The 6th Annual Beer Tasting

Yesterday, I went to the Sixt Annual Beer Tasting. It was my sixth. It was Jared's third. Eric, Cheri, Joyce and Desmond met us at our place, and we walked on over. We had a great time. The beer winner of the day was Black Dog Crystal Weiss. In the 90 degree temperature, it was the most refreshing and the most tasty. It was a favorite of everyone.

Following the tasting, everyone came back to our place, including Esera and Sefa, and we had beer chili cheese dip, brats, hot dogs, pasta salad, potato salad and brownies. Melanie came a little later in the night and watched the Clemson v. Bama game. What a disappointment! My heart broke for my husband who was so excited about Clemson's prospects this year. The season is not lost and is far from over. It just didn't get off to the start we hoped for.

A Precious Picture

It's so hard to go to work in the morning when this is what I leave behind.

Lowe's Never Made It Right

When they arrived yesterday to pick up our old fridge and drop off the ice maker hook up, they arrived sans the ice maker hookup they were supposed to send. I called to let them know that we were taking care of it ourselves, and that they had really let down, disappointed and angered a customer. They didn't have much to say, but they did offer a heart felt apology. How sweet. :)

Thank goodness they finally removed our old fridge. We had our first pieces of ice last night (Thanks to Jared's hard work and NOT Lowe's), and they were deliciously refreshing.

Why Just Have One Fridge...

when you can have two? Lowe's delivered our fridge on Monday to tell us they wouldn't take our old one until we turn off our water and buy a new icemaker installation kit. This may have been handy information to know when we purchased the fridge and specifically when I asked, "Do we need to buy a new ice maker line?" So, currently we have two fridges.

Jared spent a good deal of yesterday trying to turn off the water to our unit. Then I came home, dressed in coveralls and tried to do the same. It is impossible to reach our water cut off valve unless you crawl the entire length of the crawl space under our string of units. Poor Jared did and was successful in turning off the water source to the ice maker.

After three conversations with three different managers on duty, our old refrigerator will be removed, and Lowe's will be giving us a FREE ice maker installation kit tomorrow.

Our New Fridge

Since a new refrigerator is a pretty expensive item (even if you go bottom of the line), we decided to treat it as an investment in our property. We went with a stainless like fridge (magnets do stick to it; I tested it in the store). Here she is. We plan to follow with a stainless like dishwasher after a few months as well. We're going stainless.

Pulling My Hair Out

My, my, my...what a busy morning it has been. First I woke up, weighed myself and realized I'd lost 4 lbs on my new diet (I started Wednesday), Go me! My day was off to a good start. Next, the AC repair person came (b/c our drain pipe is clogged...again) and made the repairs and didn't charge us a thing since he had been out a couple of months before. Hopefully this time he corrected the problem for the long haul.


My friend Ashley brought her dog, Stanley, to come stay the night with me and Jasmine. They have been going after it every since...up until now, both are curled up and asleep.

While the dogs were running wild, I decided to make my breakfast, a coffee flavored smoothie. When I take out the ice cream, I realize the consistency is soft serve. I check the ice, and the pieces seem miniature size. I check the fridge. The milk is barely cold. Woe is me. It seems our fridge is broken.

I immediately call Frigidaire. The repairman they refer me to doesn't answer. I start unloading fridge items and putting them in coolers then unloading the freezer things and putting those items that hadn't thawed into our big freezer.

Finally I get around to calling repair people. The people I talk to say that they will come out for $20. Sweet! The lady on the phone said she will have a repairman call me. An hour later he calls. He tells me the rate for weekends is $50. He asks me a few questions about my fridge. He tells me that my compressor has gone out, and it would be a waste of time for him to come and a waste of my $50 (although he's happy to come if I want him to). I tell him I'd rather put that money toward our new fridge. We have to get a new fridge. I LOVE being a homeowner! :)

Sushi Gluttony

Our friend Kelly Ingle was kind enough to offer to share her $50 coupon with us to Kuroshi, a delish Sushi restaurant in Kennesaw. We met her and her husband, Kip, there along with the Corns. Eli and Atticus both came sporting the very appropriate "Miso Cute" shirts I gave them for Eli's birthday. It was SO precious. One restaurant patron even commented on it when she saw Eli coming back from the restroom with his mom.

