I am a perfectionist and was freaking out about everything. There was pouring rain for a couple of days beforehand so I was upset that my flowers weren't looking their best. I was worried about what we were going to serve. When we were at the grocery store gathering supplies I wanted to get chicken, ground beef, and sausage so people would have a choice. I wanted to do pulled pork and baby back ribs so that I'd be sure everyone would be able to have exactly what they wanted. My boyfriend eventually convinced me that 2 options was plenty. We settled for BBQ chicken and cheeseburgers. I was worried our sides and appetizers weren't fancy enough. I wanted to buy a million different types of drinks so that, again, everyone would have exactly what they wanted. I was freaking out about the house not being clean enough. Everything had to be perfect. I am like this with most things. I get very upset if I don't live up to perfection. And since I'm not perfect, I get upset a lot!
Now that it's all over, I can breathe again (until next time). And I am happy to report that everything went better than I could have imagined. Our parents clicked immediately. Everyone was really happy with the appetizers, drinks, main meat choices, and side dishes. The food was cooked to perfection. The weather was perfect and the yard actually looked really good. We sat outside for hours and hours and we didn't stop laughing until it was time for everyone to head home after an apple pie and vanilla ice cream dessert.
I am certain there will be many more such get-togethers in our future. In fact, my parents have already invited everyone over to their lake house later this summer.
Do you have a good story to share of your parents meeting the parents of your significant other?
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- Kathryn Stockett
- Janet Fitch
- Jeffrey Eugenides 
- Jennifer Weiner
- Jodi Picoult
- Nicholas Sparks
- Emily Giffin
- Emily Giffin
- Emily Giffin
- Emily Giffin
- Jeannette Walls
- Jennifer Weiner
- Wally Lamb
- Wally Lamb
- Elizabeth Gilbert
- Betty Smith
- Betty Smith
- Yann Martel
- Curtis Sittenfeld
- Curtis Sittenfeld
- Curtis Sittenfeld
- Jennifer Weiner
- Sue Monk Kidd
- Nicholas Sparks
- Anna Quindlen
- Anita Shreve
- Anita Shreve
- Sylvia Plath
- Ann-Marie MacDonald
- Frank McCourt* Disclaimer: All link are Amazon affiliate links
Now it's your turn. What are some of your favorite books from the last decade? Share your thoughts on any of the books above, I'd love to hear your opinions.
]]>She also has a 30 before 30 list that she is working hard to complete before the big 3-0 milstone.
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left: green beans; front row: cucumbers, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini; back row: red pepper, and two tomato plants
green pepper
patio tomatoes
yellow squash
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Related Posts:
]]>Right now I am in the midst of doing 4 loads (yikes!) of laundry. I usually pretty much just wash everything together and wash everything on cold (to conserve energy). This isn't what my mother taught me, except for the cold part. She taught me to wash sheets, separate from towels, separate from whites, separate from darks. I grew up in a family of six so there was always a plethora of laundry to be done so it made sense to separate things out since there was plenty of each type of load to be done. For just one person, this seemed a little ridiculous to me. I'd be doing tons of tiny loads which seemed like a big waste. So occassionally I'd separate things out, but most of the time I'd throw in whatever needed to be washed and call it a load. I'd do about 2 loads a week.
Today I piled up so much stuff I decided I'd try doing laudry the correct way, or at least more like the way my momma taught me. So I thought I'd actually do a little research and find out the best settings for each of these different types of loads. What did I find? Lots of conflicting information. For example, I found one site that said cold, another that said warm, and yet another that said hot -- all just for towels. So I'm going to just kind of wing it. I am going to try washing whites on cold (to conserve energy), towels and sheets on hot (to kill any bacteria, mildew, mites, etc), and darks on cold (to reduce fading).
What is your usual laundry routine? Are you good about separating out different types of loads? Do you use different settings for each type?
]]>So, anyone have any great recipes that use cilantro, basil, or oregano? Anyone have any tips for me on how to keep these suckers alive?
