Carrie & Jared

After college, I worked briefly (I think for about 8-9 months?) for the airline, ATA. It was not my dream job, by far, but it was a job that brought me back to Indy from Nashville, where I had moved for my first job out of college. My job title was Customer Service Quality Assurance. Our team travelled around to the various airports that ATA serviced and "secretly" observed and recorded data on the employees working in those airports. It was fun travelling (mostly to Vegas, Florida, Arizona & Chicago), but the job was a bit lonely for me, as I would certainly describe myself as a people person! It was also a big learning experience for me, working at such a large company with many, many bosses and a lot of red tape.

One of the highlights* of my employment there was meeting a friend, Carrie! She worked in my department (but did more marketing type stuff!) and we hit it off instantly. I often got "talked to" about spending too much time chatting with her in her office. I had the opportunity to hang out w/ her and her husband Jake a few times outside of work & I always had the best time with them.

The best thing about Carrie and one of the reasons I hold her so near and dear to my heart, is that she taught me how to cook! Ok, not literally, and I have had many influences, but she is the person who I credit with giving me the confidence to try my hand at cooking... and the rest is history. I love to cook & would consider myself a foodie (although not the "live in the city eat out at fancy restaurants every night" type of foodie, but that's another post).

Carrie gifted me with one of the few things I would grab when I run out of the house if it were burning down (of course, yes my daughter and pets would be first). My crockpot cookbook. This was the first cookbook I was ever given and she knew that if I would just try some recipes from it, I would see how easy cooking can be! Some of my standards are still in that cookbook. I know you can get most recipes on line today, but I am old school. I LOVE cooking from cookbooks. I love looking at the pictures. I love thumbing through them and getting new ideas and trying new recipes. She wrote a cute note in the front, something funny & slightly sarcastic

We somewhat kept in touch for the 8 years that I lived in Arizona and we have not managed to get together since I've moved back, but thanks to facebook I think I know a bit of what is going on in her life. I recently got a chance to catch up on her new blog and discovered something amazing!

SHE IS GOING TO AUSTRALIA COURTESY OF THE OPRAH SHOW! How exciting is that?

Here is a link to her blog: http://bitesizedbycarrie.wordpress.com/

Check it out for the story and I know it will be a great place to get new recipes and funny stories!

*Side note: Another highlight of that job was meeting Jared the Subway Guy! Long story short: Jared worked at ATA with u! It was after his first round of commercials w/ Subway and I would often see him in the hallway, proclaiming to Carrie, "There's Jared! There's Jared!" I don't think she really saw the "celebrity" I did, but I am such a sucker for celebrities. Anyway, she emailed him and asked him to go to lunch with us one day and the rest is history! I HAD LUNCH WITH JARED AT SUBWAY! It was awesome. Carrie took a picture & gave it to me in a frame which I still have on my desk to this day. It is a great conversation piece for me :)

GMO's

Do you know about GMO's????

If I started posting about my issues with the food industry, I could rant and rage on a daily basis... and I don't want to sound like I'm preaching. Do you have any idea how DISGUSTING factory farm raised beef & chicken (any meat really) is??? It is really easy to buy grass fed, organic chicken & beef now & it does not break the bank like it used to! But seriously, if you are purposely not educating yourself on the American FDA, you are risking the health of yourself & your kids! (oh sorry, I wasn't going to preach!)

Momma Baker (via Jeni) is my own personal information expert (I can always just email her w/ questions & she is a wealth of knowledge... through her battle w/ fibromyalgia, she has discovered that just eating organic makes a HUGE difference in her health. Anyway, the newest subject matter I have been learning about genetically modicifed organisms... The European Union has completely banned them, yet they are predominant in the US food system! She passed this along to me today: http://nongmoshoppingguide.com/

Check it out!

Crockpot

When I can actually find 20 minutes on Sunday (or even Monday morning) to gather my thoughts, I LOVE to plan our dinner schedule for the week. My goal as of late has been to cook every meal in the crockpot. It takes some motivation the night before (which is hard to muster up after getting Ellie to bed), but I am always SO SO happy when I get home from work and a yummy dinner is in there.

I get a lot of recipes from a cookbook my friend Carrie gave me around 10 years ago... Really that cookbook is what got me stared and confident in cooking and I learned a lot from that! I also get a lot of recipes from A Year of Slow Cooking. One thing I have learned from her is that you can make a LOT of things besides roast & soups/stews in there. Even pizza or brownies!?! I just ordered her cookbook too, so I'll let ya know.

Right now I have a crockpot of beans cooking (Craig's family makes plain pinto beans--they call them red beans?!?!-- w/ a can of rotel--i like to doctor them up a bit w/ some montreal, but other than that it's super easy) & we'll have cornbread with that. This week I'm going to try two other of our favorite casseroles in the crockpot (mexican cornbread & Cabbage casserole). I know they won't be exactly the same as in the oven but they both take over an hour to cook, let alone prepare, so hopefully they will be just as good.

What are your favorite crockpot recipes!?!? Please share some ideas!!!

Ellie Talking

Ellie Talking at 15 Months from Jennifer Skinner on Vimeo.

Fall

Have I mentioned we LOVE the fall!?!?!

The first couple were taken in downtown Franklin at the Antique Show. Dada bought her a new chair & she LOVES it.


We went to the Apple Orchard & Pumpkin Patch w/ Aunt JuJu, the Kleins, Wollenburgs & English's!
Will & Ben Klein getting the good apples!

Emma Grace Wollenburg & Ellie B. They could pass for sisters!





Not quite sure if I like my witch hat...
Maybe I like it?
YEP! Fun!

Snyder vs. Phelps

I heard an unsettling story on the way to work this morning on NPR... Have you heard about Snyder vs. Phelps?

A marine, Matt Snyder was killed in active duty in Iraq in 2006. In 2008, he was laid to rest in Maryland. Fred Phelps is a Pastor at a Baptist Church in Kansas. He and six or seven members of his congregation travelled to Maryland to PROTEST at Matt's funeral. Apparently, this is just one of many military funerals they have protested. You may have seen some of their picket signs. I honestly can't even type what some of their signs said. Click here for a video if you want to see them.

Matt Snyder's father sued Phelps & his church for his distress and won in court, but the decision was overturned by the court of appeals on First Amendment grounds. Today, the trial goes to the Supreme Court.

I'm sickened by this psycho Phelps and his anti-gay fundamentalist church. They are disgusting people with seriously disturbed ways of thinking. I understand where this father is coming from--they essentially tarnished and ruined the last day he ever had with his son... funerals are supposed to provide closure for the loss of a loved one.

But, what is the realm of free speech here? The First Amendment is so important to our country, where is the line drawn?

I sort of think that Mr. Snyder should win on some level for the harrassment and defamation of his family. Free Speech is one thing, but it is not legal to purposefully inflict pain on someone. Although this was not physical pain, it is probably much worse.

What do you think?

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Craig and I's second anniversary.



So this time 2 years ago, we were in HAWAII!!!

Could we have any more HUGE life changes in 2 years? Married, had a baby, move 2000 miles away, start new jobs, etc? I think we can handle almost anything after all of this.

Craig is taking me to dinner tonight (Aunt Julie is babysitting)!

I love you, Craig! Thanks for putting up with me. Looking forward to many, many more.