Happy Birthday Cis!

Today is my sweet aunt Cissy's birthday! She is such a wonderful woman and I'm so proud to call her my aunt. I hope you had a fabulous birthday Cis, you deserve it! And to celebrate...just for you...I'm going to post a pic of one of our fave ladies, just to make your day!





The one...the only...Jeanne Bice!! Enjoy it Cis (I know you will)! Love you so much!!!

ahh Thanksgiving :)

Hello blog lovers...we've just returned from good ol' Tennessee. We were able to spend time with John's family for Thanksgiving and it was sooo much fun. We arrived on Wednesday night after a looooong day of driving (yes, we went through Cincinnati twice...if you want to know how, don't ask because I'm still a little bitter about the whole thing). And we were greeted with smiley/sleepy faces and homemade pasta shells (yum!) and a birthday ice cream pie for the birthday guy (John...duh).

Well the next day was Thanksgiving and Heather (sis in law) and I did our best sous chef attempts while Kathy (mom in law) did her thing in the kitchen. Once everything was cooked and baked and people were clean and presentable we were off to JK's aunt and uncle's house! It was filled with relatives and yummy food...a great time to be had by all :) We then returned and this lazy thing (me) went to sleep for 2 hours (sorry again guys) while everyone else did other stuff. We had to rest up because I convinced/held at semi-gunpoint Kathy and Heather to go shopping with me (I mean I HAD to keep the tradition going) the next day.

We got on the road at a reasonable time (9:30 am, mind you that is darn good for me on a vacation). For those of you who don't know...I was raised to be an "after Thanksgiving day shopper" and NO I don't call it Black Friday, because first of all I think it sounds negative (even though my mom explained that its like an economical/financial term) and its stupid. My mother has always gotten up and at 'em at around 5 am every year (the last few years against her will) and ever since I came to my senses and figured out that I was created to be a shopper (around middle school age) I have joined her...at around 10 am. I can't get up early, its not worth it because now those same sales last until about 10-12 and let's put it kindly...I'm a grouch in the morning. So I usually meet her in the morn and we shop sometimes until 10-12 at night. I just love it...I love the good deals you get, I love that you can be snappy to fellow shoppers who are snappy with you first, I love fighting over parking spots and final sales prices...I just relish in it! Anywho...K and H did a good job at keeping up this year. I didn't have nearly as much to shop for since JK's whole side of the family was already done...so the day didn't last too long. It was a lot of fun...here's an example of the difference between trained shopping crazies (me) and normal shoppers (K & H): we drove into the Kohl's parking lot and K was like "oh my gosh, I've never seen it this packed, there are so many people here" and I look to see slight looks of fright on both of their faces while inside my heart is leaping with joy and I can't wipe the slap happy grin off of my face! I can't explain it people...its just who I am, so accept it :) We got some great things and I was able to knock a few more people off of my 'to buy for' list.

But the rest of the weekend was filled with grazing over food, playing with our niece Anna and watching movies. Oh! We also exchanged Christmas gifts!! We all brought the gifts with us so we didn't have to ship them and then we decided to just open them infront of each other instead of at each of our homes. We all got great gifts! Thank you again everyone! And here we are today back in Pittsburgh safe and sound. All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and wouldn't you know the 2 JKs didn't take any pics...sorry. (By the way, Kathy and Heather if you want to send us any pics we would greatly appreciate it!! Just by email...not actual pics)

just like dad

Since I've moved away from home (ie. going to college, moving to PA) I've realized the things that I once thought were weird or annoying about my dad just so happen to embody me as well. So even though I know he doesn't read my blog I'm going to list a few things that my nature has adapted from my oh so loving father:

1. Recycling--I recycle every little thing that I can. Whenever we threw an aluminum can away in the trash (God forbid!) Dad would say "Do you want a world for your children to live in?!" and he would then snatch the can out of the garbage and take it to the recycle bin. I simply rolled my eyes since I was at the ripe young age of 12 and didn't think about my own children or saving the world. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college and my sweet roommate Callie didn't recycle stuff, I literally took bottles out of the top of our trashcan (no I did not dig deep) and put them in the recycle and I'm sure she got the "world for your kids" speech a few times (sorry Callie and all of my other roommates who didn't recycle).

