Honesty is the best policy

I've got to be honest with you. I woke up in a pooptacular mood. I must have been up 4 times last night to pee. I had a weird dream that I went to a meet and greet with Katy Perry and Ke$ha and then the house has eaten all of my son's shoes. Now I know this doesn't seem like much but today it wasn't doing it for me. 

So what did I do? I baked bread. No I didn't take a picture because (another reason this was a sucky morning) I couldn't find my boyfriends cellphone to take a photo. My phone takes horrible photos but his are crystal clear and lovely. (Iphone, go figure)

So on the menu for lunch today: Fresh baked bread (using this awesome reference) and roasted squash and carrot soup. 

I can hardly wait. 

The smell of the bread cooking the oven is rising me above the pile of dirty dishes and laundry I have to do. It's taking me away from the responsibilities of showering and going to work. Yup. I am free of these chains of morning grumpydom. Till 10:00 am. Then I really have to start my day. 

What do you do when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

If you met a perfect day what would you say?

You know what I'm talking about. The perfect day. Perfect sky. Perfect temp. Perfect company. Perfect food. And then usually a nap. Perfect.

Well, this Sunday was my perfect day. I mean, seriously, if your day looked like this how can you be anything but ecstatically happy?

The Manfriend and I went out for breakfast at a lovely country dinner at the top of a hill. I love it up there. It's a place of zen for me. No seriously, can this face be any happier?

 And the food! Nom nom nom!

I even managed to talk my Manfriend into berry picking. I wish I had a picture of it but I was so engrossed in picking that I completely forgot to photograph the event. Lets just say copious amounts of berries were had by all. I have a bag full of them sitting in my fridge just waiting to be made into jam. It's okay to be jealous. It's only natural. 

What would your perfect day be?

A B C's of Me

The ABC’s of Me:

A. Age: Ancient. 30

B. Bed size. King size but I use very little of it.

C. Chore you dislike: Laundry and folding clothes. If you could see my bedroom you would understand.

D. Dogs: One. Rudy aka The Rudster, Officer Rudy, Rudy Tooty

E. Essential start to your day: In a perfect world it would be a smoothie... in reality coffee. Strong coffee

F. Favorite colors: At the moment purple

G. Gold or silver: Rose gold

H. Height: 5’4’’

I. Instruments you play(ed): Violin, trumpet and french horn and bass

J. Job title: Hair dresser, mother and amateur blogger

K. Kids: One, The Monkey

L. Live:On the top of the hill

M. Mom’s name: Audrey. Dahling

N. Nicknames: Oh the Gitch, Gitchie and Casper.... long story

O. Overnight hospital stays: There's quiet a few but not in a long long time

P. Pet peeves: People who take forever to make a right hand turn. UGH!

Q. Quote from a movie: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. What? It's Corinthians one, chapter thirteen verse eleven. " Hackers, Cereal Killer :)

R. Righty or lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: My baby brother who constantly blows me away with his photography.

T. Time you wake up: Between 6am and 8 am.

U. Underwear: Clean ones

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Radishes and mushrooms. YUCK!

W. What makes you run late: Other people in my house

X. X-rays you’ve had: Hands, ribs and knees

Y. Yummy food you make: Taco soup.

Z. Zoo animal you like: Anything that's not in the petting zoo. 

So that's a little about me. On the cooking front... I am not a baker. I don't even want to talk about what happened to the oatmeal cookies.

9/11

On 9/11 when the tower were hit I was in a candy store. Beat that. 

The world seems a little crazy today. 9/11, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, people losing their homes, towns destroyed, business closing..... it's a lot to think about. Do you know what I do when things seem overwhelming? 

I cook. And cook. And bake. And can. Annnnd go apple and berry picking. Then I cook what I pick.

So far I've made homemade chicken stock, morning glory muffins by Beth M (amazing site), cooked black beans in the crockpot and stored it single servings in the freezer, chicken soup from scratch, cut up all of the celery and onions and made single servings of them to go in the freezer, french toast with berry sauce and I'm sure there is more but I am drawing a blank. Clearly I don't sit still very well.

Today the boys and I are heading to the local U-Pick orchard for apples and raspberries. YUM! I'm having a hard time convincing my boyfriend that this will be fun. He doesn't see the logic in driving into the middle of nowhere to pick apples when we can get ones right around the corner that comes in a bag. Secretly my strategy for bringing him is that he is 6'7" and he can get the best apples up top. (See, I'm a smart Gitch)

What do you do when you are stressed?

Sad Face

Things are not so good in my neck of the woods. Massive flooding, towns destroyed, schools shut down and worst of all.... UPS is closed!!! I ordered a pair of amazing trail running shoes and I can't get them. They are sitting at the UPS office calling to me. Other than that, the salon that I work at is closed for the rest of the week and I had to cancel running the Spartan Sprint in Palmerton, PA. This. Is. Crap.