Happy Memorial Day

How could this have happened? How could I have gone almost an entire month without checking in here on the blog? I sure have missed you. Writing a blog is kinda like exercising though. It unfortunately gets down on the list when life gets hectic. But just for the record, I sure do like writing a blog better than exercising- which would explain why I'm sitting here writing instead of walking right now. :)

I'm going to try to have a new philosophy about the whole blogging thing. Instead of waiting until I have a substantial amount of time to write something thought-provoking and with correct grammatical structure, I may just write a little something every night. Oooh, but I may still have to attempt correct grammatical structure. Mrs. Greer, my 7th grade English teacher, still haunts me just a little bit. I will never forget her. She was in her late 20s, tall, dark skin, blonde hair and was always dressed impeccably. I was just in awe of her. And she was so sweet. You know how you are in 7th grade - very impressionable. I loved her so much and she always wore the cutest shoes. Anyway, this may explain my command of the English language . . . or lack of.

Okay, so what have you been up to? I feel like I could probably ramble on for oh, about two hours about what I've been doing but you'd doze off three times and I just can't stand the thought of that.

I'll hit the high points:
Weddings - we have had them. And they have been great. I will say one of them was a learning and growing experience but you know, that's probably always good. So here we are at the end of May and there is a great sense of accomplishment. Our next wedding is June 18th so there is no rest for the weary. We'll start working on that tomorrow.

I don't know about you but I'm gonna rest for a few hours this morning. Friday and Saturday, we put in two long days at a wedding. Yesterday, we went to church; then attended a wedding reception at the Walters Barn in Lula and then to Atlanta for dinner with some friends. I am t-i-r-e-d. And I need to clean my house which after exercising, is what I should be doing right now. Can you tell I'm feeling a little bad about just sitting here? Maybe that will pass in a minute.

Bible study - there is a sense of accomplishment here as well. We completed Priscilla Shirer's "One in a Million" study this month. Let me just say this, I have never been so intrigued, amazed, confused, and awed at the Scripture as I was during this study of the Israelites journey to the Promised Land. I have to admit something right here and now. Throughout most of my early Christian life I thought less of the Old Testament than the New (well, maybe with the exception of Psalms and Proverbs). I thought it was antiquated and boring. How wrong I was!! About ten years ago, I literally fell in love with the Old Testament Scriptures. Wow - is it awesome. God has opened my eyes to the richness and beauty of these books. I can hardly get enough of it. There is so much that God can teach us through it if we'll just let Him. But isn't that true of alot of things?

What is God teaching you today? What is He challenging you with? I'll admit of late, God and I have been struggling a little bit. Ha - I just had to laugh out loud when I realized what I just wrote. I doubt that God is struggling. He's probably up there looking down at me wondering why I am having so many doubts and fears when He is nothing but confident in the plan for my life and the life of my family. So, let me just rephrase that - I have been struggling with some things and have just been crying out to God for some answers. The other night, I was so out of sorts I was practically beside myself. I thought the only thing, the ONLY thing that will make this better is if I read God's Word. I'm a little behind on my chronological Bible reading so I started on that. I found myself right in the midst of Psalms where David is doing guess what? Crying out to God for some answers. Now, while on the surface it might appear that my problems and David's are quite different, maybe just maybe that aren't. David is afraid. David is doubting God. David is feeling alone. Hmmm.
After reading, I felt so much better. No, I still don't have the answers to the questions I have. No, I still don't understand half of what's going on. But you know what? I have a peace. I have a calm. Psalm 145 specifically spoke to my heart. Here's just a snippet:

"The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
The Lord is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation.
All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
No one can measure his greatness."

One more thing and I'm done for today . . .

Since this is Memorial Day, I just have to mention how much I appreciate the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have served our country. My precious Daddy served in the Army during WWII. He would never talk much about it to me. While I wish he had, I understand it. I just don't think we can imagine the impact war has on the human mind and body.
Lee Greenwood might have said it best:

"I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. I won't forget the men (and women) who gave that right to me . . . God Bless the USA!"

