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Archive for October, 2011

a (quick!) list

Posted in baking, Food, Lists, Moving, school on October 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

1.  I wanted to go to the gym.  I haven’t worked out since Wednesday (unless you count packing, loading and unloading a car a million times).

2.  Some people use a workout to de-stress.  Sometimes I do, too.  Unfortunately, the biggest cause of my stress is my looming Chemistry quiz.

3.  While I’d love to hit the gym and study my chem notes on the elliptical (yay for killing two birds with one stone!), the actual trip/time involved at the gym would stress me out MORE.  So, I’m about to take my Chemistry quiz (relatively) unprepared to get it over with.

4.  I made my first cup of coffee in the house this morning.  It was somewhat anticlimactic; the only Keurig pods we have are a coffee variety I’m not a huge fan of and I haven’t found the mugs I wanted to use yet.  But nothing beats staying in one’s pj’s!

5.  Hadrian is sleeping on his bed next to me and his tummy is making the LOUDEST noises.

6.  We got A LOT of the kitchen done last night, but there is still more to go.  I ended up unpacking our white dishes and some of my oldest green ones, but left all my “favorites” (some colorful Goodwill finds and all my fun mugs) packed away.  I think I’m one of those “delay gratification” people…  I’d rather get by with the minimum/boring stuff and have something to look forward to when we find our “real” house.  Note:  We haven’t found A SINGLE THING broken (ok, I did find one decorative plate broken, but it was one I packed in a Rubbermaid bin that they didn’t repack and it’s so not a big deal)!  Go Moog for hiring awesome movers!

7.  That, and I intend to get rid of some of the “boring” stuff (hello white baking dishes we got for our wedding that I barely use because I have a gazillion other ones…) before the next move.

8.  I made room for the most important stuff (bakeware) and have set up shelving in the basement with all my appliances, but have almost NO. ROOM. FOR. ACTUAL. FOOD.  Seriously.  And I didn’t realize how much food (just to clarify, when I say “food,” I don’t mean boxes of mac n’ cheese and cans and the like.  I mean all my Tupperware Modular Mates with different grains and flours and granolas and cereals….) I USED TO KEEP in my pantry in Ohio.  I mean, I used to have three kinds of oatmeal alone!  I emptied out what I could before we moved, cleaned the containers and had the movers pack them up.  Now, I have THREE giant boxes of empty Tupperware, and I don’t even have room for what little Tupperware I brought to the hotel!  Ack!  What is a girl to do?

9.  My first thought was to set up shelving in the basement and put all my Tupperware things there.  And then I realized I’d have to walk down to the basement and truck all the ingredients for EVERY meal up EVERY time.  Not practical.  Next plan?

10.  This list was not short or quick.  The sun is up.  I got sucked into blogging and haven’t started the dreaded Chemistry quiz.  Story of my life.

Wish me luck!  I’m hoping to reward myself with a mid-morning run/trip to the gym and a Target-date (um, we need EVERYTHING) with the hubby :)

 

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Finally a fall flame

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’ve been waiting for this for so long…

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now comes the fun part…

Posted in kitchen, Moving on October 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Well, all our stuff is in!  The movers showed up just before 9 a.m. yesterday and had everything off the truck before 2.  It was quite a hectic day; I’d taken two trips in the Pilot the night before and we had a FULL (as in packed-to-the-gills) load for yesterday morning, and still had to go back for the plants!  Where did all that stuff in the hotel come from?

All in all, while moving is an incredibly tough job, I’m really pleased with how everything went.  In fact, ALL our furniture made it in one piece (at least that we know of so far).  This, in and of itself, is a minor miracle; I’m used to broken bits and pieces all over the place from military moves.  Apparently the company Moog hired was top-notch!  However, despite the able hands of the movers, it’s still quite stressful watching someone else toss your stuff around.

Tonight Andrew and I are having what I’m calling a “kitchen date.”  We’re going to get take-out (not sure what yet–maybe we’ll try something here in the Orchard Park village) and systematically unpack (and repack!) the kitchen.

Here are two large and two smaller kitchen boxes still to go…

Here are two MORE large boxes still to go…

Somewhere in this mess of boxes are THREE that have been opened and set aside, still to go…

You can see FOUR boxes here, still to go….  And I can’t use my sink because it’s full of wrapped-up glassware…

And did I mention we brought over two big boxes from the hotel, (not including some food boxes) AND that I’d already unpacked three or four boxes yesterday…?

