four things keeping me sane today...

 I've already been mocked for the random nature of this suppsed cooking and gardening blog.  I have great plans to change my banner tagline to a more inclusive statement that will let me write willy-nilly on whatever moves me.  As it is now, I will still write willy-nilly, but I will apologize for my wandering blog (but that apology is only good till the banner gets changed).

Tough week at work.  Tough tough tough.  The countdown to the Grand Canyon reminds me that it's all worth it, but I am going to need a vacation before I take a vacation at the rate I'm going.  Nevertheless, there have been some things I've particularly enjoyed this week as my stress-o-meter registered some pretty high readings...

First, my haflingers.  Even since I've known Erik, he's talked about getting a pair of boiled wool slippers.  I heard about it last Christmas, and had I been a good girlfriend, I would have gotten them for him this Christmas.  Alas, I am a great girlfriend (if i say so myself) and got him something even better.  Much to his luck, he also has a great sister who got him gift card to go get the slippers.  We went to Hide and Sole here in Missoula, and unfortunately, they didn't have anything he liked in his size.  He saw these, though, and loved them.  Not only were they marked all the way down to $20 (from $89) because all of their friends had been sold months prior, but they were also in my size.  Guess who got herself a pair of slippers?  I did feel a little guilty... we're still on the search for a pair for him.  This week, they've been keeping my toes warm.  Did I mention it was a tough week?  A good 

pair of slippers always helps.

My desk is littered with these cans.  I have tried SO hard to stop drinking soda - I think it's the most difficult thing I've ever tried to do (much, much harder than grad school).  I'm a little suspicious of natural sodas and how they claim, or at least imply, they're better for you.  Nevertheless, anytime I can avoid high fructose corn syrup, I go for it.  It's really creepy how much of that corn syrup ends up in our foods - sometimes I wish I didn't know how much bad stuff there was out in the world.  Like corn syrup.  And clowns.  And 55 hour work weeks.

Has anyone listened to Raising Sand?  Everything I read says Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are an unlikely duo, but when you listen to this album, it's hard to believe they haven't spent their whole careers singing together.  I heard "Please Read the Letter" on NPR and had to chase the rest of the album down - that song stuck with me and wouldn't let go.

Lastly, unlike with beer, I've never been much of a wine snob.  I refuse Budweiser and Missoula's favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, in favor of the microbrews, but I've always been more partial to the $5 bottle of wine than the $15. It started when I took a wine tasting class in college.  We sampled $5 a bottle wines, and we sampled $100 bottles.  I rarely found that my taste buds could tell the difference - I simply liked what I liked.  Fast forward nine years and one, year-long website project that I finished three weeks ago.  I felt I needed to celebrate and spent $14 one of Penfold's Shiraz.  I absolutely loved it.  Turns out, there are places to get Penfold's cheaper than $14.  If you see it in your grocery store, you should give it a try.  I've tried a bunch now, and they're all really good.  I've been thinking about it all day...  

With that, I say happy happy Friday.  I'm off to pour a glass of wine and start making cupcakes.