simplified happiness

i'm a cheater..

2009-09-08T20:26:00.001-04:00

i've been cheating on this blog with another....we'll see how it works out ;-)

check it out: http://www.makingmypath.wordpress.com

Mojito Night

2009-08-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

Start the countdown...

2009-07-13T15:05:00.001-04:00

One and a half more days :) :) :)

Wednesday here I come!

unbelievable!

2009-07-08T22:52:00.001-04:00

i...am....

DONE!!!!

can you believe it!?

I am DONE, FINALLY, WITH MY BACHELORS!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!

By The Way

2009-07-08T16:25:00.003-04:00

..........Today, after work, I will be taking the VERY LAST TEST of my bachelor's Degree...and I will be FINISHED!....and.....AND

...The Cabin is exactly ONE WEEK AWAY!!!!!!

Chocolate Dipped S'mores Recipe

Recipe from www.candy.about.com

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 package (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening
1 bag large marshmallows or 1 lb homemade marshmallows
Assorted sprinkles or small candies (optional)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation:

1. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil.
2. Combine the chocolate chips and the shortening in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after every minute.
3. Drop a marshmallow in the melted chocolate and submerge it slightly. Use a fork to remove it from the chocolate, and tap it against the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Drag the bottom of the fork against the lip of the bowl to remove any remaining excess chocolate, and place the marshmallow on the prepared baking sheet. Alternately, you can skewer the marshmallows with toothpicks or small skewers, and use those to dip the marshmallows in chocolate. If you are using sprinkles or small candies, sprinkle them on when the chocolate is still wet. Repeat with remaining chocolate and marshmallows.
4. Place the marshmallows in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to set the chocolate.
5. If desired, melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the marshmallows for a decorative look. Briefly return the candy to the refrigerator to set the white chocolate before serving.

Even though it's cloudy...

2009-06-28T17:34:00.001-04:00

...the view from my hammock ain't that bad :)

-- Post From My Phone

let them eat cake...

2009-06-27T11:06:00.003-04:00

Screw mother nature...

2009-06-20T17:06:00.002-04:00

Recipe for Easy Boycotting Rain Steak Kabobs

Makes 6 Servings

> 3lbs sirloin steak (or preferable grilling steak)

> 2.5 cups of mushrooms

> 2 green bell peppers, cut into squares

> 2 red bell peppers cut, cut into squares

> 1 pineapple, cored, and cubed

> 2 large onions, quartered and cut into squares

>1/4 cup teriyake sauce

>4 tbspn soy sauce

> small can of pineapple juice

>Pinch of Salt & Pepper

> Garlic

>Couple of spins of Honey

> Glug of Lime Juice

Mix marinade ingredients (garlic, lime, teriyake, soy sauce, pineapple juice, s & p) into a large roasting pan and whisk until mixed properly

Add all cubed ingredients to pan and turn over multiple times until all pieces are well coated with marinade.

Place in refrigerator for several hours or over night. If using wooden skewers, soak in water for same amount of time as marinating ingredients.

After marinated, put the cubed pieces onto the kabobs alternating ingredients.

When finished assembling, turn the grill on Medium heat and coat with oil. Place kabobs on the grill on a slight angle, cook until desired doneness.

Enjoy!

-- Post From My Phone

Shakespeare...

2009-06-17T19:16:00.001-04:00

..on the sound..and some sunshine (finally) :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Refresher...

2009-05-17T20:45:00.001-04:00

Ahhhhhhh.....
After walking 6 miles in the cold damp city....this is how I spell relief :) :)

-- Post From My iPhone

AIDS walk 2009 NYC

2009-05-17T10:37:00.001-04:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Latest purchase

2009-05-16T14:20:00.002-04:00

Sangria anyone? Oh yes, sangria will be made :)

EASY White Wine Sangria

>1 Bottle of dry white wine, (try a nice dry pino grigio)
>1 Orange, sliced
>1 Lime, sliced
>1 Lemon, sliced
>Strawberries, sliced
>Peaches, sliced
>Any other must-have fruit

Pour bottle of wine into pitcher of choice, and add citrus (oranges, limes, lemons). Soak for several hours, add strawberries, peachers and any of your other interesting summer fruits. Continue to soak, best when over night!

Serve by itself or with some chilled seltzer water for a refreshing, bubbly, summer beverage.

-- Post From My iPhone

In addendum...

2009-05-14T20:14:00.003-04:00

Ok.

So....need met. Crisis averted...with some oatmeal chocolate chip AVOCADO coconut cookies.....

