Adventures in Being a Grown Up

Booyah.

2012-11-01T15:41:00.002-04:00

Dinner with the ladies tonight and I couldn't be more excited....Betsy this post is for you. Let's see....what else is new....hmmm....oh yes.

He put a ring on it. Booyah.

Happy Birthday Rives!

2012-04-16T15:19:00.000-04:00

For the fifth year in a row Elizabeth and I whipped out our chef's hats and created Rives' birthday cake! This year the birthday theme was Star Wars and the cake was R2D2! I think it looks pretty darn accurate if you ask me!

victory

2012-04-16T15:11:00.001-04:00

Success! The molcajete did not get the best of us and we were proud to serve some delicious guacamole in it to our friends Ben and Lisa. Will also be busting it out to host Mom and Dad for a Mexican Fiesta tomorrow night....let's hope they don't get any grit in their guac and chip bite.

Beach here I come.....

2012-04-12T14:08:00.002-04:00

Been busy, busy, busy....will post something more next week but for now trying to get out to door to head to Hilton Head for the weekend! Yahoo!

DIY Herb Planters

2012-03-27T12:08:00.001-04:00

I'm not much of a do-it-yourself person specially because I don't know how people find the time for these projects! When I get home from work its all I can do to scrounge up a meal for myself and brush my teeth before bed. HOWEVER, I saw the below on Pinterest and since I was planning on planting some herbs for this summer ANYWAY......I decided to go all Martha Stewart on you folks.

Step 1: Go to Lowes and buy: (1) terracotta pots (2) herbs and (3) a quart of Chalkboard paint, of which you are only going to use a few swipes leaving the rest to surely go bad as its being stored in your shed. Lay awake that night thinking of other uses for paint, and, other than paint all your walls with it so you can write on your entire house, resolve yourself to the fact that this DIY project is going to cost you more than just buying fresh herbs from grocery store every week. **sigh**

Step 2 : Attempt to put painters tape on pot, only to realize the due to some law of physics, or gravity, or some other geometrical math that you didn't pay attention to, when you put the tape on there it curves with the shape of the pot, thus creating more of a trapezoid than a square. Wonder if that's just your eye playing tricks on you or fancy science. Get ruler and measure equal distances from the top and bottom of pot to create square and then jerry-rig tape into a sort of straight line.

Step 3: Wonder if you should prime pot. Look in shed and luckily find latex primer leftover from when they painted your house. Put a layer of that on pot, tell yourself you are going to wait 24 hours for it to dry, become impatient and paint first layer of chalkboard paint 4 hours later. Paint second layer the next night and force yourself not to "test" chalkboard paint with chalk. Realize you couldn't test pot if you wanted to because you don't own chalk. Go to bed.

Step 4: Buy chalk at Target on way home from work the next day. Start gently pulling tape of pot and wonder if it would have been easier to just buy those cute little metal spikes that go in dirt with the herb names on them. Make mental note to remember that next time.

Step 4: Assess pot and realize it looks pretty good!

Step 5: Test chalkboard out. Very pleased with yourself. Then realize that you wanted to put these pots outside and rain will inevitably wash off herb labels. **sigh** Put them outside anyway.

Step 6: Admit to your readers that you did this project last week, and still have yet to actually plant the herbs in the planters. Baby steps people, baby steps....

Music Monday

2012-03-26T15:02:00.002-04:00

Had a fabulous weekend up in the mountains of North Carolina to celebrate my dear friend Anna's birthday! We sat by the fire, ate delicious food, drank great wine and relaxed! Pics to come but for now wanted to share a fabulous soundtrack that we listened to all weekend! The soundtrack for the HBO show Treme - we had it pretty much on repeat all weekend and its so great, check it out for yourself! "Feel like Funkin' It Up"......

Molcajete: The Battle Continues

2012-03-22T16:16:00.002-04:00

So we've riced (I just made that term up, do you like it?) the molcajete 7 times, and then I spent a good chunk of last night grinding rock salt into table salt. Technically I used sea salt because my grocery store didn't have rock salt but at this point I could care less. THEN I ground up four cloves of garlic, a tsp of cumin, a tsp of pepper and a tsp of salt. I was tempted to get the tsp of salt from the 4 pounds of it I had just created with all my grinding but opted against it.

