Finally! An Organized Sink!

I don’t know if any of you have trouble with having too much stuff scattered around the kitchen sink, but I sure do!  Since I have moved into my new apartment, my kitchen is a good deal smaller than I am used to, so I need to have every inch of counter space that is available.  Because of that, all the stuff around the sink does make for quite a dilemma!  It is all stuff that I need on a daily basis, hand soap, dish soap, sponge, etc., but it does leave for a bit of disorganization.

Banana Pancake Good-ness

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am a fan of easy recipes.  I also do not like to waste food (or anything for that matter! :P).  One thing that drive me nuts is that bananas ALWAYS start to turn brown before I can finish eating all the bananas from the bunch.  I have tried all the tricks: taring them apart, wrapping the stems in tinfoil, etc. I usually put the bananas in the freezer when they turn brown and use them to make smoothies (frozen bananas make great smoothies!).  But now I have found another great use for the bananas that are getting a little soft!  Banana Pancakes!

I took 1 banana that was getting little soft, 2 eggs, a dash of cinnamon and tsp of vanilla and smashed/mixed it all together.  It became a thin batter-like consistency.

[caption id="attachment_318" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Banana Pancake Batter[/caption]

The Goodbye Party

I have been a Washingtonian for about two weeks – time sure does fly!  There have definitely been times of home sickness, that is for sure, but there have been a lot of good times as well.  Before I left Pennsylvania, I had a little goodbye party, simply because I didn’t have time to say “see you later” to everyone that I wanted to and I have been reminiscing on that time.  My dear friend brought a cake with the perfect message on it:

The New Crib

Monday I signed a lease for my new apartment in Washington.  Woohoo!  Being that I only brought a carload of my belongings from Pennsylvania, I wasn't able to bring any big items with me.  Therefore, I feel like I am reverting back to my college days and I only have a futon as of right now.  In a sense, it is like having a blank pallet.  I've been going to the goodwill frequently in hopes that I fill find a few treasures to make this apartment more homey.  I have also been looking for a few diamonds in the rough at the goodwill so that I can give these items a make over for a new (and hopefully improved) look.  We will see what things I come up with! :)

The Road Trip

Well, you must forgive me for not updating the dear ole blog in a while - it's been hectic!  But don't you worry, I'll make up for my absence by making this one extra long! :P If you have, by chance read the entry below, you know that I have accepted a job in Washington State and I had two weeks to spend packing and being with family and friends as much as possible.  The past four days have been spent driving across the northern states from Pennsylvania to Washington.  Boy am I glad to finally by here and not in that car!! :)

Thankfully the route is fairly simple: the PA turnpike and the route 90 from Ohio to Washington, with a few tolls from Ohio to Illinois.  Through the course of the trip, we went through eleven states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and finally Washington).  The first day of driving, we went through PA - Illinois.  Although I am sure that the Midwest states have beauties of their own, there wasn't much to see from the highway.  However, toward the end of day two of driving, I spotted the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Oh my, how beautiful!  I think that I was giddy with excitement when we first entered the Black Hills.  Truly, photos do not do it justice!

To The Next Chapter

Whelp, There are going to be several new changes in my life within the next few weeks.  Now that my family knows, I feel like I am free to share my news to the world: I'm moving!  With the exception of my 4 years in college, I have lived my whole life in Pennsylvania.  But now I am heading west, to begin a new adventure!  In truth, it is very bittersweet.

You see, I have this boyfriend that I have been dating for well over a year now, who relocated to Seattle.  When we began to date, I told myself that I would not do anything hastily, so if we could manage long distance dating for a year, I'd consider relocating.  When I first said it, I didn't realize how difficult that it would be: my family, friends, job and home are all in Pennsylvania.  However after the 1-year mark, I started to casually look for jobs and the week before Christmas, I applied for one on the outskirts of Seattle.

I never thought things would progress so quickly!  Within 3 weeks, I applied for this job, had a phone interview, had a job offer and subsequently, accepted it.  When God opens a door, He certainly throws it wide open!  The craziest part is that I am to start February 1st!  That gives me just enough time to give a 2-weeks notice and drive cross country for this new adventure!

[caption id="attachment_58" align="aligncenter" width="249"] Space Needle[/caption]

New Years Pizza

I don't know what your family has as their traditional New Years day feast, but the traditional meal for my family is pork and sauerkraut.  I know several others who eat black eyed peas and cabbage or hog-maw (if you don't know what that is - it's probably for the best... ! :P) each year on New Years day. This year I was on my own for New Years day, so instead of doing the classic feast, I decided to make PIZZA!  Now, I have never made homemade pizza before, and some may argue that it wasn't technically homemade this time since I used a box mix for the dough - but hey, it was homemade to me! :)

I knew that I had one of those Pillsbury crusts in the refrigerator, the kind that all you have to do is roll it out, but check out what I found when I went to get it: