We tend not to do gifts for holidays other than birthdays and Hanukkah/Christmas and frankly, I’m still a little shell shocked from the rapid fire of gifts we experienced last November/December (twins’ birthday, Hanukkah, and Christmas).  We do use food to mark other special occasions though and for Valentine’s Day we usually celebrate twice – once for the adults and an all family celebration.  Max and I typically go out to dinner, just the two of us (I suppose this is actually a gift), on whatever Saturday falls closest to the actual holiday.  And then we have a special family dinner with the girls on the 14th.  If it’s a weekend we’ll do something more involved, weeknights, we usually have one of our “regular dinners” and then have a special treat for dessert (usually made the night before, or store bought if I’ve been too busy). The past couple of years I’ve been obsessed with red velvet cake, trying anything and everything with this flavor but I have yet to attempt it on my own. Feeling ambitious I’ve decided to give it a try for Valentine’s Day and rather than bake a full cake, my plan is to make them into bite size heart mini muffins, the perfect size for the girls and just enough to satisfy a craving. What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?  And, if you have a favorite Red Velvet Cake recipe please share!

So far so good, I’ve registered for my first half marathon of 2010 - March 28th in Oakland.  We have a good size group from Safeway running so it should be a fun race!   And, I’ve selected my first book of the year (still working off the recommendations I had from last year), Still Alice, by Lisa Genova.   With regards to eating healthy, that’s coming along as well, definitely aided by my half-marathon training.  I also double checked all our light bulbs and changed the last few over to CFLs.  How am I progressing on the “living more in the moment” resolution?  Well, I was on track the first couple of weeks after the holiday break, but now that we’re back in our regular routine it’s getting harder and harder not to look out and try and get ahead of everything all the time.  I need some help working on that one!  How are you coming along on your resolutions?

The earthquake last week in Haiti was devastating, and there has been an outpouring of help from around the world.  Technology has made donations even easier with the State Department raising over $1 million dollars for The Red Cross in less than 24 hours using a text message that added $10 to the texter’s phone bill – brilliant!  Given the destruction much more is needed not only to provide immediate relief but also ongoing support to the survivors of the earthquake - it’s going to take years to rebuild the country.   The Safeway Foundation has made an initial donation of $200,000 to the relief fund and is using its check stands in the store to help collect donations too.  If you buy your groceries on-line you can donate there as well and all donations will go directly to the Red Cross and UNICEF.   You can read more about this effort here http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/HaitiDisaster-PressRelease.  Imagine the dollars that could be raised in the next week if everyone donated just $1 on their next shopping trip! 

This week I’m thinking about my resolutions for 2010, I think most of them are similar to last year – be smart about what I eat, exercise regularly and incorporate more strength training into my routine, and focus on enjoying the moment.  I’ve upped my specific goals for 2010 having met the ones I set last year (deliberately set to be achievable!) – run four half-marathons, and read at least three books.  Given it took me most of 2009 to get through one book I had better get started now!

Last year we broke our stay at home tradition and went over to a friend’s house for New Years – we had a blast!   We both have kids who are the same age so they entertained themselves and we counted down with the East coast so it wasn’t too late of a night.   The adults were actually able to have a nice dinner and conversation!  This year it’s our turn to host, I think we’re going to keep it simple with Mexican themed dinner - yum!   What are your plans for New Years Eve?

This year we find ourselves going to a friend's house again for Thanksgiving. I have to confess, while I miss the leftovers and I kind of miss putting everything together, I also love not spending the entire day in the kitchen. There are three families getting together and I've been assigned "non-traditional" stuffing (has some added ingredients beyond bread), Brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie. Pretty straight forward but of course I'm doing a lot of research to look for recipes with a "twist" that sound like they taste great. I already have a favorite Brussels sprouts recipe (this one has been known to convert sprout non-eaters), and I found a pumpkin pecan pie recipe that I want to try. The one that I need help with is the stuffing - there are so many variations out there! The sausage and artichoke recipe on the Safeway website sounds awesome - what are the "secret ingredients" in your favorite stuffing?

For those in a grocery delivery service area, Safeway.com has a fabulous offer this Thanksgiving. Place a $200 or higher order on our website and receive free delivery and a free turkey. Simply order your groceries, include a Safeway turkey (value up to $7), and enter two promotion codes at checkout (“SMART” and “FREEBIRD”) to take advantage of this offer.

