Turkey Day

Soooo it's been a while since I've blogged. I'm not sure why, but I just haven't felt like putting anything down on "paper". I guess screen is a better word...but anyways, everything has been fine, most of you know about my new job, so instead of playing catch up, I'll just jump right to the topic at hand.

This year was my first year ever to miss Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side of the family back home. Me and Ben both had to work the day before and the day after TG, so it just seemed pointless to spend 10 hours on the road on one day off. Luckily, both of our sets of parent's decided to drive down and spend turkey day with us. This meant, of course, that I decided to play Martha Stewart, and I began planning my menu well over a month in advance. My first time to host Thanksgiving! It had to be awesome. After much debate, (To fry or not to fry? Should I make the green jello salad even though my dad's the only one who eats it?), I settled on a menu of butter and herb roasted turkey, my mom's twice baked potatoes (the only dish I wasn't planning to make myself,) corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, Aunt Jo's famous green bean bundles, rolls, pecan pie and glazed chocolate-pumpkin bundt cake. I studied the recipes until I formulated the perfect cooking schedule, starting with thawing the turkey on Sunday down to the minute dishes were to be switched in the oven on the big day. We're talking five minute increments here. I made all of the sides the day before and put them in the fridge overnight, so that after the turkey was done on Thursday, all I'd need to do was throw them in the oven. I also made dessert in advance.

The day started off great...I had the turkey in the oven five minutes early, at 7:55 AM. My mom went ahead and made her twice baked potatoes, and we were on track! That's when things started to get annoying. The electricity flickered multiple time, causing me to run over to our electric oven and quickly reset the temperature, so the turkey would stay at a constant cooking temperature. As aggravating as this was, it only got worse. At 10:30 the electricity went off, and it stayed off. I paced the floor and threatened my family members with death if they opened the oven or the fridge...if we left them closed, maybe everything would be okay until the electricity came back on? I wasn't quite in panic mode at this time, but I was definitely pissed. Everything had been going so smoothly! I was actually going to pull this meal off! I had spent hours planning and shopping, not to mention over $100 on all the food. (Did you know there was such a thing as Pumpkin Pie Spice?) Everyone was so worried that I was going to freak, and they kept telling me "everything will be fine", which just aggravated me more. (Sorry family, but it did!) My dad decided to drive around the block, where he found the electric workers, who said it would be hours before it came back on. Something about fire and sparks flying...whatever. I. Was. Not. Pleased. So we did what anyone would do; we threw the bird on the grill! Now it wasn't exactly "grilled turkey"; there was no way I was going to ruin my gourmet bird in such a manner. We left it in the roasting pan and closed to lid, trying to simulate an oven the best we could. After about an hour of me yelling at Ben to quit opening the lid, we finally decided that it must be done. Instead of using our nice plates like I had planned, I said SCREW IT and we used paper plates. For lunch we had turkey and potatoes, with two choices for dessert. The turkey actually turned out really good...and I think everyone liked it. Of course at this point, if it had tasted horrible, no one would have told me! So we ate in the dark, no football game in the background, no air conditioner, but it was a nice meal. We didn't miss the rest of the food too much. After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, the moment I sat down on the couch to relax, (I kid you not,) the electricity came back on. Straight out of a sitcom.

So we got down to some football, napping,and hanging out. A few hours later, I baked the rest of the sides, and for dinner we had Thanksgiving, Part Deux. Less turkey emphasis, and more sides. It was nice. It was a good lesson for me...things don't have to be perfect in order for them to be good. Thanksgiving isn't about a perfectly planned meal; it was great because we had our family there, which is all too rare. I saw a quote the other day: "Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, it means that you have looked beyond the imperfections." I like that. And you know what? There were no left overs.

Me and my turkey in the wee hours, when optimism was high.


The finished product, in the dark.

