I Keep Getting Free Stuff...

.... And I LOVE it!

Last week thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, Emz, I won this...

All I did was introduce her to the wonders of my favorite Australian band, Sneaky Sound System.  She runs lots of marathons and needed some new tunes.  Check out her blog because she is super cool and totally inspirational!  AND how perfect is this gift card for helping me complete number 87 on my bucket list - Make an awesome running playlist!  Thank you Em!

Then yesterday in the mail I received this from REread!

It's a cute little deer brooch.  It was packaged in the most fun envelope made from pages of the Jungle Book. I always forget how great it is to get things in the mail!  It is so special especially in this day of the internet where you never get letters or packages in the mail - just bills.  Thank you ever so much!

Lastly, I received this....

It's a basket of tulips and a tomato plant from an old man named Bill who I talk to when I walk Heidi.  I will try to forget about the fact that the day before he said that I, "Didn't look like a vegetarian," because I'm "not skinny," but I'm "healthy looking and easy on the eye".  I will take this as a genuine welcome to the neighborhood and not an "I'm sorry I am an awkward old man" apology. He also flew the American flag outside his estate for me, and asked me to deliver a message to Obama for him....

So Mr. President, I'm not sure if you're a fan of Kelly Leigh Gets Busy, but if you are,  Bill would like me to tell you that he would very much appreciate it if you got the British troops out of the war.  Thanks!

