Puppies and Kittens (sort of)

I'm still a little nervous even saying this out loud, but I think we're looking for a companion for our dog, Ike. It started with me seeing a random pet store the other day with "Puppies!" on the sign, so I thought it would be fun to go see them. Then I went back to Chicago and saw a few more. We thought about it a little bit more, talked it over, and thought it would be a good idea to bring Ike to meet some of them, just to see how he reacted. We were hoping that being around these spritely little puppies would make him a little bit more active...

Ike

As it turns out, Ike is really annoyed by puppies. They jump all over him, and steal his chewies, and generally just make a lot of fuss about nothing (as far as he can tell). So now we're looking at older dogs, specific breeds, and this afternoon I came upon the cutest little Shih Tzu I've seen in a long time.

So he's going to be my Valentine's Day date -- on February 14th we're going to visit him (after he gets out of the medical center being treated for heart worms, and after the awful neutering which I hope he never associates with me). We're bringing Ike with us, and just crossing our fingers that they like each other, and want to be pals. I feel like Ike really deserves a buddy, someone in the pack who speaks his language, and I think Olivia would enjoy having a dog around who is a bit more interested in her than Ike is (which is not at all).

Olivia

In the meantime... we're all freezing over here. Apparently it's warmed up outside, but the heater in the studio hasn't turned on once since last night, so it feels like I'm living in an ice castle right now. I've got the portable heater running in here, and it's registering the temperature around it as 62-degrees. That temperature goes down at least 10-degrees once you're more than 18 inches away from the portable heater, I'm sure.

It looks warm, but I'm not standing anywhere near these drafty windows today!

I hope you're all staying warm out there, or in there for that matter. It seems like a great day to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and watch old movies -- the old movies I can do, unfortunately my eating/drinking clean kick doesn't really allow for hot cocoa. Well, I'll just curl up with a nice glass of mean green juice, then. ;)

Another Snow Day

It's been wonderfully Wintery and snowy over the last few days.  Not just the old waking up to a blanket of snow, but the really cozy, satisfying snowing-through-lunch or snowing-through-hot-chocolate-breaks.  Just glorious.

So usually when it snows, I start roasting squash like there's no tomorrow.  The same way, I suppose, that my friends & family back East run to the store for the staples -- bread, milk, eggs.  But I wasn't prepared, and I ran out of squashes to roast on the first day of snow, so I had to move on to the next best thing -- making kale and putting it in things.

L: Kale chips with sea salt and garlic.
R: Soup with rice, celery, garbanzo beans, carrots,  and of course kale; topped with scallions.

Even the pets got into the cuddling mood.  It should be noted that Ike & Olivia have NEVER been this close to one another without growling-snarling-swiping, so this was quite exciting for ol' Momma.

L: Ike & Olivia
R: Beatrice the hamster

I've been taking more than my usual hot chocolate breaks, thanks to the vegan-friendly Starbucks hot cocoa mixes I recently found.  Life-savers, really.

Lots of packages to ship out today!  It's a good thing to be staying busy, even though I wouldn't argue with another lazy day on the couch, under blankets, watching horrible TLC shows on Netflix.

I hope everyone reading this is staying warm and cozy, and getting to enjoy some nice Winter weather, too.

Comfort Food in (un)Comfortable Weather

I guess it all depends on what you're into, or maybe where you have to go and how you have to get there... but I happen to love a good rainy day.  Yesterday was gloriously rainy, today is cloudy and drizzly, and I feel so very lucky to be able to work from home, and spend a little time just being cozy.  I started off the morning with some of Starbucks' new hot cocoa mix.

This stuff is awesome.  At first, I was all "hell no, I'm not spending $6 on a box of hot chocolate mix..." but realizing it was the only vegan-friendly cocoa on the shelf, I decided I didn't really have a choice.  I am SO glad I tried it!  It's well worth the $6, and if you mix it up with hot Coconut Dream, you have quite the decadent drink in your hands -- warm, creamy, rich & chocolatey -- so comforting.

My other comfort food is soup.  Unfortunately (for me) my boyfriend doesn't share this sentiment.  Unfortunately (for him) I'm going to make soup, anyway.  This one from Post Punk Kitchen looks like it will fit the bill.

Find the recipe here!

I love kale, I love chickpeas, I don't think there's any way this could go wrong.  We always called them garbanzo beans... there isn't a difference, is there?

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy out there!  We're supposed to get some snow or ice here in Chicago.  It's difficult to really believe that though, going from a 60-degree day to snow... but hey, that's Chicago for you.