Salon Haircut

I am off to get a fabulous salon haircut (normally $60) for $25. Yep, I ferreted out a way to get a cheap (but nice) haircut after being frustrated by Supercuts' $15 failures. Wish me luck!

Gretchen

I ran into my friend Gretchen today at DVC. She and I went to school together for like 10 years, from grade school to high school. She had been living in Idaho, but moved back to Martinez this summer. This is also the Gretchen who surprised me by coming down from Idaho for my wedding reception. I have such great, sneaky friends! (This also refers to Scott, who came up from Southern California, just for the reception!)
In other news, I am almost done with my current event assignment for Political Science. This paper has been driving me nuts! I haven't written a lot of papers in MLA, so I am a little nervous. I had it checked out at the Writing Center today, and the tutor said it was great, with excellent transitions, and a clear theme. Now I just have to polish up my Works Cited page. The paper is due tomorrow morning, and it will be so nice to have it over with!

Running Into Things At Gottschalks

I got up this morning before 5 am. It was 4:30, in fact, when I rolled out of bed and got dressed. And I was probably the last person to get up. We were at Kohl's by 5:30, ready to shop. (This is an unusual state for me to be in.)
Jason and I scored an Aerobed for 55% off, to replace the guest bed that takes up so much room year-round. Jason stocked up on jeans for $11 a pair, and got some sweaters for the same price. (His new job is much more casual, so clothes like this will be very useful.) I bought a fabulous $250 leather jacket for $70 (Good timing, because my previous jacket broke on the way home from the store.) And I also got a set of velour lounge pants and a hoodie, my official self-reward for studying a few weeks ago when I wanted to do anything else.
We finished at Kohl's by 7, and then went to Target, Costco, Game Stop, and by 10:00, we were ready for lunch. We stopped at a Mexican place in Modesto called El Rosal, and I got this yummy layered quesadilla/chile rellenos thing.
Then we went to Rite Aid. And after that Gottschalks. By this time I was getting pretty tired--it was only 12:30, and I had already been up 8 hours. I was bumping into displays like a slowmoving zombie, and my reaction time was such that when I bounced off people, they were gone before I could get together an "excuse me". Pretty sad. Jason eventually started steering me around the tables stacked with merchandise for my own good.
After that we went home, where I spotted a newspaper article I was really interested in reading, so I lay down on the floor to read, but despite my interest, I could not even stay awake through a paragraph. I went and took a nap, and was out cold from 1:00-3:30. It's nice to feel human again.

A Late Thanksgiving Night

It is late in the evening on Thanksgiving. Late being after 9 pm, on a night when we will be leaving the house at 5 am. Yes, welcome to Black Friday preparations. While we were waiting for the turkey to cook, Jason's sisters, niece, mother and I ripped apart the ads section of the newspaper for deals. Mervyn's has men's sweaters Buy One, Get 2 Free! Amazing.There are also really good deals on things we were planning to buy eventually anyway, like an Aerobed for our guestroom. This is pretty fun, despite the vague feeling that we are involved in a military campaign.
After a yummy dinner at Jason's sister Jeanne's house, we introduced the Brown family to Apples to Apples. It's a really fun game that the Ogdens play whenever our family gets together. Although some people were reluctant at first, we eventually got everyone to join in.
I'll update you all later on how my 5 am shopping debut goes.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Jason and I will be heading to Turlock/Modesto to spend Thanksgiving with his family. I am excited to see a Brown family tradition for the first time: Black Friday. You know, when mobs of people go out shopping for insane deals. Really, with some of the prices, I'm surprised my family hasn't been all over it (Ogdens are so cheap). I've heard about this Brown tradition for quite a while, and am looking forward to seeing Jason's sisters elbowing people to get to the good stuff at Kohls.
This will also be my 3rd Thanksgiving with Jason. The first one was when we announced our engagement to our gathered families, and the second was last year with my family. It is awesome to think of the time we are racking up so easily--it has been over 2 and a half years since our first date. And it has been so smooth and easy. I'm not saying it hasn't involved work--it has, but that all the work we've put in has been well worth it.
I love you sweetie!

