Ham & Bean Soup

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I had the pleasure of a partly cloudy, reasonably warm holiday filled with delightful gifts and pleasant people at work. (Hotels never close!)

Johnny received a ham as a Christmas gift from his company; it weighed eight and a half pounds! That's a lot of ham for only two people! I cooked it last week and we've been eating ham sandwiches every day since. I made a breakfast strata with some of it (which we are still nibbling on), and today I made a delicious ham and bean soup. It's hearty, tasty, and good for you! Be warned, you'll need a huge pot to cook it in- it makes a very large quantity. We're planning to eat some for lunch throughout the week and freeze the rest.

Ham & Bean Soup
From allrecipes

• 1 (20 ounce) package 15 bean mixture, soaked overnight
• 1 ham bone
• 2 1/2 cups cubed ham
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 5 large carrots, chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can low-sodium vegetable juice
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 7 cups low fat, low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
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1. Place the soaked beans into a large pot and fill with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low for 30 minutes. Drain. Add the ham bone, ham, onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, vegetable juice, and vegetable broth. Season with Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, chili powder, bay leaves, pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Pour in enough of the chicken broth to cover the ingredients.
2. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 hours. Add more chicken broth as needed throughout the day. Remove the ham bone and season with salt if needed. Continue to simmer for a couple more hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas! I had a lovely morning with Johnny opening gifts and talking on the phone with family. I work this afternoon and hopefully everyone will be full of Christmas cheer!

Chromium

Hello, everyone, and sorry for the lack of posts lately! Last weekend was very busy for Johnny & me, as we were in Texas celebrating Christmas with his family. This week has been very quiet, but I have been busy with a very exciting project- Google's Cr-48. It's a notebook that runs Chromium, Google's brand-new operating system. I've been selected as part of their pilot program and am currently testing out one of the notebooks. I know it's not a great excuse for not blogging, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Haha!

For those of you that are curious, the Cr-48 is very nice- it's lightweight, fast, and extremely easy to use, especially if you already use the Google Chrome browser. It can connect to the web through wifi or on Verizon's 3G network. The best part about it is that it only does web, so there's no clunky programs slowing it down. This would be a problem if I didn't already use the cloud/a flash drive to store all of my files. Fortunately, the notebook makes accessing and using things like Google Docs, Picasa, and Evernote (where all of my documents and pictures live) a snap. Web-based apps provide games, image editing, and chat applications; it does almost everything a normal PC or Mac can do. I am really excited about it so far!

Loss

I'm not a very sentimental person. I regularly donate former favorite sweaters to charity, I wasn't upset when my father turned my old bedroom into a kids' room for his step-grandchildren, and I once threw away a whole batch of love letters because I didn't have space in my very small desk for them.

I am also not close with most of my family. My parents and I have always had an odd relationship; they have treated me as an independent adult-ish person my entire life, so we treat one another neutrally. They aren't very involved in my life (I haven't talked to my father since September; my mother does have a grating habit of calling me weekly). My extended family, for the most part, is 1400+ miles away in New York, which makes having a close relationship with them difficult. I get along amicably with my two adult cousins and their parents. The same can be said for my other aunts, uncles, and baby cousins. My grandparents all died when I was young (except for my father's mother, whom I haven't spoken with in years).

Despite this detachment from family, when I learned that my great-aunt had passed away this afternoon I was suddenly very sad. She and I shared a birthday, and she never failed to send me a card and a check for $5. I continued to receive gift this long after my older cousins' annual Lincoln had stopped. She always wrote lengthy notes in my birthday cards updating me on her son and his wife, goings on at her assisted living home, and always encouraging "come when you can". I always wrote her polite thank-you notes back with details on school or work or horses and saying "I'll try to visit soon!" I sometimes tried to coordinate visits to her with my mother; my great-aunt was a vivacious, chatty woman who loved to tell stories about serving as a nurse in the war (which ones, I was never sure) or show off her gallery (she was an avid painter) or give a driving tour of Montgomery, Alabama, where she lived (always terrifying; she sat on a stack of phone books due to her extremely short stature). Aunt Ruthie was a bit overwhelming one-on-one- I needed my mother around for support during visits. I hadn't managed a visit to Aunt Ruthie in several years, and I feel disappointed. I know she would have enjoyed some company.

