Picture 4: coffee

I am pretty confident this is not the last time you are going to see that title: coffee!! I am a little addicted to it. I love it. Just for fun - let's recount what I had to drink today:
Venti Vanilla Misto from Starbucks to kick off the day
A cup of fresh brewed office coffee (but the crapy kind before this photo took place....I'll explain soon)
A cup of delicious hazelnut coffee a la Tammi
A tall decaf americano to top off a terrific evening of sporadic and stimulating conversation and good food.

Now to the photo:

At my job we brew coffee for all of the classes (seminars) that come in. Depending on the size of the class we are brewing anywhere from 1/2 to 1 1/2 gallons of coffee twice a day. These coffee pots see a lot of use - but the worst part is that they sit on a HOT warmer all day to keep the coffee heated. This makes all sorts of great deliciousness stick to the bottom of the pots (especially when SOME people forget to them them off overnight.....or over a weekend! Oops!). At any rate, we need to clean them far more often than we do. What can I say? We're no Starbucks. But we're not planning on selling this coffee to our students anytime soon so I think it's okay. The health department can't come fine me...right?

Today was the day that we decided we didn't want to deal with the metal burnt coffee taste anymore. So Josh and Dave spent some time cleaning out each coffee pot and filter with the super duper special cleaning powder (that's its technical name).
 

I have not actually tasted the result yet, but I am positive it will be glorious. I can't wait to try a cup in the morning!

Picture 3: toilet

 

I bet you were really afraid I was actually going to show you MY toilet...or something equally embarrassing that I can't bring myself to type right now. But I didn't. I'm not going to lie - I really suck at this taking pictures thing, but I don't want to give up already, it is only the 3rd day for crying out loud! Here's my problem, when I am doing something really fun and photo worthy (like community dinner with my roommates, the lovely Lizzy, my landladies and the Gavinator) I just FORGET to ever break out my camera because I am having such a great time. We're talking and laughing and eating and joking and telling stories and I don't really THINK to stop and take a photo. Therefore........you get this photo of a toilet.

Now let me explain the toilet. This has been in my backyard since before I moved in. It belonged to some of the boys before me. I believe someone brought it over as a prank and put it in our yard. The first time I came over (because I knew the boys before I ended up moving into the house) they actually told me that was the toilet for the girls to use..RUDE.

As you can see we are a very "green" household. We've started a little community shrubbery in the pot. Pretty excited to see where it's going to go. Probably to Dahlstrom's yard in the middle of the night one night :) Cause I am kind of tired of starring at a toilet when I am laying out on my hammock.

I think that soccer ball belongs to the kids across the fence - I should toss it back over to them. Maybe I'll tie a note that says "you're not getting this back next time if you keep playing your music so loud! Spread the word!"

Picture 2: last day of vacation

Well, all good things must come to an end - including my vacation. I really like working at a school, because you get a loooooooooong vacation for Christmas. It is glorious, really. I got to go back to Illinois for a while week - and meet my niece Jael for the first time!!

But all of that is coming swiftly to a close. Work starts again tomorrow - at 8am! So on my last day I am sitting all cozy on my couch, candles lit, coffee in hand, with the Packer/Bear football game on in the background. Doing some projects I want to catch up on - checking facebook - writing emails. These times of solitude with nothing TRULY pressing are rare and I am going to take advantage of this one.

There is a light rain falling outside which makes staying inside cuddled up on the couch even more appealing. The rest of the day I plan to cuddle with my blanket, nap, drink more coffee, eat some more of that chocolate-pecan pie bar I made yesterday and maybe even read a book.

I am sure we'd get bored if vacations lasted forever - but on days like these I really wish they would.

Picture 1: food

So, I like it when people do the 365 days of pictures challenge (or whatever you call it). So, I thought I would do that. Only because, it would help me to blog more. I will take at least one picture a day (with my smartphone, just to be a bit most specific so no one gets really high expectations) and that'll give me something to write about. Here's to hoping not TOO many days will be "welp, here's my desk chair again" or "this is how many cups of coffee I drank TODAY." Let the creativity flow.

To kick us off I am going to talk about FOOD (shocker!). I had my lovely ladies over for a relaxing "Modern Family" marathon today. And I cooked up some chicken wings (delicious!) and then made....................

Chocolate-Pecan Pie Bars from my Kraft Foods magazine





















1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar (divided)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
8 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate (divided)
4 eggs (beaten)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Beat butter, flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt with mixer until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press onto bottom of 15 x 10 x 1 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 20 min. (at 350) or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, microwave corn syrup and 6 chocolate squares in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2.5 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1.5 minutes; stir until completely melted. Add remaining sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in nuts. Pour over warm crust; spread to evenly cover crust.
Bake 35 minutes (at 350) or until filling is firm around edges but still slightly soft in center. Cool completely. Melt remaining chocolate squares as directed on package; drizzle over cooled bars. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

I wasn't extremely happy about how they turned out - I think it is because I did not have the proper size pan so I just ended up using a 9x13. But everyone that came over LOVED them and said they were delicious. And USUALLY they don't lie to me :)

Happy 2011. I hope you enjoy my pictures and where this crazy journey of life takes me these next 365 days. And if you don't....just stop reading my blog!

Outreach Ended Early

Last nights outreach to prostitutes was….strange. In a way I have never experienced in my three and a half years of doing this work. When we got out to the track it was scarce – hardly any people anywhere. After driving down the track for a while girls started coming out of nowhere. There were tons of them. We were excited to be able to interact with so many of the girls – most of them new. However, unlike most other nights, none of the girls were really interested in receiving the gift bags or talking with us. They were all very insistent in avoiding eye contact or concerned with getting away from us as soon as possible. One group of three women that I ran into began laughing about how they believed we were the police as they walked away from us. (as a side note: it has become very clear to me these last three years or so through this work I do that I would make TERRIBLE vice. Seriously, most people I run into on the street think I am a cop, I don’t know what it is about my look….probably that I’m so physically fit!).

The other thing that happened which was a first for us was a John started following us. We’ve been solicited before, but typically left alone as soon as a John figures out we’re not actually out there as a working lady. But this John was different, he for some reason would not stop his pursuit. We noticed him following our car as we drove off so we got on the freeway in an attempt to lose him. It worked for a while, but then he found us about 20 minutes later further down the track. Our team leader ended up making the wise decision that we needed to call it a night and leave since he seemed rather unpredictable showing up wherever we were and pulling over every time we were out of the car honking and trying to get our attention.

It was frustrating, because even as we were driving down the track to leave we saw around another 10 girls that we didn’t get a chance to talk to. Nights like that are a bit frustrating – and you feel like there is so much more you could have done. And most of all I don’t know why WE were the target of this man’s interest when there were at least another 20 girls out on the track that night, but it is what it is and I know we made the right decision in leaving. I pray for the girls we did not get a chance to talk to, that we would get an opportunity to interact with them in later weeks. And for those that think I’m vice, that I’ll eventually get to break down those walls and build some trust. And perhaps I am most thankful that I was given a glimpse into what these women have to face each evening – when they are stalked and perused by creepy men, except they don’t have the option of hopping on the freeway and heading home.