Updates

This past weekend was a busy one for the Longmire household. I know this is a little late for an update, but since you are all dying to know what has been going on with us I'll share!!

Thursday night we went to the Miami game. It was a little too cold for the whiteout, but we made our best effort. Normally I struggle to actually watch the football games even though I go to all of them, but I actually watched some of this one! It made Ben so proud, let me tell ya. Anyway, it was a good game and a big win for the jackets. Next up: Georgia. Be sure to check out Ben's blog entry this week about Hate Week.

I really like this picture!! Next time you are at my house, you will probably see it framed somewhere.

We celebrated birthday #2 on Friday which started out with dinner at La Paz (Yummy!) and ended up at Vintage Tavern. In my group of friends, birthdays have always been a big deal! In college each birthday was a huge production and typically lasted about a week. We aren't quite as dramatic these days about bdays but there is usually some type of get-together. (These days we look for any excuse to get together though) Anyway, fun was had by all that night and here are a few pictures to prove it!

Thanks, Carrie for sending the pictures from your camera! Mine did not turn out very good.

Since Carrie and Susan stayed at our house on Friday night, that meant that we just HAD to go to OK Cafe for lunch the next day. Carrie and I both love to eat, so when she is around you can always count on the fact that you'll eat good! Saturday afternoon was spent laying around. Not really sure what I did other than hook up my new Wii Fit. That night we had an engagement party to attend but I was a slacker and didn't take a single picture.

Sunday was more of the same. We literally did nothing all day. Except eat pizza, watch football, and go grocery shopping.

Then on Monday, we went to see MADONNA at Phillips arena! It was incredible. Ben can probably give you a better analysis of the concert than I can, but I'll take a stab at it. Madge opened up to some of her new stuff that I didn't really know. This didn't matter too much because I was just enamored with the dancing/costumes/show. She did a really great job at sprinkling in her older stuff including Vogue, Into the Groove, Borderline, You Must Love Me, and Like a Prayer. She even did an audience version of Express Yourself. I wasn't that impressed with that portion -- I guess she wanted involvement from the audience but I would have preferred to just hear her sing it herself. She is an amazing dancer and incredibly in shape. All in all it was a great concert. We were exhausted from it on Tuesday but it was well worth it! Here are a few pictures.

Just Call Me Grinch

I'll have a real post later, but right now I just need to say something that needs to be said.

I. AM. ANNOYED.

At the risk of sounding like a complete scrooge, I am annoyed because of Christmas. I know that sounds awful but seriously, it is supposed to be a holiday about family and friends and peace and happiness. And frankly, right now it isn't. Christmas is a stressor for several reasons:

1) it is sneaking up on me and i don't know when we will find time to get our tree up and our house decorated

2) i have an ever-growing list of gifts to buy for people and have no clue what to buy them. this means i'll end up buying them something that they don't need (otherwise they would buy it for themselves) and thus wasting my money

3) i don't know when i will find time to go buy the gifts that these people don't really need/want

4) i feel over-committed during the holidays. of course you have the family christmas(es) and the friend get-togethers, and maybe a work party. that is to be expected. but suddenly i'm looking at my december calendar and realize that i don't have a single free weekend!!!! that really gives me great anxiety.

5) right after christmas, we have possibly the worst holiday of all time. New Year's Eve.

If I have offended you, please understand. It isn't any one of these things that frustrate me, it is the combination of all these things.

Was This Really Necessary?

A LARGE steak biscuit? LARGE.

Don't you judge me!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all your phone calls, emails, and blog shoutouts!! (Quick background story here: Josh knows that she is one of my favorite bloggers and had her wish me happy bday on her blog today. Thanks, Josh!)

We went to dinner with my family at South City Kitchen, which was fantastic! I always eat the buttermilk fried chicken there, which is nothing short of delicious. It is maybe some of the best I've ever had! Yall really do need to try it sometime.

I know it might be frivilous to talk about my birthday, but whatever. I think it is fun, and I would want to read all about your birthday if I were reading your blog. So, therefore I'm going to share ....

I got these from my dad first thing this morning. From my all time favorite cupcakery (Sweet Pockets)! I ate one of the chocolate ones earlier this morning and am about to have a vanilla one once I finish blogging.

Then, I got all these awesome gifts from my family! I can't wait to put it all to use. Especially all the new jewelry!! And do you notice that dress in the front of the picture? It appears that the 'hint hint' section of my blog worked -- Ben gave that to me. As you can see, I did change out of my mis-matched outfit from earlier today!!

A couple things that I wanted to point out which do not really show up well in the picture. Remember this necklace that i just HAD to have? This isn't the exact same one, but once I realized that Ben or nobody in my family had bought it for me, I emailed the seller and asked her to make me something similar. She did and here is a picture of it!

And one of the coolest gifts that I suspect was more from my brother-in-law than from my sister was this bumper sticker:

AWESOME!!

