Thankful Thursday

The light at the end of the tunnel! I can see it...I think. These couple weeks have been bad. Especially this week. Not bad meaning there weren't some fun things I did, but just because I've felt the stress rolling off of me in waves. I've been longing to get to Friday evening for weeks, and now I'm almost there. So close! Today I finally got around to unpacking some more boxes at work, and I'm starting to feel a *tiny* bit more settled on our new floor. I even managed to snap a few pictures during the week.

movin' on up! well...6 floors, anyway.

The facilities team who coordinated the moving of all the impacted floors realized that they did a crappy job and tried to atone for it with a granola bar, a little note, and a Starbucks card. I can see right through these tricks! But I'll accept the gifts anyway.

 My new cube. Sigh. So depressing with the move stickers all over it and nothing on the walls. The boxes are behind me in this picture, so it doesn't look as impressively depressing. You also can't tell very well that I lost a couple square feet of space :( But! There are shelves in the locker units! There's a silver lining after all.

That move has been just one of many huge time-sucks that's dropped on these few weeks. So let me take a second and reflect on some of the really good things.



1. I'm thankful that I've still had time to spend with Nolan. Not as much this week as I'd like, but we got to spend each morning and evening together last weekend, and it was glorious. Renewing.
2. I'm thankful our women's small group kicked off successfully. With 23 ladies all coming together to study, it can be a bit challenging to plan...but I can already tell this is going to be a beautiful time each week.
3. I'm thankful that although overwhelmed, I haven't dropped the ball on anything either at work or at home (that I'm aware of). Knowing I had to fail or give up on something would have killed me.
4. I'm thankful for breakthroughs! Tomorrow is the last business-day of our fiscal year, which means I have some deliverables due. After much hemming and hawing, I finally had an "aha" discovery this week that is going to allow me to finish up strong, and hopefully exactly like I wanted.
5. I'm thankful for Easter this weekend and some really good quality time with family! Looking forward to hitting the "reset" button in many ways!

What are you thankful for?

when it's okay to play with your food

We have a friend who likes to play with food. Like, he and his wife hand-crushed mint-leaves and whipped up (literally) a fantastic mint-chip ice cream for Nolan for his birthday. I had 3 servings. I don't even like mint-chip ice cream! It was awesome.

He also created this little guy...who has been providing us delicious breakfast material for days:

After the party is generally Nolan's favourite part, I think. This is often what it looks like:

I can't actually remember a game night or party where Jacob hasn't been the last one to leave, and spent hours sipping wine or a G&T on the couch with Nolan, talking politics and life while I clean up (my mode of relaxation after a party).

 At the end of the night, the spoils left all fit on one handy tray for Nolan to take to the hospital with him the next morning. Considering how many of each of these we started with, I'd say we did pretty well pawning them off!

Mmmm, oreo cream cupcakes. I told you I'd get a picture of them eventually. How could I not?

 Per tradition, Nolan wanted eggs benedict for breakfast on his birthday. I think he must forget what it looks like, because I swear he takes a picture each time I make it for him. At least it's pretty! Though he obviously was hungry enough to take the picture before it was able to focus on the food.

In the morning, we had our breakfast and lattes together, opened presents, snuggled, and said goodbye for the day.

When he got home, we had another mini celebration, using his fancy new wine glasses to enjoy his favourite chilled wine, and a mini carrot cake with candles...because you have to have cake and candles on your birthday!

This weekend I stopped at Target to pick up a few things, and made a few discoveries. One: you can cut your finger swiftly and deeply on plastic wrap while inspecting a product...and not notice until you start to wonder why there is red stuff all over the items you're inspecting. Oops. Biohazard on aisle 12.

Two: 

Target is obviously thoughtful enough to manufacture special tape/handles to make carrying things like paper towels easier for customers. Strange? Yes. Genius? Yes.

Today was pretty excellent. I walked, did chores, took an hour and a half nap (supposed to be 20 minutes...whoops!) with Milo in the sun, cooked a humongous turkey meatloaf* for the week, baked banana-strawberry muffins, and just generally relaxed. I took this picture of Milo sunbathing in the office, and think it pretty much sums up how I feel too. Ahhh.

