Stocking Stuffer Idea #1: Chocolate Mustache

Chocolate Mustache Candy Mold

I was flipping ever-so-slowly through my new Food Network Magazine on Saturday when I saw an advertisement for Chocolate Mustaches on Sticks.

While the simple fact that it’s a chocolate mustache on a stick might give one pause, I stopped because, well, I love mustaches on sticks. I think they’re the bee’s knees, the apple of my eye, the most awesome piece of awesomeness since the invention of awesome. Why? Because I may or may not have a few wedding pictures out there that contain mustaches on sticks. And because they’re just hilarious.

The fact that Nibbee Chocolate Company sells these little buggers is just too fantastic. They’re not too unreasonably priced either – $1.99 each. Still, I felt like I would need more than just one. I have so many people who could – and should – benefit from a chocolate mustache on a stick. The names that come to mind are too many to be listed, but suffice to say that I feel everyone I know needs to have their own little piece of chocolate facial hair.

What, then, is a girl to do on a shoestring budget?

She’s to make her own, of course.

Enter the idea of Google Searching “Chocolate Mustache Molds.” Now insert the happy dance when I not only found one (HOORAY!) but found that it was priced just as cheaply at one pre-made mustache (HOORAH!) I’m buying it now.

Really. Right now.

Done. It’s bought. I have officially bought a chocolate mustache mold. I might be the coolest person I know. Okaaaaay. Not really.

I am the only person I know that owns this particular candy mold, though. Woot!

Nothing to Do

I am in the midst of a full-blown ode to the awesomeness of finishing all of your household chores in one day. Today, I quite literally get to spend the entire day sitting on my couch and watching movies. The entire day.

I have not done this since….well, probably since the summer. Granted, this is my first week of vacation in what will be four weeks of vacation in the span of two months, but I’m wise enough to know that I won’t be spending all that much time lazing around the house. The holidays are fast approaching, and it’s a truth universally acknowledged in out household that the next four weekends are already booked solid by friends and family. To say that today is a brief respite in the middle of weeks and weeks of crazy is an understatement.

With all of that being said, I still want to fire up my mixer and make some cookies. I’m shaking my head at my own inability to fully enjoy a day on the couch without wondering what I could be doing if I wasn’t busy doing nothing. In honor of this bit of ridiculous workaholism, I have made a list of things I could be doing at this very moment.

1. Discussing the latest Harry Potter film with my sister who lives in California
2. Making whoopie pies for my husband
3. Folding the piles of laundry that have accumulated in my basement
4. Surfing the interwebs
5. Compiling a Christmas list (which has already been requested by four people in my family and it’s not even Thanksgiving)
6. Making a batch of seitan as we have gone back to being lacto-ovo vegetarians
7. Sealing the windows for the winter
8. Unpacking and sorting through my Christmas decorations
9. Attempting to find a location for the rice cooker, glass set, and KitchenAid Ice Cream attachment we received as wedding gifts
10. Sweeping because in a house with three pets and  no carpet, you have to sweep every day

Of course, I won’t be doing any of these things today. Well, almost any of them. I might make some cookies, though. And while they’re baking I’ll sit happily on the couch reading my People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue while praying that the Green Lantern doesn’t totally suck for Ryan Reynolds.

Normal Never Looked So Good

There have been days in the course of the last few months when I felt as if my life wasn’t mine at all. My life, the life that I like to think of in terms of some sense of normalcy, had been taken over by the wedding life which is much, much different. The wedding life is one in which you leave work to go home and work. It’s the type of life where you wake up in a cold sweat and wonder whether or not you remembered to write down the confirmation number for the tables and chairs you ordered from the party rental company. It is the life that, when it finally comes to a close, reminds you of why you love your life so much.

