victory at last!

Ok, you can all take a collective sigh of relief. I finally got a job! I am now employed by the lovely Ruby Tuesday of Auburn, AL. yay... note the enthusiasm. It's somewhat of a conundrum, because I've been looking for a job for a while because I could use some money, however, I like having my freedom. I can go home whenever I want to, I have plenty of time to study and goof off, and lots of quality time with my dog, friends, and boyfriend. However, now it is back to reality. I'm actually kind of nervous, mostly because serving is such a stressful job, and I don't want my school work or social life to suffer. I know, get real. Also, now that I've worked in a restaurant, I know how other employees view new employees.. so that's nerve-wracking.

But enough of my whining, I really am glad to have a job. I probably won't know what to do with myself having extra money. Hasn't happened in a while. Once again, I haven't cooked any this week, because I've somehow managed to survive on leftovers until yesterday when I finally went to the grocery store. BUT, I did make a wonderful discovery today! I went with some friends to Chewacla State Park today, and it made me fall in love with Auburn all over again! I brought Duke too, and he loved it.. turns out he's quite the adverturer. We hiked, climbed rocks, and other outdoorsy things. And of course, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures, but I think we'll be visiting a lot more.

But anywho, I'm about to go to bed as I have to wake up early for church. I get to work in the nursery tomorrow! yay babies!!

à bientôt!

my beautiful baby sisters

I haven't done any cooking recently because of being home, and celebrating my birthday and such. However, I am currently waiting on John Price to finish cooking dinner. Yes, he is that good.

Last week I went home for spring break, and honestly didn't do a whole lot, but somehow always seemed busy. I did write a paper on Paradise Lost and Frankenstein, so that's something I suppose. But even though I didn't go to the beach or anything, I still had fun. I got to spend a lot of time with my little sisters, which is always good. It's different being away from them for so long. I still think of them being so small, and I just want to scoop them up and hug them. I forget that now they're old enough to be embarrassed by that. And also too heavy to be scooped. They really are hilarious. My favorite moment of them last week was when I took them to Dairy Queen. As we were leaving, they saw the Cullman Chiropractic Care and began quoting the commercial, "I play high school sports, and I go to Cullman Chiropractic Care for my regular adjustments", complete with awful southern accent. It was awesome. They just feed off of each other, and Laura especially has such a quirky sense of humor. They're commercial connesieurs, and currently the McDonald's Filet O'Fish commercial is their favorite. Not that they would ever go near a Filet O'Fish.



I love them so much and am so excited to see them grow up, even though it completely freaks me out! It's amazing to see them grow into their own personality!

beaucoup de beurre

It's spring break!! YAY!! Well, not really so exciting.. I've done a whole lot of nothing this week. As in today I literally watched half of the first season of Desperate Housewives on Hulu. But I guess that's acceptable every once in a while. Tomorrow I'm going to try to plant some herbs, so that might be interesting.

I did make a big French dinner for my family on Monday night, so that was fun. I made Poulet Sauté Aux Herbes de Provence, green beans, special mashed potatoes, and Gateux a l'orange. All Julia Child recipes except for the potatoes, which are a John Price recipe that I can't get enough of. I was able to find a chicken that was already butchered, so that was wonderful to not have to do that myself, as it doesn't turn out very pretty. The chicken was fairly easy, just cooked in butter and herbs with a hollandaise-type sauce poured over it. Honestly, it would have been just fine without the sauce. Not that the sauce was bad, it was just pretty good on its own. The green beans were not very good. I used frozen beans and then cooked them with lemon juice and butter, as the recipe said. It was an odd taste combination I thought. The cake was very good, and not terribly hard. I don't think my icing turned out quite right, as it ended up being more of a glaze, but it was still delicious. It actually tasted remarkably like the sauce on the All Steak's orange rolls. So a good mistake.

Let me just say that I used four sticks of butter in this meal. FOUR. I actually used light margarine because of the horrible amount, but still. Four sticks of light margarine is still a whole lot.

In other news, Duke is officially heartworm-free!! Unfortunately, he has had an awful case of diarrhea since we've been home. I think he's confused and misses Phoenix. Poor puppy :( But it is getting annoying to clean up his messes, as he never fails to go on the carpet.

It's my birthday on Monday!!! I get to celebrate with my family and go shopping this weekend, so yayyy!!

à toute à l'heure!

And the Oscar goes to..

I thought I would dedicate a blog post to the Academy Awards red carpet today, because Hollywood really outdid itself this year.



This was my favorite dress of the night. Penelope Cruz always dresses so well, but this Donna Karan dress is absolutely gorgeous.



Cameron Diaz looked absolutely stunning in Oscar de la Renta. I don't think she's ever looked this good.



Diane Kruger's Chanel haute couture dress drew mixed opinions, but I love it. It's different from everything else. Good job Karl Lagerfeld.



Rachel McAdams in Elie Saab, looking lovely as always.



Demi Moore in Versace Atelier. I sure hope I look this good when I'm her age.


What were they thinking??



Charlize Theron, really? This dress would have been fine if it weren't for the giant chest rosettes.. This reminds me of when all the girls in Mean Girls cut holes in their shirts directly over their boobs..




SJP & Chanel, you have truly disappointed me. Where's the style Carrie was so famous for?


Until next year Oscars!!

je veux t'amour et je veux ton revenge

Ahhh, I finally have a chance to write. It has been a VERY busy week and a half. Last week I had three tests, so I didn't see much light of day, much less have a chance to cook. This week I've changed my major and have been busy trying to plan my future. You know, no biggie. It's so hard for me, because I know everything is under God's control, but at the same time I'm forever trying to plan everything myself. It's so difficult for me to give up that control. Anyway, after much thought and prayer, I'm changing my major to Entrepreneurship. I think it's a better fit for what I want to do (own a restaurant), and it can get me started in management. International Business ended up not being exactly what I thought it would be, or maybe I'm just getting older and reality is setting in. It sounds glamorous to live in Paris and whatnot, but truth be told, I'd rather live close to my family and just travel extensively.

With that change, I'm going to either have to take summer classes or 18 hours per semester... so probably summer classes because the latter sounds repulsive. Au revoir to summer fun. Oh well, I need to buckle down I suppose.

On another note, I still am unemployed. It seems as though I will never find one, but hopefully sometime soon I will... although I'm starting to run out of places to apply to. At this rate, I should be getting less picky, however, that's not the case.

Like I said, not a whole lot of cooking lately.. although last Saturday, JP and I did cook a wonderful dinner. We made beer can chicken, although we actually used Coke, because I think it probably ends up about the same. JP did the chicken, which he has gotten pretty good at, and it turned out magnificently. We served salad with my special dressing, and his special mashed potatoes. His potatoes are sooooo good. He uses red potatoes, cuts them up, boils them, and then simply adds butter and sour cream, (and sometimes bacon),mashes them, and they are so very tasty. I made a mixed berry pie for dessert, so that was easy and delicious. All in all, a wonderful meal, and very easy too.

Tonight is Cajun chicken pasta, as I'm getting low on groceries and not buying more with spring break being next week. Ohh, spring break, where I get to be around an always fully stocked pantry and be served nice, hot meals every day. Yes, I'm going home for spring break.. but that's not so bad after all.