What better way to greet a Sunday morning than with pancakes?

So I saw The Dark Knight last night, and it was great! Intense. It was long (two hours and 45 minutes), but it didn't feel long, it didn't feel like it dragged on or anything (unlike the Sex and the City movie, which, as much as I loved it, definitely dragged on for too long at some points). Heath Ledger's character was dark, man. Definitely a good movie! Although I think the next movie I see in the theaters will be the Will Ferrell movie Stepbrothers, because after The Dark Knight, I'm going to need stupid silly comedy for a while.

I woke up this morning craving pancakes, and so that's what I made myself for breakfast!

Whole wheat honey pancakes (from a mix, obviously!), with sliced banana and cinnamon and sugar-free Mrs. Butterworth's. This worked out well because it satisfied my craving, and helped me get rid of my maple syrup, which apparently expired on July 24. Hope that won't be an issue later on today! I'm sure it will be fine.

Off to run errands now... have a great Sunday!!!

No Smoothie for Me. :-(

I decided not to make my strawberry banana smoothie this morning for several reasons:

1. The strawberries looked downright terrifying. I found a few last night that didn't look totally evil, and decided just to eat them rather than put them in a smoothie, since it had been so long since I'd had strawberries, I wanted to eat the ones that were edible. So I think I'm just going to throw the rest out.

2. My milk smells a bit off. I figured out when I bought it and when I opened it, and it's been about two weeks, which seems a little long. And I'm not going to the grocery store until tomorrow. And I didn't feel like going out and buying some just for the purpose of making a smoothie.

3. It's kind of chilly and blah outside- they're calling for rain and thunderstorms- so it doesn't really seem like a smoothie kind of morning. I'd rather make a smoothie on a warm, hot summer morning, not a chilly gray one.

So no smoothie for me this morning. That's okay. I'm perfectly content with my oatmeal (sugar-free maple brown sugar), mixed with cinnamon, sugar-free maple syrup, flaxseed, and a sliced banana... yum... and coffee, of course! Today's poison is Vanilla Caramel Cream-flavored coffee, courtesy of Berwyn Coffee Company... I almost never drink regular coffee... I love flavored coffees way too much! And plain coffee with flavored syrup just isn't the same thing to me. So here's my breakfast (this time, on a butterfly placement from Wegmans):

Hmmm... maybe this will end up turning into more of a food-and-books blog, haha. At least on the weekends, because like I said, I bring the same breakfast and lunch to work every single day. But I usually get a little more creative with my meals on the weekends. I slept until almost 9:30 today- that never happens! Normally I'm up before 9. Must be the clean cozy sheets! ;-) Ten Things I Hate About You is on TV right now... I haven't seen this movie in so long... I remember seeing it in theaters with friends my senior year of high school! I'm going to see The Dark Knight tonight with some friends... two Heath Ledger movies in one day. I haven't seen any since he died.

When I woke up this morning I found a note by my door from my roommate, apologizing profusely- she didn't get home until 4 a.m.! She had a dance lesson (she's a ballroom dancer), and usually they all hang out afterwards. She's still asleep, but no worries! (Especially since she doesn't know about the bowl yet.) She said she'd make it up to me, but no need! It's all good! :-)

So I'm going to sit on the balcony for a while, read, sip my coffee, and digest my oatmeal. Then I'm going to try out this DVD that I picked up at the library:

Should be interesting. ;-) I'm always up for trying new kinds of workouts, and I took a cardio striptease class at my old gym a few years ago, and liked it a lot. I'll let you know how it goes! I should also put up my new shower liner too... I should have done that, like, a month ago. But for now, I'm going to sit on the balcony with my coffee and my book. It's not humid out- in fact, it's a little chilly, I have on yoga pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt- so it's a good day to sit outside and read. Plus if it starts raining, I'm covered by the apartment balcony above us. :-)

Drumroll please...

... Well, it's 1:15 a.m., and my roommate's not home yet, but I'm exhausted and about to pass out, and I can't wait any longer.  :-D  So without further adieu, I present the very first book of No Book Left Behind!

.. but first, I must show you the No Book Left Behind Lottery Box, where I have the names of each book folded up and all shook up... Yep, there it is in all its glory. Classy, huh? Straight from my very first trip to Costco last fall. I bought this box about a year ago, and I still have a box of penne regate! Well worth the investment, though. Maybe I'll jazz this box up and decorate at some point. Not tonight, though. I'm way too tired!

Now on to the main event... I'm going to try and take the picture myself... these never turn out, so bear with me!

I tried to take a self-picture, but they all look awful. This is the best I could do:

(Keep in mind, it's 1:30 a.m.)

And here I am (well, here is my hand), picking my very first book!

This is so exciting!!!

