Life was getting me a little down, but that didn’t stop me from eating some tasty dishes:

Salmon thanks to our resident fish-fryer, The Boyfriend:

Spaghetti and turkey meatball masterpiece:

Heard of oats in a jar?

What about sundae in a jar?

An entire plate of chocolate chip pancakes The Roommate made (nah, I shared):

And finally, plenty o’ green monsters:

I was drinking green monsters, but I was a blue, miserable monster.

But then the clouds parted and something wonderful happened.

I won’t share too much just yet because it seems to good to be true, but things are turning around for this Page girl!

The weather is acting accordingly. Thanks, Albany.

My boys and I spent a warm Easter Monday at the park. Normally we go to the dog park by our house, but Washington Park was buzzing with people and puppies!

Jack is normally a total princess about the water (bathtubs and cups included), but today he spotted some ducks and bolted in!

Attaaaaack!

Retreeeeat!

Someone needs to work on his swimming skills. Perhaps we could enroll him at the Y?

It was so beautiful out, despite a quiet threat of rain. The weatherman is predicting 84 degrees for Wednesday! Woohoo!

Dinner tonight was simple with cheddar and broccoli pierogies with steamed veggies and pesto.   

I’m off to bed soon because Granny has work, a meeting, and three apartment showings (!!) tomorrow. But I’m baaaaack to blogging and it feels good!

Earlier today I ventured into the sunshine for an adventure with my boys. There was some fetch…

Awesome. I think next weekend we’re planning a REAL hiking day trip. The park was fine for today though. I was just happy to get some sun. So was this guy, who spazzed and sprinted like it was his job.

Pant, pant!

When we got home The Roommate, being her incredible self, was in the middle of making dinner. “I think we need to eat something real,” she declared. I was behind this sentiment 100%. Especially when this was the result:

Pork chops with cooked apples and onions, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I said yes to all of the above:

My belly was so happy after this. I decided to go healthy for dessert and munched on a clementine. I have a thing for snack foods that involve work, like clementines, string cheese or peanuts. I think I like being kept busy and it takes longer to eat. Weird? Maybe. I’m cool with it.

Off to get to some stuff started for the week while we watch the Oscars. I think every one of us should strive to look as hot as Sigourney Weaver when we are 60. That is all.

The two apartment couples spent a night in on Saturday. We watched Spanglish and ate copious amounts of cheese. The Roommie and I decided early on that we wanted cheese, wine, and crusty French Bread for dinner.

Counterclockwise from the orange cheese: smoked Cheddar (if you have not tried it, you MUST!), Brie, herbed goat cheese, and smoked Gouda.

In addition to olives and bread we had grapes and an apple.

Sometimes I think it might be nice to lose five pounds, but with so much cheese in the world, is it worth it?

NO.

With our cheese we shared a bottle of Malbec.

I don’t know anything about wine, but I like Malbecs as far as red wine goes. Later we popped a bottle of Mondoro, which is sweet sparkling wine.

Jack and Lola were happy to chill with us in the living room (and wait for pieces of cheese to hit the floor). We wore the younger pup out — Jack fell asleep on my shoulder halfway through the evening.

But Lola was ready to hang out!

Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lola. (Do you know that song by the Kinks? I’ve been singing it all week.)

I ate more cheese last night than I’d care to admit. Despite the large block of dairy digesting in my stomach currently, I’m thinking sometime in the future this apartment needs to have a wine and cheese party. Ever hosted/been to one??

I’m watching L.A. Story which is one of my all-time favorite movies.

It’s hilarious and the ending is so sweet. It’s a feel-good movie that’s not too sappy. It means even more to me know because The Boyfriend gave me a copy for Christmas. I used to have a VHS copy but then my old VCR ate it (oh yeah, I still use my VCR!) and I was crushed. So The Boyf tracked down a copy for me! He’s so thoughtful!

Jack is looking bored. It’s so sunny out but the wind is a-roaring, which makes for very cold Albany weather. I want to take the monster to the dog park but that wind is making it difficult.

Pleeeease?

He’s so social and loves hanging out with his buddies. I’ll layer up in a bit and make the trek out into the arctic temperatures.

If my morning looked stressful, check out my afternoon: dog park, grocery store and meal planning for the week, and baking (?!). Phew.

I remembered my camera today. Lunch in action:

Greens and mushrooms with leftover tofu and YUMMY peanut sauce as salad dressing. Pretty sure I have to start making this weekly.

Fruit and cottage cheese. Cottage cheese doesn’t photograph well.

PB&J Larabar.

This held me over well through my second job, the ride home, and dinner prep. Tonight was taco night (a Boyfriend favorite). The Boyf and The Roommate had ground chicken in their tacos, but I’m trying to stick with the meatless thing so I did black beans instead. We had salsa, homemade guacamole, tomatoes, cheese, and salad greens, too.

