July 15th, 2010
I’ve spent the past few hours unpacking wedding presents, including putting together and filling a new spice rack. It has the usual culprits: cinnamon, garlic salt, oregano, parsley, mustard seed… I have used mustard seed exactly zero times in my life, but, for some reason, it always shows up. I blame the Bible.
So, in honor of the new spice rack, I started thinking (inspired further, of course, by GraphJam):
If my life depended on identifying spices I own by taste, I’d die. I can identify some by smell (maybe). I couldn’t describe them to you or actually tell you what they do or rather, are supposed to do to food, “Salt good. Too much pepper bad. Garlic good. Too much salt bad.”
Some spices I started using because I stumbled on them in a recipe who knows when for who knows what. Other spices, I use out of habit, such as always putting oregano, parsley, basil, and garlic in spaghetti sauce. I learned it that way and it works. I’ve never questioned it.
Some spices in my cupboard are a mystery. Turmeric. What’s it do? It turns things yellow. What’s it taste like? It turns things yellow. It goes in curries. Curries are often yellow.
Yes, I’m acknowledging my ignorance. The sad thing is I really do like to cook and I like to imagine that I know what I’m doing sometimes. I think I’ll spend some time with my cookbooks and hold off on the trips to Penzey’s for six different kinds of pepper until I get my bearings.
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March 20th, 2010
Moving is complete, thankfully. We’re not unpacked yet and won’t be for awhile. We don’t have enough bookshelves for our books. They’re still in boxes stacked up in the den. The apartment feels absolutely huge, which is a welcome change. We can actually put the boxes out of sight and at least give the illusion of being moved in (until you walk into the den).
Save the Dates are mostly done and mailed. I have 26 addresses that we’re still missing. Before doing them, I’d forgotten how much work calligraphy is. I remember now. Handwriting all of the addresses took rather a long time. It’s why I ended up doing them in bursts. Matt’s going to run the last of them to the post office on Monday. Hopefully, we can get the rest of the addresses this weekend – or at least most of them anyway.
So back to the subject of the new apartment, I did mention it felt huge, yes? We’re on the top floor (the 4th) and the ceilings are extremely tall. In comparison, my last apartment was a hobbit hole. This just feels immense, in a welcome way. My television and entertainment center, however, look rather dwarfish. They were purchased for a teeny apartment. It’s a problem for another day, but I’m on the lookout for ready, cheap solutions furnishings-wise. We’ll figure something out. In the meantime, I’ll cheat by finding an extremely tall fake plant to put on top of it or something (not really). The cat, who is adapting quite nicely, would eat the plant. I’m sure of it.
Last, but not least, we had our engagement pictures taken on our speed trip to Colorado last weekend. She’s already finished with them – all 182. The session was a blast – Tattered Cover bookstore right across from Union Station. We used both locations and the pictures are great. Denver’s LoDo lent itself nicely and Ashley Davis, our photographer, is fabulous. We enjoyed ourselves and you can tell in the photos. I’m laughing in nearly all of them. Now, we have to pick out a handful for our various needs. It was a good experience and I’m quite glad we chose her for our wedding. I can’t wait.
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February 16th, 2010
In the midst of work being insanely busy, moving, trying to finalize wedding plans, and everything else, my back decided to act up. This time last year, it did something similar that resulted in me having a microdiscectomy last May. Unlike last year, I got an MRI right away. All signs point to “normal,” but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’m hoping that this time, I’ll be able to have physical therapy versus losing mobility. Last year, I ended up barely able to walk. I’m sincerely hoping that this year is very different. I’m banking on the MRI results truly being “normal.”
I spent the last weekend in a lot of pain and did a fair amount of sleeping. Needless to say, the Save the Dates didn’t go out. I’m going to get them done and out this weekend. I did manage to go try on my dress and pick a bridesmaid dress that all the bridesmaids actually like. I consider that a major accomplishment.
On the downside of things, my rings came back from the shop and we tried to pick them up last night. While the wedding band looked good, my engagement ring was flattened on one side and very thin where the split had been. Dixie, who helped us last night and every other time we’ve been in, was just as bothered as I was and made arrangements for the ring to be fixed at another shop. She commented that she would be talking to the Kay Jewelers District Manager and the District Repair Manager. I hope she does. It’s sad that we’ve had these problems and it really shouldn’t have happened. If it weren’t for her being genuinely helpful and concerned, I’m sure I’d be pretty irritated at this point. Good customer service carries a lot of weight.
So, all told, things are good despite my back and carrying a large bottle of Tylenol everywhere I go. I’ll feel better when the Save the Dates and the move are done this weekend. I think I’ll take an afternoon off later this month just to recuperate from the craziness and enjoy our additional 300 square feet.
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