Moving Post!

Dear fantabulous readers:

I apologize for my lack of posting (again). This post is to let you know that I have many things in the works and that I have moved my blog to another site. I have loved this site (Blogger) very much, but I wanted to try a different site that will allow me to customize the blog a little more. Please find the new website here: http://lindseystrain.wordpress.com

Everything has been moved to that site, including all past posts and comments. Please continue to follow me, as I plan to write about things again! I appreciate all your support and look forward to your continued reading at the new site! AGAIN: http://lindseystrain.wordpress.com/

Thanks! 

Class starts up again tomorrow. I swear, I just finished my last torture class and I'm already heading back into the fray. All sarcastic remarks aside, I do really like what I'm learning. Yes, I am paranoid as hell, but I really like this stuff.
Classes for this semester include: Arms Control Theory and Practice; and International Terrorism.
With classes back on the schedule, you should not expect to see much from me on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, but I'll try to post at least 3 - 4 times a week.

Speaking of international, big news! I'm going to France with J*Rock! JR is super cool and invited me along (I imagine she will regret it) and I've never been outside the states so I'm super pumped to go! I'm going to make sure I get a stamp in my passport, oh boy. We'll be visiting the south of France, in Nice. Then, somehow, we plan to get to Paris to see a bit before we ride a plane back to DC. I'm excited for this trip and pumped about the chance to go.
FRANCE!!!!

Also exciting, my mom will be here in two days! Maybe we can do some collaborative posts while she is here. I will take lots of pictures of the stuff we're doing so that should be pretty hilarious. Also, while she is here, HH (Hot Husband) and I will celebrate our 2nd year of marriage! I plan to eat cake of some sort. Or ice cream. Something. SUGAR.

As I don't have a picture I want to share at this exact moment, please check out this clip of one of my new favorite comedians, Kyle Kinane. I saw him live in Seattle with Tom. We were mad for stand-up in high school so it's still one of my favorite things. This particular clip is about babies...priceless.

Little baby kebabs!

You and I

Ah, Lady Gaga. Please watch the video posted below before continuing with your reading!

Now that you have seen Gaga's newest video, I can talk about it. OK. With her other videos, I've been able to see a sort of symbolism and figure out what all her crazy antics could mean. But for this video of You and I...not so much. In fact, I had a conversation through Google Chat with Author and Gaga-mega fan, Tominda Adkins, in order to fully understand. Please see below:

Tominda: also, how hard did you laugh at gaga's crazy modern dance run?

 me: Pretty hard

 Tominda: AND HOW FUCKING AWESOME IS THAT VIDEO?

4:38 PM me: I spent a lot of time on that video going, "Yes, she has done it. I have no idea what's going on here. I don't even see symbolism. She wins."

 Tominda: what?

  well, beforehand, she did allude to a mermaid

  she also says it was about her walking back from manhattan to get her boyfriend back

4:39 PM so the way I saw it breaks down as follows

4:40 PM the guy in the barn is her boyfriend, and all the stuff he is doing to her (the water tank, the electroshit, etc) represents how lovers change us into different people

 me: aaaaaahhhhhhhh

 Tominda: better people, sometimes so much better that we leave them behind, realize our mistakes, and then go back for them, only to be killed by the ice cream truck man on the way there

 me: lmao.

4:41 PM Tominda: and in a more literal sense, he found her as a mermaid and they were so in love he tried to give her legs so she could walk around with him

  and all the stuff he was doing were all the phases she went through to make that complete

  so I guess it's about loving all the changes you go through and all sides of yourself, including your inner drunk Italian boy

4:42 PM and recognizing the people who changed you

  TA-DA!

  :D

 me: I'm going to post this shit to my blog that I am writing in again

 Tominda: yay!

  i win.

 me: WINS.

 Tominda: and omfg how HOT is she as a dude????

  so cuuuuuute!!!

4:43 PM me: hilarious

4:44 PM I want someone to do that to me.

  to see what I would look like as a dude

 Tominda: you'd be frickin cute

  imo (In my opinion)

 me: beat the ladies away

 Tominda: I don't think I could pull it off

 me: your boobs are too big.

:D This is what passes for conversation between my best friend of 14 years and myself. We are so awesome it hurts. LOOK WHAT I HAVE. 

Indeed, it is a JESSE CANNON TOUR SHIRT AND YOU CAN BUY THEM HERE. CLICK IT. YOU WANT TO. 

 
 The Sexodus Tour Shirt! Support Vessel!


