Goodbye 2009!

This year has seem to fly by! I can't believe that 2009 is already over!! Sooooo

Goodbye

 to

To ring in the New Year, John and I went to Outback for dinner. We both hadn't been in forever and it was really good. They had a special where you could get a sirloin and lobster for $14! I had never had lobster by itself before and it was so delicious!! To top off our dinner we had the Nutter Butter peanut butter pie! It was so good and rich we couldn't finish it, but we came close!

Brunch and a drive to Memphis and OK City!!

Tuesday

My day started out with brunch with the family, my Uncle Dan and Jen were flying back today so we decided to have brunch at the Cracker Barrel because they would not be able to make it to lunch. It took forever, but the food was really good. 

After that I started getting ready to make my way to Memphis to see Can, Lou, and Parker for the night. I had several loads of clothes to wash and had to get my oil changed in my car, so I got a bit of a late start. I got there around 8:00 p.m. and we hung out until about midnight.  We played the Wii Fit and had lots of fun!!

Wednesday

Today I made my way to OK City to see John!! It was a 7 hour drive, the longest I've ever driven by myself.  It wasn't to bad... my XM helped out.  I spent most of the trip listening to talk shows and Blue Collar Comedy. 

I was so excited when I got there. Even though I had just seen John a few days before, I was excited about getting to see him for a few days and spend New Year's with him!!

We decided to get some Pei Wei takeout and watch some t.v. at his house. It was a great way to end a long day of driving!!

Concert and fixing dinner for 8!!

This morning my whole family put on a mini concert for my Gramma and Heritage House. My Aunt Mary Ellen, Uncle Emery, Uncle Dan, and Jen where the main performers of the show.  My sister, Mom, Bill, Alice, and I all joined in for the last song. Most of the music performed were pieces of music that had already been performed at my aunt and uncles church.  Here a few pictures from the concert:

Uncle Emery, Aunt Mary Ellen, Jen, and Uncle Dan

Uncle Emery (oboe) and Jen (viola)

Aunt Mary Ellen (piano)

Jen and Aunt Mary Ellen

Aunt Mary Ellen (piano) and Jen (viola)

Aunt Mary Ellen (piano) and Uncle Emery (solo)

I took video's of everything but I couldn't get the sound to work :(  I might try again later. After the concert, we all had lunch at Heritage House.  It was fun to get to sit and visit with everyone.

When lunch was over I had to go to the store to get ready for dinner at my apartment.  I got a new cookbook for Christmas and somehow it came about that I should cook dinner for everyone.  My Aunt Mary Ellen had showed me a recipe from Raspberry Chicken that she thought looked good. It sounded easy, so I decided to make it. 

I had to bring over another card table so I could seat eight for my dinner (I only had room for 4).  The chicken was so simple to make! I mixed up 10oz. raspberry jelly, 8 oz. Russian dressing, and a packet of onion soup. It turned out so good. I also fixed potato's, left over dressing, and salad.  For dessert I made brownies and had all the left over desserts from the rest of the weekend.

I was pretty nervous about making dinner for so many people. I just used to cooking for myself and it's usually pretty lite meals. But to my surprise it turned out really good. The only thing I didn't master was making sure everything was done at the same time. My potato's were a little late getting done. Other than that, the meal was a great success!! I just hope I done have to do it any time soon. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Day!

The morning started out great... I was able to sleep in a little bit!! When we got up it was time to have Christmas and open presents, John got me a Wii!!!

I was so excited!! I had been wanting one for a while and was excited to get it!! I think I did pretty good with John's gifts too!!

After we were done with opening the presents, it was time to start making the ravioli's! I made the dough... about 4 batches worth.  We ended up making over 100 ravioli's!!

I helped Terry prepare more of dinner so it would be ready to start cooking and then it was time to get ready.  I had to get a quick shower and then help my Mom and Gramma get to Terry's house.  Teresa was able to come too, after she got off work.

We started off with crackers and cheese, and a little champagne. When we sat down for dinner, we started out with the ravioli's!! They turned out so good. Then we had the standing rib roast, risotto, and artichoke hearts. It was all so good and I was stuffed.  We took a little break and then ended the night with homemade cheese cake!! The night was lots of fun and I think my Gramma and Mom had a good time too.

