Long Time No See

Thanks to Cap for keeping the blog going during the last two weeks. My apologies on being MIA. I decided that Hurricane Sandy was the best excuse yet to forego media of all kinds (blogs, facebook, twitter, internet in general, tv, cable, hulu, etc.). Sandy also knocked out the internet for four days. I spent most of Sandy and the past weekend curled up on the couch with Harry and a heating pad. I wasn't sick or hurt. I just really like laying on a heating pad. And by Harry, I mean the wizarding one. You know, Potter.

Despite all of my curling up and reading, I found myself surprisingly busy as well. For instance, I just spent the last two days in a strategic planning meeting with about 15 other women (wooooo...) for the museum. I then had to attend a Junior League Board Meeting (snooooze... when you're not on the board, its not very interesting) to make my provisional requirements. I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I?

I spent all day Monday and Tuesday thinking that it was actually Wednesday. Today, I keep thinking its Friday. I am obviously very confused.

I have also taken on some extra-curricular work that requires hours upon hours of computer work. But at $30/hour, I am NOT complaining. Not one bit.

So needless to say, all of this combined with a water spill on my dear, beloved Mac that found him (yes, personified) resting in a box of rice for two days means that I have sadly been unable to blog! Interestingly, I have hardly contemplated clever ways of murdering W for the past two months. Progress on this whole how-to-not-murder thing!

However, I did want to murder him and his school when I found out that we won't know his days off (positively assuming he will have at least one) for Thanksgiving until the Monday of Thanksgiving week. WHAT. That is ridiculous. I am not happy.

I also wanted to murder him and the federal government when I got another call from collections because our insurance company wouldn't pay for a medical related expense, and none bothered to send us a bill. Where's my affordable healthcare, Mr. President?

Sorry. That's not really a political statement. That's frustration with all of the promises of Obamacare of which this hardworking, tax-paying woman has seen ZILCH. Not that I agreed with it in the first place, but if we are all being "helped" by it, I would like to experience this help. Just saying.

But let's go back to how W is a 3rd year medical student, who is required to have health insurance to be in school, and so has to pay for it out of pocket since his wife (me) is lame and works for a non-profit that doesn't have insurance and pays her pennies. Let's also talk about how expensive this health insurance is each and every month. Then, let's talk about how it pays for NOTHING and then doesn't alert us to not paying for the nothing.

How ironic that my medical student husband and I cannot afford "affordable healthcare".

Off soap box.

So, the issue of days off for Thanksgiving and health insurance have been the only episodes that might have threatened the well being of dear W. Fortunately, I have learned to take out my frustrations in the kitchen.

Here is what I have been dishing up lately with links to recipes:

 (from left to right: jalapeno cheddar, plain, rosemary, lemon zest and gruyere)

I have made 3 loaves of this bread and will be making a loaf to take to my Junior League recipe exchange this weekend. (I know, I hate myself a little for saying that.) I have made cheddar jalapeno and rosemary, lemon zest, and gruyere. The latter is definitely a favorite!

I made this Hoppin' Johns inspired recipe. I wish that I had used smoked sausage or ham instead of chopped up pork. Other than that, it was a hit! I love one pot meals. I used 20 minute rice and frozen black eyed peas that I cooked beforehand.

Then, on the day that Sandy hit and it SNOWED in OCTOBER, I made this homemade tomato soup. All I had in the cupboard was a can of tomato sauce/puree and half and half instead of heavy cream. It was still delicious! Just add more stock/water if you use tomato sauce/puree.

My new breakfast of choice is a smoothie, and its delicious. Ingredients: half of a frozen banana, 8 frozen or fresh strawberries, 1 large handful of spinach, 1/2 - 2/3 cup of skim milk, 1 heaping tbs. of peanut butter, 1 tsp. honey, 1 heaping tbs. of yogurt. Blend and enjoy! I just started adding plain Greek yogurt. I am NOT a yogurt fan but wanted extra protein and the good stuff that yogurt has, so I started adding what I could handle. Yogurt unfortunately triggers my gag reflex. So far though, I don't really notice it in the smoothie.

If you like mustard greens, this recipe with onions and pasta is delicious especially with a side of kielbasa!

This is one of my favorite pork loin recipes. I make variations of it all the time. The most recent was this Sunday, when I made a pork roast in my dutch oven with carrots and potatoes. I didn't have white wine, so I used chicken stock instead. I LOVE lemon with roasted veg and meat. Yum.

So, who's coming for dinner????

-b

B Travels to DC

This past weekend was a flash and in the best of ways.

