2009 in review!

2009 has been a great year for us and I can only hope the momentum keeps going right on in to 2010. Since I am here all alone in NYE, my lovely husband is still in KC and I had to come back to Dallas earlier in the week to go back to work. Oh the joys of him being laid off :) I guess I'll hit it with up a recap of this past year. It has flown by!!!

January-I celebrated my 30th birthday with a group of friends down here in Dallas. We went out to eat at Fireside Pies to enjoy one of my fave food groups, pizza. Then Ryan and I headed over to Shreveport for a little get away and some gambling.



February-Ryan and I celebrated Valentine's Day by fulfilling one of Ryan's lifelong dreams of going to Medieval Times. Down, down, down, red knight going down-anyone?
Then I headed to KC at the end of the month for a wonderful bridal shower my MOH, Brooke hosted for me. She picked a china theme, to go with my china registry items and planned a great luncheon at Bo Ling's in KC.



March-We celebrated St. Patrick's Day (I have to honor my distant Irish heritage) and I also headed to KC at the end of the month to attend my good friend Sarah's bridal shower.



April-You might start seeing a theme here with all the wedding activities. The first part of April, my now MIL and SIL hosted a kitchen theme bridal shower for me in KC and then at the end of the month my lovely bridesmaids all came down to Dallas for a bachelorette party girls weekend!



May-Ryan and I headed up to KC to be in JP and Sarah's wedding. It was such a gorgeous day for a gorgeous couple and I'm so glad we could be a part of their day. Later in the month our friends down in Dallas hosted a couples shower for Ryan and I.



June-The highlight of the year, I married my wonderful husband. We had an awesome wedding day shared with friends and family and I still can't believe the day has come and gone, it was fantastic!






July-We started off the month with a visit from our good friend Melik for the Fourth of July, then mid month we headed off to tropical Ocho Rios, Jamaica for our honeymoon!








August-Was a month to rest after all the wedding activities. The highlights include enjoying Dallas restaurant week at the famous Del Frisco's steakhouse and seeing Dennis Miller perform live.

September-We celebrated Ryan's 30th birthday in KC with a camping trip at Smithville Lake. A few weeks later I ran my longest race at the time, the Tour des Fleurs 20k.



October-Ryan continued his quest for his new job and flew to Orlando to interview, man were we stressed out!! I hurt my foot while running and started nursing it during the month. We celebrated Halloween at home so Ryan could enjoy scaring kids on the front porch!




November-We found out Ryan landed his new job and went out to eat to celebrate! I prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal for Ryan and I here in Dallas.



December-I participated in my first half marathon, still nursing my foot so it was a jog/walk version, but I finished!!! Ryan officially got laid off (good thing he already had the new job lined up) and we travelled to KC for Christmas! I'll have to add some Christmas pics later since Ryan still has the camera in KC as we speak.

I never thought I would be saying this BUT.....

We are so happy that Ryan got laid off on Friday!!!! These last few months have been a complete whirlwind of emotions. We knew with Ryan's current job that he would be laid off in the near future=stress #1. He started casually looking for jobs and was able to get a lead on a great opportunity. After months of phone interviews, travelling interviews, assessment tests, etc he GOT a new job=excitement #1. We were elated and felt extremely blessed, especially considering the economy we are in. But now came another kink, when to start the new job=stress #2. He was hearing rumors that another round of layoffs was coming at his current job and he decided to stick it out. Now I knew that the worst case scenario would be that he had the new job which was pretty.darn.great anyway. But if he could wait and get the timing right to get laid off at his current job and then start the new job well that would be pretty.darn.awesome. Well, he timed it right-I should have never doubted him=excitement #2. So he got laid off on Friday, will get a decent severance and then be on the books at his new job Dec 28th=excitement #3.

I know in these hard times it is such a roller coaster for a lot of people. We were so, so, so fortunate that Ryan was able to make all the pieces work and I feel so lucky and proud of him!!!!

Movie review

Last weekend Ryan and I went to see the movie Invictus-remember we're still on our hunt to make sure we see all the Oscar nominated films. Even though the real nominees won't be announced until Feb its still nice to go see some buzz worthy ones now. The movie is directed by Clint Eastwood which gets a lot of press in itself but top actors Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon don't hurt either. I am on the fence with Clint Eastwood as a director, I loved Million Dollar Baby but didn't buy into the hype of Gran Torino. This movie is about Nelson Mandela's first term of Presidency over South Africa and how he plans to bring the country and races together through Rugby. The problem is the country's team is laughable and not even in the World Cup running. But he implores the help of the team captain (played by Damon) to rally the team in playing for a higher cause.

