In a Blog

I am in a fellow blogger's blog! Check out our wedding photographer's post http://emilychastain.blogspot.com/2010/10/emily-mike-engagement.html

Bad Blogger

I am the worst blogger ever. When I started this mission (for real) in September, I had visions of blogging every day. I had grand plans of sharing with the world (or okay, maybe the handful of people who have ever read this) insightful comments and funny anecdotes frequently. But every day went to every few days, went to weekly, went to not posting very frequently. My sister, who started her own blog around the same time, has been much more disciplined than me. She has even implemented 'Weekly Shout Outs,' which I know has hooked at least a couple followers. My blog seems sorely lacking in comparison. With the normal 'earn-a-living' job requiring twelve hour shifts there are just some days when blogging isn't going to happen. But I will press on. Sooner or later I may be able to train myself to actually be productive. With that said I should probably get off the couch and clean the apartment. Something I've been putting off for about a month....

Back in DC

I have been out of town and not posting, but I am back! My mom, sister and I went to Charlotte over the weekend for my cousin Megan's bridal shower. Its been almost a year since driving down, the last trip being a 12 hour trek right smack dab in the middle of the December 2009 blizzard. It was fun to see Megan again, play silly bridal shower games (one of which I won!), visit with the grandparents and other family, and just generally have a lazy weekend. While there we went to the Southern Christmas Show, which was Christmas on steroids and sold lots of little crafty and infomercially gizmos. Bridge and I bought gifts for the men in our lives, which I just realized I can't tell you about or I'd ruin the surprise. Someone remind me after Christmas and I'll fill you in. Since I spent today unpacking, doing laundry, baking pies and addressing STDs (save the dates, but this abbreviation cracked me up when I saw it on a wedding blog) I don't have too much of interest to share. So, I thought I'd send out another wedding post that I've had sitting in my 'too post' box for a while now. The theme of the weekend was, after all, weddings. (Well, and Christmas, but we'll get there after Thanksgiving).

Wedding Food

I finally sent the deposit to the caterer! Only a month after we received the contract. (And I finally posted this, only a month after I wrote it!) It probably did not help my procrastination any that during our tasting Palate Pleasers told me about a wedding two days away that they had not yet received a deposit for. Admitting they do not hold hard and fast to their payment policy was not the way to get a quick check from me. However, I do like their family oriented style of business. The fact that they are not quick to screw someone if the legal side of things isn't completely in order. It definitely gives me a feeling of security to know that they are going to stick by us no matter what. Plus, their food was amazing. The dads were our official food testers and all four of us walked out of the tasting thinking they were, by far, the best option. We had to alter our menu slightly in order to fit our budget, but the family that runs the business were incredibly accommodating and helpful, giving us multiple options to cut costs. They definitely understood being on a budget and worked with us to keep ours, rather than trying to coerce us into breaking the bank. It was very appreciated. Looking forward to awesome an awesome meal from some fun people...!

SPHERIFICATION

(a fancy name for balls)
I was surfing the internet this afternoon in an attempt to stay awake when I came across a cooking blog. Searching for new recipes is a favorite pasttime of mine which has recently evolved to reading blogs. Don't ask why I search for recipes. I hardly ever make them. It is in fact a gross waste of my time. But I horde them. Stored up like a stash of acorns for a wintery day. In my head, I am an incredibly resourceful and innovative cook. I like to try new things. And maybe one day I'll overcome my inner need to procrastinate and excert minimal effort and actually break into my vault of stashed receipes. Anyway, I was reading the blog when I saw the above quote. And, if you are anything like me, you gave yourself a little chuckle when you read it. I couldn't help myself. I Googled it. Turns out he was right speherification is the culinary process of forming a liquid into spheres. I even found a recipe for Apple Juice Spheres (thank you, wikipedia), and while I have no idea what you'd do with them I sort of want to make them. They look niffty!

Addendum: Further research has found that it is possible to makes alcholic balls out of Cointreau....Hello, now we're talking!

