good one!

Anywho, this is a salad for non -salad eaters. It is super hearty, super tasty and as all salads are easy to throw together.

Spicy Salmon and Rice Salad
1 lb salmon
2 tbsp Cajun seasoning (or whatever spicy seasoning you like!)
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 cup cooked and cooled brown rice
a few roasted red peppers (from a jar), chopped
1/2 a can of black beans, rinsed and drained.
balsamic vinegar and olive oil (or whatever dressing you like)

It's easy enough - just brush some oil on both sides of your salmon filet, sprinkle the seasoning on and grill over medium heat for about 5 minutes a side or until it flakes easily. Chop roughly and set aside to cool

Combine the lettuce, rice, peppers and black beans in a bowl. Toss with dressing. Throw salmon on top. Et voila!

The rice mixed in gives the salad a nice hearty quality and the perky peppers and smoky black beans really compliment the spicy salmon. It was a homerun in our house!



On a somber note: last night we lost a good friend. Living in an apartment does not lend itself to grilling. And Adm and I both love to grill but we resigned ourselves to a grill free existence in our apartment building. Sigh.

Five years ago, something came into our life that fixed our grill-less living situation and we were better people for it.



The George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill.

With this, we were able to enjoy all of our favorite grilled foods from the comforts of our apartment and with little to no smoke (and fat).



It's handy dial made it virtually impossible to overcook dinner.

We used it quite often - sometimes every day in the summer. And it was nice in the winter to get the taste and fun of cooking out even while the snow was blowing outside.

But alas our time with the grill, as all good things, came to an end abruptly last night. When I went to plug in the grill and one of the prongs came off in my hand.
Gasp!
Sob!
Wah!!!!!!!

RIP Buddy. We will be replacing this weekend but know that our new grill will never have the same place in our hearts that you did.

(Cue the song "Through the Years")

Through the years, you've never let me down

You turned my life around, the sweetest days Ive found

I've found with you ... through the years

Ive never been afraid, Ive loved the life we've made

And I'm so glad Ive stayed, right here with you

Through the years

Highs and Lows in the Checkout Line

On my never ending money to save money where saving money is possible (/ telling people how I am trying to save money without feeling like I am really saving any usually) I have gotten into coupons.

Hardcore.

Manufacturer’s coupons.
Online Coupons
Store Coupons

You name it, I clipped it and organized it into my dollar store coupon organizer. What what?

Now clipping coupons is very different from USING coupons. For one thing, it’s really easy to get suckered into buying something you would never normally buy because you have a coupon. Oh cool, $1 off those $8 granola bars I have never wanted to try. Let’s do it! But there are some things I continually am in need of (hummus, salsa, tortilla chips, canned accoutrements, frozen vegetables, fiber one bars etc).

And then there is also to consider, is the store brand still cheaper even when I use a coupon on the name brand item and if so is the store brand as good (which it is, lets say for frozen vegetables but not so much for fake fiber one bars).

So you see there is all this mental prep involved in using coupons. I can’t use a coupon on the fly. I make my shopping list, and if I have a coupon for the item I make an asterisk next to it. There is a process, people!

Which is why I flipped out a little at CVS last night and missed out on some sweet,sweet savings.

I had checked out my Extra Care Coupons before making my trip and determined I couldn’t use any of them since I was not in any need of CVS brand anti diarrhea meds (CVS likes to always remind you of worse times in your life) and I wasn’t going to spend close to $50 so the $10 off $50 wouldn’t work either. So I made my list of the usual suspects (face moisturizer, TP, clear nail polish, shower gel), went to the store, filled my basket and waited in line to pay. Ho hum. As I was being rung up I was thinking I had spent about $25 so when she told me “$48 is your total” I was a little aghast. Say what? How could that be?

OH yeah there was that hand cream I picked up. And the hair spray. Oh and the lip gloss. The hand sanitizer. The candy corn (what?).

Crikey! That stuff sneaks up on you.

So the clerk nicely tells me “you know you could spend $2 more and save $10” and a smart savvy shopper would have said YES I AM ON IT. But I, still mentally trying to figure out how I was $20 off on what I thought I would be spending said “No, that’s ok”.

What an asshole.

Then as I sat in my car after looking at my purchases, dazed. I couldn’t believe I didn’t just go grab a nail file or something because I would have had MORE stuff for LESS money. Jeez Luiz.

