Windy Weekend Top 10...or maybe just 9

Happy Tuesday, blogbuddies! I hope everyone made it safely through the weekend, that your yards and homes were spared from Irene’s mischief and that any hurricane party hangovers have been cured. Before the weather personalities started talking about Irene, Robert and I had decided to have a quiet weekend with no plans. Any guesses on how that turned out? You guessed it! A blank calendar at our house doesn’t last very long. The weekend turned out to be pretty fantastic… the Top 9 kind of fantastic… yeah, I know, it's usually 10 but I just couldn’t think of one more… so here we go…

9- Whoopie pies are a fantastic way to break in a new mixer. I’m not sure who was more excited about my birthday present- me, because I’ve wanted a stand mixer forever or Robert, because sweet treats are suddenly much easier to make.

8- When you’ve spent hours taping and painting the bathroom, an hour before the job is done is probably not the time to say, “Baby, are we SURE this is the color we want?” As it turns out, once everything was put back together, we decided our Coventry blue bathroom is beautiful and we’re not planning to change it any time soon!

7- When picking out a new bedspread, if you say it has “plants” on it rather than “flowers”, you’re much more likely to get a man to agree to the purchase. (And by the way, it looks fantastic and I love it all over again every time I walk into the bedroom!)

6- There is absolutely no meal on the planet any better than a country church’s covered dish lunch EXCEPT for a country church’s covered dish lunch that includes Ms. Ernie’s strawberry cake.

5- You know you’re in the South when you spend the morning at church and the afternoon at the firing range. Be advised… this girl can rock a Glock… just saying J  

4- Advice of the weekend- Even if you think you’ve checked to make sure everything’s in the car, check again. Getting home to realize your belated birthday fruit pizza is neatly wrapped up on a kitchen counter five counties away is more than a little disturbing.

3- I do believe Jason Bateman is making a comeback. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen two of his movies (Horrible Bosses and The Switch) and they were both laugh out loud funny. It would be “ill advised” to miss either of these films!

2- When the Governor tells you to stay home, any pounds you put on in following her advice do not count. It’s not your fault you were held hostage by crockpot pot roast and whoopie pies.

1- Much to someone’s (who shall remain nameless) disappointment, even though the label says “camouflage spray paint”, there’s only one color of paint in the can.

I hope your weekend was full of great food, funny moments, and people to share both with. I hope it was something memorable, something monumental... something more.

Say It In Pawns

When we checked into our room at The Reach Resort and the staff learned we were there on our honeymoon, our room was upgraded to a suite that overlooked the beach and a courtyard.

In the courtyard was a giant chess set; we watched people play throughout the week and were quite surprised at the number of people, especially little kids, who actually know how to play chess. I thought it was sort of a lost art but apparently not. I remember learning how to play in elementary school but it took a little refresher lesson from Robert to bring me back up to speed.  After running some commentary on unsuspecting players as we watched from our balcony, I remembered why I forgot how to play in the first place. It confuses me and requires entirely too much thought. The chess pieces, however, caught my attention and it didn’t take long for a little plan to be hatched.

The next night, under the cover of darkness (a little too much cover, given how the photos turned out), and a few nights after that, I snuck down to the chess game like some sort of stealth-mode spy and move the pieces to spell out secret messages to Robert who sat on the balcony with the camera. It was probably a corny thing to do but at the time, it seemed sweet and flirty and fun. I kept waiting for a staff member to tell me to put the pieces back where they belonged; but I took the risk- I'm just a rule-breaking rebel like that!

Love



It's difficult to see but... I Heart U

 You'd think I would have figured out that the white pieces should have
gone on the left side of the message, since the light was brighter on the right...
R + M

And, let me just tell you… there are only 32 pieces on a chess board so coming up with a message that is both easy to understand and easy to create is not as easy as you’d think. Take your own chess set (or checkers or backgammon or whatever board game you love) and try it at home. Anyone can say “I love you” to their spouse or their kids; it takes a special something to say it in pawns. J

The Height of Love?

