~Different names for the same thing~

And a sunset couldn't save me now...

2011-06-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

"For millions of years flowers have been producing thorns. For millions of years sheep have been eating them all the same. And it's not serious, trying to understand why flowers go though such trouble to produce thorns that are good for nothing? It's not important, the war between the sheep and the flowers?... Suppose I happen to know a unique flower, one that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet one that a little sheep can wipe out in a single bite one morning, just like that without realizing what he's doing - that isn't important? If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough o make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself, 'My flower's up there somewhere...' But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it's as if, suddenly, all the starts went out. And that isn't important?"

- The little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

The Little Prince is one of my all time comfort books, and i've been feeling like a read though lately. I'm just in one of those moods where it feels like i'm stuck, nothing is ever going to change, and i'll just have to deal with it. I know that's not true, and someday, something is going to change (hopefully sooner rather then later), but for now, i'm all very depressing.

Doesn't help that i've been sick for the past four days. Although to be fair, I can't really blame this feeling on being sick either.

2011-06-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

I really haven't posted since October? Well, there goes my idea for trying to keep this thing going! I really need to get back into the swing of updating here, even if it's just for myself. It's kinda nice to be able to look back and see everything that's been going on.

Hmm, we'll see : )

Fall is finally here!

2010-10-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm home alone, for once. It's very rare that I ever have time home alone without Will, but I didn't get much sleep last night so he decided to go out and get some wood that he needed without me. I honestly can't remember once in the last year and a half where i've been home alone for more then 10 minutes... Don't get me wrong, there hasn't really been a time where I haven't wanted to be with him, but everyone needs alone time to do alone time things... Like napping and updating their blog. I'm also starting to think his cat only want to cuddle with me right now because he can't see. She's sneaky with her love and cuddles.

Anyways...

I absolutely love when the seasons change, and I think i'm equally excited for each and every one. Now that fall is here, I feel like summer lasted about a week. I seems like forever ago that we had the house to ourselves for almost two weeks, with about 90 degree weather each day. While I miss the heat i'm super excited about the fall. It was nice to be able to mow the lawn today and not die from the heat, but most of all i'm excited for fall cooking.

I think my favorite fall flavor would have to be pumpkin. This is the the time of year when Starbucks (yes, I love Starbucks and I probably always will) comes out with their pumpkin spice latte, my all time favorite drink. It's just warm and comforting, it's happiness in a paper cup <3 I've already made pumpkin ice cream, and can't wait until I try pumpkin muffins.

This year, I swear i'm going to make my own pumpkin puree to use in recipes. I love going to the pumpkin patch, so bringing home more then one pumpkin won't be a problem.

It's cold, so i'm going to curl up in my sweater under my comforter and love the fact that I need both to keep me warm.

The meerkats are meer-cute!

2010-08-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

I eat scorpions!

So, while it feels like i've been super busy lately, when I sit down to actually think about everything going on it's not all that much. We've had a heatwave for the past week or so (almost all the days over 90 degrees!). While i'm excited for the sun and the warmth, all I have felt like doing is being in the kitchen. It finally cooled down within the low 80's and I got to make scalloped tomatoes with croutons (with the biggest tomatoes I have ever seen!). It turned out awesome, i'm saving the rest of it for snacking tomorrow. My tomato is up to about 18 tomatoes now, and i've been all over the web trying to find ideas about what to make with them. I'm probably going to make some sort of spaghetti sauce or something along those lines. I don't know, i've never really played with tomatoes before.

Other then that we've just been playing around. We took a trip up to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle where I got to see some penguins and some seriously cute meerkats (They're meercute!). We also stayed out late one night to try and catch some of the meteor shower that was happening, and I actually saw quite a few (will got some cool pictures of the stars, but no meteors.

It's been one hot, fun, relaxing week.

I haven't killed my tomato plant... Yet!

2010-07-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's finally summer! It was freezing, cold, and wet almost every single day of spring, and then out of nowhere, all of a sudden the sun arrived! It's been over 85 degrees for the past three days. The first day of the heat I didn't have to work and I did absolutely nothing. I drug a big comfy lawn chair outback, put on a sun dress, and read my book for almost an hour. At that point I was too hot and had to come inside to finish reading. I'm a little sunburnt, but it feels good!

