nothing like a new haircut

I love that fresh from the salon feeling of getting a haircut. I love the smell of the salon products. The silky-smoothness of the professional blow-out that I can never quite get at home. All this is enhanced by the fact that I always wait until I am completely desperate and absolutely despising my hair before I make an appointment. I hold out as long as I can. This time I waited longer than I have since adolescence--6 months! I didn't even get my haircut before my wedding in March!

So, Tuesday when I went to Hair Expressions in Chapel Hill to freshen up my neglected mane it felt like heaven. The stylist, Carol, was a hoot. She is several years past middle age, a single mother to two adult daughters, and a bit of a hippie. She had a picture of her "guru" framed by the mirror and spoke of taking frequent trips to Florida to learn from him. I never found out what his exact philosophy is. Carol was also full of stories from living in San Francisco and studying a type of massage therapy that is supposed to release suppressed memories from one's muscles. I have no idea how that works, but it sounded nice. As for the haircut, you can see for yourself that it turned out well. My only complaint is that it took about an hour and half. Carol was not a fast cutter, which made it a very good thing that she was so darn fun to talk to!

ode to blogs

Look at what computers used to be!!! We've come a long way, ladies, and now the blogging phenom continues to catch on as more and more of my friends are putting their stamp on the cyber world. This past week I have had no fewer than 5 friends launch new blogs (check out my links)! And it really makes me smile! I love seeing pictures of your families. I love hearing about all the exciting, boring, terrifying, or lesson-teaching events taking place in your lives. I love getting the inside scoop on all of you who live so far away, especially since I have become horrible at keeping in touch through that old contraption the telephone. Thank you blogspot for bringing us together in the digital age! Happy blogging to you all! What's your favorite thing about blogging?

my took home chef

I have my very own personal, live-in chef. Move over Curtis Stone-- Jared is my hot chef of choice. And I get him all to myself! My chef doesn't cook every night. After all, even chefs deserve a night off once in awhile. Fortunately, he also has a wife to cook for him every now and then. But I do admit, that he cooks more than 50% of the time, and his meals are usually better than mine. He's so much more creative in the kitchen than I am. He's a culinary artist.



Case in point: Friday night, we got home from work and school and Jared wanted to go out to eat at our favorite little sushi place--Akai Hana. I, however, did not want to go out. I wanted to stay home where it was cozy and not face the Friday night crowds. So, my ever creative culinary friend came up with the above meal. During our last trip to Costco we had splurged on frozen sashimi-grade Ahi tuna. To go with that, Jared also made the most delicious noodle stir-fry with red cabbage, carrots, bok choy, snap peas, and cashews. Yum! He fried all that in a sauce he whipped up with soy sauce, hot sauce, peanut butter, spicy mustard, and some Thai spices. Then he seared the tuna steak leaving it rare inside. He also made a sauce for the tuna with mustard, hot sauce, and soy sauce. It was SO delicious! The picture does not do it justice--not even close. It was definitely one of the very best meals my chef has made me yet--and he's made some darn good ones! (Like my favorite salmon and red potatoes.)



What did we have for dinner tonight? Here it is:


This I can take some credit for. The rice and beans was my idea. But since I've been sick the past two days, my darling husband/chef made it. Man, did it hit the spot! Thank you, Jared!

new look for spring

Spring is in full bloom and summer is right around the corner. Especially here in North Carolina where a taste of the summer humidity is visiting us this week. In the spirit of the season, I decided to try out a new look here on my little blog. I think this is more pleasing to the eye but still has my favorite color green! I'm pleased, although I may tweak a few things here and there. What do you think?

back to work

Last week, after 3+ months of unemployment spent moving, unpacking, planning and executing a wedding, and enjoying a blissfully extravagant amount of time with my husband, I finally re-entered the American workforce. I now carry the oh-so-important title of Temporary Office Assistant for the Geriatrics and Special Care clinic at the School of Dentistry. And am disturbingly making more money than I did as a Producer/Assignment Editor at ABC4.

My day goes like this: I arrive between 7:57 and 8:03, say hello to Dr. Samuelson (who calls me either Katrina or Kristina or Christine depending on the hour), say hello to Christine (the reason for his confusion of my name, I suppose), and then have her log me onto the computer. I then spend the next 4-5 hours surfing the net, reading a magazine or book, and answering the occasional phone call from one of Dr. Samuelson's elderly patients. "Speak up, miss. I can't hear you!" I have learned to schedule patients and mail out confirmation slips and that's about the extent of my duties. I take lunch around 1 p.m. Depending on the day, Jared will come meet me or I will just go enjoy the sunshine outside while I eat my pb&j. After lunch I have another 3 hours of web surfing/reading/phone answering. And yesterday, I even got to put gauze into little sterilization packets. So exciting!

