Good food, good tunes.

Okay. So I guess I had you all waiting a while to hear about the results of my first crockpot experience...I know you were all chomping at the bit to hear how it went...right? Sure. So, for who ever cares, it went swimmingly. :)

Moment of truth, Crock Pot.

Like I said I made that Cheese Burger Joe recipe, which has the same idea as sloppy joe's but cheesier and yummier. I believe even if you are opposed to sloppy joes, you'd like this (Darcy).

Unfortunately this is the only pic I have of my creation..I took this "before" pic with intentions of taking and "after" pic, by the time we finally got the opportunity to eat this, it was gone way too quickly. There fore, I had no chance to grab the "after" shot.

 It was definitely a hit with the roomies! I made sure to make it on a night where I knew we'd all be home for dinner. We also had our friend Ashley join us! The more the merrier! So there was a total of 5 of us (6 if you count Tom's garbage disposal appetite), most of us had seconds, and there were still some left over! So in other words, it makes a ton. In the end, I highly recommend this recipe to you all.

Becca, soon after eating, fell into a food coma.

Now, can I just get into what I made for dessert real quick? Because it's quite possibly the easiest yet tastiest "recipe" ever. I say recipe in quotations because it's not elaborate enough to even consider it a recipe. Here is what you do.

1. Buy a tube of pillsbury crescent roll dough. (I bought 2)
2. Buy 2 apples (I got 2 empires)
3. If you don't have cinnamon sugar...get that.
4. cut your apples into 8 slices each
5. sprinkle each triangle of dough with that cinn. sug.
6. roll 1 slice of apple up in a triangle-o-dough
7. sprinkle apple crescent roll with more cinnamon sugar
8. Repeat the last two steps until you have 16 apple crescents
9. Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it (easier clean up..if you don't have it though, just grease the cookie sheet instead)
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.

Steps 5-6

aren't they cute?

Topped with more cinnamon sugar and ready to go in the oven

Finished product- Nom.

So they are basically mini apple turn overs and they are delicious. All 16 of them were gone with in 5 minutes between the 5 of us. So, give them a go! And let me know what you think! I believe I will be making these again for Super Bowl Sunday. The food is the only thing that really motivates me to attend Super Bowl Parties really.... I am not big on football to be quite honest, but hey, Go Ravens! (That is for you, Alyssa). 

So living in a duplex apartment, we have our neighbors living below us. And can I just say we really got lucky with who those neighbors are. When we first moved in, the only thing we really knew about them was that there were 2 guys and a girl living there, and the guys had a band that practiced on the reg. down in the basement. We were a little nervous, wondering if that'd end up being a disturbance to our apartment, but we soon learned that wasn't going to be a problem. I say this not because we couldn't hear the band playing from the basement, because we could, clear as day, through our vents..but I say this because they play awesome music!! I tell everyone who comes to visit our apartment that its like having iTunes play through our vents. 

(Left to Right) Vadim, Ruben and Aleks rehearsing in the basement (they played us a mini set back in November)

We also befriended our neighbors, Ruben, Lindsay (who are dating) and Vadim, right away, so like I said we got pretty lucky. Aleks is the 3rd band member and we consider him and his girlfriend, Ashley, our neighbors as well since they are over so often! hah. 

"The Neighbs" as I like to call em.
Lindsay, Ruben, Ashley, Vadim and Aleks on New Years.
We still aren't sure why Ash was frowning here..lol.

So this past Wednesday the band, known as FOWLS, played a show at a local bar here in Rochester, and even though we had heard their songs through our vents a number of times, to actually watch them play was awesome. Kelan and I went to the show with the girlfriends, and we all had a great time! 

Some pictures I got of FOWLS at their show on Wednesday.

So those are the recent happenings from this past week. This post really made me realize how much I love food and music. hah. So feel free to keep those recipe suggestions coming, as well as any music recommendations! I am always up for discovering new bands/artists.

