The Waiting...

The phone call started like this:

"This is ____ from ____hospital.  Is this a good time to talk? We got your results back..." 

You never get a phone call from the hospital when it's good news.  

Because I tend to have hypochondriac tendencies, I could feel my anxiety level rise and tears start to well up as I asked questions about the possibilities of what this could mean while trying to hide the fear in my voice.  

Is it cancer I kept thinking.  I'm too young.  Really God, now?

It's probably nothing--but I'm meeting with a doctor this Friday for a follow up exam and I'm nervous.

Social Media + Real Life

Every time I read about blogger friends meeting up in person I smile...it's so fun how social media can bring people together even though it seems like the internet tends to isolate us more and more from real life encounters. 

Are any of you on Twitter?  I never really utilized it much until I started to work for LivingSocial.  I find myself "tweeting" now quite often and was stoked to find out one of the premier hotels in Tacoma, Hotel Murano, was hosting a local "TweetUp."  I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I thought it sounded like a fun way to meet a bunch of local people I was following on Twitter.  It's a little strange meeting people in real life that you follow online--but it seriously was SO much fun--and guess what, I won a facial from the hotel's spa! 

Are you on Twitter?  If so, follow me!  @discoverystreet

Wanting What We Can't Have

I have hilarious memories of an old roommate and I living together in LA doing our hair. She had super curly, thick hair.  I have super straight, fine, thin hair.  We stood in the bathroom with a ridiculous amount of hair product; her with a straitening iron; painstakingly trying to smooth out her curls and me, with velcro rollers, curling irons and a fine tooth comb teasing the heck out of it trying to get any amounts of volume that might hold for more than 10 minutes. 

I'm overdue for a haircut and have been think of ways to keep the length but get a little more oomph out of it.  I know I'm never going to have big, thick, curly hair (Taylor Swift, I envy you).  Perhaps a cross between these images?

How He Told Me

After reading yesterday's post, I thought it would be interesting to share how Andy told me he was a recovering alcoholic.  It definitely was not planned...

It was our first date.

After communicating on eHarmony for a few weeks we met up at a Thai restaurant in Seattle.  After meeting and knowing each other for approximately one minute this is what happened:

Andy:  (Takes a sip of his drink which was supposed to be a tonic water--he looks at me with confusion and says)  Will you taste this?  Does it taste like there is alcohol in this?

Me:  (Takes a sip.)  Yep...there is definitely alcohol in that.

Andy: (A bit dumbfounded and holding back frustration)  Um...well...this isn't typically first date conversation, but I'm an alcoholic and I haven't had a drink in almost 5 years.

Me:  (Dumbfounded and a little freaked out) Oh! Wow...um...OK...well, ask me anything...I'll tell you anything!

You can imagine that all the taboo topics one never discusses on a first date was discussed.  As hard as this was for me to hear, it opened the floodgates to really vulnerable, awesome conversation.  Six hours later he walked me to my car.

The rest as they say, is history.

My First AA Meeting

Hi, My name is Ruthy, and I'm the wife of an alcoholic.

It could have been a church service; or perhaps a college classroom.  There were about 100 people there....most I would guess between the ages of 18 and 30.  They were gorgeous, hipster girls sitting next to preppy JCrew looking guys, sitting next to tattooed, pierced gals, sitting next to your average, every day Joe's.  One of the girls who couldn't have been older than 21 announced she was 2 days sober.  My heart broke and at the same time was lifted up by her announcement. 
10 days, 30 days, 5 months, 9 years...milestones of sobriety were announced and celebrated. 

As of today, Andy is 5 years 11 months  and 13 days sober.  Praise God. 

What The Weekend Holds

A lot of this

A bit of that

A few bites of this

A night of this

and catching up on this

What are you doing this weekend?

Blog Love and Inspiration

I was inspired to put this post together by Stephanie of Metropolitan Momma.  I can't quite recall how I stumbled across her blog...and to be honest, it is the only "mom" blog I follow regularly.  Her writing is sincere and honest, and currently, her family is about to embark on a journey of leaving everything behind, and traveling the US with one mission...to give every day. 

She wrote a post titled, "You affect me,"  which in turn affected me to share with you the top 10 people in the blogesphere who's  posts leave me with a smile, encouraged, or laughing out loud.  So if you're looking for some new blogs to check out (Kerry)...I hope this helps. 

Andy  (My hubby just started blogging!). 

Alice

Angie

Angie

Carrie

Cori

Dawn

Jes

Kerry

Stephanie

Thanks for being a part of my daily life!

*And for a completely unrelated shameless plug, have you checked out the national deal today on LivingSocial?  It's amazing! Click here.

Vegetarian Jap Chae

Whenever my mother cooks she never follows a recipe...she simply eyeballs things which is pretty much how I cook.  Unfortunately when I want to cook Korean food that I grew up with, my mother is no help--she can't share her recipes because she's never measured anything! This is why I love this foodie blog: The Savory Sweet Life.  Alice is Korean and has amazing Korean (as well as every other genre) recipes.

Jap Chae is a popular Korean dish that my husband has been asking me to make for awhile now.  The unique thing about Jap Chae is the noodles are made out of sweet potatoes...so if you're allergic to gluten or wheat this is a nice substitute.

 This recipe is Alice's....the only thing I changed was omitting the red peppers. 

