Thoughts about the weather forecast...

I don't know about you but I often find weather.com, The Weather Channel and the weather app on my iPhone all sort of useless.  Useless in the way that looking at them only leaves me frustrated and confused about the most important impact weather has on me as a city-dwelling mom and Realtor.  Quite frankly, what I most need from a weather report is what the weather means in terms of my daily outfit.

I told this to MR this morning and she agreed with me 100 percent! In fact, she suggested that I should look at the weather report and learn to translate it into a daily recommended outfit on rhe blog for other weather-challenged fashionistas.  I imagine the result looking something like this:

Today, January 26 will be snowy but feel relatively warm compared to last week's temperatures.  Because the snow will be wet and heavy, you would be advised to wear boots but NOT suede boots which might be damaged by the moisture.  Patterned, rubber Wellies tucked in skinny dark jeans could prove an excellent choice, however, be sure to wear thicker knee-high socks to protect your toes from the cold if you plan to walk more than a few blocks.  A bright patterned boot will certainly lift your spirits on this otherwise sun-less day.  In choosing outerwear, temperatures will reach the mid-30s translating to a shorter, warm jacket.  A layering of sweater and shirt below should suffice to keep you warm.  We recommend a coordinating scarf and gloves would indeed be handy today!

Don't lose your head over what to wear.  Check
the daily Fashion Forecast...

Snow days can be fattening...

Maybe that seems obvious but I’ve always been possessed with a good, keen sense of the obvious. I’m not sure it’s really a marketable skill but my real estate clients seem to like it. For example, if I’m in a house that smells strongly of cigarette smoke or cat pee, I usually point it out. I just like to be sure that everybody’s on the same page.

Anyway, it probably seems obvious to most people that snow days have the potential to be highly caloric. Especially, if you live with a 14-year old who aspires to have a reputation for being a good cook. That’s one of the things I really love about my daughter (again with the keen sense of the obvious --who doesn’t love their daughter!) but Mary Rollins doesn’t say, “when I grow up I want to be a professional chef,” she just says, “I want people to think that I bake well.” And, let me tell you, she really does bake well. And certainly, there are worse reputations one could have!

The French Toast Source and a
fun read!

As I already reported in on the superiorness of last snow day’s delicious waffles, today was French toast. Not just any French Toast, but cinnamon swirl French Toast adapted from a recipe in a delightful little book called, The Homemade Life – one of Isabug’s favorite books – that I recently started carrying with me to doctor waiting rooms that might have a poor selection of magazines.

On a side note, someone asked me recently what good books I’d read lately and the first thing that popped into my head was The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. It makes me think that I have indeed become a true Mathews – a family known for its serious devotion to food. In fact, my mother-in-law used to write us long letters from Florida about recent meals she’d eaten. Long before The Food Network, these people were foodies. Williamsons on the other hand seem to like to eat but really don’t have a relationship with their food.

Our morning French Toast was, to use a French word, incroyable! Heavy with soaked in egg-y goodness but fried up crispy in at least a tablespoon full of swirled around canola oil. And, that my friends was the secret – not stingily spraying the pan with Pam but generously committing to a full out frying of the bread. Even with some blackened edges this French Toast was superb topped with butter and syrup (or doused liberally with confectioner’s sugar a la Will).

Thank goodness I managed to run a few treadmill miles this morning because I can’t wait for lunch!

Netflix

Isabug, Self-appointed Director of Netflix Promotions

I do hereby publicly and forever declare that we would not have discovered the joy of Netflix without the extreme prodding and promotion of Isabug S. Linaburg.  She was right, Netflix is the best.

That is all.

Best ways to spend snow days...

1.  Writing/blogging
2.  Eating waffles made by MR in her new Christmas gift waffle iron.  Let me tell you, all waffle irons are not made the same. New waffle iron made the best waffle I have ever had in my life.  Truly.
3.  Watching episodes of Lost.  Obsessed.  Which also leads me to say, thank you masters of technology media and entreprenuership for the invention of Netflix.  Marc Mathews even said, "Netflix is worth every penny."  He really did, I swear.  This from the man who uses his iPhone *only* as a phone and email receptacle (although he recently discovered the weather app). 
4.  Making rolled, stuffed flank steak from the Williams-Sonoma catalog.  Not nearly as good as it sounds and a lot of work.  However, it did force me to learn how to butterfly a flank steak (I watched a video on You Tube -- I'm such a geek)   AND cooked leeks.  I am 44 years old and I have never used leeks in a recipe.  FYI, leeks are super-yummy.
5.  Sleeping in a bit.
6.  Selling a house (yeah!).
7.  Exercising in the basement (here's my new winter biking regime with treadmill running.  I ride my old bike on the trainer for 45 minutes while watching an episode of  Heroes -netflix of course,  I ride in different gear for each character as they come on.  I think it might be like a spinning class except I've never been to spinning class).  Yesterday I had time to watch Heroes, I mean bike, AND then run on the treadmill after I finished my bike ride when I found out it was a snow day.  Then I took a bubble bath.  It was like an indoor triathalon. 
8.  Dream of Spring

