Settling In

Hey all! I know I said I'd try to post every day, however, I feel really bad about not doing anything of significance each day. I, personally, would like to read a blog with pictures, but what am I going to take pictures of? My cat? That's a little bit boring. So I've been saving up some day-to-day events so that I could make one interesting blog post instead of several terribly boring ones.

So today marks my 6th day of pescetarianism! Which, if you don't already know, is pretty much vegetarian, but you allow yourself to eat seafood. My problem is that I don't like a lot of fish or vegetables, so I'm trying to open up my food horizons so that I eat a little healthier. Before, when I was a vegetarian, I went 2 1/2 years before I gave up. And you know what happened when I quit? I almost immediately lost 10-15lbs. The reason for this is that when I would eat, I would base my diet off of carbs and dairy products rather than vegetables, because I'm just not a vegetable person. I have started to get into them more, however, so I'm hoping this time (even though I plan on it being a SHORT time), I will eat healthier because of it. I'm honestly already feeling better, and I feel that, if nothing else, I have at least lost the water weight from eating such a high sodium diet. I hope that, at the end of this, I don't say "Well, I've already gone this long, may as well keep going!" That's what happened before, and I don't regret quitting. I need to remind myself that it's not always healthy to limit yourself like that, especially when you do it the wrong way!

On day two of pescetarian, which Patrick and I were supposed to be doing together, he gave in to a Wendy's Bacon Cheeseburger on a Pretzel bun and hasn't looked back. He regrets nothing. But I'm still sticking with it! Editor's Note: He says "Hell no I don't regret it!"

Later that day, Patrick's friend Delfino stopped over for dinner and dessert, and we ended up playing Cards Against Humanity (which I won, not bad for my first time ever). Delfino just returned from China where he studied to become a Master in Shaolin Kempo Karate. Even before I met him, I was already calling him MASTER DELFINO! He was super nice (as, again, all of Patrick's friends are) and we had a great time entertaining and hanging out.

My delicious peanut butter ball that I made for our company. I wish I had an "after" picture... They destroyed it!

So I forgot to post my super awesome DOLE WHIP SHIRT in my last post! Dole Whip is a sugar-water based non-dairy product that we serve back in Livonia at the Han D Dip. It's super delicious, and until I met Patrick, I didn't realize that it was mostly a Disney thing! In Disneyland, then serve Pineapple Dole Whip (my favorite). In Disney World, they serve both Pineapple and Orange (another favorite). So when I saw a Dole Whip shirt in DCA for sale, I couldn't resist!

A little piece of home :)

In the meanwhile, I've been making myself at home here, reorganizing this, cleaning that, putting this here and that there, and setting up little spots for myself in our room so that I feel more comfortable. Yesterday we did a little bit of shopping. Jackie, Patrick, and I set out for the mall and stopped for lunch at a new place called Paul Martin's (which we thought was much cooler when we misread it and called it Paul Martini's). Because it was Patrick's treat, he encouraged us all to try desserts, too. After our meals (I opted for a prawn salad with apples, candied walnuts, and butter lettuce, served with a maple vinaigrette that neither Patrick nor I liked, so I ended up with some decent dill ranch instead), we each ordered a different dessert. Unfortunately, Jackie immediately dug into hers, so there are only pictures of our yummy treats. 

My cork board! It has pictures of the most important people in my life on there. I haven't dug the others out of storage, yet, so I've filled the spaces with some buttons and a comic strip that I were accessible. These were just the ones I kept handy during the cross-country trip just in case I needed to see some friendly faces. Originally we bought some "cork squares" that "stuck" on "any" surface. Aka NOT ON OUR SLIDING CLOSET DOOR. They kept falling off and the corners would snap off! So thanks, IKEA, for solving my problems with a cheap cork board.

My shelf! After a very long, frustrating discussion in IKEA, Patrick and i decided on this shelf. It's got all of my little memories from home :)

My side of the bed with my giraffe lamp :) 

Patrick's devil's food cake

My banana cream pie

After lunch, we went into Sears to look for a humidifier (and, yes, the people of California hate Sears as much as the people of Michigan do), and found ourselves in the womens' clothing section when God opened up the heavens and said "Here, Brook. I know you've been looking for another bandeau with inserts in it, like the lace one you already have from Hot Topic that you bought when you were like 16, and it's been a really frustrating search. Have some more."

The black one is my original one, the non-lacy blue one is one I found at a store called Ross here. I was looking for ones like that, but when I found an entire table of the lace ones, that one became irrelevant. I love lace! 

Note: The colors are extremely off in this picture. The yellow one is actually a highlighter yellow and the purple one is actually more of a bright dark blue/purple. 

And right he was. When I was 16 or so, I bought a black, strapless, hookless "sports" bra from Hot Topic. It was lace, and I didn't really like it. It wasn't until recently that I realized how useful it was, and I was grateful that I held on to it for so long. So when I discovered its uses, I began looking for another one. We searched Hot Topic again both in store and online, but it looked like they no longer made them. No problem, right? Bandeaus are in, right? Right, except no place makes them with inserts in them for coverage! Too much information? I don't care, I'm so happy! So when I saw a table of them in Sears, I bought them ALL. ONE IN EVERY COLOR. Now I have ALL OF THE LACE BANDEAUS WITH INSERTS. HALLELUJAH. 

Today, Patrick and I are working on my resume so that I can start looking for work. I hope everyone is doing well!