crazy girl

So today John left the house and put Dixie in her crate. She has been really good at staying in her crate so far, so when he returned home from school a few hours later he was preparing himself to get her out of the kennel, control the situation and calm her down...however he was greeted by a happy puppy at the door. Somehow Dixie figured out how to unlatch the bottom latch on her crate and squeeze through no more than 2 inches between the metal bars (see picture below)...we literally have no idea how she did it. So she was free to roam the house for as long as she wished...amazingly nothing was chewed, knocked over, or peed on. The house was just as we left it, plus an escapee.



She then proceeded to eat the corner of a fleece blanket while we watched 10 minutes of The Office uninterrupted...then we cleaned up some slobber she ate the Kleenex that was in John's hand. Nice. She's going to poop cotton tomorrow, well maybe it won't smell as bad. Of course i was a little sleepy and curled up on the couch, she thought it would be fun to jump up with me (which of course I loved so I didn't scold her for jumping on the couch "uninvited")...enjoy the pics. I told her to get used to it because this is what the majority of our time together will look like.

my new life

Here's an update from the past few days and how my home life has definitely changed. First, I can't tell you how many times I've heard/said the following words:

• Dixie
• No!
• Sit
• Stay
• Lay
• Down!
• Calm down, no seriously, calm down please
• Come
  

Yes, they are in order from by frequently they are heard/said. I am love, love, loving having a puppy! She is the sweetest little thing in the world! I think my favorite thing is when I come down in the morning and let her out of her kennel and see how excited she gets once she sees me! She is a little crazy thing, wiggling all over the place and running laps around our living room and dining room and then jumping up on me, so sweet! Here's what happened yesterday...Dixie and I went on a walk and stopped not one, not two but five times before we even left the backyard so she could smell any and every thing. However she decided to wait another 5 minutes until we got to the end of our alley to poo. I just looked at her like "seriously, you couldn't have done that one of the other thousand times we stopped while we were still on our property?" but oh well there's nothing you can do but clean it up (and gag) and keep walking.

I used to couldn't stand when other dogs would jump on me and slobber, well hello, here I am with slobber and puppy smell all over me and I couldn't be happier! Also, one of the good things about living up north is that I don't have springtime allergies like I did back down South however, my eyes are bloodshot and itchy and my nose is runny, guess I'm a little allergic to dog hair. Note to self, buy more allergy medicine.

Right now she's tearing apart a furry toy, John's laughing and I'm blogging about it. It's official, we're an old married couple treating a dog like our child. Haha, we love her!

easy and yummy guacamole

I don't know about ya'll but I love some guacamole. I first made it in college and just threw together some ingredients that seemed like they would be in guacamole. I've added a few things and here is what it looks like (oh yeah, I completely eyeball this recipe):

• 2-3 ripe avocados (you can tell that they're ripe by squeezing them a little...if they're hard, let them ripen a day or two...you want them to be slightly mushy)
• 1/4 of a medium sized tomato
• 1/4 of a medium sized onion (I prefer red onions for this recipe because I think it gives it a little extra kick)
• 2 garlic cloves
• a few squirts of lime juice
• a couple of dashes of salt
  

The way that I open an avocado is to cut it in half and pop out the seed. If the avocado is truly ripe you can just push the "insides" out of the skin into your mixing bowl...make sure to get all of it because its so yummy. Mush it up a little bit, still leaving some lumps (well, that's the way I like it...you can mush it completely if you wish). Dice the 1/4 tomato (you can leave this out if you don't like tomatoes) and dump into bowl with avocados. Dice up the onion and mince the garlic, add to mixture. Shake some salt, taste and see if it needs more. Squirt some lime juice in the mixture (to keep the guacamole from turning brown) and mix it all together! Serve with tortilla chips or whatever you wish to eat it with! Enjoy :)

more dixie pics

By the way, I need to give credit to Kathy (John's mom) for the name Dixie, she was the one who thought of it. She said she knew how much we loved and missed the South and that it would be a perfect name. When John suggested it to me I quickly agreed and it stuck!...although Dixie's still trying to get used to it (aka actually learning that that is her name).













