Day Off!

Alright! I'm gonna do my usual catch up since it's been a while and include some tangent about Birmingham...so heads up this might get long. I'll go in reverse for variety 3Ms update!

Monster: I believe I said weeks ago I was going get him shaved down...today was that day! He's gotten sooo fluffy and with it warming up I don't want him to be miserable..plus that gives him a solid 7-8 months to re-poof for the winter. He's still pawing weirdly at his food and taken up the new habit of sleeping on Mic's side of the bed, which makes me a little sad. But I'm not here often so I guess I'm glad to see he's not lonely...I guess haha. As long as he knows who his mommy is!!!
Michael: His paper that he's been working on (aside from his dissertation, it's another publication) for over a year finally got accepted into a relevant journal! It's really good because I think this is the first step towards that light at the end of the tunnel that is...a Ph.D.! I know it's a lot of weight off his shoulders. We also ran 2 miles today...he has excelled at running so fast (pun NOT intended!) that I'm a little jealous. Granted, it wasn't my A-game...I spent the better part of yesterday super hungover and not really able to eat, and then woke up this morning to coffee and old pizza...so I can't say I'm surprised I felt like death...but it certainly didn't help him having me as a running partner. We made pretty good time so I'm pleased. Also, I'm playing him at wordfeud and just matched him point for point!! mwahahah
Me: not much new in my area...been trying to revive my love of boardgames- chess, wordfeud, and the like. Always looking for a new series to get involved in reading...it's been slow-going but in the meantime I've really enjoyed reading the free classics off gutenburg.org. Always good to revisit the great works of literature when you're not being forced by your school's agenda.

so recipes, links, and news...here we go---
Mic learned this minimalist way of cooking steaks a few years back and it's still some of the best meat ever...super simple, and fast.
STEAK! mmmm
sproutybake -- for the record, I never use bleu cheese, it's just too much with the brussle-y-ness of the sprouts, I usually stick with parmesan cheese or even feta and sometimes if I'm feelin' froggy I'll add little red cherry tomatoes! YUM
and lately besides the usual meat/veggie I've been making pasta with whole wheat flour..

links...I'm not gonna do links, I'm gonna do cute pictures instead!!!!!!!!!!!!

the second was actually my desktop background for years! it's just always gonna be one of my faves and it looks so much like Monster when he was a pupperbear!!

news: once again, I've managed to go another week without paying any attention to what's going on with the world around me...it's a fault I know but ignorance is bliss :)

and now, Birmingham trip! I FINALLY made it home last week, it was wonderful. I've missed my parents so much. Dad wasn't feeling super great but we managed to squeeze in some great movie time and Mom and I went to a couple of wineries around Bham (who knew?!). I love wine! and booze in general lol. We had some truely unique ones since the most common grapes don't grow around here and the ones that do are super sweet. Definitely a great experience and hopefully I'll get home sooner to make the harvest before it ends. I also got their retired cappuccino maker so I'm pretty pumped to try that out at some point...when I'm not so lazy to get it out of my car. Also, one thing I really love about Bham is the hills...Every morning I woke up and went for a breezy lil jog around our house...never more than 3 miles but still enough to get my heart going. It's so beautiful in our neighborhood, I wish I'd hurry up and get a bike rack so I can really get down on some trails...alas, laziness rears its ugly head on that front as well. Ok, I think this post is sufficiently  long. til next week!! (or something of significance occurs!!)

Two in One

Ok, time for a real big update..what a crazy couple of weeks. So, we'll start with the fact that I'm driving a 2012 Honda Accord!!!!!!!!! well, for a week...while mine's in the shop. But still, brings back glorious Honda memories from my Civic and this one is an automatic so my left foot and right hand can go back to atrophying with all the driving I do for work. I guess I'll start with the wreck: it was no biggie, I sorta hydroplaned in the rain in MS and I was the 4th to do so in a matter of minutes so the cops were already there. My car was actually drivable (which I can attest to since I've been all over the coast in it for the last 7 days lol) since I wasn't speeding so I was kind of lazy getting it to the repair place.

