Over the weekend...a few days late.

Erika and Lauren at SparkCon

Pumpkins!

Pumpkins for everyone!

With Amy, waiting for BFF to take the stage

Uggh, you guys. This weekend was so good that I found myself sad on Sunday night while trying to  think of the next weekend that would have so much fun crammed in. 

Weekend Highlights:

*fashionSPARK Fashion Show on Thursday night

* Dinner at Lilly's followed by some extreme crafting on Friday night (more on that later...)

*visiting SparkCon in downtown Raleigh after enjoying some coffee at Morning Times

*the abundance of apples and pumpkins at the farmer's market

*Ben Folds Five on Sunday night to celebrate Amy's birthday 

It's beginning to feel a lot like fall around here and I love it!

Back to work I go.

Photos (Clockwise): A wall decoration at a shop in downtown Southern Pines; Enjoying drinks with Syd and Emma, The most delicious chamomile lemonade at The Meatball Shop in NYC; Barney refusing to get out of my car when I was attempting to head home.

After a lovely spring break, it's time to go back to work! Luckily we're in the home stretch at school with only 45 days left...not that I'm counting or anything. 

Happy Monday! 

Over the Weekend: March 2-4

Weekends have been awfully gloomy lately but that's the perfect condition for lounging around, so you'll find no complaints here.  On Saturday, a friend took me out for a belated birthday brunch at Parker and Otis before we perused downtown Durham. Last night, fun. played a show at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro and the Heels beat Duke. Talk about a good time!

And today's plans? SLEEP.

24

Well kids, I'm growing up. Wednesday marked my 24th birthday and thanks to some wonderful and crafty friends, it was perfect. I've been lucky enough to go to a different  birthday celebration pretty much everyday this week, beginning on Monday with a trip to The Raleigh Times for dinner. And props to Kelly for making the most delicious caramel cake ever!

Luckily I decided not to give up desserts for Lent or else the past couple of days would've held a lot of temptations. After deliberating for the past couple of weeks, I've decided to give up listening to music in the car in the mornings and forgoing my afternoon cup of caffeine.  Lent is relatively new to me- I'd never really understood it until college and even then I often resolved to give up caffeine. Giving up the snooze alarm last year was probably the least successful of all my Lent attempts but I'm hoping my grownup willpower kicks in this year!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks to those of you who Facebooked, Twittered, called, texted, instagrammed, emailed, and even Pinterested me  on my birthday! 

Over the weekend...Feb. 3-5

Not too much to talk about this weekend- went home, did lots of laundry, attended a baby shower, and watched the Super Bowl long enough to see Madonna perform. I also learned never to go to Walmart on a Saturday night, especially if said Saturday is the day before the most watched sporting event of the year...

Over the Weekend: Jan 27-29

This past weekend was what dreams are made of: sleeping, hanging out, shopping, dining out, and birthday-ing.

Friday was spent hanging out with my bestie & roomie, Kristin before going to bed at a modest 9:30 pm. On Saturday, my mom and I did a little bit of shopping and  that night, my friend Kelly celebrated her 24th birthday with dinner at The Pit and an impromptu dance party.  Sunday was spent doing a little bit of work and a lot of hanging out. After hanging out with Kristin, I went to Chapel Hill to see Kara and David who were in town all the way from Alabama for the UNC basketball game! 

Home for the Holidays

The best Monday

This past Monday knocked all others out of the park, not that there was much competition. Meller, Danielle, and I met up that evening for dinner at Pop's and to see some crazy Christmas lights that were in sync with a radio station! Ridiculous. And Danielle gave me a hilarious Christmas gift-a Marcel the Shell book!

Ohio & Chipotle

Tara and her coveted burrito

Have you ever met somebody from Ohio who didn't love Chipotle? 

I haven't.

Regular Status

One of the things on my growing bucket list is to become a regular at a coffee shop or restaurant and in all my unemployment glory, I did it! I go to Cup A Joe in Raleigh at least four times each week and get the same thing every time. A few days ago, the barista shouted "iced grande coffee for here" as soon as I walked in. Success.

