Husband Cooks.

So last weekend while I was working, Clinton decided to go through my newest Food Network magazine and pick out some recipes. He drafted a meal plan and went shopping for everything before picking me up at work later in the day. Since then, he has been cooking every night while I have been working on some crafty things (that will have their time on the blog at a later date!). I just wanted to brag a little bit and show y'all how lucky I am to have a husband that cooks just as much as I do - and he's pretty good at it!

IG photo of the white board in our dining room.

Sunday - Spicy Pasta with Tilapia

Review: We didn't dislike this dish, but we didn't love it either. Despite our best efforts, neither of us is a huge fan of tilapia, and we agreed that he should probably have only used 1/2 the box of pasta, since using the whole box absorbed a lot of the sauce. It was a perfectly acceptable Monday night meal though - and when I went to clean the dishes after my shower, I saw that he had already done that too. SCORE!

Monday - Salmon and Curried Lentils

Review: I loved this! Honestly though, I love salmon (it's probably my number one favorite food) so much that I will love any dish that has it! According to Clinton, this was his first time eating lentils (hint: it's not. I use them sometimes in soups, and to bulk up other dishes like tacos or certain crock pot meals), and he liked them. He said they tasted like "earthy oatmeal" - I personally thought they tasted more like beans, but either way, it was very tasty. The salmon was perfectly cooked and flaked effortlessly. Despite eating a snack after work, I still managed to clear my plate on this meal which NEVER happens. I was very full, but it was worth it!

Tuesday - Pork Chops and Pineapple Salsa with Jasmine Rice

Review: Very tasty! I'm not the world's biggest fan of pork so we rarely have it, but this was quite good. The pork chops and pineapple were grilled, and the pineapple salsa was made with some Chinese five spice which gave it a really nice, subtle heat, which was perfectly balanced by the slight sweetness of the jasmine rice. The pork was cooked to perfection and did not dry out at all. The pork chops were HUGE though, so I only ate 1/2 of mine. This is the only meal that I "helped" on at all, and really it was only because it was convenient - while Clinton was outside grilling, I was inside baking, so I cooked the rice on the stove top.

Wednesday - Turkey and Quinoa Salad

This. Was. AWESOME! I really love love love Mediterranean style food - I love eating meals that are lighter and with lots of vegetables - it feels nourishing, but then doesn't feel like it's just sitting in your belly, and this was the perfect meal for that! For plating he layered all the components, and then when I was eating it I just made sure to get a little bit of everything in each bite. It was filling and so so so good. Oh! And I forgot to take a second picture, but after I started eating it I remembered that we had some feta cheese in the fridge and thought it would enhance the dish, so we both added some of that to our bowls. DELICIOUS.

Thursday - BLTs and Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

Review: The BLT wasn't from a recipe or anything, it was just a BLT - But he toasted the bread, so major bonus points for that. I love toasted bread for sandwiches! The main part of this dish was the Sweet Potato Salad, and it was good! It tasted pretty vinegar-y so I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like that, but I do so it worked! I didn't eat it all just because I wasn't very hungry.

- - - - -

And thus ends this week's adventures in Husband Cooking! Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being a little spoiled this week!

Recipe - Parmesan Penne with Broccoli and Kielbasa

Last night I threw together this recipe for a quick and easy supper. My sweet husband helped himself to no less than three servings of it, so I figured it was blog-worthy!

Ingredients:

- 1 package turkey kielbasa sausage
- finely shredded parmesan cheese
- ricotta cheese
- broccoli (amount is totally up to you)
- your preferred pasta
- dried italian seasonings (basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley)
- extra virgin olive oil
- butter

Directions:

1) Pre-heat a large skillet and add a drizzle of the olive oil. Get a small pot of water boiling on another burner.

2) Open your package of turkey kielbasa, and slice it on the bias. (This stuff is pre-cooked and I usually don't buy it, but it was BOGO at the store last week! I usually buy uncooked chicken or turkey sausages so if you have those on hand that's fine too - just cook them first, and then slice them and add back to the pan.) Add the sliced sausage to the pre-heated pan. Add ~2 tsp. of italian seasonings. Stir occasionally, but allow the sausage to brown a little bit.

