My fifteen minutes of fame

mystrawisglass — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:29:47 +0000

More like fifteen seconds. After receiving a few Facebook messages alerting me to our feature in Southern New England Weddings magazine, I of course picked up a copy. Excuse the iPhone photos, my camera is hanging out at work.

And because if I’m going to feature all of the fame I’ve ever received in a concise and conclusive manner, I suppose I should drag out this gem I’ve been hiding from you all. If there were an “insert laugh track” option on WordPress, I’d have selected it for you. Enjoy.

2012-Resolutions

mystrawisglass — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:58:19 +0000

A very belated happy new year. We rang in the new year outside of Philadelphia, in our friends’ new ginormous farmhouse with several of Chris’s college friends. I’ve got photos upon photos that I’ve failed to share on the blog, but they’ll have to continue to wait. That last time I attempted to import some work photos, an error message informed me that I’ve exceeded my computer’s memory. After a little bit of delving into the issue (read: after asking Chris what was wrong), I realized that my photo library takes up over half of my computer space. Disorganization has led to no more room to upload…and thus the explanation for this boring, picture-less post. However, the organization of said disorganized photo library brings me to my number one resolution for 2012. I’d been feeling so down and out through November and December that I spent most of the month of December in great anticipation of January 1st and the ability to put those resolutions into action. Though against all logic, I felt as though I couldn’t start enacting them early, and continued through the month of December in my scattered, boggled ways. I’m happy to report that I’ve behaved myself and followed to an impressive degree most of my resolutions over the first two weeks of the year. They are:

1) Simplify. Although a vast resolution, Chris and I are making every effort to apply this to all aspects of our lives. Less clutter, less garbage, less stuff to weigh us down. This resolution encompasses resolution #2, but I want to specify #2 anyhow, as a reminder for myself.

2) GET ORGANIZED. The well-put-together, anal-retentive facade is just that…a facade. The trunk of my car and the closets throughout the house will show you that I’m anything but organized…as will my photo library. I’m always trying to do 500+things at once, and through the overambitious lifestyle was born the disorganized one. I’m trying to declutter, make sense of everything, and follow through with maintaining the organization. There will be several posts on this one.

3) Find happiness. I’ve become so consumed in dwelling on what I don’t have, what I wish I were doing, and where I wish I could be, that I’ve lost the ability to recognize the immediate things that make and keep me happy. I’ve also become self-loathing, and rather than motivating myself to find new avenues of happiness I’ve found myself more often than not slipping into a lazy pity party for one. I’m over this stage, and moving on.

4) Stop putting things off. When I don’t want to do something, I’m excellent at finding convincing excuses as to why that thing should wait until tomorrow. Things like calling people back, finishing house tasks that go without gratification, and more than anything—confrontation. If I don’t like it, I won’t do it, and I’ll give you a million and one reasons why I can’t do it…none of them true.

In the past two weeks I started reading for pleasure, painted half of the trim in the house and even a pair of closet doors, completed all of my Christmas returns, dropped off my dry-cleaning, and returned some of the numerous phone calls I’ve been putting off. It’s a start. I’ve been a lot more motivated to use the two hours before and after work than I ever have been (you know, those two hours that you tell yourself “aren’t enough time to complete anything important” even though the list of important things each take less than ten minutes?). I’m looking forward to 2012…I was so done with 2011.

I’m off to begin the painful task of photo library organization. I’m hoping to be back by next week with a post containing pictures…which means I’ve accomplished said task.

The best gift every year

mystrawisglass — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:10:26 +0000

This Christmas was a fabulous one, and just what I needed after a long few months. Though we keep ourselves perhaps a little too busy, running from house to house on both Christmas Eve as well as Christmas day, we got to spend some quality time with family and friends that I realized this year I wouldn‘t trade for a little less driving. Chris has been so busy with work I wasn’t sure he’d come up for air to enjoy a few hours of Christmas celebrations, let alone get to editing a Christmas video for 2011. To my surprise, per usual, there it was waiting for me Christmas morning. This one brings a little tear to my eye when I see how tiny Lenny was when we brought him home. It’s a little sappy, and not for the faint of heart.

http://crlvideo.wistia.com/m/3v33XK

Soul Searching

mystrawisglass — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:16:19 +0000

I’ve been doing a whole lot of it lately. I think the best explanation for my lack of posts has been that I don’t have anything to say. Or, at minimum, anything good to say. This post is meant to be an explanation of sorts, though I have a strange suspicion it may come across as a pity post. If that’s the case, I’m being upfront that it’s unintentional.

