life – Page 4 – kristilynk

Puff Pastry..

My friend and fellow blogger, Kim, shared with me another blog which we now both follow. I love to “hate” this girl..she’s like Barbie…the *&tch* has everything… I put “hate” in quotes because I don’t hate her..Its a jealousy thing..

She’s all about the traveling, cooking, dining and fashion but in a humble not so pretentious manner.. and to top it off..I’m pretty sure she gets paid to do all of this through her blog..wha???

Anyway, I will not bore you with my mental issues…today anyway 🙂

This back story has a point..FOOD! Rosie turned Kim and I onto this delight!

Now I will just tell you up front. Mine did not turn out as pretty as hers OR Kims’ for that matter…

First issue..I had to to find out, what is Boursin cheese? Turns out..it’s just like Rondele soft cheese but you get less and pay more 🙂 Kim says its better but my memory is just not that good. Maybe, if I had them side by side I would be able to taste the diff but from my memory (my memory…not sayin’ much) .. it tasted the same.

Found it and bought it!

Second issue..where the heck am I to find puff pastry? I don’t even know what that is. I thought it was the pillsbury dough boy stuff that comes in a pop can..Again, I had to use the phone a friend option..

Found it! It was hiding in the frozen pie section.

The mayo has nothing to do with this recipe so please just ignore… 😉

Third issue: Really Bashas?? You don’t carry Heirloom Tomotoes?? I had to go to Sprout’s ~ why is it that non of the grocery stores carrier EVERYTHING we need? It never fails. For those of you who say..Wal-Mart does..I say NO..you do not buy produce at Wal-Mart..

After a long day at work, long drive home, two grocery store trips I finally got home and started in on putting dinner together.

It only took about 30 minutes for the puff pastry sheet to thaw out. I kept busy prepping the kitchen and then cutting up romaine lettuce, purple onion, cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad.

Yes, it took me 30 minutes.

Once it was thawed, I spread the Boursin (not really that easy so be careful not to tear the pastry sheet)

Pre-heat oven to 420

Cut tomatoes

Put them on top of the cheese on top of the puff sheet and don’t forget the fresh basil!

Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and just a teeny sprinkle of sea salt.

Pop it into the oven for 20-25 minutes ~ Now…For me, I think 420 at 20-25 minutes was too much.. Look..my edges are not pretty:

It may be that I used tin foil instead of parchment paper so the tin made it cook hotter?

In any event..it was REALLY good! The husband loved it too!! WINNING!

Off to Fat Camp!

It is astounding at how quickly the universe and her sneaky ways can trip you up and make you feel like you have fallen flat on your face.

Since November of last year I have been doing so well at eating right things, cutting out horrible habitual habits * aka nasty smoking habit * exercising, drinking a ton of water (well for my standards) and in general just being good to myself.

All was rolling along great until one stupid day…nasty nasty flare up of eczema! Absolutely ruined everything..slooooowed my roll. I had to stop going to the Bikram room – heat only agitates this stupid skin allergy, I became completely obsessed with “how to fix it”, naturally of course.

In the meantime..me completely stressing about it is doing nothing but making the problem worse. I would show you pictures but it’s just gross..seriously..google eczema if you’ve never seen it before. Not only is it gross but it itches beyond belief. Not a fun time..

Long story short..I ended up having to take 10 days of steroids. Here I am three weeks later and my exercise habits are NIL…AND..I intensly crave nothing but food that is so not good for me. Like cheeseburgers and cupcakes. That is all I want to eat.

In fact 🙂 Just the day before yesterday I was driving back from lunch, turned my head to the right and spotted HEAVEN ! CLICK IT …I DARE YOU!

I ordered a strawberry cheesecake cupcake and immediately fell into addiction. I went back the next day 😦

They didn’t have the strawberry cheesecake one so I chose the tiramisu hoping I would hate it. I was wrong it was just as moist and bursting with sweet deliciousness as yesterdays. It’s confirmed..I officially have a problem and must report to fat camp immediately!

