"This Pineapple Tastes like Garlic" and Other Adventures in The Mitten State

My lack of posting over the past few days is due to the fact that I was busy graduating. But don't worry... you won't miss a minute. I'll use my new obsession with Instagram to tell you the tales of my trip through photos...

I started the trip out right by scoring some sweet leg room on the flight to Detroit. I was a little depressed because no seat in front of me meant no TV for my viewing pleasure! Sad face. But, I was willing to make the sacrifice because, hey, more leg room! Girl's gotta have priorities. Then as our plane pulled into the gate in Detroit, Joey discovered that I did in fact have my very own TV... it was just tucked below the seat on a swinging arm. Oops. But all was good, because I got tons of Sudoku done during the flight.

After arriving in Detroit, I visited my favorite fountain. Every time I'm in the airport, I take a few hundred pictures of this fountain because it reminds me of traveling and traveling makes me happy. You may recognize it from Up in the Air, starring the dapper George Clooney.Unfortunately George Clooney opted not to make an appearance while I was snapping away. Maybe next time.

We arrived to a very stormy Michigan. Like, out-of-my-nightmares stormy, where I'm surrounded by tornadoes on three sides and my survival depends on how fast my little legs can carry me. (I really do have that recurring nightmare.) There weren't actually any tornadoes in Michigan that day, but I as we drove to East Lansing, I was 100% convinced that a cloud that was hanging a little too close to the ground was going to transform into a swirling mass and devour our car, so I did urge my dad to drive faster several times. Better safe than sorry, I always say.

Next, I graduated and officially finished my Masters program. No big deal. Then I did other graduate things, such as sitting on a regal throne of knowledge (Actually it was just an awkwardly-shaped chair found in the lobby of our hotel. I just thought the chair looked worthy of the flowing sleeves on my wizard-like gown.), and waiting in line to have my picture taken with our beloved Spartan statue. You haven't experienced real pressure until you are struggling to squeeze in just one more photo while ten graduates impatiently glare at you from beneath their tasseled caps.

When we checked into our hotel in South Lansing (Turns out all the hotels close to campus book up quickly on graduation weekend. Weird, right?), the lady at the front desk so kindly offered us complimentary breakfast and dinner vouchers, since we were "first time guests". What an honor! We headed to the restaurant to cash them in. After we ordered, our waitress warned us, "I'm not sure how long it will be... Our chef prepares the meals in the order they're placed." We glanced over our shoulders to see that we were the only people in the restaurant and replied with a hesitant, "...Ookaaaay..." About 40 minutes later, the dish you see above was served to us. It's cranberry chicken, even though it looks like a human heart. This photo cannot even begin to capture the limpness of the green beans, the toughness of the chicken skin, or the sliminess of the cheesy potatoes.

Slightly Extremely skeptical after our first experience in the restaurant, we decided to give breakfast a try anyway. "It's really hard to mess up breakfast," Joey reasoned. And it was free. How could we say no? Well, I ordered a fruit plate and immediately muttered, "This pineapple tastes like garlic." Sure enough, the entire fruit plate had a distinct garlic flavor. It was then that we knew there was no hope. With that, we were off to bigger and better things.

Ready for some decent food, we visited my favorite East Lansing restaurants. First, Menna's, home of the delicacy known as "The Dub". (Tired of trying to explain a Dub to all my new friends who have not been lucky enough to enjoy this culinary delight, I asked the kind young man behind the counter how he describes a Dub. "An American burrito". Oh, of course. Why didn't I think of that? It's spelled out right there on their website.) Then, Harper's, where one can experience the "Half Off Wednesdays" that sustained me through my broke college years. Next up, The Peanut Barrel, where I sipped on a Long Island Iced Tea while Joey taught me that the beverage does not in fact contain any iced tea whatsoever. Rather, it is made up of five different liquors, a hint of lemon, and a splash of coke. That explains why I always felt the need to cut myself off after just one. Finally, we went to the MSU Dairy Store, where my mom and I debated if Michigan State or Penn State's ice cream was better, but let's be serious... We all know Peachy Paterno ain't got nothin' on Dantonio's Double Fudge Fake.

