FRIDAY!!

TGIF! This week went by surprisingly fast. Joe has been working days so that means he hasn't been getting home until 8. By the time he gets home I'm cuddled up with my Snuggie (yes, I still love it! Thanks, Dad!) and half asleep. Watching the Olympics has been a struggle. Maybe if I start standing up I'll be able to stay awake? Might be worth a shot.

No big plans for the weekend and I'm happy about that. It was supposed to be sunny but it looks like that has changed. Not surprising. I will be seeing Sophie on Sunday--it's been almost 2 weeks! That might just be the highlight of the weekend. It usually is!

Ok, off to the Monticello Hotel I go. Breakfast meeting for work at 6! It will probably be over by 6:50 which means I'll have over an hour to kill before work. Hope it doesn't make the day go too slow.......

Happy last Friday of February! Can you believe it?!

Mmmm, brownies!

Last night as we were getting ready to have ice cream, I decided our boring vanilla would taste much better with a fresh-out-of-the-oven brownie. So at 8:00 I made brownies. When I went to get the pan I forgot about our all-edge pan! Edges are the best and this pan makes every delicious bite an edge. It's called the Baker's Edge pan. It's glorious! And yes, we ate all of the brownies missing in the picture. Whoops.

I read the article "Driven to offend in every way" in The Daily News on Sunday and thought it was hilarious. Read it here. One of my biggest pet peeves!

2 months

Today marks 2 months since I've had a Diet Coke! Actually, 2 months since I've had any carbonated diet beverage. Or any soda for that matter. It's been strictly H20 with an occasional iced tea since then. I never thought I could give it up! I'm so glad I was able to, especially after reading articles like this. Who knows what diet pop causes. It can't be good!

Once again, I can't believe it's Monday already. :( I had a great weekend! On Saturday Joe went to Tacoma to hang out with his friend Rich and my dad left for Washington D.C. so my mom and I played. Started out by going through Starbucks drive-thru in Longview then headed to Portland. Did some shopping at Brideport Village, had lunch at P.F. Chang's then went for massages and ended the day with pedicures. A day of pampering! It was great. We missed Kim and Sophie though!

It's supposed to be 60 again today! The weather has been truly amazing. The trees are even full of pink buds! It's going to be hard to see the rain again tomorrow. Hopefully it wont last long, I could really get used to this!

Crazy!

When we had dinner with Kim and George last week we got on the subject of dieting. Kind of ironic considering we were devouring delicious pizza! Anyway, she heard from someone about the HCG diet. I don't know how 'new' it is, but it's definitely news to me! HCG is the hormone found in pregnant women's urine. So apparently urine injections combined with a super-low calorie diet make you lose weight. Seriously?! I thought maybe this was a joke so I decided to Google it and sure enough, tons of results about this weight loss method. You can read about it here. What will they come up with next!?

The not-so-mini debate

A lot of conversations in our house revolve around cars. I'd like to say it's because we'll be needing to buy a new one in a few months, but that's just the way it is. It wouldn't matter if we have brand new 2010s in the driveway, a lot of the talk would still be about vehicles. I have to admit I sometimes half listen to Joe's new finds, latest research, etc. But apparently I listen more than I think because I find myself talking the talk a lot more than I ever thought I would!

Anyway, the latest debate in our house: minivans. As much as Joe loves cars/trucks/SUVS, you would think he'd have a hate for these things, right? No. Such. Luck. They win over his heart because of their practicality. Great gas mileage, some come in AWD, seating for 7, often times fully loaded with leather, DVD player.....

But it's a minivan! SUVs are so much hipper. I admit I ended up falling out of love with my Jeep when I realized what terrible gas mileage it got but still.....it was cool. Is a few miles more out of a tank of gas really worth giving up for a minivan?!

