Dinner tonight was my old standby, eggs, however, I ate my them before I photographed dinner, so imagine there were 2 over easy eggs next to those hash browns. I’ve recently discovered these little frozen hashbrowns that you pop in the oven at 450 and they taste like all the fried glory that is a Mcdonalds hash brown without the following bellyache. And yes I DO like to dip my hash browns in some real maple syrup, at least it’s not jam on eggs.

Tonight started off great, I’ve been doing more snacking throughout the afternoon so that I’m not ravenous for dinner when I get home. This opened up some time to actually attempt a third run. I got an email from the library saying my books had arrived that I put on hold so I decided to jog over to the main Cambridge library, and then walk back home. Don’t judge me, but the books I had on hold were Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books. Did you know Joss Whedon wrote 2 additional seasons after the TV show ended that are now comic books? AMAZING!

It’s 1.5 miles each way, took me around 40 minutes total! It helped that I was wearing these super cute new shoes, even one of the local, possibly homeless men on Cambridge street complimented me on their bright colors. As soon as I left the library I realized I had passed dozens of people running and spoken with 3 different library employees all while wearing my shirt inside out. Classy.

Steak fajitas were on tonight’s menu. Grilled skirt steak I marinated in a little bit of garlic and mexican spices then lime juice at the very end of cooking. Quick guac using fresh garden cilantro, garlic and lime juice. Rice, grilled onions & roasted red peppers. I was starving after my walk/run so I ate 2 fajitas far too quickly. They were super delicious though!

Dessert tonight is leftover watermelon salad from last night. This is going to be my go-to picnic snack for this summer so if you invite me over for any sort of summer activity, prepare to eat this! Here’s what you need:

• Half a watermelon, chopped
• generous handful of mint leaves, chopped
• juice of one lime
• a shot or 2 of tequila

Mix it all up and you are SO welcome!

Tonight’s dinner was not the healthiest, but also super simple. One whole wheat TJ’s pita with salami and full fat organic mayo. I specify full fat because for me it’s just so much more satisfying to eat 1  small serving of the real thing vs having the low fat version that has about 1/4 the flavor and crazy ingredients. It’s pretty easy to forget how good real mayo tastes when you don’t really eat it often.

There was a second half of that sandwich that didn’t quite make it to the photoshoot, too busy being eaten.

I plan to follow this up with a red white and blue firecracker popsicle, one of my favorite dessert treats. I MIGHT have purchased a giant 24 box fr under $2 at Target. It’s the perfect little 70 calorie sweet treat.

Starting this evening I’m going to (in theory) post every dinner that I make myself at home. Beware, a solid 90% of these meals will more than likely be breakfast for dinner. I don’t think eating balanced meals needs to be anything crazy or complicated, and using the excuse that it’s tough to cook for 1 is just not acceptable. I would love to hear about anyone’s weeknight meals in the comments section. Also please judge my iPhone photography!

On tonight’s menu was something I’m calling breakfast brushetta. Please note I am not pronouncing it in that really exaggerated way that Giada does.

Last night I made the boyfriend and I an easy one pot wonder, it was potatoes, green peppers, onions and some WF house made sweet Italian sausage drizzled with olive oil and roasted on 450 for about 35 minutes. Leftover sausage from this meal was the basis for this evenings dinner.

You will need: 
• Italian sausauge
• Marinated roasted tomatoes from the Whole Foods antipasto bar (I dare you not to spend $9 at that bar)
• Fresh basil
• Leftover italian bread
• 2 soft boiled eggs

To make:
1. Boil water for the eggs & heat up the broiler on high

2. Drizzle the bread with a teaspoon of olive oil and put that into the broiler while you pop the 2 eggs in to cook (I do 5 minutes for soft boiled, but keep in mind I like a really runny yolk, so cook to your hearts desire) the bread however, will be golden in about 5 minutes so keep your eyes on that

3. Chop up the tomatoes roughly and throw them in a cast iron skillet with the sausage to reheat

4. Top the bread with the sausage/tomato mix, throw the basil on generously and pop the eggs on top.

5. If you are obsessive like me, cut the yolk open and save the bite with the most “sauce” for the very end because it will be that delicious.

It may have been short lived, seeing as it’s now gloomy and raining, but we spent early Saturday evening enjoying some outdoor appetizers before dinner with our friends.

Some marinated olives, salami + provolone with breadsticks accompanied by local oysters with extra horseradish and cocktail sauce. We followed up our snacks and cocktails with the main course indoors. I added some squid and extra basil to this Giada recipe and it was quite delicious. Eating outside is one of my absolute favorite activities, we are going to string up some extra lights for this summer season so it feels even more cozy.

My tote bag held all my toiletries, phone, kindle, chargers, medicine, and other little miscellaneous items so that my actual regulation sized carry on suitcase could just be clothes. It was busting at the seams by the time we made our way back to the airport, every spare inch of space was being used for souvenirs.

Final cut
Dark skinny jeans
Green skinny jeans
Black J.Crew Minnie pants (has anyone else noticed the price increase, glad I bought 2 pairs already)
leggings (worn on the plane)

3 dresses (only wore 1)

3 long sleeve tops
2 silk blouses (never even came out of the bag)
1 white button up
2 cardigans
3 short sleeve tops
4 basic tanks/Ts
1 long cozy light sweater (worn on the plane)

Pj pants
1 extra bra
2 pairs of socks (wish I packed more for all those tile floors)
1 pair of tights (never worn)

Small cross body leather bag

Sneakers
Suede flats (never made it out of the bag)
Nuetral metallic leather flats (worn on the plane and pretty much every day)

Rolling clothes is the way to go, it saved me so much space and allowed me to bring options so that I didn’t feel locked in to specific outfits. I also tried really hard to make sure everything mixed-and-matched. If you want help packing for a trip, I am SO down, it brings me actual joy to see a well packed bag. I’m hoping it was good practice for the spring and summer season and I can really hone my closet down so everything is comfortable, flattering and interchangeable!

