Chicken Casserole

So I had a few people ask for the recipe of the delish meal I made yesterday, so here it is.......

-3 to 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I used Trader Joe's organic chicken)
-1 pkg. Uncle Ben's Instant Wild Rice (I could not find the instant, so I had to use the regular, no biggie)
-1 large jar of marinated artichokes (cara mia)
-Jack cheese (enough to cover the top)
-Basil
-Oregano
-Seasoned Salt
-Seasoned Pepper
-Half an onion
-1 tomato

Directions:

Cook the chicken either in the microwave or boil it, I boiled mine cause I did not want to clean the microwave if it made a mess.  Once chicken is cooked, cut it up into chunks.  Cook the rice per the directions on the box.  Slice onion thinly and saute it in a small frying pan with the marinade from the artichokes (when they are clear, they are done and discard marinade). Chop up artichokes in to small pieces.  

Layer casserole; chicken, rice, onions, basil, oregano, tomato (sliced), seasoned salt, then add artichokes, cheese and seasoned pepper.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins.  

Note:  I did not measure the spices, I just sprinkled what I thought was good.

Enjoy!

Someone, please save me!!!!

At this very moment I am about to have a major anxiety attack, holy schnikies I am at the dentist, I HATE going to the dentist, I sure hope good ole' Bernie the dental hygienist is armed with gum pain be gone, cause lets just say the gums are reseeding (I think I spelled it as if I was reseeding a lawn, but for the love of all things dramatic, I am going to spell it this way) and I have not been flossing, OMG I am going to dental hell!  AHHHHH, save meeeeeeeeee!  Overly dramatic, maybe a bit, but really I hate going to the dentist.

In no particular order, some of my dental drama....

Drama!

More Drama!

Because I like to be dramatic!

I am sure there are more blog posts about my mental break downs in the dental chair, but I cannot find them, so I will leave you with a quote from my friend Carrie......Seriously that sharp tool is THE worst invention ever! OH and I have reseeding gums too and it hurts like heck when they spray that -400 degree water RIGHT at your roots. I am the same way when I leave that place...with old rubber glove face and dried spit, "Do i look like I want to set up another appt right now? No thanks!"

The End!

A large brain dump!

Busy week equals a brain dump blog post, well I was going to post this on Friday, then on Saturday, worked on it a little on Sunday and here we are at Monday, so instead of a Friday brain dump, it is going to be close to the longest post I have ever done!

I survived swim class last week, the first day I thought I was going to die until I found out we were going to get to wear fins during the workout. Thursday I forsure thought I was going to die but I did not, yay extra points for me!  Next week I think I will take the fins off, during the cool down portion of class, we are taking baby steps here folks.

My new fins!

It is tax season at the BTRCC, that means there will be an increased number of crazy people calling us and leaving messages.   We will for sure receive calls from seniors who will leave a message and when we call back yell at us for calling them to schedule an appointment, cause they NEVER called us about taxes and do not understand why in the world we are calling them (true story, happened to me on Friday).  We will also get calls like this one........

Ding dongs who give us two names and cannot remember their phone number, ahhhhh the public, they want to make you start drinking before 10am most days of the week.

I was really good last week about making and taking my lunches and dinners to work each day, I think my friends at Chipotle and Jersey Mikes, might send out a search party soon if I do not reappear. I plan on keeping up on this new meal routine, it is just going to continue to take time and planning to keep it up which I am not the best at, I seem to fly by the seat of my pants most days in all aspects of my life, maybe that is my way of being spontaneous.

Speaking of my great meals that I made this week, here are pics of them......

Shrimp Quesadilla

See what I said about meal planning, you freaking eat the same stuff all week, oh well!

I made this tonight and it is sure to feed me for the next couple days, I swear I felt like Susie homemaker tonight; dinner made, house cleaned and laundry done, dang!

Gracie greets me this way most mornings......

it's kind of freaky, she just stares at me if it is past 7am, its like she is willing me to wake up and feed her, lol!

My sister Kathy finally started a blog of her own, sounds like peer pressure to me from the comments on Instagram, ha!  You can find her here!