Then you leave it in the molcajate for 24 hours. I cannot explain to you how much my house currently reeks of garlic. It hits you upside the head like an awnry grandma when you walk into the house.

The true test will be tonight when I attempt to make guacamole!!! We are having another couple over for a Mexican fiesta and we are going to eat guacamole out of this container if it kills me which it very well might. I don't care if there is grit in it, I don't care if there is a whole pebble in it, we are eating guac out of this MOLCAJETE!!!! (insert Ellen shaking her fist in the air and making a determined face)

ugh.

Friends

2012-03-21T14:02:00.001-04:00

Great Uncle Tom and Julia

Molcajete

2012-03-19T15:21:00.000-04:00

This is Patrick "seasoning" my molcajete. What is a molcajete you might ask? Its that dang bowl made out of volcanic rock that they make the guacamole in at fancy Mexican restaurants. I make a mean gauc and so for Christmas last year, my sister got me one from Crate and Barrel (yahoo, thanks sis!). It came with instructions on how to season it - aka grind up white rice into a fine powder 6-7 times, then grind rock salt into table salt 6-8 times, then grind up garlic and a bunch of other spices until the rough and bumpy inside is smooth and ready for gauc.

Easier said than done! After ONE SESSION with the rice and molcajete my arm felt like it was going to fall off. It THROBBED when I went to bed that night and I had to take Advil. Last night Patrick took a turn for round 2 and 3. Tonight he is determined to get in a few more rounds.

One day in 2013 we'll be able to make some gauc, I can just feel it.

Others seasoning theirs:

Guest Room Project

2012-03-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

So Santa Claus bought me these gorgeous antique twin beds for the new house. I can't really get a good picture because I don't have a fancy camera but you get the general jist. I'm in the process of decorating this room and I'm SUPER excited about it because (1) its a small space that I can decorate fairly quickly with not TOO much cost, allowing me to check at least one room off the decorating "to do" list and (2) it will be so nice to have a great space for people to come and stay with me in my first home! Been brainstorming ideas and you'll have to stay tuned for my post on the finished product in a month or two but for now here are some things I'm thinking.....

Pic of the twin beds....apparently step 1 should be "Buy Mattresses."

LOVE this fabric that my cousin Elizabeth and I found at fabric store. Got a bunch of good swatches to try out in the room - picking the fabric is half the fun! In the past I've made my own valances (note to self: share with you people the re-do of Lucky Charm's guest room that I did. Awesomeness.) but this time I might splurge and have a professional help me from me fabric store. They don't charge very much and the hours of labor I would spare would be WELL worth it.

Then I've been thinking of things I can put in guest room to make it feel welcoming and comfortable for folks. Things like:

Bedside Water Decanter and Glass....Love how the glass flips upside down to act as a lid! Inexpensive and can be found at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Amazon, etc. But Bed, Bath and Beyond means 20% coupons baby!!!

Luggage Rack from Ballard Design

Absolutely obsessed with this alarm clock from Pottery Barn. Its a pricier one (aka not $15 bucks) but might have to go on my birthday wish list.

On of my favorite bloggers, Dooce, has also recently redone her guest room and, although we have very different styles, her readers gave some great suggestions of things to include in the room. If ya'll think of anything you've seen or experienced that you loved in a guest room give me a shout! Always looking for ideas!

Keepin'. It. Real.

2012-03-07T10:50:00.001-05:00

You know how it seems that people only put the best version of themselves on their blogs or Facebook? Only the pictures where they look the thinnest, or their hair is looking good, or their family looks all nice and clean and pulled together? When in reality, you know what a hot mess their life is, and that's ok......because your life is a hot mess too and its supposed to be that way. Life is very messy. And sometimes your hair just won't cooperate. It just won't.