I won't bore you with all of the details, so I will share my travels with you in a very orderly, Type-A-med-student-husband-approved way.

1. It all began with a seven hour road trip with two of my fifty-year-old board members. It was awesome. We stopped every hour to pee and ate schnitzel along the way!

2. I got to Georgetown around 5pm and checked in at the hotel all by my lonesome. I was antsy and excited, so I decided to go for a walk and explore a bit, and yeah, mother nature happened. Torrential downpour sans umbrella.

3. I ducked into a Hagen Dazs for refuge and was guilt-ed into spending $4 on a sorbet that I took three bites of before the rain temporarily let up, inducing me to chuck the sorbet and hightail it back to the hotel. I spent the remaining few hours before Marg arrived painting my nails and watching Twilight movies.....

4. 9pm - Margaret arrived. We went to Thunder Burger. OMG. My burger was so delicious. And the fries?! And the aioli for the fries!? I can't. Marg had a gin martini, dirty. I had a vodka (duh).

1. Marg thought it was a WONDERFUL idea to go see Jessica the psychic. I can attest to this being a very bad idea indeed. We walked up the narrow stairs and into the woman's living room where her eight year old granddaughter was playing on an IPad with a cat snoozing under the chair. "The Psychic" then charged Marg $10--since the $5 special had just run out..............--and proceeded to stare at the ceiling while she read Marg's palm..................................... and got EVERYTHING wrong.

2. Elizabeth got in at midnight so we called it an early evening and got up bright and early Saturday to go explore the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. I didn't take any pictures there because I was too busy obsessing over the incredible jewelry stands! W will be getting me earrings from one stand for Christmas :). I will post those later.... After the market, we introduced Marg to the US Capitol, which she had confused with the White House. She kept saying, "Where's the big black fence that you stand in front of?????? Its so much bigger than I remember!!" Lawdy.

3. We walked through the sculpture garden on the way to the Natural History Museum.

4. Fall colors in DC on our way to the Natural History Museum and the Hope Diamond.

1. Lunch at Paul's, a favorite bakery. Marg and I split the biggest, most delicious raspberry macaroon we had ever seen. Mmmm.

2. NATIONAL ZOO. OMG. BEST IDEA EVER.

3. Flamingos! My new obsession.

4. The tiger was very agitated.

1. Dinner at Bistrot du Coin, another favorite. Cotes du Rhone was the beverage of choice.

2. WE FOUND CAP!!! Margaret, Elizabeth, Me, Cap at a rooftop bar.

3. View from the rooftop.

4. Of course, we had to stop and love on the DCPD Clydesdales.

1. Elizabeth escaped early on a plane Sunday morning. Margaret and I thought it would be a great idea to ride bikes all over Georgetown after the previous evening's antics. It actually was awesome! I was very surprised that we were able to stay upright the entire time. We had brunch on a patio by the river with Margaret's BFF, Carrie and then we parted ways. :(

2. My conference began that night at a palatial building near Dupont Circle called Anderson House. It was filled with elderly women drinking gin and scotch. The final day of the conference found me at Gunston Hall Plantation, eight miles south of Mt. Vernon. It was incredible in all of its colonial charm.

3. Napoleonic Bee necklace I purchased at the gift shop and am now obsessed with.

4. Came home to my fluffy daughters and sweet W who is another year older.

Great trip ladies! Let's do it again soon!

-b

B on the Road Again

I am off--yet again--this weekend sans the medical student. I know you all must think I am quite the absent spouse, but I am becoming more and more convinced that the old adage, "absence makes the heart grow fonder," might indeed be true as well as a necessity when it comes to NOT murdering your med student husband.

Now, I am going to shock you all when I confess that I will be leaving W for five days this Friday, which also just so happens to be his 29th birthday. Terrible, right? I should be so ashamed of myself. In fact, I totally am, yet it did not deter me from scheduling my girl's reunion in DC this weekend.

You see, dear readers, I get to hang out with two of my dearest friends in one of my favorite cities.

At Margaret's Kansas-themed going away party. I was the state insect. She was Glenda.

This is Elizabeth. We were doing what we did best, barhop in CHS, SC.

You see, I was heading to DC this weekend anyways for a work conference that starts on Sunday and ends on Tuesday. I am notorious for turning work trips into fun getaways, hence this weekend's obvious girl-time theme!

Margaret currently lives in NYC, and when W and I were there visiting in April, she told me that she had purchased a Groupon for a round-trip bus ride to DC. Knowing that I went to DC often for work, we decided that my next work trip should coincide with her using the Groupon. We are so economical.

