Dinner Party!!!

I am going to brag because I am getting pretty good at this hosting parties at my house. I am actually getting to enjoy it. Maybe I will work on big parties. This time I had Chante (from my Amsterdam trip) and her boyfriend, Matt, come over to eat. I made Rosemary Chicken which turned out so so with a vegatable salad and twice baked potatoes. The best part was that I made this absolutely awesome peanut butter honeycomb pie. I made the honeycomb myself which was so much fun. I think I am going to make chocolate covered honeycomb for Christmas and give it out. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of that great pie.

Beach Babies

For our summer vacation we went to St. Simmons Island and Brunswick Georgia. It was the first time that we loved going to the beach. We drove down with our bikes because we knew that the Island had cycling trails. First we went to the second settlement in Georgia, Fort Frederica. After seeing a snake we were careful, and didn't like it quite a we should since we were so hot and watching out for snakes. We then went to the best barbeque on the island that was featured in Dives and Dinners. It was good, but the meat was over cooked. We did find this great ice cream parlor that had fresh designer ice creams. We had to go everyday we were there.

The next day we went to the beach to swim and body surf. It was nice to cool off with the sun beating down on us. We finally understood why people got umbrellas and chairs to sit at the beach and relax. We later when to the pier where we watched a nine year old teach all of the tourist how to catch crabs. The crabs may have been small, but they put up a lot of fight which was entertaining to watch. It was funny to see the Asians flip out when they caught a stingray, and how disappointed they were when they had to throw it back. We also went up the island's light house where it is still operational today.

We drove over to Jekyal Island to see the driffwood beach. It was really cool however the sand is mostly quick sand and we got stuck two or three times in it. Our Sandals got ripped apart from trying to get them out of the sand.

July Guests

I am so impressed with myself because I totally didn't think I would get my strangers into my home in July. I just had too much to do, and I wanted it to be really special for who I had planned to come over. I did however have some one fall into my lap because they moved into the ward as well as my apartment complex. I felt bad that she didn't have a kitchen and nothing to eat since her husband was out of town training for his job. I also had volunteered to have one of my young woman stay with me the night before camp because she had no place to stay as her parents were out of town. I whipped up some awesome chicken cordon bleu with twice baked potatoes and I had one spectacular dinner.

Festivals Galore!

June seems to be the festival month. We kicked it off with the national recognised Hydrangea Festival in Douglasville. I liked it, but I have to admit I missed how great it was because I have no concept of plants and what looks bad and good. I did enjoy the floral arrangements for tables. It was fun to see the different ideas of what you can do with a theme and flowers.

Our next festival was the Peach Festival in Fort Valley Ga (near Macon, in the backwoods of Georgia). It wasn't much of a festival and I guess it was more for the locals than anything because they only had one set of signs showing you where to go. After finally finding it, we set about seeing the world largest peach cobbler. It was 11x5 feet. They had to shovel it out just to be able to serve it. We all were able to taste it, although it tasted like baby food the peaches were very good. We were disappointed until we realized it was the world's largest cobbler instead of the world's best cobbler. Another upsetting thing was that I expected to see many recipes and food that was peach, but it was typical peach food. It was a little sad when they ran out of peaches to sell at 2 pm and we were left to pick over peaches. Although this Festival could have been better, it was a good experience to say that I had eaten from the worlds LARGEST peach cobbler.

Possibly the best part of the Festival was the kids games, especially the bubble pool. It had a bubble fall and everything. Unfortunately it was for kids, but all of us adults wanted to go and play in it considering how hot it was. Instead we had to watch Frankie as he blew the bubbles every where and get the courage to get under the bubble fall.

No Visiters this Month

This month I couldn't complete my stranger coming to my house because the couple went camping the weekend that I could do it. Too bad I didn't plan ahead and do it some other weekend than Memorial Day. I do have to admit that out of my best friend and husband I was the only one who knew why we celebrate Memorial Day. I chose to make the dessert I planned anyway it is called Mexican Ice Cream Cake. It has a orange meringue topping. It was awesome to eat

Cycling for the Summer

Last weekend Daniel and I decided to take a road trip and cycle somewhere new. We usually go on the Silver Comet Trail, but we thought we would go camping and then get some biking in. We could camp becasue the state only allows you to camp for more than one day. We decided to find a trail on the other side of the city. It was beautiful, and fairly easy to do except that it was full of hills. The grade was constant and no matter which way you went you knew they opposite way was going to be just as hard. We went tweleve miles which we could have easily done on the Silver Comet, but was killed on the Panola Mountain Trail. On our way back Daniel had to walk nearly every hill, and smug locals passed us by as we walked along. Other than the sore muscles it sure was pretty.