Well, I just had to share this with you. I was working from home on Friday because the First Lady was visiting Raleigh and traffic was a nightmare. I was wearing these extremely attractive and figure flattering sweat pants with a t-shirt and some slippers. (Cause what else would you wear when you work from home? Not REAL pants! And by real pants, I mean yoga pants. Cause those are for "fancy" occassions like meeting your friend at Target.)But I digress....after a while, I got chilly. So I went into my closet and threw on a sweatshirt. About an hour later I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and the mystery was solved. THIS was where romance comes to die.

Such an attractive grey on grey sweatsuit ensemble I was rocking. Lucky Charms certainly is one lucky man.

Music Monday

2012-03-06T12:56:00.001-05:00

That's right folks, its back. I haven't done Music Monday in a LONG TIME. And its not even Monday. I meant to post this yesterday but got distracted.....by Facebook. If you know me at all, you know that I love a good song in the "break-up" genre and any songs about being independent women ("the shoes on my feet? I bought 'em!"....man, I miss Destiny's Child!)

Anyway, take a listen below....Amazing song, love his voice....kinda reminds me of Phil Collins? No? Am I just making that up? I present you with Gotye featuring Kimbra singing "Somebody That I Used to Know".

Ginger Chili Scallops

2012-03-05T11:53:00.003-05:00

From Harris Teeter

Made these as a "special occasion" starter for our meal on Friday night. Scallops were on special at Harris Teeter and, as I was on their website, I ran across this recipe. It was so easy and so yummy I thought I would share!

I bought 6 scallops and halved the ingredients below to make for 2 people.....3 scallops was PLENTY! Could have been our main meal. I made a quick dressing of EVOO, lime juice, salt and pepper for the mixed greens and it was a great dish. Would be great as a light supper in the summer time!

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb of fresh sea scallops
2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
6 oz sweet chili sauce (found in international section)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil to medium-high temperature.

Lightly flour and dust the scallops and place in the hot pan.

Cook one to two minutes.

Turn and season with the salt and pepper and add grated ginger, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar and chopped parsley. (I mixed these in a bowl ahead of time. And may or may not have started eating it with a spoon.)

Stir or shake the pan gently to blend, reduce the heat to a slow simmer and let cook for 3 - 5 minutes more or until the scallops begin to split slightly.

Place the scallops onto a plate and drizzle the sauce over each portion.

The Other White Meat

2012-02-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

So last week I had two pork tenderloins that I needed to cook before they disappeared forever into the frozen abyss that is my freezer. The first one I just marinated and baked in the oven.....for the second one however, I broke out the trusty slowcooker (aka crockpot for some folks) and found the below recipe on Pintrest that I thought I would give a try! It turned out DELISH and Patrick and I had plenty for yummy leftovers the rest of the week for sandwiches or just right out of the tupperware for some (me)!

Recipe from Let's Dish.

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (I used a 1.5 lb tenderloin and it was plenty)
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water (I used slightly less than 1/2 cup.)

Glaze:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:
Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side. I gently sliced half of the tenderloin for dinner that night and then shredded the rest with a fork to make sandwiches the rest of the week! Save the extra sauce too! Keeps in fridge very nicely.

Bon appetit everyone!!

leather

2012-02-21T15:05:00.000-05:00

I'm not actually a leather girl BUT my lovely friend Mary Allison Allen who is helping me wade through all the fabrics, furniture, and drama that comes with decorating a house is encouraging me to put a leather ottoman in my den to "man it up" a bit. I found this one at Greenfront which I loved!! Leather but not too manly! ha!

The real question is, can I eat my dinner on this thing in front of the TV?!?

Who dat hosting a dinner party?

2012-02-20T17:05:00.002-05:00

Saturday night our friend Anna hosted a fabulous Mardi Gras dinner party and Patrick and I were happy to don our green, purple and gold to get into the festivities! If there is one thing I love, its a themed party! Anna and her hubby were perfect hosts provide laughs, cocktails and GUMBO! There was even an authentic king cake delivered straight from New Orleans - I REALLY wanted to find the plastic baby Jesus but, alas, our friend Tripp got 'em! Thanks Anna and Robert for hosting a fabulous night!

rugs, rugs, rugs

2012-02-17T16:37:00.004-05:00

So I'm in the process of decorating my den (more on that to come, I've been a deadbeat blogger, I know!) and I'm trying to pick out an area rug. Who knew this would be so hard?? The room is a large one so the carpet is going to be large. I THINK I'm ready to pull the trigger on the below.....I absolutely love it, and the colors are perfect for the room. Both the couch and loveseat are neutral so the room can handle the pattern but.....still nervous!

