Helllllllllllloooo Nurse!

It is times like this (sitting at my desk, ignoring my to-do list) that I wish I were at home in footie PJs watching animaniacs. Is that show even still on? The hello nurse comment is from there and a nod to Emily Millertime, obviously.

So my fair city has had some lovely guests in the first few weeks of December including but not limited to my BFF Nickie in for a wedding (isn't she beauteous?)

And a rowdy crowd this saturday for a birthday party. My camera caught a moment on the Dance floor and every single one of those hooligans is hilarious and so much fun.

Even this one :)

In other life altering ridiculously amazing things, a vendor sent me a Godiva gift box for spending so much in advertising with them. I can be bought with chocolate, oh yes I can. Highlight of my life. I am never going back to Russell Stover.

In food related activities Jaclyn and I had a little dinner party for ourselves! Our date night was with Julie & Julia and all of the fun apps we could handle. I pretty much love her little house she and her BF live in. Adorable and so fixed up.

I made the pumpkin dip again. Cream cheese + brown sugar + pumpkin puree = basically the pie and complete delicousness. I also made the mini baked potato bites from last NYE. Those are comfort food at it's finest and sound yummy to me even as I type this. I also was curious about an endive recipe that I found.

Endive Boat Things from Real Simple

• Ricotta
• Almonds
• Raisins
• EVOO
• Endive leaves

Truthfully... these had no flavor. Maybe I should've got full fat ricotta? Jaclyn and I agreed a drizzle of honey instead of EVOO would've helped but either way, these were pretty forgettable.

Jaclyn made feta/green apple/craizin bites in a phyllo shells. YUM. Those were rocking my world. Also a hit was the pre-made frozen spinach bites. Sometimes you just can't one-up the pillsbury people. Good stuff.

Jaclyn also made little gingerbread men. Lots of Shrek jokes were going around, obviously.

Oh no... don't eat me....!

Yesterday I rented Funny Girl (i've never seen it!) from the Library because this week's GLEE episode had me singing 'Don't Rain on my Parade'. I think I'm officially a Streisand fan. It was good stuff and made for excellent shower singing. Also I talked John through his first chili recipe that I showed him from one of Paula Deen's sons on the food network. Sounds yummy, no? So proud of him, so proud.

Only 9.5 more days until Christmas vacation!!! :)

I heard it through the grapevine

This Halloween goes down as one of my favorites. Probably because we had the greatest costumes ever..... feast your eyes on these bad boys!

Behold the Inspiration:
Emily and I made them by going to a party supply store and getting vinyl tablecloths in dark purple, black, white, and blue. All at $1.79 each. With the addition of big gloves and microphones/guitar from the halloween store, we still came in under $20 overall. We cut the holes for the head, slits for the arms, and just stapled up the rest. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

Also we had a whole dance, because we're WAY into themes like that. Unfortunately by the time we got down to the bar there was no contest (we think, the details are fuzzy but i remember actively pursuing it for about 20 minutes before giving up and heading back to the dance floor where I accidentally kept flinging my microphone and sunglasses)

John was speed racer for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW. I think he thinks it is hilarious. I fear he will now try to wear it every year.

soooooooooooooooo........ because my diet has consisted most of this for the past several days:



I will be making a grocery store visit ASAP. Hopefully good eats to come. Hope everyone had a BOSSY halloween! :)

O! no you di'int

OH what a weekend! It started off with heading out of work Friday to meet John for his Alumni basketball game. TONS of his friends flew in and there were 20+ alumni that came (including four that few in) for the event. All of them were either guys he played with or coached (or both) so it was the best kind of reunion. Even better was that one of the wives came too so I had a buddy to sit with (and leave early to get drinks with... what? it's a Friday!)

EARLY EARLY EARLY the next morning I raced back to KC and had I not thrown some elbows and made enemies get through the crowd to where my mom was holding my badge, I totally would've missed Nate.Ahhh... Nate. This was a random sighting outside (no cameras were allowed, but I got bolder as the day went on as EVERYONE was ignoring that rule and I knew that unlike the MJ tribute concert in Denver, I would not get kicked out).... I was so dazzled and star struck I forgot I had a real camera in my purse and preserved this precious moment with iphone. Not quite the same quality. Also I told him to say 'Cheese' and 'I love you lauren and will switch teams for you' but I don't think he heard it. Or did he?Yo Oi!