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

What I Love about May 2011

Yes, I realize I never even posted what I love about April 2011. Well, I can just sum that up – April was awesome! I had two whole weeks of vacation with my husband; a great Easter day with my family; a royal wedding to “attend;” and just lots of good things going on personally. So it was a good April. I really do need to tell y’all about E and me watching the royal wedding. As you might expect, I could write a whole essay about it. What did you think? Did you love it? I thought it was awesome.

But its May 2nd already and there’s lots to love about May. The calendar is full, full for the month and for that we are thankful.

1. One big thing we are thankful for this month is that Wonderful Events has three weddings this month. God just continues to bless us our work and oh, we just could not be more grateful. On the 7th we’ll go up to Montaluce Winery for a beautiful vineyard wedding and reception; on the 14th we’ll do a reception lake-side; and on the 28th we’ll do a traditional church wedding and reception with a great Southern flair. It is a lot of work but we really couldn’t enjoy it more!
2. Today is Monday, May 2nd and tonight is a big night for us. On Monday, January 10th we were scheduled to go down to Governor Deal’s Inauguration and Gala. However, that didn’t happen because our portion of the state was immobilized by the onslaught of the white stuff (snow). But I don’t think there’s a snowballs chance of that happening tonight so we’re all going to put on our fancy duds and go to the big old shindig. Honestly, I can’t decide what to wear. I have a fancy black party dress and I have a pink and black party dress and I have a blue sorta-party dress. I really want to wear the blue one because it ranks that highest on the comfort level but I’m just not sure it’s dressy enough. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of the other ladies are wearing ball gowns so I guess I better put on that black party dress. I’m so glad we had this conversation.
Unfortunately, I’ll be without my plus-one tonight. My sweet husband has gone to a food show. It’s hard to believe that the Deals didn’t consult my husband’s calendar. I’ll be tagging along with E and N and D’s parents. Even G can’t go this time. He’s got a final tonight.
3. Sunday is of course, Mother’s Day. I’m thankful every single day that I am blessed to be the mother of two of the most amazing children in the universe. Honestly, they are the coolest two individuals even if they are mine. And I’m thankful for the life and good health of my sweet momma and mother-in-law. Not sure what our plans are for this day but whatever we do, I’ll love it as long as we’re together.
4. On the 12th I’m gonna have to put on another party dress for the Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Gala. In the past this event has been held at the Olympic Venue by the lake but this year for some reason it’s at the Country Club, black tie optional. Really? I liked the lake.
5. We have a birthday in our little family this month. Our favorite son-in-law will blow out his candles on the 15th! Happy Birthday to N!
6. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before but G plays drums in a band occasionally. He plays with a few of his buddies from high school during school breaks and they are really pretty good. They have a “gig” this month at one of our local restaurants so we’ll be checking that out. (Thankfully, I won’t have to wear a party dress to that – whew!).
7. Memorial Day weekend will be a crazy one around here. Not only do we have a wedding that weekend, but we are attending a family member’s wedding reception on Sunday. This particular couple got married in Florida last month so the groom’s family will be hosting a little soiree in their honor! Also, that weekend is a really cool event that we loved last year – The Brenau BBQ Championship. The food is simply amazing and definitely worth a trip to check it out.
8. Okay, so I haven’t said much about the What’s for Supper? segment lately but wow, it is keeping me busy. I feel like I have two full time jobs. (and so does Emily!). There are lots of things in the works but the major thing is the . . . drum roll please . . . What’s for Supper? cookbook! It will have the almost 300 recipes that we have done during the segment over the past year. It’s really going to be great but I’m a cookbook lover and collector so this is right up my alley. All of the proceeds from this cookbook will go to two very worthy charities. Super excited about this!

