Dana Burland

We’re currently on our third arctic blast of the season. Schools are closed; some businesses are closed; life, essentially, is closed. The only time I leave the house—and begrudgingly at that—is to make the mile and a half drive to work. I’m cooped up, yo. Earlier this week, determined not to be made prisoner in my own home, I bundled up and went for a walk. I made it 15 minutes before a weird headache kicked in. C’mon, body, this is fresh air! The antithesis of aches! Actually it wasn’t a headache I realized, it was a brain freeze . I wish I were kidding. My double hooded, hair covered noggin had frozen like I’d downed a 7/11 Slurpee in one gulp—but without the joy of a Slurpee. I’ve yet to venture out for another walk... maybe I’ll try again in a few months. Sigh.

We're engaged! Ben's mid-week, overhead projector involved, geocache clue leaving, snowy park proposal was the perfect surprise for a lady who had been on high engagement alert. Ahem, not that I had been searching for potential moments in the last few weekends or anything. After the main event, Ben and I sunk (literally) into our grey couch to talk about what’s next. There’s so much excitement ahead of us, but that moment—when not another soul on the planet knew we were engaged—was lovely. We took our time before 'popping the top', as we called it. We went to dinner (a very non-romantic meal at Logan's Roadhouse, because it was nearby and Ben was hungry, dangit), stopped at Target for a bottle of emergency nail polish for moi, and got settled in our jammies. Calling friends and family was lovely, too. So much happiness (and squealing) oozed out of our phones that it felt like the battery was nearly powering itself. After a few days, it feels like we'...

I hate when other people have awesome ideas I was planning to have before me. Roo, who blogs at Neon Fresh , did just that when she started her weekly 'How I Feel' series, using hilarious GIFs to depict scenes from her week. Ugh, I'm so mad at her brilliance! After teeter-tottering between making my own spin-off or surrendering to coming late to the cool idea party, I reached out to her. In all of her loveliness, she granted me her blogging blessing. Here's my take on Roo's famous 'This Is How I Feel'. For more, visit her site . When I'm relaxing on the couch watching Chopped and apartment heater loudly kicks on. How I felt skiing on too much powder this weekend. When finding out free lunch was included in a full-day meeting at work last Tuesday. When I polished off two full bags of Brussels sprouts all by myself in a week. When I read the end of "The Rosie Project".

“Double veggie” is the epitome of dinner excellence at our apartment. The double veggie standard is met when two uses of vegetables occur on one plate. It’s not rocket science, but toward the end of the week when fridge produce is running low it can sometimes feel like it. If there ever has been a case for double veggie, the month of January is it. My standard of eating in December sadly turned out to be double—nay, triple—cookies. Oops. Last week, when looking for a healthy dinner, I threw a handful of Mediterranean ingredients into my mini food processor and whirled up this veggie pesto. I ended up butterflying chicken breasts, spreading a thick layer of the pesto, rolling them up and baking until done. Dinner turned out so good, a few days later I made a second batch of veggie pesto and used it as a sauce for pasta. The pesto is mega flavorful and comes together so quickly I didn't think twice about making a side salad to go with both dinners. Heck, I’m pretty sure the pe...

I need a pair of rockin’ cowboy boots, stat. In the first 10 days of 2014 alone, I’ve bootlessly jammed at two country music concerts. Thank god I at least own one plaid shirt! My fellow country music lovin’ co-worker/pal Ashley had an extra ticket to both the New Year’s Eve Zac Brown Band in Detroit and Jan. 9th Keith Urban concert in Grand Rapids. Zac Brown Band’s opening act covered Prince’s “Purple Rain”—a creepy, yet favorite jam of mine. ZBB’s Big John also covered Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” in the most non-country way, and the crowd—myself included—went wild. Little Big Town opened for Keith Urban and made my night performing “Pontoon”. And Keith, with his new little haircut, showed off his romantic side on stage. I mean, wedding photos with Nicole Kidman on the big screen while he sang “Without You”? Please. Swoon-city. Twang! Songs about fried chicken! Fiddles! I just don’t see an element of country music not to love.

It’s the kind of cold here that make fleece socks feel like a teeny bikini. We’ve got the kind of snow that makes parked cars look like oblong igloos. It’s the kind of weather that calls for cozy jammies, games upon games of Rummikub and mugs of chai tea—which is just what we’ve been doing.

It's that time of year again. I don't much like writing year-end recaps, but I do get a kick out of reading past posts. Future self, this post is for you. 2013 had two general themes: stop and go. When traveling, work and family/friend events popped up, they popped up plentiful. Likewise when there was room for relaxing, I embraced it wholeheartedly. I've worn my sweatpants thinner, but filled my photo album with a year's worth of great adventures and memories. Here's to another year of the same. Read: A Dog’s Journey  3 of 5 stars | Cooked: Simple White Wine Sauce We rang in 2013 with friends, beer and a downtown Grand Rapids ball drop. The rest of January called for general hibernation, and I happily accepted the challenge. While the timing doesn't seem right, February is my favorite time to go to the beach . I introduced Ben to the iced over waves and frozen lighthouses on a trip to Holland State Park. Read: Room   5 of 5 stars  | Cooked: ...