Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Making up my own recipes!

If you know me, you know I love to eat. If you're with me a lot, you know I love to eat junk food. However, fried is just not something this California girl can do everyday. So, I've been trying to figure out how to get my junk food fix with good food nutrition.

Here is a little recipe I came up with that I am in LOVE with and feeds two people (because most people our age are not cooking for a family).

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients:
-2 thawed chicken breasts
-Any spice mixture you like (I use 2 parts garlic, 1 part salt, 1 part pepper, 1 part cayenne pepper, 1 part thyme)
-Pre-made bread crumbs (you can get them at Safeway for $2 and they'll last you forever)
-3 tsps olive oil

Instructions:
1. Mix the bread crumbs and spices in a small bowl
2. Pour the olive oil into a separate bowl
3. Cut up the chicken breasts into bite size pieces
4. Put the chicken into the olive oil and coat
5. Move the chicken from the olive oil into the bread crumb mixture
6. Stick on a cookie sheet and broil for 8 minutes.

Ta-da! It's a grown-up version of a kid meal. If you want, take boiled green beans and dry them off (I'm talking super dry). They are the perfect french-fry substitute (and even taste OK dipped in ketchup)!

*Other ideas for spicing up your nuggets*
-Instead of olive oil use teryaki sauce; don't spice the bread crumbs
-Chili pepper, salt, pepper, garlic
-Garlic
-Rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, oregano
-Instead of olive oil use hot sauce; don't spice the bread crumbs


Let me know if you try it and tell me what you think.

Halloween Continues

Another great part of being a grown up is that Halloween can last for a whole month! As promised, here are pictures from my second Halloween. I was Jackie O, and my friends Heath and Neil were JFK and Marilyn Monroe (or Morning-After-Marilyn as we called him) respectively. Not as many pictures were taken for this one as I did not have a disposable camera (which was amazing) in my fanny pack (more amazing) like the first time.


Marilyn, JFK, and Jackie O.




Aren't we just a precious bunch?








Jackie O and Marilyn: Behind the Scenes.







This may be my favorite of the night. Cameras missed the part where I found Bam Bam's club and came after Marilyn.







1960s ladies.



Have I mentioned that I've decided to wear elbow length gloves on a regular basis?





The night before we saw Rocky Horror Picture Show.



They put me in the dress, but I was already wearing the tights and boots. I didn't know to dress up. It's kind of scary thinking I just dress like this...





And because I was a Rocky Horror Virgin, I had to participate in a contest.


I won't tell you what I did in front of a theater full of people, we want to keep this PG.






Well, all! I hope you had as much fun as I did. Now onto Thanksgiving. One of the best parts of transitioning into a grown-up as opposed to actually being one is that everyone wants to cook at turkey at some point this month. Yum!

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Loving the Life I Have

I've been reading through my past posts. One such post (which you can find here) discusses my hate of Arlen Spector and has a list of things I'd like to do instead of becoming and adult. Now that I am an adult, I thought I'd make a list of things I'd rather be doing than being an adult. The grass is always greener on the otherside of the...college degree... Then I rethought and decided to make a list of things I like about being an adult. I need to be a little more positive.

As a side note, I currently work for a company that has been hired by Pat Toomey, the man who will either run against Spector or Sestak (the person in a primary against Spector).

Things I like about being an adult:
10. Taylor Lautner has to turn 18 sometime.
9. On Halloween instead of trick-or-treating, you just get to Caroline it up!
8. Talking about the current elections or the 2010 elections is just normal conversation; I don't sound pretentious.
7. I have a job that allows me to wear high heels everyday. If I want.
6. Trivia nights.
5. I can see Harry Potter at midnight without asking my mom. Now I just have to ask my significant other.
4. No homework.
3. Vodka Tonic.
2. Starting my own board game collection (weirdly exciting).
1. A paycheck.

Fabulous. Oh lord. I am still at work for three hours. It is election day. Tonight will hopefully be a good night for the GOP. This McDonnell race looks really promising, which is great considering the last 2 governors of VA were Dems. Creigh Deeds is just an awful candidate--it worked out for us. NY-23 should go to the GOP, as well, but we're going to have trouble with such a right wing conservative in that seat. Moderate is not the devil, people. Moderate is a good thing in a lot of places. There are others, but I won't go on a political rant.

