Some birthday highlights. There's video. Except I'm not allowed to post it. So just email me.

I don't think I was clear on something.

Devin and I did not get to run the marathon.  

We were both injured.  

I'm still depressed...aaaaaand now I'm over it.

But, last week held both of our birthdays which usually means everyone we know bakes us something and we gain 14.1 lbs. in 3 days.

Thank the good Lord we saw Jillian this morning.  Owwwwwwwuh!

Here are some highlights from day of birth celebrations.

Enjoy.

Dinner with D's parents at The Broken Spoke Cafe.

Of course it's a bicycle restaurant.  

Of course it is.

Don't worry, I got a haircut the next day.  Oof.

Devin's appetizer at dinner with my parents.  

A little bone marrow now and then is good for you.

3 Desserts.  It's how we do things.

Pancetta chocolate chip cookies oh to the em to the gee.

 

Love them.

Devin made me the best gift certificate for some time here.

And brought me these.

 

 

My absolute favorite.

A bunch of tulips will make me happy for a long time until I get more.

Birthday breakfast.

I only take him to the finest.

Best. BBQ. Ever. In. My. Life.

Happy Monday!

Sayonara January!

28 things to do before I turn 28

I'm 27 today.  Woot!  Last year I made a list of things to do before today.

Here's today's.

Some explanations, because they're necessary since Kstan thought I meant "eat more leftovers":

# 6: I never learned how.  It's terrible.  I feel like I do not belong in my generation.

# 8: Anything I didn't do on my last list

# 12: Please refer to this

# 20: Like maybe them and probably some of them and her and here and them (Dont you dare hate; it's my birthday.)

# 27: I am only allowed to do this if someone does it with me.  And DC has a race that day.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Free beer?  No?

# 28: Wild card.  Something that just comes up that is awesome.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have today and tomorrow off and I plan to savor every second of my freedom.

Much love, party people.

1.26.11

Dear Husband,

This weekend we spent all of Saturday morning at a bike swap selling our goods (and picking up some more...naturally).  I love watching you geek out with new cycling friends, like the Spanish Conquistador with the scarf and the hair and the killer bike.  As a treat for attending said bike swap, you bought me coffee and lunch at one of our favorites (who happened to be hosting said swap).  We talked and laughed and people watched our hearts out.  I love days like that day. 

I think the worst part about not running the marathon is the fact that you have to take my scooter back since I didn't earn it.  This totally ruins my plans of being awesome (I can only assume you did purchase one since YOU PROMISED one if I ran a marathon). And now, as we roll into what was once titled "Holycrapwe'rerunningamarathon Weekend" but is now titled "IcantbelieveIwokeupat5everySaturdayfornothing", I'll ice your booboo if you ice mine, and we'll get ridiculously excited for bike racing season.

And then our next Marathon.

Wife.

This is a Loaded Post. Prepare yourself.

My girlfriend's birthday was yesterday, so I wanted to deliver her something super colorful and bright with a wine theme.  Because she digs the vino.

I just wrapped a wine bottle in raffia. With some tacky glue.  This was specifically called Hollywood Raffia.  I guess because it is shiny?
Random fact: my parents wanted to name me Holly.  But then my name would have been Holly Wood.  Thank you for not doing that and thus making middle school even more awkward.

Happy Birthday to my #1 She-ruby!

And in completely unrelated news, remember the asian chicken?
We beefed it up.

And it was incredible.

And then I stayed up until midnight baking Monkey Bubble Bread aka thebesthingIhaveeverbaked aka totallyworththelackofsleep aka IloveyouKitchenAidemixerandBakedcookbook.

aka YourewelcomeBiblestudygroup.

Bag lady

On Saturday, I took some old T-shirts and made some grocery bags.

Not because we need more

but because I wanted to get rid of some of Devin's T-shirts.

Jokes.  Not.

 

Tace got me this shirt.  Get it?  I love DC?  As in my husband?

Anyways I spilled something on it and it stained.  But I love its new use!!

Don't worry, he was thrilled to put all of the groceries in the car while I snapped his picture.  Thrilled. 

