Classic Over-Thinker

Classic Over-Thinker should be stamped permanently on my resume' and any business cards I happen to procure in the future. And I can over-think about basically anything: will my teaching license renewal be submitted before the expiration date? Will my acne choose to flare up for the wedding? Will Target let us return some glasses without a receipt?

Currently, wedding shoes are the bane of my existence. I wish I already owned a fabulous, comfortable, and colorful pair of shoes, b/c really, if I had something suitable I wouldn't look for something new. I love shoe shopping and shoes in theory. Then I go to an actual store and put some shoes on my feet, and my rather short and quite wide feet do not fit. I have to have a conversation with my brain about how I cannot will them to fit me every time I try on a new item of footwear.

I acknowledge that I'm over-thinking this. As soon as I settle on some wedges with height, I think that I won't be comfortable. But most often comfort = expensive. And I find that the majority of my current comfortable shoe needs are met (aka investing in a new pair of worthy shoes doesn't make a lot of sense right now). So what to do? I am officially tired of looking for shoes, and every time I do look, the sensible part of my brain announces that I am over-thinking a tiny decision and that the whole thing is ridiculous because my dress is ankle-length. But is it so wrong to want something colorful peering out of that dress? And to feel a little tall and confident?

See? Classic over-thinking behavior, as I have now devoted an entire blog entry to my plight. Basically, I need to stop thinking about it and just purchase a pair of shoes. Or reassess and see if in fact, I can use something I currently own. I pride myself on staying away from wedding porn and the like, but even on the alternative/DIY blogs I read, each (aka most, not all) bride has killer vintage fashion sense and excellent, full of personality footwear. These same brides search antique shops for months for vintage table linens and full sets of unmatched plates in the same color scheme. Sometimes these brides inspire me, but when I start to over-think, I feel inadequate. But that's just not my style. I'm a good enough kind of person. Are the invites cut relatively straight? Will the post office be able to decipher my handwriting? If both of the above are true, good enough. Don't get me wrong, I take pride in my work. It's not shoddy, just not absolutely the awesomest ever. Currently, I have visions of indie brides with delicious, amazing shoes. And suddenly I need them too.

Except I don't. Which I will eventually remember and find something that fits at least one of my many criteria (relatively comfortable, if not flats, something that doesn't sink into grass, colorful, will wear again) and feel good enough about it.

Until then, the over-thinking continues.

P.S. James and I really did complete the invitations from start to finish this weekend. It wasn't even terribly time-consuming, and was actually kind of fun. We're now hand-addressing envelopes, and will mail them off into the wilds shortly!

Wedding Not-Wednesday

I haven't talked about the wedding in a little while, but today, I just had to share. When I checked my email this morning, right there in between the Snapfish photo offers and the Barnes and Noble coupon was a little email that made my heart leap.

Rings are done! is what it said. We're having our rings made by a local artist in Goshen, and she finished them over the weekend! All we need to do is send the remainder of our bill, and the rings are ours! These little concrete (or white gold in this case) bits of our upcoming marriage are what get me really excited. It's really happening! And we're going to have beautiful rings, which I can't wait to see!

Really Good Things List

1) Yesterday Erin and Kate made an Italian feast in honor of spring. Words cannot describe exactly how delicious the meal was. To top it all off, we played a rousing round of Quiddler with our guests. I love that game!

2) Last week, I taught an exceptionally awesome group of 40 3rd grade students. I left the class feeling energized and excited about my job. 

3) This Friday, that same group of 3rd graders came to the BP for their class field trip. They were all lined up outside waiting for their class to begin, and as I approached, I heard them all yell, "EMILY!" I then received about 30 hugs in approximately 2 minutes. Kids rock.

4) Earl Grey tea. Enough said.

Only in the past

Recently, I find myself starting many a sentence with the phrase "Do you remember when..."

Apparently spring makes me wistful and reminisce-ful. James and I have been telling our stories to each other recently, remembering the first time we said I love you, or the goodbyes and hellos from his trips in our first year of dating. It's kind of fun to remember those times, to cringe at the awkward/terrible moments, and to feel really good about where we are now.

I've also been reminiscing about college experiences--times when I got new nicknames, times when ordering ordinary breakfast food at Waffle House became embarrassing, etc.

