Versatile blogger award

Trac at Welcome to our World has so graciously given me an award - the Versatile blogger award!! What a doll.




The rules for " The Versatile Blogger" award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.
(A note from Betty: Rules are flexible, in case you're not good with rules!)

Seven things about myself -

1. I am a complete movie buff. I love movies. I grew up watching them, believing they were real life. I learned so many thing from watching movies.

2. I love clothes. I have way too many and I replace them often. Some of my key pieces, that I can never have enough are tank tops (they're great for everything) and pajamas (i know, not really key piece, but I love them anyway).

3. I cannot share my bath towel. I have a weird thing about it touching only my clean body. Get your own.

4. I do not have tv. Well, I have a tv, but no cable, no satellite. I simply live on the five (if I'm lucky, maybe six) channels that attain good reception. I watch most of my tv through the computer - hulu, fancast. I save anywhere from $30 - $100+ a month.

5. I do no like to watch tv during dinner. I think that there can be one meal a day with your undivided attention on the ones you love. Though we do occasionally forgive this rule, I love all the things we talk about during that precious time. It is great when you have someone who isn't a big talker. It also tells a lot about whether or not someone is good at silence.

6. I am 31 years old, but just recently feel like I have reached that age. I truly feel that my 30's are way better than my 20's and am very excited to see if that happens. So far so good.

7. I love lists. I am a complete OCD list maker. On rare occasions, I will make a list, just to cross things off so I feel more accomplished. It puts the things I do right in front of me making it easier to view what I have and haven't done.

And without further ado - this award goes to

i love the bachelor/bachelorette
schmutzie
notmartha
little birdie secrets
misguided mommy

Grace in small things - edition two

Here's the official link for Grace in Small Things

And the original blog post about her starting Grace in Small Things

courtesy of Schmutzie

I haven't done one of these in awhile and I am starting to be able to tell. There is something to be said for a gratitude journal. It really helps keep things in perspective.

#1: I am FINALLY getting to meet and take classes from one of my favorite creative people who I have been following for what seems like ages. I am hoping and praying that I do not say or do anything to make it seem like I am WAY EXCITED to meet her. I am a bit star struck because she is, well, awesome. (total fist pumps every time I think about it) Stayed tuned to find out who it is.

#2: Saint is truly the most wonderful man and I am so grateful to have him in my life. We have had our second fight ever, which for being together for over a year, I find pretty amazing. He and I both seem to know how to fight fair and OMG it is a blessing to be with someone not out to "get me." Did I mention make-up sex? (oops sorry mom)

#3: I have learned the great lesson of humility ONCE AGAIN this week, at work, nonetheless. I wish though that I was better at letting things go. I have said something incredibly stupid in front of important people and I have been kicking myself ever since. (somewhere in there is grace, I swear)

#4: My cooking abilities are coming along nicely and my friends have started to pitch in by throwing recipes my way. Yeah!! (join me for Martha Monday peeps!)

#5: Life is good. Still. A few twists and turns and for the life of me I am still figuring out this whole "guilt is not an emotion you're born with" philosophy. I am filled with guilt over the stupidest things, but working my out of it all to live a much healthier and happier life.

(Single) guy mentality

After work one night I venture over to Saint's place to pick him and his roomie, Montana, up to designated-drive them to a bar. As I am walking in, Saint texts me that he is in the pool. Being that the music was reverberating throughout the complex, I figured it was a small get together.

I saunter up, but the pool gate was locked. (really? locked for a freakin' apartment function?)

"Oh, hey. I won't leave you hanging out there," some random guy runs up to let me in.

"Thanks," I say, searching the faces.

I walk in. It is dark and the lights from the pool actually make it harder to see who is whom. There are people in the pool tossing balls and screaming. A few couples sit beside the pool drinking and talking. There is a guy at the grill and a pool table to my right as I walk in the gate. A DJ is playing crappy, loud music by the doors of the great room. Basically, a chaotic apartment function as usual. No organization. Just random people doing random things.

After about five minutes I realize that I don't see Saint or Montana. I sit on the nearest sofa and text him.

"Where are you?"

"At the pool."

"Duh. Where in the pool?"

pause

pause

"Hello????? Saint, where in the pool are you?"

no response

Now, I gotta admit I am getting a bit peeved at this point. I came here to see my man and have a beer. Not sit at a pool waiting for the nearest creep to hit on me. (oh did I mention there is some insanely drunk guy oogling me? ew, gross.)

After about sixteen uninformative texts, I gather that he is at the poker table. The one that I walked right by twenty freaking minutes ago. I walk up and there are six people sitting at the table. All have cards, but only a few are sober.

I walk right up to Saint and say, "Hey stranger, how did you not see me walk in?"

He looks up, fuzzily and says, "Huh?"

Oh right, he's a little toasted. Hmmm, should be interesting.

But what's really interesting to me is that some girl is totally hitting on Montana, my boy's roommate. I am immediately protective because not just any girl can have him. He deserves to be happy. Y'know? He just got his heart broken and I won't let some other skuzzie girl do that.

