Hello people, and welcome to 2013. I hope none of you were banking on the Mayan calendar and spent all your money before Christmas.

I got hired on at Wells Fargo in the beginning of December, so you are looking at a full-time employee right now! No more food service for this girl–although honestly, my first managers taught me how to be the best worker out there, and I am super grateful for the work ethic that I learned when I was young. It’s hard to find these days.

So, Pinterest has taken over my life. And for the better, I’d like to think! This weekend has been dedicated to trying new things from the website, which I’m sure I will share with you later. But in the meantime, here are some of the recipes and products that have worked for me:

Homemade Febreze: Honestly, I just finished a bottle of Febreze this week, and tried this gem of a concoction…and it seriously smells just as good as the $5-$7 bottles people buy at the store. 1/8 c fabric softener, 2 TBSP baking soda, fill the bottle with hot water and shake it up. Genius.

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni:
Full recipe here. I am a HUGE pasta lover. I mean, I’ve probably tried about every pasta out there, and honestly, the peas mixed in is what really did it for me. True story. It’s not that spicy–I added a little more red pepper at the end. So good.

Mini Breakfast Treats: I have a mini muffin tin that fits 12, and these were the first things I made in it. I whisked together 4 eggs and a handful of shredded cheese, then grabbed 6 strips of bacon and split them in half. Circle the halves of bacon to outline each cupcake setting and then pour in the egg/cheese mixture, about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Don’t forget to spray cooking oil on the tin–that way the treats just pop right out. It’s amazing what people think of, and they’re so cute and little!

Organizing Tank Tops: This. This right here, people. I have so many clothes and not-so-much drawer space. Brilliant.

Ranch Pork Chops: I’ve been trying to branch out of my chicken and beef eating, but found it hard to get a pork recipe that isn’t too dry. This doesn’t come with a full recipe so here is what I did: Thaw 4 pork chops. Pour about a cup of ranch into a bowl. Get one packet of dry Italian seasoning and mix with bread crumbs (I used 2 slices of bread and crumbled them up) and about a TSP of garlic salt and parmesan, mix into separate bowl. Dip thawed chops into ranch, then roll into crumb mixture. Cook at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Pretty good, for pork that isn’t bacon.

Easy weeknight meal for 4 (or 2, if the person eating with you is a 240-lb male who apparently does not eat all day):
I didn’t use as much butter as shown in the photo…just use a thin layer of vegetable oil on the bottom of the pan and maybe half a stick of butter cut thinly over the top so the food doesn’t burn. It helps if you cover it with foil.

No more dryer sheets: Plus, my apartment smells so fresh and clean. Coming from OCD over here, this is where it’s at.

Pizza Bread: I cooked this on a snow day this year, because I didn’t want to turn up my heat so I used the oven French bread, pizza sauce, italian sausage, mushrooms, black olives and mozzarella cheese on top. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the cheese is all melted. Obviously you can use whatever toppings you want. Easy-peasy.

Re-boot your towels: After awhile, my towels started smelling funky and I was like “Uhhh, this is NOT how I smell when I get out of the shower,” because obviously I wash my towels about as much as I wash my clothes. This works for refreshing them so they can do their job. Do it.

Baking Bacon! I don’t know why I did not think of this or hear about this before…I cook about 8 strips of bacon every other week because I have those healthier turkey/bacon wraps (see below) for lunch at my desk. I absolutely HATE cooking bacon on the stove. I’m always getting splattered with the grease-awfulness. This is perfect. Then I just let cool and split into bite-sized pieces and put it in a container=bacon for the next 2 weeks.

Turkey/bacon Wraps: Start with a wrap (I use La Tortilla Factory’s Smart & Delicious Soft Wraps). Put about a TBSP of Ranch on it (more or less depending on what you like…I’m not a huge Ranch person so that’s a perfect amount for me), spread it around the wrap. Add turkey, bacon pieces, lettuce, tomato and anything else you want. I eat these at least 3 days a week. Cheap and healthy and really quick.

Kitchen/bathroom floor cleaner: I’ve been doing versions of this since I was little because, well, my mother and I are weird about cleaning. If you’re like me and don’t like the vinegar smell leftover, I finish off with a dab of Pine-Sol on a rag and wipe everything down. For the clean freak in you.

Baked carrot fries: These are a super yummy treat, especially if you don’t get enough veggies in your diet.

Homemade Vick’s Shower Disks: I am almost constantly congested around this time of year, especially when the weather starts messing with me–warmer one day, back to freezing the next. This is a miracle. Make sure you use muffin liners; nobody wants lavender-tasting cupcakes/muffins later; oil doesn’t wash off as well!

There you are. I’m posting some of these for me to use again later because I love them *that* much, plus to be honest my Pinterest boards are getting ridiculously large. Feel free to use these and let me know what you think!

Herrooooooo there!

Hokay. Here we go on updates. This summer went So. Fast. Not having school makes time disappear–enjoy it while it lasts, young’uns.

After the Yankees game the main thing was one of my Bestie’s weddings! It was incredibly beautiful and a whirlwind of fun. Of course, when we’re in Cedar Falls…that’s what happens. Here are some photos:

The Spectacular Bride

The Groom…at the reception

One of the best parts? We got the baby while the happy couple went on their honeymoon!