3) Meanwhile, while sausage is browning, cook your pasta. I only used 1/2 a box of mini penne. You can use any pasta you like, but I like this one because the penne gets sauce in the middle of the noodle for some extra flavor, plus is's substantial enough to hold up to the sausage.

4) Steam a bag of broccoli. Confession: I just used one of the microwave steamer bags of broccoli because it's way easier than dirtying another pan. I always have this on hand because we love broccolil in our house.

5) Drain pasta. Add cooked pasta and broccoli directly to your pan with the sausage. Add the following ingredients:
- 2 heaping Tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2 heaping Tbsp ricotta cheese
- 2 Tbsp butter
- salt and pepper
- drizzle of olive oil

6) Mix everything together, pile your servings up in a bowl, and top with more parmesan cheese if you like. Enjoy!

Yield: 4-6 servings, depending on your portions.

Sorry for the instagram filter, I didn't remember to take a regular photo!

This recipe is great because it literally takes about 10 minutes to make from start to finish. Even if you used uncooked sausage it would still probably only be a 20 minute meal, so it's perfect for a worknight. You can add other veggies to it too if you like (I think next time I'll throw in some fresh spinach) or tweak it to your taste. It would also be good meatless (I like to refer to myself as a part-time vegetarian), but definitely might need more veggies to bulk it up.

Also, as a small aside - there is a small possibility that last night was the peak of our boring-married-coupledom. There is a slight chance that I prepared and ate supper before 5pm because I was tired and wanted to go to bed really early. That might have happened. Maybe. I'll never tell.

Easy Isn't Always Easy.

You know how there are things that every able-bodied human should be able to do? There's always at least one guy who, despite the odds being stacked in his favor, just simply cannot do those things. I think I might be that guy.

I was thinking about this last night as I fell asleep. I had a traumatizing experience at work yesterday that brought it to light. I was coaching one of the reps on my team, and at the end of our session (which went very well, and ended on a high note), he laughed and put his hand up for a high five. My stress level went from about 2 to 10 in oh, I don't know, half a second. Why, you ask? Here's the dirty truth:

I am terrible - terrible - at high fiving.

COME ON. Who can't high five? Me. I can't. I can't high five. I had a moment of panic trying to decide whether I should go for it or not - I did, but it was weak. I am totally incapable of giving the cool movie high fives where you run and smack someone's hand and it makes a totally sweet noise. Unless you want to lose an eye, don't ever expect an enthusiastic high five from me! I high five the way I imagine cotton candy or marshmallows or cotton balls might high five. My high fives are full of fluff and trepidation, and they certainly don't leave a lasting impression. I mean, of course, unless I really go for it, in which case I'll probably get my thumb stuck in your nose. It wouldn't be pretty. So I just stick with my fluffy fives.

Don't ask me why I am so bad at this - I don't know. My husband teases me mercilessly for it but I'm not even mad, I totally deserve to be teased for that. It's not like I have bad aim or my depth perception is otherwise off so I seriously don't understand where it comes from - and the ridiculous thing is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Someone goes for the high five, I get nervous and overthink it, and then I totally butcher it thanks to my flying hand anxiety. RIDICULOUS. I can't even deal with this.

Another example I can think of off the top of my head is a word that I can't pronounce. I can NOT say horseradish. I mean, I can say it if I say it reeeeeeally slow, but I can't say it the way that a normal person would just say an ordinary word. I always say HORSHradish and I annoy even myself with that. Maybe it's because I grew up with an English teach for a mom, but mispronunciation of words really bugs me, so the fact that I do it myself irritates me more than I can even explain.

I also can't whistle, but I don't think that's quite as outrageous as the other two, so it barely made the cut for this entry.

Honestly, I don't know how I get through life. #failure #hashtagsdontexistonbloggerbutidontcare

On the other hand, my adorable husband cannot say abominable - so at least I've got that one thing on him.

What about you? Anything you should be able to do but can't? Seriously, I'd love to know so that I don't feel ridiculous out here on my own in Not-A-Successful-Human Land.

