One year replay

SO last Friday Tez and i celebrated our one year anniversary (technically our one year was on Sunday but we had previous plans that could not be cancelled- basically we BOTH forgot the 12th was our anniversary [is that bad?!] and scheduled a support meeting in Jackson-yikes!)

BUT we celebrated on Friday nonethless!
I really wanted to treat Tez to a big fat peice of steak; however, the place I wanted to go to didn't work out...

OKAY I ADMIT IT... the place we were going to go to (Jim's Place EAST) no longer took the Memphis citisaver COUPON with their old location's address (they recently moved yada yada- LAME)

But don't you dare judge me for using a coupon on our anniversary... it is not "cheap" it is downrigh frugal ;)

Nonetheless we called in advance, got the "no can do" and then went with an alternative option:

The Melting Pot

I have never eaten (dinner) there before. Did the whole dessert thing back in the day and since we did have a great coupon (which WAS accepted- buy one get one free!) we went on ahead.

This picture pretty much summurizes our time:



Ok i kidd... What REALLY went down was we were downright too hungry to do it the "romantic" way by individually placing each piece in the pot and wait 1-2 min for veggies/seafood and 2-3 minutes for pork/poultry to finish cooking. We were those people who dumped it all in then after a good little while dumped it back out to eat...uncivilized like.

But all was good and tasty.

BASICALLY you will not get full at The Melting Pot unless you go all FOUR COURSES.
1) cheese fondue
2)salads
3)meat
4)dessert (Tez had "a plan" for dessert so he told me before we ordered)

We did one course (meat)..... we refused to get suckered in to spending a bazillion dollars (Dave Ramsey would have been SOO PROUD). But needless to say we did contemplate going through the drive through of Wendy's on the way back to get full (we didn't).

When we got back home Tez had gotten one of his friends to set up our kitchen table with candles and he had some wine and dessert waiting for us as well as a present for me. HOW SWEET!

All in all good anniversary. Food wasn't as plentiful as i thought but it was nice to have celebrated a year with my best friend... and LOVER
(heehee i just couldn't resist that last one)

Christmas Break...

SSSSSOOOOO this year for Christmas i will be here:


HEATWAVE!!! THIS IS THE ISLAND IN THE SUN!

In case you couldn't recognize the place by the looks of the above picture i wlll spell it out for you


SIGH...

Tez has never been and (on a sad note) my grandpa isn't doing so well so it will be nice for them to meet each other this year. (he was unable to come to our my wedding last year)

Needless to say this trip has gotten me through many a day this month.
No offense, but if it weren't for Puerto Rico mixed with a little Christmas Spirit the days would be much bleaker!

It's not that life is bad i really have SO MUCH to be thankful for! There have just been some things going on lately that have gotten me down. I feel like it's a season of my life where i wonder what in the world God is doing and NO IDEA what He is up to... usually i sort of have an idea lol. Anyways I got this book

b/c if there is anything i've also learned about myself it is that i am a HUGE worrier. And after reading the first chapter i must admit i DID feel content...for the next hour and then before i knew it- it was back to worrying :(
But i am trying! and i know it will be a process. Until then i look forward to a christmas spent with:
No shoes. No shirt. No problems!

THANKSGIVING!!!!

Hello sad lonely non-updated blog!

Can i get a what what about how crazy November has been?! I mean-honestly- i feel like it was just yesterday that i was expressing how i couldn't believe that it was the beginning of November and then i blinked and HELLO THANKSGIVING!

There is something about November that i just can't get enough of! You can talk the talk about it being fall come September and even bust out the boots but, for some reason, i don't ever feel like it's fall until November.
PLUS Thanksgiving is my all time FAVORITE holiday.

First of all, it's far less commercialized then Christmas

Second, it's all about your family just BEING together.
In 2008 and 2009 for Thanksgiving my bro was at boot camp and then in Iraq so we had to have Thanksgiving and Christmas TWO YEARS IN A ROW without him. He's the guy on the right in both pictures.



