List for a Tuesday

randomness on a random day

I have a million and one things I want to blog about, but for now my list of blog post ideas will have to suffice:

1. Date night at the gym: with Dave as my personal trainer, I'll still nursing sore muscles!
2. Dave's birthday fun... so consumed with Valentine's that I forgot to blog about his day of fun (he is definitely not a weeklong birthday celebrator)
3. Saturday: While Dave helped Bret teach his girls to ski, I cleaned the house from top to bottom in preparation for dinner with the Wagners. James, Sarah, Emerson & Zoe joined us for teriyaki chicken, brown rice, green salad and strawberry yogurt cake.
4. My love-hate relationship with Exercise; ever since my two-week cold earlier this month, I've been seriously lacking in the motivation department. I even considered pulling out Darrin's Dance Grooves for inspiration - yep, it's gotten *that* bad.
5. Benjamin's latest obsessions: learning all of the alphabet's sounds (per his request) and watching the dreaded Thomas the Train (all day and night, if I would let him... and one sleepless night, I did)
6. A wild explosion of playdates (blogged about one but we have had lots and lots of friends over to play with wild abandon)
7. Current project idea: scripture journal fun - I don't know when in the world I would have the time to do it, but I really want to. My current journal is sorely lacking, in comparison.
8. Is it weird to be excited for snow and storms tonight? Everyone else seems to be begging for spring except moi. Seattle is where I belong; I find the cloudy, rainy and grey-ness of it all to be extremely soothing and comfortable. Yep, I'm weird.
9. Another project idea: New Bag! I am totally eyeing this Amy Butler fabric/Etsy design - no, make that drooling. But again, I just don't know when I'll find time to do it. Maybe an Etsy purchase is in my future...
10. Made these Apple streusel bars for Sunday dinner (I highly recommend doubling the filling). Recipe courtesy of "Our Best Bites" cookbook (my latest, favorite source of all things food.) Photo courtesy of Lovin' From the Oven blog.





11. KALE! It's not a new discovery, but I was re-introduced to it in a way that makes this tough cruciferous veggie not only edible, but delicious in salad-form. I came up with the recipe below all by myself! Dave, who does not care for kale, ate two bowls of this glorious stuff. Makes me happy when I can feed my family healthy food... and that they will actually eat it.

Kale Broccoli Salad

10-12 leaves of Kale, washed & deveined

1 small stalk of broccoli

1/4 red onion

1/2 red pepper

1/4 c bacon bits (optional)

3 tsp sunflower seeds

1/2 c red kidney beans

Favorite dressing of choice (optional)

Roughly chop kale, broccoli, onion and pepper; toss in food processor and pulse until desired size (I made mine pretty small, which was great). Add other ingredients, except for dressing, and stir. Add dressing just before serving.

Well, that just about covers it. If I ever get around to expanding on any of these post ideas - awesome - but if not, at least I've put something down on this "digital" paper and given you a little slice of my life!