We've got Flair

I know, I know…it’s been forever since I have updated. Life has just been busy. Anyways, a lot of stuff has happened since I last wrote so let’s get too it.

Jeremy and I competed in our first bonspiel at curling. A bonspiel is basically a tournament and the group we play with were stoked to play the girls against boys. Unfortunately the curling club put us all into teams, so we couldn't have our duel. The good news was, Jeremy’s team and my team both won our games and therefore won our first curling pin. We now pin our flair onto our shirts when we play and practice. It’s pretty awesome! The curling club had a Christmas party as well. There was curling, food, and fun. We did the Yankee gift exchange and I came home with a fabulous pair of Lamb Chop slippers, although Gideon and scary Judy kept trying to steal them from me. Not to worry, I prevailed!! The curling season has come to an end for me, but Jeremy has decided to continue on with the sport. I will now plan on being the team’s cheerleader along with another wife/friend. I just decided I do not like being cold, although I am SO glad I tried such a random sport. Here are some pictures from when our guys vs. girls grudge match actually happened. The boys handed us our asses on a platter...it wasn't fun.

preparing to throw

the release

the winners

the losers...they made us smile

We had our first big snow storm a couple weeks ago. In Fairfield we got about 6-8 inches. It was really pretty, but very scary to drive home in. I left work early to avoid the major snow, but Jeremy got stranded in New Haven because the trains stopped running. Here are pictures from when it started from our back porch.

Since it has been the holiday season, we went to our fair share of holiday parties. The best party by far was the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Jeremy and I could not for the life of us fine ugly sweaters to buy. I looked everywhere—department stores, thrift shops, colleagues…so my bright idea was to make our own. I went to Michael’s and got the corniest Christmas décor I could find and the results were pretty amazing. What can’t hot glue do? We really thought our sweaters were the best. I also had a pair of antlers (pays to work for event companies) and a work pal lent me her light up Christmas light earrings. The earrings really completed my look. During dinner I decided that what my outfit really needed was a wind blowing machine to follow me around so it could blow my hair back and show off these fabulous earrings. Michael and Gideon decided to take on that job. I think their hard work really paid off and made me the belle of the ball. My sweater got more than one use out of it…I wore it Christmas morning. It was so festive I just had to show it off one more time.

Our lovely sweaters

Wind Machine in action

Christmas was really great, my mom came out to visit and I did what any good daughter would do…put her to work! I have been super busy at work preparing for our conference happening in Prague, so on Christmas Eve my mom got to come to work and help me out. Slave labor! Not really, she helped me check some lists and we went to lunch and then the day was pretty much done. After we got home from work I started preparing to make dinner. This was my first Christmas cooking a meal. This is a big deal considering I never use to cook and told my mom I was going to marry a chef and therefore I would never have to cook for her. Well, my mom finally got her wish…Christmas Eve dinner a la Angela. I decided to make a mushroom risotto and let me tell you…it was AMAZING! I’m not just tooting my own horn; this meal could have been sold in a restaurant…seriously! It did take forever to make so I was really happy it came out so good. Jeremy cooked for her on Christmas day…He made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and Brussels. It was really good too, but not as good as the risotto!

New Year’s Eve is tomorrow and we plan on going to a party in New Haven. It should be fun and then I leave for Prague on New Year’s Day. I will be gone until January 12th, so once I get back I will be sure to post some pictures.

I have also deleted my vegan blog, not because I'm not eating vegan anymore...I just don't have time to keep up the two blogs. Sorry to anyone who was riveted.

Pie Palooza

Last weekend was the 1st annual Pie Palooza at the Schacalieu house. Pie Night is a tradition of Jeremy's family. They all get together the night before Thanksgiving and everyone brings a pie. We thought it would be fun to get our friends together and have our own pie night early since we will be in Sacramento for Thanksgiving.

Everyone was really pumped to make pies. I had also planned to give out prizes for the best sweet, best savory, and most creative pies. There was some intense competition in the air. We had cards for everyone to write what kind of pie they brought and I made ballots and a voting box so that after everyone was done pie tasting they could vote.

I belive there was about 15 pies on our kitchen table. It was pretty impressive. We had everything from sushi pie to apple pie. All of the pies were very tasty too. Jeremy made an apple pie and I made an avocado enchilada pie. After the votes we tallied we gave out the awards....golden wooden spoons!

The winners were:
Best Sweet: Crapple Pie (cranberry-apple)
Best Savory: Sushi Pie (Eugenia was expecting to take this award & most creative)
Most Creative: Butt Pie (the pie was actually shaped like a butt and chocolate was coming out of the crack)

After the pie portion of the evening, the dance party started. At some point along the night, someone thought it would be fun to start some shenanigans. The next morning I realized that my Mr. Potato Head had been kidnapped!!! We sent out a missing flyer on Sunday. Yesterday, I received a ransom note in the mail, Mr. Potato Head's ear and pictures of him with a duct-taped mouth and his hands are missing.

From the pictures, some people are now more suspect than others. The ransom note said that instructions would follow. I will keep you all updated on the whereabouts of Mr. Potato Head. The people who have done this should be warned that they will have hell to pay. They have opened a bag of worms!!!

