tidbits, yo

• UGH. slacker blogger. very busy weekend for this girl - beer night Friday, errands Saturday afternoon, birthday celebration Saturday evening, and hanging out with friends/writing a paper Sunday. 

• as you saw in this post, I finally upgraded my phone. I was the proud owner of the LG Dare for almost 2 years. my upgrade day was St. Patrick's Day (luck o' the Irish, say what?), so on Friday, we ventured out to Verizon to get the Droid X. I was torn between that and the Thunderbolt, but I just couldn't justify paying $250 for a cell phone... and the extra memory and the kickstand was just not worth $100 to me. so far I'm really loving my Droid. if you have any recommendations for apps, let a sister know! 

• check out my sweet birthday card I got from Kaycie. does she know me well or what?

• I went out with friends this weekend to celebrate my 25th birthday! we started out with a small group and dinner at a local Japanese Steakhouse, and then moved next door to Cadillac Ranch. I was so happy to have so many people come out to celebrate with me - we had an amazing evening full of laughter, flowing drinks, and memorable conversations. I am a lucky girl. here are some pictures (most were not taken by me, and I'll have more to post once Kaley uploads hers! AHEM!)

• on the other hand, I don't know if I'm ready to turn 25. I know that 25 is not old by a long shot, but I just feel very "adult" saying 25.

• I'm slowly moving through my 2011 Reading Challenge. I've now read 9 books this year - I finished two of Emily Giffin's books within about a week. I loved the first, Something Borrowed... I was really drawn to the narrator, Rachel, and was thrilled with the ending. The second book, Something Blue, was... alright... it's from the perspective of the other main character, Darcy, and I honestly hated her. I ended up liking her a bit more by the end, but overall, I was kind of underwhelmed with the story in comparison to the first. I'll be doing lengthy reviews for both books when I have the time. 

• speaking of reading and writing - I wrote an 800 word essay on the reliability of Nick Carraway as the narrator of The Great Gatsby for my English class yesterday during my lunch break. I started it Sunday and emailed it to myself to finish and send over to my professor from work. went to save the file, and it was corrupted. instead of copying & pasting like an intelligent person would do, I just x'ed out of it. lost the WHOLE thing, minus the measly two paragraphs I had written the night before. talk about pissed... I had to re-write the entire thing last night. 

• Bear is really ridiculously good looking. just sayin. 

• spring is officially here and I am SO excited. that's pretty much all I have to say about that. 

• since I had my last training session in February, I've only been to the gym once, and that was for a spin class. last week. I really need to get back into the swing of things when it comes to working out, but if I'm being honest here, that month off felt amazing. I'm still doing well with my eating habits... still staying away from fatty, greasy, and non-nutritional food. I need to stop making excuses as to why I can't work out, starting with tonight!

Happy Tuesday! 

holly freaking homemaker [late post]

yeah, that's me. at least this week. ;) 

NOTE: Blogger hates me and did not automatically post this on Saturday, even though I had it scheduled to. 

I've decided it's time to be a grown up... meaning that I've got to start pitching in with cooking dinner and keeping up with the house. which means... no more waiting until the weekend, only to spend an entire day cleaning the crap out of my house. no more leaving dishes in the sink until I feel like washing them. no more unhealthy (yet incredibly easy) meals for dinner. no more buying crap food for lunch everyday at work. 

I'm proud to say that I haven't bought lunch at work in two weeks! it's amazing how much money you save when you just bring your own food to work everyday. this whole concept is completely foreign to me, but I think it's been a success so far! 

everyday when I get home, I try to do one or two small things around the house... like scoop the litter boxes or vacuum the hardwood floors. when we're finished with dinner, the dishes get washed and put in the dish drain, and the put away the following day. I'm cooking dinner at least 2-3 times a week, and I'm loving it. 

keeping up with the house work/chores and cooking meals together every night has proved to be awesome for Sean and I. we get that time in the evening to bond with each other instead of going our separate ways and fending for ourselves for dinner. unfortunately, we had been guilty of doing that in the past. teaming up to make sure the house is always in order is an automatic ego boost for both of us and we feel awesome about it. 

we decided we wanted to have our friends Kaycie & Adam over this Sunday. the Caps play at 12:30, and then of course, there's the Superbowl on later in the evening. since they'll be at our house pretty much all day, I decided to go all out and have a feast throughout the day. I've been searching allrecipes.com for good appetizer recipes, and I think I finally have a set list of dishes to make. 

let me just mention that I am not a chef... I typically do not cook and I certainly don't cook appetizers. so this is a first for me, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they turn out well!

