The Final Meal of 2009

Well, my final meal of the year was a four-courser and I delighted in it to the fullest!

Before I dive into the feast, I will recap my breakfast this morning.

I could NOT sleep for the life of me last night, I tossed and turned SO much! A nap may be in store very very soon!

Breakfast this morning was…what I could find. I wanted eggs but we were out. It’s the beginning of the month so our budget is replenished. Grocery shopping will commence this weekend!

I had a half-cheese sammie. I toasted a piece of bread and spread a little smart balance on but once I realized we didn’t have eggs, I microed it with a slice of reduced-fat provolone cheese and folded in half. I also had three pieces of turkey bacon and a clementine. This clementine was pretty dry though and I didn’t eat much of it.

I did drink the yummy glass of 1/2 white grape/pomegranate juice and 1/2 H2O though!

Onto last night! We met up with my in-laws at Roy’s. I love the atmosphere of this place. It’s Hawaiian fusion cuisine. I love it!

One of the things I love about this place is that instead of bread, they serve complimentary edamame! It’s salted and, according to their website also has a little sugar and japanese red pepper seasoning. So yummy with a slightly spicy kick. I snacked on a lot of these. We ordered another plate after this one.

My first drink was my signature favorite, an amaretto sour. It’s super sweet and tastes just like candy. I limited myself to this one, since it was so large!

With dinner, we brought our own wine. (Great money saving tip) It’s only a $15 uncorking fee! Adam brought back tons of wine when he lived in Italy and times he visited, this is at least worth $100 and he spent probably the equivalent of $40 on it. Pretty good deal!

We drank a 2003 Barolo. Oh..my..gosh. Unbelievably good! The aromatics were incredible, and it was just the perfect red wine. Not too heavy for the seafood we ate and not too dry either. It was wonderful.

They had a special menu for New Year’s Eve and a welcome note in the menu for the evening..

I was so ready for this culinary journey.

My first glass of wine.

We got to choose one item from four sections. I started with the crispy duck spring rolls. The four of us shared mostly everything!

I ate two of these.

Adam ordered froie gras which is goose liver. I have never had it before and these days I won’t say no to trying much. It was amazingly buttery with a light crispy sear on it. Really good.

This was my sample plate..I had some shrimp with a little bit of white cheddar grits with roasted pepper as well as half a duck dumpling.

I chose the lobster bisque which was a lot thinner then most bisques BUT it also had large chunks of lobster which you won’t find in many lobster bisques. It was good but I barely made a dent in it. It was made with chive oil as well as applewood smoked bacon which I got bits of as I ate, the salty smokiness worked so well with the cream and buttery taste of the lobster.

Adam ordered a mushroom consomme which was so meaty and delicious.

For my main course I ordered the “Mochi dusted Hawaiian Opakapaka” which was served with a sweet potato puree, bok choy, and carrots in a “macadamia nut garlic Meuniere sauce”.

According to “The Gutsy Gourmet” a meuinere sauce is brown butter, parsley, salt, and fresh lemon juice.

It was incredibly good.

The fish was a very mild, pacific crimson snapper. The sweet potato and bok choy sold me on this dish and nothing on this plate dissapointed. I couldn’t make a huge dent on it, because I was getting so stuffed! I ate about 1/3 of the fish, all of the sweet potato, one half of the bok choy and the carrots. The sauce was delicious.

I also had a bite of lobster risotto. Yum!

We were feeling sleepy from all of the food, so before dessert I ordered an espresso..mmm..

For dessert, I chose..

“The Study of Chocolate Decadence”

I mean, can you say no to a dessert with a name like that?

A chocolate truffle, a chocolate torte with a peanut butter center, and both white and dark chocolate fudge in a raspberry sauce.

I ate half each. It was SO rich!

I also had a few bites of Adam’s dessert..

“A Macadamia Nut Financier Cake” which had vanilla ice cream, and a fig syrup.

His was super delicious as well, I enjoyed a taste of the cake and fig syrup as well as a few bites of his ice cream. So nice of him to share!

After dinner we headed to a local restaurant that Adam’s father and brother play at and I had a glass of prosecco to celebrate the New Year.

