Miscellany Monday

one.

Wild Weekend

Why is it that my weekends are never relaxing?

On Saturday, Dirty and I began our adventure of planting our own garden by building a raised vegetable bed (more on that later this week). At one point we had to stop by H&M's for a few supplies where H gave us one of his home-grown heads of cabbage as big as my head.

(please excuse the no make-up and hair in this picture and focus on the cabbage)

Sunday I had breakfast with Granny B and then went to a bridal shower for Cribs (more on that later this week).

I need a vacation.

two.

Another Granny B Adventure

It looks like Granny B and I are taking a trip to the Nation's Capitol! She wants to see the cherry blossoms and doesn't want to go alone. 

I'm sure this is going to be more fun than you can imagine.

three.

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Well, really this has nothing to do with Brooklyn, but seriously I'm thinking about giving up sleep for Lent.

I keep thinking of all of the things I want/need to get done during the day and it looks like I'm either going to have to give up work or give up sleep. And since I have bills to pay, sleep may be the only option.

My plan this week was to do P90X abs every morning and run every evening. Then I realized that I have to speak at a breakfast meeting two hours from Sissy's tomorrow so that means abs are out. Then I want to run when I get home and cook and eat dinner. Which leads to cleaning the kitchen. And before you know it - it's midnight. I just don't know what the answer is. That doesn't even take into account the fact that I want some of those dinners to be new recipes and trying things out.

Something New

I'm going to try out something new today and link up with Lauren over at the little things we do for "fill in the blank friday."

1.   I am currently obsessed with       grapefruit, R.Kelly's Ignition (Remix) {taking it back old school}, and dreaming about a certain cowboy (who shall remain nameless at this point)  .

2.  Today I am    excited     because,    JP is in the area for work and we are going to have lunch! Oh, and because it is Friday and I'm going home to my own bed at the end of the day   .

3.  The age I am is    damn-near 30     and the age I feel is    variable. Sometimes I don't really feel like a grown-up and other days I feel like an old lady    .

4.  My favorite place is     home. The definition of that changes though  .

5.  Something I have been procrastinating is     really de-cluttering my house! It needs to happen, but I just don't have the dedication at this moment in time  .

6.  The last thing I purchased was        milk and clorox. Funny story, I got a text from BIL yesterday afternoon it said: Airplane, would you be willing to help me run an errand? I have my new contacts to pick up at the CG walmart vision center, already paid for. I responded that I would get them before I left town. Then he replied: Also, we need milk and clorox bleach. It cracked me up   .

7.  The thing I love most about my home is      my bedroom   .

A New Plan

Antique called the other day. He had a new life plan for me. 

You see, there is a saloon in his small town and it serves food and drinks for locals and tourists passing through.

I've eaten there a couple of times. And maybe had one too many drinks there...

Either way, apparently Antique is upset because lately they have been closing down randomly. Like he'll go by there around 6 on his way home and want to stop for dinner and they are closed. 

So, because he knows that I want to own a restaurant and he wants someone to keep the saloon open, he has decided that I should buy the saloon and move to said small town to run it.

Here's the problem: the saloon is not for sale.

However, it did get me thinking. How great would owning a saloon in a small town be?

Does anyone know if there is a saloon for sale in Twin Arrows? 

Miscellany Monday

one.

rockin' the run!

I ran a 5K yesterday morning.

You may remember back in January I posted about my goal of running a 5K with a solid 11-minute mile.

Boom! (That was for you SuperFan, H2, and JP)

Calculate that out friends - that's an average 10:50 mile.

And we had to run a hill - twice.

I'm feeling very proud of myself (and a little sore) today!

two.

good eats!

Vegas came into town this weekend and she and Glinda surprised me. I wasn't expecting her at all.

So on Saturday night we went out to dinner. We ate at the Euro Cafe in downtown Gilbert.

It was fabulous!

This is the view standing at the front door. The place was packed and it was for good reason - seriously - the food was DIVINE!

