Lunch

I'm having an AWESOME cooking day, you guys! I know quesadillas are pretty basic but I chopped the chicken and shredded the cheese myself. Plus, look at that gorgeous golden brown!

It's perfection in a lo-carb wrap!

I make simple dishes but hot damn, I make them well!

Case

I got a new phone case!

Look how pretty!

Mostly because it was only $2 and I hugely identify with Elsa - Frozen obsessed! #sorrynotsorry! - so the snow theme is working for me! It's also, of course, appropriate to the time of year. Hooray, winter! It's got all the best stuff: Christmas, Fiance's birthday, my birthday, our anniversary, snow, and New Year's. 

Snowpiercer

We finally watched Snowpiercer! I first heard of the movie a few months back when someone described as a steampunk, post-apocalyptic, dystopian future where all of humanity lives on a train and Chris Evans plays the lead. I didn't need to know more, every single word of that description just made me want it more. Right?! Unfortunately, and despite coming out last year, it wasn't available in this country yet, so I was forced to wait. Then Netflix got it! All hail the mighty Netflix! So we watched it and it was everything I dreamed and hoped. I highly recommend you take a couple of hours and enjoy the film yourself.

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Look at that all-star cast!

Here's the trailer, so you don't just have to take my word for how awesome it is. Though you should; I have impeccable taste.

Seriously, it was amaze-balls. The twists and turns are not entirely unexpected - you'll spend the whole movie waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it does, repeatedly - but they still make for a wild ride. And I don't want to give it away entirely but (minor spoiler!) it ends on a hopeful note. Probably... Which is really what I need from a movie to walk away satisfied. You can get as dark as you want during the meat of the film, but I better see some glimmer of redemption in the last few seconds, at least. Real life gets dark enough, I watch movies and TV shows to escape, however briefly, into fantasy worlds where there is always a little light at the end of the tunnel. See what I did there, with the train tunnel reference? Yeah, you come back to this blog for a reason, I know.

So go watch Snowpiercer!



P.S. I'm still borrowing computers to post from, but I really wanted to get back in the swing of regular posting so I'm holding one hostage to do this! All for you guys! I *think* my computer is going to be working again as of this evening, so hopefully I'll be able to do something a little longer for Friday, somthing you can sink your teeth into. Still making Snowpiercer references, ha! Watch the movie and you'll get it. 

Sleeping In

Fiance has 2 days off in a row! For probably the last time til the new year, stupid holiday shopping season! But we are enjoying this in typical low-key fashion by sleeping in til a ridiculous and irresponsible hour, followed by watching hours of TV (Naruto!) and eating leftovers.

Who wouldn't love waking up to that face?! Best. Ever. Also, mine, so back off! ;)

It's been pretty fabulous and I'm trying to remind myself to enjoy lazy days like this because the time will come all to soon - yet not soon enough! - that I won't have them anymore. 

Mary Did You Know

I'm a little late today, I know! Blame in on the laptop that I now cannot keep on even for the short bursts I mentioned before. I borrowing Fiance's computer while he's at work to do this. It's crazy, why doesn't he have all my bookmarks and stuff saved? How rude! ANYWAY...

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Mary Did You Know has long been my favorite Christmas song. It's so emotional and poignant and beautiful. Pentatonix recently did a version that is especially fantastic and I can't stop listening to it. For your enjoyment:

Sammy

I actually found this a while ago, and it really only makes sense if you've seen through season 9 of SN, but it makes me Smile so hard even to this day!

No idea who the original artist is.
If you know, tell me because I would love to give them credit.

It's so darn cute! Why - WHY?! (SPOILER) - did they have to make Dean human again after only 3 episodes? 6 years they built up to the Deanmon arc only to shelve it 3 episodes in?! Stupid. I have dear and desperate hopes that it's all a ruse and he's still a demon just faking it.

Cereal

Fiance attempted to make oatmeal cookies recently. What you see in the bowl was his first attempt - too little flour and too much baking resulted in a flake rather than a cookie. He accidentally made cereal. We decided to save it and try it with milk.

The coffee has Italian Sweet Cream in it!

It was a little sweet for a cereal (since it was supposed to be a cookie) but otherwise worked out pretty damn well! Exactly the right consistency. And for the record, he corrected the next batch so we did get some actually oatmeal cookies by day's end. With chocolate chips, not raisins, as all sane people want.

