and vacation has started!

Last night I kicked off my vacation with a camping trip. I wasn't able to leave work early like I wanted to because work was ridiculous this week. But enough about work, I'm on vacation now! Jay came and picked me up and we rode out to the campsite to meet our friends Crystal and Ryan. We also brought Ruger this time which was super fun. We have a few other little things planned this weekend but nothing major. We are leaving for the beach on Monday!

my love

 our tent + Ruger

happy boy

Greek Festival

The Greek Festival was this past weekend. It happens every year in September. And it is great. The Greek Orthodox church in Roanoke puts it on every year to raise money. This year they were expecting to have over 20,000 people come! They serve authentic Greek food, desserts, wine/beer, have music and dancing, and little shops set up. This is a major thing that goes on once a year and people always look forward to it. I love going because it's "part of my heritage." My dad's side of the family is from Greece and we still have some very distant relatives that live there. I remember when I was little and we would eat Greek food and my dad would tell us curse words in Greek. Most of my Greek family lives in Ohio and we rarely get to see them. Anyways, back to the festival. We have been going every year since we moved here. My dad works with a man who is on the board at the church and helps run the festival. We have some cousins in town who are members as well. I can remember when we were younger and the festival was still very small, no where near as popular as it is now, and it was still held inside the church. We we would go eat and participate in the dancing. So much has changed but it's certainly a good thing for them. The festival lasts 3 days and we usually go twice!
Roanoke Greek Festival 2012

Dolmades, Fasolakia/Green Beans, Spanakopita

Galaktobouriko, Spanakopita, Moussaka, Dolmades

 My dad and me, and a gyro!

 Gryos are delicious

 one of the food stands

 Loukoumades are the best! The dessert tents.

another big tent full of people eating

Unfortunately Jay had to work last weekend and couldn't go with us, so I found a new boyfriend. (Just kidding!) He was on night shift so I drove out to the sheriff's office and took him a couple gyros and a box of loukoumades. I like taking things to him while he is working, I know he appreciates it.

Get to know me.

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. The last week I have not felt good AT ALL so I basically did nothinggg. I was even going into work late and leaving early. That also meant no gym time or Zumba the whole week. (I will probably die tonight in class.) This past weekend was pretty good though, I will write about it later... but to make up for my week-ish worth of nothingness, I wrote out a few things for people to get to know me a little better.   :)

What is your profession? I am a social worker. I earned my Master’s degree in Social Work from Radford University back in May 2010. I am currently working as the Social Service Director for skilled rehab and nursing facility. I really like my job, but it’s not my plan to stay here forever. My ultimate goal is to work for the Veteran’s Hospital in Salem, where I did my internship my last year of graduate school. Fingers crossed I can get there soon.

How would you describe your style? Comfy/cute? Is that a style? Most of my clothes come from Old Navy, Target, and TJ Maxx. I like to dress nice most of the time, but to still be comfortable. I’m not big on stiff/stuffy clothes. I love heels and have way too many pairs, but I rarely ever wear them. Sad, I know. I don’t like to spend a fortune of clothes or accessories, if I can find something on sale then I’m a happy girl.

What is one make-up product you can't live without? How about can’t live without 3? I have to have foundation (cover-up), blush, and mascara. I typically wear foundation only on my nose and chin, you know, just to even out my skin tone a bit. Blush is a must for me because it adds a little bit of color and I feel like I don’t look as pale. On a regular day I always do my eye makeup, however, on a ‘bum it” day mascara does just fine. So I would be that girl who has to have more than 1 item of make-up.

If you could be best friends with one celebrity who would it be? Mariska Hargitay. She is my absolute favorite celebrity, I love her. She is a great actress and an even more amazing woman. She has such a kind heart! I would die if I ever got the chance to meet her.

What is your dream vacation? Greece. My dad’s side of the family is Greek so I would love to go there and see where my family came from. I have some very distant relatives still living there. I would also like to tie in a trip to Ireland at the same time because my boyfriend really wants to go there.

What magazines do you subscribe to?  None. Maybe one day I’d like to get Real Simple. I don’t really care to subscribe to any though.

