pink nostalgia

tuna not-pasta salad

This recipe came together in my head and tasted even better.  It was one of those how-do-I-use-up-these-few-things-that-I'm-trying-to-get-rid-of-before-they-go-bad-oh-and-I'm-trying-to-eat-semi-healthy-too strategies.

Here were all of my dilemmas (I'm using that word loosely):

1. I bought this Light Roasted Tomato salad dressing expecting to love it.  It didn't mesh with the lettuce for me.  But since I paid for it, I'm not throwing it away.

2. My green onions were about to go bad.

3. I made a batch of quinoa for a kale experiment (forthcoming) and had some left over.

4. I'm trying to work quinoa into some regular recipes because it's high in protein and it's a healthy carb.  J and I are trying to eat low-carb for breakfast and lunch (except for Shipley's, ahem), so this fit the bill.

This made enough for two lunches, plus some strawberries on the side.

2 cans tuna in water, drained
4-5 green onions, chopped
20 grape tomatoes, sliced in half or quartered
3/4 c - 1 c cooked quinoa
several good glugs (probably half the bottle) of roasted tomato salad dressing or whatever  you're trying to get rid of

Mix it all together and eat it.  : )

I don't think J would like this salad because he loathes raw tomato and raw onion.  In fact, his comment was, "You gonna put a pack of gum with that?"

Here's another tip for when you're trying to get rid of something before it goes bad - use last week's leftover baked beans in Frito pie.  Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse the delicious sauce off (I know, but it's better than the alternative), then dump them into the meat mixture.  Leave your can of kidney beans in the pantry for next time.  No one noticed.  ; )

happy

One of my favorite things in life is getting selfies from J (also on the list: making George crack up laughing).  These usually arrive when I'm out of town as a this-is-what-I'm-doing-right-now update.

Even higher on my favorite things list is getting selfies that include the boys.  I gasp at every text, and it makes my heart ache in a wonderful way.

I always wonder if J says to them, "Hey, let's take a pic!" or if he says, "Hey, let's send a pic to Angela!" but I'm too chicken to ask.

So here's the page with my favorite Wells boys selfie.

I listened to Pharrell's Happy on repeat as I scrapped it.

This page was half inspired by cat123 and half lifted from this page I made a few years ago, and lifted again, and flipped:

And now I'm very happy.  : )

team edward

Shortly after we embarrassed Jessie with Jacob, she bought a teeny-bopper magazine that was devoted to New Moon, the second book & movie in the series.  We hid it at our desks and giggled like schoolgirls.

Rachel tore out one of the fold-out posters of Edward and taped it to the back of her office door so that he was posing for her when her door was closed. 

Yes.  This.  In a life-sized poster.

I tore out one of the magazine pages and taped it to the under-side of my shelf.  My bosses couldn't see it when they stood in my cube to talk to me, but I could see it when I sat in my chair and leaned forward ever so slightly.  If I cocked my head to the side, it looked like I was intently thinking.  About taxes. 

This indulgence went on for at least a month.  I gazed glanced at Edward several times a day, and my fellow "Twihards" (how embarrassing) would periodically ask about him and sneak a peek.  Partners and managers came in and out of my cube constantly and were none the wiser.

One of the partners was Donn.  His pasttimes include golf and embarrassing you for your mistakes.  He is NOT a fan of staff shenanigans.  Or vampires.

So one morning Donn comes to my desk like he always does.  And then he kneels to the left of my chair like he never does.  And as he looks over to me, Edward catches his eye, and he exclaimed, "What the HECK is that??"

My face turned blood-red (ha) and I said, "That's...Edward."

He frowned and said, "I don't know about that."

I stuttered, "Oh, yeah, uh, it was just a joke.  I...I'm taking it down."

Sigh.  And then I rushed over to Angie's desk and said, "Ohmygoodness, listentowhatjusthappened!"

team jacob

I don't know what made me think of this the other day, but it still made me smile...

In the fall of 2009, I read The Twilight Saga in the span of a week.  Besides loving the series, I had an awesome experience reading them.  Jessie and Rachel had recently read them, and shortly after I did, Yvonne and Angie read them.  Then the second movie came out, and we were hooked. 

