Happy Birthday Bruce!!!

Happy 31st birthday baby!! I love you more and more every day! xxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Stolen from a friend!! ;)

My 2008 Summed Up!!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you had never done before?
We bought our first house together and loving it!!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
CRAP NO! And yes I will make one this year, but i am not telling anyone what it is, in hopes of sticking to it! It worked when I quit smoking, so we'll see!

My new resolutions:
Again...it's a secret! :)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Allison and Heather - 2 of my besties!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My sister-in-law's mom passed away. :(

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the good ol' USA

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Hmmm, a baby maybe? ;)

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 28th - it's a secret. And my 30th birtday!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Buying our dream home and making it ours!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Gaining weight and not exercising enough.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our home!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
All of my friends and family!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Many that shall go unnamed!

14. Where did most of your money go?
Into our home - new paint and new bedroom furniture!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Buying our home and the pregnancies and births of my friends babies!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Ugh...I am bad at this kind of questioning :)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? HAPPIER
b) thinner or fatter? Ugh, FATTER, unfortunately!
c) richer or poorer? Richer, i suppose...

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercised

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating so much cheese dip! lol

20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my brother and sister-in-laws home in the morning and dinner at my parents!

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Everyday!

23. What concerts did you attend this year?
Stone Temple Pilots!!!!

24. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office

25. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
nope

26. What was the best book you read?
Twilight!!!!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
RockBand :)

28. What did you want and get?
A home, a puppy, new bedroom furniture

29. What did you want and not get?
A fenced in backyard

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I don't think i've seen any good ones!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 30 and my hubby had a little get together for me at our house! So fun!!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing really! Life is good.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Trying to had the fatness! LOL :)

34. What kept you sane?
My Bruce, for sure. :)

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Still is Ryan Gosling...

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
the economy

37. Who did you miss?
No one really.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
hmmm....I have to think on that.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Patience REALLY is a virtue.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Old song, but "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of " - U2

Trying to catch up!

My goodness, I am really bad at this blogging stuff. I am certain that stuff has been going on since October 20th…let’s see if I can get things caught up.

We had a big project at our house in the month of November. We had every room in the house repainted, including ceilings and all the trim! It turned out great! We are so happy with it. The people that lived there prior to us apparently really liked bright yellows and blues and that was pretty much our whole house and we could not stand it. We ended up getting a really great deal to do the whole house so we just went for it. The best part was that they completed it in 3 days and in time for a party we were having that weekend. I need to post some before and after pictures, but they are not on this computer! So I will update soon!

As previously mentioned, we had a party at our house and it was for my 30th birthday! Insert tears here. L hahahaha Yes, I turned 30 and to celebrate my cute hubby invited our family and friends over to celebrate with me. It turned out great and a wonderful time was had by all. I have such wonderful people surrounding me – I am truly a very lucky girl.

Greg is a terrible influence. ;)

Thanks to Eric and Maria for the "I'm 30" t-shirt! lol

And last but not least, there was Thanksgiving!! It is really my favorite holiday. I don’t know if it is Mama Mehok’s awesome cooking or just having all the family together, but I love it. We had a really great time eating, drinking, playing and just being with each other. And for all that I am thankful.

Yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmm

Mom, Me, Aunt Honey & Kristina

Other than that, we are trying to get ready for Christmas and decorate the house. We are both so excited and are probably spending entirely too much money on decorations, but whatever, I am loving it.

We fly to Michigan on December 11th for a long weekend with Mom and Dad Calkins and hopefully we’ll be able to see some aunts, uncles and cousins too!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

YIPPEEE!!!!!!

Heather and Matt gave birth to Charlotte Lillian Thompson this morning at 10:07 a.m.

She weighed 7lbs, 12oz and was 18.5 inches long! Mom and baby are doing wonderful!! I received this beautiful picture this afternoon of the precious little girl too! I see a lot of Heather in that face!

Congratulations guys - she is stunning!! We love you!

Lovin'

LOVIN':

• The fabulous fall weather
• Decorating our home for Halloween
• Watching college football - especially the upsets!
• Lunch dates with my girls; Melissa, Heather, Joanna & Allison! ;)
• Buying new furniture (pics coming soon!)
• "Trying" to pick out paint colors! (got an interior decorator coming soon)
• The Office - "that's what she said"
• Playing with my baby girls in the backyard!
• Tennis on Sundays...when we win.

Slacker......

I have totally been slacking on the blog lately, but I kind of have a good excuse. Things have been insanely busy in this little life of mine the past few weeks. I am not really sure where to start!

I guess I will start with my weekend away to Florida for Joanna's bachelorette party! It was super fun! They were all a great group of girls and we had a really fun time just sitting on the beach for hours and hours and then getting rowdy late night with a few different bar trips! That was one of the last "hurrah's" Jomama....November 8th will be here before you know it!

Great times with the girls!

The following weekend our friends from Michigan, Shane and Andi came down for a visit and so did Bruce's brother Robbie. There was a lot of grilling food, drinking beer and watching football involved in the weekend and it was a blast! It was so great to see them all and have them in our home! On a side note, Andi is expecting baby #2 in May '09! Congrats guys!! We love you!

Then this weekend, I was lucky enough to co-host a baby shower for Heather!! I think it turned out great and I think they got a lot of great stuff! They are almost 100% ready for baby Charlotte to make her debut!! :) I know that I can't wait to meet her!

Other than that, we have just been hanging out at the house and I am back to playing tennis on Sundays. I didn't realize how much I missed tennis until I started playing it again! It has been a lot of fun, even though my record hasn't started out so great! But Fall is around the corner and I am loving the cool mornings and evenings and drinking a glass of wine on the back deck.

