2009 Year in Review

It seems so weird to me that it's New Year's Eve and tomorrow it's going to be 2010. I know I haven't updated in a while so I thought I'd do a special "Year in Review" post for today. I don't remember every single thing that happened in each month but I'll do my best to remember all the highlights. 2009 was definitely one of my best years.

January -
A year ago today I was in downtown Chicago with my (not then) boyfriend, his brother's and a few friends from college. It was also the first time that the bf and I kissed. Not at midnight, thankfully (although we did kiss at midnight), it was a few hours earlier that day. We were still in our awkward, beginning relationship phase, but it was definitely a fun night. I also started my last semester as an undergraduate student!

February -
I was anxious for Valentine's Day to arrive because I wasn't sure where I stood with the bf. Was he looking for me to be his girlfriend? Was I just a friend who he occasionally kissed? I didn't know! And I'm sure I annoyed the hell out of my friends with my CONSTANT over analyzing. The bf and I hadn't made any plans for Valentine's Day, actually, I don't think we even mentioned it to each other. He eventually told me that we were going to go visit his brother in Chicago for the long President's/Valentine's Day weekend. I thought ok, but wasn't banking on it being romantic or anything like that. I ended up making him red velvet cupcakes and bringing them to his house before we left. I guess I made the corner to fast and ended up sending the cupcakes flyging and ruining all of them. I was more than bummed. Anyways, I thought we were heading to his brother's house and he ended up surprising me and had gotten a hotel downtown Chicago for us instead. We ended up walking downtown, going to eat at Ditka's, and spending Valentine's night at a cute little wine bar that I can't remember the name. They even had Spanish guitar players and flamenco dancers.

March -
I spent a week with some of my best friends at an all inclusive resort in Cozumel, Mexico. It was amazing. I did nothing but sit by the pool all day long and eat nachos and chips and salsa. My roommate and I would be so tired by the end of the day that we'd be asleep by 9pm. Much to the annoyance of some of our other friends who wanted us to go out with them in the evenings.

April -
April drop the last month of my undergraduate experience. It was also my brother's 18th birthday and the first time the bf officially met my parents (and the rest of my over sized family) at his joint birthday party with my cousin. Thankfully it went well. The next day my dad's side of the family had an Easter gathering where all of us cousin's had an easter egg hunt like we did when we were little children. Except now we're all in college. Let's just say it was HILARIOUS.

May -
I graduated with my BSW on the 3rd. I also started the oh so fun job search for the summer. I clearly didn't put as much effort as I needed to because I didn't end up getting anything so I instead spent the summer dicking. Which I was totally fine with :). The bf also graduated graduate school with his MBA and and got hired as a full time employee at a place he had been working at during his college experience. I got him a massive grill he had wanted for a while as a present and he got me my Nokia phone.

June -
The bf turned 26 that month. I bought him a birthday cake that had his name on it with balloons (he's not a fan of box cakes unfortunately). We ate cake, and then that night we went out to a really nice sushi (the bf's favorite food,....unfortunately) restaurant and then went to see a movie. It was a pretty low key day. I got him a really nice dark wood box that was engraved with his initials and inside were matching silver and black leather bond flask with his initials, cigar holder, mini flask, lighter with his initials and cigar cutter. The bf got himself a little birthday present and bought an 8 week old german shepherd puppy

July -
I don't remember a whole lot from this month, it must have been slow. I do remember that for the 4th we went to the bf's brother's house for the weekend. We took the puppy for a walk and looked at all the fancy apartments and walked the Boston symphony fireworks on the television.

August -
This month brought the end of the summer and the start of graduate school. I also got the internship that I had been waiting to hear from and started at the end of the month.

September -
Labor Day weekend the bf, his brother's, their girlfriends/wives and a few friends went camping.....behind the bf's brother's massive house. We waited to long to make reservations at regular campsites and ended not finding a place that had availability. So we said screw it and set up tent's in the backyard. It ended up being extremely hot that weekend so it was nice to be able to go inside and be in the air conditioning. And to have TV, hehe.

