Guess what?!?!?!

We have another birthday to celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Lisha is turning 21 today!!! WooHooo!! Time to party like it's 1999!!

And I know this girl can party like it was 1999 :). I miss playing the "flip the bird" game with Lisha, so I included a little surprise for Lisha down below! Lisha and I would find countless ways of flipping each other off while at work. We would hide pictures of fingers in our pockets then pull it out to show each other, we would draw a finger flipping you off on the bottom of our shoes, you name it we thought of it!! I miss that game and I miss Lisha!

Sing it with me folks...... Happy Birthday to you.....Happy Birthday to you..... Happy Birthday dear Lisha.... Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a great birthday!

Nasty Shit

Why on earth would anybody live with finger nails this long. How do you sleep? Brush your teeth? Brush your hair? Put on your underware? Scratch your foot?

Cut your nails and live a normal life!!!

Lee Redmond of the U.S. who has won entry into the latest edition of Guinness World Records September 28, 2006 with the world's longest fingernails.

A new recipe!!!

I wanted to try something new tonight for dinner so I searched through my cookbooks and magazines for a recipe that looked good. I found a recipe called "Meat Loaf Wellington" and thought I would give it a try. It was fairly easy to make and it ended up tasting great and looked like it took a lot of effort to make!


Meat Loaf Wellington

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup meatless spaghetti sauce, divided
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 - 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tube refridgerated crescent rolls

In a large bowl, combine the egg, 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce, bread crumbs, salt and pepper (I also used some garlic powder and grill seasoning) and crumble the meat over mixture and mix well.
On a piece of heavy-duty foil, pat beef mixture into a 12-inch x 8 inch rectangle. Sprinkle 1 cup cheese and parsley to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, staring with a long side and peeling foil away while rolling. Seal seam and ends. Place seam side down in a greased 13 inch x 9 inch baking dish.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour: drain. Unroll cresecent dough: seal seams and perforations. Drape dough over mean loaf to cover the top, sides and ends. Seal ends. Bake 15-20 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees (I didn't do this) and crust is golden. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Using two large spatulas, carefully transfer meat loaf to a service platter. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

The next time I make this I will probably add onions to the meat mixture and might use feta cheese to give it a different taste. But it was easy and tasted really good so I will be making this again!!!

The finished product

You can see the cheese oozing out. YUM!

What to do?

I only worked a half day at work today and I have a free afternoon! I have so much to do but don't really have the desire to do anything. Things like work on my other blog(the one where I just put pictures and the one that I haven't touched since July), clean the house, clean out my purse, laundry, homework, fix my flight fund miles, grocery shop, make dinner, etc. But I found something that trumps everything..... the new RACHEL RAY daytime TV show. Oh yes, that little foodie on liquid crack now has a daytime TV show. I think it started a week or so ago but I haven't been able to see it since I am always at work. Her show seems pretty good, like a longer more in-depth extension of her show 30 minutes meals. I have a couple of her cookbooks and try to use them whenever I can. I do have to wonder if she is a caffeine freak or not (my bet is HELL yes!!). Because she is so damn perky all of the time and constantly running around.

Unless her show has re-runs at night I will probably miss most of the shows :( I will be searching for a website with all of her recipes listed from the show. Kudos to Rachel for another successful endeavor.

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

http://www.blogthings.com/whateuropeancitydoyoubelonginquiz/

Giddy like a little girl!

I received something in the mail the other day that made me smile from ear to ear. I took pictures of a friends baby a month or so ago and she used one of the pictures that I took in her baby announcement!!!!!!!!! I love that she used one of my pictures!! I wanted to run around and show people the announcement just so I could say that I took that picture :). I'm a total dork and I don't care!!!!

Here is a picture of the announcement:

Fashionable lunch totes for a good cause!!


