sickness is cured by chicken and dumplings, fact

Something terrible happened last night. I was sleeping all nice and having nice dreams then out of nowhere in my dreams I started having difficulty doing things, and my dream stomach started to hurt. So bad. Then I woke up and my awake stomach hurt SO bad. Like, worst stomach ache of my whole life bad. On the top part of my abdomen. I had convinced my 4am, sleepy self that I had an ulcer. It had to be. Nothing else hurts that bad, right?

So I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I curled onto the bathroom floor. Then I vommed my guts out.

But here’s the thing, it wasn’t from alcohol. And it was just so miserable.

My stomach still hurt. I still feel a little nauseous.

I called in sick to work. I couldn’t make it to class. I just couldn’t. The thought of vomiting in front of my peers at school was just too terrifying.

But one thing I did manage to do today was make myself chicken and dumplings (it was sort of delirious, the cooking). But they were delicious! Chicken and Dumplings is one of the things that I make well. Everyone seems to like them. And they just happen to be the perfect sick/comfort food.

Here is how I make my Chicken and Dumplings:

Heat up some olive oil (butter works too) in a big pot (like quart size probably), add 1 chopped onion and sauté over medium heat for about 7 or 8 minutes, or really until the onion bits become translucent and soft. Add a clove of finely chopped garlic. Stir that around. Next add some chopped up celery and carrots (I added 3 big peeled and chopped carrots and three big celery stalks). I let those new additions sit in there about 5 minutes – or the time it took to chop up about a pound of chicken breasts into small pieces. Then you add the chicken to the pan. And immediately after adding the chicken, add some chicken stock. I used one of the big cartons of it. Then I added some water. Enough so that the liquid was covering all the goodies with a little extra to spare (some liquid will evaporate and some will be soaked up by the dumplings). While I was bringing that to a boil I added a bay leaf, some dried basil and some thyme (to taste). I also added some pepper and some salt. I then reduced to a simmer and covered.

Next, I went into my room and watched a couple episodes of Friends on my laptop while laying on my heat blanket on my bed. I also drank some ginger ale. All super pathetic and feeling sorry for myself, of course.

After about 45 minutes of the pity party, while the soup part had been cooking over low heat, I dragged myself out of bed to check and make sure everything was tender and cooked and things. It was. So I mixed up the dumplings. I combined 2 c. flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Next I added 4 tablespoons of melted butter and mixed that all together. Then I added 1 cup of milk and stirred it up until it was combined. And then I decided that the mixture, it was a little too gooey. So I added about a tablespoon of flour. It was still sticky (not dry at all) but wasn’t runny or overly sticky. Then I just took a tablespoon spoon and glopped  parts of the dumpling dough into the soup mixture. It wasn’t pretty or measured. But I dumped the mixture in spoonful by spoonful until all the dough was on top of the soup (and at this point the top of the soup was basically completely covered by dumplings). Then I covered the pot let everything hang out and cook on medium/low for 15 minutes. When I took off the lid, magic.

I felt a lot better after eating my delicious chicken and dumplings. You should make them someday. You will like them. Or you’re weird. True story.

kitties and ponies and creatures of the sea

Remember that one time when I was gifted a GIANT heart filled with goodies and I was all “I’ll tell you about it later” and then I didn’t? Yeah, whoops!

Well, I’m telling you now that this GIANT heart was filled with some GEMS! And it was adorned with some too (pony and kitten stickers ALL over? Check). Let me show you what was inside:

 Random cat figurine? Yep.

 Kitten BFF candy? Double yep. We decided I’m the kitten on the left and Dustin is the one on the right because he is bigger and fluffier and clearly I have been snacking on something because my mouth is all dirty. I’m always hungry. Fact. This has all been deeply contemplated ha.

Getting jealous yet? I would be…

also in the box: pony toys, lots of candies (I’ve basically devoured all the reeces PB cups because I mean, how could I not?) a hot wheels rapist van, bubbles (BUBBLES!!?) $1.99 sexy time dice (ex: “make out” “in the closet” = yeah that definitely happened) and other TREASURES!

Also that night we had a rad dinner (you’re welcome boyfriend) – in case you were wondering. You were, right?

 I forced Dustin to shuck the oysters because that’s MAN WORK! And also the shells smelled really gross. But the insides were SO good.

 We ate Skillet’s Bacon Jam – which was jammy and bacony and weirdly good. Like BBQ Bacon spread? – that I gifted to Dustin

 And also we ate lots and lots of crab and we drank champagne and it was delicious.Even if I did get a $44 parking ticket while I was inside the seafood market. WHATEVER IT WAS ALL FOR LOVE!