...now...I was skeptical, especial since I like the simple versions of things...and I definitely got a bit carried away...but they were delicious!
Even my dad, who likes a limited amount of things tainting his chocolate intake, was pleasantly surprised by the delicious treats...even if they did have avocado in them. :)

Recipe from London Foodie in NY:

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (with avocado)
Please don’t be afraid of the avocado! No one will know and you’ll feel so sneaky feeding people cookies with avocado! If you don’t like coconut just replace the measurement with 50g/1/2 cup oats. These taste even better if you keep the dough in the fridge for a day before baking and the dough freezes well too- which is a good thing because these are best eaten fresh out of the oven.

Makes: about 30 cookies
Difficulty: eating just one
Diet Facts: hmmm…..

110g/1/2 cup butter, softened
125g/ 1/2 cup peeled, mashed avocado flesh (about 1/2 avocado)
100g/ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
100g/ 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
150g/1 cup plain flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
180g/2 cups rolled oats
50g/1/2 cup shredded coconut (dessicated will make a denser cookie)
170g/6 oz chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas. Beat the butter until smooth, add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Gently beat in the avocado until blended.

2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

3. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into the butter mixture and mix well. Stir in the oats and coconut. Fold through the chocolate chips and walnuts (if using).

4. Drop into tablespoonful-sized balls onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden and crispy.

-- Post From My iPhone

Needs...

2009-05-14T18:38:00.001-04:00

Todays weather aligned perfectly with how I am feeling and my stress level...
I'm in dire need of a hot baked chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie...because these aren't as soulful and healing as I assumed..

(i think it may have something to do with the "No transfat, non dairy, no butter, no cholesterol, no eggs, no yeast, and low sodium".....then WTF are these made from!?

-- Post From My iPhone

Making a mess...

2009-04-30T21:24:00.001-04:00

Making a mess tonight...how nice it is :)

-- Post From My iPhone

How do you spell relief?

2009-04-25T14:43:00.000-04:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Making the rainy day a little...

2009-04-21T16:36:00.001-04:00

...more tolerable

-- Post From My iPhone

Daydreaming

2009-04-20T15:12:00.001-04:00

...from my office on this gloomy day...daydreaming of tropical places...or just this past Saturday...

-- Post From My iPhone

what a good day.

2009-04-18T22:29:00.010-04:00

Sparkly Clean Car

Walk at the beach...

...barefoot

delicious grilled dinner!

Today was nice.

The happiness spreads...

2009-04-18T15:43:00.001-04:00

My favorite restaurant...

2009-04-18T15:39:00.001-04:00

Today we made the 10,000th trip down the road to my most favorite
restaurant, Valencia Luncheria. Valencia is a small restaurant that
makes amazingly delicious Venezuelan Beach food.

Nothing was more relaxing today than driving with all if the windows
down, and picking up some DELICIOUS arepas and wraps chock full of
carne mechado, plantains,Venezuelan roasted pork, queso fresco, and
love, and enjoying them outside, barefoot...

..now to make some pink lemonade :)

The Scent of Procrastination

2009-03-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

10:00am
This semester is going by like a blur. I feel like I just started back to classes 2 weeks ago, but alas, it is midterms. Time has been sucked away..jeesh.
I have to work on my online exam today...but I want to be able to enjoy the beautiful day. I think I will take a walk to get an iced coffee to start my procrastination.

8:40pm
Ok, well now I have 3 hours to complete about 6 hours worth of work. Was it worth it? I guess so. I took a blissful 1.5 hour nap...windows open. Cleaned my room. Went to TJ Maxx...didn't buy anything. Ate some great pasta, and now I have my delicious tea...and I have no where else to turn. I must do the work.

I ACTUALLY made it to a treasury!!!!

2009-02-18T09:04:00.000-05:00

Holy Crap!!!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=43706

My addiction...

2009-02-03T16:19:00.001-05:00

So I spent my day feeding my addiction to beads...

Hint of what's to come...

2009-02-02T17:07:00.003-05:00

I think this morning was blissful. I LOVED that I was over dressed when I left for work. My car was actually hot on the inside from the sun beating down on it. That is the first time in MONTHS that its happened. How nice.

Even though snow is supposed to be coming for over 24hours, it made me really excited and happy for spring and summer. I can't wait. I even went to starbucks this afternoon for an iced latte....no coat, no hat, no gloves :) Amazing.

New Schtuff

2009-01-20T16:50:00.006-05:00

Organic Elegance

Love Green

Fire

Drop Turquoise

Modern Circle

I'm excited to make more!!!

