Almost moving time!

So is it weird and wrong that I'm ENJOYING packing? Because I love it. I'm also doing an obligatory "get rid of the crap I haven't used since I moved in" so that I don't carry useless shit to the new apartment (which also means clothes, though I could certainly afford to get rid of more clothes--I refuse). As far as packing, my closet is nearly empty, 2/4 cabinets are empty, my medicine cabinet is empty, 7/8 drawers are empty, and my cookbook shelf is all packed up.

I've learned that I need to keep track of the food I buy (I had 3 packages of Hormel pepperoni chilling out in my cabinet) and I need to plan to use what I buy instead of buying just "because". I'm hoping that with a group food bill with my new roommates, food will get eaten up. Such as--I buy a bag of chips and they last me FOREVER. Same with cookies, oatmeal, granola bars, 100 calorie packs, crackers, and candy. Hopefully my roommates will eat the stuff I never seem to finish (one of my roommates is a huge eater and claims he has multiple stomachs, ha!).

I'm a little annoyed that I have to wait till mid-September to move to the new place because by the time we move in, I won't remember what's in each box. I'm trying to combat that by Sharpie-ing the major contents of each one on the outside. It's nice that we have a storage unit, I can pack stuff and move it out so that I have room to pack the next round of boxes.

Basically, moving is thrilling the crap out of me. I can't wait to arrange my stuff in the new place. WHY AM I SO WEIRD?!

(For the first time in a really long time, my comforter and sheets will MATCH. That hasn't happened since I was little!)

List.

~The cruise has morphed into a vacation house in the Keys over Christmas. Which is still very awesome, other than actually spending Christmas day away from my family.

~I realized that recently I've been getting food/stains on my clothes more and more. It's like I'm morphing back into a little kid. Before I know it, the knees and butts of all my pants are going to be worn out!

~I believe that there are little flies residing in my drain. Not "drain flies", but more like tiny gnats. Yuck. At least I've only got 2 more weeks here. 2 weeks!

~We found an indian restaurant with a dinner buffet. SCORE. And it was pretty tasty.

~We also went to the fun pet store again. Birds are growing on me. I will totally get a little cockatoo/cockatiel if I can find one with a good personality that likes being held.

~I've decided that if I can make the room/convince my roommates that it's a good idea, I want a 10-gallon fish tank in the new apartment. It would be aesthetically pleasing! Especially with fun colorful fish!

~I'm making dinner for a bunch of friends tomorrow. I'm pretty excited because it's a meal that's usually a winner.

~My boyfriend bought a Wii recently and it's my new favorite thing to do when hanging out with people.

Moving Up.

So there's this show on TLC called Moving Up. It has an interesting premise, but I'm surprised by people's reactions! On the episode I watched yesterday, the family that was coming back to look at the home was horrified. One of the girls even said "I want to burn it down". Now surely, they knew that a home that was still stuck in the 70s (outdated kitchen and orange shag carpet) was going to change in the hands of a new owner!

I know that I'm going to be sentimental when my family finally moves from our current home...but to be upset at the new owners for making it theirs? What's the big deal? That just feels to me like you haven't accepted moving into a new home!

I can understand reactions like this on Trading Spaces when the family still has to live in the home. But on this show the family is out and if in accordance with the title have "moved up" to a better house.

Oh TLC. Some of your shows are awesome (Little People, Big World), while others (What Not to Wear) drive me up a wall. Don't get me started on Stac(e)y and Clinton. Argh!

Weekend of Fun

This weekend was my boyfriend's parents' 25th anniversary party. We headed down to Cincy late Thursday night. Friday was spent buying large amount of the food we needed and making food. On Saturday, my boyfriend and his brothers decorated the hall (with the help of their two aunts and an uncle) while I ran errands with his mom and finished more food preparation (my killer cheesy potatoes, buffalo chicken dip, and Chex muddy buddies).

All in all the party was a success and a lot of fun. I rode a motorcycle for the first time ever with my boyfriend's cousin and it was AWESOME (even if it was just the parking lot of the church). Found out that I may be going on a Christmas cruise with his family (that would be a grand total of 23 people in our party!) that would be paid for other than airfare to get there (Florida, I assume), alcohol, and excursions. I am really excited and I hope it comes through! It would be a Christmas of firsts! My first time on my first time flying, my first cruise and my first time on true foreign soil (Canada hardly counts!). Eeee!

