Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Well, I finished work on Friday and have a holiday until January 2nd! Nothing like when I was a student, but there are no complaints here--two weeks off will be MUCH enjoyed! Can't wait to relax.

On Monday, Alyssa, Rosie, and I held our first annual Battle Lane Christmas party. A variety of our co-workers and friends came. We pigged out on soup, snacks, and holiday beverages. And we finished the night with Dirty Santa. I was lucky enough to get an awesome Mississippi glass, courtesy of Sharon. Meg and I were the only one who dressed festive....except for Sasha and Bougie :)



I had decorated a beautiful Christmas tree pre-party, but S&B decided it would be their new toy. I had to move it into my room until right before the party, since they were kenneled in my bathroom anyway. I do think it ended up very nice though!



On Thursday, after probably waiting entirely too long, I FINALLY got a hair cut! And although it is a bit shorter than I would have wanted, it looks good and it is a much needed change.



Other than that, life has been the same old routine. Again, I am SO happy for break, and for Christmas to finally be here. Can't wait until Santa comes in ONE WEEK! And no, not THIS Santa:



LHC

I'm back...Holiday edition!

At the request of Porter, I will make every attempt to blog more often. After all, what are we supposed to do all day at work if we don't have our friends' lives to read about? But really...

Anyway, I figured for this post, I'd get into the holiday spirit and talk about some of the things I'm hoping to get for Christmas. Yes, it's a bit materialistic, I know. But you won't see any iPads or new Lexuses on here, so I'm at least a reasonable materialist.

C.O. Bigelow
Lemon Hand Treatment (Ultra-Moisturizing and Skin-Brightening Formula)

I'm obsessed with this stuff. My mom bought some for me last year and I thought, "oh, so she's gone on another of her Bath and Body Works shopping sprees." But in reality, this is my favorite lotion I've ever used, and I'm on the verge of running out. Since it's hard to find, I figured Mom could pick this one up as an awesome stocking stuffer...

Tea kettle



So yes, I may be dreaming when I say I want a Le Creuset tea kettle. But my parents have two, so I don't see why I can't at least get my one. They have a blue and a red one. I have a little red tea pot I got in Argentina, but I'm ready for a step up. So why not this one?!

Touch Gloves

As an iPhone (addict) user, these are going to be a must-have this winter. Because, let's be honest, NOTHING is worse than trying to text with numb fingers. And these are leather and stylish! A complete win-win for my hands and my social life.

Pashmina



Yes, I know. What kind of freak girl am I to not own a pashmina? Exactly why I am remedying this this Christmas. Come on mom, this one is only $9.99!

So I'm trying to expand my list further, but it's so hard for me. Every Christmas, I try really hard to not only ask for things I'd like, but rather things I really need. It makes sense to me to take care of both, and be practical in what I ask for. Any ideas that you may have, please feel free to share! A girl could always use some suggestions.

LHC

A terrifying reality

In 6 days, Mississippians will head to the polls to vote on, quite frankly, a horrifying initiative.

Proposition 26 seeks to redefine "personhood", thus creating many ambiguous interpretations of the laws regarding reproductive health in the state. Not only does i26 attempt to outlaw abortion (quelle surprise, as Porter would say), but also to ban birth control (no matter what these loonies might fallaciously claim).

In my ever so humble opinion, I can understand their goal of making abortion illegal. After all, conservatives have been fighting this battle for decades now, and no matter the practical repercussions, argue their religious beliefs before the law. However, I cannot respect nor accept Personhood USA coming in and completely confusing the voters by creating an incredibly poorly written intiative. The repercussions on the everyday lives of Mississippians, should this unfortunate proposal pass, would be devastating. Our state already suffers from high teen pregnancy rates and a lagging educational system; must we make this worse by banning contraception and the right to safe sex, in of all places, a state that needs it worse than any other?