:)

Riley Lane Toon is here! Last week we welcomed our new baby niece! Ben and I traveled to Houston to be there on the day she was born, and to babysit her sister Avery while the rest of the family was at the hospital that morning. It was so hard to just be there for one day, but I was glad we got to meet her. Hopefully we will be back soon. Please keep new baby Riley in your prayers! PS-I know I miss the girls, because I had a dream last night that I was rocking Avery. It was very peaceful. :)



Last week was also my birthday! Ben took me to a really awesome 4 star restaurant on the 20th floor of the Omni Hotel, right by the bay. The food was amazing and the view was even better! My parents came in town, and it was really good to see them! Me and my mom got sunburned on the beach, and my dad grilled shrimp for us one night. I didn't want them to leave! Overall, I got lots of good presents and felt really loved. Also, I used my birthday money to buy a new camera! So maybe my next blog will have better quality pictures than what I can take with my iPhone...

I've been really busy at work, and learning lots of cool things! I got a crash course in floral arranging last weekend...I felt like I was learning a magician's tricks! I feel like I could make any floral arrangement. And BONUS: I now have access to a wholesale floral market! Yessssssss!

Check out my work! (Yes, I made this!)



Ok, so I didn't make the cake...but I put the flowers on! (Tip: when sticking floral stems in a cake, you must wrap the stems in floral tape, due to the pesticides used on the flowers! Yipes!)



I also learned how to make bouquets and boutonnieres. Hopefully with my newly acquired florist skills, I can save my clients some money, and put a little more in my pocket at the same time!

Love!

And we're back!

Well, after a long absence, the blog is back! Thanks for the requests to get it going again...it makes it a lot easier to write when I know someone is actually reading. :) We are in Corpus! North Padre Island, to be exact. I never in my life thought that I would be living on an island, but I must say, it's not too shabby! Padre is soooo nice, especially compared to the fast paced, crowded city of Corpus Christi. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised with downtown Corpus. It's really pretty and full of fun places...I now know how it earned the name "The Sparkling City By the Sea"! Our town home is really nice...we are one block from the beach and we have a pool. So far, the pool has beat out the beach as my favorite hangout...I've been here 2 weeks and I'm already annoyed with tourists! ;) I wish that we would have been able to work something out with buying a house...we were all lined up to be on HGTV's show "House Hunters"! I had talked with the producers and everything. In the end, the move was too rushed and we didn't have time to purchase a house. Every time I watch HGTV, I get really sad. We love "House Hunters"! Oh well...maybe our next move?

Ben has been working his butt off to get his store ready, supervising the construction crews and actually doing his fair share of construction as well. I think he's enjoyed getting his hands dirty for the past few weeks, but I also know he's ready to get the store up and running so he can start making some money! We are expecting the store to be pretty successful. Lots of big chains like Cavender's Boot City and Academy have their #1 volume stores here in Corpus, and we have noticed that all of the stores here are always packed to the gills. Bring on that commission! The company hired Ben's dad to help with some of the construction, so it will be neat to have him here working with Ben for a few weeks.

I've started working too! I'm a wedding and event planner!!!! I can't believe how lucky I am...the company is great, really busy all the time and the ladies I work with are awesome too! I've been so busy already, running all over town to meet brides, pick up cakes, make gift bags, buy tents...all sorts of crazy things. I'm really loving it though. Every day is different, and that is what I always wanted out of my career. I feel so blessed! Those prayers and my patience have finally paid off.

Tomorrow we are running back to Sugar Land for the arrival of our new niece! I can't wait to spend some more time with Missy, Travis and Avery, (I miss them already!) and to meet little Riley! It's going to be a short, but happy, visit. Then it's back to work for the Reels! Please say a prayer for a safe delivery for Missy and Riley.

Love you all!

Hiatus!

Sorry for the blog hiatus. Truth is...I just don't have anywhere to blog! No interenet access at home is not fun. And since I don't work full time anymore, no regular computer access. Hopefully when we move to Corpus, we will get internet right away.

That's right, I said it! If you don't already know, we are moving to Corpus! Ben's company is transferring us there for him to expand and open a new store. It's scary, and sad, but exciting all at the same time. I don't like that we will be even further away from our families. And I love our church here and all of the people in it...they have become dear friends of ours. I love my part time job at Briscoe and hate I only get to do it for such a short time. And I'm going to miss my nieces so much!

