A Tribute to Hunter

It's so hard to lose a dog.

Late Friday night my mom called me to let me know that our family dog had a really awful day and that he was no longer eating or drinking. When I visited the weekend before he seemed pretty old, but still happy. He muffed up a couple of barks for me when I got there. I tried to sing to him like I always did when I lived there, but he had completely lost his hearing and couldn't hear me. This is the last picture we took of him. 

These are things I remember about Hunter:

He would always bark in excitement whenever we came home to visit. 

He loved Kelly, our other family dog.

He used to go swimming with us all the way out in the middle of the river. If we forgot him he would swim the whole way out and then jump in the boat when he got there. 

My dad used to let him and Kelly run in the river till they were tired, then they would get in the boat and drift back. 

He always growled at me when he had a bone. He growled at me more than anyone actually. The doctor said it was part of putting me in "pecking order." It was his way of showing dominance.

Once he even protected the Christmas tree when we wrapped a bone for him. He laid there all night waiting to open his present.

He loved his walks down the lane. 

He was all in all just a really great dog. 

His nicknames were Hunter Bunter and Hunt. (Creative I know.)

He was my dad's best friend.

I wish I could remember more about him, but it's hard to think about him now that he's gone. 

I love you Hunter! I'll miss you buddy.

Wedding Dreams

I am hoping that the more bad dreams you have about your wedding the less likely they will come true…

Dream #1: Entailed me waking up on the day of my wedding and NOTHING was ready. We had a place we were getting married and we had some guests (mostly my family.) But we did not have a pastor, I did not have a dress, we did not have a photographer, and all my great ideas were just a thing of the past. I had no time to do anything. This is probably one of my biggest fears and probably because I am a huge procrastinator with certain things. (The wedding being one of them.) I really want my wedding to be a finished product so I can understand why I had this dream. So since we didn’t book our pastor my dad had to fill in. I also didn’t have anyone to do my hair so I had to straighten it. Didn’t get my nails done and had to wear a dress I found at the mall.

I am happy to report that I have booked my amazing photographer – Addilay Photography. Susan and I have become great friends and I am SOOO excited that she is shooting our wedding. We haven’t stopped receiving compliments on our engagement pictures. :-) Thank you Susan and Brandon!

I still have not booked my Pastor, hairdresser, nails, but I have ordered my dress!

Dream #2: Again I wake up and it’s my wedding day only this time we are at my parent’s house and the wedding is starting at 10am. Since my wedding is supposed to be at 3 or 4 (we haven’t decided yet), I was wondering the whole time why it was starting earlier. Again I didn’t have anything I wanted and this time there were no guests. I wonder why…since the wedding was at 10am.

So my dad walks me down the aisle past my family – the only guests – and then again, takes his place as the pastor. What a nightmare! After our short ceremony, my mom suggests we all go out to eat since there aren’t many people and skip the ceremony. I kept trying to make things ok in my mind until I found out that my parents tricked us to getting married earlier in the day so they had the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted. This would never happen, but I remember waking up furious!

(The real ceremony location.)

After this dream, I still haven’t booked a pastor or hair or nails. What am I thinking!?

Dream #3: (Last night) I had a dream that my wedding was only 2 days away. At this point I have a lot of my vendors booked, I have most of the ceremony decorations and I have paid the deposit on our super cute custom invitations from Hornbillhill. The only problem is I still haven’t sent the deposit to our florist – The Flower Post -  because I wanted to deliver it personally.  I also haven’t gotten any info on cakes. So the whole time I’m begging Shane to let us push the wedding back a couple of months so that I can get the invitations and send them out and get the rest of the wedding figured out. Again - no pastor. We didn’t actually get married in this dream because there was a huuuge storm and then I woke up. Thankfully I woke up!

(The invitation behind our invitation....hoping i'm not spoiling it, but I LOVE Jennifer's work!)

So there is a lot of motivation this week to get the ball rolling on several things I have been putting off. Here is the to do list:

1. Bring the florist her deposit, a CD I made her, and ask her to switch from Thistles to dried Lavender in the bridesmaids bouquets.

2. Meet with the videographer and book, because I have an instant great feeling about him.

3. Start researching our pastor and get in touch with the counselor who did our marriage counseling so we can finish the 10 week book four our counseling.

4. Book my hair appointment so I can talk to my super great hairstylist Kim and try to work out prices. I didn’t realize hair was soo expensive!

