…just barely.  But I DID make it.  I had to run.  With all this stuff:

And yes, I need all that stuff.  It’s my purse, my computer bag, my lunch bag and my water (well and my foot :).

But San Mateo is sliding by with ME on the train.

How cool-I got the bike shop in the picture =D

Wow was the gym ever hard this morning!  First thing I woke up and wondered “how early is it?” (I have a nasty habit of waking up at 3:30 ready to go and then by the time 5:30 rolls around I’m a zombie). I looked over at the clock and it was 5:29-SCORE!

I took a boot camp class this morning and she had us set up steps with 2 risers on each side.  She had us jumping up on the steps and doing all sorts of running and jumping on the steps-it was H.A.R.D. Then she had us do yoga flow using the step. Imagine doing chataranga with your feet on the floor and your hands on the step.  Downward dog too and lunges-front foot on the step, etc.  It was insane. Then? She had us pick up weights and we used weights while we did warriors and balance poses. Bicep curls mixed with tree pose mixed with sitting in a chair pose. Insanity.  Then she mixed in some crazy martial arts stuff.  Why is it that she looks so much better doing this than me?  I burned 300 calories in 45 minutes so I think it was a success.  I really liked it too.

Oh! Yesterday my friend sent me a gift.  Look how cute:

Love it!  Thanks Ashley!!!  It’s from a designer that I found on Etsy.  Amy Cornwell.  I’ve bought 7 things from her, all gifts.  So I’m very excited to have my own.  I should have worn it today but I was in such a rush that I forgot 🙁 boo-tomorrow!

I do have one of my pretty scarves on today though.  And? I still love my hair. YAY!

In other very exciting news, Shaun let it slip that I’m getting a juicer for Christmas.  I’ve had juicer envy for quite some time!  I little frightened by how much space it will take but I’ll figure it out.  I’m in charge of getting my stocking stuffers (my husband is wonderful, but a shopper he is not-I do all the shopping in our household-the groceries, Target, Costco, I even buy his beer-I mean all the shopping).  I’m thinking I’m going to get some kale, limes, apples, carrots, etc. for my stocking so that I can juice that morning.  We’re leaving for Idaho on Christmas Day so it’s my only chance to use it for like a week.  Yippee!!!

Off to go enjoy this:

I worked up quite the appetite at Boot Camp.  Nothing a little pumpkin butter and peanut butter won’t fix!

Here’s one dedicated to food-type stuff and Lu of course!

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Love me some classic Madonna!

Anyway, I went shopping this weekend-for MYSELF! I was SOOOO tired of feeling frumpy and decided to go buy some basics and then some accessories.  If I shrink out of the basics (hopefully!) it’s okay because I only bought long sleeve tees and they’ll basically be dead after this season anyway.  I bought 2 sweaters but they’ll probably still fit in 25 pounds.  The accessories?  Will ALWAYS fit.  I’ve never been an accessories girl and had to ask for help.  I really like what I got though. Here’s a bad picture of all the loot:

And some close-ups.

A beautiful headband that I’m wearing today:

Another awesome headband:

Some necklaces:

And scarves:

And PURPLE shoes!

Which I’m wearing today:

(thank god my floor is getting mopped today-I had an epic cooking weekend and you can really tell in that picture!)

What I look like today:

It’s not the most flattering picture but oh well-you get the idea! Amber-what do you think? 😉

My table also got a make-over:

As did Lucy’s feet:

(taken at a stop light from the front seat-don’t worry I know how long this stop light takes and the camera was put away before it even thought of being green). The shoes are a little too pink for my taste-I’d love if they were fuchsia-but they were on mega sale and we wanted her to have tennies for Idaho.  Even the non-sale ones were kinda pukingly pink or white.  I’m sorry, I’m not buying my 1 year old white shoes.  They’d be brown an hour later.

I also found an Arkansas Black Heirloom apple at Whole Paycheck (oh how I’ve missed thee! The local market didn’t workout).

It was GOOD.  Nice and firm, kinda honey and vanilla tasting, not quite crisp enough though. YUM overall.

And lastly, there was lots of hanging out with my favorite peeps this weekend:

Lucy says YO YO!

I was supposed to make Sheppard’s Pie tonight for dinner but I left work a little late and then traffic was HORRENDOUS.  I didn’t get home until 6:20 🙁 I made scrambled eggs and peas for Lu and then put her to bed.  When I got home I saw that her clothes from daycare were in a bag.  I asked, “Did she have a blowout today?” Shaun tells me, “Even better, I guess they had tuna for lunch and ALL the kids got it all over each other and they were covered in tuna.  All the kids were in ragamuffin clothes when I got there-it was hilarious.”  Here was Lucy’s ragamuffin clothes:

I still think she looks pretty cute 🙂

After putting her to bed, I asked Shaun what he wanted and he said that he ate a late lunch and had a party at work so he didn’t want anything.  It was the perfect excuse for TOFU!  Shaun hates tofu so I can only eat it for lunch or when I’m not cooking for him.  I looked in my cupboard and found this:

This stuff is awesome and is a staple when we go camping.  We usually do chicken with peppers and onions over couscous. I didn’t have any couscous and I didn’t want to wait for rice so I decided to just do some onions, carrots and green beans with tofu over spinach.

