Top 2

Top 2: things I've learned about friendship

1) I've learned that a best friend was always more important than a boyfriend.

2) I've learned that your heart is forever touched by a true friend, no matter how things end up between you.

And most importantly, I've learned that my girlfriends will always be my best friends, no matter where they are, or what is happening in their lives, or what they are doing - they are irreplaceable. This is the most important thing I could have ever been taught by a best friend & I am SO very blessed with all the wonderful girlfriends in my life:

My "St. Lukes" girls

My "South Carolina" girls - Michelle & Stacey

My "Knot.com" girls - Nickie & Amy

My "Neighborhood" girls

And last but not least, my bestest girlfriends in the whole wide world:

My sister Jen

HT & Jilly

Heather K, Deanna & HT

I feel SO fortunate to have such a wonderful group of women in my life & to know that each & everyone of them has my back is an awesome feeling!

Love you girls!!!

Laughter

One of the reasons I fell in love with my hubby was his ability to make me laugh. After 6 1/2 years of marriage, he still continues to make me laugh. At times he has had me in tears from laughing so hard.

Here is just one example of why he cracks me up. He asks me last night as innocent as could be:

S: Remember when we saw the Circus Ole show in Vegas?

H: When we saw who?

S: Circus Ole

H: You mean Cirque du Soleil? - as I am rolling on the floor laughing almost peeing my pants

S: what? it's not Circus Ole?

H: no honey - it's not

S: well, however the hell you say it....

LOL - that hubby of mine is too cute :)

Bully Birthday

We had a birthday in the family today:Bentley (aka: Bubba) turned 6 years old & we celebrated with a cake from Three Dog Bakery. Hard to believe he has been with us for 6 years already. I remember so clearly the day we brought him home:Aw - he was the cutest little puppy!!! Too bad they can't stay this size forever :(

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Top 2

Favorite Healthy Recipes &/or Snacks:

It's been a few weeks since I have participated in Tuesday's Top 2 & this week's topic comes at a good time! Last week I joined our "Biggest Loser" contest at work hoping it will help motivate me to drop that annoying 10 lbs I need to lose so I am anxious to read about everyones "healthy" recipes over at Taylor's blog & get some ideas.

Here are 2 recipes that I make often that are fairly healthy:

1) Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium sweet potatoes, washed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.

Slice each potato into 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick strips. In a small bowl, combine cumin, salt & pepper. Put potatos in a large ziplock bag & toss with oil, cumin, salt, & black pepper until evenly coated. Place on a non-stick baking sheet & avoid crowding so potatoes get crisp. Bake for 15 minutes.

Turn potatoes & bake until bottom is browned, about 10-15 minutes more. Serve immediately.

2) Triple Berry Smoothie

1/2 cup blackberries & rasberries
5 medium strawberries
1 cup crushed ice
1/3 cup skim milk
6 oz nonfat yogurt
1 scoop of protein powder (optional)

Put all ingredients in a blender & blend until smooth. (I like to use my Magic Bullet for blending). Serve with a straw & enjoy!

What are some of your favorite healthy recipes?

Anniversary

Today my parents are celebrating thirty-five years of marriage! Wow - 35 years!!! In today's society that's a HUGE milestone. I am so thankful & lucky to have parents who have had such a strong marriage and have demonstrated to me & my siblings what it should look like.

Happy 35th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Love you both so very much! May Shane & I be lucky enough to one day reach the milestone you two have reached today & may you get to enjoy many more years together!

Senoritas

Last night I gathered with some girlfriends I used to work with for some mexican & margaritas at Mi Ranchito's. It was a fun evening that involved excellent 'ritas, food, company & great conversation. My stomach still hurts from all the laughter that was had! I had so much fun catching up with these girls but unfortunately it makes me realize how much they are missed :( Hoping we can all get together again soon!

Hiatus

Ugh - where does the time seem to go!?

I just looked at the date of the last time I posted & it has been 11 days! How can that be possible? I honestly didn't plan on taking an 11 day hiatus but that is exactly what has happened. Time is moving along at lightening speed & I just can't keep up. Sorry to you all who have been stopping by looking for an update. I am going to try my best to be a better blogger but I can't make any promises that what I write will be very exciting or newsworthy! Anyone who wants to comment on potential blog topics I could write about feel free. I could use the inspiration.

So what have I been up to since the last time I posted? Not much of anything & I like it. My social calendar in the winter tends to be quite empty which is fine by me. I was on call last weekend so Shane & I didn't do much of anything other than layed around in our jammies & caught up on all our DVR'd shows from the week. Heavenly!

