Christmas Present Love From Grandma

These were all of the presents that we wrapped and brought to Christmas at my parent's house. Over 30!

My grandmother got Ryan and me this really cute Precious Moments figurine. It reminds me of our wedding in that we went to Disney World for our honeymoon. So cute!

Finally my grandmother brought me this beautiful pink star sapphire and diamond ring. Although it wasn't a Christmas present, I loved it! She gave it to me when she got into town, but had purchased it for herself 30 years ago. I love gifts with history behind them!

We also got our very first Kitchen Aid mixer. The first thing we decided to make was beer bread. Yum.

Of course there were many other great presents, but these were just a few of the most special ones!

Because It's Christmas Time

I know that I say this every year, but this was the best Christmas ever! For the first time in almost 24 years, I got to spend this Christmas with my Grandmother (Dad's Mom). Ryan and I had seen her at the Wedding last year, but as anyone knows at your wedding you may see a lot of people, but it is such a blur after it is over. Having her here, along with getting to spend time with my parents and Ryan was the most amazing thing ever! I am so blessed!

As you can see from the picture, we had about a gazillion presents to open. In my family it isn't always about having big ticket items to open. It is more about dragging out the time it takes to open the presents, thus elongating Christmas. It is also about the food, and this year was some of the best. We had quiche and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We then snacked on a few things throughout the day to tide us over to Ryan's great dinner. He made some great ham and fresh green bean casseroles. We then topped off the night with my homemade pumpkin and rustic pear pies. Delicious!

We had a simply amazing time and the presents were great too, great enough to deserve their own post, that wasn't even what it was about. It was truly about time with family, which is always my favorite!

Gifts from the Mos

I absolutely LOVE getting gifts from the Mos for Christmas! They always get us the nicest things, most especially a Christmas ornament from Crate and Barrel. I was really wanting this penguin ornament from C&B, but I didn't want to spend the money for it. Around this time of year, I try to use all the disposable money we have for gifts for others. I truly enjoy giving others gifts that make them happy more than I like getting gifts myself.

Anyway, this little penguin ornament is SO CUTE! I named him Hubert. (Yes I have a pathetic habit of giving everything with eyes a name. Oh well.) He will be a great part of our family tree for many years to come.

Thank you Mos (Mike, Amanda, Zoe, Barnaby and Henry). We love and miss you much!

1st Annual Thanksmas Gathering

Last night was the 1st Annual Thanksmas Gathering. My mom, dad, Ryan and I went to have dinner at the amazing Tower Club in Downtown Dallas. The club is located on the 48th floor of Thanksgiving Tower and the chef there is absolutely amazing. Ryan and I went there for our one year anniversary and decided we had to go back again soon. So, we visited again for a new tradition we are calling Thanksmas.

Every year for Thanksmas we will go to have dinner and drinks at the Tower Club followed by looking at Christmas lights around town. Last night we went to drive around and see the lights in Highland Park. They had some very simple displays as well as a few more elaborate ones. Overall the decor focused mostly on lights and elegant lawn ornaments. There weren't a lot of kids type decor, which was fine by me. I am an elegant Christmas decor kinda girl. There were tons of horse drawn carriages with cold families in them clopping around the neighborhoods. Although I thought this would become annoying, it was actually great because we could travel slowly behind them and gawk.

I can't wait until next year's Thanksmas!

Other Christmas Guilty Pleasures

Christmas Tree Cakes and Cherry Cordials are pretty gross, but I have had Cherry Cordials ever since I was a little girl and Ryan picked the Tree Cakes. Also, Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, which is only available during the holidays sadlly, is AMAZING!

Rowdy, Proud and Loud

Ryan and I went to the Mavericks game yesterday, thanks to a board member at my office donating some tickets. They happen to be on the 8th row, so they were pretty great seats! The Mavs won against Golden State 105 to 100.


I had to rock the Dirk jersey. He played pretty well, but the whole team seemed to really jive. We saw Mark Cuban a few rows down from us, which was neat.

