Recipe: BBQ Cups

I made an old family recipe tonight for dinner.

The short and sweet pictorial version follows.

Taste of Addison and Beethoven's Ninth

Yesterday Ryan, my parents and I went to Taste of Addison for the first time. Last year, we went to Taste of Dallas, so we thought this would be similar.  In fact, it was much bigger and better. There were many, many more food booth options, tons more vendor tents and much better musical talent. Ryan and I shared the following:

Spicy Tuna Roll
Coastal Crepe
Turkey Meatballs with Mango Chutney
Vegetable Samosas
Buffalo Wings
Chocolate Chip Cookies
FUZE Orange Mango
Shiner Bock Beer

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back next year!

Ryan and I left the Taste of Addison in the early afternoon to head home and shower and change so that we could head to the Dallas Symphony.  We watched Beethoven's Ninth while I occasionally checked the Mavericks' game score and shared it with those around me who were interested. It was a beautiful symphony and I especially enjoyed the choir. After the symphony, we were pretty hungry, so we found an IHOP to stop and have a quick bite.  It was around 11:30pm at this point.  Unfortunately, we didn't know that it was prom night, so soon the restaurant was inundated with loud and raucous high schoolers. We left soon after, vowing to never make that mistake again. Here's to a wonderful, fin-filled day!

Tower Club One Last Time

What an awesomely gorgeous night at Tower Club Dallas! Seeing as how we will soon be losing some of our ClubCorp club benefits, we decided to take one final trip to Tower Club for dinner and a view.  We went with my parents and had an excellent night toasting to many recent successes: Ryan's new job, Ryan's excellent grades, and of course us being debt free! We started off with sushi and some of the best meatballs (veal and pancetta) I haver ever had.  Then, Dad and I had steaks for dinner, although I added a side of lobster mac and cheese to mine. Yum!  Ryan had lamb and my mom had chicken.  We then had desert.  My dad and I had creme brulee while Ryan had a blood orange and meyer lemon ricotta cheesecake. All of the food was excellent, but the company was even better.  Cheers to whatever comes next!

We're Debt Free

Did you hear me?  I said WE'RE DEBT FREE! Today we paid off our credit card, which held the last of our debt.  In the past 23 months, we have paid off over $63,000 in debt.  This included car debt, home renovation debt, honeymoon and wedding debt and school loan debt. It feels so good to only owe money on our home and nothing else. What a blessing!

And here's the proof:

How many people in their late 20s can say they are DEBT FREE?

Not many. But we can! Yay!

My 95% Diet

As of recent, I have lost 11 pounds due to what I have been calling my 95% diet.  The fact is, this really isn't a diet at all. I have simply cut a few things out of my diet 95% of the time. These things include processed foods, red meat, soda and white pasta and bread. Now I haven't boycotted these things completely, just 95% of the time. I still eat things like fresh made cupcakes, fresh cut french fries and other things you would think are bad for weight loss. The main thing about all of these foods is that I only eat them if they are made fresh with no artificial preservatives. We almost don't buy anything in the store that comes in a box, so that leaves us buying fresh meat, flash frozen veggies, fresh fruit and other fresh foods. About 5% of what we eat contains preservatives, but no more.

This has been a really easy way to lose weight. This leads me to believe that it is food with artificial preservatives that cause one to gain wait. Now I am not trying to lead anyone to believe that this is the healthiest way to eat, because I am sure it isn't. Like I said, I still eat cupcakes, frosting and some diet sodas and similar things from time to time. All I know is that I have always had a hard time losing weight and with 11 pounds gone in only a few months time, I am hooked on my 95% diet.

I have also noticed that eating this way I am hungry less and smaller amounts of food satiate me. This has also aided in my weight loss to be sure. I only have 6 more pounds to my goal weight, so here's to trying to lose the last little bit. But, as with any diet, I know these last few pounds will be the hardest to lose. Here's to hoping I can do it!

