September 2010

September is officially FALL for me! I don't wait until Sept. 22nd to celebrate my favorite season...I start on Sept. 1st! I don't care if its 100 degrees outside...which it probably was. :) It was a very eventful and exciting month!

~I always get to start the month celebrating my bestest friend's birthday! For her birthday, I drove to OKC. We had breakfast at The Skirvin Hotel. And then did a little shopping and ended at Cupcakes To Go Go. Really fun day!!!!! :) And, of course, I got to see sweet Finley! ~Went to the first Crossover to kick-off the Fall semester of the college ministry. Going to try to be there as much as possible this year to serve.

~Look who's back and eating so we can harvest one again??? :) ~OSU GAME OPENER!!!! Sept. 4th!!!! We played Washington State and WON! Before the game, I met my college roommate, Fizz, at Aspen for a coffee date. We don't get to see each other very often, so I'm so thankful we were able to meet. I love sitting down with her and feeling like no time has passed. However, life showed how much time had passed b/c this was the first time I met her sweet baby, Eleanor! My parents, Mason (my nephew), and Raley (my neice) came to the game. We shopped and had some game-food and watched OSU WIN! After the game, we enjoyed some fabulous mexican food at Palamino's!!!!
~Date Night!!!! Of course! :) ~Ken and I worked HARD on the house. Nothing renovation-wise, but getting things out of boxes and organized, pictures on the walls and just making the house look "put-together". (Please excuse the hideous blue blinds....that will be the next to go!). This is the guest room:
And this is the office. (Also please ignore the fact that there is no hand rail on the stairs. We had to take it down temporarily to get the mattress up there). ~Had lunch with my sweet friend, Toni. We haven't seen each other in months!!! It was good to catch up.

~OSU vs Troy!!!!! Again we end up with a WIN!!!! Raley and her friend Taylor came with my parents and we all had a really good time. The girls got their faces painted and we went to Palamino's after this game too!!!! My favorite part of the game: "you tell 'em I'm coming, ya hear? I'm comin' and hell's comin' with me!!! Hell's coming with me!!!!!!!" GO POKES!!!!!!!!!!!! "And here's BULLET!!!!!" In honor of 9-11, Bullet's rider carried the American Flag instead of the OSU flag and our half-time show was dedicated to honoring all the lives lost and our troops.
With my girlfriends...Caitlin and Kristin On our way to Palamino's after the big WIN!
~Um...this was a VERY un-welcomed guest. I walked out in the garage to one morning with the towel still wrapped around my head and ran into a spider-web. She was STILL on it and I didn't see it until she was crawling on top of my towel that was ON MY HEAD!!!!! You can imagine the screaming!!!! Apparently, she just wants to look younger with Re9 Advanced!!!! :) ~Love my lunches with Lorinda!

~Celebrated my neice, Kassie's birthday; Ken's sister's, Andrea and his dad, Terry's also.

~And here is Ruger...after doing his favorite outside activity. He has become quite the rooter lately and enjoys doing it in the dirt. Its hysterical to watch him!!!! ~I've been enjoyin Spin class once again! There are new teachers and some I like, some not so much...but I still miss TIA! She was the best teacher EVER!!!!!

~Ken and I went to Tulsa so he could take his licensing test for life/health insurance and investments. HE PASSED!!!!! And turned in his two-week notice!!!! This will be his full-time job very soon!!!! YAY!!! More time with my sweet husband!

~Fall decorations are UP!!!!! No pictures yet, but will take them soon. I thought I had more than I do...oh, well....I'll be hitting the sales right before Christmas. :)

~OSU beat Tulsa!!!!

~The whole last week I did prep work for a shower that is on October 1st.

~The weather has been so beautiful lately, that I've been running at the lake! I LOVE IT!

~We had a very nice cookout with our neighbors and some friends! Complete with hamburgers, baked beans, and S'MORES

~Ken and I have been dying to see little Finley! I get to see her more than he does...and she's grown up A LOT since he saw her last! She's adorable and those two had a blast together!!!! Tractor rides and all! :) What we don't have pictures of are her trying a few small bites of Reece's Pumkins...with mommy's approval, of course! I don't like giving kids treats like that unles mom okay's it. We had a very fun day and can't wait to see her again!!! Finley with Miss Lola! And with her buddy, Ruger. She just loves him and wants him to sit next to her! Going on a walk and talking on my phone.Blowing sweet kisses!!!!!!
"Talking" to mommy!!!!! Loving on Uncle Kenny! And playing with stickers. I LOVE Ruger's expression. haha!~OSU beat A&M!!!! It was a nail-biter and came down to the VERY LAST seconds of the game!!! It was awesome!!!! The game was on a Thursday night, so we had a tailgate party at work on our lunch break. It was a fun day....but we were all thrown off by having to go to work the next morning. My friend, Kristin, came to sit with me for a little bit...and of course we have to take pictures!!!!! :)

~TV I'm loving? Watching re-runs of "Gilmore Girls" and "Charmed". I'm seeing seasons and episodes that I never watched, so its been fun. "Brothers and Sisters" has returned. I haven't watched it yet, so I'm a little behind. We started watching a show called "Chase", but I haven't made up my mind about it. I LOVE "The Biggest Loser"!!!!! Its back and so motivating and I just love how it changes peoples' lives. Still loving "Parenthood" and "Law and Order: SVU". I'm torn between "The Whole Truth" and "Law and Order: LA" b/c they both come on at the same time. Probably leaning towards "The Whole Truth". And, lastly....LOVE LOVE LOVE "Project Runway". This season is SOOO good!!! Lifetime had it last year for the first time and it was okay....but this season, they are doing some different things and I LOVE it!!!!!