It was by far the loneliest Thanksgiving! When it comes to my family my brother is the instigator of laughter. Not that we don't laugh without him but he sure knows how to be the life of the table. For some reason his absence was most felt, for me, on Thanksgiving so when he was back after missing two thanksgivings-all was back to normal. I can't help but feel for the families who have loved ones gone around the holidays, esp. in Iraq. It is very uncertain and hard. I will always think of it as a sweet treat when my WHOLE family is home for Thanksgiving, sitting around the table full of turkey, wine, and laughter.

Third, as opposed to Christmas i feel like Thanksgiving is being thankful for thankfulness's sake. Don't get me wrong I'm not a hater when it comes to Christmas but sometimes Christmas can be a thankfulness for presents. Thanksgiving, however, seems to bring it all back to being thankful for the things we already have (that we oftentimes forget to be thankful for) as opposed to what we want.

Fourth...did i mention THE FOOD?! cranberry sauce...turkey...mom's cheesecake...ham...pumpkin pie... when buying food for this week i couldn't help but think not only about thanksgiving but the leftovers... aren't thanksgiving leftovers sooo good?!

So here's to wishing you a good one! Enjoy being with the one's you love, be thankful for what you have and don't stop at second helpings!

what i will be viewing at 12:00 AM on November 19, 2010

Nuff said

that Capote boy...

So about two years ago i went LOCO about Truman Capote!

I can't explain it, nor do i know why, but i just randomly wikopedia'd him one day...one thing led to another... and before i knew it HOURS had passed and i am now, practically a Capote scholar (I have also done this about Hemingway, Fitzgerald and other random authors that interest me... it's like a random hobby?)

Anyways Capote was an interesting fella...You don't know? well allow me to provide visuals

EXHIBIT A:

(Kind of reminds me of Darth Vader sans crazy breathing mask... ya feel me?)

EXHIBIT B:

(This was a picture of him that was VERY controversial back in the day.)

He just seems a bit socially awkward to me in the pic below : But then again wouldn't we all look somewhat awkward in Marilyn's presence?

My all time favorite pic of him, check out the leg...so weird! :

BUT ONE HECK OF A WRITER! (did you know that he and Harper Lee-author of To Kill a Mockingbird were good friends? believe it!) anyways during the Capote stalker phase, as i like to refer to it, I read his novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. Did you know that dear old Truman wrote that book?

There's the proof. Well i found my research to be quite shocking. i had NO IDEA, therefore I HAD to read the book! and let me say that the book is FAR BETTER than the movie. Don't get me wrong LOVE Audrey and, of course, her style but the woman in the book was a little crazier than her... so of course- i can relate ;)

Here is my all time favorite quote:

"It's like Tiffany's," she said. "Not that I give a hoot about jewelry. Diamonds, yes...but that's not why I'm mad about Tiffany's. Listen. You know those days when you've got the mad reds?"

"Same as the blues?"

"No," she said slowly. "No, the blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long. You're sad, that's all. But the mad reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is. You've had that feeling?"

"Quite often. Some people call it angst."

"All right. Angst. But what do you do about it?"

"Well, a drink helps."

"I've tried that. I've tried aspirin, too. Rusty thinks I should smoke marijuana, and I did for a while, but it only makes me giggle. What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there..."

I LOVE THAT QUOTE! why? you ask? NOT because i have tried pot or even endorse it BUT BECAUSE that is EXACTLY how i feel about bookstores!

Not all of them, but most.

This week when i was feeling a but mental (hormones) I took some time off and went to Davis Kidd bookstore and INSTANTLY it was like i could get out of my head and just enjoy. Escape.

Something about being surrounded by millions of books, going through them, looking at all the different covers does me a quite bit of good. I can be there for hours.

I can't explain it.

Maybe it's b/c i love literature or because I'm a huge nerd-who knows but I feel as if that quote adequately explains the fetish.

SIDENOTE:

In Indonesia- in all the bookstores we went to- they put plastic wrap around the books to keep freaks like me away... i wonder how i will survive the "mad red's" then...

ah well, we will figure it out when the time comes, until then... I've got my place...

doesn't that look so inviting?!

here's to hoping you find yours!

i was made for sunny days... i was made for you

What a weekend...

