Tagged!

I've been tagged by Mel - so here go my answers! I tag Natalie, Sara, and Shannon!

1. Best thing you cooked last week.
Definitely my apple pie. In Alex's words, "the crust is tender and flaky, and the inside is not too soupy."

2. If money and time were no object, where would you go and with whom?
I would buy one of those around-the-world plane tickets and Alex and I would hit places like Japan, Australia, Brazil, Africa, any island in the Pacific. And then to top it off Alex and I would move to Ireland. :)

3. When was the last time you cried?
I think it was when I was watching High School Musical 2 when Gabriela is breaking up with Troy... :)

4. 5 things you were doing this month 10 years ago.
1) I was a Junior at Woods Cross High School
2) I was playing soccer
3) Although I have no concrete evidence of this, I'm pretty sure I had a sleepover with my friends this month
4) I went to Sadie Hawkins with JD Dunn
5) I'm assuming I went to a halloween party

5. 5 things on your to do list today.
1) Make a roast for dinner
2) Pack up my work computer for work tomorrow (my team got to work from home on Friday)
3) Get Sam's b-day card ready to go
4) Get Alex's cousins wedding cards ready to go
5) Email my family about my mom's b-day present

6. 6 favorite snacks:
1) Red vines
2) Jelly Bellies
3) hummus and pita chips
4) a bowl of fresh fruit
5) chips and salsa
6) beef jerky - especially when traveling

7. 5 bad habits:
1) I have bad skin and I itch it
2) I don't write in my journal
3) I let the recycle bin overflow and take over our house before I take it out
4) I take the clean clothes out of the dryer and put them in the hamper to be folded, and then never fold them
5) I check travel websites at least once a day to see if there are any good deals

8. 5 favorite foods:
1) Gyoza
2) Cheesecake
3) Kung-pao chicken from PF Chang's
4) European chocolate
5) Gelato

9. 5 places I've been:
1) Ireland
2) The Bahamas
3) Germany
4) Portugal
5) England

10. 6 favorite memories:
1) Traveling with Alex
2) Playing soccer and being awesome at it :)
3) Spending Thanksgiving up in Park City with my family skiing, drinking hot chocolate, and watching Anne of Green Gables
4) Any family get together because it's always an adventure, especially with the family growing!
5) Doing my MBA with Alex
6) My dog, Indiana

Great Harvest - The Freedom Franchise

As I was driving home from work today I was listening to NPR and there was a story on Great Harvest Bread Company. They were interviewing a man who owns a franchise, and he was talking about how much he likes the freedom that this franchise gives him. Freedom franchise means that they are pretty flexible with how the owners run their own stores. The only three things that are required by Great Harvest are:

1. The franchise has to display the Great Harvest logo
2. The franchise has to make the signature honey wheat bread
3. The franchise has to grind their own flour every day

That's it (well, I guess the franchises are encouraged to offer free samples)! Other then those three things, the owners are free to run their stores any way they want to and to make whatever kind of bread they want. It's suddenly making sense why I see Great Harvest at farmer's markets all of the time...

After hearing that story all I wanted was Great Harvest bread! I had flashbacks of high school when we would go down to Keva Juice and get smoothies and then go next door and get a free hugely thick slice of bread at Great Harvest, and we would put butter and honey on top of the bread. Smoothies and bread - you really can't ask for a better combination! Yum!

I don't want to get old

So my grandma has been having a hard time this past week. She has been overdosing on her meds, and had to go to the ER last Friday night. It's hard because I'm so close to her, and part of me wishes I could be there for her. But the good thing about my grandma (and my mom) is that we can always find humor in the silliest things.

I guess grandma wasn't taking one of her medications that calms her, and she was very anxious and emotional. My mom took her on a walk and when they got back my grandma burst out in tears. My mom was trying to figure out what was wrong, and she said she knew something bad had happened to me and my brother. After some coaxing, my mom found out that she thought I was on drugs (I know, so characteristic of me :)). My mom called me and asked me to reassure my grandma that I wasn't taking drugs and our conversation went something like this:

Grandma: "Kristin, tell me that you're not on drugs."
Kristin: "Grandma, I'm not on drugs."
Grandma: "Are you sure?"
Kristin: "Yep, I promise."
Grandma: "Oh good."

Now, this is a conversation I honestly thought I would never have - especially with my grandma. All the while Alex was sitting in the other room listening to only my end of the conversation...

Anyway, so this whole story reminded me of my old roommate's grandma. Mel's grandma lived near us in Provo, and she would call and leave the most classic messages on our answering machine. "Melanie, this is your grandma." It just brings a smile to my face and reminds me of how I don't want to get old! :)

Here's a picture of Grandma in a hat my mom knit for her a couple of years ago - isn't it great?!

Fall is here!

The temperatures have definitely dropped here in Philly. Early last week it was record high temps in the high 80's, and then one day the temperatures were in the low 60's. We're still waiting for the leaves to turn, but I have a feeling it won't be too long until that comes. We tried fresh apple cider donuts yesterday for the first time. We didn't think they tasted a whole lot like apple cider, but Alex ate one while drinking apple cider and he said it was the perfect combination!