I'm Etsy-ing

2009-01-06T16:31:00.002-05:00

So...we'll see how this works, but I've opened my etsy shop....

my attempt.

2008-12-23T15:32:00.003-05:00

My attempt at a gingerbread house...made me realize why I could never be an engineer...

taking a breath...

2008-12-21T23:40:00.003-05:00

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it can be really hard for me to appreciate all of the simple pleasures that are around us.

another first..

2008-12-21T21:22:00.006-05:00

Well, by the time I managed to get out of my PJs and get out of the house, and make the trek to Balducci's today to get molasses, it was way too late to make my gingerbread house...so instead I made my very first red velvet cake.....in mini form!

The pictures don't really show it, but the cakes are only about 4" in diameter...

mmm good

2008-12-21T11:04:00.003-05:00

made my first (low fat) broccoli chedder soup!!! it was DELICIOUS :)

next to conquer...gingerbread house from scratch...

Recipe From: www.fitnessandfreebies.com

Broccoli Cheese SoupLow Fat Recipe
Ingredients:

1 quart (4 cups) water

6 cups broccoli florets

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove minced garlic

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 (10.5 ounce) cans reduced sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

>Bring 1 quart water to boil in large soup pot. Add broccoli and cook for 7 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

>Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic and saute until tender. Add broccoli and onion mixture in a blender or food processor and pulse blend into small pieces.
>Combine yogurt and flour in a large saucepan and mix well with a wire whisk. Add broth and next 4 ingredients and stir well. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until thickened. Add broccoli mixture and 3/4 cup cheese and heat until cheese is melted. Top with remaining cheese and serve.

Recipe makes 10 Servings Broccoli Cheese Soup; Serving Size: 12 ounces

PS..good cause

2008-12-19T15:12:00.002-05:00

This past semester, our office planned a hunger banquet with Oxfam America to increase awareness about global problems, specifically hunger. This holiday season they are doing a great thing by having 'Oxfam America Unwrapped'. You can purchase a goat, chicks, school supplies for a reasonable price for countries that have nothing and it is the perfect gift for the "do-gooders" in your life.

Are we merry yet?

2008-12-19T14:31:00.008-05:00

*sigh of relief*
Semester is over, passed all of my courses mostly with flying colors, and here comes the holidays!!! Work was cancelled today because of this winter dumping we are receiving, so Kristian came over to get snowed in with me, stay in our PJs, work on his drawings/website, and relax before the upcoming week. So first on the agenda, we made a delicious hot chocolate treat LOADED with goodies. homemade marshmallows, chocolate chips, whipped cream, chocolate chips, cocoa powder and a candy cane topper!! :) Next on the list...wrapping my last gifts and taking a nap while he works on his stuff.

This Christmas I've been thinking a lot about Grams. I miss her, but her hand made ornaments are up on the tree are comforting to know that she'll ALWAYS be in our hearts.

got milk?

2008-11-18T18:34:00.004-05:00

I am completely restless. I know I should be writing my "personal narrative" for class right now. You know, I would actually be willing to write a pretty extensive paper if I didn't have to relate it to "course material" about all of the...you know what...nevermind.

That's not what I wanted to share...

It is really really hard to think about all of the small little positive things that happen and are around us in the day-to-day. A lot of times stress, exhaustion (, and carbs) get in the way of seeing some of the tiny little pleasures that are surrounding us.

So as I complain and procrastinate...

Today was a VERY cold day here...my hands actually went numb as I was walking to class. My body wasn't used to it, it was really longing for the flip-flopping, tank topping, sunglassing sunshine that graced us with it's presence for far too short of a time.

Enter delicious caffeine filled beverage from heaven.

Now, honestly, I've really been trying to cut back on all of the Starbucks runs. I mean iced-coffee, fine, but as the weather started getting cooler I was "treating" myself to delicious non-fat vanilla lattes that were costing me over $4.00!

I then researched how much it would be to buy an espresso/cappuccino/latte machine and let me just tell you, the president of the USA could not, let alone a lowly program assistant for a local community college, afford such extravagances.

So now, I'm left with my creative twist on a latte...and while that includes only regular coffee, some vanilla syrup-like chemicals, and manually shaken up milk (c'mon I had to get the foamy-ness somehow)....it was the highlight of my afternoon.

As I leaned against my counter, observing the milk droplets that were scattered all over my kitchen after my "manual foaming" *, I sipped my experiment and I'll tell you, I don't need some barista to create those fleeting moments of euphoria....oh no, not I.

*manual foaming: the art of placing warmed milk into a cocktail shaker, and shaking violently...

