Thankful and Four Things Blogger Survey!

Hello! It's been awhile, but I've successfully made it through midterms. The past few weeks have been filled with lots of highs and some significant lows. It's been a little exhausting, but I'm soaking up every second of this long weekend. This post is kind of a brain dump/ photo overshare so I apologize in advance for any incoherence!

I went home last weekend to housesit and hangout with my favorite pups. We wound up having a very low key Thanksgiving dinner a week early and I made my first turkey, with a little help from my mama! I also finished up a little early Christmas crafting. Annie, Linnea and I decided to make felt stockings which was really fun and they turned out super cute. I've also watched Love Actually an obscene number of times in the past few weeks... I love that movie!

That's a King size bed they're taking up. 

The sweetest old boy. I love this dog more than words can express. 

This girl needs to work on her embroidered lettering skills... Eek!

My beautifully browned birdie 

Other than that, I've been spending a lot of time volunteering at the Homeless Garden Project Store. The shop is open for 6 weeks (late November until Christmas) and it's beautiful. All of the products are made by local artists and vendors, and many of the products are made using flowers and herbs from the Homeless Garden here in Santa Cruz. The HGP works with people who are experiencing homelessness to teach farming and agriculture skills. It's an amazing nonprofit and it's been so wonderful volunteering in the store. Sometimes I go in just to take in all the aromas.

Wall of dried flower wreathes

I tend to hang out right here, it smells like HEAVEN.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Despite things being difficult at home, there is still so much that I am grateful for. My family, good friends, deep belly laughs, group texts (all those long distance friendships need to be maintained), human relationships, time (to clean my kitchen, not even kidding), my car, community, and so much more. I spent yesterday with the family of two friends (they're brothers). We helped out at a soup kitchen serving food to the community for a good chunk of the day. Then we hung out at their house and had a delicious Hawaiian dinner before heading out for Black Friday shopping at the Great Mall with more friends. I am so thankful for their family's graciousness, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

On a completely different note: This survey has been floating around lately and I couldn't pass it up. I love these things!

Four names that people call me other than my real name:

1. Gracie (real name is technically Grace)
2. Graceface  
3. Grizzle (my college girlfriend's all have "street names" LOL) 
4. Facie, Dacie, Gacie and several other r-less versions of my name (I spend time with a lot of kids)  

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Babysitter/nanny: One of my favorite jobs, and the way I support myself in college
2. Assistant Preschool teacher 
3. President/ Lieutenant Governor for Circle K International: Most time consuming positions I've ever held as a volunteer, but also the most rewarding. Wouldn't trade it for the world 
4. Student advisor for a nonprofit benefitting undocumented, first generation and low income students. Also, an amazing job that allowed me to work with a group of incredible high school and college students passionate about education. 
5. Fun Fact: I've held all of these jobs at the same time! 

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. New In Town
2. Elf
3. Love Actually
4. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist  

Four books I’d recommend:

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns
2. Sarah's Key
3. It Starts With Food 
4. After Her--> Takes place in my hometown. Very creepy but so enthralling

Four places I’ve lived

1. San Pablo, CA
2. San Anselmo, CA 
3. Fairfax, CA
4. Santa Cruz, CA 

Four places I’ve visited:

1. England, Ireland and Wales (all one trip)
2. Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Almost all of the U.S. states!

Four places I’d rather be right now:

1. Playing in the rain somewhere
2. Drinking coffee in a cozy cafe
3. In my bed (just kidding... I'm already here!)  
4. Big Basin, by a fire place, listening to JP Cooper. I just discovered him and he is amazing!

Four things I prefer not to eat:

1. Ketchup (holy YUCK) 
2. Fishy fish 
3. Fresh pressed green juice (The last few times they've been awful) 
4.  Cottage cheese 

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Pasta
2. Banana bread 
3. Peach yogurt 
4. Chicken satay with peanut sauce 

Four TV shows I watch:

1. New Girl 
2. Disappeared 
3. Gilmore Girls (relieving middle/ high school) 
4. Grey's Anatomy 

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:

1. Graduating from University  
2. Traveling a little bit
3. Moving somewhere completely new for nursing school?! 
4. Going to see my cousin's band in January when they come to SF from New York (check them out, The Hot Sardines) 

Four things I’m always saying:

1.  I love you! 
2. Linsom, guess what?! 
3. Why am I so easily distracted...?
4. Frick on a stick (don't even know where we came up with that but my roommate and I use it a little too often).