Saturday

I made myself go for a run today. I only got 5 miles it, but it was better then nothing.  Later that night, John, Dan, Teresa, and I meet some people to go bowling! I hadn't been bowling in a long time... it showed! I did make one strike, yea!!

After bowling, John, Dan, and I decided to go to a late movie. We went and was Sherlock Holmes.

This movie was really good, about halfway through, I was so tired, but I stuck with it and it turned out to be a good movie. 

Sunday

John left today to go back to OK City. :( I was a sad to see him go, but grateful for the long week with him here. And knowing that I might go there for New Years made the goodbye not so bad.

Later this morning, I headed to church with my Gramma, Mom, Uncle Dan and Jen.  After church we went to my Gramma's house for lunch (potato soup!) and to visit.  We also managed to teach Jen how to play Rummikub and played 5 games!!  I think she finally got the hang of it after so many games. Haha!

By the time we got done playing, my Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Emery came into town.  And my Gramma was excited to see them.  It meant we could finally open presents and have Christmas!! I got a coffee maker, a cookbook, and several gift cards!! Everyone else racked up too, especially my Gramma, she always does. :)

After we got done with presents we had Christmas dinner. It was so good, turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, and tons of other good foods. We were all stuffed when we got done but it worth it, it was all so good!!

Happy Christmas Eve!!

The day started out early! We had a big day ahead...

For dinner we had the 7 fishes!

1. The meal started out with mussels cooked in white wine, garlic, and other spices. They were so good!

2. As sides we had octopus salad (which I was afraid to eat! I ended up eating one piece and it was okay but I don't think I'll eat it again.)

3. And squid salad (which was wonderful)

4. Shrimp, which I made!!

5. Linguine in a clam sauce.

6. The main course was Amberjack.

7. And to finish on the meal, we had salad with anchovies.

I wish I had of tacked picture of all the food, but I didn't get around to it! The meal was wonderful and we were just a little stuffed when we were done! :)

Happy Christmas Adam!

So today is Christmas Eve Eve, also known as Christmas Adam. I heard this term for this first time this year but I thought it was cute soooo Happy Christmas Adam!

Today was pretty busy at work, while just about everyone else in my office was doing nothing I was working away... I just I had a little down time this week too, I just kind of sucked to be so busy the day before a holiday. I was able to leave at 3:00 p.m. which was nice!!

After work, I headed over to Terry's and John's dad's house to help Terry wrap presents and eat some dinner.  When we were done with dinner, John and I headed over to Moose's parents house to visit with them and Moose!!! It was so great to see them!!

MSU Basketball!!!

Tonight we went to the MSU basketball game at the Mississippi Coliseum. It was fun to see some basketball, I hadn't been to a game in forever!

Go Dawgs!

Dawgs in action!

We won!!

After the game, John, Dan, and I decided to go see Avatar in 3-D at the Malco in Madison!!!

It was so awesome!! I had never been to a 3-D movie, so I was pretty excited!! When the movie first started, I thought I might get a little motion sick, but after a few minutes of adjusting it was fine. This movie was so great, it was a very colorful movie and was a great story.  I would definitely go see this again!!

Uneventful Monday and Dinner!

Today was pretty boring at work. The office was pretty sparse, but I had lots to get done.

My mom wanted to take me and John out to eat, so we all met at Fernando's!

It was ok, our waiter was pretty terrible and there were several mistakes with our food orders.  But the food tasted good, and my mom was excited about taking John out to eat for Christmas!!

Shopping Shopping Shopping!!

Friday

My sister, Teresa, and I tried to finish my Christmas shopping tonight. We decided to go to Dogwood tonight and try and get most our shopping done there.  We got most of it done and decided to end the night at Mellow Mushroom!  It was so good and a great way to end the night.

Saturday

So we could get an early start, I bribed my sister with a homemade breakfast made special by me! I fixed French Toast and it was delicious!! After breakfast we headed to Northpark... it was surprisingly not to busy. We got almost everything done there. To finished off out stopping weekend, we went to Renaissance to finish things off.  It was such a relief to have all our Christmas shopping done!!