100 Things to do Before I Die / The Bucket List

1. Be an extra in a movie or TV show
2. Run races.
• 5k race.
• 10k race.
• Half marathon.
• Full marathon.
3. Complete a Canicross event
4. Complete a Triathlon. 
5. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
6. Get scuba certified.
7. Scuba dive a shipwreck.
8. See a whale shark in real life.
9. Finish knitting a scarf from start to finish.
10. Keep honey bees.  (they're going extinct you know?)
11. Ride elephants in Thailand.
12. Go on Safari in Africa.
13. Take the GRE
14. Get experience at a vet clinic.
15. Go to vet school.
16. Make a 6 figure salary for a year.
17. Sell a piece of artwork.  
18. Visit every continent. 
• North America
• South America
• Europe
• Asia
• Africa
• Australia
• Antarctica (Not too fussed about this one to be honest)
19. Have a photo shoot with my friends and pretend we are really very fabulous for a day.  Hey Friends - You game?
20. Take a photography class.
21. Ride in a hot air balloon. 
22. Own a horse.
23. Own chickens that lay fresh eggs and make an omelet.
24. Teach Heidi the Japanese Dog Catch.
25. Teach Heidi to clean up her toys.
26. Write a blog with 500 followers.
27. Go a whole month without taking a naps.  (silly I know but I suck at this).
28. St Patrick's day in Ireland.
29. Learn to skip stones - at least 4 bounces. 
30. Mardi Gras in New Orleans. 
31. Join a team.
32. Volunteer.
33. Road trip across the USA. 
34. Visit Amish country.  
35. Go to Disney world.
36. Read 12 books in a year. (suggestions welcome)
37. Find out if blondes really do have more fun. (ie: dye my hair - eeek)
38. Hitchhike somewhere even though it seems super scarey. 
39. Live in an organized home.  
40. Create one room in the house that is perfect.
41. Create a dream home.
42. Sew a dress from scratch.  
43. Go on a cupcake crawl in Chicago.  Amy, Liza, Sarah, Lisa - anyone game for this in August???
44. Catch a ball at a major league baseball game.
45. Complete a successful camping trip with Nick.  (must last 3 days, 2 nights minimum)
46. Create a family cookbook with famous family recipes (A little help here Suzy and mom?)
• I'm CRAVING Papa's rhubarb pie right now.  Anyone know the recipe?
47. Send my parents on a vacation to thank them for paying for my college education and my wedding and just tolerating me for so long.
48. Cook a meal using only food that I have grown or foraged.
49. Throw myself a birthday party.
50. Contribute something significant to saving a species from extinction.
51. Establish mutual friends/social circle with Nick.
52. Learn some Spanish. - complete Rosetta stone perhaps?
53. Show up at the airport/train station and take the first plane/train I can get.
54. Go vegan for a week.
55. See the cherry blossoms in Japan.
56. Give only handmade Christmas presents one year.
57. Spend Christmas money on completing one of the items on this list, instead of buying stupid gifts no one ever uses.
58. Host a holiday family gathering.
59. Visit a volcano.
60. Get featured in a newspaper for doing something cool.  Obituary doesn't count.  
61. Make friends with a stranger on the street.
62. Go dog sledding. 
63. See a moose.
64. Play 18 holes of golf proficiently. 
65. Ride a camel to the pyramids in Egypt.
66. Exercise 3 times a week. 
• For a week
• For a month
• For two months
• For three months
• For six months
• For a year
67. See pink river dolphins in the Amazon.
68. Wear a dress/skirt everyday for a month.
69. Write 52 postcards.  I will need your addresses for this.
70. Get Nick a complete surprise birthday present that he actually likes.
71. Build a really sweet tree house.
72. Have an awesome dress up collection.
73. Collect hats - 12 girly hats, 12 boyish hats, and a few unisex ones for good measure.
• 1 girl hat so far.  
74. Have dinner party and make the guests each wear said hats for the evening.
75. Figure out a way to give up facebook, or use it positively and not like an addiction.  
76. Acquire neat heirloom to pass down - do you think my wedding and engagement rings count?.
77. Be an audience member on a TV show.
78. See a burlesque show.
79. Attend a black tie gala (not as a waitress!)
80. Buy a cute outfit at a second hand store.
81. Watch baby turtles hatch and head for the ocean.
82. Make ice cream from scratch.
83. Make successful homemade vegetarian marshmallows.  
84. Have a wardrobe filled with things I love.
85. Learn to do a circus trick.
86. Sell all the crap in our house on ebay or donate it or throw it out.
87. Make an awesome running playlist 2 hours long.  (A stupid one but I always use shuffle and have been putting this off for a really long time).
88. Cook Nick breakfast everyday before work.  
• For a week
• For a month
• For three months
• For six months
• For a year
89. Attend a music festival.
90. Have creepy old fashioned portraits hanging in my hallway of every member of my immediate family.
• Mom
• Dad
• Dani
• Lizzie
• Nick
• Heidi
• Maddy
91. Go to a comedy show and laugh till I cry.
92. Go to the ballet.
93. Donate blood - I was never allowed to in college because I've been to Africa, but I think the ban is up!
94. Inspire someone else to make a 100 things to do / bucket list and then steal one of their ideas.
95. Put their idea here.
96. Go to an estate sale and buy something.
97. Write and illustrate a children's book.
98. Make a scrapbook.
99. Ride a mechanical bull.
100. Cross off all items from this list.

Hope you like my list friends!  The best way to keep me getting busy is to write items down and cross them off!  I'm sure you all know that I am a huge list maker by now, and even though I have lists going for lots of things, I didn't have a bucket list.  Seems pretty important don't you think?  It took me a lot longer to write this than I thought it would, especially the last 20 or so items.  It's still a bit of a work in progress so I reserve the right to edit it as I see fit.  I would love to read your lists if you have them too!  Also, does anyone want to do a bucket list challenge, ie first one to complete so many items wins 50 bucks or something similar?  I can always use a little extra motivation.  

Too American?

So yesterday the husband and I go out and take the dog for a hike as is our usual weekend ritual.  As we're walking Heidi, he looks at me and says,

"You really need some new pants.  You dress too American"

"Too American?  What does that even mean?"

He goes on to explain to me that we Americans run around in hoodies and sweatpants and that is perfectly acceptable in Ohio, but not so much in England.   Furthermore, he says in much kinder words that I basically have turned into a frumpy little housewife.  I was a bit offended, but I took a good hard look at myself and thought... 

"Am I currently wearing really old American Apparel leggings which are covered in paint and have holes in the ass?  Do I wear a variation of old sweatpants covered in paint and full of holes almost everyday?"

