Well, hello there! I had every intention of posting this last week but between my bakery job and starting work at Anthropologie, well, lets just say I'm still trying to figure out how to balance everything I've made a commitment to recently. This blog was pushed to the side burner and I was only able to squeeze out one measly post about my new haircut. (Which I am still loving, by the way!) Anyways, here is a much awaited Lloyd post, since I know he's the real reason everyone comes back to read the blog! :)
When Shawn and I met up with Kaylah to meet Lloyd for the first time, she picked up a harness for him beforehand to make the whole experience a little easier for us. (Carrying a scared cat in your arms around a parking lot seemed like a possibly dangerous idea, so good thinking on her part!) We never used it after that first encounter, but with Lloyd becoming increasingly interested in the world that went on outside of our apartment, I thought it might not be a bad idea to get him back into it and take him outside for a bit. So two weeks ago Lloyd got to experience the Pennsylvania outdoors for the first time! Well, the Philadelphia suburbs, I should say.
I never seem to pick the right time of year to cut my hair... I always cut it short when the cold weather sets in and let it grow when the heat makes me want to keep it off of my neck. True to form, this past Sunday I went for a pretty drastic change. I had been debating letting my hair get really long again (the last time it was really long was five years ago!) but after bleaching the ends in January and then dying it turquoise, then auburn after that... well, lets just say that my hair wasn't necessarily in the best of states to grow out and the color at my tips was a little... off. So I decided to cut it all instead and start with a clean slate.
I recently applied for a few part-time jobs- partly to help sustain my income from baking, and partly out of curiosity and a desire to do something new. I've been working in kitchens for the last five years and though I really do love making sweet things most of the time, I was excited at the thought of expanding my knowledge and interests in other areas. The last time I had any sort of retail experience was over seven years ago, but I went out on a limb and applied anyway... I was confident that my enthusiasm for the stores and products would be enough get my foot in the door. And I was right! I heard back from almost everywhere I applied to, went to a bunch of interviews over the course of three weeks, and got a job offer last week!
Fair warning- you're about to enter 'spooky' territory. Now, while Shawn is a big believer in the supernatural (I think he has watched The X-Files too many times...), it's fair to say that while I'm certainly not a non-believer, I'm not as in tune with supernatural occurrences as he seems to me. Though, ghosts and aliens aside, I definitely believe that strange and unexplainable things do sometimes occur. In fact, we recently had proof of this.
On Thursday I came home from work and Shawn asked me if I had hidden any Hershey's Kisses around the apartment. As you can imagine, this was quite a baffling question as it seemed to have come out of thin air. Of course I hadn't hidden any Kisses anywhere... I couldn't even remember the last time I bought Hershey's Kisses! They are just not my chocolate of choice. Why would he ask me such a preposterous question?!
Well, apparently when he opened up one of our kitchen cabinets that morning he found this:
If you're new to the blog, you may or may not have heard of Whimsey Box; it's a subscription service that mails you a box with a different DIY project each month. My parents bought me a year subscription for Christmas last year, and I've been enjoying it ever since! I was hoping it would help spark some of my creativity outside of the kitchen... truth be told though, that hasn't really been the case. But! I've been having fun doing the different Whimsey projects each month and I always look forward to my next box. They always send you something extra too, like tools or washi tape, and you can repurpose the boxes once you've finished the crafts!
Here are a few of the projects I've done over the last few months:
Lloyd has now been with us for just over six weeks! I thought it'd be nice to do a little update on his transition from stray to indoor cat. He has definitely gotten much more comfortable with being an indoor cat, and I'm pretty sure he loves having a family! Although he seemed to have adjusted quite well initially, I could tell that he had mixed feelings about being uprooted and thrown into his new situation. (Understandably so!) There were many times when he would loudly meow at the front door after one of us left the apartment - it's the only door he hasn't been able to go through on his own and he's clearly curious about what lies beyond it.
Now, obviously I can't speak for Lloyd but I'm sure it's been slightly difficult for him to adjust from seeing lots of different people on a regular basis to seeing just the two of us most of the time. Anytime we've had friends or family over he's made sure to make himself the center of attention. And his two-pound weight gain since we've had him makes it abundantly clear that he loves having a steady food supply. Outside of meal-time, he spent the first few weeks hiding out under our bed or in my closet for most of the day, but lately he's been spending much more time out in the open with us.
His favorite spots haven't changed much - he still loves to lay in the window sills and listen to the birds and people outside. Lately he's also been spending a lot of time laying on top of the shelving unit between our desks. I showed him that it was ok for him to lay on my desk, so he's been using it as a route to the shelving unit ever since!
Oh hey- it's Friday! This whole week has felt 'off', so I almost forgot!
Last Saturday my friend Amy came over to see our new apartment, meet Lloyd, and spend a much anticipated day in center city with me. Despite having lived in the area for two years prior, and currently living within short walking distance to the train station, Shawn and I haven't made it into center city very often. It's something I'd like to do on a more regular basis, since we have no excuse not to! I have a long list of restaurants I've been wanting to eat at and I knew Amy would be the perfect companion for a 'foodie/boozy' Philly day-trip. So I made a list and mapped out a bunch of potential stops and we took the twenty minute train ride to Suburban Station.
Our first stop was Tria; we had both been there at least once before, but it's one of those places I just have to stop at if I'm nearby. Tria is a beer-wine-cheese cafe... yes, they specialize in all three of those things, along with having an amazing light-fare menu. We each ordered a beer and had three plates to share - blue cheese stuffed figs with prosciutto, pesto and goat cheese bruschetta, and a serving of Langres cheese. (Hey, mom! I finally found some Langres here!!) The food was awesome, as always, but my beer was the real star of the show. I'm not usually a fan of super dark beers so when it was poured in front of me I thought I may have made a bad choice... then I tasted it. It was, for lack of a more eloquent description, champagne in a beer bottle. I absolutely loved it, and if you're a beer drinker you should seriously consider trying it.
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