Fresh from that abomination, I went food shopping this afternoon.

I have probably mentioned before that I am on a constant mission to get our weekly food shopping budget down to $50. It used to be close to $150 but over the past year I have managed, through list making and sale stalking, to drop it to around $70. But not much below that. So this week I took a different tactic. I decided that for at least 2 of our meals we will be using the crock pot (and crock pot meals somehow are always cheaper to make), and we would have pasta at least once. Then I hit the cookbooks hard for easy, healthy and inexpensive to make recipes. Then I hit the store circulars. Then I checked my coupons.

Which is why, I believe, my grand total for food shopping for the week was $56! A new all time low! And that includes breakfasts and lunches and dinners and snacks (but not Liquor. We are savvy but we are not Puritans). I was so impressed with myself it was all I could do NOT to turn to the lady behind me and demand a high five.

And that certainly took the sting off of my defeat at CVS last night.

Now if only they had coupons for wine, I would really be all set!

Happy Almost Fall

Can you believe fall is tomorrow?

I know it must be true because I blew out my hair over the weekend and instead of frizzing into a ball it lay flat and totally behaved. If that is not a harbinger of the autumnal equinox I do not know WHAT is.

With the changing of seasons, comes the changing of dinner menus. The grills are put away (except for the hardcore, and to you I salute), and more hearty and warm dishes appear. This is not only the season of the blow out. It is the season of the CROCK POT.

If you do not possess one of these contraptions, you are missing out. A decent one will probably run you $30 or so and it could not be more convenient. Throw in some ingredients in the morning, turn it on and when you come home at night. Voila, dinner is ready. Ahhhhhh.

Target has a great array of crock pots - check them out here.

Anyway to kick off crock pot season I threw together some potato leek soup yesterday and it was very tasty, very easy and very seasonally appropriate. Not to mention super inexpensive to make.

Slow Cooker Potato and Leek Soup

3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
1 bunch leeks, white and light green parts, chopped
½ cup fat free half and half
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put diced potatoes into slow cooker. Add chopped leeks. Pour in broth. Cover and cook on low, 8 hours

Remove about half of the soup and put in a blender or food processor (be careful it will be VERY HOT). Blend for 20 seconds or so and pour back into the slow cooker.

Add cream and stir for a few minutes. If you want your soup to be a little thicker turn it to high and leave the cover off for another 20 minutes or so (this is what I did). Or you could Remove a little of the liquid, add in a tablespoon of corn starch to the liquid and then incorporate it all back into the soup.

Serve with crusty bread.

Delicious! And super easy!

Moving on..

On the wedding front, the search is on for a venue.

We have some specific ideas about what we want: After checking out local function halls and estates and hotels.....we decided what we would really LOVE is to do it in a cool space like an art gallery. A place that isn’t too “wedding-y”, has another purpose to it other than just being available for functions, and has some fabulous art on the walls and it's own kind of theme going on that we can trick out with our own ideas as well. What's even better is a portion of our rental fee would go towards the gallery association so you are doing a good deed to boot!

I’ve done a TON of internet research and came up with a sizeable list of galleries within an hour of Boston that are available for rental. We checked out a gallery in Cohasset this weekend which looked great on line but which in person was way too small. The front runner now is another gallery in the oh so cute Rockport, MA that we are checking out this weekend, and then there is another gallery in Beverly and one in Lowell. All look like really different but beautiful venues to throw a kickass party in.

Once we get a venue and caterer booked I think the REAL fun part begins. Since we are paying for the whole shindig ourselves a lot of it will be DIY and you know me, you know how much I love to throw a party, this kind of thing is right up my alley. I already have great ideas for the flowers, invites, centerpieces etc. This wedding is basically the biggest party we have ever thrown and probably will ever thrown. And we are up for the challenge. Woot!

Something I Inexplicably Hate

Cell phone trees!



You know those fake trees that house cell phone towers and look really unnatural and scary?

They give me the heebie jeebies and I hate them. I often notice them along the highway and they always stick out like sore thumbs and look alienesque and I am not comfortable until we pass them and they are far away in the distance.

The first time I noticed one was last year. Adam and I were cruising to Old Orchard Beach for the weekend when out of the corner of my eye I saw it. This incredibly tall "pine tree" that had no branches except at the very top and the branches looked like those of a plastic Christmas Tree from the Dollar Store. WTF IS THAT!!! I asked Adam. I thought it was just an actual, though very sick and "ugly" tree. And it frightened me.

