33 Things I LOVE

It's Valentines Day which is really not a favorite day of mine-for example on this special day NT is immersed in the 8 hour drama that is Daytona and I am blogging. Sounds romantic, huh? I figure the least I could on this day of love is list a few a few things that warm my heart....like the tv show Biggest Loser.

33 items that warm my heart and soul--

1. My husband and my family
2. Our Pets (Mason, Hines and Parsnip....affectionately known as "Blimpo")
3. My Camera and taking pictures
4. My friend Chelsea's new baby girl.....Emma Louise Dale
5. Vacations
6. SHARPIES (and any colored pencil or marker)
7. Scrapbooking and picture albums
8. Games
9. Febreeze Candle Things (Just googled and the technical term is "flameless luminary")
10. The Ocean
11. screen in porches
12. Home Goods
13. Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry (yummy!)
14. Reality Television
15. Singing in the Car
16. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
    
17. Smell of Fresh Cut Grass
18. My Friends
19. Making Lists (like this one)
20. Church
21. desserts (all desserts, especially things that are a la' mode)
22. Celebrations
23. Decorating
24. Hawaii
25. Being Late (NT made me add that-I do not mean to be late-it is an issue for me)
26. Fruity Drinks served with Pineapple
27. Cookbooks and attempting to cook what is in them
28. Soft pillows
29. my Dad's garage
    
30. Trident Gum
31. Girly Movies
32. Smell of fresh paint and new shoes (not together, I am just running out of numbers)
33. Driving with the windows down on a sunny day

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours ;-)

If you are a stray dog...come to the Triompos.

When NT and I first started dating, we found a stray cat who had been injured by a car. I will not go into details but the basic gist of it is we were on our way to dinner and we ended up stopping and rescuing this cat. At this point, I knew that NT's love of animals matched mine and to be honest it was the first time I knew that I would marry him. Crazy to think an injured animal could bring all that to the forefront but it takes a special kind of person to drop everything and save a pet.

Well since then, NT and I keep running into animals who need our help. We are like pet whisperers.Apparently, there is announcement out there "hey if you are lost, hungry or need a home for a night or two be sure to drop by the Triompos-they give great treats." And yesterday was no different.

We were out for a peaceful walk with the pets....little Hines and Mason. And out of the blue comes a beautiful yellow lab. At first I thought he must be a neighbors.....but no just our luck....he was a little lost dog. He had a collar but no nametag. (PEOPLE--put name tags on your pets) and he had a sensor for an electric fence--clearly he had broke free and was living the life of a free man.

I always comment on how our cat, Parsnip, trys to escape the house daily. I remind him that in the real world there is no one to go behind him and scoop his poop from his litter box...there are no automatic feeders....friskies treats don't just fall at your feet. And I think this is what this little pup was realizing--he missed his home.

We tried to keep walking but he followed us. We then went door to door...no one recognized him. We then (of course) brought him home. Go Figure.
This is the little guy....who I named Clementine. NT then told me that was a "girly" name so I then named him Oscar. (These pics were taking with my phone-so excuse the quality)

Next, we called the vet...by the way, we are their best customers with all of our crazy pets and rescuing antics. They recommended that we bring him in and have him scanned. And luckily, they found a chip which led us to a breeder in uptown Charlotte.
Here is NT and Clementine/Oscar at the vet waiting.....waiting....waiting to see if we were about to be the owners of a 3rd dog.

The breeder luckily had the number of the puppy's chip stored in his computer and was able to locate the owner. Turns out the dog's name is Raleigh (coincidence,huh?) and he is a 3 year old lab who apparently doubles as an escape artist. He was about a mile from his house and honestly very lucky that the Triompo Rescue Team was available. We kept him until later that night when the owner could pick him up and in that short time.....I fell in love.
I miss you little Raleigh. Come back anytime you need to be rescued...or just want some milk bones with peanut butter.

SIDEBAR: All of these pics were taken with my iphone and edited with the program Best Camera. It is a FREE app. You should download it if you are into that kind of thing. See below-Hines likes the iphone camera

Puppy Class

Well tonight was....well it was special...unique even. It was Hines Dudley's puppy class. I was convinced that he would probably be the worst pup in the class mainly because we kind of spoil him. I mean let's be honest he can't even walk down a set of stairs because we carry him everywhere he goes. I was afraid he would be the "F" student. I pictured all the other dogs rolling over, sitting, staying, shaking hands, etc.

