Get to Steppin'

At work there's this new program called HealthMiles. And I love it.

We got these pedometers, and I'm working mine out. I have found that if you shake your hips Shakira-style, that little counter gets to jumpin', jumpin'.

All the activity that I do, from regular walking to exercising and "weighing in" at HR, gets recorded, and I get points for each thing. After so many points, I will start accumluating money toward gift cards of my choice (to places like Target and Amazon).

Just wait 'til it gets warm outside. This pedometer will be in for the ride of its life.

Not Exactly Half-Baked

You know how I loves my pasta, right?

Well, this is a new recipe that I tried the other night for baked ziti with ricotta and parmesan.

It's from The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever--not even kidding--by Beatrice Ojakangas. That name is a mouthful, but so are the dishes.

This one could not have been easier, and it was delish, I have to say.

It called for spinach, but I left that nasty stuff out and put an extra handful of parmesan (and love). I'm guessing you could improvise and add chicken, sausage, breadcrumbs, and/or any number of vegetables, if you're into that sort of thing.

What have you been cooking lately? I know it's cold out, but at least the residual heat from the oven will make the house warmer. Bonus!

Gimmie s'more 'a that, please!

Remember how I endorsed Archer Farms last year?

Well, I still do. Even more now.

<---- This stuff is heavenly. It's so good, even though my picture leaves a little to be desired. The bag is half-full because I couldn't stop eating it long enough to dig out the camera.

It has little chunks of chocolate, dehydrated marshmallows that are a bit chalky (but strangely addictive), graham cracker bites, chocolate covered peanuts, and seasoned pecans. Yum, yum, gimmie some.

In other news, I haven't really seen tons of specs-worthy ads lately. I will cop to loving the Gap cheerleader ones at Christmas, though. They cracked me up and made me a little nostalgic for the Gap spots of old. Are any commercials or print ads tickling your fancy lately?

Ring It On In

Happy 2010, you specs-y people!

This month I'm not making a to-do/not-to-do list like in previous months, but I thought I'd share some resolutions.

You may remember the first one. No extraneous shopping for Q1 of 2010. Yikes, but so far, so good. I realize we're only 5 days in.

I need to work on my fitness. It's been months since I've exercised, but I always love the way I feel afterward. That yoga DVD is calling my name--but very softly.

I want to read more! Now that I'm a bit more settled, I need to hit up the library (I've found two so far) more often. It's a great source for some free entertainment.

And I want to be more conscious of my blessings. I know I can sometimes get my gripe on, but I have my health and my senses and some cool people in my life.

Now it's your turn, dear reader. Please tell me at least one thing you want to do (or not do) this year. It will only take a minute. Honest.

(Note: You will be seeing this cool calendar each month. It's from my favorite stationer, Linda & Harriett, and I love it.)

Purge Day...

...usually means something different in a university setting, but here it means making room for new purchases and donating to Goodwill. These are all items that I donated. The oldest was a shirt from 1999. Yes, it was over a decade old, and even though it still had some life in it, I had to let go.
The result, amidst what I swear to be the worst lighting in all of creation, is a much less cluttered closet. I even stacked T-shirts in this industrial-looking basket I found for cheeeeap. Ahhh.

Happy New Year.

A Little Retail Therapy

Ok. Remember how I bemoaned my excess of clothing options and said that I would not be spending money come January 1st? Well, good news. It's not January 1st yet.

After an admittedly ho-hum Christmas at home-home, I decided to come home early to Nashville to take advantage of post-Kringle sales. I didn't find a ton (whew), but I did score two awesome sweaters at Banana Republic.

Each one was originally marked at $59.50 and then put on sale. At the register I was pleased to find that until noon on Saturday, all sale items were another 50% off. It was nice. You can hardly find a sweater at Old Navy or Target for about $16. Not to worry, though. I made room in the closet for this--post forthcoming.


Oh, and over at Anthropologie I found this cool bowl for $1.97. It was originally priced at $5, which is completely decent, but I couldn't pass it up. I hope that you had a great Christmas, and I know that some of my friends and readers also hopped on the Dec. 26th shopping train. What did you find?

Allllmost there...

Have you ever had one of those (holi)days where you feel like you have it all together--and then, out of nowhere, you don't?

This Christmas has sort of been that way for me. I had most of my presents bought back toward the end of summer, or so I thought. Now I'm kind of scrambling to wrap and pack a bag for home and tidy up and catch up on my DVR.

Needless to say, I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas. But thank you so much for checking out Specs Appeal this year. I appreciate every comment, follower, and view. Merry Christmas!

And thanks to Martha for this little candy sweetness.