30 Before 30

Here's something I've seen floating around the blogosphere lately - it's basically a Bucket List for your twenties full of things you want to do before you turn 30. I've been working on this list for awhile and I think I've got it narrowed down now, so I'm gonna post it here and occasionally re-post as I knock things off the list. I turn 30 in June 2016, so I've got some time to do this stuff. Hopefully my blog will still be around by then!

1. Get a 2^nd dog. Emmy needs a friend!

2. Host a New Year’s Eve party.

3. Buy a house.

4. Have a baby.

5. Play my saxophone in public again.
6. See a Mavericks home game.

7. Visit Mount Rushmore.

8. Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

9. See a waterfall up close (not a tiny one).

10. Hike the Grand Canyon.

11. Cut my hair short again. Done! See here.

12. Vacation in Seattle.

13. See P!nk in concert.

14. See Prince in concert. Done! But I haven't blogged about it yet.
15. Take a real road trip. The several stops, drive for at least 10 hour stretches kind.

16. Complete Couch to 5K.

17. Vacation in San Francisco.

18. Learn to play the piano.

19. Make an apple pie from scratch.

20. Make every single recipe from at least one of my Bobby Flay books.

21. Read 50 books.
22. Touch a manatee.

23. Pull an all-nighter, just to prove to myself that I still can.

24. Build something from scratch, all by myself.

25. Get a new tattoo.

26. Host a fancy sit-down dinner party, with Beef Wellington as the main dish.

27. Buy a new car.

28. Visit at least 3 more MLB stadiums.

29. See a live comedy show.

30. Visit either a brewery or a vineyard/winery.

Short hurr, don't curr!

I used to have hair down to the middle of my back. Used to. And then I chopped it all off! Well actually, my stylist Heather chopped it all off.

I've had a pixie cut before, and that time, my hair was even longer - almost down to my butt, and I hacked it into a suuuuper short cut - even shorter than what I just did. I maintained that cut for about a year and then grew it back out long again. It only took about 2ish years or so to get long and I've just kept it at the same length since then, but lately I'm just tired of it! I thought about cutting it into a stylish raxor-cut bob, but decided to just go whole hog. Last Monday when I walked into the salon for my appointment, I asked my stylist, "So, you ready to do something fun?" Suffice to say that she giggled through must of the cut! And even after she cut off my ponytail, the rest of the hair that ended up on the floor was a pretty epic amount.

Everyone keeps asking what made me decide to do it and mostly, it's because I just got tired of it! I live in a desert that gets to like 115F pretty regularly in the summer months, and I am over it! I swim a lot in the summer and not only is it a total pain in the ass to wash my hair every day, but it's also not healthy for it to wash it and dry it and straighten it, which I do almost every time.

Why would you heat style if you know it's bad for your hair? Why, let me show you.

Because this is ridiculous, that's why!

So I chopchopchopped it! And now my hair takes 5 minutes to do instead of 40 minutes to do! WHOO! Can't beat that.

And now, time for a little show and tell!

Before - with and without my glasses - and it's longer in the back than the front.

My inspo was Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) wife, whose name I can't remember at the moment (Elsa something), but isn't she gorgeous?? I took this little collage into the salon and told her to cut it sorta like that, and just fit it to my face, and that I wanted shorter bangs than Elsa, like the picture in the upper right.

So she cut it! When she first styled it at the salon, I wasn't super sure if I liked it or not... but it's because she blow dried it and styled it with a round brush.

"Matronly" was the word my husband used when it was all sleek like this - OUCH! Haha! I told him to never say that word to me again! =P

Later that night before going swimming, I messed it up a little bit and played with it - it was looking a little better w/ the slightly more messy style, but I still wasn't totally sold.

I've taken too many photos of myself today! Time to start pulling silly faces!

Finally, after we got home from swimming and I showered, I messed with it some more and put a little product in it so I could make it more piece-y, and that was MUCH better! So that's how I have been styling it over the last week.

Right on track!

Before and after, bespectacled.

Before and after, two eyes only.

So there you have it! Pretty dramatic difference, huh? What about you, have you ever done a major chop? Tell me about it!

Down for the count. Dun dun DUN!

