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Archive for the ‘30 before 30’ Category

30 before 30: Being a prick

Posted in 30 before 30, Healthy Home, tagged on October 19, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Part of my 30 Before 30 was to try acupuncture and I have and I like it. I’ve gone to East Nashville Community Acupuncture a few times, but I don’t go as often as I’d like. I definitely am not going the 2-3 times a week. The Mister has even gone and he liked it. I’ll give you the run down on my first trip and tell you a little about the place I go to.

East Nashville Community Acupuncture treats everyone in a group setting. This means you keep your clothes on and you chill out in a dimly lit room. Instead of being under a cloth on a table, you’re kickin’ back in a recliner. This may mean they cannot get to certain points but that hasn’t been a topic or issue. Additionally, if you want more personal service then I’d suggest going to someone who services clients one on one. An acupuncturist I know is friends of a friend that I’ve met once and he was super nice encourages people to use East Nashville Community Acupuncture as maintenance. However, I’ve only gone to East Nashville and I like it.

On your first visit they ask you some questions and you complete a questionnaire. Then, they take you into the room and you choose a recliner. Everyone around you is asleep. All practitioners are whispering. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t go to sleep like everyone else did around me. She put the needles in her desired locations and it didn’t hurt. On my wrists I felt a small spasm which was explained as energy release but it didn’t hurt or alarm me. The lady could tell I was like “What now?” and told me to just relax. She wanted to put a blanket over me but I didn’t feel comfortable with that. The pressure of the light blanket over the needles didn’t sit well with me. I’m still weird about it a tad. Additionally, she told me I could move but I was scared to. So, I laid very still and listening to the music and the light sound of other people sleeping. I fell asleep pretty quickly, it came on fast and hard. I couldn’t even fight it and an hour later the lady came over to me and gently woke me saying she was “so proud” of me falling asleep and staying with it. Basically, she was glad I didn’t freak out - I must have made more than a “What now?” face when she was done. She took the needles out and off I went. One on my arm had a drop or two of blood but that was that and, once again, it didn’t hurt.

Trust when I say I’m not a fan of needles. Like I can’t watch a Red Cross commercial. So, it was hard for me to get the gumption to go. However, it really doesn’t hurt and I wish I went more often.

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30 before 30: Wedding Dress

Posted in 30 before 30 on October 15, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Number 25 on my 30 Before 30 was “Figure out what to do with my wedding dress.”

The dress almost took up a whole closet in our house. This was due to the dress’ large size and in the 1950′s closet space wasn’t a priority. Not only is the dress large but I have a cathedral length veil. Here’s a photo for perspective.

This candid photo from before the ceremony really captures the dress size the best.

So, it had to go somewhere. It laid on the couch in our sideroom for awhile and then my mother took it back to her house.

I had looked at dresses randomly. While on the road, in St. Louis, I visited a bridal shop and liked a designer I found there. The only shop in Tennessee that carried this designer was in Knoxville.  Momma and I visited shops here in Nashville. I liked an Oscar de la Renta dress but my mother deemed it too casual. We found a dress we were both good with at another shop. However, I wanted her to see the other dresses. So, one sunny Saturday we went to Knoxville. We were running out of time before the wedding. It was do or settle. The salesgirl grabbed some dresses from my recommended designer (I can’t remember the designer’s name) and they were not as I had remembered. I put one on and my mother tried to hide her “Huh?” face by walking around the store. She knew I was let down and in pure Reba form went on a seek and find mission. She knocked on my door and said, “I found a dress and she’s bringing it in here. Okay?”

I was a little skeptical of it as it had more detail than any of the other dresses. The salesgirl helped me into it and I just starred at myself. She left to get a veil and I looked at my mom. We’re not the emotional type so I knew that tears were never gonna happen. Instead it was a simple, business-like transaction. I said, ‘This is it” and Momma said, “It is.” The salesgirl poked her head back in and said she’d have the color samples  in a few minutes. You could tell the store was getting crowded.  Momma and I agreed a cathedral length veil would be necessary and she helped me out of the dress and we went to the counter. The salesgirl said “You didn’t like it?” My mother responded, “We gonna order it. We’re easy.” It was ordered and we went to lunch.

The dress was designed after Grace Kelly’s dress. We changed the jacket so it was more of a bolero. The original design made me think of a straight jacket.

