If You Can't Take the Heat...

Following the noble tradtion of singles wards across the nation, Tallahassee's very own 5th ward holds a "Break the Fast" potluck on the first Sunday of each month. This past Sunday it was "Battle of the Sexes" themed--each gender's dishes were to be compared, judged, and the winners were awarded first pick of the dessert table. On Thursday I get a lovely wall post from our Break the Fast Co-ordinator proclaiming her excitement for my "Chinese Onion Pancakes". Chinese....onion...pancakes? Oh dear. Lots of thoughts ran through my head...confusion..and...well, mostly confusion. Long story shorter: I figured she needed someone to make them and I blindly follow orders, I googled them, and learned something new.

Sunday morning, I walk into the kitchen with my oniony goodness, and tell her something along the lines of, "Well, I don't know what you're expecting, but I tried...". She turns and looks wide eyed at my dish. "You MADE them?" A few minutes earlier, CINDY, a girl from Taiwan had brought in her plate of, you got it, Chinese Onion Pancakes. Apparently Cindy doesn't have the clearest handwriting. And she signed up right next to Kristen, so Lindy was the next name that came to mind. What that says about me and Kristen, I don't know. :)

So, my googled version of a Chinese staple faced off against a, shall we say, authentic version. And I'm told mine put up a good fight. Were maybe even (dare I say it?) preferred. Take that, all of Asia.

Pictured in all of their glory. What you think is a table cloth is actually my apron! And yes, I am aware that it looks like it belongs on a 70 year old cat lady's couch. That's because thats where I got it! I helped a little old lady with her garage sale, and found this GORGEOUS throw pillow case. Now it is my apron, and I wear it with pride.

Speaking of cooking, I finally finished my little recipe book. Inspired by the recipe notecards Becca Renfroe makes, I took my favorite recipe's and made them into little 4x6 notecards. Then it was quick work to put them into a photo album (water proof!), and for convenience's sake make little tabs. I love tabs. Since I only had about 10 recipes that I loved that much, and it took a lot of time to make the silly cards, I went ahead and printed off Becca's recipes too! Thanks Becca! So now my little book is full. If you would like the cards, I can e-mail them to you. No problemo.

So handy!

Make Over

This is what I look like this week. I think its cuddly, cute, and tons of fun. But, that could be the medication talking.

Wedding Extravaganza

I now officially belong to the "Wedding" stage in life. I should have seen the signs before now. My fluff viewing and reading material has been shifting so slowly I didn't even realize what was happening. It started with the movies. Ten Things I Hate About You suddenly seemed immature and....highschoolish where it had once been so...grown up and cool. And then 27 Dresses, My Best Friend's Wedding, and finally Bride Wars just felt so...relevant. The finalality of it all came with Kendal's wedding. Now, this was no shotgun wedding. It was figured in our plans since househunting a year ago! But it still seemed to sneak up on us. I got to be a bridesmaid! Now, I'd been a bridesmaid in Kourtney and Jackie's weddings, but my bridesmaidly duties were basically "show up" and "love your sister". Check and check. But this time I had to...like...do stuff. There was dress shopping, the bridal shower, bachlorette party (hey o!), supporting and advising the bride, being generally helpful, and so on. So basically, I acknowledge that I'm growing up, and its not too bad.

The bridal shower! We went classy with a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme.

The amazingly fabulous invitations, brought to you by Alyse and Kristen's Auntie.

See those little pearls? They're mints! Mints!

There were some points in the decorating process where Kristen and I asked, "Is this too much, really?". The answer was always, "No."

I don't know where Ashley got all those Tiffany's bags and boxes. They don't just give those away you know. I guess someone loves her a lot.

Cute little favors filled with kisses, wrapped in love, and tied with a little bow.

After eating and gifts, we made scrapbook pages. Here Kristen and I work steadfastly. Well, she works steadfastly. Apparently I'm just really in love with that piece of paper.

Room mate love:

Kristen and I got to plan the Bachlorette party! I like those. We stuffed our faces at Stevi B's (Any and every pizza you can imagine. Really. Cheeseburger, Mac & Cheese, Bar-B-Que, and Baked Potato are the usuals. But we got Spinach, Mushroom and Alfredo on special request. And then Just Pickles on super special request.) The we headed back to Kendal's little love shack for games and gifts. What a wild night :)

The guest list was pretty exclusive:

Lara trying her hand at "Pin the Kiss on Chris"

(Virgin) Margaritas on the rocks.

Clever title brought to you by Kristen.

On an unrelated to weddings side note, I learned to make Cake pops!

Pay Pee Trash

I forgot I made a draft of this post during Easter weekend. Whoops.

Easter is so great. I like it. A lot. My parents love hiding things from us, so this is pretty much their holiday to really shine. My mom is a great hider. Not such a great rememberer. Almost every year there's one egg we just can't find. This year we broke with tradition and found all of them. Probably because my Dad helped her hide them and his mind is pretty much a steel trap.

The primary colored eggs with chalk at our house. They left the chalk. Then Jesse found a turtle. One thing led to another, and I would like to introduce you to Roscoe the Easter Turtle. Be aware that it washed off easily and went on painlessly. No animal was harmed during this process.

