February 28, 2009

Spicy Hot Chicken Soup

I found this recipe in Penzey's monthly newsletter/catalog and I have made it numerous times in 2 months. Every time, I keep forgetting to take a picture and to post the recipe. It is super yummy and great for a cold day.

Ingredients
12 oz chicken, cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic or 2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I use 3/4 tsp - 1 tsp made it quite hot)
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 can fire roasted w/ garlic diced tomatoes
6-8 cups chicken stock
1/2 box of medium shell noodles

Directions
Cook noodles according to package directions (I under cook them just a tad since they will be added to the soup)

Cube chicken. Add oil to pot and add chicken. After 4-5 minutes, add onions and garlic. After about 5 more minutes, add cayenne pepper and ginger. Add chicken stock. Drained can tomatoes and add to pot. Bring to boil.

Turn to low and add cooked noodles.

PS - I buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store deli and just cut that up - a little quicker and easier.

He's just not that into you

Last night I had another "girl's night" with Angela and Kelly. We had dinner at Granite City and then went to see "He's just not that into you." Ang had borrowed the book to me years ago and it was hilarious but I was also glad that I was with Joe and no longer dating.

When I saw the previews for the movie, I immediately called Ang and said we had to go see it. Last night, was the much anticipated night! My expectations were pretty low since there were so many well known stars and I figured if they needed that many big names, the movie would probably suck. It did not!

The theater was packed and people were reacting out loud which made the movie that much better. There were numerous parts where Kelly, Ang and I looked at each other with our hands over our faces muttering, "Don't do that," "Just leave," "Hang up the phone," etc.

Every women, at some point in there lives, has done at least one of the things that the characters in the movie have done and it was so easy to relate too. Some had happy endings and some didn't but it was great. This is a movie that needs to be watched with girlfriends so grab one (or two or three or four) of your BFF's, leave your husband, boyfriend at home and go see it.
Oh, and girls, let's quit lying to each other and just tell each other "he's just not that into you" instead of making silly excuses for why their not calling.

Lost...

...one pound this week. I guess playing that wii with Amy all of last weekend worked to my advantage!! Thanks Lucy!

February 23, 2009

A fast weekend in WI

Last weekend I made the trek back to ET for a "bridesmaid" party for my friend Kari. Kari has 8 bridesmaid and was able to find an insane deal on dresses so even though the wedding isn't until 2010 - we already have our dresses and look fabulous.

I got to spend all day and night with Kari dress shopping and driving all over creation and it was a blast! We got back to Kari's about 5:30ish and started getting ready for the party. Beer and cheese - it can't get better than that.


I saw a few girls from highschool who I haven't saw in probably 10 years plus Kari's sister-in-law who I haven't saw in about 10 years too. It was great catching up with people and meeting the other 2 bridesmaid (there was supposed to be one more but she couldn't make it) and just hanging out with the girls.

I made my way to my parents around 9:15ish and Lukey was still there!! I got to box him in wii and played bowling with him, Amy and Dad too while Mom vegged on the couch. Mom, Amy and I slept on the air mattress and couches in the family room and had "slumber parties" both Friday and Saturday night.

I woke up to snow, snow and more snow Saturday morning and did some hair for the fam as well as helped Amy color flags for "pin the flag on the mailbox" for her class. Mom, Dad, Amy and I went bowling and then had pizza for dinner.

After some early evening rest, Amy and Dad went plowing while Mom taught me how to crochet and then we played the wii again.

Sunday morning I was headed back to MN and collapsed on my couch once I was home. I was exhausted from a fast-paced, fun-filled weekend and sore (crazy!!) from playing the wii. Evidently I get a little too involved in it.

This weekend made me miss living in WI so I am now going to play Powerball every week so we can have two houses and come and go to WI as we please.

Gained...

...1.6 pounds last week. Actually considering all of the crappy food I ate and not working out for the whole entire week of the 15th due to a fall [April - I lost the lawyer's number but don't worry, you should be getting the call any day now :)] and getting sick I was surprised it was only 1.6!!

Anyway, here's to a new week and waiting for me at my desk this morning was my new Winsor Pilates and P90X dvd's that I bought last week from Amazon!! I can't wait to try them.

1 year ago today...

One of my bestest friends got married. Now this day holds a special place in my heart because I was so looking forward to this wedding but fell violently ill...I'm getting ahead of myself so I'll start at the beginning.

5 years and some months ago I moved to the Twin Cities. My first job in the Cities was working at a salon in Dinkytown called Hair By Stewarts. Everyone was pretty nice but there was this girl named Angela who was a little coolish to me. No big deal I thought, there is always one in every salon (sorry Ang) that is a little...well, you know.

As the first months passed Angela and Kelly started to warm up to me, although I think it was because they could easily make fun of me but that's a whole different post. Anyway - I don't even remember the exact moment it happend but somehow, Angela and I became really good friends at the salon and out of it too.

As any stylist know, there are always those clients that you hold secret crushes on. For Angela, Adam was her secret crush and all the rest of us at the salon thought he was dreamy as well (sorry Joe but he is).

As Ang and I became closer friends, we started having "date night" every month or so. Date night would consist of going to one of our places and watching a Will and Grace marathon or going to a chick flick.
One date night, on our way to a theater we started planning our lives - I was going to marry Joe and have all girls while Ang, was going to marry Adam (now they weren't dating or anything so that was going to be another obstacle we would have to figure out) and they would have boys and the kids would grow up together and marry. We had the whole thing planned perfectly.

