Swish swoosh ahhhhhhh

The sounds on the slopes are very soothing...

We just had a few great (but short!) days at King Pine Ski Area in East Madison, NH, and we loved every second of it!  When we arrived on Sunday night, we checked in, took a quick drive around, ate dinner (awesome buffet with tilapia, both girls wanted salads...and I did split a lemon merengue pie piece with Jason...balanced), and then took the girls ice skating.

Both girls seem to get the hang of it, which is nice!  They pick things up really quickly...and I am hopeful that maybe they didn't get my clumsy genes after all...

Finally, up on both feet and smiling!

Determined and hard working...nothing will get the better of this one.

I don't know which is worse...Emma looking terrified, or me looking like I'm enjoying the torture...

But, when the nice woman offered to take our picture, we were all smiles.  That made me feel much better about all the frustrations of getting settled that day!

The next morning, we dropped the girls off at their half day program, and Jason and I hit the slopes with my childhood fave - Pokey Pine!

my dare devil :)

We are one hot couple, no?

Monday's skies cleared right up, and by noon, it was the picture perfect day!

So good, we even took the girls up to the top with us after lunch and a nap.  It was so cute to watch them follow daddy...

But eyes were drooping quite early...a quick trip to the pool...then some dinner (tonight, the fish was swordfish with caramelized onions....OMY - that's Oh My Yummy!)...then...

Out cold!!!

So mom and dad got to have some good quality grown up fun.  You know, Crazy Eights...

Which I clearly am not all that stellar at...

And coloring...which I am very good at, thank you very much.

Tuesday brought another lesson, and two little girls that looked like ninjas pre-helmet!

Once the girls were settled, we got to take a few runs by ourselves.  See our cute shadow??? I love this picture!

There wasn't a cloud in the sky!  It really was the perfect little escape.  Although I kept looking at my inbox on my phone...I actually ignored almost everything!!!

Yup, King Pine it is...and we love it!  One of the best things was hearing that the girls are solid skiiers.  They can go, stop and turn!  Now its just getting them up on skis more often so they grow confident in their ability...unlike slow pokey mom! 

 Can't wait to go back...we're already trying to figure out next year's plans so we can book early!!! 

Cupcakes and beets, tasty treats...

I know, sounds gross, but hear me out.

Today was Maddy's last basketball game, and she, coach, and the team had a great season.  They all learned a lot, and that called for a special little treat.  I was up early (after having fallen asleep on the couch at 9pm!) so I decided to try to make cupcakes from scratch by altering a recipe.  Daring for me, I know!

So I found a vegan recipe and made some substitutions, and un-veganed it by adding an egg white.  Here's the recipe!

1T apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 C skim milk
2C whole grain pastry flour
1C raw turbinado sugar
2t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/2t sea salt
1/2C cinnamon apple sauce
1 egg white
1 1/4t vanilla extract

Bake at 350 for 17 minutes.  This recipe made 12 regular sized cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes.  I love silicone bakeware, but if you don't have it, cupcake liners or some good greasing of the pan will cover you!

Now get this...I even made frosting!  3C of confectioners sugar, 2T (plus a little) skim milk, 1 1/2t vanilla extract, and 1/3C butter.  12 drops of yellow and 5 drops of red, and voila!

But before the stars could have their little cupcake basketballs, they had a great last game! Awesome passing, great teamwork, and lots of baskets!

 Emma totally snuck into the team photo...next year my little monkey!

After the game, I joined Dr. Stephanie Moore at a hockey tournament at the New England Sports Center to show off CPR Anytime and show coaches and families how to do CPR. This was in response to a young player who suffered sudden cardiac arrest at the rink about 2 months ago...and some people were really interested and tried out some compressions. We taught at least 8-10 people how to properly do compressions (after they call 911 and send for an AED!) - so it was a great couple of hours!

When I got home, I was starving. I am in desperate need of some good grocery shopping, so I looked in the fridge and pantry and found Kashi 7 grain pilaf, roasted beets, and goat cheese.  Perfect!

Some Roasted Beet Pilaf with Goat Cheese and some lucky bamboo, and I am ready to hang with some friends tonight!

Unfortunately, I think our friend is making a pit stop at Wholly Cannoli on the way to the party tonight.  That is going to bring me back to what may have been the beginning of my addiction. They have these little Dynamite bites.  Oh my, and dy-no-mite they are.  I swear, in the absence of all other things that make you go mmmmmm, these will do every trick.

I may as well sneak in some sit ups before we leave...there are some things this girl can't say no to.  

