::waiting:to:be:in:my:arms::

Gahhh!!! My poor little blender is trapped on a plane or truck or something somewhere across Canada just wanting to be in my arms. :( 

I am really excited for my Vitamix and when found out I was getting one last Tuesday patiently waited....but now there is a delay due to 'severe weather' and I am utterly saddened by this turn of events. Tomorrow is my last day at work..and I just wanted to bring that baby home. 

You cannot believe how excited I am for this blender...it's been a year and a half that I have been seriously coveting this thing and now I am ONE LUCKY DUCK to be getting it!!!!!

I am just so grateful for the amazing people that are around me around this time - it's been difficult but they make it all that much better. You know who you are. ;) 

So yes! I gotta wait!!! :'(

::it:is:what:it:is::

Monday Funday! 

Beautiful plowers from Trav

Happy Monday everyone - wow, do those weekends fly by. This one did for sure...and it was semi lazy - but productive. I tried that new recipe that I posted - the lemony chicken casserole...to be quite honest with you - to me it wasn't very special. I probably won't make it again or if I do then I will definitely add more seasoning to it as it was bland. For some reason my chicken cooked, but the potatoes didn't! It took quite a long while. And some pieces still ended up being a little hard. But it was alright. 

I did make my cabbage rolls on Friday night - which took FOREVER. I started at 3:30 and they were finally done around 8pm. See why people don't like making cabbage rolls?! Lol. 

Travis and I also went out yesterday to finish up some of our Christmas shopping and then spent the afternoon watching a bit of TV, NHL15, cooking some moooore and I got caught up on two episodes of Mob Wives {season 5} - what a crazy show. Let me tell you. 

I weighed in today at 135.6lbs. Ugh. Honestly - probably water weight. So we will see what that scale says tomorrow. 

I am so sad I am going to have to cancel my gym membership soon so will need to ask people on FB or online somewhere if they are willing to take it over. It's so bittersweet. 

Still looking for a job...it's damn hard during this time of year, I honestly wish I had some more time. 

BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS!

::friday:funday::

Believe it or not...I am going to torture myself again today {much like last Saturday} and make cabbage rolls...that's right. More cabbage rolls. Lol. 

They are so damn delicious {recipe given to me by my Mamma} but they are so much work! It took me a good two hours in the kitchen on Saturday. Lol. 

So what we do...is we core the cabbage {shitty part #1}, then we boil it {I have two pots on the go} and then you boil and wait...and carefully peel each leaf off....seriously. 

I cook rice in the rice cooker {to the point it overflows}, saute onions {yumyum} and then once that is all done I mix the rice, meat and onions and then I start rolling those pollies. 

So yes...it is very time consuming...but it's soooo worth it. 

All that hard work in one snap shot. 

::lemon:chicken:potato:casserole::

I never really knew what to think of casseroles - to be honest, I still don't. I feel like casseroles are for the Suzie-Homemaker type people...

I am sure that couldn't be farther from the truth. For some reason I don't trust food that you throw in one pot, pan, slowcooker, whatever and cook. Don't ask me why! Although I have done this before and meals have turned out FANTASTIC. So I need to do this more often and not be so wary of it. 

So when I saw this recipe, I knew that I must try it because it has potatoes in it! YUM. ;) 

I am not a big meat-eater either...I will eat chicken maybe once every two weeks or so...I also make sure that the chicken I get is organic, local and not pumped full of antibiotics. 

So if I do eat meat it's like this...chicken or turkey....

Never beef or pork anymore. It's not particularly healthy for you...and I choose not to eat it for ethical reasons.

So...let's get on with the recipe! I got it from none other then Gimme Some Oven! 

By the way...not sure if I mentioned this earlier or not but I tried the fried rice recipe - it was pretty good...nothing crazy...but still pretty delicious and at least I know what went into the rice and the ingredients I used were more than likely more fresh and healthier then what they put into the fried rice in restaurants. 

Let's hope this next recipe is a HIT. I was on a roll there a few weekends ago. 

::POSITIVE::

There is so much good news that I have to share with you...here are a few things before I forget...and then will share a recipe with you! Something yummy, hot and total comfort food. 

First of all...my BFF got me a VITAMIX!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really cannot write more than that because I don't even know what to say! After finding out on Tuesday I am STILL speechless! I am so freakin' excited and am spending time on YouTube watching videos and reading blogs on how other people LOVE their freakin' blender and pretty soon, I'll be one of them!!!! 

POSITIVITY BREEDS POSITIVITY!!!

::holiday:blues::

 I deal with a lot of anxiety - on a regular basis...it really could be about anything...could be about finding a job to wondering if I happened to have offended someone...and I won't let it go until I find some sort of reassurance of some sort. This is where my OCD kicks into play. 

I find that these two beasts rear their ugly heads when I am under particularly high duress.
Instead of just being in the moment and being happy I am constantly trying to figure out if I did something wrong in the past or how I can avoid doing something 'wrong' in the future. Not an easy or particularly joyous way to live, right? 

And I think that it's hard for everyone too, especially during this time of year...when a lot of people are dealing with stress, anxiety and depression during the holiday season. 

Instead of hiding away from the world it is important to get out there and engage in healthy personal behaviors - so you don't fall further into the trap. Which is so easy to do if you are in a perpetual negative self-talk cycle. 

