#58 - Mermaid

#58 - Mermaid

Checked out the first Sustainable Living Fair in Norfolk on Saturday. Saw a couple cool exhibits and met some people I've only talked to over email. But the best part was that it was sunny (chilly but sunny) so took a little walk on the waterside to enjoy the sunshine. In fact, even got in a walk on Buckroe Beach too and did some beachcombing! Great Saturday followed by mug night with friends!

#57 - Bromance

#57 - Bromance

The bromance blossoms even more at happy hour between Jared and Justin. :)




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New recipe

Tried out a new recipe last night and thought I'd share! From Cooking Light

Pasta with Asparagus, Panchetta, and Pine Nuts

Prep Time: 40 minutesYield: 4 servings (serving size: about 2 cups)
Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked cavatappi pasta
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 ounces diced pancetta
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; add asparagus to pan during last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain. Sprinkle pasta mixture with garlic; return to pan, and toss well.
3. Arrange pine nuts in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 400° for 3 minutes or until golden and fragrant, stirring occasionally. Place in a small bowl.
4. Increase oven temperature to 475°.
5. Arrange pancetta on jelly-roll pan. Bake at 475° for 6 minutes or until crisp.
6. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with pine nuts, pancetta, and cheese.

#56 - Famous (?)

#56 - Famous (?)

Made it into the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette this morning for our Discovery Labs.

#55 - Frozen Hot Chocolate

#55 - Frozen Hot Chocolate

Shared some of my delicious frozen hot chocolate with Jared last night from Serendipity in NYC! Delicious - and an interesting coincidence that I was drinking out of a glass with a killer whale on it - considering the attack that happened at Sea World yesterday.

BTW - All About Steve - terrible movie. Do not rent it.

#54 - Realtor

#54 - Realtor

If you're looking for a realtor, I would totally suggest mine. She's awesome! And the offer got accepted. Now onto the home inspection and getting the financial documents in order. :)

#53 - Stress

#53 - Stress

Remember that post before about "are you my kitchen"...well today I put an offer in on a house. It was stressful and nervewracking and I'm still waiting to find out if it was accepted (after some negotiation).

Anyway, I forgot to take a picture yesterday - SO I'm putting in a picture that was SENT to me yesterday and is from out lab last week. I love it!

#52 - Sassy

#52 - Sassy

So I fully admit that I forgot to take a picture on Sunday until pretty late and all I had was my phone next to me so it's not the greatest picture, but it's of the cutest Valentine's that I got from Ellie Sage. And I can even plant it (which I plan to do) and see what comes up. :)

#51 - Things

#51 - Things

I got a great new game over Christmas break, The Game of Things, and finally got to play it last night. Andrea, Jared, Tracy, and Justin came over after gorging ourselves on chocolate at the Chocolate Affair. We had a HILARIOUS time playing the game and I can't wait to play again!

#50 - The Lanes

#50 - The Lanes

Went bowling Friday night! It's been a long time...

#49 - Are you my kitchen?

#49 - Are you my kitchen?

Went househunting yesterday and found two awesome townhouses that I love! Surprising. I really wasn't expecting that. So now I am writing a pro/con list and trying to figure out which one I like more. But this kitchen is definitely on the pro side of this townhouse.

#48 - Flowers

#48 - Flowers

Another shot of the lillies that I have b/c they are blooming and just inspired me to take more pictures of them!

#47 - Insects

#47 - Insects

Discovery Lab last night. Here's part of the display of insects that our speaker brought to show everyone.

Podcasts of Life

There is a great new podcast out there called Podcasts of Life. Each podcast is short, about 2 to 3 minutes and each one focuses on a specific marine creature. So far I've listened to White Sharks and Sea Cucumbers. Box Jellies are coming up. So if you're interested in learning a little bit about different marine creatures, you should check it out!

http://education.eol.org/podcast

Info from this podcast:

*No evidence of lifetime mating between white sharks.
*What does a shark eat? Changes as the shark grows.
*Attacks happen at dawn and dusk, mostly.
*Largest reliable measurement of a great white shark was 21 feet. 30 feet shown in Jaws is a little bit of an exaggeration but there are estimates of sharks seen that are 25-30 feet.

Another cool thing - students got to ask the questions on this shark one. Students can apply to participate. The website also has more questions, stories from the speaker, and contests. For the box jellies, they are looking for people to make up a dance about them! :)

#46 - Stargazer Lillies

#46 - Stargazer Lillies

My apartment smells sooooooooo good right now! Two bouquets of lillies are opening up today and I love them!

#45 - How adorable?

#45 - How adorable?

