The Work-Wife Balance

I completed training yesterday for my new freelance writing job (more details here), and got the official go-ahead to start working independently this afternoon. Always the overachiever I, of course, way overestimated how quick I thought I'd be and so I am already behind.

Not good.

Based on my production so far, my workdays are going to be about 9-10 hours until I can increase my speed. This should be fine, seeing as how I am a bored dental school wife with a husband who studies or is in class 12-15 hours a day. What I've already realized, though, is that Joe and I have been spoiled by my recently-developed domesticity. I won't lie, the apartment isn't spotless, but I've been keeping up with the laundry, keeping our surroundings presentable, running all errands, and cooking dinner almost every single night.

***Side Note*** Plus, I have a gym membership that expires in 3 weeks and has been used far too little to justify renewing unless I step it up. Then again, if unemployed me couldn't get off her lazy butt to go to the gym, why on earth would I think adding a full-time job would make it any easier? ***End of Side Note***

I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up.

But keep up I'll have to, because I can't expect Joe to pick up any slack. So instead of wondering how I can do it, I'll channel my inner overachiever (who has been in hibernation while unemployed) and repeat:

Here's hoping caffeine and great organizational skills will push me through ;)

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Busy, Busy, Busy

I hate being an erratic blogger, but I can't help it when the Brier sofa-bed is such a popular tourist destination ;)

For the second week in a month, we had a loved one visit. In October it was Stacey (read about her visit here, here, here, & here) and last week it was my youngest brother Brian. Over Thanksgiving, Joe's brother and sister-in-law will be visiting and then the week before Christmas my parents will be here. I'm loving all these visitors!

Since Brian and the rest of my family visited in June (read about their visit here, here, & here), his trip was more about hanging out and less about sightseeing. We did go to Terror Behind the Walls, the Rocky steps, the King of Prussia mall (where I got a great start on Christmas shopping), tried a couple of cheesesteaks, and went out to eat a couple times with our cousin Alex who goes to college nearby, but the rest of the time was pretty much spent just watching Breaking Bad.

Proof we did more than watch TV ;)

Brian is a Breaking Bad newbie and had gotten to the beginning of season 2 which, coincidentally, is where Joe and I were in our re-watch of the series. I love when the stars align like that ;) He liked it, but wasn't obsessed yet. Like everyone else I've ever talked to, it only took a couple of episodes of season 2 before he was absolutely hooked. We blasted through seasons 2 & 3 - and now he's going to start over with my dad. How he could stop mid-show baffles me, but he said it was a great note to leave on and his curiosity will help propel him through seasons 1-3 with my dad. Fair enough.

The week was awesome, and the cherry on top of all that awesomeness is the fact that:

I GOT A JOB!!!

I'm going to be vague because who knows who out in the blogosphere is reading this, but essentially I will be a freelance writer working on a project for a well-known internet company. The job is temporary, but I get to work from home (which Buster loves) and should last at least 3-4 months with the potential for me to be brought on for another project once that's finished. It is an ideal situation.

Unfortunately, because I am going to be writing all day for work, I have a feeling this blog is going to become a bit neglected. Not only am I sure to get a bit tired of typing, but my days are going to become pretty monotonous. Hopefully with more guests and the holidays coming up, I'll come up with things to write about :)

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Halloween Re-Cap & Breaking Bad Costume Instructions

Wow - I can't believe it's already November 4. Dental school is flying by!

Our first Halloween in Philly was a lot of fun. Joe's been having a particularly rough couple of weeks at school (his exact words after his exam last Monday were, "I feel like I just got out of a prison shower"), so I wanted to do something a little special for him. He came home from class on Thursday with me making macaroni & cheese gnocchi (recipe here, forgot to take a pic) and this:

The pumpkin was filled with candy, gum, and a monster card game. Oh, and floss ;)

We headed out in search of some pumpkins to carve, but couldn't find any. I had held off buying pumpkins because I wanted Joe to be able to pick his out. Lesson learned? Dental school doesn't leave a whole lot of time for Joe to do things like shopping for the perfect pumpkin.

