Happy Birthday Alex

Yesterday was Alex's birthday. He turned the ripe young age of 29. My original plan was to take him shooting for a couple of hours and then go to Joes Crab Shack. Due to unforseen obstacles, that didn't happen so instead I made him a couple to do both and made 29 peanut butter cups (his favorite). My lovely son whom I adore didn't really want to cooperate with me as I tried to make the peanut butter cups and thus it took over 3 hours to make. I was worried that I wouldn't finish them in time to pick up my husband but lucky for me, I completed them within literally minutes of having to leave to pick Alex up.

Red Robin......YUM!

So lately it seems there has been an increase in Red Robin commercials. I love Red Robin and haven't eaten there in so long! My favorite thing to eat there is the Bonzai Burger and I absolutely love the Hawaiian Heartthrob Smoothie while my husband enjoys the A1 Peppercorn Burger. I thought to myself, I could probably make the stuff myself so I set out to find any info I could. Basically it came down to me reading from the menu online what was on the burgers and in the smoothie then making it up myself. The spread for the A1 burger I did find more information for on RecipeZaar.com. They said that they use Heinz 51, A1 peppercorn sauce and mayo. There were no ratios so I just kind of added until it looked right and made my husband taste it. For my burger, I marinated the burger in the terriyaki sauce and grilled the pineapple. It was tasty!! I baked our french fries for 2 reasons. The first reason being we didn't have enough oil for me to fry them fried (I thought I still had some oil in my pantry...my bad!) the second reason was, well lets be honest, it's just a little bit healthier.

Now for my FAVORITE part of dinner tonight, the Hawaiian Heartthrob Smoothie!!

Ok, so I looked on Recipezaar to see if they had a recipe and there was definitely a recipe but when I compared it to the ingredients from the menu, they were a little different. The menu is really vague but just says what is in it so it was up to me to come up with the portions. Here is what I came up with:

Serving is for 1 person

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 banana
1 tsp grenadine
2 TBSP coconut cream
1/2 cup frozen strawberries in syrup (aka in sugar)
ice until you reach the consistency you desire.

Blend it all together and enjoy! OMG SOOO good! At least in my opinion.

Random things...

I love the random things in life that make me smile. If I'm having a bad day, or even if I'm not I love these things...

-The Little Caesars sign guy who stands on the corner and with so much energy waves the sign around and dances.

-Happy hour at Sonic...who doesn't love 1/2 prices Cranberry limeades and dr pepper everyday from 2-4??

-While we're talking about Sonic, Sonic ice. In the words of Rachel Ray....YUMMO!!

-People who regularly update their blogs. It gives me something to read and generally entertaining.

-The little kids in grocery stores who push the little kid carts with groceries in it.

-New York Pizza and Pasta

-The little old couple that you see still holding hands as they walk

-Driving into Vegas at night and seeing the lights creep up over the hill and descending into the city.

There are many more things but these are a few. Everyone needs things in life to put a smile on your face. I hope today someone or something put a smile there!

So Lucky. Actually, Blessed.

So I've seen commercials for the show "The Locator" and I've always thought it would be a cool show to see. This morning I actually got to see it. (It's actually still on) Here I am sitting on the couch crying.  The past few episodes have been about adoptions. One was a birthmom searching for her son and the other story was a girl searching for her birthmom. It brought back a lot of emotions for me. It made me think back about my first pregnancy, how alone I felt through all of it, how it broke my heart that the baby growing inside of me was one I knew was not meant for me. The happy part, how lucky am I that I got to find an amazing family to place my precious baby girl with. They are an amazing family and I am so incredibly blessed to have them be a part of my life. To this day I have a wonderful relationship with her and the family I placed her with. 

She'll be 5 this year. I can't believe how much time has passed since the day she came into the world and how much she has grown. My love for her has not changed if anything it grows more and more each day. I feel so blessed to be able to see her hold my little boy now and to know that right now the hope for the future is that I will get to continue to be there in her life and one day hold her babies as she holds mine. 

Thank you Mom!

Dear Mom, thank you for teaching me how to cook, bake and use my resources. Thank you for the knowledge you have passed on and continue to pass on.

Today I wanted an egg on a bagel for breakfast but unfortunately for me, there were no bagels in the house. Well, it turns out not so unfortunate. I think to myself, how hard can it be to make bagels? I hopped online this morning, found a bagel recipe that appeared to be pretty easy and I had everything I needed to make it. So I did.

Flour and Yeast

Salt, Sugar and Water

This is what is looks like before you add the rest of the flour and before it gets messy.

Hand mix in the rest of the flour, dump it on a lightly floured surface and knead baby knead!

So I depressed the center with my thumb then put it on my finger and spun it around. I felt like a little kid playing with my food...it was fun :)

let the bagels rise, boil in water and then bake!!!

TADA!!!!

Needless to say I finally got my egg on a bagel. It was tasty and although it was quite a bit of work for such a simple breakfast, now I have plenty for when I want another one. 

Do you ever?

Do you ever daydream about what you want in life, things you want or what you would do if had "x"?? I find myself doing this all the time. I don't know if it's A) my way of making it a goal, B) trying to visualize it or C) just wishful thinking. I'm sure for me, it's D) a little of all the above. Lately, my daydreaming has been geared toward my dream home, gardens, how I would be self sufficient, my yearning to be an amazing cake maker/decorater and oh the things I could do with a Bosch and a Kitchenaid.

When I think about my dream house I picture something sort of "Dan in Real Life" (ish). Not his house, but his parents house. A large piece of land by the water with lots of trees, a huge wrap around porch, something with dimension and room for everyone. I would love for my dream house to be the home that is always there. The home your kids can remember growing up in, that your grandkids come to, it becomes an icon to your family. Does that even happen anymore??? I keep the dream alive in my mind and hopefully one day (before my kids are grown and out of the house) my husband and I will achieve the dream. As for the other things they are all attainable at some point in my life. If I had to pick an order in which I would like to get things (aside from the house) it would be a Bosch, then a Kitchenaid mixer, and with those 2 I could become an awesome cake maker/decorater. The garden obviously won't come until I have a house to plant one. In the meantime, I use my trusty handmixer to make bread which I then had knead for 10 minutes (awesome arm workout) and I use it to make the cakes. I just need to invest in a nice cake decorating set so that I can start teaching myself.