awaiting spring

will this winter pleasseeeee be over soon? 

typically we (my family) all use my march 1 bday as a marker for the turn of the weather.

not looking good this year. 

the silver lining for surviving this winter has been that i've been working full time from home due to the change in jobs.  

haven't had to worry about parking, driving, freezing in work clothes...

this benefit will end come monday when i start the new gig, but for the next two days i'm going to enjoy my 5:30 gym classes and 

basking in the sun with this guy.  

(our other kitty, oliver)

the spring in boston is the greatest. 

warm sun, walking on m street beach, patio dining, and most importantly,

getting rid of the winter blues 

this weekend will hopefully kick off some warm weather while celebrating the turn of my 28th year! dinner on friday with some friends, then mr. o has a surprise event planned for me saturday night.  i've always loved my birthday.  my parents came to celebrate with me last weekend, but i'll hold off and give a full birthday update next week. 

who wants to come visit??

new challenges new gig

as i've mentioned before, the company i've been a part of for almost 4 years was recently sold. i was integrated into the new company, but never felt as at home as i did before or as challenged so i started the hunt for a new opportunity. 

and its been found! 

i will be the hr manager for a start up called paint nite.  

maybe some of you have participated in such an evening, but the premise is drinking and learning to paint some really cool art.  sounds neat, right? not only is it cool for the participants, but paint nite also empowers artists from all over the country to start their own little business.  each city has artists that own their paint nite brand and can run with it however they please. 

mr o and i did it about a year ago and had a great time but ryan got a bit frustrated at his limited painting abilities.  i thought his looked great. 

regardless, i get to step back into my hr manager shoes and build an hr department for this growing company. saying it out loud makes me a bit nervous, but what an exciting challenge and i'm ready for it. maybe i'll get to do some paint nite's myself and i'll showcase for you my ever growing art career (righhhttttt...)

wish me luck! 

love and kisses day

valentine's day is such a fun holiday. 

i fully understand it was 100% made by hallmark 

but why not have another excuse to hug and kiss and love on your significant other

or kitties, or friends, or family! 

mr o and i have never been over the top vday celebrators, 

but we always find a way to do something.

our first valentine's day was only about a month after we first met and ryan (not mr. o yet) took me to the north end for dinner, treated me to my favorite pastry's at mike's pastry, and then back to my apt for a candlelit massage a la ryan.  

um. i was sold. 

my plans are never as sweet or involved, but i do make a mean valentine's day card.

this year, i found a great blog (no biggie blog) with a diy paper airplane!  ryan loves reeses so this is what came out of all that:

a "you make my heart soar" reese's valentine's mobile/card! 

hanging in the middle also happened to be two tickets to see aziz ansari, who we love, at the wilbur theatre

of course as soon as ryan saw it, he turned the fan on and the whole thing started swinging around.

cut to my panic of getting bombed by little reeses candies! 

thankfully, they just swung around and the card was complete - wish i could share the video! 

anyway, things like this make vday such a fun day. 

ryan made me a homemade thai dinner (chicken yellow curry and fried rice) with candles and cheesecake for dessert and he got 

a paper airplane mobile crafted with love

make sure you give everyone you love some hugs and kisses today! 

happy vday

food for the soul: sweet potato turkey shepherds pie

i apologize in advance for all the food posts, i'm really getting into talking about the new recipes i'm trying especially when skinny taste goes for the gold…again 
(i've been watching the olympics)

my friends and i love skinny taste. gina makes some really fantastic recipes and there are so many you could probably go a year and try a new recipe every time.  they are so low in calories and i have yet to find one that i haven't liked.

 tonight we tried her sweet potato turkey shepherds pie.

wow. 

ryan did the shopping for this one and accidentally bought me a japanese sweet potato (purple skin and bright white inside) and i don't think i'm ever going back to a regular sweet potato.  it had such a nutty taste vs a strong sweet taste.  
sweet potatoes have twice the fiber of a regular potato and tons of vitamins.

a very heart healthy veg! 

skinny taste sweet potato turkey shepherds pie recipe

as i'm sure you've noticed, i'm loving my new ramekins
(good for portioning!)

i was too excited to eat it so i didn't get anything else prepared, but it would be great with some mixed greens and a bit of tangy balsamic if you needed something extra.  shepherds pie is also a great freezer food.  this recipe made 6 ramekins filled to the top so i was able to freeze the remaining 4. 

food for the soul: taco pasta

the o's loveeeeee mexican food.

i found a taco pasta recipe on pinterest from "The Girl Who Ate Everything" blog and had to try it as one of my two new meals of the week. 

we had some leftover cooked gluten free pasta (i highly recommend ronzoni gluten free brand. it has an excellent texture and taste and you'd never know the difference except that you feel a thousand times better after eating gluten free than regular) and cooked ground beef from superbowl sunday so it was fate that i stumbled upon this recipe. 

for the most part i followed it exactly.  you could definitely use a light or fat free cream cheese/sour cream and ground turkey to lessen the calories and i'm sure it would taste the same.  i plan to try that next time.

Taco Pasta

Add a basic green salad with some balsamic into the mix and we had ourselves a nice little dinner.

happy cooking!