How come God didn't bless me with the joy of cleaning?

Tonight's Dinner - Light and Healthy

Spaghetti with Mushrooms, Garlic and Oil

• 12 oz baby bella mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup white wine (the alcohol cooks out when it simmers with the mushrooms and I use cooking white wine)
• 1/2 lb (8 oz.) uncooked spaghetti (I use the barilla pasta with protein)
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• salt and fresh pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until soft, about 1 minute. Add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper and sauté about 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook another 3 minutes.

Before draining the pasta reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Drain pasta and toss with mushrooms, parsley and pepper. If pasta is too dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water. Serve with grated cheese if you wish.

Ok here's this week's goal: CLEAN. I loathe cleaning. Imagine me saying the word loathe very calm and slowly. That's how bad I hate it . . . I l o a t h e it. I was going to clean on Saturday but that never happened because I sat on my fat lazy butt and watched 13 episodes of a BBC miniseries. That will be a separate blog post. So I pretty much wasted away on Saturday. Well I think my problem is that I hate cleaning the entire house all in one session. I would so rather be doing something else like shopping or reading. But we can't all do those things we want. That's a part of being a grown up. Well sometimes grown up chores really blow. My mom was waaaayyy strict about how clean our house was growing up and I'm attributing my bad attitude to cleaning to that. It fits, we blame all our bad habits on our parents. That doesn't change as we grow up. Amiright? Ok I got that little word from a TV Guide writer and I thought it was pretty dang funny and so I assimilated it into my vocabulary. Anyway . . . here's the goal . . . one room a night. I can do that. That's not that hard given most nights my ritual is this: work out, eat, read. Here's to cleaning. Tonight I did my portion of the bedroom because I refuse to fold Jared's clothes. Hold those critisms about me being a bad wife. Because I also cleaned the bathroom and in that, I feel we're pretty much even.

Tomorrow . . . guest bedroom. Anyone who is bored can come join me. But the best part . . . I'm listening to an audiobook Jared recommended. Most times, I don't like Jared's recommendation but I figured I would be fair. It's Enchanted by Orson Scott Card. We'll see how it goes.

Red White and GREEN

Ok, before you assume I mean green as in environmentally friendly, hear me out. This post is actually dedicated to a dear friend of mine. This friend happens to be a favorite of mine. But this friend isn't the most attractive friend on the outside. But since my mother raised me right and taught me not to judge people by their looks I gave this friend a shot many, many years ago and he's become a favorite. Now, I knew who this friend ever since I was a child but he just looked so disgusting that I just felt like he must be disgusting on the inside too. I'm glad as adults we get over our little hangups. Or at least we are supposed to. Who is my friend? It's a ripe avocado. Seriously, I LOVE avocados. I didn't start really liking them until about 5 years ago. Yummy.

So this weekend I made a really yummy Southwestern Black Bean Salad. You could also consider it a salsa too as I like to eat it with chips. But it's healthy and it tastes nice and light so it's perfect for a summer dinner. I made this for the first time on Friday for a BBQ over at Sabrina's house. Here it is, I'll give it to you straight and then let you know my revisions to it's preparation method.

1 15.5 ox can of black beans, drained and rinsed
9 oz frozen corn, thawed (I actually use 1 can of corn and it was fine)
1 tomato chopped
1 ripe haas avocado diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 green onion diced
1 lime juiced
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs cilantro chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Ok, in a glass dish combine all ingredients EXCEPT avocado. Put in the fridge and let sit for 30 minutes. All the ingredients need to marry each others flavors. Pull out and dice avocado and mix in just before serving.

BRITTANY'S REVISIONS - I loathe raw red onion diced. I like the flavor but I hate the texture and crunch in my mouth. SO . . . in a blender or magic bullet, I put the olive oil, lime juice, red onion and cilantro together and I puree it. Then I add that to my corn, tomato, black bean mixture. It's still quite yummy.


Ok, I also LOVE fresh guacamole. Here's a quick 5 minute recipe.

