Outside in the backyard, underneath the trees, we're gonna grill it up

While we're on the subject of picnic and BBQ's, a few weeks ago, Jimmy's cousins held a house warming party with all of their family so we brought his daughter to go run around on their property.

As you can see, our day involved quite a bit of corn hole! I'm pretty sure we spent 75% of our time playing! Jimmy's cousin had a daughter a few months older than his so the two little ones spent most of the time playing and got along great. Pretty much his entire family showed up - aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters - including a few I hadn't met yet, so it was nice to meet everyone. Jimmy's uncle retired recently and now he does a ventriloquism act - everyone loved him! He did the "PG" version with a puppy dog and an alien, but I guess there is an "adult" act, too. Jimmy and I are really looking forward to seeing that one!

After everything wound down, the night ended with a bonfire and fireworks - just like any good Michigan summer gathering haha

We don't care if we live through the weekend

This past weekend was busy (as per usual) but I came out of it feel surprsingly rested, so I guess that kind of evens out, right?

On Friday night, my friend Katie had a few people over to bbq. My phone has been freaking out (which in turn, causes me to freak out...damn my dependence on technology!) so I didn't take any pictures- but it was so fun! Katie is amazing-she has all these great DIY's she's done and is vegan, though she's just trying a raw diet so she's been bringing me in goodies to let me taste and everything is delicious!

Saturday, my mom and I got tickets to a garden walk around town so we got up and did that, which was a lot of fun! We weren't really sure what to expect but we both really enjoyed it. We walked around 6 houses in the area and even got to go inside one of them- a 16th century farmhouse, which was just gorgeous! They showcased lots of different kinds of gardens so it was nice to see a different mix and different ideas.

 

We ran a few errands then headed home to get ready for my Grandmother's birthday party. It was nice to see all the family together.

Sunday was pretty low-key. I went to work and after I got out, Jimmy and I ran some errands so I could return a few things and deal with my phone. That whole process was surprisingly painless-since it's still under warranty, they will be sending out a new one this week, no charge! Can't get much better than that!

We also went to the driving range after it cooled down a bit and he made dinner for us on the grill. We watched some of the ball game but I got frustrated and turned it off lol I ended up falling asleep pretty early, which is probably why I felt so rested on Monday morning-getting almost 9 hours of sleep, when you're used to running on about four, will do that apparently haha

It's a family affair, it's a family affair

We started off the weekend with lots of family stuff before the Memorial Day stuff. On Saturday, Jimmy's dad came into town for his 50th birthday so his family got together for dinner. After dinner, Jimmy and I went up to the driving range before meeting up with his dad, brother and his girlfriend and one of his cousins to watch the UFC fights at Buffalo Wild Wings. (Can I just say I do not get that "sport"? It's soooo violent!)

I was more than a little tired at work the next day (hence, the coffee and large sweet tea lol), but after work, we went over to my parents for dinner and ice cream. My mom and I even convinced Jimmy and my dad to play Euchre! It's actually quite a feat, so we were pretty happy :-)

After dinner, Jimmy decided to play with his smoker and make some jerky so me and Madison hung out outside and played with bubbles (more on my gigantic bubble fail later this week :-/). It was a nice beginning to the weekend, which was even better because I didn't have to work Memorial Day-since, I work in food service, that's pretty rare so we were looking forward to enjoying some holiday fun!

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers. So mothers, be good to your daughters too.

I posted on Mother's Day about my mom, but what I left out is where she gets it- from her mom, my grandmother.

I was so lucky to be able to have her in my life for 17 years and I have a lot of really special, important memories from that time. My grandmother and my mom are two of the sweetest, most gentle souls you'll ever meet- and even though my grandmother is gone, I'm still so blessed to be able to see her family who is just as sweet and kind as she was.

On Thursday, my family was able to get together with my great-aunt and uncle, and my mom's cousin and her husband for dinner. It was so nice to be able to see them again! My great-aunt and uncle live in Atlanta so we don't get to see them super often but we always have a good time when we do.

