not procrastinating

i feel fat. wednesday wussy for you. as this is not soon to change, i'll leave it at that. moving on...

the law student is stressing something major. bar applications apparently suck. poor thing. keep praying for a job opening!

tax season officially ends april 16 for me. law school graduation is may 8. i'm thinking week-long vacation for me and the law student, especially before he begins studying for the bar. so i'm asking you for suggestions! here are a few of my thoughts:

west coast winery
mountains (though i imagine we'd get bored quickly just sitting in a cabin, so i'd need activities)
LA to visit friends
beach (the law student has never been to the gulf coast. can you believe that?)
asheville, north carolina--visit family, see cool things (this actually needs to be done anyway)
boston, chicago (again) or some other cool city with fun things to do other than shop, cause the law student HATES that. and this is last on my list for a reason, please note. all the others are my top ideas.

so, keep me informed! i'd love your input. what's going on in our country in may that we should see?

texts from last night

anyone ever been here? one weekend in little rock, kayla, amanda, kristi and i spent THREE HOURS reading them out loud and drinking champagne.

today's favorite:
Dude you spent the last hour of the night in the bathroom crying, asking someone why you will never be as smart as Mr.Feeney from boy meets world.

coming in at #2:
he keeps calling me but I'm too scared to answer... Not sure what he's gonna yell at me for: barging into his room while he was with another girl, filling her shoes with dog food and water, or hiding his keys in the garbage disposal.....

the other ones i can't post here. ha!

not me monday

i definitely did not get scolded by a 14-year-old after calling his grandmother a jackass while my window was down, because she was trying to "sneak" her suburban in behind someone i was letting into traffic and scared me to death. i'd never yell at someone in traffic. at least state won the basketball game!

also, i was not at all terrified yesterday when i was one day late. months without getting pregnant: 2.

thought for the day

"The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment." --Hole in the Gospel


happy snowy thursday morning!

wednesday wussy

it's back and in full force.

i have a caffeine-induced withdrawal headache. i only drink one cup of (super strong) coffee per morning, and the occasional coke during the week. so, we're not talking a lot of caffeine intake here. as with everything, this has a story. throughout high school, college and even a little bit after my marriage, i didn't drink coffee. or much, anyway. i did not need it to function, didn't even know how to make it (yes, i was easily outwitted by small kitchen appliances). and it usually made me shaky or run for the toilet (it has since lost that effect, much to my dismay, but that's another story). i did not start drinking coffee regularly until 1) we got a coffee maker for a wedding present (bless you, whoever you are) and 2) we moved to oxford and the law student (coffee freak) made it every morning. thus, the beginning of my friendship with/dependence on coffee. so sunday night, i ordered from alice.com and ordered coffee. went to the kroger last night and although that morning had thought to myself that we needed more coffee even with the alice.com order, i did not get any. and that really sucked this morning.

know what else sucks? getting pushed to the edge of your bed by your dog. the law student last night decided that roxy was cold, so i brought her kennel into our bedroom and we all went to sleep. normally, we close the kennel, but i didn't last night. so at 3 am, roxy wakes me up with whining. granted, she's still in her rox box instead of already on the bed, so she is still a "good dog." i put her in the bed. i jockey for position in my own bed for a good 45 minutes and then around 4 am, she snuggles in between us and pushes me away. so back in the rox box she goes, and i wake up again at 5:40 am. that dog wasn't cold one bit.

let's not even talk about the scale or the waistbands of most of my pants. or that chik-fil-A sandwich i just ate. but that coke sure hit the spot. caffeine crisis averted.

new favorite recipe

i heart rachel ray magazine, most of the time. there's always a LOT of recipes in there, but some of them have so many ingredients that i dismiss them immediately, or sometimes they look too complicated (by complicated, i mean precise). i almost dismissed this recipe for drunken risotto with spinach and sausage because it requires you to stir constantly. but i'm so glad i didn't! below, find the recipe. please enjoy. notes: if you like wine, buy 2 bottles, because 3 cups is almost one whole bottle. and i bet mushrooms would be good in this dish.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry red wine
• 2 cups chicken stock (fyi--outdated chicken broth in the fridge works beautifully)
  
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 3/4 pound bulk Italian sweet or hot sausage (i used a whole pound)
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (i found a quarter of an onion and also used a shallot)
  
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped (i love garlic, so i used about 4 cloves)
  
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 pound spinach leaves, stemmed and chopped (about 2 cups) (i used frozen, because i always have it)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (please. who keeps fresh grated nutmeg? i used ground)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese (or parmesan or something like that)
  

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the wine and chicken stock; keep warm over a low flame.