All in all, it was a great visit back to my Alma Mater. I savored every minute, because I'm not sure when I'll be back to enjoy it again. Then again, after watching all the Doctoral students sport their hoods and other fancy regalia at the graduation ceremony, the first thing I said to Joey and my parents was, "I'm totally getting my PhD..." So, who knows what the future holds...

Super Blessed. Fo' Realz.

I had the most amazing weekend. Truly, 100%, absolutely wonderful. Of course, everyone will be hearing all about this visit to Michigan State for graduation (whether they want to or not), but before I get to that, all I keep thinking about is how blessed I am. I loved every minute of this quick trip back to my old stompin' grounds - the food, the graduation ceremony (well, except for the long, boring parts.), walking around campus - Everything! But the weekend wouldn't have meant anything without the incredible people in my life who shared it with me.

My hubby, who sacrificed one of his few precious vacation days to travel to Michigan and listen to my non-stop reminiscing about "the good ol' days". (No, I'm not 84 years old. I just act like it sometimes.) My caring parents who planned everything - rented the car, booked the hotel, even started a dang Facebook group to coordinate details - and drove 9 1/2 hours to watch me walk across the stage for a grand total of 5 seconds. (Yes, I counted.) My best friend's mom, who scheduled time into her weekend to meet my family for lunch. After all, the next best thing to my best friend is her oh-so-sweet momma! My in-laws, who not only cared for "the critters" while we were gone, but then took me out for a delicious graduation dinner when I got back to Atlanta. Great dinner company and no need to shop or cook - Amen!  And of course, all my dear friends who sent messages and texts of encouragement and congratulations - you all made me feel just so so special! Not to be totally boring going on and on about this, but I'm just so happy and filled with love. Anyhoo, thanks for letting me go all Buddy the Elf on you guys...



And stay tuned for more about my adventures in The Mitten!

We've Achieved the Impossible.

Thanks to Joey, yesterday was laundry day. If it were up to me, laundry day would be next week. Or next month. Maybe. Staying on top of the ever growing pile of dirty clothes is not my wifey super power. I am still getting used to the fact that my laundry is now OUR laundry. Therefore, I can no longer wait a month and a half to wash my clothes, because, frankly, the laundry bin won't hold 45 days of clothing for two people. Not to mention the questionable hygienic practices that this would suggest. So, of all the reasons I'm thankful for Joey, the fact that he doesn't mind regularly taking care of a few wash and dry cycles has gotta rank in the top five.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sorting laundry. I'm very detailed in my work... I don't limit myself to darks, lights, and colors. My categories are a little more like:

• whites (AKA socks and undershirts. The boring load.)
• blues and greens
• navys and blacks
• greys and browns
• yellows and oranges
• pinks, reds, and purples

The problem is, after all that sorting, I get a little bit... tired. Which means the laundry then sits in those beautifully separated piles for a few days weeks. Don't even get me started on the piles of clothes that develop AFTER the laundry finally comes out of the dryer. Folding is my least favorite.

Which is why I'm thrilled about what went down yesterday. At the end of laundry day, when it was time to tackle the dreaded chore of folding, Joey and I discovered something amazing. Incredible. Mind-boggling. Wait for it...

Did you know you can fold a fitted sheet?!

Seriously. You can learn how here. I had no idea this was possible. Martha was holding out on me. That is, until yesterday. And now I'm amazed. Like, I might make this my new party trick or something.

This is probably old news to all you laundry pros out there (Turns out this stuff is all over YouTube. Who knew??) I, however, am not up to date on the latest laundry-folding trends, so please let me have my moment.

Imagine the future... Soon, my linen closet random shelf where I stash the sheets will no longer contain a clump of wrinkled mess, but instead will be a perfect picture of neatness and organization!

[via]

This knowledge will surely revolutionize the way I do laundry. That is, if I ever actually get around to doing our laundry. I'll work on that... Promise.

Mangos and Other Miscellany

I've been feeling sentimental today, and I just realized why. Mangos. Or mangoes, if you prefer. (Don't worry, I consulted Google and either spelling is acceptable.) They are on sale at both Publix and Kroger this week, which means two things - they must be in season somewhere, and I stocked up.

