Week 3 of 2021: A Picture-a-Day

Monday: It was MLK Day (no work), so John & I went for a walk in the afternoon. We walk by this each time we take a walk and each time, what do I think those grassy mops in the water look like?

Cousin Itt from the Addams Family!

Tuesday: Progress, progress, progress on the built in bookcases in our living room. I married a talented man!

Wednesday: While working on the built ins, John was watching the inauguration on his phone. There were a lot of great moments in the ceremony, but the poetry reading by Amanda Gorman, was amazing. It gave me great hope for the future.

Thursday: For the Boston Bruins home opener, the team honored a 40+ year season ticket holder who passed away from COVID-19 two weeks prior. The anthem was sung outside of his house with his family packed on his porch. A nice tribute.

Friday: Friday was a sing along kind of day. I went from Foreigner to Fleetwood Mac and then to the Pointer Sisters. Listening to this I was thrown back to junior high. We had a talent show and my friends & I did a routine to "I'm So Excited." The big controversy was that we wanted to throw glitter at the end and our principal was against it. Yeah, we went to Catholic school. Apparently glitter is sacrilegious. 😎

Saturday: Woke up to this. Even though it was only an inch or so, it was not welcome.

Sunday: The puzzle is DONE! This was one was tougher than it looks, but it was enjoyable.

BOOK REVIEWS 2021

Book #5: We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall

Summary: Set at the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair, Susie Orman Schnall's We Came Here to Shine is historical fiction featuring two bold and ambitious women who navigate a world of possibility and find out what they're truly made of during a glorious summer of spectacle and potential.

Rating: B+. I specifically gave a short summary to entice you. This is a fast/simple read but the backdrop of the 1939 World's Fair was fascinating- slighty more fascinating to me than the actual characters. It's a fun read.

Book #6: Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

Summary: The ultimate playbook for developing brave leaders and courageous cultures. Daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100% teachable. It’s learning and practice that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with our whole hearts.

Rating: B-. Admittedly this was not a "for pleasure" read. My supervisor recommended it and I decided to give it a shot. Brown is hilarious and her wit and humor helped me to get through the book. Admittedly, I did take a lot of notes (stickies galore) and want to document them here:

• (page xviii): "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better." WOW- right off the bat this book was speaking to me & my personal experiences.
• (page 8): "Rather than spending a reasonable amount of time proactively acknowledging and addressing the fears and feelings that show up during change & upheaval, we spend an unreasonable amount of time managing problematic behaviors." This is cited as one of the 10 reasons that get in our way of leading bravely. Agree!
• (page 20): In relation to the first bullet above, Brown refers to critics as "cheap-seats feedback." She constantly reminds the reader to avoid the cheap-seats feedback. (I need to work on this!)
• (page 21): "Cruelty is cheap, easy, and chickenshit." Hilarious, but oh so true..
• (page 38): "What does support from me look like?" I really like the way this is framed and will try to use this going forward.
• (page 63): "I am a traveler, not a mapmaker. I am going down this path same as and with you." This is brillliant.
• (page 214): Brown talk a lot about assuming positive intent. I have some work to do this in this area, but I am glad Brown continued to hammer this principle.
• (page 256): Box breathing/tactical breathing- strategies for reckoning with emotion.
• Inhale deeply through your nose; expanding your stomach, for a count of four.
• Hold in that breath for a count of four
• Slowly exhale all the air through your mouth, contracting your stomach, for a count of four.
• Hold the empty break for a count of four
• (page 258): I am going to write these out and put them on my computer monitors:
1. Do I have enough information to freak out about this situation?
2. If I do have enough data, will freaking out help?

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

Yes, that's right!

Two blog posts in one week and BOTH have titles from 80's songs.

Remember this gem?

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Alright, now stay with me and see if you get the connection.

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I did Spinning for the first time ever last night!

Now don't get too excited.

I wasn't part of a class, but rather I decided to try it before my Pilates class. My teacher and I had been talking about my need for cardio and she suggested I come early before Pilates and try spinning. Last week after class she showed me how to use the bike (adjust the seat, etc...) and wished me well.

In the days leading up to Monday night, I was mostly concerned with one thing: what music was I going to listen to while I pedaled?

I'm a luddite when it comes to music on devices. I have zero.

I ended up downloading the Spotify app and created a playlist. Here it is:

To say my music tastes are eclectic would be an understatement.

Having good music definitely helps the time go faster on the bike.

My first time ended up being fine- definitely got me sweating and warmed up for Pilates. Each week I'll try to pedal a little longer...but that means I need more songs!


What songs do you listen to while exercising?

Is This Thing On???