But...we will be living on the beach! And I'll have an opportunity to get a full time job that I actually enjoy! (Imagine that?) And while we are able to, why not live in as many places as possible as see as much of the world, (or Texas,) as we can? Before we settle down and have 3.2 kids and a dog, ya know? We think it's going to be a good opportunity for us, a learning and growing experience for sure. We still don't know for sure when the move will be, but most likely, it will be soon. I went ahead and quit my job because I just couldn't stand it anymore. Long story and I won't post details but it sucked, they screwed me, so I'm done. We've got a lot going on right now anyways. I'll post more when I get the chance, but it may be a while.

Peace and love!

Happy Days

Happy Tuesday! I hope my blog finds you well. We've been really busy lately-and that's the way I like it! This past weekend was great. Saturday afternoon me and some girls from church threw our sweet friend Shelley a baby shower for her first baby, Jackson Paul. We could not be happier for her and her hubby. They are just about the sweetest couple you could ever meet. I know they will make great parents. The shower theme was a beachy, summery theme, and we had a really great time eating yummy food, drinking "mom"osas, opening gifts and playing games. I made a diaper cake for Shelley-my first attempt at trying this-and I must say I'm quite proud of my efforts. I've decided that this will be my signature baby shower gift.

The diaper cake I made. Jackson's nursery is decorated with dogs, and Shelley has a dog that looks just like the gray one!


The real cake. I did not make this one!


Poor Ben is so tired of hearing about baby showers. I'm also co-hosting a shower next month for my sister in-law, and I love obsessing over details! I can't help it that he's the only one around for me to bounce ideas off of! :)

Later Saturday evening, Ben and I went to a benefit called "A Haute Time in Texas" in a little nearby town called Booth. It was so fun! I'm not really sure what it was benefiting...women in Texas? Animals in Texas? Women and animals in Texas? I don't know, we heard about it at the last minute and didn't ask questions. It was an all you can eat crawfish boil and catfish fry...and it was good!! The best part was that there was a concert featuring Jason Boland and Wade Bowen! One of Ben's favorite artists is Jason Boland, and he's influenced me to the point where I really like his music too. Plus, we both like Wade Bowen as well. It was awesome to see them at such a small venue where we could get really close to the stage and enjoy the concert under the stars. We used to go to Texas Country concerts just about every weekend when we were dating, so I think I will always love going to see live bands. After the show, we were just standing around, and I noticed Jason Boland hanging out over at his merchandise booth, so I grabbed Ben and we ran over there to talk to him. Ben got to shake his hand and tell him, "I love your music. You are a lyrical genius." (Literally he said that!) We bought an actual record album and got him to autograph it. I'll probably frame it for Ben. I wish I'd had my camera. Later, Ben told me that he'd probably never have gone to talk to him if it wasn't for me. That made me feel good. :)

So, lately I've been thinking about getting my concealed handgun license. What? Couldn't hurt to pack a little heat. So we went to Gander Mountain and I tried a few "purse pistols" out for size. There were two Berettas that I really liked. I'm going to wait a while though...maybe after Melissa has Riley I can talk her into taking the class with me? I don't want to do it by myself! After that, we met our small group for dinner at a restaurant in China Town called "House of Bowls". We ate family style and ordered about 8 dishes...it was really fun and tasty! Our resident Asian couple, Cedric and Mary, are invaluable when selecting from an authentic menu. We always have a good time with them as our cuisine guides.

We've got an even busier week ahead! Can't wait!

Ps-Congratulations to Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, who announced their engagement today! ;)

Young, Wild and Free

My mom in Italy, circa 1974.


I just love this picture: the colors, the spirit, the feeling it evokes. It always makes me smile. I think this picture totally captures the essence of my mom. She's not afraid of anything...she'll jump out of the sky and slide down that hill, and have the time of her life while she's doing it! My mom has the best personality: everyone's friend, always the life of the party, perpetually on the go. I'm very lucky to have her as my mother and my friend. One day, I'm going to take my mom back to visit Italy, and just the two of us too...if we get our way. I LOVE YOU MOMMA! Happy mother's day.

