Long Day

I find that when the work week is short it seems as if the days are longer than ever before. I will admit that last Tuesday was rough, it didn't seem to go well on so many levels. It was one of those days where the question of will I have a glass of wine, the question is will I have one glass or a bottle? Once I finally got out of the office and home it was starting to turn around. On the drive home I got a chance to catch up with one of my girl friends, Jess. It was great to talk to her and realize that life is going to be OK.

Once I got home I took the pup around the pond for a few minutes.

Let's go... I want to see the ducks

For dinner I made one of my all time favorite meals: Get Yo Man Chicken. This meal has a funny name but both the original dinner and the left overs are amazing. I will admit that this meal takes a while to make but it is worth every single second of waiting. The smells of the Lemon and Tomatoes, so wonderful and just pleasant.

Get Yo' Man Chicken

In case you are dying to make it here is the recipe.

Get Yo Man Chicken
          The recipe originally came from here but I have modified it substantially to fit my tastes

Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 medium onion sliced (unless you love onions then use the whole onion)
1 c. Chicken stock
1/2 c white wine (I used Sauvignon blanc)
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp lemon pepper
Hot rice

Directions
1- Heat the oil in the pan over medium heat, I would used a high walled skillet since you are going to make everything in this pan
2- Dry the chicken with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper
3- Brown the chicken in the skillet, meat side first (the whole side if they are boneless thighs), turn once and brown the other side. Transfer to a plate to reserve.
4- If there is lots of oil in the pan, pour some of it off
5- Add the onion to the pan, cook until tender, about 3 minutes
6- Add the stock and the wine to the pan (also pour yourself a glass), stirring to make sure anything stuck to the bottom is pulled off.
7- Increase heat and reduce the liquid by about half, this takes between 3-6 minutes depending on your stove
8- Pour in the crushed tomatoes and the spices, stir.
9- Add the chicken to the pan and make sure it is submerged in the sauce
10- Cover and cook for 40 minutes
11- Serve the chicken over hot rice with lots of sauce, if you are not a sauce fan you can reduce the amount of crushed tomatoes.

As I waited for dinner to finished I grabbed a quick workout in the house and then pulled up a book and a glass of wine.

I am obsessed with Sauvignon blanc wine

I read for most of the night... wonderful

To be honest I spent the rest of the evening sipping on my wine and reading. It was so restful and allowed me to step back from the rough day I was having so that I would be able to try again the next day. Lily hopped up on the couch next to me and just snuggled me, I think she can tell when I have a rough day and tries in her own way to comfort me. The rest of the week got better but there were still moments when I was just ready for the weekend.

I hope you get a chance to try this recipe it is one of my all time favorite dinners and the leftovers are truly amazing. Let me know if you try it. Also it does work well for date food if you are cooking for a guy, I have done it and it went pretty well if I say so myself.

I am still alive

I am sure that you have been anxiously checking to see if I have posted anything new last week. I will admit that I found that I had nothing to say, it was just one of those weeks. I found myself wondering why am I posting all of this, I am not funny or witty or really anything, so I spent several days not pouting but pouting.

So I realized a few things in my pout: 1- I like to post random things and if you want to read this great if not that is OK too since this is just for me. 2- I am going to try and post 4 times a week and not get stressed out if they are all at once or spread out. 3- This is going to be a year of adjustment... so bear with me as I figure it out.

One of the blogs that I read wrote a post about how this is Britain and we live here, I am going to adopt this for my life. My life at the moment is falling into two main categories and I am going to just put stuff into and realize that it is OK to be unsatisfied with what I have got going on and to move on. So here are the two main categories

This is singleness and I live here:
I have been single for years and sometimes it is OK and sometimes it is worse than blisters from your new shoes. I think some of this right now has to do with valentines day... really like I didn't just spend my entire christmas break being single and alone now I get to do it again for V-day. I have long loathed this day but as I am single I don't have to participate. I think this bothers me because I want to have a man to do all this cute crap for, however he is lost at the moment so I will let it go. Also there are a lot of times in the new city where it would be fun to go and do something but I am always wondering will people stare since I am alone... probably no so I am trying to go.