We had a minivan growing up. A Dodge Caravan, like the one pictured above but WAY cooler. Ours was black cherry, had tinted windows and was by far the coolest van in town. I remember my mom crying at the dealership when we traded it in for her sporty Acura Vigor. I admit I loved having it as a kid, my sister and I didn't have to sit next to each other! That is until she decided the way-back seat wasn't as cool as she had thought and wanted to move into my middle seat territory. Of course she won because she was older, but I remember we had an invisible line that couldn't be crossed. So again, what's the point if no one wants to sit in the way-back?! Just carrying around a third row for nothing.

So here we are. I just don't think I can drive a minivan and Joe's gung-ho. I admit every SUV I find he researches and finds things that make it less than desirable----bad reliability, low safety ratings, etc. But still....I don't think I can do it! I have a feeling I'm going to be missing my Subie when we turn it in in October!

Oh weekend, where did you go?

Another weekend here and gone. It was the best weekend, I didn't want it to end! Friday after work Joe and I went down to Vancouver to have dinner with Kim, George and Sophie at
360 Pizzeria. They had a pizza special for the Olympics, buy one pizza get the second half off. We had to take advantage of that! Dinner was delicious but dessert was even better. Kim made red velvet cake so we went to their house and had dessert and watched the opening ceremonies. Perfect Friday night!

Saturday we went back down to Vancouver so Joe could get his haircut at The Barbers. His girl moved down there so we decided to make an afternoon out of it and go to her. It was a cool shop, I'd be going there if I was a guy!

Yesterday I hosted a Valentine's Day Brunch at our house. My parents, Kim, George and my
in-laws came down for it. It was so much fun, I want to make it a tradition! On the menu: breakfast casserole, sticky buns, mini ham and cheese tartlets, fresh pineapple, chocolate dipped strawberries, cream puffs.....and Joe's mom brought cookies. It was fun to have everyone at our house for a change!

My Valentine had made reservations for us to have dinner at Hofstead Bluff at Mt. St. Helens but since his parents were still here, we invited all of the parents to go with us. It was an adventure to say the least. I've heard great things about that restaurant, I just think they were understaffed and overwhelmed at the turnout they had. We'll have to try it on a non-holiday day. Maybe...

Here's to hoping the week goes fast! I'm starting to count down the days until we leave for Amsterdam already....58 days!

5 months ago today......

It was 90, sunny and we had just said 'I do.' Can't believe how fast the time has gone!

That was truly the happiest and most fun day of my life so far. I wish we could have a re-do minus all of the planning!

Happy Friday!!

Things I'm excited about this morning

• The Olympics!
• French Dips with Joe tonight. Mmmm.
• Having my parents and in-laws for Valentine's Day Brunch on Sunday
• Valentine's Day dinner with Joe on Sunday
• Amsterdam. It's official, we are going! Passports are patiently waiting to be stamped!
• Pay day
• Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday. YAY.

Happy Thursday!

The healthiest meal of the day

What you're looking at is my new favorite breakfast: Shakeology. A lady I work with introduced me to it and I've fallen in love! It's SO good. I may not eat the healthiest foods every day and I know I don't get enough fruits and vegetables--it's so hard!--but drinking this makes that possible. Here are some of the things it can help:

by the end of week one
---improved digestion and regularity
---reduced cravings

by the end of week four
---increased energy and stamina
---lost weight
---improved mental clarity

by the end of week twelve
---reduced risk for heart disease and other degenerative diseases
---lower cholesterol on average by 30% and even up to 70%
---healthier skin, hair and nails

And the best part is, it's delicious! Joe even likes it and has one every morning. To order yours, visit my website! http://www.katiesanderson.biz/.

Happy Wednesday!

Are you kidding me?

Joe and I have been seeing commercials for the EZ Cracker a lot lately. The first time we saw it we thought it was an SNL skit or something. Nope, we were wrong. It's a new egg cracker for idiots! Is it really that hard to crack eggs?! I never knew! I love the part where the guy says, "Tired of egg shells in your brownies? EZ Cracker can help!" If you're careless enough to not realize you have egg shells in your brownie batter you probably wouldn't be smart enough to figure out how to use this contraption. My favorite part is the "EZ Scrambler." For those that find it to hard to scramble eggs in a bowl, there's an attachment that you insert into the egg shell and it scrambles it before you crack it. Ridiculous! I can't believe people buy stuff like this. And for any of you readers who have, sorry if I've offended you. :)

My favorite stocking stuffer

Joe got these pens in his stocking from Kim and George. I love them! I need to take them to work, my pens always get stolen. Maybe not if they said these things!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Did you know that there is only actually 11 minutes of play time? True fact! Because my mom heard it on K103. And I verified it here. Crazy!

