Fo Fo Fondue...Happy Holidays!

Last night we went over to our good friends house for their annual holiday fondue party. Just like last year they had two cheese pots for the appetizers, two pots for the meat and then a chocolate fountain for all the yummy desserts. I offered to be the designated driver since our friends live so far away that they are practically in Mexico. That allowed Andy, Mike and AJ to have fun without worrying how they were going to get home. Hey, I took one for the team.

Andy and I of course got our friends little girls presents for Christmas because isn't Christmas more about the kids anyway? So, I have this knack for getting good presents for kids rather it's birthday or Christmas...see this post for an example. This holiday was no exception...besides one minor glitch. While in Kohl's I came across Dr. Seuss books and matching stuffed animals. I thought this was super cute and would be a great Christmas gift for a 1 year old and 18 month old, especially since one of the books was The Grinch that Stole Christmas and had a matching Grinch stuffed animal. It was oh so cute. I wish I had pictures to show you, but I am not very good at being on top of taking pictures. Not only were they so cute, but the money received from the sale went to a Children's foundation...but I just can't remember which one. So, each girls got the grinch book and matching grinch stuffed animal along with the Wocket book and a stuffed animal character from that book. Stella, being one years old, wasn't as interested in the present as she was interested in the wrapping paper. Ella also wasn't as interested in the books with matching dolls because she was more interested in Stella's birthday present. So, it was also Stella's birthday and Andy and I decided she had to get one gift for Christmas and a separate gift for her birthday wrapped in birthday paper to make sure they are separate gifts and not combined. I know she doesn't understand at one years old, but it was important to us to make sure she had two separate gifts. Andy and I both think it would suck to have a birthday so close to Christmas. So, for Stella's birthday gift we got her a Tickle Me Elmo doll that rolled around as it laughed. It was super cute that Ella was more interested in Stella's Elmo than her own gift. Then once her daddy got Elmo out of the box Elmo started rolling around, which caused everyone to laugh and Ella to cry. She was crying so hard that she had giant tears rolling down her face. While this was going on Stella continued to play with the wrapping paper. Oh, how fun it is to be one years old again...to find wrapping paper more fun than the actual gift itself! So, unfortunately this time my gift made a little girl scream and cry because she was afraid of it...oops!! It was just a minor glitch in my gift giving.

Well, Saturday was a lot of fun with friends and fondue. It was even more fun to see the little girls play together like they were born to be BFF's...ok, maybe their mothers secretly got pregnant around the same time so their kids could be BFF's. Mmmmm! Anyway, it was a great weekend and happy holidays everyone!

Passport...Check

Well, I can now say I got another wedding thing checked off my to-do list. I got a passport this past Saturday so I can travel to Mexico for the wedding. I made my appointment for 10am this past Saturday at the post office thinking people won't be getting passports right before Christmas so the line at the post office should be non-existent or fairly short. I don't know why I thought like that because not everybody goes to the post office for passports only. I mean two weeks before Christmas they are shipping many packages, picking up packages, etc. etc. etc. I talked Andy into going to the post office with me just in case there was a line he could help keep me company. He initially said this past weekend probably was not a good weekend to get a passport due to the hoards of people who do not use FedEx to ship packages. I thought he was crazy...until we arrived at the post office and saw the very long line. Ok, so maybe Andy was right...this time! Even though I made a 10am appointment the guy on the phone instructed me to stand in line if there was one. Now what is the point of making an appointment...mmmmm? So, we stood in line for about 15 minutes when a lady asked if there was somebody in line for a 10am passport...oh, oh, me, me! I eagerly got out of line and headed straight to the counter. Within seconds I was in a back room to get my horrible passport photo taken. I didn't care how bad it was I was just happy that it only took 5 shots to get my eyes at least partially open. So, I look a little stoned in my passport photo with half open eyes I was just happy to have it done and over with. Now I don't have to worry about that for the wedding. Passport is taken care of and should be arriving in 4 weeks.

Ladies Weekend...Sort Of

Last week I saw an interview with Jennifer Lopez where she said her and her husband have "ladies night" once a month. Basically, it's where they spend one night a month doing whatever it is she wants to do no matter how "girlie" it may be and he cannot complain. Of course I thought this was a great idea. When I mentioned it to Andy he just mumbled with excitement...not really.

For Friday night (aka ladies night) I suggested that I wanted Chinese takeout and a bottle of red wine while we watched Sex & The City 2 together. Andy thought this was too girlie for ladies night, so I happened to mention how many manly football games I have sat through with him and then he managed to suck it up and spend ladies night with me. We had such a great time together that I would like to implement ladies night every month.

