sicksicksick.

I had the week planned out to go a lot differently than it did but c'est la vie that is life!
Thanks to the holidays, i haven't worked a full 5 day week in over 2 weeks and this one was going to be a GOOD one!
Lots of clients, lots of facials, lost of $$ for miss genevieve.
Instead on Wednesday afternoon (after a very interesting morning where my Physical Therapist dry-needled me in hopes to get my tendonapthy in my shin/foot back in check...Im pretty sure Sean feared for the safety of his hand from me squeezing it SO HARD) I began to feel SICK.

(weheartit.)
The kind of sick you can feel in your throat, your muscles, your head, everywhere.
It hit me like a ton of bricks and despite pounding down echinacea, vitamin c, and dayquil Wednesday night like it was the only way to save my soul, I awoke Thursday morning SICK AS A DOG. I'm talking throat killing-me, head-throbbing, muscles-burning, lymph-nodes-protruding, hot-no-I'm-cold SICK. Somehow I managed to have enough voice to call into work (which I DO NOT DO) and enough energy for Sean to drag me out of bed and to the dr where he pronounced that I had strep.
I then proceeded to sleep the rest of the day awaking only to take my meds and try and eat. I didn't even have any coffee that day which if you know me is HUGE. I could't begin to tell you the last day I went without coffee...sacriledge! I awoke the next day not quite as miserable but hardly 50% and called in again.
I FINALLY managed to have enough energy to take on work yesterday which proved quite a feat as I had no break and 7 clients, 6 facials back to back and then a brow wax.
However, I am not feeling awesome today, I awoke with high hopes of working out since I have only done twice this week (another rare occurrence for me) but I am slightly snotty, coughy, sore throaty, and generally feeling run down. Drat!

I am eternally grateful to Sean who made me go to the doctor, has waited on me hand and foot with popsicles, tea, grilled cheeses, and soup, reminded me to take my penicillin, and rubbed my head and told me that it would be ok and that I would feel better soon. thank you<3

Along with a "ruined" work week and work-out schedule, my sickness completely demolished the planned menu-board!

I bought this for us a few months ago so we could plan out meals and be less likely to go out to eat. Its been super helpful with grocery shopping as well. Each Sunday we plan out everything for the whole week (switching days is allowed), buy whatever ingredients are needed, and every night we have an awesome homecooked meal! We also appoint a winner for whoever made the best meal the week before...I have yet to win :( Sadly most of the meals on the board did not happen due to me being sick and Sean not wanting to cook for one. I am SO excited for tonight's meals: crawfish etoufee (one of my ALLTIME favorite dishes) with biscuits while watching Forrest Gump!

Speaking of delicious treats...here is a cookie recipe i whipped up last night. they are DIVINE!

Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup slivered almonds <3

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and almonds. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

I've never made cookies from scratch on my own and these turned out REALLY yummy. I love almonds and it adds a nice crunch with the sweetness of the cookie.

***sidenote: I doubt anyone really cares but when "searching" weheartit for some random picture to convey how miserably sick I was and to give you readers some visual display instead of just my ramblings, I was DISMAYED to see how many photos tagged "sick" were pro-ana photos. Seriously?!?!? w. t. f.

Here's to my 2 day weekend, trying to feel 100%, and a new week ahead.
xo, gen

goodbye holidays. hello january.

sigh sigh sigh.
I won't lie, I am a little sad the holidays are finally done and I am back to 5 day work weeks and no more beautiful christmas tree in the living room. The holidays come upon us so quickly and are so filled with stress and money and wrapping paper and tape that it seems like you barely have time to breathe and take it all in before once again, its January and it's all over with. It was a wonderful month however and couldn't have been any more perfect with our "slightly" white christmas, both sean and i's parents coming to see us (except this is the first christmas i did not see my dad or brother which was a little sad for me), lots of amazing meals, and many thoughtful lovely gifts.
We spent our last day of the holiday weekend going to get Sean's books for the spring semester (!!!) and playing with a particularly CRAZY hyperactive puppy at the local puppy store.

this little girl would not stand still for a SECOND to get her picture taken.
while she was incredibly cute, it made me SO grateful that Roxy is SOOOOOO laid-back and chill.
I am hoping we will get a lab/lab mix this spring, a dog big enough to go out on runs with me but lazy enough to always be down for a good nap with us all on the couch. We already have the name picked out, "Pip" from Great Expectations!
After puppytime we went our for cheap Mexican food which I have not had in MONTHS.
It was delightfully gluttonous but definitely not anything I want to have again anytime soon.
Next up we went to one of our FAVORITE spots, Borders. We are both HUGE bookworms and can literally spend hours looking at books and movies.
We each ended up with a book (sean-the magicians and gen-wolf hall) along with an ansel adams calendar for the kitchen and recipe binder for all the shit we cook.