I’m so happy for these guys…they’ve already had some bumps in the road with unnecessary health issues and they’ve gotten through it better than a couple who had been married for 50 years would! So proud of them

Her wedding was in June and I started my temp job in July–right after the 4th. I had an interview with Ellen Carlson from Aerotek and she got me a job practically immediately at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in West Des Moines…aka those huge offices by Jordan Creek. My official position is a Loan Servicing Specialist, which basically means I get loans where the properties have been foreclosed on and I get to go through documents and discover when the money stopped/stops coming in from that property and who gets blamed for it if Wells Fargo is losing money. It’s a lot of sitting at the computer and reading and emailing attorneys, but I like it a lot. The first week was horrific for my back. Apparently when your body is used to standing and walking around all day and then you suddenly just sit for 8 straight hours, you’re not gonna have a good time. After 90 days as a temp, the rule is that you can get hired on full time and I just had an interview to get the same job through Wells Fargo…which would be tits. Benefits and getting paid more? I could handle a real big-kid job feerrrr surrreee. Gangnam style?

As usual, I had to meet up with the besties from CF a couple of times for our lovely adventures. They came down to DSM for a bar crawl that was completely unnecessary (as usual)…but it was for cancer. We DRANK…to cure cancer, people. That’s the dream.

Then we went up there for our annual Arch Allies concert with the old Subway crew. I miss these guys soooooo much.

My Bestie Bestie (that means the best of all, dur) is getting married in less than a month? How did this happen??? I’m excited for her of course, but jeez has time gone fast since they got engaged. I’m the maid of honor (Don’t even ask about the speech; I’m terrified of public speaking. But I’ll do it for you, obvi.) and the wedding is December 1st and yayy!

Bridal shower then limo for her 1st bachelorette party? Yes please.

There’s a longer update for you stalkers out there. Love.

I’m alive! I am so very sorry that I have not been around to update you on my thrilling adventures. But that will all change soon.

Changes…I’ve been working temp through Aerotek at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage since July 9th. I had an interview for full-time; my first big kid job, yay! I quit Subway and Family Video; gasp! It feels so good to not work in food/customer service. Am I weird for liking sitting at a desk for 8 straight hours? Most likely.

Hmm, not much else. Still living in Adel for now, until I get full time/find a cheap apartment nearer to Wells Fargo/Jordan Creek. Because gas is high, yo.

Obama is president for another 4 years.

That’s all for the update post. Sorry again! I will have something witty and long soon!

Peace and love, kids.

It’s happened, folks: I finally went to a Yankees game! And saw Derek Jeter. Check it off the bucket list. If you wanna know how many great things happened, feel free to watch the recap.

I didn’t take any photos of myself, but I looked like a Yankee threw up on me: NY earrings, Jeter bedazzled tank top, NY cap, etc. Classy-like. I did get a photo of the people who took me, though:

Yup, that’s my family. Pretty excited to be at a baseball game. And I love them for going to it even though they don’t care about the Yankees. It’s a flaw that I have to accept.

Side note: If anyone wants to buy me tickets to a game in New York, I would not oppose in any way. My birthday’s in September. Boom.

Dear God, has it been two MONTHS since I’ve posted something? I’m so sorry, Ten People Who Read This. But alas, I have found a topic to discuss with you.

Facebook is hilariously stupid. So much so lately, that every time I log on I contemplate deleting it. Do YOU know why you have a profile? Because I don’t anymore.

I used to reassure myself that I would one day have to get into contact with my second cousin or high school graduate or college acquaintance, and HOW ELSE would I be able to find them??
All right, now look at your Facebook wall. If it’s anything like mine, it’s littered with layer upon layer of conversations between people you talk to every day. Why is this necessary?

Facebook is all about the passive aggressive-ness in the world. Now, I’m not one to bash passive-aggression (Is that the right term? Probably not.), because I thrive on it. On the other hand, if you get SO upset when someone comments on a typing error on your status that you remove the status AND delete that person as a friend, you may have some new issues to unravel. Oh wait, was that passive aggressive, right there? Damn.

Also, the layout changes once every two weeks anyway. I hate you, Mark Zuckerberg. And your timeline.

Last but certainly not least: The Social Network was just terrible. I don’t care what the rest of the world says; I hated that movie. It was long and boring and we already knew how much of an ass Zuckerberg was anyway. (I’d put a blurb in about how Michael Cera>Jesse Eisenberg…but that would be Brittney talking. I adore Zombieland, so I can’t hate Jesse.)

All in all, it’s pretty obvious that we all hate Facebook. Except for you people who are “SOOO happy XOXO.” And we all know you’re not, really. PS, newly-engaged/married/parental units? If I never comment on anything, it’s probably because I removed you from my mini-feed. If you could tone it down on the baby photos, The World would appreciate it.

But I’m sure I’ll just bitch about it some more and keep my profile live, because I need SOMETHING to stare at when I’m waiting awkwardly at places because I’m always 15 minutes early.

Speaking of, I have work to get to. Til next time!