So Saturday night I thought it would be fun to spend the night at Kierland Commons for a little shopping, sushi and Christmas lights. I got Andy to agree by not really mentioning much about the shopping part and played up dinner out more. Yeah, once we were there we were able to walk around and enjoy the Christmas lights since Kierland does such a great job of decorating. It was so pretty. It was also about 66 degrees on Saturday night as we walked around thinking of our family and friends in WI experiencing a blizzard and temperatures in the teens. After dinner we (ok, I) did some shopping at one of my favorite stores. Andy was not thrilled as I spent about an hour in the store. As we left he mentioned that "ladies night" turned into "ladies weekend," but I see nothing wrong with that.

Laid Back Weekend

So, this past weekend Andy's brother, Ryan, and his girlfriend, Lisa, were in town. You might think that sounds like we might have had a wild and crazy time, but that is not the case. You see Andy and I are OLD and we don't party like rock starts anymore. Friday night we went out for dinner and a couple drinks and we were home by 10pm. This was just in time for me to put an ice pack on my sore back and fall asleep. Then Saturday evening was supposed to be our big night out...just crazy partying. I was looking forward to it since we really don't do that anymore. We stayed north (basically stayed around our age group) and hit up the Sandbar. This place was dude central. It was the perfect place for a single female to go and pick up a Scottsdale 30K millionaire douche-bag. This was quite entertaining to watch everyone around us. We started approaching 10pm (aka our normal bed time) and Andy was commenting on how he was annoyed with how packed the bar was and wanted to go somewhere with less people. We then started to reminisce on the days where we went to bars because they were so packed and we never would have wanted to leave. Kind of funny how times have changed, huh? The loud music and the interesting crowd was at least keeping me awake, but Andy wanted to leave, so we headed to Dave & Buster's. There was nobody there so we could just chill and talk to each other. So different from the days when Andy and I first met each other. We are totally ok with our lifestyle change as my idea of a great night is a bottle of wine with Andy and watching a movie from Netflix. I am not interested in the party scene anymore. Sure it's fun to get out and remind myself why I don't go clubbing anymore or drink my face off.

Anyway, it was a low key weekend with Ryan and Lisa. It was also very nice to have them in town and just chill. Plus our house got squeeky clean because of our guests.

Deck The Halls

This is the first year I decorated for Christmas. I decided it was what I needed to do to get in the holiday spirit. It is still hard to get that Christmas feeling here in Arizona since it's not "Wisconsin freezing" here. It's only Arizona cold right now. Last weekend I went to Kirkland's and bought the following supplies.


There was so much more that I wanted to buy, but I figured one year at a time so I decided to start with the living room. I got lighted trees, nutcrackers, many snowmen, plastic green stuff and many more miscellaneous items. We had to go to Michael's to get the plastic green stuff, the fake snow and the Xmas tree balls. When in the store I asked Andy which color balls I should get and his response was "I don't care." I then responded with "Well, what if I didn't care about your balls?" (Maybe slightly inappropriate for the blog, but funny!) He replied with "I lost my balls about 20 minutes ago when I walked in this place with you." Again, he responded without missing a beat and I just cracked up in the store...it was too funny! He was a good sport and I told him how much I appreciate him doing girlie shopping withe me.

Anyway, here are pictures of my first time ever decorating for the holidays. Here is the stand for our TV, the wall behind our couch and the kitchen table center piece. I must say I didn't do to bad for my first time.

Happy Thanksgiving Includes Grandma's Buns

Well, I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. This week Andy's dad and step mom were in town so we were able to spend Thanksgiving with them and our good friends, the Seifert's. I was able to accomplish baking this morning...with Andy's help of course. Every year for Thanksgiving my grandma makes her famous buns and I would look forward to these very tasty buns every year when I lived in WI. So, I thought to help make this Thanksgiving feel like home it would be a great idea to make this tradition known as grandma's buns. I have heard for years how hard these are to make and I have never made them myself and I have never watched my grandmother (or my mother) make these awesome buns. I figured I could do this...piece of cake...as long as Andy was up to helping me. Word got around that we were making the traditional grandma's rolls and all of a sudden there was pressure on the rolls to turn out as everyone was looking forward to them.

