It's the Day Before Thanksgiving!

Good morning, everyone.

I'm sitting in the office writing this. I have a cup of coffee to wash my Honey Nut Cheerios down. Brokaw is eating a chew right beside me. I have a pile of coupons I clipped last night right beside my computer.

It's nice and quiet in here. And it's 7:30, and I just got up. Bliss.

M is still sleeping in the bed. He just yelled for me, I went in there to see what he wanted/needed, "I'm sorry I keep falling asleep on you." :)

I kissed him gently on his dry, sleepy lips and tried to explain there's a huge gap between me being up, in the other room, lollygagging and me being up at 4am on a weekday, walking dogs, picking up poop, and doing chores.

He happily drifted back off to sleep. And I happily marched back to my perch here.

Last night was a good night.

I rode home with a co-worker. I gave her bad advice on where to turn, and we ended up passing one of my favorite spots in Washington, DC.

The World War II Memorial. You actually can't see the exact spot in this picture, but it's the place where Michael Ritter asked me to marry him October 17, 2008. I was telling Tamatha the story and she said, "I thought that only happened in the movies, and old movies at that!" Nope. I am one blessed girl, I tell you!

I cooked a pork tenderloin for dinner last night. It took more than an hour, which, on any ordinary weeknight would be entirely too long. But it gave me time last night to tidy up, clip coupons, and look at pictures of my college roommate's fresh-out-of-the-oven baby boy on Facebook. I am in awe. So proud of Amber. It does seem crazy when a person you grew up with has a baby. But, I'm getting really used to it! Caleb is a cute, cute baby. He was born with chubby cheeks already installed! I also listened to the new Taylor Swift album while M watched some Battlestar Gallactica (what in the world?) online.

I have a strict zero-tolerance policy on all things science fiction and/or involving space and/or aliens or anything unrealistic. So, he's smart about when he watches that stuff :)

Dinner was random, but ended up being quite enjoyable! I didn't get any pictures of the final product, sorry. We had honey mustard marinated pork tenderloin, a boxed mix of red beans and rice (which I added fresh red onion and red pepper to), canned mixed vegetables (I hate canned mixed veggies, thank God that was the last of what we had, I will not be buying any more!) and garlic bread.

I highly recommend adding fresh produce to any and all boxes/mixes of rice or pasta or sauce or whatever. Totally gives it that homemade taste.

On my agenda today:

Making braided cheese bread, strawberry scones and pumpkin doughnut muffins. Thanks so much for your input.

Oh, and I might also resume lobbying to use this picture in our Christmas card.. M doesn't like his hair here. So, I have some convincing to do. If you have a sec, leave a comment encouraging him :) Otherwise, I may be forced to be photographed either Thursday (after driving 5 hours, eeew) or Friday (the day after eating a feast at Thanksgiving? Um. No. Thank.You, right?)

I gotta go now. M's home healthcare provider lady is here and I tried to just type away in the office while I hear her working in the other room.... but I just can't do it. It still weirds me out. So, I'm outta here. Peace out. Safe travels and happy family time to all of you!

Thankful for Thanksgiving! (and I need your input!)

Can I just tell you... Thanksgiving is my ultimate favorite holiday.

First, I love the concept. Being thankful in and of itself is a beautiful thing. Gratitude for the people you have in your life, the situation you're in, and the things you have - no matter who those people are, what you're dealing with, and what you do or don't have - is a good thing. I am the kind of person who is constantly wanting more and more of whatever. I'm married to a guy who is the picture of contentment. Sometimes that's annoying :) But mostly it's a great example, and I love how his "Glass half full"ness balances out my "Glass? What glass? You mean the one I just put in the dishwasher?"ness. See this story from last Christmas time as an example.
So, yeah, I like being thankful. It's good for the soul.

Second, it's no secret that I absolutely LOVE food. I like to buy it, I love to cook it, and I'm in love with eating it. So, yeah - an entire day where the focus is cooking, preparing, tasting and feasting on too much food is like gold medal material for me.

