Tonight: Roast chicken and potatoes (a la How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman) (oh, and did I mention it’s with local chicken from the Morrow farm? I’m excited to try it!), acorn squash and apple pie

This week: Chicken pie (with leftovers from tonight’s dinner), ribbolita and eggplant parmesan (it’s my plan to make 2 and freeze 1)

I’ll post on how successful my roast chicken is…it’s a recipe I use often, but somehow, can still manage to mess up. Fingers crossed!

2. Sunshine: There’s not much that a good sunbeam can’t cure. Warm sun can be hard to come by here in PA, but it makes me appreciate it that much more. Blue skies, sun, and green trees.

3. India Pavilion: The lunch buffet menu is almost always the same, but I can’t help it — I’m hooked. Give me some chana masala, palak paneer and (fingers crossed!) samosas any day (or every day!)

4. My family: One of the greatest “side effects” of the last year of wedding planning has been getting closer to my parents, and getting to spend more time with my sister and her partner. I have an amazing family, and I miss them every day.

5. Seeing old friends: I’m headed to NYC this weekend to spend time with some very old friends. I’ve known one friend, Raina, since 7th grade! I used to spend the night at Raina’s house in middle school, and we’d go to punk rock shows at the Ladson Homemakers Club — shows my parents would not have let me seen. And Caitlin’s turning 30 — and has an amazing career in art management in NYC. Kaye’s been my friend since high school, and we talk so often still. She’s ridiculously awesome (how else would I know about vajazzling? I could have missed a whole cultural phenomenon). So watch out, NYC !

I have a new job! La la la la! I have a new job!

Okay, so it’s within my current office, but as of Monday, I will be an Education Abroad Adviser. Now I’ll be advising students who are interested in studying in France, Italy and Africa. Now I only have to work on my French!

And finally, on an unrelated note, new Project Runway on at 9:00 pm? What? Why? Why did I have to be stuck watching Shear Genius last week? This week, I’m on top of it.

Don’t the fuchsia look like little cupcakes or candies? They’re too sweet. And the forsythia explodes into color every year — and when it does, winter’s done for!

So since Matt’s out of town, I’ve had a weekend alone. It’s strange, but nice. I’ve been reading books, watching movies (including Reign Over Me, which isn’t really good), and having a GREAT Saturday. Yesterday morning I woke up early and headed to the Amish market that opens up close to my house on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. I thought I was getting there early, but there was this huge line. Because it’s STRAWBERRY SEASON! Yay! I bought 2 quarts of strawberries and a bunch of fresh asparagus (my all-time favorite vegetable) and put them in my favorite grocery shopping bag — a blue striped straw bag with blue ties. Then I headed over to Meyers Dairy for some fresh milk (no bovine growth hormone for me thanks). Meyers’ milk comes in glass bottles (which I sometimes keep for flowers, instead of returning them), and because of this, gets icy cold in the refrigerator. Which is the only way I like my milk. And it tastes so much better than milk from the grocery store.

Friday night I had gone to the library on the way home to pick up movies, and a copy of The Amber Spyglass. I had started the His Dark Materials series on the way to South Carolina, and have looked and looked for the final book in the library, but it’s always checked out. Darn you young adults reading!

So yesterday was a day of local markets, Sex and the City movie with colleagues, reading and a dinner of summer vegetables (roasted asparagus, corn on the cob, and a sante fe salad). Then more reading, and then bed.

But today! Oh today has been up and down. Here we go, a list of the highs and lows.

• High: Making strawberry freezer jam with fresh strawberries (my first time!)
• Low: Dropping entire batch of strawberries and sugar on marble floor, shattering to pieces! (I’m still cleaning up sticky strawberry mess)
• High: Purchasing the coveted pink bicycle! Yay! (see posts below)
• Low: Realizing said bicycle would not fit in car, and said car having a flat tire (this low wasn’t terrible thanks to the great people at Target who stuff the bike in my trunk and gave me the courage to drive home with the trunk up and half of the bike sticking out. I made it!

But the bike is beautiful (and oh so pink!) and about to be taken on it’s inaugural ride. Let’s hope there’s no lows (like crashes or shoelaces stuck in gears), and I’ll call it a day!

The most important high of my weekend was talking to my best friend Julia on Friday night — seriously! She’s the best, and I can’t explain how much better she made me feel (it was a rough day at work). Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou Julia.

(I’ll finally write a post on South Carolina soon. And some photos!)

Today, on my way to a Chocolate Malt date with one of my favorite people, I stopped by the library to stock up on  books on CD for the 12 hour trip. Luckily Matt and I will be sharing the driving (except over the mountains — that’s all Matt!, thanks to my newly developed fear). But thanks to satellite radio, Matt’s Zune (he’s anti iPod), and 15 hours of audio books, we should have plenty to do. Oh yeah, and the trip wouldn’t be complete without a rousing game of Punk Rock Alphabet (it goes like this: A – Agnostic Front, B – Bane, C – I can’t think of a band name that starts with C. I lose.)

But what will we do with a full week of vacation in the sunny south? Well, we will definitely drink sweet tea while sitting in rocking chairs on my parent’s front porch. Matt and I will also definitely make it to the Folly Beach pier for some fishing. And I will hit my Mom up for her expertise on crafts and food. And hopefully we’ll make:

• Strawberry-Rhubarb Freezer Jam (it’s rhubarb season in PA, so I have bags and bags)
• Some projects from this beautiful book:

• And finally, the button bouquet

And most importantly, sometimes, we’ll just do nothing.

