Cleocatra, our newest (and final) addition

Isn't she just a little fuzzy doll?!  She is absolutely precious.  But I needed to get her checked out as well as Miss Marble.  And Sprinkles was also due for his rabies shot and general check-up.  But no way was I about to haul three cats in carriers to the vet.  Nor was I about to make three separate trips.  So, we called the mobile vet.  The veterinarian comes to YOUR HOUSE.  Yes, it was wonderful.  I brought each one out to the bus to be checked and get their shots and have blood taken.  Sooo much easier.  Cleocatra is about 8 months old, in good health except that she needs to be spayed which we'll do within the next two weeks.  Sprinkles acted the worst of the three cats.  But he is looking good in all areas of health. (Thankfully!)  But the big surprise of the day was Miss Marble.  As it turns out, Miss Marble is a boy.  Guess he'll have to be Mr. Marble now.  He has a heart murmur grade 2/5.  We just need to watch it.  Not really sure what they'll do for it it he does become symptomatic though.

But overall, the mobile vet service is something that I HIGHLY recommend.  The vet was smart, nice, and great with the cats.

Nags Head, NC

After Manteo, we skipped over to Nags Head, NC.  The Outer Banks are very beautiful.  It ended up being in the 60's so it was a tad cool on Sunday.  We really did need a light jacket to be comfortable.  But boy is it beautiful there!  Ocracoke is my favorite, but that really would have required an overnight stay to not be so terribly rushed.  Maybe another time.

Jockey's ridge.  The largest Sand Dune on the Atlantic coast.  And of all things, there is a hang gliding school there.

Manteo, North Carolina

My "bestest friend" from Memphis came to visit me for four fabulous days!  Our first stop was Manteo, NC.  aka where Andy Griffith lives now.  Unfortunately we didn't run into him. But we did eat lunch at a really cool little restaurant called Full Moon Cafe in the harbor.  There was also a lighthouse involved.  That's always a plus for us!

We walked through the little town and down to the boardwalk.

Oh lala!  The lighthouse!

The cafe we ate at:

And some ship that's part of a kids place there

Blogworthy?

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post.  I took a blogging break as my parents came to visit for a week and I just spent all of the time with them rather than on the computer.  Of course I kept my iPhone handy to keep up with Facebook!

Let's see, things that have been going on:  We have a third cat.  Sigh.  Yes, I know.  That's the limit.  We really tried to find this little third cat a home but had no takers.  She is sooooo sweet and such a good kitty. Can't be more than a year old.  The other two cats are not yet too fond of her.  Mark was in charge of naming her:  Cleocatra.  Very original.  But I just hope we're not now known as "those people with all of the cats."  You know, those people.  It kind of  bothered me that when Mark was outside petting the cats and all three came up around him, a neighbor walking by said "Are you the Pied Piper of Cats?".  Yeah.  That's what I mean.  Two cats is okay, but three?  Eh.  People start to notice.

I had a really good visit with my parents.  We ate well and did lots of just being lazy.  It was great.

Today I was off work and went shopping and to lunch with a friend.  I FINALLY after like two years got my engagement ring fixed so I can wear it again.  Platinum is a soft metal and I was wearing my ring at work when I bent the prongs by putting on/taking off gloves.  I won't be wearing it to work again.  We ate at Macaroni Grill for lunch and did you know that they actually have a decent selection of lower calorie options?  I had a chicken shish kabob thing except that they call it something else.  It was incredibly filling and 360 calories!

Back to work tomorrow but thankfully I'm off this weekend.  So, kayaking it is!

Recipe Thursday: Chocolate Chip Scones

I love scones.  I love that they're not very sweet and you don't feel all too sugared up after you eat them.  Yet they are still a wonderful treat.  It's what I get almost every time I go to Starbucks.  But you can make these at home VERY easily.  You don't need a scone pan or anything special.  

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick of butter (unsalted, or if all you have is salted then just don't add the extra salt)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 8 Tbsp of orange juice (I didn't have any OJ; just an orange so I squeezed the juice out of it. Also, the OJ is completely optional.  I think it does give it a little extra flavor, but if you don't have it then just use milk or water instead and it will turn out just fine.)

Next, mix all of your dry ingredients together.  Then cut your butter into the dry ingredients a little pat at a time until your mix is all nice and flaky, just as if you were making a pie crust.  Once it hits that consistency, you can toss in your chocolate chips and then the orange juice.  You will get a doughy consistency.

