Kentucky Wildcats Are The NCAA 2012 National Champs!!!!!!!!!!!!

I literally cannot believe this... the Cats just pulled off a victory over Kansas to win our 8th National Championship!!!!!!  This is the first time we've won it since 1998... that's FOURTEEN LONG YEARS, PEOPLE!!! And now the trophy is headed back to Lexington where it belongs.

I'm sure Lexington is a total mess right now, but I'd like to be right in the middle of the celebrations!

I'm just so proud of my school! Go Cats!

Recipe of the Week: Glitter Grapes

This isn't technically a "recipe" but I'm going to share it anyway.

Grapes are one of my favorite fruits by far.  I like that they're not "fussy" like oranges and there's no core to get rid of once you're finished. I also love sour candy (think Sweet Tarts and Sour Patch Kids).  I don't eat the candy often for obvious reasons, but I do like it every now and again.

I stumbled across a pin on Pinterest and of course was intrigued.

The "recipe" is called Glitter Grapes or Sour Patch Grapes because they taste like Sour Patch Kids.  The original recipe I found called for green grapes and melon Kool Aid powder... yes, you read that right. Kool Aid Powder.  The thought is to use a color that is similar to the color of the grapes.

Source: puresugar.net via Miranda on Pinterest

I had some red grapes in my fridge and an assortment of individual packets of Crystal Light.  I went with Raspberry Lemonade powder and the red grapes... OH MY GOODNESS. What a treat.

I think I just found a fun way to satisfy that sour/sweet craving that hits sometimes.  Try it and let me know what you think.

Weekend, Where are You??

Typically, I try not to wish for the weekend.  Most weeks fly by, but this one has been a doozy.  Work has been great... busy, but great.  My personal life has been great, too, with the exception of a frustrating situation that I don't have the energy to discuss-- let's just say being a landlord is stressful.

I need a weekend in the worst way.  Typically I cram my weekends with to-do lists and things, but I'm going to try to focus on relaxing and having some fun.  Do you have any fun plans??

Here's what I'm thinking:

• Mani/Pedi:  I actually think I will do it myself this weekend.. I find it relaxing when I have the time. Plus it's free.
• Craft Project:  I don't want to give it away just yet, so I'll leave you in suspense.
• Take a nap... during the day even
• Bowling: I do have one obligation this weekend.  I'm the team leader for a group of analysts from my work for a Bowl-a-Thon to raise $$ for Habitat.  I'm looking forward to it.  I can see myself slowly but surely becoming the unofficial social chair of my department.  Go figure. 

Tomorrow should be a pretty chaotic day with back to back to back meetings (yes, three backs).  Chaos is good, though.  Time flies when things are crazy.  I love it.  I am ever-so-grateful for a job I love so much. 

Color: How much is office appropriate?

For those of you who know me, you probably know that I'm pretty "colorful" by nature- both in my personality and the clothes I wear.  I always get a lot of comments/compliments on my colorful wardrobe in the office, especially given that I'm an analyst and most of us wear all grey, every day.  

As I wore my HOT pink cardigan today (paired with standard black and white shirt and black pants), I started wondering if I take it overboard with the colorfulness in the workplace.

I need this

I should start by saying that my office is business casual with most people wearing slacks, button downs, sweaters, etc.  Also, I'm pretty sure no one REALLY cares what I wear, but I'm just curious what everyone else thinks when putting together a work wardrobe.

Do you wear a lot of color in the workplace? Do you think it's good to let your personality shine regardless of where you are? Let me know. 

(Also, look at me with a post two days in a row...... Are you proud?!)

Dear Anonymous..... Thank you

Just want to send a shout out to the anonymous poster who called me a total slacker for how long it's been since my last post.

Anonymous, you are right.  I will try to do better for you, Anonymous. I AM a slacker.

Honestly, I FEEL like I've been doing tons of exciting and crafty things, but I'm really just pinning them on Pinterest.  Does anyone else have that problem? LOL.

I have made tons of new recipes from Pinterest too.  I haven't made any "old familiars" in weeks.  

I also have done a couple of failed craft projects that I don't even want to get into b/c I'm so disappointed, but I've got a couple of hopefully successful ones in the making as well. 