Oh - did I mention Shane is back on nights? 6 days of working on the day shift & they ended up laying off a bunch of guys so Shane got bumped back to nights. He wasn't happy about it but at least he wasn't one of the ones laid off! For that we are thankful.

So besides work, call, running errands, dealing with car repairs, hanging with the hubby & being a domestic diva I haven't done much of anything else. Hence the reason I haven't been blogging. With my life being so boring, there hasn't been much to talk about lately & I would hate to bore y'all so I write nothing. I promise I will work on it.

Upcoming events: an anniversary, a Bully Birthday, Top 2 Tuesday, dinner out with the neighbor girls & a weekend dedicated to home projects. Lots to blog about this week :)

Homeless?

Today I saw a disturbing image.

I was driving down Westport road making my way to the hospital on the Plaza. As I approached the red light, I see a homeless man on the corner of the intersection holding a sign that was very similiar to the one above. I felt sorry for him standing out in the freezing cold temperature & had hoped he wasn't too hungry & was able to keep warm in the 9 degree temps. This however wasn't the disturbing image that I saw.

It was the events that occurred next.

A business van pulled up to the homeless guy & handed him what looked like a little box of cookies & a fast food breakfast sandwich of some sort. I was thinking to myself how very nice that was of the van guy & that the hungry homeless man was going to be able to eat a little something. As soon as these warm fuzzy thoughts entered my head they quickly disappeared as I witness the homeless man pretend to put them in his pocket, looked to his left, then to his right & then threw the cookies & sandwich in the snow. Un - frickin - believable. My light had turned green by then & the impatient driver behind me honked & startled me out of my disbelief of what I just saw. Some kind person handed this "homeless" man food & he threw it in the snow. How ungrateful can you be when you are the one standing out there with a "hungry" sign?!

As I drove away, I started thinking. Maybe this man wasn't homeless at all? Maybe he was just out there trying to collect money from the poor suckers like myself who feel sorry for them? And the more I thought about it, he sure didn't look like he had missed one too many meals - if you know what I mean? He was a BIG homeless guy with a BIG belly. He also had on a really nice gray, wool Peacoat too - not something a "homeless" man might wear.

Whatever his story, the ungratefulness he showed today has forever changed my attitude towards homeless people standing on the street corner. Don't think I'll be handing out any spare change or food to these people anytime soon. I ain't no sucker.

Makeover

So earlier in the week I was inspired by a few girlfriends & started thinking about the rooms in our home & what I wanted to do differently with them. We have lived in this house for 7 years now & it is time for a change. Unfortunately that change doesn't come cheap so I have been doing a lot of research online how to design your home on a budget.

My sister sent me a fabulous DIY blog that has been really helpful with some ideas & my friend Desiree is also very inspiring with all her lovely ideas for her babies nursery. So now my creative juices are a flowin' & I have gone around the house & made a list of what I want to re-do.

First thing - change the paint color in our bedroom. At first the teal walls with chocolate accents was fun but now it makes me want to grab something sharp & stab it in my eye. I spend alot of time in our bedroom (watching TV, reading, getting ready) & the color in there makes me feel stressed. I am going to keep the chocolate accents (curtains/sconces/photos) & burnt orange color in the master bathroom & am thinking of a warm buttercream color for the bedroom. I am also going to try & attempt a stencil design on the wall that our bed is up against. Ideas found here: KFD Design

Shane doesn't know it yet but I am going to switch out the bedroom sets also. As much as I would love a new bedroom set, they are expensive & we have 2 perfectly good sets already. The one in our master BR is pine which was Shane's set before we got married. It is a nice set but I don't care for the light color of wood. The set in the guest BR was mine & is a cherry wood. Dark wood/warm colors are more my taste so we will see who wins out on this battle :)

2) We need new carpet throughout the house. This is going to be a huge expense & one you hate to spend a few thousand dollars on but it needs to be done. I already have an idea of colors so that shouldn't be hard. Getting Shane to agree with me will be the challenge!

3) Organize our basement, finish the walls/ceiling & move the computer/desk down there. I also want to put the dogs kennels down there & make it cozy for them so I can put them there when we are gone or have company.

4) Repaint the family room & hang some new photos on the wall. Got a few ideas from here. 5) Organize closets, drawers, shelves & get rid of all the "junk" we have been accumulating for the last 7 years. Unfortunately I will have to do this solo when Shane isn't looking. He is a "pack rat" & saves EVERYTHING!!!

