Bacon, Need I say More? Okay, Cheese

Who says I'm not domesticated?? Eat my BLT pie Ma!

It was many many months ago when Husband's grandmother and grandfather told me the story of a mouth-watering BLT pie they had while visiting the Mississippi Delta. I immediately requested a recipe- as anything with bacon, cheese, and... bacon, sounded like a pie I could take my time to learn how to make.

His grandmother sent me a recipe about OH a year ago, and I never tried it. But the other day, after buying the cutest "Plan Your Meals for the Week" notepad online, I wrote it down on my list of things to cook. It's all a part of my personal initiative to learn new things and become more.... well-rounded?

I tend to take too much pride in being undomesticated- mostly because I loved the fear in my parent's eyes while I was growing up when they watched me groan at the thought of anything normal- you know like cooking, sleeping, or dating.

"How are you ever going to get married if you don't learn how to cook?"

"Who says I'm ever going to get married?"

"How did my kids become such commitment phobes??" My mother would sigh. "I'll never get grandchildren."

Lo and behold just four years out of high school and I had gotten myself hitched! See ma, all that brainwashing works!

Unfortunately, being married means I have this other person hanging around all the time wanting nourishment. We practically go giddy when someone asks us over to their place for dinner (Oh boy! A home-cooked meal!) or go into a mini-frenzy when people come into town and we have an excuse to eat out (it's still better than anything we have on a daily basis). Anywho- this person, who I fondly refer to as Husband, is the most supportive person EVER, but only when it comes to me cooking.

If I cook, I am pretty sure it doesn't matter if it taste wonderful or awful, he will never complain- he either stays quiet, tells me he really liked it, or in most cases when I cook.................. he goes nuts.

Quotes from Husband on the BLT pie:

"MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm GURRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" (repeat one thousand times)

**Lots of fork-dropping on the plate in disbelief of the goodness**

"Baby, I give this a 1 BILLION out of 10! It was THAT good."

"Boo, I ate half that pie! HALF THAT PIE!"

"Honey, can you make me two more of these before you go out of town?"

And my personal favorites:

"Sweetie, I can guarantee this one was way better than any hillbilly in Mississippi's was!"

"Baby, how is it that you are THIS GOOD at everything you try the first time you try it? I mean, really, it is not right to be as good as you are!"

OBVIOUSLY he was exaggerating on the last one, but compliments are few and far between so I will take them where I can get them!!

BLT Pie- ANIBSHO-style

12	slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled (ANIBSHO change-up: microwavable bacon- the whole box in the microwave on two minutes for super crispy bacon that easy to crumble)
1	cup shredded Swiss cheese (4 oz) (ANIBSHO- twice the amount, sliced from a block of cheese, and make it cheddar instead)
1/2	cup Original Bisquick® mix (ANIBSHO- 2.5 ounces of the Shake 'n' Pour Pancake Mix-- just the mix no water!)
1/3	cup mayonnaise or salad dressing (ANIBSHO- yep!)
3/4	cup milk (ANIBSHO- I only had 3/4 of 3/4 of a cup left in the fridge)
1/8	teaspoon pepper (ANIBSHO- pepper and red pepper for a kick)
2	eggs (ANIBSHO- do these ever go bad, because mine were in the fridge FOREVER. Literally, I can't even remember the last time I bought an egg. That's okay, one time in college one of BNIB's fraternity brothers stopped by my place to borrow some eggs and I gave him some that were over 4 months old and I never heard any complaints... but then I again I don't ever recall seeing him again after that..... hmmm. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.)
2	tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing (ANIBSHO- approx. Do what feels right)
1	cup shredded lettuce (ANIBSHO- yep!)
6	thin slices tomato (ANIBSHO- yep!)

Step 1:
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Or if you are us, take out the pans you keep stored in there because you live in a tiny apartment FIRST, then start pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2:
Spray pie dish with non-stick cooking spray- or in my case, wipe down with olive oil because it is the only thing you keep in the house. Then layer the dish with the cheese block slices that you inevitably made Husband cut into pieces because it is freakin' hard to slice block cheese! across the bottom, like a blanket of cheddar. Sprinkle on top of it MOST of the bacon. Save a little for the top of your pie, give a little to your puppy- he is SO cute after all.

