StrengthsFinder 2.0

A little over a year ago, someone at worked mentioned StrengthsFinder 2.0 which is a strengths-based approach to career development. What does that mean you probably ask? Well, it means you take an assessment with a bunch of questions, and based on your answers, it tells you your 5 top "Strengths"(out of the 34 options). I know, I know...it's just another assessment, but what I like about this one is the philosophy behind it. It suggests that you shouldn't focus on your "areas of development" which you'll likely never be GREAT at, or motivated to work on (they are you areas of development after all). Instead, you should focus on what you're good (or even great) at, and find a career where your strengths are needed and can blossom. I was skeptical at first, but after taking the assessment, and reading through my strengths I started to believe (which actually is a trait of a Maximizer). Many people at work also took the assessment, and after reading their strengths I was pretty amazed at how accurately they portrayed my co-workers. I'm not saying that every single strength was exactly right, or that every description of a strength was perfect, I'm just saying, in general they were pretty correct.

When it came time to find a new job this year, I realized my career had kind of picked me up until that point. I went to school for "Business" but I never sat down and thought "I love calculating in Excel and analyzing things all day"...it just kinda happened. This was the first time I was actully going to choose my career so I thought back to my Strengths and asked myself where I thought I could best use my strengths best, knowing that using my strengths would make me happy. Know what? It worked. I've been in my new job for over 3 months now (which means I'm officially past the honeymoon phase) and I couldn't be happier in my new job. I just feel like I'm doing what I was meant to do, and it's a great feeling.

Below are my strengths and some of the things it says about people with these strength. (Click on the image to make it bigger.) Writing in blue are points I feel are dead on about myself. What do you think?

Succulents anyone?

As the environmentally conscious person that I am, I of course chose succulent plants to decorate my front porch and balcony. OK...to be honest, I forget to water my plants, and after killing about 10 different plants which my mom would lovingly plant every time she visited, I thought something that didn't need a lot of water was more my style.

Luckily succulents are available everywhere now, and there are some really beautiful ones that have pink, orange, purple, etc. flowers grow off them. I picked mine up from Target about a year ago, and none of them were larger than 6 inches when I got them...a little smaller than the ones in this picture.

Succulents on my balcony

My goal was to create something cute and pretty like this:

Well look at them NOW! Below are pics of the different varieties I have on my front porch. The problem is, they're growing like crazy and I don't know what to do with them in terms of trimming or re-potting, and because I'm not a plant lady, I forgot to keep those little stick labels that come with them that tell you how to take care of them. So...if anyone that reads my blog, is familiar with succulents, or even has a best guess as to what I should do with these, please let me know. :)

Above Pic: This one is the perfect size for the pot, although the smaller plant falling down the edges doesn't seem to have room to spread. PS. The big plant is PRICKLY at the tips of the leaves and along the edges.

Above Pic: The plant in the pot closest to you is fuzzy and starting to grow some beautiful orange flowers BUT it's busting at the seams. I feel like I'm going to walk outside one day and find the plant busted through the pot, and the pot shattered into pieces.

Above Pic: The BEAST. This is the biggest pot, so naturally it has the most plants. Most of them are growing at, what seems to be, a normal rate, but the one in the back is out of control. Do I trim it, take it out, feed it to a lion?

Any advice welcome!

Mexican Wedding Cookies and more....

I LOVE Mexican Wedding Cookies. For those of you that haven't tried Mexican Wedding Cookies, they remind me of shortbread in the way that they are rich with flavor and dense in texture. Shortbread has a very buttery taste, but Mexican Wedding Cookies are less buttery and more nutty. Yesterday's game night at Nicole and Sabin's seemed like a good excuse to try making them for the first time, along with some standard Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

makes 30

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1tsp natural vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups pecan nuts, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy, then beat in 1 cup of the sugar, with the vanilla extract.

2. Gradually add the flour and salt to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition, until it starts to form a dough. Add the finely chopped pecans with the remaining flour. Knead the dough lightly until combined.

3. Divide the dough into 30 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Space about 1/4 in. apart on baking sheets. Press each ball lightly with your thumb, to flatten slightly.

4. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until the cookies are starting to brown. Cool on the backing sheets for 10 minutes then, using a metal spatula, transfer to wire-racks to cool completely

5. Put the remaining sugar in a bow. Add a few cookies at a time shaking them genly until they are heavily coated. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container.

Notes:

(1) I wouldn't wait until the cookies are turning slightly brown to take them out. It took 15 minutes before the cookies turned slightly brown and they ended up being a little overcooked. (2) Make sure to cool the cookies completely before Step 5. I had to do Step 5 when they were still a little warm and the sugar melted slightly and gave the cookies a glaze rather than a powdered look.

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 18-20

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted (sweet) butter at room temperature, diced

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour

1 cup rolled oats

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*

4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped*

* I only used semi-sweet chocolate, and I used chocolate chips instead coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Cream the butter with the sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well.

2. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon, the add the oats and chopped plain and white chocolate and stir well until evenly mixed.

3. Plase small spoonfuls of the mixture in 18-20 rocky heaps on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space for spreading.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until beginning to turn pale golden brown. Cool for 2-3 minutes on baking sheets, then using a spatula. Trasfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Note:

I picked these cookies because the picture in the book made them look thick rather than thinned out. They were thick...that's for sure. These cookies didn't thin out at all. If anything, they just grew upwards, so place them on the baking sheet as you find appropriate.