I love the quiet monotony of my life. Or, perhaps not monotony, but the predictability of it. I like knowing that I have 3 – 4 work-related programs a week, but usually only one of them will take place after 5pm. I like to know that the weekend holds two free days, one of which may be taken up by family obligations. I enjoy the notion that I will leave my desk between 5 – 5:30pm and head to the gym for a group class or to the park for a run. I appreciate knowing that my dinner will be served when I’ve finished cooking it.

Where some may look and see certainty and boring, I see comfort and happiness. I am not a fan of drive-thru dinners or microwaved lunches. I prefer to grocery shop at my own pace, not one dictated by invitation folding or envelope sealing. I enjoy nothing better than sitting on my couch in my jammies at 7pm on Saturday reading an embarrassingly thick novel with the fragrance of multiple scented candles and baking cookies filling the air and a Scottish terrier curled up on my feet.

I’m really not complaining. My wedding was beautiful. My reception was perfect. I am married to a man who makes my heart dance on a regular basis, and who is so much more than I ever expected to deserve.

But now? Now, I am ready for my life to be mine again. Mine and his. His and mine.

Ours.

Beautiful You

I may be a bit late to the rodeo when it comes to this blog, but I wanted to share it nonetheless.

As a gal who works diligently to redefine her view of herself, I feel there’s a valuable message to all women on Operation Beautiful’s website. With that in mind, I might need to start spreading some love via Post-It note myself.

Check it out: http://operationbeautiful.com

Happy Monday.

Business, Business, Business

My wedding took place more than a week ago, and yet I have still been off the radar. Sometimes I ask myself if I’m ever really on the radar. But that’s neither here nor there, really.

The reality is that despite our ceremony being in the past, our reception is very much in the future. As is a week of programming at my place of employment followed by five days out-of-state for a conference. Both of those two items are ahead of said reception. The reality is that I’m lucky to have a spare minute to breathe, let alone blog. And I miss it.

The blogging. Not the breathing because I’m still putting in a good effort to maintain that portion of my day in healthy fashion.

To attempt to appease the blog gods, and, more likely, myself, I’m posting briefly today. I’m sharing a picture from my wedding day. The one picture anyone has seen thus far.

Enjoy and know that I will be back sometime soon. Hopefully sooner than later. Hopefully with a fresh outlook on blogging and something important in my pocket to share.

Post of Randomness: Wedding Edition

Today is Tuesday.

I am getting married on Friday.

The following things must happen before this can take place:

• manicure and pedicure
• payment for and obtaining of birdcage veil
• ensuring for the 100th time that my bra does not show due to the low back of my dress
• creation of one bouquet of button flowers
• multiple 3-mile runs to maintain my stress level
• multiple attempts to not break my own leg prior to said wedding ceremony (remind me to tell you all about the slick stairs, the fall, the hairline fracture, and the crutches that happened for my college graduation)
• menu planning for a weekend at home

Yes, a weekend at home. Originally, Shannon and I were going to retire to the country for a relaxing weekend of camping and fishing. That was before my parents’ neighbors decided to throw their annual Halloween party this Saturday. I don’t really want to spend my honeymoon with 40 of my closest and drunkest friends. So, we’re staying home. I mean that in a good way.

I’ll be going apple picking on Saturday morning. I’m making something sinful for dinner that night which we plan to eat in the backyard with glasses of wine and my chimnea smoking away happily to keep the chill off the night air. Sunday we’re headed somewhere for brunch and a hike. I fully intend for it to be an amazing weekend.

I also fully intend to use The Precious. You see, the coworkers gifted me with The Precious last Friday, and I have some Monster Cookies to make as a thank you for such an awesome wedding present.

In a nutshell? There’s much to do before Friday. I can hardly wait.

This Post is About Reading, Not Food

Fortunately, the picture was taken in a restaurant. See, food makes its mandatory appearance!

Today, Shannon and I met with our pastor to discuss our ceremony and put the final touches on what we want for our ceremony.

Our ceremony. It’s just eight days away. At this time next week, I’ll be in the last moments of singledom. Wow.