Officially a Nutmegger

So I took a day off on Friday so that Jeremy and I could finally make it to the DMV. This would be our 3rd DMV attempt. The first attempt ended in getting lost…damn google map! We were pretty peeved since we had to wake up early on a Saturday. Our second try was on another Saturday, but because of Presidents Day the coming Monday, the DMV was closed. Yes, DMV employees already have Monday off so when the holiday fell on a Monday they needed to take Saturday off. UGH!!! On this last attempt, we got to the DMV (first in line actually) and they opened on time. Things were starting off on the right foot this time! That is until we actually started the process. We told the man behind the counter that we were from out of state and needed a CT driver's license. He then asked for our ID and a bill or letter mailed to our address proving where we lived. SPEED BUMP. I said, "what?" He told us we had to have a piece of mail and I just about lost it. If I was a cartoon, steam would have been coming out of my ears. The very nice DMV man gave us the papers we needed to fill out and told us we would also need a passport or birth certificate as well. I was SO pissed! Of course, I had just cleaned the car out and got rid of any mail that may have been lying around. So, we drove home...me cursing, Jeremy not saying a word.



Alright, so I calmed down on the ride back to the DMV. Fourth time would be a charm, right?!? So we got there, got back in line...to our amazement there really was no line. Got all of our paperwork started and then we had to go and wait for our eye test. The only test we had to do was the eye test. Well, let me tell you....this is where all the waiting came. They only had one person doing the eye test and after he did one test, he went on a coffee break. We never saw him again and some other guy took over. After waiting a half hour, Jeremy got called up. I figured I would be next. Ten minutes later...I was still waiting, 20 minutes later...I was still waiting and Jeremy already had his new license. This sucked since we had to go wait in another line to register the car and since the car is in my name only Jeremy couldn't do it. 30 minutes later...still waiting. I actually met the girl next to me who was also from San Diego. 35 minutes later my name was finally called. Passed the eye test (guess that corrective surgery worked!) and went to sit and wait to get my picture taken. This took another 30 minutes. Just waiting while a whole line of people who were in a different line got their pictures taken. I met another girl from Hawaii. We joked about all the lines and how completely absurd this process was. She said in Hawaii they do it all in one line. So you wait and then after you get up to the counter you are done. Finally I got my ID. The girl I met from SD still wasn't done with her eye test.

Oh! I forgot the BEST part about the CT drivers license. So you pay a certain amount depending on your birthday. You either pay $66 and your license is good for 6 years or you pay $77 and the license is good for 7. Of course, Jeremy, the man who brought us here...away from everyone and everything...gets to pay the $66. I get screwed and have to pay $77. Add it to the list for ridiculous things in Connecticut. Damn nutmeggers!

When we originally came in with all of our forms we had everything for the car registration so they started processing that and we got a "jet pass". You would think having this "jet pass" would be like an express line. Maybe at Disneyland, but not at the Norwalk DMV. All this meant was that we waited in another line. It was a different line from everyone else, but as soon as we got in line, one of the 3 people working there went on break. We only had to wait about 15 minutes in this line, so I guess it wasn't that bad. walked out with our new license plates thanking the good lord that we would never need to go back there. Hopefully the Saturn makes it through this CT venture...otherwise we will have to go back.

Our new favorite sport

Recently, Jeremy and I were introduced to the amazing sport of curling. Eh? What's that you say? What the heck is curling?

Just in case you don't know, curling is an Olympic winter sport. You know...that funny looking game where they yell and are brooming while a circle thing goes down the ice? Yep, that is curling.

Now, I know you are wondering how in the hell we discovered curling. It all started when a new post-doc (Wendy) joined Jeremy's lab. Wendy is married to Michael and they use to live in Michigan where Michael was in a curling league. Upon moving to New Haven, Michael looked up the nearest curling league and lo and behold there was one in Bridgeport. Michael then convinced Jeremy and two other guys from Jeremy's lab to join his curling team. Quickly team names were discussed, among the favorites were...Sparkle Magic, My Little Ponies, and The Sweeping Beauties. Of course, they went with Sweeping Beauties. Face it...it's an awesome name!

So the boys were all geared up to join this curling league before ever stepping foot on the ice. Then one night, Wendy, Christen and myself decided that we wanted in on the action. The Nutmeg Curlers (the league in Bridgeport) was having a learning night. You could come, learn to curl, and then decide if you wanted to join the league. We didn't have a clever name yet, but were ready to try out this strange Canadian sport.

On a Thursday evening, not long ago...the group of us headed to Bridgeport. It didn't take long for all of us to realize that the sport of curling is awesome and we were ready to join the league!

On our first night we learned the basics of curling. The round thing that slides on the ice is called a "rock". When you are sweeping with a broom that is called "sweeping" (duh). The piece of plastic that you put your right foot in when preparing to slide the rock is called "the hack". The bulls eye design where you push the rock to is called the "house". The person standing down at the house yelling is called "the skip".

The basics of curling were pretty easy to pick up, but the finesse and strategy are truly complicated. The rock flies pretty fast down the ice, so finding the perfect balance of releasing it takes a lot of time to perfect.

Of course, after our trial of curling we all decided to join the league. We are now in the Greenhorn League of the Nutmeg Curlers. On Thursday nights and Saturday mornings you will find us on the ice. I (of course) am the only one freezing my ass off! I am hoping that once we start playing games I won't be as cold.

There have been a few tumbles on the ice so far. On your shoes you wear "grippers" that keep you from falling. When you are getting ready to throw the rock you put a piece of teflon shaped like the bottom of your shoe onto the ice and then you really slide fast. I was getting use to the teflon and decided to lift my gripper foot up...let me just tell you...I saw my feet go above my head before I crashed down onto the ice. My rear was quite a bit sore the next day!

Due to work I am forced to miss my first Thursday of league play, so I will have to let you know how that goes in a couple of weeks. It is great to be a part of a team and have some fun while meeting some new people and bonding more with the people we already know. It is also pretty cool to be doing a sport that not many people can say they have tried.

So there you have it, we have a new favorite sport. Maybe we will start training for the Olympics soon! ha ha!

