On Sunday I thought I was going to go nuts if I didn’t eat a cookie! I was too tired (ok, lazy) to bundle up and go buy cookies at the store…then I realized, I had everything I needed to make cookies at home. They were so easy, ready in about 20 minutes, and delicious!! You can find the easy recipe here. I skipped the nuts and added some cinnamon. Mmm…
I then ate at least 11 of these and had a tummy ache…oh well, it was worth it!
xo-j
To my wonderful Dad and brother (sorry a little late on yours Nick) Happy Birthday! Love you both very much! Can’t wait to celebrate at home this weekend!
Yesterday I was home with a sore throat and Jay had his work from home day…the video below was by far the best part of the day (though dinner was a close second)…
Not sure who was more amused here…probably us. The end is the best, notice what has happened to the computer haha…
Man, does he crack us up.
xo-j
I cut my bangs this weekend! I feel like my old self again, but oh man…now I have bangs?! This is pretty much the only news from the weekend (ha). We watched movies (Flight, Argo, Side by Side, Celeste & Jesse Forever), I then cried about C&J Forever for hours, hung around with the puppy, and I cooked a huge meal last night for the Oscars (meatballs, pasta fagioli). It was so nice to have a lazy weekend in the apartment together. Here are a few pictures from the weekend…
(i still can’t believe i cut them…in two days i am going to be whining…but today i love them)
(rondo’s casual sunday: reading rs with his bacon bone)
(my love and i friday night, my 1st shamrock shake of the year, jim james concert)
(jay and i eating friday night…clearly we have different styles)
(my soup that cooked all day)
Now time to research dry shampoo since I have these silly bangs again, and do a good deal of work.
xo-j
Since we just had an extended vacation we are going to forgo a big valentine’s…we’re planning on a nice night of take out and relaxing. I wish Rondo was home though for his first valentine’s day with us, but I will see that little man tomorrow night!
(valentines card for jay)
(my valentines breakfast at work…i had too many)
(i put jays gifts on the pillow while he was in the shower / vday braids)
Wishing everyone a happy valentine’s day!
(MDN – love you 3 more than you could imagine…well, maybe you can imagine, but you know what i mean!)
Pictures of vacation to come later today!
xo-j
We are back! Vacation couldn’t have been better! We relaxed, ate a weird amount of food, drank an even weirder amount of frozen drinks, and enjoyed being in the sun with just each other for 12 days. Yea, that’s right, 12! Nemo (evil fishy storm) had all flights cancelled, so we ended up with 4 extra days in paradise (this is after 8 hours of phone calls with the airline, hotel, and travel company).
I took 400 pictures, not like 400, actually 400. I am going to sift through them tonight and post some of our favorites. In the meantime here are a few from my iphone and at the bottom a video I made (it’s my first try at making one!)…
(don’t worry, we are smoking vanilla cigars from a cigar making thing we went to…nothing naughty ha)
Now back to 3901804 emails and snow.
(M&D&N – thank you for taking care of our little babe. i know he is going to be sad to leave you and we couldn’t be more appreciative of you loving/taking care of him the extra days)
xo-j
Friday I had a procedure done to help with my breathing, or lack of breathing! Over the past couple months I haven’t been able to breathe well causing quite a lot of trouble for me physically and emotionally (I get so scared I won’t get air in!). Hopefully now that the surgery is over, and once I have recovered, I will be good as new and breathing like a functioning human being again.
Thank God my Mom was here on Friday to help me! I was a mess! Bloody nose on the subway, felt like I had been punched 29058035 times in the face, and a bit out of it. I couldn’t be more thankful to have had her with me, I’m a lucky kid…
(lookin fly in my hospital gown…yea…)
After the surgery Mom and I had lunch together at Forcella…it was just the medicine I needed.
(proscuitto, arugula, parm, and mozz pizza…holy cow…and cute mama with her spin pizza!)
Since I couldn’t really go out this weekend, or drink, or stay out late, we had a lazy one. We saw Zero Dark Thirty, ate a ton of delivery, and cuddled the boy…
(hanging with my boys, and the absurd amount of snacks i ate saturday night)
(nail color from santa)
(my crazy long hair…idk what to do with it)
(mural of paradise in my neighborhood…less than 3 weeks till we are here)
Now all I can do is hope I start to feel a big difference in my breathing and I’m good to go!
xo-j
Last night Jay and I decided to go to see Silver Linings Playbook (so good!) at Nitehawk! We love this movie theater! They have amazingly delicious food (clearly the most important part), a full bar (eh maybe this is most important), and its really intimate (not a huge megaplex). Check out their menu here!
(theater, how you order, ticket)
Anyways, we had a great meal (I had shrimp and fried grits oh.my.god.), we loved the movie, and it was a fun night out. Then we got home…
Where this monster had thrown up all over our comforter! YAY! It’s my own fault he overate and looks like he snacked on a toy too…poor little guy. So after a scramble to clean our mattress cover, get new sheets on, and find blankets to sleep with, we were off to bed. Always something right?
Wishing everyone a sick-dog free day!
xo-j
(our orchid is thriving…i have no idea how)
The past couple days have been busy with work for both of us. But here are some pictures of life lately…
(weirdo is obsessed with the butterfly chair. it’s his new hangout)
(he is way too loved)
(erin and i exploring at lunch found a beautiful church and indoor garden to eat our lunch)
(can’t stop eating brussel sprouts…i thought i was going to die i ate so many the other day!)
(it may not be beautiful, but those chicken tacos and beans were so delicious)
(3 more weeks…all we have to do is make it 3 more weeks until we are here ^)
xo-j
This weekend we did a whole lot of relaxing! A fun dinner at our friend’s apartment Friday, movies and fun night in Saturday, and laundry/de-christmasing the apartment Sunday. I think we both needed that kind of weekend.
On Friday I made ziti for dinner with friends and I wanted to share the recipe with you. It is a family favorite and one that I love to make!
ZITI RECIPE
What You Need:
1 – 16 oz box ziti
1 large onion (or two small)
2 tbs olive oil
8 cups sauce (I use original Francesco Rinaldi…any will work)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic (I use a little close to 1 tsp though)
2 tbs sugar
1/2 cup ricotta
2 tbs Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella (I use more like 2 cups)
Pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Finely chop up the onion…
Then cook the onion on medium heat with the oil until soft…stir constantly!
2. In a pot boil water and cook ziti for 10 minutes. 
3. Once the onion is soft, add the sauce and seasonings to the onion (basil, sugar, garlic, I also add a bit of oregano, pepper, and parsley)
4. Cover and simmer the sauce mixture for 15 minutes.
yummy yummy sauce
5. Once the pasta is done and drained, and the sauce has cooked, mix the pasta and sauce in a pot. Add the ricotta and parm and mix.
6. In a glass pan, pour the pasta mixture. I do layers…put 1/2 the pasta mixture in the pan then a bit of the mozz cheese, then the rest of the pasta on top and lots of cheese….
7. Bake the ziti for 30 minutes at 375*.
Here it is…beautiful, delicious ziti!
8. Enjoy with friends…
(rondo and albus loving each other at em & reg’s while we ate)
I actually added chicken sausage for the first time on Friday and it came out amazing! To do this slice sausage into tiny bites (crumbles), then brown in separate pan, and add to sauce mixture for the 15 minutes. It was a new twist and came out really well!
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
xo-j
forEVR and always 