In other news, we spent several hours swimming yesterday thus I am sunburned today. It stinks!

Chipotle

It never fails. Chipotle (the Mexican Grill, not the smoked jalapeños in adobo sauce) enters my mind and I am compelled to go get a burrito. It's just so danged good! My ideal burrito is rice, pinto beans, black beans, chicken, mild salsa (pico de gallo), corn salsa, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.

So...what food cravings are you powerless to resist?

And speaking of chipotle (the jalapeño), I once made a very very delicious chipotle glaze that went over chicken breasts. It was like a barbecue sauce with spice. I should make that again sometime. Come September my culinary prowess will exert itself more strongly as I will have a REAL kitchen at my disposal. September 16th just can't get here soon enough!

I think perhaps thinking about food takes up too much of my time. Crap. And I don't even watch Food Network that much anymore!

Satisfied.

I think the most satisfying quick dinner for me is pasta with a little butter, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. Delish.

I have nothing else to post these days. Classes are good but monotonous. Summer is winding down (oh dear...).

French Onion Soup

French onion soup has been one of my favorite soups for a very long time. I try to order it at every restaurant that has it, and it's one of those soups that can taste vastly different from one place to another. I think my favorite is at Red Robin.

Today I was craving some, and instead of driving all the way to RR, I decided I'd give it another try making it at home. I used this recipe from Rachel Ray since she usually promises to be pretty easy. I've made french onion soup before for my family (with a different recipe), and while it turned out good, it was very sweet. And the batch I made tonight is good, but sweet. I need to try it again with a different onion--I used Vidalia this time which I know are sweet. I made a substitution of white wine (Chardonnay) for the dry Sherry, so that may be a way to improve it as well.

Anyone have a good recipe for french onion soup? Or any idea how to make it less...sweet?

Deutsch.

I took 3 years of German in high school. It's been 5 years since then and even then I didn't learn it/wasn't taught it very well. Strangely enough, I often find myself thinking little phrases in German instead of English. I wonder what would have happened if I took a more intensive course in German. Would I always think in fluent German?

Puppies and Kitties and Birds, oh my!

Tonight I went to a pet store with two of my future roommates. The pet store we went to is awesome. They have lots of puppies, and they'll let you hold and play them for as long as you'd like. We were there for probably an hour, hour and a half. First we played with a Corgi, who preferred to lick and nibble me the most. Then a Chihuahua who decided to show us how s/he could pee and poo on the floor. In the play pen next to us, a woman and her daughter had out two cats, a Siamese and an Egyptian Mau cat. The Mau decided that when the woman put him down he would go ahead and leap out of the play pen. I caught him and snuggled him, which calmed him down. The Siamese was so scared that s/he just curled up in my arms and was hiding. They also had very little kittens who I just loved to DEATH. Oh man. I wish I could have brought three home! Meanwhile, my friends were playing with a very shy Chihuahua and a Puggle. The Puggle tried to eat my necklace and climbed me like a tree. It was fun :-)


The last pets I played with were the birds. I tried to pick up a finch (they didn't like that) and picked up the cockatoos (cockatiels?). I picked up a rainbow lorkikeet and he became my best friend. He would not get off of me. Every time I'd put him down near the perch, he climb back up my arm to my shoulder. He also liked to squawk constantly at me, especially in my ear. His best trick was when he tried to be my lip ring by holding onto my lip with his beak. Too funny.

In short, the pet store is a great place to just play with animals and forget the crap in the outside world for awhile.

How was your 4th of July?

I saw real fireworks for the first time in ages this year, albeit July 3rd. I was a little sad because Columbus' fireworks were not as...spectacular as I would have expected for a big city's fireworks. We were going to go another set of firework last night, but since there were tornado watches in the area, I wasn't too keen on it. Instead a group of us went to see Transformers. I was pleasantly surprised because I liked it! The graphics were pretty awesome. Of course, now I'm going to name my first child Optimus Prime. Haha!

Classes are going well. I actually enjoy my microbiology lab, perhaps because we usually work in groups of 4 and my group of 4 gets along pretty well. Psychology is pretty awesome too; tomorrow is our first quiz. Next week I have 2 midterms, which of course I'm not looking forward to.

This weekend is Sam's graduation party so I'm heading home for that. It'll be nice to be home, I hope. And well, I like eating party food :-)