Between the five of us, there were countless incredibly detailed and animated conversations regarding the books and movies. 

In fact, it's probably good that I wasn't blogging then.  : )

But it was very fun that for that time.  We all allowed each other to be silly and giddy.  We fed off of the other's excitement.  We relished in it, and it made us all closer.  It was even better since we all worked together.

The second book introduces a traditional love triangle between Bella, a vampire Edward, and a werewolf Jacob.  There are two camps: those who root for Bella to end up with Edward ("Team Edward"), and those who root for Bella to end up with Jacob ("Team Jacob").  There are pros and cons to each which I am sooo sooooo tempted to go into right now, but I'll stay focused...

Rachel, Y, and I were Team Edward.  Angie wished she was "going home to a man-wolf" (that is a direct quote).  Jessie was definitively Team Jacob.

So Rachel and I decided to do Jessie a favor since 1. she was Team Jacob and 2. she was always leaving her computer unlocked.  I would change the wallpaper on her monitor to a picture of Jacob; Ray would distract her. 

Around 6:00 that night, I gave Ray "the signal."  She called Jessie's extension and asked her to come to her office.  As soon as I heard Jessie get up from her desk, I emailed her a picture of Jacob.  As soon as I heard her talking in Ray's office, I strolled past Ray's office to Jessie's desk where I hacked her email and saved the picture as her wallpaper.  I deleted the email, minimized all of her screens, locked her computer, and strolled past Ray's office again where I gave Ray "the second signal."

They wrapped up their conversation, Jessie headed for her desk, and Ray and I waited with baited breath.  Then:

"Bah ha ha ha haaa haaa haaaaa!"

: )

And no sooner had we gotten to her desk to revel in the fun did Bob, a partner at the firm, walk by to see this:

Bah ha ha ha haaa haaa haaaaa!

He played along and (loudly) razzed her pretty good.  Jessie got very flustered and tried to cover up her entire monitor...with a post-it note.  Suffice it to say, his abs were still showing, even weeks later.  : )

the love bench scrapped

I scrapped this page while hanging on the couch with J.  Even though I have a whole pink room, he still lets me scrap at the coffee table while he we he watches baseball.  : )  This page makes me almost as happy as this bench does.

I lifted this one from Paige Evans and Erin.  As soon as I saw their pages, I knew they were perfect for the love bench!  I love the rainbow effect - it's so cheerful and perfect for a back yard page.

I think I've gotten my money's worth out of that cloud punch by now...

Ha haaa haaa haa haa haaaa haaaaaa.

P.S.  In case your wondering, the salisbury steak meatballs were just okay (J went back for seconds, but I did not), and I was really disappointed in this marinara sauce (it still tasted like canned tomatoes to me), but to be fair, my expectations were very high.  Freebirds was the big food winner of the weekend.  : )

currently

Anxiously anticipating putting the boat in the water again.  : ) 

Pricing water skis.

Scrapping the love bench.

Listening to Elise's podcasts.

Watching 7 on 7 football.

Rewatching Veronica Mars, the series.

Listing 5-10 things I love about my home RIGHT NOW per Ali's suggestion: 1. basil on the front porch, 2. granite countertops that don't require trivets or potholders, 3. Mom's ruffle curtains that J hung in our bedroom, 4. a counter top on each side of the stove and next to the oven, and 5. hammock trees.

Hiding triple-chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies, which granted sounds mean, but it's the only way I get to eat more than two cookies when I bake a batch of 20 (read: Wells boys).

Planning front and back porch makeovers.

Relishing an upswing with J.  Communication is our key, and 92% of our speedbumps come from one of us not understanding the whole picture, including feelings or motivation.  The remaining 8% is from him heisting my cookies (see "Hiding" above).

Making this and these - this weekend!

Strolling on neighborhood walks with J, and halfway missing his old neighborhood for the loop that took us an hour to stroll.

Scraping the brownie batter bowl.  : )

Carrying a watermelon.  "Carrying a watermelon?"  Ha, it just popped into my head.

Happy weekend!

goodbye, wilmington! i hardly knew you!

