Not what you expect

Have I talked about StumbleUpon! before? Stumble is an add-in for FireFox that will bring you to random websites. You can set your interests and everything cool like that. Chad and I find some really cool sites this way.

Chad Stumble(d)Upon this recipe and we just had to try it.

Ingredients:
Box Cake Mix (I used chocolate)
Add in 3 eggs and a cup of water
And the special ingredient - a pint of ice cream (chocolate) softened
Beat it all together for 4 minutes...
Me beating it
And then Chad wanted a turn beating it (...hot...)
We poured it into a bunt cake pan... look at that... yum yum
And bake for 45 minutes.

In the mean time I made some homemade icing for the cake. I asked my mom for her opinions... and she suggested whipped cream icing... and frankly it was the right choice!!

So I used some whipping cream
I added in some sugar and vanilla and got to whipping... it was thin at first
But quickly became thicker and whip cream like
Soon the cake was ready to come out of the oven
The next day I iced the cake
Then added a little chocolate flecks for embellishment

I guess I forgot the mention why I was making this cake. I made it for my dad's birthday.

The cake went over very well... it's about the most moist cake I've ever had... seriously the sponge-y-ness of it was unbelievable... it was extremely delicious and chocolaty. The whipped cream icing was nice and light and really mixed well with the cake. This recipe is totally easy and very much a keeper. I'm totally serious it was really really good... OMG... this one is worth trying (and we're probably going to vary the recipe)

2+ Years in the Making

I have finally finished... and boy oh boy is it a good feeling!!

Since I found out my best friend Christina was pregnant (over two years ago) I decided I wanted to make her something. I went to the store and found this cross-stitch baby blanket that I adored. I bought it and got to work.

Then tragedy struck... in a freak accident Stitch knocked a glass of white wine on it. Since this was a printed cross-stitch all of my pattern was washed away... the blanket was ruined... I cried for awhile and ended up buying the exact same blanket.

It took me way longer to complete than I thought... plus I wasn't as diligent as I should have been... I kept at it... and now it's finished and completed for Claire's 2nd birthday.

Here are some pictures of my hard work... I hope to give this to her soon (it was suppose to be this weekend but that's a whole other story)

DetailsI had to sign the blanket... I mean two years of work...

Do you have a favorite letter? Now, I really need to start a new project.

Happy Birthday Dad

I am a week late in posting this... And for that I apologize.

Happy birthday Dad!! I am very lucky to have such an amazing father. He has always steered me in the right direction and has very true advice. He has always believed in me and motivated me to do great things in life... I think that our personalities are very similar in a lot of ways. He is crazy... but it's only a crazy you can understand if you know him.

So dad... happy happy birthday to you. I hope you had a wonderful day!!

I love you very very much and (again) I'm lucky to have you in my life.

Maine

Onto the "big" post... an event I've been dropping into this blog since I started it... The Maine trip. I'm sure some people are very interested in how it went... I really don't want to be a disappointment but I may shy away from some of the 'dirty' details... we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday
We flew out East on Wednesday. We got to the airport a little early - around 3:45 - found some food and then I bought my People magazine b/c it's my favorite to read when I travel. We settled into some seat by our gate to catch our 6:10 flight... that's when someone came onto the speaker to tell us our flight was being delayed to 8:45... nearly 3 hours... due to backed up air traffic out East. Wonderful. Chad and I managed to stay entertained and the flight ended up departing around 9pm. We arrived in Boston around 12:30. Due to parking concerns at the house we were staying at, my dad hired a car service to take us up to Kennebunkport, ME... So we met the driver who was holding a sign with our names on it... that was kinda cool. I managed to sleep in the car on the way up there... we got to the house around 2:30 am...

We were staying in a beach home... it had no AC... They really don't need it since the windows can stay opened... but since it was so close to the beach it was humid... and after that very long day we had to crawl into a bed with that damp feeling... that took a little bit to get use to, but we were so freaking tired that we managed to fall asleep pretty fast.

Thursday
Thursday morning started out very early... especially considering we were on Eastern time now and we didn't get to the house until very late (or early depending on how you look at it)... so we really didn't get to catch a whole heck of a lot of sleep... We were woken up around 8:30 to be ready by 9 to head out to Adriane's Chad's dad's barn (follow that?!?) This drive took a while... but we finally made it there.