In more exciting news, I DID pull the trigger and order my drapes for this room. A splurge to be sure BUT I got a little management award at work that came with $$$ (dolla dolla bills ya'll!) and the fabric is too perfect for the room AND I LOVE IT SO I ORDERED THEM, BE QUIET SUBCONSCIOUS, NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

(camera phone photos, not the best!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T12:13:00.001-05:00

I love Valentine's Day, especially when it starts with a great email message from Rives and Julia!

Baby's Bottom

2012-02-10T11:45:00.003-05:00

So I survived and it didn't hurt AT ALL.....it was like a little vacuum all over my face and left my skin feeling like a baby's bottom. I'm supposed to wear a high SPF sunscreen on my face so it doesn't burn, which I do everyday anyway so we are all set!

I'm charging the Clarisonic skin brush and won't use it today since my skin has already been exfoliated, but will give it a try tomorrow! I can already tell I'm going to love this gadget....I'm a sucker for any type of gadget.

Heading to a friend's lake house this weekend for some relaxing by the fire, red wine and yummy food....much needed, long week. Really ready to get out of town and sleep in tomorrow!

yikes

2012-02-09T10:54:00.003-05:00

I won a gift certificate for Microdermabrasion at a plastic surgeons office and I'm going this afternoon to get the treatment. I'm excited and scared - mainly because I spoke to two different friends, one of which said microderm made her skin look gorgeous and the other one who said it was so painful she would rather give birth again then have someone remove the top layer of her facial skin again. GULP.

The best news is that the other part of this gift certificate? Is for a Clarisonic Skin Brush which are normally like $200 dollars! They were one of Oprah's Favorite Things and since me and O have very similar discerning taste, I'm pumped to start using it.

I'm fairly certain that after my "procedure" and after I start using my new facial brush, I will look like this, no?

Swagger Wagon

2012-02-06T14:51:00.001-05:00

If I ever have children, this is pretty much how I envision my family.....

Go Cats!

2012-02-02T12:16:00.007-05:00

For Patrick's Christmas gift this year, I surprised him with plane and basketball tickets to go see Villanova in Philadelphia. He is such a trooper about going to all our UNC games, so it was so much fun to check out Nova's home court and see all of his favorite haunts in Philly.

Friday night we arrived into town and headed to the Ritz for a cocktail, then off to Parc for a DELISH dinner! Started off with a Mushroom and truffled Fontina Cheese Tart and then I moved on to Gnocchi in Parsnip Puree with Brussel Sprouts. And of course a great bottle of red wine!

Saturday morning we got some breakfast and then headed down to the Wells Fargo Center where Nova plays....headed to the bars around the Center to hang with Nova fans and partake in a couple "game beers". Did you know they serve beer at Nova games? Amazing.

After the game we had all afternoon to walk around Philly and hit up some bars in Old City. My friend Kathryn met up with us and we spent the afternoon eating fresh mussels, drinking Belgium beers and lounging by the fire at The Plough and Stars.

Saturday night dinner was a Cheesesteak from Jim's. And it was heaven. After I finished it, I turned to Patrick and said "I want eight more of those right now." SO GOOD. This is a pic of the delight on my face as I'm about to dig in.

Was so bummed to leave on Sunday! Had so much fun in Philly and definitely want to go back and spend some more time there.

Last Friday Night

2012-01-30T16:02:00.008-05:00

No, its not the Katy Perry song but a couple Friday night's ago WAS pretty exciting. Rives spent the night with Aunt El for the very first time and it was a BIG night let me tell you. We did a variety of activities including, but not limited to:

1) Made our own personal pan pizzas and then ate them with chocolate milk while staring VERY INTENSELY at the movie we were watching "George of the Jungle 2" - quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen, I literally wanted to claw my eyes out. I was sneaking and reading a magazine every so often but Rives kept catching me and telling me to "Pay attention!"