Can you tell that I'm obsessed? Yeah I pretty much fell in love with her the second I laid eyes on her...and you should just see John with her, he loooooves this dog :)

my DIXIE land delight!

Here is my Scranton surprise:



Yes, I drove all the way to Scranton while John was "studying" the slides of his presentation for that afternoon. He dropped me off at the mall and came back about 2 hours later to pick me up. After he called me and said he would be at the mall soon I walked down to the parking lot where he originally dropped me off. I walked up to the car and was looking at him, my eyes were saying "why aren't you unlocking the doors??" and his eyes moved to the passenger seat. I looked down and noticed a beautiful black puppy staring back at me!! (I hadn't noticed her earlier because the interior of the car is black and the parking lot was very dim) Of course I teared up and didn't know what to say, conveniently a woman was about to back into the car so our special moment was interrupted. John then found a parking spot and I ran over to the car with tears of happiness still welled up in my eyes. And there you have it, Dixie, our 4 month old English Shepherd from a shelter outside of Scranton! This is by far one of the sweetest, most thoughtful things that John's done for me! He never ceases to amaze me! What a wonderful hubby :)

scranton

JK and I are going on a weekend getaway to Scranton, PA! I haven't been on a road trip since Christmas, wahoo! It's a five hour drive up into the northeast corner of PA and the home of the beloved TV show The Office (well its "set" in Scranton aka a Hollywood set)! Wahoo! Duh, we love The Office and this will be ou SECOND trip to little ol' Scranton, PA. If any of you are wondering if there's anything cool there...there's really not, we're only going because JK is meeting with a business about research blah blah blah. Then we just thought we would stay the night and voila! You have a weekend getaway!

Here are some pics from our last visit to Scranton, PA:


Pic from the opening credits


Poor Richard's Pub, duh


Display in the Scranton mall


We're pretty sure these are the railroad tracks that Michael ran to after he declared bankruptcy


Self-explanatory


The mall where the girls in the office took Michael to give him relationship advice.

Ok, so that was a little more than a couple of pictures but I mean we're not obsessed or anything...

newsflash: no meat here

That's right...I read Skinny B*tch again...this time I read the whole thing. Last time I avoided the chapter that I knew was about meat processing and this time I read it. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I gagged the whole way through the chapter. It was disgusting. So I'm pretty grossed out with meat right now. No meat for me, no thank you. I am making meat for John--I knew there was no way to convince him to be a veg, he loves his meat and potatoes. But if you start to see more veggie recipes up here then you'll know why. Like tonight, we had stir fry with mushrooms asparagus, green onions, garlic and cashews (and shrimp for John) and it was soooo delicious! I also think that this will help me to take eating healthy a step farther--now I'll be eating WAY more of my veggies--yummm! Anyway, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

happy birthday mammy!

Today is my Mammy's birthday! Mammy is quite a unique person, there's no one really like her and I love it! She loves to collect stuff, her top things are: Coca-Cola paraphernalia, Jeff Gordon items, Barbies (there are multiple types, one is Holiday Barbies--which is my inheritance when she "passes"--that's what I'm told), teddy bears, and dolls. She is quite the collector, her house is a museum in itself. She is a wonderful person with a HUGE heart and I love her dearly! Happy birthday Mammy!

steel magnolias

I'm not sure if you all know but I'm a Southern belle and Steel Magnolias is my essential guide to life. See, we gals (me, Katie, cuzzies Emily and Abby) all grew up watching this movie summer after summer after summer when our mommas would take us on vacation to the beach. Of course we fell in love with the movie and it became our guide to life (as stated earlier). The most recent time I watched the movie (last week with my sister) when the intro music played I went as far as saying to Katie, "This is my heart song" and it is, don't laugh...it is. The movie is incredible and I L-O-V-E it, in fact I'm pretty sure I've already written a post about it before (oh well it deserves a 1000 more!). If you don't like, don't tell me because chances are I won't like you as much anymore (no, no, no I'll still like you but I will be a little angry with you). But really the movie is fabulous (see, my new word again)! And it's quite different to watch it in the North, when I hear their voices and watch all of the stuff that seems so normal to me (fried shrimp, sweet tea, common everyday Southern expressions...), my heart just melts and it makes me want to jump in my car and move back down South ASAP! Anyway the point of this post is that Katie and I assigned roles to the women we've grown up watching this movie with--who we think the women really are and here goes...(and yes, this is a compliment to all of you):

