Any guess?

Today these items are sitting in my kitchen. I have a little study break project planned for later today. Any guess what I'm up to? I'll share soon!

The Exchange

Today's the day! I'm finally ready to reveal what I found when I opened my box from Emily ~ the box that travelled 2,500 from Tennessee! And I have to say, this girl knows how to pack a box. This thing was loaded with all KINDS of yummy treats.


One of my favorite parts was her theme because her box was all about getting WILD in the kitchen! She sent a picture of wildcats that instantly wowed my toddler.


She also included some great animal print napkins.


I loved all the cute black and white bows and the little notes she wrote me.


My toddler immediately fell in love with this rather intimidating endangered species chocolate bar. Grrrr! She begged for a taste of it last night, hoping that she could then wash it down with chocolate milk. My hubby pointed out that perhaps dark chocolate with espresso beans wasn't the greatest idea right before bed. Wise man!


Emily also sent bunches of snack bars, which all look wonderful.


Plus she sent a special little packet with treats for my little one!


And her challenge to me sounds fantastic. She has planned a 4-course Italian meal party for me to make. She sent Wasa multigrain crackers for the appetizer, which I can top with something yummy.


She sent garlic vinaigrette salad dressing for the salad course, along with some red wine vinegar. Then there's farfalle pasta and pesto for the main course, which I can embellish as I please with things like fresh spinach, tomatoes, pine nuts, or fresh-grated cheese. My toddler snatched the bow pasta right out of the box!

And of course there's the chocolate for dessert. Emily instructed that we should eat all of it. I'm sure that won't be a problem, but we'll see if the chocolates actually makes it that long. I may have to pick up another one at the store!

What a spread!


She even included a couple of packets of herb seeds for my toddler and I to have a little project together in the garden. We'll have so much fun with that.

Speaking of, remember how my toddler helped me decorate a box for Emily?



Well now you just have to go check out Emily's great site to see what we sent! I hope she liked it...

The Secret

So I know I've been leading you on a bit, and now it's time to fess up. My SEMI-SECRET project is getting less secret by the second. Let me introduce you to my penpal ~ Emily from emilyeatsclean. Emily is a healthy eating blogger, and we embarked on this secret project together.

I've had so much fun getting to know Emily. She has two cats, just like I do. She grew up in the South, just like I did. She loves healthy food, just like I do. She also seems to eat a lot of Mexican food, just like I do. I also love the fact that she's full of energy and is loads of fun!

Emily and I decided to do a food exchange. We both sent each other boxes of yummy foods on Monday, and Emily's just might have arrived at my house already.

As I mentioned before, I tried to get my toddler involved in this project. She helped me shop and she decorated the box to send to Emily. We also mapped where our package would be going on Google. Turns out this little food exchange spanned over 2,500 miles! Whew.

I can't wait to hear if Emily received our box. I also can't wait to see what Emily sent me. I'm really super excited about this. She's been saying that she mailed me a giant turkey leg in hopes of ending my vegetarian habit. I've hinted to her that I sent her a box full of beef jerky to help her with her "clean eating."

But we're both joking. At least I hope so!

Semi-Secret

I've been getting questions, so I guess it's time to tell you a bit more about my SUPER SECRET PROJECT. Now I'm calling it a SEMI-SECRET PROJECT, but there are still many details yet to be revealed.

As I already mentioned, this project involves a pen pal. My toddler and I worked on getting this box ready to ship to her.


My toddler made sure that it would arrive in style. She pulled out her fruit and veggie stickers, and she placed each one in the perfect spot.


And she kept reciting what each of the stickers was ~ "This is corn." "This is eggplant." It was super cute because the next day she had a blast identifying all the fruits and veggies in person at the grocery store. She was unbelievably excited about it all!


I lined the box for my pen pal with a little color. Now it's ready to be filled.


Any guess what went inside? I might tell you soon. But then I guess I can't call it a SEMI-SECRET project anymore.

Super Secret

I have a SUPER SECRET pen pal. I haven't had a pen pal since I was a kid, so I'm thrilled. In fact, this morning I'm working on a SUPER SECRET blogger project with my SUPER SECRET pen pal.

I would tell you about the project, except, well...it's SUPER SECRET, of course. Maybe I will very soon, though. Or at least I'll give you another hint. I guess at that point it won't be SUPER SECRET anymore. . . but let's not think about that. I'm not ready. Right now, I can say it's SUPER SECRET.

Are you ready for my SUPER SECRET project?

Filler Up!

{image from here}

Sometimes I really enjoy the fact that the professional events I attend don't go out of their way to accommodate vegetarians. Salad, mashed potatoes, and a dinner roll with real butter? Oh, and dessert too? Fine by me!