Kickin it NE syle

A couple of weekends ago we invited our friends Phin & Carla to come down from New York so we could embrace the fall of New England and go apple picking.
There are a lot of u-pick farms here and this seemed like a lovely fall activity. Of course we added some healthy competition to the festivities by having an apple pie bake off after we picked about 20 pounds of apples.

The apple farm was really fun. We took a little tractor ride and the dropped us off in the apple orchard. There were a few different varieties of apples to choose from and everyone knows that an apple pie is only as good as the apples you put in it.

Jeremy ate about 3 apples while we were picking and they were all delicious! We had our game plan in place for picking the best apples, as did Phin & Carla. We went our separate ways in the orchard to find our prize apples.

Here are some pictures that re-cap the afternoon.

Once we got back to our house, the real competition began. Jeremy and I went with an old fashioned, no frills apple pie. Phin & Carla went with a fancier recipe that required a skillet, food processor, and all kinds of ingredients...apple cider, maple syrup.

While the pies were baking we played some horseshoes in the backyard. I have to say...I really suck at horseshoes. We would interrupt the game to check on the pies periodically. Phin was running up the stairs to check on his pie when the outside banister came crashing down. Phin put it back up and continued up the stairs (This piece of information isn't of much interest now, but it will be as you read on).

Here are the pictures of our pies. Our pie is the top one and Phin & Carla's is the bottom pie.


After dinner we had the official taste test. Although I we did not agree on a clear cut winner, my decision is that our filling was better, but their crust was better.

Sunday was a pretty typical day. We just relaxed and went to Best Buy to get a universal remote. We haven't been able to watch any of our VHS because the TV we got from Craigslist doesn't have a remote, so we can't get to channel 3. We had a gift certificate that we forgot, so I ran into the house to get it. As I was running up the stairs, the banister broke. I fell onto the stairs and slid down about 5 steps. It hurt pretty bad and it sounded even worse. I'm surprised my fall didn't break the rest of the stairs. Jeremy laughed when I told him I fell and called me Boomer, but this fall was not the result of my clumsiness (as most of my falls are). I blame Phin. He is a one man destroyer. I know Phin felt super bad when he found out and I'm sure I looked ridiculous. Jeremy and I were laughing about it.

So...that is the story of apple picking. Our day kickin' it New England style!

The Schacalieu Shack

Here are pictures (finally!) from our humble abode...

Here is the view of our street complete with fall colors.

Outside

The kitchen

Looking towards the kitchen from the living room

Where all the DVD watching takes place

The magic box

The office/Jeremy's sacred place

Side view of the hallway and entrance to bathroom

The glorious ikea dresser that Jeremy built

Where we lay our heads at night

Prize Idiot

If there were an Olympics for the stupidest things people can do...I would win the gold metal!!! Before I get to explaining how my actions would win me the gold metal at the Stupid Olympics, let me tell you about the weekend.

Like I said last week, we would be trying to get to the DMV this Saturday. Well, we set our alarm so we could wake up early and get there a bit before DMV opened. We got to the DMV about 15 minutes before it opened, which was 8 AM along with a few other people. The line kept growing and at about 2 minutes before 8AM, no lights had been turned on inside. The natives started getting restless and one man went up to the door (the other people at the front of the line could either not read or were blind) and saw a sign that the DMV would be closed this Saturday. Why, you ask...good question...two words...Columbus Day. But you say to yourself, "Wasn't Columbus Day on Monday?" To which I reply, "Yes, but apparently the DMV is closed every Monday, so to insure they got a day off, they closed on Saturday." So our rising out of bed early on Saturday morning was for nothing.

Saturday was a beautiful day, it was about 70 outside and just gorgeous. Jeremy and I walked into town and ate lunch outside. When we got back home Jeremy had to do some work, so I made some vegan pumpkin muffins and then decided to take a drive to explore Fairfield some more. This is where the Stupid Olympics come into play.

On my way home from my drive about town, we were low on gas and I decided to fill up our tank. We had a party to go to that evening and I just figured, might as well. This was my fatal mistake...or my road to gold...you be the judge.

So I stopped at the gas station, there was a pretty long line and I debated leaving and just getting gas when we went to leave. If you know me, you know I am persistent, so I decided to wait it out. Finally it was my turn at the pump, I grabbed the nozzle, it was a little tight, but it went in to my tank and hit the button. That Texas Tea began pouring into my tank as I dazed off. I got back into my car and drove home.

We got ready for our evening out and it was time to go. I had forgotten my phone in the house, so Jeremy said he would start the car. (Can you feel it, if I were running the marathon in the Olympics, I would just be about to start taking my lead at mile 20)

I come out of the house and there is a great cloud of smoke coming out of the car and it is making a weird noise. Oh shit!!! Now, we have been having a lot of problems with the car. The latest one being a weird noise, which turned out to be we needed oil. (Thanks Jeremy for not getting that oil change while I was gone) This was not good, the car was running perfectly all day...what happened.

Jeremy meanwhile is cursing up a storm about how he hates this car. We go back inside to figure out our plans. Jeremy had to leave from New Haven at 6 am the next morning and the trains don't run into New Haven from Fairfield that early on Sunday. What were we to do? We checked car rental places, but apparently they all close at 4 pm on Saturdays. Shit!!!

I just couldn't believe the car wasn't working. It had been working fine all day. It was filled with gas and should have been good to go. ( Now, it is mile 24 and I have a great lead in my Olympic marathon race) Jeremy asks me, "Did you fill the car up with diesel?"

I reply as if this was a ludicrous question. I have been filling up my car (by myself) for 11 years now, why the hell would I fill it up with diesel. Then my doubt sets in, the insecurity...I decide I must walk my butt back to the station where I filled up to solve this mystery. So at 7:30 PM Saturday, I walk 1.5 miles back to the gas station.

