Moving.

I'm here to apologize for my recent lack of posts/recipe updates. Things are in a shambles here on the homefront. It turns out that I have to move out of my apartment and I have very little time to find a new place. While I'm excited by the prospect of moving and experiencing new neighborhoods and routines, and possibly a house/apartment with a decent sized kitchen, I'm also incredibly stressed by the time constraint and by the fact that it wasn't my idea. How did this happen, you ask? Three out of four of the roomies were on the lease. When one of them moved out, she obviously wanted off the lease. Well it turns out that if one person goes off, we all do. That isn't a problem in and of itself. The problem arose when we were told that if we want to sign a new lease and keep this apartment, our rent would go from $1750 to $2450 starting July 1st. For lack of a more appropriate reaction, fuck. Fuck. So now Roomie and I are going to pay for June, cover the other half between us, while she looks for more roommates to fill this place out, and I look for somewhere else entirely to live. I've already sent out a bunch of emails but I know from experience that people rarely respond. I'm usually on the non-responding side. Lemme just tell you, the receiving side (or non-receiving side, I should say) really sucks. We do have the option of moving more people into this apartment to cheapen our rent, but here's the downside to that: starting in the fall I'm going to be attending a different school. Which means I'll be commuting to school and to wherever I end up working. If I move out, I have the opportunity to move somewhere that cuts down on my commuting costs and that's in an area replete with job opportunities. I also have the opportunity to move into a neighborhood that's actually in San Francisco, and not down in the gray fog belt, in an area that might as well be considered Daly City. This is why I'm excited. But now the pressure is going to be majorly on in August for me to find a job that pays more than what I was making before. My costs will be higher in every way and that stresses me out. This is all a part of the adventure and I'm looking forward to every second of it, but bear with me if I'm absent for awhile. Things just got real hectic real fast. In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying June!

-LG

Goodbye Italy.

I'm thinking that the month of Italian cooking is coming to a close. Let me apologize for what a giant failure it turned out to be. I didn't make any of my deadlines, and when I did manage to cook something, it was far too similar to what came before it. I will have you know, however, that both the gnocchi and BOTH lasagnas were vastly successful and delicious! I have come to the conclusion that Italian cooking is very time consuming. If you're doing everything from scratch, that is, which I did. I started working on the lasagnas at three yesterday afternoon and was cooking all the way up until we sat down to eat at eight. I did make two, and twenty four hours later they're both gone. I think they were a success, yes? Taking that kind of time to work on a project usually drives me insane and I lose interest but not with cooking, for some reason. I don't even really notice the time passing. Maybe part of it is because food isn't something you can really set aside to finish later. Once you start, you have to finish. Otherwise the ingredients will go bad or you'll be without your dinner. But even so, cooking never feels like a chore or an obligation. So spending five hours in the kitchen yesterday was delightful. The gnocchi didn't take quite that long but you do have to allow an hour for freezing it before boiling it. And an hour and a half for the potatoes to bake. I'll post the recipe for the gluten free gnocchi within the next few days. I'm still currently at my parent's house and will be until Tuesday methinks.

Now I just took a minute to reread my last post and thought that I should expand a bit on it. Once I finally got around to leaving my apartment around four, the fog had burned off and it was actually quite sunny. In fact, it turned out to be a perfect and beautiful afternoon. I was superbly happy. I went straight to the Goodwill in Haight and ended up leaving with what can only be described as a gangster furry coat (it's not really fur, but it is really gangster), a classic Gap denim jacket (much softer than anticipated. I was delighted by this discovery), another men's white tee for $4 (so soft, so white, so cheap), and *drum roll please* high waisted, slim cut, tight leather pants. That feel like butter. For $21.99. That's just not something you say no to. It's just not! I'm hoping to get some decent pictures up of my finds pretty soon. I'm already envisioning outfits, most especially ones that include both the furry coat and the tight leather pants. I can't wait to make this happen.

Next was my jaunt into Whole Foods which, let's be honest, is always a delight and a half. It's a treat to shop there because it really is expensive. But if I'm going to be getting more serious about this gluten free business (for REAL this time), I might have to pay more visits to WF. They have a very large selection of gluten free foods and alternatives, and if there is food available to me that doesn't contain gluten and isn't all that inconvenient to get to, then I need to man up and take advantage of it. I've been lazy up until this point.  Which isn't hard for me to admit. I've been thinking a lot lately about my laziness and trying to figure out where the hell it comes from. Anyway that's beside the point. The point is, I have tight leather pants and gluten free crackers that actually taste good and I thought you all should know.