Let’s just say I’ve realized two things:

1.  I have an INORDINATE amount of kitchen stuff.

2.  Not much is gonna fit in this kitchen!

Wish us luck!  My goal is really to figure out the minimum amount of kitchenware we really need for the time being–do we really need all our wine glasses, water glasses, every bowl–and then carefully repack and label the boxes for our next move.  Obviously I need all my baking stuff, and I do have a lot of great storage in the basement, but it’s going to be TIGHT.

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Moving Day

Posted in Moving on October 27, 2011 | 5 Comments »

It’s moving day!

We met Ralph, our landlord, last night to get the keys and write our first rent payment check–woo hoo!

Before I get too far, can I just say that moving sucks?  It really does.  It’s the packing, the chaos, the schlepping (I love that word) of stuff in and out, up and down…  And I did two WHOLE loads in the Pilot BY MY SELF.  After my carefully planned-out night DID NOT go according to plan (why was I surprised?), I was a cranky girl!  Let’s just say we may have more than one load still sitting in the living room of our hotel as I write this at 6:15 a.m….  How did we get so much stuff?

Anyway, I’m in a better mood this morning–I’m sitting here with my (gasp-last!) cup of hotel coffee and a sample of one each of all the breakfast pastries I’ve SUCCESSFULLY avoided for the last four months–and am ready to get moving!  (the puns, they just come to me…)

While we were at the rental last night I snapped some photos:

Here’s the living room view from the kitchen.  The front door is just through that opening on the left.  Ralph had the carpets cleaned, which explains the giant fan.  It was so loud!

This is what will be our dining room.  It’s open to the living room and the entrance to the kitchen is what you see on the left.  On the right is the alcove with the front door and a coat closet.

Here’s the view if you’re standing in the living room at the big window in the front, looking at the kitchen.  It was raining last night and the weather calls for more rain today, so we put sheets down to protect the clean carpet.  Ralph did a lot of work on the place before we moved in–it was gorgeous last night!  Fresh paint, clean carpets…

Speaking of paint…  Here is what will be our ‘master’ bedroom.  Pepto Bismol-pink and purple are currently on the walls…  I asked/told Ralph that I’d need to paint and he was amenable to that (thankfully!).  In fact, he’s even been kind enough to supply the primer and paint–I just have to find the time to do it!

This is the second bedroom, which will be storage and where we put Hadrian’s crate.  It’s also bright pink (do you see what I mean by bad lighting now??), but Ralph said he’d like to keep one of the rooms pink, so it’s staying.  I’m just hoping it doesn’t give Hadrian the headache it would give me…

Disclaimer:  I was pretty “gung-ho” in the beginning to paint both rooms (I can’t stand the color THAT much), but am actually thankful we’re just painting the one room–I just don’t have the time or energy with school, and this move has totally stressed me out.  Did I mention I have a psych midterm TONIGHT (as in right after they drop our stuff off), and a test tomorrow and a weekend online chemistry quiz?  Yes, yes I do.

This room makes up a bit for the pink ones…  It’s almost the exact shade as our guest room back in Ohio, so that’s what it will be here.  The bed you see will be removed tomorrow; although our guest bed is white iron, too,  It’s also where I’m going to put our light maple desk, so I can have a calm (hello light teal walls) place to study.

Our first guests will be Dan and Emily Wilhelm in just a few short weeks!  We’re so excited!

This room is just off the kitchen (you have to walk through the kitchen to get to it) and it’s a little dark (despite how light it looked last night), so we’re going to put our green office furniture in here.  Because there aren’t any doors it wouldn’t really be a good place for me to study, but it will be a nice, central spot for the computer and printer and my books.  And the green MIGHT look nice with the paneling…or not.

And, the moment you’ve all been waiting for:  the kitchen!

Not too shabby!  The cabinets and counters are probably from the fifties, and have been repainted white, but it could be worse…  The fridge is huge (or maybe I’m just used to our small one) and there is a decent amount of space.  Although nothing like our house, and I probably have more kitchen-y items than the average girl, so storage will be an issue for me.  Do you see the flowers?  They’re still alive and kickin’ so I brought them on over on my first trip in the cup holder of the car.  Note the dishwasher:  it’s ancient, so I’m a bit skeptical.

