OH HEY!

Remember me? Once again I had GREAT intentions to not drop off the face of the earth! After my last post I completed final papers and presentations. I enjoyed a whole week off from classes and it was gloriously busy! Go figure!! I am currently speeding through a four week summer quartr and then my light at the end of the tunnel is a month off from classes!

Other exciting events:

• Heading to Lopez Island on Friday to bike around and explore! After some exploration - myself and Paul and his cousins are heading up to Vancouver B.C. to explore! I am super excited about this as the one time I've been to Vancouver was an evening trip to hit up bars with a friend that wasn't 21 back in 2003. So this trip is long overdue as a resident Seattle-ite!
• Tomorrow is my last day of volunteering!! For the past school year I have been spending about 3 hours a week in a 2nd/3rd grade classroom. This is to fulfill a requirement for my Master's degree but it has been really enjoyable. However... I also look forward to having that time back in my life!
• Paul and I just celebrated 6 months of dating! How has the time flown by so fast? I wanted to post sooner about that - but didn't want to give away my plans for celebrating! I had some photo's enlarged and framed so now he has something fun to look at while at work or at home! I also made an attempt at making his favorite dessert! I had a little bit more of a surprise element included but due to some time constraints and his figuring out part of my plan... we didn't get to that part. But have no fear... I am just putting it in my back pocket for a future celebration ;)
• Yesterday I FINALLY turned in my passport paperwork!! This has been something I have been talking about for YEARS and alas how easy was it? Too easy! Better late than never right?
• Surprise. Surprise. I've been cooking :)  

Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake Went over so well! Very rich and delicious and easy!!

Honey Lemon Chicken So good! I steamed up some broccoli and then added couscous which soaked up the juices! Paul really liked it too!

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake This is Paul's favorite dessert, so this was my attempt to make a stab at it. I thought it was okay... but I wasn't super impressed with the recipe. So since it is his favorite, I have lots of time to perfect it!

There you have it!

Senior-itis?

Can you have senior-itis after your first year of a three year program? I feel like that right now. After a year of classes I feel that two classes have been extremely enlightening. Two classes could have been easily combined and the rest... well nothing amazing. I have to keep reminding myself that really I have one more year and then a year of internship, which is what I look forward to the most! But I also have 'fear of making a wrong decision' and with what is going on with the economy and the budget cuts with regards to Education in Washington - what if?!! What if I don't get a job? What if I'm told I need to work in Snohomish to have a job? Or mix two half time jobs? Okay Charity, just breathe already!

On a brighter note - here are things I am looking forward to in the very near future:

• Summer Vacation! And though I probably wont be taking too many days off from work - saving for a winter break - just the thought of not having homework or not feeling guilty for playing and not doing school WOOO!!
• The sunshine that will keep on coming!
• More quality time with Paul and friends!
• Laying out in the sun in SPF 100 so I DON'T tan ;)
• Did I mention my short break from school?
• Cooking more!

And what has been going on that helps keep me sane?

• I made this delicious curried red lentil soup and I brought these dark chocolate and cherry oatmeal cookies to a shindig and they were VERY popular!
• Jesus and the community I am in! I laugh a lot and that makes thing so right!
• Working out. I said it. I absolutely do not like interrupting my sleep to go sweat - but I feel so great afterwards!
• Paul. He is great! I mean I am so utterly blessed to have him in my life! And he has such a great heart!  He is encouraging, helps keep me level headed, and cooks me dinner the nights I have class (and a lot of other nights too!).
• Work - I am actually writing positively about work! There finally seems to be some consensus as far as how we are operating as a team and I generally know what is expected of me and I really work well in that kind of environment.

And that's my nutshell! I should probably get back to listening to my professor's lecture!

Is working out.... working out?

So I've been doing the gym thing now for about a month. My goal is 4-5 times a week... in actuality it is about 3-4 times. In theory I want to lose a couple of pounds, but really I want to feel healthy!

