Merry Christmas, Everyone

Blair and I watched A Christmas Story last night so it's now officially the holidays. To make up for overconsumption of gas yesterday, I have not left the house once today. Instead, I did prep work for tomorrow's vegetarian feast. Garlic has been roasted, walnuts toasted, and I fried up a batch of shallots. (Dear Shallot Recipe Instruction Person: 2-4 minutes in oil my ass. Try 7.) In a few moments I'll start on the hour's worth of cooking time for the mushroom strata filling.

Blair, meanwhile, is upstairs editing this year's Marathon Video. This will be year three Blair has put motion and music to the marathon experience. If I get industrious, I will upload all 3 to YOUtube. 

I've spent most of the day transferring my office to the newly renovated downstairs bedroom. Only it's no longer the guestroom and it's NOT an office. It's a writing room and will be referred to as such. Actually, I'm dividing the room so half is the "creative" area and half is the "why don't you earn some money" area. Pictures coming soon.

Before I sign off, a word to wise: Wine and Rice Krispie Treats... don't do it. 

Lucy & Olivia want to wish all my blog readers a MROWRY CHRISTMAS and Blair and I hope Santa visits you each tonight and fills your head with sweet dreams, your eyes with stars, and your homes with love.

Merry Christmas!!

It's Not Global Warming... It's Me

TODAY:

8:00 AM - Drive to radio show. On way home, swing by the bank.

11:55 - Drive to yoga studio (which I could easily walk to in 7 minutes).

1:15 - Drive to Food Lion to pick up refried beans we forgot to buy for enchiladas.

2:30 - Drive to K-Mart for packing tape needed to mail off book order to Amazon.com.

2:50 - Finish taping package and drive to post office to mail.

Out of respect for the Earth, and my sanity, I'm not leaving the house for the rest of the day. 

Cheers,

Dena

Back to Brown We Go

I'm a brunette again. I love the magic of the hair salon where you sit in a chair and 50 minutes later emerge as someone you barely recognize. SO wish I could have that experience with the bathroom scale.

The truth is, I never meant to go blond in the first place. I agreed to some "gentle highlights to brighten up your face" and left the chair resembling Malibu Barbie. ('Tis okay. I love Malibu Barbie.) I enjoyed my summer blond but as we settle more fully into the pasty stages of winter, I thought it best to return (literally) to my roots.

I had a blast at the salon last night. At 5:30 PM, I was one of the last clients. My stylist--who I've been friends with for years--asked if I cared if she touched up her roots while we were waiting for my color to take hold. "You can do jazzercize while we wait, for all I care," was my reply. So she splated some color on her scalp. Then the two young shampoo girls decided they wanted to color each others hair. In the end, all of us were walking around with foil and hair dye--ho, ho, ho.

Blair and I grocery shopped for our ALL VEGETARIAN holiday meal yesterday. If you look up the definition of "good sport" in the dictionary, Blair's picture will be beside it. We are making the cover meal of the Nov/Dec. Vegetarian Times issue -- mushroom strata, garlicky mashed sweet potatoes, green beans with crispy shallots, and spicy sausage stuffing.

We were going to make the Cranberry side dish, but as we started to gather ingredients (crystallized ginger - $7.95) we realized this "simple" side dish was going to run about $25. Thank you, I'll just pry open a can and plop some cranberries in a dish like I do at Thanksgiving...

Cooking healthy is expensive. Which is fine if everything turns out well and leftovers are eaten. But I made a rather pricey chicken-less chicken pot pie the other day and while it was...okay... it wasn't a taste we cared to revisit and I threw about a pound of perfectly good food away. I hate that.

Pies and cookies and chocolate-dipped apples are pouring into our home from neighbors who--God love them--use REAL butter and sugar when they cook. I need to become one with the treadmill this week.

Right now I'm sitting at my desk looking out the window at a sunrise full of dark pinks and blues--stunning. Great way to start a Tuesday.

Movie Night

Oh, what a happy camper I am. Knowing Blair is taking the next two weeks off work, two of his co-workers put together this gift basket for him. Movies... soda... candy... what a cute gift. I dug into the Reeses Pieces last night, almost making myself ill, but it was still a good time.

I'm looking forward to having Blair home for two weeks, although it's been awhile since we've spent THAT much time together. Ought to be some fun blog entries rolling your way.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Dena