Now on to imporant business, to anyone local, how amazing was the weather on Monday and Tuesday? It was quite a shock to sit outside eating lunch and have to find shade so that I didn’t get too much sun.

I didn’t realize just how windy it was Monday afternoon until it was almost too late…full skirts are a lot of work to hold down.

I’m sure our neighbors think I’m sort of crazy when we have these photoshoots but I’m getting a little better at ignoring people. We have also discovered that the light is pretty fantastic in the afternoon, and I’m SLIGHTLY less awkward than in the morning. However it also means I’m all shiny and have messy hair from walking home from the office, quite the trade off.

I’ll be back later this week with Italia photos.

I bet you guys want to know what’s actually fitting into that tiny bag for 12 days don’t you?

I leave for Italy on Sunday and started my packing endeavors this evening. My mom and I are going on this trip for her 60th birthday, it’s been a whirlwind week for me so packing has repeatedly taken a back seat as I tried to finish up some other pressing tasks (read. awesome save the dates for my friends, downloading kindle books, yoga + picking out a birthday cake recipe for Sunday).

Although I’m usually being cranky about trying to find petite clothing not meant for 80 year olds, for once my small size is coming in handy. I’m realizing my clothes roll up into tiny little spaces, this will come in very handy.  I refuse to check luggage, the last time I checked a bag was when I left to study abroad in London. It’s 50% intense fear of lost luggage and 50% avoiding lugging around 65 pounds of stuff on cobblestones. I’ll be bringing the regulation size carry on bag, as well as my Longchamp tote. The plan is clothes and shoes in the rolly bag, all other stuff in the tote.

Is anyone else as obsessive as this for packing? If I don’t write everything down, right to the very last bobby pin I will for sure leave something behind. This is also my general to-do list. LOTS left to tackle (including transferring notes into small moleskin) but I can’t wait for the joy of seeing everything checked off.

I’ll be back on Sunday with a list of what makes the final cut. So far here’s what I was able to fit comfortably.

• 3 pairs of pants (including amazing new kelly green skinny jeans)
• 3 dresses
• 6 tops
• 2 cardigans
• 2 light sweaters
• a couple light tanks and tees
• cross body bag
• sneakers
• 1 pair of flats
• my trusty curling iron for the non hair-washing days

This reference will probably not make sense unless you were in my 5th grade class with Mrs. Remmick…but this color combo totally brought me back to reading The Egypt Game. It’s one of my all time favorite books from childhood and no one besides those nine other kids in the 4th and 5th grade seem to have read it. I remember making this crazy cleopatra collar out of white poster-board and stick on gems that were the same gold, turquoise and purple color scheme.

Get yourself some 3-ring binder hole reinforcement stickers, a LOT of patience, and layer those colors. I’m pretty excited to try this design with a brown/coral 70′s inspired combination.

Colored pants and I have totally been having a moment since the fall, it’s a serious problem. I just had to talk myself out of packing both red AND kelly green pants in a tiny suitcase. What’s funny is that I used to be terrified of anything that drew attention to the fact that I actually HAVE hips, but now I like to slap bright hues on them by way of skinny jeans. 

I’m planning on keeping you all updated on what makes the final cut into my single baby sized carry on suitcase. Overpacking is a skill I’ve honed over the last 27 years, so forcing myself to actually use my wardrobe space intelligently is proving to be a really fun challenge. Hopefully this vacation gives me a little jumpstart to overhaul my closet for the spring and summer.

So far my new closet rules are:
1. Only buy new quality pieces that really work with a bunch of stuff I already own
2. Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit perfectly. I mean perfectly. Nothing like adjusting an awkward top all day.
3. Bright colors are still my favorite and I’m cool with that.
4. Be slightly less terrified of pencil skirts.

I’m not even going to pretend like this is a normal/healthy/appropriate amount of television for one human to watch, however DVR does cut down on the time a tiny bit. Also I have no shame, I absolutely love television. I like to proclaim my plot predictions via text message so that I have it in writing when some of them come true. This is exceptionally valuable when it comes to Revenge.

Let’s start with my front runners in no particular order, (I find it ridiculous that someone would even try to compare a comedy gem like Modern Family to Reality drama, Intervention):

Currently airing:
Smash
Glee
New Girl
Modern Family
Revenge
Law & Order: SVU
30 Rock
Up All Night

On breaks:
Covert Affairs
Rizzolli & Isles

Back Burner shows:
House
Intervention
Inside the Actors Studio
The Voice

Things on my must watch list:
Downtown Abby
Ringer, which has been taking up about 25% of my DVR since it started, I’m recording the entire season.

First and foremost, if you don’t already watch Revenge you must start at this very moment. Open a new tab and find those episodes online, it’s super linear so start at the beginning and don’t turn back. It’s the perfect mix of love triangles, crazy fight scenes, fantastic clothes and interior stylings, scheming and most of all AMAZING writing. This show keeps me on my toes, god forbid I lose my television prediction skills.

I feel a tremendous amount of guilt saying this BUT…Smash is way better than Glee at this point. Rachel Berry still holds a place in my heart, I’m glad that Santana is getting so many solos this season and I will continue to watch for sure, but Smash has drawn me in and it’s got quite the hold. Katherine McPhee is wonderful, I love to hate Ivy Lynn and being a Broadway writer now seems like the most glamourous career choice one could ever possibly make. If only I was able to carry a tune…

What’s on your TV Guide lineup? And also if you know how I could turn my TV obsession into a marketable skill, feel free to share that gem of knowledge.