Can't you just see the excitement in his eyes?

After 4 months and 270+ hours of studying, Brent took the CAS Exam 6 yesterday, we'll find out the results in late December. I explained a little about his exams back in July. There are 9 of them. He takes them to get his professional certification as an Actuary (one of the best descriptions of what an actuary is is found here). The exams are very labor intensive and it feels like we are perpetually stuck in grad school. He studies for about 4 months for each exam. Well, he did anyway. It looks like for the last 3 he'll need more studying because obviously, they get harder and harder. If you want to learn more about Brent's job and exams, you can ask. Or maybe I'll have him blog about it himself.

Anyway, the tests are in the morning and last about 4 hours so Brent is always home by 2 on tests days and that's when we celebrate. We do whatever Brent wants to do. For example, after his test in May, all he wanted to do was veg on the couch and eat snack foods. This time, we saw Eagle Eye on IMAX (a little heavy on the swearing but, SO GOOD!!), and with our coupon we only paid $15 for both tickets instead of $16 each. Since it was a 4:50 showing on a Wednesday we were the only people in the ginormous theater until a couple walked in during the previews. It was awesome. After the movie, we went to Chevy's for dinner and ate way more food than we should have, and still had plenty leftover for us both to have lunch today. Their fried ice cream is so yummy that it should be illegal. It was kind of a late birthday celebration for me since we didn't do a whole lot on Saturday so Brent let me pick the restaurant. I had wanted to go to Macaroni Grill in Burbank but when we got to the theater, we saw the Grill was closed. Stupid! I love their rosemary bread. Anyway, we improvised and went to Chevy's instead and we had a coupon for it too which made it all the better. Best tortillas ever. I didn't take our camera but I caught a few things with my phone, which explains the poor quality of the pics.

Giant, empty theater. We should have been making out instead of taking pictures...what were we thinking?


Even food tastes better without the pressure of studying hanging over our heads...

Flashback Friday - ME!!

Saturday (when this will actually get posted) is my birthday. I'm turning 24. Yes, I know, I'm young. However, I'm finally getting a little older! Woo! I've never really had a normal concept of age because I have some siblings that are 14 and 15 years older than me so no one ever seems "old" to me because they are probably the age of at least one or 2 of my siblings. I've been told I seem much older than I am and I've always felt that way, which is nice, but then my birthday rolls around and I'm reminded of how young I actually am. Long story short, happy birthday to me, one year older and extremely grateful for that (please skip all lectures on how someday I won't be saying that)!

I always think about my parents on my birthday and wonder what their life was like adding one more baby to the mix. I'm am the 5th of 5 girls from my mom and the 6th child of my dad's. Thanks for bringing me to the world mom and pop! I'll be awaiting a phone call from my mom telling me the story of the day I was born. She does that every year, and I love that she loves to tell me about it.

Emily Jane Black
October 25th, 1984
San Bernardino, CA

Here are a few pages from my scrapbook.

Soup of the week

This week's soup was Butternut Squash. I stole it from Beth's blog. It sounded really yummy, and smelled SO good while it was cooking. Brent really enjoyed the smell wafting into the bedroom where he was studying. The results? It was ok. I always forget that I am not a squash/sweet potato kind of girl but try them once in awhile just in case I've changed my mind. I think I'm getting better though because the soup was good, especially with the crusty baguette. I think I may have put in too much curry and next time I will use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. The savory chicken flavor didn't complement the squash very well. Long story short, we didn't love it but we liked it enough to tweak it and try it again in the future. If you like squash though, I bet you'll love it! Oh, another plus was that since I bought the squash pre-cubed, it was SO easy to make! Here's the recipe:

Butternut Squash Soup

4 c. butternut squash cubed (buy it already cubed from Trader Joe's or your local grocery store, it will save you a lot of time.)
1 peeled and quartered Granny Smith apple
1 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
dash of allspice or nutmeg
1 5 oz. can evaporated milk
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken or vegetable broth

1. Put all ingredients except milk in pot and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Simmer for 25 minutes (until squash and apple are very soft).
3. Put mixture in food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
4. Poor back into pot. Stir in milk and serve at desired temperature.

Addendum to the Tag List

My friend Hillary, who also got tagged by Beth, added a few questions to hers. Actually they were suggestions from her husband. Funny stuff.

Who's funnier? I think we're both pretty hilarious. Brent is credited with the funniest one liners though.
What was your first big fight? I think we had a few hurt feelings/disagreements while we were dating but the first big fight I remember is when we were trying to register for wedding gifts at Target. I'm still not sure why I dragged him along. I should have just done it myself.
What makes your hubby cranky? The top 3: hunger, dry contacts/eyes (so weird), lack of sleep