3 avocados
1/2 packet of ranch dressing mix
2 limes

Combine all these ingredients and voile . . . easy guacamole and very tasty. I have another guacamole recipe that I got from my sister but it requires the whole gammet of items like anaheim peppers, jalepenos and onions. This is easier and it's quite yummy.

There you have it!! Happy 4th two days late.

The Proposal

Ok, so I'm not a big movie buff anymore like I used to be. I hardly watch TV either. But tonight Sabrina called me and we went to the 7:30 showing of The Proposal and I LOVED it. There were parts I was laughing so hard I was tearing up and that hardly happens with me. Oh and I am now hot on Ryan Reynolds. Sheesh he is a gorgeous man. Sabrina has been gone half of the month of June and I've missed her terribly. This was a great way to celebrate her homecoming. Plus she gave me a velveeta cheese book to read and a BBC movie to watch. I love that girl. Thanks Bina!

Good read/audiobook

This is the book Jared and I listened to on our Vegas/St. George trip. Well one of the books. Here's amazon's description, it is SUPER good. I can't wait for the sequel Catching Fire to come out in September. You know for a young adult novel, it's quite deep if you pay attention to the characters.

This is a grand-opening salvo in a new series by the author of the Underland Chronicles. Sixteen-year-old Katniss poaches food for her widowed mother and little sister from the forest outside the legal perimeter of District 12, the poorest of the dozen districts constituting Panem, the North American dystopic state that has replaced the U.S. in the not-too-distant future. Her hunting and tracking skills serve her well when she is then cast into the nation’s annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death where contestants must battle harsh terrain, artificially concocted weather conditions, and two teenaged contestants from each of Panem’s districts. District 12’s second “tribute” is Peeta, the baker’s son, who has been in love with Katniss since he was five. Each new plot twist ratchets up the tension, moving the story forward and keeping the reader on edge. Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow and adept at analyzing her opponents’ next moves, she has much to learn about personal sentiments, especially her own. Populated by three-dimensional characters, this is a superb tale of physical adventure, political suspense, and romance.

Sorry, this is a loooooong one

Today would have been the perfect day to wear a scarf. I LOVE scarves. They’ve easily become my favorite accessory for both the winter and spring. I think I’ve collected about 15 scarves now. I have equal representation between Target and TJ Maxx on my scarf hanger which sits just to the right of my wire tower concoction that serves as my t-shirt depository. My scarf community now has 2 new immigrants from the Lucky Outlet but these 2 scarves are bigger than it’s fellow hanger habitants so I’ll have to wait until the fall to really give them the attention they deserve. The reason today would have been the perfect day to wear a scarf is because even though it’s the later half of the month of June, my arms are prickling with goose bumps and my tire pressure warning kept coming on in my car today because the temperature read at 58 degrees and all my tires were at 30 PSI except my front drivers side tire which was at 27 PSI. So the next time I start up my car and my tire pressure goes off, I’ll know to take a moment, leave my car running and book it upstairs to my room and grab a scarf. Sometimes I get lazy and don’t feel like wearing a necklace and that’s what started my scarf habit. Today I was just plain lazy and didn’t wear either a necklace or a scarf. But don’t worry I have 5 bracelets all on my right wrist so today wasn’t all for naught.

Vegas was fun as usual. It was a quick 2 night trip which in my opinion is the best way to do Vegas. It was in the 100s and quite toasty. We stayed at Bellagio and I think I forgot to take a picture of the room. That just tells you how memorable I though it was. The best way I can describe the Bellagio accommodations is dated luxury. About 10 years ago the Bellagio was the premier hotel on the strip. I wouldn’t say that’s the case anymore. After staying at the Wynn a few months ago, I would say that is the premier hotel on the strip. The only way I’ve been able to stay in all these hotels is because the economy. If times were better, I would be staying somewhere else. So for now, I’ll enjoy the perk. But we could hear our neighbors in the room next door and we had a plumbing issue between the toilet and sink. Every time the toilet in the same plumbing system would get flushed we could hear our sink make a gurgling noise. We were going to change rooms but we decided not to since we weren’t really in the room all that much. The Bellagio pools were amazing. We sat at a pool that had a huge fountain and every time the wind blew we would get a mist and that was such a bonus given the hot weather. I got sunburned within an hour and half so we had to go back inside. Jared and I ate a lot, which is always commonplace with a Vegas trip. We ate Dos Caminos our first night and I really enjoyed it. I had fish tacos and fresh guacamole and salsas. Jared wasn’t so much impressed with it. It’s definitely more of a trendy place to eat and Jared just isn’t my trendy eater. He enjoys his chain restaurants more I’ve noticed. We did not make it to Serendipity 3 as I wanted to. We just couldn’t fit it in. But we did make it to BLT Burger in the Mirage and ate some delicious burgers, I had sweet potato fries and finished it off with a campfire milkshake which consisted of vanilla ice cream and toasted marshmallows and you could really taste the toastedness. It was delicious.

