I L-O-V-E fall...and cookies

Fall has got to be my favorite season. It's even more apparent to me how much I love the fall now that I live in a place that actually experiences fall-like weather. It will be 55 degrees when I wake up tomorrow morning (compare to the 90 degrees in Florida) and will not rise above 70 degrees. How lovely!

The hubby and I have been laying low for the past few weeks due to our financial situation (which will improve after we get paid tomorrow...whoop whoop!) so I've had to opportunity to explore my domestic side, which has really come into its own since we moved here. Well, to be fair, it does help that I work 10 hours less a week than I was in Tampa (and that I work from home!).

I've been baking like a madwoman lately and have been really enjoying it, except for the fact that we are both gaining weight...ha! The perils of being a domestic goddess, I guess! I've been on a cookie kick and have made three different batches of cookies in the past TWO weeks. Cookies, I'm convinced, are absolutely the perfect thing to eat on days like today (or any day, for that matter). I've made chocolate chip cookies twice and shortbread cookies this past weekend. The brown sugar and pecans in the chocolate cookies are so yummy. And when they're eaten after cooling for 10 minutes or so, they get a little crunchy around the edges and stay soft and chewy in the center.

I have to spread the love, so here's the recipe:

(One thing to note: You don't have to make the whole batch at once! Roll the dough you make up in parchment paper and slice off dough two or three cookies at a time as you get a craving...I used our toaster oven to bake them so I don't have to pre-heat my giant oven.)

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies (This is the original Toll House cookie recipe)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I might try substituting whole-wheat flour for these next time)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 pound (2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips the first time I made this and my husband preferred them to the semisweet)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1) Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2) Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add eggs, vanilla, and water. Beat until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.

3) Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, 15 or 20 seconds. Add chocolate chips and nuts and stir until combined.

4) Drop batter by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing pieces of dough about 1 inch apart. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges begin to crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks with wide spatula.

5) Get a cold glass of milk and enjoy!!

Do over

Okay, remember when I said that one sign you've become an adult is when you no longer bounce checks? Well, I guess I'm stuck in limbo between kid-dom and adulthood because we have officially gone negative in our bank account. Ugghhh. Adulthood, apparently, is more of a continuum rather than a hard and fast state of being. I definitely lost a few adulthood points this week.

On the bright side, I am learning that having girlfriends is something a woman should ALWAYS have. A few girlfriends and I had a girls night last night over several bottles of wine and two chick flicks (13 Going on 30 and Twilight, respectively). Sometimes, all a girl needs is some girl talk and booze (and homemade chocolate chip cookies).

When I grow up...

So, I've had zero luck in the job market lately. As I have chronicled here I have had a couple of close calls, but the dream job has yet to come a knocking on my door here in NC. I am so, so thankful for my Tampa company letting me work from home for them as long as they have, but I know that this arrangement can't last forever (despite my foolish belief that it can). 

Though I am by no means at the end of my rope as far as the job hunt goes, I started thinking today that maybe I am limiting myself too much in the scope of my search. Perhaps I should start thinking outside my little pr/communications box and look at the big picture (copywriting, journalism, writing, etc.). For kicks, I started thinking about all the professions I have always wanted to do but never had the time or the direction to take me there. Here they are:

- Novelist (not sure what kind...I might be good at writing "chick-lit")

- Breeder of small fluffy white dogs (a la Rudi)

- One of those special ASPCA police that rescue abused animals

- Interior decorator

- Photographer

- Children's book author 

- Host of a travel show (think Samantha Brown's show on the Travel Channel)

- Wedding planner (I think I wanted to do this most while I was planning my wedding...)

- Food critic

- Movie critic

- Chef for a fancy French restaurant

- Bakery owner

- NASA astronaut 

Okay, okay. So, maybe I have a shot at some of these jobs more than others (my husband thought it was hilarious that I put chef, since I rarely cook! I reminded him that these are dream jobs.). I just have to find something that I can see myself doing for the next 40 or so years. Uh...no pressure there. Whether it's in pr or not, I know it just has to be a job that I learn something from every day. That's what I love about pr, and photography for that matter. I like the idea of living my life WHILE I do my job, not just living my life in between the times I'm not at work. Are my expectations too high?