*Speaking of meatloaf: this food thing is getting weird. I added 3 more things to my list of things I didn't used to like that I now really love:

-meatloaf

-maple syrup (I know!)

-mint-chip ice cream, apparently

Thankful Thursday

Tonight is Nolan's birthday party/game night, so I spent the last few days putting these together, step-by-step:

Aren't they pretty? Strawberries and cream cakepops, with his beloved sprinkles on top :) I also made some other stuff, but it's not picture worthy. At least not yet. Maybe once I firm up the cheesecake frosting for the oreo cream cupcakes (yum!), they'll look a little more professional. Right now they're unfrosted (although still tasty) lumps.

Needless to say, we're not following a healthy theme for this party.

That being said, it's been a busy week. So:

1. I'm thankful that it's Thursday - a lot of crazy stuff has happened this week, between work (moving floors! closing out big project! annual calibrations!), socially (planning and kicking off bible study! dating my husband and seeing my friends! planning our vacation(s)!), and of course a lot of little details that go into throwing Nolan a birthday party. Getting into bed tonight is going to be blissful.
2. I'm thankful for things that push me out of my comfort zone. I did an activity last weekend that made me a little nervous, but came out of it feeling confident and empowered!
3. I'm thankful that I get to have breakfast with Nolan the next 3 days! I am working from home tomorrow, so that means a regular wake-up time and breakfast. Yay!
4. I'm thankful for spring-cleaning, both at work because of moving, and at home. It feels good!
5. I'm thankful for no plans (almost) this weekend. It's going to be a weekend of Anneliese! And some tasty desserts.

What are you thankful for?

the best thing about spring

Oh yes. Spring is almost here. Just 2 more days, technically speaking, though I think it's kind of gradually snuck up on us for awhile now. The weather has been a bit warmer, days longer, and everyone feeling generally happy and spring-y. I took this picture while out running on Saturday, because this is one of my favourite parts of spring. It's just cheery and lovely and smells divine when the trees all start to blossom!

Sorry about the quality - it was an action shot as I ran by.

Yesterday, I went into the city for some pampering, and forgot it was St. Patty's day - good thing my bag was green and spirited! Alas, I'm afraid this was as festive as my day got - when Nolan is working, there's really no drive for me to celebrate a holiday I don't care that much about to begin with.

Best part of the weekend: having breakfast with Nolan each day. He had to leave for work at 8:20am Sat and Sun, but that still gave us plenty of time to hang out, since we're early risers :) We love our Saturday protein pancakes and coffee!

Also this weekend, I went to the gym to do one of my weight training workouts rather than doing it at home. I think that's going to be a new habit - something about having unlimited time at a nice gym on a Saturday morning just feels luxurious. Plus the branch of my gym that's near my house is also near Whole Foods...so I had an excuse to go browse the delicious aisles :)

Thankful Thursday

Well that happened quick. I just wrote about it being Monday and now it's Thursday. Huh.

Yesterday I read a random article about smoothies, and the author finished with something along the lines of "smoothies are super healthy so we should all make smoothies all the time out of everything". I may have paraphrased that a bit. But I appreciated the sarcastic response of one of the commenters:

I like that person.

This week...

1. I'm thankful for my wonderful, smart, sexy, kind life partner. He's my better half in every way and I hit the jackpot when he said "I do".

2. I'm thankful for sleep. I've caught a few more winks this week, and feel the difference. Phew!

3. I'm thankful for new things. Whether it's trying new sushi or new shoes or a new weight machine at the gym, I like pushing myself a little-it's exhilarating!

4. I'm thankful for motivation! I think it was partly due to lack of sleep, but the last couple weeks I've been feeling so lazy! Fortunately, I've been able to push through most things I've wanted to skip out on, but the feeling was still there. This week I feel a little more re-charged, and re-motivated. I hate feeling lazy. Unless it's forced laziness (like our fun Saturday mornings :) ).

5. I'm thankful for the warmth returning. Even though it's still dark when I leave for work, it's light outside for what feels like forever! I was outside with a friend on Monday around 7pm and it was still light, and I was sweating while wearing just a tee! Spring is right around the corner!

