Menu Planning Monday!

Alright, so last week was only semi-successful. Here's what happened...

Monday :: out to eat...Tyson made me do it! :)
Tuesday :: duck....it was really good! Duck leftover is not so good though.
Wednesday :: quesadillas...super tasty and easy! We left out the avocado though.
Thursday :: leftovers...tasty
Friday :: out to eat with friends :)

And here's what I have planned this week!

Monday :: Tyson's birthday, so out to eat!
Tuesday :: meatloaf (I can't help it, I love it!)
Wednesday :: Christmas party for Tyson's work
Thursday :: black bean & bacon soup

Menu Planning Monday

Even though my break flew by, I am rejuvenated to finish the semester strong. As such, I am rededicating my cooking efforts (my mom says I am being ambitious...we shall see!). Here's a peek at this week's plan...

Monday :: seared duck breasts with honey, soy, and ginger (I found duck breasts on sale last week and couldn't resist!)

Tuesday :: baked garlic chicken with glazed carrots

Wednesday :: "Korean beef" with rice and steamed broccoli

Thursday :: cheesy chicken + bacon quesadillas with black beans

Alternate meal :: chicken and corn chowder (in case I need something extra or we decide to call an audible)

I'm on my iPad and can't link up recipe sources, but three came from sixsistersstuff.com, the duck from allrecipes UK, and the quesadillas are inspired from kevinandamanda.com. Hoping we are in for a yummy week of dinners...right now I am planning on doing a review post to hold me accountable on how much I actually cooked. ;o)

Review :: All Our Yesterdays

source

Seriously? Seriously. Just wow.

So I've been trying to read more books lately because a lot of my students are readers this year and devouring the titles on my classroom shelves. I checked out blog reviews and goodreads and decided All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill looked new and interesting. I laminate my book covers before my kids can check out books, and many a kid flocked to my desk saying how cool the cover looked and how they wanted to read it (I'm known to have a "wait list" for certain titles). This tends to warm this book lover's heart.

I sat down after lunch on Sunday and finished it about four and a half hours later...so, so good. I don't want to give anything away, but it is a science-fiction book about time travel. Written very well. Like, I think my engineer husband wouldn't be offended by the explanations of science stuff.  

Friendship and loyalty are both huge themes in the book, and the characters are so layered and deep. I loved the character perspective shifts, and I thought most of the developments within characters (it spans four years) were plausible and always meaningful. I was super impressed with the author's rich description and emotion throughout. I found myself rereading many a sentence just to fully appreciate her artistry with words.

Probably my only negative with this book was that I went into it thinking it was a stand alone novel, and after I finished I saw it will have a sequel. I will for sure read the new novel, but I was so in love with how things ended! It just kind of bummed me out. We shall see though. Overall, highly recommended! 4.5 stars. (There is some language...I teach 12 year olds so it could be iffy for some)

Project Life 2013, Week 47

Another one bites the dust...2013 is flying by! It is pretty insane. This would be what the pages look like together...

I am fairly certain this was week 47. Mostly just weekend pictures, because that's all I can seem to remember to photograph. I had to do a nod to Catching Fire and Champion, as both kept me pondering life this week. Loving the mix of stripes and polka dots...I'm mixing them in outfits these days, so I figured they could hang together on a Project Life page.

Project Life 2013, Week 46

Short week this week! I caught up a bit on Project Life this weekend. Here is two weeks ago...

Love the colors...they seem pretty fall-ish. Or at least make me think of fall. I used the cut & paste kit...it's always fun to play around with some new Project Life cards!

Unfortunately when I saved this file, I wrote over week 45, so I won't be able to share that one online. I wasn't upset though because I had already uploaded it to Shutterfly for my book. I guess if I was feeling ambitious I could resave the file from Shutterfly, but obviously I have not been an overachieving blogger lately. I'm just excited I have two posts in a row this week. Hizzah!

And hizzah for that wine...I still haven't opened it yet and am looking forward to enjoying it!

Project Life 2013, Week 43

Going back in time a little bit...I threw together a week I skipped.

I wish I would have swapped the chevron and coffee sections to let the eye rest a bit. Oh well. Overall, I can't decide if Iris's face or Allegiant's cover is my favorite. It actually might be the coffee...

Project Life 2013, Week 44

I've always heard that the key to picking something back up is to not worry about doing your missing time of the task. So right now I am not freaking out about my missing Project Life weeks. Instead I will be joyful that I have one more done (even though this page was ridiculously easy...)!