Faking It

I've been trying to cook forever. I learned to bake pretty early on, and while my presentation is occasionally lacking I can make some pretty tasty pastries. Cooking is a whole other beast. My Dad tried to teach me once and it was a disaster. The man doesn't use recipes, he just thinks it up as he goes which is fine if you know how to cook. I didn't. I still don't. But I've been practicing, mostly over the last year. I got cookbooks for Christmas and managed to pick every horrible recipe in them so needless to say I stopped trying to cook on a regular basis. But I was also 45 minutes away from my parents so I had plenty of leftovers and free meals whenever I needed them. Now I'm 6 hours away from them so I'm thinking frozen foods won't make it. I bought Taste of Home's Fall 2010 magazine yesterday which is primarily filled with recipes for baked goodies but at the back they had a plug for cream cheese and a recipe for veggies with a cream chive and o

Classes at UTEP started this week and it was pretty interesting overall! I had filed all my paperwork last week but I figured I'd give them a little time to input it before I tried to register for my classes. But then I couldn't wait and tried to register Wednesday. Didn't work. Thursday. No go. Friday. Nada. So I figured I'd call on Saturday to get some help, but they were closed all weekend! THE WEEKEND BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!??! So first thing Monday morning I'm on the phone and long story shorter...got registered. But I had nothing to do Monday so I stayed in bed. Tuesday was day #1! Program aside, this school is B.S.!!! I wasn't able to buy a parking pass until I was registered for classes, and once I was registered still couldn't buy a parking pass who knows why not, so I parked in the visitor lot and walked. Had my first lab meeting, which I had to leave early from to make it to class, but I met all the undergrads who worked in the

El Paso Church #1: Strike 1 And so commences El Paso Church Hunt 2010. I've been trying to get out to church for the last 3 Sundays. The first Sunday I woke up and didn't want to go. I'd just finished moving and was exhausted so I went back to bed. My fault, I know. Last weekend, I got up, got ready, drove around for about an hour and crossed state lines again before giving up. The directions I had were technically correct, but I had to look at a map to realize I needed to take the I-10 frontage road. So I didn't go last week either. But I had done some more driving around El Paso and had drove myself over to the church so I would know where it was so I could actually go today. From the outside it looks kind of like a "super church" but I've been to those before and I like to keep an open mind about a new place. I never expect to find a church that has everything I like or believe exactly what I believe, especially since I have such radical ideas about cer

And the past 2 weeks has faded away. This week I had the moment where I remembered why I am in El Paso. On Wednesday this week I had orientation at UTEP so I got to meet most of my cohort; there are 12 new PhD's and 4 Masters students. It was like a huge weight off my shoulders because up until then I had no reason to be in El Paso. Since I arrived here EVERYTHING has been so hard! My parents moved to a different country with 3 kids and a dog and they didn't have as difficult a time as I've had moving 2 states away. I thought, back in April when I made the decision to come to UTEP and move to El Paso, that all roads were leading me here. The decision was so easy! And then I get here and Texas knows I hate it and has been trying to shove me out. But orientation has put me back on track. Now a whole new set of fears. Mostly, orientation was filling out and filing paperwork. As a grad student I get a waiver on out of state tuition which is amazing and a huge reason I chose thi

My sisters were just here for a few days and now they're gone and I can't remember what I did before... I picked them up from the airport on Monday and after Erin dropped their suitcase on her toe, drawing blood and creating a big ugly bruise, took them and their luggage back to my apartment. The girls managed to bring me some housewarming presents (I LOVE presents!!!) with them on the plane. 2 sets of gorgeous wine glasses and a really lovely canister to hold some kitchen utensils that my Mom got me from Pier 1. There's a lot less space in the kitchen I have here than there was in my old apartment so I'm trying to be creative with where to put everything and the canister is so fun and fits my style and now that I have wine glasses, and 2 bottles of wine, I might have to get something fun for those! After hanging out for a bit we drove down the street to get some lunch before going on our big El Paso Adventure. We drove down to the mall that's down the street from m

It's done. Everything. I am officially living in Texas. I am also, for the first time in my life, entirely alone. Right now, it sucks. I hated saying goodbye to my parents. I've been on the couch watching my new t.v. since they left and I still have so much to "do." To update from my last post: I set my alarm on Friday night to wake up at 6:45 a.m. to eat breakfast with my parents early so we could be at the apartment by 8 a.m. The window the Home Depot gave us for the delivery of my washer and dryer was 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. so getting there a bit before 8 a.m. was the goal. For whatever reason, my so-called "smart phone" doesn't automatically switch the time when I take it into a new time zone and I had forgotten to do it. So while my alarm was set, it was set for 6:45 a.m. in Phoenix, which is 7:45 a.m. in El Paso. I didn't wake up in time. I was woken up by my parents but we were still running late. However... If we had been there before 8 a.m. like w