I am officially done with my first week back to school and on to my second. Like always I mean to blog sooner, so I don't leave out too much detail about my days in between blogs.... but it never works out that way. I'm glad I take pictures of everything now because it has helped to jog my memory a bit. Therefore, there will be several pictures in this blog; they're good though, so it's okay.
I have apparently designated my sunday mornings (more like early afternoons) to a properly prepared breakfast in bed while watching something amusing like SNL with musical guest Radiohead or The Daily Show; of course, putting off cleaning up or any task deemed "productive" until I am ready. It is a strange way to start my "get things done" day. Evidently, that is EVERYONE else's "get things done" day as well. Thanks to yesterdays chaotic adventures through Kmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Trader Joes, Vons, Home Depot, Ross etc... Sunday is no longer that day. I would rather do it Friday/Saturday than fight all of Goleta, Isla Vista, and Santa Barbara. 5 out of 6 of the places I listed, I left, ditching my cart and items in the middle of a random isle. I do feel sorry for the employees that had to put my stuff back but I don't regret it! Plus, I did try to put them in the most convenient isles. Anyways, this is how I spend my Sunday mornings and, from now on, how I plan on spending my Sundays as a whole:
Why, yes, those are my bookshelves that took me hours to put together because I'm a moron who built them both wrong and had to dissemble them and start from the beginning...thanks for noticing! No, they do not have books in them yet because I have to wait until my tv is mounted above them. I am going to have to move them out of the way so no use in putting the books away now only to remove them later and then put them back. I have a better photo of my set up:
This is only temporary. After my tv is mounted, I have to find a new home for my posters. I do love this for now though.
I realize last Sunday was supposed to be the first of my Sundays to try a new recipe followed by a blog but something weird happened last Sunday come dinner time. I was not hungry. That is a very rare occurrence for me. However, I did muster up the appetite to have a little....
GELATO!!! I went to this little and legit italian place that Tholia suggested. Well, this experience made me love her all the more. It was ridiculously delicious.... and I might just get some next weekend with my nephews Ata and Luk, if my healthy sister says yes, of course. ;) So, yeah, instead of a healthy, all natural meal, I had gelato for dinner, no biggie. Oh....and yes....2 scoops: mint chocolate chip and chocolate hazelnut. BOOYAAA! No regrets.
We have had some seriously beautiful days this week. The kind of days when you have a consistent smile imprinted on your face. The kind of beautiful day when you feel you are exactly where you are supposed to be in life, you are pleased with all your decisions, you have nothing but confidence in yourself. The kind of days that make you want to do good deeds and smile at strangers. The kind of days where you think "why would anyone ever want to live anywhere other than Santa Barbara?" To celebrate the first brilliantly sunny day, I walked to the Isla Vista book store to buy my text books instead of driving or riding my bike, in order to sincerely absorb the glory. It was on this walk where I found this gem:
Good question.
On Tuesday, I FINALLY made it to the farmers market that takes place every tuesday in down town Santa Barbara. ( I say finally in all caps because there were several times last year when my roommate and I would try to make it... but never succeeded) I fell in love to say the least. I bought so many fruits and veggies that I had to go back to my car at one point just to lighten the load so I could continue exploring without having to adjust my bags every other second. There were bands on the side of the streets that I stopped and watched for long periods of time. I did not watch any band for as long as watched these girls:
These are the Rainbow Girls. They are amazing!! They play all sorts of random instruments and have beautiful voices. One girl in particular has such a strong, powerful voice that, I will admit, brought me to tears. Don't worry, I swallowed my emotions and punched the person next to me to cover any doubt that may have started stewing throughout crowd around me.
Here's a little sample of what they sound like. The video does not do them justice. I would listen to this as loud as possible.
At one point this little girl jumped in between the band and the crowd and danced. After every song, she begged her mother to let her dance for just one more song. She was the cutest:
There was this old man who was performing, as well. I didn't stay long to listen to him. I just thought he was adorable.
