Vegetables and Life Choices

I was home for a few days last week working on never-ending wedding details. It was a great trip, and we got a ton done including finishing my dress, testing the recipe for the wedding guest favors, getting my hair back to one color, taking bridal portraits, scanning childhood pics for the slideshow, and making the guestbook. Whew!

Productivity aside, I listened to a couple of really good audiobooks on the trips to and fro. On the way there, I listened to Veganist by Kathy Freston. She's a fun writer and I didn't find her to be very pushy with her "beliefs" like some proponents of the vegan lifestyle. Truth be told, I stopped listening part-way into the chapter about the mistreatment of animals raised for meat because (a) I couldn't handle the sadness and (b) I was already sold.

I quit eating meat (cold turkey, haha) in February of 2007. I did fine with it for 3 and a half years and even converted my sister for a time, but I had been dating Russ for a while and started to gain weight because we went out to eat so much to accommodate both our preferences. So I reluctantly started eating fish and progressed to chicken and turkey over the following 6 months. But I never felt good about the decision and, after being reminded of my convictions, I'm going back. Russ is ok with it, and he's usually a pretty good sport about my experiments in the kitchen. More to come about said experiments.

The second book [I'm still listening to] is What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson. Oh, such a good book - it's like it was written for me! I try not to overspiritualize the idea of finding meaning in life, I just want to get to a place where I enjoy some part of my work every day, feel like I'm contributing to society in some way, and, for Pete's sake, don't have to sell anything. Is that too much to ask? But the trend in my work life has been to do something for a while, usually somewhere between 2 months and two years, get bored and quit. Let's look at my work history, shall we?

1. holiday gift wrapper
2. piano teacher
3. church secretary
4. fabric store worker
5. seamstress for interior designer
6. civil engineer
7. veterinary tech
8. drapery seamstress
9. nanny
10. wedding dress seamstress
11. tutor
12. *here's hoping* full-fledged teacher??

Mind you, this is all since high school, but all in the span of 12 years. So naturally I began to wonder somewhere around job 7 or 8 if maybe it was me? Maybe I was chronically discontent? Maybe I was lazy and just didn't want to work at all? But there was lots of evidence to the contrary for each of those. Come to find out, there are lots of people like me. According to Bronson, who refers to us as "change artists," there are people who, for one reason or another, get bored easily and need to be continually developing new skills and reinventing themselves. This information, in and of itself, is not news to me - I knew I wasn't alone. But the idea that it's okay to be this way is. So I'm rolling this idea around in my head. And I'm ok with it. If, by chance, someday I find a career field that I love and want to do forever, great. If not, that's fine too! That said, Monday morning I took my certification test to teach 8-12th grade math - and I passed! 4 months of studying payed off!

8/6 Bridal Shower

My Kitty and me

Me with my co-worker, Angela
Mom, Kitty, and me

The girls from SA, Ruth, Eva, and Dawn

Towels!

It was like my birthday!

oh the food...oh my

The hostesses: KayLynn, Rachel, and Jamie

Simply Adorable

I already loved this song, but this changes everything...

Additionally

I forgot this from last night: French toast for dinner! Had some strawberries to use up and hadn't had French toast in a loooong time. Russ even liked it!

Allow Me to Explain

This weekend was CRAZY. Friday I went to Austin, well, first San Marcos for pizza with Mom and Kitty, and then Austin. We shopped, we ate some more, we looked at pictures and picture frames, we straightened hair. Saturday morning Mom and I went to a cake tasting for my wedding cake... cake for breakfast! Then Saturday afternoon I had my bridal shower! KayLynn, Rachel, and Jamie were the organizers and they did a fabulous job. Pictures to come, I have to wait to get them from other people since my camera battery was dead :(.

Tonight I have been doing some experimenting. At Kitty's Friday night I was eating some of her "Quakes" which are just rice cakes with flavoring powder on them, right? Seems like it would be pretty simple to make, right? Wrong. I got started earlier this afternoon (after I finished up Hatchet, pretty good book, btw) googling "how to make crisp rice." Not much there. Next "puffed rice." Still nothing. The googling went on for some hour and a half after which I gathered that they do it alot in southeast Asia but they use black sand to cook it? And no one seemed to know what kind of rice to use. And some of them said you had to use oil and some said you could just "crisp" it in the oven after you make regular rice. You can't. I tried. Following is the before and after of that adventure:Failure #1. So I pressed on. Several tutorials suggested frying the rice. Or frying rice first boiled, then dried. Some said the moisture content had to be just right in the rice. How the heck do you test moisture content in partially cooked rice?! Anyhow, I tried deep frying it, totally dry and partially cooked. But to no avail. Following is the fried rice. And just for kicks I tried frying brown rice and barley as well (also failures):

