Brilliant, Emily (but not really)

Last night I was brilliant. Well, not really. Pretty much the opposite of brilliant. I was cooking dinner following the instructions in my Rachael Ray cookbook, which included baking chicken a skillet placed in the oven. No problem, our skillets are oven safe. After the poultry was cooked, I pulled the skillet out and served it up, at which point I realized the handle was sticking out over the aisle as opposed to the stove. Without thinking about the fact that this stainless steel object had just come out of the 400 degree oven, I grabbed the handle to rotate it over the stove. NOT a good idea...

(my hand after soaking it in cold water)

...needless to say, I spent the rest of the evening nursing my hand. Despite my thoughtless act, my hand is actually doing amazingly well (praise God!). I woke up this morning with one small blister on one finger, and bit of tenderness in the other fingers. But no hospital visit was necessary, and I really don't think this will limit any of my day-to-day activities (beyond not rowing this morning).

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm rowing again? I started last week. I am having so much fun! We only have practice 3 days a week so - as much as I enjoy it - it doesn't take over my life in quite the same way as it did in college. Everyone seems really fun and friendly, too. It's been great getting to know them a bit over the past week, and I'm excited to get to know them even better over the next few months.

Nothing In Particular...

This is me blogging late at night. Again. At least I don't need to be anywhere before 11am tomorrow, right? That's gotta count for something...

It's funny, I was talking to Matt about what to blog about because I felt like blogging but couldn't think of anything to write about. He said to just write a post about how I have nothing to write. According to my dad, that would mean I'm not thinking, right? He used to always say, "If you don't know what Emily is thinking, you must not be paying attention." Yes, I was a talkative child. I'm still talkative. Although talking and writing are two different things...

It's funny, I've always enjoyed writing. I've just never known what to write (probably one of the reasons I like my job - I'm told what to write about and take it from there). Every time I get a new journal or notebook I want to write in it, but I don't usually have much to commit to paper. Maybe that's because I'd already said everything I felt like sharing...? I guess that's the case here, too. Matt gets to hear everything I'm thinking, so a lot of it doesn't make it to my blog. I think that's probably a good thing, though. I've never been one to bear my heart and soul publicly - especially on the Internet.


I've actually written quite a bit considering I didn't have anything to say when I started typing. Must be the late hour. Helps me ramble. I'm sure you're overjoyed :)

Completely new topic: Owl City. I'm a fan. We bought the Ocean Eyes CD about a month ago and haven't listened to anything else in the car since then. Plus we both listen to it around the apartment, too. With catchy tunes and lyrics that are solid and fun, it's definitely a winner in my book. Matt and I have slightly different taste in music, too, so it's nice when we find something we both like.

Another new topic: Beard to the Future.This was fun and completely random. A not-extremely-long story even shorter: @supergeek_mike and @MyFault were talking about beards on Twitter and Back to the Future came up. Of course the proper response was to begin quoting lines inserting 'beard' in wherever possible...and create a website about it. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Linda McFly: That was so STUPID! GRANDPA hit him with the BEARD! 
• Marty: Helloooooo? Um…sorry about your beard… (shotgun blast) 
• Lorraine: I’ve never seen a purple beard before, Calvin.
• Doc: Please excuse the crudity of this beard, I didn’t have time to groom it or trim it to scale.

Check out the full site for all the quotes in chronological order.

Well, now that I've written a full post about a few random things and, well, nothing in particular...I'm off!

More News About Food...and Other Stuff

So far my new 'domestic system' is working out well! We've tried 5 of the 6 recipes (the Chicken Curry in a Hurry being planned for dinner tomorrow night). Our favorite so far? The Beef Teriyaki. It was delicious! The sauce tasted like the sauce used at our favorite Japanese restaurants around here. It was so good I'm planning to make it again next week. 

Second favorite was definitely the Big Beef Burger Stack-Ups, followed by the Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops. Neither of us liked the Chicken Schnitzel, and we agreed that the Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry was better the second night after sitting around in the sauce all day. Funny how that can help...

I'm really excited about this next week because Matt bought me a Slap Chop. It will definitely go to good use. After a week of chopping onions, ginger, parsley, cilantro...I'm ready for a nifty kitchen gadget. The menu this upcoming week includes the Beef Teriyaki in addition to Crispy Rosemary-Orange Chicken and Chipotle Chicken Rolls with Avocado Dipping Sauce. I'm also planning to make ice cream out of goat milk this weekend. I'm really excited about it - especially since I've been craving a milkshake for almost a month!


