Happy 2011!

Happy 2011 everyone! This week has whizzed by and I still have yet to sit down and make any resolutions. I love this poster from idea-obsura, so I am feeling inspired to make some changes this year! Generally my resolutions are an epic fail - but I still like taking a little time to think about how I can improve in small ways. Lets take a walk down memory lane and explore a few resolutions that didn't quite blossom as I had hoped:

New Years 2006 - Stop killing bugs.

I was living in South Carolina at the time, and you don't want to even get me started on palmetto bugs (aka really big roaches that are EVERYwhere). I was killing bugs at such a rate, I was starting to worry about karma. The new rule is no killing bugs outside. If you are in my space - its fair game. RIP any bugs I accidentally stepped on in the past 5 years. You're small and I didn't mean it!

New Years 2007- Stop taking the stairs, instead ride the escalator.

I take the stairs. It doesn't matter how long the escalator is, I walk. But one day in 2007, I just rode. It was so peaceful, so zen-like. All of my worries just faded away. This happened around New Years and I vowed I would never walk on the escalator again. Its seems very counter intuitive to make a resolution to stop exercising, but I did it. My fast paced, city commuting was stressing me out. So I wanted to take a minute to just relax, and collect my thoughts, and generally slow down. It lasted exactly two days. My back-side is thanking me.

New Years 2008 - Do a push up

I have never had Michelle Obama arms. I don't know the glory of a chin-up. And in 2008 I wasn't sure I could do a single push-up. Well, that's not exactly true, I could do a push-up, but I wanted to be able to do a full set of 30 really beautiful, perfect, fitness model push-ups. I never quite got there, but I stuck with it for quite a long time. I can do a good looking push up now (just a handful - I'm not superwoman!) and a full set of good looking lady push-ups. And really, who needs to do push-ups anyway?

New Years 2009 - Start eating red meat and pork

This also seems sort of anti-New Years, since my resolution may have directly contributing to clogging my arteries. Luckily for me, I couldn't really keep it up. Many of my friends know about my traumatic 7th grade field trip to the pork farm. Long story short, I became a faux-vegetarian. I could never really commit because I like wearing leather and have a soft spot for turkey sandwiches. After 17 years (yikes, I'm old!) of what ultimately was picky eating I said "Enough is enough! Eat that soup with bacon bits, have a hamburger already, pork chops are great!!!" Well I have done a few of those things over the past few years - but never with much gusto. While I am not nearly as picky anymore, suspicious meat and Lyndsey just don't get along. My husband cries at night because of it.

I will keep you posted about New Years 2011! I think it will involve reading more books and not jaywalking in the city so much! Anything I can do to help my chances of being smooshed by a bus!

Lately

Lately, this is how I am feeling all the time. Filled to the brim with joy. Totally overwhelmed with love. It just was too easy to pick the perfect holiday card for us this year. One word, one picture, simply summing up 2010.














(We are still updating our mailing list - so please email me your address if you didn't receive one!)

Ode to the Fit!

Anders brought many wonderful things to our marriage! Happiness exuding from every pore, kindness beyond belief, a crockpot, and an adorable little Honda Fit. When we first met, I honestly wasn't too sure about the car. It is tiny, bright red and a hatchback - three things that don't immediately sweep me over. However after one day of driving it I was sold. It had pep and attitude. Push-button windows and one of those "beep, beep" car remote unlockers. For someone who was still driving the Dirty Civic from 1999, crank windows and all - this was very high class.


My love affair with the Fit didn't end there! We pushed that little car to the limit - loading it with a yard full of mulch and sod, so heavy the wheel wells almost touched the tires. We were able to fit our dining room table and six chairs in the Fit. I think Anders and I have talked three friends into buying Fits! If it isn't already clear...I LOVE THIS CAR!!




So you can just imagine my horror, when yesterday I got the Fit in its first big accident! Big might be an exaggeration, but accident none the less! It did prove that the Fit loves me back, because it blew an airbag to protect my little dome. Luckily, it was a pretty minor bumper to bumper hit, so the airbag wasn't actually needed, but an airbag to the face can really shake a girl up. In the end, it could have been much worse. I was totally fine, as were all of the passengers in the other car. Minus the airbag, and a slightly off-kilter bumper you could hardly tell the Fit had any issues. The Jetta didn't do as well, but the owner was so nice about the whole thing. And best of all - my sweet husband came rushing to the scene was just awesome and so supportive the whole time. He didn't even make me feel bad about testing the airbag and the fact that our insurance will undoubtedly get hiked!


So my friends, safety first this holiday season while driving! Please don't zone out while thinking about cooking a turkey, like I did!

Hello holidays!