We were even on TV! It was so funny, my mom texted me this pic while we were at the game. You can barely make us out, but neat nonetheless.

360

I downloaded a new app for the iPhone that allows you to take panoramic pictures. You never know with an app if it will be any good, but I think it does a pretty good job. I hope to find some great places to take pictures with the new app. Yay!

Christmas Time!

The first snowflake of the season in my car means that Christmas time is coming! I am so excited as Christmas was always the biggest holiday in my family. We always had decorations everywhere from the Christmas tree to nutcrackers to holiday wreaths. We even had this decoration that was a Santa you screwed on the top of one of your lamps above the shade. Needless to say, Christmas abounded at my house as a kid.


One of my favorite things about the holiday season is getting to buy holiday smelling soap. I always go to Bath and Body Works to pick out some awesome soaps. This year, and for years to come, my favorite scent will be Winter Candy Apple. I also bought Winter Cranberry, Twisted Peppermint and Vanilla Bean Noel. Love!

Also, the tree is up. Not my most favorite thing to do, but always worth the effort. I love stuffing as many lights as I can onto the tree. Ryan, not so much. He was trying to get me to just hold the lights and walk around the tree in circles. That wasn't happening. I think the end result is pretty nice.


Also, I bought us matching Christmas stockings this year. Although last year was our first Christmas together as a married couple, I just didn't have time to get these ordered after returning from our honeymoon on December 1 and having food poisoning for a couple of days. I really like these stockings though, and so does Ryan, so they were worth the wait. I also got a them really cheep, which is always a plus. I think they will last us for many years to come.

I just can't wait for Christmas with my family!

Loved the Turkey! Let's Do It Again Next Year!

This year was a year of firsts for Ryan and me, being that we are newlyweds, but I have to say this was our first real Thanksgiving as husband and wife and it was AMAZING! Ryan decided he wanted to cook the entire meal for me and my parents and it was the best food I have ever had. Not that my family can't cook, but Ryan is really the best cook I know. He made Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls, Cranberry Sauce and Gravy. All homemade and all so, so good! We spent all of Thanksgiving Day cooking and eating and then the day after Thanksgiving we went to the Eisman Center to see the Nutcracker ballet. This was the very best Thanksgiving I could have ever asked for. I can't wait to do it all again next year!

Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend marked Ryan and my's one year anniversary. We had a great weekend planned of fun and relaxation. It started with heading to stay at the hotel where we spent our first night as husband and wife, the Hilton Southlake. After getting ready at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at Tower Club Dallas, located in Downtown Dallas in Thanksgiving Tower. We had an amazing seven course meal, complete with drinks. Baked dates, cheese and chive popovers and bread and lavash for both of us. Ryan then had beef Carpaccio, clam chowder and halibut. I had a crab cake, salad and beef tenderloin. We then shared creme brulee and berries with champagne. Needless to say we were too stuffed to have our wedding cake that night or to share the bottle of Dom Perignon we had brought. We had our wedding cake top layer the next morning, but we will save the Dom for another special occasion. The next day we went to see the newly released Harry Potter movie at the Harkins Theatre. We had a really great time celebrating together. Here's to year two!

Austin Down to Kerrville

This past weekend Ryan, Ryan's sister Laurel and I all piled in the car and headed for Austin. We decided to stay in Austin, two hours away from Kerrville and then drive in on Monday morning for the funeral. The main reason we wanted to stay in Austin is so that we could stay at Barton Creek, a ClubCorp property. When we got to the resort, only one room was ready, so Ryan and I decided to go look around the resort. We ended up finding a large chessboard and decided to play. Ryan won, of course, but it was a lot of fun!


After going back up to our room, the sun was just setting, so Ryan and I pulled up a chair to watch. It was so nice to be able to see for miles, unlike when we're in the city.


Another great part about staying in Austin was that we got to visit our friends Mike and Amanda. I can't even begin to describe how great it was to see them. We didn't get the chance to hang out with them much when they were living in Dallas, but now that we can't just pop over and see them, I miss them! We went to County Line for dinner, which was some great BBQ and a lot of fun!