I soon found out the truth though. That those monstrosities are cell phone towers "disguised" as trees to fit in with the landscape. I'm sure most people don't even notice them but I always do and am always unsettled by their presence.

I hate you fake weird looking trees.

What do YOU inexplicably hate? Let's get some unfounded hatred up in this piece!

Also you can thank Danielle for this rant. She showed me a photo of a plant this morning that got me ALL riled up.

It's Funny 'Cause It Could Happen

I have always been an intense dreamer. Every night I have vivid and what seem like lengthy dreams usually about what's going on in my day to day life, sometimes things I wish went on in my day to day life (remind me to tell you someday about the dream where I made out with Dr Kovac from ER, me-ow!).

All of which is to say, the wedding/wedding planning dreams have started in earnest. Mostly centered around the preliminary planning process. My favorite happened the other night.

In this dream, I was out drinking with friends (weird) and got pretty wasted. I then decided I needed to get my ring fixed and stumbled into some random jewlery store and dropped it off. Then, in the sober light of day, I could not remember what jewlery store I had been to or where it was located or anything about it. And so my ring was gone forever

And then I woke up and looked on my bedside at my ring of course was not there because it was getting fixed and I had a moment of panic. Mostly because knowing me that could almost really happen. Phew!

A Situation in Which It Is Not Good to Aim High

As I have mentioned before, I had my first physical in like 5 years a few weeks ago (No time like 6 months before your 30th birthday to get yourself on track!). In addition to getting a bunch of shots I also had a ton of blood tests done, your normal run of the mill stuff. The good news is everything checked out fine and I am shockingly healthy given my lifestyle....well except for one teeny little thing.

My cholesterol. It be sky high.

Now, this was not too shocking, since I have had high cholesterol since I was a toddler and it runs in my family. BUT knowing that, I should have been making dietary adjustments along the way but well - you know about my co-pilot cheese right? I blame him for most of this.

But in any case I am in need of delicious low cholesterol recipes because I am not ready to hand my life over to Lipitor. So if you have 'em, please send them my way. I did find this collection of low cholesterol slow cooker recipes that I plan on using. Nothing says fall like busting out the crock pot, right?

I have another checkup in three months so hopefully by that time I have myself in gear. Now if you will excuse me I have some Cheerios to eat.

Not Without My Ring

So I had to face facts last night, when I was out to dinner with Adam and wildly gesticulating as I always do when I speak, and my ring almost flew off my finger: it was kind of too big.

Which is weird since I have been a size 8 on that hand for a long time. Man hands, whatup? So we took it back to the jewelers today and found out it was improperly sized the first time and instead of being 8 it was 8 1/4 which doesn't sound like a lot but it turns out it's the difference between your ring staying on your finger and your ring flying off when you start doing your NeNe "I don't keep up with the Joneses, I AM THE JONESES" impersonation. Not cool!

Our jeweler, however nice, tells me that the turn around time for having it sized (again!) will be two weeks to which I basically replied Oh Hell No. First of all Adam already sent it out to BE sized and waited the requisite two weeks, and they messed up. So I don't think I should have to go another two weeks for them to fix it. Furthermore, I am absurdly attached to this ring. I fully admit it. I love it and constantly look at it and I am such a cliche but whatever. So I basically laid it out for the jeweler and he agreed with me and long story short, I get it back on Saturday. PHEW!!!!

In other news my good friend Meaghan is in town this week from LA and we have been having a blast. Tuesday night we did Sushi at Fuji. Today we went to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum which I LOVED and have never been to though I have lived here my whole life. Good god what a gorgeous place. It's like being in someones fabulous home who happens to have an unparallelled art collection. We dined in the Garnder cafe and enjoyed some white wine and quiche and then climbed to the third floor and worked our way down. Lots of gorgeous pieces and I think less uptight than your typical art museum. If you live around here and havent gone, please do. It's 2 blocks from the MFA.



When we were done with the Gardner, it was only 2PM so we decided to flee the city and head to Lincoln to check out the DeCordova Museum. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations but their sculpture garden was still open and we had a fabulous time meandering around the huge outdoor sculptures, exploring the art bedecked paths and enjoying the smashing weather.



