Why do airlines have stupid rules?

I fly a lot for work. This week I flew Air Canada and USAir. Air Canada will not let you wear headphones that go over your head for take off and landing. You can only wear ear buds for take off and landing. What's the difference???

USAir will not let you carry on more than 2 bags, even if your 3rd bag is a purse. I was trying to go through security at LGA and the little Asian lady who was monitoring the entry to security yelled at me to consoridate my bags. I did consoridate my bags by putting my purse as best I could in my computer backpack. As soon as I got past her, I un-consoridated my purse and she yelled at me again. REALLY? My purse takes up the same volume and mass in my backpack as it does on my arm. I had the same issue at BTV when I had even gate checked my bag - they would not let me walk down the hall to the jetway with my suitcase, backpack, and purse because they claimed they would be fined $15,000. Um, no you won't because United lets me walk down their jetway with all this shit.

I can understand if someone is trying to carry on their entire luggage set, but really? My dinky little purse? Air travel used to be so glamorous and fun. Now it's just a pain in the ass.

Say Cheese!

Wow, it's been a fury of activity the past couple of weeks. After my trip to MA with my mom for a cheese making class, I attempted my own. First I tried queso blanco, a very simple cheese made with a gallon of milk and cider vinegar.

It doesn't melt so you can treat it like tofu. I marinated mine in some soy sauce and sauteed it to heat it through, and tossed it in a kale salad with tahini dressing. It was delicious!

My next cheese was fresh mozzarella. I over-stirred after the addition of the rennet and so it didn't form a nice big curd... instead I had a curdled mess. Since I had already ruined it, I figured I couldn't destroy it any more by putting it in the microwave (which is one of the steps in this particular method). Jesus was watching over me and rescued this batch of mozzarella. I sliced it with some tomatoes and drizzled with oil and vinegar. Delicious!

Good times, rots of raughs.

I have been in Toronto for work the past 4 weeks. I got to come home on the weekends, but 48 hours is never enough. Thanks to some shenanigans by the plant, I don't have to go back for a few weeks. YAY!

In other news, 2 of my bestest friends from CT came up to visit. I've hardly been in VT in the time I've been technically living here so there has been very little friend making :-(. Sad. Anyway, Mel and Case came up for a fun filled 24 hours of beer tasting, laughing, shopping, laughing, eating, laughing, drinking, laughing, more eating, laughing, more shopping, laughing, and wine tasting.

So now I will share one the recipes for the food I made this weekend. I am very lucky in having a great local market to get local products.

Sweet potato hash

- Peel and cut up a few sweet potatoes into about 1" cubes. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast in oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

- Cut thick sliced bacon into little bits. Render the little bits down in a large sautee pan.

- While bacon is rendering, chop up an onion, After bacon is done, throw in the onion with the bacon bits and bacon grease.

- While onions are cooking, chop up a few apples into 1/2" chunks. Add to pan after onion has softened.

- Cook apples for a few minutes to heat through and add roasted sweet potatoes. Stir all together and heat for a few minutes and then eat!

* I used 3 sweet potatoes and 3 apples and that made enough for 3 people plus left overs. This recipe is from Anne Burrel.

In flight entertainment.

I am in Toronto again this week for work. Since there are no direct flights to anywhere I need to go from Burlington, I usually have to fly from Burlington to DC or Chicago or somewhere like that.

This morning I was sleeping peacefully in my seat near the back of the plane. It was just an Embraer 145, so it was tiny with a single row of seats on one side and 2 seats on the other. I fortuately got in a single seat and life was good. Life was good until I woke up to begin our initial descent and somebody called the flight attendant to the lavatory. Wow, people actually push those buttons in the bathroom. Turns out the woman in the lavatory couldn't get the door back open. The flight attendant phones up to the pilot and they call maintenance to get some hints on how to un-stick the door. The flight attendant was trying to manhandle the door as best she could but the door wouldn't budge. Finally after much struggle and calling the pilot to see if they could land with someone in the lavatory, the door gave up its fight and opened the lavatory prisoner.

I was amused. Nothing interesting seems to happen to me when I travel, but I'd prefer to keep it that way!

On the road again.

First, please pause for a moment of cuteness. This is Daisy, strategically posed on a log in the woods behind my house. She thinks she hears or sees something, but really it was probably a leaf falling or something. She's been trooper throughout this whole moving adventure and is probably the most stable thing in my life right now. Which may be sad to say, but I'm a dog person and am always going to have a dog. She's great.

Ok now down to business. I'm back on the road for business for the next 3 weeks in Toronto. I'm helping the plant here install a coffee packaging machine. On top of traveling, I've been sick since Labor Day weekend. It's been a coughing, sniffling, sneezing, type crud that seems to be going around.

Anyway, it's back to nights of dining alone and hanging out in the hotel. I could get out and explore, but I'm just so tired at the end of the day that exploring is just not an option.

Where I've been, where I'm going

Last week I went to Iowa for work. Yep, been on the job for barely a week and they ship me out for a factory acceptance test for some packaging equipment. The FAT went really well, which was incredibly lucky for my first FAT.