I was disappointed, but we came back home and had dinner, watched Hocus Pocus, and ate candy. It was really fun :)

***Side Note*** If you love Hocus Pocus, check out this awesome Buzzfeed post ***End of Side Note***

Friday was our chance to wear our Halloween costumes! We LOVE figuring out fun costumes for Halloween. I usually always have the bigger say in what we are, so this year I let Joe pick. He wanted to be Heisenberg from Breaking Bad, so I decided to be a Los Pollos Hermanos worker. Buster, of course, had to join in the fun. He was Jesse (though he couldn't attend the party).

We had fun taking pictures before we left:

Joe had a ton of fun at the party. A lot of people didn't recognize him, and he handed out "meth" to people who were fans of the show. Most people didn't know who the heck I was, which was a pretty good litmus test as to who is actually a fan of Breaking Bad and who is just pretending ;)

If you are curious as to how I made some of the components of the costumes, you can keep reading :)

***Side Note*** If you are planning to be a Los Pollos Hermanos employee and need the images I used for the hat, apron, or name tag - feel free to contact me and I'll send you the files. ***End of Side Note***

METH:

I used two methods to make meth for my fry batter bucket. The first, was crushing some blueberry candy sticks that I picked up from an Amish candy store at Reading Terminal Market while Stacey was visiting. I didn't pick up enough, though, so I also made blue rock candy. It wasn't TOO difficult, but I've never made hard candy before and I made a few mistakes and didn't add flavoring. Joe only handed out the blueberry "meth" packets at the party.

I had no idea where to buy "dime bags", but it turns out Michaels had a ton of sizes. Apparently people need small clear baggies for various bead crafts.

FRY BATTER BUCKET:

The fry batter bucket was made using a plaster of paris bucket that I got from Michaels. I'm sure with all the crafts I do, I'll use plaster of paris eventually. I found pictures online of the Los Pollos Hermanos fry batter bucket and, using Microsoft Paint (yup, too cheap to buy Photoshop), I made the image as close to the real thing as possible. I printed the image and rubber cemented it onto the bucket.

LOS POLLOS HERMANOS HAT, APRON, NAME TAG:
 
I also used Microsoft Paint to make the logo for the hat and name badge. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything special to the logo for the apron.

For adhering the images to the hat and apron, instead of using regular iron on transfers, I used quick fuse fabric sheets that I got at Jo-Anns. I did that because with our Price is Right shirts, anything that was white turned out clear because there isn't white ink (duh). Fabric sheets are white and you print directly on them, so it looks like a silk-screened product when it is done. Plus, the colors are much more vibrant.

The name badge was made by rubber cementing the printed image to a very thin balsa wood strip (for easy cutting with scissors). I then super glued a steel-pin back to it.


Now that celebrating Halloween 2013 is officially finished, it's time to start thinking about costumes for Halloween 2014 ;)

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Terror Behind the Walls

Happy Halloween everyone!

Being a horror movie buff and fan of anything creepy, Halloween definitely ranks as one of my favorite holidays. Unfortunately, I married a man who can't stand scary stuff. It's not that he's scared (well, maybe a little - deep down), it's that he finds it silly and doesn't see how people get enjoyment out of it. He also HATES people jumping out at him (or on a screen) because he doesn't like being startled, so that really limits my ability to ease him into the genre.

Luckily, he had enough other positive attributes and things in common with me that the disinterest in horror wasn't a deal breaker early in our relationship (it probably would have been for anyone else, which proves I married the right guy!).

That said, if there was one thing I could change about Joe, it would be that he liked scary stuff even a fraction as much as me. Seriously, it means so much to me that if I found a genie I'd use one of my three wishes on it.

I have made some headway in the 5 years we've been together.  When we met, he didn't like dressing up for Halloween. Over the years, we have had some wicked cool costumes and this year he excitedly made the executive decision as to what we would be (after 4 couples costumes chosen by moi, it was only fair he get a shot). He's also watched some scary movies with me - all of the Scream movies, the Exorcist, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Paranormal Activity.

But the one thing that I could never get him to budge on was going to a haunted house. So I'd always go alone while he stood outside catching up on espn.com.

