on/off topic?

I've realized after reading other peoples blogs that i'm rarely on topic. Maybe I should write whatever i want, then put the title to avoid this. I also don't think my blog is very organized. I don't tag stuff at the end of each post because there's so many topics in the post that it would be about a billion tags.

I digress..

So here's what's up..

Last night we made a pizza on the pizza stone for the first time. It was basically a disaster because i didn't separate the dough into two parts so we had a huge pizza that i didn't knead enough so it had huge bubbles and we couldn't get it off the peel so we had to maneuver with two cookie sheets and eventually got it off the peel and onto the stone. I should've taken a picture it was that bad.... and that's why i didn't take a picture! Needless to say, Alex will be taking over pizza duties! But it did taste good.. so is that all that matters? maybe on the first go round yes but from now on we want our pizza to look like pizza.

Yesterday i applied to a new job. Who knows if they'll even call me or whatever but I figured it was time to start moving forward. I'm going to start the appraisal classes soon and hopefully then I can figure out what i'm supposed to do with my life career wise.

I've been sleeping like a rock lately.. and waking up with allergies in one of my eyes. Talk about annoying! I never had active allergies until I moved to lancaster.. it's an allergen cess (sp?) pool.

Speaking of pools.. I really want a blow up one but Alex said no because it will kill the grass. I think I might get one anyway and put it in the driveway. Someone asked me if it's a hazard to unsupervised children though and i think the answer to that is no.. it won't even be that deep. I'll use it as a hot tub even though it won't be hot and there won't be jets.. but i'll have a raft instead and i'll float in my own private pool. Sounds amazing. Even though this week isn't deathly hot so I wouldn't be using it at the moment.

In other news, this weekend, sunday specifically, is our 1 year wedding anniversary. It really doesn't even feel like one year has gone by and at the same time it feels like we've been together forever (maybe cause we're soulmates so technically.. we have been). We're going to go to the Penn Square Grill for dinner on Sunday and possibly have a picnic on Saturday. Things are a little up in the air. I wish I could surprise Alex with a fun schedule of events but I'm not entirely sure where to go or what to do.

Our weekends in June are filling up fast.. hopefully we'll do lots of swimming, kayaking, relaxing, beaching, picnicking (why does this have a 'k' in it??, cook-out-ing, etc this summer.. I think we're on track to do so. Not to mention a couple more weddings!

Life

My mall trip yesterday was very successful. Picked up the sandals I wanted from Sears for $15.. the straw hat that I wanted from Charlotte for $7. Two tops from Hollister for $25 total (though I need to exchange one for a different size today). And then a pizza stone and peel $80 something from Williams Sonoma.

I'm so pumped to have a pizza stone, makes me want to make pizza so badly!! Though maybe not the best timing, shouldn't be using the oven so much in the summer time but whatever, maybe it'll fit on the grill??

The only bad thing was it was so hot outside and I have leather car seats... i will never get leather again! hopefully new cars with leather have a cooling function much like the heating function for the winter.

So i'll go back after work today to exchange the shirt and hit the liquor store for a bottle of yum to take for the weekend. I also need to find out how to make one of the most delicious shots ever, Perfect Storm. So i'll probably get the supplies for that too.

Today, through my normal hating work thought process, I started thinking about where i'll be in 5 years and will i be doing something i actually like a little bit as opposed to right now. I work in the morning for lunch time and then I work in the afternoon for 5 pm.. those are my only two work motivations. It's awful. There are two potential job openings out in the world right now that I was looking at. But at the same time, i'm going to take my real estate exam this week and start the appraisal courses so that I can be a trainee, which will probably require me to leave my job and work on that and probably get a part time job to supplement the income. Therefore I don't think I should even apply to any jobs because of this appraisal thing. I have to take two 30 hr courses and a 15 hr course.. all of this is online, so it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish but the waiting game is killing me. I still haven't gotten a promotion at my current job that was talked about back in january!! i get paid crap. I've been here 2.5 years going on 3! it's just insane.

Anyway, I keep thinking, should I be a teacher? should I just apply to another job? how will i ever have kids if we both have crappy jobs? when will this end? will i ever be happy working? why can't i just win the lottery? why does money rule the world? can we make the farm more of a money maker? buy some steer and pigs and grass feed them then sell the meat for money? i just don't know!