Step 3: 
In a shhhmedium bowl, stir bisquick (pancakes!), 1/3 cup mayo, 3/4 of 3/4 cup milk, pepper (use a pepper grinder to do this, it makes cooking fun), eggs (fresh or questionable, if Padma isn't taking a fork to it, I don't think anyone will notice) with a whisk until ***delightfully*** (happy meals come from happy cooks) blended. Pour into pie plate over cheese blanket and bacon bites, and then make it rain shredded cheese over top! If you do that it will come out looking like an Asiago bagel from Starbucks- and who doesn't like those?

Step 4:
Bake for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. To test if it's done, stab it with a knife and if no blood sticks to it, then you're ready to hide the body! Beware though, it may deflate a little after it comes out (insert "That's what she said" comment from Melissa here). Then spread a thin layer of mayo over top and use your left over bacon bits to crown the top of your BLT that is, without a doubt, worthy of royalty.

Step 5:
Cover with thin slices of tomato-- if you are around others, refer to the tomato as a fruit CONSTANTLY, so they think you are either really crazy or really crazy smart for knowing that it is technically a fruit and not a vegetable-- then whip out that pepper grinder one more time to lightly "pepper" (hardy, har) the tomatoes on top. Otherwise, it just looks naked. Lastly, take your shredded lettuce (if  you have kids, I HIGHLY suggest you let them do the lettuce shredding- because (1) It's hard to shred anything wrong, and (2) Husband shredded the lettuce and he said and I quote, "I think I rather like shredding lettuce, it's fun!" which in his child-like, or moreso Sheldon-like way, indicates that small children would also LOVE it) and spread it across your plate to welcome the tasty BLT pie you just made.

If YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME, KEEP READING FOR EXTRA STEP...
Step 6:
Turn off your oven.

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The Peep Show

You would think that finding interesting things to do wouldn't be tough being so close to our nation's capital- but while I have no doubt there are a million interesting things to do, finding out about them BEFORE they happen proves to be more difficult than originally expected. Finding new stuff to fill my time with is a new kick I am on- mainly doing stuff that is a little more out of the ordinary to shake things up a bit.

Naturally then when I got my latest "culture kick" the Washington Post's Annual Peep Diorama Contest Exhibit was exactly what I had in mind. All the "culture" and off-beat vibe I needed, without all the pretentiousness of pretending to like a lot of the things most people are programmed to think they are supposed to find fascinating (see rando art later in this post). Yes, taking in a peep at the peep exhibit was just riiiggghhhhtttttt.

But apparently not for everyone because of the mass email I sent out inviting people I could only rope two other people into trucking it down to the unknown to check it out (in all fairness there was a lot of others who agreed but copious amounts of rescheduling kind of made it lose its luster). But they didn't miss much as the peep displays were spread out throughout the new artisphere building-an attempt to get people to check out the other exhibits as well... which we did- dang museum planners!

Kara and Holmes playing with the giant 3D etcha-sketch.

One of the closest things resembling art at the art museum.

Blue Sweaters sewn together to make a box.
One of the closest things we saw not
resembling art at the art museum.

I thought we looked at all the peeps, but I was sorely mistaken as when I got home to check out the photos online (which I had avoided previous to going), I discovered we had missed some pretty cool looking ones. And each exhibit was numbered-- which at the time we chose to believe was the order in which they had won.

Apparently we were wrong about a lot of things because I discovered the one which I had repeatedly shook my head in disbelief at it not winning had indeed actually won! It's of the Chilean Miners. See picture and WP's video below:

Holmes and I checking out what we thought to be the best one,
but a losing one that was actually the winning one. Get it?

All in all, it wasn't THAT great. But all of use peepers did get pictures with the ones we felt might not have been the best, but were close to our hearts. Mine with the Vincet Van Peep, Kara with the Muppeet Show, and Mike with the Spinal Peep Concert.

The real deal: it gave me faith that I too could become a Peep Show finalist next year! We plan to win the judges over by making every tiny detail out of peeps. Anyone know how to make a cardboard-like platform out of fried peeps?

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Husband, Esq.