October -
I turned 24 this month. My birthday fell on a Thursday which happened to be my super long day at internship so I was a little less than excited. However, my bf actually set me flowers to my office which was a huge surprise and something that no guy had ever done for me before. We ate lunch together and I went to his house that night. He had gotten my favorite pizza and made me my favorite cake. Two cakes actually. I love that boxed white cake with the confetti chips in it with the matching frosting. He made two cakes and had one with the white sprinkle frosting and one with the chocolate sprinkle frosting. I loved it. And then we watched The Office.

November -
The semester had been pretty rough for me so I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving break. It was also the first Thanksgiving that I would be bringing a boyfriend with me. So I was excited.....and extremely nervous. My parents had gone down to Chicago the day before and my brother and the bf went first thing Thanksgiving Day. It went well. It was a crazy house and everyone ate way to much. The bf and I left that evening and went to his brother's house to stay the night. We got up early the next day and headed downtown to do some shopping.

December -
This month has been crazy. I finished my first semester for graduate school and all A's!!! I was so ecstatic when I looked online to see what my grades were. I have one semester left and I'm feeling really good about finishing up. This past semester was really rough and I'm not taking as many classes so I know I'll be fine. Christmas was really good and I ended up with a lot of loot. I got a new Sonicare Toothbrush, over $3oo, more candy than I know what to do with, socks, a sweater dress, a new mini compter (from the bf!!!!!!), Super Mario Brother's for wii, and concert tickets to the Black Eyed Peas. Yeah, I did real well. The bf and I headed up to his dad's house in for a long Christmas weekend. It was really fun and nice to get away and relax. We were supposed to head out west to spend New Year's with some friends but we decided to just come back and spend New Year's here. After being away for so long we were kind of ready to come home and have a low key night. Per the bf's request, I'm making a steak dinner with a mushroom cream sauce, macaroni and cheese and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. I'll update on how that goes....hehe.

So like I said, 2009 was a really good year. Especially considering the mess 2008 was. Here's to hoping 2010 is the best ever! I hope everyone has a safe and great night!

the day from hell: school edition and this stupid challenge that i've already failed miserably at

I'm so exhausted right it hurts to think. Today was one of the worse days on my whole entire existence. Otherwise known as finals week. Or day. Because apparently it's appropriate to schedule MSW finals all of the same day. As well as all of our end of semester projects and papers.

I studied all day long yesterday. I didn't stop studying until after 1:30 am and then I woke back up again at 5:45 am to study more. I gave a presentation this morning and turned in a research paper at 9:30 am. I had a 14 page final my brain hurt. Then I had another final that made me cry as soon as I walked out of the room.

I've never tried so hard in my life as I have this semester and all I wanted to accomplish was to get a 4.0. I actually thought I stood a chance. Until today.

I feel so incompetent and helpless. And I hate it. I'm mad that I didn't study more, but I couldn't fit anymore information in my brain.

All I want to do is cuddle in my bed and sleep this day away.

But I still have to post today's Best of 2009 Challenge. I totally forgot to do Friday and Saturday's entries. Don't care. Today's entry is "Blog Find of the Year: That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year."

Easy. City Girl's Blog. Witty, smart, entertaining, not to mention some of the best advice ever. Seriously. Go, read. Thank me tomorrow.

Day 4: Best Book

I just barely remembered that I hadn't posted my entry for today's Best of 2009 Challenge.

"What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?"

I'll keep it short, because just like yesterday's, I don't really have much to say on this topic. I enjoy reading, I really do. But between reading for school, studying, working, internship and everything else I do I just don't really remember to sit and read a book. It's bad really, because I have a stack of about 8 books that I've been meaning to read since March.

So I'm sitting in my bed and I'm trying to actually remember what books I've read this year for fun and all I can come up with is the Twilight Saga and The Pursuit of Happyness. How sad is that? Actually, I remember my brother buying my Breaking Dawn at this exact same time last year.

Anyways, I've decided that it's pretty shameful that I haven't read any decent pieces of work this year and I'm hellbent on changing that this next year. In order to make that happen I'm proposing for one of my New Year's Resolutions that at the beginning of each month I set a goal to read a certain amount of books and then at the end of that month I'll do a book review of sorts.

Good idea, no?

Have a good weekend!

Day 3: What did I get myself into?

