Two hops and two vines

This morning I woke to my roommate, Ashley informing me of her tough night in the ER. In doing so she requested a nice tempranillo for when she gets home tonight. So I needed to get wine and a few groceries.
I think it will be a walking day.

Yep, walkin in my flip flops.

 My eco-bag.

First thing, Hops n' Vine.

I had no idea it had homebrewing supplies!!! The selection of wine was very decent, not too over the top plus they had a nice variety of craft beers.

I picked up two bottles for Ashley.  The tempranillo she wanted plus a shiraz from South Australia.

As I was walking to Ingles I got distracted. 

Oh hello homemade ice cream.

Oh you have vegan and sugar free flavors?

Plus an ice cream mosaic?

 I think this is a sign that I should stop on in and get some ice cream. A kiddie scoop should be good.

I love their window art!!!

The selections were very creative.

Craggie Antebellum Ale

Spinach Raspberry Swirl

Salted Caramel. I've had this one before and yes it is really, really good. I think my taste buds gravitate towards those salt and sugary combinations :)

I tried a sample of the Lavendar Vanilla with Almond milk. The best way to describe it, you know when you take a taste of something and as soon as you try to savor the flavor, it disappears? I mean disappears before you can identify the flavor? I mean I tasted a touch of lavendar and the rest was very light. Perhaps it's just my preferences, but I don't think this vegan ice cream was my favorite :-/

So I picked the Grasshopper.

Very light mint and with a few oreos.

After I was done devouring my ice cream, I had to run to Ingles. I found a recipe called Beans with Mushrooms, in one of my vegetarian cookbooks. So I needed some mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms.

Here are my purchases, eggs, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, THREE containers of mushrooms, shallots, canola oil and lettuce.

Here's a closer look at the wine I picked up :) The Strong Arms Shiraz has been a favorite of mine for many years. It has that usual Shiraz taste of pepper but then it has a nice medium fruity blend. Ughh I love it and hopefully Ashley will too!!!

"Send me on my Way"-Rusted Root

Dear Diary...

Ekkk, ok never starting a title or sentence off with that statement. Dear Diary is way too, middle school, going through weird, body changes. So how about, To my fellow readers? I think I like that a lot better. Ok so, "Fellow Readers," where do I start? As of right now I am in Kernersville visiting my Mom. I got in on Wednesday and by Friday left for Durham to visit Jeff. I just got back from Durham today and am enjoying some peace and tranquility in front of the TV.

I didn't take many pictures this week. I was too caught up with my time with Jeff to really think about anything else. It really was wonderful to spend this weekend with him! I felt like nothing has changed, except for location. He showed me around the place, we ate at new restaurants, sipped at new bars and of course we cooked some meals at home.We even had time to get a quick work-out in at the YMCA in Durham. I will say this I am very jealous of his gym! I mean it's a Y with a sauna, chapel, pool, and one of those machines that gets the wet out of your swimsuit! Now maybe I've been living in the mountains for too long but in my perspective, nice!

Jeff and I didn't go into wedding stuff as much as I had hoped for but hey give us time. I mean we are still in school and as much as I am becoming addicted to wedding blogs, we really need to think about what is important right now. The crazy thing is I had a dream the other night that Jeff and I were having our reception on our friend, Curt's farm. You may remember his trout! I think it would be awesome. I just don't know if it's enough space. Plus homie has an old school bus in the front! Hmm well the bus might not be such a bad thing.

Speaking of the off-beat wedding ideas. There is this wedding I found in Real Simple, that I absolutely love!

The couple are Adam and Tessa. They threw an amazing and fun wedding for only $5,000. I mean, think hot dogs, doughnuts, a barn receptions, tug of war, and the parachute game. Wow. I found more details about the wedding on Snippet and Ink. This is why I like wedding blogs, beautiful pictures plus the niddy gritty.

Well speaking of niddy gritty, classes for my internship start this Thursday. I think I'm ready to put my brain through boot camp. It's funny, usually in the summer I read or do some personal side projects. But with how my work schedule, moving and the touch of Taurus laziness, I did not get to do any of these things. I still haven't finished What is the What. It's a great book but for some reason I have no desire to sit and just read. Well, I have to put a lot of that aside. The laziness that is.

Ok enough of wedding talk.When I head back to Asheville tomorrow, I hope a few packages will be at my door! I went ahead and ordered three Jillian Michaels DVDs plus a budget wedding book. The wedding book was only a penny so heck yeah, already getting started on budget savviness!!!!

