The City of Oaks

So I got to The City of Oaks safe and sound, finally got all settled in, and now…. I am completely bored out of my mind.

 I do not start my new fabulous job for a-whole-nother week and I have absolutely nothing to do. As badly as I want to be that fearless and inspiring woman; going around turning the city upside down, I am not.

On my list of Raleigh things to do is:

-          Raleigh free yoga downtown

-          More museums (I already visited the NC Natural Science Museum, it was wonderful, and the best part is they are all free!)

-          Attend the North Carolina ballet

-          Start a running regime through all the beautiful greenways in this city

-          Get tan at my fab new pool

-          Get a new library card and Read!

Instead of doing all of these fabulous healthy and cultural things, I have successfully caught up on every TV series you could possibly imagine.

Camo man stayed with me for the first week and it was great. He helped me hang everything like the big man he is; I must say I am very proud of my new room. I started something I am very happy about and I think everyone should indulge in. I call it the “Love Board.” I am very big on inspiring quotes or pictures or anything that just makes life better. I used to put everything in my planner or another little book I have, but they have begun overflowing, so I bought a 2 x 3 board and am filling it with all things that make me smile. It is a fun little project and something I think all can enjoy.

It has really helped me through the long lonely days recently. I for some reason have lost any motivation to do things. It has made me realize I am much needier than I ever thought. I have had trouble spending so much time alone, but like a double edged sword, I have trouble going out and doing things alone. How am I supposed to meet people? I am not going to go to a bar or concert or some other fun thing alone. Maybe that is what being a Big Girl is all about. While I have found it hard, I know it will get better, and that I will be a better person because of it.

One thing I have been doing, instead of my list of exercising, is cooking. One of my favorite simple and quick recipes is a pasta salad I love, so I thought I would share it for all the other fabulous young people leaving their comfortable lives behind, searching for their big break.

Elle’s Pasta Salad

Ingredients

-          Garden pasta (I personally use the Garden Rotini pasta, but any kind of pasta is fine. I like the “garden” pastas because they come from vegetables and is not just carbs!)

-          Red Wine Vinaigrette

-          Feta Cheese

-          Tomatoes (I use little cherry tomatoes, I find them sweeter and easier to cut, but regular ones are fine too)

-          Garlic (ground or you can cut fresh garlic yourself)

Directions

-          Cook the pasta until soft and fluffy

-          When straining run cold water over it to help cool

-          Add Red Wine Vinaigrette first

-          Add feta, tomatoes and garlic

-          Refrigerate for at least half an hour

-     ENJOY! :)

(Note: with all ingredients you can add as much as you see fit, depending on what you like more. Personally I add more feta and less garlic. Just make sure you put enough Red Wine Vinaigrette that you taste it strongly when you first add it because once you refrigerate it the flavor will subside as the pasta soaks it up.)

So Colorful!!

My favorite part is that it stays good forever, you can refrigerate it for days and it will still taste as good as if you just made it! The perfect thing to take to work and eat on a break!

I guess that is all for now. I cannot wait to start my job next week and have some crazy chic story to tell!

I will leave you with a quote from the love board that I find suiting right now, and it is straight from the ultimate fashionista herself:

                “Maybe the past is like an anchor holding us back. Maybe you have to let go of who you were to become who you will be.” –Carrie Bradshaw

Love Always,

Elle

Editor's Note: Upon writing this, I had my first alone encounter with a Raleigh roach. It was absolutely terrifying. I may pass out from how much bug spray is all over my walls now.

Home is Where the Heart is...

So I am sitting in my father’s humble but cozy house just a short bike’s ride away from the world renowned Florida beaches. Every time I come here I wonder why I dare to leave. It always gives me a reality check.

My father lives with no telephone, no cable, no internet- not even a computer in the house (I am bootlegging the neighbors wifi with my laptop to post this). The only reason the man has a cell phone is because his company forced him to. Being here always makes me rethink what I want in life. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be some high profile, ridiculously successful CEO, walking around in my fabulously fashionable tweed skirt suits and stilettos with red heels, in the style of Louis the XIV himself. But then this other huge part of me wants something entirely opposite. There are so many different lives I want to live; how can I converge them all?

How fun would it be to live on the beach like this without a care in the world? Where a bike suffices for everything you could possibly need. But is that actually reality? Could I be successful and be able to live a life like this? Everyone here seems to be an old hippie burn-out. While I do believe I could take a lesson from the stoners in the matter of relaxation, I think having some care in life is necessary.

But I am finding myself questioning everything I am doing; moving across the country to where I know nothing and no one. I always knew this would be the hard part. But at the same time this is exactly what I have always wanted.

