Christmas 2012

One day, I'm going to sit down and really update. I have pictures from Fall break, Cooper's 3rd birthday, and leading up to Christmas, but for now, I'll leave you with a picture of Cooper's big gift that was left at Pops and YaYa's house:

Someone's Been Pinteresting

And from the looks of it, you'd think it's Cooper. If you've been on Pinterest, you've surely seen the pictures of the cute/perfect/whimsical (add whatever other adjective) food/craft/wreath (add whatever other noun) coupled with the "fail" picture someone has goofed up. That's what happens in most cases with me and Pinterest.

At the top, you will see cupcakes I made for my department's open house. You will see I attempted to make Christmas trees, wreaths, and Rudolph and you will see the attempt failed. Thankfully not so bad that I felt the need to remake them (or call Muddy's for an emergency order), though others may disagree.

Next are pretzel, Hershey Kiss, M&M bite things. I don't think or know if they have an official name, but I didn't screw these up as much as the cupcakes. Hooray! Lay out some square pretzels, put Hershey Kisses on top of them, let them melt slightly in a 350 degree oven, then smush a M&M into the kiss. So easy even I can do it. These are also for the open house...my poor co-workers.

The last picture was one of my contributions to Thanksgiving. It was a Weight Watchers friendly Pumpkin Spice Trifle. I really went out on a limb on this one, not only making something other than congealed cranberry sauce and Sister Shubert rolls, but in tweaking the original recipe I found and not trying it out before I served it to others. Certainly not the prettiest, but I'm pleased to report that it was a hit.

I've got all kinds of things pinned for the holidays and Jeff can tell when I'm a roll when the grocery list gets longer and more obscure. He laughed at me decorating cupcakes so much I started getting a complex.

Dijon Lime Chicken

Another day, another Pinterest/Weight Watchers recipe. This time, it was Dijon Lime Chicken. I liked it, but the jury is out on Jeff. I got "It doesn't taste like I thought it would." and "It doesn't have much flavor, but I like it."

Not exactly a glowing recommendation.

So if you decide to throw caution to the wind and give this a try, here's the recipe:
-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-3 tablespoons dijon mustard
-2 tablespoons lime juice
-1 tablespoon lite mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
-1 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degress. Lay chicken on greased baking dish. Mix dijon mustard, mayonnaise, lime juice, and pepper together and spread on chicken. Bake for 45 minutes or until done.

It took ours about 50 minutes to be done. The picture looks like I burned it, but oddly enough, I didn't.

We'll see if this actually gets added to the rotation. What you see pictured will be tomorrow's dinner, so maybe a decision will be made by then. It's 5 Weight Watchers points a serving, so if nothing else, it's well within Jeff's point allottment for the day.

Does this look Weight Watchers friendly?

I'm not completely positive it was, even though my Weight Watchers recipe expert website, Pinterest, told me it was only 3 points a serving. When you follow the recipe perfectly, it probably is.

Butterfinger Pie
-Low fat graham crackers (I used chocolate)
-2 containers Fat free Cool Whip
-1 Butterfinger bar (I used a bag of fun size)
-Sugar free caramel sauce

Lightly grease a 13"x9" Pyrex pan. Line pan with graham crackers. Chop up the Butterfinger, mix with Cool Whip, and pour on top of the graham crackers. Pour caramel sauce over Cool Whip mixture. Refrigerate.

It seemed to go over well at dinner, although I have a sneaking suspicion my mother thought it was too sweet. Whatever...Jeff seemed to like it and he's the one on Weight Watchers, so we're going to consider it a success!

Skinny Funfetti Cake

In Jeff's continuing quest to lose weight, I try to find Weight Watchers friendly recipes. I have to brag on him- he's done amazingly well. He started at the end of February and as of last Wednesday, he has lost 84 pounds!

I'd love to say I jumped right in and not only made Weight Watchers friendly recipes each night, but perfected my cooking skills simultaneously.

That did not happen.