Be prepared for a change in posts…wine intake must sadly be reduced, no more cupcakes and I MUST get off my squishy butt~!

Happy Earth Day 2014~!

My last post falls perfectly in alignment with Earth Day!

In my quest for non-toxic nail polish.. I actually FOUND some! This website provides a list of 12 nail polishes that are free of the top five ingredients that make nail polish oh so toxic (free of formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and toluene—plus formaldehyde resin and camphor, too.)

These polishes are simply called “Five Free”

Obviously…my top choice for trial would be Chanel but..come on now…I am NOT going to pay 30.00 for a bottle of nail lacquer.

I did a little more online research and I have no idea how I found this sweet deal but I did and I HAVE to share it with you!

It’s time to clean out your nasty nail polish collection and there is no time like this week to do so!

Here is a sample of what I will be getting rid of:

In a nutshell here’s the idea…Go to Zoya‘s website and buy a minimum of 6 of their five free nail polishes between now and April 28th and you will get each bottle 50% off! So it will end up being like 4.50 a bottle..In turn you send to Zoya six bottles of your current nail polish. Its on the honor system so you really don’t have to send in your old bottles..(but you really should..I mean why not? They will dispose of the polishes properly after all).

I can’t wait to get my order in!!

Have a Happy Earth Day and remember..this is our only planet…please..be kind to her!!

This is #mybeautifulearth

You Want Flower? Five dollar….

My Kiah told me about a new”ish” nail salon in the area that boasts using natural ingredients whenever possible with their salon services. “Naturally” I was intrigued. At the soonest possible moment I grabbed my friend, Nicole, and we headed out. Well, technically..she drove so I guess she grabbed me..but whatever..we went here. (Thanks Kim for showing me the linkage ways..it’s fun, easy and I will try not to overuse it!!)

The wait was a little long, but..we did not have an appointment, they open at 0900 and we didn’t get there until 10:00 and it was a Saturday. The wait gave us a chance to choose our colors. While we were choosing, I noticed..these are regular nail polishes. Shouldn’t an “Herbal” nail bar have natural’ish’ nail colors? And then I got to thinking…does such a thing exist? I put a pin in that thought and it has stuck with me all the live long weekend…

The wait also allowed us to check out the scenery:

I love the colors and the plants and fountain in the middle of the area. See the nail “bar” off to the right? Pretty clever.. Kinda made me crave sushi..or a margarita 😉

When our wait was over, we scurried to our chairs, plopped down and hit the button for the massage chair with a sigh.

I’m feeling the pink colors these days…

We both chose the coconut spa pedicure. Yes, it was as delightful as it sounds! Old polish off (again..they used nail polish remover..that has to be toxic..hmmm), soak time, scrub time to rid myself of nasty feet, you know..the usual pedi stuff. With the addition of this pretty little tray set up:

Nothing fancy but a teeny incline above “the other” strip mall nail spas. I really like the use of the lemon instead of alcohol to remove excess oils..Fresh lemon smells so good and its cleansing properties are great! win win!!

They have two girly pedicure chairs ~ I so wanted to get my big butt into one and have Nicole take my picture..sadly..there were two little girls hogging up the chairs the entire time I was there…pshht.

They were something along the lines of this picture I pulled from the internet:

Here’s a little glance at their menu:

The pricing is pretty good, especially considering the extra services that are provided. I suggest going when you have a couple of hours to kill during your day. Drive time, wait time and pedi time you’re gonna need it!

This trip..I had time to kill, the need for a couple hours of pampering and reconnecting with a girlfriend who is just as (if not more so) busy as I.

Now it’s time to back track a bit..remember when I told you I got curious about “natural” nail polish? I was serious when I said it has stuck with me since..Today..I found online there are quite a few nail polishes that have been created without the five major ingredients that make nail polish toxic. (Not one of these brands were at the Herbal Nail Bar :/)

Now I know! Time for a little nail polish replacement on the home front!!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung! Not that we here in Arizona have any type of season other than summer and light summer but spring has sprung and its time for some springy things..

