Auld Lang Syne

Well, it's really that time again; out with the old and in with the new. It's hard for me to believe that 2008 is really over. I guess because I had silly notions in the back of my head about where I'd be in my life by the time I was 28. Ushering out 2008 means soon ushering in turning 29, and all too soon, the dreaded big 3-0. On the positive side though, while the last few years have been a ride, and I'm not where I thought I'd be in my life by 28, I have to say I think I'm actually happier with where I'm at. I think lessons I've learned the last few years have taught me more about who I am, how where I'm from impacts me, what I like and what I don't, and I'm damn proud of figuring all that out. Crazy things happen when your train derails!
With these few hours of reflection I've been doing today, also comes reflecting on my goals for 2008, and thinking about new goals for 2009. I got somewhat off-track throughout the year with some of my goals, but I think I'm overall pretty happy with how they turned out. I think half the success in goals is setting reasonable ones. So I tried pretty hard to do just that. I also think that a successful goal is one that becomes habit in the future, so I tried to set goals that I would continue. My ratings for the year are Busted, Working it, or Abandon, which mean that they'll continue into 2009 with no further mention, they'll be listed again as specific items in 2009, or they're just not working out and need to be abandoned respectively.

• Volunteer 40 hours/year; Result: BUSTED

Volunteer opportunities were plentiful this year, and I'm proud of the impact I made on my surroundings. I had well over 40 hours working at the Humane Society of Huron Valley as a greeter, I rocked various "special" events for HSHV like art fair and gift wrapping at Borders during the holidays, AND I even helped at a few things like Project Grow for Rachel's birthday and checked out some Master Gardener meetings with Kristal. I'd say that's a pretty successful bust.

• Read at least 2 books/month and update goodreads; Result: BUSTED

I've rediscovered my love of reading this year, and am proud to say I managed to read 37 books. I love goodreads.com's format for keeping me focused on what I've read and when, and love updating my reviews. This will carry over into 2009 for sure.

• Workout at least 3 times/week; including swimming, running, and stretching/lifting; Result: Working it

I started off the year right and worked pretty hard until May, when I fell off the wagon after a trip to Jamaica for a friend's wedding. Vacation always messes up your goals. :-) I got back on track throughout September and December, but I'm hoping to make these goals stick by further defining them for 2009.

• Continue yearly "Girls Weekend" tradition; Result: BUSTED

Wine Tour through the Leelenau Peninsula was a complete success, and one of the best trips I've ever taken. I can't wait to see what trip ensues in 2009!

• Meet with Kristal once/month to redefine/evaluate goals; Result: Working it

I think my accountability partner and I met only about 4 times this year. It's hard to find time to get together! In 2009 we'll make it only every other month and set days/times in advance.

• Break my nail biting habit; including getting manicures as necessary; Result: BUSTED

Have you seen my nails lately? It's hard to believe that I was once even a lady who had messed up nails! I didn't get manicures as often as I would have liked (turns out they're expensive) but did treat myself a few times at the beginning of the year, while in New York, and a few times over the holidays. I've got one scheduled for 2nd week in January too.

• Update facebook/blog sites weekly; Result: BUSTED

You've seen it here yourself. Since I stared in May, I've updated this blog at least 6 times/month, even when things seemed too busy! I love this forum of communication, even if it's only me that reads it. "Online scrapbooking" as I've dubbed it, is my new fav.

• Update my wardrobe with staple pieces; Result: Abandon
  

I did actually manage to update my wardrobe with some great pieces (Clothes shopping with Kristal in September) but that was mostly due to me not being able to fit into some of my old clothes! I'm hoping new fitness goals for 2009 with solve some of this problem, otherwise I'll continue to update as I can afford.

• Try one new drink/week; Result: Abandon

This proved to be much harder than I anticipated. Apparently I'm a creature of habit, and I like what I like. No plans to give up drinking in 2009 though, so I'll have to figure out how to work that into my healthy and wellness goals so there's no conflict there.