I haven't seen Elizabeth since a few months after my wedding, nearly 3 years ago. RIDICULOUS. So, we thought we would make it a true reunion. You see, all three of us enjoy visiting one another.

Elizabeth and I visited Margaret when she lived in Denver.

This weekend is sure to be thrilling. I have barely recovered from our whirlwind weekend in Lewisburg and the hazy late-night we spent at the Greenbrier and its cave-like casino on Saturday (geesh), but I wouldn't miss this epic girl's weekend for anything (even for W's birthday, apparently!!!!).

Coincidentally, Cap and J will also be in DC this weekend, so I have convinced Cap that she must stay with us and even stay on with me through Tuesday. J just doesn't have a say.

Can you spot Margaret and Elizabeth? Hannah from the Birmingham trip is in there, too!

Can't WAIT!

-b

Blogging as Inspiration

Its a weird phenomenon this whole blogging thing.

If you think about it, blogging is incredibly self-centered, narcissistic, egotistical, conceited, vain... I could keep going.

Do you disagree?

I have a point. Stick with me.

Why does one start a blog?

I am sure the majority of bloggers weren't thinking when they hit that create-a-blog button, "I am doing this because the world needs to know who I am."

So, what was their motivation?

Documentation? Chronicling life? Finding a voice?

It seems that blogs began as a forum for struggling or wanna-be writers desperate for a platform.

Today, it is something quite different.

Anyone can start a blog--with one click of a button--within five minutes, it is up and running.

Bloggers have so much power. Its kind of scary if you think about it.

Motivation seems to run the gamut. Fashion, cooking, writing, travel, boredom, art, life changes, pregnancy, children, weight loss, outlet for work stories, etc.

How many of your favorite bloggers now have books?

Cupcakes and Cashmere. DesignSponge. Dooce. Love Maegan is working on hers.

How many of them have you seen on the Today show (NieNie Dialogues) or sitting in the front rows of major fashion shows (Style Rookie) or with their own shows on Food Network (Pioneer Woman)?

Its amazing. Incredible, really.

I mean, Cap and I were contacted just the other day to pen a 3 volume how-to series on being a medical school spouse. REALLY.

I'd like to know exactly how it all started.

I wonder when it will end?

Now that Cap and I have been at this whole blog thing for just over a month, one singular thought continues to pervade my mind--a thought I hate to admit to you all, dear readers, but one that is oh so true.

My blog gave me a life. (FINALLY. I was beginning to get worried.)

Its true!

This blog has become a motivator.

Get up, it says to me on sleepy Saturday mornings.

No, seriously, GET UP. Shower. Get dressed. Now, go do something, it yells annoyingly at the top of its lungs.

YOU NEED ACTIVITY TO FEED ME. GO. LIVE. WRITE ABOUT IT ON MONDAY.

FINE, I yell back as I reluctantly pull myself off the couch and make plans.

And then, Saturday night, as W and I made our way up the winding stairs to our apartment, I felt extremely grateful for the blog and its insistence at purposeful living.

That was so much fun, I thought, recounting the day's adventures.

W and I set off on a windy road mid-morning, amidst the official dawning of Fall. The mountains have taken on a honey-colored glow, letting us all know what season has set in. I think those brief days before the leaves really begin to change are my favorite. Its like looking at the world through gold-tinted glasses--everything is warmed and crisp, fresh out of summer's oven and ready to cool off.

We met Cap and J at Hawk's Nest State Park that promised a fascinating gondola ride down the mountain. It was a bit disappointing to take in said fascinating gondola and the three minute ride down a large hill, through a pine forest. Not quite the breathtaking rock faces and churning water views we expected. We decided that we could live without it. So, puppy in tow, we headed to Fayetteville and New River Gorge Bridge. We ate huge cheeseburgers, fried pickles and fried green beans. We shopped around the Hobbit Hole. We chased puppy on the courthouse grounds. Then, we went to the gorge. (If you would like to see our adventures, visit the weekly recap.)

It was a perfectly fulfilled Saturday that made lounging around all day Sunday so much more satisfying.

So, what does this weekend hold? Let's see if I survive this first:

I get to hang out with this girl this Thursday & Friday. She is my oldest friend, who also happens to be my youngest friend. Figure that one out.

Photo from her 21st birthday party, natch.

Here is how it all went down:

"Therefore and such as," I will be driving down to SC tomorrow evening, meeting the newborn nephew for a few brief moments, and then hightailing it to Birmingham Thursday morning with her to consume lots and lots of cow.

Who drops everything at the mention of free, expensive food?

THIS GIRL.

(follow our adventures on Instagram: bri_jackson & hchap426)

-b