Take me Back

LB is in town; has been since last Thursday and will be until next Monday. Wheeeww.

Yes, this is why I haven’t been around these parts lately. Instead, I’ve been traveling to and from Annapolis, staying there, staying here, going bowling, having dinner fiestas, drinking & dining in Pubs…….ya know, the usual…?? Right.

I’ve had way too much fun in the past 5 days. LB and I lived together for more than the majority of our College lives, and this is all too familiar. Sunday night we cooked dinner at my apartment, watched the Oscars while browsing through People magazine, and did laundry. It was like we were right back in State College, doin our thing.

Ah, I wish.

My life will seem so boring next week! Aside from some serious work projects that I’d rather not think about right now.

In the mean time, you can find me with LB and AA (her Weinermobile drivin-partna’….aka the Texan ;)). I’ll just be gallivanting, not stressing about work/life/internship stuffff for the next few days. And I’ll be loving it.

(Don’t think you won’t be seeing pictures of this mobile either. There are many!)

We have room for the wiener!

!! Newsflash: LB will be in Maryland!! With the WIENERMOBILE!!

She gets in tomorrow, early-afternoon-ish, and I’m So Damn Excited. I haven’t seen my roomie since before Thanksgiving, and that trip to Happy Valley was far too short (which will always be the case). The only plan thus far is a weekend in Annapolis, which needs no real “plan” because there’s always Something to do.

I asked what they were doing Thursday evening – thinking … “Office/30 Rock” partyyy (just like the apt days!) ?? Might be an option. I got this response – “Oooh, is there Parking for us??!!” – meaning…is there anywhere in my apt complex to park a 27-foot long Hot dog?!

And my answer “Ha oh yea, we can fit the wiener in!”

Which is true. But wow, that Mobile can make any sentence slightly inappropriate.

Anywayyyy. Rather than driving back and forth between the apt and Navy-central, I’ll actually be staying there. Yesss. No travel crises allowed. The hotel is lookin’ gorgeous, and way out of my student-budget price range. It’s good to have friends with jobs. It’s like a mini-getaway! A much needed adventure.

I’m not enjoying the fact that it’s only Thursday (….uh, almost). I need Friday, and a half day at work, and a Mini road trip, and a PSU Reunion. Now now and Noowwww.

Morning clothes woes

Something about this new rotation (food service) is throwing me off.

I have to wear a uniform – white button-up, black pants/shoes/belt.

This is doing many things to me. It has taken away my desire to shop for new work clothes, because well, clearly I don’t need them. Somebody has already decided what I wear, and that’s that. Gah!  This may sound crazy to some, but I actually like picking out my work-outfits. I’ve spent the time to buy the clothes, and mix-and-match the clothes, and I like the clothes! Now, I can’t wear them. And I’m sad.

But. On the other hand, I now have a liiittle bit of extra time during my morning get-ready routine.  Most days I know what I want to wear and it takes me like a minute to decide. Then there are the days when I’m all over the place, taking out many shirts and pants and looking at shoes and necklaces and going Ahhhhh.

It’s also frustrating me because I hate tucking in a button-up shirt. Yes, HATE. Women’s shirts do not stay tucked in, because they aren’t long enough. I feel like I can’t move and get all kinds of irritated when the shirt continuously becomes un-tucked. Honestly, I almost bought a Small men’s shirt, just so it would be longer and tolerable. Then I did my research (shopping) at Target, and realized that a Small Men’s shirt is huuuuge. Dangit. Plan aborted.

We have to wear this get-up Tuesday through Friday. I’m not doing my laundry every night, and I’m not destroying my Dry-clean only pants by washing them constantly.  Instead, I try not to get dirty in the kitchen and I bought a cheap button-up. After six weeks, I’d rather know that I didn’t waste money on a Nice shirt that will be washed over and over only to be stained with oils, sauces, dressings, etc. A mere $15 at Target? I’m fine with that.

Alright, that’s my rant. At least it’s still cold outside, so I’m not missing out on any opportunity to wear cute Springy stuff. That will come sooooon enough.

Love package

The package said “Do not open until February 14th” on the back.

The text I sent to my Mom said, “Ha ha, ‘do not open’….that’s funny”.

It was Monday, a full 13 days before Valentine’s Day. As if I can just let a box… full of M&Ms (peanut, of course), Reese’s hearts, red socks, and who knows what other random lovelies….sit around UN-opened for 13 days?!

Nope. I sure didn’t. Now, it’s almost the big V-day, and allll my candy is gone. Dangit.

The other random lovelies? A cute little dish-towel, the Perfect Gift-card, and THOSE candies!!