I have found a few recipes we've added to our rotation, but Jeff deserves all the credit for exercising more and finding ways to make "everyday food" fit into his Weight Watchers plan. This has become more difficult as the weight has come off because you start with a certain amount of points, but those decrease as your weight drops. He's accepted the challenge and does really well managing his portions and points.

I thought this recipe might be a good compromise between easy for me and good for Jeff and his point allottment for each day.

Skinny Funfetti Cake
*1 box Funfetti cake mix
*12 ounces Sprite Zero
*1 container Lite Cool Whip
*1 large box vanilla Jello pudding mix
*Sprinkles (optional)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix powder and Sprite Zero together. Pour into greased 13"x9" pan and bake until golden brown (about 40 minutes for our oven). Mix Lite Cool Whip and vanilla pudding powder together. Spread over cooled cake, then sprinkle with, well, sprinkles if you want.

Jeff deemed it a success. It's definitely not as good as the full fate version, but it will satisfy a sweet tooth. Now I'm interested to see if the "icing" can be made into a chocolate version.

Ole Miss, White After Labor Day, and Being a Sorority Girl

Ole Miss instituted a "Goodbye to Summer" tradition by inviting (also known as "ordering" or "strongly suggesting") everyone attending their football home opener to wear white because every good Southerner knows you don't wear white after Labor Day.

Unless it's "winter white" then it's totally okay.

I had to share this with my big sis from KD, Leigh the Supermom- then we discussed how difficult it must have been to find a white dress. In Oxford. At the end of summer.*

As the article pointed out, the poor girl who couldn't find a dress? She's probably blacklisted from the "good" sororities and won't be able to drop out of school from embarrassment because recruitment is after the drop date. This might have been me. I was the girl bawling on Bid Day because I didn't get my first choice of sororities. Memphis did recruitment before school started way back when, so I could have slipped easily into the commuter student abyss and never been seen or heard from around Greek Life again. I stuck with it, Leigh took me under her wing, and we're very close to this day. My college experience wouldn't have been near as fun without Greek Life.

Sorority Girl habits die hard. I've written several recommendations for former students, family friends, or relatives and I always get so excited for them. I despised recruitment, mainly because it really cut into my sleep schedule and our recruitment chair always decided camping or bunking at a livestock auction house was a great retreat idea, but I also remember how much fun those times were. And you better believe I'm writing those recs knowing exactly what's being said after parties end for the day.

Part of me realizes the Ole Miss white-out game and reasoning for delayed recruitment is insane. The other part of me wishes Memphis had been more like them because they end up having article written about them and their fashion choices for a football game. See what I mean about Sorority Girl habits?

*Please don't misconstrue this as me thinking Oxford isn't a shopping mecca. If we strike it rich, I'll be shopping there all the time. What?!?! They've got super cute clothing down there. Oddly enough, I've never seen a white dress on the Square. 

Vacation 2012

We recently returned from our annual trip to St. Pete Beach, FL. It was an odd year with Tada not being able to join us because of his new job and several of our friends were in the same position. Lots of our 75+ people group of friends didn't make the trip or had to shorten their trips because of work.

We left Memphis a little after 2am and drove straight through. Cooper was a champ the entire way. He watched DVDs, slept, talked with us, and looked out the window. We arrived in St. Pete at 7pm, just in time for a massive storm and a quick run to the grocery store before calling it a night.

The rest of the week was spent by the pool, at the outlet mall, walking to and from breakfast, looking for lizards, and having lots of fun. Jeff and I are really missing our morning swims with Cooper. He's growing up way too fast. More little boy than baby now- he's independent, talkative, and even though I'm biased, the cutest little kiddo.

We stopped in Atlanta to stay with my friend, Jenni and had a great time relaxing before the last leg of our trip. We got home at 3pm, which gave me time to knock out a bunch on laundry before starting in-service Monday. Our reservations are made and we're ready to go back for more fun in the sun, but for now, here are some pictures from our trip.

4th of July- 2012

We had a low key 4th of July this year. Jeff and I are both working this week, so while we had the day off, we wanted to relax knowing we would be right back at work Thursday.

