And We’re Here…
We are finally (semi) settled in Tallahassee! I’m not homesick yet, but I know it will only be a matter of time before I start missing the wonderful people I’ve left behind, especially my family and Blake’s family, who helped us move and move in. Gotta love them for grinning and bearing it!
Before we left, my office chipped in and bought Blake and me these wonderful beach chairs, along with a beach hat, two towels, sunscreen, a new notebook for my new job, rum and, to top it all off, two pink flamingos. I feel like a true Floridian already 
They even got me a going-away cake!
I’m going to miss these folks…
I will also dearly miss my friends. I got to see a few of them the day before I left.
My goodbye dinner with my friends Rachel and Christen:
Rachel was even sweet enough to give me a goody bag for my 12.5 hour drive down to Florida, filled with delicious junk food and some Florida travel materials so I can get to know my new state:
After the 12.5 drive, we still had to wait overnight before we could get the keys to our new place. But bright and early the next morning, I turned our utilities on and got the keys as soon as I could. Here are the before pictures of our new place:
Hall closet -
Living room -
Kitchen -
Dining room -
Bathroom -
Closet -
Bedroom -
Porch closet -
Tune in in a few days to see the after pictures!
3 DAYS!!!
Three days until the big move! We’ve been heads-down trying to get this placed packed so I haven’t had much of a chance to blog. Who knew two people could accumulate so much sh*t?
I’ve always admired people who live simply. Those who don’t have a lot of clutter, those with the ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ kind of attitude. Those who have nice stuff but don’t have a lot of crap and don’t spend a lot of money on ‘things.’ I’m trying to be like that, and this move will afford us a chance to start clean, start fresh and start living a little more simply. I lived at home before I got married, so I brought a lot of junk stuff with me (and was encouraged by my parents to take, because they didn’t want it) that I didn’t really need anymore (Beanie Babies, anyone?)
Today is my final full at-home day, so we’ve been at it all day long. I wore my Florida State shirt to get into the right spirit.
I’ve also been on Craigslist like a crazy-person. We sold two chairs today and we’re trying to sell our red hutch, which I LOVE. We have a small kitchen now but our new kitchen will be a little bigger, so we don’t need the extra storage.
On to more packing!
Instagram a Day for the Month of May
I really miss my photo challenge, so when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to partake!
So…
Day 1: Me, smiling
Day 2: View from bedroom window
Day 3: Favorite color
I’ll be updating this thing a lot more now because I finally have my computer back! Blake got his own finally and he’s done with school for a few months, so me and my baby are reunited
Our First Trip to Tallahassee
We left two Wednesdays ago to take our first trip to Tallahassee. It wasn’t really a trip for pleasure, more of a trip centered around making major life changes and decisions in two days. The mission: check out the campus & come back with a new job and an apartment. And…check, check and check!
Since apartment hunting was a giant, tiresome blur, I don’t have any pictures, but I did take pictures of one of the things I care about most: the food.
Thursday I had lunch with the company I interviewed with and Thursday night, our first ‘together’ meal in Tallahassee, was spent at Food Truck Thursday. Food Truck Thursday is a get-together of all the best food trucks in town in one location so you can browse and eat until you can’t fit any more into your stomach. There is live music and people bring their lawn chairs and booze and have a great night. I am so looking forward to making this a weekly tradition.
I was really bummed The Cravings Truck wasn’t there because I really wanted the red velvet chicken & waffles:
Photo courtesy of Ecosalon.com
Instead, I had beefy mac and cheese from another truck that was so-so. It kind of tasted like Hamburger Helper and a mint chocolate chip cupcake that was delicious even though it had a tad too much icing.
Other culinary delights we sampled: The panko chicken from Mr. Roboto (#1 on Tallahassee’s Urbanspoon) -
Celebratory wine and dinner at Kool Beanz (#3 on Urbanspoon) -
And breakfast at The Crepevine -
This was such a down-and-dirty, jam-packed trip that I can’t even show you half of what we did in the quick two days we were down there. But I guess we have 4 years (at least) to discover Tallahassee together.
We’ll be moving at the end of the month and we’re already planning our first beach trip to Destin to parasail (#63 on the ol’ bucket list!) and lounge on the beach. Blake and I have never even been to a beach together, so we’re excited for our new adventure!
A New Addition to Our Family
And it’s not a baby. Sheesh, we’re still about 5 years away from that noise, thankyouverymuch.
It’s a NEW CAR!
We started Saturday morning by signing our money away at the bank (first time I’ve ever had a car loan) and then we ventured up to Cleveland to go get our new bundle of joy. As you may remember from this post, we’ve put off getting a new car for a long time. I haven’t been willing (still not, really) to give up the ‘fun stuff’ in exchange for the shackles of a loan and a monthly payment that is not going toward bucket list items. Don’t get me wrong, though, it’s very nice driving a car that has air conditioning and doesn’t shake when I drive it (that’s Blake’s problem now, since he gets my old one – insert evil cackle here). But as I said before, moving to Florida with one car that has almost 300,000 miles and one that doesn’t have air conditioning was just not going to happen.
