Weekends are for exploring

When I was a young teen I dove headlong into historical romance novels. (Don't judge me.) A few of my favorites took place in Harvey Houses in the early 20th century. This was so fascinating to me that I researched Harvey Houses on my own, and even wrote a few papers about them for school - nerd alert. Anyway, here are a few historical breadcrumbs for you!

In the beginning, Harvey Houses were mostly just small diners that were located along the railway. They had a reputation for quickly serving excellent food in order to allow their diners to make the connection to their next train. (Perhaps airport food-courts should take note? Just a suggestion.)

The Harvey House reputation went beyond food, however, because the Harvey Company provided excellent employment opportunities for women in an era when their job opportunities were rather limited. They worked as servers at the Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe railway, and as a perk to their job, they were able to travel along the Santa Fe railway for free! (Sign me up!)

As the Harvey Company grew, they built large resorts to offer their customers more of a destination rather than just pass-through service. One of these resorts is located in Barstow, California just a short drive away! Even though I've been there on multiple occasions, I decided to go there again, and to bring my camera along for once. :) My brother joined me and we made a fun afternoon of it. Here are some pictures:

Beanie collage of awkwardness

 

I have friends that post self portraits all the time. Like it's no big deal. So today, I wore a beanie (Again! I've been loving beanies recently. Ears stay warm, and only half my hair has to look presentable! It's a win-win situation.) and I decided to try my hand at the whole self-portrait thing. I'm pretty sure it was a colossal failure. I felt like an idiot making faces into my phone.... if I was a fly on the wall today, I would have busted a gut laughing so hard at the human fool. I'll let you know if I find any dead flies in my room in the next couple days. Poor little fellas. Anyway, here are the pictures in all their glory to bring some cheery-ness into an otherwise stormy evening here in the desert.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. (The first of December, wow!!)

Study food

This weekend has been such a reprieve from the scattered busyness that seems to consume most my days. I've stayed in, done massive quantities of homework, and cleaned; all the while wearing sweats and a sweatshirt with my hair up in a messy bun and a tribal looking headband to keep it all out of sight. Yeah, it’s been awesome.
Anyway, that’s beside the point I actually set out to make in this post. And that point is: FOOD!

Here's a list of the food that's been powering my studying brain this weekend. {For better or for worse.}

• Split pea soup—at least one bowl a day. {Yes, I made it myself in the Crockpot without a recipe. I win.}
• An entire loaf of French bread {Of course I didn’t eat the whole thing by myself! Ahem, actually I did. Bring on the sit-ups.} Speaking of bread, when I have the time I want to try this recipe.

• Spoonfuls of peanut butter and nutella. YUM.
• Sunflower Seeds

• Soy Protein shakes, chocolate flavored. {I may or may not have added some chocolate chips to it too.}