Some background information - My dad is from Mexico City. He moved to the U.S. to attend grad school at Penn State, where he met my mom, got married, and settled in to a new life filled with gringos and snow. Oh, and two adorable children, of course. Growing up, this meant many trips to Mexico to visit my dad's family. Being a notoriously picky eater as a child, I spent many of these visits to the motherland sustaining myself on only mangos and a delicious salted beef called cecina. (The story has a happy ending. I later came to my senses and now joyfully indulge in all food. All of it.)

Never heard of cecina? Understandable. It is most likely illegal to sell in the United States since preparing it involves laying the thinly sliced and heavily salted meat out in the sun for hours. If you want to learn more - and who wouldn't - check out the webpage I published about cecina for a project in college. That's right. A webpage about beef. You're welcome.

Anyway, since mangos were pretty much the only thing I would eat, my grandparents were kind enough to prepare them for me often. One of my favorite childhood memories is eating breakfast with my grandfather (who my brother and I called "Guty") in the backyard of their home in Cocoyoc, my bare feet tapping on the red tiles of the patio, sweet mango juice dripping down my arms, while we sat peacefully and listened to the crows of the rooster in a neighboring yard.

I have many wonderful memories of summers spent in Mexico with my family - not all of them involving mangos - but the fact is, after all these years, the taste and smell of a mango takes me right back to those times.

In the spirit of this mango love, I decided to share a recipe we made tonight from the bounty I purchased yesterday.

Mango Glazed Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 4 center cut pork rib chops
• 2 mangos
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cut, then puree mangos
2. Mix mango puree, honey, lime juice, cayenne pepper and salt
3. Pour half of mixture over pork chops and marinate for at least 30 minutes
4. Sear pork chops for 1 minute on each side over high heat
5. Grill at medium high heat for 5 to 7 minutes on each side
6. Top with remaining glaze

Serves 4

In honor of the true randomness of these thoughts tonight, I am linking up with Carissa at Lowercase Letters. Yes, this is my first link up. Yes, I am quite excited about it.

 

Alright y'all... Have a happy Monday. And go eat some mangos.

Love Notes (But Not the Kind You Pass in Math Class)

Some people express their love by showering their significant other with expensive gifts. I express mine with scrapbook paper and a hot glue gun. In true form, I made this frame to give to Joey on Valentine's Day. And with that, we've started a new tradition.

On this frame, we use a dry erase marker to leave loooove notes for each other. Sometimes sweet. Sometimes funny. Sometimes sentimental. Sometimes to say, "I'm sorry". I love the excitement of wondering when the message on the frame will change. I love learning what Joey appreciates about me. And I love encouraging my hubs with kind words. All in all, it's been fun to come up with new ways to recognize each other for our daily awesomeness.

But some days, its tough to come up with something new - because frankly, sometimes (Can I be honest?) I get annoyed with my dear, sweet husband. (And can I be even more honest??? I know I am way more annoying than he ever is.) Sometimes our expectations don't line up perfectly. Sometimes we ::gasp:: argue about things. Such are the realities of marriage, I'm coming to learn.

I'm realizing that marriage is more than just romance. From Gary Thomas' book, Sacred Marriage:

"Romantic love has no elasticity to it. It can never be stretched; it simply shatters. Mature love, the kind demanded of a good marriage, must stretch, as the sinful human condition is such that all of us bear conflicting emotions... This is the reality of the human heart, the inevitability of two sinful people pledging to live together, with all their faults, for the rest of their lives."

So as we work to build that mature love that can stretch through all the twists and turns life will throw at us, I appreciate this daily tradition. Those days when I'm frustrated, annoyed, and feeling less than lovey-dovey towards this man I married... those are the days that I most need to pause and remember what an incredible man my husband is, how blessed I am to have him, and the countless ways he makes my life better.

What about you? How do you take time to remember what it is you love about the ones you love? I'm always up to hearing new ideas. Especially if it involves a DIY project.

