B&BW Seaweed

The Tea Party speech really came together around 5:00 on Sunday afternoon. I was having some serious issues trying to get anything to flow together that wasn't just a jumble of ideas, and then I suddenly got into a rhythm and was able to just power through it. I suddenly had 500 words and a good theme. It took some major reworking after I wrote it, but I think it came out ok for a first attempt. I'm no sure how my professor will like it, having been a professional speechwriter and all, but I think I got a lot of the techniques in that he's been talking about in class. I also think it was a good idea for me to challenge myself and write from a completely opposite viewpoint, because it helped me focus on the elements and not just the ideas. It made me think about how to make ideas I disagree with sound good to me, and I think I did a good job. I don't think it's an A, but a solid B, and that's ok with me, because, like I said, it's my first try. But now I understand how Sam feels when he's having trouble writing.

So, Health magazine, which I am subscribed to as a gift from my grandmother, decided to tell me this month that I should paint my nails dark blue and olive green (not at the same time). They also gave me tips on how to go about doing that: keep nails short and shiny. Thanks, because after years of wearing nail polish, I hadn't figured that one out for myself. That being said, I think I will be painting my nails olive green in the near future (probably this week).

Last year, I got the China Glaze Halloween collection and really loved it. (I'm linking to Scrangie because I don't have my own pictures and her's are awesome.) I wore the purple one and it was great. I wore the orange one and it was great, though it came off in big chunks that looked like stick-on nails (and now is a super-thick goop, which will require some tinkering with Seche Vite Restore), but I never got around to wearing the green one. It's pretty much identical to what Health is telling me I should wear for fall (sparkly olive green) so I'm going to give it a go. I'm definitely in a Halloween mood and I haven't been able to decorate and be Halloween-y yet because it isn't even the first of October.

Currently, however, I am rocking Bath and Body Works Beauty by Nature in Seaweed.

Seaweed indoors with flash.

Seaweed indoors without flash.

I promise I'll eventually learn how to take good pictures of my nails.

Seaweed is a really beautiful dark teal with a bit of a shimmer to it. I would recommend that everyone go out and buy it, except that I bought it in seventh grade, which was... 1999. So, I don't think that they'll have this anymore, but I'm sure that there are other colors out there that would be dupes. I remembering wearing this while I was substitute teaching English a few years ago and the sophomore girls in the class told me I had awesome nail polish on. I'm sure that green nails were enough to make them think I was a "cool sub."

The polish has completely stood up to the tests of time. It's no thicker or thinner than it was when I bought it 12 years ago and it goes on opaque in one coat (what you see here). I still usually use two or three coats because it tends to thin out when topcoat is applied. It dries semi-glossy, thus the use of topcoat. I also use topcoat because it doesn't have very long wear, even when using multiple coats. One of the nice things about this polish, however, is that the color doesn't change based on number of coats, so if you have to do a touch-up a few days later, you can just brush a little polish over top of the trouble spot and you'll never be able to see the difference.

Also, today is my BFF's birthday, so... Happy Birthday, Laura!

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Chicken Tacos

I'm supposed to be working on a stump speech for class, and I'm having serious trouble with it, because I've decided to challenge myself by writing it from a Tea Party perspective (ugh) and I don't know anything about the Tea Party except that I hate them. So, instead, I'm going to post a recipe for Slow-cooker chicken tacos, which are really good and I made on Monday but haven't had enough time to post about until today. (Technically, I still don't have enough time to post about it, but what can you do).

First thing is to gather your ingredients:

• 3 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 package taco seasoning (in this case, reduced sodium)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
• 2 cans dark red kidney beans (optional)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil (optional, but good)
• 1/2 - 1 cup water (if not using kidney beans)

Rice is optional, if you want to add it to the recipe, but I don't think it's necessary. It would probably be pretty good.

  

First step is to cover the bottom of your crock pot with the taco seasoning packet, and then place the chicken breasts directly onto the taco seasoning. Chicken breasts should be frozen to start, which makes this recipe even easier.