The next day we went to Ryan's Grandmother's funeral and got to see a lot of his family. We also got the chance to have lunch with most of them and catch up. It was nice to have everyone in the same room since the last time we saw most everyone was at our wedding almost a year ago.


We didn't want to take more than one day off of work, so as soon as lunch with the family was over, we decided to head back to Dallas. Along the way we stopped at the infamous Czech Stop for some Kolaches. As you can see below, they were AMAZING!


Although it was sad to have to go to a funeral, we did have a good trip down to Austin, to Kerrville and back.

Goodbye...

So we found out last weekend that Ryan's grandmother passed away. Although they may not have been very close as she has been fairly ill for awhile, it is always hard to lose someone in your family. Like he said, there would be no me without her.

So, we leave on Sunday to head down to Kerrville for her funeral. It will be a fairly small ceremony followed by a family lunch. I am just glad that I can be a support, even if a small one, at this time in Ryan's life.

Happy Ratterween!

I love our girls!

Fondue It Again Soon

Yesterday I went to Central Market for their annual Hail to the Cheese event. While there I really wanted to pick up some great cheeses and what better to do with cheese than make fondue. I picked out a great Emmentaler Swiss and French Gruyere. I also picked up the ingredients for a chocolate desert fondue.

When it was time to create the fondue, I started chopping up the bread and Ryan grated all of the cheese. He then got out our fondue pot only to realize that we had lost the cord that you must have to plug the fondue pot in. We decided that we had already prepped dinner so we headed out to buy a new pot. Luckily after an hour of searching, we found the exact same fondue pot and just used the cord. Not the cheapest option, but definitely the only option so that we could have fondue that night.

We ended up eating some of the best fondue I have ever had, and we frequent Melting Pot, so that is saying a lot. The only thing that would have made the fondue night better would be if Central Market had had dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate. Overall it was an awesome fondue date night!

3 Posts In One Day...

because vodka deserves it's own post!

When picking up another bottle of Ryan's Sweet Tea Vodka so he could make what he has dubbed a John Daley, I decided to pick out a bottle of something I would like. I ran across this amazing looking Madagascar Vanilla Vodka. I figured that it would go great with Coke Zero and boy was I right. It tastes amazing. I am not going to lie, I also fell in love with the packaging. The bottle was so elegant looking and I loved the anchor top closure. So good!

On A Happier Note...Soup!

Recently, Ryan made some chicken enchiladas for his department at work. That left us with leftover, homemade chicken stock and shredded chicken. At the store this week we bought some flat noodles, carrots and celery. Now all of the aforementioned ingredients have been processed and are brewing away in our kitchen. The house smells great and I can't wait to try it!

LGBT Is Not a Dirty Word

The lack of respect for those who are different that the majority in our society sickens me. Today I attended a business event representing the Christian non-profit I work for. Our table at the event was set up right next to the company's LGBT table. I was shocked when one of the corporate employees came up and said "Wow. I can't believe they put your table next to that one" in a very derogatory tone. I was appalled when yet another employee did the same thing referencing that being LGBT is somehow wrong.

Now I fully get that I could have misunderstood these comments to be that as a Christian organization we must not like LBGT people instead of the employee thinking it was wrong. But either way I am incensed.

I am a Christian but I support LBGT persons 110%. I fully believe that God made them differently and that no one would choose to be something that got them harassed, mocked or even killed.

With the recent suicides of persons from the LBGT community, I was of course saddened, but didn't think much more of it. I figured that they were isolated incidents with tragic consequences. Having many gay friends though, I am now even more upset by the fact that it seems intolerance is prevalent in our society. I felt that we had come a long way since the times of slavery and maltreatment of people who are different, but it is beginning to feel like the change is simply a 360 degree one.

Lake Park Night Course

Ryan had a lot of homework to do this past weekend, so I didn't think we would have any time to do anything together. About 4pm, Ryan decided he wanted to go golfing. Great thing about living in Lewisville is that there is a night course right next to our house.