Happy mothers day to all of the other mommas in my life, too!

Dental Dread

Recently, I was introduced to the potential horrors of mercury based tooth fillings. Little bits of mercury entering your blood stream every time you bite down, potentially causing cancer and Lord knows what else--the 'fraidy cat that I am...this freaked me out. I have SEVEN mercury fillings. I don't even know why I've had so many cavities? Although I've always had a bit of sweet tooth, I've always had good dental hygiene, too. At least I know it's way better than Ben's. Before I started making him, he never brushed his teeth at night! (Ew, I know! His momma taught him better!) And every night while I'm flossing, he's already counting sheep in bed. Yet he has never had a cavity in his life. So not fair. So now that I'm all growed up and have my own dental insurance, (completely paid for by my employer, might I add,) I decided to take advantage of my policy and get a check up. So I had my appointment today. To sum it up, it went bad. As the hygienist is cleaning my teeth, she asks me if I floss. I was hoping it would be obvious that I did, but apparently, it wasn't. I asked her about mercury fillings, and she told me that the biggest risk that they pose is when they are being applied and the mercury hasn't set yet. She also told me insurance covers having them removed. Well then. When she pulled up the xrays of my teeth, she showed me how I have 3 wisdom teeth, and the one on the bottom is turned almost completely horizontal. Something about it being embedded in a nerve. Cool. Then she showed me dark spots on my teeth, which could be cavities. After the cleaning and polishing, the dentist came in and looked at my teeth...she began listing off numbers and codes, ("The D-5 needs an OT," or something like that.) As I counted how many teeth she was listing off, I thought, surely those aren't all cavities? Oh yes, they were. Basically, the mercury fillings I already had were wearing away, creating new cavities around the cavities I already had. GROSS! I'm so mad. So now I'm going to have those dang bio-hazards removed and replaced with nice, pretty, safe white ones. It's interesting to me that when they remove the fillings from my mouth, federal law prohibits them from being thrown in the trash. So, I'm a little relieved to be rid of the fillings, but not looking forward to the process at all. At least they prescribed me a sedative to use on those days. They are going to do one side of my mouth on two different visits. After that's done, I might start thinking about having my wisdom teeth removed. I've never had surgery, and that scares me. Heck, just going to the dentist scares me. I'm such a baby. So now I have that to look forward to.

For now, I'm off to yoga!

Great weekend!

So this past weekend was really really good! My best friend Annie finally got to come visit us, and see our house! It was so great to have some girl time with her; I miss her so much. She graduating in a few weeks and I'm so happy for her! I've known Annie since she was a freshman at SFA, so I kind of feel like I've seen her "grow up." My little baby! :) Anyways, she went with me to a music festival in Houston called "A Day in the Country", headlined by none other than MIRANDA LAMBERT!!! I got to have another meet and greet with Miranda, which was great because just a week before, she won Video of the Year for "White Liar", Album of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards! I told her I was so very happy for her, and we were jumping off the couch as she was winning, and she told me thank you very much, and that it meant a lot to her. I also told her I bet there was a party going on that night, and she said there still was! I could tell she was very confident and felt on top of the world during her show, and that was very fun to see. It was Annie's first time to see Miranda live, so that was exciting too. Backstage, I ran into two of the guys in Miranda's band, and got pictures with them as well. Sunday after Annie left we got to have lunch with Ben's parents, and it was good to see them! Then we went to Melissa and Travis' to watch the Talladega Nascar race before going to small group. A good weekend, which wasn't quite long enough, as usual!

Awesome red eye, Jess.


PS-Last Saturday was our 6 month wedding "anniversary". :)

I'm going back to college!

Yoga college, that is!