Sunday

Long run... today I ran 9 miles.  After my run, I had my traditional Krispy Kreme donut.  When I got home, I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my apartment.  John was coming into town and I wanted it to look nice when he saw it for the first time!!!

More Cleaning!

On Thursday I usually go visit my Gramma, but decided that I really needed to go home and do some more cleaning! I finally got all my boxes unpacking!!! Yea! And it only took 3 months!!!! After I did this I was pretty much done for the night and get to bed early.

Yea for empty boxes!!!!

Christmas Luncheon and Shopping!!!

Today was our Christmas Luncheon at work! I was a little worried about it at first, our invite said we were having surf and turf... turns out it was going to be pork and shrimp. I wasn't real sure how that was going to fit together, but it turned out really good! We had port loin stuffed with cream cheese & pineapple and fire cracker shrimp! We had twice baked potato casserole and tons of desserts. It was so good and I was so stuffed when we were done. After lunch we did our dirty Santa exchange. It usually last several hours but it only took about 1! When we were done with that we were able to leave for the day!!!


I decided to try and get some Christmas shopping done. I stopped by several stores that I had never been in and found a few cute things. Then I was off to Academy Sports, Northpark, and then Renaissance. I didn't do much buying but a lot of looking. I now have a pretty good idea what I'm going to get everyone, now I just have to go get everything. :)

Run in Jackson!

Tonight was a meeting for the Jacktown Rundown club I'm a member of. We have pretty much stuck to the route around Fenian's. My friend Jessica B. ran the three mile together. It was lots of fun! We run at a similar pace so it was very nice.  After the run we all had dinner at Fenian's I has a Guinness and the chicken tender kid’s meal. Haha! It was so good! I can't wait for our next run in two weeks!!

Dinner and Cleaning!

By the time I got home from work tonight I was so tired I didn't feel like doing much of anything. So I decided to try and do a little cleaning. I actually got 4 boxes unpacked!!! I couldn't believe I got so much accomplished.

I also watched a movie, The Cake Eaters.

The Cake Eaters, starring Kristen Stewart, is about a girl (Georgia) who has a neurological disorder, who has been sheltered by her mother because of her disorder. Georgia decided to branch out and experience life. I thought this movie was okay.  It had lots of little story line that in the end all fit together, but it was a little strange, other than that it was pretty good movie.

Weekend Shopping Trip in Atlanta!!

Friday

We got to Atlanta around 12:30 a.m. (Mississippi time) which meant it was 1:30 a.m. Atlanta time. We went straight to bed! We were so tired, we went straight to bed, ready for a fun day of shopping later that morning.

We decided to spend today at the North Georgia Premium Outlets.

We got there around 11:00 a.m. and didn't get done shopping until 7:00 p.m. I ended up buying to much for myself, which I figured was going to happen. I did get 2 gifts!! That is about all the Christmas shopping I've gotten done so far. But it's better then nothing I guess. For supper we decided to go to Jim 'n Nick's Bar-b-q. It was so good! But after that we were all pretty tired and went to bed.

Saturday

Today was another marathon day of shopping! We went to a REI and The Container Store (we learned to make bows)! Then we headed to a big indoor mall. For a shack we got some yogurt at the place call Yoforia.

It was so good! I've never had yogurt that tasted that good and had really fresh fruit on it. Wish there was one close to here. We shopped until after 7:00 p.m. until we finally decided to call it quits and get something to eat. By this time we were so tired it didn't take long for us all to go to bed.

Sunday

Today we made our way back to Jackson. I slept some of the way, but it still felt like a long trip back. But beside the time driving, it was a really great trip! And I was so glad Lelia invited me. I will defiantly have to go back next year!!!

Heading to Atlanta!!!

I'm taking off work tomorrow so I can go on a shopping trip to Atlanta with Lelia and Stephanie! I was able to leave work around 3:30 p.m. so we could try and get an earlier start getting to Atlanta. We finally got one the road around 5:00 p.m. We made several stops along the way for bathroom, dinner, and to switch drivers. We finally made it to Lelia's sister's house in Atlanta round 12:30 a.m. Mississippi time, so that was 1:30 a.m. We were so tired!! We went straight to bed... trying to get plenty of rest for our weekend of shopping!!