We left Blake’s car with my aunt and uncle (who found us our new car – they’re the best!) so they could try to work their magic and get it sold.
Old car…
NEW CAR!
We got a 2011 Toyota Corolla, and I’m driving Blake crazy with my obsession. I don’t want it dinged, dirty or any other car to be within 100 feet of it. Is that really so much to ask? With my old car, I had the mentality of “Oh, you want to tail-gate me? Hit me, I dare you!” With this car, my aggression has done a 180 and I am so much more cautious.
Before visiting with my aunt, uncle and cousins, we ventured up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (in The Wish List book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and counts toward my ‘Go to 5 different museums’ on my 101 in 1,001 list.)
Some pictures from our trip:
Elvis’s Denver police badge:
Elvis’s jumpsuit and a Grammy:
The dress Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac wore on the cover of Rumours:
The Rumours cover – the album that brought you awesome songs like “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop,” “Dreams” and “You Make Loving Fun.”
John Lennon’s outfit from the cover of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album:
Patti Smith Cult-Hero Doll:
Michael Jackson’s Thriller jacket:
More of Stevie Nicks’ clothes. I love her:
And that’s all I took in fear of my phone dying. They claim it could take you two days to go through the entire Hall of Fame, but we got through it in a couple hours and felt completely satisfied that we saw most of it. We didn’t get to sit through any of the videos, though, except a mash-up of old music videos segment, which was really fun.
Once we got to my aunt and uncle’s house, it was really nice to eat their delicious food, hang out with my cousins and play Just Dance and just visit with them and my grandma. Since we’re moving, I cherish visiting family even more, because who knows how often we’re going to get to see them once we’re 15+ hours away?
Hope everyone else had a great Easter weekend!
101 in 1,001: Try 25 New Cocktails
Being a part-time bartender, you would think I’d have this goal down, but when I work, the most interesting think I make is a Jack and Pepsi. So I have to conduct my experiments at home.
I stumbled upon this Kiwi Capiroska Cocktail on Pinterest and since we were having lovely, warm weather last week (not so much this week), I wanted to enjoy something summery.
Recipe from SpoonForkBacon:
Kiwi Capiroska
Makes 1
Ingredients:
1/3 cup diced kiwis
2 mint leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 lime, juiced
ice
1/3 cup vodka
1/3 cup tonic water or sparkling coconut water (that’s what I used)
Garnish:
Leftover kiwi pieces
Directions:
1. Fill glass with the diced kiwi, mint leaves, sugar, and lime juice.
2. Muddle together the contents until fully combined.
3. Fill glass with ice and top off with vodka and tonic water.
4. Stir, finish with a kiwi garnish and serve.
This drink was strong, but very refreshing. The thing I love about mojito-type drinks like this is that they get better the more you drink them. As you get toward the bottom, closer to the good stuff, the drink gets sweeter and once you get to the alcohol-soaked fruit, you’re a happy person.
This brings my 25 new cocktails goal up to #6. The other drinks I’ve tried:
Christmas in a Cup – 11.18.10
Amaretto Rose – 4.2.11
Blue Lemonade Martini – 4.2.11
Banana Cream Pie Martini – 4.21.11
Bazooka Shot – 4.21.11
Any other must-try drinks to add to the list?
Guess What? We’re Moving To…
Tallahassee, FL!
Blake got accepted into The Florida State University’s Ph.D. program, so we are moving to Tallahassee in June. We still have a few months to go, but I’m already reminding myself to just breathe and calm down.
Not only is moving expensive (Uhaul quoted me $1,073 for a truck for four days…who wants to buy some nice Ikea furniture?), but we have to buy a new car. Not want to. Have to. My car is a 1995 Toyota Camry that looks kind of beat up, but it runs fine. Except it has no air conditioning, which might kill me living in Florida, even mild-weathered Tallahassee. Blake’s car has almost 300,000 miles on it and runs fine, sometimes. Sometimes it just stops. I guarantee it would not make it to Florida. No way.
So add that to plane trips down to look at apartments, rental cars and security deposits, my money is g-o-n-e. And I don’t want to live like a hermit completely while we’re waiting to move. I want to go out with friends since we’re not going to see each other for a long time, and there is still so much here in Kentucky/Ohio that I haven’t done yet. My Kentucky Bucket List is mostly unchecked, but if I can only do one thing before I leave, it’s going to be the Derby.
And while I said that going to the Derby wouldn’t ‘count’ unless I had a real seat in the stands, I’m lowering my expectations and feel OK to spend $40 and stand in the infield. As long as I can have a mint julep, I’m good to go!