My grade: B
Even though it is based on a true story, I didn't get the emotional or inspiring feeling from the actors. I felt the movie was predictable and too long. If it does get the Oscar nomination I wouldn't bet on it winning.

(Non)Running Update

I am officially off of "running" rest. So what better way to celebrate than doing a half marathon, right?!?!?!?!?!? Two weeks ago my podiatrist put me on running hiatus, I was allowed to workout on the elliptical machine, the bike, or walk. So I got on the treadmill and walked and walked and walked. I walked for hours, up to 8 and 10 miles of walking which is 2.5 hours on a treadmill for me, so completely boring. But while I was complaining about all that walking, one of my co-workers mentioned I could walk the Dallas White Rock half marathon. I thought about it for a little bit, I was a little unsure on whether I wanted to be that type of participant. Nothing against walkers but I like runs to be for.....well, runners. But since I already paid $75 to register for this race I decided I wanted to get my money's worth. So here goes, tomorrow I will be up at 5am on my way to WALK a half marathon.

Signs of Christmas!

It's hard for me to believe how fast this year has flown by! This year has been such a fun, exciting, and rewarding year. December is always a magical time of year and this week hasn't started off any different. Ryan got all the Christmas stuff out of the attic and I put it all up (well he put up the outside lights) this weekend. I added some red accents to the tree this year and thought it really made a difference!



Also, to really kick off that Christmas feeling it SNOWED here today! Since I moved here 3 1/2 years ago it has snowed maybe a handful of times and never this early so it was exciting when we woke up to this:



Of course it didn't stick and turned to rain a few hours later but it was still fun while it lasted!

So, the next thing you know I'll have to start writing out my Christmas cards or something.....yeah, I better get started on that!

Movie reviews

Ryan and I enjoy going to see movies. We don't really have a certain genre that we watch more than others. Sometimes we go see big blockbusters, sometimes its Indie films, sometimes its cult classics, etc. Last year we made an effort to see all the movies that were nominated for Best Picture and most of the movies that starred the Best Actor/Best Actress nods. So now we are planning to do the same this year. It might be a little more of a stretch though since they have upped the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 films for 2010.

Last weekend we saw the movie Precious. It has gotten a lot of buzz about Oscar worthiness and I believe it will win. Even Ryan leaned over and whispered "this will win Best Picture" half way through the movie. It is produced by Oprah and Tyler Perry and based on the novel Push by Sapphire. This movie is emotional and definitely for adults only. It highlights the life of a young African-American teenager girl named Precious. There is a lot of abuse, profanity, heartbreak and desperation but just when it seems so emotionally heavy the theme switches to humor and even hope. Thank goodness because without those breaks it would have been too much to deal with. We both thought it was a great movie and I would recommend it, just make sure you are in the right frame of mind!

This weekend we saw the movie Pirate Radio. I don't think this one will make the cut for the 2010 Oscars but it was still a fun, funny and light-hearted film. It tells the story of 1960s British DJs who were unable to play rock n roll due to the governments restrictions. So they set to the seas to play rock n roll 24 hours a day aboard a boat where they aren't regulated. I was a little afraid it was going to be more political but it was more based on the sex, drugs, and rock n roll of the 60's and was much funnier than I thought it would be. Its probably not a must see but I would still recommend it, either at the theater or waiting til the DVD.

Next up I want to see the Pixar movie Up and Clint Eastwood's Invictus which are both buzz worthy Oscar contenders.

