Exercising

I think we would all exercise way more if we had incentives like this....

Enjoy!!

Happy Tuesday!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service - Volume 2

The majority of the customers who subscribe to our newspaper are on the older side, so it can be pretty entertaining to talk to them and answer their questions and assist them with technology.

An older gentleman called to renew his subscription for 1 year. We went through the steps of renewing and at the end of the call I told him that his new expiration date was sometime in 2013.

Our conversation is as follows:

Customer: "Ok, well you have the guarantee that I will be alive then"

Me: "Well, Sir, I can't guarantee that but I can tell you that I have a really good feeling about it"

Customer: "Ok, well I am 88 years old..."

Me: "My great aunt is 95, so you still have some time! Don't even worry about it!"

Customer: "Oh wow! Is she still sexy?"

Me: "Oh of course she is!"

Customer: "Well, I can't wait to meet this woman!"

Me: "Unfortunately, Sir, you live in New York and she lives in Reno, those are two opposite coasts!"

Customer: "Alright, then, maybe another time."

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Oh boy! I died laughing!

I told my coworkers and they are now calling me the match maker!

Chicken Burritos in the Crock Pot

This meal is super easy and so tasty!!

We buy chicken in bulk from Costco. It comes packaged in 2 breasts so it is the perfect amount for 2 plus leftovers for me for lunch!

The McCormick's Taco seasoning is the best! This container is also from Costco, and you are buy it in packets from the grocery store - I believe it is next to the spices.

Put the chicken in a bowl and cover the chicken in the taco seasoning. 

Make sure it is all covered.

We eat a lot of bell peppers. So we used about 1/2 of each and 1/2 of the onion and I added a small bunch of cilantro to the crock pot.

Saute the chicken on each side to lock in the taco flavor, max of 5 minutes on each side. You don't want to cook the chicken, just get the sides a little brown.

Slice the veggies

Put the chicken in the crock put

Add the veggies

cover all of the ingredients with salsa - We didn't have enough salsa to cover it so I added some chicken broth to the pot. You want to make sure that the chicken is fully covered.

I added salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and red chili flakes

we grated extra sharp cheddar and we sliced some fresh bell peppers for a different texture.

This is 2 avocados and a couple of table spoons of salsa - this is super easy and delicious!

YUUMM!

We cook about a cup of rice and added about a 1/2 can of pinto beans - we like to mix it up and use different beans every time.

The finished product!

Add some condiments to your burrito and enjoy!!

So tasty!

Lime & Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

Real Simple's Lime & Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

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You can find the recipe here

We make a lot of chicken. 

We buy it in bulk at costco and it comes in a perfect container of 2 breasts per

We used breasts in stead of the bone in cuts because, well, we don't keep that in the freezer

The glaze was super tasty.

I had the chicken marinate in it for about 20 minutes, it was perfect!

The slaw was delicious and I felt super healthy eating it!

I did steam some broccoli and make rice because I thought that the slaw wouldn't be enough of a side for my sweet husband :-)

We baked the chicken (like the recipe says) and it came out perfect and tender!

So good!

Definitely make this one!!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service - Volume 1

So, I have a job in Customer Service so I am constantly answering phones, all day, every day. After my first day on the job, on my own, I had nightmares about answering the phones and messing up! It was terrible! 

Since then I have had some pretty funny experiences and so I have decided to document them!

Alright, here is the back story - 

My name is La Tache - yeah, my name is hard to pronounce, I get it, but I cannot even tell you how many different names after even spelling it for people...I can only laugh it off!

Last week a man called in and I answer the phone, "{Insert Business Name} This is La Tache, how can I help you today? He tried to repeat it and since I have started when people say my name wrong I just say "yes" and let them continue. In all honesty, it does not matter what my name is. 

So, I go about the call, not problems. About 2 minutes to the end of the call the customer says, "Uh, What was your name?" And I say, "La Tache." And he seemed to be having quite a lot of trouble with my name and so I repeated it and he still could not get it. He apologized and I said, "It's ok, it's not a problem." And he says "I'm just trying to be civil..." Which I appreciated, so I said, "Oh ok, well it's La Tache but you can call me...uh...Lisa."

So for the rest of the call, this old man was calling me Lisa!

Not like, 1 time at the end, "Thanks, Lisa."

No! 

Like, "So, Lisa..." "What about this, Lisa" "What did you say, Lisa?"

It was like he couldn't get enough! And the worst part is that I am proud of my name. I love my name.  I am not a big nickname fan because I was given a name at birth so call me that...and so every time he called me "Lisa" a little part of me suffered!

Ha!

I got off of the phone and all of the people sitting around me were laughing!

It was hilarious and now everyone calls me Lisa!

Butternut Squash Soup

With fall right around the corner, I will not pass up a chance to make something with Butternut Squash - Yum! This is probably one of my favorite foods and it is so versatile! 

Peel the squash, cut it in half and scoop the seeds out

Put on a foil lined cookie sheet and rub both sides with EVOO and  sprinkle with salt, pepper, about 1 tbls of brown sugar, 1 tsp of nutmeg, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and chopped garlic. {sweet and savory - the best flavors!}

Put in the oven and bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes or until tender.

Cut into cubes and put into a food processors and process until creamy and there are no more chunks.

Add to about 3 cups of chicken broth and mix together until it is of a soup consistency.

To make the garlic bread:

drizzle sliced bread with EVOO and add thin slices of butter {butter makes everything better} sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper and put in over on broil for about 3 minutes.

To make Asparagus:

Cut off bottoms of asparagus and put into a oven safe dish. Drizzle with EVOO, add salt, pepper and garlic and bake for about 15 - 18 minutes {or they are the tenderness that you want} about 3 minutes before they are done sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top to just melt the cheese.

Yum! This is soo good!!

Definitely one of my favorite Fall meals!

Magazines

Good Afternoon and Happy Monday to all!!

Alright, I currently subscribe to Real Simple Magazine. I love the magazine and I love the recipes; however, there are only so many articles about getting organized because they start to repeat.

I also get daily recipes from their website and have come to find that they are repeated in the magazine, so I feel like I am wasting my money with the magazine subscriptions.

So, now I am in the market for a new food/home magazine - what ones do you all read and which do you recommend?? 

I was looking at the Sunset Magazine which is pretty great and it also gives some info on travel on the West Coast (mainly CA).

And I may be interested in the Food Network Magazine, Bon Appetit, and there were a few others that caught my eye.

Please let me know what you all recommend :-) Thank you!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

On Sunday we did our weekend routine and had our coffee drinks at Profetta. 

While Rich studied for the LSAT on campus, I sat on the lawn and read!

 

What a relaxing weekend!

I hope you all have a Magnificent Monday!!

Rejection isn't failure

Rejection isn't failure...

No...

Failure is giving up.

Everybody gets rejected...

It's how you handle it that determines where you'll end up

~Richard Castle

Castle

ABC 

Monday Nights 

10pm

who knew that an ABC show would be so inspiring?!