The Second Annual Celebration of the Salomefication of Meg!

Tomorrow is our two year anniversary—hard to believe it has already been two years!  They”ve been great….mostly good times…as have most of our 7 years together.  There have been some tough times too….but I can say with some certainty that there haven’t been any BAD times! 

No big plans for the anniversary….we’ll do dinner this weekend.  Like last year, I will make a dinner similar to our wedding dinner and we will celebrate with a nice evening in, eating yummy food, drinking some good wine.  Too bad the top layer of the bake is gone!

I miss our wedding…I LOVED our wedding….it was easily the best day of my life for so many reasons…of course, because Rell and I pledged to spend the rest of our lives together…also because it was a gathering of so many friends and family…we don’t get to do that very much…and finally, because my parents know how to throw a kick ass party!  That night was the most fun I have ever had!  Thanks M&D!!

 

 

 

I LOVE looking at my wedding pictures!  Above all, my wedding pictures are my favorite part of our wedding, because they help me relive the memory! (and boy can I re-live it – my photographer took over 1700 photos of the day!)  Any one is Waco looking for a photographer for any event, I suggest you check out MarloCollins.com…she is AMAZING!

Classic Radio

Apparently, songs that were “up and coming” when I was in college (less than 10 years ago!) are apparently considered CLASSICS now!  I was just listening to the radio in my car while running errands and the “classic hip hop” (kind of an oxymoron, huh?) station played a song that came out while I was in college. As I turned up the volume and rolled down the window in order to provide for optimal car dancing, I tried not to think about the fact that the songs of my youth are now considered classics!

 

I was, however, thinking about a friend that the certain song that was playing reminded me of…..and then about how I associated certain songs, or certain artists, with certain people or times in my life….about how turning on the radio can be a fun little blast in the past and bring special people and special thoughts to mind.

 

The song that was playing was a Jay-Z song (Big Pimpin’…..it’s horribly embarrassing to actually type that song title) and it instantly transported me back to senior year in College when I was living on South Congress with my friend Heather…we very well may be the only two small town, educated (highly educated in Heather’s case) professional 30 year olds (or very near 30 in my case) that know every word to that song.  We used to drive down South Congress in Heather Towncar, windows down, dancing and singing to that song.  The song Jumpin’ by Destiny’s Child also makes me think of Heather as we used to do the same thing to that song.

Ants Marching by DMB (and almost anything DMB) makes me think of my friend Lindsay, who i have knows since I was FIVE.  We used to go to Dave concerts together and together mastered the part of Ant’s Marching….the little “rap” part that most people can’t understand.  To this day, when i hear this song on the Radio, I sing along with that part and think of Lindsay.

 

Anything Neil Diamond makes me think of my mom….anytime I hear him, I think of my mom and smile.  Neil Diamond is one of my moms favorite artists, if not her favorite one.  And I think I have a very early memory of standing in line with my mom to get concert tickets for him….back in Utah, so I had to be VERY young…I remember being in line..I had my doll…and my mom gave me a ding dong..I remember the silver wrapping….I am almost positive this was in line for Neil Tickets.

 

Sweet Melissa by The Alman Brothers and David Alan Coe’s Please come to Boston always make me think of my sister….she has no ties to these songs…..I don’t know if she likes them or not, but I have associated them with her and I think of her whenever I hear them.

Jenny from the Block by JLo makes me think of my Brother…random, huh?  Only because when we lived together he used to go around saying he was “Bobby from the Block”.  Anytime I hear Georges Bar I think of Robert….because really, “My brother and I used to go down to George’s bar….we drink Big Os until they closed down the place”.

 

My Wish by Rascall Flats makes me think of my dad….it’s the song we danced to at my wedding.  I get a little teary when I hear it…..I should probably take it off my Ipod…as both this year AND last year while I ran the half marathon the song came on and I got a little emotional while running…..never a good idea!!

 

There are countless other songs out there that bring a smile to my face when I hear them…..not because they’re great songs artistically (because usually, they arent!  I mean really……Big Pimpin’????  But it’s still a favorite!) but because they bring back great memories or great people and great times.

Cutie nephew

Just a few new pictures of cutie WillYUM Rowe….the cutest Rowe.  He’s six months old now.  I would love to post some new pictures of the Brooks kiddos, but I havn’t gotten any in a while (AHEM Tickie & Stephanie!!!)   Regardless, I will get lots of pictures of them when I head to Waco for a  WEEK in April, so I can always update then!!

