Classic Mr. Gibson

Dave has these photos in his Flickr account and I just had to post them. The first one is classic Gibson. He is one handsome dog. I mean he is one Hot Dog. Ha, had to add the pun. Did I mention that I think we are psychically connected?

So the reason I post this picture is that this look represents "whatever Mr. Gibson wants, Mr. Gibson gets", because he is so cute we can't help it. Unfortunately he's also a total PITA 80% of the time.

The second one was caught last year when DG took Gibson out for doggie day at the pool. Unfortunately, Gibson HATES the water. We learned that on a trip to Albuquerque, NM last year when staying with a family with 3 large dogs who jumped in the pool all day long. DG finally tossed Gibson in, and he hated it. His tiny little legs would doggie paddle to the edge, where he could never get himself pushed up to get out. This face pretty much tells it all.


Please, please dad, you know I HATE the water. *whimper* please don't make me go back, please. I'll be good for like the next 5 minutes, I promise. Just don't make me go back there. I never learned the doggie paddle.


Ok, seriously, now that we are over this water thing, I really deserve a treat or something. Like I haven't barked in over 60 seconds or anything.

The State of Television

In the sad but true files, earlier this year DG and I finally finished watching the complete 5 Seasons of Gilmore Girls. It is sad on so many levels. First, each season has something like 24 hour long episodes. That is 120 hours of my butt sitting on the couch watching tv. I would like to state for the record that this was not done in a week, or a month, but over a 1 1/2 year period. Second, after finishing it, we were distraught that we had nothing else to watch. (Most tv is such crap.) So we delved into Season 7 of Friends which only serves to rekindle my lust for one Mr. David Schwimmer. This held us up for a couple of weeks until we got a gift certificate for Virgin Records (a sweet sweet gift from David's coworkers) and we finally got Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy. Seriously some of the best writing on television today. Seriously? Seriously.

The music from the show is amazing as well and has including two local Denver bands. My friend Rob's band Dressy Bessy had a song in Episode 9 of Season 2 and The Fray had a song in Episode 21.

But alas, three nights later, and again we are totally bummed over having finished the mere 9 episodes in Season 1. We didn't start to Tivo it until episode 16 of this Season 2. *crap*

Glamorous? No. Life changing? No. This is what people on a budget do when they are trying to save money. We can't wait for spring to come, when it's warm enough to eat on the patio every night, walk the dogs, and get off the couch and back into the world.

I Poop on You

I have come into the possession of a true treat of comedic talent: the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog video. You may have seen him on late night with Conan O'Brien, or on various videos touring the internet. DG was a bit luke warm on Triumph (even though he bought the video), but I was giddy with gleeful anticipation to watch it. I laughed so hard that I was crying. It was that wheezy gasping for air laugh that I inherited from my mother. Ok for at home, embarrassing in a movie theater.

Based on basic 9th grade potty humor and the repetition of the line "Good for me to poop on" this video had us cracking up. That hand puppet smoking cigar dog with the 3' paw holding a mic is hysterical. My review of this video won't even do it justice. Suffice it to say all day, everything has been good enough for me to poop on. My other favorite line is when he interviewed all of the nerds standing in line for the Episode I of Star Wars, dressed as their favorite characters. When encountered with a Darth Vader look-a-like complete with a costume full of buttons, Triumph's question "Which of these buttons calls your parents to come and pick you up?" Priceless. To see this video, click here.

Engagement Party

Holly and Bruce threw David and me an engagement party on Friday night for 40 of our friends that are coming to the wedding. It was set up as a wine tasting at their house, and we had just the best time. Some highlights of the night:

Cynthia and Jeff getting a babysitter for the first time in 4 1/2 years and having over 2 hours of uninterrupted adult conversation. It was so great having them there and Jeff is smiling!!! Cynthia is my bridesmaid, and though she had a baby 2 months ago, she is already back down to a Size 4 and ready to go dress shopping. It's ok to be jealous it truly is unreal.


