Christmas revisited

I realized Christmas came and went and I never really said much about the festivities at either parents' house nor the fun we had at my Aunt and Uncle's place Christmas Eve afternoon.  Rather than form words, which is a bit difficult since I'm running on 2 hours of sleep right now, (Yeah, I was a party animal with Mom and Michael last night.  Don't ask for more details though, I'm still bitter after losing every game of Scrabble the last two nights.), so I'm entertaining you with a photo dump.

Bro as a Christmas present, his bow even matches his shirt!

Dad -- wine holder and trash collector, he's multi-talented

Sibling Love

Bro, modeling his new work attire

Me and my meat thermometer

Bro and his big basket of cooking goodies.  (This was my gift to him.)

Dad opening his present from Bro. (We're going to the hockey game!)

Bro wearing my awesome hat from Memphis.  He was jealous I was so stylin' on Christmas. 

 

Confused by the present.

Silcone baking mats! (Or cooking drum sticks, your choice.)

Mom and Michael with their healthy popcorn maker.  (Yes, that's from me.)

Oreo already asking for a popcorn snack.

Oreo, bummed we told her she had to wait for popcorn.

My new Calphalon Grill Pan!

Despite the extra stress we faced again this holiday season, we had fun and enjoyed our time together.  I call that Christmas success.

Delayed anniversary

Mom and Michael's anniversary was on the 27th, but with being sick and having to plan funeral arrangements that day, I wasn't able to cook them dinner like I normally do.  To make up for this we had planned on me coming over after the funeral yesterday and whipping up a dining masterpiece and enjoying game night at their house. 

But first, presents!  Mom had been asking me time and time again to see if anyone had the movie Meet Joe Black, she had been searching for it and hadn't found it anywhere (For the record, Mom is not an online shopper either.).  She went so far as to go to Best Buy on Tuesday where they told her there were two copies in the store and yet when the associate and her went to look for it on the shelf it wasn't there.  However, I did find a copy of the movie on Monday when I went out to Best Buy shopping for anniversary presents and I was able to surprise her and Michael with it and a digital photo frame last night.

As for dinner, my menu for the night included orange-balsamic glazed chicken breasts, parmesan risotto ("Come with me, I teach you how to make risotto."....a prize will be given to the first person that knows who said that on Next Food Network Star.), sauteed green beans, a mixed greens salad and mini chocolate donuts for dessert.

Orange-balsamic glazed chicken and sides

Undressed mini donuts - its do it yourself with icing and sprinkles

After dinner we played Scrabble where I got my butt kicked in all 3 games and even after I had the best word ever in game 2!

Can you find my best word ever?

I'm not sure if it was the wine or my Catholic upbringing poking it's head out, but I so spelled out homily.  We got a good laugh about that and many other things throughout the night.  (Like when Mom got 7 tiles of 4 I's and 3 T's. or when Michael just started making up words.)  The night was a total blast and I'm so glad I got to spend the evening with them even if my cheeks did hurt from the constant Scrabble laughter.

For New Years Eve tonight rather than tackling all of the crazies out celebrating in the city, I've decided I'm going to head back over to my parents' house for round 2.  I've got my menu planned and my game face on!  I'm ready to ring in the New Year and ready for the challenges and changes 2012 brings with it, especially after all of the trials, tribulations, heartbreaks and happiness I faced in 2011.

Happy 2012 to you!  And may the New Year be a happy, healthy and prosperous one to you and your family.

Perfect Sandwich?

Chef Fabio's Perfect Sandwich

Found this article on Yahoo's Shine Food about the perfect late night sandwich and all I can say is obviously Chef Fabio has never had a sammich.  According to my supporters, my sandwich creation has a perfect meal record to date and the sammich is close to heaven on a plate.  What was once as a last minute experimental lunch panini for Broccoli months ago, has turned into my most requested meal.  In fact, I think Broccoli may just in fact regret breaking up with me for this reason alone.