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It's been foreverrrrrrrr since I've posted, but here I am. I'm clearing the cobwebs, pushing aside the tumbleweeds, and dusting off the microphone/keyboard.

Testing, testing, testing...1 2 3.

OK, I think everything's in working order.

Since this (^) is happening right now, I figured there was no better time than to crank out a blog post.

First, let me just say that I'm highly annoyed that it's snowing out. It's the last "real" Saturday before Christmas and I have a TON of errands/shopping to do. Grrrrrrrr. However, I've been sick for the past three days, so a forced day of staying inside isn't necessarily bad (although cabin fever is ramping up). 

While I did do a fair amount of shopping online, there are some things I prefer to/have to do in person, i.e., stocking stuffers, certain clothing items. Browsing in a "real" store also helps if I'm at a loss for a gift for someone. 

Our basement is 95% done!!! (I'll do a separate post with pictures to do it justice. No, really, I will.) I'm actually blogging from there, right now! We have a double recliner on order (to be delivered on New Year's Eve), 

It looks nicer in person, but here it is:

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I'm on the hunt for a desk for down here. Preferably a white one with a large surface for writing/organizing. I've been looking on Overstock and Wayfair, but part of me thinks I'll find a nice older one on Craiglist or a used furniture store.

We have three cement poles that we're going to cover (well, I say "we," but John will really do it.) That has to be done and some touch up on the painting. We also need to build something to cover the electric panel and then find something for the BluRay player, cable box, etc...

John's vision is coming to life and he did an AMAZING job!

I'm dealing with a cold or a sinus infection. I think it's the former with some sinus pressure thrown in. I've had more peppermint tea in the past three days than I've had in my life.

Thanksgiving was quiet here. And by quiet, I mean silent.

Just John and I. Little John stayed in Baltimore and Grace was with her Mom. We still made a turkey breast and the sides we prefer- brussels sprouts, scalloped potatoes. It was relaxing.

What are you watching? A co-worker INSISTED I watch "Divorce," an HBO show. It's hilarioius!

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It's more of a dark-ish comedy. I like it.

I've also been told to watch "The Crown."

We watched the first episode of "This is Us" and we were somewhat confused. Apparently that was a common reaction and we were told to push forward.

Oh, and I also watched the new "Gilmore Girls" four part series. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. Let's just say that I was sufficiently underwhelmed.

Monday night we celebrated John's birthday by going out to eat at a fun restaurant in the Theatre District in Boston- Abby Lane.

We started out with Grilled Italian Hot Pepper-Parmesan Wings. They were delicious!

We each got a "Shut the Front Door" drink- very refreshing.

And then we had sandwiches/flatbreads for our main course.

Great place if you're seeing a show (they also give 15% off your bill if you show them your show tickets.)

We then saw "An Evening with David Crosby" at the Wilbur Theatre (thankfully right across the street from the restaurant, as we had a second round...)

I knew one song. So, yeah.

He was on stage with three twenty-somethings, clearly trying to promote their music. Not a bad thing, just not what I expected. Of the three, I really enjoyed Michelle Willis. She sang one of her songs solo and it was very moving. The other two? Meh.

So, I took a break from writing this. Had lunch. It's now stopped snowing.

John's last words before he went outside were, "I hope the snowblower works."

I haven't heard it churning yet, so I'm stealthily hiding out inside, wondering how long before I hear, "Um, it's not working."

And then we have to go old school with shovels. Happy happy joy joy!

The 411 Around Here

Life's been busy. Really busy.

I won't bore you with the details.

OK, I will (that's the point of this blog, right?)



Food, Food, Food!

I've been doing a lot of cooking (a lot for ME) lately.

I made a REALLY good (REALLY rich) dessert -- Butter Brickle Frozen Dessert. (If you haven't tried any recipes from the blog From Valerie's Kitchen, you REALLY should!

For this recipe, I even purchased a new pan to add to my repertoire.

Behold the springform pan!

Behold the springform pan that's from T.J. Maxx for $9.99 AND it's a Calphalon. Woo hoo!

And as crazy as this is, it NEVER occurred to me that you can make a rolling pin out of anything -- even a can of broth! (Thanks to Valerie for that little tip!)

Here's the bottom layer/crust ready to be baked.

Here's the brickle portion of our lovely dessert ready to be baked:

And in my humble opinion, here's the best part (anything that involved Cool Whip is the best part, right?)

Here are some pics of the finished product!

(And it even came out of the springform pan relatively easily!)

I know I didn't really describe what the dessert is made of, but it's just a whole lot of yum. Graham crackers. Nuts. Cool Whip. Butterscotch caramel topping. Wipe the drool off the screen and check out the link to the recipe above!