Happiness in a Muffin Tin

I am currently the poster child of senioritis. The symptoms of this debilitating disease consist of wearing pajamas for hours on end, eating Cheetos while laying on the couch, and asking illogical questions such as, "Can't this paper write itself?" You might think that being a mere two papers away from graduation would mean I would be eager to make my fingers do a little tap dance across the keyboard to finish them up and turn them in. But no, I've been frozen in a state of uselessness in which I dream about what it would feel like to be done with this work, without ever actually making any progress towards finishing the papers. So, just two papers to go - What's the most logical thing to do? Bake. Obviously.

Not that I have any sort of baking skills. Out of pure desperation and boredom during the snowstorm (aka three inches of snow) that completely shut down the city of Atlanta for a full week (the upstate New Yorker in me laughs heartily at this.), I tried to bake a cake from scratch. What could go wrong? Especially since Joey will devour anything that is sweet edible. Yet, somehow, I managed to make a cake that even my garbage disposal husband wouldn't eat.

But I digress. This time, I decided to bake something that even I couldn't ruin. I stumbled across it on Pinterest a few weeks ago and have been hungrily eying the recipe ever since. It came without a name, but now that I have created this masterpiece, I have dubbed this treat, "Happiness in a Muffin Tin". It's very, very complicated to make...

Ingredients

• Break and bake cookies
• Brownie batter (Not from scratch, silly. From a box.)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Directions

1. Leave half written paper up on the computer screen so you can still feign productivity.
2. Shove a break and bake cookie into the bottom of each muffin tin
3. Open the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Eat a few.
4. Take what's left and set one on top of each cookie smoosh
5. Whip up that brownie batter
6. Top off each muffin tin with brownie batter until it is about 3/4 full
7. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes
8. Eat two before they cool, then share

Behold... the results:

 

Anything that leaves a grease smear of that caliber must be pure deliciousness. I should probably catch senioritis more often.

Greetings and Salutations

My first entry on a brand new blog! Let me start with an introduction. First - There's something you need to know about me. I get bored very easily, which means I tend to have my hands in everything and I always have some sort of project going on. I've been that way since I was a wee one. I moved from drama club to cello lessons to flute lessons to trying my hand (mouth?) at harmonica to choir to cross-stitch sewing club (No really, it existed. And I joined.) to Student Council to class treasurer and on and on and on. So, you can see that since the beginning, I've always been a nerd very involved. In everything.

Now, at my ripe old age of 26, I am about to finish graduate school (11 days 'til I walk across the stage. Not that I'm counting). For the last year and a half, my days have been filled with paper writing and research reading. We have already established that I am a nerd through and through, so I actually have enjoyed ::almost:: every minute of the process. But, I am most definitely ready for a new project.

Which brings me to my next important point. I married my wonderful husband, Joey, on July 3rd, 2011. This first year of marriage has been busy, but incredible. I'm excited to start this next phase of our life - a phase I like to call "finally enjoying newly-wedded bliss, sans grad school".

Shortly after Joey and I tied the knot, we read a book called The Most Important Year of a Woman's Life/The Most Important Year of a Man's Life. Sounds like an awkward title, but its because half of the book is written for the wifey, and then when you flip the book upside down and turn it over, the other half is written for hubs. Fancy, I know. But that's not the important part. There's a quote from the book has stuck with me ever since we read it...

“The early investment in building an exceptional marriage costs a fraction of what it will take to keep a lousy one on life support... There is—and should be—something undeniably different about the first year of marriage.”

Granted, we are nearing the end of our first year of marriage, but now is the time to seize the day (Newsies, anyone?)... My new project is to focus on investing in us and the life we are building together. And I am so excited for the adventures we have in store! (Cue the triumphant sound of blaring trumpets.)

I started this blog to document our life with this focus - building an exceptional marriage. I imagine this blog will be filled with anything and everything - the food we eat, the books we read, the movies we watch, the trips we take, the lessons we learn, the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs - the variety of it all. Lots of pictures, plenty of sarcasm, and maybe, just maybe, something worth reading from time to time. Because after all, variety is the spice of life.