Odds~n~Ends

Girl's Night

Last week while I working in North Houston, I met up with Amy and Maria for a Girl’s Night. We met while working at Kodak and used to have Girl’s Nights once a month. Since I’ve moved to San Antonio, we haven’t had the chance to meet up. It was great to get together again and catch up. It was a night of good wine, good food, and good company… great combo!

Happy Birthday, Jarrett

Yesterday was my brother’s 30th birthday. I can’t believe he’s 30! Happy Birthday, Jarrett. Jarrett was the was the cutest baby boy I've ever seen. When I was in junior high and high school I used to carry his baby picture in my wallet.

Happy Birthday, Pawpaw

Today is my Pawpaw’s 87th birthday. My sister was in town for the afternoon and we took Pawpaw to lunch. We told him to pick any place he wanted to have lunch; Pawpaw picked Popeye's Fried Chicken. So funny… it was a greasy mess, my sis and I shared something, my stomach hurt after lunch but Pawpaw loved it! He asked for a DVD player for his birthday. I guess after 87 years of life and serving in World War II, everyone deserves a DVD player. :) My sister found some really cool vintage magazines from the 40's at an antique shop in Omaha, NE. He loved them!

Houseguest

Last week I worked on the North West side of Houston. My friend Maria invited me to stay at her home for a few nights. I arrived late on Sunday night. Yay for me, another Sunday on the road. I’m not burnt out or anything, can you tell?

When I arrived at Maria’s house we visited for a while and I made the mistake of opening her pantry. You know you’re good friends when you can just open someone’s pantry and help yourself. OH MY GOSH… check out all this food. Unfortunately I sampled many things from Maria’s pantry, with her blessing, of course. I cannot have this much food in my house. I would eat it all in one weekend.

Since Maria invited me to stay with her and her family, one night I purchased groceries and made dinner. Maria and I both have the Hungry Girl cookbooks but we don’t always have time to make the recipes. I figured staying with Maria would be the perfect opportunity to try a few Hungry Girl recipes.

I made the Turkey Bacon-Bundled BBQ Shrimp, Miracle Mashies (mashed cauliflower & potatoes), and Caramel Apple Tartlets for Dessert. The recipes were from Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200 . I also whipped up a side dish of zucchini. Considering its health food, it was really good. I wish I could eat at home more often. It’s so nice to have control of what’s going into the food.

Turkey Bacon-Bundled BBQ Shrimp

Caramel Apple Tartlets with Fat Free Cool Whip

The recipe for Turkey Bacon Wrapped Shrimp called for a few tablespoons of ketchup. When I was purchasing the groceries I figured Maria had ketchup. When I started cooking, Maria told me they didn’t have ketchup but she had ketchup packets. She opened a drawer in the refrigerator and it was full of fast food packets. We started digging for ketchup. When we found a ketchup packet among the Arby’s sauce, Taco Bell sauce, BBQ sauce, Honey Mustard, and Ranch, we’d get super excited and cheer. It was funny!

I asked Maria where her dry measuring cups were located. She gave me a liquid measuring cup and told me she didn’t have dry measuring cups. I love Maria, she cracks me up. She doesn’t cook or bake often so her kitchen is missing the oh-so-essential dry measuring cups. Before I left town, I bought her a “thank you” gift for letting me stay at her home. Guess what I got her?

Fall (Trashy) TV Line Up

I have been so busy, which is why I haven't posted as much as usual. This week is going to be another stressful week at work and I'm completely sick to my stomach about it right now. Hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up on some blogging and relax soon.

Even though I'm busy and stressed with work, I still enjoy some good, trashy TV in my downtime (usually late at night or the weekend). I've never been known for my great taste in television shows. The best is when guys ask me what TV shows I like. You should see their expression after I answer.

Thank goodness for the DVR or I'd never catch any of the new shows. Here's my Fall TV Line-Up. What TV shows are y'all looking forward to this fall?

Sunday

Tonight is the Desperate Housewives premiere. Yay!

October 11- Leave it to Lamas on E!. Shayne Lamas was the winner of the Bachelor, Season 12. I LOVED her on The Bachelor.



Monday


Greek on ABC Family





Gossip Girl

Tuesday

90210

The Hills- Premieres September 29

Wednesday

Top Chef

Thursday

The Real Housewives of Orange County (my favorite RH's)- Premieres November 5

Is It Just Me???