-LG

Testing Testing.

For those of you who aren't aware, there are tests you can get done to check for gluten intolerance. It's actually a series of three tests, and one of them is a blood test. My big sister is about to embark on Operation Blood Test. What does OBT include, you ask? A week straight of bombarding your small intestine with gluten bombs. She begins tomorrow and has already written up an extensive list of goodies she plans on eating. Top of the list is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread. But the list also includes pastas, pastries, pizza, donuts, bagels, crackers, cereals, etc. I'm going to be going home again this weekend and told her that I wanted to cook for the family. Her response was "LASAGNA!!! PASTA! GLUTEN". You got it! I will be making her a big, cheesy, meaty, gluteny lasagna. I might make two, one gluten free and one gluten filled. And my oldest sister will also be visiting for the weekend so it's going to be a food fest! And the upside to cooking at my parent's house is that they pay for the ingredients. I love it. But until then, I'm going to try my hand at gluten free gnocchi. Here's my current issue, though. Making any kind of  of gluten free pasta or dough requires like three different kinds of doughs and gums, none of which I have, and none of which are sold at TJs or any of the other grocery stores in my area. If I want those things, I have to go to Whole Foods to get them. And let me just tell you, Whole Foods is not near by. And it's foggy and cold today and I am feeling superbly lazy. Blah. But I gotta do it. It's killing me.

Edit: I left this for a few hours to eat and get dressed and decided that since the closest/most convenient Whole Foods is in the Haight, I'll stop by Goodwill while I'm over there! I haven't been thrifting since February which is just criminal. I'll do that first, of course, so that I'm not lugging four pounds of potatoes and tomatoes around the aisles. And bags of flour. Cannot wait. Alright I'm officially off!

-LG

Eggplant Lasagna.

I did it! I made the Eggplant Lasagna. And might I say, I loved every single second of making it. It was an all day project to be sure. I knew that I wanted to make it gluten free and completely from scratch, which is always the most rewarding way to cook. The day started with me selling back old textbooks and getting a whopping $98 for them! Heck yes! So many things to spend that money on. The mind boggles. From there my friend and sous chef and I went on a food adventure in the Outer Richmond district. The weather was perfect, albeit a tad breezy, and we spent a lot of time walking aimlessly from produce market to produce market. I didn't really plan ahead for what I needed. I just figured I'd figure it out as I went along. Which is exactly what I did. From the first market I bought nothing because everything was Russian or Armenian, but I will say that "ethnic markets" (for lack of a better term, I apologize) are always resplendent with ridiculously tasty looking sweets that are fun to peruse. From the second market I bought an eggplant, a yellow onion, and some mozzarella cheese. From the third market I bought another onion, white garlic, black garlic, tomatoes, and tomato paste (the only canned item I bought). From there we decided to get lunch, even though neither of us were hungry. Sometimes you just wanna eat. We ended up at a BBQ joint on Geary, where I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and good god it was tasty. "Lauren, I thought you were going gluten free?" Get off me, okay?! It's hard! I also got a rootbeer float because it had been way too long and sometimes you just wanna float. From there we headed back to my apartment, but made a quick stop at Trader Joes for the parmesan and gorgonzola cheese, sliced mushrooms, ground turkey, and some of my other weekly necessities. Like baked cheese crunchies. And you all should know that they were purchased on Thursday, today is Sunday, and they still haven't been opened. New record. Anyway, finally we made it back to my apartment and the prep work began. This is a rather lengthy process if you decide to go the homemade-from-scratch route. But like I said, it's an incredibly rewarding process, especially if you've never made it before (which I have not. Herego, rewarding). I will say this at the beginning, though: eggplant has a very high moisture content, so when it cooks at that high of a temperature, it releases a lot of fluid. This caused the sauce to be slightly more watery than I intended. That being said, once the lasagna is out of the oven and has cooled a bit, it sets and most of that moisture is reabsorbed. So this is something that I will definitely be making again. I'll write it out the way I did it, but I'll also write in the shortcuts I can think of. And with that, we're off!