Guilty.

Shit.  He's right.  I'm frumpy as hell.  But here is where the problem lies.....I take the dog hiking every morning.  Every morning she runs into mud, and then jumps on me.  Then I come home, covered in mud, and spend most my days applying to jobs online.  Where is the incentive to get dolled up?  

The husband has a few theories regarding my current state of sweat pant loving.

1. It is affecting my self esteem.  Poor self-esteem is bad for employment.
2. Sweatpants are more acceptable in America, and in our very small town in England we need to be making good impressions all the time so we can establish ourselves here.  Sweatpants = bad first impression.
3. I have become so focused on promoting my inner qualities when applying for jobs, that I have forgotten that outside appearances are important too.  
4. If I look better I will feel better.

I think he's right.  Now this isn't a fashion blog, lets be honest, I ate way too many whole sticks of butter as a child to ever be trendy, and I promise you won't be seeing me and my big boned self doing outfit posts anytime soon, but I need your help.  I need to create a dog walking "uniform" that I can wear every day so I no longer look like a frumpy American housewife.  In fact, I'd like to go for the American MILF look if possible?  Oh right I guess I'm not a mom.  Well trophy wife in that case.  I would love it if any of you fashionistas out there could help me with my dog walking uniform.  I need something that makes me feel pretty, is comfy, something I won't mind too much if it gets dirty, and shoes I can hike in.   Thanks for your help!!!

A Good Sandwich for a Bad Day

So the first time I made this I was feeling rough.  I forget why.  It was just a bad day.  So I let myself go.  I let myself go ahead and eat this gooey butter mess of fabulousness and forget about the fact that maybe I shouldn't be doing such things because butter does nothing for my waistline.  Now I want to have a bad day everyday so I can have a good excuse to devour this....

I'll show you how to make it too in case you need a little pick me up in the form of grilled cheese.  But lets not get too technical here people it is grilled cheese after all.

Apple Cheddar Grilled Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 apple (sliced thin)
• 1 hunk of butter
• A few good pieces of cheddar cheese, I use a mild one, Red Leicester to be exact
• margarine 
• 2 slices of bread
• 1 -2 teaspoons of grey poupon mustard 

In a pan over medium heat, add your butter and apple and cook until it has softened up nicely.  Meanwhile, coat one side of each slice of bread with margarine (duh it's grilled cheese).  When your apples are ready pile them up on your bread (the non buttered side) and then add your cheese and a spoonful or two of mustard.    

Exhibit A:

Place the buttered side down in your pan and add the second slice on top buttered side up.  Cover your sandwich with a lid while it's cooking to help the cheese reach its optimal meltiness.  That is VERY important. Make sure you flip it when its nice and golden and do the same to the other side.

Then be ready for a taste explosion of pure happiness in your mouth.

It is SO good.

When I was a kid I used to make grilled cheese with my best friend ALL the time.  We used to want to open up a restaurant that only served variations of grilled cheese.  After eating this I think maybe we should look into that idea further.  Our other employment idea for "when we grew up" was working as elves in Santa's workshop.  For some reason the grilled cheese restaurant seems more viable.

Purple Broccoli with Orange Ginger Dressing

Look at this pretty purple broccoli we got from Riverford last week.  I've never even seen purple broccoli before so I really had no idea what to do with it.  But I wanted something light and springy for dinner tonight so I whipped up an orange ginger dressing for the broccoli and served it over cous cous. 

I used two big handfuls of purple sprouting broccoli, threw them into a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes, and plunged them into ice water to stop them from cooking.  

Ingredients for Orange Ginger Dressing

• Freshly squeezed juice from two oranges
• Zest from 1 orange
• 1 shallot
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together.  

I made some couscous, cooking it with apple juice instead of water to make it extra fruity and flavorful. 

Put the broccoli on top of the couscous and then pour the dressing over the dish.

This dish felt totally fresh and clean and healthy.  The orange was the overwhelming flavor, but the ginger added a little something extra.  The only disappointing thing about this was the broccoli lost its vibrant purple color when it was cooked.