Sunshine State of Mind

Andrew's Baptism

2012-02-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

We had Andrew baptised on February 5th in Panama City Beach at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where Tony and I were married. Tony's dad and uncle came, along with several other family members.

We had water from the River Jordan to use for the baptism, thanks to my parents' recent trip to the Holy Land. I love this little church by the sea, and all the ways that they include nods to the gulf in the church. This baptismal font is made of a huge shell, and water is poured over the person's head with a smaller shell.
Father Tom, who married Tony and I, and is a close family friend, did the baptism. My dear friend Brooke served as Godmother. It was definitely a very special day.
Andrew was so good, too! He didn't cry at all while Father Tom poured the water over his head, and promptly fell right back to sleep after the "main event."

Back to Church!

2012-02-13T16:14:00.002-08:00

We finally made it back to church this Sunday. It was the coldest day of the year so far - 35 degrees when we left the house! We bundled Andrew up so he matched his dad with tan corduroy pants.

He did so good in church, sleeping through most of it. The closing song got a little loud so I had to leave the sanctuary, but otherwise it was fine. Our friends from Sunday School were so excited to see him! We got lots of love and kisses from our friends and then joined them for lunch after church.

Bath time Fun time

2012-02-13T16:09:00.002-08:00

Andrew loves taking baths. We can tell he's going to be a water baby. As soon as we put him in his little tub, he slings his legs over the side of the sling and into the water. He will sit there and let us bathe him and pour water over him over and over again. I look forward to when he can sit up on his own so we can have toys and bubbles in there with him.

Marley is very curious about bathtime also. To be clear, Marley doesn't like taking baths. but he likes watching Andrew get his bath, and he's always there to lick up any stray droplets of water.
Andrew has been staring at moving objects more lately, and has started noticing Marley a bit. Marley returns the favor by licking his face whenever he can!

One Month!

2012-01-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

We took it outside for the big one month photo shoot. I swear my baby is going to get sick of seeing a camera in front of my face, but I just can't help it. He's just too precious and I want to make sure I document every stepping stone, outfit, funny face, and memory!

This bassinet has been in my step-dad's family for four generations! My step-sister Kirsten used it to store her stuffed animals. My step-dad Chris was rocked in it. His dad, my Poppy, was rocked in it when he was a baby in 1930. We believe it was made by one of the men who worked on Grandma Louella's farm in Amish Country in Ohio.

Andrew is wearing one of the handmade day gowns my brother Cameron and I wore as babies. The gown is from Feltman Brothers and were made in the Phillipines. It has really detailed embroidery down the front and around the collar.
This quilt was made by my great-grandmother Momma Trudy, for my mom when she was a baby.
And finally we have Andrew posing on my baby blanket, affectionately called Lellow Blanket, given to me by my Aunt Lori.
He was a pretty good subject during our many poses and prop changes. He likes to swing in the cradle and look at all the colors and listen to the sounds outside. We sit out on the back porch some mornings to listen to the birds. I think he likes the breeze, too.
He's such a sweet and happy little baby. I can't believe he's a month old already. His personality is starting to shine through a little bit. We can tell he likes to be held, walked and rocked in the swing. He likes when we sing to him and loves to take a bath. He's starting to gaze at our faces more, and showing recognition of who we are. He is losing some of the jerky reflexive movements, and able to control his arms a little more. He likes being on the floor on his back or on his belly, as long as we have toys and songs to entertain him.

Three Weeks

2012-01-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

We hit a few milestones during Week 3. Andrew's umbilical cord stump finally fell off and we got to see his super cute belly button. This means we got to give him a real bath and guess what? He LOVES the bath tub. The plastic tub has a little sling to keep him from sliding into the water, and he laid on it like a hammock, with his feet dangling in the water. We kept him in there for over five minutes, just pouring water on his belly and he relaxed completely. It's our new nighttime ritual. Babies don't need daily baths, but if it makes him relax and ready for bed, we're in!

We definitely don't have to worry if he's getting enough food! His belly and cheeks are filling out well and he's growing!
A little father son bonding. Tony is such a good daddy, completely in love with his little boy.
My mom made this blanket for Andrew so I wanted to get a picture of him on it. However, his patience for my many prop changes was wearing thin by this point in the photo shoot and he was not happy on his belly.
Yellow is a good color on him! His "baby blues" are still dark blue with a hint of gray.
A friend from my mom's knitting group made this blanket for Andrew. Another friend gave us the lamb, which says the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer. I took this picture for them to thank them for their kind gifts.

We've got a great photo shoot set up for the big one month. Stay tuned!

Two Weeks

2012-01-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

Adventures in Parenting: Story #1

2012-01-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

We took Andrew on our first field trip - back to the hospital to pick up his birth certificate. We completely forgot to get it while we were there, what with all the interruptions in sleep from my doctor, his doctor, nurses checking vital signs, visits from the payment lady, the chaplain, the lactation specialist, the housekeeping staff, etc. What were we thinking?

After the hospital, we decided to maximize our time out of the house and get some lunch since Andrew was sleeping so well. We were almost done with our burgers when he woke up and needed some lunch of his own. I did not have a nursing cover, but luckily had just made one the night before out of a blanket, some binder clips and a ribbon and had thrown it in my diaper bag. So I looped it over my head, got Andrew set up and nursed in public. While eating french fries. And it wasn't a big deal. No one pointed or stared or made comments. It was liberating.

Halfway through feeding him, he made a poopy diaper, so I gathered up my bag and headed to the bathroom to change him. Lesson number one: Not every restroom has a changing table. This bathroom did have a small sofa table against the wall. Something kinda like this:

So I somehow managed to lay out a blanket (I also realized I didn't own a portable changing pad. Add that to the list), grab a diaper and wipes and get Andrew laid carefully on the table that was barely wide enough to hold his squirmy little body. I got him changed into a clean diaper, dropped the dirty on one the ground, dirty side down, and miraculously got everything cleaned up and loaded back into the bag. It did make me wonder what I would have done had there not been that little table. Surely I wouldn't lay him down on the ground, or change him in the booth. Maybe the backseat of the car???

Feeling pretty proud of myself for overcoming obstacles, and knowing my husband had ordered me a chocolate milkshake, I quickly tried to wash my hands while holding a wiggly baby only to discover that he spit up all over the front of my shirt and I suddenly needed to use the restroom myself. So I sprinted out to drop off Andrew with his dad and head back to the bathroom to take care of my own needs.

I was finally rewarded with my chocolate shake, was able to zip my hoodie up over my wet t shirt, and we made it out of there alive. Ah, the adventures in parenting that are yet to come...

First Week

2012-01-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I look forward to sharing 2012 with you!

Daddy tells me all about which football teams to root for. All of them.

It's a tough life being so cute.

The coldest day of the year, and mom decides to take naked pictures of me.

Eat, burp, sleep, cuddle mom. Repeat.

Andrew's Big Arrival

2012-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

Andrew is here and it's been a busy first week of life for him. Eat, burp, sleep, cuddle. Tough life. It's been a little more hectic for Tony and I, so forgive us for taking some time before sharing photos and stories with everyone, and thank you for your patience as we learn the ropes of being new parents.

Tuesday, Dec 27th I went to the OB fully expecting to be told to head directly to the hospital. I was 40 weeks and 1 day and sooo ready to meet my son. Not so, said the Dr. No progress since the last appointment. Since I was already full-term, he gave me the option of being induced, which was not my first choice of a birth plan, but I decided to go ahead with it since we were so close to the end of the year and there was no indication that I would progress much on my own.

So we scheduled it for the next morning, took Marley to doggy camp, cleaned up around the house, made a nice dinner and settled in for a quiet night and early morning. We were all up at 4am the next morning with anticipation, and left the house at 5:30am to get to the hospital in time. We took one last maternity photo on the way out the door.

After getting checked in and set up in our room, they started the Pitocin drip at 8:30 am. By noon I had dilated to 6 cm and the Dr broke my water. Until then, we were happily watching tv, reading, and otherwise passing the time. Tony took a quick nap.

After my water broke, the contractions started coming pretty strongly and it was time to get down to business. I got an epidural, which helped make the contractions bearable, but still not so much fun. Labor moved along pretty quickly and by 6pm I was ready to push.

After a couple hours of pushing and some hard work I was rewarded with the most beautiful baby boy I could imagine. The rush of emotions was overwhelming and we were all instantly in love. After seeing all the baby went through to be delivered and how the Dr and nurses handled him, he lost his fear of holding the baby while standing and couldn't wait to hold his son.

The nurses brought me some long awaited apple juice and graham crackers (I never complained of pain during the whole process - just of being starving!). We were moved upstairs to our recovery room around 11pm and Tony and Kirsten went to get us some dinner from Checkers nearby. We feasted on burgers and fries while Andrew got used to being in the outside world.

Our stay in the hospital was nice and short, and we were sent home Friday afternoon. Since then it's been a whirlwind of diaper changes, spit ups, and pee pee fountains. We sleep when we can, and stare at our little boy as much as possible, and otherwise are enjoying learning how to be parents and care for a newborn baby. More pictures and stories to come!!

Maternity Photo Shoot

2011-11-30T16:52:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Tony and I did a maternity photo shoot while staying at the hotel near campus for our 5th Anniversary. We planned to visit the botanical gardens on campus, but they closed early Saturday and we were too late. So we ended up walking around the main campus instead and used some of the more scenic spots.

I was at 34 weeks here. The belly's a little bigger these days, but my clothing options are starting to become limited, so this is probably as good as it gets. Enjoy!

A Thanksgiving at Home

2011-11-27T16:06:00.000-08:00

Tony and I stayed here in Tampa for Thanksgiving this year, since traveling at 36 weeks pregnant is generally frowned upon. It turned out to be a wonderful decision, as we were able to spend four days at home, resting, relaxing, cooking, eating, and getting things done around the house.

My dad came to spend Thanksgiving with us and ordered a Turducken ahead of time (seems he doesn't trust me to buy a turkey - something about my past history of not following through....). So all I had to do was pop that bad boy in the oven and handle the side dishes.

A turducken is a deboned turkey, stuffed with a duck breast, a chicken breast and lots of cajun cranberry walnut stuffing. It looks like a regular turkey on the outside, but is full of surprises on the inside. Our didn't turn out as pretty as this photo, but it sure did taste good. The meat was tender and juicy and the ample amount of stuffing was delicious.

We invited some friends and neighbors to join us and had a wonderful day of food, family and football. Best of all, I spent today at church, lunch, making a big pot of chili, putting up our Christmas tree, and at home, instead of in the car stuck in traffic.

I'm thankful that I have only 4 weeks left, if everything goes according to plan, until Sir Andrew makes his big debut. My pregnancy has been easy, but it's getting harder and harder to keep up my same pace. I suppose you're not supposed to keep the same pace at this point, so I'm trying to rest and relax as much as possible.

More updates to come as they happen. Until then, love to you all!

Andrew's Nursery

2011-11-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

My mom came to visit this weekend and helped us make lots of progress on Andrew's room. After a marathon trip to Ikea for some curtains and a few small things, we got busy putting it all together.

The curtains are fabric panels from Ikea. I had to hem all four edges, but it was worth it for custom drapes that are perfect for the room. I love the charm the stripes add to the room, and it really helps break up the white walls without being too dark.
We picked up another lantern, along with some bathroom robe hooks to hang them on. We are going to get a wooden letter A to paint red and hang above the crib. The rest of the bedding is still on back order, but we put the little plaid quilt in there for now, just to add some color and get an idea of what it will look like.
The changing table is stocked up with diapers and other goodies. I still need to get a bigger pad for the top.
Finally, Tony's rocking chair! His mom rocked him in this when he was a baby. The cushion also came from Ikea, and will help pad my butt during those late night rocking sessions. We have a plan to put an Irish blessing in that frame above the dresser.
We already have a toy box and some toys for Andrew. A good friend's mother makes these toy boxes for all the new babies and we were so excited to get this sweet gift. Another friend passed down some dino toys and dump trucks.

With just a few finishes touches left, we are excited to have this room done and ready to welcome our little boy in just a few short weeks!

33 weeks and five days

2011-11-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

Can you tell the count down is on??

Yes, I'm not very large, compared to other women this far along, but boy am I feeling it.

Baby Andrew is running out of room in there, meaning all of his cute little kicks and stretches are now jabs and punches. We may have a boxer on our hands here. During this week's photo shoot, we got a little silly.
Okay, a lot silly. Delirious mother, anyone?
At least we know Andrew will grow up in a house full of laughter and fun!

Befores and Afters

2011-11-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

As a part of our slow process to get Andrew's room ready, I decided the bathroom needed some updating also. We were given an original print of the Endless Summer movie poster, signed by Robert August, and I wanted to put it in the guest/baby bathroom since the colors wouldn't match any other part of our house. So with a few small purchases, and a bunch of rearranging, we have a new bathroom!

Before - a yellow, green and brown palm print shower curtain with a pineapple print and white and brown towels.

After - We switched out the palm print curtain with the white curtain from our bathroom. FREE!

The most expensive purchase was the frame for our poster. $25 from Ikea. The poster is 28 x 41, which is larger than current poster sized frames. I actually had to trim a centimeter or so of the poster from all four edges to make it fit in our frame. Our little rubber duckies are lined up and ready for fun!

A few orange towels (also from Ikea - super cheap!), and a new white rug finish the color scheme. I replaced the pineapple photo with another one of the pictures we took in Hawaii - a sailboat beached in front of Chinaman's Hat.

And there you go! A bright and cheerful bathroom ready for a happy, smiley little boy. I also purchased two red and orange bins for under the cabinet and have all our baby supplies sorted and stowed away (body wash, lotion, etc.). I still need to wash and fold all the baby towels and washcloths, but that can come later.

Now the nursery has been used as a storage area, so these Before shots are really rough. Everything has just been thrown in there!

We ordered a crib Friday night and bought the mattress. The crib will be delivered next weekend and will be the piece that really helps us get things settled in there.
I was able to sort through the gifts we have received at our baby showers, making stacks of diapers, a bag for clothes, a stack of blankets, and all kinds of other baby paraphernalia.

During our shopping trip to Ikea, we purchased a navy blue rug for the room and a few other little things here and there. Tony further refined my stacks and sorts, moved the dresser into the nursery, vacuumed the floor and rolled out the rug.

We have a better idea of what we have and what we still need now, and are still working on the room bit by bit. I think we have one more trip to Babies R Us this afternoon to buy or order the changing table, which will be the last piece of furniture needed for the room.

My mom is coming to visit right before Thanksgiving and will bring us Tony's rocking chair, and I'm sure will help with all the finishing touches. We have our ships wheel, anchor and ship decorations, so now it's just a matter of getting the furniture in place and our stuff up on the walls.

It's a work in progress, but it's progressing!

