The Accidental Boilermaker

This morning, instead of having to work (yay!) I got to do some face painting at a breakfast with Santa at the Subaru plant in Lafayette. I came to dread a child asking for Rudolph, but got pretty good at snowmen and Santa. The last kid I had - a 10 or so year old boy - had a special request... Kid: Do I have to chose from the Christmas ones or can you do something else. Me (becoming a little nervous): Well...it depends. I have to be able to draw it (because I'm so good at Rudolph and poinsettias, right). Kid: I want a big star over my eye, like KISS. Me (slightly startled, mostly by the fact that this kid even knows who KISS is): Um...sure. (Are you sure you don't want a nice Christmas tree?) Now, what exactly does it look like (I know who KISS is, but when he said star over my eye, all I could picture was Lady Gaga). Kid: You know, just a big white star and then outline it in black (Which I guess isn't technically right, it's an all black star, but close en...

Yesterday and today, I tried my hand at two different recipes calling for molasses. A molasses swirl bread for toast and sandwiches Molasses spice cookies to help Nate get over his cold

I'm thankful for the weekend I got to spend with my family in Decatur. We ate a ton of really good food and mostly just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. It was a very nice Thanksgiving. Turkey with all the fixings Kate and Meredith being silly Me and Kate being silly We all went for a run to burn off those extra calories

I love pumpkins and all things pumpkin flavored. Ask Nate, every time we go grocery shopping, I snag a can of pumpkin puree so I have plenty on hand. This weekend I made pumpkin fudge and pumpkin lattes - way better than those expensive ones from Starbucks. I also love cranberries and I found a recipe that combines my two loves - pumpkin cranberry bread . This is the third variety of pumpkin bread I've made this fall and I think by far the best.

I spent the weekend in Chicago to celebrate Kate's birthday (which was yesterday). My Mimi came up from Decatur too but she didn't know I was coming, so me and Kate surprised her. We went to Navy Pier to see an art expo that Kate was super excited about. It was pretty neat and we got to see a glass blowing exhibit that was really cool. Mimi took us to Grand Lux Cafe for lunch and then we shopped around Michigan Ave until it was time for Mimi to catch her bus ride back home. Sunday, Kate and I went to Hyde Park for breakfast. She showed me around University of Chicago and then we tried to read/study on campus, but we both ended up falling asleep. My parents drove up for lunch and then took me back to the train station. When I got to Lafayette, Nate was waiting for me with a rose. All in all, it was a fun weekend. SOFA exhibit at Navy Pier Skyline The birthday girl

Me and Meredith ran a Halloween 5K today. If you dressed up, you got a free t-shirt. I ran in my lab coat (I wanted to stay in costume) but that wasn't the greatest idea. It was pretty windy and my coat just ballooned out behind me which created a fair amount of resistance. Oh well - It was lots of fun anyway : )

I got my flu shot yesterday at lunch. It didn't hurt at first and then like an hour later, my arm was so sore! It still kind of hurts today. Oh well - a sore arm is a small price to pay to avoid the flu. Check out this quick quiz about the flu from the CDC. Some of the questions are kind of tricky... Flu IQ Flu IQ Widget. Flash Player 9 is required.

My two pumpkins My Jack Skellington pumpkin - I used a picture to help me. This is probably the most complicated pumpkin I've ever carved. Especially because during my entire childhood, my dad did all the carving. All lit up - very scary My other guy - he took significantly less time. You know the best part about carving pumpkins? Pumpkin seeds! I've got mine roasting in the oven right now, yum.

It was Homecoming at Purdue this weekend. My parents came down to watch Meredith walk in the night train parade and row on the Wabash. I made a pumpkin pie for everybody to enjoy too. pumpkin pie : ) Boilermaker extra special Meredith, just after rowing - it was really cold. M's boyfriend rowing (he's the last one)

Thursdays are my favorite day of the week. I get off at noon, but Nate doesn't get home till late. So I've been making dinner in the crockpot and then we get to eat dinner together. This Thursday we had cornish hens. With some potatoes and carrots, it was actually pretty good. Quite the adventure - I don't think we'll be making this again any time soon though. The leaves are beautiful right now and I'm fortunate enough to have a really nice path to run along, so I decided to take my camera with me on my run Thursday and snap a few pictures.

I got a new pair of running shoes on Friday. There's a neat little running and triathlon store in Lafayette that I like to go to because they really spend time helping you find the right pair of shoes. I bought a pair of New Balance - I've been running in Asics for the past few years. And that got me thinking about my old running shoes, all of which I still have much to Nathan's frustration. I have a hard time throwing them out because they're like old friends; I can't help but think about all the fun we've had together. Lame, I know. New shoes Old shoes Each pair tells a story. The very first ones, the really dirty ones, were my first official pair of running shoes - shoes I bought for the sole purpose of running. I trained and ran my first 1/2 marathon (the Chicago Distance Classic) in these shoes with my dad. Now they're my garden shoes. The next pair didn't see too much action, just a lot of running around Holland while in college. The green Asic...

It's been one week since I got those pesky wisdom teeth out, but I am feel lots better. I made spaghetti and meatballs tonight for dinner - probably the most normal (and substantial) thing I've eaten all week. Last night Nate bought me a pot of beautiful yellow and orange mums! I didn't see them till I woke up this morning.

Other than getting to see my mom and Meredith, getting my wisdom teeth out was not fun. Nate took the day off from work on Friday and stayed home with me, so that was nice too. I did get to run a little this morning and that helped me feel better. Then I spent a good part of the morning and again in the afternoon, sleeping. I still can't chew anything and that's super annoying too. Here's some pictures of Penny because she always cheers me up.

I've stocked up on foods I can eat after I get my wisdom teeth out on Thursday.

I saw got to see Maroon 5 in concert last night in Indy with my mom. They were amazing! It was really fun to see the different types of people who came out for the concert - alot of older women (no offense to my mom). There were some cute teenie boppers in the row ahead of us who only knew Maroon 5 most recent songs. When they played something off of Songs about Jane they just looked at each other, shrugged, and then kept dancing. That made me feel like a real fan and also made me feel kind of old.

remember those red onions?

Pat and Paul came down for the weekend. They brought a desk for Nate, taught us a new card game, and took us out to eat. It was lots of fun. I tried making spritz cookies for when they got in Friday night. The first batch turned out really well. The second batch not so much. The dough and cookie sheet got too warm. I guess that's why they are more a Christmas time treat. The second batch had a more tie-dye look because I had to keep putting the dough back in the cookie press. Tons of tomatoes! Not enough for pasta sauce yet though. I picked the rest of my red onions today.

Nate and I canned green beans last night. It was quite the process but it was fun. Heating up jars and lids Green beans ready to be cooked Jars lined up in the pressure canner The final product

Nate always gets me a giant cookie cake for my birthday. The more icing the better. And he bought me some beautiful yellow roses. We went to Arni's for dinner too. We ate a whole 14'' pizza. Our waitress said she's never seen two people finish one off entirely.

My first attempt at canning. It's not true canning because the jars are aren't boiled and sealed. The green beans will be ready in 4 days and will only last about a month. But you've got to start somewhere. Here's the link to the recipe.