You Will Need:
1. 9x13 glass baking dish
2. Olive oil
3. 1 eggplant
4. 1 yellow onion
5. 1 whole garlic clove
6. 5-7 medium tomatoes
7. Sliced mushrooms (I bought mine pre sliced)
8. 1lb+ ground turkey. I probably could have used more than I did.
9. Mozzarella, gorgonzola, and parmesan cheese. I'm blanking on the amount. I bought a log of mozzarella, a good sized wedge of parmesan, and a 16oz tub of herb gorgonzola. I'm hoping that the shape descriptions are sufficient for you.
10. Salt to taste
11. Complimentary spices and herbs of your choice. I chose basil.
12. Two small cans of tomato paste
13. I think that's it...

1. Peel and dice onion
2. Mince the fresh garlic, you'll only need a few cloves worth*
3. Slice the eggplant lengthwise in thin slices, about 1/4 of an inch
4. In a frying pan, cook ground turkey until no longer pink
*Buy a jar of minced garlic

For The Sauce*:
1. Cut up all of your tomatoes into medium sized pieces and put them all in a large sauce pan to simmer
2. As the tomatoes start to soften, use a spoon or fork to mash them up
3. Add in diced onion and minced garlic to taste and let simmer, and set any leftovers aside
4. Add in one can of tomato paste, stir in well, and let simmer
5. Add in salt and spices to taste, continue to simmer
6. I found that my sauce needed another 3/4 of a can of tomato paste, but this will be up to you
7. Once you get your sauce tasting perfect, you can continue to let it simmer on low, low heat until your ready for it
*Buy a few jars of your favorite sauce! This will save you a considerable amount of time.

For The Lasagna:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Slice the mozzarella lengthwise, about 1/4 inch thick
3. Grate most, if not all, of the parmesan wedge. No such thing as too much*
*Buy pre-grated parmesan. Just make sure you buy enough

To Assemble:
1. Grease the baking dish with some olive oil
2. Pour some sauce into the base of the pan, not too much but enough to cover
3. Sprinkle in some of the diced onion and minced garlic
4. Lay down your first layer of eggplant slices as if they were lasagna noodles
5. On top of the eggplant lay some of the mushroom slices
6. On top of the mushroom slices, lay down slices of mozzarella, and a generous layer of parmesan and gorgonzola as well
7. On top of the cheese, layer some of the ground turkey
8. Sprinkle on more of the diced onions
9. Repeat steps 2-8 to make the second layer.
10. For the top, lay down the rest of your mozzarella slices, the rest of your grated parmesan, and the rest of your gorgonzola (or however much cheese you want). But remember, the top of a lasagna is supposed to be a magnificent crust of melted cheeses, so don't be shy!

Put the lasagna in the oven for about 40 minutes. Use the top layer of cheese as your reference point. When it looks all melted and nicely browned around the edges, it's ready! Let cool and set before cutting into it. Enjoy!

A Slow And Painful Death.

I have been gone for a few days and for that I apologize. I'm still trying to recover from my weekend and I can't believe it's only Tuesday. I work five days this week, all eight hour shifts, during one of the busiest times of the semester: buyback. It's going to be a long, painful, exhausting week. Which means I picked a terrible weekend to get down with my bad self. I mentioned already that Friday night was one of underaged drinking splendor. It included fist fights, the police, and cocaine. What? Yeah. After the party roomie and I attended, we headed back to our apartment. It's all a little hazy but at some point someone decided that, since we drink, it meant that we were "cool with drugs here, right?", which meant that it was a good time to whip out some cocaine. Um...no. So he got the boot. Saturday roomie and I had a soccer game, and we played like champs considering our hangovers. We lost, but we lost in style. The rest of the day was for recovery and preparation. For what, you ask? Bay to Breakers. For those of you unfamiliar with what BtoB is, I shall explain. It's a seven mile run from the Bay to Ocean Beach by way of Golden Gate Park. "Lauren, I didn't know you were a runner!". I'm not, it's against my religion. But a giant, mostly nude, drunken, halloween-esque parade of hundreds of thousands of people in the early morning hours of May is not against my religion, and so I did partake. Search it on Google images, you'll see what I mean. Anyway, Saturday night roomie and I slept over at her boyfriend's house so that we could wake up bright and early (6:30 am) and meet up with everyone else/pre-game (drinking before you drink). I did not pregame, because I despise the taste of alcohol and it turns out my feelings are no different at dawn. It still tastes like hellfire. In fact, I was hating life on our way there, once we got there, and for about an hour of being there. Being the only sober one in a sea of drunks is obnoxious. Not to mention the fact that the particular drunks I was with suck big time. Not to mention the fact that I've spent my entire life being an observer and usually have a hard time enjoying myself at these types of shindigs due to my inability to participate. But you guys, I discovered the secret. I'm not sure where along the route we were when I decided to suck it up and start drinking, but my god it was a good choice. Avid drinkers call this a "day fade"; drunk in the day time. I dunno who started this trend of drinking while the sun is up but I am a fan. I high fived many fellow day faders. Roomie received a free temporary tattoo somewhere in Golden Gate park. I asked an older naked gentleman about his lifestyle choices. I peed outside for the first time excluding camping! So basically my first outdoor drunk pee! Too much information? I'm sorry, but it needed to be said. And for the record, I outdoor-drunk-pee like a pro. Anyway, we made a lot of beautiful memories that day. It's a shame I can't recall most of them.