Of course there is the ever popular spring cleaning (which I really don’t think anyone ever really accomplishes but it’s a brilliant concept)

We have spring breaks but I am neither a college student nor do I have little kids in school so..no reason for me to take a week long vacation.

What else is a girl to do? AH! It is time to refreshen thyself! First thing to tackle on this wonderful Saturday..Nasty winter feet!
I am sorry, I know it’s disgusting but people lets face it we need to get the word out there.. Our feet need attention.

Starting out in fixed firm pose yesterday morning in yoga, I glanced down to make sure my hands in feet were in their proper position.

** This is not me..really? How am I supposed to take a picture of myself doing such things? 😉 I stole this from the internet…

I was appalled to find that my heels looked like the lady standing in front of me in the Walmart line (oh don’t you act like you don’t know who I’m talking about..mmhhmm).

Promptly, I sent message to a girlfriend (aka..my nut-ball friend who is currently training for a M-A-R-A-T-H-O-N) who I KNEW would benefit from a little foot and lower leg pampering..we were soon set!

We strayed a bit off the planned course of just a pedicure date and ended up starting with lunch at The Pita Jungle.
I don’t like to throw this out to the inter webs but I have to, …I have been to this Pita Jungle like four times. I think I love the Idea of the place more so than the actual place itself. They have a great menu, it’s fresh, vegan/vegetarian (not that I am either of those) friendly, they also support meat eaters..its a pretty nonjudgmental place. The only problem I have is…the acoustics of the space. Horribly loud..unbearably loud..they really should figure out how to fix this.
I was pretty excited to find they did have outdoor seating! It was a beautiful day and of course it had to be much more quiet outdoors so we scooped up the chance to dine outdoors!

And yes..it was nice and the food was great ~ I had the pesto pita pizza (so good)

Problem with the outside? It was a breezy day and our outdoor dining area was just downwind of the DUMPSTER.
No…bueno…

Sorry…three strikes..you’re out. I am done with the Pita Jungle.

Bellies full – because the only bad part of the Jungle experience was the environment – we headed off to the salon for the peak of our Saturday!

Shockingly, the wait was just long enough to allow us to select the color of the week. It took me some time by I finally chose the shimmering pinkish color on the thumb:

Yep..I left the place with all of my nail painted in this manner and I will leave them as such as long as I can 🙂

I will spare you the before picture of my walmart feet and cut straight to the pretty in pink end result.

If you have a foot aversion…keep scrolling down because I am going there..hah..

I really wanted to go home and nap afterwards, unfortunately.. my body has no idea how to do such things whilst the sun is up 😦

Some piddle “shopping” was done followed by a trip to Total Wine. Good lord..I love this store. Beth had n e v e r been to Total Wine..her words..”I have never seen this much wine in one place”. I found myself walking through the store and pointing out the highlights of each isle. I should really work here. 🙂

All in all it was really a great day..one, I think, needed on both our accounts.

Nap time?

NOPE! Plug along into the evening! Casual evening but evening non the less!

Time for dinner! Jason and I met up with our great great friends Amy and Dan and we were ready to have a Mexican dining extravaganza!

Margaritas, conversation and great food made for a fabu way to end a Saturday night~

I will leave you with my dinner choice ( Pollo Fundido — not very fun after the fact but completely fun while devouring!!)

Tell me what sorts of shenanigans you are planning for Spring 2014?

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ March

Stuffed Bell Peppers!

Holy macaroni these were easy!!! 🙂 I followed the directions of good ‘ole Martha Stewart. Love her or hate her I tell you what..this woman has some really great recipes.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339288/stuffed-peppers

Pre-heat the oven to 400F

While the oven is preheating, dice your onion, grab a few garlic cloves, get out your ever so useful cast iron skillet (if you dont have one you can use any skillet but I HIGHLY recommend investing in a cast iron skillet..I LOVE mine!!) heat it up, add a tablespoon of olive oil, wait until the skillet starts smoking a teeny bit then toss in the diced onion. I use a garlic press to squish into the onion mix..cook until the onions are soft and browning a little. ** SMELLS SO GOOD!

