Recipes inside

I know, I know.
Not much of a poster lately.

Not much is new - right now my eyes are stinging from an onion I cut up earlier to throw into my dinner. I heard if you throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes before you cut it, this doesn't happen. I need to try that. I never remember, though, until after the fact.

Tried three new extremely easy and rather healthy recipes this weekend.

One is an easy healthy dessert. You just take a ripe banana (not too ripe though) and cut it in half length wise. Then you heat a pan over medium heat, spray some oil on it and throw the banana in. Put some cinnamon (and some Splenda or sugar if you like). Cook it about 3 minutes, see if the bottom is turning brown, and if it has, flip it. If not wait until it does. Then do the same thing to the other side.

It's kinda like fried plantains, but with less fat.
It's super yummy.

The other recipe is just as easy. You take 2 cups of steel cut oats (you know the chewy ones - the ones that are really really healthy for you) 3.5 cups H2O and 3.5 cups milk (I used soy) and add a 16oz bag of frozen fruit (I used peaches) and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and pop it in your slow cooker. I cooked it on low for 2 hours and high for 1.5 hours and then it was done! Yummy and wholesome.

It will fill your crockpot, so when you turn it on high - make sure it doesn't bubble over. There you have a really healthy breakfast for the entire week.

The last one stems from the fact that I am (as you can tell from above) trying to eat healthier and more whole foods, less processed foods. So one thing is my yogurt is so full of sugar (or full of chemicals that fool you into thinking it is sugar, and I hear the more fake sugar you eat the more you crave sweet things - and since those are my weakness, I am trying to cut down).

Anyway - take plain yogurt, take a bag of frozen berries, and blend them together in a food processor. Yes berries have sugar, but since it is natural, maybe it is healthier. So we'll see how this goes. Eating more whole foods has been good so far, but a little more time consuming which is why I cooked my oatmeal and made my flavored yogurt on a Sunday afternoon.

Bad Knitting News

Well, today was going well, or so I thought. I was making progress on my sleeve and then I noticed, Hey - this hem is a little wonky! And then I realized I had turned it too early. Anyway - it wasn't behaving well because it really needed about 5 more rows before the turn so even though this meant ripping back the 7 inches I had done - and frogging back to nothing (and starting all over again and getting more behind)- I did it anyway. And when I pulled my needles out of the stitches.. my cable on my new Christmas Knitpicks needles broke.

AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

So needless to say I am a very unhappy knitter.

The good news is that despite the snow/ice... Harland's flight magically came on time and my new tea also arrived.

I guess that balances out the starting from the beginning and the broken cable.

Editor's note: I got a free sample of adagio's Valentine's tea with my order. Although I don't always like flavored teas, this one is really great. It smells and tastes like chocolate covered strawberries with black tea. It is really yummy. I have a feeling it may not last long, and maybe be perfect for when I am at work and craving chocolate, which, let's face it, is every afternoon. I recommend it highly. If I didn't send you a $5 off coupon - throw your e-mail address into the thingie on the right of my screen. It'll send you one, and I get credit towards some free tea, so we both benefit!

mass transit is over-rated.

Oh well, lots of standing in the cold to cram into a bus today. And worst of all was there was no room to knit today. Can you believe the luck? I finally start knitting after my last two stressful weeks... and what happens? No room to knit!

Anyway, I guess that is all the news fit to print.

The weekend in a nutshell

Hello Everyone - Here are some pictures from the party -


H + me


The view


Some of the lovely ladies that work with me. I took more pictures of other co workers but promised I wouldn't post them (although they turned out well, we have a lot of beautiful people at work, hahaha).

And then the next day - after eating breakfast at the restaurant on the top floor...



We took a walk down a bike path to Roosevelt Island:
the man himself


A Quote: In case you can't read the picture, part of the quote says " A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy. Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive". He also had a great quote about nature too. It's a very pretty little island, and there were a lot of runners and people with doggies walking around. I's love to go back in summer and see it when the fountains are running.


And I noticed this beautiful tree. I have to say - I love sycamores. They are my favorite trees of all time.