I wholeheartedly hope my dear Aunt Ruthie is resting peacefully. At 101 years old, she lived a long and interesting life. Perhaps our shared birthday means that I'll see that grand age too and the experiences that come along with it.

"Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life." -Bertolt Brecht

Lilly Agenda

A couple of weeks ago, Preppy Princess was offering 20% off orders- of course I love a good deal, so I took the opportunity to order a personalized apron for my dear friend Amy. I thought I shouldn't let such a good coupon go to waste, so I ordered myself a little treat too: the Lilly Pulitzer Agenda Book (large sized). I'd needed an agenda book for a while, and I thought it would be nice to get one before the start of the new year. I was happy to see this one included August-December 2010; I could start using it right away! I ordered it in Don't Be Koi- a beautiful pattern, in my opinion.

Image from Preppy Princess

When the agenda arrived a few days later, I was floored by the packaging! My gift to myself was beautifully wrapped in pink and green paper and included a handwritten note from the lovely people at Preppy Princess, wishing me happiness with my new Lilly! I felt like I had received a special present from a friend! 

The agenda itself is absolutely perfect. First of all, the front and back covers are hard. This is probably my favorite thing about it- it's durable and makes writing in it a snap if there isn't a hard surface handy. Various tabs are easy to flip to and each month includes gorgeous prints and cute tongue-twisters. (For December 2010: "Misters and misses wish for mistletoe kisses.") There's lots of space for writing on the month-at-glance calendars as well as individual days. Special sections are provided for notes, addresses and phone numbers, dates to remember, and there's even a list of "Reasons For A Party" (including the Kentucky Derby and National Pink Day)! I have been using this agenda book non-stop since receiving it. If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend the Lilly Agenda Book and shopping through Preppy Princess!

*This is not a paid endorsement. I just loved this product & my experience at PP enough to share!

Better to Give

I just wrapped up the last of my Christmas shopping last night- I am so happy to have done almost all of it online. No fighting crowds on Black Friday or hunting through the mall for me! I can always find the right thing for family and friends on Amazon or Etsy, and failing that, every national retail store has a website. Here's a few things I'm giving this year:

Little Big Planet

To my dear friend, former roommate, and gaming buddy Mikey I am giving Little Big Planet. It's fun and challenging and I think he'll enjoy it. Plus, once he has a copy, we can play online together. 

Blue houndstooth apron

My BFF Amy loves to cook and bake, so I snagged this cute personalized blue houndstooth apron from Preppy Princess. My only hope is that it isn't so long that it will swallow her- she's only 5'2! 

Handmade beaded earrings

I actually scored several pairs of beautiful earrings from the Etsy store OBX Jewels. The owner is getting out of the jewelry business and is selling gorgeous pieces for great prices. These particular earrings are for my friend Greer- her favorite color is blue and she has wonderful taste in jewelry. Other pairs of earrings from this shop are going to my mom, aunts, and cousin. (And I have a pair to keep for myself too!)

Long-sleeved tee from Loft

My mom always gripes about needing colorful shirts, so I snagged this super-soft long-sleeved twisted vee neck tee from Loft yesterday. The soft pink color will look wonderful with her natural coloring and the neckline isn't too revealing. Perfect!

What are you giving for Christmas?

ICE: A Charlie Brown Christmas

As I mentioned before, Johnny's family invited me along to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan hotel. It was a fabulous exhibit: dozens of elaborate sculptures carved from over 2 million pounds of solid ice! This year's theme was "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and it featured all of the "Peanuts" characters (except Woodstock; I didn't see him anywhere!). The exhibit was kept at a cool 4 degrees F, so we were all bundled up in giant, hotel-provided parkas. (Sexy!)  We had a lot of fun and one of Johnny's aunts took a TON of pictures of us- I'll be sure to post those when I get them, but in the meantime, enjoy my pics from ICE: A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Decorations in the waiting area.

Even the nutcrackers had a Texan flair!

Snowman in the waiting area.

SLIDES! These were so much fun to go down. This room also looked like a rave.