So, just sew the bottom closed, use a bowl to cut a nice circle around the neck, cut the sleeves off.  I decided to finish off all of the edges for extra durability, but I guess you wouldn't have to.

And now we love these bags more than any others...because we got $111 worth of groceries in 3 of them.  Boomtown.

Happy Monday!

Pity Party Concluded

Last night, I got elbows deep in the kitchen and cooked my little food-loving heart out.

And it helped me stop sulking about the marathon.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Netflix.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Birthday talk.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Talking race training with D-sauce

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
Planning trips

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Thinking about how to train the 2 ladies at work who asked me to help them train to walk their first 5k.  Proud.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

 Looking at mission trips

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
My dad calling me last night

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

 My husband trying to walk around the apartment with a heating pad strapped to his ankle...plugged into the wall.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

this 

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

The fact that I go OFF CALL today.  No more cuckoo patients calling me at 3:15am.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

getting re-taped for frizee in rehab and then beating him up for not fixing my knee.

(slight exaggeration)

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
My brother telling me to stop sulking.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

The gloriousness that I made in said kitchen while channeling my inner Mrs. Day and practicing everything she has taught me in crash course cooking class reviews.

You have never made an Asian glaze this good.

That's awfully ballsy of me to say.

But It. was. incredible.  It thickened perfectly (no corn starch needed thankyouverymuch).

I think Dev may have almost said a curse word when he tasted it.

Then he named 461 things we could cook with the same glaze.

That. good.

And the zinger!  

This whole plate full of tastygoodness = right around 400 calories.

And naturally, I can't find the recipe online anymore.  Hang tight for that.

Annnnnnd a bajillion hours later, I found it!

1.20.11

Dear husband,

I want you to know how proud I am of you for hanging up the bike and running your tree trunks off for this marathon.  You are a stellar athlete.  You will be fantastical.  Dear anyone who didn't get into the Houston marathon, I am sorry I took a spot and won't be using it.  If it helps, my little runner's heart is broken to little salt-grain sized pieces.  Dear rehab,  I want my small fortune back.  Dear bicycle, looking forward to getting to know you better.  Dear month of January, I am ready for you to go now.  Dear Man with a Plan, sometimes I don't get you.  That's okay.  Dear husband, I'll start working on my bedazzled shirt I plan to wear to cheer you on.  Run for it, Marty!

Wife

Post o junk

I got nothin today.

This is a lie.  I have lots for you, but none of it is finished and ready to post.  So, today it's just all a bunch of hubbub.

Living Social is rockin' a deal that I am in love with today.
50% off an Amazon giftcard.  Check it out.

I found 3 new book stores that I can't wait to go loiter in for a while.
Lift and Brazos and Kaboom.

I had dinner with 2 old high school / new blogger friends.  Her and her.  As my grandma, Goggle, would say, I was tickled to death.  I'm thankful for new friends.  The 3 of us have dreams of planning an awesomehoustonbloggerstalkernewfriendconventionmeetup.  Soon.
Holler if you're in.

LOVING our new Bible study format.  Loving those girls.  Loving Psalms.

Still needing a miracle for our marathon a week from Sunday.  It's not lookin' good, folks.  We'll probably leave the city that weekend and the words "marathon", "running", "knee", "Achilles", and the likes will be banned from the vocabulary.  It's been disappointing.  This whole month sort of has.  Anyway.  Moving on. 

We're ready for February and feeling good and hitting the bikes.  Shiner ride, anyone?

We made this yesterday / last night.  It's not tex mex.  It's Mexican.  Y to the U to the M.

I had a minor (some* would say major) freak out last night regarding our shrinking apartment.  This weekend, I will be pulling out all of my real simples for help.

Lance.  I have no words.

Valentine's is coming up!  Love it, or hate it?  Etsy has some way cute valentines.

Would love to see Blue Valentine.  I love both of the leads.  And the trailer.  But, too bad I don't like to watch R rated movies.  Someone let me know how it is.

*some = Devin.  and I'm sorry.

Orange Bundt Cake of Bliss

When I saw "Mom's Orange Olive Oil Cake" in thebestcookbookgiftever,  I was all, "Woah, woah, woah, woah...woah...woah...woah...woah.  Lois...this is not my Batman cup". 