2. In a large, heavy pot, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, crumbling the meat, until browned, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and season with salt and pepper. Add the warm wine-stock mixture a couple of ladlefuls at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition and letting the liquid evaporate before adding more (this is really really important), cooking the risotto for 18 minutes. (or something like that)
   

3. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the spinach, a handful at a time, to wilt. Stir in the nutmeg. In the last minute of cooking, stir in the butter, then the cheese.

survey and a side note

The Best of '09--thanks, new follower joeli.

feel free to copy and answer for yourself!

1. what did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? started nfp
2. did you keep your new year’s resolutions in '09, and have you made some for '10? can't remember 2009, and the only for 2010 is to not get pregnant, and lose these 5 pounds that came out of NOWHERE.
3. did anyone close to you give birth? jessica and sweet harper belle, and sara with olivia amy.
4. did anyone close to you die? ben's grammi, bless her.
5. what countries did you visit? none. poot.
6. what would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? more motivation and a real-world job for the law student.
7. what dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? oct. 10--little olivia!
8. what was your biggest achievement of the year? not getting pregnant or fired.
9. what was your biggest failure? not staying in shape, learning spanish or painting enough
10. did you suffer illness or injury? an infected cat bite.
11. what was the best thing you bought? yoga pants, plane ticket to tampa and wine.
12. whose behavior merited celebration? can i be generic and say tim tebow? also katie in uganda.
13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? that would be you, tiger woods, speidi, mel gibson, imaletyoufinish west and jon gosselin.
14. where did most of your money go? wine and gas
15. what did you get really, really, really excited about? probably something by rihanna.
16. what song will always remind you of 2009? michael jackson, duh! and lady gaga for some damn reason.
17. compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier, cause the law student only has 5 more months and i discovered textsfromlastnight.com
(b) thinner or fatter? fatter. :(
c) richer or poorer? probably poorer.
18. what do you wish you’d done more of? good, painting, sacrificing
19. what do you wish you’d done less of? talking
20. how did you spend christmas? same as this year--the starkville-columbus shuffle, and then rick's with friends.
21. did you fall in love in 2009? already there
22. what was your favorite tv program? oooh! new favorites LOST, true blood and criminal minds
23. do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? don't know. probably not.
24. what was the best book you read? franny & zooey and animal vegetable miracle.
25. what was your greatest musical discovery? ida maria and the black keys, rediscovered ben harper
26. what did you want and get? skinny jeans and a mirror for the wall, and awareness.
27. what did you want and not get? a more cooperative gi tract, awesome job and family peace
28. what was your favorite film of this year? it really might be sherlock holmes. also, food, inc., the hangover, milk and the spirit
29. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i was 27, and i worked 10 hours and had a dinner i didn't really like and can't even remember what i got from the law student
30. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? seeing more of my friends more often, and a personal shopper
31. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? "anna, i have nothing to wear!"
32. what kept you sane? wine. ha! coming home to the law student, and working out.
33. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? whatever.
34. what political issue stirred you the most? the food industry, adoption and health care
35. who did you miss? jules
36. who was the best new person you met? marty and friends from pilates! anne, stevie and jessica
37. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. you are what you eat.
38. quote a song lyric that sums up your year. ok, i googled that. and still i have nothing.

side note: just a little insight into the female mind. when i say, "honeeeeey, i wish you wouldn't do that on that nice buffet," what i really mean is, "oh my gosh, why in the free world would you do that there? that's a nice piece of furniture! come on, ben, think! think! i know you think you just HAVE to stand in front of the tv, and can't really bear to tear yourself away from it for even just a second, but really? don't tear up the furniture. that stuff scratches."