Flavor the chicken breast by sprinkling the cumin over top of them....













....and then dump the can of Rotel on top of the cumin-covered chicken breasts.

The next step is the kidney beans, if you choose to use them. I really like beans in my chili/tacos, so I would definitely use them, but that's entirely up to you. Also, I'm sure that black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, etc., would taste fine. You could also use only one can if you want to go light on the beans. Add one can of kidney beans, with the liquid, to the beans. Drain the other can (reserving the liquid) and add the beans, followed by the olive oil (if using).

Put the lid on the crock pot and set it on low. After 3.5 hours (or more) it will look something like this:

Using a fork, take out the chicken breasts and move them to a cutting board. They should be completely tender and moist. Shred all three breasts with a pair of forks. Add it back into the pot.

Mix the chicken back in and let the flavors come together for another half hour or so (or longer) before eating. If it seems a little dry, go ahead and add the reserved kidney bean liquid (which has more flavor and nutrients than water) or just add water as needed.

When ready to eat, you can eat it plain like a chili, but of course, you can add anything else you might put on a taco: hot sauce, rice, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, etc.I prefer to pile it on top of a tortilla with cheddar cheese and light sour cream.






Approximate WW PointsPlus value for a 1/2 cup serving of taco filling (with beans, no toppings/tortilla included) = 4.

Serious Question

Why is cleaning so hard for me? I mean, in all honesty, it should not be this difficult to, you know, clean your room. It's not that I lack discipline in general (I mean, I lack discipline in things that are unappealing, but I always got good grades, eventually got around to doing my homework, balanced tasks, etc.), so I don't understand why I'm like a toddler when it comes to cleaning my room. Or cleaning anything. Or doing things.

I'm currently in the process of hanging up the clothes that have been in the floor. Every time I think I'm close to being done, I realize that there's another pile of clothes sitting over the chair, or another pile in the corner. Yes, part of the problem is that I have too many clothes, which is true. One of my goals this year is to try to wear everything I own, and if I can't, to get rid of it and let someone who might actually wear it have the chance. I wonder if part of it is my perfectionism. I have an interesting strain of this particular disease, in that I'm an apathetic perfectionist. I want things to be perfect, but when they're not going to be, I tend to just say "Meh... screw it." So I look around my room and I say "I want to organize my desk and get it perfect, I want to go through my dresser drawers, I want to organize my shoes/closet/clothes/underbed boxes/decorations, etc." and it becomes overwhelming and I realize I have neither the time, nor the energy (nor really when it comes down to it, the mind for organization. I never know how to organize things. My brain just doesn't work like that.) to actually do it right, so I just say "Meh... screw it." and I leave it half done, which is worse than not starting at all.

Anyway, my mom has been out of town taking care of my grandfather and she's coming home tomorrow. She does have the organization/cleanliness gene that I so sorely lack and it would make her life much easier if my stuff was clean and organized. That's like, a big deal to her. Apparently the best gift I can give her is the ones that five-year-olds give their parents because they don't have money and it's a big deal when little kids clean their rooms, whereas it shouldn't be as big a deal when your grown adult child who lives with you does it. And yet... here we are.

So, I really want to get this done, but it's already 11:30 (posting this took about 5 minutes, so that's not really keeping me from finishing) and I have to be at work at 9 tomorrow, which means I have to leave here by no later than 7:30 and really earlier, and then I have a full day of work followed by a personal training session and I won't be home until 10:30 tomorrow. So, as much as I'd like to get this done, it probably won't happen and then it will continue to linger and then I'll be the world's worst kid. And scene.

Paula Deen's Banana Nut Muffins

It's been pretty chilly here in the DC area the last few days, as I've mentioned. It should warm up in the next few days and get closer to where the temperature should be, but in the meantime, I want something warm that requires the oven to be on hot and warm up the kitchen, rather than crank up the heat in the middle of September.

