Random Ramblings 004

Source: imgfave.com via LeAnne on Pinterest

Hello! It's been a while, huh? How have you been? Me? I'm fine...good, even. It's hard to think of where to start since I've been absent for so long. Hope you can enjoy my crazy rambles and a quick update.

01: It's National Volunteer Recognition Week - the biggest week of the year for my department. I mentioned in a previous post that I work with volunteers at a hospital. Every day this week, I {along with my incredible colleagues} have hosted a lunch for 200+ volunteers and hospital staff, nurses, doctors, and executives to thank them for their service. It's been an amazing time {and quite exhausting} to interact with our volunteers who really are changing lives.

02: This week, right before one of our Volunteer Appreciation lunches started, the heel on my pump broke. This is the second pair of heels in the last week that I've managed to break. It's a bummer. Thank goodness I brought a pair of flats to work with me. I mean, who can stand in heels all day long? Not this girl. I've always been rough on my shoes - even as a little girl. Hubs asked me this weekend {before this week's shoe disaster} if there were such a thing as shoe insurance. This is why we have more than one pair of black pumps, right ladies? At least I get to go shoe shopping soon {if I could only get the pumps in the picture}!

03: Mike's parents came to visit earlier this month during my MIL's Spring Break. It was really great spending the week together! While they were here we went to the Los Angeles Zoo {our first visit}, ate at the Oinkster, introduced the fam to Porto's {a local restaurant and bakery with the best pastries ever}, and planned our Wild West Family vacation {more on this later}.

04: We took a trip to Ikea on Saturday to buy a much needed bookcase {plus a few other things}. This week has been so crazy for us that we haven't had a chance to put the thing together. Once it's up, I'm sure I'll share pictures {I have lots of homey things to update y'all on}.

05: Have I already talked about how much I love our Life Group? Earlier this year our group had to split in half because there were just too many of us in one group. We now are part of a group of 5 couples {including us} - plus 6 kiddos - who meet for dinner and Bible study every Friday night. It's been a really great experience, and I've loved figuring out how to do life together {it's still a work in progress}.

What have you been up to lately? Do you have any shoe disaster stories?

Flex-itarian Ways

Hubs and I have been making an attempt at eating less meat {I know I've mentioned this in previous posts}. Over the summer, hubs read this book that convinced him we should eat less meat for health, societal, humane, and environmental reasons {I haven't been brave enough to read it yet}. Interestingly enough my whole family is choosing to eat less meat.

Anyway, I had this eggplant in my fridge we had to use or toss so tonight we tried a new veggie pizza recipe I found from the web {I'm making a renewed effort to make sure I'm not throwing out unused food}. I would have taken a pic of the process, but I didn't think of it. And, because I came home from the grocery with a terrible headache, my sweet hubs made our supper. We were pleased with the recipe and will make this pizza again.

Garden Eggplant Pizza

1 large eggplant, peeled

1 medium tomato

1 red bell pepper

1 onion

1 small zucchini

3 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 (14 oz.) prebaked Italian pizza crust {I made my own pizza dough}

2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Chop first 5 ingredients coarsely, sauté in 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 10 minutes or until tender. {We should have put some of the seasonings in the skillet with the veggies before we layer the toppings on the dough}. Layer pizza crust evenly with cheese and eggplant mixture, sprinkle with basil and next 5 ingredients. Drizzle with remaining oil.

Bake pizza at 425°F for 10 minutes or until golden

Here's what's on the menu for the rest of the week:

Polish sausage, potatoes & onion skillet with green beans

Spicy Vegetable soup

Baked Ziti and Asparagus

Bean enchiladas & Spanish rice.

Do you have any delish eggplant recipes...or other vegetarian recipes? I think I'm trying to convince myself to like eggplant. :)

Weekending

Sorry for my lapse in posts recently. Every time I decide to post, I get distracted by facebook, pinterest, my friends' blogs and all other randomness on the internet.

Anyway, I've been loving our weekends recently. Today has been a lazy Saturday so far. While hubs watches the football play-offs, I get to piddle around my house {piddling is my favorite}. Tonight, we're headed out for a date at our favorite burger place and to watch a movie with some good friends once their kids go to sleep.

Last weekend, we had a great time hanging out with my SIL and her family. We went to the outlet mall, which is ironically in Commerce, CA {for those of you who aren't from Athens, we used to go to the outlets in Commerce, GA} to help find a pair of sunglasses for my brother in law. Afterwards, they came over for a delicioso supper of homemade veggie calzones. It was super fun to have family dine at our new table {more on that in a later post}. We played Bezzerwizzer after dinner - it's a trivia board game. We played with them a year ago and decided it was too hard, but it was much more enjoyable this go-round.