My mom has the cutest little "Happy Easter" bunny blocks she sets out every Easter. This year Jesse and I were left in charge of the decor and cleverly arranged them to spell "Pay Pee Trash." We had our giggles, and then promptly forgot about our trick. So that's what the little bunnies proclaimed to the primary during their Easter party. It became a game to see who could come up with the best alternative combination. I feel like my dad won with "The Raspy Ape." But I "Peers & Apathy" was a close second. I don't know why we don't play Scrabble more often. I love my family.

Sidenote: I love visiting my old ward. Everyone asks about my life. But what they're really asking is, "Why aren't you married?". Some are more subtle, but others just come right out and say it. It's so funny. Best question of the weekend: "Well, you got yer eye on someone steady, girl?"

Sidenote to the sidenote: Yes. Yes I do.

I'm also SO excited for the summer. No class and warm weather make Lindy a happy girl. I have plans. Big ones. I'm going to make a list just so I don't forget them.

Summer plans/goals/dreams:

1)Read books. I'm taking suggestions now. It's been ages since I felt the delight of an amazing new book.

2) Jogging. Every morning before work. Now that I've written it down it feels more concrete.

3) Trip to Texas in June! One of my very best friends from MIDDLE school (we go way back) is getting married, and I wouldn't miss it for anything.

4) Skydiving. We found a great place, and we get a group discount. All we need is the perfect date.

5) I'm going to New York City to visit Jesse. He's working up there all summer.

6) My wisdom teeth are being viciously ripped from my mouth June 1st. I feel like they didn't even get a chance to thrive.

Well, that's all I can remember for now.

Maiden Voyage

It's been raining. Raining, and raining, and raining. I was unsure if I would ever see the beautiful sun again. It rained enough to completely fill up the park in front of my parents house. Now there's a giant lake where there was a mere puddle before. The next logical step would be to build a raft and sail around it. It started as a joke, but we never know when to stop.

Here is Jesse working on the frame of our raft. Sparks fly, but he gets that a lot.

This would be my and Kristen's contribution to the raft making process. What could go wrong?

Oh. This was unexpected.

Our noble flag:

Kristen sustained a few injuries in the tube blowing up process. I was pumping my heart out as she sat on one end of the tube to help insure it would fill evenly. We had already patched the tube once, and it suddenly decided it couldn't take it anymore. It exploded, and Kristen hit the ground like a sack of rocks. She took it like a champ.

Pit stop:

Water is not supposed to be here:

Honestly, we had our doubts. But I'm pretty impressed.

Brought to You by Insomnia

I can't sleep. It's annoying, frustrating, and inexplicable. But while I'm up, I wanted to post the pictures from the Zoo. I went to the Jacksonville Zoo on Friday with Kristen and Lara. Yet another fun filled, road trip adventure. I explained my love for those earlier. Do try and keep up. The zoo was SUPER cool. I will show you my favorite parts.

Obviously white with black stripes. No, I will never let that go. Just concede already.

I like rhinos a LOT more after noticing their eye placement. It's just cute.

Get a room.

We're pretty talented.

Fancy pants elephant.

This was "We just found out we're going to be eaten by a Komodo Dragon." I don't think Andrew picked up on that. But perhaps he's just really excited to die in such an exotic way.

Tripping Over Myself

I've recently discovered that I love to take trips.
I love packing. I am both an over and an under packer. Quite the paradox, I know. I will always have q-tips, band aids, batteries, and a sewing kit, but never my toothbrush. It's actually kind of a problem.
I love sitting in the car/plane/train/creepy bus and having long, silly conversations.
I love sitting in companionable silence while taking in the scenery.
I love singing along with old school country and whiney punk rock songs.
I even like stopping for gas, using the creepy gas station bathrooms, and never really feeling whole again until I shower.
Luckily, I was able to have a lot of trips this spring break. First I went to Atlanta with Natalie. The five hour drive was surprisingly fun--we even threw in a couple of tricky detours to keep things interesting. I got to meet Natalie's sister, brother in law and niece. AND on top of that I did a million things I've never done before.
As a million is quite a lot, I will just tell you the highlights:
1) Dancing with no abandon in a room full of strangers. It was actually very liberating
2) Bath and Body Works Outlet! So many deals, so little time (and money, unfortunately).
3) A singles ward behind a temple. Now that was cool.
4) The largest aquarium in the world!
5) Trying 55ish coke products from around the world. Most were disgusting.
6) Eating some cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Where have you been all my life?
7) Attempting to haggle with a street vendor over a fake Prada bag. It didn't work.

I got some sweet pics at the aquarium. See?

We pretty much hung out with the cast of Finding Neemo. I felt like I already had a relationship with these fish.

Not actually as threatening as one might think.

My most favoritist, most depressing fishies.

Beluga Whales!

Well are you?

This guy is HUGE. Spread your arms out. Now imagine something bigger than that. He has a 9 foot wingspan, or something.

Takin' on the Jellies.

And the we went to the Coca Cola Factory. This "museum" is more of an Indoctrination camp. I'm not a big fan of coke, but now I'm strangely fond of it. I still don't like the taste, but I just feel better knowing that its there.
Yea, those are Coke 3-D glasses. We watched a 4D movie about Coke.