gingerbread

Stitch Fix, Yoga play and Gingerbread Men

December 10, 2018 by Alicia 1 Comment

After a very long week at work, I came home to an exciting package Friday night. I got another Stitch Fix. It was fun to come home and try my new shirts on. Unfortunately the shirts either didn’t fit well or were ¾ sleeve style, which is not my style. I decided to keep the sweater though (pictured lower right). One thing I didn’t expect and I tried it on first and didn’t expect to keep it, but it was so soft and fuzzy and the only thing I really loved from the box. I think it’s perfect to wear with jeans for a casual look, around the house or even to work. I try to find pieces that have multiple purposes so they are worth the money.

I was so tired Friday night. I ate some leftovers and watched some tv for a while. Finally around 8pm, I decided to get my butt off the couch and do some studying for my final accounting test. I took the practice test and it did not go well, but I decided to sleep and study more in the morning.

Saturday morning I made a good filling breakfast and got to work. I did some more review and then I finally opened the test. It was open notes and book, which was very good. I added to my notes after doing the practice test. I also marked some pages in my book which was helpful. About an hour and a half later, I was done and I did well even with a few guesses. Finally a weight was lifted as I was worried about that test all week. Brian was away for the week to give me time to study and help his mom some around her house. It worked out well.

After my test I headed to Wegmans to load up on tons of groceries for the week and then it was time for my favorite snack plate lunch.

I started to watch a Christmas movie, but then I got distracted and started cleaning and doing laundry. I then made some gingerbread cookie dough and put it in the fridge overnight.

Brian got home around 5, which was perfect for dinner. He picked up some spedie chicken salads and we enjoyed those while watching Nailed It Holiday Edition. Nailed it seriously makes you laugh out loud so much.

At 7 though I was so exhausted. Tiredness just hit me, but thanks to Nailed it for keeping me awake until almost 9.

A good 10ish hours of sleep and Sunday morning I made some pancakes for breakfast and then we headed to the gym. Lately, I haven’t been as motivated and excited at the gym, so I have kind of strayed from my planned workouts and decided that I would just have some yoga fun at the gym Sunday. Brian did his workout. I rowed 500m and then did some stretching and yoga flows for almost 30 minutes. I worked on my arm balances again which I used to practice everyday. I miss having a yoga studio to go to as my favorite one has been closed since the end of September. They are searching for a new location and I have done some yin yoga at another studio here and there, but not enough yoga lately. My goal for this week is to slow down and do some yoga.

After the gym, I had a return to make and also had some Kohls cash to use. I spent it on some more bath towels…yay adulting!!

Then it was time for some lunch, another mix of leftovers to clean out food from the fridge last week. Then it was time to make my annual gingerbread cookies.

gingerbread1 — gingerbread station set up

I forgot powered sugar at the store and I thought well that’s fine because we have made powdered sugar in the blender before. So I put Brian on powdered sugar duty and he makes the frosting, except it turned out a little too thick and it was so hot from being blended so long. It was a bit of a fail and I didn’t frost as many gingerbread men this year as I normally do, but the cookies turned out delicious and I lost count how many I ate.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back. More cleaning because making cookies makes a mess. Then I continued that cleaning spree and going through my suitcases of clothes to try to organize my clothes and get rid of ones I don’t wear anymore. I have a nice big bag of clothes to donate now. Somehow when you put away your clothes and don’t see them for a while, it’s just easier to part with them. Plus, less is more right now.

Annual Gingerbread Baking

December 18, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey everyone!! I can’t believe that Christmas is only 7 days away!! I’m actually flying to Florida on Saturday to spend Christmas with my grandma, mom and sister. I am hoping to have some sunny weather and maybe even some bikini weather to just soak up the sun. I am really missing the sun these days. Go to work right as the sun is rising and leave work after the sun sets…

The winter blues are definitely hitting me hard this year. I think maybe because I don’t walk outside as much as I did when taking the train to work or even just lunch time walks outside around Philadelphia were nice. I could walk at lunch now but it’s not really the same when you don’t have a city bustling with people and Christmas lights everywhere.