Here everything all ready to go:

I drained and pressed the tofu for about 10 minutes while I chopped the veggies.  I put all the veggies in the pot:

and steamed:

(LOVE my Le Creuset that my Aunt got me for Christmas last year).

Once they were tender I added the tofu and 1/2 cup of the curry with a little water and steamed for about another minute.

I think I should have used a bigger bowl 🙂

It was delicious. Shaun has NO CLUE what he’s missing!

What do you think?

Did you see The Office last night?  That last scene was incredibly sweet.  It has been SO cringe worthy the last few weeks.  Last night’s BEST SCENE was when Jim got Kelly the Twilight poster.  I nearly lost it.

Anyway. Yay it’s Friday.  It’s going to be rainy here all weekend but at least it’s the weekend!  Lucy was too cute this morning.  She loves to help out and she thought that she could help by carrying my purse/camera bag to the car:

She dragged it pretty far before she let me trade her for my umbrella.  So cute. Don’t worry she did get a jacket before we went outside.

In other news I’m getting a haircut today!  I’m trying a new place and I’m a bit nervous.  I’ve been paying WAY too much for my hair.  I’m a bit embarrassed actually by how much I’ve been paying.  I have really hard hair to cut and I found someone who could do it but her prices just kept going up.  When I first started going to her it was $110-which is RIDICULOUS for a haircut but I rationalized that since I don’t color my hair, it was okay to pay more for a really good cut.  Well the last year or so her price has been $147.  Add a 20% tip to that and I’ve been paying $175 for a HAIRCUT Ridiculous.  I DO NOT have that kind of money.  Add to that, the fact that I’ve been EXTREMELY unhappy with my hair for the last 3 cuts.  That’s 5 months of hating my hair at $175 a pop for a grand total of $525.  That makes me a little ill.  Here’s my hair this morning:

Ugh that does not look like $175 hair.  I don’t even know what $175 hair looks like but that is not it.  I really hope that this new lady is good because I DO have really difficult hair to cut.  This place is right around the corner from my work and there are over 200 reviews on Yelp and they have 4.5 stars.  The girl I’m going to has FABULOUS reviews, so I’m hopeful.  The only negative for her according to Yelpsters? She’s expensive at $60 a pop.  I literally laughed hysterically.

Enough of that.  Onto CHRISTMAS!  I am usually the BIGGEST scrooge.  I used to LOVE Christmas but ever since adulthood hit I’ve basically despised it.  I won’t get into why here BUT having Lu has completely changed that.  I’ve been listening to Christmas music, I’ve decorated, my Christmas shopping is done, my Christmas menu is planned, and yesterday I bought my first poinsettia!

It’s so pretty!  And Shaun even exclaimed and liked it (he’s usually not into things like this).  It really gives the room a nice feeling. Yay!

Lastly, Shaun and I stayed up WAY too late last night.  This necessitated a trip to Starbucks this morning.  I don’t think I was the only one who stayed up too late.  Check it out:

It was seriously packed.  I am enjoying my Tall Soy Eggnog Latte though.  I only allow myself one once a season since they are so full of sugar but it was worth it this morning.  Now I’m a little hyper.  Off to burn that energy off working!

I got burned out on salad.  I used to eat it every day, if not twice a day.  Finally, one day I was like “NO MORE SALAD!” and I’ve hardly ever made it for myself again.  I get it sometimes when I’m out but almost never at home.  The same thing happened with apples.  I used to eat one every day and now I can hardly stomach them 🙁

Anyway-tonight may have changed my salad aversion! It was just Lucy and me tonight and traffic was HORRIBLE.  We got home basically in time for her dinner and then straight to bed :(.  I heated up leftover pizza bombs for her and then went rummaging through my fridge to find something to eat.  I came up with this:

It’s a bed of baby spinach, with cucumber, orange peppers, smoked wild salmon, capers, and shredded goat cheese with a citrus vinaigrette. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! I think what made it so good was the combo of the goat cheese, salmon and capers. YUM.

Lucy enjoyed hers too:

I’d say we both REALLY enjoyed dinner:

I have Shepherds Pie on the menu this week and I really hope that I get to make it tomorrow-so be on the lookout for that!

I prepared and shipped three packages this morning:

Evidently I always open boxes from the bottom?  Both of the boxes I reused were opened upside down. 2 were gifts for friends (I finished knitting a hat last night for a friend’s little boy and I FORGOT to take a picture). And the last one was the pumpkin butter!

It got shipped this morning!

While I was in front of the bookcase, I thought I’d take some pictures of my stockings.

I knitted and felted Lucy’s (the middle one) last year and have mine and Shaun’s almost done but I knew I wouldn’t have time this year to finish them so we bought those from Pier 1. The reindeer hangers are new and I love them!

(Target)

I’m increasingly frustrated with my picture taking abilities.  I think I’m okay at close up stuff but I think anything that’s not close up is pretty awful.  Shaun encouraged me to take a photography class and I may look into it.