I'm a 24 year old already living in the past. For now, I'll just chalk it up to the weather (which was gloriously sunny today, to make up for the snow. And our lawn is green! Yay!)

What to make for dinner?

It's my job to make dinner just once a week--on Wednesdays. You'd be disappointed (I know I am) at the number of Wednesdays that I just make something I've made 10 or 20 times before, and how rarely I break out of my shell. But today I was inspired!

On the menu:

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Mexican Quinoa

Really Good Zucchini

Sweet Potato Quesadillas: modified from the cookbook Simply in Season

1 1/2 c onion, minced

Saute' in large frying pan in 1 T oil until translucent

4 c sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded

3 cloves garlic, minced

Add, and saute' until potatoes begin to soften. Add water and stir often to prevent sticking.

2 t dried oregano

1 1/2 t each: dried basil, chili powder, and ground cumin

1 t ground coriander

diced roasted green chilis, to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Add after several minutes of cooking the potatoes. Continue sauteing until potatoes are soft.

8 tortillas

1 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Spread about 1/2 c of filling (just eyeball it) and a generous amount of cheese on half of each tortillas, leaving a 1/2 inch border on the sides. Fold tortilla in half. Place on oiled baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F until brown, 15-20 minutes (about 10 minutes in the mile high city). Serve with salsa, and sour cream if you have it.

This recipe is super easy and easy to increase the amounts--just add more potatoes and adjust the spices.

Mexican Quinoa: modified from an online recipe site I can't remember

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained with juice reserved (I used plain diced tomatoes and added some diced roasted green chiles from our freezer)

water

1 c quinoa

salt and pepper, to taste

1 t chili powder

1 t cumin

(I'd increase the amount of spices if I made it again)

1. Place the reserved tomato juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough water to bring the total amount of liquid to 2 cups.

2. Put the water/tomato juice into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Stir in the quinoa and salt and pepper. Turn burner down, and simmer quinoa for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid has cooked off.

4. Add the tomatoes and chiles and spices. Cook for another 2-4 minutes until warmed.

This recipe claims to serve 8, but those must be very small servings! I'd triple it if I made it again, it didn't quite stand up to 5 hungry housemates.

Really Good Zucchini: a recipe given to me by Alana

2 c zucchini, shredded

2 T butter

1 t sugar

1/4 t salt

Place all ingredients in a small-medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until warm, about 5-10 minutes.

I'm not lying, this is one of the best ways to eat zucchini! And super easy. It's the best with small, young zucchini. The baseball bat zukes in the garden in August are more suited for zucchini bread/cake than this recipe.

Some things

Yes, I've been MIA for awhile now. Turns out that spring is a very busy time in my life. Work is busy. We've had lots of visitors, which makes life at home busy. And then there's this thing called a wedding that's now 4 months away (a little less than that, but I refuse to be an obsessive counter.)

So, a short list:

1. I tried on my wedding dress today! It is not ridiculously large, as I expected. It is definitely too large, but it's too large in places that are easy to fix. However, I forgot how low it was in the back! I don't think it's obscene, but it is pretty low.

2. While I was there (for about 8 minutes...b/c I really just came to try it on), the woman helping me asked what I was doing with my hair. She then clipped a really cute ostrich feather decorative thing into my hair, and told me it was "only $100." Yeah, my dress cost just a little more than that. All I could think was, yeah, this looks cute. But I could make it for much, much less.

3. I taught 180 3 and 4 year olds today about spiders. What an interesting crowd. But almost all of them held Rosie the tarantula.

4. It is sunny today, which sort of makes up for the dismal Easter morning yesterday.

5. Only 4 sessions of my after school program remain. It feels like February (when we started) was just yesterday.

6. Sign of spring: plant/garden/nursery stores are now open when I drive past them!

best.job.ever.

me: "Does anyone have any questions about the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach?"

1st grader: "Cute!"

me: "Oh, you think it's cute? That's awesome!"

[later]

me: "So when you go into the Butterfly Pavilion, you can hold Rosie the tarantula."

same 1st grader: "When I hold Rosie, I think she's going to look cute AND handsome."

...I love my job.