Okay, let me explain. I've enrolled in classes at a Bikram Yoga College of India. Bikram is a Yogi Master who lives in LA and teaches yoga instructors and movie stars his specific method of yoga, so that those people may open his "Yoga Colleges" around the world and make him more rich and famous. The classes include a series of 26 poses performed over a period of 90 minutes in a room that is heated to a temperature of 105 degrees. Yes, it is long, and yes, it is hot. Like, you can see sweat dripping off me, hot. The purpose of the heat is to warm your muscles to reduce injury and promote deeper stretching, as well as detoxification through obscene amounts of sweat. As crazy as it sounds, I'm loving it! The first class I felt like I couldn't breathe after about an hour, but after the second class, I felt amazing...like I had just had a massage. It's such a luxury to relax and focus on stretching and improving my body for a whole hour and a half. When was the last time I did that? Um, never. There were a lot of people in the classes; men and women of all shapes and sizes. I'm not going to make fun of them though, because I know I looked totally gross as well. I'm just going to say...it seems the requirement for men to attend class is they must be very hairy and not modest at all. You get the picture! It doesn't bother me though. I admire their dedication, and we each bring a towel to cover our yoga mat with, so there is no intermingling of sweat drippage.

The truth is, I didn't seek out this place because of Bikram or even the hot room, but because I've always enjoyed yoga and this was the only stand alone yoga studio in town. I've been pleasantly surprised though, and I have a pass to attend 10 more classes in the next month. I'll keep you posted!

As they say in yoga, namaste.

Crafty Sue!

So this past weekend, I was feeling a little crafty! I thought I'd share my project! (Sorry the pictures are dark...I used my iPhone.)

First, I was inspired by one of the craft blogs that I follow, Tatertots and Jello. I've been looking for something to decorate our guest bedroom walls with, and her doily projects seemed to fit the bill. I bought some canvases at Hobby Lobby and some doilies at Dollar Tree, a little scrapbook paper and Mod Podge later...viola! Blank walls no more!



Close up.


I also covered a floor pillow...but I still need to work on it, and make the mate, so maybe I'll post those pics when I'm completely finished.

Saturday night, our small group friends Cedric and Mary got married! The wedding and reception was beautiful, and we had a really good time seeing everyone from our group all dressed up and letting loose! As we were leaving the reception, the DJ announced that we could take a flower centerpiece. I plucked a few hydrangeas from an arrangement because I LOVE hydrangeas, but Cedric saw me and insisted that I take the whole thing. Soooo we came home with a 3 foot tall floral arrangement. I didn't really have anywhere to put it, and I knew our cat, Patsy, would have a field day with it, so I decided to break it down into smaller flower arrangements. I used some of the Mason jars I had left over from our own wedding as vases. I really had fun creating different looks, (country, modern, monochromatic,) with the flowers!

Before


After


So now, we have flowers in basically every room of the house! I love it!




I hope you have a great week!

My hero!

As you probably know, I love love love singer/songwriter Miranda Lambert. If you do nothing else on the internet today, click this link and watch the video for her new single, "The House That Built Me." I dare you not to cry!

PS-I just got a meet and greet with her for April 24th! Yessssssssss!

Nobody here but us servantless American cooks...

It's only Tuesday? Man...yesterday was long! Overtime will do that. Today has turned out to be an interesting day. I saw a girl in the break room this morning put 7 pumps of concentrated French Vanilla Coffeemate in her mug, then powdered coffee creamer, then sugar, then Sweet-N-Low, then a few drops of coffee. EWWWW! Then later on one of my earrings fell off and into the toilet. (I flushed it.) I wonder what other interesting things will happen today?

I hope everyone had a great Easter...we did! After church we went home and I cooked allllll afternoon. I decided to finally bust out "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and try a recipe or two. I've been dying to do it ever since I bought it with wedding gift cards a few months ago, but I just haven't had the time! Of course, Ben and I were doing our best Julia Child impersonations all day. "Bon appetite!" To bring over to Missy and Travis' for dinner, I decided to make puree de pommes de terre a l'ail and reinde de saba avec glacage au chocolat. Sounds impressive, huh? Translates to "garlic mashed potatoes" and "chocolate almond cake with chocolate buttercream". The mashed potato recipe actually called for two entire heads of garlic! The slow, laborious cooking of the cloves softens the flavor, so it's not as obsene as it sounds. The potatoes were good, but not good enough to make all the extra effort worth it. I'll probably stick to regular mashed potatoes from now on. However, the garlic sauce that was mixed in would probably be good on something else...maybe chicken? The chocolate cake was really yummy! I did have a few Julia-esque goofs-1)When I was supposed to sift in 1/4 of the flour, I wasn't paying attention and sifted it all in at once. 2)When I tried to remove the cake from the pan, it came out in two chunks. I glued it back together with frosting. 3)I used a 9 inch pan instead of an 8 inch pan and didn't think about adjusting my baking time, so it came out a little dryer than it is supposed to be. None the less, it turned out pretty good, and I will definitely try again! Practice makes perfect!