Third, I also love time with family. This year, we are going to North Carolina to spend time with Michael's family. His really fun Aunt Tonja (shout out Tonja!) and her super cute and fun family are hosting. Michael's brother Jarred and his wife, Crystal and their two little studs will be there. And Michael's PawPaw and Miss Jean are coming in from Arkansas! So, yeah, we are in for a GREAT time of catching up and making memories. Here are a few things that are sure to happen. I will get on the floor and have fun playing with little Marissa (M's one year old cousin) and Grey (M's one year old nephew). M will talk to Uncle Robby about the TV being mounted on the wall and about how we got a flatscreen this year and he hooked our computer up to it, foregoing our cable bill (Jackpot! You need to do this, trust me!) I will feel short and fat and outdated standing next to my gorgeous sister in law who I would hate if that were humanly possible, but she's also really sweet in addition to being a beauty goddess, so I can't. There may be some guitar hero/rock band involved where M and I will both stick to the most basic of levels. Brody (4 year old nephew) will make us all die laughing as he makes funny faces for the camera. M and I will smile quietly at each other when we see PawPaw and Miss Jean holding hands. I may or may not get up at an ungodly hour on Friday morning to go shopping with Caitlin....
Needless to say... it will be a fun filled, jam packed 24 hours or so!!! And on top of all of that, we will all stuff ourselves beyond measure!

So, yeah. Thankfulness, Food, Family (and football on in the background) I absolutely cannot find anything wrong with Thanksgiving, even if I am wearing my Debbie Downer hat. I'm tempted to say something negative about driving, but road trips are generally very fun for us!! We sing and talk and eat really bad fast food. Which makes me think... I guess we should eat breakfast Thursday morning before we hit the road in case not much is open.

I digress.
Anyway - I hope y'all all have a Happy Thanksgiving this year!!!!

If you want to help me narrow down what my contributions will be to our family Thanksgiving, please do. I don't want to overdo it! :)

Here are some of the things I'm thinking about making....
These honey yeast rolls... (classic, yummy, versatile)
And/or this braided cheese bread... (braided bread in and of itself is just jazzy impressive, no?)

And for dessert, maybe this pie I made recently?

I did say I would bring something for breakfast Friday morning.
For that, I'm considering strawberry scones... (I just got some strawberries that I need to use up)
and/or pumpkin doughnut muffins...(seasonal)
or cheddar dill scones.... (I have fresh, organic dill growing in my kitchen right now!)

Vote! Tomorrow, I'm off! So, I'll head to Wegmans in the morning (sure to be a MAD HOUSE) and then I can play in the kitchen all day! Yay!

M is Back, and I'm Not Invisible. Just So You Know.

(photo courtesy: Thomas Wilson)

Michael got home Saturday afternoon from the Men's Retreat. He had an amazing time. I don't know much of what went on there because apparently Men's Retreats are something like Vegas in that what happens there, stays there.

I do know this much. He bonded with some guys. He was part of a group of men that filled the air with many voices singing hymns. Some guys stepped up and helped him out, just like he said they would. And he came home mightily encouraged. I can see the leadership in his eyes. He wants to be the big strong hero of this little family that is me and him. And I love that. I'm so thankful he had the opportunity to get away, to do some manly bonding, and that he was so ready to come home to me.

And, even though I did enjoy some "me" time, and I did enjoy falling asleep on his side of the bed, and waking up on my side, thus meaning I made my way around our whole king sized bed by myself, I was ready for him to come home, too.

And this weekend, I was particularly thankful he was spiritually encouraged and has that heart of leadership. Because I need him to lead me. There are so many ways I am still such a baby, especially spiritually and emotionally, and that strong, solid, honest leading is a beautiful, necessary thing in our marriage.

(photo courtesy: Thomas Wilson)

So, yeah... little did he know when he got home this weekend, back from his spiritually high, motivating retreat... he'd have a mess of a wife on his hands. Here comes some more pure, not-from-concentrate realness from me.

Sometimes, I feel invisible. Especially at church. Which logically sounds like the most ridiculous thing on earth, right? We are surrounded by people who love us, inspire us, pray for us, who are WITH us in every imaginable way.

But, I feel like I just fade into the background. I'm there to open the door for Michael, carry our coffee, get the bulletin and the communion elements, get us situated at our seats. Our seats that I feel like are a stage. They're right THERE in the middle of the theater (we go to church in a movie theater). We sit by ourselves, not by choice, but because that's where the place is where someone who is in a wheelchair can sit, with someone else. One other person. That's me. I feel like everyone sees Michael coming, like it's a grand entrance, and I'm just there. Behind him. People greet him, pound him, hug him, and say hi to me second, if at all. I've been noticing this for months, but thought maybe it's all in my head.