Beautiful, totally-unrelated-to-Peanuts nativity scene at the very end.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

According to Twitter, it's Cookie Week;  in honor of the occasion, I'm sharing my favorite cookie recipe in the whole world. It's Johnny's recipe, and it makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. Try them!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 and 1/8 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 12 tbsp. melted butter, cooled
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1-2 c. chocolate chips

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. Mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter together. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add previously mixed dry ingredients. Blend together until smooth, then add chocolate chips. Mix well, then divide into ~24 equal balls and bake at 325 degrees F for 15-18 minutes. 

Back in Action!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! I had a marvelous time in Texas, meeting Johnny's extended family and eating delicious food. Johnny's parents were so gracious and pleasant and his family was interesting and extremely nice. There were a few moments where I wasn't sure what to say or do- like when his grandfather, frustrated with the potato peeler, exclaimed "damn liberal potatoes!" or when his young cousin asked "are you my cousin now?"- but overall, the experience was a very positive one.

While in Texas, we were so busy there wasn't much of a chance to do anything! Johnny left his Six Flags season pass at home and the only things we managed to do were see the Ice exhibit at the Gaylord Texan and catch a late showing of Morning Glory at the movies. (This movie was terrible, by the way.) The Ice exhibit featured the whole cast of Peanuts characters carved from ice- specifically, it was scenes from A Charlie Brown Christmas. I'll post pictures tomorrow- tonight I'm still recovering from a very long week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you're able to enjoy this holiday and reflect upon the things in life you're thankful for. Here's my list:

• My wonderful friends! Even though most of them are miles and miles away, I know they're just a phone call, text, or tweet away. I'm thankful they're in my life.
• Johnny- I can always count on him to be funny, supportive, excitable, and reliable. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without him. 
• My job. Being a concierge isn't very glamorous, but I am thankful to have any job in this dreadful economy. 
• The opportunity to play polo! Horses have always been my passion and I am extremely thankful I've been able to keep riding them throughout my life. I'm so happy to have found polo here in Tulsa and even more grateful to have started with a great club in Wichita. 
• My cats. It might seem silly to be thankful for two small, ridiculous animals like Bear and Woody, but they certainly bring me happiness and comfort.

There are countless intangible things I'm thankful for too, but I don't want to spoil anyone's Turkey Day by going on and on and on. Have a wonderful holiday!  

Texas!

I am so excited- Johnny and I leave for Texas tomorrow! We'll be gone Tuesday-Saturday and are planning to spend time with his immediate and extended family. I'm looking forward to meeting them; his parents are lovely people and I imagine his aunts, cousins, and grandparents to be just as nice.

While we're in Texas, we're planning on stopping by the botanical gardens, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Kimbell Art Museum and Six Flags. I'm also excited to eat puffy tacos at Caro's (and maybe buy some salsa to take home!). We might take in the Thanksgiving Day parade too; there's so much to do! I'll be sure to take loads of pictures (with my new and improved camera app) and write all about my adventures.

Skinny Pumpkin Muffins

I am a sucker for muffins- I think they're the most convenient, delicious breakfast food ever invented! I came across a recipe in Tulsa World a few weeks ago for Skinny Pumpkin muffins and have been meaning to bake them ever since. I finally got around to it last night and couldn't be more pleased with the results!

Skinny Pumpkin Muffins
recipe by Dorie Greenspan

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c. pumpkin puree
• 1/4 c. milk

DIRECTIONS

Whisk the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside. Fit a regular muffin pan with liners. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Beat the butter until creamy, then beat in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gently fold in the pumpkin puree and the milk. Add the flour mixture and blend into batter.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Bake until muffins are puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

NUTRITION FACTS

Makes 12 servings. Per muffin: 200 calories, 27g carbs, 4g protein, 55 mg cholesterol, 1g fiber, 9g fat. 

Giveaway Roundup!