We had a session with Dr. OZ...... I just love that guy. Seriously, he's SO SMART. During the Q and A at the end, people were asking him all of these super specific questions on these medical ailments and medications the were taking. Without skipping a beat he rattled off names of studies, (including years and institutions that published them) drugs, etc. etc. Many had NOTHING to do with his specialty as a heart doctor. It amazes me that any one's brain can hold that much ready information at one time, not to mention that Dr. OZ is also a great communicator and appealing. What a guy.

We also had a session with Suze Orman. You know, I have always been kind of on the fence about her but she was awesome. Truly. Relatable, Informative, laid out steps to take, in what order for most situations. If you go to her website you can download a free kit for doing your will, etc. which is free (as opposed to roughly 2K) to have your affairs in order. That's on my agenda for this week! She was also big on 'if you believe it you can achieve it' for financial security and in life. Kind of the 'secret' philosophy that things can be a self fulfilling prophecy. She got us all inspired and charged up. I was impressed.

We also saw the clean house guy. My aunt went to his session and said it was actually pretty deep. He said that people Hoard for two reasons: 1 because they were much happier then (when they had those things, etc.) and because you think you 'might' use it again. A La Fat pants.There was also this fitness guru who guy who said to give up cardio. He said it's all about strength training. Interesting.

Also my momma got a quick foundation makeover and we picked up some sweet samples.

Then my BFF showed up. I loved her. Her big thing that was Fashion is an industry and Style is unique and personal. She was saying to always look for classics with a twist... like basics with an interesting detail in terms of color, texture, pattern, etc. She was really good. The Q and A here was good too as the women asking where and how to buy clothes were really frustrated, as many of them didn't fit the mold of clothes. Anyone who watches the show could tell you what stacy had to say to that: Fit the biggest part of you and tailor down from there. It actually seemed like a lot of the women just needed a really good super professional Bra fitting so they could finally define their waste. It made me appreciate what my momma gave me... which was easy considering she was sitting right next to me.THEN... we headed back to me casa for a cocktail party :) After a long day everyone was pretty exhausted. My aunt Anne had been traipsing about KC (farmer's market, new downtown grocery store and bakery that i love) to assemble some goodies for us for the evening... Thanks Anne!

• Shrimp Cocktail


• Pumpkin Dip with apple dippers and cinnamon sticks (my contribution)


• Brie and Blue Cheese with some kind of summer sausage


• Dill dip with veggies


• Two kinds of bread (one white one brown, both yummy!)


• Cheese ball with parsley


• Marinated olives/grape tomatoes/asparagus/shrooms


• Cut Vegetables


• Hummus


• Grape Leaves stuffed with rice and other goodies (what are those called, dolmans?)

spoiler alert: Emily if you're reading this, here is roughly what you can expect me to be bringing you as leftovers tonight

Then the dessert table............ happy birthday uncle greg!

• Cream puffs with alternating mousse (compliments of my momma)
• Fresh Fruit
• Bakery Cake!!
  

Of course it wouldn't be a party without a t-shirt. This came courtesy of Aunt Theresa (cookie Aunt and dog lover extraordinaire) getting some fun retrieve-for-the-cure shirts for us.

First thing the next morning we headed out for mass at the cathedral 3 blocks away................... but not before mom got stuck in the elevator of my building for 30 minutes. Oops. It's kind of an old elevator. She laughed, I laughed at her. It was good times. All in all a great weekend!

Surprise... I'm in San Francisco

Because the college roomie was SO FABULOUS in making my chi town bday bonanza all that it could be, I decided at the last minute to jump on a plane and head out there to surprise her for her very own bday weekend celebration. mwahaha (evil/mischievous cackle with hands writhing like mr. burns). She was WAY surprised (yesss!)

I got in Friday afternoon and as I waited in her hood for her to get off work, I walked to nearby Golden Gate Park, where I finished reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou on an overlook at the botanical gardens inside the park. Heaven. On a stick. Saturday we traipsed around the city, and saw some of the touristy sights!

