I dub thee, the winter that will never end.

It's April 14th and snowing.  I'm starting to resent Wisconsin for taking away my love of snow.  I used to ADORE snow, and just fall/winter in general.  Cozy sweaters, pretty snowfalls and hot chocolate.  Then came -45 below zero, months worth of it snowing at least once a week causing my 40 minutes one way commute to turn into closer to an hour FREAKING SNOW IN MID APRIL.  So really, maybe it's not Wisconsin so much as it is having to deal with winter weather as an adult.

In any case, we have had breaks from the weather here and there which has made the fact that the major project I've been on at work that has had me pulling all kinds of hours is essentially finished!  Well not finished so much as passed our major milestone.  It's a deadline we've been working towards for essentially two years so it feels good.  Last weekend was, in fact, the first weekend in six weeks where I did not have to work in any capacity.  It was pretty nice.  The previous weekend though was even better.

Nathan had a very rare weekend off, so while I did have to work from home for a few hours on Saturday, Sunday we made one of our trips to Milwaukee.  Our normal m.o. while up there is to head straight for a very awesome comic shop Lost World of Wonders.  However, we accidentally got there an hour before they opened which gave us a chance to explore the shop next door which is fast becoming one of my favorite stores to visit up there:  American Science and Surplus.  A very large store full of fun little science stuff.  Lab glass, chemistry kits, grow-your-own venus fly traps, telescopes, even random instrument parts.  They have old VCR and 8 track players.  Basically, it doesn't matter how many times I've been in there, I still have fun going.

Yes, that is a Tesla coil on the shelf.  This place is that cool.

I have purchased from there a 50 mL beaker to use as a shot glass.  I like to think I take my mixology seriously.

All in all, that day was GREAT for helping me hit the reset button from all the work stress.  After wandering through the store we made it back over to the comic shop then eventually made our way back home.  Next time, I hope to get to downtown Milwaukee more....you know...when it's finally warm enough to walk around outside without freezing...

Just call me chef.

After working late Friday evening and into Saturday, I awoke to find a Sunday that was blissfully work-free for the first time in roughly a month.  Nathan had to work all day, which left me to my own devices with nothing planned.  So what's a girl to do?  I cooked.  All freakin afternoon long.  Now, I know what you're thinking:  "All Sunday free and you choose COOKING?!  Where you snowed in?!"  And, that would be a logical question given it's Wisconsin and even though it's the beginning of April, we're still wearing winter coats.  But, no, I was not snowed in, and yes, I spent all day cooking.  And you know what?

I had a blast!

I never thought I would find cooking and baking a good form of stress relief, but recently I absolutely have.  I think it has something to do with feeling like I'm in a chemistry lab, except I have free reign to do whatever the hell I want without risk of blowing something up.  Well...without AS MUCH risk, anyway.  On Sunday's menu was a blueberry oatmeal bake, oatmeal raisin cookies, an avocado egg salad, and for dinner that night I made greek yogurt marinated chicken with balsamic sauteed mushrooms.  Everything turned out incredibly tasty!  All of it was a big hit with Nathan as well with the exception of the avocado egg salad, which he has not tried.  That's just because I've been hogging it all for my lunches to take to work and he's not big on avocado anyway.  Here's a rundown of the results! :)

The oatmeal raisin cookies!! Nathan was pouting like a five year old when I was loading up the tupperware to take some to work.  I still say I was doing us both a favor, considering the batch made 3 dozen.

Blueberry oatmeal bake.  FANTASTIC breakfast if you like blueberries.

Oatmeal raisin batter.  I may or may not have sampled some before baking.....(I did.)

Avocado egg salad.  It may not look appetizing, but it's very yummy.

Ok, I know this picture comes off as "look.....mushrooms...." but trust me, the picture does not do them justice.

The greek yogurt marinated chicken.  May not look like much either, but was also very very yummy.

The bonus to all of this is my lunches and breakfasts that I've been taking to work have kicked some serious tail all week!  It's also keeping me on track as the only unhealthy recipe was the oatmeal raisin cookies and I still say that they have oatmeal AND raisins which are both healthy foods soooooooo......that counts right?  If anyone would like links to any of the recipes feel free to ask!  And with that I'm off to look at cooking classes because I've obviously missed my calling.