You won't be disappointed

Tonight we ate this. I recommend when you have time, you do the same. It was a delightful fall meal.

Oh, and, we are alive and happy. And busy. We both have new jobs and I'm in school.

Back to the food:
winter squash soup with gruyere croutons

pie crust 102: all butter, really flaky pie dough

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople

You won't be disappointed.

Resume booster

By far, the best line on my husband's resume reads: Appeared in teen romance film as a basketball player.

Proof:



Okay, you might have to watch the full film to see more of him. Look for the tall, lanky b-ball player in blue. He is only in 1 second of the trailer (1:16). They filmed the movie in UT and he was used as an extra while he was in high school.

Busy

I have been really busy lately. All good things, but with two nights a week at school, other obligations and bike riding I have had something every night for the past week and I think the next two are quickly booking up.

Last night I was telling Bryson how busy I am and complaining about not having time to clean (I know, Bryson is was busier than me). Tonight I had school. I got home and saw this:




Bryson cleaned the whole apartment. Our bathroom is sparkling too. What a gem. It was the best gift he could have given me.

So, yes, I have just devoted a whole post on my fabulous husband. And his mad cleaning skills.

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Week in Review

Bryson is razzing me right now for not changing my age on my blog. I'm 28. Changing that now.

Since that is all taken care of I will give a quick recap of the week.....

Last weekend was GREAT, as many three day weekends are. Saturday we went on a bike ride, met up with friends for tennis, laid by the pool and saw Super 8. Monday I ran a surprise 9k (surprise for two reasons 1) I forgot I signed up for it and 2) it was only supposed to be 8k, the course was a bit long), went to a BBQ and rode bikes to the mall with the Bessey's to watch the fireworks. The boys fought through the crowds, stashed our bikes on (as in on top of) the bushes and we watched from the Lincoln Memorial. This is year number 4 watching fireworks from different places on the mall and this was my favorite view.

School is going well for me, I turned in my mid-term and am hoping it went well. I really like being back, it feels really good. Busy, but really good. I am really excited to start my actual Poli Sci classes in the Fall.

B has been sick, which is pretty sad. Yesterday he wasn't feeling well, and spent the day working while I went on a long bike ride, went to a pool party, took a nap (the sun really takes it out of me, whew), cooked dinner and we watched "The Man Who Knew Too Little". I recommend it if you want to watch a silly movie and be easily entertained.

Huzzah.

I got up this morning and through fate decided to try on that pair of jeans that were just a little tight, but as most women know, you keep those pants because they will totally fit someday.

Someday being after joining a dumb work contest where you don't eat sweets or eat within two hours of bed and have to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies and work out everyday. There is actually a checklist of 8 things and since I really like to win, I have been really committed. Ask B, I have been a nut, and he mocks me, but also told me how impressed with my will power he is.

Anyways, those pants totally fit this morning.

After finding this out, I found B and made him tell me how good they look. ha. I also told him his sick stomach will hopefully be feeling better so he can take his hot wife and her fabulous jeans out on a date tonight.

He finds me endearing.

And it has been a really good day.

Charleston

When we got to charleston we went for a walk around town. We sat by the waterfront and enjoyed the breeze. It was pretty hot outside and it was nice to be by the water.

After that we went back to the hotel for a Sunday afternoon nap. Somehow we got really worn out after all the eating and wandering.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Poogan's Porch. The shrimp and grits were wonderful as was the peanut butter pie. I do love southern food.

Monday morning we both woke up full. Shocker. We brought along the Georgia peaches that were getting better by the day. We spent the morning at Boone Hall, an old cotton plantation. The plantation was beautiful. We started with an open air tram ride through the grounds. Our driver was an older southern gentleman who was pretty crotchety. He loved living on the ocean but couldn't understand why anyone else would want to move to charleston and was pretty upset they have. At one point while looking at a small fresh pond he pointed out a baby heron standing on a log and said "surprised a gator hasn't gotten him." He then pointed out a group of wood ducks and said, "the mama can fly but those little ones'll be gone when this water goes down. Them gators are gonna have a heyday."







After That we watched a presentation on Gullah culture. The woman who gave the presentation spoke in Gullah and


Why would any parent sign their kid up for tap dancing? It has no application to the real world.

-Bryson


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A bit of a mess

I went to work yesterday without my voice. It was pretty silly when I was on the phone with the plasterer (since we had a leak at the office and now needed some repair work done). Who get's a cold in June?! Bleh. I had to get a new passport photo taken and didn't do my hair or get ready at all. No customs agents will be hitting on this girl for the next 10 years.

I also cut my finger with a razor last night (freak accident, I sliced part of my fingernail and skin). I superglued it together- since it wasn't deep.

I am also convinced there is something planted in my right eye. B says he thinks it is a scratch, but I think it is a piece of sand. It is giving me a headache. B also said when he gets some time tomorrow he will make me a patch for my eye. He found a you-tube tutorial on how to make an eye patch.

