monthly macaroni 6

i have become seriously behind on my macaroni and cheese that it feels nearly impossible to catch up! however, i will still try! i know i am calling this macaroni 6, but i made the caprese macaroni and cheese again in order to prove i'm not actually a failure at it. maybe i should have named it a redo of number 4, but i chose not too. but guess what the important part is?! it turned out perfectly perfect! no lumpy rubber bands or anything! and because of that, i feel like i have even more reason to blame it on the kraft cheese. i seriously will never use it again. i was also excited to use my new baking dish once again. i fall in love with it more each time i use it!

just look at that basil! im pretty much only excited about it because i plucked those leaves from my very own basil plant that i grew from seeds! i almost killed it in the initial stages, but it has come back pretty strong. and for that, i am proud!

i dont feel like i need to go into too much detail since i wrote about it last time. basically, it is very delicious and not rubber bandy! i just really love the caprese flavor. i may start making it in sandwich form. i am super glad i made it again without a failure!

love.

craving adventure

my life recently has been filled with irritations, but i can feel them going away as each day passes. thank goodness for that! twelve more work days are left in the clinic which means i am almost twelve days closer to having another rotation down. this will make four completed months out of the six that i have before i finally get a much needed break.

"For me, the adventures of the mind, each inflection of thought, each movement, nuance, growth, discovery, is a source of exhilaration."

~Anais Nin

thank you anais for helping me modify my views on adventure. soon i will be able to have what i would consider to be a real one. 2 months 16 days!

i love being able to see people i have not been able to see very often. i loved every minute i got to spend with them and we got to pretend we were german! woo hoo!!!

there is nothing i love more than being hungry and having free food handed to me like halloween candy. perfect way to satisfy my stomach and purse all in one try!

i am posting this picture not only because i love alisha, but because i realized it had been months since i posted a picture of people. crazy of me! i guess my main focus has been choosing what wonderful thing i can eat in order to drown out the exhaustion i have due to rotations. i wore my tulip skirt to the first game and it was perfect! i just wish you could see it in the picture. and also wish that i would remember to take pictures with people instead of only food. oh well, we all have things we need to work on!

it feels like football season was forever ago. i am so happy to be welcoming it back! the only thing i could ask for that would make it better is espn. or have a tv. the tv part is the first step.

this was one of the greatest dinners ever! laying in bed watching a movie while eating bread with brie and hummus. i then continued to bring brie for lunch until my wee brie wheel was all gone (it only took one day haha). i will soon be purchasing more!

love.

lets just stuff our faces with amazingness

alisha and i were hungry one night and decided to make ourselves a delicious gourmet dinner. we decided on artichoke ravioli from smitten kitchen before realizing how much time and work went into it. it may have taken us 3 hours to make, but it was well worth it! 

this ravioli is definitely the greatest accomplishment in my cooking endeavors thus far in my life and i am super glad that alisha was there to experience it with me! i can tell that we will be making ravioli in the future. dare i say it's possibly more delicious than macaroni?!

part of the filling for the ravioli: onion, artichoke, parmesan, parsley and other seasonings. i did fail to get a lemon while at the store, but it was really delicious regardless!

alisha came up with the fun idea to make them into different shapes. she made squares, triangles and circles! you also do not need a pasta maker for this step. im sure it would make it much easier, but a simple rolling pin worked for us. however, a wine bottle did not.

i also specifically bought the most beautiful and amazing baking dish just for this occasion! it is perfect and makes the food look even more delicious. it will become my new macaroni baking dish! once i get back on the macaroni wagon of course.

you always need bread and oil when eating italian food! and i got to use some of my grandmothers plates. perfect!

bringing it out of the oven was extremely exciting. the anticipation to try homemade ravioli took over me like i cant even explain. part of it may have been due to the fact that we had been cooking for 3 hours and i was starving, but part of it was also the fact that i was scared we spent all that time making a failed dish.

i cant even explain how wonderful that first bite was. basically, it was amazing! in fact, just writing this is making me have a craving.

it was the perfect and most delicious lunch to bring the work the following days. if you get a chance, i suggest you try it out. you wont be disappointed!

love.