Thanks for those of you who threw some crockpot recipes my way! I definitely want to try some of those out asap. I feel like my next crockpot quest will be apple sauce though, the way my grandma used to make it. Stay tuned for that ;)

Pouring out of my face

Last night was a very emotional night in my apartment. When I say this, I'm not trying to sound all emo and get you all to feel bad for me. I strictly cried my eyes out last night due to two of what I vote to be some of the saddest movies ever. In other words, "Good Cry Movies".

It started with Becca browsing our movie selection and asking what Seven Pounds was about.

I am perfectly fine with the fact that I love checking out Will Smith when he's shirtless, despite his age.

[Now before I go any further, I am going to highly recommend you watch both movies I am about to discuss, but only when you are completely willing to cry your eyes out, because YOU WILL CRY, don't even think you won't....and if you don't...you have no soul.]

Anyways, Seven Pounds basically cannot be explained more than, it is a movie with Will Smith (one of my favorite actors) and it is very good but incredibly sad. So the easiest way to understand what it is about, is to watch it. Which is what I told Becca. So that was movie number one, and I'll leave you with Becca's reaction after it ended:

"At first, I didn't think I was going to cry, and I thought I had no soul...but then it all hit me and tears just started POURING out of my face!"

So after we finished watching Good Cry Movie #1, we got into a discussion about what other incredibly sad movies we had seen...which eventually led to Becca , Tom and myself bonding over our mutual love for Moulin Rouge.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love,  and be loved in return."

This turned into a "If you give a mouse a cookie" situation, because if you get the three of us talking about Moulin Rouge, we're going to want to eventually watch the movie.  So despite the fact that we were already emotionally drained, and that it was 10:30 at night, we started up Good Cry Movie #2.

What's perfect is that Kelan returned home as soon as GCM#2 was nearing the end...aka when the water works really kick in for me. Which had him genuinely concerned asking, "Oh honey, are you going to make it?!" And no, no I wasn't, to be quite honest.

So I hope you all can relate with me on how sad both of these movies are. Like I said, if you haven't seen them, get on that. I will end this subject with one more movie suggestion for you all: The Impossible, which is still in theaters. We will name this Good Cry Movie #3. It is about the Tsunami of 2004...need I say more? And yes, as you might have guessed by this point, I love Ewan McGregor.

On another note, I am currently awaiting the results of my first crockpot venture! I received a crockpot for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!), and have been wanting to make a crockpot recipe ever since. I was just waiting to stumble across the perfect recipe. I think I might have found it, Cheeseburger Joe Sandwiches. Like sloppy joes but cheesier and better! (Hopefully...) So stay tuned to see how the loss of my crockpot virginity went...and for my review of said recipe in my next post. I'll try not to keep you all waiting in anticipation for too long!

Don't let me down.

Any Good Cry Movie suggestions/experiences to share?
Feel free to share a yummy crockpot recipe with this newbie over here. (please and thank you).

Laser Tag, Kleptos, and Butterballs.

So I know it's been a few days since my first post, but I decided to wait until I had adequate content to share in this second post of mine. I do have to live up to my claims in my introduction post to you all.

We'll begin with Friday: I had the day off, and thought I'd get some work done on a wedding invitation I am currently working on, as well design a header for this lovely new blog of mine. So it's safe to say I got into one of my design zones. However, I snapped out of this zone to my roommate Becca charging up the stairs to our apartment shouting, "ROOMMATE MEETING!! MELISSA GET OUT HERE!" At this point panic takes over me and I dart to the dining room where Becca had already gathered Tom. I try to think of what this could be about...did I do something wrong? Were we robbed? I had no clue what to expect as I waited in anticipation while Becca caught her breath. Once she finally gathered her self, she presented a genius plan to us: Trek to Buffalo, to play laser tag...us (the Rochester team) against her girlfriend's team (the Buffalo team). After I recovered from the slight heart attack she gave me before presenting this plan to us, I quickly agreed that it was a great idea! Unfortunately Tom could not attend, which was sad since laser tag is right up his ally and he'd most likely be our MVP on the team. ( I gather this theory from his excessive video game playing, regular attendance to Yoga class, and his ninja Ultimate Frisbee moves.) But we didn't let his absence stop us. So after Becca was prepped and ready in her black spandex on underneath her street clothes), her, Kelan and I made the trip to Buffalo, in hopes to dominate the Buffalo team and send em home crying to their mamas.

goofs.

something you all should learn quickly, I'm obsessed with skies.