On the ride from the airport to the hotel on day one of our honeymoon, Robert and I saw a parasail and I immediately said, “Oooooh, let’s do that!” And I got the look. The look that said “my size 9.5s are completely happy firmly planted on the ground”. The look that I’ve come to know and love. The look that I know, with a little persuasion, can turn into the “I didn’t want to do this but I’m sure glad I did” look. I was, from that moment on, a woman on a mission. J

And on day 3, Robert said, “Let’s give that parasailing thing a try.” It seemed almost like it was his idea. And so, we called our handy dandy concierge desk and within a few moments, it was all set up. And off, or shall I say UP, we went…

From our hotel, we walked to the resort next door to wait for the boat. We were a little early so we found a romantic little spot on a bench on the covered pier to just relax for a minute. Our pleasant moments of watching the waves roll in and the breeze blow by was rudely interrupted by a pigeon in the rafters who decided to make his presence known. I don’t know about you, but pigeon “presence” running down your arm does not for a romantic moment make. While I made quick business of getting the goo off my arm, Robert was busy trying to decide if he should be horrified or if it was OK to laugh. All was well that ended well… and two days later, when we saw this sign, we decided we weren’t the only ones on the island to get a less-than-friendly welcome from the feathered friends.

But, back to the good part of the story….

We hopped on the boat and took off on our parasailing adventure. And up, up, up we went. Robert had a deathgrip on the ropes and kept telling me there were only two tiny metal clips holding him in the harness. I, on the other hand, felt completely secure and thought parasailing was fantastic. I told Robert to pretend he was a butterfly floating on a breeze. Again with the look. On second thought, maybe that was a pretty bad analogy; he quickly told me he’d rather be a wasp or a honeybee. I guess if you’ve got to pretend to be an insect, a wasp is a pretty manly one J. In a few minutes, Robert’s anxiety subsided and he decided parasailing was fun.

We floated high (very high) above Key West and the views of the beaches and the city were amazing! Our Captain lowered us down into the water for a quick and cool dip in the ocean before lifting us up again and then lowering us back to the boat.

And, before we knew it, our parasailing adventure was over but we did get to speed along in the boat while several other pairs of sailers took to the skies. I think of the two, Robert preferred the speedboating to the parasailing but that’s OK; they were both fun!!

From our parasailing adventure, Robert and I learned yet again that no matter what we do, we have fun together and no matter how nervous one of us might be, if the other is there, it’s going to be OK. I think I fell in love with him all over again just for his willingness to set aside his apprehension and help me mark something off my bucket list. And, just in case you wondered… the height of love is 350 feet off the ground, strapped to a parachute, and held into a harness by two clips and a belt buckle. J

Pull Up a Chair... in Key West

At some point on our Key West honeymoon, I looked across our dinner table at the world’s most handsome man and said, fork mid-air, “I now know WHY the honeymoon comes after the wedding.” With a twinkle in his eye, he started laughing and said, “Because if it had come first, your dress wouldn’t have fit for the wedding?” Yep. That’s precisely it. Every night while we were in the Keys, one of us would ask “what was your favorite thing we did today?” and you’ll hear about some of those responses in upcoming blogs. By the end of the week, the question had morphed into “what’s the best thing we’ve eaten while we’ve been here?" and the answers to that changed with almost every new restaurant or café we tried.

I forgot to photograph most of our meals (or was too impatient to take the time to) but here are some of the highlights of places you just MUST TRY if you’re ever in Key West.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Café

Margaritaville Café is on busy Duval Street, which is the main drag from one end of Key West to the other. It’s probably a cardinal Key West sin to cross the threshold into what is probably known to locals as a tourist trap BUT since we were tourists, and we were happy doing touristy things, we saw it and thought it looked like an energetic happy place so we made our way inside where we were promptly seated. When I saw on the Jimmy Buffett menu Cheeseburger in Paradise with the description that said “made just like the song says”, I immediately started singing the tune in my head. “I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes…” Yep, sounds good. I’ll have that. Robert, of course, showed me up and had grilled shrimp with rice and green beans. (He’s such a healthy eater; I’m sure glad he doesn’t fret when I have pizza for breakfast or ice cream for dinner… but that’s another blog for another day.) If you think the Cheeseburger in Paradise is just another burger, think again. I don’t know what they did or how they did it, and no offense to anyone who has ever invited me to a backyard bbq, but the Cheeseburger in Paradise was absolutely the best burger I’ve ever eaten. EVER. And let me just tell you, I’ve eaten a lot of burgers in my time. Hands down, this one was the best. So good, in fact, we ate at Margaritaville twice during our stay and one the second visit, Robert joined me in junk food heaven and had a Cheeseburger in Paradise too!