Cousin Nancy, Aunt Barbara and my Mom

I'm so blessed to have so many amazing women in my life who have shown me the way!

I said I thank you, I'll always thank you. More than you could know, than I could ever show. And I love you, I'll always love you.

Guess who didn't take one.single.freaking.picture of her Mother's Day weekend?

This girl, right here.

Oops.

On Saturday, Jimmy's family came into town to take his grandmother to dinner. It was my first time meeting most of them, but I think it went well. They were a lot like my family - lots of talking and laughing - so I think I fit right in. After we met up with them, we went across the street to a little street fair that was going on to do some people watching (one of our favorite activities haha) before heading home and grilling some ribs we had bought earlier in the day. Jimmy bought a new grill this week and has been using it as much as possible, not that I am complaining in the least :-)

After work on Sunday, I met up with my family to see the Avengers. Jimmy was golfing but ended up being done in time to meet up with us to see the movie, which was nice. The movie was pretty great - the rest of my family is into comic books so they were really excited to see it and I think they got a lot more of the jokes, but I enjoyed it (especially Thor...and Robert Downey Jr...and Mark Ruffalo lol) When the movie was done, my family cooked out with their neighbors so me and Jimmy went back to hang out with them and eat - it was delicious, as per usual. It was nice to see my family as well, I feel like I've been so busy, I haven't been able to see them as much as usual :-/

Me and Jimmy were able to relax a little bit that night as well - watched some baseball and sat outside. A pretty excellent weekend, if I do say so myself.

Did you guys have a good weekend?

Any Mother's Day celebrations?

Hey Mama, I want to scream so loud for you 'Cause I'm so proud of you, let me tell you what I'm about to do. You know I love you so, I'll never let you go.

When I was younger, I idolized my next door neighbor. She was a few years older than me and just so cool-everything she did, I wanted to do right behind her.So whenever we went to the movies, and she got a package of Sour Patch Kids, I wanted a package, too.

Except, I didn't like sour things.

So my mom would suck the sour sugar off so I could eat the gummy part. I can still remember watching her face pucker after the umpteenth Sour Patch kid, just so I could eat the middle.

That's the kind of mom I want to be.

 via PostSecret

Happy Mother's Day!

Your daddy told you when you were a girl the kind of things that come to those who wait.

So I have a lot of lists of "___ to do before I die" - most of them are sports related, i.e. see all the major league baseball parks, attend an Olympics, go to an oversees soccer match. There's also "places to see before I die" - Ireland, Australia, Israel. But one list I've been lucky to cross off the most entries from is "bands to see before I die" - there were some, like Dashboard Confessional, that seemed really important at the time, and they aren't as important now, but I'm still glad I saw them but some like Bruce, Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet, are bands and performers I still love.

Fountains of Wayne was on the list. And I'm happy to say I was able to cross them off!

When the concert was announced, I was debating about buying tickets because Bruce Springsteen tickets went on sale the same day and I kenw I would probably have to choose, which seriosuly broke my heart. But then! My dad offered to buy one, and I could buy the other, which was awesome. But even awesomer? My dad buying my whole family tickets to both shows so we could all go together!

We all met up before the show to have dinner at this place my dad has been talking about months - Howe's Bayou. If you like Cajun food and you're in the Metro Detroit area, check it out!

on the left is my catfish po'boy and on the right is was out peach cobbler-YUM!

After dinner we walked down the street to the Magic Bag to see the show!

My parents stayed in the back while my brother and I made our way...where else...up front, to see the opening act and mess around with instagram haha

Nicole Atkins opened up and I really enjoyed her-she had a really beautiful voice!

Then it was time for Fountains of Wayne!

They played a few of my favorites - Little Red Light, I've Got a Flair, Hey Julie, A Valley Winter Song, Radiation Vibe, Red Dragon Tattoo, Sink to the Bottom - but no Leave the Bike, unfortunately :-( Maybe next time haha

Do you have any bands you want to see?