 But first, we ate dinner with them. Okay okay, I know we shouldn't dine with the enemy before such a treacherous battle, but I guess we were doing the "keeping the enemies closer" deal. So after scarfing down a delicious burger and seasoned waffle fries, I was ready to do this. However, being the poor person that I am, I decide to ask how much this laser tag session was going to be. To which I learn, it is SIXTEEN DOLLARS for a half an hour of laser tag. I know right?! I hope everyone reading this realizes that that is a ridiculous price to pay to shoot lasers at each other and possibly some annoying kids for only 30 minutes. So as you can imagine, everyone besides 2 people (Becca and her girlfriend, Alison) had to awkwardly back out. Making our trip to Buffalo not nearly as epic as we expected. However, when I find myself making more money someday, I do want to play laser tag in Buffalo, because after backing out we learned that there is a bar at the place, which I find to be pretty genius. Playing laser tag with a buzz...officially on my Bucket List.

And we move on to Saturday: This was a very exciting day that I had been anticipating since Thursday, because one of my besties from my Oswego years, Kate, was coming to visit me for the night! I hadn't seen this girl since....September? Sure. Either way, it had been forever and a day since I had last seen this girl and I was ecstatic that she was visiting. Upon her arrival, we immediately got to catching each other up on our lives, you know, typical girl talk. We then had a few drinks with the roomies, and headed out to a bar for a friend's "new job/goodbye to old job" party in legit...the middle of no where. This detail soon contributed to our growing urge to take random shit from this place. It all started with a "Happy Birthday Casey" sign. Becca and I had our eyes set on it, and Kate, our star kleptomaniac of the night, finished the deed and took down the banner in three stealthy moves. Now as you can probably imagine, we did not stop there. To make a long story short, our total inventory from this nowhere bar was: The "Happy Birthday Casey Banner", a 1/2 price appetizer sign, a sign that read "No unauthorized popping of the kernels of the corn" [great wording, eh?], Malt Vinegar, a set of Salt and Pepper shakers, A1 sauce, Hot Sauce, 3 ping pong balls, and here's the best one....a giant stick of butter that we dipped in the popcorn maker...in other words, a buttered popcorn ball. So I believe it's safe to say, we had a very successful, hilarious, Klepto night. My roommates and I soon learned that Kate fit in with us PERFECTLY! I had a blast having her visit me in Rochester, and can't wait until she returns!

great signage.

Becca, Kate, and Kelan posing with our buttered popcorn ball.

Casual pic with a giant stick of butter.

Pro Kleptomaniacs.

we may or may not have made this mess....

So I hope this gives you all a glimpse of what is to come in my future blog posts. Basically expect complete randomness.

Any proud klepto accomplishments you wanna share with me??

A Work in Progress...

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Melissa, however feel free to refer to me as Liss, Lissa...Meowlissa..Pookie. Which ever you feel might make you get better acquainted with me.

Hi.

I am new to the blogging world, so bear with me. I am going to need to establish a "blogging groove"...and I am not sure how long that will take. Like I said, bear with me.

I suppose whenever people start a blog, they have a certain "overall theme" or "goal" they'd like to cover through out each post of theirs. Let me just tell you all right now, that is NOT the case with me. I happen to be starting a blog for the simple reason that I enjoy blogs, I enjoy writing, and I tend to have hilarious events occur in my life that I feel is necessary to share with complete strangers...? No but really, I have been meaning to start a blog for a while now. I recently had a friend of mine leave this post on my Facebook wall:

So everyone, thank Casi for kicking this blog off!

