Man with The Golden Voice

So last week our local radio station WNCI interviewed this homeless guy who back in the 90's did radio and voiceover work in the Columbus metro area. In 1996 he really got into drinking, and bacially lost his job, family, integrity, and whatnot.




Finally about 2 years ago, he sobered up, but was still homeless and unable to get his life back on track. One of his good friends, who is a producer, took a video of him and put it on the Columbus Dispatch website, and the WNCI Morning Zoo caught wind of it, and decided to bring him in.

They shared his story and then basically gave him a job for the day helping them DJ. His story spun around the world, and now he is getting gigs. He was even on Entertainment Tonight last night as getting to meet and possibly work with some of the big time voiceovers in the business.



One of the things that I liked the best about his interview is he admitted that when he was at his best, getting gigs, getting to go to premiers and what not, he never thanked God for what God had given him. He said that God finally let the devil take him, but wouldn't let the devil take his life. He has finally realized what he had back then, and is totally ready to turn his life around.

Football, Flowers, the Flu and Lots of Snow!

Lots of craziness has happened in the last week. It all started a week ago when my boyfriend came over last Tues to watch the Ohio State vs Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.

What a crazy game it was, although I'll admit I did fall asleep around 11:30 pm when the best part of the game was taking place (opps!!). Anyway, we were very proud of our Bucks!!

Then the next day my boyfriend came down with the flu. He ended up taking off work both Wed and Thurs, and I was so afraid I was going to come down with it also, and tried to do everything I could not to get it, including being in denial about getting sick, although I'll get to that in a min.

On Fri we were supposed to hear back from the FDA on a product we are working on, so Fri and even Sat were going to be big days at work for us. We were already planning on working on Sat and possibly Sun, and we had shifts lined up to work those two days.

So Thurs comes around, and I am feeling this cough come on. I just kept drinking tea, and water, and just tried to not think about it. I ended up working about 12 hours on Thurs trying to get caught up for the big day on Fri. Of course when I wake up on Fri I am burning up, with a sore throat, and yet I still get up take a shower and start getting ready for work. I kept wondering why I was still so hot, until I took my temperature and had a 101 degree temperature!

I don't know about you, but I never get a fever. Every time I am sick I always take my temperature, and it's always steady at around 97.4 degrees. I think I took my temperature about 5 times that morning, totally in denial that I was getting sick.

My boyfriend felt so bad that he got me sick that after work on Fri he dropped off some flowers on my doorstep. Of course I was asleep when he dropped them off, so they sat there outside for about 2 hours, but fortunatly they were wrapped up pretty well and didn't freeze.

Five days later I am still battling this flu, which I think has turned into bronchitis, but I am at least on the mend now. I finally made it back to work, although at one point today I think my fever came back because I got really hot and achy and started to cough really bad.

Luckily for me, but unlucky for our client, we did not get the big FDA approval we are looking for, so the weekend-work got pushed back. Things have been a little more slow at work, which will eventually pick up, but is good for now since everyone seems to be getting sick!

In addition to all the sickness going around, it has gotten  much colder and we have had so far 2 snow storms of the new year. It was 61 degrees on NYE, and I believe it got to 0 over night over the weekend. Luckily Columbus is pretty good with clearning the roads, so if you just give them enough time by either going into work a little late, or even staying a little past rush hour, they don't seem to be too bad. You can tell when big snow storm is coming because they put this salt water stuff down on the interstates. You can see these 6 or 7 lines along each lane where they have put this salty mixture down, and I think it really helps. They have only been doing this for the last couple of years, but it does seem to help keep the interstates somewhat clear during these storms.

Hope everyone else is keeping clear of the flu and other sicknesses. I think everyone I know has had something within the last couple of weeks! It's definitly going around.

Southwest Chicken Pizza

This year, one of my goals is to try out 50 new recipes. I have so many cookbooks, and I am always trying new recipes, so I figure this should be a lot of fun! It will equal out to about 1 per week (and sometimes I might try 2 per week, so that will make up for week's I take off, or make a repeat item).

I actually tried 2 recipes this week, but I am still trying to perfect one of them, so I'll share that one later. This week I wanted to share Southwest Chicken Pizza from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book (the pink edition). This recipe actually came from Sandra Lee (in the new pink section). I love trying out new pizza recipes, and will probably try out even more this year. I also love Mexican food, so this was a great combination.

A couple of things to note, I used a premade pizza crust. In the recipe it states to use a pizza crust mix and mix in 1/4 cup of mashed black beans. I love the Mama Mary pizza crusts, and I was looking for something easy, so that is what I did, but maybe sometime I will try the mix with the mashed black beans.

Also, I would suggest using canned corn instead of frozen corn like I did. I don't think the corn really cooked long enough, and wasn't very warm. I had to heat it up a little more in the microwave to get it warm enough to eat.

Also, I would drain your corn really well, and your salsa a little. My pizza had a little too much juice, and my toppings kept falling off. It was good, but next time I will drain my ingredients a little more.

