“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”

So I am coming up on my 25th birthday. 25 is a biggie, and I definitely have looked back on the past 25 years and have been extremely satisfied with my accomplishments. However, I was kind of bummed about turning 25. I mean, 25 is that age where your really a grown up. At 24 I still felt like I can mix well at social events on college campus’, but now that I am 25 it’s like you’ve hit that ceiling, and now you are forced to take the elevator to floor 2. It’s like, now I’m going to start being that old person that comes back to school events, that is “so totally out of the loop of what’s cool.” I mean, I never really knew what was cool anyways, I just pretended like I did! Anyways, I am happy I do get a rent a car now (without paying hundreds in insurance hikes), hopefully my insurance will go down for my car in general, and I finally got the bouquet of flowers delivered to my work I’ve been hassling Ian about. All in all it’s been a good start to my birthday weekend.

Great News! Last week I heard back from the Richmond Chamber of Commerce that my application for MENTOR Richmond was accepted. The MENTOR Richmond group will be compiled of 18 young professionals around the Richmond area. I submitted my application last month, highly doubting that I would be accepted since those that were accepted last year had more work experience and were further along in their careers than I. But, to my satisfaction I was selected! The group will meet twice a month for the next 8 months. One of those meetings will be a planning meeting, and once a month the meeting will be with a local executive in the Richmond area. I really feel like this is the start of my professional experiences, and the relationships I build with this group, as well as the Mentors, will carry forth the rest of my career.

Well on a side note- I thought I’d share a WONDERFUL recipe I found. Recently during our trip to Hawaii, we ate at the famous “Boots and Kimo's” restaurant in the Island of Oahu. They are very well known for their pancakes with the famous macadamia nut sauce. The dish is incredible, and when I got home I immediately starting looking for recipes. I think I’ve finally found something so similar, that it can tide me over until I can get Garrett to ship me a jar of the stuff. So, you pretty much make your standard pancakes (Bisquick is my favorite) and then you make this sauce, which you heat over the stove and pour over the top of your pancakes. It’s perfection!


MACADAMIA NUT SAUCE

1 cup macadamia nuts
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup each whole milk and heavy (whipping) cream (OR 2 cups half & half)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp lemon juice

Finely grind nuts in food processor. Dry cook in saucepan over medium-low for a couple minutes, until fragrant.

Add butter; stir until melted. Stir in flour cook 1 minute.

SLOWLY add milk and heavy cream (or half & half), CONSTANTLY whisking. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla. Bring just to a boil (or almost to a boil, be careful) and then reduce heat just a little so that it's not boiling. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring CONSTANTLY.

Serve warm.


The last thing that has been on my mind recently is the EXAM…. So far my goal of passing the CPA exam has been strenuous, but I’m getting closer (at least I think). I take part two on August 17th. The subject area is Auditing. I’ve been studying like crazy. I don’t want to be a downer and whine about the exam, because I’ve realized that life is tough. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would be a CPA! If it wasn’t difficult, then it wouldn’t be as great of an accomplishment. I’ve been complaining about this test for the past few months, like it’s a huge dark cloud following me, pouring rain on me every step I take. But, instead of fighting with it, instead of trying to fight through the rain, I need to accept it, I need to dance. This made me think of one of my favorite quotes, which is what I will end my post with today…



“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”


<>

Marian