December 17

8 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

The motivation to get skinny

I am finally willing to share a little secret meeting I have been attending. At the beginning of the school year I blogged about the food challenges I faced eating 3 meals a day at work and being surrounded by bad food choices. Well, I actually took it pretty seriously and after a couple weeks realized that I had to take control of the situation or I would end up gaining the "Freshman 45". I decided to join Weight Watchers. And not the online version which I have tried in the past with no success but the actual in person meeting kind. The kind where you publicly weigh in (only public to you and the receptionist), the kind where they clap for you when you lose 5 pounds and give you a gold star. I needed the accountability and encouragement. I have tried dieting on my own about 1,000 times and while Greg is incredibly supportive and encouraging of almost anything I try, I find it too easy to cheat when it is just me monitoring myself. So I have been doing the Core program at WW which is actually pretty easy to follow and stresses eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full, making healthy whole foods choices, and WW puts a cap on the amount of extra junk food on top of those 2 things. It actually works perfectly with my 90% vegan diet and the cap on junk has been eye opening for me as to the appropriate amount of "splurge" foods I should be consuming (my real area of trouble). I am in my 10th week on the program and so far I have lost over 16 pounds. Considering it is the holiday season I am thrilled. It has not been easy the last 2 weeks because of all the celebrating, for instance this week I have 4 dining out occasions in the next 2 days alone! But I think even Greg would agree that this has been an easy program for me to follow and easy for him to follow for me when he cooks and buys food. At first I thought it was crazy to try to diet while going to school and during the holidays but really it has been the best decision I made and I plan to keep going into the new year.

All that being said, I should mention that for 2009 WW is launching a new program that on the surface eliminates the Core program. The new program is called Momentum and has been introduced to us current members. If you are familiar with WW you will see that it is pretty similar with a few added changes. Since I don't want to fix what ain't broke I am sticking with the Core plan for now which my leader says is fine. I just want to make that clear in case you try to investigate "Core" since it probably won't be advertised anymore.

December 16

9 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

More ornaments on the advent tree

Just a quick post today as I run out to take my last final of the semester in about 40 minutes. This is a photo of our advent tree. It is from Greg's childhood but for some reason I am the only one who puts up the little beaded ornaments each day. It is a fun way to count down the days until Christmas. Unfortunately no one will be putting up the ornaments while we are away in Seattle this year, but don't worry, the blog will roll on until the 25th!

I am excited to be free from studying starting tomorrow so I can get back to my nightly crafting sessions and more DIY posts!

December 15

10 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A husband the same age as me

Today is Greg's 32nd birthday. We had a nice quiet party at home. We ordered in Thai from his favorite place in the neighborhood and he opened some gifts from him family and from me. A call home to thank everyone for their thoughtful gifts followed by some TV watching and playing with his new stuff. I had to go back to studying. Can you believe there are just 10 days till Christmas? The time is flying by! So much to do, so little time.

December 14

11 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

Studying with modern technology

Now that the majority of party planning, party preparation, and party going is over it was time to get back to reality...it is FINALS week. Today I have been in the house all day studying and taking exams. Education technology has come a long way since I was in collage in the mid-90s. The internet was just taking off and while we had email accounts at the University of Washington they were not used very much. Now my class information, handouts, and even videos of all my lectures are digitally available on Blackboard. My accounting final, which I completed today, was a downloadable take home test that had to but submitted in a digital drop box. A drop box that monitors the amount of time you spend working on it. Modern technology sure makes it easier to be a student in a lot of ways. In addition to my accounting final I have been studying for my economics final, taking practice tests, reviewing lectures on video, and even watching the review session I had to miss because of my required departmental holiday party. So cool. That test is on Tuesday and then I am technically done with school for the semester.

December 12 & 13

13 then 12 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
A house full of friends to party

Friday and Saturday were filled with partying. Greg had a work party and then came down to NYU for my lab party. It was a lot of fun and included a Yankee swap gift exchange. I ended up with some truffles which I donated to the party. Then it was home to start setting up for our church party. All day today we cooked and cleaned.

It was all worth it though as we had an excellent turn out and most people stayed all the way through to the end. We enjoyed really delicious food, great fellowship, and even fun games. Greg and I cleaned up and now are enjoying SNL before bed. It was a great day and so fun to see our friends from the ESPM communion team and our home group! The spread of food. Lots of new recipes that were delicious! Then we moved onto deserts which our guests provided for the most part. A tour of our house with a stop in the studio to talk about crafts! Then we played Apples to Apples which was a lot of fun too! A couple recipes that were delicious and easy:

Walnut Red Pepper Dip
(From MyRecipes.com)
2 cups Shelled Walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 jar (12oz) roasted red peppers, drained
1 garlic clove
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Put is walnuts, cumin, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until walnuts are finely ground. Add peppers, garlice, olive oil, and lemon juice and process until smooth. 1 TBSP has 59 calories, 1.1g protein, 5.5 g fat, 0.4g fiber, 51mg sodium. ***** 5 stars delicious and easy.