This is Dallas and I live here:
Most of the time I love Dallas, recently I have had a few moments where I wonder what am I doing here? Then I remember that I am following his plan and that I should enjoy this. Here are a few things that I am struggling with: shoes... I always feel inadequate about my footwear, I do know this is dumb but hey it bothers me, finding female friends- I had no idea this would be so hard but I am trying things and just plugging away, and finding things to do that I like- this is kinda like the activities fair in college so many choices but I don't know what to choose so I just stand there like a dummy.

I think that I am just in a rough patch with life here in Dallas, I had some great ideas about how this was going to go and so far not a single one has happened. I keep waiting for that great moment where I am going to realize this is why I am here... yeah I still don't know but I have realized that sitting at home alone not trying anything is not going to cut it so I am giving everything a try once. Hopefully when the spring gets here it will get better, I am over this winter (yes I know it isn't really winter but this low lying fog sucks).

Don't fret things are going to get better soon and I am sure I will have so many better things to show you soon. Sometimes you have to go through the dark to get to the light...

Hacked...

So my day was off to a boring end of the day. I am looking forward to going home and I was trying to get several different things finished so that I can head home to the dog... then most of everything went to crap in a hand basket. I got an email from a friend asking why I was sending her strange links, to which I respond with, "don't open it I didn't send it."

The devious link... don't click it if I sent it to you....

Now that I am pretty sure that my email was hacked I was trying to figure out what I needed to do to reset my password and all that entails. Then my boss walks up and goes, what was that link that you sent me? Now I realize that my hacker sent it to lots of people... like professional people. YAY now I look like a nincompoop that doesn't know how to keep her stuff to herself.

At this point I am starting to panic just a bit since I don't know how this happened to me. As I calmed down and went to different sites that are connected and changed those passwords I calmed down but really?!?! I try to be a rule follower most of the time so this is like getting a jay-walking ticket to me. I feel as if I haven't ever done anything to deserve this... and now it is happening. 

Sorry that this is so jumpy but I wasn't sure what I was going to post about today and then this happened... I feel as if I have ruined my day. Oh well at least there is wine at home to console myself from this drama. Have you ever been hacked? Did it ruin you day and make you feel as if you had failed to get things right? I do not like this at all... 

I'll let you know how the wine treats me tomorrow...

Snow in Texas

On Tuesday morning I overslept a little and woke up feeling as if my entire day was going to be a waste and that I would not be able to get anything done. However, as I walked outside with Lily I was treated with this image...

From the back door

Checking out the snow

At this point I was pretty excited because I missed the last time that it snowed in Dallas over Christmas and in some ways I am starting to miss the St. Louis winters. Now don't get crazy not much of the winters but I always loved the first big snow fall of the season, all of the white and pure-ness that happens when the snow falls is very beautiful.

Not too much snow just enough to be cold

You can tell she is super happy

We saw other dogs so back on the leash

Lily loves the snow very very much so I made sure to spend a little extra time with her on our walk. We also spent some time off the leash so that should could run around and play with what little snow we had. It was a great morning and I loved getting a chance to enjoy our walk more than we usually do. The ducks around the pond were very cold but they still looked happy.



I will admit that there were moments when I wished there would be more snow and that it would stick around but then I remember that I live in Dallas and we have no plows and the idea of salting the roads means that they put dirt out. I enjoyed the snow for a while but I am glad that I had a chance to play in it for a few minutes. I am ready for things to warm up a bit so that Lily and I can head to the park and start running outside again but for now I am loving that old man winter has come to visit for a few days.

What do you love to do when it is cold and snowing outside? Do your dogs love the run around until they have a snow beard?