It makes no sense to me. All that comes to mind is very ugly words, when I think about the supporters of this nonsensical proposal. They clearly haven't thought out what the consequences of its passage might be--and, even more terrifying, is that they seemingly could care less. Perhaps scarier yet is the wide range of support the proposition is receiving. Both gubernatorial candidates applaud the intiative, and I know a sad few (I thought) intelligent adults who either haven't bothered to research the measure, or only see it as "anti-abortion."

Now I know...most of my blog readers (all three of you, right?) feel the same way about this, and probably already knew how I felt as well. But still...we must speak out. Someone will be listening, and this is a crucial time for our state to influence others to make the smart, and right, decision.

LHC

Halloweeeeeen!

In pictures :) (to spare you from my typical babbling posts)



Last Saturday, after the Ole Miss-Arkansas football game, I ate dinner with my family and my Aunt Mary Lee and cousin Virginia. Mary Lee came down for the game (she is a Hog, after all) and we ate a big dinner of taco soup and cornbread together! It was great to see everyone, and in typical fashion, she had a giant bowl of halloween candy out and sent us home with pumpkin cheesecake.



In keeping up an annual tradition, Meg and I visited the St. Peter's pumpkin patch this week. I picked out 5 or so mini pumpkins to decorate my house and office! And of course, it's not a trip there without a fun photoshoot.



For work, I helped throw a halloween study break for my FASTrack students. This did involve a bit of work on my part--namely, baking 200-ish mini cupcakes, icing them, and decorating them. In the end, the students LOVED them, and they all got eaten. I was even incredibly flattered when someone asked if I got them at Emileigh's. HA! In my dreams...



And last, but not least, I bring you a picture of a halloween costume. No, not mine. Rather, my precious kitten Bougie's. I admit, I did buy the unicorn costume with the intention of Sasha wearing it. However, with her rebellious nature and more petite frame, that didn't quite work out. So.....this. Call it feminine if you'd like, but he's CUTE and you KNOW IT!

Anyway, back to watching my slew of halloween movies and zombie TV shows. Until next time.
LHC

In a nutshell

This was my week!

Now I know this may not be the most, shall we say, stimulating post. But if you love me, or are hopelessly bored, then it should be mildly interesting at the least.

I enjoyed the grove and post-game (for obvious reasons...) with Porter, Faison and her family, and Bobby Joe last weekend. It was really great to hang and drink with them! Watching Ole Miss get pounded by Alabama...not that fun. But everything else? Fabulous.

Once the workweek started, things started to go downhill. I love my job, but boy do I get exhausted and fast. Waking up at 7am everyday is not terrible, but getting off around 5 then trying to proceed with some semblance of a social, active life is DIFFICULT. I have standing plans on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so my breathing room is not really existent.

This Wednesday, I went with Meg and my friend Audrey to see Young Frankenstein the musical at the Ford Center. Meg and I watched that movie COUNTLESS times as children, so I'm fairly accustomed to the story lines and humor. However, I totally did not pick up on a lot of the dirtier content when I was young--that truly surprised me during the musical, but, of course, I loved it.



Thursday was our weekly dinner club, with Austin and Alyssa. This week, Alyssa treated us to chicken cordon bleu, asparagus, mashed potatoes, all with a white wine sauce. Austin and I may have taken the easy way out with a boxed strawberry cake mix and strawberry icing...but that was okay. We paired it with Hocus Pocus and an episode of the Walking Dead, and I was happy as a clam.

I'm excited about this weekend--no, not the Arkansas game, but the fact that my parents and some extended family will be in town! I'll get to see everyone and we'll have a big family dinner on Saturday night. It will be so nice to just hang out and relax with all my people. And cross my fingers, I will have Sunday just to lounge around the house and prep for the week ahead. I don't get nearly as many days hanging at the house as I would like... Such is the life of a working girl.

LHC

Cooking: Round 2

So, I've been doing weekly dinners with my roommate, Alyssa and our friend, Austin. We take turn cooking the entrees and desserts--last time Austin made pasta with homemade sauce, and I baked bread pudding with a whiskey sauce.

This week I was in charge of dinner, and I tried my hardest not to disappoint Alyssa and Austin. I found an awesome chicken and dumplings recipe on allrecipes.com, and I went with it. I was careful, though, to choose one that had great reviews and suggestions, so that I could be sure it would not be a fruitless effort.