I love you, friends! Come visit your DC!

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Halloween

What is more grown-up than being a kid again? My favorite part of grown-up Halloween (besides candy) is the fact that if you're a girl you have to be "sexy." Well, if you know me, you know I am not really the sexy type. So, the beef and I had a fantastic idea--take something not sexy and be a sexy that thing. Raddish was our initial thought, but after he decided to go as a tourist, I joined in the fun!

Me and The Beef












I bedazzled my fanny pack.
This may be my favorite picture of the entire night--mostly because it is so incredibly awkward. This was definitely taken while I was having a Caroline moment.






I'm f-ing in. You're f-ing out!
However, Kim Jong Il is always f-ing out.








Wrong?
I am no longer welcome in Asia.












Finally, Charles gets attacked.
After all the times I have fallen victim, I finally got my revenge.








There will be more. This weekend I am dressing up as Jackie O. There will also be a JFK and Marilyn involved (don't worry, the beef isn't involved).

My mother would be so proud.

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Working

Here I am at the office! Please note the pearls. Work is my life, so please forgive me as I talk about it.

For my job, I am, essentially, a PTA mom on steroids. I make a lot of phone calls, attend millions upon millions of events, yell at caterers, setup venues, collect checks, sit with grown men to watch them make phone calls, and make informational packets. Here is my desk at the moment.
Saturday, for work, I went to a Penn State game. I got to bring the beef and New Girl (a friend). It was 34 degrees, i.e. colder than Fresno will ever be. Here is the other side of the stadium. By the end of the game this looked more like a jellyfish than an "S."And here's me and New Girl at the game. Sometimes my job is awesome.

Working is hard. Make sure you get a job where you can reap the rewards. Early and often.

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Not disappearing

I was going to blog about this, but work got too busy. I will just put in tags for all the things that I would like right now.

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Prioritizing

1. Work
2. Diet
3. Beef
4. Social Life
5. Oh lord, I was supposed to go to sleep!

That is my life. I am learning to prioritize, and it is hard! I am trying not to be a workaholic, but it is addicting. I got my first pay check last week and all it made me want to do was work harder so there would be a possibility of a raise in a few months.

I am also trying to diet. I put on weight in college (we all put on weight in college, I know), and now I am trying to cut calories on the run. Salad seems to be the easiest way to do this, but if you know me you know I hate salad. Ugh. Life is difficult. However, hundred calorie packs of cookies and Oreo candy bites save me.

Boyfriend. Yes. I have one. We are both so exhausted all the time, though, and by the time work is over all we want to do is sit on the couch. However we both want:

A social life. Trying. E-mail is my social life. Gchat is my social life. I try to be good and see my friends, but being a grown-up with work and saving money gets in the way. Thank goodness for happy hour.

And sleep. I try. However, by the time I get to bed my head is swimming and I wake up with all of the things I have going on. I remember that I should have exercised, should have called my mom, should have skipped that PB&J burrito (don't ask), should have done laundry, should have skipped watching the Disney Channel for 3 straight hours, should have e-mailed so-n-so for work...

I want a vacation. Can't wait for Christmas and then January when one of my favorites has her special day. Can't wait. CANNOT WAIT!

However, to negate all of the things that I have decided come with being a grown-up I had a cupcake on Sunday. A Georgetown Cupcake cupcake. Jealous.

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Getting a Job

After months of crying about stress eating, and constantly moping over my unemployed state I am officially an employee. I never really thought about what it would be like to have a job, but now I'm realizing that there is a lot of planning I need to do. I need things to organize my desk better, post-its, and possibly some bottles of water.

Look at me! I'm a grown-up! Now all I need is good Mexican food (STAT!), and I will be golden.

I am typing this on my lunch break. How adorable is that?

More to come...I'll update you on decorating my room later and whether or not my laptop survived the Water Attack of '09.

