Busy but good

It's been a blur lately. Haha.

This sums up life in the Jupson-Barker house. It's been a while since I've written on my little piece of the internet. (The non-Facebook piece. I actually am not that into Facebook! Anyway.) Some highlights:

Work
It's been quite a crazy semester for me. Most days feel like a wild goose chase. The to-do list keeps growing. I am exhausted, can't seem to shut off my brain, and wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. But it's okay, because work has been really good. Even with the non-stop insanity! I feel very blessed.

Budget
After stalling forever on creating a budget, I finally sat down with a calculator, punched some random numbers, and came up with something tolerable. And I've stuck to it! Granted, it's only been 20 days. Baby steps. We are still figuring out this marriage/finances business, but it's getting easier. I mean, having a budget does help a lot. (So does having a husband who is good with numbers.)

Food
Seriously the most exciting thing happening for us right now. After some trial-and-error, we figured out a system in which I plan only 3 meals a week, spaced just so that we can really maximize the leftovers. We eat pizza on Fridays. Pizza Fridays!

The crock pot has been a revelation. At first I was leery of leaving something on for 10 hours (I'm one of those people who will drive back to make certain the coffee maker was turned off). But the crock pot is a lifesaver. I usually use it on Mondays, because who wants to cook on a Monday? Not me.

Pinterest has continued to be my go-to recipe finder. Best legitimate waste of time.

Sunshine pasta! Really easy and super cute. Eggs with pasta.

Spicy Thai noodles. Being with Zach has raised my tolerance for spicy foods. Easy recipe, and I added chicken and vegetables to make it more filing. I'm like a 5 year old who needs to be tricked into eating her vegetables. (Except I am tricking myself, very meta.) One day I will really love vegetables.

More vegetable trickery! Tomato and chickpea biryani and oven-baked okra. This one was a little labor-intensive, but worth it. We had leftovers for days!

Zach has a classmate who is Indian, and she invited their study group to her house for dinner. I haven't met her yet, but she is destined to be my best friend. The most delicious Indian food I've ever eaten.

I am not entirely sure what everything is, but it doesn't matter. I want to rewind time and eat this meal all over again. 

Little Rock

It's always nice to get away for the weekend! We went to Little Rock for Fall break--it's only 2 hours away and I found the most adorable bed-and-breakfast near the downtown/River Market area.

Robinwood Bed and Breakfast! Love this place. Just like the Gilmore Girls-- except without Lorelei, Sookie, and Michel. So really, nothing like the Firefly Inn, but still special. Our inkeepers were a mother and daughter, and they were so sweet. It will be hard to go back to regular hotel rooms.

 A little jazzed about the room.

The Marion Suite! It effectively erased all memories of our hotel room in San Francisco.

The perfect relaxing sun room.

We are the most predictable people ever. Just give us coffee and magazines, and we are happy.

It was so nice to spend time together, exploring a new place. We love Little Rock! It used to be just a city we pass on the way to Texas, but now we have a new appreciation for it. Never judge a city by it's interstate.

At the nature center downtown, pretending to be Abe Lincoln.

Red Ribbon Week has taken over my life.

Of course, we ate a lot of food. #1 hobby of all time.

River Market = gigantic food court of happiness.

We ate at The House in the Hillcrest neighborhood. Such a neat little area! I think we fell in love.

Not an alcoholic, promise.

Love him! I'm always taking pictures of him. He's a good sport.

 People always ask me what's wrong. Nothing is wrong. It's just my regular facial expression. I mean, this is my relaxed face. I'm actually quite happy in this picture.

We're just enjoying this time right now, and feeling pretty happy. It's good. We are cautiously optimistic about the future. Cautiously, because I think when things are toooo good, I'll probably burn the house down with my crockpot or something equally terrible. So it's better to be cautiously hopeful, right?!