Operation Clean Sweep

Some people meditate, others like to exercise, or maybe just lie on the couch and drink a six pack... but when I'm in need of some serious recuperation after a stressful day at work, I need to ORGANIZE. I could look deeper into this, and conclude that I'm attempting to fulfill my need to achieve control in life, but really I just like making things tidy and neat. This is not to say that I have every file alphabetized in my desk, or that I've color coordinated my closet (note to self, color coordinate closet after tax day). Joe can attest that I have messes aplenty, but MAN do I love finding the time to clear out, clean up and organize!

Tonight's agenda? Makeup drawer!!! Insert "before" picture...

Yikes. Commence Operation Clean Sweep.

This may or may not have been part of the reason I take so long to get ready in the mornings... How do I find ANY of my makeup??!?!?! AAAHHHH!!!

SO, I bought a drawer organizer ($7.49 from Target), and went to town on that pile of goop.

Tah-Dah! 

Mission. Accomplished. 

I think I missed my calling to be a professional organizer. If engineering doesn't work out, can I earn a living doing this? 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Time for a new recipe! We had a lot of soups last week that were really good, so we thought we'd try this one out. Chicken Tortilla Soup! Not too difficult and as always, it started with a whole lot of chopping.

Chicken, Onion, Cheese, Garlic & Corn (frozen)

Luckily, I kept all of my nails intact tonight. Which is great because after chopping off one of them the other night, I had to file them all down, and I don't have much left to cut off other than actual fingers!

Next on our task list was to add the chips. We splurged and got the really good Casa Sanchez chips, but in order not to completely kill our 2012 New Years Calorie Watch, we decided to actually portion out the servings of chips. Which meant breaking out our brand new digital scale for the first time!!! One of our many new kitchen gadgets that we got from the wedding. Side note: we would have gotten married a long time ago, had we realized what great stuff our house would get filled with! (kidding... kinda)

Fancy Bamboo Digital Food Scale

Once the chips (just under 2 oz. each thank you very much Salter) were portioned out, we cooked up the chopped goodies along with salsa, chicken broth, and seasonings. All of that got poured over the chips with a some cheese and a scoop of light sour cream plopped on top.

Success!

Super tasty dinner if I do say so myself. Then again, I doubt I'd blog about a homemade dinner that failed. Mostly because when that happens, we chuck it and grab take out. Sad, but true. Tonight however, we loved the end product, so it looks like we'll be adding this recipe to the "regulars" dinner list.

Roasted Veggie Pizza

Tonight was the all-coveted Pizza night. Can't go wrong with pizza right? I really like this one too, roasted veggies and fresh mozzarella on a pesto covered dough. Drool.....

Pesto goodness over a Whole Foods pre-made dough

 Joe would like me to add that he had to personally roll out the dough, as he would like credit for doing so. THERE babe, credit where credit is due! We (he) would have made the dough from scratch but at $1.50 a pop, it's worth the time and counter cleanliness to just buy it pre-made.

Oven Roasted Grape Tomatos, Onions & Zucchini

Add veggies, top with fresh mozzarella and parmesan 

Baked!

Time for din din

No complaints here! Now for some serious couch time to recover from Monday. And well, let's be honest, probably a game or seven of Call of Duty. Joe and I are still addicted to that game and it's almost embarrassing how much we play. I'm going to go ahead and pull the engineer-nerd card and say we are allowed to geek out over stuff like video games.

That's all for now folks! Nitey nite!

Chicken Pot Pie Oh My!

Sunday night dinner is somewhat of a haven in our house. It's the night Joe and I try to make something wonderful to eat... something so wonderful that it makes us forget that the weekend is over and tomorrow is Monday.

Tonight we made one of my favorites... Chicken Pot Pie. Warm, hearty comfort food that fills the belly and the soul. And if that weren't enough, Joe follows his mother's tradition of writing in the homemade crust. Tonight he wrote one for me...

"<3 JEN"

 Ain't he sweet?

Baked Golden Brown Crust

Dinner is served!

