Honored

I've been a really lazy blog poster lately.  I know it's only been a week or so, but I've had this typed since last week. So I thought I'd post it anyway. I apologize for the lag, and Brittany, I warned you! :)

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So apparently this award has been floating around BlogLand, and I had no idea!

In reading my friend Megan's blog the other day, I saw she had won the Versatile Blogger award. How cool, I thought.  Only after I got to the end did I realize my wonderful friend had passed the award on to me!  How insane is that!?  I was so honored that I squealed out loud.  I think Lacey thought something was terribly wrong with me!  It's a great feeling to know that someone actually reads the blog other than the three people who tell me they do!  And it was even funnier that I had JUST blogged about my friend the day before.  Go read it here.  Meg and I share a love of Diet Coke.  Mine has returned to an addiction, I'm ashamed to say!

If you want some cool insight into Megan's life, please go read her blog. She mixes up her life happenings with her mad crazy baking skills along with some fantastic favorites that she finds.  But more important than that, Megan has the ability to brighten any room and cheer up the lowest of people.  She can lift a spirit and make someone feel like they are the most important person in her life.  I'm honored that I am her friend, and I'm honored that she chose me as the Versatile Blogger.  Seriously, go read her blog.

I haven't been putting this blog off.  I have just been terribly busy since last Friday.  David and I wrapped up 3 in 3 last week...that is wedding number 3 in 3 weeks.  Whew.  Glad to be done with that, but SO thankful to be able to attend all three weddings.  God truly has blessed us to be able to travel even with escalating gas prices.  And we're so glad that we were able to make it to these weddings.  Last weekend was Mary Claire Mills and Tyler Winford. Mary Claire was responsible for my beautiful make up during my wedding and a bunch of the bridesmaids hair and make up. Mary Claire is on the right, and my beautiful make up is below.  This was a special time for us as Mary Claire and I were born a few hours a part in the same hospital. Mary Claire, Tyler, and I all grew up at Colonial Heights Baptist Church as little kids, and our families go way back.  So it was fun to get to see two people come together.

Okay, back to my blog award!  So the rules say that I am supposed to tell you 7 interesting facts about myself.  Well, I can't come up with 7 interesting facts about myself.  I've never been good at doing this.  So as I thought of what 7 interesting facts I could tell you {read Megan's, they are GREAT!}, I remembered that my friend Brittany Martin gave me a top ten list of myself on my bachelorette party.  She described me to a "T" and made me laugh so hard because all of them are SOOO true!  I hope you'll laugh too {especially if you know me...if you don't, WHY are you reading my blog?}  In sticking with the rules, I'm only listing seven of them, and I'll try to elaborate a little.

7. "Sara knows more about MSU baseball than anyone I know."  I hate to say it, but this may be true.  Now granted, this is from Brittany's opinion {and I didn't ask her before I posted these}.  There are more knowledgeable people on baseball, I am quite sure!  I just really like MSU baseball!

6. "Sara can out-talk anyone, anytime, anywhere." I don't know about out-talking them, but I do love to talk! :)


5. "You can name any person within a 500 mile radius and Sara either grew up with them, did Mississippi Showstoppers with them, competed in Junior Miss with them, was in Rat Pack with them, or is connected to them in some way." I just like to talk so I know a lot of people!  When I was a freshman at MSU, my best friend Bethany's Dad nicknamed me a Russian spy because of the number of people I knew and ability to connect said people with other random people in the grocery store, an elevator, at the beach, or 500 miles from home!  Brit may be exaggerating on the ANY person part.


4. "Who else can paint pottery and make it look like a K. Raye original?" I'm not sure it looks like the original, but I do love to paint pottery!  When I first started painting pottery, I didn't have a house to display it in, so I painted pottery for my mom.  It just so happens that she collects K. Raye.  So I began painting pottery to match hers.  My most recent pottery that I painted for my house can be found here.  I'm not sure it looks like the original, but close. I do own some K.Raye of my own and wanted it all to match! A few of her pieces can be found here.  It's the pottery looking pieces and not the aluminum pieces.