Transitioning Into Grown-Updom: Cooking

For about half of my college career (the second half--I did things backwards) I lived with my parents. My mother, being the mommy type mother that she is, would always cook dinner for us, pick something up for us, or take us out to eat. If not, she would prepare everything and then have us stick something in the oven. Now that I am on my own, I am finding that eating out all the time is not only fiscally irresponsible, but just plain bad for me. This brings me into my first big transition into grown-updom: cooking for myself.

How does a girl who never cooked start cooking for herself? Google . After typing "recipes" into Google, I found a wonderful website: allrecipes.com. You can type in ingredients (cilantro everything!) and find super easy recipes. My favorite, right now, is this spicy chicken recipe. [To my beef's dismay] I have started putting the spice mix on everything. The chicken is excellent in salads (and if you know me, you know I hate salad). Fabulous.

Being unemployed is apparently excellent for my coo

king skills. I sit around and cook all day. I even had a dinner party one night. Look at me! Last night, I even invented a recipe. I was kind of excited. It reminded me of the movie Waitress and how she always invented pies (mostly 'cause I insisted on using the word "invented"). Anyway, I will share my hamburger recipe with you. It was spicy (like me?), so beware.

Spicy LG Burger:

-1 lb ground turkey (I use turkey, because the only beef in my life is Christopher)

-1/2 red bell pepper

-1/2 onion

-1/2 tbsp chili powder

-1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

-1 tbsp paprika

-1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Mix it all together.

2. Form into patties (5 medium or 4 large)

.

3. Broil for 16-18 minutes.

Easy Peasy. They taste great with ranch dressing instead of ketchup and mustard. We used a jalapeno ranch dressing (Safeway brand), and I thought they were yummy. 

The best part about learning to cook is that a few ingredients will cost a lot and last forever; an initial investment, if you will. Those initial investments, of course, are your spices. It may seem ridiculous to spend $5 on such a little jar, but with $15 worth of spices you can have way more tacos than with $15 worth of Taco Bell tacos. Also, if you're trying to go low fat, ground turkey is about equal to ground beef with much le

ss fat. If you are a one or two person household who seems to have veggies go bad all the time--plan out your menu OR go to the store day of. Going to the store day of has saved me the usual $5 of veggies I let spoil a week. 

This has been my first post about truly trying to become an adult. I've got a few other ideas pending to let you know what I'm up to (and hopeful

ly help someone else who is trying to do the same thing). I love you all!!!

Love, love, love, love, love

My oh my oh my! Two years! It's fast approaching. This upcoming weekend is more important than even Valentine's Day. Yes, it's that big a deal. With all this love in the air I've decided to make a list of the things that I love the most.

10. The Carolines. Good friends, check! Bad decisions, check! The Carolines are my favorite for so many reasons: hills, High School Musical, and Metro pole dancing: The Carolines bring the fun.

9. Nellie's Sports Bar. Best nachos ever, trivia, and drag queen bingo. Need I say more?

8. Washington, DC. The best place in the world. Who doesn't love doing the monument crawl? What could be better than [semi]reliable public transit? No one and nothing. DC is the place.

7. Scratching mosquito bites. I hate the things, but there is such satisfaction that comes with scratching them. Itchy, itchy!

6. Being Republican. Elephants+fiscal responsibility=Beautiful.

5. Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton. True love. True Blood.

4. My Blackberry. I would be lost without it. It acts as my personal assistant, but I love it as my child.

3. The Ashton Clan. There is no stranger family, no family so diverse, and no family so meant to be. Maybe we're crazy, but love runs through these veins.

2. My mother. If you've met her, you know. She's quiet and shy and a little tiger.

1. The reason for the season: My beef, Christopher! I love the boy. Happy anniversary, baby!

Happy August 1st everyone!

Life without a rice cooker

Reasons I Don't Like Being a Real Adult:

5. The AC flooded my room.

4. My room is flooded and my mom can't call a plumber to clean it up.

3. My room is flooded.

2. My room smells like a moldy dog because it is flooded.

1. I have as much freedom as before, but less money.

Reasons I Like Being an Adult:

5. I ate too many nachos at Nellie's.

4. Someday, my room will not smell like mold.

3. I get to go to luncheons with congressmen.

2. Coryn rolled down a hill.

1. Zac Efron is of age.

I saw Aretha Franklin perform for the Fourth of July festivities on the West Lawn. I almost cried. I am way too flamboyant. I couldn't help it. She started singing "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and I almost broke down. Saw a little Barry Manilo, too. He wore a white blazer. Of course.