The very first title I picked was a bit of a letdown. It was Memnoch the Devil,  by Anne Rice. I've never read her. I have no idea where I got this book. I read the inside cover and within two seconds knew that I would not like it. Aside from that, apparently there are four books in the series prior to this one. So I probably wouldn't even understand the plot anyway. So I decided not to read it. See? That's one down already, 175 to go! See how easy this is???

So I picked again...

... and got this:

And so my very first book for No Book Left Behind is Protect and Defend, by Richard North Patterson. Here's the book synopsis straight from goodreads:

Richard North Patterson, whose legal thrillers have won him legions of devoted mystery fans, shows off his superb pacing and narrative gifts as well as his ability to create vividly realized characters in this compelling novel of late-term abortion, parental consent, and the battle over a nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court. Unlike Patterson's typical courtroom dramas, the name of this game isn't murder; it's the body politic that's bleeding. When newly elected Democratic president Kerry Kilcannon nominates appeals court judge Caroline Masters to the top spot on the court, he knows he'll have a fight on his hands. Leading the opposition is his political rival, MacDonald Gage, the GOP majority leader who owes his soul and career to the Christian right wing. They're suspicious of Masters even before a politically charged case involving a teenager whose parents refuse to allow her to terminate a disastrous pregnancy ends up in her court. More principled than Gage, but equally adamant, is Republican senator Chad Palmer, who, like Masters, harbors his own potentially career-destroying secret.

Masters is an intriguing character, a woman whose judicial integrity, personal privacy, and political ambitions collide when she casts a tie-breaking vote on the constitutionality of the recently enacted Protection of Life bill. Not only young Mary Anne Tierney's future is at stake: so are the reproductive rights of all women, the resilience of the judicial system, and the personal lives of innocent bystanders who will be sacrificed on the altar of the First Amendment--the public's right to know, and the media's right to tell. Moving swiftly between the courts of public opinion and the federal judiciary, from San Francisco to the nation's capital, Patterson tells a mesmerizing story that's been praised by political and legal luminaries such as Mario Cuomo, Barbara Boxer, and Alan Dershowitz. But don't let that stop you. This up-to-date version of Advise and Consent is a provocative read that will resonate with political junkies as well as those who've made bestsellers out of Patterson's more typical genre thrillers. "

I have absolutely no idea when or where I got this book. But I'll definitely give it a try! I have a few books on my shelves by this author, but haven't read any of them yet. I was kind of hoping I'd get a lighter, more fun first read- this seems kind of, well, like a bit of a serious read if you ask me. Too bad I didn't kickoff No Book Left Behind with a lighter, cutesier book, like a chick lit book or a silly memoir. Oh well. I had a feeling this would happen! And I like legal thrillers, so I might really like this! It looks like it got really good overall rating reviews on amazon and goodreads! (I've learned not to read people's reviews, because they give away too much of the story most of the time!)

Well, I'll give it a shot this weekend and see how I like it. That's the whole point of this, right?

Okay, I'm off to curl up with my book in my nice, freshly washed sheets! Tomorrow I've got a few fun things planned, like making my first-ever smoothie (hopefully it will turn out okay!), reading, maybe trying out a bellydancing DVD that I checked out of the library, a few errands, and then going to the movies with the girls!

Have a good night!

While we wait...

So my roommate still isn't home yet, but that's okay. Because it gives me time to put away my laundry, put my sheets in the dryer, and brag about the delicious concoction I made for dinner.

My shrimp stir-fry turned out good, for the most part. I'm constantly inspired by healthy eating/food blogs (see "Blogs I'm Addicted to") for new meal ideas. I'm not a food blogger by any means and probably never will be, especially because I bring the same exact breakfast and lunch to work every single day, so my food blog would be seriously boring. The only meals I ever change up are dinner and dessert. And yet, I never get tired of my breakfast or lunch, ever. But I think that people would get sick of seeing identical meals every single day. But maybe once in a while, I'll post an exciting dinner.

Tonight classified as an exciting dinner:

(Like my snazzy Target placemats?)

This was a concoction- it's hard to see- I apologize. But it consisted of:

Trader Joe's pre-cooked shrimp, frozen pepper and onion mix, frozen broccoli, frozen crinkle-cut carrots, and mushrooms, on top of a serving of Trader Joe's whole-wheat couscous (1/3 cup, all I had left in the box anyway... I'll have to pick some more up during my next TJs trip!). I'm a bit of a spice girl, and so I added crushed red pepper, curry powder, and black pepper, chili powder, and a splash of chili pepper sauce (plus Wasabi on the side to dip my chopsticks in- I also had hot mustard but ended up not using it):

And I ate most of it with chopsticks! I had to give up when there was only about 1/4 left... my chopstick skills aren't perfect yet. Anyway, it was absolutely delicious! Very yummy, spicy, filling, and healthy... my favorite things!

