Happy 2011!

First order of bidness this year: Shed 2 stones (as the Brits say). It needs to be done. Weapon of choice: Weight Watchers.

I'm going to go to meetings. I shall don the sticky name tag and draw Thanksgiving dinner on a paper plate. It didn't work the first time I tried, but the new system that they've come up with seems do-able. Plus... it needs.to.be.done. My clothes have quit. My back is peeved. So, despite being COMPLETELY annoyed by newly-svelte Jennifer Hudson belting out "It's a NEW DAWN! It's a NEW DAY!" every 25 seconds on the TV, I'm in.

Additional weapons to be utilized: Fancy new elliptical, Wii Fit, awesome cooking blogs (i.e. http://www.skinnytaste.com/)

Wish me luck! And willpower! And about 99% more energy than I have right now.

Shrimp is my fave

I could eat it every day. Bravo has a dish that I looooove called shrimp fra diavolo. I found a recipe in Cooking Light for this dish, so I had to try it. Um, yum!! It was a bit spicy. Mike drank three glasses of milk with it (oops), so I'd go lighter on the red pepper flakes, but otherwise it was perfection. The Cooking Light recipe calls for linguine, but I used penne since we're big penne fans.

Here's a link to the full recipe page on Cooking Light's website.  http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001949706

Here's a pic... Although my food as art skills need some serious work.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup pasta and about 1 1/4 cups sauce)

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  uncooked linguine
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced garlic, divided
• 1  pound  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/4  cup  diced onion
• 1  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 2  tablespoons  tomato paste
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
• 1 3/4  cups  canned crushed tomatoes
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; keep warm.

2. While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic and shrimp; sauté or 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice; cook 1 minute or until slightly darkened. Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt, and diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until thickened. Return shrimp to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over pasta.  (I'd add some Parmesan cheese, too!)

Lordy, lordy, look who's ...

I thought I'd be sad today - my 40th birthday. But surprisingly, I feel very happy and blessed and optimistic. Who I am on this day is a culmination of all of the crazy, wonderful, challenging, rewarding days before this one. I wouldn't change a thing. Those days led me to the friends that I have in my life, the wonderful man that I married, our beautiful new house, and the wisdom that can only come from what I've experienced. I am proud of the steps that I've taken to get here.

OK, sure, there are things that I'd love to change, but who can't say that? This year, I will be doing what I can to make my life and self even happier. My 30s were starting to seem a bit serious. Time to shake that off and enjoy this new chapter.

House progress

Happy Fall! Now if only someone would do something about this stupid 80 degree weather we're having today. It is forcing me to wear 'tween-wear. I hate 'tween-wear.

We finally painted the green guest room. Well, we're almost done, but I figured I'd share a pic now. The neon green was hurting our brains, so we went to Lowe's and picked out a nice light gray with a hint of blue called Bay Waves by Valspar. I love it! Although the paint + primer didn't do it in one coat. We need to do another. Any suggestions for bedding are welcome. The carpet is dark blue.

Before:

Gah! My eyes!

After:

 Aaah. Much better.

We also got some new furniture for the living room. I went outside of my comfort zone and got berry colored chairs. LOVE. We now need to get a table for in between it all. Any suggestions?

Adventures on the bus

The bus is a never-ending source of crazy stories. This short story is about a man who was peddling his wares to everyone on the bus. His wares were these little beakers filled with scented oils. Here he is now...

  Just sitting with my oils. Watching the scenery go by.

I've seen men selling these oils downtown, so the oils are nothing new to me. What was new was this guy just moving around the bus, sitting next to riders, and asking them to buy his oils. He had the oil beakers propped up in this big, three-tiered, wooden contraption. No hiding his intentions. Nothing to guess about there. Isn't that sort of thing illegal on public transportation? Or did he flash his permit to the driver when he boarded? No? Yeah, I bet not. Should I just fill a bag with some Jergens hand lotions and start making some side cash on my way from Oakland to downtown every day? Hmm...

Here he is talking to a rider customer.

 *whispers* Psst. You wanna smell good?

The funny thing was that I didn't hear him talk at all. He must have whispered. Kept his selling on the down low. Huh. Wonder why.

Oh look. He's on the move...

 Thanks, my man. Gotta run...

In the bag are packages of incense. He didn't sell any oil, but two people bought some incense. Score! I think that he saw me giving him the side-eye, so he didn't come and whisper his sales pitch to me. I like it. A no-pressure salesman.

Updates

Long time no blog! Not much has been going on that is blog-worthy. We are just having a super busy summer and haven't had time to do any work on the house. Well, we seem to just be fixing things that have been breaking. Our house is totally wonderful and fabulous, but it seems a bit rickety for some reason. The shower knob breaks, the tile in the bathroom floor cracks, the hose nozzle thingy in the wall breaks, the deck leaks a bit.. These are the things that have demanded our attention. No fun. We did get the bathroom done. It is purty now. The blue that they had on the walls before was not bad, but it was just not relaxing. Now the water closet is nice and calming.