Tacos have a high deliciousness factor, it’s true.

Nothing too complicated, but veggie-ful and hearty. Perfect Thursday night dinner. We’re only a night and a day away from the weekend, folks! I can’t wait for a little break. I’ve added a hot laundry date to my list of fun times. And lots of play time with this monster:

Lunch was thrown together before work:

My review? Delicious! I love most Larabars, but this flavor is near the top. I was really excited when I saw them in Price Chopper this weekend.

After my snack I started work on dinner.

Stir fry! I didn’t mention this earlier, but I’m avoiding meat, too. Normally I don’t eat much meat at all, but lately I’ve been ordering meals with bacon on them or craving chicken on pizza. It’s weird for me and truthfully I prefer a diet light on meat.

The Boyfriend made (unpictured) sweet and sour chicken to go with the stir fry, but I went with marinated tofu.

We ate our dinner with brown rice and this incredibly yummy peanut sauce:

The sauce was a recipe from this book:

I’ve had this book for a few years, back from the time when I was a vegetarian. It’s extremely resourceful and I recommend it for anyone, from a newbie vegetarian to a cheeseburger lover who needs a reference cookbook on grains. I took the recipe for my mushroom barley soup from here.

The players:

Barley

Mushrooms, carrots, onions, and garlic. I let it all simmer together while we ate dinner.

The photo may be a bit unimpressive, but the smell was incredible. I cannot wait to eat this for lunch tomorrow!

So what is the result from my first day of hitting the “refresh” button on my system? In one day I’ve definitely inspired myself to get back on the meal-planning and veggie-eating wagon. The only bump in the road was about seven minutes ago when I was cleaning up the kitchen. I saw cookies The Roommate made this weekend and moved to grab one before remembering my challenge.

Not being one to deprive myself a treat, I searched for ways to calm my sweet tooth and decided to whip up chocolate banana soft serve. If you read food or fitness blogs you may have seen this wandering around the blogosphere. All you need is a frozen banana and a blender/mixer/food processor.

I used my immersion blender with decent results. A food processor is just better, but my kitchen already looked like this and I didn’t feel like lugging the thing out:

   

Delish! Jack and I ate dessert in the kitchen together. His tasty treat was the last licks of the peanut butter jar.

I’m off for an episode of Criminal Minds with The Roommies and then bed!

After presents Christmas morning, my mother got to work on Christmas dinner.  The main course was Cornish game hens:

Jack gave her some cooking pointers.

As soon as the family arrived, appetizers went out.

Pita crisps, gorgonzola toasts with pine nuts, and smoked trout with dill dip on cucumbers.  Yum!

We opened presents while we ate:

Look at this pillow my sister made for my cousin’s family.

It’s so cute! She needs to open up a store ASAP.

Once every present was tore into, we moved into the dining room for dinner.

We started with arugula, pear, and parmesan salads topped with my mother’s vinaigrette.

This was incredible.  Next we had the hens with roasted potatoes.  There were Brussels sprouts, too, but apparently I snapped the photo before they made it onto the plate.

Dinner was superb, but everyone knows the highlight of Christmas dinner is the dessert.  There were several plates of Christmas cookies…

But the main event was this chocolate tart with macadamia nut crust and caramel drizzle that my mother concocted.  Hello dessert coma!

After chowing down on all this sweet and savory food, we were ready to take a cue from Jack and take a nap on the floor.

Santa was especially nice this year.  See that KitchenAid mixer? That baby is mine!

I immediately dug into it and offered to start mixing away. But apparently my mother has already made dinner…

Speaking of cooking, my mother made a pork strata for breakfast. Holy Christmas deliciousness!

You can also see my Christmas orange on my plate. We always get oranges in the bottom of our stockings, but we’re the only family I know of who does this.

My creative little sister made me Notes On A Page recipe cards! She is so awesome.

I gave my mother some framed photos as one of her presents.  From top to bottom: all of the Page girls pose during her wedding a few years ago, my sister and I years ago, and my sister’s high school graduation.

Jack had a busy Christmas running around like a hyper toddler.  Linnea and Jack Christmas shot!

Jack has that “I will not sit still!” look in his eyes.  I finally let him out in the backyard for some much-needed zooming.

No time to stop for a photo, Mom!

He has been out in the backyard approximately nine times today. Something about that fenced, no-leash-necessary yard just makes him even more bonkers than usual!

I’m blogging at the kitchen counter while my mother preps dinner.  Everyone else is preoccupied, leaving me with the arduous task of consuming all of the Christmas cookies.  But if anyone is up for the job, it’s me! My extended family is coming over soon to eat, exchange presents, and help me out with this cookie situation.  Merry Christmas, everyone!