Birthday Week

I have not blogged in a while so I thought I would try to make a new turn for my birthday. I have some early birthday resolutions for the upcoming year.  I will turn 34 tomorrow so I am officially in my mid-30's!  I need some accountability to keep up with my goals and I figure putting them in print is the best way to get that accountabiliy.  Here we go with the goals for the new Stacy year:

1. Keep on the new Weight Watchers plan to lose weight.  Fruit and most veggies are free now so I think this will be easier to keep on plan.
2. Go to the gym or do some type of physical activity at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes.
3. Be a better blogger so my friends know what is going on in my life.
4. Pay off my credit cards and start using my cash and check cards for purchases.
5. Be more confident and bold but also move my heart a little farther away from my sleeve when it comes to new people.
6. Keep a positive and optimistic attitude about life and complain less.
7. Try to work on my potty mouth.
8. Try to spoil the dog a little less!

So that's it for now but I will update more often this year, I promise!!!

Spring Garden!

So, I have not been the best blogger for a while!!! Luckily, Anne B and Kelly  have me covered on most of the gang's happenings for April and May.  I have decided to re-dedicate June to keeping up with my blog and sharing all the fun I have had with my friends and family.  I am really looking forward to getting away this weekend to Mobile Bay to celebrate the wedding of Brian's brother, David, and his beautiful fiancee, Jessica.  Kelly and I will head done on Friday and we are both looking forward to seeing Mobile's sights and sounds and of course, The Drankas!!!

In the mean time, I have been working on my yard with the help of my wonderful parents and brother, Steven.  My Mom and I were trying to figure out a plan for my front flower bed and Mom came up the idea of a small kitchen herb garden!  I was a bit skeptical but I am absolutely loving our little bed we planted and seeing my herbs grow every time I get a new rain! I also have a few tomato plants, an ancho pepper, and blueberries!  I am really excited to pick my blueberries when they ripen and am happy to report my smaller blueberry bush is now healthy and green (it was a victim of frost two winters ago and I refused to believe it was a goner.  I have been rewarded for my loyalty with excellent growth and am hoping it gets big like its sister bush throughout the next year).

Anyhow, that's about all the excitement for now.  I will work on posting more often and make an effort to share more pictures on future blogs.  I have a new mission to have photographic evidence of life but sometimes it doesn't always make it to the blog!

Finally, I leave you with the cutie Casper!!!

Feed me Kelly!!!!Tired pup-pup at Doo Dah Day!Benny gave Cas a new BoBo!  He is missing is buddy!

It's History Baby!!!!

I have let my resolution to blog every week go to the wayside so I am at least going to try to blog once every two to three weeks to keep up with everyone.  Since I haven't blogged since March 1st, I am going to hit the highlights of the last few weeks in my world!

First up: The lovely Ashley Filiano is expecting so Paige, Anne, Tara, and Erin threw her a great shower at Paige's house.  I am a little frightened by all the baby items I know about, in contrast to Kelly and Anne's comments about not knowing what most things were at the shower.  I guess I have had a ton of friend's have babies in the last few years and must have learned the difference between a Boppy and a Binky!  Ashley is a very sweet and gracious pregnant lady and we are all excited to meet Noah in May!

Next up:  Montgomery Road Trip

Kelly and I checked off another Alabama list item by visiting the State Capital in Montgomery.  Although I have seen the sights of Montgomery as a kid, it was really a wonderful experience to view it through the eyes of an adult and student of American History.  We were extremely lucky to catch a Saturday tour of the Capital and our Docent, Dr. Irby was truly a pleasure.  Dr. Irby is not only a historian but also is a living part of history, having participated in the Selma Voting Rights March as a 19 year old African American and later serving in the second administration of Governor George C. Wallace.  Dr. Irby shared with the group his profound respect for the changes made by Gov. Wallace after his his assassination attempt on both a personal and professional level.  He was an incredible fount of knowledge about not only the history of Alabama's Capital  (our capital is the most "historical" capital in the country and served as both the first capital of the Confederate States of American and as Alabama's present capital city) but the Civil Rights Movement in the state.

The Capital is truly beautiful and has been home to many moments in history, including the forming of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis and representatives from each of the Southern States. 

Speeches on the Capital Steps by both Gov. George C. Wallace promoting continued racial segregation and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. promoting equal rights for all.

Here are some views from inside the Capital, around the Capital grounds, and throughout the city (spot where Rosa parks refused to give up her bus seat, Little White House of the Confederacy, Home where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived). 

Finally, the question you all have been asking.... Where did you eat of the Top 100 Things to Eat in Alabama Before You Die list?????? 

