new obsession

Let me begin this with a disclaimer...I do not like country music. However, I do LOVE Taylor Swift! Her music is great! She is absolutely gorgeous and has the voice to match! She has a lot of sweet songs like; "Our Song", "Love Song", and "Tim McGraw" and then some sassy, "angry girl" songs like "Should've Said No" and "Picture to Burn". I'm sure that most of you already know all about her, however since I do not like country music, I denied for the longest time that I actually liked her songs. Oh well, what can I say, I'm a sucker for Taylor Swift and her lovely music. Katie made me a Tay Swift cd for V-day and I've been listening to it every day at work ever since! When I listen to her music it makes me want to be a teenager again, walking down those country roads with a sun dress on...wait, did I ever do that? No, but if I could go back I definitely would! Watching her music videos encourages me to wear my cowgirl boots up in the north, danget! (Note to self: I must die my hair very, very blond and grow it out long again...then I must learn how to make lovely curls like Tay has, always perfect and intact.) Anyway, LOVE her to pieces! Go listen to some songs :)

how well i know my hub

I was reading my cuzzie Emily's blog today and thought that I might steal an idea she used for a post. She filled out a survey about how well she knows her husband...I thought it would be interesting for ya'll and for me if I filled it out too. And awayyy we go:

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? a sporting event or comedy central

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? caesar of course

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like? tomatoes and bell peppers--it puts a damper on Mexican food night

4. Romantic Date? haha well we all know my husband isn't a fan of cheesy romance--I would just say a nice dinner out somewhere and spending quality time together

5. Where did he go to high school? Oak Ridge High School, and darn proud of it!

6. What size shoe does he wear? 9 or 10...sorry I forgot!

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? guitars or Nolan Ryan memorabilia

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? he makes strange sandwiches and he loves them--an example would be turkey, cheese, paprika, sesame seeds, honey and texas pete...I don't get it

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? pizza and sausage balls

10. What is his favorite cereal? I'm not sure that he has a preference

11. What would he never wear? and I quote..."preppy frat boy clothes"

12. What is his favorite sports team? Bengals, Rangers, and Wolfpack

13. Who does he admire? his family (parents, grandparents, brother)

14. Does he have a best friend? me...duh and then I think its a split between a few other guys

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? When I disaprove of something and pretend to spit, he hates that.

16. Heritage? Irish, and VERY, VERY proud of it

17. He was so mad at me the time…(I'm going to steal part of your answer Em) he gets angry not mad...probably any time that I start a fight, other than that I'm pretty much perfect (ha!)

18. Did he play sports in high school? Oh yes, the glory days...cross country, track, and a little bit of baseball.

19. What could he spend hours doing? (stealing another answer) Playing sports, watching sports, and video games.

20. What is one unique talent he has? He can pretty much fix anything that's broken in our house...pretty helpful.

21. When he was little, what did he want to be when he got older? A player for the Texas Rangers, more specifically, probably Nolan Ryan himself.

22. Other than work, most of his time during the day is spent … doing school work--does that count as work? If so, then I would say fixing up the house.

23. If he won the lottery, the first 3 things he would do would be? Purchase all of the items on his wish list, buy a Lamborghini, and buy me lots of lovely clothes and shoes :)

24. He makes you nervous when… he drives.

eat. pray. love.

I mean to be honest, those are the 3 most important things in the world (at least to me), so what else is there? Well Eat. Pray. Love. just so happens to be the subject of my most recent book review. EPL (for short) was recommended to me by my cuzzie, Emily and what a great recommendation it was! I loved it! It was very exciting and fun to read. I love books that open my mind to a new set of ideas or allow me to view the world in a way that I've never viewed it before. Those are my favorite kinds of books and this one definitely embodied all of that. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants an interesting book to read. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! Its about a woman who has recently come out of a terrible divorce and decided to travel for a year. She visits three countries for four months each: Eat(Italy) Pray (India) and Love (Indonesia). Go rent or buy it...I would give it to you if I owned it, but the copy I read is Emily's...so sorry about that, but go get your hands on it!

goat cheese & roasted corn quesadillas

Talk about yummy! This is a recipe from my newest Cooking Light magazine. We had it tonight for dinner and oh. my. gosh. it was delicious! Veggies can even eat it (Em, I highly recommend you trying this). Here we go:

-1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 large ear--they don't have these in PA right now so I used canned corn)
- 2/3 cup (5 oz.) goat cheese, softened
-8 (6 in) corn tortillas--I used whole wheat flour tortillas
-1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 1 green onion)--I used red onion because I didn't have green
-10 tbsp. bottled salsa verde, divided
-cooking spray

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn; saute 2 minutes or until browned. Place corn in a small bowl. Add goat cheese to corn; stir until well blended. Divide corn mixture evenly among 4 tortillas; spread to within 1/4 in. of sides. Sprinkle each tortilla with 1 tbsp. green onions. Drizzle each with 1 1/2 tsps. salsa; top with remaining 4 tortillas.

2. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place 2 quesadillas in pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from pan; keep warm. Wipe pan clean with paper towels; recoat with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Serve with remaining 8 tbsps. salsa.

Calories: 223
Fat: 8.9g
Protein: 9.9g

Oh by the way, this is the first time I can remember trying goat cheese and it was so great! Mmm mmm! It had a unique taste that I loved :)

totally in love

I totally fell in love today...with Trader Joe's!! You must check their website and see if one is located near you. In just one trip they have made a lifetime customer out of me! They sell gourmet, mostly organic food for cheap, cheap prices!! Seriously, everything that I bought there today was cheaper than I've found it in our local grocery store, even when the items were on sale! I found myself so overcome with joy that I was just grabbing things because its something you don't see everyday or because it was such a low, low price! I bought ratatouille (I mean I liked the movie, I must like the dish), gnocchi, polenta, shrimp (first time that I've bought seafood in PA because its so expensive here!), goat cheese, feta, sweet potatoe bisque...and so much more!! I am completely in love with this store!! Tonight we had a dinner that was made completely from Trader Joe's products: polenta topped with pan seared shrimp with a wonderful herby marinara on top...with edamame as a side (yes, it came out perfectly when I made it!) and fresh romaine salads with sprinkled feta. Oh my gosh! It was so good (can you tell that I love Trader Joe's?)! I mean it was just incredible since we've been on this heatlh kick lately, trying not to eat anything with bad chemically crap (to put it bluntly) in it, I didn't have to worry about it because TJ's products don't have perservatives or artificial stuff or chemicals...incredible! And can I mention one more time that it was extremely affordable?! Ok, enough about that...go see if you have one:http://traderjoes.com/

the library

Last night John and I wanted to go out (aka I didn't want to cook and I was dying to get out of the house). Somehow, John was able to get this stuff called Dining Dough. I think he got it through some website, whatever...basically its x amount of dollars towards a gift certificate at a certain restaurant. You can choose a restaurant from a list that's on Dining Dough's website. So we were looking and looking and only growing more frustrated at not knowing what to choose and getting hungrier. Well, we chose a cute little place called The Library. It was advertised as a restaurant/bar in the South Side (an area of town known for cool bar and grill type places). Once we arrived I fell in love! It was so cute...low lighting, dark walls and decorated with books...just like, you guessed it, a library! Such a cool place! And the food was fantastic! Mmmm mmm! I had bow tie pasta with gouda cream sauce, with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach. It was delish! John had some type of salmon with yummy vegetables!! Needless to say, we'll definitely be going back...I told John that whenever my cousin Emily came up to visit that I was taking her there because she's a bookworm and loves good food and drinks! (Can't wait Em!) And for any of our other guests who would like to visit...just let me know and I would gladly make another trip there :)

new look

I've been wanting to spruce up our blog for awhile now, but since I don't have the techie skills to do that...it took me a little bit of time. So I decided to search for new templates...I hope you like it!

missing summer and the beach

This long, cold winter ain't easy on our Southern bodies and souls. I am seriously missing the summer weather and the beautiful ocean. (Disclaimer: this may be a dramatic post) I really feel like there is a longing in my soul, the ocean is calling me to come back. I think about it everyday at work and how much I just wish I was on the beach. And it doesn't help to have an aunt who lives 10 minutes from the beach who brags about going on walks with her husband and her dog when I'm stuck in my house because of snow. (You know who you are nameless aunt...happy birthday by the way!! I love you very much Donna!) Anywho...here are some pics from awhile ago that Mom took of me, Katie and John. Enjoy!

bookworm

So like I said awhile ago, John made me some bookshelves to store all of my wonderful books. They are neatly organized as so:

-On the upper left:books I've borrowed from Emily and John's Mom
-On the lower left: cookbooks
-On the upper right: novels/just for fun books
-On the lower right: spiritual books

I've been meaning to post this picture because I'm so proud and happy to have shelves to organize my books! Yay for bookshelves! The next thing we want to add: a bean bag chair/comfy chair to put in that corner beneath the shelves so that I can have a reading corner.

pics from this past weekend

I thought I would post a few of the pictures from this weekend since I always seem to forget to post pics when friends visit.