I think my tomato plant has been loving the sun almost as much as I have. It has flowers! Little yellow flowers. So far six of them. I don't know if most people get this excited over something little like that, but it pretty much made my week. I have never been able to grow anything. I'm so hopeful!

This week really has been awesome. Will and I have had the house completely to ourselves for just over a week now (my parents are in Wyoming for my cousin's wedding). We've been able to plan and cook what we've wanted, keep things cleaned up, and just do what ever we've wanted, when we've wanted.

It's nice to have down time, I think it makes me more productive. I've started typing out all of my favorite recipes (really, not that many at this point) and saving them to the computer. My hope is to one day get a Nook (Barns and Noble e-reader) and be able to put my recipes on there so I have something portable that I can take into the kitchen and use.

Other then that, i've done a lot of yard work, a lot of laundry, a lot of cooking meals that are better suited for cold days, a lot of reading, and a lot of relaxing.

It's been a good week.

How does your garden grow?

2010-06-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

I really really wish there was a farmer's market that was closer then a half hours drive. I went today with the intent of finding some tomatoes to make my own pizza or spaghetti sauce and found out that it's not tomato season yet. I did however end up getting some delicious Rainier cherries and some strawberries. I ended up covering some of the strawberries in chocolate, but the other's are going to be eaten as-is <3 I think the think I love about the Farmer's market the most is the smell of apples. Especially at the Olympia one, apples everywhere!

After being dissapointed that I couldn't find any tomatoes, I decided to look into trying to grow some of my own. I guess June isn't ideal for planting them, but people said it has been done, so i'm trying it. I did buy one of those upside down planter things, so the tomatoes won't have to sit on the ground.

I've never really, honestly tried to grow anything. Two years ago I had one little strawberry plant in a giant tea cup that only gave me one strawberry (but to be fair, I never watered the poor guy). I do however have a nice bunch of blackberry bushes that grow over the back fench of my parents. They're huge and free (and one of my favorite berries)!

Darn you money, you and your spendability!

2010-05-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

I think i'm starting to have a shopping problem. Not nearly as bad as most people I know, but i've never been one to really like to spend money. It was more of a thrill for me stash it away in my savings account and let it grow until I needed it for something big (mostly travel). I've had the same amount sitting my savings account now for almost three months. I just can't stop spending! I'm really trying to back up and get into savings mode with this raise (that will hopefully, finally kick in 8 weeks late on Friday!).

Once my dentist appointment is done my savings account will be back at zero, and it get to start all over again. Seeing it that low kinda sends me into a panic. My parents have never been good with saving, and being absolutely broke is something that honestly scares me. Debt scares me. Just owing people money scares me!

Honestly, I wish I could start to save up for a trip again. I'm feeling awefuly restless and boring. Even just a small trip to somewhere new would be a start, but there's just too much I should do before that. I need to save for an apartment.

Bleh, I hate money.

I always fall in love with an open door, with a horizon on an endless sea...

2010-05-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

For some reason I thought it had been a lot longer then my last post... Let's see, the only thing even note worthy about the last month would be that I finally did get promoted at work, and while I thought this was a good idea at first, it's made me more stressed then I can remember. I honestly feel like I can't do anything right anymore. I've never hated my job this much (and oh, how I have hated this job).

My very first day opening up the store, with just me as the manger, we got secret shopped. This was after about a week of being completely stressed out over learning closing procedures, and stressed about how my raise still hasn't shown up on any of my pay checks. Once the results were in I got called in because my district manager had to write me up.

Even though I had four people working with me that day, i'm the only one that got written up because apparently the other girls weren't trained enough. Never mind it was my first day, and apparently I haven't been trained either.

I have never hated going to work as much as I do now. I'm stressed all the time, and i'm tired all the time. I keep having nightmares about work, almost every night. I'm really not happy there.

And so the job search continues... I feel like i'm always waiting for something to give, something good to happen.

Real isn't how you are made, it's a thing that happens to you.

