Fall harvest dinner.

   This is a dinner I have planned in my head for around five months. Come this next week I am going to make it happen for real. I really just needed a place to right down my ideas for each course so I don't forget any one incredible idea. I'm excited to cook in my kitchen again and use all of my new goodies. Who's excited with me!?

   First course- wilted spinach salad with roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and maple vinegarette.
   Second course- creamy pumpkin soup with a ricotta nutmeg
   Main course- nutmeg roasted chicken with carrots and garlic knots
   Dessert course- beer floats, stout chocolate mousse or hard Apple cider tart. Anyway it goes down we are getting drunk off dessert.

   So yeah, thats it. It sounds like a winning dinner to me. I am going to test it all out on Ryan and Connor soon, probably for Halloween so ill let you know how it goes.

My Long Distance Relationship

   The distance between my heart is about to decrease in 6,859 miles, two continents, and one ocean. Although Ryan will still be about 2,000 miles away from me I will still be able make a call to him and talk to him in person, rather than in email chats. Finally we have a chance to not get into fights because we read or typed something wrong. I will be able to talk my way out of responsibilities by using a baby voice. The very same voice my family has become so fond of ;)
   As happy as I am for Ryan to have a working phone, I still wish mine only received calls from him and I could make calls out, like telemarketers but less annoying. Not having a phone was a blessing in disguise, also not being able to check my bank account was a blessing to, although very annoying, it kept me from spending money. I think its a good lesson or refreshing experience to take yourself out of being so technology dependent.
   I think putting lots of space between technology, family and Ryan at times, really helps us. I know what people say about how long distance relationships don't work because of how hard they are but nothing worth working towards is easy. Absence makes the heart grow founder, getting uprooted, watching my love leave on a plane, and also leaving to more remote countries, I have learned that those words are more true than any other.

This picture shows the distance between Iraq and Alabama. 

Dear Home,

   Lately I have been listening to a song by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, quite the name, it's called, "Home." To me the song is about the need in our hearts for a home, the place where you feel most comfortable and welcome to be yourself. It speaks to me not only because it has a great rhythm but because the message is, "home is whenever I'm with you."
   Ryan and I bought a home in Alabama, a year ago this month and we have lived there for a total of four months, Ryan only spent two months there. We often joke about not remembering where home is, even though we have an address. It makes me really anxious knowing that we spent so much time cleaning our house and putting it together just to leave it unfinished. The hardest thing I have had to deal with is moving back into my parents, its very hard for my mom and I not to clash and realize that the two of us are now adults.
   Thankfully I have music to ground me and the message in this song has helped me to realize that, "home is where ever I am with you." "You," being Ryan of course. I love you Ryan, I am thrilled to be spending another couple months with you in a hotel. Until we reach, "The Beautiful," we always have Lynard Skynard to keep our spirits up.

Wallet, Do Want

 
    This here is a smart wallet, it helps you to visualize electronic money leaving and coming into your hands by vibrating, inflating and clamping shut when you don't have money to spend. If Ryan was ever going to replace his wallet that he has had for over ten years, this would be the one.

http://eco.media.mit.edu/static/proverbialwallets/index.html

Poo Poo Fart

   My mom asked if I had seen "Brides Maids" the other day and asked what I thought about it. I saw while I was in Abu Dhabi and I went without Ryan.
   During the movie I sat next to a couple of Arabic men, dressed in robes. The theater was packed, I believe that it was the opening of the movie, which was much later than in the states. It was loud because they don't turn off their phones, in fact if their phone rings they will answer it and say they are in the theater.
   This is an American comedy being shown to Arabian Muslims. At one part of the movie there was a racist joke made towards them, probably when they were on the plane and it totally went over their heads. I was too scared to laugh at it but then there were other jokes that apparently you would only get if you were American...
   When it came down to it they really only laughed at the food poisoning scene. Poopy fart jokes, classic. My mom said that when she had her Japanese friends visit that they only understood fart jokes too. It makes me wonder how funny a fart machine might be over there, or even a woopy cushion.
   Overall I think my experience with "Brides Maids" was made more funny with the audiences reaction. I still have nightmares about the food poisoning scene. Ewwwww.

I'm Blunt

   I let my dog lick my face and sleep in my bed. I have more compassion for animals than most humans. People should have to take a background test, apply and be in a healthy, strong relationship before they get the privilege of having a baby. Naked is not sex. I walk around my house naked but insist on sleeping in pajamas. I hate cats but kittens aren't that bad. I get jealous of tattoos that I even believe are ugly. I'm not sure if I am allowed to critic tattoos. My opinions change constantly as I learn and age yet people still ask me what they should do. I'm probably not going to go to college for a single degree. I'm very terrible with names but remember faces. Stereotypes are based on fact. And to sum up this short blog, I'm a hipster who LOVES Harry Potter.

Trying To Sleep.

   Right my mom is snoring in my ear with the television on. It's showing commercials on different "as seen on tv" kinds of products, the kinds of things I used to pitch. I realize that I will most likely not be able to sleep and after seeing the commercial I decided that I would go down memory lane.
   I have been visiting with a lot of people that I have been in touch with over Facebook and for one reason or another most people don't know about the job I had after graduating. I was a professional pitchman, like the shamwoo guy only on much less drugs. I had that job for over a year and it was a growing experience that I would not change.
   I traveled all over to different fairs and shows, setting up and talking to people until I lost my voice. Gambling on my own skills to get paid and learning how to take care of my own money. It was a pretty hard to have so much responsiblity and freedom at such a young age but it opened my eyes to things I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
   Also I just wanted to throw this out there, I am a human and my body probably does the same embrassing things your does so if you want to talk about something without being judged feel free to call me up. I always found it very easy to raise my hand in class and ask the teacher about something I didn't understand and often found that others would thank me for doing so since they were not brave enough to admit not knowing.
   If you don't believe that other people think the same things or have the same problems you do, watch late night infomercials on products. So far tonight I have seen a product to make you taller, for you and your partner to have better orgasms and a belly wrap to make your stomach flatter. They didn't have anything like this on tv in Abu Dhabi. I guess they just don't have those problems over there.
   As another side note to this blog, I wanted to share how excited I am about a food processor that I just bought for a smoking hot deal at Target. It was $35 marked down from 59.99! It was marked wrong but they gave it to me anyway. I can't wait to make pizza dough and then tomato sauce and then slice up veggies for a pizza all with one machine! Definitely happy I went with the food processor rather than a stand mixer.