plug

I couldn't pass this up.

I have to give some props to my wonderful sister!

All of you living in Birmingham, with and without kids..

Check this out!

My sister is an amazing artist. I mean, really. And you may have heard me say it before, but I am telling you again. I actually beg her often for pictures to decorate my house. They are trickling in over time and it makes things so much more homey here!

My newest kick is wanting my home "southernized" so she gave me this for Christmas.

Anyway. Book an Art Party. K?

Still pawtying...

Luke and Elle are still enjoying their time together. Elle has been busy destroying toys...

such as this football that seemed impossible to destroy, to both Pat and I...

but Elle proved us wrong, again.

and this chicken that came over with Luke...

first it was its face

now it's left with just a booty.

Elle and her Uncle Luke

As most of you already know - Elle stays in her crate at night. Pat is allergic to her and so she doesn't have the luxury of sleeping in a queen sized bed with us. But...as you can see...Luke is used to sleeping in a bed. Two nights ago I heard Patrick saying something, so I stepped out of the bathroom door to find Luke giving us this pitiful look...

This is last night. Once again, I am brushing my teeth and heard some rustling in the bedroom. I peeked out to this face...

So pitiful!!! I just couldn't kick him off! I let him stay on that edge, I got in the middle to block him from Pat, and then Pat got to squeeze in on his side. This only lasted till about midnight both nights and then I had to boot him to his "bed" we made him on the floor.

I made this!

I was uber disgusted with the fact that when I first took this little chicken out of its package and tried to pull the neck "out" I quickly realized it was still attached. yuk. yuk. yuk. Then I had flashbacks to anatomy class. That is where Court and I first met. See, she was the one who got to pull that dead cat out of the bag every single class, because I could NOT do it - bonded us for life :). We both still talk about the day that we had to separate the skin from the muscle (I left the room and had to vom...seriously.) - which is what I did last night with this slimy, neck still attached little chicken to be able to season it. I was SO SO SO grossed out. I just prayed it would actually taste good. AND IT DID! Quite delicious if I must say so myself!

And I discovered that I like butternut squash...yum.

spend the night pawty

Luke, or Uncle Luke as we call him in our house, is staying with us for the weekend. I think he already wishes his mom and dad would come home so he can escape Elle. She is SO excited he is here.

This is after getting Elle's energy out. They are just lounging around while I do some laundry and eat lunch.

I walked them to the park this morning. See, it's already quite entertaining to see Elle pulling me down the street. Just add another 80ish lbs to the walk. All that matters is that we made it to the mud pit, I mean the dog park.

Elle has already destroyed one of the toys Luke brought over and has been so excited he's here she even ate another corner of the rug pad...

Happy Friday!

bragging

The other night I was getting off work later than Pat and he said "When you come in, don't look in the kitchen." I was quite excited because that means he's cooking!! I was allowed into the kitchen when dinner was ready - he had made creamy pesto shrimp and linguine. It was delicious. But, that wasn't all....

See, I have a new thing going on. It's an obsession with bread pudding.

I talk about it almost every day.

Well...

Tadaaaaaaa.

Banana chocolate chip bread pudding.

Made by Patrick Broderick.

:)

(Just had to brag that I have the best husband ever)

(aaaand he cooked last night too...)

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups cubed French bread
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. (actually a 9x13 would cook faster - we used 2 9x5's and it took at least another 30min to cook than it says)
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread, bananas, and chocolate chips, and let rest 5 minutes for bread to soak. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place loaf pan on towel inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

love day

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Pat and I were able to meet up with a friend of mine that I haven't been able to really spend time with in probably over 2 years - and we got to meet her husband! They were in town celebrating their 1st anniversary from Des Moines. He was so sweet to plan a surprise brunch for her, and Pat and I got to be the surprise! We ate at Vin de Set - which has a very good brunch. It was so much fun to catch up with Nicole and meet Bryan. I already miss her!! We are going to plan a weekend visit 1/2 way between the 2 of us and I can't wait.

These strawberries are so good...and easy to make

You hollow out the tops, then

mix Marscapone cheese, powdered sugar (or splenda, or regular sugar), and grated semisweet chocolate together, then stuff the strawberries.

delicious!!

Pat wanted to cook me dinner last night, but we decided that it would be nice to order out, and just hang out together in our PJ's. It was a perfect Valentine's!

celebration

Happy Birthdayyy!!!

Pat's Birthday was this past Saturday. We spent the day out in the cold, playing with the dog.

This is the birthday boy before heading out for the day!

Elle found the bow from one of his presents and was about to chew it up, so we decided to decorate her. The video cracks me up.

Then she moved onto the birthday banner. It has some chew marks on it now

We found a hill that snow had collected on that was several feet deep in some areas.

Here is our amazing snow man!

We used her ball for the snowmans button...she did NOT like that.

So she stole it and ran away.

This is towards the end of the afternoon, she was exhausted. Her legs were so deep in the snow that she looked like she was laying down.

I tried to make birthday cupcakes for Pat, and to take to dinner with friends. I used a recipe offline, and even cut back on the oil (a lot of people commented that it was too much) from 1 1/2 cups to about 3/4 cup. After they came out, I tasted them and YUK! The first thing you tasted was oil!!! :( I was so disappointed....

here they are...in the trash.

The icing was delicious though!!

We met up with friends at the Scottish Arms and he got birthday bread pudding instead.

Happy 31st Birthday Patrick! I love you!

persistent

This dog is persistent...

Multiple times a day, she will grab:

pillows off the bed

pillows off the couch

blanket off the couch

clothes off the dresser

gloves

hats

jackets

shoes

clothes from the laundry hamper

and...

the blanket off the bed

These "treasures", we shall call them, are delivered directly to Pat and I allll day - though never destroyed. During dinner tonight, it got quiet then we could hear a collar jingling and a dog trotting in. We always know she's coming to us with some sort of prize. Tonight, once again, it was this huge blanket. I honestly have NO idea how to make her stop! We close the bedroom door (accidently was left open during dinner) but she still takes things from the couch. She does it for attention, so i've tried to ignore her when she does it...ugghh. No progress. I think it all started here.

Recognize anything different?

Well, it used to look like this.

Then this.

And now, the rug is in the dumpster.

It was a complete disaster and we were constantly sweeping pieces of rug up off the floor.

I am a little nervous as to what gets destroyed next. Small area rug is a lot cheaper than wooden furniture and baseboards...

Mardi Gras flashback

It's Mardi Gras time!!! I have a few flashback pictures, and am missing pics from the 1st year there (lost in the great computer crash a year ago).

Mardi Gras 2007

2008

And here we are now! My door is decorated, thanks to the wreath made by Court

And Elle is already dressed up and ready to celebrate!

Had to snatch this one away before it got destroyed by the monster. She decided I was getting her ready a little to early for the celebration.

I will miss the good time in Fairhope this year :(

We are going to enjoy all of the weekend celebrations here in STL next week - Mardi Gras, Love Day, and last but NOT least - Patrick's Birthdayyyyy!!

brr

This sums up how Mophie and I feel about this weather...

Last weekend we made blueberry pancakes - and I made this bear for Pat...

Then he cut his head off.

Thanks a lot.

:)

cake anyone?

It's only a year old...

We ate a slice of the top of our wedding cake - and you know, I am not really sure why people tell you to do that? But, we did. Such good sports. Actually it wasn't too shabby. With a little Ben and Jerry's and some blackberries on the side...ahh, perfect.