Stuff

So obviously I did not write about the second topic that I mentioned in my last blog. And, unfortunately, I have lost my passion to discuss it. Don't worry it wasn't that interesting, just some heated comments on how Walmart treats their employees. Nothing that anyone hasn't heard before :)
I guess what has been on my mind lately is stuff. As in we have a lot of stuff and I sometimes feel like our little one bedroom apartment is going to explode. Don't get me wrong. We are no where close to being hoarders. Well, maybe book hoarders, but what can you expect with a husband studying comparative literature? I am just really bad at throwing things away. I have this thought, right as I am headed to the trash can, what if I need this and will regret throwing it out? With clothes I especially struggle. And the thing is that I often regret giving clothes away. I still think of a couple sweatshirts that I wish I hadn't and a certain pair of pants that were given to my sister on a whim that I still tear up about on occasion... But, am I living successfully without them? Yes. Do I think of them every day? No. So I think I am okay.
In August we are moving across the street to a two bedroom apartment. My husband and I were ready to move yesterday. The new apartment will be wonderful. First of all, we will be on the third floor. Currently we are on the first floor, sort of sunk down so our patio is below ground level. Which is kind of lame. But, good for squirrels and chipmunks to play in and great for the multitude of spiders that have made it their home. I am excited to have a patio that we can actually go out on. Makes me dream of plants and patio chairs and wine outside in the evening. Also, two bedrooms. Need I say more? The other day I was surveying our apartment and dreaming of all the closet space we will have next year. Right now things are stuffed here and there and you have to be very careful or an avalanche will come crashing down upon you. The biggest perk, and main reason why we are willing to pinch pennies to have a two bedroom, is that my husband can have an office. Right now his space is a table squished into the corner of our livingroom/dining room/kitchen. This gives him no privacy to work. Which is important when you are in grad school. He tries to study and I dance around singing in the kitchen while making dinner. I am sure it is very distracting for him. Come to think of it, maybe I should be quieter.
Either way, in six months he will have his own space where he can shut a door and block out my distracting, although amazing, dance moves-singing combinations.(or, which also commenly happens, episodes of Voyager that I watch on my computer while cooking).
The only downside to our new place is the lame kitchen. The one we have now I really love. I love that it opens up into the living room and there is tons of counter space. And we have a dishwasher. It is cozy and cute. Our future kitchen is tiny and narrow, a galley kitchen is what I think they are called. And does not have a dishwasher. Or hardly any counter space. But, we will make it work and get creative.
Also, we will have room to potentially, fingers crossed, get a cat. Which is something I dream of daily and I know would make my life complete. :)
All this to say we have a lot of stuff. But, since we are moving to a bigger place do I really need to go through it and get rid of some of it? I am voting no.

Wanderlust

There are a couple things that I want to write about. So I am going to write about one tonight and one tomorrow. I think I will go for what will probably be the shorter post. (As I say that I realize it actually might not be). Here is a song I welcome you to listen to while you read this post, because it fits my mood exactly Grimes-"Genesis"

I grew up in China. Have I mentioned that to you yet? Either way I moved there when I was six and was there until I graduated high school. This experience has shaped me in so many ways, but the way that is impacting me the most right now is that I seem to have a restlessness about living in the US. According to the internet (hm) the definition of wanderlust is "a strong desire to travel." I get this desire every couple years. I know that I could just pick up and move away without looking back. I know this because I have done it several times. I remember once telling a friend in college that I could just drop out of college and move away without missing anyone. She got really upset about that, probably because it was extremely insensitive of me to say that to a good friend. But it has always been true. The friendships I make, although always very real to me, are, when it comes down to it, expendable. Which is an awful thing to say and makes me sound like an awful person.
Maybe if I give a little background you will understand me better.
Throughout my life I have had to say good bye to so many friends. I would become close to people and then two years later they move away and I would never see them again. You have to understand also that when I say "close" I mean really close. There is something about being the only teen foreigners in city of four million Chinese that forms intense bonds. So you learn how to form those bonds and then say goodbye. And you learn to move on.
I realize now that I have completely strayed from my original topic. Let us redirect this conversation.
Wanderlust; I have it. So, while thinking about this while I was walking to work today a song came on my ipod. One that I would absolutely never listen to in public, but I secretly love. It is one of those dancy Mexican songs that you hear blaring out of a cars in New Mexico all the time. I realized that I don't want to go traveling the world. I want to settle down, but I really don't want it to be here. By here I mean the United States. There are a million reasons why (one of which I will discuss tomorrow). I want to raise my hypothetical children learning Spanish right along side of English. I want to make breads and tortillas from scratch because I can't buy them in a store.
Most desperately I want to do something different. Growing up in China spoiled me. Living a life that is challenging and difficult is what I want. Hiking up seven flights of stairs with ten bags of groceries, biking in freezing rainy weather, not having bread unless it was made in a breadmaker, black olives being a novelty, always being stared at, I think I could go on for a while.
I miss all of those things.