AOII Baby Shower

2011-11-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

My dear friends Melanie and Brooke hosted a baby shower for me today at You Do the Dishes, a paint your own pottery studio. They opened an hour early just for our party, and we had quite a spread of baby-sized breakfast foods. Fruit, bagels, brownie bites, donut holes, etc. Melanie is an amazing scrap booker, so each little table and food item had cute hand made tags and signs. Everything was green and yellow with little froggies and ducks. So cute!

Even the little clothespins spelled out Andrew Lanier. And the brownies were shaped into II O A, which is what we call guys who are married to (and apparently sons of) AOII sisters.

We started the morning with our brunch and mimosas.

Melanie made sure to have a "Mommy's Bottle" - sparkling cider just for me to make alcohol-free mimosas. I also treated myself to a chai tea latte from the coffee bar. It was a delicious treat on a cool morning.

Of course, my sisters would get Andrew a stuffed panda. It's never to early to teach Andrew about the official mascot of AOII.

Brooke made this beautiful quilt for Andrew. Red, white and blue, with a sailboat pattern for the red blocks, so it will match his nursery perfectly. This is the third quilt she has made, and it's obvious how talented she is. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends.

After opening gifts, everyone painted their pottery pieces and chatted. It was such a peaceful place with nice music, a cool breeze, and good friends.

But there is always time for fun and games. Guess the Baby Food! Melanie covered up the labels of the food, spelling out Andrew on each of the flavors. We had to guess the flavor of A-N-D-R-E and W for the green flavors and the yellow flavors.

Let me just tell you, baby food smells better than it tastes, but that's not saying much, because it still smells awful.

Brooke's face says it all. She's not a fan of peas or carrots, apparently.

Cassie was the winner, with 5.5 correct answers.

I had such a wonderful morning with my AOII sisters, both young and old. It was fun to reminisce with my long time friends and catch up with my newer ones. They definitely made me feel special, and I will gladly take them up on their offers for free baby sitting. It doesn't get much better than this!

It's all coming together

2011-11-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at our baby shower in Panama City last weekend. One of the big gifts we got was a stroller and car seat. Tony was anxious to put it together, so he started that project last night while I wrote thank you notes and observed from my chair.

First step, pulling it all out of the box. We like the black, grey and red color scheme!

The car seat was on top. Tony set that on the couch, much to Marley's annoyance.

And now all the small pieces and parts. Hmmm, what does this do?

This is about the time that Tony took a beer break and pulled out the instructions. We discovered we are missing a pin and washer that are required to make the brakes work on the back wheels. Tony went ahead and put it all together, but I'll need to contact the manufacturer to get those parts. A stroller with no brakes is not very safe.

Revisiting the instructions to find out how to put the car seat in the stroller.

Here's Marley giving the car seat the evil eye. He was not amused. We've got to get him used to all the baby stuff now so he won't mess with it once there's a baby in there.

Finally, we got it all together! Turns out you have to remove the car seat base from the carrier in order to put it in the stroller. Who knew?

We have another baby shower planned for this weekend, hosted by my sorority sisters. After that, we're going shopping for a crib. More play by play pictures will be posted as we go through THAT process!

Cook Fest 2011

2011-10-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Inspired by some slow cooker recipes and cooking blogs I have been reading, I decided to spend a few hours in the kitchen this afternoon to prepare freezer meals for in those last few weeks before Andrew comes and the weeks to follow his birth. With just 9 weeks left, my energy is fading and desire to cook in the evenings is almost non existent.

So after a marathon to the grocery store (where I saved $30 by shopping from the weekly ad and printing coupons off the internet!), I came home and got my command station ready. I put Tony to work and within 2 hours, we had 5 meals and 36 burritos in the freezer!

First, crock pot barbecue chicken. Chicken thighs and drumsticks, veggies, and a homemade barbecue sauce got divided amongst 3 freezer bags. Each bag will be dumped into the crockpot when I'm ready to eat. Add some minute rice or quick cooking couscous, and dinner is done! Tony was a master vegetable chopper for this recipe!

Then he got busy wrapping up the chicken and black bean burritos. A rotisserie chicken from the Publix deli, rice, black beans and salsa was the quick and easy filling. Tony rolled them up one by one, adding cheese on each one, and then wrapped them up in foil. 8 burritos per gallon sized zip top bag. All you have to do is remove the foil and microwave for 2 minutes and lunch is done! This should be great grab and go lunches for Tony to take to work, or while I'm home with Andrew.
Instructions were printed on all the bags so we could remember what is what and what to do with it!

Finally, the one that took the most cooking and work: Baked Ziti. I cooked a marinara sauce made from italian sausage, onions and garlic, boiled the noodles, and mixed them with cottage cheese and parmesan cheese. The bottom layer is the noodle mixture and then I topped it with the marinara sauce, fresh basil, and more parmesan cheese.

By putting the foil in the bottom of the dish, I could just wrap it up like a present, slide it out of the baking dish and into a zip top bag (with baking instructions written on top, of course). Then my glass dish isn't stuck in the freezer all month long! When I'm ready to cook it, I'll just stick the foil present back in the dish, bake for 30 minutes, uncover and cook some more.

We were machines in the kitchen, hardly talking to each other as we focused on our tasks. We did work together, preparing different parts of different recipes and felt so accomplished at the end as we saw our lovely foil packages stacked up in the freezer.

My brother Cameron is convinced we'll eat all of this in the next two weeks. But I think we can hold off a little longer. In the mean time, I'm compiling more freezer meals to stock the freezer and hope we can get at least one or two more big cooking days in before I give up cooking all together!

31 weeks tomorrow. 9 weeks left!!

30 weeks!

2011-10-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well, 30 weeks down and just 10 more to go. 3/4 of the way. 75% done. And I'm really looking forward to the final countdown. The next 10 weeks will be busy with 4 different baby showers (I'm so blessed by friends and family that want to help us celebrate!), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have a crib to buy and put together, some furniture to paint and put in place, and other errands to run and tasks to take care of.

I'm mindful of winding down projects at work instead of taking on new ones. I'm seeing my Dr. every two weeks now. And I'm thinking every day that I'm ready for this baby to arrive. My belly may not be huge yet, but my ribs are expanding and my feet and calves are swelling. I'm feeling the burden of carrying a 3 pound baby who is growing a half pound every week.

So that's my update. Not so peppy - but real.

More photos coming in the next month as baby continues to grow!

More shopping for Andrew

2011-10-01T06:22:00.001-07:00

We are very blessed to have my sister in law and another close friend have boys just a few months before us. They have already promised us all their hand-me-down clothes, so we definitely won't need to worry about making sure our boy is well dressed.

But, as new parents, we get excited about all the new little things, and couldn't help doing a little bit of shopping of our own.

Tony went to a conference in Orlando and found an upscale consignment shop just for babies. This cute GAP baby fleecey jacket - just $4.
He just had to pick out this crab outfit - the sleeveless onesie has "Tony" written all over it. Let's just hope for a heat wave in March so Andrew can wear it once. :) $3 for both the onesie and shorts.
I love this whole outfit ($5 for all three pieces)!

Finally, these three Puma shirts for just $4.50.

I'd say he did pretty good, huh?? We are getting so excited for our little boy's arrival. 28 weeks of pregnancy down, and just 12 more to go. We have a few baby showers lined up for the next few months and we can't wait to get his nursery put together. We'll take pictures as we get more things pulled together!

Treasure Hunting

2011-09-25T15:43:00.001-07:00

In planning for Andrew's arrival, Tony and I decided on a vintage nautical theme for the nursery.

I fell in love with this bedding early on and knew I wanted to do a red, white and blue, all-American, nautical theme to match. Since I'm not the type to buy a nursery set with all matching pieces, I knew I wanted to go thrift store shopping to find the pieces we would use to decorate the nursery. Saturday morning we did just that.

I don't know about you, but when I think "vintage nautical," I think "boat in a bottle." I've always thought these had a funky charm to them, and thought it would be a fun addition to the boy's room (up on a shelf of course).

We found this treasure at an antique store in Clearwater. Originally $35, it was on sale for 50% off - $17.50. SCORE!!

We found a cute little side of the road artists shop and went in more for fun than in hopes of finding anything. But we found many treasures!
This clipper ship was up high on a bookcase and almost escaped our notice. It was right next to an authentic bronze ship lantern, but at $145, we had to leave that at the store. It would have been awesome. But the SS Victoria sailed on home with us for $25 - our most expensive purchase of the day.
Tony saw this little shrimp boat and just had to have it. It reminds us of growing up in the Panhandle and he just liked the colors. It didn't have a tag on it, and I was ready to haggle, but the woman decided it was worth $3, so we said YES (I was prepared to start at $5 and go up to $7 if needed)!
This was the last treasure at that little artist's shop. It's not an antique and it's not authentic, but we loved it. A ships wheel further adds to the charm of the room and has a lot of promise. Maybe I'll paint Andrew's name on it, or maybe not. Who knows?

This last picture was found at our first stop - the Kimberly Home Thrift store, also in Clearwater. This store was AMAZING with tons of great furniture and housewares. They had an entire children's boutique with clothes, toys, and games. If I weren't so blessed with hand-me-downs coming from cousin Charlie, I would have stocked up on some onesies for sure. Instead, I found this picture for a slim $3. The picture itself has to go - Tuscany at Dinnertime is not my theme, after all. But look at that frame. Rope inlaid in the wood! Perfect! So I'll pop out the picture and insert some other artwork, photograph, or something creative. Stay tuned.

So that's it. Just a few short hours and we came away with everything we were looking for and much more. We can't wait to see how it all comes together, and will be sure to post pictures to share with you too!

24 Weeks, Slowing Down, and our latest obsession

2011-09-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest picture of the baby bump. 24 weeks along and it's no secret that I'm pregnant now. Students notice. Co workers I haven't seen all summer notice. And I notice.

I notice when I try to bend over and grab my purse off the ground. I notice when I try to reach for something in the back seat. I notice when I'm sitting cross legged on the couch and all I see is belly. I notice when I roll over in bed and it takes extra effort.

But it's not too bad. Little Andrew is alive and well, growing like a champ, and kicking me every chance he gets. I'm progressing along at a healthy rate of weight gain and growth and everything is on track to be a perfect pregnancy. I continue to pray daily that it stays that way.

While my stomach is expanding, my life has been slowing down. Tony and I spend more nights at home, have fewer plans for the weekends, and are slowing down as we prepare our lives and our home for Baby Andrew. I have continued to work on little projects, but they mostly consist of baby-proofing, cleaning, cleaning out, and getting things in order.

Sadly, the row of wine glasses in the cabinet have been thinned out to make way for plastic bottles and sippy cups. All of the liquor and barware has been stowed to a cabinet with a safety latch. Books have been moved to high shelves and we're trading out a glass coffee table for a wood one. But we still have to put those plastic thingies in all the walls.

A part of our slowing down process has to do with our latest obsession: Friday Night Lights.
This show aired on NBC from 2006 to early 2011. We never watched it while it was on tv, and I had only heard about it recently. The entire show is available on Netflix, so we've been catching up on the seasons, two or three episodes as a time.

Let me insert here and say how much I love watching old tv series' on Netflix. No commercials and instant gratification when they end an episode with a cliffhanger.

FNL is a wonderful tv show about a small town in Texas that is obsessed with high school football. It's not the football action that gets me, though, it's the writing and character development. The relationship between the football coach husband and guidance counselor wife is so real. They laugh, they fight, they cry. Things fall apart and they come together again as a team. It's the most realistic marriage on tv. We are addicted to this show and I know I'll be sad when it finally ends (for us, that is, since I know it's been cancelled for tv).

Finally, I have one final project that I'm working on. I saw this picture on a design blog and decided I could do something similar to hang in my living room, on a large expanse of wall between two windows. I love the Bob Marley reference, and the yellow would flow with our decorating scheme. So I've been keeping my eye out for a canvas, piece of wood, or something other piece of trash I could cheaply convert to a treasure.

So imagine my joy and merriment when I found this "treasure" at a local thrift shop for only $8.99. It's easily 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide, painted on canvas that would cost roughly $40 at Michaels. I snagged it up, planning to just paint my design over it.
Alas, my husband is in love with the picture as it is, convinced that it adds a certain Caribbean charm to our home. He doesn't seem to mind that we have no pink, peach, or dark green in our living room (or any other part of our home, for that matter).

So it hangs in our living room until I get used to it, or until I can convince him to let me paint over this charming scene. To be continued...

Finishing Touches

2011-08-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, we spent some time finishing up all the projects I started last weekend. After living with a mess for a week, we needed to put things where they belonged and CLEAN UP. So here's the big reveal of my finished projects:

Fence Boards found in the garage turned into the perfect finish to this photo wall. I hung the pictures several months ago, but the area didn't feel quite done. Too much wall and not enough stuff. So a little bit of acrylic paint, some key hooks, and some bolts turned this into a welcoming piece of art that is a daily reminder of our choice to live for God. Total cost: $0.50 for the paint, $1.50 for the hooks, $3.25 for the bolts = $5.25.

Speaking of bolts - this picture isn't the greatest, but my new friend Phil from the Home Depot totally got me as I was describing my project. I had already drilled holes in the studs in the wall, and into the boards, and went to HD to get screws. I knew the size of my drill bit, but needed help translating that into screw size. Phil suggested these bolts that have a thick hexagonal head instead of a traditional phillips head screw, and I love them. Very rustic.

The rest of the work surrounded in the dining room. I moved this little hutch from the near the front door to under the ledge in the dining room, under the kitchen "window." I'm not sure what's going to go on it yet, but the inspiration will soon come. Stay tuned.

The buffet used to be under that ledge, but I LOVE it under this mirror instead. Remember my spray painted bottles from last week? I finished a few more and put them on the ledge at the top of the wall. These ledges were a very 80's look, and I could do without them, but might as well make use of what you've got, right?

I collected frames from around the house, spray painted them black, and printed the Lanier letters in different fonts that I loved. The buffet features some of our cookbooks, plates and salt and pepper shakers my grandfather gave my mom. The shelves still need accessorizing, and we're thinking some vintage crates or baskets might be fun. Time to go junking!

Total cost: about $9 for spray paint.
Finally, our front entrance. I got much of this done last weekend, but decided to swap out the thin shelves for this table instead. I like the table much better. I added our photo books from our honeymoon and trip to Hawaii and it's finished!
Finally, we pulled this coffee table out from the garage. It's pretty huge, and I think it's too big for the room, but since Tony lugged it in from outside and took the time to clean it, I think I'll live with it for a while to see if it grows on me.
So, overall, just less than $15 spent and lots of rearranging and recollecting and looking at current items in a new light and we feel like we have a whole new living/dining room. I won't show pictures of the rest of our rooms because they are looking a little sparse.

These changes have gotten our creative juices going, so stay tuned for more changes as we continue to create, update, and decorate!

Updating the house

2011-08-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

After two years in our home, we started to get bored with our setup. I've discovered Pinterest and have been collecting DIY home ideas, and this weekend was the time to get started.