Let me explain a little about the aforementioned barn... Chad's dad (Chuck) is a classic sports car enthusiast... he built this big "barn" to house the cars. He has 28 cars in this garage.

One side of the garage

Anyway... back to the day... Chuck took us on a tour of his collection and told us a little about each car... in all honesty I didn't pay all that much attention b/c I'm not really a car person... but El Chad is... and he was pretty much digging it. We get to the last car and Chuck asks who can drive a manual transmission and nearly everyone raised their hands (not I since I don't know how to one yet) and then something totally unbelievable happened... this line was actually spoken... "pick a car you want to drive and go stand next to it"... we kinda just looked around at each other... but he was serious... he let everyone drive his old, classic, expensive cars. El Chad was so freaking excited he was shaking... he chose the 1972 Lamborghini Miura. I have never seen Chad this excited.



So we had a car parade to the country club where we had lunch. Chuck even had the chief of police wave us through the only stop sign along the way.

Picture of part of the parade


Can't see it very well, but there's a police officer back there

We had a very delicious lunch at the country club and headed back to the barn. When we got back Chuck let everyone drive the car that they wanted to. Chad took me on a ride in an adorable Jaguar.

(he really was happy, this picture just doesn't show it...)



After enough cars for one day we headed back to the house... Chad drove us back, but that allowed me to get a bit of a nap. We got back to the house and Chad and I took a real nap... You can't really blame us b/c we'd had some really long days and not much sleep.

We woke up and got ready for the cocktail party. It was a very nice affair... catered (although I didn't really eat anything b/c I wasn't feeling good) and had some great drinks... they had a specialty drink - pomegranate martinis - yummy (yes, I know you're probably shaking your head at this... you didn't feel well enough to eat but you felt well enough to drink... well... I stopped drinking when I started to feel bad and switched to water in a fun glass)

I was warned before I went to Maine about the mosquitoes... and that was no joke... we got eaten up... I even got a bite on the bottom of my foot... talk about annoying!! Anywho... Chad and I took a very lovely walk on the beach to round out the night.

Here's the outfit I wore... I just wanted to be sure to get a picture of the dress




Friday
We were finally able to sleep in on Friday (although not too late since it was very bright in our room). I did not attend the bridal brunch... although I'm not going to get into the details on here... it's not worth it and I would rather not start anything more...

Not attending the brunch gave us an opportunity to hang out with Keith and Sarah... we went to a delicious breakfast at a place call All Day Breakfast... Chad's waffle was AMAZING as was my french toast. We then headed out to gawk at the Bush estate (we heard that W was in town)... it's one of the things you do while in Kennebunkport. I would have liked to take a trip on a sail boat, but the times just didn't work out for us.

Walker Point


That night we had to rehearsal and dinner. The dinner was at this resort that looked out over the ocean. The kinda strange thing was the party took place right next to the pool. This dinner was very nice... it was a lobster bake. This was my first (and probably last) time eating lobster like that. I know you might all hate me but I really didn't care for it. I'm not a huge seafood fan though.




My hair frizzed like crazy!!
This is just a really pretty picture of Keith and Sarah

I finished up the night by sitting on the beach by myself (which I never do) to clear my mind and think about some of the things I don't want to discuss on here... I saw a shooting star... but didn't really know what to wish for. It was peaceful way to end the night.

Saturday
Wedding day. We spent the first half of the day lounging around. Chad and I went on a nice little drive around town for fun. Then we came back and got ready. The ceremony took place at at very pretty spot. It was kinda strange how religious the ceremony was... but to each their own. I think I did a pretty good job with my reading... I did mess up the last word (dang preserves vs. perseveres) No one would have noticed if I hadn't corrected myself after I made the mistake... oh well that's just what I do.

These next two are courtesy of Sarah


The reception was at a very beautiful location as well. They had a specialty drink - blueberry martinis - yumo. The event way very classy... and the food was very delicious. The band was great too. We all danced (my dad and brother were funny out there). Chad danced to a couple of slow songs. Overall it was a very fun night.





Sunday
All we did on Sunday was attend the farewell brunch (yummy food... the way to my heart is most certainly breakfast food) and then headed to the airport to come home. Our dogs and cats were very happy to see us.

