A Really Long Week (and a Half)

Apologies for starting up and then not posting, but the last week and a half has been one of the most exhausting I've ever gone through.

It started out with a really amazing trip back to Iowa to see my family and friends. We had a really fantastic time, especially surprising my little brother. Granted I say little, and he's got about six inches on me, but still! Anyway, we got to see him in his play, which was wonderful, and spend some time on the Iowa State campus. We especially enjoyed visiting Reiman Gardens. I hadn't been there since they had their big expansion and added the butterflies, so it was really enjoyable.

One of the butterflies really liked my sleeve!

Honestly I could have spent hours sitting in the butterfly wing. It was really magical. Mr. C and I were also in venue scouting mode, and it seemed like it might be a really fun option for us. Definitely still on the list, although we'll have to go back later in the year and check out the road noise.

The trip to Iowa was great, but it was a ton of running around. I'm now seven weeks out from my surgery, and definitely not at full speed yet. Better than I was, yes, but spending those days back home really wore me out.

Added to that, on Tuesday I returned to work for the first time. It was really exciting to head back, and I am glad to finally have things to do. I really enjoy my job, which helps. Granted, there are always those little frustrating things, but overall it is a really great environment and I am doing some great work. Of course, my first day back I didn't just put in a normal day. We had a special donor event that night, which meant I put in a 12+ hour day. Needless to say, there were several early bedtimes this week.

The only real bad thing about returning to work is that Mr. C and I are back on a schedule of only having Sundays off together (My typical week is Tuesday-Sunday). We made the most of it today, went down to the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail and went for a nice walk. The weather was beyond beautiful, but of course I left my phone in the car so no pictures!

More updates soon, I promise! Ms. A and I are planning a craft night for Wednesday, so hopefully I'll let you in on some of our projects. I'm also going to start back to running tomorrow. Seeing as I've been on the couch for the last nearly two months, and have very little stamina, I'll be trying the couch to 5k program. I'll let you know how it works!

- J

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wrap Hack

Tonight was really my first foray back into cooking since my shoulder surgery last month. I still have to be a little careful with how I use it, but we are pretty much out of the food that we prepped and froze before the surgery and you can only eat at Panera so many times in a week.

One of my favorite food blogs, for a variety of reasons, is Iowa Girl Eats. Being an Iowa girl myself, I love hearing little tidbits of what's going on in the Des Moines area. She also has a very similar philosophy to mine when it comes to cooking. I read it every week, and have a whole list of her recipes I already use or want to try out.

This one is the hack of P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps. Neither my mom or I are huge shoppers, but the times when I'm home and we've needed to head to the mall, we often stop to refill our tanks at the P. F. Chang's in Jordan Creek. Almost every time, we manage to wolf down the lettuce wraps, hot and sour soup, and the honey shrimp. But, as IGE notes on her post about it, the wraps are super greasy. She adapted the recipe to be a little more health friendly, and here's my take.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
1lb chicken breast, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp dried onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1" knob ginger, peeled and minced
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (next time I will use low sodium!)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp honey
2 tsp chili garlic sauce
dash of pepper
3 chopped baby carrots (original recipe called for water chestnuts and green onions, which I managed to forget when we went to the grocery store. I substituted carrots to try to get some crunch.)
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
Green leaf lettuce leaves

Directions

1. Spray saute pan with non-stick spray, and add onion, chicken, salt, and pepper and cook over high (Next time, I will exclude the salt. It tasted WAY too salty)
2. Once chicken is nearly done, add ginger, garlic, peanuts, and chopped carrots. Continue cooking until chicken is cooked through. 
3. Mix all but last ingredient into microwave dish. Zap for 20 seconds in a microwave and stir. 
4. Add 3/4 of sauce to chicken, stir to incorporate.
5. Serve chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves, with remaining sauce on top. 

Mr. C took one bite and said "it tastes just like P.F. Chang's!" Granted, I think it has been awhile since either of us actually had the real thing, but it wasn't bad. The only downside was the sodium content was VERY high. Mr. C didn't mind, but I'm on my second glass of water. Next time I'll switch over to low sodium soy sauce and add salt later if it needs it. Otherwise, it turned out pretty darn well!

DIY: Sofa Shelf

Mr. C and I moved in together this last December, and luckily for both of us, he had furniture and I didn't. The good news is that he has a really big, comfy sectional couch. The bad news is that it is MASSIVE, and actually sticks out into the apartment hallway by about an inch. It also means that there was no room for end tables to set lamps on, meaning our living room was REALLY dark.

Pinterest to the rescue! I was just browsing along one day, when I stumbled across this gem. 

Via Bobi Law Designs

Their couch is almost the exact same shape (and color!) as ours, and Mr. C really liked the look of this. We adjusted a little, as turns out he doesn't actually like the sunburst mirror, but here's where it's at now. You can't tell in evening, but during the daytime the mirror makes the room so much brighter and bigger!

If you look carefully, you can tell the board hasn't sticks out even further than the couch does. Mr. C has promised to take it over to the house of a friend who has tools soon. At that point we're also planning on staining it a dark brown to match the coffee table. I'm hoping to eventually get some cute picture frames and knickknacks to go along the ledge. The lamps and the mirror we got from Kirkland's. I'm still not convinced that the lamps are a different enough color from the wall, but they work for now. 

An Introduction

When I was a high school senior, I had the chance to travel to Scotland and perform as a part of the American High School Theater Festival, which takes place in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival. It was an amazing opportunity for anyone even remotely interested in theater.

My theater group, way back in 2005

The funny thing is, what stuck with me wasn't the city of Edinburgh, the food we ate, or even the other plays that we saw. What stuck with, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the play that we spent months rehearsing. I've done other shows before. I can belt out any of the songs from "Once on This Island", or anything I ever did in show choir. But the play that we did in Scotland, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", has had a profound impact on my life.

The play itself is based off of the book by the same name, written by one Robert Fulghum. Since performing that play, I've managed to purchase most of the books he has written. Something about his writing really resonates with me. I think it is his inherent belief in the good of people, in hope, and in the fact that even when things don't work out the way they should, they actually do.

The words of Robert Fulghum take are relevant from birth to beyond death. And, although I make no promise of covering all of those angles, I do promise to show you a little bit of our life along the way. This will range from health to crafts, recipes to party plans, and a little bit of who I am along the way.

So, are there any questions?