Until last week :)

***Side Note*** I specifically saved this post for Halloween since we won't be celebrating until tomorrow. I couldn't NOT have a Halloween related post on October 31. See how great of a planner I am?! ***End of Side Note***

Philadelphia has one of the premiere haunted houses in the country: Terror Behind the Walls. It's 45 minutes long (SERIOUSLY!) and takes place at Eastern State Penitentiary, an old prison in Philadelphia that is literally falling apart (and which I described in this blog post).

When we visited Philly for his interview last year, I wanted to go but since Joe wasn't game we skipped it. When I found out he got accepted to Penn, my second reaction (after
"OMG his first choice!") was "YES! Four years of Terror Behind the Walls!"

Not kidding.

Of course, I never expected Joe to attend. After all, how could I possibly think he'd be willing to pop his haunted house cherry on not just the scariest haunted house I've ever heard of, but one he couldn't escape for 45 whole minutes?!

Well, I married a man full of surprises because a couple weeks ago while I was doing dishes he presented me with an envelope. I opened it to find two tickets to Terror Behind the Walls. I was in shock (and should do dishes more often, apparently haha). 

Our tickets were for last Wednesday, and I took photos on my iPhone to document the experience:

Terror Behind the Walls, as I mentioned, takes place at Eastern State Penitentiary. A wicked cool setting for a haunted house!

When we arrived, we had to sign waivers. For reals.

That's me pretending to be scared. Secretly I was about to pee myself with excitement at the fact that a haunted house needed a waiver to be signed. I expected to be horrified, and couldn't wait.

After signing the waivers, we got into line and heard an announcer shout that we had a choice to make: we could opt for a scarier experience by wearing a glow necklace and blood on our face, or we could have the regular experience. The catch is, the scarier experience means that the people in the haunted houses can touch you, grab you, and even "abduct" you!

Joe was caught off guard at the option, because before we got there I promised him that no one would be able to touch him (I've never been to a haunted house where it's been allowed). Although I tried to persuade him otherwise, he opted NOT to have the scarier experience.

Scared at the thought he might be touched.

I, of course, readily opted FOR the scarier experience:

Most everyone else did as well, as you can see from these  line pics:

I couldn't get any photos inside the haunted house (which is really 6 different haunted houses, all with different themes), but it was awesome! Definitely the scariest I've been too.

And the good news, besides the fact we both survived, is that Joe didn't hate it! In fact, he said he'll come back next year since he loved seeing me have such a good time :)

What a man I married :)

More good news. My 19-year-old brother Brian made a last minute decision to visit us in Philly for a week. He gets here Saturday night, and our first stop is Terror Behind the Walls. He loves haunted houses, and I can't wait for him to experience this one!

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Repli-Kate - Pumpkin "Muffins"

I'm typically a very smart shopper. I print out coupons at home, head straight to sale racks at the store, and you are 99% more likely to find me at Nordstrom Rack over regular ole' Nordies.

But there must be some pleasure center in my brain that lights up when I am in a Costco because I WANT IT ALL. 

***Side Note*** I won't even get started on what an infomerical or issue of Skymall magazine does to me ***End of Side Note***

Whatever this spell is that Costco has me under, I see something I could conceivably need and find a way to justify it into my cart.

Case in point? I have never made anything out of pumpkin before. But the last time Joe and I were at Costco I saw a three pack of giant cans of Libby's pumpkin and decided I NEEDED it. I spewed out something about there being two whole months ahead of us where serving pumpkin is acceptable, we are having guests for Thanksgiving, I am cooking more, Joe said himself he wants pumpkin foods... etc, etc, etc.

Joe shook his head in a resigned acceptance that we weren't leaving without three giant cans of America's Favorite Pumpkin. I took that as my cue, and I happily skipped over to the display, plucked up my pumpkin, and distractedly dropped it in our cart as I caught a delicious looking sample out of the corner of my eye and, having won this battle, had already lost interest.

"America's Favorite Pumpkin" is not just me exaggerating about America's fondness for Libby's. It says so on the can.

