Italy

It’s been 1 year this month since I stepped foot onto foreign soil for the first time. I can’t believe how fast a year fly’s by. Italy was magnificent. I swear I was supposed to live in Rome, it’s my city. The food is delectable and fresh without preservatives we use here. Fresh breads, cheeses, and meats line the streets. The smell of harvested grapes fills the air, it’s amazing. I also used to hate olives until I had a fresh plump green one stuff with mozzarella and garlic. Every time I stick an olive in my mouth, I think of that cool crisp October day when we ate dinner outside beneath the Spanish Steps. You really don’t realize how lucky you are until you get home. Italy, I will be back, just give me some time. Until then, I will look at my pictures and relive those incredible moments.

(Street artist drawing a portrait of Jim and I)

(Venice birds love food)

(The only time we took a Gondola ride, the picture didn't turn out)..I didn't have my nice camera yet..

(Ancient Rome)

(TIVILI)

(Tivili..A small town on top of a mountain about an hour north of Rome)

(Colosseum)

(Dinner in ROME...They have about 5 courses per meal..my type of dining)

AND they really do eat pasta every day!

I loved this Card :)

Brandi sent me the cutest card yesterday, it was made for us!  Thank you Brandi! Can't wait to see you!!!  Epcot Wine and Food festival...HERE WE COME!  

Fall in Florida

I took these pictures yesterday evening.  Everyone is enjoying the fall colors and I have flowers blooming like it's spring.  So I have to make my own fall colors by hanging wreaths and taking pumpkin shots with the dogs.   

Howey Mansion

I have now been into the Howey Mansion. It's amazingly beautiful and Marvel is such a neat wonderful women. It's a long story on how we met, I do believe in fate because this home has always intrigued me and now I have gotten to look inside and meet Marvel the owner. It's a wonderful piece of history.

October-A Fun Filled Month with Marlin's & Friends

This October is actioned packed. We have so many exciting things going on I can't wait!

(Bryan and Jim holding there catch from the Orange Beach Fishing Tourney)

The first weekend in October, which is next week, we have Brandi and Bryan coming down to visit! The boys will play golf, and us girls will think of something fabulous to do! We will grill out and drink red wine, we will take them to Jim and I's favorite restaraunt! I have already started downloading the hot new songs that are out so Brandi and I can blast the surround sound all weekend long. Sorry boys, that's what we do. We also plan to take the boat out, so I'm on the lookout for a tube that fits 2 girls on it. I will check Bass Pro, if anyone knows where to buy a big tube for water tubing, post it for me.

(Doesn't this tube above look amazing! This is the one I want...It just looks a little dangerous to me, naaah I better not, Jim would kill me with his driving)

Skip to the week of the 16th, Jim and I are off to St. Thomas! We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary on the island, we have an exciting fishing trip planned on the boat named the Marlin Prince. I hope to catch the world record Marlin that week. I have a feeling that the Marlin Prince will take me to the King Marlin, we will see! I have never been to St. Thomas so if anyone has any tips or great places to see, please let me know.

(The marlin below is hopefully the one I will catch, don't worry Marlin, I will release you)

The week after were back we have Jaclyn & Jason coming in from Oklahoma. We love them so much and are excited to have them back! It's been a year since they have been to our home so we have many exciting things planned. We are going bottom fishing, October is the month to catch grouper and snapper, which are wonderful fish to eat, so I will get to load our freezer up with fresh fish. We also have tickets for Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. They turn each studio into a haunted house. It's amazing in a creepy way. I'm not sure why I love being scared, but I always have a ball.

(Picture's below are 2 spook houses of Halloween Horror Nights)

So the fall is already off to a great start. November will be here before we know it. My tree festival is in November, and we will be having family over to our house this year for Thanksgiving. I'm breaking the Green Egg out to smoke our turkey. It should be yummy.

Finally after 5 months

Jaclyn's Bachelorette party in Dallas was in April, I have been itching to see the pictures and I have finally seen 3 of them! We had such a great time, wish I were getting ready for it this weekend! Here is the link from my POST about the Dallas Trip. I promised pictures, here they are 5 months later :) LINK TO DALLAS POST

A Corn Chip Crime

(Bear's Leopard Print Bed)

Today while leaving to work I went through my morning routine.  Bear likes to sleep in until the last minute so in his normal state, he was cuddled up on his favorite bed, well I thought it was his favorite bed.  

Everyday he walks me to the door, and then sits there like he is so so sad I'm leaving and watches me drive out the driveway.  Well, today I forgot my phone so I had to come back and I caught him laying in my bed, with his head on my pillow.  I took the picture while he was yawning, I guess he was still tired since his mama has to get up early and go to work and she gets him up to early every morning.  

Now everything makes sense, every night I think I smell corn chips, and I'm like, geez that dog stinks, well no wonder! He uses my pillow every morning for his daily naps.  I'm sure that's what all the dogs do while I'm gone.  Now they have lost the privilege of the door being open in my room, I guess the cold kitchen tile will have to do.  AND the thought of me sleeping on that corn chip smell makes me sick, thank god I wash my sheets weekly, or it would have smelled like a corn chip factory in there.

