Well, it's 2008...

Yes. I fell off the face of the Earth.

Ok, actually, I got uber-sick after Chicago (lovely girly germs!) and spent most of Christmas and New Year's wheezing and sleeping.

I literally only started feeling better by the time I went to Walt Disney World, which was last week. I think my ear FINALLY cleared on the plane there. Ha!

So, to recap:
~Went to Chicago. It SNOWED. We went to tea. Ames got really sick and ate cookies.
~Baked cookies here. Jack and sugar don't mix.
~MaxJET...don't even ask, let's just say this trip to Italy will go on as scheduled and will be fun.
~Christmas. Mmm, Pie.
~New Year's.
~Walt Disney Word - it was cold, but soooo much fun. MICKEY WAFFLES!!!

In other news...Portland is in a few weeks! And Italy planning continues. :)

December? Seriously?

Yikes! Next weekend is cookie baking, which means I have to finish shopping AND decorate this weekend.

Ah! Ok, I feel better.

It's going to be a busy one: mucho shopping, cleaning...and decorating. Ahem.

Not much new to report. Slight driving incident the other day, I now have a nickname in my house...
Donald Killer. You can pretty much figure that one out. *sigh*
Sniffle.

It is Friday yet?
Oh. Wait.

Ah, Gingerbread and Peanut Butter Kisses

Soon, soon the Christmas Baking will begin! Whee!!!

I survived Thanksgiving, only having one slight issue - pulled a muscle or tendon in my leg and spent the next six days limping and swearing. A lot. As the parents made cracks about me pulling up lame.

Ahem.

But I got to try Sweet Potato pie. And? I'm in LOVE. Yum-o.

It's Thursday, the new Friday. This weekend promises to be packed and fun: Christmas Lights, Disneyland, the whole bit.

The Mom's birthday is coming up and we're going out to dinner. Whee!

And two weeks until the Chicago Cookie Day 2007...the low on Monday is going to be 11. 11 DEGREES! Yikes. I need more layers!!!

Brrr! Baby, it's COLD outside!

I am so in trouble...I'm already freezing and it's not even December. Or Winter. Ahem.

Almost two weeks from Turkey Day! Whee!

The Mom and I are doing the Turkey Trot in the morning. Yay! Dinner is still under negotiation. Stay tuned. And Friday (aka, Black Friday, which I don't do at all!), we're having Thanksgiving Deux, our version. Hee! There may be Christmas movies and pie involved, I'm just saying.

In other news, still reading the book. I got so upset (crying, everything), I had to stop on Sunday. I'll report back when I finish. But it's good - Publisher's Weekly named it one of the best of 2007.

On the horizon? Christmas Shopping...the Mom's birthday...Bauer Sale...Auntie Em's!
And? Cookie Day!!!

Yawn. What?

Is it wrong to want to sleep all weekend? Anyone? *yawn*
Have a cookie, it's Friday.

We're sticking kind of close to home this weekend, after the Mom being in Boston last weekend and my trip to Chicago the previous one.

Saturday, 9/15: Coffee, Pedicure, perhaps some Jean Shopping, Bristol Farms, Pie, Wild Oats, Market

Sunday, 9/16: Coffee, Coach (?), Olives

I need to plot out some Italy stuff (whee!) and buy tickets for Chicago for the cookie baking. Does anyone have a diabetic-friendly cookie recipe that does NOT involve fake sugar?
(We're screwed, he's on low-sugar, I don't do fake sugar...)

I suck at this.

So.

Yeah.

Guess what? Unemployed girl isn't unemployed any more.
I got fast-tracked in the Cal State temp pool...that was the interview I went on Monday, you know, my first real day of unemployment where I had to get all dressed up? That was with Extension Services.

Then I got calls on Friday and Monday about other jobs. They finally got me Tuesday morning when I was back from NJ for an HR thing (uh, NO!) and then another position for the Department of Social Work. I set-up an interview for today, then another person called today as I was walking in the house from Starbucks about a job with another department. I have an interview with them on Tuesday.

Today's interview? 3-month emergency temp thing that is probably leading to a permanent position. It was weird, literally, and I'm supposed to report back to the Dean at 8:30am on Wednesday to start...
Uh, yeah.

