Ice Cream and Taxes

A strange combination, I know. But, nevertheless, Josh and I had a little bit of both on Wednesday night.

You see, we made the yearly trek to the income tax office for our 8:00 pm appointment. One that I was really dreading, because my normal 5 minutes to fill out the short form was about to turn into at least an hour of Josh's long form deductions. But I digress...

We arrived at 8:00 pm only to be informed that they had tried to call us because our appointment was being pushed back to 8:30. Great, honey, I'm already pissed that I'm missing the showdown between Rami and Chris March on Project Runway for this, but I find out that I could have caught the last half hour of America's Next Top Model too! (Yes, I have a very sick addiction to mindless reality television) Wish you would have checked your messages...

So, 8:30 comes and goes. At 8:45, both of us have already perused the remnants of Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart Living from 2006 that are scattered about the coffee table. We can no longer ignore the lights and neon flashing of the ice cream shop directly across the street.

Now, while I am not necessarily an ice cream person (I'm not even really a sweets person) my husband has an absolutely insatiable sweet tooth. Upon noticing that said ice cream parlor was advertising sugar free ice cream and fat free frozen yogurt, I decided to give in to his prodding for some sustinance. Our converstion:

J: What do you want?
Me: Um, just get me a chocolate and vanilla swirl if they have it. Sugar free or frozen yogurt. Whatever.
J: What if they don't have swirl?
Me: They've got to. It's an ice cream shop. If not, then just pick one.

At this point Josh scurries across the street (that is, if a 6'7" tall man can scurry...) and I watch from the tax office couch as he precedes to stand at the counter waiting for our ice cream. A few minutes later, he runs back into the office with a brown paper bag containing our delicious treat. Here's where it gets good...

Me: What'd you get? (Getting really excited for my ice cream now)
J: Strawberry
Me: (cutting him off) I don't like strawberry ice cream!
J: Well, that's why I also got butter pecan.
Me: Josh, I HATE butter pecan! When in the time that you've known me have I ever eaten either strawberry or butter pecan ice cream????
J: Well, never, I guess. But, you don't really ever eat ice cream.

You must be kidding!! How in the world did chocolate and vanilla swirl translate to my husband, strawberry and butter pecan???? Maybe it was my fault being too obtuse in telling him to "pick one" if they didn't have said swirl ice cream. But, hello... I may not eat ice cream all of the time, but in our over 3 years together you have certainly seen me eat ice cream many times. Cookies and cream - love it. Cookie dough - definitely. Heath - one of my favorites. But strawberry and butter pecan - never, no way, no thank you. Which is when the light bulb goes off...

Me: You, selfish bastard. You got these flavors because that was what YOU wanted.
J: You're right (he says in defeat). They just looked so good. And, I thought for sure you'd like one of them.
Me: Take this across the street right now, and get me either vanilla or chocolate.
J: Which one?
Me: I don't care as long as it's either vanilla or chocolate.

One more trip across the street, and Josh returns with my coveted chocolate ice cream. And, it's gooood! In fact, he decides it is so superior to his butter pecan, that his spoon is continually wandering over into my styrofoam cup for a little bit of chocolate heaven. I let him have a little. But, I am nowhere near as generous as usual. Shame on him! I am quietly making him pay for his selfish ice cream flavor selection. Men...

Taxes were done and ice cream was had, but I'm going to say that I ended up with the upper hand on this one :).

A Celebrity in the Family

For those of you in the STL, who also may happen to have a copy of the March 2008 issue of Alive Magazine...

Check out the last page...

My fabulous father-in-law is this month's featured "Power Player". Go Bud!!!

Beauty entrepreneur and President of State Beauty Supply, Bud -------- dishes on the longevity of his family business, the state of the industry and what he said he'd never do.

We are so proud!

Some Animal Love

Part of our weekend, Josh and I spent dog sitting. Beamer, a shitzu, actually belongs to Josh's sister who is currently studying abroad in Australia. While she is gone, Josh's other sister is keeping Beamer. She was in Texas for the weekend at a wedding, so between my in-laws and Josh and I, we took care of Beamer. Are you with me so far??


One thing that you have to understand about my husband is that he isn't exactly what I would call, an "animal lover". He is an OCD neat freak to put it mildly (I love you, honey). To him, a dog means dog hair everywhere, accidents on the clean carpet, and messes to clean up. That said, he loves Beamer. And although he still represents the possibility of terrorizing our pristine home, Josh still loves the cuddly thing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I absolutely LOVE dogs and hope to have one someday. My dream animal is a yellow lab, but we'll see... While I honestly believe I could talk Josh into a dog if I wanted to, I just don't think we're ready. We do have a fenced in backyard, but the rest of it...not so much. Plain and simple, we are just gone too much. But, I am quite excited for the day when we do decide to have a dog in the family.

