Cooler Weather

After over a month of temperatures OVER 100 degrees... we have left town! We got out of dodge! not permanently. but by the amount of stuff we packed, you wouldn't know that we were ever going home. but we will go home soon. well, not real soon. Next week.

today- I'm in Colorado. Frisco, Colorado. I don't know what the current temperature is, but it feels awesome! I'm sitting in a corner of the main room surrounded by open windows. the wind is blowing just right. the sun is shining. the mountains are looking splendid and majestic in the background.

I'd show you a picture, but I'm on hubby's work computer and he'll probably be a little upset if I just hook my camera up to it. So pics will have to wait til we return home to the oven of Texas.

Until then... I'm feeling good!

Procrastinating

So I should be packing for our exciting trip to Colorado... (we leave tomorrow for 10 days- although we're driving there, so 2 of those days are travel days)... but instead, I'm blogging. and showing very random pictures at that. I remind myself of the little kid who comes up with the most random attempts to procrastinate taking a bath or going to bed. I never out grew this habit.

Picture set #1 ... Showing off my OCD... so my new classroom was FULL of boxes, furniture, tons of stuff, etc, etc. Do you know what I spent almost an hour doing? not unpacking boxes. not moving furniture. nope. organizing the construction paper. It was previously just all jumbled together... a red piece here, a handful of blue, a pack of pink. But I took care of that problem!
TWICE! Oh yes, in kindergarten we have short and LONG paper- and I just HAD to organize BOTH! So, now that that is finished... I can move onto the boxes :) (what is wrong with me??)

And on the home front... I posted this awhile back. Our ugly door knobs in our cute cottage home.

The new one from Anthropologie looked so great! But that old key hole cover had left some ugly marks.
Good thing Carpenter Kelley lives here! Now look at the beauty! Nothing a little wood putty and paint and sanding can't fix. (I am very proud of myself)

And for the other 3 doors on that hallway... our door knobs from Canton! They are now all perfectly installed and working :)

These fit with the key hole covers- so we just kept them on.

Okay, well, I guess I'm out of material. So, time to pack! And then off to Colorado~~ cooler weather, here I come!

MMM MMM GOOD

About a year ago, Ty's wonderful boss invited us all over for dinner. He and his wife proceeded to make us an amazing Mexican meal. The food was delicious, the conversation was wonderful, the people were great. Or so we thought, we've never been invited over again. Hmm.

But anyways, he made this yummy corn dish- super easy, full of flavor. So when we had a small dinner party last Saturday, we decided to give it a whirl.

Begin with fresh corn. Boss man says 1 and 1/2 ears per person. We did a bit more than that because we really like this dish. Clean em up, husks off, fuzzy stuff off. clean corn.
Here's what else you'll need... pepper, season salt, garlic, butter. Although I guess you could really use whatever spices you want. Be creative.

Okay- cut a small square of foil, put down a small pat of butter (or a lot, I won't judge), place corn on top. Another small pat of butter, sprinkle with seasonings, and roll it up. Repeat with all of the sweet sweet corn. (I think corn is my favorite vegetable this summer. I really wish it had more nutritional value.)

here's my 7 ears of corn sitting in the oven. I put them on a baking sheet just in case they leaked. They did not leak. Roast em. I read a cook book that says roast 350 for 30 minutes. I just turned the oven on and hoped for the best. It worked out just fine.

While those little babies are baking away, get out your final ingredients. the real goodness. The CHEESE!! This is a Mexican dish, so it requires Mexican cheese. My grocery store always carries 4 types of Mexican cheese. The one day I go to purchase the Mexican cheese, they are out of 2 and only have these 2 left. Typical. anyways- I used these two and it was perfect! Cojita and Queso Anejo.

Now, I used a casserole dish so that I could throw it all back in the oven (or microwave) to make sure the corn dish was hot when the dinner was all ready. So, into your casserole dish grate some queso anejo. As much as you want. I did some on the big grater side and some on the more fine grater side. It really doesn't matter here, I was experimenting.

Then throw in some cojita. yum. (this came pre-grated, even better)

Now, when the corn is ready, carefully unwrapped one. Pour any of the delicious butter sauce into the cheese. Now, to keep the corn as hot as possible, I cut it off the cob into a metal bowl. But first, I ran hot water all over the metal bowl to heat it up, then I wiped it dry and cut my corn into it. Seemed to keep the corn pretty warm. I could just eat the corn like this by the way. delish.

Here's a blurry picture of me cutting the corn off the cob. By the way, do you like my cute little owl apron my hubby bought me from Anthropologie one year for an Easter gift? How sweet is he?

The heat from the corn should melt the cheeses. Just stir together and voila! You have an incredible Mexican corn dish.

And I promise there will NOT be leftovers.

Mexican Corn Dish

corn on the cob (1 and 1/2 ears per person)

butter

season salt

garlic powder

pepper

queso anejo

cojita

Clean the corn from husks and "hair." Place on a tin foil square, add a pat of butter and salt, pepper, and garlic (to taste). Roll up individual ears of corn.

Roast for 30 minutes at 350.

Grate the cheeses into a casserole dish.

Cut the corn off the cob. Add the corn and any leftover "juice" into the cheeses. Mix together. Reheat in the microwave or oven if necessary to melt the cheeses.

Enjoy!

This Way to the Beach

Oh Wrightsville Beach... how I love you!! Home of Dawson's Creek. Home of One Tree Hill. Home of Kate + 8's last vacation. Home of my wonderful mama. Home of me for 5 years. I love this place.

Hubby and I spent as much time as we could there! look at the wonderful sand, the lovely waves, the baking people. It's a great thing. I wore sunscreen every day. My dermatologist would be proud. However, on Saturday I put on the usual 30. Then I reapplied throughout the day with spray on 50. And somehow I burned to a crisp. So even though I stayed til Tuesday, Saturday was my last beach day. Sadness. and by the way, I am not an advocate of spray on sunscreen any more. the end.

Oh there's my sweet mama!!

a beautiful sight.

Grandma Elizabeth. Sometimes known as Kelley Lanier. Sometimes Grandma. Sometimes Mavis. Sometimes Elizabeth. Sometimes Mary Elizabeth. She has lots of names.

Anyways- she took us to the most wonderful dinner of all.... seafood at the beach! delish!!

Mom and G-Ma ordered some crab stuffed, bacon wrapped shrimp. they said it was great.

Ty had some fish with crab stuffing and spinach and a sauce. He loved it too.

I had Mahi Mahi (I think) with Mango salsa and a couple of jumbo shrimp. Also amazing!

Here's me, hubby, and G-ma at the restaurant. aww... love them.

So, apparently besides the battleship and pictures of my friend's dirty baby, those were all the pictures I took.

We did lots of beach time, perusing used book stores, running, jogging, walking. mostly eating. a lot. Mom cooked tons of amazing meals for us. all in all- it was a fabulous vaca with fabulous people!! Miss you mom and Gma!!

USS North Carolina

We went to Wilmington, NC back in June... and I figure that a late post is better than never, right? Tomorrow I'll share pictures of the beach and family that we visited. But today we focus on the USS North Carolina. it's a battleship. from World War II.

I lived in Wilmington for 5 years and never visited the battleship. It sits on the river in downtown Wilmington. I'd seen it, just never gone. When Ty found out that I had NEVER gone in 5 years he said, "Well, that's the difference between you and me. I would have gone my first weekend in Wilmington."

So this year we went. It is NOT air conditioned. It is HOT. I'm so glad that I showered right before going. That was a smart idea.

Here it is... (it is pretty) (and big)

Here's a plane that sits on top of it. It was important for some reason, but we went back in June. So I forget. Sorry.

This was my favorite part... looking out over downtown Wilmington. How quaint. How cute. How wonderful is this town? Oh! See that light blue building to the left of the picture? That is my all time favorite restaurant. well, WAS my all time favorite restaurant. It closed down last year. I am still in mourning. I don't want to talk about it.

Artsy me. I should have posted this on the 4th. So pretend it's the 4th of July when you look at this. Happy 4th of July!!

Thanks for pretending with me.

SO I was in AWE of how this battleship was both a battleship and a floating city. I mean seriously- it was NOT luxurious, but it had ALL the amenities you could possibly need. This is a bit of a stretch, but it kinda reminded me of a cruise ship- just because a cruise ship has EVERYTHING on it. Of course this one up's a cruise ship because this can also battle. big time.

There was a post office, a laundry mat, ironing place, dentist, doctor, operating room, communication center, ice cream shop, game areas, lounge areas, stores, soda shop, dining halls, lots of kitchens, barber shop, and then there was this...

