Golf, Twilight, and a flat tire

Whew! This weekend has been a relaxing yet stressful weekend all at the same time. Maybe I need to borrow some of Charlie Sheen's mood stabilizers now. Scratch that. They sure don't seem to be helping him.....

Matt left Thursday for a long weekend full of guys, golf, and alcoholic beverages.  12 of he and his best friends went to a cabin in Tennessee for a golf tournament they made up called the Mulligan Mug. Let me tell you how serious the guys were about this. Not only did they talk about it for months, plan out teams, team names, and half of them all got new golf clubs just for this weekend, but they even had a trophy made.

My huband's team won giving them bragging rights until next years Mulligan Mug. And since he did so well, he got to the keep the trophy. Wow. This will sure make great decoration for our home.

While the boys played, I went home to Atlanta to see the family.  Mom recently read the Twilight Series (yeah, shes a few years behind) and hadn't seen the movies, so I brought them and we had a Twilight Movie Marathon. I knew it was a problem after she read the series and I asked if she was Team Jacob or Team Edward and she was like "huh?"....Gotta pick, mom, gotta pick. It is very serious stuff.

 Saturday we laid by the pool and relaxed...That afternoon I got to meet this sweet little guy

 baby Zander! My best friend Amanda gave birth to him a month ago and I was so excited to meet him! He is so freaking precious!

Sunday I met up with my dad and step-mom and we had brunch. It was great until I went to leave and head back to Birmingham.  And then I got a flat tire!! Ahhh! Luckily I was right by my dad's house and hadn't gotten on the interstate yet.  A few hours later (and a lot of money) I had a new tire and was on my way home. I got back safe though and am currently vegging out in my pj's on my sofa. Yeah, don't feel too bad for me....

Umm....so we can't patch this?!

"This is what dad's are for!" says my dad. He sure saved the day!! Thanks dad!!

Chow Down: French Version

This Tuesday we had our monthly Chow Down at Cafe De Paris, a French restaurant here in Birmingham. It is located in a neat area called the Lakeview District. None of us had eaten at this restaurant and we were all eager to try it.

We arrived pretty early, around 5 and at that time had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Our waiter was one of the owners and he was so funny and entertaining. He brought us free food (yes please!) to sample and kept the wine coming (really yes please!), which was great because on Tuesday and Wednesdays it is half off wine (so says their website)!

Once everyone arrived and we started to order our food the restaurant began to have more patrons.  The food took awhile to arrive but we hardly noticed with all the chatting and wine drinking.  The food was excellent and everyone was raving about their meals.  The great part is that they have a $5 Happy Hour menu which you can order off of from 5-7, which is what I ordered off of.

Grelier showing off her chicken pasta

My steak sandwich with mushroom sauce and a side salad

After dinner, the restaurant continued to get busier and busier and the service began to decline. Our waiter was working with one other waitress and there was only 1 cook working in the kitchen.  The 2 servers seemed to struggle keeping up with all the tables (they weren't even that busy though) and it would turn into hours (literally) waiting for dessert, more wine, and the check.  Our server had trouble splitting up the checks and ended up giving us only $2 off our wine, instead of the half price they advertise on their website.

The sweet French server was no longer funny and entertaining either.

Grelier, Erica, and Megan

We still had a great time though! Of course.

Bethany and Melanie

The whole group, from left to right: Ang B., Phoenix, me, Bethany, Mel, Julie, Mere, Grelier, Erica, and Megan

 Overall, we had a great time and made the best out of the poor service we had at the end. If you have a lot of time and want an authentic French cuisine in Birmingham, this is your place to go. Just be prepared to be very patient.

Livin the dream

Saturday I hung out all day with my sister-in-law Megan and friend Phoenix. We began going out for brunch, got sucked into the cheap mimosa  pitchers, and ended up spending the whole day doing some schenanigans together.  After several hours at "brunch" (which really means lunch because the restaurant stopped serving breakfast by the time we arrived) we went shopping and back to Phoenix's house to play a little Rock Band while drinking a little wine.

Megan, Phoenix, me

 Our band name was "Boats n Hoes" and we were pretty awesome. Especially as the wine flowed. We have now seriously considered really starting a band in real life. Playing the drums and guitar is the same as on Rock Band right? You just push buttons/hit the color that pops up?

