honeymoon revisited.

This post is a total ripoff of my f-book status but hey, this really is how I am spending my day sooooo (just in case we aren't facebook friends) i will re-cap my friday for you:

ihave started looking at other people's vacation pictures just to remind myself that sunshine does in fact still exist. Effff my life today.

I started to feel a little pathetic looking at other people's pics though so I upgraded and just revisited mine. These are from the resort we stayed at on our honeymoon. I want to go back.

Its not just me though, I think the whole state of ohio wants to peace out too....I drove by a church today on my lunch break and the sign outside says "whoever is praying for snow, please STOP!"

and I want those people to stop as well

because we are missing this....

....and this.

and this.

...and it has made me very depressed and unpleasant.

Thanks,

The management

Katie, Katie, Old Married Lady!!!

Guess what???? I have been married for 3 whole years as of today!!! Can you believe it? 3 years married, 8 and a half total years together. That is just nuts!

Sooooo in honor of our anniversary, I thought i would give you a little recap of what we have done in the years past for this big day.

I think our second anniversary might be one of my favorite weekends we ever spent together. It was pretty much amazing because it was so spontaneous. We both woke up early in the morning looked at each other and said " i don't want to go to work today".....Pat suggested we go to Vegas and I laughed, because we have the same exact conversation most mornings ( i.e. "work sucks...lets do this instead" it just doesn't get acted on usually) So anyways we both went about our normal routines. Pat showered. I showered. Pat left. I wasted time.....and eventually i left too. On my way to work Pat called me and said "make sure you check your email." Obviously this was pre-blackberry days for me, but as soon as i got into work I did what i was told and clicked to the one and only email in my inbox....It was a ticket to Las Vegas purchased 10 minutes before I saw it :)

I spontaneously "came down with something" and left my office by about 9:30. I packed both of our bags and we were on our way to the airport by 10:30. We seriously laughed the whole way there. For some reason it felt like we had just robbed a bank or something.

We arrived in Vegas and it was still pretty much lunch time.....which was so weird because at breakfast time we thought we were going to be spending a snowy anniversary working. Ummm yuck.

This picture may or may not have been taken after a "couple" of hours at the tables with a few drinks. Don't think this was all romance on this trip though. Pat means business when he is in Vegas.

I on the other hand.....went to the spa got a massage, got tan, went shopping, planned dinner, bought tickets to a show and pretty much felt like pretty woman.

Happy 2nd anniversary to us!!!

And then going back even further, This is what we did for our 1st Anniversary.

We didn't have anything huge planned because we had just moved to Ohio. We decided at the last minute (again) to do a little driving trip and we went to Niagara Falls. This pic is a view from where we stayed. The steam kind of hides the rest of the waterfall....but that is where the whole thing breaks off. They light it up at night and it is really beautiful.

We ventured down to the falls to check out the sites and let me tell you.....Holy God it is FREEZING there. I have never been so cold in my life!!!

Pat tends to under dress in cold weather (no gloves, no hats, and certainly no scarves). This day, he got so cold though that he actually let me walk with my hands (in gloves) covering his ears. It was like negative 20 or something like that....and the mist from the waterfall certainly did not help.

Nonetheless we loved it. Niagara is kind of a weird place, but i am always up for seeing something new.

This was taken from a walkway that pretty much hangs right over the edge. How anyone could voluntarily go over the side of this thing i don't know! Cool picture though.

And here we are right after the big day. Anniversary 0!

Our honeymoon was awesome. It felt like another surprise vacation after being so tied up with wedding planning. We went para sailing, horseback riding, snorkeling, and sight seeing. We sat in the pool with drinks every day and went out to a nice dinner every night. It was THE best week we have ever had.

I'll keep you posted on how the third anniversary turns out. We aren't going away this year and that is just fine by me. We have a really nice dinner planned for tonight and another vacation right around the corner.....This guy spoils me big time even when it isn't our anniversary and I still love love love him.....even after 3 whole years!

Myyyyy lip gloss is POPPIN!

I am putting together a gift basket for an event for Junior League right now, and it was kind of fun to go shopping and see what kind of fun stuff kids are playing with these days. I only know babies and adults right now so I was kind of clueless, but i think i found some fun stuff nonetheless. For instance, how freaking fun does this thing look? I meannnnn I am 26 and i would love to mix, flavor, and decorate my own lip balm!
We'll see if this one makes it into the basket or if i just end up keeping it for myself :)
jk.

Easiest delish dinner ever....

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Use a Whole Wheat Thin Crust Boboli Pizza Crust (or any other whole wheat crust option)

cook up some chicken with the usual seasoning then toss in BBQ sauce when it is completely cooked (set aside)

Prepare the crust with a little bit of BBQ sauce (not too much though - more is less here - it tastes gross. Believe me).

