2012 New Year's Resolutions

I kind of like posting New Year's resolutions to my blog. It keeps me accountable. I guess first, I'll look at last year's resolutions to review.

Kept: Reading a book a month and all my magazines. I started a book club on Facebook and I read 43 books in 2011. Granted a few were via audiobook(hi there, the entire harry potter series), but I more than kept this resolution. Yay!

Kept: Improved my photographer and writing skills. I took several seminars and online classes, and I really feel like I'm making big steps here.

Sort of kept: Keeping to a fitness schedule. I did great till February when I had to travel a lot, didn't do well  till about June, then I worked out 4-5 days a week every week till December. I did a boot camp and I ran a half marathon. I didn't, however, get to my goal weight.

Failed: Well, here's where 2012 resolutions come into play.

1) Balance my time better. This year has been unexpectedly and completely different. My mom passed away in March and I took on all of the family responsibilities that fell on her, in addition to being the administrator of her estate. Zach now manages my mom's bread-making supply store, and we're back and forth from San Antonio to DFW at least once a week. Staying at home on a weekend is a rare luxury. Mainly because of all that entailed, in July I quit my full-time magazine job to freelance. Needless to say, our lives are radically different than January 2011. My work/life balance desperately needs to improve.

2) Be more organized. This is how the work/life balance will change. :-) Zach and I are working together to get us both organized so we cross all our t's and dot our i's, now that we have a lot more on our plates.

3) Travel. It sounds ironic, since we travel every week, but we want to get in some travel for fun this year while our jobs are in a state of flux. We've already booked a short trip to Florida to visit my aunt and get some beach anniversary time, and we're going to New Zealand and Australia for a friend's wedding in March. Other trips are on the horizon, so we'll see where God takes us in 2012.

4) Get settled. Hopefully by the second half of this year, we can return to putting down roots somewhere in DFW.

5) Get fit. I want to get to my goal weight and size. I've slacked off the last few weeks. Makes me sad.  I want to take a consistent stance again and get in the gym/out running. I can do it, it just needs to take priority.

6) Improve my craft. I have a long way to go in photography, and since sharp skills are even more important as a freelancer I look forward to learning more and more through seminars and tutorials. I also got an amazing new camera that gets out of my way so I can take the photos I see in my head!

7) Get another horse. My last horse died in November 2010, and I haven't been able to get another one. I really want to get another horse and stay involved, because this is the first time in 18 years I haven't owned a horse and it's really strange. So, I hope to get a horse this year.

8) Be happy while being a vagabond. Along with this, I want to get this packing thing down pat. We pack every weekend, twice, and it's getting old... it's about to get older, so I might as well embrace it.

I guess those are my New Year's resolutions. Nothing big, right? ;-) Tell me about your resolutions!

Is my man a Dr. Pepper Cute Boy?

So my favorite blog, I Hate Green Beans, has been running a contest that involved cute boys and Dr. Pepper. The perfect combo, wouldn't you say? For September, there are 5 photos competing. The winning photo will be included in an official Dr. Pepper calendar, AND, the submitter wins a YEAR's supply of Dr. Pepper.

So... my husband Zach is one of the photos this month!!! If you feel like it, go comment on the I Hate Green Beans post and vote for him. Thanks! :-) If we win, I'll share our Dr. Pepper with you :-)

Abby

Western Horseman's Women of the West

I'm so excited to share today's post with you. Western Horseman chose to use a photo I took of an Oregonian cowgirl named Mary Anne Black for its column Women of the West in the October issue. This is the first time my work has been published in such a widely-distributed and well-known magazine. You can pick up a Western Horseman at any Barnes and Noble near you. Look for my photo on page 34 in the October issue!

Ellie the soccer star

My husband played in a soccer tournament this weekend. When he got home, our Yorkie Ellie wanted to play soccer too!

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

PF Chang's and Pei Wei make amazing lettuce wraps. I had a craving a little while ago, so I set out to make some of my own. I found this recipe that has a ton of ingredients--all full of flavor and nutrients. I've made some modifications, but the original is from today.msnbc.com - Joy's slimming chicken lettuce wraps.

If you have a food processor it can be fairly quick to make, but since I have a small one, I must admit it took about an hour to make.

One more note--you might experiment with the type of lettuce you use. I tried Bibb lettuce and thought it was too fragile, but iceberg broke up too. I've been told romaine wrap lettuce works, so I'll try that next. :-) Good luck! It's definitely worth it.

serves 4

• 4 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large red bell peppers, seeded and finely diced
• 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and finely diced
• 3 green onions--the white and green part- thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon grated or finely minced fresh ginger. *the recipe called for 2 tablespoons, but one is MORE than enough. :-)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground turkey-- at least 90% lean. *The recipe called for ground chicken, but pound for pound, ground turkey is cheaper, so I usually get that instead.
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup Chinese Plum Sauce
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste such as sriracha--you can use less if you don't want it too spicy.
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted cashews, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro--if you like cilantro. It's optional
• 1 head Boston or Bill lettuce(or iceberg, or romaine wraps... see above :-))

1. Liberally coat a large skillet with Pam and preheat it over medium-high heat.

2. I would pre-dice everything and have it ready. Add the carrots, celery, bell pepper, water chestnuts, green onions, ginger and garlic. Saute, stirring occasionally until the vegetables soften slightly--about five minutes. You can add a tablespoon of water at a time if necessary to prevent scorching.

