Top Ten Things that Make Me Happy

today feels like a list day. i'm not sure quite why that is... but here we go! 

top ten things that make me happy

• cold adult beverages on a hot summer day. 'nuff said.
• puppies. who doesn't love puppies? if you don't love puppies, you have no soul. just sayin'!
• pina coladas on the beach.  preferably at the Sandbar on Anna Maria Island, FL.
• hippie music. ok, most music in general. but hippie music makes me happiest! i think i was a rasta in another life.
• jeans that fit just right. ladies, you know what i'm talking about. your "go to" jeans. the ones that your butt always looks perfect in and yet you still feel totally comfortable.
• my goofball friends and fam. let's face it: life just isn't worth living without a group of goofy people to hang around with.
• nicknames. yes, nicknames.
• dancing. dance class, breaking out into random dance in random places, etc.
• el Capitan! ooohh, la la la la la la la, el Capitan! as a real life person, he wasn't much fun, but he sure made a good ass bottle of rum (thank you Opm for that wonderful song)

and, last but, certainly not least (get ready to puke!)

• MY HUBBY! (hope you had your barf bag ready.  if you're going to spew, spew into this.)

food choices

in my quest to eat less meat, i find myself getting lots of questions about why i'm eating less meat.  i take that back.  not questions.  strange looks and people saying "why?" in total astonishment and disbelief, as if i just said that the sky is orange, not blue. "why??" they say, as if eating less meat is a sin against humanity; as if eating less meat makes me completely insane in some way. why is eating less meat so crazy? i mean, consider the fact that as a culture, we're eating twice as much meat as we did in the 1950's.  any chance that has anything to do with the obesity rate? or the rate of heart disease? other diseases? i digress... my main reason for eating less meat is simple: i want to feel better. i want to be healthier. but i do have a second reason. i'm taking a stand against how these poor animals are treated before they are led to slaughter, all for a juicy burger or ham sandwich. do you know that most of the animals are forced to live in dirty, unsanitary, quite frankly dangerous conditions? stacked shoulder to shoulder in conditions you would vomit if you saw? i mean, i understand that there's no "nice" way to kill something. but shouldn't these animals be treated with dignity and respect?

i recently was sent an article (thank you hubby!) that really sheds some light on this topic. it's from USA Today and is titled What's the godly way to treat animals?  Check out the article here. i encourage you to not just read it, but really digest what is written. it's not an article about not eating meat. not even close. however, it does make you stop and think "how are the animals i'm eating being treated?".

now that you've been informed, are you going to do anything about it? make any changes to your diet? make any changes to your shopping selections (i.e. free range, hormone free)? become more educated on the treatment of these animals? something simple is better than nothing. good luck :)

hooray for weekends!

ugh. sunday night again. why must you go so fast, weekend? don't you know i love you?!

what a productive weekend it was! friday i made this:

looks tasty, doesn't it? well, letmetellya, it's not only tasty. it's delicious! it's braided lemon bread. special thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this super yum recipe!  it's fairly simple to make too! Smitten Kitchen is one of my fav recipe sites. if you've never checked it out before, now is the time. super yummy recipes with beautifully written directions (including pictures!!) that help challenged cooks/bakers like me make spectacular dishes!


as you know, the hubs and i are working on being flexitarians. we decided to put a twist on mac n' cheese tonight! we added roasted bell peppers, sauteed onions and mushrooms to white cheddar mac and cheese!

it was delicious!  it was made with love. lots and lots of love. so much love, in fact, that i burned my thumb while roasting the veggies :( i think my thumb will survive. and i now have proof that i actually make food, not just eat it! see Mom! i cook!

the rest of the weekend was filled with adult beverages and delicious food. we celebrated noel and diane's wedding on saturday. congrats to the newlyweds! although it rained all day, it surely didn't stop anyone from celebrating. good party, friends!

and now it's almost time for bed... have a great week everyone!

I'm so bad at this...

wow. did i really just let almost an entire 6 months go by since my last post? i suck at this blogging game. guess i've gotta try a little harder, eh?

well life has been busy, hence the no posts. brandon and i celebrated our first wedding anniversary in the very place we got married. it was perfect! beautiful weather, tons of fun, and lots of celebrating!

i've decided to make a huge change in my life. i'm going flexitarian! so long meat, hello fish and veggies! of course, i'll still have to indulge in animal flesh at family functions and sparingly when i'm pregnant. gotta make sure i'm getting enough nutrients at that time! so far it's been roughly 2 weeks since the change and i feel great! more energy, less sickly, i'm loving life! if you have any recipe ideas, please share! i need them! special thanks to melissa for getting me started on delish recipes and a super useful cookbook!

we made some new friends recently and i think they're pretty cool.  so cool, in fact, that we've decided to all go to disney world in january! yay! i've never been and i really want to go, so i'm beyond excited! although, i made my savings plan the other day... that didn't excite me. some would say i'm more of a "spender" than a "saver." but i have a goal! and that should get me through it. hopefully.

and finally, i will leave you with the image of what surely is going to be my next puppy: a mini goldendoodle! he will be named animal because he looks like a muppet.  maybe i can afford him sometime in the next 2 years ;)