Sorry all, but unfortunately, though my charge port was recently replaced by fiance - hooray for his tech savvy! - it seems the solder may have been slightly lacking. The connection isn't very good so I can only keep my computer on for short bursts. As a result, I am once again forced to cut back blogging to Daily Smile only. I really hope to be back to normal posting by at least this time next week, but it really depends on when he's able to look at it and what the exact problem is. Fingers crossed it just needs a better solder! Have a great weekend, lovely readers!

First snow

Middle Tennessee got it's first snow earlier this week! It was very little, and it rained the whole day before so nothing stuck except the little bit you see on the deck below. We were very excited to let Moose run in it for the first time. 

First foray outside

He explored a little, but again, there just wasn't much to see.

Beau showing him how it goes

He quickly got distracted by playing with Beau as usual, though he snapped and swiped at the powder a couple of times. It'll be interesting to see how he handles it if and when we get some serious snow later in the season.

Date Night

You guys, I'm the worst! I guess I got out of the habit of posting while on vacation so I totally spaced on writing yesterday. I wasn't even busy! So I'm making up for it by writing two posts today and post-dating one of them for yesterday so it looks like I was on top of my shit.

What's in the case? Aren't you curious?

Fiance and I went to run a few errands after he got off yesterday and as a small treat for ourselves we rented 22 Jump Street from Redbox (obviously) because we've been wanting to see it forever. We also stopped by Arby's so we wouldn't have to cook after getting home so late. So late was about 8 pm. You can tell we're old, soon-to-be-married people. The movie was hilarious and constantly poked fun at itself and the ridiculous fact that they even made it. Definitely worth the $1.20.

Soup

I may have mentioned before that the pollution in LA made me sick. At least, I think that's what did it since, for the first time in my life, I've actually been taking my allergy medication every day like I'm supposed to. In any case, I am indeed sick. My state has increased my already almost irrational love of soup to the point that I want it for every meal and possibly dessert. Therefore, my beloved made me some Italian meatball soup from scratch last night.

Have I mentioned how much I love The Office? It's my TV equivalent of comfort food.

IT WAS SO GOOD. You're jealous your S.O. can't cook this good. There are leftovers... but you'll have to get here so fast because I'm already heating them up.

Cocoa

It snowed today! Plus I'm sick, so of course it's time for hot chocolate!

In a panda mug!

This is "warm oatmeal cookie" hot cocoa, topped with marshmallows, whipped cream, and a cinnamon stick. Super yummy! It really does taste like oatmeal cookies. Now I'm snuggled up with Fiance who has the day off, Moose, and settling into winter. Stay warm, lovelies!

Cocktail

Sorry for yesterday, all. I recruited myself to help some of my future family move, and unfortunately did not think to plan ahead about posting. So it didn't happen. But today's is super fun! A while back Fiance and I invited people over to taste-test our wedding cocktails! I'm not going to give away the surprise of the recipes (though I'd probably do it if you asked me in person), but the drinks as well as some ingredients are pictured below.

I will say that the green one is no longer green.

They're pretty tasty, but I think we have a clear frontrunner for favorite on the far right. Hooray for alcohol!

Fly Away

8:30
Awaken and dress.

8:50
Eat prosciutto for breakfast. Obviously.

I've discussed this before. It's amazing.

9:15
Complete carry-on and last minute toiletry packing.

9:30
Wait on Fiance to finish showering and dressing.

9:40
Find out our ride has to run errands and cannot take us on the traditional pre-airport Cory's Dogs run, but will be back in time to get us to the airport at 12:30.

10:00
Wait on Fiance some more.

10:30
Leave to run our errands.

10:45
Stop at Walmart to buy Superman shirts!

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Fiance's shirt

11:00

Arrive at Cory's just in time for opening and have nom-y delicious dogs.

This is the Chicago dog image from Cory's site,
but I did indeed eat a Chicago dog there.

11:45

Arrive back at the house, load car, and leave for airport.

12:20

Arrive at airport to check bags and print boarding passes.

12:35

Go through security - hooray, backscatter!

12:40
Find gate C6.

We're so close!

12:50

Grab a coffee.

It was NOT a pumpkin spice latte,
though I was tempted

1:00

Wait.

Aren't we handsome?

2:10

Board plane and fly away!

5:00 (ish?) local time

Arrive at LAX.

Was very excited to see some palms!

5:30 

Post flight coffee and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (way better than Starbucks).

6:00? 7:00? 

Things got hazier, but we went to the hotel and checked in and unpacked sometime around here.

8:00

Meet the rest of Madhouse and head to In and Out - I liked it better than the last time I had some, but I still wasn't terribly impressed,

10:00
Head back to the hotel and fall asleep in my exhausted stupor.