 

 

 

And if you'd like to see more things that Tominda does, please check out her blog! Also, I'd like to add a shameless plug for Work Friend Josh, who has started his own blog that is way better organized than mine and much more intellectual and cool. The nerd.

The House that George Lived In

In July, during the time when it was hellacious hot and I forgot to blog, I went with the Husband to Mount Vernon, which was George Washington's home. Mount Vernon is right on the Potomac River and is a large plantation style place. HH and I rode on a boat from Alexandria to Mount Vernon, which was really enjoyable. We toured the house and grounds and got to see a few neat demonstrations.

View from the Bowling Green

The Front

The back, which faces the Potomac River. 

"Mount Vernon was home to George Washington for more than 45 years. First known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, the Estate was originally granted to Washington's great grandfather John Washington in 1674.  George Washington inherited the property upon the death of his brother Lawrence's widow in 1761.

  Over the years, Washington enlarged the residence and built up the property from 2,000 to nearly 8,000 acres. He divided the acreage into five working farms, including the Mansion House Farm, where he lived with his family. At the Mansion House Farm, Washington sought to create a landscape combining beauty and functionality in a serenely harmonious setting.
  When Washington inherited the estate, the farmhouse that we now call "the Mansion" consisted of four rooms and a central passage on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. The process of enlarging and improving the house began in the years before Washington's marriage in 1759, when he raised the structure from one-and-a-half  to two-and-a-half stories and extensively redecorated the interior. The north and south wings of the house were begun just before the start of the Revolutionary War. The very last room, the Large Dining Room, was completed after the war's end.

  In the meantime, Washington also transformed the Mansion's modest frame exterior, using a process called "rustication." This meant replacing the original plain wooden siding with bevel-edged pine blocks that had been coated with a mixture of paint and sand to give the appearance of stone.
Further, Washington added a stunning two-story porch, or "piazza," overlooking the Potomac.  Here family and guests would gather in warm weather to enjoy the breeze off the river.

View from the house, looking out over the Potomac River

  In designing his estate, Washington organized the outbuildings, lanes, and gardens in a way that reflects both the practical and aesthetic sides of his nature. From the north to the south are situated the outbuildings, or "dependencies," where the work of the plantation took place. Along the east-west axis are the gardens and pleasure grounds. The work area, although located very near the Mansion, was designed so it would not intrude upon the property's scenic beauty.
Today the Mansion has been restored to its appearance in 1799, the last year of Washington's life." (From: The Mount Vernon Website )

While we toured the grounds, we got to see a demonstration by calverymen and by infantrymen.

Calvery dudes showing off their skills.

Infantry men showing off their skills.

Firing demonstration! See below for the video.

George and Martha Washington's Resting place

 Also, it was really neat to see the graves of George and Martha Washington; they're buried on the plantation.

Front of the tomb

The tomb, with the hordes of other people.

They still keep farm life there, as well as grow gardens, and you can tour other parts of the plantation such as the slave houses and functioning hay barn.

Hay barn! They make bread there.

Some of the crops they grow, and some sheep.

It was really neat! I'm planning of visiting Jefferson's plantation this month with my momma, so I'll have more picture then. Please check out the videos below to see the cannon demonstrations they did while we were there!

Blasphemy Cookies: A Picture Diary

It should be well known by now that I love sweet foods. However, they are not the most conducive foods to ingest if one wants to lose weight. It should also be well known that I love the cookbook Cooking Light. Totally helpful and conducive to losing weight. I happened upon a cookie recipe in there, so I thought I would give it a try, but not before telling my glorious friend J*Rock that I would be conducting the experiment. J*Rock shares my love of sweet things, but did not embrace the idea of "low-calorie cookies". Thus, the name Blasphemy Cookies was born.

Tonight, I have conducted the experiment and documented the journey. Blasphemy Cookies! Onward!

  I want cookies! Lots of cookies! I don't want to be a humongoid when I eat a bunch of cookies. What to do? Make Blasphemy Cookies, of course! But will they taste good? What goes into them?

Seriously, this is what goes into these cookies? Flour, apple sauce, and brown sugar? That's about it...oh I smell a disaster.

 

 

Chocolate Chip Blasphemy Cookie

Well, here are the cookies. They look pretty normal. Like a cookie, really. They smell pretty awesome.

The first tentative bite! 