First I had to get grandma's recipe from my mom, so I called and ended up with a thirty minute explanation of how to make them. I then asked for her to email it to me since I was driving home from work and couldn't write anything down. When I get the email it was literally four sentences long and was nothing like the 30 minute detailed explanation I got over the phone. For measurements I got something like "use 1/2 a small bag of flour." Ok, that is not a Rachel Rae recipe, but as you can tell it's a grandmother's old school recipe. There was also an ingredient for cake yeast and my mom said it might be hard to find, but I will find it in the refrigerated section. Mmmm...after two grocery stores we couldn't find it. Andy hit up Google and found out Red Star Cake Yeast is a midwest thing and is not sold anywhere else. It's actually made in Milwaukee, WI. At first I thought we are screwed because grandma said we have to use the exact ingredients and brands she had listed. Red Star's website said that since it's not sold all over the nation we can substitute for the regular packaged yeast, so we were back in the game.

My mom warned me the rolls would take 3 - 3.5 hours to make, so we got up this morning and started at 7:30am...however, we did not finish until noon. So my mom's timing was slightly off. Let's just say that after 4.5 hours of baking I was exhausted. I couldn't imagine making a whole turkey meal for a slew of people.

I am glad Andy helped me with the recipe as we made a great team together. I got everything mixed and prepared and Andy kneaded the dough. I really wasn't interested in that part so I played the "my shoulder and neck still hurt" and I am not sure if he felt bad or if he really just wanted to knead the dough, but either way I didn't have to. Here is a picture of Andy kneading the dough. I promised I wouldn't get his face in the shot as he was not camera ready.


I will admit we had to make two batches of dough because we didn't think the first batch would turn out for two reasons: 1. the potato water was not hot enough to melt the shortening and 2. I measured the salt wrong as I used the teaspoon instead of the Tablespoon...oops! I am glad we decided last second to make the second batch of dough as that one turned out much better than our first batch. Here are both of our batches rising.



After the dough had risen two separate times it was time to shape the dough into dinner roll sized balls, covered all the pans and let the dough rise again. After we had the first pan put in the oven we left the rest of the balls on the counter. I asked Andy if that is smart because of the dogs and he agreed it wasn't but would watch them while I started to get ready to go to the Seifert's house. While getting ready I still had to pay attention to how long the buns had been in the oven. After about 15 minutes I head to the kitchen to check on the buns and pass through the living room where I find Andy on the couch watching football...I guess he was done guarding the rolls, or he started to trust our beloved doggies. I turn the corner and find one of the towels pulled back with the buns exposed, Madison's paws on the counter and she grabbed for two dough balls. As I yelled "Hey," Madison dropped the dough balls on the floor and went running because she knew she was in trouble. So, out of 5 dozen buns we lost two due to doggie interference. The rest of them survived. Grandma's buns were a huge hit at Thanksgiving and everyone was asking how to make them. After I explained the process nobody was interested anymore. Here is the final picture of the famous buns.

I Am All Jacked Up

So tonight was my first experience with a chiropractor and it was a better experience than I could have expected. Just over a week ago I started experiencing severe pain and it didn't go away for five days and then when it did go away it wasn't 100%. A couple days after enjoying my neck all went to hell again. My neck and left shoulder were back in severe pain mode this past Saturday. So, basically I had a crappy weekend while I iced my neck and sat around the house like I was 80 years old. After advice from everybody I know I finally called a chiropractor and made an appointment for tonight.

This just wasn't any chiropractor it was the chiropractor the famous Dr. Cox referred both Andy and I too. That alone didn't make me feel more comfortable about seeing a chiropractor. I basically spent all day today worrying about what he was going to do to me. I kept envisioning my neck being twisted in all directions while it just snapped in every which direction. Talk about a frightening image. Anyway I finally made it out to the west side of Phoenix to Stein Chiropractic and met the world's tallest chiropractor. Yes, that is what his website says and after meeting him I definitely believe it. Dr. Stein is seven foot two inches tall...he makes Andy look short...if that is possible. He was very nice and I explained my neck pain and how I just wanted it fixed. After a better understanding of how chiropractic works he took my x-rays and we looked at them together. Mmmmm...my spine is all jacked up! No joke! Starting from the tail bone in veered to the right and then back to the left and then to the right a little and then it went straight up to my neck. Ok, I thought this was somebody else's x-ray because how could my spine look like that...well, it does and I accepted it. So, normally Dr. Stein does not do adjustments on the consultation night but since I was referred by the famous Dr. Cox he did since he looks up to Dr. Cox.

