November: WantEatWearRead

Posted on November 1, 2013 by mchaney5353

So here we are, the dawning of a new month. I love fall, I just love it. It’s my absolute favorite season. I love the crisp weather, the darker evenings, warm bevvies in mugs and all the cozy clothing and blankets that get to come out of hibernation.

I was feeling pretty good about my progress on the October version of WantEatWearRead so I’m going to keep it going. Behold the November goals.

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Want: This is a big one, folks. The amazing company I work for is doing a few things to support an organization that I really, really love: Gateway 180. In addition to the posters that we’ve created (donations of $20 or more get you a poster! click here!), we are running a food, clothing, toiletries and household items drive for them. So here’s what I want this month: I want to sell as many posters as we can, and get as many donations as we can.

Eat: I get a little lazy in the cooler months – it’s so much harder to force myself out of my bed and to the gym when it’s cold outside – so I try to make better food choices to offset the calories I’m not burning. I’m going to aim for making this protein-packed Quinoa Chicken Chili.

Wear: I need boots. Like I mentioned, I’m super cheap, so I only buy them every 3-4 years. Anyway, it’s my goal to NOT be cheap with this and get some ankle boots. I love these Fiorentini+Baker “Novak” Boots, but they are still a little pricey. Hopefully, I can suck it up and then not have to worry about it for another 4 years.

Read: I started The Book Thief several months ago, then I forgot I had it and then it was time to return it to the library. Anyway, my sister-in-law has it, and I’m borrowing it. I’ll let you know what I think.

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October Goals: What Really Happened

Posted on October 31, 2013 by mchaney5353

Well, here we are, at the end of October and it’s time to review how the monthly goals went. Before we do that though, how about we take a peek at the costumes that Jenny and I procured for Halloween this year? Image

We love A League of Their Own – it’s one of the many movies we are constantly quoting to one another – and we were able to find some relatively inexpensive costumes online. I can’t tell you how many people have made sure we know that there is no crying in baseball. 

Ok, on to October. Here’s where we were:

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I’ve found (so far, I’ve only done this for a month) that I really like setting some goals for myself. It makes me keep out of some of my self-imposed ruts and keeps me productive. The good news is that I did read, I did purchase something for myself that I really wanted, cooked a delicious new recipe and purchased a coat I desperately needed. The bad news, though I don’t actually think it’s bad, is that I accomplished only one of the specific goals from October. Let’s take a look at how things really played out:

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October Want Goal: Home Alone Holiday T, available on Etsy

What Actually Happened: I LOVE Phoenix. TIckets were on sale for a show at one of my favorite venues and I bought them the second they went on sale. That was a very easy choice. 

October Eat Goal: Tortellini dish, available at Good Housekeeping

What Actually Happened: I made it and it was awesome. Recipe below because I modified it a bit.

October Wear Goal: Military jacket, available at Nasty Gal

What Actually Happened: I am not totally in love with the military jackets I was finding and frankly, I was being really cheap. Then I was at Target one day and someone had returned a 3.1 Philip Lim trench that had been marked down so obviously, I got that. I needed a trench anyway. I do not regret this decision.

October Read Goal: The Last Summer of the Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly

What Actually Happened: I got through 2 chapters and it bored me. I’m sure it’s good, but I’ve been distracted this month and sick, so I opted for my two favorite magazines, as well as a very easy mystery read. I would not recommend it, but nevertheless it was a nice Sunday afternoon-windows open-hot tea-football on in the background read. 

Don’t fret! I’m almost there with November goals, which I’m so sure you’re all so excited to see. Stay tuned, they’ll post tomorrow! 

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Home Sweet Home

Posted on October 30, 2013 by mchaney5353

Home Sweet Home

I get to work with really amazing people everyday. We are a great family unit and we love to create and design and brainstorm and make good things happen.

We are St. Louisians and die hard Cardinal fans. To celebrate the best town in baseball, we have designed 2 posters. We’ve donated them to Gateway 180, an organization dedicated to finding housing for women and children in need.

Simply visit http://tinyurl.com/nq4ve2x to make your donation of $20 or more to Gateway 180 and you’ll get one of these custom designed posters free!

Make sure to put “baseball poster” in the notes section. Get them while they last, there is only a limited quantity available!