I had the Andalusian Baked Eggplant which, according to the menu is: Fennel sausage, roasted red peppers, pine nuts, spinach, red onions, scallions and fresh garlic. Sauteed in olive oil, baked over eggplant with feta cheese.

I should have taken a picture. But seriously - go eat there! It is phenomenal!

three.

how does your garden grow?

Dirty and I are thinking about planting a garden this year. With the costs of produce rising and the amount of vegetables we eat, it makes sense to try to grow some of our own.

I predict this is going to be interesting - stay tuned.

A Ride-Along

Have I ever told you the story about how I went on an unplanned "ride-along" in Denver? 

It was the January of my senior year of college and I flew to Denver to meet up with a few friends and attend the National Western Livestock Show and Rodeo.

I am all about honesty, both on this blog and in real life, so in the following lines you are going to read about some bad decisions that were made by me and some friends. 


The good news is, I have grown up and moved past these decisions.


So, we're in Denver. I'm staying with a friend and she lives way out of town. Luckily, a friend of hers lives in town so the plan was to pick her up, hit the town, and end up back at her house for the night. 


We started the night (afternoon) at the Yard Bar. We drank our share of adult beverages before decided that we should move on to the Grizzly Rose for some concert, and then Teddy's at the Holiday Inn.


You see, this is the natural progression of events for the National Western. 


So we spent a little time at Teddy's, as our last stop, and then things get a little fuzzy. 


I think that we were going to drop the one friend off at a hotel to meet a guy that she knew. So, off we went.


My friend was driving her car, a VW Jetta, and she tried to make a left turn in the wrong place and got the car high-centered on the railroad tracks. Her attempts to get it unstuck probably made it worse.


It was probably close to one in the morning and there weren't many cars on the road. So we sat there, in the car, on the railroad tracks, for what felt like forever, trying to figure out what to do. 


For some reason, I knew that if you were under the influence of alcohol and sitting in the driver's seat of a car, regardless of it was on or not, you could get a DUI.


So my friend turned the car off, put the keys on the floorboard, and climbed into the back seat with me. Where we proceeded to make up a story about the person who was driving the car and where they went.


At one point a car pulled up, and I'm pretty sure the people in it had been drinking. They told us that we should get out of the car in case a train came and then they left in a hurry - probably because the police were coming.


One police car arrived and knocked on the front window, the friend rolled down the window and the officer asked her what we were doing. So she proceeded to tell him our story.


It went something like this: We were at the bar and we realized that we needed someone to drive us to that hotel over there to stay with our friends, but none of us could drive. So we found a guy that we had met earlier in the night, named Jeff, to drive us there. When we got stuck, Jeff told us that he was going to go get a friend's truck to pull us off of the tracks.


The officer asked us what Jeff's last name was. None of us knew.


He asked what Jeff was wearing. A blue jacket and jeans.


He asked which direction Jeff headed. We all pointed in the same direction.


We were good. The police officer was getting angry.


So he called for back-up.


Another police car arrived and they put me and the friend in the back of it. Then they put my friend in the back of the other one. But they left the cars parked next to each other and the windows rolled down, so we continued to talk.


They realized what was happening and moved our car away from hers. Then our officer got in the car and started asking us the same questions. 


We stuck to our answers.


Finally, they decided that they weren't going to break us down so they drove the friend and me to the police station. 


We asked if we were in trouble, the officer said no.


We asked how we were going to get home. The officer said that we could use the phone at the station to call someone.


It was now close to three in the morning, we had no one to call who could drive to the police station to get us and our purses were in the car so we didn't have money for a cab.


But we didn't have a choice. We called the cab company and they picked us up at the police station. While we were waiting we looked up the number for the hotel that the girls' friends were staying at and we called them to say that we would be pulling up in a cab shortly and we would need someone to come out and pay for it.


Oh, and by the way, we'll be staying with you.


Oh, and we don't know where my friend is.


As the cab driver was driving us to the hotel, we see my friend up ahead, walking.