Then, this weekend, when M was at the Men's Retreat, I went to a ladies event at our church. The first thing I was asked when I walked in the door was if he got a ride. Then I saw four people I haven't seen in a couple of months, and the first thing all FOUR of them asked about was... him. One woman even said to me, "Oh, yeah, your husband is in a wheelchair," when she was realizing who I was. M wasn't even there and it was still all about him. And I know no one means to do this, they don't realize they're doing it. And I'm not mad at anyone. It just sucks.

I was pissed! And hurt. And Sunday morning, it wasn't any better. By Sunday afternoon when we got home, I was a crying mess. Until my man uttered a few choice words that I will not repeat here that pretty much amount to "screw that."

And, he's right. I will jump up and down to make people see me if I have to. I have a lot to offer. And besides being his wife, which is an awesome role and honor and all of that, I am also worth acknowledging and talking to, myself. So there. I'm not crying about being invisible anymore.

Plus... Sunday night, I attempted to dye my hair brown and it turned out red, which actually, looks awesome. So... unless people really are blind to me, they'll notice that! Not that that's why I dyed my hair, it totally isn't but hey - it can't hurt in the attention department. And, since we're being all honest and what not - let me just tell you... little Cindy loves her some attention!

Men's Retreat = Big Deal

Breakfast for One: Coffee, toast; one piece with pumpkin butter, one with Nutella

I am rested.

This, my friends, doesn't happen all that often.

But, I am this morning, and it is wonderful.

I am alone. At home.

This too, my friends, is rare.

I had an evening home alone last night.

And this morning, I woke up an hour before my alarm so I could soak some more of this peaceful, quiet alone time today!

My Michael is at our church's Men's Retreat. It's a one night thing at like a YMCA campground somewhere in Maryland.

Aren't you proud of me for not knowing anything more than that? Aren't you proud of him for going? Because I am!

Here's the thing. I worry about him. I worried about him possibly going. I wanted him to go, but didn't want to push him. Michael needs help from someone else to go to bed, get undressed and dressed, and with some personal care. Not everyone is up for this kind of "bonding." And that's okay. I worried about who would take care of him. Silly, right? Because if there were a few steps into the dorms or buildings, like a bunch of MEN wouldn't be able to handle it, right? Before we got married, Michael had help from his friends with EVERYTHING. He even assigned them "levels" of helping, depending on how "personal" the help was. Since I have been the one helping him since we got married, it's like I don't want anyone else helping him because I feel like it's an invasion of my privacy! Fortunately, I was able to think about that and realize how ridiculous it was! I even worried about him getting a ride to the retreat, and I offered to pick him up late tonight if he didn't want to spend the night.

But he's there. He spent the night. We didn't even talk last night. Nothing went wrong! Phew! I didn't even pack his bag, his home health aide helped him with that yesterday before one of his friends arrived to pick him up. And I didn't even notice anything he forgot. AND, before he left, he mopped the house for me!

Do you realize what is happening here? This is BIG. I have absolutely NO CONTROL over this situation, and I haven't had any since the packing stage, even. I did make sure he had cash for the trip to help pay for gas and get fast food :) But, really, this is very BIG!

I unnecessarily stress myself out worrying about him, worrying about taking care of every little detail for him. He doesn't need that! It's suffocating!

I made a conscious effort to worry a little less with this retreat, and give him the space to step it up worrying about himself, and it WORKED. Nothing has gone wrong, unless there's something he didn't tell me! :) So, hopefully there won't be any bodily mishaps, no one will drop him, and he won't leave anything behind! Oops, I guess I technically just worried. Okay, I'll stop now!

I missed a text from M last night at about 10:40 "Had a min alone. Loving it so much. Guys are helping me out. No worries. Love you so much. Sweet dreams." I was asleep when he sent it, and we hadn't even talked before that. Can't you tell how much he knows me by these words?

I'm so incredibly proud of him that he's there. He needs this, and it's so awesome that he's not missing out.

It is hard not to worry. But, man has it been nice to be free from it. I was able to focus more on being happy and proud of him for getting this experience than I was worried about all of the details and logsistics. At home, I actually relaxed. Man, I feel great, like my old self! Aaaahhhh.

This morning, I'm indulging in making my Christmas baking list. I want to make lots of stuff to give to/send to friends and family, and also make some dry mixes in jars as gifts! Gotta work on my shopping supply list!

