Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Jumping Right Back In

Gooligan and I have been home for a week now. And it's weird. But also not that weird. Which is, in itself, odd.

It took us about five days to get over the jetlag. But that didn't stop us from socializing! The first night after we got back, we met up with my friend, Amanda, who I have been friends with since elementary school.

We went downtown to see a cabaret show. Each of the people preforming did a great job designing and preforming their acts, especially considering that it was a debut show for many of them. I guess that's part of being an artist of any kind: the willingness to commit yourself to your work, and to get out there and preform no matter the outcome.

After the show, we went to the Hurricane Café, where we ordered nachos, hash-browns, and a milkshake.


Probably the single worst thing I've eaten since coming back to the States (nutrion-wise, anyway). But it was so delicious!

Then on Sunday, Gooligan and I went pumpkin-patching with her sister and her sister's delightfully silly kid. We went fairly last-minute, I suppose, on the Sunday before Halloween. Most of the pumpkins in the field looked more like vomit than pumpkins, actually. But after a substantial amount of walking around and peering at pumpkin carcasses we finally found two suitable pumpkins.

After we got home, Gooligan and I carved the pumpkins. I carved the Goblin King for her (my drawing skills, which are abhorrent, are still better than my carving skills, let me tell you). Gooligan complained that her pumpkin was also atrocious, but when I saw it my mouth fell open.



 
Incredible, right?! 

Anyway, the real reason we pumpkin-patch and carve pumpkins is for the seeds! Gooligan loves fresh pumpkin seeds. She roasts them in the oven and slathers all sorts of delicious seasonings on them and then we eat them for days.

Speaking of eating things, having a lot of free times on your hands and a well-stocked kitchen, leads to a lot of baking. And it's not even November yet. The holidays are going to hit hard.

Luckily, I've started running again. Sometime in the last couple of runs I passed the 200 mile mark without even realizing it! Take that, high school P.E. coaches!

So far I've made cinnamon pancakes with chocolate chips in them, pumpkin chocolate brownies, and chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies. Oh, and lentil soup.

Lentil soup is one of my favorite things to make because it's a) delicious, b) you can make it with just about anything, c) it's super cheap, and d) it's really easily adjustable if you have people eating with you who can't eat certain things. Last night I made it with vegetable stock, onions, carrots, and green lentils. If you make some homemade bread to go with it, it's one of the best quick, easy, and affordable meals ever.

Well, I'd better hurry up and finish my homework. Packet four is due in a couple of days and Gooligan and I are going back up to Bellingham to visit some friends tonight. 

It feels really weird to me that I am almost done with grad school. After this packet, I just have one more, which is really just compiling everything into my final creative thesis. Then I have to give my reading and lecture at residency at the end of December and I'll be done with schooling for the first time since I was in preschool. It's so surreal to think about. But I feel like I have made some substantial breakthroughs as a writer and a critical thinker, and I'm eager to be able to apply the time I've spent on school toward other writerly pursuits soon. I'm sure I'll blog about my feelings concerning graduation and my reading/lecture more later!

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