Great Food as shown by David's sister Jinnie and Lora (My usher). Notice Lora drinking, what is that, a soda? Someone has just announced she has a bun in the oven! Also, Sarah made a dip from the Friend's recipes she won at our Christmas party and it was a big hit as well.

Good Wine - Bruce typed up some sheets with descriptions of the wines they had. This is Holly, thrower of the party and my Maid of Horror, I mean Honor. It's ok, it's a pet name, really. You would think I would have a better picture of Holly?!? After 10 years of living in the house, she and Bruce painted and refinished the stairs to have it done in time for the party. Sometimes you just need a push to get you going.


They had a scrapbook at the front door with a Polaroid camera. Everyone took their snapshots and signed the pictures. It will be such a great memory to have.

The Bottle of Jim Beam that just won't Quit

I am a vodka girl. Grey Goose and tonic is my drink of choice, I'm also happy with Stoli or Absolute. Gin is good, tequila is tasty, but for the most part, I always stick with vodka. I have never been a "brown liquor" kind of girl, hence no Bourbon or Whiskey. Put a glass of Whiskey in front of me, I'm likely to sniff it, let it touch my tongue, scrunch my face up into a contorted "I think this is dukey" look and let it sit there getting warm until the bartender serves me something with vodka in it.

So in an effort to use up some of the Bourbon left over from the Salmon recipe, I incorporated it into our meal the other night. I pan fried chicken with onions, then added 1/2C oj and 2 TBL bourbon and simmered it until the liquid was gone. I also cooked 3 carrots in 1TBL honey, 1 TBL maple syrup, 2 TBL water, 1/2 TBL butter, and 1 TBL bourbon. The carrots were really good.

Next I'm thinking about bourbon bread pudding or grapenuts pudding with bourbon. Hmmm.

2 degrees of Carmelo Anthony

About two weeks ago, DG went to Lucky Strike to Bowl with the Nuggets. His group, The DNA (Denver Newspaper Agency) ended up bowling with one of most popular players in the league, Carmelo Anthony. As I have stated before, DG has no affinity to sports "woo hoo", but he did manage to get him to sign a calendar for me and personalize it! While very sweet, since I am not much of a sports fan I do not really have an attachment to this calendar. Now if it was a picture of Seth Green, signed with lip prints...then maybe. But there are so many fans out there that I hate to have it go to waste. I would love to send this calendar to someone who would really appreciate it, even though it is signed to me. Any takers?

Excessive Magazine Subscriptions

At some point last year, DG went a tad overboard ordering himself new magazine subscriptions. By the time I realized what he did, it was too late and we were locked into 2 years of cat box liner worthy mags like Real Simple. We get so many magazines and catalogs at the house, I can't find a container big enough to hold them. This is what we are currenting getting: Business 2.0, Cooks Illustrated, Fast Company, MacWorld, MacHome, Mother Earth News, PCMagazine (oops dad), Newsweek, Paste, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, This Old House, WSJ. He did get me the Cook's Illustrated which I LOVE and he says he got me Martha Stewart Living, but he really got it for himself. See Exhibit A and last week-ends refrigerator cleaning.

Now I know that DG loves his magazines and reads most of them cover to cover and we do have plenty of time on the bus every day, but what is too much? Now that we have so many subscriptions, I think we are marked for life on a list, (read suckers) and I am marrying into that list. Somewhere, some magazine marketing director has highlighted DG's name and a list of magazines to send to him with fake invoices to fool him into thinking that he had actually agreed to a subscription. We are so popular, that we have started to get a slew of other craptaculars and the line is so hazy that DG can't remember whether he ordered it or not and why we are getting it every week. Namely I am talking about Better Homes and Gardens. When I found out that we had subscriptions to 10+ magazines, I pressed my Future Husband to cease and desist all glossy paper consumption, but when we started getting BH&G, I was all "Oh no you didn't!", and then he was like "um I don't think I did?", and then I was all like "Of all magazines in the world, BH& F'n G?!?!" and he was all "Well there was that one Friday when I was drinking..." and then my foot went down. Which is really just another way of me saying GAWD stop the madness.