Apple Pie

I have been wanting to make an apple pie. I made one two years ago for Thanksgiving and it was a big success! I haven't made one since. And this makes me sad. So, since I will be stuck at work this Thanksgiving I volunteered to make one for our staff party. Then I thought: why make just one? If I make the filling in advance I can make three pies! That's three chances for me to enjoy my efforts! And thus I decided to make a work pie, an in-law pie and a pie for my own fam. Which means I spent today peeling, coring, slicing and cooking 9 pounds of apples!! It was crazy. It was intense. It was depressing....All that work and I don't even get to enjoy a pie today. Instead, my freezer is stocked with filling and crusts and come next week I'll be ready for an apple pie marathon. I just hope this recipe turns out as well as I remember....Oh! And because I love the Pioneer Woman, and secretly want to be her, I used her pie crust recipe. I have only ever used my mom's before, but this one was about the same ingredients and specifically calls for freezing. Plus, I saw her recipe for hard sauce. BONUS! I had never heard of hard sauce, had no idea what it was, but it's made for pie and sounds amazing! So I'll be trying it out as well. Check out PW and her recipe here.

I took a vacation day this week. Not for any specific reason. Not because I had plans or wanted to take a long weekend. Just because, although I only work three days a week, I felt I needed a little break. So, I worked on Monday and I work again tomorrow and that's it! Unfortunately, my easy work week coincided with my feeling crappy week. And since tomorrow is a federal holiday and since I used vacation time I can't call out sick. Well, technically I can. But I won't get paid for the holiday or my vacation time. Which means, although I'm still not feeling 100%, and even though others have the luxury of getting tomorrow off, I'll be working a 12 hour shift.

Ice cream

I ate a LOT of ice cream today. It is the only thing that seemed to help my throat. I have been sick for a week now....A WEEK! I just can't see to kick this stupid cold in the butt. I thought I was on the road to recovery over the weekend, but the sore throat has been getting progressively worse again. I hate doctors and don't believe in pharmaceuticals (odd, I know, since I currently work in the medical profession), but I have been pumping myself full of all sorts of cold remedies. I've even broken down and agreed to seek professional help if I'm not feeling better by Friday. That's three days away. I should be better. I need to be well. Paying for someone to tell me there is no cure for the common cold is not going to make me feel better. So I need to kick this thing. Any suggestions? But back to the ice cream....Turkey Hill's Mint Chocolate Chip has been my lunch, mid afternoon and evening snack today. It's minty and soothing, green (a must for this flavor) and has delightful flakes of chocolate rather than full chips that don't get too hard in the freezer and were only mildly scratchy going down. I highly suggest you check it out.

August 2008

I started this blog back in August of 2008. Over two years ago! I wrote one post and that was it. I didn't touch it for another 24 months. Talk about procrastination....My original goal was to start the blog in preparation for documenting and communicating during my travels. At the time, I was preparing to leave Maryland/DC (my home of 21 years) to start travel nursing. The plan was to drive out to the west coast, work my way from southern California to Seattle and then back across country to home. I figured I would be gone and on the move for a year or two and a blog would be great way to stay in touch and share some of the adventure! So, what happened? The economy crashed. And come May of 09 travel assignments, which were once abundant, became slim and far between. So quitting my stable, well paid career in DC did not seem like the best of plans when I'd be competing against nurses with travel experience for a small pool of positions. Do I regret not experiencing travel nursing? Well, it's hard to regret when two months after my postponed leave I met Michael, my future husband. It's hard to regret when I have been able to stay in DC near my family who I am very close to. And it's hard to regret when I have had a stable income while so many others have struggled to find work and make ends meet. So even though the travel nursing experience has been put on hold indefinitely (maybe a semi-retirement plan?) the desire to travel has remained. I had the amazing experience of traveling to Australia (#1 on my all time travel list!) early last year. I have been on a few shorter trips this year and have a few plans in the works. So, the point of all this? If you haven't noticed I have a 'Places to Visit' gadget on the right side of my blog. It started as a few places I planned on working. I will be updating in the coming weeks to places I've visited, places I have actual plans to visit, and places on my wish list. As well as potentially including some posts on travels I have already completed....Mixed in with all the wedding planning craziness and trivial day to day drib-drab.

It's been awhile...

I realized today it has been quite some time since I have posted here. Since I know the whole two people who read this blog have been sorely disappointed in my lack of commentary I decided to post a little tidbit. It's been a busy few weeks and I've had lots of thoughts on topics to blog, but I've dismissed most of them before even sitting in front of the keyboard. I have a tendency to want to write about aggravations. Annoyances. Frustrations. Things that I would have, could have said or done if only I had thought of them in the moment. But someone told me I can't be the ranting blog girl. So every time I start to think of sitting down to write a rant, I remind myself I have to show more than my angsty side. I have some anecdotes saved up, don't fret. But I will attempt to intersperse them with more fun and upbeat posts. So stay tuned...PS-Don't you just love the word 'rant'?? LOVE it!