Whew, I’m finally in Pittsburgh! We left Boston at 1:30 p.m. and we were in Pittsburgh just before midnight last night.

Now, the unpacking begins, but I’m not really unpacking-unpacking since I hope not to be in my parents’ house for very long. It really depends how long it takes me to find a job (things are moving on this front, yay!) and then I’ll need to decide if I want to rent or buy.

This means that my stuff is just kinda gonna be all over the place. My parents are remodeling the house (and since they are doing it by themselves, it is in a constant state of remodel) so my actual bedroom needs to be packed up as well since my room is next on the fix-it-up list. So, I have to find a home for all my stuff from Boston and stuff I haven’t touched in years.  I am sleeping in my sister’s room while she’s at school. Some stuff is staying here, so is going to my dad’s, some is going to my grandma’s. Its a logistical mess.

And if all this moving wasn’t enough, I am helping my cousin and her husband move on Saturday. Good times.

On the fitness front, I think I am going to sign up for the Great Race 10k. Anyone know of any good short training plans? I haven’t run consistently this summer, but have a good fitness base, so need to get into running shape over the next few weeks. May just modify a 10-week 10k plan. Not going to attempt to PR, but this will be my first offical 10k race. So excited, must run tomorrow!

Tomorrow, I’ll be breaking up with you after almost three years together. Its been a fun and crazy ride.

We’ve spent a lot of time on the T and it will be hard for me to get adjusted to driving, in a car, by MYSELF. There will be no green line dj, crazy folks and way too many students in the train car with me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to comprehend grocery shopping with a car.

You’ve made a runner out of me here. You’ve allowed me to train for two marathons and countless races on your streets. I will miss running along the Charles River on hot, summer days. As for people who asked me, “Have you ever run the Boston Marathon?” I told them, “I run Boston every day.” Anyplace that makes Marathon Monday a holiday is my kinda town. I’ll be back to run Boston someday, I may be 80 by the time my qualifying time and speed meet, but I’ll be the rockin’ granny on the course.

Thank you for introducing me to my favorite American League MLB team and teaching me how to hate the Yankees. Its only fitting I spend my last night in Boston at Fenway and sing Sweet Caroline. Sorry I never jumped on board the Pats and Bruins train, but I bleed black and gold. I’m glad I found other Pittsburghers in town to to root for the home team with.

I’ll miss the Boston Common and the Public Garden, the crazy winters, the museums, Sundays spent playing kickball, the view I got of the city when I rode the red line from Park Street to Kendall Square every morning, the Dunkin Donuts and CVS on every corner, all the ice cream shops a girl could want, the diverse neighborhoods and the waterfront, your politics, rich history and culture.

I came to Boston a little unsure of what I was looking for and you helped shape me into the strong woman I’ve become today thanks to all the friends and experiences you’ve exposed me to.

I’ll be back to visit and I’ll always love that dirty water. Right now, Pittsburgh is calling.

Love,
Julianne

Yesterday was Restaurant Week dinner number two at  Sibling Rivalry. I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while and glad I had a chance to before I left Boston.

We arrived early and were seated 30 mins after our reservation. This annoyed me and probably would not have annoyed me if the hostess or waitress apologized for the delay. I know its RW and they are super busy, but a simple acknowledgement would have been nice.

Sibling Rivalry differs from the other restaurants in that the two chefs do their own take on the ingredients. So, one may use the sweet potato in an appetizer and the other in a main course. The menu was slightly confusing since it was color-coded for the courses and a bit dim.However, there were a TON of options and it was hard to choose. I wish we could have done it “Top Chef” style and compared the various dishes!

I had Chef Bob’s sauteed sweet Maine shrimp “scampi” style over creamy polenta with lemon, garlic and sweet potato. I didn’t realize the camera took this pic without the flash and had to brighten it in iPhoto.  This dish was a little too sweet for me, but it tasted good and the portion size was large.