It seems like there have been a ton of giveaways popping up lately on many of the blogs I read! In case you missed any, here's a quick list:

• Preppy Clothes Giveaway: clothiers Tucker Blair, Kiel James Patrick, and Southern Proper have joined together to give one lucky prep $1,200 of gear, in the form of a $400 gift card to each retailer! How fabulous!
• Privileged Housewarming Party: the ever-gracious Lisa of Privileged is hosting present-filled festivities to celebrate her blog's new home at amidprivilege.com. The several giveaways include prizes from Preppy Princess, CSN, and Shabby Apple- tres chic!
• Nautical by Nature Anniversary Giveaways: Kate at NBN is celebrating 3 years of blogging by having a week full of giveaways! You can win gear from Tipsy Skipper, Outer Banks Trading Group, Marley Lilly, Angela Moore, and Preppy Princess. Fingers crossed!
• Southern Hospitality $100 Giveaway: Rhoda of Southern Hospitality is hosting a V8/BlogHer sponsored giveaway for a $100 Visa giftcard! How fantastic is that? Pop on over to SH to read Rhoda's review of the new V8 V-Fusion + Tea and enter!

Christmas List, Part 2

Since I've shared some items that are on my list to give, I thought I'd share some items that I'd like to receive this year!

Monogrammed earrings from The Pink Monogram. I have been searching for a pair of earrings to wear every day- the kind that match everything, don't look ridiculous, and aren't attention-getting. I think these small, tastefully monogrammed beauties are just what I'm looking for!

Boat & Tote bag from LL Bean. I really need a tote bag for carrying around all of the miscellaneous stuff I take to work, to the gym, and to polo practice. I love the Regatta Blue color!

Cozy socks from Old Navy. I cannot tell you how much I need some warm, fuzzy socks! My feet freeze after  I take off my Ugg-boot-looking slippers and regular socks just don't cut it at night. 

Rope Whale notecards from Vineyard Vines. This stationary is adorable, enough said.

What do you want for Christmas this year?

Christmas List

It's getting to be the time of year when I seriously start thinking about Christmas. Namely, what to get everyone on my list, which has gotten quite long in recent years! My close friends are easy to shop for; my extended family is more difficult. Here are some lovely things I've found so far:

Soaps from Savor

Savor is one of my very favorite Etsy shops! They sell all sorts of handmade bath products, but their soaps are absolutely divine. This two-soap gift set also includes a handmade soap dish, and I think it's going to be great for my hard-to-shop for aunt. As a bonus, you get to choose which soaps to include! Perfect!

Brocade zipper bags at Pier 1

These little brocade zipper bags are adorable. Best of all, they can be filled with mini-gifts tailored to the recipient. My nieces might just receive these bags packed with nail polish, emery boards, lip gloss, etc. 

Luggage tag from A Touch of Whimsy

Most of my close friends are scattered all over the country- Michigan, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee- but they all travel regularly, whether it's home to visit family and friends or to the vacation home to summer. These bright, cheery luggage tags are going to be a hit, I can feel it!

Hot sauce set from Gourmet Mike's

Several gentlemen in my life are big fans of grilling and big fans of hot sauce. My dear friend Mikey and crazy cousin Andy might be recipients of a hot sauce set. 

What are you giving for Christmas this year?

Crafts

It's my day off, and you know what that means! Spending all day snuggling Bear and surfing the web. With Christmas just around the corner, I've been spending a lot of time on www.marthastewart.com in an effort to find gifts I can make for my friends and family. I'm happy to report that I've found some amazing projects!

Grosgrain Bracelets

These adorable bracelets are ridiculously easy and completely perfect for my trendy friends. I am definitely going to make a few for myself! I've already started searching for the perfect ribbon.

Bath Fizzies

These look just like colored sugar cubes, don't they? I think they look gorgeous in these jars, and plan on making several batches for my aunts, cousins, and BFFs. 

All Purpose Spice Rub

Sometimes, I think people don't want to cook because they're not inspired! Maybe by gifting this rub, which includes paprika, oregano, thyme, and other spices, I can encourage someone to get cooking. 

I also found a ton of glitter crafts, but I'm not sure if Johnny will be pleased with me making a sparkly mess on the dining table!

Chocomize!

I recently purchased a Groupon for Chocomize, a site that allows you to customize specialty chocolate bars. You can put practically anything in them, from strawberry Gushers to bacon to 23-karat gold flakes! The Groupon is for $20 worth of chocolate, so Johnny and I have been perusing the site all evening trying to decide what we're going to order! The site offers some 'favorites'- popular flavor combinations- that sound delicious as well as some that sound downright nasty. For example, the Hawaiian Sunset bar includes milk chocolate with macadamia nuts, 23-karat gold flakes, diced pineapple, and coconut flakes- yum! The Spicy Special bar, which consists of milk chocolate embedded with black peppercorns, mini chipotles, and cayenne pepper, sounds far less delicious. I think I might go with a simple milk chocolate bar with walnuts and dried raspberries- I'm easy to please, haha! What would you get from Chocomize?

