A Worthy Cause Indeed

It's about time we did something to better our society. Support a cause. Do something good for mankind. Bring back Crystal Clear Pepsi.

My Other Quircks

So tc and I were talking about the post I made yesterday and I asked him what do YOU think my quirks are, this is what I got

-I have to have the closet door closed when I sleep
-I like to have the shower curtain closed (this isn't so strange, i bought it because it is pretty and adds a lot more color and niceness to the bathroom than the white tile and white tub)
-I don't mind a mess if it is out of sight (closet?) but if I can it drives me crazy (uh, this is totally true)
-I don't mind sitting on papers in the passenger seat of the car (I had no idea about this one, he says my dad does it too. who notices these things?)
-I want to randomly switch sides of the bed every so often (I don't see what is so wrong with that, I like to mix it up in the bedroom!)

Quirky

I don't think I'm all that quirky but this is my first time being tagged (thanks meg!) so I feel like I have to do it.

I have been TAGGED!


Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you: Meg!
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking to them
5. Leave a comment for each tagged blogger to let them know that they have been tagged

6 Quirks about me..

1)I have five brothers
2)I can't leave clothes in the dryer. I have to fold them immediately after they come out. After they are folded is it possible they will not be put away for weeks, but they will not stay in the dryer.
3)if I have a salad with a meal, I have to eat the salad before I touch any of my other food
4)going to Braums reminds me of my grandma
5)when I read 4 of meg's quircks I thought, "Oh my god, ME TOO!"
6)I am a TERRIBLE speller. thank the lord in heaven above for spell check

I will tag....
chris- because I think she loves this stuff
sars - because I am pretty sure she doesn't
keri - because she hasn't updated her blog in ages
amie- because I haven't seen her tagged either
sarah- because I haven't heard from her in a while and I am worried
and jessica because I am still upset we haven't seen mi pics

.

Somethings I've learned about my salad eating habits.

-if I buy goat cheese I will eat salad every day. every single delicious salad day.
-I can get really crazy with my salads if I want. for instance today I added grapes. CRAZY! and it was really great. i love sweetness in my salad.
-speaking of sweetness I really love dried cranberries with the salad. especially combined with the goat cheese.

and finally, how I eat my salad. it is a very delicate process. I make my salad in the morning and keep the dressing at work. that way I don't have to carry a big bottle around with me and I don't have to pack a little miniature thing of dressing. I try to not eat too much of the good stuff (cranberries, delicious goat cheese, sometimes crazy grapes) as I'm eating the lettuce because I want to make sure that I have plenty of bites of good stuff with lettuce until the very bottom. I do this so much so that by the time I get to the bottom of my salad bowl it is filled only with cranberry goat cheese goodness. It is quite the magical process.

I've Got Gas

My sweetie husband called me to say GO GET GAS AT LUNCH because crude oil went up $6 a gallon and apparently the gas prices will react rather quickly to that. So to all of you GO GET GAS! :)

That leads me to my next comment, I must be lookin fine today. Yeah, you heard me, I said it.

I was at the gas station and
1) I am pretty sure I got $30 of gas for free
2) this dude held the door open for me for about a minute before I actually got there
3) the gas station clerk followed me out to my car (creeped me out at first!) only to pump my gas for me.

Then I realized the following events happened to confirm my hypothesis:
*3 compliments on my hair one of which was combined with a question on if it took extra time to fix (ps. it did not. I was running so late this morning that I only had time to dry my hair for about 10 seconds. hence the wavy look)

*2 compliments on my skirt one of which was asking if it was new. (pss. it is in fact not new. it is definitely in my 10 day rotation of work clothes)

*1 comment on how I have lost weight (psss. this lovely ray of sunshine was definitely incorrect in her observation)

Self Evaluation

I am terrible at this stuff. I have been as long as I can remember. That is why I can never figure out what I want to do with my life because I don' t know if I am mostly friendly, accurate, outspoken, or calm. Especially when outspoken is "speaking freely, openly, or bodly; assertive" I am bold and assertive when I need to be, but I don't just say random stuff off the cuff. But I am also calm (def: "Not excited or agitated; composed, relaxed"). So how do I know what I am the most and what I am the least?

To make matters worse I usually answer the questions as best I can and then I am unsatisified with the results I get back. Most of the time I am just a little bit of every color, or I will be moderately "P" and moderately "S" but a little of every other letter. What does that tell me about myself?

Usually I just pick out the characteristics of the profiles that I like the best and determine that is what I am.

We'll see what this painful Behavioral Profile has to say about me. I can't wait until I get to share it in front of all of my coworkers

Somewhere over the....

I don't think I've ever rainbow that extended over the whole sky like that. I am loving this rain!

Crockpot Oatmeal

Okay, so my favorite food critic told me that my oatmeal did not look appetizing and he actually did not think that the oatmeal had any flavor but I thought it was REALLY good so I am sharing it with all of you anyway. The picture is to let you know that this does not turn out the same as the oatmeal that you know and love. First of all the dried fruit turns the oatmeal a lovely shade of reddish brown and second it is more the texture of a porridge, smooth and creamy.