We went to a party afterwards but we left when some of our friends did since we didn’t know many people there and were home by 11:30.

We were exhausted and I was happy to be with Leo and my husband and watch Friends. We watched the ball drop and stayed up a little bit longer.

What a great last day of 2009. The first day of 2010 is feeling like a day of rest, hey I have a WHOLE YEAR to get ready for!!

Katy

The Last of 2009

I always think it’s so strange to stop and think, “Wow, it will never be 2009 again!”, it always blows my mind a little.

For breakfast:

I know..snooze..but I needed something quick and yummy and cereal is the man for the job..if cereal is a dude.

For lunch, I wanted something light, since tonight we are going to be enjoying a four-course meal!

Salad with spring mix and spinach, chickpeas, a little bit of Italian dressing and two large carrots on the side.

Munch, munch, munch!

For a little saltiness, I microed two pieces of turkey bacon. Mmmm!

This post is coming late because after lunch we drove to our favorite coffee shop to find out it closed at 1 P.M. for NYE. Oh well, we stopped for Starbucks and then decided to head home. I caused us to detour when I realized I didn’t have a cute outfit for New Years Eve! Can’t have that now, can we?

I ended up on a cute pair of black skinny jeans(on sale at Target) and a cute black blazer which I have wanted for a while now. I am still deciding on an undershirt.

Tonight we are meeting up with my in-laws to head to Roy’s restaurant. I LOVE Roy’s! Adam and I went there for Valentine’s day last year, tonight is fixed menu with four courses. Pictures and a recap tomorrow morning, I am sure we wont be home until after midnight!

Yesterday, while cleaning, I took pictures of some things we got for christmas and wanted to share.

Anthro has my heart, check out these two cups and saucers we received from my mom. SO cute!! Perfect for the blog.

Good thing I got a gift card from there..

..it came in this little guy. He’s so cute/weird I had to take a picture.

Or two.

Besides the one library book..check out what I got. I am SO excited. Right now I am reading “New Moon” but after that…

  

Again, so excited. My “read more” goal will be a lot easier to accomplish. Thanks mom and Adam!

I am off to finish getting ready for the evenings festivities. See you all in 2010!!

Oh..and..BE SAFE!!

Au revoir, 2009!

Katy

Christmas Recap

Well I had a great and difficult Christmas. It was my Grandpa Whip’s last Christmas with us, and I was blessed to have time to hold his hand and hear his stories. I regret not taking more time to do that before. Very bittersweet!

Sorry for the post last night, I had written a long post and then Ecto ate it all up! I guess I made it hungry? I just needed a break to enjoy some final Christmas moments with my family. I’m sure you all understand.

Here are some pictures from the last few days, I will recap today’s eats in the next post.

This Christmas included plenty of cookies of course.

Watching “A Christmas Story” (not all the way through though) may have to watch it all the way through soon!

Meeting my stepdad Dave’s family for the first time. This was their traditional spread..

I had just eaten breakfast but I had to give credit for the awesome food!

P.S., for those of you not from Florida, this is what you may find in your backyard in Ft. Lauderdale.

Yep, that’s normal. He was huge.

This is my cousin Krista and I(sorry the picture is so dark). I had to take a picture because every year my Grandpa Tony has spiked eggnog. You just knew, as a kid, to stay away from the eggnog with nutmeg shaved on top. Last year I was legal to drink, but we weren’t here. This was my year!

Krista- What’d you think?

Katy- It tasted like eggnog..it just..burns on the way down.

A picture I took in my Grandma Joan’s greenhouse of one of her gorgeous orchids.

The Italian side of my family and their spread! Pasta, sausage, meats and cheeses, salads. Yum!

I made sure to get lots of green on my plate along with a little pasta and a little eggplant parmesan bread. Yum!

I had leftover pasta when I got home.

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas and I am so unbelievably blessed!! It was also very difficult with my Grandpa being close to the end of his life. I just hope I can see him one more time. There were a lot of tears but I got enjoy a few cherished moments with him. Never waste time with family, cherish every moment you have!!