This weekend, Husband graduated from Law School!!

I am so exhausted from all the festivities (and food) that I only have enough energy to post the picture slideshow below. But I am so happy for him!

Three years later, and a lot of $tudent loan$, Husband can now...
study all summer to take the bar.

It's not over until it's over. But for now, he can breathe a little easier! Happy Graduation Husband!!

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Parknic: A Picnic in the Park

Last week I had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. Most of the people I eat with at work all bring their lunches and eat it in the NRA Cafe downstairs. I go through phases of bringing my lunch, going out, or working right through, but I have been boycotting the cafe lately because, well, it's a dungeon. Okay, part of it has to do with just wanting to get away from the building all day and eating downstairs makes me feel like I have been cooped up all day long, but mostly it is just freezing and I can't enjoy a meal if my teeth are chattering.

Anyway, on to my brilliant idea. I would put blankets in the back of my car and then whenever it was sunny out we could all just take our bag lunches to the park to eat! This entire week is supposed to be gorgeous, so today we all planned to head to a park fellow lunch-mate Holmes had scoped out for us beforehand that was only a stone's throw away from work. But sometimes plans swerve in new directions and for a moment there, I thought it might just end up being me and Holmes (and for a moment before, I thought it might just end up being me). I swore to him I wasn't trying to make it a romantic lunch for two- but within minutes of setting up camp on the lush-green fields, everyone else started rolling in to enjoy the sunshine.

Speaking of Mike K. Holmes- we have a guest blogger today! After lunch today I got an email from him recapping the first Parknic Lunch in narrative form...

There was a Tuesday morning… and everything felt like it was the day after Monday, a long Monday. The usual group was at its wit’s end. Amber, our humble protagonist, was having a particularly difficult morning, not that anyone could actually tell due to her usually chipper countenance, but difficult nonetheless. The only one truly able to notice was her iMac, but let’s face it… the lack of opinion and inanimateness makes it fairly useless in this scenario.

She enlisted the help [I told him I needed help snapping out of a bad mood] of a guy with the middle initial of K, but his writer’s block would not let him get past the picture of the mountain goat hanging on his calendar. 

Yet, in this day of frustration there was a glimmer of hope, a journey to the land of Kutner [Park]. A small oasis in Fairfax. The protagonist bravely surveyed the land to make sure no other people had come off the road and set up camp (gotta be wary of cannibals [a witty reference to the novel we read in our two-person book club- "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy). 

Eventually, the guy with the middle initial of K, also known by some as Holmes, arrived. He was just as impressed with the land as our protagonist Amber, but both were concerned that the rest of the crew would not arrive safely. We were well armed, hoisting a giant yellow club with a projectile [the always fear-inducing wiffle ball and bat] just in case we ran into trouble. We also had two safety blankets with the hopes that it would be enough for everyone. 

However, not everyone was as prepared. Person with the first initial of K, also known as Kara, arrived without a safety blanket, but merely a towel. Luckily, we had some room to spare. Eventually more and more travelers arrived filling out the blankets to the brim. It was tight, but it made due. 

Unfortunately, it was not safe to stay too long. Around 1:00 the area gets relatively dangerous [and our lunch hour is up], so we had to pick up and travel once again.

The group dispersed and I’m not quite sure how anything resolved. Yes, it is unfortunate that the narrator does not know how it ends, but that always allows for a second or third, or at least an anti-climactic cliff hanger...

The End?

If I was in a bad mood before, I wasn't anymore. The Parknic Lunch was just the pick-me-up I needed, and the narrative recap was icing on the cake. 

I have a sneaky suspicion that lunch in the park might just be a reoccurring getaway destination!

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Stealin' Away to Steel City!

The NRA Annual Meetings were so close this year, I couldn't pass up seeing what all the hype was about. Seeing as 95% of my department was already there, it wasn't hard to find someone willing to let us bunk with them for the night. Kara pulled the lucky straw of sharing her enormous room with three other visitors! That's love. 

I didn't have any way of getting up there. I mean, I could have left Husband without a vehicle for a few days- but I heard finding parking alone was going to be horrible or expensive so I talked one of my other co-workers who was left behind to make the trek up to Pittsburgh, Pa. via Greyhound. Yes, a dirty, stinky bus ride to a place called The Pitts. 