When I arrive, there is a man sweeping up around the pumps. Of course, I look totally out of place since I don't have a car. I let him know that I got gas here and he wonders if I want a receipt. I tell him no, but unfortunately I am checking to see if I filled my gas tank with diesel. (I am a mile away from the finish line with no one in sight) I tell him which pump I used (I never saw two) and ask if the regular unleaded gas will work with the pump, he tells me no only diesel. Well, shit, this means I filled my tank with diesel. (I am crossing the finish line with photographers cameras flashing to capture the moment) The sweeping attendant then says, "Oh no, that is not good." Yeah, I know. Pissed at myself and wondering how I am so stupid...I call Jeremy and tell him the news.

Jeremy takes the news like any supporting husband...no, I'm not that stupid...it could happen to anyone...he's almost done it before...He was actually happier that it was my stupidity than not knowing what is wrong and needing to buy a new car!

So after all this hoopla, we board the train for the party we are suppose to go to. I am on the verge of tears and my tummy hurt. Needless to say, when we got to the party we made a bee-line for a drink. Nothing like a couple glasses of wine to take the edge off.

Monday my car was towed (I had an advantage for winning my prize as an Idiot, since I let my AAA run out and now needed to pay for a tow). Hundreds of dollars later the Saturn is running like a dream. The automotive guys also gave me a pumpkin....guess they thought that would lessen the blow of how much my mistake was to fix.

Now you know the story of how I am Queen of the Idiots. Gold Champion! If I was in the Olympics for stupidity, I would compare myself to Michael Phelps....no one could beat me!!!

Fallin' for Fall

I have to say that Fall is increasingly becoming my favorite season. The leaves changing, the weather becoming brisk and cool...I love it! Not only does the humidity go away, but I get to bust out my boots and sweaters.

This weekend was fairly mundane. We had it on our clipboard of fun to go to the DMV on Saturday, but we went to a birthday party on Friday and didn't get home until 2am. Needless to say, rising at 7am did not seem like an option.

We slept in on Saturday and then drove into New Haven so that Jeremy could pick up his backpack from the lab. While in New Haven, we decided to catch a movie and grab some grub. We walked from the lab into town and went to Claire's for lunch. Claire's is an awesome place that boasts healthy fair and has vegetarian/vegan options. It is always crowded. Since it was a bit chilly most people sat inside, so we grabbed an outside table. It was a delicious lunch as always and then we walked over to the movies and saw Burn After Reading. My recommendation would be to wait for video on this one. It was entertaining, but we felt as though the Cohen Brothers wrote the movie and re-read it and realized it wasn't that great. The ending of the movie pretty much sums it all up, but I won't give that away here.

Sunday, we discovered that someone (I suspect our downstairs neighbor) moved our washer and unhooked it. It seems as though the electricity is plugged into his meter. So we are unsure if he was pissed and moved it...or who knows? Anyways, our laundry is hanging all over our house in order to dry. I called our landlord because we can't seem to find the outlet that goes to our meter. My question here is, if it was our neighbor that moved the washer, why not just walk up and talk to us about it. I don't get people. Hopefully our landlord will call back today. We figure we need them to hook up a new outlet from our meter.

After spilling flax seeds all over the kitchen and throwing a hissy fit that included me hiding under the covers, I made some vegan pumpkin muffins and hummus. Both turned out awesome! Hummus is super easy to make, I don't know why I haven't done it before. I do need to tweak the recipe to try and get it a bit smoother.

Now we are going to take a little walk to downtown Fairfield, so that Jeremy can treat himself to a birthday movie. He's buying Return of the King...the trilogy at our house is now complete.

That's all from Schacalieu land. Hopefully, something fun, funny or exciting will happen next weekend. We do have a party scheduled for Saturday...so you never know!! Also, I'm sure there will be some interesting characters at the DMV.

The New Blog has Begun

Alrighty, as promised in my last blog...I have started my new blog...Tastes Like Chicken? The address is http://pangegoesvegan.blogspot.com. I hope you check it out!

I have set it up so you can subscribe to my blogs, that way you will know when I update. I am going to try and update at least once a week, if not more. We'll see how that goes :)

Weekend Update: OCMS in NYC

In case you have read the title of this blog and have no idea what OCMS is...not to fret, it is not some kind of weird disease or rash (although the abbreviation does kinda sound like one). OCMS stands for Old Crow Medicine Show. They are an old-timey folk band and they rocked the house down at Webster Hall in NYC. I'll get to more about the show after I go through the weekend.

So Jeremy and I both took Friday off so that we could spend some time together in NYC before Phin's "surprise" party. Well, things just didn't quite seem to work out that well. First off, we had decided to go to the DMV to finally take care of this pesky registering our car in CT. I know, I know, we should have done this within the first 30 days of moving, but eh...what can I say...I did not want to part with my dear ole' California ID. So anyways, we got some bum directions and could never find the DMV in Bridgeport. Not to worry thought, I found out the other day we wouldn't have been able to register anyways since I had not gotten an emissions test yet. That is fate for you.

I also forgot to mention that Friday was pouring down rain, so much for our lovely day walking around New York and taking in new parts of the city. Anyways, we got into NY in the late afternoon and found out that so many people had flaked on the surprise party that it was no longer a surprise. It was still lots of fun complete with banjo playing and debate watching.

Saturday we woke up to another gloomy day and so we all decided that the day would be best spent at the Natural History Museum. Now, let me tell you...this is one cool museum!!! It is huge and we only saw a few exhibits, but we did see the giant whale and it was amazing.