But, all in all, I’m choosing to be excited about this move rather than overwhelmed. Blake and I are hard workers, and all will work out in the end. Now, who has any Tallahassee/Florida bucket list ideas for me?
The Verdict: Bacon and Habanero Infused Vodka
So I finally got around to straining my vodka. The jar went from looking like this -
to this -
Le ick! Just seeing that fatty, pale bacon and floating fat made this an instant turnoff. So much so that I haven’t tasted it until tonight – 20 days later.
But back to the straining process. I strained this about 9 days into the steeping process, a little bit longer than recommended. Oops.
It took me several strains to get to where it was ‘clear.’ And it still remains that yellowish, pee-like color.
I poured the vodka back into the bottle and made my bloody mary mix. Notice the fat that is still on top of the bottle. Once you chill this though, that fat will pour out easily.
I followed the recipe we learned in bartending school, which was:
1 quart of tomato juice
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of celery salt
1 teaspoon horseradish sauce
This makes A LOT, so if you are not a bloody mary drinker, I recommend halfing the recipe. I didn’t, and it filled up the jar I used to make the vodka and then some.
Now the fun part – TASTING!
Tasting the vodka on its own, it burns the tongue. I don’t get a lot of bacon flavor, just the chilies right off.
HOT DAMN. That is spicy! It kind of reminded me of those Tabasco pickles. Has anyone else had them? Delicious! While this has a great flavor, I think I steeped it a little too long. My lips are burning right now. And not too much of a bacon flavor.
Well, I raise my glass to trying something new. Maybe next time I flavor vodka, I’ll try this Skittles recipe.
Cool App: 1,001 Books
Wow, who hasn’t been here in a while? This girl. Again, blame it on Blake I feel guilty blogging when he needs to be working on finishing his thesis, but I can kick him off once and awhile and update this thing, right?
As you may know, I am working on the 1,001 books list that originated from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die book by Peter Boxall. And since I’m addicted to apps, especially ones that make my life easier and more organized, I’m loving the new 1,001 Books app ($1.99).
I usually staunchly refuse to pay for apps, but this app is going to make going to the library an easier experience, so I decided it was worth it.
Not only does the app track your reading progress, it can predict if you will finish the list in your lifetime when you enter the stats below.
My pros and cons of this app:
Pro
It makes tracking your reading progress super easy and ensures you always have the list at your fingertips when you are at the library or a bookstore.
Con
You can’t buy the books from the app. It would be really cool if it could link you to Amazon or another book provider.
Pro
You can divide the books based on the edition (2006, those books removed from the 2006 edition, etc.)
Con
Why would you care? Well, maybe because all the lists combined ups your grand reading total to 1294 books. Yikes!
Pro
Customizable. You can add your own book image as well as include notes and quotes you like.
Social. Each book has a link to a Wikipedia description page and buttons so you can share your progress on Twitter and Facebook.
Again, it tracks your reading timeline so that you can see if you can realistically finish the list.
Con
To accurately measure this, you will have to remember to go into the app and tap the start and finish times so it can measure the time it takes for you to finish a book. I’ll tell you now, I will probably almost always forget to do that. And I had to guesstimate as to how many books I read per month. It varies.
So after I entered all my stats and progress, this is my prediction:
I said that I read an average of 2 books per month (not necessarily off this list though) but I haven’t yet used the measuring tool to see how long it takes me per book.
*Drumroll please…*
Dang. And I hope I live longer than 81. Fingers crossed.
Do you have this app? How do you like it?
Happy Pig Day!
Today is Pig Day, so despite what that’s supposed to mean, I decided to celebrate it with my favorite part of the pig – bacon!
But since I kind of O.D.ed on pork yesterday with these ribs, I decided to do something else with my meat than eat it.
I’m going to drink it, of course! I found a recipe on Kitchen Konfidence for bacon and habanero vodka. Oh, yeah.
This infused vodka is supposed to be the base for the ultimate bloody mary – smoky and spicy. And while I have to wait 7 days for this to steep and get ready, (or I can stop the steeping process early for a less spicy drink – but I’m not a wimp ), I am more than happy and prepared to taste-test this.
Bacon and Habanero Infused Vodka
From Kitchen Konfidence & Adapted from Croce’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar.
6 strips of bacon
3 habanero chili peppers
2 serano chile peppers
1 liter good quality vodka (this is not exact)
Cook bacon until crisp in a skillet and drain grease on paper towels.
While that’s cooking, remove the stems from your peppers and slice lengthwise. Leave seeds in. You can handle it, I swear. Add peppers to the jar.
When the bacon is cooled, add that to the jar as well. Pour in vodka and voila!
Keep in the fridge for 7 days and then strain through a cheese cloth and basket strainer until clear of all seeds, pepper and bacon bits.
Can’t wait to try this. It better be good, because it took up every bit of vodka I had in the house.