I hope I didn’t bum you all out. I really had a great Christmas. I miss my family already!

How was your Christmas?

Katy

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday..

..to a little baby boy born those many years ago.

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” -Luke 2:10-11

“You’d say that today holds something special
Something holy and not superficial
So here’s to the birthday boy who saved our lives
It’s something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here’s something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something more”
-Taylor Swift

Merry Christmas everyone!

Katy

Home for the holidays!

Well, I am finally home for Christmas!

Our drive was all right, except I think all of the crazies are out driving and some of them are driving semis!! But we made it safely.

Along the way Adam and I shared this..Adam ate half, I had a small bite(more for later!)

I commented on one of Larabar’s holiday blog posts and they sent me some free samples of Larabar! They were giving them away for a few days and I was one of the readers they sent them too! I love Larabar and this is definitely my favorite flavor! It’s a perfect mix of peanut butter and jelly. Adam was excited to try this flavor and liked it, he wasn’t crazy about the dryness of of the texture, but I am so used to it. I just love them.

Then we stopped at the healthiest fast food joint we knew we’d pass. Chick-fil-a!

I ordered the chargrilled chicken sandwich which totaled to only 270 calories and over 20 grams of protein. I also had a side salad which had 60 calories with one serving of light Italian dressing. My meal totaled 345 calories! Not bad at all.

When we finally arrived around 8:30 I ate some food at my mom’s house.

Some roasted chicken, avocado slices, a couple pieces of bread and some potato salad.

I also sipped on a glass of wine.

For dessert I had a Christmas cookie, lemon & ricotta. Plus half of this blackberry cheesecake.

After we ate and hung out for a coupe hours, we headed to our hotel.

Our hotel is very nice, I love our room! Here’s the tour..

Our “Christmas tree” aka the T.V. stand. All our presents aren’t out yet..but we started.

This is from the “living room”.

They have Tazo tea and starbucks coffee! Thank goodness.

They also have a fridge, so Adam will probably head out in the morning to get some things for breakfast.

I had a little fun with the bathroom mirror.

Our room!

Comfiest bed ever…ahhhh!

I now have to head to the lobby to send this since we don’t have free wifi. :-\ But then I will be heading right back to head to bed! I am SO tired!

See you tomorrow!

Katy

It’s cold up in here!

In case you missed the fun festivities this weekend check them out.

-I GRADUATED COLLEGE!!! Oh and made cookies and finally saw New Moon!!

-Adam and I had a Sunday date.

It was a very eventful (semi-life changing) weekend.

Breakfast was pretty boring:

More leftover quiche! We’re not going grocery shopping this week since we leave Wednesday for Ft.Lauderdale. I ended up only eating the messy looking spinach piece.

Oh and a fruit strip, and maybe a Christmas cookie..(;

I am SO happy that it’s finally Christmas week, it’s always so bitter-sweet though isn’t it? I am just excited to see my family and watch my favorite Christmas movies with them. Seriously, it’s not Christmas until I get to watch my faves:

-A Christmas Story

-National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

-Miracle on 34th Street

Those are classics in my book, and I will watch all three! I just can’t wait to spend time with my mom and my sister and to enjoy this Christmas as Adam and I’s first Christmas MARRIED! It’s pretty crazy.

I am off to run two miles, it’s in the 50′s right now in Florida and I have NO warm running clothes which majorly stinks but oh well. I know, I think this is cold while so many others are stuck in snow. I am from Florida what do you expect??

I will probably run the dreadmill since I am still weaning myself off of it. I had LuLuLemon gift cards on my wishlist for Christmas so hopefully Santa hears my plea! I will definitely be shopping this weekend for some more running clothes.

Later today, I have to finish Christmas shopping..oy..I do not know what to get Adam still. I have gotten him a few things and I have had some wonderful suggestions from friends via twitter & e-mail but still nothing that really fits.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on my graduating this weekend. I appreciate it SO much!

Have a great Monday!

Katy

I love Wednesday nights.

First of all, thank you SO much for all of your sweet comments about my hair! As a girl, it’s always nice to hear our hair looks good after we get it done so thank you again. I really appreciate all of your comments on my posts, it means so much to me to hear from you guys!

