Mediterranean Pasta

YUMMO!! I got the original recipe from a magazine my dad bought me. It was a skinny slow cooker magazine book and I have been making stuff from it all year long. I made this once before but wanted to attempt a vegetarian version of it. Here it goes with my twists!

In crock pot put:
-4 carrots peeled and cut into thick slices.
-1 medium yellow onion sliced.
-1 yellow sweet pepper seeds and sliced.
-I can diced tomatoes(do not drain).
-3 cups vegetable stock
-1 teaspoon chopped garlic.
-salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

During last hour add:

-3 zucchinis cut into slices then cut in half.

** if you are unable to add to cook zucchini on low for last half hour due to work I would kick your crock pot to the high setting and cook for 30 minutes instead.

Prepare your choice of pasta, I used whole wheat penne. Top veggies onto pasta and you can add basil Gremelota-recipe below!

Basil Gremelota
Mix all ingredients together.

-8 basil leaves chopped
-1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
-olive oil
-a tablespoon or more of parmesan.

Holland said he liked this a lot. Said it had ton of great flavors and he is taking leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

NOW! Back to the OLYMPICS!! I am loving the women's gymnastics!

Chicago Style Jumbo Hot Dog Post

This past weekend, my mom and I traveled to Chicago to visit my cousin and her husband as well as their awesome roommate/friend, Roi. This was my second visit to the windy city and my moms first.  Last time when Holland and I visited it was COLD. December/ January COLD! It was a nice change up to switch from scarves and mittens to flip flops and shorts and enjoy the warm BUT tolerating heat.

Here are some of my favorite things caught on camera!

Mindy Racer

Our first morning in town, Roi showed us around Andersonville and we looked at little shops and had bagels for breakfast! They had doggie bagels for sale so we had to get some for the Chicago Wieners! 

Paxton Racer

Okay so this photo is a lithe blurry and I blame the waiter. He was having a tough night because he was pretty much working the bar.restaurant on his own but he lightened up by the time our deep dish pizza came out and so he took a nice blurry picture of us. I was afraid to ask him again so this will have to do!! You cannot go to Chicago and not get a deep dish pizza. It is some form of a tradition and it was delicious.

The Leftovers!

After dinner, the girls went to the ice-cream shop! It was called Lickety Split. I think that is the best name for an ice-cream/candy shop!! PP and I shared a vanilla custard mixed with a chocolate cupcake and sprinkles and my mom got a vanilla shake along with candy from her childhood!

So this bean is one of my favorite things about Chicago. I LOOVE taking pictures in it. I laugh a little but inside because I know I am in a ton of others peoples pictures. No matter how far away you stand you will always be in the picture. It is fun. 

We recreated our last bean pose from our Winter Visit. 

December 2012

July 2012

The bean is located in Millenium Park downtown. We walked around and watched kids play in water like gold was streaming from the fountains, we walked across bridges and laid in the grass at the amphitheater.

LOVED THIS. This was obviously not in session in the winter. 

 My cousins Husband, Billy is taking classes at Second City. This is a famous acting school where SNL stars like Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Steve Carrell went before being discovered!! We went and saw One Nation Under 1% and it was HILARIOUS. It is a clearly a political show, which you would think would get heated quickly but everyone was laughing (and crying) pretty much for the entire two hours. I am amazed by the actors and their ability to think on their feet with improv. It is amazing to watch such talented people on a stage perform and have fun interacting with an audience of strangers. I gave Billy a two year deadline to get on that stage :).

****This is the point in the trip where I came pretty close to acquiring diabetes****

After the show we went and ate at one of my favorite places, PORTILLOS!!!! They have the best hot dogs.  I got one that had mustard, hot peppers, tomatoes, a pickle spear and I am sure some other things as well. We also had chili dogs and a cake shake. What is a cake shake you might ask. Well, a cake shake is a chocolate based ice-cream shake with a slice of chocolate cake mixed into it. Yes, it tasted like you are drinking a cake through a straw, frosting and ALL! PP and I shared it, there is no way I could ever finish one on my own. 

After gorging my stomach with dinner we went to their friends house to celebrate a birthday and look at a beautiful bar that Roi built.  We got to meet PP, Billy and Roi's friends that they work with and that was fun. It made me happy that they have such great friendships here. PP told me about one of their friends named Kevin. She said she always thinks of me when she is around him because he is really hyper. She also added that he is really tall so I came to the conclusion that this could be my future son given my energy and Hollands height. HE WAS REALLY TALL. 

On our last morning, we went and had brunch at Ann Sathers. 

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! BEST DANG CINNAMON ROLL IN THE ENTIRE WOOOOOOORLD! I wish I could say this was the only part of my breakfast. Yup, just this and a cup of coffee....HECK NO, I was in Chicago! Scroll down for the rest. 

I was totally unable to finish it all. 

We spent the last hours of our afternoon in BoysTown. I LOVED IT. How can you not love a city that has a GayMart?

It is really strange and weird to think I have only spent around a total of seven days with my cousin this entire year.  Especially because if we lived in the same city I am pretty sure we would spent at least one or two days a week together. However, I see how happy she is here in Chicago.  She jumps on trains and buses like she has been doing it her entire life.  We make the most of the time when we are together  . We may be separated by thousand of miles but we are only a 2 hour plane trip apart. 