On Friday night we made our first visit to the Museum of Art. We ate dinner at the museum restaurant, in which we were surrounded by a lot of "older" people (I think we were the youngest ones there by about 50 years). And then we enjoyed some jazz by a New Orleans style band. It was a great atmosphere! We visited the Japanese tea room in the Asian art wing where they have authentic Japanese buildings, and live plants growing. Very cool!

Saturday we had a ward mission temple trip. We went to Manhattan, and had a great experience. It's so hard to go to Manhattan and not stay to see or do anything! Alex and I keep saying we need to just take a weekend and head to Manhattan to go to a nice restaurant and see a show. And, of course, maybe stop at Canal Street and do some bargain shopping!

I put up all of my Halloween decorations, and now I'm just ready for some trick-or-treaters! I have a feeling I won't be getting any, but I can always hope! Every year since we've been married I've bought bags of candy in hopes of handing them out, and every year we don't get any trick-or-treaters. Maybe we're living in the wrong places, or maybe times are changing. It's so sad because I remember going out to trick-or-treat with my friends, and there were always loads of other kids out. Now when you drive around on Halloween night, you're lucky to see any. So sad.

Taste of Philly

This week was restaurant week in Philadelphia so we got to try out a few different restaurants. Our first night we went to Valanni, a mediterranean/latin tapas restaurant. It was fabulous! The baked brie we got was the best I've ever tasted. It had pears and cherries in it, and was the perfect consistency. Alex said that while he was eating it he was having fireworks going off in his head (those of you who've seen Ratatouille will know what he's talking about).

We also ate at Jake's, a restaurant close to our home that "unofficially" participates in restaurant week. And last night we hit the City Tavern with Natalie, Marc, MaryAnn and Sam. The atmosphere is kind of fun because everyone is dressed in period clothing, and we had a man come around and speak with us a little and then he sang us a song. I have to say that the company was the best part about the evening, though.

I'm excited to say that I will be starting my new job on Monday! I'll be working at SAP, a business software company that's headquartered in Germany. I'll be at the Americas headquarters in the global HR department. It's funny because I was having such a hard time pinning down exactly what it was I wanted to do, and then when this job appeared I knew it was perfect for me. I get to do the global aspect (which is what I loved the most about my job at the Church), the HR aspect, and I will be doing it at a well-known, respected company. The other great thing about the company is that they are all about social responsibility, and they're building a LEED certified campus (which basically means that everything will be environmentally friendly).

My official title is Global Mobility Process Advisor, and I'll be working on relocations of employees all around the world. I'm excited because I get to work on VISAs, taxes, logistics, and everything in between when it comes to relocating somebody. Wish me luck!

Philly MOA

As of today we are officially members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (you know, where Rocky ran up the stairs). We get free admission to the museum for a year, and free admission to various events they have - all for a small donation, of course. It's nice to be supporting the arts now that we're out of school. We almost feel like contributing members of society! Anyway, I guess every Friday night they showcase a local jazz band at the MOA, so Alex is pretty excited about that.

We went to the Washington DC Temple for a Stake temple trip last weekend. The DC temple is the largest temple in the world, and there's a big visitors center which is nice to take new members to. After the session we were starving, so we headed into Silver Spring and ate at a Chinese restaurant. It was fun to be in Maryland, and I was telling Alex stories of my time living there with Dan and Ashley. We found a farmer's market on the side of the road near the temple and stopped to buy some tomatoes and peaches. I love that there are farmer's markets everywhere out here!

We decided to stop in Baltimore on the way back to Philly and drove around trying to find a German bakery that Alex read about on the internet. Amazingly we found it - Alex's directions were that it was on a street that started with a B and it was a diagonal road...Anyway, we bought a peach cake and a schmearkase, which apparently translates to cottage cheese in German, but it was more like a cheesecake. They were both great, but the schmearkase was amazing!

One entry at a time

Well, I'm averaging about one post a month here. Let's see if I can start to do a little better. I'm sitting here chatting with a friend back in Utah while Alex plays the Wii. Ahh, the life of "responsible adults."

Alex and I have been doing a vegetarian week. We ran out of meat, and then just never bought any more, so that resulted in us being vegetarian. It's actually been kind of fun. We've had some great meals like vegetable lasagna, black bean and corn stew, and tofu thai curry. Alex actually told me last night that he's decided he's not vegetarian, he's Mormon (i.e. eat meat sparingly...). We're going on 8 days and counting.

On Labor day we went to an arts and crafts show in Lancaster. Alex actually saw a few ceramicists that he was impressed by. I loved looking at the photography and getting ideas for how I can improve my own photography. In the end we commented on how nice it will be when we have a lot of money and can afford to buy things that we find at arts and crafts shows. There are some amazingly talented people out there and it's nice to appreciate their work.

Restaurant Week is coming up in Philly, and we're pretty excited. We haven't had a chance to try very many restaurants downtown, so this will be an adventure. I'm thinking of making a reservation for every night. We'll see if I actually do! There's nothing like trying good food at discounted prices...