Making it's debut in blogland:

Lunch sammich

Sammich with some sides

And while it may not seem all that fancy or out of the ordinary, it's all about the seasoning blend on the chicken.  I think I could package that blend and sell it, its that good.  Essence of Emeril?1?  Blah!  Let's try Essence of Lindsay!  (Ok, doesn't have the same ring to it but it could work.  Bro, my marketing genius, get working on a better product name please!)

Deja Vu and Medicine Heads

I made it through my day and my week in spite of the holidays, being sick and dealing with the 1 year anniversary of losing my Grandma.  It's hard to believe its already been a year and it's still so weird to go visit my parents and know my Grandma isn't around, some days I just expect her to pop her head around the corner and tell me about all of the things she's been up to with her friends, music classes and jokes she's played on Mom and Michael.  We thought all of the holiday heartbreak was over with everything that happened last year, but as luck would have it for our family, my step-dad Michael lost his mom on Christmas Day this year.  So the holidays were a bit strained once again and now we're preparing for another funeral tomorrow.

On top of the normal holiday stress and dealing with losing another family member, I somehow came down with the worst cold possible.  I don't know how that happened, I haven't run myself ragged the last 8 weeks or anything, but the day after Christmas I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a bus.  I loaded up on vitamins at first thinking I'd fight it off with those and finally Tuesday morning, I stopped into Walgreens before work to get the good stuff.  Of course, me not being one for taking medicine very often, I felt even more dazed and so much so, I guess it finally showed at work today.  I couldn't find a simple journal entry error in the write-offs I was posting and then locked up the batch I was working on in our system.  I emailed my boss to "unlock" my work because I was stuck and couldn't figure out why.  She promptly recovered my journal entry, informed me of the error and sent me this via email:

December 29: medicine head

Mental fogginess resulting from having taken cold/flu medicine. Common side effect of certain antihistamines.

"I took some NyQuil and now I have medicine head like you wouldn't believe. Everything feels and looks surreal -- but at least I can breathe without coughing."

Appropriate isn't it?

At least I'm done with work for the week so I can hopefully get better and not bring this thing with me into 2012.

Next Cooking Mission

Saturday afternoon my Bro and I held another edition of Sibling Saturday.  He has been anxiously trying to get me to visit this new restaurant that has amazing wood-fired pizza, unbelievable home-made soup and desserts to nearly die for.  So before we tackled the crowds to finish our Christmas shopping, we stopped into Peel.

Source

We had a fab time catching up and the food was as delicious as Bro promised.  He even treated me to lunch!  (Thanks again Bro!!)  Lunch did come with one stipulation -- learn how to make the Wild Mushroom Soup.  And so my challenge begins!  Thank goodness I have some extra days off during the holidays because now that I've experienced Peel, I believe I'm on the clock.

Fancy Dresses & Unlimited Cake!!

Because I know you've been anxiously waiting to see how Shell & R's wedding turned out, here are the highlights from the festivities last weekend --

- The Happy Couple!

- The girls and by far, we're the best bridesmaids ever!

 - The dinner menu.  I'm posting this because that wonderfully nice handwriting is mine.  This was one of my bridesmaid tasks and I would like to think I nailed it!  Not too bad for a lefty either!  (Sorry, it's a bit dark, total random cell phone pic.)

Yes, that bottom line says unlimited cake

- And here is me in my pretty dress all dolled up, with my unlimited cake.

I ate both pieces too!!

- There was also a smores bar, dancing on top of the DJ's table and a random conga line around the ballroom.  But perhaps the funniest part of the night came from Shell's mom who had a bit of fun once we cleaned up after the reception.

It was a great day and a fabulous night and I wish Shell & R a lifetime of happiness!

Merry Christmas to me!

The calendar may not say December 25th, but tonight is totally my Christmas.  After weeks of competition, the final battle is tonight and the newest Iron Chef will be crowned!  Pastry Chef Elizabeth Faulker faces off against veteran chef Geoffrey Zakarian.

While neither of these chefs were pegged as my favorite picks when the competition started, they worked hard to make it to the finale.  And tonight, I have a feeling I'll be more anxious waiting for the Chairman's Iron Chef decision than a kid waiting up for Santa next weekend.

I live for this kind of excitement!

St. Louis' Christmas Wish

Stan the Man has the right idea....