3. Add the ground turkey to the skillet. Break the meat up with a wooden spoon, and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper. In my case, I had to drain some juice off to keep the filling from being too runny.

4. Add the plum sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and chili paste--stir to coat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until heated through.

5. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in cashews and cilantro. Allow the mixture to cool slighly--about five minutes.

6. Clean the lettuce and break off 12 individual leaves. Trim away the stem end if they are tough. Fill each lettuce cup with about 1/2 cup of the turkey filling.

nutritional facts:

The recipe is confusing unfortunately. I don't know if this is per serving or total. I believe that 1 lb of ground chicken is 640 calories all by itself, so my guess is this is the nutritional count per serving.

Calories – 298 Protein – 27 g Total Fat – 9 g Saturated Fat – 2 g Cholesterol – 80 mg Sodium – 610 mg Carbohydrate – 34 g Fiber – 5 g

The honeymoon: Florence finale

Finally--the last post about the honeymoon. I didn't get them all in before our anniversary, but I did get it in before it's been a year since the end of the honeymoon. :-) It makes sense in my head. Last year on this day we were in Paris!

We took a bus from Siena to Florence, and a taxi to our hotel, Loggiato dei Serviti--located in the historic Piazza SS Anunziata. Our hotel was beautiful. It used to be a monastary, but it's been renovated and it was just wonderful. Our room was spacious with very high ceilings and a 4 poster bed-DAMASK! Just like Marie Antoinette's bed, if you ask me.





They even had drawings of horses on the wall. Perfect!



We decided to see if there were any English movies playing at the movie theater, so we took a walk. In five minutes, we were at the Duomo. In 10 we were at the Uffizi Gallery, and on to the Piazza Repubblica. I lovvvved how close all the amazing sights were.

We didn't find any movies not in Italian, so we just window shopped on our way to our Rick Steves-approved meal spot--Il Pirata. Check it out--purple, so trendy. I love it!





The food was a deli-style buffet with wine and beer and it was very inexpensive.

We headed back to the hotel, and our nice bellboy brought us champagne and roses for our honeymoon. Totally unexpected and so sweet!







The next day we woke up late because I'd begun feeling sick with a sore throat, but we still caught the hotel's nice breakfast. We went out to explore a bit and go shopping. Here's the Duomo!





We found a creperie with tons of Nutella. yummm



And Homer Simpson's Duff beer. :-)



Walked through the Uffizi gallery on our way to the Arno River





My favorite statue in the piazza :-) Love the hair!



The Arno river





We shopped at H&M, Zara and goldenpointe and visited Ponte Vecchio. I got a new outfit and wore it to dinner with our friends Stine and Massimo. They live in Fiesole, and we stayed with them the last time we visited. The restaurant was Ristorante la Giostra. It was in an old building and the tiny spot has tons of character. Lots of photos of the owner and famous celebrities like Brad Pitt, Christy Turlington and John Travolta on one of the walls.



Massimo and Stine.



We had really good wine in a carafe!



Sampler of delicious Tuscan food



my meal- seafood spaghetti



the interesting owner. Look at that jewelry!



tirimasu of course



Zach's dessert.



Our time with Stine and Massimo was one of the highlights of our honeymoon. We love and miss them!

The next day, I took some photo of the piazza just outside our hotel.





totally in love with the hair on this horse!





We went inside the Uffizi--something I hadn't gotten to do last time we came. It was awesome!





Fleur de lis--the symbol of Florence. This is Zach's favorite city in the world. We have decorated our house in fleur de lis because it's connected to both France(my fave) and Florence.



I've decided I love sculptures the most. Especially this one. I loved the musculature.



Another photos of hair on a sculpture. My hair matched so I posed with him. :-)



Fleur de lis



Back in the piazza, I found an Italian carriage horse having lunch.



hii!



We were a bit under the weather, but we went to the Duomo and climbed the dome's 463 steps.



It was a long way up and Zach's not a fan of heights. But the view was SO worth it.











We locked our final lock at the top, overlooking Fiesole.











Don't look down!





Zach got brave and videotaped the entire walk around the top. In the wind!



Here's where i got scared--going DOWN. eek!





Inside the Duomo, we marveled at the ceiling.



Thoroughly exhausted from all the travel and sore throats, we dragged ourselves to a trattoria in the shadows of the Duomo and had some pasta. It was student-centric, but there were lots of American students so they had some interesting touches.

We took a nap, went souvenir shopping for family and ended up back at the same place for our last Italian meal. I had veggie soup. :-)



It was almost fitting, that they aired Walker, Texas Ranger on the tv in the restaurant the last night we were in Italy. :-)



We woke up at 4 am and took a taxi to the airport for our journey home. Here Zach is watching the video demonstrating chair exercises... it was disturbing. Love him though :-)



We arrived home and here is what I saw! That's my work!



Our honeymoon was wonderful. We had a great time and it was a memorable way to begin our marriage. Thanks for sticking through the recap! It's been really neat re-living it through the photos and I hope you enjoyed them. Maybe you will get some tips for a future trip to Europe!