Summer in Silicon Valley

I feel like that sounds so glamorous, “Summer in Silicon Valley” but honestly, I feel pretty darn glamorous!

I love Summer, and as I sit here with the doors and windows wide open, a cool summer breeze is passing through my apartment.  (Fortunately, the downstairs neighbors aren’t smoking because that really ruins it.)  Summer brings about unlimited possibilities and creativity.  It’s a time to break outside, be care-free and have an adventure!

With summer comes swimming, parties, and homemade ice cream! I made a cranberry sorbet last week which James LOVES though the after taste is a bit tart for me.  I found a variation on Pinterest that includes rosemary, so I think I may make that next! I pinned it to my Food Board if you want to check it out (http://www.pinterest.com/elisseaimee/yummy-goodness/) ((Woo hoo, look at me, I figured out how to insert a link!))

Though here is the recipe I used:

All you need is:

1.5 C H2O

1.5 C C12H22O11 (Otherwise known as Sugar (or sucrose))

2.5 C Plain Cranberry Juice

You are going to want to combine the Water and Sugar and boil for about 1 minute (until all the sugar is dissolved). Then, pour in the Cranberry Juice, bring to a boil again and just remove the mixture from the heat.  Once that’s cooled to room temp, refrigerate it for 3-8 hours.  Next, pour it into your ice cream maker (follow the manufacturers instructions) and mix until it’s the consistency you want.

You will want to then move it to your freezer container and freeze at least 2 hours before serving.   I used basil as a garnish because well, it was pretty! I also served the sorbet in a martini glass because that was fun too.  I’m sure you have some creative serving suggestions (which by the way I would love to hear).

This past week, I’ve also had several failed attempts at chocolate chip muffins and a cake.  Turns out, baking at high altitude is actually far easier than at sea level!

Other then that, I’m going to take a moment to brag about what a wonderful fiance I have. I woke up the other morning to this on the table:

Yes, I feel loved and yes, I do have the best fiance ever!

But to wrap it up, get outside and enjoy the weather! It’ll be cool outside before we know it so let’s spend August soaking up the rays! (Metaphorically of course because we’re all wearing our sunscreen!)

 

The Unemployed Life of A Recent College Grad….

The conundrum is, even for an entry level position, people want you to have 2+ years of experience and generally speaking, people are applying for an entry level position because well, they are entry level and don’t have experience.  So, you need experience to get experience.

The truth of the matter is, I haven’t been on the job hunt that long (less than a month really) and already I am climbing the walls!  I’m not sure it’s possible for the apartment to be any cleaner, and in all honesty, I should be spending more time researching things for my wedding, but I am on this addictive job hunting binge where I do nothing and do not allow myself to do anything other than look for a job.  I got an interview! I thought it went pretty well, and though it was 2 days ago and they said they would get back to me in 1-2 weeks, I could almost taste success! That is how I landed where I am right now.

However, my road of unemployment has been an….interesting one:

At first, I found this meme on Pinterest, thought it was funny, chuckled a bit and moved on

Until…I found myself sending my friends this pic saying “Wine for Lunch? Why Yes, I am unemployed!”.

Then, there was the baking binge….

and a pretty tasty dinner of broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken with roasted tomatoes.

 

 

I’ve gotten quite good at growing basil, and now have way to much! Maybe I could bring a fresh bunch of basil to my next interview as I beg for them to choose me, have faith in ME (over every other recent college grad waiting in the lobby).

 

Then of course, there’s the eating your feelings part where you order the most decadent dessert at Cold Stone…..and have them add an extra brownie.

 

 

As it turns out, boredom breeds duck faces! (and possibly selfies) I found myself taking a duck face picture the other day and the number of selfie pics on my phone has increased exponentially.  Fortunately, I have not progressed to the point where I post any of these pictures on the internet.

My social media has blossemed! I now have a Twitter (you can follow me @ElisseAimee) and check out my new board on Pinterest! (http://www.pinterest.com/elisseaimee/my-life/) My other boards have also seen significant improvement so, I suggest perusing them as well.