Next up, my gnarly fall. Val a few years back was running full speed ahead down Hillcrest when she tripped via shoelace and skinned the better part of three layers of skin off both knees (Hopefully she's relishing the fact that the audience of oh, about 5, are getting to read this :)...well picture a similar scenario, only I was running with a coworker's tiny dog through a parking area...and I hit both hands as well...and my face...bad news. The one good thing that came out of this is because my hand was so horribly scraped up I got a reprieve from doing the dishes for a week (long story short: Mic does ALL the laundry, I do all the dishes-- lots of permutations and years of bickering have lead to this functioning agreement). But alas, he remembered to bring home sterile gloves from lab last night so I finally faced that beast today. BOO! but it's done so whatevs. I now take back making fun of her "black mold" knees...my bad girl.

What else, what else. I started reading Heart of Darkness today. I "read" it years ago (and I use that term very loosely) and remember getting lost in the flowery language of it but not really following the plot so much. This time I'm being much more rigorous in my attention to grasp what's actually happening and it's really good...who knew? Apparently tons of people...including Francis Ford Coppola...since it's what Apocalypse Now is based on.

Reddit was *pretty good* today...instead of the usual picture I'll forgo it with links I really enjoyed- you're welcome!
Woo!! Dinosaurs
Genes vs. ZipCode
LHC!
oh shucks...I'm gonna include a pic anyways!

I mean, who doesn't love ALF...even if he is eating a cute kitten!

3Ms...my hand (the ripped to shreds one) is actually beginning to hurt so I'll just leave on this last note. Monster has deleted this blog twice by running across my lap while I'm typing. lucky for him this thing saves drafts periodically..he's also my best friend!!

For Val!!!

A midweek post, hooray. I'll start with the awesome meal I had last Wed...But first, some background. A few years ago (so weird it's been years at this point) I started hanging out with Val- then, just a measly worker at Dreamland with me ha! And at a certain point, we pretty much had entire weekdays mapped out for something awesome. Sundays- HBO block, Mondays-study date, Tuesdays-NBC block, Wednesday-fun day, Thursdays- Bravo, Fridays-Sat. work together. As you can see, a lot of time spent together-mostly watching tv lol. But nothing gold can stay (omg, I did not just say that, it's on par with a terrible joke Val would tell). She graduated, so did I (eventually). She started pharmacy school and I got a big girl job, and even though she lives 4 houses down from me, hanging out has pretty much been reduced to Wed...so we try to make them pretty spectacular. And that usually involves amazing food.

So last Wed. her, Mic and I went to the kitchen. That's the name...The Kitchen-on George St. They are a super cute restaurant that I first went to for a friend's birthday dinner. It's tapas style mostly but they have some awesome entrees for two as well. Some of the absolute best shrimp and grits I've ever had. I don't like grits, and as Michael informed me, it's actually polenta so I guess that answers why I love it so much. Sooooo cheesy and rich and the shrimp are always fat and cooked properly.

Last Wed. was no exception. I got steamed mussels in a buttery white wine sauce, Mic started with thai summer rolls and Val had some delicious wok broccoli in some kind of garlic/nut sauce that was excellent. Then, Mic and I split the blackened flounder and green beans. They do such a great job of executing these dishes perfectly! It's def. going to be our Wed. place for a while.

I think I'm gonna stop there...too tired from work to give this the full attention it deserves

I didn't hold out...

Well well well....looks like the 2-3 updates a week is also too lofty a goal... so once a week updates it is! I'm pretty sure there's only 4 people actually checking this besides myself, 3 of whom I talked to today (Hi Mom!!). So, on with it.

Game of Thrones started back this week. If you didn't know my infatuation with this series let me paint you a picture. It's 2009 and Michael and I are on our way to California for his friend's wedding (well, our friends now :) Stuck in the airport I grab the only sci-fi fantasy book I can find...A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1 (Game of Thrones).....Many...many many layovers, two 4 hour flights later I'm absolutely hooked. So I bought the box set, got Michael hooked and the rest is history...unbelievably- someone else must have been thinking the same thing because it became a hit series one year later! YAY! There's 5 books with the 6th set for 2014 so I really hope they keep the tv show going. I'm not going to lie, after Harry Potter ended there's been a GIANT hole in my heart. Oh, also, speaking of bandwagon books, I started (and finished) Hunger Games Trilogy this week as well. While it is really good...especially the imagery, I'm not 100% satisfied with how the series ended. But I won't spoil it- even though I love spoilers :) The movie is also something I'm really looking forward to.

so in honor of that: picture time

House Sigil pizza!! for those who are unfamiliar, this reference will not help but it's Lannister, Stark, Targaryen, and Baratheon  woooo wooo!