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October Goals: EAT

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mchaney5353

October goals are going pretty well. Ok, so I’ve only done one of them, but I have been doing some shopping for the military-inspired jacket. So far there are a few at ASOS I like, plus there’s the version at Nasty Gal that I posted but that I’m having second thoughts about. 

 
We have an abundance of Trader Joe’s tortellini in the house, so I thought I’d get going on making the tortellini recipe I posted. I’ve been wanting to try it out for awhile and I had a whole mess of vegetables and other delicious things to go in with it, so I figured I’d give it a whirl. 
 
I’m going to be up front about something right away: I do not follow recipes. Essentially, I look at pictures and try to recreate them, with little to no acknowledgment of the recipe that initially inspired the hunger pangs to begin with. I know it’s dumb and I end up with some questionable entrees from time to time, but whatever, the kitchen is an adventure, right?
 
However. Pasta is pretty simple, so I didn’t think I’d screw this up.  I’ll outline what I did, but if you want to make this, adjust as you feel necessary. 
 
Boil pasta. I used 1/2 a bag of TJ’s Tortellini. Drain and set aside.
 
While pasta is boiling, sauté the following:
– clove or 2 of garlic
– shallot
– 1/2 a white onion
– a little olive oil
 
Once those bad boys are done, throw in:
– some frozen peas (they thaw really quickly)
– cherry tomatoes, halved
– red jalapeño pepper, chopped up (I keep the seeds in, I like it spicy)
– spinach
 
Let that cook down a bit. Add 1/4 cup of white wine. 
 
Once the wine cooks down, throw in 1/2 cup of heavy cream (and some parmesan cheese, if you’re so inclined).
 
Dump the pasta in with the veggies. mix around till coated. Serve. 
 
The original recipe called for pine nuts, but those bad boys are pricey. Also, it didn’t call for heavy cream, but I had some left over from another recipe, so I figured why not?
 
Dinner was a success – in fact, we both ate it for lunch the following day, which is a pretty big feat for me. 
 
 
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Want Eat Wear Read

Posted on October 1, 2013 by mchaney5353

Apparently there is a thing that some parents do around birthdays and the holidays called Want/Need/Wear/Read. I love that idea – the kid gets something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.

I thought it might be kind of a fun way to set some goals by doing the same each month. I know it’s kind of weird to say it’s a way to set goals, but hear me out:

Want: Ok, this isn’t a goal, but there are somethings that I’d absolutely never buy, because frankly I’m cheap and they seem frivolous.

Eat: I pretty much have everything I could possibly need, but I thought that it might encourage me to get a bit more creative in the kitchen if I set a goal to make a specific dish each month.

Wear: I’m one of those people that wears shirts until they are riddled with holes, boots until the heels are worn down to the nub and won’t replace a winter coat because…well, I hate shopping. I have almost no patience for it and you can almost never find anything online that meets your expectations for a reasonable price.

Read: I love reading, but I tend to prefer to make lists of books I want to read, rather than actually going to the new St. Louis Public Library (conveniently located just 2 blocks away!) to pick them up.

So…here we go. My list for October. Leave your comments or suggestions for next month in the comments!

October-Want-Eat-Wear-Read-Hey-red-hey

 

Want: Home Alone Holiday T, available on Etsy

Eat: Tortellini dish, available at Good Housekeeping

Wear: Military jacket, available at Nasty Gal

Read: The Last Summer of the Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly

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The 5 Stages of Grief

Posted on September 25, 2013 by mchaney5353

The 5 Stages of Grief sounds like a really bad romantic comedy, doesn’t it? I imagine someone shrill and annoying (Katherine Heigl?) playing a woman who’s lost someone, and in hilariously heartbreaking ways manages to make her way through the 5 stages. And lo and behold on the end of that journey – she finds her soulmate (a brooding Taylor Kitsch or charmingly unaffected Dave Franco, perhaps?). She’s joined by her quirky and much more likable partner in crime, played by Judy Greer (can SOMEONE please get this woman more work? She’s freaking amazing and so well-deserving of more than supporting roles).

That movie hasn’t been made just yet (well, not EXACTLY that movie), but I bet one of these days something like that will be made, loosely based on the 5 stages outlined by David Kessler & Elisabeth Kübler- Ross.