FRIDAY...

Tez was out of town so i got to hang out with two of my great friends Brooke and Emilie. (the ones below- standing up smiling in pic) Let me just tell you. One night with these girls helps me feel complete. I love them both dearly. Plus, we just GET each other. Our humor meshes very well (sarcastic/ corny) which makes for a night of laughs. So thankful for these friends of mine!

SATURDAY... well what a day.... Tez and i got into a tiff. It was well worked out but boy was it hard! He was out of town so it was via phone (never the greatest experience) but he was DETERMINED to get through it on the phone before he got home- which we did... (Sunday when we were joking around about the tif to some friends tez made the statement: "I wanted to work it out over the phone! if not, me returning home would go something like this: me coming home getting pots and pans thrown at my head!)

I never run shy of conflict (maybe it's the Puerto Rican in me?) thankfully, Tez is real chill (Indonesian?) and HATES drama.

Tez will tell you that being married to me has helped him "embrace" conflict-lol.

So when i am, like, shouting (which i am working to not do) he's very slow to anger. I'm thankful. (TWO yelling people NEVER equal a good thing)

Anyone will tell you conflict is a part of marriage. It's interesting to see what brings about conflict, sometimes it's the SMALLEST THING! It's also interesting to see how you get through it. Conflict is something that, i think, has to be learned. Tez and i are still learning how to deal, we've grown a lot but still def have more growing to do! It's always worth it though. Tezar once heard someone say that marriage brings with it the highest highs and lowest low's which i think it's true....

In spite of, or maybe i should say in light of our tif I feel after we FINALLY make it to the end of said conflict i respect and love Tez even more. He respects me, and really tries to understand me.

It's also extremely humbling to not be perfect and to recieve grace. I am so thankful for my husband. (it really had to be God!) I can't help but think of that scene in As Good As it Get when Jack nicholson says : You make me want to be a better man. Only for me, it's woman... Tez helps me want to be a better person.

And i don't want to make this into a mushy post but sometimes..actually all the time- I wonder how i landed him!

He, above all things, is kind and gracious which makes me thankful to God. It's days like this when i am overwhelmed by the beauty in life and the grace which so gets us through the day. If marriage is a reflection of Christ's love for the church and i get this simple glimpse of what God's love is like... man... I can't even fathom the greatness of God.

I heard this song by the Weepies this week and it makes me think of Tez everytime... and it made me cry today thus this sappy post :)

Enjoy:

"bottom dwellers"

Hello all!

Hopefully everyone is doing well and not so mad at me for my lack of posts...

Alas i have time to write and do i have a topic for you!

......CATFISH......

love them or hate them?

The other night Tezar and I had a guy over for dinner. His name is Odell. Odell is HILARIOUS and despite first appearances

wouldn't you know that Odell is a true country boy ;)

I observed this firsthand as Odell cracked us up with his stories of shooting possums (something, he claims, that is far more dangerous then you could imagine) to stories about a raccoon literally stealing his McDonald's meal from him right before his eyes and eating it in front of him in a tree.

Needless to say this was a fun dinner.... little did i know that the fun would carry on to the next day.

Odell had informed Tez that for fall break he was going to go fishing. Tez (wanting to try his hand at fishing) decided that he would join him at... get this.. 6 in the morning... Oh yea... according to Odell "the early bird gets the worm"

I thought Tez was joking at first... (i don't think Tez has ever woken up at 6AM... he has "stories" but i don't believe them)

But sure enough around 6:05 Tez jumps out of bed to go fishing (this is, of course, is after getting a call from Odell who was out in our driveway...)

Around noon i receive an excited call from Tez. He and Odell have caught numerous catfish.. and he brought one home... to eat....He was so excited:

Tez: Babe, what are you cooking tonight?

Me: I'm not sure yet

Tez: Ok well i have the catfish and Odell went with me to Kroger to get some of the stuff to put on it so we can cook that and you can make some, like, mashed potatoes to go with it... sounds good?!

