Food Glorious Food

I made a goal to explore Tallahassee this year. Best new year's resolution ever. I technically already had my adventure for this month last weekend, but I wanted to hang out with my BFF Lara, so we planned another one.

She took me to the blood bank to donate my blood. I'd never been to that blood bank before, so technically it counts as a new Tallahassee experience. Although I don't think I'll ever enjoy giving blood. I turn into a huge whiney baby. It's not so attractive.

Then I took her to a restaurant called Food Glorious Food. Obviously I'm much better at picking fun activities than she is.

We ordered sandwiches (The Addy and the Dagwood, respectively), and then split them with each other because we wanted to try both. That's why our friendship works. We share.

 The sandwiches come with a side of pasta salad, but we also ordered a special side of Mackin Cheese after our waiter told us they were known for it.

It was so good. Sooo good. The green pasta stuff is the Makin Cheese. And who knew Tuna and Mushrooms went together?? Our minds were telling us no, but our mouths were telling us yes.

We couldn't even finish our sandwiches and pasta, so we had to make do with just taking pictures of the dessert. There were three full cases of cheesecake, cupcake, regular cake, and other sweet things that may or may not have been cake related. So, we'll be going back soon to take care of that unfinished business.

We were supposed to do an intense day of shopping/errand running after lunch, but we were both feeling pretty woozy from having 2 pints of blood drained out of us, so we compromised for just going home and watching Benny & Joon on Netflix.  It was a good day.

Today's post was going to end there, but then this just happened. Things are about to get weird, ya'll.

Cory discovered Words with Friends (online Scrabble). We've had an ongoing game for the past few days. The game ended just now, in his favor.

So now he's marching around my desk and singing this song:

I win, I win, I am the champion!

I win, I win, I am the champion!

Even  with your degree

You must bow to mee!

And it just keeps going on like this. He has a few other improvised verses, but they all have the same general theme. Every now and then he'll shout, "This is really happening, Lindy! It's really happening!"

Maybe I should let him win things more often??

In my defense, my words were much better, but his strategy couldn't be beat. Curse you triple word score.

I should probably keep our weirdo moments to myself, but that one was too good not to write down somewhere.

Okay, that is all, for real.

A Saturday Morning Adventure

Saturday morning I had an appointment to get a hair cut. It was my second time with Angela at Hair on Earth. And it will not be the last.  She actually listens to what I want, and works with my hair to make it happen. She cuts my hair so that I never have to do anything to it. It just dries and does itself. It takes me less than 15 minutes from shower to finish to get ready these days. I love her.

Anyway, the hair cut got me out of the house bright and early. So, once I was finished with that I was out of the house, and had awesome hair. I couldn't just waste awesome hair on Saturday morning chores. So I went exploring.

As this was a last minute decision, I didn't have my camera with me. And that was a real shame.

I've been so blind. I've lived here for 4 years now and still haven't been anywhere! I'm working  on that.

Yesterday I checked out local produce. There is a tiny market called Tomato Land I've meant to check out for a while. I've been a little wary of places like this that claim to be "organic" so they charge twice as much but seem to have all the same labels that I see at our local Publix. But I wanted to see.

It was actually pretty cool. The little shop had a bunch of local honey and sauces. And the produce was  outside in crates. While  I was there a guy pulled up in a pick up truck and started unloading cabbages. He has a farm north of Tallahassee, and he was bringing in his morning harvest. Does it get fresher than that?

So, I got some cabbage. And lemons from south Florida were a quarter each, so I got some of those too. A mango too. Just because it looked good.  And some cilantro, because I actually needed it. And it cost me about $4.50, which is just as much as it would anywhere else. So I'd call it a win.

I don't know where the mango and cilantro came from. Mexico?

(Note: What does one do with cabbage?)

Then, since I was already halfway there, I finally checked out the Farmer's Market in Tallahassee. There were only 5 booths, so it wasn't a huge deal (I think its a little bigger in the summer time. Which makes sense). The Farmer's Market is in the center of this shopping center called Market Square. Its full of little local shops, and an antique mall (way overpriced though), a '50s Style Diner, and an old fashioned Ice Cream Parlor!  Also, there was a french pastry shop!

I bought some pastries and tiramisu at the pastry shop.  By the time I got home, Cory was finally awake and taking a shower. I told him of my adventures, and he told me about his sleep. Then we ate the pastries. Gotta balance out that cabbage, you know?

Later, I made homemade pizza for dinner with green peppers, onions, and dough I actually made from scratch! I also forgot to take a picture of that,  because seeing as all we'd eaten that day was pastries, we were very hungry. So,  no picture, but it did happen, and I 'm writing it down because I don't want to forget the first pizza I've made that Cory actually liked. (Southwestern BBQ Pizza did not go over well, and Ground Turkey Alfredo Pizza was a nightmare for the both of us which I will not soon forget.)

Anyway, I can't believe it took me  so long to finally check those places out. It's like a whole new world out there. I might make it a goal to check out one new place every month. Then I would actually know whats around here when people ask. Let me know if you want in :)

A Baby Shower and Pigs

This weekend I was able to be a part of a very sweet baby shower. Melissa requested a hot air balloon theme, and I think it's safe to say we delivered. :) 

Also, can I just say the more the merrier when it comes to party planning? It's sooo much easier/stress free when you're only in charge of one tiny aspect of a party.

Also, there are like, zero pictures of people because every. single. picture. I took of people came out blurry. I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to pictures of people. And  its really starting to annoy me. 

So, for those of you that weren't able to attend, let me walk you through it.