And now that I've talked all about how I did for my goals in 2008, I unveil for you: Goals 2009. I'm ready to kick your butt this year new goals! (Birgy, I stole your category idea here)

Health & Wellness

• Meet with accountability partner 6/yr to track progress towards goals
• Walk/jog at least 2 miles/day - 3 days per week
• Lift weights/stretch 2/week - 20-30 min/day
• Take daily multivitamin, calcium, Iron, and Vitamin D supplements
• Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants. Cut out the HFCS!
• Update fitday.com food log and graphs at least weekly

Social

• Send Christmas cards out by December 15th
• Listen to one new CD or Band/month
• Plan and take one camping trip
• Plan and take one canoe/kayak trip
• Enroll in and complete one creative class/quarter
• Complete one random act of kindness/month
  

Financial

• Pay off complete credit card balance by March
  
• Save $50/month to an emergency fund
• Save $150/month to a savings account
• Finance a trip to Belgium & Germany in April
  

So there you have it, a complete list of goals I'm working on. I'll be celebrating their arrival at The Churches 'Stash Bash 09 tonight, and will be anticipating greatness with a few jello shots and some bottles of bubbly. Happy New Year Everyone!

Don't scare me like that!!

Brad and I have been enjoying time off this week from work for the holiday. We were up north this past weekend, where we got some good sledding time in, and have since returned home to take it easy this week. Last night we headed out for some fun in Ann Arbor (checked out dinner at the new Blue Tractor: yum) and then met up with some friends at Conor Oneill's for trivia night, which turned out to be a blast!
Once we returned home at about 12:30 this morning though, something was amiss. Usually our two cats greet us at the door when we arrive home. This time no dice, as we were greeted only by a meowing Odie. Brad made some silly comments about my kitty being a douche in his slightly drunken stupor, as Roni does tend to be somewhat dense. After a few minutes searching though, my kitty was no where to be found, and we started to panic. In fact, I think I've never felt so vulnerable and desperate in my whole life (well other than the time Odie went missing shortly after we moved into our house; luckily Jay found her then). After a full 45 minute search, ripping open every cupboard, calling Roni's name, opening every door and closet, and even checking the garage and outside, I was in full-out breakdown mode. I cried non-stop. I love that damn cat. Brad continued to look outdoors and panic with me as we tried to figure out what to do.
Just as I was giving up hope and calling the Milan police and fire departments at 1:30 in the morning (note: Milan fire department phone number is misprinted in the phone book; sorry random dude for waking you up!), I heard some meowing. It took another full 15 minutes before we could figure out where it was coming from, but I was sure it wasn't Odie meowing. Turns out my dense cat managed to climb bookshelves and fall in between two that were wedged together in a corner. Who knows how long he had been there during the day (we left at 2:30pm), and thankfully, he didn't appear to be hurt.

Naturally, I reprimanded him for scaring the crap out of me with tears a flowing, and then snuggled him up tight for the remainder of the evening. Losing a member of your family is devastating! I'm happy we found him alive and unharmed.

Relax Mom, everything's cool

Three Sheets to Christmas

Merry Christmas wishes and Jingle Bell rocks to all ye lads and ladies out there today!Brad and I spent the last several days at various Christmas gatherings; starting with a very polish Christmas dinner on Tuesday night with his immediate family and a ham and cheesy potato Christmas Eve with Grandma Zawacki, culminating with our own very bubbly celebration last night. Never having been one with enough patience to wait for Christmas Day to open presents, I decided we needed to do it early. We started the late evening off by opening a bottle of bubbly (a gift of Three Sheets Cava from my hubby) and eating our now traditional (look at that, I'm still making new traditions) shrimp cocktail in martini glasses.

Our one bottle of bubbly quickly progressed to THREE bottles of bubbly throughout present opening and merriment, and I must admit, we were a bit more than three sheets to the wind. But those are the best kinds of Christmases! My thoughtful hubby really outdid himself with stocking stuffers this year (they are my favorite part of Christmas), the best gift being new awesome refillable cosmetic-like containters called Gotoob. I don't know where he comes up with these ideas, I just hope he knows how much I appreciate all his efforts that make for better and better memories each year. Smooches to you baby.

New Chimay glasses (we're channeling the Belgian vibes for our April 2009 trip)

Our gifts to each otherMischevious Christmas Kitties (Cleo and Pepperoni)One, Twice, Three times a bubbly

Whichever way you celebrate Christmas today, Hanukkah this week, Kwanza next week or even Festivus, I'm sending you all of my very best wishes. May your Holiday be everything you've hoped and dreamed about, may you enjoy time away from work and the daily grind celebrating with friends and loved ones, and may 2009 greet all of us with a bang next week! Now I'm off to watch movies all day on the couch and eat plenty of homemade pizza with my Mister.

The dreaded Noro

Well, as much as I wanted to have a lovely weekend enjoying all the snow we've had (almost 10 inches, yippee!!!), things just didn't work out for me that way. I came down Friday night with the dreaded noro virus. It started in my stomach, as I complained to Brad after our homemade Mexican dinner that my stomach hurt. Normally I'd chalk that off as a wicked food baby, but this was a different kind of hurt. Little did I know, I would spend the next 12 hours cursing the porcelain gods and writhing in agony. The only redeeming factor now being that I'm down 8 lbs and have a little less love for my favorite food. Why is it, that this time of year brings on these awful illnesses? I don't know where I picked this thing up (could it have been the dreaded office potluck??) but I tell you what, stay FAR away from me. I refuse to pass this thing around and ruin anyone else's Christmas!

Cookie Exchange: A NEW Tradition

I've talked a few times already on this blog about my holiday traditions. But this year, I have a new one! And I'm so excited to share it. I've wanted for many years to put together a cookie exchange, and this year after a bit of hmming and hawing, I decided I was just going to do it. So I invited over some of my nearest and dearest, made a menu of appetizers and drinks, and asked my friends to each bring 3 dozen of their favorite cookies (homemade or store-bought for my non-bakers out there). The idea is that everyone brings 3 dozen cookies of one kind, but then walks away with a platter of 3 dozen different cookies to munch on themselves or entertain with at their own holiday gatherings. It's a great excuse to get new recipes, meet new people, and spend a few hours of the holiday season just relaxing and taking it all in.

Good Food


Good Friends

I'd say it was a smashing success! We were short one person (we missed you Birg and hope your water heater problem got resolved), but we took it in stride, and everything worked out when we even got a surprise visit from my sister who made the party last minute. We enjoyed lovely appetizers and even lovelier conversation, and just look at the beautiful spread of cookies to choose from!

Good Times

Thank you to all my ladies for making it out to enjoy the evening with me, and I look forward to next year when we do it all again. So start thinking about those recipes!

Miniature Spotting

I just read a news article alerting me about a restaurant in Chicago called Minnie's. You'd think it would be all mouse ears and Disney, but oh no, it's a million times more fantastic. I must go here now. Who's taking a train ride with me in the spring to Chicago???

Inspecting the mouth of a gift horse

One thing you should know about me, is that I love to give gifts. And not just any gifts, but super-duper-well-thought-out perfect gifts. Sometimes I make myself crazy trying to think of the perfect thing for the perfect person (it has literally kept me up nights before lost in thought). It's how I show you my love! It doesn't matter how much (within reason) or how little it costs; for me it's all about that smile on your face when you open it. Making sure to let you know just how much I care. This year (if I do say so myself) I think I really rocked it. I have several gifts I'm *really* excited about giving, the bogus part of which is, I can't post about them here since so many of you read my entries and will know what those things are! Nothing like ruining a good surprise. The one thing I can say, is that this year I'm a theme kind of girl, so expect your prezzies to capture a story. That, and I found uber awesome stocking stuffers for Brad, which are generally a really hard find for me. I'm putting a of lot time, effort, and a whole lot of myself into Molly's gift, and someone in the Zawacki family is going to get a very loose and silly interpretation of this year's required "Winter accessory" item. That's half the fun!

While I'm on the subject of gifts though, I wanted to throw out there some ideas for replacements as gifts. As I said, nothing excites me more than to find the perfect thing for the perfect person. BUT. I also believe we in general have too much "stuff" these days and should focus on doing more and having less. One thing my Mom's family has done for many, many years, is that instead of the adults exchanging secret Santa names or setting a price limit, we exchange family ornaments. So with 5 brothers and sisters, each family brings 6 ornaments (don't forget Grandma) and leaves with 5 very different ornaments (Grandma gets a free pass)! In the early years, all the ornaments were made by hand too, including the year after my grandfather passed away and the ornaments my Aunt Marcy made included dried flowers from his wake and his memorial card enclosed in a glass orb. I may not have been quite old enough to appreciate it fully then, but boy, do I see the significance and thought in that now. Plus, who doesn't love opening the ornament box every year, associating memories as you hang your favorites on the tree? Speaking of ornaments, check out a few of my very favorites below.

