Heck yes, I CAN!

I love making things homemade that are often store bought, like... well, I can't actually think of any examples besides the one I'm about to blog about but just know that I love making things homemade that I would often just buy from the store. Exhibit A: Salsa! I made homemade salsa this week! Not Tostitos, or Margaritas, or Pace... but Abby-made. It was so exciting! My aunt Cindy mentioned that she wanted some homemade salsa but didn't really want to make it. I volunteered and two seconds later there was a 20 in my hand to go buy ingredients to make it... so I did! I even canned them... like legitimately canned them. I made homemade salsa, from wonderfully fresh produce, then I CANNED it with recycled Kerr jars... I feel so green or hippie or local or something. I don't know what it is I feel, but I do know that all of my liberal-ish friends would approve.

Anyway, why homemade salsa is great...

1. It was cheaper than buying store-bought salsa: only 9 dollars for all of the ingredients, granted we didn't pay for the tomatoes because they were all home grown by my cousin Dana. 2. Speaking of home grown tomatoes, how local is that?? (Well, they actually came from Sublette, KS but Joel had to make the drive anyway so extra gas wasn't wasted in their transportation so we'll still call 'em local)

3. It doesn't have any crazy ingredients... All natural, babay!

4. You, too, can have the satisfaction of saying you canned something.

5. Oh, and it tastes delicious!

Long story short... Homemade salsa = successfully delicious! The end.

All of the beautiful, fresh (minus the tomato

paste and sauce) ingredients!

Look at all those beautiful, fresh ingredients after

the food processor had its way with them...

Fresh cilantro may be my new favorite scent.

Boiling the jars to seal them. This part creeped me out

the most... I kept on have daydream-nightmare things

of the glass exploding and my face burning off from

the hot salsa and glass. Luckily... it didn't happen.

Tada!

Sheets of Egyptian Cotton.

My sleeping situation got an upgrade this week and I'm pretty excited about it. I went from the full size bed that I've been sleeping on since probably middle school, to a queen. Woohoo! That was enough to make me happy... And then my mom came home with new, beautiful, brown, Egyptian cotton sheets tonight and I was blown away.

The first thing I thought of when she told me what she got was the movie Uptown Girls. Remember that stupid song her lame boyfriend wrote called, "Sheets of Egyptian Cotton". Let me jog your memory...

The second thing I thought of was how good I'm going to sleep tonight.... So, I guess I'm going to go try them out... Hopefully I'll be able to sleep because right now I have that stupid "Sheets of Egyptian Cotton" song stuck in my head. A big thanks to my mom and dad for the lovely bed and satiny sheets. Night, ya'll!

Pushing Daisies.

Netflix is one of the best and worst things that has ever happened to me. I have thousands of movies that I can watch instantly with a few clicks of a button AND if I have the patience to wait a couple of days, I can watch any movie my heart could ever desire... all for like 9 bucks a month. That's the good side. The bad side is that I have a tendency to choose watching something on Netflix over things like... reading books, sleeping, interacting with people... It's just really not healthy. I'm trying to cut back. :)

One good thing that did come out of Netflix is that the TV show Pushing Daisies is on "watch instantly" so I've been watching that pretty much non-stop for the last week. Unfortunately the fun is going to end soon, because the show only lasted about 2 half-seasons before it was cancelled (I've decided that it's the writers strike's fault, because the show is too great for such a premature cancellation.) It's a great show... very whimsical, which I love. It's got great characters. The main man is a pie maker (I mean, what's not to love about that). Kristin Chenowith is in it and she busts out in song periodically which is great. The list could go on and on about how much this TV show makes me smile. If you have Netflix, you should check it out. Now.

I was so inspired by the show that today I cut my hair like the main character... Ok, no, I didn't actually cut my hair so I could purposely be just like Chuck/Charlotte. But I did like her hair and now mine kind of looks like hers... Maybe there will be a pie maker around the corner ready to bring me back to life and fall in love with me just like her. Doubtful... but a girl can dream.

Living at home.

Sometimes I feel ashamed for being a college graduate and moving back in with my parents and having no clear "move out" date in sight. The world says the order of life is this: elementary school, middle school, junior high school, college, get a job/move out of your parents house... There is no "move back into your parents house after you've lived on your own for 4 years because you can't find a good job or support yourself" in the world's picture of a successful life. And I am embarrassed sometimes, that I can't live up to the world's standards... I'm not going to lie.