Sunshine

I have been eyeing this sunshine for months now.  I always knew it would go on sale, and 6 months later it did!  I got it for $30.  I love it, now I must hang it outside, when I get it up I will show you the final results.

Update on my TREE for the Orlando Museum of Arts

I have been glittering away lately.  I have took silver balls and made them into icy snow balls.  Here is what I've done so far for the tree.  I'm on the look out for snow owls now.

Only 1 1/2 more months until the Festival of Tree's...YEA!!

Fall Finds-Thanks to Lesli & Jamie

Lesli was right, Bath & Body Works has all the fabulous fall stuff in, including PUMPKIN scents. I fell in love with the Leaves Room Spray, it reminds me of hot apple cider warming on the stove. It's mighty strong though, while in line at Chick-Fil-A today I was so excited about my new purchase I thought it would be a good idea to spray a small squirt of the leaves in my car...well it almost killed me. I'm sure when I pulled up to pay for my meal I changed the smell of fried chicken to apple cider in the whole place. I still have a slight headache and can smell it on my clothing and in my hair. So spray with caution in a open room. Maybe this stuff would take care of Bear's corn chip problem... Just Kidding

I also found lemonade lip gloss, I know it's totally not FALL but I love lemonade and it gives off a nice shine.

And last but not LEAST, Pumpkin Lotion! I had to get it, I just had to.

Thank You LESLI!

Oh, and while I'm on the pumpkin topic, my cousin Jamie emailed me a yummy looking recipe, Thank you JAMIE :)

The recipe is pumpkin-bean soup:
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 14 oz can vegetable broth
1 tsp dried leaf sage, crushed
salt and ground black pepper
cracked black peppercorns (optional)
fresh lime slices (optional)

Preparation:
1. In medium saucepan combine pumpkin, unsweetened coconut milk, beans, broth and sage. Heat through.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with black peppercorns. Drizzle with lime.

Serves 4.

The Weekend With Brandi

Brandi and I had the greatest time! Her new home is BEAUTIFUL! They have done such a wonderful job and I really enjoyed helping her decorate. I felt like I was at home and I didn't want to leave. I even got to cook on the beautiful stove top in the picture above. I was mighty fun :) I LOVE IT!!

(Brandi gave me a special friendship bracelet that reads Today, Tomarrow, and Forever Freinds will always be there..I love it and I'm wearing it as I type, the glasses are our new R & B wine glasses, well we used them as our drinking glass all night, I love them to!!)

(Brandi and I dancing to our new favorite song)

Mom's Always Have Anwsers

An E-mail from my Mom:

September 12, 2008

Dear Ryan,

I know why you are obsessed with Pumpkins...it is all my fault and your beloved Grandparents, I too have and had an obsession with them.

A year after you were born, I had a beautiful garden, and for some reason I planted more pumpkins than any other vegetable or crop, for I had this picture in my mind that for Fall I would fill the back steps with orange pumpkins. I took great and wonderful care of them and grew over a 100 or more of them. The garden was a sea of orange. I sold a few and gave a lot away. My Aunt Hazel who was a master gardener told me that was the BEST PUMPKIN patch she has EVER saw and all the pumpkins were perfect no scratches or marks on their skin, just perfect specimens. I had my beautiful pumpkins line the steps of the old farm house, it would have been a postcard for fall. On YOUR first Halloween we dressed you as a Pumpkin and do you know why? Because your MeMe and PawPaw called YOU pumpkin all the time...all the time.

If you LOOK hard in the photo's I gave you, YOU can see the little pumpkin baby Ryan all dressed up as a pumpkin by the pumpkins I grew. Also I had a rule during Halloween it would not be gory or scary during fall...it could only be pumpkins. So this has been instilled in you as a young child. LOOK for that picture, I think it is in the pink homemade album with the bear on it...Let me know if you find it. This explains why you are the Pumpkin Moon Maid and rule all the Pumpkin People.he he ;) this is for real... and we would bake all the seeds and eat them... you have a lot of pumpkin DNA in your blood...

Love,

MOM

Thank you mom :)

Smells Like Heaven!

I have a new found love, it's a wonderful product that smells amazing!  It brings me into the fall spirit, it smells like pumpkins.  Every morning while I shampoo and condition I un-screw the top and just breath the scent in.  It brings a smile to my face.  Also, it leaves your strands silky and smooth.  The brand is Sexy Hair, Pumpkin Hydrating Series. 

P.S.-I'm not sure why I have an obsession with pumpkins.  I have pumpkin men everywhere, I shampoo my hair in pumpkin shampoo, I crave pumpkin pie, and the list could go on and on. 

You can buy this shampoo a lot cheaper online, I didn't know this and spent way to much.  I have found it on Amazon.com and EBAY.    

This is GREAT!

Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken Madeira Recipe

Serves/Makes: 4

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

8 asparagus spears

4 slices mozzarella cheese

***Madeira Sauce***

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (I used canned mushrooms)

3 cups madeira wine (I used apple Juice) any juice or marsala wine will do.