So, here are a few interesting moments from our day and a half with Beamer:

• He pooped on the carpet in the office. Surprisingly, Josh was pretty laid back about it. He commented on how thankful he was that it was the dry "easy to pick up" variety of turd.
• Beamer is sooo cuddly and I LOVE it. Whenever he is tired he just wants to lay right next to you and sleep.
• Josh was trying to pick up Beamer and he kept running over to me. Josh says, "Why don't you like me? I'm the one that takes you out to shit and piss..." LOL. Josh really was the one who kept taking him out. There was snow on the ground. It's the man's job, right?
• I had a hair appointment on Saturday and Josh and Beamer spent the day together. I know that part of the afternoon involved napping on the couch. Whether he wants to admit it or not, I know he secretly loved cuddling with that dog for the afternoon.
• We spent Saturday morning getting Starbucks and looking at new homes in the area with Beamer on my lap. We had a blast and Beamer was adorable.

On Saturday night, we took Beamer back over to the in-laws. Our baby-sitting task was done. And, part of me definitely misses having him around.

One Crazy Weekend

Yes, it's Thursday...and I am just getting around to blogging about our busy weekend. Maybe because it took me three days to recover from it. A short recap...

Friday - out for a friend's birthday...drinking involved.

Saturday - prepped for our dinner party that night, had a group over for dinner...LOTS of drinking involved.

Sunday - brunch with a group of friends at the Chase followed by drinks in St. Charles...LOTS MORE drinking involved.

That's right folks, I'm a lush. A big, fat drunk lush. For the weekend anyway...

Saturday night we entertained my sister and her boyfriend and my best friend and her boyfriend for Raclette. What the hell is Raclette you ask? Here is some information from wikipedia:

THE CHEESE:

Traditional Raclette is a semi-firm, salted cheese made from cow's milk. However, varieties exist made with white wine, pepper, herbs, or smoked. The cheese originated in the Swiss canton of Valais, but is today also produced in the French regions of Savoie and Franche-Comté.

THE DISH/PROCESS:

Raclette is also a dish indigenous to parts of Switzerland, Wallonia and France. The Raclette cheese round is heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates; the term raclette derives from the French racler, meaning "to scrape". Traditionally, it is accompanied by small firm potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties), gherkins, pickled onions, dried meats (such as prosciutto and viande des Grisons), sliced peppers, tomato, onion, mushrooms, pears, and dusted with paprika and fresh-ground black pepper.

And, here is a typical Raclette dinner set-up.

Josh and I received the Raclette set from his parents as a shower gift (they do this with friends all the time), and we were anxious to try it out. As first timers, we were hoping that the whole processd would go rather smoothly.

Because it was our trial run, we didn't do EVERYTHING on the Raclette. I roasted some potatoes and asparagus in the oven. We saved the steak, chicken spedini (pre-cooked slightly in the oven) and portabella mushrooms for the grill. I started the meal out with a Caesar salad and had some fresh Bread Company three-cheese bread as a side. Finally, Josh picked up the raclette cheese from The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton (those folks are so helpful).

Our Raclette set-up (sorry for the fuzzy pic):

The food was phenomenal, and I think that everyone really enjoyed themselves. Josh and I are looking forward to doing it again. After dinner, we played some Taboo, Catchphrase and Trivial Pursuit. We followed up some wine with Bailey's and coffee and had a fabulous evening with friends. I'll keep the details of the late night dance party to myself...:)

Which brings me to the on unpleasant part of the evening. The one blemish on our otherwise perfect night. What was that you ask??? Dessert. Yes, dessert. Lisa, who is without a doubt, normally a very competent baker failed on this one. Actually, I made it exactly as the recipe described, so I'm going to say it was the recipe that sucked ass.

I decided to attempt a red velvet cake, from scratch. So...I researched a ton of recipes on my favorite recipe website - http://www.allrecipes.com/ - and picked one with great reviews. What are these people thinking??? I swear to you, it tasted like a stick of shortening. It was moist and looked perfect, but as my husband so poignantly put "it tasted like dog shit" (God love him).

It really did look pretty, though...