Overall the trip was a very nice one. It was fun to be around family and experience a couple of states I'd never been to before. It would have been nice to spend more time in the area... but there's always next time... right?

Here's my one statement about previous blogs about this event... I am happy that it's over.

We're cool kids now

I promise I will make the big post about the weekend soon... maybe even later tonight...

But before I make that post...

For awhile now it hasn't been sending random text messages... I mean I would type out the entire text and hit send, it would say 'sending' and 'message sent' but it wouldn't actually send the text... and I would have no record of the message ever being typed... it was so freaking annoying!!

But, in the last week my phone has gotten really crappy... Meaning the screen wasn't working and I couldn't see anything on my phone... talk about annoying.

So last week Chad started to do the research into iphones... and yesterday we went out and made the purchase... I know we are totally following the trend, but I'm not sure you've ever messed with an iphone... those things are freaking amazing.

We're still figuring out which apps to get... but I downloaded Oregon Trail... OMG so much fun.

Hussle and Bussle

I have been super busy lately... and it's not going to calm down anytime soon... I just wanted to touch in with yall... I am leaving on a jet plane this evening... we are headed to Maine (that state really needs a better name...)

Here's my upcoming schedule... and while it might not seem that busy to you... it is so there...

August 12-16 - Maine (I've been heavily debating about writing about this... and of course I will... but it may just be about the awesome outfits I'll wear and less about all the rest)

August 17-21 - Busy week at work... haven't been in all this week, and won't be in the next week either... so busy packing and stuff...

August 22-23 - Christina will supposedly be in town, not sure how much this is going to involve on my part... and frankly don't really want to talk about it

August 24-27 - Flying to San Francisco for a conference... this will be my first time traveling completely alone

August 29 - Miss Abby's first birthday party

Then it calms for awhile before my back-to-back trips to Baltimore and Las Vegas... both work related.

I swear it disappeared!!

So I decided to buy a cocktail ring for this upcoming trip... So I decided to look on Etsy for a ring. I found this ring from seller dirtroadsouth


I was happy with the color and the gold edging... it fell in line with what I wanted to do with the look... and the price was good so I bought it.

It arrived last week sometime... toward the end of the week and I was happy... I set it on the coffee table (not the most perfect place for a ring, but not the point)

Well a couple of days ago I noticed it wasn't in plain view but with how my week has been I really didn't have the time to deal with it right then, and just figued it was somewhere... well today I'm packing for the trip and what do you know? I can't find it ANYWHERE!! I'm so upset with myself for not putting it in its place right away...

I hope I (or maybe my savior Chad) will be able to find it before we leave tomorrow.

I swear it just disappeared on me... it's hiding with my small red clutch type of purse which I can't find as well...

UPDATE: Chad found it!! I knew he was my savior... it was in a place I had already looked... under the couch... but for some reason I didn't see it (even though if it was a snake it would have bit me!!)

Drag Show

I'm a little late in posting this but last weekend we went out for my co-worker and good friend Carrie. My friend Liz told me about Novak's drag show a couple weeks earlier and I made the recommendation to Carrie... She thought it sounded like a fun idea so that's where we ended up for her birthday. It was a totally cool experience. The drag show was a LOT of entertainment and the bar itself was really neat. I really enjoyed my time... I'll admit I was pretty drunk (haven't been that way in awhile) I think we'll have to go back at some point. Everyone had a blast!!

Onto pictures!! I tried to cut them back since there were so many...

Here we got Carrie to go up on stage and get a shot for her birthday... here she is taking the shot with the drag queens... something I'm sure she never thought she would do...

Then she got to go back on stage for a round on name that 80's song... Carrie was pretty bad, but all in good fun
This was just such a funny picture
Something funny happened that night... This lovely "lady" leaned over when Carrie offered her the dollar and whispered... "Hi Carrie, it's Nathan... from high school" TOO FUNNY!!Here's the line up


Carrie and I
My brother Keith even came out... thought this was a pretty cute picture
Here's a group of us ladies... we got to dance after the drag show... a little bit of everything
Keith's g/f Sarah met up with us later in the night
And my favorite pic... I don't really know why, but LOVE IT!!
I had an awesome time... a very fun different night.