Oh the irony

Why, I wonder, are the only two available magazines in the waiting room at my dad's doctor's office Plane & Pilot and Golf Digest?

Is there something wrong with stocking a good Vogue or People? I was counting on catching up on some celebrity gossip!

To resolve or not to resolve...

Here’s my problem: New Year’s Day is quickly becoming the distant past and I still don’t have a resolution. I just finished reading a great little book called My Life as an Experiment: One Man’s Humble to Improve Himself by A.J. Jacobs. A.J. Jacobs is an editor at Esquire Magazine and a “humorist” whose most recent book is comprised of ten hilarious experiments he undertook for one month -- things like practicing Radical Honesty, outsourcing his life to India, obeying his wife in all things (I loved that one, she did too) and living George Washington’s code of conduct.

Reading a book like that at the New Year really puts into perspective NOT having something in mind for a New Year’s resolution. Normally, I’m an avid embracer of resolutions and ever-conscious of making changes to improve my life. I have, in my day, made vows to keep my desk clean, exercise regularly, give up diet Coke, use reusable grocery bags, track my work mileage more consistently, make a to-do list every day, not gossip, write thank you notes immediately…. Okay, I have a long list of resolutions I’ve made over the last 40+ years -- some I’ve put into practice with New Year’s, others I work into a Lenten theme and I’ve even been known to practice radical life changes with Advent - when I need an extra boost to do things like make a regular time for writing and/or prayer (sometimes the same thing). Some of the above list I’ve actually accomplished -- for example I never forget my reusable grocery bags and I exercise at least 5 times a week. Some of my resolutions I haven’t kept – my desk is perpetually messy and I love Diet Coke. With baby steps and a regular practice though, I believe you really can change a behavior if it’s important to you.

Since I hadn’t been able to dream up my own resolution for this year, I decided to ask my husband if he was going to make a New Year’s resolution. I’m not above stealing somebody else’s great idea. Marc said, “I don’t do girlie things like resolutions.” Really? Resolutions are girlie? “Yeah, only women make New Year’s resolutions”. For a few seconds, I considered asking if he had any resolution suggestions for me, since I am a girl, but I had a sudden flash of the myriad of ways he might offer up for me to improve as a wife. I figure I’m better off not asking questions about things I don’t really want to know.


Mostly for curiosity’s sake, I thought I would ask my children if they had any New Year’s resolution ideas for me. We were in the car (of course) at the time and Mary Rollins suggested that I could do a better job of learning song lyrics if I was going to continue to sing out loud at anytime in 2011. Will followed up with the thought that perhaps I could resolve not to sing at all. On a side note, he also thinks his sister should make the same resolution.


So, here I am, January 5 and still pretty much resolution-free and pretty much certain that this might be the after-shock of my 2010 policy not to send Christmas cards. So for 2011, I hereby resolve -- Not to Resolve. I’ve decided that sometimes you just need to let things go as they are. I promise to remain open to possibility and recognize the value of change, but I think I shall accept that there might be enough on my plate without undertaking any self-improvement quests, humble or not. Maybe next week, I’ll feel differently and decide that I need good rousing dose of self-improvement but I’ll save it up for Lent. For today, I’m going to be at peace with the person I am and enjoy a Diet Coke at my very messy desk.







If I do change my mind and come up with a REAL resolution, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’m going to keep singing but maybe, just maybe, I’ll try to get the lyrics right.







Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/01/05/1587751/to-resolve-or-not-to-resolve.html#ixzz1ABKUHa8D

Happy New Year 2011

Well...Nutcracker/Advent/Angel Tree/Christmas/New Year season is.over.  Whew.  It was fun.  It's back to school on Monday and back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Okay, not fully back, ballet doesn't start back until January 10.  THEN, it's back to our regular programming.

Happy 2011!  I promise I'll really be back soon...