Reading and Watching

Right now I'm reading "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. I really like it so far. It's about a drug addict/alcoholic. It's different than other books I've read because it doesn't really use much punctuation or quotation marks. It takes a little getting used to but after a couple pages in, you don't even notice it. His writing kind of reminds me of Chuck Palahniuk who wrote "Choke" and "Invisible Monsters"

I borrowed "Lost" seasons 1-4 on dvd from my sister Caroline when I went to Georgia for 4th of July. I love it!! I'm so hooked. The last season is starting in September and I've been wanting to get into for awhile. I knew if I waiting until after the series was over, I'd end up hearing about how it ended before I'd be able to watch it on dvd. We're on season 3 right now and it's getting so interesting. There's so many unanswered questions. I can't wait to see how it all ends.

Fun Weekend

Last Thursday we went to a movie at Piedmont Community College called "Growing Up Cason". Greg's friend/co-worker, Doug and his wife Judy made this film about a local family of 5 brothers and 1 sister. It's their stories of growing up, going to war, and starting a local farmer's market. It was so interesting to hear their stories. Doug & Judy did a great job with the film and there was a big turnout. You can read more about what they do here

On Saturday night we went to Doug & Judy's to celebrate Doug's birthday. It was quite a party! They had a magician, Judy, Doug's wife, performed a belly dance for us and Doug dressed up like Elvis and performed a couple of songs. They made authenic Sex and the City cosmos which really packed a punch. After a couple of those everybody was having such a great time, Greg's friend/co-worker who happens to also be a photographer got out his camera and started taking pictures of everybody. He's a very talented photographer, you should definitely check out his flickr website. He got some really fun pictures, nobody was camera shy, especially Greg (I blame the yummy cosmos!) :) Here's a couple of pictures of Greg that night.

Here's Greg pole-dancing. It was a crazy night!

Dessert Hamburgers

I saw these in a magazine and thought they were so cute. They are so easy to make. There's only 4 ingredients: Nila Wafter Cookies, York peppermint patties, vanilla frosting (colored red and yellow) and coconut tinted green with food coloring. You add a little vanilla frosting to the flat side of a Nila Wafer cookie to keep the peppermint patty in place. Put the red and yellow frosting each in a small ziploc bag and cut off the tip. Put a little of each color on the peppermint patty, sprinkle some green coconut and top with another Nila wafer. They're so cute and tasty.

Also, I bought an Old El Paso enchilada kit and tried the recipe on the back. It's basically a mexican lasagna and it was tasty.

The ingredients were: *1lb ground beef or turkey, *1 enchilada kit, *1 cup of sour cream, *1 cup of cheese, *1 onion, *1 can of green chilies, and *1 cup of cheese.

I've thrown away the box, so I don't remember exactly what it said, but basically you cook the onion and ground beef until it's brown, drain. Add enchilada sauce and seasoning from the kit, add the can of green chilies and cook until warmed through. Take the tortillas that come in the kit and cut them in half. Cover the bottom of an 11x7 casserole dish with the meat mixture, top with layer of tortillas, 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 cup of cheese, repeat with the rest of the meat mixture and end with sour cream and cheese. It was a quick and inexpensive meal.

Show Us Your Life-Wedding Dress

I'm posting pictures of my wedding dress as part of Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life". Every Friday she posts a new topic like, "kid's birthday party themes", "dining rooms" "wedding dresses" etc. And all her readers post pictures/stories/ideas on that topic and link to their blog. It's a great way to get a ideas. This week is wedding dresses.

Hola!

While we were at Best Buy recently, I saw a game for Nintendo DS called "My Spanish Coach". I thought it looked like it would be fun, so I bought it. I am absolutely addicted. There are over 1,000 lessons and after each lesson you play games to reinforce what you just learned. It is so much fun. It was only 29.99 and they come in several different languages including French, Japanese, Chinese, German, etc. I would highly recommend it to anybody who has a DS.

Summer

**I have not figured out how to place pictures where I want on my blog unless I insert them using photobucket (which takes forever). When I use blogspot to upload my pictures, it automatically puts them all at the top and I did not have time to try and figure it out, so all the pictures that correspond with the blog are at the beginning of the blog instead of being after each paragraph**

It has been such a nice summer so far. We have been staying very busy with bbqs, weddings, out of town guests, and a trip to Augusta.

We went camping with another couple at the beginning of the summer and it was so much fun. Neither one of us is the camping type, we are hotel people, but it was really nice. There was a bathroom really close to our camp site which made the trip so much more enjoyable and the weather was great. It wasn't too busy and the campsite next to us wasn't occupied which was perfect because the open lot seemed to attract a lot of wildlife. We saw chipmunks, squirrels, birds and even deer. They didn't seem scared of people at all which allowed us to get some great pictures.

We got invited to a wedding reception of a co-worker of mine this summer and RSVP'd as soon as we received the invitation. I love weddings/receptions/baby showers/etc. She had a beautiful reception and a great turn out. Greg and I had a blast. Greg loves to throw back a couple of drinks and go out on the dance floor and let loose. He was something else that night and I got a lot of great pictures.

My dad was deployed to Afghanistan on June 23rd. He had to spend a week in Maryland before leaving which is only about a 1.5-2 hour drive from out house, so he was able to come down for the weekend before he left. It was really nice to see him before he went. I'm so happy that he only has be there for 6 months versus 12+ months that some people have to do. We miss him and can't wait until he is back safe at home.

reg and I went to Augusta for 4th of July weekend. It was the first time we've been down to Augusta since Christmas. It was so nice to see my mom and sister, Caroline. We had a great, relaxing weekend of shopping, gossiping, cooking, and watching a "Saw" movie marathon. It was so much fun. I love going down to Augusta, I always have a great time seeing my family. Poor Greg, though. He did not have as good of a time as I did. He really missed my dad. He does not like being the only man in a household of women. He really can't wait until my dad gets back.

I meant to take pictures while I was in Augusta, but just didn't get around to it. Greg tried to take some since he knew I wanted some. I'd love to just take an hour or two the next time we go in and take pictures of all the stores, restaurants, streets, houses, etc. that I associate with my trip to Augusta. Greg got a picture of me with my sonic drink. We went to sonic a couple of times while I was in since they have the best drinks and Charlottesville doesn't have a sonic, so I had to drink it up while I could. Our next official trip to Augusta is for Thanksgiving, but I'm thinking of coming down a weekend without Greg and spending some girltime with my mom and sister.

We still have some things coming up this month and next. This Saturday I am attending a "Passion Party" being thrown by a girl Greg works with. All the girls are going to the "Passion Party" and all the husbands/boyfriends are coming to our house to drink beer, grill burgers, and wonder what the girls are doing at their party. I have never been to a passion party and I am very, very nervous. I don't know what to expect.

Next weekend we will be going to the Mini Cooper Wine Festival in Louisa county with our friends. We went last year and had so much fun. Everybody drives their mini-coopers if they have them and you get there and try all the different wines they have out. It was this festival last year that I discovered chocolate wine, which is one of my favorite kinds. It should be fun, hopefully we can get some good pictures for me to post on here.

The following weekend is a bbq at one of Greg's co-worker's houses. And then the following weekend is July 31st----GREG'S 30th BIRTHDAY!!

Alright, I'm tired. That's all the updating for now. I promise to start taking better pictures to go with each blog.