that's a lot of mugshots

Pretty cool huh?

you wanted answers

Almost a year ago on my old blog I solicited questions from readers.  I had planned to answer these questions in the form of posts since I wasn't having much blog-spiration at the time.  Well, life got in the way and you know how that goes.  Now that I have a little more time and I'm trying to blog every day in November for NaBloPoMo I figured I'd dig these questions out and get some answers posted.  Since I've moved blogs I'm not sure if the same people read, but I'm going to answer the questions anyways. 

From Amy:
Here's a question, it's another Twilight-related one. Which is your favorite book in the series? I'm just finishing up New Moon so I don't have an opinion just yet but love to talk all things Twilight. I'm also with Samara about the food-spiration.

My favorite book of the series was Twilight.  I loved Twilight because it brought me back to that time when I was falling in love with Adam.  We were sort of dating, but we were young and, at times, he acted like he could care less.  (Sorry for blowing you up A, shit's true!).  It was a good time in my life, but at the same time it was torturous!  My least favorite book of the series was New Moon.  It was very slow and I'm not at all interested in the Jacob story.  I am, however, VERY excited for the movie which I will be seeing in 2 sleeps on Thursday night!  I really loved Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, but Twilight is my absolute favorite.

From Amy Ferguson:
Hi! Always read your blog. Complete fun fluff question. What is you fave Twilight related tie-in, product etc?

Mine is probably a tib between your mitttens and this bracelet http://cgi.ebay.com/TWILIGHT-INSPIRED-BELLAS-TURQUOISE-BRACELET-NR_W0QQitemZ330309428580QQcmdZViewItemQQptZHandcrafted_Artisan_Jewelry?hash=item330309428580&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1326%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1307%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

My favorite Twilight-related product is a ring that my bestie Jessica bought me last year for Christmas.  I'm not sure if this is the same one, but I know she got it from Etsy and it looks almost identical.  Cullen Crest Ring.

I love it because you can wear it and it's not outwardly apparent that you're a 29 year old woman wearing a ring based on a book about teenage vampires.  :)  Other than that I really love my Bella mittens and the movie companion books that talk about the filming of the movies.  I have the one for Twilight and the one for New Moon.

Also, I'm a very novice knitter. I have made several scarves and hats and dishcloths...any suggestions to get me started on the road to being able to knit cables and mittens and things?

With regard to knitting and moving beyond the novice category I would say just try something that is out of your skill level and you have been dying to knit.  I'm a very firm believer in just doing it and that is how I progressed with knitting so quickly.  I had a couple of one-on-one lessons before I moved out here and then I was on my own.  I can easily learn from books and videos so that's what I did.  If I didn't know a term or a stitch I googled it and got a million hits.  One of them was bound to make me understand.  After I had the scarves and dishclothes down I quickly moved onto basic socks and mittens.  And then sweaters and wearables.  Most of knitting is being able to follow directions and knowing the terminology.  Also, cables are pretty easy if you can follow the directions so just go for it!  Email me for suggestions (or leave a comment) on some easy mitten patterns, maybe even some with cables.

From Jen:

Oh, my blog slacking beats yours by miles. My excuse? I'm getting married in THREE DAYS!
Okay, my question is...how do you find the time to knit? Do you only knit at home or do you have mobile projects?

I do a mixture of both.  Now I have more time to knit so I'm knitting more at home than I was while I was in school.  Adam and I carpool to work and he drives so I always have a good 30 minutes of knitting to and from work.  Except for right now when it's dark by the time we go home which SUCKS!  I always have a pair of socks on the needles and I find that to be a good mobile project.  I have knit sweater parts in the car as well which is good until they get really big.  I ALWAYS have knitting with me though and will break it out if I'm waiting for something/someone.  Aside from that I typically knit at home only when I'm watching TV.  I really like to catch up on my DVR shows on the weekend and knit for a few hours when time permits.

From Samara:
Ooo-oo. I have a question! You talked the other week about not eating processed foods at home but eating whole foods instead. I haven't made a total effort to do that myself, but I generally try to be aware of it. It's something I would like to turn more attention to, and I'm curious what you like, what you don't, what's easy, what's light, what's filling and comforting. Food-spiration, please!

When we cook at home we eat very simply.  We pick whole foods and generally don't eat anything that comes in a box or a bag (besides stuff like whole grains).  Our typical go-to meal is fish or chicken grilled, rice or sweet potatoes, and a whole mess of either steamed veggies or salads.  Lean protein, whole grains and veggies - simple and easy.  When I'm cooking a meal I will try and incorporate these 3 items in there and I know we're getting everything we need.  We also have our regular menu items like chili, pasta and homemade sauce, breakfast for dinner & shishkabobs. 

I'm sure this sounds boring, but we try and mix it up by doing different seasonings on the meat/fish or preparing the sides in a different way.  We grill veggies a lot in the summer, but will roast them in the fall/winter.  Steamed veggies are just easy and always our go to - they can be seasoned in any way.  Same goes for the potatoes.  To sum it up though I really don't try and make some fancy "meal" every night.  I don't have time and I don't like to cook so it has to be simple to keep my attention.  You'll notice the meal from the other night was stuffed peppers - just used our basics, lean protein (ground turkey), whole grain (brown rice) and veggies (green peppers) and rolled it into one meal.  We added a potato it was good to go. 

Since I'm trying to lose weight and build lean muscle right now I'm balancing my carbs & protein and keeping my fat intake low aside from good fats.  I really like fish, eggs, pasta, nuts, beans, cheese, rice, potatoes, veggies and fruits.  I don't like meat that much, but I do eat it when prepared in certain ways.  Grilled chicken is my favorite as long as it's thin and not too chickeny (ha!).  Since I don't get a lot of protein throughout the day I drink 2 protein shakes which gives me 32g of protein between the 2.       