Ok let me start out by saying this... I LOVE FISH. In Puerto Rico going deep sea fishing was a weekly occurrence. And eating the fish we caught was a cherished moment... a moment of glory. So

1) i knew how excited Tez was....

2) i didn't have the heart to kill his excitement by telling him.... I HATE CATFISH!

CATFISH ARE DISGUSTING!!!

Must i give you the facts?

Well it's too gross not too!

A) catfish are "bottom dwellers" that is nice wording which pretty much means: THEY EAT WHATEVER IS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE POND (aka POOP) my mother told me that fish poop is different then human poop... does that matter to me? NO! POOP IS POOP!

B) Do you know how they FEED catfish (and tilapia) on fish farms?! Well, in a large aquarium they first add salmon (not bottom dwellers) they then feed the salmon, salmon food. After the salmon are nice and fat they take them out to do whatever they do to sell them and then they proceed to put in catfish or tilapia in the tank to...well... let's just say clean out what the salmon left (POOP)

SICK NASTY

not to mention that, to me, there is a whole lot of difference between salt water and Mississippi pond water... maybe it's all in my head...but the difference still remains!

So i come home to find this:

Tezar is soo excited about his catch!

We fry up that little bad boy:

And yes, Tezar DID in fact use a KROGER bag to mix up the seasoning on the catfish...sigh

Bella wanted some of the action too:

And there you have it... Tez gives me some and i admit, I ate a little piece (meanwhile visions of a poop filled aquariums lingered in my mind) When he proceeds to give me more i make my confession... something like: "I CAN'T CATFISH EAT POOP!!!"

To which Tez is stunned. He's never heard this before. So i proceed to tell him everything i have just informed you, and what does he do?

He continues eating....

after a while i catch him just staring at the food..

What's going on babe? I ask

He kind of pokes at the rest of the catfish and says...It just hit me what all you told me... i don't know if i can finish this....

he waits a second...changes his mind... and eats the rest...

THE END

Go on and get me my box....

Morning all!

Morning FRIDAY! aren't you SOOOO glad- i know i am!

So i haven't posted at all this week and i feel that i must, at least, post weekly , but i really am having a bad case of writers block. So i will do something that has never (Officially) been done on this blog before. I Will stand on a soapbox and write. Here on the blog all Friday postings will officially be called:

Soapbox Friday:

SO here is my soapbox for the week

Working in Midtown:

for some reason i REALLY LOVE Midtown! I will drive around and just look at all the cool stores/restaurants/ coffee shops and want to visit each one b/c they just have.... character. i want to know their stories.

Midtown to me is like an artsy friend that i haven't known for a while yet feel instantly connected to.

Did you know that "Tennessee Williams wrote his first publicly performed play, Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay! while staying in the Midtown Memphis home of his grandparents, 1917 Snowden. It was first performed in 1935 at 1780 Glenview, also in Midtown." That deserves a wholehearted

"SSSTTEEEELLLAAAA!"

(for reference see his play A Streetcar Named Desire)

If that isn't cool enough you also have Cafe Ecclectic, Playhouse on the Square, Otherlands, Java Cabana, Burkes Used books (scored a used HARDCOVER copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for 10 BUCKS after not getting it back from the person i let borrow it- cant remember who but, HELLO how can i not have the complete HP collection!!!) Cafe Ole, Bosco's, Memphis Pizza Cafe, Finos, India Palace (HELLO lunch yesterday!) Cafe 1912 (think Ernest Hemmingway in the beginning of his book A MOVEABLE FEAST). That isn't even half of it!

I really love these places. The people are quirky, entertaining, and fun. And it really, to me, has a New York feel to it (ok maybe not the city) but when i was little i would visit my grandparents every summer for the WHOLE summer -3 Months- in Brooklyn for a couple of years, in a little subdivision called Sea Gate

OMG i just googled it and here is the gate we would go through to get to their house:

AHH it takes me back!

We could take a little path from her house to Coney Island where we would walk the top of the boardwalk (where my adult cousin would pick me up and pretend to throw me off the top of it-how cruel?! I swear that is why to this day i am scared of heights!-this is before they filled the boardwalk with sand, so it was high up for me!)