DIY: Kindle Sleeve

Over the holiday break I finally broke down and got a kindle. I really like bringing it to work since it is so light and I can just toss it into my purse and go. I have read a few books on it and I think I will really enjoy it when I am traveling or don't feel like bringing a book or more than one really. I typically just leave my kindle in my purse and toss everything else in the bag. After the first few days I realized that my new kindle had sunk to the bottom of the bag and was in danger of getting lost in there or scratched so I started looking for a sleeve.

As I looked into getting a kindle sleeve I found lots of options online: things that look like a book, something made out of neoprene, and then hard cases. What I really wanted was a fabric bag that can be compacted when not in use and just something simple. I really like to have cases for things that are easily broken, I mean I have an otter box for my iPhone (I will also admit this is the second one as I broke the first). But I think that kindles are relatively durable and the main goal is to keep it from being scratched. I never did find what I was looking for but in the end I realized that I could just make what I wanted.

Ready for travel!

Directions
1- Cut out a pattern from tissue paper, I used 7.5 inches x 16.5 with a two inch flap (add a 2 inch tall triangle to the top of the rectangle)

I will admit that I had to cut out a few pieces and tape them together...

2- Cut out two pieces of fabric using the pattern (I used one printed fabric and one of muslin for the lining)

3- Pin the right sides together, make sure to leave a 3 inch space between some of the pins. Sew two pieces together leaving hole open.

This is where I left a hole and it could have been just a bit bigger

4- Turn the bag rightside out, you should be able to reach into the hole and pull out the fabric. Gently push the corners into points (some people like to use a knife or closed scissors, I just used my fingers). Iron the fabric and make sure the points are not curved.

5- Fold the rightsides of the fabric together and pin the sides up. Remember to leave space for the flap. Sew sides.

6- Turn inside out and sew up the hole by sewing right next to the edge of the fabric

7- Sew a hairtie (or whatever you have laying around) to the point of the flap, I will be honest I don't love how this turned out but I think it will work.

8- Fold the flap over and see where you should sew a button on so that the loop will fit over the button.

The kindle looks super snug in the new case!

Now you have a kindle sleeve. This took me about 45 minutes and I was watching a movie. This got rave reviews at work today and I expect that you are a little jealous that you don't have one. However, I will have a little mercy on you and offer to make you one if you ask. I am super thrilled about this and there are a few slight modifications that I might make if I need to make more.

I am super thrilled that this looks as good as I had hoped, what do you think? Let me know if you want one.

Resolutions

As the new year has already started and I have been trying to think of my resolutions I have realized a few things: this will be the first year that I am not in school, I will have time for fun, and I have no idea what to make a resolution about. I think that I have a tendency to make either low expectation resolutions (ie, no way to fail) or way to high expectations (no possible way to achieve) so I am going to try and come up with somewhat reasonable expectations for 2013. So here are my resolutions:

1- Get Fit
I am going to be honest this is first because it needs to happen, I am not really sure how it happened but there seem to be more pounds hanging around me than ever before. To accomplish this I am going to shoot for 20 minutes 20 days a month, and hopefully 20 pounds gone (well see about that). In addition I would like to try and run 5 5K races and one 10K in 2013. I have a super cute black dress that my friend Barrie gave me and I would like to be able to fit into it.

2- Try new things
I would like to try to complete one craft project per month. I would also like to try at least two new recipes each month. I think I tend to get into a rut and I would like to try and stretch my boundaries just a little. In addition to all of this I am going to try and volunteer a few times, maybe every other month.

3- Self Growth
Now that I have an abundance of time since I am not still in school I think that I would like to spend more time studying the Bible. My plan is to be in a bible study in the spring and fall and during the summer find another one if possible. I also want to try and pray expectantly, I often ask for things that I already have or that I don't think he will give me. I would like to try and pray for big things and wait for him to bring them to me.

4- Explore Dallas
I have been in Dallas proper for about two months and I haven't really been out to do much or really anything. I would like to try and go to one new place: restaurant, park, museum, sports event, etc, a month. I am trying to figure out how to enjoy Dallas since I am here, I don't want to look back on these years and realize that I didn't ever try anything. This will be particularly hard since I will have to have a bit of courage to get out there and do things alone.