Surprisingly delicious! Blasphemy Cookie results: NOM. You can find recipe from Cooking Light below, I'm going to go have another cookie!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Blasphemy Cookies) Cooking Light pg. 188
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.
3. Spoon applesauce into a fine sieve over a bowl; let stand 15 minutes. Discard liquid. Scrape drained applesauce into a large bowl. Add sugar and butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in vanilla and egg. Add flour mixture, beat at low speed until well blinded. Fold in chips.
4. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2-3 minutes or until firm. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks. Yield: 3 dozen
Calories: 78 (per cookie)
Nom Rating: 4 NOMS!

In other news: I have tons of things to post and I'm working on getting a schedule worked out for myself so that I will not drop off the face of the blogging universe anymore. Thanks for sticking with me, you'll see me again soon!
Thanks!

A Month, You Say?

I would like to make a list of excuses right here, for your enjoyment, for why I have not been blogging. Are you ready for this? It's a seriously good list of excuses. I mean, I'm not sure you'll ever come back, because the excuses are so good and there is just no reason to expect I could possibly continue a blog with excuses like these. Yeah.

1. I went on a trip to Seattle! I watched my adorable cousin graduate from high school, not to mention spend time with the rest of the unforgettable Kohout family. Also, there was time lavished upon one Tominda Adkins, writer of Vessel. (I have read segments of her upcoming second installment; I can't wait, I can't wait, I must book pimp.) Exploits from Seattle feature: foods from every ethnicity, grandparents, Tom Shoes, coffee, trains, planes, graduations, new friends, cupcakes, car rides, scheduling debacles, a gay bar, and a tattoo. (Yeah, I have one of those now.)
2. As soon as I returned, more family time! The in-laws! Cheesecake Factory, cooking, movies and madness!
3. Fantastic excuse: work is hard. I had to remember how to do it and was tired by the end of the day.
4. Getting back on track with exercising and reading for my summer reading course. I have been cramming information about jihadists into my mind and getting ready for a 5K this weekend, July 2.
5. The pool opened at our apartment complex. Enough said.
6. I went to an Owl City concert. Check out the video I took of my favorite song! The song you hear playing is also the song that plays when Tominda calls my phone.

 
Those are my best excuses. However, the good news is I have all sorts of great things to write about now that I have the time and inclination to do so. I have recipes, stories, pictures, and videos to post. Also, I think I need to do a creep of DC and look for more historical goodies to share with everyone.

So, here are some posts you should look forward to in the upcoming days:
- Tattoos and how they hurt like hell to get
- Concerts and various experiences at them
- Why 5ks are both awesome and awful
- Planes and babies and how they do not mix well
- FOOD blogging!
- Thoughts on terrorism (oh, you big nerd)
- Ramblings about weight loss and exercise
- Why the dentist is the worst place to visit
- Things I learned in a gay bar
- Whatever other ramblings I can think of

I leave you with this:

I have this game and I'm gonna go play it. YEEEEEEEEAAH! I'm 12.

Irish in Old Town

On my way to get an ice cream treat with HH in Old Town today, I came upon a bunch of Irish dancers practicing in the open. I took a video of it. Please excuse the moments when I forget to follow the dancers with the camera because I'm watching them with my eyes. It was pretty neat!

However, it is sideways and I don't care to fix it. Enjoy that new crick in your neck!

Wednesday

I cooked today. It was about a two on the scale of five (not my fault, the recipe just wasn't that awesome). I was going to take a picture and at least share the results, but I'm so out of practice I forgot. Since it wasn't that delicious, I'm not sure it's much of a loss.

Instead, let's look at this pictures I took a while ago and failed to post. FAILED.

This is from a week ago, I think. It's not a very clear picture, but I remember I was walking around in Old Town Alexandria, late, with HH and some new friends. We heard music and when we investigated, found this gentleman playing the water glasses. Yes, that reflection on the table there are glasses filled with water. Apparently, Sandra Bullock (in Miss Congeniality) was not the only one who could do this. Although, he does not much resemble Ms. Bullock.

Sometime before the picture above, or maybe it was after, I went with J*Rock and HH for some Vietnamese Pho. Pho is delicious. I can remember going to get pho when I was younger and visiting Seattle. I was silly then and didn't like it. I have since grown up and found it delicious.  Cilantro, onions, noodles, broth and thinly sliced meat. OM NOM.

 

 

Pho!

I kept saying dumb things to JR, such as, "I'm pho it!" (As opposed to: "I'm for it!") I really think I could make a t-shirt from it. I'm sure the Vietnamese community would appreciate it.

