Home is where the stuff is...

I know that the old saying goes "Home is where the heart is," but I think for me its more "Home is there the stuff is." May its because I haven't found a place to leave my heart since I moved out of my hometown. Now some would think that that means my heart is there, but its not. Things have changed, people have moved in and out, and I am different from the girl who left there 3 1/2 years ago for the big city.

Well I have now moved again from the big city in the north to a smaller big city in the south and can't say that is feels like home to my heart yet, but it is home because all of my stuff is here (except for a few boxes a friend is bring down next month, but that is neither here nor there).

Perhaps one day I'll find a place for my heart to call home, but for now I am more then happy to say that "home is where the stuff is" because that means I can always take "home" with me.

I love Florida!

Oh how I love Florida, let me count the ways...

1 - SuperWalmart and SuperTarget - they just make life easier and cheaper. Yes, I know Walmart is evil, but I'm chosing to overlook that for the next 2 years until I get a real job again

2 - Rent is far cheaper then in DC.

3 - Pretty warm weather year round.

4 Flatwoods Wilderness Park is only 15 minutes from my house and has off-road mountian biking trails except instead of mountians, there's just alot of sand and tree roots, but its still better then pavement!

This was taken while on a moving bike

These not so much. I love the trail, you can't really see over the palmetto so it feels like you're alone. Well at least until you have to play chicken with an on-coming rider! I did part of the 15 mile loop, and plan to head back in the near future to complete it. Its a great bit of off-road riding, now if I could just get to sound of traffic to fade it would be perfect!

Obama won out

Over the weekend I was looking at the fitness class list for the rec center here at USF and thought that kickboxing at noon would be a fun class to try on Tuesday. At the time, I totally forgot about the fact that Tuesday was Inauguration day so in light of that, I skipped kickboxing and watched the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States in the College of Public Health's lobby with about 30 other people. I had been watching and studying Biostats II in an empty classroom, but alas, the CNN feed kept bogging down so I joined my fellow Americans in the lobby to watch it on cable instead.

And since I skipped kickboxing I am off to Body Sculpting, which does sound rather painful but calorie burning!

Spicy Cheese Grits with Black Beans

This was the product of me wanting both grits and beans with a bit of Mexican flair, so I started out with basic cheese grits and added smoked pepperjack cheese for kick and some black beans for the protein. This is nice a filling and would go great with a green salad for a veggie meal or some spicy grilled shrimp if you want some meat.

Yield 5-6 cups

3 c. Water
1 c. old fashion grits (not instant or quick grits)
1 1/2 t. better then bullion chicken broth concentrate
1 c. milk
1/2 T. butter
1 can or 1 1/2 c. of cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
3 oz of smoked pepper jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the water to a boil, slowly add the grits while stirring in order to avoid lumps. Simmer for about 10 mins until tender, add milk as needed to keep the grits mostly and creamy. Once the grits are done, about 10 mins, add the remaining milk, butter, black beans, cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix over low heat until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Being a Pseudo-Vegetarian

Yes, I am starting down the dark path of vegetarianism, but take heart because I'll never be more then a pseudo-vegetarian(PV) at best. So what does PV mean for me, well basically I'll no longer be buying meat to cook with and since I cook about 90-95% of my meals, that means that I'll be eating veggie most of the time. I can still use chicken broth for cooking because, well, its just so tasty! I am allowed to eat meat when I go out to eat, find free food somewhere (I'm a student, I take what I can find!), or when I just can't stop thinking about a nice juicy steak or bowl of boiled shrimp. I love meat and there is no way that I am going to give it up, but since I am a student and jobless for the time being, I simply cannot afford meat on a regular basis since I prefer to buy grass-fed and/or organic meats. After a trip to Whole Foods I have a nice pantry full of organic beans and whole grains to provide protein. I am also trying to live a healthier lifestyle and feel that cutting down on meat is part of this. Will post recipes and pictures of my creations.