And, apparently I also have some bananas to mash up and freeze!

Yummy Breakfast

This morning, when I opened the fridge to prepare our lunches, and move the chicken for tonight from the freezer to the refrigerator, I saw some leftover rice from the pork chops we had the other night.

It was just rice. The pork chops were eaten. Hmm. I knew I wanted to do something with this rice... then, I had a brilliant idea! Not bad for waking up at 4:30am after a not-so-good night's sleep....

Why not have it for breakfast, right? So, I heated up the leftover rice, scrambled some eggs, microwaved some bacon (In Michael's microwave, haha) chopped up a green onion, threw on some shredded cheddar and some fake butter and BAM. It was delicious.

And, also a huge breakfast. So I know for sure I'll be having the turkey sandwich I made for lunch today, tomorrow. And I'm pretty sure M will too!
I LOVE our breakfast time together. We usually eat dinner on lap trays watching TV in the living room, but breakfast is our sit down and talk and enjoy meal. We usually read the bible together (on our iPhones at the table) and it's just such a great way to start the day.

Today, this yummy breakfast was followed by me getting a shoulder rub. Bonus points to the Hubs for that. Love him. Love his elbows.

Joys of This Week

Well... after my little spiel last week about how hard Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays can be for me... I have to tell you what a wonderful week I've had this week! Thank you for your prayers, I think they are really working! Monday, I worked from home, so I didn't have to leave him, I took care of his stuff myself. Tuesday night, we went to our friends Mike & Courtney's for dinner and had a great time. So, Wednesday morning, I laid in the bed until the very last possible second, then quickly showered and went to work. I didn't have time to be sad about leaving him. And tomorrow is Friday (and Payday) so I think I'll be good.

Some other highlights from my week...
I actually made it to the gym!!! I didn't do anything spectacular, but the point is I made it THERE. This is a big victory for me because for WEEKS I've been waking up and making excuses for not going, so I'm proud of myself for pushing through it and going. I know I need to exercise, and I do like it, once I get there. It's the getting up a half-hour earlier and walking through the cold rain to get there that's so hard. We have a gym right there at our apartment complex (and I have one at the office too so I have NO excuse!).
I drove to work one day this week because Michael was going to be meeting me in the city for an appointment. The traffic wasn't awful and I actually enjoyed a couple of the amenities of driving yourself rather than riding the metro to work. Namely bun warmers and listening to the radio. Yay for that. And you can't beat being able to snap a picture like this out your window on your commute. I mean, really.
Once again, my job allowed me to be right there, on the front row of history as it unfolded. I covered the Medal of Honor ceremony for Staff Sgt. Salvatore Guinta at the White House.
These ceremonies are always powerful. And I've never been there for one where the person who is getting the award is there. It's a much happier occasion. Staff Sgt. Giunta is the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War.
I can't help but be so incredibly thankful for the service and bravery of men like him and all of the men and women in all branches of our military.
Yesterday, I got to share a cab with my old co-worker and still current friend, Joe! Joe has a new job covering the White House, so I'll get to see him all the time! This day, I also saw another former co-worker at the White House too. I worked with her and with Joe at different times and I find it very neat that all of us ended up at the White House. Pretty cool.

Now, for a serious HIGHLIGHT of my week....
My friends, Starbucks is stocking Christmas Blend now!!! This is my ultimate favorite coffee at STBX. Today, they were brewing it. First day for that. Go get yours. I am grateful my 2lb bag of beans is currently at home in my coffee cabinet.

We Have Two Microwaves

Because we're cool like that. And because we both need to be able to get to them!

I'm going to expand on this, because originally I just posted the pics and that was it. But a Facebook conversation made me realize how much I really LIKE that we have two microwaves.

Originally, we bought the second microwave so Michael could get to it. He loves some hot tea! Plus, he needs to be able to heat up his lunch or whatever. He rocks some popcorn and ramen noodles in this sucker! He's also made DINNER in there. Who knew you can microwave pork chops!!

But, it wasn't long after we had the second microwave that I realized it has great benefits!! We often have dueling microwaves going, heating up two bowls of oatmeal at a time, or two plates of leftovers at a time. It saves a lot of time, and allows two people to have two hot meals ready to eat at the same time.

I'd go as far as recommending this for ANYONE. Even if you can all reach the microwave. It's a cool timesaver and microwaves are not expensive at all anymore. So yeah, get that second microwave!

