Weekly Menu

Saturday: dinner out
Sunday: Crispy Yogurt Chicken
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Black Bean Burgers
Wednesday: Leftovers/Cliff is on his own
Thursday:  Chili-Lime Grilled Pork Chops
Friday: Leftovers

House Before and Afters

FYI: All of these old pictures are from the MLS with the other people's furniture.

Old Exterior

New Exterior!  New shutters, power washed front and green grass make it look like a different house.

Old Backyard

New Backyard with a hammock, husband and dog, and a tiny pool for me to jump in when I'm hot from reading in the backyard.  I'll get my built-in pool one of these days!!

Old Dinning Room.  Still need a REAL dinning room table before I can post the new.

Old Family Room.  Note the random bell.

New Family Room with blue couch which will be going back to the living room once we buy another couch.  Note the cute dog.

Old Master

Old Master Bath.  I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the new master yet.  There aren't any really big changes yet anyway.

New Master.  Needs new bedroom set and a picture or something over the bed. Ugh $$$

 

 

Old kitchen

New kitchen

This took FOREVER to redo the grout.

Cliff's office

My office

David Sedaris Reading!

I'm going to see David Sedaris again! Yay yay yay!
October 13th at 8pm and this time it's close to home in NJ!  We won't have to travel all the way to Baltimore, although that WAS fun.  This time it won't be nearly as expensive!  There are a lot of ! in this.  Can you tell I'm excited!?!?!?!?!

David Sedaris!

46. Watch 20 classic movies (3/20)

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I enjoyed it but now I want to read the book and compare them.  Not really sure what to think of it because I feel like it is one of those movies that people always talk about and love and whatever.  I am having trouble forming an opinion of it because I feel like it should be this amazing movie to me, but it was just a movie.  I don't know if I explained that well but whatever.

Watch 20 classic movies (2/20)

I watched Gone with the Wind a while back. Actually, my mom bought me the movie because she apparently loves it.  She also forced me to watch it with her.  She loves watching movies together.  She has things that she wants us to do together that she arbitrarily chooses and then obsesses over.  Kind of takes the fun out of it for me.  But anyway, the movie was good, if not really REALLY long.  We-had-to-watch-it-in-two-sittings-long.  Anyway, I don't know how many times more I'll be watching it because it's not one of those movies I'll just be throwing on when I do some ironing, but you know, I'll probably break it out again some day.  But, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.  Ha that was dumb.

Watch 20 new-to-me movies (14/20)

Into the Wild-3 stars (innnteresting but maybe I should have read the book instead?  it felt slow and also I can't really relate very well)
City Slickers-2 stars (expected so much more, couldn't wait for this to end, maybe I should give it 1 star?)
The King's Speech-4 stars (really, really enjoyed)
Precious-3 stars (a little too "real" for me though I knew what I was getting into)
Easy A-4 stars (ha I enjoyed this random find on instant watch)
The Fighter-4 stars (really enjoyed)
Unstoppable-3 stars (this has been done before)
Inception-4 stars (glad I finally saw this. interesting concept)
Larry Crowne-3 stars (though funny, the characters were not well-developed)

Kick-Ass-4 stars (loved this and thought I'd hate it.  When Cliff picked it, I was all ready to turn it off.)
Grown-Ups-2 stars (too stupid to enjoy)
The Other Guys-1 star (also waaaaay too stupid to enjoy)
No Strings Attached-3 stars (enjoyed way more than I thought I would)
Black Swan-4 stars (I'm having flashbacks of this movie right now--creeeepy)

29. Get a regular doctor 30. Get an OB/GYN

Appointments next week! Hopefully we won't find out that I have some rare diseases or common diseases.  I'm glad I finally got this off my list.  It's been in the back of my mind for quite some time.

16. Attend at least 3 book readings

On May 23, 2011, I went to see Sarah Dessen in Staten Island!  I started going to author readings during college.  I even got to see John Irving who is one of my all-time favorite authors.  I felt like I really got to understand the books on a deeper level and that really strengthened my appreciation for the author and their books. 

I LOVE reading.  I always have.  I can't explain how much I love it.  If I have kids who don't love to read one day I'm going to be insanely sad.  So, it was really exciting to me to get to meet an author of books that I love.  I've read 3 (or 4?) of Sarah Dessen's books so far and though I've loved some more than others, they have all been really entertaining.  I own all but one of her books and thanks to paperback swap I'll be remedying that shortly.  Anyway, I really enjoyed the reading, though I did NOT enjoy the traffic or the fact that it was on a Thursday (whyyyyyyy).  Anyway, I was glad I went and I'll be on the lookout for some more awesome author readings in the near future.  At least 2 more, anyway!

Maybe not the greatest picture the world has ever seen, but Sarah Dessen really does look like her book covers!  That is a woman who ages well, my friends!

12. See a Broadway show

For my cousin Jon's graduation from 8th grade, we went to NYC to see Phantom of the Opera.  It was actually my parents' gift, but somehow my brother, husband, and I were roped in as well.  I've actually already seen Phantom and while it's good, if I'd have had my choice, I wouldn't have picked this show.  I would have picked Wicked or Jersey Boys because I've wanted to see them for like 2 years now.  I'll get there one day.  It's just so expensive!  Anyway, everyone enjoyed the show (although I was in the middle of having a 2 day allergy induced (I think) headache).  Jon was hooked and loved New York City.  I told him I want to see Wicked and when I saw him yesterday he was asking me when I'm going to take him to it.  The tickets for that show are RIDICULOUSLY expensive.  I told him he better start saving his money!

 

There have been better pictures of me taken but I had a wicked headache and I've never really been that photogenic =)

It's What's for Dinner

I'm going to attempt to use this blog more.  Hopefully it will keep me more organized (or rather keep my organization in one place) and help me keep track of that list I always have in the back of my head.

I'm trying to do more cooking because it's summer and I'm not working full time and Cliff deserves a break.  He usually does a lot of the cooking because he gets home before me and because I am often exhausted when I get home from school!  Here's what we're planning on eating this week!:

Sunday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Zippy Summer Shrimp
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Crispy Yogurt Chicken
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Grilled Pizzas


We eat a lot of leftovers because there are only two of us and we always end up making way more than we actually eat somehow!