Welcome To The Kitchen

Mom Is No Longer There To Cook For You...

I think my favorite part of my new place is my kitchen. At my college all of the dorms had at least one kitchen (though my freshmen one was the size of a closet and fridge did not even fit in it). The last place I lived was a house on campus called a lodge and I shared it with six other people. It was great, except the kitchen was the size of a closet and we tended to blow the fuse that knocked out all of the power on that side of the lodge at least once a month. It also did not have a dish washer. If people did not do their dishes, they sat in the sink. It was tough at times, but totally worth it to have a reduced meal plan and cook some of my own meals.

My new kitchen is a lot bigger and has a dish washer and a garbage disposal (also not featured in the lodge). I love it! I run the dishwasher a few times a week and do hand washing in between. It makes my life a lot easier. I also now have a gas stove. I grew up with gas in the kitchen instead of electric, but in college all they had was electric. I defiantly prefer gas stoves. I also do not have to worry about someone drunk baking in the middle of the night and setting off the fire alarms (this happened multiple times in one of my dorms).

A fun fact about my kitchen, I currently do not own a microwave. I’ve learned to live without one, but at first I was a little skeptical about not having one. However a stove, toaster oven and hot water maker have, so far, been good substitutes. I eat a lot of frozen vegetables and it’s easy to just heat them up on the stove and add spices to them. I also have a crock pot. I think every kitchen should have at least one crock pot. I have a great three bean chili recipe that is really easy and has leftovers for almost a week that I make in it. I would also like to give a shout out to one of my aunts who sent me a magic bullet. I can make smoothies whenever it suites my fancy.

I love food. I enjoy finding simple recipes and making them my own with a few changes. I have a number of meals that I have found online and in cookbooks that I have changed to make them either more affordable or spicier (I love spicy foods, but have learned the hard way that I need to be careful how much spice I add). A few things that I almost always have lying around my kitchen:

·         Peanut Butter – Spicy peanut noodles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples and peanut butter and many other peanut butter related foods are a main staple in my diet. I love peanut butter. I feel bad for people who cannot have it because of allergies or other health reasons because it is so good.

·         Soy Sauce – I eat a lot of Asian food, I grew up with it. It can add great flavor.

·         Sesame Oil – See Soy Sauce.

·         Cayenne Pepper – or other spicy flavoring. I love spicy foods and cayenne pepper can add a little kick to any ordinary meal.

·         Frozen Vegetables – They are super easy to add to any meal. I tend to add whatever I find in the freezer to pasta, noodle dishes and most crock pot recipes.

·         Onions – I love onions, don’t know why, but I do.

·         Frozen fruit – I can’t eat ice cream and fresh fruit can go back quickly. Frozen fruit allows for smoothies and a quick dessert.

·         Carrots – They last forever in the fridge, end of story.

·         Frozen Snacks, Pizzas, and Meals – Although not always healthy sometimes it is just too hard or I am motivated to make my own food. Thus to make my life easier I have a few frozen treats in the freezer. Just add the veggies and wham food!

Cooking is a lot of fun and I will probably write about it quite a bit. If anyone has any suggestions about simple recipes let me know. Now I’m going to go eat my chicken curry with toast.

Welcome to Nostalgia

 You never get the past back...

This will probably be a short post. It’s been a long week and I’ve been in the car way too much. Just as a reminder, please let me know of any spelling or grammar problems.

I dropped my sister off for her first year of college yesterday. There were tears from her and my mom while I kind of sat back on my heels and realized that one of the coolest chapters of my life had ended. It felt weird for me to be dropping her off and heading home instead of staying at my old school (no we will not have the same alma mater). I know she’s probably feeling a little nervous about the whole thing, heck I remember I was terrified to talk to anyone, but I know she is going to have the best time of her life. It also reminded me how much I’m going to miss being a college student.

It’s not that I’m trying to complain about being an “official” adult or anything (disclaimer: this blog is not a place for me to rant, except at UPS, but that is a later post). I just feel a little lost without the safety net of school and my friends. I miss being able to feel completely safe anywhere I went on campus (I’m in a safe area, but I still wouldn’t wander around here at night). I also did not have to worry about having a car, the bus and trolley system was pretty good. It was easy to make friends and there was always something to do and something going on. Not to mention cheap movie deals and discounts at Good Will.

College was a great transition into adulthood. I loved the freedom of making my own choices and knowing I could crash on any of my friends couches if I had to. Now I still have the freedom to make those choices, but I have to deal with harsher consequences like having to pay to fix my car if it breaks down.

I’m starting to realize that this post is very similar to my first one, but after a month in Wonderland have discovered that I really miss my time at school. With summer ending I have had to face the reality that this job is not an internship, it’s the start of my career.

I am glad that my sister has moved out and it now becoming an “adult”. I can’t wait to hear about her classes and finding out how she does on her first midterm (I hope it’s not tears). I know she is going to make lots of new friends and her roommate seems really nice.

