Spring Break Wrap Up

1. Run 25 miles: Done! Like exactly 25 miles, no more :) Finished with a 7 1/2 miler today and it felt great!

2. Register for 1/2 marathon: Yikes! Dropped the ball on making the 3/31 deadline for the price hike. Need to add to this week's list.

3. Organize master closet: Done! An Ikea trip before totally done, but much better than before.

4. Install new towel bars in the master bathroom: One up, one still to go.

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet: Done! But could use an Ikea trip as well... :)

6. Install under-the-sink pull-out trays in kitchen: One in, one still to go (took way longer than expected!)

7. Install hall lights: Two out of the three in

8. Install dining room chandelier: Done! Love it!

9. Finish demo on half bath and clean out: Arghh.... this is going to be a lot longer than we originally hoped.

10. Finish half bath: Done! Love it too!

11. Set up guest bedroom: Too easy!

12. Finishing unpacking and organizing garage: Definitely looks a lot better! I still think there is a box lurking in a corner though.

13. Assemble barbecue and try out: Yep, we have a few parts missing, waiting for them to ship. Oh well, it rained most of break anyway....

14. Try a few new recipes: Had a lot of fun with this one.

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden: Have my starters in the ground! Very excited!

16. Set up compost bin: Have it going; hoping for a batch ready for fall.

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: Yeah... going to take a lot more effort than originally thought... Definitely going to need a few solid sunny days.

18. Wash both cars: Done!

19. Steam clean couches: Done!

20. Order moving announcements: Done!

21. Donate items: Done! Four large boxes worth.

22. Get library card and set up online request list: Done!

23. Update iPod running playlist: So need to do this still...

24. Try a few new running loops: Tried two new ones. Will certainly need to be finding more now that I'm up to hour-plus runs

25. Take before and after pictures: Yup!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Some of my favorite foods to make are copycat recipes- dishes that exact replicas or the original recipes themselves from restaurants. I had wanted to make this one in particular for a while, but finally now got to it. This recipe is based on a copycat recipe based on P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I didn't follow the directions even though it was rated so highly because well... they don't make sense (why none of the commenters mention this, I don't know...) and I had a few more veggies I wanted to sneak into them. So I (mostly) created the "special sauce" listed in the recipe then loosely followed the rest. Here below is my recreation of that recipe.

1 chicken breast, chopped into tiny pieces
1/2 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 can mushrooms, drained and finely chopped
4-5 giant iceberg lettuce leaves

Special Sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Saute chicken until no longer pink, add veggies and special sauce. Cook for several minutes, until sauce thickens. Spoon into lettuce cups.

Day 3 and 4

Yikes! A late movie did me in on crossing off items from my monster list yesterday.

1. Run 25 miles: 14 more miles to go!

3. Organize master closet: Done!... for right now, an Ikea trip definitely still needed to finish her off... maybe a crazy color of paint... okay, okay, done for now, will revisit over summer break for sure.

10. Finish half bathroom: Done! I'm in *love*, pics to come

14. Try a few new recipes: went browsing around online for some great ideas, stocked my kitchen yesterday, can't wait to try them out

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden: um, yeah, if it stops raining (we have gotten like 2 inches in the past couple of days...)

16. Set up compost bin: the instruction manual for how to compost is a little overwhelming, but I'm sure it can't nearly be as hard as it seems (knock on wood)

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: see item 15

21. Donate items: dropped off 4 large boxes that were beginning to take over my living room!

Asparagus with baby carrots

Yet another veggie I have never bought: asparagus. I think I've only had it a few times in my life at all, but with Easter next weekend of course it was all over the end caps in the produce section. Wanting to make a quick (which often means vegetarian as well) meal, I mixed it with a few other veggie staples.

Saute with olive oil and a dash of water:

1 bunch of asparagus spears, cut in halves

2/3 pounds baby carrots

1 yellow onion, chopped into wide slivers

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Severed with mashed red potatoes with chives and cottage cheese with strawberry slices. I have been more frequently making dinners sans meat for a variety of reasons, but the best reason I've come to realize has been time and ease. Not having to defrost anything nor worry about cross-contaminating the cutting board has been a great surprise feature of going vegetarian.

Day 2

A bunch of little things got done. Of course, also a lot of other things not on the list got done. Sometimes don't you just want to add them retroactively just to have the visual gratification of crossing them off too?

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet: Done! (not too much in there right now, but still much neater!)

11. Set up guest bedroom: cleaned out, just need to set up bed and make it

12. Finish unpacking and organizing remaining items in the garage: down just to two boxes.

19. Steam clean couches: Done!

20. Order moving announcement: Done!



Not on list

Replant giant palm that lives in our living room

Hang living room artwork

Organize hall linen closet (man, I thought this one was on the list! Darn it!)

Clean out and organize "important papers" filing cabinet

Day 1

Not a bad start.

1. Run 25 miles & 24. Try a few new running loops: 19.5 miles to go

10. Finish half bathroom: completed touch-up painting, want to install hardware tomorrow

13. Assemble barbecue and try out: half assembled, think they included the wrong screws, project on hold (darn it!)

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: oh boy, going to have to put in a few more hours than just an afternoon

19. Steam clean couches: one down, one to go

22. Get library card and set up online request list: check!

9 days, 20 projects

As with every break, I spend the weeks leading up to it dreaming and planning of all I want to accomplish. Having just moved into our first home six weeks ago, this spring break is no different. Especially with our first house guests coming into town next weekend! I always seem to make overly ambitious lists, but here it goes:

1. Run 25 miles (crazy I know, but this will help keep me motivated for everything else)

2. Register for 1/2 marathon (I'm excited, it's going to be an women-only event!)

3. Organize master closet

4. Install new towel bars in master bathroom

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet

6. Install under-the-sink pull-out trays in kitchen (love, love, love little features like this)

7. Install hall lights (there's three of them; I'm going to hope they don't warrant their own line item)

8. Install dining room chandelier

9. Finish demo of hall bathroom and clean out (I'm going to have to be realistic with this project, as much as I can't wait to start tiling)

10. Finish half bathroom (only a few things left- touch-up paint, hook up sink, install backsplash)

11. Set up guest bedroom

12. Finish unpacking and organizing remaining items in the garage (those last few random boxes are always the hardest to unpack, aren't they?)

13. Assemble barbecue grill and try out

14. Try a few new recipes

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden

16. Set up composting bin

17. Prep front yard for grass seed

18. Wash both cars (praying for an afternoon of sun sometime this week)

19. Steam clean couches (wanted to do this right after moving... yeah, didn't happen)

20. Order moving announcements (WAY overdue...)


Okay, I've thought of a few more...

21. Donate items (amazing how many things you pack and move, but unpack to realize you really don't need it anymore)

22. Get library card and set up online request list (yes, I'm one of those who hogs up all the hot new releases before they hit the shelves :)

23. Update iPod running playlist

24. Try a few new running loops

25. Take before and after photos of all these house projects to aid in the shameless bragging that will occur in this blog in the coming weeks:)


Okay, now I'm really done.