Contentment.

I love blogging. I love that I can write my thoughts and store them to look back on. I love that I can share part of my life with you and that likewise you let me peak into your daily routines, your homes, and your traditions. And while that is wonderful it sometimes causes a little bit of blogger envy.

I recently have been stalking home blogs and staring in awe, wonder, and jealousy at the beauty of your homes and how talented you all are at decorating, renovating and interior design. I look at your travel pages and see the wonderful trips you are planning or have taken. And at the same time I am envious of your exotic visits and memories. Sometimes blogging makes it very hard to be content.

Today Mr.R and I hosted my grandparents for lunch, and in doing so we needed to clean house. We scrubbed the kitchen, waxed the floors, tidied the closets and bathrooms, and cleaned our sun porch.

As I was setting the dining room table I looked around at the beauty of our home. I saw the stenciling that took me hours, the framed photos of our travels, the mementos we have picked up from various dates, and the furniture we painstakingly saved for and finally purchased. And I realized that my home, still very much a work in progress, is just as beautiful and just as comforting as yours.

I think it is very hard to be content today. TV commercials tell us to buy more. Everyone is always having a sale. And if you can't pay now, there is always credit. And I think it is just in my nature to want more. But really, how much stuff does one girl need?

I know it isn't quite March, but I think I have decided on my new goal. I am going to work on being content with what I have. I will still read your posts and stare in awe at your creativity and talent, but I will do it without my green jealous twin.

After all, green just isn't my color.

A busy Saturday with no photo documentation!

8:30 AM: running a bit late, Mr. R & I head to dunkin' doughnuts for my school's fundraiser. We served doughnuts & coffee for a couple of hours and all the proceeds went back to my middle school to be used (hopefully) on new technology supplies. I see mimio markers in my future!

I just need to state that as a non-doughnut eater I have NO IDEA how many doughnut flavors there are! Cake, glazed, chocolate glazed, maple frosted, vanilla, boston creme, chocolate filled, sugar rolled, and jelly! I also had no idea how hard it is to listen, remember, and then make coffee. I really need to cut those Starbucks baristas some slack.

10:30: Leave Dunkin' doughnuts (smelling like frosting and coffee) and head the the town center. Mr. R and I stopped for breakfast @ Panera. I love the spinach souffle and considering we don't have Panera near us I always indulge when we are in Jax.

11:00: Off to the Apple store. Mr. R and I finally don't have to share a computer! Right now I am blogging from my new Macbook. Yay!!! While out wallets are A LOT lighter, I think it will be worth it in the end.

12:00: Home to the pups and to see my grandparents who just returned from a cruise to the British virgin islands. They had a great time and seem so tan and relaxed. After my grandmother's heart surgery two months ago its great to see her back in action.

1:00: Mr. R moonlights as a plumber! The republicans just rented a new headquarters downtown to help prepare for the 2010 elections. Mr. R was recruited to fix toilets, clean bathrooms, and help drywall. Who knew he was so handy?

3:00 Exercise Day 2: Mr. R and I have a Wii that he loves and I use occasionally, but for Christmas I was given the new game Just Dance. If I dance for an hour it is just like a zumba class. I LOVE it! And considering I missed spin and boot-camp this morning, the 60 mins of Just Dance was a perfect dose of cardio right in my own living room.

5:30: Dinner @ Kristin's! Three of my good friends are running the Jacksonville half-marathon for breast cancer, also known as 26.2 with Donna. Or in their case a 13.1. Anyway, they had a pre-race pasta dinner and even though Mr. R and I aren't running we were asked to come over and feast. It was fun to be together and Kristin is an excellent Italian chef. We all were saying it had been SO long since we had eaten meatballs and sauce.

8:00: Home to the pups and to clean house for a bit. Hope you all had a great Saturday!

An evening in Rome.

Mr. R and I have a been bitten by the travel bug. We both love to travel off the beaten path and try new foods, discover new places, and take TONS of pictures. (I am a scrapbooker after all).Unfortunately our wallets aren't always on the same wavelength as our need to travel. This means I need to get creative with what we have available.

This whole week I have been craving pizza and Mr. R had been craving a night on the town... combine them together and you get an evening in Rome, without the 10 hour flight, customs check, and no need for your Italian dictionary.We left Casa de Republican @ 7 (after we made it to the gym, day 1 for you Sharon!) and headed for downtown in search for the Duomo. (It just so happens that Memorial Presbyterian has a very similar dome).We walked the cobbled streets to the Piazza de Navona where we stumbled upon the Pantheon and passed the Trevi fountain. (I forgot to throw in a few coins).For dinner, I found a little restourante and feasted on a calzone (stuffed with spinach and tomatoes for me) and veal parmigiana (for Mr. R).To end the evening we strolled along the streets eventually finding the bridges of venice, a few gondalas waiting for willing patrons, and murano glass on display.And made it to the Vatican to see the Pope's window box, the beautiful stained glass, and the attached plaza.And of course, life is not complete without gelato eaten with fresh berries (or peanutbutter cups in my case).This concludes our night on the town. I can't believe how much fun it was to pretend. And I am grateful Mr. R indulged my fantasy and played along. I am already planning next months trip. I think a trip to the UK might be in order...

