The Poll

I find it kind of neat that 17 people have voted on my poll already.

I didn't even know I had 17 readers.

Maybe people are voting twice? hehe

Anyway, it's nice to see that so many people are going to vote in this

historic and important election.

Happy Voting!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night, I went to a pumpkin patch with two of my roomates, Jenny and Angelene. Today, we carved them! Here are a few pictures of the final results from the pumpkin carving. I didn't have my camera last night so unfortunatly I don't have pictures of the pumpkin-picking-out adventure or the hay ride.

I can't get this pic to move down, but here are the results all lit up!

My finished work

This is Jenny with her pumpkin (on the middle step).

Angelene with her pumpkin (on the top step).


My pumpkin is on the bottom step.

And a close up of mine. I'm not going to lie, we used stencils...

My pumpkin all lit up!

Broomball

As I've mentioned before, I joined a Broomball team this winter. Our first game is December 2. I learned that there are special shoes you need to play that help you avoid slipping as you are running across the ice; the soles are spongy and have holes to provide traction. So today, I went out and bought broomball shoes and a broomball stick.

Here is a pic of my broomball stick and shoes...

And this is a close up of the shoes so you can see the spongy sole with the holes.

They are super light and the spongy part is really squishy!

The good ol' days

Although I feel like I am settling into Minnesota life, I would not consider myself "settled" yet. On days where I feel less settled, I tend to think of the good ol' days in CA and figured I'd write some of the memories on my blog. Not because I am dwelling in the past though; I have plenty of things to look foward to (broomball, ice hockey and snow!!). I am writing these because it is just nice to think about the past memories sometimes.

Most of them probably won't be interesting to anyone but me, but I am going to make the list anyway...

-I miss playing poker every Saturday night! And I miss the fact that David got tired of me bringing the same "Snack to share" every week (taco soup... he liked it but didn't share the same passion for weekly servings of it)

-I miss watching CNN with Brandi every day at lunch at State Farm in Roseville and talking in the break room about our faith and what we thought about the current events (this, by the way, is how Brandi and I started to become really good friends)

-I miss hearing Alicia say, "I'm saying..." when she agreed with someone and felt passionate about the issue.

-I miss losing hours and hours of sleep staying up late talking to Jon. And watching 24 with him (this is how Jon and I started to become really good friends)

-I miss making Rachel crazy by making empty threats that I was going to hurt her cat, Bauer (this is when Rachel started to question the strength of our friendship haha j/k).

-I miss paying Rachel $20 to clean my bathroom (I know this is my cousin Rebecca's favorite room to clean, but it's definitely not mine)

-I miss living with one of my BFF's.

-I miss all the yummy things Alicia would cook (especially her Tortilla Soup... I was the only one who liked it... go figure that the picky one was the only one who liked it!)

-I miss playing hours of Dr. Mario with Alicia

-I miss David blasting the cold air when it got a little hot in the apartment on poker nights (did I mention I miss poker nights?)

-I miss walking with Brandi on our morning and afternoon breaks at work.

-I miss In-N-Out and Round Table

-I miss having the option of going to see my Turlock/Modesto relatives when I had time

-I miss being able to ask Rachel "does this outfit look ok?"

-I miss being able to just sit in the same room at the same time with all my CA friends

-I miss knowing my way around town

-I miss watching American Idol and Hell's Kitchen with Rachel

-I miss having my own bathroom and huge room and huge closet!

-I DON'T miss my neighbor who played the piano at 9am every Saturday morning!

-I miss talking to my mom every morning on my way to work (in CA when I was on my way to work at 645am, my mom was already up because it was 845 in MN so we actually talked on the phone a lot more then... now I get to see her more, which is better, but I do miss the morning chats)

-I miss the hot tub at my old apartment complex

-I miss carpooling to school with Rachel

-I miss church shopping with Brandi (we never did find one... boo! to seeker-sensitive movement in CA)

-I miss the summers!

-I miss tubing on the American River

-I miss Alicia's 3rd-party perspective on politics!

-And her snowman shower curtain and hand towel that was still up in March/April haha!

-I miss Jon's Chevy Cavalier. Oh wait, I mean his music, wait, neither. hehe =) But I do miss his poker advice

-And I miss discussing with him any and every topic that came up at school

-I miss the nights we'd all hang out at Rach and I's apartment and then realize that, yeah, we like hanging out at Alicia and David's better.

-Alicia and David lived about 100 yards from the train tracks (the tracks were up on a hill) and I miss picturing the train derailing and rolling into their apartment every time it went by (no one probably knew that one!)

-I miss mojo bars-mountain mix!

-I miss the amazing shower water pressure in my old apartment!

Well, I could sit here all night and think of stuff. I am sure there are big things I miss that I didn't think of (maybe my friends will comment on those things; who knows).

As I said, I do have things to look forward to here, like the Broomball team I am playing on (starting in December).