As I look at this list I am just a little daunted by it but I am pretty excited about what 2013 has in store for me. I am ready to have a whole year that I am not in school, this is the first time that has happened since 1988. Holy cow this is going to be a great year and I am looking forward to what is going to happen.

What are your resolutions for this next year?

Book Review

If you know me well you know that I love to read, I am relatively flexible about what I read but for the most part I enjoy romance or chick lit. Now there is a wide spectrum of books in this range so there is still a lot of variety even though my focus is kinda narrow. I love going to the library because you never know what you are going to find and if I purchase I book I want to know that I will enjoy it and that I will finish it. However, if the book from the library is bad I just put it down and get a new one.

One visit to the library I happened across a Nora Roberts book, so I snagged it and took it home to read. I grabbed the second book in the Bride Quartet Series and loved it. I have since gone on to read all of the books and as I came across them at second hand bookstores I have gone as far as to purchase the entire set. This takes a lot for me but I really really enjoyed them.

In many romance books the plot is very simple... guy meets girl, something happens so he has to rescue the girl, they fall in love. Now don't get me wrong I love this type of story because it tells me that maybe just maybe I will eventually find someone and fall in love and we will get married. But in some cases it would be nice to have a different plot. In these books there is no hero just four friends who find the men they are going to marry and have very realistic struggles.

I love that these characters are strong women who have real jobs and seem to have had a full life before the men came along. They have real fights about love and who gets what space in the closet and things like that. I often pick one of these books up when I am having a rough day because it is almost like hanging out with an old friend. I don't often recommend books to people because I never know if they are going to like it or be offended or what. In this case these books get the Hannah Seal of Approval. My favorite book is Savor the Moment, it is about a baker. I want to be a baker

What are your favorite books? What books do you pick up on a long day?

2012: A year in review

This was a big year for me as I finished graduate school and moved to Dallas for a new job. I have been trying to think of how I would do this post for the year and as I don't have much to say for the first few months since I was just writing my dissertation but I thought I would give a series of pics for the year and let you know what was special.

Finishing my dissertation, yes that monstrosity on the desk is just three copies... I can't believe I finished it. In the end it was about 250 pages.

The beast... I can't believe it is that long

Front pages...

Defending my thesis, I did rock a gray suit and I think the presentation went really really well.

I look super nervous... gross but I was Dr. Malcolm 3 hours after this was taken!!!

Lily and I moved to Texas. Some of the best parts of this have been that we have gotten to spend more time with family and that we are able to find things that I enjoy doing.

Now entering Texas as a future resident?!?!?!

Moving into my apartment and buying furniture. I don't think I have shown you much of the new place but I will soon. To be honest I have been waiting until there were fewer blank walls. Things are getting close.

Spending as much time as possible with Lily

The new couch

I am sure that I have had more great moments and good things that have happened but I cannot for the life of me think of what they are. It has been a rough few days at work so this will have to do for now. I am also having a bit of writers block... nothing sounds interesting enough to share.

What were your best moments of 2012?!?!

New Years Day

For New Years Eve I went out with my brother, sister-in-law, and her brother to a house party. It was a wonderful chance to get to meet new people and have a some what relaxed evening where I did not feel super pressured to do something crazy. I really enjoyed the night but as there are no great stories or any pictures I think I would rather share with you what I did on New Years Day...

Someone had a late night...

I got up early on New Years Day (NYD) because Lily was grumpy and terrified of my brothers house. I have got to admit that there are moments when I want to strangle her but all in all we mostly have a great time together. Once we got home I whipped up a little breakfast and some coffee. At this point I tried to figure out what we were going to do with ourselves on a whole day off without any obligation. It was rainy and gross out so I knew that we would be staying in. I realized that it would be relaxing to me to read for a while and spend some time baking. 

Lily and I spend the majority of the day like this just enjoying each others company.

