Now STOP! Grammar Time!

Let’s talk about grammar, shall we?

I would like to say, before we begin, that I am not perfect and make mistakes even in my own writing. Also, I don’t follow all the rules of grammar because I think it makes for very boring writing and therefore very boring reading. So don’t judge.

Alright, that said:

Grammar is, actually, one of my favorite subjects.

“Why?” You may ask. Probably because I’m pretty good at it.

Again, you may ask “WHY??” Probably because I had an editor of a mother who treated me much like a document and edited every sentence that came out of my mouth. Ok, that might be a bit dramatic, but I do remember being corrected on what felt like everything. Some of my favorite examples:

Anyways is not a word

Often is pronounced off-en (this is a big one for her)

“Their” is not a suitable replacement for “his or her”

Sentences may not end in a preposition (i.e. Where are you at?)(also, why would you ever say that? The last word is completely unnecessary as well as incorrect)

The following are also not words: Ecscape, ecspecially, acrosst, athalete, ec cetera

Some linguists argue that words that are incorrect but commonly accepted (such as anyways) are actually acceptable in the language, because language is what people speak, not what the dictionary says. Others (myself included) argue that there is a certain way to introduce a word into a language, and modifying an already correct word into an incorrect word is not one of these ways.

So, who cares, right? Well, I do. And you should!! But, if you don’t, the fact of the matter is you probably won’t ever.

So why write about it? Because this is my blog and I have a voice that can be heard and you, as my reader, must listen by very virtue of the fact that you are still reading this!!

Also because I think these are funny:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie

And basically any others done by The Oatmeal.

Umm yeah, that’s all.

Chocolate Crepes, Pasta Salad, and an Olsen Twin

I'm sure that all my (0) followers are oh so worried about where I have been. After all, one of the last posts I wrote was about how I was sick. Well, I'm not sick anymore (though my persistent cough that has dubbed me as a chain smoker (which I am not) might say other wise); I've just been busy, finding a new job, finding a new place to live, finding flights for an adventure, sewing, watching How I Met Your Mother (which gets better after the first season, as Andrew will tell you), most of which I will be blogging about later, but it is too early to announce anything on the interwebs where anyone could see it all.

This post is for the amazing balsamic pasta salad that we made: 

And the even more amazing chocolate crepes I made (that's right: I! I, I, I made them!!! All by my lonesome):

And also for the maxi skirt that I made. Which you can't really see in this picture, but it is super cute, let me tell you.

I don't think Andrew knew he was living with an Olsen twin, but that's what I looked like when I went to the fabric store. For more fabric. To make more maxi skirts. To wear on my adventure (forthcoming).

The pasta salad came from this website: http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2010/01/balsamic-chicken-spinach-and-tomato-pasta-salad/

We didn't use the Newman's own salad dressing because we (Andrew) are food snobs. We used Lighthouse dressing, and yes, it was probably better because of it.

The crepes came from here: http://leitesculinaria.com/78947/recipes-tom-aikens-chocolate-crepes.html

They were a little interesting because I let the batter neither sit nor strain. As a result, we got lumpy crepes. So, either follow the recipe exactly (i.e. let it sit for an hour while you drool and your stomach growls, realize you don't have a fine mesh strainer, go get one, then strain the batter) or you can not follow it at all (i.e. don't stir in the eggs before you add the rest of the wet ingredients).

The maxi skirt tutorial came from here: http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/2011/09/maxi.html

It is quite easy, but I would recommend not rounding the hem like she does. It looks weird when you're done.

Okthat'sallloveyoubye

Nevada has Trees!

Andrew was pretty convinced that there are no trees in Nevada. Not ones that grow naturally, anyway.

The weather was so nice this weekend that we just had to get out of the house and prove him wrong. We hiked (tried to hike) to Lamoille Lake (pronounced luh-moy-ull lake) which is at the top of Lamoille Canyon (pronounce luh-moy-ull can-yun).

When we set out, we had dreams of swimming in Lamoille lake, but those died pretty quickly, you'll see why.

This is when we were all fresh, at the beginning of the hike. Before we new what we were in for. Look at those innocent smiles. So naive.

Andrew was like "Look at me, Ma! I go outside sometimes!" Though the pale skin on both of us would eventually reveal us for the hermits we are.

Then he was like "See ya!"

Then I was like "Look! A tree!! Treeeeeeee I love you tree."

And Andrew was like "Oh I love you too! Wait, tree? Treeeeeee!!"

Then we found this really cool spring bubbling up and I about froze my hand off feeling it.

And this is how much snow we had to deal with at the top. That is, it was EVERYWHERE. Annoying.  

       

At the beginning, we'd be hiking along and every once in a while we'd come to a patch of snow which was a little scary cause we were both wearing shorts and didn't want to fall in. At the top, there was no avoiding it. So we came up with the snow shoe stomp and I wish I could get the video from my iphone to upload to blogger so you could see it. Hence, I shall describe it:

When you are walking along in snow on a hill and you are terrified for your life or that you are going to go sliding down the slope and lose half the skin on your thighs to the evil snow monster, it is sometimes helpful to do the snow shoe stomp.

1. Throw caution to the wind

2. Take big steps

3. Dig your heels in

4. Let the rest (read: giant arm swings) come naturally

We never made it to the lake. We didn't even make it to the lower, Dollar lakes.

I was super cute the whole time, let me tell you. Not annoying at all. Nope

Ummm Nevada is pretty? Sure.