Anyway, I hope your hearts are satisfied now that you know what was in the box (that’s what she said?).

I’m going to go finish getting ready for work and ask the mice men (exterminators, whatever) when they’ll be done catching mice so I can go to work.

Oh and PS HAPPY FRIDAY LOVELIES! 

canadian tuxedo + law school prom dress = awesome wedding

Last Saturday Dustin and I left at 7am to drive to Hood River for my friend Jessica’s wedding. It was totally worth it.

When we got into Hood River we first stopped at the Hospital to see my mom (she works there). Then we immediately went to New York City sub shop to get some lunch (I was basically starving). Then we had planned to go to my house and see my Fluffy cat and my dad, but my dad had gone to The Dalles for lunch, so we decided to pit stop at Double Mountain for a beer.

Things I like: 1. Dustin, 2. Double Mountain Beer

After our beer we headed to my parents’ house so I could see my favorite kitty and get ready for the wedding (side story: Dustin was already ready for the wedding. He text me as I was on my way to pick him up early that morning asking me if he could wear a Canadian Tuxedo to the wedding… I couldn’t say no, so that’s what he wore. It was cute.).

After I was finished putting on my law school prom dress and fixing my hair (low side bun with a braid running through? semi-win even though it didn’t hold up very well) we headed to Stevenson for the wedding.

Beth, Me and Heather at the wedding

Another one of Dustin and I at the wedding:

Me, Jessica (the bride) and Beth

Dustin and Tyler (the groom)

Jake and Heather enjoying some cake:

After an awesome dinner, some beer brewed by the groom, friend time, toasts with champagne, and wedding cake made by the made of honor, Beth, Dustin and I headed back to Hood River.

The three of us pit stopped by the Hood River Hotel and then promptly went across the street to Celilo where I played catch-up with a grey goose martini complete with like 10 of the best olives I’ve ever tasted (DD status, but not anymore). After our fancy drink in our fancy clothes (my law school prom dress, Beth’s awesome silk find and Dustin’s Canadian Tuxedo, yep!), we headed to Double Mountain where we saw some friends and had some love and beer and things. After our drink there we walked up to the pub to grab some other friends and make our way down to Jack’s where we danced the night away. Obviously.

It was such a good time.

The next morning Dustin and I had breakfast with his parents and then headed back to Seattle. It was a good 24 hours at home.

I want to go back.

Oh and P.S. congratulations Jessica and Tyler!!

the weekend and other ramblings

Sometimes I feel like the weekend is the only thing that gets me through the week. Do you guys ever feel like that? I look forward to it so much and just go through the motions of the week in order to get there. And by the time Sunday afternoon comes I'm sad and anxious because the weekend is nearing its end. I should learn to enjoy more of my everyday. My last semester of law school (yikes!). That's exciting. I should enjoy it because this is the last time I will every be a student (well, probably anyway). But also, I'm looking SO forward to the end. To graduation. I really can't wait. Graduation is going to be the pinnacle of everything. Literally everything I've done up to this point. I finished law school. I got my doctorate (WTF? I'm not that smart. HOW?). But I think I need to enjoy the part where I learn things and do work and I finish law school. The part where I get to work at a job that isn't hard or stressful. The part where I have time for the occasional date nights or friend time (even though lately I miss my friends - I wish our schedules matched better). Because once bar studying starts, that will all end. Then after bar studying is over, I will finally have to become a real adult. At 25. Oh man...

Wow, I don't know where all of that came from. It wasn't what I intended when I sat down to write.

I intended to talk about weekend, this weekend in particular. I think it is justified that I am looking forward to and I am extra excited for this weekend because tomorrow Dustin and I are headed back to Hood River. My friend Jessica is having her wedding reception (her and her husband actually got married on Valentine's day - which was also their dating anniversary) in Stevenson tomorrow evening, and I CAN'T WAIT! I LOVE WEDDINGS! They're so good. And I get to see so many of my friends (Marissa + Beth, I'm looking at you!!) and I might even get to go to Jack's (and definitely double mountain). And I get to see my Fluffy Face cat who I miss so much it hurts. And my parents. And Dustin's parents. Just so many activities in one short period of time.

Looking forward to things gets me through all the long days and the boring cases I have to read. And maybe I'm alright with that. But I think also I would like to make an effort to enjoy every day a little more. Mostly because lately I've been really, really happy. And I'm so thankful for that. I want to enjoy the joy!