 

I think my photography skills are about to get a boost cause I’m gonna go photo crazy this weekend with my AWESOME camera!!!! (A graduation gift ironically enough) It’s a Canon EOS 6D and I LOVE IT! I’ve started shooting in manual so, we’ll see what creative images I capture.

Working for Disney

My amazing ride on Space Mountain with the lights on!

Space Mountain with the Lights On! This was a magical moment that made my life!

The Disney College Program is NOTHING like what I thought it would be and working at Disney World is hardly a fairy tale. I started off as a lifeguard at Typhoon Lagoon but due to an excessive amount of lifeguards was deployed to Fast Pass Plus. So, I stand all day holding an iPad (which after 6 hrs can actually be very heavy) and book guests’ fast passes.
Who knew guests were so crazy! (and some of the cast members too) Going into this experience, I knew that there were sometimes going to be disgruntled guests but I had no Idea how many! Honestly, it’s a breath of fresh air when you see the next guest walking up to you is smiling. It’s Disney World for goodness sake people, SMILE! In training we learn that the average family visiting Disney World has saved for 4-5 years and is spending $10,000 on their vacation. This is a very sobering statistic and if a family has worked this hard to be at Disney then I want to help make their vacation amazing, but there really is only so much we can do.
There are the generic grumpy people who are spending their expensive vacation in a bad mood because they can only get 3 fast passes per day and there are the angry annual pass holders who don’t like the new fast pass system however, several days ago I had a family wanting to book fast passes at 8:00pm (which is really too late anyways but I was going to help them get some fast passes). One of the sons asked if you had to pay taxes on fast passes and I explained that no you don’t because they are free and each person gets 3 per day. He then proceeded to ask if I would be willing to sign a contract that they would not need to pay….what am I supposed to do with that?!? No, I will not sign any contract now give me your damn tickets and let me get you a fast pass. People are crazy.
Biologically, people are programmed to focus on the negative. This goes back to when we were hunter/gatherers because a human was more successful at procreation if they focused on negative experiences because that meant that generally they lived longer enabling them to have more offspring. Fast forward a few thousand years to 2014 and I now try to focus on the positive at the end of a work day. I try to remember a few happy interactions I had with guests…but that’s an uphill battle and frankly, the crazies make for better stories.

Next in Life: Graduation!

After 4.5 long (and somehow very short) years, I will be graduating with a B.S! A week from tuesday, I will take my last final and immediately after go put the alumni license plate frame on my car.  College was a wonderful experience.  I learned so much about life, people, the world….and oh ya, biology too.  Now, all I have to do is focus on finals and get through them.  All I can seem to think about though is how wonderful life will be once I’m out of school and I have time to bake, and go out, and cook, and be creative, maybe try a few of those pins I’ve been accumulating.  How wonderful it will be when I have a job that pays me MONEY for my TIME and at the end f the day how I wont have hours of homework I still have to do and a project that I should have started last week.  How wonderful the real world must be….but I also know that my glorified image of graduated life is most likely not what I day dream about.  So now, I sit with my lab note book in front of me, and a looming practical; but surely next year will be better when I can enjoy the holidays.

In Life…

So, after many years I decided to finally give blogging a try. It seems odd to me that someone (you) are a random person who wants to read about my life but I suppose that after I finish this entry I’ll poke around other people’s blogs for a bit and maybe even follow a couple.

I am creating this blog because while I’ve tried keeping journals and diaries and what not they never seemed interactive enough. I like pictures and instructions and crafts (I am an avid Pinner!) so it seems to me that a blog is where I belong.  I want this blog to serve as a reminder of just how awesome life is. I get caught up in where I am going, where I have been and the future but i tend to ignore the here-and-now. Hopefully, this blog will help to pull me into the present. I intend to at least post everyday and hopefully there will be a photo to accompany my post!

So far, my hobbies have revolved around cooking and baking but my new hobby is photography! As of right now I will become one of those smartphone photographers the commercial for “the phone that put the camera first” is talking about and hopefully within a year I’ll have a real camera.

I chose the name Elliemay En La Vie because it seems to me that by reading this, you are getting a chance to peek in to the window of my life.

So for now I am waving at you from my window and hopefully tomorrow you will pass by again for a glimpse…