Chris's Hotdogs in downtown Montgomery.... famous for the Chili Sauce they put on their dogs!  It was sinfully tasty!

And of course.... CASPER!

Every day when I get home, Casper "kills" one of his bobos for me as a welcome ritual!  He is currently working on the Devil Bobo he got last Halloween.  I wanted to try to get a picture of him running around with his toy so I could title it "runnin' with the devil" but as usual, he didn't cooperate!  Still, it's pretty sweet that he presents me with his prey on a daily basis just to make sure I know he loves me and who exactly is the Alpha in this arrangment!

Weekend Road Trips

The last two weeks have involved fun road trips to see wonderful friends and some of Alabama's historical sights!  The weekend of February 20th, Kelly and I went to Tuscaloosa for an Olympic Party at Jon and Marji's house!  Marji, the Queen of Tape, and Jon, the King of Criminal Defense, welcomed guests with food, arts and craft, plenty of drinks, and a homemade luge for chilling shots! Matt and Kendal also came down for some fun in the Home of the National Champions!!!! (I am going to so... enjoy saying that for the rest of the year!)  Here are some highlights of our evening at the Smith-Cohens! (Take special notice of my brilliant use of tongue to take a shot off the luge.)

As you can tell by the pics, we were all winners!

The weekend of 02/27, Kelly and I travelled to Monroeville and Selma to knock some historical sights off of Kelly's Alabama Bucket List.  First we travelled to the lovely Monroeville, home of Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird), Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood), and Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama).  There was a small arts and crafts festival but the highlight of the trip was seeing the Old Monroe County Courthouse in which Harper Lee's father (the inspiration for Atticus Finch) practiced law and Harper Lee first began formulating the story of The Finch Family and Boo Radley.  We got a special treat while in the courhouse in the form of gospel singing by the choir of  Wilcox County High School filling the main courtroom and those kids were incredibly talented young men and women. 

Before leaving Monroeville, we also indulged in a treat from the Top 100 Foods to Eat in Alabama Before You Die list in the form of Catfish and Cheese Grits from David's Catfish House.  Normally, I hate catfish but I got some to try and Kelly and I both agreed both the fish and the grits were quite delicious and worthy of placement on the list.  We also scored tickets to see To Kill A Mockingbird in May at the Courthouse!  This is a huge accomplishment because the shows always sell out and the tickets were not to go on sale to the general public until today.  We spoke with a lovely young couple and they were gracious enough to let the out of towners buy early because we weren't going to be able to come back and it is difficult to get tickets any other way.  Both Kelly and I love TKAMB and cannot wait to come back to see the play and maybe catch a glance of Harper Lee!

After leaving Monroeville, we had plenty of time and decided to swing by Selma, one of the major homes of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and sight of the voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge (the reenactment of this famous march will take place next weekend in Selma so probably good we swung by before all the other hundreds of history buffs came!).  Stuffed to the gills from catfish (pun intended), we did not indulge in any food from the Selma section of the list but there is always next time!  On the way home from our road trip fun, we also swung by my favorite furniture store in Pelham and I am officially in love with what I hope will be my new "big girl" bedroom suite!  (Come on tax return!).  I am going to include several pictures from our fun road trip so you can all share in the nerdy girl fun! 

 

 

Last but not least, here are the Random Casper Pictures of the week (this is why I should not waste my money on expensive toys for the dog) and a really crazy semi-trailer we saw on our road trip! 

 

 

So there must be something to this climate change thing!

Monday night in the Bama and it is snowing again!  Although I was off for president's day today, I can't help but hope it stick so I can get an extra, extra long weekend!!! I took some pictures on Friday and by Saturday, the stuff in my yard was almost gone.  It was pretty while it lasted and because we freak out in Alabama, I got off at about 2:00 on Friday to get out of the snow!  Casper proved a hater of all things precip and I got very few Casper in the snow pics for the blog.

This was the most the dog would get outside for the snow!

Both the grill and I miss summer!

Smelling the snow and looking for a dry spot!

Highlight of the week was dinner at Davenport's with Kellet, Lillie, David, and Kelly!  (Josh dropped by after Rugby for a cameo!) Lillie is now the 5th generation to "eat" at Jim Davenport's Pizza Palace and even though I don't have a a picture to put on the blog, I can assure you that it is ridiculous how cute she is and I am excited to see her grow over the years!