The flowers that I have on my bookshelves in the previous pictures, I bought at the farmers market. I want to go every Tuesday!!
Like I said earlier, I am trying to take advantage of these gorgeous days while they are still here. This means... multiple trips to the beach!! I have been going after my classes. I try to go a little later in the afternoon so I am just missing the mid afternoon crowd. It has been quite lovely:
:)
yeah, I think that about sums it up.
Those are the highlights of my week. I had down falls this week too, but I don't remember them as well as I do the better experiences.
Now, I can talk about the new recipe I tried this week. Once again, I did not make it on Sunday. Not because I wasn't hungry, but because I left Trader Joes running and screaming instead of buying the ingredients. I went and bought the rest of them today and was able to make the Miso-curry Delicata Squash dish. I thought it would be difficult and time consuming to make but it really wasn't, which is always a plus for me. I may want to be able to cook but I have little patience when it comes to food. It was easy and fun to prepare. It involved simple chopping, whisking, and placing in the oven.... that's it. In addition to being easy, it was delicious. Delicata squash, red skin potatoes, tofu, kale, cilantro, and a thai curry paste, olive oil, miso, and lemon coating. I didn't add any salt or any other seasoning and it turned out well. It was light and flavorful. Best of all, I have left overs. I have become a master at left overs. I discovered that left overs can be turned in to a different dish. My stirfry? I sautéed cooked Soba noodles and edamame in soy sauce and then threw in my left over stirfry. My soup that I made last time that I thought was bland? I put kale and a secret touch to it and it turned out fantastic! Okay, my "secret touch" was Sriracha, but it did the trick. Anyways, here's what my squash dish was supposed to look like:
And here's what mine turned out to look like:
I do have to mention the disasters that happened... or better yet...that are inevitable when it is anything that has to do with me. Most of the disasters are my fault but then there are random, freak mishaps that only have to do with my bad luck. The one disaster that was my fault was when the smoke detector went off. As soon as I took the veggies out of the oven, the deafening beep that is my smoke detector, alarmed my whole apartment complex that I was cooking. I'm sure they'll get used to it. Luckily, I am not new to this issue. This used to happen at my apartment in Mentone. My roommates and I wouldn't skip a beat. Two of us would be opening windows and doors while the other would be fanning the area around the detector with a giant pillow. So, I didn't panic when it happened tonight. I opened my door and guided the smoke out with my pillow and it ended with in seconds of starting.
The other disaster is very disturbing. ** Kimberly, if you are reading this, don't read until you see the asterix's again.
Well, when I turned the knob to begin preheating my oven, something extremely unexpected occurred. Maybe due to the sudden increase in heat, about 20 tiny spiders came repelling down from the crack in between the oven and the knobs, some on to my hand (that's how immediate their reaction was). This was the first time I used my oven, so, they had been hiding out there tis whole time. I have vacuumed and ambitiously cleaned all corners of my apartment for this reason. I live right next to a field, so, while I wasn't here over the summer to kick them out, some unwanted guests had made themselves comfortable. This was the one place I didn't even think to clean out. Why would I? Well, now I know why. I did the unvegan deed and killed them all. Sorry. I tried not to freak out but I think I have, unfortunately, acquired a fear of spiders. I say this because just last night I woke up in a panic because of a nightmare I was having about spiders. In my dream, I woke up from sleeping in my parents room only to discover that I was surrounded by thousands of spiders and spider webs. It took me a while to get back to sleep because of that notorious feeling of several phantom spiders crawling all over me (a feeling I am reliving right now).
** OKAY KIMBERLY, READ FROM HERE.
Okay, it is now 1:30 in the morning. I wasn't supposed to stay up late because I just found out that there is a swap meet on Tuesdays and, due to my busy schedule tomorrow, I won't be able to make it unless I go before my 10:00 am class. With my classes, dentist appointment, guitar lesson (the first class, so stoked), and the farmers market, I don't know if I'll make it.
I will leave you all with the reason I love living alone:
you are ADORABLE
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