Yuck, right? Not to mention this whole quest was to find a way to crisp rice so I could make healthy snacks that I knew all the ingredients of. Deep frying wasn't really in that plan. So you were maybe hoping that I could tell you after all of this how to make crisp rice. Too bad, I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe next week. In the meantime, though, I found a really cool machine that does it for you; take a look.

I tend to be pretty persistent (some may say stubborn) when I want to figure something out, so hopefully I'll be able to figure this one out and let you know. How cool would it be to make rice crispy treats from rice you popped yourself? Or use it in homemade granola? Just nod and smile.

the webz

I must say, I've been quite the busy bee on the Internet lately.

First, I am working on a site for my sewing-crafting-teacher stuff... it's not great, but it's a work in progress of course! www.handiworkschool.com

Second, Russ finally broke me and we made a wedding website.

Go have a look-see and tell me what you think!

Rain!

This weekend, it has rained several times so far. Of course by "rain" I mean "spit," but in San Antonio we'll take what we can get. Beezus and I embarked upon the dog park just after seven this morning, where we were rained upon. Then we picked up Eva for a visit to the farmers' market, where we were rained upon. This afternoon the fiance and I went to see a movie, and on the way home were rained upon. Totally worth frizzy hair.

Pilates

Today was my first Pilates lesson. Let me first say that I hate exercise, despise it. Primarily because I find it boring and repetitive. Walking is ok, but it's boring, too, and that's about as much as I can handle. Until now, I've never had to worry about my weight, but I know it's coming... 30. And I know things will change, especially after I have kiddos. Plus I want to look good in my wedding dress since the pictures will be around for some time, so I signed up for a few classes. I'm doing private lessons at 210 Pilates and I had my first lesson at 7:00 this morning (?!). And... it was SUPER FUN! It's much more mindful than stupid gym exercises and you don't do 100s of the same exercise over and over and over. And the machines are old school. I like it. I realized in class that I'm way out of shape and pretty darn weak, but we're working on that. I need Michelle Obama arms for this dress...

Additionally, I have decided on my next craft project. A Moroccan pouf stuffed with shredded paper from work. Look it up.

First Wedding Present!

Last Thursday, the good doctor and I got our first wedding gift...

There was a knock on the door. Beezus freaked, naturally. I opened the door to his nemesis: the FedEx man! He delivered three big boxes o' fun. TGD's parents were more than generous. His mom and dad are reps for Pampered Chef and we got hooked up. The following are mine, all mine, mwahahaha:

Inaugural Post

Hey hey! So I've been intending to start a blog for months now. I needed to replace my facebook habit with something quasi-productive, so here's my blog! I will have to do some experimenting with the organization of the blog, so please bear with me. There will initially be a lot of overshare, I am sure. Here are some things I'd like to cover with my blog:

(1) The daily activities of my dog, Beezasaurus (aka Bernoulli) - gripping stuff, this is. He's monopolizing my lap at this very moment.
(2) The planning and prep of my upcoming wedding (September 17!)
(3) Various crafts that are and are not successful
(4) My journey of deciding what I want to be when I grow up ... Should I teach? Should I start a business? Should I remain a stay-at-home pup mom?
(5) Various inspiring thoughts I come across

Here are a few notable items from the past week:
(1) Wedding invitations went out Monday - there's no backing out now! Items remaining: find DJ, find florist, find string trio/quartet. 4 bridesmaid dresses down, 2 to go.
(2) My Kitty came this weekend and baked a strawberry-lemonade cake with lemon icing. Although the icing tasted a little chemical-y, the cake was stinkin' delicious and I have almost finished the ENTIRE BUNDT CAKE.
(3) I have been working with a student with Asperger's Syndrome the past couple of days at work. Her blunt honesty is refreshing.
(4) Tonight I successfully cooked popcorn on the stove! I sprinkled it with a little white cheddar topping, and that stuff was delicioso. Thanks to Eva for teaching me her ways.
(5) I've been studying with the good doctor for his board exams. I'm pretty much a pulmonary expert now.