Today's post for the Best of 2009 Challenge is "What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and reference throughout the year."

Really? I've been thinking about this one since I saw it two days ago and I still got nothing! I'm not much into the reading, unless you count celebrity gossip magazines and the occasional Cosmopolitan. Which, as you can probably tell, don't have the most fascinating reads.

I don't really want to pick anything from any of those magazines because who really cares about why Tiger cheated on his gorgeous wife with a girl from VH1's Tool Academy of all people or public places you've gotten caught doing the dirty?

(Although I'm very interested in all those things, no judgement.)

So, I'm going to tweak this little prompt here so that I can actually have something to post for it. Instead, I will be posting about my favorite magazine of this year and why.

This won't come to any surprise to those you know me in real life, but the magazine that I've discovered this year that I have to buy every month (serious, why don't I just got a subscription for crying out loud?) is Food Network Magazine.

(See, no surprise there...)

My favorite issue to date is definitely this months holiday issue. I've found myself with a whole lot of people that I want to do something nice for this holiday season, but I just simply can't afford to buy gifts of appreciation for everyone.

(Especially since I went a little bit overboard with the bf's present. And by a little bit I clearly mean A TON.)

The issue this month is full of cute little gifts to give people that are meaningful and not that expensive, especially if you already have a few of the pieces. One of my favorite gift ideas for bosses and co-workers are little jars that you by and layer with different ingredients depending on what food item you are giving them. The one I'm thinking about doing for people is the chunking chocolate chip christmas cookies. First you fill the jar with the dry ingredients like the flour, baking powder and sugar. Next you layer in cocoa powder, and then red and green M&M's, then white chocolate chips, then crushed cashews, then chocolate chunks, and then finally toasted coconut. The end result is a jar nicely layered with all of these goodies. Other things you can make are curried lentil soup, blue cornbread with pineapple, holiday panettone and spiced hot cocoa.

They also have an insert for 50 different holiday cookie recipes which I can not wait to try. There are a few recipes that I've already dog ears so that I remember to make them soon.

Anyways, back to the magazine. I know it makes me sound super nerdy and all "Susie Homemaker" but I can't help it. I can sit a flip through the recipes or search online for recipes or watch the channel all day long.

(Side note: We were having a discussion in my mental disorders class about eating disorders and I warning sign is that the individual is so obsessed with food that they only watch or read food related things. YIKES!)

Anyways, if you are looking for some good holiday recipes or cute food related holiday gifts I highly suggest that you pick up this issue!

Day Two

Today's post for the Best of 2009 Challenge is Best Restaurant Experience. "Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?"

I had to think about this for a while because the bf and I go out to eat a lot, and it's hard to pick just one experience that was great. I guess the first place that stands out in my mind is this little wine bar we went to in Chicago for Valentine's Day this year. The atmosphere was perfect for the holiday, not to cheesy but still romantic. The lights were low and I think there were candles on the tables. It was a cozy little place with couches and high tables. It was not as packed as you would think a cute little wine bar would be on the weekend of Valentine's Day, which I liked.

I can't say that we actually got any food there. We had met up with the bf's brother beforehand to eat at another restaurant downtown. We just had a few drinks and some desserty type things to share.

I think the thing I liked about this place was the live music. I think they had brought in a Flemanco dancer and a small Spanish band to play their guitars. It was really nice and fit the setting perfectly.

I don't know why this particular place stands out in my mind, maybe it was because this was the first Valentine's Day where my boyfriend actually planned something special and took me somewhere for the weekend.

(Wait....is that sad?)

Either way, it was a good weekend :)

Day One

I guess there is this little challenge going around the interweb about the the best of 2009 and what better way to jump start this blog than to participate??!

Today topic today was on the best trip of 2009. This is pretty easy. I spent spring break this past March in Mexico and that clearly takes the cake over various trips to Chicago and Wisconsin. (Although all of those were pretty darn fantastic as well.)

I went with a group of friends and spent a fabulous week sitting by the pool, sipping fruity drinks, eating way to much cheese and mexican food in general (seriously, all inclusive resorts are not good for my body image), doing aqua aerobics, avoiding the ocean like it's my job, eating more, watching old school Beverly Hills 90210, and catching on much needed girlie time.