**Add the turkey sausage ~ or whatever other meat you want to use.. I went for the lighter white meat.

Let this cook up for about five to seven minutes then add diced tomatoes and a cup of water. Here is a spot where I strayed from Marthas instructions. She calls for canned tomatoes… I don’t do canned tomato so I diced up two fresh ones. Yes, this makes me feel like I have a leg up on the queen of the kitchen Miss Martha 🙂 and look how pretty!!

Simmer for about five minutes to let the liquid thicken up ~ remove the skillet from the burner ~ then add 3/4 cup of plain cous cous (I get mine from Sprouts..it’s reasonably priced and you can load up a bag with as much as you like).

While the stuffing mixture was cooling off, I cut the bell peppers in half and emptied their guts. Then stuffed them and placed them in a baking dish ~ I had to use two baking dishes because I made eight halves. In each baking dish pour a half cup of water ( I assume this creates moisture so as not to dry out your dinner!) You’re also supposed to put tin foil over the dishes too BUT guess what….???

I did not have any sooooo out in the open they go!

Can you see how CLEAN the oven is???? I cleaned it for the first time – using the self cleaning method – in four years. It is like a brand new range!! 🙂

I baked for thirty five minutes and then grated monterey jack cheese over the top and baked for another five minutes to melt.

Luckily…the lack of tin foil was not a deal breaker and the stuffed peppers turned out pretty and tasted even better…even the finicky daughter loved them!

Help!

I have no idea what is wrong with me! I have scheduled myself to a pretty good yoga schedule..Monday, Wednesday Saturday and Sunday. I’ve been doing pretty good with this until ohhhh yesterday..

On the way home I decided it would be brilliant to pickup some pork fried rice. Of course I needed egg rolls and crab puffs to accompany, right?

** Picture stolen from the internet but I had to give the visual…pork fried rice is delicious **

The idea was for me to go home, feed the family, change, go to yoga, come home and eat me a little bit of yum yums..

I’m sure you can guess what happens next…

It started out pretty innocently, I will just have one little teensy flavorful crab puff. I told the family, they need not wait for me to eat because I would not be home until after 20:00

I lost all self control once Jason started stirring hot mustard into the fried rice bowl… Quickly…I got my own empty dish and DUG IN!

Guilt set in after I swallowed the last bite of that SECOND egg roll and I rolled myself onto the couch with stuffed belly. Not only did I miss my ninety minutes of self torture but I ate entirely too much.

No longer guilt ridden but so confused. Today, for dinner….I want CUPCAKES.

Help!! What is wrong with me??? UGHHHHH..

The Ultimate Lesson in Procrastination…

Rewind to September of 2012… Take a little read on this. It is a short blurb I wrote a little over a year ago.

When you’re done..let me know and I will continue on.

Homeless in Arizona

Monday night football on the television, I have already lost my fantasy football match, the Bears and the Cowboys I care not to watch so I open the laptop and surf the interwebs 😉

And I come across this…

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/slideshow/i-have-a-name-project-at-9-gallery-12-6-13-40708274/#9

Click on the link above and you will see exactly what procrastination actually looks like….

Good on the man who put this together but…REALLY?? Really, Kristi?? ** Big sigh **

Uncomfortably Numb

This is going to be a tough one for me to get through and I will apologize in advance for my ramblings but I NEED to get this out.

What I need to get out, I have no idea but I have had a tough day and that is what you’re here for, right? To read the thoughts and feelings and ramblings and stories from another persons experiences?

~ Sighs deeply ~

I feel utterly confused. I feel gut wrenching emptiness. I feel….A LOT.