What is your favorite breakfast food? French toast, mmm! I’m not a big breakfast person during the week; I can’t stand to eat so early. But if we are doing brunch on the weekend I love French toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I also like to do breakfast for dinner sometimes.

What is your guilty pleasure? Probably watching TV. I wouldn’t say I like “trash” TV, but I do like reality TV. Right now I’m watching (don’t judge me), ‘Married to Jonas’ and ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.’ (Ok so Honey Boo Boo is definitely trash TV). I am also addicted to ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and I cannot wait for the season to start in October. My usual show, which I’ve watched since I can’t even remember not watching, is Law and Order SVU.

What are some of your hobbies?  ZUMBA! Addicted and obsessed. Love it. Other than that I’m not really sure what other hobbies I have. I like to cook/bake, craft, decorate… even though I’m not so good at any of those, I love trying. Some new things I’ve learned I actually enjoy are camping, kayaking, and being outdoorsy.

What do you love most about where you live? The mountains, hands down. The area we live in is beautiful. I used to live in Georgia and the scenery there is just blah, nothing pretty to look at and very flat. At least in the part we lived in. So when we moved to Virginia the change was great. I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing mountains, especially in the fall. Oh my goodness I love fall and seeing the mountains change in color because of the leaves. Gorgeous. As my mom says, “JUST LOOK AT THOSE MOUNTAINS!!”

What lead you to start blogging?  I started blogging to document some of the fun things that go on in life with the people I love most. I’ve read a few blogs that my friends have and have always wanted to start one, so one day I just decided to do it. I’m just a regular girl, with a regular life, just trying to live each day as it comes. It’s amazing how the simple things in life can be so much fun when you are with the right people. That’s kind of what inspired the name of my blog and my blog itself. My boyfriend has really made my life more wonderful than I ever thought it could be. It’s been fun to write about our adventures, my attempts at cooking and crafting, and everything else in between. I’m going to try my best to keep up with it as time goes on, and I’ll always have something to look back through and reminisce about.  

Travel Memories

I save bits and pieces of everything that Jay and I do together or things he gives me. Back in March we went to Gatlinburg with 2 other couples. It was our first real trip together. We spent 4 days in a beautiful cabin and enjoyed every minute of our time there. I FINALLY have put together the collage I wanted to make as a keepsake. I have several other things saved from the trip that I didn't put in the collage, like tickets and other souveniers. For this collage I used brochures from each of the main events/things we did, and put in my favorite pictures of us from those activities. I also added a picture of the 3 couples outside of our cabin with a welcome ticket from a booklet of coupons we got when we first checked in. For the background I used 2 pieces of scrapbook paper I bought from a cute little shop down there on the main strip. I love the way it turned out! I have so many more projects I want to make like this to document meaningful trips we take together and one day have them displayed in our house. Jay loves it too so that's a plus! I have it hanging in my living area now.

 Finished, before the frame.

Framed and on the wall.

Mmm sushi

Friday night I went over to my friend Julia's house for a mini girls night. We were going to go out for sushi  but then decided to make it ourselves. I had never made sushi before but Julia had, so I figured I might as well learn. It was wayyy easier than I thought it would be. We went to Fresh Market to get everything we needed: short grain rice (because it's stickier), baby shrimp, sashimi grade tuna, seaweed paper, and an avocado. Julia already had cream cheese and a cucumber at home. We also stopped at the liquor store for something fun. We got whipped cream and blueberry vodka which we mixed with sprite and put little berries in. Delicious. Back to the sushi, it was very simple. The part that took the most time was cooking the short grain rice. It took 50 minutes. But while it cooked we made our drinks, sliced the cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, and the tuna. We cooked the baby shrimp until they were pink and sliced them in half as well. Once the rice was done we were ready to roll. Julia didn't have the bamboo roll but a thicker placemat works just the same. Put a sheet of saran wrap on top of the placemat then put a sheet of seaweed down. Cover it with rice and press it into the seaweed paper with your fingers until it's close to the edge. Start layering the insides a few inches from the end so you have enough space to roll. Roll it up and squeeze it tight so it will stretch and stay together. After it's rolled place on a plate and slice however thick you want. (I didn't get any pictures of the rolls before we cut them, dang.) It was SO good! I am going to plan a date night and make sushi with Jay, I think he would enjoy it!