A Newsworthy Day

News Item #1: I lost my slow-cooker V-card.

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You may be wondering how a 28-year-old who has been living on her own for the past ten years still even held that particular card to begin with.

Well, friends, I have a confession to make: I have never used a crock pot because I have been absolutely certain terrified that I would come home to a burned down house.

Thankfully, that nightmare was not realized, and not only was my apartment still standing when I got home this evening, it also smelled absolutely delicious because Son-of-a-Gun Stew was brewing:

This jambalaya was by far the easiest meal I have ever made.  I came home over lunch and chopped everything up and threw it in the crock pot; it took all of eight minutes before I was headed back to school.

I came home in the afternoon to a house that smelled so. good.  I wish there was some way I could make this a scented post because whoa: you'd love it.  After working out (six hours past cutting everything up), I dumped in a box of rice and turned the temperature up a notch.  I let that go for 35 minutes and dumped in some shrimp.

One of my besties came over for dinner, so I served steamed broccoli and half a whole wheat English muffin (to sop up the juices, natch).

The dinner was so freakin' good.  Like, I kind of want to make it again next week.  And I'm not going to lie: I'm kind of bummed that I promised all of my leftovers to people at school.  I want to be selfish and keep it all for me.  :)

It was a super fun evening, and Mags and I have vowed to cook and eat together more often, as it's so tough cooking for one.

(To make the evening even easier, clean-up was a cinch.  Seriously, it took me maybe three minutes to clean the slow-cooker - and our bowls and plates.  Unreal.)

News Item #2: I am horrible at drinking water.


Apparently drinking water is important.  I mean, check out this helpful chart (and the guy whose silhouette makes it look like he's got some swag):

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I realized this when I read one of Caitlin's posts on Healthy Tipping Point yesterday.  She talks about the importance of stating a "healthy intention" for the week, and she said that hers for this week was to drink more water.  Like her, my water consumption during the day is pretty darn embarrassing, until I realize that notion and chug water like a maniac at 7 p.m. (and then regret that decision when I'm awake every two hours in the middle of the night).

Tomorrow, I will drink more water.  And somehow manage to make it through three 90-minute classes without peeing my pants.

News Item #3: I am now an award-winning writer.


This should be no surprise to you based on the awesome words that you read everyday on this gem of a blog, but today I was commended for my writing abilities at my freelance gig.

It still counts as "award-winning" even if it's just for your company, right?  But it has to give me at least a little street cred that it's for a national company that employs a bazillion people, right?

Regardless, I'm pretty stoked.

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Oh, and that?  Totally going on my refrigerator.

News Item #4: Apparently I am old.


I know it's only 10:00, but holy smokes: it feels about two hours past my bedtime.  See y'all tomorrow!