Pam and I on Saturday:




Us in the Strip District on Saturday:




Our Valentine dinner:

Pam's visit

As many of you may know, my dear friend Pamela came to visit this past weekend. We had such a great time together! Just like college :) I think it would be easier to list the things that we did instead of writing a 2 page blog about it:

-First I picked her up from the airport and brought her back to our CLEAN house!
-I showed her around the house, we chatted a little and then she went to bed
-We woke up and I made pancakes for the 3 of us
-We cleaned up, then showered and got ready to explore
-We went to the Strip District (an area of town that contains old warehouses that are now changed into ethnic food stores and wholesale meat stores)
-We bought some veggies to make guacamole and enchiladas with, along with freshly made salsa that was wonderful! We were also offered roses for free from a street vendor but I insisted that we pay for them (needless to say, we got them for half price...they were beautiful!)
-We went to Chickfila (they don't have them in NYC and Pam specifically requested that we go)
-Shoe shopped at DSW where I talked Pam into some gorgeous yellow flats
-Grocery shopped to pick up the last few items for dinner
-Came home and made a wonderful Mexican dinner, complete with guacamole, salsa, sangria, and enchiladas
-Watched West Side Story and a little SNL, then went to bed
-We slept in on Sunday, laid around and eventually ate leftover enchiladas
-Got ready and went to see a matinee of He's Just Not That Into You (loved it! highly recommend it!)
-Came home and watched Friends
-Went to an Irish pub that John and I love! (John stayed at home and did homework)
-Watched mine and J's wedding DVD, then most of Failure to Launch
-Went to sleep and slept in (not too late) on Monday
-Age lunch at Panera (another Pam request) and ran errands
-Came back to the house and laid around watching Friends, playing on the computer and painting nails (mine are electric blue!)
-Then I had to drive her to the airport :( where she made it back safely to the big city

I had a wonderful time, thank you so much for coming Pam! It was packed full of fun! I love you!!

PS-Pam send me some pics so I can post them (please!).

i'm obsessed

So Pamela introduced me to an incredible music video--Beyonce's "Single Ladies"! Of course I've heard the song but I'd never seen the video before and needless to say I LOVED IT!! I'm seriously talking with Katie about learning the dance so we can perform it together when she comes here next...Kate you've got 2 months so start practicing now!! Please check it out!

Here's the link, because I still don't know how to put a video on here...someone please help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_yXnxamgYQ

happy late valentine's day!

I hope that everyone had a happy, loving Valentine's Day! Sorry I couldn't post, I was out exploring the city with Pamela...we had a ton of fun doing that (more about that later). Pam, John and I had a "romantic" Mexican themed dinner that was delish! Mmm mmm! And by romantic I mean we lit the candlesticks on the table and toasted to Valentine's Day, that was the extent of that. Well I hope you all felt loved!!

Katie's legal!

I would like to wish a HAPPY LATE 18TH BIRTHDAY to my sister Katie!! Wahoooo I hope you had a wonderful day and felt surrounded by love! Katie is one of the most beautiful, intelligent, incredible, witty, sneaky, amazing people I know! I could not have asked for a better sister, she really is my best friend and I love her dearly. Now I will list 10 things I love about her:

1. Her quick wit
2. Her knowledge of random, unimportant quotes from shows, songs, movies, etc. (just so we can talk to each other in our secret language)
3. The secret language that we've created (yes that's something about her, she helped create it)
4. Her huge heart, she cares deeply for others
5. Her heart of stone (Katie rarely cries, I can always count on her to be the strong one in the group)
6. Her complimentary nature (I think that's a term), she is so sweet and can make you feel like a million bucks
7. How incredibly well she knows me...she may even know me a little better than my own husband, well I mean come on people Katie and I HAVE known each other for 18 years!
8. Her beauty, she is absolutely stunning and sometimes when I look at her I want to tear up because I still remember her as a 3 year old.
9. Her ability to bring humor into any situation no matter how sad or awkward the situation may be...I can always count on her to make me and anyone else around me laugh.
10. Her ability to make others comfortable, she is so great at relating to people and making them feel comfortable around her. Even if you just met her, she can make you feel like you've known each other for years.