TGIF!

Happy Friday! Below are my favorite recipe blogs to read. I read them daily and look forward to seeing all of the new recipes. It's motivating and makes me want to cook/bake! Since I have nothing else to say this morning, I thought I'd share them with you. Reading these is part of my morning routine!

Meet Me in the Kitchen

Our Family Treat

Phe/MOM/enon

Sweet Basil

the sisters dish

Half Baked

Enjoy!

My morning routine

Ahhh, I love the mornings! Nothing better than getting up, taking a shower and having my first cup of coffee before 5:30am. I love sitting at the counter with complete total silence in the house (well, besides Subie chowing down on breakfast). I love that it's still dark out, makes me feel like I got up early and have awhile before the day starts. I love having 'me' time, even if it does mean having to get out of bed at 5:00! I'm a total routine person and if it doesn't go my way in the morning, my day is off kilter. Like my dad, my brain turns to mush in the evening. All day long I think of things I need/want to do after work but rarely end up accomplishing them by the time dinner is done and I finally sit down to relax. When I sit down, my brain turns off. In the morning it's a different story. I feel like I can take on anything! It's a great feeling---if only I had it all of the time!

It's Wednesday! The week is flying by! Speaking of time going fast, Joanna posted a really interesting article on Facebook a few days ago titled, "Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older?" Finally an explanation. Or at least a good theory!

Mr. Picky

Joe is always very laid back except when it comes to random things, like in this case, socks. I always have his socks folded and put away for him....all matching of course. Apparently the other day I mixed an 'old' sock with a 'new' sock, although they're the same exact sock, just purchased at different times. He said, "You can't do that, it's like one foot staying at the Ritz Carlton and the other at the Motel 6!" Hahaha, really Joe? I told him he's outta luck on that one, there's no way I'm going to rub and feel and try to determine which ones go together according to purchase date! Then he said he'll never complain again, he's never gone to the drawer and not had clean socks/underwear/jeans/shirts to wear. I wish I had a laundry fairy like he does! :)

Monday again?

And February already? WOW! So far 2010 is flying by. I'm in spring/summer mode already too. It doesn't help that it's been in the 50s and we have only 62% of the snow that we usually have this time of year in the mountains. Hopefully February/March will be more winter like.....I like seasons! I'd rather have frigid and snowy than 50 and rainy anyday. That's what spring is for!

The Portland Auto Show wasn't as torturous as I had counted on it being. The guys looked at all of their 'must see' cars surprisingly fast actually! My favorite: Volkswagen Touerag, Volvo XC90 and the Hyundai Tuscon. Hyundai is quite different than the Volkswagen and Volvo but it's adorable! In fact, I thought it was an Acura MDX from the side. The loaded-with-everything model is only $24K too. They've improved their vehicles a lot! I still want a Subaru though....they're hard to beat! After the show we had lunch at McCormick & Schmick's at Bridgeport Village. I love Bridgeport! Luckily for the guys we only had an hour to eat before driving to Keizer to look at a motorcycle....otherwise Jayne and I could've spent a lot of time shopping! The motorcycle was a huge no. Really disappointing. The guy selling it said it had never been down and was in great shape. When we showed up the first thing he pointed out was a huge dent on the gas tank! And scratches everywhere. And he was a big-wig with the Portland Fire Department. Oh, and then when Joe went to test drive it it wouldn't start. Thanks for wasting our time, fire chief dude.

Not much else going on. I've been having crazy weird dreams lately though. Last nights included me chopping my hair in the back......I remember feeling the hair drop down the back of my shirt. Thank goodness that was a dream. If my hair was any shorter I'd be bald!

Hope everyone has a great Monday!