NaBloPoMo Day 4

(Yes - it's technically day 2, but let's pretend I posted the first two days)

Link for today
The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Ree lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere but manages to pull off dishes that aren't typical Kansas or Oklahoma fare. She takes absolutely beautiful pictures of the whole cooking process and is a realistic chef - she doesn't expect you to have super-fancy ingredients on hand or to spend hours on a single dish. The only downside is that she feeds a family of six plus various ranch hands (it's a real farm!) and it doesn't always work for me to make cinnamon rolls for 24.

Starting late

So I completely forgot that November is NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month, where the goal is to post every day of the month. I tried it a few years ago (I could go through my archives and link to it but you all are smart people) in a rather pathetic attempt. I figure this is a good way to get into the habit of posting more often - we'll see how this goes.

I'm so excited for October to be over. I've basically lived in my bedroom for the last half of the month due to the flooding. The cats are getting extremely bored trapped in a single room and I can't say I blame them. I haven't been grocery shopping in at least two weeks and the closest I've come to cooking is making coffee. My house has always been a refuge for me and the place where I can chill out and get away from all of the stress of work and school. This is why I haven't had a roommate since college and why I don't do well away from home for too long. My house is now even more stressful than the world outside and that's really taking a toll on me. I cannot wait to have everything back to normal and cook some meals and catch up on the DVR.

Whew - enough whining. Since you really don't want to hear me go on and on about the house all month I'm going to use these posts to recommend links. This also saves me the trouble of updating my links section on the left. Everyone wins!

Today's recommendation:
Young House Love
John and Sherry bought an older house in Richmond and document all of their adventures related to renovating their home and making it their own. They have a fantastic sense of design and I love seeing the little and big changes they make all over their house. I am always impressed by their ability to tackle big projects and to make you feel like you can do it too. Check out their backyard wedding - it's amazing that they pulled off such a fantastic celebration on a small budget.

Quiz

Q: What do you do when your house is a wreck, your air conditioner is
broken, and you have a ridiculous amount of work due this week?

A: Buy a cute new (and very reasonably priced!) coat. Obviously.

Falling Apart

This has been a really tough semester and I've been pretty consistently overwhelmed with school and work (paid and unpaid) related responsibilities. So it is natural that my house would have a major plumbing problem in the brief time between midterms and gearing up for the end of the semester. And now my air conditioner has frozen. The restoration people are coming back today to completely rip out the kitchen floor. I have put in numerous requests for the house elves to come fix everything but that hasn't worked so far. I keep telling myself that it could be worse. Everything is replaceable and insurance should cover it all. And I don't have shingles.

Back By Popular Demand

Oh, hi! Did I once have a blog?

Blogging was really easy when I didn't have much going on. It was easy to write up lists or tell stories when every day was the same. I went to work, sat at my desk, and went home. Days were more or less the same and I had all kinds of energy for being creative with writing and doing projects around the house.

It's much harder now. Each day is different and I don't have the luxury of taking half an hour in the middle of the day to write up something witty. This has also been one of the most incredible years of my life, in so many ways. It's much harder to share those details. I'm going to try, though. I'm going to try to have fun with this and share the funny, silly things. Like the actual shotgun wedding my sister witnessed last weekend.

So what have I been up to? Let's review:
School - fantastic. I'm loving this semester of classes and am gradually narrowing in on a dissertation topic.
Boyfriend - what can I really say? He's one of the reasons this year has been so amazing.
House - love it. I was apprehensive about moving from my beloved Carrboro, but I love my new(ish) place.
Projects - sadly lacking. I made a skirt back in the spring, but I haven't done much since then.
Cooking - I got a grill in May and I've been using it all the time. Bobby Flay has a fantastic grill cookbook and his dill-orzo shrimp has been a staple.
Music - Going to see Andrew Bird tomorrow night! This will be the third time I've seen him and he belongs in that rare category of musicians I love to see live.

Let's try for weekly posts - we'll see how it goes.

So Much The Same, And So Much Better

Yesterday I took the trip down I-85 to see my second favorite Wildcat team. The popularity of the basketball program has exploded since I last attended a game, and although I'd heard about the difference I didn't really understand until I saw it myself. The town bar was crowded before the sold out game, and it seemed like there were more people there in Davidson gear than there were in the student section at games five years ago. The bar was packed after the game, too. The wait for a table was nearly an hour and it took quite a while to get a drink. It was the kind of crowd you would expect to see on a homecoming weekend, not an average January weekend where the 'Cats played a so-so conference opponent.

Although the atmosphere was so different there were some things that were exactly the same. The cheerleaders nearly dropped someone, and their routines hadn't changed much. There were still seven year-olds racing to put on an oversized uniform and make a layup during a media timeout. The buses from The Pines were still parked outside promptly after the game to take home the senior citizens in their Davidson sweaters and knitted vests.

It's good to know that although the crowd was larger, the bleachers had backs, and press row was fuller, it was still Davidson.

Women and Wine!

I posted a while back about a group of women that got together to hang out and drink once a month around a theme. By my calculations, 75% of the women in that group got pregnant over the last year. People got busy with babies and the group fell apart.

Tonight I hosted the first revival group of Women and Wine. I don't think there were any of the original women in attendance (maybe Amanda?) It was the first time I had really had people over since I moved and it went so well (in terms of people). I think everyone met someone new and we all got along wonderfully.

Since there was usually a theme, I had planned on researching quality boxed wine - I searched The Splendid Table recommendations and put my list together. It wasn't until I got to the wine store that I realized that the quality box wines are sold in units equivalent to 4 bottles. There was no way I was buying two whites and two reds for a total of 16 bottles. I ended up buying a red box and a white box - with some red and white bottles. I probably have the equivalent of 8 bottles left, along with hummus, crackers, popcorn, chocolate, and cookies. Excellent benefit to hosting! We haven't decided on a host for next month but I'm already excited to get together with everyone again.