US meets UK

I’m off to San Diego for work, so posting may be lighter. Nick is coming with me, and he was plenty irked when I told him he might want to bring jeans in addition to shorts.

“WHAT?!?! But California is HOT, it’s like, beach town USA, it’s hotter than DC!!”

was his response. I told him to check the weather, and he was a bit bummed to see that highs were in the upper 60’s. I think it’ll be a nice break from this oppressive DC summer.

Well, not exactly, you’ll really be sewing along with these three lovely ladies.  Remember the birthday post? I was still undecided-until a friend passed along this course.

Decision made. Sewing machine ordered. Sewing machine delivered. Signed up for above class. The projects seem super neat and I can’t wait to get started!

Won’t you join me?

ps. posting has been light because I can’t find my computer/camera cords! i have all these posts about jam making and canning and pie and blueberry picking… with no photos. sigh.

I FINALLY completed a job application for a position I truly, deeply wanted. Now that I’ve spent a few hours on this application… I’m not so sure. First, there were the multiple short answer questions. Then there was the fact that your previous employment information could not be uploaded-it had to be entered field by field. Then, they asked questions such as “how many addresses have you had in the past 5 years”-making me feel awful for moving when asked to by my previous employer!

Then, after hour 2 of this application had passed… and I was finally able to upload my cover letter and resume (which took additional time to craft) I came to the ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME part. Where I have to rank attributes that are most/least like myself. Okay… fine, whatever. But wait! the SAT questions rolled in:

Then, the creepy gestapo-esque questions.  Young people are EVIL-give me my traditional values!-This country is headed for destruction!!!! RUTHLESSSSSSS

I should have saved the next sheet of questions-because they were even worse. I’ve applied to government, private sector and nonprofit jobs before and I’ve never faced anything like this! If a company can’t respect your time (I’m just asking for a <3 hour application) as a candidate-can they be expected to respect you as an employee?

Seen anything like this? Want to take a stab at the questions?

*admittedly, I did find reviewing the first batch a bit fun, especially the word questions. But I’m not a math lover, and didn’t particularly enjoy that set.

I sent this to a friend in Arizona that I haven’t seen in a long while. It’s a bit like a cliff notes version of my life.

Life update? Still looking for a new job. Turned 26 on Tuesday, kind of feel like I’m supposed to be a real adult. I held a baby and liked it-which was super weird. I’ve banned myself from touching them, because the last thing I want right now is a baby. I would however, love a pug puppy (or 2-6 year old dog). I don’t want to get a dog right now though, because Nick works from home and I know that the dog will end up loving him more than me. Which is just unacceptable. We now live in Capitol Hill in an adorable apt with a nice little side garden.

So, that’s the quick and dirty version of the last few months - what’s yours?

Fall low. Looooooow. Airline prices have been an annoying barrier this past year. First, it was hard to find an affordable flight for Nick to visit England in March, so he went alone and I stayed here.

Then we tried to find an affordable flight so he could go with me on a work trip to San Diego. We were super syked about the possibility of him attending with me, as he has always wanted to see California. Plus the Estancia is not too shabby….

Nope. All flights were super expensive.

Now the worst blow, Nick researched flights to England for the Christmas holiday and flights are about $1000. EACH.

We were both really, really looking forward to being there for Christmas. We’re several months out, so I’ll keep stalking travel deals. Last year we skyped, I made yorkshire puddings, and my sister made a pavlova - I even found christmas crackers! But it’s just not the same, and we’re both really missing his family at this point.

Anyone else dealing with far-away family travel for the holidays? Or am I thinking about this way, way too early?

ps. In case you see one from DCA/IAD/BWI to MAN let me know!

I received several Amazon gift certificates from Nick’s wonderful side of the family. The obvious answer *might* be to purchase 398769476 kindle books. However, I could get something a wee bit more exciting. Who am I kidding, kindle books ARE exciting!!!!

Though really, it’s between these two items:

The (formerly named) Happy Farmer compost system:

I actually put this on our wedding registry because it gets pretty great reviews around the ‘net, is suitable for indoor use, requires no layering or turning and makes compost tea - which is great for an apartment dweller like myself.

Alternatively, I’ve kind of been coveting a sewing machine after seeing this dress post on While Baby Was Sleeping (I’m not having a baby, I just followed her over from Jenna’s blog) and she’s really inspired me to want to sew!

Will this sewing machine be up to the job? I hope so! I’d mostly like to make pillows, dresses and tops. I think I *could* get into quilting, but that is a very big maybe…

So, what say ye? Do you have either of the items? Which would you purchase? Do you have a sewing machine- any recommendations?

Two of my very close and dear friends (dare I say… BEST friends) sent me these ecards from someecards.

Both cards were super dead on and led me to spit out my coffee. My one friend and I *may* have a bit of an inside Lady Gaga joke-and the fact she’s wearing a Union Jack flag dress? even better.

I love birthday week!

*oh, you thought birthday meant DAY? Well, you’re wrong. You get a whole week to celebrate!

A while back I wrote a post about attempting boeuf bourguignon, and I recently received this comment… Which is a bit confusing, and due to the excessive use of swear words I elected not to approve it. It’s the first non-spammy comment I’ve ever not approved, and I guess I’ll need to think about a comment policy. The only parts that are redacted are the swear words-the capitalization and spelling are all his/hers. I’m not sure what capitalizing only “REAT” emphasizes, but who am I to judge?

julia child was and is the gREATest and you hating on the movie just makes you an ugly f**k who hates people and wh0 hates the generation of love and who hates likeing an actually person. ssoooo go screw yourself and what you think you standfor bc it is nothing but bullshit b***h.  you obviously do not like yourself or anyone so go take a f***ing d**k and pleasure yourself for once… or maybe a vibrator!

p.s
the recipe she made is perfect s learn to f***ing cook you ugly horrid person.  plus learn to cook and not be a f***ing whore!
love ya babes

The funniest part being, that I didn’t insult Julia Child at all-I said I liked her! I just didn’t have 6 hours to make a stew and I was new to cooking beef.

Have you ever received a crazy comment?

Biscuit? I think Biscuit is adorable!

In the event Biscuit isn’t available, I think Sydney is pretty sweet.

Or Huxely?

*Biscuit, Sydney and Huxley  via MAPR

In case you’re concerned that Nick is unaware of my puppy pug obsession. He knows. Oh, he knows. Perhaps I should work on a more realistic list? I guess.

Anywho…

I’d like to meet Shiloh

We aren’t exactly in the right place for a dog, what if Nick goes to work for an agency instead of working at home? What do we do with the dog when we travel? We live in a smallish one bedroom apt-is that big enough? le sigh. No dog for now.

Even if it’s a great price and is completely adorable.

Just because it’s on a target block, with incentives to purchase and renovate…. and my dad is a contractor, and we have a great handy support system of people who could help us…. that’s no reason to buy…right? right?

F bombs. We have a 3 year plan, one that doesn’t include buying a house-but does include moving to another country. Of course, like any plan worth it’s salt, it’s liable to change at any moment. But still. I will not buy a house. I will not buy a house.

Are you a renter? Home owner? Do you have house lust?