Lake Park is a small, 9 hole par 3 course, but it was a lot of fun. No, it wasn't because I beat Ryan. Let me say that again...I beat Ryan. I just really enjoyed it because as a beginning golfer, Par 3s are a great way to learn. I feel that in just the few times that I have played, about 7 times now, I have gotten a lot better. I am feeling more confident about holding my own on the course and not slowing others up. I think that I am starting to hit my clubs an appropriate length and sometimes the ball even goes where I want it to.

I really like golf. Shhhh...don't tell Ryan. Now don't get me wrong, I still like tennis and basketball much more, just because they are a different kind of physical. But a love for golf is kinda creeping up on me. Who knew that something I begrudgingly took up would be something I actually ended up truly enjoying.

Bloglet Blogging Day

Today I have decided to create a blog filled with bloglets. This means that I have a grouping of small things to share that are totally unrelated. Let's go.

Nut-Thins

When Ryan and I went over to the Coker's home they had something similar to these crackers, if not the same ones, at their house. Trying to be more healthy, I decided to search them out to see if they would be a good replacement for the Low Sodium Wheat Thins I usually eat. Needless to say they were next to impossible to find. They don't carry them at most grocery stores (Market Street, Kroger and Tom Thumb). I did finally find them at Albertsons and boy was it worth it. These crackers are gluten free and oh so good. I highly recommend them!

Sweet Tea Vodka

Ryan has been talking a lot about getting some Sweet Tea Vodka ever since he had an alcoholic Arnold Palmer at Pappadeaux. I didn't like it very much, but I think it was just because the ratio of lemonade to Sweet Tea Vodka was off. Anyway, I was surprised with the seemingly endless flavors of vodka they had at the liquor store. They even had Cotton Candy vodka. I wonder if a Cotton Candy martini would taste good?

Blood Fingers

On Thursday night Ryan's mom was in town so we went to dinner with her at Hackberry Creek Country Club. Since she works a lot with children's television stations, she always has little promos that she shares with us. This time it was these bloody finger gummies with strawberry blood sauce. I am wondering why this would ever be popular. I guess for younger boys maybe. If you were wondering, I tried one of the fingers and they tasted awful!

Black Ties and Lullabies

My mom's newest book, "Black Ties and Lullabies", titled by me and Ryan of course, has just come out in an advanced reading copy. I am excited to get the chance to read it before it hits shelves in the near future!

Go Mean Green!

The most exciting news for last. Ryan has been accepted to UNT to start classes in the Spring! I am so proud and I know he will do great!

Another Golf Sunday

Ryan and I finally had time to make it out to the course today. Ryan decided we would make a tee time at Hackberry Creek Country Club. It was a really pretty course and fun to play too. I had only ever been in the HCCC clubhouse, so getting out on the course was nice. Beautiful!

We ended up pairing with a nice guy named Jeff. Jeff was about our age, a member of the club and an actuary. He was a much better golfer than Ryan and I, but he was very sweet, so we had a fun day anyway.

After playing 9, Ryan and I went in to get some dinner. Hackberry has one of the best chefs around. I had these amazing shrimp tacos, Ryan had an ahi tuna salad and we both had some beers. It was all excellent! We also got to watch a bit of the Cowboys game, even though they ended up losing.

I really missed playing golf, so I was happy that Ryan finally was able to go! Poor guy is always so busy with school and work, I'm glad he was able to have a relaxing Sunday off.

Busy!

Life has been crazy busy lately. It is so hard to even write about because so much has been going on that it has all run together. Some of the highlights are as follows. Back when Ryan and I went out to dinner with the Cokers, Taylor showed me a new bracelet she had just gotten at Stonebriar Country Club. It is called a Power Balance bracelet. Now let me say that I believe the PB Bracelets are a complete hoax. I think all of the balance and flexibility tests are a joke. Having said that, I think that if you believe in anything it will work, even though the object itself has no "magical powers". Having said that, I am doing my best to believe in the bracelet.