My friend and I would be so exhausted by the evening that we would fall asleep watching tv at like 8pm. Much to the dismay and frustration of our other friends.

It was fabulous and I want to go back. I miss being so tan....

oh yeah, i do have a blog

Hello friends. It's been a while. I know. I've been kind of hating this blog. For many reasons. So I decided to do something about it. I changed a few things and revamped some old posts. Nothing your going to notice I'm sure. But it makes me feel a little better.

Anyways, the point of this post....

Last weekend was Thanksgiving. And I want to discuss the events of my weekend as well as list out a few things that I'm very, very thankful for. A little late? Yes, but go with me.

Thanksgiving is kind of a big deal in my family. For as long as I can remember I've always gone to my grandparents house in Chicago and spend the day with my mom's side of the family. Then my mom, aunt and myself would wake up at some god awful hour of the morning on friday and go shopping.

This year was no different. Except I brought my boyfriend. This is a big deal for me people, I've NEVER brought a boyfriend to Thanksgiving before, let alone a family function. I've never really wanted to bring a boyfriend before. Not for fear that my family would embarrass me and he would be traumatized. Nope, I was afraid of my boyfriend embarrassing my family. The bf and I woke up Thursday morning and set out for Chicago. We got there around noonish and just kind of hang around watching tv until dinner. We stayed for a few more hours after dinner until we drove downtown where we stayed the rest of the weekend. It was a success. He survived a day with my crazy grandpa, 5 children under the age of 7, yappy dogs running a muck, my loud cousins and the general ridiculousness that is my mother's side. He helps that he's from Eastern Europe as well.

Also, can I please talk about how I'm positive I have the best boyfriend in the world? I'm thankful that he calls me out when I'm bring absolutely ridiculous, I'm thankful that he cooks me food the majority of the time, I'm thankful that he tivos 90210 for me and then watches it with me even though he absolutely hates it. I'm thankful that he fills up my gas tank without telling me. And when he kisses me goodnight, or when we're sitting on the couch. I'm thankful that even when my cooking endeavors don't always work out, he still eats it. I'm thankful that he fixes my computer when it breaks and helps me make posters and presentations because I'm completely useless with technology. I'm thankful he downloads silly movies and music I want and got Netflix so he can introduce me to shows like "Worst Week" because he knows me so well.

And about fifty thousand more reasons but I'm sure you guys are beyond nauseous now.

Pretty much it was a fabulous weekend. And now that it's December I am so excited for Christmas. Get this? The bf and I are road tripping it. We're taking my dad's suburban and hitting up Wisconsin for Christmas weekend and then heading west to Nebraska for New Years. And then back to the Midwest to start my last semester of graduate school!

I really want to get this blog back on track and I'm going to try to post more often and comment more on your blogs!

Hope all your weekends were spectacular!

victory is mine

since i am not one to ever not brag when i'm right, i am going to share with you a little story that happened the other night....

this past weekend the bf and i went camping with some friends. and as we were sitting around the campfire eating hotdogs i turned to the bf and asked him if he remembered when he first kissed me. (i'm not sure when i felt the need to ask him this as we were clearly not talking about it at all, but go with it) to my utter surprise he respond with new years, which happens to be correct. so i decided to test him further.

"ok smarty pants! when was our first date?!"

to which he replied september 9th.

wtf?

if any of you know me in real life or remember from my previous blog then you clearly remember that the ex and i didn't break up until the end of october of last year.

so i begin to explain this to the bf that no, i had know idea who you were in september and that the first time you had talked to me was on facebook chat (ahahahaha) the first weekend in november.

you see, my brother and i decided to go see madagascar 2 the afternoon it came out. i had to school that day so naturally i wasn't showered or anything and just wore yoga pants and a hoodie to the theater. i mean, really? who was i going to see?

so i had to go to the bathroom during the middle of the movie and quickly left the theater. as i rounded the corner i (literally) run into my boss, the bf (who wasn't the bf at the time) and his boss with a look of complete horror on their faces. i remember thinking that they seemed really weird when i had seen them but shook it off to the fact that i closely resembled a homeless person and went back to my movie.

that night i went to a friday night program at my school with a friend and met my boss there. she proceeded to ask me if i had ever considered dating the bf. i responded that i didn't know him but i was open to the possibility of getting to know him. (i had just broken up with the ex a mere two weeks prior mind you) (mind you? am i in england again or something?)