ok moving on to dinner tonight...sadly it's a repeat so I won't go into a lot of detail but it was:
Cilantro lime chicken breasts- two huge breasts (har har) marinated in cilantro, lime, butter, garlic and sriracha sauce and worschestershire...the sauce is kind of modify to taste
Bird's eye steamers- healthy colors medley: squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots- which of course I dug out and gave to Monster.
and finally mexican corn- now I know I mentioned I love onions (and if I didn't, well I just did so there) so I used a whole onion chopped course, a can of corn, a TON of garlic (3-4 cloves), Tony's seasoning, cumin to taste, lime juice, red pepper flakes to taste and sauteed the crap out of it...I cooked the onions waaay down so they were pretty caramelized (and I have leftovers for garbage pasta! yayyyy)

What's next? News? Blugh, I wish I was more like my Dad or grandmother...they seem to always be up on the most relevant and recent issues as well as super informed. I just hate the hassle and disappointment that comes from watching how messed up our country/world can be...we sensationalize negativity and it's a bummer. So when I actually have something I want to learn about I usually end up isolating that one issue and googling it or something...meh, moving on.

3Ms::
Monster- I hate to say it, but he's been SO bad today. I cleaned his water bowl cause the little goober was pawing at it (full, and making a mess I might add) and then he dumped it EVERywhere. Got him a new bowl that he can't dump and now he's taken to dumping his food bowl over. No clue what this behavior is but boo on it. He's also getting shaved down on Wed. so let's all cross our fingers that his hair makes it back by winter.
Michael- he's sitting next to me working on a presentation for Wed. He's had a pretty busy week as usual but we did manage to tack on another 1/2 mile to our run. I think we're gonna stay at this distance and try to get faster. He's also going to try to teach me Runaway Train (it's a duel guitar song--awwww) on guitar at some point. I love love doing this kind of stuff together, especially since I'm lucky enough to have a guy that's talented enough to teach me so much <3 enough sap!!
Me- I desperately need to do dishes...but I think I'm going to put it off one more day! maybe two! Aside from that I'm back on my usual healthy kick...summer is around the corner and I hate the idea of being sweating to death walking in the heat. Losing weight would definitely be a great way to ease some of that burden...all for now :)

Almost Forgot

Eeesh, only a week in and I'm already slowing down. Not that I planned on posting everyday...maybe 2-3 times a week. I was actually off today and while I didn't spend it being quite as productive as planned it was definitely a great day. I'll start off with my usual food rave for the day:

I bought the most recent Living Social (which, if you haven't looked into, is totally awesome) for Chat-a-Way Cafe and it was delicious...granted, the food we ate from there was super unhealthy so I wouldn't recommend for more than maybe once a week (or if you have more resolve than I do, once a month). But nonetheless a quick google search and I found both awesome recipes to try out on your cheat day:
Awesome mac and cheese
and to go with it, Cajun Turkey Tenderloin from Sam's Club...it's 1.5 pounds of turkey vacuum sealed with some pretty spicy cajun butter mix--bake for 30 minutes at 350.
And that's it...no veggies!! We have so many here to choose from right now but the meal seemed so calorie heavy and rich we decided to skip it.

Next up, happy picturessssssssss

just a pile of puppies...

I forgot to time myself so I'll give this guy 9 more minutes...what's next. News!
I pretty much only watched HLN today as far as any exposure goes, and it was with Robin Meade in the mornings- who's pretty light on serious news...but I did get some more exposure to the flour bombing of Kim Kardashian...I've actually got nothing against that family, the really took advantage of how goobery America's obsession with absolutely nothing of importance is. Good for them, granted they could probably be slightly more philanthropic with their time to each their own. Don't like it? Don't watch it..

THREE M'S Update:
-Myself- I'm starting to come back around to my old self again...this transition into a new job was a bit rough. And I'm definitely still adjusting but I think it's getting better. But enough about work, I'm trying my best to keep that out of this blog. I'm totally loving the studio fitness classes...I only have 5 left (thanks to Groupon, which I also adore) so after that I'll start my World Gym (another groupon buy) membership!! yay getting in shape!!!
-Monster- I love this little guy!!! He's due to get shaved down soon and I'm so scared about his hair! but I guess I won't worry about his looks, I just want him to be comfy...1 minute!
-Michael- we ran again today! it's really fun...and we shaved a whole minute off our mile <3 He got sunburned Sunday from paintball and was pretty sore too so I'm pretty proud that he stuck it out as far as he did :) He's still banging away at his dissertation as usual but we're also making fair work of watching all the Netflix episodes of Saved by the Bell!!

till next time

Day 2!