Thankful

Ryan and I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. Even though it was just the two of us, I still cooked the standard Thanksgiving dinner. Our menu was:
Starter:
Cheeseball with crackers

Main Course:
Cider Apple Glazed Turkey

Sides:
Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Green rice
Glazed carrots
Stuffing
Rolls

Dessert:
Fall Harvest bars
Pumpkin roll
Grape cream

This is my 3rd time cooking a turkey with a full Thanksgiving meal so it doesn't make me that nervous anymore. Ryan has been watching some cooking shows on TV lately so we watched some of the holiday ones to get some ideas. After watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network I decided to do a brine for the first time. I chose her Apple Cider Brine and it was really good. The turkey was very moist and the flavor was great. It was not too overpowering with apple cider flavor either. We let the turkey soak in the brine overnight for about 12 hours and then cooked it around 2.5 hours for a 12 lb turkey. YUM!!! I can't wait to have some leftovers too!
Before


After


Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. I love that the basis is spending time w/ family, friends, and FOOD!!!! Sounds perfect to me! Even though we were not able to spend this holiday with our family and friends we still have so much to be thankful for. This year alone has been such a blessing, its gonna be hard to name just a few but hear goes.....

-my family. Especially my mom who is so patient, kind, nurturing, and loving.
-my husband. He is my one constant and my true best friend. Since all we have is each other down here in TX, we really have to rely on each other and we find a way to make it work and still love each other too.
-health. I can only pray that we are blessed with healthy, long lives.
-my friends. I have some of the best friends EVER. Even my best friend whom I have had for over 20 years so you know we must like each other! I live in different states than a lot of them and we still maintain strong friendships. It is so nice having wonderful, supportive, fun, beautiful girlfriends!
-my furbaby Cricket. She is not the best behaved but she is so darn cute and she makes me smile all the time.
-my in-laws. I have been blessed with the best in-laws anyone could ask for. They truly love me and always have our best interest at heart.
-our jobs. It has been pretty shaky with this economy and our fields were hit really hard but thankfully we both kept our jobs and Ryan has even been blessed with a new job opportunity.
-being married. I got to have a wonderful, dreamy wedding day in June and am so glad I could share the day with family and friends.


The Grays on Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Therapy...

Physical therapy that is. I went to the physical therapist for the first time today since my foot incident. I got an ultrasound and my cuboid "manipulated" so hopefully it will get me back on track sooner. The physical therapist agreed with my podiatrist that I could keep running as long as I quit if it started to hurt. The only problem with that so far is that when I run my foot starts to hurt dang it! But I am gonna give it a try again tomorrow. The last time I ran was on Saturday and I was feeling major discomfort just 3 miles in to the run. My goal is to try the 3 miles tomorrow and not push it for speed but just an easy 3 miles. Hopefully the results will be better this time around. I see the physical therapist again on Friday so here goes nothing!

I swear this is not a food blog!

But, I tried a new recipe tonight that I wanted to share. I have been doing much more cooking lately. I don't know if it's because I'm a married woman now, or because I'm getting "older", or because I wanted to have a better diet instead of eating out all the time but cooking has kind of grown on me. I now have a dinner spreadsheet that I set out menus for weeks in advance and I try at least one new recipe a week. It keeps things interesting and I really have learned a lot from it and I dare say, I have gotten pretty decent at it (in a low level difficulty way-I mean I am not making roux's or using double broilers or anything yet) but I'm working on it.
Since it finally got below 70 degrees this week in Dallas, I thought a good soup recipe would hit the spot. I am a soup person year round so I'll be adding this recipe to my regular rotation.

Poblano Chicken Chowder
courtesy of Paula Deen

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 large onions, chopped
5 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/8 cup minced garlic
2 to 3 small poblano peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 Tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
3 quarts chicken broth (96 oz)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, minced
3 cups diced (large pieces) grilled chicken
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Directions
Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, poblano peppers, salt, white pepper, cumin and thyme. Saute for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken broth and cilantro, and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the chowder is thick and the chicken is heated through. Shortly before the chowder is done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes to cook the flour. Do not allow the mixture to brown! Ladle 1 cup of the hot liquid from the stockpot into the skillet, whisking constantly.

When the first cup of liquid is incorporated, add another 2 cups of liquid, 1 at a time. Pour the mixture in the skillet into the stockpot, whisking to blend. Cook, stirring frequently for 3-5 minutes longer, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the hot sauce, then the cream, and serve.

****Next time I will use less chicken broth, probably 2 1/2 quarts.
****My chowder did not really get thick before adding the flour mixture but after the flour mixture was added it thickened up to a good consistency.

Celebrate!

