Friday's Letters

Hallefreakingluja, it is finally Friday!!!!! I am so ready for this work week to be done. And on that note, it is time for Friday's Letters. 

Dear Auditors,
Oh I am so glad that you are gone after today. Two weeks is long enough. And I am so glad that you won't be back for a whole year! Don't get me wrong, you guys are nice enough, but you make my job not so much fun for two weeks.

Dear Weather,
Make up your mind. 65 degrees one day and then snow the next? Figure your crap out and decide on a season please. I don't care which one you choose, just pick one!

Dear Self,
Remember that the next time that you decide to do 100 crunches on the ab machine at the gym, that you will be hurting and extremely sore the next few days.

Dear Self Again,
I am very proud of you for getting back on the treadmill and running another mile. And even more proud of you for beating your last mile time by 15 seconds.

Dear Salt Lake City,
Please be a blast. I am so excited to see your city and to watch the Rapids win, so please don't disappoint me.

Okay, that's all I've got for today. My brain is kind of fried so I am having some trouble even coming up with actual thoughts. I keep thinking of something to say and forget what I am thinking halfway through. Yikes! I definitely need a very low key, relaxing weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!

Salt Lake City!!!

A week from tomorrow, I will be heading to Salt Lake City with two of my best friends. Roadtrip!!

We leave next Friday for a fun filled soccer weekend. We are making the 10 hour trip all the way to Salt Lake City to see the Colorado Rapids game. Why? Because we can and because we might be kind of crazy. And probably because we actually know one of the players on the team. 

Of course with a road trip, there is a little bit of planning involved. Not a lot, but a little. We have to start planning out what kind of snacks to bring in the car, where we should make our stops to eat and get gas, etc. And of course one of the more important things, what we should pack. And for my friend Kristen, the packing part is always a little difficult without my help. 

Ever since we were in High School and going to Cheerleading Camp, Kristen has always required my help to pack for trips. Why? Because if I don't help, she forgets lots of things. So I found this conversation rather funny.

Like I stated, I have already started the packing list. And next week, you better believe, I will probably be at her house Thursday night before we leave, making sure she has everything. What are friends for, right?

I am really excited for this trip. This is the first road trip I have been on since College. And to tell you the truth, I kind of miss this type of thing. Driving for hours, listening to music, the ridiculous conversations, all of it. So it will definitely be nice to have a fun weekend like this. Especially with how crazy things have been lately. It will be a nice break away from everything.

Eggplant Parmesan

Hey guys! Yesterday I was telling you about how I tried Olive Garden's Eggplant Parmigiana and was surprised to find that I actually enjoy my homemade version opposed to theirs. 

So, I figured I would share my recipe with you guys. Well, actually it's Whole Food's recipe, but either way it is delicious!

Ingredients

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick pieces(about eight)
2 eggs beaten with a fork
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 jar of pasta sauce of your choosing
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees with your baking sheet inside the oven.

-Cut your eggplant into your slices

-Coat your eggplant slices with egg and then cover with the panko bread crumbs

-Once your oven is preheated to 375, take your baking sheet out and cover it with the 2 tablespoons of evoo.

-At this time you will also need to turn your oven up to 475 degrees. 

-Then place your eggplant slices on the tray in a single layer and bake for 15 minutes. Then take them out and flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes.

-Once you have baked the eggplant slices, it is time to assemble everything.

-In a casserole or baking dish, pour your pasta sauce in the bottom. Now I have tried doing this two ways. One time with the entire jar of sauce and the other time with only about half of the sauce. The half sauce attempt was way better. When you use all of the sauce, it kind of drowns everything else out. But, it really is your call. 

-After the sauce is in the bottom, you will then place the eggplant slices in the dish on top of the sauce, in a single layer. 

-Then you top it with cheese and you can either do another layer if you have enough stuff or you can put it in the oven.

-Bake at 475 for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.

-Take it out of the oven, let cool and then serve and enjoy!

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as the Husband and I have so far!

Weekend Recap

My weekend was uneventful yet fun. 

Friday night I went home after a long week at work and we made a delicious dinner and just chilled out on the couch and watched some movies. I think I even went to bed early. Like 10 early. Yeah, I was that worn out. 

Saturday for the most part was another lounge around day. We caught up on a lot of our shows that we hadn't had time to watch. And then later in the afternoon, I actually pried myself off the couch so that I could get ready to go watch the Rapids game with my friends. 

After a stop at Starbucks, I headed to my friend Matt's place where I was meeting him and my other friend Kristen. We headed downtown to Jack Quinn's Irish Pub for the Rapids Season Opener Watch Party!

It was very loud and crowded, but it was a lot of fun to watch the game with a bunch of other fans. Unfortunately though, they did not win. They lost by 1 due to a ridiculously stupid error on the goalie's part. But, they looked great and I can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings. 

After the game was over we went to Olive Garden for dinner. I ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana to see if it was better or worse than mine that I make at home. I am happy and sad to report that I actually like mine better. I'm happy about it because well, mine was better. But I'm sad about it because I paid $12.50 for something that I could have made at home for way cheaper. 

