Vacation winding down

The problem with taking almost two weeks off from work is that you become completely spoiled and don't want to go back. :-D But given the massive economic recession we had that resulted in so many company layoffs for so many people (one of which is a good friend of mine), I feel like a horrible person for even complaining. You know? I'm sure there's a lot of people who would want to be getting up and going to work tomorrow, because they meant they had a job. I'm trying to keep that perspective, and be grateful that I have a job to go to tomorrow. I know it's not going to be an easy first day back, though, because I have a lot of work to do. I had a lot of work on my desk when I left on New Year's Eve, and I'm sure I was assigned to other projects while I was out. Oh well. Hey, at least it's a pay week! :-) All the more reason to look forward to Friday!

I also can't complain too much because I had a very nice and relaxing vacation. It was nice to end the year in a destressing and decompressing state of mind, you know? It felt nice just to be able to breathe, and just relax, and reflect on the past year and the upcoming year ahead. I had a nice balance of time to myself and time to spend with friends and family. I did a lot of reading and writing in my journal, which are two of my favorite things to do.

Speaking of reading, I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Class... I can't put it down- I stayed up until almost 3 AM reading last night!!!! I love the saga-style writing of this author. It totally brings me back to my young adult Danielle Steel phase, because a lot of her books are in this format- chronicling years and years of peoples' lives. I love that, because you really get involved with the characters and their lives that way, and you feel like you almost know them and go through their ups and downs with them, in a sense... you know? Unlike short stories or books that just have one central focus or plot, and then that's it. You almost "can't" get to really know the characters. Although I will say that the more I get to know some of the main characters (there are five), the less I like them... there are two that I completely dislike, and yet I can't stop reading about them!

Since I've had a lot of downtime, I've played around in the kitchen a bit, and I found a few new food combinations that I'm totally in love with. Not new products or anything, just combinations of food I already love. In particular:

1. I see a lot of "waffle sandwiches" on food blogs. And believe it or not, I'd never tried it out! I have always eaten waffles in the "traditional" style- with the maple syrup (I use sugar-free), cinnamon, and fruit, usually a banana. But yesterday I was out of milk and bananas, so I couldn't have cereal, but I did have some Kashi Heart-to-Heart waffles in the freezer, so I figured it was the perfect time to try out a waffle sandwich. Um, hello, yummy! Since I didn't have any fresh fruit (I was heading to the grocery store after breakfast), I had to make my waffle sandwich with natural peanut butter and sugar-free triple berry jam, and it was delicious! I can't wait to try it with a banana!

2. I don't know if I saw this in blogland, or I just made it up in my head, or what, but I've recently learned that eggs and hummus go GREAT together. I bought a new hummus last week that I'm just flat-out in love with: Tribe Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I tried to buy more yesterday when I was grocery shopping and they were out. :-( Anyway, for lunch yesterday I made myself a sandwich, using egg whites, arugula, and hummus on whole wheat bread, and it just rocked my world. Full of protein and very filling, but above all else, it just tasted amazing. The arugula gave it a nice kick. I definitely foresee more of these sandwiches in 2009.

I also wanted to show off what my sister gave me for Christmas:

Isn't it great? I actually saw this in a Hallmark store when my sister and I were buying a present for our grandmother a few weeks ago, and I saw this and joked that it was perfect, and so true for me! My sister actually went back and bought it for me for Christmas. When I opened it, I cracked up! My sister's the best. ;-)

All right, I'm off to get some stuff done around mi casa. Have a great Sunday everyone (at least what's left of it)!!!! :-)