Any other "before you die" lists, or am I the only morbid one? lol

Because the night belongs to lovers, because the night belongs to us.

Remember a few days back when I said that March was boring? Well, April has been anything but! I was feeling some live music withdrawals and between the concert I saw last weekend and the concert I saw on Thursday, I would say I've been fully cured (though I have another show next week! Yippee!)

I had been looking forward to this show for months-ever since tickets went on sale and my dad got them. No matter that this is the fourth time I've seen them in concert...

Cause really, can you ever seen Bruce Springsteen too many times?

No, no you can't.


My mom, dad, neighbor and I all headed up to the Palace after work on Thursday which, if you've been, is not exactly a fun drive. But totally worth it!

Like I said, this is the fourth time I'd seen Bruce and the second time seeing him at the Palace. Out seats were in the upperdeck, on the opposite side of the arena from the stage. They were pretty good, especially considering we were pretty much dead center.

We could see everything, but unfortunately, we were too far for any decent pictures so these were the only ones worth sharing. I took a few more, but they didn't really turn out. It was kinda nice actually, because I just put my phone away and enjoyed the show.

Bruce played for a little over three hours and it was amazing - there's really no other word for it. He played lots of stuff off the new albums (which I love) including opening with We Take Care of our Own and Wrecking Ball, then Death to My Hometown, Jack or All Trades, We Are Alive, Land of Hope and Dreams and Rocky Ground sprinkled throughout. He played lots of crowd favorites as well - Badlands, Youngstown, Born to Run, Thunder Road, Dancing in the Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. My Mom's favorite album got some love too with The Rising, Waiting on a Sunny Day and My City of Ruins, while my dad enjoyed some songs he's never heard Bruce perform live in the 6 times he's seen him- Candy's Room, Trapped, She's the One, Incident on 57th Street.

There's two song that I love that rarely get played live so I was holding out hope that I would hear at least one of them. Not only did he play both (!) but he played 41 Shots into Because the Night. I about died right there!

It was the first tour without Clarence, but his nephew did a great job filling in - it gave me chills when he played the sax solos on Thunder Road, Badlands and of course, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. They also had a tribute video to him that they played which was so sweet.

One of the highlights was when Bruce brought a little kid up to sing the chorus of Waiting on A Sunny Day. He was adorable! And at the end of the chorus, he yelled out, "Play it, E Street Band!" and the entire band picked right back up-so cute! Then he and Bruce did a slide across the stage-the entire place went wild!

The past few times he's gone on tour, my dad has said that it's going to be the last. And every time, it's not. So my dad said it again, especially after how deep he was going into his catalog, that this was probably going to be it. I really hope he's wrong again!

One morning when Pharoah awoke in his bed, there were frogs in his bed and frogs on his head.

Last week, my family and I went to my grandparents to celebrate the first night of Passover...
It was fun, if relatively uneventful, but at the kids table (yes, I was at the kids table) we decided to continue the tradition of Passover Haikus....

No soup spoons
Passover dinner is off
But what else is new?

Jews can't have nice things
Historically speaking
I mean, c'mon, man

No China for you
Kids table makes a comeback
But I'm 24

Cousins own table
Amanda cracking up
Are we still age 10

Passover seder

A family tradition
We had Sonic

Needless to say, we kept ourselves entertained haha

The nest morning, I got the sweetest Easter basket from Jimmy and his daughter

So sweet!

I had to work, so the three of us went and got some breakfast before I had to leave. A few hours later, they stopped by and visited me at work so I showed them around the bakery. It was kinda fun to show off my office haha

I know this is late,
but did you guys have a good Easter?

So kiss me, I'm shitfaced I'm soaked, I'm soiled and brown

(Anyone else think of St Patty's every time you hear that song? No? Just me? Ok, then...)

My St. Patty's Day was decidedly uneventful...and that's honestly, the way I prefer it. No green beer or car bombs for this girl-it's just not really my style anymore.