Side note: Being drunk, Montana has NO GAME. Seriously. None. But obviously this girl has no idea because she is totally in to him.

They flirt back and forth. He calls her "Spiky hair" because she has short hair and it sticks out a bit. She is cute, but when I walked up she gave me the once over as if to wonder who am I, but what she didn't realize was I have been in for awhile now. It is she who must get approved.

Later, much later, I walk by the pool area to get to Saint's place and Montana and Spikey hair are the only ones sitting there. Instantly I think, "could it be?" But because of the alcohol they have consumed, I brush it aside.

Next day, I stop by. Saint informs me that Montana got mad because he was locked out. All night. I ask where he slept and am told on a box in the laundry room. Well, well I would have thought he would have "got some" last night.

"Oh he did," replies Saint.

"WHAT?!?! He got laid and he still slept in the laundry room? Why didn't he just stay at her house?"

Now here is the conundrum, peeps. Why is it that guys leave? He could have stayed, slept on a bed and probably got laid a few more times.

Here is the conundrum for men - Saint and Montana want to know if I got Spikey hair's real name.

"Me? Nope. I didn't catch it."

Dead silence between the two of them.

Immediately I am suspicious.

"Why?"

pause

very, long pause

"I can't remember her name."

Wordless Wednesday - tea

Found a wonderful loose leaf tea place.


It was the most relaxing, rejuvenating place.


I love the simplicity of the decor and the openness.


They sell tea in incremental grams. We tried chocolate tea while we were there shopping.


I ended up buying the chocolate tea because I have been dying for some as well as apple cobbler and peppermint (for Saint who LOVES peppermint flavored anything).



View other Wordless Wednesday here

Post It Note Tuesday

Welcome to PINT!! What will you say with a post-it?

Martha Monday

Monday Martha is a reflection on something (anything) creative that you accomplished. It can be cooking, scrapbooking, sewing, gardening, home improvements, etc. Celebrate the time you took just to do something you love.

I wanted to do this because I love to be creative and I love all the awesome ideas that Martha Stewart comes up with. Last year I was given the book Martha Stewart Cooking School book. It has taken me this long to crack it open and start spending time learning something I love - cooking.

Feel free to GRAB THE BUTTON at the top of the post (right click & save) and link up (mr. linky at bottom of post). Express yourself and share your creative vibes.

This past week, I didn't chose a recipe from Martha's book. GASP!! I know. I actually found one online in the newspaper that I thought looked good and easy. Because that is always best.

GLAZED COUNTRY RIBS

I feel like ever since I started teaching myself how to cook, we have eaten like kings. So far, we have eaten Roasted Pork Loin and Rack of Lamb. This recipe is just another example. Not to mention I am learning very good safety tips, like how to deal with a fire.

Before I start this post, you should know I just about beat the bloody hell out of the grocery store today because they have their ribs on sale - buy 1 get one FREE. Couldn't have had that sale last week?

As you can see below from my first picture I have absolutely no idea what they meant by 1 inch onion pieces. They all just fell apart when I cut them. Oh well. It's an onion. Oh and that meat pot thingy that the ribs are in? A gift from my mom!! {i heart you mom} First time using it.



Problem #1: I started dinner at 4pm. If you read the recipe, it says to braise the ribs for 3 1/2 hours. Hmm, that would mean the meat itself wouldn't come out of the oven til 7:30pm. Nope, gotta change that.


Problem #2: That jar of red currant jelly, NOT 1 1/2 cups, but rather only 1 cup. Who knew?

The ingredients for the sauce went well otherwise. Though I seriously need lessons on chopping fresh garlic. The garlic is in the small clear dish above. They were slightly large pieces. Mental note: remember to pre-measure all ingredients. It helps when things are boiling.

Problem #3: The sauce never thickened. So it was very, very runny. I knew this was gonna be an issue, but after I started it, we were gonna at least finish it. And by finish I mean, someone was gonna have to eat it. And since I have noticed that Saint WILL NOT take a bite til I have, pretty sure I was the guinea pig.

I braised the meat for probably 2.5 hours total (problem #4?). Then I started pouring the sauce over the meat every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. It sure smelled good, but by then I was really sweating bullets because just about everything that could have gone wrong, kinda did.



When it was ready, I threw some leftover potato salad on the plates with leftover lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. It looked really good, though the lettuce was a tiny bit red.



I broke my rule about dinner and we sat in front of the TV with our plates on our laps. (I am not a fan of the tv with dinner - I mean if you can't spare thirty minutes in front of the ones you love, wth?) We had started a movie and Saint was so cool about still pausing it throughout the entire length of cooking this, so we finished it.

The first bite - OMG PEOPLE!! And when I say OMG, I mean O.M.G. It was that good. Know when you take a bite and your mouth just sighs? Oh yeah, it was that good.

Here is the movie trailer of Date Night because I just loved this movie -