2010-04-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.'"
— Margery Williams Bianco (The Velveteen Rabbit)

This song means an entire city to me...

2010-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

While flipping through random XKCD's I kept seeing the name Kurt Halsey. I googled him and this was the first image that came up and I fell in love.

I associate so many things in my life with music that this sums up a lot for me. It would have to be songs for me though, I have so many songs that make me think of San Francisco or Seattle (my two favorite cities in the entire world).
A lot of Mr. Halsey's stuff is amazing. I love when I stumble upon stuff through random clicking.

Today has been pretty good. Last night I got into one my productive moods and asked my best friend Buddy to go running with me today. It ended up being Will, me, her and her roommate. It was actually a lot of fun (and a lot of pain, I haven't been running in almost five years)! I think we're going again tomorrow before we get ready for Buddy's St. Patrick's day party.

I made homemade chocolate cupcakes (sooo much yummier then boxed, I might never make those again) and homemade marshmallows (same case, mmm). The marshmallows turned into green rice krispy treats for tomorrow's party.

I've been pretty productive, and it feels good.

Valentine's day.

2010-02-15T23:38:00.000-08:00

Exactly one year ago today I was in California, moving will up here. That also means we've been living together for a year now, and it still feels like he has to go home at any moment (I hope that feeling goes away eventually) This is by far the best valentine's day i've ever had. It was also the first time i've actually got to spend it with the one I love. It was a pretty relaxed day. We spent it hanging around the mall before we saw Up In The Air and went to dinner. I really liked the movie.

Today also would have been my Grandma June's 92nd birthday. I miss her a lot and it hit me a lot harder then it did last year for some reason, although to be fair, I was just finishing up an almost 24 hour car ride last year (it should have only been 12!).

Other then that, not much has changed and there isn't much to update. I've been feeling a little boring lately, but it's been alright. I kinda just want a day to relax and catch up on things like laundry.

Hello, Cupcake!

2010-02-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

As a present for Will's 22nd birthday I took him to Portland overnight. The first day we arrived we decided to have lunch at this awesome little place called The Grilled Cheese Grill that serves nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches (who would have guessed!?). It was cheap and amazingly yummy. Will had a four cheese sandwich and I had an amazing meatball grilled cheese. There tomato soup was really good also, but a bit spicy for me. It was a surprisingly nice day out to we got to eat outside and actually enjoy the sun.

After lunch we finally made it downtown and found some parking (Portland's streets are completely horrible, seriously!).Our next stop was Powell's books. This place is seriously HUGE! It's five stories and it takes up a complete city block. They have an entire floor dedicated to nothing but customer holds, and it's divided into colored sections. They also have a smaller store about a block down that's nothing but their technical books. I ended up buying a book called "Hello, Cupcake!". This could be a very bad thing because I want to make every single thing in this book. I also just want to try out a lot of techniques they use, for decorating other sweets. I have a feeling i'm going to end up with a ton of cupcakes pretty soon.

After the book store we went to check in at our hotel, which was amazing. They have a court yard that has three large fire pits with chairs around them. I wanted to just sit and chill by the fire forever but it started to rain. Our room and everyone there were super nice! We chilled in the room for a bit before going to dinner at Old Town Pizza, we had spaghetti.

The next day was basically just a bunch of driving around Oregon. We visited Tillamook because we love cheese. Then we visited a couple of beaches along the Oregon coast, driving all the way down to Newport. About 600 miles of driving all together. On our way back we stopped and picked up some doughnuts at VooDoo Doughnuts. Yum <3

Anyways, were tired but we had a lot of fun.

Back in the kitchen.

2010-01-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was finally able to buy the spring form pan i've been wanting so I could start experimenting with cheesecakes and things that go in those type of pans. I am really proud of the way my first cheesecake came out, and everyone else seems to agree. I've been kind of intimidated by cheesecakes because everyone I know that's tried says they're really hard to get right, but mine seemed almost too easy. They just take forever!

Anyways, it's almost gone so i'm taking it as a success!