3. "Her scrapbooks are so creative that they could be sold at Hallmark." Um, so maybe not Hallmark, but Brit captured me so well with this one in that I LOVE to scrapbook.  Unfortunately, it's kind of been put on the back burner so I can finish grad school, but I do have a million scrapbook supplies.  See this post!  I love it. It's therapeutic to me.  However, never in a million years do I want to do it for money. I'm not quite efficient enough! 


2. "On multiple occasions, Sara has been known to predict the winner of any pageant after simply hearing the judges' bios." I laughed when I typed this one that Brit wrote!  I enjoy pageants. I never really did pageants, but through voice lessons and show choir, we knew a lot of people who did.  One day, our showchoir was performing for a school pageant.  We were the featured entertainment.  One of the mom's listened to the judges credentials, and looked at their faces.  3 of the 4 judges were blonde and happened to have daughters in the show choir (hence the reason we got the gig).  This particular pageant didn't involve any talent portion.  She said, watch this. I bet I can pick the winner just by the girls walking onstage.  So she did. At the end, she was right.  She told us every judge thinks that her daughter is the prettiest so all she did was pick a girl that looked like a mixture of those three ladies daughters.  Picking pageant winners has been a game to me ever since!


1. "Sara can turn a 3 minute story into a 3 hour monologue."  Duh...you already knew this just from reading my blog!


I'm not sure how much that helped you know me, but hopefully it was a fun way to let you know some different things about me.


And now it's time for me to pass on this blogger award to someone else.  I'm nominating

Danielle Atchley at Anatomy and the Atchleys

I'm honestly not sure if Danielle ever reads our blog, but hopefully she will see this one so she can pass on this lucky award to someone else!  Danielle's blog is a mixture of happenings in her life, her nephew, and my personal favorite, her decorating skills.  I'd love to be as good at picking out trash to turn into treasure as Danielle. One day I'm going to go with her to the flea market to find some awesome stuff!  Hop over to her blog and take a look!

What Megan & Lacey Have in Common

What do my friend Megan and my dog Lacey have in common?

They both share the love of Sonic ice!

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, I'm serious.

My dog and my friend Megan LOVE this stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Sonic ice, just not as much as these two!  When she was so out of it on Monday after her surgery, she kept huffing and puffing like she was hot. She hadn't had food or water since the night before, but every time I put water in front of her, she wouldn't move to get any.  Luckily, I had some Sonic ice left over from my drink earlier that day.  I gave her some and it worked! She gobbled it up.

Today, I stopped at Sonic to grab a drink before leaving Starkville and ordered Lacey some ice. Did you know for $0.10 plus tax, you can score a small cup of Sonic ice?  I did!  Lacey had half of the ice gobbled up before we made it to West Point.  By the time we made it thirty minutes outside of Memphis and were at standstill traffic because two semis had collided, she had downed the whole cup!  Watching Lacey enjoy her ice brought back sweet memories of Sonic ice and my friend Megan.  Just wanted to share a few with y'all.  Who knew these two would have so much in common.  {Sorry Megs for comparing you to a dog, but you both are obsessed with this stuff!}

I think this love for Sonic ice began when we lived in the Chi Omega house. We had an ice machine in the basement that made Sonic style ice, and it was the most awesome thing EVER {besides being able to do four loads of laundry all at once at the Chi O house}.  Every day, Meg would have a cup of ice from the basement in her room and she would just munch on it all day.  Sometimes, she'd pour a diet coke in there, but for the most part, she would just chow down on ice.  It made such an impression on me that I too took up this habit. Now, you wonder why I know ice is $0.10 for a small from Sonic?  Our senior year, the ice machine BROKE at the Chi O house.  It had lived a long life. 1986-2008, I think.  But when it broke, we pitched a fit to Mama Jones that we HAD to replace it with the same type ice. None other would do.  She informed us of how much more expensive it would be and how much longer it would take to order it.  We didn't care.  I'm not sure if she politicked to House Corp or what, but somehow the Sonic ice machine was replaced with a new Sonic ice machine!  However, in the meantime to get our fix, Meg and I would head to Sonic and get cups of ice!  We were that addicted!