I visited my grandmother, via Wilmington, North Carolina, last month.

It felt like North Carolina. I know that sounds obvious, but it was exactly like I pictured it, even down to the overcast shoreline.

This photo was my view on Saturday at The Oceanic where Miss Rita and I lunched with three of her girlfriends, each of whom told me privately how excited Miss Rita is that I'm here!

The highlight event of my trip was dinner Friday night at Osteria Cicchetti.  I had the best sweet tea of my life.  The food was amazing too, but I can't get the sweet tea out of my head.  : )  The OC was full of intention - striped linen napkins, wood floors (and wood ceiling beams and wood tables and wood chairs...), a silver cup for my sweetener, focaccia, and really good olive oil.  It was really fun to have a long, relaxed dinner at such a charming restaurant.  I could easily make it my usual for date night, birthday dinners, where-to-take-out-of-town-company, and Tuesdays.

The huge downside was that it rained nearly the whole time I was there.  Actually, it's probably just as well, because like I said, we were going and gabbing the whole time.  So then the real downside was just that we didn't have enough time!

I've already been invited back this summer (that invitation was extended before we even got home from the airport!) with the stipulation that Jason MUST come with me! 

the 31 list: fill up a journal

So, when J and I were in the first few months of courting (hee, hee),  we coined "top cards." 

Your top cards are your daydreams and desires that are very close to your heart, that you hold onto tightly and maybe can't even bear to utter outloud. 

They are the glances that make your heart stop and the conversations that burn into your memory.  They are the moments when your cup runneth over.

When J and I are giving top cards, we usually preface it with, "Okay, are you ready for a top card?"  This is serious...I'm handing you my heart...  We would sometimes quantify the vulnerability and say, "It's a TOP top card, like a 10 of hearts!"

So I started a top cards journal.  Some of the entries are things I wanted J to know but couldn't say them out loud.  Some of the entries are things he already knew but needed to be recorded.

I found this playing card patterned paper and KNEW it had to be for my top cards journal.  The birds are too perfect - one of J's nicknames is J-bird, and he calls me aleebird.

You can see the rest of the 31 list here.

around the apartment: the mini album

Five months later, I finally made a mini album for the apartment!!

Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

The name of my apartment complex was The Retreat.  J thought it was the perfect metaphor. 

 

That diagonal stripe paper might be in my Top 5 of All Time.  : )

Each page is 8" x 3.5".  I was inspired to do a fabric spine by Celine Navarro.  I pulled out some threads along the edges of each piece of fabric to create the little bit of fray.

You can read the blog posts about the apartment haven here.

And don't worry - all of the "apartment" things have found homes in the new house.  : )

love maps: a side effect

Last weekend, I visited my grandmother who I hadn't seen in 8 years.  We had a few things to catch up on.

We talked and talked and talked and talked and ate and talked and talked and talked.  I laughed to myself because the only time that it was quiet was when we were eating.

Of all of the waking hours, probably one-third of if was spent talking about Jason and the boys.  I told stories.  I showed pictures.  I read texts.

Consequently, I came back smitten.  It was like I had fallen head-over-heels in love with J all over again.

I'm (still) reading The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work by John M. Gottman.  Gottman talks about the importance of a couple's love map, which is basically how well you know each other.  Every time you talk dotingly of your history (i.e. telling the story of your first Thanksgiving), you strengthen your love map because you're recalling those joys.  (By the way, this is why your significant other doesn't want you reminiscing with your ex!)

A whole weekend of gabbing made for quite a love map!

J and I do this on a smaller scale all the time.  We relive moments to each other.  He'll text me: "It really meant a lot last night for you to prompt and engage the math subject...thank you."  Or I'll tell him: "Ha, I was just thinking about the first time I came to your house, and when I finally got there, you were standing in the middle of the street, still on your cell phone, waving to me?  How sweet was that??"  Or he'll email me: "There's nothing like walking around HEB while you gather things for a real list,, while I aimlessly follow trying to find some significant need but only coming up with ice cream and cheesecake and steaks..."  Or I'll text him: "That was a great lunch chat...I miss you already."

Smitten kitten.