2 cups beef stock

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover each chicken breast with plastic wrap then use a mallet to flatten the chicken to about 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle each fillet with salt and pepper. Sauté the chicken fillets for 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until the chicken has browned just a bit. Remove chicken fillets from the pan and wrap them together in foil to keep the fillets warm while you make the sauce. Don't clean the pan. You want all that cooked-on goodness to stay in the skillet to help make the sauce. Make the madeira sauce: With the heat still on medium, add olive oil to the skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for about two minutes. Add the madeira wine, beef stock, butter and pepper. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until sauce has reduce to about 1/4 of its original volume. When the sauce is done it will have thickened and turned a dark brown color. As the sauce is simmering, bring a medium saucepan filled about halfway with water to a boil. Add a little salt to the water. Toss the asparagus into the water and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus spears. Drop the asparagus in a bowl of ice water to halt the cooking. The asparagus should be slightly tender when done, not mushy. Set oven to broil. Prepare the dish by arranging the cooked chicken fillets on a baking pan. Cross two asparagus spears over each fillet, then cover each with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Broil the fillets for 3 to 4 minutes or until light brown spots begin to appear on the cheese. To serve, arrange two chicken breasts on each plate, then spoon 3 or 4 tablespoons of madeira sauce over the chicken on each plate.

Jim and I really enjoyed this one. I did'nt do the asparagus spears, but it was so good we didn't miss them.

Brandi Weekend

This weekend I will be driving up to Tallahassee to see my great friend Brandi! We havent seen each other since Destin and we are looking forward to it! We always manage to have a great time with each other. She has just recently moved into her brand new home! I will be helping her decorate, my favorite thing to do! Can't wait!



Only 2 more days! and a 2 1/2 hour drive!

(Brandi, Me, Jaclyn In VEGAS)

I know the picture below is low quality, it was taken on a camera phone, but this is our pumpkin men faces last year...Jaclyn really can make a good pumpkin man face, and I have to say, Brandi's pumpkin man doesnt cut the cake in this picture

(My Pumpkin man face looks mean)

My Way

The older I get the more rituals I pick up. I have daily things I do that I enjoy, and the days I miss them I feel like I haven’t yet completed my day. I eat a weight watchers cup cake every night with a glass of milk. I love ice in my milk, I think it’s the way the milk glazes over the ice cubes that makes it appealing to my eye. I also love bubble baths, I sleep better if I take one. Every morning I get up and Bear greets me to say good morning, it’s like I have been gone for weeks. We lay on the floor and his belly gets tickled, it’s the same routine every morning. I’m not sure why the other doggies don’t do this; I think they are too excited for their meal. Bear’s so weird when it comes to food, he will let it set all day and wait for us to come home and then he eats it. He either knows he will need to go to the bathroom if he eats it in the morning, or he is just polite. I guess we all have our own rituals, even our fur terds.

I also have weekly cravings I have to fulfill. One is my Cuban chicken obsession. I dream about this chicken! I have tried to ask for the recipe but I’m not fluent in Spanish. Another thing I crave is my garlic shrimp and Hanabie Sushi Roll, it’s delicious! I try to go at least every other week when we have time. I wish I could master this dish at home, it’s to die for. I won’t even talk about my Taco Bueno, I can’t even get it in FL and if I could, I would go daily! Watch out MID-WEST, I will be down in a month or so and Taco Bueno HERE I COME!

I enjoy drinking hot tea; I promise if your tea cup is beautiful the tea tastes better. I’m not sure why that is but it’s the same with coffee. It’s something about holding a big bulky colorful coffee cup between your hands, and sipping it. I enjoy stuff like this so much.

Jim and I eat lox every Sunday morning, when the weekend rolls around and we don’t have smoked salmon in the fridge we have to make a dash to the local grocery store and get some. I thank god that the Sunday morning breakfasts with hash browns, bacon, and eggs got old because that was a mess to clean up, it’s nice to just throw some salmon on a bagel and he thinks it’s the greatest thing since slice bread. I’m lucky.

What got me thinking about my things that I love and the stuff that I have gotten used to is Halloween. So many families have traditions for all the holidays. Each family is different and I think it’s so interesting to see how people live and what people like. When I have a child I will start a tradition of going to the local pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin, I might even start that tradition this year without my future kid. I will carve it then bake the seeds to enjoy. If anyone has any neat family traditions please share them. I love hearing about them and would like to start some myself since we have just recently started our own family.

Comic Book

If Brandi and I were comic book drawings, we would look like this. No, we had nothing to drink, we had just got threw eating our morning bagel and figured we would play with my photo booth on my mac. It was quite fun. Miss you B! See you soon!! YEA!!

Wonder Women

(We just got through seeing spider man outside by the window..it's OK Brandi, He won't hurt us)

(Spider Man just asked if we wanted to go to New York with him...Look at my face, I was amazed, Brandi couldn't believe it)

(Were telling Spider Man we are staying right here)

(Spider Man is mad now, I'm worried, It looks like Brandi is trying to seduce him)

(We thought it was working, SHOOT, I guess not for Spider MAN)

(It didn't work, We are both amazed, he just flew away in a blink of an eye)

THE END