Siena's First Halloween

It is CRAZY how fast time is flying. Halloween has come and gone and I have started hearing Christmas music in stores. Siena got to experience her first Halloween, and even though she didn't really understand what was going on, she was great the whole time we went trick-or-treating and she LOVED chewing on the wrappers of her candy after. As I mentioned before, her banana costume was too small for her, but we ended up buying a chicken costume at Old Navy and it was SO FREAKING CUTE! What I loved about this Halloween was that the weather was decent enough for us to be outside. Too many times in Utah, Halloweens are cold and children are forced to wear big, puffy jackets over their costumes. What's the fun in that? It's like they all decided to be Eskimos for Halloween, hiding what cute and creative costumes they might have underneath.

These pictures were taken with our new digital SLR camera that we plan on using A LOT. We are going to take a photography class and learn all the tricks of photo editing in Photoshop. SO EXCITED!

On another note, I am really excited about many of the shows I have been DVRing. Person of Interest is DEFINITELY interesting and has become one of my favs. New Girl is so hilarious and John and I both get a kick out of it and Zooey Deschanel's quirky character. Revenge is shaping up to be pretty exciting, and Modern Family and Vampire Diaries are, as always, awesome. 

What the craft??

To say I have started browsing on Pinterest would be an understatement. I am ADDICTED! Yes, I believe I will need a support group. :) Anyone else care to join?

One of my favorite things about Pinterest is that those of us who haven't had the creativity, skills, or patience to do crafty projects can get some awesome ideas of fun, easy, crafty things they can do that don't require a lot of time or money. My co-worker found a cute idea on Pinterest of how to make plain, clear glass vases and containers cute and festive with some acrylic paint and vinyl. So we went to DI and got some cheap glass containers and bowls and during our lunch break, we made these cute Halloween bowls/candle holders!

BEFORE

PAINTED

FINISHED! Time for Halloween!

I'm gonna be an annoying mom...

and post more pics of my baby girl! I couldn't resist cuz these are so dang cute!

Chilling at Walmart

 

 

 

OMG! OMD and THEhotel

So John got tickets to OMD (one of my all-time favorite 80s bands) for my birthday and we got to go this past weekend. They played at the House of Blues in Vegas and all I can say is OMG! What an awesome band. They sounded GREAT live and one thing that I like about most of the 80s bands that still tour today—they are over themselves and don't think they're all that. They just want to play good music and entertain. And entertain they did! They started with a song I had never heard, but the rest (except for one) were songs I love from their greatest hits, including the ever-popular "If You Leave," "Dreaming," and "So In Love." Each time they played a song, I thought, "Oh, this is my favorite." Bottom line? I can't decide because they're all good! That's the sign of a truly great band! Now, if we could just get Simple Minds out here...

Our accommodations were awesome as well. I had never stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and it was wonderful! We got a deluxe king room on the 60th floor (close to the top!) and had a nice view of the strip. The bed was super comfy and the bathroom was really nice. It had a separate marble shower and a HUGE soaker jetted tub and separate his and hers sinks.

 As for food, we didn't go the buffet route this trip. We decided last time we went to Vegas it is better to skip the pricey buffets and go for quality of food rather than quantity. Plus, it helps keep the waistline down! ;) So we went to Il Fornaio at the New York New York hotel, which served WAY yummy Italian food. We also went to Hard Rock (Johnny's favorite) for lunch and then to the House of Blues restaurant the night of the concert.

Is was such a fun trip, but it was so short. Now I'm ready for another one! My only regret is that neither of us remembered to bring our camera or phones to the concert. We were so close to the stage that we could have gotten some great shots.

I'm Becoming a Loser!

Of weight, that is. I'm posting it right here, right now. I figure the more people I tell, the more I'll feel like a real loser (the bad kind) if I DON'T lose the weight.

