This week: In Pictures and Recipes

• What better way to start this beautiful week in April than to wake up to SNOW Monday morning?! (note sarcasm!) Thankfully it was just a little bit, and it all melted within a couple of hours. The rest of the week proved to be rainy and cold, but it warmed up nicely (low 60's) for the weekend. This time last year we would already have our air conditioning up and running!
  

• I tried a few new recipes this week, and they were both so yummy I have to share them with you. The first one was Zucchini Alfredo. It was easy and different than what we usually eat pasta with.

• The second was ham that I decided to cook for Easter. I wanted to make it in the slow cooker so I went searching for a recipe on my favorite recipe site. I found one and boy is it good! It made A TON of ham, so we're going to freeze it in smaller bags and use it in soups and casseroles over the next few weeks. It needed to cook for 10 hours so I let it cook overnight. It was done just in time for me to make ham and cheese omelettes for breakfast. Bailey didn't leave my feet while I was dividing it up!


• This past Friday was Earth Day, and Starbucks was offering 20% off all of their coffee tumblers. I desparately needed a new one, since mine was cracked up the side and leaked every time I tried to take a sip of coffee. They didn't have any that I particularly liked, but they did have a plain black one and you could "Design your own insert." I have a few 8x10 pics that I've had blown up over the years so I cut this one (from our honeymoon) to fit the insert and Voila! Instant awesome coffee tumbler! I can't help but smile every time I see it :)

Tiger Seasoning!

Our awesome friend Paige sent us a surprise package the other day.......complete with Tiger Seasoning!!! I am *so* excited! This is the secret ingredient in her Best Ever Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, and it also happens to be the most difficult thing to find in grocery stores EVER! I haven't even tried to look for it here, because I couldn't even find it when we lived in Birmingham. I'm so excited to own a whole big bottle of it and can't wait to try it in other recipes!!

Mini Freezer Cooking Day

Yesterday I had a mini freezer cooking day. I've been meaning to have one for quite some time, but to be honest the thought of all the work that goes into it has been keeping me from following through. I planned all of my recipes, and even divided up the weekend so I would have all of the prep work done before I actually cooked everything....but without my Freezer Cooking partner in crime, Payton, the task seemed daunting :( So instead I decided I'm just going to do 2 mini freezer cooking days instead! Yesterday I made this recipe, homemade spaghetti sauce with turkey meatballs. Except I made it in the crockpot instead. Yummo! I only made 1 other recipe (but 2 batches of it), Paula Deen's Broccoli Casserole, with some chicken mixed in there as well. Tom's sister Jackie sent this recipe to me a few years ago and it's been a regular in our house ever since. I did some prep work for the week for a few other meals and chopped up all of our fruits and veggies so they're ready to eat. I didn't take any pictures since spaghetti and meatballs aren't that exciting!

DMK, Happiness, & Warmer Weather

Yay! We finally did something fun! Friday night we went out to eat with my friend Jess from PSU and a couple of her friends that we have gotten to know through her. We went to DMK Burger Bar, and had some of the best burgers and fries I've ever had! (Warning: This claim may change after we finally get around to eating at Kuma's Corner....apparently the BEST burger joint in all of Chicago, that happens to double has a heavy metal bar).

It is finally beginning to warm up here in Chicago (although again, I'm not holding my breath). It's amazing how much of a difference the warmer weather has on my mood. The other day I was just thinking about how content I was and I think I finally realized why. Not only is it starting to warm up, but we are finally settled! I am out of my "orientation phase" at work (that lasted 3 months, but was well worth it). My Probationary Eval went exceptionally well and I finally feel like a "real therapist" again. My schedule has picked up significantly and I'm thoroughly enjoying my job, both the outpatient setting and the supportive environment. Tom's job is going well too. He recently returned from AACR and he's been keeping busy in the lab.

I'm really looking forward to summer in Chicago. We don't have any vacations or mini-vacations planned yet, but we're starting to look at some options. Hopefully everything will fall into place!

Spring Teaser!

It is a balmy 62 degrees right now in Chicago and I'm sitting on our back deck enjoying the weather. Bailey is basking in the sun (she really missed her calling as a cat) and somewhat keeping me company (except for when she escaped down the stairs and did the Basenji 500 in the yard before I could get the gate up to keep her up here with me).

My brother is currently hanging out with us for the weekend. He stopped on his way back from Dallas where he had to go for work training. We're having a much more low-key visit instead of seeing all the sights of Chicago like last time. Matt thinks he is the dog-whisperer since he somehow tricked Bailey into cuddling with him on the couch (twice).

It's supposed to be 81 degrees tomorrow! We'll see how long this nice weather lasts....I'm not holding my breath!

Is she *really* from the South?

I'm beginning to question whether or not Bailey is a southern dog. Yes, we adopted her from a shelter in Alabama, but given her love of snow and today's events I'm thinking she was born elsewhere and somehow ended up in the South at a young age.

It reached 60 today in Chicago so I decided to take her for a long walk. We've taken this walk many times before, but the warmest it's ever been here on our walks is probably about 40. We got home and she was panting so much I thought her tongue was going to fall out of her mouth! For like 20 minutes, she kept trying to lie down on the floor, then she would get up and walk around and then try to lie down somewhere else. It was like she couldn't get comfortable. She scared me for a minute, but I think she was just hot. But seriously? We would go for walks in 100 degree weather in Alabama so I don't know what her problem is. In other news Tom's parents sent me a plant this week as a "Happy Spring" gift. It was a nice suprise, and I had actually been thinking about how we needed to get some plants in our apartment. When I called Tom's mom to thank her, she was telling me how she likes to have plants in the house to purify the air and how she hasn't gotten sick all winter. It was perfect timing, since I've been fighting off a sore throat, stuffy nose, and "bleh" feeling since Friday morning!