A World of What-Ifs

This past week I came down with a virus and had a terrible cough that kept me up half the night. I took nearly everything I could think of to get sleep and nothing seemed to help. I went the traditional NyQuil way for a few nights and experienced my usual cough medicine crazy parallel universe dreams.

I had several dreams this week that were like the Friends episode where all the characters were living the life they could have had mixed with the ghosts of Christmas Past. Rachel was a crazy housewife, Monica never lost the weight from her childhood, and Phoebe was a stressed out business woman.  And I had dreams that involved all three in my own life – so weird.

First, I had a dream that I stuck with the whole corporate marketing thing and it took me to live in NYC where I worked constantly and made lots of cash, but had almost no social life to speak of. I was fulfilled in my professional life, but I had no strong personal relationships. Funny moment in the dream was when I went to work with my hair in curlers (WTH, I don’t even wear curlers in real life) because I was so overworked and tired. It was a little extreme, but it made me think of what-if I had pushed harder when I graduated and dedicated my life to a career.

The second night I had a dream that I married a previous boyfriend. This would have ended in catastrophe in real life, and it certainly did in dream world. The dream was so awful and vivid and I was going through the divorce process. The kicker is that I hired my real husband (who has never had anything to do with a divorce case) to be my attorney. And then we fell madly in love like Harry and Charlotte from SATC, but with less Judaism and body hair.

Then I had the third dream – which was that I never lost my baby weight. Not only had I not lost it, I just looked like I was 9 months pregnant all the time. People kept coming up and touching my belly and congratulating me on my unborn child that didn’t exist. What kind of crazy is this?!

Now that I am feeling better, I can laugh at all of these dreams and remember that I am so happy that my life didn’t work out the way I had planned it to (minus the infinite pregnancy).

Resolutions and Reminders

So here we are – new year, new goals. Last January I was so incredibly pregnant and getting very ready to be over that stage in my life. I have to admit that I miss it sometimes, especially when I have a baby that refuses to stay still for even a minute. He was a big kicker and mover, so I should have seen this coming!

I have a few resolutions for this year, but nothing unattainable. Instead of thinking of super crazy goals, I decided to make a list of how I wanted to feel and what I wanted to improve on.

 

Here they are:

Healthy – I want to live a healthier lifestyle. My body went through the ringer during the holidays and it is still not back to normal. I’ve lost 2 of the 3 pounds I gained, but I still feel a little bogged down. Not to get all gross and too personal, but the food and junk has made a poo baby in my tummy that doesn’t want to leave. My goal is to get back to eating more natural foods and less processed junk. And less sugar. That’s the hardest because I love live for treats. I would like to tone up this year and I am counting down the weeks (7 yikes!!) until I go to Vegas with Trevor and friends. I want to rock the two-piece without the constant thought to suck in or wear a cover-up.

Organized – I live for lists. Unfortunately, I have to realize that not all items get checked off anymore. My goal is to set up a schedule that is easy to follow and doesn’t make me crazy. I am also going to be pre-planning meals in a more efficient way. I want to maximize the use of food I buy and waste less of it.

Social – I often complain that I get lonely sometimes being the only young mom I know, but I don’t go to any events with other moms because I am too busy with work or going to the gym or cleaning, etc. I have no excuse because I belong to a few mom’s groups and I am constantly getting invited to events. I am going to commit myself to one mom’s group event per week the next few months to see if I can make any new friends.

I know this is a few weeks late, but I have been focusing on my resolutions and have had less time to blog :) What are your resolutions and how have you been doing keeping up with them? Any advice on how to make sure I keep mine??

Checked Out

Since I have been on a break from my regular job for a few weeks, my entire life has changed. I’ve not only checked out from that responsibility, but from most others in my life (including this blog). I think I have needed a bit of a mental check-out for the past few weeks with the craziness of the holidays and the new year starting and all the stress that I’ve been accumulating on my shoulders.

I have made resolutions for this year – some big, some small. I will have a separate post about those babies.

In the meantime, I now have a 10 1/2 month old who is inches away from walking and is teething again this week. Jackson is now about 20 pounds or so, and has recently had a big growth spurt in length (but not in weight – skinny mini). He is wearing 12 month sized clothing and size 3 shoes. He eats like a little champ and experienced cheese for the first time this week! He was spoiled rotten at Christmas and is loving all of his new toys – but mostly his VTech Sit-to-Stand Walker. There is a little telephone that comes with it and he has started to put it to his ear and talk! Taking after Momma for sure!!

Here’s to my little man – we are really closing in on the 1-year mark and Momma is starting to think about birthday plans for you!

…and, I’m back

December has been the month of non-blogging for me. I have just been focusing on other things and it felt nice to take a little break the past few weeks while other areas of my life went haywire. Nothing huge in particular has happened, but it seems like the days have flown by and I am now left with lots of unwrapped gifts and around 5 pounds to lose before my January vacation!

We had an amazing Christmas – it was simple and fun to hang out with family. Jackson is one loved little boy, and I am certain that his first Christmas was more than he could handle! He has had enough of all the people and the noises and the lights, and we are looking forward to getting him back on a schedule once all of our visiting family is gone.