On Sunday we got to take our favorite little boys to church with us on Sunday. We loved getting to spend some extra time with them! I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that our friends from Georgia, the Lam's, moved here a year before us so that they could go to school at Fuller too. They have the best two sons - ages 4 and 2. It's been super fun getting to share life with their family.

The rest of the day we relaxed: watched some football {well hubs watched and I painted my nails} and Kung Fu Panda 2. Cute movie. Overall, it was a great weekend.

What are you favorite things to do on the weekend?

Merry and Bright!

We had the merriest of Christmases this year in Savannah. It was the first time I had seen my parents since our move. I loved spending time with them, eating good food, playing games, and seeing extended family {more details of our week in Southern soil soon}. Thanks, Mama and Dad for a fun trip!

Merry Christmas to you and your's. Christ has come. He has good news for us! He is our peace and joy. May you know the fullness of his presence this season.

Thanksgiving in Review

Random Ramblings 03

{My niece showing me a picture of a dog in Real Simple. She loved looking at all the pictures in that magazine. It's a sign that it's every girl's favorite!}

01:: We got to Skype with my parents on Thanksgiving day. It was the first time in months we’ve talked on Skype, and it was good to see them {even if it was through a computer screen}.

02:: I make these pumpkin cookies a couple of times to help me get in the Fall/Thanksgiving spirit. They were pretty good and much, much easier than the homemade version I made last Fall.

03:: Over Thanksgiving our sweet niece, Grace, started doing these double fist pumps when she really likes something. It’s completely amazing to see this little person with so much enthusiasm for life.

04:: I finished watching Brothers & Sisters this week. I started watching the show in July – shortly after we moved. It was my escape on particularly hard job-search days. {A cable line has never been installed in our apartment building and Fuller housing doesn’t allow you to install a dish so we have Netflix, hulu & an antenna to get by. It works for us – although I sure miss HGTV and hubs misses ESPN.}

05:: For the past four or five years, I have hosted an ornament exchange brunch over the Christmas holiday with my friends in Athens. I haven’t been able to decide whether or not to have one this year – new friends, new schedule….just not sure it would be the same. What do you think I should do?

06:: My most amazing husband went grocery shopping with me tonight. I HATE going to the grocery store by myself {or at all, for that matter}. It’s these little ways he loves me that makes him the best.

07:: I still haven’t switched over my summer clothes yet. It is finally getting chilly here, and my closet needs my warm clothes and some major reorganization.

08:: I bought myself a Coach purse on Saturday {from the outlet store at a deeply discounted price}. This summer I told myself that once I got a job my reward would be a new Coach purse. This is my first Coach bag, and I really like it. I have to admit that I’m feeling a bit of guilt about spending more money than usual on said gift {no time to go into all those thoughts right now}.

09:: I recently posted pictures to Facebook and realized how much K&G have been part of the past 6 months! What a blessing they are to us. We’re so thankful that we’ve gotten to grow our friendship with them, which is part of why we chose to move here.

10:: Hubs and I started a new running routine last Monday. We hit the road on Mondays and Wednesdays as soon as I get home from work for a quick run. I’m excited that we’re finally fitting exercise into our regular schedule. Since it’s getting a bit cooler outside, I’m definitely going to need some warmer running clothes {hint, hint}. :)

11:: To help with my commute to work, I’ve started listening to audio books. Last Monday I started Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and am enjoying it so far. Yesterday I finished loading all of the CDs onto my computer to sync with my iphone and realized that I completely skipped disc 3 – over 10% of the book! Only I would do something like this…

Big Bear weekend

Over Labor Day weekend {yes, I know I am way behind in updating my blog} Kim & Greg invited us to join them in Big Bear for the holiday. We rented a cabin together with some friends of theirs. It was a really fun weekend away from our usual routine. Hubs and I were both very happy to have something fun to do for the weekend. Usually we go to Oak Island over Labor Day with all of hubs’ college buddies, and we were missing them.

We dreamed about buying our own vacation home up there. Big Bear is a small mountain resort community two hour northwest of Pasadena. In the summer people spend time on the lake, and in the winter it’s a ski resort. For all of you Georgia readers, it reminds me a little of Helen.

We enjoyed hanging around and relaxing. We spent some time with our sweet niece and tried to convince her to walk. {She is now walking – or running – all over the place!} Quality time with that girl is the absolute best.

{Grace helping Uncle Mike choose his fantasy football team.}

We ate some delicious food – including a trip to Chick-Fil-A on the way home! I made a couple of special treats {cheesecake brownies and rice krispy treats} for all of to share during the weekend too. :)

We went on a 4.5 mile hike which had great views of Big Bear Lake.

Hubs went off-roading with our brother-in-law. They had a really fun time. It was the first time hubs has done something like that. I know he's looking forward to going again!

Thanks, K&G for the invite! We had such a fantastic time with y'all. Next time we'll make Blueberry buckle. ;)