Did you know I only posted in this thing twice in 2010 and none in 2011? Shameful!

But, reading through old entries is really fun.

My life has really changed since then! Probably my most exciting bit of info is that I am getting married in 143 days! I am pretty damn excited about this. For those of you who haven't met Rob yet, well, he is awesome. If he wasn't, then I certainly would not agree to marry him. Instead, I bagged myself a total catch! He is smart, hilariously funny, responsible AND sexy, all in one!

I should probably write some big apology post about why I haven't written in so long, but you don't really care to read it, and I don't care to write it either! BUT, what I will do is show you guys some engagement photos of me and Rob. Oh man. They are gorgeous. They were taken by Tressness Photography. Tress Ritter and I went to high school together. We weren't friends, but I always thought she was cool. And apparently, she's a kick-ass photographer too! Her style is very vintage and soft. Very feminine and pretty.

We did our engagement photos at a property she owns in Dallas, GA. It was overgrown with weeds and brambles, and it had falling-apart barns and houses. It was so cool! She says she does a lot of photo shoots there, since there are a gajillion places to take photos there that all looks unique.

So, so far in our wedding planning adventure, we have chosen a lot of awesome vendors:
Wedding Planner: Callie Garret at We Tie the Knots. Callie has already been so helpful for us! She keeps us sane and on-task. Both are very important.
Wedding Venue: We booked the most awesome venue for our ceremony and reception. Paris on Ponce. It's a really kooky and fun antique store in the middle of Atlanta. Oh man. You are in for a treat.
Caterer: Soiree Catering. Oh man. Wait till you have their grits. You are gonna swoon!
Dress: A surprise!
Bridesmaids and Flower Girl Dress: BLCouture. Melo, Emily and Gisele are going to look amazing!
Invites and Save-the-Dates: Designed by the bestest and wonderfulest Rob's Design (that's my beau-hunk).
Flowers: tbd
DJ: tbd
Cake: tbd

So, we are moving right along in our planning. And we are excited about it too. Next come flowers and DJ. After that... CAKE! We are so excited!

Ok, anyway, Ashes is barking at the ghosts in the house (or who know what). Time to go!

Love you!
-Abie

Creepy Shoes!!

Check out these shoes! Totally weird and creepy, right!?!

Rob convinced me that since my running shoes were not working for me and giving me constant blisters and had to be returned, I should give the Vibram Five Fingers a shot. He has them, and absolutely loves them. And when I say loves them, I mean that he maybe wants to snuggle with them at night. Well, that's an exaggeration. But anyway, so I wanted the Classics in lilac. Out of all the ones suited for running stuff, I thought that at least the purple was cute, even though the styling is totally weird looking...

So, I ordered them from a company online (Stores are completely out of my size! Apparently, these things sell like hot cakes! I guess I will eventually find out whether they stack up to the hype or not...). When they arrived, they were cute and weird and purple, so I felt optimistic... But, then I tried them on... they fit, but felt too small. But it's hard to tell, because I've never had toe shoes before. Getting my toes to go into the slots was SO difficult! So, anyway, I walked around my house in them, thinking, "Yeah, these are just too small!"

Today, I called Abbadabbas, asked them to hold a size 41 (one size up - yep they are in European sizing - confusing!) - but it was in black... not purple! Boo hiss! So, I try the 41 black ones on, decide that the 41's are too big. :o( so, then she said I should try the 41 with a mary-jane strap. So I did. And they fit! I wish they would have had the purple, but instead I got black because that way I can just pretend they are regular black mary-janes.

What do you think of them? They're pretty weird, huh? Rob says they are mega comfortable and really good for your feet.

Here's some websites which talk about the awesomeness of creepy toe shoes:
One from Vibram's website
From Wired Science

Opinions please! Think they are ugly as hell? I might think that too...we'll see if their comfortability makes them worth it... ^_^

It's Wednesday. Let's Bake!

Hi everyone! So, it's Wednesday, I don't have to work, and I'm home all day. What do you think I did? Well, I went looking for a new and exciting recipe and made it! Shocking, I know!

My boyfriend, Rob, loves chocolate chip cookies. So I figured, what a great way to start. I found this blog post at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine for what she said were some pretty perfect choc chip cookies! (She'd found the recipe on the Food Gal blog). So, the recipe was a Thomas Keller one for a non-vanilla recipe. I love vanilla, but I figured...well, why not?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 sticks of cold butter cut into small pieces
1 cup of packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of white sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/3 cups + 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. of baking soda
1 tsp. of kosher salt
5 oz of 55% chocolate, cut into small, chip-sized pieces
5 oz of 70-72% chocolate, cut into small, chip-sized pieces

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. I used a non-stick cookie sheet. If you don't have that, you can use parchment paper.

