A Good Deed

Erin Zammett's Life With Cancer blog today (see link below right) mentions a woman who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. After reading a little further, I decided to click on the link for her website and learn a little more.

Once I got to her website and saw that people of eastern european descent would more likely be a match (which I am), I got to thinking.

First I thought about how painful it is to donate bone marrow (from what i've heard), but as I continued on her site I learned that often times only a blood stem cell donation is needed. Then I thought about how the possibility of a little pain on my part could have the potential to bring so much happiness to someone else. For a moment I felt selfish thinking about pain knowing what she and others go through daily.

So far I have been blessed with good health, so why not try to share that?

I ordered a test kit immediately.

Regardless of the results, I feel a little prouder knowing that I may be doing something to help someone out.

What good deeds do other people do, big or small?

Winter Wonderland?

Hello from snowy CT.

I think we got between 5-7 inches but seeing as the area by work was expecting 7+ I chose to work from home today.

My day was spent working, then shovelling, some eating, working and more shovelling. Exciting day, right?

Here's the view from my back pation and here's some of my hard work. I can take credit for all the shovelled areas and I have to say, I enjoy shovelling. Anyone else?

And since the weather still isn't great for driving, a quiet night at home spent making Oreo Balls. They're a fun little treat, so here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Oreo Balls
1 8oz package of cream cheese (at room temp)
1 package Oreo's (crushed in a food processor)
2 cups chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening

Beat cream cheese on high until light and fluffy. Add crushed Oreo's and beat until well combined.
Refridgerate 2 hours.
Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (or something similar) and add shortening.
Roll Oreo mixture in to balls and dip in to melted chocolate. Place on wax paper to harden. Store in fridge.

I hope everyone has a good snowy Friday!

Miley Cyrus is driving me crazy

I know, what a random post topic from someone who isn't a tween.

I don't know a ton about her, although her one song (can't think of the name) is very catchy, but she's kind of been bugging me lately.
I've caught a few clips of interviews with her on the radio and have to say that i'm kind of annoyed with how she manages to bring religion in to everything.
I respect her values and how she's saving herself (blah blah blah) but don't see why she needs to quote scripture and refer to a higher power all the darn time.
Obviously i'm not a religious person. Religion is not what I have issue with, but people "pushing" their religion makes me nuts. I just don't want to hear it.
Quite honestly, as a Jew, if I had kids, i'm not sure i'd want them to get too in to her as her Christianity is very in your face.

If anyone is reading this blog (which I highly doubt) this would be the post that could open me up to many comments (good and bad). But in the true spirit of blogging, this was on my mind, so I shared.

A Nice Long Weekend

So my uneventful Valentine's Day became somewhat more interesting as the night wore on.
I went to the gym after work only to find that due to lack of people, my spin class wouldn't be happening. I did a quick workout and then headed home.

Once home I called Joe (my out of state boyfriend) who was playing poker. I left him a vm and he called me back about 10 minutes later. We made some small talk and then he asked if I had received a package today. Ah ha, so he did do something for Valentine's day. But I hadn't, so I told him no. He said his proof of delivery said they left it outside my front door. So began the hunt for the package. I checked both the inside closets (just in case) and then headed out in to the cold. When I opened the door, Joe was standing there, and he had brought home made heart shaped chocolate chip cookies!

Even better, he took off Friday so we got to spend some extra time together.

That was the relaxing idealistic part of the weekend. Then we decided that we should really paint his apartment over the weekend. It seemed like a great idea (and maybe even fun) at the moment.

Friday we drove down to NY (in seperate cars). I made a detour to pick up his v-day present (a 90 minute massage from a place in Astoria he wanted to try) and then we spent the afternoon gathering the supplies. We did a nice dinner at a great restaurant Trattoria L'Incontro (http://www.trattorialincontro.com/) and called it a night.

Saturday the true fun began. Unfortunately the whole process took way longer than anticipated and wasn't quite as fun as I had planned for. It took about five hours to just prime everything. We went to bed around 3am and by that time had done half of the living room and one coat in the dining room. Sunday was another busy day, but we finished around 7. Phew.
I'll post some pictures so you can see the drastic before and after.
And just so you know, never believe the claim that you'll just need one coat!

Monday was spent with my parents and was a nice time. And now it's Tuesday and the days off are a thing of the past.

Anyone have any good v-day stories? or painting stories?

Happy Heart Day

I chose red in honor of the (kind of lame) holiday.

Happy Valentines Day!

Anyone doing anything special? Not me. Although I did give myself permission to eat a bigger lunch and have dessert, so I guess that is pretty special. Exciting, right?

I have four pieces of candy sitting on my desk (courtesy of sweet co-workers) and am happy to say that I'm really not interested in eating any of them. If that's not progress, what is? But then again, candy doesn't talk to me the way baked goods do.

Oh yes, happy birthday to becca and my grandmother!

So yeah, I've got nothing today. Have a happy 14th!

Rainy Wednesday

It has seriously been POURING the entire day. It's gloomy, gray and dismal. Days like this seem to just have the word headache written all over them.

In light of the bad weather, I figured I'd post something that evokes thoughts of getting cozy on the couch.

Here's a recipe that i'm currently obsessed with, although it's rare that I actually have the time to make them, but they are AWESOME!


RUGELACH (have to thank the Barefoot Contessa for this one)

You'll need a good mixer (i.e. a Kitchenaid), a rolling pin and some patience.

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2-pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 9 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup apricot (or your choice of flavor) preserves, pureed in a food processor (or mixed rigorously)
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the rainsis and walnuts. On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges--cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

If you make these, please think of me when you're enjoying their delicious-ness.

Let's get things started

I'm not really sure where I'll go with this blog just yet, but wanted to get the ball rolling in hopes that inspiration for a topic will follow.

My goals for this blog are to keep readers (if there are any) current on my life and my random thoughts as well as share useful information, spark conversations and make people laugh/smile whenever possible.

Here's something to ponder:
Would you rather fight Mike Tyson or talk like him?
(silly, I know, but it should get the brain waves going)