Instead, I went over to my parents house for some traditional Irish fare and brought Jimmy home to "meet the parents". It went well, which was a relief, but really how bad can things be when there's corned beef and cabbage? haha

He originally had to work, but got called off last minute so I had promised to make him a belated St. Patty's dinner on Sunday of delicious reubens. He went to the store to get all the supplies, so imagine my surprise when I came over on Sunday to find not sliced corned beef, but a whole 5-ish lb corned beef roast! (is that even what it's called? lol)

While we were out, I started looking up recipes for easy corned beef and found one with just two ingredients-

Can't get much easier than that!

All I had to do was rub the brown sugar over the meat...


Pour the Guiness over it...
Cover...
And bake!

It was so super easy, even I couldn't mess it up! haha It turned out really well too-not dry, pretty flavorful. We both really enjoyed it and he was able to take it for lunch this week too-win/win!

Did you do anything fun for St. Patty's Day?
Do you like an traditional Irish food?

Throwing hunnids, hunnids, hunnids, hunnids.

Even though I failed miserably at my Oscar Challenge this year, I still wanted to see the Artist, especially after it won Best Picture.

It was still playing at a theater downtown, so my mom, my uncle's girlfriend and I went to see it last week.

Honestly, I was a little nervous about being able to sit through a silent movie. It's only been a recent development (like the past two years) that I've been able to sit through a movie on a regular basis (sad, but true lol) But! I loved it! Jean Dujardin was amazing, as was Bérénice Bejo. I just died over the costumes too-the flapper dress was my absolute favorite!

The next night, my dad and I went to my old high school to watch the last basketball game of the season.
They were ranked in the Top 10 in the state so we wanted to be sure we saw them before the season ended. They played really well-in fact, they were winning by almost 20 at the end of the 3rd quarter! We ended up leaving not long after that, but it was nice to watch them play and spend some time with my dad :-)

But man, it was a trip to be back in my old high school! I can't believe it's been 6 years since I graduated! AH!

Did any of you see The Artist? What'd you think?
Ever make a trip down memory lane (To an old school or otherwise)?

Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind

I know everyone was just on pins and needles waiting for the second part of my recap, right? haha

When I found out we were going to Savannah, I was talking with a coworker who had been before and loved the city. She told me all sorts of places to eat and see and then mentioned that Savannah is supposedly super haunted. um...WHAT! I'm a sucker for stuff like that, so I immediately started looking up ghost-related stuff and found a bunch of walking "ghost tours".

I convinced my brother to go with me, but my parents ended up coming to.

My brother and I practicing our "we just saw a ghost" faces lol

It was definitely my favorite part of the trip!

We walked around the historic district and our tour guide told us all sorts of creepy stories and lots of just general history about Savannah as well.After we were all sufficiently creeped out, we grabbed some pizza and went back to the hotel. I'm pretty sure I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow-I was exhausted! lol

The next day, my brother had some stuff to do for school (ya know, the whole reason we were on the trip lol) so while he and my parents did that I walked around Savannah and explored.

I mostly retraced our steps from the night so I could see everything better and take some pictures. We spent a lot of time at one of the cemeteries the night before, so I went back and walked around. It was so quiet and peaceful-the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

When my parents were finished with their part of the school stuff, we met back up and did some shopping. I was pretty hungry, but was able to finally get the thing I had been craving since I knew we were going down south...

Definitely the second best part of the trip haha

Unfortunately, our trip got cut short because there was a massive storm heading through the mountains. Instead of staying the night like we planned, we left early and started our trip home. We made it through the mountains, and passed the storm, before stopping around 2am and the next morning, we finished the trip home.

Admittedly, I've been apprehensive about my brother going all the way down to Georgia for school (Cause I'll miss him!!!!!) but after seeing how cool it is down there, I may be changing my mind- if only so I can go visit him hehe

The devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal.

So two weeks later isn't too late to post about my mini vaca is it? No, I didn't think so lol

My brother has been looking at a school down in Savannah, GA and my parents and him were going to go check it out for a few days. My mom mentioned it to me and said if I could get the time off work, I could tag a long. Um...duh!