Lean Cuisine and Komen Foundation Limited Edition Lunch Totes Lean Cuisine and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation are teaming up again in a promotion to help fight breast cancer. This is the fifth yeat that Lean Cuisine has supported the Komen Foundation by raising money to find a cure. As a fundraising event, Lean Cuisine is offering limited-edition insulated designer lunch bags; there are three styles to choose from. The bags are available now at LeanCuisine.com and retail for $9.95 apiece. Lean Cuisine will donate five dollars to the Komen Foundation from the purchase of each bag. And if you purchase a specially marked package of Lean Cuisine, the company will donate an additional ten cents for each purchased package, with a goal towards raising another $150,000 to support breast cancer research and outreach programs. "Promoting women's wellness is a top priority for Lean Cuisine, which is why we feel it is so important that we support the Komen Foundation," said Brett White, director of marketing for Lean Cuisine. "We are honored to have joined the Komen Foundation's Million Dollar Council." It's a great idea and a great cause

Saturday Night Fever

We went out on Saturday night with a bunch of friends. Our friends Rachel and Brian were visiting from out of town so we were able to catch up with them! I don't know why we all don't go out more often. And by go out I don't really mean that we have to go downtown to drink but just getting together for dinner or to watch a sporting event would be so much fun! I hate to think that we are becoming home-body's just because we are getting older.

We went to 3 different bar's downtown: Logan's, Hi-Lo, and The Belton (or was it The Beltman, or The Beltway, damn I forget). Logan's was fun but loud, Hi-Lo was insanely loud and we couldn't hear each other talk and The Belmont(had to look it up) was the most fun. It was half indoors and half outdoors. Here are some pictures from Sat night:

Courtney, Rachel, Kelli, Mahvash and me at Logans

Jim, Courtney and I...I think this was at Hi-Lo

How cute!! Rachel and Brian!!

Rachel and Kelli at a booth in Hi-Lo

Rachel, Courtney and I at the Belmont

Let it rain!!!!

We had a shit load of rain fall on Saturday evening. It was wonderful because not only did our grass get some much needed water, the storm also brought cooler weather! We were able to turn off the AC on Sunday and leave the windows open all day. SOOOOOOOOO NICE!

I tried to get some pictures of the lightening, but the rain was coming in at a slant and kept getting me wet (even though I was under our porch). So I took some pictures of the rain clouds and of the creek (before and after the rain).

Our back yard before the rain

Same part of the back yard once it had rained. I waiting until it was done raining to take this picture, but it appeared that the water was probably up another 5 feet while it was raining.

The raining bouncing off of our roof.

The pretty sunset after the vicious storm! Hopefully there will be more rain in our future!!

Our Red Flowers

Each year around the beginning of fall we have several bunches of red flowers that pop up along the side of our yard. They have been blooming ever since we have lived there. They are gorgeous but they are only around for a couple of weeks. I wish they would be there all of the time!!! Of course while I was taking pictures, Chewie had to come over to see what I was doing and make sure he got in at least one of the pictures :)

Obsessive complusive cat flushing the toilet

Cat obsessively keeps flushing the toilet over and over again! Hilarious!

Urban Word of the Day


September 22, 2006: Mirrorface

The unintentional look of coolness, focus, and determination that appears on one's [grill] when put in front of a mirror.

A self-preservation technique in which one fantasizes about looking way better than they really do, usually occurring prior to a significant social outing
.
Rick got suited up for a night out with his homies. Prior to his departure into the evening, he gave himself one final mirrorface, putting all of his insecurities to rest. He knew he was ready to [slay] some [hoes].


Thanks Sarah for the Urban word of the day!! :)

Thursday night TV update (Don't read if you haven't seen it)!!!

Grey's Anatomy and The Office did not disappoint! They were awesome! The Office was hilarious, and Michael is a walking human resources nightmare. He managed to "out" a gay guy in the office and proceeded to make it worse every time he talked. I was a little sad to see that Jim transferred to a different office, but it appears that he will still have a key role. Pam called off her wedding (thankfully!!) and seems to miss Jim in the office. I think The Office will have a great season!!

What can I say about Grey's Anatomy!?!?! I loved it!!! Izzy was understandably upset about Denny's death but came out of her funk towards the end of the show. The previews for the next show don't show her at the hospital so I don' t know where that story line is going. Meredith, Derrick, and Fin (the Vet), we have a love triangle folks!! Derrick finally told Meredith that he loved her (yeah!!!) and Fin told Meredith that he would wait for her to make a decision because she is worth it and she deserves better. While I like Fin I think she should go with Derrick. He (Derrick) made some bad decisions regarding Meredith and Addison, but I think this heart was in the right place and he wasn't trying to dick anybody around. Plus Meredith and Derrick have a great chemistry! So I'll be glued to the TV every Thursday night to see what happens next!!!!!!!!!!!