But, when I forget what the world says (what does the world know anyway...) and think about my life as it truly is... I love living at home. (I know what you're thinking... What's not to love? Mooching off your parents while you try to figure out what to do with your life. But it's more than that...) I love sitting down and eating meals with my parents and brothers. I love relaxing on our comfy, suede-like couches. I love playing cards with my mom in the evenings. I love being around to hear about my brother Cory's tales of being a senior (man, it feels like just yesterday I was in college comp reading stories about yellow wallpaper that talks and a moth flying into a burning flame.) I love being around to hear and sometimes laugh :) at my dad's silly jokes. I love going up to my cozy, and perfectly "Abby" bedroom and having "me" time after everyone else has gone to be. I just love it.

So yes, the world tells me I shouldn't be doing this and that I should be doing whatever it takes to move out (and I'm working on it, don't worry; I know I can't do this forever.) But I love that I have a home and a family that is so special that I can come home to every day... I do love it.

Nerdy Guys.

My aunt Cindy told me tonight that my blog makes her smile and that she gets bummed when I don't write. I don't really have anything deep or meaningful to say tonight but I thought I'd go with a shallow post... just to make Cindy happy.

I love nerdy guys. Some people go for the Brad Pitts and the Matthew McConaugheys and the Hugh Jackmans of the world, and don't get me wrong, they're handsome. I like nerds... and I don't know why. Well, ok, truthfully, they probably aren't nerds in real life, but I like to think that they kind of are. I'd choose a guy in a tie or a cardigan with some nerdy glasses over shirtless and muscly any day. (For real.) My nerd list:

1. Zachary Levi as Chuck from Chuck: my all time favorite nerd.

2. Lee Pace as Ned from Pushing Daisies.

3. Zachary Quinto as Sylar from Heroes. (Don't judge me, I know he was a psycho killer in that show... but for some reason I still find him attractive.)

4. Justin Long as... well, he just always kind of plays a nerd.

5. Christopher Gorham as Henry from Ugly Betty.

I just think they're great. So yes, this post is lame and shallow, but I just think that all of the nerdy guys in the world deserve their time to shine. So here's a shout out to all the nerds out there. My number is ... Just kidding. :)

P.S. So... I felt like I was forgetting someone in my nerd list so I googled "famous guys who play nerds" and came upon this ridiculous website entitled: Nerds Are Sexy. If you're bored, you should check it out... it's pretty hilarious once you get past the beginning about anime and manga...

Awesome...

So... this has kind of been everywhere, but I love it, so I thought I'd give it a shout out on the off-chance that some of you haven't seen it yet.

Go to this link, enter your address (I know, it seems creepy to do that online, but relax, it's legit), and enjoy a beautiful, interactive video. It makes me smile every time I watch it... especially because of the ending (hint: it involves trees... and you know that I love trees.)

If you're in Kansas City, I hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather we've been blessed with. If you're not in Kansas City, I hope you're enjoying something wherever you are. :) Happy Friday!

Stamps.

I love being creative. Whether that's baking, making cards, painting a picture, taking photography... I just love creating beautiful things. I've said before if I could just be creative for a living, then I'd be happy. The other day I mentioned that to Jessie: "I want a job where I can just be creative," and her response was, "Well, there aren't any." (I love her...) Because there aren't any jobs where I can just "be creative" for a living, I will stick to it as a hobby.

Anyway, I asked for a set of alphabet stamps for my birthday. Actually, I think I asked for money because I was pretty picky about font and size (I'm ridiculous, I know...) So, for my birthday my aunt Georgie and "Unca Dave" gave me a scarf (it's beautiful, I could dedicate an entire post to this singular scarf) and some cash to buy some stamps. I bought some from Michael's last week, and now I'm a stamping fool!

I've been making a lot of cards and while I was on my retreat I made a calendar! I did all the letters and numbers with stamps and then drew really simple images that represent the month. I'm excited for how it turned out! So, if you need anything stamped... with letters or numbers (I also have now purchased a big letter "A" (that's not egotistical at all), a bird stamp, a dandelion stamp, and a leaf stamp), I'm your girl!

P.S. Thanks to Georgie and Dave for helping me get this new hobby started!