Second day at work.

Boy at work: Hey, Hannah. Do you like to party?
Hannah: No.
A couple minutes of him trying to figure out why not.
B.A.W.: Well, I'm having a party at my place in Saturday if you want to come.
H: Uhhhhhh. No, thanks.

Then B.A.W. gets in trouble for talking to a girl instead of doing his job.

Things I love Thursday.

1.peppermint mocha
2.free stuff
3.I want you-Andrew Allen
4.ranch dressing
5.the post it note feature on my laptop
6.sleeping for almost eleven hours, but all before the hour of 10 am
7.packages that come right to the door(doesn't matter that they aren't for me)
8.excitement
9.peanut butter cups
10.Taylor Swift. She just fits every mood.
11.Can't Breathe- Fefe Dobson
12.making other peoples birthday special
13.Organizing and cleaning.
14getting three dollar tips
15.long weekends
16.payday

things to know about me.

1. I like watching movies with subtitles. Not foreign films with English subtitles, but English movies with English subtitles.
2.I use black ink pens. And I would go out of my way to find one before having to settle for a blue, or horrors, RED!
3. I prefer Goodhost iced tea. And I've been having cravings for it all the time.
4.You know all those hair product/dye commercials with all the super shiny, smooth, soft hair? I have that hair. But I don't need computer editing or a special shampoo to achieve it. I'm not trying to be arrogant. It's just truth.
5.I'm not a huge fan of cats. But I do enjoy owning black cats, as long as I get to start from kittenhood. And they are all named Merlin.
6. I don't watch horror movies, scary movies at all really. That's two hours of your life that you will never get back and they aren't enjoyable. I make an exception for zombies. You've got to keep informed.
7.I am very orderly...in some departments. It drives me nuts to have emails in my inbox, so almost immediately after being read they either get sent off to the deleted, or one of my many folders designated for certain people or topics. Also that way if I need to reply to a message it shortens up my procrastination period since I get frustrated seeing them in my inbox waiting every time I log on to hotmail.
My texting inbox used to work the exact same way. Only now with my new black berry I can't do that anymore since I have "threads"(one of the reasons I do not use gmail). I'm still getting used to it. The fruit technology and I are not yet in a happy place with each other.
8. To say I'm picky when in comes to food, could possibly be an understatement. There is a list longer than my two arms length put together of food that I do not touch. Included in that list is: Raisins, Olives, Rootbeer, watermelon, pineapple(exceptions when eating it in a country where it is grown.), Pie and icecream, blueberries, cream soda,
9.I dddddooonnn'tt like water on my face. Like being splashed, or going underwater, or even washing my face. I still do that last one :) I just try and get it over and done with as quickly as possible.
10. I cry. I am a sympathetic crier. Whether it's in a book, movie, tv show or real life...if it is sad, I will cry.
11. I don't like being judged. Apparently I'm not an open book, and people can't read me right. Because I am frequently surprising people who didn't think I would 'do that' or 'say that' or 'like that'. It upsets me.
Just because you know me, don't think you know every little detail about me.
12. One of my biggest pet peeves is people spelling names without capitalization. Especially my name.

New toys!

 

The night I got home from hanging with Kelsey, I found a surprise in the kitchen, and I could not wait until the next day to test it out.

My new flat top oven.
This baby has features ‘to die for’, although I don’t see the point for some.
Who needs a warming drawer? You might use that once a year at Christmas, if that.


But I definitely do like the convection oven. Even more so now that I have tried it out.

I never expected my best batch of cookies to be gluten free.
If this oven can turn gluten free items into glimpses of heaven, I can only imagine what my cookies will taste like when I return to eating normally.

For the interested, here is the recipe I used this time. Similar to my last cookie recipe seeing as this one calls for Tahini but since I didn’t have any I just substituted peanut butter .

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip & Tahini Cookies .

Embarrassing secret time?

The title was just to hook you :).
It's not actually embarrassing.

I have a thing for...black and white polka dots.
And this was confirmed to me when I walked into Value Village today, and spotted these beauties.