It never fails, when something devastating happens, I’m reminded of the 5 Stages of Grief. I’m always curious if I’ll follow those stages to the letter or if perhaps I’ll skip one and come back to it later. Sort of like leaving the hardest math problem for the end of the exam. Do they all last the same length of time? Does it take a week for each, or maybe just a day? Is there a ballpark timeframe that I can expect to feel absolutely miserable? Why didn’t they outline that part of grieving?

I should give you a bit of insight as to what I’m really talking about here: a very dear friend of mine passed away over the summer. For me it was unexpected, out of the blue. He’d been sick, but he never let on that it was that serious. We were very close and I assumed that he would have told me if something was really wrong. When I received the news I was stunned.

I’ve spent the last few months trying to put the pieces together and I found my mind always coming back to the 5 Stages…(Quick review, here they are in order according to Kessler & Kübler- Ross: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.) Which was I in now? What’s the order again?

With death or losing someone you love, there are so many questions: Is what I’m currently feeling appropriate? What about when I laughed at a joke one of our mutual friends made at the memorial service? What caused me to excuse myself during boot camp this morning so that I could cry in the locker room? How many goddamn glasses do I have to break before I stop being so fucking angry?

Here’s what I’ve learned: those stages are sneaky bastards and they don’t care where you are, what you are doing or what you are feeling, they just show up, knock on your emotional door and camp out for as long as they want.

But there is one thing I know: TJ loved me and he will kill me if I just give up. He’ll literally come down from Heaven or whatever watering hole in the sky he’s currently bellied up at and haunt the shit out of me until I got it together. So here we go. Back to it, 5 Stages coming at me or not, back to it.

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Fuck it, let’s dive right in, shall we?

Posted on September 24, 2013 by mchaney5353

I’ve been putting this off. And putting it off. I really want to get back to writing and staying connected to the things that make me tick, something that blogging lends itself easily to in my life.

Here’s the thing: It’s been an incredibly busy summer. We started traveling every week/weekend in April and just stopped about a week ago. In addition to that we had work, some unexpected hiccups and one very large heartbreak, which basically all served as excuses for my not posting anything.

So in an effort to just get my shit together, I figured, let’s just dive right in. Here’s some stuff I’ve been thinking about:

A) Miley Cyrus: I don’t understand the fuss. The poor thing is growing up (awkwardly, I’ll admit) I’m pretty sure this whole MTV VMA thing was done 10 years ago (and better, I might add) by one Miss Britney Jean Spears (respect), so let’s give lil Miles a break and hope that she comes out with something a bit more…inspiring in the future.

B) I can’t even with Congress. ALL of Congress, (I’m looking at you too, Dems) but specifically, Mitch McConnell or John Boehner. That goes double for the idiots out there that are still anti-love.

C) Ran a 5K, my first one ever. Ran slow as hell, but I ran it and didn’t stop. Boom. Stepping up the cardio, feeling good about keeping things going in the fall and winter. Here’s a pic of me post-Color Run.

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D) Speaking of winter, I’ve got a black tie wedding in a few months and I need something faboosh. Please feel free to send me anything you love for inspiration. I’ll really appreciate it and probably give you some love on the ole blog.

That’s it for now. Expect to hear from me more often. I’ve got a lot of thoughts bubbling.

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Overheard

Posted on July 30, 2013 by mchaney5353

At the office:

Julie: Do you guys want to hear something that will make you feel old?  Monica Lewinsky turned 40.

Katie, 20 year old intern: Who?

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A New Home

Posted on July 29, 2013 by mchaney5353

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been active at Blogger, the original host of Hey Red Hey. Shortly after our trip back to New York, I decided to take a quick break, that turned into almost a year long hiatus. Oops. Life kind of…happened.

After some thought, I decided that I wanted to change platforms, update the site and make some edits. I’ve put it off for quite awhile but I’ve got some newly discovered motivation that has me just jumping right in.

You might see changes as I navigate this new format. I’m not set in my ways here and I’m welcome to your thoughts and opinions: what do you want to see/read, what don’t you, anything from the old blog you particularly liked/disliked, etc.

 

 

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