Yep - that caught my attention!! And look at this mixer! Imagine the dough you could make in here. HUGE

Since Ty loves me taking his picture, I had to sneak attack from the back. But the point of this shot was to show that you had to step over every door way (and Ty had to duck too). This was done so that if one room flooded, the water would stay in that one room. (well provided that it was a low flood). very smart. very smart. I wonder if that ever happened? I didn't learn about that on the tour.

Sometimes the floors were these grates. I don't' know why, maybe for air circulation, maybe for communication. Anyways, sometimes there were lots of levels of grates on top of each other. And then you were supposed to walk across it. Now, I'm the kinda girl who walks AROUND the grates on the streets or side walks. I do NOT step on them. EVER. And here I was on a hugemongous boat, with skinny walk ways, and only 1 way to go, and I had to STEP on these grates. Oh man, it was terrifying. And I was dizzy looking down. and I just needed you to know that.

Oh one of the many dining halls. (reminds me of school lunches)

once again Ty did NOT want this picture taken. But I wanted him in it for the scale. Do you see that this kitchenaid mixer is as tall as my 6 foot 2 husband?? It is HUGE!! (and no I don't know if the brand is really kitchenaid, but it is in my world, okay?)

I have no clue what this picture really was except that it says St. Louis on it. And I'm from St. Louis, so I liked it. Thank you very much.

oh the very sad sleeping barracks. 4 levels high. flimsy mattresses. burning hot. I do not think I would have slept well there.

And then there was this... this was posted on the drinking fountains. who watches The Office?? because Dwight stands next to the water cooler one day and says, "So, what's the scuttlebutt?" and this made me laugh so hard to see it on a battleship.

And finally... me shooting the big guns. Yep, I'm a real hero. a really tough gal. (especially in flip flops with my adorable purse next to me)

well... that's the USS North Carolina. I hope you enjoyed your tour. Your tour was about 15 minutes long (as compared to our 3 hour tour). Your tour was air conditioned (as compared to our NOT air conditioned tour). And we basically learned all the same things. Bake shop, big mixers, sad beds, scuttlebutt, and lots of big guns.

The end.

Smith and Hawken

Just found out today that Smith and Hawken is going out of business. You can no longer order their adorable (and normally over priced) garden and out door stuff through the catalogue or online. Nope. You have to go to a store. I'm lucky enough to have one near me. So on my lunch break today... wait. what am I talking about? I'm on summer break. I don't have a lunch break. So on HUBBY's lunch break today, we went to Smith and Hawken and purchased a couple of things. (pictures to come soon).

So far everything is marked down 20-30%. But the store is definitely closing, so stay tuned because the savings are bound to go up!! Also- Targets have a Smith and Hawken aisle, I haven't checked it out yet, but I'm sure that stuff will go on sale too.

Happy Shopping!

Please Sponsor This Child

When we were in Wilmington, we met Chloe...

You can see she really needs some love and some baths. Please help.

JUST KIDDING!! Okay, so Chloe is the daughter of one of my best friends from college! and her mom is a GREAT mom!! In Wilmington, there was a concert in the parking lot of this shopping center. Well, not actually the parking lot, more like the field next to the parking lot.

Anyways, we all went and it was super fun to catch up and do something random. It was also super hot. And be the end of the night we were all pretty sweaty. Chloe found this beach ball and starting playing with it. She also dropped it A LOT. And when she dropped it, it fell in the dirt, and she'd pick it up and get dirt on her hands. Then she'd wipe her face and that sweaty little face would hold on to the dirt.

So by the end of the night, she looked like a child in one of those commercials. We were all laughing so hard!! She of course just thought we were playing with her. (Don't worry, her mommy bathed her before putting her to bed.)

Here are some normal pictures of mom and daughter, just to prove they are normally clean.

Chloe was a fish!! She did not want to get out of the water ever! even though it was pretty cold!! we all took turns helping her jump over the waves. It's a great arm work out! Her mom is much stronger than I am and can last a lot longer.

Chloe also fell in love with Ty. Well, she called him Tyler. And every time she went in the ocean she would reach her hand back to the beach and say, "Tyler, come." And if she saw Ty picking up a shell, she would hold out her hand for him to give it to her. He'd oblige and then she'd immediately throw it into the ocean and hold out her hand for another. So cute!

Wait... what's this? Her mom's dirty legs??? maybe they aren't a clean family after all. On second thought, please do help. Send money for a shower. Thank you.