First up, painted wine bottles to make vases for the ledge above our dining room wall. Our living/dining room features a bright green rug and bright striped pillows, but the rest of the room looks dull. I thought these bright bottles would liven up the space and add color. I've got 4 more bottles to paint, then need to cover all of them with a clear glaze, so this is still a work in progress. The pink bottle is my favorite, I think.

Next, the kitchen. I purchased this tin pan at goodwill for $1 and had it hanging here for awhile. I originally thought it would stick to magnets and I could use it to hold recipes in place while cooking, but it didn't. So I decided to paint a funny Julia Child quote instead. Every kitchen should have a little fun in it, don't you think?

While I was busy on the inside, Tony was busy on the outside. He added house numbers above our garage and an American flag to our front post. We will proudly fly our Bulls flag on game days.

I also revamped our front entrance area. I have been inspired by maps lately, so I moved the Florida map mirror from our bedroom to the entrance, made the little "explore" letters, and hung the silver frame. Yesterday, I printed a great Mark Twain quote onto a piece of map, and will add that to the frame tonight. I also updated the items on the shelf to show off some of our travel books and souvenirs from our travels. We have some open shelves, so I guess we'll just have to do some more travelling...

Black Angus Beef

2011-08-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, Tony took a trip over to Plant City to buy some organic, grass fed ground beef from the Black Angus Cattle Company.

Tonight, we made burgers with it. Here's what I noticed: It was red. Bright red. It smelled good, even raw.
Since it's so hot outside, we decided to cook them in a skillet instead of grilling them outside. I think it was the right choice.
The patties were thick, and super juicy. Don't mind my pickle extravaganza over there on the left. I love pickles, and it hasn't gotten any better with pregnancy.

The meat was super tender. It practically melted in our mouths. Since there are no fillers, no tendons, ligaments, stretchy bits and who knows what else, the burgers weren't chewy.

Tony went in for his first bite. Delicious! The burgers were light, and didn't leave us with that bloated, fatty feeling you sometimes get after eating burgers.

That's a happy man right there. We are very pleased with our purchase and will continue to buy our ground beef from Black Angus. I can't wait to make chili with it!

This is not a paid ad for Black Angus. They don't know who we are. We just like them.

If you're interested: http://www.blackanguscattleco.com/. You can purchase a whole, half or quarter of a cow, or can order by the pound (like we did). Quantities are limited and dependent on the ranching cycles.

Cayla's Cupcakes??

2011-07-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't baked in a super long time. Time, tiredness and laziness have gotten in the way. But I came across a recipe for lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting that sounded too delicious to pass up, so I gave in and made them this weekend.

We also happened to be attending a cookout for a friend's birthday yesterday, and she loves pink, so I thought I would take half the batch to share with her. (I'm pregnant - I'm not giving ALL the sweets away!)

The flavors are absolutely delightful together and just scream summer time. I don't think I'll be changing my business name anytime, soon, as I still love homemade cakes. But cupcakes are perfect for a party. Easy to share, easy to eat. Andrea was delighted.

18 Weeks Pregnant

2011-07-24T08:24:00.001-07:00

Today marks the 18th week and the beginning of the 5th month of my pregnancy. It still blows my mind sometimes to think, "I'm pregnant." I see my stomach (and other body parts) steadily gaining in size and read all the books and websites to track the progress of my baby's growth, but it still catches me off guard.

Maybe it's the word "pregnant." For so long, that word has had a negative connotation to me. As in "Oh crap, I think I might be pregnant." or those tv shows 16 and pregnant or that other one with Molly Ringwald. Maybe it's that I'm too young to be pregnant (though I'm 30, have been married for almost 5 years, have a good job, a stable income, and a nice home), even though my mom was 8 years younger than I am now when she gave birth to me, I still feel very much like a little girl and little girls don't get pregnant.

But despite all that, here I am:

18 weeks down and 22 to go.

I've been feeling the baby move around for the past two weeks. Some days it's softer and some it's stronger. I can feel when he or she hits a nerve, as the tingle goes through my whole abdomen and chest. This morning, I swore I could feel it from the outside. But then again, it could have just been gas. That's been moving around a lot, too.

In just two weeks we'll find out if little Baby Lanier is a boy or a girl, and then the true nesting will begin. I can't wait to go shopping to start stocking up the nursery for our little one. Tony's excited too, and I know I couldn't have picked a better man to be my husband and the father of my child. All I have to do is listen as he sings, "Tiny Dancer," and "Big Shot" to my belly to understand the love he has for our soon to be born little one.

My Summer Reading List

2011-07-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Last year my mom bought me a Kindle and it has been hands down my favorite gift ever (including the knock-off Tim's which highlighted Christmas 1995). Not only did my lovely mother get me a Kindle, she also linked it to her Amazon account, ie free books for me! We read many of the same books anyway, and now we can read them at the same time, comparing notes on the stories, characters, and having our own private little book club.

So, based on my already-read and to-be-read lists, here is my Summer Reading List:

The Paris Wife - The fictionalized story of Hemingway and his first wife, Audrey, as they meet, date, marry, and move to Paris. Based on their real letters to each other and back to the States, the story sheds light on what life was like during wartime in Paris, the basis of Hemingway's genius (and flaws), and exactly how crazy F. Scott Fitzgerald was. I loved it!

Sarah's Key - Again, in wartime France, a young girl and her family are rounded up with other Jews and sent to concentration camps. Generations later, a woman finds out that her family is linked to this little girl and she searches to find the details of the story. I enjoyed reading about the French version and perspective of WWII. The book is compelling, haunting, and ultimately, redeeming. I was glued to it.

The PostMistress - Takes place on the Massachusetts cape, in a small town during WWII, prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and in London and other parts of Europe. A female war correspondent submits her news stories to the radio, telling those back home in the States what is happening in the war. Her path crosses with a young doctor from Massachusetts and at some point, a letter is not delivered to it's intended recipient. Part mystery, part war story, part love story, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Let me take a moment here to say that when Amazon suggests books you might be interested in, sometimes the link is not clear. For example, I didn't realize that I had read three books in a row that dealt with different aspects of World War II. Aha! The common link.

The Love Goddess Cooking School - After all that heavy reading, I was ready for something light and semi-trashy. The title of this one got me. An Italian woman moves to America with her husband who soon dies. Single, with a small child to raise, she decides to offer Italian cooking classes in her home. This turns into a business, along with a storefront offering pasta and sauces. After she dies, she leaves the business to her granddaughter, who finds friendship, purpose and love, from following in her grandmother's footsteps. Light, not too trashy, but a simple, fun read that is perfect for a day at the beach!

The Peach Keeper - The President of the women's society is planning her biggest gala of the year when she finds a pile of bones under the peach tree she just ordered to be removed. The bones bring up mysteries from her grandmother's era, the founding of the women's society, and the true meaning of friendship. A rich woman of society turns her nose at her less that social high school classmate until an incident brings them together, they forge a friendship and both find love. Predictable, yes, but entertaining? Yes, in a guilty pleasure kind of way.

Secret Life of Bees - I had read Traveling with Pomegranates, a non-fiction book by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, about their travels through Greece and France finding Black Mary's and rebuilding their relationship. That trip spawned this book, so I felt compelled to read it. I really enjoyed it. The story isn't exactly light - A white girl and her black maid run away from her abusive father and end up living with three black sisters in rural South Carolina during de-segregation times. But the girl finds more love and support from this make-shift family and is exposed to a whole experience of faith, family and love. It was a sweet story about the power of love across boundaries and I loved it.

Art of Racing in the Rain - Recommended to me by a stranger at the airport, the story of a race car driver and his family, as told from the perspective of the family dog. It made me think about how I talk to my dog - baby talk may be demeaning him after all... A twist takes the story in a completely unexpected direction. I won't spoil the ending, but I enjoyed the book. The girl told me it was guaranteed to cry at the end, and whether it was my pregnancy hormones or maybe I'm just hard, but I didn't cry. Mom completely broke down in tears and thought I was crazy for not crying, but you do what you do, right?

State of Wonder - Needing something different, we switched directions again in our reading genres and this was completely different from other things I had been reading. A woman works for a pharmaceutical research company in Minnesota. A colleague is doing research on a classified drug in the Amazon rainforest and when her partner goes missing trying to determine the progress of the project, the woman takes it upon herself to find out for herself what is going on. I loved the travel aspect of the story, reading about Brazil and the rainforest jungles, and the science-y aspects of the story were completely new to me. Not quite science fiction, but more than your typical novel. My mom is still reading it so I won't include too many details, but I enjoyed this change in direction.

Hunger Games - The description of this book did not appeal to me at all - it sounded too science fiction for me. But when several close friends and co-workers, and another stranger at the airport, all recommended the book hands down, I figured I needed to get over myself and start it. I'm a few chapters in and am surprised at how easy the story is to read and follow. Enough is similar enough to relate to, and some is very different, but overall it's capturing my interest and I want to continue reading.

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - The hype got me on this one too. I haven't read it yet, so I'll keep you posted on what I think.

It seems I get books in groups of threes. What's on your reading list? Anything I absolutely must add to my list??

Baby Lanier

2011-06-18T14:52:00.001-07:00

Tony and I found out back in May that we are expecting a baby. We were immediately excited and on the phone with our families to share the news. We decided to wait a little while to tell the rest of our friends and co-workers, but our excitement got the best of us and we ended up spilling the beans earlier than we planned.

Now, at the end of my first trimester, I am amazed at how quickly time has gone by. Each day in the early weeks just dragged by. I didn't feel well - queasy stomach and exhaustion caused me to be a little cranky - and it seemed that I would never look on the outside how I felt on the inside: pregnant. I've been blessed that morning sickness was very mild and short, ending at the 11th week. I do have a much earlier bedtime these days - 8:15 instead of 10!

We find out in about 6 weeks what the gender of the baby is, and Baby Lanier is due to arrive on December 26th. That's quite a Christmas present for us!

My little belly is starting to poke out now, but it doesn't look like much more than a big lunch to those who don't know. It's enough to make some of my pants and skirts feel too tight and uncomfortable, but I still have plenty of clothes that fit and don't have to worry about shopping for any maternity clothes for a bit.

Time is passing a little quicker these days. Work is picking up and I stay busy with our Freshman Orientation sessions. I look forward to my break and week long vacation for July 4th.

Summer, Summer, Summertime

2011-05-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I love watermelon. It's a borderline unhealthy love - unhealthy in that I can eat it six times a day and consume two whole watermelons in a week. By myself. I got one earlier this year, but it wasn't sweet enough. I got my second one yesterday and it's perfectly perfect. Sweet, crunchy, juicy and delicious!

Nothing says summer to me like watermelon. Probably because when I spent my summers in Indiana with my grandparents, my grandma would get a watermelon from the farmers market every week. My Papa and I would dig in to a slice after lunch and dinner. He taught me how to cut them, make holes in them with spoons, and most importantly, how to salt them. Salt on a watermelon is like butter on corn on the cob. It just goes together.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Happy start of Summer! Happy eating! I think I'll go get a slice now. So what if I just ate breakfast?

Cameron and Emily Tie the Knot

2011-03-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

My brother Cameron got married to the most wonderful woman last weekend, in the smallest little town in Mississippi. My whole family traveled to Memphis and drove down to Mississippi to celebrate their wedding and it was a wonderful weekend. I got to see both of my grandmothers for the first time since my own wedding 4 years ago. These beautiful ladies helped raise me and make me the woman I am today. Kirsten traveled in from Colorado, complete with Elvis glasses for her and Cece. All this picture is missing is Travis and it would be a complete sibling picture. And Tony - where was he?

Cameron took a few moments to take pictures with Nanee and Grandma. These moments only happen once in a lifetime. Weddings? No, I'm talking about Cameron in a tuxedo.

As gifts for his groomsmen, Cameron got personalized bats from the Louisville Slugger Factory, engraved with Cameron and Emily Clark, their wedding date, and the guy's name. Dad also got a bat.

Here we go! The vows! I cried like a little girl to watch my little brother commit his life to Emily. He's so grown up and so in love, and it made me so happy. They are the perfect couple.

The moment Cameron was looking forward to all day! During the rehearsal, the pastor forgot about the kiss and Cameron said, "Don't I get to kiss her or something??" He made sure the pastor didn't forget during the real ceremony!

Relief! Now the party can start! Oh, yeah, and the rest of their lives.

We spent the rest of the night dancing, singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody, and having a great time welcoming Emily and Cece to our every expanding famiy!

Pics from Costa Rica

2011-03-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Group 1 of my pictures from Costa Rica can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3154154&id=7917445&l=847c711722

The other 200 should be up tomorrow or so. Enjoy!

More thoughts from Costa Rica

2011-03-20T06:12:00.001-07:00

A video blog post from Costa Rica, recorded last Tuesday, 3/15. More updates and pictures from our trip to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k-ezobaLHs

hola from costa rica!

2011-03-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

hello from costa rica. first, the shift button is weird on this espanol keyboard, so i cant shift or use apostrophes. s

second, i think i have a sinus infection, and will probably go to the pharmacy to get some meds today. either mucinex or amoxicillan ($2 no prescription needed). i worked hard on the construction site yesterday but today took it easy, taking pictures and playing with ninos y ninas, habla ing ingles with them.

my espanol is improving so much quicker than any class or book. our host family, dona marina and her son gerson dont speak much english, but are speaking espanol muy slowly and mucho repitar so we can pick it up. they are patient with me and im learning. we just got done construction for today and are about to have lunch and showers, then to downtown san jose for shopping in mercados and maybe a museo or parque.

la estudiantes are happy, for the most part, and learning a lot about the people. half the things we learned in class are not really true, but we do hear a fair amount of pura vida! for the most part, we feel safe when walking around, but are remaining aware and keeping with our buddies. it{s about a 30 minute walk down hill from la casa to maximo, where we catch the bus to our work site. yesterday i made the walk twice, a total of 2 hours of walking in one day!! today, we are catching the bus!

the church we are working on is in a slum, with rows and rows of houses made from corrugated tin for walls and roofs, with concrete or tile floors, but mostly dirt. we have dug a trench as the foundation for a new concrete wall, and encountered human feces, maggots, a knife, a snake, some bones (maybe a dog??)and some underwear, oddly enough. the other half ot he group is sawing rebar with a hand saw or bending small rebar pieces into squares to hold the 4 rebar posts together as the reinforcement piece for the cement block walls. others mixed cement. when we are done, it will be a soup kitchen to feed the neighborhood children once per week. most of the children there cannot afford uniforms and therefore cant go to school. we think we will use the funds we raised to buy uniforms for them, or to buy dishes for the soup kitchen kids. there is definitely a lot of need here and we will probably fund raise again when we get back home.

on a side note, so far, the tossing the toilet paper into the trash instead of the toilet has not been a problem. but i admit, last night i went potty in the middle of the night and flushed my paper. ooops. pray for no overflows, por favor. ive also been drinking the water and no problema. es bien!

