Snow!

I had such a great Friday night - in its most simplest form! I was going to meet up with some friends for a game night, but snow was in the forecast, my office closed early, I ran some errands and when I got home, the flurries were falling (faster than they ever do in Tennessee!) and it was all too tempting to just stay put, change into pj's and crawl under a blanket on the couch. I was able to catch up with my favorite girl, Lisa, in China, watch a movie and I even pulled out my old N64, snowboarded & had some James Bond action. I turned off all the lights, lit some candles, and enjoyed watching the soft, sparkling snow falling just outside my windows (for those of you in the north - I'm sure it's not quite so "magical", but getting 3" here is a monumental occasion!) before falling asleep.

This morning I slept in (yay!), made a delicious & nutritious breakfast, worked out, started some laundry and finished unpacking and organizing some remaining items. Can I just say how much I am loving laundry right now? I know this will definitely pass, but my new washing machine came last Saturday (the dryer came the week before) and it is amazing. It's super quiet, very efficient and it even plays a song when the load is finished. I'm not kidding! I was taken off-guard when it happened the first time! I also finished up my "menu" for the week, created a grocery shopping list (organized by the order of the store - I know you guys do that too!) and in a few minutes I'm going to take a glorious hot bubble bath before getting myself ready for the day.

Speaking of my menu & grocery list. I discovered a fantastic new "tool" this week. As far as I know, it's only available for a mac, but I'm sure they make something equivilant for a PC as well. I know it may seem crazy to be single and planning a menu for the week, but anyone who wants to eat healthy and make good choices really has to have a good "system". My system has come in the form of a software program called the "Organized Gourmet". A little at a time, I've been typing in all of my recipes (healthy only). From that point, I can just drag & drop the recipe into the system's calendar and it creates my weekly menu. After that, I just highlight the entire week and click "Add to Shopping List" and it creates a grocery list for me. In the grocery list, I can categorize each item by department (Vegetables, Fruit, Canned Goods, etc.) and then export the grocery list into a text document that I can print off and take with me to the store. It has a few kinks that I'm still working out, but for the most part it is absolutely spectacular. On top of that, I ordered these so that I can just cook on Saturday or Sunday, divide everything into portioned, freezer-ready dishes, so that when I'm in a rush and heading out the door to work, I can just grab & go! So, I've got some cooking to do this weekend, but I'm looking forward to getting into a rhythm with this so that I can just cook 1 day every 2-weeks. I may need to invest in a small deep-freeze for the garage, but that's what craigslist is for! :)