2. Eat a bowl of popcorn for dinner. Whenever it was "make your own night" or Dad was somehow at home by himself he always opted for a bowl of popcorn for dinner. Some of us had soup or PB&Js but not Dad. Now, as I type, I'm eating a bowl of popcorn for my dinner (hub is away at school doing work). But I will not agree that it keeps you full, I always need something a few hours later because after all, its only popcorn.

3. Sweet tooth. My dad has a huge sweet tooth and that has been passed down to me. I always want something sweet, if I could I would live off of sugar. If we ever went by a Cinnabon we HAD to stop in and get Dad one or if we were on some late night cross-country (cross NC) road trip we HAD to stop in and get a honeybun with coffee for Dad. And don't even think about not stopping at Krispy Kreme if he has a sweet tooth. Dad, I say it all with love because I'm just like you, my tastes are just a little different.

4, Dishwasher Nazi. My dad has been named the Dishwasher Nazi at our house. He always does the dishes after dinner. Since we've grown older Katie and I have tried to help by placing them in there and he will simply smile at us, but if you walk out of the room and happen to peek your head in there you'll see the DW Nazi taking your dishes out and rearranging them to his liking. I always thought this was ridiculous. Then I moved into a house with 5 other girls. Over those 3 years (and to this day) I will take our the dishes someone else has put in there and rearrange them to the "right" order.


As stated earlier, all in love Dad. I love who I am today and part of that is because of your crazy nature :)

de-lovely

I'm watching De-Lovely right now. I've seen it before and wasn't extremely impressed but whatever, I can always get sucked into a movie that was set decades ago and one that stars the beautiful Ashley Judd. I just think she's adorable so this post is dedicated to her. I love any movie she's in, mostly because of her, she just has a strong presence about her. She seems so confident and she's just so darn pretty. Not unrealistic pretty, she seems very natural. I think she's one of my favorite actresses. And I love the time which the movie is set, mostly the 20s, 30s, and 40s. The clothes, the hair, the jewelry, the romance...oh I love it! I wish I could do my hair like Ashley Judd's in the movie, its gorgeous! But I'm not much of a hair person, I love it but I can never do my hair in beautiful, exotic ways. Well I'm going to leave you with a few pics of my fave actress, Ms. Ashley Judd!

i'm checking out

Today I came home from work and remembered that I needed to run a few errands. Well I decided that I would go ahead and get it over with instead of wait awhile and have the roads freeze up more (mind you, it was 25 degrees by the time I got home). Well everyone was driving soooo slow and my patience (lovingly passed down from my mother) was wearing thin but I followed suite because I had no other options. As I was nearing my destination our trusty GPS had me go down more residential roads which apparently hadn't been driven on as much as the main roads and yes my max was at the most 20 miles per hour (so no, I was not going fast)...anyway I started going down a hill (a slight hill, not a steep one) and I began to break because I was coming up on a stop sign and my brakes locked up! I couldn't stop and I went right through the intersection! Not only was I frightened because I couldn't control it (mind you, the car wasn't all over the place, it simply wouldn't stop) but I'm also a huge rule abider, especially when it comes to road rules. So I was scared because of my present situation and I was upset because I had outrightly ran a stop sign! Anyway, I lived and I turned around and went back home...no more venturing for that particular errand.

Needless to say, I'm checking out of PA...NC here I come! Sure the snow is beautiful (for now) but it is cold, it is windy which makes it colder and its dangerous people! I don't know how I'm going to survive. I would much rather take the cool weather and flat roads that I grew up with as opposed to 25 degree weather and crazy hills. I mean JK won't miss me, will he? He's got schoolwork and all of that stuff. Just kidding. I was walking to Rite Aid with my knee length wool coat, jeans, a sweater, Uggs, and a thick scarf and it felt like I was wearing a t-shirt...dang weather! Not to sound like a broken record, but this weather is wearing on me already :( I'm just glad that I'm bundled up in my warm home tonight.

