Stress

Random Note:  I watched this Ted Talk recently and found it very interesting and relevant.  I think it's worth a watch.

http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend

Fast Sourdough-ish Bread

To be updated with recipe.  For now FOOD PICTURES : )

 

Ranch Buffalo Shredded Chicken

To be updated with recipe.  For now FOOD PICTURES : )

Pasta Salad

To be updated with recipe.  For now FOOD PICTURES : )

The littlest and cutest baby C joined the world this past weekend and I got to meet her.  

It was a very long weekend filled with driving and sitting in waiting rooms, but it was worth it.  She is absolutely adorable and it was very special to get to see and hold her just hours after she was born. Congrats to the new Mom and Dad.  We can't wait to spoil her in the years to come.

Yum

You know what's delicious? Waffles and ice cream!

Change

Life has been interesting recently.  It has taken me much longer than I expected to readjust to a new normal.  I honestly think that I thought that within a couple of weeks after the wedding that things would be taken care of and life would feel normal.  But there are just too many changes taking place for that to be true. Obviously there are the the post wedding projects like changing my name and writing thank you notes and the big changes like moving and DH's med school applications, but everything else feels in flux as well. My work is evolving quite significantly now that I am done with quals. I have submitted a paper to be published and started two new projects.  I have been accepted to give a presentation at our national conference and am planning on applying to a second conference this fall.  Fall classes start in two weeks and I am signed up to TA my first class in the spring.  Additionally most of my work friends are a year or more older than me and are starting to prepare for graduation at the end of the year.

Around us, a good friend of mine in town has recently gotten into a serious relationship and another close friend is getting married at the end of the month. DH's sister is getting married in October and his best man had a daughter this summer. My brother's wife is due any day now and my other brother just moved to the other side of the country.

This past weekend we drove down to visit and say goodbye to many of DH's grad school friends. Several are planning to graduate with him and one is moving to England for a tenure track position. The weekend before that we drove 8 hours each way to visit my grandmother who isn't feeling well.  In both cases it was lovely to see people but life certainly does not "feel normal".

Anyways, married life is weird so far. I do not mean to say anything bad about DH. We are thrilled to have gotten married and are excited to be living together. I have no questions or worries about being married but it is more of an adjustment than I expected. Being married and living together is different. Talks about finances and chores and future jobs are different.  I didnt really expect it and I can't exactly explain HOW it feels different...but as in everything else right now, things are changing. I like it...I'm just not used to it yet.

Soft Boiled Eggs

I will eat breakfast foods at any time of the day.  Cereal, bagels, quiche, waffles...for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack.  They are always delicious.  I find that this is true for pizza as well, but I may have less people agree with me on that one.

I've decided recently that I like eating soft-boiled eggs and toast.  This may be aided by the fact that apparently in England they cut the toast into strips and refer to this meal as "eggs and soldiers"...which I find adorable.  As far as I know, eggs are nutritious, inexpensive, and a good source of protein so I am trying to eat them a little more often.

Since my first attempt at soft-boiled eggs was a bit of a fail:

Instructions

1. Fill a pot with water so that (when the eggs are added) there is at least a 1/2 inch of water above the eggs
2. Bring the water to a simmer
3. Using a cooking spoon, lower the eggs into the water and continue to simmer for 1 minute
4. Cover the pot, remove from the heat, and let it sit for approximately 6 minutes

At this point, you can run the pot under cold water and take out your soft-boiled eggs.  Some fancy people have egg cups so that they can simply cut off the top of the egg and eat it with a spoon.  I am not one of those people.  An uninformed person may try to peal the soft-boiled egg.  I tried this, it doesn't work well.  What does work?  Amazingly, if you smack the egg with a knife,  you can then break it in half and scoop the soft-boiled egg halves into a bowl.

Hedgehog Bags & Cage Liners

This is a project that was a LONG time coming.  I made hedgehog cage liners and fleece bags for DH's hedgehog about a year ago.  Shortly after that one of his friends also got a hedgehog and asked if I would make some liners and bags for her as well...IN NOVEMBER.  I said that I was happy to but in all honestly the process was complicated by the fact that I didn't really know how to sew.  The hedgehog supplies that I made for DH were my first sewing project.  A few months passed during which I forgot how to wind a bobbin and adjust the sewing machine tension...and so I procrastinated.With the wedding and moving and my qualifier done, I finally got around to pulling out my sewing machine.  Motivated by my desire to fix my bowl chair, I retaught myself some basic sewing skills and FINALLY got around to completing this project for my friend.  If she ever reads this:  I am sorry that it took me so long.

I found sewing instructions for a reversible hedgehog cuddle bag here.

1)  Cut 4 pieces of 10" x 12" squares of fleece

2)  Pin and sew two pieces of the same color fleece together along THREE SIDES (leaving one of the short sides un-sewn.

3)  Repeat step (2) with the other two pieces of fleece

4)  Turn one of the bags right-side-out and place it inside of the other bag as shown below.  You now have the "right sides" of each bag facing the other bag 

5)  Sew the two bags together around the opening of the bag, leaving about 3 inches.

6)  Pull all of the fabric through that hole to turn the entire bag right-side-out and sew up the hole.

The fleece cage liners were simply made by folding over, pinning, and sewing a 1-inch border to the appropriate size of fleece.