FINALLY

I am going to see my panda after work! Haven't seen her in a week. Ruuuuuuuude. 7 months together as of yesterday,  I'm a pretty happy Leah :)

Back!

Oh, hello again!
The last few days have been glorious; piles of booze and food and good times. Now I must detox, haha. From all of the above. I've decided to cut out some of my usual vices from now til Christmas, I have faith in myself now, but we'll see what really happens this weekend. I'm going to avoid beer, soda, and meat from now til Christmas (eve). I think I've gotten to be kind of a fatty. This should help with that. Also, a test of will. I will need support, so if you have any to spare I will be accepting of it. I considered cutting down on smoking as well, but I think that could have been a bit much. I don't want to explode and binge consume everything all at once.

In addition, I discovered that my user name on Pinterest is Pinterest.com/LeDub
Feel free to be checking it out.

Happy Monday

That's right, happy MONDAY!! Since this will be a short work week, I am feeling much less hostile than usual on this Monday of days.

Also, I just got 2 random lovely things from my bank - a $5 gift card to Starbucks and extra points for my credit card. Thanks, BOA :) However, to combat this I was charged twice for the same interaction at Walgreens a couple of weeks ago. I just noticed this today and filed my very first "dispute on a transaction". #Growingup

This weekend seemed incredibly long, I love that! Stayed up til 5am on Friday night (Monday morning) b/c I went out to a concert with Brittny that didn't start til midnight. Slept in on Saturday, then Amanda and I drove out to my house. My dad came back from Singapore a couple days ago so it seemed appropriate to hang out near/around him. I don't think he noticed. He is kind of a jerk sometimes. Amanda, me, my mom, and dad went out to eat Saturday and it was not my favorite. He makes things so uncomfortable and it frustrates the crap out of me. I guess Amanda was subconsciously sensing my frustrations because she was so awesome and easy going. Such a good one :)

Sunday was even awesome as well. Cooked so many homemade (not even the littlest bit healthy) things! We (mostly my mom) baked bread, a bbq shrimp recipe, and this cranberry goodness to put on baked brie. All of this was interspersed with the watching of the Bears game, drinking a few brewskies, and at one point we watched the Swedish movie (from the book) The Girl Who Played With Fire. It was pretty great.

ALSO, I have finally *started discovering the joy of Pinterest! Thanks Jame! I really wish that it wasn't blocked on my work computer, because I'd use it/pin stuff all the time. And I am really only at my home like 2 days a week now, so I don't have my computer all that often....but I will try to be a good Pinterest user. It seems pretty much amazing/perfect for me. I spend so much time emailing myself things, when I could have been pinning them! Times are a changin.

Back to work. Bye-cycle.

Cheese

It is Friday (yay!)

Yesterday was one of those days that turns out to be unexpectedly pleasant. I had plans to go home right after work, but instead grabbed a drink with a couple of co workers. I am newly discovering the pedway system of Chicago. It is amazing, and I had NO IDEA there was a huge system of underground walkways, stores, restaurants, bars, etc. I can get all the way from work to the el without ever going above ground! Granted, that's only about a half mile of walking, but during the winter I'll be very thankful not to be in negative 20 degree weather outside.

Spent some time with Bittny and her THREE cats later in the evening. It was nice to catch up. We are so chatty with each other sometimes, haha. I hope I am as good of a listener as she is. I try to be.

By the way, made some super tasty baked mac & cheese the other night! Not even a little bit healthy, but that's okay. Sometimes you just have to eat 7 different kinds of cheese in a meal, you know?

This was the picture that inspired me. Mine did look a bit like that, except I used swirly noodles. Duh.

Chello

Oh Liz Lemon!



Also, I will make these shelves!

Monday

Phone Photo Phriday?

Oh, I forgot that I was going to do that. Ewwwps. I'm not 100% sure I remember how to get pics from my phone to here anyway. Maybe by next week I will have that sorted out. I did come across these picture online today. Wants!