Ok back to doing nothing, while I still have time :)
"Dog Days are Over"-Florence + The Machine

Meatless Manicotti

Once again, I have to rely on my dear friends at Cooking Light. The other night I had a craving for some comfort food, that was easy to make and wouldn't cost too much. There is this amazing manicotti recipe in the 2010 special edition issue of Cooking Light. I have made it numerous times and each time its as wonderful as the last. It's so cheesy, plus the tomato-basil sauce really adds a nice flavor enhancer. If you decide to make this recipe, use the basil sauce for real. Any other and it doesn't have the same awesome potency.

Ingredients include:
-2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided 
-1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese 
-1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry 
-1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
-1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 
-1/4 teaspoon salt 
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
-1 (8-ounce) package manicotti (14 shells) 
-1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce 
-Cooking spray 
-1 cup water

First step: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  

Second Step: Combine 1 1/2 mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and the next 5 ingredients (up til the black pepper) in a medium sized bowl. 

Third Step: 
Spoon about 3 tablespoons or more of the cheese mixture in each uncooked manicotti shell. I just stuffed until all the space was full. 

Fourth Step: 
Pour half of the tomato sauce in a 13 X 9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. 

Fifth Step: 
Arrange all the 14 stuffed shells onto the baking dish. 


Sixth Step: 
Once all the shells have been arranged, pour the remainder of the sauce evenly over the shells. Add the cup of water into the dish. Then sprinkle with the remainder of the mozz cheese. Cover with foil. It should look like this..

Last Step: 
Bake in your 375 degree oven for an hour or until the shells are tender. Let cool before serving :) 

The day I made this I was very happy with myself. I had said earlier that day that I would not drive my car and that I would walk to the grocery store. We have an Ingles in West Asheville that's about three blocks from our apartment. So I got my backpack and a few reusable bags, left my purse behind and just took my phone and wallet, and headed off to the store by foot! It wasn't too bad. While walking home I worried about the shells and eggs getting crushed on the way home! But luckly all the food made it back to the apartment safe and sound! 


If you live close to the grocery store, I highly recommend walking or taking your bike out to run errands :) It saves on fuel plus you get some exercise in the process!


"Ants Marching" -Dave Matthews

Will you be my.....

Being an only child, I grew up learning how to keep myself entertained and how talk to adults but, I also learned the value of friendship. So when it came time to pick my bridesmaids, I knew I had to do it in a special way. My friends have meant so much to me in my college career. They were the people I drank with, laughed with, cried with and to this day confide in. So to let them know that they will be celebrating this special occasion with my honey and me, I made these...

I had seen cards like this on greetingcards.com. But to my surprise I found free templates at www.weddingchicks.com!!! I could pick any colors I wanted. It was so simple, just print, cut out, and paste on some cardstock all was good to go.

Here is the step-by-step process:

 Materials needed:
-Your printed template (I'm having 5 bridesmaids so I printed off 5 copies)
-Cardstock (again I used 5 of these)
-Glue
-Scissors
-Envelopes that fit the template

Step 1
Have your materials at hand.

Step 2:
Place the envelope over the template.

 Step 3:
Make some marks above the envelope. This will show where to cut the paper.

Cut the template.

Step 4:
Do the same step described above except do this for the cardstock. Once you have the marks in the right place, do the same up above. This will help to create the fold, so it will look like a genuine card.

Cut of course.

Step 5:
Glue the template to the cardstock.

 and with that..

You've got yourself a card!!!

The finished product :)

I just finished handing these out!! My bridesmaids, or action league as I like to call them, loved these!! I can't wait to DIY (oh lord it's starting!) more wedding stuff!!!

"In Bloom"-Nirvana

How I'm spending my first days in Asheville

Yesterday was a day I was on a mission.

But first I need some Zen tea.

and a random breakfast of Mac n' cheese, watermelon and scrambled eggs.

And computer time. Then I was off to browse J. Crew and then to World Market to pick up a compost bin!

This is the dress I tried on at J. Crew. Of course I won't show you the whole dress but I really liked the neckline and the fabric. The shoes were pretty cool too!!! I don't know if this dress is the one but if I get one like this I think I would really have to accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!!! The next time I go Wedding dress hunting I will need a team of professionals!!! AKA my friends with awesome style!!

After J. Crew I needed a guilty pleasure....

Yep, I wanted some fried rice goodness.

I ordered some steamed vegetable dumplings as an appetizer.

I had no idea i was that hungry :-/

But ohhh the fried rice was soo good!!!

