Yellow Wallpaper

Just so you know, when I pregnant or otherwise hormonally impaired I am a crier. Good things, bad things, stupidly sappy things that I know are just emotionally manipulative. Like today I was reading a stupid picture book about a dog named "Santa Paws" and I started tearing up. That was lame. But some things aren't: First of all, I actually won a random blog giveaway. And not just any giveaway, but a really awesome one. I don't read Seriously, so blessed! very often, but I decided to stop in the other day for some laughs. There was a giveaway and I decided to enter, assuming I wouldn't win. Not only did I win, but I got the biggest prize, which is a certificate for a getaway at the Homestead in Midway. Mr. Fob and I usually try to do something special for our anniversary and have often been able to spend a night away. This year we decided to move it up a little because late November won't be a great time for me to be far from home and I don't think I...

I just got an email in my inbox. It was from UC Davis. They are "delighted" to accept me into their program in Comparative Literature, are "impressed by [my] credentials" and are certain that I would "thrive in this environment". I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. For a while I've been really debating about doing the PhD or not, but this makes me feel excited. I still need to hear back from Oregon and Berkeley before I make up my mind, but Davis has a lot of good things going for it. We were justdoing a little research on the web and it seems like Davis would be a nice place to live. It's a smaller city, has good environmental and transportation options, and decent weather. I'm not a fan of the hot summers, but it apparently has mild winters and at this point we're both tired of freezing to death for six months out of the year. It's also quite a bit closer to our families and to some of our friends (not right next door, unfor...

We've started an annual tradition of having a party for Dia de los Reyes . I love throwing parties, and it's nice to have one a little later than most other holiday parties. Plus it's a good excuse to eat yummy Spanish food and attempt to bake roscon de reyes . This year my attempt rose rather dramatically in the oven. It was still yummy, but a bit dry. I decided this year to make hot chocolate to go with it and that ended up being a perfect combination. In years past I've generally stuck to tortilla and paella , but this year I was inspired by our proximity to gourmet grocery stores to have a tapas party. It seems a little weird to have a Mormon tapas party since we didn't drink any wine. I did buy a bunch of fun drinks to try with our food; the sparkling blueberry juice was my personal favorite. From left to right we had: assorted Spanish cheeses ( Manchego , Mahon , Tetilla ) with membrillo , tuna tapenade on toasts, jamon serrano and chorizo , assorted olive...

So, what could possibly make my week better than a quick getaway to a bed and breakfast? Could it be the pumpkin swirl cheesecake I made this afternoon that didn't even crack? Those were both pretty cool, but then tonight was even better. Some one mentioned World Market the other day, and I realized that I pass that store on my way to work. Tonight I was a little early, so I thought I'd run in and check it out. After stepping into the store I realized that I need to come back when I had more than 20 minutes and actual money in my bank account. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I would have preferred a few more Spanish items, but the tuna in olive oil and olives stuffed with anchovies look pretty awesome. Like I said, the budget hasn't been very great lately so I tried not to buy anything. Until I saw the digestive cookies. Cadbury dark chocolate digestives. I ate four in the car on the way to teach my class. I need to drive a different way to work or else I am in s...

I don't normally do this, but I need to feel good about myself. There's another, longer post I've been wanting to write, but I've been so busy lately that it will have to wait. First of all, last night I had to fill out a form detailing all my language classes that I've ever taken and my grades in them. I discovered that my GPA in undergraduate Spanish classes is a 3.95 and in graduate classes is 3.97. I think I'm prepared for additional graduate work. Oh, and I got a perfect score on the verbal part of the GRE. That surprised even me. Also, this is a photo of the cool stuff I won in a random drawing. I don't usually win things, but I was so excited to get it. The blog I entered the drawing on is really cool and I've tried a number of recipes from it that were fabulous. It also led me to this blog , which has the tastiest recipe for chicken pot pie I have ever tried.

I spent it on saltwater taffy.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to bright sunshine, a cool breeze, and the sound of birds in the flowering trees outside. The kids were up early too, so after breakfast we went off to the beach. Then we went to the store, came back here for lunch and naps, and spent the evening at Mr. Fob's sister's home. We had a fun family party and yummy dinner that included teriyaki chicken and guava cake. I'd better get to bed now since tomorrow morning we've got to get up early to go to the beach again. This vacation thing is hard.