2014: The Year in Review

Yep, I take two months off blogging and then I jump on the New Year bandwagon and here I am. Let's see where this goes. 

The Good:

Prom 

No more high school! 

Another dog...

Just realized I never did a Jamaica vacation post! I'll get right on that. 

I met Bobby Flay! We talked about grills.
Then he cooked Thanksgiving dinner for me and 1600 of my closest friends.
It smelled great!

I got my new appliances, countertops, and backsplash...
another blog post I neglected to write.

This was my first Cowboys game ever...they lost, but they're winning now!
That screen is just as huge as you've heard. 

The Food
I didn't take that many pictures of food this year...and I didn't do a lot of new recipes. But these pics still make me hungry...

Anniversary dinner at Classic Cafe in Roanoke -
bacon wrapped quail, beef tenderloin medallions, garlic mashed potatoes,
polenta cake and sugar snap peas...

...followed by this AH-mazing peach pecan bread pudding.

Graduation party sweets...

...holiday apple and pecan pie tarts...

And these for a wedding shower.

Restarting Weight Watchers meant lettuce cups and risotto...yum.

Summer meal of pan fried potatoes, smoked pork, and avocado salad.

Today I'm making taco soup and skillet cornbread to splurge before it gets serious. No pictures until next year, the way I'm going. 

Other Stuff

• Last December I started a job with a new company. That part was fine! But in the course of the year, with the stress of dealing with the new job combined with very long days at the desk combined to put back on almost all the weight I'd worked to lose. I stopped eating the things I knew I should, and exercise flew out the window until about September...anyway, I'm not making resolutions, but I've gotta stop that trend. 
• Speaking of work, my position has changed a little. I've been a project manager for years, and the new job this year was to establish and run a QA department, while also project managing. As of December, I'll be managing the other project managers as well as the QA department. For my sanity, the number of projects I'll manage should stay low, and maybe by end of Q1 I'll be able to not have actual projects as well. 
• Going along with those long work days, I finally caved to a long-time need for a housekeeper to come in once a week. I've done this off and on for years, but for some reason I always start feeling like it's a waste of money and I should be able to do that myself. No more. That argument doesn't hold for me with three dogs and a full time job. My bathroom has never been so clean.
• Blogging...what do I think about that this year? On one hand, I am trying to minimize the "shoulds" in my life, but then I do a post like this one and really like the diary aspect. Obviously, the last half of this year was not blogging-focused. We'll have to see how I feel about that over the next few weeks.
• Bug and I are patiently waiting for our last Christmas present. Ordered in November, but backordered and then stuck because of strikes at the shipping pier or something. They're supposed to arrive in the next week or so, and I'm sure it will solve all my planning and organizing needs! 

  

  www.passionplanner.com -- started as a gofundme and has been wildly successful!

With that, I need to get off the couch and get some stuff done...

Happy New Year to one and all!