Friday, April 29, 2011

Easter Goodness

As many of you know, Easter was last Sunday. Also as may of you know, the Griffith family has a number of traditions that revolve around the Holy Day. Like any good tradition, food is a must: our Easter mornings always include breakfast casserole and Mother's Coffee cake (among other things). In the week before Easter, I was planning on passing up this tradition as I did not think anyone would join me (and making a bunch of food for yourself just leads to obesity). After talking to Chelsea about this subject, she inspired me to organize and celebrate. I was able to convince Sam, Tracey and Gwyn to come over after Church for a glorious celebration.

The prevening before I set about making the food. Along with this, I invited some friends over to dye some eggs using the Pirate themed egg dying kit that my mom sent me. In the words of Sam: "Of course Easter involves Pirates!" It was quite fun. Unlike other dyes, this set came with a black dye! Awesome!

Yes, that is a Black and Yellow egg that says Here We Go Stillers!
One Baked Coffee Cake! (there was rumor that someone who could not eat nuts was going to join us... hence that lack of nuts on the left side)
One soaking Breakfast casserole!

As is my Easter tradition, I got up on the not so bright side, and headed off for the Sunrise service. It was a good service, but made me dearly miss Colbert. 1) Colbert normally has sun at their sunrise service. 2) I miss singing. 3) There was a TV guy here that was super distracting... anyway. I was still glad I went.
From there I came home to prepare. I threw the casserole in the over, I cut up the coffee cake, took a shower and set the table.
Sorry Mom, I didn't dye any Coconut...
Oh yeah, that is bacon on there too...
Just as I was pulling the casserole out of the oven, three girls in lovely Easter dresses showed up. It was great. I reminded me of home. Turns out Sam's family does that same thing for Easter morning! I am glad that I got to celebrate with others! Thanks Chelsea! Thanks Gwyn, Sam, and Tracey!
Sam was accessorizing with some of the decorations...
 Later that day I was invited to join the Rohrer family (Gwyn's family) for their Easter dinner. As was suggested by a friend: I combed out my hair real nice (my Mohawk for those of you who are playing along at home), put on my skirt (kilt...) and show up in style. Which I did. The five of us (Mr. Rohrer, Mrs. Rohrer, Caitlin, Gwyn and myself) headed out to a very nice restaurant in Oakmont (just north of town) for a lovely Easter Dinner. They are a great family to be around, very jovial and witty. I was asked what my favorite 'Eastern European Surrealist Film' was... I was actually able to give an answer! I even got an Easter basket from Mrs. Rohrer! It was a great day, with great people.  

So... where are we. I am just about to finish my last week of class for this semester. It has been a good one, but very stressful and time consuming (as you may have noticed in the diminished number of posts). All I have left is: 1) Finish the Elevator Project 2) Write a paper on Large Capacity Energy Storage and 3) Take a final in my Power Engineering class. The last two things are due on Monday and the last one is due a week from today. I am looking forward to it all being over.

Skanda was able to find a place for us to live in next year! He is leaving shortly for an internship, so he headed up the effort to find a place. We are going to be subletting from a few CMU students who are studying abroad in the fall. The apartment is a block away from Church, and 3 blocks from school. It is going to be great! It is furnished, utilities included, good space all for less than I pay now. The only down side (which could be awesome, and most likely will be) is that Skanda and myself will be sharing a room. It will be a throw back to Freshman and Sophomore year. There is also going to be another girl living there. We were able to meet here yesterday, she seems really nice. As Skanda put it: she is not like us (in the sense that she is not a geek) but that she will do as a roommate.

And in other news I have an internship interview on Tuesday! Yay! Also there have been tornado warrnings all over the place. The weather has been wicked, lots of rain and lots of wind.

Oh! And my hair is cut! For all of you who were worrying for the weddings I will be attending, my hair will be normal. ;)

Well, I am going to go for a run and not get swept away!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Someone's Birthday is around the corner...

Not that I am saying anything...

But the following, have caught my eye (for anyone who is interested):

The Corn Dog Factory

and

New Shoes

On a side note... I need to perform some repair to my current Keens. Some of the sewing is failing.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Pictures! Yep, the ones I was promising you!

So here are some pictures!

First, Skanda decided to cut his hair:
Mr. Curly!
Sort of like Mr. T.
We are that cool.

Then some pictures from Melt! If you did not see the link before, here is their website. It was great. I really want to go back. I really want to try the Melt Challenge. Every town needs one of these...
My lovely Companion, and sister in arms against the pile of food in front of us.
Far plate: The Tokyo Tuna and Closest: The Dude Abides
Four thumbs up!

Some time there will be pictures from Chelsea and Caleb... I need to see if they want to post... (wink wink... hint hint...)

Monsoon Season

Yesterday I was walking from School to my bus stop (which is now 3/4 of a mile away), it was raining. I am finding out this is a normal thing. It rains here all of the time. Interesting fact-oid Pittsburgh gets more rain than Seattle! Ha! Who would have thought. Anyway, I was wearing my 'Attitude' jacket that Mom and Dad got be back in November. It has proven to be a very nice jacket in the colder months, and is nice as a rain jacket without the inside lining. As I was walking in the heavy rain I realize a few things. One, my mohawk would have been really sad if it were up. Two, I am glad my bag is waterproof. Three, my shirt was getting wet from the rain sliding down the side of my head, down my neck and past the fortress of my coat. Four, I am glad I wear waterproof sandals, as I was faced with several larger-than-leaping pudles. And lastly, that my shorts, unlike most of my clothing, were not made for getting super wet.