I am getting pumped to celebrate New Year’s, though we don’t yet have set plans. I’m sure that we will have a lovely time and I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for our family!

I will be in and out this week too – lots of clean-up and back to the gym and continuing to check-in with my ideas for New Year’s resolutions.

This break has given me a chance to think about what I want this next year – whether to continue working or to be at home with my baby full-time. It’s a tough call either way, but I am closer to making a decision and hope that my heart leads me in the right direction!

Here are some photos from our holiday celebrations:

Happy Holidays!

Tabitha

Absence

I’ve just realized that I haven’t blogged in forever! I have been so caught up with the girls that I coach as well as lots of random errands and events and such that I haven’t really thought about blogging. Do you ever have weeks like that? Weeks that just seem to get away from you and when they are over, it’s like they almost never happened because it’s such a blur!

I keep telling myself just to get through this week and life will calm down. Five weeks into saying this, I’m realizing it’s not true! Christmas is right around the corner and I have barely done any shopping. I better get on this!! I also have family coming into town, and even though I love it, it’s stressful to have to entertain them sometimes. I know that anyone reading this can relate. It’s so much go-go-go when my family is around and by the time they leave I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!

This week I am focusing on getting my house ready for my sister’s arrival, as well as a holiday party that I am hosting next weekend. I am thinking of doing a blue/silver/white theme for decorations, but I need some ideas. I’ve turned to (what else?!?!) Pinterest for some inspiration and this is what I found:

 

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So I’ve got a good start. Any other ideas??

 

Have an awesome Sunday :)

Buffalo Chicken Mac-N-Cheese

 

I love comfort food and I really seem to let myself indulge in a LOT of it this time of year. I have been hankering for some macaroni and cheese and decided to combine buffalo chicken with it.

Here’s the basic recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1 lb medium shells (I used whole wheat)
• 1 Vidalia onion
• 2 cups chicken breast, cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup hot sauce (I love Franks Red Hot Sauce)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup sharp yellow cheddar
• 1 cup sharp white cheddar
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 4 strips cooked bacon, diced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the shells to al dente – about 6-7 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Place 1 cup flour in a shallow bowl and beat the egg in another bowl. Coat the chicken in the flour, then egg, then flour again. Cook in pan with oil, about 3 minutes each side.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of flour with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the milk, then add 1/4 cup hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheeses, then whisk in the sour cream until smooth.

Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta and bacon. Place the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.

Toss the cooked chicken with the remaining 1/2 cup of hot sauce and then put the chicken on top of the pasta.

Put the remaining tablespoon of butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Stir in the panko,  and blue cheese. Sprinkle over the macaroni and bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle chopped green onion and a few spurts of hot sauce and devour!

Enjoy!! I love this recipe and made two batches the last time I prepared it. Both were gone in one week!

 

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Randoms

I’m feeling the randoms today – my mind is a bit fried out due to work and Christmas planning, and having a 9-month-old shadow, so this is all I could come up with! I can imagine that everyone out there can relate with not being able to stay on one thought or project for long. That’s my day today!

So here are some randoms/random thoughts I‘ve been having the past few days:

I can’t get enough bacon. I don’t know why I am craving it. I think it’s because I am trying to get in shape for my trip to Palm Springs in January. I had turkey burgers (healthy enough) and then slathered on three pieces of bacon. Umm… kind of crossed out the healthy. Today I will be having a BLT for lunch. I am craving bacon so bad that I had a dream about serving my BLT to Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. And he loved it, of course.

My child refuses to play on his own the past few days for more than 5 minutes. He doesn’t want me to leave his sight or to be involved in anything but paying all of my attention straight to him. Can we say needy? I am relishing in this phase as much as my patience will allow me because I know that soon he will be much more interested in bugs and cars and other friends and someday other girls. So even though I am loving all the extra cuddle time, it makes for getting anything accomplished pretty much an impossible feat.

I keep thinking about starting an Etsy shop full of my creations – headbands, bags/totes, pillow covers, necklaces, etc. But then I freak myself out with thoughts of failure and that no one would like my stuff. I know that failure is not trying at all, so I know I have to do it at some point, but it’s SO scary!!

I can’t stop thinking about cutting my hair short. And then I have to talk myself back into reality – which is that I HATE my hair short. Absolutely cannot stand the grow-out process. What do you think?

I just started re-reading Breaking Dawn. I really love that book, but was so disappointed with the movie (Part 1) that I feel like I need to remind myself that I still like the book. This will be the fourth time I’ve read it. I know, I’m lame.

We just booked our hotel for Las Vegas in March! I am so excited to go and this time we are being joined by a bunch of our friends so it will be awesome. I am hoping that I overcome my unluckiness by then. I am incredibly unlucky. I never win anything. I swear that I enter so many giveaways on blogs and I have never won a single one.

It’s snowing outside, which means that I will not be leaving my house until absolutely necessary. I like the snow from a distance. Which makes me wonder why I have committed myself to learning how to snowboard this winter.

What are your randoms?

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