Instead of driving to Dyer for the 4th of July festivities, we opted for a long walk downtown. I was being lazy, so we got started a lot later than expected and I didn't hydrate like I should have, so we were going at a much slower pace than normal. We made a stop by Nana and Bob-O's, then headed home to relax.

My grandmother has had some health issues, which also contributed to the low-key day because my parents are helping her quite a bit. Once everyone had dinner, we met up Pops, YaYa, Tada, Uncle Mark, Aunt Leigh, Regina, and some of their friends for the fireworks.

Here are Regina and Cooper waiting for the fireworks to start. She's our super star swimmer and just broke her record in the 800 meters by 23 minutes, which also set a new team record. She'll be a freshman at the same high school Jeff, Tada, and I graduated from this year and has already made their swim team because her times are better than any records already set for the school. Yeah, she's freakishly good. We probably should start saving up for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Cooper was a little freaked at the beginning of the fireworks and wanted to go back to Jeff's car. Pops swooped in and saved the day and he and Cooper provided some "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" sounds for us as the fireworks exploded. Once Cooper got comfortable, he enjoyed watching the show.

YaYa loves giving glow sticks and brought along one for Cooper. He used it as everything from a toy gun (definitely discouraged by me) to a sword to a camera.

We're all dragging a little this morning because several people in our neighborhood were setting off fireworks of their own when we got home. That continued until close to midnight when everyone apparently banded together for a grand finale that woke us all up. I think we're all hoping that will be the end of the fireworks so we can get a better night's sleep.

Hope your 4th was fun-filled and exciting!

Bashing Cotton Balls

I found an idea on Pinterest that I thought Cooper would love called Bashing Cotton Balls. After last week's painting with colored shaving cream did not work out, I thought we'd give this a try.

 Mix equal parts water and flour together, then add food coloring. I used basic colors, but also found neon food coloring on clearance at Target. Leave it to me to be the overachiever on how many colors to use:

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, put the cotton balls on the baking sheet, and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

I did not use non-stick spray and if we do this again, I probably will. Most of them came off with a little work, but a few stuck and the cotton ball stretched apart. I would also bake them a little longer. They were supposed to be "crispier" so they really cracked when you hit them, but I did not cook them long enough. 

We headed outside and showed Cooper how to bash the cotton balls with his baseball bat. Then he took over:

 

As long as it took you to look at that picture was as long as the fun with bashing cotton balls lasted. Cooper was right back to playing golf, baseball, and begging to turn the water hose on. Seems like I'm enjoying the Pinterest kids' ideas much more than he is!

Summer Fun

After working the first few weeks of summer break, I finally was able to get some time off to spend with Cooper. I have had more fun listening and having conversations with him, even if I am worn out from how energetic he is. I scoured Pinterest for some kid-friendly fun ideas that we could do together. One of the first things I found was painting with shaving cream.

 Basically, you mix shaving cream and food coloring together:

Then paint. Except if you're Cooper...Cooper wanted nothing to do with it and preferred to make a huge mess with the water hose:
 

We were able to swim at Aunt Leigh, Uncle Mark, and Regina's pool. We definitely have a water baby on our hands and Jeff hated having to work instead of spend the day at the pool with us.  

Unfortunately when we got home, I discovered our air conditioner was leaking. After an early evening visit from a HVAC repairman, it was discovered our condensation pump was broken. Even more unfortunately, we could not get it repaired until today (Monday). Coopie tried to cool off with a popsicle and I was even told by Jeff that he'd make sure none got on the furniture after I asked that it not be eaten anywhere but the kitchen:

  

We celebrated Father's Day with breakfast at Stone Soup, a long walk downtown and tried to stick it out at home, but just could not take it anymore. We spent the night at Nana and Bobo's house since they are out of town and as of late this afternoon, we are back in our house! 

I have a "to-do" list I am hoping to complete this summer. I am still working on painting our new doors, but making progress. I've cleaned out some of Cooper's toys and he now has a new toy box in his room. The pack and play that has been in our den since we brought Cooper home from the hospital- first as a a place to nap, then as another toy box- is in storage and it makes me kinda sad that it is gone. 