I just want to say one more thing. When writing this blog, I usually just share the things about our lives that are fun and somewhat interesting. I have a blog primarily to document our life in words and pictures so that my children might someday look back on it. But all of that to say, we have our fair share of sadness and troubles around here. Right now my heart is broken for two precious friends who are going through terrible tragedy. My heart is also broken for those in our state and our sister southern states who have lost loved ones and homes. Oh, at the devastation. On a sidenote: G’s girlfriend lives in Tuscaloosa and she is fine. Her home was not damaged but they have been without power for several days. She says the damage is unbelievable. So I ask you, please join me in tendering your heart in prayer for those who are hurting. The needs around us are great.

Easter 2011

Easter 2011 has come and gone and it just couldn't have been better. We had a great church service. I love Easter. As a believer in Jesus Christ, there is no other single day that has more meaning. Because of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, we have our faith and hope. He is Risen! Amen!

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed every minute of it at the farm with family. We rode golf carts, we rode 4 wheelers, we took walks, we ate, we talked, we hunted Easter eggs, we laughed . . . it was awesome. Here's just a few pics:

Have I told you how much I adore this man? Well, I do.

Two of my favorite girls.

Two more of my favorite girls with yep, you guessed it, my favorite young man.

Another one of my favorite young men with our girl.

Awww . . . love.

A little Recap

How was your Easter weekend? Ours was just fabulous but I'll get to that in the next post. First I'll need to catch you up on what has transpired in our lives over the past couple of days. Last Thursday was the annual Get Fit Stay Fit Corporate Challenge sponsored by our local Chamber of Commerce. JandJ Foods was a sponsor so many of our staff members were there helping and walking/running. We had a tent set up and were giving away bananas. It is just a fun time and you get to see everyone you know. Here are a couple of pics:

I actually didn't get to run/walk this year with my family which made me very sad. I sustained an unfortunate foot injury while climbing Dunn River Falls in Jamaica while we were on our vacation. This is another story for another day. So G took my place running. We all had a great time. Since I couldn't run and was a little down about the whole situation, D's mom decided the only way I would feel better was if we all went to Brewsters for ice cream after the race. I was in total agreement that that would cheer me up so we piled in the car and celebrated the post-race with butter pecan ice cream. Have you had Brewster's butter pecan ice cream? oh. my.word. It is unbelievably good. You must try it. By the way, I felt much better after the ice cream. :)

E and I had a two full day of meetings with brides on Friday and Saturday. On Friday afternoon we had an initial meeting with a bride who is getting married in May, yes, as in next month. She's suddenly a little stressed and we were called in for the rescue.

Then Friday night, we traveled to Athens to meet with a bride and her mom. The wedding is in June. This is such an interesting wedding. The ceremony will be at 10:00 in the morning (E and I have decided we'll need to get up at about 4:00 that morning) with a brunch and band to follow. At first, I didn't think I much liked the idea of a 10:00 a.m. wedding but the more we talk with this bride about the plans, I think it's going to be great. The venue is perfect; great band for the reception; and some fun things planned for the guests.

Then Saturday we met with one of our September couples for planning meetings with their florist and cake designer. Cake meetings are my favorites. We got to go along for their tasting and honestly, sampling Key Lime, Italian Cream, Carrot and Classic White cake to decide which one is the best (when they are all amazing) is not the worst thing in the world to do.
After that, E and I went over some notes together at the office and then hopped in the car for a meeting with a bride at Montaluce Winery in Dahlonega. Her special day is in two weeks (May 7th) and it is going to be a great wedding. I hope I get to take some photos to share. She just has the coolest plans for the decor, flowers, favors, and food. We have enjoyed her so much. Neither she or the groom are from Georgia so this is truly a destination wedding for them.