Don't let the pretty pictures and copying of Martha fool you. BH&G is full of worthless tips written for dull brainless middle America. I know, because I read 2 issues of it and took away nothing. Luckily we stopped getting it. I don't believe there is a moral to this story, but I do believe that there are a lot of elderly people getting BH&G because of the crazy scam that makes them think they had ordered it.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Salmon

This recipe (see revised name) came to me through Joy who got it through Cooking Light, which she says is the best cooking magazine. I only have a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, which I love, but I am pondering Martha Stewart Food. Honestly though, we have about 10 magazine subscriptions right now thanks to DG and I really don't want another one. But that is a whole other Blog entry! Due to mucho demando, here is the recipe:

2-1/4lb. salmon filet
3C thinly sliced onion
1/2C packed brown sugar
1/2C water
1/2C bourbon
1Tbl. low sodium soy sauce
1tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3/4tsp. salt
6 tarragon sprigs
4 thyme sprigs
1/3C grape nuts
1/4C pecans
cooking spray
3/4 tsp salt
2Tbl. packed brown sugar
2Tb. honey
1-1/2tsp. water

1. Place salmon in a 9X13 dish. Combine onion and the next 8 ingredients(onion thru thyme); pour over salmon. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Place cereal and pecans in a baking pan. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes or until toasted. Place mixture in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
4. Remove salmon from marinade; reserve marinade. Arrange salmon diagonally on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 3/4 tsp. salt. Combine brown sugar, honey, and water with a whisk. Spread honey mixture over salmon; sprinkle with cereal mixture, gently pressing into salmon. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.
5. While salmon bakes, place reserve marinade in a small saucepan. Discard tarragon and thyme. Bring marinade to a boil over medium high heat; cook until reduced to 3/4 Cup(about 10 minutes). Serve sauce with salmon. Yield 6 servings.

I used Jim Beam bourbon and now need other bourbon recipes to use up the rest of the bottle because I think Bourbon is dukey on it's own, fantastic in this recipe! Anyone have a bourbon bread pudding recipe or other ideas, PLEASE throw them my way.

Bourbon Pecan Salmon Birthday Dinner

Joy sent a salmon recipe to me recently claiming it was amazing. She had just made it for a dinner party and it went over smashingly. I decided to try it out on Sunday when the P family came over for Cyn's birthday dinner. Wow, even I was impressed. It takes a really moist and juicy melt in your mouth salmon for me to say wow. This was 5**** restaurant worthy salmon and definitely impress your friends salmon. It had a honey brown sugar glaze and a pecan/grapenut crunch.


I also made Risotto with shallots, zucchini, parmesan, and goat cheese (using Michelle's recipe as a base) and roasted asparagus. For dessert, I made my famous Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting because it is Cyn's FAVORITE (as well as mine).

I whipped up some additional colored frosting and passed the hat to DG to work some artistic magic. I tried doing a fun pink and green, but ended up with mauve and neon green. He worked with what he had and created this culinary display the likes of which this town will never see again. I don't think I could recreate those colors if I tried.

Wiener Plush Toy ALERT

Regardless of it being their own species, a 2' long plush toy in the shape of a wiener dog = total carnage. I mean it is kind of incestuous, no bestial, wait what's the word I'm looking for? oooh, Cannibalistic. I just had to go shake the toy in their faces barking and teasing them and getting them all riled up right before bedtime. Gibson could care less, he's more into the small hedgehog or hippo toys, something he knows he can take.

At first we just thought Tica wanted to play when she wouldn't go to bed and cried and cried sniffing the air, trying to jump on our bed. (No small feat for a wiener trying to jump 3' in the air.) Then it dawned on us, Joy has cats, the plush toy smells like her cats, Tica thinks the Leopard skinned 2' long plush toy wiener is a cat. In her excitement that we had gotten a cat, she wouldn't settle down for over 3 hours...*yawn*. She kept me up until after midnight. *rassa frassa* Even though she saw me move the toy into a different room (she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer), her nose told her that we were snuggling in bed with our new cat friend with the feather collar. No amount of trying to dissuade her convinced her otherwise. We even had her in bed with us for awhile. Gibson was totally annoyed as well, though he didn't at all have my back in trying to explain to her in doggy language that she was totally acting insane.

