day four as a kept woman

well, lauren started her job on monday (which is awesome, badass, etc.), which means my days are severely different. kind of. i'm basically doin' my thang from 8:30am to 6pm, most of which has been my attempt at manageable goals/productivity. i've done some deep-cleaning, some organizing, bust mostly- cooking! oh yes. i say this in hopes that what i put on the table is delicious: i'm having a huge amount of fun making dinner while she's at work. no homo.

i'm pretty simple, i think i've made guacamole, a healthy spinach artichoke dip with carrots that turned into just a vegetable dip, and then tonight i made a corn, spinach, carmelized onions, avacado, roasted red pepper, and garlic salad (a recipe i took from my mom and molded into something to use the rest of our vegetables), and bruschetta and multi-grain crostini. um, yum. so now that it's done, i'm relaxing with a book and a glass of wine... resisting hard the temptation to go eat it before she gets home! whoa.

tonight we're going out with the interns lauren works with. which means several things. 1) we're finally "going out" in the hague! 2) must stabilize myself for influx of dutch hotties. 3) awesome.

the adventure, alas, is finally coming to an end. it's become apparent that i need to accept the lack of jobs here- not that i didn't try. hard. i think i tapped every market i could think of... oh well. maybe i should have learned the language and/or gotten some working papers or something. instead, i'm coming home on the most expensive flight known to man- $850 one way! shit. and then i return, broke, humbled, and stronger. different. deeper? happier? more bold, to be sure.

number one (debatably) perk of going home: fully equiped kitchen and people to cook for. tightttt.

i made a mix last night of my dutch adventure- check it out:

the decemberists- the crane wife 3
ezra furman and the harpoons- the world is alive
fall out boy- bang the doldrums
the maine- i wanna love you
the mountain goats- heretic pride
queen- don't stop me now
the tallest man on earth- this wind
counting crows- accidentally in love
joe pug- number 14 on donnelly's mix
noah and the whale- sun, sun, sun (5 years time)
cold war kids- hospital beds
rufus wainwright- hallelujah
owen- places to go
norah jones- somewhere over the rainbow
peter bjorn and john- amsterdam
the format- tie the rope
the new pornographers- sing me spanish techno
cat power- naked if i want to
jason mraz- i'm yours
motion city soundrack- even if it kills me
rusted root- send me on my way
rilo kiley- more adventurous

consider it.

well, it's that hour.

if you're not familiar, lose yourself in the world of food porn (thanks to donnelly for this): www.tastespotting.com