Source: KSDK

In fact, I think this is on just about everyone in St. Louis' Christmas list this year.

Thursday night update:  Well, it looks like we can scratch that off of our Christmas lists!  I'm still hoping I get a cast iron dutch oven.  Maybe that's a more realistic gift from Santa. :)

Yep, I'm alright

I was at the gym yesterday morning, going to town on my elliptical when one of the regulars came up to me and started chatting.  It's a common occurrence for me to mention all of the stuff going on in my daily life, especially if I see you day in and day out at the gym (or you want to know something, just ask me, I'm not about to shy away from much) and this time I started talking about Shell's wedding this Saturday.
After mentioning all of the prep work and how excited I am that the big day will be here so soon, he asked me if I was feeling alright and doing ok since all of my friends are either getting married or are already married and I'm one of the only single ones left.  I assured him I'm alright and I've got so many other things going on and I'm not even thinking about getting married anytime soon.  And before you tell me that he's either trying to date me or set me up with someone, I know that is not the case.  I guess he was just under the impression like many others are that I've got the wedding timer set and it's about ready to go off.

Sure, I'm probably a time bomb, but not for wedding bells.  Even when I was in a relationship, that was the last thing on my mind.  Guess I'm just a different kind of girl and no, weddings do not make me go bezerk.

Christmas decorating!!

In order to get myself into the Christmas spirit and get ready for the holiday season, I took some time to get my Christmas tree out in my apartment....

It even comes with lights!

Perhaps this is a better view...

Yes, its small and fits on one of my end tables.  But isn't it adorable?!?  It was given to me by my Grandma and it's perfect!

(Don't judge...it's all I have room for here and I at least got it out this year! It's more than what I can say for the past two.)

Cue the Christmas music!!

Rock Stars, Turkeys, & Hockey Players...oh my!

Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Blog posts are few and far between here with everything going on...still bear with me until I get some stuff sorted out.  You would think with the extra two days off from work this week, I could get on track.  However, as luck would have it, I've taken the extra days off and found myself planning anything and everything I could for this long weekend.

First off, pics from last weekend's road trip....which by the way, was super AWESOME!

From 3 Doors Down instagr.am -- we're the ones with our hands up in the crowd!

 3 Doors Down was so great and the girls and I had a total blast driving down there, going to Beale Street, attending the concert and then making the trek home.

Me in my fun hat we bought on Beale Street!

Trouble x 4!

 It was a short week at work which was also very much needed.  I still am struggling with learning everything and now there is the added stress of preparing budgets for next year and working on year-end projects.  I was thrilled when 4:30 rolled around on Wednesday afternoon and I headed out to start my holiday.

I was able to spend Thanksgiving with both of my parents and the day went off with very few hiccups.  Dad made a turducken which was exciting in itself.  Being the foodie that I am, I've always wanted to try one and since we were having a small gathering, Dad thought why not test it out this year.  It got my seal of approval and it's another food adventure I can take off of my food bucket list.  Mom was a little less adventurous and stuck with turkey and ham, but won me over with her sweet potato casserole and home-made peach cobbler.  I was definitely headed for a food coma when I finally made my way back home late Thursday night.

My Thanksgiving Present from Mom & Michael

Yesterday, I got up and tried to get back into my routine and hit the gym for a much needed early morning workout.  There was no way I was going to get out and fight the 4 am Black Friday shoppers so while everyone was out making those "money-saving" (or notsomuch) purchases, my butt was in the gym.  I did decide late in the day to venture out and continue my Christmas shopping, but after a few stops, I ended that little excursion.  Plus, I had tickets to the Blues game last night, so I didn't want to spend the entire day out tackling the crowds.

The Blues game last night was fantastic!  Did you see it?  The Blues shut out the Calgary Flames 2-0.  Elliot looked great in net and I was amazed with all of the obscure saves he was able to make.  Hitchcock has steadily been turning the team around.  I'm really starting to get back into hockey now too.  (This is probably a really good thing considering how poorly I'm doing in my fantasy hockey league right now.)