It was fairly simple. Step 1: Cook the chicken in a brothy mixture with sauteed onions and carrots.



Shred the chicken and make and add the dumplings.






And cook it all together (of course, that's an excessively simple summary, but you get my drift). And so a little over an hour and a half later--ta da! My most amazing concoction to date.



I was so proud of myself, and of course, they were delicious. I even ate them for lunch today, too :) Leftovers are the best!



So yes, my domesticity is improving! (Austin made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting--didn't get any pics because they all got eaten!) The thing I love the most about cooking is having such a tangible outcome to my hard work. And this was a damn tasty outcome. I really want to keep cooking even more--next week Austin and I are collaborating on dessert while Alyssa cooks dinner. I'll have another chance then to get creative and explore a new recipe! And of course, I will post the result (no matter good, bad, or ugly...) on here. Until then!

LHC

There's no place like home...

And better than that, I didn't even have to click my ruby-slippered heels together to get to Oxford!

Mom and I drove back early today, but not before having some last minute fun in St. Louis. The conference officially ended on Monday, so afterward we toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery. I had been there back in high school with Dad, but this time was different--I WAS LEGAL FOR "SAMPLING"!

So along the tour we saw the famous Clydesdales. I'm not a horse-person, but they are beautiful animals.



But of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't holding out for the samples. You're allowed two, even though they are pretty close to normal-sized beers. The first one I tried was called the Wild Blue, a blueberry lager. It was delicious, albeit a little sweet.



The second one I tried was the Shock Top Belgian white. It was also good--almost identical to Blue Moon, except it has the orangey-citrus flavor already in it.



After that, we explored town a little further. We went back to the Loop, a neat little district near Washington University's campus. We ate at a place called Blueberry Hill, and it wouldn't be a trip without me finding this as a meal:



It was a good trip, but I'm so glad to be home. I've missed my babies (aka, Sasha and Bougie), I've missed my bed, I've missed my routine, I've missed my tv shows. My short break was great, but it's back to the real world. And my next cooking adventure is on Thursday...so get ready. There should be some (cough) interesting pictures in my post on that meal....until then.

LHC

STL!

I made it!

As if it wasn't enough to live through a 6 hour drive with my mom, I also made it driving to our hotel in downtown, even after navigating a bridge demolition and detour through Illinois. Miracles do happen.

I won't bore you with the details of my conference, but it's gone great so far! You'll always have more engaging speakers for some sessions and snoozers for others. But in total, I've learned a lot and hope to head back to Oxford inspired.

In my free time though, I've enjoyed waking up to this Mississippi River view every morning.



I've enjoyed the good eats here (although as for the extra weight, my body is NOT too amused). Note this fudge brownie drizzled with caramel and topped with Bailey's Irish ice cream.



In the non-conference time, Mom and I have been out and about. Friday night we enjoyed the Cardinals game over Italian food. Saturday morning, we hit the Galleria and shopped hard. Post-conference Saturday night, we went to the City Museum, which is more or less a giant adult day care--and I loved it. Note my potential Halloween mask I made in the crafts area:



And yes, it is a unicorn. Inspired my my personal pillow pet, Pooty. Anyway, another interesting facet of this trip has been the Occupy STL-ers right down the street from our hotel. They're literally camping in the middle of the city in tents and hammocks, and protesting whenever they feel like venturing out of their makeshift homes. I really have no problem with the folks--they're kind, peaceful, and are motivated. But yes--here is a snapshot of their "protest":



So all in all, it's been an eventful few days so far. We head back to Oxford on Tuesday, so tomorrow we plan on finishing up the conference and hitting the brewery. Got to admit, I'm totally down with a tour and a beer. After that, we might get a nice dinner and then rest up for the long drive home Tuesday morning. I'll update more later with some Clydesdale pics, I'm sure. Or more food porn, because honestly, who DOESN'T love food porn?

Until then,
LHC

Meet me in St. Louis?

