Good morning! It’s a new week with new opportunities. I’m just happy that we got some snow here at last. Believe it or not, I also actually watched the Super Bowl last night but I only paid attention during the commercials. I did discover why I don’t like watching sports though – seeing the disappointment in the losing team is so sad!
{Food food food! Above are some meals from this past weekend: my favorite snack (chocolate + pretzels + dates), portobello tacos with avocado and arugula, turkey & cheddar cheese sandwich with avocado and arugula on whole wheat bread, traditional Russian borsht (beet soup) made by mom, crepes with Chobani chocolate coffee yogurt and berries}
{I stopped by Michael’s to pick up some necessities for planned crafts. I’ve been dying to try knitting for months already and I finally picked up the necessary supplies. My mom knows how to knit (very basic though) and she taught me. I also picked up some supplies for Valentine’s Day gifts I plan on making for my friends and family!}
{Baby shower planning! One of my closest friends is pregnant and due at the end of March. She recruited my best friend and I to help her plan the big day. We brainstormed over tea and “sharlotka”, which is a traditional buttery Russian style apple pie topped with powdered sugar. After a few hours of “planning” (too much talking, not enough planning 
) we headed to the dollar store where we scored some items on our list for…you guessed it…one dollar!}
{I swear Sunday is by far my most productive day. Yesterday I finally cleaned my room. I can’t even believe it’s been such a mess for 3 weeks already. I’m OCD when it comes to cleanliness and organization but for some reason I had zero motivation to clean the disaster in my room. I also prepped food (in the form of baggies filled with pre-measured oatmeal and waffle ingredients), made Recovering Runner’s Rice Crispy Treats, and mended some clothes. My parents were also productive and they hung curtains over our skylights.}
Do you know how to knit? Please teach me!
Have you ever planned a baby shower? All advice welcome…
Who watched the Super Bowl?
♥ Irina
Mmm those tacos sound incredible! I totally relate on the OCD cleanliness but lacking the motivation to clean thing. Having my room cluttered seriously causes SO much stress in my life–it’s unreal to me how much more relaxed I feel when there aren’t piles of papers on my desk–but I’m really bad about letting things pile up. The more that’s there the more overwhelming it seems to try to take care of it, so until I get to the point where I simply CANNOT take it anymore, I just let it go…no good. Sundays, however, are great for cleaning!
Oh I’m the worst with my desk! I actually no longer have a desk in my room (thankfully) but when I did it was the landing space for EVERYTHING. I’ve always heard that Sundays are supposed to be days of relaxation but for some reason they end up being my most productive day of the week!
Hello Irina, I love your website and color scheme. I especially love your top nav menu. I was wondering if you could help me in creating a similar customized menu. I will be forever grateful.
Hi Curtis, since I don’t know which theme you use the best advice I can give you is to create a widget area below your header (my theme made this very easy to do…I have no knowledge of CSS or HTML) and use widgets to create the buttons. It’s very easy if your theme is customizable! You create the button image and insert the web address for that image into a text widget, link out to the proper pages and you’re done! Hope you figure it out…
I don’t know how to knit or crochet but I get so envious when I see the wonderful creations that people can make with some needles and a big ball of yarn!!! Do post your pictures of your creations as soon as you can!
I’ve never planned a baby shower. Very few of my friends have kids, and I just went to my first-ever baby shower back in December. My only advice is to have lots of good food and to keep the games/activities simple. =)
That’s great advice! We will have plenty of food but your suggestion on the games is something I’ll look into this weekend during our planning session. Thanks so much!
gosh I have knit in ages, I need to bring my knitting stuff to dc. I am always so freaking jealous of your amazing eats, that crepe like thing – whoa nelly so good.
It’s awesome that you know how to knit! Maybe you should post a how-to guide
My mom is a knitting super star LOL. I’d be so nervous to plan a baby shower. Though being 22, I don’t have a lot of friends in that state of mind.
Oh I’m very nervous too! This is my first pregnant friend and none of us know what we’re doing at.all.
Pretzels, dates, and chocolate sounds like my kind of dessert/snack. It’s so annoying how we never have all three in our house at the same time! Haha. I almost thought that sharlotka was funnel cake!
You must try the combo! It’s one of my all-time favorites.
All of your food looks delicious! I’m starving now.
Thanks! I’m so lazy when it comes to food prep, it always amazes me when I actually spend more than 5 minutes preparing a dish.
Michael’s! I swear I’m like a kid in a candy store whenever I walk in there – there are just so many neat things that get my creative juices flowing. That being said, it’s been a good long while since I’ve done anything crafty
I used to do little projects all the time when I was younger, but it somehow died off the older I got. I think I need to rekindle it, though, because working on crafts is always a great way to pass the time. And I couldn’t help but smile when I saw your sharlotka 
We have that in Poland too and my mom makes one every now and again.. it just might be one of my favorite things that she bakes.
You should just go to Michael’s and soak in the inspiration. Let the craftiness flow! I can actually totally see you as a crafty person…you just look talented
It’s so interesting to see all the similarities in eastern european dishes, in the end we’re all so closely connected!
Can I just say how sweet I find it you’re giving handmade Valentine’s gifts to family and friends? I hope you’ll share some of the details of what you’re crafting.
Sending care package, helping to plan baby showers and making gifts for others – you’re such a kind person!
Knitting, sigh. My mum and sister are really good at it and enjoy constantly starting new projects. But when my mum tried to show me I quickly lost patience. Granted, I’m the kind of person who likes to see results quickly and am disappointed when it takes me too long to pick up a new craft.
Aw thanks! I will definitely post the final results…after Valentine’s Day though! It’s a gift that I found how to create on another site so I didn’t really have to force my craftiness to come out
And no worries…I’m like you in that I like to see immediate results too. I think that’s why I’m so frustrated with knitting right now. It takes so long to see results!
sharlokta sounds right up my alley! Awe congrats to your friend that is such an exciting event and it is awesome you get to be such a huge part of it. What kind of bread is that turkey sandwich on? it looks amazing! I tried knitting once… it wasn’t my thing. But I bet you will make the cutest things with this new hobby!
That’s a whole wheat bread bun from Whole Foods – I think it’s called ‘Seeduction’ and it’s absolutely delicious! Freshly baked, crunchy on the outside, soft inside. Amazing!
I didn’t get to watch the Superbowl but I wish I did, for the commercials too and the other fun stuff but oh well. I’m not too sad about it. Yay for red borscht! And good idea to make crepes with Chobani
You didn’t miss much by not watching the Super Bowl, I promise
It always amazes me how obsessed people are with football…I don’t mean to hate on anyone at all but the sport is just so…blah. Soccer is much better 
Hi Irina,
I just wanted to say, I love your “Frames from the Weekend” recaps! I was wondering, do you use a special software to make the collages? They look great!
Best,
~Lina
Hi Lina, thanks so much for stopping by! I use an app on my iPhone called PicFrame. When I downloaded it I believe it was $1 but it’s well worth it and very easy to use. I highly recommend it! Good luck
I’ll definitely have to check it out — thanks!