weekend plans…do you have them?

It is FINALLY the weekend, after one of the longest weeks I’ve experienced this summer!

Anyone else feel this way? Something about this week just stuck to me…the days were too long, I was too tired, the weather was just blah. It was such an odd feeling.

But now it’s the weekend!

HERE’S WHAT I’LL BE DOING:

♥ Painting my nails like Color Me Katie’s :)

♥ Listening to Gala's Love & Sequins Podcast #7 & #9

(BLOGGING 101 and MANIFESTING & MAGIC-MAKING)

♥ Smoothies and lots of writing at my favorite MochaBlend Cafe

♥ Hunting down a cheap blender at Goodwill (a must!)

♥ Making Spain connections for my Fulbright app & research project

♥ Cleaning out my closet & making some fresh outfits!

ANDDD…

♥ Loading my FAVE new music onto my mp3 player!

♥ Imogen Heap – Speak for Yourself

♥ Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Up From Below
(fyi for those in the Capital Region, they’ll be at Northern Lights on Tuesday!)

♥ Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

 

Hope your weekend is fantastic! I’m definitely planning on mine being awesome. :D

a fruit fly just flew into my nose

Things you might like to check out this week:

♥ How adorable are Color Me Katie’s fingernail polishes?? It makes me so happy! Definitely painting my nails this weekend.

♥ Gala Darling is having a half price sale on her Love & Sequins podcast until Monday! Go go go!!

♥ Consider What Your "Top Idea" is Making You Do article from Lifehacker…so true, and so interesting! A good way to take your thoughts into perspective. I need to start remembering this!

♥ P. S. I Made This DIY Projects…perfect for the weekend and some wardrobe updating.

♥ (If you’re local) Opening day at the Saratoga racetrack on Friday! Craziness. So fun but not looking forward to the traffic these next several weeks! Although I’ll admit it, I love being a local :)

That’s it for now…time to get to bed already! Weekly goals update coming soon…

Goals for the Week

Well, since I don’t have a recipe of the week post ready yet, I figured I’d give myself something else to do: goals for the week. Sunday nights are generally pretty awesome/depressing for me for a number of reasons – I love the feeling of finishing up a good weekend and getting ready to face something new, but I’m never ready for a new week to begin! It always feels like I still need some time to relax and rejuvenate…and most of all, plan for the coming madness of the work week.

So with that in mind, I’m trying a new series where I work on productivity, goal-setting, organization, and all of the goodness that a Sunday should entail. I’m planning to post some awesome links and resources for myself and everyone reading this, and hoping that this and my weekly goals will give me a decent list of things to focus on and accomplish this week.

My goals are all pretty personal rather than work-related, for several reasons. My job is pretty awesome (well, jobs really) BUT it’s really based around working with day-to-day variances rather than weekly goals. I’m also going to be working a lot less during the school year with this job, with different responsibilities (summer program marketing rather than planning and execution). And most of all, I just really need to focus in on my own life and its workflow.

Screw productivity. 

This week the focuses will be lingering things I need to take care of, and establishing new routines.

GOALS FOR THE WEEK of 7/18:

• Call my credit card company and get a new card. I’ve been needing to do this for awhile; I need to settle a dispute with a company in Spain and I’ve been avoiding this because I know it’ll be a long call. I just need to get it over with already!
• Cash my workshop paycheck. I’m always hard-pressed in finding time to go to the bank and end up putting it off for weeks. Trying to nip that in the bud!
• Go grocery shopping and prepare lunch for the week.
• Go to the gym 3 times this week. I really need to get into this habit. I’m ok with going on walks after work, but I need to add in a more intense workout to my routine.
• Practice yoga every day. I was doing this for about 2 weeks in the end of June and I felt FANTASTIC – just doing a few sun salutations in the morning makes such a difference. But then, just like every other routine I tend to try to start, I stopped.
• Take a vitamin every day. Have tea every day. Both are good for me. I have an excess of both. Need to use them and benefit!
• Lastly…clean out my inbox and tabs. My reading list in Chrome has grown to incomprehensible sizes…same with my inbox. I really want to work on implementing a system that works and manage everything as it comes, rather than let it build up and deal with it later. This will be just the first of many steps I need to take!

