Christmas Dinner Has Been Brought To You By Pinterest

Pinterest, for those of you not in the know, is essentially where social networking and virtual inspiration boards meet. Pinterest allows you to organize images in different "boards" for your own reference but it also allows you to share these images with other "pinners". Like so many internet-y things it is addicting and as a result time consuming. In my short time on Pinterest I have already "pinned" over 500 images and have no plans of slowing down. I choose images to pin on my boards for a variety of reasons but I mostly select pictures of outfits to copy, DIY projects to attempt, and recipes to cook. The problem that I run into, however, is that instead of spending my time trying out the ideas that I've already pinned I scour the internet for more things to pin and subsequently never actually try doing.

A side note: I am also this way with books. I will buy 4 books at a time. Read one of them. And then instead of reading any of the three remaining books I will head back to the bookstore to buy four new ones and start the process of not reading them all over again.

But back to the topic at hand... Pinterest and the problems it presents. Before heading down to California for the holiday I told my mom that I would cook Christmas dinner. I prepared last years Thanksgiving feast and this year, because there were so many other people who wanted to get their hands dirty, I missed having total and absolute control over the menu and preparation (you'll see this is a theme when you combine me and any sort of entertaining/cooking/decorating endeavor). I was having a hard time deciding what I would concoct for the family. I am mainly vegetarian (I eat the fishies on occasion) whereas they are carnivorous beasts and so finding something that everyone will be happy with can be difficult. I decided this could be a perfect time to actually try out some of my pinned recipes. And so I did! I like to call the endeavor "Christmas Dinner Has Been Brought To You By Pinterest". Here's what I decided to make...

{no need to knead bread dough. recipe available at joie de vivre}

{pear, blue cheese and walnut salad! yum!

maple syrup vinaigrette recipe available at drizzle and dip }

{butternut squash with ginger & cilantro recipe available at rachelraymag}

{simple salmon baking technique from the pioneer woman. I added a little dill and lemon to mine!}

With some patience (the bread takes 14+ hours to make from start to finish) and a little help from my sous chefs...

I have to say I was pretty pleased with the final product...
The bread was definitely my favorite part of the meal. For one it was SUPER tasty and for two I had never been successful at baking bread from scratch... UNTIL NOW! Taking that first bite of fluffy, carb-y goodness and realizing that I had in fact baked a real loaf of bread stirred up feeling of accomplishment paramount to those I had when completing my first marathon. Strange? Maybe. Factual? Oh yes.


Just looking at the picture illustrating the fruit of my labor is making me tired. I am off to finish my day at work and then take a much needed post holiday nap!



Merry 2 days after Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Weekend Update

The weekend was great... way too short... but great. Saturday morning friends, Alexis and Mark to be exact, and I got up bright and early and headed 4.5 hours south (and a little east) to Scio, Oregon for the wedding of my very first college roommate Annie. After the festivities subsided we drove back up i5 and we crashed with one of my nearest and dearest friends Caitlin and her other half Jeff. There I watched my first episode of Community (oh how I laughed) followed by what is quite possibly the best concept for a show ever... Puppies vs. Babies. "What the what?" you ask. Well I'll tell you what is the what... it's the best viral videos of puppies up against the cutest videos of babies and a panel of "judges" decides who's the cutest! Yeah, another reason I should consider getting cable.

I had made a pretty sweet mix for the drive down to Oregon but our chauffeur did not have an auxiliary outlet in his Chevrolet Malibu (say it with me, "WHAT THE WHAT?!"). Luckily I got home with enough time yesterday to go on a walk and enjoy my craftsmanship. Here's what I listened to:

Knots - Jeremy Messersmith
Santa Fe - Beirut
Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
Silly Fathers - Rubblebucket (*my new addiction!)
Stranger - Dr. Dog
Fish Sticks - Heligoats
The Honest Truth - Typhoon
Little River - The Tallest Man On Earth

K.I.T.
Amanda

Oh an P.S. head over to a grimm tale and check out this week's photo swap! So excited to have participated!