Coffee Can Be Pretty

Final L.A. post *sad face*. Last Sunday morning, a week ago today, Joy and I ate breakfast at this great little cafe in Beverly Hills called Urth. I think this decaf latte that Joy got is THE most beautiful spectical I have ever seen in the coffee world. Match that Starsucks!

Mark Covell - The Famous Guy

One of two storyboarders for The Family Guy, Mark is an amazing artist. I remember years ago when Joy was in art school, she would talk about the best artist in school and she was talking about Mark. If you click on his name you will see all the great sketches on his website. But where are the Elton John Bobble Heads in your resume? I don't see them!

I asked Mark a lot of questions trying to understand what he did during the day. Because, Um, like there's no computer at his desk...wha?!? How do you work without a computer? His pencil is his tool. How fun for such a great artist to make a living drawing all day. Here is Mark doing a story board of Stewie.


A few minutes before leaving for the airport, he did a quick sketch for me of Meg from The Family Guy.


She has a bit of sweat dripping down her face and she is bent down like she has to pee. Fun! It's taped to the wall in my office, reminding me that though I am often chained to my desk that I need to take a break and get to the loo.

Find me a Pot O'Lucky Charms

Dave and I both wore green shirts this morning and danced around the house getting ready to: Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Pogues, The Frames, and Damien Rice. We ran out of time before I was able to put some Van Morrison on. Due to running for the bus, we were not able to get a better picture. Who is that girl? Gross? I'm not sure why I didn't question my belly hanging out before I left for work today. That's not appropriate. My moving arm was me trying to cover it before the picture took. And Dave has already taken enough slack for tucking in his shirt.

As you can see from my Avatar, I've gotten in the spirit of the day. Though the rainbow makes it look like I am not only searching for a pot o' gold but also celebrating Gay Pride. I have an umbrella that is very similar. Drink green beer, eat green bagels, and do green jello shots, for the one day a year it is considered appropriate to be completely shnookered in public.

Bachelorette's Night Out

After shopping all day Friday and Saturday, we checked into our hotel Saturday afternoon for our big night on the town. I had used Priceline.com for the first time ever and gotten us a 4**** hotel in Beverly Hills. In actuality it was really in Century City, but close enough in a spitting contest. On our way there, we drove down Rodeo Drive to relive our Pretty Woman memories. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about on that street. It's like being at a mall with a bunch of stores I have no desire to go into. What fun is that?

So being in Beverly Hills we decided to valet Joy's car, and then sat with the concierge who made us dinner reservations with less than 2 hours notice at a chic restaurant called Chaya Brasserie. The food was excellent and the Guava martinis even better. We even endulged and had the croissant bread pudding with caramel ice cream for dessert. (Hey why are my pants tight today?) Afterwards, we went to another martini bar in the area where a loungy band with a french chanteuse was playing. Here I had an orange martini with lychee nuts in it, alright I had two, GAWD are you really keeping count? So WTH is a lychee nut? [n : Chinese fruit having a thin brittle shell enclosing a sweet jellylike pulp and a single seed.] We stayed for a bit before heading to West Hollywood to hit a list of places that Joy had printed out on the internet. Apparently it is not cool in L.A. to have a sign showing where your bar is. Instead you have to hear the party, and find the open door, or just be cool enough to know.

We went to the Beauty Bar where we talked to some Brazilian boys before we ran into a gaggle of men having just flown in from London to go to a Bachelor party. We chatted them up a bit (Mmmm british accents are fun. DG tonight should be speak to your fiance with a British Accent night!)

I don't remember what time we got home, but I do know that I was completely worthless the next day which is usually the result of a good time!

