Opened this blustery, freezing Friday with an anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory loaded blueberry pecan pancake, topped with a smidge of real maple syrup. So easy, when you use a little pancake mix (I'm not a big mix person, but the just-add-water Aunt Jemima version is mighty tasty; and I love how you can make just enough for one person, since no one else in this house likes pancakes. Pancakes! What the hell is not to like about pancakes? Sigh...), scatter berries and chopped pecans over the batter in the pan, perhaps some ground flaxseeds if you have them (if you're going for the Omega-3s wherever you can get them), flip when it's browned to finish cooking ('til you can hear the berries popping, mmm...), and voila, in less than 10 minutes you've got a hot, nutritious, almost-homemade pancake. On a cold, wet, gloomy day like today, it sure beats a bowl o'cold cereal. Dig in!

Finally, our electricity is back on! UGH, drives me nuts when it's out, which it was for a few hours last night and then again for all of this morning. Must be the wind, sheesh, it's nasty out there. Brrr... Too cold for a walk, too windy for a bike ride (can you imagine? I have a vision of pedaling and going absolutely nowhere...), so it was me and my Russian kettlebells this morning. My pulled muscle is better, thank goodness, so I very carefully tossed one around until I knew I could handle it. There is no excuse not to do a KB workout (other than a pulled muscle). There they sit, in your own house, ready to kick your ass anytime you're motivated enough to get your ass next to one. They're fabulous.

Oooh, looking for reasons to enjoy a glass of wine with your dinner tonight? Check out this article touting the many and surprising benefits of daily wine with your daily bread. Ah, how I love finding out that the things I most enjoy are actually good for me. Hey, I'm all about the occasional guilty pleasure - but the non-guilty ones, they're damn nice too. I mean, damn NICE!