What does all this have to do with my title of doom up there? Physical pain. That's what. Saturday's game left me feeling shredded. And not shredded as in "buff" but shredded as in "torn-to-shreds-kill-me-now-put-me-out-of-my-misery-can't-even-sit-down-without-yelping-in-pain". That kind. Add to that a seven mile walk and now 40 hours of standing. Wanna know what else? This world was designed for short people. For buyback at work (when the students sell back their textbooks), we have extra registers set up outside the store. They're set up on tables. Tables that come up to my frickin upper thigh. I'm going to be spending 40 hours this week squatting, bending, cranking my already effed up neck/back (more on that in a bit), and tweaking my wrist on the computer mouse. I can't even describe all the different kinds of pain I'm feeling right now. All I know is that it's only Tuesday and I still have three more days of this. To top it all off, I can't sleep. You'd think that after a weekend like that and workdays like I've been having, I'd be too exhausted to function. Oh wait a minute, I am. But then I lay down and suddenly I'm wired. And now for the complaints about my neck: about a month ago I stretched my neck awkwardly, causing it to get stuck in a sideways position for a few days. I love having to rotate my entire upper body to look a few inches to my left. It eventually relaxed but while it was spasming, my other neck/upper back muscles overcompensated to pick up the slack, and as a result they got strained and out of whack. It continues to get worse and radiate farther down my back. So. The next few days are going to absolutely rock the healing process. Can you say hot mess? Welcome to my slow and painful death. If you haven't already noticed, the shitty SF weather is putting me in a funk. Have I mentioned that I want to get the frick out of here? Okay I'm done, I swear.

-LG

Alexa's Oatmeal Chocolate Toffee Cookies.

I have an obsession with cookies. I would choose a warm, gooey, mouth watering cookie over almost any dessert. Any kind of cookie draws me in instantly, but most importantly if there is chocolate involved it’s game over. These cookies I made are my absolute favorite because they have everything you want in a cookie: chocolate, hazelnut, oatmeal, and for the grand finale, toffee. It doesn’t get any better than that. This is Giada De Laurentiis’ recipe so you know it will kick every other cookie out of the water. Giada and I are on the same level when it comes to desserts go big or go home. Give it a try. You will not regret this decision!
P.S.- Might I add that the cookie dough is to die for as well, especially after being in the freezer for an hour or two.

Ingredients
•    1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
•    2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
•    1 teaspoon baking powder
•    1 teaspoon baking soda
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
•    1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
•    1 cup granulated sugar
•    2 large eggs
•    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
•    4 ounces English toffee candy, finely chopped (recommended: Heath or Skor)
•    1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and chopped
•    1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Transfer the oats to a medium bowl. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the toffee, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips.

For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto sheet, spacing 1 inch apart (do not flatten dough). Bake until the cookies are golden (cookies will flatten slightly), about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. (The cookies can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.) Enjoy!

-Alexa 

Roast Eggplant Mozzarella.

After leaving you last night for my evening of libations and rabble rousing with other drunken strangers, I had an eggplant breakthrough. This recipe acted as a brainstorm session for my real first Italian recipe, which will be *drum roll* gluten free Eggplant lasagna. Instead of noodles, I will use Eggplant. It's going to be a great success. But I'll need to buy more Eggplant and the other necessary ingredients for that so this will have to tide you over until then. And no, I will not apologize for my apparent addiction to roasting food. 425 degrees is where it's at!