Art Crawl

I am so excited for tonight! Johnny and I are heading to Tulsa for the monthly First Friday Art Crawl. First Fridays are popular all over and although I've attended Wichita's, Tulsa is new for me. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's exactly what it sounds like: people meet up and mingle while touring local art galleries. In Tulsa, it takes place in the gorgeous Brady Arts District downtown. I'm especially looking forward to the glassblowing demonstration at Tulsa Glassblowing Studio, and of course, food and drinks at all of the restaurants and bars along the way. Now, if I could just decide what to wear...

Blog Obsessions

As you can side by the long list to the left of this post, I read a lot of blogs. I love finding out what people (most of them strangers) do day to day, what kind of interesting things happen in their lives, where they recommend finding super-cute outfits. I've found a few new obsessions over the last couple of weeks:

• Total Frat Move
  An ever-growing list of things that are totally greek, this site never gets old. I was a sorority girl in college, and so many posts ring true (many of them in the worst possible way) that I could read this all day. (I often do at work, haha!)
• Sorostitute Stories
  In the same vein as TFM, Sorostitute Stories offers a look into collegiate sorority culture. Offering fashion tips, boy advice, and general observations on the greek system, SS is amazing and hilarious in every way. 
• Reasoning With Vampires
  I managed to make it through the first novel of the Twilight books without too many missing brain cells and without any desire to finish the series. RWV perfectly dismantles the books' awful writing with humor and grammatical edits.
• Hatecation
  Whenever I start thinking about how much I want to take a vacation and how I usually lack the funds necessary to do so, I head over to Hatecation. Filled with stories and pictures of vacations gone awry, it makes me feel less disappointed about staying home.

Music

Sometimes, I ask for really boring things for gift-giving occasions. This year's birthday was one of those times, as I desperately needed a fairly large USB drive to move my digital music collection off my laptop. My mother was kind enough to get me a 32-gigabyte USB drive and I've spent the morning moving music around. (My laptop is on its last leg and I definitely don't want to lose any of the music I've spent so much money on to an unexpected crash!) When I opened up the drive's package, I found a coupon for 50 free song downloads from emusic.com! I was so excited; I have been wanting to download a slew of songs I bookmarked on Pandora. Here's a sample of some of the music I recently added to my collection:

• Handsome Boy Modeling School- "Breakdown"
  

  
  

• Jem- "They"
  

  
  

• Vampire Weekend- "Oxford Comma"
  

  
  

• The Avett Brothers- "Nothing Short of Thankful"
  

  
  

• Sea Wolf- "O Maria!"
  

  
  

Shopping

I'll admit that I am a total bargain hunter. I am loath to pay full price for anything (horsey things are the general exception). As a result, I am signed up for various discount sites like Rue LaLa & Gilt Groupe and a plethora of store-specific mailing lists (J. Crew, Gap, etc.). All of these are forwarded to my coupon-specific email address so I don't have to see them on my phone (unless I want to) or in my regular inbox. It's perfect.

Quite possibly the best thing about these mailing lists is the birthday-related deals. I had no idea just how good they are until this year! Gap, Old Navy, J.Crew, and Banana Republic all sent me special coupons to use. I decided to spend a little birthday money on some new stuff from Old Navy- their jeans fit me well and their inexpensive tops are perfect for when you want something trendy, but don't want to drop serious money on a piece that will go out of style in a year or two. (I know, I know, one shouldn't buy trendy items, one should buy staples, but sometimes it's fun to embrace a trend!) With a 20% off coupon code in hand, I found a few good deals online.

The Sweetheart skinny jeans

I decided on these skinny jeans first. I like the wash, I like the rise, and after reading reviews, I think I'll like the way they fit. I am nervous about owning skinnies, but I hope these will look good and turn into favorites! (I also think they'll look great will the cute flats and slew of tops I got at Loft this weekend.)

