Rainy Saturday–What to Do?
Posted on January 31, 2010
Today is a boring rainy Saturday. John’s taking a practice bar exam all day and the dogs are about to go stir crazy. I ordered a new template for our new adventure! Keep a watch out for super exciting news from Katie-T Photography and Shannon Whitaker Photography. (Oh, I am switching my business name over to Katie-T Photography–YEAH!) Other than that, I’m learning how to cook a Vietnamese dish called Pho. My super nice neighbor Huan is helping me out. Right now I have cow bones boiling on my stove. I’m not really sure how I feel about that seeing how I hate bones–and these are huge, but Huan assures me this is the only way to prepare Pho properly. Oh yeah, almost forgot, we can actually eat it tomorrow night! It’s 2 days of cooking for a noodle soup.
I did find some pretty funny candy (YanYan–pictured below) at the asian market that teaches english. Examples: “Horse–Giddy Up” ”Beetle–Love It” “Squirrel–Best Friend” Yeah, these little snacks will probably be my Valentine’s presents this year. :)
Huan helping me shop for Pho ingredients:
Pics from my iPhone
Posted on January 19, 2010
I figured you could learn a lot about a person by seeing the pictures they took with their iPhone. Here are mine:
Possible dress for the Christmas Dinner: (Not the winner.)
Actual dress for Christmas dinner: (Me and John)
This is the amazing deal on wicker at Home Depot: (I always snap pics to see if John likes it.)
My artichokes: YUM!!!
Clams:
Yes, I’m still amazed at a tiny fluff of snow on the ground. (In GA)
Teens in FL? :(
Tango riding back to FL in his “throne”. This is the wicker I ended up with, handed down from my parents. Our house is looking quite snazzy!
Apple wearing the surcingle for the first time. (Non-Horse people, the surcingle is the belt like contraption holding the purple saddle pad on her. As far as training goes, it was quite a milestone.)
Trying to clean out the closet… :( Now it’s done! And I’m ready to take pics to put our house on the market–and drop off a ton of stuff at Goodwill.
Guess. :) I thought it was pretty.
Dinner at Chop Stix
Our new breakfast nook table! :) We still need something to go on the wall.
The shoe I’m considering buying to train for my 5k’s.
Tailgating
Tango when he looked like Quazimoto.
Christina and I getting ready for the Falcons vs Bears game.
More tailgating–this time with the dogs.
Tango is quite the cuddler–John snapped this one while we were in Charleston over Christmas.
So, that’s it. Nothing much exciting going on here. :)
Bye Bye Nene
Posted on January 11, 2010
A great woman passed away a few days ago. She’s the grandmother of one of my best friends. I don’t want to make this a sad post, she lived and loved a very full life.
Nene was married 63 years and her words of wisdom to me at my bridal shower was “Keep your mouth shut and always smile.” :) I’m not so sure that I listened very well, but I did learn quite a few things from Nene over the years. The main thing I saw in her every time I was around her is the “Wife of Noble Character” that Proverbs 31 speaks about. Those verses mean so much to me as a wife and woman.
This is the infamous bridal shower w/Nene, Carol, and JoAnne Sanders.
Proverbs 31
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
The First Dance and other Wedding Day Tunes
Posted on January 9, 2010
I love the first dance. It’s the moment that the couple can express their musical preferences, knowledge, humor… For our wedding, we danced to Peter Gabriel’s “Book of Love”
Lyrics:
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It’s full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that’s where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It’s full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we’re all too young to know
But I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
You ought to give me wedding rings
I absolutely love the song, however it didn’t pack the punch that some other songs would have. The song is very slow, and while being quite witty, didn’t translate well to 125 people melting in my in-laws back yard. I give our first dance song a big fat thumbs down. Now, my friend Melissa danced to “At Last” and that was THE song for her wedding. Her band preformed it beautifully, she looked beautiful, it was a beautiful thing to watch and be a part of. Isn’t that what we all want for our wedding song?
I found our song later in the evening. Our band (an awesome bluegrass band from Saint Simons Island), played a song they had learned just for our special day: “Swept Away” by the Avett Brothers. THAT was our wedding song! It was later in the evening, it wasn’t so stinking hot, and the only people left celebrating with us were our closets friends. It was amazing.
