big blog part one

I have lots to update/discuss, so I split it up. November has been ACTION PACKED!!

#6 - The TBA project finished with time to spare! TBA project = This "Memory Lane" drawing I did for Monica and Tim's wedding gift! I had to get it framed and even though I brought it into Michael's two weeks before the wedding, they gave me a ready date of 11/21...NOOO!!!! So I practically begged them to have it done by Friday the 16th. Well, turns out it was really a day earlier than that! I picked it up the Thursday night before the wedding. More about this gift in big blog part two!

#17 - John caught a cold last weekend, so on Monday night I went to the store and bought all the Katie's Chicken Stewp ingredients to make Johnny healthy again!

#45 - Some of these recipes are crazy easy, but with Nov being as insane as it was, I'm surprised I had time to cook anything new, let alone make 8 recipes...
to continue:
3. Roast a pumpkin (to use the pulp for a later recipe)...this was SO easy and I'll have to do it again next year!
4. Pumpkin and sweet tato casserole mmmmmm! (fulfilling #50: eating real pumpkin!)
5. Roast pumpkin seeds with spices (nutmeg, all spice, cumin, cayenne, etc)
6. Black bean and pumpkin soup (notice the theme here?)
7. Warm green bean salad with toasted pinenuts (for Thanksgiving and also task #46)
8. Ranch Potato Casserole (also for T'gives)


#54 - Alright so I'm not going to be able to get my hair cut for the fall season, but I'm using the fact that I got it professionally styled for the wedding take the place of a haircut. I've never had my hair done before and it turned out really nice! Plus the stylist I had was so adorable and I've decided to go back and have her cut AND color my hair in January.

#77 - I've already started making my Christmas cards this year!!! They are turning out SO awesome too...every year I get better at this :) I've made like nine so far and have about 30 more to go?? haha! But I think if I ever get #14 going (build up a collection of crafty goods), Christmas cards are going to be on that list.

#87 - I listened to a few new-to-me artists on itunes because of the So You Think You Can Dance concert earlier this month: BT , Joshua Radin, James Morrison, Craig David, Devotchka, and The Presets to name a few! But I also must mention that while Duran Duran is by no means a new band, their recently released album Red Carpet Massacre is definitely a new sound and by new, I mean brilliant. LOVIE!

#51 - EATING OUT!! Man this has been hard, and I've even slightly cheated five times! Ok with one more day to go, here are the cheats:
1. Aforementioned German restaurant after John's grandma's funeral
2. Rehearsal Dinner at Maggiano's (and I went to town, let me tell you!)
3. Wedding Dinner (I had salmon, but I also tried Monica's chicken, ate TONS of garlic mashed tatos, as well as all of my delicious wedding cheesecake)
4. Every year after Thanksgiving, my fam shops the Black Friday sales starting at 7am. We ALSO eat lunch at some mall restaurant. We went to California Pizza Kitchen this year, but I was good and most definitely ordered a salad (Thai) with dressing on the side (of which I only used half)
5. About a month or more ago I emailed this local soup place (that makes my fave soup ever: spinach artichoke!) and asked if they were going to make a pumpkin soup this season. They emailed back and said that that was a really great request and they’d see what they could do! Well on Monday I got an email from them personally telling ME that they were going to have pumpkin soup on Wednesday (yesterday)...SO NICE! So I went over there and they even had “By request!” up on the dry erase board where the menu is! Once I got my soup, I told them “thanks for the requested pumpkin soup!” And the chick said “oh that was you?! Fun!” Awww!!! So even though I’m not supposed to eat out, I gave myself a dispensation because they were nice enough to make a whole pot of soup just because I requested it!

In any case, I've also turned down MAAAANY offers or ideas to eat out over the last month...I mean no breakfast at Denny's the morning after the wedding, no going out to Elkhorn with John to eat with him and Grace on Wednesdays, no adorable Bee's and a Movie with John after seeing the Mist this past weekend. So even with the cheats, it's been hard! And I feel like I'm counting down the hours until December 1st. Who knew that I rely on restaurants so heavily? And this is coming from a person who actually loves to cook at home!