Stuffed Mushrooms
(from Becky Higgins Blog)

1lb. Large Mushrooms
1lb. pork sausage (I used 14oz vegetarian Italian Sausage)
4 oz cream cheese (I used tofutti brand soy cream cheese)
1/4 c. onion (I used shallots)
1/4c. stuffing mix
garlic salt (I used granulated garlic + salt to taste)
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce (I used Vegetarian style)

Remove stems from mushrooms and save about 10 stems. Brown sausage, add chopped onion and stems (I process everything in the food processor to chop finely and focussed on cooking the onion since my sausage was pre-cooked). Add cream cheese and stuffing mix (I added a little water since the sausage didn't render as much fat as meat sausage would). Season with garlic salt and worcestershire sauce. Stuff each mushroom cap with a heaping spoonful of mixture. Bake at 350 until water is released from the caps (about 10 min). **** 4 stars yummy and easy.

Chocalate Cake Cookies
(Becky Higgins Blog)

1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs (I used 1/2 cup egg beaters fat free egg product)
1/2 c. light flavored oil like canola
1 c. chocolate chips (we also used peanut butter chips)

Mix all together and spoon mounds onto a baking sheet. They do spread as they cook so leave some room. Bake at 35o for 8-9 minutes. **** 4 stars for being chocolaty and super easy. Whole thing takes about 10 minutes to make!

Hot Spinach-Artichoke Dip
(FoodNetwork Website)

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach
2 (13 oz) cans artichoke hearts
1/2 c. mayo (I used soy mayo)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 c. grated Parmesan
1 c. grated pepper jack cheese

Heat spinach in a microwave safe bowl for 5 minutes and squeeze dry. Drain artichoke hearts and coarsely chop in a food processor. Combine all ingredients except jack cheese in a large bowl. Stir well. Scrape into a prepared casserole dish (sprayed with cooking spray) and sprinkle jack cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Serve piping hot or transfer to a chafing dish and keep warm. Serve with begal chips. ****4 stars. Guests loved this and it was prepped the night before and then baked when everyone arrived. Easy!

We also had stuffed tomatoes which were good but a lot more work, crudite, store bought mini quiches, store bought potato puffs, and an antipasti platter. Plus lots of chips and crackers for dipping and deserts that friends brought. It wasn't vegan by any means but a vegetarian party and everyone left full and happy.

December 11

14 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

Cleaned rooms for company

Today I worked from home so I could spend a little time cleaning the house between work tasks in perparation for Saturday's Christmas party. In addition to preparing some of the foods we would be having I cleared out and cleaned up the living room and then tackled the dreaded office. There was stuff everywhere. Half finished projects, and ironing board, a sewing machine, fabrics, 6 bags of stuffing (why did I buy so much?), papers, receipts, gifts to be mailed, school stuff, laundry to hem and laundry to iron. I did not take a before photo because it was too messy to even consider documenting. That and I kind of started in there on accident when I went up to grab something and then got distracted. I tossed out tons of junk, packaging and stray papers and put everything away in its home. Now the room looks wonderful and makes me want to work in there! But no, no projects until after the party and after finals. Here is a view of the room. It needs a once over with the vacuum but at least it isn't embarrasing. This is the cleanest it has been in months. And my desk. Not clear but has some of my completed projects and some in progress ones to show people when they wonder around during the party. More on those addorable little faces later.

On big change is I put away a ton of scrapbook stuff that I had in these buckets. It was nice to incorporate it all in to my stash and make room for new things like these:Covered button supplies. Love these right now.

December 10

15 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
Fun and festive jewelry

Today is our department Christmas party so I dressed up a tiny little bit by thowing on this great vintage necklace I picked up at a second hand store the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The beads are just faceted plastics but all together they are really cool. Definitely a statement piece.
Another unusual jewelry item that is long overdue for a shout out is this crochet bracelet my very talented friend Alice made for me. I am sure it took her all of 10min to whip up since she is seriously a crochet master. Thanks Alice!

December 9

16 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

Christmas cards mailed priority

I picked up our Christmas photos from Walgreens last night. I can not recommend Walgreens for photo printing. They do a not so great job. All my photos had a little pink line at the bottom. I didn't notice till I got home or I would have had them reprinted but I was trimming them down a bit so it was going to be cut off anyway. I would like to say it is the first time but alas, they have messed up my order before. I don't think I will use them again. 3 chances are enough.

Anyway, last night I worked on our annual Christmas card. I am using a kit this year. I know, it is scandalous and I feel like I am cheating every time I use the kit but I just didn't have time to design a card this year. Even though the card design was done for me I still had to assemble everything and it took a LONG time to do. I don't know why I didn't start sooner since I have had the kit for a month.

This morning I printed up our newsletter. I try to write a little something every other year. Our lives are not that interesting and reading a newsletter that says, "we go to work and watch TV most days" would be far too boring. This year we had a little more to say with school, job changes, and family events.

Tonight I plan to address all the envelopes, stuff, and pop into the mail tomorrow. Then I can check it off my list.

