Spaghettini with Bacon and Basil - KitchenDaily

Spaghettini with Bacon and Basil - KitchenDaily

I'm thinking this is an easy pasta dish that I should be making! Sounds delicious, right?

Well, many things have been developing in my life in the past month that have prevented me from writing on my blog. In fact, my brain has been completely consumed by thoughts of changes. If you know me at all then you know I hate change. Even when I initiate the change myself I hate change. But so many things have been going on it's difficult not to accept it. The good news is that my boyfriend and I will be moving to a new apartment. The above pictures show how wonderful it is. I'm pretty sure the new place has room on the kitchen counters for me to be able to keep my Kitchen Aid Mixer out all the time. Also, I can start vacuuming again because this place has carpet. But the best thing about this move is that I will have a dishwasher again. AWESOME! So, until after I move you won't hear from me again. Of course, I know you aren't exactly waiting breathlessly as I haven't updated this regularly anyway.

The Best Things In Life

This...



Becomes this!



This is by far the coolest bowl ever. I mean, I can have a grilled cheese sandwich sit on top of this little lid and devour whatever soup I choose with one hand. I love it! If you're interested on what is actually on the lid it's some crackers with peanut butter (Jif) and butter (Fleischmann's). I got this bowl at Ikea several years ago on a trip with two very good friends. If only they had some more...I guess that means I have to make a trip out there some time to investigate... ;)

Saint Valentine's Day

I have to admit that I have always felt guilty for wanting to celebrate and enjoy Valentine's Day. In my last relationship, the other person did not care to celebrate Valentine's Day and so we did not. The day has come and gone for me for over 10 years and I have not had the pleasure of truly celebrating this day in all its romantic glory. You know, I don't think of it as a time where you have to go buy a gift and be extravagant, but more a time to tell the person in your life that, while you appreciate them every day, you can make them feel extra special this day. So the good news is that I will actually be celebrating V-day on the 16th by going out to dinner. I think that will be most delightful indeed. I know that this day has been completely commercialized, but I tend to block societal norms out. I don't always realize how publicized these things have become until people start complaining about them. Plus, I've felt guilty for the last 8 years because I was made to believe that I shouldn't even want to celebrate it. Now, I'm going to celebrate by eating. None of this dainty crap for me! I hope everyone celebrates in their own way with their loved ones. Enjoy!

O-H-I-O

I am so grateful for the vacation I just had. I haven't been out of New England (well, Maine and New Hampshire really) since July. Let me tell you that it's a bit of a strain to not enjoy anything at all. I mean, really my mental stability was depending on it.

Some highlights of my trip:

1. My boyfriend met my parents for the first time and we had a blast.
2. We found a new love in a board game called "Last Word". This is recommended if all participants can stay on track and scream words that correspond with the current letter in play. Example, the word "rice" does not begin with the letter "n".
3. Cash Cab is my new favorite show. I think I'm going to have to go to New York City for that alone.
4. Ohio got snow.


Maine did not.
5. The Buckeye stadium is AWESOME. I'm not a huge football fan, but get a behind the scenes look at "The Shoe" was wicked cool.





6. I played the license plate game and go 28 states out of 50. I also got 3 Canadian plates.
7. I got a little gift from my super awesome librarian friend and I promptly used it today! *Edit* I couldn't get my little video to post, but I got a really cool teapot that sounds like a train whistle when it's ready. Woohoo!

Method

Have I told anyone about my addiction for Method cleaning products? Seriously, I love this company. I know there are probably other companies out there that are greener and clean better, but I love this company. They are always trying to better their packaging and their solutions are made from vegetable based formulas. They smell fresh and I like how they work. I think the other thing that I like about them is that while they are a large company, they take the time to answer personal emails without using an automated response. I'm hoping that they will eventually make interior car cleaning products that won't hurt the dash or vinyl parts of my car. For now, I'm happy with their latest move towards smaller packaging for their laundry detergent and making it more user friendly.