Anyway, last week was a fun week at work between Secret Santa, holiday lunch and ugly sweater day. Check out my post on how I made my ugly sweater. Oh and if you are still looking for Christmas gift ideas, I made this awesome Pinterest inspired Spa in a Jar for my secret Santa.

It was so fun doing Secret Santa as some Santas were very creative with a couple gifts and spread them out throughout the week. I got a couple gifts and one was a Teavana tea steeper for loose tea. I picked up some loose tea from Wegmans on Saturday and tried it out and love the cup!! Now I need to try to go to Teavana without spending all my money haha.

Saturday wasn’t too exciting as I just ran errands and had a pretty quiet day. I watched a bunch of Christmas movies and did some meal prep.

Sunday morning I headed to the gym for leg day and a new workout from my coach. My legs were definitely feeling it by the end. Once I came home, I quickly whipped up 2 batches of gingerbread dough and placed them in the fridge to chill. While I have made gingerbread cookies annually for I think 5 years, I never seem to remember which recipe I use, so luckily I have trusty Google to give me a recipe. I also always misplace my gingerbread man cutter. This year I bought 2 cookie cutters of different sizes and I think that worked out well. We also used a glass to cut circles as something different.

In the afternoon, my friend Alicia came over and we rolled out the dough and made the cookies. It was a fun afternoon catching up and eating gingerbread cookies. I didn’t count how many cookies my two batches made and lost track of how many I ate, but they were certainly delicious and my co workers will enjoy some today.

Sunday night ended with dinner and then a quick trip to see some Christmas lights. I am amazed at the houses that go all out!!

It really is starting to feel like Christmas now. I know it may not FEEL like Christmas when in Florida but I am looking forward to some warmer weather and putting my toes in the sand.

What are some of your holiday traditions?

Swim, Potluck and Gingerbread: MIMM#98

December 5, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

Hey there. How was your first December weekend? Mine was pretty good and busy.

Friday morning I was really in a good mood. Brian told me I had a case of the Fridays lol. After Thursday was done and month close was done, I went to yoga that night and it really did make me feel better. I have been missing attending classes since I don’t live near any yoga studios, but I found a nice one around the corner from my office. I like it but it means that I get home around 9pm and then don’t have much time to wind down.

Anyway I only have one more week of work and then work on moving, so this weekend I did a lot of cooking, baking and crafts.

Linking up with Katie for MIMM.

Saturday morning I headed to the pool after breakfast.

I didn’t feel as great as Sunday when swimming. My shoulders started to ache and then once they finally warmed up, my left foot started to feel like it was going to cramp. I took it slow. Slow and steady wins the race. I made it to 1.5 miles and then decided to stop. I just couldn’t push farther and I needed energy for the evening.

2016-12-03-08-26-00 — before last swim at LA Fitness

After my swim, my plans changed as originally I was going to meet up with someone for dinner Sunday, but since she cancelled, I decided to go to Wegmans after my swim and get my few grocery items. Somehow I still managed to spend $50 but oh well. I think I am in pretty good shape for using up most of my items.

The afternoon consisted of making gifts for my co workers (which will be in a separate post this week) while cooking. I also made vegan mac and cheese for the first time. I made this recipe with the cashew base. I also loved how you didn’t have to soak the cashews, but I was not waiting around and already eating a late lunch. I mixed it with some roasted brussels. I always see people mixing mac and cheese and broccoli which honestly doesn’t appeal to me, but I needed to finish my brussels and that mixture was pretty good (even if the picture doesn’t look that appealing).

I also made some gluten free snickerdoodles. A few of my friends are gluten free so I wanted to bring some cookies to the potluck. Also these are egg free, so I enjoyed eating the dough a bit too.