For the main course, I had seared jumbo cape scallops, Anaheim chili relleno, black beans, tomatillo relish and salsa fresca by Chef David. I’ve only had scallops a few times in my life, but these were amazing. I also loved the chili relleno – it had the perfect amount of kick and complimented the scallops quite nicely.

Desert was butterscotch pudding with ginger cake, candied pecans and whipped cream. I heart ginger – I need to cook more with it.  I was happy with my meal and thought everything was delish. My dining companions were not as happy with their duck and lamb entries – they just seem a little inconsistent. I would definitely go back if I had the opportunity.

Yesterday I also got to try out another swag bag item, Peeled Snacks Pine-4-Pineapple. I am not too crazy about pineapple in general, but I liked this. Its a good snack to help crave my sweet tooth. I have some gift cards from the Summit, so I’m looking forward to trying some of their other varieties, perhaps one of their samplers.

Thank goodness I’ve been to the gym every day this week to work off these dinners. I also had to cancel my gym membership today : (, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of a new routine sans gym in Pittsburgh.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Last week of Whip It Up 2009! I really enjoyed this – it made me realize how much I enjoy cooking, eating and blogging. I am going to continue to blog about new recipes I try and try my hand at a little food journaling.

This week’s challenge was to Make Your Own Take Out. One of my favorite foods, hands down, is pizza. So, when my copy of Body + Soul arrived in the mail last week and I saw this recipe for a healthy whole-wheat Greek pizza, I knew I had to try it out. Why order take out when you can make your own and who doesn’t love firing up the oven when its hot?

Ingredients
2 T. olive oil, plus more for baking sheet
1 c. cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Whole-wheat flour, for work surface
1 pound whole-wheat pizza dough, thawed if frozen (I got mine from Whole Foods)
1 c. (4 ounces) grated haloumi cheese (I just used fat-free feta instead)
2 T. pine nuts (I omitted this)
2 c. baby arugula
1 T. red-wine vinegar
1/4 c. pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Turn a large baking sheet upside down; rub with oil. Place tomatoes, garlic, and 1 tablespoon oil in a food processor; season with salt and pepper. Pulse 3 to 4 times until ingredients are incorporated but chunky.

On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin and your hands to roll and stretch dough until large enough to cover the surface of the baking sheet. (If dough becomes too elastic, let it rest a few minutes.) Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

Spread tomato sauce evenly over dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Top with cheese and pine nuts; season with salt and pepper.

Bake until crust is golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Toss arugula with vinegar and 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle arugula and olives over pizza.

My Thoughts
Was the recipe easy to follow? Mostly, rolling out the dough was a little harder than I thought. It uses a lot of dishes for a simple pizza. Cutting it was challenging, it stuck to my pizza pan.
Did it taste good? Yes, but I wish I was able to get the dough thinner and the sauce chunkier as I blended it a bit too much. Next time! It was more doughier than I liked, which isn’t surprising since the toppings are minimal.
Would I make again? Yes, but only if it was for more than one. I made this on Sunday and I still have half a pizza in my fridge. It keeps well though!

Today I finally jumped aboard the Barney Butter train from my HLS swag bag and it was fantastic. I am ordering some from Amazon, stat! It was part of my oatmeal with bananas for breakfast on one of the hottest summer days of the year, but I needed the fuel for my Body Pump class.

I was starving when I came home, so I pulled together a quick salad with , cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and balsamic vinegar and a small slice of leftover whole-wheat Greek pizza (recipe coming soon).

I finally got my moving permits for my moving truck next week and deposited my last paycheck at the bank and had some Greek yogurt with blueberries to hold me till dinner.

This week is Boston Restaurant Week and I finally got to try Rialto and it did not disappoint! I started the meal off with a corn risotto, it was sweet and not too heavy, perfect for summer.

Second course was pork loin with figs, potatoes and herb sauce. A little salty and not as tender as I would have liked, but still good.