ANYWAYS

she then explains to me that the reason they were acting so weird at the theater was because they had just been talking about me, telling the bf that he should get to know me and blah blah. so they were a little surprised that i had just come around the corner as they were talking about that.

so i go home that night and it's around midnight. for whatever reason i had decided to get on facebook and lurk. and about 2 seconds after i logged in i get a chat message from the bf. i was kind of embarrassed because i wasn't sure if my boss has mentioned anything to him about what we had talked about that night. we ended up talking for a while that night.

the next week we went to a movie with some mutual friends. the movie was HORRIBLE and we ended up walking out and going to get some food. and the next few days after that we ended up going to see the latest bond movie at midnight with some friends again. and then the friday after the movie we went to get some coffee because we were so tired from the previous night.

which would have our first date alone.

so back to this argument. the bf swears that our first date was in september and that he has his credit card bills to prove when we went to eat and when we went and saw that first movie.

in the meantime i'm trying my best to convince him that the first time he talked to me online was the first weekend in november because this particular evening program only happens during the first friday of the month.

so he goes, "AH HA! i have the statement. it says september 13th! and that is the only time i've been to that theater, BOO YA!"

so i take a look.

it says 11/13/08.

let the countdown begin!

As I mentioned last night, I have a very important announcement to make this morning. And I do (although most of you will not find it as relevant as me, but I don't care.), so let's begin!

Does anyone know what today is?

Why, it's September 8th.

And does anyone know what that means??

Well, it means that my birthday is in exactly one month!

And in true fashion today marks the beginning of the official countdown until I turn 24 years old!

cooking up a storm

I know I've mentioned my cooking abilities before and I've been meaning to post about all the goodies I've been making these past few weeks. But....I haven't. Mostly because I forgot to take pictures while I was preparing my meals.

This past week I went camping with a group of friends and was deemed in charge of making kebobs. I've never made kabobs in my existence so I was a little nervous. And, I really have no idea how to cook beef. So, I consulted my bible and decided on these little gems. (Side note: I also made chicken ones but just marinaded the chicken cubes in Greek Salad dressing over night). And I'm happy to report that they got eaten up in about 2 seconds! Next time I make them I would cut back on the salt though because they were a bit salty. And I didn't use the vegetables he called for, I kind of just used whatever I had around, I think it was red onions, peppers, zucchini and mushrooms. And I just dusted with with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Then last week I decided to make these lasagna rolls. The bf loves watching Giada at Home or Everyday Italian (I wonder why, right?) and I've had these little guys in the back of my mind ever since I watched her make them. I brought them over to the bf's brother's house for lunch one weekend and everyone seemed to like them. I'm always super nervous when I make things for people that I've never tasted, because duh, I haven't tasted it. But I've lucked out thus far. For this one I didn't lay them flat in the pan like they called for, instead I placed them upright so you could see the filling and I poured the tomato sauce over them. Oh yeah, I didn't have any marinara sauce because my parents used the can I was saving on spaghetti earlier in the week and never realized it. So I just pulled a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs in their own juices. It turned out fine, you wouldn't have noticed and the garlic added extra flavor.

And then lastly, last week, the bf requested my mother's barbecue meatballs. He first tried these at my brother's high school graduation party in June and has been bugging me to make them for him since then. I don't have the recipe on hand, but if you want it you can just email me.

What's on the menu for this week? Well, we were watching GBB and the bf mentioned that he wanted to make beer battered fish. So, my search for a recipe with beer battered fish starts tomorrow. And this time, I promise to take pictures of the process. And feel free to make any suggestions!

