Passionately Persuing and Loving Friends in the Year of Do

There has been a theme in this week's Year of Do activities if you haven't already picked up on it, initiating with friends.  It's really easy for me to have an "out of sigh, out of mind," mindset with friends.  It's easy to keep up with friends you see every week, the ones you work with and see at church.  It's harder to set aside time for phone dates and road trips.  But the friends in my life who know me the best, the ones I call when life goes a little crazy (like a few nights ago when a racoon walking in front of my car in my neigborhood and I was overcome with excitement/nausiousnes), are the one's who have been around for multiple stages of my life, the one's I've made commitments to call and visit on a regular basis.  Thus, this year, being the year of doing and not just wishing, I want to passionately persue my friends, both near and far. 

And this weekend was a huge, and rediculously fun, step in that direction.  I traveled back to my previous home, Charlotte, NC, for a wedding of a dear friend and former roommate/co-worker.   The wedding was beautiful, and such a sweet reminder of the Lord's tangible belssings for my friend.  We cried, we laughed, we ate, we danced, and then we danced some more. 

Goodness...I love these people.  And there were probable thirty others I got to see this past weekend that aren't pictured here.

 



Here's to many more fun weekends with old and new friends in the Year of Do! 



Meet My Friend Carrie: A Year of Do Accomplice

Meet my friend Carrie...

and her fat pug in a little coat...aka...GIBBY!!!  (I really hope, as your read that statement, you sang it as Chris Farley from Tommy Boy)

 

Carrie and I met almost ten years ago.  She was a Georgia girl.  I was from North Carolina.  And for no logical reason, other than the fact that we loved the city, we both ended up at the College of Charleston, not knowing a soul in the entire state of South Carolina.

 

I still consider putting Carrie and I in a dorm room together that first year one of the best decisions the College of Charleston has ever made.  I wish I had pictures of that dorm room.  It was literally one of the smallest rooms I've ever been in.  There was a bed on one wall, a bed on the other, and a small walk way that ran between then.  Theoretically, one person could lay on their bed, reach out their hand, and hit the person on the "other side of the room."  But we loved that dorm room.  There were dance parties (I seem to remember Carrie going through a Hillary Duff phase that year), long talks late at night, and random moments that you can probably never get away with any time in life other than your freshman year of college.

 

From there, we lived in the Bull St. house (a historic house in downtown Charleston that looked far more charming than it really was), and after that the Society St. apartment (that was conveniently located next to a fire house that tested their sirens at 2 am every morning).  We graduated from college wearing our white sun dresses, a tradition at the College of Charleston.  We navigated the awkward transition from college friends to adult friends.  We moved to different states.  We switched jobs.  We have been through singleness, dating, and marriage (her, not me).  Life has changed a lot, and Carrie has been one of those sweet friends that has walked through a significant number of different stages with me. 

 

Carrie now lives in Indianapolis with her Husband and Gibby, the pug (pictured above).  I live in Wilmington, NC.  For those of you unfamiliar with east coast geography, that is a twelve and a half hour drive.  I think one of the biggest changes after you graduate college is that your relationships take effort to maintain.  Gone are the days when Carrie and I would run into each other at the Chick-fil-a in the Stern Center on a daily basis.  But for some relationships, there's really never a question as to if it's worth the effort.  It just is.  Carrie is one of those. 

 

So after a long phone date Tuesday night, we decided that the Year of Do would just be incomplete without a girl's weekend.  We've been talking of doing this since she got married last October.  Time to make it a reality.  We have it narrowed down to two weekends in May.  Updates will come as more planning happens, but needless to say, this may be the Year of Do activity I'm looking forward to the most right now.

Denim Dreams Really Do Come True

OH MY GOODNESS....I stopped into J. Crew really quickly tonight as I was waiting on a friend for dinner.  And what you do you think I found?  Only a jean jacket that looks identical to the one I have had for the past seven years.  The same one I recently proclaimed my love for, very publicly I might add, on this very blog. 

 

The $120.00 J. Crew version of the iconic jean jacket

 

 

My Jean Jacket I got from the Gap seven years ago, for a lot less than $120.00.

 

Here is proof that all fashion trends really do cycle around, and that if you wish hard enough, denim dreams really do come true.  I like to think that the new J. Crew trend was inspired by the Year of Do and my famous blog post.  I'm pretty sure their designers regularly read my blog to find out what is back in vogue.  Your welcome world!





Best. Valentine's. Ever.

I love holidays!  Really, all of them, but if I had to pick one favorite, it would be Leap Day.  Think about it, there are no pre-established traditions, no expectations, you can celebrate anyway you want, and it is an extra 24 hours in your year.  And, if all of that wasn't reason enough to celebrate, it only happens once every four years.  Want to spend all day eating popcorn and watching reruns of Gilmore Girls?  Sure, why not.  It's Leap Day!  Been trying to find an excuse to take that road trip?  Go celebrate Leap Day with a good friend!  Last year, I baked all of my favorite foods (I also really love holiday themed baking) and had a Leap Day Party, and all day justified everything I did by saying, "It's Leap Day!  I can't do this on Leap Day for another four years."