Telestial Kitchen

A friend of my sister's started a blog about cooking called Telestial Kitchen. I love looking at the recipes there--there are comments, reviews and pictures of the dishes people have tried. My contributions are under the name allison b. Check it out!
http://telestialkitchen.blogspot.com/

Busy With School

I have been so busy this week! A major test today, a major paper in a week, and in Math we are studying the chapter that strikes fear into the hearts of grown men--Word Problems! I'll try to post some more soon, but I just wanted y'all to know that I haven't abandoned you.

I found a new job!

Well, for the past few months, I have been putting off the inevitable of finding a new job. It is not that I do not enjoy new things, but the idea of job hunting is horrible - it's like dating without any fun.

Well, I landed a new job today - Technologist at Clear Ink. I had several interviews with them, including a grueling nearly two-hour session where I met with 3 different people. Only the LSAT was more tiring.

The job is wonderful - I am very excited. I have basically been at Credit Line for 4 1/2 years - full time as a non-1099 employee for 3 years. I have endured much and learned even more. But I am ready and willing to move on to something newer. I will basically be a code-monkey - writing code in PHP. The person I report to, Leon, wrote the first English book on PHP. Apparently a German book beat his to press by about a week he said to gain the distinction of being the first PHP book published.

Clear Ink is in Berkeley, CA. Commute is a bit longer, but Berkeley is just so cool!

Pesto With Michael

Here are some pictures of us at a restaurant called Chiak, on the coast of Italy, where we had amazing pesto. While at this restaurant, my dad waved around seafood parts while the rest of us pretended we didn't think it was funny.


Jason's friend Michael Griego is up here for a few days. Some of you may remember him from our wedding reception, he was one of Jason's groomsmen. He and Jason had lunch together today, and we're hoping to convince Michael to come over later this week for dinner. Jason and I consulted, and since it is a special occasion, we might just have homemade pesto served over gnocci. We made a batch of this pesto a while back, and it was sooo good. Almost as good as the pesto Jason and I had at Chiak when we were in Italy. It is heavy on the garlic.

The pesto recipe is now posted at allisonsrecipes.blogspot.com as Milanese Pesto

Czechoslovakia!

I found a page advertising travel in Prague, and it directed me to this page of hotels, with prices and pictures. I don't know what the exchange rate it (certainly worse than a year ago!) but the prices look pretty good! And even the cheapest hotels look beautiful. http://czechsite.phl.cz/

I also found a page that suggested touring Czechoslovakia by bicycle, and it looked like fun--I really enjoyed biking in Lucca, Italy last year, and wouldn't mind doing it again. But an even better way to taste the flavor of Czechoslovakia would be engaging in the traditional sport of....go-karting? It's number 6 on this site's list. Jason will be all over that. :)http://www.czechsite.com/outdoorform.html

European Dreams

This blog thing is really cool. I stayed up late one night just fooling around with templates to make it look pretty (in an un-girly way, of course. This blog is for Jason too.) The only problem now is what to post in it.
I am lobbying for our Europe group (Mom and Dad Ogden, Lesley and Scott, and Jason and I) to start saving up money to travel again. When Jason and I were over at Mom and Dad's for dinner the other night, we started talking about where to go. I hear that Prague is very cheap right now, with nice amenities, so that gets my vote. I loved the planning part of going to Italy, and it would be so exciting to do it again. :) Our only problem might be whether Lesley and Scott want to go with a small child, although Rick Steves says it's not too bad traveling with a kid, especially if you knock them out with Nyquil or something on the plane ride. Hey, Rick said it, not me! Quit giving your computer screen dirty looks. If you have any travel tips, post them in the comments.

French Apple Pie

I posted this recipe because a few people have asked for it. It makes a really great apple pie, and is fairly easy. Between Jason and I, we have probably made 10 of these pies in the last 4 months.

1 ready to bake pie crust
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6 cups cored, peeled and thinly sliced tart baking apples (approx. 4-5 med. sized apples)
1 cup flour (we have found that King Arthur's White Whole Wheat is actually the best.)
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature

Bring the pie crust to room temperature, and prepare as directed on the box for a single crust filled pie. (Really, just unfold the crust in a pie pan. Easy.) Preheat the oven to 350* F. Mix sugar, starch, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in sliced apples. Dump apple mixture into prepared crust. To prepare the crumb topping, mix together flour and brown sugar. Blend in the butter or margarine until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over pie. Bake pie on a sheet pan for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

This is an especially great recipe if you happen to know someone with a surplus of apples, as we do. That makes it really cheap to make!