Top 10 Reasons I Love Thanksgiving

1. I got to hang out with family. Lots of it. And I'll see them again soon so goodbye wasn't as hard as normal.
   
2. My nephews knew who I was when they left. Jace (the 18-month old) had me wrapped around his finger by the end of the week, but hey whatever works right.
   
3. I only gained three pounds (must've been the 5+ hrs of vball and 2+ hrs of racquetball).
4. I got to meet two of my very cute cousins for the first time.
   
5. We only hit one hour of traffic leaving and coming back. I was expecting three.
   
6. I played racquetball for the first time in over a year and didn't suck. I am incredibly sore.
   
7. I got at least four hours of sleep every night and didn't get up until after 10.
   
8. My car made it there and back without the timing belt snapping.
   
9. I finally went to a real donut shop (not Krispy Kreme).
   
10. Richie finally, "read," well really listened to Twilight. Now he gets why I like the book.

There are really only two complaints I have about this weekend- I took my camera with me and didn't take a single picture. Sorry, no pictures yet again. And my little brother wasn't there. It just wasn't the same without him.

Another Take on Holiday Traditions

Every time I hear the word tradition I think of two things. First I think of a Jewish guy singing it in a deep voice in Fiddler on the Roof. And second I think of playing Bingo on Christmas Eve with my family.

But today a speaker in church got me thinking about what a tradition really is. A tradition is really just another word for a habit or a pattern; some are good and some are bad (like the match making in Fiddler). After church the talk I started thinking about the not so good traditions that I have. Things like watching the same shows on TV every week (way too many of them) and eating a crunchy snack after dinner. Things that have become habits and patterns in my routine that just aren't doing me any good. It made me stop and think about the traditions I need to replace with better ones. And of course about the good traditions like opening PJs on Christmas Eve, waking up really early with my siblings to open stockings, and going to see a movie on Thanksgiving day.

I'm ready for the holidays this year. I really am. I bought Christmas music to play (and have been playing it). I've been craving family time and time away from work. Oh and good food that I don't have to cook. I can't wait to be in a home, a real home, not an apartment with three rooms. And more than anything, I'm ready for that feeling I get when I'm surrounded by family - the feeling that I can be myself and everyone already loves me no matter what I do.

I'm looking for good traditions to replace my not so good ones. What are some of your favorites? Maybe I'll steal a few.

New Moon Comes Out Tonight...Who Am I Kidding

I can’t think about work. I can’t think about anything else today. Really. With tickets to the 12:01 showing of New Moon, coherent thoughts (that do not include werewolves and vampires) are just not possible. I’ve tried really hard to avoid it. I didn’t even read the series or watch the movie again before tonight.

And now I’m regretting that decision.

If I could, I would probably go home instead of working to watch the movie and read New Moon again before tonight. Instead, I'll sit at work and read articles, watch interviews, and listen to the New Moon soundtrack to prepare myself. It’s inevitable. With only 13 hours to go, I’ve been bitten.

Again.

Chocolate, Meet Your Soulmate Peanut Butter

Alternately titled Team Edward vs. Team Jacob cookies. Have you seen the New Moon Burger King commercial? I saw it tonight and all I could think about was that these cookies would have fit right in. They will be the perfect treat for our pre-New Moon party tomorrow night.

Anyway. I got my holiday edition of Cooking Light tonight and decided that I just had to bake something after looking at all of the amazing holiday cookie ideas. So as part of my 24 in 24 goal to make 24 types of cookies, I made these babies last night. Half peanut butter, half chocolate chocolate chip. Simple and amazing.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Duo (courtesy of Picky Palate)

Peanut Butter Cookie

1 Cup creamy peanut butter
1 Cup granulated sugar
1 egg

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 sticks softened butter (1 Cup)
1 Cup granulated sugar
3/4 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 Cups flour
1 1/4 Cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugars until well combined. Slowly beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Place flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl; mix with fork or sift. Add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.

2. Take a Tablespoon of Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and a Tablespoon of Chocolate Cookie Dough and gently press together forming a “not so perfect” ball. Don’t press and roll too much, just stick them together and place onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are cooked through to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Workout Cards and Competition

I hate how in the winter it gets dark so early and all I want to do when I get home is lay on the couch, eat, and watch TV. So instead of just laying on the couch all winter, I decided to do something about it and started a workout competition.

But before I go into details about the workout competition, I wanted to show you the cool idea (I saw this somewhere once) I had and actually did this week. I have a subscription to Self and Women's Health (not anymore) magazines and the old issues have just been piling up on my bookshelf for the past year. This weekend I finally ran out of room and decided I needed to get rid of some of them. Or all of them. So I went through my magazines, cut out the workouts, categorized them (e.g., arms, butt, core, legs), and put them on a ring that I can take with me to the gym. Forget having to remember workouts, now I can just take them with me. Check out my workout cards.