So in my last post, I mentioned a couple of times that I had some strange and unexplained bouts of exhaustion and nausea last week surrounding my birthday celebrations. As I was writing that post, I thought that to an outsider, there would probably only be one guess regarding those little tidbits, but let me clear things up: there are no Baby Reissigs in the immediate future! What there was, in fact, was a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Boy, doesn't that sound dramatic! I do tend to lean towards hyperbole (although maybe not quite as much as my all time favorite blog, Hyperbole and a Half), but just this once I'm actually not stretching the truth at all - my diagnosis quite literally was TBI! So let's rewind a bit here.

On Saturday, June 1st at work, the metal door of a hanging filing cabinet slipped off its track and fell on my head - hard. Have you ever been hit so hard with something that it didn't even hurt, just kind of dazed you? That's what happened to me. I teared up, not from pain, but just from the sheer force of it conking me in the noggin and causing my eyes to water. It happened early in the day, probably around 11am, and right before I was getting ready to go heat up some food for lunch, so I kind of just shook it off, went to the breakroom, made a few calls and ate my food and forgot about it. Something else exciting happened at work that day (a scorpion fell out of someone's pants while we were chatting at my desk! It was crazy!) that kind of distracted me and made me forget about even hitting my head, so when Clinton came to pick me up from work I just told him that story. When we got home I went to get a snack and hit my head again on the freezer door, so I got frustrated and almost cried and decided to just go take a nap because I felt like I was having an off day. Luckily, nothing bad happened when I went to sleep because I didn't know at the time that I had a concussion! When I woke up from my nap I was ready to enjoy the long weekend ahead of us, since we had taken off Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday I was so dang tired all day - we went to a movie and maybe shopping or something, I really don't remember, but whatever it was, it wasn't much - and I wound up taking another nap. Later on I was talking to my mom on the phone and my step-dad told her to tell me to make sure that on Wednesday when I returned to work I should file an incident report since I got hit in the head and might have a concussion. At the time, I still didn't really feel any different other than having a headache, but figured I still would just in case. Monday was my birthday and like I mentioned in my last post, it was good and a long day, but about halfway through the day I had to go home to take a nap, and in the evening when we went to go out to eat, I ended up having to stay home because of overwhelming nausea. Clinton suggested I drink some water because I might just be dehydrated from walking around an outdoor mall earlier that day, and I did, but at that point I remembered what my step-dad had said and started to wonder if I did have a concussion. Tuesday was a bit more of the same - feeling a lot more tired than usual, and being pretty convinced I had actually hurt myself and needed to go to a doctor, but we had my niece that day and I was more focused on her. We spent some time at the pool, watched Monsters, Inc., and ate gelato.

Wednesday when I got to work I felt fine, but a couple hours in I was feeling just awful - I was waiting for my manager to get out of a meeting, and as soon as she was at her desk I went to tell her about hitting my head on Saturday, and that I thought I needed to go to the doctor because I was really not feeling good. She had me call to file a workman's comp claim and request leave if necessary, and she looked up an urgent care for me to go to that was approved through the worker's comp. While I was on the phone answering a ton of questions, my condition rapidly deteriorated. I started to feel like I was losing it - I kept having to ask her to repeat things and when she asked me a question I just sat there for a minute waiting for her to ask me the next thing because I thought I had answered it, I got so nauseated that I almost threw up in my trash can, stuff like that. So obviously things were not right, so my boss told my husband (luckily we work together) to just take me straight to the urgent care right then. When we got there they asked me a bunch of questions, did a vision test, checked my balance and reflexes and a neurological exam and I'm sure some more stuff that I can't remember - and then they told me to stay home from work, and return on Friday afternoon for a follow-up with the doctor, but in the meantime, they wanted me to go to the ER for a 2nd evaluation and a possible CT scan.

After a short wait they took me right back and I had to answer all the same questions for the 3rd time that day, and they re-did the same evaluative tests that I had done at urgent care. I saw two doctors there and they said that they didn't feel a CT scan was necessary because they would be doing it to check for a brain bleed, and since the initial injury had occurred 4 days prior and I was still standing there talking to them after going to sleep and waking up several times, the chances of me having an active brain bleed were extremely slim and they didn't recommend subjecting my body to that much radiation if it wasn't needed. So, after all that, I was discharged with a diagnosis of TBI with brain bruising and delayed onset of post-concussive symptoms.