So my life in the last couple of weeks hasn't revolved around food completely. Other recent updates include (in reverse chronological order):

• Seis de Mayo party! Our life group (small group) had fun celebrating Seis de Mayo with a Mexican potluck today because it was more convenient with our schedules. Matt and I were bringing the beverages and we found a recipe for virgin sangrias which meant we needed something to put it in...so Matt bought one of those summer-y pitcher things I'd looked at several times we were at Fred Meyer but couldn't justify buying. It was on sale and we needed it, so the buying was justified :)
• Dollhouse & Bones - I recently got into these shows thanks to the Netflix Instant Queue. Dollhouse is slightly addictive...I went through almost the entire first season within a week. Sadly the last episode is available on disc only, but the good news is it arrived in the mail today! I also started watching Bones. Not nearly as addictive, but the first few episodes have been fun so far. It's nice to watch when I feel like watching TV for about an hour without committing to a full movie.
• Reuse Fair - Last weekend we helped out at the Community Garage Sale and Reuse Fair. With about 200 vendors, there were a lot of people selling stuff! After the fair ended, vendors had the option to donate their stuff to the Goodwill truck on-site. There was a LOT of stuff leftover. We stuck around to help load the two trucks and filled them completely. There was another truckload and a half leftover that we put aside for the Goodwill to pick up on Monday. As tired as I was from hauling boxes, bags and coffee tables the next day, I had fun helping out.
• Girls' Night - A couple of my friend's friends also came into town last weekend for a wedding, so she invited me to come hang out and watch girly movies with them. I forgot how much I like Ever After. It's just a really good story. I know it's Cinderella, but I like they way it's told and the various liberties they take. While there, I also learned how to play a new card game, and there were freshly baked chocolate chip cookies so I was a very happy camper. Mmmm....cookies.
• Dinner & Games - Last week we had another young couple from church come over for dinner and games. We had a lot of fun - they have tons of games that were quite entertaining, including the Newlywed Game and Scene It. Matt and I lost at the Newlywed Game, but in our defense they've been married about a year longer. That and Matt should have read my mind better...haha. Scene It was really fun, too. I was so close to beating Matt. I made it into the inner circle first, but he got the answers  correct first and therefore won :( We still had fun, though.

On that note, Dollhouse is calling my name...

My Newest System: Becoming More Domestic

It's 2am again and guess who's blogging...me! A lot of nights I fight sleep I really am tired, but once in a while I'm awake and productive. Tonight is one of the awake and productive nights.

I am my mother's daughter in so many ways. Yes, we have a lot of differences, but I love creating new systems and methods of organizing things. My most recent new system involves another one of our similarities: a love of food! Cooking dinner has become one of those chores I don't look forward to, and after thinking about why, I think it's because I want to be good at it without practicing (sounds like my years of playing piano and flute all over again...haha).

Anyway, numerous family and family friends that I consider talented in the kitchen have given me all sorts of cookbooks over the years. I should be using these resources! So, this past week I pulled a couple cookbooks out and thumbed through, writing down the entrees that I wanted to try (I intentionally skipped over the desserts). Then I did another one of my favorite things: created a spreadsheet! I organized the meals into two categories: "30 minutes or less" and "over 30 minutes." After the spreadsheet was complete, I had Matt pick out six meals for the next two weeks, created a list of groceries to buy and scheduled cooking into my calendar. I'm really excited about trying the following recipes:

• Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops
• Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry
• Beef Teriyaki
• Big Beef Burger Stack-Ups
• Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry-in-a-Hurry
• Chicken Schnitzel

On a related note, another fun tool I'm excited about is an application on my phone: OurGroceries. It allows me to create a shopping list on my phone that I don't have to worry about losing, but the coolest part: I can share it with Matt so either of us can add / take off anything. That means if either of us goes to the store, we just have to pull the application up to see what's on the list. Isn't that fun??

Mom and Dad Come to Town

I've been intending to write this post all week but just haven't found the time. My parents came up and visited! We had a lot of fun with them while they were here.

The first thing we did was find the train station since they decided to ride it up as opposed to driving or flying. It's actually really close to where we live - only about 5 minutes away. They completely sold me on wanting to take the train down to California sometime, even though it takes longer and seems to always be behind schedule. It sounded much more comfortable than flying and more leisurely than driving. 

After hanging out with us for the night, they went up to visit some family friends on the San Juan Islands. It looks BEAUTIFUL there. I can't wait until Matt and I have a chance to make it up. Not only did they come back with gorgeous pictures, but my mom also found a really cute jacket and an extremely soft alpaca hat and set of gloves. Just from the way they told us about it, I could tell they had a lot of fun visiting.

Over the weekend they were here we did a few different things with them:

Visited Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. Both were pretty cool and worth checking out. I'm my father's daughter, so I liked the Science Fiction Museum better than the music part, although the room where you got to try different instruments was pretty cool, as were the band pictures we got to take!

Wandered around Pike's Place Market for a while. My mom even found this guy selling ocarinas and discovered her favorite ocarina back at home was made by his father. She talked to him for a while and even got to try out one of his flutes.

