Over the hill

Today is my dad's 50th birthday! 

 

 

So happy birthday to the man who gave me my eyes, my love of sports, my temper, and anything I ever wanted! Here's to 50 more

Happy birthday Daddy-O, I love you!

tacky sweaters

 Those are a few pictures from our Christmas party last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, as you can see from Jimmy's "hulked" shirt. I'd love to give details about the party but I just got back from my second home at the library and my bed is calling my name.

on an unrelated note, a month ago I posted this plea to gain some followers, and I am beyond pleased to say that I went from 12 followers a month ago to 58 followers today! I know 58 isn't that many but I am thrilled that so many people think I'm interesting enough to press follow! So thank you all so much for giving my a reason to blog, you guys are the bomb.com!

list of fours

True to form I have procrastinated this post for a long time. The lovely ladies who asked me to share my list of fours are Amy from A Daring Little Life and Lindsay from Scenic Glory. You must visit their adorable blogs. They are both super fabulous, talented women and should definitely be on your daily read list!

Here is my list, but be warned, I'm not good with answering questions without hours of thought, which I don't have right now so these are lacking detail. 

four shows I watch:

1. Modern Family. It is the funniest show on television. ever. Wednesdays are by far the best day of the week because of this show and my number 2.
2. Cougartown. As a die hard Friends fan I love Courtney Cox in this show. I usually have a glass of wine while I watch it, because if you watch it you know it is the center of the show 
3. Criminal Minds.This is one of my favorite shows but I can't watch it alone, or I get super paranoid and think every noise I hear is a serial killer trying to break in. and I am going to become Mrs. Spencer Reid. I think I love him so much because he is super brainy, like Jimmy.
4. Everything on food network. I love to cook, and love eating even more. So usually food network is always on. 

four things I am passionate about:

1. transitioning from my last question.. I am passionate about eating. I would rather not go into detail but lets just say my scale wishes I wasn't so passionate about this one.
2. Oliver. sometimes I think that I'm not going to be able to have kids because of how much I love Oliver. If I love a dog this much when I have a kid I think my heart might literally explode.
3. My family, Jimmy and his family, my roommates and my friends. I am surrounded by really great people who I love a lot. 
4. long showers. my best and deepest thoughts and ideas come to me while I shower. and there is no better stress reliever than singing your heart out in the shower. There is something about the acoustics in the bathroom that make me sound like I should be an American Idol.

four phrases I say a lot:

1. "bomb.com" used to describe something awesome.
2. "hola" it's how I answer the phone and greet people. But I always feel so awkward when I say it in the presence of a spanish speaking person, because its like one of the 3 spanish words I know.
3. "whatev" I don't believe in speaking in abbrevies. but this one I can't help but say a lot. 
4. "love you" you can't say it enough.

four things I've learned from the past:

1. worrying only makes the situation worse. 
2. kindness goes a lot further than choosing to be rude.
3. you never really know a person until you live with them.
4. your parents really do know whats best.

four places I'd like to go:

1. Australia
2. Italy
3. Alaska
4. Ireland

four things I did yesterday:

1. went to class. only two more weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (pardon the obnoxious amount of exclamation marks but they are beyond necessary)
2. cleaned the house for our Christmas party. my back is killing me but the house, excluding my room, is spotless. 
3. went to work. I help at the cutest little shop called jim.n.i in downtown Bryan. I wore new boots that weren't broken in and standing for 5 hours might have broken my toe. or something.
4. went to dinner with friends. they were nice enough to wait for me to go to dinner, but I didn't get out of work till 11 and the only place open was Denny's. lets just say my stomach is not happy about it.

four things I am looking forward to:

1. our 2nd annual tacky sweater Christmas party tonight!! We have a white elephant gift exchange that gets pretty crazy 
2. graduation. I was not made for school, I am so ready to be done. 
3. my wedding. I am a typical girl and have been thinking about it since I was like 5 and watch all of the wedding shows. (there are no real wedding plans, just little girl dreaming)
4. having my own house. I can't wait to decorate and create my own style in my own place!

four things I love about winter:

1. boots. I love buying, wearing and seeing boots. tall, short, black, brown, heels, flats, uggs, riding, hooker. boots boots boots I love them all.
2. snow. although in Texas there is a lack of it I love snow. 
3. Holiday decorations. I love seeing scarecrows and pumpkins and hay and then lights, snowmen and Santas. so festive and always puts me in a good mood.
4. snuggling. I love getting under a warm blanket when the weather is cold. and Oliver and Jimmy are the best guys for the job!

So there you have it, my list of fours. Here are some other awesome ladies who are fantastic bloggers. Can't wait to read your lists.

1. Brooke at shopgirl (this is my roommate who is getting back into blogging after her summer in NY and I keep telling her how awesome the blogging community is, so show her some love)
2. e.day at daily e.day 
3. Brooke at bright wishes 
4. Kelcy at when there is love there is life

Cry Baby

The stress of finals combined with my wonderful monthly visitor have made for some very entertaining and embarrassing moments this week.

