The End of February--It's Finally Here!

Happy Saturday!  I have several topics to share with you today.

Snowmageddon came this past week. We got 6-7 inches of snow on Thursday. That means I got to work from home 2 days and that means I got a lot done!  It was nice not going anywhere. But we need hamburger buns for tomorrow and I'm out of good ice cream!  Oh, the horror.   (I know my dad understands the tragedy)

Here are some pics from our snow adventures. 

Jessie hamming it up...
She jumped up at me as I was taking the picture
Priceless!

Joey... eating a little dirt with his snow



Keystone after he bathed his face in snow

 

Jessie loves finding sticks and leaves under the snow



Such a good looking boy, my Joey!

 

My boys digging and eating snow

I want to share some wonderfully tasty goodies we've recently found. They aren't healthy, so fair warning.

My very favorite discovery are these babies:

Cheesy Poofs of flavor explosions!

They are extra cheesy with a kick-in-the-pants-bite that bites you back.   I can't believe I like these.  I can't handle spicy.  I take two gaviscon before I eat them, and they are worth any heartburn I have to endure, or tears I have to shed to eat them.  They are that good and ADDICTIVE.  Don't try them if you don't want to love them.  Todd got them at Sam's.

Next up, a lovely local dairy gets all artsy and creative!  Have you ever seen prettier milk?  I think they had to milk a unicorn or something to get this wonderful stuff.

The blue milk is "Cotton Candy" flavored;
and the orange milk is "Orange Dream".

My favorite is the blue cotton candy.   Can't wait to try the root beer flavored milk.   I bet it's like a root beer float, mmmmmm.

Todd went to the store to get buns today so that we can have Sloppy Joe's tomorrow because it's finally time to START YOUR ENGINES!  It's the DAYTONA 500! 

The NASCAR dark period is finally over.  It's been so long since the last season ended last November.  I am so ready for this season to start.  I haven't kept up with who changed teams, or changed sponsors, or any of the usual confusion that happens for me at the beginning of a new season.  I just know I will be rooting for Carl.  And excited for Danica Patrick making the pole position for tomorrow's race.

Carl Edwards #99
This year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion...

I watched the Nationwide race today, and hope and pray the spectators are OK. There was a horrible wreck on the last lap. Such a scary situation. Several spectators are in the hospital, it's so sad. Makes me happy to watch from home. Eating my sloppy, sloppy Joe.

I can't end on that note, so I leave you with this cuteness:

Sleepy Joey

Sleepy Jessie

 

Parlay?

Gotta love our little hometown news station.  Apparently it's always fully sunny or cloudy where I live! 

What A Week

This has been a whirlwind week for me!  I had a business trip to California.  It was totally exhausting, a lot of fun, even more hard work, and it represented a major personal milestone.

First, the fun.  I ate the Most. Amazing. Food.  If you will remember, I showed you food from this same resort when we went here last year.  This year, we didn't have a "fun" afternoon so there was no food/wine tasting to attend, but the food was still amazing the entire week.  I caught a glimpse of the chef once and it was the same guy from last year.

Since I was so close to the coast, and I looooove me some seafood, I ate it every chance I had.  Over the 4 days, I had sea bass 3 times, salmon twice, and a crab cake and a fish cake.  It was all really fresh and incredible.  I had tons of fresh salads with rich, fresh dressings and creamy cheeses.  I realize I just used the word fresh 3 times, but I swear the lettuce had just been picked and washed that morning and the fish just swam up and jumped on my plate.  I probably gained 10 pounds, and it was all worth it. I'll get back to the gym soon....

This was the kind of week where every minute was scripted on an agenda.  As early as a 7:30am meeting to the time the shuttle last departed to take me back to my hotel at 11pm.  I have never been so tired in my entire life.  We had great meetings, great food, and really great parties.  Now for pics of the goodness.

Fish cake served at the fancy-shmancy awards dinner

Sea bass at the fancy-shmancy awards dinner
with risotto and heirloom toms

Ready for the fancy-shmancy awards dinner.  No I did not wear heels.
I had blisters from the heels I wore all day and the thought made me cry.
At least I bought a new pair of leather flats.

 

I wore my party flower ring and
carried the purse my mom gave me.
I WANTED to wear my tiara.

The food was obviously great.  The parties were just as great.  One night there was a Moroccan themed party with an award-winning BBQ chef who started smoking meat in the expansive driveway the night before the party.  I know, how they coupled those two themes up, I'll never know, but it worked.  I had pulled pork and coleslaw that made me feel like I was in my own dining room, it was that good.  The ribs were OK and the brisket was pretty good (very tender with a nice pink smoke ring).  I was so full that I skipped the dessert table (can you believe it?) and missed the Moroccan food.  I did partake in the massage chair, the henna tattooing, and the photo booth.  I skipped partaking in the dance floor but enjoyed watching those who did.  I was impressed that they had Grey Goose at the open bar.  ;-)

My henna tattoo right after it was applied

 

My henna tattoo the morning after I got it

I didn't tell Todd about it, I let him see it once I got home.  I thought it turned out pretty cool.  He got to see it on valentine's day!