And so it begins...

2011-03-04T04:45:00.001-08:00

This weekend - Billy's wedding in Panama City.
Next weekend - I leave for Costa Rica and Tony's week at home by himself commences
Following weekend - I come home, Austin's Birthday, and hopefully we see preggy Betsy and Chris.
Last weekend in March - my brother Cameron's wedding in Mississippi
First weekend in April - home, no plans (shocking!)
Second weekend in April - Marriage Encounter weekend to renew, refresh and regroup with the man I married
Third weekend in April - home, no plans (aka, catching up on laundry)
Fourth Weekend in April - Deric's wedding in Panama City
Last weekend in April - Mobile to visit the Garl/Ripp families, including big boy Jaxon and brand new Liam.

Whew!!!!

Habitat for Humanity

2011-02-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

One of the assignments for our Costa Rica class was to participate in a build for Habitat for Humanity. So I woke up at 6:30 on a Saturday to get to the site by 8am to get to work. 14 of the students in my class showed up and we got busy installing siding, facia, trim and priming and painting the entire interior of the house.

After priming the master bedroom and bathroom, I took a short break and then got my hands on some power tools. Here, I'm cutting the siding to fit up on the roofline.

Jenna and I stand in the shade to watch my piece go up on the wall.
Next, I got to install a piece of trip with a nail gun.
Our group with the Young family, the future homeowners. It was a lot of hard work, but so very rewarding. I had a great time painting, nailing, and talking with the site leaders, crew, homeowners and other volunteers. I also got to know my students in a way you don't often get to inside the classroom.
As we were leaving, Demarcus and Mayra asked us if we would please come back to finish up the house when we return from Costa Rica, and if we would be present at the house closing when they get their keys. Maybe we'll bring them a little house warming gift from Costa Rica. I know we blessed them, but this experience blessed me beyond belief. I can't wait to get out there and do it again!

Costa Rica

2011-02-18T05:27:00.000-08:00

Through work, I have been mentoring a Senior Honors student, Tami, in completing her Honors Thesis project. Her project is to create and teach a class about service learning and Costa Rica, and to take the class to Costa Rica during Spring Break to participate in a construction service project.

One of the class assignments is to participate in a class blog. After reading all of their posts, I decided to add mine to the mix. You can check out the class blog here: http://crclass.wordpress.com and my video post is below.

We leave for Costa Rica on Sunday, March 13. Your prayers will be appreciated! I and the others will have some, but limited, internet access while in San Jose, but we will be trying to update the class blog, and I won't have time to update this one as much. So bookmark the site and check in with us often!

MJ Experience

2011-02-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

Tony rented the Michael Jackson Experience game for the Wii which is a dancing video game. We had a LOT of fun playing with this one and honing our dancing skills.

Happy Friday!

Vegan Updates

2011-01-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been 4 months since we've been on this vegan kick.

The results? I've lost about 8 pounds, and keep it off, despite my not exercising. I have fresher breath (seriously - I didn't notice it until I had cheese last week - an emergency meal - and noticed how awful my breath was for 2 days afterwards). I have more energy. I think clearer and my body feels cleaner. I don't feel slow or slovenly after eating.

On the downside, I got sick with bronchitis and had a hard time kicking it. Related? I don't think so, since my mom had the exact same thing and she eats a regular diet. But it feels like I didn't bounce back as quickly. I realize I have been slacking on my vitamins, so I make a point to do that every day now.

Tony slides from time to time, and eats according to what he wants, but he often finds that what he wants doesn't always make him feel as good and reinforced the choice to give it up.

So I think I'll keep it up. My wonderful future sister-in-law gave me a huge cookbook of 500 vegan recipes and I have made several of them over the last month. It has been a great resource and I love having it (Thanks, Em!).

Now, on to the exercising...

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

2011-01-10T06:57:00.001-08:00

Except your husband and crazy dog.

Last night Tony and I had a stay at home date night. We picked out a recipe, went grocery shopping, opened a bottle of wine and got to cooking. I turned on a little Stephen Marley and bopped around the kitchen while gathering my supplies.

Once the dinner was simmering on the stove (Moroccan Spaghetti with chickpeas, tomato's, zucchini and raisins and very delish) and Tony's bruschetta was baking away, we danced. With abandon. We moon walked, disco bopped, mashed potatoed, and grooved together in our kitchen for about 15 minutes.

And it felt great.

Marley got into the action, walking on his back legs, chasing my socked feet around, and generally being merry. We took a break for an appetizer and then dinner was ready. Dinner turned to conversation and conversation was good. The music ran out and we just sat at the dinner table talking for another 30 minutes.

And it was good.

By the time we sat down on the couch for a movie, it was too late to start one, so we watched the last half of French Kiss with Meg Ryan. Both of us dozed off and eventually went to bed, where I had one of the deepest sleeps I've had in awhile due to all the bronchitis and medications I've been on.

And it was fantastic.

So here I am bright eyed and bushy tailed on the first day of Spring semester, thankful for a husband that loves my dance moves, for round two of last night's feast in my work fridge, and for the joy of dancing just 'cause.

Happy Monday!

Time off...What to do?

2010-12-28T06:20:00.001-08:00

Last year, I took off the entire week between Christmas and New Years and spent the time with my family, both mom in PC and Dad in Iowa (ps, brrrrr!). This year, I decided to go back to work so some of the other staff could take the time off to be with their families. We don't have a set rotation, I just thought that offering to be at work this week would allow someone else the flexibility to take the time off.

Well, then Judge Judy (President Judy Genshaft, who bears a striking resemblance to Judge Judy, and is the president of USF), decided to close USF for the entire week and give everyone 3 extra holiday days! THANKS President Genshaft!!!). Tony had already arranged to work full days at the ALF this week since we would be home, and now I have the house to myself this week!! What to do, what to do?

The entire house is going to get an overhaul, that's what I'm going to do. Each room will be cleaned up and out, top to bottom. I'm emptying out the filing cabinets and scanning in all the old files then shredding them up. I'm going through my closet with a critical eye. Then I'm dusting, wiping, cleaning, vacuuming, scrubbing, and bleaching the floors. Woo hoo!!!

Let the cleaning binge begin!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

We're not doing Christmas Cards this year (or any year, really), but here's one you can download and save or print yourself if you want to!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. We love you for what you add to our very rich lives and are so blessed by each of you. We wish you many blessings for joy, peace, and love this Christmas season, and all the best in 2011!

With love,

The Laniers

Photo Shoot

2010-12-10T05:38:00.001-08:00

Tony graduates from USF tomorrow, so we took some time last Sunday to do a short photo shoot around campus to get some pictures for his graduation announcement. I won't show the final pick for the card here, but you can at least have fun looking at all the rest. I took the pictures with a tripod and remote control for the camera and the weather could not have been any more perfect.

Congratulations, Tony! I am so proud of your accomplishments!

October is Over

2010-11-02T07:52:00.001-07:00

October was a busy month! The weekend after our visit to Louisville, I celebrated the 25th Anniversary of AOII at Univeristy of South Florida. We had 130 guests to the brunch at the sorority house and hosted the oldest living Past International President, Peg Crawford, who installed the chapter back in the 80's. It was great catching up with old friends and hear stories of the "old days."

The following weekend, two of my closest friends from Texas, Kirsty and Lindsay, made a surprise visit to Tampa to visit! While it wasn't a total surprise, I still loved seeing them and catching up. Tony had to work a bit, but we still managed a trip to the beach in time for sunset and a seafood feast. During the rest of the time, us 3 girls talked, ate, talked, sat by the pool, talked, laughed, cried, and talked some more. Good friends are good for the soul.
Halloween weekend we finally had some time to ourselves and time to clean up our house! It's now all fresh and clean and ready for the house/doggie sitter next weekend. Tony and I are spending the weekend away at an undisclosed location for some serious couple time.

When we get back Sunday night we'll be ready for the home stretch!

November 11-13 we'll be in Live Oak for the Bear Creek Music Fesitival - 3 days of camping, music and no showers. Can't wait!!

November 19-21 we'll be home preparing for the following weekend, which is Thanksgiving.

December 3rd is Tony's last day of class and internship, and on Dec 11th he walks across the stage as a college graduate. The next day we're driving down to the Keys for a week long vacation that includes fishing, nothing, nothing, whatever we want, nothing, and not a lot of anything at all. Can't wait!!

Vegan Eating

2010-10-22T12:49:00.001-07:00

So what do we eat?

Not much changes at breakfast. Cereal, almond milk, coffee, bananas. An occasional bagel with peanut butter.

Dinner is veggies and whole grains with either beans or tofu. Stir fry with peppers, bok choi, carrots, broccoli, tofu, onions, watercress, over brown rice. Romaine lettuce salad with my own taco-inspired topping: black beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, corn and peas with cumin, chili, and cayenne, my favorite seasonings. Lunch is leftovers.

Dessert lately has been coconut sorbet, totally tasty. Today I'm cooking some pumpkin cranberry muffins for tomorrow's breakfast, and making a quinoa greek salad (minus the feta of course).

Snacks have been the most important change. Without the meat to fill me up, my body processes my food quicker and I get hungry in the middle of the day. So I keep my fridge at work stocked with apples, mini hummus packs and cucumbers, nuts and trail mixes, and granola bars.

So that's it! So easy even my dad could do it, if he ever decided to give up the bacon grease.

Going Vegan

2010-10-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

So here's the thing - I don't like labels. I am a wife. I am an academic advisor. I am a philanthropist. I am a daughter. I am a woman (hear me roar!). So I really don't want to add another one to the list, another way to define who I am and give others who don't know me a way to pigeonhole me as a certain kind of person.

So instead of saying I AM a vegan, let's just say I'm following a vegan lifestyle. For two weeks now, Tony and I both have been leaving meat and dairy out of our diets and focusing on a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with limited carbs, and lots of beans and tofu. We've (I've) had just a few slip ups, mostly in the form of baked goods. You know there are eggs in there somewhere.

Why? You may ask. First, let me just say that it's not because the little lambs and cows and chickens are too darn cute to kill and cook. I'm not an animal activist. Anyone who has seen Food, Inc. will be disgusted by the methods used in raising and "processing" cattle and chickens, but that's not my main reason. My main reason is my health. I gave up red meat many many years ago, but still ate it once every couple of months or so in the form of a really juicy real beef burger. I'm also lactose intolerant. Milk does not sit well in my tummy but I had not noticed any major side effects from cheese or other dairy products.

Well, lately, I've been feeling a little gross. Rundown. Tired though I got 8 hours of sleep. Heavy. I was burping a lot and getting indigestion after eating chicken salad sandwiches. A co-worker of mine read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and started eating vegan and lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. And she looked good: glowing skin, great hair, vibrant, energetic. It was enough for me to give it a try.

So here we are. Two weeks in and still going strong. I'll post some more about meals and recipes and what we actually eat, but for now some simple changes have helped make it a whole lot easier: almond milk for my coffee, snacks on hand all the time (granola bars, fruit, nuts, trail mix), and at least one large warm meal a day. And coconut sorbet - OMG yum!!

Louisville, KY

2010-10-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Tony and I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to visit my Dad's side of the family for a little reunion. During our extended layover in Atlanta, we found our gate conveniently located next to our favorite pit stop - the Sam Adams bar. Octoberfest was perfection!

Several hours after our intended arrival time, we finally landed in Louisville, the heart of horse country. My brother, Cameron's flight arrived about 10 minutes after ours, so Tony and I waited, horsing around in the airport (get it! Horse?!). A lovely TSA rep offered to take our picture. They're not all mean and disgruntled!
There were even horses hanging from the ceiling! This pegasus sculpture reminded me of the Derby poster my dad bought me from the 80s.

Speaking of my Dad, no one told me it was his birthday! My aunt Charlene made black walnut cake, one of my grandmother's specialties. Dad was surprised.

The next morning most of us took a walk downtown to the Riverfront. I used to watch the best fireworks shows here at Fourth of July when I was a kid. I was able to get a great picture of us all in front of the bridge.
The park had changed a little since my last visit (uh, more than 15 years), but my uncle George was still there. George Clark found the Ohio River and Corn Hill during a war, and established Louisville. My Papa told me George was my uncle when I was a kid and I believed him. It's actually quite possible that he was right. Who knows?
Later that afternoon, my real uncle Mark drove us out to Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is held. I've visited here as a kid, but was excited to see it again. We saw the track, the museum, and Secretariat's grandson.

Of course there were several wonderful meals. This is my brother Cameron and his wonderful fiance Emily. I loved getting to meet her.

Sunday we headed down to the Louisville Slugger factory and museum. That's some huge bat, huh?

This is one of the coolest things I saw there: Babe Ruth's bat, where he put little notches for every home run.

No matter how you say it, Louisville was like a homecoming to a place form my childhood while catching up with my family. I hope we can do it again in a couple of years.

Chef Tony's Biscuits

2010-09-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Tony woke up with some energy this morning and decided to make biscuits. From scratch.

He got a recipe from the Florida's Natural OJ company for orange rosemary biscuits. So he made the dough and worked it out.

Then he rolled it and cut the biscuits with a wine glass as a cutter. Look at those flecks of rosemary. Mmmmm.
15 minutes later, viola! They didn't rise much but they were tasty! Especially with rosemary goat cheese and bacon in between. That's a Saturday morning breakfast!

AOII Recruitment

2010-09-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Weekend, AOII at USF had their formal recruitment period. As the Chapter Advisor, I don't have any formal responsibilities, but attend all the events as a general back up and support person. What this really means, is I'm there doing crazy dances in between each event to keep the girls smiling, handing out pixie sticks to keep energy up, and generally hanging out behind the scenes.

I'm so proud of my girls - they came together as 53 individuals into one strong force and let their sisterhood shine through all weekend long. Their hard efforts paid off: on Bid Day they welcomed 42 New Members through their front door! This is one of the largest new member classes in the 25 year history of AOII at USF and I couldn't be prouder of "my girls."

Punkin Ale Review

2010-09-18T17:29:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin-mania is always the first sign that Fall is on its way. One of our favorites pumpkin products is pumpkin beer. We, as your humble taste testers, have volunteered ourselves to go out there and take one for the team by tasting all your options. You can thank us later.

So far, the absolute best, always standing the test of time (taste of time?) is Shipyard Pumpkin Ale. However, each season we try one of the newbies, and after watching Beer Wars, a documentary about the struggle craft brewers have to get into the heavily regulated beer market (a good watch - rent it), we were excited to taste Dogfish Head's Punkin' Ale.

We found it today at Whole Foods (which we only went to because it was their anniversary and they were giving out freebies) and bought two bottles in the mixed six pack we got.
A full bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sounds pretty good, right?
For those that don't know (and I'm still learning), brown ales are brewed with less hops (which are heavily featured in IPAs) and more malts, resulting in a sweeter, lighter, less alcoholic beer. Newcastle is one you are probably familiar with.

