One of the last pictures my camera took before it broke. I love this face so much everyday /sappy.
Posts Tagged ‘Matt’
Weekend in Review
By BritMatt and I spent the weekend in Toledo with his parents. It was a tonnnn of fun. I always love going to hang out with Ginny.
We had some AMAZING Japanese food.
Went shopping in a tea shop.
Saw this awesome sculpture in the middle of a parking lot.
And went on a photo safari.
I’ve been ridiculously busy with work and studying for work and catching up on sleep that going into work at 715am everyday is making me lose. I love the job though, right now at least, and that’s the most important thing.
Something New
By BritMonday I start my new job. It’s the first job that I’ll work 40 hours a week. It’s my first real job. I’m scared to death.
The two years I spent as a flight attendant were amazing. It was a job, I just don’t know if I can call it a real job. I sat at home for days on end while “working” waiting to be called. It was awesome at the time, but I don’t get anything done while sitting around the house. Some of the time, I traveled the world; most of the time, I sat on my couch. It was an amazing opportunity, but I didn’t want to be on reserve (the sitting around waiting for a call part) the rest of my life. Getting a schedule to fly was a good 10 years away, probably even more with the merger. The life on reserve combined with the illness, and subsequent surgeries, I had while flying made me stop. I miss it sometimes. I miss traveling most. I’d give quite a bit to go to Amsterdam again.
Anyways, Monday starts my new job. Well, ok, the five weeks of training before I start my new job at the hospital. I’m nervous. I can’t lie. I’ve never had a job that was five days a week, eight hours a day. It’s daunting. How am I going to keep up with the laundry? How am I going to make dinner every night? Am I really going to pack my lunch everyday and not succumb to the crappy hospital cafeteria? I sure as hell hope so.
Matt’s still working from home, so he’ll be a help with the laundry (ok, I’m really hoping on that one). His idea of a cooked meal is a frozen meal (there’s totally nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what I want to eat every night when I get home from work) or a pasta/rice side (again, not what I want to eat every night). I’m really hoping that this will get him to want to cook more, it’s a big wish, but maybe someday it’ll happen.
I know that I can spend a good chunk of time over the weekend preparing and freezing meals, and I know that a sandwich is a perfectly acceptable dinner … but I want to make the big dinners and I don’t want to go out to eat six times a week. I want to be able to make up new recipes. I want to make amazing things. I just don’t know how that all fits in with this new working thing. I know people do it, and they really excel at it. I just don’t know how I’m going to do it. It’s a lot to do, and but if I actually try it can’t be too bad, right?
Pretty much, all I’m going to do this weekend is worry. Awesome.
It’s Been Busy
By BritThis week has been incredibly busy for me not working, yet. I start on Monday. I have an orientation at the hospital Thursday. It’s been a nice break not working, but I’m not sure how I’m going to juggle all of the new things I’ve been doing lately, and working. Other people do it, I can’t imagine that I won’t be able to.
Yesterday, I bought an external hard drive for my MacBook. I’ve been getting into photography A LOT more lately and I didn’t want all of my photos clogging up my laptop, so I bought the next best thing.
I was so excited to get the external hard drive (to me, it was the first real step in becoming more of a photographer). I got one that wasn’t a portable one. The external hard drive being non-portable meant that I was going to have to set up a desk. I had a desk set up in the basement, but it’s COLD down there! Ok, not always, but it’s 2 floors away from everything and everyone else. I convinced Matt to move the guest bed to the basement room and then I could bring my desk up. It is an awesome set up. Someday, I’ll even take pictures of it.
So that takes us to yesterday afternoon, when Ginny tells me that my new lens has FINALLY been delivered to her house. I met her half way between Ann Arbor and Toledo in Dundee (at the Russell Stover outlet, where else?!) and forgot my camera. Big surprise. At least I remembered to wear my bra … oh wait, I didn’t remember that either. I did get some amazing pictures with the new lens (a 50mm, f/1.8 AF) and I am IN LOVE WITH IT. I’m serious, it couldn’t be more perfect. Someday I’ll actually get around to taking AND posting some pictures.
Today has been spent returning the external hard drive that wouldn’t work with my Macbook (yeah, I was pissed), shopping for some new work clothes, checked out where my orientation is on Thursday (have you seen the U of M’s hospital campus? CRIPES!) and taken the Macbook back to the Apple Store (for the second time in a month) because its hard drive was on the fritz.
