The First Meal.

So this past thursday night was the first night that I didn't have to work and I had a chance to actually cook a homemade dinner. I decided on Chicken breast pieces and spaghetti with some broccoli. Well, in preparing for dinner, one of my roommate's friends was over and I offered some to him, he agreed to try it. I assured him that I would try not to give him salmonella.

While gathering the ingredients and pots and pans and utensils, I could not, for the life of me, find the spaghetti! After searching thoroughly, I gave up and settled on instant mashed potatoes. Not as fitting but it would have to do. I breaded the chicken pieces first with Vigo breading. The boneless skinless chicken pieces were quite fat so I was nervous they weren't cooking so I frantically cut them up and made them thinner. Eventually they cooked, and before they finished I started the potatoes which took a minute and the broccoli had been on a low simmer for a few minutes. Everything finished and we sat down and ate. The following occured:

So, as you can see, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it but at least it was 1. edible and 2. not disgusting. Needed more seasoning/flavor and broccoli cooked too long. I will continue to learn from my mistakes I hope and eventually be a master chef. duh. Next on my list is a shrimp dish with butter spaghetti and then maybe lasagna. :) Unfortunately working part time at a retail store makes it a little hard to get home in time to make a detailed dinner so Healthy Choice microwave meals will have to suffice some nights. But I will continue to update on my other cooking endeavors.

P.S. I found the spaghetti after I cleaned up the kitchen.

The Mysterious Blue Men

Last night was quite possibly one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Blue Man Group.

Last year, my roommate Julia won 2 tickets to see Universal's Blue Man Group and as an even trade, since I took her to Taylor Swift, she took me to the show. I will start out by saying I had

no idea what to expect. Honestly, I hadn't heard a lot about the show. We were ecstatic to find

out that we had Row A seats. It's not the front row, that's AA. But it's the 4th. The first row right behind the "splash zone".

The show had a psychedelic feel to it. Strobe lights, drums, paint, interesting skits. It was basically a series of One Acts done by 3 men

painted all blue and dressed in black. They were

creepy, let me tell you. They had some of the greatest facial expressions and held perfect composure at all times. The art they created with both paint and drums and random objects was incredible. Julia and I were dying to take it and hang it on our wall. The talent and mystery was tied together. I never knew what was coming next. We were on the edge of our seats and constantly in awe.

Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures during the show, but I do see how it would ruin the whole effect. However, I made sure to take photos afterwards. The part that I truly

enjoyed the most was how much audience participation they did. In almost every skit they either brought people up from the audience, or they went out and walked on the rows of chairs and just interacted. At one moment, all three of them were in within arm's reach distance, pouring Capt'n Crunch cereal in Julia's mouth and handing me flashlights. ;)

I would definitely recommend it to families with children as it was a good clean show. It was comedic, fun, enjoyable, and easy for kids to follow.

It was a breath-taking show and I would recommend anyone to see it, young and old. I would even pay money to go back and see it again. Hoping to take my dad someday soon. :)

My New Home

Today was the big day. The long awaited for move back to Orlando. It only took 5 people and 3 cars worth of stuff to get me there. Although I am so grateful to have a mother that makes sure I have everything (even toilet paper and tissues) before I get up there. Like Orlando has no Walmarts... haha. Oh mom. I felt very well suited when they left and only needed to stock my sizeable pantry with food. Recently I've been on a health kick. Don't go crazy telling me I don't need to be on a diet, I know. It's not a diet, it's more of a "pay attention to what you're eating" thing. I hope to actually make real home-cooked dinners often.

Anyway, the decorating and assembling of the apartment was funand came together quite perfectly I must say. We got everything unpacked and settled in about 4 hours. Including hanging pictures, curtains, and organizing drawers.

We are living in a 4 bedroom/4 bathroom so I have 3 other roommates. 2 of which I know, I lived with last year and considered to be some of my closest friends. Our 4th, was a random. However, upon her arrival decided that her room was too small and she was not a fan, thus she moved out. So now we have a guest room and bathroom until they fill it (hopefully never!). I was a little disappointed, I was excited to get to know someone else. Yet I was relieved, because it is easier getting settled in when you know your other roomies well.

Mom of course insisted on taking pictures of me with roomies and awkward poses on my bed and at my desk. However, I took my own pictures to show you the lovely art I painted and the vintage-y green and brown theme I have.

The green & brown room

A better shot of the sunflower painting I did

Curtain and desk area

Bathroom

The shower curtain and outhouse towel hanger I got from a white elephant gift exchange

The furnished living room with our red lamp addition. We need some big big art to go above the sofa

The dining room table & my sunset painting!

The kitchen with our adorable aprons

Flooded with Memories

Today was a very special day to me. I took a few hours out of my day to make a trip to the elementary school that I went to for Kindergarten - 5th grade, and visit with a past teacher. This wasn't just any ordinary kindergarten teacher, she was blessed to have both my sister and I for our first year of school. In addition, my grandmother was asked to come into the class now and then to read to us! I loved being able to share my grandma with the class.