As it always seems to go with me, portion sizes are all going to be "to taste" and "however the eff much you want". As far as how much this serves, that depends on how much space you have in your Pyrex dish, how much Eggplant you have, and how much you can put away by yourself. I made enough last night for two people, easy, and I ate it all within 15 minutes. So.

You Will Need:
-1 medium to large Eggplant
-Fresh garlic, whole
-Pasta sauce of your choice. I went with TJ's tomato basil marinara because it's heavenly
-Olive oil
-Mozzarella cheese
-Garlic herb spice mix, or the spice of your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish with olive oil, making sure you coat the sides as well.
3. Cut off Eggplant stem.
4. Slice Eggplant lengthwise*, about 1/2 an inch thick. Set aside.
5. Cut Mozzarella into slices about 5/8 of an inch thick. Set aside.
6. Peel garlic and keep cloves whole. You'll want maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the cloves. Set aside.
7. Place slices of Eggplant in greased baking dish and pour some extra olive oil over the top. I used my fingers to rub it in/get an even coat over the whole slice. You don't need a lot! It's just to help prevent drying.
8. Season the Eggplant with the spice of your choice, to taste.
9. Place some of the whole cloves and all of the Mozzarella on top of the Eggplant slices. Make sure you put some of the cloves directly on the Eggplant. When the cheese melts over it, it's a delightful garlic-y surprise when you take a bite.
10. Pour pasta sauce over all of it, to taste. There's no such thing as too much, but there is such a thing as too little.
11. Throw any leftover garlic cloves into the dish. They'll add aroma and flavor, and roasted garlic has a wonderful texture and taste.
12. Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted but not burnt.
13. Eat!

*You can cut the Eggplant into rounds if you'd prefer, it makes no difference in flavor. If you're serving more people, rounds may make it easier to divvy it up.

The only thing I would do differently is season it with a mixture of garlic herb AND garlic salt. The dish itself isn't very salty so I definitely added salt before eating, and cooking it with garlic salt would eliminate the need. That and you can make it with a mix of cheeses. Parmesan would also add that salty flavor. But other than that, it was wonderful. It was warm and gooey and filling and healthy! The perfect meal. And it's an awesome vegetarian option as Eggplant is actually very meaty in texture, much like a beefy mushroom. My Eggplant lasagna, however, will not be vegetarian. No sir. Anyhow, enjoy!

-LG

I Just Met The Mayor.

The Mayor of Tasty Town. That's right, folks. According to Trader Joes, the Eggplant is the Mayor of Tasty Town. And that's not someone you say no to. So I bought one. Wait a minute, you're thinking. You spent money? That's right! Because I got paid today! And I went straight to TJ's. I frickin love grocery shopping on payday. To celebrate, I bought an Eggplant. It is currently roasting away in my oven with fresh garlic cloves, garlic herb seasoning, tomato basil spaghetti sauce, and mozarella cheese. So consider this my first foray into Italian cooking! At least for this month. Over the course of the next 24 hours I'm going to try to come up with a name for it. I was gonna say it's my own version of Eggplant parmesan, but without the parmesan I'm not sure if that name still holds up. And Eggplant mozarella just doesn't have the same ring to it. At this point all you need to know is that it smells amazing, and after 15 minutes of roastage it looks amazing too. I cannot wait! I wish I were hungrier, but due to my destruction of another whole bag of baked cheese crunchies, my appetite is not what it should be. Again, I have very little self control, especially with anything that can be classified as a snack.

                                                     ...........................................................

I left for a few minutes to enjoy my feast and sweet mother of god I just made magic. It was so good. I would pay for that in a restaurant. I love wingin it! I mean granted, I didn't do anything too crazy or combine flavors that have never met each other before, but still! Success in the kitchen is one of my favorite things ever! I can't wait to use the rest of my Eggplant for something else. I shall be posting the very simple, very delicious recipe tomorrow some time. For now I need to go clean up and put my face on. I'm goin out tonight. And the only thing that will make this evening fun and bearable is to be very drunk. With that, I leave you to be jealous of my natural prowess in the kitchen. 

-LG

Cake.