I finally caved and bought some new pants over the weekend, going from a size 12 to a size 8 pretty much makes all of your pants not fit, and yes it is a GREAT problem.  I went to the Gap, Ann Taylor Loft and Banana Republic and had luck at all three.  The best part was that everything I bought at Banana Republic was 50% off, SCORE, especially considering I was in denial about the price of a pair of pants I had picked out, I was going to look the other way when the girl rang them up and pretend I did not know what was going on and deal with it another day, but I did not have too, woohoo!  

Gracie likes to help with tag removal!

I am loving my new boots that I bought awhile ago!  I was really unsure if the whole skinny jean/boot look was for me, but after a few test runs in front of my mirror I decided that I would not offend too many people with this get up on, I now want the same pair of boots in brown.  

What do you think, can I pull this look off?

This is what my desktop currently looks like, I think it might be time to file some pictures and back them up!

I think that is all I have got to say for 

today, thanks for reading!

Peace!

The Plunge!

So I did it, I took the plunge yesterday morning, right into the pool.  I signed myself up and headed to swim class before the sun came up at Saddleback College.  It has been since high school that I have attended any kind of swim practice and I have not swam two consecutive laps since then either.  I kind of had this attitude that I am NEVER EVER EVER swimming laps again after I graduated high school and now things have kind of changed in the last few months and I have been wanting to get back in the pool.  I was a little nervous that I would be the "oh so slow one" in the pool but I was pleasantly surprised that I did great, not sure if it was the paddling that I have been doing or if it was the fins I was wearing, lol!  Yep, we got to wear fins and I truly think that is the only way I survived, they made me feel so sleek and fast and gave me the confidence that I could keep up.  Our instructor said that we will use them often, so I went on Amazon and bought myself a pair, ha, just what I need is another piece of gear for a sport, ahhhhhh!  Anyways, it was great morning and I am feeling muscles that I have not felt in awhile and I am hoping that this will provide me with a good cross training activity for paddling and who knows maybe make those size 8's fit a little better.  

The Little's

I have been busy posting what I have been up too and there has been very little mention of what my three favorite little's have been up too!  Cole was seen here on Saturday night......

Cole & Zac last Saturday night at the Clippers game!

What the heck, how does a 7 year old and his buddy score almost front row tickets?  Can you say JEALOUS? I must be hanging with the wrong crowd!

Caroline had her first survival swim test and she passed with flying colors!

And Mari, I have no idea what Mari is up too, probably just being Mari, the sweetest girl in town!

What I Did Sunday!

Like I mentioned yesterday, our awesome DOCC coaches put on the Crossfit WOD at Baby Beach, below are a few pictures that were posted on Facebook.

I had to take a video of a video since it was posted on Facebook and would not allow non DOCC people to watch it.

Working hard!

Can you believe it was 70 degrees at 8am at the beach in January? :)

Lots of fun things coming my way!

Yes, you read that right there are lots of fun things in the works right now!  For starters DOCC and our awesome coaches Rich and Tyson continue to organize Crossfit WOD's (workout of the day) at Baby Beach on Sunday's including the one this morning!  I am meeting up with a couple of my gal pals at NAC tomorrow morning for a "Yay, we do not have to work today" paddle with our OC-1's, longest distance on the freeway with it tomorrow, I am just slightly nervous.  I bought these three items today....

yes to all of my high school swim friends your eyes are not playing tricks on you, that is a pair of goggles (does anyone besides me have trouble spelling goggles after google became popular, cause I sure do, maybe it is the blonde in me) and a swim cap cause starting on Tuesday I will be swimming at Saddleback College twice a week (and I freak out cause I have no free time, ha, I wonder why?) for the next semester.  I have been kinda itching to get back in the pool but just needed the right motivation to get me back in and as of right now a size 8 pair of jeans and some friends who will be joining me is just what I needed.   One of my paddle friends coaches at Saddleback and we were talking today and this programs sounds just like what I need to get me back into swim shape.  Oh and the orange thing is a floatation device for my GoPro in the event that it falls into the water (man, they have thought of everything)!  This afternoon/evening was also the season kick-off meeting for DOCC, yep the season starts on February 2, and I am prepared (see this post for a refresher on my preparation for the season), now if the house could just stay clean by itself till September I would be golden!  And the biggest bestest news ever, I am headed to Kona, Hawaii in August for this, I have already requested the days off, actually I am taking two weeks off to go to the Kona race and to relive this!  Yep, that is a 5 hour plane ride, two different time zones, two big races and one large ocean all within one week of each other, on second thought maybe I should ask for three weeks off? 