The verdict: Still doesn't beat Shipyard. Brown Sugar and nutmeg shine through and there is not a lot of pumpkin flavor. If marketed as a spiced Fall brew, it would be delicious, but calling it Pumpkin is a stretch. Have you tasted it? What are your thoughts?

What's your favorite fall brew?

In other news

2010-09-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately due to the finger issues (see previous post), and am sorry I can't post pictures of our lives.

Even if I had, you probably wouldn't be looking at a lot. We've been pretty boring lately. Tony started his last semester and internship, and has reduced his workload at the Assisted Living Facility. I have gotten busy with school and volunteering with AOII. Our dog still can't poop normally, but we have at least established a "Marley Normal" and he maintains that.

I have become an Independent Consultant for ThirtyOne, a Christian based company that sells purses and bags through home-based parties (like Mary Kay, or Tupperware). I had my first order last week, and have my first party scheduled for next week at the sorority house. I look forward to expanding that business to bring in some extra cash and eventually want to pay off my credit card, then buy a new car. Dreams turn into Goals and Goals turn into Accomplishments. So these are my dreams and goals.

We joined a produce club for a local farm and now get fresh, organic, and local veggies delivered to our door every other week. Last weekend I made creamed corn from scratch and today it's sweet potato casserole. Our moods are in Fall, even if the temperature still says Summer. We're looking forward to what gets delivered this week.

We have some good plans for the rest of the year, so I promise to keep my camera with me and post more often from now on. Thanks for bearing with us as we took some time off for Summer.

The Dangers of Cooking

2010-09-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Tony has been dying for a mandoline veggie slicer for years. We finally saw one on sale at Target and I gave in. So one night early in August we were making a quick salad for dinner before he went into work. I was using the mandoline to slice cucumbers and ended up slicing off a bit of my finger tip. A good bit.

Since it had been more than 1o years since my last tetanus shot, and the bleeding was starting to get out of control, we headed to a walk in clinic. A retired OBGYN stitched me up and cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding and directed the nurse to put on a "pressure dressing." Well, let's just get it out in the open that the term "pressure" is clearly defined by the one applying it. So the nurse wrapped my finger up pretty tight and told me to come back in 2 days for follow up.

So I did. My finger didn't hurt, and I chalked that up to the fact that I probably sliced off all my nerve endings. I was wrong. It didn't hurt because it was wrapped so tight there was no blood flowing into my finger at all. During follow up the nurse unwrapped the bandage to find a blue finger. The next day, once blood finally flowed back into the finger, it looked like this.

That's a beuat, huh? Swollen to about the size of a hot dog and covered in blisters. The doc said it was like a 2nd/3rd degree burn, and one of my nursing students said it was basically a bedsore - an ulcer from too much pressure. After about a week of swollen blistered finger, it looked like this.
No more blisters but still some swelling. After a month it began to look a little more normal, but still required daily wrapping and care. The stitches came out and you can see about how much of the tip is actually missing.
Finally, all the blistered skin peeled off and the new skin pushed through.
As of today, almost 2 months later, the skin and tip of my finger look close to normal. You can barely tell the tip was cut off, and can only see that there is a tiny bit less skin on that finger than the rest. The skin is a little scarred and discolored, but that will fade and come off in time.

The biggest issue I continue to deal with is the need for physical therapy. Since the finger was wrapped and held straightened for a month, the tendons have tightened and scar tissue has developed around the joint, so I can't bend my finger. This makes holding a coffee mug hard and I haven't attempted to tie shoes yet (Ahhh, Summer in Florida!). Also, there is some loss of sensation on the tip that I'm not sure will come back, or will take a long time. The nerves are still regenerating and I often get a pins and needles feeling throughout the finger.

I start physical therapy Tuesday and will post an updated picture of the finger then. Till then, I hope you weren't eating or hungry when you first started reading this. :)

Meredith's Birthday

2010-09-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Mid-August we celebrated the first birthday of our friend John and Andrea's little girl, Meredith. Like a true first time mother, Andrea ordered Chik Fil A nuggets and baked cupcakes from scratch. I headed over early to help frost while Tony worked.

John and Andrea are great, laid back parents and the party was as much fun for the 20 adults as it was for the 6 babies and 6 kids. The house was full!

Meredith's favorite new thing to do is wave, and while she was a little freaked out about the lit candle and everyone crowded around singing Happy Birthday, as soon as we sang her name, she smiled and waved, like a true princess.

She started in slowly on her cake, but soon got it all over her face. Mom and Dad had quite a time wiping her down afterwards and threatened to just take her into the pool to get her clean.

Andrea went to school with Tony, and along with Carly, Kelly and Betsy, make up a core group of friends. I am lucky enough to marry into this group of girls who love me as if I was a part of their group all along. Kelly traveled in from Atlanta with her husband Matt, and Betsy and Chris came over from Orlando. After the party, the guys went out for cigars and pizza while us girls relaxed in the living room talking about girlie stuff. We all ended up talking and hanging out until well into the wee hours when we finally went home and went to bed. After a quick breakfast the next morning, Betsy and Chris went back to Orlando and Kelly and Matt went back to Atlanta. It was a quick visit, but we have made plans to all meet back up in November at Bear Creek Music Festival, and outdoor camping/concert weekend in Live Oak, FL. We are looking forward to cooler weather and a longer visit with them then.

Catching Up

2010-07-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer.

Tony has taken on 16 credits of classes, which is more than he's ever taken in a regular semester, much less a Summer semester. Three classes are over and the last one will be done next week! He has maintained a gpa of over a 3.5 since being at USF through hard work and dedication. After next week, we head into his final semester at USF and look forward to graduation in December!

I have been busy with Freshman Orientation at USF for most of the Summer. I flew to Nashville for a weekend training with AOII and got more leadership training than I could handle! It was so jam packed I didn't even get to see the city. I came home in time to pack for our vacation to St George Island, which was a wonderful and much needed vacation.

For the last several months I have been dealing with some pretty bad neck pain. After vacation I went to a chiropractor and have finally had some relief! Stretching, yoga, and some weekly adjustments have helped me de-stress and loosen up my neck muscles.

Marley has had a busy Summer also. We have continued going through different dog foods in the attempt to settle his tummy and find something that helps him. I just bought a new one this morning - trout and sweet potato formula. It seems he is allergic to chicken, so we hope this limited ingredient diet will help soothe his hot spots and skin irritations, as well as calm his tummy and end the diarrhea.

The rest of the Summer will be just as busy. My mom is coming to visit tomorrow night and staying for a few days. Shortly after she goes home, Tony will also travel up to Panama City to help Travis, my youngest brother, move to Clemson, South Carolina for college. By the time he gets back it will be time for the Fall semester to start!

Sometimes I wonder if our life will ever slow down, but I think it's okay if it doesn't. We are busy but happy and are lucky to have each other. We just keep it laid back, and keep that Sunshine State of Mind.

Vacation - All I Ever Wanted

2010-07-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our week long vacation to St George Island and it was such a wonderful time. SGI is in the Florida Panhandle south of Tallahassee and is a good meeting point for our friends, located in Mobile and Panama City. We rented a house for the second year in a row, loaded our cars with more food than we could actually eat, and got ready for a relaxing beach vacation.

We kicked off the week with a tradition: Rock Band!

Since I an early riser, I spent my mornings on the porch facing the water with a book and a cup of coffee. It rained the first couple of days we were there, but that meant we had cool breezes and no mosquitos!
We were just across the street from the beach, you can barely see the water down there. One of my favorite things is when it's stormy outside and the gulf is lighter and brighter than the sky. It looks like the water is glowing.

The sun broke through the clouds for just a minute of sunshine to reflect off the puddles, but the rain eventually came back and drove me inside for a day of movies and games.

Our house was in a prime location to watch the July 4th parade and water gun fight. We stayed up on the top porch to watch the festivities and waved at everyone as they passed by. It was a blast! (get it? blast? water gun? )
I loved the boat! That's one way to get the whole family involved!
Here's us, watching and staying dry. The clouds cleared out by the afternoon, so we headed down to the beach to watch the fireworks. There are no official fireworks for the island, but instead it's a free for all. Everyone brings their own! With so many people from Alabama and Georgia shooting off the good stuff, we didn't miss the professionals! I got some bottle rockets and sparklers so we had our own little show.

The next day was Jeff's birthday and we went out to dinner to help him celebrate. Here, Tony and Jeff pose for a picture. These guys talk on the phone almost every day, and they still can't get enough of each other. It's sweet.
And the gang's all here! Jeff and Leah and their 4 month old baby Jaxson, Elizabeth and Steve, Britni and Deric, and Tony and I.
We cooked at home most nights, but after a while were itching to get out, so we headed to the Blue Parrot for some drinks and appetizers.
Here's us waiting for our table!
We saw some sea turtle nests down by the beach when we went for an after dinner walk. The rest of the week was spent body surfing in the morning, lounging in the pool in the afternoon, and sitting on the porch watching the sun go down in the evenings, talk and laughing with our friends. I read two books and had some great quality time with my hubby. I'm looking forward to next year already!

What dog does this?

2010-06-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

He sits like a person, on his butt, rather than like a dog, sitting on his back legs. Such a Weirdo!

Buccaneers Fan Fest

2010-06-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Raymond James Stadium to attend the Buccanneers Fan Fest. It was hot and crowded, but we overcame these obstacles in order to see 1) the Lombardi trophy and 2) the pirate ship. We saw other stuff, too, while we were there.

The line to have your picture taken in front of the trophy was long. I stuck my camera over the crowd to get this breathtaking shot.

Tony and I posing in front of the field.

The field was packed with people! There were coaches speaking, giveaways, games for kids. Free yellow capes that were everywhere (adults and children alike). If you were interested in season tickets, you could pick your seat in person!
I was more interested in the pirate ship. It was underwhelming - you see one pirate ship you've seen them all.

Not much more than a party deck, but I guess that's the appeal of it. Personal bar and standing space during the games. But the highlight of the whole thing was seeing this: the command center. What happens if you accidentally hit "Deadman" during the national anthem? Or "single cannon" when it's a touchdown? It's a lot of responsibility.

The back of the ship reminds me of Pirates of Carribean for some reason.
Tony was happy to be standing on an actual NFL field. I was there about 6 years ago during a Super Bowl game, but that's another story for another day.
Some coaches talked. This was the defensive coaching staff. I don't know their names, or the players names, and was hot and cranky by now, so we went home. It was a nice diversion from work, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-17T06:14:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day, to my Dad, who reads my blog almost as religiously as my Nanee.

Dad, thanks for being a great friend and dad, and thanks for taking Bradly and me on this sailing trip around the panhandle. I hope your dream of owning a sailboat comes true sooner rather than later, so we can have a repeat of this fun adventure.

May your sunsets be red, your sunrises be clear, and may all your drinks be boat drinks!
Love ya, DAD!!

Pathway is finished

2010-05-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Tony and I double teamed the backyard Friday night and finished laying out the pathway. It ends in a little circle towards the far end of the yard with some stones and gravel. We hope to put a bird bath there eventually, but for now we are just glad it's finished.

So here it is! The full pathway in the back yard. And surprise! We have grass after all! It has been growing in despite my attempts at weeding.

Eventually, we'll get some mulch to fill in along the fence and between the monkey grass, which is sprouting new plants all over the place.

Backyard Shenanigans

2010-05-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Marley is intrigued by our new sprinkler. He tries to bite the water droplets and lick the sprinkler when the water is on low, but just barks at it when we turn it up higher.

Tony thought he would share his beer with Marley. Nothing but the best for the king of our house!

Daisies!

2010-05-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Look at these beautiful wildflowers. Aren't they so pretty and delicate?

Did we go out to a field full of wildflowers? Stop on the side of the road to enjoy these lovely flowers?

Nope! They're weeds growing out of control along the side of our house! We don't mow our lawn very often, can you tell?

Painting Pottery on a Rainy Sunday afternoon

2010-05-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Tony and I went to paint pottery at a local paintin place. We decided on coffee mugs and Tony chose this tall mug with a plastic lid so he could take it to go. I think it turned out GREAT.

This is the one I did. I painted the hibiscus free hand and from memory and was surprised at how cute it looks. I drank my coffee from it this morning!

Stay-Cation

2010-05-09T09:12:00.001-07:00

Tony finished classes last week and we wanted to take a vacation as a reward for getting through a tough semester, but alas our funds did not match our desires. So instead, we planned a stay-cation.

I prepared "room service" with cheese, wine, and cucumbers and crackers. I made some Spa Water, infused with cucumber and mint, and brought it all in on a tray. Oh, and did I mention we spent the night in our guest room?

That's right. We moved our dvd player into our guest room and pretended it was a hotel, only leaving the room to use the restroom or let the dog out. We spent the night in there instead of our regular bedroom, and it really did feel like a hotel.

The next day we went out to a diner for breakfast and spent the afternoon at the ball park catching up with friends who were in town for a softball tournament. It was the perfect way to relax.

I encourage you to plan your own staycations. Stay in your guest room, do the touristy things in your town you've never done, eat at new restaurants, and pretend you're on vacation. Splurging on breakfast out is much cheaper than a hotel stay, but it still feels like a treat!

Phase II

2010-05-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I laid the first phase of the path in my backyard. While my yard really isn't large enough to necessitate a path, it covers the dirt and weeds and is purely decorational. And I'm okay with that.

So today I made another trip to HD to purchase phase 2 of the pavers and gravel, and now it has doubled in size!

Here's the long view: it starts with the rock garden in the corner and goes all the way to the middle of the widest part of the yard. The plan is to make a circular or sqaurish area down at the far end, and pull the path around to the side of the patio. That'll be phase 3 and possibly 4.

The next phase will be mulch around the plants, and possibly some additional plants lining the path. But if you look closely at the picture below, you'll see my monkey grass is sprouting new little sprouts. It might just fill in itself with no need for mulch or new plants.

Adventures in Landscaping

2010-04-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

I think we're in Week 3 of our landscape challenge, and it just keeps getting better.

Thursday, I had a dentist appointment for a root canal and an additional crown. I loathe the dentist and it's a very emotional experience for me. I'm thinking of asking for sedation next time I need anything done.

Anyway, they prescribed some pain meds for post-root canal sensitivity and I took one as soon as I got home Thursday night, just in case. I didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night with loads of pain in my mouth.

Well, turns out hydrocodone acts like speed once in my body. Rather than blissfully drifting off to sleep, I was wired. Wide awake. I stared at the ceiling until about 3am and then finally fell into a light sleep where I tossed and turned until the alarm when off around 6am. No work for me on Friday. However, instead of being tired all day Friday, since I hadn't gotten any sleep, I was still wide awake. That was still from the one pill Thursday afternoon.

So, since I was home, and not sleepy in the least bit, I weeded my back yard. By hand.

You know what happens when you weed your whole yard? You have lots and lots of dirt.

