Happy Birthday to Me!

So today was my birthday...I love my birthday.



My best birthday ever was when I turned 17. The Wednesday before, I had just moved to Maine for a semester. My birthday was the first Sunday while we were there, and it was just a perfect day--the first of so many while I lived there. My mom had sent a bunch of presents with me when I left, and I opened them one at a time throughout the day--which is the greatest way to open presents. I remember really loving them, too. I got a birthday s'more from one of my teachers, who had a bonfire going almost right out my front door. I got an amazing colorful HUGE card (more like a banner really) from my cabinmates. It was a gorgeous sunny but chilly winter day (my favorite type of day).

That birthday always stands out to me.

None of them before then I really remember, though my mom always made birthdays fun in our house. I turned 21 and 22 in Spain (I wasn't there a year, I went there two Januarys in a row) which had their fun moments.

I'm not really into having a "party", I just like to do fun things and have the day be memorable. I just saw my friends last weekend because they came to one of my hockey games and we had dinner, so I was okay with not seeing most of them.

My cat cuddled with me twice this morning, which is unusual. It was like she knew. :)

I went grocery shopping in the morning....yay. Bought myself a cake and some flowers though. One of my friends met me around 11 for brunch at one of my favorite restaurants (Twisted Fork), which was excellent.

I had to work 1-8:30 so that was not so great. It wasn't terrible, though--could've been worse. Every time I looked at my phone, I had a text or a tweet or a Facebook message and it was so great to hear from everyone. I also had my mom and brother call me within like the same five minutes--called my mom back on my break and my brother after work.

I got off at like 7:50--we were slow and my boss wanted to send someone home, so he let it be me since it was my birthday!

I had two packages from my mom waiting for me.



And I opened the package my brother sent home with me at Christmas.

The stuff that was in both of them, plus two cards from an aunt/uncle and one of my grandmas:


My brother gave me a pig whisk, a chef brush, this ridiculous Brian Trottier coin he found in his closet from a 1998 Penguins game, some awesome Tupperware measuring cups, and the best shirt ever--it's a cat kneading bread. LOVE IT!

My mom gave me everything else: kitchen container (I asked for it), the book Hugo was based on, Swiss Army knife, St Paul Almanac, Bananagrams, sports scrapbook paper (I don't even scrapbook but this paper makes me want to), a necklace, and the picture of a cat who looks like Puck.

I tried showing it to her, but she was much more interested in the tinsel that it was packaged in....she's a cat, what can I say.

Interested to see what 24 brings!

Looking Back

My resolution in 2011 was to visit one new place each week. I actually did okay for awhile, but then I stopped keeping track and pushing myself to keep it up. There were a couple places I planned a dozen times to visit, but never did (notably the State Capitol)

Some things I did accomplish:
Went to the Super Bowl with my mom in February.
Met some Wild players and got a bunch of autographs.
Traveled to Vancouver.
Visited three new NHL rinks (Vancouver, Chicago, and Pittsburgh).
Started playing goalie.
Survived a summer at home with my parents, but barely.
Got a long-term'ish job in Minnesota. Long term as in, it's the first job I've had without a specific end date, though it's not really a "real" job.
Adopted my cat.
Went to a one-day conference on my favorite topic of all time.
Kept up with this blog fairly well!


In terms of who I am and figuring out what I want in life, it was kind of a stagnant year. I was happy for most of it, though, content with day to day life. I think some of the biggest things for me were this fall, when I returned to Minnesota and adopted Puck, got my Minnesota license and registered my car here. I made a declaration that I was gonna stay here for awhile. Who knows if that'll pan out or not...

And a happy new year...

I think I've only ever spent New Year's Eve at my parents' house in Pittsburgh. It was fun as a kid, and then there were a couple years when it was like "okay, it's midnight, and I'll be up for another three hours..."

Anyway, I wasn't really planning on doing anything because I worked all yesterday and I had to work all today. But I texted my best friend Kirstine--she's always good for last minute plans. I went over to her place and her boyfriend Mike and his friend made dinner for all of us, we watched a movie and played with cats.



Then we went outside to a little frozen pond in a shallow in the woods (and when I say "pond" I mean "body of water outside and bigger than a bathtub but not by much"), cleared off a piece of it (partly with our sticks) and played boot hockey to ring in the new year. Half of the pond was underwater (it had been raining) so we used the part that had gotten snow when the rain turned to snow, and by the time we were done, our rink was more water than ice, too, because it warmed back up a bit.


I really wanted my camera, but it was too wet so I took one cell phone picture to commemorate.

It was dark except for the snow, it was warm at around freezing, it was good friends and a good spirit of competition and fun. It was the most Minnesotan thing I've ever done, ever. Possibly the most Minnesota experience there is.

We were trying to make it to the new year, but couldn't stick it out any longer and went back inside. Someone looked at the clock and it was 12:02, so we all said "Happy New Year", decided to say we were playing hockey to ring it in, and then I went home and everyone went to bed because we're old now.

Hopefully within the next couple days, I'll get a chance to write about the past year and the year ahead, but for now, I am quite content with the time in between. :)

Little Town in Bethlehem

I'm not entirely sure how the tradition started.


My mom had a couple Nativities while I was growing up, notably these first three.

(this one's a puzzle)


(this one always seemed super breakable)



And I think this was the first one I bought her, when I went to Costa Rica in seventh grade.


