Motha-flippin....................

The wedding pictures finally came out, and the MiL just called to ask me to get a few pictures of her taken off the ordering website, because she looks bald and nobody wants to look at those pictures anyways!

Seriously! Its an ORDERING website! It's not a photo album, or slideshow!! And no offence, but she does have thin hair!!!!!!!

I'm trying to not be offended. But I'm really not going to ask a photographer to delete pictures from the ORDERING PROCESS. christ.

This dish is amazing! J was impressed, and it didn't take too long. The longest part was finding Fennel at the grocery store.

Salmon and Fennel with Roasted-Lemon Vinaigrette


2 bulbs fennel, thinly sliced
2 lemons, cut in half crosswise
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 6-ounce pieces skinless salmon fillet
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
12 ounces mixed greens (about 8 cups)


Heat oven to 400° F. In a large roasting pan, toss the fennel, lemons, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Roast until the fennel begins to soften, about 8 minutes.

Season the salmon with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and nestle in the fennel. Roast until the salmon is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

Squeeze the garlic out of the skins into a small bowl and mash to a paste. Squeeze the lemon pulp and juice into the bowl. Stir in the honey, rosemary, the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place the salmon and fennel on the greens. Drizzle with the dressing.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

CALORIES 372 ; FAT 17g (sat 2g); CHOLESTEROL 97mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17g; CALORIES FROM FAT 40%; SODIUM 696mg; PROTEIN 40g; FIBER 6g; SUGAR 4g

Real Simple, NOVEMBER 2008

I am currently sitting in my home office, drinking a beer.

I'm drinking a beer, on a weeknight, on a work night, in my office. My husband just changed the lightbulbs to 100 watt fancy clear light bulbs. This room is brighter than my school office now, horribly brighter.

I'm sitting here, drinking a beer, in the brightest light, because I can't face going to bed yet. You see, I decided that I need to do more things that J likes. He picked me up from school, dinner already made, kitchen cleaned. So I offered to go see a movie (in fairness, I was trying to avoid the bowling option he put forth). Beyond that, I offered to go see a HORROR movie.

Hence the bright light, beer, office.

We saw Quarantine. Or rather, he saw it. I watched 1/2 the movie-- the left half, with my left eye. There will never be a redeeming quality to a horror flick. And this one, despite actually being a bit boring, capitalized only on some dried up tricks from Blair witch.

In the end, nobody wants to see an apartment building filled with rabid humans eating each other.

So beer, light, computer.

Yeay! I mailed out my diss proposal to the committee yesterday afternoon!

And We have entered the 20th century in this country!! Yeay Obama! (I hope we can hit 21st c. soon).

I must motivate to get to school, but its just so hard....

Go Vote.

I'm lucky

Yesterday I started the day feeling down. We've decided we can't afford our honeymoon, so we need to change it. I got caught up in the chain reaction of "what if we can't afford to see my family at thanksgiving? We aren't going at Christmas because we were going on a honeymoon in January. But if we don't do a honey moon then, then I'll skip my family entirely for no good reason". It was really upsetting because I LIKE my family. I WANT to see them. And J's mom said that for as long as we live in the same town as her, we can spend every holiday up north and she won't mind. If she gets us every weekend, then xmas and the rest are totally cool. Plus, they don't celebrate like my family.

So first, no honeymoon. Ok I kid, we will have a trip and we really want to go in January. It's important to me that we go sooner than summer, because quite frankly I need a vacation and I want to go away and be romantic with my husband. The wear and tear of daily frustrations here (school and money) just break you down so much. I like escapism.

Anyways, we decided that Hawaii is too far too expensive. 2 plane tickets cost 2622.00. But a week (5 days) at Walt Disney World's Polynesian Resort is the same price. We will drive to florida, and we can get a package deal with room, a meal plan, park tickets, and some freebies for the same price as the plane tickets. AND we don't necessarily need to make a booking until the end of November. So we can wait to amass some more money.

Second, I was depressed about the holidays and not seeing my family. All of this was in my head when J picked me up at the gym last night, and I cried in the car on the way home. His reaction is to fix a problem of course, so we also had a chat about how I need to release my fears through talking and crying (which I don't do often, and that makes it worse for him apparently).

When we arrived home, and I was sniveling the last of my cry, I walked in to discover that J had spent his 3 hours after work cleaning the house, mopping the kitchen floor (in guy terms, with a swiffer), did 2 loads of laundry, lit two candles and turned on the radio to cheesy music.

I must tell you that this is not the first time this has happened. My husband really is a wonderful person. I had prepared myself in life--- like, before I met a boy-- that when I got married I would get stuck in a totally traditional gender binary. But that's not what I got! J cooks and does the dishes atleast 5 nights a week. And I was not the last person to vacuum the living room before yesterday, it was J. I may fold and process laundry, and scrub the bathroom sink, but J really shows me love in actions.

I started saying "Do you know how I know my husband loves me?" and filling in an action, like filling the ice cube trays in the fridge, or hanging up his towel in a 3 quarter fold on the bar, or making the bed, or turning off all the lights, a few weeks ago. I noticed that its a positive way for me to point out that A. I respond to actions more than flowers and B. he knows concretely all the little things that actually mean alot to me. And he'll learn some good habits :). I thought about this after a Friend told me about the 5 languages of love. I'm definitely someone who responds to actions more than gifts (J is a gift guy). So last night when we walked into the house to this amazing tableau, it was wonderful.

And J didn't even know I was stressed out yesterday.

CAD

FYI, We have family dinner tonight.

I must be prepared to say the right thing, before she insults me.

UPDATE: Dinner went fine. No insults.