Flashy new header

Since I now get about 1900 hits a month, my talented FH (future husband) has designed a new classy header for the beehive. Isn't it beeautiful? HA get it? BEE BEEautiful bzzz bzzz.

He got the design brushes from Jason Gaylor. Wow he has some amazingly intricate designs. They are so beautiful. These may show up again real soon in say an invitation.

I haven't been able to post pics on blogger for 2 days, so I am holding off on my next L.A. post until I can. I will try again tonight.

Note: No bees were swatted, sprayed, or otherwise Raided in the creation of this header.

OMG I'm riding in an elevator with Seth Green!

There I was, straight off the boat, naive young Colorado girl, in the big city of L.A., just trying to make it...*screeching tires*...Ok, there I was, straight from the plane, lovely youngish Colorado woman, in L.A. for less than two hours, and I find myself in an elevator with Seth Green.

Back up to Joy picking me up from the airport with a two foot long leopard print wiener plush toy with a black feather collar. We drove to downtown Los Angeles to have lunch with her Fiance Mark who happens to be a story board artist for The Family Guy,a cartoon on Fox. This was exciting for me because I have never met the love of her life. After lunch I got to tour the office of The Family Guy, and when I thought I could not be more impressed with the four kitchens and excessive amounts of free food (how many types of cereal?) there walks Seth Green, the voice of Chris on the show. I did not have my glasses on, but Mark pointed him out to us, so I hurried up to try and catch the elevator with him. He yelled out asking if we wanted him to hold the elevator for us to which we replied with a resounding YES. This was the last word out of my mouth as I then transformed into stupid star struck giddy girl. When we got in the elevator, I could do nothing but try to act cool and stare at him all squinty eyed. Did I mention that I was not wearing my glasses? *rats* He was so cute I could have drooled on him. This was not such a far off thought as my mouth was left wide open in awe. He asked us what floor we wanted to go to and rather than say one of the 10 witty things rolling around my tongue, I opted to be the smilely quiet girl in the corner. Luckily Mark found his tongue and we made it to the first floor. When we got out, Seth made a crack at us that we were lobby snobs because we were not headed down to the parking garage with him. It was very clever of him, and I was tickled. It was the one time in my life that I wouldn't have minded if I had been caught in the elevator for another 2 minutes.

In case you have been hiding under a rock for the last 20 years, Seth has been working since he was a kid. Remember Patrick Dempsey's younger brother in Can't Buy Me Love? Or how about Dr. Evil's son in all 3 of the Austin Powers movies? Any Buffy the Vampire fans? He was Oz, the resident werewolf in Sunnydale. There are many more, but these are a few of my favorites.

I immediately called DG the minute we stepped into the lobby and thought of the Friends episode where Chandler got caught in the ATM Vestibule with the Victoria Secret model. I was muffled, whispering into his voice mail that I had just seen Seth Green. We didn't have any other star sightings the rest of the week-end, but I got enough Seth Green to get me through.

YBFITW3 The Inception

Per Joy: "I remember YBFITWWW starting when I had gotten so drunk at Amy's house when we were in high school, that I threw up spaghetti all over the bathroom. You were helping me up, and I blurted out, Christy, you're my best friend in the whole wide world...I love you so much!"

Poor Joy, it's not her fault that she didn't realize until somewhere in her 20's that she is allergic to all potato and grain based alcohol. This means only fruit based, so the only liquor she can drink is wine, gin, and tequila!

YBFITW3

Joy and Christy 2006 (no change really from 6 years ago seen below - ok maybe a few more crows feet on my part, and did my teeth get bigger?!?)

I'm not sure of its inception, but at some point, and I'm guessing it was sitting in the library for study hall, either Joy or myself started signing all of our notes to eachother YBFITW3. (Your Best Friend in the Whole Wide World or W3) No matter where I am in this world, Joy and I will always be friends. We picked right up where we left off when I got to L.A. Friday morning. Our week-end together, as usual was great.

Coming soon, an L.A. blog a day!

