What's cookin' Wednesday

I've missed blogging! I won't bore you with excuses, but we all know how crazy life can get, and mine definitely gets that way sometimes. Oh, and there's that little thing of me being pretty lazy, too. That kinda puts a hiccup in things occasionally.

So it's Wednesday, and that means FOOD around here! Well, today, it's going to be more about food/kitchen organization than actual food, but you gotta get your kitchen in order to have an easy breezy prep and cooking time, right?

First thing's first...meal planning. I've been doing it for about a year now. I did it for two main reasons: so I wouldn't feel so CrAzY when I went to the grocery store, and to save money. Yep, if you have a very set list and know exactly what you need when you set foot in the store, you WILL save money. I guarantee it*

So this is what I do. It's simple. First, I make a list of all the dinners I will make for the next week (I only meal plan one week in advance. Some people do much more...more on that in a bit). Then I think about who will be home and what they will need for breakfast and lunch. Then, I think about the ingredients I will need for these meals, and make my list accordingly. Brandon is my "checker." I sit regally in my chair and call out ingredients to him and he dutifully checks cabinet/fridge/freezer to see if we have said ingredient. If not, it goes on the list. Ta da! Meal plan made; grocery list made.

A friend of mine, Lena, made this INCREDIBLE meal plan calendar. Someday I want to be like her. (I want to be like her in more ways that just this meal plan. Let's just suffice it to say she's kinda awesome.)

How cool is that?! Yep, pretty cool. (I must ask her about lentil tacos. Sounds so interesting!)

Onward to kitchen organization.

Disclaimer: I have none of this awesomeness in my kitchen. This is simply a dream of mine. This all comes from my "Smart Organization" pinboard on Pinterest.

**Sigh** Don't you just wish?! And if you have any of this cool organization stuff in YOUR kitchen, don't tell me. It will just make me hate you.

So, it's off to the races for me on this Wednesday. Have a wonderful day!

*No guarantees are actually made. I will NOT refund money you don't save or anything crazy like that.

Hobbies, old and new. And obsessions.

   Thought I'd share with you all a couple things that are a big part of my life. Some are VERY obvious, but some you may not know about.

   Let's get the obvious out of the way. Digiscrap. I love it. Like really, really love it. It's creative, beautiful, and I've met some wonderful people through it. I'm not going to post favorite layouts or anything, you can look back through my old posts and see tons and tons of stuff I've created. I DO want to mention some of my favorite digi people, though.

Tiff at Dotted with Dots (the MOST INCREDIBLE minimalistic LOs you'll ever see. Seriously. Did you know one perfectly placed picture, with just the right elements is pure bliss?)

Deb at Starlight-Creations. (She's my bestie. My BFF. My girl. That's that.)

Favorite digi-stops... Polka Dot Plum, Sweet Shoppe, Scrapable, The Digichick, Scrap Orchard, Digishoptalk,  Me So Scrappy. Love all these places!

Mars at scrap.teach.rant. (Great scrapper and all around fab lady)

   Next obsession: contemporary a cappella music. Have you even heard of that? I'm sure you know what a cappella is (singing without instruments), but contemporary a cappella takes it a step farther. These groups are truly bands, with every instrument done with the voice only. Drums, guitars, horns....the whole nine yards. Some of you know that I'm a singer. I sang all through high school and my college years. I miss it a lot. I miss being part of that community and I love the high of singing in front of people. It was a real joy. Anyway, if you don't know anything about contemporary a cappella, I have a few examples and starting points for you. First off, check this video out. This is the group Duwende. Lemme just say they are amazing...one of the best groups out there!! This is a great example of contemporary a cappella.





Another resource I love for contemporary a cappella is a podcast I listen to every week, Mouth Off!
They talk about what's currently happening in the a cappella world and review a record every month. I wanted to mention a big thing happening in the world of a cappella. Have you seen the NBC show "The Singoff?" It's been on for two seasons right around Christmas time. This has really brought a cappella into the mainstream and we're all looking forward to a new season starting in a couple weeks! With a cappella being kind of a niche "thing," this show is especially exciting to me, because I know a lot of the people that work behind the scenes on the show! I can't wait to see their names in the credits when I watch it. And, of course, I can't wait to hear the amazing music coming out of their mouths, too! Here's a favorite clip of last year's show, just to give you a taste.




And I have another video that is my favorite, because it's so good, yet it's so hilarious, that I want to share. Since I've already showed 2 videos, I'll just link you to it. But watch it. You WILL NOT regret it. Pour Some Sugar on Me by OTR.

   Okay, next on my obsession list is crocheting. I just learned how to about 2 weeks ago and I've actually made time to practice! My friend Val had a little crochet party, with her, me, and our friend Stacey (together, Val and Stacey make the photography duo that take our awesome family pictures every year), getting together to eat good food and learn my new obsession. We had a great time, but I picked it up rather slowly LOL. I learned one stitch and brought my "project" home and practiced until I felt like I had mastered that stitch. But the problem came when I thought I was ready to try a new stitch. Val lives too far away for us to just pop buy each other's houses, so she tried to teach me by just telling me what to do...yeah, that wasn't working for my thick head. So I popped on YouTube and found a quick and easy video showing me how to do it and I picked up that stitch, too. So now I know the single and double half crochet stitches. I'm practicing those stitches until I have them down pat and then I'll learn another one. From what I hear, there are only like 6, so I'm already a third there!

   Last but not least, my Pinterest obsession. Have you heard of it? Pinterest is a place to...store your visual ideas you see online. It's the ultimate bookmarking site. Check out my boards here. You set up different "pin boards" and pin stuff you see around the internet into one place where all your thoughts can come together. I'm probably not describing it's awesomeness well enough, but I really do love it. Not only do I draw digital scrapbooking inspiration from it, I get recipes, house decorating ideas, photography ideas, craft ideas....on and on. You follow people's boards that inspire you and people in turn follow your boards. If you think you might like it, send me your e-mail address and I'd be happy to send you an invite. Come join the madness!!