Happy Saturday Night!

Number of the day...100

This is my 100th post!  Woo hoo!!!  I apologize as there are no recipes to share...I bought all of my meals today, and yes, its pizza and movie night for the Webster girls.  We're snuggled on the couch watching Anastasia!  I will plan something a bit more thrilling for 101...

I'm guessing by the time I go to sleep tonight, I will have also done at least 100 sit ups.

I woke up ready to head to Maine for work today, and before I even got in the shower, I did 60 addiction-busting sit ups. Not a huge deal, some I had already "earned," others were in anticipation of sitting in traffic for a large part of the day!

Thanks to the lovely ladies in the Maine office (Brenda, Carrie and Katie), I found an alternative to sit ups on the ground - so there will be no inappropriate skirt-day sit-up snafus! And let me tell you, they had a bowl of awesome looking dark chocolate in the office. Which I walked on by a number of times! Go me...

The car is where I run into trouble...

Music is my thing. I love it - all kinds. I invest a lot of brain power and emotional energy into thinking about lyrics...and I sing my little heart out when I'm alone behind the wheel.  Apparently, all that alone time and belting out tunes leaves me craving something sweet.  Ugh, chocolate.  So, I will have to do some extras before bed to make up for my drive times... I am so going to rock that suit this summer!

On another note, I started running again yesterday to get ready for the Celtic 5K on March 13th in Worcester.  Very excited to get the road race season started this year!  My same rules apply this year: finish the race alive, don't finish DFL, and if I've run it before, beat my last time.  Someday I may run to win...but for now, I'm good with those three things!

Off to do more snuggling and watch the lightening outside.  I love family Friday nights...

Happy Friday, everyone!

Bikini Season

I think I might actually have a bikini season this year!  

But only because its just 9am and I've already done 100 sit ups thanks to my genius plan to break my little addiction.  I have a funny feeling by noon tomorrow, when I can't move, I'll be seriously doubting my "genius" status...  Won't the physical pain just serve as a reminder???  I'll keep you posted...but maybe I should have thought this one through a bit more...

Addictions and Admissions

Yes, the Perfectionista has them. And she's not very good at admitting her weaknesses. Actually, she's pretty bad at it. Today, we're going to focus on one. Let's call it "chocolate," shall we?

I'm addicted to "chocolate." That hasn't always been the case, and we're not talking huge quantities...but quality is what matters, right? And I didn't realize it until I recently tried to give it up. The more I tried to let it go, the more I wanted it. The bond I've developed with it became much stronger than I thought possible. In hindsight, I totally denied that I loved it. I denied that it had me hooked. Denied that I had little to no self control around it. Darn cocoa!!!

It made me feel soooooo good.  It was there when I had a bad day. It made me feel even better when I was having a great day. It's sweet. It came between me and a lot of things...because I chose it over things that were presumably "better for me" by some standards.

I've been denying the true strength of "chocolate" in my life. I haven't been honest with myself about that, and I guess, the fact that I'm not so perfect after all...

So, here's the plan, oh faithful Perfectionista followers.

I'm breaking my addiction. Whenever I think about "chocolate" or daydream about it, or look for how I might be able to encounter it subtly in a recipe or in the health food store someplace, whenever I crave it...I'm going to do sit-ups. Of course, this starts later tonight...I'm obviously thinking about it now, but I have to type! I figure if anything, I should have rockin' abs in a few weeks...and probably some embarrassing moments in a skirt and heels at the office!

And, even more important, the Perfectionista is going to be true to herself. Someone who cared enough to let me in once said, "I'm not perfect; I'm human." I'm going to keep striving to get as close to perfect as possible, but perfect in my eyes - not someone else's. That means that you may get a glimpse of how I try to turn the challenges that the Perfectionista image faces into a real life that she can live with and love, despite the slightly tarnished little halo. So be it. I'm human, too. And if I sneak a nibble of "chocolate" here and there...don't judge. Grab yourself a piece and join me!

I'm so very sorry, my sweet addiction. I never, ever meant to hurt you. I'm going to try my best to let you go. I'm not good at letting go...but I'm going to try. And I guarantee I'll make mistakes. I'll slip up. And yes, I'll blog about it. But no matter what, you will always know how I feel...

The way to my heart...

Well, there are lots of ways to my heart.  I'm kind of a sucker like that...but tonight, I was excited to cook for my loves.  Yes, loves.  Jason, Mom & Dad, and the girls....except dinner was going to be late, so they'll eat this tomorrow!  For my other loves...I need to see you to cook for you, so we'll have to work on that!