As we prepped for this conversation, we were thinking of readings we’d like to be part of our intimate ceremony. Corinthians 13 will be part of the ceremony. Such a beautiful commentary on love. Love, not marriage, as Pastor Randy pointed out. Fitting that we should reflect on love in all its forms as we are married with our closest family by our sides. Our grandparents, our parents, our siblings…

After our discussion – unity candle (no), prayer (yes), writing our own vows (no), communion (yes) – Pastor Randy reminded us that if we had any other favorite verses or poems or pieces we’d like read to send them his way. Immediately, I thought of a piece my wonderful friend Steph sent to me a few months ago.

Robert Fulghum is wonderful. I’ll be sending it to Pastor Randy later this evening. For now, you should enjoy. Take a read…

“Union” by Robert Fulghum

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.

Two Posts, One Day

I’m sitting in my office marveling at how I was planning to honeymoon at my favorite campsite an hour ago but now I’m trying to find another honeymoon since there will be a crazy-huge Halloween party going on there the weekend of my wedding.

I was pondering, and I started thinking about dinner.

I started to think about dinner tonight. Dinner on my own for the third day in a row.

I started thinking about the veggies in my refrigerator. And the creamy goat cheese.

I started to think about thick slices of high fiber bread. And tomato soup.

And, just like that, I convinced myself that tonight I will have a grilled goat cheese and veggie sandwich with tomato soup for dinner.

I can’t wait.

Chard

Red Chard

I’m going to reveal my inner 13-year-old boy and tell you that when I see the word “chard” I automatically read it as “chode” which is not the same thing at all. I also giggle. I’m totally inappropriate, all the time.

Despite this fact, I have developed a crush on chard. It’s only two days old, my crush, but it’s been heady enough to mean I’ve eaten my way through a bunch of red chard on my own since Monday. I finished it last night. By myself. In some pasta.

I’m sometimes freaked out by the way that the flavor creeps its way up the back of my throat to attack my nose, but aside from that, I don’t have any complaints. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the red chard sautéed with some garlic, salt and pepper and tossed with a fettucine or spaghetti. Last night, I partnered it up with some roasted red pepper, mushrooms, and zucchini before tossing it on top of a spicy Italian chicken sausage. I have to tell you, everyone played nicely together. It was a delightful dinner I was able to throw together in about fifteen minutes.

So, chard made my week better. I just wanted to share that.

Cook a Little Something for Me, Please

Despite the fact that I know I have no spare time in which to cook tasty things, I’m still eyeballing recipes on a fairly consistent basis. Probably too consistent, actually. If I were to actually make a list of recipes I should make once I get through this period of constant planning and working, I’d have a list as long as I am tall written in very tiny print. Very, very tiny.

In case you have more time than I, and I hope that you do, I’m going to link to some of the recipes that have caught my eye recently. I’ll be envious of your time in the kitchen, believe me.

PW posted her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls, and I kind of want to cry because I can’t make them. Not cry, sob. I want to sob.

The Tasty Kitchen featured Pecan Pie Muffins the other day, and my heart nearly stopped.

I’m dreaming of Joy’s Fried Apple Cakes. Dreaming. And hoping. And wishing.

The fact that I drool when simply looking at A Good Appetite’s Sweet Corn, Bacon and Tomato Tart is proof that I (you) need to make it immediately.

Did you see Smitten Kitchen’s Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto? Yes? No? Go there. You need to see it. I need to taste it.

I also need to taste the Avocado Wasabi Salad at VeganYumYum. How can you say no to wasabi? Really, how?

I could keep posting links. I could post and post and post them until you were so sick of links that you couldn’t stand it any longer. And you know what? I don’t think it could cover the number of recipes I’ve fallen in love with in the last few weeks, but have been unable to cook.

Sigh.

Although, I will admit this to you. Our “camping trip” honeymoon in October is going to be filled to the brim with home cooked meals. My parents’ place has a kitchen with a nice little stove and warm little oven. I’m going to make good use of both.