It was all dandy until we realized that when the ticket said "1 Stop" on it, it actually meant "1 30 minute stop, 10 million 10 minute stops" so 7.5 hours later, we arrived in Pittsburgh around 1:30 in the morning where we were greeted by an extensive welcome committee of the only three people left awake in the town.

And that was pretty much the last time we saw anyone besides random meal times. While everyone else was working, my ride-mate Sisco (Francisco during business hours, Frankie when you want to make him angry) and reoccurring blog star Melissakurs!!! escorted me around the city where we basically, ate. You see I came to see the Annual Meetings and Sisco came to eat all the foods we have seen showcased on Man vs. Food. We did make it to a little of both of what we wanted to check out- but by the end of the day we were pretty much just exhausted. Although, we couldn't really complain because we hadn't even been working all week like everyone else had. 

Blurry photo of Sisco at the famous DeLuca's, where we ate till we had side cramps.

I am usually a picture crazo when it comes to anything slightly unboring, but this was our first meal and I actually ended up leaving my camera on the table and Melissa and Sisco had to go back for it the next day before we headed out of town. So basically, no pictures of the actual events, or the few hot seconds we got to see other people we worked with, or any of the cool people we got to meet. I ended up with the two pictures above and these two pictures:

On our exquisite bus ride to Pittburgh, we got to taste a lot of.... crappy food. But Sisco assured me that Roy Rogers was money in my pocket- you can see I am holding an approving thumbs up in the picture (it was around midnight at this point) but when I got back on the bus with my food, it was anything but tasty. Sisco claimed it a fluke Roy Rogers experience, but first impressions do make a difference! The beef was rubbery and the BBQ sauce was sweet- thumbs down. 

Bettsie did have her camera though, so she got a few shots. She loved my hotel thinking spot- which usually included the sheer curtains being pulled across the ledge too but they were shielding her shot at a good picture so she made me pull them back and look pensive.

And she did get a few shots of the TV Show's biggest fan- Sisco waiting around to meet the stars. I wonder which of the co-hosts is his favorite?

The best part of the whole trip though was that my boss- the top boss- actually let us drive his F150 BACK to Virginia! His wife drove up separately, so they drove back down in her car together.

1. Best person ever!! There are not many bosses that would let their employees drive their brand new truck on a 4.5 hour trip. And he even cleaned it out before we got in it. We left him some fuzzy dice on his rearview mirror as a thank you. 

2. Best truck ever!! It was such a smooth ride, and I forgot how much I miss being in a vehicle that is a lot higher off the ground. I asked Husband if he would buy me one in black, but for some reason he didn't take me seriously.

I didn't realize how bad the bus really was until we drove back in his truck. 

As always though, the highlight of the trip was everyone's favorite guest-- Yoda:

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

My new thing is not doing the same old thing. Even when you are having lots of fun or love what you are doing, you can still end up in a rut. I am the first to admit when I have a problem, just ask Husband- he loves hearing about every tiny one of mine. 

Kara is a huge Braves Fan Chipper Jones fan, so whenever they come to town we are, as her friends, required to go watch him in action. So in the spirit of shaking things up- we took our fun to the field. 

It all kicked off with breakfast mamosas at Kara's swank condo on the metroline, then a pretty eventful metro ride to the stadium, followed by some rain delays (but never any fun delay)-- all culminating in one long day of taking A LOT of goofy pictures.

I tried to get them to go to a cubs game, but they just weren't having it.

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Leprechaun Hunting!

You know what I am really tired of looking at? That hand-puppet photo in the previous blog post.

There are so many times when my brain is on auto-pilot that I will type in my blog's web address into google and click it open with the same dire anticipation I open up my google reader to see if other people have updated their blogs. My heart fills with hope that maybe, just maybe, while under the influence of some other form of auto-pilot-- say a 3am typing fest or a margarita-induced frenzy-- that I had posted something new and completely forgotten about doing it. I know, it's narcissistic to check your own blog for new content, but that is what happens when you want to have a blog, but you don't actually feel like doing the blogging.

