Sometimes you just have to make it work

In the spirit of my friend's Make It Work Mondays, I spent today making it work. I've been tired, a bit under the weather, and a bit down for a while now, and today I was just going to be happy, darn it.

This is a great goal, but not the best plan for a New Hire Monday at work, because those days mean an early start, lots of things going wrong, and me putting out fires and never getting enough done. But I persevered and made my Monday work, and brought smiles to people's faces, and had a smile on my face for at least a portion of the work day. And you know what the best part of getting to work an hour early? Getting to leave an hour early!

So I get home early, excited to get started on some delicious dinner prep and maybe even take in a yoga class! I decide, yes, this is the day to sign up for a free week at the hot yoga place next door, Sol Yoga. I take a quick trip to Trader Joe's for a few dinner ingredients, and then get home to prep the savory bread pudding I will make. Only to find out that the bread cubes I prepped have gone moldy. After a closer examination I determined that only about a quarter were bad, so I made it work with the majority that were still good. Of course, all the picking through each and every bread cube took some time, so I didn't get any other prep for dinner done before I headed to yoga.

Which was crazy packed, and my first day, but I squeezed in, and proceeded to have a wonderful workout and did a lot of deep breathing and deep thinking. And a LOT of sweating. Maybe you didn't need to know that.

I return home to finish making dinner, make some adjustments to the recipe to account for the smaller amount of bread cubes, and discover that my dill has been eaten by some sort of bugs. At this point I am thinking that maybe the universe does not want me to make Savory Asparagus Bread Pudding, but I will not be stopped. I use instead a dill mix seasoning (looks like bugs don't like lemon, garlic and jalepano with their dill), and make it work. (Note: click through to the blog to read the recipe and see the pretty photos. Her food blog is one of my favorites, you should definitely check it out)

Now that it's out of the oven, I think I'll enjoy my (very late) dinner and finish out my Monday feeling pretty good. How was your Monday? Did you make it work for you?

A Pleasant Weekend

There hasn't been near enough blogging going on here, and I apologize for the lack of updates. For some reason January was a pretty blah month for me, and I'm hoping that I've turned the corner to a better mind-set. I've certainly been exercising more this week, and that is helping quite a bit. I also got some sun today, at our local farmer's market.

Flowers from the market

J and I love the market, and it's every Sunday year round here in La Jolla. Today we picked up some baby potatoes, golden beats, apples, dried apricots, fresh pasta, and ate some delicious veggie chili and a cheese tamale. I also picked up some beautiful flowers, from my favorite flower vendor. I feel very lucky that I live someplace where I can buy local fruits and veggies, get some sunlight, and take in the wonderful weather almost every week. I know a lot of the country is under several inches (feet?) of snow right now, and that may very well be me next year (who knows where the winds will take us); but I am very happy with where we are right now, and am trying to live in the moment and appreciate what we've got.

Cali appreciates the flowers from the market...

but not the flash I had to use to capture this before she pulled the greenery right out of the vase.

A Pampered Evening

I've been meaning to post again. In fact, I've been meaning to post two or three more recipes that I've made recently. But for one reason or another I haven't. Tonight was another opportunity, and yet today was not a great day, and by the time I got home I was raging hungry, which meant I was grumpy, which meant that my plans to make a delicious gourmet vegan meal went out the window. J went to get us Chipotle instead, our stand-by take-out meal.

Food definitely helped, but the combination of work disappointment, grumpy-brain and PMS did not succumb to the tasty guacamole. So I felt it only right that a little pampering was in order.

The ingredients: a hot bath with yummy smelling LUSH products, several cookies and a cup of milk, and an oft-read book. Steep one hour, then put on PJs and relax in bed.

What's your recipe for a pampered evening?

2009 Year in Review - Books

According to Goodreads (which is a great site that you should join, by the by) I read 42 books in 2009.

Of those 42 books, 23 of them were a first time read for me. 5 were graphic novels/comic volumes. I read several complete series last year: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Earthsea Cycle, and yes, Twilight. I also read two of the three Millennium books (the third hasn't come out yet).

It seems like less reading than I thought I did, but I don't count how many Manga series I devoured like so many delicious candy cane jo-jo's. Let's just say that it was a lot.

That being said, I do want to read more books this year that I haven't actually read before. The problem with that plan is... which books? I want to read books that are good, so I'm not going to pick up a book and read it if it hasn't been recommended to me. So, know any good ones?

The Resolution Post

I'm not a big fan of the New Year's Resolution. It seems a bit hollow to me - most people don't keep them longer than a month or so, and then are back to whatever bad habit they were trying to break in the first place. I feel like if you're going to want to improve your life, why wait until the first of the year? Why not make an effort to change every day? Or every week? Or even month?

Yet I can understand the urge. It feels like a milestone, like a new beginning. Out with the old, in with the new! And the beginning of a year really is a great opportunity to look back on the previous one, and see where you've come from, and think about where you want to go.

Last year I didn't make any resolutions, but I did have a couple of goals in mind for 2008. My goals were to have more free time, and less stuff. I think I did a pretty good job on the less stuff front - I didn't accumulate too much over the year, and I did a good job of getting rid of a lot. More free time worked for a while, but it's very hard for me to say NO to social engagements. I love my friends, and love planning things. So I could definitely do better in that department.

This year I'd like to be healthier. I think that encompasses a lot without being as strict as setting an actual resolution. I know I need to be working on my two previous goals - and I think both of those things would make me a (mentally) healthier and happier person. I need to exercise more, and I need to eat better. I want to create less waste, and take better care of the earth. Most importantly, I want to take better care of myself, in a variety of ways.

But this is a lifelong process, not one that should only last a few months, or even just a year. I feel like we should resolve to not make resolutions anymore, but gradual lifestyle changes. Doesn't sound as snappy, however. I probably need to put some marketing spin on it to actually catch on.