I've been listening to such mellow music lately. I think it's mostly because my room smells like dog and otherwise I couldn't sleep. It is awful. Someone killed a dog and buried him in my carpet. My bedroom is gorgeous and amazing (covered in flowers and pink things) and flooded. It's like God gets a kick out of my dramatic, flamboyant nature.

Still no job. Being a slave has its perks. No taxes, for example. Also a perk: haven't had a mosquito bite in almost a week! I kill every mosquito I see. I think they know that I have declared war on their kind, and this war does not need congressional approval.

I love you all. I will try to keep you updated. Sorry for the lack of wit. I am tired and moldy.

Welcome to DC! Now on your knees and beg!

Ah, DC. Capitol of the land of the free and home of the brave. It stands for everything I love (and majored in): democracy, law, unemployment? Well, according to my friends and I, yes. Unemployment. I did find an internship (slavery with a better title). For my internship I have had the opportunity to go to quite a few events. At one event, a congressman force-fed me a shrimp cocktail. Only in DC. Lord, I love DC.

Other than unemployment, parties, and force-feeding, I have had a lot of fun. I have had the opportunity to go to happy hours, internet stalk Real World, DC, and have a Carolyn Light night with my girlfriends (who says a 21-year-old can't enjoy Lizzie McGuire?!). Maybe I'm broke, but I sure can have a good time! Today, I even went to Annapolis with the beef and another couple. Military men and seafood--almost heaven.

Also, I have decided to start a rumor: mosquitoes only adamantly attack those who are good, wonderful, beautiful people. According to this new rumor, I am a hybrid of Mother Teresa and Gisele Bundchen. I cannot go outside without being eaten alive. It's my fault for living in a former swamp. Really, though, I would like to blame our founding fathers. I feel like they got a lot right--Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc., but really--a swamp?! It's not like SoCal didn't exist. We obviously had no problem heading west/annexing land. Why couldn't they have just taken CA a little sooner? If only I had a time machine. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure comes to mind.

This week has been depressing. Farrah Fawcett, Micheal Jackson, Billy Mays, and John and Kate's marriage have all passed away (though the last was probably over a LONG time ago). I mostly feel sorry for Farrah who not only had to battle something she didn't inflict upon herself, but right as the tributes started MJ had to go and die. No one even remembers that she passed away except that it was the day that MJ died. Well, Farrah, here's to you!

That's all for now, my sweets. Now I will spell check and label this nonsense for you. Until next time (which is whenever I get internet at my apartment and don't have to use the beef's).

What a minute...I did WHAT?!

Apparently, I graduated from college. Like a wolf in the night graduation came and went leaving me, the unsuspecting sheep, ravaged--swallowed up and digested. Graphic? Maybe. Dramatic? Never. [As I wrote that little bit about the wolf my dad's dog sat up and stared at me--we should start feeding him more so he doesn't decide that he's graduation and I'm a sheep. Something to that effect...]

I have officially graduated from college--checked my grades and I'm golden. Abosch gave me an A. I think it's because he is afraid I will try to talk to him about it otherwise. "Pass her or she will talk to you, again." It's just like the time I got my driver's license. Jokes on you, Abosch! All this means is that I will crash my political theory 7 times and eventually refuse to get behind the wheel. Something to that effect.

It is officially June, which means I officially move this month. I am officially unemployed and officially really stoked to live in the District. Everything is so official. I should get a badge I'm so official. Officially sleepy.

Here is a list for y'all, since it is only appropriate. It is my top 5 favorite things I did to torture teachers this semester. Mostly, I did them to a poor man named Dr. Anderson. Probably one of my favorite teachers ever, but I tortured him.

Top 5 Favorite Torture Moments:

5. "Well, what is an acceptable level of perkiness?!" (to Dr. Abosch after he responded rudely to my saying "Good afternoon.")