I just thought about something... I sure do hope dueling microwaves doesn't turn my little apartment galley kitchen into some sort of radiation chamber... oh well, I'll worry about that later.

Pics of our Place

Guess what? I FINALLY remembered to take pictures of our place the other day! We moved in August, and I just got around to taking pictures with the camera and not just my iPhone. That iPhone camera makes me lazy, I tell you! Oh well. Here you go.

Let me first say that this place is HOME. It is a joy to live here because this place feels 100% ours. Our old place had a couple of problems. #1: concrete floors. They were dark and dirty and it always felt like we lived in garage or something. I won't horrify you with details of the dirt embedded in my heels. Or, maybe I just did. Sorry about that. #2: Our old place was a hodge podge (I have no idea how to spell that) of my stuff and Michael's stuff and it just didn't go together. #3: There was a hospital bed in our "office," and I hated that, too.

But this place, this place is OURS, fully. We planned and bought stuff on Craigslist and decorated and picked colors together. We both love summer and the beach and I think our place very accurately reflects US. We're proud of it, and love to spend time at home.

Here's the tour...
This is the living room, taken from the entry hallway.
This is taken from the dining area. Dog beds are just a part of life... because these guys... have to have somewhere to lounge.
Not that this guy really ever does that...
But, whatever.
Dining area.
Kitchen. I realized when I was uploading these pictures to Facebook that when I took this the burners and the coffeepot were in the dishwasher. Ooops.
Here is our bedroom. This is hands down, my favorite room. It is beautiful and peaceful and I love it so much!
And... our office. This room feels quite cluttered to me, but I guess that's okay.
I'm trying to decide if we really need books. I mean, I know we don't ever really look at them. But, when I think about getting rid of them, I don't really want to. I have gotten rid of A LOT of books, believe it or not!
We have matching desks, one on each side of the bookcase in the middle. This was one of the best decisions I made. It keeps my creative, free spirited husband's "area" contained! :)
We want this place to be a good home base for us, but also a place to host friends and family all the time, too. We have nice air mattresses! Please let us know if you're coming in town, or if you want to come to dinner or come hang out any time! We would really LOVE to have you at our place!

Determination and Intimacy

D and I have been through a lot of growing pains this first year of marriage. You who have followed this blog get a glimpse into daily struggles we face. Our anniversary was just over a month ago. Since then, we have had really significant challenges and all of the same frustrations. Two things have made a difference.
One thing that has made a significant difference this month is our determination to not let paralysis rob us of good times. We both get frustrated when things don't go right. Dana likes predictability and I like reliability. Sometimes just the anticipation of something going awry makes us dread going out. Determination to do stuff regardless how we feel has gotten us off our duffs several times already. Just this weekend we were anticipating a day out in the District. Then I broke out with blisters on my hands from some allergy (like poison ivy). D was worried and I was frustrated. So, we (meaning Dana) knew better than for me to push around DC all day. Instead, we rode out to the GW Parkway, parked along the river, and read a bit. D even drove around an extra half hour to get me a cup off coffee.
The other is intimacy. I don't necessarily mean that kind of intimacy --though it doesn't hurt. I mean that deep emotional connection where we know we are safe and accepted. We got distracted by our routines and expectations and really doubted ourselves in meeting each others' needs. Neither of us wants to disappoint the other. But we end up being too hard on ourselves. After a while we were both gun shy around each other. I had to learn to communicate to D that things really are great when I feel so and that good enough really is good enough too. Likewise I had to learn that D doesn't pick up after me or clam up because she's mad, it's just her zone --how she gets things from chaos to comfortable. Learning those quirks and patiently talking, holding, and sometimes just waiting quietly for the dust to settle made it more safe for us to be us and then love each other without fear of having our feelings hurt.

Productive.

I worked from home today. So thankful for a job that allows me that flexibility. It makes juggling the whole wife/nurse/journalist thing much easier. When I think about how God led me to this job at this perfect point in time in my life, I am so thankful, I could cry. But I do that enough, so I'm going to stop myself.