5. Figure out why our DJ friend hasn’t called.

6. Write my super sweet photographer an email to keep in touch! Love her!

7. Finish sending out Round 2 of the Save the Dates.

(Our baseball card STD, Front and Back)

Wow looks like I have my work cut out for me! Here’s to a super productive week!

Becoming a Trophy Wife with the Housekeeping Handbook..

I keep wondering when this whole blog situation will take off for me. Don’t get me wrong I love to blog, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. I feel like I have no time to sit down and write about life.

So here’s to round three and hoping I don’t strike out!

I have been reading this fabulous book (partly my inspiration for the return to blogger world). It’s called the Housekeeping Handbook by Martha Stewart. Yes, I am a Martha Stewart snob. I feel like everything she touches is gold. Not because her name is branded so well, but because she spends a lot of time doing research before she starts a project and definitely before she wrote this book. I have always wanted to be the wife/mom that kept her house in pristine order- where everything is right where you thought it would be, there were no stains in the carpet, and no clutter in the closets.

I can tell you right now that I am far from Martha Stewart status. I consider myself a beginner. My latest worries include:

1. My Chihuahua that is not house-broken and just turned 3 years old. (I adopted him.) He currently loves the leg of the table that sits in the middle of the living room. I have the cheapest carpet ever in my apartment and stains literally don’t come out nor can you see them unless you are suspecting something or smell something. I’ve tried EVERYTHING!

2. There is a black mold, maybe, I think…. building up in one corner of the shower. I tried Clorox shower cleaner, Scrubbing Bubbles, a scouring pad, Clorox regular – nothing is making this nasty stuff go away.

3. My disposal does not work right. I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe since my mom has an ultra powerful one I think they should all work that way, but mine is definitely not chopping up things fast enough. The kitchen sink fills up with everything and I literally have to spoon it down the drain. The good thing is that it doesn’t smell.

4. Strawberry Lemonade. Shane and I are trying out all these recipes to make this yummy drink. We are on a healthy kick trying not to drink soda or super sugary drinks. The problem is that he doesn’t like at least one ingredient I put in it every time I make a new recipe. I think the latest one was my favorite recipe, but he didn’t like the sparkling water in it. I even used the freshest produce from Whole Foods. Here’s the recipe by Emeril Lagasse:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

• 2 cups cold sparkling water or club soda

• Ice

• Mint sprigs, garnish

• Whole strawberries, garnish

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then strain into a clean pitcher.

In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.

Add the sparkling water and stir well. Pour over glasses filled with ice and serve, garnished with mint and strawberries.

I’ll try to remember to give an update on how these issues are working themselves out. Tonight I am going to get the little one a new cage for his size so that I can start crate training him like he was a puppy. He still acts like one.

Well I’m off to the Posh Spot to get a well deserved mani/pedi. I think I'll do Lucky Lavendar ;-)

Have a great day!

TheKnot

TheKnot

Cookies!!

I have been in the kitchen a lot more frequently since my fiance' returned to Baseball season and I've litterally got nothing to do on the weekends. So I decided this year for all of my neices and nephews birthdays I am going to make them some sort of sweet treat. But, I always seem to have trouble with this oven in my apartment. It seems like when I'm consciously checking whatever I'm baking it takes 17 extra minutes to bake whatever it is. However, if I just set the timer and wait for it to buzz and then maybe wait an extra minute or two (till a commercial break,) everything burns! I swear - it has a conspiracy against me. Especially whenever I try to cook for someone else.

So I was reading in my Martha Stewart Living Cookbook that one of the necessities for every kitchen is some sort of baking mat. I had no idea what this was so I googled it and every image showed me this little baby:

I swear I will never bake without it! You're cookies WILL NOT burn. Neither will you're pizza, biscuits, whatever it is - it's not going to burn. I am so impressed. Ok but this isn't a commercial for Silpat. I made my neice some cookies.

I cannot for the life of me get this picture to turn.

Spring Bugs!

I had a lot of fun making them and I hope she enjoyed them just as much. I did get some feedback from her mom and she loved the decorations, but she said, "Mommy, these cookies are a little crunchy." Oh I love 5 year olds. I'll definately be working on that sugar cookie recipe. I swear I am good at baking!

Till next time!

