Coke

Coca Cola, oh how I love thee...
There is nothing I love more about my mornings than the soft pop of a new can being opened, and that beautiful cool refreshing first sip. mmm......

not pepsi, not diet coke, none of those imposters.

But, I think I'm going to give it up, at least for a little while. I know, this is like the terror of terrors. But I have plans, big plans, like this:

We will be camping and hiking in the beautiful Alaksa wilderness for several days. And I won't have access to any of my precious cokes. I'm terrified of withdrawal, of the headaches that I know will come. But as much as it sucks to go through that, I don't want to go through that while I'm here:

I have no idea how I'm going to do this. I have no idea if I even can do this. But I'm going to try. Wish me luck.

i had an ultrasound

just my doctor checking on things, no i'm not pregnant.

yeah they told me to drink 32oz of fluid before i got there. yeeeeahhhh... they ended up making me drink about 90 oz of water in about 40 minutes. it was seriously the most uncomfortable thing i've ever been through. and then throughout the ultrasound they are pressing on your bladder. argh. i was seriously in tears by the end of this. acording to the tech, who really didn't want to tell me anything, there's nothing wrong. i'll find out the rest next week.

i just don't get it...

marriage takes a lot of work. marriage is tough. marriage requires compromise. all things i heard and knew before actually entering into it. but really, i dont think i had any clue what those meant. and i'm sure i'm only just hitting the tip of the iceberg. we've been married for 3 months. and we are learning and adjusting everyday.

but i swear there is one thing about darren that i just dont understand and i dont know if i'll ever get it. he is the kind of guy who if he's said it once, it doesn't need to be said again. ever. like, for example, "you're beautiful". or even "i love you". seriously, you think since you've told me you love me once you never have to tell me again? ever? really? i cannot for the life of me wrap my head around that one. are we really supposed to go for the rest of our lives without telling each other, without hearing from the other, that we love them?

obviously there's more to loving someone than just saying the words. but if i'm going to live with you for the rest of my life, you'd darn well better plan on saying those words.

No it is not it is a space shuttle

I remember back when I first started working, I couldn't get over how cool it was to travel for work. I mean, they pay for my airfare, they put me up in a fancy hotel, they give me a rental car, and then they even give me money for food. what could be better, right? Well I think I am finally reaching the point where I am getting tired of it like everyone else in my office. In the past month I have been to Denver twice, Atlanta, and El Paso. And I just found out I'm going to CA next week. I am so sick of planes. My body aches a little even thinking about sitting on that flight. I miss homecooked food. I miss spending time with my husband and friends.

The one bright side is the reason I am going. Most work trips are for incredibly boring meetings. This one will also involve some snooze-inducing meetings, but the primary purpose is to work our next launch. Which is cool. It's one of the few things I actually like about this job.

just what the doctor ordered

tonight i ran myself a nice hot bath, poored a glass of cabernet sauvignon, and settled in with a good book. what more could you ask for?

Penny!

We finally adopted a kitty last week. She has been hanging around the neighborhood for several months now, ever since her previous owners moved and left her behind. She is just the sweetest cat, and it didn't take long for us to fall in love with her and want to take her in. We took her to the vet to get her checked out and get shots and everything, and it looks like her previous owners had her declawed, but not fixed, and then left her. how awful!

this is seriously the friendliest car I have ever met. when she was living outside, she would run up and greet us at our cars whenever we pulled in the driveway. she follows us around everywhere and comes when we call her.

This is our first cat, and she's going to live at Darren's house for the time being, since that's where i'll be moving after the wedding. Here are a few pictures!

Little Leah

As part of a project I'm working on for the wedding, I've been collecting old pictures of me from throughout my childhood. Man I was a cute kid! haha! Here are some favorites.

3 months later!

It's been 3 months since I last wrote here and so much has changed. first and foremost - I'm engaged! Darren proposed on March 22 and we are both so excited. yay :) we're planning a wedding for January 17 next year. it's so much to do but hopefully we won't get too stressed.
We went on our vacation to yellowstone last month and it was pretty great. i have about a million pictures to sort through. now i'm in California for work - for a launch. it's kinda neat to be out here, but I will say that it is far more work than vacation.

just another day at work

The picture's not the best, but this was my view Tuesday morning. And when I say morning, I mean early morning! My alarm was set for midnight, in order to be at work by about 1:30am, to see the launch at 2:30am. Not something I could do very often, but it was totally worth it. We were about 3.5 miles away, they don't really let you get any closer than that. It lights up the entire sky like it's the middle of the day, and the sound is just amazing. my pant legs were definitely vibrating. After it was over I decided to just stay at work, so I put in my 8 hours between 3 am and 11 am haha. It was crazy, and I was pretty delirious by the end of the day.

Linguine with Bacon and Onions

A confession. I happen to be a *gasp* big Rachel Ray fan, even if at times she does seem overly... uhhh... "peppy". Well lately I've been secretly coveting a subscription to her magazine. But, being the thrify girl I am, I couldn't justify it to myself. So a few weekends ago I was garage saling in a rather well to do neighborhood and I was able to pick up a big stack of old issues for a dollar. Yay! I've put them all away in a cabinet, and I figure I'll pull out one each month and it'll be like having a subscription. It's not like it's a current events magazine, so it shouldn't matter if they're old or not. So here for your enjoyment is my first attempt at a recipe from my newly acquired "subscription".

Linguine with Bacon and Onions

1 pound linguine pasta
3/4 pound bacon, chopped
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 large egg yolks
parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

In boiling, salted water, cook the linguine until al dente. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water. At the same time, in a large deep skillet, cook the bacon over medium high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon, and discard all but 3 tablespoons bacon fat. Then add the onions to the skillet and cook over medium high heat, stirring, until softened. (I have to say, the smell of onions cooking in bacon grease is absolutely divine.)

Add the pasta cooking water and bring to a boil. Stir in the linguine and remove from heat. Stir in the egg yolks, one at a time.

Add the bacon, season with pepper and sprinkle with parmesan. Yum-o! I thought it was really good. Maybe a little too much onion, but Darren said he thought it was perfect and wouldn't do it with any less. I fed three people with it last night, and still have a couple portions left over for lunches this week.