I'm really liking this whole cooking kick i've been on lately. Next thing i'm going to try is Chicken Parmesan, which i've always loved, but have never attempted to make. I found a really good marinara sauce at Trader Joe's which i'm happy about because i've never found a marinara sauce outside of a restaurant that i've actually liked.

This is day two of my three days off and I still feel like it's not enough. I could have a whole week off and I still wouldn't want to go back to work. Job searching has been really slow this month, I only applied for one job today. Hopefully things pick up soon. I really can't wait to get my W2 so I can get some tax money back and hopefully finish up my dental work.

Who wrote the book of love?

2010-01-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at making a book. I kinda feel like it's cheating because it did come from a kit, but really, the only think I didn't do myself was actually bind the pages together (which i'm learning how do to, because i'm not sure I like the deckled edges so much, although they are growing on me).

My favorite part of the whole process is that I can basically make the covers anything I want. The art store up in Seattle has TONS of paper to choose from, and of course the internet it limitless. I think it would be kinda cool to make different kinds of books eventually. Address books, journals, recipe books, photo albums. I'm excited. I've also found about a million and a half recipes that I want to try. The first one requires that I find a cheesecake pan (which i've been wanting anyways.

I'm really in a crafty mood lately. I just want to try making everything. I should actually attempt some of it one of these days.

Anyways, it's been a long day. Will decided it was a good day to go for a drive and we ended up driving north for a couple of hours, almost to the Olympic mountain range. Then we headed back south to Puyallup and hung out with my Buddy. Sounds pretty uneventful, but it was actually really fun.

Sometimes I get nervous when I see an open door...

2010-01-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a slow couple of days. I've been exhausted because we had a corporate visit at work (right after inventory) that took a lot of work to get ready for. I was supposed to work yesterday but my boss gave me the day off for all the extra hours I put in getting ready for the visit (even though I would have loved the hours because hours = $).

I'm almost done making my first book. Everything is cut and ready to go, I just have to get some glue. I think it's really pretty and something I want to get more into. I'll have to learn how to bind books (probably start off with glue binding, maybe move onto stitch binding, who knows). I'm not even sure what i'm going to use the book for, I guess it could be something like a journal, but that's what this place is for. I guess if I get the right paper they could be small photo albums or gifts of some sort. Who knows.

Anyways, off to search for some more jobs. Haven't been able to find anything in the last couple days and I feel like i'm starting to slack off (bad me, bad!).

Cupcakes!

2010-01-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

So, since I have to be at work until midnight for inventory, I decided to make cupcakes! It's my first time trying them in ice cream cones, but it didn't turn out horrible! Will came up with the idea of using this injector thing that came with my parents rotisserie so the batter wouldn't make a huge mess while I filled them. Worked amazingly! A couple of them spilled over while baking, but they all taste pretty awesome. I'm only taking about half of them to work.

Will gave me a new website to look around. www.instructables.com It's pretty amazing. There are literally about a million things I want to try out or play around with! There's a cool idea on there for a litter box that doesn't let the cat litter get all over when they exit the box (one of my biggest annoyances of owning cats)

Other then baking, it's been a pretty relaxing day. I'm spent most of it looking around the internet for more jobs to apply for with not much luck. It's a slow day for job postings. I'll keep it up though, something has to work out sometime.

It's been a long day...

2010-01-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

It was a very long day. It started out with us heading into Seattle (just over an hour north) at making our first stop at Daniel Smith's (an art supply store). Will ended up getting some paper for something he needs to mat and I ended up buying a bookmaking kit and some really awesome handmade paper for the covers. I think it would be really cool to start making my own notebook type things. Who knows, it sounds fun a the moment.

Next we headed to Glazer's (a camera store) to see if they had anything that Will couldn't like without. After that we ended up near the Seattle center to spend almost two hours at The Experience Music Project and the SciFi museum. We paid for a 10 hour ticket and ended up giving it to some guys that just got there (because we didn't want it to go to waste).

Then we just drove for a bit. We ended up at Snoqualmie and stopped to see the Snoqualmie falls (which were awesome this time of year). After that he took me to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory where they give you enough food for almost three meals! I still have so much pasta left. We couldn't even finish the piece of red velvet cheesecake that we shared!