And this brings us up to today, on the schedule is a birthday party tonight and trying to get some things settled for Shell's bridal shower tomorrow.  I'm coming and going and I have so many things floating around in this head.  Thank goodness this is a random blog!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Concert for A Cause

I can barely contain my excitement right now.  This weekend the girls and I are headed down to Tunica for this tonight...

Source: http://thebetterlifefoundation.org/

3 Doors Down are playing a show for their foundation and I bought tickets!  It's a much needed girls' trip for all 4 of us and I am happy to help out one of my favorite bands as well.

Have I told you how much I love the Tunica/Memphis area?  Oh yeah, probably only a dozen times already.  I'm definitely looking forward to going back and by taking 3 of my favorite girls with me, we'll definitely be in for a grand time!

P.S. Have I also mentioned that my signature karaoke song is When I'm Gone?  Yep, I even have pics to prove it.

Getting ready for my debut -- Girls Trip 2009

3 Doors Down karaoke SUPERSTAR!!!!

(Sorry for the dark pic, I was solely focused on singing and turned camera duties over to one of the other girls.  I look like a pro, don't I?)

Ahead of the game

My mom and I decided to go out shopping this afternoon since she needed some supplies for her classes this week and I decided to go along for the ride, but as luck would have it I actually decided to start my Christmas shopping.  I think this is a first for me, starting a few weeks before Thanksgiving rather than waiting until absolutely necessary to start.  You'd think for someone who plans out as much stuff as I do, starting my Christmas shopping early would be routine.  Notsomuch...but I am pretty proud of myself right now.

However, I am not ready for Christmas music, decorations or anything else that will make the next 5 weeks pass by in a blur.

Sneak peek

Today I spent my day looking for a bridesmaid dress for Shell's state-side wedding on December 10th.  I wasn't the only one looking for a dress, actually all 3 of us bridesmaid had the day free and we decided to head out together with Shell on an adventure to find something in the same color but something that flattered our different body types.  After multiple stops and a cake testing (yum!), we settled on this....(the lighting isn't the greatest but we're in marine, otherwise known as navy)

I have one month find shoes and get it hemmed to the proper length.  Besides that, I'm not sure what I need to do.  This is my first (and probably only) attempt at being a bridesmaid.  I just hope I make a decent one.

In other news, I have worn myself out the last few days, I'm planning on taking this extra hour tonight and putting it to good use....sleep!  Let's hope my body cooperates.

Wow!

What a way to officially end the season and a baseball career.
From Yahoo news

After 3 World Series titles, La Russa retires

Source: AP

"A rare manager with a law degree, La Russa was voted AL Manager of the Year three times, and NL Manager of the Year in 2002. He will be up for consideration for the Hall of Fame in December 2013, at the same time as Torre and Bobby Cox."
“I think you can make a case for him as best of all-time. Absolutely,” said Detroit manager Jim Leyland, who coached for La Russa with the White Sox after managing against him in the minors.
Leyland said La Russa was the “total package” as a manager, obsessing over the lineup card, outfoxing opponents during games and refusing to bend to public opinion."

Congrats Tony on an amazing season and an fabulous career.  You will be missed by the players, fans and all of St. Louis.

The time has come!

Way back in April I wrote this post.  I was excited then for October 30th and have been waiting patiently for the premiere.  Tonight's the big night on Food Network!

Source

And while I'm on my own to catch this season of The Next Iron Chef, you can bet I will be watching every episode.  I have my favorites picked already and for the final two Super Chefs, I'm picking Chef Robert Irvine & Chef Anne Burrell.  Let's see how close I am to being right by the season finale.

Now, in the words of the Chairman, "Let the Battle Begin!!!!"

P.S.  Feel free to watch along with me each Sunday night at 8 pm Central and comment as the season progresses.

CHAMPIONS!!!!

Source: AP

 

 

 

Congrats to my St. Louis Cardinals who went from earning a Wild Card spot the very last game of the regular season to becoming 2011 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!