Put some wax paper out on the counter (or you can do this directly on a clean counter, but the wax paper makes cleaning up the mess easier.)  Then toss some flour on the wax paper.  You can dump your dough right in the flour.

Put flour on top too so it's easier to work with.  Now make a rectangle with the dough.  Then cut it in fours and then into triangles.

Place them on a baking stone or baking sheet.  It will be easier to transfer then with a pie server or spatula so the dough doesn't break off.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 12-15 mins or until it is a nice golden brown on top.

Mmmmm.  These are so yummy.  They are a great treat for when company comes as you can make them ahead of time and they're ready!

First Kayaking trip

Mark and I went on our first kayaking trip at a lake very near our home.   Yall, it was FUN!!  I have a bit of learning to do as you are not supposed to paddle with your arms and shoulders (as I was doing), but with your core muscles.  And mine are uber weak.  So, I'll be giving that a little try next time.  We did a round trip of about 6 miles.  The lake was absolutely FULL of pollen.  This is going to be a fun was to get some exercise.  Beats running on a treadmill. 

Our 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago today I married my best friend.  I never knew what an incredible ride our life would be.  We have lived in many different places, traveled all over, supported each other in tough times and celebratory times.  Some people wait a long time to find each other.  But I was lucky enough to have met you early in life.

The picture above was taken right after our wedding.  We had a dinner reservation at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Nashville.  I had forgotten about this picture until I found it on an old CD Rom.


Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8

Recipe Thursday (on Wednesday): Chocolate Chess Pie

I'm posting this a day early because I have a different post for tomorrow. :)

Okay, this is a huge crowd pleaser for the chocolate lover.  And best of all it's super dooper easy and consists of stuff you probably already have on hand.  I served it the other night at the dinner club party beside a Carvel ice cream cake.  And guess what?  All of my pie was eaten and the ice cream cake wasn't.  That says a lot!  So, here ya go:

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of sugar

3.5 Tbsp of cocoa

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 stick of margarine or butter

1 small can Carnation milk (I never have this so I just use half of a cup of regular milk)

1 tsp vanilla

1 unbaked pie shell

Now just dump it all in a bowl and mix it up really well so there aren't any lumps.  For those of you who like to hand mix with a spoon, I would not recommend this.  It really needs to be mixed by an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to get all of the lumps out.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!  And voila!  You have a really fantastic dessert!

Big Apple Day 4

Mark didn't have class Friday so we slept in and then went for breakfast. See these things below? Several bakeries had these and I was just dying to try one. So, Mark and I each ate one for breakfast. Yum, yum. It was cinnamon and butter wrapped in a million layers of phylo dough. It crumbled and went everywhere, but was worth the mess. And the calories.Then I demanded that he go in the Toys R Us and see just how cool it was. NYC structures made out of Legos.
A giant Transformer. And many, many other things.
And then my one request, for lunch was that we eat at the Russian Tea Room. I'd heard celebrities mention eating there and such and wanted to try it.
Who orders this stuff??!! Not me!
It was, as Mark says, a "Fu-fu place". haha. I ordered some Russian Ravioli stuffed with seafood. I don't think I've ever had hand made from scratch ravioli. Oh, my goodness. It was so thin and delicious.
Carnegie Hall was next door.
And then we grabbed a cab and headed back to Laguardia where we sat for an hour out on the runway.

Just a note: Mark is the photographer of the family and since he would not relinquish the camera, most of the photos have me in them. So, in my defense: I tried to get the camera away and get more photos of him.