Well, probably not.



But I (accompanied by my mother) am going to STL tomorrow for a conference this weekend! Ole Miss is kind enough to pay for me to spend a good four days there at a conference on first-year experience/retention in higher education! Boring to you, I'm sure--but I'm nerding out a good bit. Seeing as my job this year greatly revolves around developing first-year programs (and encouraging retention!) at Ole Miss, this could be really educational for me.

Of course, though, let's not be naive...Ruth and I have already planned out museums, shopping, and dining. I plan on going to the City Museum, which my boss described to me as a "giant adult playground." Sounds right up my alley, considering I'm often a 22-year old trapped in a 7-year old's body. I'm going to balance that out, though, with a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Distillery. I have been there before, but not when I was of drinking age. I'm fairly excited about a nice, free Bud Light.

Shopping is a given, in my family. Mom wants to find some new boots...I want to find things (any things!) Mom will buy for me. I know there's a galleria, and a big mall in an old train station. Mom has a friend who gave her food recommendations, but to be honest, I'd probably eat just about anything...especially if the school is reimbursing me for it.

I didn't have to work too hard to convince Mom we'll be skipping the Arch. I went up in it with Dad last time I was in STL, and that was one too many times for me. I'm already not incredibly keen on heights, but paired with movement and swaying in the air, having to shuffle your feet to keep balance...yeah, you're nuts if you think I'm taking my acrophobic, epileptic mother up there with me. The bruises I get every time we ride Space Mountain at Disney World are bad enough; EMTs would be involved in this, I'm certain.

So, we'll stay on the ground, museum it up, shop til' we drop, eat like kings...oh, and I'll learn a lot about the state of higher education today! My inner geek will be loving it, and my outer sybarite will be weeping. I'm excited for this 4-5 day jaunt and I will certainly post pictures and details upon my return!

LHC

Playlist of the week

Guess that implies that I'm gonna have to do this every week? We shall see how well that works out for me...but until that resolution falls through, let me elaborate on what I've been listening to lately!

I really do believe that variety is the spice of life--and my music tastes are no different. I listen to various things depending on my mood, the setting, you name it. But lately, these are some of the songs that have really caught my interest and may have been played a time or fifty on Spotify:

Start Over-Beyonce
Give Me Everything-Pitbull ft. Neyo, Afrojack, and Nayer
Let Your Love Grow Tall-Passion Pit
Strip Me-Natasha Bedingfield
Save the World-Swedish House Mafia
Perth-Bon Iver
The Diamond Street Church Choir-Gaslight Anthem
Without You-David Guetta ft. Usher
Faster-Matt Nathanson
Criminal-Britney Spears
Body and Soul-Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse

I like to allow myself some guilty pleasures (cough cough...Beyonce, Britney, Pitbull) while giving myself some good quality tunes, also (Bon Iver, Tony Bennett...please consider my other music legitimate, too, PLEASE).

Anyway, if you lack for new music, look into some of these! I know that a few songs aren't exactly new, but hey...it's never too late to discover something "new" to you. And at work every day, I am CONSTANTLY in need of something fresh to blare through my headphones. So, on the off chance that anyone reads this and has any suggestions, please comment and let me know what you're listening to now! Or, even if you like the songs I listed, that at least makes me feel a little less embarrassed about my latest music confessions. (Oh and by the way, I didn't even list the worst ones...those never need to be spoken of...)

LHC

To sum up my life:

That's about how I feel right now.

I've been battling this cold crud, which alone isn't all that terrible. But when I'm trying to work and maintain a normal routine, it's a pain. My boss was too kind and let me come work from home this afternoon. I'm really hoping working on the couch in Nike shorts and a t-shirt will at least give me a healthy peace of mind.

Still, when (not if...) any of my blog follower friends get "the sick" this season, here are my best helpful hints:
1) Drink hot tea as much as possible. Not only because it gives you a chance to pull out some Earl Grey and honey, but also because you can legitimately claim it helps heal your throat!
2) Day Quil and Mucinex are my sickness-ambrosia. I literally become a new person once they get into my system, although let's be honest--no miracle could make a cold go away in a day.
3) Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Again, although it does really help give your immune system a way to reboot, who doesn't want an excuse to sleep for 9-10 hours a night? I surely do...