We would swim at Brighton Beach, play in the park, visit deli's, eat in pizzeria's.... Ok while this trip for me down memory lane might have you wondering "How the heck did she get off on this topic?! I thought we were talking about Midtown in Memphis there are no beaches there" I say all that to say:

I loved New York it was so great and despite what they say about New Yorkers being rude that was never solely my experience they just happened to share their opinions without the southern censor we have here in Memphis ;) (lets just say, for starters, the f word was considered and adjective, even in front of children)

The people in New York are REAL. What you see is what you get- without excuse.

if you didn't know people they'd still talk to you, be it about the crappy weather, the governor, their kids or whatever, and, if you were lucky, you would get a fair share of opinions from them, however crazy they were- which is always fun! Plus... as well as cool people... midtown, like New York, does have their fair share of Freaks... and when is that not entertaining to watch?!

For example, the other day this cute, preppy couple were riding bikes (helmet and knee pads in place) and alongside them rides a bearded man in a tunic. He speeds up to them and then steadily rides with them at their pace (He's standing up riding so that makes for a more better visual, the tunic flaring up behind him)...you could tell the preppy man was a little weirded out, but they all three continue to ride at the same rhythm, down the street...quite entertaining.

And if that isn't a picture of midtown... i don't know how else to describe it....i just love it.

the trouble with cats....

Meet Bells...

Bells is our cat...

Her original name was not Bells... it was Bella, but seeing as i am not one of

the many Twilight freaks out there and not personally attached to that name (you just can't escape it) we call her Bells...

Bells was not ORIGINALLY our cat.

Seeing as Tez and i are NOT cat people we were just taking her in as a favor for a short while until another home could be found for her....

we didn't mean to fall in love with her... but look at her:

Bells enjoys many things such as

Looking out the window: (Emo pic)

Climbing things:

Sitting on the couch:

Laying on the couch in awkward positions:

Laying on the floor in awkward positions:

Laying on Tez and falling asleep: (she loves him)

We're friends....

Little did i know that this week would be the ultimate test of our friendship....

It all started with an idea...

Meet PUMA the neighborhood cat:

One day Tez and I got it in our head that it would be GREAT to have them meet each other:

HOWEVER things DID NOT go too well...after smelling each other Bells hissed scorning Puma's advances and then downright ignored his presence. Little did we know that this little meeting of "friends" would invite other friends into our house....

FLEA'S

Yes... and if you know me, you know that there is nothing i despise MORE than fleas... I've been traumatized by them

A) for some reason they choose ME out of a group of people...5 people to be exact (in the last house i lived in with 5 girls, one girl had a dog who contracted fleas and did the other girls get multiple bites all over their body? no.. did i? YES)

B) They bite and it freaken HURTS...stings...it's the WORST

C) They are tiny and they jump (i get freaked out just thinking about it) and when they jump they are never to be found again... until they end up BITING you...again

D) THEY MASS REPRODUCE...think rabbits only tinier and DEADLIER

So needless to say, at 1AM when i found a flea on my cat all hell broke loose!

I started freaking out throwing anything that Bella had ever touched in a pile (to burn) while frantically rambling flea facts to Tezar who just stood there dumbfounded about the events occurring/crazy lady in front of him. As i struck a match ready to burn the place down Tezar convinced me that i was being a TAD bit dramatic...ME DRAMATIC?! (ok so there were no matches involved... but there were piles!) He then assured me that apart from the piles to be washed asap there was not much to be done at 1 AM and that he will help me sanitize the house tomorrow.

I got absolutely no sleep that night. First, b/c i would not let bells sleep in our room and, well, she kind of has separation anxiety.. so she meowed outside of our door all night (not cute)

Second, b/c i just kept thinking about fleas jumping on me and biting me all night. EW!

The next day after giving the cat 2 flea baths, giving her a flea pill from the vet to instantly kill all fleas, larvas (barf!!) or eggs, purchasing 7 months of Frontline flea and tick control, cleaning the entire house and spraying anything and everything that could have fleas(or larva or eggs-GAG) on them, Bells and i made up....