While I was pregnant, I ate whatever I wanted—after all, what other times in your life can you do that??—and still haven't been able to successfully kick the habit. And my daughter is almost 8 months old! Before I got pregnant, I lost about 20 pounds and got down to my ideal weight by doing Weight Watchers. It wasn't always easy, but as far as diets go (if you really can call WW a "diet"), it is by far the best one I've tried. Because it worked so well for me, I was skeptical about the new Points Plus system, but I decided to give it a try. I've been to a couple meetings and I love it! The best part is that fruit is ZERO POINTS! I have never been much into fruit, but I have started to absolutely love it lately—especially because it helps curb my cravings for sweets and it makes a great snack that I don't have to add to my daily points.

My problem is that now, at WW, I am back to my Lifetime Member status, where I just have to go weigh in once a month and I don't have to pay to attend meetings. But that's the problem. I weighed in this month and realized I have a WHOLE MONTH until I have to do it again. Lately, I've been looking at (okay, CONSUMING) junk food, thinking it's fine because I have a whole month until I have to step on the dreaded scale again. And the new snack supply of chips and candy at work is staring me down every day and it doesn't help that my cubicle actually faces this stash of goodies. So my co-worker and I have decided that we're going to be losers (the good kind) the whole month of October and stick to our respective diets. After all, it is the best time—right before the holidays hit. So there it is. It is said, it is written (or, typed).

Welcome, Fall!

Ahhh, it's getting to be that time of year. I love this time of year because we're not in the arctic zone of freezing cold yet, but the leaves are turning beautiful fall colors and the holidays are just around the corner. We're so excited for Halloween (if you can't tell from my previous Banana post) and went out and bought some White Chocolate Candy Corn M&Ms. Lemmie tell you. These things are YUMMY! And I HATE white chocolate and am not much of a fan of candy corns, either. But these are SO GOOD that I despise them. Yep, they're sitting there on my counter, in my pumpkin-shaped, clear dish, beckoning to me, along with their friends, peanut butter and peanut M&Ms.

And speaking of delicious, fattening foods, I thought I would post my favorite soup/fall recipe of all time. Those who know me well know that I make this soup every fall and it is SO FREAKING good. You may have had some good chicken and rice soup before, but it wasn't as good as this. I promise. This isn't a recipe I made up, mind you, so I'm not gloating over my own creation. Although, I did make some little tweaks to it. I found this on allrecipes.com and have changed the title to one that is more fitting. Serve this with some yummy bread or rolls cuz you're gonna wanna scrape every last bit out of the bowl!

Creamy, Thick and Dreamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 roast chicken, cut up into small chunks (Costco is the best!!)
1 (4.5 oz.) package quick-cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken. Bring just to boiling, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet. Cover and remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Add onion and cook until thickened, 5 minutes.
3. Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes. 
4. Meanwhile, cook carrots in microwave until tender. Stir carrots into soup and serve.

Thoughts on some new and returning shows...

I am going to sound like a 12 year-old teeny bopper, so lemmie preface this post by saying I didn't PLAN on watching--and ultimately LOVING--Vampire Diaries. A co-worker had just bought a bunch of TV series sets and didn't need them after all. She didn't have her receipt, so rather than return them to Best Buy, she gave them away at work. By the time I got to the box of DVDs, it was slim pickins. So I picked up the first season of Vampire Diaries, thinking I would just give it a shot and entertain myself by laughing at how lame it was. But I have to admit, I got hooked. I ploughed through the first season and went right out and bought the second. Then I had to get DVR to record the third, which just started last week. It really is quite entertaining and I'll tell you why. Sure, the basic premise is somewhat similar to Twilight (human girl meets vampire hottie and they fall in love, yada, yada, yada...), but it is a LOT more exciting and there are many interesting stories of the other characters intertwined. PLUS, it is unpredictable at times because people die. Lots of them. Good people who didn't have it coming even. And finally, how can you beat two HOT vampire brothers (see below) AND the addition of Matthew Davis (you may remember him as the hottie who played Elle's ex in Legally Blonde) as the rugged, passionate vampire tracker/high school history teacher? Exactly. You can't.