Isn't that a lovely sight: superglued finger, pirate patch, raspy voice, hacking cough and wild hair.

B is a lucky man.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I love Thanksgiving food. This year, we'll be experiencing a different type of Turkey for the holiday.

Savannah aka eating my way through the south.

We spent yesterday biking around savannah. Renting bikes and taking a few hours to see the city was a great idea. It was 90 degrees and walking would have been way too hot. The heat makes me grumpy. Biking makes me happy.




After dropping out bags at our hotel, the Savannah Riverside Marriott, we walked to the bike shop. Luckily there was an ice cream shop next door with homemade ice cream. Leopold's ice cream came highly recommended and did not disappoint.

Savannah has a lot to see (Bryson disagrees) but not a lot of these things take time so another plug for biking the city.

Forsyth park was enchanting. (Bryson just said "if by enchanting you mean a routine city park with a nice fountain.") but seriously, it is lovely. The dense trees cover the park and give it a feel of old southern charm. The fountain in the middle is beautiful.

Savannah was the first planned city in north america. King George commissioned it and there are 22 city parks.

We rode along the river front which houses old cotton warehouses now transformed into restaurants and shops. And the eyesore modern hyatt that hangs over the cobblestone street below. Seriously, whoever allows that to be build made a serious error in judgement.

Bryson really liked the peanut shop. We later realized they sold Virginia peanuts there.

For dinner we had reservations Olde Pink House. Delicious. BLT salad with fried green tomatoes, local shrimp over cheese grits, pork shank with mac and cheese and flash fried flounder with and apricot sauce, "one of the five best pieces of fish in my lifetime" said Bryson.

This morning we ate breakfast at Huey's and we really enjoyed that also. We filled up on bignets and I couldn't really finish my omelette. Maybe my eyes were bigger than my stomach. But I did try my hardest to finish the Parmesan garlic grits, again, delicious. And not that expensive. If it sounds like all we did was eat in savannah, you might be right.

After church we even found a fruit stand and bought a bag of Georgia peaches which we are snacking on.

We are on our way now to charleston and frankly can't wait to see what other food we find.

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South

Bryson and l made a weekend getaway to the south. We are in Charleston,SC and driving to Savannah, GA. Since I pretty bad at blogging after vacations, I figured I would blog while here.

We rented a car. The car is a mercury grand Marquis. It us the size of a boat. A house boat. Bryson, being a giant, loves it. I, being difficult, keep joking that no one under the age of 95 who is not employed in law enforcement drives this car. Bryson's response was "I don't think this is a law enforcement car, definitely an octogenarian car."





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We were talking about our future (way in the future) kids and Bryson was hilarious.

His quotes of the night:

"There is a chance our daughters will be gorgeous supermodels, or they will just be bigger Americans."

"That is why we went to the park and threw [the football], I was checking out your genes."

Baking woes

I am sitting in our smoke filled apartment typing away. Don’t worry; I haven’t taken up smoking, I just burned something real bad in the oven. Totally not my fault though.

I bought a Bundt pan a few weeks ago. I decided to break it out for my childhood favorite Sunday treat, pull aparts, a sticky but type treat. This Bundt pan is different than the one my mom had, in that the bottom and middle lift out. Apparently this is great for cakes, not great for pull aparts. I looked back at our oven and smoke was coming out at a rapid rate. Oh dear.

After furter inspection, the sauce in the recipe melts and goes right through the bottom of the pan which leads to a sugary puddle of burning, smoking goo in the bottom of the oven. Lovely. Pretty sure that is going to need to be cleaned at some point. Ugh.

I also am not sure how these gooey treats are going to taste after losing half their sauce (and I know this makes them lower-cal, but who wants low-cal treats?).

At least as I type the haze in our apartment is clearing out. I think the real question is though: how did our smoke alarms not go off at all during this mess? And should I be worried about that?

**They taste great still. And, since they are low-cal, I feel fine about eating half the pan.

My favorite things

I love candy. Love it. As in like it more than most people like their dogs. I openly admit it is a huge weakness for me. Husband is a take it or leave it kind of guy. I fully agree with this New York Times article: Is Sugar Toxic? That sugar is causing obesity, heart disease, cancer and a whole slough of other problems (rotted teeth). But I really like it.

Why am I babbling about Candy? Because I haven't eaten it for almost 4 months. B and I gave it up for New Years. It really was after he teased me about liking it so much and I said "Fine, New Years Resolution for both of us: No candy" I forgot that the Easter season is a candy lovers dream. Need evidence?

I think I was really hoping someone would bring him some at work and he would eat it, tell me and then it would be off by now. Not even close. He is solid. Sweets in general aren't tempting to him. And after he read about Steve Nash, a professional basketball player, who doesn't eat sweets and has inspired Shaq to go sugar free too, he was even more set on the dangers of white granulated goodness (or gloppy processed from corn goodness).