Well, last night was so fun! Our Wednesday night group had a Christmas party and it was just a fun time relaxing, eating great food and just enjoying each others company!

Here are my eats from last night..

This dip is magical. My friend Tiffany makes and it’s a buffalo chicken dip. Oh my gosh it’s addictive. It literally lasted maybe 10 minutes before it was completely gone. I took a little bit so I wouldn’t over indulge.

I also had a few unpictured wheat thins with cream cheese and jam. Yum!

The spread..

Feast, I tell you, a feast!

My spread:

From top left corner- a delicious pasta salad that a neighbor brought over for us!! How sweet right? then there’s a small scoop of macaroni and cheese, some greenbean and corn casserole, a small piece of garlic bread, salad, pot roast with some horseradish sauce.

Yumm! Delicious! But I got full so fast..here was what I wasn’t able to eat.

I get way too excited about food and want to try everything.

At least I didn’t stuff myself. I made sure to listen to my body and stop as soon as I was full. Which was pretty quick!

For dessert, my wonderful husband made this:

Get this: Hazelnut cheesecake with a pistachio cream. Yep. My husband ladies and gentleman. Recipe to come!

We always meet at our friend’s Jim and Joyce’s house. They, along with another couple lead our Wednesday night group. Joyce is an undiscovered Martha Stewart if I ever saw one.

Here are some pictures from around their home.

Beautiful right?! I hope when we finally own a home, I can decorate the way she does! It was a great night, with great friends. I love our small group!

This morning, I had a bowl of H2H and GoLean Crunch.

Along with an unpictured mug of awake tea that I am still sipping on!

I am off to get ready and head out to see my friend Nikki and her brand new little boy, then I need to head to the mall. I just need to finish Christmas shopping for Adam, pick up something for my Dad and get Christmas cards. I am determined to finish shopping today! Wish me luck. Guys are SO hard to shop for!

I am SO excited for tonight, we’re off to The Boheme, a beautiful restaurant in downtown Orlando located in the Grand Bohemian hotel (where Adam and I stayed our wedding night). We’re going with Adam’s family since my mother-in-law’s birthday was yesterday and I am graduating Saturday! I am so excited. Time to break out the little black dress.

Have a great day!

Katy

Christmas Party Time.

After babysitting ended so late last night, we decided to sleep in. Unfortunately, having a dog (or dogs) is sort of like having children and sometimes they are not going to let you sleep. I walked Leo super early this morning, and then fell asleep on the couch so he could sleep next to me. Adam is completely against dogs in the bed. That’s all I am going to say about that. Love you babe!

Adam woke me up and I went back into bed and passed out for another couple hours. I woke up and knew what I wanted for breakfast.

I’ve been bitten by the oat bug. This time I used mostly the same mix as yesterday:

-Oats

-Soymilk and water

-1/2 scoop protein powder

-One banana (I can’t have oats with a banana)

-Vanilla

-Stevia

Once it all started to combine I added some frozen berries. Big mistake. It turned the consistency all grainy, but I still ate it all. I am guessing the liquid from the frozen berries didn’t mix well with something. I am still experimenting.

Right after breakfast, we FINALLY decorated our Christmas tree!

  

I LOVE our star!! We had searched a few places for one and Target had this one. I absolutely love it, it looks like twigs and holly!

We decorated the tree at first with multi-colored lights but they did not match our star at all. Luckily they were free lights, and I mentioned that I would much prefer white. This morning he turned the lights on and he had replaced them to white without me knowing! Good husband. Here are some of our ornaments, we only have a few but our collection will grow..

This Jelly Belly ornament we got on our honeymoon. My aunt used to live near wine country and she lived so close to the JB factory. I knew it would be one place Adam would really enjoy(we watch Unwrapped all of the time). It was so fun! I will have to recap the honeymoon another time, but we picked this up there. The swing literally hangs on a branch. It’s Adam’s favorite.

This one is MY favorite..

“It’s a major award!!”