birthday boy...i mean man

Well, Wednesday was the other JK's birthday, he turned 24! We celebrated with pizza from Mineo's (our fave pizza place here), presents, homemade cheesecake and the new James Bond movie. It was all so much fun, the food was great and so was the movie. If you like Bond movies I suggest this one, its a good one...I'm sure you'll like it too. But for right now the birthday boy is out at a Bengals/Steelers game (in the snow). I know its always been a dream of his to see the Bengals play...but in the snow?! I'm perfectly happy here in our warm house bundled up, but I'm sure he's having the time of his life and not even thinking about the snow falling on his head. And please consider this his "thank you" for all of you who called, texted, facebook messaged, sent cards, sent gifts or posted a shout out on your blog. He really appreciated all of it, sanks! Love ya'll!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Oh the weather outside is frightful...yup, you guessed it, it snowed here today! Yay! It was so beautiful! Although it snowed all day long it didn't stick until the sun went down so there's just a small, thin layer on the ground right now. However it's supposed to snow throughout this entire week, yay! I know I'm so excited right now and in January I'll be sick of it so don't feel like you have to rub it in my face then. But anyway its wonderful right now!!

So today I've been cooking away (surprise, surprise). I've been making an Italian pot roast (delish!), egg salad, and cookies. It was snowing so of course you have to make homemade chocolate chip cookies, right? Well, I had my fill of about 3 cookies so I plan on taking most of them to work tomorrow so that they're out of the house.

The other JK's birthday is coming up this Wednesday so I went and bought his gift yesterday along with all of my Christmas shopping for his side of the family (which I finished with one online purchase and only 2 stores!). Well its hard to hide a gift from someone when you live with them, especially if its large and especially if you can't keep a secret from them. Well after I kept asking him if he wanted one of his gifts (I bought him one big gift and a couple of little ones) and he kept responding "no, it doesn't matter"...I pushed a little harder and he finally said he would love to have one now. So I let him open his big gift and it was a toolbox! Yay, just want he wanted...except that I had bought the wrong one. When I bought it, I knew that it would probably be the wrong one so we took it back today and got the one he wanted. Well I might also add that he's been organizing our basement and he said he could organize a little more if he had his toolbox, that's when I offered the gift one last time. He loved it and now its time for me to go to bed, but I'll leave you with a couple of pictures we took in the snow.





And no, even though it looks like I gained 20 lbs., its just layered fleece. :)

here it is

Here is the link to just a taste of Emily and Tommy's wedding pictures. I've been granted permission to post them, so enjoy :)

http://www.sdpphotography.blogspot.com/

cooking extravaganza

There has been a lot of cooking going on at our house lately, and quite delicious might I add. I made pizza the other night (so delish) and went ahead and prepared some things for chili for the next night. I figured while I was in the kitch I would go ahead and make this Paula Deen recipe for maraschino cherry cookies and they were yummmmy! They didn't turn out looking as picture perfect as Paula's, but I think its all in the taste, as long as it looks edible and tastes good, well that's good enough for me. Anywho...my fave food item I've made this week thus far are cheddar garlic biscuits! Just like at Red Lobster, wahoo! I had a craving for them while I was at work today and then remembered that JK's grandma had given me a cookbook with a recipe for them in it. Here it is, so that you too can make incredible biscuits:

1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2/3 c. milk
3/4 c. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 c. Bisquick

1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. butter

Stir all ingredients together until a soft dough forms. Drop by the tablespoonfuls onto an un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Melt the butter with 1/4 tsp garlic powder. Brush over the warm biscuits. Enjoy!

dedicated to the Seabolts!