It all started the other day in the Sonic drive thru. Jimmy and I have been together for 4 years but for some reason we get to a drive thru and its like we've never had a meal together. If a person on the street were to ask him what I like on my burger he would get every ingredient right. Have that same person ask him through the magic drive thru box and you'd think the police were interrogating him. He gets all mumbly (yes, I made it up) and gets everyone involved confused.

So there we were, facing the inevitable confusion that has become our norm. The girl asked if we wanted mustard or mayonnaise on the burgers, and I said "only mayonnaise" meaning no mustard. Yes, I know, it was very misleading and confusing to say it that way. It just came out and before I could correct myself Jimmy was repeating to the box "one with no cheese and only mayonnaise" whaaat?! I never said anything about no cheese. cheese, always cheese!

The combination of Jimmy making fun of my confusing order and the thought of the lack of cheese on my hamburger caused me to burst into tears.. "boohoo, stop yelling at me". Which he was not. Then it turned into a five minute cycle of crying because I couldn't stop crying. then we were laughing so hard it turned into more crying.

This debacle just occurred again. We were watching Ellen and I was getting overly excited about her 12 days of giveaways and T. Swift's performance. I had my empty coffee mug resting on my legs and Jimmy said "careful you don't spill your drink". So I thought it would be funny to pretend to throw my coffee on him. Keep in mind it was empty. oh wait, it wasn't. Coffee went everywhere. Jimmy thought it was hilarious because obviously.. jokes on me. I realize there is no need to cry over spilled milk, or in my case coffee, but here come the water works.

Poor Jimmy was again so confused as to why I was crying. "babe are you laughing or crying" embarrassingly, it was both. Jimmy was in a clean shirt and the couch was wiped off but there I was again, laughing and crying for no reason. In the the 20 minutes since it happened he has already made at least a dozen jokes about the coffee mishap. I'm never going to live this down.

I just love being a girl. not.

What's on Jessica's phone

I linked up with Jessica at The Lowe Family News to share my phone pictures of the week.

This is our little baby tree. (its actually an outdoor tree) It's tall and skinny like I wish I was. It fails in comparison to my mom's magnificent tree at home but its a perfect fit for my little college family. The tree skirt used to be on the tree when I was younger. cute huh?

Jimmy and I put up lights.. aren't they festive!? We had to plug them into my room through the window because the stupid house doesn't have an outdoor socket. so lame

This is Oli and I relaxing at home during the long weekend, and yes it is warm enough for shorts, sick I know.

Daddy-O giving Oliver leftover turkey. He probably gained 10 pounds from all of the table scraps. he. was. in. heaven.

This my friends is Oliver's place to lay. I make my bed and get my pillows
just right and turn my back for one second only to find this. This isn't from this week because my room looks like a tornado hit it and my bed hasn't been made since.. longer then I care to say, but it's so cute I had to share!

my new obsession

Yesterday I did one of the coolest things ever..

I

touched

a

real,

live,

elephant

There is a tradition at school called elephant walk so they had two live elephants on campus to take pictures with.

I'm a city girl and never see animals other than pets and squirrels, and of course living in Texas, cows. I say this knowing full well that people who live in rural areas don't see elephants on a daily basis, I just want to make sure you grasp how much I love seeing unusual animals. I get super, over the top, 4 year old kid excited when I see a deer walking on the side of the road, or huge birds fly overhead, even once when I saw a skunk on campus.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw a freaking elephant standing right on the grass where my aerobic walking class is held. Yes, I've been to a zoo and a circus, but seeing these things on my turf was totally different. We had to drive past them on the way to the parking lot and I was jumping up and down in the seat squealing like a little kid. And I may have even shed a few tears of excitement. go ahead, judge me.

Another thing that made me overjoyed was how excited Jimmy got. He has been on a hunting safari in Africa and seen elephants in their natural habitat but still cheered with me on the way to park the car. I think it may have had something to do with how cute I looked singing and dancing :)

As soon as we got to them I jumped in to take the picture. Then we just stood there for 30 mins watching them while other people took pictures. The elephant handler was so funny. A girl came up and was visibly terrified to be standing so close to a trillion ton animal so he yelled "hurry and take the picture before it kills her". She didn't think it was very funny.

So needless to say its all I've been thinking about and have added an elephant to my Christmas list. I wonder how Santa will fit it under the tree.

Monday's Menu

You guys are not even ready for the recipe I am about to give you. Everyone goes nuts when I make this green bean casserole. I saw it made a few years ago on food network and it is the bomb.com. And since Thanksgiving is just days away I wanted to share it with you so you can have the dish at your Thanksgiving feast!

