About Me

Hi there!

I'm Crystal!

A look for the silver lining, challenge accepted, kick butt kind of gal!

  | Designer | Artist | Food Lover | Music Guru | Optimist |

 

I am looking forward to sharing recipes, hopefully some handy tips and tricks I've learned along the way as well as positivity and motivation to help keep an optimistic state of mind. Especially in this crazy world and in a kitchen where things can sometimes feel daunting!

 

 

How this blog all started...

 

First off, welcome! After months of contemplation I have decided to share my accidental fall into domestic life with the rest of the world. Maybe accidental isn't the best way to describe it, but, if you asked me three years ago if I thought I'd be were I am now, the answer would definitely be no.

Let me start off by saying that three years ago I was a single gal living a rushed and busy life in the heart of Chicago... these day's I'm in a very happy relationship that brought be back to my home state of Minnesota... but just a little further south than home, to Mankato. By no means a one horse town, but, also not a thriving metropolis. Oh, the things we do for love!

 

Mankato has been a transition on many levels, a transition I would never change. Before I moved to back to Minnesota I was working full time in the Merchandise Mart, a HUGE building in the heart of downtown Chicago, I was finishing up a degree in Interior Design and I was falling in love long distance with a guy that I had met through a mutual friend. It was chaotic, but not knowing anything less for a good chunk of my life, it was fine... minus the long distance from the boy... that I knew was something that would have to change!

In August of 2012 I finished my grueling, ever lasting stint with college and finally received my degree. A week later I packed up my one bedroom apartment, said goodbye to a job that had turned my colleagues into my second family, parted with dear friends I had made in the four years of calling Chicago home and I rolled the dice on my heart.

I knew things would be different. My degree in Interior Design now seemed pointless. My wardrobe of pencil skirts and cardigans would be kept in a box as I changed into work boots and jeans as a project administrator on site of the construction zone. My self propelled transportation of constant walking and hiking stairs in a bustling city was swapped for driving 30 miles to work. And the biggest change of all, my domestic as well as relationship skills were going to be put to the test.

For the first time in my life I was living with the love of my life. Not only were we in the same state, but we were in the same house. Scaring and exciting all at the same time. I also had a new shift in priorities and how I spent my time. My boyfriend's lack of cooking skills left me in the drivers seat of the kitchen. Something I wasn't entirely foreign to, but living on my own for several years with a schedule that left little downtime, cooking wasn't something I had turned into a priority.

Not only had it now turned into a necessity to avoid a diet of pizza rolls and kraft macaroni and cheese, but it would turn into a creative outlet and in some circumstances an experiment. Some of which turned into a huge success, others, not so much. I realized my pinterest boards (http://www.pinterest.com/CrystalE27/boards/) of recipes to try was growing and I had become very familiar with Taste of Home and the Food Network. Every week since I have moved I had tried at least two new recipes. My hobby had turned into an obsession. Making menus, grocery lists, clipping coupons and even branching into my own concoctions.

While I was caught up in my new domestic skills I had honed in on I also was trying to find a job that better suited my skills and future endeavors. A job that was hopefully a little closer to my new home and one that let me hang up my mud caked work boots. In an economy that seemed bleak and more people taking the out of "I'm lucky I even have a job" viewpoint I didn't care, I wasn't satisfied. I had felt like I was in purgatory. Though pessimistic at times, seven months after my move back and six months of sitting in a job trailer virtually alone 40 hours a week my resume and portfolio finally made it into the hands of a local business that did residential design and drafting and was looking for the latest and greatest (so I like to think) next best thing!

I felt like life had finally come full circle and the stars aligned. Cliché as it seems, when things are meant to be it all falls into place and my life had. I have now been designing and drawing new homes for the last eight months, and now being only three miles from home I have more time to put towards cooking, as well as myself and the love that brought me here.

In this blog I am hoping to share my cooking experiments, as well as my domestic craftiness, some of the things to do to counteract all the glorious calories taken in and most importantly how to stay in a positive state of mind, even when times get tough, recipes don't turn out and winter feels like it will never end. Because, it all works it in the end!

So again, welcome to My Domestic State of Mind!