I have a few more weeks off, then return to work for two weeks before we go on vacation. I am really excited to see how Cooper does at the beach this year. We're having so much fun and I can't wait for it to continue!

Spring Pictures

Recently we took our spring pictures, which went amazingly better than our fall pictures. Our talented photographer, Erin Reagan, was game for anything, so we met downtown and galavanted around finding unique pictures spots.

We've discovered that getting a good picture of the 3 of us is next to impossible with an active 2 year old. The current blog cover picture was about as good as it got, but this was a close second. Just ignore the visible fat rolls on my neck:

Luckily, we got some really cute pictures of Cooper:

And one last one of the 3 of us:

If anyone has any good picture locations for next time, let me know. We've now done a cute town square, an outdoor shopping area, a downtown neighborhood, and cemetery. Yeah, a cemetery. Erin loved that idea and thought I was crazy. Then she saw how the grotto area with a pond and stone bridge looked and didn't think it was such a bad idea. And then Cooper took a header, busted his lip, and I don't think she's been back. Never a dull moment!

Perlman and Holly's Wedding

Last night, we celebrated Jeff Perlman and Holly Spraker's wedding. Jeff, Jeff, and I went to high school together and have been friends for years. Jeff was a groomsman in our wedding and Jeff was a groomsman in his last night. We have been looking forward to the wedding since they got engaged and had a great time. The night started with a cocktail hour at the Ornamental Metal Museum. It had rained on and off all day, but cleared enough that it didn't rain once the festivities got started.

The Lesters and the Radfords

The Jeffs- Jeff Lester, Jeff Perlman, and Jeff Radford

Me and Tori with our friend, Kevin

Team Perlman cake and cupcake tower. Towards sundown, it was time for the ceremony, which was gorgeous, heartfelt, and sweet:

The beautiful Chuppah before the ceremony.

Enjoying their first dance.

One of the many running jokes is the "Jeffwich"- with 3 Jeffs in the group, it was hard not to take a picture and not be near a Jeff. We did our best to recreate it.

Me and Tori with the beautiful bride, Holly.

Our table at the reception. Funny thing is- more than half of us went to high school together. From left to right: Tori and Jeff, Karen, Kevin, Kirk, Jeff and me. 

 We are so happy for Holly and Perlman. We hate they don't live in town anymore, but know they are where they need to be- close to mountains for hiking, open roads for biking and running, and their jobs. They are the perfect couple and we loved sharing in their special day.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Jeff and I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers last night. We really enjoyed it and the people watching was amazingly hilarious.

I will say that I wasn't as impressed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers show, as say, the Foo Fighters (I know, I know). I like bands to introduce all the musicians, do their little solos, and really interact with the crowd. I felt like they were just trying to get through the show, meet their 2 hour requirement, and leave. Apparently they thought the crowd was good, though, because one of the radio stations here was talking about how Flea tweeted out about how great the show was.

Our seats were good:



And the people watching was phenomenal. We walked around the Forum while the "unusual" opening act was playing, then settled into our seats after they finished. From the time we arrived until the time we left, here's some of who we encountered:
*A multitude of women wearing clothing they shouldn't have for various reasons including, but not limited to: overweight, inappropriate for wearing anywhere but in your own home (and maybe not even there), and age.
*Men thinking they are much younger, better looking, or stylish than they really are by wearing too tight tshirts (and Red Hot Chili Peppers tshirts at that- never, NEVER wear the tshirt of the band you are seeing at the concert!) and fedoras, which prompted Jeff's comment of "I'm 40 pounds away from being able to wear a fedora."
*Lots of dads and teenaged sons enjoying the concert together. Reminded me so much of my dad and brother going to Music Fest when Kyle was in middle school. We were sitting a few seats down from one family and at one point, the dad reached his hand out in a "low five" gesture and the kid slapped hands with him. One of those moments where the kid knew his dad was cool for bringing him to the concert, took a break from texting and recording the show on his phone long enough to let him know.
*We had the pleasure of being a few rows up from a girl who obviously loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers. LOVED THEM. She couldn't have been more excited to be there. So excited, in fact, that she must have lost her mind long enough to forget a bra. And forget that she forgot a bra because she had no qualms about letting the off-the-shoulder, loose fitting retro Pink Floyd tshirt fly all over the place as she's dancing. Her poor boyfriend was just trying to keep up with her dance moves because he sure didn't know any Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. Did I mention she had an old school disposable camera when the pictures she was taking on her phone weren't acceptable?
*And in the row in front of her was a gentleman wearing a blue seersucker blazer who must have been under the impression that a hidden camera crew from So You Think You Can Dance was there because he was poppin' and lockin' like his life depended on it.
*The stereotypical drunk guy was in front of us, swaying to the music until he fell on just about everyone around him, sloshing beer, fist-pumping, pointing enough to take someone's eye out, and trying to sing along, but failing miserably.
*Perhaps the winner of the night was the woman leaving the Forum the same time we were. I don't know how else to describe her attire other than small. Shirt was too small and too short. Shorts were too short and too small. And the whole outfit was too exercise-y. I mean, the whole get-up deserved its own word like "exercisey" except I don't know that she's ever exercised, but maybe she does because of the black basketball shoes she was wearing. A new, possibly infected, tramp stamp was proudly displayed, as were some questionable bruises all over her legs. I'm not sure what was going on with her, but she seemed to really have enjoyed the concert, still hollering all the way outside.
*I completely forgot when I first published this to mention the pot smell. I've been to enough Music Fests to pinpoint what pot smells like and it wasn't long into the concert that you could smell it...close to us. We could never pinpoint who it was, but honestly, how bold are you that you'll not only chance smoking inside the Forum, but smoking weed at that? It didn't take long for the cops to descend on the area, walk around a little, then leave, so whoever it was apparently got the message.

Jeff and I both took the day off today, so we took Cooper downtown for a walk after getting a lazy start to the day. And who do we see downtown? Pink Floyd tshirt girl! I'm not lying. Jeff and I got the biggest laugh and her attire hadn't changed much since last night. Oddly enough, there were quite a few people lurking downtown wearing Red Hot Chili Peppers tshirts like they'd slept at the Forum and just ventured out around noon.

There have been lots of concert announcements for the summer, but we don't have anything planned. To really show my age and how crazy my music tastes are, I want to see Chicago and Bonnie Raitt Live at the Garden. We'll see if that actually happens!

Easter Celebrations

We had a very low-key Easter this year. Not too long ago, we bounced from house to house on holidays and now, we don't do as much of it. I kinda miss it, but it was nice to have a fairly lazy day.

We started the morning waking up to see what the Easter Bunny brought to our house:



Loved the Thomas the Tank Engine Easter Egg


Toy Story 3 was a big hit.

We got ready for church, but honestly didn't know what to expect. I normally go to church by myself and Cooper isn't known for his ability to sit still. My parents get to church early on holidays, but they weren't able to find seats, so we all ended up in the Narthex. It worked out well because Cooper last about 30 minutes before Jeff and I alternated keeping him busy outside so others in church weren't disturbed. I thought that was pretty good!

Jeff and Cooper outside church


I LOVE this picture!

After church, we headed to my parents' house for a late breakfast and to see what the Easter Bunny brought.

He has worn his galoshes around the house all week!


If you look close enough, you can see chocolate dripping down his chin. Mommy and Daddy agreed to one piece of chocolate; YaYa gave him another. That's also a glow stick he's holding. Nothing like a sugar high and rave party to get your Easter going!


Us on Easter Sunday.

We had lunch at Mamaw's and visited with my mom's side of the family before making it back home in time to see the adorable Bubba Watson win the Masters. How can you not just love him?

Monday, Jeff and I had our 7 year wedding anniversary and tonight, we're celebrating by going to see these guys:

I'm excited and it will take me days to recover from being out so late. I'm an old lady. And I may need to borrow my child's glow stick to fit in with tonight's crowd.