 I've been at home by myself for almost two weeks, with a brief visit from my dad, and in that time, I haven't really been home very much. As such, I'm not usually around to "snack" during the day, and much of the fruit that we have hasn't been eaten. I hate to waste food, so the extra ripe bananas that are sitting on the counter will now be turned into Paula Deen's delicious banana nut muffins, from her magazine.

These are seriously some of the best muffins I've ever had, and shockingly, they don't contain ANY butter. Right?! Incidentally, these muffins were featured in a fall/winter edition of Paula's magazine, as a warm reminder of tropical flavors (also included: pineapple/ham omelette and a smoothie). So, to begin...

 We start with ripe (brown/very dark spotted) bananas:

Then, you preheat the oven to 400° (kind of the whole point of baking today) and gather your ingredients. For this recipe, we'll need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• Garnish: confectioners' sugar, fresh raspberries

I substitute Splenda Blend for the sugar (follow the instructions on the package for the conversion rate, which, in this case is 1/2 cup of Splenda for 1 cup of sugar). You can also substitute the more traditional walnuts for these muffins, but I like pecans in them. I don't put on the powdered sugar, either, but that's because I'm not much for presentation.

I also go VERY heavy on the cinnamon, because I find that the original recipe doesn't have enough of it to even taste in the finished product. I generally put in somewhere closer to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, so four times as much as the recipe calls for. I also add more banana if I have it. I've found that about three bananas is a cup, and in this case I have four.

Dry ingredients unblended.

Next, combine your dry ingredients (but not the nuts) into a smallish-medium bowl (if you've baked before, you know how big the bowl should be for two cups of flour). When you mix in the cinnamon, the whole kitchen starts to smell like fall and/or Christmas. It's great.

Dry ingredients blended.

See why I go overboard on the cinnamon? Once blended together, you can barely see it and this is with four times the cinnamon. If you're not a cinnamon fan, just add the amount called-for until you've made them once and then play it by ear.




One note: Never measure salt over your bowl. If it overflows the measuring spoon, you could end up with very salty muffins. On the other hand, I always measure vanilla over the bowl, and let it overflow a little bit. It's a tip from Debbi "Mrs." Fields herself. But there's no vanilla in this recipe, so that's a moot point this time.

(Sidebar: I have the last night's Nationals game on TV right now, and there's a commercial for Nissan about how they have so many more vehicles available than Honda or Toyota. It's the second commercial I've seen played on this theme, and I have to say that I find them completely tasteless. Because why are Toyota and Honda having inventory issues? Because their plants were washed away in a horrific earthquake/tsunami. Nissan is counting on you not to understand that they're trying to make money by exploiting a tragedy. It really pisses me off. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the commercial online anywhere to share. Ok, sidebar over, back to muffins.)

Next, put your dry ingredients to the side and combine your wet ingredients into a large bowl.

Now to mix them together. I know that the recipe calls for you to add wet to dry, but I generally add dry to wet. If you want to follow the recipe, just reverse the size of the bowls. I've done it both ways and it doesn't seem to make a difference in how the muffins look or taste.

Once you have your delicious muffin mix batter, it's time to add the nuts. I happen to have pecan pieces left over from... something (likely last year's pecan pie at Thanksgiving), so I'll use those, but you can chop your own just as easily with a large knife and a cutting board. Also, I will be using a cup of nuts, but that's a lot of nuts. If you're not a nut fan, you might want to start with 1/4 cup and work your way up as you make this recipe.

Go ahead and grease your muffin tray. Mine is for a dozen muffins, not 15, like the recipe calls for, so I just make big muffins. I always grease with Pam, never with butter, because it saves you calories. Don't forget to grease the tops of the tin and not just the cups. You don't want your muffins to stick if the end up baking up over the edge of the tins.

I generally use an ice cream scoop to fill my muffin tins (an Ina Garten tip) because it makes consistently sized muffins.







Once you're done, put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes. For my larger muffins, I did 14 minutes and they were perfect.

 
Use the baking time to finish cleaning up the kitchen. When they appear to be cooked on the top, they're done. (Be aware that with all the banana in them, they may appear to be not done, but that might just be a chunk of banana you're looking at. Make sure you look at all the muffins when judging doneness.)

