Library Card

Guess what I did after work today?

I got myself one of these babies:

My very own library card. 😀

As a kid and high school student, I loved going to the library. My mom is basically a library super-fan, and would take me and my sister to our local library to browse books, magazines, DVDs and CDs for hours. We loved it!

I walked to the Orlando Public Library and within five minutes of filling out a form and handing over my driver’s license, I had a library card!

I’ve put off getting a library card for so long because parking downtown to actually go to the library is a huge pain. When one of my colleagues told me that our library actually delivers books to your home for free, I was singin’ a different tune. You can select books, DVDs or CDs through the library’s catalog system and ask them to deliver them to your doorstep. How cool is that!?

Plus, I work within walking distance of the library, so I can easily return anything we check out after work or during my lunch break.

I’m also excited to check out some of the free classes offered at the library. I sure could use some extra help when it comes to website design and html code. That stuff is way over my head and as a blogger, it would be very beneficial to gain some knowledge about the “behind the scenes” stuff.

With my spiffy library card in tow, I headed home to get crackin’ on dinner.

Dinner

Ryan and I have plans to head to St. Pete this weekend for some wedding-related appointments, so we had to use up the fresh veggies we had waiting in our fridge.

I prepared a veggie plate to enjoy along with a bowl of spaghetti, which did the trick!

My veggies included roasted Brussels sprouts and parsnip fries, served with some ketchup for dippin’.

The veggies were pretty filling and coupled with a big bowl of pasta, I felt very satisfied after eatin’ this meal!

Of course Parmesan cheese made an appearance in the pasta bowl.

As Ryan and I headed into the kitchen to clean our dishes, we caught Sadie in the middle of some Brussel sprout thievery.

What a little sneak!

St. Lucia, Here We Come!

Ryan and I are off to book our flights to St. Lucia for our honeymoon! Now that our hotel reservations are all set, we gotta book transportation to actually get to the island… 😉

Good news: Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Big Spaghetti Dinner

Big spaghetti dinners were one of my favorite meals growing up.

I would sit in my big, wooden chair at the dinner table as my mom placed a pot of steaming noodles on a hot plate in front of me. The steam from the noodles would moisten my face with a warm heat and my stomach would growl in anticipation. Next to me would be a bread basket filled with buttery garlic bread for easy access.

My mom would make this dinner for me the night before I had a cross country meet in junior high.

I would get so nervous before a meet even though I was not even kind of good and the team never really depended on me. I hated the competitive nature of meets and would nearly make myself sick with nerves. A big spaghetti dinner was one of the things that calmed me down and made me relax.

Though tonight’s dinner wasn’t quite as fantastic as the spaghetti dinners I  enjoyed growing up, it still was quite tasty.

I prepare our pasta feast using Barilla thin spaghetti.

 

While the noodles bubbled away in a big pot of boiling water, I chopped up steamed broccoli florets to toss on top of the cooked pasta.

I also popped open a can of clams to add a little protein and salty flavor to the mix.

Before digging in, I topped the spaghetti, broccoli and clams with marinara sauce.

Even though I’m not the teeniest bit Italian, I sure do like eating like I am! 😀

Question of the Evening

• What is a meal that always makes you feel relaxed and calm?

Slow Digesting Carbs = Slow Posting Blogger

This post is a recap of last night’s dinner since I took the night off blogging to read Dan Brown’s fantastic new book! (Mama, what chapter are you on now?)

Since dinner consisted of whole wheat pasta, a slow-digesting carbohydrate, I figured it was appropriate to post on it a little late, since I’m only now beginning to digest it. Riiiight… 🙂

Whole Wheat Pasta

I boiled up some Ronzoni Healthy Harvest whole wheat pasta noodles to serve as the base for our dinner.

Oodles of Noodles

Ryan chopped up yellow summer squash and zucchini and I threw them on the griddle, sprayed first with cooking spray.

Sizzlin' Squash

While the noodles boiled and the squash sizzled, I microwaved some MorningStar Farms Grillers Recipe Crubles (they’re meat free!) to add to the pasta.

Meaty... But Not

Once everything was ready, I combined it all in a big bowl with delicious marinara sauce.

Pasta Bowl

Yummy

Of course, I topped it off with some Parmesan cheese.

Parmesan Pleaser

Stirring this big ol’ bowl caused quite a… stir. 😉 It was a messy dinner that overflowed a bit, but I was full and happy afterward! Pasta is just so darn delicious.

Pasta's Number One Fan