Let’s get caught up to date. Last week, I left off at signing up for my first ever full marathon. I mentioned the possibility of moving to another part of the country before the race. Nothing is set in stone and I don’t have any job offers lined up as of yet, but things can change in an instant, so I’m keeping the possibility of moving in the back of my mind as I begin training for this marathon. With that said, if I do get offered and accept a job out of the DFW area, I will move first and Nick would follow later. Right now, if I were to move, Nick probably wouldn’t be able to join me until the end of the year or the very beginning of 2013, which I’m not really thrilled about, but if that circumstance presents itself, we’ll suck it up and make due living apart for a few month. So, that’s a long-winded way of saying, even if I move away, I will be visiting Dallas quite regularly until the end of the year and will still run the full Dallas Marathon regardless.
So now that I’ve brought up the possibility of moving, I’ll share with you the recent happenings in my employment search. I had a phone interview yesterday and another one lined up a week from today, both of which are in New England. Yesterday’s phone interview didn’t go that well. I was volunteering at City Hall and with the lack of private seating areas inside the building (at least that I’ve found), I decided to go outside and sit on a bench while doing the phone interview. There was a little bit of background noise, but it wasn’t too bad, I thought the environment would be fine, but about 20 minutes into the phone call, a homeless man walked up to me and started talking to me. I motioned to him that I was on the phone and couldn’t talk, but he persisted to talk to me and offer me some sort of food that he had wrapped up in tinfoil. I motioned no, but he wasn’t getting the point. I stood up and all of my papers blew away. I tried to collect my things and regroup, all while trying to pay attention to the other line on the phone. Once I collected me things, I sat back down on the bench and the homeless man proceeded to sit down next to me, still talking and pushing the food towards me. I couldn’t take it any more. I got up and completely walked away towards the entrance to City Hall. At this point, I was barely engaged in the phone interview and things were wrapping up. I felt like I was extremely rude to the homeless person, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. So unfortunately I think I blew it for that phone interview. The lesson learned is to take phone interviews in my car from now on if I’m not at home.
So those are the major things that are going on in my life right now. Onto everyday kind of stuff, ever since I got back from Oregon, I’ve felt the need to find activities to do in Dallas that involve being outdoors and nature (despite the mid 90′s temperatures). I put out a plea for ideas on Facebook and I got a response from a friend who recommended Cedar Ridge Preserve. Nick and I immediately loaded up on bug spray and sunscreen and headed out.
Cedar Ridge Preserve is on the complete opposite end of Dallas than where we live, so it was a little bit of a drive to get there, but I’m glad we made the trip. From all the parks and preserves that I’ve been to in Dallas, this one is the most separated from the City.
The terrain was more like the Texas Hill Country than North Texas. We got a great hike in and both of us were dripping with sweat by the time we got back to the car. Thanks for the recommendation Brenna!
And one last item for today. I mentioned here that I was going to make some changes to Project Cookbook. Well, I’ve decided to not write out the entire recipe. Even though I’m giving credit where it is due, I feel like I’m plagiarizing by posting the recipes in my blog. Plus, I feel like people don’t really read the step-by-step instructions anyway, so instead, I’ve decided that I’m just going to share the my thoughts on the recipes that I make along with the finished product photos and if any of you are interested in the recipe, shoot me an email and I’ll share it with you! On top of that, I’ve decided to incorporate my recipe thoughts for Project Cookbook within normal blog posts, just like this one. And finally the last change is I’m only going to focus on a handful of my cookbooks instead of ALL of them. 20+ cookbooks is a lot, so I’m picking just my favorites to share with you! So, without further adieu, a new recipe for Project Cookbook!
Dinner Tonight: Done
Hoisin-Glazed Shrimp Skewers with Cucumber Salad
By Real Simple
As most recipes from Real Simple are, this dish was super simple to make! The instructions say it takes 15 minutes. It took me a little longer, but I was dilly-dallying. I love cucumbers this time of year, especially with a little bit of vinegar. And the shrimp were so basic but so tasty. I ended up serving this with some white rice, it which point Nick told me it was a picture-perfect meal. Unfortunately I left the rice out from the photos because it wasn’t part of the recipe, but it sure did help with the appearance, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. Coming in at 240 calories per serving, this is a light and tasty meal perfect for a summer night!
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