Once you have your delicious muffins you can keep them for several days. I recommend popping them in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds on high to give them that fresh-from-the-oven heat when you have them later on. 

Now you can cozy up with your banana nut muffins in your warm kitchen (the whole point if you recall) and enjoy!

Confession

Let me be clear about something. I am a slob. There is no doubt about it. I am a grade-A, genuine, certified, slob. I do not have the "neat" or "clean" drive. When something has been sitting where it doesn't belong for days (or weeks...) I do not feel a compulsion to pick it up and move it. All of my clothes have been sitting in the floor of my bedroom for two weeks and I haven't yet hung them back up, because I just don't care all that much. My bedroom in college was a FEMA-worthy disaster area, with dirty clothes all over the place because I was too lazy to take my clean clothes out of my laundry bag and actually have a place for the dirty ones. My college roommate didn't seem to mind (Bless her.) as long as she had a clear path through my room into the bathroom (it was a weird arrangement, see floorplan below).


Each two-room suite had an entrance from the stairway. Originally designed as a sitting area and a shared bedroom, one room has a fireplace and access to the main door, while the second has both closets and access to the bathroom. Now most students have two separate bedrooms, so the outside roommate walks through the inside room to use the bathroom/closet, and the inside roommate walks through the outside room to enter/exit. It seems like it wouldn't work, but it does. You're sharing a living space, without sharing a room.

Anyway, my college roommate didn't seem to mind, and when I had my Roommate from Hell at UMD, I made it clear that I always kept common areas clean, but kept my room a mess, and she said that was OK. (Turns out, she didn't care too much about cleanliness in the common areas as she left her T-shirt in the floor of the living room for literally three months, but my lack of need to clean allowed it to stay there until I finally picked it up, folded it, and put it on the arm of the couch, where I'm pretty sure it remained until I moved out.)

But I would like to be a little bit cleaner. It was awkward in college when a guy made it clear that he might like to see me socially for an evening, as it were, and I couldn't invite him over because my room put most fraternity houses to shame. Not that I was ever going to invite anyone back to my room anyway because I'm just not really that kind of girl, but the opportunity wasn't there even if I had been.

With my grandfather moving in with us, I think it's time for me to consolidate some of the stuff I've accumulated over the years and really try to live my life in a cleaner, more organized way. Maybe if things aren't so overwhelming, I'll eat better, exercise more, and be more focused. Probably not, because cleaning my room isn't likely to be a life-altering experience, but a girl can dream, right?

I think I'm going to start today with my office. For two weeks, I've been trying to clean my office in between students wandering in to see me (I really need office hours) and answering every question about university policy, grading, registration, etc., that anyone can think to ask me, plus meetings and other necessary functions of my job. So, I haven't been all that successful. To be honest, there is still stuff in this office from when I moved into it that I've never gone through or that I didn't even know was there until I recently discovered it. So maybe today, since I have to be at work anyway, in addition to doing a little bit of reading for marketing, which I'm behind in already, I will try to get some serious cleaning done and reclaim my office, before going home and trying to do the same thing with my bedroom, my stuff in the basement, my closet, and my storage unit. I'm pretty ambitious, but it sucks that I'm also pretty lazy. We'll see what can be done.

Victory over losers

So, today Jade and I had to go return a lost ID card to the ID office, where my horrible ex works. I generally avoid the office like the plague, but I've since started feeling much better about myself and the bad decisions I made (I still wish I hadn't made them, but I've stopped beating myself up for it) and I decided it was time to go do this. I have no reason to be afraid of going there or of giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he somehow has the upper hand. He doesn't. So, I went there. He hid his face like the coward that he was and forced someone else to help us and then he hid in his computer until I left. And you know what? I felt fine. Great, really. I mean, I used to see him and just start sobbing, and I literally have not felt bad about seeing him for even a second today. Which is pretty awesome. It looks like it took me two years to get over him, but now here I stand and I'm feeling pretty good. He's a loser, I'm not and he and his "fiancee" will be very happy together (until they divorce because he won't stop sleeping with other people, which he won't).