The funniest part about it, is that before Josh and I even had a chance to take a bite, my sister was nearly finished with her piece. As Josh and I start ranting about how awful it is, she looks up at us...fork in hand with puppy dog eyes, her piece nearly gone, and says "I thought it was pretty good". We DIED laughing!! I think she had just had a little too much to drink at that point for her taste buds to be working properly.

Needless to say, I woke up on Sunday morning with the worst hangover EVER, proceeded to get ready for our noon brunch at the Chase, and damn near vomited all over myself on the car ride over. Thank the Lord, I started to feel better and was able to enjoy the rest of the day with friends.

What can I say, except, I am excited for this weekend to be a little more low key :).

Happy Hallmark Holiday

Yes, I am one of those women who thinks that the whole idea of Valentine's Day is a load of rubbish. A bunch of boyfriends, husbands, and fiances lining up at the drugstore to buy the same card, or at the florist sending the same arrangement of a dozen roses. I'm just not into it.

Don't get me wrong...I love the sentiment behind taking a moment to stop and be appreciative for having an amazing person in your life. I would just rather save it for a day when every other Tom, Dick, and Harry isn't crowding my favorite restaurant celebrating as well. I am sounding really negative here, aren't I???

It's not that Josh and I haven't gone all out for Valentine's Day before (especially Josh). We have. Our first one together, he had a massive arrangement of flowers and balloons for me and three boxes of gifts (from smallest to largest) filled with all kinds of Victoria's Secret goodies. Then, he topped it all off with some Godiva chocolates. (Is it horrible that I cannot for the life of me remember what I got him???) It was so adorable and sweet. And, obvious that he had worked SO hard trying to come up with the perfect way to celebrate.

So, no, I am not one of those women who decides Valentine's Day is crap because she has no other choice, due to her significant other's unromantic refusal to participate. My hubby is romantic as hell (much more than me, in fact), and would continue to go all out every February 14th if that was what I wanted. But, alas, it is not. Aside from an excuse to go out to dinner, my husband can save his overt romantic gestures for birthdays, anniversaries, and any other random day he feels like it.

Maybe I'll change my tune when Josh and I have been married for 10 years and we have a couple of little ones running around (God willing). I'll be begging for my husband to stop and do something fabulous to show me how much he loves me - because we are both so busy with everyday life that we forget to do it as often as we used to. Honey, remember me...your wife????But for now, there is no lack of appreciativeness, love, or kind gestures in our relationship, to validate a national holiday devoted to chocolates and roses.

My husband (some cheesiness coming - bear with me) is the most kind, generous, wonderful man that I have ever met. He takes me to fabulous restaurants just because; suggests a night in for the two of us with a bottle of wine because he wants to spend time with his wife; he always says thank you for the dinner I prepared, or the laundry I just folded. Can you tell we're still newlyweds :) ?

So, yes, I understand Valentine's Day and all it represents (and more power to those of you who are going all out to celebrate it this year). I just don't NEED Valentine's Day for what it represents. I'm lucky enough to have it already.

Happy Thursday Everybody!!!

I Love This Woman

Patti Stanger is her name and matchmaking is her game. She is the star of Bravo's new reality t.v. show The Millionaire Matchmaker. The woman who replaced the Real Housewives of Orange County on Tuesday nights did not disappoint. After only a few episodes, I am totally addicted. She is a very interesting character with a lot of personality.

So why do I find Patti Stanger so intriguing? Her downright brutal honesty and her "I don't take any shit" attitude. I mean, she isn't afraid to tell someone how it really is.

These two guys, for instance - Tai and German. They're in their early 30s and looking to settle down...great. They are successful millionaires...great. Cute and relatively good-looking...fabulous. They live together...okaaay...maybe not quite appropriate for a 30-year-old, but we'll give them a shot. They only want to go on double dates together...I give up! You are a grown adult. You can do lots of things on your own, and dating should be one of them.

Patti refers to them having "Wing Man Syndrome". Soo true! Two guys who can't relax without the comfort of having their best buddy there to laugh at their jokes. Get over yourselves! A woman wants to date a man, not two immature boys.

So, the episode continues with Patti trying to get these guys dates and forcing them to see that their "wingman style" of dating may not always be the way to go. She doesn't put up with any bullshit from these two (or anyone else for that matter) and I absolutely love it.

As a woman to cannot help but speak her mind (occassionally to my detriment) I am so fond of a woman who will always point out what I call the "elephant in the room". Calling out immature men on their constant flow of bullshit, is a sure way to win me as a dedicated viewer. (Don't get me wrong, I love men. I'm married to one hell of a great one. But, some of these assholes out there today just blow me away. To think that it's okay to behave that way...unbelievable ::stepping off soapbox::).