I ended up walking out of the mall with a new hard drive this afternoon and shortly after opening my computer back up to get to “work,” I realized I DIDN’T HAVE A GODDAMN THING THAT I NEEDED ON IT. Ok, I saved the pictures to the new external. I saved some songs. I saved my resume. I didn’t save anything else. I’ll be the first to admit I’m the dumbest dumb-fuck around today. I pretty much curled up in a ball and cried for a half hour because I didn’t have my RSS feeds, my bookmarks, MY RECIPES, and a whole bunch of other crap that I thought was inconsequential. So, pretty much. Fuck me. For the next 3 days, I’m going to be trying to get back everything I had before.
I learned my lesson, eh?
Water Drops
By BritLast night, Matt and I went down to his parents house. Ginny enticed me with healthy fish and chips. The food was AMAZING. In fact, I wish I had some right now. After dinner, I convinced Ginny to take some water droplet pictures with me. This is what I ended up with:
I’m kinda of in love with it. It took about 100+ pictures to get a few good shots, which I don’t think is too, too terrible. It must have been hilarious to look at Ginn and me taking this pictures: both of us crammed into a small bathroom with a reflector and a tripod and yeah. It was pretty awesome though. I’m proud of the shots we got.
Speaking of Ginn, she got her picture of a little ol’ clock featured on The Pioneer Woman. I’m so excited for her! I hope she’s a finalist, she totally deserves it!
Lucy’s Least Favorite Thing
By BritYesterday, Lucy had to go to the veterinarian’s office for her yearly check-up. Everything went wonderfully well, except the part where it took AN HOUR AND A HALF. Ugh. Matt and I spent a lot of time in the exam room.
Lucy spent a good deal of time next to the door waaaaaiting for that next dog nail to hit the floor or the squawk from the next bird. I think she loves the vet, secretly. I mean, obviously, she hates the shots, but she likes the treats and the seeing of the other dogs. She pretends like she doesn’t want to go if we say Ingrid’s name (Ingrid is our vet in Muskegon) and pulls away when we go into the building and, like any good girl, won’t go near the scale (she was 45.2 pounds! yayyy cheaper medicine!).
Either way, I think she had a good time which was capped off with her favorite afterwards – a Wendy’s hamburger, with none of that fussy crap on it. I’ve seen her eat around pickles on a burger, eat the whole burger and spit out the pickle. Seriously, I don’t know how she does it.
I’m definitely ok with not going again for another year, unless they somehow figure out how to make it cost $5.
Tomato-Lentil Stew
By BritI found this recipe on Budget Bytes (one of my new favorite websites!), and I had to make it. I can’t remember ever having lentils before, but I’ve really been trying to branch out with the foods I’ve been eating. I actually kind of LIKE green onions (please don’t tell?) in some things, and I’m really liking this new trend. So, I guess this week’s new food was lentils. YUM. The stew was fairly fantastic. I did have to half the recipe though, it made SO MUCH and Matt (as of yet) is still maintaining that he doesn’t like lentils so I’m the only one eating it, which I am definitely ok with.
Tomato-Lentil Stew
1 can diced tomatoes
2 stalks celery
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 cup lentils
1 tablespoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon hot sauceAdd lentils to 2 cups of water, boil. Once boiling, turn the heat off, cover and let sit for about 20 minutes.
Soften the celery and garlic, add the tomatoes (including juice), corn and spices. Let simmer.
After the lentils are softened, pour the entire contents of the pan into the simmering tomato mixture. Smush the lentils to break them open (or, you could use an immersion blender; however, I am not cool enough to own one).
Serve very warm with cheese and tortilla chips.
Serves 6. Recipe adapted from Budget Bytes.
YUMMM!
My Spice Rack
By BritWhen Matt and I moved into the condo last April, one of the first things I got set up was the kitchen. I’d never really had a kitchen like this (pretty much everyone who comes over is ridiculously jealous of it) and I was so excited to get everything into it.
I had made a pilgrimage to IKEA with Ginny right after we moved in to get curtains and shower rods and all the stuff you need to buy when you move into a brand-new home. I can’t tell you how long I looked over the IKEA catalog. It was seriously hours. The pages were getting dog-eared and crinkled pretty bad. I finally made my choices (and subsequently threw them all out the window as soon as we walked into that bright, shiny building).
One thing I didn’t falter on was my spice jars. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them in the catalog and have never regretted the choice.
The jars are the Rajtan jars from IKEA. They’re ridiculously cheap ($3 for 4 jars) and they’re absolutely cute (especially when stuffed with amazing spices). I even use one jar for my vanilla (mostly because Ginny brought me some amazing vanilla from Mexico and I didn’t have anything to put it in – she wouldn’t let me have the whole bottle, psh!)
The problem of the spice rack lies with the actual rack. I don’t have one. I have a shelf I bought one day at IKEA, which conveniently, they don’t carry anymore.