We were also supposed to go see Barry Manilow at the Vegas Hilton. Now I’ll be honest, I was somewhat dreading this because I am no fan of Mr. Manilow. And you have to remember it was actually my in laws that were supposed to be going. So Jared called the morning of the concert to make sure the tickets would be in will call and I hear the lady through his little phone speaker say “I’m sorry, Mr. Evans but that concert was cancelled three weeks ago. We sent the email out. We are so sorry.” Jared looks back at me and we both start pumping our fists in the air with a whispered “YES!!!!” because he was still on the line with the ticket agent. We instead went a saw O at the Bellagio which is another Cirque De Soleil show. I will say that it was very interesting if not bizarre. There was no rhyme or reason to the storyline other than water. The acrobatics were amazing the music was average. Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it to anyone else? Probably not. I am convinced that the best show on the strip is Love at the Mirage. Go see that one and every dime of your pricey ticket will be well worth it.

After 2 nights in Vegas we headed up to St. George to stay another 2 nights. We actually stayed in the housing development that looked, to me, like it had lost funding and they had to rent out the houses to get some kind of cash flowing. So we stayed in a new house that was fully furnished and by my standards nicer than the Bellagio. It was actually out in Hurricane and it was by the Sand Hollow lake area. We just relaxed and watched movies with our friends Dan and Megan Davidson who met us there. It was so quiet at night and you never heard any cars ever drive by, unlike the 1500 So. street I live on currently. That was something I noticed last night as I was trying to go to sleep.

On our way back, Jared and I listened to The Hunger Games audiobook. I had actually already read this book last Fall but I thought Jared would like it. While I was listening to it, I forgot what a great book it is, even given that it’s more a young adult book. But it’s quite violent actually and the characters are deep characters. The plot line is impressively very adult and I would recommend it to anyone. I think I liked it better the second time around.

Sheesh my entries always get so long, sorry. I’ve got to figure out how to cut it down. Well this week, it’s detox and back to exercising. Jared is in San Diego this whole week and I’m having my parents over for dinner on Wednesday to make up for missing Father’s Day. I’ll blog the menu and put up a little pic of the parentals for everyone to see.

Seriously . . . why can’t it be 5:00 PM already? (Don’t tell anyone that I type my blog out at work.)

June Showers Bring July Heat??

Summer is here and there is nothing more comforting than to know the weather pattern with summer’s emergence is always the same here in Utah as far as I can remember. And as far as I can remember goes back 11 years. In fact, June is my anniversary date for moving to Utah. Woot! Raise the roof ladies and gents! I was just telling my mom on the phone this afternoon that I was going to be 29 in August and wondered if she could believe it. Seems like it was just yesterday that I was 17, fresh off the HS graduation train with my bags packed and thinking I was ready for adult life. Boy, have I learned a lot in these past 11 years.

Anyway, got off track there. As I was saying earlier, June has come into Utah with its typical weather pattern and that is rain, rain and more rain. Just after I planted my front yard I noticed my sprinklers weren’t going off so I had to do double watering duty to try and resurrect my little patch of growth. And now I’m getting worried that my plants are getting too much water because it will downpour at about 6 PM each night and then I hear my sprinklers pop on about 10 PM.

