As Our Lives Change Come Whatever, We Will Still be Friends Forever

Growing up and becoming an adult is fun. and hard. and fun. and hard. But when you still have the friends you had when you were five, it's fun. This past weekend my friend Sara, who I have talked about here, had her wedding shower/party. It was like a mini-reunion from our high school group of girls. 

Amanda, Heather, Sara, Maggie and Me.

Though we were missing a couple of friends (Miss you Marion & Dru!) we were happy to all be together. 

There isn't one memory growing up that doesn't involve one of these girls. We rode around together, fought together, took up for each other, shopped together, and so much more. When we are together now, it's like nothing has changed but everything has changed. We all lead different lives, in different towns, but we all have one thing in common. We are all friends. 

Heather and her boyfrand, Jason. 

Hi sweet couple! 

Maggie and her husband, Blake

They just had a baby girl. She's precious! 

Sara and two of her college friends. 

Lovely ladies! 

  

Maggie and I. 

Do you know how many pictures I have of us? 

About a thousand.

Sara and her sweet fiance, Scott. 

This guy is funny. Sara did good. She did really good. 

We had to end the night on a sassy side. 

It's just what we do.

Moral of the story? Keep in touch with the friends. They know you the best, forgive you the quickest, and love you the most. 

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Friday Cheats & Rice Krispies Treats

Every Friday at work now we have a small recognition meeting for an employe who has done something that has positively affected the work of our organization or the work of others. It's a quick pick-me-up to continue to work hard for the mission of the organization. Last Friday someone mentioned that it would be great if we had treats to which I agreed.

Then I volunteered to make the treats.

It was a great idea last Friday, but the reality last night was that it was going to be really hard for me to have time to make anything (1) new (2) difficult (3) time-consuming (4) still had work to do when I got home: when I didn't get home until after 6:30 p.m. from the gym. I left with the best of intentions of work yesterday with three different dessert ideas. Blueberry cheesecake bars. Lemon squares. Rice krispies treats.

Friday Treat Day & I Cheated.

Rice krispies treats won. Three ingredients. Quick. Easy. Except one thing, I had never made rice krispies treats. I just assumed they were easy.

To which you are saying right now, but it's so easy, just three ingredients.

Uh huh.

What happened? Well, I think my butter melted too much and evaporated, I used a pan that was too small, I didn't measure the marshmallows correctly, and I spilt rice krispies all over the floor. That's what happened. Also, I didn't make enough in the pan and it looked really, really sad this morning. So after the gym this morning, I went back to the grocery store to get more rice krispies to try it again. (I still passed out the other ones, but there was a BIG difference.)

What is prettier than marshmallows covered in butter?

What did I learn from this experience?

1. It's okay to use more butter if you want to. There are no rules. 
2. You should use a big pan for butter and marshmallows so that your marshmallows can actually melt.
3. If you spray a piece of foil with cooking spray and then much the mixture in a dish, you won't get your hands dirty. 

Anyways, all is well that ends well. The new, improved rice krispies treat were popular and the boxed brownies were fine enough. Hopefully next week I can organize my Thursday where I can actually make the Blueberry cheesecake bars! 

Happy Friday!

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Girls Night with a Side of Bubbly

Wednesday night was girls night with all my work friends. I feel really lucky that I work with so many people that I also call my friends. We spend countless hours each week together, but still decide to spend time together after work hours.

Last night we celebrated girls night be heading the The Capital Hotel downtown in Little Rock. They have a great bar and grill with delicious drinks and great food.


Here was our night...

  This is Kelly. 


Kelly ordered a fancy drink with a flower. She also likes to 
salsa dance, keep up with current events, and she is going to climb
Kilimanjaro soon. 

 Cheers to Kelly and her fancy drink! 

This is my glass. Why champagne?

Because with all the crazy in the world sometimes
you just have to celebrate that in general, life is good.

This is Allison.

Allison is like my sister-by-another-mister. It's amazing how we fight like crazy, but always
seem to make up in the end. She's drinking some sort of Gin martini I believe. She's also showing her sassy side. 

Cheers to Allison and her martini! 

This is Falguni.

Falguni is originally from Atlanta (where we like to reminisce about the things we miss.)
Falguni is going to help me create a meal plan for two weeks because I'm very bad at it.
She's also having a battle with Comcast right now over her Internet. It's not good.

Cheers to Falguni!