Crazy times

I haven't posted since my birthday last week...It's been a crazy seven days. My blogging will pick up soon, I promise! Here's what has gone down since I last posted:

Let's see...I had a GREAT 28th birthday. My husband made me a delicious dinner and my carrot cake turned out so well. We went out for drinks at a bar that is quickly becoming my favorite place for a beer or glass of wine.

The next day was so bitter sweet. I got an e-mail in the morning saying that I DID NOT get the job that I've been interviewing for over the past two months. It really felt like a break up. Rejection hurts! But, we had dinner that night with several friends at a sushi joint that was very fun and effectively took my mind off not getting "the job."

The next day, hubby and I left to fly to Nashville to visit our favorite married couple and the plane had a hydraulics failure soon after we left Raleigh. Ummm...I don't like flying as it is, so this was not a pleasant experience for me. Even hubby got nervous when they asked the mother & baby in the front row to move back and then the pilot said over the loud speakers to expect an ambulance and fire truck to greet us as we land and, lastly, a flight attendant ran full speed to the back of the plane. After we landed (which was without incident, by the way) we were able to board another plane right away and got to Nashville just two hours late.

The weekend we spent at the Albrights was very fun and relaxing. It included pedis/manis, wine, beer, food, Star Wars Monopoly, Hobby Lobby (my new favorite place. Dear god, am I a senior citizen?!), Gran Torino, Florida State football and more sushi.

My best friend is very preggers at the moment and it was so fun spending time with her and kind of just witnessing the miracle of pregnancy. Seeing her so cute and big makes me very excited to have a baby myself. I did realize that part of the reason I wanted this job so much is because I know it would get me a little closer to being ready to have a baby (financially speaking, that is).

Anyway, on Monday night there was a murder next door. A MURDER for crying out loud. A woman was murdered by her husband and I heard the bullets. They actually sounded like loud knocking on the front door. I hear about murders on the news, I see them in movies and tv shows, but never, NEVER, have I been that close. I'm so glad they are moving from the neighborhood in a couple of weeks, though I know that kind of thing can happen anywhere.

Anyway, we flew back to Chapel Hill on Tuesday and I had to fly out again this morning to Tampa for a press conference tomorrow. I am so excited to fly home tomorrow and just veg this weekend...No murders, no airplane hydraulics failures, no AIRPLANES for that matter...Soo looking forward to it. I guess I'll keep sending my resume out...ugh.

Today is a great day...

I'm turning 28 today (at 6 thirty-ish pm to be exact) and instead of the dread that I usually feel at getting another year older, I think I will turn my birthdays into a chance to reflect and feel utter contentment with my life.

Here goes...

Today is a great day, because:

• My husband woke me up this morning to sing me happy birthday.


• He also went grocery shopping for me last night and bought my favorite yogurt, which I enjoyed for breakfast this morning.


• I plan to bake my own birthday cake this afternoon because I have re-discovered how much I love baking...especially Carrot Cake!!


• I'm healthy and happy...all anyone can ever really ask for.
  
• I have fantastic, lovely and wonderful friends and family. (Did I mention they're great?)


• I love the new state and city I'm living in.


• College football is right around the corner. (GO NOLES!)


• I am starting to get more involved here in NC...I've already joined the Junior League and am social chair for the Triangle AXO alumni group...yikes! (My family thinks I'm turning into a Stepford Wife!)


• I'm getting a birthday pedi/mani today...can't wait!


• I've been stressed out about not hearing from UNC about the job, but should find out something today (hopefully).


• And finally, today is a great day because I have a spectacularly wonderful, beautiful mother who made this whole crazy, flaky, fabulous life possible. Thanks, Mom.