Sloppy Joe’s

Sloppy Joe’s, also on Duval Street, has been in existence since 1939 and was frequented back in the day by Ernest Hemingway. Joe’s offers a laid-back atmosphere, live music, quick service, and great food. The patrons at Joe’s have never met a stranger and you walk in feeling right at home. I had a buffalo chicken wrap and Robert once again tried to find the best cheesesteak on Earth. He put Joe’s in the top five, at least, of his favorites. If we had a Joe’s closer to home, I think Robert would have permanent seating there.

Blackfins

We tried Blackfins, a quaint café with enough seating for maybe 16 (maybe, if everyone’s all squished like sardines) on a recommendation from Brian, the concierge at The Reach Resort. And if I remember correctly, this meal was the one Robert liked best. My meal of grilled shrimp was tasty but Robert’s Chef’s Special Pasta was beyond amazing. It’s what I’d wished I’d gotten the whole time I sat watching him eat it. I have to figure out a way to institute a half-way-through-the-meal plate swap with him… he almost always orders better than I do.

And to finish it off…

Yes, we were in the Keys. No, we did not have key lime pie. Why did we not have key lime pie? Because we, gasp shock and horror, don’t like key lime pie. One hot humid afternoon, we did have smoothies from a stand in the middle of Mallory Square. I tried the key lime pie smoothie simply because I felt obligated to indulge in the island's most recognized citrus fruit and Robert had strawberry. Once again, I wished for a mid-smoothie swap!

PS- Fabulous friends Blane and Patsy gave us a gift certificate to Seven Fish restaurant to use while in the Keys. Off the beaten path, Seven Fish is a tiny spot that you’d have to know about ahead of time. It’s a well-kept secret by the locals but the line outside when it opened told us everything we needed to know. Salads, grilled fish, and strawberry whipped cream pie are the house favorites and come highly recommended by one and all! Sadly, I failed to capture photographic evidence of all the yummy-ness on the Seven Fish menu. But thanks, Blane & Patsy, for sharing in our special day and for the gift card!

PSS- Since we’ve been home, the thought has crossed my mind to hop on the scale to see what sort of damages were done with our fantastic food adventure in the Keys. I have yet to be brave enough. I don’t know that I’ll ever have that kind of courage.

Just Meant to Be

Some things are just meant to be. You can’t explain them, they defy logic and reason. They might not make sense to an outsider but when you’re the one in the middle of it, nothing seems more wonderfully fantastically normal and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I met Robert, I figured he’d be someone to watch a ballgame with, or catch a movie, or eat the other half of the spaghetti when I made too much. I didn’t expect that within six months of meeting him, I’d be head over heels in love, engaged, married, and just back from a fantastic honeymoon in Key West. But looking back on it, nothing seems more natural and there’s no one else in the entire world I’d rather spend my time and share my life with.

As I look back on the wedding planning, and I try to pretend I didn’t stress out and fret and worry and shed a tear or two, it occurs to me that as much as God was watching over each of us, steering us on sometimes challenging roads to eventually bring us to paths that crossed, He was also guiding each step of the wedding planning process.

Here are just a few examples of what I mean:

No sooner than I posted on facebook that we were engaged, a photographer friend offered to capture our special day. The venue (that I’d never heard of until that same photographer recommended it) was booked solid EXCEPT for the one weekend we had our eyes on. The dress spoke to me as soon as I walked into the bridal boutique and the make-up professional offered (without me even thinking to be bold enough to ask) to come in on a day the store was closed to get me ready for the wedding. It might be slightly unusual that ONE of those things happened; it’s miraculous that they ALL happened. That’s not coincidence, it’s not happenstance. It’s meant to be.

