happy halloween!! (quick picture post)

i eventually learned this sign on my cubicle is actually intended for our accounting director whose office is through the adjacent doorway... or so they tell me...

are we having fun yet?

my office gets pretty enthusiastic about seasonal decor.

my grandma and her cowgirl neighbor!

the winds of change

well it's officially too cold to go to work without a jacket anymore, and let me tell you that is the opposite of awesome.

autumn is so bittersweet.  a warm sunny fall day in michigan is as close to perfect as this place gets, but they are few and far between the cold, rain/snow mix days that remind you winter is a six to eight month season round these parts.  on saturday we got one of the nuggets of indian summer and we tried to stay outside as long as we could until we met up with my family to celebrate my grandma's birthday.

with the official end of summer over the weekend, it feels like everything has switched gears entirely.  it's hard not to notice the seasonal changes when hoards of college students are constantly around.  now is the time when the huge outdoor parties begin to shrink indoors.  people are more fashionable now until they have to begin hiding under layers of wool and down-filled parkas.  i can't say i'm excited for the freezing weather ahead, but with a few exceptions, now until christmas is typically a time of year that completely flies by.  perhaps its the inclusion of steve's birthday right around thanksgiving, or the fact that our dating-anniversary falls between thanksgiving and christmas, but we rarely get a chance to come up for air until the new year once october rolls around.

through all this, the thing i'm trying to focus on most is getting back at that dusty word document known as my work-in-progress.  though the thrill hasn't quite worn off of getting engaged and moving in together, the novelty of it all doesn't quite clog up my brain as much as it had been doing.  now that the weather is taking it's uglier turn, i'm hoping it will be easier to stay busy with indoor projects like my writing.  a busy life is a recipe for writers block, but i'm optimistic that the holiday stress will seem small compared to all the madness we've been through lately.

word count: 25,024

summer is over and the cat is wet

let me tell you, there's nothing like having a mantle to get me jazzed up about seasonal decorating.  i am in no way emotionally prepared to let go of summer, but whether i like it or not the cold weather is on its way (spoiler alert: i don't like it at all).

on the bright side of all of this, jeff the cow, our resident dead animal and living room focal point extraordinaire, now has some cute little gourds and pumpkins to help me get on board with the upcoming fall.  all this has made me realize that i am completely behind the ball trying to come up with what steve and i should be for halloween this year.  i doubt we'll ever manage to top 2011's calvin and hobbes, but i've got a few ideas rolling around in my brain.  wesley and buttercup?  pinky and the brain?  decisions decisions....

don't mind the cleavage... it was college, after all...

and just to add an extra bit of fun to today's blog post here is the only picture i got of bert after we gave him a bath on monday night.  he now smells significantly less poopy and he appears to have forgiven me.  if you're considering bathing your cat, i highly recommend it.  it really is fun for the whole family.

happy hump day!

word count:  24,710

game-day ribs recipe

toasting the day we got engaged... go blue!

whew!  hi again!  just now coming back to life after labor day!  hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend; we definitely did!  (dude check the success of that semi-colon there... writerly nerd here).

in ann arbor the seasons change a bit more dramatically than other places of the world.  besides the fact that we get all four seasons weatherwise (and to a pretty hardcore extent might i add), we have the influx and exodus of tens of thousands of students as well as the college sports calendar ushering in spring, summer, fall, and winter.  add to that all the special events (restaurant week, the film festival, top of the park) and you pretty much could live in this town without ever once looking at a calendar (in fact i did just that throughout most of college).

now that the students are back, there is more to look forward to than just frat boys in the semi-nude throwing keystone light cans off rooftops.  it is start of college football season!!

now don't for a minute think that I am sporty spice or anything (high school theater geek here... hand eye coordination... what's that?) but when you are born and bred U of M fan / alumna... well, let's just say if you aren't into college football yourself, you're just not gonna understand.

in honor of the first game of the season i did two things:

i wrote this other blog post that got a little bit of internet cred

(do not consider this an endorsement for brobible.com, they simply asked if they could republish content from my other blog)

and i whipped up some homemade spinach dip and barbeque ribs for a bunch of our friends who came over to watch the game!