And even though this Valentine's Day was no Leap Day, it was still a pretty incredible day.  Actually...if I'm honest, it may have been one of my favorite Valentine's Day thus far. 

It started with a dinner of eggplant curry, a burger, and fries with good friends. 

I'll skip the fancy Italian restaurant, just give me a good burger and fries. 

 

 

Next Stop: Chocolate fondue and girl's time with some of my favorites.

Meet my friend Kinney.  She's kind of wonderful.

And last, but certainly not least, the day ended with a late night airport run to pick up Beth, a good friend visiting from Atlanta. 

Sigh...seeing this girl makes me miss Charlotte.

 

 

Like I said, it was no Leap Day, but this has certainly been a Valentine's Day for the books.

Procrastination By Blogging

Not every day in the Year of Do can be a grand adventure.  If every day consisted of trips to Charlotte, sewing aprons, and discovering secret mail boxes when would real life happen?  And, to be honest, I kind of like normal, everyday life.  Confession...one of my favorite ways to blow off stress is to clean my bathroom.  I know, I know that's weird, but it works for me. 

So, tonight, when I got back from campus, all I wanted to do was to curl up into bed, catch up on episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and fall asleep by nine o'clock.  But, there are about three things looming over my head, and if I can get them done, my to-do list will officially be non-existent (I honestly can't remember the last time that happened).

So, I resisted the urge to pull on sweatpants and my favorite "Don't Get Caulky" t-shirt (complete with a cartoon of a caulk gun).  I fled the temptation of my cushy couch with the fleece blanket already piled on it, both calling my name.  And here I sit, at the Port City Java downtown finishing up my last few to-do list items for the night, sipping on a cup of Citrus Chamomile Tea (don't worry...it's still decaf, so sleep by 9 is still an option). 

Any other year and I would have set aside time tomorrow to finish these last few things.  But, this is the year of not putting off tomorrow what you could get done today. 

Although I'm just realizing I drove all the way downtown, have been at this coffee shop for an hour, and have really only succeeded in putting off my to-do list to write this blog post.  Sigh...well...at least I'm DOing procrastination pretty well.  That probably defeats the point, huh?

Reliving NYC Through Pasta

This past summer, I spent five weeks working and living in Brooklyn, NY and I can honestly say, it's one of my favorite places on earth.   I love the pace of life there.  I love that you live life along side millions of other people.  I love that I can get on a subway and, at times, be the only English speaker in the car.  There is a growing list of reasons I love the City of Lights/City That Never Sleeps/Big Apple/Gotham/The City/New York City, but ranking among the top of that list is....THE FOOD!!!!

In a list of the top ten meals I have ever eaten, at least seven of them would be from NYC.  Let's see...there is S'MAC (which serves nothing but Mac and Cheese), an Afghanistan Restaurant on the upper east side (I still dream about their hummus), the famous Halal Food Cart outside of Rockefeller Center (I don't know what they put in that white sauce, but it's amazing), the best burger I've ever eaten from The Burger Joint , the best milk shake I have ever had, from The Shake Shack, and there are not even words that could adequately describe how good a lobster roll from The Red Hook Lobster Truck is. 

But, above all, the best Italian food I've ever had, in my entire life, is from this little family owned Italian place called Enzo's right by Prospect Park in Brooklyn.  And it's not that they do one thing well, it's ALL insanely good.  Their pizza, lasagna, salad, tortellini, ravioli, it's all just amazing.

So when the staff and students from the Tribeca 2012 Summer Project got together for a reunion this past weekend, we figured, what better way to remember our time than by recreating some of our favorite foods, namely, the Pasta Alla Vodka from Enzo's.  It's only a secret family recipe that has been perfected over a span of 50 years...it can't be that hard to duplicate for 25 people...right?

And because I am such an organized, detail oriented person (read that as sarcasm), I've decided to walk you through the process, so you too can enjoy the chaos that was this past Saturday as well. 

First things first...grocery shopping for everything you might need.

(The fact that we had, not one, but TWO, turkey pans to put the pasta in should have been our first indicator that we grossly overestimated how much food we should actually be making.)

Step Two: Chop five large onions. 

 

(Hint: If your chopped onions only fit in the largest bowl the kitchen has, you may be making too much.) 

 

Step Three: Make pepper infused vodka.  WHAT!?!?!?!  First off...it may be a little naive, but did anyone else know there was vodka in Penne Alla Vodka?  Next your going to be telling me there are actually eggs in Eggnog.  The directions said to let the pepper flakes marinate for seven days.  We only had about three hours.  Oh well...here goes nothing.  Like I said...this is more Pintrocity than Pinterest pin.

 

(The pepper flakes marinating)

Step Four:  Stir all of the ingredients together in the largest pot you can imagine.  Minus the pepper infused vodka of course.  That's still marinating because you are trying to squeeze every second out of that two hours you allotted for it to sit (again I say..."oops"). 

This would be a good time to mention that if you quadruple a recipe you should probably quadruple the time as well.  This was supposed to simmer for thirty minutes until the liquid was gone.  TWO HOURS LATER and we were finally ready to move on.