It was a great way to spend the day. Really this is the way I envisioned always spending my Thursday days off but never actually do because there is never anyone around to do these things with.




I also have tomorrow off which brings with it some intense venue research (I will do a post of the contenders after I narrow it down but there are a few I am super into off the bat) and then Meaghan's send off soiree at Rocca.

I would love to know for you already weddeds out there how soon did you book a venue after you got engaged? I hope by asking constant questions I can make more charming the fact that I really have no idea what I'm doing. I do have a spreadsheet and a binder though!

Engaged An' What?

The story really begins about two weeks ago, the night before my cousin Paul's wedding.

Adam and I had been talking over the past few months about getting engaged. We want to buy a home next year and it makes sense if we can commit to a mortgage we can commit to each other. Really, since we met neither of us has doubted we would be together forever so this, to us, seems like a simply formality. I didn't think I would even WANT a ring, or a big wedding, or any of the hoopla that goes along with that.

But, hold on to your hats, it turns out I DO!

So a few Fridays ago we had a lovely dinner at Legal Sea Foods, at the mall, and walked over to Macy's afterwards to check out some clothes. Now, on the way to Macy's we happened to walk by Kay Jewelers and Adam said, why not go in and try on some rings. Get an idea of what you like?

I figured, what the hey.

So we go in to Kay's and are helped by a lovely salesman. I told him what kind of style I was intersted in (Vintage/Art Deco) and he had a nice selection of rings for me to try on and ooh and aah over. Truth be told it made me a little uncomfortable. I was trying on these gorgeous rings while the salesman and Adam waited to see if I would like them - I guess I felt kind of on the spot, because I definitely fumbled a ring or two and dropped them on the floor and then shrieked about it. Charming! But they are all quite nice, and not wanting to make a fuss I said that I would be happy to wear any of them!

The salesguy, who is very good at his job, said "You know not many women like this style of ring which is unfortunate since my FAVORITE ring in the store is that style...but you haven't seen it yet. Would you like to?"

Why not?

So he goes into some secret drawer and removes from it a ring that sparkled like a star from the sky. As soon as I saw it my mouth dropped and a tinny, faint "ooooooooooooooooooooh" escaped from me, subconsciously. As if in slow motion I reached for the ring and put it on my hand. O. M. G. I couldn't stop looking at it. And did not feel nervous anymore. After admiring it for a while I gave it back to the salesman and we continued on our way to Macy's.

"You really love that ring don't you?" Adam asked me
"Yes...but I love them all!! That one was just...extra sparkly". I replied. Truth be told I thought the one I really love was probably out of our price range so I kind of put it out of my head. The other ones were really lovely as well, it was true!

So flash forward to this weekend. We were in New Hampshire for the long weekend, with no plans other than to relax and see some friends. On Friday we had talked about maybe going out to dinner but I was not feeling well at all. I had my first physical in five years on Thursday, had been inoculated to within an inch of my life and had the total lack of arm mobility and general sense of malaise to prove it. I could tell Adam was disappointed that I didn't want to go out, but I chalked it up to him just being bored and wanting to do something.

Something was definitely up though, when later that night I wanted to change into my nightgown and was like "Where is the suitcase" to Adam. He sprang out of bed and was like "I'LL GET IT FOR YOU" and ran down the hall. At the time I thought he was just being hyper-nice to invalid me, but I see now there was a reason he didn't want me rifling through the suitcase.

So Saturday dawns and I feel much better and we make a late breakfast and hang out, reading our books and relaxing. At one point I got down on the floor to pet one of the cats and stretch out. Adam then got on the floor as well and inched over to me and said "Sarah, how long have we been together, almost 6 years?"

And my heart started pounding.

He went on to joke about how we have been together so long and havent gotten sick of each other yet (to which I was like "thats what you think!" haha) and he said he couldnt imagine his life without me and I agreed and then suddenly he was on one knee, holding out to me a sparkly star from the sky in a little velvet box (He had run back to Kay's and bought THE RING while I was trying on clothes at Macy's that night at the mall, and then run back in time for me not to notice he had been gone!)

EEEEE!!!!!!!

I screamed yes, put it on and have him a huge hug at which point I realized he was shaking like a leaf. He was so nervous! But then again I hadn't realized that I was shaking either.