We left early Thursday morning and drove the entire way there. 16 long, long, long hours. I don't think I've ever been so excited to be done driving.

Friday, we pretty much had the day to do whatever we wanted so we dropped my dad off at a nearby gold course, and went downtown. We walked along the river and then came back into the downtown area and walked around some more. I just couldn't get over how absolutely beautiful the city was!

We picked my dad up and got some lunch and Moon River Brewing Company. YUM! It was delicious especially after an entire day of fast food haha

Then we walked around a little more-I don't think I've ever seen so much Paula Deen in my life!
We eventually headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for our evening-my favorite part of the trip, which I'll post about tomorrow (I know ya'll are just dying with suspense! lol)

They say it's your birthday. We're gonna have a good time.

I don't usually do "foodie" posts-I like food, don't get me wrong. But it's not exactly a passion of mine and I don't really know too much about it.

But the meal that I had on my birthday was so good, I just had to share. We went to the Roadhouse, which I had been to a few times before, but the food we had this time was the best I've had there-everything was sooooo good!


Our server was super sweet and everyone we came in contact with was amazing. It definitely made the whole experience that much better.Sweet table decorations-I have an unhealthy obsession with balloons lol They are still living in my apartment :-)

We started out with mussels which were in a white wine and garlic sauce. Um...yum! I hadn't seen these on the menu before and I'm so glad we were able to try them. They were one of my favorite parts of the meal. I could've eaten just these and been a happy girl!

Our waitress brought us out a sample of the Pimento cheese and told us all about how good it was. We, of course, already knew but didn't have the heart to tell her we had just bought a quart of it earlier in the day haha


Another server had noticed we were done with the mussels, but still had lots of the delicious suace left, so he brought is out some bread to dip in it. Oh.My.God. I can't even describe how good it was-we just kept eating and eating it! We were almost stuffed and hadn't even ordered our entrees yet!

While we let all that digest waited for our food, we took some pictures...


My parents-they always look like this! My mom has a big grin and my dad...looks like that haha

I couldn't take a decent picture to save my life that night (or so I thought lol) So my brother and I settled on the "Steve Colbert"...


And the reverse...

I'm sure the people at the next table didn't know what to think haha Then our food came and all thoughts of pictures went out the window....

They specialize in "really good, American food" and that is exactly what we got! I had a BBQ sampler basically-four different kinds of meat with four different kids of sauce. So good and so much food! I got three meals out of it! My brother had fried chicken and we split a side of their famous mac and cheese (no really, it was on the Food Network!). My mom had seared sea scallops and my dad had gumbo-it was all delicious. I'm pretty sure if it was socially acceptable to lick our plates, we would have lol

Even though we were stuffed we weren't going to say no to dessert....

Yes, that's a doughnut with ice cream on top.... A homemade doughnut sundae.

We also got butterscotch pudding, which has sea salt sprinkled on top. My brother named it "God's caramelized salted sugar bowl." And, no, I don't think that an exaggeration-it was that good. It was light and creamy and deliciously buttery. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

After all of that we were all sufficiently stuffed. I went to bed pretty much immediately after I got home. Food coma = birthday success.

But I can't keep my hands out of the cookie jar.

One of the benefits of working at the bakery I work at, is that we are able to take the classes we teach for free and bring people with us-which is great, because they are lots of fun! I've taken a few before, so I was pretty excited when my Grandmother suggested that her, my mom and I take one together.

She came down for the afternoon and we met up for dinner before class. The class we took was all about Jewish cookies-including how to make rugelach, my grandfathers favorite!


We made rugelach (cream cheese pastry rolled up with currants and walnuts), mandelbread (Eastern European biscotti with almonds and citrus) and apricot hamentashen (sugar cookie-like dough filled with apricot preserves).

The second best part of taking the classes is that everything is done for you-all the ingredients are provided and measured out for you, and they do all of the clean up. It's baking without any of the hassle, only the fun part! lol

The best part of it, is of course, all of the goodies you get to take home :-)

So this is the new year. And i don't feel any different.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe and fun New Year! Mine was pretty quiet, but it was kind of nice, actually.