Love this quote from a Yahoo article talking about the win:

In the waning days of August, St. Louis had a 0.2 percent chance of reaching the playoffs, according to AccuScore, a company that calculates probabilities by running thousands of game simulations. Expressed another way, the Cardinals faced 1 in 500 odds
And that was to make the playoffs. Their chances of winning the World Series were miniscule, like a speck of Midwestern dust somehow reaching Manhattan or Malibu. It might have been the greatest comeback in baseball history.

The Cardinals have made baseball history and I'm ecstatic to be able to call them my home team!


Oh, and if anyone happens to know Allen Craig, would you pass my number or email on to him?

Source: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Just in case you were wondering

And because I'm sure you were worried after last night's random post, here's my latest tweet --


Bought my Halloween costume! I'm heading back into the 1920s for this Saturday's parties. Can u guess what costume I picked out?!?

Whew, I knew you were on pins and needles waiting to see if I would get my costume before Saturday.  No need to think about that anymore.  Now you can focus on what I'm going to be.

Oh yeah and now, I'm going to 2 parties that night.  At least my costume will be put to good use.  :)

Back to our regularly scheduled randomness

Ok, time to get back into the groove here and because it seems like I have an attention span of a gnat right now, you're getting the rundown of anything that's been on my mind.

* Remember when I said I got to meet Alton Brown a few weeks ago?  Yep, it was super exciting getting to meet another one of my favorite Food Network personalities.  Here's the pic taken by his assistant --

His question and answer session before the book signing rocked my socks off.  He definitely inspired me to keep working towards my culinary dreams.
And my gift to myself that day --

Pretty cool, right?

* Speaking of culinary dreams, I have been cooking up a storm.  Not just for myself because...well, I have a hard time cooking for one, but I've made dinner for my Mom and Michael last week (Mexican Lasagna), my Dad & Bro (Pork w/Oyster sauce) and homemade from scratch brownies for a World Series party I went to at MO's on Saturday.  (Did you see that game?!?!  16-7!  Go Cardinals!)  And because I was really proud of my brownies, I had to take a picture of them as well.

* On Saturday before the World Series madness, I bought this bad boy --

A mini donut maker, really Lindsay?  I thought you were so healthy...how can you justify that purchase?  Easy, I'm going to make healthy donuts.  I figured its much easier for me to justify eating a donut that I made than to buy them at a bakery.  (Fyi, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a donut.  This purchase makes me very, very happy and I'm hoping to test it out next weekend.)

* Besides cooking and buying gadgets and books, I planned a trip with 3 of my favorite girls to see a great band for a good cause.  3 Doors Down is playing in Tunica, MS on November 19th and they are doing the concert to benefit their Better Life Foundation charity.  I wanted to go to the concert from the time I heard about it and I was able to convince the girls to take the road trip with me.  Actually I am using this trip as a thank you for helping me through all of the changes of the past few months and let's get crazy outside of the Lou just simply because we can.

* Really, I should be spending the little bit of down time I have working on finding a costume for this Saturday.  I have been invited to not 1 but 2 Halloween costume parties and I haven't thought of a costume yet.  :(  I'll come up with something I'm sure  What's even more exciting is that one of the parties is also a homecoming for Shell, who will finally make her way back home after spending nearly a year in New Zealand.  I last saw her 4 days before she left for the trip and I can not wait to see her when she finally gets back to town on Thursday.  We've been friends since the summer between kindergarten and 1st grade and we've gone our separate ways over the years, but even with that we've remained good friends.  I can't wait to catch up.

* On the work front, well, it's work.  I haven't quite made up my mind about the place yet but I'm trying my best each day to take in everything and do what I can do.  However, if anyone wanted to give me a pile of money to start my restaurant/catering dreams, I would move on in a heartbeat.  Until then, I'll just keep plugging along.  This week we have the European partners in from the Netherlands.  Of course, in our office they call it Holland and every time I hear it said, I giggle to myself.  Why?  Because in my head I'm hearing it pronounced by Goldmember from Austin Powers.  Silly, yes, but I can't make it stop.

That's all for now.  I'll check in again soon.  And maybe by that time, my randomness will simmer down (or not!)...have a good one!  And GO CARDS!!!

By Now I'm Sure You've Heard

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 24 hours, I'm sure you know...

