Whoa!

Are you kidding me? Has it really been three months since I've posted a blog? That's terrible. I'm sorry I've been M.I.A.

I've been quite busy. I got accepted into Presbyterian Hospital's Radiology Technology program and will begin July 9.  I have a new job as a server where I work pretty much 6 days a week. It's pretty tough, but gotta make that money, right?

Christopher and I are great. We went strawberry picking last weekend, but it was slim.  Most of the berries were green, or rotten. It was quite busy, so maybe everybody else got the good ones.

Nothing is new...the same old thing, just another day. I'm just waiting for school to start. I'm so anxious!

Betty Crocker- kinda

Christopher says that specialized kitchen appliances are things that only white people have. For example - only white people want bread makers, salad spinners (ring a bell, sis?), SodaStreams, a separate waffle maker, sandwich maker...whatever. I'm not exactly sure if this is true to form, but he's right about one thing. I want everything "specialized" in my kitchen.

I want a panini press. I want a bread maker. I want a pressure cooker. I want copper cookware (although he says it isn't worth it[the price]...the reviews online state otherwise). I want a large soup/stock pot. I want a griddle. I want a food processor. I want a butcher block table.

All of these things are in my dream kitchen (as well as a double oven and six range stove with a trough sink). If only he had a job that could support me not working...I'd definitely be the next Betty Crocker.

I haven't been able to do as much sewing as I'd like thanks to me working a TON, but I'm just trying to get my finances back to what they were pre-unemployment. I took out over $1000 of my savings during my month long joblessness - I want it back!!

My goal for February - spend an entire month without eating out; I don't want to buy even a $7 sandwich. I guess there is one exception - the days I'm working 12 hours and must eat something while there.

Those Darned Resolutions

I'm keeping mine! I know I said I wasn't calling it a resolution, per se. I've a ton more vegetables and fruit into my diet. As we all know, Christopher doesn't eat anything resembling a vegetable, so when I cook, I cater to him. I hardly ever ate vegetables and it showed. But, I've since sauteed some zucchini, squash, and spinach, made spinach smoothies, and I eat at least one orange a day. I'm feeling great!

Just this morning, my breakfast consisted of...
1 hard boiled egg
1 smoothie (spinach, strawberry, banana, blueberry, and OJ)
1 bagel
skim milk

Pretty good, eh?

The scale says I've dropped 5 pounds since I've started eating more fruits and vegetables. Score!!

Gifts and The First Sew

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I wish you the best in keeping your New Year's resolutions. I don't have a resolution, per se, but I am incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet.

For Christmas (and his birthday), I gave Christopher a weekend getaway to New York City - the greatest city on earth. We had a blast, even though I shouldn't have worn new boots - my feet were torn apart...but it was worth it.  We arrived on Friday around two, but were unable to check into our hotel until four. We were told to leave our luggage (which were backpacks - not really any luggage to speak of) with the concierge while we went out. We meandered around the crowded streets of Times Square (the location of our hotel).  I had researched the best burgers in New York and came up with the Shake Shack thanks to urbanspoon.com.  We arrived to a l-o-n-g line winding through the restuarant and outside on the sidewalk.  After about fifteen minutes of waiting in line, we placed our order and waited fifteen more for our food to come up. We see people standing around waiting for tables to eat, so we devised a plan.  Christopher was to walk around and scout a table while I waited for our buzzer to go off and get our food.  After retrieving our grub, I meet up with Christopher who still wasn't able to get a table, but low and behold a table gets up right before our eyes. This is our first New York moment.  We slide into the chairs as soon as the family gets up and Chris begins to eat just as a wiry lady screams that we stole her table. What the hell lady? Where were you? You weren't standing by the table to stake your claim. She turns to another woman saying she was waiting after our wiry lady for twenty minutes.  I was too meek, Christopher says since I began to get up as he remained seated eating. She made a fuss, I looked at him with a look that I guess he read to give up, so he got up and we waited for another table, which became available only a few seconds after that encounter.