Time for the adjustments. I really had no idea what was going to happen but Dr. Stein uses the Gonstead method which is very safe and he does not twist you at all. That made me feel more safe. Instead of twisting he pushes. First he pushed one of my vertebrae back in place up by my neck. I think I squeeled just a tad. Then he pushed on the middle of my back to put those vertebrae back in place and the cracking noise and feeling was just crazy. The feeling and noise is so not what I expected so I screamed...just a little. Then I laid down on a table/couch where he did my lower back and that wasn't so bad. Then he did my left shoulder which was also weird. All of this was a complete new experience for me and when I went to pay at the front desk when it was all said and done the ladies giggled a little and told me they heard my screams. Ooops! I hope I didn't scare any of your other clients.

I know a lot of people see a chiropractor, but this was my first experience and I thought it was quite the experience so I wanted to share with everyone. I wish you could feel what I felt because it was insane. My neck is already starting to feel better. I will go back again next week to see Dr. Stein for another adjustment of my back. I need to get my jacked up spine back to looking normal. If you saw what I saw on the x-rays you would be a little worried about your back too.

My New Toy

My new toy has arrived!



Yup, that is my new Sharper Image jewelry steam cleaner. My friend told me about this as he bought one for his wife. Once he told me how wonderful it is I just had to have one, so this past weekend we went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get it. They did not have it in their store, but they ordered it for me online and it was supposed to take two weeks to get here. To my surprise it took 3 days to get here! I got home from work last night in a semi-crabby mood and as soon as I saw by BB&B box my frown turned upside down. I immediately took it out of the box and while the animals played with the box I read the directions on how to use it. Yes, I know, there is a first time for everything! I mainly bought this contraption so I can steam clean my ring on a regular basis just like they do at the jewelry store. This will save me trips to the jewelry store to get my ring cleaned, so it's a nice little investment.

The cleaner came with it's own tongs so I can hold my ring from afar and not burn my hand. There is also a small basket for smaller jewelry to clean. I love my new toy! Here is the steam cleaner in use!

Pork Chops & Apple Sauce

Ok, so I didn't make pork chops and apple sauce like in the Brady Bunch, but I did make breaded pork chops and twice baked sweet potatoes this past Sunday night. It was soooo yummy so I want to share the recipes from Taste of Home with everyone.

Breaded Pork Chops
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons flour
4 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup dried bread crumbs (I used Panko bread crumbs)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
6 boneless pork chops (I only used four pork chops and just used a little less ingredients.)

Place flour in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, beat the egg whites, Worchestershire sauce, and vinegar. In a third dish, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, thyme, salt an dpaprika. Coat pork chops with flour, dip in egg mixture, then coat with crumb mixture. Cover and chill for an hour.

Place pork chops in a baking dish coated with cooking spray and bake uncovered for 25 - 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

After you clean the potatoes nuke in the microwave for 14 minutes to save time. You can always cook them the traditional way in the oven for an hour, but who has an hour to waste? Don't forget to pierce the potatoes before cooking them. Once cooked you will want to scoop out the inside of the potato into a bowl. You can be all fancy and delicate when scooping the inside so you save the shell, but since it was just Andy and I eating dinner I was not delicate. I just cut the potato in half and scooped out the inside into a bowl. Then mash the potatoes and add the cream cheese, sour cream, butter and salt; mix well. If you saved your shells then scoop the mixture back in or leave in the oven friendly baking bowl. I used our Pyrex bowl as that is oven friendly. Once everything is mixed together you will want to sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

This dinner was so yummy and I can't wait to make it again. I know Andy doesn't like sweet potatoes, but he liked this recipe. Here is a blurry picture of the fabulous meal I served with green beans.

What My Engagement Ring Says About Me

So, as an engaged female I do have an account with The Knot. I don't do much with my account since we are having a no fuss destination wedding; however, now and then I read articles that sound interesting from their daily e-newsletter I receive. Tonight I read the title "What Your Engagement Ring Says About You." Ok, that caught my eye, but mainly because I had nothing to do with my engagement ring. Andy picked it out all by himself and that is exactly how I wanted it. So, I was dying to read this article. I have a princess cut ring and this is what my princess cut ring says about me.

Princess Engagement Ring

Your style: Lover of all things sparkly.
Your relationship: He treats you like a...yep, total princess.
Your wedding: You may or may not arrive by horse-drawn carriage, opt for the biggest ball gown, or sport the tallest tiara -- but you're bound to have a royal blast.