For the last course I chose the blueberry sorbet, which was quite refreshing and my friends had the chocolate torta and peach almond cake. All in all, this was a good RW experience. The fare was light in the sense that I didn’t walk out feeling I ate too much – you know how you must eat something and feel awful afterward? It would be interesting to see how the regular experience differs from the RW experience, but RW gives me a chance to try places I wouldn’t typically go to otherwise. RW dinner number two with the roomies is tomorrow!

We got home and watched Top Chef with happy bellies. Top Chef Masters wasn’t doing it for me. Its still too early for me to pick  my faves on Top Chef, but I’m glad its back along with Project Runway tomorrow. Good food and reality TV make me a happy girl.

Yesterday was the Healthy Living Summit here in Boston and it was a wonderful experience. I was a little bit intimidated going in, but I’m glad I signed up and went! I was afraid I’d be the only new blogger there – I’ve been reading some of the girls for a while, but there were lots of new bloggers and people that didn’t blog, but I hope they got motivated to start.

Friday night, things kicked off at the cocktail party at Rustic Kitchen.

Pizza and grilled veggies from Rustic Kitchen

The food was delish and the company even better. Terry, Nina, Amelia, Deirdre and I closed the place down!

The Summit started on Saturday with a great breakfast – yogurt and granola, fruit, and a veggie bagel. The speakers were amazing and I plan to blog about the stuff I learned in the coming days.The swag bags were full of healthy goodies I can’t wait to try.

You know you are with a bunch of bloggers when everyone takes pictures of everything! I really need to learn how to learn how to use the different settings on my camera since the majority of my pictures turned out like crap.

I missed the Saturday night activity, I came home for a quick change of clothes and nap, but slept too long, opps. Between a hectic last week of work and an early wake up call today, I just didn’t have the energy to go out tonight and make the 10 a.m. class at the gym today.

Thanks to Caitlin, Meghann, Kath, Jenna, Tina and Heather for putting on such an awesome event. I met so many women who were so nice, interesting,  inspiring and funny. And, I have new blogs to add to my blog roll. The event helped me solidify the “direction” I want to take my blog while making some positive changes in my life and I’m ready to get started! Stay tuned.

Summit Group Photo!

Week seven’s theme is recipe from your favorite chef. I’m going to have to go with Martha here. I love her cookbooks, magazines, Web site, cookware, I can go on and on…I also just got my Martha Stewart Living and Body + Soul Magazines today too! This week I decided to go with a recipe of the alcoholic variety for my favorite summer drink, sangria!

Ingredients:
1 ripe peach, pitted and sliced
1 red apricot, pitted and sliced (I used a nectarine instead)
5 strawberries, sliced in thirds
1 seedless orange, sliced in rounds
1/4 c. brandy, Grand Marnier, or Cointreau (I used Grand Marnier)
Pinch of granulated sugar
1 bottle dry red or white wine, such as Spanish Rioja or Bordeaux (I went with a Sauvignon Blanc)
2 T. superfine sugar
2 c. freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions
Macerate the fruit: Soak peach, apricot, strawberries, and orange in brandy, Grand Marnier, or Cointreau and a pinch of sugar for up to one hour. In a pitcher with some ice, combine the macerated fruit and liqueur with the remaining ingredients. Mix well, and serve.

My Thoughts
Was the recipe easy to follow? Extremely easy. Chop, mix, pour. I used regular Tropicana and regular white sugar since I am not Martha.
Did it taste good? Yes, amazing. I didn’t even get a picture since it was all gone before I remembered. Its not overly bitter or carbonated like some sangrias I’ve had.
Would I make again? Yes, but I would double it since it is a crowd pleaser. And its easy to use what wines/fruits you have lying around. Its going in my recipe box.

More goodness can be found at Whip It Up headquarters.

It’s bitter sweet as I finish up my last week of work, I’ve grown to love my clients (and in PR that does not happen very often!) and have started to cross things off the list of final to-dos. Every meeting starts off with, “This is Julianne’s last…” I’m also training my replacement, which is a little weird, to train the new “me.” But, it makes me feel a little better handing stuff off rather than just leaving and worrying about how my teams are going to get stuff done. I’ve got my suspicions that tomorrow there will be a little gathering, we’ll see if my hunch is right!