There were 2 more questions, but I'm going to save those for another day.  :)

smile!

Our friend at Starbucks this morning gave me a little smiley face on my cup.  Cute, no? 

I've waited all day for this

The new John Mayer CD is out.  Battle Studies.  I'm listening to it for the first time right now and it's super delicious so far.

Here's my confession...

Last week I pre-ordered the digital download of the CD.  Mainly because the purchase came with a code for the pre-sale of his tour which was on Saturday.  Of course I got tickets for the Seattle show in March 2010.  Good seats too.  So, so, so anxious -- it's been a few years since I've seen him live which is one of my very favorite things to do ever.

Anyways, the album dropped today.  I thought about it all night last night and how I would get up 10 minutes earlier and download the album and update my iPhone and my iPod and listen to it on repeat all day at work and then at the gym. 

I woke up 10 minutes early this morning.  Checked my email on my iPhone.  No email, no code, no dice.  F&%$.  You have to be kidding me?  Ok, I'll get ready for work and in an hour I'm sure there will be a code, right?  Wrong. 

So I left for work with tears in my eyes (no, srsly!) because I had no JM download.  I didn't even bother checking my email during the day because I knew I couldn't download it on my work computer. 

Then I find out iTunes has a "Deluxe Version."  Marketing ploy for suckers like me because there is an exclusive track.  Well, I NEED an exclusive track.  I've loved John Mayer since almost day one.  I've loved crappy pop John Mayer and I've super loved new mature blues John Mayer.  So...

I got home from the gym and I downloaded the Deluxe Version and that is what I'm listening to now.  Adam said I should - haha.  I have a really cool husband.  At this point I'm considering the initial purchase a fee for getting really good seats, but I'm still kind of mad at whomever is running this download business.  It's hogwash!

As a consolation prize iTunes let me "finish the album" since I'd purchased the Who Says single already.  How sweet! 

And guess what?

At 8:31pm PST on 11/17/09 I still have no freaking email with a code for downloading my original album purchase. 

But I am listening to the album and loving it even though it cost me $20-something at this point.

november goals -- mid-month check

We're over half way through November already -- can you believe it?!  Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is right around the corner.

1. Finish out strong in the Biggest Loser competition.  This isn't going so great, but I'm working on it.  My second weigh-in showed a 1lb gain.  I was really shocked to say the least.  After working hard at the gym 6 days a week I couldn't believe it.  Plus that left me with a net loss of only 2lbs in a month!  I've changed some things up and am hoping that the next weigh-in (which is this Thursday) shows me some love.  I've been stressing over this which is silly and ended up giving myself an ulcer.  No srsly, I have a minor ulcer right now!
2. Read. Yes!  I've been reading this month more than I have in the last couple of years.  Love it.  Currently I'm reading A Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule about her relationship with Ted Bundy.  It's VERY good so far.  I have a stack of books waiting to be read once I finish this one up.  Paperback Swap has been very good to me.
3. Organize. We're defintiely working on this one.  On Sunday we lightened up our condo a little bit via the Goodwill and the dump.  That helped.  I've done a couple of small organization projects like my coupons and my vitamin/pill cabinet.  Every little bit helps when you're in a small space. 

Hope November is going well for you guys out there.  I already know what my December goals are going to be -- actually there will be just one -- enjoy the holidays!  This is the first "free" (no school) Christmas I'll be having in a couple of years.  I have a zillion things I'd like to do, but really I just want to enjoy it this year -- decorating, gift buying/wrapping/giving, baking, etc. 

easier stuffed green peppers

This was our dinner tonight served with 1/2 a sweet potato each.  Super easy to make and really yummy.  Adam loves stuffed peppers, but the recipe that I typically use takes forever to prep and cook.  After working all day and usually going to the gym I never have the energy to make that meal.  These still take one hour to cook, but the prep is really simple and quick. 

I got this recipe off sparkrecipes.com -- Easier Stuffed Green Peppers.

Ingredients:

1 pound extra lean ground beef or ground turkey (I used ground turkey)

1/2 cup uncooked Brown long grain white rice

1 cup water
6 green bell peppers
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes.

While rice is simmering in a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.

Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)

In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder.

Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper.

Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, or until the peppers are tender.

Number of Servings: 6
-------------------------------------------------------
To make prep time even easier I used the frozen brown rice that you steam in the microwave.  4-5 minutes and it's perfect. 

After I stuffed our 2 peppers I had this left over:

I added 1 can of drained black beans and mixed it all up.  It's in the fridge now and I think it will be very good on flat breads or just eaten alone.  Now we have lunch for a day with the leftovers. 

productive sunday

I feel like I got a lot of things accomplished today.  And I had a lot of relaxation as well.  This makes for a great Sunday in my book!

Today I:

• Donated 2 bags of clothes and some other miscellaneous items to the Goodwill.
• Took a load of junk to the dump with Adam.
• Bought a new chair for the office upstairs to replace the 2 crappy ones that went to the dump.
• Made my lunch salads for the week.
• Folded laundry and caught up on some TV.
• Knitted and chatted with Kery for a few hours.
• Completed a 90 minute bootcamp at the gym. 

Now I'm knitting and getting ready for bed.  After that bootcamp I think sleep is in my very near future.

I've got a full week coming up including lots of gym time and the premiere of New Moon!  Kery and I are going to the midnight show on Thursday and I can't wait.  Friday is going to be brutal since I can't take the day off, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Only 3 more sleeps until my date with Edward Cullen.