We walk in and about 3/4 of the tables were filled with remnants of the previous diner's dinners. It's nearly 90 degrees outside, but I start shivering almost as soon as we walk in because the air conditioning is on so high. We were seated and put in our relatively simple order -- 1 diet pepsi, 1 regular pepsi, an order of breadsticks, and 1 large pizza with pepperoni, peppers, and onions. The waitress informs us it will be about 15-20 minutes. Probably 10 minutes or so later she comes back and asks us again what we wanted on the pizza because she had forgotten. Then she brings the sodas, which she had correct, but she had no idea which was the diet and which was the regular. Then we wait about an hour and then finally get our pizza. It's what we ordered, but it was cold. Not warm, COLD. And there were no breadsticks. She says she'll put in an order for them (since she forgot originally). Then a little while later another woman comes by and asks if everything is ok. I tell her we were missing our order of breadsticks. She says she'll go get them. Then, a little while later the original waitress comes by and I ask again about the breadsticks. She says she'll put them in and they'll be free for all the trouble. We finish the pizza and still no breadsticks. And we overhear someone tell a family that's just coming in that the restaurant is now closed because the air conditioner is leaking all over the place. We manage to get a box for the leftovers, wade through some water to get to the cash register to pay, and then get the heck out of there.
I think it had probably been about two years since the last time we went. It will probably be at least another two before we go again.
What's your worst dining experience ever?
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Overall, so far so good, I just hope things continue to do well throughout the rest of the summer.
Sorry about the almost obnoxious number of pictures below. I just couldn't help myself. I may post about my small herb garden, and a bunch of spring flower pics I took a little bit ago, later on, but for now I'll spare you.
Then:
Now:
]]> Then:
Now:
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The park is really large with several parking areas and several different trails. We got a little lost but eventually found our way. We started on the "green" trail, which was the most challenging in terms of hills, and 4.7 miles long. We quickly were greeted with a couple of surprises. The first was a great, big, huge, pile of horse crap. And then more horse crap. And then some more. I think it would have been more aptly named/colored the "brown" trail. We also began being attacked my lots and lots of bugs. Not so nice. Next time we'll remember the bug spray. Luckily neither of us ended up with any bites.
Despite those two issues, we actually ended up really enjoying ourselves. It's so nice to be out in nature and doing some sort of physical activity. It does a mind and body good. We ended up hiking for a little under 1.5 hours. During that time, in addition to the crap and the bugs, we saw guys running up hills that we were barely able to walk up without getting slightly out of breath. And we saw a whole bunch of deer. Just chillin'. We were really close but they didn't seem worried about us in the least.
I'd like to try this trail again in the fall. I'm pretty sure it will have some pretty amazing fall foliage.
]]>I believe I got incredibly lucky in many ways. At the end of January of my last semester at college I had my second interview and within hours had a job offer. I believe I actually had an email with an offer waiting for me by the time I was done with the 40 minute trip back home from the interview. I completed my last semester already knowing where I was going to go after I graduated, which was a huge relief. I feel luckly that the people interviewing me saw through my poor interviewing skills to my engineering skills and good work ethic. I am fortunate that the culture/work environment was such a good fit for me. The company I work for now is the only place I interviewed. I received an acceptable offer for a position in my chosen field that was exactly what I wanted to do, and that was that.
I graduated college on May 20th, 2000 and started work a little over two weeks later on June 5th. I was barely legal to drink when I first walked through the doors for my first day of work. I had been 21 for about 8 months. Still a child, really. When I look back, both personally and professionally, I feel like I've come such a long way. Back in that first summer I was naive, a little scared, and very ready to work. I was very timid and was insecure in my work. I have since been promoted to "Senior Engineer". I conduct interviews, train new employees, and am included on many crucial company initiatives. I have a great deal more confidence, both in myself as a person as well as in my workplace abilities. I respectfully speak my opinion rather than just assume that the ideas/thoughts of others are better or more important.
Reflecting like this kind of makes me think... where will my career take me in the next 10 years? Will I still be working at the same company? Will I even be working at all or will I be staying at home with kids?
What has your job/work experience been like? Are you doing what you expected when you finished school? Have you changed careers or gone back to school for something else?