• M'Lynn Eatenton--Emily
• Truvy Jones--Abby
• Ouiser Boudreaux--Katie
• Claree Belcher--my momma
• Anelle Dupuy Desoto-Cis
• Shelby Eatenton Latcherie--me

Is that not perfect and dead on the money!? For those of you who know us well I think you all would agree. Sorry if this post is slightly boring for those who don't care for the movie or the character match ups, but seriously Katie and I were dead on! As we watched the movie and someone would say a line we would just laugh, look at each other and say "Ohhhh Mom or Ohhh Cis"...awesome!

an ode to my little sister

As many of you already know, I'm obsessed with my little sister, Katie. She is quite possibly one of the most wonderful people I know! Seriously...obsessed. JK and I have been graced with her presence for the last 10 days! This visit just reminded my of how incredible she is, she's so fun and so sweet, I just love her to pieces! This is what our week looked like: she would stay home while I was at work and she would sleep/watch TV series on DVDs/take baths in our jacuzzi/watch movies/sleep some more (perfect life, right?...yeah, I was jealous). Then when I got home we would either run errands/joyously shop at Target, go to a movie, rent a movie, go shopping, or cook dinner and hang out. She is just such a fun person to have around! It was great to catch up with her and do what we do best...eat and watch TV and movies (I swear we're not lazy couch potatoes!). She was looking for a few dresses while she was here for some upcoming occasions and I'm happy to say that we found a prom dress for her! It is beautiful and she looks fabulous (my new word) in it! Wahoo! I surprised Katie by taking Friday off and spending the whole day with her. I took her to the Andy Warhol Museum (he was born in Pittsburgh)--she's a huge Warhol fan so I knew that she would really love the museum (plus when we found out that we were moving here she said that was the only good thing about us moving here...so I HAD to take her). It was a great museum and we both really enjoyed it! We quickly followed the museum visit up with some more shopping (yippee!). It was great to have her here, I love her dearly!! Thanks so much for spending your spring break in Pittsburgh Kate!

no i have not fallen off the face of the earth

Hi everyone, sorry it's been forever since I've posted! I decided that I wouldn't post while the fam was here so that I could spend every little minute with them! We had such a great time together! We ate, we drank, we shopped, we ate, we drank, we talked (do you see a trend here?)...it was a great time! I'm so thankful that they took time to come up to cold Pittsburgh, it was so refreshing to see them! I think my favorite part of having them here was just sitting around drinking coffee and talking in the morning or sitting around at dinner talking. The visit was fabulous, I'm so, so happy that they came! Love ya'll!!

PS-We love our front porch swing! We've already used it a few times, wahoo!

chamomile tea

I LOVE chamomile tea! My tummy has been in an uproar for most of the day (for some unknown reason) so when I went shopping at Trader Joe's (to pick up yummy treats for my upcoming visitors!) I opted to buy their chamomile tea. I first tried chamomile tea when I was at a gingerbread house party at one of my YoungLife girl's houses and my tummy all of a sudden flared up and I thought I would puke all over their gorgeous houses (sorry for the graphic details, but its true). The mother of my YL girl quickly made me some chamo tea and sent me home. Man oh man does that stuff work! My tummy felt better and I could barely keep my eyes open to make it home (it also makes you sleepy)! And it is still having the same effect today, my tums feels much better and I'm prying my eyelids open just to finish this post. So if you have troubles with an upset tums or you can't go to sleep, make some chamo tea, it does the trick! Love it!

really?!

Yes it's snowing and yes it's April 6! Ahhh stupid (beautiful) snow! I mean, really?! It's stinkin April! Easter is less than a week away and there is snow in the sky!