After the museum we were a bit hungry and went to get some food at Uno's. I know this isn't amazing food, but it was drizzling and no one knew where else to go. The interesting thing about our late lunch at Uno's wasn't just the fact that Jeremy got a free meal because the waitress kept screwing up on his order, but the fact that they now post calories next to every menu item. This is enough for me never to want to eat out again. I mean, seriously, how can you still enjoy your food when it is 1200 calories!! Yikes!! Needless to say, I wasn't that hungry and I just had a side salad (the lowest calorie item on the menu, next to the veggie soup). I perssonally thing it's good that restaurants do this because I don't think enough people really think of the impact of the food they put in their bodies.

One side note here, since we are talking about food...I am going to be starting a new blog...scheduled to debue Oct 2nd about my journey into veganism. So far it's going good! The blog is going to be called "Tastes like Chicken?". I am going to put a link to it in this blog so you'll be sure not to miss it.

Ok back to the weekend...

So, then it was time to start taking off for OCMS. We toasted to the memory of Paul Newman, finished our drinky-poos and were on our way. We stopped at the Old Town bar before hand to get a drink and then it was off to Webster Hall. We got there just as the show was starting and it was packed!!! Now, if you haven't heard of these guys you should definitely look them up, they put on a fantastic show and who knew that so many people liked the folk music. They came back on for two encores and during one played 'Soul Rebel'. The cover was great!!!

After the show we went back to Old Town (phin had forgotten his credit card) and of course we all drank one too many. It's always that last one that gets ya!! It was a late night and we all felt really old the next morning and the morning after that.

Before we left some more banjo and guitar playing commenced and then it was back over the state line to Connecticut.

This weekend we are taking a second stab at the DMV. I passed the emissions test today. I was kind of nervous sitting there waiting for it, almost like for a pregnancy test, but of course not as intense or life-changing. So, hopefully we find it with the new directions. Please take a moment of silence on Saturday to recognize the loss of a California resident.

Thank you and goodnight.

Domestic Diva?

So, if you know me you may know that I am not much of a cook. It’s not that I can’t cook, it’s just that I am lazy and cooking takes planning and time. When I go grocery shopping I don’t make a list of ingredients I need to make a dinner, I just buy things I enjoy like stuff for salad, hummus, yogurt…..$80 and a week later there is no food in the house and Jeremy is ready to gnaw his arm off for fear of starving to death.

I have told Jeremy to look through my cookbooks and pick out a couple of recipes and I will be glad to make them. Has he done this? No. why? I assume it’s because he is lazy too!

Anyways, something new for me is that I have become a vegetarian. I stopped eating red meat my first year of college and just ate chicken and fish. Now I am allowing myself sushi once a month, but that is it. Since turning vegetarian, I have caught a lot of flack from people I hardly know, but that’s ok. The reason I decided to make the change was for health reasons, I don’t have a “save the animals” vendetta or anything like that. I mean, I like animals, but I sure do like the way chicken and fish taste. Actually I read a book called, The China Study. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in to health or has some health problems. It really did change my world and I plan on going vegan at some point. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go Level 5 Vegan and not eat anything that casts a shadow or anything like that. Right now my plan is to I am incorporate a vegan day into my week and then eventually eat vegan on the weekdays. One day I may be vegan 24/7.

This past week I bought a vegan cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance, and last night I made my first recipe….white bean and roasted garlic soup. This recipe was fairly easy and chosen because I had most of the ingredients at home. This was my first venture roasting garlic and using my new Cuisinart hand mixer (thanks Lil Naf and Laura). That hand mixer is the best invention ever!!! I mean seriously, if you want to puree a soup you definitely need one of these babies!!!
Needless to say, my soup rocked and our tummies were happy and full. I will be in need for a good health food store, there is one close to us, but I’m not sure how good it is…I had to go to 3 stores yesterday to find Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s!!

Anyhoo, my first recipe tryout was a success and now I feel like Emril. Bam! Watch out for my cooking show!! I AM a domestic diva in training.

Other than my souptastic dinner last night, our weekend was pretty mellow. We got a dresser for our room and can see our wood floor once again. I know…exciting stuff!

Dear Blog, I've missed you

I know, I know...I have totally neglected my dear, ole blog!!! I am here to apologize and to get started again. I can't promise that some days will go by when I don't write, but I hopefully will not fall into a 5 month hiatus.

So, obviously things have been rockin' and rollin'. I have been super busy and that is the reason I have neglected my dear blog. I know, excuses...excuses!!!

Well then, lets get back into it...

We are now officially married!! The wedding was great and fabulous and everything we imagined. So many people worked so hard to make it so special for us and we will be forever indebted. I am still trying to convince Jeremy to change his name to Schacalieu, but he is still resisting. Here is one of my favorite pics from the big day... After the wedding, we were busy trying to find a new apartment so that I wouldn't have to battle traffic for over an hour in each direction to get to and from work. Let me just say, finding a new place to call home was no easy task. I don't know how people think that other people want to live in dirty places where fake wood is pealing off the walls or walk on floors that are severely slanted. Saying that most places we looked at were dumps, doesn't even give you an accurate description. It is highway robbery to charge people $1400 to live in a shoebox. This story did have a happy ending and we did find an awesome 2 bedroom in Fairfield. We are close to the train and the beach, which is super nice!

Now we are working on turning our piles of moving mess in to our home. The place is almost together--well every room except our bedroom. It looks like our bedroom threw up and spewed out clothes and hangars. We are searching for a dresser and hope to bring one home this weekend. I will try to post some pictures soon.

I have been busy with work and just got back from a program in LA. It went really good and I had a couple of D-list sightings. I saw Tanya from the Real World and Brooke Hogan. Actually, these are probably more like E or F list celebs, but oh well. One of our guys saw Lindsay Lohan when he was at the airport waiting for one of our VIPs. On my plane ride back, I did sit behind Trent who writes Pink is the new blog. I wasn't sure it was him until I got back home and went on his blog, now I wish I had said something, he could have posted a picture of us on his website. I could have been famous!!! Bummer!