Sunday was pretty laid back again. I spent the first part of the morning go through all of our old mail and various other papers. I got everything organized and recycled/shredded that needed to be and everything else was put in an actual place and wasn't just thrown about. 

After that I went down to visit my Nieces and my Brother and SIL for a little while. We watched the Redwings game for a little bit and then I headed out so that I could go do my grocery shopping. 

I did my grocery shopping then headed home. We unloaded everything, had some lunch and then pretty much just vegged out on the couch the rest of the night. We caught up on some more of our tv shows. We also watched a couple of things on Disney World, which made us want to go back soooo much! We may or not be trying to figure out how we can plan another trip back within the next few years. 

So that was the extent of my weekend. Pretty low key. Pretty relaxing. And it was just what I needed. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Friday's Letters

Happy Friday!! It's time for some Friday's Letters with Ashley from The Sweet Season.

Dear Best Friends,

I love our random Facebook posts. They make my day and make me miss you guys so much more. 

Dear Snow,

You can stick around as long as you like. It has been nice having you around old friend. 

Dear Work,

Thank you for finally slowing down. I am finally able to catch my breath and it feels great. I have actually had downtime and have actually been getting things done. It's great!!

Dear Rapids,

Please win this weekend! I am so excited to watch the game. And you winning would make it that much better!

Dear Car,

I know you are tired, but I really just need you to hang on for a bit longer til we can afford to get a new one. 

Dear Makenzi,

My oldest niece, you are getting so big. First you lost your first tooth this week and then you did amazing in your school musical. I am so proud of you baby girl! 

Dear Kelsi,

My middle Niece, I am not sure where you get your fashion sense, baby girl. I know you are only four, and love to dress yourself. It's adorable now, but in a few years, an intervention may be necessary. 

Dear Rylei,

My  youngest and newest Niece, just when I think you can't get any cuter, you do! I love you baby girl! I can't believe you are already crawling. I can't wait to see more of your milestones. Like your first steps! And your first word!

That's all I've got today. I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

And don't forget, if you would like to help host my giveaway please contact me by this weekend. For anyone who helps host, I will place your blog button on my sidebar for the entire month of March. It's kind of like free advertising. So if you are interested, contact me!

Random Thoughts On Thursday

Happy almost Friday everyone!!! I have seriously been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to come up with a topic for a blog post today and it just isn't happening, so instead you get some very random thoughts for today. 

First, I can not tell you guys how excited I am that the Colorado Rapids Season Opener is this Saturday!!! Eeekk!! I know haven't talked about Soccer much, but over the last year, I have really gotten into the Rapids and I love watching them play. And once you learn what is going on in the game, it is actually very entertaining. 

My Gilmore Girls obsession has gone to a whole new level. I recently started re-watching the entire series and I am realizing that I have watched this show sooo many times that I am starting to remember lines in episodes. Whoa!! But, I love this show and it makes me laugh uncontrollably, so I will continue watching it for probably the rest of my life. 

Whoa babies! I feel like over the past two weeks, the blogosphere has exploded with baby announcements. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy for those expecting, but it catches you off guard when you see like three a day! And I'm not going to lie, it also makes me slightly jealous because they get to do those cute bump update posts every week. I can't wait to be able to do that. But don't get any ideas family and friends, it isn't happening any time soon.

Things have FINALLY slowed down at work, which has been really nice. But I think all of these long stressful weeks are starting to catch up to me. I feel a sickness coming on and it feels like it is going to be a doozy!

I really need to take a weekend and just come in and re organize my entire office. I can't handle how unorganized it has become since I took over some of the HR duties. I am going crazy and if I don't do something about it soon, I am going to freak the eff out. And hey, it might give me another reason to buy more office supplies :)

And I am soooo sorry that I have not gotten my 100 followers giveaway up yet. I am seriously the worst. Every time I get a chance to start getting it all put together, some other thing comes up. I promise, it will be soon. And I am still looking for people who would like to help host. Contact me if you are interested!

Okay, those are all of my random thoughts for today. I hope you all have a fabulous day. And remember, tomorrow is Friday!! How can that not make you excited?

Placebo Effect

I am pretty sure almost everyone has heard of the Placebo Effect. And some people will say it works, some people will say it doesn't.

As of right now, I myself believe that it does work. Especially in the case of my dog, Louie.

I told you guys about how he kept getting sick. Well this last time around, I told the Hubby that I wanted to try something once we were done giving him his medicine. I wanted to keep giving him a very small piece of cheese at the same time everyday to see if it would create a placebo effect. Cheese is what we were told by the vet to put his medicine in. So we wanted to see if he associated the cheese with feeling better.

So every morning he runs down stairs because he knows that he gets a piece of cheese. And every night when we get home and let him out of his kennel, he runs down to the fridge, because once again, he knows that it is cheese time. And it has been over a week since we stopped giving him his antibiotics and he has yet to get sick again(knock on wood). Yay!!!! But now that I think of it, he may just have us trained, haha!

Now I don't know if it is the cheese or if the antibiotics finally did what they were supposed to (I'm going to say it's the cheese). It may even be a little bit of both. All I know is my pupper is feeling a million times better, and I am glad to have the little teddy bear full of energy again!!