Hello all! Yes, we're back...JK and I returned last night from NC. We were there for my cousin Emily's wedding! We were so lucky to be a part of it, sanks Em! I would go into great detail about everything that we did but I have had complaints that my posts are too long and I also have had complaints that I take too long to post. Geez people, I'm a workin woman, TV addict, bookworm, and food fanatic...I'll get to my blog when I can (just kidding). But Emily and Tommy's wedding (we'll call them ET from here on out) was gorgeous! Duh, would you expect anything less from a "Sistas' production" (that's what I'm naming us ladies...that means Cis, Mom, Abby, Katie, Emily and myself). We always seem to be the crazy fools that wake up early, stay up late, drink wine and beer throughout and make tons of flower arrangments. Everything...I'm talking boutineers, centerpieces, buckets, wreaths, and topiaries to boot. Ok, so I play a very minor role...its called cut the flowers and let the rest assemble the beauty. Em was gorgeous, T was handsome and that was just carried throughout the entire ceremony and reception. Oh and did I mention we had Thanksgiving dinner for the food at the reception!? Mmm mmm delicious! I will put a link up of their wedding pics once they get back from their honeymoon...you know I have to get permission for that kind of stuff. I will take credit for the decoration on the wedding cake (and yes, I'll give half of it to Abby as well...who happened to save me from an anxiety attack when I was given the task of decorating it). It looked great, of course! I just can't sing enough praises about this wedding! Oh and E was so calm, I was very impressed! But it really was great to see my family, they are so wonderful and seeing them just makes me miss all of them even more. Thank you to all of my family that I got to see, I'm not sure what I'm thanking you for but just thanks for being there so that I could talk to you, hug you and hang out with you...it meant a lot! I love you all! (I decided that as dramatic as it sounds, I really do have a Southern heart...that's where its meant to be...I literally teared up as we drove across the state line into NC) Again, love ya'll and can't wait to see you oh so soon!!!

voting day

Hi, I hope you all had a happy, hassle-free voting day. PA doesn't have early voting so I knew that I was going to get the brunt of that since I had to vote after work with the rest of working class Pittsburgh. I was driving home preparing myself for a long, long line. The traffic getting home was much worse than usual, you can imagine I was getting more anxious and not excited by the minute (I was semi-cursing my civic duty...no I'm not unpatriotic but I'm also not happy about 4 hour long lines). Anyway, I get home, change into comfy clothes (because you know I'm not standing in my work clothes for 4 more hours) and grabbed my purse and a book (duh, I mean I am a bookworm) just in case, and head out the door. Oh by the way, the place we were supposed to vote at is less than a block from our house. So I walk down the street, up to the church, and into the appropriate door (thank you to hubby's voicemail earlier in the day telling me that there are in fact 3 districts voting at the same church...he told me the correct door to walk to)...I see no line, wait...that's weird and walk in...no people waiting, just volunteers sitting at tables looking slightly disgruntled. Interesting. I'm a little bewildered. So I walk up to the first table and they look at me as if I've walked in with two heads attached to my body, once I make it clear that I'm there to vote (duh, this is the voting room) and I don't know what to do they finally muster enough energy to ask my name and then direct me to the next table because I am supposed to be at the other table...duh. Anywho...they directed me to the voting "booth"/touch screen where I voted and I was out. Five minutes tops. All of that anxiety and grumbling for nothing. Huh. Oddly enough I felt a huge sense of American pride after I voted (I can just hear one of my college professors saying "that's what they want you to feel" right now in the back of my head). Well, that's my voting story and I'm stickin to it.

By the way, blog fans, these JKs will be making our way on down to NC for my cousin Emily's wedding! Wahoo!! So there will be a lack of posts, but don't worry I'm sure I'll be able to make up for it when I get back with plenty of wonderful wedding tales and pics!! :) See ya soon!


PS-Oh, and I didn't get an "I Voted!" sticker today...maybe I'm a little bitter. I guess directing people to which touch screen to go to is just so exhausting that you can't hand out patriotic stickers to the loyal citizens who drug their butts to the polls. (Can anyone tell that I'm tired right now and its been a long day?...yeah didn't think so)

sanks sissypants!

I came home to a sweet surprise yesterday! When I walked in our back door a package was waiting for me on our kitchen counter. (see picture to the left) I was so happy! It was from my sweet sister and it was packed with Halloween candy, Panthers' cups (that we used to collect when we went to games together), my fave jelly from Cracker Barrel (blackberry!), a hilarious Halloween card, sample postcard of her senior pics, a Christmas t-shirt from Target (that we buy every year), and some sweet Halloween cookies. It was so sweet, I laughed and I almost cried...emphasis on the almost. I love getting sweet surprises like that. Thanks so much Katie, it realy meant a lot to me! I can't wait to see you oh so soon!