Pretties

Today Angelina and I took a trip to Pensacola to go to the mall, Ever'Man, and the Navy base.
Good times.
Some of the loot:

Fabulous smelling Bath & Body Works Lemongrass and Cardamom body lotion, and the soap (olive and coriander!) that Angelina surprised me with this morning! Look at the little bird nest! I'm in love with them ♥

Braden's room is done up with jungle animals. I saw these little animal washcloths and had to get them for Bethany.

Thank you Starbucks, for making me purchase ugly shoes. I had to get leather, non-slip, black shoes that covered my whole foot. Yuck I hate them! But they're perfect for work, hahaha.
At Ever'Man, the greatest grocery store on the planet, I found some little patty pan squash and creme fraiche.
Bliss.

heeheeheeheehee

Giant Scary Bird

Apparently I cannot go more than a day without having a lengthy discussion with Angelina.

Today the discussion(s) was over some tasty homemade creamy tomato soup a la Angelina.
Followed by leftover apple crisp, naturally.

Happy little fruits roasting away in the oven.

Soup! It was so good, creamy and delicious with an amazingly fresh tomato taste. Nice job Angelina.
Just so everyone knows, Angelina does a great John Wayne walk. Just ask her.
(I had to edit this photo to make this sharper, he was far away.)
This is the great blue heron of death that stalks the outside of her house. He watches you and then comes down to eat your koi named Robertalby.
For serious.

Tomorrow Angelina and I are taking a little jaunt out to Pensacola and then Brittany and hopefully Bethany (of Team Poese) will be dining on sushi. Angelina, of course you're invited.
=)

Work at the Bux has been going well, I'm still in training so there's a lot of paperwork to be done. I have bar training this weekend, can't wait.

Lazy Tuesday

I didn't work today. I won't say when I finally got out of bed, but my my did I sleep in. I'm not even sorry.
Today I took the Westies to the dog park along with Angelina and her two pups, Bella and Mika.
The dogs had a great time, but I forgot my camera so I don't have a pictures of their shenanigans, and that's a shame.

Malo and Maggie fell asleep in the car on they way home, they were that tired. Now they're both laying on the couch. I wanted something vegetarian for dinner, so I made some roasted fingerling potatoes, green beans, and an awesome salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with some Knorr Salad Kronung (it's German) dressing.

Green beans and tomatoes are probably some of the best foods ever.

Bon Lundi ♥

This past weekend was great. On Saturday I went to Destin to get my hair cut by the fabulous Amy at the Aveda salon in the commons. Team Poese came with, and we had a lot of fun strolling around, drinking coffee, eating sandwiches and jumping my effing car. Yeah, long story. Everything seems okay now though.

Sunday Angelina and I went to Starbucks and then decided that we wanted Sushi. We went to The Slippery Mermaid, a place that Angelina recommended. So. Good.
Fo' Reals.
I had the Merry Mermaid and the .... something Sunset. It was amazing. The Merry Mermaid is a roll that has shrimp and scallops, and then spicy tuna is wrapped around the rice and topped with a teeny blob of spicy mayo. And did I mention that there is just a tiny bit of bacon? Bacon.
I am awesome and thoughtful and did not bring my camera. I will next time. Because oh, there will be a next time.

Today was my first day of work at Starbucks. =)
It was fun, mostly paperwork and basic barista training type stuff. I'm off tomorrow and then work again Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
I worked today from 0730-1130. When I got home, I wanted to make something good for lunch, so I made a quick puttanesca sauce and threw that over some fresh pasta. The sauce is simple to make and it's made from ingredients that I always have on hand: Tomatoes, onion, garlic, Kalamata olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil.

At around 6 this afternoon I headed over to Angelina's house for dinner. She made amazing (from scratch) chicken Alfredo over fettuccine, a gorgeous Caesar salad with fresh made croutons, and the queen mother of all desserts.

Apple Crisp. Amazing crunchy topping, complete with homemade whipped cream, as she had a cream charger. Where has this woman been my whole life?
I brought over some lavender-fleur de sel caramel sauce that I made the other day. I'll be posting the recipe for that, as well as the Lavender Chocolate Brownies that I made for Bethany at Ever So Sweet sometime very soon. I'm such a slacker.

And now for a a quick meet and greet with Angelina and her furry puppy kids.