What are you thankful for?

saving daylight?

Breakthrough: we went to sushi twice this weekend (twice!) up in Pville, and I tried my first real sushi. Before I had only eaten the shrimp tempura rolls since I didn't like fish, but this time I tried not only baked salmon and crab in one of the rolls, but RAW fish on top, crab, snapper, a little tuna...and I'm never going back to shrimp tempura rolls! I also liked their special sauce. And the spicy sauce. It's like I don't even know who I am anymore! And I like it. I have picture evidence of this on Nolan's phone, but you know how long it takes me to get my hands on that.

Summer also made me a toad in the hole for breakfast on Sunday, and I ate it and liked it. What's next, enjoying melons?

We spent a lovely weekend up in Placerville, with amazing sunny weather, good food, good games, and of course hot tubbing. It's always so hard to leave! Milo stayed home, so we had a peaceful car ride home, and we started a new show and had a little dessert to relax after our long drive back. Best weekend! I woke up feeling excited to go into the office, but wishing I could just have another Saturday morning with Nolan and our show and coffee. I have to say: I've never gotten the whole raging against Mondays thing. I always see people complaining about it and posting memes on facebook about how terrible Mondays are, and to be honest I just don't get it. After a refreshing weekend, it's nice to be back in the office. And besides - Mondays fly by! Look, it's already time for lunch and I feel like I just got here - huzzah!

Daylight savings: good or bad? I like that I can stay outside with friends longer after work now, but I hate that I'm back to driving to work in the dark. I was liking the sunrise in my rearview mirror as I sipped my coffee in the car. Oh well - a few more weeks and it'll be back I guess!

We spent a lot of time this weekend talking about the next couple years, and tentatively planning and dreaming - and it's all so exciting just to think about how many big changes we have coming up. Fun vacations, moves, housing, family...I love that we have had so many good times these past few years, but it's amazing how much fun we have to look forward to! Here's to the future :)

well, it was a nice ride (or not)

I'm in a sleep funk. Even if I don't get up during the night (which I almost always do these days), I'm restless and wake up tired. Even my nice yoga and breakfast last week couldn't make me forget jerking awake to my alarm at 5am. And listen, I was always that person who could sleep with the lights on, loud music playing, on a rock, whatever. I decide it is time to sleep, and I do. So what's going on?

Last week was somewhat nuts at least at the office. So when I came home, I got REALLY excited about cleaning up, eating dinner, and then doing nothing with Nolan until bedtime. It was awesome. Wednesday we celebrated him finishing a big exam (woohoo!) by going out to Mediterranean and finishing a romcom we started earlier this week. Friday we had a tasty little treat while watching another movie (more on that later!). Saturday morning we had a delicious breakfast and were lazy.

Remember last year, when I said Nolan had a dessert intervention telling me I had to stop making such tasty things when he wanted to eat healthier? I listened...kind of. I just started making healthier desserts. And food in general.

Wednesday night, he had a reverse intervention on the same topic - demanding that we go back to having dessert every night after our week or two of detoxing. As much as I struggled, he made some fair points, and I had to give back in. I have to admit, I do feel much better when I eat enough calories each day, and dessert helps me meet those requirements :)

But his main point was that I always make healthy desserts anyway! Sometimes we'll have just frozen blueberries or a baked apple with cinnamon, but even when we have cookie dough like we did the other night...it was made mainly from chickpeas! So all that is to say that we're off the wagon (or is that back on?).

Last week I made some almond-meal zucchini muffins for him to snack on during his night shifts, and he said something about how nutella would be tasty on top. So? I made nutella! Behold, the ridiculously healthy version of everyone's (except me - not a nutella fan) favourite spread:

And even I have to admit, it's pretty tasty (for Nutella)!


Best new toy this week - my foam roller! It finally came in the mail (what's up with a 5 day delivery Amazon - you've spoiled me with 2 all this time!), and I've been rolling until I can't roll no' mo'.

No really. I rolled until bedtime last night while watching a movie with a friend. You gotta put down the roller eventually, I guess.


Well, it's Sunday night, folks - and past my bedtime. Here's to another week. Wish me luck in dreamland!