And after i went guerrilla warfare on my house the fleas are all gone... i hope

True confessions...part deux...

Ok, I'm about to get REALLY personal here...

I mean, you just MAY be sorry that you read this post...

When it's done, you may even think: WOW i know WAY too much information about Tatiana.

Why would someone post such a thing for anyone to read?

You still there?

B/c consider yourself FULLY warned... it is not to late to close out the screen and move on to another, less personal blog...

But for those of you who dare or care to read on i will have you know that:

I AM MAJORLY PMSING RIGHT NOW

I don't apologize for writing it. It was your choice to read on. For those of you who don't understand, a definition might suffice:

Premenstrual Syndrome: PMS is a disorder characterized by a set of hormonal changes that trigger disruptive symptoms in a significant number of women for up to two weeks prior to menstruation. Of the estimated 40 million suffers, more than 5 million require medical treatment for marked mood and behavioral changes. Often symptoms tend to taper off with menstruation and women remain symptom-free until the two weeks or so prior to the next menstrual period. These regularly recurring symptoms from ovulation until menses typify PMS, premenstrual syndrome.

I am currently not on medical treatment...but i sure as heck am thinking about it! Upon telling my mom that i feel like a psycopath today she said: "Poor Tezar" to which i replied: "Tezar?! poor Tezar?! at least he can ESCAPE me! I can't get away from myself!!"

It's a problem... it's real... and i wrote a haiku about it:

Waking up dreary

Emotions make me weary

Why does Tez fear me?

This woman I am

My look could kill an orphan

Please get me morphene!

And choclate! and some coffee!

you just may be so sorry

I know not what i do!

Maybe not my best work, but then again a sympton of PMS is not thinking clearly...

sigh...

i have nothing more to say

Lord help me through this day....

True confessions....

I have not had creamer in the house since last Saturday

This, of course, has led me to get Starbucks like every morning since then...

(INTERLUDE: Ok i admit it... i have a SLIGHT dependancy on coffee...my husband, however thinks my dependancy is valid enough to get me on that tv show Intervention.

I tell him: "i can quit anytime i want!!!" however when there is something so beautiful...so creamy...so GOOD...something that literally gets you up in the morning why would you want to quit?! After heavy debating I DID cut my 3-4 cups/day down to 1...[ok maybe i had a SLIGHT problem] but one cup is allright... downright healthy i would say... )

Which brings me back to my coffee perdicament:

Yes, i could have driven to the local Kroger to purchase said creamer- but who has TIME for THAT these days?!

Instead i would simply drive to the local Starbucks and grab a cup of joe... (or plan meeting with girls around breakfast time according to places that carry coffee ...is that sad? i had a GREAT system worked out last week)

Well today I say to myself:

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Tatiana why are you so LAZY and this LAZINESS is causing you to spend frivilous money! You shall drink your coffee black this AM..."

so i made the cup, left the house to work, and as i sipped on that black coffee (as penance) in my car:

gleamed in front of me...

a choice arose....

I thought to myself: I am such a LOYAL customer to Starbucks...especially last week... i mean, i have spent more on coffee last week than I prob have my entire life...

So without even thinking i simply drove up to said coffee shop, walked into it, coffee mug in hand (containing the BLACK penance coffee), poured some creamer in my mug, and walked out....

I mean what is coffee without creamer?! and what fun is it to be a LOYAL customer without SOME kind of benefits...right?!

........Don't you judge me

My blog is a lonely place....

Sorry that i have not updated in a while friends!

For those of you who don't know, my husband is on staff with a college ministry and, I, being his wife, also volunteer my time on campus.

Needless to say the semester is off and kicking and BOY OH BOY have we been busy... but it's been a good busy- I LOVE what we do.

Aside from meeting women on campus I will be co-leading a discipleship group of 4 girls with a sweet friend, Coop.

Coop is COMPLETELY different than me in personality (very type A). I am definitely the free spirited type but it's been cool seeing how we balance each other out and while we are different we get each other, so i thoroughly enjoy the time i spend with her.