So lovely. ♥ Thanksss Mom.♥

There are no plans over here for Saturday. The roomie and I actually have work-related things to do in the morning. Exciiiiting, right? Uh, no. We might add on a movie-date that night. Or, I might continue on my quest to wine-loving. Either one sounds prettyyy good to me.

In the meantime, I’ll be lounging in my new red socks (with light-up hearts!), enjoying my Last Reese’s heart (….maybe buying more?), and hoping that you all have something equally as exciting to look forward to this weekend. 😉

playing tourist!

What to do – when a good friend comes to visit on a whim and the weather graciously cooperates???

Play tourist, of course.

Usually this means a trip down to DC – museums and monuments and all. But! The North side of this state deserves some attention too. So, we decided to go see things that were even new to Me.

I live very close to the Charm City. Guess what that means?? I live near CHARM CITY CAKES! Oh, we went. And the Food Network has a huge hold on this place. The windows are covered in black tarps (nope, can’t even peak at the cake-making), and the door opens to you “By Appointment ONLY”. Psh. We’ll just enjoy the view from outside, thank youu.

Moving on…..

To Fells Point, MD. An old (old!) neighborhood in the Baltimore Harbor, home to many many bars, restaurants, shops, theaters, hotels and….more bars. It’s all historic and brick with cobble-stone roads and places like “The Horse You Came In On Saloon”. I want to come in on a horse! And then have a drink!

Anyway. I took a lot of pictures, because it’s just one of those places. You want to capture it, and you love it.

The Bond Street landing.

My buddies. Happy by the water.

Stand by the sea.

My view at lunch. Yum.

Cool door. Cooool window.

We had a blast, and every time I do stuff like this I appreciate this area that I live in more and more. Even if I’m out of this area by the end of the year – I lived here once. And – budget or no budget – I’m experiencing that as much as I can!

consistency will return

Since coming back from our “holiday” break, my schedule has changed on a weekly basis. I spent time in two separate hospitals and had a short jaunt with the School Lunch Program. And now, finally, I’m about to enter back into the world of Consistency. One location, for six weeks. Yesssss.

Our hours will be something along the lines of 10 am -6 pm, including a free lunch  and excluding anything related to medicine and disease. Whoa.

It’s back to food service stuff, which I’m not 100% thrilled about. Usually this means Free food, which I am thrilled about. I’m also ready to know that I have my mornings to myself, to work out or sleep in or sit and watch Matt , Meredith and Al on the Today Show. Getting my run out of the way means I never have to stress about what traffic will be like on the way home and/or getting a treadmill and/or running before the sun goes down for the evening.  Since I’m in training-mode right now (which I talk about elsewhere), this is perfect.

In other areas of my life – things are changing by the weekend. This last weekend I had a surprise visitor from Penn State; I found out she was coming down on Thursday and was pretty freakin excited. We had a gooood time, got all touristy and even found a famous bakery. Oooh, more on that later.

This upcoming weekend I have family friends coming from home to the DC area. I. Can’t. Wait. to see some familiar faces and show them around.

Next weekend: LB is making her first visit to MD (well, since I’ve been here)!! Oh, I’m excited.

Good things happening here.

Recently

I’ve been reading “Are you there Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea“, by Chelsea Handler. It’s Lol – hysterical.
The best part? It was a Mom-recommendation. Love.

I mailed my sister’s birthday package 9 days late. It arrived 10 days after that. This (along with everything else I mail) only continues to reinforce the notion that I cannot mail things on any sort of timeline. Nothing. At all.
But it did get there!

This song has become my obsession – Piano Man (Live version!), by Billy Joel.
Yes, its been around for decades. I, on the other hand, have not.

Thick and creamy yogurt (berry or strawberry) with chocolate syrup has become my favorite night-time addiction treat.

I started three countdowns:
Best-buddy from home in DC – 7 days!
LB in Maryland – 14 days!
Trip to the ‘Burgh’ – 22 days!

My Mom gave me this face lotion, and I’m completely obsessed. I consider it “grown up” lotion; a moisturizer that is actually really good for your skin. Amazing.

I have been trying to figure out why ‘The Police’ keep playing on my Pandora play-list. ??! I’m not complaining.  But I’m also not in agreement that they “sound like” Maroon 5. Or the Counting Crows.

Stress has taken over about 90% of my reactions to small situations. The freak-outs can come to an end anyyyy day now. That would be great.

I have behaved exceptionally well in the budget-area. I blame this on time spent commuting (therefore taken away from boredom) and homework-ing. I also blame it on the cold weather; I don’t want any more winter clothes.

Weather.com has basically become my home-page. The 10-day forecast is my morning read. I wonder if the temperature will read – “60 and Sunny. Just for you, Heather.” – if I stare at it long enough.
No luck so far.

I’ve been working in a Children’s hospital (just for two weeks). I absolutely LOVE it.