2. Chop up your chocolate bars. I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate and a milk chocolate Galaxy bar. (That's all I had! ^_^ Rob will have to forgive me for mixing chocolate brands - he hates that. He's a chocolate snob! ^_^) Set your chopped chocs aside. The directions say to also put your chocolate in a strainer to keep all the dust-y bits out of your mix. Me? I wanted all the chocolate I could get in it, so I kept the chocolate dust.

3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat 1 stick of butter on medium speed until it's smooth. Then, add the brown and white sugars and the other stick of cold butter, and beat until it's all well combined. Keeping mixing until the mixture is light and creamy. Don't forget to scrape down the sides. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda, and then stir in the salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet.

5. Fold in chocolate!

The mix: light and delicious


6. Roll into balls and place 2" apart of your cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until beautiful. - My mixture came out too wet to roll into balls easily, so I spooned them onto the cookie sheet in a mound.


Here's how they came out:




The verdict: How did they come out, you ask? Well, they came out delicious. But, I think I'll stick with recipes that incorporate vanilla. I prefer the flavor that light brown sugar and vanilla bring to the table. These are really good, but the brown sugar is a bit too strong for me. And, my cookies weren't quite as fluffy-looking as the other bloggers, but, I love the dark chocolate chunks, for sure! Would I made this recipe again? Probably not.

I am still searching for a recipe to rival Ben's Cookies!
















Uhm...that's not me licking the bowl clean after baking all those cookies!

Hey, you should be proud of me for waiting till the end to eat the cookie dough! ^_~

Happiness strikes again!

So, my update is: I'm happy. Yes, I've been happy for a while now, but I haven't said anything about it due to busy life schedule but mostly sheer laziness. But here I am now. I am sitting in Athens at Melo's apartment, thinking about how good my life is right now. That's not to say it's without vexations and stress, but really, it's wonderful. Here is a list of things that make my life amazing:
1. I'm in love. Yep, that's been around a while too, and I haven't said anything on here, but it's true. I am. I've been living with Rob for about 4 and a half months, and its been going great. I look forward to coming home after each day, and I miss him when I'm gone. Like today, I am in Athens, and I miss Rob. It makes me feel good to know that my feelings for him have only gotten stronger since we've been living together. It's so nice.
2. One of my bestest friends in the whole world is about to get married. I've had a couple small cries of happiness lately, thinking about how good Greg and Emily are. And thinking about how happy he makes me really makes me so happy. I wasn't sure if I would be able to be in Georgia to do my proper bridesmaids duties, and I am so happy that I've been able to be here. I would have been gutted to miss all of this. And tonight is Emily's Bachelorette Party, and it's gonna be so fun. I'm looking forward to it a lot!!
3. My thesis is almost done. Yep, I am almost finished with my Masters Thesis. Holy crap, that is amazing! It feels like it's a project that will never be done, but it will. And soon. And I can't wait. Although, after I'm done, then I have to start thinking about a job... but I am still so proud to have not defenestrated myself through the writing process. Ha!
4. Karl will hopefully be able to come home for Christmas! I am happy to have a Christmas at home this year, since I missed last year because I was in London. I wish Steve could be there too, because then it would really be a family Christmas, which I really want. But I am happy to be around my family for the holidays.
5. I am taking a trip back to London soon! I have my MA Exhibition show in early February, so I get to go back to London for a few weeks to do that and see my friends. Sooo happy about that!!

<3
Those are my top three right now.

World serves its own needs, listen to your heart beat.

Wow. It's Saturday. I have 3 full days left in London left. It is so insane how quickly time has flown by this term! And now that my return to America is soon, I am feeling nostalgic for London and the UK.

My classmates threw me an amazing going-away party on Friday night. It was super, mega sweet of them. It was 'Tex Mex' themed, and we had fajitas, nachos, chips and dip, guac! Amazing! they know me so well. ^_^ They also got a pinata, full of candy. So silly and wonderful! I tried very hard not to make it a teary night, but it was tough. I am afraid that when the time comes for me to get on the plane, I am going to feel sad and will definitely cry. I am so excited to come home, but I will actually miss it here, and I will miss the friends I've made here.

On Monday, I have my final tutorial with my tutor, Amy. I am hoping that I won't cry then. I've really gotten attached to Amy. She really understands me, and I feel like maybe if I'm lucky, I will be able to do what she does some day. I had no idea what to expect when I first met her, as she is so well-known in my field, I was so intimidated. But, she's been so supportive to me in my time here.

Also on Monday, I will be seeing my good friend Theresa for the last time (until I visit her in Trinidad and/or Canada!). We recently went on a trip to Edinburgh together, which was amazing. I got sick, and she was so patient and took such great care of me. And even though I was ill, I still had an AMAZING time with her. And on Monday when I have to say goodbye to her, I just KNOW I'm gonna cry.

