Where do I start? This is gonna be a LONG update...I got to have an excellent vacation with my sister as we visited our aunt in California. 1) Who wouldn't love to go to southern California for vacation and 2) Stay with an amazing relative whose home has a view like this:
And boy did we enjoy our unhurried, unplanned vacation...We lazily rolled out of bed each morning according to our own inner clocks. One evening we spent at my sister's old work place hanging out with her former co-workers and the residents who love and miss my sister terribly. We had quite a wild evening of playing Uno Attack and air hockey with the residents while also watching American Idol. And they each had to have a picture taken with their beloved Wendy lady :)
Wendy and I also got to spend time with our aunt and her boyfriend, who is an excellent chef. My sister and aunt have raved to me time and again about his pizzas, and finally on this trip I got to experience the delectable heaven that one enters after tasting his gourmet masterpieces. For our eating pleasure, Ron created a divine steak and cheese pizza, a worldly Thai chicken pizza, and a comforting Italian meats pizza. In truth, most of my favorite vacation moments revolve around the food we ate. In fact, the one thing I was determined to do while we were there was to enjoy the light and fresh yumminess of having fruit filled crepes on the beach in the morning. Sigh....remembering...
Not long after I returned from my travels, my dear friend Robin flew up to visit me and to attend the Southeast Easter Pageant. And despite the miserably rainy and cold weekend, we enjoyed each other's company immensely. Yet again, one of the things we were determined to do while she was here was to make our own special pizza. We have this pizza, that was originally created by accident with my friends Misty and Sara, but Robin and I love to make it whenever we get together. I'm sure you are dying to know what is on this amazing pizza, and I will warn you that when you read the toppings you will probably think we are nuts - but I laugh at you, for if you were to let go of those enabling gag reflexes and open your mind and taste buds to the wondrous flavors of this pizza you too could have a party of flavor going on in your mouth! Here it is...we start with Marcy Bryan's pizza dough recipe for the crust, which is my job to make while Robin busily chops the toppings. After the crust is baked, I slather it with tomato sauce and then Robin comes in to do her magic. She tops the pizza first with turkey pepperoni (it's healthier for you), then mushrooms and olives, then artichoke hearts (see starts to get a little crazy there), and then the most wonderful ingredient of all: pico de gallo...oh, and handfuls of mozzarella cheese. Yes, you read that correctly - we put pico de gallo on our pizza - cringe if you must, but it is AMAZING. Anyone who wants to give it a go, I'll be happy to make it for you to try! We also celebrated our time together by making meatball subs after church with Robin's own meatball recipe. Ahhhhh, girl time - cooking and chatting and drinking wine and eating...so fun!
The last update is my oh-so-awesome new haircut! I loved growing my hair out and have had it long for several years now - it has been great fun. But I've been wanting to jump on the "donate my hair" bandwagon for the past couple of months - especially in light of my own family's many battles with cancer, particularly my grandmother's two battles with breast cancer. Plus, the long hair has really been getting on my nerves lately, and with all the new changes going on in my life - new city, new job, new church, new apartment - seems like a fine time to get a new haircut! And with all the gray peeking through - it was well past time to get it colored again. Don't you love it?! I do :)
See, it's sassy :)
And I think a shameless plug is due to the masterful hands of the one who cut it, the soon to be graduated (today in fact) Landon Arza - brother of my co-worker Cassie. Any Louisville locals who might possibly read this blog, I highly recommend him - soon to be working at Medusa, I believe. Now, my hair wasn't quite long enough (nor was I daring enough) to have 10 inches cut for Locks of Love - however, thanks to Oprah, I had been made aware of Pantene's Beautiful Lengths which is similar in it's purpose to Locks of Love. And they only require 8 inches! Thus, my hair is being mailed to them.
And maybe next time my blog will be more spiritual and ponderous in nature...I am in a bit of a writing mood...hmmmm
