Why It's Nice To Live With A Boy...

Skinny cow ice cream sandwiches + champagne in Christmas-present glasses + a new episode of Bones = a rather excellent date night.

Adventures in Cooking

During my spare time at work, I have a tendency to troll the Internet for recipes. I have a few sites I like, a few blogs I frequent, and I usually end up finding lots of things that I keep in mind for potential dinner ideas. Though I have many staple dishes that I'm comfortable with, I like to experiment as well. 

In a kick of optimism, I decided to make homemade pizza, starting with homemade dough. While I consider myself to be a big baker (how many of these posts have included some mention of cupcakes…), I've never really attempted much in the bread department. Yeast is one of those ingredients that I'm sure they have in the regular grocery store, but I've never really bothered to look for it. 

But, with this new project in mind, I located and bought a few packets of yeast, and, on Monday night, set out to start the pizza making process. The recipe that I read for pizza dough said to let it sit at least 24 hours in the fridge, and up to four days. So I figured if I made it on Monday, I'd have it ready to go any night of the week. 

Last night, after a workout at Chris's dad's gym, I decided to go ahead and make the pizza. Our selected toppings were Italian sausage, onions, mushrooms, and a little bit of green bell pepper for color. 

Starting to get nervous about this whole dough thing, I joked that, if all else failed, we could at least make a pretty good meal out of the toppings. 

Do I really need to tell you what happens next?

Here are the mistakes I think I made:

1) I think my dough was too wet
2) I think I used the wrong kind of pan. It was pretty thick, which I'm convincing myself had something to do with the sides of the dough getting crispy, while the bottom stayed like paste
3) I think I used the wrong kind of yeast

      4) I think I should stick to cupcakes

Luckily, Chris is an excellent sport, and a not picky eater. He gamely scooped up servings of our pizza topping sauce type dinner, while I mixed a salad. And in the end, dinner was good. We drank red wine, and, bonus points, actually ended up with a healthier dinner since I inadvertently cut out the carbs. Silver lining and all that. 

                                      Yeah. Not the best.                           A plate full of...

                      

I do plan on try, trying again at some point, but for now, I think I'll stick to more tried and true dishes.  

Winter Wonderland

On Sunday, it snowed. 

Chris and I noticed a few flutters while we were eating breakfast, but around 1:30, it really got going. At first it was sticking to the bushes and the grass, but not on the street. But then it picked up and kept on keeping on. 

Being the little child that I am, I insisted on getting bundled up and going for a walk outside in the snow. Chris agreed, and we began getting ready. I put some tea on for us to take with us in a thermos, and then started getting dressed. 

Being from the east coast, as I am, I have experience getting dressed to go out in the snow, and own a great many things to make the time enjoyable: leggings, a waterproof fleece jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters, etc. Chris did not have quite as many options for such an outing, but he did pretty a good job in layering up to brave the cold. 

The one place where I had him completely beat, though, was footwear. This Christmas, I was lucky enough to become the owner of heavy duty rain boots with fleece liners. Chris, meanwhile, wore shoes designed for trail running. A good option for walking on the snow, but unfortunately, the shoes are ventilated. Not the best. 

 

Snowy boy

                                                                           Snowy girl

After we had completed our snowy trek (and I had finished making a snow angel on the deck…couldn't resist), we spent the rest of the day tucked away indoors. 

                    

 

Ta-da!

Chris made veggie chili, a perfect cold weather dinner, which we followed with chocolate cupcakes with coconut buttercream frosting. Seriously, he should have never given me that KitchenAid.

We watched a movie while we ate, and waited to hear word from our respective jobs on whether or not we'd be expected to show up in the morning. 

Chris got a text from a co-worker that his office would be opening at 10. No such message came for me, and at 8:30 Monday morning, Chris was driving me to work.  

So you can imagine my surprise when, at 9:30 on Monday morning, I got a message telling me that the office was officially closed. The eight of us who were there hadn't found it closed when we showed up on time, but whatever. 

Luckily, one of the people that was there was my editor, and she gave me major credit for showing up. So it actually turned out to be the best of both worlds: I scored points for coming, but didn't have to stay. I was free to go home, watch Teen Mom, do laundry, clean the kitchen and read a magazine. 