Dinner with my Gramma!

Thursday night is my Gramma's Christmas dinner at Heritage House, which I'm going to miss. So I decided to take my Gramma out to eat to make up for it... and we went to Wendy's! My Gramma really likes to go there and she hadn't been in a while, so that's where we went. We had a lot of fun visiting and it was nice to get to spend time with my Gramma.

Went I was done with dinner, I have to go home and wash three loads of clothes! I had been neglecting my laundry and really had to get it done so I would have clothes to take for my trip to Atlanta this weekend. I got two loads done so I was pretty happy with myself.

Tomorrow is my Friday! Yea!

Dinner and a movie!

So today I had to return my shoes to New Balance.  I also had to fill out my survey about how I felt about the shoes... This will decided weather I get to be a tester again, so we'll see how it goes.

When I got home I fixed myself some dinner and watch Conversation with other Women.

This was probably one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. I almost cut if off but decided to try and stay with it. It did get a little better and I thought it was going to be okay, but then it had a terriable ending.

Resting and a Concert!!

I slept in a little this morning which was wonderful!!! I was so tired when I got to bed last night and so glad to be able to take it easy this morning.  I was able to stay until a little after lunch and then I had to get back to Jackson.

Tonight was my Mom's Christmas program at church. I was meeting my sister to go see the performance.  My sister and I sat in the back so we could make sure we wouldn't miss anything. We were a little disappointed with the programs for the program this year, for the 2nd Christmas in a row they misspelled my Mom's name! Other than that, the program was very good and my Mom was glad my sister and I were there to see it!!

St. Jude Half Marathon!!!

Today was the St. Jude half marathon! I was feeling much better and was ready to run!!!

Candice, Louis, and Parker were all there to cheer me on. It was pretty exciting. I finished the race in 2 hours and 46 minutes. I was satisfied with my time giving how things were going earlier this week. I had two goals for myself, to beat my time from 2 years ago, and if I couldn't do that to at least finish in under 3 hrs. And I accomplished both!! I beat my time by 4 minutes!!!

Something different for this race was the race route. This year the route actually went through the campus of St. Jude Children's Hospital.   Some of the children from the hospital and their parents were outside to cheer us on.  It was very emotional.

Here are a few more pictures from the day!

Me, Candice, and Parker

Putting my bib number on!

Bib number on!

The race about to start!

The Finish Line!!

Louis, Me, and my Medal!!

Candice, Me, and my Medal!

The race was over before I knew it! It went by so fast.  The race ended on the field of AutoZone Park, and I have to say, the way they had the layout set up this year was not good. It was super crowded and I thought I would never find Candice, Louis, and Parker, but I did!!  Then I was able to go to the finisher's tent! There they had all kinds of food. Soup and cookies from McAlister's, Domino's pizza, Krispy Kreme Donuts, bananas and oranges, and beer!

For the rest of the afternoon, Can and I didn't do much of anything but watch movies and T.V. shows. I think I sad on the couch in the same position for about 4 hours, without even realizing it, and then I tried to stand up!  It was not a good idea to sit there for so long without moving, but I walked around the house for a little while and felt much better. It was lots of fun getting to just veg out with Can. It was a great way to finish off the day!

St. Jude Half Marathon is Tomorrow!!

I can't believe it is already here!! I'm feeling much better, not quite up to where I would like to be, but good enough to be running in the morning.

I took today off work, so I could sleep in a little bit and get up to Memphis early.  Candice and I went downtown to the convention center to pick up my race packet at the expo.  At this point I was really excited and a little scared. I was worried about all the running I didn't get done over the last couple weeks. Between Thanksgiving and being sick last week, I didn't get much running in.

To carb load, I decided I wanted to go to...

They have a pasta dish, Jerk Chicken Pasta! I love it. Its soo good and I know it won't mess with my stomach, a very importing thing to consider the night before a big run. Candice, Louis, Parker, Andrea, and I all went. It was lots of fun!