This was to me the MOST exciting.

I spent a good 45 minutes when we got home filling in recipes that we cook a lot (plus my annual pumpkin cheesecake which sean adores possibly more than me)

Speaking of which Sean made the MOST amazing meal tonight that I HAD to share.
He whipped it up off the top of his head and I was most impressed...

PRESENTING: Sean's Sweet Chili Citrus Tilapia

Ingredients:
-8 clemetines juiced
-1 clementine sliced
-1 tbsp fish sauce
-1.5 tbsp hoy fong chili garlic sauce
-pinch of sugar
-pinch of salt
-1 tsp chopped rosemary
-"dash" of chili flakes
-1/4 cup of chopped scallions
-4 tilapia filets

**Add in more chili sauce or clementines depending on how sweet or spicy you want the sauce to be.

Directions:
1. Juice clementines and combine juice with fishsauce, chili garlic sauce, sugar, salt, rosemary, and chili flakes.
2. Begin cooking filets and add in most of the sauce. Drizzle leftover sauce over the filets as they cook in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes and then add green onion and sliced clementines. Cook until filets are white and flakey.

EAT!


We each had one with some jasmine rice and a nice baked sweet potato.

They were A-MA-ZING.
I am extremely excited to nom leftovers of this for lunch tomorrow.

xo, gen!

ambiguity.

"…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are."
-pema chodron

i needed to read this to help my anxiety and fear of the unknown and the emotions that sometimes feel so powerful that i am unsure of how best to deal with them.
i am becoming more and more aware that it isnt about "dealing" with them as it is facing them and just being in that space at that moment in time.
i don't want to knee-jerk through them, i don't want to numb them, i don't want to immediately solve the issue when perhaps at this moment it can be "solved", i cannot force anyone else's emotions or thought patterns, i cannot squelch my feelings in fear of rocking the boat.
2011 is the year i stop fearing "conflict" and the feelings it can create.

all of my days.

Another awesome day of 2011.
Today's adventure involved my dear friend Caroline and her wonderful husband Karma coming to visit Sean and I for the afternoon. I don't get to see Caroline very often on account of her living all the way on the "left coast" so our short visits in the past few months have been such a treat.
We all ambled down the walking mall to our favorite thai restaurant for some good eats.

Caroline and Karma after a delicious lunch.
After lunch we made our way over to this new expresso cafe I have only been to once because of it's extremely odd hours.
I am trying very hard to only support local businesses (NO chain restaurants & NO starbucks) and this place makes a great vanilla latte...PLUS

COFFEE ART!
I am an instant fan of this new joint and excited to have it a 5 minute walk from the house.


The love between these two is palpable<3


My love....looking smart and dapper as always.

After delicious coffee, I was extremely excited to show Caroline and Karma my absolute FAVORITE shop in town, the Purple Fern. Its a wonderful handmade store of jewelry,bags, scarves, housewares, etc where I could literally spend a good half a day looking and a good 200 dollars spending. Sean's friend from high school owns it and I am dying to meet her in hopes of her craftiness rubbing off on me.

I was sad to see Karma and Caroline go but I am excited for us to possibly go visit them out in Berkeley sometime soon!

Tonight's cooking adventure is Loaded Potato Soup, a recipe we found in the Food Porn Daily book I got Sean for his birthday.
Its a delicious hearty soup made from russet potatoes, leeks, heavy cream, chicken broth wih sauteed onions and garlic.


Sean is a real man and wears an apron with pride.

Actually he never wears an apron but willingly put one on for my own entertainment.


Me annoying Sean while he cooks...a nightly occurrence!

We topped our soups with peppered bacon, EXTRA SHARP shredded cheddar, scallions, and chives<3

SUPER DELISH!

Lastly, here are few of the weenie of weens.
First, Roxy enjoying the space heater in the living room as the house is FREEZING and too expensive to keep heated at 72 the way I'd like.