At least now there was an explanation for all my necessary naps and ruined birthday dinner! By this point I was feeling pretty rough, so we went home and got fast food for dinner because there was no way I was cooking, and Clinton wanted to just get me something quick and easy so I could go to sleep.

I ended up having Thursday and Friday off but those days don't really need a recap, as they were extremely dull and filled with bed rest. Let's just say that I don't think I'll have a desire to marathon Bridezillas any time soon! But my puppy was in pure heaven, since she got to lay around cuddling me all day! Friday afternoon when Clinton got home he took me in for a follow-up where the doctor cleared me for work Monday, with the caveat of still taking it easy through the weekend.

I probably did too much Saturday I was supposed to go to my best friend's pool party but I obviously didn't do that because it would have been way too much - I didn't do anything high intensity or anything, but I was just sick of being lazy, so in the morning I cleaned the bathrooms and then I was out for too long having lunch w/ my dad and brother, and I paid for it dearly Saturday afternoon and night/Sunday morning. I felt so tired and sick Saturday night so I just laid around and went to sleep early, and then Sunday morning we were set to meet with Debbie for the Butterfly Wonderland - I did do it even though I wasn't feeling super amazing, but as soon as we were done with that I went home and took a 4 hour nap, so I felt much better after that. Monday and Tuesday I worked and then went home and relaxed all night, save for about an hour Monday when I went to get a haircut. I'm feeling a lot better today and have one last follow-up appointment at urgent care to close out my worker's comp claim, but think I'll continue resting through the weekend and not try to do too much because it really does affect me. Usually once or twice a week after work Clinton and I will go see a movie, but we haven't even done that this week. This actually sounds completely ridiculous, but if I'm walking too long/doing too much/thinking too hard, it literally makes my brain hurt! It sounds really silly, but it's true. It also feels kind of dumb to be rendered completely helpless when you don't even have any visible injury AND it starts 4 days after the fact, but oh well. Hey, the brain is a sensitive thing, what can I say?

So that's the story of my concussion! Here's hoping I don't get hit in the head again anytime soon because seriously, this damn thing came back with a vengeance and I really don't want to go through it again!

Have you ever had a concussion or brain injury? Misery loves company, right? I hope your recovery was quicker than mine, in any case!

Twenty-Seven

My birthday was a week and a day ago and I'm just getting around to blogging about it, but there's a good reason! It'll be a whole other post, but for now let's just say that I have been incapacitated over the last week.

So on June 3rd, I turned 27, and it was a pretty good day if I do say so myself! Usually I can't get the day off of work but this year I got lucky and had Monday AND Tuesday off. Monday morning I woke up to a bunch of birthday texts and Facebook notifications - not a bad way to start the day! All of the wishes were very nice but I gotta be honest here and say that for sure the cutest birthday text was one that I got from my sister of my bedhead niece duckfacing like a champ!



The text read, "This is KJ's fall out of bed happy birthday to her auntie. XO haha"


I mean.... sorry, everyone else, but it's not even a competition! I couldn't stop laughing at that, that baby just cracks me up. She's basically the most adorable human being alive, haha!

I had received some little gifts earlier in the week - one from my mom/step-dad/brother in the mail, and one from my bestie Tori who brought it to me at work - Clinton kept telling me to open them, but I wanted to wait until my actual birthday! It's more fun that way because you have something to look forward to!

The card from the package my family sent - my brother's note cracks me up! I'm the only sister he's ever had hahaha!

Fluffy little owl (I love owls!), earrings, and a Papyrus card (I got my mom addicted to them!)

Tori knows me so well and spoils me so much! Turquoise necklaces, adorable card, sephora make-up brushes, minty M&M's, and an H&M gift card with a homemade gift card holder - so cute!!

After I opened those, Clinton told me it was time to open up my present(s) from him - he laid out 4 envelopes on the table and gave me #1. I was of course curious to know what was in the other 3, but I happily opened up the 1st one.

Haha! He's so silly, and he knows me so well! I've wanted to buy both of those albums for awhile but I always feel like there are better things to spend money on, or like we should save it instead, so he made it an easy decision for me! He also teases me because I like to do puzzles on my iPad - there are like 50 free ones on the app I use and then you can pay for more, but I would really feel silly spending money on that! So after I opened that he said we should get ready because he had plans for us that day.