This past week marked a new milestone in our life. Ryan has accepted a job offer with Darden restaurants. I feel so blessed and lucky in this economy that he was able to come across such a great opportunity! He is set to start Jan 4th and shouldn't be between jobs for long, if any time. So now that all the waiting, nervousness, traveling, and interviewing is done, I wanted to celebrate!!!
Darden is a big restaurant chain which I am sure everyone has had some experience with. They own Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Smokey Bones, and...........one of my fave restaurants THE CAPITAL GRILLE!!!! Ryan and I used to frequent the one in Kansas City and thank goodness they also have one here in Dallas too. So when all of his 8 interviews were going on, I told Ryan that if he got the job we were going to celebrate with a dinner at the Capital Grille and he agreed.

We had a great time last night and the food was delish as always. One of my favorite things to eat when I go to splurge at nice restaurants is lobster bisque. I absolutely love it and the Capital Grille has one of the best recipes. They even bring a side of sherry to your table in case you need to cut down on the richness, YUMMO!!!!! I am now having withdrawals today :)

Here's a pic of us from after dinner:


And since I can't have fancy dinners out all the time, I have found a lobster bisque recipe to make at home that is really good and of course I will share it with you all now!

1 medium onion chopped fine
1/2 c butter
3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 (11 oz) can frozen lobster meat (or fresh lobster meat can also be used.* I like to use a little more since I like a lot of lobster in my bisque.)
3/4 c sherry (do not use cooking sherry)
3 cups light cream
2 Tablespoons tomato paste for color

1. Saute onions in butter until onions are clear, 2-3 minutes
2. Stir in flour with a whisk and stil well until smooth. Add chicken broth and pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add lobster meat and cook 20 minutes, or until done, on medium-low heat.
4. Blend in sherry, cream and tomato paste.

*If using fresh lobster, reduce cook time to about 5 minutes or until done.

Hmmmmm, now I am craving it all over again!

Dislocated Cuboid

I went to the podiatrist yesterday for my foot pain and she said I had a dislocated cuboid bone. Ever heard of it? Me neither, but here's a pic to show you.

She also gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and wanted me to do some physical therapy to get the bone back in to place and feeling better. I thought the appointment went really well overall. There were some positives too--

1)I can still run but need to stop if my foot starts hurting
2)She verified that I am in good running shoes for my feet/stride
3)She said I should be fine to train for the marathon

I am supposed to go back in two weeks for a follow-up with the podiatrist and I hope everything will be on the up and up by then!!!! When I was scheduling the appointment for the 2 week follow up I noticed that date was Thanksgiving. I can't believe its less than 2 weeks away now. This year is flying by!!!


On another note, today I had lunch with my good friend Janet and her daughter Avianna. It was nice to have today off work, which I guess is the only benefit for working on a Saturday, you get another comp day off during the week. It was really good to see her and her baby but it also made me realize how much I miss having my girlfriends closer to me. Ryan and I really like Dallas but its hard living away from "home" sometimes. I wouldn't necessarily say that I get homesick but just nostalgic for my friends and family. Thank goodness Christmas will be here soon and I will make the trip to good ole KC to see everyone!!! I can't wait!

Thank you!

Thank you to all the Veterans. Today is the day set aside to honor you but you bring honor to our country everyday. Thank you for your sacrifice, your courage, and your desire to fight for our causes and freedoms!

Special thanks and love to my personal veterans:

Michael Milligan
Wayne Milligan
Jean Packard-Milligan
Lee Smith
Russell Privett

and to my brother in law, David Bowman who is currently active in the Army.

Bump in the Road

ALREADY! Well I was supposed to start my marathon training today but I am sad to say I am having to postpone it for now. I hurt my foot the last week in October and thought I did everything I could to get back in the routine. I rested it, soaked it in lithium chloride, iced it and elevated it. By the next Thursday my foot was feeling better so I tested it out on the treadmill, I did a 2 mile walk and a mile jog and I felt fine. So Saturday I headed out with the Dallas Athletes group and ran 6.25 miles. But I could tell about half way through the run that my foot was uncomfortable. So the rest of the weekend I iced it and took it easy and now I have an appointment with the podiatrist this Thursday. Hopefully the doctor will be able to find a quick fix for it so I can get back to my training!

If I can re-start the training by the beginning of December then I will still train for the Cowtown Marathon on Feb 27th. If it doesn't work out that way and I need to take a longer break then I will try to train for the Big D Marathon on April 11th instead.