Man was I wrong. We walked into a madhouse. There were 8 puppies running wild as if they were bulls that had been in a cage. They were bucking around, biting each other's ears, peeing on the floors-it was a crazy sight. My first thought was I don't want to put my sweet baby dog down in this madhouse but our furry pup was ready to take on the big guys. Of course I dressed him in his ever so cute Georgia shirt and combed his hair (i mean it was his first day of school).

Hines is not scared of ANYTHING. He went right up to the German Shepard pup and looked him dead in the eyes. Hines might be scared of a flight of stairs but he will take on any dog no matter the size.
We each had to wear two name tags--our name and our puppy's name. Shout out to the Steelers.
And then it happened. Hines fell in love....with a tramp. No really, the dog's name was tramp like "lady and the tramp." I will admit this puppy was gorgeous. It was yorkipoo. The rest of the night these two were inseparable--sniffing each others bottoms, rubbing noses, bouncing around, tugging on the same toy. It was love at first sight.
Hines:" I love your hair" Tramp: "I love your shirt" Hines:"Let's be friends"
This dog makes me want a 3rd dog.
Now this was the point in the night where I thought maybe the puppies wanted to eat Hines for dinner. Note how they are all staring at him with such intensity.
I honestly did not pay attention AT ALL in the class-I was too busy watching the puppies. But here is the outline of whatever she talked about. Btw, the teacher was CRAZY.

After the class, I would say Hines is not any smarter than before. He still can't walk down stairs, jumps up and down instead of sitting for treats,bites our fingers, etc. But you know what.....he found love....and to me that made puppy class worth it.

Retail Therapy

So you all knew (all 3 of you who read my blog) that today was the day.....the day we made the road trip to Gaffney to visit the beloved Pottery Barn Outlet. I spent all week preparing by researching my Pott Barn magazines, making lists and surveying the house for what was needed in each room. Now as if the Pottery Barn outlet is not fabulous enough, my MIL gets an additional 40% off. You heard me...40% off of the discounted price. It is indeed truly amazing. We made sure to wear comfy shoes and we ate a good breakfast to give us shopping stamina.

Off we went--me and the moms--no husband to rain on my pott barn parade. No speak of the "Dave Ramsey" budget or cash in the envelope system. Just us ladies ready to conquer the world one purchase at a time.

This is the buggy after only 10 minutes in the store(us southern folk call shopping carts "buggy")

Now the original shopping list had a few key elements. 1) Bar Stools 2)Vase for Dining Table 3)Basket. So I was tickled pink when we found these amazing bar stools for the bargain price of $50. I will take four of those please- we are now 15 minutes in the trip. Note: We were in the store for 2.5 hours so you can imagine the load we left with.

Next, we found the always fun "Great White" dish collection. This is what NT and I received for our wedding but we needed round bowls because for some reason I thought square bowls were a good idea when we registered. However, I now know that when you make instant grits some of the grits get stuck in the corner and when you have cereal the milk flies out the corner of the square bowl. (Take this as a tip if you buying new bowls)

This was considered to be the best purchase of the day....a bargain at $64 bucks. This decorative cubbie is in the current catalog- see the picture below of how pottery barn featured it in their catalog. I will post a pic of our cubbie after I decorate it!
Here are the moms with their carts-satisfied that our day at the outlet was complete.

The truck was packed to the brim, there was almost no room for us. Seriously. Linda volunteered to ride in the back of the truck and just hold onto the bungees. We were so tired after buying out the entire PB outlet that we had to rest up at Chick-fil-A.
A #1 with a sweet tea-a perfect ending to a day of extreme shopping.

Meat on the bone-

I am kind of weird about meat that comes on a bone--like chicken wings, ribs, etc. Now believe me, I understand that all meat originated on some sort of bone but I don't like to think of it. In my pink unicorn/gumdrop world, the meat magically ends up at the store and there was no harm to any animals. Don't mess up my imaginary world, please.

That being said, it is hard for me to eat ribs but NT makes AMAZING ribs. I look past the bone issue and just enjoy the yumminess. It all started with a trip to the neighborhood butcher, NT returned with 5 lbs of ribs and everything we needed to make a fabulous meal. He used two rubs: Chili Lime and the Zac Brown Clay Rub.

Next, he made the sauce. This started by boiling two Guinness Stouts and a half of cup of brown sugar. Reduce that down by half


From there, he added our favorite BBQ sauce....Sweet Baby Rays. ( A must try if you are not familiar) Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Garlic Salt, Tobasco and then a few fresh herbs. We went with thyme and rosemary.
Then we took the sauce and brushed on the ribs. Next, wrap the ribs tightly in aluminum foil and put in the oven for a little over two hours at 350 degrees. Looking good so far!
And here is the final product......
With the ribs, we had potato salad, cole slaw, mac and cheese and bread. AKA: WAY TOO MUCH FOOD!
Now you may wonder why we would make all this goodness on a cold, rainy Friday night. Well, the in-laws are in town and I am trying to prove how amazingly domestic I am. Of course, NT did majority of the cooking but that is just a minor detail.
(PS:Pottery Barn Outlet trip is tomorrow!)