POWER TOOLS.

Lastly, we have this: A crooked painting. Not just any painting. My grandmother painted this for me, based on a picture I took from a summer vacation to Myrtle Beach. As you can see, this is a giant painting. Also as you can see, it's crooked. There was only one hanger in the back; it needed at least two. I found this amusing and sent this picture of a picture to my grandmother. Thankfully, she had another hook for the back and the painting now hangs on the wall, mostly straight. (I don't believe in levels, I just slap stuff on walls.)

Countdown to Seattle: 5 days (We do not count today and the day we leave. That is silly.)

It's Alive!

Let us skip my pithy excuses and get to the good stuff: Concerts I will be attending this summer!

First! Owl City!

Second! The Goo Goo Dolls!

Third! The Doobie Brothers!

This summer is going to be awesome! In just a few days, I will make a trek to Seattle where I will stay with author extraordinaire, Tominda Adkins, and see my cousin graduate from high school. After that, HH's parents will be staying with us. I'll be seeing Owl City during that time with the fantabulous J*Rock and another friend. HH and I will see the Goo Goo Dolls in June, and my mom is coming to see the Doobie Brothers with me in August. I need a concert for July, just to round everything out.

Also, got an iPhone. I'm trying to figure out how to do photo sharing from the phone to here. Updates soon!

Every Other Day?

Maybe I should shoot for posts every other day.

Ah, anyway, here is a song I wish to share for today!

Mumford and Sons! They have a fascinating and rather beautiful sound, I think. Please enjoy!
Also: 

That is a french bulldog. Best picture ever.

Police Week

On the 12th of May, I walked up the metro stop at Judiciary Square and into a remembrance week for fallen police officers. Last week was National Police Week: "In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, DC to participate in a number of planned events which honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice."

The week draws between 25,000 - 40,000 attendees. It was rather quiet when I was up there, you should recognize the pictures from the National Police Memorial. That post is right here. It was a very neat living memorial for all the officers who have given their lives during their service. I got a little teary-eyed; it's very sad.

Police week this year had several different memorials, a pipe and fife competition, and a 5K, among other things. Here is a link to the National Police Week website. There you can find a roll call of officers lost and see the schedule. 

Also, I went camping this weekend. I will give you a preview of the pictures you will see tomorrow!

Avril

What kind of name is Avril? According to the internets, it might mean "April". So, the young rock/pop(?) star, Avril Lavigne, could be April Lavinge, had she lived in the states and not been a crazy Canadian. Avril does sound cooler.

Anyway, I have this song stuck in my head, so I must share.

Lordy!

That's a dumb title, but it's the first thing that came to my mind. You'll have to forgive the lack of updates lately, sometimes the world just comes up and bites my ass. My natural inclination, when my ass is being bit, is to find a book that requires next to no thought and only sinful enjoyment, and speed read it. I guess its my defense mechanism, or perhaps I have an addictive personality to books and sweet things. Ah, what a great way to start back Lindsey, by psycho-analyzing yourself. Fantastic.
We really must get out more often.  (Where have I been? Procrastinating with school, moping about work and a disturbing skin condition, and then getting over it.)
And with no apparent segue, running!

You may have noticed from the ticker on my sidebar there, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has passed us! I went home, the drive was no worse than usual and I may have maintained a slightly illegal speed the entire time, which made it better. It was super fantastic to see my mom in person. In fact, I'm going to take a moment to wax lyrical about how great it was. Especially because Mother's Day coincided with the race (or vice versa). About six years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am pretty sure that I went into some sort of denial because I was not home as much as I should have been for her chemo treatments. I don't think Mom realized it either, because she was never upset and just bulled through everything that was required. She may have been in denial too. I'm not sure she ever cried about it (at that moment) and she was just...Lois. She went, she chemo-ed, and she was done. And she's been in remission for at least six (or is it seven?) years now. It strikes me now, so much later, that I could have lost her then. But everything went well, as far as breast cancer goes. But thinking about it now, with some perspective, I'm just so incredibly thankful that she had the surgeon and the team that she did and that she never stopped to think that she wouldn't be fine. Because she didn't, I never did either. She would be fine. And she is fine. So, as each year passes, it means a little more to me. This year, I did the training and the race, and Mom helped me raise money. In total, I/Mom raised 700.00 for breast cancer research and early detection. That was an awesome feeling. My friend Jeremy agreed to run the race with me with absolutely no prompting. Being part of something so large and having my mom there to see it too: super, amazing, awesome.