The afternoon flew by and then I changed and headed over to my friend’s apartment for a potluck. I made WAY too much food, but there were 8 adults and 1 kid and we split it, so I came home with just a serving size of each of my dishes left. I made my quinoa salad and brought the mac and cheese and cookies. We had quite the spread of food. From chips, guac and salsa appetizers to bean chili, pizza, quinoa and regular salads and my mac and cheese. Then dessert was cookies, apple crumble, brownies and ice cream (which I can’t have).

We got a lovely group photo and somehow I put on my coat at 10pm and stayed talking until midnight…

On Sunday I slept until about 8 and then got right to laundry, roasting veggies and making gingerbread cookie dough. I then taught my last yoga class before I move. My Tuesday class was suddenly cancelled as I learned last week, so was annoyed by that, but oh well. It was nice to say goodbye to one class.

I came home and made gingerbread cookies. I think I have been making gingerbread cookies for the holidays for at least 4 years and I love the tradition.

I always forget how much they spread and so Brian suggested turning those ones into minions.

That took a couple hours, only fitting 6 cookies on a cookie sheet and then having fun frosting them. After snacking on gingerbread cookies, I decided to eat something healthier, a bowl of broccoli and then cooked up some pork chops for dinner.

As I ate, I watched Holiday in Handcuffs. December is my crazy tv time where I want and do watch sooo many Christmas movies. I have a lot that I recorded on DVDs years ago and love watching them over and over.

At the same time I am counting down to Fuller House Season 2 on Friday. I may or may not be preoccupied by that instead of packing next weekend…

I’ll also be finishing this book this week. I love the book cover!!

Christmas Tree and 70 degrees: MIMM#49

December 14, 2015 by Alicia 2 Comments

Hello everyone and happy Monday! I am glad this is the last 5 day work week until 2 weeks of holidays and nice and short work weeks. This weekend was marvelous because it was nice and warm out and I made my apartment more Christmas feeling.

Friday evening, I got home from work and Brian and I headed out to get a tree. We found a perfect $20 little tree for our apartment.

We then stopped to get some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. The traffic was crazy Friday night and it felt like it took us forever to go the 4 miles to Chick-Fil-A.

We ate there and returned home to watch 30 Rock until we both fell asleep and finally moved to the bed.

Saturday morning we slept until just past 7. I made some pancakes and bacon for us and then we took our time getting moving and eventually headed to the post office around 9:30. I mailed some Christmas gifts and then we ran errands and stopped at the mall for lunch.

When we got home, I made some flourless blondies for my potluck. They turned out well, even though I used a blender. Then we made a quick trip to the grocery store.

I was so tired after all the running around that we took an hour nap, hung out and then drove to the city for my potluck with my fellow yogis. I finally had a reason to wear my new sweater dress except that it was 65 degrees out so I wore it and just didn’t need a jacket. We took a group photo but I don’t have a copy yet.

Sunday was laid back, though I headed to the gym in the morning. Then I made the dough for my gingerbread cookies, my annual tradition. It was nearly 70 degrees (well I heard we reached 72, breaking a record) and I put on my flip flops and tank top and got in some yoga outside. Is this really December?!?

We spent the afternoon in Peddler’s Village walking around the cute little shops. Of course we had to get cupcakes and they had a spice place were I picked out a chocolate sugar spice. YUM!

All the restaurants were packed and it was only 4pm. We ended up going a bit down the road for food, but were a bit unsatisfied. The prime rib was pretty dry that Brian got and my pizza was soggy.

I got home and baked my gingerbread cookies which didn’t turn out as planned…maybe I needed more flour and to make them a bit thinner…They were still tasty though.

Then it was time to pack a lunch and watch another Christmas movie on Lifetime and wind down the evening.

Do you have any Christmas traditions of baking cookies or anything?

Was the weather warm by you this weekend? I certainly enjoyed it.