Batteries are the Future

Here is the announcement I have been waiting to make...Ryan has just recently accepted a job with Interstate Battery in Richardson, Texas as their HRIS Administrator.  While it is extremely sad for him to leave Clubcorp, as we have been a part of that family for over a year now, we are hopeful that our new family at Interstate Battery is a good fit for Ryan long term. Keep your fingers crossed for us as this means we will be moving closer to Richardson sometime in the next year or so, so this will be a pretty big change for our family.  I am just excited that Ryan is so excited.  

So, if you are going to buy batteries, buy Interstate!

There's One Off the Bucket List

Today I crossed a pretty crazy thing off of my currently non-existent bucket list. I met someone who had killed others. Now, I don't currently have a bucket list, but if I did, I am sure this would be on it. Having my undergraduate degree in criminal justice, things like this interest me.  Let me start at the beginning.

Two times per week I hold a Court Ordered Community Service orientation at my office. This orientation is for individuals who have been ordered to perform community service instead of having to pay a fine or go to jail. After a short explanation of all of the paperwork, I let each person fill out the documents and then go around to meet with each of them and give them their assignment. When I got around to this woman's paperwork, I saw that she had not one, but two, manslaughter charges.

I was a little worried at first, but I did eventually get the words out of my mouth to let her know we probably wouldn't be a good site for her service. Where I work, we do not accept anyone with violent charges. After talking with her a bit, I realized the true sadness of her story. She had been charged with vehicular manslaughter.

Not all too long ago, this woman decided to get into her car after a night of heavy drinking, and she ended up causing an accident that killed two people. I can't even imagine having to live with that for the rest of my life. This caused a split within me.  On one side, I was terribly sad for this woman who made one mistake that caused the death of others; a decision she could never undo.  On the other side, I was very angry at her for making such a dumb decision.

Anyway, I allowed her to start her service with us, as her crime wasn't so much violent as it was pure stupidity and selfishness. Now I can say that I have met someone who has killed others. It's kind of a weird feeling and not many people can say they have done the same, but that is for sure a good thing.

Moral of the story: please, please don't drink and drive

(PS: Maybe I should think about starting a bucket list...hmmm...)

Totally Blog Worthless

I guess it is about time that I find another blog challenge to complete.  The sad thing is that I seem to come up with nothing to write about these days. Isn't this supposed to be the time in my life when tons of exciting things are happening?  Somehow, I've grown old too quickly.

Or perhaps...perhaps I just put too much pressure on myself for every blog post to be long and meaningful. Perhaps this is a lesson for me and my life that I need to take care to notice the small things that happen and make them meaningful.

It is in fact the small moments all added together that make up a life.

Tenderheart Lion

I know that there was a Tenderheart Bear and a Braveheart Lion in the Care Bears stories I grew up watching as a kid. Well, yesterday I felt like Tenderheart Lion.  I feel I am often not very girly when it comes to emotions and things of that nature, although a good Disney movie can always make me cry.  I tend not to be to weepy and emotional. That is the lion side of me.  This week the tenderheart side was really thrust to the forefront.  Why you ask?  All because of four small little things.

These four little furballs. When I came home I found a black cat with the sharpest yellow eyes just sitting there staring at me. The funny part was that when I pulled into the driveway, she didn't move a muscle. That was my first sign she was protecting something.  When I peered between the small two foot gap between our fence and our neighbor's fence, these four little fuzzballs caught my attention. Let me just say, I wanted the black and orange spotted one so badly! Too bad Ryan is allergic. Needless to say I called the local Humane Society who came to pick up the kittens. Sadly, they were unable to catch the momma cat to get her a home, but I am confident that those kittens are going to be so loved in some home instead of roaming the streets.

The two saddest parts of the story are that the momma kitten keeps coming around our house as if to look for her babies.  Also, the kittens and mom were in such good shape, that I feel someone felt they no longer wanted this family of five, so they just dropped them behind our house. No matter what, I am glad I got to meet these little guys, but man it tore my heart out to watch them squeal and whine as they were put into a cage when I knew it was best. Tenderheart Lion, indeed.