I’ve been reflecting a lot about work and past jobs lately. I realized, this is the longest full-time job I’ve ever had – just a little under two and a half years. And, I’ve only been out of college for four. Soon, I’ll be starting job number four.

This is the typical norm for my field, but dang, I wish I had stayed somewhere long enough to get a full 401(k) match. And, if you are not saving for retirement, please start. It scares me when I hear of people my age who have not given it a thought! Even if your company doesn’t match, its still pre-tax dollars or look into a Roth. Ok, stepping off my Suze Orman soapbox…

I’ve been thinking about what I want in a new job and what type of environment I want to work in. I know I need to believe in the company and its products and services. As a marketer, your job is miserable if you fake it.

I’ve been making lists of companies that I’d like to work for, applying for jobs and keeping tabs on the local business news. People ask me what I’m doing next – all I really know is that I hope to be back in school part-time in January. And, I relish the thought of taking the time to find the right job and do it right. I’ve never really taken a break of more than a few days between jobs, so this will be a welcome change. I know I have a attractive skill set and will land on my feet sooner rather than later. That said, anyone have any job hunting tips or favorite career-related blogs to share?

This post is a little scatter brained since that’s how I’m feeling at the moment…Anyhow, this weekend, two of my favorite people visited me in Boston, my old college roommates Jen and Erin. We kicked off the night with some sangria (recipe to come) on my deck before heading to the North End for an improv show.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place in Brookline before heading to a Boston brewery for a tour. It was a gorgeous day, so we continued our drinking at an outdoor bar with a “Guppy Bowl.” We did some shopping and then took naps, because we are too old to be drinking in the middle of the day without naps. After our quick refresh, we went out for pizza and ice cream in the South End.

Today we decided to do something educational and toured the childhood home of JFK. I’ve always walked by this street, so it was nice to see a little slice of history in the neighborhood and think about how the family walked on the same streets I do today. The house was restored to look like it was when Jack was born. I saw some of the same details that were in all of the houses/apartments I lived in here in Boston and wish someone took better care of them. The woodwork, the staircases, the paneling. All of which are painted over and battered in the apartments I’ve lived in. I’d love to buy an old house and restore it to its former glory someday. And, I’ve even been looking at places to buy online. I’m hoping to buy once I get settled in back in Pittsburgh.

This week is my last week of work. Its very surreal. My replacement starts on Tuesday, so it will be odd teaching someone else how to do my job. I’ve been bookmarking a bunch of jobs to apply for and am ready to finally throw myself into the job hunt. Packing is another story. I did pack two boxes of books today. Once work finishes this week I think I’ll settle into a nice routine of sleeping, working out, packing and applying for jobs.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and is ready to face the week!

This week’s theme is appetizers and I made Avocado and Corn Tostaditas from a recipe I found on the Food Network Web site.

Ingredients:
1 ripe Hass avocado, peeled, pitted, and halved
1/4 c. sour cream
2 t. lime juice
1 T. finely chopped cilantro leaves, plus leaves for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 c. store-bought fresh salsa
1/2 c. canned black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels, defrosted, rinsed and drained
2 scallions, white and light green parts only, chopped
Dash hot sauce, or more to taste
20 round tortilla chips

Directions
Place the avocado in a bowl. Mash with a fork and add the sour cream, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well and mix to form a cream. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, combine the salsa, black beans, corn, scallions, and hot sauce; season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Take 1 of the tortilla chips and add a small dollop of the avocado cream. Top with the corn mixture. Garnish with a cilantro leaf.

My Thoughts
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yes, its pretty straightforward.
Did it taste good? Yes, so good and my friends enjoyed them too.
Would I make again? Yes, but I would double it if I had more than 20 people over. They need to be eaten soon after they are prepared or they get soggy.

More apps can be found at Whip It Up headquarters.