Continue with the work socializing

I got it into my head that I REALLY wanted to see the Kekeunof in the Netherlands. I had no one to go with me the first time I went. I was so desperate to go that I thought I would call up Chante, a mutual friend from work, who I had talk to about a handful of times. Well the Volcano changed my plans for last year, so I geared up to go and nothing was going to stop me this time.

I left Thursdays straight from work and met up with Chante at the gate where she was able to get a business class ticket and I was not, but once we got on the plane they kicked her back to coach. For 8 hours we shifted around like cattle until we arrived at Amsterdam. It was great for the first thing we did was take a train to the Hague (UN world court is based there), where we took a tram to Scheveningen the sea side resort of the Netherlands. It was rather quaint, but dead since the North Sea could freeze your bum off right now. They had this great hotel which reminded me of Salt Aire and just confirmed my thought that people will do anything for a beach and water to swim.

After we checked into our hotel we made our way into the heart of Hague where we went to the Mauritshuis which is the musuem that houses The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I never really liked that picture until seeing in person because someone finally explained why it is such a great painting. The pearl is only two brush strokes, and your eye completes the rest of the detail. That and it is one huge pearl for only two strokes. We got to see other famous Dutch artist as well, but that was the highlight of the museum.
We then jumped on a tram and made our way out to Zoetermeer where we spent some time browsing a supermarket for lunch. I totally indulged in my cheese fetish and Chante admitted her fetish was bread, so we picked up a really great loaf and sat in the local park talking and eating for two hours. After that wandered around looking for the temple, and found it just in time to start a session which we both promptly slept through most of it because of our jet lag. We then returned back to our hotel where we found a great cafe to have a traditional dinner of frites and crispy mash beef followed by the biggest ice cream waffle creation. Somehow it ended up being 11pm by the time we hit the hay.

The next day was the reason we came to the Netherlands. The Kekeunof and the flower parade! We left the Hague and to the train back to the airport where I would interrupt Chante and say "Oooh look at the flowers!" From the airport we stood in an hour line to get on a bus to go to the Kekeunof once there it was mobs and mobs of people so we thought to find a place for the parade. After standing for two hours and the parade still hadn't come (it's route started nearly out by the Hague and ended in a suburb of Amsterdam) There was no crowd control and it seemed to be ran by people who were in their early twenties and this was the first time they had ever done this. It was funny to see the Dutch/ Germans get upset when the Asians would get in front of them because they would make this deep heckling growl. The Asians were completely insane because the would break the barriers and run into the road and would not move even if there was a tourist bus trying to get through the line. I was afraid we wouldn't get into the park so we decided to leave the parade and go to the park.

The Kekeunof is not what you think it is. You think you are going to see tulip fields going on forever, but actually it is more like Disneyland for flowers. Flowers in all sorts of creations and rows. Informational buildings dedicated to certain species of flowers. All very good and wonderful, but I wanted to be blown away by so many flowers that my head would explode, so we ditched the gardens to find the fields (which we saw in the park and spent twenty minutes trying to get there and over the mini river). The fields were incredible and you it was fun to walk around them and see how everyone acted. Once we were finished I found more frites to eat and we sat in a two hour line to get back to the airport. We heard that a million people come to see the parade (which I didn't get to see) and 700,000 were in the Kekeunof area. It was a lot of waiting and Chante and I realized that we had spent most of our day waiting in a line. Once we got to the airport we lucked out and our hotel was in the airport so we fixed our travel arrangements home, bought some candy with our coins and went to bed.

Dinner of the Month

This month I tried to do a little twist on my inviting "strangers" into my home. I was invited. or invited myself, to one of my captain's home for dinner and to meet his family. I was kind of excited to have Daniel meet him because my captain is sarcastic like Daniel is. I was so excited because I had heard so much about his wife that I couldn't wait to meet her. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of her. We got to play games with his family and have family home evening. We played knocking Samuel the Incian, playmoble Lamanite. My Captain's girls attacked poor Samuel with marshmallows until our rice crispy wall was knocked down.
Daniel and I had a total blast, and I am glad that I meshed a little work with personal socializing. Does that mean I will learn how to brown nose my way to the top of my company?

Spring Break

For spring break Daniel and I went to Dallas to see my brother and have Cooper's Barbque. We first had lunch with my brother who took us to an upscale Tex-Mex restaurant. We then went to the Nasher Sculpture Museum because that is my favorite medium of art and they had a Rodin there. I love his sculptures above any others. It also had a great Picasso. It was a cubists rendering of a painting that he had then sculpted. One of the neatest things I have ever seen.


We headed to Fort Worth for the best barbque in the world. I had the original on one of my overnights, and heard they opened one in Fort Worth, so I insisted that this is what we would do for Spring Break. I knew that Daniel would love it just as much as I did. Once in Fort Worth we saw the cattle march where they let Texas Long horns walk down the main . After we oohed and awed over that we set out to eat the best prime rib and brisket in Texas (Daniel could not get over the brisket). Even though we couldn't get out of Dallas the next day and had to drive to Shreveport to get home, Daniel was still glad that we made the trip.