We stop to pick her up and get the rest of the story.


The officer dropped her off at another hotel and told her that if the car was moved before noon the following day, he would come and arrest her for DUI.


I'm pretty sure he couldn't do that, but we definitely didn't move the car until 2 pm the next day.

Wednesday Wisdom

"We may encounter many defeats but we must never be defeated."

- Maya Angelou

Man, I'm feeling a little defeated right now. I've got a head cold that just won't quit.


And the strangest thing - I am SO hungry.


I will sit down and eat a meal and then ten minutes later it is like I haven't eaten all day. 


This needs to stop soon!

Seasons of Love...

So I've never really been a big fan of Valentine's Day. I even posted a couple of months back that I would rather get flowers on a random "thinking of you" day than on V-day.

I do enjoy celebrating IT's birthday and Arizona's statehood, but really, the whole idea of Valentine's Day just isn't my thing. 

Although, as I was driving to work yesterday, I remembered that one year Bridezilla and I decided that we wanted to get dressed up and have dinner - so that's what we did.

We made reservations at a steak house in town, got all dressed up, and went to Valentine's day dinner. I'm fairly certain that people thought we were lesbians, but we didn't care - we had a blast! 

Either way, back to yesterday.

Nothing too exciting happened for most of the day, and then around 4 pm, Bridezilla IMed me to ask what time I was leaving my office. I told her and she said she would call in 20 minutes to wish me a happy day.

I didn't really think of it at the time, but it was a little weird.

Then she called, and it all made sense!! 

She's having a baby!!

Well, not until September, but she's expecting.

Then, I was driving home and Sissy called.

Sissy: I'm a bad valentine.

Airplane: Why do you say that?

Sissy: I was going to make you dinner, but time got away from me.

Then, I started crying.

I know, I know - I'm a baby.

I don't know why I cried. 

I think it just meant a lot to me that she thought of me and was going to cook.

Miscellany Monday - Love Edition

For today's edition, some miscellaneous things that I love...

One

Family Vacation.

We just got back from our family vacation to the mountains. It included sledding, matching shirts, food, matching jackets, games, family pictures, movies, and much, much more.

I may be biased, but I think our family vacations blow everyone else's out of the water.

We are a blast!

Two

41 and his Bride.

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Seriously, how cute is it when he gets choked up at the end? What a guy!

Three.

My Valentines

I can't wait to get home tonight to hug these precious boys!

Attitude Adjustment

We are leaving for family vacation today.

So I stayed at Sissy's last night so that I could get her family up and moving to leave at a reasonable time. 

I went upstairs to get Biggie dressed and ready to go and he jumped right out of bed and started getting himself dressed.

Airplane: "Biggie, I really like your get up and go attitude."

Biggie: "What?"

Airplane: "I like the way, when I say, 'Let's get ready,' you jump out of bed and do it."

Biggie: "Ok."

About thirty seconds pass:

Biggie: "What car are we taking?"

Airplane: "Your mom's."

Biggie: "Than why isn't she out of bed."

Airplane: "I don't know - when you're finished getting dressed you should go talk to her about that."

Biggie: "She has a bad attitude."

Oh, if he only knew how right he was.

Don't Ask Questions

 Go right now and purchase, check-out, borrow, whatever - The Lone Survivor.

This book has been on my list to read for quite some time and seeing Marcus Luttrell in the Joe Nichols video reminded me that I needed to get it.

I finished it last night - and I'm not going to lie to you, I was sobbing.

This is, hands down, The.Best.Book.Ever.Written!

I realize that I am super patriotic and love the military, but I can't believe that anyone would read this book and not be moved.

I could honestly go on and on, but it would make more sense for you to just go get it and read it.

Seriously - go now. Don't ask questions.

Just make sure you have some Kleenex handy.

Mistakes

I was at Sprouts the other day - it is my favorite place to shop for groceries these days...

Either way, I was shopping for produce and I thought it would be fun to purchase the ingredients to make my own pomodoro sauce to put on spaghetti squash.