I mentioned that this was a personal milestone trip.  The reason is because I gave two presentations to two different very large groups of people.  I was petrified when I learned I would be presenting.  Then I remembered, oh yea, I can DO THIS!  I will just remember what I learned in Toast Masters, and I will do GREAT!

 

This is what I looked like when I presented to 100 people

And this is what I looked like when I presented to 250 people

Yes, you read that caption right.  I presented to 250 people!  It was more than a little intimidating, but I had plenty of support in the room and I knew my content, so I did just fine.  I still hate hearing my voice over the speakers, but at least I can mentally get over it.

I'm so glad this week is over.  I've been preparing for this past week since last November.  It went well, I had fun, and I was successful.  I didn't pee, barf, stutter, trip, forget my words, or look like an idiot.  It was a great week.

I was tuckered out after this past week.
So was Joey.

Happy Birthday, Todd!

Puppies Gone Wild

Here are a few pics (from my phone) that I want to share with the world!

Yahoo

I was in my favorite boot store the other day.  I have to admit that is a phrase not too many years ago, I never ever thought I'd be able to say for several reasons.  And I tried on these boots.  I really loved the purple.  I don't want to buy them, but I sure had fun trying them on.

Just to spark your boot passion

Cuteness Alert

Here are a few pictures of the cuteness happening around my house.

Jessie

Keystone

 

Joey

Aren't these pictures great?  Yea, that's because my parents are the best, most thoughtful and generous people on earth.  They knew I wanted to get a good camera.  I hadn't done the research and compared the options to know what I really wanted.

I never had to do my homework!  That's because they totally surprised me for Christmas, and now I have a Canon EOS Rebel T3i.  I am a VERY lucky person. 

I just downloaded almost 500 pictures.  In the highest res possible.  And I haven't charged it up once.  AMAZING PICS!  I love this camera.  More pics to come soon!!!

 

Fan Mail

I've had a couple of questions from one of my fans.  I'd like to take a moment to provide answers.

Question 1:

She asked:  "What in the hell is an office space doing in caves?! Are they real caves, or excavations, or what? I need a whole post on this because...mind...blown."

That is a really fun question!  There are some mountains in the KC metro area that have been excavated to create caves that are used for office space, and storage.  Read more about it here.  They are most commonly known for storing archived media.  It's like another world in there.  Albeit a slightly dirty one.  It's where almost every company I ever worked for in the area always sent documents for archival "to the caves".

During the Groundhog Race, there are so many bodies conducting heat, that it feels like a sauna.  There is one turn on the course where you can breathe some cool, fresh air coming through the doors the trains enter into/exit out of the cave.  Other than that, you feel like a roasting chicken on a spit.

I ran this race in 2005, and it was stinky.  I literally ran the 5K as fast as I could to get out of the stench.  I believe it had been a very wet winter.  I didn't think I'd ever run it again, but I wanted to do a 10K around that time of year.  So I ran the 10K in 2006, and it was not stinky.  Relatively speaking, I mean, you're inside a mountain.  It's not going to smell like a beach.

Question 2:

She asked for my Lemon Sugar Body Scrub recipe.  You aren't going to believe how stupid simple this stuff is to make.  Seriously.  When you realize how easy it is, it will make the recipients of this gift think I fooled them or something.

I looked around at online recipes for homemade scrubs.  Then I saw a recipe in a magazine that I liked.  I reviewed my options then did my own thing.  I kept it really simple.  I think it turned out the best.  I experimented with more ingredients, but I like the short and sweet (pun intended) version. 

Lemon Sugar Body Scrub:
1.5 cups sugar (nothing special)
1/3 cup olive oil (use the cheap stuff)
2-4 drops essential oil (I used lemon)

Mix it up and enjoy.  It really can't get any easier than that.

Other ideas for variations:

• The printed recipe I consulted also had a version that I thought sounded interesting.  Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa and use peppermint, cinnamon, or orange essential oil.  The printed recipe also called for adding food coloring, but who needs to tint their skin?
• I'd like to try using salt (but the sugar is such a nice exfoliant). 
• I want to try:  sugar, olive oil, and vanilla or almond extract to use as a Sugar Lip Scrub.  It would be safe to eat!
• You could add lemon juice (just be sure to realize this makes you more sensitive to the sun).

So there you have it, enjoy!

Just Say It

Go ahead.  Pronounce the first word in the recipe below. 

 

Just do it. 

 

You know you want to...  (Read it aloud, how the letters are typed.)

 

It was very tasty!

 

This is one of the reasons why we love living in a small town. The local news just doesn't get any better than this. And the recipe was really good. Even if we couldn't find any Yello Halmony.