Day 5

A great day from beginning to end. I took the opportunity to ride along with a couple of the ladies from my division today while they did work in the field. I met some amazing people, not to mention I got to witness a 2 piece band play on a sandy storm wall as a thunderstorm approached. It was beautiful and dramatic! They played beautiful dixie, ragtime and jazz. I loved it! After this we went out to lunch at the Half Shell and had the most amazing food! We shared charbroiled oysters, I had seafood linguini with artichokes and capers, and then we all shared a bananas fosters cheesecake with vanilla wafer crust! WHEW!! Delicious!!

Then we got to hang out with the most innovative and well organize team I've met. They were so professional and the atmosphere in there work area was creative and open. We ended up having pizza with all of them at the end of the night, sharing stories and laughs. I met one guy who had an amazing story! He was mostly deaf as a kid, joined the military, retired after 21 years, and is now the CEO of a huge multi-business agency, speaks more than 5 languages, owns 7 or 8 houses, and is writing or working on 7 screen plays! How amazing. I could get used to this. Unfortunately I don't think I will have much time in the field after this week.

Day 4

Whew! We are into it now. I am in Mobile, AL. I checked into the command center, and I've started making my way around with the guy I am relieving. He will be here until next week, so I've got a few days to learn the ropes before I have all the responsibility. I prayed about meeting my division and that we would all make a good team and I really feel like my prayers were answered. We have some great people, all very personable and fun. They all seem very capable as well. A few minor personality conflicts exist, but that just keeps things interesting. I feel very blessed to have such a cool opportunity to be apart of history with such a fun job that interests me! Plus it keeps me busy. Hey, if you're gonna be away from home and not on your own terms, you might as well keep busy!
And I have finally moved into a nice hotel with a mini fridge and microwave! It feels good to unpack, stretch out and know that I am going to be in one place for a while.
I was challenged by my mom to try to keep up with my recipe theme on the blog by doing innovative, healthy recipes you can make while staying at a hotel. I am up for the challenge! I don't have any ideas yet, and I don't know how much time I'll have to do it, but the gears are turning.
It is getting a little bit harder to be away from my husband. I miss him! I find my mind drifting to him whenever I see a couple together or when getting ready for bed.
Now that I am here I am trying to establish a routine for meals, bible study and exercise. Oh yeah.. and school work and doula certification and knitting! All while working 12hrs a day. Easy, right?

Day 3

I'm too tired to fully blog right now. I will catch up on day 2 another day... maybe.
However, I went out on an HC-44 flight today to fly over the NOLA area, and see the Deepwater Horizon site from the sky. It was pretty interesting. It's so clean. I was expecting to see tons of oil. I didn't see any! That doesn't mean that there isn't any, but it is pretty clean out there. On the surface any way. Then I met with my bosses and co workers to go over expectations for my new job. following this I went to a knitting store with a friend and spent $44 dollars on knitting stuff! I have high hopes for making a baby outfit for a friend. and then I went to a grocery story to stock up on some healthy delicious foods. then i bgein my drive to mobile alabama. Bye bye NOLA! I hope I get to come back and snag a post card and see some more of your fun shops on magazine st!
I was soooo exhausted driving today. But it was nice driving in my sexy white jetta! When I finally arrive in mobile at 8pm I had to go through a small run around to get to the ICP and get my hotel reservation. I'm at the fairfield inn now.. which is so, so. I dont have a fridge in my room though and I have all these groceries! Hopefully I can switch hotels tomorrow. I really want to unpack and get settled in a nice comfortable room.
I am exhausted. I was thinking about trying to knit tonight, but i think trying to remember how to knit at this level of exhaustion is a bad idea.
good night readers!
wish my luck tomorrow!

Day 1

Day 1;

So, I knew I was going to be sent to the Gulf. I had been planning on it for a while. I just didn't know exactly when or what I would be doing. I put in for a Public Affairs job because I love doing Public Affairs AND I would only have to go for 30 days. So, last weekend my husband, M, and I went for a camping trip out in Deception Pass State Park. I recommend this to every one! It was beautiful. Anyway, the next day after our trip I get my orders and for some reason I decide to fly out right away. Maybe it was because M had already left for a 4 days business trip so I would have been sleeping alone anyway. So within 3 hours of getting my orders I was on a plane to New Orleans (N'awlins). I arrived at 11:30pm, and was picked up by a shuttle driver. I made small talk with him to get a feel for the environment down here

T: "Much change since the oil spill?"