Fast forward maybe a year or so and Adam, I can't remember where he went, was no longer in the Cities for some reason or other and dropped off the radar for a while. I remember Angela getting upset because they had become friends and he moved away and went MIA.

This I remember so clearly. We were talking and it went like this:

Ang: "Adam called." (after a while of not talking because he was MIA) "Should I call him back or not?"
Me: "Absolutely NOT! He fell off the radar and now out of the blue is calling? Seriously, come on!"
Ang: "That's what I thought." "But, if you were me would you call him?"
Me: "Well, I shouldn't, but it is Adam so...yeah, I would."
Ang: "Whew. I was hoping you would say that."

Needless to say, she called him and they started "hanging out" together. One day I got the call I was hoping for, they were finally dating! About a year later, the Sunday morning before my wedding, Ang called me and we chatted about me only having 6 days left before the Big Day and some other random stuff.

At the end of the conversation, she finally told me the reason for her call - Adam had proposed!! I believe I yelled at her for not telling me the very second I picked up, but because she is who she is, she didn't want to take away from my wedding week. Well, hearing that she was engaged, made my wedding week!

Soon after, wedding planning was in full gear for them and the date was set, February 23rd, 2008 and I was honored that she choose me to be a bridesmaid. The running joke, before she was engaged, was that she wanted a small wedding, with Kelly (not the same one as earlier) as her maid of honor (that was it, no other bridesmaids) and I would be the personal attendant because I could keep her sane.

Well, Adam wanted lots of people standing up so I got bumped up to a bridesmaid and in total, there were 6 of us and a flower girl. So rewind now to one year ago today.

I was waking up in a hotel room in Eau Claire, WI getting ready to head to the salon to do hair for the wedding (Ang pulled double duty and did hair for my wedding, it was only right I do the same for her) and I felt a little quessy. Man, I thought, two beers at the rehearsal dinner and I am hung over - wow am I old!

Throughout the rest of the morning, I felt ok and doing hair kept my mind off it. Kelly and I were the last to leave and stopped at a gas station before heading to the church. By this time I was not feeling well at all. I hadn't had anything to eat, there were going to be sandwichs at the church so I figured I'd be fine in no time. I grabbed a water from the gas station and off we went.

We arrived at the church, had something to eat and almost immediately I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Ugh, but I felt better so maybe it was something from the night before that didn't agree with me.

Nope. Literally, every 20 minutes from that point on, I was sick. I told Kelly in strick confidence that Angela not find out until after the ceremony. Somehow, Carly, Ang's personal attendant found out and asked how I was in front of the wedding planner. So now three people knew. Just keep it from Ang and I'll be fine.

About 5 minutes before the wedding, the Wedding Planner is telling us how to line up, etc, in front of everyone, looks at me and says, "Can you make it? Are you feeling better?" Ang and her mom look at my like "What?!" I told them what had been happening all afternoon and that I was fine and could make it down the aisle just fine.

The ceremony was fabulous and Angela was beautiful. As we were exiting down the aisle, the minute I was out of the church part, I handed my flowers to Kelly and went to throw up. But hey, I made it through the ceremony!

Needless to say, no reception for me, I was in tears and back to the hotel Joe took me. He asked if I wanted to go home or stay, since we already paid for it and I told him there was no way I could make an hour and a half car ride home, as I could barely make a 30 minute ceremony. That was fine with Joe because the hotel had cable! I stayed in bed (feeling like I was going to die) the rest of the night. The next morning, I woke up and felt fine (of course)!

I will remember February 23, 2008 for the absolute rest of my life. It was the day one of my best friends (in the whole world) married the man of her dreams and I threw up through the whole entire thing.

So to the happy couple - no, the honeymoon is not over, it's just beginning. One year down and many, many more to go. I wish you both all of the love and happiness in the world. Oh yeah, one more piece of advice, Angela, don't let Adam throw any poker parties in the middle of January in your garage!!

February 12, 2009

On My Nightstand

I haven't gotten very far in Letters from a Skeptic. I was excited about this book at first but after reading the first few pages...not so much anymore. I think my problem is that the book is a little "fluffy."

I mean, you don't go from being an Atheist to a Christian over the course of 3 years through only letters. I mean there must have been some late night phone calls debating the issues that were brought up, why not add those. Instead it is just page after page of letters that are really sweet sounding - it's fluffy.

Ok - so back to my original point of this post. I haven't gotten in to the book, I needed a break. A friend recommended that I read My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler. It's a book about her one night stands. Yep, that's it. No fluff here. It's Sex and the City on crack - and I am enjoying every single page! I'm half way through the book and can't wait to finish it tonight.

Lost...


.6 this week which brings the grand total to 7.2 in six weeks.

February 6, 2009

Lost...

YAY!! I lost .2!!

I know, I know - you're probably thinking "What? She's happy about that?" After the weekend I had, yes - Superbowl weekend. I made the decision that it wasn't Super Bowl Sunday but Super Bowl weekend.

I wasn't the only one either...There are nine of us in the Biggest Loser Challenge at work and four of them gained. I was hoping that I would stay the same and not gain so actually losing .2 was great.

February 4, 2009

On My Nightstand

Rebecca and Anna (btw Anna - I figured it out!!) have an "On My Nightstand" feature on their blog that I just added on mine (ours, Joe - I meant ours).

I belong to a little book circle at work so I actually have books to read now!! I am currently reading Letters from a Skeptic. This is definitely not a book I would have choosen on my own and I am finding it a little hard to get into...