Then we headed to her 'come as your hometown' themed party. Hilarious. Don't you just love theme parties? We were representing Missouri (check out my thrifted Frye boots!)Regional Party Snacks.... MO cake! While I wish I could have stayed in SF for the lovely company I'd have, and plethora of activities, but definitely one of the things I would've loved to experience more was the FOOD. As I was walking around friday, I stopped in some little hippy joints to get tofu wraps, check the selection, and in general resolve that I'd be a vegan if I could live in such a veg friendly place. But THEN I'd pass by some amazing sushi place and that idea would get thrown out the window (oh fish, how i've missed you... 3 more days until Easter!) Not to leave you all food neglected, I thought I'd share my recent adventure in produce. I've never had a JICAMA before. Okay, correction, I've had it before in salads in San Antonio (and undoubtedly other places/times along the way where I wasn't paying attention). However I've never purchased a Jicama before. Pronounced hick-a-ma, it's basically a mexican potato? It's in all sorts of mexican dishes (and apparently asian ones too). I feel there probably isn't too much nutritional value..... concentrated iceberg lettuce comes to mind (crunchy water).... but boy do i love a good veggie crunch to anything and everything i can eat. Therefore after much debate and little creativity, I decided to make another DIY pizza.

• flat out multi grain wrap (a darling in the health food blog world, and seemingly only recently available in my neck of the woods.. hooray)
• crushed tomatoes (a little too watery, i think i'd opt for tomato sauce or something a little more together next time)
• broccoli
• sprouts
• red peppers
• jicama
• string cheese, strung out as mozz topping :)

baked for 20 minutes at 450 and VWALLA.... a perfect meal.

(we had sweet potato wedges with our pizzas... two shown, one for John

I had a trip to the grocery store last night (finally... it had been nearly two weeks!) and it was pure heaven. I'm all traveled out at the moment and SO READY to be in veggie bliss in my kitchen this week. Happy Thursday!

Hellooooooooooo 2009!

Sorry it's taken me so long to recap. The good pictures (of all the girls in their dresses, of me and the BF, of the swanky digs, of the unbelievable view, etc.) are on emily's camera. Because the 'now take one with mine' thing can be done to death I thought I would just steal hers... which I have yet to actually accomplish. Below is Myself, my brother, and a friend of ours from grade school.... who apparently wanted to ring in the new year with the best brother/sister duo since donnie & marie (or so we claim) I made three yummy appetizers for the party. In googling easy things that would keep overnight or that I could throw together at the last minute I found http://www.finedinings.com/ for all that you see below. There is some super creative stuff and more importantly.... there are pictures of everything (imperative for someone on my level... remedial). Anyway the first yummy, gooey, app was a grape covered in a mixture of goat cheese/cream cheese/port wine and sprinked with pistachios. On New Years Eve Eve I was so in heaven making things. Despite the fact they were sort of labor intensive (i probably spent 1-2 minutes on each of these little bastards trying to get them semi evenly coated and inadvertently covering myself with cheese and nuts and didn't go to bed until after midnight .... gasp!). The warm gooey cheese was SO RICH, the pistachios were bright green and had a crunch, and the fruit in the middle was unexpected and flavorful. I spent all the next morning e-mail bragging about these, literally the fruits of my labor. Too bad when I got home the nuts had softened in the cheese and the cheese (obvi) no longer warm, made them sort of a cold mush. They were dece.... but not amazing. Plus no one could really tell what they were. 100 times better when eaten immediately than kept overnight. Lesson learned.

Next up we had cucumber cups with a crab mixture (lime juice, zest, cucumbers, scallions, yogurt), in fancy asymmetrical cucumber cups cut out with a mellon baller. I decided to upgrade and not use crab from a can. Too bad I didn't realize that you couldn't buy crab (at this grocery store anyway) fresh that is out of the claw.My lovely friend and houseguest for the evening (she hails from kentucky) aaaaamy, was attempting to crack them open with a pair of pink pliers I had when I returned from work. Ruined nail polish, frustration, cuts on the knuckle (totally inappropriate tools) later we realized this should only be done with a giant bucket and a tub full of butter with a bib that says all-you-can-eat-seafood. Too much trouble for actually trying to use the crab in a recipe. However the finished product was REALLY good. The lime was strong, but it was a good compliment to all of the other fresh flavors. yummm.