Driver: "Not really"

T: "Cool.....what's a good place to eat?"

I checked in to the hotel and as I arrived in my room and looked at my bed, everything that had happened finally caught up to me. I was in a girl in a foreign city and alone. Why am I here? What am I doing here? Why did I rush out here? Why was I so excited to come?

After settling in and talking to M on the phone, I snuggled up to an old M tshirt and fell asleep.

The next morning I didn't have to show up for work until noon, so I got up, worked out (ran for a petty 1.5 miles), and had a whopping $27 room service breakfast! What a heavy ordeal! A huge plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and two massive sauages with a thick slice of cinnamon-grilled granny smith apple. De-lish! Then I had a brief devotional. I am currently reading Acts.

I read Acts Ch 9 today. I was struck by Philip's confidence and fearless ability to run up to the Eunuch after the Holy Spirit told him to. How many times have I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me to do something but I responded by doing nothing out of fear? Even when it's something as simple as saying something to someone about God, or approaching someone and saying Hi. After all the evidence of God's goodness and graciousness, I still hesitate.

I went to work to discover that in two days I am being sent to Mobile, AL to take over as the leader of a division at the Command Post. Crazy! What do I know? I pray that God will be able to guide me!

After spending the day hanging out at the Command Post, I headed back to the hotel room and a bunch of us headed out to Acme Oyster House for dinner. I has grilled oysters and seafood gumbo. All of it was great. Very yummy. A few of us went down Bourbon Street to Cat's Meow for some karaoke. Bourbon Street is just what I imagined. Dirty, music flowing from buildings like a flood from all directions, and neon lights hanging above numerous sad businesses that perpetuate the worst form of slavery and degradation. I feel a deep sense of sadness and pity for both the costumers and the employees. Why does this even have to be a part of our world? I am so glad my husband makes the extra effort to avoid these places and seeing those things. He's such a strong, wonderful, respectful man.

Anyway, we ended up not being patient enough to sing karaoke and headed home. Now I am tired, and not sure if I am going to work out tomorrow morning. I hesitate to realize my empty bed...

But I look forward to tomorrow!

a new capter in life + travel = update blog!

I am still working out the kinks, but I wanted to re-vamp the site because I am doing some new things. A quick update:
-I am changing careers
-I was sent to the Gulf of Mexico for Deepwater Horizon Response

Solitude and Jurassic Paninis

So recently I have been struggling with solitude. I think since I started living alone two years ago I began to transition from an extreme extrovert to more of an introvert. I was concerned when I first moved into my own place that it would be hard to deal with the solitude. It turned out to be quite peaceful and rejuvenating. Nevertheless, it was a new experience for me and I didn't realize how much I valued my alone time until just recently. Our Pastor at Church (we will call him Pastor M) preached a sermon on solitude. It really struck me. I realized I had been really tired (emotionally and mentally mostly) for a while now and I wasn't sure why. Now, writing this I am beginning to put it together. Going from living alone and transitioning into an introvert to living with someone who is close to you most of the day, every day, has really worn me down. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my time with husband. That is why it is so hard to realize I need time apart from him.

So the past 3 weeks exaggerated this realization because I had a horribly long and intrusive 10 days at work (I had to work over the weekend) and then before it was even over we had a house guest. This house guest was so much fun, but still taxing! That week with him was so busy and slowly wore me out even more. Then, two days before house guest #1 left, house guest #2 came! House guest #2 is still here and she is wonderful to have around and things have slowed down a bit, but I still feel like I haven't had any rest. Yesterday I had to go to my favorite bookstore, buy an iced vanilla latte with whip cream, and sit there with my Bible and my journal and just have some quiet one on one time with God. It's sad and frustrating that we don't automatically go to God for respite. Whenever I had a free moment the past 3 weeks I would do things like watch tv and eat ice cream to try to relax, but it never seemed to give me the peace I was searching for. That time at the bookstore was great. I didn't actually want to leave. It wasn't enough. I definitely need more. Two final notes on this:
To my house guests if you happen to read this- I love you! Thank you so much for coming over!! I don't regret it at all and I would have you both over again in a heartbeat. I just didn't give myself relax time and that's my fault. Not yours.
And I forgot the second note. Great.