Anyway, I drove up to the school today and saw the place where I used to wai

t for the bus and play "Bo-Bo-see-otten-totten" with friends. I walked into the main office to check in and to my left I saw the nurse's office where I went on many occasions (I'm slightly accident-prone).

Being able to chat with Mrs. Ruhle after not seeing her for many years was fantastic. We talked and talked and talked, about what had changed on our lives and in the history of the school. She told me I was more than welcome to walk around the school too. So I did.

Honestly, it looked like the school had been stopped in tim

e from when I left in 2001. Everything was exactly the same except they did away with the portables and added another classroom building. Don't worry, I took pictures, not that they will mean a whole lot to you. :) But as I walked around, memories literally flooded my brain...

I remembered making origami figures in art class

I remembered my two friends Becca and Jessi singing phenomenally in front of my 5th grade class

I remembered numerous book fairs as I walked past the media center

I remembered running laps around the kickball field

I remembered watching some puppet show in one of the buildings.

I remembered playing "guard the pin" on the basketball courts

I remembered eating those plastic wraped popsicle, long, thin, freeze things in the wooden pavilion (show below).

I remembered sitting in the halls reading to kindergardeners when I was in 5th grade.

I remembered hearing about 9/11 and watching the twin towers fall in 2001 in my 5th grade class.

Like I've mentioned before, I have the worst memory ever, so when these small moments of my life came back to me I was thrilled. Haha. Only one other teacher that I had was still at the school, my 5th grade teacher Ms. Kabat. I went to her classroom but unfortunately she wasn't there. I walked around a little and checked out some of the books she had on her book cart. To my surprise, most of the books I picked up where from when I was there. To name a few, The Beverly Clearly series, Mr. Popper's Penguins, and The Boxcar Kids series.

It was a fabulous down memory lane and really reminded me how time goes by so fast. It makes me look forward, at least a little, to my high school reunion! :]

The basketball courts

The wooden pavilion

The jungle gym

An Even Harder Goodbye

So in t minus 2 days I will be back in my Orlando home. All summer, it seems like I've just been anxiously counting down the days till I'm reunited with "o-town". Now that the time is so near, I'm actually feeling a little nostalgic about leaving this town, my family, and my jobs. It seems that only recently I've grown closer to the people and it's made me feel sad about leaving. Honestly, when I first left my home and embarked on a new chapter of my life in my first year of college last summer, I was itching to speed out of town and start fresh. You would think that with every year of college, it would be easier to say goodbye; boy was I wrong.

See, growing up, my sister and I were 6 years apart so it was hard for us to ever relate until about a year ago. She realized I wasn't the annoying little 6 yr. old always tagging along. And I

finally saw that she had more knowledge than I gave her credit for. We learned that we had more similarities than we thought! It was a great thing, and our relationship is stronger than ever now. We talk more often and we laugh more than fight. I'm going to miss her so much more now. As for my parents, this summer was fantastic. Through the years I've learned, more recently, that they were pretty much always right. S

o now, we have more fun and I love it. I'm going to miss them even more this time leaving.

Also, I have fought my mother SO HARD to resist learning to cook. It never interested me, and I never had a desire to learn. I figured when I needed to cook, I could look up a recipe online and make it (talk about growing up in a technologically advanced era!). But this summer I gave in and told my mom I would love for her to pass on her recipes and tips for me to use in the apartment this year. She was thrilled. :) In learning, I decided that with my memory, (very much unlike an elephant's) I would write it down and make a "college cookbook" out of them! I don't have a huge amount of meals to put in it, but I figured I would add to it as I learned. I've already started making the pages for it and I can't wait to show you guys the finished product. Catch you on the next post!

Fashion, Fashion, Fashion

So, with the start up of my new blog, I decided to make my first post about kinda the reason I started it. A friend of mine lent me her recent Glamour magazine a few weeks ago, and normally, I'm not into the huge fan of fashion magazines (Vogue, Seventeen, etc.). Growing up, I basically bought shirts and pants that simply "fit", not paying huge attention to style or couture. I never paid huge attention to the ever-changing trends or newest fashions. However looking through this magazine I noticed it had a lot of good tips on makeup, style, exercise, healthy eating, and other stuff. I found myself loving looking through it and learning a lot! So I did a little research on Glamour's website and found that they were having a summer subscription special. 2 years (24 magazines) for $15! PLUS a free cute tote. It was a must have.

In addition to the great tips and stories in their magazine, their website has alllll kinds of fabulous stuff too. I must admit, I'm addicted.

Anyway, I was hoping that with this new blog, I could share some of the great style techniques and tips that I find on here and in my new subscription, and hope to help others out there who were lost. Don't worry, it won't be the focus of the blog, but if I come across something great, I'll pass it on.