3 Birthday Cakes, 2 Restaurants, 1 Remodel

Well it happened; despite all my effort I turned 26!!!! I have to admit I had a blast doing it. As you can see by the title there was a lot of celebrating going on. Here are my three birthday cakes...

The birthday cake my parents made for me was strawberry shortcakes with a chocolate frosting in the center and it was really good. As you can see, my parent decided that I was 260 years old instead of 26.

Eddie made me a triple chocolate birthday cake. It was his first time ever making a birthday cake. He is so sweet and did a wonderful job. It was a very yummy cake.

My friend Joan made me a chocolate mousse birthday cake, but I like to call it slice of heaven cake.It was really good and she even posted the recipe on culinary queens.

But my birthday cake eating would not be complete without toasted almond fudge ice cream provided by my wonderful mother in law Phyllis. It is my favorite ice cream of all time.

Now on to the 2 restaurants...
The night of my birthday myself, Eddie and my family went to Tokyo Sushi for my birthday dinner. The sushi was great and we had a lot of fun listening to my dad try and pronounce different items on the menu, I think he finally got the hang of it by the end of the night.
The Saturday after my birthday myself, Eddie and my Greenwood clan went to Tres Hombres for dinner. It is by far the best Mexican restaurant ever. I had really good fried shrimp and rice. I really enjoyed the food and conversations with the family. Last but not least the 1 remodel...
If you know Eddie and me, you know that we can pretty much talk each other into anything and that we tend to do things on impulse. Well we woke up Friday morning and decided to remodel my bathroom. We really had no prior plans of doing it, but decided it would be a great time for it. So we bought paint, tiles, grout and had at it. When we finish I will post the before and after photos.

Things I did not list on my title...
I have to admit I was spoiled this birthday. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts, I am very grateful for the thought and effort you put into them. I truly feel loved.

I will leave you with random photos taken from my birthday celebrations enjoy...

From Labor Day to Halloween (and do I dare to mention Christmas)

Between September 1st though October 31st Eddie and I have had and will continue to have a lot of adventures, actives and celebrations on our plates. Since I have not written about hardly any of them for a while I thought I would do a recap on what we have been up to. I would include more than this one picture of Eddie and I at Oktoberfest but I broke my memory card for my camera and lost about 300 pictures, so it will just be words for this post. I guess I will start with the things we have done....

• We went to our friends Ryan and Lindsey for a Labor day party and in the middle of the party their basement started to flood (see details on Eddie's blog). But all and all it was a really good party with a lot of really good food and fun.
• We had my mom and dad over for tacos and the open season game of the Utes. Eddie Loves the Utes so we made a big deal out of it. I think the Utes won against Michigan????? All that really matters is Eddie got to watch the game.
• My good friend Anita had a beautiful baby girl and named her Avery!!!!!!
• My friend Jessica (Anita's sister) got married at The Point. It had a wonderful view and really good food. She and her husband Looked so happy together.
• We had really good Italian food that my friend Joan made for us. It was the best ever. She posted the recipes on Culinary Queens In Training, so you will have to check them out.
• My sister set a date for her wedding August 1st 2009 I am so excited for her.
• We went to Snowbird's version of Oktoberfest. The food was great, the entertainment was funny, the vendors were cool and the weather was perfect. While we were there we took a tram to the top of the mountain, walked though a tunnel in the mountain and road down the mountain on a ski lift. It was a very fun day.
• Last weekend we ( Eddie myself and my family) went to The Utah State Fair were we road rides until our stomachs hurt from laughing and screaming ( I was the only one screaming). We had the worlds best roasted corn and Hawaiian chicken. We paid $3.00 to so see one of those "see it to believe it" side shows, all I can say is creepy. We stood next to a really big cow and looked at a lot of other farm animals. It was a typical day at the far. The only part I did not like was parking.
• We came very close to adopting a dog form the shelter. It was a border collie, he was so cute. But unfortunately on our adoption interview Apollo and this other dog did not like each other ( it was mostly the other dog did not like Apollo, if you know Apollo he love every thing) so it was a no go. It broke my heart. Maybe in the future we will find another dog we would like to adopt.
• I had a wonderful 15 minute conversation with my niece Abby that just turned 10, about her birthday. I enjoyed hearing about all the fun she had. Plus I did not have to share my phone time with Eddie. She is one amazing girl!!!!!

That pretty much sums up everything we have done so far. Now onto the things we are getting ready to do...

• As you have probably read on my husband's blog I am turning 26 tomorrow. Eddie has a full weekend planned for me , Sushi with my parents, Mexican with my Greenwood's, a romantic evening just Eddie and I and some friends over for cake and ice cream. This should be more than effective on helping me forget that I am now in my late 20's.
• We have started planning our annual Halloween Murder Mystery Dinner Party. Eddie and I throw one every year on or around Halloween. They are one of the funniest party to have. If you have never thrown or been to one you are missing out. The best part of these parties are that you can throw them year around for any age. I will make sure I post pictures of the party.
• My sister and Mike have birthdays in October. My Little sis is turn 24 WOW that makes me feel even older. They are having a joint Karaoke party. It should be an interesting night.
• My Baby (Apollo) is turning two in October. I know, you think I am crazy, but I don't have cute children to brag about like Ashli, Beckah and Aubrey. so I am going to brag about my dog!!!!
• Unlike my Hubby I don't mind that they have Christmas stuff for sale in October. That is actually a huge help because I like to start my shopping for Christmas at the end of October. Why, you ask? Because when I start that early I am usually done with 99% of my shopping by Thanksgiving, So while everyone else is out fighting the crowds and bad weather during the Holiday rush , I am at home sipping on hot cocoa and looking at my trimmed tree.