Andddd Roxy in her favorite lap:


I listened to one of my new favorite songs "all of my days" by alexi murdoch while chopping up all of the ingredients for the soups and felt like it explained everything perfectly.

"Now I see clearly
It's you I'm looking for
All of my days
So I'll smile
I know I'll feel this loneliness no more
All of my days
For I look around me
And it seems you found me
And it's coming into sight
As the days keep turning into night
As the days keep turning into night
And even breathing feels all right
Yes, even breathing feels all right
Now even breathing feels all right
Yes even breathing
Feels all right"

1.1.11

Another year, another beginning.

I had such high hopes of being consistent with my blogging last year but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
Sometimes you set out with the best intentions of doing something (much like many new years resolutions) but if you mentally are not completely committed or (in my case often) doubtful of your abilities or worthiness, you never follow things through to completion.I also can say in the most brutally honest way that looking back on last year that I was confused/unhappy/unfulfilled in a lot of ways and didn't really feel like lying through my teeth on a blog about how happy I was, when in reality I spent a lot of my days feeling so incredibly lost. Thats all in hindsight of course and while I am sad I spent too much of 2010 feeling that way, it taught me so much about never again settling or staying complacent because I was afraid of scary emotions or being left behind. A hard lesson learned but perhaps one of the most valuable ones you can learn.
So here is 2011.
The past few months have been a whirlwind of huge amazing emotions and its all because of this guy:



I never believed in "the one" or "soulmates" or any of that crap...until now.
All I can say is that every day is perfect because I wake up to Sean and every night is amazing because I come home to him where we cook and talk and laugh the night away. I never knew I could feel such immeasurable joy laying in bed reading the classics side by side <3

Overall I managed to do some things I am truly proud of this year. I completed a half marathon (13.1 miles) with my best friend (and a VERY hilly half marathon at that), learned to knit (I've done 3 scarves so far and I am now ready to try my hand at knitting hats), learned to sew (thank you to the lovely stephanie for being so patient with me!), had a WONDERFUL summer garden with flowers and fresh herbs, became a MUCH faster runner thanks to physical therapy, and lost 20+lbs through completely rehauling my diet and amping up my exercise. I can honestly say, give or take a few things...that I am happy with my body. I am still a curvy girl with an ample booty but I am also lean with abs I can actually see and muscles I never knew existed! Its pretty crazy to go to a store and be a size 2 and know that I did it all without disrespecting my body and simply through diet and exercise.

I dont remember what all my resolutions were for the last year but Im pretty sure i outdid any that I set out minus reading a few books that are STILL gathering dust on my nightstand.
This year I would like to...
-stay in shape. keep eating right and working out at least 4 days a week. duh!
-run another half marathon.
-run a sub-26 5k.
-start a vegetable garden in the backyard. Sean and I discuss this excitedly at least once a week as we cook dinner 6 days out of the week.
-cancel the cable/dvr once the superbowl is done with. I NEVER watch tv anymore and Im tired of paying for something I never use.
-stay crafty.
-keep blogging about our adventures.

This is how I spent New Years Eve:

Eating a wonderful home cooked London Broil with Rosemary Aparagus and Mashed Garlic Potatoes with my love.
(Please note the placemats and runner as I actually SEWED them myself!!)
We then watched 6 feet under and wall-e (I fell asleep for some of this as I worked most of the day) and ate ice cream cake.
Quiet and intimate...just the way I like it.

New Years day has been just as laid back and wonderful.
Sean came out to watch me run my first 5k of 2011 this morning. He hasnt seen me run before and it was great to see him waiting by the finish line after a good hard run. It was a pretty hilly course but I managed to do my fastest mile EVER (7:44) and also PR'ed by running 3.15 miles in 26.10 which equals out to a 8:18 pace overall. I'd really like to try and hit a sub-26 5k at some point this year! Sean kindly snapped this picture of me as I hauled ass to the finish.


Tomorrow we take down the tree and let the living room go back to being not quite SO small. I know Roxy will be glad to get back her spot by the heater.
Some snippets of the tree before it heads to its final resting place...the backyard.

The tree on Christmas Eve.





When we brought our tree home, we found this cool little nest buried in one of its branches...we've kept it on our bookshelf where we keep other treasures and odds and ends. A wonderful keepsake of our first holiday together<3

Here's to a new year. Something tells me it will be my best year yet!