You walked up to the cutest blue house, with cloud streamers flanking the porch. 

The first thing you did when you came in was fill out an advice card for the mommy to be (in my case it was a theory/good luck card.) and then clipped it to the frame on the mantle.

Then you got some yummy brunchy food. Fruit, cupcakes, cake pops, breakfast casserole and chicken sandwhiches. Delish.

After eating you could make a little hot air balloon for the baby's mobile.

And then we played "Gift Bingo" while Melissa opened up her lovely presents.

On your way out you grabbed a vellum printed hot air balloon candle. Or two. I like candles.

There you have it! The only things I was in charge of were the yarn wrapped hot air balloons and bringing a few decorations/frames/platters I already had lying around the house. It was awesome.

After the shower I had the whole weekend to just relax, clean out closets, vacuum, and it has been so amazing. Cory and I watch a lot of netflix/hulu when we're hanging out these days, but I didn't realize how much we were depending on that until the internet went down for a few hours yesterday.

Cory was momentarily distraught, but he rallied and a few minutes later I hear: "Lindy, what are these little pigs????"

Pass the Pigs, baby. Thats what those are. If you're not familiar...you're missing out.

You roll the pigs like dice, and get points depending on how they land. You keep rolling until you reach 100 points. If they land on their side though, you lose all your points.

It makes sense. Trust me.

Lets just say, Cory might have a gambling problem. He keeps on rolling and rolling until he loses everything. I save up my points methodically and was definitely going to win on my next turn. I just knew it. But then, the Pass the Pigs gods smiled down upon him and Cory rolled 102 points in one long stretch. It was NUTS!

And now we know what people did before the internet.

We didn't put the pigs away, and all day today I've caught him practicing. A lot. It's all in the wrist.

In which babies are cute and family is fun

Christmas was good to us. Cory seems to really like the little grill I gave him (it comes with the unspoken agreement that there will be more steak in his belly in 2012 than all the previous years combined. Best. Present. Ever.) Cory surprised me with the fanciest of the fancy Kindles, and I'm in love. (Real book lovers, I am still one of you. But now I can splurge on the nice hardcopies of books I really love, and depend on the Kindle for my light fluff and travel reading...Also, I read 4 books last week at the touch of a button. I'm hooked.)

I didn't get a lot of pictures with Cory's family on Christmas. I guess I just got caught up in the rush of things. I was opening up boxes of cardigans like crazy. It was madness! I have like, 12 new cardigans! And a food processor! Things were nuts! We spent all of Sunday Christmas with Cory's family, enjoying our presents and eating ham after church. I really love my easy going in-laws. They're awesome.

My entire family (well, except for Brazilian Elder Sam, but we did Skype with him!) got together for the week after Christmas. We kissed baby Jane, and tickled Master Jefferson, and shopped for antiques like there was no tomorrow. It's like we had to fit 12 months worth of antique shopping into 2 days. And we succeeded.

All of our hard work getting the attic ready to be a play room was so worth it once we had the munchkins up there. Also, Jane loved my old baby doll the most. I win.

Trains. Jefferson is all about some trains. Just about the cutest thing in the world is to here him tell you about the engine, coal, and cargo ("Targo" according to him. And Uncle "Tory". And Aunt "Tourtney". Then you have cute overload, and we all die.)

Grandma decided that Jefferson needed a cool present, so we went out looking for the perfect present one Christmas Eve while Cory and my Dad played Golf. We found a great deal on this Polar Express set, and brought it home. Grandpa huffed and puffed that we were "overdoing it", but secretly we all know that he loved it.

Espcially when that Christmas Train (Tristmas Train. Ah!) had Jefferson making the face. The really happy one.

Basically we'd do anything to make that kid happy. And we did do anything. And it was worth it. By the end of the week Jefferson decided he was going to stay at Grandma's house forever. Mission accomplished. 

Yep. They've got Grandma and Grandpa right where they want them. Aside from spoiling perfectly good children, we did other stuff. We cooked a little bit. Jackie made caramel, and then dipped apples in it. Then she had chocolate to dip the caramel covered apples in. That was a pretty awesome night.

And we made loads of handmade cards to distribute for various occasions. Kourtney taught us her ways.

Speaking of Kourtney, let me tell you about her magical purse. I knew it was big, and I knew it held many mysteries, but I didn't realize how awesome it was until I was standing in a puddle of my own blood in the Christmas clearance aisle of Marshals. 

Okay, it wasn't a puddle. More like 4 giant drops on the ground. But, bleeding any amount of blood in Marshals is too much. Way too much. Just sayin'.

Kourtney whipped out tissues to stop the initial bleeding, sanitizer to cleanse the wound, Neosporn to...do whatever that stuff does, a small band aid to hold it together, a bigger band aid over the smaller one just to be safe, and THEN provided clorox wipes to clean up the blood on the floor. 

Help a sister out.

The wound was caused by a broken train/santa snowglobe that looked like a box with a lid, so naturally I tried to take the lid off and...then my finger was bleeding. Profusely. Just in case you were wondering.

She watched me more closely after that.

Anyway, during all of this, back at home Jane was still being cute.

She just can't help it. We put her in this tiny rocking chair, and when we sang rock a bye baby she would go to town rocking. And singing. Ah! How are you so cute?

Where was I? Oh yes, a new year. We said good bye to the 2011 and hello to 2012 without much a spectacle. 

The view from my parent's front porch at 6:30 AM, January 1, 2012

We simply went to bed one night and faced a very foggy New Year's morning. It was a little bit haunting. Like the old year just wasn't ready to let go. And seriously, where did that year go?