If I had an iPhone, I would require this case:

p.s. my food run to TJs last night was a success! Made a yummy wrap and bought some snacks. Forget essentials like milk. Oops.

Wrap supplies: Small cucumbers, mushrooms, whole wheat tortillas, edamame hummus, sesame seeds, avocado, shredded sharp cheddar, sriracha sauce <3

Ah Thursday night you are almost as good as Friday

I enjoy most days of the week. My main exception is Monday. Useless. I love Fridays. ESPECIALLY Friday afternoons. The anticipation of the weekend is almost as good as the actual weekend itself. I kind of ruined last weekend due to lots of drinks on Saturday, so my plan is to not do that this time. Medium amount of drinks is fine, as long as I remember to eat first...much vomit/crying/headache combinations were had last weekend. Ew.

I'm currently feeling pretty fly, sitting on Panda's couch, listening to the heater and people outside. Just showered, wearing sweats, drinking a Red Stripe, and planning a quick shopping trip to Trader Joe's down the street. Ahhhhh knowing that tomorrow is Friday puts me in such a good mood! Panda works late tonight, and I was supposed to go home, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to make the treck all the way to the suburbs knowing that I'll just be coming right back to the city in the morning. PLUS when I stay with Panda I get to sleep in a bit and only take one form of public transportation #perks. Oh, and I get to spend time with my love :)

Tomorrow I have a blog plan! Phone Photo Phriday. See what I did there? Bahh ha ha ha. I'm gonna post pics of my day every so often. You know, to capture a day in the life of the Leah. I can't promise it will be exciting, but I can promise it will be a thing.

I'm turning into a hungry hungry hippo now. Must seek sustinance. Bye-cicle.

smpics

I do love sleepy baby otters.



Also, kid from Jerry Maguire WHAT??



lollercoaster

Cutest couple halloween costume!

Want

REVELATION!

Today I realized that Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger, is the love child of Dax Shepard (Parenthood/Punk'd) and Zach Braff (Scrubs).

Awesome blog just discovered

FOOD 52
I love that you can filter recipes by different types (vegan, vegetarian, ingredients, booze/non booze, etc.) AND you can save the things that you want to try. Normally when i come across a recipe I want to make I'll just email myself the link and then promptly forget about it. At least this way (as long as I don't forget about the site, haha) I'll have a bunch in one place! The pictures are pretty lovely as well :)

Also, this beverage sounds friggin delish: Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade.

That is all for now.

French Onion Soup!

It was so good!! The hardest part about making it was frequently stirring the onions for about 20 minutes, just so they cooked evenly and didn't stick to the pan. I had no idea making FO soup would be so simple, and with so few ingredients. I would definitely recommend it, if you like FO soup of course ;) A few changes I made to this original recipe:
- Used Trader Joe's Cabernet Sauvignon instead of dry sherry (only spent $2.99 AND we had drinks to go with our meal!)
- Used vegetable stock cubes instead of chicken stock, because, well ya know I'm trying to avoid meat related things.
- Used 1 red onion and 2 yellow onions instead of 3 spanish onions.
- Instead of using unsalted butter, we used Earth Balance.
- Because I HATE cutting onions (burning, firey eyes), I did NOT cut them up into small pieces. They were large chunks. Equally delicious and chunky.

Also, when I make this again (and I totes will) I will probably just break up the bread into crouton shapes, and cut the cheese up into little strips so it doesn't all stay together in one piece after you broil it.

The tele

Now that Netflix and On Demand have become part of my life, I find myself feeling overwhelmed with the need to watch awesome TV series from start to finish. Currently on my radar:

- The Walking Dead
- 30 Rock
- Golden Girls
- Twin Peaks
- American Horror Story
- Happy Endings (medium amount)

Don't worry, I am still taking suggestions if you would like to share with me.

That is all for now.


**edit: 3 shows to add to my best list: Sports Night, The West Wing, and True Blood