Random Thursday Things

A freelancer friend of mine said to me yesterday, 

"What you do when you're bored determines where your true passions lie...."

Pretty deep right? I thought that was interesting and I've been thinking about it quite a bit.

When I'm bored...

I take photos

I edit photos

I blog

I read blogs

I cook

I read cooking blogs

I read cooking magazines

I shoot video

I edit video

I run

I read about running

and most recently...

I've started taking time-lapse video

Enjoy!

Boston Harbor from Lizzy on Vimeo.

I work above the 30th floor in a Boston high rise building and the views are pretty remarkable in every direction.  This video shows the Boston Harbor (check out the boats and ferry coming in and out),  the Clock Tower (check out the hands moving!) and the airport (you can see planes flying in!).  Pretty fun stuff.  I look forward to shooting more time-lapse in the future.

Oh and I shot all this on my T2i! Best $500 ever spent : )

In unrelated news, Dylan and I match today.  Both wearing Octopus shirts because it's totally normal for a mom to dress like her son right?

Happy Thursday!  I'll be back soon to post about all the delicious recipes I've been making lately.

Mommy 'Vice: Take Video!

The beginning of Mommy 'Vice starts today and it's short and simple.  

You know that awesome DSLR camera you bought to take pictures of your baby {or of food}?  Well, don't forget to switch to the video function once in awhile and get some awesome footage!  Now my day job is a Video Editor so I don't expect everyone to be able to create something like this, but there is plenty you can do just using iMovie.  So get your cameras out and start recording.

{If you have questions on how to shoot video on your camera, reach out to me! We use our DSLR cameras professionally to shoot video as well...}

Sunday Morning from Lizzy on Vimeo.

I'm hoping to put together a video like this together once a month.  This was taken Sunday morning.  Dylan was in such good spirits, I decided to wake up Dave and the rest just came together very organically.

I spent time researching songs- fell in love with Emilie Mover, listened to a bunch of her songs and found the one I used: Made for Each Other.  I later found that it was also used in a Fisher Price commercial!

The lyrics: 

You are exactly one of a kind

There ain't no other I would find

You are eternally on my mind

We're so completely intertwined

And in a perfect world as this

You can wake up every day

And make your way

We dream of the best stuff 

And we can make it happen

We were made for each other

And we sing along with all our favorite songs

And we can make them up

Because we were made for each other

For Always...

I'm always looking for good music like this track to put against videos, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed making it.

Happy Thursday!

Quick Fix Meals: Quinoa Jambalaya

The other night I put this dish together with random ingredients I had in my house.  I had no set "plan" but this dish came together in the same amount of time it took to make the quinoa.  Which is no time at all!  I was pleasantly surprised at how EASY this was to put together, but also how much flavor this dish had... with no added seasoning.  I used a spicy chicken sausage and I cooked the Quinoa in chicken broth which flavored this entire dish without the need to add anything additional.  So if you're in the mood for something unique that takes less than 20 minutes to make from start to eating, you gotta try this dish. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Quinoa Jambalaya

Ingredients:

2 cups of Quinoa (I used half cup of red, half cup of regular)

4 cups of Chicken Broth (Sometimes I add a little extra- basically an entire box)

4 Spicy Chicken Sausage Links, sliced and sautéed

1 cup of Cooked Shrimp, sautéed

1 package of frozen vegetables- I used 1 bag of Trader Joe's Organic Soycutash (a mixture of corn, edamame and red peppers)

Instructions:

Add 2 cups of Quinoa to a stock pot.  Add the four cups of broth.  Cook on medium low heat for twenty minutes or until the quinoa is cooked.  You may need to add a bit more broth depending on how hot your stove is.  While the quinoa is cooking, add your sliced chicken sausage to a hot skillet with olive oil.  Saute for 10ish minutes until the sausage is cooked on all sides.  Add your cooked shrimp and saute for a few more minutes.  While you are doing that, remove your soycutash from it's packaging and place in a microwavable bowl.  Microwave for 5 minutes or until it's no longer frozen.  Add to your cooked quinoa along with the shrimp and sausage.  Mix well and serve!

You could easily make this dish vegetarian by using Vegetable Broth and Soy Chirozo and removing the shrimp. I think Soy Chirozo would add the same type of flavor the spicy chicken sausage did.

So because I made so much of this dish, I had enough for 6 large servings.  Having leftovers is a favorite in our household.  Especially now with Baby Dylan, it's great to look in the fridge and know there is food for a few days.  And it's even better to have lunch already made now that I'm back at work!

Yep, I started work last week and it's going well... I'm happy to report that I've been able to bring lunch everyday with meals like this one : )

Mommy 'Vice: Blog's a Changin'

So I've been thinking a lot about this blog and how I want to move forward with it.  I've been a little lost and haven't been posting as much.  Mainly because although Dave and I eat home-cooked meals every night, they are nothing glamourous or worthy of a food post.  Often times our meals are made while I'm wearing Dylan in the Baby K'tan or while Dyl watches on sitting in the Rock N Play Sleeper.

Meaning I have very limited time to get dinner on the table.  So our go-to meals have been proteins we can grill quickly- steak, chicken, burgers or fish that can cook fast in the oven.  I always have salad made and usually some sort of side.  Bulgur Wheat has been my grain of choice lately. We've still been eating fairly well, but I haven't figured out how and what to blog about when it comes to food.  I don't want to show you guys something that isn't special but I do know I want to continue my Quick Fix Meals Series (QFM) so hopefully I'll post more meals in the future.

On the running side of things, I have been running.  Not with any regularity, but I've been getting out there and I've really been enjoying it.  Mainly because I'm not putting any pressure on myself.  I really have no desire to train for a marathon or run any races.  I just want to get out there and enjoy the outside and run.  So what does that mean? It means although I've been running, it's been more of a walk-run.  I run when I feel like running and walk a few minutes every mile. My favorite running spots always include trails.  Lately I've been running at Wellesley College- around Lake Waban.

So I'll be posting here about runs I go on now and again but mainly I'll show you collages of my scenery rather than my mile splits.  Running fast and far just isn't high on my priority list anymore.

So that brings us to the title of this post.  I've been totally inspired by Cup of Jo Blogger Joanna Goddard.  If you don't read her blog, you should.  Her posts are motivational and come from the heart.  She writes a post weekly called Motherhood Mondays and I absolutely adore it.  She writes about everything from breastfeeding to how women balance work and motherhood to best maternity outfits to bedtime routines and everything in between.  She provides personal stories without revealing too much {meaning she doesn't overshare private details} and her words have such strong meaning behind them. You can tell how passionate she is about what she writes. Without copying her ideas I wanted to do something similar on this blog.  It's really hard for me to just focus on food and running when I have this little guy who has become such a huge part of my everyday life.  And to just throw in a couple pictures of him or a monthly post about him here and there doesn't seem right either.

So I've been thinking about this and I want to add a new series to this blog called Mommy 'Vice.  Short for Mommy Advice, clearly.  I want to write about some of my own experiences with motherhood.  I want to blog about short little stories or advice on baby gear.  I want to feature friends outside the blog world who have provided me with tons of insight on being a Mommy. I want to tell you about the meals I create when I have 20 minutes or less. I think creating a feature like this will help me feel better about blogging. Because lately I've been out of sorts with the whole thing... and I want to love blogging again and I feel like this might help.

Plus who doesn't want to see pictures of my little man?

(thanks Becky for my adorable Under Armour shirt!)

So what do you think?