So sleepy...

Risotto

While I was home a couple of weeks ago, in honor of my visit my parents whipped up a fancy dinner. It's a bacon-wrapped filet (NOMS), but the real treat was the risotto.

Just look at it!

I know, I know. I liked the risotto more than the steak? Crazy! But that's how GD good the risotto was. It had peas and mushrooms and asparagus bits, plus two kinds of cheese! It was so good. We ate all of it that night. Definitely having risotto at my wedding.

Teeth

This is a photo from the aftermath of a party my roommates and I threw several years ago at our place. We called the apartment we shared Samariah, a combination of all our names. Mrs. Wilson, of the Wilson Buzz bit me at said party and left the bruises you see.

Can you see the teeth marks?

She's always a little bitey when drinking. It hurt like the dickens, even through the haze of alcohol, but now it's just a fun/weird memory. Comment with your crazy party injuries!

Prosciutto

This is what we ate for breakfast the morning before we flew to California.

From Walmart, if you're interested, though I've seen similar products elsewhere.

I have an obsession with prosciutto. It has to be the most delicious meat in existence. It somehow tastes like bacon and butter all at once, and I highly recommend it if you've never had some. It's especially good with provolone on a grilled cheese sammie. One day, when we have more time, Fiance and I are going to by a pack of these, bread them, and deep fry them. Can you imagine?! NOM!

Home

Lord Almighty, I am exhausted! I really expected to have some time to at least keep up with the occasional Daily Smile post while I was out of town, but I was SO WRONG. We hit the ground running every morning and didn't stop until it was time to collapse into bed. I have never experienced such a consistent, perseverating exhaustion, and you guys, I was in grad school. Blizzcon was fun, California was fun, but I spent more time day-dreaming about sleep than at any other point in my life. A fun side effect of this fact was that, with the exception of the first night being plagued by nightmares of my ex (hooray!), I slept amazingly well the whole time we were there.

Back to Nashville. Hello, beautiful!

We got back home last night, ate something, and I promptly collapsed into a death-like slumber for another 12 hours. LA is exhausting, nor was my energy level helped by developing a sinus infection thanks to all the pollution in the air. It was a fun trip, but good God am I glad to be home. Regular posting shall resume!

Vote!

As previously mentioned on the FB page, I'm traveling for the next week and a half, so regular posts are on hiatus. I will try to keep up with the Daily Smile as those are simpler, but I make no promises!

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I voted today! I exercised my right and responsibility as an American citizen and participated in the democratic process! It felt really good to be able to directly influence policies and politicians that will affect my and others' lives, in however small a way.

This picture is a little more booby-licious than I intended... focus on the sticker!

Can't complain about the outcome if you don't participate in the process! Well you can, but you sound like an idiot.

I love that they call it a demonstration since, after all, it is!

Do your civic duty and ROCK THE VOTE, BITCHES!

P.S. For Tennessee voters, No on 1! Protect privacy and women's rights! Yes on wine! Because it's WINE! Duh.

Roses

As previously mentioned on the FB page, I'm traveling for the next week and a half, so regular posts are on hiatus. I will try to keep up with the Daily Smile as those are simpler, but I make no promises!

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This was our table's centerpiece at that lovely wedding I mentioned yesterday. There were 3 varieties consisting of this, a raised version, and a version broken down into vases. All were extremely beautiful.

I love that orange that is not so... orange-y.

I was ridiculously impressed that my friend's colors were black and orange on November 1, but still managed to look super elegant, not kitschy or Halloween-y. I've got to step up my wedding game!

Wedding

This is me and two of my best Speechie buds at another Speechie bud's wedding last night. It was fantastic. The ceremony was beautiful beyond words, as was the bride. The food was delicious, and the band was kick-ass. We had so much fun, I really wasn't even tempted to take more than a handful of photos - I was too busy partying!

I'm in the middle, in case you weren't sure.

We even worked our way to the dance floor after a few drinks. Fiance couldn't come because of work, so the gals and I were all there solo. Therefore, we invented group slow-dancing: form a circle and sway. I think the true highlight was when the entire wedding sang along to Bohemian Rhapsody with the band. Amaze-balls!

Brownie

Fiance and I found lots of treats on our last trip to the store! This was one of them:

There is also a mint chocolate version, but this seems more my taste.

They are really good! And since they're small-ish, they're relatively low in carbs - like 15 per... crisp... thing. I definitely recommend them,