See the website for offer details. http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/default.asp?brandid=1&page=corphome

With our crazy lives we're always looking for easy ways to add mini-celebrations to our weekly routine.  It helps us bring in some fun so it doesn't seem like we're always working - at our jobs, school, the house, the yard (should I go on?), and it creates some great memories/traditions for the kids.  "Football Picnic Night" is one example.  We put down beach towels in the family room on Mondays and eat our dinner watching the game.  The girls love this as it "breaks" 2 rules - no eating in the family room and no TV/movies on school nights.  This week the celebration will be the twins' birthday - I still can't believe they're turning 4!  They'll get the VIP treatment all day - popsicles and sharing a birthday collage/poster (pictures of them from birth to 4 years) with their classmates, going out to dinner that evening (and wearing their fancy dresses), and then their birthday party on the weekend.  What do you do to celebrate your kids' birthdays?

There is something about fall that compels me to organize and take on those hardly seen cleaning areas in our house.  I think it’s the energizing cool air, coupled with the knowledge that I will soon be spending more time indoors that motivates me to take action.  This year it’s the photos of the girls and the dust bunnies that have collected under our furniture.  I had no idea the dust buildup was as bad as it was until I was laying on the floor with the girls watching football and happened to look under the couch, pretty frightening when you’re eye level!  The other project I’m committed to completing is hanging the photos of the girls.  Last Spring I purchased frames that will hold their last 3 years of school pictures but I still haven’t quite gotten around to putting the photos in the frames and hanging them on the wall!  I’m shooting to complete all by the end of the month – wish me luck!

Growing up we seemed to have a few extra “holidays” that we celebrated in addition to the traditional ones.  Sweetest Day, the third Saturday of October, was one of those holidays.  As kids we thought of this as another Valentine’s Day and while we were told it was a legitimate holiday we half believed that my Dad invented such days so he had an excuse to buy “real candy” (translation; chocolate from a candy store that met his standards).  He had grown up working in his dad’s candy store making candy and ice cream so he had some definite ideas about what he considered quality ice cream and chocolate.  Anyway, this is one of those traditions we’ve decided to carry on with our girls and I realized there must be a little more history than I have retained from my childhood memories.  And indeed there is!  Depending on who’s account you believe it was founded in the early 1920s in Cleveland, Ohio by either a candy store employee  who wanted to bring cheer to those often forgotten so he started distributing candy and small gifts to children in orphanages and shut-ins, or a committee of 12 confectioners who developed the promotion to drive candy sales.  Over the years the meaning of the holiday expanded to an occasion to celebrate all the people who make your life special and the traditional gifts are similar to Valentine’s Day – candy, flowers, and chocolate.  Given its Ohio roots, it’s apparently a fairly regional holiday with the greatest observance in the Great Lakes Region. So while I may never know the “real story”, we will continue the tradition of celebrating the sweeties in our lives with a special chocolate treat.  Do you celebrate Sweetest Day?

Have you seen the yellow school bus tags in the store? They are on items that are participating in the Safeway 10% Goes Back to Schools promotion. This program has donated over $11 million dollars to local schools over the past four years it’s been running! The promotion started August 12^th and ends September 15^th. Ten percent of the sales from participating items will be donated to the school of your choice when you purchase them with your Club Card. The top 200 earning schools will also get a $1,000 bonus! Look for details on the bottom of your receipt or find additional details on our website at http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/BackToSchool2009. At the end of the promotion bring your shopping/redemption receipt to your school to donate your earnings. Tell your friends and family to participate too – schools need our help!

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8144123  (GMA)

Safeway is running a promotion in June in honor of National Dairy month.  You can enter a sweepstakes for a trip for four to Denver, Colorado for a  “Rocky Mountain prehistoric adventure”, and, there is an instant win game where you can win a pair of tickets to the new Ice Age movie, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”.   Recipe booklets will be available in store and in addition to some creative recipes there are also a few coupons included.  One of the recipes that caught my eye was a “wings” version of classic bbq chicken provided by Dean’s.  Rather than marinate the chicken in traditional bbq sauce, use a buffalo wing sauce.  After you’ve grilled the chicken top with a spread made from french onion Dip, crumbled blue cheese, and sliced celery leaves.  Serve on a bun along with sliced tomatoes, onions, and lettuce – yum! I love wings and this looks like an easy way to get the flavor without all the work (my kind of recipe!). 

http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/2009Dairy-Sweeps