4. Text messaged throughout class and never got in trouble solely because the teacher didn't want to hear my voice. (to Dr. Anderson)

3. "BLESS YOU!" (in Dr. Abosch's class after someone sneezed. Abosch stopped class to say, "UNNECESSARY!" back.)

2. "Were you ever a Star Trek character for Halloween? What about Star Wars? I think you're lying." (to Dr. Anderson)

1. "I'M HERE!" (to Dr. Anderson after tapping his podium while walking in 15 minutes late to class)

As Chris said, I'm that girl he hated in college. Now I'm free, though, so I think I'll take a nap!

So close but so...nope Just close!

With fewer than twenty pages to write and fewer than six days to go, I finally feel like I'm about to graduate. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I'm excited or terrified. Instead, I've decided to indulge myself with movies based on Jane Austin novels or parodies of said novels. I feel as if I'm learning more life lessons from my Austin based endeavors than from any of my text books. I've learned that secret engagements make everyone mad, men that are brunettes are always the best ones, and you should always marry the first man you fall in love with days after realizing you're in love with him. Also, there is nothing better than a double wedding or a horse drawn carriage. 

I have also found that a bag of Doritos is infinitely better than the gym. Men: start loving the flab, because I am packing it on. This brings me back to the Jane Austin parodies--if Bridget Jones has taught me anything, it's that I can eat Doritos and still get Colin Firth. 

Get excited! It's graduate time!

To My Good Friend 2am

Why is it that at about 3pm all I can think of is sleep, but come 2am all I can think about is why I hate Arlen Specter and how much I love burritos full of cilantro? Life is difficult.

Graduation is now 3 weeks away. I find myself still jobless and without a future. In true LG fashion, I have made a list of what to do instead of getting a real, grown-up job.

10. Spend my time making up fake posts for textsfromlastnight.com and fmylife.com

9. Do something Youtube worthy

8. Change my name to Caroline

7. Tell everyone I'm an artist

6. Live with my parents and take up something appropriate to being in my mid-20s and living at home (Dungeons and Dragons?)

5. Become a Democrat

4. Stalk Zac Efron

3. Go on Millionaire Matchmaker

2. Cry

1. Do as all middle-class white kids who can't find jobs do and go to grad school.

They are, quite obviously, listed from least to most appropriate. And, I mean, there is always the option of becoming a Fresno/Clovis soccer mom. Just kidding. This is a no mini-van zone.

Defining a Caroline

It's almost graduation, as I have previously obsessed about. Now, I know I should be worried about papers, tests, my internship, getting a job, and finding somewhere to live. I know this. However, all I want is to be a Caroline.

A Caroline? Yes, a Caroline. 

What is a Caroline, you may ask (unless you are one)? Let me share the beauty, glamour, and all over embarrassment that comes with being a Caroline.

A Caroline is someone who is:

1. Inebriated. 

2. Fun.

3. Feeling the need to share the love.

You must meet all the criteria.

A Caroline might:

1. Buy you a rubber ball for being the sober driver.

2. Text you. A lot. And none of those texts will make any sense.

3. Dance with you, music or no music.

4. Drink Boones Farm with a straw, straight from the bottle, in a movie theater.

5. Watch High School Musical on loop for 6 hours.

6. Walk around DC searching for burritos.

7. Walk around SF searching for boats full of cilantro.

Now, you may ask why this is relevant. For --- reasons:

1. I like to make lists.

2. I just watched Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.

3. I'm avoiding writing 4 papers and a cover letter.

4. I am too tired to get ready for bed.

5. I miss my girls.

And the freak out commences.

You're welcome, world! I'm letting you win. College, as I've come to know it, is for "suckas." With a PAC paper, a political philosophy paper, a comparative politics paper, and whatever the weather man and the Olympics coach decide to give me I am, essentially, dead. 

Don't get too jealous. 

Apparently, this is the worst year to graduate. Ever. DC does have a growing job market (especially for the Dems, but no one will believe that I'm liberal), and I will be moving out there in the next two months. That, my darlings, is insane.

The jump from Fresno to DC will be nothing short of vertical. I will trade in the cowboy boots, bleached blonde with black underside hair, and the canal in my backyard that make Fresno home for suits, high heels, and happy hour. 

Get ready! Get set! We're off!