Now, while we always chomped on it alone, there was something about Sonic diet cokes that were just better than pouring our own.  And MANY times we would go to Sonic during Happy Hour and bring back diet cokes with EXTRA ice.  Meg taught me that trick. Who knew you could ask them for extra ice.  Meg is an admissions counselor for MSU and two summers I've lived in Starkville while Meg has worked Orientation.  It's kind of a tradition for me to bring her a large Sonic Diet Coke during her afternoon break on the first day of Orientation. I'm not sure what she's going to do this year without me!

On more than one occasion, we would all wind up going to see a movie at the movie theater in Starkville.  It was Megan's tradition to stop at CVS and get snacks and then head to Sonic to buy a cup of ice. She often got upset because the nice people would charge us 23 cents for a large cup of ice and when you paid a quarter, they'd assume you didn't want change. She never said anything to the carhops, of course, but when you hold a love for Sonic ice as much as we do, that's at least a dollar per month in change that Sonic kept!  Maybe not quite that much, but still. It was the fact that they assumed you didn't want your 2 pennies. And that just didn't sit well with either of us.  We'd smuggle in the cups of ice in our purse along with a diet coke from CVS and enjoy whatever movie Megan had talked me into going to see.

When Megan and I lived in Birmingham together one summer, the Sonic was forever away from our house!  Like so far away that Megan would rarely go get her Sonic fix!  So one weekend I had been to Starkville to visit David and when I left I stopped at Sonic and bought a Route 44 ice.  {yes, I really did}.  I then drove to Bham and brought Meg her ice.  It had not melted much on the two hour drive, and we stayed up and pretended like we still lived in the Chi O house!

It all started here, but thanks to Megan and the Chi Omega house, my DOG now shares a love of the Sonic style ice. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to visit Sonic again without getting Lacey a cup of ice!  She is, however, doing much better after her surgery.  You wouldn't even know she had major surgery on Monday if you saw her today!

Playing in the snow which strangely resembles Sonic ice!

Hi, My Name is Lacey

If you haven't met me, meet me.  My name is Lacey or as my parents often call me sweet Lace dog, Lacey Lou, Lace, or LayLay.  I'm not sure why they seem to think shortening my name is cute.  Then again, I have a really long French name that my originally breeders gave me. I'd hate for them to try to pronounce that.  

I came to live with Mom and David after they got back from the Gator Bowl and have spent most of my time with them learning how to explore new things.  David won't let me call him Dad.  He gets mad at Mommy when she calls him Dad.  I'm not a big fan of the backyard and would rather stay inside.  There is a big chocolate lab two houses over that barks at me through our cyclone fence.  Mom and David can't make out if he is a he or she.  They think he might jump the fence and come after me.  I used to ignore him until he said something one day that made me mad.  At 5am, I decided to wake the neighborhood and put him in his place.  For some reason, Mom didn't think that was too cool.  There is a Beagle on the other side of me.  He's smaller than me so I think I can take him.  I just ignore them both most of the time.  There's another big dog who lives inside the house behind mine.  We rarely see him outside, but his owner doesn't let him bark at me and makes him come inside if he starts. While I'm not a fan of the backyard, recently with the cool weather, David has been taking me on walks.  And I like walks.  But as soon as I get tired, I start lagging behind.  David's legs are much longer than mine, and I have to hurry to keep up.

I've really enjoyed my time with these people.  They are nice, they feed me, and they pet behind my ears.  David lets me get in bed and cuddle with Mom when he gets up to get ready for work.  I really liked these people until Monday....

On Sunday afternoon, I should have known something was up.  Mom cried to David all afternoon.  She doesn't usually do this so I didn't know what was wrong.  David got up to take me for a walk and when we came back, Mom had everything loaded in the car.  I suppose it was so I couldn't groan and whine while she did it.  We got in the car and she cried some more.  She even called people to cry to them.

We got to Starkville {my favorite of all of the houses Mom takes me to} and I barreled up the stairs.  Strangely, we slept downstairs.  We never sleep downstairs.  Mom always puts me in the big queen size bed with her.  We slept in a twin, and I made sure Mom didn't get any sleep because there wasn't room for me to stretch out.