I came home to find that Beppo had prepared some shrimp cocktail for before dinner - which is one of my favorite things to eat.  Yummmmmm.  Knowing that it was ahead of me, I quickly got dinner underway right after work!

I repeated a dinner posted on Perfectionista back in March of 2010 - Cranberry Medallion Salad.  It was a hit back then, its been 11 months since I've made it...and I remembered it being fairly easy and quick.  That would allow me the time to make cupcakes from scratch!!!

Serving tip:  Plate the salad - place the tenderloin medallions on top.  Mmmm.

Now, on to the highlight of the meal...real cupcakes.  Mauret asked me today if the cupcakes I was planning to make were clean...and if cupcakes could be clean.  I'm guessing they could be...and if I were someone who could bake well and did it often...I could probably make the appropriate substitutions.  But I figured the VDay gift that Beppo would like best was one made with real butter, superfine sugar, 4 eggs, vanilla, baking powder and cake flour.

Note the raspberry on top.  I did make fondant hearts, but opted for the tiny fresh fruit touch instead. See, something clean!

They rose like crazy, were super thick, and one little heart cupcake was definitely plenty!  But what won my heart...that chocolate.  And I don't really love chocolate!!!

 I met the woman behind Sassy Sauces at the Wayland Winter Farmers' Market at Russells (Saturdays, 10-2) and had to buy this for Valentine's Day.  Wasn't sure how I was going to use it...but this worked!  It has a nice mild after burn from the cayenne and chipotle...mmmmm.

And dark chocolate is good for your heart...right?

To top it off, Jason surprised me with an amazing Valentine...and we don't usually do anything big.  Saturday night at the Heart & Stroke Ball he stealthily bid on one of the silent auction items and got us a two night stay at the Stoweflake Inn & Spa, with a spa treatment.  He said I deserve it, which is what every girl likes to hear... I may deserve a spa weekend, but I'm not so sure I deserve him...either way, I'm clearly not letting him go!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Where the heck have we been?

Well, its Heart Month...so that means events, meetings, late nights at work, horrible eating habits, not to mention I think I forget where my gym is!

But, in all the craziness that is late January/February in an AHA house, we're learning to make the best of it and squeeze in some quality time with each other whenever we can.  To do that, it often involves turning work events into date nights...like yesterday!

Last night was the 2011 Central MA Heart and Stroke Ball at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. I decided to go all out and after all of the events I've had for work, I got a bit pampered yesterday and got my hair and makeup done.  After all, who doesn't want to look good for their hubby on Valentine's Weekend???  Especially after I've been such a grouch lately...I definitely owe him that and more!

On my way home to get dressed after makeup and hair.  Seriously, 27 bobby pins and the magic of Joanna at Nicholas Michaels, and you wouldn't know I had short hair!!!  And I can't forget Jocelyn and MAC at the Natick Collection.  Holy crow...I mean...if I could afford to have her make me look that good every day - I'd totally put her on retainer!

Thanks to Howie Hecht for our totally awesome prom picture!  The greatest event photographer...he was with us all weekend!

 It was a fun night and a gorgeous event - Tara did an awesome job! And I have to say, my husband was a complete gentleman. Of course, I expected nothing less, but let's just say he's a saint...

We had a great time, and went out afterward with Patti and Larry to celebrate a brief break in the action that is February!  Both of us feel so lucky to have gotten to know these guys better over the past year or so...such great friends and wonderful, wonderful people!

 Post Heart Ball smiles (sleepy, but still smiles!)...what you don't see is the squealing piggies on my feet!

SO...as a team, we've had a very busy few weeks.  From the Bruins' Heart Health Awareness game in January, to the Legislators' Go Red For Women event at the State House, to Wear Red Day, the Celtic's Wear Red Day Game, the Boston Go Red CONNECT casting call event, NH Heart Ball, Cooks Corner tapings, Paul Dudley White reception, Boston Go Red For Women Luncheon, and the Central MA Heart and Stroke Ball...I have to say that I am very very lucky to be part of such an amazing team.  Together we've accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, and because of those sleepless nights and super-long days...lives will be saved.

Now, I've just got to get my groove back before the next round. Its been so busy that my perfectionista halo has become seriously tarnished...but I think I've got the solution.  I'm looking forward to vacation after this coming week to unwind with the girls, and for the 4 of us to spend some uninterrupted time together!!!

Until then - one week to get through, and to get TO the gym!  Have to get these ski legs ready!

How do you handle the crazy busy times?