Hell-Ay

Christy and Joy 2000

I moved to Connecticut in 7th grade. There was this weird girl in my glass that I was afraid of. She was all artsy and angry, and as it turns out awesome. We became best friends in 9th grade passing notes back and forth in study hall. I don't know if it is because we are both Libras (like totally the best sign ever), but when we hang out, it's like we were never apart. Over the years we've tried to see eachother at least once a year.

I'm flying out Friday to visit Joy for a girls week-end and as her "Bachelorette" party. She is getting married this year too. We are going to hang out, shop, drink martinis, shop some more, have a girls night out on the town, take vitamins to recuperate, look cool in coffee shops, and then throw me on a plane home. Pictures to come!

My walk to work

Every morning DG and I get off the bus, walk to the corner, kiss good-bye, and go our separate ways. This is my view heading to my office. I love being downtown.

Oscar Worthy Apple Cobbler

In a last minute scramble to see something that had been nominated for an Oscar, DG and I rented Walk the Line on Friday night. We loved it so much that DG bought 2 Johnny Cash albums the next day. Then on Sunday we went over to Erin and Michael's to watch the ceremony. More than the actual event itself, I was interested in the socializing and eating aspect. Erin had a tres fancy elaborate cheese display, and she had made an amazingly supertabulous yummy White Chicken Chili. Having been to Costco that day and purchased an excessive amount of large Fuji apples, I made the following Apple Cobbler recipe to bring with us.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. By the time you peel and slice your apples the oven will be ready. Mix the following together and bake for 10 minutes in a 9 X 13 greased pan.
5 large apples peeled and sliced
1/4C sugar
1TBL lemon juice
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp corn starch
dash of nutmeg (unless you are my mother, then skip this step because Nutmeg is gross!)

Ok, you have 10 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients and cream in the butter. Add the boiling water and stir to smooth.
1C flour
1/2C sugar
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
3/4 stick butter (room temperature soft)
1/4C boiling water

Drop the dough mixture in spoonfuls all over the top of the apples. Bake for another 25 minutes. If you are in need of extra calories, serve with vanilla ice cream. Don't worry though, this is good enough to stand on its own! Do not be suprised if there are no left overs.

Catering

I got 6 quotes from local caterers to serve brunch to 100 people at our wedding. This week-end we had tastings with our top two choices. Both were quite fun in an awkward, I'm eating your food in front of you, judging it's flavor and texture kind of way. Though we cleaned our plates in both venues, we had some definite opinions after we left.

Sunday we met with a man who is an ex-chef who has been in business for 30+ years. The dishes that he made from his own recipes were quite good, but the rest of the meal felt like it came from a grocery aisle. Afterwards, when we went to Costco three of the items he served us were in their bakery aisle! I am convinced that he just picked up all of those items that morning. I may be on a budget, but I do NOT want the food to taste like it just came out of a can or the grocery store, gross.

Based on that, we are choosing the caterer we met with on Saturday. In addition to a buffet of other items, we will be having a Bread Pudding French Toast, a Vegetarian and a Sausage Strata, and a Spinach, Walnut Salad with shrimp, scallops and Blackberry/Mango Viniagrette. YUM!

Now I need to email the lucky winner.

Cool Things about Being Engaged and no longer single

I am no spring chicken. And this chicken was single in the hen house for a long time. Single and happy, yet griping about all the benefits that couples have that singletons do not. I will not say crap things, like "I'm a whole person now", or "he's my better half", but there are some definite benefits to being in love. Here are a few of the cool things I have learned now that I am officially part of a couple.

1) When invited to play poker with other couples, I don't get set up with a friend of someone's friend.
2) I get invited to poker parties now.
3) I'm no longer the 3rd wheel, now I'm the 3rd and 4th wheels.
4) When invited to weddings, I don't have to sit at the singles table with the other depressed single people, only to leave and go drink by myself at the bar.
5) Because of the engagement lots of people send really nice cards that say really nice things that make you feel really good.
6) I now have bling.
7) When I make an entire batch of cookies, I have someone else to blame when they are gone in a day. (GGGGGiiibson!)
8) Merging car insurance makes your rate go down!
9) People stop asking things like "when are you going to take the plunge?", or "when's DG going to make an honest woman out of you?", or "why would he want to buy the cow when the milk is free?" (oh wait never mind, that was me saying that).
10) I'll never be lonely living by myself again.