My mom and I had to stop at Dairy Queen on the way back from dropping off my sister. Mom got a Hot Fudge Sunday and got a mini blizzard. It made mom feel better. When we finally got home we watched The Rescuers Down Under because I will probably never mature enough to outgrow cartoons. I think it made her feel better.

Welcome to your New Home

First you have to find it...

First I would like to give a shout out to Shark Week. Once again I am afraid to go into the Ocean. Beware the awesome power of the deep!

Finding a place to live was a lot harder than I had thought it was going to be. I had thought that I would search on the internet, go to the apartment place and (WHAM!) I’d be living on my own. This was the first reality check. Not only did I discover that cheap places to rent in the areas that I wanted to live were virtually non-existent, but if I did find something in my price range, it was already occupied. I also discovered that income requirements are another hurdle.

All of the places (except the first that did not have any free apartments in a normal price range) had income requirements. I also came to dread the term luxury in front of apartment ads. Honestly I don’t think luxury apartments are worth it if there isn’t any affordable housing anywhere else. Heck I’m still trying to figure out where poor people live in Fairfax County.

My mom and I went back home without any progress. I at first was convinced I would be living out of a cardboard box (or driving over an hour and a half commute to work). A few frustrated tears later led back to the internet. I was hoping to find a room for rent or a roommate. I found plenty of people looking for roommates, but I wasn’t sure how much I’d like kids, three cats (I’m allergic) or 18 year old French guys. There were a lot of 18 year old French guys looking for roommates. I finally found, with a good bit of help from my mom, a guy renting his basement with all utilities included. A phone call later and we had an appointment in two days to go check it out.

We also discovered that about twenty miles from where I was going to work was a small town with apartments with a rent that was at least reasonable. My mom started sorting through apartments while I just kind of nodded my head and agreed with whatever she said.

The next “new home hunt” started in the further away town very early in the morning. The first few places I looked at were nice. Mom helped me to identify what was lacking and what was a plus in some of the different places we looked at. One of the coolest things we discovered was that some apartments offer move in deals. If you move in by a certain date they cut the rent, wave fees for the pool or even give you a month free of rent (but check to see if it’s a 12 or 13 month lease).

After another long day of looking at apartments and still having an interview for a basement to rent, I found a really cute place that was in my price range. I decided to cancel the interview and put in an application for this place. There was also a lot of paper work required on my end. They are very serious about not doing illegal activates and knowing where the money for the rent is coming from.

About a month later I was ready to move in. I managed to bribe two of my friends, along with my dad, to help me to move all of my worldly possession to the new apartment. When we finally got everything in, just as it was starting to thunderstorm, I discovered that my apartment was a lot bigger than I had thought it was and that I did not have as much stuff as I thought I had. Don’t get me wrong, I have more stuff than I know what to do with sometimes, but I still don’t have a couch or a coffee table. For that matter my dining room is currently folding chairs and a card table. I guess I never realized how much furniture makes a home. My dad had to suggest the card table and folding chairs before I realized that I even needed dining room furniture.

After a few weeks, and my book case being rebuilt, I had finally managed to make my apartment seem more like a home. I especially love having a dishwasher. I didn’t have a dishwasher in college and I now realize how much I love them. I like having my own home. Now I just have to keep it clean.

Welcome To Wonderland

I Fell Down The Rabbit Hole!

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am a twenty something who just recently graduated from college, moved out of her parent’s house and have started a new job. It’s my first “grown up” job. This whole experience has been a little scary. Okay it’s actually really scary. That is why I decided to start a blog: to hopefully help people who are also just starting out and share my adventures.

 I will likely talk about my experiences and possibly reminisce about college, high school, talk about what’s interesting to people my age and other somewhat random things. However, I choose not to talk about work nor rant about any personal, political, monetary, or religious issues. There has been so much news in the media lately about people losing their jobs over a stupid post or tweet that I would prefer not to get into any of that. If at any time I seem to be straying from my original path, just let me know and I’ll get right back on track.

I would love feedback. Though hopefully not the creepy kind of feedback, but this is the Internet. One of the other reasons I wanted to start a blog was to keep practicing my writing skills. If anyone notices that I have misspelled anything or there is a grammar mistake, let me know so I can fix it. I love being able to improve. Since I am new to all of this I’ll keep this first post short. I’m hoping to average around 1000 to 2000 words each post. Since this is just my introduction, I don’t think I will be putting too much in.

I chose the name of this blog to be Starting Out In Wonderland because I feel like I, much like Alice, have fallen through a rabbit hole. I had thought that college had prepared me for the real world, but it was really a fantasy land. College established my independence as an individual, but not as a person. The individual independence allowed me to start making choices without constantly asking my parents’ permission. Independence as a person is making those decisions, but not having the safety net there to keep me from falling flat on my face. In college most of my problems required a phone call or a talk with a professor to solve. Now I have to solve those problems on my own. Luckily I have a lot of friends and family who are still willing to give advice, but ultimately I still have to fix them myself. I feel out of my element now. Hopefully it will not last too long. 

Who’s ready to explore wonderland with me?