I guess I didn't realize how big a deal it would feel like since we have been together for a while but it really does feel like a new chapter in our relationship and I look forward to having the time of my life with him for the rest of my life.

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of family and friends and champagne. I was really excietd that his parents and my parents were so happy when they heare the news and am continually surprised at how many ideas I have for what I want my wedding to be. Who knew you could go from "Planning a wedding,...eh" to "Planning a wedding HOLLY F YEAH!!" in a few short months.

And now here I am at work thinking 'Can I really be expected to get anything done this week?"

I sure hope not!

Guess What Just Happened

Scattered Sarah

I got ready to leave the house today around 11:30AM. Before leaving I made myself a shopping list since the supermarket was on my list of errands. I was going to try out a new recipe tonight since I'll be having a dinner guest and needed to pick up a few things.

I made my list, folded it and stuck it in my bag.

Then I turned off the TV and all the fans and lights.

Then while rummaging through my bag looking for my keys, I noticed I had a lot of loose receipts and pieces of paper in there so I removed them all, grabbed a bottle of water and was out the door.

Leaving the list I had made not more than 3 minutes ago, in the pile of receipts on the table.

And then when I realized my mistake at the supermarket, I tried to remember what was on my list and got pretty much everything wrong. So instead of cheese tortellini with corn and tomato and prosciutto - we're having cheese tortellini with squash and red peppers and turkey sausage.

Close enough right? The same colors at least?

Note to self: It's no longer enough to remember to make a list and remember to put it in your bag. You also have to remember not to REMOVE it from your bag.

Technology-Induced ADD

Alternative Title: Why Do Something If You Could Be Doing 8 Somethings And G-Chatting Too

I have always been able to focus when I need to. Sure in my day to day I am kind of flighty. A bit of a dilettante. A tad wishy washy. Insert other platitude. But when the pressure is on I can zone in on what I need to do and zone out on everything else going on around me.

But lately I have noticed a disturbing trend. I need many things going on, to be able to focus on the one thing I need to get done.

For instance, at work. If I have one task in front of me. I stare dumbly at it and sure I have no choice but to kick ass and get it done but it's a PROCESS of constantly re-motivating myself. But if I have several tasks that all need to be done pronto? I am so on top of my game. A whirlwind of activity. The elixir that is the pressure of keeping all my balls in the air presses me on.

And do you know who I blame? Do you know who's fault this is?

Oh no, not mine.

A little thing I call the INTERNET.

When the Internet first dawned in my household - I was a senior in high school and all I knew how to do was log onto AOL and check my email (holla Seamaid59!) . And I thought that was pretty awesome. But it was a simple task.

Sign on
"You've Got Mail"
Read the mail
Sign off.

Then I got into the IM chatting thing so I could keep tabs on all my friends who I just spent the whole day with.

Then I got to college and Napster dawned and Oh Hey, you can download and listen to music while checking my email and talking to people online.

And oh whatup you could research term papers online while you listen to and download music and talk to your friends and email online.

Then online shopping dawned on me and my checking account has been screwed ever since.

The point is, I am used to having a lot going on at once. Used to maintaining several activities at the same time. So when I just have one or two? I quite frankly have no idea what to do with myself. And my proclivity towards internet ADD has spilled over into real life. Even something simple like watching TV. Am I ever comfortable simply watching TV and doing nothing else. No (Ok, only when True Blood is on). I more prefer to be organizing my closet while watching TV. Or playing on my DSi while watching TV. Or doing my nails and talking on the phone and reading a magazine while watching TV.

And what is the cost of all this? Yes I feel super productive. And I get a lot done in 1 day. But my mind never has a minute's peace!

To this end I have started a regimen of Qi Gong to try and just unplug and not be going in a million directions at once, at least once or twice a week. Do you know about Qi Gong? I DVR'd a few episodes of "Qi Gong for Beginners" on PBS and have been trying it out. It's like yoga but, were you to watch people doing it, looks slightly more ridiculous. In an awesome way though. The first time I did it I got a splitting headache. Ah, the birth of good health. But it is a nice way to just focus on one thing and let everything else go for a little while....

...if only I wasn't running through food shopping lists or things undone at work in my mind while I was doing it. Then again maybe that's why my cooking has taken an Asian twist the past couple of weeks.

This blog post was in no way brought on by the fact that Gmail was down for an hour this afternoon.