Shoddy old granola recipe

Alright, toss that last piece of craptacular that I entered into cyberspace, and replace it with this new version of granola, aka the best granola you will ever have in your entire life. Found this recipe in last week's USA Today. I know some people may turn their noses up and poo poo recipes from this periodical, yet every recipe I've ever made out of it (maybe 4?) has been really good. So here it goes, new and improved Granola.

2C rolled oats
1/2C wheat germ
2TBL dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4C sliced almonds
1/2C coconut (more if you like)

1/4C maple syrup (I see you trying to sneak in the Aunt Jemima - NO, use the real deal!)
3TBL canola oil (or vegetable)
1TBL water
1tsp vanilla
1TBL honey (optional)

1/2C dried pineapple (chopped)
1/2C dried mango (chopped)

Heat oven to 275 and coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Warm the syrup, oil, water, vanilla and honey in a sauce pan over low heat. Drizzle over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 5-7. Stirring helps so that it doesn't burn. Mix in the dried fruit in the end. Prepare to eat the entire batch.

Book Review: The Notebook (aka sobfest 2006)

Our souls were one, if you must know
and never shall they be apart;
With splendid dawn, your face aglow,
I reach for you and find my heart.

Not having seen the movie, but hearing about a bit of the hoopla, I borrowed The Notebook from Lora thinking it would be a quick and easy read. Throughout the first half of the book, all I could think of was Harlequin Romance meets Bridges of Madison County. Basically, it was fluff, just some good pass the time reading. Then right about 2/3 into it, it took me for a loop. My sobbing like a school girl began on the bus, sitting next to a woman that works at the DNA with DG. I figured if I used her scarf to blow my nose, she would understand, because she saw that I was reading "The Notebook". Every few lines I had to put the book down, take deep breaths and tell myself it was just a story. Finally in lieu of making a scene, I put it away and tried to SuDoku. I went to bed at 8:00pm that night to finish it and took Mr. Gibson with me for support. Again the waterworks began after one sentence. DG came in to check on me and found a complete mess. I am not a big cryer and though I may tear up once in awhile, it is rare for me to have a sob fest. Through sniffles and sobs, I relayed the stupid old story of The Notebook, (and then *sob*....and then *sniff* *gulp for air*) and how it used stardard trite heart wrenching themes to elicit this waterfall in me. I felt it was an unfair trick. It's like in the end of Pay it Forward when in lieu of creating an ending that would bring the movie round full circle, some Uppity Up in Hollywood decides to kill off Haley Joel Osment in an attempt to contrive some sense of emotion from the audience. It was a cheap and dirty way out. Beyond my hating to cry, I ended up enjoying the book. It went from a love story into a true love forever ever story, into the nursing home forever, and that's where it got me. I would recommend reading it, of course in the privacy of your own home.

Spring tulips

Jay and Kim came over for dinner on Saturday night and brought the most beautiful pink tulips. The green stems are like a color only seen in a Pottery Barn catalog. The texture of the leaves are so beautiful. In our discussion, Kim mentioned that her bulbs were already sprouting outside. So Sunday morning (when we had a high of 74 degrees, hello??) I ran outside to check all the bulbs I planted in late fall, and sure enough, they were starting to peek through! I'm not sure what to do with these if it snows. Any gardeners out there?

Due to newly found allergies in our guest, our menu was pared down to: Grilled Chicken (in the best marinade ever), Avocado Salsa, Roasted Broccoli, and Rachel Ray's Orzo with Spinach and Tomato. This is my absolute new favorite recipe and oh so easy!

If you pop over to Jay's blog, hit the link to take his Political quiz from February 12. I'm a liberal (duh) but DG scored as a Libertarian. Too much reading of the Wall Street Journal no doubt. Putting the scare in him!