When we left the restaurant I was so tired, we sad around a little while after we got back, but then it was time for bed! Tomorrow should be a fun day!

2 Days to go and I still have a COLD!!

So it's two days until the half marathon and I am still sick!!! I'm tons better today than I was yesterday, but the sneezing and the runny nose continue.  I decided that I needed to do some sort of work out tonight, so I made myself get on the treadmill and do three miles.  Believe it or not, I actually felt a little better afterwards. 

When I got done, I cooked myself some supper and watched Star Trek!

Star Trek, starring Chris Pine and directed by JJ Abrams (creator of Lost), was awesome!! This movie was so good. This is the back story of Captain Kirk and Spock, how they became friends and who they are in the as adults.   I watched the t.v. show when I was little so I was familiar with all the characters and it was fun to see them as kids and how they grew up. I was very surprised how good of a rental this was, usually movies that have this much action are better in the theater, but I thought this movie was great!!

Cold Wednesday!

It's cold outside and I have a cold. :( This is not good! The St. Jude half marathon is on Saturday and I'm getting sick!!! I'm so upset...

I picked up lots of orange juice and some a.m./p.m. cold medicine to try to knock it out before it gets any worse. I didn't do anything else tonight but rest. Hopefully I will feel better in the morning...

I Think I'm Getting a Cold!!!!

This is not a good thing. The morning started off with lots of sneezing... and as the day progressed the sinus pressure started to build in my face. I was freaking out a little bit because it's only 5 days until the St. Jude half marathon...  I left work and got some cold medicine and some OJ.  Let's hope it works...

I also had a free code to get a Red Box movie, so I got My Life in Ruins:

My Life in Ruins, staring Nia Vardalos (from My Big Fat Greek Wedding). This was about a Greek tour guide in Greece. It was really cute, defiantly a chick flick. Some of it was a little corny, but over all it was funny and had a sweet ending.

Back to the Grind!!

So after three days off work, it was time to get back to it. It wasn't too bad...

When I got home from work, I watch my latest Netflix movie, The Haunted Airman:

The Haunted Airman, staring Robert Pattinson! So it got really bad review on Netflix, but I just couldn't resist Robert Pattinson!!! So anyway, the movie... it's a movie put out by the BBC about a pilot that has been disabled due to an injury sustained in WWII.  I didn't think it was that terrible of a movie, but I think it would have been better as a play. It was kind of weird and had an interesting twist at the end but overall I didn't think was to bad.

Thanksgiving in New York!

Wednesday:

Candice dropped me off at the airport early in the morning and I got to NYC around lunch time, where John and Terry were waiting for me.  The first thing we did, was went back to Terry's house in Brooklyn to get settled in and figure out what we were going to do with the rest of the day.

Me, John, and Dan decided we were going to see the Blue Man Group and then meet up with Terry and John's dad for dinner.

This was my first time to see the Blue Man Group and it was so awesome!!! And after the show we got to meet the guys from the show! They stayed in character the whole time, so it was just a one sided conversation but it was still lots of fun... this is the only picture that turned out good.

After we got back to Brooklyn, we all went out to eat at Bamonte's Restaurant. This was a classic Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. This restaurant was featured in several episodes for The Soprano's. We had some very great food there, mussels marinara, baked clams organata, and John and I shared stuffed Flounder. It was all so good.

When we got back to Terry's it was time for bed! We needed to get some sleep so we could wake up early to get to the parade!!

Thursday:

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had two tickets to sit on the bleachers at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. The tickets said they closed the stopped letting ticket holders in at 8:30 a.m., so we decided that getting there at 7:30 a.m. would give us plenty of time... not so much. The line was almost 3 blocks long and after standing in line until about 8:20 a.m. we decided to give up on the tickets and find a spot on the street.

One thing I can say about the parade.... it was crowed. If this is something we ever have the opportunity to do, we will need to get there at least 2 or 3 hours earlier. But I did get some good shots of some of the balloons.

Macy's!

Spiderman!

Kirmit the Frog!

Miss America!

Shrek!

Spunge Bob!