My best friend Darcy  also started one a few months back, (who was inspired by her sister, Alyssa, blogger genius), and I find myself getting almost too excited every time she posts. This may be because she fills her blog posts of pictures of her crazy adorable 5.5 month old son, Harrison. But in all seriousness, her blog is hilarious and gives a nice dose of reality to the concept of motherhood, which I know I'll be even more thankful for when I hit my motherhood days.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves people...I am far from motherhood. Infact, first things first, Melissa needs a boyfriend..first step. This contributes to the title of my blog and my first post. I am a work in progress all around. I graduated college in 2011 with a BFA degree in Graphic Design. I am a Graphic Designer. However, before you all start "oo-ing and ahh-ing", I should inform you all, I have yet to land a full time job as a Graphic Designer. Living in Rochester, New York kinda puts a damper on the whole "job search" when it comes to my field of expertise. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of opportunity for me in this lovely city of mine. So in the mean time, I refer to myself as a free-lance Graphic Designer/Coffee Barista.  Yes that's right folks. I work in a coffee shop...in a grocery store.

So the job situation is one contribution to the title of my blog "A Work in Progress", however, my whole life seems to be a work in progress. Like I said, I am single....have been for about a year and 4 months? Sure. I mean, I've dated here and there, but have not had a serious relationship for over a year now. I should mention my last relationship lasted almost 4 years...And while I was in love with my x for most of those 4 years, towards the end I realized I wasn't being shown the love that I deserved, in fact I wasn't being shown any love for the last year or so of that relationship. So when it finally came to an end, it was almost a relief to just catch some me time for a while. Four years is a long time to be defined by someone else. You know what I mean? When you establish yourself in a long term, serious relationship, people start to define YOU as you and your significant other. For instance...

"Are you guys coming to the party tonight?" 

"What did you two do for the holidays?" 

"You two are just too cute!!"

So all I am saying is that after 4 years of that,  it's nice to be asked "Are you coming to the party tonight?"  and be told  "You are just too cute!!". Okay, so I don't get the cute comment as much..I feel like I'd start to question if I was 5 years old if I got that comment on a regular basis....But you get my point.

okay...maybe I am 5 years old.

But yes, I am single, have been mingling...and I am getting to the point where I really would like to be loved again. I am getting sick of the dating games. And I am at the point in my life where I have my friends getting engaged left and right...So silly boy drama is getting old, and I want to find "the guy", I'm ready to find him. I'm sure I'll have some dating mishaps to share with you all before I find prince charming, I'm just hoping it won't take another year and a half. A work in progress.

One last detail of my life that I'll include in this epic first post of mine: I recently have become a big girl and have moved out of my parent's house this past November. I live in downtown Rochester with 3 absolutely hilarious roommates, Kelan, Becca and Tom. I should let you know that we were all great friends before moving in together, and so far it has been one of the best decisions I've made ever to move in with them. I am constantly saying that our life is a sitcom or we need to get a camera crew to follow us for the next hit Mtv reality show. Just you all wait, I will have some very comical stories to share involving the four of us and possibly some guest stars. And through out my blog posts, I'll try to recall some stories from the past to entertain you all. Who knows, they might just be funny to me...but I'll give it a go and see what you all think. For now I will leave you with some photos of me and the roomies, to give sort of a preview for whats ahead:

Left to right- Tom, Becca, Kelan, and myself.

Thanks so much for reading my incredibly random first post. Like I said, I still need to find my "blogging groove"...I guess its...a work in progress? Hah, see what I did there? (yeah, I enjoy corny jokes, brace yourselves.)

ps. I should mention: Starting a blog was my 2013 New Years resolution...I'm only 16 days behind...not too shabby right? Have you followed through with your New Years resolution yet?