shows

Another thing I've done is go crazy on concert tickets.

My sister and her family will be going with me to see the Avett Brothers on May 31, as will one of my brothers and his family. It will be a good time. We just got lawn seats because we are bringing the kids. My niece, Annie, has wanted to see them for years.

I bought Lumineers tickets because I missed them the last time they were in town and am still mad about it. (Because they were still a teeny band playing a teeny venue.) I don't know if I'll go or if I'll sell. I'm afraid it will be a bunch of hipsters and teeny-boppers. We'll see.

And then I won Train tickets by being "texter 93" in a radio contest. I could listen to "Drops of Jupiter" like 10 times in a row. Don't even pretend like you didn't love this part:

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star 

One without a permanent scar 

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there 

(The fried chicken line goes without saying.)

A year ago I was headed to SXSW...I don't know of if I ever even blogged about it? Fiona Apple and Delta Spirit and Milo Greene and Citizen Cope and so many others? (as well as standing in ridiculous lines for Jack White, fun. and Alabama Shakes....not worth it. Not standing in a 3 hour line to get squished by hoards of people.) I didn't buy a wristband this year but may try to catch a couple of the free events. Who knows... Maybe I'll get up extra early next Saturday and go to Rachael Ray's
shindig.

In other news, we are randomly watching a car show on CNBC and it turns out the guy is based in Lubbock. What are the odds? Flat 12 gallery. West Texas REPRESENT! 

what i've been doing

In the absence of wasting time on facebook in the evenings, I've found myself being a little more productive.  Not as productive as I SHOULD be, but I'm a work in progress.

Some of my most recent adventures:

Herb-roasted chicken with potatoes and peas


(REVIEW:  Larry liked this more than I did.  I liked the potatoes because they got crispy.  I would make it again but add a little salt to my piece of chicken.)

Spicy fish taco bowls


(REVIEW:  Loved this.  It was spicy but the rice helped calm it a bit.

Sesame-soy broccoli (with teriyaki chicken)


Bone-in chicken breasts were on sale for $1/lb, so I stocked up.  Hence the plethora of chicken related projects. (REVIEW: Meh.  I forgot fresh broccoli so I steamed frozen.  Flavor was good but I want to try again with fresh.)

Non-cooking related tasks include:

1.  Rainbow fruit plate with a pot of gold

I felt like bringing something to an all day training event we were having at work, so I made this.  We are on Spring Break next week and I won't be able to bring anything cute for St. Patrick's Day, so I did this instead.  (Get it?  Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow???)

2.  Cleaning my closet....round 1.  I have challenged myself to do at least 3 rounds.  The first round was the obvious stuff... the shirts I am too old to wear, the shirts and pants that are just not ever going to fit me anymore, and a few things that have just been in my closet for way too long.  I found a site called poshmark and took some clothes to a consignment store  to see if I can sell anything .  If not, I'll give to appropriate charities. 

3.  I'm on track and have sent birthday cards for every family birthday so far.

4.  Unfortunately, extra time without logging into facebook has also caused me to do a little online shopping.  Everything has been on crazy sale (6 rolls of paper towel for $3!) but it still adds up.  I finally found a chambray shirt after looking at every. single. one. on the internet. 

I wanted actual chambray instead of jean.  It hasn't arrived yet, so we'll see if I really like it.  That was my final purchase and now I am done.....

assorted thoughts

Am I the last one to realize that the name Flo Rida' ( the rapper/singer/whatever he is) spells "Florida?" Is that where he is from?

Turns out not logging into Facebook is easier than I thought it would be. The only time I was tempted was when I was at a restaurant waiting for a friend. I went through my phone and deleted old emails instead. I don't think I'm actually missing that much. (Or am I?!?!)

I've become very interested in coupons. I haven't gotten all crazy like the extreme coupon ladies or anything, but i can see how they get addicted. I refuse to buy something I wouldn't normally buy.... For example, we don't eat Trix cereal, so even if there is a really good coupon, I'm not going to use it. (I will, however, cut it out and place it near the cereal box in the grocery store aisle... spreading the love!) Im not very good at it yet, but I have started looking online for coupons before I go to the store. I make my list first to ensure that only things I need are included. Then I get online and search for coupons to print. Sometimes I only save like .75, but sometimes I save like $6.00! And whatever happened to double coupon days? Do any stores still do that?

I'm feeling the urge to purge. As in, I want to get rid of 90% of my clothes and shoes and start from scratch with just high quality, basic essential pieces. I might start looking into selling things on eBay. Anyone have any experience with that? I donate most of my stuff, but if I could get some money for shoes and dresses and shirts that have only been worn a couple times, I want to try that first!

Finally, I'm fighting my inner purse demons. I really want a new purse but am not going to throw down the money. Must. Stay. Strong.

if i do say so myself....