For the more mature folk, one new show that we have found interesting enough to continue recording is "Person of Interest." It reminded me a lot of "Minority Report" and stars Jim Caviezel as a down-on-his-luck, ex-CIA hitman who accepts a job as a guy who prevents crimes before they happen. The first episode featured enough action and intrigue to make it interesting.

Two new comedies are "Up All Night" and "New Girl." The first stars Christina Applegate (as mom) and Will Arnett (as stay-at-home dad). Though not hilarious, it has its funny moments and is cute enough to keep watching--at least, for now. "New Girl" stars Zooey Deschanel (Buddy's girlfriend in "Elf") as an oddball girl who moves in with three guys after her boyfriend cheats on her. It's also pretty funny and worth checking out. Also, we had to record "Modern Family," since that is always good. We watched the first episode the other day and is it just me, or is Gloria's accent even thicker? :)

Another show I've DVRed and have yet to watch is "Revenge," which is supposedly about a girl who moves into a town to exact revenge on those who have destroyed her family. So we'll see how that one is. But the fall lineups are looking pretty good so far. The only one I would NOT recommend is "The Secret Circle." I DVRed it because it came on after Vampire Diaries and looked interesting from the preview. It's not. It's kinda boring and definitely sophomoric. Not worth the time!

Going Bananas!

Before Siena was born, we got excited about a cute Halloween costume we found for a killer deal while rummaging through the post-Halloween clearance items at Target. We bought it and couldn't wait until the next Halloween came so we could put it on her. In our excitement, we bought the 0 to 6 month size, not realizing she would be 8 months old by the time Halloween actually rolled around. So we put it on her this past weekend and low and behold, it JUST fit. Since she is growing like a weed, it will be too small for her by the time Halloween actually comes. So we had to go out and buy her another costume. But we couldn't let this banana costume go to complete waste, so we had to snap some pics of her in it. She was NOT amused. Though she didn't cry, if she could talk, she would have said, "You guys HAVE to be kidding me" as you can tell from this picture. John said it reminded him of "A Christmas Story," when Ralphie is forced to wear the pink bunny costume.

On another note, we tried a recipe a few days ago that we both LOVED. We wanted to take advantage of the warm weather, since it won't be around for very much longer. So we made Pork Tenderloin Satay skewers. I got the recipe from one of my Healthy Cooking (Taste of Home) cookbooks and it is definitely one we'll be making again. The best part was the sauce, which we used to baste the skewers with while grilling and served the remainder with the pork afterward. The sauce is versatile enough that you could serve it with chicken, too. Next time I'll double the sauce and serve it with rice and steamed veggies along with the pork or chicken.


Sauce for Grilled Pork Tenderloin Satay:

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons reduced-fat creamy peanut butter

4-1/2 teaspoons canola oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1. In a small saucepan, bring ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes or until thickened.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I have a short description about myself on the right and rather than having a super long bio there, I thought I would mention a few other things about me for my first official post. I am married to my best friend and the awesomest guy in the world, John Proctor. Yep, you ladies might think your husbands are the best, but I know mine is. Sorry, he's taken. :) And we have a sweet 6-month old daughter, Siena, who keeps us busy and on our toes. Yes, I realize there is only one "n" in her name and many people have already misspelled it. But she is named after the town in Italy that is spelled with only one. This is because one of my favorite countries to visit is Italy and though I haven't been to Siena specifically, I plan to someday. Her middle name, Belle, is to pay homage to my family--because my maiden name is Bell--and because we had to add something French in there. :) If you visit my blog regularly, you'll get to know her well because like every proud parent, I believe she is the cutest, most wonderful baby in the world. This parenting thing is new for us, so I'll probably be posting lots of pictures (like the one below) and recording milestones on here. You have been forewarned. But in the rare free time I have, I enjoy cooking and traveling, so you'll get a little taste of the recipes I try (no pun intended) and the trips we go on when money allows. Thanks for visiting!