As for the workout competition, me and 15 friends are doing a weekly and monthly workout competition. The basic rules are that the competition is based on minutes. The loser of each week buys the prize for the winner of the next week, and everyone pitches in $1 for a $15 monthly prize for the overall winner. I've tried to do workout rewards for myself in the past, and it's never worked but I think it might this time with a competition with someone other than myself. Some of my favorite reward ideas are:

• Cookbooks
• Magazine subscriptions (Self, Shape, Cooking Light)
• Workout DVDs
• Gift certificates for workout clothes
• iTunes gift certificate for new workout music
• Movie tickets
• Pedicure/manicure certificate
• Workout cards (my cards from above)
• Restaurant certificate
• Pedometer

And you know what, it's been helpful. I've worked out more in the past two weeks than I have in the past month. If you want more details about the workout competition, leave me a comment with your email address. I wrote three pages of guidelines and reward ideas for everyone and am happy to share.

My "Give Me An Idea" Blog

Ever since I started this blog, I've wanted to start another one where I could share my ideas and tips for anything and everything. And on top of that, it would be a blog where people could come and submit a question, and I could give them my ideas for things like gifts, party ideas, etc.

I'm always looking for creative ideas and can never find what I'm looking for so I guess I'm hoping that maybe if I started a "give me an idea" blog, I could give someone a suggestion that they couldn't find elsewhere.

There are so many things I can think of that I could have written about this past year and didn't. Things like:

• Getting to know you games
• Budget couple activities in the DC area
• Adult Halloween Party Ideas
• Cheap Girl's Night Out Ideas
• Guide to planning a European vacation
• Workout competitions (with yourself and other people)
• Creative 25th birthday presents

And so on. I have all of these ideas and all of these things that I do and would love to share but nowhere to share them. Here's where you come in since you're the ones that read this blog. Would you read a "give me an idea" blog? Or the real question, do you need ideas for anything?

Me vs. Dark Chocolate Almond Cookies

I think for once, I actually have a lot to post about and just haven't gotten around to it yet. So look forward to a bunch of posts this upcoming week with all of the fun stuff I've been doing. A couple of weekends ago I went with one of my good friends to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in D.C. Thanks to Groupon, we were able to get tickets not only to the show but also to see Giada (from Food Network) do a cooking demonstration and Q&A session.

Not only did I learn a lot and gain even more admiration for Giada, but I also learned that you should never try eight different olive oils, twelve types of cookies, and six different caramel corns in the space of three hours. Maybe four hours, but definitely not three.

Metropolitan Cooking Show

I chickened out right before asking Giada question. There is just something about talking to celebrities (especially ones whose name I can’t pronounce correctly). But she did answer a lot of questions from other people that were very helpful.

And cooked three delicious looking items that I wanted to taste.

But instead of tasting Giada’s food, we decided to go try out samples
from the other 300 vendors.

From bubble gum candy ...

...to fish cakes,

and AMAZING cookies, we tried about everything.

(Everyone should try these cookies- they were my favorite thing of probably everything we tried)

By about halfway through, our stomachs couldn’t hold anymore. So we took a bathroom break and started all over again. After we finally finished, I really didn’t think I would be able to eat anything else all day.

And I didn’t.
Or really anything the next day.

And I would happily do it all again tomorrow.

30 Minutes That Changed My Outlook

Today was just one of those days at work. So instead of staying stressed all day, I went for a walk along the Potomac River. And on my walk I...

- Saw a bald eagle.

- Marveled at the beautiful weather, colors, and scenery.

- Ignored the emails, meetings, and phone calls back at work.

- Left the path to crunch leaves under my feet.

- Escaped to my own piece of solitude.

And smiled at everyone along the way. I'm going to make it a daily routine.

Carrie Underwood Play On Review

Ever since I saw her on American Idol, I've been a big Carrie Underwood fan so I've been eagerly anticipating the release of her third album. I love Some Hearts but will admit that I was a little disappointed with Carnival Ride. There were some songs on it that I loved but probably only 5 or 6. I thought that since I posted about getting Play On that it would be fitting to let you know what I think.

So here's a play by play.

#1- Cowboy Casanova- I love this song. It reminds me a lot of Before He Cheats with the big voice and upbeat tempo. And it's a lot of fun to sing. 5 out of 5 stars.

#2- Quitter - The beginning of this song reminds me of a "Boys Are Better Than Girls" song that my sister-in-law made at Disney Quest, which makes me smile. It's a fun upbeat number that's pretty catchy. 3 out of 5 stars.

#3- Mama's Song- I really like this song about a girl telling her mom that she's found someone else to take care of her and that he'll take good care of her. It reminds me a lot of Don't Forget to Remember Me but Carrie's vocals are amazing. 4 out of 5 stars.

#4- Change - I've read a bunch of reviews that call this song cliche and "the next Idol Gives Back theme song," but I love it. A song about a small thing making all the difference and amazing vocals make it one of my favorites on the album. 5 out of 5 stars.

#5- Undo It - Another upbeat one with fun vocals. Probably my 2nd favorite upbeat song after Cowboy Casanova. 4 out of 5 stars.