Or is Facebook is getting annoying? Or was it always annoying? About a year ago BFF, Tiffany, talked me into joining Facebook. I had a MySpace account. I quit checking MySpace because it was a 110% annoying; I felt like I was in 7th grade all over again (7th grade was not a good year for me). I had no desire to jump into another 7th grade fad. Tiffany explained that Facebook wasn't like MySpace, all of our college friends were FB, it was a great way to reconnect and network. She was right. I conformed. I checked my FB account everyday, for about 6 days.



This week while visiting my friend Maria, I wanted to show her a photo of someone. The only photo I knew of was on FB. I logged in. I'm so sorry, I really hope I don't offend anyone...

What's with the quizzes? What President are you? Which Disney Princess are you? Which Greek Goddess are you? Who cares.

How about the games or whatever they are? There was something on FB about the mafia and making a farm. Maria told me a friend emailed her and asked her why she wasn't making a farm. I couldn't stop laughing.

Maybe Maria is not making a farm because she has a full time job and she's really busy. Hmm.... Yes, I have a blog, I write on my blog, and I read other blogs. Maybe people make fun of me for blogging. That's okay; I will accept it. Through blogging I've built friendships, I have prayer partners, and I've learned about new crafts, recipes, international adoption, etc... I'm not sure how building a fake farm and taking a quiz to find out which Disney Princess I am will help me in this lifetime?

I must admit, I did take one FB quiz but I never posted the results. The quiz was something like, "How Church of Christ are you?" My results concluded that I was going to hell. Nice!

I do check my FB account. I average about 1-2 times per week. It can be interesting but I sometimes wonder if I missed something in this life... how do grown adults have time to make a fake farm and still go to work and/or take care of life's responsibilities. I'm not saying I'll never write a status update, I do on occasion and I just might post a photo someday.

I found this article on CNN.com. It's interesting, funny, and so true. What kind of Facebooker are you? Click on the article for a description of each.

Here are some of my favorite answers...

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore
The Self-Promoter
The Town Crier
The TMIer
The Crank
The Paparazzo

So Sad

I don't even know why I'm blogging about this. I can hardly stand to think about it. Did y'all hear about Jessica Simpson's dog, the maltipoo named Daisy? Daisy was snatched by a coyote in front of Jessica. Oh my gosh... I feel so bad for Jessica. I read on-line that Jessica hired a search team but they haven't been able to find Daisy. We all know what happened but Jessica (like any good mom) still had hope.

If something like that ever happened to my niece, Daisy, I would be devastated.
Our Daisy

Dallas this Week

This week I worked in the Dallas area and I got to visit with my brother and BFF, Tiffany. I love it that Tiff and I enjoy the exact same activities… discussing decorating, fashion, & fabric, watching television, doing nothing, and drinking wine. We love to be indoors and when people talk about having kids, we both cringe.

Tiffany worked really hard in the kitchen to prepare us this lovely dinner. Just kidding… it’s take out, another thing we have in common.

I LOVE her kitchen table chairs

Thumb Print Cookies from Snow White Bakery in Abilene, TX. Tiffany's mom was in Abilene, last week and returned with cookies. Tiff and I met at Abilene Christian University. Thumb Print Cookies from Snow White were a favorite! Fall our senior year, we made a pledge deliver us Thumb Print Cookies and Diet Coke. Don't worry we weren't mean, as I pledge I took orders too. :)

Tiffany’s Grandmother gave her this amazing antique sofa. Tiffany just had it recovered. I'm pretty sure, it's the cutest sofa I've ever seen.

Love the back!

Fabrics for throw pillows

~Funny Story~

As Tiffany and I were lounging in the big-comfy chair, browsing Etsy, and drinking wine her husband, B, entered the den with a question. He said, “I have one for y’all...'Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by... and that has made all the difference.' Who said that?”

Tiffany immediately responded with, “Why would you ask us?” We laughed. B left the den. Tiff turned to me and said, “At first I thought he was telling us a riddle.” I said, “At first I thought it was a joke.” We laughed until we cried. Good times! For the record, the quote is from Robert Frost and yes I had to Google it. Tiff and I have other things to worry about like fabric, decorating, and thumb print cookie.

Happy Thursday!

I almost titled this post, “Happy Friday.” Since I arrived home last Saturday morning at 1:00 AM and left again on Sunday, Thursday feels like a Friday.