2) Then we rewarded all of our hard movie watching with ice cream sundaes. The sprinkles shaker didn't have a slotted lid, it was just wide open, which I discovered when Rives poured almost the entire container in his ice cream and then told me he just needed "a few more to make it really good". You know what? I totally get it. Go hog wild, just throw out the container when you are done, ok? That's what Aunt's are for - we're cool with that kinda thing.

3) All this pizza and ice cream resulted in some good snuggling on the couch, with Snowflake, the Wells Fargo horse that Lucky Charms brought home from work a few weeks ago. I enjoyed watching Rives' eyes get all drowsy and sleepy looking like he was "food drunk" - which I suppose is what happens when you eat such a healthy dinner at Aunt El's!

4) And the next morning? We were back at it again with some delish Krispy Kreme donuts that Rives selected at the grocery store that evening! At this point I was feeling slightly guilty that the child had had no actual sustenance for almost 12 hours so I made him drink some Pomegranate Blueberry Tropicana 50/50 in the hopes that some of the vitamins would off set this second round of sprinkles being delivered to his belly via donut. I told him he could only have 2 donuts and could bring the rest home, and as soon as my back was turned? There was a third donut being shoved in his mouth. Then we watched another movie....this time it was "Despicable Me" which was adorable and highly entertaining.

5) And then it was time to go home! Please note the sugared out, hyper eyes and that third donut kicking in! I would say this is the PERFECT time to drop him back home with Mom and Dad, no????

We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

Cheesy Blaster

2012-01-26T14:15:00.003-05:00

On more than one occasion Lucky Charms has compared me to Liz Lemon, and by "compare" I mean said, "You are Liz Lemon". I'm not sure this is a compliment, but he insists that Liz is hot and witty and for the "thinking" man. If that's implying Lucky Charms is a "thinking man" mes thinks we're all in for a rude awaking, no?

Regardless, I do admit some similarities - brown hair, glasses, an affinity to anything which begins with "meat lovers".....and perhaps some of my dance/singing routines. BUT OTHER THAN THAT, what do you really have to base this off of.....

Now that I think about it, Carrie and Spoon made this comparison first based off of my incredible air guitar skills.....and love of meat and cheese. I'm seeing a theme here.....

The ex-Social Network

2012-01-25T15:40:00.006-05:00

Ellen: Hey Facebook! The old FB! Mind if I call you FB?

Facebook: No, go right ahead!

Ellen: Look, we need to talk. Its not that I don't love some of the suggestions you make to me - I do, I really do. Its just that....well......you keep telling me I should be "friends" with some folks who, quite frankly, I don't think I should "friend". And no matter how many I times I ignore you? You keep pushing them on me. Pushing, pushing, pushing! I mean, I get it. I'm pretty awesome and a blast to be around. But I mean, enough is enough.

FB: What are you talking about? You and "Jane" have TONS of friends in common! You guys will get along great! You should think about doing a timeshare in the Bahamas.

Ellen: Well, the thing is? "Jane" is my ex-boyfriends wife. So.....I'm thinking she won't want to go on an international escapade with me. Hey, maybe I'm wrong! I'm just tossing it out there!

FB: Ah. My bad.

Ellen: And the current boyfriend's THREE ex-girlfriends? I don't think they are going to want to be friends with me either. And definitely no timeshare. I'm just sayin', get it together FB.

FB: I see your point.

Ellen: Good talk.

You would think with all the stalker technology Mark Zuckerberg and the FB team have, they would be able to deduce the difference between "Friends" and "We have a lot of the same people in common because we used to date the same person".

I live in terror that one day I'll accidentally click the wrong button and a note will go out asking to be "friends" with one of these folks and then I'll have to explain that, "I'm so sorry, no, I don't want to be friends. Its just that darn Mark Zuckerberg is one pushy little bastard."