And here's my need-to-use-up-my-produce side salad, which I also ate with chopsticks:

This was just arugula, a chopped tomato, some extra broccoli and carrots, and the last of my green olives, with light balsamic vinaigrette on the side. I used to hate green olives and only liked black olives, and now I don't really like black olives and I love green olives. Life is strange.  :-)

I need to clarify something here- I just recently started to get into cooking (I subsisted on Lean Cuisines for, like, four years), and while I love trying out new recipes, I'm a bit of a Lucy Ricardo in the kitchen... I mean well, but I usually have some sort of minor catastrophe. I overcook something, overseason something, struggle with multitasking, etc. Very rarely is the meal prepared without some sort of tiny kitchen catastrophe. Tonight was no different:

*Sigh*. Yes, I did that. I don't know how, but I did that. I didn't even realize it until I went to clean up the dishes. I don't understand- it's a microwaveable bowl, or at least, that's how I've been treating it for the past year! I've used it tons of times! So I don't know what happened. I've checked it thoroughly and it's not broken, just cracked, and I don't see any missing pieces of glass, and so I am hoping that I didn't consume any. I hope my roommate isn't mad (this is her bowl). She accidentally broke a bowl of mine a month or so ago and I didn't care, so I'm hoping this makes us even. And even if she is mad, I hope she doesn't take it out on Book Debut and refuse to be the photographer. I guess we'll find out soon!

A fabulous Friday so far...

... of course, in my book, all Fridays are fabulous! But this one has been extra-fabulous, and is only going to get better! Here are all the reasons why I had such a great Friday:

 

*Well, first and foremost, another work week is over! This was actually a particularly good work week for me... I was busy but not overwhelmed, I worked on some really important projects, I didn't get any e-mails on my designated e-mail day (normally I get bombarded!), and the work week seemed to go by pretty quickly in general for me, especially the past two days!

*My boss gave me a free pint of strawberries! She's leaving for the shore tomorrow morning and wouldn't get a chance to use them up before they went bad, so she gave them to me. I absolutely love strawberries, and I haven't bought them in a while because they haven't been on sale, so I'm totally jonesing for them, and so I was more than happy to take them off her hands! They really do look like they're on their last limb, though- I had to throw a few out, and if they make it to tomorrow afternoon, I'll be surprised. But that's okay. I could eat a whole pint of strawberries in one sitting if given the opportunity. So I've decided to salvage the ones that don't look too scary and eat them tonight, and then take the rest of them, and... wait for it... wait for it... make a strawberry banana smoothie for breakfast tomorrow! I've never made a smoothie before (I actually don't even own a blender, but my roommate does), so I'm pretty excited. This also helps me use up the rest of my milk, which is also just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Expirationland.

*I acquired three more free books today to go towards No Book Left Behind! Woo-hoo! We have an empty cubicle at work where people anonymously donate old books that they don't want anymore. They're usually pretty crappy, but I've gotten some decent ones- a Jennifer Weiner hardback in brand-new condition (she's one of my faves), a women's health book, etc. And today there were three decent ones (well, I considered them decent enough to take home, anyway). They'll be revealed as they are drawn out of the No Book Left Behind Lottery (because it's much more fun and suspenseful that way). I did leave behind Mickey Rooney's autobiography. I didn't feel the urge to add that to my book collection. One of my coworkers did, though. I also found a few other books on my shelves that I haven't gotten to read yet- two more, plus the three I acquired today... bringing the new total to 172 books. This number will definitely be increasing, as I don't intend to stop going to book sales (although I'm really going to try to abstain until my all-time favorite huge book sale, which isn't until October). So this project might not ever have an end in sight. That's a little unsettling and nerve-wracking, as there are about 500 books that are on my "to-read" list. Hmmm. Well, let's cross that bridge in October, shall we? Back to the super-awesome Friday that's still happening...

*I tried an awesome new energy bar as my pre-workout gym snack... a KIND Fruit and Nut Bar, Walnut and Date-flavored. I loved, loved, LOVED this bar! It was so delicious! I liked it more than, dare I say it, the Cherry Pie Larabar that I tried this week (sorry- I know a lot of people rave about the Larabar brand, but I thought it was just okay). I didn't want to stop eating this bar, I loved it so much!!! Here's a pic:

Every bite was pure happiness. And it totally fueled my workout! I kicked booty on the Epliptical today. I wouldn't eat it on a day that I was going to lift weights (it only had 2 grams of protein, and I prefer energy bars that have more protein than that when I lift or do strength training), but it had 22 g of carbs and 17 g of natural sugars from the fruits and nuts, so it was perfect fuel for a nice cardio workout! These are going to be a repeat purchase! (*I know that my Whole Foods connection reads this blog... cough cough... KIND Bars...last price check request I make for this week, I promise!!!*)