HELPFUL LINKS:

• Smart Wallpapers for High Productivity via Lifehacker. Love the dual monitor version!
• Daily Burn. I use this to log my workouts and weight daily – it helps me keep track of what I’m doing and not slack off! (Well, most of the time at least). Plus it’s fun to have a place to look at everything you’ve been doing.
• Healthy. Happy. Life. Vegan food blog. This website is AMAZING – there are sooo many great recipes for smoothies, lunches, dips, anything and everything. Such a good, healthy recipe resource.
• How to be Positive on Social Networks This link has been making its way around every site. It’s not too relevant to this week’s topic but I think it’s a really great read either way – there are a lot of interesting points and I have been trying to implement this without realizing it since May!
• Gmail Notes helps you remember what’s important in your saved inbox messages.
• Along those lines…the Trusted Trio of Gmail labels. And Gmail as a journal – setting up labels and filters to record notes.
• Lastly, one of the most inspiring blog posts I have ever read about organizing your life, Gala's Getting Organized for 2010 post. This is going to be referenced again and again – it’s so all-encompassing and full of amazing ideas!

What are your goals for the week? Day? End of summer? I can’t believe it’s already the middle of July – time to make progress on summer goals!

rotw: garlicky popcorn with nutritional yeast

New recipe + new look! I’m forcing myself not to change the layout again for the next few months at least. WHEW.

Anyway, it’s been a crazy crazy week. I’ve been helping out with the Creative Writing day camp for 9-13 year olds here, and MAN is it an experience! This was my first time working with a large group of kids and I’ve loved almost every minute of it ;). They’re so freaking adorable!

This week I have a recipe for popcorn with an ingredient I’ve been wanting to try for awhile: nutritional yeast! I finally found some at a small health food store near me.

I make popcorn a lotttttt. It makes a fantastic snack and it’s so easy to make. I always air pop or stove pop my popcorn, for several reasons:

1. It’s just as easy and fast as microwave popcorn, but with no added chemicals!

2. You can add anything you want to it – yum.

3. It’s WAY cheaper. A decent-sized bag of generic popcorn kernels is $1.99 at my local grocery store, while a box of 3 microwave popcorn bags is $2.99.

Not convinced yet? Try this recipe! YUM.

Garlicky Popcorn with Nutritional Yeast

adapted from Mac & Cheese (the blog not the food!)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast 
cracked black pepper

1. Add vegetable oil to 4-quart lidded pot, then add popcorn kernels. They should just cover the bottom of the pan.

2. Cook over medium-high heat, shaking pan occasionally to move kernels around and avoid burning. When popping subsides to about 3 seconds between pops, remove from heat.

3. Pour popcorn into a large bag along with the nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. Shake the bag to distribute the ingredients, then pour the popcorn out into a serving bowl.

Enjoy!

low maintenance

So, I’m starting this new feature called recipe of the week in an attempt to fix the “to food blog or not to food blog” problem I have! I’ve just moved back into the dorms for the summer/next year due to one of my jobs, so I’ll be having less time to cook (and much less convenience in cooking, unfortunately) but that won’t keep me away completely! So I give you – recipe of the week, week #1. Look for this every Sunday(ish)!

One of my absolute favorite cookbooks is Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I love cooking – I consider myself a good cook and am always learning. But it’s really great to have a resource like this book for the simple things, like roasting chicken or making soup. Those are the things that have a million recipes online or in books – everyone has a family variation or preference. Having a starting point (like the recipes in this book) is important! So go forth and cook, my friends :).

mark bittman’s fettuccine alfredo

note: i added in frozen peas and chopped spinach since i had it laying around the apartment. this recipe does well on its own, or with any added vegetable or meat.

makes: about 4 servings
time: 30 minutes

salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound long pasta, like linguine or spaghetti, or any other pasta
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or more to taste

Melt the butter gently. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add cook pasta until tender, but not mushy. While the pasta cooks, whisk 2 eggs with 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 cup grated Parmesan in a warmed bowl. Sprinkle with pepper. When the pasta is cooked, toss it with the cheese-egg-cream mixture, adding a little of the cooking water if necessary to keep the mixture moist. Drizzle with the butter, toss well, and serve immediately.

 

 

 

enjoy!