4 DAYS!!!!!!!

Can you sense my enthusiasm?! My family is coming in 4 DAYS!!!!! Wahooooooooo! I haven't seen them since Christmas and I CANNOT WAIT!! (Can you tell that I love my fam?) Yippee! I already have activities planned for us, but not too strict of a schedule because who likes a vacay with a strict schedule, right? Not only am I excited that I get to see all of them, but my sister is going to stay with us for A WEEK! Yay!!! Man, what 18 year old doesn't want to spend spring break in Pittsburgh with her married sister?! I've got activities planned for her too, even though I'm sure she'll have no problem with sleeping, watching TV, taking baths in our jacuzzi and playing on her new laptop all week (what? I do have to work while she's here). Oh I'm just so happy and excited! I've been told that I wear my heart on my sleeve, well I guess I have a hard time hiding it from my blog too! (was that cheesy? Oh, I don't care!) Wahoo! Reunited and it feeeels so gooood!!

report from the social life extravaganza

Well I said that I would report back to ya'll so here it is:

• Dinner with our realtor and her husband...so great! It was great to see them and for them to see our home. Of course our realtor saw it before we bought it and so she could really appreciate all of the changes we made. And dinner was wonderful! (I'm not patting myself on the back but I mean...it was good!) So that was a delightful evening :)
• Chick Lit book club: It was ok. It would've been better if I'd read the book but by the time I decided I wanted to go, I didn't have to time to read the book. Also we met in a Panera (great that it was a public place because I don't know these women), but the set up was a little odd. It was one looooong table with about 15-20 women sitting at it. I was kind of stuck at the "not so lively" end of the table. But whatever, that won't discourage me from going next time and it got me really excited to read the next book (Something Blue by Emily Griffin). The book they read for this past meeting was Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin (apparently its a series). Of course I will report back and let you all know how the books are!
• Pilates: I skipped (oops!) but John had a free night so I decided that I would skip so I could spend time with him (insert: awwwww)....yes I know I'm a sweet wife (just kidding). But I'm going next week so I can get my tail whipped again, haha!

Well, there's the synopsis of my so called (social) life--Claire Danes reference, anyone?

sweet potato casserole!!

I LOVE sweet potato casserole!! It is so delish! As I've described to my dear readers before, I CRAVE foods randomly and no matter how much I try and think about something else that stupid little craving pops back into my head. Well, I've been craving SPC (for short...I mean it is a lot to type people) for about a week and a half now! So I decided to make it last night. However, I had a road block...I would deem SPC a delicious, but "really bad for you" side dish and that kind of goes against my "trying to be healthy" lifestyle. So the next thought in my head is cookinglight.com! Of course! So I found a recipe there and tried it and it was delicious!!! Mmm mmm!! Here's the recipe if any of you have this particular craving too:

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

Potatoes:

• 2 1/4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• Cooking spray

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare potatoes, place potatoes in a Dutch oven, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until very tender. Drain; cool slightly.

Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add half-and-half, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs; beat well (mixture will be thin). Scrape mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

To prepare topping, sprinkle miniature marshmallows over top of casserole. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans, and sprinkle over potato mixture and marshmallows. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Calories: 193

Fat: 6.3 grams

However, I used fat free half and half, which I believe takes down the fat and calories.

no more texts please

Yes, you read correctly...I'm no longer accepting text messages until April 21. (please insert very sad and disappointed face here) See, we changed phone plans around a little bit which limited my texting but I thought the amount that we decided on would be sufficient. I'm not stating the amount because its embarrassing. Well within 9 days I used up all of my texts!! I honestly don't know how (seriously)! I mean, granted, an incoming text counts as one and an outgoing text counts as one...but man do they add up! I'm still convinced that I actually didn't use that many (I haven't seen the actual data, it was reported to me by hubs). So I'm sorry to say that if we were at once text buddies we can no longer continue this line of communication (atleast not until April 21). And yes, we upped my texting limit and apparently with this next text limit I'm able to text all Verizon people for free, so that's great! So yes, please don't send me a text because I will be charged extra. Thanks people!