The past few months at work have been slow. Painfully slow. Slow as in, as of late, I don’t work Mondays and Wednesdays. An automatic response would be, “lucky you!”, but the truth is, when I don’t work, I don’t get paid. Being at home with time on my hands and no money coming in is P.A.I.N.F.U.L. When I first started work I was in a similar situation, and found myself legit depressed for the first time in my life. I’ve been sick and tired of school and bummed about immediate situations before, but I’m talking legit depressed. Depressed like—you worked your entire life towards something that’s sucking all of your energy and finances out of you and giving nothing in return-depressed. I’m finding the depression creeping in again, and praying the holidays will ward it off until things undoubtedly pick up again in January. In the meantime, I have far too much time on my hands. Too much time yields too much thinking. My brain never stops to begin with, but when it’s left in silence it works at quadruple the pace and the result is never good.

Thinking has led me to re-evaluate…..everything. I think I’m in the beginning stages of a quarter-life-crisis of sorts. Nothing to hit the panic button over, I think this sort of thing is bound to hit everyone in their ~~mid~~ late twenties, and recur again in the fifties. I’m sane, and I’m not going to chop my hair, tattoo anything or make any sudden moves…because that’s not my style. It’s more of a “where are you going with this” reevaluation of my life. I’m lucky in that I have absolute stability in the most important stuff. My relationship with Chris is rock-solid, and when I look into the future that’s the one thing I know is for the long haul. It’s the rest of the stuff that’s got my gears turning.

I’m still settling in to being a dentist. I didn’t expect to graduate and know so little—but the truth is, after thirty years in practice as a dentist you still don’t. know. everything. You might not even know 50%. I hate what I’m about to say, because it’s so “oh poor you”, but I wholeheartedly believe it, and so I’ll throw it out there. Being a dentist is one of the most difficult careers out there. People don’t like coming to see you, you’re working in a black box of limited visibility with a tongue and cheeks to battle to work within fractions of millimeter parameters. It’s f*ing hard as s***. People don’t like having to pay to take care of their mouths, they think you own a yacht even though your student loan debt is greater than your ~~overly understanding husband’s~~ mortgage, and it never ends. I’m either having a nightmare about whether I removed all the nerve tissue from the last root canal I did that day, or on call on the weekends saying no to the second drink in case my phone rings on Saturday night.

About a year ago I had an overwhelming sense of relief when I was explaining to one of my closest friend’s why dentistry is stressful. Her dad is a dentist, and she was in awe of my descriptions, because she remembered her dad always coming home stressed from work, but wasn’t sure why. At least I’m not the only dentist out there who feels constantly on the verge of falling off the deep end. Overly dramatic, maybe.

So over the past two months of having too much time on my hands to constantly stress about the next 25 years of loan payments I have to face and whether or not I want to spend these 25 years doing the profession that I’m paying off the education for, I haven’t had much to say. For now, I’ll continue making lists of pros and cons, weeding out as much as I can from my day to day that ends up on the “cons” list, and doing more of what constitutes a “pro”. I’ll try to search for the good, and put the bad into perspective. That, and I’ll hope to hell my schedule fills up enough to stop thinking so much about it all.

Apple Pie: Cure-all for Seasonal Confusion

mystrawisglass — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:18:12 +0000

This past weekend we had our first snowstorm of the season. Of the FALL season. We’re seven weeks out from the beginning of winter and the ground has a mud-incuding covering of white and our fall cleanup/landscaping has been suddenly put on hold. With ninety-degree weather only two short weeks ago, the drastic changes in temperature and precipitation have left me torn between nostalgia for summer nights on the lake and anticipation of holiday shopping and Christmas decor. Somewhere in the midst of this manic atmospheric change I lost the ability to enjoy my favorite season—fall. I may have missed apple picking for the first time in a long time, but that didn’t stop me from buying a peck and whipping up this amazing pie. It was my first from-scratch crust, and the crust was the best part of the pie. It was extremely easy, and left me wondering why anyone resorts to Pillsbury. The only thing I would change in the future would be the tartness of the lemon juice, so I’ve halved the amount in the recipe listed below. Next time you’re feeling seasonally misled, grab this recipe for an autumnal reminder. Enjoy!

For the pie dough:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

10 tbsp butter, cut into cubes + 1/4 cup melted butter for top of pie

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup vodka (helps make the crust flaky!)

1/4 cup cold water

2 tbsp sugar for top of pie

For the apple filling:

5 cups granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into thin slices

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp apple sauce

For the caramel filling

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

- Add 2 cups of flour, salt, sand sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine.

- Add cubes of butter and shortening and pulse until combined, about 1-2 minutes.

- Add the remaining flour and process until it’s all combined – but don’t mess with it too much or the dough will become tougher.