So I went to HD this morning and bought some pavers and gravel. And some pretty blue gloves. After wrangling all this onto the cart, into my car, out of the car and into my back yard, I played around with the layout a bit. I knew I wanted some diagonal in there to give it a pattern, but wasn't sure of the particulars.

After I got it settled, I added pea gravel in between the pavers.

And ta da! I am one-third of the way done! I need to finish up the path, pour in more gravel, and think about a border. I know I probably should have done the border first, but I just get ahead of myself. It's like a cinnamon roll - you just gotta have the gooey middle part first.

Cute, huh?

Tony's Birthday Present

2010-04-19T17:08:00.001-07:00

It all started with the first warm afternoon and Tony discovering my new favorite cocktail: the Back Porch Sunset, which is basically a grapefruit and vodka with mint. We decided afternoon cocktails should be a daily occurrence, which meant we needed something to look at while we were out there relaxing.

We started off by pulling Pinky the Flamingo from the front yard into the back, and buying a bucket of Petunias. The next weekend, Tony raked up all the oak leaves and I created a rock garden by picking up individual marble rocks out of the dirt and throwing them into the corner and lining it with left over pavers I found in the garage.

I also picked up a lovely tablecloth for our sunroom table, which helped brighten up the view, but the yard was still pretty sparse.

But these are some good foundations, and Tony and I enjoyed sitting in our chairs, staring at our flamingo flowers and dreaming about what could be.

Then mom came to town for Tony's birthday weekend. While he was at work, we got busy in the backyard installing his birthday presents: plants!

We planted tree Red Sisters Ti plants, and two small daisy bushes up against the fence, and lined the patio with mondo grass and society garlic (which wards off mosquitoes). A Rubber Tree fills the space between the sunroom and our patio, and Tony's favorite: a palm tree in the corner.

This guy may look little today, but it's supposed to grow to over 10 feet. For now, my job is to keep weeding, keep watering, and keeping it all alive. We hope to eventually buy some large paving stones to make a path and large circular area and fill in the rest of the space with various tropical looking ground cover.

For some final touches, we have some herbs growing: basil, thyme, parsley, oregano.

A little bird feeder and bamboo chimes top off our tropical feel.

Tony's Birthday

2010-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Tony celebrated his 32nd birthday last weekend and I treated him to a few things out of the usual for him.

First, breakfast at Starbucks.

You can see how happy he is with his Green Tea Latte and breakfast sandwich. After eating, we walked next door to the salon/spa for a Sport Pedicure. For those that don't know, a Sport Pedicure is the same as a regular pedicure without the polish. I said they should have Sports Illustrated and beer's ready for the guys and they would get more in there.

Tony loved it and his feet looked nice and clean when he was all done!

Now to work on the upper half. Tony checked himself out in the mirror while my mom finished with her haircut.

Happy Birthday, Tony! We finished the night off at the Daiquiri Deck in Sarasota for daiquiri's and seafood. He had a wonderful day and felt very special.

A Three Hour Tour...

2010-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Tony got home from work yesterday around 4ish and we decided to take an impromptu drive to the beach to watch the sunset, and maybe enjoy an adult beverage on the back porch of some beach restaurant. So we packed up our water bottles, blankets and camera, and headed south on I-75 to Anna Maria Island.

We got there with no particular place in mind and decided to drive south towards Longboat Key. We'd never been there before and thought we could find a nice place away from the crowds. So we rolled down the windows and drove. And drove. And drove. Turns out Longboat Key is very golf/spa/tennis resortish and not the tshirt and flip flops beach bar we were dressed for. So we kept driving.

As you can see from the map, it's a long way down there. With no beach bar in sight, and practically in Sarasota, we ended up driving through Sarasota and down into Siesta Key, still on the hunt for a beach bar and hungrier and with a little less wind in our sails, and the sun dipping lower in the sky.

Siesta Key was a nightmare. Spring Breakers walking everywhere, all beach bars packed to the gills with sunburnt tourists shouting out and taking pictures with their bottles of Bud Light. We kept driving south.

Little known fact about Siesta Key: there are no places to eat and no way to get off the island except to go the way you came. In traffic. Towards resort city.

So we did just that. And we missed the sunset. I finally pulled into a resort, ignoring the clearly posted No Trespassing and Resort Guests Only signs, cursing them for stealing the beach from the deserving public, and snapped a few pictures of a pink sky over a blue gulf. I pouted for the next several miles and we retraced our steps north.

By 8:30pm, we finally made it back to Bradenton Beach and into the land of beach bars for which we were properly dressed. We stopped into a Jamaican restaurant that looked promising. Red Stripes were offered right away and we enjoyed the "No Problem, Mon" attitude as we ordered our sandwiches. That No Problem, mon attitude also meant that it took 45 minutes for our sandwiches to be delivered. The owner at least comped a second round of Red Stripes while we waited.

Tony took the last leg of the journey behind the helm, and got us home sometime around 11pm. A three hour tour, indeed. He had the nerve to call me at work just now and ask if I wanted to head down to the beach to watch the sunset tonight.

Ah well. Live and laugh. And pack snacks.

Another Post About My Dog

2010-03-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Marley and I have a fun new game. Basically, I spray the hose against the back fence, and he runs back and forth trying to bite the water. I get amusement. He gets a bath. It's a win/win, really.

We played this fun little game Saturday afternoon since it had finally warmed up. I turned the water off at the handle and hung it all back up against the wall before locking Marley out so he could dry naturally.

I must have forgotten to turn the water off at the spigot, because early Sunday morning, Tony and I were enjoying our morning coffee and heard a sound in the backyard.

My brilliantly bad dog had bitten a hole in the hose and water was spewing everywhere on our porch.

He was happily running around and barking at the water, spraying himself and biting as much water as he could get his little teeth onto.

I was laughing so hard I couldn't get mad about the hose.

And I was a bit proud of his independent, DIY attitude.

He sounds a little like me.

Though you would never catch me doing this.

Or this.

But maybe this. Enjoy!

Fun with Photoshop

2010-03-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I talked my co-working into installing Photoshop onto my work computer. Now I have lots of fun taking my mediocre photos to the next level. For example, take a look at these lovelies, snapped from the side of the interstate at 6:30am on the way to Mobile (more on that later).

Happy Birthday, Betsy!

2010-03-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday we drove over to Gotha (outside Orlando) to visit Chris and Betsy and celebrate Betsy's 30th birthday. They hosted a fabulous tex-mex fajita cookout and we had a great time visiting with them in their new house.

Of course, Sunday I followed that up with two hours of house cleaning followed by 30 minutes of trimming my oak tree with a hand saw. I now cannot move off the couch. Pain killers, please!

Dogs Dont Care if you just mopped

2010-03-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

Nope, they just keep trotting on through the kitchen minding their own business.

Happy Mardi Gras!

2010-02-21T10:56:00.001-08:00

Tony got me a King Cake for Valentine's Day/Mardi Gras! I haven't had one for a few years; the grocery stores in Texas sold them, but I haven't seen them anywhere around here.

This one came from Slidell, Louisiana, and was so, so, so good. For those of you not familiar with King Cake, it's like a cinnamon roll that is rolled into a ring rather than sliced into rolls. Then it's iced with a delicious almond white icing and topped with colored sugar sprinkles.

Of course, it came with a baby, and I found it on my second slice. I guess that means it's my turn to buy the cake next year!

Laissez Bon Temps Rouller! or, Let the Good Times Roll! Happy Mardi Gras!

Carpentry with Cayla, Part 2

2010-02-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

To recap, last time we met, the door frame had been pushed out of the wall, we pushed it back into place and drilled it into the wall.

The trim was hung on the garage side of the door, but we ran out of finishing nails. Rookie Carpenter mistake: make sure you have enough nails to finish the project before you start.

So today, I purchased some finishing nails and reinforced the trim on the garage side, hung the trim on the living room side, and put about 20 nails along all the sides to make sure it doesn't go anywhere.

After nailing the trim into place, I used caulk to fill the seam between trim and wall. This makes it look pretty, as well as helping to "glue" the trim into place.

So the hard work is done. The next part is to sand the wall where I ripped off paint and sheetrock, and paint the trim white, then paint the wall back whatever color that is.

Of course, that means I'll end up panting the doors and trim of every door around the entire house. That's more work than I want to get into today, so for now I'm done. At least the trim is up and it looks good.

Movin' on Up

2010-02-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

Up until a few weeks ago, this was our Home Theatre setup . Tv, Cable box, dvd player, all stacked up on each other with remotes and a random dvd on top of a table.

We got a larger than expected tax return this year, since Tony has been in school full time last year and qualified us for the American Opportunity Tax credit, and we splurged on a new tv, tv stand, and Wii. We also made a hefty payment to the credit card, so we were semi responsible. Let me just say how good it felts to splurge on ourselves with cash... by waiting to make these purchases, we were able to buy them and feel good about it. No credit card guilt here!

Can't you just see Tony's excitement? We got a lovely corner stand at Ikea, made from real wood unlike their other stuff, which fit perfectly in our corner spot. We also got a nice green rug. It brightens up the living room and makes it feel like we're sitting on the golf green.

We have both been playing with the Wii and have gotten a 30 Day Workout Challenge game. Here, Marley watches Tony play tennis.

And then he tries to get into the game. Don't you just love Tony's Cheetos pants??

Updates, no photos

2010-02-14T08:15:00.000-08:00

Life has continued to be busy for the Laniers. So busy with work and school and life, that we haven't had much time for special fun activities and we're so looking forward to those, we don't hassle bringing the camera.

I went to a conference for academic advisors in Clearwater last Thursday and Friday, which was really great. I learned a lot from networking with other advisors, and learned a lot about student success and retention efforts that advisors can do. All the research we discussed has inspired me to read further about this job that I do.

Tony got me a Wii last week. I have been wanting once since Christmas and we agreed that our tax refund would go towards a Wii, a new TV, and the rest would go towards the credit card balances. However, as Murphy's law would have it, when we had the money, there were no Wii's to be found. I went to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, HH Gregg, and looked everywhere online. There were none to be found. The man at Target said to call every morning to check, and finally last Wednesday, they came in.

When I got home from the conference Friday, it was a cold, rainy, nasty night, so I hooked up the Wii, ordered a pizza, and Tony and I got busy playing golf, bowling, tennis, and baseball. Saturday morning, I awoke to thigh muscles that could barely move!

Tony and don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. We usually get a pizza and some wine and just stay home to avoid the craziness. But this year, he said he had a special surprise for me on Saturday, not Valentine's Day. Our friend John also had a rugby game on Saturday, so I suggested we stop by the NOLA Cafe on the way home from the game. Little did I know, that was my surprise! Tony ordered me a king cake, straight from NO, and it was scheduled to come in yesterday. Turns out, it won't be here till Tuesday, but we went to the cafe for breakfast anyway. We got Cafe Au Lait's and bengeits, and scrambled egg and andouille po boys. I had tears in my eyes because it was all so good!

John's team won their game against USF, and Tony and I went to Target after the game. They are still out of the Wii Fit bundle, which has the yoga and workout games (also measures calories burned, weight loss, and number of workouts). However, upon the recommendation of my mom and friends, I was able to buy the EA Active 30 Day Challenge disc, that comes along with one of those resistance bands and a strap you put around your leg so measure your running speeds. I have logged two workouts so far, burning 120 calories in 20 minutes the first day and 160 calories in 25 minutes today!

I also bought a scale at Target (finally!) and have lost 3 more pounds, for a total loss of 5 pounds. I have already met my March goal of being at 155. Next goal: 150 by July. With my new Wii games, and workout challenges, I'm hoping to kick start goal 2 and meeting it early. We've got our Beach Week in July, and Liz and I are both working it to see how good we can look in our bikinis!

Speaking of bikinis: If I beat my July goal early, meaning I hit 150 before July, I am going to purchase a new bikini. That's a good motivator, right?

Babysitting Meredith

2010-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

We babysat Meredith last week so our friends John and Andrea could go out and celebrate their 7th Anniversary. Look at this darling little porker. She's grown so much since the last time we saw her! She is grabbing and holding things now, including her feet, and has started babbling. She was such a good baby girl, only a little fussy, and definitely happy to play with us.

Just look at those big, blue eyes!

Carpentry With Cayla

2010-02-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Today, on Carpentry With Cayla, we're going to talk about what do to if your strong, masculine husband slams the door with all his weight and accidentally pushes the door frame away from the wall.

First, cut the caulk that is holding the trim to the wall, and gently pry the trim off with a hammer. Once you can see what you're working with, call your brother, a professional trim carpenter, and describe what you see. It's best to use lots of adjectives such as "crooked," "messy," and "just doesn't look right." Descriptive nouns such as "thingy" are also very helpful in diagnosing the problem.

In this particular situation, you can see that the door frame thingy is about 3 inches or so away from the wall, and it needs to be pushed back into place. Cameron helped me diagnose my problem of having only about 3 finishing nails (or those long, skinny ones that don't have a round flat head on the top for you professionals) holding the entire door frame into the wall.

Cameron sent me to Lowe's with my shopping list: 3" wood screws, shims, and new trim to replace what I ripped off every so gently. Lowe's sells trim kits for standard sized door frames, but the top piece is long so you can customize to your particular size. Lowe's does NOT cut wood to order, so the ever so nice salesman also sold me a mitre box and hand saw. Did I mention my husband was in class while I was doing all of the carpentry-ing and sawing?

Okay, back from Lowe's, let's get to work. Carpentry is similar to baking in that you want to set out all of your ingredients before you start working. I mean, supplies, because carpenters use tools. Grunt, grunt, heh, heh.

According to my brother's expert opinion, I needed to screw the door frame into the wall again, using 3" wood screws. Since there is a gap in between the wall and the door frame, I needed to put two shims (triangle pieces of wood) together to make a block, and slide it in between the wall and frame. This way, when you start screwing, the frame won't bow out and get out of shape, causing the door not to close all the way, which is why we started this process in the first place. Right? Right!

Now, when you strip half of your screws because your flimsy arms aren't strong enough to hold the drill and push at the same time, and you have to use pliers to twist the screw out of the door frame - TWICE - text your brother who is at work and will laugh at your ineptitude.

Once you finally get a screw drilled all the way into the wall and shout with joy before realizing that you actually missed the shim you were supposed to have drilled through, don't worry. The shim is still doing it's job as a spacer between the door and the frame.

Once all the screws are in and you feel that the door frame ain't goin nowhere, try shutting the door. If it shuts and closes, you're done! Go drink a beer to celebrate. However, if it still doesn't close because the metal thingy that sticks out the door (aka, the plunger) doesn't fit into the hole in the wall (ahem, the latch), curse out loud and try the following...

Start on the other side! I tightened all the screws in my hinges, on both the door side and wall side, and voila! It's works! Off to find a beer to celebrate....

At this point, my work for the evening was done. I was tired, hungry, and not wanting to clean up my mess. But I did. Then I went to pick my husband up from class and whisked him back home to show off my handiwork.