So, if you have a chance to check out Bravo's new reality show (what else is there anymore), The Millionaire Matchmaker, do. I promise you won't be disappointed.

A Little Love of Color

I am a nail polish junky. I LOVE it! Heaven forbid, I am out for the weekend without freshly painted nails. Some people love new make-up, shoes, jewelry, etc. (not that I don't love all of those as well), but nail polish is my true weakness. A new nail polish can often make you feel as fabulous as a new pair of heels (for a lot less money). Hard to believe? Don't knock it till you try it.

As a result, I closely follow OPI's release of shades every season. Their fall/winter 2007 Russian Collection was one of my favorites yet.

Boris & Natasha is a great purpley raisin shade.

And, An Affair in Red Square is the perfect shade of shimmery red for a special occassion.

So...imagine my excitement over the preview of OPI's spring/summer 2008 India Collection. I can't wait to try out a few of these. Starting with...

Black Cherry Chutney. What a gorgeous black/red/plum color!

And, I'm loving the deep burgunday of the Royal Rajah Ruby.

As is apparent, I tend to lean toward deeper, richer shades as some of my favorites. But, I do love a bright reddish pink for summer as well. One of my favorites - Deer Valley Spice. It is the perfect bright pink/red shade. Depending on what you are wearing it either looks more red or pink, and my nails practically glow with this color.

Because I am lucky enough to have a husband with immediate access to the new shades, I will let you what I think as soon as I'm able to get my hands on them.

Anyone else have a beauty-related product obession? An eyeshadow to die for (I'm looking for a new one by the way)? Great blush? Concealer? Please share if you do...

Happy Thursday everyone! :)

Super Bowl Snacks

As promised, I will share my coveted White Castle Wannabes recipe, with you my blog readers. And, best of all, they are so easy to make.

INGREDIENTS
1 package (32 oz) Velveeta cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 packages of onion soup mix
1.5 pounds of ground beef

Put everything into the crockpot until melted. I use my smaller one and it fits perfectly. Serve on dollar rolls with a slice of dill pickle. It really does taste like a White Castle cheeseburger

And, while we're on the subject of Super Bowl appetizers, I thought that I would share another one that goes over well. This Chicken Wing Dip recipe is so easy and very good.

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup pepper sauce, such as Franks® Red Hot®
3/4 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
2 cups diced cooked chicken

I combine everything in the crockpot and serve with tortilla chips. I usually double the recipe. And, when I'm in a hurry, I use canned chicken breast and no one is the wiser :).

I Can See the Light

I am finally starting to feel better! I think the antibiotics are starting to kick in. The mornings and evenings are the worst, but most of the day I am feeling pretty good. I am hoping to feel like a new woman by Sunday. Some randomness...

• If I have to watch anymore t.v. I am going to kill myself! Being sick (and on the couch), I think I have watched more television this week than I normally do in a month. I just keep flipping the channels only to find the same episode of the Real Housewives or Real World/Road Rules Challenge that I have already seen twice. Please God make it stop!
• Josh just got home from a very busy 5-day work trip to Tampa, FL, so unfortunately, he is anxious to relax. Balancing our moods could be interesting this weekend...
• We are missing Mardi Gras for the first time in 5 years. But, what can I say...I'm not an idiot. As sick as I've been...out in this weather? I think not.
• I feel guilty about missing Mardi Gras this year. My sister-in-law has already called me to voice her disappointment :(.
• I haven't worked out since last Thursday. That's six days people!
• Even though I haven't worked out all week, I still managed to lose another 1.5 pounds. Being sick has his perks.
• How pathetically vain is it that I view losing a small amount of weight while being sick as a dog, as a good thing??? At least I'm honest. And a "glass is half full" kind of girl :).
• I probably couldn't care less about who wins the Superbowl.
• I love Superbowl for the food, beverages, and chance to socialize with friends.
• I am even more excited about Sunday's social gathering, because I have spent most of the week sick at home by myself. I am craving some adult interaction!
• It is so nice to have my husband back home.
• I sure as hell hope I don't get him sick!!!

For any of you who are heading down to Mardi Gras tomorrow, stay warm and have a beer for me :). Stayed tuned on Monday for my recipe for White Castle Wannabes. They are the ultimate Superbowl snack and so effin' good! Last year they were gone before the game even started.