All in all, it was an awesome day.

Same story...

2010-01-08T22:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't get the job. They did however say I was their second choice and wanted to know if they could hang onto my resume for the next open position they may have...

Hoping and wishing...

2010-01-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

This day turned out to be a lot better then I thought it would. I woke up completely sick to my stomach because of the upcoming interview. I arrived at the law office about 20 minutes early (I always do this for everything, i'm scared of being late). It was honestly the best interview I have ever had. From the very beginning it was relaxed and just like a conversation. I was interviewed by the office director and the Reitzke part of Church and Reitzke. Both very nice, warm ladies. We talked for about a half hour about all the things I would be expected to do. A lot of the interview went as if I already had the job.

I tried not to get my hopes up, but they're sky high by now. I want this job so bad! I don't even know what the pay would be, but the hours are Monday-Friday 9-5:30 (weekends off!). Just that alone makes this an amazing job. I left and drove home where I signed online to find a message from someone on my references saying they received a call and gave me a great reference. I've never had a job interview actually make it to the reference stage. I'm horribly, sick to my stomach excited and I can't help it, I want this so bad!

Another chunk of good news today is that a lump they found on my dad's neck about two weeks ago turned out to be nothing. They sure made us wait a while to actually find out, but it's all good now.

All in all, it's been a hopeful day and I need more like this.

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst...

2010-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

So, tomorrow at 11:00am I have an interview with a law office in Olympia for a receptionist position. I applied last night and she called for a phone interview while I was out today. I ended up calling her back and felt like a stumbled thought the phone interview (we had almost gotten into a car crash before this, I was still frazzled). Apparently I passed enough to warrant an actual interview. It's a pretty small law office (I talked to one of the actual owns of the office, she seemed really nice) and it's only a mile and a half away from my current work (yay, not a longer commute!).

I'm really trying not to get my hopes up, but on the same hand i'm trying to stop putting myself down because that can really come across in an interview.

This is a pretty good way to start off the year. I need to keep this up!

After finding out about the interview we ended up just kinda shopping today. We went to Costco where I saw my beatiful mixer. The exact one I want! A shiny red professional for under $300! At least now I know where I can find one when the times comes to actually make my purchase. We also stopped by the mall where Will found a couple of blu-rays for $10 each. He bought me "Stand by Me" for $7!

It was a pretty good day (besides the almost car crash), and hopefully tomorrow is even better.
*good thoughts*

One can dream...

2010-01-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

This mixer is all I've been able to think about for the past 24 hours, at least. It's something I've always wanted since I first because interested in baking/cooking. I have a really strong urge to actually put on on my credit card and pay it off over a couple of months. It's dangerously temping. Lately, it seems like cooking is the only thing I've been interested in, and I've been doing a lot more of it over the past year. Most of that might be the fact that Will has been living with me almost a year and I really do enjoy cooking new things for us to try. My favorites of the past year have to be the snowball cookies that I've become quite good and making and my pumpkin spice muffins that I tried for the first time this past fall. The point of this post is really that i'm happy that I've found something I enjoy doing. It's something I've always enjoyed doing and it's something I can see myself enjoying for a very long time.

*sigh* It really is a beautiful mixer.

So much to do...

2010-01-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Lately no matter how much I get accomplished in a day I never feel like i'm really getting anywhere. Almost all of my laundry is done and I've managed to apply for two jobs today.

I'm so sick of applying for jobs. I've even started applying for the type of jobs that would be a second job while I keep the one I have. My hours for next week have been reduced to 15, and i'm still getting more then anyone else at work. While I feel like a second job would suck, I really need some way to start making more money. Thank goodness it's almost tax time, at least i'll be able to finish my dentist work without having to owe too much.

One day i'll probably hate it, but thank goodness for tax time.

Job applications: 2

All shiny and new!

2010-01-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

I've tried this before and i'm going to (honestly) try this again. It's a new year anyways, and i'm going to make this one count. While I don't feel like I've got much to talk about, I feel like I just needs to say things, so that's what this is all about.

This is my place for all things.