~I went to see "The Town" with my friend Steph. It was a really good movie, HOWEVER....I really hate when Hollywood makes you feel sorry for the bad guy and tries to make you connect with them on an emotional level...all at the same time making you think law inforcement is stupid and dumb. If what was happening in that movie were actually taking place in real life, we would be praising law inforcement for protecting the innocent....well, we conservative states would be....I don't know about the liberal states. The bad-guy is NOT the victim!!!!!!!! He doesn't deserve protection, nor should he be praised for his crimes!!!!!!! RIDICULOUS!!!! I know...I probably read too much into the movie, but it was a little disturbing.

~On a happier note, I leave you with very sweet pictures of my sister-in-law and two of her 5 kids. SUPER CUTE pictures!!!! The photographer is very talented! Take a look at her site here. HAPPY FALL!!!!!!!

Slow Cooked Puerto Rican Pulled Pork

from The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen

4 lbs Pork Shoulder/Butt
6 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 tbsp white vinegar
4 tsp salt

Combine garlic, pepper, oregano olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Rub pork with the garlic mixture and regrigerate overnight.
When ready, drop inot the crockpot on low for 8 hours.
Done! Consume with vigor.
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Well, as usual, I procrastinate. :) I forgot what I was making for Sunday, which means I forgot to thaw the pork. So, I set the crockpot on high and place the frozen pork in it to thaw. After one hour, I put the rub on the pork. On one side, I eyeball about one tbsp each of the olive oil and vinegar. Rub it in. Then I shake the pepper and oregano on to my liking, 3 cloves of garlic and 2 tsp of salt. Rub all of that on the top. I flipped the pork and did the same to the other side.

I left the crock pot on high for 7 hours. About half-way through, I flipped the pork once more. The last few hours. I sliced the pork. About an hour before I served it, I took a fork and knife and shredded the pork.

My pork was only 2 lbs, but I still stuck with the recipe. I probably used more vinegar, oil and oregano than what was called for. I also used apple cider vinegar instead of white just b/c its what I already had.

I loved this....and Ken said it was one of the best dishes I've ever made!!!! It was really good!!!!

Mini-Meatball Sandwiches

by The Pioneer Woman

1-lb ground chuck or ground beef
1/2 cup panko or other bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup Milk (I used skim)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion (I used a whole medium onion)
1 jar marinara sauce (I used Hunt's Traditional canned sauce)
12 whole dinner rolls (I used the sweet King's Hawaiian)
Provolone Cheese

In large bowl, mix meat with bread crumbs, garlic, salt, pepper, and milk. Knead together with hands. Roll into heaping tablespoon-sized meatballs (I just divided mine evenly to make 12).

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for one minute, or until onions are soft and golden brown. Add meatballs between the onions and brown on all sides.

Pour in jar of marinara; shake pan gently to mix. Put on lid and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. (I continued to shake the pan every few minutes).

When ready to serve, cut each dinner roll in half. Place a wedge of provolone cheese on top and bottom of each roll. Spoon some sauce and a meatball on the bottom bun; top with the top bun.

Serve immediately.

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WE LOVED THIS!!!!! And I will definitely make it again....SOON!!!!!! YUM!!!!!

Let's Talk Wedding: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

This was a tradition that I wasn't going to participate in. Not because I don't like it, but because it was something I didn't want to think about. I didn't want to just pick things so that I had all 4 items on the Big Day. However, my sweet parents and best friend, Michelle, were creative for me! It was a really cool surprise and I opened each item at a bridal shower.

Something Old: My blankie when I was little was made into a hankerchief with my initial embroidered on it. (from mom).Something New: Super cute purse! Michelle found this purse that matched my dress, made a purple flower out of extra fabric used in the wedding, and sewed it on the purse! It was a perfect way to carry everything you see in the picture on the wedding day. (from Michelle). Something Borrowed: I gave this "Scrooge" money clip to my dad when I was little. He said his favorite Disney character was "Scrooge" and I figured he needed a money clip....so it was a birthday or Christmas gift. :) I borrowed this for the wedding! I do believe that when I opened the present, there was a $100 bill with it.....that I kept. ;)
(from dad). Something Blue: The little patch was imbroidered in blue with our monogram and wedding date. I could have sewed it into the underneath part of my dress, but I decided to just to carry everything in my little purse instead. (from the three of them). A couple other things I carried in my purse:

My Orange Ribbon Pin. Two of my close friends died in 2001 in the OSU Men's Basketball Plane Crash. I wanted to carry this in remembrance of them, Pat Noyes and Jared Weiberg.This cross I carried to sybolize my faith in Christ! Who died for our sins and rose again on the third day. The dove represents the Holy Spirit who is a seal of our faith that God gives each of those who believe, to live in us.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday to my bestest friend in the whole world, Michelle!!!!!! :)

This year was fun b/c we got to celebrate our birthdays with each other. We did the things we love to do! Talk. Shop. Talk. Eat. Talk. Cupcakes. Talk. Talk. And talk. :) Funny enough we both got each other dresses for our birthdays. She got me this dress I have been wanting at Target and I got her a dress that she can wear to football games. We had a really great time just spending some quality girl-time together. There's no one in this world (besides Ken) that knows me the way Michelle does! I love her just as I would if we were biological sisters! Top 5 Things I love the most about Michelle:
1. She's absolutely beautiful
2. She knows exacltly the right way to encourage me
3. She always tells me the truth even when its hard to hear
4. She's my accountability partner
5. She loves the Lord with all her heart, with all her soul and with all her mind

I love you my sister! Happy Birthday!!!!!