Off to the Beach

Darrell is off to NYC to see the second to the last Yankee's game at Yankee Stadium (vs. Orioles) and I am off for a girls weekend in Delaware. I haven't been to the beach once this summer!

Stay Tuned for photos posting either Sunday night or Monday.
No worries..you won't be seeing me in a swimsuit!

Have a good weekend.

Yummm..going to a football party? Try this.

Alright, so I made this recipe last year at Thanksgiving and I have been thinking about it ever since. It is a great thing to take to a football gathering. If you think the garlic will be too overwhelming, don't worry, once roasted it is not nearly as strong. Cooking Light Nov 2007.

Roasted Garlic Sun Dried Tomato & White Bean Dip

1 head of garlic
1 cup water
1 (3.5 oz) bag sun dried tomatoes, not packed in oil
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 15.8 oz can great northern beans (rinsed & drained)

Preheat oven to 375.
Remove papery skin from head of garlic but keep the last layer on that holds all the cloves together. Wrap in foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until soft. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, separate cloves, and then squeeze soft centers out into a bowl, discard skins.
Bring water to a boil in saucepan. Add tomatoes. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes for tomatoes to soften. Strain tomatoes from water, saving a 1/4 cup of the liquid and tomatoes.
Place the garlic, tomatoes, 1/4 cup water, oil and all other ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
Can be stored for several days in the refrigerator. Serve with bread rounds or crackers.

Welcome to Football Season!
Steph

Things are getting better...the new me (a sore one).

Hey something good always comes from things...that is what I always say!! (ok most of the time).
Today, while I am doing work at home at 8 PM, I am not stressing about what I have to deal with tomorrow when I get to work. In addition to working more closely with my boss, I have the opportunity to take on fewer projects. I am looking forward to the new move broadening my experience with one more food company. It should let me do the extra stuff that I like.....in addition, one never knows where my wonderful husband will take me. While I am not one big on women's lib, I am resigning myself to gaining experience and not bringing home the big pay check. So many people told me that you don't stay at McCormick for the money...I see that now, but I don't regret the move. D has gotten so much out of it!!!...and me too. I truly love what I do but if my brilliant husband finds a position in Chicago, no holding back...go for it! FYI...blue box company is headquartered there, ironic only..... but D LOVES!!!!!!! Chicago. It is a little close to my family however. Don't get me wrong, I love the family. It is just a pain mustering up the travel guts to go to family for holiday's when you really just get used to sitting around watching movies all day when it is just the two of you. If we had kids it would be different. Also, Chicago is sooooooooooo cold! I am not sure I can deal with that.
Anyway, just wanted to post and say things are going well this week and I have found the new me. FYI...Monday the slave driver brought in Panera Bagels and Starbucks Coffee for everyone for breakfast as a thank you. I am sure that some of the folks found no appreciation in such offering but you know I can only do so much...now get back to work!!!
Also, this week we start touch football and fall softball in addition to 6 more weeks of training for my half marathon (13 miles for those of you who don't commonly study distance running) . Holy cow, I could hardly move yesterday. 8 miles on Sunday with Football practice in the evening. Then Monday, softball. Tuesday another run. Tonight I am taking a night off.....man I am sore!!.but getting skinner! Gotta love that silver lining. Seriously..how is it possible that my breast bone could be sore from throwing a football, in practice even?
First softball game??? 22 to 4! We kicked butt. Thank goodness, spring and summer were a total downer! Darrell is doing Football, Softball, and Volleyball. He eats a ton anyway and has a metabolism of a 25 year old so...whatever...it frustrates the hell out of me. But then again, I do eat for a living which is likely not helping. One wonders why I have to have three sports to keep me in shape.
Anyway...til Sunday...SAD.

Everyone Needs a Fresh Start

Start A-New.

This week, although only a four day work week, has been extremely long and eventful. Tuesday began with an announcement with a department reorganization...with me taking on new responsibilities and me moving on from my old accounts. Kraft is my new focus. With that comes one person reporting me too. A good move and much of the business supporting me in my new move, yet difficult to give up my previous accounts to someone who lacks the 60 hour work week and the motivation to put in the extra effort. However, now is not the time to jeopardize one's career advancement. It seems that it is an opportunity to take the advantage to work on less project load and focus on people, with home life and work-life balance included. I have always been a singular person, developing products, working with customers, and organizing customer visits, etc all on my own. Now, the actual number of projects should be lower with more complexity and longer time lines on each, allowing me the time to come home at 5 pm with more travel here and there. This will also give me time to develop and work on my, obviously, much needed people skills. Unfortunately, it has hit home this week that our technicians think I am an unsympathetic slave driver. A quality that I must improve, in my opinion, both at home and at work. I need to focus on people's feelings more. Hopefully this new position will give me the opportunity to focus on what I need to advance most, my ability to be a nice person, professionally, believe it or not, not- not one of my strengths. My goal in life.....NOT TO BE LIKE MY FATHER!!!! (While externally percieved as a wonderful person, internally, a mess and a psycological mind game to those who he was closest to). As a recent personality analysis so blatenlty put it- "if you are not valuable to me- I'll cast you aside"- extremely harsh but until I heard it, sadly very true. Now you can see where the work-a-holic part comes in. Here is where a fresh start, a turn of life, and new "me" comes into play......Cheers- Here is to personality improvements! If that is even possible. Stay tuned for the ability to truly take a step back and look at where are we in life? Where do you want to go? What do you hope to accomplish?.....P.S....I go through this phase every 9 months or so...but never get the guts, nor courage, to actually change jobs, update my resume, consider a second hobby, ect....just bear with me..it will pass. I'm taking advantage of the true idea behind a blog, except you guys actually know me.