Not a lot going on for the week but some good news!  I was not able to go to WW last week but did go tonight and got an awesome surprise! I lost 3.4 lbs for the last two weeks and really feel like I am back on track with my weight loss!  I did treat myself to Chinese food tonight to celebrate the Year of the Tiger! I am a day late but who wants to go out on Valentine's Day if you are single!  My Valentine's Day present to myself was to watch the season premiere of Ruby on Style Network and it was very touching.  She is such an inspiration to me and really makes me want to get fit.  Ruby is the reason I bought my bicycle last summer and I am soo... ready for the weather to get warm and go out on Lakeshore.

To look forward to this week: Marji and Jon's Winter Olympics Party in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

My Daddy's birthday is February 20th and I am thinking my family will come down sometime to have dinner but we'll see.

Casper can have a bath on 02/18 after his flea preventative sinks in and boy does he need it! (that's a weird thing to look forward to but he is incredibly stinky right now)

Book Club on Tuesday at Kelly's- We read The Birth of Venus and have all agreed it is kind of horrible!

So that's it until next week! 

The week that was..

It's Monday and I making my first step toward keeping an updated blog.  Not a great deal of excitement this week but sometimes exciting doesn't equal good.  Stayed in for the better part of the week but capped it off with a Friday dinner at Outback with Kelly (they have a new iced tea cocktail that is deliciously dangerous).  My freezer is packed with a few meals from Kelly and my return to Supper Supers Vestavia including a Dr. Pepper Flank Steak, Maple Mustard Pork Chops with Cinammon Apples, Corn Beef and Cabbage, and Grilled Chicken with corn and tomato salad.  Sunday consisted of a lovely brunch with Kelly, Matt, and Kendal at The Original Pancake House (Minced Ham and Scrambled Eggs with Upgrade to Peach Pancakes! Heaven on a Plate!) and Kelly's Annual Super Souper Bowl Party. I made Chicken Enchilada Soup at the Hostess' request and Kelly made Southwestern Soup or as she calls it Stacy Soup because I gave her the recipe.  There were also yummy appetizers thanks to Kajal and Adrienne and corn muffins made by Marji.  My favorite was the cookie dough egg rolls (a la Jackson's) made by Matt and Kendal and dipped in Vanilla Ice Cream! They were sinful!

Some sad news this week though.... My maternal great Aunt (sister to my grandfather) Edna passed away early Saturday morning.  I will travelling home to Cullman on Tuesday Evening for her viewing and the funeral will be held Wednesday.  Growing up, Edna was the only one of my Grandfather's sisters who lived in the same town as us and so she spent a lot of time at my grandparents' and then my parents' homes at holidays and family get togethers.  She was a widow for many years prior to her death as my great uncle Leonard died when I was in middle school.  I don't  remember much about him except for always thinking of him as "old" (kind of like my cousin's Abby and Bella will always think of my grandmother as old even though I remember younger and much more vibrant). 

My parents found themselves as Edna's helpers/caretakers as she grew older because Edna's only daughter lived out of town.  My Dad would mow her lawn and my Mom would pick up groceries when she needed them.  Before she stopped driving, Edna owned a white Geo Metro and she drove that death trap like a bat out of hell! Most of all though, she had a real talent for all things beautiful.  She was a wonderful gardener with a yard full of plants, many of which she had rooted and grown herself from clippings.  She could cross stitch, crotchet, knit, and quilt and my family has many of the beautiful things she has made over the years.  When my brother and I were babies, she made us matching Dutch Boy and Dutch Girl quilts that stayed on our twin beds until we out grew them.  We then got to pick out new quilts for our beds that she sold to my Mom for almost nothing.  Mine has butterflies in neat squares and my brother's is covered in leaves in all the colors of fall.  My favorite quilt is one she gave to my Mom on one of those summer's after the lawn was mowed and to this day, I think is the most beautiful thing she ever made.  Last week when the weather got so cold, I pulled it out and put it on my bed and it was there on Saturday when my Mom called with the new. 
I am going to post a small picture of part of it to show everyone her talent.

I promised some highlights of the week and other random things to here's some of the stuff I said I could try to capture......

Crazy person quote the week:  This came after trying to talk to a Vet about personal safety in his neighborhood. 

Vet: My neighborhood is safe. (followed by more ranting.)
Me: You got mugged in front of your boarding home.  That is an indication the neighborhood is not safe.
Vet: I didn't get mugged.  They just stole my wallet and had a gun.

Weight lost/gained: no official weigh in at WW this Monday, as I am trying to do some laundry and get my tax stuff ready before I go to Cullman on Tuesday.  My scale at home indicates that Super Bowl Snacking and Pancakes were not the way to go so back to counting the points!

Gym visits: only 2 but that's two more than the week before and this week is not looking like I will get many in either.

Random Casper Pictures: Casper and the Giant Rawhide