Yesterday I spent a lot of my day at Doctor's Hospital spending time with my grandfather. Unfortunately he was rushed to the hospital early yesterday morning with chest pains. The good news is that all of the tests have come back normal, so he should be going home today. It was fun getting to see and hang out with him. We played Wheel of Fortune on my iPhone and I got to share some pictures with him too. I love him!

Finally, Ryan and I just booked the hotel for our one year anniversary. I am excited! We will be staying at the same hotel as we did one year ago after our wedding. We will be going to dinner at one of the clubs that night. Also, and most exciting, we will be seeing the newest Harry Potter movie, as it comes out that same weekend. Yes, we are nerds. Nerds in love!

That's Amore

Last night Ryan and I had drinks and dinner with the Cokers at Amore Pasta and Pizza in Grapevine. We started over at the Coker's home with drinks and appetizers. They have such a beautiful place and cute puppies too! It was so relaxing to just get out of the house and go have a couple of drinks on a Friday night, especially with such fun hosts!

After appetizers, we headed to the restaurant. We had to wait for a few minutes, but not too long. Amore is a restaurant that is owned by a very welcoming family. It was a quaint place with excellent bread and even better pizza. Taylor suggested we order a Florentine pizza and add Italian sausage. Sounded good to everyone, so we just got a large pizza for the whole table. It was one of the best and freshest pizzas I have ever had.

Overall, we had a really fun night hanging out and we can't wait to do it again soon!

Grapefest 2010

Last night, Ryan and I headed over to the 2010 Grapefest and had a great time! We got to people watch, eat, drink and be merry. After walking the length of the event, we decided on what we wanted to eat. I chose to have a foot long corn dog while Ryan had roasted corn and tacos al pastor. I then got a glass of wine and Ryan ordered a beer. After a bit more walking around to the booths and people watching, we decided to grab some German Roasted Cashews and take up a spot on a bench in the train depot. There, we waited for my parents, who had attended the People's Choice Wine Tasting. After they came out we walked back up the length of the strip. I got a cherry limeade, which was terrible, and Ryan got a couple more tacos with my parents. I wasn't feeling too well, so we cut the night short after only having stayed for about two and a half hours. It was a fun night though, and I think we'll probably go back again next year!

Vegas Baby!

So Ryan, my parents and I went to Las Vegas for a few days this past week. It was so much fun! We stayed at the Signature Hotel which was amazing! We had a lovely suite complete with a kitchen, living area and jacuzzi tub. The balcony had a pretty good view of the strip, mostly of the New York, New York hotel.


Day one we just explored around town. Ryan and I have been to Vegas before, but my parents hadn't. So we got the chance to show them around a bit. We started off going to eat at the Spice Market breakfast buffet at Planet Hollywood. It was pretty good. I would say that I had more things I enjoyed than things I didn't. After breakfast, we started walking the strip. We took them to the LOVE Cirque theater. Even though we had tickets to 'O' this time, Ryan and I thought LOVE was a great show and the theater is very neat.


We also got the chance to take them to our favorite restaurant, BLT Burger. They have some of the best gourmet burgers I have ever had and they have amazing spiked shakes.

Late that afternoon we went to the Mirage as it is one of Ryan and my's favorite places to gamble. We are really into video black jack and video roulette. I guess I wish they had been more into us as we ended up the trip about $70 down. Ah, well it was for the entertainment value. Anyway, it was nightfall as we were leaving The Venitian and we stopped to take a quick picture in front of The Mirage.


On day two we got up and around for more hotel and casino exploration. We had breakfast in the room, a calzone from the small shop in the lobby, so we were ready to go. We went to the MGM Grand, Paris, and The Ventian. We also went to the Bellagio for lunch at a place called Noodles. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it! After that we went to the Bellagio gardens. This was the third time that I have been to the gardens and each time the decor has been different. I found a frog this time and had to take a picture by it. (Go Frogs!)