So thanks again for a wonderful birthday. And stay tuned for a guest post from Ben later this week!

I think I don't match today ????

I bought these really fun orangey/red tights last winter at H&M and have been waiting for a few weeks now for the right day to pull them out and wear them. Initially I was going to wear them with a black sweater dress, but once I had the outfit on, I thought I looked like a clown. (Ben thought so too) So, I had a sudden inspiration and pulled this dress that I am wearing now out of the closet and put it on over the tights.

When I was driving to work, I looked down at my legs and decided that I probably didn't match.


And here is a closeup. Admittedly, at a very bad angle but you get the jist.


What do yall think?

Limoncello Experiment

After drinking lots of homemade limoncello this past weekend, I decided to try to make my very own. If you don't know what this is, it is an Italian liquor made of lemon zest, grain alcohol or vodka, sugar, and water. Italians will tell you that it is a digestive aid and is consumed usually at the end of an evening meal. It isn't something that you sit around and drink a ton of -- it is usually served in a cordial glass and is something you sip. Anyway, it is delicious. And I decided to make some this afternoon.

I researched various recipes on the internet, and they are all slightly different. But the jist of it is this: peel or zest about 15 lemons, pour 2 bottles vodka or grain alcohol over the top of the peels and let sit for several weeks. Then make a simple syrup and mix in with the alcohol and lemon mixture. You then let this sit for a few weeks then filter and bottle. The biggest variation in the many different recipes I read was the amount of time to let the mixture combine. Apparently the longer the better, so I'm going to let phase 1 meld for about a month. (I'll probably let phase 2 sit for another month, so we're looking at January).

Here is what it looks like right now! I'll keep yall posted on its progress.

I did cut the recipe in half simply because I do not know how this is going to turn out. I may find that I need to tweak the recipe/technique slightly so I only made a half batch. The thing that frustrates me a little bit is that its at least a 2 month process. So it isn't like I can go ahead and start a new batch without knowing what I'll need to correct.

Also, I know it looks like I left lots of yellow on these lemons. I did go back in and try to scrape them some more with my knife, but it is very important not to get too much pith (white part) attached to the zest so I was overly cautious.

After I peeled all those lemons, I hated to just let them go to waste so I also made some fresh squeezed lemondade. Took me an hour to squeeze 10 lemons! Really, I think I've got arthritis now!

Random Topics

I'm having a little bit of writer's block tonight, so I'm just going to post a few random thoughts that I'm having at the moment!

Bienvenido a Miami
We spent the weekend with Ben's family in Miami. It was so nice to get down there and visit with family, eat too much food, and drink too much wine (and port, and limoncello, etc etc etc).
We actually stayed in Coral Gables and man that place is awesome! The people watching is just so amazing -- I think I could sit for several hours and just watch/laugh at some of the people down there.

Lipstick Jungle
News is that, the show has been sundropped. Sad. I really did love that show. Even Ben got into it! He used to act like he wasn't into the show, but yet he would watch it with me and ask questions about what was going on. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another show to love in its place.

Cake Snob
It is official. I am now a cake snob. If it doesn't come from a gourmet bakery, I'm not going to like it. I hope that doesn't offend any of you if I've been to a shower or party you have hosted lately. I'm sure the cake you served was great, I'm just spoiled from eating the gourmet stuff.

Writer's Block
I am suffering from a serious case of writer's block. However, I hate it when my favorite bloggers don't update regularly (you know who you are) so I'm throwing together some random thoughts for you guys in an effort not to piss yall off!

I'll be back later this week.

Not sure what to do ....

A hypothetical situation here. I'd love to hear your honest feedback here about how you would handle this if it happened to you.

Suppose a not so sane co-worker gave you an early Christmas gift. Today. (As in 43 days before Christmas!) This person is someone that you are friendly with but you wouldn't necessarily call them a friend. You would most likely give this person the same type Christmas gift that you would give to everyone else in your office.

When you open the gift, you discover that this co-worker spent a fairly substantial amount of money on you. Waaaaay more than the typical "I hope you have a nice Christmas, here is a $5 gift".

So this makes you feel awkward for several reasons:
a) it is a month and a half before Christmas
b) this person is crazy and might go nuts on you if you handle it incorrectly
c) you now feel obligated to return the favor and get them a nice gift
d) you don't want to do that
e) if you do that it will: 1) be weird for everyone else in the office and 2) become a recurring problem

What do you do? Is there a non-awkward way to respond/deal with the situation?

90210

Ben is still supposed to guest blog for me about the new 90210. (He was also supposed to get his emissions tested 3 weeks ago and that hasn't happened yet, so don't hold your breath) If he does, I can assure you that he will go more into detail and will entertain you much more than I do. I just wanted to make a few quick observations from last night's episode as well as from the show in general.

Are yall watching the show at all?