It seems like every bump that we hit along the planning path was easily circumvented with a phone call or a slight adjustment. When it looked like the take-home favors were about to be a shipping nightmare, a wonderful store manager stepped in and worked some magic. When I’d given up on finding the perfect shoes and settled for boring beige, a fabulous friend called with “I have purple shoes!” and all was right with the world. When too many decisions clouded our ability to think wedding and honeymoon, a travel agent friend popped up and took over coordinating our post-wedding vacation. These fabulous people weren’t put in our lives for no reason; He knew we’d need them and there they were.

In the days before the wedding, the threat of rain loomed but it held off until after the reception, and brought with it double rainbows which we took as personal signs that our marriage was part of His plan all along. It was just meant to be.

In the moments before the ceremony, when a panic of “is this dream really happening to me?” struck the blushing bride, I looked out my staging area window and saw Robert (And yes, I know that’s probably against the rules) but in that moment, I just simply knew there was nothing to be nervous about and that everyone was right where they were meant to be. As I walked down the aisle on the arm of my dad, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was walking toward the place I’ve always belonged, the place I’ve been searching for, the place where everything is just as it’s meant to be.

Pull Up a Chair at... Simon'z

It’s been a while since I’ve invited you guys to pull up a chair at a restaurant you may not have tried. Truth be told, I’ve been packing my lunch lately and when I have been out, I’ve either forgotten my camera or I find myself at a tried and true favorite that you’ve already heard about.

Several weeks ago, when Robert and I went to the Bike Fest, we noticed a car with a sign that said “Follow me to Simon’z” so Friday night, we finally got around to checking it out.

Simon’z is a locally owned and operated restaurant and catering company that has been open for about two years on South Broad Street in downtown Angier, near the park with the gazebo (if you’re familiar with the area); if you didn’t know it was there, you’d miss it. There are maybe 10 tables in the main dining room but Simon’z also has larger rooms that appeared to be perfect for meetings or larger gatherings.

The waitress was friendly and the food was great! Simon’z has a wide variety on the menu- everything from salads and sandwiches to steaks, pork chops and seafood. We had an appetizer platter of cheese sticks, homemade ranch chips, wings, and onion rings. I’m not typically a fan of onions but these rings might just make me change my mind. And the dipping sauce… wow, the perfect amount of zing to be spicy but not overpowering. The ranch chips, with a perfect sprinkling of seasoning- I could have eaten just those and been one happy camper.

When you’re reviewing a restaurant, it probably works best when everyone orders something different but Robert and I violated this cardinal unspoken ‘when blogging about food’ rule and both ordered the cheesesteak sandwich. We were not disappointed! We seem to eat cheesesteak a lot and I’d venture to say that Simon’z is among the Top 3 (if not higher) of all that we’ve sampled as of late.

We did check out the dessert menu but with the appetizer and the size of the sandwiches (I ended up taking half of my sandwich and most of the fries home), we were too full to sample Simon’z homemade cakes and pies. Maybe next time… and rest assured, there will be a next time. J

Simon’z is indeed a hidden treasure; there was no wait, the service was fast, the food was fantastic, and the prices were reasonable. We highly recommend it. Keep in mind that Simon’z is closed on Mondays but kids eat free on Tuesdays with the purchase of a regular meal and Simon’z supports military families by giving a 10% discount to active service personnel.

There’s just something special about supporting local businesses; I believe we’ll make Simon’z a regular stop on our date night rotation. If you see us there, swing by our table and say hello… but don’t even think about stealing an onion ring off our appetizer plate. J

Why so blue, Berry?

A few years ago, a grant position opened up in our office. It was a math-based position so there was no way South of Heaven I was interested in the job and I was pretty sure the person who filled the spot would be a tape-on-the-glasses, oversized pocket-protector, Revenge of the Nerds sort of character.

I was pretty wrong.

Rebecca was fun and sassy with a great sense of style and a quirky sense of humor. She started out as one of the few people in my man-centered office that I could talk to about scrapbooking and baking and fashion and crafts. She quickly became a great friend. Sadly, Rebecca left our office to pursue lofty ambitions but we stay in touch. She’s a fantabulous blogger and is the one who convinced me I could be a blogger too.