Monday morning we woke up and she took me to the vets office.  I'm not like most dogs.  I like going to the vet.  There are a bunch of people there to pet me!  Mom was filling out paperwork and the nice girl that worked there picked me up and started petting me.  When she stopped, I took my paw and touched her to let her know she didn't have to stop.  Mom walked over, gave me a hug, said I love you, and left.  She wasn't crying, but she looked like she was about to.

Next thing I know, they are taking me to the back and drawing blood.  Then I don't remember anything except waking up with a terrible pain in my belly, drowsy, and sore teeth.  I realized I was missing a tooth and that there was a scar on my tummy.  I felt really woozy and was shaking, but Mom let me ride in her lap when she came to get me.  I barely recognized that it was my Mom.

When we got home, I slept a bunch and felt awful. I would barely move.  Mom kept calling people to see if I was okay and a bunch of people were calling to check on me.  She told me so.  I slept okay that night and woke up feeling a little better in the morning.

But all day I kept getting in trouble because I kept trying to lick that big scar.  Mom won't let me and she keeps threatening to go get my "eCollar."  Wonder what that means?  She acts like she really doesn't want to put it on me, but I think she's serious!  She watches me like a hawk.  She even caught me in the middle of the night trying to lick it.

I'm really hoping I feel better soon.  I'd post a picture of myself right now, but my hair isn't done, and I still feel bad.  And really, would you want a picture of yourself online for the world to see if you had just been "spayed."  I don't know what that means, but that's the word Mom keeps using.  She told me my teeth hurt because the vet cleaned them so my breath would be fresh.

I woke up this morning feeling much better. I ate all of my breakfast as soon as Mom put it in my bowl and drank a bunch of water.  Sometimes I forget that I'm sore and get too excited.  But then I stop because the pain hurts.

I really like it when people text Mom to check on me. I'll make sure she updates the blog to tell you how I'm feeling.  Until then, I'm going to sleep next to Mom on the couch.  She keeps petting my ears!

Nine Months of Marriage

Can you believe nine months ago we were doing this...

Signing this...

Standing here...

 

Praying this...

Running through this...

Kissing here...

Dancing in like this...

Eating this....

 

Singing this...

Ringing these...

 

Yeah, I know...neither can we!

We spent this past weekend in Memphis celebrating the wedding of two of David's high school friends Michael and Emily.  Michael was a groomsman in our wedding, and the only picture I have on my computer to post is this one.  You'll have to click on it to make it bigger on your screen, but Michael is the one to David's left and your right.

Emily and Michael have been dating since high school, and it was a joyous occasion to say the least Friday and Saturday night.  

Michael and Emily from our wedding rehearsal dinner

Interesting fact:  If you are married, it is always important to calculate how long you've been married before going to weddings.  Inevitably, the first question out of someone's mouth will be, "so how long have y'all been married."  To which your response should not be..."um, er, uh, hm...let me see."  Too often though, that's our response.  It's not enough to say we got married in June.  We have to put a month on it.  David and I have never been the ones who celebrate each "month" anniversary since marriage.  We're lucky if we remember it's Monday and to take the garbage out!  So we stand awkwardly at rehearsal dinners, receptions, and family get togethers and count in our heads how many months it's been.  I'm not sure if it's because it feels like we've been married more or less, but I was surprised to say 9 months this weekend.  And upon further inspection, our nine months fell on the same day that Michael and Emily were getting married.  And neither one of us had realized that!

There's just something about going to a wedding and thinking, we did that exactly nine months ago.  I know I've alluded to some of my friend's weddings in past posts, but it seriously is one of the most fun things to experience.  You get to actually LISTEN to the pastor.  And the pastor did such a great job talking about marriage this weekend.  When you're standing up there, you're in la la land and don't realize that marriage is going to have bumps and fights.  I don't know if we just thought we'd be the exception to the rule or if we just didn't care to think about it.  I firmly believe I thought we'd be the exception.  But throw two different people into one house, give them finances to manage together, submission, respect, and love....oh and a pile of dirty laundry, a vacuum cleaner, and ONE bathroom and see what you get.  It won't always be tulips and roses.  However, I think a large part of being married is how you respond to those circumstances.  Nine months down the road, and I absolutely LOVE being married to my best friend.  