And several she's added on her own.

(we've had this one a long time, too)











And one I made.


And one I printed out.


And two I got in Spain.





And one my sister in law's mom sent all the way from Kyrgyzstan--not even knowing about the collection.


The others are from Ten Thousand Villages, originally from all over the world.






I've given my mom at least one Nativity for maybe the past 6-7 Christmases?









(something happened to poor Joseph)

Somehow she's gotten to 25.


Will there be another one under the tree tomorrow?

A Fitting Homecoming

My mom took me to the Strip on our way home from the airport when I got in on Wednesday, only four days before Christmas. There's nothing quite like the Strip at the worst of times for feeling like the heart of Pittsburgh and smack dab in the middle of the Christmas and Steelers season? Perfection.



I wish I'd taken more photos--I wasn't sure how they'd come out, but they ended up being pretty decent. The day was briefly sunny, too, in between some early clouds and overcast and a late absolute downpour.























I was feeling blasé about being home, but this trip to the Strip was exactly what I needed to put me into the Pittsburgh spirit!

Things that mark me as a "foreigner"

....and it's okay.

I spend a lot of time assimilating to Minnesota. There are some things I didn't get at first but now love and defend/accept as fiercely as any native--hockey, snow, flatness, the Twin Cities (they really are two separate places). And so on. There are some things I don't get or didn't get to participate in and feel sad about--like the Great Halloween Blizzard of '91 that everyone talks about constantly. Or things I missed growing up, like skating on frozen ponds until dinner and going back out after (if people actually did that, idk). And knee hockey (which one of my coworkers constantly remembers fondly).

There are some things, however, that I still don't get, and am somewhat proud to not get. Things that mark me as an outsider, things I'll always treat like "whatever Minnsotans."

Here's a couple...

1. Lefse.

It's this Scandinavian holiday treat that is a thin "crepe" rolled up with butter and brown sugar. The "crepe" is made out of potato and flour and the whole thing tastes like a buttered, sugared cotton ball. I have no clue why this food causes ecstasy among all my friends. It's disgusting.

2. Minnesota sports. (except the Wild)

I really enjoy being from Pittsburgh whenever sports come up. Pittsburgh is insanely successful. Being a Minnesota sports fan is a horrible fate filled with disappointment and more disappointment. Suckas.

I also find it strange and disconcerting that the teams don't have the same colors. What?

3. Rut beer.

No picture because I have no clue what rut beer is. You guys mean root beer? True story: one time I took this canoe class and my professor was all "we're gonna go play rut beer ball" and I was like "rut beer ball? I wonder what kind of wild game that is." and we got to the spot and he whips out a cooler with root beer and the lightbulb went on and I was like "OH he means ROOT beer ball." It'd be better with alcohol, but basically you play kickball with an open can of ROOT beer.

I really thought he was taking about ruts though.

4. Hot dish.

I don't even know what to say, except the word "hot dish" freaks me out so much. You basically take all the leftovers in the fridge and throw them in a casserole dish (or a hot dish dish I suppose) and then eat it. And I have never met a hot dish I liked.

5. Bars.

Bars are the dessert cousin of hot dish. I do like bars, though I still find the word use very odd.

6. Duck, duck, gray duck.

(picture showing how the game is MEANT to be played)
Clearly the proper terms are "duck, duck, goose." I heard some children at a school learning this game one day, and it took all my willpower not to bust into the room and shout "IT'S DUCK DUCK GOOSE!!!!!!!!!" Because it is. I mean, how do you know the first two ducks aren't gray??


I'm sure there are more, but those are some things that make me grit my teeth when they come up.

A fridge full of food!

Dear lord but I was productive in the kitchen tonight. I got home around 7 from a game (in which I recorded a satisfying 2-0 shutout wooo) which, in retrospect, was a little late to tackle such lofty goals but hey. I haven't been getting to sleep until like 1 am this past week anyway (which I hate but that's another story).

I started out making Mom's Chicken Shells, which has always been a favorite of mine.


Here's what you need:

Also some jumbo pasta shells, not pictured. I threw this photo together after the fact anyway, and knew I'd forget something....

I made about a half recipe, but here is it in full.
1 box of jumbo pasta shells
6 chicken breast halfs
carrots and celery (maybe one each for each chicken breast half?? dunno. you judge.) throw some onion in there if you want
1 box stovetop stuffing
3/4 to 1 C Miracle Whip
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1-2 canfuls of broth (store bought or from cooking chicken)

Cook your shells and drain.

Throw the chicken in boiling water for 45-60 minutes. Add celery and carrots, chopped.

Cool and cube chicken.

Add stuffing to chicken/veggies. Moisten with miracle whip. Stuff into the shells.

Place shells in a single layer in a large pan. Combine broth and cream of chicken for sauce (more cream of chicken than broth--I did about 1:1 and it turned out too liquidy). Pour sauce over shells.

Cover with foil (I forgot this step--shells got a little hard). Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Eat!

You can also freeze the stuffed shells prior to oven-cooking, but mom suggests freezing shells and sauce separately--or make fresh sauce when you unfreeze.


While my chicken was cooking, I did the dishes and made the sausage balls you can see on the left here. Whew! But now I have lots of frozen meals, ready to pop in the oven after work someday. Yum yum yum yum yum!