So, I guess I am a lover of all things sparkly, or odd, big and unusual would be another way to put it. I am going to have to agree with what it says about our relationship because in Andy's own way he does treat me like a princess. He does take care of me, spoils me and remembers the little details that I just can't remember. Here is a great example of how Andy takes care of me. At my company holiday picnic this past weekend I brought my Flip Video to take short video clips of the picnic for our firm Intranet. I get to the park and pull out the Flip to find out the batteries are dead. Andy's response was "If you would have let me know you wanted to use the Flip today I would have made sure the batteries were charged for you." I realized that I never thought about the batteries because for years now Andy has always made sure batteries have been charged in the camera, laptop, DVD, MP3 and any other electronic device before I want to use it. When I thought for a minute about it I thought how sweet that was that it's the little things that Andy does to take care of me.

Ok, enough of the mushy stuff and onto the last item that The Knot has to say about the ring Andy bought. I guess they are right about the wedding as I am not going to have a giant marshmallow ball gown, tiara or a huge wedding, but you better believe that I (we) will have the time of our lives!

Fake vs. National Geographic

So, I am sure Andy will not be thrilled with this post, but this is a funny conversation that we had last weekend and I think it's so funny that I want to share it.

A little background first: Andy has never been a fan of fake boobs. He has always said that he prefers them real over fake and if I ever wanted to get fake boobs he wouldn't like it. My thought is that I don't care either way. If people want fake boobs they can have them. It's their body and they can do whatever they want. I am not anti-fake boobs as maybe I will need them some day, but for now I am happy with what my mamma gave me and have no plans for surgery anytime in the near future.

So, last weekend we were discussing the possibility of having kids someday. Andy made a comment about breast feeding...ok, maybe he actually said "when you have baby on tit." Anyway, I said I don't know if I would breast feed...we will see. He asked why and I told him because I have heard so many people say that breast feeding ruins your boobs and I am happy with my boobs. His response was "Well you can just get a boob job then." I was shocked so I responded with "I though you are Mr. anti-fake boobs?" That's when he said "Well, I would rather have fake over national geographic. Oh my gosh! I was laughing so hard when that came out of his mouth. He said it without missing a beat. It was too funny! I then explained to him how those women have many children that they breast feed and they do not wears bras for support.

I learned from that conversation that Andy prefers real over fake, but fake over national geographic. Now everybody knows that Andy approves my future boob job post children.

Spinach-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

So, I made a fabulous meal tonight from the Taste of Home Cookbook. Andy and I both like a lot of recipes from this book so last weekend I went through it again to see what else I could make and came across this yummy recipe. I even learned how to butterfly a tenderloin while making this recipe. Here are the ingredients you need:

1 Pork Tenderloin (about 1 pound)
1/2 Teaspoon of celery salt, divided (I used regular salt)
1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic powder, divided
1/2 Teaspoon of pepper, divided
4 Slices of provolone cheese
2 Cups fresh spinach
2 Thin slices of deli ham

First thing you want to do is butterfly the tenderloin by cutting a lengthwise slit down the center of the tenderloin to within 1/2 inch of the bottom. Then open the tenderloin so it lies flat. On each half, make another lengthwise slit down the center to within 1/2 inch of the bottom. Cover the tenderloin with plastic wrap and flatten it with a meat cleaver until it's about 1/4 inch thick like below.


Then you will want to sprinkle a 1/4 teaspoon each of the garlic, salt and pepper. Then layer the tenderloin with the cheese, spinach and ham like below.



Then roll the tenderloin like a jelly-roll and tie roast with kitchen string like below.


Sprinkle the rest of the garlic, salt and pepper on top of the tenderloin. Bake, uncovered at 425 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until your meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees. You will want to let the meat sit for 10 minutes before you start slicing into it.

I served this with my tastefully simple garlic and bacon mashed potatoes. Andy and I both love this meal and it will definitely be repeated in this house.


I do want to say that I made this meal completely by myself. Andy did help with tying the kitchen string around the tenderloin while I held it, but that is all he participated in. I am pretty proud of my gourmet meal on a Wednesday evening...hu huh...a work night.