Okay, the shipping took a big chunk of my time this morning, I’ve gotta hop to!

Divya!

Divya-I’ll need your name and address where you’ll be able to receive mail on Friday!

I had so much fun reading all your comments but before I get to that, I am BURSTING at the seams with excitement!  Because I ALSO won today and I am the PROUD owner of this!

Including the awesome, special addition Windows 7 bag (you could only get one of these if you signed up to host a Windows 7 party-yes someone on my team did sign up to host a party):

I had to be quite ruthless.  It was between that and this:

I stole both many times but on the last turn the champagne had been stolen 3 times in that round (meaning it couldn’t be stolen again) and the Clapper was off limits to me since it had just been stolen from me. I stole something that Elaina wanted and somehow she got the Clapper back and we traded. I don’t remember the exact details of how it happened BUT we were totally devious.

Some of the other gems?

There was another Snuggie (a much more tame blue):

And, quite the find-Handerpants!

Just look at all the uses! Night Blogging! Texting! Cruising!

The recipient of the leopard print Snuggie was quite pleased:

And yes that IS a huge banana saver in the background!

We had a ridiculously fun time.

Check out the rink (I feel like this picture could have been taken 25 years ago):

On the door-No prohibited skates!:

Roller Derby Elaina!

My skates:

My skating abilities did come back.  Although not to their full glory.

Now, onto some of the comments from the giveaway!

First, the winner mentioned fruitcake-I never liked fruitcake until my wedding in Jamaica.  The traditional wedding cake there is a rum fruit cake with fruit that has been soaked in wine for a month or more-it was the best cake ever! So dense and delicious!

Next, stuffing! I LOVE stuffing and have plans to post my grandma’s cornbread stuffing recipe very soon!

Then there was mention of gingerbread.  MMM MMM GOOD!  I have a FANTASTIC and time consuming totally unhealthy ginger snap recipe that may need to share with you all.

Oh and then the mention of Latkes.  Latkes are quite literally heaven on earth.  Mmmmm, with some apple sauce and sour cream-nothing better!

The last one I wanted to comment on was tamales.  Tamales on Christmas is a HUGE tradition in my family as well.  We had many Latino friends who would bring them over for Christmas and we always had a Mexican feast on Christmas Eve.  This year will be no different-if you look at my monthly menu for this month, you’ll see that I’m planning on a Mexican feast for Christmas Eve!  This was a huge shock to Shaun.  I had to mentally prepare him for Christmas Eve with Mexican food for his first Lingo Christmas.  Now? He loves it! 

Does anyone have a foolproof tamale recipe?  I even know where I can get lard, which I hear is crucial to tamale making. Or, if you have a foolproof lard-less recipe, I’ll try that one out too.

Today is my team’s holiday party.  We’re going roller skating (so excited!) and then out to Mexican Food afterwards.  We have a tradition of a White Elephant exchange and it gets pretty brutal.  In our White Elephant exchange you open your gift as you get it and then subsequent people have the option to steal your gift or get a new one.  But they know what they are stealing.  It’s fun!  I normally get burned and get a horrible gift and so I’ve learned from this.  I no longer give nice gifts-one year I knit coffee cup cozies and went home with a fake leather case for a Palm Pilot (I didn’t own a Palm Pilot nor is fake leather high on my list of wants). So now I give atrocious (but fun!) gifts so that whatever I end up with, I don’t end up feeling bummed. This year’s gem?

HA!  I love that it’s “Snuggie-Wild Side!”  And seriously? With how cold I’ve been in my house lately, if I end up with this, I would totally use it!  I’m secretly hoping that there will be a Clapper (Clap On!  Clap Off! The Clapper!) because I really want one of those.  All I need to do now is wrap it up-making it look really pretty and enticing.

I think this one may beat the year that I re-gifted a gold plated “hand painted collectible” Tiger Plate (you know-from the commercials in the 80s) that we got at a family gathering one year.  Yes! Someone actually took that off their wall, had the original box and gave it to us as an “heirloom”. My Mother-in-Law assured me that they just wanted to get rid of it and it was okay for me to throw it away.  I re-gifted instead.  I do think that the leopard print Snuggie beats that gift 😉

Today is my rest day and I got to “sleep in” until 6:30. Tuesday nights I stay up “late” watching So You Think You Can Dance (the best show EVER!) and so I use Wednesdays as my sleeping in days.  Too bad I went to sleep an hour later so I still ended up with 7 hours of sleep.  So, I’m happily drinking this:

It is, quite literally, bringing me joy!

Something else that brings me joy (bet you can guess where this is going) is Lu!  She looked SO grown up today.  I no longer have a baby-it’s official.

She no longer crawls 🙁 BUT! Since she started walking exclusively, she’s been sleeping for well over 12 hours! We have to go wake her up in the morning now so that we can get to work on time.  She’s so cool.  This one is blurry but I love it:

Alright, off to get some work done before the party.  Remember you have until noon today to enter the giveaway.  I’ll be back after my party to announce the winner (probably around 4 or 5 PST).