Four people I tag to answer these questions:

1. You
2. You
3. You
4. YOU!

Halloween Recap and Shepherd's Pie

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend and was able to thoroughly enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Sunday!

After class on Friday, I came home and worked on homework for a few hours before realizing that my costume was still a bunch of individual pieces. Linnea has been talking about dressing up as a giraffe since before last Halloween, and she definitely wins the costume contest this year. With the help of the thrift store, and some serious dedication, she came up with this awesome costume. She painted the tights and the shirt herself!

 I was struggling a little in the costume department. I gave the tutu and ears a little test run at a Halloween themed meeting we had earlier in the week and decided to call myself a "party animal." My friend Natalie sent me a text when she saw the pictures and said that my get up totally reminded her of Marty, the zebra from Madagascar. Thus, my new costume was born! You can call me, Marty the Party Animal! #creativity ;)

Recognize those paint samples from a previous post? 

We went to Annie's house for a little while before heading downtown. In Santa Cruz, they close down the main street and everyone parades around in their costumes. We saw awesome group costumes including a Human Beer Pong set up, hoards of Zombies doing the Thriller dance and even some people on stilts. It was pretty crazy, but we wound up back at home before midnight. 

We were all pretty exhausted after an intense week of school 

On Saturday morning I got up bright and early to head to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville, about 15 miles south of Santa Cruz. Along with a couple other Circle K members and several people from the community, we packed 2,800 bags of non-perishables to be handed out this week. And it only took us a little over 2 hours. It went by way too fast, but it was a great way to start off the day! 

The crates we filled on Saturday morning! 

Sunday was very low key. I slept for nearly 11 hours which I was not expecting to do, but I think my body really needed it.  We went to the grocery store and I picked up some ingredients for Shepherd's Pie along with my usual haul for the week. I glanced at an ingredient list before heading to the store, but when it actually came to preparing the meal, I totally winged it. After an 8 hour stint in the library, I decided I wanted to get to work in the kitchen and I think the recipe turned out really well!

iPhone photos don't do it justice! 

 Shepherd's Pie 
Note: The ingredient amounts are just approximations. I am terrible about following recipes and I tend to just eye ball everything. I need to get better about that, please forgive me!

• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 yellow onion (diced)
• 1 cup Frozen Parisian carrots (TJ's)
• 1 cup Frozen Peas
• 1 cup Frozen Green Beans
• Approximately 30 rounds of Frozen Mashed Potato Medallions (TJ's)
• 1/3 cup of Beef broth 
• 1/2 cup loosely grated Cheddar Cheese
• 2tbs Butter (to be used at various steps in the process) 
• Salt and pepper (to taste) 

1. Melt 1/2 tbs butter in large skillet on medium heat

2. Add onion and ground beef, add salt and pepper to taste

3. When the meat is mostly cooked through, add carrots, peas and beans (you can use pretty much any vegetable medley. Next time I might add some corn)

4. Pour in enough beef broth to cover the bottom of the pan, cover and let simmer until vegetables are fully thawed. 

5. While the "filling" is cooking, line your baking dish with biscuit dough (I used the pre-made crescent roll dough from TJ's). This will serve as the crust.

6. Mashed potatoes: You can make your own, or take the easy way out and use the TJ's potato medallions. I just prepped mine in the microwave and mashed them with a fork (and the rest of the butter) when they were done.

6. Fill your baking dish(es) with the beef mixture and spread the mashed potatoes over the top to cover the mixture. Grate cheddar cheese over the top

7. Place in oven at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes (or until cheese is very lightly browned) 

The final product. I promise it tastes better than it looks! Very hearty and it totally hit the spot in terms of comfort food! 

The only baking dishes I had were the brown clay roasting dishes (pictured above) I got in Mexico a few years ago. Portion wise, I would say this recipe allowed 4 very generous helpings, though it will probably look more like 6 for me! You could also bake this recipe in muffin tins if you want individual pies, or in a larger casserole dish. Enjoy!