Life

Plans

Posted by Pam on Apr 28, 2011 in Life | 0 comments

I finished up the Spring semester and I couldn’t be happier. This has been an exhausting semester and a complete test of my patience at times. Fortunately, I have a whole month free between now and the beginning of the summer semester. I have a few ideas for things I’d like to do during this time, but I know if I do everything that I want I’ll kick myself for not taking it easy come June. It’s difficult to find the balance between completing tasks and also making time for rest. Here are a few things I want to do while on break…

Read

With my tax return I decided to splurge on one thing: a Kindle. Unfortunately, with my schedule I haven’t been able to read a lot and so I’ll be happy to break it in! I have three books waiting to be finished, as well as books I’ve been adding to my goodreads to-read shelf.

Take photos

Every now and then I reminisce through my Flickr feed to times when I took a lot of photos. I hate that my camera bag sits in my closet literally collecting dust. I’m planning to take at least one photo a day (iPhone pictures excluded) during the month of May. I seem to have commitment issues when it comes to photo projects so hopefully 31 days won’t be such a stretch.

Travel

I’m planning to take at least one trip down to Nashville to visit a girlfriend, and maybe another trip with a long time internet friend for a photo trip.

I wasn’t planning to go back to the NJ/NYC area until August and I was almost certain that I wouldn’t drive it again. That being said I’m driving back to Jersey in late May! Ha ha. I’m visiting the boy and being his date for a wedding. Hey, I can’t pass up an opportunity to wear a dress and the beautiful necklace he gave me at Christmas! I’m also planning to visit two crazy (but not so crazy) flickr friends. I should have no problem taking a picture a day while I’m there. It’ll be fun… :)

If you’re planning a long road trip, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of I Drink For a Reason by David Cross (aka Tobias from Arrested Development). I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed reading the book as much but listening to David read the book along with his own commentary was hilarious.

Cooking with friends : Experiment 1

Posted by Pam on Apr 17, 2011 in Life, Recipe | 2 comments

Last night I got together with a few girlfriends to have a cooking night. I’ve known most of these girls since elementary school and we always get together for each others’ birthdays. It’s nice to have a group of friends close by because I get tired of driving to Louisville (about an hour – depending on what part of town) to see other groups of friends.

Overall, I was impressed with how it all came together. We were only planning to make the main entree together, however, the sauce for the chicken had to marinate for an hour and so there wasn’t a whole lot of cooking “together” per say. We did make the peanut sauce for the chicken together. The recipe for the peanut sauce called for molasses and this was my first time ever trying molasses. Not a huge fan; the smell was a huge turn off. I think I would have preferred dipping the chicken in something garlic-y as opposed to sweetish. But that’s the fun part of cooking — trying new things.

The Menu

Appetizers

• A rosemary loaf with garlic butter
• Brie with crackers

Dinner

• Tasty Chicken Satay
• Easy Apple-Cranberry slaw
• Chickpea salad

Desserts

• Angel food cake with pineapple sauce
• Fresh fruit

My favorites were the sides, like the slaw and chickpea salad. Oh, and the bread and garlic butter were delicious, too. You can’t go wrong with bread and butter! A homemade dinner was a welcomed change because my school schedule makes me eat out a lot. I hate it!

We’re hoping to have another dinner soon and Japanese food, gyoza specifically, was requested. I’m excited about that because gyoza is one of my favorite foods. :D

If you’ve tried any recipes lately that you’ve enjoyed please pass them along!

Recipe: I’m Feelin’ Lazy Lasagna

Posted by Pam on Apr 14, 2011 in Recipe | 0 comments

First off I have to say I love our library! I’ve utilized it so many times over the last year, whether it was using their wifi, checking out books, audiobooks, or dvds. I’m always surprised by the selection given I live in a really small town. Seriously, you should visit your local library if you don’t already!

Anyway… I picked up a book called Substitute Yourself Skinny: Cut the Calories… I rarely make things that I’m unfamiliar with unless I see a photo of it first. This book had quite a few photos compared to other books I looked at and I was sold. I’ve bookmarked several pages of things I want to try already. Saturday I’m getting together with a few girlfriends at my sister’s house and we’re making an entree (Chicken Satay which is also from this book) together. It should be a lot of fun. I’ll share that recipe if it goes over well.

Tuesday night I opted to make this lasagna recipe since it didn’t require me to pick up any new ingredients. Overall I liked it. I think it could have used something to sweeten it a bit and cheese on the top would have been wonderful — but I guess that would be counterproductive to eating less calories. Heh. Here is a photo of what it should look like, however, mine didn’t look quite that appetizing.

I’m feelin’ lazy lasagna

1 pound dried lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 white or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 pound lean ground beef
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup chopped cremini mushrooms
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
1 cup water
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
2 cups nonfat ricotta cheese
1 cup nonfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I modified the recipe a bit and added 2 onions, 4 cloves of garlic (I’m glad I wasn’t kissing anyone!), added carrots and green pepper.

01. Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare the lasagna noodles as directed on the package. When cooked and drained, drizzle with olive oil to prevent sticking.

02. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, garlic, and beef. Saute until the beef is browned and the onion is tender, about 7 minutes. Drain off the grease. Add the oregano, basil, parsley, mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato paste, and water. Stir to mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25 minutes.

03. In a medium mixing bowl, combine ricotta, cottage cheese, and Parmesan. Mix well.

04. To make the lasagna, prepare a deep, rectangular baking dish by spraying it with nonstick spray. Arrange the lasagna noodles in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. Spread with 1/3 of the meat sauce. Top with 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Add another layer of lasagna noodles and top with half of the remaining meat mixture and half of the remaining cheese mixture. Repeat with another layer of noodles, using the remaining meat and cheese mixture. Finish with a layer of noodles on top.

05. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 15 minutes. Cut into 12 portions and serve.

Changes

Posted by Pam on Apr 7, 2011 in Life | 6 comments

During the middle of March I started receiving e-mails from NameCheap regarding my domain name renewal. I briefly thought about not renewing it because I haven’t updated since June. Though I’m sure that’s not the longest I’ve gone without posting to one of my sites. I gave thought to buying a new domain, one that didn’t allude that I only blog about Apple or cosmetic (M.A.C) products. However, moving databases makes me uneasy and it seemed like a lot of work. So I opted to renew this domain and decided I should start blogging again.

There have been a lot of changes going on in my life since June; actually there have been a couple big changes in the last four months. I’ve quit my job and I’m in a relationship(!)

Quitting my job

I’ve been at the same job since 2006 with the exception of the summer I was in Seattle. After coming back from Seattle I moved to a different store that was about 70-75 minutes away (one-way). In January after the Spring semester started I began to feel worn down and felt like there was no time to get school work done. I was spending on average 14 hours/week in the car — this isn’t counting if I went out after work or class. And when it came down to it I was spending more money than I was making on gas getting to and from work. It was like a very expensive hobby but one I didn’t like. I was planning to wait it out until the end of the semester (later this month) but after I had to lovely experience of not wanting to leave my bed for about two weeks in January/February I decided it needed to happen sooner. So at the end of February I quit.

Now that I’m unemployed I don’t see that my schedule has changed too much because I can always fill my time up with other things; some are worthwhile things and some are new ways to procrastinate*. That being said, it’s nice to wake up on days I would normally work and breathe a sigh of relief that I’m not commuting anymore. It’s also nice that I can’t use the excuse “I can’t do x because I have to work!” or “I can’t go out tonight because I have be up early for work tomorrow!”

So I’m hoping now that I’m not working I can go to school full-time without a problem and get this degree done as soon as possible. I still have about 2.5 years left; it feels like a long time but not as long as it would be if I were working. *I do need to discipline myself and get things done before their due date and not cram the night before and stress myself out. As always I’m a work in progress.

It’s complicated

It’s been almost five years since I’ve been in a relationship so it’s weird saying “I’m in a relationship.” Technically we’re listed as “It’s complicated” on Facebook, because he’s in New Jersey and I’m in Kentucky. It’s a long story that I could probably dedicate an entry or two to but I doubt anyone wants to read it.

The short version is Andy and I began chatting sometime around 2002 and finally met in person in 2007. Since then we’ve visited with one another quite a few times. We finally made our “complicated” relationship Facebook official™ on Valentine’s day.

I didn’t see myself ever trying a long distance relationship with anyone but something felt right about this. Andy and I have been friends for so long and in that time I don’t recall a single fight. Not to mention there are aspects of our relationship that I find completely endearing. For example, when we’re out of town we always send postcards to one another. Who does that these days — especially two self-proclaimed geeks?

The distance doesn’t feel like a big deal (and who’s to say there will always be distance,) and with the age of technology it’s easy to talk to one another. In fact, in the last year I’ve seen him more often than some of my friends who live in the same state. I’m not going to name names but you know who you are. I drove to NJ during my spring break a few weeks ago and already have a ticket booked for my birthday. There’s not many people I’d drive 13 hours to see unless their last name was Hanson so I suppose he’s a pretty big deal!

So what’s new with you?

For Sale: Holga CMY Camera

Posted by Pam on Aug 5, 2009 in Life, Photography | 1 comment

I’m currently selling my Holga CMY (Multicolor) CFN camera on eBay, if you’re interested follow this link for the auction. It’s served me well but I don’t use it enough to justify keeping it. I think I’ve only used about 5 or 6 rolls of film during its time with me. Hopefully it will go to a nice home; maybe even yours! :-)

Goodbye Seattle!

Posted by Pam on Aug 3, 2009 in Life, Travel | 3 comments

About 12 hours from now I’m going to be headed back east to Kentucky. I’m not a nervous flyer but I know as soon as I get to Sea-Tac I’ll be anxious for the flight to be over with. My flight is around midnight, with a layover in Houston around 5AM, and I should be arriving in Louisville around 10:45AM assuming there are no delays. Hopefully I can sleep through most of the flight. I have my iPhone filled with several tv shows and new music to listen to. I’ll have that if nothing else.

I’ve really enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with my brother, I haven’t been able to spend this much time with him since I was a kid. I’m really surprised we haven’t got into more arguments than we did given the fact we’re getting into arguments when he comes to KY for a few days. When I say “we” it’s mostly “me” starting the arguments. That’s what happens when you have similar personalities, confined spaces, and love one another.

There’s definitely things I won’t miss like waking up to horns honking outside of my bedroom window at 4 freakin’ AM, gun shots, the traffic, etc. I’m looking forward to getting home to see the family, friends this weekend, classes starting in two weeks, and what ever else happens.

Looking back this trip has flown by, but while it was happening it seemed to go by so slowly. There’s only been one time that I started looking at flights home earlier but after a day or two I decided I would “tough it out”. All in all I’m glad I got to experience this for the summer. Would I do it again? Hmm, I don’t know. Like I’ve mentioned before this trip has definitely opened my eyes to things I forget I liked about living at home. That’s a good thing . . .

So Goodbye Seattle, it’s been real!