Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Our Second Home Sweet Home....

Tis the eve of our return to Italy and it couldn't have come at a better time. It seems like it was just yesterday that I weighed five pounds less and was packing to come back to Chicago. Without fail, the United States equals weight gain and sadly this morning, I found myself doing the ole yank and squat to get my jeans on. This didn't end so well. My jeans split. Very, very sad. Nothing says lose weight like torn pants!

Ciao America! Ciao Ranch! Ciao Fried Stuff! Ciao Rootbeer! Ciao Turtle Sundae at Culvers!

Helloooooo Bolzano! Hello Tomatoes! Hello Really Small Portions! Hello Very Cheap Heart Healthy Extra Virgin Olive Oil!

Friday, August 5, 2011

It's My Mom's Birthday, And She'll Cry If She Wants To, Cry If She Wants To, You Would Cry To If It Happened To You

My poor mother has been telling anybody that would listen her "retirement countdown" for the past three years and it was suppose to be TODAY! It's about the most annoying thing I've ever had to hear and I personally couldn't wait for August 5, 2011 to arrive. Short story short, things got a little messed up at work and Marianne doesn't get to retire today. She has to wait until September 1. Sadly for me and probably every other person she comes in contact with for the the next month, we have to continue on listening to a "retirement countdown." However, this doesn't mean it's not still her birthday and she can't partaaaaaaaayyy!

Happy Birthday Marianne "No Middle Name" Carter!!!!

Oh Happy Day, Sister Act 2 Style

Oh Happy Day, my little lovers! It's been awhile, but I'm back. I thought since I was on vacation I would be back to my ole blogging self, but alas, that was not how it played out. Vacation went a little something like this......
  • 7:00 is wake up time. I like mornings and I like coffee, plus I just don't like to sleep in anymore. What a waste of life!
  • 7:15 rolls around and I think, "Gosh, I have the entire day to do whatever I want. The world is mine! What should I do? Let's make this a good one, Stacy."
  • 9:00 Wouldn't want to miss Regis and Kelly.
  • 10:00 Wouldn't want to miss The View.
  • 11:00 Shower. The days not totally wasted.
  • 12:30 I'm ready to leave and do things, but it's so sunny outside, I'm afraid my life is wasting away if I spend the day running errands or doing anything that's not getting a tan.
  • 2:00 I haven't left the house yet because I can't make up my mind whether I should lay our or not.
  • 4:00 I haven't left the house to do errands and I haven't laid out. But I am watching Weeds OnDemand and thinking, "This season seems dirtier."
  • 4:28 Weeds is over and I think I may give it up. Not only is it dirtier, the storyline is whack and HIGHLY unbelievable.
  • 4:30 I think, "But if I give up Weeds, I won't get to see Silas anymore."
  • 7:00 The sun is slowly setting and my hair is getting greasy. Guess I can't go anywhere now.
  • 9:15 I make a root beer float. Preferably with Diet A&W.
  • 10:00 Tucked in and ready for Chelsea Lately.
All in all, I'm an idiot and really let myself down the past two weeks.

I bet you can guess what else I failed at! Farmers' Market Week! (Remember that? No? You've never read my blog before and don't plan on coming back?) Well, I wasn't a complete failure, but I sure wasn't a success. I started off strong with a deep dish cherry pie! I've never made cherry pie and to be totally honest, I don't usually enjoy the texture of a cherry. But this baby was apparently baked in heaven and turned out perfect (other than being a bit runny). The crust was probably the best part. The directions have you fold it so that it is similar to a very large crostada. The second and last item prepared in honor of Farmers' Market Week was an also never attempted, blueberry pie! This pie was quite tasty despite being runny. (I am living with my in laws this summer and I'm beginning to think that Tina, my roommate/mother in law is sabotaging me with bad cornstarch! What else could the problem be?) Soooo, yeah, in my two weeks of baking, I made two pies.

Turning that frown upside down!

I started an Etsy shop! Remember how I "think" I take "cool" pictures at the markets? Well, I did some editing and had those suckers printed! You can now purchase up to 20 different 5x7 fruit and vegetable photos from Farmers' Market Delight! Please buy! I'll never live this down if nobody buys anything! Talk to you later!