This morning, I attacked the trim, meaning I got to use my mitre box and saw. I'm happy to report that not only did I not cut off a finger, but I also measured almost correctly and cut almost perfectly, and now have replacement trim hanging on the garage side of my door.

Don't mind that wood colored strip to the left of the door. It will be painted white and blend in with the rest of the door. During this process I realized I didn't have any finishing nails, with which to nail the trim back onto the wall, so I need to go to Lowe's. My husband has the car, so the trim on the inside part of the door will just have to wait.

Fitness Goals: Check In

2010-02-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

After one month of walking for 40-60 minutes three times per week and making slight adjustments to my diet, I am finally seeing some results.

Week 1 and 2, no changes occured.

Week 3, I had lost two inches on my waist and hips!

Week 4, I have lost two pounds!

Also, my cholesterol is back down to 172, and I am continuing with the oatmeal for breakfast, because I really like it. Still haven't had any potatos, and my ability to control myself around sweets and snacks is improving.

As a reminder, my short term goal is to lose 5 pounds by March. I am using mapmywalk.com, which has a workout log to chart my number of workouts, number of miles, and number of calories burned each week and month, and still participating in my friend's blog, where we post all our numbers weekly. I'll keep you all posted as well!

Best Laid Plans...

2010-02-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Tony and I made plans to visit Dade City for the Kumquat Festival. With free entry, free "entertainment," arts and crafts and as much kumquat pie, jam, juice and funnel cakes as you can stand, it sounded like a great way to explore Florida and spend some time together.

However, we woke up to rain, wind, rain, storms, and more rain, and decided not to venture too far from home. So after a nice long breakfast at Village Inn, and a quick trip to Publix, we changed back into pajamas and settled in for the day. One quick hour was spent scrubbing the kitchen, sorting and starting laundry, mopping the floors, and then we were finally able to crash on the couch. First we watched the Proposal, which was cute and made me want to visit Alaska.

Then we watched Whip It, the story of a young, small town Texan faking her age to join a roller derby team in Austin, Texas, and made me sooooo homesick for Austin. It was a good movie, and we loved watching the roller derby scenes, which looked fairly realistic compared to all the roller derby matches we saw back in Texas.

Add in some fish tacos, church, and lots of coffee and snuggling on the couch, and we had a pretty perfect weekend.

Sanibel Flats

2010-01-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

Florida welcomed us back from Iowa with more cold weather. Not -17, of course, but 30s and 40s for sure. It has been a pretty glum January so far. This weekend, the temperatures finally broke the 70 degree mark and we were able to pull out the flip flops again.

With our first free weekend, we picked up our Florida exploration hobby, pulled out the map, and set our sights on Sanibel. We have heard from several people that January is the best shelling season and Sanibel is the 3rd best place to find them. Sanibel is also the island featured in a series of books by Randy Wayne White, a Florida author that rights about an ex-government agent that now tries to live a peaceful life as a biologist in Dinkins Bay (aka Tarpon Bay) but still manages to get into all sorts of murder mystery escapades.

So we wanted to go see it for ourselves. Here's Tony behind the wheel while I took over Navigation and Photographication duties. I was also on snack duty.

Just south of Sarasota, we picked up US 41, the Tamiami Trail, and drove along the coast on our way to Fort Myers and Sanibel. We drove through Venice, which is a lovely little town and will definitely be featured in this blog in coming months. Particularly of note is a little stand on the side of the road featuring hot dogs and root beer.

We finally made it to Sanibel, drove over the causeway onto the island and were immediately welcomed with green vegetation. You couldn't see anything but these mangrove trees and sea grape trees. It was sunny, 75 degrees with a cool breeze, and a windows down kind of day. We felt instantly at peace. After parking, we went to find the restrooms and got to walk along this pretty little boardwalk. All of Sanibel and Captiva Island were destroyed during Hurricane Charlie several years ago, and while the trees and vegetation looked like it survived, you could tell that all of the buildings and bridges were new.

The restrooms were right next to the lighthouse and beach, so we got busy walking and shelling immediately. I looked up once to enjoy the world around me and saw a pod of dolphins playing in the surf. They were so close to the shore! Everyone along the beach stopped to watch the dolphins.

Along the beach we found all sorts of sea life. Starfish, sea urchins, shells, shells, shells and more shells. I've never seen so many!

Here's Tony doing the Sanibel Stoop! We filled two grocery bags full of shells. Now we just need to figure out what to do with them...

After walking around for a while, we worked up an appetite and drove around the island for a bit checking out all the shops and restaurants. We definitely want to come back to explore more. We finally found Doc Fords Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille, one of our main reasons for coming. Doc Ford is the character from those novels I mentioned earlier and this restaurant is owned by the author! Did you note that I said "Rum Bar"? Yes, rum bar.

Well, when in Rome, right? So we had some rum drinks, along with our nachos and grouper sandwiches and enjoyed sitting outside and enjoying the sun. It was a great ending to a lovely day outside. We are so blessed to live in Florida.

And Dad? Since I know you will be a little jealous as you're sitting up there in the snow, we got you a little something to add to your collection. If you don't mind, we'll just hold on to it for you until you can come visit and look through it yourself. Tony read through the recipes on the way home, and we will definitely put this one to use!

New Years!

2010-01-09T16:26:00.001-08:00

My Dad has been living and working in Des Moines, Iowa since August, and he called a few weeks ago asking if we would like to come visit him for New Years. Never ones to turn down an adventure (or free plane tickets) we gladly accepted, packed our warmest clothes and hopped on a plane to Des Moines. After a rough landing in Detroit (ice on the runway, and flying the same airline to the same airport only 6 days after the Nigerian incident), spending three hours lounging around and eating hamburgers at 10am, we finally boarded our plane and landed in Des Moines. EVERYTHING was white as we came in for a landing and we quickly found out why.

It was 4 degrees outside!!!

It snowed a bit while we were there, just flurries, not enough to stick or snow us in. We called the hotel shuttle to come pick us up and checked in to our room. We were so surprised when we got TWO rooms: a bedroom and a suite. The hotel manager arranged for us to have a wonderful room and even included a nice welcoming gift.

A nice snack tray and bottle of wine.

We got settled in and met up with Dad before going upstairs for the New Years Eve party. They had a live band, a rotating ballroom, fireworks on a neighboring parking garage, and a lot of really fun people. I'll admit, that after getting up at 3am and flying all day, we called it a night early and were in bed by 10:30.

The next morning we were up early and had a quick breakfast at the hotel before taking a walk downtown. That's right, we braved the cold weather for a two-block walk to the entrance to an elaborate skyway system that connects a 4 mile section of downtown Des Moines.

The skywalk is kept at 72 degrees year round, so it's always comfortable. As we discovered, some tunnels are cool ones and some are hot ones. They allowed us to tour the city and see the many bars and restaurants that make up the entertainment scene in Des Moines. Dad was a great tour guide.

Check out this icicle! It goes for almost 5 stories!

Here's a river. It was frozen over by Saturday, but here it's only partially frozen.

You can see that the weather cleared up a bit during our almost 2 hour walk. This is dad's church, a beautiful Episcopal cathedral in the heart of downtown.

We woke up Saturday morning to see this on the tv:

Yes, 17 degrees BELOW zero with a wind chill of -30. I didn't know temperatures like this were even possible! We quickly discovered how Iowan's stay warm on days like this: they eat! We decided we may not see weather like this again, so we might as well get out in it!

Dad took us to a place called the Iowa Machine Shed for breakfast, which is like Cracker Barrell, but more farming oriented. There was a huge buffet, but Dad warned us we had more good places to visit later in the day. So I settled for a simple cinnamon roll and coffee, but got a whole lot more than I bargained for!

In case it's not clear, this cinnamon roll is about the size of a brick, and comes with a steak knife. It was served on a dinner plate and was taller than my cup of coffee. I ate only about half of it, and even then was stuffed!

After breakfast, we went back to the hotel to drop off the truck and catch a shuttle to Court Avenue Brewing Company, Dad's favorite Saturday football spot. He joined the mug club, and got to drink in his mug for the first time during our visit. We watched USF win the International Bowl, then watched another game while eating some delicious Jambalaya for lunch and chatting with some of dad's friends.

We took a short walk over to Django, a french restaurant that Dad loves. I got a Frenchie (when in Rome!), and Tony got a dirty martini. After cocktails, a cheese flight, and oysters rockefeller, our dinner arrived.

I ordered Duck Confit, a sort of duck stew with braised leg of duck. It was sooooo good. Tony and Dad ordered a duck breast meal, and we finished off the evening with coffee and dessert.

The next morning, we were up early to fly back to Tampa. We had such a good time visiting my Dad and seeing where he lives, who he spends his time with and eating all the great food!

Christmas!

2010-01-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tony and I went home to Panama City Beach for Christmas and had a wonderful time with our parents and families. My mom and I made a gingerbread house for the first time ever. We used a kit, but improvised a bit by making a shingle roof out of life cereal, a marshmallow snowman with pretzel stick arms and a hershey kiss hat, a pond made out of melted starburst and a lovely coconut snowed lawn. We giggled like little girls while we were sticking it all together in our pajamas one morning.

This year's annual Dollar Store tradition was kicked off with a stop by Hoffbrau Haus first. It definitely helped liven up the shopping. Another first was shopping at the new Dollar Tree on the beach. Most of us liked it because it's cleaner than the other one on 23rd street, but Travis said he didn't like it because it was "too upscale. All the stuff is real stuff."

Nanee also joined us for shopping this year, which was a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve we went to Michelle's house, my sister-in-law, to celebrate with Tony's family. My niece, Chelsea, got a Disney Princess bike, which she loved! I haven't spent a Christmas around children since Kirsten and Travis grew up, so it was fun watching a little one open toys. Michelle also made my favorite potato salad for dinner and I was very happy.

My uncle Tim and his family came over from Baton Rouge, so I got to see my Aunt Teresa, Catherine and Kyle also. We went to dinner at Red Robin, and all of my aunts and uncle were together with most of the cousins. We wish Cameron, Bradly and Anna could be there to make it complete. Between Tony, Kyle, Alan and I, we had the poor waitress running to fill our baskets of fries all night!

We also managed to fit in some time with our friends. We set a day and time, picked a place and planted ourselves. Several friends were able to come hang out so we could all catch up after the holidays. It was a nice, stress free way to get everyone together while we were in town.

Just before coming home, my mom and I visited Uncle Tim's family again and Kyle wanted to go bowling. So we loaded up and headed out to Rocket Lanes. Here's a great picture of everyone in their bowling shoes.

New Year, New Start

2010-01-05T06:36:00.001-08:00

I have tons of pictures from Christmas in Panama City and New Years in Des Moines, but posted them all on Facebook and now I'm tired of waiting for the computer to upload. Maybe this weekend I'll get around to it.

Today, I'm focused on the future. 2010 promises a lot of good things and I'm ready to do my part to make them happen! This year, I'm teaching my first class at USF and will make a decision on whether or not I pursue additional education and in what area it will be. I'm stepping into a new role as the Director of Orientation for the Honors College and will have sole responsibility for all plans and programs. I'll take a week off over July 4th and head to the beach to spend time with great friends and a brand new baby (not mine, of course). We will end the year celebrating Tony's graduation from USF and hopefully a new job!

I definitely ate my emotions in 2009, and starting a cake business didn't help. I gained 10 pounds over the course of the year and my cholesterol skyrocketed from 170 to 207. Inspired by my friend Liz, over at FITing it in, in 2010, I'm setting my goals before you and will have periodic check ins with my progress.

My goal is to lose 15 pounds this year and to reduce my cholesterol by 30 points, back to the 170 range. My meals are already fairly healthy, I mainly stick to water instead of sugary drinks, but the sweets always get me. So some changes I plan to make are cutting out potato products (chips, fries, mashed, baked, etc.). Sweet potatoes don't count because they're full of fiber. This leads me to my next change: increase my fiber intake, since soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol. I plan to speed walk at least 3 times per week. And finally, the sweets. I want to make my calories count by passing up the processed sweet foods in favor of homemade, cutting my portions (so only half a donut instead of 4), and not giving in to the scones, muffins and other junk at Starbucks.

I feel these are realistic changes. As Travis told me, it takes 21 days to make a habit, so I'm on the right track so far. I'll let you know how it goes!

Kirsten Graduates!

2009-12-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Kirsten's graduation from USF at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. We watched the flamenko dancers and had some wonderful Spanish food.

Kirsten and I shared a pitcher of Sangria, made right at our table by Jorge. It was fruity and delicious.

We were up bright and early the next morning to watch her walk across the stage. I brought Tony scarf with me and crocheted through the speeches, but I put it down just in time to stand up and cheer for my favorite sister!

Congratulations, Kirsten!

Marley Boy

2009-12-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures of our little Marley son.

I think I interupped his nap time. He looks pretty peeved, but those ears! I just love the ears.

Tony loves the little snout. He lets Marley lick his face and nose (I can hardly stand it - his little tongue goes up my nose!!), but they're cute.

Another naptime for Marley. This time, he's dreaming of a MacBook of his very own.

Marley the Cow! We dressed him up as a cow for Halloween and all the other doggies were jealous.

Marley's ready for a ride! He jumped in the car when I opened the door to get something one night.

Here's one from today. It was cool outside this afternoon, but he found a sunny spot against the fence and got to sun himself for awhile.

Of course, this is the other way he stays warm - laying on top of the sofa cushions until they fall down and fold around him.

What a lucky dog.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (Cake)

2009-12-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

I have two orders for Christmas cakes, and both are white cakes with whipped cream frosting. I've never made homemade whipped cream, or whipped cream frosting for that matter. But no matter, it's never stopped me before!

The cakes came out beautifully! But a cake is a cake, right? After the first couple of cakes, I've gotten the hang of cake baking.

Frosting's are a whole other story, though!

Whipped cream frosting goes a little something like this:

Whisk powdered sugar, cornstarch and heavy cream in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and then let cool. It turns into this evaporated milk/pudding stuff. Next, whip heavy cream, vanilla and cointreau in the mixer until soft tracks are formed, then whip in the pudding stuff until stiff peaks form. Easy enough, right?

So why did something that is supposed to look like this:

Turn out to do this?

Well, you see, I don't really know because I stepped away from the mixer for a bit. But somehow, the whipped cream fell apart and turned into what I think may have been butter.

Big difference, huh?

So after round two on the icing, I ended up with a beautifully iced cake. I used my new icing comb, too, which was perfect for the light and fluffy whipped cream icing.

Perfect! Ready for delivery!

Cayla's Cakes

2009-12-20T16:37:00.001-08:00

Earlier this summer, I decided to start a cake business called Cayla's Cakes. I make homemade, 3 layer cakes like housewives in the 60s had hanging around all the time. For a while, I was making cakes just so I could take pictures and post on my website and facebook page, but I finally got some real orders at Thanksgiving.