This conundrum has led to eventually give into the daunting task of actually posting after being out of practice for so long. So to speed things up a bit, I shall post mini-posts for now on. Around the world of Amber in a small series of post-dated mini-posts (which basically means, I can make those dates you see at the top of the page say anything I want!):

So this first post- Leprechaun Hunting may look like a long post, but really, I had nothing to say but Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Mine consisted of getting to rock my new green dress, drinking green beer ( magic coloring by request only) that was served to us by an exact Kendra (one of Hugh Hefner's old girlfriends who now has her own TV show) look-a-like. It was March Madness (I don't even want to talk about my bracket) and St. Patrick's Day so needless to say, the happy hour crowd was aplenty! 

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Getting Handsy When The Lights Go Out

Power Outage + Flashlight = Hand Shadow Contest.

Husband's Challenge to Me: "Make a dog," he says-- simple enough, yes? But wait, there's more... "of German Mastiff descent."

Of course, Husband. Of German Mastiff descent. I should have known there would be more.

Did you expect anything less, people?

From me, that is...

Look familiar? Almost as if Rocky Balboa was a pup?

Hands down, I win. That Nationwide Spokesman has got nothing on me, and in this battle, neither did Husband.

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Food for Thought

Food not only sustains life, it sustains story lines. When reading, I find one of the cleverest ways writers give insight into a character is showcasing what they eat. Not how they eat, not where, not when- but the actual what.

Sure, Kathy, a lab-created clone, is fighting for a deferment from the mandatory donation of her vital organs so she can spend more time with the love of her life, but just as importantly she drinks luke-warm water with her dry “biscuits” every night before bed. Okay, so what if Cassia is just discovering that her perfect society is about to crumble from outside freedom fighters? She is about to miss the meal cart that brings her a healthy portion of vitamin-infused mashed potatoes! I know Robert is a nuclear-physicist hell bent on solving the world’s energy crisis but did you know that he can’t start a day without his nutella and banana sandwich?  

I thought I was crazy too. Amber, you really think writers spend sooo much time deliberating over what their character eats? Yes, 1. Because writers have mini-anxiety attacks on every tiny, seemingly-insignificant detail when writing the world’s next greatest novel (which all authors hope they are producing- they’re both gluttons for punishment and kind of narcissistic) and 2. Because, whether you realize it or not, those food choices give you insight into the character and his/her entire environment.

What if Kathy the clone was the one eating a nutella and banana sandwich? Preposterous! She leads a simple life. Her story is a serious one. Only such a sandwich would be eaten by a kooky person (or, perhaps, someone who is a little Bananas? It’s almost poetic if I do say so myself). Nutella bananawiches are for the humorous, mad-scientist to digest in a quirky scifi novel— not for the delicate palate of another mad-scientist’s creation in a book challenging morals and ethics and questioning what it means to have a soul. No, luke-warm water and dry biscuits will do just fine for her.

Yeah, the how and the where and the when are important too. But the what! The what tells it all! What does this character choose put into their body? To satisfy their taste buds? What do they pick to give them nourishment during their life-altering journey?

Cheesefries, really?  I wouldn’t have picked that. No time for food comas when you're leading the fight against an oppressive government.

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These are a few of my favorite things...

My Nightstand. 

More specifically, my new charging station that looks like grass (it makes me wish there was a stronger word for love), my elephant ring holder (purchased on my honeymoon), the jewelry stand holding all my new Sabika jewelry (I'm a new addict), the cutest Buddha ever (who conveniently holds my spare change in his tummy), my blue dog-shaped back-knot-getter-outer-thingy, the box with clay turtles crawling all over it my brother brought back for me from my dad in Costa Rica, and the lime green baby duster for the night stand that I believe was evilly magnetically built to attract every piece of dust in the air. 

My Patent Leather Heels.

Especially the ones in bright colors. I have a patent leather addiction, passed down from my mother who can't resist its shiny seduction either. I think I only own one pair of heels that isn't patent leather- and those are sparkly.

The Mickey Mouse Camera Stap.

My grandfather, who died when I was young, had one just like it that he wore all the time and I was absolutely in love with it as a child (or just loved my grandpa that much). It was willed down to my Aunt Lisa but I still always talk about it so my Mother being the ebay-savvy woman she is found me one that looks just like it online. I imagine I will get a lot of looks when I use my camera, but the sentiment means that much to me I could care less.