I love this glass cleaner they have. That's just a little taste of the kind of weather we're currently getting in Maine (the snow build up on the window).
This right here is the difference in bottle sizes of laundry detergent. I currently have some Arm and Hammer (under much duress), but I had to get the new bottle. I love how it pumps and how easy it is to hold. Unfortunately, it's only for 25 loads and I haven't found the 50 load bottle on the market yet. Until then, I'll use this one for my clothes washing instead of the Arm&Hammer. Of course, my other half will continue using that stuff out of preference. Thank goodness I'm the one who does the shopping! :)

So it's been five days since I posted. I've been so consumed with worrying about work that I haven't focused on much else. Thankfully, some of my worries have fallen away, but I always seem to replace them with new worries. I have many anxieties and I wish more than anything that I could let things go much better than I do. I would venture to say that I've "toughened up", as I was once told to do, which has helped me in dealing with difficult situations. However, I'm a highly sensitive person and I don't know how much more of this "toughening up" that I can handle. It's a daily task for me to try and grow in this area in order to perform my job better and I find it frustrating. Because I am some what sleep deprived right now, my mind is more at ease to wonder and think about these kinds of struggles. You remember how I was talking about writing in my journal? Well, I really want to write in there, but I've been keeping myself from doing that to keep from tainting it with evil things. I guess the point of my journal is to let my thoughts flow, but not to fill it with anger. I don't ever want to look back and see that part of it. I could always get another journal to purge my bad thoughts, but that would stress me out knowing that I have yet another journal to tend to. If all two of you don't mind listening to me working through my anxieties then this may be the place that I vent. Let me know what you think.

Post it...or Else!

I was hoping to post almost every other day over the course of 2009, but alas, that did not happen. During the summer I feel like I was more of a posting fiend than my autumn days. In fact, in looking back at 2009, I posted 49 times which was almost once a week. It sounds kind of minimal, but it was more than years prior. The feeling of posting, whether it's something mundane or monumental, left me feeling very satisfied in one aspect of my life. Okay, maybe it fulfilled several voids in my life. It gives me the opportunity to express some thoughts without self-censorship, allows me to write, and makes me feel like I've completed at least one thing a day. All of those aspects of this blog are rather satisfying and I miss that I didn't do that very much over the holiday season.

I have to reiterate how relieved I am that the holidays are over as I did not enjoy them at all. The past few years have been rather difficult as far as holidays go and I refuse to allow depression, annoyances, and work bring me down again. I definitely felt stilted as far as my holiday spirit goes. I had plans of sending wonderful gifts to people and I even wanted to send multiple Christmas cards. However, I did not achieve much of that. I don't like that feeling.

If you recall, over the summer I discovered a book that got me very motivated and more organized in many aspects of my life. Particularly, it was keeping me motivated toclean on a regular basis. I have cracked that book out again because I truly found it very fulfilling and satisfying. I will be giving you more reports on what I'm doing with that as the month goes along. For now, I'll sign off since I should motivate myself to to do the things I've been meaning to do around here.

Resolve my Resolutions

So, I have been inspired to put some "resolutions" on here by a very dear friend. I too, have resolve so posting my resolutions seems rather redundant, but I will post some things that I'm always thinking about. I'm not going to declare anything because every year I try to declare something and then I don't achieve my declarations. I've written them down and they do not come to fruition by my own fault. This year, I intend to only sort of put them down on paper (or the internet as the case may be) so I can inspire myself.
Last summer I did a ton more journaling and it was very satisfying. I have a special and beautiful spiral bound journal that I like pasting things in and writing in when I get the chance. Since I've been promoted I have not been inspired to write in it and I refuse to put negative, work-related topics inside of it in fear of desecrating it. But I resolve to begin that again as the busy season has settled down and I can look to myself again. I would like to go back to actually grocery shopping again and planning meals. How minute is that? I truly just want to have a normal life and it has been difficult over the past year to achieve that for myself. Many things have come easier to me thanks to my hard work, but at the same time everything has been an adjustment in some way. So, for now, those might be two things that I would really like to do. The third, as a side note, might be Etsy. I know, I've said it before, but that's why this is a side note. I might have another post later today regarding that aspect though. I definitely want your thoughts on it, too. Thanks for listening!