I’m toying with the idea of NOT unpacking all our dishes, etc…  and trying to survive on the bare minimum for both ease of packing when we leave and space.  I mean, I’ll have to unpack it all, decide what to use, and re-pack the rest, but there is just not enough room for it all!  I’m interested to see how I like the wall oven; I’d never seen one until I went to Andrew’s house for the first time.  I’ll admit; I like the idea of not bending over…  At this point, I’ve been in a mental-baking frenzy for so long I’d take ANY oven!  Seriously–once we’re unpacked, this girl is gonna churn out baked-goods like never before!

I didn’t take any photos of the basement, but I should have.  It’s huge, open, dry and was incredibly clean–yay!  I’m sure a bunch of our stuff will live down there until we move again, so that was a huge blessing for us.

This weekend is going to be an adventure–studying, unpacking, test-taking, shopping (I already know we need shower curtain rings and new cat supplies)–but we’re excited!

Wish me luck on my test and that all goes well today!  Cross your fingers for no (major) broken things…

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pork and pizza at the co-op

Posted in Co-op, pizza on October 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Disclaimer:  This is, essentially, the same post I did for the co-op this past weekend, which was entitled “pork and pizza.”  You can read the original post here.  I’ve changed some/most of the words (added a little more “holly”) but kept the photos the same.  I just wanted my non-local readers (which is most of you guys!) to see what we/the co-op were up to this weekend!

Also, my newest “Eat This” post is up and it’s about fennel!  I even included a risotto recipe I made FOREVER ago, (as in when Andrew and I were in our apartment) that I can STILL taste just thinking about it.  MUST. MAKE. SOON.  (I already have a mental list of recipes to make as soon as my kitchen is unpacked!)

OK, back to our “pork and pizza” Saturday here in EA:

Basically, the co-op is still working on reaching their 600-member-owner goal before we can move onto the next step, which includes securing a site for the store–how exciting is that?!

AND the Elm Street Bakery is now serving their brick-oven pizzas, so they both teamed up and did a membership drive/pizza party!  The bakery is beautiful and it was such a neat atmosphere–Andrew and I loved the vibe and wished we’d had more time to socialize.  In the end, the co-op got 15 new members-owners (yay!) but is still shy of their goal by 20–not too shabby!

The pizzas were FANTASTIC!  Very gourmet, very herb-y and all different types: a pepperoni, a white one, an AMAZING one with goat cheese…

(I also snagged a ginger cookie on my way out–it was calling to me–and I was not disappointed!)  Mary (the head of the membership and marketing committee I’m on and one of the ladies who started the co-op in the first place!) told me the owner of the bakery was in a ‘generous’ mood that night and had made goodie bags of treats for all the new member-owners.  How sweet!  (there I go again with the puns…)

A tally was kept during the event and updated each time a new member signed up–it was so neat to see the number go up and up and up!

Earlier in the day, Daniel Roelofs from Arden Farms set-up in front of the co-op office to showcase his supply of local pork. I was out running an errand on Main Street and grabbed my camera (thankfully Andrew’s was in the car!).

He cooked sausage and swiss chard outside, right on Main Street (!) and offered passers-by tastes of his wares.  The pork smelled SO GOOD.  I can’t wait to get into our rental and start cooking REAL meals again–between having bought 1/4 of a cow awhile back and living in the hotel, I’ve barely bought meat (other than sandwich stuff) this entire year!  (then why haven’t I saved more money in the grocery envelope…?)

I also snapped a shot of the mural outside the co-op.  Not sure if it’s finished yet or not…  Regardless, doesn’t it took awesome??

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what to do first…?

Posted in hadrian, Moving, school on October 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It’s going to be an ‘off’ day for me today, I can just tell.

And not just because today is my ‘off’ day.  (Ha, I just came up with that!)

First, Andrew dropped Hadrian off at the Country Comfort Inn, a local doggie daycare/kennel we found and are trying out for a day before we leave him there overnight.  I went for a tour yesterday and liked it, and was pleased with how busy the place was and the enthusiastic comments of praise from other doggie parents who were picking up their pets while I was there.  No one will compare to Janet (and her $10/day pricetag!), but this place seems like a good fit.