It started out as a normal happy day. I surprisingly woke up at 05:15….BEFORE my alarm clock buzzed me out of bed! It helped that Jason woke up a tad bit earlier and kind of woke me up with the piddling around the room in the dark. I didn’t go for the two mile run BUT..my goal for this week (again) is just to start training myself to get out of bed an hour or so earlier than normal.

We had coffee, watched the weather channel (yea..we do that..mmmhmm) and talked about what our plans for the day were to entail.

He took off for a couple of jobs and I felt so happy to be able to work from home today and I got to it!

Around one in the afternoon, I decided to check in on a friend/co-worker. You see, she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2011. She went through rounds of chemotherapy, after chemo, her sister was (luckily) a match for her bone marrow transplant! She got through all the shenanigans of that ordeal and came back to work in August of 2012…life was going pretty good for her. Sure she was tired alot and wasn’t back to her old self quite yet, but really?? Who would be after going through everything she did to battle leukemia?

I think it was around August this year she started complaining of headaches and finally went in for her check up. She had relapsed. I didnt see her again. She went into hospital for more chemo treatments and the plan was to give stem cell transplant a shot. They started the process on September the 24th. September the 23rd was her last day off freedom….until today.

LITERALLY, thirty seconds after I checked the website her mom set up and kept us updated on, I received a text from my boss letting me know that Kirsten has passed away.

I breathed in an extremely deep breath, my head dropped back into the recliner I had been sitting on all day working and there was silence.

I don’t know how long I was silent with my head back and eyes closed but Jason was here (THANKFULLY) and I could feel him looking at me, waiting for me to say something..anything..he knew from my reaction to the text I had just read that something was terribly wrong and I was beyond upset. I thank him right now for knowing what to do – whether he knew what he was doing or not – his silence was EXACTLY what I needed. And then my head shot up, I was unable to breath and the tears just poured out of my soul.

It breaks my heart that a woman in her early thirties can be diagnosed with a horrible disease such as leukemia, never experience life (she was not married, did not have children, had not yet had the opportunity to travel as much as she would have liked) go through the painful process of trying to recover using chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, stem cell transplants, etc… only for the outcome to be a loss of life.

I do not understand how this can happen. We live in an age where we, as a country, “pride” ourselves in such wonderful and miraculous medical advances…why are so many many people dying?

Reprogramming…

Who do I talk to about adding more time to our daily clocks?? Is it just me or would everyone else benefit from having more than twenty-four hours in a day?

I don’t know about you.. but I honestly can’t seem to squeeze in work, exercise, cleaning, family time, husband time, ME time, fun time, friend time OH annnnd SLEEP time in just twenty-four hours!

This dilemma has prompted me to take a look at a few things I can change. The first one being to wake up earlier. In my mind I know what I need to do to get up earlier..DUH..just get up earlier, right?

So much easier said than done!

I DO NOT WAKE UP. When I’m up..I’m up but it’s the whole getting me out of bed thing where the problem begins.

Example..last Thursday Kiah and I set our alarms for 05:00 so we could go for a little two mile run before our day began. After thirty minutes of riding the snooze button train, I saw Kiahs light on in her bedroom..She’s the good one..she was getting ready to run. Me? I yell from the warm coziness of my bed, ” KIAH…GO BACK TO BED”. She gladly obeyed. 🙂

My new short term goal is now to get me out of bed early enough to get a two mile run in, come home, shower and get to work..maybe even on time?

My first step towards succeeding in my goal…I googled, “How to wake up earlier” Do you know there is actually a wiki how to?

http://www.wikihow.com/Wake-Up-Early

I have actually tried ALL of these methods in the past and they just..don’t…work. Maybe now that I have an actual goal of getting my exercise in first thing before work..maybe now it will work.

I started with the most basic. Set the alarm thirty minutes earlier than I need to wake up. Hey! I actually woke up on time! No..not at the 05:30 hour I had set the alarm for but the 06:00 hour which is the real hour I am supposed to wake up.

Tomorrow..yes, tomorrow is the day my plan will work!