Sunday Funday Menu

APPS

• Homemade Meatballs with Kaley's secret meatball sauce ;)
• Dill Veggie Dip, served with baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, broccoli florets, and cherry tomatoes
• Sweet Fruit Dip, served with sliced apples, bananas, strawberries, and cantaloupe
• Bacon Wrapped Shrimp (I'm substituting the BBQ sauce for a pre-packaged McCormick's marinade)

DINNER

• Garden Salad with Italian dressing and garlic croutons
• Baked Ziti, served with cheesy garlic bread

DESSERT

• Chocolate Candy Bar Dessert (using Oreo cookies instead of wafers and Snickers candy bars)

so there it is, my first ever multi-course dinner menu! I'm pretty excited about all of this, to be honest. I actually cooked Sean's chicken Parmesan (his favorite) as a belated birthday meal a few weeks ago, along with the chocolate roll cake. I honestly just kind of winged it for the chicken Parm, so I guess I can't really post a recipe for that, but I do have pictures. if I have the time this weekend, those posts will be up! 

I'm also still working on a book review for The Help, but I'm having a hard time finding the time to put sufficient energy into it. I'm in the middle of reading 3 different books right now, but all is being put on hold for The Hunger Games. I've had multiple people tell me (just this week!) that they couldn't put it down and they read it fairly quickly (we're talking a day here), so I figured I'd go ahead and pick it up. I need a page turner right now to distract me from my English class. 

I think that's all for now... at least all my brain can handle at the moment. I hope you all are doing fantastic - I'm working on catching up on your recent posts! have a happy weekend, everyone!  

UPDATE: I went out with Sean and his friends last night and got completely way too drunk, resulting in the worst hangover known to man. I've spent the majority of the day in the bathroom puking my brains out. the only dish I actually cooked today was the meatballs... Kaycie and Sean cooked everything else. and for the record, my meatballs were delicious. 

Nestie GTG FTW (part 2)

I am a lucky, lucky girl, let me tell you. this month, I've had the pleasure of having TWO encounters with Internet strangers, and it has been awesome. I mentioned in this post of yore that I was planning on having a little get together with good friend and fellow Nestie, Tara, when she came to visit from Florida. fortunately, fellow DC'er Rebecca was able to join in on the fun as well! 

we decided on a girls night... one, because Sean was too busy drinking his life away during the Ravens loss to the Steelers, and two, because girls nights are more fun anyway. we met up at Jaleo on 7th Street in the city (Rebecca's recommendation... SO good) and started the evening off with a pitcher of sangria. 

and let me just inform you that this beverage was, hands down, the best sangria I've ever tasted in my life.

pardon the quality, it was taken on my cell phone.

before we knew it, that pitcher turned into 4 (yes, four) and we were talking over each other in conversation... about books, husbands (and how stupid they are sometimes), pets, our jobs, city living, etc. we tried hard to convince Tara that a move up north would be exceedingly beneficial for her, but something about the 40 degree weather was giving her enough reason to decline. 

ring shot, courtesy of Tara (clockwise from left: Rebecca, myself, and Tara)

we ate a multitude of different foods... from miniature sweet shrimp, to salmon, to roasted potatoes, to asparagus, to scallops with a butternut squash puree, to hazelnut cake for dessert. it was the first time I'd ever eaten at a Tapas style restaurant. 

I was a little nervous at first, being a picky and somewhat non-adventurous eater, but the food was absolutely wonderful and our waitress was amazing as well. she made sure to keep me updated on the Ravens/Steelers score so that I could somehow gauge my husbands' drunk factor in my head. 

photo courtesy of Tara  (clockwise from left: Rebecca, myself, and Tara)

all in all, I'd say my second ever Nestie GTG was a huge success, and I can't wait for more. in fact, I'm even interested in bringing Sean to this restaurant to try out more items on the menu. I'm not sure if he'd agree to it after seeing our bill. 

like I said, that sangria was fucking delicious. 

Happy Thursday!

Reverb 10 - December 9th

December 9: Party

What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? 

Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.

