Last night I got pretty frustrated trying to come up with a paper proposal for my economics class. I feel a little behind the curve, given that I've had exactly one economics class in my entire school career. Not to mention that it was just an undergrad entry-level class (for some reason I had convinced myself that I was going to get a business minor) nearly 10 years ago. For some reason this quarter, I decided to jump into a graduate-level course head first. At times feel like I'm just scratching the surface of all the stuff that I should get out of this course. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good challenge, but some days I feel a bit overwhelmed.
Given that the paper proposal is due this afternoon, blogging probably shouldn't be on the top of my priority list, but I can't help myself. I'm a consummate procrastinator. I work well under strict time constraints and there's nothing like feeling overwhelmed to make the mind wander. I keep staring at that messy built-in shelf and contemplate organizing just one of the plastic bins. But, oh wait! The Super Bowl is coming up in just a week and a half! I should really plan a menu for our non-existent party. Mmm. Carnitas. I better run to the store before it runs out of pork.
Don't worry, I've reigned in my thoughts and started cranking out a pretty good proposal topic. I decided to stick with stuff that I know, rather than racking my brain about watersheds or biodiversity. Historic buildings are the ticket to my success and Portland neighborhoods will be my case study. Why did I have to make this process so hard? I have to give credit where it's due though, Jesse sat with me last night and talked through some of my ideas that I had been rolling around. He also brought me this awesome snack this morning -- a blueberry bagel with cream cheese cut up into little bite-size pieces. I love bite-size pieces! They're perfect for snacking! He knows me all too well -- love is in the details.
Jesse arrived home from his business/week 'o fun trip to San Francisco last week to an apartment that was slightly cleaner and somewhat more organized (although, honestly, it was hard to tell the parts that I had tackled). Unpacking this apartment has been the bane of my existence. I hate having piles of stuff everywhere, but I can't seem to motivate myself to make any significant changes. There are so many things to do! Where do I start?!
One of the problems is that this apartment, while bigger, has about 50% less storage space. If you remember our place down the street, it had an entire hallway of marvelous built-ins with drawers and high cabinets that made unpacking and organizing much easier. We just don't have enough pieces of furniture to put our clothes and stash away things like cloth napkins and the state of my exploded fabric collection. I guess one solution would be to just go out and purchase another chest of drawers, but then, how do I know if it will be the right size/shape/color? It's a viscous cycle that keeps me in a perpetual state of organizational purgatory.
While Jesse was out, I was attempting to get all of the paperwork necessary to begin doing our taxes and accidentally knocked over a giant pile of miscellaneous papers. Just before winding back my leg to kick them all over the room in frustration, I decided that this would be my first conquest. No more un-filed papers! It took me all afternoon and my back and legs ached from sitting on the floor for hours sorting, filing, shredding, and tossing things away. I also cleaned out the file cabinet so we could start off the new year fresh without having to jam new important papers in with really old bank statements and nonsense that (I guess) used to be important. It felt good and more importantly, cleared up some precious shelf space in the bedroom.
Next on the agenda? Our closets and that beast of a built-in pictured above. I think we're going to have to break down and drive out to Ikea for another set of shelving for our massive, yet empty entryway. Maybe this time we'll splurge a little. Instead of playing it safe with our favorite, good 'ol Billy bookcase, we'll go for the more sophisticated Expedit series with cabinet and drawer inserts. It would certainly make stashing things a lot easier!
Unlike many of my good intentions the past few weeks (like blogging), I actually followed through with the apple cake. After a dinner of delicious red beans and rice, Jesse peeled and chopped the apples while I prepped the batter. It's a straightforward cake and seems to be pretty forgiving -- I've not made a bad one yet! Jesse's mom passed along the recipe a couple of years ago, but I'm not exactly sure which cookbook it came from. It lives in my recipe binder with a note at the top, "AWESOME!"
The ingredients are pretty basic, flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and cream cheese. I think the cream cheese is what makes it extra delicious and dense. Oh, and of course the apples. The recipe calls for two, but I usually throw in an extra one, because I like my apple cake appley. The only problem? It bakes for an entire hour and fills the apartment with a delicious cake smell. It took all of our strength not to dig in 5 seconds after it came out of the oven. We waited 5 minutes instead and indulged in piping hot slices. Yum!
Jesse will be in San Francisco this week and weekend, so I'll have the cake all to myself! Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure he ate his fair share over breakfast this morning and will pack a cake snack for the quick plane ride down to California.
Let me introduce myself. I am Brasilliant. I started a blog a while back to document my day-to-day life. Toward the end of 2009 my efforts were, well, lackluster. I promise to do better in 2010. Holy crap! It's 2010!
So, what's been going on since the calendar rolled over? Well, I turned 30. It wasn't as scary or traumatizing as I thought. Like previous years (for various reasons this time around), I've officially postponed any birthday celebrations for a month. Maybe around Feb. 6th I'll freak out, but I doubt it -- I have bigger fish to fry and honestly, unemployment sucks a lot more than starting another decade in life. Besides, 30 is the new 20 right?
After a two-week break from school, I started up classes again last week. I'm taking two courses this quarter toward a graduate certificate in sustainability. I have to say, it's going to be quite a bit of work, but I really am enjoying the readings and discussions so far. I plan on taking two more this spring and one in early summer, which will leave me only one more course to go this fall. I'm trying to ride out the unemployment wave as best I can, which will probably mean applying for a student loan to help with tuition payments in the spring and summer. No biggie, especially compared to the exorbitant tuition fees we paid at GW!
I've been trying to get back into cooking. It took a little while to get the kitchen unpacked and learn my way around our new ginormous space. I made my first batch of red beans of the new year and I think they're going to be awesome. I used two links of Cheesy Bavarian sausage this time instead of just one. Also on the cooking agenda? Apple cake. I've been loving anything with apples lately, so round two of delicious, dense, cinnamon-y apple cake will happen this evening!
As for this afternoon, Jesse is going running with our friend Brian out in his neck of the woods. I'm going to tag along at their place to hang out with my favorite little dude, Elliot. Actually, I might not get to see much of Elliot, since it will be right around his nap time, but it'll give me a good reason to get some reading done for class tomorrow. It's really nice to have a fixed schedule again with deadlines!
Don't worry, I've reigned in my thoughts and started cranking out a pretty good proposal topic. I decided to stick with stuff that I know, rather than racking my brain about watersheds or biodiversity. Historic buildings are the ticket to my success and Portland neighborhoods will be my case study. Why did I have to make this process so hard? I have to give credit where it's due though, Jesse sat with me last night and talked through some of my ideas that I had been rolling around. He also brought me this awesome snack this morning -- a blueberry bagel with cream cheese cut up into little bite-size pieces. I love bite-size pieces! They're perfect for snacking! He knows me all too well -- love is in the details.