Just chillin' watching some TV

Tonights dinner…

..Panko crusted “fried” chicken….not so good….very bland…even though it had Paprika, Cayanne, and Tony C’s in it.  Great idea though…I may try to improve on it in the future.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes….YUM!  My trainer tells me that they’re good for me, but I never eat them.  After tonight, I would do these again.  Boil 3-4 peeled and cubed medium sweet potatoes in low sodium (and fat free if you desire) chicken broth (2 cans).  Add water as needed to cover the potatoes.  Boil until tender.  Drain, reserving the broth.  Mash potatoes and then whip with about 1/2 cup of the reserved liquid.  Add more broth as needed.  I also added a small amount of salt, some spray butter (probably unecessary) and probably about 1 T of splenda brown sugar.  These were great!!!

Yummy Yummy!!

Just thought I would share a couple of yummy things!

 

I don’t like eggs…or breakfast in general…but I know what a good proteinthey are, and I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. ..yada yada yada…. This recipe, which we call Protein Pancakes are easy, able to be made ahead and then popped in the microwave or toaster, and are pretty good for you too!  Someone mentioned that these might be some takeoff on a weight watchers (or one of those programs) recipes…possibly, I got the recipe from a girl at my gym…either way, they’re still pretty darn good!!  Warning – I don’t typically cook with measuring cups and/or spoons, so a lot of my measurements are approx….but when you’re cooking, it doesnt really matter…now in baking, THAT’S another story…I’ve learned my lesson with baking!

 

PROTEIN PANCAKES

In a blender or food processor blend together 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup cottage cheese (I use fat free and it works great) 6 egg whites, 1-2 T cinnamon, 1-2 T splenda, 1/2 – 1 T vanilla extract.  Process until smooth and basically the consistence of kind of thick pancake batter.  If the egg whites look especially large, the batter will be runny and wont work as well…throw another handful or so of oats in there and blend to thicken.  Spool batter in about 1/4 c into pan over med-high heat.  Cook about a minute or so and then flip, pressing down with a spatula.  Cook for another minute or so – remember, there is egg in this, so probably better to err on the side of caution and cook a bit longer.    And thats it!  I wrap individually in plastic wrap and then pop into the toaster or microwave at work.  Viola, I’m eating eggs AND Oatmeal, two of my least favorite breakfast foods, and I dont even know it!!

 

Cowboy Salad

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, rinsed and drained

1 onion chopped small (red or sweet work best)

1 red, yellow, and green bell pepper chopped small

1 can diced green chilies

a couple of cloves of garlic, minced

1 bunch of cilantro (to your taste) chopped

Mix above together.  Then you can either squeeze a couple of fresh limes over it OR you can drizzle some balsamic vinegar over it OR Raspberry vinegar and TOSS.  Let sit for a few hours before eating so everything can get happy.  If I am feeling dangerous, I also chop up a jalapeno and toss it in there.  I love this “salad” because it is so versatile.  We eat it plain, as a dip for chips, on tacos, on top of grilled chicken, tossed with lettuce as a salad topping…I love this stuff.  I make a huge batch and we always have it around during the summer at our house. 

 

Just thought I would share those!  I was actually making my batch of protein pancakes for the week, and I thought, hey, I bet some of my friends would like to know about these…..and I was snacking on a bit of the cowboy salad at the time, so I thought I would share that one too!

Tonight, I’m making healthy Panko Crusted Chicken and mashed sweet potatoes…if it turns out well, I’ll share that one too. It’s inspired by something I saw on Biggest Loser…I dont even watch that show but I was channel surfing the other day, and either Rocco Dispirito was a featured guest, or he is part of the show now, but I stopped because I saw him cooking healthy “fried” chicken…and man, it sounded GOOD….so that is our dinner tonight!

Another Lesson Learned

Once again I fell for good advertising…this time, at the grocery store.  Please learn from my mistakes! 