- Move dough to a large bowl and add the water and vodka. Knead it gently until it’s combined. The dough will be moist but you can add a bit of flour to help hold it together. Split it into 2 evenly-sized disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours (can be made up to 3 days in advance).

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

- In a large bowl combine the apples, lemon juice, and salt; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, apple sauce, and nutmeg and toss to coat.

- For the caramel sauce, add the brown sugar and cream to a pot over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and allow the mixture boil, untouched, until it reaches 210 degrees. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Allow to cool to room temperature.

- Roll out one pie dough disk to fit your greased pie pan with a little bit of overhang. Pat the dough into the pan and pour the caramel on the bottom with the apple mixture on top.

- Roll out the remaining pie dough circle and either lay over the apples or cut out shapes to cover. Use melted butter to adhere the dough on top and brush the entire thing with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

This recipe was adapted from www.ericassweettooth.com…visit her blog for more amazing recipes!

Wedding gifts a year later

mystrawisglass — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:48:47 +0000

A few weekends ago Jay, Kelly, Chris and I finally found time to solidify a date for something we’d been planning over the past year or so. Part of our wedding gift from them was a weekend getaway to Block Island. Despite an impeding forecast of overcast skies and rain, we caught some of the best weather of the season. I’m not sure I could think of a more enjoyable wedding present, or a quick escape with friends. There was good food, tasty drinks on the water, much-needed catching up, and some low-key hiking around the island. Even though we’ve been to Block Island a few times before, we saw new things, found a few new places to eat, and enjoyed it to a whole new level. It was a great reminder of how to put aside work and stress and live in the moment, and reaffirmed how lucky Chris and I are to have friends like these two guys.

Another Hiatus

mystrawisglass — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:11:16 +0000

Welp…despite all efforts to keep a regular and updated blog, sometimes life gets too hectic, and sometimes I’m just not feeling it. I have an overwhelming amount of blog motivation as of the last few days, and I’m going to try to hold myself to a few posts a week to finish out the year. We’ll see how that goes. Updates on the last month to come later this week.

A Necessary Reminder

mystrawisglass — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:19:45 +0000

I constantly feel like I’m a million miles away from being satisfied with anything in our house. There’s always so much more to do, and the list seems to grow rather than shrink over time. Our summer has been jam-packed with work and travel, and I’ve had little opportunity for house projects. With the fall air creeping in, I’ve had the house on my brain again. As a reminder to myself to find contentedness in what changes I have made recently, no matter how big or small, here are some new additions to the place:

The new subway tile backsplash we had installed a few weeks back:The bar cart that adds a bit of organization to the kitchen:My favorite photo I’ve taken of Lenny added a bit of artwork to the hallway:A new desk and lucite chair for crafting/sewing in the guest room:And a new lamp that pulls the bedroom together that much more.

Photo Shoot

mystrawisglass — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:35:08 +0000

An Addendum and a Dog With No Shame

mystrawisglass — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:23:01 +0000

So this new camera:

Came with this picture on it:

So after a fabulous weekend of celebratory anniversary things, I had Wednesday to look forward to. I wasn’t sure where we were going, what we were doing…I just knew to get my butt home from work as quickly as possible to be swept away to said surprise. After running through the door, throwing on some mismatched clothes, and panting to the car, Chris drove me to a part of Cranston that I’ve only been to once before…for our wedding reception. As he pulled up to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet a feeling of pure bewilderment came over me. They occasionally host old people events with dinner and dancing, but the parking lot was empty. Why were we here?!?

Chris pulled an oddly wrapped box from the trunk, and I awkwardly tailed him into the ballroom. There was no one there, and to be completely honest it was an eery feeling. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin, and wanted to slither out and perch myself up on the balcony with a better view of the people I knew were just waiting to walk in on whatever was about to happen. Well, no one walked in, I didn’t get the out-of-body experience I was hoping for, but Chris pulled off a very Chris and very sweet surprise. He had Dan Mills record the song he wrote for our wedding. Inside the strange box was a stereo. The first time Chris and I listened to the song together since our wedding day was again at Rhodes, and we danced to it for the second time. Don’t let your eyes roll out of your head, it was sweet and adorable and exactly why I fell in love with Chris in the first place.

The dance was followed by an incredible dinner at Gracie’s in Providence, and our anniversary celebrations ended on a high. We were showered with cards and sweet messages from so many friends and family, but here’s an anniversary gift that can’t go without mention. Monday night when we returned from the lake, three of Chris’s five younger Lavigne cousins came over and presented us with this:

It’s a bench hand-painted by the five of them, each square personalized by a different cousin. It’s pretty remarkable, really.

And for stomaching my sap, have a laugh at our dog with no shame. Man parts: