Sunday, September 23, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
New Hire Social
Last night I went to dinner, again, with some co-workers. This week at work is New Hire Orientation and last night was our "social activity." We went to Dave and Busters (it kinda brought back memories of living in Dallas). There were about 25 of us, or so, and we ate, mingled, met the higher-ups in the company, and got to know each other. There was a big screen with football on, so maybe the girls got to know each other better than the guys did (but maybe that would've happened anyway).
I'm really starting to enjoy socializing with my co-workers outside of work. It gives me more ice-breakers and conversation starters for when I talk to them at work. And the obvious reason is that it helps me find friends (what? I'm making an effort? CRAZY!). They might start to think I'm a little crazy earlier than they would if they just found out at work, but I guess they'll learn sooner or later anyway.
After eating, Bryan and I spent the rest of the night playing DDR. No shame in our game!
Stupid Story of the Day: Yesterday when we were going around telling our names and a little bit about ourselves (in orientation, not just for the heck of it), the HR Manager told us to tack-on a story about any celebrity encounters we've had. I thought and thought and thought and when it came to my turn I said I didn't have any and that I was lame (yeah, I really said that). Then later when telling Bryan about this he screamed, "YOU HELD CHRIS MARTIN'S HAND!" Man, I'm an idiot! That would've been the best story in the room! EL DANG!
I'm really starting to enjoy socializing with my co-workers outside of work. It gives me more ice-breakers and conversation starters for when I talk to them at work. And the obvious reason is that it helps me find friends (what? I'm making an effort? CRAZY!). They might start to think I'm a little crazy earlier than they would if they just found out at work, but I guess they'll learn sooner or later anyway.
After eating, Bryan and I spent the rest of the night playing DDR. No shame in our game!
Stupid Story of the Day: Yesterday when we were going around telling our names and a little bit about ourselves (in orientation, not just for the heck of it), the HR Manager told us to tack-on a story about any celebrity encounters we've had. I thought and thought and thought and when it came to my turn I said I didn't have any and that I was lame (yeah, I really said that). Then later when telling Bryan about this he screamed, "YOU HELD CHRIS MARTIN'S HAND!" Man, I'm an idiot! That would've been the best story in the room! EL DANG!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Labor Day Concert
Since marrying a music-lover and concert-guru, I've been to 3 concerts: Coldplay, John Mayer, and Incubus. This past Labor Day weekend was the Incubus concert. We went to an outdoor pavilion about an hour north of town. It turned out to be very nice, yet muddy.
Our tickets were for the lawn and there was more seating on the lawn than there were actual seats you could purchase. It was kinda like sitting in a big sloping outfield. Before going I had a great plan of bringing a blanket, some chairs, water, and snacks, and making this a really fun little picnic kind of outing. That didn't exactly work out. What was I thinking? How was a rock concert going to be cute and quaint? Anyway, they won't allow anything in the pavilion. All we managed to bring in was 2 ponchos. It worked out perfectly, though, because that's what we sat on in the mud.
There were tons of people who didn't have anything to sit on and got covered with mud. It was so slippery that people were falling down and grabbing on to others to help keep them from falling down, etc. Quite entertaining. I slipped a few times but never actually fell. Phew!
After figuring out our seating situation, and buying a t-shirt, we relaxed and enjoyed the show. By the way, why are opening bands always awful? It was enough for me to want to pay the extra money for an actual seat next time so I don't have to go early and endure the horrible opening bands. And you know it must be bad if I think it's bad; I'm easy! So, anyway, once Incubus started to play everyone was standing and singing along and it was a lot of fun. I wish I knew more of the songs, so I'll have to work on that for the next concert. From what I've been told, a band is good if they can sound live like they do on their cd, so I'm guessing they're pretty good.
All in all, I good anniversary present for Bryan.
Our tickets were for the lawn and there was more seating on the lawn than there were actual seats you could purchase. It was kinda like sitting in a big sloping outfield. Before going I had a great plan of bringing a blanket, some chairs, water, and snacks, and making this a really fun little picnic kind of outing. That didn't exactly work out. What was I thinking? How was a rock concert going to be cute and quaint? Anyway, they won't allow anything in the pavilion. All we managed to bring in was 2 ponchos. It worked out perfectly, though, because that's what we sat on in the mud.
There were tons of people who didn't have anything to sit on and got covered with mud. It was so slippery that people were falling down and grabbing on to others to help keep them from falling down, etc. Quite entertaining. I slipped a few times but never actually fell. Phew!
After figuring out our seating situation, and buying a t-shirt, we relaxed and enjoyed the show. By the way, why are opening bands always awful? It was enough for me to want to pay the extra money for an actual seat next time so I don't have to go early and endure the horrible opening bands. And you know it must be bad if I think it's bad; I'm easy! So, anyway, once Incubus started to play everyone was standing and singing along and it was a lot of fun. I wish I knew more of the songs, so I'll have to work on that for the next concert. From what I've been told, a band is good if they can sound live like they do on their cd, so I'm guessing they're pretty good.
All in all, I good anniversary present for Bryan.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Low-Fat Fettuccine Alfredo
Bryan doesn't like any of the canned alfredo sauce that we've bought so far, so I told him I'd try and make some homemade. My first attempt was very good, but a tad (and by tad I mean A LOT) on the fatty side. When telling my friend about this, she said she had a wonderful low-fat recipe. Perfect!
It's taken me a little while to get around to trying it, but, OH, how I'm glad I did! This recipe is awesome! I shouldn't seem so surprised, though, since Jamie was born cooking. (How lucky am I to have gotten to learn so much from her...and Steph! Thanks girls!)
Anyway, the recipe is below, but most importantly, check out Jamie's site and try her wonderful creations! Thanks, Jamie! I can't wait to try more of your wonderful recipes!
Low-Fat Fettuccine Alfredo
8 oz. fettuccine
1 1/4 cups fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
4 tsp flour
1/3 cup light cream cheese
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp groud nutmeg
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley, fresh or dried
*Cook pasta.
*Combine broth and flour in a saucepan.
*Stir in remaining ingredients.
*Cook, stirring constantly with a wisk until cream cheese is melted and mixture boils and thickens.
*Toss cooked, drained pasta with sauce.
*Sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese if you'd like.
*It's also great to add in some grilled chicken!
It's taken me a little while to get around to trying it, but, OH, how I'm glad I did! This recipe is awesome! I shouldn't seem so surprised, though, since Jamie was born cooking. (How lucky am I to have gotten to learn so much from her...and Steph! Thanks girls!)
Anyway, the recipe is below, but most importantly, check out Jamie's site and try her wonderful creations! Thanks, Jamie! I can't wait to try more of your wonderful recipes!
Low-Fat Fettuccine Alfredo
8 oz. fettuccine
1 1/4 cups fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
4 tsp flour
1/3 cup light cream cheese
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp groud nutmeg
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley, fresh or dried
*Cook pasta.
*Combine broth and flour in a saucepan.
*Stir in remaining ingredients.
*Cook, stirring constantly with a wisk until cream cheese is melted and mixture boils and thickens.
*Toss cooked, drained pasta with sauce.
*Sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese if you'd like.
*It's also great to add in some grilled chicken!
Monday, September 03, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Restaurants - Part II
So I tried the chicken finger place and it's good! It's called Raising Canes. The fingers were very chicken-y (not flat and mostly bread like some places) and yummy-moist. The place has their own dipping sauce that is very tastey, too. It can almost be compared to the sauce you dip the Bloomin' Onion in at The Outback. The fries were even good (but what wouldn't be in that sauce). They were the small crinkly-cut kind. Yummy! Also, they had the best "Texas" tea ever! I could only drink half my cup because I was swimming from a sugar high! Overall, it was good and will definitely go back. Jamie, are we still friends if I eat at a place like that?