Surprises.  

1. I LOVE surprises. I LOVE unexpected gifts, or just-because I thought you would like it gifts, or this-made-me-think-of-you gifts. Or notes... but those are a lot harder to come by these days. Anyway- surprises, especially when you have absolutely no idea are coming, are the best. I don't know anyone who would disagree with me, but I feel like I have a special love for them- probably because I'm a random gifter myself. I am horrible at giving gifts on actual holidays because if I don't think you'll love it, I find it hard for me to commit myself to buying it for you. I don't want to just get you a gift, I want to get you THE GIFT! I am rambling now.... but random gifts just seem so thoughtful. 2. It's hard to surprise me, I usually know what I am getting before I get it (or in some cases, don't get it) or I can typically tell when someone is thinking about surprising me. So true surprises, the best!

The bag above came in the mail one day in a flat envelope (the bag is the quality of those earth-friendly grocery bags that are everywhere now so it folds up super easy). It was addressed to me by the company who sent it with no receipt inside, no note as to where it came from, absolutely nothing- just the bag. The company's name was even something really general like CDE which with google gets you nowhere-or everywhere depending on how you look at it. After checking it for suspicious, deadly powdery drugs, and/or a bugging device- I settled my pondering who, what, when, whys, and wheres? on that I must have signed up for something or taken a survey at some time to get it free- but it was still a cool surprise. 

The Mitt Romney T-Shirt came to my work the next day in a flat envelope too with nothing but a tag from the company it was purchased from- which really freaked me out. I mean, what are the chances of getting TWO seemingly-free, cool things in the mail in a 2 day period?? Upon closer review, and an AH-HA! moment, I found where the tag had a tiny little print note on it saying it was from one of the field reps in our southern region. Liz, who made an appearance in the previous post, "Florida Fast Forward", sent it to me after we bonded in Florida over our comMITTment to Romney in the 2012 presidential run. When I saw the gift and who it was from I was ecstatic- it was completely unexpected and made my day! Liz and I both LOVE (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) Mitt Romney- (his politics people!) she even had a picture of her and him when she saw him speak at a recent event. I was super jelly, but was glad I found someone who shared in my enthusiasm for him to win in 2012 as well!

My Waterproof Nook Case. 

On Christmas break I tagged along with Husband as he visited with a bunch of his high school friends at one of their former teacher's house- a ritual he strictly adheres to every time he is back for the holidays. I decided to come this time and while we were there one of his friends mentioned that her mother loves her ereader and even double wraps it in a plastic bag so she can float around in the pool with hers. I thought that was brilliant because I love reading in the tub. I think I even started doing it the next night while we were on vacation. But it quickly became tiresome after the first two or three times- messing with the bags was a pain and I was still terrified of dropping it. I thought, "someone should make some more permanent form of waterproof case for these things." And like all my great ideas, someone had already thought of it and I easily found one on Amazon. One birthday later, and strict instructions for Husband to purchase it for me, and I was the proud owner of the waterproof nook case you gaze upon above. Unfortunately, Husband would not let me take a picture of me with it in the tub- prude.

I had some more emotionally-centered things to list here. The post above makes me look a little materialistic (Which isn't too far fetched I am sure. I like things to look pretty.), but I think I will make this type of post a reoccurring one and next time I will list all those wonderful intangible niceties that make me all warm in fuzzy inside. You know, like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens...........   ;)

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The House Rules

The picture above was shot at the 1950s Day at my family reunion last summer.
Husband was not too keen on it then, but apparently now he thinks it was a swell idea.

"Why are you turning off all the lights in the house?" - Me

"Don't question what I am doing. We are going back to the 1950s when men were the head of the household and women didn't question everything they did." -Husband

"Oh okay, does that mean I can't blog any more?" - Me

"It means you have to ask for permission." - Husband

"Oh, please continue. What are the other rules of this new engagement?" - Me

"You will vote for who I tell you to vote for. You will...." - Husband

"I'm sorry, could you repeat those after the voting one. I want to type these up for my blog." - Me

"Don't you have to ask something first? Did you ask for permission to blog? Because you're not going to get it." - Husband

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Boom Boom Boom

Last night I topped off my birthday celebration by a joint b-day party for me and two other of our friends' birthdays. We rented out an entire boom boom bus with all of our friends and went from place to place around D.C. celebrating. Except for people saying my dress looked like an accordion all night, it was still a lot of fun!! And I still love my dress...

Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures!

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Cupcake Cake!

I don't typically bake- but for really special occasions, for really special people, I will! This weekend is Kara's birthday, so I finally had the perfect excuse to try out the giant cupcake cake mold my mother gave me over Christmas. I think she knew the novelty of the baking pan might be enough to actually get me to bake something. And Moo was right!

Kara's favorite is funfetti cake, so I braved the winter storm while I was "snowed-in" and out of work for the day because the office's power was out. But I got home with the cake mix and realized I didn't have any vegetable oil- and while debating using butter or olive oil instead, I remembered I had just bought a bunch of diet ginger ale and it dawned on me that I had completely forgot about my favorite way of making cake- 1 box of cake mix and 1 diet drink of any kind and wala! We have cake! Diet cake!

And cupcakes for other people at work...

"Go big or go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll have the kid's cheeseburger please." - Kara

This time she can have her cake and eat it too! Happy Birthday Kara!

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Snow Show

Guess what?! It only took me two hours to drive home from work today! But it is all put in perspective when someone who took the alternate route home not only left way before me and didn't get home until... well, I am still getting the "still not there yet" texts from her. :( I blame it on Obama- apparently his motorcade held up traffic for hours while he skipped ahead of everyone - thanks Mr. President.

I passed almost ten or so wrecks on my way home, I got stuck twice on the street next to our place, and normally I would love to stay home the next day- but tomorrow is free January birthday lunch at work... mmmmmmmm Kara and I (the office January birthdays) picked Potbelly's.

I actually have to take credit for the onslaught of snow. Last night, before I went to sleep, I told Husband I was going to try and fall asleep thinking about a blanket of snow outside (even though we were told it wasn't supposed to start snowing until tonight). I told him I was going to wish it into early existence, possibly in hopes of getting out work today- shhhhh. Husband wrote it off as a not-gonna-happen, as he does most of my wishful thinking. Later, I woke up early in the A.M. around 4:15- checked my phone for the time, looked at the glowing light coming from the windows, flew to flip open the blinds and shrieked in excitement at the sight of the snowfall outside. Note: Husband does not like it when I wake him up at 4:15 in the morning to share in my enthusiasm- no matter if it is snowfall outside or, I suspect, even if I won the lottery. I still had to go to work today, but I have a sneaky suspicion that in light of tonight's never-ending snowfall, I will be out tomorrow.

Random stream of thoughts: What always surprises me is how light outside it looks at night when it has just snowed. And how warm it always seems to feel just before and while it is snowing. I love the first snowfall. I always get this false sense of security on the first night after it snows. Everything is still pure and calm- it looks so peaceful. I feel like nothing could go wrong.

Matlock even came out to play! And he hates the snow... or did. I haven't seen him run around and play like that in forever. He was so energetic I couldn't even get a decent shot of him (the swirled photo above being a product of trying to catch him in action). And it doesn't help that he is camouflaged...

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Happy Birthday to Me!

+ Birthday Decorations

+ Zen (my latest fascination) Flowers from Matlock (and Husband)

+ Margaritas and Mexican with the Girls!

+ Followed by Movie Night: No Strings Attached

+ Coffee while Perusing the Bookstore

+ Pho with Husband

+ 3 Course Dinner at Extra Virgin (Italian Restaurant) 

+ Chocolate Chocolate Cake (w/lots o lots of candles)

+ Chocolate Covered Strawberries

+ Cards, Phone Calls, Emails, Texts, FB Messages, etc.
+ A Happy Birthday Video!!

+ Presents!
+ Department-wide Free Lunch (to come!)

+ Boom! Boom! Boom! Party (to come!)
+ and, as they say, many more...

   = 25 Years Young

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so much fun- and those who are 

going to let me stretch the celebration out for an entire week!!

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