On my flight from NYC to LA, there was some interesting conversation taking place before we took off. This older gentleman behind me (i'm not sure how much of a gentleman he actually was) was on his cell phone. Of course, I could hear him talking and I didn't try to stop myself from listening. His conversation was the typical, "we're getting ready to take off" and blah blah blah, but then it got a little...weird. He kept calling the person on the other end "Lover." It was like a skit on Saturday Night Live! "I can't wait to see you Lover" and "I will be in LA around 8pm Lover" and "I've missed you so much Lover". I seriously almost threw-up in my mouth a bit. Note to cell phone users in public places: we can all hear you and yes, we are listening. Please don't gross us out by calling someone Lover or if you must...please keep your voice down. The entire plane does not need to be filled in on your life.

Wow, I kinda just grossed myself out again.

Spring is in the air?

So, it is March and that means things should start warming up. Now, I'm not counting my chickens before they are hatched, but it does seem like Spring is here.

I woke up the other morning and had heard that it was suppose to be 50 degrees. I was ready to break out my tank top, but alas...the sun was not shining. Still, it looked like it could be warmer outside. I decided to put on my winter running gear consisting of tights, and two long sleeve shirts. I also had my warming head band, but when I stepped outside it seemed so nice I opted to leave the headband at home.

It was warm enough to run outside!!! I was SO excited. I didn't sleep well the night before, but the 4 mile run was just what I needed. It felt so great not to be on the treadmill. I almost forgot what running outside felt like.

Of course today it is raining and gross outside, but it has to be at least 40 degrees so that is better than 30 degrees.

Look out California! My lilly white legs will be gracing your beaches. I plan on running outside every day while I am back in California. I've been embracing the Jergens self tanner, but that doesn't seem to be helping much.

Oh well! Bring on the flowers and singing birds...Spring is here! (almost!)

Things are looking up

Many of you know that I have been temping as an Administrative Assistant for a non-profit with the promise of helping to plan their conferences/events. This seemed like a good opportunity, but the job has been much heavier on the filing, answering phones, and copying than any kind of event planning. Needless to say, I am bored every day at work, trying my hardest to look busy. I am working in a Communications department that ironically does not communicate. I have met a few nice people here, but for the most part there are some crazies.

As of this Friday I will no longer be a temp!!! I got a job at a meeting planner company. I am super excited! The only downside is that I am going to have to commute for an hour and a half every day because of traffic. The upside to this is that Jeremy and I are planning to move once our lease is up, so I just have to stick it out for a while.

I am so glad that this job opportunity came up when it did. I was ready to walk out of my temping job the other day. I just can’t stand to be bored and the worst part was my supervisor. She would roll her eyes and talk down to me pretty frequently. Yeah…I have some stories about that lady. She is a piece of work!

Anyways, my last day at the temping place is Friday!!! TGIF for reals!!

Shenanigans!

Who doesn’t love a holiday that is built around wearing green and drinking beer?

I proved my love for St. Patty’s Day by donning my green hat and gloves to go to an Irish bar at 11am with the intention of seeing a parade at 1pm. Let’s just say it was a great day and I am a wee bit tired this Monday morning.
Jeremy missed out on this fabulous day because he is in California soaking up the sunshine…and rubbing it in when he calls me! So, I decided to have some fun of my own…without the ball and chain. Ha ha!

Christen, Jacob (also known as Jaykob--because it looks cool), and I met up just before 11am to walk to Anna Liffey’s (the coolest bar in New Haven) for some St. Patty’s Day shenanigans. (Shout out to the O.G. Team Shenanigans!) We sat down to a traditional Irish breakfast complete with eggs and all different kinds of pudding. Pudding is actually sausage. I tried a bit of everything in order to get into the spirit of things. Well, we had to eat something to get a table so the three of us shared the meal while drinking mini Bloody Mary’s. Our waitress did not like us very much because we worked the system, but we left her a really good tip! Everything was pretty good, even the blood pudding…until I realized that actual blood is in the blood pudding. Then I felt a bit sick and in need of a larger Bloody Mary. Thank goodness those aren’t made with blood.
We stayed at the bar for a while and then decided it was time to venture onto the parade route. It was SO cold and windy outside that we decided to head back to the bar until the parade actually made it down to the end of the route where we were. We talked with 2 cops that told us it would take a while for the parade to reach the end and that it would be going on for two hours. Basically, we never made it back onto the street to watch the parade. The parade instead was brought inside the tent where we were stationed. Really, this worked out to our advantage. I even got a picture taken with the bagpipers.

We stayed in the tent and watched a couple of really awesome bands that played Irish tunes. It was one of the best days in New Haven to date (Jeremy you really missed out!). After many hours of listening to music and drinking Irish beers, we decided we needed some food and headed to Mezcal. It is the only decent Mexican food place in town. My camarones were muy delicioso!!! What a better way to end an Irish themed day than with Mexican food.

After eating, it was time to call it a day/night. I was tucked away/passed out by 9pm. Here are some more pictures that sum up the day….

As Requested...

So one of my loyal readers has asked for me to blog about some wedding updates. Well, Murray man stan, here you go…I am not sure that you wanted to open this bag of worms, the wedding planning is kind of like Pandora’s box right now. I feel like if I don’t talk about it nothing more can go wrong. Alright, I’m gonna let it fly!

Let me just say, I wish we had eloped. I had mentioned it in the beginning but was told by my mother and best friend (who ironically just eloped) that they would hunt me down and kill me if I eloped without them. Jeremy also agreed that I wouldn’t be happy if we went to Vegas or something, but I think he is regretting that he talked me out of the “easy” route.