Jurassic Panini(')s
I don't think there is supposed to be an apostrophe after Panini, but it doesn't look right without one. Anyway, when I was a young teenager my mommy and I would got out to mother-daughter lunches before or after seeing a movie. We would always go to this little coffee/sandwich shop next to the movie theatre and once we had our first "American As Apple Pie Panini" we were pretty much hooked. The same day we had this panini, we almost got kicked out of the shop for laughing so hard at this ridiculus conversation that I ended up knocking over a vase and breaking it. Side note... that was the third vase I had accidentally broken in that shop. The conversation, as many famously funny conversations go, has faded from our memories except for one comment. I was trying to describe someone's reaction to something as "drastic" and my mommy heard "jurassic" and we started laughing hysterically at the thought of this person breaking into a tyrannosaurus rex impression, holding up their hands at their chest with two fingers outstretched like the dinky arms a T-rex has and screaching a pathetic roar with a dramatic roll of the head. So, needless to say it was a great sandwich!
Here is my home-made version affectionately called...

Jurassic Panini

Ingredients: (makes 4 sammys)
8 slices sourdough bread
2 tbspn mayo
1 tbspn raspberry preserves
1/2 tspn lemon zest
1 apple thinly sliced (crispier the better, granny smith is great)
8 slices Roast Beef
4 slices Turkey
Lettuce (amount depends on how much you like on your sammy. I don't recommend too much)
2 small tomatoes (enough slices for 4 sammys)
4 slices mild cheddar or colby cheese
butter as desired

Butter one side of each piece of bread (that will be the outside of your sammy) before beginning. Combine mayo, preserves and lemon zest. Smother four of the slices of bread (non-buttered side) with raspberry-mayo. Apply apple slices on top of raspberry-mayo so that they cover the bread. Place one slice of roast beef on top of apples. Place one slice of turkey on top of roast beef. Place lettuce on top of turkey. Cover lettuce with second slice of roast beef. Top with tomatoes, cheese and then final slice of sourdough (butter side out!).

Place sandwiches in panini grill or grill on low heat on your stove top with skillet or saucepan (like me!). Flip over sandwiches and allow the bread to toast to a golden brown until the cheese begins to melt. Remove from grill/stove and enjoy!

Its been a while Strawberry Shortcake

So yesterday was Part I of our Valentine's Day. We got so much work done around the house! We madea huge list and accomplished it all. This past weekend was pretty busy altogether. On Friday night I had an awesome "Lost" marathon (we watched 3 episodes and decided we were falling asleep too much) with a dear friend. Then on Saturday M (husband) and our friend F and I went hiking. M and I wore 20lb backpacks in training for summiting Mt Rainier. It wasn't too bad, but it definitely added another element to the hike. We then all came back to the house, had amazing burgers for lunch and watched "This is it" the Michael Jackson tribute movie. Maybe we were just exhausted and not in the right mood, but that movie was not so great. It was neat seeing MJ do all of his crazy moves. He still had it at 50, that's for sure! But the whole movie was just a really extreme example of idol worship. Everyone tip toed around him and put all of their worth and happiness in this show. It's so sad to see. I wonder how they are all doing considering they invested so much (financially and emotionally) in that show. On Sunday we spent all day at church! M and I went to the 0900 service and then rushed back for lunch and then back to church for Biblical Marriage class, and then back home for a quick 40 min break and then back to church for out Community Group Leader interview. M is trying to become a Community Group leader and it's pretty interesting to watch. We really love hosting people and sharing time and food and good words. But it's going to be a big change (if that is indeed what comes out of our interview)! THe hardest part is going to be leaving our current Community Group. We love the friends we've made. It's going to be hard starting over.
So by Mon evening M and I were pretty exhausted. But I couldn't resist making a yummy dessert for Valentines Day. Luckily it was a v. easy recipe and didn't take much time, energy or patience!

Strawberry Shortcake:
recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients
5-6 c sliced strawberries
1 c sugar
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 c butter
1 egg
2/3 c milk
1 c whipping cream
2 tspn sugar (optional)

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Combine strawberries and 1 c sugar in a saucepan and simmer on low heat until sugar melts (dont let the strawberries get mushy!). Remove from heat and place in a bowl in the fridge to cool.
Stir together flour, 1/2c sugar, and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In a seperate bowl, beat egg and add milk. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Spread the dough into an 8.5" square or circular baking dish.
Bake for 15 min, until a wooden toothpick just barely comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 min.
Meanhwile, whip whipping cream and 2 tspns sugar together until the cream is the right texture for you (approx. 5 min?)
Cut the shortcake into 6-9 servings, and split each serving into 2 layers. Distribute strawberries in between the layers and on top of each serving. Top with a dollop of whip cream and enjoy!