Here are a few tools in dealing with stress and depression during the holidays that I read and took from the site Psychology Today and figure it would be good to share on here as well for those that are struggling themselves during the holiday season! 

::weekend:weekstart::

Welp! I finished my book like I said I would and the way it ended was pretty intense and need to find out what happens next!! I won't go into details just in case someone happens to be reading it or will read it but it was the one by Jennifer Amentrout. Opal. The Lux novel. I guess we gotta wait and see!

The weekend went by so fast. Saturday was spent cleaning and running errands...and standing in the kitchen making food for people!! Cabbage rolls. Such a pain in the ass to make especially when you're not yourself eating them. Made em with beef and pork this time. It really is a lot of work.

I also tried that shrimp recipe I posted...it wasn't the greatest to be honest. Nothing to write home about at all and for some reason after flour-ing the shrimp and frying them up the flour coating just came off. So it was a bit disappointing but I'll tell you one thing though. Shrimps - how I've missed you!! Seriously delicious regardless. The price of them have just gone up though for some reason and that's why I don't usually buy them anymore.

::fried:rice::

I am super craving carbs right now...as I have mentioned before, I've been eating like crap with a capital C. Yea...not so good for the waistline, that's for sure. So today I am detoxing it up. But man oh man...could I go for a huge bowl of piping out fried rice with...shrimps, maybe? 

I saw this recipe on the Gimme Some Oven blog {love all the recipes on there!} and will definitely be trying it this weekend. I also need to try that creamy yummalicious shrimp pasta...and I've been craving pot pie...

I just can't stop thinking of food! 

Anyways...there are some great tips as well that the blog author shares so I will make sure to post that too so that it helps you along with this amazingly delicious-looking recipe. :)

::christmas:booklist::

It's the perfect time for the book list! Because who knows...you might find something worth reading or worth getting for someone as a gift this Christmas!
We all know how much extra time I am going to have...well, sorta...after the holiday season...I hope not...but...anyways! So I will be reviewing a lot more books for you all. Especially cookbooks. It's hard to find good cookbook reviews out there in the online world...so might as well start one for you guys, no? 

They are also coming out with a lot of "Books of the Year" lists on Amazon and Indigo...there are quite a few on there that appear intriguing to me...but this list is what my eyes and mind are coveting at the moment. ;) 

Let's start with the cookbooks! 

The Tucci Table: Cooking with Family & Friends by Stanley Tucci - $22.57 CAD

Gotta start off by saying that I think Stanley Tucci is a great actor - love a lot of the movies he is in...especially Hunger Games! I honestly can't wait until I go and see Mockingjay Part 1. :)
ANYWAYS! I saw him on Dr. Oz the other week and had no idea that he had his own cookbook! I have looked through it and it's chockfull of the most mouthwaterly delicious recipes. I can't even...

::gratitude:&:bitching::

I am going to make it my personal mission to put a cease to my incessant squawking and bitching...

After reading and watching some inspirational videos this morning...I realized that I must be mentally draining to my family and friends...and especially to Travis. 

What is the actual point of complaining? I mean, venting is one thing...but the last few weeks I have been doing n.o.t.h.i.n.g but constantly bellyaching and fastened to this 'woe is me' mentality. 

For what? It isn't going to change anything...it really is not. 

So I have decided that I am going to go 24 hours without pissing and moaning. Really...it's going to be hard...but holy crap, did I not realize that I must be the proverbial black cloud over everyone's head during what is supposed to be the 'most wonderful time of the year'. 

I need to practice more gratitude as well. This is what's going to help me out a lot to get out of my negative-nancy funk. 

Google debbie-downer...you'll find my picture there! 

::perfectly:pastel::

I am a lover of all things pastel - therefore, I need to share this gorgeously coloured editorial. 

Ashley Osborne by Nick Scott for Cosmopolitan Australia.

::crispy:shrimp:pasta::

If you know me well enough, you are fully aware that I am a seafood fanatic...it got really bad at one point...particularly with shrimps...where people would jokingly say that there is going to be a shrimp engraved into my tombstone! Lol. Pretty sure Trav's Mom said that. Hehe.
But seriously...I would make and eat so much shrimp that you would figure I'd turn into one! Travis eventually got completely sick of them too...to this day he isn't particularly thrilled when he see's that shrimps are on the menu. Alas...they have gone up in price here in Ontario for reasons I will never know. So it's rare that we get them anymore. I also like to get good quality shrimp...so that makes 'em even more expensive. But it IS nice to indulge once in a while. And nothing is better in my books then shrimps, mushrooms and pasta all whipped up together...
That is...until I saw this recipe from the blog KevinandAmanda. I am seriously looking forward to trying this recipe and am considering running to the grocery store on my lunch just to get some shrimps to make this! 

Bon Appetit!

::weekend:&:cyber:monday::

Everybody's working for the weekend...

Isn't that the way of it for everyone? Lol. My weekend flew by so so fast...it was a busy one for sure and that's why I think that it seemed non-existent! Sunday Travis and I were both not feeling too hot...so even though we didn't do much it was pretty much a wash because we just slept on and off. 

Monday...well...you know me and Monday's. And it was Cyber Monday - Cyber Monday is NOT fun when you're broke! LOL.