No matter how beautiful or timeless it is, I’m no fool. I know if we ever have a daughter she’ll want her own dress not mine. We’ve discussed selling it. I’m not sure it’s worth it. We’ve talked about saving parts of it – the jacket or the top layer of beading for a Christening gown when that time comes. Do you have any suggestions beyond my mother saving it indefinitely? 

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The Dirty Thirties

Posted in 30 before 30, tagged , , , on October 4, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Today, I turn thirty. This is me when I turned one.

I can’t say I’m scared but I can’t say I’m happy. I still feel pressure,  (somewhat like this post) and overall feel the same as I did last year. Still, in the end, it  seems to be juvenile to be concerned about your age. It’s not negotiable. Basically, I need to focus on taking better care of myself. Use better night creams. Get plenty of sleep. Eat cleaner. Work out. Be joyful. Be thankful. Love. Spend more time with important people. Spend less time with people who are toxic. Take more chances. Prioritize. Don’t live in fear. All of these things are good to do at any age, but they seem highlighted this year.

I didn’t get everything done on my 30 before 30 but I did make some great progress on all of them. I’ll document what got done throughout the month. Right now, we have some big things happening and look really forward to sharing them with y’all.

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This is happening

Posted in 30 before 30, Family/Friends, tagged , , , , on September 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Tomorrow, this is happening. Basically, we’re using my upcoming 30th birthday as an excuse to hang out at M.L. Rose all night.  It’ll be different that my first birthday pictured below.

 I may still sit on the table.

It’s looking like a dozen random people which is a good size and mix. You can still talk to everyone and nobody feels left out. Turns out a handful of people are attending weddings as it’s that time of year. So, we may have a redo. (I’m especially talking to you, Andra.) As the invitation says “Attractive friends and significant others are welcome.” Of course, this means all y’all are good. Additionally, this rule now applies to any future parties/get togethers/meetings.

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I only bought four things

Posted in 30 before 30, The Mister, Travel on August 27, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Part of my 30 Before 30 was for The Mister and I to go away during the holidays which we did and you can read about it here. However, in this follow up post I will share our purchases. We went to a good number of stores but my favorite way we spent some time in NYC was hitting up some thrift shops and flea markets. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Though there were many, many things I wanted to bring home I showed great restrain (hence this post’s title) and here were my purchases.

I bought the pink bowl at Goodwill for $4.99.

It sits on our CB2 shelves in the dining room and hold my favorite candies – Kermit’s Key West Lime Candy. Love that stuff.

Better photos of the CB2 shelves will come when I find the charger for my camera.

Across from Goodwill was The Garage Antique Flea Market.

There were some good finds there but all I bought was the trim. I bought three yards of it that I still haven’t used and I’ve been sorry since that I didn’t buy the whole spool.

We went to a few other places but bought the map at Housing Works for $25.00. Here is The Mister walking the streets with it.

Here is The Mister on the ferry with it.

Then, because we’re nerds, we thought it’d be funny to stand around and pretend to refer to the map for directions.

The bamboo bangles came from Housing Works and were 3 for $1.00 and I’ve worn them multiple times. I really like them. Later this week I’m sharing how I organize my bracelets and bangles.

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It’s the holidays – lets get out of here

Posted in 30 before 30, Travel, tagged , , , , , on May 7, 2012 | 5 Comments »

I’m tardy posting this, but it’s better late than never. The Mister and I went on a vacation the weekend before Christmas, December 15th through 19th. This marks off number 16. We planned our flee/journal/escape in June. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn off of West 35th. You should go there. They were super nice. (Bonus points that cannot be turned in for anything go to Ryan and Tammy.) Seriously, I travel pretty frequently and they were the some of the best customer service I’ve seen in any hotel.

There is no way I can share all the photos in one post. So, you’re gonna get a series. We had a great, super, marvelous time. We need another vacation.

First, we rode with Vicky Yates. She dresses looks different when she’s not scaring old folks in news reports in “real life.” 

We ate some awesome food.

Don’t mess with The Mister’s sammich.

Ignore the abundance of pepper flakes. The top fell off the shaker.

Our favorite pizza place is Saluggi’s. That’s where we are in the photo above. We found it randomly during our honeymoon and we ate there three times our last trip. Go there. You’ll owe us later.

We rode the subway a lot.

I promise I didn’t use the restroom.

I just sent the photo to my mother to freak her out.

Overall, we have only three photos of The Mister and I together. None of them are good. They are all from bad angles and taken by us. However, here is one of them.