Name the show.

Random side note- I found out in baking this that one of my least favorite things to do, like, ever, is beating egg whites to a stiff peak.  Longest. Process. Ever.

But worth it.

Ok, anyway, where was I...I don't think anyone thinks anything delightful when they see Olive Oil as the main, like big time main, ingredient in a cake.  It just doesn't sound right.

But if this isn't right, I don't know what is.

Let's try that again.

Happy Monday!

Feel free to read about my issues.

Since I don't know how to wittily preface this, let's just jump right in here and get this out.

Since early November, I have made myself just actually stupidly sick over a decision to go back to school or not.  I sort of just jumped in, made a plan, went for it, and then I was sick about it for months.  I just couldn't decide it if was right, if it was wrong, if it was selfish, if it was stupid, if it was even what I wanted to do.

So I prayed.  Like, a lot y'all.  When I would open my eyes in the morning, this was the first thing I thought about.  I thought about it all day.  It consumed me.  How dumb, right?  For something so minor to consume me so much.

But the thing was, I couldn't, like, figure it out.  For as long as I could remember, what I would be going to school for was actually what I had always wanted to do.  So, to test the waters, I prayed that God would take that desire away from me if it wasn't right.

Sometimes he works overnight.

My heart was totally changed and I had a list of reasons why this would not be the right thing.  But, I also kept getting plenty of pushes to move forward.  Financially, it would have been a piece of cake...as in it would have been free.  Online classes would mean not so much time away from my man.  People were ironically put into the picture that kept making me think maybe this is okay.

So I took lots of steps toward this.  Signed up for classes.  Bought books.  Eventually I told important people in my life.  And I kept thinking the more I jump in the more comfortable I will be with this. And to top it off, it would mean only one more year in my job.  Glorious.

But deep down in my Holy Hunch, I knew that while this would be a good thing to do, it wouldn't be the best.  Because what God has planned for us is the best, not the plan we have for ourselves.  And I could not shake the feeling that He does indeed have something else for me, and to go to school would totally mess that up.

And so here I am. Same job.  Same place I was 2 months ago when I started all of this.  And that can be a little discouraging.  But I think there are big things to come.

And if, in a year, we're still sitting here together and nothing has happened, I guess you will need to take that up with the Man in charge...I think I'll be okay with it.

And on a lighter note!  We just got Netflix and plan to milk that this weekend!  Anyone seen anything good lately??

Happy Weekend, Friends.

1.13.11

Dear husband,

Last weekend, you met your 15th man crush when we met up with our pen pals.  I am okay with all of the man love you have to give because all of said man crushes have the potential to bless your face off with good friendship.  We are running a marathon (read: 26.2 miles) two weeks from this Saturday.  This morning, I asked you if you are up for running 26.2 miles.  You told me you do not plan to run it, but do indeed plan to traverse 26.2 miles with can include one leg hopping and crawling.  The only way we will finish this run is if God wants us to.  As of late, I have been wearing your vest to bed because my body makes no heat, and every time, you shout, "RUN FOR IT, MARTY!"  You have been unrealistically patient with me for, oh about 2 months now, while I go back and forth trying to make a big life decision.  For this I showered you with man treats such as Mount Everest documentary, spaghetti and meatballs, not making plans this weekend, and doing your chores.  Whatever this year brings, it's on like Donkey Kong.

Team C fo life.

Wife.

Ever used a parsnip?

 

I don't think I had ever heard of them.  Or, it's possible that it was one of the ingredients I would skip over when I looked at a recipe thinking it wouldn't matter if I had parsnip or not.  In fact, if alone, I may have looked for parsnip in the bulk spices first.

This is me being transparent about my grocery retardation.

We based our delish cassoulet off of this recipe and added a few things of our own along with 2 different kinds of sausage and many more spices.

Perfect for the burr weather!

Like a cow patty...in a good way.

  

They're called Cowboy Cookies.

They are my first recipe to bake from this.

They have things like oats, pretzels, dark brown sugar, espresso...