Giggling Santa, Birthday Ornament, Picture locket, and Roni-roo!

Another idea that I really love is the "adopt a family in need" gift. I worked for a company in my previous life (hehe) that would adopt the same family over Thanksgiving and the Holidays, and every employee would volunteer to bring food items for the family's holiday meal, gifts from the family's wish list or donate money so that gift certificates could be purchased for those items. I even got the pleasure of delivering those goods for a few years. It took me out of my comfort zone for sure, but made me feel really good about helping a family in need and smiling knowing that those kids in the family who had been through a really rough patch in life, would at least wake up to a happy Christmas.
So in the spirit of giving, I encourage you to think outside the box where your Holiday gifts are concerned. Re-think the unthinkable, the why does Johnny need another toy and the Uncle Phillip needs an electronic mug warmer because?? Especially this year in these tight economic times, sometimes the homemade gifts are the best ones. Make your loved ones coupon books, offer your time and talent, volunteer for an organization as a group, serve meals at a soup kitchen, even just spending time together with your loved ones talking about why you're thankful over a good meal. Whatever you choose, use your imagination and get out there and just DO it. I promise you'll feel rocking well into the New Year.

It's called Grab Bag

Traditions are really important to me, especially over the holidays (remember my Sound of Music baking tradition from the last post?) This year, I wanted to share with you another tradition I've been doing the last couple of years in my family. The tradition itself actually started a LONG time back when my dad was just a boy and his grandparents used to do it with him. It's called "grab bag," and it's really quite a silly thing.
First step in grab bag, is that the older adults (grandparents in most situations) purchase various small token items. From my childhood I remember things like notepads, original flavor chapstick, pencils, post-it notes, etc, mixed in with a few large token items, like a wrapped $5 bill, or a watch. Since I've gotten much older, my sister and I now take care of the grab bag purchases for our nieces & nephews, and we like to hit up the dollar store for random finds like crayons, markers, playing cards, games, and other such silliness. We try to keep the items gender inspecific, and fairly cheap, since the idea here is unfortunately quantity over quality.
Now that all the items are purchased (we end up with about 60-80 total usually), wrap all those babies up! This is a time consuming process, but the kids really love opening each one, so it's worth it in the end. All the wrapped gifts go into a big black trashbag (this is not debateable, and the only recommended vessel for such sacred gifts) and then you begin play. The bag looks a little something like this:

Grab bag close-up and with my sister Claudia & happy kids!

Rules of the game are somewhat loose, and quite honestly, my Dad makes them up as he goes along. Grandparents (Grandpa's specifically) are generally the "caller" while Grandma (or me) decides how many winners we'll have for each round. Each kid gets one number from a deck of cards for play, i.e. 4 Aces, 4 Twos, 4 Tens, etc. The caller then has 2 other decks of cards, which he shuffles. Ideally then, the kids turn over their cards so they're all facing up, then the caller takes his deck and starts calling off the cards he turns over. The object of the game is that once all your cards are called and flipped over, you yell "Grab Bag," and you're a winner. You get to go grab an item out of the large trash bag, which naturally, everyone else covets. Other rules of the game entail that there's no peeking into the bag, and no fishing around to touch everything. You have to grab the first item you touch. Obviously, this game goes on for quite some time with so many gifts. Sometimes the caller will make it extra hard on the adults too, by giving them 4 cards of generic call/suite. That way you really have to be paying attention when cards are called instead of just watching for 4 of the same.

My dad, the callerGeneral game play

After several hours, and several breaks for snacks and the restroom, grab bag finally completes when the last item from the bag is taken. Now begins the trade portion of the game. Everyone displays all their items out on the table, and you start working your magic to convince the other players what item of yours you'd be willing to give up for another item of theirs. This is grab bag gold. Because while you may not want that Hannah Montanna jump rope that you ended up with, your niece definately will, and might even be willing to give up her Reeses's tree for it. Jackpot my friends, jackpot.