Mohair blend sweater

The reviews on this sweater were iffy- some people thought the arms were too short or the knit was too flimsy, but I think it might be exactly what I'm looking for. I am in love with dark gray to begin with and I think a really lightweight cardi will be perfect for wearing to Thanksgiving at Johnny's parents'. I mean, doesn't it always get stiflingly hot when there are large groups of people in small rooms? As for the arms, my arms are on the short side, so that might be fine, but if the sweater is more of a 3/4 length thing, I can embrace that too. Perhaps pairing this with some dark jeans and a bright top underneath will look good!

I also bought a Christmas present for BFF Greer, but on the off chance she reads this (although she insists she never reads blogs), I won't post any info on it. I think she'll like it though! 

So ends the shopping spree. Back to doing boring stuff with money, like paying my student loans and cell phone bill!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween ya'll! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday one way or another, whether it's at a party, passing out candy, or watching the Rangers play baseball.

I am spending the evening recovering from yesterday's birthday celebrations. I turned a very exciting (haha) 24 and spent the day with Johnny and BFF Greer bargain hunting at the mall ($16 for 3 tops at Loft!!) and enjoying rooftop food & margaritas at El Guapo's in Tulsa. Certainly quieter than my 21st birthday, which found me staggering around The Watering Hole in Martin or my 22nd, which was spent waiting on AAA to tow Amy's broken-down car an hour back home, and anything is better than last year's totally awkward 23rd, which included my ex-boyfriend, his roommate, and two of my friends, followed by a 15-hour drive to Michigan with my current boyfriend. You can see why I was content to have a quiet day spent with two of my favorite people doing relatively boring things.

How to Wear a Scarf?

I just received a box of birthday goodies from my mom and couldn't resist opening a couple of presents! (Haha!) Among the gifts she sent were a couple of pretty scarves- I love them. They're soft, in great colors, and perfect for wearing with...something. I just realized that I have no idea what to wear a scarf with or how to wear it at all! In the past, my scarves have all been these heavy, thick-knit things I've worn to the barn to keep warm while riding in the winter! I am new to them as a fashion accessory!

Fortunately, there seem to be some great resources out there! (What would I do without the internet??)

Time Out Chicago has a short article on a few different ways to wear scarves. I think I like the artistic way the best!

FabSugar has an exhausting 50-entry slideshow of suggestions! There are several in there that I adore, but most are a bit too adventurous for poor, conservatively-dressed me.

Even Brooks Brothers has a guide on how to wear your scarf fabulously! And they give step-by-step instructions and a slideshow, perfect for the scarf novice like me! 

How do you wear scarves?

Potential Moves!

Johnny and I have been doing a little job hunting lately, trying to find jobs in our respective fields in a new city. It isn't that we don't like where we live- well, I am not crazy about small-town Oklahoma, haha!- but a change would be nice. While Tulsa is a wonderful city full of nice people, interesting activities, stellar restaurants, and lots of things to do, it's still a half-hour drive. This might not seem like much, but with nothing but fields inbetween, it makes a trip to the city quite a production! So we've been looking around in new places and applying to new jobs. Here are a few of the cities we could end up in:

Boulder, CO

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This is easily my favorite! Boulder has it all- gorgeous mountains, access to a plethora of outdoor activities (including one of my favorites, whitewater rafting!), plus good shopping, restaurants, and cultural activities. It's also just a few miles from Denver, which has a lot going on in the sports department. Fun!

Honolulu, HI

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A surprising number of jobs in my field exist in Hawaii, and I would love to experience living there. Beaches, volcanic mountains, and beautiful forests every day? Sign me up! My only fear is that it would get a little too touristy for my taste. 

Syracuse, NY

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It might not seem glamorous, but Syracuse has a lot going for it! I was born there, and most of my family lives in New York. I'd be close to the family vacation home, too, which would make summering very easy. Besides that, Syracuse is an old, interesting city with plenty of art galleries, museums, restaurants, and parks.

Lexington, KY

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Ah, Lexington! I spent many summers eventing here and I can firmly say it's a marvelous town. Of course, it's an equestrian paradise- racing, ePublish Postventing, polo- it's amazing. In the city, you can find fine dining, ballet, shopping, and great college sports. It's also relatively close to where I grew up in Tennessee, so dropping home to see family and friends would be easy. And maybe I could just take up being a professional equestrian. :)

Menu Monday

My laptop charger finally arrived in the mail, so I can post more regular updates! Hooray!