(This picture was taken as soon as we started stirring.  If I had known I would be sitting here for another hour and a half, I probably would have spaced out my picture taking, as well as done some major arm exercises to prepare for all the stirring.  I wonder if CrossFit has a "cooking preparation" class I could look into?)

Step Five: Drain the pepper infused Vodka, and mix into the sauce to cook down a bit.  Don't have a strainer you say?  Don't worry, coffee filters work in a pinch.  Martha Stewart...if at any point in time you find yourself reading this blog...now would be a good time to look away. 

(I felt a little like McGyver or Bear Grills substituting my coffee filter for a strainer.)

 

 

Step Six: Mix the rest of the ingredients together and give it a taste.  You will immediately want to add more salt, and don't worry...if worse comes to worse...cheese makes everything taste better.

 

Now, I mentioned before that we may have over cooked by a bit.  This is a picture of the pasta before we started eating.  

And this is a picture after 25 people had eaten so much we could barely stand.  Note to self...never times a recipe by five unless you are literally feeding an army of teenage boys going through a growth spurt.

Step Seven: Since you have just spent a total of three hours cooking pasta that could be, at best, considered eatable, send in the boys to clean the kitchen.

 

 

This foray into baking may not be considered a complete success, but that's not really what the Year of Do is about is it.  It's about taking risks and trying things I normally wouldn't.  Let's consider this one a cooking Semi-success (That may be too generous), but a Year of Do total success!

Reading Through the Bible in the Year of Do

This is the second blog post I have written at three o'clock in the morning.  If you could see my sleep deprived face as I type, you would know that this isn't something I am thrilled about.  When did I become a 80 year old women who wakes up in the middle of the night?  But, there are perks of having a few uninterrupted hours when no one else is awake, and that is that I can catch up on writing blog posts I haven't gotten around to. 

Have I mentioned yet that I am attempting to read through the entire bible during the Year of Do?  I've read through the New Testament pretty thoroughly, but it's the Old Testament that has always eluded me.  I have always had great intentions to read through Lamentations and Deuteronomy, but when confronted with the choice between reading about the love that Jesus talks about in Matthew, or reading through a list of names in Numbers, the New Testament always seems to win out. 

Oh sure, I would take quick trips through the Old Testament to read about Moses and the burning bush, or Noah and the ark, but I've never read through it in it's entirety...until now. 

So far, I've read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Job, and am currently half way through Deuteronomy.  Genesis and Exodus were the easy parts and read almost like what I imagine the plot of a soap opera to be like.  There was lots of rebellion, and fighting, and plotting, and scandal, and over and over again, despite what they did, God tells his people, "I'll fight for you."  How can you not love that!

But then there was Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where I learned how bald men were treated, and the exact measurements for the ark of the covenant.  I'm not saying it hasn't been insightful.  It's actually been quite enlightening to learn why Jesus did some of the things he did and what laws he operated under, but it hasn't been quite the nail biter that Genesis and Exodus were. 

But, the Year of Do was made for tasks like this.  I've been meaning to do this since I was 18 and it never seemed like a good time.  So, as it's 3 a.m. and I have nothing else to do, I'm off to read Deuteronomy 28.  Hmmm...curses and blessing...this should be interesting.

Beep Beep...I Drove A Jeep!

There were probably only a few things my sixteen year old self desperately wanted when I "grew up."  I figured, if I became a veterinarian, competed in a world championship water skiing tournament, and drove a Jeep Wrangler, I would consider my life a success. 

Eleven years later and I faint at the sight of blood and needles (so long veterinary school) and I haven't water skied in four years.  Actually, I'm not even 100% sure I could still water ski.  Not that I consider my life a failure, it's just that my definition of success has changed quite a bit since the days of AP Environmental Science, track practice, and NSYNC.  I have been able to work in my dream job, traveled around the world, and explored and loved the towns I have lived in.  All in all, I consider my life pretty well lived thus far. 

But, there is still one thing my sixteen year old self would die to be able to do, and this being the Year of Do, I had to at least attempt it...right?  So when a good friend informed me he had bought a four-door Jeep Wrangler, I jumped on the opportunity.  And because I have some of the best friends in the entire world (it's ok to be a little bit jealous), he not only agreed to let me try my hand at driving it, but also suggested trying to drive it on the beach.  I know...RIGHT!?!?!?!  HOW AMAZING IS THAT!!!

 

first things first...check your hair in the mirror for upcoming pictures.  You have to have your priorities in order when your accomplishing a childhood dream.

Step 2: Establish a death grip on the steering wheel and wonder why in the world your friend is letting you drive his brand new Jeep.  Doesn't he know you have no idea how to drive this thing?  What if you flip it trying to drive it up that (what seemed like in the moment) gigantic hill?  Or what if it gets stuck in all this sand?  Or what happens if you make a turn too sharp and steer this thing straight into the ocean?  They don't float...right?

 

Step 3:  Deep Breath...just put on the aviators and embrace it.  I could get used to this.  And three minutes in and I was driving like a pro if I do say so myself. 

 

 

Here here sixteen year old Caitlin...this one's for you.