I love it. Well that and all baked goods. Anyhow, I've come across a new favorite food blog! She's a baker and her blog is dripping with cakes, cupcakes, cream puffs, and all other treats classified as "pastry". Check it out: The Scootabaker.

Speaking of baked goods, I attempted the rice crackers, and I'd say all in all they were a success. I want to make them again, though, so that I continue perfecting them into something that I would not only make for myself, but buy from the store.

Speaking of the store, I get paid today! I've managed to make that last $2.88 stretch across a few days. On Wednesday, a coworker of mine asked if I wanted to pick up any hours on Thursday. I quickly agreed but then remembered that while I would have enough to make it to work, I wouldn't be able to get back. Yes this is the second time this has happened to me. So he gave me $5 to cover his shift! Sick! Except now I'm in the pickle all over again because while I have enough to make it to work to pick up my check, I won't have enough to get back. Which means I'll have to do what I did last time: deposit my check in the Bank of America ATM on the USF campus, take it all back out in cash, break one of the 20's for bus money, and then deposit it all in the Patelco ATM on my campus. THEN, and only then, do I get to go grocery shopping. And I'm dreading my check because I'm afraid to see how little it will be for considering how much I've had to call in lately. So you see why I'm still sitting on my couch in my pajamas eating a bag of carrots. That and I got over 12 hours of sleep which only makes me more tired than I was to begin with. I'm a bum. And I'm currently occupying my time by looking over the City College class catalog (again) drooling over all the classes. And I'm throwing myself into another mini panic thinking about all the classes that I want to take and how I'm going to fit them all, plus a job, into the next I don't even know how many semesters and what's after that? I want to finish my degree although what it's in will most likely change after my creative adventure, and I don't think I want to finish it at State. So where else would I like to go? If I'm planing on moving to SoCal eventually, should I be looking at schools down there? Or are California schools a lost cause at this point? Maybe I should consider my out of state options. And all of this depends, of course, on what I decide I want to pursue degree wise, which drops me back at square one. You see, however much I have embraced this new live-for-today mindset/lifestyle, I'm still a planner through and through. I always will be. Yes I have relaxed an astronomical amount, but I still like to know my general direction, even if it ends up changing along the way. Welcome, folks, to my stream of consciousness. It can be rather dizzying when I really get going. Anyway, I was about to list some of the classes I just came across that I hadn't listed before but A) I'm not done looking, and B) It's a really, really, really long list.

-LG 

Oh and PS the potential cool news never happened soooo...my b!

Chico Idol.

So remember when I said I wanted to be in a band? I forgot to mention that in Freshman year of high school, Chelsea and I made a very sad attempt to make music together. We had a band name, a few other members, and a myspace page. But no music. We were a backward bunch. THIS time we have music first. Or at least some lyrics and a tune. No instrumentals. This is a definite step up from last time. Step number two is for Chelsea to learn the guitar and for me to become the world's best harmonica-ist...harmonicist...harmonist...mkay the world's best harmonica player! I have a blues harmonica and my grandpa's house is the perfect place to pretend you're awesome at it. So the month of July will be devoted to learning how to drive his truck, pulling up veggies, and playing the harmonica. Which leads me to what this post is about. In August I'm going to try to make a trip to Chico and stay there for a good solid week if possible, because Chelsea and I are going to have a hippy week. What's that you ask? A week of sitting in the sun, listening to classic rock, being lazy (but peaceful), eating (obviously), and making sweet sweet music together. I literally cannot wait. While I wouldn't want to live in Chico full time, I'm excited to pretend I do. It's gonna be a good week. I would like for it to last longer but she'll be working and I'll be needing to look for a job so we shall see. BUT the point is, Vailwood (our old band) will be reunited for one awesome week of attempted music making!

In other news, remember this dress? I'm almost done with it! As in, I could be finished with it in the next few hours. As in, this could be one of my first finished projects in...well, years. As embarrassing as that is to admit. And it's actually looking very nice! If I didn't have to wake up early this morning, I would have stayed up late to finish it. Alas. My bed was calling me. As it is right now. I'm painfully exhausted.

In other other news, you know how I said I might have cool news tonight? Scratch that. I might have cool news tomorrow night. I got the dates mixed up! Anyhow I'm off to go work on my dress and perhaps watch some 30 Rock. I started from the beginning and good lord I love this show. Toodles!

-LG