Sprinkle on some reduced fat Mozzarella cheese

Add thinly sliced red onion

And some Cilantro

Of course, you should also add the delicious BBQ chicken chunks

and then maybe a little sprinkling of the cheese again (maybe).

Bake in the oven for like 9 minutes at whatever temp your crust tells you to bake it at

Enjoy!

This one is for you Dunja....:)

My facebook status currently reads: i need a break....a long break....and a tan......a real tan.....now!

My little brother's roommates girlfriend replied: "really? you should blog about that"

and so Dunja (my cyber friend) I AM going to blog about it, and I even posted picture evidence of why that statement is so unbelievably true :)

Lets establish the facts first:

Fact #1) This picture was taken at my friend Melissa's wedding. She was an absolutely gorgeous bride. Her wedding was soooo much fun and I wish she would re-throw that wedding every weekend.

Fact #2) This wedding photo has made me realize that even expensive airbrush tanning will leave you looking bright orange in photos. I genuinely do not think it was that bad in person or I wouldn't have gone out but seriously? Holy Hell i am like the color of a Tupperware container after you leave spaghetti sauce sitting in it over night. Completely hyper color orange.

And soooooo, On this snowy hell of a Thursday - there is nothing more true than my previous declaration: i need a break....a long break....and a tan......a real tan.....now!

It is funny that i posted upbeat (almost happy) recollections of the snow from this weekend only a few days ago. The title was even "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow".....but because i know myself too well - that title was quickly followed by the disclaimer '(For now).' Truth be told, I didn't think that my patience for it would run out as quickly as it did.

I am not sure exactly why it happened so quickly but i have my suspicions.I didn't get to run the errands i wanted to this week, i didn't get to the gym at night like i had hoped, and i froze shoveling my driveway for 40 minutes just so that i could get my car up into the garage. it isn't all car though, my car is cute and anywhere else it would be great. It is the snow i truly loathe.

And now I am over it.
I want to go somewhere nice and tropical and I want to go now.

I walked out of work with a woman i didn't know last night, and while we dodged flying face freezers....we made small talk. I sarcastically said "wow, what a lovely day" and she said "yeah but you can't complain too much, i would rather have this than hurricanes or earthquakes"

Internally i laughed. I may have even called her an idiot....oh yeah, I did. I have lived in Earthquakey California (for like 18 yrs) and I have lived in Hurricaney Florida (for 2...i was even vacationing there - right in the eye of the storm- for category 5 Hurricane Charlie) and let me tell you NEITHER place has ever inconvenienced me for 6 months with their sometimes challenging natural weather disruptions!!!

It is just too much for one person to take. Especially one that knows firsthand and understands that 6 months of snow isn't some blessing in place of a one day rain storm.

NOTHING sucks as much as prolonged months of snow. Sure the occasional downpoor can be fun ,but at this time of year - most sane people have had enough. It is gray and depressing. It makes you fat and ugly! Your skin turns transparent see through white and because it is so miserable outside you aren't able to find anything better to do than waste away indoors while eating meal after meal.

This b had no idea what she was talking about. And I pity her, but since we were both putting up with the same shitteous weather I really started to only pity myself.Then i saw this picture of me - the one from above - and i really lost it!

That is where the whole need for a break and a tan really came from.I don't want to be orange, and i don't want to get skin cancer in a tanning bad. If i am going to get skin cancer I want it to be while i am laying in real sun on sand so hot that it burns my feet. i want that here. Right now. I want it in my life. i don't want to have to deal with fake sun anymore. I want to be able to walk out my front door and go for a jog without getting frost bite and having my lungs freeze. I want to be able to pull into my damn garage.

And don't misunderstand this for a "Katie wants to move" post. It isn't. I just want Ohio to go back to the way it was a few months ago. The lovely state of Ohio that made me think of the Tim McGraw song "Where the Green Grass Grows." I like it here, but enough already with the shit weather.

Mr. Chang has nothing on me.....

My husband told me that these were better than P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps.....okay that's obviously impossible, but it also probably means that this little concoction was pretty much ahhhhshmazing.

as with pretty much everything good that i make:

start with some butter, garlic, and diced red onion

Saute on medium heat in a non-stick pan until the onions get somewhat clear-ish.

mix in thawed/diced boneless skinless chicken breast

season with salt and pepper

keep things moving until the chicken is thoroughly cooked

add in diced baby bella mushrooms (1 medium container)

add in diced water chestnuts (1 can)

stir and cook until the mushrooms have softened

Mix in Soy Vey Teriyaki Sauce to your liking

sprinkle in some sliced almonds or peanuts (whichever you prefer)

Serve the chicken with Bibb Lettuce on the side. It has the perfect size leaves for an individual serving and it is soft enough to fold.

obviously rice is a logical side dish too....

Enjoy!

the only good thing going on today....

my beautiful niece Amory!
I miss her.