I'm confused and apparently employed.

I suck at this! Where is my break, my baking and red velvet and lounging around watching soap operas?!?!

Ahem. D'oh!

Decompressing...Jersey-style.

Yawn. I know, I've been kind of quiet...well, eating baked goods and kind of quiet.

I guess I'm finally decompressing and remembering how to relax. The problem with being completely stressed and living for the weekends is that when you suddenly find yourself out that situation...you don't know which way is up anymore. At a loss, basically.

And having lots of free time in which to putter. *ahem* Walk to the shore, get coffee.

I'm figuring it out, a little bit every day. I'm trying to keep to my schedule, so up and exercising and all that fun stuff. But here is an update. :)

Interview: The interview went well, it's an emergency temp job for up to 6-months. Not ideal, but something, at least. They will be making a decision next week and let me know. I think I did well, but we'll see. I wore the power-suit and I was confident. Woo!

Car: The Oompa-Loompas have made my car! Hedwig exists! Yay! The time line is looking more like mid-to-late May. The little owl is waiting to go on to the ship, per the mini website!

New Jersey: I fly to Philly on Thursday...the Thursday that will never end! I leave at 6am (AHHH!) LA time and get to Philly at 6pm...I think we have to flap the wings of the plane by hand. Planner Girl has everything all worked out, for the most part, and I'll just be following her instructions - I think I need to be told what to do for awhile. All I know is that we get to try P.B. Loco, and that's a good thing, Martha.

Next Week: Ah, more relaxing. The big plans are to go to Doughboys and then bake cookies. Seriously. And go with the Mom to South Coast Plaza. I'm going to be applying for more jobs and checking out temp agencies. We might even hit Disneyland. Woo. ;)

Hugs to you all!

The Peanut Butter Tart, Version 2.0

Ok, the story.

I love peanut butter. A lot.

I go to Whole...uh, I go to a local supermarket specializing in quality food near work one dayto stock up on snacks and they have a bakery. Well, Ok, they have a section where they sell goods made by others, but hey, it's a bakery.

I love cake. I can't decide, do I want a mini chocolate cake or do I want the peanut butter tart...which is so not cake? I mean, cake. What's not to love, it's CAKE.

I go with the cake, then promptly dream about the peanut butter tart for three days, because hello, PEANUT BUTTER! I secure one a few days later and wow. Brownie base, a layer of chocolate, a beautiful beehive of piped peanut butter mousse, sprinkles of peanuts and a drizzle of chocolate...I'm in love. It's made by a local bakery in the South Bay, I even google them, for heaven's sake!

The next time I go, I get one. I refrain the next few trips, but then, I want one for St. Patrick's Day. I don't know why, it's not exactly Irish or the food of my people (being that it's my peoples holiday)....but, PEANUT BUTTER!

Um, they don't have it. And they even check in back, nada.
I am bummed. They have Irish soda bread, which is of my people, but it's not Peanut Butter. A few days later, someone from work offers to check when he goes by the store for lunch (Hi, Chris!) and....?
Horror of horrors...?
They say they are no longer stocking the products from that bakery...


I email the bakery, I call the store...I go insane. Turns out that it's not quite true, I'm just the only person in the South Bay in love with said product and they aren't selling well. But they can special order them....woo! So I special order, it will be in by Friday, 2pm...
2:30pm, Friday...I call...no tart.

WTF? 2pm orders come in anytime, apparently, even 10pm. Uh, what?

I go by after work and...no tart. Uh, WTF? I go off on the bakery person, but then apologize, because she keeps apologizing. I pick up some chocolate mousse cake (as a consolation, you understand) and go home.

And decided to write a letter.

By Saturday afternoon, the bakery had called. The store has emailed. Everyone had contacted me, but still, I didn't have the tart. They had them, by the way, they just don't get delivered until Saturday, not Friday. WTF?

Anyway, I am now on a quest to reproduce the tart, because how hard can it be? Brownie, Chocolate, PB Mousse, Chocolate Drizzle (I don't like the peanuts on top, they get mushy).

And that is why I a) shouldn't write letters and b) need to seek professional help.