Disappointed In Halloween Costumes

So, as everyone knows Halloween is my favorite holiday and this year is no exception even though our costumes were not up to par like previous years. If you remember last year we were Zombie Prom King and Queen and the year prior we were Madonna and A-Rod and the list goes on-and-on for pretty decent costumes if not great costumes. This year we must have lost our mo-jo and I really lost my Halloween game when it came to costumes. The reason for this is the first part of October was focused on our WI trip back home and then it was focused on wedding dress shopping and then I got sick, so we basically started our costume last week on Thursday. That gave us a matter of two and a half days to get creative and shop for a costume. I know I am a creative person; however, I can't even work a miracle in that short of time.

Well, we decided on Morticia and Gomez Addams from The Addams Family. I wasn't super thrilled with the idea since we did go with the dark theme last year, but Andy was completely sold on it since he was going to wear a fake mustache. Unbeknown to him, the mustache only last approximately 30 minutes before it fell off his face. We didn't even get pictures of him with the mustache still on his face. With the mustache he still didn't look like Gomez anyway, instead he looked like a 70's porn star. Without the mustache he looked more like a brunette Justin Bieber since his wig had a nice swoop to it, so of course after a few drinks I started saying "I have Bieber Fever." HA HA! I felt I looked a bit more like a witch than Morticia herself. So, I am slightly disappointed in our Halloween costumes this year, but hey, we can't always have a winning costume...or can we??? Bahahahah! Next year we are starting much earlier with the Halloween costume so we don't get "stuck" with crap, but we only have ourselves to blame. Here are photos.






So, for Halloween we went with our friends (the king and queen of Halloween) to the Halloween Boo Bash at the Hotel Valley Ho. We thought it would be fun to check out one of the hotel Halloween bashes, especially since it was a nominal fee of $35 to get in. We got there early to avoid a long line to get in and we were glad we did that because not soon after we got there it was a gigantic line. Once inside we were able to check out all the neat and creative (plus skanky) costumes that people were wearing. There were definitely some neat ones, but Scottsdale is not like Madison were you can see some pretty neat and creative costumes; instead it's more of a contest to see who can be more slutty. That's ok though, because it was still entertaining to see boobs and ass hanging out everywhere. It was a fun night and we are glad we finally checked out one of the hotel parties, but next year if the Smith's don't have a party at their house we will be heading to a bar to partake in the Halloween festivities. Andy is not into dancing, and we really are not club people anymore so the hotel party really was not us. I must admit that since I was unable to get out of bed until 3pm the following day, it was a successful Halloween! I also have to give kudos to our friend AJ for picking us up at the Ho and providing us with a safe ride home.

Good times this year, but next year it's either the Smith's awesome house party (if they have it) or onto a bar!


Andy with Mike, Jordan and Nikki


The king and queen of Halloween (Jeremy and Lisa) with Jordan.

The Perfect Dress

Well, I had such a crazy busy weekend, but the most important and exciting thing is that I found a wedding dress. I am super excited and can't believe I have to wait until March before it arrives. How is that fair? I went shopping with my friends, Kim and Amber, on Saturday just to make sure the dress I found in Wisconsin indeed was the one. I really didn't think it was possible to top that dress and I kind of went just for shits and giggles since I had my heart set on the dress back in Wisco. After about seven no-go's I tried on a dress that I just loved. I became very confused because "what about that dress back in Wisco?" I mean, I couldn't just fall out of love with that dress and in love with this new dress that fast. This became very stressful and not something I was prepared for. I didn't realize how stressful dress shopping can be and hard decision making is when it comes down to buying "the dress" for a very important day. On top of falling in love with this new dress I learned they are having their trunk show this weekend and all the 2011 dresses are 15% off, and that included the new love of my life dress. I now had until 5pm on Sunday to make a decision. All of this was too much so I needed to think about it over night. Of course the first thing I did was call my mom when I got in the car. Two and a half hours later I was still confused. I was trying not to dwell on it, but I just couldn't get the two dresses out of my head. I contacted Andy's mom, Laura, in the morning for some more advice and then another call to my mother. With 24 hours, and many of those hours spent on the phone, later I went back to Demetrio's to try the dress on again. I took one look in the mirror and said "this is the dress...this is the perfect dress." I am so excited to have found my perfect dress. I wish my mom could have been there, but I did have two great friends with me who shared this special day with me.

Dress Shopping

This past weekend Andy and I went back to Wisconsin for the Ohio State/Badger game. While I was there I thought I was a good idea to do the mother/daughter wedding dress shopping together. I also invited Andy's mom because she has two boys and no daughter of her own and who knows when Ryan is going to get married. While we were at it my aunt and cousin came along and at the very last minute my friend Kelli surprised me and made it for the day of shopping.