Laying with me on the couch just being loved

I tried a new cookie recipe that I was pretty excited to share with you until I baked the cookies. I thought that will all of the work that went into rolling these cookies I would get something more like a cookie and less like a chocolate wafer. I will admit that I have eaten many of these and I did finally make the rest of the batch but it is still just a wafer... maybe my baking soda was bad?

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

For dinner I decided to make something in the Crock-pot: I made stewed andouille and chicken. This is essentially a gumbo but without a roux. I have been dying to make gumbo but I don't have the time or the amount of eaters needed to make that worth it. This recipe has a leftover recipe so I don't have to eat it for weeks on end. I love this so much, it is worth all of the work. Well there isn't much work but it is sooo good, I'll give you the recipe soon.

Chicken and sausage gumbo

I also made french bread from scratch. I am pretty impressed with this one I have to admit. It was a little hard and kinda dense but so yummy. I will be trying this again to see if I can make it just a little better and maybe smaller. Who knows it was very good and I enjoyed the baking. 

Homemade bread... I am such a homemaker

There wasn't too much going on but I did love every moment of being with the dog and enjoying all of our time together and the wonderful smells that wafted through the house were worth it. How did you spend the first day of the new year? Did you try to finish up last year or just take a few moments to enjoy the promise of a new year?

Bonus Holiday

When I went home for Christmas my plan was to arrive on Friday evening, relatively early (about 8pm) in comparison with the 10ish that I used to get home from St. Louis, and stay until midday on Wednesday. I didn't really want to get back but now that I have limited vacation days I tend to kinda hoard them for fun stuff. So Wednesday morning came and we went shopping and grabbed a shrimp po-boy (one of my favorite things to have) and spent some time together before I got around to packing and getting ready. My brother and I were trying to figure out if he would still be at the truck stop and if I could get over there to see him.

Chris' Shrimp PoBoy: AKA the best sandwich ever

As I am slowly watching the clock get later and later I realize that I had better get it together or I wouldn't get home until midnight. So I get my stuff together and get everything in the car and change into something comfy for the drive. To recap at this point everything is in the car, including the dog, and I am standing there hugging my parents goodbye. I reach in to start the car so that it can warm up before the drive... and it doesn't start. I try a few more time and realize that my car is not starting. Eventually we go inside and I have a small meltdown and threaten my bank account with buying a new car. As I calm down we determine that it is the battery and now we have to decide what are we going to do.

I realize that even if we left at this moment I would not be able to get home until really really late (1-2AM) and that I should just spend the night and leave the next day. Now that I realize that I am going to get a bonus day at home with my parents I try and decide what are we going to do for fun. We ended up going out to dinner at Deano's Pizza. If you have ever been to Lafayette you know it is amazing, if you haven't ever had it you should. We opted for the T-Rex pizza, which is similar to a meat lovers but a little different. Some of my parents friends from years ago were driving through town and it was a real blessing for me to get to see them and relate to people I hadn't seen in years.

After dinner my dad put in the new battery that we had grabbed on the way home from dinner. It was a great chance for him to use the new toy I gave him for Christmas... a grill light. It is essentially a light on a flexible linker to a clamp so it allowed us to see in the engine when it was dark!

Putting in the new battery

The next morning dawned really nice and it was starting to warm up. We made breakfast and enjoyed another meal together before I had to leave. Early that morning we had taken my car to my dad's mechanic to make sure that nothing else was wrong so we had a few hours to kill before the car came back.

After breakfast we spent most of the morning playing Pig Mania, which you could read more about the Wikipedia article here. We have been playing this game for years, there are two pigs and you shake them in a cup and toss them onto the table and how they land determines your score. I had a wonderful time playing this with my parents. All too soon it was time to get ready and get back in the car.

Pig Mania.. this is worth 1 point

My car was given a clean bill of health from a trusted mechanic. I know mostly trust that my car is going to get me from point A to point B without me having to call AAA or my brother. I got a chance to see one of my very best friends when our visits overlapped by about 30 minutes. All in all the bonus day was a wonderful gift that I didn't know that I needed. Have you ever gotten a bonus day and what did you do with it?