 Vegetarian Jap Chae 

Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free if you use gluten-free soy sauce (San-J makes one)
Serves 2-3 as a main dish
Serves 4-6 as a side dish

• 1 bundle of potato starch cellophane noodles called dangmyeon (most packages contain 2-3 bundles and can be purchased at any Korean grocery store or most Asian markets)
• 1/2 bunch of fresh spinach
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, julienned
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into match sticks
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
• 8-10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 2 stalks green onions, sliced in 1.5” slices (green parts only)
• ½ block of firm tofu, cut into small rectangle pieces (approx. 1.5”x1”x.25”)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Olive oil or Canola oil  (amounts will vary, please see directions)
• soy sauce  (amounts will vary, please  see directions)
• sesame oil (amounts will vary, please see directions)
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Boil one bundle of noodles for 5 minutes until softened and al dente in texture.  Drain the noodles and do not rinse.  Add noodles to a large mixing bowl and cut them three times with kitchen shears.
2. Add 2 tablespoons (each) of soy sauce and sesame seed oil.  Toss noodles until sauce is evenly distributed and set aside.  Using the same pot as the noodles, add enough water to boil spinach for 1 minute.  Remove spinach from water and allow to cool just enough to squeeze as much water out as possible.  Cut spinach in thirds, and massage it while seasoning with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Add spinach to the large noodle filled bowl.
3. Heat a wok or large frying pan on high.  Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and cook sliced onions for 2 minutes stirring them as they start to turn translucent.  Season with a 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Add onions to the large bowl of noodles.  Repeat the same process as the onions except reduce cooking times to 30 seconds for the carrots, 2 minutes for the bell red pepper, 1 minute for the shiitake mushrooms, and 10 seconds for the green onions.  Fry tofu squares for 1 minute per side – but do not add tofu to the large bowl of noodles.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 2 tablespoons of sugar, and ½ teaspoon of ground pepper to the large noodle bowl and toss everything until well mixed.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the hot wok and add minced garlic.  Allow garlic to cook for a few seconds and add the entire bowl of mix noodles and vegetables to the wok/pan.  Stir-fry everything for 2-3 minutes and turn off heat.  Gently add tofu and transfer noodles to a large serving platter. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top.  Serve warm or cold.  Enjoy!

Pretty Please?

If you read my post last week, it's clear I'm not in any rush to have babies.  I am however, jonesing for a puppy.  Every time I see someone walking a dog, driving with a dog, or a commercial with a dog I turn to my husband with longing eyes.  I know it's not the smart thing to do right now (tiny apartment, super busy schedules, no yard, etc).  But I just can't help it.  How can you resist these little guys?

All images from here.

Ordinary

As I was folding laundry earlier today, for some strange reason I was struck with the thought, "this is married life;" but not in a bad way.  This is for the past few years what I have always wanted.  To go through the routine, ordinary parts of life--with a husband.  Andy and I had an amazing time leaving the US with no agenda, backpacking the globe, living life day by day not knowing what the next day might bring.  Yet, there is something comforting in routine...in the ordinary-ness of life that brings me so much peace. 

I'm not usually struck with so much emotion while folding laundry; but I couldn't help burying my face in one of Andy's t-shirts and being so thankful for answered prayer. 

Fuzzy Black & White

It started snowing last night and as I walked past my window I saw this.  

I rushed to grab my camera...the picture came out blurry but I thought it was too adorable not to share.

Happy Wednesday! 

You'll Never Go Back

Andy makes a killer salsa...it seriously is so good people tell him all the time he needs to sell it at the farmer's market.  Unfortunately I won't be sharing the recipe to his secret salsa (in case we do try to sell it in the future!) but I will share a super easy recipe of making your own tortilla chips.  Have you ever had home-made tortilla chips?  You just can't eat store bought after you make these...I'm not kidding. 

 1. Quarter corn tortillas.

 2.  Add tortillas to a pot of hot vegetable oil.

 3.  Fry until lightly browned. 

4.  Add Johnny's seasoning salt.

5.  Dip into your favorite salsa!

So easy and so good!

Something Is In The Water

Ten of my girlfriends are pregnant right now.  Ten!! (And a large number of my blog friends are too!).  So naturally the topic of babies is circulating--does that cause a tiny pang of desire to want one myself?  Um, NO.  Not yet.  Andy and I are still blissfully enjoying newlywed life (can we still call ourselves newlyweds...we're about a month away from our one year anniversary?!) 

I feel a bit vulnerable sharing this...but I've never had the desire to be pregnant.   I know I want children, but I'm perfectly content with adopting them; and I think it's a miracle I found a husband who feels the same way.  I'm not against having my own biological children (I think we'd have some cute babies!) I've just always had the desire to adopt. 

Anyone else feel this way?

Simple Deliciousness

I've been so busy with work that I rarely seem to cook dinner these days (to my husbands disappointment).  You could imagine his joy as he smelled bacon sizzling in the kitchen.  I found and uber easy recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, The Savory Sweet Life.  And seriously...I think this might be my new favorite pasta dish!

 You can find the recipe here. 

Words for 2011

I didn't make any resolutions, I did however think about some things in my life I want to improve/work on this year.  So I simply have two words for you 2011.  

PRAYER

&

POSITIVITY

I was gonna add the word "gym,"  but it just didn't flow...so I left that one out. 
How can it not be a great year if I'm focused on those two words?

What's your word/words for the year?

Crazy Dreams

I rarely remember my dreams...but I remember laughing as I woke up because in my dream I chopped off all my hair and dyed it bright red and put in blue contacts so I could pose as a co-worker to close a sale for her.  (She was afraid she was going to get kidnapped). 

Have you had any crazy dreams lately?

Hello January!

On New Year's Eve there were about 8 couples who got together for a low key evening; we realized around 10 minutes before midnight that Matt and Kelly (the couple who was hosting and were recently married) had leftover sparklers from their wedding...guess what we did?

I was just excited to bring in the new year kissing those lips!