As you breathe out and I breathe in

What a day! Ryan and I went to a tiling class with my mom. We're going to help her tile the bathroom for the remodel. Hopefully it's as "easy" as the people at home depot made it look. The tile is beautiful. I would love to have it in my own home. Some day...

After the class we helped my mom get supplies and then ran some errands. I got the new Martha Stewart cook book. I'm excited to try it out some new recipes in it. Later on we went to Julie and Steven's to pick up 2 pumpkins that Julie got us from her parent's house. Yea for pumpkin carving! And thank you Julie!! It was nice to visit with them.

Right now I should be sleeping and resting for tomorrow's big trip to the correctional institute. I'm freaked out about going. I have no desire to be a prison nurse, but they are making me go. Lame. But it's for 3 hours so hopefully it will go ok.

I'm laying in bed listening to Matt Nathanson while writing this. If you haven't listened to him before, I highly recommend him. I first heard about him from John Mayer. He had posted one of Matt's songs on his website. "Come on get higher" is my favorite song by Matt. But some of you might recognize him from his song "Laid" from the "American Wedding" movie. It is a funny song, but very different from a lot of his other stuff. Ohhh, Damien Rice just came on. He's awesome too. I love good music.

Ok, I guess I should try to get to sleep.

New Hair Cut

I got my hair cut on Tuesday and am finally posting a picture. I was going to do the before and after, but the before was just so awful that it wasn't even worth posting. I tried a new stylist out and LOVED her. She did an awesome job. I really liked that she asked questions to find out more about my hair before she just started whacking at it. I wound up cutting almost 3 inches off of it. It was nice not spending hours in the bathroom working on it. I have come to terms that I will always have to work with my hair for a bit due to it being so thick and wavy. But every minute off is awesome. Today's total styling time was 20 minutes. That was blow dry and flat iron.

In other news, I was at the grocery store with Ryan today standing in line to pay when a random lady pointed out to me that my outfit was almost identical to Rachael Ray's on her November magazine cover. I looked and wow! Same navy cardigan, black shirt, long silver necklace, and dark wash jeans. Not to mention very similar hair cuts. Upon further investigation I found out that Rachael was indeed wearing the same sweater as me. I now know that Rachael's stylist must love Banana Republic's wool cardigan as much as me. Only Ms. Ray you should know that I had it first. I loved them so much that on the day that the premiered in the store that I bought one in every color. They were just that awesome. So perhaps you should save the money on the stylist and just talk to me. I will hook you up. Also on a side note, this is why you got the scary close up of my head instead of the nice half body shot. Because I am standing in an almost identical pose to the Rachael Ray magazine cover. But I am willing to bet that most people do not read this blog or her magazine and would have never known other wise.

The Office was on tonight. I love that show, but I don't know why for some reason I was slightly disappointed by it. Humm....

Ok. I'm off to bed. Night

PS- still having a hard time with the whole blogging pictures thing. It will only let me post the picture at the beginning of my blog entry, not within the text. Anyone know how to fix that problem?

But it's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head

I'm being naughty and blogging when I should be finishing my gerontology paper. But you know what, I'm tired of old people. Let's talk about something much more exciting...me!

Life has been crazy, but honestly I can't remember a time now when it wasn't. Perhaps I should create a scale of craziness, thus allowing one to get a better feel of how crazy life actually is. Yes, I think I will do this since one persons crazy may be a bad hair day and another persons may be running over a cow. I shall implement the scale as follows:

• Level 1: almost a normal day; has minor blip such as bad hair day or bad traffic
• Level 2: lots of things happening at once such as errands, plans, events
• Level 3: holidays; extended family visits
• Level 4: forgetting something that you needed to do that was of importance
• Level 5: work/school stressful; having one or more projects due; illness
• Level 6: work/school stressful; having 3 or more projects due
• Level 7: work/school stressful; having multiple tests and projects at same time; births; skin rash/hives
• Level 8: family drama; hospitalization
• Level 9: death or dismemberment
• Level 10: full on chaos; world may be ending