Now the true test comes when we install the packaging equipment in the plant. I'll be spending 3 weeks in Toronto for the start-up of the equipment. The environment in the plant is a little challenging to say the least; there are a lot of competing personalities and I'm new to the place. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

This is good in that I'm getting a lot of experience early on with the equipment and the plants. This is bad because my little dog is going to be spending a lot of time at the doggie daycare place over the next month :-(

How to remove a raccoon from a dumpster.

So you find a raccoon in your dumpster when you're taking out the trash. Here's how you remove it:

1) Scream like a schoolgirl.

2) Dance in a few quick circles while still screaming.

3) Put dog in car (because she came out with you to the dumpster).

4) Find something to remotely open the dumpster cover despite already having opened it with your hands earlier.

5) Repeatedly try to open the dumpster with a random cardboard box until the top is wide open. This might scare the raccoon a bit, but you must persevere.

6) After you finally get the top wide open, run away shrieking to your car.

mi casa

This is my favorite room in my little apartment... the living room! I love cozy spaces and this is one! I'm still sorting out how to arrange everything and get it all unpacked, but the living room is pretty much complete! A few more pictures to hang and perhaps another lamp...

What a busy month and I haven't even started work!

My last day at my former job was on September 3. My coworkers had a great going away party/summer party the night before the final day. I will definitely miss all of them!

On September 3 I flew back to Atlanta for Bela & Leandro's wedding! It was a beautiful and lovely event at the Georgia Aquarium. I had a blast and am thankful I made it back for their big day.

I flew back to Connecticut on September 7, then the movers came first thing in the morning on September 8 to take away all my junk. Kelly also flew in on the 8th and we headed straight up to Vermont. Thanks to my horrible allergies, I didn't sleep at all that night and the movers showed up first thing Thursday morning (we had just woken up and were still in our pajamas!). Kel headed out to grab breakfast while the movers hauled all my junk up the stairs into my little apartment.

After they departed, Kelly and I began the unpacking process. We did take a break that afternoon to go to the farmers' market and rent a movie. Kel cooked some great short ribs for dinner while I continued unpacking. Friday included more unpacking, decorating, and a great dinner up in Stowe.

Kelly flew back home on Saturday, so we headed back to Connecticut and I began cleaning up my old apartment. And now that brings us to today... Back in Vermont!

I'm so excited and nervous for my first day of work tomorrow!

I love this picture.

I love this picture. I am originally from Georgia and I don't plan on ever moving back. It's not that I hated living in Georgia or utterly despise the state, it's just that I lived there for 25 years and never really moved other than to college (20 miles from my parents' house) and into various apartments. Also my family never really traveled; vacations were always to Florida or educational trips to Williamsburg and Washington DC.

I traveled quite a bit for my first job out of college. I also wanted to go to Boston University were I was accepted, but I had 32,000 reasons a year not to go. I'd rather be a working professional living up north than be a poor college student living up north. After about 2 years with my job out of college, I landed a job with a CPG company in Connecticut. Great move for my career and life, however after 3 years of spending all my money to go skiing in VT every winter, I got the bug to move again.

I know, I know, it's freaking cold in Vermont... especially after reading this article about the winter in New England predicted to be a "cold slap in the face". It'll be different living in the cold instead of visiting the cold. I will have to invest in some tall snow boots for those early morning walks with my dog!

Ready, Set......

Job: check
Apartment: check
Movers: check
Packing: umm...

Why is it so hard for me to pack? I hate doing it. Maybe it's because in the time I lived with my parents, we NEVER moved. Now here I am, seemingly moving every year or 2 and I despise the act of packing up my belongings into cardboard boxes.

I've made it my goal to pack at least 3 boxes a night. So far I've packed 9 boxes over the past 2 nights, thus exceeding my goal. I have to be totally packed before I head to ATL for Labor Day weekend because the movers come the day after I get back. It's not like I have that much stuff and the majority of it is my kitchen stuff, it's just daunting I guess.

This weekend the roommate and I are headed up to VT to pick up the keys to my apartment and tour the area. I don't know what it is, but as soon as I see the Welcome to VT rest area on I-91, a huge wave of relaxation comes over me (the rest area looks like a barn!).

I'm so ready just to be done and move into my new place!

New life, new blog.

I've tried to keep a blog going before, but maybe this time it will stick.

So I've opted for a new adventure in my life: move even further north to the Green Mountain State! I've been working for my current company in Connecticut for 3 years. It hasn't been easy, the job has been frustrating, but I don't regret the experience at all. I've made some great friends and have had some great adventures.

This past year when I wasn't traveling for work, I was traveling for skiing. 17 days on the hill just wasn't enough for this Georgia gal. When you travel so much for work, traveling in your personal life just becomes exhausting and not fun. Why not move to the place where I have fun? The only way I'd leave my current job was for an opportunity in Vermont or Colorado (or anywhere really where I could roll out of bed and be on the mountain in a matter of minutes) and I managed to score a job that has me living within a hour of 5 great ski areas in Vermont!

And it's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows I know. This new job will require travel and my little dog may have to stay in a kennel a bit. I suck at driving in snow. I will be living in a small town of about 3,000 people. The new people I meet may only be seasonal friends.

Will I finally meet a mountain man who'll sweep me off my feet? Stay tuned...