David and I at Michael and Emily's wedding

Oh and please prepare yourselves, we'll probably be reliving this post in three months! :)

Pinch Me, I'm Irish!

Okay, so I'm not really Irish!  But the point of this post was to share with you my cute St. Paddy's day decor.  The only problem with this was......I didn't think it turned out cute.  So rather than taint your opinion of my artistic skills, I decided I wouldn't post it.  I did, however, have high hopes of refurbishing it and trying to improve upon it on Monday.  My grand plan involved coming home from Brandon on Sunday night where we attended the lovely wedding of Kayla McCarver and Stephen Bryant and redecorating it in hopes that it could make the blog.

Problem...

When we returned Sunday night, I was feeling ANYTHING but good.  I climbed in the bed with chills, and asked David if he was cold.  When he said no, I knew I was in trouble.  After waking up in the night constantly to fever, I woke up Monday to a sore, swollen throat, headache, 101 fever, and my ear was hurting.  Not cool.  After laying around for TWO days with a constant 101 fever and increasing ear pain, I finally went to the "Doc in a box" nurse practitioner.  She did a strep test (which came back negative) and decided I had...get this...an ear infection.  Yes, 1 month olds to five year olds are laughing at me everywhere.  I know. Seriously, I don't think I've had one of those since I was five!  BUT, she gave me a Zpack and like that the fever and ear ache were gone.  Still have more meds to go, but I'm so thankful for the relief.  And thankful for a husband who takes care of me (and our puppy) when I'm sick!

So no redo on the St. Patrick's wreath.  Oh well.  There's always next year.

Is it bad that, while I know we're supposed to think March 17th=St. Paddy's day, I think ooohh...Billy and Mary Beth's birthday!?  Those are two of my very good friends and St. Paddy's day is simply a way to remember that it's their birthday.  So if you know those two people (and I highly doubt you know both unless you're in my family), make sure you plan on wishing them a happy birthday!  And by all means, don't pinch them if they actually forget to wear green!

And all of the pictures I have on my computer of Billy are embarrassing pictures of me!  Billy and my husband love to golf when we're in Brandon, and I'm very surprised I don't have any photos of them together.  So I just stole some from his wife's facebook page!  We miss you guys!

They came to Memphis right before we moved here.

Happy birthday friends!

Celebrating Mardi Gras

Yesterday at about 2pm, a nice FedEx man rang my doorbell.  Lace and I aren't used to people dropping by unannounced so yes, I can't believe I'm admitting this to blogland, but I was just getting out of the shower.  We had Downline early yesterday morning, and I had simply come in from that at 8am and started working.  I'd had clothes on and not my PJs all day, but for some reason, I felt the need to wait until 2pm to take a shower. Shame on me.  So since I didn't know who was there, I quickly threw my PJs on, as they were in the dirty clothes, and I peaked out the window.  When I saw the FedEx man standing with that oh so perfect box decorated with Mardi Gras beads {Gambinos sends King Cakes in Mardi Gras FedEx boxes}, I jumped up and RAN to throw clothes on. I had this horrible thought that he would put it back on the truck and, heaven forbid, LEAVE.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

Next step was to rip open the box.  Gambinos usually sends Mardi Gras beads so I was going to put them on Lacey and send a picture to my Dad.  My Dad is a wonderful Dad.  When I was a little kid, my Dad used to dress up  us both up and have Mardi Gras parades.  I've never actually BEEN to Mardi Gras, but you can tell from this picture that I've celebrated Mardi Gras every year since I was little.

 

Anyway, so Gambinos did not send Mardi Gras beads this year {which is fine}, but they sent a sign that said Happy Mardi Gras. So Lacey posed with it. You can also see the FedEx Mardi Gras box and King Cake in the background.  I didn't have my real camera inside so I took this with my cell phone. That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

 

I sent that picture to my Dad {and Mom} and said "Lacey says Happy Mardi Gras and that she can't wait to try her first King Cake. She is after all French-Canadian!"  My Dad's response back was priceless:

"Yay. Glad it got there. Now you have to take that mean stuff about me off your blog. Happy Madi Gras and tell Lace I said to let the good times roll!"