I have a new hobby

I have learned to knit! It started out as a discussion with my yoga teacher and then she had a class set up called "Knit to Relax". I knit to relax which surprisingly happens. I usually don't mind ripping things out and starting over. Other hobby projects it usually is a 20 minute decision and a bit of frustration as well as some screaming involved before I decide to redo what I've done. Sometimes I do let my mistakes stay and we are suppose to call that character. I have made scarfs, dishrags (my favorite), a sachet, and I am working on place mats. My ultimate goal is to make premies hats and give them away. I realize that I'm not really doing this knitting thing to make more crap, but I do love to do it. I guess in first grade making fun of the TV show "Sewing with Nancy" really helped though because my teacher was surprised how quickly I picked it up. I use to get a piece of string and my pencils and use to pretend to knit, and tell you how to do it. Apparently it was funny because my friend always asked me to do it. I guess I got some sort of muscle memory from it because my arm knew what to do even if the stitch was a foreign concept.

The best part of this experience is Frankie my little 4 year old friend. First time he saw me doing it. He said, "Annie whatca doin'?" "I'm knitting" "May I watch you do that?" "Sure Frankie." He sat right next to me on the couch and watched until he got ornery because he was getting his toenails clipped because it was sitting still, and had to go to bed. The next time I was working on a cable stitch. "Annie whatca doin'?" "I'm learning to knit a cable so I can make a hat for you. Let me hurry so you can see what it is that will be on your hat." "Okay. You don't have to hurry." About fifteen minutes later "Annie, Are you done making my hat yet? Dad, did you know Annie is hurrying to make a hat for me?" "Frankie, I'm not making your hat yet. I have to learn how to make a cable first." "Oh." Then it was time for Frankie to go to bed and he told his dad that he couldn't go to bed because Annie wasn't done making his hat. It makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Second Visitors--kinda

I did many things in February, but I was so busy I couldn't post in a timely manner. Some of the things would not be fun to post as well such as going to a new dentist and finding out that I have three cavities and a tooth died, so you have to get a root canal. Much pain, and drug induced sleep got me through that, but also left me little time to write poorly written sentences.

The best thing that happened this month was Daniel's Birthday. It was such a great year that I insisted that he celebrate it for two weeks. First we started off with a small gathering on his actually birthday on the super bowl. I think the kids were more excited to blow out the candles and have cupcakes than Daniel was.

(picture to follow)
The next weekend we had a party (which totally would have been in my house, but I invited too many people. I just invited myself to my friends house to host this party), it was Thai cooking theme party. We cooked everything that we made in Thailand. It was great to gather people around.

First Visitors

My dinner went great! I can't believe I pulled it off. The best part was that I had a 5 course Italian meal and all of it tasted great and turned out! I was so excited about presentation and keeping it warm that I didn't take any pictures until dessert. I have to say that my guests had a good time any enjoyed the dinner. One point for me and over coming my hermit tendency!

Last Decade Review

I am totally stealing great ideas and smashing them together because they got me thinking about things. I saw Jody’s post in pictures for decade of review and wanted to do it as well, but I thought of the bad things that I lost, but gained a great deal. I decided to write it up like my sister-in-law’s awesome Christmas card. That way I am totally not copying both people. However I just cited my source, so I guess I’m not plagiarizing. It is a schizophrenic, but I guess that is how my mind works.

Oh No		Oh Yeah
I lost a German relative .		I gained a German relative.
I didn’t get accepted to the University I wanted.		I graduated both Dixie College and the University of Utah.
I wished I had better grades in high school.		I graduated from high school.
I had some of the worst roommates ever.		I had the greatest flat mates in the world.
I got dumped on New Year’s day by my boyfriend .		I found a new boyfriend a year later.
I couldn’t find a job as an editor.		I found a job as a flight attendant.
I had to leave Utah.		I fulfilled my lifelong dream to live in one of the original thirteen colonies.
I lost my best friend to Maryland.		I got to visit Maryland, and Washington DC.
I had my purse stolen with my passport in it in England.		I lived in England; visit Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands while I lived there.
My dog, Cody, died.		I got my cat, Dos.
I had to get married in seven months.		I got married!!!
I was poor the first year of marriage with no TV.		I found Doctor Who on Netflix.
I started out with four nieces and nephews.		I gained 17 nieces and nephews.
I had no friends in Atlanta.		I got at least two couple friends. Any had my best friends visit me.
I could barely bake.		I learned to cook!
It took four days to get home from Thailand.		I have visited three continents including countries such as Japan, Thailand, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
I visit Podunk America on a regular basis.		Des Moines is awesome, and I randomly drop in on my sister in law and friends.