Coffee has made it’s way into my morning routine. Right along with the morning News.
I knew this day would come…..

I haven’t had anything too exciting to blog about. So, you got this instead.

*happy fridayyyy*

Hotdogs don’t keep

I have been making this false claim for at least two weeks now:

I’m going to COOK this week!

I’d like to think that sticking a potato in the microwave and “grilling” chicken on a skillet qualifies as cooking. Or that home-made Rice-krispie treats sprinkled with chocolate chips could count for a made-from-scratch dinner. I’d also like to think that the two boxes of pasta that I’ve accumulated (thanksss coupons) will just cook themselves, along with a tasty sauce and a seasoned meat to make a well-balanced tasty meal.

Ehhhh.

On Sunday (our “grocery” day), I refrained from buying frozen meals. I did buy ground beef, and chicken, and the usual fresh veggies. All with very good intentions to make real meals, and loooots of them so that I’d have leftovers and I do not have to cook again. Yes, I was totally on a roll.

Then, we went to a Super-bowl party. The host sent us home with leftovers, and we were like THANK YOUU! In our fridge we currently have two containers of chicken wings and hot-dogs. Yes, hot dogs. I like them, and I (sort of) know whats in them, I eat them every now and then, and I am a Nutritionist. Don’t judge me.

Obviously this threw the cooking plans right out the window…..for at least a few nights. Sunday – super-bowl food. Monday – chicken, salad, potato (see above. does not count.). Tuesday……left-over Super-bowl food? Ummm, yup.

Guess what? Hot dogs don’t keep. They don’t taste so “good” after being grilled, chilled, and reheated. Gah. Who knew.

It’s a blessing in disguise! Tomorrow night I will return to Plan A, and I WILL COOK. My logic is that declaring it online will be effective (and encouraging).

So. Here, you have my word!

Please hold me to it. My pantry and stomach will greatly appreciate it.

A dose of Sweeet Mexico

It’s a constant fake-battle between my Sister and I; the Southwest vs the East coast. Obviously I live in the latter, now. And most of the time when I get carded in a bar, or tell somebody where I’m “from”….I get some crazy reaction and/or an expression that reads; “How did you get here?!”. Or, “How do you speak English so well?!” Uh, yah.

So. The battle. She usually wins, especially around this time of the year. I’m up against sunny day after sunny day, and high-temps around 70. Plus, she has authentic Mexican food that’s served with fresh green chile. I mean, really?! I don’t even try.

Three years ago (living in FL), during a random dinner trip with LB, we wandered over to EPCOT Mexico. They have this amazing fake-Mercado, that sells all the fun “authentic” mercado type things. You know – somebreros, ceramics, tequila, chips, salsa. Yup, just like the real Mexican mercados. Well, guess what else they had?! These delicious little peanut-sugar candies, for like $0.25 a piece. I don’t pass up candy for a quarter. I just don’t.

I was addicted. I love them. They’re the perfect size and they crumble and they taste like peanuts and sugar. Because, that’s all they are. Ah, the simple things! As soon as I headed home for the summer, I discovered that they actually sell these in the Old Mexico, and the NEW Mexico. YES!!!!!

This means three things; I constantly ask the Sis to send me packages of them, I stock up on them when I can (i.e. about twice a year), and it’s one more thing she adds to the list of “Why Heather should move back”.

And when she brings this into the mix, I’m like “Okay, you win.”

UNTIL THIS WEEKEND.

The Roomie and I were out and about, and passed a Mexican Market squeezed in between Verizon Wireless and some old Barber Shop. Obviously, I had to go in. What if they had THE candies?! Chances were slim. But! I had to check.

I obviously wouldn’t be telling you this story in the excited fashion that I am (caps-n-all) if it ended badly. THEY HAD THE CANDY! And I was in heaven. I texted the Sis (in all caps) immediately and she was equally Shocked. I freakin stocked up on those little things and the woman at the counter was excited like I was the first purchasing customer of the whole day. Which made me feel a little guilty, because I was buying 25-cent candy. Oh well. I’ll be back!

Now our candy-corner in the kitchen is swarming with my favorite Sweet Mexican treat. Love.

SIXBURGH

I can’t go without a post saying……

YES!!!!!

STEELERS ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!

And that was an absolutely AMAZING game! The apartment was split, since the Roomie is from Arizona.
I did feel for the Cardinals, being that this was their very first trip to the Big Game. If they had won, I might have been….”okay”….with it. Just to be supportive. You know. 😉

BUT. The Steeler’s kick ass, and they won, aaaand we have SIX Super Bowel Championships. Oh, and we are the only team that has 6. Yup. Amazing.

Okay, I’m done now. Wow, I love football.