Step Into Christmas

The Christmas Spirit took its sweet time getting here this year. I am normally ready and raring to go around Halloween and so when yesterday I was still not "in the mood" I was a little concerned and frankly really sad. Loving Christmas is something that I cherish about myself. A long time ago I came up with list of "lame grown-up things I'll never do" and have tried hard to not become a "lame grown up". The list is as follows:

• Eat ice cream from anything other than a cone
• Lay on the beach/poolside all day instead of actually swimming
• Vote Republican (note: I had plenty of left leaning adults in my life... I don't know why Republican and adulthood seemed synonymous)
• Not be excited about Christmas

It's a pretty short list but I have to admit they're tricky rules to adhere to (minus the whole Republican thing). Every year Christmas seems to take up less and less space in my winter. Being employed instead of a student means that I have no magical winter break to bask in festivity and so Christmas now has to sandwiched between work, travel to, travel from, and more work. Nonetheless I think I've done a pretty good job of getting in touch with my holiday loving... at least up until now. These past few months I have been feeling frazzled, run down, and highly emotional; Christmas 2011 was really taking a back seat. Finally last night I think I turned it around. My roommate left the apartment for her volleyball game and I told her I would put up some decor while she was gone -- she had been begging me to decorate with her but my melancholy just kept getting in the way. A few hours after she was gone I was still sitting on the couch thinking about how much I did not want to move. Eventually I pulled myself up and got to work. After a few strands of garland were hung I was ready to put on some of my most favorite Christmas tunes and actually sing along. Spirits feel brighter and hope seems to be sprouting now that there's some festive decor surrounding me.

If you too are needing a little push in the "Joy to the World" direction then allow me to introduce Sir Elton as he welcomes you to join in a Christmas dancing frenzy...


P.S. I just found an AMAZING gift for my sister! It's been ordered and my fingers are crossed that it will arrive in time. Sister if you are reading this... get excited!

Lipstick Update

I went out Christmas Partying over the weekend. I decided to try out my newest shade in my arsenal of lipstick: Mac's Cremesheen in "Lickable" over Mac's Lip Pencil in "Magenta". Yeah, you heard correct "MAGENTA!". There's only one word to describe the result... WINNING!

The only thing more winning than my lipstick that night was probably Matt's (pictured above) Christmas party. Fact. Oh and the human pyramid that I orchestrated but that's for another time!

K.I.T.,
Amanda

P.S. Enjoy the offbeat Christmas tune provided for your listening pleasure...

My Internets

It's been a long and frustrating day. One great thing that happened though was being dismissed early from work which was just what I needed. To replenish and renew I got in bed as soon as I arrived home and got to work digging around on the old interweb in an attempt to distract and relax. Here are a few tidbits that have definitely distracted (not so much relaxed) me this afternoon:

As if I needed more reasons to be scared of flying...

Wishing I could take a trip down to PDX this weekend...

Yet another reason Twilight is the worst...

My exact thoughts on online dating only articulated by someone else...

A covet-able camera bag for the camera I oh-so-covet...

And last but not least a video that keeps entertaining me. I'm pretty sure if I had more energy tonight I would be doing this to cheer myself up...


K.I.T.
Amanda

Hello, It's Me...

... it's been awhile but here I am. Ready to get back to almost daily posts. With no further ado I will introduce you to a few of the thoughts floating around in my ole' thinker...


1) Last night I had a dream about the low end Nikon DSLR that I want for Christmas. Pictured below...
I have been on the fence about asking for it. Even though it's the cheapest in the Nikon series it's still awfully 'spensive. Also my new hobby of photography has been relegated to the convenience of my phone. Will I make the time to lug this out and be serious about my picture taking? I'm not sure but the dream I had last night which involved me racing around town trying to track this camera down so I could own it definitely has me saying "Yo quiero".

2) Other things I'm "yo quiero"-ing is taking a writing class. The pull to be more creative is growing. It feels right (or should I say "wright" bwahahaha. Lame.) Classes are spendy though. Spendy. Spendy. Spendy. And I am... what's the word?... oh that's right BROKE.

3) After seeing The Muppets on Sunday night I marched out and bought the soundtrack and have been listening to repeatedly since. I had a date last night. Date preparation looked like this... Drank chardonnay and danced around to Jason Segal, Kermit and the Gang the entire time whilst getting ready. 'Twas glorious. Not so much the date. But luckily for me I had the CD playing on my drive home and was serenaded by Miss Piggy and Amy Adams singing, "I'm having a me party, a party by myself, a me party, I don't need nobody else. Having a me party. I'm the first and last to show. There's no one at this party I don't already know!"

4) Speaking of my date... I'm a creature of habit. I got a text from my roommate reading the following, "Wine bottle wrapper on the kitchen counter = Mandy must have a date". I really thought this time around I could go on a date without the predate wine. I was wrong.