Hi my name is Chik and I'm an addict...

I’m an addict. I can’t help it. Sometimes (who am I kidding… every time I type the darn website into my browser) it draws me in. I think… oh I’ll just read one and then next thing you know I’ve virtually attended a dozen or more complete strangers weddings! It’s like late 20 something, single girl crack. I look at the pictures, read their proposal stories, steal ideas for my own wedding one day in 2057, admire their bling, think how I would never wear a gown so unflattering. Why do I care to look at strangers weddings? Sometimes I get tired of going to weddings of people I actually know (this is probably because since I’ve been single I’ve attended 73 weddings all alone). Geez… half the time I think I might just elope so why can’t I help myself? Just like other addicts, I’m just trying to get a fix. Maybe to fix the afternoon if I’m feeling lonely or bored. It’s like a little pick me up minus the calories. Or maybe because I’m a glutton for punishment and I just want to be sure I know when The Troll is engaged so I can stop wondering (all other serious ex’s are engaged or married already). So you see… it’s not just stranger weddings I’m fascinated with. I’ve also discovered yet another way to internet stalk people from my past. First there was google, then myspace, then linked-in for professional reasons, but theknot.com is really in a category all its own. I can type in the bride or grooms name and viola… I have discovered their wedding webpage. Let’s be honest. Half the time I google someone it’s to figure out what’s new in their lives. And when you’re my age most often the “new thing” is marriage (or babies – yay my first girlfriend just had one last week). Why play around on google to find someone’s status when you can simply go straight to a wedding source. So… with all this site has to offer how can I not get sucked in just a little bit?

My poor friend E is usually the recipient of my latest find on theknot. Today I sent her a sweet proposal story (of a stranger nonetheless and she had to ask "who are Tricia and Chad again??"), a few weeks ago she was privy to find out a random guy from college, who was DEFINITELY not the settling down type, was now in fact married (cute proposal story included on that one too). I believe that discovery led to approximately 3 hours of e-mailing about certain people we could not believe were married. And then ironically enough, I ran into said dudes old roommate that same weekend and had to play dumb about the marriage knowledge. And that my friends is precisely why I know this is a true addiction. Addicts are usually in a state of denial. And until today I’ve been there. Consider this my first step towards cleaning up my life. I am on the path towards recovery. I’m hopeful by this spring I will be free to find out about life and weddings the way god intended… via text.

Pumpkin Bar Bumpkin

In honor of my very favorite time of the year (the build up to football season is a close second)
I want to share a recipe I tried this past weekend (to take to a football party of course). These will be making an appearance at my family Thanksgiving Fun Fest!

These are Pumpkin Chip Bars and they are quite tasty. In fact, someone who tried one (or 5) let me know these made it onto his "top three desserts" list. Wow!

As always I've made some slight enhancements to the original recipe (Martha Stewart baking cookbook from last winter). Instead of using Pumpkin Pie Seasoning I mixed my own (cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg) and I replaced the suggested semi-sweet chocolate chips with milk chocolate. Also - my friend decided to add cream cheese frosting to a few and that seemed to go over really well!

Ingredients
Makes 24.
2 cups (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet or milk chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

New Driver

Wow… a month and a half with nothing. So this is what happens when you make a personal vow to blog about bad dates and then suddenly have none. It’s not that I’ve been having no dates. Just no bad dates. Wow… I can’t believe those words were typed on a keyboard anywhere close to me! I’ve actually been going on good dates with a boy. “The boy” as my mom and I have taken to calling him.

A few words about my mom. She knows me. I mean REALLY knows me. It’s creepy sometimes. She just gets me. Gets it. And remembers EVERYTHING (except of course the smattering of childhood memories I swear to have that she claims never actually occurred – hello riding on the fire truck in South Carolina). Anyway… I digress. My mom has learned over the years that she must absolutely not put a label on my love life. Other than labeling me as her eternally single and fabulously independent daughter. Those labels I can handle. The labels about my love life I cannot. Over the years she has graciously adopted my favorite term of “just being.” I can be someone’s friend, I can eventually (a way far off until I feel totally ready to commit to that kind of title eventually) be someone’s girlfriend. The in between period is called “just being.”

Through this most recent “just being” phase I’ve discovered something. The dating game is a lot like learning how to drive. And refresher courses should really be mandatory for those of us who temporarily had our license suspended.

There are signals and signs. Some are mixed and confusing and you always pray “Wrong Way” isn’t referring to the lane you’re driving in. Accelerating and breaking are common. Sometimes it’s only in anticipation and other times it’s in response to your fellow drivers. Either way… whiplash is no fun. I think about some of my friends who were so eager to hit the open road. While I on the other hand, was a little more cautious, thinking how scary it all seemed. I took it nice and slow and avoided the major highways until I felt safe on the backroads. Eventually we all got there, some faster than others. There those “rules” everyone knows to follow that are glaringly obvious like a giant Do Not Enter sign straight ahead. No talk of religion or politics or god forbid ex’s. Remember Do Not Enter is there for a reason. Sometimes if you go down that path you might get stuck. In the end the worst thing that can happen is feeling like you’ve been hit by a Mack truck or have reached a Dead End.

Learning how to drive isn’t all bad though. When you do eventually hit the open-up road it can be really fun. Wind in your hair on a beautiful sunny fall day can’t stop smiling kind of fun. You want to show off your new car to all your friends. And you can finally forget about that old model you thought was great at first but turned out to be a real lemon. It’s a great car for learning but not a keeper.

Just like we learned in driving school… sometimes we stall and just need a battery recharge to remind us how to get going again.