My brother Eric scores bath salts with nephew ChaseMy niece Olivia with her final loot

So there you go, an explanation of one of my silly little traditions. I have such fond childhood memories of the game, listening to my Papa call numbers all the while bickering with my Grandma. Little me munching on Aunt Janet's famous chocolate chips cookies while giggling with my brother and 5 cousins that one of us got the dreaded chapstick again. Those were the good times, and because of them, I'll continue the game as long as I can for the generations to come. Some old habits die hard...

Decking the Halls

This week has started the crazy time of year everyone gets caught up in called the "Holiday Rush." I am engrossed in it myself. I started after Thanksgiving putting up our Christmas tree, hanging lights in the windows, and writing all the holiday cards. Don't get me wrong, I actually love this time of year. The glittery lights of downtown Ann Arbor's midnight madness, the first fresh snowfall that sticks, the chill in the morning air, the scent of pine bough, and cookies, and merriment. I love it! It does overwhelm me at times though, and this year, like others, I think I'm trying to take a step back and remember what I'm thankful for instead of continue the rush, rush, rush to get it all done. I'll be spending some time doing my favorite tradition: baking cookies while watching The Sound of Music. That and probably making my chocolate covered pretzels. I just can't not make them. Here's a few pictures of my decorations around the house to get you in that holiday spirit of your own.

Another thing that happened this week was my renewed interest in getting and staying healthy. After Thanksgiving I started to feel like I hadn't been paying much attention to my eating habits again, so thanks to inspiration from Kristal, I signed up for an account on fitday.com. It's actually a pretty cool little tool that helps you track goals like nutrition, weight loss, and physical activity all in one place. I'll be piloting my new regime (an account is free by the way) over the next few weeks to try and keep the inevitable holiday bulge in check. I also bought new personal calenders for the bathroom "accountability board" on which both Brad and I will record accomplishments like working out and percentage body fat changes (we have a scale that measures that right below the board). Both of these new things are also to help prepare me for my 2009 goals, which I will unveil by the end of the month! I'm excited to continue to make changes and grow personally, but no longer into a bigger size. ;-)Now with that, I'm off tomorrow to volunteer as a gift wrapper at the Arborland Border's in support of the Humane Society of Huron Valley. I'll be there from 6-10pm and again December 11th from 6-10pm. If you need any last minute gifts for a secret santa exchange or just want to come check out the books and nourish your soul, stop by and visit! I'll be sure to wrap your purchases up beautifully for a good cause.

Thanksgiving: An American Tradition

A history buff I am not. I don't really pay particular attention to the ancestry behind American Thanksgiving. I mean, I learned all that Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria leading up to celebration of the harvest stuff in grade school. But what do I remember most about Thanksgiving? Well the food of course. And trust me, I get more and more thankful every year for such a day of feasting.
This year, I think I outdid myself. I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner in the past, maybe my first year after getting married. It was good. But every year I like to really improve the quality of my baking skillz, and really make some dishes I know I'll enjoy. Often times I end up making the things I know I'll want plenty of leftovers of. Because what's Thanksgiving without leftovers? Like Chanukah without a dreidel, that's what. Big pile of steaming poo.
Anyway, I started off last night by getting my bake on. For dessert this year I went with a homemade pumpkin pie and apple turnovers. I didn't go the extra Stephanie step and make my own pumpkin puree, but I did buy an organic can from Trader Joes and mixed up my own recipe of spices, cream, and milk. And I got crazy with my pie crust.

Making pumpkin pie

Apple turnovers (plus bonus crisp)

Another change I made to Thanksgiving this year was to brine my bird. I got the idea from a co-worker who swears by it (Thanks Laurel!) and it turned out much better than I expected. I dissolved about 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt and 1/2 cup of brown sugar into a few cups of water to start the brine. Then I poured that in a large clean painters bucket with some whole black peppercorns, herbs de provence, minced onion and garlic powders. You add the bird to the bucket, fill up with more water until the bird is mostly submerged, then leave it in the garage overnight.

Briney do, Brine, Briney do

When you brine a bird, make sure the next day to rinse and dry it pretty well before cooking. When you're ready though, stuff that bird full of aromatics (cut up celery, onions, and carrots with fresh thyme in my case). Cook her low and slow, with some melted butter brushed over the skin.