Good times...

Just Taylor

5 Hour Nap

I took a 5 hour nap today - well, 4 hours without interruption and another hour, waking up periodically. It felt great and was much needed.

I just figured I would post this useless information since my blog title is about naps, and this nap was a great one!

I Get To Vote!!

When I first arrived in Minnesota, the first thing I did was register my new 4Runner. While I was there, I found out that I had to take the Written Test in order to obtain my Minnesota Driver's License. Since that day, I have avoided going to the DMV. But who can blame me? It's not like the DMV is anyone's idea of a good time! Especially when you have to take a test. I figured I would just stay licensed in CA; I mean, it's valid across the US and I don't look half-dead in the picture as some license pictures turn out... I had just one problem (besides the whole, "you have to get a license once you've been in the state "x" number of days..." problem)... I can't vote in Minnesota if I am not registered to vote in Minnesota, and I can't register to vote in Minnesota if I don't have a valid Minnesota I.D. (or utility bill, which I also don't have).

This is when my wheels began to turn... I could always just try and vote "absentee" in CA by sending away for an absentee ballet... I could have it sent to my old apartment where my friend Rachel still lives and then she could forward it to me! I felt a little guilty about this idea since the county sent me a postcard that asked for my permanent address and told me if I gave them an incorrect address (like my old address), they would send me to prison forever. So, I told the truth: I live in MN now.

The second reason my "vote absentee in CA" idea bombed, as if the first wasn't enough, was because in the words of one of my favorite cousins, "McCain (who I will be voting for... no secret there) doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell in California." Minnesota, on the other hand, is a "swing state" this election so all the votes matter a whole lot!!

I finally dragged myself to the DMV and took the test (I got an 80%... the lowest score you can get before you fail... but good news, the 2nd test would have also been free! A sad consolation). I would have done better but some of the questions were ambiguous! If you talked to any of my professors or job trainers, you'd find that I am notorious for challenging test questions, especially ambiguous questions. As I was sitting there taking my test, answering incorrectly on some of the ambiguous questions, I thought to myself... "If I fail, should I complain about the test questions?" But then I figured I wouldn't... it's not like they wrote the questions or would have done anything about it, even if they had agreed.

The moral of the story... I am voting in November! I could not, in good conscience, fail to find a way to vote when I am clearly passionate about this election.

Disclaimer: If you live in CA and plan on voting for McCain, don't let the "snowball's chance in hell" comment discourage you from voting! If all you McCain-Supports get out and vote, who knows what can happen =)

CA Trip Sept 2008

On September 11th, I flew to CA to spend a long weekend with my friends. The occasion: one of my best friends, Brandi, was getting married and I had the honor of standing in her wedding as a Bridesmaid! Here are a few pics from the weekend...

Brandi and I at the wedding rehearsal.

Getting my hair done for the wedding (I love getting my hair done).

Brandi getting her hair done.

Brandi lookin' good in her pre-wedding outfit!

Riding' in the Limo!!!

Rachel, Alicia and David at the reception.
Ok, a little silly.
Alicia and David!
Rachel and Alicia
Brandi and I right before the wedding.
Rachel, just hanging out at the apartment.

Taco Soup

I would be doing the world a disservice if I withheld my Aunt Pup's Taco Soup recipe from it another day.... especially now that it is "autumn" (well, some of you who aren't in the Midwest are still waiting for "autumn" to arrive) and the time of year we make soups more frequently.

This taco soup (it's kind of like chili) is honestly one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life. I literally make it about once a week and then eat the left overs for 2-3 days (lunch and dinner) and never get sick of it. I have never met anyone, kids or adults, who didn't love it (at least they didn't say so).

Anyway, here is the recipe... if you try it (and you REALLY should), post any variations or suggestions you have when making it so others can try it "your" way!!

Happy Autumn!!! And, THANKS to my Aunt Pup for introducing this amazing soup to me! =)


Taco Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion (chopped up)
• 1 lb ground turkey OR beef
• 2 can of beans (I used black beans, but you can use any kind of bean you’d like: kidney, etc)
• 1 can of corn
• 1 16 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 Bag of Tortilla Chips
• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream

Directions:

• Cook up ground meat and onion together in a large pot.
• Drain the meat grease.
• Add beans, corn, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and taco seasoning.
• Let simmer for 15+ minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Serve with chips, cheese and sour cream.
  

(This is just one variation of Taco Soup. I change it up sometimes by adding more corn, or no tomatoes (because I hate tomatoes), etc, so you can always add or take away ingredients as you like).

Since I make this so much, I can also tell you it costs about $20 to buy everything, which is pretty good for me since it gives me about 4-5 meals before it goes bad and I have to make another batch. Which reminds me, if you have had it as left overs for a few days and you think it might be too old to eat it as left overs, don't eat it. I made that mistake once :) Just make a new batch!