Big Apple Day 3

I realized that Good Morning America was filming next door to where we were staying. It was pretty cool to see the test kitchen that they use. Their studio audience has to stand the entire time. That doesn't interest me in the least.
But I did get up early to try and get into The View studio audience (without success). There is a 2 year waiting period for tickets, so the best bet is to see if you can get in on stand by. I had to be outside the studio by 8 a.m. for tickets, and then they give you a pink paper with your number on it. (see below)
I was number 15. We had to go hang out at Starbucks until 9:30 when we would go back and find out if we were getting in. Around 10 a.m. they said that they already had a full studio audience with the regular ticket holders so absolutely NO stand by people got in. Bummer. But neat to see how it worked. Honestly, I don't think I'd bother doing it again.
Here's the intern in the blue coat that was responsible for getting people in and such. So, I walked over to Central Park and on the way I passed the building where Regis and Kelly are filmed (except they were in Vegas for the week). Then I hopped back on the subway and went to the hotel. I waited for Mark to get out so we could have lunch. Then I just took a nap and rested the rest of the afternoon. We were going to have a rather late night because we had tickets to a Broadway show: Jersey Boys.
We had dinner at Angus McIndoe, across from Phantom of the Opera. It was good. Our reservation was at 6 p.m. and we were all done by 6:35, LOL. We are rather fast eaters! We headed to a Starbucks and had some dessert and coffee and just hung out until 7:30 when we had to be at the theatre. Now, I know some of you reading this have seen Jersey Boys. Man, it was really good! Some profanity in it, but still REALLY good. We were on the way back to the hotel and I told Mark "Boy, I sure do feel sorry for Frankie Valli." Mark said "Yeah, I feel like he's just trying to pay his light bill." Hahaha. Of course, I had to go back and google how he's doing now. Apparently pretty good as he had a Manhattan apartment and a CA home. So, I stopped feeling so sorry for him.
I do remember about 15 years ago my parents taking me to see him at the Executive Inn in Paducah and he was REALLY good. I remember it well.

Big Apple Day 2

Day 2 started out with me sleeping in and Mark going to his CLE course. I just hung around the room and did some blogging. Completely unaware that Good Morning America was taping in their studio next door and I could have totally been on tv if I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to stand in line. (I wouldn't have done it even if I had known.) I kind of milled around the area walking down to Fifth Avenue and seeing all of the shops there. Then coming back in time for Mark to get out of class. We had a reservation at, get this: a bbq place in NY. We just had to try it as it got great reviews. And it was fantastic!! And our waiter was from Durham, NC.

When we got finished we did some walking and picture snapping. First we went to see Grand Central Station (below) and the Chrysler Building (above).
Then, of course, who could skip a visit to the Empire State Building?

And the original Macy's (their biggest store).
The ABC building behind me. And no, I can't not check my phone for email, FB updates, twitter, etc.
One of the things Mark LOVES in NY is the warm, honey roasted peanuts they sell on the street. And he got himself some.
Times Square, the center of the universe. (isn't that what they say?)

The Big Apple-Day 1

We have been in NYC this week but don't like to mention it on the blog while we're gone for security purposes. This has been a really really great trip.

We left Tuesday morning on Delta (no problems) and flew into Laguardia. Took a cab to Broadway where we were staying.....like 20 yards from the center of Times Square with all of the tvs etc. Very cool to be in the middle of it all. We did come to NYC a few years ago but were on a tight schedule and didn't get to see all we wanted to. We also stayed a good ways away from everything which meant a lot of time going to and from. So, I will recommend that if you do come, pay the extra money and stay in the heart of it all. You'll be glad you did.

So, once we got to the hotel we went back out immediately and bought a day pass on the subway. We ate lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and I must say their prices are quite inflated. We then went to the 9-1-1 memorial site. They are doing construction there and you really can't see much of anything. Our pictures aren't great either. There are fences everywhere with tarps covering the fences and police all over the place telling you to "move along". So, we did.

We moved along back onto the subway and over to Wall Street. Saw the NYSE (stock exchange) and other well known places there. We didn't go in because we hadn't researched how to do so, and the security was worse than going through the airport it seemed.Then back onto the subway and to Central Park. We had been to the southern part of Central Park before and it was really nice, but never to the northern part. So that's where we went. Yeah, we got off looked around and got right back on the subway. Not so nice. Made us a little nervous. So, we got off at 72nd street and walked through the park and over to Tavern on the Green, where I had wanted to eat. But hello! They went bankrupt and are closed down. Just my luck. Took a few pics and then kept walking. We decided to walk back to the hotel instead of ride, for the scenery.

We were walking by the Late Show with David Letterman and guess who walks out right at that time? Ben Stiller!!! He had finished taping and was leaving. The paparazzi clicked away at him and he waved a little and then got into his car. It was fast. So fast in fact that by the time I had realized it all we hadn't gotten our iPhones out to take pics. Ugh.

We walked to the Broadway area and found an excellent pizza place that served fantastic NY pizza. Yum, yum. And I'm not much of a pizza fan.

That pretty much ended our first day there.

All of these photos were taken on the iPhone so they're not the greatest quality.