Guess what that means? NO ONE came to my house this morning to get my husband up, to the bathroom, dressed and ready for the day. That's right. It was all me :) And, while it isn't an activity I particularly enjoy... it was nice to do it today, together. Thankfully everything went well. And it was re-confirmed that nobody does it better than ME! Haha, I like nothing better than being the best at something, can you tell? :)

I covered Congressman Charlie Rangel's ethics trial thanks to the internet and CSpan, and I got some stuff done around la casa.
I cleaned. Love a freshly cleaned house, don't you? I do not understand how anyone can possibly not like cleaning. It's such a perfect exercise in instant gratification! Counter is dirty. Spray something that smells good, wipe it off, and it is instantly clean and smells nice. This is a good thing.
My view as I worked today. Splendid.
My co-workers today. Note: Princess DOES have a face. She's going to the groomer Saturday.
Anyone know what this means???
Another clue...

Happy Monday, y'all.

Update: The answer.
Bread, babyyy. Cinnamon sugar bread and a loaf of white bread. Deeee-licious.

Weekends are a Good Thing, Yes?

I love big weekends that include lots of friends and travel and special plans. But, I also love low-key weekends that are free from a bunch of obligations. That's the kind of weekend we just wrapped up. 'Twas very nice! I got up early Saturday and got my bake on.

This time: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (thanks to a Facebook friend's suggestion)
Here's the recipe I used. Deliciousness, indeed. I heard from a different Facebook friend that I have inspired her to get back in the kitchen! That made me very happy. Being in the kitchen is a good thing. I find much peace in the kitchen.

I spent a lot of time in my kitchen Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today, actually. I made three casseroles in three days! Green bean casserole, a sausage breakfast casserole (photo of uncooked breakfast casserole below) and a pineapple casserole.
Fixing that pineapple casserole was fun! I cut that pineapple that you probably thought was becoming a permanent fixture in the background of all my kitchen photos! It was my first time cutting up a pineapple. I have to say, it was much easier than I have always imagined.

Saturday, it was a beautiful day outside and Michael and I had planned to do something in the city, maybe something educational. But... the other day, he thought it would be a good idea to pick through a bush in our courtyard and eat some berries or something. So, he had a major allergic reaction on the skin on his hands. Think bubbly palms. Yeah, nasty! And it was painful to look at. It's one of those things... like, it is nice that he couldn't feel it because I'm sure it was terribly itchy, and painful. But, the fact that he can't feel it makes it difficult to describe what's going on. At any rate, I didn't think it would be a good idea to be pushing all around town with those bubbly paws, so we decided to just take a drive in the car instead. That way, we were still getting out and enjoying the nice day, but we weren't causing any further damage to his poor hands. So, we drove to the GW Parkway, parked at Roosevelt Island, and read a few chapters out of the book we're reading for our small group, as we looked out at the awesome Fall leaves over the Potomac. It was great.

Then, we spent the late afternoon at the Minute Clinic at CVS. That was not so much fun, but I'm thankful M got something to help his hands! Prednisone is the best! It's clearing up nicely, thank God. We went through a drive-thru for dinner, and I did the grocery shopping while he sat in the car, again, so he could stay off those hands.

Sunday was church. I may share more of my thoughts about that later. Maybe, we'll see. :)

After church, I met one of my favorite pals, Jessi, over at the Washington Convention Center for the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show.
We tasted lots of yummy stuff...
Bought some fresh, organic herbs..
Dill and Basil... they smell so fresh! Can't wait to play with them!
And we saw my girl, Paula Deen!! We got tickets via Groupon at a steal. Thankful for that because the show wasn't really what I was expecting. She didn't really cook anything! Scratch that, she didn't cook anything at all! :( Her husband, Michael and this other chef guy were doing stuff with food, but Paula didn't really talk about that at all.
I have to say... it was all very weird. Like she was drunk or something, I don't know. She was all over the place, and made a few inappropriate jokes, ew! I remain a huge Paula fan, because I can testify that her recipes are golden! And, I'm willing to give her another chance in the future, but yeah, it was all so strange.

She also looked taller and thinner in real life than she does on TV. Not that that matters.
It was a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to hanging out with Jessi again soon, and cooking together!

Somebody Needs a Haircut

Would you believe this is the only picture I have from M's birthday night? Waiting for the Metro. Look at those curls, would you? Somebody needs a haircut! But somebody else has no right to talk because she needs hair color!

Little Known Fact

We have a cat. Her name is Katy and she doesn't get much press.
But, she is a sweet muffin head.
And, I just caught her napping in Michael's bathroom sink.

And, if you don't watch her... she'll try to creep up on your breakfast. Katy loves muffins. Funny side note: Her original name when I rescued her? MUFFIN!