So I know that this was totally random. But I really hope that you all have wonderful (non-school filled, because that's a huge bummer - even though usually SO necessary) weekends. What are your plans? I would love to know.

and for good measure, here's a few (really random) songs about weekends and funtimes and things:

the raddest heart box, ever

Yesterday I had the best Valentine’s Day of any Valentine’s Day. Ever. I usually really dislike the day, but staying in and having a rad dinner and a rad night with my favorite person made the day happy. Low key = awesome. And so much fun.

Also, I want to tell you a secret, it was nice not to feel bitter on February 14th for probably the first time since elementary school. Because, well, let’s be honest: big paper heart pouches stapled together and filled with goodies from everyone in your class = awesome.

And come to think of it…

That’s basically what Dustin MADE me for V-day. A GIANT heart with lots of goodies in it:

 
The story behind this: a while back I told Dustin that I hated those heart shape boxes of chocolates you buy at the drug store. SO gross. I guess that made him determined to change my mind about heart shaped boxes of candy. So he made me this GIANT heart box and put SO MANY delicious candies and toys inside. Oh and there are lots of stickers on the box too.

He wins.

It was probably the cutest gift I have ever received.

Anyway, I took pictures of our dinner and more pictures of my sweet gift. But I’m too tired to post about any of that now.

Maybe tomorrow.

I want to write it down so I don’t forget. So it’s in blogland forever. The internet is seriously awesome.

Anyway, I hope that you all had a happy, non-resentful & bitter Valentine’s day. And even if you did, you have a whole year before you have to deal with the day again.

messy life

Yesterday Dustin and I went to Ikea (on a Sunday? what were we thinking? I know, I know. But we made it out alive, don’t you worry). And I found the most beautiful white desk. It was so pretty. It was like a brushed, textured, almost matte, almost off white (not shiny white white). And it was so good. I can’t stop thinking about what it would do for my life. 

My current desk area is stressing me out pretty seriously today. And most days. It needs a re-do. It’s ugly. I’m over it (story of my life).

WTF is that? REALLY? There is NO free room on it.

Oh, but guys, this morning I got home to find that my Indian people sent me a laptop in the mail (it’s right there on the right). Finally. After being in upper education for 7 years I finally got my student laptop. But really, it was an AWESOME surprise. The best mail I’ve got in a long while. I was pretty stoked despite the fact it seems to be running pretty slowly and doesn’t have the office suit on it. But it’s a free computer so I’m not going to complain. THANKS INDIANZ!

Anyway, today my life is seeming so overwhelmed that I don’t even know where to start. I have so much to do I’m not really doing anything. But after a really busy and long day at work (preceded by school) I did buy some wedding registery gifts. #FTW. And I figured out how to get all my iTunes music from one computer to the other. It only took me about an hour. MAN!

Now I think I need to go to bed. And sleep. And then when I wake up I WILL have in my mind what I want to make for V-day dinner. I WILL DO IT! And then I will go and I will get the food. And I will take it home. Then I will go to school. And all the while, I will look forward to some Feb 14th  kisses from my sweet sweet most favorite boy. True story.

glasses

Guys, I’m thinking of getting some new glasses. Really exciting, right?

But I don’t want the extra fancy, super expensive glasses. I want to buy them from the interwebz. I think. Probably.

I’ve had my current pair of  glasses since the beginning of undergrad (what, like 7 years ago… wow). And the lenses haven’t been changed since probably my senior year of college. That makes seeing kind of hard when I wear them. But I’m pretty sure new lenses for my current glasses (which are fine enough, minus the fact that they have the Chanel Cs BE-DAZZLED – yeah, I said it – on the sides, and all of the rhinestones are starting to fall off, so it’s just Cs made of mostly holes – not cute) would be more expensive than a pair of interwebz glasses. And I would probably wear said new interwebz glasses more than the Chanel glasses with holes where the rhinestones used to be. So really it’s a win/win, right?

This is the only picture I could find (after like 10 minutes of searching on the trusty laptop) of me wearing my glasses. I clearly don’t wear them much anymore.
Here, in this majestic picture, I’m making pumpkin pie, in England, on American Thanksgiving. Like a week after I turned 21. Awesomeee!
AND fun fact: pre-photo we couldn’t find a pie pan anywhere. In ALL OF ENGLAND! True/very confusing story.

So, back to the interwebz glasses. I’ve been mostly looking at BONLOOK, EYEFLY, and LOOKMATIC.

I like that BONLOOK helps babies who can’t see and things.

And I like that LOOKMATIC’s glasses are only $88 (not that $99 for a complete pair of glasses on the other two sites is that much more).