Ohh boy!

i love new clothes

So i'm always in need of clothing because i rarely go shopping and i tend to do an inventory and donate clothes every season. Since we sold our house and had a little left over after paying Alex's student loans.. we get to buy some summer clothes!

Alex doesn't need nearly as much as i do, he just needs some cargo shorts that actually fit, but he's set when it comes to polos, button downs and t-shirts. I should get the remainder of his balance after the cargo shorts..
So yesterday i was browsing online as I do sometimes and decided to look at Hollister since i haven't in a very long time, i'm talking years! i don't like shirts that say brand names anymore, so I haven't been there. They were having some nice sales though, and this summer i'm going to focus on dresses so here's some pictures of the stuff I got. I couldn't find the one skirt online today to steal the picture.. which is weird because they better not be out of stock, so i'm not including it. There was a 20% coupon code i found by googling (which i always google coupons when shopping online, there's usually always one to use whether it's free shipping or a % off). So i saved $16. Better than nothing!

So tonight i'm going to the mall to get some cute sandals that are on sale at Sears for $10 and hopefully a floppy hat from Charlotte Russe. Then hopefully I should be good to go for the beach trip this weekend...... even though the clothes above won't be delivered until next week (bummer).

I'm still excited to get them and try them on and all that. I needed to up my casual dress game, so this is going to help immensely.

Also, it's Wednesday and tomorrow is basically my friday! Can it get any better?!? (Of course it can, i'd be happier if it were 4:59 pm on Thursday. Too bad we can't fast forward through the boring bits of life.)

Weekend Update : Memorial Day

Well Thursday morning we closed on our house. No more Ross Street. I'm not really sad but excited that we can now pay off Alex's student loans. Currently debt free!! What a nice feeling. We're going to do our best at saving for the next year or maybe two before we have some babies. I will need a new car (new to me, used in general) when the baby comes because a Mercury Cougar with bucket seats just will not do with a car-seat.

Friday after work I did the grocery shopping for our party the next day and made a salad for the evenings events. We were having cocktails and appetizers at a friends, then going to see Sex and the City 2. Well.. our appetizers consisted of my salad, some pistachio pudding and some fruit.. hardly filling. Add alcohol into the mix and you have some dehydration and lingering hunger. I'm not sure why we didn't go get some food before the movie.. but i won't be making that mistake again. I did have a couple of french fries from McD's but that was hardly sufficient. Let's add into the mix that I hadn't eaten any carbs all day so I was in a serious coma due to lack of sugar/carbs/energy. The movie was.. terrible. So bad. Please don't go see it. Don't waste 2.5 hours of your life or $10 when you'll just want to leave after 30 min in. Two of my friends fell asleep and i just made a comment after every clique line after entering a new scene. I felt extra bad for the girls who forced their boyfriends to see it.. i'm scarred for life and i'm a girl. Never have i disliked a movie so much. I would've left had I not been with other people who I thought were enjoying it.. only to find out later that they were disappointed as well. And i'm not even a real fan of SATC. I only saw the first one earlier in the week and have never actually watched an episode. Regardless of the terrible-ness of the movie, i had a severe headache afterward from lack of fuel and it was so late that i didn't want to eat anything when i got home so i just went to bed.

Saturday morning we slept in til 10 am. I wanted to get up earlier that day but do to my 2 am bed time, i wanted to get at least 8 hours of sleep, even though 7-10 was hardly good. I had lots to get ready for the party later in the afternoon.. stromboli's, veggie tray, taco dip, etc. Alex had to buy the beer and later went to the liquor store. We probably spent over $200 on the party which i'm kind of disappointed with. I like throwing parties but I think i might have guests bring stuff the next time. I mean, the McH's brought Bruschetta which was amazing so that was helpful. And everyone brought gifts.. so we're pretty stocked with wine for a while which is really nice. The party was super fun, my mom got me and Alex the ladder ball game so that was played and later in the night we played beer pong. Dan was our resident bartender mixing up some of the best shots i've ever tasted and we did lots of laughing. It makes me thankful for all of the friends that we have.