 I don't know what it is but I have to be in the right mood for some beef fried rice. It's something about that seasome oil with bits of egg and shredded carrots, that just leaves me feeling happy :)

I also read up on some other material...

 I got this at the J. Crew store and I was a little disappointed that there weren't that many wedding dresses to look at :( Ehh but whatever I'll be looking at so many dresses in the near future that I'll be sick of them!

 And I can't forget my best purchase ever....

It's so compact, perfect if you live in an apartment complex!! We keep this right by the sink.

 It even has an odor blocker!!! Which we have to replace every few weeks or so.

Reasons why composting is awesome:
1) It helps reduce the amount of landfill
2) Helps to enrich soil
3) Helps clean contaminated soils
4) Can reduce the need for water, fertilizers and pesticides

Yes, I like being environmentally friendly. I used to just throw my food outside or use the garbage disposal. The price for this was just $14.99!! I think it's a great investment!!

"Little Boxes"-Malvina Reynolds

Cha-Cha-Changes

Even though it's Monday and the storm has passed, I'm still pretty exhausted from moving. Last week, Monday and Tuesday, I moved boxes of stuff from my old apartment in Cullowhee to the new place in Asheville :) I then had to work Thursday and Friday. But along with trying to get my stuff moved, I had to help Jeff as well. His lease ended the same time as mine did.

Yesterday, Jeff and his friend Glennie stayed the day at our new place. We didn't have internet yet so we did this odd thing that many people don't do anymore, we talked! But then we went to dinner.

I wish I could have taken some pictures :( of our dinner date. But when we moved into the new place Ashley and I were given a brochure of all the best places to eat in Asheville. Our goal is to try a new restaurant a week! I hope this can be possible!

Last night we ate at Fiores Ristorante Toscana. The menu is Tuscan inspired and ohhh the food is delicious. For appetizers, Ashley and I got  stuffed figs with herbed goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto with balsamic reduction. We only had two a plate but ohhh it was served on a bed of arugula and it's probably the best thing I have ever tried :) Glennie had the calamari and Jeff had the mussels. We were in heaven.

For our entrees, Ashley and I got the same thing again. Great minds must really do think alike! We got the grilled Tuna Carpaccio. Picture this, a bed of lettuce, capers, basil, marinated artichoke heart, with thinly sliced ahi tuna and drizzled with chianti reduction. Yeah, you best be jealous. 

I think I have now realized it isn't fun to review food without photos :( 

This morning, Jeff and Glennie left to head for Raliegh. Glennie is moving to Vermont and Jeff is dropping him off at the airport. Jeff will then be settling into this new home in Durham. To be truthful, right now I'm fine. I think that last night as we were getting ready to head to bed it all started to hit me. Tears were shed, promises were made and words of encouragement came out heartfelt. I will miss Jeff but I think we will be make it through this. I have so much faith in Jeff. I don't know if he knows that but I really do. This separation will make the both of us stronger in the end.

Alright, enough with the sappy stuff, onto other thoughts.

I have recently decided that I can't do the half marathons I thought about for the fall. But no need to the sad music, last night I joined Asheville's Track Club! So instead of driving all the way to Virginia Beach, come Labor day weekend, we might do a race closer to home. I think I should do some more 5Ks and perhaps 8Ks before I do a big ole half marathon.

I've been making a list of all the stuff I either need for my room. So far it looks like this:
-Coat hangers
-Storage shelves
-Desk
-Bookshelf (if it will fit)

I also just got a call today from my Internship Director. To make a long story short, I might be able to complete my research during the spring semester! If I get my IRB approval accepted, I could get my MHS this May!!

This all does sound like good news but lets not forget, I will be interning at 40 hours a week for no pay. But then again all my rotation sites are in Asheville. This means I don't have to worry about my commute. Which trust me in the area we live in many students and even professors have to travel at least 45 minutes to get to the University. A few of my friends who have completed the internship, will reminisce about having homes in Cullowhee and have to drive to Hendersonville or Asheville for some of their rotation sites. Ugh, it sounds soul draining.

I wish I could also get a move-on with wedding planning. We haven't set a date yet but I'm itching to sink my teeth into all the niddy griddy. By that I mean, find a dress, book a venue, make decorations, book entertainment, get food and drinks sorted out, and just go creative!!! My plan for tomorrow is to print off ideas and get a look book set up.

I also need to get crackin on registering for the ADA Conference in San Diego. I haven't got a flight yet but I want to see if I can find a website with student rates. The list for the conference looks like this:
-Plane ticket
-ADA registration
-ADA student membership

Ah and this too shall pass.