We got this last year at Hallmark when the ornaments were on sale. It lights up as well and quotes lines from the movie, A Christmas Story.

If you didn’t know what movie this was from, go watch it! It’s my favorite Christmas movie. It’s not the holiday season without watching this movie!

Sorry it’s not the clearest, I wanted to show it with the lights on.

We kept it really simple with the solid ornaments. I really love it. We also added candy canes for more decoration!

After we decorated we changed and headed to the gym. I ended up doing 30 minutes on the elliptical.

Later in the day I headed to a blogger Christmas party! Meghann invited us all to celebrate the holidays with good food and friends. It was at Sarah’s house, she was a wonderful hostess. (thanks Meghann and Sarah!!)

We all brought something. It was a pot-luck “linner” since it began at 3. I brought the cookies next to the candle. I actually brought paper plates, bowls and utensils but I felt like I couldn’t arrive with something to eat. I guess that’s the foodie in me. Okay it was only Pillsbury “simply” cookie dough that I had in the fridge. Hey, it was something! I had a coupon from the paper a few weeks ago and picked it up knowing I would need it sometime.

Ashley is beautiful! I also got to meet Katy for the first time. When you share a name that people usually tease for being spelt strangely (i.e-Catty) you bond.

Sweet Ryan let me try out her 35mm lens. I LOVED it!! I am currently deciding on a 50mm or 35mm.

I had a bowl of delicious 15-bean soup that Meghann made with some of Ashley’s quinoa on top.

Here is my dessert plate. Before you judge, I just wanted a small bite of everything. I honestly barely made a dent. Ask Adam, I asked him to take it away after I had a few bites.

Those wantons were DELICIOUS!! I want to say they had marshmallow and chocolate with peppermint. SO yummy! Meghann made pumpkin cornbread, and Kelly made Christmas cookies.

Ryan made raw cheesecake. Honestly it was phenomenal. It tasted like a coconut chocolate torte. It was so rich and creamy!

Adam and I also shared some hot apple cider which was delicious!

Leo came to hang out with the dogs! Of course, that means he hid from them most of the time. He stayed pretty close.

I loved meeting everyones “children” here’s Sam, Sarah’s dog.

We also played a “White Elephant” present exchange.

I was number 7. Out of 8!

Adam and I ended up with a bottle of wine!! Not too bad if I say so myself.

Leo stayed close and sat between Meghann and I. Spoiled puppy.

The gift I brought was a cute/silly one. I bought this piggy bank at Target. It was too cute, I couldn’t pass it up!

We headed home after a fun time and needed something fast and easy to make for dinner!

Enter: leftovers and veggies! I headed up some of the chicken enchilada from lunch the other day. Also headed up some extra chicken from dinner with Adam’s parents to bulk up the protein value. I split the enchilada in half and shred the extra chicken into the cheesy pile. I also cooked up some frozen veggies and cut some slices of the five grain bread I bought for dinner on Friday. I ended up stealing more of Adam’s veggies so that they filled half my plate. It was a free dinner!! Okay, not totally free. But making my Friday lunch stretch into three meals really made me happy.

For dessert, I had two of the cookies I brought to the party and a cold glass of organic 1% moo-milk. I usually get skim, but Adam ran into Publix and grabbed that instead.

One of my favorite desserts. Simply wonderful. Of course, I dunked. Who do you think I am? An amateur?

Tomorrow starts day one of training for the half-marathon. Okay, it’s a rest day. But still..here we goooo!

I’m off to relax with Adam. Have a great night!

Katy

P.S.- Be sure to add me on twitter or click on the subscribe link in the corner if you want to keep up to date with my posts. I would love for you to join me daily as I begin to train for my half!

Free at last!

We all know the famous quote..

I am free at last! YAYYYYY! I am so excited to be graduating. I can’t believe my entire college career came down to today. Seems sort of anti-climactic but that is a-okay. I am graduating! So yay!!

Okay, now I need to recap from last night.

We had to go grocery shopping and head to target and we didn’t get home until 9:00(!!!) we needed something quick and easy, and we had a coupon from the paper for a Bird’s Eye Steamfresh meal. Adam wanted the roasted beef in a mushroom sauce, and I thought it sounded delightful.