Here is a picture of the girls from this weekend too! Marley is getting so big and I am afraid she is going to be much bigger than Mia! EEK!

That is it for now! I will try and not slack so much in between blog postings next time! :) xoxoxo

The Weekend of Champions!

I had the best weekend EVER! It all started on Friday morning when I ended up not having to go into work! The night before I had gone out for a "few" beers with some co-workers and ended up not getting home until close to 11:00. Being the responsible adult that I try to be, I did not drive home so my car was stuck in Buckhead for the remainder of the evening and most of the next morning. Here is a tip for everyone - have your boss with you at happy hour so he tells you that you do not have to come to work the next day because he won't be there either! :)

So, I got to sleep in a bit and was able to get a cab ride to my car around 11:00 a.m. the next day and still have lunch with my friend Melissa! That evening I started to get ready for my hot date I had that evening. My hubby and I were finally going to celebrate our anniversary with a night out on the town!

Bruce had a wonderful surprise for me and had a driver scheduled to pick us up at 6:15 for our dinner reservations at 7:00. Of course, nothing ever works out perfectly!! Around 6:20, we got a phone call from Larry, our driver, that he was about 3 miles from our house at the Publix where his car was overheating. We just had to laugh! We asked him if he could guarantee someone could pick us up from dinner and we'd just leave our car overnight again. He said that they would be there with no problem, so we went ahead and headed out to dinner. Halfway down I-285, Larry called us back and said "Have a great time - call me when you are done with your evening and Mark & I will come and pick you guys up and also drive your car home so you don't have to leave it. And also, we'll do it for free!" We were totally stoked! How cool was that?

Us after dessert

So, we did just that - had an amazing time! We had dinner at Anthony's Fine Dining in Buckhead and it was delicious! We both had the surf & turf - beef tenderloin and lobster tail. So delicious! We had martinis and a bottle of wine and shared a yummy cheesecake dessert.

Afterwards, we decided we'd head to The Grape for an after dinner glass of wine. But that actually turned into a bottle of after dinner wine! Thank god for the driver!!! :) We were picked up shortly after that and taken safely home. It was wonderful.

The next day we sat around most of the day and recovered from our wine hangovers. But that night still had the best to come! STONE TEMPLE PILOTS reunion show!!!!!! Now, anyone who has known me for any length of time, knows that I am completely obsessed with this band and more importanly Scott Weiland. Yes, heroin addicted junkie, Scott Weiland. I know, I know - it doesn't make a bit of sense, but I love him! So, just let it be!! :)

My other man

The show was GREAT! My brother totally got us the hookup with free VIP tickets and STP did not disappoint at all! I hope they can stick together for the long haul, only time will tell.

So, that is it...my AMAZING weekend. I couldn't ask for more.

731 days ago today....

I married the love of my life.

Today is our 2nd anniversary and life has been amazing. I feel like I woke up in the fairytale that every young girl dreams about having. And the fact of the matter is, it's real and it's mine - it's all mine.

Bruce is a wonderful husband. He's generous with his kisses and doesn't leave the house without giving one. My favorites are the ones on my forehead, that usually come during times of reassurance.

He still makes me giggle like when we first met - especially when he dances around the house to some "hip-hop" song I am playing, just to make fun of it because he really doesn't care for that music.

He is a generous soul and he loves me with everything that he has.

Happy Anniversary, Bruce. Thank you for loving me for all that I am and accepting me for exactly who I am. Thank you for pushing me to always be my best self and knowing when to push harder and when to let up. You are my best friend and I love you with all my heart and soul.

Thank you for loving me.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I don't do this enough......

I LOVE to cook and I equally LOVE watching the Food Network and am a huge fan of Top Chef on Bravo.

The other morning I was watching Tyler Florence and he made this 'Cuban Style Pork' and it looked so yummy, that I just had to make it that night! It was just like making a Cuban sandwich, but without the bread and using a pork chop. It was a huge hit with the hubby and I loved it too!

Here is the recipe:

Butterflied Cuban Style Pork Chops

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh oregano leaves

6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup canola oil 4

(8-ounce) pork chops, butterflied and thinly pounded

Salt and freshly ground black pepper 8

(1/4-inch) thick slices Swiss cheese 8

(1/4-inch) thick slices boiled ham

2 sour dill pickles, thinly sliced (need about 16 slices)

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

Heat the grill to high.
Whisk together 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup lime juice, 3 tablespoons oregano, the garlic, cumin, and canola oil in a large baking dish. Add the pork and turn to coat. Cover and let marinate for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Remove the pork from the marinade and pat dry. Place the chops on a flat surface, cut-side up and season with salt and pepper. Place 1 slice of cheese, 2 slices of ham, a few slices of pickle and another slice of cheese on 1 half of the chop. Fold over brush the top with oil and season with salt and pepper. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Place the chops on the grill, oil side down and grill until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the chops over and continue grilling until the bottom is golden brown and the cheese has melted, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
Whisk the remaining orange and lime juices, oregano, and the cilantro with the olive oil and salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon over the chops and serve.

The only thing I didn't do was spoon the remaining orange and lime juices over the pork at the end - seemed like a little "much" to me. But it was definitely a keeper!

Here is what it looked like while we were grilling it!

Kayla turns 2!!

Our sweet niece turned 2 on Thursday, July 17th! It is hard to believe that she has already been in our lives for 2 years!!! She is such a joy and she couldn't be any cuter! Here are some pics from the festivities over the weekend!

Happy Birthday Kayla!! We love you!