There are 9 of us in my group at work, so last night we went out for a work dinner. I've never gone to a work dinner before, so I was excited; it turned out to be a lot of fun. It's weird how people are different outside of the actual office...anyway, this is supposed to be about food...we went to a place called the Rainbow Lodge. (Those of you from Shawnee can imagine my concern about eating at a place with "Rainbow" in the name, but all was well.) It's a seafood and game restaurant. I wanted so badly to get some great fish (they had a red snapper special), but had to give in to trying game, so I had the venison:
Baby Spinach Salad -
warm pancetta and balsamic vinaigrette, toasted pine nuts and feta
Grilled Venison Tenderloin -
sliced on smoked gouda orzo with swiss chard and pasilla pepper infused demi
Croissant Bread Pudding -
cinnamon toasted croissants, boubron sauce, vanilla bean ice cream
It was wonderful...beats cow any day! Beforehand we all shared an appetizer of quail breast, crab cakes, shrimp, and wild boar sausage. All was good. I also got to have gouda for the first time. All ate well and all tasted well...and all should've because the ticket was $800! Jamie, I know we can be friends after eating here!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Restaurants
Slowly we're figuring out what this place is known for and what people do for fun. And apparently, one of them is eat (how American, right?). I've been told that you can eat at a different place every day for a whole year and never eat at the same place twice. That's crazy! And, plus, wouldn't you want to go back to some of those places anyway?
Moving on...
We've already discovered some favorite places to eat, avoided some because of price, and think some are just crazy because of the concept (like this one place dedicated entirely to chicken fingers - those must be some really yummy chicken fingers!).
One of our favorites is a place called Chipotle. I think it's considered Mexican food (but if I'm eating it you know it's really not). You can order a "burrito" or a "burrito bol" and tell them what to put in it as you walk down the counter. My favorite combination is a "burrito bol" with rice, seasoned chicken, mild tomato-cilantro salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, a little dab of guac, and lettuce strips. Not very Mexican at all, is it? Yummy!
Another wonderful place is Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazilian Steakhouse (meat market?) where they come around with skewers full of meat and slice it right off onto your plate. As long as your little card is turned to green, they keep bringing the meat! It's grand, especially for meat lovers (duh). They also have a salad/cold bar that's amazing: fresh salmon, glorious salads, olives, cheeses, and breads, soups, veggies, etc. I rather eat all that stuff instead of the meat!
Last Friday night we ate at Japaneiros. It's a sushi bar and latin grill (what a combo!). We had sushi and it was really good. They were little mini-sushi that don't fill your entire mouth with one bite and they were cooked. Maybe that's cheating; I don't know. I did grab a spoonful of guacamole to add to a bite of sushi (I know it doesn't make sense that they would serve guac with sushi, but still) when Bryan stopped me because it was actually wasabi. Phew, close call! I have learned from watching others, though, that a spoonful of sugar would have cured me (thanks, Steph). The main dish of chimichurri stip-loin was less interesting. I didn't think I knew what Latin food tasted like, but after one bite, I knew. I'll probably try something else next time.
And there's no Braum's here! All the ice cream is like $10 and there's no ice cream drive-through. It would melt if you got it in the drive-though, anyway, but still. We only have the fancy stuff like Maggie-Moo's, Cold Stone, and Marble Slab. All very good, but we miss Braum's.
Check here to see all the different types of restaurants here.
There are so many different types of people living here and the food choices reflect that. Maybe we'll try the chicken fingers this Friday. Just kidding, but at some point I'm going to have to try them.
Moving on...
We've already discovered some favorite places to eat, avoided some because of price, and think some are just crazy because of the concept (like this one place dedicated entirely to chicken fingers - those must be some really yummy chicken fingers!).
One of our favorites is a place called Chipotle. I think it's considered Mexican food (but if I'm eating it you know it's really not). You can order a "burrito" or a "burrito bol" and tell them what to put in it as you walk down the counter. My favorite combination is a "burrito bol" with rice, seasoned chicken, mild tomato-cilantro salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, a little dab of guac, and lettuce strips. Not very Mexican at all, is it? Yummy!