#6- Someday When I Stop Loving You - This song is my least favorite out of the first eight, but I still like it. A slow ballad with good vocals and a beautiful chorus. 3 out of 5 stars.

#7- Songs Like This - A catchy upbeat song with good chorus (and it's a lot of fun to sing); another Carrie revenge song that is addicting. 3 out of stars.

#8 - Temporary Home - This song reminds me why I love country music. Stories, beautiful singing, and a great message. 5 out of 5 stars.

#9 - This Time - This upbeat ballad is just okay for me and kind of forgettable. I had to listen to it four times before I really remembered it at all. 3 out of 5 stars for good vocals.

#10- Look At Me - This song reminded me a lot of the last half of Carnival Ride that I skip over pretty much every time I listen to it. I'm not a huge fan of real slow ballads, and yes Carrie sings it well, but similiar to I Told You So, I just get bored. 2 out of 5 stars for good vocals.

#11- Unapologize - A song about a girl who tells someone about her feelings, apologizes for those feelings, then decides to unapologize for what she says. Not particularly catchy or memorable although the more I listen to it, it's growing on me. 3 out of 5 stars.

#12 - What Can I Say - This could be one of my favorite Carrie songs ever. A duet with Sons of Sylvia (who I didn't know before but am going to look up now), their voices blend together to create a beautiful sound. 5 out of 5 stars.

#13- Play On - My least favorite out of all of the upbeat songs, this just isn't memorable to me at all. Another song about pushing (or playing) on when you get to the end or hit difficulty. The idea reminded me of The Climb, but it's nowhere near as catchy or powerful. 2 out of 5 stars.

My Least Favorites:
- Play On
- Unapologize
- Look At Me

My Favorites:
- Change
- Temporary Home
- What Can I Say

Overall album rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Wax On, Wax Off

For the first time since I bought my car six years ago, I failed my safety inspection. And the reason? My headlights are too dirty. The car place was going to charge me $180 to CLEAN MY HEADLIGHTS. Since I don't have an extra couple of hundred dollars sitting around, I decided to try and clean them myself. Hopefully this is good enough to pass the inspection.

Before (Left)

After (Left)

Before (Right)
After (Right)

A Lot to Look Forward To

I've seen lots of people doing the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and a lot of people posting something they're grateful for every day this month. I don't think I can commit to posting every day this month, but I'll do my best to post more regularly.

This fall is proving to be a great one, and I'm expecting it to get even better. Here are ten things I'm looking forward to in the next few months.

1. Carrie Underwood's new album Play On comes out tomorrow. Already pre-ordered.
2. I'm going to see Giada from Food Network do a demonstration at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show on Saturday. Oh and did I mention there will be samples galore?
3. We are going out (with five other couples) to a cabin in the Shenandoah Valley in two weeks for the weekend. What could be better than good friends, games, and the outdoors?
4. New Moon at 12:01 AM. Enough said.
5. Going to Ohio for Thanksgiving to see my family including an aunt and uncle I haven't seen in over three years.
6. Christmas parties. Christmas cookies. Christmas music. Really just anything Christmas.
7. Going to Texas for Christmas; we haven't been since last fall, and it's definitely time.
8. My office is moving over to National Harbor. I'm really falling in love with that area.
9. Time off from work. I haven't really taken time off since our trip to Europe in May. That's a long time to work every day especially for a girl who really enjoys her vacation time.
10. Doing something fun and exciting to celebrate our 3-year anniversary in December.

What are you looking forward to right now?

H1N1 + Octomom = One Great Halloween Party

We co-hosted our first Halloween party this weekend for a bunch of our friends that we've been planning for the last month. We had around 30 people there, and I'd say from their smiles they had a great time.

We of course had a costume contest - what Halloween party is complete without a costume contest - with some very creative entries including Octomom (my personal favorite), H1N1, Burger King and Wendy, and Mario and Peach. Richie was wolverine, and I was planning to be Carrie Underwood but basically ended up just wearing normal clothes because I couldn't get a bat.

H1N1

Flapper and Gangster

Dr. Grey/McDreamy & Pope/Nun

Egor and Mad Scientist

Wolverine

The girls

And the guys

Richie and Me

The big event of the night was an Amazing race type game Richie and I put together based on a combination of reality shows we've seen lately (Survivor, Amazing Race, Food Network Race). We split everyone into teams of eight and everyone had to race through four different challenges with two people on each team participating in each challenge.
It all started out with team members eating pieces of candy out of a pile until they found one with a sticker. And then they had to wrap up their team member with toilet paper like a mummy. Once the mummy was wrapped up, the mummy had to transfer pieces of candy corn from a bowl to a cup with a spoon in their mouth.

After the candy corn, the next team member had to finish a plate full of food I wouldn’t have been able to down. Once the food was completely gone the final team members had to pop balloons with letters and then the first team to unscramble the word was the winner and won a set of gift cards to some of our favorite places around here.


And now I'm ready to start planning the Christmas party.