I know we've all been sick and you may think, "these are obvious, Leigh..." I only say these things since I'm used to getting sinus infections, or the flu, or something where there is a definite treatment. It's rare that I get a cold or virus that is completely untreatable...like this. Even if these are really "duh!" things, be glad...be glad that a) you're NOT sick right now and b)when you are (in the near future), I prepared you well!

LHC

The beginnings of a crazy cat lady

Of course, I'm referring to myself.

Welcome, Sasha and Bougie to my household. My roommates and I adopted these kittens from the local animal shelter. They were from the same litter, so they (luckily!) get along super. They have already become my makeshift children, so I apologize for becoming such a doting catparent already.



Miss diva herself, Sasha Fierce. She was named after Beyonce's alter ego, so naturally she lives up to her name. She is sassy and smart, and she bosses her brother around like there is no tomorrow. He's starting to realize that he's bigger than her, but no worries--she will always be in charge.



This is my sweet boy, Bougie. He is a great cuddler, and he is so loving and gentle. The only time we have problems is when food is concerned--he will eat ANYTHING. I'm betting he's going to be my 30-lb. cat, but I'm fine with it. Sasha's lack of fat (from running around the house and because she's a snob) will compensate for his, I suppose.



And this is my favorite scene I've come home to: the kittens laying on my Longchamp purse. What can I say...they must get their good tastes from me.

So thus begins yet another adventure in my life...pet owner-hood? Is that what we'd call it? Whatever you dub it, here I go. Wish me luck with these two, y'all. I imagine I'm gonna need it...

LHC

You know you are old when...

You come home from a long day of work, already have dinner plans, but STILL come home to whip up a meal anyway.

Yes, I did that. Yes, I am confused, too.

You see, I tutor every Tuesday over dinner. But I've been dying to make chicken tortilla soup (recipe courtesy of Matthew Archer [more specifically, his mother, I'm sure]). So, why not make a huge batch and have lunches and dinners ready-made for the rest of the week?

Thus, I did. I've never tried to cook this recipe before, but I have eaten it...and it's simplicity and ease are what make it most delicious.

Chicken tortilla soup:
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 can mexicorn
2 cups milk/half and half
1 can chicken broth
Chicken breasts, chopped
3-4 flour tortillas, cut
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

And voila...I will not go hungry this week! In fact, I've been battling the season-transitioning crud, so soup will be PERFECT to soothe my sore throat.



Yes, this isn't the best pic, but you get the idea...



And more in the freezer for later! That's what I call domestic responsibility.

Anywho, this was definitely one of my more successful cooking adventures. I usually succeed in baking, but making real entrees is more of a challenge for me. This next year, though, I think I will have ample time to expand my husband-catching (and keeping) skills. THEY BETTER PAY OFF ONE DAY SOON!

LHC

The time has come....

So, I know...this is probably my, what, fourth blog I've created. Maybe this one will stick?

Anyway, Porter inspired me to start this blog. I can only hope that I have friends (or bored random folks...) who will find my adventures in the working world to be amusing or possibly inspiring. My transition thus far has not been incredibly smooth, but then again, change never comes easy.

I'm learning, slowly but surely, what it's like to be a full-fledged adult. I mean, I've been "free" for four years now. But it didn't get real until I was hired for a big girl job, moved into my first house, and started waking up before the sun everyday to go to non-optional work. In retrospect, being a student was damn easy.

Thus, my blog. I'm navigating my way through the working world while trying to nurture some semblance of a social life. I'm trying to embrace my domesticity (and raise two young kittens...) while also staying active in the campus and community. My successes and misadventures, with all of the above, can hopefully be documented here.

I hope "Year One" will provide you updates with all the goings on of my life--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Also, I would love for my other friends to send me their blogs, too, so I can do the same! :)


LHC