Bird's ready for the oven

I didn't chronicle the entire menu I made, especially since it's next to impossible to do when timing everything correctly for dinner. Here's some pics though of my Thanksgiving table and spread of goodies.

Giving Thanks

One final note about my cooking experiences for Thanksgiving. Making gravy is much easier than anticipated! It was my first year for making gravy by hand, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out and how easy it was. Mostly you just deglaze the roasting pan with some low sodium chicken stock, strain those juices through a sieve into a pot, then add a bit more chicken stock, and stir in some Wondra (once again low and slow) until it thickens up. I was really surprised how much flavor homemade gravy has (and salt), but I'm also wondering if that has to do with the fact that the juices from my turkey would have been much more intense due to the brine. Either way, it was tasty, and I'd do it that way again in a heartbeat.
And with that, you can bet your sweet potatoes that as soon as the dishes were put away tonight, I busted out the Christmas decorations. I fricken love Christmas. December here I come!

Some thoughts about beets...

Awhile back, I wrote a post about some foods that were icky to me. Beets and Brussels sprouts included. Well I don't know what happened my friends, but recently I'm a changed women. I'm totally digging both! I discovered during the miracle tripping party that Andrew roasted some Brussels sprouts simple-style with olive oil, salt and pepper. I tried em out, and gosh darnit, I liked them! They taste like a nuttier, drier version of cooked cabbage (which I love), and I even made them AGAIN with some roasted shallots for an early Thanksgiving feast last weekend. I also taught Sylive to call them "shrunken heads," teehee! (I've been a bad, bad Auntie)
Beets though, are another story. I still don't love their texture enough to eat them on their own, but during a Taste of the Harvest cooking class with Molly a few weeks back, we made a recipe for beet ravioli, and I must say, it was interesting. And tasty. But then again, anything mixed with ricotta has to be tasty right? So tonight, I was feeling spunky, feeling inspired by fall flavors, and drawing on some recent inspiration regarding a goat cheese and beet salad from both Kristal and Stephanie, I decided to create a fall duet of ravioli. I present to you, butternut squash ravioli and Beet goat cheese ravioli in a butter chive sauce.

Finished ravioli dinner

First order of business in making these delicious ravioli's was to make the fillings. You start by grating cooked beets (I just used the pre-cooked beets from Trader Joe's). For the butternut squash ravioli, I had to cook the squash then scoop out the filling and mash.

Grate up your beetsCook up your squash

Once the vegetable base for each ravioli is done, start by adding whatever you feel like! For the beet ravioli I went with goat cheese, ricotta, mint, sage, chives, salt, pepper, and parmesean. For the butternut squash ravioli, first I saueteed up some onions and garlic in a little butter with sage, then added that to goat cheese, ricotta, parmesean, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Fillings are starting to look tasty

Now to actually make those ravioli's, you can make and cut pasta by hand, or you can cheat and use wonton wrappers like I did. Quite honestly, this whole process was already so time-consuming that I don't know how people make pasta by hand in addition, but I give them mad props for it and will never complain about the price of a fresh pasta dish at a restaurant again. Back to my cheater method though. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the wonton sheets into 4 circles on a floured cutting surface (lots of flour is extra important). Next add a very small amount of filling (you will be seriously surprised how little filling you actually need), run some egg wash around 1/2 of the ravioli, then fold over, press out any air bubbles, and seal the ravioli best you can. Throw those puppies onto a pan coated in flour, and keep at it until you have enough ravioli's to eat or freeze.

Cutting ravioli dough

Loading up with fillingLaying those babies on a cookie sheet

My idea was to make enough of these ravioli so that I could freeze them to give to Jay and Molly when their new baby is born in a few months. When Sylvie was born, I stocked up their freezer with goodies like veggie lasagna, stuffed shells, soups, and the like. This time, I'll add the ravioli to the mix, in efforts to make Sylvie happy since I know she loves her beets! I wouldn't want to upset her apple cart with a new brother or sister about to steal her spotlight. So I shall win her over with food. After all, that's what dotting Auntie's are for, right? Now just prepare yourself for my new bento box obsession kiddo. Aunt Lisa is gonna rock your world with Octopus dogs!

Ravioli's ready to IQF (Individually quick freeze)All packaged up and ready to go!