I immediately threw this in a pan and let it cook down for 10 minutes.

Look at this box of clementines! They were on sale for 6 dollars(for a 5lb. bag of oranges).

I had one while waiting for dinner, you will be seeing lots of these in the near future!

Mmmm..

I have to make my own homemade version of this, doesn’t it look hearty and yummy? It was! Sometimes you need something quick and easy that doesn’t involve a McTummy Ache.

I added a small bowl of snow peas and carrots with a side of Goddess dressing.

Okay, it was one of the best frozen meals I have ever had! SO yummy! It had onions, peas, mushrooms and beef. I gave most of the beef pieces to Adam but I had a few. I eat meat, but I try to avoid red meat as much as I can. If I’m craving it though, I will have some. I never say no to filet mignon..even though my wallet does.

My meal.

With a glass of wine from the bottle we opened the other day.

Oh and the best part of our meal..

Santa’s White Christmas ice cream. If you have a Barnie’s coffee anywhere near you, please do yourself a favor and try a cup of anything flavored with “Santa’s White Christmas”.

Santa’s White Christmas is a flavor they have that has coconut, caramel, nuts and vanilla flavoring and this ice cream tastes exactly like the coffee flavor with huge flakes of a chocolate/espresso bean mix. It tasted like chopped up chocolate-covered coffee beans. I may have added more chocolate..

Had to. SO amazingly good! This is only available at Publix for a limited time, so go find it if you have Publix near you. I love Barnie’s, and it’s a local company! It’s cool to see it growing, we were shocked to find that Publix had made this flavor into an ice cream. Thank youuuuu Publix!

I was about to pass out when I went to post last night and thanks to some encouragement via twitter, I decided to head to bed. Mmm yeah that plan didn’t work. I was just about to drift into blissful sleep when I hear Leo crying. I sat up and shook Adam (he was already asleep) our very short conversation went sort-of like this:

Me- “Adam, Adam..we forgot to walk Leo..”

Adam-”Noooooooooooo!”

Me-”Don’t worry, I got it..”

I threw a jacket on and walked Leo. Then I had to try and fall asleep again. He was still crying a little so I directed him to his “bed”(a folded up old comforter in the corner) and he finally settled down. I tossed and turned until 11:45(about an hour of tossing and turning). Not fun. I woke up late at 6:30..and was literally in rush mode until I left..later then I wanted to. Oh well, it was my last day and nothing(not even the very cold, rainy day which I actually love) was going to make me feel any different! For breakfast I ate most of this..

Kashi H2H and GoLean Crunch.

I saved the orange for school, but forgot about it until lunch where it was happily eaten.

Packed a mix of things(I was in a hurry). I ended up eating some of the carrots, a turkey/mozzarella sammie with lots of baby spinach, the fruit strip, the yogurt and about 1/3 of the kashi pumpkin pie bar.

Unpictured junk food I ate on my last day as an intern(junk food warning, beware):

A mini powdered donut(I brought them in for the faculty but had to sneak one), half a can of Dr.Pepper at lunch( I was dying for some caffeine), and a slice of “congrats” cake from my teacher. We had a little party during specials time and I got a huge balloon, a cake, some teaching goodies, and a very sweet card signed by the entire first grade team. It was really sweet!

I wonder if that stuff has anything to do with the headaches I get so often. I haven’t had one too bad in a while, but I had soda for the first time in a while as well as A LOT of sugar at once and my head was pounding by the end of the day.

I got home to find a package at my door(YAY, more on that in a bit) and had to walk Leo. The weather today has made me feel as if I had stepped into the world of Twilight. I’m not even a “Twihard” but I couldn’t help but think about how much it reminded me of the movie. It was super cloudy and I don’t think it got over 60 degrees. My car read 53 in the morning, 57 on my way home. I love this weather, makes me want to curl up in sweats or PJ’s, drink tea and read. It’s not fun to walk the dog in the pouring, cold rain though..

He lasted five seconds before wanting back inside….thank goodness.

I snacked on another clementine(I told you, you will be seeing lots of these!)