This picture is for three reasons:

1. Falguni said I had to be in a picture. 

2. I wanted to show off my one blue nail. 

3. It looks like I'm trying to eat the champaign instead drink it. 

The Capital Bar & Grill are known for a couple of things.

Spicy pimento cheese happens to be one of them.

This is Brooke (and Allison)

Brooke just announced that she's going to have a baby! Her second child.
She's very excited and we are very excited for her.

Cheers to Brooke!
(Have no fear, it was just water)

Showing some love. 

Smiling pretty. 

Another fancy drink from Kelly.

This actually was a good drink.

This picture is blurry, I know.

Still learning the camera and all.

But I just knew you'd want to see a blurry picture of my pork chop. 

Also the BLT and burger.

The BLT is delish by the way. 

I've gotten it before. It's good.

It was a great night with great friends.

And great wine. 

What more can you ask for on a Wednesday?

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You Can Have Roots and Have Wings

It was 2002, I was 16 years old and the movie Sweet Home Alabama just came out in theaters. My small town didn't have a movie complex closer than 40 miles, but that wasn't going to stop me from seeing the movie that would now be one of my top favorites and the only movie that can make any bad day good again.

At the time, I had just started dating a boy that I ended up dating for a long, long time. (It was actually our very first date.) What did I make him do? Dragged him 40 miles to see a chick flick. It had Reese Witherspoon as the leading lady so I knew he wouldn't mind too much. Plus, it was our first date so how could he tell me no?


I'll never forget sitting there in that theatre, watching a movie about a small town girl growing up, leaving what she knew, making something of her life and still finding love at the end with the one guy that she always loved. At 16, all I could think about is how I wanted to leave as fast as I could from that small town and never look back. After all, I knew much more than my parents did or anyone in that small town for that matter.


Now at 26 my life isn't a romantic comedy. My hair doesn't always look perfect in the Southern humidity, I didn't end up my small town sweetheart, and I haven't found my way back to that town permanently either. (Just weekend visits here and there.) What it does remind me is that you can have roots and have wings. You don't have to forget where you came from to know where you're going. And sometimes when you get lost on the way, you can always find yourself when you go back home. 

Maybe I'm feeling a bit nostalgic after seeing so many old friends lately, or maybe I'm reading too far into a movie that was only given two stars. Either way it's a memory that I hold dear to my heart.

Because it's funny how things don't turn out ... but it's funny how they do. 

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Saturday Night Cook-Off: Who Can Fry the Best Deer Meat?

This is a post about a healthy sport called competition. This post is also about one of my favorite things which is eating. Competition and eating. It's all-American. Saturday night, after a day of actually waking up to go to the gym and shopping with friends, it was time for the cookout at Melody's house. Even though I really like cooking, I've never actually cooked during one of these cookouts. (Maybe they don't trust me?)

Whatever the case may be, Saturday night it was Julie vs. Chad on who could fry the best deer meat. Knowing Julie and Chad the only thing I wanted to do was to have a front row seat of this competition. 

This is Melody. We've been good friends for almost seven years now. 

She's having a baby by the way.

Before I had arrived, Julie made a blueberry cobbler for our dessert.

I couldn't understand why we couldn't start with dessert. 

The competition is on. 

Except for when Julie couldn't figure out why the burner wasn't working.

(hint, hint, it was turned on low instead of high)

Melody had to step-in to help figure out the problem.

This was Chad's deer meat. 

This was Julie's deer meat.

Chad in action. 

(Look at his mess!!)

Julie in action.

(Much cleaner!)

Because Melody wasn't sure if she liked deer meat or not,

Chad also grilled some chicken for Melody.

What goes better with fried deer meat than fried potatoes? 

It is the South and all.

A closer look at Chad's mess.

He said if you're making a mess then you're doing it right.

Tick, tock, tick, tock Chad.

Almost time to plate!

Marc got in from work just in time to eat! 

Marc is a funny guy. 

Fun Fact: I had never met Marc until I was at their wedding... and I was a bridesmaid.

Good choice, Melody. Good choice. 

Even the dogs are ready for us to eat.

End result. 

I will say that both Chad and Julie did a great job at cooking.

Julie also did a great job with the potatoes and fried okra, while Chad

made the green bean bundles. It was all delicious. 

And a great way to spend a Saturday night. 

(I did take a picture of the dessert, but I'm still playing with this new camera and I think I deleted it. Whoops!)

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