Re-committed. And tired.

Today my friends, will by day 8 of 8 straight days of work.

all of the shifts were 6-10 hours long. 

For 8. straight. days.

Needless to say, I'm ready for a break, and that is a large part of my lack of non-simple blogging.

I've been at the new store now for 3 weeks, and it has gone a lot better than I expected. I actually really enjoy it. Just not 8 straight days of it. =)

I have re-committed to being a flexitarian.  It will be super difficult when school starts, but for now it's not been bad.  I just make 2-3 vegetarian meals a week, and eat them and their leftovers at work and at home, keeping me meat free, and then allow myself fish or chicken once or twice on the weekends. 

The vegetarian section of the "Healthy College Cookbook" has become my best friend. 

I love that cookbook.

Last week I had brocolli-tofu stir fry, garlic and tofu green beans, and pasta salad.

This week I've had Sesame noodles, a different pasta salad, and today I made ginger-soy tofu over rice.

It's delicious. 

Other than massive amounts of work, things have been pretty good in this household. Recycling is taking off, which I am so excited about. It's a real eye opener to see how much we've been throwing away that we could have been recycling. 

We re-potted the mandarin tree, so there is more dirt under it now.

And we have peppers from the garden, but everything else is kind of stalled due to this ridiculous heat.

Jamie and I have been getting to spend a lot of time together lately, and it's been so nice. We've finally gotten into that summer swing. Unfortunately, school starts in less than a month. But, I don't want to talk about that yet. 

Tomorrow we are hanging out with our friends Amanda and Joe.  Joe and Jamie are going golfing, and Amanda and I are going to get pedicures. Neither of us have ever had one, so we thought we would go together to try it. I'm really excited, I love seeing those two. It's nice to have friends we can get together with, and I always feel good when I'm with them.

And I got to talk to Misty yesterday, which was so great. 

Oh yeah, and Minnie's in heat again, so you can imagine what she's been like to deal with. If you can't imagine, here is a picture from the last time.

And I will leave you with a thought from the other day.  When I was a kid, I read the book "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh about 50 times. I loved it.  There is a simple passage in there, in the 3rd chapter, where Harriet is talking to her best friend, that says:

"She never minded admitting she didn't know something. 'So what?' she thought; 'I could always learn.'"

I realized the other day, when the grocery store clerk looked at me like an idiot because I didn't know that scallions and green onions were the same things, that this one tiny passage has helped shaped my life. As I started to feel really stupid, and stopped and thought, "So what? how was I supposed to know if no one ever told me?" And then I didn't feel bad. It's amazing the kind of power books can give us. That one small passage has helped shape me into the person I am. I feel confident even in not knowing things, because I can just learn them later. 

And I love that.

♥ 

Bookworm.

I've become an avid reader again. 

From age 4 to high school, I read 1-2 books a week.  When I got into college, I stopped reading for pleasure very often, because of lack of time, and ample amounts of reading for class.

Last month, I went to the library, and not knowing really where to start because I haven't read anything new in so long, I just went to the new releases and picked up 4 books, 3 fiction and 1 nonfiction.

And I have since then been reading constantly.

My two favorites from those selections are "Please look after mom" by Kyung-Sook Shin, and "Growing a Farmer" by Kurt Timmermeister.

"Please look after mom" is a fabulous look at the roll of a mother from the views of her 2 children, husband, and herself, and what they realize once she's gone.  It is translated beautifully from Korean, and is a great read.

"Growing a Farmer" is a true account of one man journey from a city-dwelling restaurant owner in Seattle,  to a completely self sufficient farmer on only 8 acres. I think it is so interesting, and I am loving it.

I already picked these up for when I'm done with "Growing a Farmer."

I'm addicted.

I bet you can't guess my favorite place to read. =)

Yep. It's wonderful.

I'm a little worried about my reading when school starts up again, but we will deal with that when the time comes. 

♥

This...

is...

Heaven.

Love it.

♥

My love...

Jamie and I celebrated our first anniversary this past Sunday.

I love that man.

I've been struggling a lot lately.

There are days where I feel like my life is totally spiraling out of control, and it takes everything I have to get out of bed.

Between this appeal on my grade at school, a work transfer that I don't really want, and some serious body image issues, it's a very rough patch in my life. 

He helped me put all of that aside, for the whole weekend. 

While it was a crazy weekend, with 2 graduation open houses, a wedding, and a bridal shower, plus our anniversary, we were able to make time for us.

On sunday evening, we had reservations at Morton's steakhouse downtown. (we had a coupon, haha we are lame.)

We left early, and just walked around downtown for an hour. 

We walked. We talked. It was wonderful.

Just like old times.

And may I just say, the dinner was phenomenal.

As Jamie bit into his filet minon, he said "Wow. Every steak I've ever had to this point has been fake."

hahaha, he makes me laugh.

Morton's is so awesome, they personalized our menus.

I may be a total nerd, but I think this is so cool.

We walked around for a while afterward, and just spent the time together.

Then on the evening of Memorial day, after I worked a crazy 8-5 at work, I came home, and we hung out, and tried cedar plank salmon on the grill!

We haven't cooked together in a long time, and it was really fun. 

And even though it was dark, we started a fire in our pit, and ate outside.

And it turned out amazing.

And this is coming from someone who virtually never eats seafood.

This recipe was pretty complex, and needed a lot of ingredients i had to go buy, but it is a great one if you want to impress guests or something. Here is where I found it.

Then we just hung out and made smores over the fire. 

It was exactly what I needed.

I seriously don't know what I would do without him sometimes.

He is my best friend.

Who would have known 4 years ago, what this would turn into.

Just for laughs, here is a picture of us the day of our first date, May 26, 2007. (I'm not a freak, it was the day I graduated, haha)

And us at his Christmas party, this past December.

A lot has changed.

But we've gotten though it all.

I'm looking forward to many more years with him.

I'm so thankful.

♥

Impromptu Broadripple Trip!

Husband surprised me with a trip to Broadripple last night. 

It was so great. 

We hung out, ate Qdoba and Red Mango (yum!), walked the Monon a bit, and went into a few little shops.

It's been so nice having him home these past few evenings.  

I miss him now that he's back at work.

So excited for this summer, when I can see him more.

I am one paper away, and for better or worse, the semester will be over for me.

Jamie has a week and a 1/2, and then he is done.

I love him.

Can't wait to have an opportunity to show him that more. 

♥

A Cuddly Saturday

Today has unfortunately been less than productive. 

I had all of these things I wanted to get done today, and i got very few of them done, and none of the ones that had to do with school. Dang it.

But, Oh well, it was a nice day none the less.

Jamie and I spent the morning catching up on this past week, and being all cuddly. Then we made pancakes for breakfast (when we got up at 10) and then took an hour long nap. =)

He's at work now, and I have to go in about an hour.

Even the pets have been feeling extra cuddly.

Minnie, who is acting more like herself, although not quite 100% yet, decided this was where she wanted to take her morning nap.

And then as soon as she left, here comes Emma!

Despite my lack of productivity, it's been a nice morning.

But, I'm going to regret it for the next few days, when I am staying up until all hours of the night doing homework.

Oh well.

♥