"for the rest of my life...

whenever the sky is gray,

i'll remember that the blue's still there above the clouds,

and the sun's still shining.

~pauline fisk

i had a week filled with studying, being scared out of my mind and all around roughness all last week and pretty much the half week before. i did my best to appease the situation by helping myself mentally focus by having some sort of food or drink in hand at nearly all times. basically, i filled my week with delicious things. very delicious things!

cupcake from cuppies and jo. probably some of the most amazing topping on a cupcake ever! 

very delicious tea. i also fail to remember what kind it was but will not forget the package

blackberry maple cupcake from sara sara cupcakes. the actual cake part was superior to the one from cuppies and jo, but i must say that i did miss the sugar surge from the first ones frosting.

i have tried very hard to not become a coffee addict, but it seems to be happening. thanks alisha. and thanks to myself for not having much self control. at least bought some splenda for if i continue this trend. i guess that makes it better....

on an exciting note, at least that i find exciting, i finally saw eat pray love last night and loved it! my main complaint is that she did not cry on the floor properly. other than that, my desire to spend a significant amount of time in an indian ashram has significantly grown. and i think i need a home in bali or somewhere equally as exotic and beautiful!

love.

two weeks of lovelies

the clinic has been kicking my butt for some reason and i have had much difficulty finding free time. i am hoping that things will settle down next week and i will be better at keeping up with things like reading blogs and actually keeping up with my own.

the number pi while waiting for deliciousness.

a lovely cup of tea in my grandmother's wedding china! love. it.

a night on top of the art museum while enjoying music and watching older couples dance. lovely!

a silly mirror outside of a bathroom. accompanied by the most professional karaoke i have ever heard!

lots of enjoyment was found in my pitcher of ice tea that i was able to enjoy over and over again in my grandmother's china. i found this pitcher a few months ago at the salvation army with 6 matching cups! one of my favorite finds. but really, all of my finds are favorites!

 super cute frog curtains.

a sweetly delicious study snack.

and of course, we got our goggles and started our "swim team" practice! i cant wait until this week is over so that i can get in the water again!

 

love.

"Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away."

~Jack Handey

since gaining my poundage back in june, i had a goal that i would work out frequently in july. that did not happen because i began working ten hour shifts and at many moments my feet almost broke off. i then said i would begin the first week of august since i get off at five. i once again did not achieve that goal, but also only pushed it back one week. soon, my friend and i will be beginning our swim team, consisting only of ourselves at the moment. our supplies shipped monday night and im super excited! we will follow through. especially if we go with the custom made swim caps. good luck to us!

one of the happiest things of these next two months, although it may be hot, i get to wear open toe shoes!!! so far i have felt the freedom nearly every day!

this is the loveliest thing i may have ever seen. at least that i can remember at the moment. brunch at a wonderful place with hundreds of origami animals hanging from the ceiling!!!! it was perfect. the ceiling was beautiful even without the birds. which means, i loved it!

until next week...

love!

“he said, if you allow yourself to be enchanted by the beauty to be seen in even ordinary things,...

...then all things prove to be extraordinary.”

~ dean koontz

blueberries may not be as amazing as blackberries, but i love eating bowls of them at lunch.

it was nice to have a change of scenery and hang out with alisha and angie while playing trivia. if only i didnt suck at the trivia part! the only answer i knew was the name of the indian girl in peter pan: tiger lily. alisha was a great asset though!

i got a new oil burner that im super excited about. its electric! now i dont have to constantly make sure the candle is still burning!

and here is the happiest image of the week. (i had to save it for last). the lovely mark my dads glass left on the table at picasso cafe. such a great sign of good things to come! that or the table loved the food as much as we did. you cant not smile back at it!

i may be stressed, but lovely things can still be found everywhere!

love.