I had to work till 6 on New Years Eve and then again at 7am on Sunday morning, so a low key night was definitely the best option.

I went over to my parents to a delicious dinner and then me and my parents watched Our Idiot Brother.


I had actually already seen it, but we were having trouble deciding on what to watch so we settled on this. I think I enjoyed it more the second time around, which doesn't usually happen lol It's a pretty cute movie though and my parents liked it, too.

After that we setteled in for a night of basketball and bowl games.

My view for most of the night

We watched Indiana beat Ohio State and Auburn beat Virginia while my mom and I played cribbage

(at which I won. Handedly.)

We also made some "mock-tails", well mine was...my mom added vodka to hers lol It was sparkling grape juice, simple syrup and candied ginger.

Yum!

What did you guys do for New Years?
Anything exciting? Or did it look like mine? haha

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

So who's up for a Christmas recap a week late? haha This week has been all about recouping-catching up on sleep, cleaning and laundry(!!!!), some more sleeping, and seeing some friends and family. Now I just need to find time to fit in the 30+ hours of DVR I'm behind on lol

Hannukah and Christmas were pretty good in my neck of the woods. My family spoiled me as always-nail polish, an Ipod hookup for my car, tea infuser, plus books, more nail stuff and a new bed-wahooo! No more sleeping on the floor for this girl!

We also got to see my Grandpa and his wife for lunch the Friday before Christmas and my mom and I were able to see my grandma one afternoon this past week.

Christmas day itself was pretty busy! I hadn't had a day off in about 2 weeks so I was really looking forward to some relaxing-which happened a little bit lol

We woke up early to Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls (seriously delicious-try them sometime. You won't be sorry!) and then headed out to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Yes, as a family-I have a history of watching awkward films with my parents. Zak and Miri Make a Porno, anyone? :-/

The movie itself was pretty good-though not as good as the book, in my opinion. Rooney Mara, however, was excellent-she played Lisbeth *exactly* how I envisioned in while reading. Really, really amazing performance.

After the movie, we got some sushi like any good Jewish family on Christmas lol Luckily, our favorite sushi resutrant was open so we grabbed a bite before heading home for a brief nap, after which I headed out to see a few friends.

All in all, a pretty lovely day. The holiday season felt super long this year, and while I'm glad it's over (mostly just as far as work in concerned) it was nice to be able to spend time with friends and family. It's been a crazy, amazing, stressful, wonderful year and the last month has been no exception-yet through it all, I can't help but feel exceedingly blessed to be living the life I am.

Did you guys have a good Chirstmas? Is anyone else still trying to play catchup or am I the only one who feels that way? haha

I've been waiting all day for Sunday night.

On Friday, M and I went to see The Descendants. I'll admit, I didn't really know much about it. All I knew was that my Dad wanted to see it and that George Clooney is in it. In retrospect, it was probably a little too depressing for a date movie, but it was really good! We both enjoyed it a lot!

It was definitely sad, but there was also some pretty funny lines. The girl in the film is also on The Secret Life and it took me almost the entire movie for me to stop imagining her with a preggo belly haha All in all, I really liked it plus you get to see George Clooney so how can you go wrong?

Since I really wasn't feeling well after work on Saturday night I rented a movie (What would I do without RedBox?) and chilled out for the night. Unfortunately, they were out of Blue Valentine so I got 30 Minutes or Less.


Big mistake! I love Aziz Ansari so he was pretty funny, along with Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, but the entire movie I kept thinking "This all could've been avoided if he just called the cops!" Luckily, it was only $1.25 so it's not a huge loss.

Last night I went over to my parents to watch the Lions play and ended up spending the night. Unfortunately, they not only lost but looked horrible. And on top of that, it was again on a national stage. I still have faith, but c'mon guys! On the plus side, being able to crash at my parents is a nice perk of still living in the same city :-)

Did ya'll do anything exciting this weekend?
Happy Monday!