So I bought some tomatoes and some basil. 

And not just a little thing of basil because when I buy spices in those little plastic containers they always go bad before I can get around to making the recipe that calls for them. 

So, I bought one of those little basil plants and I put it near the sink and I nurtured it and watered it and enjoyed watching it grow.

Until about three days ago when I walked by and realized that it was mint.

Does anyone have any good recipes that call for fresh mint leaves?

Miscellany Monday

one.

I have a confession to make...

Yesterday I made the trek to Tucson for a combo Super Bowl Party/Surprise 30th for IT party.  When IT's sis called me about the party and we were discussing the menu, I told her that I would bring veggies and dip. (This was mostly so that I was guaranteed to have food that I could eat there.)

And I did really good - only snacking on veggies, dip, and guac. Until she cut into the birthday cake. It was from Costco - chocolate cake, vanilla cheesecake filling, and buttercream frosting. Seriously, people - it.was.DELISH! I know because I had a few bites of IT's piece. Yep, I totally cheated for cake - and it was worth every bite! Though, I didn't feel so good after.

two.

A quarter-life crisis?

As you may know, I'm going to be 30 this year. I'm not totally freaked about it. I am totally excited to have a birthday party though.

Either way, the last couple of weeks I have noticed that I am insanely attracted to two types of men that NEVER even turned my head before.

Police officers: When I say that I'm attracted to men in uniform, I'm talking about a military uniform. Come on, they are defending the country that I love - how can I not be attracted? But never, have I ever thought of a police man in this light (I'll throw in Border Patrol too.)

Until two weeks ago. 

Now, I see a man in a police uniform and my heart starts to flutter.

Men on motorcycles: WTF? I hate motorcycles. Seriously, Landscaper took me for a ride around my block on his once and I was like, "Thanks, I'll never do that again." 

Yesterday, I was driving to T-Town and saw a man on a Chopper (I think that is what they are called) and nearly drove off the road. 

I'm so confused.

three.
Running out of random.


I have so much going on in my brain right now that I can not even come up with another random thought. 


I'm falling apart!

A List

This post is going to be a little like Miscellany Monday. Mostly because I have some things to say, but not a lot to say about them. 

1. After extensive research, I started the Paleo Diet a week and a half ago. I have some dietary issues, including gluten sensitivity and insulin resistance. From what I read, the Paleo Diet is the best to minimize the side effects of said issues.

I like fruit, veggies, and meat so I thought it wouldn't be too hard. And while I was right, it isn't hard to find things I can eat and I enjoy the food that I cook for myself, eating out has become very unappealing for me. 

The other day, I was craving something sweet and I had left my blackberries (my new dessert of choice) at Sissy's house. So I found some sugar-free dark chocolate in the pantry. I had a piece in my mouth, ready to take a bite when I decided it wasn't worth it and threw it away. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.

2. Speaking of diets. The FDA has recently denied approval to a couple of diet drugs.

I cannot put into words how happy this makes me.

I HATE diet drugs and weight loss surgery. While I realize there are exceptions, I think the majority of the people who are using these two avenues to lose weight could get off of their a$$es and move a little and watch what they eat.

Nothing increases my blood pressure more than people who try to justify this as a means to lose weight. Get up and move people!

(If you want to read about the denied approvals - you can do so here.)

3. The other night I was talking to Match and Papa about something and when Match asked Papa what he thought, he said, "I'm ambivalent on it."

To which Match responded, "I know, but could you please be bivalent." 

I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard. That lady is a crack up!

4. A couple of blogs for you to check out in your free time:

DelightfulMomStuff: A dear of mine writes this blog. It is kind of a mishmash of information. She talks about stuff she's read, used, and experienced. She is just getting started and I know she would love to have more followers. 

WhyGirlsAreDumb: Ladies - have you ever wondered what guys think about the things we say and do? Wonder no more. The guy who writes this is pretty hilarious, though a little inconsistent in posting. I will say that I laugh out loud each time I read it though.