Happy Birthday~

Today, Thursday September 17, is Danielle’s Birthday. Stop by her blog and wish her a Happy Day!

Happy Birthday, Danielle!

New Blog~

My friend Gigi has started a cooking blog, Gigi’s Kitchen. You must check it out! Gigi lived in New Orleans and has the BEST recipes. Gigi is the friend that introduced me the Olive Oils from California Olive Ranch. I’m loving her cooking blog. Gigi’s recipes bring back so many memories. My family is originally from Louisiana. I remember Sundays after church having lunch at my Mawmaw’s house; no matter what was served we had dirty rice. Now that's a Cajun!

Check out Gigi's most recent recipes for Blacken Catfish over Dirty Rice, Southern Pecan Pie, and Jambalaya. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Gigi's recipes are the perfect fall comfort food.


Television Issue in Hotel Rooms~

My hotel left a survey in my room tonight. If I fill out the survey, I’ll receive 1,000 extra Marriott points… very important. One of the questions asked on the survey was, “What could we do to improve your experience at this property?” My heart skipped a beat! I wrote, “Please add all the television channels to your TV line-up. Currently the line-up offers the basics, news, and sports. My experience at this hotel would be greatly improved if you offered… Bravo, Lifetime, Soap, Style, etc...” I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

My Sister~ The Ex-Blogger

I think I've mentioned this before... long before I had a blog my sister, Jennifer, had a blog. She is so funny and witty. I've begged her to start blogging again but she doesn't think she has the time.

Although Jennifer and I work in completely different industries (Jennifer in the shopping mall industry and I'm in the photo industry), she travels for work as much as I do. We travel so much, we've discussed becoming consultants for the travel industry. Trust me, they need us. :)

Speaking of work, yesterday was my 11 year anniversary with my company. They had a huge party for me with lots of cake. Just kidding... they didn't do anything and they probably didn't even know it was my hire date. Ha!

I decided to share a funny blog post Jennifer wrote 3 years ago about work travel. Enjoy...


Jennifer wrote:

I haven't blogged in awhile for two reasons: one is I've been traveling so much with my job that I have no time, the second is I have no life to blog about now that all I do is travel. Well, I finally have something to blog about, and it has to do with my travels.

My job recently changed in March, and I've been traveling about once a week. I mostly travel to locations where we have properties: Detroit, Milwaukee, Tampa, Phili, Chicago, New York. Throw a Vegas & Canada trip in there, too, and that's been my life for the last 3 months. Sounds fun, right?

Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not. Here is a story of when it is not fun...On this occasion, I'm trying to get to Detroit on Sunday evening, so Ill be bright & fresh for Monday morning - Great idea, right? This is the story of my journey to the Motor City.

June 18th and 19th, 2006

One Continental ticket from San Antonio to Detroit.......... $1,100

Four hour delay from San Antonio & some bad airport nachos............ $13.59

A fat glass of wine in first class (San Antonio to Houston)......... free

Learning the plane you just got off of has mechanical problems............ I'm feelin' dangerous!

Getting on another plane at midnight only to get right off for more mechanical problems........... equals free hotel room and change of flight

Sharing a cab with new plane friend to a dive hotel while you pass a dozen nice hotels.............. $30

Checking in the dive hotel with the manager missing a button on his shirt & showing chest hair................. lucky me

New plane friend finding bed bugs & warning me.............. I was so tired, I almost didn't care

Finding small, black curly hairs in my bed..................... no extra charge

Loosing my own button and flashing hotel attendant on the way out................ no extra charge for him

Hearing about my cab driver holding a pistol to a New Orleans evacuees' head because he wouldn't pay the cab fare......... $25 plus tip

Large coffee to make up for 2 hours of horrible sleep................. $2.50

Dealing with perky campers (and their extra large duffel bags) and camp counselors in Northwest ticket line............... I'm about to loose it & stick my blackberry up the counselor's ass

Another 2 hour delay for mechanical reasons.............................. this is not meant to be

Arriving in Detroit exactly 21 hours after my journey began............ A true Continental experience

Leaving Detroit 3 hours after I arrive..................... Priceless

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

I recently won a giveaway hosted by my friend, Danielle, The Design Girl. I won these super, cute felt blueberry and banana pancakes. Danielle asked me, "What are you going to do with fake , felt pancakes? I was surprised you entered this giveaway." I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the felt pancakes. I just love them! Have you ever seen anything this cute? I guess I'll save them for my future daughter (I dream of adopting).