And don't worry, of course I called her at midnight when she turned 18, then I texted her throughout the day and called again to wish her a happy birthday, I'm just late on the post (sorry Kate). Well, now she's legal...just don't do anything crazy Kate! I love you dearly and I'm so thankful that you're my sister!!!!

pics

In backwards order:

the incredible view from our B&B:


the "stable" at our B&B:


us at Caileigh's:


good ol' Fort Necessity herself:


(out of order) but us at Fallingwater:


John at the Fort:


Fallingwater:


me, bored, because John takes a million pictures so I decided to get in a picture:


us at Kentuck Knob:



And there you have it folks, our weekend photographed!

birthday weekend

Ok, here is the story of my birthday weekend (sorry it's taken so long to post):

As you all know, John told me to pack a bag for this past weekend but he wasn't telling me anything about where we were going. So of course we were up and ready to go on Saturday morning (I'm saying this like it was easy, please people, no morning is easy for me but with the promise of an exciting adventure, I jumped out of bed). John drove and I had no idea where we were going because I still don't know the area outside of the city well. Well, eventually we drove up to Kentuck Knob (a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). FLW is well known for his artwork and especially the houses he designed. If you wish to read a little about him, here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright. He is well known for his work Fallingwater but we went to Kentuck Knob first. What an incredible home! I mean he was so innovative and creative, it was stunning and quite incredible! (http://www.kentuckknob.com/)

Our next stop was none other than Fallingwater (http://www.fallingwater.org/). And I do it no justice by saying it was one of the most amazing pieces of art I've ever seen in my life! Please go on the website and read about it, the story behind it is very interesting. When we were originally looking at living in Pittsburgh we saw that Fallingwater wasn't far and I told John that if we ended up living here then I would love to go see it (aww he remembered).

Our next stop was the first battle that George Washington ever fought in, Fort Necessity (http://www.nps.gov/fone/). Yes, we are total nerds, our weekend trip included famous architecture and a little history lesson. But I wouldn't have it any other way, we both love that stuff and it was so fun!

Then we ended up checking into a sweet little bed and breakfast (http://www.watsonschoice.com/). It was so great! So cute and definitely made me a lover of B&Bs! I would love to travel B&Bs all over the world now! Please look at the website, it does it more justice than I can.

Our last stop before returning back to the B&B was Caileigh's Restaurant, this gorgeous Victorian home with even more gorgeous and delicious food inside!! Mmmm mmm it was so good!! (http://www.caileighs.com/) It was a wonderful trip and I loved every minute of it!!! My next post will be of some pictures since I know this one is getting quite lengthy.

100th post!

This is my 100th post and even though I was posting to tell you about my weekend, the only thing for this particular post is that its my 100th post! Wahoo!! Go 100! Ok, now I'm getting a little carried away...well I hope ya'll have enjoyed the last 100 things that I had to say :)

much thanks

I want to thank everyone who called, e-mailed, sent cards, sent gifts and gave blog shout outs for my birthday! All of the sweet thoughts made my birthday! It was hard to be away from everyone this birthday but all of the thoughtfulness made it as special as it could be! So thank you, thank you, thank you very much! Here is an update thus far for the birthday: Like I said I have received many sweet cards, gifts, etc. and I came home to a homemade from scratch chocolate birthday cake! That's right, John made me a cake from scratch...how sweet! And it was so delicious too! We went to Chickfila and watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop (no, I do not recommend this movie, we thought it would be much funnier than it actually was but Kevin James just wasn't able to show off his comedic talent enough). And then I was told that my gift from John was a surprise trip this weekend! We'll leave on Saturday to a location unknown to me, yippee! I've been told to pack my bags and exactly what I need to pack. I'll fill all of my bloggers in when we get back! But thank you all again, I felt very, very loved!

they'll make a Pens fan of me yet

A few days ago one of my friends at work asked me if I wanted to go to a Pittsburgh Penguins (the burgh's very own NHL team) game on Wednesday. I of course said yes because I know that she loves the Pens and she would be dying to go. I think its safe to say that everyone knows I'm not a big sports fan but I decided, hey why not? I've never even seen a hockey game...I didn't even know the intervals of time that they played. But I learned it all...my friend Shannon filled me in on this and that...mainly who the big players were, that there were three 20 minute intervals, who the "fighter" of the team was and so on. Sad to say, there was only a small fight...I never thought I would be a person rooting for a fight, but I was. And the Pens were losing by 3 points when Shan thought it was time to leave. I think she was getting upset with them, so I just followed her lead. See, she's just one of the sports addicts in my office who has grown up and lived in Pittsburgh or the surrounding area their whole life, making them obsessed with the sports teams...don't even get me started on the craziness about the Steelers and the Superbowl. (Congrats to the Steelers though, the whole city is very proud of you guys.) Anyway, I had a really good time, I enjoyed watching hockey it was a different experience and I'm really glad that I went. (I even went out and bought a Pens t-shirt last night so I would have something to wear to the game! I felt like such a fan!)