After four o'clock, we walked back to the hotel to retrieve our bags and check into the hotel.  The concierge gets our bags and hands them to us.  Christopher and I had talked about whether or not to tip him.  Our luggage was nothing more than two backpacks - weighing nothing...and they were checked for less than two hours. We decided we would not tip, but got money out just in case.  Well, good thing we did, because after he handed us our backpacks, we thanked him, and he just looked at us and waited. I am unsure now if he held his hand out, but I want to think that he did. So I reached into my pocket and took out some cash and handed it to him.  What a waste of money.  I would understand tipping him if we had a lot of luggage, or if it was heavy, but no; it was neither of those.

We walked and walked, went  to Book of Mormon, ate New York pizza, I took Christopher to have the best cheesecake of our lives, went to Rockefeller Plaza, the 9/11 Memorial, and walked some more. This trip was entirely too short. I would love to go back, perhaps in the fall and take in all New York has to offer.  Maybe we can concentrate on Brooklyn next time since we both would love to live there.

While we were walking, we ran into this guy, who makes awesome photos using spray paint and random objects. You have no idea what he is going to make until it is finished. It's amazing to watch.

The new World Trade Center.

This is the view from our hotel room. We were a corner room, so we had another side, but I didn't take a picture of that side, for some reason.

For Christmas, my mother got me a sewing machine.  I had been wanting one for ages, but I just couldn't buy myself one for some unknown reason.  I'm a complete novice, although I took a 4-H class when I was younger and I sewed/knitted in Home Ec. Here are some photos of my recent (first) projects.

Christopher watched me as I threaded the needle and loaded the bobbin, and he wanted to practice. So, he made a pillow case. I think he wants to stuff it and make a pillow at a later time.

I tried to make Jolene a snuggie, but I couldn't figure out the collar and sleeve, so she just has a body blanket...which isn't quite right, but it's a start. She's been wearing it for two days now. Surprisingly, she isn't whinning, so I'm keeping it on her, haha. It has been chilly outside lately!

These are the drapes I made for the one window in our living room. I like them.

I bought some cheap cloth (1.99/yd) and some patterns ($.99/$3.99) so I'll be practicing shorts and dresses next. I absent-mindedly bought the wrong sizes in the patterns, because I didn't notice the sizes marked on the package, so I have shorts in sizes 18W-24W...hopefully I can take them in, maybe, but that is probably above my skill level.

Keep Austin Weird

Christopher and I arrived in Austin on Friday.  We originally planned to stay with a couple of couchsurfers in southwest Austin.  However, after walking around downtown for a bit, eating lunch, and trying a local beer, we got into contact with the couple and they were not at home.  Instead of inconveniencing them, we decided to get a hotel room...which was the most difficult thing.  Every hotel in downtown was at capacity. So we drove and called, drove and called various hotels until finally the Hampton Inn about 5 miles north of Austin had a vacancy.  Clearly, I haven't stayed in a hotel in quite some time because I was kind of taken back by how much a room is. University of Texas wasn't even playing football at home this weekend. I don't know why all of the hotels had no vacancies.

Thank God for iPhones. Saturday we searched for a local breakfast spot.  This is quite important to both Christopher and I since breakfast is our favorite meal. Urbanspoon directed us to a very small and friendly place, the Counter Cafe. After fueling our bodies, we began a search for a collar pin to complete Christopher's ensemble. The search was futile. Apparently, not many people have heard of a collar pin, except for Brooks Brothers for $60.  It wasn't quite worth that much. 

Aly's wedding was about an hour away from downtown Austin at a beautiful venue called Vista West Ranch. She timed the ceremony perfectly with the sunset, the music selection was amazing, her dress was beautiful as were the bridesmaids dresses. Almost everybody there was crying. You could see the love between Aly and Mike - it was gorgeous. At the reception, some delicious BBQ was served and lots of dancing commenced.  Everybody had remarked about Christopher's mustache and later there were some fake mustaches being given out. So all the girls wanted a picture with him and their fake mustaches. It was cute.

One thing I noticed whilst driving and walking around Austin - the trash.  It just seems to be a dirty city.  There is trash all over the banks of the roads.  Grocery bags float along the highways.  The sidewalks are dirty. I liked Austin, but in comparison to Charlotte...it's dirty.

Counter Cafe's special - hot cakes. I could only eat half.

2 free range eggs and Nitrate free bacon. Homemade biscuit (with jam).

Hello, Austin.

Austin food trucks.

Wall art.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark

The couple's first dance.

Aly and myself.

Reunited!

Real mustache + fake ones

Cute couple! <3 them.