This was a month ago, with 60 whole days of acceptable pumpkin-eating ahead of us. According to my spiel, by this time I should have easily used at least 1.5 cans making a variety of pumpkin goodies.

So have I? Of course not.

And with Halloween tomorrow (yay!) I knew I had to take a can opener to at least one of these bad boys or I might lose some of my Costco credibility with Joe (and that would be tragic).

So I scoured Pinterest for pumpkin muffin recipes and found the easiest recipe I have ever seen. SCORE!

Seriously - easiest recipe ever. All you need is a box of yellow cake mix and a regular can of Libby's (or half of one of my monsters). THAT'S IT.

***Side Note*** You can add spices if you want - I chose to add two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and highly recommend that you do the same. Then again, I like things really flavorful, so maybe you'd prefer 1 1/2 tsp. ***End of Side Note***

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 350

Stir together one box of yellow cake mix and one 15 oz. can of Libby's pumpkin

If you'd like, add 2ish tsp. of pumpkin pie spice

Fill a muffin tin - each 3/4 full (recipe will make 12)***

Cook for 20-25 minutes (I checked mine at 18 minutes and they were done, but my oven's nickname is Hades)

Enjoy!

*** The recipe I followed recommended piping the batter into the muffin tin (you can make a piping bag out of a ziploc with a cut off corner). I did this and am SO glad I did. The mixture is really sticky - and a spoon would have lead to frustration and cursing

When you finish, you can fill a cute little bowl like I did. I put them in a bowl solely because they were cute that way - in no way was it done to disguise the fact that I was snacking on tasting the goods ;)

The 80+ 3x5 cards that you spent 8 hours making for your husband aren't required... unless you are a dental (or medical, law, etc.) school wife. If so, you have probably felt my pain.

And, let's be real. These aren't pumpkin muffins - they are pumpkin cupcakes. That is, until breakfast tomorrow. Then they will certainly be referred to as muffins ;)

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New Blog Design

I'm still in shock that I hit "publish" on my 150th blog post a couple days ago. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I'd keep up with this blog for so long (or, let's be honest, have enough going on in my pretty boring life to have 150 entries worth of things to say).

But I've done it, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

In honor of my recent milestone (and because I'm bored out of my mind after Joe spent over 24 hours studying this weekend), I decided to give the blog a facelift.

Hope ya'll enjoy :)

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Day 5 of S&K's Philly Adventure

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and Stacey's flight was set to leave around 6 p.m. on Sunday. As our last hurrah, we hit up Philly's Italian Market - the U.S.'s largest working outdoor market.

Just like Reading Terminal Station, I was kicking myself that it took me almost 5 months to check out this Philadelphia gem. As a proud (part) Italian, I love Italian culture and had been wanting to check out the Italian Market ever since we got here... I just hadn't yet. I was planning to wait until my parents visit in December, which in retrospect was a stupid plan. Why miss out any longer than I already had?  Not only is the Italian Market now a MUST for my Christmas shopping plans, but I plan to stop by any time I am in South Philly. It's THAT awesome.

***Side Note*** Fun fact, we talked with a lady from the visitor center and she said that the weekend is the best time to come because it is less busy than the weekdays. This shocked me, as I always assume everything is busier on weekends - especially a place that should attract tourists. So, if you plan to come to Philly and check out the Italian Market - do it on a Saturday or Sunday. ***End of Side Note***

We spent a couple hours exploring the different stores and Stacey bought a lot of goodies to give to her friends and family. Though I had already spent too much over the last few days, I couldn't resist buying some delicious rosemary olive oil, homemade pumpkin raviolis, and fresh basil. I also bought a bone from the butcher for Buster, but that didn't turn out so well...

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but here's a few to give you an idea of what it's like:

After the Italian Market, we headed home and watched football and Stacey packed. Heading to the airport came way too quick, but at least we (ahem - STACEY) remembered to get a pic of us before she left. Almost 4 years of friendship and we have ZERO pictures together. Ridic.

Of course the one pic of us has me not only ball cap adorned, but make-up free after I cut onions and cried my face clean. When she comes back THIS SPRING :) :) :) I demand a re-shot ;)

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