now i don't like to brag or nothin' but these ribs are just plain delish.  personally, i can't understand why anyone would make ribs without a crockpot.  they are so easy, so tasty, and so tender (literally falling off the bone with greasy goodness).  this is without question one of my top recipes to make when we are having company because it feeds so many people so simply.  you'll notice i doubled the recipe, since we inexplicably own two crockpots, and nobody's going to be stingy with their portions when tailgating.  here's how it's done:

you will need:

a crockpot (the bigger the better)

a rack of pork spare ribs

onion powder

garlic powder

chili powder

salt & pepper

a bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce (thicker is better)

optional:

a whole onion (sliced)

one-two peaches (sliced) or other fruit

you will notice that a rack of ribs does not fit super successfully into a four quart crockpot.  the most difficult step, step one, is to defy science and mash that baby in there.  i usually find cutting them down the middle and kinda sushi rolling them is decently successful.  it doesn't really matter how they fit, they'll cook down after a while.

once you've fit those suckers into the crockpot the hardest part is over.  generously season the meat with garlic powder, onion powder, a couple dashes of chili powder, and the salt and pepper.  don't worry too much about coating everything, the flavors will blend together while they cook.

once they are seasoned, smother them with the entire bottle of barbeque sauce.  again, no need to worry about coating them, they'll get saucy as they cook.

if you are so inclined, you can toss in a sliced onion or sliced peach for extra savory flavor or sweetness.  i didn't bother this time, but if you want to go all out, who am i to stop you?  stick the crockpot on low and cook for at least 6 hours.

that's it!  once they're cooked, grab a pair of tongs and serve yourself.  you won't even need to worry about cutting up portions.  they will fall apart, they are so tender.

when it comes to cooking i'm heavy on the enthusiasm and light on the finesse/paying attention/timing so recipes like this are pretty much how i roll.  hopefully i'll be able to share my spinach dip recipe soon (also one of the easiest things you'll ever imagine).

we definitely kicked off labor day weekend on a tasty note!  after dinner we played monopoly and ordered a dozen really expensive cupcakes for delivery (fat kids r us).  michigan beat CMU (duh) and we all spent the rest of the weekend playing in the river and going to the beach (i'll post pictures from our day in saugatuck soon).

hope everyone had a scrumptious and fun weekend!  happy hump day!

word count: 23,281

the things we are doing

after weeks of wallowing in semi-stressful boredom and painfully oppressive routine, it suddenly feels like we're hitting the ground running with tons and tons of fun things to do and think about.  

past:

steve spent a couple days in pittsburgh for an orientation conference.  though he didn't need much orienting since he's been working for some time now, he did find out a lot more information about the future of his job.  we are definitely looking forward to all the things to come!

present:

right now the big move is occupying most of our thought-space.  today is the day we are moving me and bert into steve's for our temporary housing situation.  pros:  walk to work, amusing cat exploring new spaces... cons: walk to work in bad weather, filth.  mainly we just can't wait to get moved out of steve's and into OUR place.  note to self: go look at paint swatches.

near future:

the reality of my trip to san diego didn't really hit me when i booked the ticket, but now i am super super super excited to get on the plane and go!  can't wait to see my sister, play at the ocean, and let my parents spoil me rotten with brunch at the hotel del coronado!  thanks parents!  nom nom nom.

additionally, steve has a trip down to texas coming up for work  (can i come stevedore?  texas is one of the very few states i have not visited yet), and we just got our invitations in the mail for our lovely friends' wedding down in virginia!

oh and now that it's august, that means students are back in less than a month.  as an official townie these days (ugh what a horrific thing to identify as), i have a love-hate relationship with the masses of students, but on the whole i think their presence improves ann arbor immensely.  it also means my very own personal girl with a dragon tattoo, cha, will be back in les etats unis and we can finally have a raucous girl's night out.  hoorah!

happy thursday y'all!

word count: 13,260

mr. mcqueen

i try to avoid too much fashion blogging on loose from the zoo, because that is not really what this blog is about.  but this post is more about art in my opinion.  have you seen alexander mcqueen's fall 2013 line?  sweet mustache and willikers it is gorgeous.  (p.s. if you get the "sweet mustache" reference you are probably my eternal hero).

happy monday everyone!