Old, jazzy blue bathroom:

New and improved Zen bathroom:

 That only took 4 months. Oh and it isn't done decorating-wise. That'll take until Christmas. :p

Our next project is the Master bedroom. If you recall, it used to look like this:

Ick. We are going to remove the chair rails and go with three tan walls and a chocolate brown accent wall. We tried blue, but it didn't work out. It made us feel like we were in the middle of the ocean. Which is ok, but this ocean was stormy and not sleepy and calming. Luckily the paint was free, so no harm no foul.

Don't you just want to get cozy in that room?

So, that's about it. Nothing else to report. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

P.S. My friend Beth reminded me that we also got two new additions to Casa Petruska. Gah! How could I forget?! Thanks, B. :)

Here is our first addition to the family room. 

I feel so grown up with a leather sectional. And someday, Mike will let me eat food near it.

The second addition is our 46" splurge.There are no words. Except  maybe "Football season just got AWESOME."  Go Stillers!

A few of my favorite things (and must-haves)...

Anyone that knows me well knows that I loooooooove beauty products. If you can't find me in the usual spots (in front of the TV, in the kitchen, recently in the garden), I can be found in the aisles of Rite Aid with a full  basket in one hand and my Rite Aid super saver card ready to be scanned in the other. You can always count on a calming body lotion or a sparklyshiny lip gloss to make you feel better if you're a little glum.

It has taken me years to find the best beauty products for me. I had many years where my hair and its antics ruled my world (Any friends care to testify? :P) . I had days when I couldn't get my face to look right because I picked the wrong colored powder or cover up ... which always resulted in someone asking me if I had some sort of food stuck on my face or if I was feeling ok. I feel pretty good about where I am in terms of my face/hair/skin. And I have these products to thank:

I always have to have my loose powder nearby. I've tried pressed, mineral, powder foundation. None work for me as well as loose powder. None better than Almay. I can always count on it to make me look smooth and purty. Which can backfire if my Aunt Carol Hillelson is around. She likes to pinch my cheek (still) and ask how I got such "beauuuuutiful skin. Like buttah." True story.

Speaking of Almay. I like to cover up God's little reminders that I'm a hormonal woman with their Light cover stick.

I have tried liquid cover up, but that just doesn't do the trick. I like to smother those suckers with solid cover up until they can't breathe and retreat.

Before I use the cover up, I kill those 'spots' with Clean & Clear Spot Treatment. It contains Salicylic Acid, which is safe for those of us that are allergic to Benzoic Acid (which was just great to find out in my 30s after slathering Benzoyl Peroxide on my face for two decades.)

The other must-have for my face is some sort of shiny and/or sparkly lip gloss. I don't have one favorite. I probably have about five. Currently, I'm loving Wet 'n Wild's Bronze Berry, which is a total shocker since I bought it convinced that it'd be a waste of $2. My go-to fave, though, is Clinique's Superbalm. But I only get that when I go to the mall once a year. It's my 'fancy' choice.

For the peepers, I like to use shadow as liner. I think growing up in the 80s/90s has ruined me for pencil liner forever. Too many bad memories of poking myself in the eye with the liner while I was getting ready to go rollerskating while sporting a to-the-knees shoulder-padded button down and a white lightning bolt belt. *shudder*  Anyway... I have hazel eyes so I find that using a dark berry shade works great. I use L'Oreal Subtle Berries. Well, I use the color in the bottom right corner. The others I am saving for some night on the town when I want to look older than 23. (Hey! Stop laughing!)

Hair. Oh hair. How you have challenged me. My hair is thick and wavy and can be confusing to figure out. But I turned some corner about 4-5 years ago... My hair got tired of fighting me and decided to turn awesome. I feel like it is my gift for having to put up with it being such a moody beyotch for so many years. In order to keep it smooth, I need need need a gloss serum. My fave is by Paul Mitchell. It makes my hair feel super soft and look shiny. Love. Need.

To set the the 'do in to place, I stick with one and only one kind of hairspray. Now don't judge me, but I use an aerosol. I know, I know. I'm sorry Mother Earth. But seriously, this is the only hairspray that works. And for that I can not apologize. Trust me, if Molly and her hair ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

I just discovered the best smelling lotion in the universe while I was in Canada last November. It is from a company called Fruits & Passion and is called Human. The smell is hard to describe, but I will try. It is clean and a tiny bit floral. Huh... that was a sad attempt and totally fails to capture it's awesomeness. But trust me, I have smelled my share of lotions and this one is at the tippy top of the best lotions I've ever encountered.

Ooh, excuse moi. I notice now that I had to search for a picture of it that it is a body souffle. Not a lotion. How fancy am I, I ask you?

If I want to feel a bit spicy (mrow!) as opposed to clean and airy, I go to Rush by Gucci. I am not a perfume kind of girl, but this is crazy good. It smells totally different on skin than it does sprayed in to the air from the bottle. Amazing.

 That covers my must-haves. The things that make my days work and my moods lift. How about you? What are your beauty go-tos?

Oh and thanks to C for giving me this idea. She blogged about her most loved beauty products and inspired me to do the same. Check it out!