updates and pictures of food...

I feel like I need to update this because I have been terrible at it lately but I have little to report.  I guess I'll give you a few cursory updates and then some pictures of food.

Final plane tickets have been purchased, I head to Florida on May 14th and then onward to St. Thomas by way of Puerto Rico on the 17th.  I am so absolutely excited that its not even funny.  I'm moving to a tropical paradise and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it to the fullest!  Many pictures will be posted when I get there.  Its going to be amazinggggg.  Just you wait.  Other than that I have mostly just been working (I got "promoted" to sale tag person) at the grocery store and cooking (at least one meal a week for my parents, I'm missing my potlucks, so I'm happy to have some fabulous people to cook for here!).  I work 5 days a week, but only get between 20 and 30 hours, which is probably all I could handle there anyway.  I'm thinking about picking up with my old trail riding gig in Stowe when they re-open in April too.  That would mean working 7 days/week but I think it would be good to put away some cash before I move, plus at least one of the jobs I truly do enjoy.

There is one other thing that I'm really excited about, of course it doesn't really apply to anyone but me but I'm still excited so I'll share.  On Thursday I am meeting with a quilter to talk about making some of my clothes and left over fabric from Africa into a quilt - a magical quilt of memories!  I am really excited, I'm pretty sure I'm going to cherish it forever and ever and ever.  Sooo surely some photos will follow if the project comes together, only time will tell.  Anyway enough about me, here are some pictures of food:

My mini dinner plate sized three layer chocolate devils food birthday cake.

Three cheese bacon mushroom quiche; I would give you the recipe but I completely made it up based on what was in the fridge.  Couldn't make it again if I wanted to...

homemade chunky broccoli cheddar soup with fresh (but sadly store-bought) sourdough

The soup - all up close and personal.  Made of course with Cabot Seriously Sharp White Cheddar.  Made with this recipe, except that I skipped the puree part and left it chunky and I used about 2 extra cups of shredded cheese, because I love it.  

Just a beautiful view from an evening walk with Papa and the pooches

Homemade Mediterranean olive bread, served with greek salad and this pasta dish that are not pictured

Emeril's Chicken Marsala (sort of, I may have done some editing - mostly I just made extra sauce and instead of finishing the chicken in the pan with the sauce I transferred it to a crock pot and simmered the whole thing with extra broth for about 3 hours so that the chicken was falling apart moist and delicious and the sauce was this and creamy) served with salad and whole grain bread.

And naturally no post would be complete without a pic of my beautiful doggy.  My favorite snuggle-bug; I'm going to miss her terribly when I leave her AGAIN to head for Saint Thomas.  I hope she can find it in her heart to forgive me, but of course she will because thats what dogs are all about.  

That's about all I've got, I've also made chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, onion and cheese bread, coffee cake, banana trail mix muffins, homemade hearty new england clam chowder, guiness beef stew and leak and cheese casserole (for St. Patty's Day), and probably a few other things that I was too hungry to take a picture of before I ate them.  I'll try to be a better updater and a better photographer with my culinary exploits in the future.  

home and such...

I have had a lot of jobs in my life, I've been a camp counselor, a telephone surveyor, a horseback trail guide, a Ben and Jerry's ice cream server, a hostess, an in-store product rep for HP, an intern at an engineering firm/construction company/bowling alley/etc, a peace corps volunteer, a general barn hand, a UPS driver helper, an AmeriCorps member at not one but 2 (well technically 3) different organizations, a sales person/cashier/internet sales/stock clerk/etc at DogDogCat, and a cashier at Grand Union, and more probably...sometimes its hard to remember them all.  I've lived a lot of places, VT, NY, Rosso and Selibaby Mauritania, Placerville and South Lake Tahoe, CA, and potentially now St. Thomas.  I've impulsively moved across the continent twice with little more than a few weeks notice, I signed up for Peace Corps without even really knowing where Mauritania was, and I've just signed an employment agreement to work at a hotel I've never been to, for a man I've never met, in a place I've never seen (but commmme onnnn, it's Saint Thomas and to be fair the guy is a friend of a friend so its not like he's a complete stranger...).  