Weddings are notoriously stressful and I know this. My work experience is in event planning, so really I wasn’t that worried. It’s not so much that the planning has been stressful. We had all of the big stuff nailed down before we moved. Recently, there has just been some bumps…or should I say...sinkholes along the way.

What? Sinkholes? Angela…you are so dramatic! Maybe I am, but then again….After announcing the engagement I proceeded to have two nervous breakdowns concerning aspects of the ceremony. I won’t get into details because it is personal and those breakdowns have been talked about and we are over them. Next, up…sticking to the budget. Of course, we are on a budget…I am no Paris Hilton, I don’t come from “old money”, and right about now I wish that I had been born a trust fund baby.

We have been pretty on track with finding steals and deals, we are getting a lot of help from family and friends (thank you!), but somehow things are starting to go wrong. First of all…the dress…Ok, I didn’t totally go WAY insane and get a dress for thousands of dollars or even a thousand dollars, but we spent a more than expected on this. Of course it will be totally worth it because I am going to look SO amazing and everyone will tell me how pretty I am (P.S. if you are invited to the wedding you better be showering me with compliments).

About a month ago we found out that our DJ quit on us. My Aunt and Uncle have graciously taken care of the DJ for us (I can’t tell you how grateful we are for this), but due to technical difficulties…he quit on us. This was resolved pretty quickly, my Aunt found another awesome DJ for us! So that was really just a little hiccup.

I have also been stressing about my bridesmaids, except for Melinda because she is the only one who has purchased her dress. Thank you Melinda, you will be getting a prize!! I have felt like I have been nagging them all since November and now it is getting down to the wire. Note to readers: if you are a bridesmaid…just get the dress!!! Don’t wait till the deadline to do it, it is just one more thing that the bride has to stress about. Needless to say, I am sure they will all come though and everything work out.

The dress is really no biggie in comparison to what has hopped on our plate this week. Yes, a poop-sandwich hopped on our plate this week! Our plate before was just fine, a nice open face turkey sandwich with provolone cheese and now….a poop sandwich is there. How the hell did that transformation happen??? Linens! I wish I had a team of little men to sew me linens at night or if I was the girl in Enchanted and I could sing a tune and all the mice and forest animals would scurry around me and create amazing linens out of my sheets. A girl can dream can’t she? Anyways, so I thought getting linens from my old job would be no biggie, right? WRONG! I don’t know what the final say in this matter is as of today, but I'm positive there will definitely be a cost. So, I started shopping around for linens. I know that linens are super expensive from my last job, but seriously $27 for a chocolate lamour linen, that’s $27 each. It’s ridiculous and I know this already! This is just something I was not budgeting for and even if I was I wouldn't have enough money to pay $27 for a linen. I don't have a money tree in my backyard. I don't even have a backyard.Our back up plan is to get cheapo white linens and butcher paper and put crayons on the tables. I call it butcherlicous and it will be FIERCE!

Next up, a nice cup of rotting berries to accompany the poop sandwich. This would be the fact that we are having catering drama. Christie (a friend of the Beaulieu’s) is doing our catering for us. She isn’t a caterer, but she has done parties for people in the past. Since we are on a budget, she said that she would do our wedding for us. We were and still are ecstatic about this! Our venue had a list of caterers we could choose from (which we could not afford) or you could pay a small fee and do whatever you want…or so we thought. Yesterday, Christie was notified by our venue that “You must work out of a health permitted kitchen, carry workers compensation and one employee on premise must have an American Food Safety Institution Certification” What!!! I thought Jeremy was going to pass out. Yeah, we were very stressed. We are 3 months away from D-day, how are we going to find a new caterer and better yet how are we going to pay for it?? Discussions of canceling the wedding were occurring last night. Thank you for vino!!! After a large glass of wine I just passed out.

WAIT!! Hold on…our regularly scheduled blog has been interrupted by a news break…

Breaking news…Christie just emailed me and we are in the clear. She will have her American Food Safety Institution Certification in time for the wedding!!!!

Seriously, as I am writing, I just found out this information. No more rotting berries!!!! The poop-sandwich is a little less stinky!!! The liability insurance has also been worked out as well!!!

Ok, so that makes things a hell of a lot better! So there is your up to the minute Schacalieu wedding update.

Are you sorry you asked?

Boredom Blogging

Last Friday was super snowy. It basically snowed all day. My work was closed so I got to relax at home and watch everything turn white outside. The snow is sill on the ground today, but it is suppose to rain soon so I don’t know how long that will be “sticking” around. (that is some snow humor for you all)

All I know is that I cannot wait for my trip home to California at the end of March!!! Jeremy is worried that I will go to visit and will never come back. I think his worries are genuine. Hopefully it will be sunny and nice, not rainy. Then I may really not come back to New Haven.

This weekend was pretty boring except that we went out for a birthday dinner for someone Jeremy goes to school with and then went to see a rockabilly band at a nearby bar. The band was fun to listen to and we had a good time.

In other extremely exciting Schacalieu news….Jeremy and I have finally found a sushi place to frequent!!! If you don’t know, we have been on the search to find an awesome sushi place since we arrived in Connecticut. We have tried a lot of places and they were all pretty good, but they all were lacking in some area. If they had good rolls, then they didn’t have sashimi-- if they had good rolls & sashimi, then the ambiance sucked. Basically, we were looking for a place that would be on the same level as Zen 5 (reggae & sushi) in San Diego. We have finally found a place that plays music (not reggae), has good rolls and sashimi that aren’t too expensive, and has good service (actually the service is a bit TOO fast, but I guess you just can’t have everything). So, the search is over for a regular sushi place.

