An update on life, generally.

So there have been lots of fun announcements here lately, but not much in the realm of day to day life for the Hogans. So, not that people are hankering to know, but I thought I'd fill the internet in. Also here's a picture of Sophie, my hardworking sewing assistant.

Clearly she's a huge help. Not sure what I'd do with out her.

We've been here in Temple for... almost three months? Is that possible?! I'd say we're pretty settled in. Brendon has been doing the residency thing, which recently has consumed all his free time. Kind of like being in school again. Lots of research, lots of projects. No tests though! He's also been working the odd weekend a month or so as a pharmacist at CVS, just for extra cash and to keep up his tenure there. I think he secretly loves it. And I think Brendon also secretly likes it here in Temple. He likes the slower lifestyle, the convenience of small town living. Plus he's surrounded by like minded folks at work, doing what he loves. There are a few things that bother both of us about Temple, but I think out of the two of us, he's more at home here.

I on the other hand, can't help feeling a little out of place. There are wonderful things about living here. It takes ten minutes to get any where (whether in Temple or Belton), no where is EVER busy, and it is cheap cheap cheap. Living here is saving us a ton of cash compared to Austin. Also, our neighborhood/apartment is SO NICE and quiet and safe and just really the polar opposite of our place in Austin (yet cheaper?). But, there are also downsides to living here. Here goes my rant, bear with me. I often think of living here as going back a decade. Life in 2005. Or earlier. I am a millennial, for sure, that just came from a tech driven city so this slide back into the past has been... frustrating at times. I mean, we'll look up restaurants and there just wont be a website? HA, how tech reliant can you get, right? I think it's because there just aren't a lot of young people here. There is a giant retired population, and then families. Not many young folks. The young folks that are here are mostly all doctors and medical folks. And the majority of those doctors and medical folks don't even live here, they commute from Round Rock or Georgetown or Austin (understandably). So there aren't a lot of "young people" things here, because there's no market for it. And man, being a vegetarian in Temple is challenging, to say the least. If you don't want Asian or Italian food, your options are pretty much nilch. Which is saving us lots of money on eating out! Silver lining! There is also a shocking lack of good coffee, but I'm a coffee snob. So. Unsurprisingly, the Temple/Belton area is VERY conservative and VERY... Texas. We are bleeding heart liberals as my dad says, so that can be a little frustrating. And NO ONE CAN DRIVE HERE. I swear to you, the Hogans drive faster than 95% of the the population of Temple and Belton combined. Driving below the speed limit is a thing here. There's no traffic, but there are figurative turtles on the road you have to dodge. Aaaand, no one will visit you when you live in Temple. I mean, at least in Austin we had the "oooh Austin is cool, lets go see the Hogans", we got nothin' here.  I don't blame them. If we want to see people, we go to them.

OKAY. Rant over before my head falls off. To be fair, most of the three months we've been here, I was basically sick. So that's not a good start. And I hated Austin (and Denton) when I first moved there, but ended up loving it. And obviously Austin makes any other Texas town (especially a small one) seem like a foreign country. I get that. And I was born and raised in Texas, so you'd think I'd know. I guess I just got spoiled. And Austin sucks in many ways. It's overcrowded, the traffic is horrendous, hipsters everywhere (I secretly miss y'all though), and it is expensive. Settling down there and purchasing a house would be challenging. So I think Temple is good for us. As much as I grumble and moan about it, it's a smart place for us to be right now. Did I mention how cheap it is? And Austin is just down there road and I'm there once a week.