We are just up to our eyeballs in holiday cheer! Add to that just a dash of over scheduling and you have the chaos that is the next two weeks! I love this time of year, but it always feels completly crazy! Things got into full swing this week where we went with a big group of friends to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like 30 of your closest friends causing a ruckus in the balcony!

After a big night out on the town with friends, we followed it up with a Saturday fit for an old married couple. We went furniture shopping and after weeks of research finally bought a couch! And, man oh man....it is going to be sooooo nice. Big, soft and cushy! Everything you could dream of and more, if you've been like me and have been dreaming of couches.

On Sunday we went to the Army Band Christmas Extravaganza 2010 with some friends. It was at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall, which was just beautiful! It was hard to drag myself out of the house on a cold, rainy afternoon, but I am so glad we did. It was just awesome event! It will definitely be working its way into our annual holiday tradition rotation!

All of this holiday goodness is followed up with a JMU Alumni Holiday party tomorrow at Blackfinn. I am so excited to celebrate with many of my favorite JMUers, some of which I haven't seen in years! GO DUKES!

++=LOVE

But wait...there's more! Did I mention we are hosting TWO holiday parties next weekend?

And babysitting my 3 cousins all under the age of 7 (eeks! Any ideas for an afternoon of fun)?

And hosting my Women's Leadership Retreat at our house?

And going to a wedding shower in Richmond?

Add to that more Christmas shopping, goodwill purging, house cleaning, Christmas cookie baking, wrapping, traveling to Illinios, and fixing a small leak in the roof!! Yeah - its going to be a busy couple of weeks! I simply have to be thankful. My problem is too many good things, and not enough time. We are am overwhelmed with blessings this holiday season, and that is a very, very lucky place to be.

My mother-in-law...

This sums my mother-in-law Nancy up just perfectly. Full of energy, enthusiasm, and fun. On thanksgiving day we went to the field across from our house. First she just wanted to play with Hux. Then she wanted to play frisbee and football. To round things out - she just wanted to see if she could still do a cartwheel. She did three. Anders almost had a panic attack. No bones were broken in the making of this film!

Holiday cards...

Thanksgiving was a hit! It was so fun to have everyone together for a weekend filled with good food, games, movies, walks, wine and lots of family time.

I also was able to check the ol' holiday card off the list. This will be our first - and I am pretty excited about it! I found this awesome website http://www.minted.com/ and there were so many designs I just loved. You will just have to wait to see the final selection in your mailbox, but these were some of the ones we considered:

We also created a Top 10 of 2010 for the back of the card. I was inspired by this funny top 10: http://www.hellolucky.com/wordpress/?p=6081 . What would be on your list?

Thanksgiving

I am really excited about Thanksgiving about this year. It is my absolute favorite holiday. The food, the family time, the chance to think about the things that you are thankful for. It is just perfect. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house with both sets of parents, Drew and some family friends.


In fact, I am so excited about Thanksgiving I woke up at 6am to make not one, but two types of cranberry sauce. The first is sort of a cranberry “slaw” and the second is a cranberry-raspberry compote. I am not particularly good at following recipes. I tend to just throw things together until it tastes good to me. It’s a cooking style that serves me well, but can be sometimes a challenge to duplicate. However, these are so darn easy I thought I would share.

Cranberry Slaw
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1/3 cup of orange juice
1 orange – grate a bit of the peel zest
¼ to ½ cup of sugar (or more!) to taste

Throw it all in your food processor and chop. Just a few quick blends will get it to the right consistency. You want to be able to clearly see some fine white and red parts remaining. Be careful not to over chop it and turn it into a soggy pink mush! This is great for cranberry purests. This is my mother’s recipe, because she definitely falls into the cranberry purest category. Varieties have included an chopping apple slices in with the rest of the ingredients, or mixing in pomegranate seeds after the rest has been chopped. Yummo!

Cranberry-Raspberry Compote
1 bag of cranberries
1 cup of water
¾ of a cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of orange juice
1 container of raspberries

I just made this recipe up, but it was pretty tasty this morning when I was done. I am looking forward to trying it out on Thursday. Add the water and sugar together and bring to a boil. Add the cranberries – I blended about ¼ of them in the food processor, and left the rest whole – so it would be a chunkier sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a slow boil for 10 minutes or so. You want to make sure you regularly stir this mixture. It seemed like the sort of sauce that could burn easily. Once the cranberries have softened and some have burst, add the raspberries and keep on a low boil for another 5 minutes. After the raspberries have cooked a bit, take it off the burner and transfer to a storage container. I would let it cool completely before you serve it!

That’s it! I will be serving cranberry sauce three ways on the big day – both of these, plus a can of the jellied stuff. You just can’t knock the classics!