Thankful

I’ve always been a "glass-half-full" type of person, and that little person inside of me comes out even more during this holiday season that is upon us.

I am going to get these numbers wrong, but I’ve heard it said that life is something like 10% of the situation you're faced with and 90% how you react to it. Maybe it’s even higher than that, I’m not sure.

I believe we all have a choice when we wake up every morning. We choose to wake up on the positive side of the bed, or roll out onto the negative side…. And although it’s not easy, I fight like the devil each day to wake on the positive side.

This week, one of my colleagues was whining about how she didn’t have any remaining vacation days to take off for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I just smiled and nodded, and thought to myself… I don’t have any days either, but I’m THANKFUL that I’m earning a paycheck for doing my job for three days, and then I’m still being paid to be at home with my family for the remaining two. I wasn’t complaining about the three days I was working, but I was focusing on the positive two days that I had off.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize this is an over simplified example. Finding the sliver lining in everything is. Not. Easy. Sometimes, it's impossible. I get that. I’ve been there. But on the other hand, when there are simple examples around me where I can just flip my mindset from complaining (about not having three days off), to celebrating (that I have two)… that’s one more life situation that now has a positive spin, rather than a negative one. I’ve found when I add up all of the tiny positives in my life, you better believe I can flip the positive side of the balancing seesaw scale to outweigh the negative side… even if I'm facing some daunting negatives.

I hope that your Thanksgiving brings the out even the tiniest positives in your life. Whether it's being able to have a small (or huge) gathering with your family tomorrow, reflecting on good health, recognizing a milestone you achieved this year, or something else that is special to you, I hope that your Thanksgiving is joyous and reflective. We are all so blessed.

I remember as I was planning my wedding, my mom's favorite saying when people would ask "Are you stressed about how much you have to do?" was "We're too blessed to be stressed."

Amen, Mama! Her saying applies to far more than just wedding planning.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Earlier this week I tweeted about the urge I've been feeling to put up one of our many Christmas trees. We put up three trees last year, and let me tell you, those babies do not decorate themselves. So this year I've been thinking... the earlier... the better. Plus, Christmas is the biggest, merriest, and most wonderful holiday of the year for our house. Why not stretch it out as long as possible? I love Christmas!

I have also been thinking about our holiday Christmas cards that need to go out. I've read about the Shutterfly giveaway offer, visited TinyPrints, perused Minted, and looked at tons of Etsy shops and I still haven't settled on a final decision yet, but I know I need to get moving!  I have written many blog posts about my love for all things paper and all things stationery, so I don't know what is wrong with me, but writing this post has put me back in the mindset.

Christmas cards were a big part of the way that my family celebrated the holidays when I was growing up, and I remember running off the bus and heading straight to the mailbox to see which family greeting had arrived in our mailbox that day.

I like to think that there are kids on our Christmas list that do the same thing, so I always try to make our cards personal. Here are some of the contenders for this year:

 First, two from Shutterfly:

And two from Minted:

One thing I have learned from this... I guess I like red cards, but the search continues.

Happy shopping if you are still looking for your cards.

Lists Keep Me Sane

I love lists and spreadsheets. I make make them for everything because they help me to keep myself organized, and therefore, feeling sane.

For example, we went vacation next week... the entire week was on a speadsheeted. I just feel like I have a grasp on what I need to do when it's on a list or on a speadsheet. Blame it on my type A++ personality. I can't help it, so go easy on me in the comments section.

Remember back in the day in... FEBRUARY.... when I blogged about my closet? I'm almost embarrassed to type the would February because it was SO long ago. Sheesh.

MrMarried and I had been making great progress with the framing, the drywall, and the closet components all winter long, but when I moved my clothes into the new space in early March, all progress towards completion came to a screeching halt.

I will admit that we had a busy, busy summer and didn't have a lot of free time to work on the closet, but now that the weather is cooling off and our summer commitments have ended, it's time to finish this dang closet.

