Did you see that thing going around on Facebook in the first week of January? A bunch of people were posting that they’d send something by mail to the first 10 of their friends to comment and commit to posting the same in their status. I thought that was cool—an actual something in the mail! My mail is boring – I don’t even get paper bills anymore so it’s mostly just junk mail— so I posted it too.

I’ve done nothing about it yet, not because I forgot but because I want to send something cool and haven’t been able to decide what. A postcard from my city? Lame. A photograph? That would be cool but I don’t even know how to get photos printed anymore (geez). But I figured it out. I’m going to shop Minted – they of the cool cards and art prints and baby announcements. And have you seen Minted wedding invitations? (If they had been around when we got married we probably wouldn’t have been printing our invites at the last minute. Oh, who am I kidding? We totally would have.) [Read more...]

Any Friends fans out there? Did you ever hear that Jennifer Aniston ate the same salad for lunch every day for 10 years? I’m totally turning into her.

(I wish.)

Okay, so I’m not turning into Jennifer Aniston, but I am on a salad kick and I’ve been eating the same one for lunch an awful lot lately. It’s totally simple:

• Iceberg lettuce (stick with me here – there’s a reason)
• Half an avocado
• 1 Roma tomato
• Snap peas
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Ham cubes
• Baby corn
• Goat cheese
• Sesame seeds
• Ranch dressing

It’s not complicated and it’s not meant to be (otherwise there’s no way it would be a habit). I think it’s the avocado that has me addicted. I only started eating avocado in the last few years—I never thought to before because I had never really tried it—but my mom started putting it on salads and now I’m totally hooked.

So the iceberg lettuce thing – the reason I use it is that I’ve found it gets me to eat salad more often. It’s easy, I really like the crunch, and it gives me a nice base for a salad without overwhelming the other stuff. I’ve tried to switch to lettuce that actually has some nutritional value, but then I tend not to eat salad at all, so this is better, right? (That’s a rhetorical question. Please don’t tell me how lame iceberg lettuce is because I really like my lunchtime salad habit.) My veggie intake is way higher this way, and if I make salad to go with dinner I do use other greens, so I figure it’s all good.

My salad isn’t the exact same every day (which is probably why I don’t look like Jennifer Aniston yet) in part because I run out of avocado way too often (Pinterest tells me you can freeze avocados – has anyone tried?) but also because a certain small person who also lives here tends to hog some of the good stuff. (Seriously, that kid can eat a whole can of baby corn in one sitting.) His favourite lunch is ham cubes with carrot sticks, cucumber slices and broccoli florets with a side of ranch dressing (in a separate container please, not on the plate in case it – gasp! – touches the veggies before he’s ready to dip). That makes it really easy to make him lunch while I’m making my own, but the problem is that he eats it so much he totally hogs all the ranch dressing. But hey, he’s four and he’s eating his veggies so this mama’s not going to complain. As long as he doesn’t eat my avocado.

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The other day a big box arrived at our door. The dog barked, Connor went wild with excitement, and I anxiously watched the monitor to see if the commotion would wake Ethan up. (It didn’t. Love that kid.) Connor always wants to open packages right away (who doesn’t?) but especially this one, because he was convinced it was full of LEGO. A gigantic box full of LEGO. And he was not dissuaded by the fact that it didn’t rattle when we shook it.

I knew it wasn’t LEGO, but I was actually more excited about what was inside. It was full of clothes. And not for me. [Read more...]