In our group we are going through a Galatians Bible study by Tim Keller.

First of all, I love this man, Prodigal God about rocked my world (especially when coming from the High School i graduated from... it will remain nameless but think FOOTLOOSE).

He speaks about how the gospel isn't the ABC'S of Christianity but the foundation... I can't tell you how long i thought "oh the GOSPEL, learned that in Sunday School lets move on to more theological issues!" and that, my friend, shows you how little i knew about the gospel after all. I'm excited to go over this with the girls! I wish i knew what they were reading now, when i was their age... and now i'm starting to sound RREEAALLLYYY old....

We're also reading

The story of Amy Carmichael as told by Elisabeth Elliot

And we're memorizing all of Isaiah 53. 13 prophecy verses about Christ... 1 verse a week... baby steps...

So yea, this is definitely keeping me on my toes but i'm thoroughly enjoying the assignments and they're really helping me with my intimacy with God, which, after all is the point...

So that's all i have dear friends... This morning I got up at 6AM to go walking with a friend and i must say GREAT conversation...but it's starting to hit me right about now.....

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing off,

Sometimes eating healthy just ain't worth it.

BARLEY CASSEROLE.....

I don't even know why I tried... I mean the name ALONE sounds, quite frankly... disgusting!

But high on the joys of healthy living I decided to attempt it.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Well, unfortunately, I forgot to take one and the ones I googled looked nothing like the one I made, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I should have known after chopping up all the veggies that it was going to be a downer. Instead I looked at the nutritional label and felt inspired that I was making such a healthy feast for my husband and I. Plus one of the ingredients were water chestnuts...who doesn't like water chestnuts?!

I put it all in the casserole dish and as I placed it in the refrigerator where it would stay until tez could heat it up before I came home from work I thought to myself:

HHHHmmm, this is supposed to be a vegetarians dish?! so I'm supposed to eat THIS instead of meat?... I don't know if this will be enough for tez... better put out some fish.

Six o' clock I get a call from Tezar that goes a little something like this:

Hey babe?

-Yea, what's up?

Ummm is the casserole you were talking about in the refrigerator?

-Yup, the one with the blue cover

So you want me to remove the cover and put aluminum foil on it and then put it in the oven

-Yup

Are you sure this is the casserole

-Uh huh

But... it's... all.... vegetables

-Yea its one of those healthy one's I was going to try out

UUUmm ok, so I'll just put these "delicious vegetables" in the oven now...

I get home to see Tezar eyeing the casserole as if it's a stranger in the house...

I notice that the nice green vegetables now resemble some sort of brown mush...

I tell myself, once again, that this will be better than it looks until Tez thwarts me into reality by saying........

"Please don't make me eat that"

I start to laugh...the mirage vanished

We then proceeded to eat the fish and then get some Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dessert

Well, you win some you loose some.

Top Two Tuesday!

(got this from my friend Laura)

Top two things I've enjoyed this summer:

ONE:

That's right. I just posted that picture up there. PRISION BREAK.... in lieu of Tez and i having an old school tv and me not knowing how/ not taking the time to set up our converter thing we decided to take advantage of this free series on netflix and i must say: I LOVED IT!

I mean not enough to do stuff like this:

But still LOVED it nonetheless...

Plus there's a PUERTO RICAN character in the series:

and i gots to support my people.

The first two seasons GREAT... the next two... a little crazy... but whip out that suspension of disbelief and your in for a fun summer series.

TWO:

My Book Club.

I've always wanted to be a part of one. And seeing as I was lit major in college and got to discuss tons of books at length and no longer had that outlet i got so excited when i was asked to join one.

(It also saves my poor husband the agony of me telling him about the book i'm reading/ having to endure long passages read aloud to him only to have the whole plot of the story explained after that for another 30 minutes just to fill him in on the basis of the quote)

We meet once a month at someone in the group's house (plus it's so fun seeing everyone's home how their character matches the house)

It's full of finger food, stimulating conversation and FUN.

Last month we read:

Pulitzer Prize winner. Very interesting commentary on Chinese culture and BOY did it make me thankful for GROCERY STORES.