Beans.

Living as a grad student's wife has taught me several things. I will list a few of them.
1) Never question the amount of books your husband buys on Amazon.
2) Mentally prepare for finals week at the beginning of each semester.
3) Always have coffee on hand.
4) Try your best to keep to a budget.
This last one is what I am struggling with now. Since I only cook vegetarian I want to fill the house with all sorts of amazing fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, these tend to be a little pricey.
Also, I don't want us to eat the same things over and over again, which is what tends to happen. I fall easily into pasta ruts and happily stay there.
What scared me most about becoming vegetarian was that we would become more breadatarians or cheesatarians. Because that is easier. And I don't love salad. So I always have to be on watch, because if I let my guard down for even a day suddenly I realize that I have gone several meals without eating a vegetable. Which defeats the point right? Right.
But how do I put together delicious and healthy meals on a tight budget? I think I have found the answer.
Beans.
Filling, healthy, rich in protein. They really are magical. So, to be even more money savvy I am cooking up dried beans in the crock pot today. This is something I saw my mom do hundreds of times. I grew up on these beans. But have never done it myself because, well, let's face it...I'm rather lazy. Today that all changes. Today my beans will cook diligently while I am at work and I shall come home to a pot of goodness. At least this is my plan and if I somehow screw up slow cooked beans then I have other things to worry about.
I know beans will not solve all of my dilemmas; I still need to figure out how to incorporate more veggies. But, I will leave that to another time and just enjoy eating burritos, for the next ten meals...

Bitter Cold

As I am on my second winter in Pennsylvania I decided that snow boots needed to happen. So after searching everywhere for the perfect pair I finally found them at Payless. That was surprising to me.
So it snowed (a tiny bit) yesterday so I thought it would be the perfect excuse to try them out. By walking to work, which takes about forty minutes.
The walk itself was great. I really enjoyed it. The fact it was 21 degrees and felt like -5 and there were 45 mph wind gusts made it a little bit arctic feeling. At times I wondered how cold your legs have to be before they freeze and fall off. At other times I wondered if I stopped at some strangers house and asked if I could just warm up there for a minute if that would make me weak. Either way I made it successfully, with bright red checks and bright red legs.
My husband was a star and picked me up after work so I didn't have to make the return journey.
That was this years first winter adventure.

Months later...

I am so ashamed that it has been months since I have written here. Although I can only think of maybe four people who will read this, I started this because I wanted an outlet for my thoughts during this time in my life. So here we go again, maybe 2012 will be a better blogging year for me!
I must admit I follow quite a few fashion blogs. Part of me loves looking at the clothes, but mostly it amazes me that these women have the energy, desire, (money) and creativity for these amazing outfits. Sometimes I want to step into their lives. Because they seem very glamorous. Why do they all live in interesting places that have great travel spots just a day drive away? How do they have the time to take so many random day trips? I would be lying if I said that these fashion blogs were not extremely influential in the start up of own little blog. So if one day a picture of me in some outfit sneaks onto this site, don't be too surprised :)
In other news, the Spring school semester has started and I am so excited to take another class. The class I am taking is small, I think only five or six students, so that should be wonderful. Funny how that appeals to me now. My first year of college I went to a tiny university and my largest class was maybe twenty-five students and my smallest was seven or so. I hated this. After coming from a small high school all I wanted was to get lost in a sea of students. I didn't want the teacher to know my name or call on me specifically. I wanted to sit in the back and hide and skip class occasionally without anyone knowing. So I transfered to a State school where I could do just that. And it was wonderful.
Now, however, I love small classes. Partly because I have become more chatty in class and want to have the opportunity to show off all of the great knowledge (ahem) that I have to my fellow classmates. And partly because I feel like I gain more from the class.
It all starts tomorrow and I hope it goes well. To those few readers out there...I will try and keep you updated!