Which is exactly what I did.

Bittersweet

Well, the Hogs fought a good fight. 

For what turned out to be the most gut-wrenching college football game I've ever experienced, Chris and I opted to stay in, make cheese dip and hot dogs and drink beer. We debated going out, but eventually decided against it, and I'm glad we did. I watched most of the last quarter with my hands covering my eyes, which I'm not sure would have been acceptable in a social arena. 

Ah, well. Life goes on. 

Yesterday, at work, I was given the happy assignment of finding something for our intern to do. This was a very strange experience for me, as in the past, I've always been the intern looking for things to do. To be on the other side was both kind of nice and very weird. 

Unfortunately, as is often the case, there really wasn't much to be done. But, since I know too well what it's like to be the bored intern, I managed to come up with a way for Emily to help me with the assignment I was working on (the list for this week's issue). I gave her a list of people's names and contact information, and as she dictated it to me, I typed it in. Terribly exciting for both of us, let me tell you. 

Luckily, tomorrow is Friday, and this week has gone by pretty fast. Not sure what we're up to for tomorrow, but on Saturday the boy and I plan to work out at his dad's gym per usual, and then watch the Saint's playoff game against Seattle. 

Saturday night, we are meeting Remy's friend Lee and her fiancé Carl, who are newly minted Arkansans and live in North Little Rock. We'll be "continuing their Arkansas education," as Lee put it, by taking them out in our 'hood. 

Also, Sunday is supposed to bring the coldest weather of the season. Oh good.

 New Year's Resolution Tracker:

-Ran on Sunday, have a run planned for today and a workout planned for Saturday

-Read for an hour last night, and am very close to finishing my book

-Speaks for itself

A New Year, Eh?

After an excellent break Living with My Family in Virginia, I am back in Arkansas. 

I got back to the Natural State on Thursday, and promptly got to work grocery shopping and unpacking. It was startlingly warm (in the 60s), which may have been one the reasons it felt good to be back. It was also very nice to be back in the house with Chris, and, after a brief trip to Target, which was theoretically for conditioner and more hangers but somehow resulted in more than that, we spent Thursday night making dinner and showing off our Christmas gifts. 

Chris, unfortunately, had to go into work for an hour on Friday morning, so I passed the time while he was away by reading a bit of my book and watching an Ally McBeal rerun. When Chris got home from work, I figured it was time to change out of my pajamas so we could venture out into the real world. We went to the mall first, where I continued to take advantage of the Gap sale, and then to Anthropologie, where I bought a small bowl (I got a purple one for Christmas, and I like to keep the numbers even, so I bought a white one to go with it). 

Our plans for New Year's Eve were slow in coming together, but we planned to have an early dinner out with Chris's mom, sister, aunts and uncle. So, after a brief visit from Chris's dad and step-mom, which included a lovely champagne break, we got ready and headed out to the first of our evening's activities. 

After dinner, we headed home for a dessert of more champagne and cupcakes and then decided that, since it was about 7:00, we should probably figure out our plans for the night. Luckily, our friends Steven and Caitlin were wondering the same thing, so they headed over to our house so we could make a plan together.

After more drinks and several heated rounds of Guess Who (one of Chris's Christmas presents and a shockingly competitive game), we called a cab to whisk us off to a club downtown, where we planned to ring in 2011. We arrived at Sway just in time for a drink and some dancing before the countdown began and the bartenders (one of whom is the editor of Arkansas Bride…awkward), started doling out free champagne.

We got home around 2:00, went to bed around 4:00 and woke up around 11:00. As such, I'm assuming nothing needs to be said about what our Saturday was like. 

Sunday, Steven and Caitlin came over for lunch, mimosas, and the Saints game, and Chris and I undecorated our house. 

Now, back at work, I've spent most of the day reading all the e-mails I received over the past week, set up two meetings for tomorrow, and read Vanity Fair online. Let's say I'm easing back in, shall we?

New Year's Resolutions Include:

-Keeping a more consistent running schedule (aka, running 2-3 times a week, and not just any time there's some festive 5k in town)

-Reading more

-Dedicating more attention to this blog (since I know yall care oh so much)

And you?

Happy 2011!