Highlights of the race:
1. Neon Pink sweatbands for myself and my running buddy, Jeremy.

This is after the race. You will notice Jeremy looks fresh as a daisy, I am ready to die. Something wrong with that boy.

2. My mom being there to take pictures and generally be awesome.

She's shrinking. I find that hilarious.

3. The crowd of survivors that grows every year!

4. The start of the race with all those people around you who are strangely HAPPY to be doing this on a freezing spring morning.

You can see mine and Jeremy's hot pink bands as we go by! I noticed Mom at the last second, as you can see.

5. The end of the race, where Jer and I sprinted to the finish line. Our total time was 33:34, with an overall pace time of 10:45. That's pretty excellent for me.

You can see me, because I'm the only one with a VA abbreviation!

Jeremy, "Oh, what a lovely day." Lindsey, "OHMYGAWD."

6. Cake and a VIP Tent(for money raised)! (I did not have any cake and totally missed the VIP tent until it was done.) 

7. Having Mother's Day the very next day!

I always bring her flowers. There were other things, but these were pretty!

All in all, I must say, it was a personal victory!

Videos!

Today I would like to share two things!

First, a video from three or four days ago when hail bombarded my windows. These window/doors lead to my balcony, which is covered. The hail flew up under the awning part and slammed into my windows, making me believe that the hail might crack the glass. You can tell from my narration.

The other thing I want to share is a movie trailer. My favorite book series (heck, mine and everyone else's!) is reaching the end of the movie series. Indeed, I speak of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2. It's going to be epic. I know I will be joined by the faithful J*Rock for this moving showing. I only wish I would be in Washington to see it as well. Oh, didn't I mention? Yeah, going to Seattle for my cousin's graduation! Tominda and I shall be reunited again! Huzzah!

But anyway, Harry Potter. *SQUEAL.*

I'm incredibly excited by the entire thing. 

And another thing! I've rediscovered a stand-up comedian that I used to watch. Tominda and I would spend Friday evenings watching Friday Night Stand-Up on Comedy Central. We were cool.
Here is Jeremy Hotz! He did this one portion that was about coffee grounds and the feminine product, Always. I will find it again someday. This one is particularly pertinent, as I yearn for a dog.

Laugh, my pretties, laugh!

There will be a post tomorrow! I promise!

LET THERE BE CAKE!!!

I made a cake today! I love to bake but I don't very often, because I love to eat what I bake. This is counterproductive. What I need to do, is adopt several fully grown men and bake for them. They can come over on Sundays and I'll have baked goods for them to take home. Although they are adopted, remember, they are full grown and already take care of themselves. I just supply the baked goods and tell them to get a haircut. Then they go away. This seems like the perfect set-up to me.

CAKE!

Lemon-Poppy Seed Cakefrom Cooking Light Complete Cookbook pg. 164

Cooking Spray
1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 large egg white
1 large egg
1 tbl. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbl. poppy seeds
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Coat an 8x4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 teaspoon flour.
3. Beat granulated sugar and butter with a miser at medium speed until well blended (about 4 minutes). Add egg whites and egg, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon rind and vanilla. Lightly spoon 1 2/3 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, begninning and ending with flour mixture.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a wooden pick insterted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Poke holes in the top of cake using a wooden skewer. Combine powerdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; brush over warm cake. Cool completely.
Yield: 12 pieces
Calories: 226
NOM rating: 4 out of 5

This is what I was doing when I should've been finishing some homework for Monday. Or even writing that ten page paper that is due on Tuesday that I haven't started yet. Procrastination, thy name is Lindsey. What can I say? The lure of cake was mightier than the lure of knowledge. I am destined to be a happy, fat, old lady who eats cheese and cake at every meal. I will have many dogs. And a pony, for they please me.

I think it's important for me to note that when I cook, I try my hardest to use every single kitchen utensil I own in the process. Somehow, I am sure this makes the cake/food that much more delicious. But here, I took a picture of the destruction. Actually, two pictures, because the mess takes up both of my kitchen counters. I'm not sure where I got this particular talent, I've never seen either of my grandmothers or my mother create such destruction. I must get it from my Dad. (Haha, I have never seen my dad bake.) Perhaps from my Aunt Lorna

DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!!!

BUT THERE WILL BE CAKE!

.

 I will be in late to work tomorrow, I have a doctor appointment, so I left this note for those of my co-workers who must know where I am and don't think to check my public calendar.