While I'm blogging about cooking from Julia Child-I have to suggest the movie "Julie and Julia". We Netflixed it a few weeks ago and it was pretty good! And I think I found the original blog the book/movie is based on! Cool!

The Julie/Julia Project.

xoxo!

HAPPY EASTER!

So it's "month end" at work...blah! We have to get all of the previous month's billing finished before we can move on to the next. This means lots of overtime hours and stressful days during the first work week of the month. Monday and Tuesday will be the longest...so I'm really hoping to have some fun this weekend! I'm thinking about going to see my family tomorrow, because my parents just bought a new house this week and I want to help them select paint colors, finishes, etc, and I don't know when I'll have a chance to go down there this month since I already have plans every Saturday in April. It would just be for the day though...so I guess I'll just see. Sunday is Easter! I can't wait to go to church and see all the little kids in their new outfits. I always love that! We are going to have dinner with Missy and Travis Sunday night at their house so we can have a mini-family get together and hide eggs for Avery. I'm going to attempt to make a Julia Child chocolate almond cake, which will be interesting. More on that next week I'm sure...

Tonight Ben and I are going to do this month's "Great Date Experiment." It's this program our church is doing where they provide a creative date guideline and childcare, (which we obviously won't need!) once a month for six months. It is designed to make your marriage stronger and bring back the romance. It's for people who have been married a while, but we are participating anyway! This will be our second great date, and we have reservations a "fancy" restaurant downtown. I'm excited! Is it five o'clock yet????

Have a great weekend!

Laissez bon temps roulez!

Whew-it's only Wednesday, but it's been a busy week! My co-worker was out sick for two days in a row, so I've been doing double duty, and that leaves no time for blogging. Anyways, we had a great weekend! Ben was off on Saturday, which was such a treat. We got up bright and early Saturday to prepare for our crawfish boil. We were a little nervous, because we had never thrown a crawfish boil before. It took lots of teamwork, but overall we were successful. We had a really good time, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It was so relaxing just sit to outside all day and not really do much of anything! We had a little bit of trouble getting the water to boil...it was so windy, the propane flame wouldn't directly hit the pot, so we did a little engineering to block the wind in the cook area.

Travis, (my brother in law,) brought over his patented washer boards from "Warshers, Inc.". *yes, there is an "r" in Warshers Inc.-that's what he wants to name his washer board company.* So the boys pitched washers while we waited on water to boil. (The saying "a watched pot never boils" never rang so true...it took about 3 hours!) The girls played with my niece Avery and fixed dessert, which we ate first. My kind of party!

Finally, we had success! We had to cook them in 3 batches, but it was worth it.

The presentation. (Since our table became a wind blocking device.)

Dig in folks!



Nice setup huh?

I hope we can do it again sometime!


Sunday was an equally lazy day. I forced Ben to watch half of "Gone With the Wind" with me-(don't tell him I said his but I think he liked it, we finished the other half last night.) Sunday evening was a special communion service at church, and our pastors explained the symbolism of Passover, something I hadn't really thought too much about before. They were saying that the blood the Israelites put on their doors to show they were believers and so God would "pass over" their first born son, was early foreshadowing of how the blood of The Lamb would one day save us again. I really enjoyed the service. Just believe, and you will be saved! Afterwards we went to eat at Escalante with some of our small group friends-it was quite tasty. A great weekend-but too short, as usual!

Have a great week!