We began ordering pitchers of beer when we arrived when our waitress suggested we try the "Tower of Beer" if we were all going to have drinks. We did, and it was a marleous creation. It stood about six (ok...maybe more like 3-4) feet tall and sparkled in a glorious manner. The boys split a giant bridge of sushi while the girls conferred, each picking three of their favorite rolls, and sharing a sampling of our own choosing. Eli had fried rice. It might have been the best thing on the table. :) I sampled quite a bit as he got a kick out of watching me try to pick it up with my chopsticks.

There was good food, good conversation and lots of fun. Atticus was smiley and happy as always and Eli was a ball of fun as always. It was also great to see Kip and Kelly.

Locks of Love

Kudos to my friend Ashley who is chopping 10 inches of her hair this afternoon and donating it to Locks of Love, a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. What we really need is before and after pictures. Make use of that cameraphone girlfriend!

Click here to find about more about this organization. http://www.locksoflove.org/mission.html

Flower Power

Today at work I received a lovely bouquet of flowers from my husband. It is full of orange and pink gerber daisies with yellow and coral roses and pink lilies. It is so lovely. Thanks husband!

Breakfast

Back in the days when I worked at BLG which was a hop, skip and a jump away from our home, Jared routinely cooked breakfast (1 egg, egg whites & veggies) for me. That was when I left my house between 8:15 and 8:30. Now that I work at DMQ and try to leave the house by 7:30, Jared does not get up quite so early to cook my breakfast. Unfortunately for my waist size, McDonald's cooks my breakfast at least once a week! This morning Jared had to get up early to go to a pressure washing job, so he got up a wee bit earlier and made me breakfast. It was such a wonderful treat! Thanks, husband.

Guess who's Four

This past Friday, Jasmine celebrated her 4th birthday. It was not nearly so big as a celebration as last year. It was just me and Jasmine this year. Jared was working. We went for an evening walk that night, and Sunday we gave her yogurt (it sounds crazy, but it's a real treat for her) with her dinner. Since we are trying to thin Jasmine down a bit, we did not go crazy on treats and cakes for this year's birthday. A long walk is always what she wants anyway.

What adorable boys!

Yesterday, I received the most precious pictures of the most precious boys. Eli and Atticus!

Romance

Tonight Jared and I were discussing romance. He asked me when was the last time I did something romantic from him. In turn, I asked him when was the last time I got flowers or some other surprise from him. His response...."I preheated the oven for you today."

Ahh...is this the romance to look forward to and expect in marriage. Sign me up...wait, I signed up May 3rd.

Batman

Jared and I went to see Batman today. After reading reviews and talking to coworkers, I was expecting this to be a truly disturbingly dark movie. However, I found that it was exactly what I expected Batman to be. Just like the last Batman, it was dark, and it was scary. It questioned humanity and gave exaggerated illustrations of today's society at its worst. I'm really shocked that people were so surprised. We both enjoyed the movie, and it was nice to get out and go to a movie together. It's been a while. Next up, Marley and Me when it comes out. I'll be dragging Jared to that one.

Guess who is three?

Saturday was a lot of fun. Jared came home, and we cooked breakfast together. Then we started preparing for the rest of the day. We were taking a casserole to my friend Misti (and her husband Chad) because she just had her darling son, McRae, on July 4th, and later attending Eli's third birthday party which would kick off at a bowling alley. I love bowling, and I love to beat Jared at bowling.

We dropped off the casserole with Misti, and poor McRae was so hungry and very unhappy that we were interrupting meal time. Misti said that he either has cholic or reflux, so she has her hands very full. Despite his unhappy demeanor, he was such a beautiful little person. I continue to be amazed as my friends become parents. We said hello to Misti and Chad, peaked at McRae, gave her cooking instructions and rushed out the door.