Since I only watch 1 show over the summer I have plenty of time to do other things. So here’s my Summer 09 reading list and here’s my disclaimer, I have no idea if these books are going to be good ones so I can’t recommend them but this is just what’s on my queue (and in no particular order):

One for the Money – Book 1 in the Stephanie Plum series

Silent in the Sanctuary – Book 2 in Lady Julia Grey mysteries

Winter Rose – (I’m reading this now, book 2 in Rose series)

April & Oliver – just ordered this and can’t wait for it to get here

The Bronze Horseman – mammoth book, will be the biggest book I’ve ever read, 1000+ pages

The Book Thief

Sarah’s Key – I’m 10^th on the waiting list so this may not happen until Fall

Maisie Dobbs

House on Tradd Street

So that’s the plan. I’m sure 2 or 3 of these books will get dropped if I can’t get into them. I’ll report back and let you know which ones made it through tribal council.

It’s 4:04 PM while I’m typing this and I am hearing thunder. Lovely.

So with the beginning of summer, here are some things that I love about summer: warm nights that stay light until 9 PM, my nephew’s baseball games, pedicures, snowcones, fun summer desserts, driving with my sunroof open and back windows cracked, bbqs with friends, smores up in Mueller park, and June rain. Ok that last one was a joke. Can’t tell I’m tired of the rain can you. I’m always cursing myself in the month of June for owning a black car. Seriously, can it please rain a cleaner precipitation?

Last Saturday Jared and I took a short trip up to Park City to go to the Lucky Brand Outlet. I love that store and I got Jared hooked on their stuff too. There is a bag that I have been eyeing for a good 2 years now but it was always kind of expensive and I never bought it. Well I saw this particular bag at the outlet on Saturday and it was sitting on a rack that said 30% off marked down price. This bag had a sticker with $79 dollars on it. So I ask the girl is it really 30% off the $79 and she said yes. So when I took the bag up to the counter to buy it, it rang up at $76.50. I told the guy that they girl told me it was discounted more. So I grabbed the bag I saw with the $79 on it and they said that since I caught it they would give the bag to me at what the girl told me. So I got a $158 bag for $53. NOT BAD!!!!!! So I am saving this bag for my Vegas trip.

To leave you on a “What the?” note, I have posted a pic of Jared’s latest bowling score. We enjoy bowling but it would be half as big a deal if I weren’t so competitive. Typically Jared and I will place a wager depending on who the winner is. Most often, we’ll each win one game so we’re even but this last time Jared bowled he was on a roll. Check out his score. Is he for real? SEVEN strikes in a row? Really?

It's Been WAY too LONG

Oh my gosh . . . seriously. It's the last day of May and it's been since Easters that I've posted. Oh my, that's terrible. But I haven't had too much to blahg about but I've let everything pile up that I have quite a few things to report on.

First, we'll start with what I'm most excited about. After 4 1/2 years of living in my home and never having my front patch of yard get landscaped as promised from my HOA I decided to exhibit an infamous womanly quality . . . taking matters into my own hands. Take charge no matter what others think. I told Jared what I was going to do and asked what my budget was. So with $100 and the assistance of my father we went to work one Saturday afternoon. The before and after pics are below. I'm pretty dang proud of it.

Every Memorial Day, Jared and I drive up to Malad, ID to put flowers on the Evans' graves. His grandparents and brother are buried there. We always get together for a luncheon with the other relatives that come. 

Sarah is coming the end of June and I'm SO excited to see her, Mark, Ellie and the new baby Max.

 

Lastly, it's back to Vegas for me. J and I will be heading there on the 17th of June for the rest of the week. His parents were actually supposed to go but his mom has to have knee surgery again and they can't make the meetings. So Jared will be going to the meetings and I will be . . . ahhh lounging at a pool at the Bellagio and reading a book. I will go do some shopping too but since this is such short notice I'm not sure how much I'll have. 

Oh . . . Sabrina and I watched Masterpiece Theatre's Little Dorrit last month. We both love the guy that plays Arthur Clenam. He was the same guy that played Mr. Darcy in the Pride & Prejudice movie with Keira Knightly. He makes a great Darcy surprisingly. But anyway, once Little Dorrit comes out on DVD you should check your library and rent it. I was totally sucked into it.