First and foremost, let me come clean and say I got this idea from pinterest.  (And if I'd planned ahead and had more time, I would have made mine much cuter to look more like hers!)

So - my St. Valentine's Day gift to Larry was pretty cute and clever.... even if I do say so myself.  I made him a "Food Passport."

 

(I google imaged "passport," then used text boxes to write what I wanted to.  You can see the bottom text box didn't blend as well as I would have wished, but oh well.)  I printed the picture in color (obviously) and then used a glue stick to cover up the chevron patterned mini-notebook.

 The inside cover is a picture of Larry eating fried chicken on Canal Street in New Orleans.  Because that is the kind of guy he is.  (Complete with random stamps I found by the printer at work.)

                                          

The inside of the passport is names of restaurants that we've either never tried, or have only been to a couple times but really enjoyed:

DISCLAIMER:  I know I could have made it *so* much cuter.  Keep in mind that I finished this at about 3pm on 2/14.  I would have preferred a journal with blank pages, but HEB had a limited selection. 

There are 80 restaurants in there, with the back 5 page open for random places we may go.  I bought an inkpad and date stamp so that we could stamp the date that we visited each place.  My thought was that we would just date stamp it when we got home.  But Larry had a much better idea.... he decided he would carry the passport with him anytime we go out, and ask the restaurant to stamp it for him.  You know... like, a real passport.  I was like, "they aren't going to have a stamp!"  But then I realized they  might - and even if it said "Invoiced" or "Paid" or "Received on" or something like that, it would still be pretty fun.

Well - tonight we took it out to get the first stamp.  We decided last minute that we didn't want to eat at home and didn't feel like braving Friday night traffic, so we ended up at our old standby - Johnny Carino's.  We go here at least twice a month and are on friendly terms with many of the staff members.  Byrd is our bartender and Sarah is the GM.  We decided that even though they weren't listed in the passport, we wanted to include them... because there really is something to be said for a place where everybody knows your name.  So say what you will about chain restaurants, but I'm so happy that Carino's was our first stamp.  (And yes!!!! They had a stamp!)  We had them sign and date it for posterity's sake - since they were the first.

 

(Blossom photo bombed!)

It will take awhile, but I look forward to getting that thing full of stamps.  Lots of calories to consume and memories to be made!

****Also, I learned that I could probably perfect and sell the food passport.   People were quite impressed with it.

patient trust

Sometimes I come across things that I don't want to forget about. This is one of those things:

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something

unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through

some stages of instability—

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances

acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

fancy

I didn't really know country music existed until we moved to a small town when I was in 7th grade. My parents love music and we were exposed to just about everything from Gregorian chants to Iron Butterfly. And while I loved Crystal Gayle as a child (her hair touched the FLOOR and she sang a song about brown eyes!) and I knew where all the gold in California was stored thanks to the Gatlin Brothers, I hadn't heard any of the "popular" country. George Strait, Randy Travis, Reba....

It didn't take long before I was singing along to Garth Brooks and the Judds. If you promise not to tell, I even had a pair of Rocky Mountain jeans. (Only the most hideous and unflattering pants a woman can wear, no offense.) I remember at one point, I was LOVING the song "Fancy" by Reba. If you haven't heard it or don't remember the lyrics, watch the video here. I didn't think anything of it - I just loved the song and the words and the feel of the song. Granted, my favorite line was "Just be nice to the gentlemen Fancy, they'll be nice to you...." but I was young and innocent.  I didn't get it. 

I'm not sure how I found this out, but my mom did not want me to listen to that song. She was concerned it might have a negative influence on me and I might be tempted to become a prostitute.  Maybe she was concerned because I listened to it over and over again.  I'll have to ask her.  Fortunately, I did NOT end up as a prostitute, so it is just a cute story.

My same sweet mom that was worried I was aiming to be a streetwalker sent me the nicest text today.  She complimented the pearls I had worn over Christmas break... said I looked "lovely" and "classy" and had inspired her to be a "little fancier."    (I am trying to wear them with just normal sweaters and blouses more often instead of saving them for special occasions... in reality, every day is a special occasion.)


A little fancy every now and then is good for the soul.*

*To be clear, I just mean the regular fancy, not the prostitute kind of Fancy.

fun

I met my goal. I posted at least 4 times in December. Nothing mind blowing, interesting or exciting, but I met my goal. Baby steps!

Day 31 of "capturing December" is FUN. Seeing as how my idea of fun this New Year's Eve is curling up with a good book and homemade carne guisada, I don't have much to photograph. Instead, just take a second to reminisce on a particularly fun moment in your own life..... Take that mental picture and insert it here:

(This is what fun is!)

Thanks 2012.  You weren't the best of times, but you weren't the worst either. Cheers to 2013! May it be filled with faith, family, friends, and plenty of fun.