Looking for the joys of being single

Let's face it, we have all been single at some point and many of us still are. I personally enjoy it (most of the time) and was telling a friend today that I'm about 75% happy being single, I think anyone saying that they are 100% happy being single is lying just as I think that any non-single person would be lying if they say that they are 100% happy in their relationship.

I started listing off reasons why I like being single and they are:

I can always sleep in the middle of the bed

I can hiking at my own pace on a trip I decided to go on 2 weeks before I left

I don't have to worry someone asking why I bought yet another pair of shoes
I don't have to worry about the guy snoring and waking me up or vise versa.

I don't have to shave my legs in the winter if I don't want to, though now that I'm in the South that one doesn't apply quite as much

I don't have to drag my date to the newest chick flick

I get to cook what I want for dinner (okay I'd probably still do this if I was going to doing cooking in the relationship anyway)

I don't have to pretend to like football/basketball while guy is watching it, reading about it, or wanting to talk about it.

I'm sure more will come, they randomly pop into my head. I am in no was saying that I never want to be in a relationship, I'm just enjoying being single until someone comes along. No point in pinning my single years away waiting for Mr. Right to show up.

To all the single ones out there, enjoy it, learn who you are, enjoy being alone while you can, at some point you'll have 3 kids under the age of 6 all crying at the same time and you'll wish you were alone again!

"That's OUR cart"

Today I was shopping at ALDI near school and this old lady who had a oxygen pack with her and was hanging onto her Office Max cart to stay up right in the aisle in front of me. Next thing I know this Office Max employee comes up to her and tells her that she can't have that cart because its their cart and they've lost 27 carts since they've opened. To add insult to cart removal, the guy doesn't seem to care that the poor little old lady can't walk without the cart and doesn't offer to get her one (though once I offer to go get her a cart, he does offer to let her use OM's cart to go back to the front of the store to get an ALDI cart, how very sweet of him!).

Now I ask you Mr. OM Guy, do you REALLY think that a little old lady that can hardly walk is going to steal your cart?

WOW a Job Already!

I opened by email this morning and saw an email from Dusty offering me a job, I just needed to send my contact info to their official HR email address which was @yahoo.com. I'm sure that once Dusty gets my resume and contact info I'll be hired for a high paying job.

Gotta love junk mail.

A New Year, A New City, A New Plan

This is the start of yet another new year and I am starting a new chapter in my life. Since Dec 24th, I am quite my job with the Feds, packing all my crap into a few boxes to be shipped and my car, driven about 900 miles in about 13 hours and 40 minutes from the DC area to Tampa, Florida. Tomorrow is the first day of the spring semester at USF and I'll be starting my 2nd semester as an MPH student, first one as a "real" student taking classroom classes instead of on-line courses. My 'new year' starts today, Jan 4th since I moved on the 2nd.

This year I plan to:

Read through the Bible - Its about time I read it cover to cover and the start of a new year in a new place in a new phase of life is the perfect time to start.

Be a great student - Working FT for the Feds and being a FT grad student don't mix well for me, from now on its School first and everything else next

Live a simple life - I'm still working out what I mean by that, but I think for now it will mean enjoying the simple things in life, like a cooking a good meal, talking to a great friend on the phone, a walk around the block, enjoying what I have without thinking that I need the newest gismo, things like that.

Do more with less - After 2 1/2 yrs of having a pretty well paid job, I am going to have to revert back to my interning days of frugalality (that's a new word I made up myself!), cut down on eating out, buying pricey food, clothes etc. Get more from Freecycle, thrift/charity shops, making more stuff/finish the clothes I've started.

Take better care of myself - I've been neglecting myself for the past 2 or so months, so its time to start eating a real breakfast instead of coffee, truffles or coffee and truffles, to walk/bike/hike/be active more, eat mostly a veggie diet made up of healthy, real foods that are minimally processed and not stuffed full of refined sugar.

This is a start, I'm hoping to use to this blog to keep track of how things are going. I'll also post how my new life-phase is going down here in sunny, warm Tampa.