Five Question Friday

TGIF!  Today I’ll be going on a weekend getaway with the girls and is the first time I’ll be leaving the hubby.  I soooo need a break after the last few weeks of craziness with work, but I will miss him.  I’ve left him lots of food so I know he will be ok.  But before I go, I wanted to leave you with the weekly Five Question Friday   As always, feel free to answer the questions for yourself in the comment box.  

1. What is a hobby you would love to learn and why? 
PHOTOGRAPHY! It has always been a love of mine. I took a basic class in high school and have been always found myself taking tons of pictures wherever I go.  So I decided to do something about it, and am now in my third semester of photography school.  Loving it and am learning so much.

2. What do you wish you could have delivered to your house but does not deliver?
GROCERIES!!  I hate going to the market and having to look for things or deal with crowds of people and long lines.  I always end up getting more than what I need or what’s on my list.  This would help me avoid the crowds and lines, and stay on track and within my budget.

3. What’s your favorite snow day activity? Inside and out?
inside would be sipping hot chocolate and watching movies, snuggled up on the couch with my hubby.  outside would be sledding.

4. Would you meet a stranger from an Internet dating site?
YES!  and I sure did marry him.

5. If you had to spend 35 hours in a car with 4 other people, who would you choose?

No children! lol.  I would want one or two people who actually liked driving and were good at it and didn’t scare me with their driving; someone who was a good conversationalist; and my hubby.

Day at the Zoo

On Monday, the hubby and I took advantage of having the day off (due to President’s Day) and the beautiful weather and headed to the LA Zoo, with his sister and her hubby and kids.  I have been wanting to go for a long time now, and had to get some pictures for my photography class, and wanted a fun way to enjoy the beautiful day by spending time with family and celebrating our 6-month wedding anniversary all in one!  Plus, since we haven’t received any notifications from the Date Night Challenge, we turned this into our monthly fun date activity.

We don’t have any kids yet, so I enjoy every  minute we can spend with any of our 18 nieces and nephews. That day was just 2 of them, an almost 5 year old and a 1 year old.  It is so fun to see the world through the eyes of children, the way they question things, look at things, how their eyes light up, how inquisitive they are, everything about them.  And the boys were very well behaved and lasted right up until the end.  When we were walking out, they passed out before getting to the gate.

How did you spend your last day off?

Balsamic Brushetta Chicken

Tried this new recipe tonight and it was really, really good.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 container Brushetta Sauce from Trader Joes

 

or you can make your own Brushetta sauce own using:

• 4 medium roma tomatoes
• 1 small sweet onion
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

 

Method:

Add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 clove minced garlic, and salt and pepper to a ziplock bag. Add the chicken and shake to mix. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 375

Brown the chicken breasts in a pan using 1 tbs olive oil

Place in a baking dish and bake 30 minutes.

Remove and top with Brushetta sauce and put back into oven and cook another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

 

I served mine with roasted broccoli.  Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli with lemon and parmesan cheese

Usually, I prefer to steam broccoli, and sometimes even load it up with cheese.  But today I tried a new recipe.  I roasted the broccoli and then when I pulled it out, topped it with some lemon juice and Parmesan cheese……sooooo good. Here’s the recipe:

2 cups broccoli (washed and completely dried)

5 tbs olive oil

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 – 1 small lemon

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

 

Method:

preheat over to 425

place broccoli on a cooking sheet

toss with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper

roast for 20-25 minutes (mix once about half way through)

as soon as you take it out of the oven, squeeze with lemon juice and then add 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese.

 

Enjoy!

Five Question Friday

Finally, it’s Friday.  I thought with having Monday off, my week would have gone faster, but it was still a pretty long week.   Now to just get through my work day, and then school for 3 hours this evening, and then I’m free for the weekend   What are your plans?

I have to start it off right with Five Question Friday.  As always, feel free to answer the questions for yourself either in the comments section below or write your own blog post.

 

1. Do you embrace or dread snow/cold weather days?  

Originally being from upstate NY, you would think that I could embrace the snow and cold.  But now after living in southern CA for almost 7 years, I have to admit I am now spoiled from the weather here.  Last week we had unusual cold/lows, reminding me of NY days, and I was FREEZING.

2. Which game show or reality show could you totally win?

Wheel of Fortune…hands down.  I am always being told I need to go on that show, because I can always guess the puzzles with just a few letters. I have registered online, but so far no calls or emails.

3. What is your preferred climate?

I love the southern California climate.  Dry heat, pretty even temperatures, mostly sunny.

4. What do you buy every time you walk into the grocery store, no matter what?

Lately, kale and bananas, for my morning smoothies, since I use them up pretty quickly and they both can go bad fast.

5. If you see a spider/bug in the house, are you brave enough to kill it, or do you call for your hubby?

After screaming like a girl and freaking out, I will sometimes attempt to kill it, but usually if its a spider, I have the hubby do it.

Heart. Plant. Storm.

todays daily post topic is:

Write down the first words that comes to mind when we say . . .

. . . home.

. . . soil.

. . . rain.

Use those words in the title of your post.

So my words were Heart, Plant, Storm.  How does that go together to form a post???  The only think I can think of is that stress and conflict can become present in our lives from time to time – think of that as Storm.  If you allow that Storm, that stress and conflict to linger, in can lead to anger, bitterness, resentment, and more. It can then take root – Plant itself- inside of you, in your Heart.  This can turn you into a bitter, angry, mean person, or cause depression or cause you to act in ways you never would have thought.  When you hold on to the Storms, you really need to look at what you doing to yourself or those around you.  Who is it benefiting?  When you finally realize that the Storms are temporary, they will pass, and you let it go, you are able to live a happier and healthier and more productive life  And you might be surprised by what can bloom around you.