This is Mika. She is a midget, but has no idea. She wants to be the alpha dog.
And here we have Bella. She's a sweet little babykins, at only 2 years old. Don't excite her. Trust me. She also has no concept of how large she is.
And this is Angelina. Doesn't she have a pretty smile?
It is now 2 am! We seem to lose track of time when we're hanging out, and then we get surprised, like, "HAS IT SERIOUSLY BEEN 7 HOURS?!"
It's funny. I'm going to bed.
Dog park tomorrow!

Chicken Tagine and Long Conversations

Tonight Angelina came over and I cooked.
And cooked and cooked and cooked.
I tend to prepare food for my guests with no thought given to allergies or personal preference.
Tonight in my meal I used chickpeas, eggplant, olives, and preserved lemon peel, to name a few things.
Angelina loved it! Which made me very happy, considering that I've really only ever cooked my little heart out for a select few people.

Sorry, it's blurry.
I made a tagine of chicken with olives and preserved lemon, stewed eggplant with tomatoes and chickpeas, and couscous. It was fabulous, if I do say so myself.
Angelina and I hung out for (I sh*t you not) about 7 hours, drinking tea and talking about life and love and everything in between. It's funny, because it doesn't feel like that long when you're actually engaged in conversation. Our first telephone conversation lasted 5 hours, I think we just might be 'hang out for an extended period of time and not get bored' people. Good.
Oh, and tonight I think a began mending a very important friendship that had been nearly broken. And that made me happy.

There were also some clovers in my Italian parsley.
It was strange.

Friday!

On Monday I start working at the Bux.

Cripes I can't wait.

Just thought I'd share that.

Am I the only person that gets genuine joy from cleaning her house? I always hear people groaning about housework. What gives? You live in your house, don't you want it clean? Smelling pretty? Sparkly? Well, I do.
I love vacuuming. I mean, I seriously love it. Seeing lines in my carpet from my Dirt Devil (can't wait to upgrade to a Dyson) makes me breathe a little easier. I vacuum every day. Sometimes twice a day. Shut up, I have pets and allergies.
I find that having a routine makes it more enjoyable. Mondays and Thursdays are bed linens days. Other laundry is done every third day. Vacuuming and dusting are done daily, as well as wiping down kitchen cabinets and surfaces. I organize my pantry, deep clean my fridge, and wash my windows monthly.I recieved this book from Ricky for Christmas. I've been wanting it forever! It's full of great advice, green cleaning product recipes, and tons of helpful hints about keeping your home shiny happy. In the words of our Earth Mother Goddess Martha, "It's a good thing."
=)

Funtastic Thursday

Allow me to start this off by telling you that my home phone has been down since the middle of yesterday because Mediacom is awful, so that's cool. Luckily we have a Google Phone, and I was able to text my friend from it. Thank goodness I married a geek! ♥

Angelina (my long lost family member) and I went to see Up In The Air this afternoon. If you haven't seen it, go take care of that. That's all I have to say on the matter.Before the lovely film we enjoyed some tall skinny cinnamon dolce lattes and perused the mall.
That's a picture of me being really excited about the effing Twilight garbage in Hot Topic. We laughed. Heartily.
Seriously, you have no idea how ridiculously out of place we looked in Hot Topic. Pretty awesome.
We then stopped by the glorious Publix and did a little grocery shopping.
It's hilarious hanging out with Angelina. We both love and hate the same things, so it's good, and I don't have to feel like an ass when I say something mean. =)
Wow I just really looked at that picture. They really make Twilight duvet covers? What the hell is wrong with people.

oh my jeez

I can't wait to get my next tattoo.

How cute are these? I really like the bow one, but I already have a bow tattoo... I dunno though... I haven't decided on colors, and what's with the cherries? I get the symbolism but when was the last time you saw a cupcake with a cherry on it? It's not a sundae people. Maybe something with lavender flowers on it. I have no idea. I just know that I'm getting another tattoo, and it's going to be a cupcake. =)

Secret Work

My secret work yesterday was making dinner and a sweet treat for Bethany. Today was her first day back at work as well as Braden's first full day of daycare.