We were lucky with the weather as it wasn’t snowy and super cold. However, it still put us in the holiday spirit. We’re now talking about going away for holidays more.

Posts on window displays and purchases to follow.

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Poppy Seed Chicken

Posted in 30 before 30, Food on October 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

As you know from my 30 before 30 list I have to try at least one recipe a week. This is because we need to eat at home. When I say “I cannot cook” I’m very serious. It’s no joke. So, for those of you that cook, or have at least given it “the college try,” you may find my details below ridonkulous. You will likely either roll your eyes or pray for me if you choose to read my directions.

Today’s recipe is Poppy Seed Chicken. You can follow the link for the original recipe, comments/changes and nutritional facts.

Ingredients

  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 sleeve buttery round crackers (such as Ritz®), crushed
  • 1 teaspoon poppy seeds, or more if desired
  • 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (I used two cans.)
  • 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

I decided, after reading the comments, to add a cup of rice. Here are all the “dry” ingrediants as I forgot to pull out the sour cream and cheddar cheese for the photo.

The recipe’s directions:

  1. Place the chicken breasts into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until the chicken breasts are no longer pink in the center, about 20 minutes. Drain the water, then shred the chicken.
  2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the butter, crackers, and poppy seeds in a bowl; set aside.
  3. Blend the sour cream and cream of chicken soup in a bowl; pour half of the soup mixture into a 9×9-inch baking dish. Add the shredded chicken, then pour the remaining half of the soup mixture on top. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese, then top with the cracker mixture.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbly, 25 to 30 minutes.

My directions:

1. First, find out what is a breast half. I starred at our frozen Perdue bag title “Chicken Breasts” and finally googled it. Here is the photo that lead me to believe that the bag contained breat halves, not full breasts.

here

2. I stuck my four halves in a large pot already filled with water that almost came to the bolts of my handles. Then, I put the stove on high and turned it down when it started to boil. I turned mine down too far, so if you have a Magic Chef oven or an old oven like myself I went from HIGH to 7 to fix that problem. I set a timer for 20 minutes. The chicken looks gross during this time. 

On the original recipe, one commenter said that you could put the frozen, boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot with a cup of water on low all day instead of boiling it.

3. Resist the urge to eat the Ritz. I decided to use this boiling time to crush the Ritz and belt the butter. I tried to crush the Ritz inside the sleeve which didn’t work out.

So, I crushed them in the sleeve and dump them in a bowl. Then, I added the melted butter, 1 cup of minute white rice and a tablespoon of poppy seeds. The rice made me really nervous but I decided I could add more soup if needed as I had two cans. I ended up using both cans. (By the way, 1/2 cup a butter is a whole stick.)

4. I didn’t preheat the oven until the chicken was done boiling, as I work slow. This is when I realized I didn’t have a 9×9 pan. So, I used a bigger one. This caused me to use two cans of condensed cream of chicken and one 8oz container of sour cream. I was scared about this.

5. I dumped the chicken into a colendar then put it in the sprayed pan. Shredding the chicken is not easy.

6.  I dumped  about 3/4 of the sour cream and condensed soup mixture and stired. I smoothed out the chicken to make sure it was even distributed then poured the remaining 1/4 of the mixture.

7.  Then, I wondered if I should have added the rice to the sour cream not the crackers. So, I decided to bypass the layering suggested and added the cheese to the Ritz mix. (By the way, two cups is the smaller cheese bag.) I poured that on top and realized my rice my never get soft, So, I mixed it in with the chicken. Here is the difference between mixing it in (on the left) and simply pouring it on the top (on the right).

7. I stuck it in the oven and decided to wash the dishes in case it was gross and we needed to go out for something. I started to tell myself I wanted Mexican food anyways. However, this stuff was the jam!

I pulled it out of the oven and yelled, “It looks good!” I decided to taste it and it was good. So, naturally, I ran across the house yelling  at The Mister, “It’s good! It’s good! Hurry up and come into the kitchen! I did a good job!”

This will happen again. You need to make this. It makes me hungry to just look at it.

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Crusin’

Posted in 30 before 30, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on October 19, 2011 | 9 Comments »

Number 28 can be marked off of the 30 before 30 as I took a cruise last month. The Mister had been on cruises in his past, but I had not. A friend of mine was going on a cruise with her husband and asked if we were interested in going. I had always heard that cruises were more fun if you went with others, so I decided it was time to get going. Here are some photos from it. The last photo may be the best.

