The Secret Garden

Tyler and I were taking a walk the other night after dinner around his neighborhood and we ended up in the park near his house. After walking on the trails for awhile, we stumbled upon this gem. 

The Secret Garden

The garden seemed so magical and special even though it was completely overgrown and abandoned. I fell in love and totally wanted to make it a point to come back and sit on those steps and read or just think about life. Growing up, I always had a place of my own where I would go and think about things. This garden reminded me of those places throughout my life. 

It was still pretty magical and it seemed like a forgotten secret. I love finding places in life like this where it feels like you have a bit of the world to yourself. There is something really special about that. With this forgotten garden in the middle of the woods, you can either look at it as being an old abandoned place or a truly beautiful place. How we look at things in life makes all the difference in how we live our lives. 

So, I leave you with these words to think about this week. Have a good one!!

Cooking Thai Food

Sunday night for dinner, my boyfriend and I cooked some delicious Thai food. Since my boyfriend's name is Tyler, I like to joke that all the food he cooks is "Ty" food. But this was actual, legit Thai cuisine. Straight from a cooking lesson that actually happened in Thailand. The cooking lesson was Tyler's on a trip that he took to Thailand. I got my cooking lesson Sunday night!

We made chicken with potatoes and curry. It would be better if I actually knew the authentic name, but I don't. So, it was chicken with potatoes and curry.

Here are some pictures of the process:



Chicken cooking in coconut milk and curry



Potatoes and more coconut milk added

Cucumber salad to go with the dish

The finished product served over rice

Needless to say, this was delicious! Although Tyler did most of the work, I did do a lot of stirring! Fun times in the kitchen!!

Coffee Update

So as we all know, I am addicted to coffee. Seriously addicted. I first became addicted during my senior year of college and have never looked back since. Since I am also a coffee snob and insist on drinking quality coffee, I am sure that I have spent enough money on coffee over the years to buy a nice car. I recently bought a Keurig coffee machine to put in my cube at work so that I wouldn't have to drink the gross free office coffee. Of course as you can imagine, this has amped up my coffee intake significantly. It's sooooo easy to roll over there and get another cup of coffee right after I finish a cup. 

(*Keurig tip: To get more out of your K-cups, run two cycles of the stronger brew through a single K-cup for a larger, medium brew cup of coffee. I usually can almost fill a travel mug using this method and it still tastes delicious. The first run through is strong and the second run through is weaker but it blends together to still be good. This will save money and you will be the resident Keurig genius at your house/office/wherever.)

So I thought that I had the whole coffee problem solved. I would enjoy my awesome dark roast coffee and not have to suffer through office coffee. Then, the inevitable happened. My office tried to upgrade the coffee situation. Our office recently got these nifty single serving coffee dispensers. You get to choose from a variety  of flavors and make a single cup of coffee. (Similarish to a Keurig. That I had just bought. For my cube. Because I'm ridiculous.)

New coffee machines at work

I thought, "Well, if nothing else, I can take my Keurig home now and partake in free coffee with everyone else." 

And then I tried the coffee.............. still gross. It's cool looking because it's a nifty machine that lets you pick your coffee and get a single serving out of it. But it's still free coffee for the workplace which means that it's just not that good. There different flavors and such and people say it's a step up from what we had before. But it's still a step down from Kelli's Cubical Coffeehouse and I am a coffee purist. I only drink non-flavored, black coffee. And the options here for that are just not good. 

So I'll be keeping the Keurig. 

On another note, I've been trying to cut down my coffee intake slightly for health reasons. This is very difficult and it's how I finally realized I might be a true addict. But here is my attempt today to drink less coffee. 

Grande Starbucks instead of Venti :)

I got the smaller size at Starbucks  than my usual Venti. Still dark roast, still black, still only my first cup for the day. But it's a start. It's a whole 4 ounces smaller. (Hey, I'm trying....) Next time you see me, I may appear just slightly calmer and less jittery.  : )

My Current Life - June Edition

Quick update on my life lately! I feel like I have been somewhat absent from this whole blogging thing lately, but I guess that is what happens when you find yourself with just a few minutes of free time a day! (Thank you bar exam....)

Speaking of, I am about to finish Week 2 of my Bar Review class. Five more weeks to go.... yay? After that I will have a few weeks where I don't actually have class to attend, but I will still have plenty to study. Then..... it happens. I go and take that freaking exam. So less than 2 months from now, it will all be over and I will be relaxing by the pool on my weekends instead of holing up in the library doing multiple choice questions until I want to puke. The good news is that so far, everything is going well. I had a slight bump in the road this week, but things are back to normal now. (Long story short, having too much caffeine and not enough water can lead to a slight kidney stone problem....enough said.)

For those of you concerned about my Candy Crush status- I have reached Level 43. Oh yes. Believe it people, I still suck at this game. I am slowly getting there..... Slowly. My mom is also now addicted to the game and will probably pass me up in a week or so. 

I cancelled my cable subscription a few weeks ago and honestly, I have not regretted it once. I have Netflix and anytime I feel like I need to watch tv, I just let Netflix tell me what is recommended for me. In related news, I watched the first three episodes of season 4 of Arrested Development and I'm not hooked yet..... Anyone else having this problem? I LOVE the first three seasons and I'm sad that I'm not loving this new season. Very sad. 

My sister's birthday was May 25th. She is 26 now and that seems so weird. Mainly because it means I will be 29 in a few months. Oh wait, actually, in less than a month at this point. Yikes, I'm not ready for my last year of my 20s to be upon me! Anyway, of course I gave Kati a bday present that was 100% Disney related. Of course. Because we are Disney freaks. On a related note, my mom and sister go to Disneyworld in 3 months and I have already been making a list of souvineers that I would love to have since I can't go. : ) 

To those of you who have missed reading my blog lately because I've been sort of absent, don't fret. I will do better, I promise. I have new blog post ideas floating around in my head and I'm anxious to get them written! One such idea is a post about my OBSESSION with Nancy Drew and if that doesn't grab your attention, I just don't know what would.... Kidding. Oh, not kidding about the post though. I promise it will be awesome! Until then, au revoir!!