And they taste like NOTHING I have ever had before. Friggin' yum.

Devin had 3 before I could even put money on how many he would eat.

I think my Baked cookbook and I are beginning a very beautiful friendship.

A stellar weekend in list format.

1.  My new boots came in on Thursday and I got to break them in all weekend.

Be still my ever lovin' achy breaky heart.



ridiculous.

2.  Breaking in my boots included but was not limited to me re-tracking my steps twice throughout the entire Galleria looking for my car key.

3.  I found my car key.  Don't ask me where it was.

4.  Jeans shopping mission 2011 complete.  I hate jeans shopping with every bone in my body.  If I had the money I would have someone bring every pair of jeans that is for sale in America to my home and I would try them on in my bedroom.  I feel like you can't fully be sure of a pair of jeans until you wear them in your bed.  

4a.  Jeans shopping is 49 times worse when you have to retrace your steps in the Galleria, but I digress.

5.  The Aggies lost the Cottonbowl.  This was not stellar for my husband and our friends who are 90% Aggies, however, Niko Nikos + a 10,000,000 inch TV + really comfy chairs + Xbox Kinect at half time = my kind of football watching.

6.  Highlight of the weekend: I finally got to meet up with my girl crush pen pal.  Remember her amazing place?  She and her man came down to our church, then we hit up Cedar Creek, one of our faves, for some lunch and talky talky.  She also brought me this.  A woman after my own heart.  I busted it out last night for some cookies that I'll finish up tonight.  Lauren, we had SO. MUCH. FUN!

7.  The grocery store is never a highlight for me.  So, just a picture.  Pay no attention to the indian feather on my head.

8.  And, at last, I pulled out my new sewing machine and did my first stitching.  The finished product.  I was so proud.  You can place your orders by emailing me with the subject line "Yeah Right".

 

Happy Monday, y'all!

Desperate Measures

This is completely necessary when SOMEONE* forgets to clean out their lunchbox for six days due to the holiday.

As my mother would say, "Gag a maggot!"

*Only 2 of us live here, so there is a 50% chance that this was me.

1.5.11

Dear husband, over the past few days, you have shoved liquids down my throat, taken me home early from New Years Eve, made impromptu dinners because of my slacking, fixed the netflix on the TV for me, made me laugh, brought me tylenol, talked deep, and kissed my forehead 1.4 million times.  I may start calling you Patch Adams.

Dear marathon, you stress me out more than my job lately.  Wait no.  But you're a close second on the stress o meter.

Dear Lisa , today is your SEVENTH BIRTHDAY!!  Did you know I sometimes daydream that I get to meet you and hug your widdle body so tight that you beg for me to let go a little bit in your beautiful Indian language?  I hope this is the best birthday of your life and I hope you love your birthday gift from Devin and me and MOST OF ALL I hope I get to meet you someday very soon.

Dear husband, since mid December, you have done hundreds of pull ups, push ups, and pick ups (and got more hot tamale muscles I must say).  I have no problem with this.

Wife.

Some word vomit to start off the year OR January you are my death wish

1. Have you seen this?  Gah!  We watched it a few days ago and before it started I reminded D that most documentaries are VERY one sided.  Yyyyeah if that's the case, I'm on their side.  I highly recommend that you find out where your food is coming from.  Because it's gross.  And sad.  And mostly gross.

2.  What are your resolutions?  I forgot mine already.  But we did get rid of our cable!  We're both really happy to save that money and go back to the way things were when we first got married- lots of reading, lots of bike rides, lots of talks on the patio.  We love no TV!

3.  Looking for some small space gardening tips.  We need to plan early this year!  Meaning we need to buy a stake for our tomato plant tonight because it thinks it's Spring right now.

4. I am sewing my first thing since 7th grade this week.  Prayers please.

5.  We are happy to be back in routine again.  By routine I mean I ran a fever all day yesterday and in turn forgot to go to work or plan any meals or do anything productive and instead watched 4 movies.

6.  I have to run 26.2 miles at the end of this month.  My knee still hurts.  A lot of words come to mind when I say those 2 things together, but none that I should write on here, so...crap.  And pray.  Crap and pray.