Dear America...

Please, please, please make it go away!

Thanks,

All Sorts of Yumminess...

I'm not normally a gourmet cook, but last night's dinner in honor of my favorite 39 (!) year old,

was quite delicious, if I do say so myself. I found all my my recipes on the internet or in blogland...

I put the birthday boy to work at the grill... he grilled some steaks

rubbed with this then I made some delicious chimichurri sauce

photo from http://comiendoverde.blogspot.com

and these wok seared green beans (my family's favorite)

(photo by: Pornchai Mittongtare) subscribe to Bon Appétit

and these Crash Hot Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman

photo from The Pioneer Woman.

Although you might not think to put together Argentinian & Asian influenced cuisine, it all went together really well. Honestly, I make those green beans so often, I never even thought of them as being Asian influenced, but I guess they are, being "wok-seared" with sesame oil & rice vinegar (duh?!) .

Michael is a really healthy eater & doesn't normally eat sweets, so for dessert I used an idea I got from Jill at Peeptoe Pumps and Pearls. I made Diet Soda Cupcakes using Red Velvet Cake mix & Diet Dr. Pepper.

photo from Sweet Southern Delights

Mine weren't that pretty, but they were delicious!

TODAY...

Is actually Michael's bday. I wrote that post yesterday so I could publish it quickly this morning... although I still didn't publish it until today.

Ohwell. Happy Bday honey!

Today is THE Day!

Happy Birthday Michael! I couldn't ask for a better man to spend my life with, nor a better "baby daddy" to raise my children with.

I love you!

Boxing Day

I've been reading a lot of decorating & crafting blogs lately. I'm truly in awe of the work so many bloggers do. I used to really love to do craft projects. Somewhere along the way, I've forgotten that part of myself. While I was shopping for birthday gifts last week, I was thinking about all of the great crafts I've seen lately & decided to decoupage a box to put her gifts in. I've never decoupaged before, but it was a lot of fun & I think she really liked it.

Weekend Update

I just dropped Megan at Target, where we met her boyfriend so he could give her a ride to Gainesville. I'm sad to see her go, but I'm happy we had a really nice weekend. We played some games, had some laughs, visited with some family, opened birthday presents & caught up with some old friends. Anyone who knows me or has read my blog for any amount of time will notice one thing missing from this weekend. That's right...NO SOCCER! (actually, Jordan & Michael went to a game Friday night, but since neither of them played & I didn't attend, I'm still declaring it a soccer-free weekend). I enjoyed it immensely.

The high school season is over for Jordan & for most of the teams that we "follow" (yes, we're soccer stalkers). This means club season is about to start again in full-swing. In fact I just realized that, aside from the week Jordan is in Portugal, this will likely be the last soccer-free weekend we have until June. (Sorry Ben!) Wow!

Next weekend Jordan's team is in a tournament here locally, and after all of the cold (at least to us Floridians) weather we've had lately, I'm really hoping to be able to break out some shorts & flip flops & enjoy some warm sunshine.

Yummy

We're heading to California Pizza Kitchen tonight to celebrate both Michael & Megan's birthdays (Michael's is Tuesday, Megan's is NEXT Tuesday). I'm debating between the Thai Pizza or the Thai Crunch Salad. Either way, I can't go wrong.