Joe says it looks like mush, but I say it looks like heaven in a salad bowl. Either way, we both agree it's delicious.

Soccer Practice

Joe and I have joined a coed soccer league in San Carlos that plays on Thursday nights. A friend of ours started a team and thankfully asked us to join! Joe and I both played in high school, but that was a LONG time ago and have only played in sporatic pick up games here and there ever since, so this should be interesting.

I've coached soccer in East Palo Alto for the past 4 years, but blowing a whistle and telling kids to run is entirely different than actually being on the field and playing. And after recovering from what seemed like the world's longest lasting cold, I've also been completely MIA from any sort of physical activity, much less running on a field for an hour and a half. Yesterday everyone got together for what will be our weekly soccer practice every Saturday for the season. I wouldn't say it was a complete embarrassment, but I've certainly got some work to do in the cardio department. I'm out of breathe just thinking about it.

This was after practice, tired but happy

Whitney is also playing on our team. For those that don't know, Whit has been my friend since we were 4 years old in pre-school at Sea Breeze. We've played AYSO soccer for over a decade together and I'm beyond excited that we're back at it :-)

Me and Whit

My soccer cleats from high school, a tad beat up

Soccer's the only sport I played in high school, and I have to say it's still my personal favorite. It's got to be the one and only thing that can motivate me to run for over an hour and forget how sore I feel. Hopefully this season goes well for us, but either way it's so amazing to be back out on the field.

Early Birds

Any of our friends could tell you, very honestly, that Joe and I are not late-nighters. We are almost always the first to leave during a night out at the bars with friends, and I'll admit I take responsibility for most of it. I'm just not a night owl anymore. It's almost impossible to believe that I used to stay up until 3am most nights in college. Then again, that would generally be followed up with sleeping in until noon. THIS is the one great thing about conking out so early at night... waking up earlier than everyone else in the world! OK, maybe not the world, but still. It's a pretty great feeling to wake up and have the whole day ahead of you.

Last night, after wrapping up the work week Joe and I passed out on the couch around 7:30 pm, possibly a new early record for us! SO, at the crack of 6am we woke up refreshed and ready to start our day! He had the great idea to see the sunrise up on the giant rock in the Redwood City hills, so off we went!

7am We made it up to the top! Good Morning SUN!

Jen Givens... QUEEN of the WORLD!!

This is Joe's Thoughtful pose

Not a terrible view of the Bay :)

After our little adventure we stopped at the store and picked up ingredients to make Huevos Rancheros for breakfast...

Breakfast! Flowers compliments of Mr. Wonderful

Perfect Saturday Morning? Check.

Chopping Onions

Tonight's menu included a roasted vegetable pasta ensemble... aka start slicing those veggies!!! Joe and I are attempting to eat a little healthier and curb some of that happy newlywed weight, so by adding a ridiculous amount of veggies (nearly calorie free) we can still stuff our faces without contributing to our tightening waistbands...

On that note... please allow me to show you the start of our cooking venture.

Cooking without wine is like walking without legs

$2 Chardonnay from Whole Foods... too sweet for Joe's taste, but I'm a huge fan. And at $2 a bottle, I have no guilt popping this bad boy on a weeknight! NOW we can get started on dinner!

As we started chopping (when I say "we" I mean "Joe" because I despise chopping onions, I cry enough on my own thank you very much!) I took a quick pic...

Whole Onion, No More

Apparently Joe screwed up. Onions were supposed to be sliced, but instead got chopped (but it all ends up tasting the same anyways doesn't it?!?) SO we went with it and decided now would be a good time to teach Jen how to properly chop an onion...

Slice Flat

Slice Down

Now Chop!

I know, I know... I was pretty amazed myself. I married a talented genius :-) Meanwhile, to prove that I was helping in the kitchen too, I snapped a shot of myself in action...

I'm Helping!!!

I know what you're thinking, My husband does all the work while I just sit back and drink wine. But that's not true. I ate the dinner too! :-D 

Some days life is good. Today is no exception.