THE BIG GAME

After my seven years in advertising, I have a bit of a complex about actually using the term Super Bowl since it is trademarked times 100. "The Big Game" is how I would cleverly disguise it in my radio commercials (creative, huh?) ok, maybe it is not too original but what will be original is our fabulous Big Game menu. We have both families and friends coming over and it is going to be a great time. And NT is of course excited to test out the new surround sound. It will probably sound like we are standing on the 50 yard line.

Here is what I am thinking for the menu:

Homemade Salsa and Guacamole
Chili (plan on making this early in the day and the crock-pottin' it)
Rotel Dip (a must for any party)
An amazing large sub sandwich (prepared by Chef Wes)
Chicken Pesto and Chicken Parmesan Sliders
Wings (prepared on the Big Green Egg by NT)
Paula Deen's Toffee Brownies
Peanut Butter Cup cookies (made by Pillsbury ;-)

This menu is perfect because there is really only one opportunity for me to start a kitchen fire. I am trying to minimize the risk for myself and our guests. By cleverly using crock pots, my friends and my husband-only one item will be prepared on the stove. I have a horrible addiction to sweets so to be honest I could cancel the whole above menu and go something more like cheesecakes, brownies, cookies and fudge cakes!

Be sure to check back this weekend because we are making the trek to Gaffney to visit the fabulous and amazing Pottery Barn Outlet. The camera will be in tow to show you the deals of a lifetime--we are taking NT's truck so we can fill it up. I am on the search for barstools, cool glass canisters for our bathroom and a lamp for the media room.

Big Game, Big Shopping....Big Weekend. It stinks that it is only Tuesday!

SNOW DAY AT THE LAKE

Wow--it is a good thing we really like our house because we have been cooped up in here for almost 48 hours. As any good wife would do, I ventured out to the grocery store on Friday and bought the necessities such as....brownies, taco shells, string cheese, gatorade, mini oreos, and salsa.

Here is a rough outline of our weekend:

Saturday
4:30am- Mason wakes up everyone to announce he needs to pee
4:40am- Finally bundle up enough to take pets out in the blizzard
5:30am- Dogs are fed. Mason wakes everyone up to announce he needs to poop
5:40 am- NT bundled up to take out pups who now refuse to pee or poop in snow
9:00 am- Oh Joy! I get to shovel snow to create a small grassy area for pets to "go" in

10am-NT makes his famous Waffles!! Yum!

11am- NT watches Braveheart for the 10th time and I finally finish wedding album
12n, 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p, 5p, 6p, and so on---stand in sub zero temps while dogs use the aforementioned 4' x 4' grassy area
3p NT makes brownies ( we apparently eat a lot when it snows)
4p- We watch "The Island"-crazy movie but I kind of liked it
7p- Rachael Ray's Neopolitan Baked Ziti (pretty good & I got to use my new Bubble & Brown dishes!)

9p- Bible Reading, a little basketball watchin', check out some blogs and bed early

Sunday
4:30am-Repeat up above pattern with mason this time substitute blizzard for" ice skating rink"
8:00am- Realize we are out of milk and want to cry. I knew I should have followed the standard list of three--Milk, Bread and Eggs
10am- Devise Escape plan. Must be by foot-roads are too icy.
10:30am- Slip and Slide around the neighborhood trying to take fun winterland photos


12noon- NT and I risk the drive in order to maintain sanity by getting out of the house. We go to the bagel shop where the heat is broke! and then to Food Lion to get some milk (Yay!)
2pm- Play every Wii game we own
4pm- make lots of list ("Things to buy at Pottery Barn Outlet" list, "Work to-do" list, grocery list, "Things to get for the house" list, "Things to blog about" list, a list of things that you can make list for)
6pm -leftovers for dinner
7pm - Bloggin, Pro-Bowl and countdown to the Grammy's

Tomorrow-Please go away snow.

CURRENT POINT OF CONTENTION BETWEEN NT AND I-NEED YOUR HELP:

We each took a picture of Hines and we are arguing who took the better pic--which do you think is better? PICTURE A or PICTURE B....you can comment anonymously to keep your identity safe....