SO MANY DECISIONS!

Also, I think I might want something a tad more obnoxious than my current glasses. Something like these, or these or these which might be like the first pair?

HELP! My questions for you all are: have you bought glasses online? Did you like them? Could you see out of them? Which site did you use? Please share.

Also, in case you’ve wondered where I’ve been all week (I know you haven’t but I’ll divulge anyway) – I’ve been doing my usual homework, school, work, gym, homework thang. But also I’ve been watching Battle Cat and cleaning all of Dustin’s apartment (best girlfriend ever) while he’s out of town being a grown up on a work trip (I wonder what grown-up-life is like?).

But mostly I’ve been playing with by buddy BC, eating all of D’s popcorn, and taking self portrait iPhone pictures like this one below, and then immediately texting them ALL to Dustin. I’m so cool.

80s lurkin

Two very insignificant magical things happened to me this evening (after a less than exciting day of cat sitting, homeworking, sitting in class and gymming (followed by more cat sitting/popcorn eating and homeworking)):

1. I learned how to write on pictures (yes, I learned that today #dontjudgeme)
2. I found this picture. You’re welcome, Beth + Marissa.

(And then, obviously, I put 1 & 2 together to create THIS masterpiece):The combination of this magical picture, with its epic text message quote from a not so epic boy (creeperface), is now forever saved as “80s lurkin” in my computer. Truth.

I should go to bed.
Nothing good happens for me after 10pm on week nights.
(except maybe this picture, and the whole text on photo thing, but you already knew that. worst blog post ever. sorry friends.)

random flowers vs. valentine’s day flowers

The other night my roommate Kylee and I were talking about Valentine’s day. I’ve never been a fan of the day. Valentine’s day always has a way of making me feel bad about myself. Either I’m single (which is the worst, being single on Valentine’s day, I mean, c’mon) or everyone in the whole world is busy spending their day out-doing my relationship. And I hate it.

It’s not even like I want much on Valentine’s day. I just want to spend a little time with my valentine. And I want to feel loved. That’s really all.

If you must do something above and beyond to make my day really special I suppose you could throw in some snacks or wine or snuggles or a homemade card, that’d definitely win you a few extra points in my book.

When Kylee and I were talking I confessed that I don’t like roses. I’m that girl. And I also don’t like that drug store chocolate crap that comes in those cardboard hearts. Gross. SO gross. Judge away. It’s true. Those are two Valentine’s day no-nos in my opinion.

But that’s not to say I hate all chocolate or that I hate all flowers. I actually really like good quality dark chocolate and also I really like most flowers (especially tulips). I used to work in a flower shop doing deliveries, back in High School, and I liked that job a lot. I loved seeing the look on unsuspecting people’s faces when you would knock on their door, wait for them to answer, and then give them a beautiful bouquet of their favorite flowers. I love that ish. #preciousmoments

I still think that random gifts of flowers are the best. Random flowers because someone was thinking about you and wanted to do something special for you is so much better than getting Valentine’s day flowers because someone feels like that’s what they “should” be doing. That’s just dumb. Kylee agreed with me. Because she is awesome.

Random flowers = the best, Valentine’s day flowers = we’ll definitely take them, and we’ll even like them, but they’re definitely not as special.

Then I said goodnight to Kylee, went to bed, woke up the next morning and went to school. After that I came home to drop off my things, take some deep breaths to calm the F down (I got out of 6 hours of class to find that I had gotten a $53 parking ticket for exceeding the 2 hour street parking limit by like 20 minutes while I was in class). Then Dustin came to pick me up for date night.

And guys, it’s like he read my mind. Or Kylee had told him (which she didn’t), or something. Because when he took me out to his car and opened up the passenger door to let me in (#lovethat), guess what was on my seat? A bouquet of just because flowers. And I loved them. So much. And him too (obvs). 

Aren’t they pretty?

I don’t mean to sound super braggy or anything like that.  That’s not the point of this. The point is that random flowers will definitely make your lady’s day. I promise they will. So do it. Go buy her flowers. Not because you feel like you have to because it’s Valentine’s day or something, but because you want to make her feel special. And because flowers are pretty. So go! GO!

And also, this post is here because, well, just a little bit because I got just because flowers from my awesome boyfriend, and they made me feel special and I wanted to brag. Judge away :)

super bowl sunday

Today is the day of the super bowl. The day I actually look forward to watching commercials and sitting through the 1st half of a football game, while paying attention to my snacks of course, waiting patiently for the half time show. I like the super bowl. And although I didn’t 100% know who was playing until like yesterday, I do enjoy the super bowl. I watch every year. And it’s good. Mostly for reasons other than the football part, but whatever.