Well that was my recap of what is happening with us. Leave a comment let me know what is on you plate? If you have ever been to a Murder Mystery Dinner? or What you do when it comes to shopping for the Holidays?

Some Really Good Recipes

If you haven't checked it out for a while ,The Culinary Queens In Training Blog has some really good recipes. Just Click Here to check it out. Also feel free to share a recipe. Let me know and I can add you as an author.

A Message for all Women

I received this email today. I was very moved when I read it. I am ashamed to say I had really not heard a lot about the treatment women had to endure for the right to vote. I knew it was a hard struggle and respected them for that, but I honestly did not know it was this bad.

After reading this email I of course googled it to see how much of this was true and I found this link that confirms that this email is indeed very much true. I am saddened by the fact that I let myself be this uninformed about what women generations before me went through for the rights I have today. At the bottom of the email it asked for you to pass it along to women you know. Instead of emailing it to everyone I know I am placing it on my blog, for the simple fact that I may be able to inform someone else that did not know about these events or to remind women that may have forgot.



THIS IS MOVING. HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET.....IF ....WE EVER KNEW......

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.


Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.


The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited.. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women wages so I could use a voting machine and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made

I was tagged!!!!

I was tagged by Aubrey, so here you go......

3 Joys:

1. Playing with clay! I love to do pottery; throwing on the wheel and making sculptures. It is my way of escaping the world. Gosh!! It has been forever since I have touched clay.

2. Knowing I have my husband to come along with me through all the adventures (good and bad) that I get myself into; from trying new things to personal disasters. Also having the world's best family (The Kerrs and the Greenwoods) I am so blessed word cannot explain.

3. Finally finding the perfect balance between having Roots and Wings in my life. My Roots: my husband, my family, my job, my dog, my goals, my Grinny (grandma) and God. My Wings: my husband, my hobbies, my friends, my goals, my dreams and my everyday adventures.

3 Fears:

1. That I will be one of those wives that after so many years of marriage “let’s myself go”. I am so fearful of this it has turned into one of my life long goals; I tell myself” I will always look like a hot mamma for Eddie and for myself”.

2. I try to live life as if it today might be my last day. I don’t want to have any regrets in life. I fear regret.

3. I fear missing the opportunity to do something great, new, adventuress or life changing in my life. I don’t want to have life pass me bye. Life is not a spectator sport.

3 Goals:

1. Loss the weight/inches I want to loss. Have a healthy life style.

2. Complete every goal on mine and Eddie’s “bucket list” that we made together; in the next 5 years.

3. To be the best wife, sister, daughter, friend, employee, person and dog mommy that I can be for myself and for others.

3 Current Obsessions:

1. Reading, but that is always an obsession for me.

2. Exercising and kickboxing. It is so much fun. I have got to the point where my body almost needs it.

3. Christmas, I just can’t wait for it. I love it. I love the meaning of it, I love Christmas church services, decorating the house, cooking, shopping and having all my loved ones with me. I know, I know, it is only September. Just ask Eddie I can’t stop talking about it. I am starting my Christmas shopping mid October. I still wake up at 5 in the morning on Christmas to open presents and have breakfast.

3 Random/Surprising Facts:

1. I have been in 7 car accidents, but only one was my fault. People like to hit me, especially people driving Toyota 4 runners (I was hit twice by them).

2. I can’t sleep without white noise; like the sound of the A/C, fans, heater, etc. But I cannot sleep with the TV or any lights on.

3. I love to cook and bake, I almost consider it a hobby, but I cannot make bread to save my life. Now if you want bricks made out of flour and yeast, I am the girl you want to talk to.

Ok I tag- Joan, Jeanie, Martha, Beckah, Ashli, Eddie, Jael, Megan, and anyone else who is reading this. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.

I'm out like bell-bottom jeans.

Like Eddie and Beckah I have bees....

About 2 and a half weeks ago I was able to purchase a new camera. Thank you Eddie!!! Like Beckah I broke my old one. Like Beckah, Eddie and Phyllis I now have a nice, new, kind of professional looking one......not that it will really help in my picture taking skills, all hope is lost when it comes to that. Eddie and I picked out a Nikon P80 coolpix (Eddie did most of the picking because I was clueless). Eddie said it was a nice camera and it would be user friendly. It has been pretty friendly to this user so far. The picture from the camping trip were taken using my new camera. But my first real use of the camera was on my first self taught lesson...... Close-ups.

NOTE: Unlike Eddie and Beckah I have no skills at photo shop so you get, what you get in my photos. except maybe some cropping :)



Here they are. The first three are my bee photos.......

How I felt this morning....

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
--Aristotle

My soul is complete, having you Eddie. Who would have known a single touch would heal my worried heart and my stressed out soul this morning. Thank you. It is nice to have a reminder of who carries my heart and shares my soul. I am blessed to have you.