It was nice to come home to these sweet faces. 

Hannah and her toy I got her from the trip. 

Bleu got a new red leash for his souvenir! Doesn't he look like he is smiling?! I think he missed me :)

I have three more weeks until I have to report back to school for inservice. Get ready to see all my Pinterest class for my classroom in the next few posts. Have a great week everyone!

TXTING

Do any of y'all remember how life was before all the technology and applications we had on our phone? I went through High School without Facebook(thank GOD!) and I did have a cell phone which would be considered Fred Flinstone style these days but I did not start texting and taking pictures with my camera phone until college. Holland went through ALL of High School without a cell phone and I really believe the only reason he finally got one was because he moved away to another city for school. He probably would still be without one if he had his choice.  

Now days, I feel naked without my cell phone. If I lose it I panic and search all the tables and counter tops for where I left it. I use it as my alarm, I use it for my calendar to schedule EVERYTHING in my life and I of course now use it to text.  I am not a huge texter. My sister is really the goddess of texting. However,  if I am somewhere where I have a quick question or I want to send a funny picture I never hesitate to send a message. 

Holland and I went to dinner at this pizzeria place called Dough recently and If you have not been there you must go but take something to do with you because the wait is usually 45 minutes to an hour and they do not take reservations! Holland had eaten here a few times before because he delivers Ranger Creek here and he would always tell me just how delicious everything is. Even though it was a long wait, it was worth it.  The actual dining part did not take as long and Holland enjoyed a glass of red wine with his pizza.  There was a symbol etched on his glass and I stared at it and then gasped!!!!!

 I said "OH MY GOOOOD!!, Its the symbol from REVENGE!" 

**If you do not watch revenge you better get on it because you are missing out BIG TIME**

Holland(who does watch revenge) looked at me like he totally did not understand. I then noticed the same symbol on the box with our leftover pizza in it. I said "AHHH there it is again!" REVENGEEEE! Then.....I realized that it was supposed to resemble "Dough"-Hence the name of the restaurant.... Holland just laughed at me and I said NO it is totally an infinity sign. When our waitress came by she kindly asked if there was anything else she could get us and so I excitedly asked her 

"Doesn't this symbol totally remind you of the TV show Revenge?!" She looked at me like I had been released out of an asylum and needed to be put back in.  I then just continued to ramble on and on about how it is the most amazing show and how I watched the entire season in 4 days(THATS RIGHT TWENTY TWO 45 minute Episodes in 4 days! ( I had a pinched nerve in my back)

Holland laughed at me and maybe he was a little embarrassed. I mean he does see these people every week when he delivers and now he may be known as the beer guy with the crazy girlfriend obsessed with some TV show.

 To get the reaction I had been waiting for I texted one of my best friends, Allison Baggerly. 

Of Course it it what I think of!!! THANK YOU for the reaction I was waiting for!

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Holland and I always try to go to non chain restaurants. We like to support the businesses that are small and just getting started. Usually they have the best food in town anyways.  A place called Bird Bakery opened up down the street from us a few months ago and I JUST told Holland how I wanted to go there and I cannot believe we have never been and then yesterday I get this Text from him....

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I know all of you go through the lovely application of auto correct on your phones.  I have seen some hilarious and very embarrassing ones before so this one is not as bad. Usually you can figure out what the person really wanted to say and sometimes it is just totally non- decodable. Whenever my phone autocorrects or mistypes a word, Holland just plays along with it....

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 After I went to go view a house for sale downtown with Hollands parents, we went to eat at a restaurant and saw our friend Dan and his running group go by.  We came to the conclusion that he was running like a dandy. Please view video for explanation HERE:

How do you run? I would love to run like the T1000.  But I think I am a slow version of the Geezer!

Happy Wednesday! 

Love is in the Air!

 Yesterday we celebrated the marriage of our friends, Clair Lavender and Kenny Hicks. It was a beautiful, beautiful day.  Weddings always get me teary eyed. It is just such a special time to show everyone how crazy in love you are.  It is a time for friends and family to gather to celebrate the journey of a couple starting their lives together.

My favorite part of weddings is of course when the bride walks down the aisle, but my ULTIMATE favorite part is watching the grooms face.  I can see so much happiness in Kennys face and you can see the love overflowing in his smile. I am sure that this feeling makes all the planning and stress melt away just to feel this moment. 

 These two are crazy about each other.  Holland and I are lucky to have been friends with them for so many years. They are both SO funny and outgoing. They are going to have such a wonderful life together and I know they will have plenty of love and laughter along the way.

Weddings to me feel like reunions.




You get to catch up with people you may not get to see very often........

You get to be silly and really kick back and have a good time.......

You get to hang out with girlfriends and fight for the bouquet.......

You get to dance ALL night......( after switching to flat shoes!)

You get to pretend that you are in the Dirty Dancing movie with your friends...

 And lets face it... It is always fun to get dressed up nicely for an evening!

 Most importantly, you get to feel love in the air and witness the happiness of two people coming together and joining forces for a lifetime. Congrats Kenny and Clair Hicks!! We are so very happy for you and the love that you have found in each other.

Few Camera Phone Shots from the After Party!

Clair, Amanda and I. 

Hilarious!

Holland and I with Libby