Ahhhh, the joys of a three day
weekend. This weekend I packed my bags
and headed to Cleveland to meet James Theodore Gibbs – it was love at first
sight. Phil swooped him up from his rock
n’ play sleeper and brought him over to introduce me to him. After about a half a second I asked if I
could hold him. I was a little nervous
as I haven’t had much experience holding a baby and didn’t want to do anything
wrong or wake him up. Phil passed him
off to me and like a good father does, made sure I had a squirt of hand
sanitizer to rid me of germs from the plane (the flu season is a rough one this
year!). I was absolutely amazed at this
little life in my arms. The first night
James did so well…I only heard him cry once.
T-Minus 9 months. That is the time I have left to whip my booty
back into shape for Ann’s Wedding.
Actually, in exactly 9 months I will probably be suffering through hangover
as it will be the day after Ann and Matt’s wedding, but I digress. While I was at home for the holidays I had
one of those moments when everything clicked.
I knew I was going to be stress free from work for almost two weeks and
I would have zero excuses to not work out.
Libby was heading back to her family for Christmas so she left her dog
Moxley in our care, making him a great buddy to kick-start my workouts and go
for long power walk/jog. Despite getting
caught in a down pour and pretty cold temps, Mox and I had a great time. I am proud to say that I have kept up my
workouts even after returning to reality (aka work).
Hello friends! Sorry about the delay in posting…it has been
a fun, relaxing, exciting, and even a little nerve racking few weeks over the
holidays. I have been thinking a lot
about family recently, what it means, who it includes, past memories and future
ones to come. You will understand why
when I explain. First, my big sister,
Ann, and her boyfriend (well, now fiancé) got engaged!! Something that has been in the works for a
long time, but has finally happened. I
couldn’t be more excited for them and proud that my sister found a such a great
guy (not only to her but to our family as well: ER visits, resume writing,
negotiating skills, lawn rototilling, chandelier hanging, etc to just name a
few things he has done over the years with our family). Congrats and cheers to you both!! I can’t wait for the year of wedding planning
to come.
The holidays are a time to spend
with family which is exactly what I am doing.
Like most families around the holidays, many things revolve around great
food. For my family, when you think of the
usual Christmas cuisine, enchiladas are not the first food to come to
mind. However, since we have a few days
until Christmas, I thought I would try a new recipe I stumbled on. I knew it
was a hit when my brother said “this is great!” as he was shoveling another
bite into his mouth and then again the next morning when the fam was warming
them up to eat for breakfast. Don’t be
afraid of the onions and green chilies...the enchiladas still are pretty
mild. Enjoy!
Two weekends ago I was combing
through my favorite food magazines and websites trying to find something I
could enter into the Quaker Holiday Bite-Sized Bake-Off and was coming up
empty. You have to strike a fine balance
between something mainstream that everyone will like, but not too mainstream
that it’s just blends in with the other entries. I had a few options but not one that I
thought could have a real chance at winning, when out of the blue my inbox pinged. My best friend Tamara tried a fun treat a
co-worker brought into work and thought it would be a great one to add to the
blog. Little did she know I was looking
for a bite-sized holiday treat for the contest.
I saw it as a sign!! I am proud
to say that I won Best Overall in the contest…THANKS Tam…and thought I would
share this awesome and easy recipe.
There is no baking involved, so if you are not a cook, this recipe is
for you (fast direction: smash, mix, ball, freeze, dip, freeze).
Tis the season of holiday gatherings filled with reminiscing of
the past year, well wishing for the year to come, good food, and of course a little
drinking. Last night the city of Chicago
was buzzing with holiday cheer which made navigating out of the city a little
challenging as we made our way to Naperville to our previous fearless leader’s
house for our holiday party “Quaker Shopper Team Style.” We all brought some appetizers and desserts
to share which turned into a little bit of a contest – each person slyly
pushing there dish (my favorite one, outside of my own, were Mary’s pumpkin and
cream cheese frosting whoopie pies). I
joined in the fun and decided to make this peanut butter & chocolate mousse
pie. It is a recipe I stumbled across a
few years back when I lived in Cincinnati.
Nielsen was having a pie contest, so I searched through pie recipes
looking for something that plays to the taste buds of the masses…who doesn’t
love peanut butter and chocolate together?!?!
I ended up winning the Nielsen pie contest and have been making this
recipe ever since. I thought it would be
a great recipe to share as it is a great option to make for a holiday party.
This past weekend I headed to
Knoxville, TN for research which turned out to be pretty cool despite the fact
I was working over the weekend. Since I work for a company that primarily
targets and talks to Mom’s with Kids of certain ages, who are the primary
grocery shopper of their family, usually qualitative research is talking
with them. However, this weekend was
different! We talked with blue collar
men and truckers. They were some of the
most intriguing, funny, down to earth guys that had so much pride in what they
did for a living. Being a girl that grew
up in Atlanta in a Country Club, went to a private Catholic High School,
attended Miami University and now live in Chicago (man, I sound really spoiled)
you would think that I would not be able to relate at all (and in some areas I couldn't), but at the end of the day, we are people that work hard to accomplish
our goals.