In other news, fall has... fallen. (Ok, so is there some sort of "spring has sprung" equivalent for fall that doesn't suck?) It was a chilly 60 degrees when I left work last night and damp. It got down into the upper-40s last night and it should be there again tonight. I'm absolutely a warm-weather person, but I love the season when it's still warm (70-80 degrees) but there's a crispness in the air and you can wear a light sweater/cardigan. I'm feeling very autumnal. I have a sudden urge to go out to a field and pick a pumpkin, sit on a hay bale, and wear a plaid shirt. I'm not sure why "autumnal" to me means Farmer Jane, but to each their own. I also am interested in sitting around in cable knit sweaters in front of a fire, drinking a hot toddy, and doing something else equally appropriate. I imagine I will be clutching my mug with both hands and have my elbows resting gently on the arm of the couch, with my feet curled up under me in large woolen socks. (Ok, it was like 75 degrees today, so maybe we're not quite there yet, but come December, this is what I want to be doing.) Also, I don't know what a hot toddy tastes like, but I've decided I want one. Cold Weather Project #1: Use Jack Daniels from Nashville trip to make hot toddy.

As it gets colder, my office will inevitably turn into the Arctic wasteland that it devolves into during the winter months. I have an adorable little space heater purchased on the company dime, but last year they told us we couldn't have them because they "fixed the heat." I'm not sure where exactly they did that, but it wasn't at Ice Station Zebra, as I have taken to calling my office.

Anyway, I will likely continue to use my illegal space heater, but in an effort to be somewhat more environmentally conscious (and help the university save a few bucks that they'll pay to a needy employee... what? That won't happen? Oh.) I think that I will get myself an office Snuggie. I already have a regular Snuggie. It is beautiful and leopard print and it is, after all, the blanket with sleeves, so there's nothing that could ever be wrong with it. But my friend Olivia has her office Snuggie and I think it's an awesome idea. Her's is UMD (vomit) so I think I might get a UVA one. I mean, how awesome would it be to look like this in my office:

Answer: SO awesome.

Though I'm not entirely sure how I'll afford to buy my Snuggie (or my new shoes, or anything ever) because we had a Fidelity at-work education presentation today and I decided to up my retirement contributions. I'll now be putting 10% into my 403(b), which I was already doing, and an additional 5% into a Roth IRA. (God, is this the most boring thing I could ever talk about? Possibly.) So I guess we'll see how I make-do with less money. I don't have a lot of it now, but I think I'd rather have a lot of it later. Speaking of which, I finally am getting a real paycheck again because they will no longer be taxing me on my tuition and taking it out of my measly paycheck. Yay for money! Now I can pay down my CC bill that built up while they were taxing me like crazy. Oh wait, now my money is gone. *sigh* 

One week between posts...

Wow, has it really been a week already? That's crazy. Maybe one day I'll actually come home at night and have time to post, but that week is not this week. On Mondays and Tuesdays I have class, so I likely won't post then unless I do it from work, and on Wednesdays for a few weeks I'm going to have 8 p.m. personal training sessions, so that's going to keep me from posting on Wednesdays. So let's shoot for Thursdays and see if we can't get in something else a little more frequently.

I did have my personal training session last night and I really like the training with this new place. Once again, I'm doing it through a Groupon and I'm really happy with it. It's actually group personal training, so there are a couple other people, which I thought I would find annoying, but is pretty nice because there's a little bit more going on and it keeps things more interesting. Also, I'm not required to make awkward conversation with the trainer, though I totally could because he's adorable and awesome. This is the second time I've gone to this place and I'd go back there before I went back to the first one I went to, but I likely won't be going to either because it's just not something I can reasonable afford. I'd love to be able to make a down payment on a house and have a personal trainer, but that's not possible given the amount of money I make, and one day I'd like to move out of my parents' house and not spend every cent of my income toward rent, thus prohibiting me from ever having a down payment.