So far, my weekend has consisted of: 

• Irish Pub in Huntington Village (so fun)
• Late night NY pizza after said pub
• Grocery shopping (Side note: so proud of myself for how well I'm doing at adding in more fresh veggies and fruits into my diet)
• The BEST EVER TRIP TO THE DOLLAR TREE -- I was so excited, this deserves it's own post. Maybe it's because my creative juices are flowing, but I am getting so excited about turning "nothing" into something cool.  Be on the lookout for some REALLY CHEAP projects stemming form this trip.
• Failed craft project #1- trying to make my own mail organizer
• Freezer cooking - my new "thing" is making things specifically to have on hand in the freezer so I'm not tempted to eat out.  Also, it's nice to come home after work and throw something in the oven instead of spending an hour making dinner.'
• Finally getting around to printing out pictures for my collage picture frame.  I have literally had the pictures that came in the frame hung on my wall for three months.  I should be ashamed.  Best part, the pictures I got were free b/c I hadn't yet registered with CVS.com to print pics.  The first 25 prints are free when you sign up! 

Recipe(s) of the Week

It's really hard to narrow it down to one good recipe... Over the past few weeks, I've been making pretty much nothing I have ever made before.  Thanks to Pinterest and the new cookbooks I got for Christmas, I'm overflowing with good, healthy recipe ideas.

Instead of telling you one favorite recipe for the week, I'll summarize some of what I have made over the past few weeks:

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken:



To be honest, I hated it.  I followed some of the suggestions in the comments section and substituted the cheese soup for cream of mushroom.  I thought the condensed soup made it taste very "fake".  I ended up adding in a ton of diced tomatoes, some tomato sauce, and other ingredients and turned it into tortilla soup.  The tortilla soup was great, but it sparked a great debate in my household... is soup really a meal? I posed my question to my Facebook friends and it turned into a "heated" discussion.  The outcome? Overall, women think it's a meal and men don't.

Crockpot Pot Roast

This was really good.  I made the entire pot roast not knowing Kevin doesn't like it... so I have a TON of leftovers.  Here's to hoping it freezes well.  Sorry I don't have a picture of this one.

Southwest Chicken Wraps (Click the picture for the link)

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Miranda on Pinterest

This was really good as well.  I made my own "homemade" salsa for this which was literally just a can of Rotel tomatoes and fresh chopped cilantro.

Now for my very favorite recipe of the week:

Foil Pack Chicken


I'm guessing you've seen the recurring theme here.. I eat a ton of chicken.  This was such an incredible recipe with such easy cleanup that I know I'll be making it again.  One note, I left out the layer of stuffing on the bottom as I'm not a huge fan (of the store bought stuff anyway).  It saved on some calories too, so that's good.  I used low-fat ranch, extra broccoli, and crumbled turkey bacon as well.  Seriously, try this recipe.

Source: bigoven.com via Miranda on Pinterest

Speaking of chicken... I've got slow cooker fajitas on right now.  Maybe it'll top the list next week.  I'll let you know.

I Finally Gave In....

..... and joined Pintrest.

I created an account a LONG time ago, but I knew in the back of my mind that as soon as I got started, I would become totally obsessed.  I kept hearing more and more people talk about how much they loved it and how many cool Pintrest projects they were working on, so I decided to give in.

Just FYI, I was totally right that I would be obsessed.  It's such a fun website. I think you can learn a lot about a person by seeing their "boards" on the site.  I mean, you can find out what food they eat, what they want their home to look like, and what their personal style is all about too.  Heck, you can even see what their dream wedding will look like! It's incredible. 

One of the best things I've realized on Pintrest is it's a great way to find random blogs that are related to your interests.  I can't wait to start following a few of them. 

Source: crapivemade.com via Miranda on Pinterest

I even found one that is $0 Dollar Home/Craft projects, where you use random stuff you'd find around your home and turn the "junk" into something cool or beautiful.  It's pretty amazing.  I need to find it again, I didn't save the link.  

Anyway, if you're reading this and considering joining... DO IT.  You'll love it, I promise.  And if you need an invite, let me know your email address.