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I took the day off of work on Friday and the plan was to do lots of yard work. That yard work included starting the vegetable garden. I headed over to home depot and bought:
Hmmm... listing it out like that makes it seem a lot less modest than it looks in the ground/yard. Anyway...
Friday evening I set up the topsy turvy with the small tomato plant and some of the new soil, and then called it quits.
Saturday we were blessed with even more gorgeous weather so I spent the day getting everything all set up.
And so the experimental garden of 2010 begins. It's almost all set, except I am waiting on the return of my boyfriend to help me erect some sort of fence. I will be curious how the topsy turvy works out. I decided to try it because last year, even with a 4 ft. fence, the deer got a lot of my tomatoes. I was hoping I would be able to outsmart them this eyar hang it where they couldn't reach. I may end up having to figure out how to fashion and hook somewhere else and moving it though because I'm not sure it's high enough or gets enough sun. I am also curious to see if there's enough sun where I planted the 6 plants. In addition to the plants youc an see, I also planted some green bean and carrot seeds that I got last year. No clue if they'll sprout or not since they've been sitting around for last year. Another fun mystery/surprise!
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Related Posts:
2009 Vegetable Garden: The Plan
2009 Vegetable Garden: All Set Up
2009 Vegetable Garden: Lessons Learned and First Food From the Garden
]]>I hadn't looked at the options before we left and there were a lot of things on the menu that sounded good so I asked my boyfriend to whip out his phone and see if he could find the nutrition info. for me to help in my decision.
Option 1: GRILLED BUFFALO CHICKEN
Grilled tender slices of chicken breast tossed in our Buffalo sauce with lettuce, diced tomatoes, Cheddar Jack cheese and a side of Bleu cheese or Ranch for dipping
NUTRITION: 932 calories/ 50g fat/ 26g sat. fat/3868mg sodium/40g carbs/36g protein/4g fiber
Option 2: BUFFALO CHICKEN SANDWICH
Breaded tender chicken breast cooked crispy, tossed in our Buffalo sauce and served on fresh roll with Bleu Cheese
dressing and celery sticks
NUTRITION: 713 calories/46g fat/20g sat. fat/2487mg sodium/50g carbs/33g protein/4g fiber
I was very surprised to see the grilled version had more calories, more fat, and more sodium. I was also very surprised that a simple grilled buffalo chicken sandwich had nearly 1,000 carlories and 50g of fat. This is a prime example of why I firmly believe all restaurants should print nutrition information right on the menu. Sometimes it really is hard to tell which option would be better. I personally tend to live by the rule grilled is better than fried, but apparently I was wrong, at least in this instance.
I also think it's completely ridiculous that restaurants serve such humongous portions that are filled with so much fat. Maybe it's just me since I am a smaller woman and don't require a lot of calories in a day, but to have a burger on a menu that contains 1249 calories and 86 grams of fat is kind of wrong. That is fairly close to the number of calories and significantly more fat than I am supposed to consume in an entire day.
In case anyone is curious, I ended up ordering (and enjoying)...
Option 3: CHICKEN 'N BACON CLUB
Featuring grilled sliced chicken, sliced bacon, American cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, red onion and chipotle mayonnaise on toasted roll
NUTRITION: 546 calories/27g fat/8g sat fat/1010mg sodium/43g carbs/34g protein/4g fiber
So what do you think? Were you surprised by the above nurtrition information? Do you think restaurants should put nutrition information on the menu itself?
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Microwave Rhubarb Crisp Recipe
Ingredients:
4-5 cups sliced rhubarb
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. rolled oats
2/3 c brown sugar
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 c. soft butter or margarine
Instructions:
1. Combine rhubarb and sugar in 8 inch baking dish.
2. In mixing bowl, blend remaining ingredients until crumbly.
3. Sprinkle over rhubarb.
4. Microwave uncovered on high for 12 minutes or until rhubarb is tender, rotating dish once or twice. Topping becomes more crisp as it cooks. For crisper topping, broil a few minutes.
5. Serve with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy! Also, I highly recommend heating up when
I've got a lot of rhubarb so please, share with me your favorite rhubarb recipe so I can try it out next!
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