Coffee Makers - Consumer Review

Recently the fiance' convinced me to purchase a new coffee maker that will make a single cup of whatever warm drink your heart desires. He had seen a video from Bed Bath and Beyond's website and we both thought it looked pretty unbelievable. Behold the Tassimo Suprema Single Serve Hot Beverage Maker :

The Pros: It makes a single cup of coffee... really fast. The coffee is the perfect temperature (especially after I add it to my french vanilla creamer and sugar). The water is filtered just like Brita. The disks are completely used up. It foams the cappucino perfectly - not that I drink cappucino.

The Cons: You can't find the "disks" anywhere! I got them at Macy's once, but they are ten dollars for a box of coffee. Maybe sometimes they go on sale for 9$, but that doesn't thrill me at all. The only other option is going to Bed Bath and Beyond and paying their outrageous prices or to order them online. What am I going to do wait 5-10 days for my coffee to come in the mail? I don't think so.

Behold the better product (in my opinion). The Keurig® Platinum B70 Single Serve Brewer/Coffee Maker.

Looks the same, taste the same, but sooo much better!

In my opinion convenience is everything! So I told my fiance' everytime I go to any grocery store I see all the different flavors and choices that this coffee maker has. Plus! they have a little ring holder that keeps all the little coffee/tea/hot chocolate choices oraginzed if guests come over. So this is what we have registered for. The Keurig coffee maker. I am crossing my fingers and I can't wait. Oh and I forgot to mention the best part. Since I am a coupon freak on Saturdays and Sundays before I go shopping, when I found there was a 2$ off coupon on the coffee for this machine I knew we were a match made in heaven.

Cooking for One - Part One

While living alone has it's advantages (no one borrowing your clothes, freedom to wear whatever you want ;-), watching what you want on TV ALL THE TIME, and leaving your apartment as messy as you want ...to name a few) there are definately some set backs. Cooking is such a challenge for me because I don't have anyone to share my food with. Thankfully, no one has to eat some of the stuff I try to make. Lately, I've been a little discouraged. I tried to do a nice thing for my brother and his wife by bringing a home cooked meal over. Let me just show you how that went...

Specatcle #1 : Dr. Pepper Can Chicken (Injected w Hot Sauce)

Which later I renamed " Blackened Chicken w/ Some Pop " and then threw it into the trash.

Spectacle #2 - "Rosemary Maple Pork Tenderloin and Lemon Butter Potatoes:

Don't let the looks fool you! The recipe (from Publix Aprons) called for 1/2 cup of Maple syrup for the pork and a large lemon for the potatoes. Everything was so sweet it felt more like dessert. Then I threw that recipe out. Unfortunately I made this one for my fiance' and kindly he told me he didn't like it...at all.

Lets not forget the "Crunchy Chicken Strips" from my Better Homes and Garden (Pink Edition) Cook Book. I had all the ingredients in my kitchen and it was only supposed to take 20 minutes! How exciting! I should have known from the ingredients (Cheez-Its, Ranch, Chicken) that it was going to be gross, but I trusted the recipe. Unforunately, I didn't even take a picture. It smelled so bad I had to take it straight to the dumpster. And then I made a big black X over the recipe.

This is what it's supposed to look like. Maybe a kid would enjoy it - I don't know. I think the smell of ranch baking in the oven is probably worse then smelling garlic bread bake in the oven, except it doesn't taste good when it comes out.

So I keep thinking. Is it me? I followed the recipe to the "T." Why does everything taste so unbearable?  Am I ever going to be a good cook? And  is my fiance', who is already picky enough, going to starve?!! (Or go to Burger King every night??).

 So I had a chat w/ my mom and my sister-in-law. Where should I start? What am I doing wrong? Should i enroll myself in cooking school? My mom got me the "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" book for Christmas. I can't even read some of those recipes yet! My sister in law gave me some great advice (I know you're reading this ;-) ;-) ) She told me to start back at the basics - how boring! So tonight that's just what I did!

I present to you..Spectacle # 3 - Mac N Cheese

Which I left with it's great name. I also added some steamed broccilli and cubed up some ham steaks (like my mom always did, except she used leftover ham - so crafty.) This is probably my favorite meal in a long long time.

So now that I've exposed my cooking talent, next I will share with you the new "tools" I have acquired from the Macy's Home Sale Event to help me in my journey of becoming a decent cook.

Happy Belated 5th Birthday to my gorgeous and sweet neice!

She is going to be my flower girl! I can't wait to show you the birthday present I am putting together for her!

Good night! Early training at 6am!