I'm So Excited...

Saved by the Bell was my fave growing up. My Saturday morning just wasn't complete without a little Zach Morris. And truth be told, I still get a happy feeling when I catch an old episode on daytime TV. Mr. R was also a fan growing up. And for this reason Bayside High enters our conversation at least once a week.

As in... Did you see that guy's dinosaur phone? It makes Zach Morris' look small!
Or... Did you hear that kid's voice change? It was worse than Screech.
Or my all time favorite... "I'm so excited... I'm so excited... I'm just so scared..."

The last one comes from the episode where Jessie Spano took caffeine pills and acted like she was on heroine. Whenever I have a public speaking engagement, (which in truth scares the mess out of me), I run around the house saying that quote... it will eventually make me and Mr. R laugh hysterically and then my nerves settle and I am ready to face the world.

The point of this post is found below.Nathaniel James actually made a time chart of my favorite Jessie Spano freakout episode.
I spotted this in you are my fave.

An honesty post for Danielle

Today at work I was standing pretty high on my soapbox.
Why? Because I have worked out consecutively for 21 days. Today would have been day 22.

Once the kids had gone, I was chatting in Danielle's room about life (the usual) when she complemented me on my new found desire to exercise daily. I left her room at 3:30 with plans to go the gym for a spin class and some ab work. (I want to be able to do planks like That Pink Girl).

I called Mr. R on my way home and he too was excited for the gym, that is until I offered Door #2. See door #2 is always a pretty awesome door. It's always a surprise and it is always way better than the gym.

Tonight's door #2 consisted of a movie & the best dinner in the whole wide world. (an impromptu date night of sorts). We left the house @ 5:00 bought our movie tickets for When in Rome. (cute, but you could wait for the DVD) and then feasted on movie popcorn and diet coke. (a five star dinner if you ask me).
And the best part, we were the only people in the theatre. We could heckle the previews, talk during the boring parts, laugh really really loud, and even make out...(sorry if that was an over share).

On the way home Mr. R asked to stop @ Papa's for a gyro. And really, who can say no to Papa's.
I managed to make room in the old estómago for the whole thing. (It's never as good the next day).
And so Danielle, I did not make it to the gym. I am back to day 1 in my day 21 plan. But I think it was worth it. Actually I know it was.

Yum! Glorious Yum!

I love carbs.

I love cake.

I love breakfast.

AND I pink puffy heart LOVE Pioneer Woman.

Yesterday she made pancakes, but not just any pancakes.

These lovelies are titled cinnamon bun pancakes and they are topped with maple syrup icing.

*Photo courtesy of the tasty kitchen blog. (This is where P-Dub debuts her new recipes)*

And they are super easy to make. And I may or may not have eaten 4 of them with a side of bacon. (Two slices to be exact).

So glad I went to the gym today.

The recipe can be found here.

What do Republicans eat for dinner?

Well, in casa de Republican we are cooking up some jalapeno corn pudding in the crock. This recipe comes from the lovely Stephanie O'Dea. We have made this before to go with BBQ, but I was hoping it would pair with a simple green salad for our lunches this week. The recipe can be found here. (I know it doesn't look so hot in the crock, but trust me its GOOD!)

photo: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

For dinner tonight I am on my own. Mr. R is attending a fund raising dinner and I opted out. In truth when it comes to How I Met Your Mother & Big Bang Theory vs. Republican chit-chat, the TV always wins.

I have been craving quiche for a few weeks now, but its not a fave for Mr. R. I would like to say that Costco inspired this quiche. I went on Saturday to do our bimonthly shop and walked away with giant asparagus (see picture below), Roma tomatoes, Gruyere cheese, and enough eggs for an army (the smallest package contains 36).

We didn't have any pie crust so I figured I would do a cross between a fritatta and a quiche.

To begin I roasted asparagus with the usual suspects. (olive oil, salt, and pepper), for 15 mins @ 450 degrees.

Then I whipped 5 eggs and added that to 2.5 cups of cheese and a small sauteed red onion.

I poured that into a pie plate, added the asparagus, and finally slice up some Roma tomatoes for the topping.

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes until it looks like this.

Tonight I am eating this with a romaine salad with strawberries.