P.S. Come back tomorrow for a big announcement! (hehehehehehehehehe)

a delurking of sorts

the boyfriend tells me last night that he wants to plan a vacation to california this christmas break (although it's more looking like next summer), but that he wants to drive because he's never done it and he hasn't seen most of the western states, besides california.

of course i thought this was a horrendous idea because really? who chooses to drive to california from the midwest?

exactly.

but then i started thinking about all the places that i've never been but would love to visit. like mount rushmore, minneapolis, the mall of america, the hollywood sign and the golden gate bridge. and revisiting places like denver and the rockey mountains, vegas, and the grand canyon. and then i decided that it seemed like a fantastic idea and how much of my own country i haven't seen and would love to see.

so we are kind of (in the process of) planing a road trip across the us. and what i need from you, dear readers, are ideas of places we just have to visit. it could be places that you've been to and absolutely loved, places you wish to visit, places with amazing food a la "diners, drive ins, and dives (because you know i am mapping out food places too...) or whatever the heck you want! just tell me!

everybody understand?

ok, GO!

chillin

The Girl Behind the Shoes: What do they say about you?

Hello lovelies! I’m Breanna from Adore Design Studio and bfff’s with my main gal, Amanda (whose real identity is so shrouded with secrecy that even I sometimes get confused as to who she really is…). So anyways, she asked me to do a guest post for today and I happily obliged! I mean, not only do I get to force my tid-bits of creativity and wisdom (in actuality the lack thereof) on my own meager band of followers on a day-to-day basis, but now I get to oppress her loyal readers as well! Win-Win, no?!

So, I settled on a topic that has really been bothering me lately…shoes. I must confess I like shoes. Not excessively, but enough to appreciate. I tend to think of myself as a Gap/J. Crew/Banana Republic kind of understated elegance. Simple. Functional. Beautiful.

And then my confidence came crashing down.

Let’s back up: I recently saw a pair of sandal flats at the store that just begged me to relocate them to my shoe closet (who am I kidding…I don’t have a shoe closet…but for the purpose of this story I now do, ok?…) and I said to myself, “Self- those are too cute and cheap to pass up. Buy them. Buy them now.” And I did.

I wore them to work the next day and all was well. And then the moment of discovery.

A co-worker examined my new purchase and exclaimed, “Wow, those are…cute.” Followed by a quizzical stare. So I said, “Uh, thanks?” To which she quickly replied, “No, they really are cute…I just didn’t think you would wear something like that, that’s all.”

Whhhhaaaattt?????? Does my co-worker have me pegged already? Am I that predicable?

Has my quest for understated sophistication and elegance been interpreted as…gasp… boring and dismissive? Surely not!

Her simple assumption occupied my thoughts all afternoon. What did she know about me that I didn’t? As soon as I got home I did some investigating and this is what I found:

Conclusion: blah.

She was right, damn it. My choice of colors consists mainly of black, white, brown and more black. They are all very safe, boring and wall-flowerish. So what does this mean? Are my shoes the windows to my soles (and yes, that was a carefully thought out pun, please appreciate).

I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question. I’m young, naïve and shallow at this point in my life – at least I have identified this much, right? And I also know I shouldn’t care what people think about me or the path that my decisions lead me to. People grow and evolve constantly. You are not the same person you were yesterday, so you can’t be tied down to anyones perception about you.

So, here is the view from my shoes…do what you want. Yes, lovelies, it is that simple. I don't care what Cosmo mag says your shoes say about you. You are a way too complex human being to be nailed down by your shoe selection. Don’t over-analyze, scrutinize or evaluate silly little situations such as these. I wasted precious time (when I could have been online shopping at lulus, seriously) thinking about what my coworker said to me until I realized who the heck cares! And now I’ve just wasted one hour blogging about this, geez. Ok, I’m done.

Oh, and the passive-aggressive biotch in me bought these smokin’ hot shoes for a wedding I’m going to this weekend…and yes, my coworker will be there. BAHAHAHAHA!

update soon...

Feedback welcome

I'm not a cooker. Everyone thinks that I can't do it. But the thing is, I just don't like it. When need be, I can cooked up a tasty meal. I just hate waiting to bring stuff to a boil, or adding eggs one at a time, or searing or simmering or taking 394,575,612,349,576 hours to cook something I'll eat in 15 minutes.

The funny? I love watching The Food Network. No, like I am obsessed with it. I'm not above spending a whole Sunday sitting in my bed watching it. I also want to marry Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence. Yes, both of them.