Recipes from The COOKIE Book by Catherine Atkinson, Joanna Farrow, and Valerie Barrett

Summer BBQ

I went to my first BBQ of the summer last night with some old co-workers. The weather was perfect as the sun was out, but there was a nice breeze to keep everyone cool. We sat outside and ate BBQ'd burger, hot dogs, and all the other usual BBQ fixings. It was great to see my old co-workers and catch up on life. We also made time to play some games, which is always entertaining, especially when you have competitive team mates.

Two of us were tasked with bringing something sweet. I decided to make some Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (see below for pics and recipe), but the best dessert there was the Plum Cobbler. I'm not usually a fan of cobblers, as I often find them too tart or acidic, but this one was delicious. Be sure to click on the link above to get the recipe.

While I was making the cupcakes, I wondered why they were called Red Velvet (other than the obvious fact that it's red) since it's colored with food coloring anyways, why not Blue Velvet or Green Velvet. Based on some information I found on Wikipedia, I found out that while foods were rationed during World War II, bakers used boiled beets to enhance the color of their cakes. I actually attempted to make a Red Velvet Cake using beet juice instead of food coloring earlier this year for my co-workers birthday, but it turned out to be more of a dusty rose color than red.

It was a great night of friends, fun, and plenty of food!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar*

Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

*My icing was runny which made it difficult to pipe onto the cupcakes. I'll probably remove 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar from the frosting the next time I make it.

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

3. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy

Recipe from FoodNetwork.com

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Weekend Adventure

I had big plans this weekend, some of which worked out perfectly and some that didn't. On Saturday morning I headed down to Carmel-by-the-Sea (75 miles south of San Jose) for the Annual Dachshund Beach Party where hundreds of Dachshunds arrive and run wild on an enclosed beach. As I arrived, I realized there wasn't a Dachsund in sight. I decided to check the invitation on my phone and found two issues. 1) It wasn't on Saturday, it was on Sunday, and 2) It wasn't this weekend, it's next weekend. Luckily, Carmel is a beautiful town so we walked the beach and streets before heading home. Now all I have to decide is whether I'll head back to Carmel for the event on the right day, during the right weekend. Below are some pics of me and my boy enjoying the salty air.

Saturday night I headed out for some dancing with girl friends. The bar we went to had a band playing named Joey Jam's Love Stoned. It was only their third gig, so they were still working some things out, but overall they were a good show and provided the necessary music for some good ol' dancing with wonderful friends. While playing, they mentioned that they'd be playing at Music in the Park in San Jose, and opening for a Micheal Jackson tribute band called Foreverland. When I heard this I got super excited because this is the band that played at my work conference in May, and they were GREAT!! Since Music in the Park is only 2 miles away from my house, I know what I'll be doing the night of August 5th.

Sunday was relaxation day. The lavender is in full bloom around my house, and with the warm weather, the bees are out too (click on the below pic to enlarge and you can see the bees). I headed back to the Farmer's Market, but didn't have time to investigate a new fruit or veggie since I got there late, and had to get back to watch the final game of The World Cup. (Yeah Spain!). I ended the evening with dinner in the city (SF) which is always a fun adventure.

All in all, a very enjoyable weekend as planned....or not.

Farmer's Market - Bitter Melon

I started my July 4th off at the Mountain View Farmers Market (see reviews on Yelp). My first visit to this Farmers Market was in June, with my Mom, when I had a Lemon Blueberry scone that I've been craving ever since. So, I woke up on the 4th, thinking about that scone, knowing I was headed there that day. I had the usually free fresh fruit samples that the seller's hand out as you walk around (it's the perfect breakfast) but as I finished the loop I realized my scone vendor never appeared. My hope is that some of the usual vendors took the day off, since it was the 4th, but are back next week. My final purchases for this visit were corn, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

I'm not much of a cook, outside of the easy-make items (spaghetti, fajitas, tacos, etc.), so I decided my goal of this trip would be to find and learn about a new fruit and/or vegetable. My hope is that as I learn more about different fruits and veggies, I'll feel comfortable using them in a meal some day :)

The fruit (even though it looks like a veggie) that caught my eye this week was the Bitter Melon. You can see just from the look of it why I was intrigued. When asking the vendor what it was, it took a couple of tries before I understood what he was saying. Luckily, there was a lady close by who repeated that it was Bitter Melon. When I asked how you cook it, she said it was true to its name and could be quite bitter. She said you cut them in half, take out the seeds, chop it up, and suggested sauteing it along with bacon or a some kind of pork product. She also mentioned that it's good for the liver and stimulating digestion. Like I said, I'm not quite ready to hit the kitchen yet, but it was nice to learn something new on such a beautiful day.

To view more pics from my visit to the Mountain View Farmer's Market, click here.

Living Room Decor Update

I'm happy to say that my new couch arrived. With a new couch, I took the opportunity to update some of the other items in my living room. I'm happy to share with you my new living room decor.

The Elliott couch, and ottoman, is from Macy's and is a pale green. I found the coffee table and end tables online at Cost Plus but after some online searching, I found them at Cymax.com on sale, in addition to a 15% coupon I found online. The painting was a 30th bday gift from my mom. It's a custom painting done by Eli Halpin. I love her stuff and have my eye on one of her giraffe paintings for my office. The lamps I found yesterday at TJ Maxx/Homegoods on my way home from work yesterday. All in all, I'm REALLY happy with everything I purchased, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it over the 4th of July weekend!