Mani Monday: Back-to-School Blues

chambray 2

Guess who’s back? Back again? Mani Monday’s back. Tell a friend.

(I’m sure that Eminem won’t mind me misusing his lyrics to bring back Mani Monday.)

I recently lucked out at Ulta and scored a bunch of OPI and Zoya nail polishes on clearance for $2 that were also usable with their in-store coupon. It’s like God was giving me a sign to continue Mani Mondays. As a Christian, I find it is my duty not to ignore signs from God, so I am back to blogging my nails.

Since teachers and students are going back to school this month, I have decided to go with this chambray color from OPI called “Dining Al Frisco.” This color reminds me of blue jeans and the 90’s, so I believe it is the perfect color for the first day of school.

CHambray 1

I really like this color. It leans more gray-blue in real life, but it is hard to capture with my camera (phone). Unfortunately it does not last very long. I have some rather large chips after two days of wear.

IMG_1700Fixed alcatraz rocks 2

As I was researching this color, I realized that I had another color from the OPI San Francisco collection, Alcatraz… Rocks. This is an amazing royal bluish (navy/purple) textured glitter color that I wore on the red carpet for my husband’s movie Moms’ Night Out.

Moms' Night Out Premiere 2014

Moms’ Night Out Premiere 2014

That is Alcatraz… Rocks on my nails. Hmm, I really had planned on just talking about school stuff, but all of these San Francisco names are making me reminisce about my trip to San Francisco for my best friend’s 30th birthday. Forget going back to school! Let’s just focus on vacations!

Alcatraz

Alcatraz

San Francisco Bridge

Some old red bridge

I hope that you have enjoyed my rambling trip down memory lane. I know I have. I will save my back to school memoirs for another day.

Meal Plan Sunday

Homemade Ratatouille looks messy but tastes delicious!

Homemade Ratatouille looks messy but tastes delicious!

I like to eat, but I find that cooking can be a chore. It is an especially hard chore right now because we are sharing a car, which makes getting ingredients a hassle on our gridlocked street at dinner time. (We will probably not buy a new car anytime soon. We like all the money we are saving and our small carbon footprint.) Meal planning cuts down on multiple grocery trips per week and also makes budgeting easier. I have found the extra work meal planning a little annoying, which is why I am sharing my meal plans with you. Now you don’t have to do all the work!

(Quick caveat: we eat a lot of chicken because I drink bone broth everyday for my modified GAPS diet.)

Here is my week’s meal plan:

Monday: Chef Salad (Hardboiled eggs, bacon, the works! Okay, okay, I admit that I skip the cheese.)

Tuesday: Tacos and Salsa Rice (Molly’s World Famous Salsa Rice Recipe: dump salsa in rice.)

Wednesday: Turkey Burgers and Baked Fries (Add jalapenos and jalapeno juice to the burgers. It is delicious.)

Thursday: Roasted Chicken and Ratatouille

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Saturday: Chicken Soup

Sunday: Roasted Chicken and Eggplant with Marinara

Here is the recipe I use for the roasted ratatouille. It is from Martha Stewart Living magazine. I find that this magazine’s recipes always have one thing wrong in all of the recipes. My hypothesis is that the editors do this on purpose so that we will never attain the level of hostessness of ol’ Martha herself. What do you think?

Ratatouille Recipe

Cook the zucchini first instead of the eggplant. If you cook the eggplant first, it will get soggy.

Anyway, I hope this helps all of you meal planners out there. Happy Sunday!