The only changes I would make would be to use half and half as the original recipe said (I happen to have just a little bit of cream left from a recipe last week so I used that but would like to cut down on the fat). Also I think it had a very strong cherry flavor which I loved but it overpowered the oatmeal taste I was looking for. Next time I will cut down on the dried fruit. I wasn't sure how that would effect the recipe but I saw another overnight oatmeal recipe very simliar to this one that only used 2/3c of dried fruit so I am going to give that a shot.

This is recipe was inspired by Alton Brown's Overnight Oatmeal recipe

Here is what you need:
1C Steel Cut Oatmeal (I got this at Sprouts in the bulk section)
1C Dried Cranberries
1C Dried Cherries
4C water
1/2 cup cream

Here is what you need to do:
Line your crockpot with crockpot liner, you won't regret it. Combine all ingredients into a crockpot, cover, and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours. Stir and decide if the oatmeal is too liquidy for your preference. If it is, serve into bowls and let sit for about 10 minutes then enjoy. and say mmmm... yum a lot.

Dirk in a dress?

I think so

Anything is possible
In Him all things are possible
All you do is keep the faith
don't give up 'cause it's never too late

Anything is possible
In Him all things are possible
You can have whatever you say
Cast your fears away

There is a way
That you can have everything that you've always dreamed of
There is a way
Just keep your feet on the ground while you reach for the heavens
There is a way
It may take a little time but never stray from the vision
Just keep the faith
You can't give up now

There is a way
It may be hard for you now, but it's gonna get better
Your life will change
I've seen it done in the past, so never say never
Where is your faith
You can speak to the mountain and it will be moved
That is the way
To receive all He has for you

Anything is Possible, Anointed

Yearbook Yourself

My friend Meg did this and it is pretty hilarious so I thought I would give it a try. Here is how I would have looked 1950s-1980s

1952

1960

1962

19661972

1976

1978


1982

1984

Port Wine Vinaigrette

Last Saturday my mom made this amazing meal where she seasoned a pork loin and grilled it then topped it with a cherry port wine sauce. It was delicious! The only thing was we only used one cup of the port wine. The stuff is awesome for cooking but not so great for drinking so I had to find some more recipes to use it with.

Last night I made this mushroom stuffed chicken with white wine sauce. wow, it was good!
A little tip, I don't drink white wine so much so when I need to use it in cooking a whole bottle will go to waste. This time I decided to buy the four individual bottles of Barefoot Chardonnay. They are the perfect amount because most recipes call for a cup, and now next time I need wine for a recipe I don't have to go buy a new bottle. Anywhoo back to the dressing...

I decided to make some salad dressing to go on spinach I was planning on serving on the side. To make you need

2 C Port Wine
1 Shallot, chopped coarse
about 1/4 C white wine vinegar (red would probably be just as good, if not better but we had white on hand)
about 3T olive oil
s&p

-simmer port wine and shallots until reduced to about 1/2 C stirring occasionally.

-strain out the shallots, add in the vinegar, salt and pepper.

-taste it and see if you like it. if you want a sweeter dressing you could put a little less vinegar but if you like yours with a twang add a little more.

-stream in the olive oil while whisking furiously. again, I don't like my salad dressing very oily so I didn't put very much in.

This dressing was great over spinach leaves and was even better with the spinach + mushroom and bacon filling from the chicken!

kyle is home!!

My lil bro is home from India. We spent about 6 hours hearing all about his journey yesterday and it was so wonderful to be able to see and hear a lot of what went on while he abroad. You might remember this adventure

He was so super sweet he bought me a necklace and a traditional indian top that I think is called a kurta

This is a crappy pic but it is the only one I have of the necklace. We thought it was pretty crazy how well the necklace he bought matched the outfit I was wearing when we picked him up from the airport.

My Job

sometimes I love working for a make up company. it isn't quite full yet but I am working on it

Curtains

My mom and I spent a whole Satuday making curtains. I think the hardest part was picking out the fabric. They are not quite done yet but here is what I have come up with so far. I think they really make the apartment look much more homey and add some nice color. For an added bonus they are already keeping our apartment much cooler

These are the living room curtains. They look particularly shiny in the picture but the material is more like the silk you would see on a wedding dress.


This is the leave pattern on the curtains


These are the living room curtains. At first I was worried they would look too much like old lady drapes but I am really pleased with how they turned out

Awwww Sweet Husband

My sweet husband sent these to my work on Friday. Aren't the pretty? Everyone together now... awwwwww!!

And just to let everyone know what a jerk I am he got in trouble for sending them to me because they aren't in our budget. Then I proceeded to tell my coworkers what a good job he did on the vase because usually he sends the ugly curvy ones and that he should send them not on a friday that way they can see how pretty the flowers get when they bloom. Yeah, big old jerk!