I had orders for two Carrot Cakes and one Red Velvet Cake. They turned out great and I made a little gas money to get to Georgia. Then I offered to cater the Honors College graduation ceremony. That turned out to be four cakes: yellow with chocolate icing, chocolate with powder sugar topping, red velvet, and lemon pound cake. I made cute little signs and set out my cards and listened to all the rave reviews.

Now, I have two orders for Christmas. Both are white cakes with whipped cream frosting, but one will have fresh strawberries added.

I love trying new recipes and techniques, but my cholesterol has risen with the popularity of my cake business. No more tasting for me... I'll have to trust my husband.

For pictures of my cakes, please visit caylascakes.blogspot.com or search Cayla's Cakes on facebook.

Livin' Life

2009-12-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

November and December have been a busy month for us.

Tony has been busy with school, wrapping up his first full semester at USF. He carried a full course load with four classes this semester. He was nervous at first, not sure how he was going to manage all the class assignments and information. But the short summer semester helped him get ready for attending the 9th largest university in the US. Of course, I was there to support him and cheer him on. He ended the semester with two As and two Bs, maintaining his 3.5 USF gpa and possibly making it to the Dean's List.

I have been pretty busy with work, as well. I will be the Director of Orientation for Summer 2010, and my mentor told me I would have full control over every decision and step of the planning process. Freshmen Orientation is such a big event that it requires year round planning. Each summer, the Honors College hires student mentors to work one on one with our incoming freshmen to introduce them to the university, to the Honors college, and provide an instant friend. I decided to turn the training into a semester long course, instead of the normal 8 hour day we pack it into. So I am teaching a course starting in January. I was able to make my syllabus in an hour, but the lecture notes and presentation slides, homework, worksheets, and everything else has been quite an undertaking. It has been a lot of fun, though, and I think I have put something in place that will be really informative and will help in the future.

In the midst of that we have been travelling and hosted some travellers. We went to Columbus, GA for Thanksgiving, and the next weekend hosted Chris and Travis as they came to Tampa for the AAC championship. The following weekend my sister Kirsten graduated from USF and I catered the Honors College graduation ceremony (separate posts on those events coming soon to a blog near you!). And that brings us to this weekend!

Yesterday, Tony and I wrapped presents at the mall to support LifePath Hospice. It was a lot of fun to watch all the crazy shoppers pass by and to wrap their presents. All the fun of Christmas with none of the debt!!

During the end of his semester, Tony was presented with two options to advance his career. One was a part time job at a brand new Assisted Living Facility called the Bridges, about two miles from our house. The other was a research assistant position on campus with one of his instructors, studying symptoms of pain in cancer patients of different ethnicities. He took the job at the Bridges, and will talk with the instructor in January about doing some research.

Today was Tony's first day at the Bridges. He played Wii with some of the residents, arranged a bulletin board in the Alzheimer's unit, and got to know many of the residents and staff. He goes back tomorrow and Tuesday for a few more events, including an off site lunch on Tuesday. He enjoys it so far!

While Tony was at work, I had the house to myself. I read on the couch for a few hours, took a long hot shower until the hot water ran out, and then baked a few cakes for upcoming orders. When I picked Tony up at 3:30, he asked if I was high. I laughed and said of course not, but why? He said he hadn't seen me so relaxed in a long time. I guess that's what happens when I have a little "me time."

Tuesday afternoon we will leave Tampa around 3ish and head up to Panama City for Christmas. We plan to stay until the 29th or 30th and then will head back to Tampa. We fly out at 6:30 am on Thursday morning to spend New Years with my dad in Des Moines, Iowa. It's going to be freezing cold, but I'm looking forward to seeing a little snow (or a lot of snow) and my dad.

Tony's Scarf - The Long Story

2009-12-20T15:48:00.001-08:00

Several months ago, Tony and I started attending Bay Life Church. We really enjoyed the service and the style and got some good preachin'. It's a very large church and we wanted to get to know more people. Our friends David and Susan introduced us to Bay Life and so we decided to join groups they were involved in to meet more people. They meet on Monday nights - my Ladies group is at Susan's house and Tony's Men's group meets at the church.

So fast forward to two weeks ago, when my Ladies group decided to do a Christmas party and gift exchange. Being the wife of a starving college student, I decided to make a gift instead of buying one. I made a beautiful striped scarf (that I didn't take a picture of. Sorry, Dad!), stitched longways, with colors of purple, blue, white, black, and some crazy yarn that changes from pink to purple to yellow to blue and has some shiny stuff in it. It was one of my best, if I do say so myself. Susan ended up with it!

But this post is called Tony's scarf. After seeing the stripey scarf, Tony decided he wanted me to make one for him. Finally! For almost a year, I have been asking Tony if he wanted me to make him something. And now he gives in!

So I asked what he wanted and he said he wanted it to be longways stripey, like Susan's scarf. I took him to my chest of yarn (yes, I have an entire cedar chest full of it!) and he picked out his colors. I made a few suggestions and we ended up with grey, light blue and dark blue.

And here it is!

I learned how to do this wave pattern and it's perfect for my beach loving husband.

I think it looks like the ocean on a rough, winter, stormy day.

It's long. Long enough to wrap around his neck three times and still go halfway to his knees. But he loves it, and that's all that matters, right?

December is here...

2009-12-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Where in the world did November go?

Let's have a look back through my calendar, shall we? Oh, right:

-Babysitting John and Andrea's beautiful little Meredith and leaving her in her rocker because we couldn't figure out if we should lay her face down or face up in the crib.
-Dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in 20 years. We laughed, we ate, we drank, we caught up and we realized why our mothers had so much fun when they were our age.
-My sister Kirsten's performance of Zombie Brides (or something to that effect), in which she choreographed the dances.
-Chaperoning the AOII Woodser and learning that kids these days can make it work in a Portapotty.
-A whole slew of AOII meetings, advisor meetings, and recruitment meetings.
-Celebrating my third anniversary with my wonderful husband (see below).
-Painting pottery with my sisters and husband.
-Taking my first paid order for a cake and helping celebrate a sister's husband's birthday.
-USF Homecoming game against Louisville - we won! - and catching up with my favorite McKngihts.
-New Moon. Enough said.
-Baking two more cakes for Thanksgiving orders.
-Rubbing Syreeda's belly with a freshly made baby inside.
-Crocheting two baby blankets for friends.
(Seriously, enough with the babies!)
-Hosting Brooke, looking through old pictures and talking about politics with a Capitol insider.
-Speaking at the USF Panhellenic Awards banquet on the importance of keeping Ritual at the center of your life and all your actions.
-Driving to Columbus, Georgia, reading every single one of the Think Tifton! billboards, stopping at the Magnolia Plantation, eating lunch in Americus and driving through Georgia Southwestern State University.
-Eating Thanksgiving Dinner and listening to all the stories Uncle Donny and Aunt Sherolyn had to tell.
-Rooting on Alabama to a win against Auburn.
-Driving through the Fantasy of Lights at Callaway Gardens.
-Driving back home to Tampa in quiet and peace.
-Watching Christmas Vacation and Elf as soon as possible after Thanksgiving was officially over.
-Pulling out my Christmas decorations and christmas tree shopping with the hubs.
-Celebrating a birthday at my Ladies Group and talking about how good God is with some very wise ladies.

Well, that'll about do it. That's more than enough to fill up a month. December's not looking much better, but I at least hope to document it a bit more. Here's to January, peace and quiet and starting over!

3 Years and Counting!

2009-11-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, also known as Veteran's Day, was our third anniversary. We didn't plan to get married on a federal holiday, but it sure was nice having the day to ourselves and not having to work!

So how did we celebrate, you ask? We had a fairly low key day. Breakfast, movie, snack, and then a nice drive down to Sarasota and Siesta Key. It rained on us the entire way down there, and I was afraid we would have to watch the sunset from the front seat of the car.

But, Mother Nature, she smiled down upon us and held off the rain for about 45 minutes. We unpacked our blanket and our cooler and brought the umbrella just in case. We sheltered ourselves against an empty tiki hut and pulled out the champagne. This lovely bottle was purchased for 40% off at an Albertson's going out of business sale - the one time the poor economy worked in our favor all year!

Of course, we had to take lots of pictures to document everything, but we finally were able to toast to each other and to our future and watch the storm roll in.

We finished the night by eating sushi at a tiny little place in Sarasota with a delicious meal: mackerel, spicy tuna and yellow tail sashimi; rainbow rolls, salmon rolls, siesta roll (tempura shrimp with cucumber), and the Ringo - yellowfin, apples, and veggies with a peanut sauce. Yum!

New Cake Posted

2009-11-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

Check out my latest cake creation at www.caylascakes.blogspot.com.

To our military heros

2009-11-01T13:34:00.001-08:00

The Vietnam Wall Experience traveled through Brandon this weekend and Tony and I got a chance to see it today. We went after church and made it right in time for the closing ceremonies. In addition to seeing the wall, which is a 3/4 size replica of the wall in DC, we saw a military band, and the Last Patrol performance of part of the war. It was a very moving experience. We felt blessed that we didn't have a name to look up on the wall, that our Vietnam vets made it home. We felt proud of our military heros and proud to be Americans.

Hello My Pretty!

2009-11-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

I was recently informed that I would not receive a raise this year. Bummer, right? However, I would receive a bonus! After taxes took almost half of my money, I had a nice little chunk of money. We decided to be responsible with most and to splurge on myself with the rest.

And this is what I got! A beautiful Empire Red Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.

Doesn't she fit in perfectly with the kitchen decor? I think I'll name her Jane.

Jane can cream butter and sugar together like it's nobody's business. Jane's pretty color of empire red inspired me to make a red cake. See my bowl of red food colored cocoa in the back? Can you guess what it is?

I won't leave you hanging for long. I'm icing the cake this afternoon (Jane gets another workout!) and will have pictures posted on Caylascakes.blogspot.com later today.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T13:21:00.001-08:00

A co-worker talked me into dressing up for Halloween at work this year. He was Spock. I went for Medusa. 9 Eels and a hundred bobby pins later, this is what I came up with:

Marley, on the other hand, was dressed up as a cow. He didn't like the costume too much, and after pouting for a bit, he came around. We took him to a party hosted by our vets on Friday night and he was a hit. Though two weiner dogs came in later dressed as a fried egg and bacon. If only I had pictures!

Our actual Halloween night was pretty low key. We carved pumpkins and I baked a cake. We planned to sit in the driveway and hand out candy, but my friend Andrea called us and asked us to come over. Her husband was at work and had her hands full with her new baby. Plus, Tony got to watch football!

On the Way Home

2009-10-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

On the way home, we stopped at a pumpkin patch and produce market. We're not ready to buy our pumpkin yet, but the cool weather just made us want to get out and look.

So we had to get out for one more photo op.

Stay tuned for our pumpkin shopping trip and Octoberfest, both coming to a blog near you next weekend.

Catfish Country

2009-10-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Finally, the reason for this whole crazy trip! Catfish Country is on the north end of town, off Hwy 98.

First up, a plate of fried green tomatoes. I had never had them, so Tony ordered a huge plate. I ended up liking them dipped in ranch dressing. They were like fried pickles, but not as sour.
They also served a cup of green onions, cole slaw, and fresh buttermilk biscuits to you as soon as you sit down. The waitress said people just eat the green onions raw with their coleslaw or catfish, or dipped in salt. We tried it, but then went back to the biscuits.
Here's me, eating my first tomato. Mmmmmms!!!
And now for the real deal. Cajun coated catfish. This is Tony's plate... I don't eat collard greens. I ordered cheese grits as my side, but there were an odd shade of yellow. I think they were instant, which was disappointing, but the catfish more than made up for it.
We ate so much food and couldn't nearly eat it all. Leftovers were lunch this morning.

Fall Fotoshoot

2009-10-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

After the last house on our driving tour, we found Homeland Heritage Park, and were hoping for a scenic place to take some pictures. We never got engagement portraits or bridal portraits and half of our wedding photos are missing due to the rain at our reception. So I bought a remote for my camera and borrowed a tripod from work.

Well, Homeland Heritage Park ended up being a series of buildings set up like a 1890s re-enactment location. It was completely deserted and perfect for some fun Fall portraits. We took a million pictures, and I mixed in some fun ones with the pretty ones. I hope you like them.

Bartow's History Comes to Life

2009-10-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Tony got a craving for catfish and discovered the best place in Central Florida was located in Bartow, a mere 45 miles down Highway 60. We finally had a day free from football and activities and made the drive East. Tony had called ahead to the chamber of commerce and found they do a historical homes driving tour, and he requested a map.

So we got to Bartow shortly after lunch time to find that Catfish Country was closed until 3:30. Never ones to be disheartened, we got busy on our tour. With me at the helm and Tony with the map, we drove and read and rolled down our windows and pissed half of Bartow off with our 4 mph driving.
Oh, but it was worth it! Look at this gorgeous clapboard house!
And this beauty, now a bed and breakfast, is where My Girl was filmed. I remember the scene where she sits on the front porch painting her toenails. I was tempted to get out and go look for paint, but decided to stay in the car.
The Bartow Elementary School. Yes, ELEMENTARY. It's gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. I think it was built in the late 1890s.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church, also built in the late 1890s. The brickwork was so perfectly done and the mortar still bright white.
Someone famous lived here. If you want to know, you'll just have to write to the Bartow Chamber and get your own map.
This house was not on the official tour, but across the street from the famous white house. I thought it deserved to have it's picture taken too.
This next house reminded me of the Lambda Lambda Lambda house in Revenge of the Nerds. Something about that Coat of Arms...

USF v. Cincy

2009-10-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday night we went to the USF vs. Cincinnati football game. We were ranked in the top 25 after beating FSU and Cincinnati was number 8, the game was aired on ESPN, and it was the first conference game of the evening. We scored tickets for $5 each and the campus was buzzing with talk of being Cincy.

We met up with some friends of mine who have tailgated at EVERY SINGLE USF game in history. They're pros, to say the least. We all pitched in for barbecue and caught up while we ate. Then the games began!
The game pictured above is called LCR. Everyone ponys up $3 and there are special dice with Ls, Cs, Rs and dots on them. So, basically you roll the dice and send $1 wherever the dice tell you: one to the left, one to the right, one to the center, or if you get a dot, you keep your dollar. Eventually all the money ends up on the center, I'm told, and the last person that has a dollar keeps all the money.
This game is called flip cup. I would rather not divulge the details of this game and whether or not I participated or just posed.
We finally made it into the stadium and up to our seats at the very top of Raymond James field. Seriously, four rows from the lightning rods. It was nice and breezy up there, though.
The band did their pregame show and I was impressed! A couple of my students are in the marching band, also known at HOT: The Herd of Thunder!
And here come the Bulls!! I wish I could say it was a win. It was not, but we had a great time cheering on our team. The night ended with Dunkin Donuts and chocolate milk, so not all was lost.