I had SO much fun on my birthday this year. most of my good friends made it out to Nick's Nightclub in Virginia to celebrate with us. Nick's is a country western slash karaoke bar and it is the perfect setting for a grand old time... trust me.

we had SO many people show up to hang out... I was so thankful that mostly everyone invited could make it. we sang and listened to a lot of different songs, and even busted out the old Boyz In The Hood, which is a tradition for us whenever we're near a microphone. we took up the entire left side of the bar, and hijacked at least 5 tables to put all our people. we stored our purses underneath our seats so we'd have plenty of room for the beer bottles and ashtrays. we ogled over the hot cowboy security guard like a bunch of middle school girls and went to the bathroom in groups.

the drinks were flowing all night long, and rounds of shots served their purpose. the end of the night is a little fuzzy to me, thanks to my dad buying an entire tray of jello shots. or maybe it was the beer? or the mixed drinks? I'm not exactly sure, but it was an amazing night from what I can remember. 

for some reason, I wasn't too excited about turning 24, 

but it ended up being one of best birthdays I can remember. 

I can still recall my clothes smelling of cigarettes, fried bar food, 

and beer the next day... that's always proof of a good time, right?

Reverb 10 - December 6th

December 6: Make

What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

unfortunately, I married a Baltimore Ravens fan. and not just any fan, but a die hard fan. a fan that has season tickets, attends every single home game, and arrives in the parking lot to tailgate as soon as it opens. if you're not into football, you may not be aware of the rivalry between the Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers... and in that case, this may not make sense to you. basically, Ravens fans would rather die than wear Steelers gear, and vice versa. it's a divisional match-up, much like the Cowboys versus the Redskins.

anyway, the point of this is that the tailgate for the Ravens vs. Steelers game is a little... adventurous, compared to other games, especially for the night game. this past week, Sean decided that he wanted to make jungle juice for the game, and since he'd never made it before, I gladly offered to help, all the while secretly laughing, knowing that I wouldn't have to drink that shit. so we bought ourselves a 5 gallon Gatorade cooler, bought all the supplies, and made the juice on Friday and Saturday. 

here is our my recipe: 

1 gallon Everclear (grain alcohol)

1 5th apple flavored vodka

2 jugs Hawaiian Punch (the big ones with the handle on the lid)

2 liters Sprite

1 gallon orange juice

1 can crushed pineapple

2 jars maraschino cherries

2 sliced braeburn apples

2 sliced naval oranges

it's pretty simple - dump everything together. well, we put all the fruit in the jug first, and then dumped the Everclear and one jug of Hawaiian Punch and let it soak in overnight, and then we added the rest of the ingredients on Saturday before the Sunday game. we made sure to put the barrel outside so that it would stay cold, with the orange juice being in there and all. 

here's a quick picture that Sean took with his cell phone. the great thing (or the worst thing, depending on your stance) about jungle juice is that it just tastes like juice - you can't even taste the alcohol. ;) 

needless to say, it was a huge success, and everyone loved it. well, Sean loved it so much he decided to drink copious amounts of it and ended up really sick that night. serves him right for being a Ravens fan. ;) 

H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells...

HALLOWEEN!

I love Halloween. it definitely makes the top 5 list of my favorite holidays. I always, always, ALWAYS dress up, and since Sean and I have been together, we've done some sort of funny couple costumes. let's look back, shall we?

the first year we were together (2007), we dressed up in this:

I was a brick house, and Sean was a brick layer. get it? 

our second year together, we were this classic couple:

Pebbles & Bam Bam! I loved this costume. it was super comfy! 

unfortunately, Sean didn't agree, so within a couple hours, he went from this...

to this (see him in the background?)...

last year, we decided to go the funny route again, and dressed up with laughs in mind:

we were a Shotgun Wedding, complete with pregnant belly, pigtails, & wedding dress for me and blacked out teeth & top hat for him. it was a huge hit at the party we went to! I made sure to drink plenty of beer and smoke lots of cigarettes, since I heard it was good for babies growth. 

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instead of dressing up as a couple this year, we took a different approach. Sean already had a costume in mind, and he wasn't backing down. he's being Jesus, which is pretty fitting, if you know us. 

I thought about being Mary, but the costume was pretty boring, and I didn't want to invest in a baby doll that I'd have to carry around all night. so instead, I decided on a different historical costume. I wanted something that wasn't super slutty (that's totally not my thang), and still comfortable with fun accessories. so I decided to dress up as Cleopatra:

I'm pretty excited about Halloween this year, since we'll be spending it with a lot of our close friends. we booked a hotel room down the street from the party, and will be getting a taxi back to the hotel at the end of the night/beginning of the morning. it should be an awesome time, and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to blog about next week!

_____________________________

are you dressing up for Halloween this year? what/who are you being? do you support adult celebration of Halloween, or do you think it's just for kids?