Must see Thursday TV!

Grey's Anatomy and The Office have their season premieres tonight!! I have been waiting all summer for these shows to come back!

Does Meredith pick McDreamy or the vet? Will Izzy get kicked out of the surgical program (or leave on her own since Denny died)? Will George stay with his current girlfriend (sorry can't remember her name)? Will Burke's hand still shake after he recovers? Will Addison figure out that her husband and Meredith did the nasty in the hospital room?

And on The Office, what will happen with Jim and Pam? They ended the season with Jim telling Pam that he loved her and then he kissed her!?!?!?!!?!?! ACK! I can't wait for tonight!!

Atlantic City, NJ

We decided to go to Atlantic City for part of the day. It was about an hour drive and it was raining. But once we arrived the rain stopped for awhile. We played the penny slots in a couple of the casinos, ate at Johnny Rockets, and of course I took pictures :) I actually won pretty big at the penny slots. I won $32 on one of my tries. Not a ton of money, but I only played $ .10. Too bad I didn't win the big jackpot on a dollar machine! :)

More Boston Pictures....

Boston

We had a wonderful time in Boston. This was our first time to visit and it will not be our last! We were there a short time so we (mostly me) wanted to make the most of the trip. Once we got to our hotel, we dropped off our bags and headed towards Fenway Park. We decided to try out the subway system since it was so much cheaper than a cab! (about a $12 difference). After some confusion and looking like total tourists, we figured out which subway was the right one and headed on our way. We bought our Fenway Tour passes and found a place to eat lunch. We found a restaurant right outside of Fenway that ended up having good food. The Fenway tour is something everybody should do in Boston. It is one of the oldest baseball stadium and they even have some of the original wooden seats. Some other tid-bits that we learned was that people used to sit in the outfield because the ball used to be really big and slow so it never made it out there, there was a fire that destroyed part of the stadium, it used to be the smallest stadium before they added the green monster and bleacher seats, the Yankees almost used the stadium as their home stadium, and they will only retire numbers if the player retired with Boston and played in Boston for at least 10 years.

Here are some pictures from the Fenway Tour:

We also visited the North End to have dinner. The North End is a lot like a Little Italy, with a ton of little restaurants and pubs. The smell was heavenly as we walked around trying to figure out which place to eat. After dinner we went to a couple of the pubs.

The next day we headed down to Newbury Street to do a little window shopping and eat breakfast. We found a little Greek cafe for breakfast. Good coffee and good cheap food! After breakfast we walked along the Charles River then back to the hotel. Jim wasn't feeling well so he went back to rest while I toured the Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library. Both places were within a half block from the hotel. The church was beautiful! Lots of great carved stone and stained glass. The library was amazing. The libraries in Arizona and Texas don't look anything like this!!! Plus there was an outdoor seating area where you can eat and enjoy the weather.

Later in the afternoon we walked along the self guided tour. There was a red stripe on the ground that you were to follow. We stopped at places like Kings Chapel and burying ground, Paul Revere's house, old city hall, Faneuil Hall, and Boston Common park. We ate lunch at a place in Faneuil Hall, I think it was called Salty Dog. It was okay. After lunch we just walked around checking out different area's. We ended up finding a pub we were could rest and Jim could watch sports :). After dinner we headed to the airport for Philly!

I tried to add more pictures, but blogger is being a pain so I'll just add some more pictures in a different post!

Pictures from the Eagles game


I am playing catch up on the blog. I wasn't able to add pictures to my post regarding the Eagles game, so I am doing it now! :)

We arrived to the game about 45 minutes before it started. We weren't familiar with Houston so we wanted to make sure we made it on time!! Our seats were in the end zone, pretty high up but the view wasn't bad.

Jim and I at the game.... not sure what is up with his expression.

Jim and Tomhave watching the game.

Jim, Fred, George, and John at the game. My uncle Fred and his friend John flew down from New Jersey to meet up with their friend George and see the game.

Our view of the game

As we were driving home on a freeway in Houston we realized that we were driving next to Fred, George and John. So of course, I had to take a picture :)

I took this picture on our way home the next morning. We had a couple of hic-cups so we had to change our plans slightly, which meant we were waking up at 6:00am to begin our drive home from Houston. The sun was rising behind us.