Another wonderful place is Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazilian Steakhouse (meat market?) where they come around with skewers full of meat and slice it right off onto your plate. As long as your little card is turned to green, they keep bringing the meat! It's grand, especially for meat lovers (duh). They also have a salad/cold bar that's amazing: fresh salmon, glorious salads, olives, cheeses, and breads, soups, veggies, etc. I rather eat all that stuff instead of the meat!
Last Friday night we ate at Japaneiros. It's a sushi bar and latin grill (what a combo!). We had sushi and it was really good. They were little mini-sushi that don't fill your entire mouth with one bite and they were cooked. Maybe that's cheating; I don't know. I did grab a spoonful of guacamole to add to a bite of sushi (I know it doesn't make sense that they would serve guac with sushi, but still) when Bryan stopped me because it was actually wasabi. Phew, close call! I have learned from watching others, though, that a spoonful of sugar would have cured me (thanks, Steph). The main dish of chimichurri stip-loin was less interesting. I didn't think I knew what Latin food tasted like, but after one bite, I knew. I'll probably try something else next time.
And there's no Braum's here! All the ice cream is like $10 and there's no ice cream drive-through. It would melt if you got it in the drive-though, anyway, but still. We only have the fancy stuff like Maggie-Moo's, Cold Stone, and Marble Slab. All very good, but we miss Braum's.
Check here to see all the different types of restaurants here.
There are so many different types of people living here and the food choices reflect that. Maybe we'll try the chicken fingers this Friday. Just kidding, but at some point I'm going to have to try them.
Monday, August 27, 2007
El Fin del Casa
Things are finally calming down. Not that we had a whole lot going on, but when you're doing your daily stuff and trying to remodel your house things get a little busy and even more things get ignored. We decided this weekend that we are done with the house. Are we satisfied and does it look just like we want it to? No, but that would take forever! So, we got smart, or lazy...whatever, and decided that we need to be done. And really, it's been a lot of fun, but there hasn't been a whole lot of resting going on. I have some more pictures I can post of the last few things we did. I'll try to remember and get them posted soon.
All this said, this weekend was so relaxing! We did nothing...except watch movies. Three in total: Bourne Ultimatim (must see!), Fracture (sure, why not?), and The Sentinel. Two of which I recommend; I didn't care for The Sentinel (nothing compared to Bourne!). We also signed-up for Blockbuster Total Access, so it looks like we'll continue to do a lot of movie watching (and catching up on TV shows)!
To wrap everything up, I hope to make a scrapbook of the remodeling process. It adds an extra punch to everything we've done when you see the before pictures with the after pictures.
Now I can focus on September since I have a concert, a huge birthday celebration where I'm hosting 8 for four days, a week-long orientation at work, my parents coming to visit, and my first business trip where I get to go to Nashville!
All this said, this weekend was so relaxing! We did nothing...except watch movies. Three in total: Bourne Ultimatim (must see!), Fracture (sure, why not?), and The Sentinel. Two of which I recommend; I didn't care for The Sentinel (nothing compared to Bourne!). We also signed-up for Blockbuster Total Access, so it looks like we'll continue to do a lot of movie watching (and catching up on TV shows)!
To wrap everything up, I hope to make a scrapbook of the remodeling process. It adds an extra punch to everything we've done when you see the before pictures with the after pictures.
Now I can focus on September since I have a concert, a huge birthday celebration where I'm hosting 8 for four days, a week-long orientation at work, my parents coming to visit, and my first business trip where I get to go to Nashville!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Cheesecake Factory
My bad for only having 4 pictures. That's why I titled this post "Cheesecake Factory" instead of "Weekend in Dallas," because I can only document that we went out to eat. Boo. I don't have the mall, us shopping, Central Market, or Anthropologie! Is this what Jamie feels like all the time? HA!
Here's us looking all touristy. No sunglasses next time!
Ummm...I don't really remember what's going on here.
"What? Do I have something on my nose?"
"Help me!"