So this is me, officially taking it all back.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.  I have the best Dad in the world, and I may be married, but not cut off from King Cakes.  David enjoyed his first piece of REAL DEAL King Cake last night, and while he liked it, I'm not sure it held the same meaning to him as it does to me. It's a lifetime of memories with my Dad {and Mom too, just more Dad...sorry Mom}, and when I eat it, I'm back to my childhood.  I text David yesterday and said, "King Cake for lunch, dinner, dessert, and breakfast! Woo Hoo!"  This morning I ate breakfast in my sleepy stupor and went back to put my bowl up, saw the King Cake, and thought, what the heck?  You only get to enjoy it once a year!

So last night, we ate Red Beans and Rice, French Bread, and....King Cake.  And I have a nice, unopened tube of cinnamon rolls in my refrigerator.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake. 

Thanks to the World's Best Dad! I love you!

Mardi Gras

It's that time of year again!  Mardi Gras of course!  It's tomorrow, March 8th.  And with that comes one of my favorite things--King Cakes!

For those of you who have never heard of King Cakes or don't know the history, I did my homework. This comes from Mardi Gras New Orleans: 

"As part of our Christian faith, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. We refer to this as the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night. This is a time of celebration, exchanging gifts and feasting. Today, the tradition continues as people all over the world gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. A popular custom was and still is the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings called "A King's Cake."

Inside every cake is a tiny baby (generally plastic now, but sometimes this baby might be made of porcelain or even gold). The tradition of having King Cake Parties has evolved through time, and the person who receives the slice of cake with the baby is asked to continue the festivities by hosting the next King Cake party.

Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of dough with a small amount of decoration. Today's King Cakes are much more festive. After the rich Danish dough is braided and baked, the "baby" is inserted. The top of the ring or oval cake is then covered with delicious sugar toppings in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

In more recent years, some bakeries have been creative with stuffing and topping their cakes with different flavors of cream cheese and fruit fillings.

January 6, the Twelfth Night after Christmas, is also the day our Mardi Gras season begins. Mardi Gras Day is always 47 days prior to Easter Sunday (Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday)."

Back in the day, my father would mail me a King Cake from the best bakery in New Orleans, but considering last year he cut me off and only sent my brother one {cruel}, I had to do something to suffice.   Many of you reading used to come partake in my room.  The FedEx box would come with its purple, green, and gold beads on the box, I'd rip it open, we'd ice it in the middle of our dorm/XO house floor, and dive in.  Thanks for the memories Dad.  Getting engaged = cut off.

If you're like me and live no where close to New Orleans, you don't get good King Cakes. And honestly, the thought of spending $7 on one from the grocery store disgusts me.  1. Because they are overpriced for a nasty product.  2. Because they don't taste like the real deal.  So, in effort to make a cheaper version {thank you coupons} and moist version close to the real deal, my mom gave me this recipe last year.  All you need is food coloring, sugar, cinnamon rolls, and the icing that comes with it.

Directions: Buy a package of packaged cinnamon rolls--you know the kind in a can?  Note that you need to buy the kind that you can unroll and not the kind that come as single rolls.  Take an individual roll, unroll it, fold it in half and twist to create a braided look.  Lay in bundt pan.  Use three to form the outer ring and two to form the inner ring.  Cook on 375 for about 20 minutes {350 and less if you have a gas oven like me that tends to burn things if left in for the specified time}.

I forgot to take a picture of the product un-iced so this is last years king cake.

While the cake is cooking, you need to prepare your sugar.  Use 1/2 cup sugar for every 1/2 teaspoon food coloring.  I usually decrease this to 1/4 of each.  You'll have plenty left over.  Whisk in a bowl until color is dispersed then store in plastic bags. You don't think this is going to work, but I promise it does.

Cool, ice {with the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls--I usually buy cream cheese icing cinnamon rolls}, sprinkle, and serve!

The final product {make sure that you have a super cute cake stand to display on}:

Mmmmm! Happy Mardi Gras everyone!