Simplify ~ Rachel

Greetings everyone! I’m here to tell you that I am officially putting this blog on hiatus until my dissertation is done. In order to just get that darn dissertation done (goal is to defend in September), I need to simplify my life. That means clearing the calendar. That means removing as many obligations as possible. [...]

Climbing Everest ~Rachel

Lori over at Finding Radiance was just at Disney with her husband and is sharing her experiences and photos with all of us. She recently blogged about Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. While that coaster was not their favorite, Dave and I LOVED it! We actually went back to Animal Kingdom on our last morning, [...]

Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms ~ Rachel

Have you all discovered the blog Skinnytaste yet? Gina hasn’t let me down yet with her recipes. The latest recipe that I tried is a definite keeper. Dave loved it so much that he was enthusiastic about eating leftovers. We had this for dinner one night…and he made tacos out of it the next day [...]

Homemade Applesauce ~ Rachel

Apples are in season right now in NC…not for much longer, but they are in season for several months in the late fall/early winter. I wanted to try my hand at making applesauce in the crock pot. I asked Lindsay at Savory Spice Shop how to do it. It’s a lot simpler than you could [...]

Stress ~Rachel

I had a really horrific week last week due to unnecessary chaos surrounding my job and dissertation. I met with the chair of my dissertation committee to talk about everything…he, of course, was awesome and supportive and helpful. We decided on a timeline with lots of intermediate deliverables. That kind of structure and accountability, in [...]

Cupcakes for Dinner ~Rachel

I don’t know who started the trend of cooking everything in muffin tins but I want to thank them profusely.  I’ve made Weight Watcher’s Mini Meatloaf Muffins before…lots of times…and have enjoyed both the food and the built-in portion control. Let’s face it: I didn’t get fat by eating reasonably-sized portions. I love to cook [...]

I’m Going Down, Down, Down, Down ~ Rachel

That blog post title is in reference to a Bruce Springsteen song from his Born in the USA album. Bruce has a new single that dropped today and his new album comes out in early March so I’m quite excited. My mother raised me on Bruce. I was not your typical kid in the 80′s…there [...]

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad…~Rachel

You take them both and there you have: The Facts of Life! It’s been a wacky few days full of highs and lows. Here’s what’s been going on: Bad: My Dell Studio 15 laptop has a design flaw that causes it to overheat…it eventually fried the processor and the hard drive…and I’m 4 months past warranty. [...]

When You Work the Plan… ~ Rachel

…the plan works. I worked the plan this week. I tracked everything. I stuck to my points. I managed one session with my personal trainer before dealing with a knee injury and a back sprain. I was down this morning at weigh in. I was down 8.2lbs to be exact.* Boo-yah! I went from my [...]

LCL ~Rachel

If you’ve been following me for any period of time, you know that I am a bit of a klutz. I just fall. It just happens. I roll my eyes and get over it because most of the time, I’m not injured. Last week (Wed or Thurs) my ankle rolled and I hit the floor. [...]