But lest you think I am complaining, let me say that I am not. How can I complain when I get paid to sit here and write this post, catch up on all my news, and even read a good book? No, sir, I have no complaints.

I don't know how long I will be working here. I was told originally 2 weeks, but I think it will be longer. I am filling in for the office manager who is "on leave" for some reason. A mystery I have been trying to figure out...clue by clue. I sit at her desk all day long surrounded by her pictures of animals and grandkids and wonder who she is. Of course, I haven't been told anything, and no one seems to know when she will be back, so who knows how long I'll be here?

Wedding Photos!!!

Here is the link to our beautiful wedding photos! These are all the ones the photographer took the time to edit. We will be getting all the photos taken--edited and unedited--on a cd in the mail. I'm so excited!

One Month Married!

Tuesday was our one month anniversary. To celebrate our first month of wedded bliss we decided to go out to dinner. However, the afternoon got off to a rocky start when I left my phone on vibrate on the carpet and not hearing it, missed nine calls-- from Jared. He was calling to let me know that I could pick him up from school early. But after an hour of fruitless calls, he ended up taking the bus. He was about to get on it when I finally realized where my phone was and picked it up to check it and finally called him back. Poor Jared. :-( So by the time he got home, he was tired and kinda cranky. I felt really bad for being so neglectful.

I regained points though with the card I made Jared. I busted out my water colors and painted him a card! I didn't too shabby for my first water color in two years!

Off to dinner we went--sorta. I had really wanted to Indian food because we hadn't had it since my birthday in January. Jared looked up a restaurant that he'd been to before, but it was about a half hour away and ten minutes into the trip we had second thoughts. So we turned around and went back home to rethink our plans. We finally decided on a restaurant close to home in Carrboro--The Spotted Dog. Its a really cute little place with lots of yummy vegetarian options.

A good meal and then a fun walk through Weaver Street Market cheered us both up. We bought two delectable varieties of ice cream: chocolate gelato and organic blackberry. Back at home we settled in to watch Frequency and enjoy our ice cream.

It turned out to be a really wonderful evening with my really wonderful husband. I absolutely adore him and adore being married to him. Every day is such a joy with him. It doesn't matter what we're doing, I'm content to be doing it with him. Nothing is better than living life with your best friend, who also happens to be a boy with fantastic benefits! :-)

Bridal Shower and Honeymoon Pictures

Although I am relatively new to blogging, I am not new to the internet and its ingenious ways to keep us all connected. One of these is Facebook, which started as a college networking site and has now expanded. I have had a Facebook page for sometime now. It is full of pictures and keeps me connected to friends. Until now, you had to be a Facebook member in order to see my pictures, but no longer. They now provide a link so that I can link my photo albums elsewhere. So here are my two latest albums with pictures from my bridal shower in Utah and honeymoon to Florida.

planet earth

For those of you unaware, Discovery Channel has the most amazing series on right now. It's called Planet Earth. It is an eleven part documentary about our little blue planet and its inhabitants (but not us) that took five years to make. Creators used the latest in cinematic technology to capture never before seen parts of life on Earth. Photographers hung out in the arctic for a year just to film polar bears, and others braved -60 degree weather to capture male emperor penguins guard their eggs through four months of winter.

Last week was the first week it aired, and Jared and I LOVE it! It is so fascinating. There are not words to describe to it. I join with Oprah in saying that this is the best thing I've ever seen on television.

Tonight we watched a starving male polar bear desperately try to hunt a walrus, only to finally succumb to death himself. And we saw desert lions travel hundreds of miles for food. Last week we saw elephants swim and birds in the rain forest dance. This truly is giving me a whole new view of our planet. We will definitely be using some of wedding money to buy the DVD.

Planet Earth airs Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern time through April. Check out planet-earth.com for more info.

Parineeta

That's what I am now--a married woman, which is what parineeta means in Hindi. Its the title of one of my very favorite Bollywood movies. A must see.

I am back home in North Carolina after a week in sunny Florida for our honeymoon. I'm now attempting to get our house back in order. So fun. I mostly wanted to post a couple pictures I have.... for those of you who made it to the wedding, you saw these there. I am still waiting on the rest of my wedding and bridals. But if you'd like to see a few more check out bellephotos.com/photoblog. My photographer is amazing. I highly recommend him.