That’s all from the East, hopefully I will have a more interesting post next time. Truthfully I am just bored at work so I figured I would update the blog.

Finally, something to write about!

Wow! It has been a super long time since I have posted anything. I would like to say my excuse is that we have just been leading such a busy and exciting life, but alas that is not the case. We are just boring.

Yes, it has been pretty cold here. It has been staying around 35 degrees, but it has dropped down into the 20s and the teens. I think one day with the windchill it was around 3 degrees. Yeah, it's cold! Although I think it is suppose to be 50 on Monday...weird, but I plan on embracing it. Maybe I will actually break my promise of not running outside until March and hit the streets instead of the treadmill.


So what is new with us? Seriously...not much. Jeremy is going to school. Although he did have a trip to Santa Barbara and Florida to speak at meeings and rub elbows with amazing scientist people. I have been trying to not get too depressed. I have a serious case of California Dreamin' and it's not helping that I am bored stiff at my job and can't seem to find any kind of promising job prospects. I am trying to keep positive, I'm sure something will come up soon.


This past week we did have our first out-of-state friend visit. (to clarify: my mom did visit us and so did Phin, so Ian was not our first visitor, but he was our first friend from CA to visit) Ian made the trip out and stayed with us from Sunday until early Friday morning. We hope he had a good time. It was great seeing him and we tried to show him all that Connecticut had to offer....which isn't a whole hell of a lot. Although, we did eat some good food.


Jeremy was able to show Ian the sights of Yale. Ian took some pictures of the amazing architecture of the campus. We ate some amazing tapas at my new favorite restaurant, Barcelona. Jeremy and I both took Thursday off so that we could spend the day sightseeing. Thursday was also Valentine's day, so you know there was alot of romance to be had. We took a ride up the coast. We ate some chowder at the USS Chowder Pot.

The decor was very nautical and the chowder was pretty good. Jeremy realized his love for Rhode Island style clam chowder. We had all never heard of it before. It was tasty. If you don't know...it has a clear, chicken soup syle broth. We saw the "beach" at Branford and walked around the town of Guilford. Drove around some more and saw a seriously weird apartment building that we all thought was pretty cool.

After that, Jeremy wanted to drive over some "really cool" bridge. Instead of driving over the bridge that we couldn't seem to find, we took a stroll in New London. On the way into New London Ian looked up the town to see some facts. He did find a top 10 things to do in New London list and if you haven't heard New London is pretty exciting. The number 10 thing to do in New London was "go to the post office." What!!! There is nothing better to do, than take a trip to the post office?!? Unbelievable. There really wasn't that much in New London, but they were constructing a Calypso bar, so hopefully that will take over the number 10 spot.

After seeing all that New London had to offer, we were exhausted and in need of substinance. Who wouldn't be? I mean taking a trip to the post office really takes it out of you. We headed back to New Haven to satisfy Ian's need for a slice. We went to the famous Pepe's Pizza. Jeremy and I had never been there, so we were all excited to try some of this pizza. The pizza was delicious. The only thing that took away from the experience was a man at the booth behind us. He had some kind of cold and kept sucking up his snot. It was really loud and disgusting and did not stop the whole time we were there. Somehow that made taking a bite into the pizza just a little less appetizing, but we were troopers and still ate. The pizza we got was huge...mama mia!!!




Thursday night we made our way to the Peabody Museum. There was a exhibit opening and Jeremy had done an illustration that was on one of the exhibit walls. It was great to see what he will be working on for the next 4 years. I finally understand what he is doing...kinda.

After the exhibit we went to the local dive bar and chatted it up with a few people from Jeremy's lab and then headed home to finish our romantic day off with some episodes of Arrested Development.



Friday morning came way too soon. Ian had to be at the train station by 6am, so it was an early morning after not enough sleep. Friday was rough for me (note to self-2 gin & tonics are too much!) but I made it through. Now we have a 3-day weekend. Well, I have a 3-day weekend, Jeremy is going to school on Monday. If the weather permits we are going to walk up East Rock since Jeremy hasn't made it up there yet. It is a huge rock that is right by our house. Apparently there is another half of the rock on another continent (I can't remember where right now, I will consult my encyclopedia...Jeremy and get back to you on that). Anyways once you get to the top there is a pretty awesome view of New Haven.



Miss you all! Our place is always open for visitors. I know you will all be rushing to visit after reading all of the fun that is to be had in Connecticut. Don't you all call me at once!!!

Christmas in Connecticut

So Christmas has come and gone and I hope everyone had a great holiday. Jeremy and I were unable to travel home, so we had our own little Christmas in Connecticut (No, I haven’t watched the movie, but I did DVR it). There were tears (from my eyes) on Christmas Eve since I was missing out on spending time with my family, but we made the best of Christmas with just the two of us.

We spent the weekend before Christmas in New York because my best friend, Rene was coming out. Little did she know her boyfriend was planning on purposing to her on The Top of the Rock. Both of their families came out and I lied to her saying we were late. She was totally confused when she spotted her mom, but Doug did a great job and now they are engaged!

The proposal

Typical tourists

Cutest couple of 2007!!! We bought matching hats

Now that I have seen the New York shop windows and the Rockefeller tree, I never need to be in New York before Christmas again. It was so crowded! Even with the crowds, we had a great time with Rene and Doug and their family!!

So here are more pictures from our holiday. Enjoy!

This was our lovely Christmas Eve dinner (before the tears)

My Favorite part of Christmas....The stockings!!! One from Jeremy, one from my mom!

Jeremy loves coffee!!

Present time!!!

Jeremy trying on a sweater

Jeremy's New Year's Eve "hot boy" outfit

Jeremy & Kelli playing Wii boxing