Next month i host book club at my house... I'm a little nervous because i have never hosted an event like this at my own house before but i am SUPER EXCITED. I told myself that this year i was going to invite more people over. I just get intimidated by having to entertain people but that's the great thing about book club, it's the book that does most of the entertaining.

Maybe I'll post pics... but don't get your hopes up ;)

the bread chronicles.....

It's here. ..it's mine....all mine...... Myyyyyy PPPPRREEECCCIIIOOOOUUUSSSSS...

I was SOOOO excited the day my grain mill was supposed to come in. I said a little prayer that it would come before i left for work that day and, of course, when i arrived home FROM work- there it was...

I was dancing and singing and screaming and so excited when i brought it in the house but Tezar just laid there taking an eveing nap...

I picked up the grain mill and did my very own musical dance similar to what you would see from Broadways Beauty and the Beast when the dishes are dancing BE MY GUEST BE MY GUEST...Tez still laid there sleeping peacefully...

so i then proceeded to sing in a tone Mariah Cary herself would be jealous of until Tez finally woke up, asking me what my problems was...

to which i exclaimed that "The best way to share Grain Mill cheer is to sing loudly for all to hear!"....

to which he promptly asked me for a divorce... I KIDD...but he really did not share my enthusiasm about the arrival of the grain mill AKA good health...

ah well to each his own...

ANYWAYS i got SOOO excited about the mill that i had to whip up a batch of bread although we were due to meet my family at Texas Roadhouse in mere minutes...I quickly did what i needed to do

Add wheat to grain machine

Scooped out some flour
Ok i won't go into details about the rest of the ingredients (for that check out the pioneer woman blog) That was just the fun part

Now for the final product:

It was a dudd :( i don't know if you can tell but it was ALLL WRONG... didn't mix well not firm like bread did not hold together.... BOOOO.

This is Tezar trying to act excited about it:

So then after some more Internet research i whipped up another loaf:
This one turned out MUCH BETTER!
YEA! Tezar loves it!
I, on the other hand, don't know what i like more... The bread or the man (isn't he so cute in the new shirt i bought him?!)

THE END

SO last weekend i did exactly what i did last weekend....

and the weekend before that....

I went to a WEDDING

tis the season, my friends

Let me tell you i feel as if i can genuinely appreciate weddings now that mine is over and done with b/c, firstly, now i pay much more attention to the little details that go into wedding decor (once you've been on the other side of it you realize there is a lot more going on than meets the eye... and i ask myself... did those little brown boxes i spent approximately 37 hours straight folding REALLY add that much romance to the table setting?! DANG YOU BRIDAL MAGAZINES!!!!)

Secondly, because I am not the one having to execute all those little details (Praise the LORD!) i can PURELY enjoy them for all their worth...

Anyways here's to the lovely couples and some some fun tidbits i liked about their weddings these last three weekends:

The Moore's:

If Beau's white tux doesn't set the tone of the wedding i don't know what else will.... even down to the preacher's dissertation on how "this is the point of the ceremony where we precede with the kissing of the bride and groom. What a great time in the ceremony for the happy couple...most people look forward to this moment for all their lives etc etc" for about 5 minutes until FINALLY allowing them to have their moment.... quite humorous

The Catalano's:

There's is a sweet story... Dating previously, breaking up... trusting God and after about a year apart getting back together. God's story of redemption in their relationship is so beautiful the wedding was surely a picture of that. And can i just say that they had a KILLER reception... to which the photographer asked me : "Are we in an episode of She's All That?!".... let's just say there was quite a bit of group choreographed dancing... what can i say? college kids....

The Wilson's:

Emily was one of my very best friends in High School. It as so sweet to see her and her family.

Emily married Matt. Matt has a 4 year old daughter and as a part of the ceremony as Matt and Emily lit the unity candle they invited the little girl up and gave her her very own ring to wear. It was so precious and Matt's girl was so excited about her ring showing it off to everyone around.

Well that was my weekend. Hope everyone else's was fun filled! I get my grain mill tomorrow... UPS tracking is da bomb!