I chose today to try it out since I have TWO tests, a quiz, an article to write and, oh by the way, we’re moving out of the hotel and into our rental house Wednesday night and all day Thursday.  I figured a WHOLE day without the dog would be more than enough to study, write, blog, study, pack, study, pack…you get the picture.

Except now I don’t know what to do with myself.  I’m feeling strangely paralyzed into inaction.

I should probably eat breakfast.  And maybe get some more coffee.

(And thank you to everyone for your kind words about my run Sunday–I’m still super psyched!  I wore my race t-shirt to school yesterday :) )

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i think i CAN, i think i CAN

Posted in Canada, races, Running on October 23, 2011 | 13 Comments »

After THREE 2-hour-to-the-dot half-marathons (which is a completely respectable time, I might add) I PR’d this morning with an AMAZING (if I do say so myself) 1:44!!!

I’ve been running faster and faster over the last year or so (thanks to Susy!), but bonked in my last two half-marathons, so I was anxious to redeem myself and earn the time I deserve.  This morning was that morning!

We picked Katy up in Buffalo on our way across the border.  In true Holly and Andrew fashion, we had the “Andrew-didn’t-get-out-of-bed-on-time-and-Holly-freaked-out-because-she-thought-we-were-going-to-be-late” fight, but made up by the time we hit Canada.

The full marathoners start at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in downtown Buffalo, then run over the Peace Bridge into Canada.  The half-marathon starts 13.1 miles in, on a stretch of road in Fort Erie, 13.1 miles from the falls.

(We arrived in PLENTY of time; we sat in our warm car for more than an hour before heading to the start.)  As usual, Andrew was right….

Emily gave me some GUs she wasn’t going to use; I chose to bring along the pineapple flavor, for obvious reasons.  (It was almost sickeningly sweet–aren’t they all?–but it tasted pineapple-y!)  Thanks Emily!

Pre-race static stretching…and a little warming up!  It was in the low- to mid-forties this morning.  A bit chilly, but we ended up with THE BEST day EVER.  Seriously–bright blue, clear skies, full sun and mid-50s.

We’re excited!

The race field wasn’t that big–5,000 total I think–but it was almost perfect.  Not too big, but not small, either.  And well-run.  (Haha, I’m so punny.)  They arranged busses to and from the half-marathon start, and I believe spectators could ride along, too.

This was our view for the whole way.  There were houses and a walking/running trail along our left side…

…and the Niagara River along our right.  Just gorgeous.  And it was either flat or a gentle downhill the entire way.  Does it get better than that?

Here we are!  Andrew high-tailed it a couple miles down the course to catch us in the beginning.  I love having my own personal photographer…

Here I am again, at mile 10.  Katy and I stayed together until about half-way, then I pulled ahead–I had energy!  We kept it at about an 8:20/mile pace until the 10k mark (there were both km and mile markers along the way…confusing!  I knew knew quite where we were…).  I sped up to closer to an 8:00/mile from there on out.

Andrew moved the car and hiked down to the finish at the falls.

The finish line was refreshingly NOT chaotic, since it wasn’t a giant race.  I missed having a food tent–they handed out bags filled with water, apples, bananas and granola bars–but it cut down on space and craziness.  After my sprint, I was a bit light-headed and needed some hand-holding.  Good thing I didn’t have to wait too long for Andrew and Katy (he managed to find her first) to rescue me.  He even brought his wallet along so I could get a Sprite on our way out–that is LOVE.

Katy finished in 1:50–fantastic!  We paused to take a couple shots in front of the falls–why miss an opportunity?

Great shots!

Best race ever!  I will definitely consider doing this one again.  The only thing I would have changed would be the start time; 10 a.m. just seems SO LATE.  But, since it’s a bit of a hike to get there, it was nice being able to wake up at my regular time and still get to the race.  Here’s to next year’s fall half-marathons–there are so many good ones in this area!  If they weren’t so darn expensive, I might do one every month…

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an international morning

Posted in Canada, Running on October 22, 2011 | 5 Comments »

Hello Canada!

Emily, Katy and I (and Emily’s med-student husband, Adam) made the trip across the border this morning to get our race packets.  A series of unfortunate events has precluded Emily from running, but she joined us (heck, they drove!) for moral support and to facilitate introductions.  For those who don’t know, Emily is the blogger I found via Kath’s blog and is a dietetic student at Buff State.  Katy is her friend and running the race, too.