We headed to bed around 3 am, so another late night followed by not much sleeping in. Mostly because i was sandwiched in our king size between Alex and Julia.. not to mention that i never sleep very well after drinking. Even a glass of wine at night messes me up. But when everyone was awake we had breakfast and chatted. Matt and Marci left and Nick and Laurel stayed until we left to go to different picnics. We arrived at the Beer Club picnic around 3:30 or so, ate good food and caught up with people we hadn't seen in a while, mostly that i hadn't seen. August is pregnant and due soon and I can't wait to hold her baby. The gender is a surprise which i think is so exciting! And yet seems hard because they can't buy any clothes until after the baby is born. Which they won't need much since it'll be summer and hot out but still, clothes are fun! We had some delicious pizza and really all the other food was good and of course there was beer there. I didn't have very much though.

Later we headed to where Nick and Laurel were, Laurel's sisters house. They have a pool and there were so many kids running around having the best time. Laurel's nephews are so adorable as well so very entertaining! And it was cooling down in the evening so that was nice as well. Around 8:30 we headed home because we'd been tired basically all day long. We relaxed and went to bed around 10 and had the best sleeps ever!

Monday I woke up around 8 am and tried to run around the block. It was mostly walking though. I ran for 2/10 of a mile which i tracked later.. not very much but hey, i did my best! You have to start somewhere and that's where i started. I don't want to be a marathon runner but I think it will help me get into shape. Now if it could just cool down after work so i could run without sweating gallons. After the run/walk.. i relaxed on the couch with a glass of water for a good 30 minutes while watching Kendra. Alex woke up around 10 am and we did some cleaning, dishwasher running and then headed over to his parents farm. We got a glimpse of one of the new kittens, it was orange and white, very cute but definitely timid. We hung out for a little while and then headed up to my parents house to drop some asparagus then over to my grandparents house to visit for a little and then to the Lerch's for a picnic. We spent the rest of the day there socializing and having fun and we headed home around 7:30, through a huge lightning storm where we saw lightning strike the ground right off of the highway in a field. Nuts! But cool. Luckily most of the storm had passed by the time we were on the highway towards Lancaster.

The rest of the night I spent cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming. We hit the hay around 10 pm and though i didn't sleep well (i like a firm pillow and i was using the wrong one) it'll be nice to have a 3 day week since I will be off friday as well.

Tonight we're having dinner with Nick and Laurel which will be nice, Wednesday I will be preparing for the beach trip, maybe going shopping and on Thursday i'll be making a themed cake for the weekend's events. Hopefully I can drop a couple lbs before hitting the beach on Friday. And I also hope it doesn't rain! :)

I told you May was going to be busy. And busy it has been.

I currently have some pictures on facebook of our house but here are some highlights.

Here's the living room with a view of the fireplace. We love the open floorplan a lot.

The dining room, tons of windows to look out on the backyard.

Kitchen. A little smaller than our other one size wise, but cabinet wise it's larger because we have a pantry in the laundry room that holds all the appliances we use once in a while.

Our master bedroom. Still needs some decor but we're loving sleeping in the dark and quiet compared to the hustle bustle city.

We closed on our old home yesterday. Never again will we step foot in there. I've already realized how convenient it was to live in the city, it's the center of everything and easy to travel everywhere from that point. I wouldn't trade where we are now but i'll miss the convenience.

This weekend we have plenty of picnics to go to, including our own housewarming party on saturday, so it should be a very eventful weekend. I'm going to try really hard not to eat carbs though, so wish me luck on that!

Next weekend is the OCMD trip for my friend Nicole's bachelorette party, so that should be fun. Hopefully nice weather.. but i need to get in a little better shape to be on a beach, so i'm really buckling down this weekend and next week. Should be a blast! Can't wait!!

Well I can finally post some pictures of the cupcakes/cake i made a couple weeks back!

And some pictures from the wedding from this past weekend!

So here goes nothin'

To the left you can see the final cupcakes on my countertop prior to taking them up to harrisburg. Of course it was super hot that weekend, but they faired quite well in the car. Everyone seemed to love them and my favorite were the strawberry icing ones on vanilla cake. The oreo icing was a whipped cream which i didn't really enjoy so i'll probably make that more of a straight buttercream next time.

To the right is the cake, which I was happy with. The fondant was being a pain in the rear though, i think my powdered sugar was too clumpy so it would do me good to sift it next time. But since i didn't have much extra fondant to decorate, i went out and bought a paint brush at michaels and used food coloring to paint on the flowers and words. We didn't actually cut into the cake while we were there however, due to the amount of cupcakes and food in general, and the chocolate fountain. But they ate it later on and t old me it was very good!

