No Spending September

So I'm trying to figure out my 25 while 25 list still. I made a list of things I want to do, but I started writing it out on here and felt overwhelmed. That's not a good start now is it?

But! One thing I do want to do on that list is No Spending September. I spend too much money. I'm a bit too frivolous and can get in a habit of spending and buying whatever I want (within some reason, but things I could definitely live without). Sooo I'm going to try not to spend money on anything other than necessities during the month of September. Necessities are:

1. Groceries
2. Bills
3. Toiletries

ummm I think that's it. I don't know if there's anything else that could be a necessity. I am allowing myself to eat out for lunch once a week, because that's the only time the entire week that I leave the dang hospital between 9am and 5pm and I crave the sweet sooty air of NYC rather than the processed recycle nast of the hospital. That's my indulgence. So there we have it. I'll let you know how successful I am!

Hurricane Irene

This weekend there was our big storm Hurricane Irene. They shut down the public transportation system starting at 12pm on Saturday and it got started back up early Monday morning. They canceled church and told everyone to stay home. Our church leaders actually started telling us to stock up on food storage and emergency preparedness goods about a month ago. I certainly love my church and it's inspired leaders!

Dan and I started to get a bit stir crazy Saturday night. It was raining pretty steady and kind of windy, but nothing too bad up by us. So we took Fitz for a walk.

Fitz was not happy about it.




He looked like a drowned rat after, but it was good to get out. That ended up being the extent of our hurricane experience. We woke up around 9:30 the next morning to find out it was already past us on its way to Canada. Our neighborhood was fine, just damp and lots of twigs and small branches laying around. And we maybe went a little crazy being cooped up for 48 hours.

Oh that fitz

I know you want an update on big ole Irene and but I've been lazy and havent uploaded my pics yet so here's this to entertain ya!

Last week dan was being an awesome husband and painting our bedroom (extra awesome dan points because I didn't like the original color I picked and he said he'd re-do it no questions ask except: are you sure?) and he left fitz in his doggy bed in the front room. Dan didn't hear him for a while and called him. No fitz-o. Very strange. Dan goes out front and what does he see?












That's right, our short legged dog somehow jumped on the couch, stuck his head in a tissue box and quietly waited for rescue. Oh that dog!

Bedside table

The current stack of books on my bedside table is getting a little tall...

1. Top paper=my 25 things to do while 25
2. Gottman's 7 Principles for Making Marriage work. Getting some ideas for the couples I work with at LDS Family Services (doesn't hurt my own marriage either!)
3. Canon user manual
4. First time Europe. Cause you know, my hubs gave me a bank account with moneys for going to Europe. Eeeee! I have been before but this had all the countries and I'm still trying to decide which ones.
5. Yearning for the Living God. Looking for some spiritual enlightenment.
6. Ma journal. I like to keep it classy with a good ole moleskin notebook.

What's on your bedside table?

Running

The George Washington Bridge from the NJ side in an overlook park

So running. I've hated it. Always. Never thought I was a runner. Even when I trained and ran a half marathon. I was slow and it was difficult and I couldn't seem to go faster no matter what. I think I wrote about how I started with using the Couch to 5K application on my phone. Then I downloaded the nike+gps application and have slowly been using that more and more. I love it because I can set challenges and it pushes me to run faster or go further than I have before. My past few runs have been sub 11 minute miles--right around 10:30 min miles which is absolutely amazing to me! I know that's not super fast, but I've never been able to go faster than a 12 minute mile and to be able to do that for over 3 miles... I just love it. Another side affect of running is I've become addicted to it. When I'm having a bad day, I know I need to go running, and if I don't go, my body is all sorts of unhappy with me. It craves the release.

If I can run and get faster, and run consistently, then anyone can! Just do it!

Perfect meal!

On Sunday I made the most amazing meal, if I do say so myself... which I do.

Very easy and yummy. Sesame chicken tenders, kale salad and rice.
The chicken tenders recipe are from this recipe here. I think it's pretty simple.
Then I made a kale salad that I got from our relief society president. It's made up of kale with sesame seeds and sunflower seeds sprinkled in. The dressing is what makes it awesome. Mix equal parts (I usually do 1/4 cup each) of soy sauce, olive oil, and lemon juice and one crushed garlic clove. Put this all in a jar at the beginning of preparing dinner (or earlier if you remember) and shake it up. Easy!
Put those things on a plate with some rice...
and enjoy!

Chocolate Crescent rolls

Sooo I saw this on pinterest and had to try it. I made some home made crescent rolls (courtesy my college roommate's awesome recipe) and then thought in the last baking sheet worth I would sprinkle them with chocolate chips before I rolled them up.
I think they turned out pretty well. You can do the same thing with tube crescent rolls too I'm sure.
Yum!

Saying Goodbye

Our friend's the Hansen's are leaving us for Boston for a year so Dr. J can add an MPH to his extensive list of credentials. We were going to just go to a restaurant downtown, but then discovered that south street seaport had a bunch of food trucks camped out. Heck yes! is what we said.

First we got Bulgolgi (Korean beef) sliders at this truck...
Then we got super spicy beef, pork and chicken tacos from this truck...
I got shaved ice to cool off my way too hot mouth...
Then we ate.
Then we attempted to go to a Korean Karaoke bar. Korean Karaoke means you get a little room with just your friends and go to town with Karaoke.
Too bad they were all full...
But we had a fun time on the train heading there
And enjoyed making friends with a new couple in our ward
So we got delish ice creamy kind of stuff near Union Square.
It was "fat free, gluten free, cholesterol free, and dairy free." They say it was just mashed up fruit and water and a little bit of cane sugar but with all those "---- free" I think maybe it was air... but really flavorful refreshing air! I of course covered my air with toppings such as peanut butter, chocolate chips and graham crackers because, you know, the rest was just air!
We chatted
And enjoyed each others company
One last time for a while. I know I wrote about how much I love our group of friends, but it's really true. It is such a perfect balance of people and it always leaves me feeling so happy and satisfied after. We are sure going to miss the doctors Hansen and can't wait for them to come back next year! Hurry!

Pretend fancy dessert

Sunday I made these little yummies. You can get the recipe here. One of Dan's favorite pies is key lime. And it's one of the easiest to make look fancy while being really really ridiculously simply. There are three ingredients and then you pour it into pre-made graham cracker crusts, because really? The pre-made's taste just as good if not better than the home-mades.
Make your husband squeeze the limes. He should help, and he has stronger hands.
Then you simply fill each cup.
Bake them for a bit so they set.
And enjoy with a little home made whipped cream. Easy and simple, but looks oh so fancy!

Fail night

This last Saturday, we attempted to go to a Korean place in the Theater district and a milk and cookies place in the Chelsea Market. Neither happened, but we had fun anyways.

We ended up going to Pam Real Thai Food for dinner
Dan was intrigued by Pam's saying "I taste. I think. I smell."
I got a yummy Cashew Pad Thai dish
And Dan got the green curry of course
It was good. Then we headed down to the Chelsea Market in the hopes of getting some milk and cookies...
But alas, that particular shop was already closed. So we found a Creperie inside instead...
Scott did some modeling for us while we waited for deliciousness
We admired the french men making perfect crepes
The boys joked
And at last we got crepes. Nutella and strawberry filled to be exact.
They were some kind of delicious.
So while the evening was a fail, we still got good food and had good conversation. Always a good way of passing the evening.

Camera Dump

The end.