So when I got back into town Saturday night, I grabbed a pizza at Little Caesars (our favorite no-time-to-cook meal) and came home and put on my pajamas. NetFlix had been kind enough to send us a movie so we settled in. Have you seen "Life as We Know it?" It was filmed in Atlanta. Josh Duhamel's character "works" for the Atlanta Hawks so there are lots of city shots of the ATL. But the best part of this movie to me was the house where it was filmed. I love houses and especially movie houses. This house is awesome. It is beautiful but comfortable; decorated incredibly. I LOVED this house. What makes it even better, it is an actual house in Atlanta, in the suburb of Brookhaven. And it is for sale, or at least it was, if you are interested. I sure would be if I lived in Brookhaven . . . and had an extra $1.775 million. Here's a link if you're a house lover like me:

http://hookedonhouses.net/2010/10/17/for-sale-the-colonial-style-house-from-life-as-we-know-it/

Seriously, what's not to love?

Well, look who's back in Blogland!

Yes, I'm back. And can I just say, it is GOOD to be home. Good, I say. We had two fab.u.lous weeks in the sun, full of fun and food. You know, I sat down Monday night, and not one single person put a plate of food or a drink with a little umbrella in front of me. Yes, back to reality I am.

For those of you who might wonder where we traveled off to, the first week we were on a cruise celebrating the wedding of the son of one of my adopted sisters. It was great. He married a precious young woman whom we couldn't love more. We were blessed and honored that they wanted us two old folks traveling along on their wedding extravaganza. I've just got to tell you this story before I go any further because it may go down as one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. Let me set the scene. We are in one of the bars/lounges on the cruise ship. I guess that's what you call it. All I know was that they were doing karaoke and there was a bar at the back of the room. Anyway, there was a bunch of us and we thought it might be fun to go in and check it out. Well, we sat through some pretty bad attempts with the exception of this beautiful black girl from Atlanta who brought down the house singing Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." She was the crowd favorite for sure. But she must have thought she had peaked and didn't sing another note the rest of the night. So we were all sitting there discussing the pitiful state of the performers when my husband says, "well, Ben, (the groom) let's just go up there and show em how it's done." Excuse me? Since when do you sing karaoke? for a crowd of 200 people? And just for the record, he had not had a drop of alcohol. I thought, this is going to be good. The song selection became top secret and with the addition of one of Ben's buddies, they were quite the trio. Pretty soon, they called their names and these three unlikely performers took the stage. Big stage; bright lights; huge room; lots of people; tough crowd. They had decided to channel their country roots and for some unknown reason, settled on Alabama's "Mountain Music," circa 1982. Honestly, at first, I thought, they had made a mistake. This particular crowd didn't look like they were country music fans, much less fans of the mullet-men from Ft. Payne. But when they started singing, well D was the only one singing, the crowd went crazy. Keep in mind, these fellas are about 30 years old, cute as can be and surprisingly, full of some serious dance moves. Honestly, D could have been singing the phone book backwards with a beat and these boys would have brought down the house. Nothing against my husband's singing because he kept that together by himself but those boys shook it, moved it and rocked it. We were crying we were laughing so hard. It was classic and not a single one of us had a phone or camera to record it for posterity. So D is now denying it ever happened and if it did, that it will never happen again, at least not on dry land.

Our first port was Key West which I loved. Maybe it was because I had a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" at Jimmy Buffett's original Margaritaville for lunch. And you know I am all about what I eat. So when they sat that big ole cheeseburger and those giant fresh onion rings in front of me, I thought that I might have reached some completion of all my food goals. Don't worry, I will set more. But it was amazing and let's just say that Margaritaville lived way up to it's name!

Oh, I've got to tell you this. While we were sitting at the table waiting on our food, I get a text from E. So thinking it might be important, after all, she knows we were on vacation, I look at it immediately. It says something like this: "Mom, Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood sang "Walk this Way" last night on the CMA Awards! It's awesome! You have got to watch it" Well, see there. It was important. The girl knows me. I don't know if I've told you this but I'm pretty much infatuated with Steven Tyler right now. See he and I go way back to 1975 when I had just turned 16; my new Camaro had an 8 track tape player; and Aerosmith was one of my favorite bands (along with the Doobie Brothers, the BeeGees, Chicago and REO Speedwagon - don't judge me). Well, to be honest, I hadn't given Steven much thought until he popped up on AI this season and oh, the old feelings started coming back. Don't worry, if you don't understand the attraction. I'm not sure I do either. Everyone in my house thinks I'm crazy. I think I'm just a girl revisiting her 16 year old self.