Southwest Chicken Pizza (my version):

Ingredients:

-- Premade pizza crust

-- Olive oil

-- 1/2 cup (or more if you like) of salsa (I used my own homade version, see below)

-- 1/3 cup of Mexicorn, drained (suggest using from can)

-- 1/2 cup (or more if desired) fiesta blend shredded cheese

-- 1 cup cooked diced chicken

Directions:

Preheat oven per directions on the pizza crust (mine was at 450 degrees I believe).

Brush olive oil over your premade crust. Then spread on salsa evenly over dough, leaving about a 1" border. Top with the corn, chicken and cheese and other ingredients as desired.

Bake according to the directions on your premade crust (I believe I cooked mine for 12 - 14 mins) until golden brown.

Homemade Salsa:

For my homemade salsa, add to a food precessor, 4-5 small Roma tomates (cut in half), 1/2 of a red onion (also cut up into smaller chunks), 1 tbs lime juice, 1 tsp salt (or more to taste), and a handful of cilantro. Mix together in your food processor and then take a taste to see if it needs more salt or lime juice. I don't like to mix too much or else it gets runny. It's even better after it sits in the fridge for a day or so. Enjoy!



New Year = New Calendars

I am totally an office/school supply junkie! I swear I probably should have been a teacher, and then I could get new school supplies every year. I sometimes do pick up school/office supplies in the Fall, but one of my favorite things about a new year is new calendars.

This year I have three new calendars. Of course I can't just have one!!

I love Mary Phillip Designs, and have been bummed she hasn't had a new calendar for a while (or at least I haven't been able to find them). When I found out about this calendar a few months ago, I put it on my amazon.com wish list, and my mother got it for me for Christmas. I am keeping this one up at work. It's a fun girly calendar with lots of fun sayings such as:

"I'm not into working out. My philosophy is: No pain, no pain." -- January 2011

"All we need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." -- February 2011

I also got this cute Lilly Pulizter agenda and matching pen to keep in my purse. This is to keep track of important dates such as birthdays, lunches, parties, hair appointments, etc.

I ordered it from the Preppy Princess, and this is how it arrived. I loved the presentation!

I also ordered this calendar from Snapfish and gave one away to both my Mom and my Sister-in-law. It is of fun pictures of my nieces and nephew over the last year. This one I am keeping in the kitchen at home.

Do you have any fun calendars you purchased this year?

Books for 2011

There are a ton of books on my "To Read" list on Goodreads.com. My goal for 2011 is to read 20 books. Below are just a few that I am looking to read this year:

American Wife -- by Curtis Sittenfeld

Spoken from the Heart -- by Laura Bush (just started this and so far loving it!)

Nanny Returns -- Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (loved The Nanny Diaries)

Uncharted Territori -- Tori Spelling (have loved all of her books so far!)

Fly Away Home -- Jennifer Weiner (one of my fav writers!)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- Stieg Larsson

Savannah Breeze -- Mary Kay Andrews

Friday Night Knitting Club -- Kate Jacobs

If You Were Here -- Jen Lancaster (looking forward to this coming out in May! Love her books!)

Also, I am joining Life Meg's Mingle Monday today, so check it out!

Goals for 2011

I have been thinking about goals for the last week and I very eager to get started on my goals for 2011.

The last couple of months has been very stressful for me. Things have been extremly crazy at work, and I feel that I have been letting that stress really get to me and my health. My big overall goal for 2011 is to make sure to have a good work/life balance. This might require some changes on my part, both at work and in my personal life, but I am dedicating myself to making sure that I am able to obtain and then maintain that balance.

Below are some of my personal goals. I will probably go into deeper description in other postes later on this week, but as a quick hit list, here they are:

1. Take better care of myself -- eating right, exercising, taking my vitamins, getting enough sleep.

2. Yoga -- I would like to try and do yoga at least once a week, if not twice a week.

3. Read the bible -- I have a plan to read the bible in 365 days; I have never done this before, and am very excited in trying it. In addition to this, I am going to participate in the 2011 Siesta Scripture Memory Team and learn 24 scriptures over the next year.

4. Try 50 new recipes -- I have a ton of cookbooks, so I would like to try at least one new recipe per week; I will be sure to share my results (both successes and failures).

5. Read 20 books -- I have a ton of books on my Goodreads "To read" list. I would love to be able to make a nice dent in this list. This equates to almost 2 books per month, which is probably doable for myself. It's a big goal, so we will see!

6. Craft/Sewing Projects -- I have a couple of craft/sewing projects that I would like to complete. One of them is a quilt, and the others I will share in another post.

7. Write letters/send cards -- I am going to try and send birthday cards to all of my immediate family members, and send letters to my Grandparents on a monthly basis. Currently looking for some cute stationary if anyone has an ideas/links you would like to share!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been really looking forward to ringing in 2011. Although 2010 was a good year for me, I went on a few great trips, got a promotion at work, and had another great year with my manfriend, I have some great plans and goals for 2011 that I have been looking forward to getting a jump start on.

I am still working on my goals for 2011, and am hoping to share with eveyone soon. Until then, I hope everyone has had a great start to the new year, and is enjoying the weekend with their family and friends!