Green Bean Casserole

• serves 6-8
• 2 cans of green beans
• 4 tb butter
• 2 tb finely chopped onions
• 2 tb finely chopped mushrooms
• 2 tb all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups of corn flakes
  
• shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place green beans in a casserole dish and set aside.
Saute onions in 2 tb butter until translucent.
Stir in mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and saute 3-5 mins.
Add in flour and stir for another minute or so to cook out the raw flour taste.
Whisk in sour cream.
Simmer for a couple of minutes to bring tastes together.
Melt remaining 2 tb butter in a small pan.
Crush cereal in a plastic bag and pour in pan with butter, toss to coat.
Pour mushroom mixture over green beans.
Top with shredded cheese.
Sprinkle buttered cereal.
Bake for about 20 mins, or until light golden brown and bubbly

via google images

Fightin Texas Aggies

I woke up this morning wishing I was still at Kyle Field. Last night my amazing Aggies beat the hell outta the nebraska cornhuskers, and it was a monumental game, record breaking actually. The 12th man broke a college football record for most students in attendance, 31,005 students to be exact. Jimmy and I were there to help break the record!

The saying about the Spirit of Aggieland goes that "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can't explain it." And I'm having that problem as I write this, the feeling at Kyle Field last night was indescribable, amazing to say the least.

There is something special about A&M and it was definitely apparent at last night's game. The feeling of the stadium shaking, literally shaking, from the voices and movement of the record crowd was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. And it was the first time in almost 35 years that people rushed the field!


And if you think I'm just bragging about my school, do some research. You will be amazed by the tradition in Aggieland and in all Aggies.
I wish everyone could experience it.



I am so proud to be an Aggie!

My biggest fan

My beautiful grandma, Evelyn, reads my blog every day. Every time we talk she tells me how much she loves and looks forward to reading it, and gets on to me if I don't write. She is definitely my biggest fan. She is the coolest grandma around, she travels and parties with her senior friends. She is a cross-word genius. She's a great cook. But the thing I love most about my grammie is that she tells you how it is, I know she'll always tell me the truth, even if its not what I want to hear.

That's why this e-mail she sent in response to the post about my Christmas wish list is so funny.

"HEY YOU!! READ YOUR BLOG, YOU DON'T ASK FOR MUCH!! IS THAT A BRACELET? HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH A SEWING MACHINE? ARE YOU PLANNING ON SEWING YOUR OWN CLOTHES LOL YOU KNOW MAYBE YOU SHOULD MARRY AN OIL BARRON, THEY GET MORE MONEY THAN A DR. YOU ARE SO SPOILED, BUT I LOVE YOU JUST THE SAME LOVE READING YOUR STORIES, I GET A FEW CHUCKLES..MAYBE YOU SHOULD WRITE ABOUT OLIVER, AND HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET HIM A DIAMOND CHOKER, HE IS SO CUTE.. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. TTYL, LOVE YOU LOTS. GRAM"

Like she didn't have anything to do with the spoiling?!

Gram lives in Connecticut, which just so happens to be my favorite place, coincidence? I think not. The last few times we've gone up there we brought some "extras" (jimmy and beth) and there was a shortage of beds so I stayed in Grammie's room. We stayed up late talking and laughing so loud at an inappropriate joke she told that we woke everyone up.

My favorite times with Gram are the hours we spend coloring. Yes, coloring, as in coloring books. You'd think this is a memory from my childhood but it's actually pretty recent. So what if we're grown ups who color in children's coloring books, we can stay in the lines like you wouldn't believe.

Also, since I didn't post it the other day and since I got it from her, here is the macaroni salad recipe. I don't have exact measurements. just go with it.

Macaroni Salad recipe

We always make a ton so there's plenty of leftovers to eat the next few days.

• 1 pound macaroni- elbows or shells, or whatever you have really
  
• mayonnaise and miracle whip
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
  
• 1 large can of tuna fish
• salad supreme seasoning
• salt and pepper

Cook and drain macaroni, then let sit and cool. Add chopped veggies (you can add more to taste, those are just an estimate), drained tuna, equal parts mayo and miracle whip (a few scoops of each), and seasoning. Mix well. Let cool for at least an hour, it always tastes better the next day though so the longer the better.

(my camera is dead & I can't upload pictures of mine so I found this one)

so there you have it, now you all know my amazing Grammie, and have her delicious recipe.

I love you Gram!
thanks for everything you do for me.

P.S. how gorgeous is she on her wedding day?! you should see the pictures of her from back in the day on the beach.. hot mama!

Monday's Menu

Soooo we had the most delicious burgers for dinner with roasted corn and one of my favorite dishes, macaroni salad with tuna. Which I was going to give you the recipe for, I took pictures of it and everything and then I saw a commercial for this..

This my friends is Sonic's new holiday treat.. the sugar cookie blast
And it is a treat indeed. The combination of cinnamon ice cream and chunks of snicker-doodle cookie go together like lamb and tuna fish (10 points if you can name that movie) but really.. perfect combination, tastes like Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I only had a few bites before my stomach gave into the richness, and I couldn't go any further.

I have a really bad, and I mean really bad habit of seeing food on TV and having to have it. NOW. It is usually something on Food Network or Travel Channel, this is the first time I've been sucked in by a commercial. Damn those clever marketing people at Sonic, they got me.. and I'm so glad they did.

Maybe when I recover from my sugar coma I'll post my macaroni salad recipe.