We also spent quite a bit of time at Cesars Palace watching silly shows, shopping and people watching. The weather was great so we picked up some $2 beers at Serendipity and continued around Cesars. The had some of the prettiest fountains out front.


That night we caught a cab to head to The Stratosphere for an amazing happy hour complete with half price appetizers and two for one martinis. I should say two for one STRONG martinis. They were really good as were the calamari, beef carpaccio, ahi tuna, and tomato fondue.


After dinner, we went down to Freemont Street, heard some great live bands, saw a few street performances and got to experience a little bit of old Las Vegas. And, on the way there, the cab driver took us past the pawn shop featured on Pawn Stars.

Day three was probably my favorite because we got to have breakfast the best restaurant I have been to in a long time. It was called La Salsa Cantina and for $3.95 you get scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and homemade tortillas. They also had cheep mimosas that were great! On day three we also went to the Monte Carlo, The Bellagio, Cesars Palace, NYNY, The Luxor, The Excalibur, and Mandalay Bay. At the Monte Carlo, Ryan and I picked up a Yard. That means we had a whole 32 ounce Pina Colada to carry around and drink. Quite fun!

That night we had dinner reservations at Shibuya and tickets to see 'O'. Shibuya has the second best sushi I have ever had. Yes, second best. Nothing has yet beaten my favorite sushi restaurant, Sake Toro. Anyway, dinner was amazing. We had some edamame and sushi. Then my parents had soup while I had vegetable and shrimp and vegetable tempura and Ryan had tuna with Japanese eggplant. The service and food were all great!


'O', like all of the Cirque shows I have seen was incredible. I still think that LOVE is my favorite. Ryan agrees. But, I have to say that I did enjoy 'O' more than La Nouba.

Day four was our last day in Vegas. Ryan spent the morning golfing at Bears Best while my parents and I went back to La Salsa Cantina for breakfast. We then took the car that Ryan rented out so that we could explore a bit beyond the strip. We went to The Rio hotel and The Palms. We intended to go to lunch at one of those two hotels, but didn't find one place at either hotel that looked any good. So, what else was there to do besides go back to BLT! More shakes, burgers, nachos and fried mac and cheese. Not too healthy, but I surprisingly lost 5 pounds in Vegas. It must have been all the walking. Anyway, after lunch, we put a few more dollars in the machines and won back a little of our money on Roulette before we headed to the airport.

This was one of the best vacations ever and I can't wait to go back to Vegas!

Recipe: Microwave Bread Pudding

I found another recipe I just have to try! I am really into the microwaveable dessert trend lately. These are the ingredients for Microwave Bread Pudding.

You'll need:
- a microwaveable coffee cup or bowl
- bread (stale ok!)
- 1 egg
- 1-3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons of yogurt or milk
- 1-2 tablespoons of butter / margarine

Optional ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla
- dash of cinnamon

Pretty much you just rip the bread up and place it in a mug, mix up all the wet ingredients, and then pour it all over the bread. Then you just have to microwave the mixture for around 2 minutes.

Sounds yummy!

R&R & Hoping All Is Well

Today was a kinda rough day at work, even by only 10am. So I decided to go and get my hair cut during my lunch break for a little relaxation time. As you can see from above, on my way back from a little R&R I passed right by what looks to be a horrible accident. I am only hoping that there was no one in the back seat of this car at the time of the accident! It has been a long time since I have seen an accident so bad, probably since the time that I flipped my SUV back about 3 years ago. Anyway, it was awesome to go and have some relax time in the middle of a hectic day, but now I can only wonder if everyone that was in this car made it out okay. Overall, the day got better after this. Free Italian lunch at work and a haircut that I love. I guess my day wasn't so bad after all.

Morning Apple Muffins

I have been having urges to bake and cook lately. I guess with the fact that Ryan is in school so late on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, meaning I cook dinner on those nights, I have really started to enjoy it. Today I decided to make Apple Cinnamon muffins from a recipe I found online. I think the recipe called for too much cinnamon, but they were pretty good overall. We'll see how long this cooking thing lasts.