Leaving Tallahassee felt surreal. I was surprisingly unemotional saying goodbye to my friends. Maybe that is because I was so hung over from the celebratory night before I could feel no emotion.  I was feeling sad when I was close to my way out, until about 100 yards from the highway some ginger rear-ended me at a redlight! That overshadowed any other feelings I was having at the moment. What a way to go out in style.

I think, more than anything, right now I am feeling two major emotions.

Mostly, I am just anxious. While I enjoy home and will miss it, I do not enjoy driving around for a week with my entire life stuffed into my tiny little mustang. I also hate goodbyes. More than anything I just want to get to North Carolina and get settled in. But I do think then it will inevitably hit me and at some point, after I have hung all the pictures of my past life on the walls in my new city, I am going to stare and them and have a sob fest.

Secondly, I am terrified. I think I am more terrified of being alone than anything else. I am not good at making friends. And I have a terrible time trying to kills bugs on my own.

All in all, I do not know what to do or what I am really feeling- all I know is that I am doing it.

So goodbye beach, goodbye sunshine, goodbye Florida.

Hello snow? Gross. (That is the one thing I am definitely not looking forward to. Hopefully it will end up being the only thing.)

Wish me luck,

Love Always,

Elle

P.S. I miss you already.

Apple Cup Pies!

I have recently discovered my love for turning old favorite recipes into new cup recipes. I think CupPies are so much easier to eat and handle at parties or gatherings; where you do not have to bother cutting pie pieces, yet they taste just as fabulous!

This is a recipe I just used for my family's July 4th gathering. Lots of people asked for the recipe so here it finally is!

Apple Cup Pies
(makes a dozen cuppies)

Ingredients:

• 1 box of pastry; one box usually contains 4 (if you want to make it yourself prepare enough for the size of two regular 9 inch pies)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Unroll the crust pastry. Find a large cup (I used a large 64 ounce cup) and use the rim of the cup to cut twelve circles in the pastry. Place the circles into the cupcake pan. Cut lattices.
2. Peel, de-core and cut the apples into small pieces, smaller than slices.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and bring to a boil. Once it turns into a thin liquid, take off the heat and stir the apple pieces into the liquid. Do not waste time doing this because if you wait too long the liquid begins to thicken quickly.
4. Spoon the entire mixture into the cups. Cover with a lattice work crust.
5. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 10 minutes or until apples are soft and lattice is lightly brown.

I hope everyone enjoys these as much as my family and I did! I have lots more Cups I will keep sharing! Enjoy :)

Love Always,

Elle

P.S. Thanks to the Camo Man for helping make this recipe happen!

My Big Girl Life

So as I am sitting watching an MTV Reality Challenge show, on the eve of my last day at the only job I have had through college, I have many different emotions running through me.

First, I am excited to finally be a Big Girl and take my first leap into the corporate world; working at what I am going to refer to as The Big Red Box. It is the first of many steps in accomplishing my life-long Fashionista dream.  Someday I will be CEO, or own my own boutique, or start a marketing firm and have a reality show- basically it will be amazing whatever I ultimately end up doing. Honestly though, right now, I think I am more excited about decorating my own apartment and shopping in the Target home section with all the new money I am going to be making.

However, I am quite terrified about moving away from my home in the backwoods of Florida, 600 miles away to the big city of Raleigh, North Carolina, where I do not know a single soul. It turned out quite a surprise when my mother also packed up her house and decided to move to Raleigh after I already signed my contract- but family does not count as friends in my book, while it will be nice to know someone.

But mostly, more than the excitement and fear, I am just sad.  I am sad to be leaving my dad back on the Florida beaches, along with my childhood memories. I am sad to be leaving my beloved University, which I have grown to love and take so much pride in these past 4 years. I am sad to be leaving my boyfriend, the Camo Man, and stretch our relationship across four states indefinitely. I am sad to be leaving all my pretty friends whom I have so much fun with. And, as of tomorrow, I am sad to be leaving my job, that while sometimes it is the last place I want to be, it is this best job I have had to date. I can only hope that I enjoy The Big Red Box as much.

So here I sit, staring at the empty shelves on my wall, the smiling faces housed in their frames in boxes, upon the threshold of my new world. I have decided to start this blog for many reasons. First, I thought it would be an easy way for my soon-to-be-distant friends to know what’s happening in my life, and also a way for me to chronicle my own story to “save for later” so to speak. But more than anything else, I think it will serve as a cathartic experiment for me, during my huge transition into my new Big Girl Life.

So I guess it begins now. This is me. And this is my Big Girl Life.

Love always,

Elle