Mona!

2008-07-27T12:54:00.004-04:00

we went to the city last night to see Mona which was a really great indie movie :)

very tired now.

Oh, Lake George..Summer Adventures

2008-07-23T15:01:00.002-04:00

the village of lake george from the lake

we had great weather :)

day trip to Howe Caverns

View from the deck

white wine sangria...delicious

sunset from the lake

tubing.

wonderful view from the lake

pre-fireworks sky

shepard beach in lake george

sunset

beautiful moon

fireworks!

fishing

great food

more caverns

fires!

more great views!

duckies!

more fire!

our independence is wonderful

2008-07-06T01:59:00.001-04:00

ah independence day..

for july 3rd, we hung out in sono at angies house, sipped wine and watched the fireworks. it was really great being outside. angie's landlord has an amazing garden that just makes you feel like you're in another country...completely removed from norwalk.

note to self: fireworks are really hard to take pictures of from a distance...

creative deliciousness in the kitchen

2008-07-06T01:41:00.000-04:00

today we had a marathon-barbeque celebrating the 5th of july!!!

well...not really...but it was celebrating the weekend, and we were in wonderful company filled with LOTS of laughs, singing, silly-ness, and just a ton of fun.

we had enough food for probably three times the amount of people that came, but it was all enjoyed VERY much.

the food was snacks, guac, beer, chicken, michelle's fluff.....everything you can imagine...but some of the great crowd pleasers were simple, adorable, and DELICIOUS

joe's wonderful fruit salad. summer really can't be beat for quality of fruit, and this was showcasing all of the delicious, ripe fruits that are available now..it was really amazing.

good ol' guac. avocados, tomato, onion, garlic and lime juice...so simple, but SO delicious :)

michelle found this recipe idea online, and it definitely eye candy. she made fruit-ladybugs which came out adorably..and seemed to be a really fun project to do with kids...taste buds were loving them :)

The american flag cake...the no-bake secret. yummy yummy.

what a nice surprise!

2008-07-05T00:53:00.001-04:00

kristian and i were making my american flag cake today, and cutting up the strawberries...and look at what i found:

how wonderful is that????

...i think that's pretty wonderful.

favorite you tube video ever.

2008-07-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

my favorite you tube video ever.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ&feature=PlayList&p=6A28B3B96E790BDD&index=14

an ode to george

2008-07-01T20:06:00.000-04:00

11 days.
tomorrow it will be 10 days.

i will be taking my yearly journey to one of the most relaxing places in the world for me (so far). granted, i will take a tropical beach and a pina colada any day.

this journey is to one of the most simplistic vacations there can be.
Nancy has been extremely generous enough to let me take this trip up to her cabin for the past 5 years. When you're up there, you have the bare essentials and it's fabulous.

This year is also special because it means that i am done with summer courses (and the headaches, ulcers, an panic attacks they bring)

i can't wait.

of course I will be documenting the 'simple pleasures' up in the cabin, although since it is such a simple life up there, they will have to be posted when i return.

a short search for the simple things...

2008-07-01T18:55:00.000-04:00

To start my search for the simple things...I took a look at my own environment first.
Two things came to mind.
The first is organization. while it seems the opposite of simple, and sometimes finding organization is extremely confusing, stressful, and complicated. However, when it is found, it can be one of the most simplified pleasures, especially in the home. I took the afternoon to go through my overwhelming t-shirt, tank top and comfy-pants drawers to purge all of the absolute *crap*that I've been collecting for years.

the result: a breath a fresh air.

Now while I probably seem like a nut-job to everyone in the world for finding a sense of nirvana after organizing my clothes (that should have already been organized in the first place), it made me proud and definitely gave me an amazing sense of clarity.

The second thing that gives me absolute joy in life is a basic, simple, vanilla iced coffee from Starbucks. MAN. Nothing can give me such a surge of relaxation than a fresh, iced cold cup of goodness. On the other side of the spectrum, there are few things that are as sad as the very last sip of vanilla caffeinated goodness.

Now yes, when I go to Starbucks myself and order my frosty beverage myself, its great. BUT, what an ecstatic feeling can come from someone loving you enough to bring a surprise delivery of the goodness-in-a-cup :)

the beginning

2008-07-01T18:53:00.000-04:00

while this is not really the beginning of my love for the simplified, it is the first time i've decided to actually document it. i really do not know when the first time was that i received such a surge of giddy-ness from these 'simple' things. however i know that during the complicated and stressful times in life, it is much more than a cliche to 'remember the simple things in life'.