I am also nursing a mug of this, with some agave and a splash of soy milk. Yum!

As for the package I got today, it was from VeggieGirl! She was my secret Santa, for the bloggie secret Santa! Yay! I was really excited that she happened to have chosen me. I have often gone to her blog looking for brownie recipes and I found her gift very appropriate!!

I have never heard of Brownie Points buy wow, do these look absolutely amazing.

Mmmmm..

Here’s how the Brownie Points website described “Edgies”:

“Always reach for the corner brownie first? If you crave the delicious, chewy edges of brownies, you’ll love the ‘Edgies’ from Brownie Points.” The chewy edge of the brownies only?! SERIOUSLY?!?! I am soooo excited you have no idea. I have a huge sweet tooth, and I love love love brownies(especially the corners). I am going to try one of these babies tonight, so a review will come later! Thanks so much VeggieGirl !! You’re so sweet for sending me these, it’s scary how much you know me. I can’t wait to send the blogger I got a gift, I am going shopping this weekend for it, but I won’t be able to tell you about it until they get their gift. I really love doing a secret Santa thing. Are you participating in a Secret Santa this year? I have always been a fan, it’s fun to be secretive and surprise someone with something to make them smile and brighten their day! I’m off to relax, and EAT..of course. Adam is cooking me dinner. Thank goodness I have a husband who loves to cook ’cause it’s smelling mighty delish in this place! Katy

Oh, Christmas tree!

Today we set out for some Christmas cheer. I am a real Christmas tree kind of girl. I can never use a fake one, unless I really have to one day for whatever reason. At first, I wanted to wait until next weekend but having a tree in the house just makes me feel better and for the final stretch of my internship(one more week!) I needed all the cheer I could get. I remember coming home from school and plugging the tree right in and doing my homework by it just to smell the pine tree gloriousness! Onto the rest of my day..

First, a daily pic of Leo.

Looking like Eeyore.

(Disney Clip Art)

Oh, bother.

We headed out to run errands which included stops at Ross, Michael’s, and Target to get some Christmas decorations. Then we headed to good ol’ Home Depot for our tree. You northerners get to chop yours down, we pick ours up at home improvement stores. It didn’t take long to find the right one.

We paid, and got it tied to our roof.

I had a little fun with my camera, I am sure the car behind us thought I was crazy. Or a spy..

Our tree couldn’t escape if he tried..

When we got home, I gave Leo a bath. Then put out some of our new decorations.

It’s fun to start building our holiday collections. I can’t wait to have a bigger home(note: not an apartment) to decorate. One day! For now our one bedroom apartment will have to make do.

Skinny tree, but perfect for it’s narrow spot.

For dinner, I picked up some kale and brussel sprouts and used some chickpeas from earlier and stuck all three in the oven to roast. Mmmmmm…I used my LARGE plate for this and it was filled up with goodies.

The brussel sprouts were drizzled with EVOO, S&P and paprika.

Same with the kale along with some garlic powder as well.

A little EVOO, S&P for the chickpeas.

All three went in the oven at 375. The kale took about 12 minutes, the brussels and chickpeas took about 25 minutes.

Together they made a super filling and satisfying meal!

I had done good sticking with mostly veggies today! I feel so much better already and know I am back on a healthy track. But I did share this giant bottle of beer with Adam, per his brother Nate’s recommendation.

“9″ beer! We picked it up a local gourmet market we love,

In a chilled mug. It was refreshing! It definitely had an apricot taste in the finish and was smooth, not bitter at all. I enjoyed it.

For dessert, some Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Along with a bowl of raspberry sherbet. It was about 150 calories worth. Yum!

I’m getting hungry again, but it’s bed time. Hopefully a mug of tea will help fill me up and doze me to sleep! I’m off to finish my last week in my internship. PTL!!!!! I cannot wait for Friday afternoon to come. Luckily, I have Wednesday off(sort of). I am on campus for a seminar until noon and then have the rest of the day to myself!!! Aka to clean.

Oh, pictures of the tree to come when we finish decorating!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe if you like what you’re reading! The new button is the right!

Katy