DISCLAIMER: this is a rough working scale. Changes may be made at any time, at my discretion. If you have any ideas of how to improve this scale, please contact me.
Back to the real blog. I would say at this point I am running at an 8. Which means that I am experiencing things from level 1-8. Yikes! I am hanging in there, but I know that I am in for a wild ride ahead. I am beginning to think that this is slightly cryptic, but I really can't discuss a few of the things yet because the people involved have not officially released said information. Stay tuned.
This weekend was fun I studied alot along with hanging out with Julie and Ryan's family. Julie introduced me to DSW shoe store which was an amazing trip, since Julie found what could quite be one of the most amazing shoe deals ever (Pucci people!). I found some cute shoes as well, but they weren't Pucci. The next day we decided to hit the streets of downtown Portland in our super cute new shoes and paid the price with blisters. We did have fun tho.
I am getting my hair cut tomorrow. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I want a new hairstyle desperately, but I am such a chicken about it. Last time I did a big change I left the stylist looking like Billy Ray Cyrus. It wasn't quite as bad once I styled it myself, but it was traumatizing all the same. So I am trying a new stylist (thank you Karla) and hoping for the best. Right now it's medium length and has lots of layers. I am toying with cutting it on the shorter side so that I get rid of some of the funky(and not it a good way) layers and can grow it out again. I would like to have long hair again, but I think that I need to cut off the yucky stuff to let it be healthy and grow out properly. I guess I will see what tomorrow brings. Pictures will be posted.
Tonight I am trying a new recipe. I am making homemade creamy tomato soup and chedderella toasted sandwiches.
Creamy Tomato Soup: courtesy of the Food Network
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 slice bacon, finely chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can whole, peeled tomatoes
3 parsley sprigs
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 cup heavy cream
1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until crisp and most of the fat has rendered, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Lower the heat to medium, add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 8 minutes.
Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Pour in the broth and crush the tomatoes through your fingers into the pan. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Tie the parsley sprigs, thyme, and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the pot. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Remove and discard the herb bundle. Working in batches, transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Return the puree to the pot and reheat over medium heat.
Whisk in the heavy cream, salt, and pepper, to taste. Divide among warm soup bowls and serve immediately.

Fall is Here!!

Fall is finally here! I'm so excited. This is my favorite season. I have waited so long to wear cozy sweaters and hats. I love how the world looks like it's on fire with all the yellow, orange and red. It like the world is showing that it's time for change and change is good.

I got the job at Legacy and I will start at Meridian Park Hospital on the 20th of this month. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. This is a huge step in my career (not to mention a huge pay raise). I will be working in the orthopedic medical/surgical unit. In a nutshell that means that I will be taking care and monitoring patients who have just had surgery on their spines, hips, knees, and various other joints. This job will give me an opportunity to learn and be a part of a new and upcoming ortho unit. It's an exciting place to be right now.

This last weekend I went to the beach with my parents. It was a fun trip. I haven't got to spend as much time with my parents lately because of school and work. Ryan had to work all weekend and I had it off so I suggested a trip to my parents and they jumped on it. The weather was crazy there with all the wind and rain. But we had fun all the same. My parents like to gamble. The love the Vegas. Me on the other hand am not so lucky when it comes to gambling so I really don't do it. Well my parents talked me into going to the casino with them and my dad gave me $40.00 and told me that I couldn't complain because it wasn't my money. So I hit some slots and guess what...I actually won! I was so excited. I won enough money to buy myself two new Coach purses at the outlet, a bunch of clothes and still come home with $150 in my wallet. Not to shabby. Maybe my luck is finally shifting :-)

Ryan and I have been looking at taking a trip. This last April we went to Disneyland and had a blast. So we are trying to figure out where to go this coming spring. The options right now are Vegas (which neither of us have been to), a cruise in Mexico or just staying in Mexico 0r Hawaii (I wonder if Taylor is reading this). We are looking at going in mid April. Any other suggestions of places to go? We both have worked really hard and deserve a vacation!

Since fall is here and I have been talking about change I have been wanting to get a new hair cut. I just have no clue what to do. My friend Julie just chopped hers off and it looks amazing. But I don't think that I am brave enough to do that. So I am on the prowl for a new style. Keep posted for when I finally take the plunge.

Lastly, I've been trying to post a blog with pictures and it's not working for me. It will only let me post pictures at the top of the blog, not within the text. Does anyone know how to make the pictures go within the text?