Finally at ate Ivar's. A few years ago when my parents were dropping me off at school, we took some time to head over to Bainbridge Island to see my dad's cousin. He saw Ivar's from the ferry and decided we should eat there. Of course, we didn't have time that trip since we ate dinner with his cousin on the island, but he remembered it when we were talking about what to do in Seattle, so we took them down to the waterfront so my dad could eat at Ivar's.

Played a rousing game of Scrabble. Back when I was in high school, my mom and I played Scrabble and I won. She refused to play with me again, which just shows how competitive she is. Apparently, she didn't know she was refusing to play with me again and the only reason we didn't play again was because we never got around to it...needless to say, my mom won, but only because I had so many Os. You can't make any good words when you have four Os, two Es, and a U.

Ate at Daddy O's, The Ram, Brewery City Pizza and Safura's  Mediterranean Cuisine. Yes I'm my father's daughter, but I'm also my mother's daughter. I really enjoy eating, so where we eat is usually a highlight for me. The four restaurants above are some of our local favorites. I would also add Koibito to the list - we just didn't have the time to take them there, too.

Took them to church. They decided to stay through the weekend so they could check Life Pointe out. I love how the week they visited, the sermon started with the play as an example of how something might seem over, but it's not. I would have been excited about that any Sunday, but the fact that my dad was there, too...there were two happy Cal fans sitting in that cafeteria.


Needless to say, Matt and I had a great time with my parents. We love it when people visit! Especially people that want to take us out to dinner...although that's not a requirement =)

Late-Night Ramblings

For some reason I like to blog late at night. I guess it's the night owl in me. I just don't like going to bed. Once I'm there I love it, and the rational part of me knows I should go to bed...but it doesn't always happen at a reasonable time. I blame genetics.

Tonight we went out to dinner and a movie with a friend from college. It was really fun! Good food, good conversation, good movie. We saw How to Train Your Dragon in 2D (I'm not a fan of movies in 3D). I won't give anything away, but I will say that it is definitely worth seeing. It's a solid story with the perfect amount of humor mixed in.

I'm excited about Easter coming up on Sunday (I guess that's tomorrow, technically). I love Easter - it's my favorite holiday. Sadly, I won't get to attend the sunrise service and have french toast served to me by teenagers this year, but I did get to help fill Easter eggs and paint the backdrop for pictures earlier this week, and tomorrow I'll get to help pick up garbage and put sandwich board signs together. Plus, on Sunday, I get to help hide Easter eggs, assist with the toddlers and set up/tear down for church. I really like helping, which I've been having fun with. 

As much fun as I have with the annual activities, it's the meaning behind it that I really love. Easter comes but once a year, I wish it could be more. Maybe then we'd have more time to think of what it's for...wait, something about that doesn't seem quite right. Haha. Anyway...I think about the sacrifice Jesus made, and that he's alive and conquered death throughout the year, but I love taking time to recognize it once a year, too. It's really easy to get caught up with everything that needs doing to prepare, but I hope this weekend provides time to really think about why we celebrate, and time and energy to celebrate.

On that note, I really need to get to sleep. If I don't have a chance to blog again within the next few days, have a wonderful Easter - he is risen!

A Much-Needed Update

I know I've been completely ignoring my blog lately and it's been over two months. I've been meaning to post for weeks, but unfortunately haven't found the time. Here are a few quick updates, until I have a chance to really expand on my thoughts:

Matt and I got cell phones! I now have an HTC Driod Eris and completely love it. Last night I finally personalized a bit and made the Firefly theme my ringtone =D I missed having a cell phone during those months we didn't have them. Now with my smart phone I can use Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and Google Calendar right from my phone. I've also gotten into Foursquare and Yelp, too! My new challenge: creating boundaries for embracing social media and being connected online vs shutting it off and being connected with people face-to-face. The good part about that is Matt has no problem telling me it's time to put the phone down.

Side note on Yelp: it's been especially useful in discovering local places to check out. Last week we found a Mediterranean restaurant with Delicious gyros and reasonable prices. Win!

My new favorite board game = Talisman. Our friend Josh introduced us to it, and it's really fun! It's kind of like Dungeons & Dragons, but it's a board game and limited to a few hours (I don't have the attention span to actually play D&D, although I'm not opposed to the concept). We've played it twice so far, and both times were great - except for that part where I was turned into a toad...

It's fun using work skills for personal interests. I'm really excited that I get to help out with marketing at church and use skills I've learned for work to get the word out about Life Pointe. As with all marketing, it takes time, so we've put together a strategy that uses more of a slow and steady approach, but I've been having fun exploring options, and am excited to see how everything unfolds over the next year.

Okay, I know there is a lot more to say, but I also know it's getting late and I should start thinking about going to sleep...I'll try to update more regularly, though, and will include more in my next post.