*I am planning on relaxing tonight- I rented Season One of The Closer  from the library (although, knowing me, I'll probably just end up watching The Food Network, haha- I love the Food Network), and am planning on trying a new healthy recipe out for dinner- Shrimp Stir-Fry over whole wheat couscous, with an arugula-based side salad (in case you couldn't tell, I have a lot of produce that needs to be used up tonight, hence the veggie-filled meal!). Should you choose to read this blog on a regular basis (which I hope you do!), you will learn quickly that I love to try out new healthy recipes and meal ideas. Also, you will learn that  I lead a bit of a quiet life (I'm guessing that not too many people in the proofreading/editing/writing industry live it up Paris Hilton-style... we're more the bookish librarian types. A big night out for us is a night of movies and board games with friends, at least in my world!) I'd much rather stay in and relax than go out to clubs and bars and tap kegs with people that I don't know and will never see again. Been there, done that, over it! I'm all about the R&R. I'd rather chill at home with a good book and the remote and good friends, which my mind, body, and wallet certainly appreciate! Especially on Fridays- I'd rather unwind at home after a long and tiring (and usually sleep-deprived... I'm a bit of a night owl and it's hard for me to go to bed early) week! And tomorrow night I'm going out with some girlfriends, so there you go... happy balance of chillaxing and a fun social life!

*And last but not least, tonight marks the very first Book Debut of No Book Left Behind!!! I can't wait!!! I'm going to pounce my roommate the minute she walks in the door, which I'm sure she'll appreciate. But she promised to capture the moment on film, which I think is an awesome idea! So I'm willing to wait! She's not coming home until later, and I have plenty to occupy my time with... I have the remote, and I'm three months' behind on my Cosmo issues (I do that on purpose), and I still have to make dinner, and I'm doing laundry- I desperately needed to wash clothes and bedsheets- it's always nice to sleep in on a Saturday morning under freshly washed sheets.  ;-)

*The very first Book Debut will be here in just a matter of hours! Be patient! I'll be back!   :-)

I've decided, if an addiction helps benefit a worthy cause, then it's okay. I've also decided that my friends are enablers, and that's okay too.

So I was at work yesterday, minding my own business, doing the proofreader thing, when my friend Karen came by to say hello, and, ultimately, to feed my book addiction. She informed me of a big book sale at a church merely eight minutes from my apartment, that was going on from Wednesday to Saturday.

So, like any addict, my adrenaline started racing. I knew I had to get my fix. I rushed through the rest of the workday, rushed through my workout at the gym (and cut it short by ten minutes, because I wasn't sure I could take all the adrenaline at once; plus, I figure, book sales are simply another kind of shopping, and you burn calories and get in plenty of cardio shopping, and even a bit of strength training and lifting if it's a really good book sale), and drove like a crazy (well, crazier) person to the book sale, and all I could think about was getting my fix.

Actually, all dramatics aside, I wasn't expecting too much from a used book sale in a musty church basement. For every super-awesome used book sale I've been to, I've also been to three or crappy ones too. Which works out well because it helps curb the addiction a bit (would rather save my money for the good stuff), plus it makes me appreciate the amazing book sales even more. I anticipated walking into a church basement with a few old boxes of fifty-year old mysteries and battered copies of old Western novels. I didn't hit the ATM because I had $15 on me and didn't expect to spend more than $2.

Well, I completely underestimated the book sale (although I was right about the "musty basement" part). It was totally overwhelming! Boxes and boxes of books just stacked on top of each other, loosely categorized by genre, but that was about as far as it went in terms of organization. I was there for an hour and a half, and could have easily kept going, had I not been dehydrated, tired, getting kind of hungry, and tired of hearing the obligatory screaming toddler who always manages to find themselves in the same place at the same time as me.

But it was all good. Nine books more and $12.50 less later, I walked out of there having totally had my fix. I almost needed a cigarette after that. And I don't smoke.

I also stumbled across one more book on my bookshelf that I had forgotten that I hadn't read yet (it's truly an addiction when you can't remember!), which means I have ten more titles to add to the No Book Left Behind project, which brings the grand total to 167 books.

Tomorrow I pick the kickoff book! I am going to wait until my roommate is home, because she has offered to take a picture of me selecting the first title (how awesome is she???). But it's still a few hours away! So have a happy Friday and I'll see you back here tomorrow to unveil the very first book of No Book Left Behind! Yay!

Have a great Friday!!!

August 1...

... is the day that the very first book of No Book Left Behind will be revealed! That's only in a few days! Can you stand the suspense?

 

Stay tuned!