A few weeks ago, Rebecca posted on her blog, I Wanna Be A Domestic Goddess, that she and some friends were starting a monthly blog-off of sorts. Each month, they would make something with an in-season fruit and compare notes. In the midst of all I have going on, what’s one more thing on the plate, especially if it’s a dessert plate, right? I asked to join in on the fun and was given the July assignment of blueberries. I was in luck; Mom had just given me a huge container of the tiny Smurf-shaded morsels and Robert was willing to guinea pig whatever was coming out of the oven.

I like to bake but sometimes I don’t have the patience, creativity, or knowledge. Prime example, for July, Rebecca made blueberry pop-tarts. From scratch. With sprinkles. From her own recipe that she just whipped up like buttercream out of thin air. I, on the other hand, made blueberry cobbler... with the easiest recipe in the history of the world.

Here’s the recipe:

1 stick butter or margarine, 1 cup self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, Blueberries

Here’s what to do:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, sugar, & milk in bowl, wisk until mixed. Place stick of butter in 9x13 pyrex dish in oven.  When butter sizzles, pour flour mix in dish. DO NOT STIR. Sprinkle blueberries on top of batter. DO NOT STIR. Bake 350 for 1 hour or until golden brown.

*The blueberries can be swapped for pretty much any fruit; canned peaches work well too, undrained.

The cobbler was quick and easy and although some of the blueberries were a little on the sour side, it was a great Saturday afternoon treat.

Maybe next month, I’ll try something a little more difficult… I'm easing into it. Stay tuned for my tiny addition to their baking blog-off the last day of every month (or shortly thereafter as I am always running a minute or two behind the curve.)

Trip Top 10

Welcome Home, me! It’s no huge secret that I wasn’t looking forward to my work trip last week. I was ready to come home before I even left town on Tuesday. Not that the place I went wasn’t a great city (it was); not that the people I knew there aren’t great people (they are); it just was a case of bad timing and higher priorities. These days, classes and seminars and networking just seem to take a backseat to what’s going on in the 5pm-8am part of my day. Now that I’m home where I belong, I realize the trip wasn’t all bad. So, in true Monday fashion, here’s the Top 10 Things from my trip.

10- The frostbite of bare feet on an airplace is outweighed by the convenience of wearing flip-flops to get through security.

9- It’s very easy to be classy… until you get something stuck between your teeth. (And, no, it wasn’t me… this time.)

8- I love children as much as the next girl but how do parents not realize that allowing them to push every button on the elevator of a 29 story hotel is NOT cute?

7- Funniest line heard during the week: “This steak is so rare, I think if I put a band-aid on it, I could send it back out to pasture.” The dessert, however, most definitely made up for the anticipation that the steak might actually get up and walk off the plate.

6- When you mess up the words to Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7^th inning stretch, you may have had too much to drink. (Again, NOT me.)

5- When you’re 500 miles from home and your wedding is less than two weeks away, it’s amazingly awesomely helpful to have a mom who is remembering all the things you’re forgetting. Thanks, Mom!

4- If your plane ticket is roundtrip, why do you have to pay twice for your checked bag? And, by the way, Delta, why do we have to pay to check a bag anyway? You know we can’t travel without shoes and hair goop. It’s ridiculous, exploitive, and pretty much amounts to highway robbery…err, airway robbery?  airline robbery? Yeah, I don’t know what you call it, but it’s BAD.

3- Where I was raised, getting poor customer service does not give you the right to be a poor customer. In other places, however, this philosophy becomes null and void when the cashier throws your items in the bag and breaks your pop-tarts. Broken breakfast pastries, it seems, entitle you to yell at a cashier and call her names we don’t use here in the South. You just never know when a city’s image rests on your shoulders- be an advertisement, not a warning label.

2- The baggage claim of the airport ranks pretty high on the list of fun places to hug someone you love. There may have also been kissing… but unless security cameras caught it, I’m not gonna kiss and tell. J

1- No matter where you go, Dorothy is right. There is no place like home.