TGIF

Like the new design? It's a little more springy, and of course, girly. I tried to keep it pretty gender neutral at first, but let's face it, Ben will never post on here, and not many men will read this. (Sorry Dad, you'll have to suffer through the pink roses!) I'm sure it will change all the time though...there are so many great websites out there that have some really fun ideas, and as soon as I'm able to, I will be adding super awesome stuff I've created with Photoshop. Notice the header? I'm a little ashamed of how crummy the text looks...I did that with Microsoft Paint! Not exactly a designer's dream software.

Anyways, I'm soooo glad it's Friday! Ben is off tomorrow, and for the first time in forever, we are not going out of town on his Saturday off. (He only gets one a month.) Hopefully this will give him a chance to relax a little and get some rest. We are having a small crawfish boil tomorrow at our house! I went and bought all the fixings yesterday, based on some instructions I found online. We don't really know what we are doing...but we are gonna try! We've been wanting to invite people out to our house for a party so we can show it off, and we finally have a chance. Plus, who doesn't love a good crawfish boil? I'm a little bummed because a handful of our friends are not going to be able to make it, but we couldn't really be flexible on the date. Rain or shine, we will be boiling up some craw dads!

Also, please pray for our niece, Avery. She's getting tubes in her ears today, and she's been sick off an on for a while now.

I'll post on Monday with a crawfish re-cap, and hopefully I'll get some pics on here! Have a great weekend!

Cubicle by Day, Fabulous Weddings by Night

As you may already know, I got a second job as a weekend assistant at one of the most fabulous wedding venues in the Houston area, and Sunday I worked my first "gig"! I'm an "event assistant", meaning I only work the actual wedding, (or event) and help the event planner make sure everything goes smoothly. I arrived 2 hours before the wedding started and was given a quick tour of the facility, (where the lights switches, AC monitors, emergency exits, etc. were,) and was introduced to the head chef and the head of catering. I was then given a checklist and was put to work immediately! I had to run around and make sure all of the tables were numbered correctly and had the right amount of chairs, check that all decorations were in the proper place, see that all outside vendors were doing what they were supposed to do, make sure rooms were the correct temperature, pin corsages on grandmothers, wrangle rowdy ring bearers before their walk down the aisle...the list goes on and on! I couldn't believe that so much trust was put in my hands on the very first day-but I loved it! They gave me a timeline which outlined every minute detail of the day, which is exactly what I did for my own wedding! (Which any of my friends and family who were involved can attest to!) I thought I was psycho crazy, but I guess that's what the pros do! This wedding was gorgeous! The budget was around $40,000! Towering glass centerpieces dripping with crystals and flowers...thousands of candles...fancy passed hor dourves...black tie tuxedos and floor length gowns...escort cards and individual menus...valet parking...it was the most lavish affair I've ever seen! It was just like what you see in the movies! Before the wedding started, there were about 100 people running in every direction tying bows on chairs, sprinkling rose petals, lighting candles, icing down champagne...you name it! And don't even get me started on the cake...oh, the cake! In the mother of the bride's speech, she referenced the bride's childhood summers at their house in France. Wowzers. Apparently the groom is a professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles. Needless to say, I was running around like crazy, figuring out where to seat guests who did not RSVP, arranging the candy bar, getting a towel for the father of bride after a very rowdy, (and sweaty,) turn of "Hava Nagila," assisting an elderly woman after she lost a huge onyx stone from one of her rings...and so much more! After 7 hours, I was exhausted! Normally I would of needed to stay even longer, but this particular bride had hired outside wedding planners as well, so there was plenty of help for packing the couple's belongings, etc, so I got to leave at a semi-decent hour. It was a Sunday night, (which is apparently the new day to get married,) so I had to work the next day. From now on, I should be able to pick the nights that I work...so hopefully no more Sundays! Overall, it was tiring but fun, and I'm going to stick with it! Maybe one day I will just be "Fabulous Wedding Planner" all the time! For now...it's back to my day job!

The 7 Deadly Habits

I just read these 7 Deadly Habits You Need to break on Doctor Oz's website. I could definitely work on a few of these areas...especially being late and being lazy at the end of the day. I thought I would share these tips from Doctor Oz so you can find an area to improve, (and lengthen!) your life too.