Turns out working out is working out. Between work and school and life - I don't think I realized just HOW much stress I carry in my body! Since working out - I haven't had a single headache!! I went from an average of 3x or 4x a week to zip zero nada! WOW!

You'd think I'd be sold. And mentally I am. But practically getting myself out of bed in the morning (truly the most convenient time to workout) is pretty much non-existent. Thankfully Paul calls me four days a week and literally talks me awake! And then I know when I get to work I will have an email from him asking how my workout went! He is the perfect motivator!

On a different note... I am 27 now! Officially the late 20's!!

Paul and I celebrated our birthdays together which was interestingly fun. I love a big party, lots of friends, and enjoying the people who bless my life. Paul is not such a fan of celebrating his birthday. He doesn't like the attention, and doesn't see a big deal of having lived another year! SOOOO my theory was I'll have a party, you can invite your friends, and of course you then have to come! It ended up working out perfectly :) I may not have him sold on a big party every year... but such a blessing to have a large group of our friends in one spot and just enjoy the company of people we don't get to see everyday!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures! Paul and I are really into doing this whole American Gothic montage - we've done it at Fred Meyers, Tulip Festival, and now our birthday shindig:

Anything else you need to know? Yes - thanks for asking! To avoid homework I have been pretty obsessed with cooking blogs and DIY blogs. Here are a few blogs:

Bake or Break

Closet Cooking

Craftynest

Design Sponge

Eat Make Read

Are you still reading? Fabulous!

Specific projects I am dying to do!!:

Make my own mini garden.

Make a jewelry shadowbox.

Make my own cards/scrapbooks!

And the one last thing I'll leave you with - basically somethings on my wish list!

The Flavor Bible - Why am I so geeky?

Great Fast Food

How to Eat Supper

Okay... that is the basics! Thanks for caring ;)

Note to self - Ryan Gosling is in a band? Must download soon!!

My secret love of Michael Cera... just isn't that secret anymore! Looking forward to this mockumentary in August!!

Paper Hearts

My Friend Tom was blessed with the gift of TOO much creativity. I mean I don't want to be a creative nazi... but share some love already!!

I cannot stop laughing over this video... and I'm sure you won't stop either!!


About Dogs from Tom DesLongchamp on Vimeo.

And then when you're done with that... here is proof that I just don't do anything at work ;)

Whoopsy Daisy

I talked Paul into buying a Cardinology c.d. the other day. This band is pretty much a renaming of Ryan Adams and The Cardinals - my favorite group of all times! Well Paul went to go put it on my computer and turns out - I must have already bought it. I have no recollection of doing that! Maybe this is old age setting in? 27 in two weeks kids!!

Highlights this week!

• Aced a quasi-test in my At-Risk Assessment class.
• Worked out 4x Days
• Enjoyed a wonderful dinner last night at Black Bottle  with such wonderful friends! They no longer have my favorite dessert where they light up the bananas BUT they did have a suitable replacement - chocolate cake with a scoop of Vanilla Gelato hidden in the middle!
• I was able to make a couple great dishes this week! On Monday I made stuffed peppers which for my first attempt were WAY better than what my mom use to make growing up! I found a couple recipes that I didn't particularly like on their own... so I did some mixing! A little couscous, ground beef,  chicken stock, thyme, garlic, onion, oregano, parsley, and a couple other things! The only change I will make is adding mushrooms in next time - Paul and I agree on our fungi!! Then on Tuesday at our Community Group we had a pizza theme! I decided I wanted to experiment with a dessert pizza! So I cheated and used Trader Joe's already made dough, added cinnamon sugar, marscarpone cheese, and lots of berries! I also tried cheating with frozen berries, which could have worked out perfectly, but alas I didn't drain them well enough! Also I sweetened up the marscarpone cheese a bit with sugar. The pizza had rave reviews and I had no leftovers!
• I love Saturday afternoon naps!