I don't have any photos, but I tried out a new pork chop recipe -- Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops from the Contented Wife blog. They were really good - a nice departure from plain old pan fried pork chops. (Here's a picture from her blog):

I tried out meal planning. I've seen posts about it before on various blogs and on Pinterest, but after reading a post from one of my fave bloggers, Kristan, at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, I decided to take the plunge. She had a handy dandy meal planner/grocery list printout, which I found helpful.

Here was the first attempt:

For just a little extra work on a Sunday (when we do grocery shopping), it saved a lot of headaches/running around during the week. Regrettably, I haven't done it since (yesterday was nuts), but I will definitely do again the following week.

I've also created an old fashioned recipe binder. While it's good to pin recipes on Pinterest and good to snap a pic of one from a magazine with your phone, I need to have one that I can read without having to reload/take the phone out of sleep mode, etc... So, I took myself to Walmart, got a pretty binder and voila.

Speaking of food, let's talk about Weight Watchers and my status. I personally think this picture sums it up:

Moving right along...


Crafty McCrafterson

I wanted to put something above John's & my bed since we moved in (which was seven-ish years ago? My memory stinks.)

I've bought several things and had several Pinterest/non-Pinterest inspired ideas and they've all gone by the wayside. After reading The Nesting Place (whose subtitle is more important than the main title, in my opinion -- "It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful), I decided to get off my butt and just go with the latest idea that I found and loved. It's in the works, but here are some clues:

New Glasses

I got new glasses a few weeks ago and I LOVE them. (Probably because I hated my previous pair so.much.) I find picking out glasses akin to buying a new car...sort of. First, glasses are ridiculously expensive (not as expensive as a car, but not far behind....) Second, I feel like the optician/car salesperson is waiting with baited breath to see how much I'll spend. When I was at my appointment a few weeks ago and I told the optician I would be buying my contacts online, her lack of interest in my choosing glasses greatly diminished.

In the end, I choose the pair of frames that I liked (not the ones that were necessarily at the height of current optical fashion) and I'm happy with them. (They're purple. Again. Of course.)

Anniversary

John and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on September 13th. Eleven years of wedded bliss! (I am one lucky lady. :) We went to a new/local Mexican restaurant, En Fuego, in Ipswich, MA. It was good (not great, but good.)

We had some lovely cocktails:

John presented me with these beautiful stacking rings:

(Please no criticism of my cuticles...lol.) They're a bit too small and that's why they're not all the way on my finger, so we're exchanging them for a larger size. I love them! He definitely had me beat with the gifts. His words: "Just admit defeat." (He's a much better gift giver than I am!)

As it was our 11th anniversary and steel is the gift for 11 years (as in, "you need nerves of steel to be married to me for 11 years :), I gave him an ice bucket (we don't have one -- imagine that!) with a bottle of sangria and a bottle of rose.

This past Saturday we went out for our "real" anniversary dinner to another local restaurant (one that's been around a lot longer), The Beverly Depot. It's pretty cool as it's actually the old depot/train station and the commuter rail goes by. I had ginger scallion swordfish (which was awesome) and John had prime rib.

We took this selfie before we left:

TV

I've been watching a few shows feverishly (or as feverishly as I can with the busy schedule):

The Great Food Truck Race

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I binge watched the first four episodes of this season On Demand (which I missed live) and have been watching on Sunday nights live. Eh. I'm not that wedded to any of the teams this go around, but I still think it's fun to see what locations they go to and what the local food specialties are.

Call the Midwife

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I'm currently watching Season 3 (the newest season) and will be sad when I'm done because I'll have to wait until next year for Season 4!

The Paradise

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This is the latest addition to my TV watching repertoire. I needed something I could watch on my Kindle via Netflix and I found this BBC series. I'm only a few episodes in and it's only two seasons, so this should be a quick one. It's about the rise of the department store in the late 1800's in London. It's not nearly as good as Call the Midwife, but it makes 30 minutes go by on the treadmill!


Eagles Concert

I bought John tickets to the Eagles concert for Father's Day and we went last Monday night. It was GREAT! It was the "History of the Eagles," so they actually played songs that I knew (vs. a band going on tour to play songs from their new album that no one's ever heard.)

I took the commuter rail from work to Boston.

The concert was at the TD Garden, where the Celtics and Bruins play, so it was cool to see the banners.

Here's a pre-concert selfie. Great of John, fakey smile/double chin on me.

Aloha!

I took this little gem out of the library a few weeks ago:

I've been doing a lot of vacation daydreaming lately and John and I had mentioned that we wanted Hawaii to be one of our next vacations, so I consulted the ever-reliable Fodor. (In case you're not aware, I'm somewhat of a travel guide geek. I LOVE to soak in as much information as I can ahead of time prior to arriving at the destination.)

