It seriously cracks me up. Perfect combo of sci-fi creativity, emotional family drama, and absolute hilarity.
I'm currently enjoying my morning cup of coffee......a little mad at myself for not running this morning (it's supposed to be 70 degrees today! I'LL DO IT LATER!.....seriously......hold me accountable!).....but otherwise having quite the lovely morning. I began this blog last night, thinking I just wanted to write a nice little blurb.
Blurb is as follows:
When I first moved here, I became a tidbit overwhelmed....experiencing most of (and when I say most of, I mean all of) the following: Fires. Evacuations. Heart attacks. 911 calls. New job. New school. New house, complete with pipes bursting, and water leaks (which completely ruined my journal!), etc. Combine all those things with the fact that my family, friends, and the guy that I totally love all live a zillion miles (ok, ok....its only 500 miles...but you know what I mean) away. Stressed much? Oh yes. I became the definition of the term Basket Case. Amber and Crystal can tell ya that much whilst enduring sobfests from me via emotional phone call after emotional phone call.
So....did I handle things well?? Not even a little bit.
It's in my nature to be emotionally charged. Sue me.
The last few weeks have been really quite lovely, though. Apparently I'm not the best long-distance relationship partner (who woulda thought, right?!), so when Noah came to visit Boise, my world really improved. :) We explored this lovely little area, ate some delicious food, drank some delicious wine, and made some delicious, (wait.............not the right word) friends.
He's currently home, again....I need to stop referring to Corvallis as 'home' by the way, - Boise is where I live now! Boise is 'home' - feels so weird though!...like an extended vacation or something. Anyhow, Noah is currently back in the rainy valley - working out the kinks on how to move here.......so here we go....round two of transition is in the works! yikes! Definitely keep Noah in your prayers as he is also battling the ever so stressful lifestyle of school, work, and moving to another state because your girlfriend tells you its awesome, type of battle.
It'll be fine.
Right?
Yeah.
Photographical evidence of my life:
There's a cool side-walky area filled with all these lovely quotes inlayed in the concrete - love it.
Naturally, I bought a new knife upon moving here!
Heehee - my new job even gets in the holiday spirit! Funny.
New friend. :) Molly.
Noah and I decided that this would be a freakin sweet sledding spot.............top o' camels back.
Reasons why I like this guy: He does the dishes.
He makes a mean smoothie....
He hikes all over with me. :)
Isn't that nice?
The day he left a girlfriend of mine from class made me a vet sweet little cheer-up gift. Thank you Ashley!
Found this in the credits bin at work. It made me laugh.
Tried my hand at making my OWN smoothie. Pumpkin pie smoothie = so freakin good.
Another crazy work find. We are a huge pediatric hub at St. Luke's here...this is the tiniest little rib spreader I've ever seen! I know, it's sad they have to use it - but cool we can help tiny tiny tiny humans.
For those of you reading that were in my Dox home group - check out what I made for our Halloween party last night! For those of you who have never eaten these.....the next step is for these little creations to be dunked in chocolate.
Yes.
I know.
I just gained 5 pounds too.
Yes.
I know.
I just gained 5 pounds too.
Speaking of Halloween...........
I went for the bearded look.
It's fine.
I'll end this post with a little recipe. I made this just for myself so it's just enough for me to eat dinner, and a left over lunch or two - but you could easily make the recipe bigger to feed more.
Ingredients:
Two boneless/skinless chix breasts
About 25 cloves of garlic, skin left on
1 1/2 C. Dry white wine
A few sprigs of rosemary
A few sprigs of thyme
Some handfuls of spinach
One whole sweet potato
Preheat oven to 350.
Peel potato, and chop into large bite-sized chunks. Toss with some olive oil (sorry, not on the ingredients list), as well as salt and pepper (also not on the list...I suck at this). Not too much oil, I think I used just like a teaspoon to be honest. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet and throw in the oven (Ok - don't really throw it....you know what I mean).
Add a few lugs of oil to a nice pot with a tight fitting lid (I used my little baby le creuset dutch oven that I absolutely love), and let it get nice and hot. Meanwhile season your breasts (ha) with salt and pepper. Once the oil is feelin fine, sear your chicken....browning well on all sides. Just place it in the pan, and leave it for a few minutes.....it'll not stick to the bottom once it's all browned and happy.
Once browned, remove from pan. Add another glug of oil, and add all those garlic cloves (with skin on still!). Saute a few minutes, smell the love, and take a sip of wine....
Happiness.
Speaking of wine....deglaze pan at this point with your cup or two of white wine. Stir around all that lovely garlic. Add your chicken back to the pot. Add your fresh herbs. Get everyone all nestled in and happy and place your lid on. Turn the heat down to low, and let the chicken simmer a good 20-30 minutes. I occasionally flipped the chicken breasts for even garlic coverage, etc.
Check those potatoes! Don't forget! Stir them around.
After 30ish min. Take the potatoes out of the oven.
Toss a few handfuls of spinach into your garlicy-winey-chickeny love, and cover with lid again. I JUST let my spinach wilt, then promptly removed it to a serving dish. Topped with a chicken breast, and some of the yummy sauce. Topped with sweet potatoes....and voila!
Dinner. Is. Served.
Ok.
Love you. Eat well and be happy with life.
Favorite song right now is: Home by Phillip Phillips (stupid name, I know - but the song is good).
Experiencing God's grace in our brokenness reminds us that His love never fails.