Rell and I have been eating very well lately….grilled chicken, grilled veggies, brown rice, egg whites, freash fruit, salads….you get the idea.  Friday night, after going to the dentist, we came home and realized we had not defrosted chicken for the evening.  What to eat?  We decided to be bad and headed to the grocery store…but by bad, we decided to be healthy bad…we were going to make our own pizza…fresh sauce, onions, mushrooms, skim moz cheese and turkey pepperoni…we were going to cheat with a store bought crust.  All in all, not really that bad for us, especially when you consider the alternative.  Lucky us, Boboli (premade crusts) had a big display featuring whole wheats crusts – score!  After a look at the nutritional info, we picked it over the regular Boboli crust (which we have used before and LOVED) and we’re on our way home to make heart healthy pizza!  We took such care with the prep….pre-heating the pizza stone…thinly slicing mushrooms and onion…seasoning the sauce…popped it in the oven…it smelled SOOOO good!  We let it sit after pulling it out so it could get “happy” and then we finally sliced into it and dished it out…got comfy on the couch (by this time it was almost 9pm!) and DUG IN!  And then promptly spit it out! 

Wheat Crust was a bad choice!!!

Holy CARDBOARD!  For smelling so good, it tasted so bad.  We should have just gone with the tried and true regular crust…wheat wasn’t all that much more nutritional! 

But the wheat crust had the big flashy display….

Please…..Fence Me In

We love our new house….except for maybe the fence in the backyard.  (and the laundry room….let’s be honest, there is ALWAYS room for improvement in a laundry room!) Anyways…when we bought the house the big sore spot for us was the yard.  Number one…it doesn’t have grass.  Not unusual out here.  Lots of people do hardscapes….rock.  But, being the Texans that we are, we like our green lush lawns….hence the 2500 square feet of grass we put down at the old house….the only house on the street with grass.  The rock we can easily deal with…it wasn’t surprising to us at all and we can get grass at some point. (hopefully soon)  What erks me is the 4 foot high chainlink fence.  While I am never a fan or chainlink, it wouldn’t have surprised me for this house to have chainlink if it backed up to some vacant land or something like that….but no, we have neighbors on all sides of us, none of which have a privacy fence!  so basically, we can all stare at each other when we’re in the backyard hanging out.  That, and the fact the our neighbors on one side have all sorts of quads, golf carts, and motorcycles that they like to park along our fence line had led to the NEED for a wood privacy fence.  I would actually prefer to look at wood than their assortment of recreational vehicles.  So, this week we got quotes for a new wood PRIVACY fence!!  Yay!  It just has to be approved by the Home Owners Association….something I anticipate no problems with since the HOA seems to have no problems with the above mentioned recreational vehicles being slewn (is that a word) across our neighbors yard…so soon, we shall have a new fence.  I won’t have to look at the pesky wildlife (which I’ve have mentioned…ok bitched about…in a previous post)  or the pesky (but really very nice) neighbors and their motorized vehicles.  Also, no longer will I have to feel the need to be showered and groomed to head out into the backyard…..or really, even the need to put on pants!  Yay!  Privacy Fences are AWESOME!

Hard Hitting News…

…..I don’t know why I do this to myself…I watched Andy Rooney last night, again.  Even though I know that I am not a fan…..even though I know I usually don’t enjoy his opinion segments….even though I know it is going to send me into a tizzy after watching it…I still watched.    I think Andy really took a previous weeks segment to heart when he requested that the media dumb down the news for the average American….because this weekend, Andy’s segment was…..wait for it…..wait for it…..”What’s your favorite month and season?”.  I’m not kidding!   That’s serious news….he went so far as to ponder if people in New York spnd more money on clothing that people in LA because NY expereienced more climate change and so they must need more clothes….  My friend Sherry read my last blog on Rooney and told me about a segment she watched one time where he was talking about all the different kinds of watches there were, and how he owned several, and then he displayed his collection of watches on his desk for the viewers to see.  I understand that I am not Andy Rooney’s target market….or at least, I HOPE I am not his target viewer….and I can very easily NOT WATCH this program…and I should…I should just not watch him…..it’s very simple for me to not watch all sorts of other crappy shows…why do I let the remote stop on 60 Minutes?   So, I think I am giving up Andy Rooney for Lent…but before I do, I just want to throw out, REALLY, ANDY ROONEY…REALLY????

 

By the way….I think my favorite season is Spring, with my favorite Month being May….followed closely by Fall and October…..I know Andy Rooney was just dying to know that!