Back from our trip

we have returned from our trip to the smokey mountains! only to find that our house has been overrun with fleas in our absense!! the poor kitties didn't even want to get out of their carriers (they spent the week at a swanky pet resort.) so now i am spending a few hours out on the back porch with them, hoping this special flea bomb i got from the vet will work. we had a great trip. i have a lot to post about. and over 1000 pictures to go through! ahh!! (oh i shouldn't act like that's bad. i like going through the pictures and deciding what to post almost as much as i like the vacation.) i have discovered a new hobby. i've been reading about letterboxing in one of my favorite blogs and looking up letter boxes today i found out there are 4 within a few miles of my house! so today i am beginning the quest. i'm very very excited. i'm going to try and get friends into it too. so yes. there should be some good posts coming up! because i love the MF smokey mountains. evidence? :

Dress Up Camp Out

last week thomas moved back from Ohio. For some reason we decided that we should dress up and take pictures to celebrate! he must have missed us a LOT because he usually isn't THIS much of a good sport. haha. so here are a few pictures of our dress up adventure/ cook out camp out/biscuit house breakfast. i had over 500 from the afternoon! but i got it down to twenty. these pics are from crystal's backyard by the way. it's pretty awesome since it's so close to the city.

crystal's father in law brought her these weird outfits back from Afghanistan. mostly weird because she would never ever wear that. thomas also finally got to meet scurvy! she isn't as tiny and sweet as she was, but she is still cute. he baby talks her like we do. haha. perfect.



second outfit. we really can't believe he wore her creature from the black lagoon costume. skirt included! that hat is his. he bought it to wear to my christmas party last year.


i don't know what i'd do without my little crittle poo. we were going to buy some more animal masks that afternoon but the costume shop closed at two! on saturday! so lame!!

travis and marc weren't interested in the dress up fun. i think marc was digging a ditch thing in the front yard. travis eventually came to watch us acting like idiots. i was so scared that swing was going to break! marc made it for his son, who weighs like, 40 pounds.

marc built us a fire and we had hotdogs and chips and s'mores! yum!

this corn cooked forever and it still didnt' get done enough. toooooo hard. but it looked cute with the husk hanging off like that.

what a perfect little bed time! it was so comfy in the tent. it got just cold enough to make being in a jacket under the blanket feel perfect. gosh, i slept so good.

good morning! crystal got up really early with the puppy. but we slept in til about nine i think. then it was time for our first trip to the nashville biscuit house!


crystal and thomas were really confused by the menu. because they are dummies. haha. the waitress had to explain that it wasn't 1.75 to add sausage to your biscuit, but a sausage biscuit is 1.75.

my delicious breakfast. mmmm i love home fries. it was only 4 bucks too! perfect. the only thing i didn't like was the waitress didn't believe me that i ordered home fries instead of grits. I don't even like grits. she didn't even bring me homefries, travis traded with me.

soooo full afterwards! then i think we just went home...i can't remember. it was a week ago.

A night on the lake

i got back from south carolina on friday afternoon. I wanted to go straight to bed (only a few hours sleep for the whole week) but i got invited to percy priest lake and i couldn't resist being around people who actually like me after ten days on the job. sooooo here


i finally figured out how to get that headband on right! maybe because i finally got my hair cut (two months ago) and it wasn't so thick. i don't know. but i was really excited. i love that little thing.

i opened up my trunk to put some new cds in, and was perplexed to find this big pirate ship. apparently travis was driving my car while i was gone, and found it on the side of the road! and meant to put it on someone's car? and he forgot. haha. weirdo.



i met crystal and marc at their house and rode with them. being on the water like that makes me very nostalgic for summers at center hill lake on my grandparents boat. i want to rent one so bad! but it's expensive! and the gas! so freaky walking out there! for some reason i felt like i could fall into the water at any moment!

there were some cute ducklings by the back patio. we were trying to feed them french fries but these HUGE fish always beat them to it. See them? they looked like they could eat the ducks.

did i mention thomas is back from ohio!! for good! he got his masters, and starts his big boy job at ernst and young this fall. i'm so glad he came back to tennessee.


they played a bunch of country music. old stuff that i knew from when i rode in the car with my parents. not terrible. but not what i'm into at all. we went to explore the dock a little bit.




while we were walking miranda somehow kicked her shoe off the dock and into the water! here are some pictures of the rescue operation:

success!

i love the burst mode on my camera. i will restrain myself and only post one animated thing.

we went home around 11. look at that cute little husband. i was so freaking exhausted. i fell asleep almost immediately and slept until 10:30. perfect.

Austin: Lost in New York

Did i tell you that my bosses hired austin to come with us to bigger pageants and do video for them? maybe i did. well i am thrilled about it. he came on his first trip last week, genuine girls in hartford connecticut. on sunday after crowning shawn decided to rent a car and drive us to new york city! i was so excited! austin had never been!


austin and boody are both so excited! shawn accidentally got in line to go through some tunnel so he let us out. he went and parked while we went to times square.



after we went to the toys r us in times square i tried to think of places we could go that i could find without a map and we could see in the next two hours. so we started walking towards central park. we were going to get a portrait drawn of us but we waited too long and didn't get to do it.
austin got genuinely excited when we saw the plaza. apparently he is a big home alone two fan! hahah, he wanted to go inside and was telling me quotes from the movie.
st. patrick's cathedral! we wanted to go to the h+m that is across the street from it but it was closed. that's what we get for trying to do anything after 6 on sunday.

rockefeller center!

i taught him about the subway! omg! there were rats on the platform. so cute!

we went to grand central station! where austin paid almost 12 dollars for a pack of cigarettes. dang! he should quit.
austin really wanted to have a beer in new york. he just turned 21 a week ago! little baby. i met him when he was 14!

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

a few people asked me about these cookies i made for our anniversary party...so here is the recipe! It's from the June 2009 Martha Stewart Living.

these cookies were even better than i thought they would be. they were really soft, but the sanding sugar on top added a crunch that was really nice. also i had never had cookies with fresh strawberries in them. so delicious! i love this recipe and i'm going to make it again no matter what.


Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Makes about 2 Dozen

12 ounces of strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4 inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
sanding sugar (for sprinkling) (you can get that at a craft store in their wilton section. i don't think it would be the same without it.)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers (i tried both and thought using my fingers was easier) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
2. Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop (i used my cookie scoop. you can use a normal spoon) drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one day.