The next stop was Ochos Rios, Jamaica. This is a story all in it's self. Short story: Climbed a rushing, cold waterfall; took a serene ride on a chair lift through the rain forest; and then rode a bob sled down a mountain. Oh heavenly day.

The next stop was Grand Cayman. Our family had visited in 2004 after E graduated from high school and loved it. So since we had seen most of the island, we just did a little shopping and decided to turn the tables on the island. We would take it in from the cruise ship. We parked our rears on the balcony outside our room and enjoyed the view of the island and the water from up there. It was pretty much heavenly.

All in all, this first leg of our trip was fabulous. But there's more . . .

I've Missed You

Well, I guess by now you might have noticed that I have taken a self-imposed blog break. I'm in quite the dilemma in that I have so much to say but for a short season other things have become a priority. My poor husband - he'll be so tired of hearing me talk that I'm sure he'll be begging me to start blogging again very soon. Like last night I just started going on and on about Steven Tyler and how much I am enjoying him, his shirts and his wit on American Idol this season. I rambled on about that for give or take ten minutes while he listened patiently. Secretly, I suspect that he was wishing I would just blog and be done with it. But seriously, sometimes life just comes at you fast and it's all you can do to keep your head above water. I haven't stopped blogging, in fact I'm keeping an entire list of things I plan to blog about when I get back to it. And I've got some good stuff for you, I promise. But for now, please bear with me. And just so you'll be prepared - things will be sparse around here until sometime in mid-April. Lots must be done and miles must be traveled before then. Thanks so much for your patience. And much love to those of you who have called and texted me just to make sure I hadn't passed on. Y'all are the best! I'll be back soon! I promise.

Food Friday - St. Patrick's Day Edition

Greetings, friends and neighbors! It's Friday - anyone else excited about that besides me? It's been a good week and I'm ready for a good weekend!

I'm a little distracted writing this post right now because I can't take my eyes off the television. As I type, I'm watching video footage of the tsunami hitting Japan as a result of an earthquake. This is incredible. They are predicting that the residual effects may hit Hawaii and the coast of California today. Prayers are with the people of Japan, Hawaii and California. Whew.

Next Thursday is St. Patrick's Day. So I've a two! recipes for your celebration. We don't celebrate this holiday in a big way at our house but I always take the opportunity to cook up some good food in honor of our Irish friends across the pond.

First, I've got the very traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage for you and then the second recipe, well, actually this is not necessarily Irish but it's green and it's minty and it's chocolate - so it works for me!

Corned Beef and Cabbage
What you need:
3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
10 small red potatoes
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges
What you do:
1. Rinse the corned beef under running water.
2. Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water. Add the spice packet that came with the corned beef. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender.
3. Add whole potatoes and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes.
4. Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes. Then slice meat across the grain.
5. Place vegetables in a bowl and add as much broth (cooking liquid reserved in the Dutch oven or large pot) as you want.
6. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Mint Dessert
What you need:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) plus 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon mint extract
4 drops green food color
1 cup Hershey’s Chocolate Chips or Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
What You Do:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. Place 1 cup (2 sticks) butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50%) 2 minutes or until melted. Stir in granulated sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; beat well. Add cocoa, flour and baking powder; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
4. Prepare Mint Cream Center by combining powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, water, mint extract and food color. Beat until smooth. Spread evenly on brownies. Cover; refrigerate until cold.
5. Prepare Chocolate Glaze by placing remaining 6 tablespoons butter and chocolate chips in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50%) 1 minute or until mixture is smooth when stirred. Cool slightly; pour over chilled dessert. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
24 servings.

Have a great weekend!!