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Seasonal Organizing

I took the day off from work today. I didn’t have much to do, so it was a little bit silly for me to go into the office to do an hour’s worth of work! Instead I stayed in bed reading (Lipstick Jungle), did an exercise video, and organized my inbox. Now it’s a 4-day weekend.

Exercise of the day: Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Jam via Netflix free streaming (I think they should pay me for how much I promote them). It’s a 35 minute routine – a warmup, 3 different dances (“Shake Those Hips”, “Latin Spice”, and “Jazz it Up”), and a cooldown. I wasn’t super-sweaty but it was worth my 35 minutes. I’ve done it a few times before and I’m not bored of it yet. Stella, one of the backup dancers, is cute and funny. (I also just like the name Stella.)

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After the video I worked on my inbox for almost 2 solid hours. Google has this great new feature in “Labs” called Nested Labels. Apparently it came out in April and I didn’t know until now! I have been waiting so long for this. I had wanted Gmail folders, but this is so much better (you can still have emails categorized under multiple labels). It looks like this:

So I completely redid my labeling system and went through finding things without labels and so on. I feel very satisfied now.

Instructions for using Nested Labels: just go to the “Labs” tab in your Gmail settings and enable it. You create subfolders using “/” in the name of a label – like “Health/Yoga” and “Recipes/Vegetarian”.

I also signed up for Evernote, a site that helps you save things that you want to remember/organize. I think it might be like Springpad (which I signed up for and then never used). I’m hoping to compare the two and pick the one I like better.

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And now I am headed down to the Union Square farmers’ market to do some seasonal grocery shopping and maybe hit up Whole Foods which is right next door. I came up with this great way to menu plan that will please both me and Bobby (I hope). I’m going to have different types of dinners – salad, sandwich, pasta, seafood, pizza, and breakfast (plus one “going out” night). Each week we’ll have a new dish for each type – so like for salad this week we can have Asian chicken salad, then the next week Cobb salad, the next caesar, etc… I’ll do a post on it if it works out 🙂

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What did you get at the farmers’ market this week?

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Easy Peasy Crunchy Asian Coleslaw Recipe

This past weekend we were in NJ meeting with the person who is semi-officiating our wedding (it’s a Quaker wedding, so the ceremony is a bit… different). He is such a cool guy; I’ve known him since I was a teeny little kid. His son is almost my age. Anyway, we went over to his house to chat about what we want, and they happened to be having a BBQ. His wife Karen had made the best coleslaw I’ve ever had, so I had to try to recreate it. So that’s what I did just now (and accidentally ate it all, but that’s okay: I have more cabbage and will make it again as soon as I finish typing this).

Maggie’s/Karen’s Crunchy Asian Coleslaw Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4-5 cups of shredded cabbage (I used a mandoline – so much easier/faster than a grater!)
  • 3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette (not vinegar, vinaigrette! you can make it yourself with oil and balsamic vinegar, or you can use your favorite bottled version – I used Wishbone’s – and please do not use the fat free version)
  • 1/2 package of ramen noodles, crumbled finely (not quite crushed completely, but broken down a lot)
  • 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce (or to taste)

Method

  1. Mix everything together. Add more dressing or soy sauce if you so desire.
  2. Serve! (These plates are biodegradable reusable palm leaf plates that are completely earth friendly – they get the leaves off the ground so they don’t even hurt the trees. I can’t remember what brand mine are, but here is an example of some palm leaf plates.)

It’s great for a snack, with lunch or dinner, and hey – even breakfast (if you like veggies at breakfast). It has an Asian feel to it because of the ramen so I figured soy sauce would be a good accent. It’s really yum!

Exercise of the day: Today I walked over to Central Park and walked up 5th Avenue (the east side of Central Park) for about 20 blocks. Then I walked back. I also walked home from work (a little over a mile). Total: exactly 4.0 miles (according to Google Maps).

I can’t get over the fact that I am getting married in a little over 3 weeks. 3 weeks! And then I’m going to Hawaii.

Is anyone interested in doing a guest post about something related to marriage / wedding / food / relationship / health / traveling / etc? I’m going to be gone for 2 weeks so I definitely need some help to keep the blog updated while I’m away. Please email me or leave a comment below!