It's gonna be fun!   

What's for Dinner?

I have been in a serious food rut lately and I am not one that is big on New Year's Resolutions but with my weekly diet consisting of Starbucks, scrambled eggs (even for dinner), Chipotle and Jersey Mikes, it is time for a serious change.   So with the help of the internet I am starting my New Year's Resolution now (actually it started on Wednesday and yes, I know we were 16 days into the new year, but whatev's) with new recipe's and a new use for my kitchen besides being a catch all and a place to store large appliances that suck out energy and cost me money every month to keep powered up for no good reason at all cause they are not being used.  On Wednesday night I made Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup, holy mother of goodness it was good and really easy to make and the leftovers even tasted good (had it for lunch and dinner on Thursday) and that says a lot coming from the girl who does not like leftovers AT ALL, which is part of the reason why I hardly cook cause what is one person supposed to do with all of that leftover food?    

And for tonight's delish meal it was a shrimp quesadilla, yum yum!

I found these two recipe's and many others at skinnytaste.com ,I cannot wait to make a few more. Oh and I discovered how handy it is to meal plan, blah I thought meal planning was for stay at home mom's with nothing better to do until I realized how much $$$ it can save you and how convenient it is to have all of your groceries on hand, however for me, cooking for one person means that I will be eating the same ingredients all week long, just cooked different ways.  And as always to all of my single friends (or my married ones who want a night away from their kids) out there, the door is wide open if you want to come for dinner cause we all know that the cooking universe makes it damn near impossible to cook for just one person without making scrambled eggs every night, see you at the dinner table! 

Sew, a needle pulling thread!

I have been wanting a good reason to break out my sewing machine for awhile now, it is Winter time and the perfect time to sit inside where it is all warm and cozy and be crafty, I just wish I was ambitious enough to break out the scrapbooking supplies and catch up on the last nine years of my life!  Anyways, I have had a few cute little projects that I have been wanting to make for some of the kiddo's in my life, just waiting for birthday's or shower's to go to and then on Saturday my friend Bev sent me the nicest message on Facebook regarding the burp cloths I sent her as a baby gift for her sweet little girl Harper, asking me to make her some more and she would buy them from me, so here I am gettin a little crafty last night.  I sure hope she likes these, they are easy and nothing fancy but the sure do come out looking cute!

My favorite indoor hobby, I think it is time to sign up for lessons again!

Well, just imagine the picture rightside up, not sure why my computer is doing this!

Gee I wonder why......

Gracie is NEVER invited over to my parents house or why they NEVER offer to babysit?  

I have been kind of feeling bad for Gracie a lot this week, I have been battling this lame cold and it has been freezing outside like so cold we broke 23 year old records, that is how cold it has been, so needless to say Gracie has been a tad neglected in the walk department.  I knew she would be thrilled to go visit her BFF Lucy for the evening, so I loaded her up into the car and off we went.  Whenever we arrive to my parents house the first thing that Gracie does is run into the kitchen in search of Lucy's food, well she got lucky and it was there sort of waiting for her. After the food was quickly taken away hurricane Gracie went and found a tennis ball, starting bouncing it all over the house and then dropped it in Lucy's water bowl, ugh!  That was the end of the tennis ball, so like the perfectly trained dog Gracie is, she went and dropped it in the toy box all by herself.  Then it was time to go outside (nature always calls when we go over there), so I let her out not thinking about the gate to the pool being open, ahhhh, I quickly battled the back door to get outside and somehow managed to beat Gracie to the gate and narrowly dodge her jumping into the pool (I am laughing thinking about it) and everyone complains she is a bad dog!  