This year Dustin and I are going to his co-worker’s party. I’m sort of nervous. I’ve only met one of his co-workers ever (we are actually pretty good friends with this particular co-worker and his wife, and I was so relieved when I found out that they would be attending as well), so I want to make a good impression. And you know, not totally embarrass the BF and myself.

So clearly I’m getting this whole thing started off on a good note by showing up to this poor co-worker’s home with third day hair. Like actually, haven’t done anything to my hair since I washed it the day before yesterday hair. I’m gross. Don’t judge. Messy is cute?

But to offset my dirty-ness, I made A BUNCH of brownies. Don’t worry, I showered and washed my hands first. They’re totally safe. But I figured I can make a good impression by bringing brownies, because everyone likes brownies, right?

Seriously, I’m determined to make a good impression.

I made brownies with eggless cookie dough on top. And brownies with hot fudge and ice cream in the batter, and oreo cookies baked into the center. #killingit

I’ll find my way to EVERYONE’S hearts even if it is through food. I promise. Mostly. Ok not everyone’s hearts, but whatever.

I hope you all have an awesome super bowl day. Or commercial day. Or Sunday. Or whatever.

I’m off. Wish me luck!

the cook your own dinner adventure

The routine all week has been: wake up, do homework, go to school, go to work, go home, do more homework until around 11:30pm, then I move two feet from my desk into my bed and pass the F out, only to wake up in the morning and repeat. Oh the life of a law student. Also, in case you’re wondering, the new job is good. And school is good. Even though apparently I feel like I need to do my readings this semester? And brief cases and take notes and things? SO WEIRD! It takes SO MUCH TIME! Anyway, here’s a little blog post for you (and a break from routine for me):

Saturday night Dustin took me to dinner at the Diamond Knot Brewery in Mukelteo (he wanted to get out of the city).

Apparently this place didn’t believe in clean floors (there were peanut shells ALL OVER), or having people cook food for you. I think they call those people chefs? Weird.

Moral of the story: Dustin had to cook his own steak and shrimp on some 700degree stone. In the words of Liz Lemon, “what the what?!”

I got a pizza. They did cook that for me. So props for that, brewery guys!

And then in the midst of all the cooking and pizza eating and brewery loudness, I took this really obnoxious and bad iPhone video to commemorate it all. Also I was one high alcohol content beer deep at this point so apparently I wasn’t able to say words correctly (enjoy ha):

But in all honesty, the dinner was pretty good. And the whole hot stone thing was fun. And there was beer – I love beer.

Oh and I guess the peanut shells on the floor added to the “charm”? If you can call it that?

Then after that we drove back to Seattle. And during the drive, together, we rapped all the words to Eazy E’s “gimme dat nut”. Hey, we didn’t claim to be classy.

“you know you know that thang, you know me I like dat slang…”

Then once we got back to the city, clearly, we had to go back to Naked City for another pint of Double Mountain’s Gravatar. Because it’s that good. DOUBLE MOUNTAIN BEER IS SO GOOD! (note to self: stop sounding like such a crazy alcoholic, because you’re NOT).

And this crappy iPhone pic was taken at Naked City:

And THEN, we went to Safeway, and I was a little drunk, and it was 11:30pm and we got SO MUCH POPCORN! Because, oh, I forgot to tell you, I got Dustin a popcorn maker on Saturday. Like an air popper – I think is what most people call it. And I wrapped it. In wrapping paper. And I surprised him with it. Just because [I’m the BEST girlfriend EVER, obvi]. Also it was kind of for me because I LOVE the popcorn. I love it so much. Ok it was totally for me. But for him to keep. I didn’t claim to be un-selfish either.

And then we RAN from Safeway to Dustin’s apartment to make TONS of popcorn and watch SNL. Which was a disappointing re-run.

The popcorn, however, was NOT disappointing. It was SO GOOD! And I decided it would be a good idea (it totally was) to dump lots of Johnny’s seasoning salt on it. hashtagMSG. 

P.S. in case you haven’t already noticed: the only time I ever do anything fun is with Dustin. Hence the reason all of my posts lately are about stuff we’ve done. The rest of my time is spent homeworking, going to class, working or sleeping. All the boring life stuff, you know. And what’s the fun in blogging about that?

Andddd it’s 11:28p.m., and that means it’s almost time for me to begrudgingly move 2 feet into my bed. Goodnight friends!