Mickey Mouse

Jimmy Fallon (at the very top)

Snoopy!

Buzz Lightyear!

Horton!

Santa!!!

After the parade we made it back to Terry's in time to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at her brother's house. We stopped at a little coffee shop first, where John could look at his work e-mails real quick.  I got a cappuccino and I had to wait a little while for it, but it was worth the wait. It was so good! And it had a little heart in the milk!

 

The original plan was to be at dinner at 4:00 p.m. but at the last minute got moved up to 2:00 p.m. So we pretty much had to start getting ready and get on the road.  Terry's brother only lives about 20 miles away from her house, but it took about an hour and a half to get there using the "Expressway".

Once we got there everything was great! We started out with drink and snacks... cheese, meat, and olives.  The meal started off with pumpkin tortellini in chicken broth.  It was sooo good. I'm not the biggest fan or pumpkin but this was delicious. I managed to get a picture:

 

After we were done with the tortellini, it was time for the rest of dinner. Most everything we had to eat were the normal Thanksgiving Day foods: turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, lots of wine, and etc. Something different I had never tried before was Turducken. It's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. It was different; the best part was the gravy it made. It was unlike anything I had ever had before. And dessert was a whole meal in itself! I ate way to much, but it was a great day!!

Friday:

John, Dan and I went into the city to do a little shopping and so John and I could get tickets to a Broadway Show! I went with Dan in search for the perfect shoes, while John waited in line to get tickets to Rock of Ages staring Constantine Maroulis.

The show didn't start until 8:00 p.m., so it gave us a little time to walk around Time Square.

In Time Square they also had some nice bathrooms. It was pretty entertaining... they had people outside singing and someone at the bathrooms with a mic that talked to you while you were waiting in line.  It was really funny when, I was already in a bathroom, and I could hear the guy ask John what he was going to do when he got in there! Haha! If you wanted to know, he said #1!!!

The girl singing outside.

All of us sitting on a giant toliet!

While we were walking around we ended up buying comedy club tickets to The Comic Strip and getting a free picture of beer from Big Daddy's Bar.

After we all went to Big Daddy's, John and I went to dinner and then to Rock of Ages. We had a great dinner at a French restaurant that John heard was close to the theater. We both got a salad and salmon, with a glass of wine each for just $20 a person!!! We got done with dinner just in time to get to the show.

This show was so awesome! It was a rock n roll love story put to the music of the 80's. When we walked in the door, they gave everyone a flashlight in the shape of a lighter to turn on during the slow ballads. It was defiantly a show I wouldn't mind going to again.

Saturday:

At 12:30 a.m. we went to The Comic Strip comedy club.

 

The comedy club was lots of fun! I couldn't believe it didn't start until 12:30 in the morning. There was a two drink minimum and it was buy one get one free night (or morning). But after the first drink it was okay. The first comic to get up was terrible, but everyone else that got up there was really great. We didn't leave the club until 3:00 a.m. I'm not sure when the last time was I have stayed up that late, but it was worth it.

We slept in a little and then got up and helped Terry around the house. I helped paint the banister of the stairs and helped Dan paint a door. It was my first experience ever painting and it wasn't that bad with someone helping you.

At 5:45 p.m. we had tickets to go see A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. It was fun, a little different though. It was a live taping for the radio shop, so most of the time he was not performing for the audience; he was performing for the radio. Like if the crowd was clapping to long, you missed something he was saying because he just kept on with the show. It was fun to see Garrison Keillor though.

For dinner we decided to have dinner in. We got pizza from a local restaurant. It was lots of fun. We got to bed early because John and Dan both had to be at the airport at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday. It was a great way to end a great holiday weekend!!!!

Sunday:

I got up around 4:00 a.m. to tell John goodbye :( Then I went back to sleep for a little while. Terry, John's dad, and I didn't need to be at the airport until later in the morning. I got up around 7:30 a.m. to get ready and help clean up the house before it was time to go. I had such a great time in New York and was thankful I didn't get sick!

Candice picked me up at the airport around 1:00 p.m. and she let me take her out to eat as a thank you for dropping me off and picking me up. It was a great way to end a great weekend!!!