Katy (left) and Emily (right) and I did the picture-taking thing after grabbing our goodie bags.  (It’s what you do when you have a blog…)  SO excited about the iPhone!  It took these awesome photos and I didn’t have to drag Andrew’s giant camera with me :)

Wish me luck tomorrow!

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I’m having’ myself a treat

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I just happened to have a couple frozen Chocolate chip pancakes and I just happened to have a can of whipped cream…

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a (giant) list

Posted in breakfast, Co-op, hair, Lists, peanut butter, races, Running on October 20, 2011 | 2 Comments »

WHEW!  What a day…

1.  Tried to have a relaxing morning.  Sort-of did.  Until it turned into a whirlwind day of studying while on the elliptical, rushing out the door to breakfast with Andrew, a 2+ hour hair appt then running an errand with Mom Layer.  At least I slept-in this morning until 7.

2.  Didn’t breakfast look yummy?  It so was.  And filling!  Holy cow!  I’m STILL full and we ate 5.5 hours ago–that’s got to be a record for me.  I’ll probably have something uber-healthy before my night class tonight so my tummy doesn’t start grumbling.  (And I totally blogged on my iPhone from the salon–how cool is that?!?!)

3.  LOVE. MY. HAIR.

It’s not too drastic; Megan chose one shade darker for a base color, then even darker low-lights and added in some highlights, too.  If I’m really going to try to grow my hair out, I NEEDED a change, and a trim, badly.  Two hours and a small fortune later, I love my hair and think it feels so much healthier.  While there, I invested (pun intended) in color-treated hair shampoo and conditioner, a purifying conditioner for days I swim, and that volumizing root spray/mousse she used.  I figure if I’m going to pay this much for professionally colored hair, I might as well take care of it.  And I just told Andrew that if he wants me to grow it long, he’s going to pay the price ;)  He’s a good sport; he said I’ve never really given growing it out a fair shot, and if this is what it takes, so be it.  The man must really like long hair!

4.  Speaking of my man–he’s amazing.  (And I’m not just saying that to butter him up about the price tag of my new look!)  Not only did he surprise me with Sweetest Day candy and a super thoughtful card; he surprised me AGAIN last night with flowers and another card, this time to let him know how much he missed me after his 85-hour workweek and business trip this past week.  Awww.

5.  Reason number 9,673,268 that Andrew is awesome:  souvenirs from his business trip!

He went to Orrville, OH and it is the home of the J.M. Smucker’s store!  He called me and let me request some goodies: cherry and blueberry ‘simply fruit’ jams, cider apple butter, honey-flavored natural peanut butter and a gadget for stirring the separated peanut butter before refrigerating.  (Surprisingly enough, I’d seen it in a magazine forever ago and have been on the lookout ever since!  It’s no easy to task to get natural peanut butter mixed up really well without creating a huge mess…)  Thankfully, Andrew goes to Orrville somewhat regularly, so I’ll always be able to get more of the flavors the regular grocery stores don’t carry!  BTW:  Real Simple did a natural peanut-butter taste-test awhile ago and Smucker’s won for chunky and got #2 for creamy.  I’ve been buying it for awhile now, mostly because it’s widely available and reasonably priced.  I LOVE peanut butter!

6.  Who is this man I married?  He’s been showering me with gifts :)  He must know me pretty well!

7.  I’m teaching a Food for Thought class Monday evening.  Or I MIGHT be, if enough people sign up.  So, if you’re local, SIGN UP!  I’ll be instructing on how to choose wisely at the grocery store and ‘smart switches’ you can make to eat healthier.  The classes are sponsored by the EA Co-op and you can sign up at the Aurora Rec Center website.

8.  Don’t forget about the Co-op’s Pizza Party and Membership drive Saturday night!  If you’re interested in joining, or are a member and know someone who is, come on out!  It’ll be a great chance to try Elm Street’s brick-oven pizza and support OUR co-op!

9.  I’m running the Niagara Falls International Half-Marathon Sunday morning–so excited!  The weather looks good for Sunday and the race doesn’t start until 10 a.m. (good for not having to get up at the crack of dawn, but I’m not used to running that late).  If you’re local and up for spending some time in the fresh air across the border, I’d love to have a cheering section!  Note to self: do not forget passport!

10.  Abigail is coming home this weekend–can’t wait!!

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