My Secret

I'm wearing yoga pants to work today. :)

I bought some yoga pants to work out in the other day and changed before i left work. My co-worker stated that they looked like nice tweed slacks and that she didn't realize i changed. I said "SWEEET, i'm going to wear these to work one day!"

Ta-da! Yoga pants at work. :)

Blog Tutor?

So, i've mainly used my blogging to keep in touch with my friends out of state so i don't feel like i'm so far away. It's been great to hear about the awesome things that go otherwise unsaid for one reason or another and to truly feel like i'm apart of their lives still. However, I wouldn't mind venturing off to read other's blogs and get others to read mine in return. Is there a blogging etequitte that i should know about? Is it ok to comment on other blogs or should you know who they are? Its not like i have anything noteworthy to say to the outside world, but frankly, I like attention and i wouldn't mind having more of it. Maybe it'll give me the courage to start speaking my heart and mind about things that i haven't even been able to admit out loud to myself yet. Any tips?

Ramen

I love reading about all of your funny kid stories, so i thought I'd add one from my kids:

Our cats love to bring us presents that they leave us while we sleep. When I wake up, there's usually a myriad of cat toys, socks, and other things randomly left on the floor throughout the house just waiting at the door of the bedroom. They found a new favorite: Ramen. We bought a mondo box from BJ's and it's sitting on the floor in the pantry. For the last few weeks, this has been the only thing they bring us. I would love to set up a hidden camera to follow them from pantry to bedroom. I wonder what's going on in their head on how excited we will be to find this treasure in the morning!

My First Cheesecake

At work, we have a reward program for selling a certain loan product. The more booked, the more 'perq points' you get. I had 11 points and that was holding for a while so i thought i'd cash in. I SOOOO wanted a kitchen aid mixer but it was 20 points. I tried lobbying for other's loose points until i found out you can't transfer. Oh well. I ended up with a cuisinart hand mixer (in pink for breast cancer). It was only 4 points! (I got a digital picture frame with my other 7 points)
I had to make SOMETHING to try it out, so i decided it was time for me to venture in the cheesecake realm. I've done plenty of cookies and breads, but never a cheesecake. Plus, i hadn't even taken the spring form pans out of the box from the wedding. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. :)
I settled on an espresso cheesecake. It called for a hazelnut crust and i didn't feel like buying hazelnuts, so i created a chocolate graham cracker crust with Almond Extract. (YUM!) I brewed my own fresh espresso and used fresh lemon. My mixer was great! So what if i had to hold it with my hand, it's still better than NO Cheesecake, right?
WELL.... it turned out pretty good for my first time! I didn't read the directions all the way, so i forgot to put it in a water bath as it instructed. So stupid me put it in one with 20 minutes to spare and it fell. No problem, just a gob of chocolate whipped cream and BLAM! good as new. I must admit, the crust was pretty darn de-lish-ous. The next one will be even better!

Stolen from Angelle

If you are out there, leave me a comment with your answers to these questions. Even lurkers can take a stab at it. If you are a regular reader, you probably have a guess at some of these.

1. Where did we meet?
2. Take a stab at my middle name.
3. What is my favorite color?
4. Color of my eyes?
5. Do I have any siblings?
6. What's one of my favorite things to do?
7. What's my favorite type of music?
8. What sport do I like to watch?
9. What is my favorite drink?
10. Do I have any special talents?
11. What am I most adamant about?
12. How many children do I have?
13. Your thought or memory when hearing my name.
14. If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring?

Update Schmupdate

• OK, so... I suck at blogging. I said i would blog like 10 days ago, and here i am. I didn't get any comments about it, so I'm assuming no one is missing them. But anyway, I'm just checking in. I don't really have any collective thought going on right now so here's a ramblings on what's been happening recently:


• Work has become quite busy actually, which is where i did most of my blogging before. I'm going to blame this on my lack of blogger skills.


• My trip to Chicago was awesome. WAY too short, but really good. My grandma is doing OK. She actually took 46 steps on the day we left, which is like 3 times more than she's done since the brain surgery. That's flippin' awesome. She still has her wits about her even though she's not as talkative as she used to be. Except when she's drinking wine. On Saturday we celebrated my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, so we had drinks. she started off trying a light white wine and didn't really like it, so we gave her a sweet red wine instead. Well she gobbled that off and then started just drinking anything that was near her, which is pretty funny considering she's confined to a wheelchair. She asked to be pushed into the kitchen to check on dinner, saw my aunt's glass of the white wine she didn't want before and just reached out for it like a kid who sees the cookie jar just beyond her reach. So as the obedient granddaughter, i gave it to her. and she chugged it like it was water! Well, needless to say, after about 3 or 4 glasses, she got pretty talkative. It was great.<---Grandma throwing one back
My dad, grandpa, grandma, and me me and my grandpa!


• While we were in Chicago, it was pretty cold. the snow was beautiful! we actually got to walk out on the lake and make snow angels. I LOVE the snow. I didn't want to leave the cold weather.


• More so, i didn't want to leave my grandparents. I am SO glad i went on this trip. Seeing grandma doing so well was great, but as you can see from the pictures, she's an old woman now. And she's lived a full life, and i know she's got a few more good moments in her. I just hope i get to be in a few more of those moments. But if not, at least i won't be regretting not going back up there. Love you, Grandma!

• Like i mentioned before, work has become super busy. When i was on my cruise they announce that we are purchasing another community bank in the area. that's a huge deal, since we're just a community bank ourselves. so we're very much involved in the whole process. and since we want to look like we have our shit together by the time of the merger, there's a lot of work to get done that's been put off before now. And I'm in the thick of it getting things done. Which is exciting because i think it's really getting me recognized. I just hope it pays off come review time (which is this week BTW). Wish me luck!


• Last weekend my bro-in-law came down from NYC with his girlfriend and we went to a Machine Gun Shoot down in Hernando County. it was FREAKIN. AWESOME. I got to shoot a fully automatic weapon AND i got to be one a very select few that got to stand on top of a Humvee and touch a mini gun. 6000 rounds a minute. That's insane. Here's some pics from that:

OK, so i turned redneck for a day. With all those guns, who wouldn't? It was awesome!

And this is me getting my ass kicked by a piece of metal.

• Other than that, life is pretty normal. We have a camping trip scheduled in April to Ginnie Springs, and then up to visit the Gallers and the Maddex's in July. Other than that, I've got no crazy road trips on the calendar. Any ideas? :)


• Barry and I are doing great! He's such a great husband. Nuff said. :)


• We still have our weekly dinners at my parents house. My mom cooks every Tuesday and we enjoy a couple hours of eating and talking about our weeks while Ashton and Braydon are in the background playing and most of the time getting in trouble with something silly and boy-like. it's a great day and i look forward to it every week.How ridiculously adorable is this picture?? Just taken in February.
• Ok, that's it for me for now. No more promises of regular bloggings, but i will do my durndest!