For anyone reading this, could you send B a snickers bar to his work address, then I won't eat them and maybe he will? Thank you in advance.

I bought a brush

My hair use to be real short. I loved it. B hopes I never cut it again. It was so short I would weave my fingers through it and it would be done. Now my hair is real long. It has been growing for two years. I still just finger comb it. I finally bought a brush tonight. I am pretty excited about this purchase. I hope it actually reduces frizz Like the packaging says it will (yeah right) when DC turns into a hot swamp this summer.

A runner is born.

Two marathons
Two relay Races
One Half Marathon
Three years of pacing a running group

And....

I AM A RUNNER!!

Running has always been tough for me. I get bored, I don't like it, I would rather do something else. I have a lot of excuses, but I keep at it. It is the easiest form of exercise to do. You just have to have shoes. And you can do it anywhere in any weather.

But it has been so hard for me. Running long distances hasn't ever agreed with me. My knee hurts, my legs go dead, I had some ligament problem in my foot for months. Plus my lungs feel like they are going to generally explode after about a mile. In elementary school I would always be slow in the mile run.

Somehow though, on my ten mile training run for an upcoming half-marathon, I broke through. I felt real good. At mile 5 about the time I was staring at this:

I wanted to keep going. This is rare. Normally at mile 5 I would want to catch a cab. But I plugged along and felt good. I am getting excited for our Half-marathon in two weeks. Our office is doing it together (all three of us) and it should be a blast. I am still slow, but slow and steady crosses the finish line, right?

This winter I seemed to watch a lot of movies. It was cold and dreary and I had no desire to go outside. There are a few movies I adored. Here they are:

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Garrett, Bryson and I watched this while G was visiting us. All three of us loved it. I think this is a diverse enough sample group that it will entertain everyone. This documentary tells of Steve Wiebe trying to break the Donkey Kong world record which was held by Billy Mitchell. I got so into the movie I yelled at the TV and almost cried. Hollywood could not have created better characters, and these are real people. Totally family friendly.

Lars and the Real Girl

I think I have cried in three movies in my life. This is one of them. The description of the movie sounds like it could be scandalous. It isn't. Lars brings home the girl of his dreams- the problem is she is a doll. The storyline is hilarious and moving and the acting is great.

Running

My office mates and I have been training for a half-marathon. This past weekend I decided to run a 10k in preparation for it. It was incredibly windy yesterday morning, wind about 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph and I figured my pace would be a little slower but not too much slower.

Mid-way through the race I saw the time and it was 10 min slower than I thought I would be. My first thought was "WHAT?!" At that point, that would mean I was running 3 min per mile SLOWER than normal. I was so upset. I thought I was going to be a little slower, but that was really slow. I really thought about quitting. I was sick of the wind and I was not in the mood to keep running. But I kept going. There were only 3 miles left and I figured my real goal was just to run the whole thing.

And then I finished. I was pretty happy to be done. Running in the wind is a rough. I then checked my time. The time we almost exactly my normal pace.

There was a 5k that started 10 min before the 10k and that is when the clock was started. So, when I saw my time, I should have subtracted 10 min. I was really happy that in the wind I stayed on pace.

I learned that sometimes things aren't as bad a they seem. And that I shouldn't give up. All these reasons to love running. Which I am really starting to do.

GOP Candidates

I am against the two year long races for President/Senate/Congress. Too long. And for House members, that means they are running for the next race their whole term. Since this is an off year though, and next year is a presidential election, people are buzzing with guesses on who is running next year. I keep reading about potential candidates and it is getting interesting:

PalinHuntsmanRomneyTrump??

Taco Night

Bryson and I made Tacos last night. At the store I text him to see if he wanted soft or hard shells. He said both.

I understood why he wanted both when we were eating he made one of these:
and said "This [the double decker taco] might is the greatest culinary invention of the decade. "

Morning Commute

I ran out the door to the shuttle. With the sheet of ice that is DC I didn't want to drive. Just outside of our apartment building door I looked down and realized I didn't zip up my skirt and it was around my ankles. How I forgot to zip it up I have no idea. Luckily I had on a pea coat and tights so the shuttle bus only saw mid thigh down. I am sure they needed some entertainment, right?

On the shuttle I got a text saying we could open late and noticed the 2 hour late start due to the storm. Good thing I rushed for the bus.

On the metro, a kind gentleman informed me my bag was dripping. Luckily it was only my water bottle and not my lunch. By the end of the ride there was a little puddle under me.

Off the metro, a block to work and I got a little too confident walking the ice covered streets when my feet went in front of me and my hip was firmly connected to the ground. A nice pedestrian asked if I was okay and I got a few sympathy looks from others.

I am positive the day is going to be better than this.