I made her chicken enchiladas and brownies. I prepped everything last night, and today I took everything over to her house before she got home from work. I made rice too, but totally left in my fridge, cause I'm forgetful like that. My plan was to be in and out before she got home... but traffic was horrible on the way there, and she got home right before I left. It was nice to be there and hear about her day.
I made two for me and ate them for dinner when I got home. So good!
The brownies were my first brownies ever from scratch, and probably my second or third in any form. They were lavender chocolate brownies with a hint of espresso. Pretty. Freaking. Awesome.
It's nice to do little things for the people you care about. I love Bethany and she's doing such an amazing job as a single working mother, and I'm excited about being there for her for whatever she may need. Including the making of brownies.
♥

Happy Happy ^_^

I had a lovely day.
This is my lovely day face.
↓

♥♥♥

Today Bethany took Braden to his first partial day of daycare. It was rough, but everybody did great and was fine at the end of the day. Bethany returns to work tomorrow (she's active duty Air Force) so today was good practice.

After dropping Braden off at 0900, we got coffee, ran some errands on base, and then went to lunch. After lunch we hit up the glory that is TJMaxx. I found lots of awesomeness that made it's way into my home.

Exhibit A: Cute wood carving of a cupcake.
Exhibit B-E: Mrs. Meyer's Lavender dishwasher detergent (I've been looking for this everywhere. Sweetness.) A cute purple bumblebee To Do list on a clipboard, monogrammed paper napkins for guests, and Mrs. Meyer's Geranium surface wipes.
Exhibit F: Blue cherry blossom print table runner.
Exhibit G: new dog treat jar. I'm in love with it, and may redecorate my kitchen based on it. A dog treat jar. For serious.
P.S. I got all this stuff (there were 2 bottles of dishwasher detergent) for less than $60. I love that store.

I also found a tattoo studio that I really liked, and Bethany showed me this really cool dog boutique (yes, a "boutique") called 3 Dogs & a Chick. Check out their website here. If you have a dog, that is.

Bethany showed me the Landing today! It's really pretty, and it was fun to be outside since the weather was gorgeous, it felt like spring! We walked around and talked and drank iced coffee, it was a good time. I love spending time with my Bethany Bear! (Can I call you that? Haha)

I'm off to do secret things that will be revealed tomorrow. Good evening, all.

Lavender Spritzer

This was delicious and super simple.
In a saucepan, bring 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water and 2 tbsp lavender flowers to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the syrup cool completely.
Pour your desired amount of lavender syrup into a glass, and top with sparkling water. I used San Pellegrino. Or you could use champagne, which I'm sure would be fantastic.

♥Carbs

I will never be rail thin. Because I love food.
Namely, carbohydrates.
I'm not cooking very much lately, rather I'm cooking large meals and eating them for a few days in a row. It's nice knowing that there is something tasty in the fridge should hunger strike.

My latest kitchen creations

Ziti with broccoli, grilled chicken tenderloins, cippolini onions, garlic, white wine, lots of lemon juice, and black pepper. Soak your cippolini onions in boiling water for a few minutes, the skins will pull right off. Anyone who has attempted to peel a sweet little cippolini will appreciate that tip.

Tonight's meal: Butternut Squash Risotto with vanilla, black pepper, cardamom, and onion.
I've made this before, without the cardamom, and loved it. It was time for it to be made again, as there are several squash hanging out on my table.

Real words

I haven't posted very many "this is how I feel" blogs, so here goes. No pictures of food.

Things have been pretty damn quiet on the home front. I miss Ricky every day, as do the dogs, but we're doing just fine here.
Last week I got a new job at Starbucks. I'm really excited about it. Funny how I always gravitate towards coffee and espresso. It makes me happy though. I was miserable at a desk job. Not only did it make me feel fat and lazy sitting at a desk all day, but I was bored out of my mind. I need to be standing, walking, smiling, and doing something that I think is fun. I start on the 25th, and it can't come soon enough.

On a sadder note, I think I'm losing one of my very good male friends. Don't you hate when that happens? Your great guy friend gets a girlfriend, and that seems to be the end of it. Sad how petty little things can come between friendships. C'est la vie I suppose.

The weather here has been cold, and today it's been raining for almost 12 hours. Being a native PNW girl, I'm not one to complain about the rain.

I'm loving all three books I'm reading at the moment (see sidebar) but The Happiness Project is really speaking to me. Having dealt with anxiety and depression for the greater part of my adult life, it's nice to read about someone taking such a practical approach to bettering her quality of life.
My exercise and healthy eating regimen is still going strong. I was afraid that after a few weeks I'd get tired of it, but it stuck and I couldn't be happier. Although this afternoon I made nachos, so to keep myself from feeling terrible I'm working out twice. Ha.

I'm off now to make some peppermint tea and read some more. Oh, and wash my bed linens again because apparently, if you're a dog, it's totally okay to run with muddy paws all over someones bed. I love them.