But I’m back! The sun is coming out, and we’ve had 70 degree weather all week long. So I’ll pack away my winter Mr. Hyde attitude, and get back to blogging. I’m sure I’ve lost the few readers I had, but maybe I can convince some friends to start reading again.

So what have I been doing for the past 2 months? Not my new year’s resolutions, I’ll say. Seriously. None of them. So today, I recommit myself to my resolutions. Let’s see if they last longer than one month!

I have been working a ton. The spring is the time most international student organizations host their big cultural events, so I’ve been busy most weekends attending those. I also advise International Student Council, and we’ve recently had the international soccer tournament and spring festival (photos, and maybe even a video coming soon!) These were both great events, and make me so happy to work with international students. So much fun!

I also have recently voted in the Pennsylvania primary. To no avail, but it’s still exciting to be able to truly participate in politics (in South Carolina, you already know the outcome). But I have to say, while Obama may have lost PA as a whole, he did win in Centre County – my current home! Yay students! I would have been seriously concerned if he hadn’t. One of the other things I have done lately is attended the Obama rally, with 21,999 of my closest friends (and Matt)! (See http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/states/PA.html for more info on the PA primary results).

Finally, the latest thing I have been doing is looking forward to my massage on Saturday (I deserve it!) and coveting this bicycle:

Is the pink too much? But look at those white wall tires! I’m actually a little torn – Target’s got the same bike, but in a less, um, noticeable color. What should I do? Practical, or pink?

I saw this Listography Journal by Lisa Nolan and Nathanial Russian while looking for gifts on BuyOlympia.com. Like most time I shop for gifts, I spend most time thinking about things for me. And when I saw this, I admit, I was giddy. And, in a sad way, I felt validated in what I have come to realize is one of my favorite pastimes. Making Lists. Seriously, I love it. However, this book was not ultimately the one for me. While awesome in its support of those of us who obsessively make lists every day, I would feel too stifled by it’s already created list topics (that’s not to say that I wouldn’t accept this book as a gift from someone else. Valentine’s Day is coming up, for all of you Rachel-lovers out there).

I would say I have a healthy obsession with making lists. I mean, I have lots on my mind, how else am I going to remember that great song playing on Jessie’s Myspace page, or where to buy those homemade bags I like? So I add it to a list. “Websites selling clothes I like.” “Things I want to buy Matt for his birthday.” “Books to check-out at the library.” And so on.

Admittedly, I could use a nice notebook like Lisa and Nathanial’s to keep my lists together. Currently, I write them down anywhere (Iike on the back of the letter informing me there is a warrant for my arrest, but that’s for a different blog post). So my lists don’t serve their list-purpose (reminding me of things I want to remember) because I can’t remember where I wrote that list! (This is an obvious statement, and something I would guess is true for many listmakers). Maybe that’s why there are so many websites/books about Found Lists. They’re found because while we’re obsessive list-makers, we’re not obsessive list-keepers. Like this piece on NPR about Found magazine’s compilation of lists people have well, found, and sent in. Or this website (and later book) on Grocery Lists.

So with all of these lost and found lists other there, the people at Ta-Da List must have seen a niche needing to be filled – space to create and organize lists on-line. It’s a website where you can create any list you want, share it with whomever you want, delete it whenever you want. And you can make as many lists as your little heart desires, and access them anywhere, anytime. No more searching for that little scrap of paper I wrote the “Things I want to buy from Lowe’s” list. So I’ll try it (I’ve already made my first list, even while writing this blog!). I’m still looking for a good notebook though.

If I think about it, I come from a long line of listmakers. It’s in my blood. My grandmother, who has kept a diary every day since she could write (no exaggeration!), not only wrote what she did that day, but jotted down things she wanted to remember. Like her favorite bra maker, and what size she wore (again, no exaggeration) or what birds she could see on the bird feeder in the back yard. And I think that’s amazing. So, I’ll wear my list-maker badge proudly. I love to make lists.

So, since I can’t make sentences, I’ll just stick with a list. This list is also the inspiration for the “catch up” title…really this post is about Christmas. This year was definitely one of my favorites. I had over a week off from work (yea!), but I wasn’t able to travel to South Carolina, and my parents weren’t able to come here. And admittedly, the week didn’t start off terrifically, as Matt’s grandfather passed away about a week before Christmas. The viewing and funeral were amazingly touching though, and his grandfather must have been a great man – the whole town of Cresson, PA turned out, with the funeral procession being led by fire trucks and people standing on porches watching the procession.

But, back to Christmas and the list. Christmas morning Matt and I spent with each other (presents!), then had lunch with his parents/sister/brother-in-law (more presents!), and finally, visited his grandmother and extended family. I received the most thoughtful and awesome gifts from everyone this year! Here are some of the present highlights:

• Books: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Not on Our Watch:The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
• CDs: Regina Spektor, Rilo Kiley, Modest Mouse
• TV shows: Extras, The Office (original)
• XM Satellite Radio!
• Electric Fondue Pot
• Face Jug (well, not these particular face jugs, but a “beautiful” one nonetheless)
• Hanging dove from 10,000 Villages
• Felting supplies (watch out, crafty ladies!)

As you can see, perfect! This perfect Christmas was followed by 1 week of complete relaxation. Couches were slept on, reality-tv marathons were watched, and yummy dinners were eaten. It was perfect! I am happy. Truly, truly happy.