Staying in VA, tea and other stories

Hi everyone, some of you know, but most of you don't know - that we were on the verge of moving soon. H. had a job offer for a job in Ohio (affordable houses!) but in the end his job made a good enough counter offer for us to decide to stay for now. They made it as a bonus this year, but we are hoping that they will later make it salary.

In other news, I got some good tea from my Uncle Johnny for Christmas. I have a lot of tea from Harland's mom but it was good to have a new variety. Of course I can't really drink caffeine in the afternoon or else I'm up all night like a 6 year old on pixie sticks and chocolate. Anyway I was reminded of KB having a gift certificate for Adagio teas and so I cashed mine in finally for some decaf teas. I put a link to my blog over there ---> so if you are also craving some tea go ahead a get yourself a $5 certificate. It's legit, and they purposely lose money out on the deal because they know that you'll keep coming back for more. :)

But of course this means, I now have a LOT of tea. Hahaha. I'm definitely good for a long time. Like a year. At least!

So tonight is my Co's party and I am sooo looking forward to it being over. Not that I don't plan on having a blast - but from being on the planning committee - well, let's just say I am ready for a party to happen!!

Well I better get all my stuff together, since I have some setting up to do, I have to arrive early. Wish you a very happy weekend.

The first real day of 2008.

Well at least it can't be said that I'm not posting! Here is another post for you.

So I consider this the 1st real day of 2008 because it is the first day of work! As some of you know I am on the planning committee for the holiday party which is in a few weeks, and I tell you what. Now I remember another reason why I am so happy I had an almost-elopement for a wedding. I can now understand why the average wedding around here costs $42,800. (click here for more proof, my zip code is 20120) While some days I am a little sad my friends and family were not able to help celebrate the beginning of my wonderful marriage, I am happy that now - three years later - when we get settled we'll have a down payment instead of bills.

Traffic was surprisingly light. I hope this trend continues until Friday. Hopefully it means people took off the rest of the week.

It is really cold out right now. It is supposed to get in to the TEENS tonight. I know that probably doesn't mean much to the people who are north of me... but I'm still a recovering Southerner. My blood is too delicate to wait for the bus in teen weather tomorrow morning... at least without my hat. I need to find my hat. If any of you know where I put it, please phone me immediately.

I went to weight watchers tonight - and I have good news and bad news. The bad news is I gained 1.8 pounds in the last 2 weeks. The good news - is that I only gained 1.8 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Considering all the foods I ate in the last two weeks - I'm getting off light (no pun intended).

So that is what is going on in the world of Jessica. My Goal for the next week is to exercise 5 times by next Wednesday. I certainly need to get back into working out. Good luck to you on any of your New Years' resolutions too. If you tell me what yours are, I promise to e-mail you about once a week to ask you how it is going. I know I wish someone would do that for me!

Happy 2008!!

Happy New Year!!
It was touch and go there at 10pm, but we made it til midnight despite our early opening and drinking of the champagne which then made us sleepy. While the view from our apt is not usually all that stunning (on one wall we overlook the highway) it does have certain benefits. One being that at midnight, we heard fireworks - and when we looked out that window, we saw three or four different firework displays going on. Probably one in Dulles, one in Manassas and maybe one in Centreville... I am not sure. But it was pretty to see them all, and in the comfort of our warm house.

Yesterday we bought me some new contacts. Now I can see again, hahaha. The mall was crazily crowded. The mail we had stopped came yesterday so we had a backlog of Christmas cards in there. Thanks to all who sent some! While I didn't drop the ball entirely - I didn't send out as many as usual, so now I have to send out a few more for people whose addresses I misplaced.

We had a delish dinner at Red Lobster - my work had given me a gift certificate for a Holiday present. And we spent the evening watching episodes of "Futurama" from my DVDs. It was a good low key evening.

I'm already starting on my goal to get back in shape and lose more weight in 2008 - I went to the gym already this morning. But I can't help but think of my leftovers in the fridge for lunch... hahaha. I am hoping to maybe go for a walk or hike later today - we'll see how lazy I feel later today - I wish I had another week off from work! Although it is a comfort to know that there is only 2 days of work before Jeans day (Friday). Whew.

I wish all of you a wonderful New Year's Day and I send out all the best of wishes to you for 2008.