Boats N Hoes in mid-action

 I have a battle wound that I got from the drumsticks--a blister on my finger. But hey, that's the price I must pay to live the dream.

Did you touch my drum set?!

Please note our band name on the big screen.

 I'm not trying to brag, but since we were so awesome, we got some great prizes. Like this 1975 Econowagon Van. Now we can really take our show on the road.

After the Boats n Hoes concert tour ended, we decided we would meet up with the guys and go to the country club. It was a real classy event, complete with karaoke and all.

Sing it OJ

Phoenix and Matt

We called it a night pretty early since it was such a busy/exhausting day. It's a tough life being a rock star.

Today was busy as well, we went to church, lunch with the in-laws, to the movies to see "Horrible Bosses" (hilarious!), and to the grocery story.  I'm tired just typing that.  I think I may go take a nap now. Hope ya'll had a good weekend. Stay tuned for the Boats n Hoes tour dates. Coming soon to a town near you!

A wonderful Wednesday

Yesterday I had a hot lunch date with this guy

Ladies, back off! He's mine!....Though I have recently considered renting him out for extra money...

 We went to my absolute FAVORITE restaurant ever, O'Carrs. If I haven't told ya'll about this place, I apologize. It is a must if you live or are ever in the Birmingham area. Their motto is "eat by color" and they provide fresh, delicious food that is (mostly) pretty healthy. Their chicken salad is the bomb! (yes, I just said the bomb). Anyways, it was delicious and we try to go on lunch dates (mostly there) as much as possible.  

Famous chicken salad and fruit plate- my mouth is watering looking at this...

Last night we had dinner with this sweet lady

Old picture from Christmas, no I don't wear sweaters in July...unless you see me at work where they keep it -20 degrees.

Matt's mom! She is so sweet and we love spending time with her! We had a good time and dinner was great!

Now, onto other important topics....today is Thursday which means tomorrow is FRIDAY! Wohoo! We don't have much planned for this weekend except possibly going on except dinner with the in-laws at Cheesecake Factory. Any recommendations on what cheesecake to get??

Ramblings and a Recipe

So I am currently only day 16 of the 30 Day Shred and feel like it is helping to tone my muscles so I don't feel as flabby as Kristie Alley. I am honestly pretty dang proud that I haven't skipped a day and have been keeping up with my running about 4 times per week.  The good thing about working out a lot is that I hope it cancels out the fact that I eat like crap.  I just can't turn down doughnuts and cookies. Whoops.

Speaking of food, my freshman year college roommate used to make this rice that was so dang good. After 10 years (please don't do the math) I have hunted her down (okay, so already being her friend on Facebook may not qualify as hunting, per se) and asked her for the recipe.  It is so easy and good that I decided to share the recipe. Oh yeah, that and the fact that I can't think of anything more exciting to blog about. 

Here's what you need:

Can of sliced mushrooms, drained
Can of Campbells Beef Broth
Can of Campells French Onion Soup
1 Cup of rice
1 stick of butter (which is equal to 1/2 cup)

This is what 1 cup of rice looks like--in case you live on Mars and have never seen rice

Melt the butter and pour in the bottom of a small casserole dish

Mix in the rice, 2 soups, and drained mushrooms. Bake on 400 for 30-45 minutes or until rice is done.

Enjoy the deliciousness! Matt gave it his seal of approval.

 So here's what our meal looked like tonight:

Rice, broccoli, grilled teryaki chicken, and buttered whole wheat toast

 Here's my bitch cook.  Don't you wish you had one of these?? He's pretty cute too, maybe I should rent him out for some extra money....

And just because they need some blog love too...

Fruit and Oreos

This weekend being a long holiday weekend also equals good food; and we had tons of this all weekend long.

Saturday morning, Megan and I went to Pepper Place, Birmingham's Saturday Farmer's Market. It is a pretty large Farmer's market with tents selling local produce, baked good, crafts, wine, ice cream, jams, and even meat.  They usually have several bands playing and this week they had a guest chef hosting a cooking presentation.  I love Pepper Place because I think it is important to eat fresh food while also supporting local farmers.  It is a fun way to spend your Saturday morning!

A few of the many tents at Pepper Place

Another area of Pepper Place

At Pepper Place, Megan and I loaded up on some fresh fruit to make a special treat for Ang and Matt's Gender Reveal Party.  I give all the credit to Megan who came up with the idea and did most of the leg work as I tried to do my best as a helper.