It didn't matter that,
1. My feet hate flats. Legitimately. They are either too loose and rub, or too tight. Never a happy medium. And already I was feeling a bit of rubbing, but I convinced myself that these shoes were different.
2. I have so many shoes! And some have not even trotted out of the house on my feet yet!
3. I really am not supposed to be spending money at the moment. And I have been doing a good job of that, until today.

The second I laid eyes on them, I knew they were coming home with me.

This will be added to my collection which includes: two bathing suits, and one finely accessorized Rae (my Canon Rebel. Should my love for naming inanimate objects be another blog post?).

My spread might seem small, but even I, the very fashion illiterate, know that not every polka dotted item is a find. And going through the racks of the second hand store today proved to me that it can be super cute, or super hideous.
It will take years and a cautious mind to round out the hoard.


P.S. Well, it's a good thing I procrastinate publishing my posts for hours, because it gave me time to find another dotty item that I possess.
It's a purse.
And please forgive me for buying something name branded. It is not usually my custom.
But it was on sale and I love the colours so it was a must.  On that side note: I have never been a fan for pink but I have fallen in love with salmon-ey pinks recently.

Hey, soul sister.

Now, I know I don't have a legitimate sister, and can't say I've ever had a deep craving for one.
But I have the closest thing next to that. And it is definitely more than I could hope for.

Meet my 'sister' Kelsey.

Photo Credit: Rebekah H.

I love this girl, and the accompanying family that comes with, so very much!
She is the kind of friend who, it doesn't matter if its been days, weeks or months since you last saw her, she is still as close as ever and you can talk about anything with.

She makes me feel good to just be around her, and she challenges me to be a better person.
But when I haven't been 'the better person' that doesn't stop her from loving me the same.

Not only is she special and fun, she is also has celiac disease which makes switching over that much easier since I already have an idea of what to do and what not to eat thanks to years of making Gluten free meals with her.

I spent my Friday night with her. It's amazing how quickly time can pass without having much to show for the hours. We made some cookies, and they are amazing.
And this is well deserved praise coming from the girl who rarely eats her own baking and had not eaten a cookie in months just because I don't like them enough to.

I ate three! And then another two in the morning (by the way, morning after tasted almost as good).
Maybe I just enjoy GF more than I ever would normal food.

Unbelievably fabulous: Gluten Free Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Gluten Free Gobsmacked

Download a copy of this recipe here.

Recipe makes 24 -28 small (1.5 inch) cookies or 12 -18 large (2.5 inch+) cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, cold but not hard
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 egg
1 1/12 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup GF Flour OR 2/3 cup millet flour + 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 GF-certified oats (OR 1/2-2/3 cup sliced almonds)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (OR peanut butter-chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks, etc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F if baking (not freezing) the cookies.
Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar for 4 minutes on medium.
Add vanilla and egg. Beat mixture again for 2 minutes on medium-high.
Add peanut butter. Beat again for 2 minutes on medium-high.
Add flour(s), oats, baking soda and salt. Mix again. Dough will be exactly like regular cookie dough.
Quickly and carefully (so as not to mash them) mix in the chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
If you are freezing the cookies, form in to the size ball that you want. Place the balls on a plate so that they are not touching. Place the plate of cookie balls with a loose covering of plastic wrap in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When the balls have hardened and are no longer super-sticky, move them into a freezer-ready package (freezer bag or other type of freezer container). Use as you would any other frozen cookie ball. Remove as many as you wish and bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes (small cookies) or 22-25 minutes (larger ones). Watch the baking time as it will vary based on the size of your cookie, how frozen/cold the cookie dough, and your oven. The photo above shows the golden brown tinges that you are looking for to determine “doneness”.
If you are baking the cookies right away, shape into balls. (I use my ice cream scoop when wickedly lazy and wish for large cookies. It works great with this recipe. I might just have to invest in the little cookie scoops.)
Place the cookies on a cookie sheet covered with a silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes for small cookies or for 15 – 18 minutes for large ones.
Remove from the oven when the top begins to turn golden brown. (See the photo above.) Allow the cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes before attempting to move them on to a cooling rack. Cool and pack for transport to work (or to a hiding place in the kitchen for your secret stash of goodness).