Lucy and Gracie spent the evening wrestling with each other, they think that they have to do this while we are eating dinner, like it is some kind of dinnertime show. This time it was pretty mellow compared to when Gracie gets ahold of Lucy's collar and drags her around the house and thankfully my Mom sold the living room coffee table, now we no longer have to listen to Gracie's head hitting it every time she runs into that room.

Boy times have changed since Gracie was a little pup!!

Genius Moment of 2013!

It's almost that time again, yep, paddling season is just a couple weeks away, can you believe it, I can't, I keep asking myself did it ever end?  You may recall the gazillion posts of how much fun I had last season, holy moly it was a blast but with the good fun of paddling comes the sacrifice of free time; practice Monday, Wednesday and Saturday until race season, then it is Monday's, Wednesday's and all day at the race/beach (yes, soooo rough) on Saturday's, add in a full-time job a dog and there is where any additional time goes.  So as I sat last night thinking about the upcoming season, I had my first genius moment of 2013 and probably my last as I will be so freakin busy I won't have time to think of anything else until next September, I kid you not.  I decided it would be in my best interest to stock up on as many everyday/Target supplies as I had room to store for the next few months so I do not have to worry about making a Target run on my one free day of the week for a long time, I know you are all thinking, "Erin you are a genius", you all can thank me later for this little tidbit of advice and for all of you who do not paddle no need to worry I am stalked up on laundry detergent, toilet paper, soap and feminine products for the next few months, so if you find yourself in need I am just a phone call away!  Next week it will be a trip to the pet store to stock up on Gracie's food, cause homegirl has been known to be fed microwaveable brown rice a time or two when I have forgotten to hit up the pet store(hanging head down in bad pet owner shame) and we all know that she has not and will never let me forget to feed her.  

Just a sampling of what I bought today!

And for all of you who need to get in shape and have a lot of free time on your hands that you need to fill, meet me down at Baby Beach on Saturday, February 2, for some fun, see you there!

Epic Fail!

It is a chilly night in the OC, cold as in we will have a lot of frost tomorrow morning on the cars, grass and roofs and being the ultimate genius I am I opened my kitchen window this morning before I left for work so there would be a little fresh air coming through the house and came home to it being a warm 59 degrees inside, brrrrr!  So what better night for a little hot chocolate and a warm blanket on the couch.  Growing up my Mom would make us hot chocolate every morning with our breakfast and every morning we would remind her (like she had forgotten after the hundredth time we had told her) not to stir ours cause we liked to eat the chocolate stuck at the bottom, mmm it was soooo good.  So thinking about those fond childhood memories I made myself a cup of hot chocolate and it turned into an epic fail, it is amazing that one can mess it up so bad!

AHHHHH!  The best part is after I cleaned this up, I ended up spilling the rest of it on me, the table and my laptop!  Gracie was thrilled cause she got to lick it up and I am glad most of it landed on me instead of the computer. 

Whomp Whomp Whomp!

A Case of the Monday's

***Warning this post is basically me whining like a small child!***

I sure have a case of the Monday's as in Erin's dictionary it is defined as the first day after a great weekend that was sub par, a day that one wishes she could sleep in, a day that she should not be accountable for anything or expected to get anything done.

I had a great week/weekend the past few days only for my "fun high" to come crashing down today when my alarm went off at 5:30am, I quickly declared it a wet hair day (giving me more time to sleep instead of drying my hair) and hit the snooze button one or two more times then I should.  I got ready for work only see the damage all that snoozing in did and was late to work (New Year's Resolution; be on time to work).  Somehow made it to work before everyone else so my tardiness (5 mins) went unnoticed (whew!), only to be hit smack in the face with the world's most neediness resident of the year (yes, I know it is only day 7 of the new year), I swear some people should not be allowed to reproduce!  In a nutshell; crazy woman, children's art contest, child is no Picasso, afraid artwork would get wrinkled, way too much time on her hands, I must dig through hundreds of pieces of artwork so woman does not have a mental breakdown.