I have a wonderful boyfriend. He has cooked up many a meals for me during our time together, and he does it well. However, he often likes to mock me for my "inability" to make meals. So, in an effort to prove him incredibly wrong I've taken on the task of preparing him dinner next Saturday.

There are a few problems however. The boyfriend is an extremely picky eater. He refuses to eat anything chicken which I could eat every meal everyday for the rest of my life. I'm not a big red meat eater and he likes burgers and steak. He is a big fish eater and didn't grow up eating fish or really thinking about fish at all so I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with it. Plus the smells makes me physically sick.

So what's a girl to do? I thought about it for a little bit this morning and watched a little FN (Food Network, get with it) and searching foodnetwork.com and I've come on with three choices.

Which is where you come in. Out of the three choices you tell me which one sounds better to you! Ok?

Ok.

I've decided to do a steak dinner and here are my three choices:

1 - Pepper crusted tenderloin with a mushroom cream sauce.
2 - Grilled flat iron steak with pistachio pesto butter
3 - Grilled flank steak with a gorgonzola cream sauce

I'm going to pair one of those steaks with grilled asparagus and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Now, go! Vote!

This definitely does not make me look awesome

Between the boyfriend and myself:

Me (in my most whiney/pouty/annoying/sarcastic voice): "Man, I really want to go to the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry but my boyfriend won't go with me so I have to go by myself and be all alone"

The Boyfriend: "Um, that's because your boyfriend isn't a moron". (Turning to look at me and smile). "I know this is a new concept for you...."

And the thing is...

he's totally right.

And introduction of sorts

You'd think that after having three previous blogs I'd be a pro at this first post. Or at least know how to start this stuff out. But turns out? Not a fan. It's the first impression readers get. What if you aren't witty or entertaining enough? What if you bore readers away? And for someone who already has slight (or intense, WHATEVE) social anxiety as it is, it could be just a little overwhelming.

But it's got to happen. So I guess I'll start from the beginning, huh?

I started out my first blog way back when. Like so far back I used livejournal. (Yeah, I know.) I had just started this whole blog thing out so I wasn't following anyone yet. But as I started to find other blogs that I found entertaining and interesting I started to realist that all the cool kids were using bloggers. So I made the transition.

Then I made my first blogger blog. I don't even remember what my address was called anymore. (It's kind of frustrating now that I think about it because I wrote A LOT back then and it would be nice to have those memories documented, sigh.) Long story short, some drama happened while I was gallivanting across Europe 2007-2008. You see, I was a teaching 4 and 5 year olds that year while I took a year off college. My cousin had gotten married the same month I left and I had some pictures of us at her bachelorette party. Turns out this girl that I thought was my friend (boy was I wrong...) turned in the pictures to my boss because I was "danger to children" and "far to sexual". I was fired after less than a week of working. Did I mention that I had moved to London from the Midwest? Yeah, talk about a major panic attack.... Anyways, apparently it was what they called a "misunderstanding" or some nonsense. Whatever, I didn't get fired, I had the time of my life, and whoever really did send those pictures can die a long, painful death...

Moving on.

Needless to say, I was forced to delete that one. But started a new one. Because I'm not exactly the kind of person to not do something I'm told not to do. So, I made another blogger blog. My third blog. Some of you may or may not remember me. I made a few friends, and it was nice. But then I made a few changes in my life and took a few new corners and I just kind of wanted to start over in the blogging world because I kind of felt like I was starting over in my real life (And a lot of people whom I didn't necessarily know were reading it were actually reading it and some people whom I didn't want to read it were reading it.). Also, I felt myself censoring the information I wanted to share. And what's the point of even having a blog if you aren't going to fully be yourself? Am I right?

Which brings me here, "The New Adventures of the Same Amanda". Because these are the new adventures of the same me! Clever, no? I think so. Anyways, I'll be sharing my musings of things that happen between the bf and me, my attempts at becoming the next Foodnetwork star, and getting myself through graduate school without completely losing my mind. And everything inbetween.

Hopefully you've stuck around and finished reading. Hopefully you'll continue sticking around. But you can't say I didn't warn you, I'm not good with the introductions. But trust me, I've got good things cooked up. Like my demon posessed razor, my love for Bobby Flay, and the time I ran into the garage with my car (no judgement).

-a