Wednesday, January 26, 2011

hump day

It's day 5 of my 9 day January stay-ca. Which means I'm smack dab in the middle and ready for my mid-week evaluation. If I pass, more of the same! And if I fail? Operation: salvage what's left.

I can't even believe how heavenly it felt to sleep in on Saturday morning. I'd worked 12 days straight up to that point. 12 days of 515 am wake up calls. 12 days of brutally wearing shifts. 12 days of praying for bedtime. Friday night I was up way past that aforementioned bedtime. I sat for the Goodwin babies and while I loved every minute of cuddling with those sweet boys, oh wow did they wear me out. I think I fell asleep mid conversation with Clayton! But I woke the next morning feeling well rested and refreshed - at 830! Woohoo! Clayton woke shortly after and I started packing us up for our weekend road trip to see Erica and crew in the country. Meanwhile, my love was slaving away in the kitchen making us the most delicious send off breakfast. He custom made me an egg white scramble with grape tomatoes and feta cheese - yum! Sweet, sweet man:)

We took the back roads to Burnett, TX for our Williams Family visit. A 3 1/2 hour drive and I stayed awake for the entirety. Check me out! We chatted about randomness, sang along with the radio, and soaked up each other's company like sponges. Good stuff. On arrival, we were greeted with Erica's epic enthusiasm, Travis's dry sense of humor, and two ridiculously precious kids that I swear had doubled in size since our last visit. We spent the rest of the weekend catching up, exploring the farm, eating very well, and shaking off our city smell. That night Clayton and I snuck outside just before bed and appreciated a starry sky that did it's best to compete with our wintry Downtown Dallas view from our front porch. We left Sunday afternoon with promises to return this summer. And with dreams of raising our very own backyard chickens:)

Back home I quickly got to work on my Sunday night dinner contribution. I had decided to try my hand at an olive oil cake. I think the Meyer lemons, spelt flour, all organic ingredients, and heart healthiness of the olive oil more than made up for the amount of sugar the recipe called for;) It wasn't the prettiest of desserts (can't for the life of me figure out why it fell so much in the middle) but it was very tasty and very well received by the family.

Monday began with a nice sleep in followed by coffee drinking in my pjs. One of my most loved things:) Then I got to work. We have our next supper club this upcoming Saturday - French, at our house! - and I did some major menu planning. I also hard core cleaned and reorganized our kitchen including installing some more pull out cabinet drawers. I love my tools! A few shopping excursions later for new entertaining supplies and food for this week of dinners and I was beat. But pleasantly so. Some quality Clayton time and then the comfort of our bed to finish out my day.

Tuesday was similarly packed and busy. I started out with a marathon cooking session: my signature potato salad and a new attempt at slow cooked pulled pork for that night's dinner plus homemade marinara sauce for later in the week. Then a super fun trip to one of my favorite antique malls. Oh, the finds! Very simple and elegant French champagne flutes. A fantastic old wine carrier. Vintage hand blocked fabrics that are just begging to be made into pillow covers. Not to mention quite a few gifts for upcoming birthdays and even a few Christmas projects. Definitely a success! Dinner turned out well with the added bonus of LOTS of left overs;) After the subtitled Swedish movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I was ready for slumber yet again.

And now today. So far it's just been more of the beloved pj and coffee combo. Hopeful plans for this afternoon with Autumn - she's got the cutest little baby bump that deserves some new clothes! Until then . . . is potato salad an accepted breakfast option?

Monday, January 24, 2011

on stay-ca

Yesterday it was a Meyer lemon olive oil cake.


Today I'm feeling super ambitious and planning out the entire week.


A sample of my anticipated menu?


Yeast free pizza with arugala and toasted pine nuts for tomorrow night.


And for later in the week, I'm thinking of trying my hand at slow cooked pulled pork.

So, yeah. I'm kind of a rockstar.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

muah!






Happy birthday, baby! I love you:)