A Southern Bell

Josh and I went to Nashville for our anniversary last weekend - and it was amazing! We've been on trips together and we always have fun together - but this was the best trip we have ever been on! For some reason it just felt fun - we planned a few things but mostly just flew by the seat of our pants. We jumped off the highway and visited sites.

We spent 1 night at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel - it was ginormous! I loved walking through the gardens (all 3 of them) and looking at the beautiful flowers. The lights at night added a special touch, oh yeah - the raspberry gelatto helped too! :) It was my first every gelatto and I'm glad I made the jump!

We went to downtown Nashville for the evening, and I'll be honest - it was less glamorous than I expected. It was basically a 4 block strip with mostly bars with live Country Music, which I only went in to use the restroom. Totally awesome though, I got to meet Elvis!

On Tuesday we went to the Grand Ole Opry - it was so cool! I honestly don't listen to much Country Music, so I wasn't quite in tears like some of the other tourists, but it was pretty cool none the less. I loved just walking around and seeing history.

On Wednesday we stopped by the Woodford Reserve - 1 of Kentucky's Bourbon Distillery. Although the smell of the brewing building made me want to vomit, and I absolutely hated the taste of the free bourbon at the end - It was really fun! (And Josh loved it - so it was worth it!)

Mary Kaying it Up!

One of the challenges of moving was leaving all of our friends. I've always struggled with making friends - I don't want to be vulnerable - and for whatever reason I'm convinced that everyone else has it all together, has all the friends they need, and couldn't care less about becoming my friend. This challenge has been magnified by working from home - even though I talk to people in meetings I crave the real interaction and connection with humans.

We visited another church on Sunday, and one of the women there invited me to attend a Spa Night she was having for Mary Kay. Although I'm pretty sure I have enough Mary Kay people in my life and I was literally sick to my stomach at the the thought of walking into the room and not knowing a single person....I decided to attend. It took me quite a while to get out the door, and then I hid in the car for a while, and once I finally got myself out of the car and into the building I slipped up the stairs rather than have to wait in line for the elevators, but I finally made it to the room....and I slipped into a chair.

After being paired up with 5 other woman we were sent around the room in a whirlwind of stations, lip balm, and suntan lotion. I talked with this one girl, Lindsey, throughout the entire evening and I really liked her. As the night came to a close I had to face my fears and talk to her about the fact that I'm dying for connection, friendship, relationships, love - but I was petrified. As I shuffled across the room to her and told her that I had been praying to meet a friend and I would love to get together with her if she was ever interested - I now know why guys don't ask out the girl they are crazy about! I was totally scared to talk to her. Well - she looked at me like a crazy person and who know if she will ever call of Facebook me - but I had to put myself out there. I had to try.

I'm praying for friendship and connection in my new life.

Rachel

A 1/2 Star Reveiw

Once again, I'm late on this update - so maybe that will be the norm from here on out...

On Tuesday I made 2 new things to eat, and sadly I have very poor reviews for both of them. I thought it would be fun to make a little appetizer to start with (and to actually have something on the table when Josh got home). I intended to make little artichoke and spinach dip cracker sliders...however I bought"artichoke bruschetta" there was no spinach involved....so it wasn't exactly what I was thinking. To be honest - it wasn't anything like I was thinking, I won't be making them again. But I do have to say I love the little toasted crackers.

The 2nd thing on the menu was gnocchi. I've honestly never had gnocchi in my life, so I wasn't really sure what to expect - but I loved that the cooking time was only 4 minutes, YIPPEE! In my opinion, the short cooking time was the only benefit. Maybe I didn't cook it right - but I really hated the filmy-ness of the pasta on the roof of my mouth. I had to chew the GIANT noodles totally at the front of my teeth so that none would get on the roof of my mouth - and food simply shouldn't be that much of a hassle, thus why I HATE soft shell crabs...too much work!

In other news, I'm really enjoying working from home - and to fully illustrate that, I wanted to do a "favorite things" list:
(1) sleeping until 8am
(2) sunbathing at the pool on my lunch break
(3) starting to make dinner at 5:30, rather than at 6:30 after driving home, being stressed, venting about drama at work
(4) eating hot pastrami sandwiches for lunch
(5) starting my morning with iced coffee
(6) making the bed, putting away laundry, washing dishes during the day
(7) wearing sweatpants and shorts every day
(8) never having to do my hair
(9) not packing a lunch and never accidentally leaving my lunch at home
(10) making $150 more a week because we live in PA and not VA

Holy Guacamole

I'm late on this update, but life has been crazy. (This weekend we help Josh's mom move into her new place - we are so excited for her!)

On Thursday night I cooked a new version of my (already amazing) turkey burger. I cooked in some pepper jack cheese and added guacamole on the top. The peeper jack added a great bite to the burger, and my homemade guac was amazing.

Making the guac was really easy, but I think I'll use more lime and sea salt too. It does make the burger a little messy, but definitely knocked the burger out of the park.

On Friday we also tried a new pizza place, Champs. It was ok, but wasn't anything that we would order again. I didn't really like the sauce. (However we have to factor in that it wasn't made at the Pizza Turd!)