Which brings me to, what the heck am I doing for a living? I'm 70% a housewife, y'all. I work once a week sewing at my job down in Austin, but aside from that I chill at home. It's weird, but it works for us right now. I'm going to have my hands full with a Seahorse in a few months so we decided just to forgo me trying to get a, well, lets be honest... shitty job just for a few months. So I'm at home! Which has been perfect, because the past few months of being knocked up have been real rough for me. I'm doing mostly better now, but I still have the occasional date with my face in the toilet, so it's nice to do that in the comfort of my own home. I've been keeping my self busy with sewing (for me!! for fun!), cleaning, cooking, you know. House crap. And I don't mind! I've worked my ass off since I was a teenager, so it's nice to have a break. And the cats think they've died and gone to heaven. They loooove having a human around all the time. Just wait, y'all. Soon there will be a tiny human with hands that love to grab cat tails. (None of this would obviously be possible without my super hero husband, Brendon. That boy is the hardest working person I have EVER met. And he is also the kindest and sweetest, and always makes me feel... important. No matter what. Damn, I love you Brendon, and so does the Seahorse. She told me.)

So that's basically it! We've got a fair bit of traveling ahead, in state and out, the next few months before the Seahorse arrives, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Especially since I've been feeling somewhat normal again. Lots of fun adventures squeezed our ever shrinking time as a family of two. Plus two cats. Life is pretty good you guys. I know I just whined about Temple for a good paragraph, but I do not want you to think for a second that I am not LOVING life and thrilled at where we are in it. We are lucky ducks. Actually, eff luck, we both worked real hard to be where we are. So we are enjoying it. Even if Brendon is up to his ears in medical articles every free moment and I'm wondering if my esophagus will survive this never ending heartburn and oh my god we will be responsible for a tiny human very soon, WE ARE HAPPY. Because we're together. And it is almost FALL, praise the pumpkin gods.

Old and busted, new hotness

Finally broke down and got new kicks. I've had my old ones for about two years, and they've got a few hundred miles on them. My legs and feet were starting to get a little more wear and tear on them than I'd like, so I figured it's about time for a new pair. When I got the last ones I was working towards running a 5k, now I'm working towards a half marathon! Hopefully these green babies will help get me there. The colors sure are... vibrant. I'm calling them my hulk shoes.

As far as running progress goes, I've hit a bit of a wall this month. We've been going pretty hard since January and making wicked progress, but lately, it's been rough. I've been suffering from serious allergies, like worse than I've ever had. Ever. Breathing has been challenging to say the least, especially in the last week. Between that and the increasing heat, our runs have been shorter and slower and rougher. We squeezed in a slow six miles this week, but that's the longest we've run in a while. Yesterday I managed a depressing two miles before I, literally, wheezed to a stop. I hate these allergies. Hate, hate, hate. It's so bad it's almost like a cold or bronchitis or something evil. It's migrated from my head to my chest in the past week, so I'm hoping it's on it's way out? I don't know. It's making me sad, and it just needs to go.

And dear lord, running in the heat and humidity is a whole different ball game. And it's not even summer heat yet. I'm hoping we'll acclimate at some point (I mean, it has to happen right? It has to get easier?), and then this fall when it cools down we'll be speed demons (HA). I'm trying really hard not to get to disappointed and down about how much harder it is to run lately. I'm thinking of the summer just as a training season. I'm not sure if I'll be able to increase my mileage, much less hit that elusive 13.1, but I'm going to keep on running. Boogers in my chest or not. And that can only make me better, right? I came across "JFR" (Just F-ing Run) while researching places to get shoes (Rogue Running!) and I've been using it for motivation. Feels like hot soup outside? JFR. Worked 13 hours today? JFR. Can't breathe because you're insides are coated in boogers? JFR. Here's more.

And on an unrunning related note: Here is Sophie, squeezed in my shoe box. It was empty on the floor for a good 45 seconds before she got into it.

Fluffy fat kitty, you're so silly! JFR, y'all.

Baby Sophie and things

This picture is real old. It's from December of 2007, right after little baby Sophie came into our lives. She still lays like that, she's just exponentially heavier.

Brendon is in Temple for his first hospital rotation and it sucks. He'll be back Friday and then gone again from Tuesday to Friday. I know I am a huge wuss and spouses have to spend much longer amounts of time away from each other, but I shesh hate being away from Brendon. I miss him so much it hurts. But he is having fun and learning all sorts of things, so I am happy for this opportunity. I just miss him. A lot. And it's only Tuesday.