Once I got ready and we were in the car ready to leave, he handed me envelope #2 and it cracked me up! Inside of it was a Starbucks reward card that he stole from ME hahaha! It was a gift card that I got awhile ago and I decided to register it for the rewards program because you get a free drink on your birthday! He also knew that I would more than likely be Instagramming the day, so he added his own totally silly hashtags to the birthday card!

#stolen #notreallyfromme #goodwaytostarttheday #iloveyou #happybirthday

After we stopped for coffee (a hazelnut iced latte for me, and a hot vanilla blonde roast for husband!) he took me to an outdoor outlet mall we have here. He said he had originally planned to take me to a different mall, but when he found out that Tori had given me an H&M gift card, he decided to take me there instead because the other one didn't have it and he wanted me to be able to use it. He had to change his plan around a little bit because of different stores, but while we were in the car at the mall before we went in he gave me #3 and #4, both of which were in cards w/ cute, creative messages and had gift cards to my favorite stores. A couple of months ago he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him he could take me to Fossil to pick out a watch - so he did that, plus more! And #4 was a gift card to Forever 21 so could pick out some cute seasonal/summery pieces. I am so spoiled!

He told me that usually he thinks gift cards alone are kind of lame, but that his birthday gift to me was to spend the day shopping with me and spoiling me because we haven't been shopping for clothes/shoes/watches, anything like that really, since we are in the middle of trying to save for a house! It was a really nice day! Most guys don't even want to consider going shopping with their girlfriend/wife, but my husband is not most guys. : ) We spent the day shopping and I scored some cute summer shirts, two pieces for work, and a super cute new watch.

The new watch I picked out - isn't it cute?

After shopping he was going to take me to lunch at a restaurant by our apartment, but it turned out they didn't open until suppertime, so instead we just stopped in at this pizza place that happened to be next door and it was so stinking good! The tomatoes were super sweet, and the white pizza had alfredo sauce on it - to die for!

Mmm!

After that he asked me what I wanted to do, and I was feeling really tired (unbeknownst to me at the time, there was more to this than I knew - again, more on that in my next entry!) and wanted to go home and relax for awhile. When we got home I laid out my loot to take a photo, and then downloaded the two albums I wanted and a couple of puzzles to my iPad, then just relaxed on the couch and took a nap.

Summery!

After a couple of hours, Clinton's parents stopped by to have a little mini celebration with me. They brought cake balls and my favorite ice cream, and candles that burn multi-color flames! I am easily entertained haha, because I was totally fascinated by them. My mother-in-law, Debbie, also gave me a little invitation (covered in butterflies) for a raincheck on taking me to a place called Butterfly Wonderland over the weekend, and a gift card to Chipotle. They sang Happy Birthday and I blew out candles, and it was fun and cute!

I only had one bite of a cakepop and one bite of gelato because Clinton and I were planning on going out to eat supper afterward, but then the weirdest thing happened. We got in the car to leave and all of a sudden I felt like I was going to throw up everywhere, so I changed my mind about eating out - we had planned on Mexican which sounded totally unappetizing after that! Instead, I went back inside to drink some water (Clinton thought I might be dehydrated) while he went to the store to pick up something to eat. 15 minutes later, my handsome husband came back in with ingredients for breakfast for dinner, and we cooked together and ate in our living room while watching a movie. Seriously, who doesn't love a good brinner? It's awesome!

Damn, Turkeldawg!

And that was a wrap on the day of my birthday! A couple days ago I went to celebrate at lunch with my dad and brother, and Sunday morning we met up with Debbie for the Butterfly Wonderland and brunch. The butterfly place was really cool! It's a big building, half of which is the biggest atrium in the U.S. with a whole bunch of different varieties (species? idk) of butterflies, and then inside are ant and bee colonies and a small aquarium. It was a really nice day.

Some photos from the inside exhibits and decor.

So many different ones! So pretty and cool!

Butterflies kept landing all over Debbie!

All of us on the butterfly bench.

Brunch at Butters

And that's the rundown on my birthday celebrations! I'm a lucky girl to be loved by so many awesome people, and I can't wait to see what the year 27 will bring!