I partcipated in Monograms and Manicures "Preppy Fall Swap." My partner was Jennifer from Virginia Monologes. I arrived home from Northern CA on Saturday morning at 1:00 AM. YIKES... I was exhausted! My Preppy Fall Swap package was waiting at my front door. What a nice way to come home! Thank you so much Jennifer, I love everything!

Monogrammed Party Coasters

A Cute Photo Album, Treats, a Fall Sachet, and a fall cocktail recipe~ Thanks, Jennifer!

My sweet friend and prayer partner, Gigi, sent me a surprise! Thank you, Mrs. Midnight Macaroons. I LOVE it~ a dessert cookbook (I'm looking forward to baking the orange brownies this fall), a girly bookmark, a cute set of recipe cards, and a lovely vintage hanky. Thank you SO much, Gigi.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this blogger community? Y'all are the best!

Travel Etiquette~ Airplane Seat Invasion and Man Hair

I had a flight Tuesday on the lovely Southwest, which means open seating and misery for a frequent flyer. I boarded the plane and found a lovely, isolated window seat. A small lady took the aisle seat, perfect! I had my fingers crossed that nobody would take the middle seat. Well, no such luck. A very large man, about 6'5", decided to sit in the middle seat. I wondered if he chose our middle seat because we were both smaller and he figured he could invade my seat.

Invade my seat is exactly what he did. He fell asleep with his arm hanging over the arm rest and into my seat. I almost removed the Vera Bradley tape measure from my purse to see how much of his hairy arm was in my personal space. I decided not to use the tape measure; I thought we would have an awkward situation if he woke up and I was measuring his arm.

I used my best judgment and determined that his arm was about 3 inches over the arm rest into my seat. Not only was his arm 3 inches in my seat, his arm hair was about 1 inch long, which made it a total of 4 inches. The worst part is his arm hair kept touching me! GROSS.

Speaking of arm hair, I dated a guy once and on our first date, he asked me what I didn’t like about guys. I replied, “Do you mean personality traits or physical appearance?” He said, “Either.” Well, there are many things I don’t like but clearly I’m not going to tell him. I was having a good time and I wanted a second date. So I replied, “Umm… hairy men.”

Two months later I was at his house. We had been outside all day at the Geaux Tigers Game (LSU). He changed his shirt and when I saw his back I said, “Oh my gosh, what happened to you?” His back was full of giant, red whelps. He said, “Well, you told me you don’t like hairy men. I have a little back hair. So I had my back waxed, which I’ve never done and I had a bad reaction.” I felt bad but what kind of question is that for a first date.

I am SO glad I’m a girl. Doesn’t all that man hair look hot? And nasty? And itchy? The moral of the story… don’t invade your neighbor's airplane seat and if you do wax your arms.

California Adventure & Disneyland

After our fun Girl's Night last Friday night, we started Saturday morning at California Adventure. CA Adventure is next to Disneyland. There's not much at CA Adventure except a fabulous roller coaster! Danielle and I rode the Paradise Pier roller coaster 3 times. I'm pretty sure Danielle and I could have stood in line all day for the roller coaster but we didn't. Maybe next time. It's nice to have a friend that LOVES roller coasters as much as I do. I don't know what happened but as soon as many of my friends reached their late 20's and early 30's, they couldn't handle the roller coasters. What a bust!

After CA Adventure, we headed to Disneyland! I can't believe I got this balloon photo.

Click to Enlarge

The day was SOOO fun! I can't wait to go back. Thanks Danielle, Kate, and Jessica for showing me around L.A. and Disney. Angela, I hope you can join us at Disney next time.

P.S. Do y'all love roller coasters? How about shady carnival rides? I LOVE them. I could ride all day!

Girl's Night

Friday night we had a Girl's Night in L.A. I had SO much fun. I finally got to meet Anglea from Sweet Tea Diaries. Just as I had imagined, she is so sweet! I just wanted to wrap her up and bring her home.

Getting ready at Danielle's House

Meet everyone at Villa Blanca for dinner

Angela, Kate, Me, Jessica, Danielle

Having dinner and taking tons of photos



After dinner we walked to Crumbs for a cupcake. I was hoping to see a celeb but no luck.









Great pic of Kate~ We told Kate this should be her profile picture.

Angela and Me

Danielle posing with the Christmas lights