Actually, my ideal plan is to buy some place with two bedrooms and rent out the second room for half or more of the mortgage. Right now rates are so low that I could conceivably rent out the second room for the ENTIRE mortgage, which would be awesome. And if I'm the landlord, then I don't have to deal with awful roommates because I just throw them out. Or something. I should probably consult an attorney on that.

So, I finally decided to retire my gold flats. They've served me well for many years. They cost $14 from Target about six years ago, but a summer living in New York and everything else they've been through have made them pungent and I think it's time they were thrown away. I believe I will be replacing them with the Qupid Thesis Flat:

I think it will make for an acceptable substitute. I liked my previous flats because they were a neutral, understated gold. Not too yellow, not too silver, not too shiny, not too obnoxious. Neutral, easy gold. So we'll see if these will work and, if not, I'll send them back.

As part of my quest to wear all my shoes (which I still can't do because my ankle still hurts and I can't put on heels) I am interested in eliciting advice on how to wear pewter flats. I have a pair of pewter, pointed-toe super-low wedge "flats" from Target. They're really cute, but I never know exactly how to wear them because the color is so unusual. I never feel like it matches anything and it seems too different to wear in contrast to things. I've searched the Interwebz and haven't found a lot of help, but have found some really cute pewter shoes. Thoughts?

Sarah is better at blogging than me.

Truer words have never been written as a blog post title. Sarah is better at blogging than me. She has all this personality and spunk and she, you know, posts. I mean, we've had an earthquake, a hurricane, flooding, and Stephen Strasburg and I haven't been able to motivate myself to write a solid blog post.

So, we had an earthquake. At this point it was pretty much a year ago, so I'm not going to go into details. Suffice it to say that in the height of the shaking I said, in an extremely calm voice, "In elementary school, they told us to get under our desks in an earthquake. I'm going to get under the table." And then pretty much everyone else did that. It was strange. Also the pictures fell off my wall in my office and then we got to go home early. Yay!

That's right, the ugly Monet that I don't like and came with my office fell off the wall. I don't know how I'll survive. Also, my office is a a pig sty.

All right, earthquake out of the well. Hurricane Irene was a bit of a disappointment to those of us around here. Let me be clear that I'm not making light of the destructive flooding it caused further north, but I love extreme weather and it barely even rained. Tropical Storm Lee, or the remnants of it rather, have been making crazy rainfall over the last week and I love it, though now half of Fairfax County is underwater, so I'm glad that I was able to get home via I-66 tonight, because all my other routes were washed out.

So, why haven't I posted? It's the same configuration of stuff: work is crazy, school is crazy, life is crazy, can't find the time. But really all of those things are excuses (ok, work really IS crazy, but still) and I just need to figure out a way to make this happen. I like blogging, even if no one is reading and even if I think the word "blog" is an affront to the English language. I don't even have nail polish on my hands right now (or on my feet, for that matter) I've been so busy. But I still just need to make this a regular part of things. Even if it's only a couple times a week, or once a week at first. I find it helpful.

I did succeed in making my blog pretty the last time I was on here and played around with it, so that's good. I like using Memorial Bridge as the picture because it's a beautiful structure and I feel like this could be a helpful place as I move forward with my life, crossing a symbolic bridge into adulthood, if you will. Ok, gross, no. I primarily picked it because it's a pretty picture of DC and I drive over it every morning to work and that's the bridge that Toby, Josh and Donna cross at the end of "20 Hours in America."

So, yeah, I've been watching some Parks and Recreation, doing some room organizing, watching some West Wing, doing presentations on Cathay Pacific marketing campaigns and working 10-11 hours a day. But I went out last weekend and had a social evening with coworkers that resulted in losing my keys and talking about graduate school admissions with anyone who will listen. And a lot of people want to listen to that at bars apparently. Who knew?

All right, I'm tired and this sucks because Sarah is better than me, but I vow I will improve.