And I'm going to do it the only may I know how.

I'm making a list.

I've seen so many bloggers that publish inspiring and thoughtful life lists that detail items they would like to accomplish in the upcoming year or before they turn 30...well, I'm taking the inspiration down a notch and just publishing a "nose-to-the-grindstone-just-get-this-crap-done-list".

I'm know that if I put it in writing, I'll stick to it, or you guys will keep me accountable, or something!

Here is where we are (notice that this outline starts with #1... it goes up to #4 because that's how many rooms have projects that are in progress, but I will spare you all the details):

1. Upstairs Attic
    - Hang Bridal Shower picture
    - Hang other art on side wall
        - Guest Book sign
        - Kim's Art
        - "All Because" sign
    - Buy Container Store shoe storage
    - Donate old shoes and throw out old shoe boxes
    - Clean and organize top shelf
    - Buy "prettier" storage for top shelf
    - Hang other closet doors
    - Hang trim
    - Hang blinds
    - Buy and hang curtains
    - Select, buy, and have carpet installed

Let's Fast Forward the Clock to Friday

I've been a bad blogger lately.... so what else is new? I am noticing this is becoming a recurring theme for me. The trouble is that I LOVE TO BLOG... but I just never can seem to find the time to sit down and get my thoughts onto paper... errr, the screen. I certainly know that I'm not alone in this, so I will just roll with the punches, and blog when I find time to blog....C'est la vie, right?

I have so much I'd love to write about centered about my job, but because I work for a publicly traded company, and I'd like to keep my job... my mouth will mostly stay shut. I will say one thing. I could write the next Devil Wears Prada with some of the crap that one of my bosses pulls. Unreal.

If you are a fan of The Office on NBC, you might remember a hilarious episode that they did on Ethics...he needs to watch it. Enough said.

On a positive note, I'm thrilled that this is last week of work until November! It sounds like November is still  months away, but somehow in reality it's only 12 days away! Where does the time go? MrMarried and I are talking the last week of October as vacation time for some serious rest and relaxation. I can't wait. This girl needs a vacation BAD :)

Not a super pleasant forecast for some of our vacation next week... but hoping this turns around!

Regardless, I'm still looking forward to every second of our time away! (Side note- I love Wednesday's link on "Handling Mean Drivers" from weather.com. Kind of random for a weather website).

Counting the Days

Come onnnn vacation! October (vacation month) is finally here, and I'm counting the days.

MrMarried and I have worked hard this year, waved goodbye to colleague after colleague as they, one after another, took off for a week of relaxation and fun. All. Summer. Long. Now, it's our turn.

We were married in September of 2009 and wanted to take a week away for our anniversary, but the timing didn't work out. Instead, we've decided to take a fall trip rather than take an anniversary trip.

We will be home basing for some of the trip here (a cute little harbor hotel in the finger lakes of NY):

And here (Downtown Boston):

And plan to do a whole-lot-of-nothingness other than site seeing and enjoying each other's company. Just a few more weeks to go!

One Year of Wedded Bliss... and a Gift for Us!

I almost forgot!

I was so excited to blog about this little baby, that it somehow fell off my radar in the last post. I was excited, yet I forgot... strange, I know.

I have this dreadful college- dorm-ish bulletin/cork board in our living room. I was inspired by the image from Ballard Designs below, and I wanted it to be a fun keepsake board  and look something like this:

...but it ended up looking disorganized and uninspired. Plus, it looked too "office like" for a living room. Probably why Ballard Designs had their cork board above a desk. Imagine that.

So... I am bagging the whole cork board in the living room idea, for something that represents a more mature style, and represents where we are as a couple.

Enter Etsy. One of my great, true loves.

I've always liked the "Family Established" signs, and I thought as a one year anniversary gift, I would give this little sign to us. I came across a great Etsy shop with some hand painted signs and decided to purchase one similar to this one:

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I have some botantical art that has been tucked away for a year simply because I haven't found the right place to hang it that will compliment the sign quite well. We will see how it goes!