If I had it to do all over again… #1 I would not plan a wedding in June. #2 I’d pick a song that had drama, that we’d have fun with, and that set the tune for the rest of the wedding.
My list of favorite wedding songs are:
What A Wonderful World–Louis Armstrong
Look Heart, No Hands or Forever and Ever, Amen–Randy Travis
And for a few funny ones:
Beast of Burden–Rolling Stones
Anyone Else but You–Juno Soundtrack
What will your First Dance song be?
Successful Cooking for Guests!
Posted on January 6, 2010
Last night we cheated–we ate the $3.99 buffet at Hungry Howies. I had been in the car for over 5 hours and couldn’t bring myself to cook. To redeem myself, I did cook for the in-laws in Charleston the night before and I cooked tonight for Asghar (pictured below–middle, one of John’s classmates also studying for the bar). This pic was taken this summer at one of the baseball games in Jacksonville–we had box seats! 
He does look a little skeptical in this photo, don’t worry, he was quite pleased with my cooking!
Today’s recipe was: Red & Green Pork Chops I did swap out the green beans for asparagus bc John isn’t a fan of green beans. I roasted the asparagus for 15 mins and made an asparagus sauce–2 Tbsp Melted Butter, 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar, and 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce. (It really is the BEST asparagus sauce I’ve EVER had.) I cheated a little bc I stayed out table shopping too long and bought the starch from Fresh Market. The dish was spectacular!
For the in-laws I made: Pork Tenderloins with Pears and Shallots It was also a success.
PS. My artichokes are looking pretty stinking sad and 3 of my Lemons are already MOLDY!!! 
Crazy Dog Lady Here Again
Posted on January 3, 2010
Here comes “The Herd” again! This time it’s Tango & Cash with their “cousins” Nessie and Wimbley. More on Facebook.
1st Day of the New Years Resolutions
Posted on January 2, 2010
I did make it to the grocery store–you know the place I haven’t seen in 2 months. I bought $85 worth of delicious ingredients to make healthy yet nutritious meals for my bar-studying husband. So far my meals this week consist of pretty normal ingredients, a WHOLE chicken and 2 artichokes. I have NEVER cooked a whole chicken, but tonight I dismembered it, skinned it, and surprisingly I ate it. I normally don’t eat meat off the bone, but seeing at how a whole chicken was only $3.01 tonight, I made an exception.
Tonight’s recipe was Chicken Masala. The “putting my kitchen shears to work” dismembering the poor little chicken was quite impressive. I felt a little odd since my last time I had been around any meat still attached to the bone was when we were dissecting cats in A&P2. I was pretty sure that by the time dinner was served, I wouldn’t be hungry bc this is all I can think about:
This is two of my lab partners for A&P II Matt Ellis and Cary Hillier.
Well I did end up finishing the dish, I started prep work at 5pm and finally ate at 830pm. It wasn’t that good.
New Years Resolutions
Posted on January 1, 2010
So today I was thinking… what will be my new year’s resolutions? First, like a ton of other women, I want to lose weight.
As I was thinking further, I realized that owning my own business I needed to think about what others would choose to be my New Years Resolution.
Along with losing weight:
I’d like to run a few more 5k’s–and this time run the whole time. I ran my first on Thanksgiving and did exceptionally well in my mind. I ran most of the first mile, half of the second, and all of the third. Out of the 5,000+ people that ran that day, I’m sure I beat a few of them. I feel like I’d be in pretty good shape if I ran 3+miles 3x a week.
I want to cook more–well, really I don’t want to cook. I want to save $ and eat healthier. So, in order to save $$$ and lose the gut, I will be cooking fun and delicious stuff. For now my inspiration will come from Tastespotting, a blog that compiles all kind of cooking blogs. I just have to click on my favorites and I have recipes for the week.
For my business, I want to have much more to offer. I plan on opening “Badogoodog Photography” and “Tease Me Photography” I also plan on offering many more albums, wall hangings, metal murals, and photobooths. Samples will be available in the near future.
What others probably want my resolutions to be: Wake up earlier, answer my phone, and be more aware of time.
What are your new year’s resolutions? What do you think others would choose for yours to be?