So many tears coming up this week! Tears of sadness at saying goodbye (although only temporarily, as they will all see me again!!) and tears of joy at being home again. I'm trying to prepare myself for an emotional roller coaster.

3 weeks left in London

It's funny how time really does go by so fast. And then suddenly, I wake up and have only 3 weeks left here before I move home.

Yes, I am so excited to come home. I can't wait to see my parents, hug my friends, smooch on my boyfriend. So many things to look forward to: my 6 Flags season pass, BBQs, karaoke with friends, a possible vacation to Washington DC, my exciting internship... yes, so many things!

But, now that I am getting closer to leaving London, it's making me think about it more. I don't hate London, that's for sure. I have many reasons for going home, and most of them are home/people sick. It's been hard here, being so far away from everyone. I've made some amazing friends who I hope will continue to be with me for a long time to come! But, I am ready to go back for a while.

This is really the first time since moving to Japan that I've felt this need to 'go home'. I guess that things have changed for me a lot since then, and I am in completely different circumstances from then. But, all I know is that I will miss London, but will be so happy to be back.

I'm not sure what this post is saying, but I just felt like updating for some reason.

Here are a few more thoughts for anyone who might happen upon this:
*The meds seem to be helping my jaw. I don't know who all knows what's been up with it lately, but here's a summary. Last Tuesday (a week ago), I got home from visiting Becca, made some pasta to eat. When I sat down to eat it, I opened my mouth, and suddenly got these stabbing pains in my right jaw. Wednesday I had an appointment at the Britihs Museum to go to their archive for research, which wasn't a re-scheduleable appointment, so I had to suck it up to go. Long story short: OTC meds were ineffective. I had to wait until Friday to get in to the doctor (can't wait to get back to US doctors again!). Friday, I go to the doc. She can't help, but gives me meds. Monday, I go to the dentist. He said it's not my teeth (we took x-rays and my teeth look fine), so he said to see a dentist when I get back to the States to get a jaw-guard sleeping thingie to wear at night. So, now I am finishing the meds like my dentist suggested.

*I met bunnies on Saturday! Yeah, all of you probably know how bunny-obsessed I am. Well, I hadn't gotten to play with one since June of 2008 at Bunny Fest in Stone Mountain with the North GA HRS. Well, Saturday I went to Swindon to meet some of my bunny friends from Flickr, Mark and Jeanny. They were amazing! And their bunnies were absolutely adorable. I fell in love again and realized why I love rabbits above other pets. They are just so full of personality and they just fit with my personality. The bunnies I met were: Sooty, Poppy, Flopsy, Mumbles, and Eric. All adorable and amazing in their own little ways.

*Last weekend, I went to visit Becca in Preston. We had a great time together, as always, hanging out. We went dancing one night, which was fun! We also watched the entire second season of Flight of the Conchords. And we watched some Futurama as well. And mostly, we jsut enjoyed each others company. <3

*On Monday and Tuesday, Becca and I took a trip to the Lake District. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Windermere called Denehurst, and it was fantastic. The owners, Ken and Cindy, were so helpful and nice. And thebreakfast they made us was AMAZING. We had the Full Cumbrian Breakfast and the Waffles. Both, fantastic. Windermere was amazing. We hiked mountains, watched the sun set on Lake Windermere, met sheep, saw the laziest cow ever, and talked to swans. I am so glad Becca and I were able to go, because it was such a great getaway from everything we've both been going through.

When I was a child, everybody smiled

I have been so unbelievably lazy lately. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I am having a hard time motivating myself to leave my room. I'm sure this will change again very soon, but it's odd. I went to the grocery store yesterday, and then immediately came home and stayed home. And today, I woke up at 6am, decided I didn't want to be up, woke again at 10, decided again not to get up, and then finally at 12! And now it's 1:30pm, and I am drinking my morning coffee, not really feeling motivated to do ANYTHING. Whew. Oh well. I guess I should enjoy this while I have it, the ability to stay home and be lazy and not worry. Maybe being home will get me working on my dissertation stuff more. My goal was to read at least 1-2 chapters of The Tale of Genji each day...and I haven't read it at all for almost 3 days now! So, I should work on that. And I have need to put together a presentation to give in 2 weeks to my tutors, and then to the external examiner. Maybe I should work on that. Ugh, I'm so lazy.

In other news, I am looking at buying my own electric tea kettle for when I move back to GA. I want this one. It looks so fancy! I've decided that I can't live without an electric tea kettle, now that I am used to having one...

Whew! Now that I've taken an hour break from working on this, and talked to Melo... now I am ready to work! Let's go, books!!

<3

p.s. To go old school, here is a list of things making me happy RIGHT NOW:
*My coffee tastes extra delicious today
*I got to talk to Karl yesterday! Yessssss!
*Thinking about having a yellow office soon
*Thinking about havg my own office soon
*Boyfriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiend = <3
*Genji is about to marry Murasaki. I should get reading!!