A few people I'd asked about Hawaii had said we would definitely not want to go to Oahu (too crowded, too much traffic, commercialized, etc...), however, we both want to see Pearl Harbor and Waikiki. So, in a perfect world, we'd go to Oahu first and do these things and then based on my reading, we'd be best suited to the Big Island, Maui, or Kauai. (This will be a LONG vacation!). I just happened to glance at the index and noticed an entry for "bodysurfing!" John LOVES to bodysurf. These three islands have great bodysurfing. Kauai, of the three, seems to be the most unspoiled and I think the one I'd enjoy the most. But...Maui sounds great, too. Decisions, decisions! Any readers have any opinions to share?


That'll do it for now. Thanks for reading (if you lasted this long!)

Bon Jovi Concert Recap

One of the items on my "40 Before 41" list was to attend a Bon Jovi concert. 

I DID IT!

I purchased the tickets well in advance of my 41st birthday, so I was able to cross it off my list! The actual concert took place on July 20th and I'm just now getting to blogging about it. (Better late than never!)

As the concert got closer, I came to realize two things:

1) I'd NEVER tailgated before a concert.

I was in touch with two friends from high school with whom I'd coordinated buying tickets, etc... As the big day got closer, it became clear to me that I was going to experience yet another "never done before" thing -- tailgating!! Anne, Nancy and I coordinated who'd bring what and I found myself getting excited. Good food, good friends, good music!

2) A bunch of ladies from my high school class were going to be at the concert (did someone say reunion???)

I posted ton Facebook that I'd gotten tickets to the concert and it was like the Pied Piper appeared. High school classmates were coming out the woodwork saying they were going, too! Eeek! In addition to Anne and Nancy, there were five others from the class of 1990. That's almost 10% of our class. We came full circle -- we had big hair in high school, and we were now attending a concert for a rocker whose big hair rivaled ours!!!

John came with me (after all, he OWED me after all of the crazy concerts I went to for him - especially The Dead. ::shudder::.)

We packed up our car with fruit salad, chips & salsa, camping chairs, some tasty beverages, and we were on our way!!! (Along with a million other Jovi fans!)

After a little help from Anne navigation-wise, we found her and her sister Eileen and the prime spot they'd garnered in a parking lot across from the venue, Gillette Stadium. They had a tent set up, balloons (so we could find the car!), snacks, and the grill was getting fired up.

Somewhere along the way Anne mentioned she brought her yearbook! We had a great time laughing at the pictures and the inscriptions.

Anne and Eileen cooked up some awesome steak and chicken, Nancy brought veggies, and I'm sure there was other stuff I'm forgetting -- it was all GOOD!

Here we are: (L to R): John, me, Dave, Eileen, Nancy, Anne:

I personally don't think we've changed AT ALL since high school!:

John and I:

After we stuffed ourselves, we packed up our stuff securely and started the trek across the street to the venue. Look we made it!!!

OK, so now comes the part in the story where I tell you that I was either a) peri-menopausal (my Mom would concur), b) reacting to a medication that I take, or c) just plain old wilting.

It was hot. I.was.dying. When I say my entire head of hair was soaked, I'm not joking (those in attendance can vouch.) Awful. I started panicking because as we got into the stadium, it became more and more real that we were going to meet up with ladies from our high school class. Ugh. How embarrassing. But, you know what? I grabbed a fistful of paper towels, and put a happy face on. After all, I was at Bon Jovi!!!!

After some texting/Facebook message, the majority of us found our way to each other! It was great catching up with these ladies after 23 years (::shudder::). I did, however, apologize to one of them that I was just a tad bit pre-occupied and I was sorry if I wasn't super social. I had one eye on the stage waiting for JBJ to make his appearance, after all!

I probably don't need to point out that I'm the shiny sweaty one in the middle, but anywho:

L to R: Michele, Sarah, Eileen (one class behind us), Anne, me, Nancy, and Joyce (Stephanie and Peggy weren't on the floor, but we waved to them and they were in the photo in spirit!)

Yes, if you caught that I said we.were.on.the.floor. Closest I've ever been to the stage at any concert! So worth splurging!!! After our reunion, we made our way to our seats and waited for the magic to happen.

It was magic. Truly. JBJ put on an amazing show. He was all over the stage and he played most of the songs that I'd hoped he would. It was great to be able to sing and dance along!

The set was the front end of a car and the different colored lights made for a neat effect.

Oh, and if you notice, he's looking DIRECTLY at me in this one:

It was a GREAT night. Would definitely do it again and would hope to see the same friends again and bring more friends from high school next time (I'm looking at YOU, Rosalind. :)

Until next time, Jon. ::swoon::