6) Give my laundry room a makeover & make the small space more user-friendly. I talked about doing this idea in the past & would still like to do it!

Then there are the 25 other little things that need to be done around the house so I am hoping to get a majority of the list knocked out during the winter months & not spend too much money. I will try & post pics as I go.

Thanks ladies for the inspiration! Home Depot thanks you as well :)

Week in Review

This past week hasn't been too crazy which I am thankful for after the hustle & bustle of the holidays. I was on-call for the New Year's weekend & luckily I was only called in once. Not much of a money-maker weekend but after doing this for 15+ years I prefer the quiet nights & weekends.

The hubby started on the day shift at UPS Monday so we have had to "adjust" yet again to seeing each other daily. His new hours are 6am-2:30pm. It is a big adjustment for the both of us when his shift changes but we always seem to make it work. Not sure how long he will be on this shift as they are going to be laying off people in the next few weeks so he may have to go back to nights for a few months.

On Thursday I had a Dream Dinners session & invited my friend Nickie to join me. After a fun evening of whipping up entrees together I think she is sold :) I just LOVE taking part in DD & love to share the wealth to others when I find something I believe in. I am hoping that her family enjoys the meals as much as we do here at the Taylor household.

This weekend has been a lazy one as well - which has been much needed after the craziness of Dec & I may or may not have spent the entire day on Saturday in my PJ's. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to be & wasn't on call so I thoroughly enjoyed the lazy day. The hubby was alert & oriented & awake ALL day so it was a nice change to have him around rather than working into Sat morning & sleeping the majority of the day.

Today is another lazy day of vegging on the couch & watching sports: Chiefs play at noon & KU basketball follows. I just love these lazy weekends :)

Hope you are all have a fabulous weekend as well! Looks like the KC metro area is going to get 5-7" of snow tomorrow!? Makes for a lovely drive around the KC area while going to & from work :(

Baking Tradition

Every year, I plan a day around the holidays & bake my little heart out. I pick out 6-7 different recipes, throw on an apron, put the iPod on shuffle & spend all day mixing & stirring & baking & taste-testing the finished product. Once all the sweets meet my approval (and Shane's), I then assemble a little bag or plate to give to my neighbors in our cul-de-sac. It is something I look forward to doing every year & I am sure my neighbors look forward to being on the receiving end of my treats also :)

Unfortunately, the holiday baking was a bit delayed this year. I usually clear my calendar the Sunday before X-mas to bake up my goodies but since I was sick that weekend, I had to postpone it. I was on-call for the New Years weekend & figured it would be a perfect time to continue my annual tradition.

This year I tried a few new recipes & stuck with some old "favorites" as well. Here is a pic of all my hard work before I assembled the plates of goodies:

There are sugar cookies, PB balls, Oreo Truffles, PB Blossoms, Cherry Almond cookies, Almond Joy Balls & Turtles. Mmmmm - so good! (If anyone would like any recipes please feel free to email me)

And here is a pic of what I gave to my neighbors:

I am hoping I didn't "break" anybody's New Year's resolutions by delivering treats after the New Year?!?

Top 2

Top 2 Favorite Items of 2010

When I think of my 2 favorite items of 2010, it isn't big purchases like a car or a laptop or a camera. Instead my favorite items are inexpensive & practical & I love them both:

1) Fleece sheets - just saying those words out loud you might automatically think "no way - sheets made out of fleece would be too hot" but I would have to disagree. I LOVE to curl into bed & be surrounded by these plushy, soft, warm, fuzzy, little-piece-of-heaven sheets. I would have to say sleeping in these sheets is like laying around in your fleece hoodie & jammie pants - they are that awesome! And with these on our bed, I never have to worry about jumping into a cold bed ever - they stay warm ALL the time!

2) my Dansko clogs - in my line of work I am on my feet ALL day long & will wear down a pair of tennis shoes in 3 months. Buying tennis shoes 4-5 times was getting expensive so I finally broke down & invested in 2 pairs of Dansko clogs (one in tooled black leather - below & the other in brown oiled leather). I work at 2 different hospitals so I am able to keep one pair at each location. Since I have started wearing these shoes, my back & legs no longer hurt & I haven't had to purchase tennis shoes ALL year! I also love how I am so much taller while wearing them :) And another plus - I can deduct the purchase on my 2010 taxes - NICE! I am definitely glad I made the investment - they have been worth every penny!