The thing is, I'm considering a move that might be a little bit crazy, even by my standards...a solo move to the literal opposite side of the earth, for (up to, but very possibly less than, because of pesky weddings getting in my way...) one year in New Zealand (mostly, because as Andrew puts it, its beautiful there, thats where the lord of the rings was filmed and that movie was downright gorgeous) and possibly Australia as well.  This one might take a little more planning...with the young person's visa I can't work any one job for more than 3 months so internships and such will have to be worked out ahead of time, as will the visa.  I wouldn't go until probably late November, 2011 and I have no idea when I would come back, but thats not really important right now, because now is the present and in the present i'm 59 days away from my flight to Florida and just over 60 away from St. Thomas and thats just unreal.  I quite literally cannot wait.  I'm ready to get on a plane now.  Seriously.  Does anyone want to come?  Go early? just see the sites and such?  I'm free tomorrow.  Lets do this.  

Speaking of tomorrow, and my serious attention deficit disorder apparently, Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  There's another place I have always wanted to go - Ireland.  Maybe I can sneak that into the travel itinerary for the 2012 season...only time will tell.  Well time, but also (mostly) finances.  So to celebrate one of my favorite holidays I will be dancing my butt off with my dear friend Holly at the only bar in this teeny tiny town, where people will undoubtedly recognize me as that super awesome cashier girl from the GU...jealous? Why don't you join me.  I dare you, friends in NY and VT alike.  Make the drive, I can't promise Johnson is worth it, but I'll do my best to make sure that I bake something that is!  Plus you get to see my numba one gal - Miss Josey!  Ain't she a cutie?

This is her "I hate you Shelby" face.  Precious!

 and shes such a lady too!

Okay kiddos, gooooood night and such.  New updates to come as the mood strikes.  Peace, Love, and Ice Cream!|

stories from the road and a few photos...

I love traveling!  Its like a drug for me, I feel so free when I'm on the road, not a care in the world.  I could go anywhere, do anything.  Its like a dream.  So, as you know Nicole and I left South Lake Tahoe on the 12th of February and hit the dusty trail - destination: Vermont...but first San Francisco (where we found a sculpture made out of a graveyard that played music with the rising tide), Big Sur Coast (where we couldn't stop stopping just to look at the beauty and the big fat elephant seals!), Santa Barbara (to walk on the beach, admire the palm trees, and search for Sean and Gus...), Grand Canyon (to have a quick look, fix a quick sandwich, and continue onward), Phoenix (to visit Jess and Allison, climb a mountain and visit botanical gardens), Austin (to visit Becca, explore the city, and do some yoga in the park, and decorate our windows), New Orleans (just to experience the magic of it...and the pandemonium that is Bourbon Street), Tampa (to see Becky, Saint Pete's, more beaches, and fabulous sangria), Orlando (Ashley and Justin awaited us there...not to mention Disney, wine bars, and Stepford....I mean Celebration), Ocala (breakfast with Nicole's grandparents), Charlotte (for dinner with Cory, nighttime tour of the city, and a close encounter of the streaking kind), Baltimore (To visit Emily, John, and Maggie and a serious Mauritania memory sharing session, not to mention a visit to the Ace of Cakes), then bad weather at home and a serious desire for the trip not to be over, we headed to Hershey, PA (to take a realllly cheesy free but totally fake tour of the candy factory and spend some time in the gift shop) and then to New Jersey (to drive an hour and a half out of our way to go to a Victoria's Secret outlet - worth it) and then into Albany at midnight when the weather had calmed down.  2 nights there and then I was on the last leg flying solo - to Vermont 2 weeks after I left my last home I was pulling into my new one.

Now I'm back at home, coming down from the high of the trip and realizing I came here with really no plan; I pretty much just left for the road trip.  So here I am, living with my parents, turning 25 in just a few days, and working as a cashier at Grand Union for minimum wage with a bunch of highschool kids.  Pretty sweet.  Guess I didn't really think this one through, but it was worth it for the trip.  On the bright side I have already made new plans!  I'm proud to announce that I will be moving to the Virgin Islands this May to work for 6 months as the front desk person at a little hotel on St. Thomas.  Then I'll be off to Taiwan for a week with Cory to visit Hsaio-Han and if I'm feeling crazy I might just go straight from there to Australia and New Zealand for a visit or a year, depending on my enthusiasm and my ability to obtain a visa.  Big plans! Big plans!  I'm excited!  I have a purpose and a plan and now I just need to work work work so I can save save save...

Anyway now that I've spilled my guts about all my plans I'll follow it up with some of my favorite pictures from the road trip!

Sand Harbor - Tahoe

Sunset in Cali

Sunset in AZ

GC

Phoenix

on the road

Bourbon Street in a nutshell

Fireworks at Epcot

Ace of Cakes, Baltimore

finally home with my love - Josey!