One Year of Wedded Bliss

Yesterday, September 26th, marked MrMarried and my 1st anniversary. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing a post for our six month anniversary!

We had a blast this weekend reminiscing about what we were doing one year ago, and I never seem to get sick of hearing our wedding story (even though I lived through it!) I love how MrMarried remembers little details that I can't recall, and it's just fun to remind each other of the magic of our day.

To celebrate, we headed downtown to the restaurant that catered the meal for the wedding, and we reserved a room in the hotel where we stayed after the wedding. Even though we were in our hometown, it still felt like a weekend getaway. 

MrMarried called the florist who did our wedding, and asked her to create something to greet us in the hotel room. She made a beautiful arrangement of long stem roses, and my blackberry's camera doesn't do them justice. Note to self: bring the nice camera to anniversary celebrations. 

Since my parents ate the top of our wedding cake (HA! I told them it was okay to do so since many of our friends have told us that year old cake tastes terrible), they dropped off a replacement fresh cake for us to enjoy. The cake was even better than I remember. Yum! There might only be a tiny, tiny sliver left this morning. Oops. 

I did want to share something I learned as I was planning our anniversary dinner. I had thought that the restaurant was in the Entertainment Book so I looked for a coupon, but when I discovered they weren't, I tried restaurant.com based on a suggestion from a friend and a few twitter people. My friend swears by the website, but I was a little leery at first. The website sells deeply discounted gift certificates ($10 for $25 worth or food, for $40 for $100 in food) to select restaurants.

When I was checking out on the website, I saw a very large area to enter a coupon code-- which is a dead giveaway that the website not only publishes coupon codes, but that they are usually easy find online. I checked out my favorite coupon site, and sure enough, found a code for 80% (!) off. I thought it was too good to be true, but the website took the code and charged me $3 for $25 in food.

I picked my chin up off my desk, printed out the paper gift certificate, and prayed it would work when we went to dinner on Saturday. Dinner went off without a hitch, and the waitress happily accepted our gift certificate. If you use the website though, read the fine print, because most restaurants only let you use one gift certificate at a time.

Have a great start your week! 

Delicious Dinners: Penne with Ricotta and Bacon

I haven't been cooking much lately because it's just been too darn hot to be standing over a stove after work. To beat the heat, I've opted for grilling over inside cooking, and we can enjoy the few months where we don't have to pile on the layers to keep from freezing!

Now that the weather is finally cooling down, I have been transitioning into an inside cooking, decorating, and nesting mode and thought it was a perfect time to try a new recipe.

I subscribe to Rachael Ray's magazine and really like the section it each issue that she calls "Take 5." These are meals that include 5 ingredients or less, and I have found that even though they are short on ingredients, they aren't short on taste, and that's what I love about them! Plus, MrMarried has no idea if I used 50 ingredients or just 5, so on weeknights, I vote the simpler... the better! I leave the big, complicated dinners for the weekend when I actually have the time to cook.

This meal took about 15-20 minutes, left plenty of left overs for lunch the next day, and even tasted better the 2nd day! What is it about pasta left overs that are that much better the 2nd time around? I think it has something to do with the chilling and the congealing of the ingredients. Anyway... I digress.

Onto the recipe!

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Ingredients:
1 pound penne
8 slices bacon, about 1/2 pound --I used turkey bacon
½ large onion, sliced
15 ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese, at room temperature --I used low fat ricotta
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped


Directions:
1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until al dente. Reserve one ladle of cooking water, then drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl.

2. In a medium skillet, fry the bacon until crisp and transfer to a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet.

3. Add the onions to the skillet and cook until golden, about 10 minutes.

4. Stir the onions and ricotta into the pasta along with the reserved pasta cooking water.

5. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it over the pasta along with the basil.

As I said, this was honestly better the second day! When I make it again, I may try to figure out a way to make it the night before and refrigerate it. Enjoy!