Weekend Highlights

In a nutshell, I had an excellent weekend and saw a ton of friends, even a few that I haven't laid eyes on since last fall! Kristin celebrated her 21st birthday with a grown-up pizza party on Friday and then several of us spent Saturday at SparkCon (where local restaurants were giving out free meals of bugs; look closely at the last picture above) before heading to the NCSU game that night. Another weekend highlight included getting the first salted caramel hot chocolate of the year with Mary Hil because it was below 60 degrees pretty much all weekend! Thank goodness.

On Eating Animals

I read this book a couple of weeks ago and it made quite the impression, almost to the point that I wish I hadn't read it. I've always been weary of meat, specifically red, which will forever annoy my parents since I grew up on a cattle farm. Poultry and seafood have always been delicious, though. Most days I had a turkey sandwich for lunch and never tired of it. 


After reading this book, I haven't been able to eat any meat. I was knocked off my high horse when I read how terrible the poultry market of production is, specifically for chickens and turkeys. It's unbelievable what the animals and farmers go through to get food on the table.


Earlier in the summer, I bought a "The Joy of Cooking" book from the 1950s and noticed in many of the recipes how long was necessary back then to cook a chicken. It bordered on two hours for some recipes and I couldn't figure out why it now takes us less than 30 minutes to prepare chicken. One reason Eating Animals honed in on was the growing presence of antibiotics in the food we eat and how it's slowly eroding our immune systems, but we view it as convenience to make a quick meal. 


I know this book is extreme but Foer makes a lot of jaw dropping points that have very little to do with his opinion (he became a vegetarian while writing the book) on eating meat and everything to do with what the current production system is doing to our bodies and the environment. 


Regardless of your stance on the food industry, it's a book that will certainly surprise you.

So long, Beriyo.

Last weekend, one of my very favorite places closed. Beriyo was the hangout spot for most of my friends during high school and became the meet-up place when we were home for breaks during college. 

Then: 2006 

Kelly, Moriah, and I at Beriyo together on one of our last days, if not THE last day,  before beginning college. 

Now: 2011

Kelly, Kristin (a stand-in for Moriah/my roommate/her mom owned this joint), and I on Beriyo's closing day last Sunday. We ate lots of yogurt.

So sad to see it go! 

City Food

While I was in NYC, Elizabeth and I ate some awesome food at some cool restaurants. It wasn't the healthiest weekend but it sure was delicious and my first time trying most of these things. Here's a taste:

Empanadas at Empanada Mama

'Shroom burger and carmel milkshake at Shake Shack

Watermelon wheat beer at Frying Pan (a docked boat that was the most hipster place I've ever been)

Red Velvet cupcake at Crumbs

Salted carmel frozen yogurt at Pinkberry

YUM YUM YUM

Cap'n Chicken

I've been on a cooking kick lately and it's never been so obvious how much of a novice I am in the kitchen. 


Back in middle school, I wanted to go to Planet Hollywood every time I was in the vicinity of one. It wasn't for their delicious delicatessen, it was because I thought I could meet Bruce Willis. Once when we were there, I noticed Cap'n Crunch Chicken on the menu. It was one of the strangest things I've ever tasted.

And tonight I recreated it using this recipe. I took the baking route, the splatter-safe option. It was ridiculously simple to make and tasted much better than many of my other specialties that include Instant oatmeal and frozen pizzas.


P.S. This is great to make if you're feeling a little bit aggressive! It takes some anger to get the cereal crushed up.

Rooney & Scratch

Robert Scwartzman, dream hunk. 

A friend recently told me that previous generations lived to work and that ours is doing it the other way around. I believe it. 

This weekend was great! While I'm getting acclimated to the daily routine of teaching, the weekends have become too far and few.

On Saturday, Emma, her sisters and I went to see Rooney at Cat's Cradle. They're a fun bunch of guys with hair that could be in an Herbal Essences ad. I'm not sure if it was the mixture of having coffee in the afternoon and the sheer adrenaline of being at a concert but I was wired until after 1 am.  Worth it. 

This morning before church, Emma and I tried out Scratch, a new bakery in downtown Durham. We both enjoyed sugar coated muffins and eating outside! This weather is a winter miracle.