Anyway...thanks for a great weekend girls! It means a lot to me that y'all drove to meet me (and so early in the morning)! Love you!
Am I off the hook now?
Here's us looking all touristy. No sunglasses next time!
Ummm...I don't really remember what's going on here.
"What? Do I have something on my nose?"
"Help me!"Anyway...thanks for a great weekend girls! It means a lot to me that y'all drove to meet me (and so early in the morning)! Love you!
Am I off the hook now?
Friday, July 27, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
New Front Door
Okay, okay...I hear you guys!
Here's some pictures of the hard work Bryan put in to install a new door (and frame - none of this pull it off the hinges and put on a new one crap). It was quite the adventure and he did a wonderful job! It took almost a whole day, but remember...this was all new to him. He did great!
He started before I got up, so there's no picture of the door beforehand, except for it laying in the yard. It's cute, huh?
"Ta-da!" Of course, now it has a door handle in it which makes it look a lot nicer. We still need to install the peep-hole. Jamie, does that trim remind you of anything?
You know, when I'm taking pictures of these things I think I get every angle and every shot, but it never fails that I always end up forgetting something. I didn't take a picture of the finished product outside. Silly me! Y'all will just have to imagine.
I really wish that I had taken a picture when we had just a huge hole in the front of our house and it started to rain! Luckily, it was just one of those crazy "coastal showers" that we see almost every afternoon and didn't get our house all wet.
I've got more pictures, but can't show them all at once (I've got to space these things out a little, you know). Stay tuned for how nice painting the cabinets in the kitchen turned out.
Here's some pictures of the hard work Bryan put in to install a new door (and frame - none of this pull it off the hinges and put on a new one crap). It was quite the adventure and he did a wonderful job! It took almost a whole day, but remember...this was all new to him. He did great!
He started before I got up, so there's no picture of the door beforehand, except for it laying in the yard. It's cute, huh?
"Ta-da!" Of course, now it has a door handle in it which makes it look a lot nicer. We still need to install the peep-hole. Jamie, does that trim remind you of anything?
You know, when I'm taking pictures of these things I think I get every angle and every shot, but it never fails that I always end up forgetting something. I didn't take a picture of the finished product outside. Silly me! Y'all will just have to imagine.
I really wish that I had taken a picture when we had just a huge hole in the front of our house and it started to rain! Luckily, it was just one of those crazy "coastal showers" that we see almost every afternoon and didn't get our house all wet.
I've got more pictures, but can't show them all at once (I've got to space these things out a little, you know). Stay tuned for how nice painting the cabinets in the kitchen turned out.
Monday, June 18, 2007
We're All Moved
We're in our new house and working on it like crazy. We got here 2 weeks ago and didn't waste any time getting things fixed, changed, arranged, thrown away, and donated. We've been through paint, blinds, light fixtures, a garage door, a front door, an electrician, an attic ventilation system, rugs, a fan, etc. I don't know what we would have done if we didn't have this whole month off. It's been nice to have this time, but we really are working ourselves to death. Hopefully the madness will stop soon!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the move. We couldn't have done it so smoothly without all the help we had.
I hope to send out change of address cards to all of you soon. Be looking for them in the mail!
We miss you all and love you!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the move. We couldn't have done it so smoothly without all the help we had.
I hope to send out change of address cards to all of you soon. Be looking for them in the mail!
We miss you all and love you!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Graduation
We had quite the weekend! There was a graduation party on Thursday, a wedding on Friday, Bryan's graduation on Saturday, a party with our Flock on Sunday, and finally our last night out with our best friends on Monday night (last night). Phew! Here's some pictures of graduation and our lunch afterwards:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Our First House
This is our new house! We closed on it this past Friday and didn't waste any time cleaning, painting, and making some repairs. We painted the living room, the dining room, the hallway, the utility room and the kitchen. Then the men worked on some of the stuff in the bathrooms - we have some toilet issues. And we also had time to change out some of the light fixtures and put up blinds! Thank you so much, Mom and Jerry, for coming to help!
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