Deadly habit 1: Not Stretching In The Morning

Moving your body and releasing stress first thing is critical to preparing for a day where you are in control of your body.



Replacement: The 7-Minute Stretch

You can come up with your own or try out the routine Dr. Oz does first thing when he gets out of bed. It will center you for the day ahead and help you focus on taking good care of yourself.



Deadly Habit 2: Not Eating Breakfast

If you don’t eat right when you wake up, your body senses a famine is coming and slows your metabolism to compensate. Then, when your body is presented food later, it’s ravenous and wants to pack it in, leading to bingeing with a slow metabolism – a recipe for weight gain.



Replacement: Have A Small Breakfast Ready To Go

Dr. Oz ‘s Magical Breakfast Blaster (http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/magical-breakfast-blaster) from YOU: On a Diet is a smoothie of blueberries, bananas, psyllium husks, flax, soy protein, and honey. The fiber in the psyllium and flax helps regulate your metabolism throughout the day. Or try peanut butter on whole wheat bread. It doesn’t have to be big, just a little metabolic kickstart.



Deadly Habit 3: Running Late

Being perpetually late adds unnecessary stress to your life and takes control away from you, giving it to the people you disappoint and to the clock. That added stress, in turn, can lead to chronic inflammation and high blood pressure, which are linked to all kinds of diseases.



Replacement: Set Your Watch 5 Minutes Ahead

It’s a simple trick that will help you make appointments, get out of the rush rut, and lower stress.

Deadly Habit 4: Mindless Eating

Hitting the vending machine at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, raiding the pantry several times a day, eating through a bag of chips before we even realized we’ve opened them. We’re all guilty of eating without thinking about it sometimes. Problem is that often we are eating out of boredom, for a distraction, or to fill a hunger that can’t be met by food. And when we fill up on junk food, we add unhealthy calories, gaining fat and stressing our liver.



Replacement: Mindful Eating

Everything we eat should nourish us, and the ability to focus on that will help us all meet our goals of losing or maintaining weight. A simple solution is to pre-plan meals, especially snacks. On Sunday night, pack a variety of healthy snacks—12 almonds, one string cheese, 2 tablespoons of cranberries, 5 dark chocolates, 18 mini pretzels—in individual plastic bags for the week ahead. At 3pm on any day, you can reach for a baggie and know you are giving your body a good boost.



Deadly Habit 5: Becoming A Couch Potato

Flopping down in front of the TV at the end of a long day can feel good, but it’s actually doing a world of hurt to your body. Your metabolism still needs a workout as the evening draws to a close. Without it, your muscle turns to fat. Every decade we increase our percentage of fat by 5%.



Replacement: Half Hour Of Movement

Do squats while you watch TV, play with the kids, rearrange the closet, take a walk, do dishes, have a family dance party. Just figure out a way to get in a half hour of movement after dinner to give your metabolism something to do.



Deadly Habit 6: Disconnecting

So many of us pull away from the people who support us at exactly the times we need them most—when we’re going through a divorce, facing a financial crisis, feeling bad about our bodies. Adding the stress of bottled up emotions to already challenging times only leads to health problems down the road.



Replacement: Connecting

Human beings provide a social web that holds us all up. So call your mother, get back in touch with a college friend, make a plan to have coffee with an old work pal, send a thank you note to your high school teacher. If you surround yourself with support, you can weather the bad times with less stress and add years to your life.



Deadly Habit 7: Not Having A Bedtime

Kids have to be in bed at 8, but adults fill their evenings with TV, to-do lists, chores and more, falling into bed at a different (and later) time each night. That irregularity not only means fewer hours of sleep, but a lesser quality of sleep, both of which are causes of weight gain and disease.



Replacement: Planning A Bedtime

All of us need 7 and a half hours of sleep nightly to maintain good health, but sleeping well comes easy to few of us. It actually takes practice and routine, and it’s one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Count back 7 hours from when you wake up and make that your bedtime. If it’s 10:30, then you should be heading to bed at 10pm.

Read the entire article here.

Now go, be healthy!

Wedding Photos

On October 24, 2009, I married my best friend. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures while I had the chance. Photography by "Photography by Dena".