Pumpkin doodles!

I saw this recipe and thought I would try it for my Halloween food day at work. I sent a batch with Ryan to work too and they were a hit. Maybe a little too much, I think I ate 10 in one day! Oh well, I guess the holiday baking is coming out in full effect! I thought I would share the recipe, YUMM-O!

8oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

3 cups and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat softened butter on medium speed. Add sugar and canned pumpkin. Beat until fluffy. Add cream of tartar, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add vanilla extract and egg, beat until well mixed. Add flour in two increments until just incorporated. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

To create coating mix 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Remove half of dough from refrigerator and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll balls in the coating, covering all sides. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool, then transfer to cooling rack. Repeat process with other half of mixture.

****I put the coating mixture in a baggie to so it wouldn't be so messy to clean up later.

Halloween and running update!

What a combo!!!!! Well, I had a good start this week with my running training. The weather has been pretty good. This fall has been so rainy that its hit and miss sometimes.

-Sunday-8 miles on my own
-Monday-rest day
-Tuesday-It was a little rainy when I woke up so I skipped the morning track work out and ran 5.5 miles on my own after work
-Wednesday-rest day
-Thursday-H+H+H=not fun, Hills, Heat and Humidity. It was 74 degrees that morning and humid as all get out but I managed to run 5.5 of hills w/ the DA crew
However, after doing a little skipping routine to the water station, I came down on my foot wrong and am now suffering for it. I hope that it can calm down soon since I am supposed to start my marathon training a week from today. Little prayers for the footsie please.
-Friday-rest day
-Saturday-I thought I would try and loosen up my foot and ran 7 miles. NOT GOOD. I came back home and realized I could barely walk after that. Sooooooo, now I am RICEing it.
***Total miles for the week=26 miles. It took me a whole week to run a marathon distance. I will be doing it all in one day in February. WOW!

So on to another scary subject: Halloween!

We had a great Halloween on Saturday! Ryan started some chilli in the morning so by the afternoon it was perfect! It completely reminded me of fall!!!! We carved our pumpkins and then got ready for the trick or treaters. We had about 30ish kids and that was a good amount. Enough to have some candy left over for us which I am fine with! Ryan loves to get all into Halloween and put out scary music w/ strobe lights and this year he even set up a little decoy and then dressed up as a skeleton himself to scare the kids as they came to the door! We had 2 criers but they were easily persuaded when Ryan showed them he was a real, live person too. That's good, I would hate to be responsible for any kids nightmares for years to come!!!! We ended trick or treating around 8:30 and then Ryan and I changed and went and saw the movie "Paranormal Activity". It had some pretty creepy parts and was perfect for Halloween!!!!


Flapper!




Me and Cricket

Ryan waiting to scare the kids

The decoy

Our pumpkins

Ryan's costume!

It was a great weekend. Sunday we even went out to Coal Vines in Southlake and sat out on their patio. They have some of the BEST pizza! And for the weekends they have a partnership with Three Dog Bakery that you can bring your pet when you sit out on the patio for lunch. Cricket was very well behaved and the weather was perfect. Not sure if we will have too many more weekends like that so maybe we can do it again next Spring!

Howdy Ya'll!

Well its official, my sister is now a Texan too. Her husband David is set to be stationed at Ft. Hood shortly and she was able to transfer with her company so she made the 11 hour drive down here. I know my mom is really sad to have both her little girls 100's of miles away but there are pros to it too. It will be nice to have family closer to us and Austin is a GREAT town to live in (and to visit). I am really happy for them and can't wait for them to get settled once David arrives in about a month or so!!!!

Here's the happy couple while David was still in boot camp!

Today was also our Halloween party at work. Our office is pretty good at setting up activities and celebrating holidays. There was a costume contest, a pumpkin carving contest and they even taught the Thriller dance in the office fitness center! They had great prizes too: ipods, cameras and even a Wii for the first place winner. I didn't win but it was fun participating and the top winner did come from our team so that was fun too! I was a 20's flapper girl (that's me, black wig and all and the winner was Fred Flinstone next to me!)

I hope everyone has some great Halloween plans. It's pretty fun that it falls on a Saturday this year and the weather here should be perfect too, in the low 70's. I am just excited to have a weekend off to enjoy!