Luckily today I had good entertainment! My little sister come up from San Marcos to hang. We went on a run and had some delicious lunch (btw, Blue Dahlia Bistro is where it's at). Sister time is always bueno! Especially when you're feeling lonely!

Brendon and I are running our 8k in less than a week! Sunday's the big day. We did a practice run this past Sunday and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. We added almost two miles to our usual run and it was very doable. It was my best run to date and I think I finally found my happy place while running. My lungs and legs weren't all that happy, but they were working together and it felt good. My previous two runs were real bad, so it was rewarding to have a good one, especially added those two miles! Feeling myself get stronger is the best. Although I am still sore and my poor left calf is a mess. Get it together, calf!

Now, back to the random old picture of a cat (not really that random when you consider it's me). I love animals. Seriously. Possibly more than I love humans most of the time. I have this thing, where animals, all animals, make me cry. I don't know why, but pictures and videos and actual animals make me tear up like a baby. Especially when they are not okay, or need to be adopted. It's a thing and it's silly, but it's who I am I guess. This video made me lose my cool of course. The weather is wild and it is scary. I have too many loved ones up north (in Moore, Oklahoma specifically, so glad they're okay!), those tornadoes need to chill out. There are more storms coming and it's stressing me out. Rain, rain, go away! Actually, just come to South Texas, we need you! Tornadoes, y'all can just disappear though. My thoughts go out to all the people affected as well as their four legged friends. Watching that video made me happy, but it also made me think of all those that may not have had that luck. BUH, don't think like that, don't think like that.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I miss my husband, I love all the animals, and I want everyone up north to be safe. Please be safe. I need to bake something.

And for smiles, how'd she get so fat?

52 weeks of baking: 19 - grapefruit yogurt cake

A friend posted a recipe for grapefruit cookies the other day on Facebook and they sounded amazing and I'd been thinking about them since. I was about to finally bake 'em when I thought, what ELSE can I bake with grapefruit? Since I made cookies last week I figured I'd try to do something a little different. And surprise surprise, I consulted my girl Deb and she had a grapefruit yogurt cake that looked amazing.

I love me some grapefruit and I love me some of this cake. It came out perfectly. It's the moistest softest cake ever! And the glaze gives it the nicest subtle crunch. It's got just enough grapefruit flavor and unlike many citrus baked goodies, it's not overwhelmingly sweet. And I think I finally figured out the weirdness with my oven, I lowered the temp 25 degrees and for the first time in a while, my edges didn't get extra crispy! Hurray!

I highly recommend this little cake. And I'm sure you could swap out the fruit for whatever you'd like. I think it would be badass with lime, lemon, or orange. Or a fruit combo!

OH and in the midst of doing some dishes, I turned around to find this:

Cat on the counter. She's such a brat. She has to be in the middle of everything.

52 weeks of baking: 18 - chocolate chip cookies

PHEW, you guys. This week was a close one. I barely squeezed in time to bake, and what I did bake wasn't all that original. Chocolate chip cookies, specifically, the recipe on the bag of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chips. It's the recipe my mom made growing up and it will always be my favorite. My cookies never turn out as good as hers did, but that's typical. She has those "mom powers".

This cookie dough, divine.

They came out a little, flat? But they're delicious so whatever. I apologize for the slight lameness of this weeks baked good. Life has been all kinds of busy and I have been all kinds of tired. I think I have, as my dad likes to say, the African sleeping sickness. Not really, but really, I'm so tired. All the time. There is never enough sleep. Buh.

Aaaand I leave you with, my favorite cat butt:

Sophie is the best baking assistant. She loves being in the kitchen while I cook. She meows at me and rolls around at my feet, and while things bake she allows me to hold her. I think she just likes how warm the oven makes the kitchen, but I like to think she likes hanging out with me.

Decemberlife

Why yes, that is the Twilight Saga next to the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy. Sometimes I'm a silly girl, don't judge.

Sheesh! December is always busy but dang, this year it seems extra crazy. I've been slightly absent from the blog because life you guys. Life. 