1) Is the whole show comical to anyone else other than me? I mean, there are a few decent actors on the show but as a whole they're not that great. Was the old 90210 like that too? I haven't watched any old episodes lately, but I don't remember thinking the acting was terrible. At least not with the main characters.

2) I LOVED the fight between Annie and Naomi. Loved it. I think that whole scene (and the reasons for the argument) was completely tailored for their target audience. Not only that, but for those (like me) who aren't in their target demographic, it provided comedic relief to what was otherwise an unrealistic episode.

3) I am so glad that Kelly is back! And the scenes for next week look awesome -- there is going to be more Kelly/Brenda boyfriend drama!! Looks like Brenda will reveal that she has betrayed Kelly with that teacher (Mr. Matthews?). And that is just great .... Kelly did it to Brenda way back when and now Brenda finally gets her revenge.

That's all I have for today. Hopefully Ben will have a better analysis for yall tomorrow! And hopefully he will also get his emissions checked today.

Current Favorite Products

This might be a boring post to some of you. If it is, let me know and I’ll try to step it up next time! I really can’t afford to lose any of my 10 readers.

One of my favorite places in the world is the drugstore. I’m not kidding. One of my dreams in life is to win a 10 minute shopping spree in a drugstore. All I need is a shopping cart and 10 minutes. I would be a very happy woman ….

In honor of this dream of mine (which I know is totally unrealistic), I am going to post a few of my latest favorite products. These can all be found at your local CVS. Or Eckerd, or wherever you shop ….

1) L’Oreal Skin Genesis Gel Cleanser – I just bought this over the weekend and have found it to be absolutely FANTASTIC!! It is a very lightweight, foamy facial cleanser and it really does help to minimize your pores. After using it, your face feels nice and tight and smells great too! This needs to be on your must try list.

2) Arm & Hammer with Oxiclean – I’ve been using this stuff for the past few months and I highly recommend it. Of course I still use Tide for my regular laundry, but I use this to wash my sheets and towels. It really leaves them extra soft and extra clean.

3) Softlips – I remember using this back in middle school, so I know it has been out for quite a long time. However, I saw it the other day at the store and picked up a pack. The scents (Cherry, Strawberry, Raspberry, and French Vanilla) are just so much better than your normal chapstick and I think it does a better job ad conditioning dry lips than chaptstick.
4) Oil of Olay Regenerist – This moisturizer is FABULOUS. I tend to be pretty picky about my moisturizers, because anything too heavy will make my skin oily. This is actually called a ‘serum’ so it is lighter than most moisturizers. However, it will you the protection you need and will leave your face glowing. You must try this product.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Hope you like this installment of Favorite products. I know I enjoy seeing product recommendations on other blogs that I read, so maybe you will too!

How Long Will the Coronation Last?

I knew it was going to happen. Ben and I didn't even waste our time watching the election coverage last night. We really saw no point. And frankly, I'm over it. Let's face it, the Republicans have been in power for a long time and things are royally screwed up right now. Both parties are at fault, but at the end of the day the blame gets assigned to the Republican President. Sorry Dubya.

Anyway, I'll refrain from getting on my soapbox and from getting too political. Most of you probably won't read my rant anyway. All I want to know is how long this media hype will last? A few more days? Weeks? Months? Will his face be on every single newspaper and magazine next time i go into the grocery store? Will he force us all to tattoo an 'O' on our foreheads? Will he require every radio station to play excerpts from his acceptance speech? Will people at work quit giving me a blow by blow of the news coverage? Am I going to have to avoid TV, radio, print, and the Interwebs for the next 4 years? Or will this all be over in a week or so?

Best of luck, Obama. You've got a hell of a job ahead of you. Hope you're up to it!

Thats all.

Halloween 2008

Friday night was a very spooky one for the Longmires. Crick hosted a party for all our friends and lots of people came in from out of town for the occasion! Even Crick made sure to get himself voted off Survivor so he could be back for his own party!


He went to great effort to decorate his house for his guests.

We may all be pushing 30, but that doesn't mean that we're too old to dress up. I think Halloween is even better as an adult that it was as a kid. Each year, there is a big party for Halloween and we all work very hard to make sure we have great costumes. (Or in my case, my mom works hard to make sure my costume is good!)

He Kexin joined us at the party. (Although, since she is only 8 years old she was unable to partake in adult beverages)

Slash showed up to have a drink. He also found time to show off his guitar skills ...

Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil were there. (Apparently he is now out of jail)


Sarah Palin (and baby Trig) took a pause from the campaign trail to visit us.

Hannah Montana was there with her dad, Billy Ray. (I was too worried that his mullet would break the lens on my camera, so he is not pictured)

Not sure who this clown is, or why he was at our party. I think he got seperated from his tour group ....
Father Edwards and one of his school girls came to the party.


There was even a ninja there!

And also a scout

Even little Ellie dressed up. (But she wasn't at our party)

And her momma copied my costume


But someone ....


was way too cool to get into costume. Sucks to be him!

Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!



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