By far the most popular item was the mini baked potato bites. I used red/new potatoes, cooked, halved and scooped with the mellon baller (man i love that thing). There was a mixture of NF sour cream, turkey bacon diced, and scallions that I topped it with. I sprinkled on some freshly grated wisconsin sharp cheddar cheese. REALLY good and the plate was missing several little bites every time I glanced over at the party. Total comfort food, in fun-sized portions.

Below is stephanie pointing to the display (square plates are my contributions) Emily made a dip and so did amy... .everyone else brought booze. YAY teamwork!

The rest of the night included dancing, laughing jokes, a few wardrobe malfunctions (YIKES!), and a lot of festive and noisy hats and horns. Happy New Year!!!

Snow Snow, Go Away

Yeah, Yeah, It's beautiful. Last weekend was the one year anniversary of totalling my car in an ice storm, so I begrudgingly and cautiously admire how picturesque it makes the parking lot. Snow is beautiful, but deadly.... which sounds like a cheesy action movie starring jackie chan. However this is real life not a TBS weekend marathon we're talking about here and the weather bug is claiming to be 10 degrees right now.. YIKES! Before it became so arctic in the Midwest, it was mild and fabulous in time for the hilarious and wonderful weekend that is now living in infamy in the hearts and cameras of myself and my counterparts. I purchased new shoes (merry Christmas to ME!), I got to see my parents, went to five parties on Friday (saw TONS of old friends, met new neighbors), then another party plus running home for a wardrobe change and out again the next night. All Shoes and Booze, no food... hey... 2 out of 3 ain't bad.. right???? This was our late night excursion Saturday. Let's break this down: here i am with my two lady friends, and the random in the background is my soon-to-be or current ex-boyfriend-on-again-boyfriend. photogenic, no?

This was the tacky sweater I borrowed from Jaclyn and it was out of this world. A barnyard theme. I had a Christmas bow and a bedazzled Christmas bag. Definitely a winner at the party (although there were some seriously impressive 90s attire)

And finally... when all of the pizza, take out china, and other grease-tastic food from the weekend was gone... the healthy detox began. I made John and I my new FAVORITE sandwich ever which i have been eating non-stop the past week.. I thought I'd share.

The grilled cheese to end all grilled cheese:

• WW bread (local bakery.. heaven)
• cherry tomatoes, sliced
• avocado
• laughing cow light Swiss cheese wedge
• all natural turkey slices
• spinach leaves

When grilled its all warm and gooey. Amazing. I had it with some tomato soup. I love tomato soup and it has been a wintery staple for me since the dawn of time. I hadn't had it since I made the conversion to healthier foods last spring. (i.e. i always had it with milk, creme, etc.) I tried the V8 carton that everyone seems to love, and truthfully, it wasn't my everything. I thought the seasoning was extremely strong and the soup itself was really thin. The sandwich on the other hand..... that i could day dream about until lunch.

I hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend and is out playing in the snow if applicable (appropriately bundled up of course). And someone who is home today tell me what happened on All My Children... since that's what snow days are for, right? soaps? :)

It's not your beauty, it's your bootie

What a fabulous weekend in the STL! :) I got to spend some QT with some of the most wonderful people I know, all of whom I see very little of these days.... making weekends like this the highlight of my life.

I also got my first christmas present. I wouldn't call myself scrooge-like (except maybe when Susan Lucci did that scrooge movie, she was pretty fabulous)... but I am pretty anti-christmas (decorations, music, etc.) for all things pre-thanksgiving. However the gift of shoes can put anyone in a joyous and festive spirit, no? Behold the reason for the season '08 : my new booties. *dreamy sigh*

But back to the party, we were so prepared for the evening (fully charged camera and all) and I walked away with just a handful of pictures, and zero group shots. dang it. However I did manage to snag one with two of my besties.

In other news for dinner the other night (..with traveling and drinking there are massive amounts of food on the go, and going out to eat delicious and unhealthy things) I decided to make something Vegan. This yummy zucchini did not disappoint.

Zucchini Boats: (from vegesphere)

• zucchini
• gala apple
• onion
• toasted bread
• seasoning
• pinch sea salt
• pinch pepper
• chopped walnuts

deeeeeeeeeeeeee-- lish

Happy Thanksgiving week peeps! I cannot wait to spend tons of time with the family and completely over-do it on mashed potatoes :)