Whoo hoo! I made it to the next day and remembered this guy (aka...this blog). As you can imagine, nothing has happend since yesterday, but again, since this blog is partly to delve down the rabbit hole of my interests and inner monologue I'm sure I'll have plenty to fill the 20 minute gap with!

Let's get started with recipes!! My fave! I've been into what I call "garbage" pasta/casserole/salad for a long time...and regardless of the name, I'm sure most of you are too. It's a freeforall-cleanout the fridge/pantry-whateveryourheartdesires kind of dish. And I finally came across a formula a few years back that put it very simply...are you ready? here it is:
-1lb or 2-3 servings of a protein (for salads: fish, tofu, tuna, chicken are great and you only need one serving)
-1lb or 2-3 servings of TWO or THREE kinds of veggies (again salad rule is diff. just one serving)
-1 serving of starch...if it's casserole, I usually build the base with this so it gets fully cooked so line the bottom of your dish with rice/potatoes/pasta (salads for me generally don't even have a starch).
tada! so easy...granted, I've had quite a few misses with this because of clashing tastes and flavors but I'd say 85% of the time it's perfect and gets rid of everything that's about to go bad..

Moving on!
this is currently my background on my laptop...it makes me so happy

love it...7 minutes left

I haven't had a chance to catch any current news today...it's early and my brain is moving rather slow because of the horrible rain.

I worked out at Studio Fitness yesterday and did a Quicktone class...it literally hurt to talk on the phone because the phone was THAT heavy...yes, I'm weak! But I'm working on fixing that.

ok, ultra speedy catch-up on the fam:
Monster: cute as ever...I've been taking him to the new dog park at Medal of Honor Park and he's been AMAZING. I usually just let him run around with Elvis in the big dog cage and he loves it...he frolics around like he's not 4 pounds and doesn't take crap from any of the big dogs...makes me so proud! I need to figure out a solution to his hair loss (brought on by aforementioned thyroid disease) because summer is coming up and I can't let him swelter in the heat.
Michael: Doing well, closing in on his dissertation and writing...super proud of him as well. He's lately gotten into extracurricular sci-fi tv watching (yay!) and playing incredibly contrasting music with his friend Cole...both of which make for a very busy guy. this is on top of his late night programming sesh with andrew and boxing/raquetball with keith.
Myself: ran out of time....heyyy ooooo...

First post

Wellp, today I started a blog. I don't really have anything riveting going on BUT, I do link/like a lot of stuff, and do things that I'd love to reminisce (props to me for spelling that right on the first try!) on later...and in this techy day and age this seems like the best way to go about it.

I don't know how private I'll make this, but I will give a brief update on myself...for memory sake at least.
I'm Rebecca McBride, 28, degree in biology/chemistry, live with my boyfriend Michael who's a Ph.D. student, dog Monster who is a mini-pomeranian (and superior to most humans) and do field work for an environmental scientific firm on the Gulf Coast.

My general goals of this blog are bookmarking:
- recipes
-reddit pictures that I love
-relevant news of the time
-general feelings about whatnot
and as the blog title suggests updates on:
-Myself
-Michael (as much as he'd allow on the internet at least)
-Monster- my glorious dog! (these will be lengthy and in depth...since we all know that's why I'm really writing this)

So! let's get started...I only have 9 minutes (I set a personal goal of at least 20 minutes at a time to blog) left to link...
My staple lately has been lots of veggies:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mushroom-onion-sauce-10000001168083/
this sauce is my go-to for just about every steak/pork/soy dish we cook and it's so fast and easy.

cute reddit picture (6 minutes left!):
http://i.imgur.com/MTwoa.jpg

relevant news....much to the chagrin of many of my real life/facebook friends, I will be voting for Obama again...I just can't get over how much socialized healthcare is necessary...for myself (who's broke) and people like my dad who have chronic diseases.. 3 minutes!

Myself: I've been trying to get back into running...that should hopefully pick up soon,
Michael: We went on our first jog together yesterday and it was awesome! we have very different running styles but it somehow magically worked in a way that kept us both on pace...so excited to see how that turns out
Monster: last but not least, (I'm -1 minute in so this will not get due attention) He's a happy healthy guy, sadly he's got thyroid disease but it's in the low normal range so hopefully we can maintain it without having to take drastic measures! so long blogger.com...til next time!!