Key West

Who doesn’t want a manatee mailbox?

We’re so funny.

I love key lime pie!

Grand Cayman

The water was so beautiful.

This is me trying to stay cool while we swam with the sting rays. At first, I was scared. Then, I wanted to take them home with me.

We went scuba diving after the sting rays. So, this is me without makeup and my hair has “skank wave.” You’re welcome.

Jamaica

 This is us before the glide through the rain forest.

This is how high we were.

These are my feet dangling while I’m crying because the glide stopped abruptly. I lost my mess. I immediately started in on “I wanna go home…” this was followed with out loud prayer.

We made it, but we had to go back.

I behaved better this time.

On the boat and around

My hat was awesome.

We had a balcony room which we enjoyed having. Both the photos above were taken on our balcony.

This is Alan and I starting the conga line. Why? Because that’s who I am. I get the party started. I was always chosen to dance in front of the dining room. Seriously, every night they walked over and grabbed me. There are loads of people who have my photo due to this.  I’m not super stoked about that, but I’m glad they enjoyed it. It was really awkward when strangers came close to me and took my photo, especially with the flash. Some would stand at a distance, wave at me to get my attention and then take my photo. At least one person took their photo with me. It got a little weird.

 

Friday, I will share our prep suggestions. Additionally, there will be a post regarding the decor. The Mister still talks about it.

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30 before 30

Posted in 30 before 30, tagged , , , on October 5, 2011 | 17 Comments »

Yesterday, I celebrated my 29th birthday and it was quite nice. We had a small roaring twenties dinner Sunday evening and I took off of work on Monday. I like to treat birthdays like New Years. The day before you need to do something, celebrate your last day at that age.

I’m typically the youngest of the group. I started school early, I was five when I started first grade and seventeen when I went to college. So, I was always the last to get to milestones. Therefore, I was prepared for people to assume I’m a year older than I am. This is not to say that I’m fearful or leery of 30. However, I do feel pressure about the number. Ten years ago, when I was a lil’ babe of nineteen, I would have told you that my life would be different – not particularly better, definitely worse in some ways, but mostly just different.

I know that I take my time for granted. I told you about some of that here. When I was a teacher, though I taught first grade, my personal hope was to create lifelong learners. I want to be a lifelong learner. I need to be better. I need to step out of my boundaries – my bubble. I’m an awful procrastinator and need a good kick in the pants. I need to be the best version of myself. So, I spent some of yesterday finalizing my 30 before 30 list.

I started it awhile back but never finished it. (Did I mention that sometimes I procrastinate?) However, I love a list and need the accountability of you, my lovelies. So, here it is in no particular order:

  1. Start a compost pile
  2. Plant a vegetable garden
  3. Keep an indoor plant alive and healthy for at least six months
  4. Run a 5K
  5. Host a party at the house (see here)
  6. Try tennis
  7. Open my Etsy shop
  8. Sew my own dress
  9. Use my Kitchen Aid mixer to make a cake
  10. Go to Steeplechase This was a dumb one as it wasn’t “new.” So, I changed it to some secret. Ooooo a secret.
  11. Organize The Lovely Lifestyle (coding, theme, tabs, scheduling)
  12. Shop at the World’s Longest Yard Sale (I decided this wasn’t a great idea either, as we didn’t really need anything and it was simply bad timing.)
  13. Try acupuncture
  14. Go vegan for a week
  15. Decorate the outside of our house for Christmas (go all out)  (see here)
  16. Take a vacation/get away during the holidays (see here)
  17. Try and chronicle one new recipe a week
  18. Learn to play the guitar
  19. Start genealogy/ancestry
  20. Go to the beach and flaunt a killer bathing suit
  21. Find my go-to karaoke song
  22. Start Spanish lessons
  23. Work out at least three times a week
  24. Create a home budget
  25. Figure out what to do with my wedding dress
  26. Use my SLR camera
  27. Watch the top 10 of AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies – I’ve seen some of these but could use a refresher. I may substitute them with another top movie from the list. (http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx)
  28. Go on a cruise (see here and here)
  29. Dress up for Halloween  (see here)
  30. Update all paperwork, rewards programs, etc. with my married name – convert everything to a Mrs.

That’s right Ladyfriends and Gentlemen I have 365 to get things rockin’ around here. Of course, I will share my list progress. I have completed or started a few items due to me starting this list months ago.What do you think? Did I leave anything off?

Be good. Be safe. Be lovely.

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