Currently...

Feeling... overall, happy with life, postponed dreams aside.  I have 2 wonderful men who love me back, 3 awesome kitties who I adore, a home that I love, and a kitchen full of food to cook.

Post-it note doodle

Thinking... about where I am now in life compared to where I thought I would be when I was a recent college graduate.  I haven't given up all my dreams but I will be older when I finally achieve them. :)


Watching...  all the Netflix!  (*giggle*)  Not really, but I am catching up on shows I never watched when they were on originally.  Right now, I am going through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alias.  Now that I've reached season 4 of Buffy, I am going to also start watching Angel.  On the YouTubes, I am watching Good Eats... can you believe I'd never seen it before?!

As for "live" TV, I'm watching Project Runway, Top Chef Masters, MasterChef, InkMasters, MythBusters, and Breaking Bad.  I say "live" because we actually record it to watch later.

Reading... blogs and cookbooks, cookbooks and blogs.  The blogs I read are *mostly* food related but there are a fair number of art/craft/sewing blogs thrown into the mix as well.

Here is a list of my top current favorites (in alphabetical order):

• 100 Days of Real Food - I discovered her blog when I was trying to pinpoint what in my food was making me sick before I was diagnosed with an allergy to processed foods.  We haven't pinpointed what exactly in processed foods but just avoiding it seems to do the trick.  Lisa's blog has helped me figure a lot of things out. 
• Back to her Roots - Cassie is a recent discovery and I absolutely adore her and her blog!  In fact, this whole "Currently" thing is a blatant rip-off from her site. :) 
• Bleubird - I love the hippie, Bohemian feel to this girl named James.  She and her family seem like such cool, down-to-earth people 
• Crafty Pirate - pink, black, skulls, etc... Thera and I have a very similar aesthetic. :) 
• Kath Eats - Because of Kath, I actually looked into going back to school to  become a registered dietitian.  Unfortunately, it's not something I could easily do while keeping my full-time job.  And her nearly-1-year-old son Mazen is freaking adorable! 
• Max California - this rockin' mama has a lot of cool sewing ideas for herself and her kids that give me a lot of creative inspiration. 
• Pull Your Socks Up - I heart Desiree a lot!  She has a "fuck you" attitude when it comes to style and it makes me smile.  While her personal aesthetic is not necessarily mine, she's given me the bravery to wear things I want to wear, regardless of what others might think. 
• Sweet and Savory - Ally is a mom in Iowa who makes a lot of what I call "real people food".  Her recipes don't require a lot of specialized ingredients and are just plain delicious!

Excited... that in 1 month from today, I will get to celebrate 10 years of being married to Rich.  We've been together for over 14 years now and have been through quite a bit together.  He is definitely the Geek of my Heart.  :)  1 week after that, it will be 1 year since Andy moved in with us.  It took a lot for us to finally get to be together, including a massive heart attack on his part.  I am very lucky to have these men in my life and even luckier that they both let me have the other. :)

Missing... my Gramma.  She had a brain aneurysm when I was 15 and miraculously survived it, though with a lot of brain damage which affected her personality in ways that were hard for other people to understand and cope with.  My mom never gave up on her, though, and I know that her devotion is why Gramma lived another 12 years before passing away.  Gramma died over 12 years ago now (yes, the math says I am 39 now *grin*) but she was such a pinnacle part of my childhood and early teenage years.

Wondering... if there is a way to balance my relationships, my love of cooking and obsession with recipes, needed free time, AND get back into doing other creative things like sewing, drawing, and painting.  if only I didn't have to work full-time!

Working... in the same job in the orange corporate hell where I've been for almost 8 years now.  It's really not that bad but it's SO not what I want to be doing with my time.  Debt that was accrued over 10 years ago is why I am still here, though.

Random mini van convoy... including mine (that's my dashboard) and the one behind me. :)

Proud... of my cooking.  I really am.  I am able to make some amazing things that still amaze me when I make them.  For instance, my homemade Sweet Italian Sausage.  Whenever I make it, I still can't believe that *I* made it.  It's so much better than anything I'd ever purchased and while I based it off a recipe I found, I changed it to make it mine.  The same goes for my chorizo and pizza sauce.  And the fact that I make all my own bread now is still something that I am amazed by.

Rosemary & thyme roasted chicken with tomato & mushroom gratin, broccoli, and roasted potatoes

Wanting... some things for the kitchen, like a salad spinner and a better mandolin.  I also want to make my own spice and herb blends and would love a food mill.  I also need a new Dutch oven.

Wishing... I took more pictures of the foods I am cooking and eating.  Part of it is because I am so hungry that I just want to eat!  The other part is that we eat dinner around 8pm and my kitchen has fluorescent lighting so it's hard to get good pictures of my food... as you can see from my blog posts. :)

A doodle I did for Andy... he was trying to win an MVP. :)

Eating... all the things! :)  For the most part, I eat a pretty well-balanced diet, though there are days that are lighter on the veg than others.  I envy salad eaters in that regard.

Drinking... I am addicted to 2 sodas: Pepsi Max and Sprite Zero.  They are the only processed "foods" that I can seem to handle in "sipping quantities".  I've been search for something else that I *want* to drink all day and have yet to come up with the perfect thing.  Though True Blueberry iced tea sweetened with a little apple juice is not bad and I try to drink that as often as I can.

Loving... my life. I have 2 wonderful men who love me back, 3 awesome kitties who I adore, a home that I love, and a kitchen full of food to cook.   :)