I also have been cooking a lot more since we moved in, and collecting more and more spices, which no longer conveniently fit on the single shelf anymore. I have no idea what to do with this. I don’t want the jars hanging out on the counter, it’d be amazing I could have found that shelf again.
So, you’re probably asking WHY THE FUCK DON’T YOU BUY A SPICE RACK!? Good question. The space between the bottom of the cabinet and the countertop is 16 inches, oh and there’s that 3.5 inch “backsplash.” All of this means there is absolutely no space for a spice rack.
I do have to admit that I haven’t been to Home Depot or Lowe’s yet to look for a spice rack, or hell, just a shelf that I could use to store them on – but I’m not sure how well that’d go for me anyways (I’m probably the most picky person in the world).
My question to you: How do you store your spices? Do you hide them in a cupboard? Do you display them proudly? Do you even use them?
Oh, and if you have any ideas for my conundrum, PLEASE please PLEASE! Do tell!
PS, there’s a brand new design for you three people who read Yuppish on your reader … so, check it out!
Around A2
By BritToday I went to downtown Ann Arbor for the first time. Ok, it wasn’t the absolute first time, I’d been there before, mostly it was just driving to No Thai or going to lunch with Ginny. Honestly, though, I hadn’t spent any amount of time there. I finally convinced Matt to go today while some friends were in town (perfect way to get him down there because he hates it there).
After parking in the PARKING STRUCTURE (which apparently is the weirdest thing I’ve ever said) we made our way down Main Street and then I saw this …
Then, across the street I saw people making ice sculptures, little did I know it was a theme all down Main Street and there was one right behind me in front of the Moosejaw store.
It was pretty awesome. I had my camera in my pocket the whole time (yeah, I didn’t think to bring the goooood camera – STRIKE ONE) but it was absolutely SO freezing (at a balmy 20°F, not including the wind) that I couldn’t bare to bring it out because I’d have to take my gloves off (they’re wayyyy too clumsy for any picture taking) and hold up the group to take any pictures. So I wish I had taken more pictures, but there’s always the spring and summer when it’s actually warmer (Aparna even agreed to go on a picture taking walk with me). I was ridiculously jealous of all the yuppies walking around with their Canon DSLR’s hanging off their neck (no lie, didn’t see one Nikon; therefore, Canon must be the DSLR of choice of yuppies).
We walked around downtown and got warm beverages from a certain coffee shop. The barista was absolutely the worst person working at a coffee shop ever. I asked for a Orange something-or-another Hot Tea. When it was given to me (like five minutes later), it had all this cream and crap in it. I ordered hot tea. Why the hell did it take five minutes to put a tea bag into a cup and fill it with hot water. Not only did it take that long, I’m fairly sure we were overcharged and all three employees were too busy worrying about nothing I wasn’t offered a refund. I figured I’d take care of it later.
So we went out walking again down Liberty Street and I saw this shop that was $15 and under AND fair trade. Awesome! I was so excited to go in and see what they had. As soon as I walked in the door, I was accosted by this woman wanting “to hold my coffee until I was done shopping.” First of all, it was keeping my hands warm. Second, nothing in this shop cost more than $15 (I would have more than graciously like an idiot paid if I had ruined something). Third, I’M A FUCKING ADULT. Seriously. I don’t need some hippy grabbing my tea from me as soon as I walk in. It’s like someone asking to hold your backpack when you’re in high school and you walk into a convenience store because they’re convinced you’re going to steal something. We left the store fairly quickly, but unfortunately, it was an awesome shop I’ll probably go to again (though, next time I’ll make sure I have a water bottle in my purse that I pull out and start drinking in the shop).
There was a Michigan basketball game this afternoon so it was ridiculously busy, but we walked around a bit, saw the city and the campus and now we’re braving the cold again to go to Palm Palace. I can’t wait!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
By BritYesterday (Friday) was Matt’s birthday. We spent the day doing pretty much nothing, other than him making me fall in love with Udon. UGH. It was amazing, maybe even more so than sushi. Holy crap, I didn’t just say that. Never mind.
Anyways, we went to dinner with Matt’s parents and since they were driving up from Toledo and since they were bringing 10 (yeah) 2-liters for Matt (because I forgot to buy them this week when they were on sale), I decided I’d be making his cake this year. I went through a few different cakes and finally decided on one that I had put into my MacGourmet a few weeks ago: Molten Marshmallow Cakes. It was amazing.
I’ll post the recipe in a few days, ok, maybe later today, but you’ll just have to believe me for now … These were amazing (amazing enough that I’ve been asked to make them AGAIN later today for his friends that are in town).