Valentine's Day!!!! One of my surprises for Jared was a new apron with a gnome on it. :) He likes gnomes and it's kinda becoming a tradition that each occasion have something with a gnome on it so this worked for V-Day. Here he is modeling the apron (even grabbed the spoon to look more in the moment) in my kitchen as we're cooking Shrimp Portofino for dinner!

#44 - Lust in the Dust

#44 - Lust in the Dust

Another fun dorky evening! Sally, Tracy, Justin, and I ventured to CNU for a lecture by Dr. Art Evans, entomologist, author, and photographer called "Lust in the Dust". It was all about insects and their mating habits. Very interesting and entertaining. Especially since most of the audience was senior citizens b/c the class was for my Master Naturalist group! Not the greatest picture but it's of my blazer and adorable nametag for the event (it was late and I had just remembered I hadn't taken a picture today).

#43 - Size Matters

#43 - Size Matters

Valentine's Day came and went - and Friday I got a little (no pun intended) surprise at my door. Or rather, it was at my door but Jared stole it back before I got home b/c he was upset at the difference between what he ordered and what he got. So he got a second one to supplement. They are both gorgeous and now I have two! :) Worked out for me in the long run.

#42 - What did you do today?

#42 - What did you do today?


I'm sure it wasn't as cool as holding a lamprey! Yeah that's just one of the things that randomly popped into my day. I went to observe Sally in the classroom today to see one of her new activities and see how it works in the classroom. Well one of the fish she used was a lamprey. Here's a group of girls who were not afraid in the least to hold a dead fish while they were working on observing the mouth and eating habits of this vampire-ish fish.


What is a lamprey? - Lampreys are parasitic marine animals that latch onto other fish with their toothed, tunnel-shaped mouth. Lampreys bore into the flesh of other fish and suck their blood.

#41 - I Love Alaska

#41 - I Love Alaska

Watched The Proposal last night on Netflix, which is set in Sitka, Alaska. Made me think about our trip there a couple years ago and how awesomely beautiful it was. I wish I could go back! Here's a set of postcards that hang in my living room remiding me of all the fun things we saw.

#40 - Animal Tracks

#40 - Animal Tracks

Took a class at the Virginia Living Museum last night on Animal Tracks and Signs for my Advanced Training credit for Master Naturalists - 6.5 hours to go! Good class, learned some things, and got a little gift from the instructor!

#39 - Book 4

#39 - Book 4

Still reading for the 52/52 project. A little behind right now but I think I can catch up. I'm really enjoying "Cleaving" by Julie Powell. She's a great writer and even though this book is WAY different than the first one, I'm still liking it a lot.

#38 - I love wine

#38 - I love wine

I keep all of the wine corks from wine that I drink at home (and sometimes at other people's homes or on trips). One day I'm going to make something out of them, but for now they sit in several fun dishes around the apartment. The one in the middle is from Frog's Leap vineyard in California - one of the ones we visited in Napa. Had that bottle over Christmas when the whole family was together!

#37 - Heavy Trees

#37 - Heavy Trees

Snow again this weekend! The trees look like they don't know how to handle all this added weight.

#36 - Inspiration

#36 - Inspiration

Painted pottery tonight and used this wall painting as inspiration. I'll post a picture of the final product when we pick them up.




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#35 - Hair cut

#35 - Hair cut

My hairdresser, Sue, moved away to DC and I was left to figure out someone new to take over this head of hair. Decided to make an appointment with Daniel at the same place Sue worked, 3 Bowls of Color (highly recommend). I was scared that I would miss out on the a-MAZ-ing head massage that Sue usually did while washing my hair, but guess what, Daniel does one too including the neck and yeah it was great!

#34 - Ice Cream Makes It All Better

#34 - Ice Cream Makes It All Better

Well that and a great boyfriend that listened to me vent, cooked me dinner, and even left me leftovers for dinner tonight! :) The best part - that he knew that I was having a bad day and tried to make it better.

#33 - Pins

#33 - Pins

I've been collecting pins ever since a trip to Disney World where I got a Hard Rock Cafe pin and stuck it on my Disney hat and then the collection grew from there. The hat contained all the pins for many many years, but recently I've upgraded to a display box. Which is getting full! I try and get a pin wherever I go.

Not the best picture but I kinda forgot about taking one today until about 10pm and used my phone.

#32 - Do One Thing

#32 - Do One Thing

William and Mary has a new campaign trying to get all of their employees to "do one thing" to help the environment. I love the design for it. Tried to find out who the designer was so maybe they could do our camp tshirts, but found out it was an external person who is lending William and Mary their design for this one time.

Also wanted to add some pictures from the snow at work b/c it was so pretty just b/c no one had been walking around in it and it was so perfect!