Stay tuned for a new background next week. A 1/2 marathon theme? A 911 theme, Or a Rain theme?



It is raining cats and dogs here with tropical storm Hanana.....so far...not worth the hype!.

Scattegories Continued

First off- Congrats to Jen & Matt!!!
So it's been a whirl wind of a week.
I've had a customer in two weeks in a row now. Thank goodness that project is about done...Stay tuned for your next new convenient meal snack.
Training for a half marathon in October...humm 4 out of 5 workouts accomplished is better than I thought I would do. How I ever had time to train for a full before is beyond me.
Saturday we had another house hop. Several houses, each has a theme. People host with their house as a stop, some sponsor and bring the food. This time around we did traditional picnic type items. Of course we were house two (Infamous Watermelon Salad and a Fresh Berry over Nillawafers with Whip Cream). Clean, clean, prep, shower, walk a dog, people here!...crap there is a load of laundry still on the bed (shove that back in the drier), cat puked..great,...clean that up...crap, forgot to put make-up on! Yikes! Let's not try and scare them all away.
Sometimes these are more work than it is worth for people to say "your food is great and your house is awesome". I am steering clear of hosting the next two! Man did I have a headache by the end of the night!
Anyway, this coming week is also packed. Second customer in from Tuesday through Friday. A's in town Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday is our first Fall Softball Game.
Looking forward to doing nothing on Monday..except a 7 mile run!

Inspired by Misty, Scattegories Continued. ...dare you to try it yourself!

What's my name: Stephanie
4 Letter Word: Shop
Boy Name: Steven (My name if I were a boy!)
Girl Name: Samantha
Occupation: Saleswoman
Color: Sea Blue
Something you wear: Sandals
Beverage: Sangria
Food: Strawberries
Something Found in a Bathroom: Scrunchie
A place in Illinois: Shoe Store (you didn't say it had to be a proper noun!)
Reason for being late: Slept late
Something you shout: S*IT (unfortunately, I should think before I say this as often as I do!)

My Friend Teddy

Theodore Roosevelt once said....

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

This is my short post for this week. When caught in a cross roads in any matter, at any point in your life you must remember these wise words. What is the worst that could happen? If you never try, you'll never know.

I first heard this quote from my college rowing coach. If you try your hardest when running, rowing, or swimming the worst that could happen is that you end up last. Is that such a bad thing? In my opinion it has only made you stronger for your next challenge.

If you have a dream, don't sit by and watch t.v., do a little bit of what you love everyday.

August is Awesome!!

Well I survived...I turned 35!!! yesterday. Yikes! and yes...I know the clock is ticking. Someday I'll be able to decide on that important commitment. Although seeing Darrell with Tyler and Zac at my sister's wedding reception proved that he is just a kid at heart. They gravitate to him. It sounds silly but I had a great day. I worked til 6 but got word that my job will be changing in the near future, for the better. Darrell treated me to a glass of champagne, a very funny Hoops & Yoyo card (if you know me, you know I love these guys), a new Nike i-pod pedometer, and an awesome Strawberries and Cream Cake from CakeLove. I can't even describe how good this cake is. Then we ordered pizza and watched the Olympics. Tonight we will go out to dinner.......ahhhhh he is such a keeper!

So this is such an exciting month...Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa. You are awesome role models for us. You are such wonderful people and we all aspire to be with our other halves so happily for so many years. It starts as best friends, that is for sure. We love you both!

Then Big Al...Man Happy Birthday. Lovin' your classical music stint lately. Hoping that So. Cal is treating you well and soon you will find that lucky gal. I know we are all lookin'. You're brilliant.

Who else? My sister, as you know. My brother in law. I know we have a few kids in there too.
We share birthday's with the likes of Madonna and Napoleon Bonaparte are know for being creative but demanding people that love to be the center of attention..me...nooooo...shocker!

The end of my Cheer's for the week....love you all.