Onto Menu Monday- I've been working for the last few weeks to find meals that are more budget-friendly. As a result, more and more meals that are meat-free have been finding their way into our diet. I've been surprised at how affordable and tasty they can be! Two of this week's meals are meatless and I'm hoping they'll prove to be delicious. All of this week's recipes are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. (It is my new go-to cookbook!)

Menu for October 25-28

• Monday: Lentil soup
• Tuesday: Whole wheat pasta with roasted tomatoes & eggplant
• Wednesday: Enchiladas with pumpkin sauce
• Thursday: Chicken stir-fry wraps

I'm really excited to try the enchiladas with pumpkin sauce, especially since Hopsy over at Monograms and Manicures reviewed them so well a couple of weeks ago! It's always encouraging to find out that a recipe is delish before you make it!!

Oktoberfest

Today I'm headed to the Tulsa Oktoberfest- I couldn't be more excited! It was recently named one of the best Oktoberfests in the country by USA Travel Guide and promises to be full of polka, food, and most importantly, beer! I am a huge fan of German beers and I'm looking forward to sampling imported beers and locally crafted brews. Yay, Oktoberfest!

RIP Blazer

My beloved 1994 Chevrolet Blazer finally died yesterday afternoon. I took it out to the grocery store to pick up some garlic for last night's chili and it blew a head gasket on the way home. The poor thing has around 250,000 miles on it (249,949 to be exact), so I'm not exactly surprised by this occurrence. It will be missed; it was a hardy vehicle that survived two transmissions, three engines, a fire, college, and an obscene cross-country road trip to the Midwest.

Now my attention turns to finding a suitable replacement. I've become so used to driving a smallish SUV that it feels very foreign to drive small, low cars like Johnny's Subaru Impreza or even large pickups like my father's Dodge Ram! These days it seems impossible to find a nice midsize SUV; they seem to be so big and bloated or so small as to be totally impractical. I don't need space for people- I need space for things like saddles, bags of horse feed, the occasional hay bale, various pieces of furniture. I think I've found The Blazer's successor in a 2002 L.L. Bean edition Subaru Outback for sale locally. It's a sturdy, solid vehicle without being huge and overbearing. I'm contacting the seller this week; keep your fingers crossed for me!

Marigolds!

The garden has been looking very good over the last couple of weeks. The marigolds have really taken off-they went from scraggly looking bush to beautiful blooming flowers! Today I worked in the garden, trimming and pruning and mulching! I managed to snip a number of fresh blooms for four small arrangements. I currently have them all lined up in a windowsill, but I think I might put one on the dining table, one on the coffee table, and one on the mantle. These are such gorgeous flowers- like little vases of fall sunshine.

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Menu Monday

It's a busy week around here between work, winter garden prep, and pool closing, but I managed to put together the perfect menu of cook-ahead or quick dishes with just one little snag. You see, for tomorrow, I planned on making a perfectly delicious hot-and-sour soup with a recipe from Martha's Everyday Food; it's a favorite of mine. But Johnny and I searched high and low (well, two grocery stores in our tiny town) for tofu and shiitake mushrooms and couldn't find them! I wasn't altogether surprised about the tofu- I mean, we do live in a very small down in Oklahoma. I was really disappointed about the shiitakes though! I've found them  before at our favorite store, but this week it was nothing but portabellos and button mushrooms. Urgh! I suppose it's for the best; Johnny cooked chicken fried steak & mashed potatoes last night and with tonight's leftovers, we could probably eat for a week!