December 8

17 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

Homemade coasters under mugs of coffee

I'd like to say I made these coasters for myself in order to test out the pattern for making gifts. I would hate to make a gift for someone and have it turn out wrong. Well in reality I have had these fabrics for a while and just recently thought they would make cool coasters. I read about making simple coasters here and they were really easy. 4.5 x 4.5 inch squares of front material and back material and thin batting. I found batting made of bamboo which was really nice and thin and hopefully absorbent. For the top fabric you can patch small fabrics together to make the 4.5 x 4.5 square. I used natural linen and wood grain print fabrics. All seam allowances are 1/4 inch all the way around. Clip the corners, turn right side out and then hand stitch the opening. Iron and they are all done. Turned out really cute and are even reversible! Not really good for Christmas but I will put them away until next Month.

December 7

18 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A Christmas photo of Greg and Me

Among other projects I completed today, Greg and I ran out into the freezing cold and snapped this year's Christmas photo. We had originally talked about going out to Flushing Meadows Park for some good scenery but we just never got going early enough for that. So the sun was setting and it was almost time to go to church and I realized that if we didn't do it then we would have to wait for the following weekend, which was unacceptable so..... We ran out back and found a really nice brick wall behind out row houses and shot a few shots. Man was it cold! We took a couple out front at Greg's request in front of my favorite lights. Those were not keepers! The winning photo was this one. Of course I edited and cropped it a little. I will pick them up in the morning and adhere them into my cards. Turned out really nicely considering we spent only 10 minutes taking them. For once Greg didn't complain much!

December 6

19 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

Some more decorations pretty

We got home from setting up the Angel Tree party at Manhattan Bible Church tonight just as it started snowing. Very pretty. I didn't manage to take a single photo of the set up party though It was a lot of fun and everything went together really smoothly.So instead I am blogging tonight about holiday decor again.

Today I ran over to Michael's to pick up some more garland and berries to finish my Christmas decorations. I got to take advantage of their 50% off sale. First I found some cute naked pine cone boxes in the Martha Stewart holiday line and picked up some gold glitter. They were not on my list but I like the look of the pine cones and gold accents are a part of my Christmas theme. Once dry I put them into an empty vase with some berry springs I picked up. They added a nice sparkly touch to my buffet and the best part is that they can also hang on the tree. Next year maybe I will hide treats inside them on the tree. I picked up a pine cone garland and had Greg cut it into 4 pieces. 2 went onto the buffet to accent the angel candlesticks (and hide the boxes I use to vary the height) and the metal tree.

I love the way this display turned out. Two other pieces went into the windows where my candles sit. A third piece would have been really nice too but not worth another trip to the store.

Next was a new addition to our lighting. Last year Greg's parents sent us a string of lights from Reseration Hardware that look like a series of votive candles. We put them right away with the decorations last year without even opening them. So this year it was a pleasant surprise to discover them in the decoration box. I unpacked them and thought they would work on the TV stand where there is a 4 inch ledge. First I put the candle lights up on the stand and used a few round boxes to vary their heights. Then I worked a garland through. It already had berries attached which went nicely with my theme. It turned out so nice. I am really happy with it.

Now I am pretty much done with our deocrations for the year. It is looking really nice! I love sitting on my sofa with all the lights on and some candles lit. Very nice mellow lighting. Oh and by the way the Christmas cards are coming in and going up on the ribbon wall.

December 5

20 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A handmade gift for co-worker Marci

Her name is Marcela but that wouldn't rhyme. We do a Secret Santa game every year at work the week before Christmas. Marcela is going to be gone and she was really bummed so the ladies are going to stuff her stocking next week instead. I got Monday so I put together this fun little card holder this morning before work. It is for business cards but it is actually perfect for a note card, gift cards, even ID cards if you want to use it as a wallet. The free pattern by Amy Butler can be found here. I have made several of these for Christmas gifts but had to really change the pattern. I didn't like the bulk of it the way it was written so I changed the interfacing used, moved some seams, and added a button closure instead of Velcro. Notice the cute covered button! Love that! Inside this holder I slipped a note card and some jewelry findings that Marcela had eyed at the store on Thursday but decided she didn't have them in her budget to buy. I am in love with fabric right now and these fabrics from Heather Bailey were so luscious I had to use them. Sorry these last 2 photos wouldn't rotate for some reason.

December 4

21 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
Bead shopping at Toho Shoji

(Blogger is having some difficulty and ate yesterday's post so I am trying again)

Today at lunch I ran up to the bead store to get some findings for some beaded Christmas gifts I am planning. I took along my co-worker Marcela and together we stumbled onto a couple additional bead stores I had never seen before. These stores were even bigger than the others and honestly the shear volume of choices was overwhelming. That being said, I still managed to find lots to buy.Most of this is for Greg's mom for Christmas. As you know she is a jewelry maker from way back. Recently she quit smoking and is making even more jewelry to keep her hands busy. Greg thought it would be nice to send her some beads she might not find at her usual craft store so I stocked up on some nice spacers and glass beads for her to play with.
Then on the way back to work I popped into Laila Rowe to get some jewelry ideas and ended up snagging a couple things that I can't make. A fun way to spend lunch.