checking in

Ciambellone allo Zafferano
13oz-ish Ricotta
2.5c flour
1c sugar
3 eggs
lemon and orange zest
pinch of saffron
seeds from one vanilla bean
1tsp baking powder
orange juice

mix well and bake at 400 for 40min

(I'm waiting for it to bake so I'll tell you if it's good after I try it.)

I once had to take a Myers Brigg type personality test when I started a new job. They gave me a little placard to keep at my desk so people knew how to interact with me professionally. Hmmm, multiple choice personality. The thing I really didn't like about it was that people would be like, "So, what do you do for fun?" I would then respond something about having gone to art school or cooking or something and they would look at me blankly as if photography was something they had never heard of and then search my desk frantically for my personality venn diagram as if it was going to translate the meaning of my life...wait for it...wait for it...ahhhhh..."Photography, I can see that about you." It was like when people tell me I"m totally an Aries. But,, my moon is in Pisces...But the real trouble with that was those pesky little lines that I had to read twice, those little ten word tidbits that could maybe, possibly, be true. "

Nicole, you are 40% blue, 34% green, you work well as a leader except when grouped with a 20%+ purple, and you have a BAD HABIT OF NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH THINGS."

Okay, to my defense it said that my greatest strength is my initiative, starting the task with great enthusiasm, I'm just supposedly horrible and finishing the job.Though the job didn't work out and within two months I was packing the little plastic placard in a box to take home ;) , I refuse to accept it as a Nicole Laverty truth and instead would like to think it was a little reminder of a personality trait I do not want Mr. Briggs to one day feature in the pie chart on my headstone. That is why I (we) must keep blogging. That and Andrew has passed out 49760483 business cards with this web address on it in SW Montana alone and I refuse to look like that one girl that had a cool business card and nothing to show for it.

We leave for Yellowstone on Monday so, tomorrow is our last full day in Laurin. The water is running high this year and the sun's been having a hard time of coming out. It's still heaven. Being stationed here for the last two weeks has really given me a chance to prepare myself for the big journey ahead. Seattle seems a thousand miles and years away and I can't believe how quickly the little things untied themselves from me. I don't carry my cell phone and haven't checked yelp once. Things are different. As we were driving through the valley today, I was telling Andrew how being out here has really helped me to understand what clarity and focus is all about.Things just seem to reveal themselves as important or not here and it is seldom what I would have told you was important before. Even tonight as we began repacking the car load we began to realize that somehow our pile of things that "we had to have" had Jenny Craiged itself into a reasonable Honda Accord sized roadtrip package.

There are a lot of blanks to fill in about how we exactly got from there to here in such a short time and we'll get around to it. We've got pictures and stories to dot the map. But, for now I just needed to let myself know that I'm following through.

It's nice to be in a new state of mind and I've been soaking it up as much as I can.

Cake's done, Andrew's waited up patiently for me to finish. Thank god for Angry Birds.