So this past weekend, Alex was in a wedding for our friends
Dan & Steph. Friday we went to the rehearsal dinner and Saturday the wedding. So below it's Alex and I with Matt, Marci, Nick and Laurel. The wedding was at Lauxmont Farms in Wrightsville, and the view was amazing. We just kept looking around that day because you could see forever. It was crazy! But they served Lambrusco, yess! and the food was delicious. The dancing was fun as usual and it was really nice to celebrate with Dan and Steph.

We also got to spend sometime with Alex's out of town friend, August and his girlfriend, Nicole who was lovely. I really wish that i had batteries for my camera so I could've taken more pictures. I don't like relying on others to take them.. even though Carolann did a fantastic job! Next wedding up is my friend Nicole's in July, which I'm a bridesmaid (hence the shower above). Can't wait for that!! Followed by our friends Phil & Ashley's wedding at the end of July!

Sunday was our first real relaxing day in our new house. After having breakfast with our guests, and eating at Saigon.. Alex and I relaxed the rest of the day, took a nap on the couch while watching step brothers, took a walk around the neighborhood then did some housework. Alex mowed and i cleaned up inside. We played some coin runner on Mario and probably just watched some more Tv. Nice end to an awesome weekend!

This week is going well so far. Tonight we're having Matt & Marci over for dinner, tomorrow we're going into Ross St to do some work, take some measurements, etc and Thursday Alex has a basketball game. Friday we're having the Hix's and the newly married Herr's over for dinner and drinks so that should be fun as well!! Saturday we'll be doing more at Ross and then going to Laurel & Nick's engagement party in the evening. Sunday I have a baby shower to attend, and then no other plans!

I really want to try to get into running.. or at least walking 3 times a week. Maybe I can throw some jogging in with the walking for bursts of calorie burning. Bathing suit season is almost here, and i'm going to OCMD the first week of June for a bachelorette party. So i need to amp up the exercising and eating right. I basically eat right but I need to focus on the exercise. I did pilates/yoga last night and feel great today so hopefully i can use this feeling to convince me to do it a couple more times this week since it's looking like rain a lot.

Well that's about it, so happy tuesday and here's to wishing the weekend gets here quickly!

Foods I love

I've kind of been obsessed with food lately. Not to a point of over-eating, i just think about it a lot.

So i thought i'd list some favorites that i've had recently or just all-time favorites.. for my life files ;)

*Risotto- Alex and I (mostly Alex) made an awesome risotto recipe back on Easter weekend for the meal with his family. It was to die for.. oh my gosh! Then i followed that up with a risotto dish at John J Jeffries which was also fab. Needless to say i'm making it for dinner tonight for friends and they'll probably fall in love too.. it's just so darn good.

*Sour Cream & Onion chips- Just bought some on Monday and i forgot how much i loved them! Especially because the Lays ones that look like pringles have the flavor on the bottom to hit your tongue right away.. smart! Luckily i regulated that because how easy would it be to eat a whole can of those!!

*Asparagus- Alex's parents have an organic asparagus farm so we get to enjoy some of that during the season (which is quite short!). Unfortunately we don't get as much as i would like, but Alex keeps talking about getting 5lbs a week.... i wouldn't mind eating it every night in different ways. Though i do hate that after-effect.

*Pita sandwiches- I recently discovered the pita as a bread substitute. And i love sandwiches, so now i get half a pita filled with mayo, turkey and lettuce for lunch everyday.. it's really taken the thought process out of making lunch in the morning. i still haven't mastered breakfast but i'm working on that (or am i?) Having half a pita is like 7g carbs and whole wheat so that's definitely do-able for my current food lifestyle.

*Picnic/Party food- I will always love picnics and parties for the food.. i love chips and french onion dip, salsa and taco dip, pasta salad, burgers, you name it! I'm looking forward to summer for these reasons!

*Fish tacos- Though i'm almost positive the price of fish is about to sky-rocket.. fish tacos are light and delicious. Season, pan fry or grill, shred and put in a taco. It's really easy, not to mention a lot healthier than beef. Though i can't knock beef because that's usually what we have.. though ours is grass-fed and basically organic from Malty, Alex's old steer. He sure is delicious though.. I think they should invest in another one because the meat is so worth it!

That's all I can think of for now, though i know there's more.. like an Isaac's Scarlet Ibis on Rye, yum! But I have to get back to work (boo!)

Tomorrow is friday! Yessss!