Kelli is my very good friend who moved back to Minneapolis and recently started a new job as a registered nurse so she couldn't get off to make it back to Madison. I was super bummed about this but not just because of the dress shopping, but because this will be the first Badger football game that I will go to that she will not be with me. This all changed with a very nice surprise at the airport when Kelli showed up with Laura, Andy's mom.

The night before we were to fly out Andy told me that his mom will drive me home from the airport so my parent's don't have to pick me up. I thought that was a bit odd and not necessary since it's not on Laura's way home and my parent's don't live that far away from the airport so it's not any trouble for them to come get me. His response was "My mom wants to go get a drink with you." I thought that was also a bit bizarre because Laura is no boozer so it sounded odd that she wanted to go get drinks on a Thursday night at 9:30...mmmm...getting weird to me. Andy then said she wanted to talk dress shopping with me...also weird. What is there to talk about? Plus, I said I would be tired and would just want to go home, but Andy told me too bad because we are going for a drink. I still found this bizarre and felt like something was up, but I had no idea what. I was thinking Laura wanted to talk to me about getting married and maybe how I should take care of her son, blah, blah, blah. When we were in the MN airport for our layover Andy and I got a couple drinks and being in the MN airport I started to get sad about missing Kelli and I was telling Andy how much I was going to miss her this weekend and I even posted a comment on her Facebook page about how I was thinking of her. Little did I know she was cruising in her car on her way to Laura's house. When we were heading down the escalators on our way to baggage claim in the Madison airport I saw Laura and gave her a big hug and then I saw Kelli. I was so surprised and happy to see her that I actually cried. For those that know me really well you know that it takes A LOT to get me to cry, so it meant a lot to me that Kelli made it to Madison for the dress shopping. She wasn't going to make it to the Badger game because she was going to have to turn around and drive back to MN to be on call Saturday afternoon. Oh well, I got to see her for a few hours and spend an important day with her.

This is Kelli, Laura and myself at the bar on Thursday night getting a couple drinks.

On Friday was dress shopping day. I had no idea what to expect, but I went with an open mind and I had a great time. I enjoyed trying on a lot of dresses and I even fell in love with a dress that is totally me. The first store was Brandi's Bridal in New Glarus, WI. It was such a great boutique and had plenty of unique dresses for me to try on. They were also very pleasant and fun to work with. The lady that I worked with was very nice and knowledgeable as she gave me a lot of advice and tips on dress shopping. The second store was Julies Bridal in Monroe, WI and they didn't have my style of dresses, but I was still able to try on a variety of dresses and I learned what I don't like on me. We went back to Brandi's Bridal and I tried on my two favorite dresses that I narrowed it down to earlier. One of the dresses got me teary eyed so I knew that was the dress for me. Instead of buying it that day I decided to get measured and have them keep my information on hand so I can shop in Phoenix this upcoming weekend. If I don't find anything better than that dress then I will call the bridal shop and order that dress. I just want to make sure this is the dress. I am pretty positive, but this is my first time wedding dress shopping so I just want to make sure I am getting the right dress.

By dress shopping I learned that I am definitely not a typical bride. Actually, that is nothing new because I kind of always knew that, but Friday really proved it. I wasn't into picking out my dresses to try on as I enjoyed everyone just handing me dresses to try on. I also didn't like trying on every dress in the store like some brides like doing. I only wanted to try on the dresses I thought had potential. I also didn't like traditional dresses. It was an interesting day.

The only thing I regret from that day is not taking pictures of the group of people I went dress shopping with. This was an important day with very important people in my life and the only thing I regret is not getting a group picture, or even a picture of me in the favorite dress with my mom. I did get plenty of pictures of me in the dresses I was trying on, but I wish I would have done a picture with my mother and another group picture. My only regrets!!!

Who Wants A Treat?

So, every night after dinner it's the same routine. I have a dog (ah hum, Madison) who stares at me until I give her a bone (aka treat) to chew on. It's kind of creepy when Madison stares at you because she won't stop until you offer up what she wants. Even if I try to say NO, she continues to stare you down. Then when I say "Who wants a treat" both dogs go absolutely nuts and run for the kitchen cupboard where we store the dog chews. They both sit their butts down and I give them their treats. Unfortunately some time way back when Andy and I started this bad habit and now they both think they will get a treat every night after we are done eating dinner. The other thing is Madison has turned into a chew snob. Not any chews will do as she only likes certain (aka expensive) chews. There have been times where I have given her a chew that she didn't approve of and she dropped it and looked at me and ran back toward the cupboard door. That is where I draw the line though. If she doesn't like what I give her too bad. Once she realizes she is not getting anything else then she will settle for the bone she dropped on the floor. Anyway, this is our nightly routine and the best way to show you is through video. I used the flip video the other night to capture this ridiculous behavior.