As I got on the bus, it felt like I wet my pants. Everything from my waist down was thoroughly soaked. I did make it home just in time for the rain to stop. Completly. As I opened the door, I realized that the sun was out again. Silly rain.

Things are getting a little intense. Today I have my final test in Distributed Embedded Systems (it is in 30 minutes). Next week I have 3 presentations, one for each class. One homework due next week. This silly elevator needs to be done the week after. But I only have one 'final' final, which should be reasonable. I will be very happy when the next two weeks are over.

In other news: The trip to Ohio was great! Only sad part was that I did not get to see Cory. And holy proton, Melt was amazing. I did take pictures, but my camera is not with me... :( I think that I may have to take a trip out there later just to visit that place again.

Last night I made Quesadillas with Gwyn. They were great as always. Now that I think about it, I should post that recipe as well. I know... I am falling behind.

Ok, I should most likely look over some stuff before this test.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Spring is in the Air

Friends and Family, oh how I have missed you.

I am finishing up the third to last week of normal classes this semester. That means a few things:
1) I have been away from my computer to write everything down...
2) There are only Two regular weeks left.
3) I only have one final (I think)
4) But I have 3 presentations, and an Elevator to get working before the end of the two weeks.
5) Summer is approaching and I am still internshipless.

On that note, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who have gone out of your way to do some leg work for me. I really do appreciate the long distance support.

6) Easter is almost here!

I got a box today with a Jabba the Hutt on it, which can only mean one thing: My mother sent me something. I am guessing she has an abundance of Episode I stickers that she is using up. I have received a Watto, a Battle Droid, a Queen Amidala... any way... off topic! In this box contained one of my all time favorite Easter things: Butterhorns! AH! I didn't think I was going to get any this year! Thank you Mom!! Also included were Robin Eggs (yes, my favorite Easter candy) and the Starburst Jelly Bean (which I will fight anyone who claims there are better Jelly Beans). Thank you mother! I am starting to get in the mood for such a great observance, some might argue that the point of the season is not childish Easter bunny things, that we should be focusing on the Cross, and the sacrifice of Jesus. I would argue that this box, while containing theologically trivial things, puts me right in to the Lenten spirit. It is like eating on of mothers Christmas sugar cookies, it takes me back to Christmas. The non-Jesus Easter things, puts me in the mindset of Sun Rise services and reflecting on how wonderful the life given to me is, how my transgressions have been spoken for... needless to say. I love Easter.

This evening I am leading yet another YadGrad movie night. We will be watching Equilibrium for those of you who are playing along at home.

Chelsea! and Caleb! I tried making X-Wing and Tie Fighter Cookies last night... I did something wrong, they are a little tricky to get right, and most of them were too thin... but still awesome! Thank you again! Also, I am extending the coveted gift of blog writer-ship to you, if you would like to write a post about your trip!

I have some great pictures of Skanda and myself. He needed a hair cut, and cut it in to a Mr. T Mohawk. It is awesome.

For those of you up to snuff with my younger maternal cousin, he is in Cleavland at the moment for a National Gymnastics competition. I may just have to head over to Cleavland to see him. I may just have to stop here as well....

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Oh, I have got a lot!

To those of you who have been a little disappointed in the lack of culinary expansion in this lovely blog, I have got two whollops for you. Last Tuesday Gwyn and I made... I don't know what... I will have to come up with a name, it was pasta with Bacon, Cheese and Spices. It was great. Then on Thursday Chelsea and I made Wienerschnitzel (with a Brown Mushroom Sauce), Spatzle, Sweet Potato Pancakes (because we are in PA) and Zucchini! It was awesome... Thanks Jackie for sort of letting us use your Kitchen!

So I am going to throw up a few pictures. We are having a grand time, but more fun is in store today, so I need to make this quick...

Burgertory last night! Caleb even ventured out for the Apple Pancake and Bacon Shake!


Chelsea and I cooking up a storm!

Don't worry... Chelsea is taking plenty of good pictures too...

The most appropriate thing to do with a Pussy Willow... is to put it up your nose. (Just ask my Dad.)
And as you can expect, we have been playing a ton of games. Chelsea introduced me to Bohnanza, a great game involving Bean crop growing (at the moment, Caleb has one win, and Chelsea has one win). We have played some Settlers (I won!). Tried to play Bananagrahms (Chelsea and I are not very good at it, she won). And Milles Bohrn (I won last night!) It has been great, I love games.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

I have Twos of Them!

My two visitors have successfully made it here, and I am happy to report that we are having a wonderful time.

Yesterday we went down to The Strip for some breakfast at Pamela's, then walked around there for a while. Don't worry Dad, we stopped in the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company. After walking around for a while, we enjoyed some super traditional Pierogies at a Polish deli near the end of The Strip. After this light lunch, we inclined up the Duquesne. After enjoying the sights (and girl scouts and their smother mothers and Tons of prospective Pitt students) we stopped by the Frick to see the art and the garage.
Before dinner we pulled out Settlers and played a round (I won, Mom! Caleb called me a name! (I may or may not have deserved it...)). Then went to the CurchBrew Works, and enjoyed wonderful food and good beer (Chelsea had the Celestial Gold (we think) and Caleb had a Cherry Quadzillah). There was then a trow back to our child hood: Chelsea brought Mille Bornes. A game that we played a lot as children, and was still very fun and amusing to play as adults. COUP FOURRE! COUP FOURRE! COUP FOURRE!

Ok, now we are off to church! Ill post more later!

OH! They brought me Rocky Rococo's Pizza! Thank you Mom and Dad for helping! I am so excited to have it some time next week when they are gone!