A lot to think about

Dear friends,

This week I have fallen behind updating my blog because I started orientation training, what they call A-100. Needless to say, I have felt overwhelmed with the amount of new information I have to process and almost one hundred new people to befriend. Meanwhile there is huge pile of dishes in the sink that my wonderful hubby is cleaning right now. I apologize to my virtual friends for not keeping up with your blog updates and to my DC friends for being MIA recently. To further add distraction to my life, we got our "bid list" this week--which, for those of you who aren't familiar with the process, is a list of all the possible places we could be sent. We get to rank them high, medium, and low, but we really could be sent anywhere, so we aren't getting our hopes set on one place in particular. The good news is that for every single one we have researched, we have found something to be excited about.

I totally want this little pouch to store all my personal thoughts. Unfortunately it is sold out at the moment, but maybe I will indulge in one when she restocks here on etsy. After a calm, relaxing weekend I promise to do better writing and keeping in touch next week.

A Recipe for Breakfast Phobes

I have a love hate relationship with breakfast. I like to sleep as long as my schedule will allow, but I also know that eating breakfast is so important if you don't want to crash mid-morning. I found this recipe for wheat berries with scallions from Mark Bittman and to add my own twist I topped it with sriracha sauce. Oh boy! You won't even need coffee.

Cook the wheat berries the night before or make a big batch on Sunday so you can use them for a few days. Directions for cooking will be on the packet, but it usually takes about 45 minutes for them to soften. In the morning, scoop yourself a small bowl, top with scallions, a swirl of sesame oil, a swirl of soy sauce, and a few drops of sriracha sauce. Heat the bowl in the microwave or eat cold.

Oh Sriracha sauce, you make my world taste better. Picture from flickr.

Family Vacay

This week I have been enjoying some nice quality time with the family before I start my job. Much to my amusement, I am quickly becoming the shortest member of my family. My 12-year-old sister, center, is now a hair taller than me. My mom has been giving me some photography pointers and might let me borrow her film camera for the summer. I took this picture of her on the porch. Isn't she lovely?

Have a beautiful weekend!

Hit or Miss

Sometimes I feel like I am throwing darts at this venn diagram. I have wanted to be and do so many different things over the past few years. I do feel blessed to have found a few things that I can do well. Wouldn't it be nice to find that sweet spot in the middle? But how do you do it?

Image by Bud Caddell found via Swiss Miss.

Visit Artomatic!

This past Friday I visited Artomatic, a free art festival housed in an unfinished office building near the waterfront. With over 1,000 visual artists and much more, it is well worth the metro ticket it costs to get over there. Their philosophy is that art should be for everyone, so there are no curators or juries and no entrance fee. For that reason, the art ranges from mediocre to fantastic. I was only able to see two of the nine floors of art. But since it will be there until July 5th, I will definitely go again. I actually attended a poetry reading by authors from Barrelhouse and Smartish Pace. I loved hearing Liz Arnold, whose overweight labs I was already acquainted with. Before the poetry reading we walked around looking at art and eating Hard Times chili. Christian Tribastone's art struck me and I picked up a postcard to put on my inspiration board. This picture is from his art blog. Does anyone recognize the building?? It's on M Street.

PS: Click here to see a gorgeous picture of a root beer float featuring a blurry Dave in the background from our adventure to the North Carolina coast (and browse the rest of their photos while you're at it--they're all great!)

Future Home Wishes

Melanie from the fantastic blog You Are My Fave has inspired me to do a future home wish list.  I've been told that in the Foreign Service you mostly live in generic pre-furnished apartments--generous, don't get me wrong, but bland.  But if I were to design my dream house it would have...

A porch (by Steven Harrington found on Design*Sponge)

Somewhere to put all of our books (found on OrangeBeautiful)

Interesting wallpaper (by Marimekko found on More Ways to Waste Time)

A coffee nook (found on Erin Ever After) 

A poured concrete farmhouse sink (by stone soup).

What would you put in your dream house?  Have a great weekend!

Ghost Stories

I get very frightened by horror flicks, but somehow David always talks me into watching them (which is why I can't do laundry in my basement at night).  On the other hand, I adore thoughtful films about adolescence disguised as ghost stories--a.k.a almost anything by Guillermo del Toro.  And did you see Coraline?  I know I'm a little late on the bandwagon, but I just saw it the other week with my brother and fell in love.  Wonderful characters and visually stunning stop-motion animation. Coraline, the main character, is at that awkward age when most people fall to pieces--but she remains self-confident and quirky.  These are some genius drawings by Jon Klassen who worked on the visual development for the film.  Check out the rest of his art at his blog, burst of beaden. 

If you have time, also check out the film Let the Right One In by Tomas Alfredson.  It is one of the best films I have seen all year.   Imagine a far superior version of Twilight set in rural Sweden. 

   

What about you?  Do you like ghost stories? What is your favorite kind of scary movie?