For Goat Cheese Lovers

So, as I said before I love goat cheese, so when I was in Washington DC this past June I had a goat cheese and pesto grilled sandwich. It was AMAZING and I was determined to copy it at home, so while I was eating my grilled cheese sandwich I definitely took notes on what was in the sandwich: pesto, goat cheese and tomato. Super simple! So, I made this yummy sandwich again for lunch today...minus the tomato. Andy makes an awesome homemade pesto sauce and I normally make this sandwich when we have leftover pesto; however, I was craving it today and we didn't have any of Andy's homemade pesto in the house. Good thing I recently purchased my Wild Tree pesto stuff. All I had to do was add water and Wild Tree Grapeseed Oil to make the pesto. It definitely does not stand up to Andy's homemade pesto, but it worked to satisfy my craving.

I spread pesto on one piece of bread and goat cheese on the other. Put the pieces together and buttered the outside of the bread and put it on the pan to heat up. Flipped it and heated the other side. I did not add the tomato, but the sandwich I had in DC had slices of tomato between the pesto and the goat cheese and that was pretty yummy too.

Here is my final product in a very blurry picture.

Wild Tree

Well, our weekend was pretty laid back as we didn't do much. The highlight of the weekend is that my Wild Tree order came in. My mother is now selling Wild Tree, so I thought I would be supportive and place an order. Wild Tree is similar to Tastefully Simple, but one difference is that it offers the highest quality herbs, spices and culinary blends that are free of preservatives, additives, fillers and promote a healthier lifestyle.


So, my order arrived on Saturday and I started looking for simple recipes online for dinner tonight. I decided on the Fantastic Smashed Potatoes and the Chicken Breast with Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese. If you love goat cheese like I do, then this is the recipe for you.

Here is what I learned from making the potatoes and chicken:
1. When it says to make sure the oil in the pan is hot to brown the chicken on both sides for three minutes, they mean what they say. My oil was hot, just not hot enough to get the nice browning on the chicken I believe I needed.
2. Andy said to add salt and pepper on the chicken the next time I make it.
3. If you are not a big fan of goat cheese this might not be for you.
4. When making the potatoes I did not measure anything. I just put in as much butter, sour cream and ranch dressing as I wanted. Andy and I both like our potatoes creamy and filled with fatty goodness.
5. The Chicken recipe asks you to make a pocket in the breast to insert the cheese, but our chicken was too thin so I just spread the cheese mixture on and then folded the chicken over.




Chicken Breast with Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese

SERVINGS: 4

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup goat cheese 3 tablespoons Wildtree Garlic and Herb Blend 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast 2 tablespoons Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix goat cheese and garlic and herb blend. Cut the chicken breast horizontally to form a pocket. Stuff about 4 teaspoons into each pocket. Heat oil in a large oven-ready skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Cover and bake in oven for 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Let stand 5 minutes and serve.

Calories 310; Fat 14 g; Saturated Fat 4 g; Carb 6 g; Protein 39 g; Fiber 2 g; Chol 100 mg; Sodium 150 mg

Fantastic Smashed Potatoes

SERVINGS: 4

INGREDIENTS:

6 yukon gold potatoes 1 quart chicken stock 3 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup of sour cream 4 tablespoons of ranch dressing 2 tablespoons Wildtree Onion and Chive Blend 1 teaspoons Wildtree Garlic Grapeseed Oil Wash and quarter the yukon gold potatoes. Boil in chicken stock for 15 minutes. Drain and return to same pot. Smash using a smashing tool and add butter, sour cream, ranch dressing, Onion and Chive Blend, Garlic Grapeseed Oil. Mix together. Calories 450; Fat 23 g; Saturated Fat 9 g; Carb 54 g; Fiber 5 g; Protein 14 g; Chol 45 mg; Sodium 590 mg Here is a photo of the final masterpiece. Yes, I served with red wine instead of white like I should, but I prefer red wine over white. Also, I know asparagus or green beans would have complimented the meal, but I just didn't want to push myself. I mean I was making two brand new courses and didn't need the extra stress. So, while enjoying our dinner in front of the TV like we do every night we had an audience, like we do every night.