Day 24/30

Day 24/30 - whatever tickles your fancy

I have to say that I'm in a good mood today, despite the fact that it's raining here in DC today, and that it's Monday. we had a great weekend in the FoFandee household, so that's what I'm going to share with you all for today's prompt. 

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Friday evening, we decided to go out to dinner for a little date night. my friend Kaycie called me and said that her and her boyfriend, Adam, were free all weekend, so we invited them to dinner with us at The Steakhouse. 

The Steakhouse is one of my favorite restaurants in our area, and it's where Sean and I had our very first date. we chowed down on crab dip and indulged in a few beers and had great conversation, mostly consisting of the three amigos (Sean, Kaycie & Adam) showing off their brand spankin' new Droid X phones. NERDS.

after our meals (I got a house salad with ranch dressing, filet mignon, and a baked potato... nom), we said goodnight and made plans to hang out the next day. 

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unfortunately, my tattoo artist gchatted me on Friday afternoon and asked if we could reschedule my Saturday afternoon appointment, because his kids were sick. I was totally blown... I had been looking forward to getting my sleeve completed for WEEKS. but I totally understand where he's coming from, since I just dealt with having bronchitis a week ago. the new appointment is October 16th. 

since I no longer had plans that took up my entire Saturday, we decided it would be the best time to clean the house. I mean, really clean. not just picking up things here and there, but pulling the couches out and vacuuming the massive amounts of collected cat hair from under. spraying down the oven and scrubbing the bejeesus out of it. mopping the floors on the entire first level of the house. dusting every piece of wood furniture in the living room. clearing out the junk that piles up in the entryway and vacuuming the couch that Lily calls her bed. 

I must say, it feels SO good to have the house be spic and span. it took us HOURS to clean, and we didn't even touch the bedroom. now we just have to follow our cleaning schedule to make sure it doesn't get out of control messy again. and I picked up a nice fresh fall inspired bouquet for $12 at the grocery store... which includes white gerbera daisies, orange gerbera daisies, and black eyed susans. SO pretty.

halfway through the day, I drove down to Calvert County to see my adopted little sister, Savannah. her mom and my dad have been friends for about 20 years, and Savannah was a bridesmaid in my wedding. it was her school's homecoming this weekend, so I lent her a dress of mine and offered to do her hair and makeup for her. 

I've never done another person's makeup or hair before, so I was a little nervous. luckily, it turned out beautifully and she looked amazing. I did a smokey eye on her, using deep burgundy/red colored eyeshadow... it really made her brown eyes pop. her hair is naturally curly, so I just put a little product in it to calm down the frizz, and curled it all over, ringlet style. she looked absolutely beautiful. these pictures do not do justice. stupid cell phone.

by the time I got home, it was almost time for Kaycie & Adam to come over, so I rushed around to finish cleaning up a little bit, taking some empty boxes out to the garage and vacuuming the entryway. Sean was getting dinner ready when our friends showed up. he cooked the chicken recipe that I posted last week, accompanied by a bacon and garlic risotto. it was SO fucking good. I could have eaten the entire pan of risotto by myself. neither of us had ever had risotto, so it's been something we've been meaning to try, and I'm so glad we did. 

after dinner, we continued to drink a little wine (beer for the men folk), and played a few games of Apples to Apples. SO FUN. Sean and I had never played, but we got the hang out things fairly quickly. I won the first game, and Sean the second. I realized that it was more about knowing the judge's personality than picking the right card. it was a blast! 

at about 11, we decided to go to down to a nearby bar to surprise one of Kaycie's friends for her birthday. upon our arrival, we realized she had already left and went to another bar down the street, so we followed suit. by the time we got there, the girl had already left that bar too, so we just decided to stay and have some beers. some beers turned into a lot of beers. we played songs on the juke box, danced and sang at the top of our lungs. it was SO much fun. it's been a long time since Kaycie and I have been out and about like that, and we definitely made up for lost time. 

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Sunday was spent nursing a terrible hangover (surprise surprise) and watching football all day. thank the lord, the Ravens and the Redskins both won their games (sorry Eagles fans!)... which means there was no angry yelling in our house yesterday... always a good thing when you've got a wine headache! Bear was extremely lazy yesterday and spent most of the day curled up next to his daddy on the couch. 

all in all, it was a fantastic weekend. not only was I productive in getting the house cleaned, but I managed to spend lots of time with one of my best friends and make incredible memories with people I love. 

Happy Monday!

tailgating fun

Redskins vs. Ravens preseason game at Fedex Field - August 21, 2010

i heart football season.