Outer Space

Today at work it truly was a little dose of outer space. I mean this in many respects, but I am going to stick with this video example. We were lucky enough to have the space shuttle Discovery fly over BES on it's way to retirement about four times today! Twice it was so close I felt like I could touch it. It was pretty cool. Enjoy the video and my future astronauts :)

Recipe of the Week!

Baked Lemon Pasta

I love lemons! Have a mentioned that? I wasn't completely sure how this would go since it seems really simple and had the potential to be bland. I would say that on the original day I cooked it, I loved it, but it's one of those dishes that you have tons of leftovers. The leftovers were good, but definitely not as good as the same day prep. The advantage here is that you get a lot of food (if you need it), and it's very simple. I was also skeptical about the amount of parsley because I am not a parsley lover, but it was very, very good in this dish! Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

1 box spaghetti

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 lemon (zested and juiced) plus a little more for topping.

2 cups light sour cream

salt 

parmesan cheese

chopped parsely

Process:

Preheat oven to 375. Cook spaghetti. Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over low heat. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Mushroom Invasion

So one random Saturday morning I wake up and there's mushrooms in my lemon tree. I was appalled. Seriously. I promptly plucked them from the pot and told them never to come back. Low and behold about two weeks later they returned. Once again I ripped them out and told them no more. They haven't been back since. But what in the world? How does this happen? And how do I ensure they are never a part of my life again? Any advice?

Best Break Ever. Seriously.

I can't explain to you how amazing my break has been. I had this mile long to-do list and only two things remain, but they are fun things I actually enjoy doing and they didn't really need to get done over break. One is a list of books I want to read over the summer, and the other is researching things to do on our upcoming trip to New York City. If you would like to contribute to either of those list please leave a comment to get me started!

I mentioned last week that I would be doing some wedding DIY...I have decided not to share that quite yet in order to keep some aspects of my wedding a surprise for those attending. If you are just dying to know what I spent some serious time on just ask. I also did some life planning and revamping. This was probably the most trying of the to-do list since they weren't very fun items compared to wedding DIY. I got to clean in the middle of the day, meet Matt for lunch, go to Pittsburgh for Easter and see my family, sleep in, stay up late, and everything else I wanted to do. I wish I could be a trophy wife and lead this daily life. Too bad.

It's back to work tomorrow...only one quarter left until summer! And I'm serious about those recommendations...leave some for me :)

Recipe of the Week!

Buffalo Wings

So here is another recipe left over from the Superbowl. This was easy, but I don't think I will ever be making my own wings again. I just can't handle chopping up chicken wings again. It was one of the more disgusting kitchen escapades of my life. All I did was chop up the wings into their sections then I covered about half the wings in Frank's Red Hot Buffalo flavor and left the other half plan since Matt doesn't like buffalo (so unfortunate, I know). I baked them in the oven until they were ready to eat. At this point I removed all the plain wings from the oven. I recovered the buffalo wings in red hot and put them back in the over for just a few minutes. My wings were super hot, but very good. This served the wings on the Superbowl craving, but like I said...I'm just buying them next year.

Break!

I wish Spring Break was every week. I have been out of control productive. Yesterday I did so much housework, wedding planning, and life planning I decided I should quit my day job and keep up with my personal life a lot more. Plus I would be my own boss and coworkers, although that might get lonely. Today I did some more of my to-do list then decided that I would meet Matt for lunch and take a little walk around DC since it was soooo nice out. Here's a little pic from our Library of Congress picnic table. Let's hope my productivity and adventures keep up!

Blogging

“There’s something sacred about reading a blog post on someone else’s site. It’s like visiting a friend’s house for a quick meal ’round the breakfast table. It’s personal — you’re in their space, and the environment is uniquely suited for idea exchange and uninterrupted conversation. In many ways, we should be treating our blogs like our breakfast tables. Be welcoming & gracious when you host, and kind & respectful when visiting.” – Trent Walton

It's Spring Break. Finally. I had to work on Saturday. Technically I was given the choice between Easter Monday and Saturday, so I chose to just get it done and to shorten my work week next week. I know what your thinking (if you aren't in the field of education)...what is it you could possibly have to do? There were no kids, it was a Saturday. Guess what? You know all that stuff you do at your desk during the day? We have to do it too, we just don't get to do it during our typical workday cause we get to stand at the front of the room, or at a table with a small group, or a number of other things that don't involve sitting at our desk all day. 

Anyway, I couldn't help but think as I drove to work about how I have a master's degree and here I am driving 22.3 miles to work on Saturday. Next year I can do it for a half hour longer. I like to call this my abusive relationship. This post is turning into a whine fest about my job, but also during that drive I was thinking about how I wish I could be a professional blogger. I saw the quote above about blogs on Friday night and I really liked it. I did set a goal to improve and promote my blog when I had my one year anniversary in February, but it has kinda fallen by the wayside with life and wedding planning. Maybe I can find some time during my break...which also needs to be productive (you should really see the to do list). Any suggestions of what you would like to see on my "breakfast table"?