Table for Eight

Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman on Food Network) Chicken Fried Steak (and broccoli). Dave made it for us last night and it was awesome. (And messy. Holy deep fryer.)   I'm affectionately dubbing this summer my "Chicken Fried Summer." Why, you ask? Because I think my post-Survivor way of coping with transitions, stress, etc., has been to EAT. Anything and everything! Sour gummy worms? Don't mind if I do. Chocolate cake? Sure. Green olives and chocolate cake?  Uh ... okay, sure! The overeating is kinda (emphasis on KIND OF) funny for someone who starved on an island in the Philippines for 39 days last year, but work with me: I'm doing the best I can. And when I can do best er , I will. Promise. In the meantime, I'm just trying to begin a regular exercise routine to balance out the extra food intake AND love myself as I journey through this phase. And even that hasn't been super easy for some reason.  (For those of you w...

I love this post from Pinterest. Why? Because sometimes the "voice in my head" is anything BUT encouraging. Take just this morning, for example. Before I'd even picked myself up out of bed, I'd inventoried 100+ excuses for why this day was going to kick my butt. (For reals.) Here's just a tiny sampling of my self-talk. And yes, I'm fully aware of how wonky it is to share my internal dialog, AKA "The Voice In My Head." (Don't judge, just love please. Ha!): The Voice In My Head: This Morning's Edition --Work. It's almost finals week/end of the year. There are so many emails to return and papers to grade. There's more work than there is time. ("I really could have been a better teacher this semester..." etc. "I bet other teachers are all caught up.") --Health/Fitness. I WAS doing great for about 3 weeks, eating very little sugar and/or junk, BUT then the Easter weeken...

PS: The post is for Caralyn, this pix is for me! Yesterday I received an email comment from a blog reader asking for my bread recipe. And it was then that I realized, "More people than my just my mother-in-law are reading this blog--because she knows and gives me most of my recipes." LOL. So Caralyn, sorry I didn't post this sooner. I'm really not that secretive when it comes to bread baking. I just don't like to tell people HOW to do things--ever--even when it comes to recipes. It feels, I dunno, kinda arrogant?  Plus, I know as soon as I say "We use white flour," someone will say, "Oh, I never use white flour." And at the end of the day, I'm all about co-existing. I don't want you to change--or be me--I want you to be you and me to be me. So, no matter how you feel about bread after reading this post, remember YOU GOTTA BE YOU. AND I GOTTA BE ME. Tee hee. PS: See how my brain works, people? A little questio...

NYC on NYE. (We spent our NYE in SLC.) If the first week of 2012 is any indication of what the whole year is going to be like, then I think I may need to add an extra multi-vitamin to my regular health routine. Why, you ask? Well, because for the first time since I was "in the game," I haven't known what day of the week it is. (Sidenote: You don't have access to watch/calendar in the game, so even though you are able to count the number of days you've been playing, you really do start to lose a sense of traditional time.) In other words, life has been pretty busy. Here's a sampling of the insanity  this week's schedule: 1. Work out. Working out will always be a mental mountain for me to climb. BUT, after preparing for Survivor, I know how much it can change your life. SO, I will do it even when I don't want to. Period. That being said, I can barely walk, climb stairs or sit down this week--as a result of increasing my weights. ...

The Shoulder the Load Challenge, Survivor South Pacific. (C) CBS, Monty Brinton, 2011. I'm still working on my post-game post this weekend. (So much to cover!.). But, while I do that, I wanted to share a quote that means a lot to me. It's a quote my husband gave me during a reward challenge in the game. I've since talked about this in interviews, so I think it's okay to share here:  During the Sliding Rocks Reward, Savaii earned letters from home. Is that incredible? (Heck yes.) Those letters were like gold. I read them over and over, and they gave me strength to complete the game. Knowing everyone was safe, happy, and doing well gave me a great sense of peace. Ahhhh. I loved it! Oh, but my point. In his letter, my husband, Dave, shared this incredible quote. As I read it, I had bloody knees from the first challenge, scrapes on my shoulders from the third challenge, and an upset stomach from too much coconut the day before. We were n't even at th...