A few minutes later it is discovered that someone (I know who) has unplugged and jacked up all of the settings our main computer in the tech lounge, I make very obvious signs that say DO NOT TOUCH with the meaning Touch and DIE!  

Sore throat sets in mid morning, are you serious?  I never get sick!  Headache sets in a few minutes later, fan-FREAKING-tastic, I think I am sick.  It is probably karma, since I was thinking how ridiculous resident of the year was and this is payback!

Boss wants to start planning the Summer Concert Series, I want to CRY, we just had New Year's Eve!  I remind myself how great the concerts and get over it quickly.  I get a ton of stuff done at work, all of my NYE vendors will get paid next week, looks like we will have our brochure printed in time for the first day of registration (can you say months behind, sooooo not my fault).

As I type this I realize how great a snuggie would be right now.  Gracie is having a field day with some wrapping paper and tissue she found in my room, my head hurts so bad that I don't even care if she eats it or spreads around the house and I think it is going to to be hot chocolate and scrambled eggs for dinner night!

I believe I am done with my whine, is it Friday yet?

GOODNIGHT!

Mammoth Day 2!

 Day 2 of Mammoth I almost chickened out and bought a half day pass due to my sore sore body but I decided to go all day.  We hit a different part of the mountain today and I got some great shots with the GoPro (video post to come) along with a few wipeouts!  We were so lucky to have great great weather, it was freezing cold but the sun was out so that made it really nice along with about 5 layers of clothing. 

Top of Cornis, I love this picture!

Melissa, Tracy & Jill

Thanks Jill for letting us crash at your place!

Mammoth Trip!

Yesterday Ricki, Melissa & I drove up to Mammoth for some skiing & snowboarding today & tomorrow.  I have not been snowboarding in a couple years so I can only imagine how sore my body is going to be in the morning, ugh!  I brought out the GoPro for the first time, attached it to my helmet, turned it on and hoped for the best cause I had no idea if the angle was any good do to the lack of screen to see what you are recording.  I was more than happy with the way the video's turned out and I will be doing a post with all of the video's, I just need to edit them to make them shorter so they will upload to blogger.  So far we are having a great time and no bones have been broken (knock on wood), just some serious bruise action going on on my legs!

Good traveling food!  You can never go wrong with In N Out!

On the road!

Awesome bread shop!

This is the weather report we woke up too, brrrr!

Jill & Ricki waiting for me at Starbucks!

I was trying to take a picture of myself via the reflection on Jill's goggles!

Jill & I, no, I did not get sunburned!

Yep, total dork!

This is a video of a video off my GoPro.

The gear!

Cheers to a great trip with great friends!

New Year's Day Paddle!

A New Year's Day paddle, what a great way to start 2013!  Yesterday morning between 50-60 DOCC people met at Baby Beach for the annual New Year's Day paddle to Three Arch Bay (approx. 13 miles round trip) and cocktail hour (9am, never to early).  We all met up at 7:30am, drug all of our boats out, loaded up coolers, flasks, bottles of Champagne, etc and headed out.  As we were getting ready to head out I randomly ran into my Uncle Dwight in the parking lot, he was off to go birding but saw all of the excitement going on and went looking for me.  

Getting ready!

Brrrrrrr, it was cold out!

Me in seat two!

We looked like a small army invading the beach!

What a great group of people to paddle with!

The rest of New Year's Day was pretty much a wash, I was so tired from working the day and night before (14 hours on my feet in the freezing cold (added for dramatics)) that when I got home, I took a shower, put my pj's back on and took a 4.5 hour nap.  I had to force myself to get out of bed at 4:30pm so I could get a few things done around the house and finish packing my stuff for Mammoth (woohoo).  Oh and I may or may not of gone through the In N Out drive through in my pj's, sweatshirt and running shoes, not to mention my hair was a hot mess!  Yes, folks, there is no mystery as to why I am still single! AWESOME!

Happy 2013!  

DOCC, thanks for a great morning and thank you to all of the people who took the pictures I borrowed from Facebook!