Growing up a Malcolm: Christmas Morning

When I was home for Christmas this year it was so different because my brothers were with their new families so it was just me at home and I started thinking about all of the wonderful things that we used to do on Christmas Morning when I was a kid.

Me and Matt... many many years ago

On Christmas morning we would get up in our own bedrooms and wait until our parents came and got us. The boys would come to my room (with blankets over their heads) and we would all have some juice then they would go back to their own rooms and wait... We would all wait patiently until we could hear Amy Grant (or the Muppets Christmas) playing. When we were little it was from a record player so you could hear it before the music really started. Once they music started we knew that we could leave our rooms and follow the candy trail to the living room. Our candy trail was composed of nuts and candy and when the trails came together there would be candy canes... one for each of us.

Me and the boys and mom coming around the corner... so excited

As we entered the family room the tree was lit up and my parents would stand there watching us. All of our stockings were in our place (no fireplace so on a couch) and surrounding were unwrapped presents. I remember walking over to my place and just looking at all of the toys and starting to play with them. At this point we would look at the different things that we got before we would open stockings. There would usually be a puzzle and a game and some sort of stuffed animal for me. After a while we would open up our stockings which had more nuts and candy, as well as fruit, and a few small gifts. I remember that we would get batteries, which in the walk-man era were a high commodity in our household.

After this portion of the morning we would move on to the exchanging of gifts. We would all get a chance to purchase gifts for one another and then wrap them ourselves. I think this really taught me how much fun it was to give and it is almost as good as receiving. We would go to Toy'sRUs and one parents would keep the kids and the other parent would help one kid pick of presents for the siblings and the parents. Then you would try to hide the bag so that no one would look. I remember watching the boys to see if they would like the action figure that I picked out. Then we would go around and hug whoever got us a gift to show our appreciation.

Once the present portion of the morning was over we would have breakfast. I showed you a picture of the waffles that we used to have and still do. We would sit around and talk about our presents and scarf down from strawberries and waffles and then head back to playing with toys. When we were really little we would leave to head to the grandparents house so we could only take a few toys... that was hard how do you leave your new presents at home?

As I thought more and more about these memories I realized that I have been so blessed to grow up in my family. I loved being able to spend time with my family over the holidays and try out new traditions for just me and my folks. Now our mornings are more laid back with waffles but the I don't think I will ever forget hearing the music start and know that Christmas morning is finally here. Some years my brothers and I would talk to each other through the walls as we waited for the parents to wake and there was always so much excitement.

What did you do as a child? Was your Christmas as fun?

Happy Birthday Barrie

At our favorite place, JP Fields

I don't typically do this but I wanted to take a moment to post a Happy Birthday post for my best friend Barrie. She is a few years behind me in graduate school so we didn't get to spend the full 6 years together but once we became friends I knew it was forever.

At my post-defense party that she threw me

We are very similar and enjoy many of the same things: cooking, hanging with our dogs, and bad TV. For the last year or so of grad school we met just about every Friday after work for a few Bud Selects and a philly cheesesteak. I will admit that she turned me onto the ones with Cheez Whiz, I promise they are worth the adventure. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

In addition, she has been an inspiration to me since she works very hard to be the best wife she can be for her husband and make sure that she still gets all of her work done. I have loved getting to know her more and more every single day. I am often challenged to be a more Godly woman after I talk to her, she makes me want to be better.

I wrote this in my dissertation for her

For some unknown reason we tend to not take lots of pictures together but I can tell you that she is one of the people that I miss the most from St. Louis. I love when we get a chance to visit on the phone, which is not nearly as often as I would like but it is enough. I just wanted everyone to know how special this girl is to me, she is everything I could have ever asked for in a best friend and all of the things I had no idea that I needed.


Barrie- you are amazing and I am so thankful that we are such good friends. I cannot wait to see you again soon (hopefully). Keep it up girl all of this is going to be worth it at some point I know. I love you more than life.

xoxoxo
H