Yesterday was Eli's third birthday and what a grand day it was, indeed. It kicked off at the Stars and Stripes bowling alley where we bowled two games. Eli had an absolute blast. After each of his turns, he would stand back, squat like a coach, and watch his ball as it crept to the end of the lane knocking down pins. What's also fun about Eli is that he cheers everyone else on. After your turn, he is quick to give you a high five or an Obama fist bump. The one downside of this trip to the bowling alley was that Jared beat me.....TWICE.

Following the party, we went to the Corn's house for dessert and gift opening. Nikki made a giant cookie for the party. For each kid, she cut their name out of another cookie cake and made place settings for each child. It was so cute, and the kids loved it.

Then came gift opening time. Eli was so precious opening his gifts. I was pretty excited that he liked our gift so much. We gave him some clothes and we gave him a home bowling set. Before long, he will be a pro. One of his other favorite gifts was a robot. When he opened it, he exclaimed, "I knew I could get a robot!" After that, the kids took turns whacking at a pinata. They had so much fun. We did too. I can't believe that Eli is three. I can't believe the Corns have two kids. Wow, how times change.

Cheers to Ten Years

Nikki and Jamie, my nearest and dearest family and friends, celebrated their 10 year anniversary this past weekend. What a milestone! They went out to dinner and stayed downtown without their other halves (Eli and Atticus). It sounded like a great time. It would have been great to celebrate with them. We love the Corns, and we love that they are going strong. :) They have certainly been an example to me and helped me determine what I want in a marriage.

Cheers to 10 years!

Our Summer Mini-Vacation

Jared and I were fortunate enough to spend a long weekend visiting his grandparents in Kure Beach, NC. We were also fortunate enough to take a road trip in our new car which gets excellent gas mileage! :)

Thursday, after we arrived, we spent the evening chatting with his family and then had dinner with them. We followed our visit with a walk on the beach. Later that night, we tried to watch Batman at the local theatre, but the next showing wasn't until 10:20, and we were zapped from travel.

Friday we headed to the beach for some sun and fun. We spent most of the afternoon laying out and people watching. Man, was it hot! We also spent a lot of time in the ocean cooling off. I ended up pretty sunburned. We went to dinner in Wilmington and ate at the Pilot House. http://www.pilothouserest.com/ After dinner, we walked to a free outside concert and hung out there before we headed home.

Saturday, due to my severe sunburn, we did not head to the beach. We went to Kate's Pancake House looking for some tasty breakfast. It was a Huge Disappointment! Jared ordered the crab omelette which tasted as if it was made of can/imitation crab and looked to have a sliced piece of cheese on top. I had the philly cheesesteak omelette which was flavorless and only had a minimal amount of cheese sprinkled on top. Each of us had home fries which were not cooked through, and again, flavorless. We were also each to have two baby pancakes with our meal. Neither of us received these. Maybe pancakes are a good bet there, but I assure you that you should steer clear of omelettes and home fries...I'd just steer clear of Kates. :) We spent the afternoon at the NC Aquarium and then took to ferry to Southport and had lunch at Fishy Fishy Cafe. It was a fantastic, quaint restaurant on the water. The sweet potato fries were absolutely delish! http://www.fishyfishycafe.biz/ Saturday night we had dinner with Jared's grandparents and his uncle, Craig. Dinner was shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. It was delish!! Fried green tomatoes are always such a treat, and I love shrimp and grits!

Sunday we were able to return to the beach. We spent the whole day out there. We then returned to take Jared's grandparents out to dinner at Jack Mackerel's Island Grilled. http://www.jackmacks.com/ . We then went for a walk on the pier and had some of the famous pier ice cream. It was a wonderful and beautiful night. Pelicans were sitting all over the pier waiting for a fisherman to drop a fish. The pier is over 711 feet long and hosts many fishing tournaments. It was a great way to end a great weekend.

We packed up and headed out this weekend. It is a long drive, but the view is great and the company makes it better.