Megan cutting the watermelon into a baby carriage

Almost done

Final Product

I must admit I think it turned out pretty cute, however there are a few things we learned from making this.  One is that the icing pens which we used to make the face suck. They smeared and after sitting for awhile began to run a bit.  The second thing I learned is to forget the cool whip or/whip cream for the bonnet. It was hard to aim it, didn't look like a bonnet--instead like the baby had a white fro', and melted away pretty quickly. I wouldn't make a bonnet for the baby in the future at all if making this again.

In other food news, I made a delicious dessert Monday for the 4th of July and it was so easy I thought I'd share. The ingredients you need are a pack of Oreos, a tub of Cool Whip, and a gallon of Vanilla ice cream.

Step 1: take the whole bag of Oreo's and dump in a large ziploc bag. Then crush them with your fists.

Step 2: Mix the Cool Whip and ice cream together, then add the Oreo crumbles. (You must let the Cool Whip and ice cream soften up a bit to mix)

Step 3: Place in a large casserole dish, cover, and put in the freezer.  If you like it softer, eat it sooner or let it melt when you take it out of the freezer, or if you prefer it to be more like a pie, let it sit in the freezer.

Step 4: enjoy!! So easy and delishhh!

Poolin' It

Other than finding out Baby Burton's gender, we spend the weekend at the pool.

Sunday, we went to our friend Amanda's parent's pool. This seems to be a tradition which we do every year for the 4th of July and it is always soo much fun! Her parents are so sweet and fun and we love spending time with them and swimming in their nice pool!

All the girls....can you pick out the 2 preggo girls?? (hint, one is on the end ;) )

Jay was clutch bringing a pool beer pong table!

The guys and Stephanie

Later in the afternoon the girls did this...

While the boys did this.... (yes we are still in 8th grade)

Monday, for the actual 4th of July, we went to pool #2- our friends Jenn, Rachel, and Kasey all live in the same subdivision (and are sisters!) and we went to their neighborhood pool.

Anyone having Top Gun flashbacks? I did.

The girls getting some sun

We had a sweet setup with the tent which really came in handy when it started to POUR down. We thought it may have been a quick shower but after the lightning and thunder started we called it a (pool) day and went to our friend Billys' house (who also lives in the neighborhood). We stayed for a little bit but Matt and I left early, hoping to just get in our pj's and sit on the couch. And that is how we celebrated the 4th of July. 

Hope Y'all had a great weekend and 4th of July!

It's a Boy!!

No silly, I'm not pregnant. But a lot of my friends are, and this weekend it was all about Mrs. Ang B., her husband Matty Matt, and their little bundle of joy.

Ang and Matt were married in March and right about the same time found out they were pregnant.  We were so excited and thrilled when they told us the news, and ever since the anticipation of what gender the baby will be has built and built. 

They decided to host a "Gender Reveal Party" which is a fun and exciting way to celebrate the revealing of the babies gender.  Everyone who was invited to the party was instructed to wear pink if they thought it would be a girl, and blue for boy. I went with blue, Matt for pink. We were both 100% confident in our choices, but one of us was wrong.



Me and the mom-to-be, Oh yeah, and Romeo, how could we forget Romeo?!



The cake is what the party is centered around. When Matt and Ang went for their last ultrasound, the gender was revealed to the doctors and without telling Matt and Ang the gender, they sealed it up in an envelope. Angela brought the sealed envelope to a baker, who baked a cake which would reveal the gender.  The cake looks normal on the outside, but on the inside is either blue or pink. When the couple cuts the cake everyone, including them, finds out what the baby's gender will be.



Such a cute cake!!



This is a watermelon baby my sister-in-law Megan and I made- we thought it turned out pretty cute!

Matt and I before the big reveal, who will be right!?!?

And the winner is......



It's a boy!!



The happy couple both guessed right!

Team Blue = winners!

We had so much fun finding out what baby Burton's gender is! We ended up staying to celebrate pretty much the whole evening. Matt and Angela had tons of food, drinks, and cute decorations up. It was a great party!



group shot of some of my best girl friends + Romeo. He was a celebrity that night!

Now the anticipation builds as to what the baby's name will be!! Billy Burton perhaps?? ;)