Menu for October 18-22

• Monday: Lasagna (constructed ahead of time; just needs to be baked when Johnny gets home!)
• Tuesday: Leftovers (glamorous, I know!)
• Wednesday: Tortilla and black bean pie
• Thursday: Chili (Johnny's recipe makes sooo much; we'll have plenty left for the weekend.)
• Friday: Spaghetti with lemon-garlic sauce

Book List

A while ago, I downloaded Barnes & Noble's nook application for my Android phone; I would rather read than play games or constantly check Twitter while lounging or waiting in line! I downloaded a few free books (mostly classics, like Pride & Prejudice, The Three Musketeers, and Dracula) but they've gone unread for the most part. I have been reading John Muir's Travels In Alaska for the last few weeks (wonderful evening reading!) but always forget to take books with me to work. (I have lots of time to read when work is very slow- ah, exciting hotel life!) I downloaded a nook app to my work computer and have been putting it to good use lately. I just breezed through True Prep today (such a fun read!!), so more books are in order. I've been scouring bargains at B&N's website, and here's what I'm adding to my reading list:

• The Mountains of California by John Muir- love John Muir's writing on nature, and this is a steal at $.99!
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes books as a teenager and I feel like now is a great time to revisit them, especially for only $1.99.
• Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton- a class I've been meaning to read for a while. I'm going to start on this tonight! (Another $1.99 find!)

What are you reading these days? Any recommendations? 

Garlic Bread

Since I'm off work during the week, I tend to do a lot of baking. Sometimes it's cakes or cookies or fruit crisps. But every week I can be counted on to make challah, a traditional Jewish egg bread. I found a recipe for it in the depths of Johnny's recipe-of-the-day calendar about a month ago and have been hooked on it ever since! The recipe I have produces a lot of bread (I usually get two large loaves); rather than let it go to the compost pile, I've been trying to find new ways to eat it. It makes excellent toast, contributes to bread pudding (my favorite!), and makes for delicious garlic bread. 

Usually, my garlic bread is some combination of garlic, olive oil, butter, and Italian seasoning, but I was inspired to try a recipe I saw on a recent episode of Barefoot Contessa. This is the best garlic bread I've ever had! It's SO flavorful! The recipe calls for ciabatta bread, but I feel like any kind of loaf will do- French, challah, sourdough. You must try this!!

Garlic Bread

recipe by Ina Garten

• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1 loaf ciabatta bread
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until minced. Add the parsley, oregano, salt and pepper and pulse twice.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan and add the garlic mixture. Remove the pan from the heat.

Slice the ciabatta bread in half horizontally, and spread the butter on 1 half. Spread the garlic mixture on the other half of the bread, and put the halves together. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil.

Place the bread in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Open the foil, and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Time Out

My poor laptop is down again- or more accurately, its charger is. I'm waiting on a new one to be shipped, so I should be back to posting in a day or two!

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Thunder vs Grizzlies

Last night, Johnny and I attended an NBA pre-season game right here in Tulsa! The Oklahoma City Thunder took on the Memphis Grizzlies; I was so excited, because I love both teams.

 Both teams had their superstars on display for the first half- seeing athletes like Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, and Marc Gasol play was definitely the best part of the night.

Rudy Gay (Memphis) is defended by Russell Westbrook (OKC)
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

Thabo Sefolosha (OKC) dunks!
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

 

Kevin Durant (OKC) calls a play while Rudy Gay (Memphis) guards.
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

The second half was just as action packed when the teams brought out rookie players. Memphis ended up winning 116-96; they had dominated the whole game, so it wasn't a big surprise. It was so fun to watch the game, even from our cheap seats! 

Our seats haha!

We're planning to attend more NBA games this year- they will probably all be Thunder games, but hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a Grizzlies game or a Dallas Mavericks game in there too! I love basketball season and can't wait for it to get rolling!

Spanish

I've always admired those who are able to converse in multiple languages. A friend in high school was fluent in both Spanish and English and it was amazing to hear her switch effortlessly between the two. In high school, I took Latin, hoping it would provided a strong foundation for any other language I chose to learn and eventually help me in a legal career. In college, I decided to neither take a language nor pursue law school. So much for Latin being useful!

I recently decided to learn Spanish, though. A couple of ladies at the hotel I work for speak mostly Spanish and little English, and sometimes it's tricky to ask them questions or communicate ideas. I found a free online course and have been studying it in the evenings during downtime at work. A guest heard me practicing yesterday and being a Spanish-speaker himself offered to teach me some conversational language and critique my grammar and pronunciation. So my new amigo Victor and I spent some time going over words and phrases yesterday evening and agreed to meet this afternoon to study. He is in town on contract work for the next six months, so I am hoping I will learn a lot from him. I'm very excited to take on this language challenge!