My St. Louis Cardinals Are Going to the WORLD SERIES!!!

Jonathan Daniel/GETTY IMAGES

 

 

 

 

 Like the article in the Washington Post says,  No one will ever use the word “classic” to describe this series (NLCS). It is never a good sign when the member of the winning team who gets the most ink is the manager. None of the six games in the series featured a lead change after the fifth inning. There were no memorable starting pitching performances on either side, or even transcendent offensive ones – with the exception of Cardinals third baseman and series MVP David Freese, who singled, doubled and homered Sunday night to complete a 12-for-22 series.

But we'll take the wins and head off to the Championship Series, especially since it was just about a month ago that my team was nearly down and out.  I'm definitely excited for this series and you can be sure I will be watching and cheering on my team the rest of the way.  I think we even have watch parties scheduled for every game already also.  Yes, we take our baseball team seriously.

Let's Go Cardinals!

My deepest thanks

"You will never know true happiness until you have truly loved, and you will never understand what pain really is until you have lost it."

Out of the few accounts that I follow on Twitter, this was a tweet I happened to catch last night.  It seemed to scream out to me and even though I thought I've been able to pull myself together a little bit the last few days, it hit me hard.  I'm trying to adjust my life, remember what it was like before I had someone that cared about me so much.  It's not about the relationship so much as it is the friendship.  The person I would call when something great happened, the person I called to joke around with when something silly happened, the person I offered support to when his life was not going as planned and also the person that picked me up when I needed a boost.  I would be ok if I at least knew I still had a best friend.  Yes, I loved him like the man I wanted to spend my life with, but I also loved him as a friend that could laugh with me, cry with me and just bring joy to my life.  Friends like that are hard to find and that's what makes this so difficult.

Many of people have stepped up to get me through this the past 6 days and I'm extremely grateful for everyone's support.  It's so nice to know that many other people care about me.  I've appreciated every word of encouragement, every ounce of hope and most of all, I'm grateful for the kind words directed towards me as a person.  I am hoping that at some point, I can be that same rock for someone else.

Now is the time for me to focus on my life and make the most of what I do have left.  I have many goals, many things I would like to see worked out and changes that I thought I couldn't make in myself before now, I'm going to give all of that my full attention.  I also hope to renew other friendships and relationships that I may have neglected in the past.  Overall, I want a full and happy life.

As the inscription on my ring tells me, Live the Life You Love. Love the Life you Live.
I'm going to work my best to do just that.

Change of Course

Well, I had this great post in my head about the fun weekend I had with my class reunion on Saturday night and then the book signing on Sunday where I was able to meet Food Network's Alton Brown, but at it always seems to happen, when things are going really well, something horrible has to happen. And those posts got pushed to the wayside shortly after I got home on Sunday night.

As of Monday morning at 5:30 am, Broccoli decided we could no longer see one another.  He hoped to fix the dysfunction in the rest of his family and could no longer be with me.  I am hurt, shocked and completely devastated.  Our relationship wasn't perfect but I cherished every minute of it.  We became a couple after we both had faced some really hard times in our life and after 3 1/2 years together, I thought we were moving forward.  I never pressured him for more than a commitment of spending time with me a few days a week and while it seems strange, marriage and kids were never something brought to the table and we agreed the way we operated worked for us.  He has kids already and I adored them immensely but I never wanted to be the person stepping in to try to be their mother, only a positive female role model at a later time.  He understood that and agreed that my feelings were the best given everything he had dealt with in the past.  There never seemed to be any issues with that.  And because I am the person that I am, if he asked otherwise, I probably would have accepted anything asked of me.

I lost my best friend, my boyfriend and the guy that motivated me most to excel in everything I tried to do.  He was my motivator, cheerleader, and overall esteem builder when times got tough.  I'm lost, I'm at a crossroad in my life now.  I need to move forward and while everyone keeps telling me there are more fish in the sea, I just want the one back that gave me so much life.  I guess now I take this hardship and learn from it and work to make my life what I want it to be once again.

Sorry for the downer post, but I've tried to remain myself as much as possible in blogland and this is the reality of me right now.