ONE
Seattle has been having a really, really mild winter this year. While it’s been kind of alarming (where is all the snowpack in the mountains?! what does this mean for summer and water supply?! and wildfire season?!) I know there isn’t really anything I can do about it so I’ve been soaking up the sunny days to the fullest extent (YAY SUN OMG BEST WINTER). Also, SAD seems to be at an all-time low this year in Seattle, so that’s amazing for everyone too.
Last Saturday was particularly sunny and warm (64degrees!!! In March!!!!) so I took advantage all day. Dustin and I woke up early after a homemade pizza Friday date night and walked up the street for brunch with all the beverages (water, coffee and a little booze X2). I then walked around Greenlake with my friend Kate before going shopping at the outdoor mall, University Village, with Natalie and Danielle. We ended the day by having GIRLS NIGHT in Ballard. There were martinis then French food for dinner and a fun bluegrass band after. Sidenote: throwing espresso in a fire is never a good idea. Don’t ask me how I know.
TWO
Sunday was sunny and warm too. I had some very important shit to get done, so I opened all my windows and my door and I turned on Netflix and binge watched the entire first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It’s good, guys. I also finished (a million hours later) my super-cool paint by number, which is now, obviously, very proudly displayed in my office:
THREE
Sunday I also became even more of a crazy cat lady than I already was. Right before I opened my door to soak in all the warmth and fresh air, I hear meowing outside. So I opened the door to see what was going on and a ginger cat ran inside, through my living room, to my bedroom and jumped on my bed. WTF cat?! I chased him out and he continued to meow outside. So I went out, discovered he was friendly, checked him for fleas, then let him in because he was DYING to get inside. No idea why he chose me, but I like it a lot. His name is Oliver and he belongs to a neighbor down the street and he is SO sweet. Guys, I contemplated shutting him in my apartment and keeping him forever.
I left my door open the rest of the day and he would come and go as he pleased. He would disappear for about a half hour then come back for some pets and to lay on my couch or bed for a few minutes before going back outside. I love him.
Sometimes when I would pet him he would grab my hand with his little clawless paw and pull it in towards him and give it a lick and a snuggle. I died, you guys.
Then, on Tuesday, I got home and parked and saw an orange cat on the sidewalk and ran to it. The cat was so not nice and it hissed and swatted at me and I wanted to cry. So I went inside and got some pulled pork from my fridge and went back outside and upon further inspection this cat didn’t have a blue collar or any tags, and it was still really mean, so maybe it was Oliver’s evil twin? Either way it hurt my feelings. Come back Oliver!!
I bought fancy organic snack treats at Whole Foods yesterday in case Oliver ever decides to come back and visit.
See, crazy cat lady status, for sure.
FOUR
I recently got another book from Blogging For Books. Soul Food Love by Alice Randall & Caroline Randall Williams.
The first 70 + pages of the cookbook are all about the author’s family history. The cookbook is a compilation of recipes from 5 kitchens, 3 generations and 100 years. As a bonus (in my eyes) many of the recipes have been made healthy, which is what really appealed to me about this book.
I really like the fact that a lot of the recipes call for ingredients that are easy to find. In addition, the recipes are somewhat familiar but they aren’t necessarily recipes in my normal repertoire. I have quite a few of them dog-eared to try soon. Most notably, I’m excited to try the sweet potato broth (instead of veggie broth/stock in a soup) and the black-eyed pea hummus. YUM!
FIVE
I’m constantly trying to eat healthier and eat less sugar and drink less alcohol and exercise more and all of those things. For me it’s a constant balance between wanting to be healthy and wanting to live my life, sort of a balance between I have my shit together, I should have my health together too, and I have my shit together and I work hard so I should be able to eat/go out when I want and also, YOLO.
I feel like I generally do a pretty good job. I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule (eat healthy 80% of the time, YOLO the other 20%). Although some weeks it’s more like 60/40. So is life I suppose.
This week I was craving sugar SO HARD. I don’t know if it was because of the time change or because of that time of the month or what, but the night of the third day (after not giving in at all) I finally caved and justified it by making cookies and saying at least that was better than going out and just buying FroYo or a piece of cake or something. Also 3 days of intense sugar cravings are dumb and I just wanted them to stop.
Anyway, that was a really long winded way of telling you about the cookies I made. They’re so, so easy and so good. Like pretty much the perfect peanut butter cookie – a little crunch, a little soft, chewy, great flavor - but with only 4 ingredients. Here’s the recipe I used, in case you’re interested:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of peanut butter (I used creamy)
1 cup of sugar (wondering if you could use less and achieve a similar result?)
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
WHAT TO DO:
Mix all ingredients together, drop balls of cookie dough a few inches apart onto a baking sheet, use a fork dipped in water to make crisscross smooshes on the the top of the cookie.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350degrees for about 10 minutes until they start turning slightly brown (mine were closer to 12 minutes, but I think it probably depends on your oven and the size of your cookies).
Please let me know if you decide to make them.
What have you guys been up to lately?!
^^giant Mexican beers and nachos for Beth’s birthday^^