*If you visit her website she has a recipe for her GF flour, or just use your usual method of flours.
Kels handled that part so I don't know which ones we used.

General Report.

Hey Guys.
So my posts have been so all over the place I really don't know what YOU know.
Which means I will just ramble on about my life of late, and you can skip the parts you already know about.
Because I realize that some of you might get duplicate messages sometimes since you talk to me in person and read my blog.

At the very end of August I packed up my car, and drove back to Kamloops for the time being.
Even from the start of September I was already job hunting since that was one of the biggest reasons I was excited to be home. Working at childrens camp can be really fun and rewarding but it never felt like work to me. And I sort of need that feeling.

But the job market here has not been so swell. That, and the fact that I can be pretty picky.
Well, the time for pickiness was over as the weeks crept by and still there were no 'perfect' prospects for me. So, one day, while on kijiji.com scouting out the latest job postings, I noticed an ad for Arby's.

The Job
I was at a low point.
And they were hiring full time.
I applied.

I got the job!
Only they tricked me and it wasn't full time.

So for the last month, I have been working at Arby's.  And I enjoy it.
I was just realizing that I love customer interaction, and I get plenty of that there.
Also 50% off all Arby's food. (confession:before starting there I had never had any of the food except for the milkshakes and curly fries, oh and a potato. So I'm a pretty big newb.)
One thing I have had to get used to it the change of pace.
Tim Hortons is always go, go, go. And there is ALWAYS something to do.
Arby's has its rushes. But it also has a lot of down time, where there is nothing to do. And it's hard for me to just stand there and not be working. And it makes the day go that much slower.

The Work Out!
Um. Where are all my accountability partners? Because the work out has come to a halt and I need motivation.
But honestly, since I have slacked off and not done the physical exercise, I have felt worse. And guilty.
So..tomorrow I will get back on that horse.

On a maybe somewhat related note:

The Diet! 
No eye rolling, people!
I am making wise, healthy choices.
And I am on a wheat free/gluten free diet for a while.
Don't actually know how long I will be able to keep it up, but hopefully somewhere along the lines of a month. Or longer, but I already told my mother I'm calling it quits for Christmas.
I don't know if I should be feeling the difference, already. I haven't really thought of noticing differences yet. So we'll just leave that for a while.

Other than that..nothing much goes on in my little life.
I am pretty reclusive outside of my work life. And I tend to spend my weekends at home instead of out and about. I read a lot, and I keep up with quite a few tv shows.

The brother is away on vacation in Mexico right now, but once he returns I will forcing him to work on those renos every waking non-working moment until it is finished.

Forgotten Appreciation Syndrome.

  Today as I was driving home sipping my melted iced capp from Tim Hortons it brought memories.
When I lived on the little Quadra Island I had to drive 5 minutes to a ferry, take a ten minute ferry, then walk 5-10 minutes to get to my nearest Timmies. Quite the hassle for a frozen beverage, especially when you factor in that it is now costing you five dollars more(the cost of a ferry ticket).

But I would make that trek. And if I knew somebody was coming back from Campbell River I would request that they bring me an iced capp because I would rather a warm melted one over nothing at all.

While I was living there, I had to go without many things and each of those things seemed so important at the time I kept telling myself that when I got back to living in 'civilization', I would be constantly thankful for being able to get or get to everything so easily.

But it rarely happens.

Or like when you have a cold and your nose is all stuffed up and you are just generally feeling quite horrible.  And you think that once that is gone you will appreciate every uninhibited breath you take in.
It doesn't happen.

My mind just went blank, so I don't really know where I was going with this. Maybe I didn't have a point in the beginning...so I'll just end here.
Next post up will be a general life post seeing as it's been a while since I told you what I'm up too.
I will unveil the exciting new job news and how my workout plan is progressing(or not progressing)

Stay tuned.