I have recently become the big boss lady at work, got that General Manager status y'all! Brendon just finished up his semester yesterday, so I have my husband back for a few weeks! It had been study city up in the Hogan residence you guys. Study study study, with little movie breaks (somehow we fit in the new Batman trilogy).

But as crazy as life is and no matter how much I wish it would slow down sometimes, it is still so good. This holiday season has been full of all kinds of goodness already. It's a bit sad that it is almost over (6 days till Christmas? Get out!), but at the same time I will be glad for things to slow down and life to resume its normal pace of craziness instead of running constantly in craziness overdrive.

So I leave you with two little creatures who have no concept of holiday (or any sort of) busyness or stress. Two creatures who think that we put up the Christmas tree just for them, and that the presents underneath are an obstacle course.

As usual, Sophie refuses to show her face. But I'll fill you in on what she was doing; chewing on a present. 

I had to leave a path for Greg, he refuses to go around the tree. Sorry family if your presents are a bit smooshed. Our cats are anything but skinny.

And this has nothing to do with anything, but amidst my blogging absence I made this and it was delicious:

And yes, that is yet another Smitten Kitchen recipe. I told you that book was life changing.

Brownie cookies

I had grand plans of baking through my two days off, but I mostly ended up just curled up on the couch pouting about not feeling well. I did manage to whip up some quick cookies though!

This recipe is courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, which I'm sure you'll see a whole lot of in the coming weeks. And yes, I copied Deb and totally used a flower cookie cutter too.

Nom, nom, nom, sugar and butter. The back bone of any acceptable cookie. I need to give a shout out to my Kitchen Aid hand mixer and baking sheets for rocking so hard. Those things get lots of (ab)use and they take it like champions. A big thank you to whoever wedding-gifted them to us, I love them and you.

My favorite thing about these little guys is the perfect amount of saltiness they have. I'm a big fan of salted sweet things, and the salt and chocolate combo is no exception. They're simple cookies, nothing fancy or crazy. A snap to make and real yummy. I'm all about recipes you can just throw together, and this sure is one of them. Added into my "omg we need dessert NOW" recipes, right next to snickerdoodles. My only complaint is that a few of my "flower petals" broke off. But that's just cosmetic and another reason for me to consume more cookies. Oh no, another one broke, I guess I'll have to eat it...

Bake on folks! I'll leave you with my cat-child who loves hanging out in the warm kitchen with me.

Two cats and their human

 
It has been too long since these furry babies have graced my blog. I've said it before (possibly a gazillion times) and I'll say it again, I don't know what I'd do without Sophie and Greg. These two, man. They are too wonderful.

Greg is much more photogenic than his grey sister. When I take pictures of him, he looks like this:

And when I take pictures of Sophie, she looks like this:

Seriously. 90% of the pictures I take of her, she has the "ghost head" as Brendon and I have taken to calling it. She wont stay still for crap. I think it has to do with the fact that she is way too cool to have her picture taken. She's too cool for a lot of things. Like cuddles, most of the time. But she can act tough all she wants, she's a big softy. She is the first to greet me at the door when I come home and usually the first to wander sleepy eyed with me into the bathroom when I wake up (even at 3:30am). And she always loses her cool when we are gone for long periods of time. She is a big fan of us, she just doesn't like to admit it. Little tough sweet baby, what would I do without you?

Greg on the other hand is always about the love. He is the most affectionate cat, probably on the planet. Also perhaps the weirdest.

I have felt bad lately, because I've hardly been home to hang out with these guys. So today since I had free time after work, we had a cuddle party on the floor. Which is pretty much their favorite thing ever. You want these cats to love you? Lay on the floor.

Greg basically lost his mind with happiness.

The whole time I was taking pictures with Greg, Sophie was directly behind the camera, looking like this:

Classic bitch face. She's not Greg's biggest fan. And she turns into the green eyed (literally) monster whenever he gets attention.

But of course she got some love too:

But it didn't last long, because she's a brat like that and had to escape asap. Unlike Greg, she is not a fan of kisses or hugs.

Cat love. It's endless. And I'll leave you with this lovely image:

Greg looking incredibly special. Surprise!