Category: deliciousness

Love in Bloom – blog hop

64 Comments

Featuring the sweetest romances you’ll ever read.
May 18-23 

Hello friends and fellow bloggers! I’m so excited to be one of the 150 blogs participating in this supercute Giveaway Hop. (and my first one, by-the-way–so be kind!) 
**Love in Bloom**
I volunteered at the very lovely “I’m a Reader, Not a Writer” –which I completely adore! (Check it out when you have a moe.)

Just by participating (see how below), your name is magically thrown in my cyber-hat to win one of these three giveaways of reading deliciousness. Easy-peezy, yeah?

 Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 
Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray 
 Austenland by Shannon Hale
Personally, I think any reader-of-loveliness should have all of these in their library.
How to enter:

All you have to do is follow me and leave a comment stating your favorite swoooony scene–preferably from a book (but I won’t judge if you absolutely LOVE, say, the end of While You Were Sleeping when dreamy Bill Pullman shows up at Sandra Bullock’s train station hut and drops a ring in the coin slot. Swoooon!)  Don’t forget to leave me your email addy.

One winner will be chosen at random on May 23rd.

Thanks for stopping by and being part of this special hop! Now you can check out all the other great giveaways featuring other contemporary/lighthearted, sweet & clean romances….

 

Love in Bloom – blog hop

64 Comments

Featuring the sweetest romances you’ll ever read.
May 18-23 

Hello friends and fellow bloggers! I’m so excited to be one of the 150 blogs participating in this supercute Giveaway Hop. (and my first one, by-the-way–so be kind!) 
**Love in Bloom**
I volunteered at the very lovely “I’m a Reader, Not a Writer” –which I completely adore! (Check it out when you have a moe.)

Just by participating (see how below), your name is magically thrown in my cyber-hat to win one of these three giveaways of reading deliciousness. Easy-peezy, yeah?

 Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 
Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray 
 Austenland by Shannon Hale
Personally, I think any reader-of-loveliness should have all of these in their library.
How to enter:

All you have to do is follow me and leave a comment stating your favorite swoooony scene–preferably from a book (but I won’t judge if you absolutely LOVE, say, the end of While You Were Sleeping when dreamy Bill Pullman shows up at Sandra Bullock’s train station hut and drops a ring in the coin slot. Swoooon!)  Don’t forget to leave me your email addy.

One winner will be chosen at random on May 23rd.

Thanks for stopping by and being part of this special hop! Now you can check out all the other great giveaways featuring other contemporary/lighthearted, sweet & clean romances….

 

O is for. . . . other things (on my list)

8 Comments
Hey. Guess what tomorrow is.
Exactly! It’s my 40th birthday! 
(I know, I know, I’ve heard it before, I don’t look a day over 38 and a half. Sweet of you to say.)
Clicky-click to see the full LIST and see how close I am to finishing!

Alrighty, then. Here we go:

#39- Sleep under the stars.
This didn’t turn out exactly the way I thought it would. Honestly, I saw myself hunkering down somewhere lovely, creek-side, communing with nature (and Brad Pitt somewhere off in the distance strumming a guitar?). But I kind of ran out of time and ended up blowing up an air mattress and dragging it out to my tiny backyard. 

My cozy star-sleeping accommodations.

This was the view above my head.

If you squint just right, you can see two wee stars.

#8 – Run the stadium stairs.
Again, this one didn’t go exactly as envisioned. Thing is, all of the stadiums around here are locked up, unless there is a football game or track meet going on. After driving around for an hour an and half, I finally found some stairs, kind of.   

Trust me. It was a lot higher than it looks. Or was it?
Starting out on stair one.

View from the TOP. Wow…..it’s a long way down!

After driving around for an hour and a half, I ran those stairs then found a Duncan Donuts. Win-win!

Brought to you by:

O is for. . . . other things (on my list)

8 Comments
Hey. Guess what tomorrow is.
Exactly! It’s my 40th birthday! 
(I know, I know, I’ve heard it before, I don’t look a day over 38 and a half. Sweet of you to say.)
Clicky-click to see the full LIST and see how close I am to finishing!

Alrighty, then. Here we go:

#39- Sleep under the stars.
This didn’t turn out exactly the way I thought it would. Honestly, I saw myself hunkering down somewhere lovely, creek-side, communing with nature (and Brad Pitt somewhere off in the distance strumming a guitar?). But I kind of ran out of time and ended up blowing up an air mattress and dragging it out to my tiny backyard. 

My cozy star-sleeping accommodations.

This was the view above my head.

If you squint just right, you can see two wee stars.

#8 – Run the stadium stairs.
Again, this one didn’t go exactly as envisioned. Thing is, all of the stadiums around here are locked up, unless there is a football game or track meet going on. After driving around for an hour an and half, I finally found some stairs, kind of.   

Trust me. It was a lot higher than it looks. Or was it?
Starting out on stair one.

View from the TOP. Wow…..it’s a long way down!

After driving around for an hour and a half, I ran those stairs then found a Duncan Donuts. Win-win!

Brought to you by:

N is for (The) Neverending Story

18 Comments

Not! 
But stick with me….

The Neverending Story (along with The Dark Crystal, The Flight of the Navigator, and The Boy Who Could Fly) were my sister’s favorite movies when she was a little kid. 

Let me tell you about my sister.


She’s awesome
And tough and funny
She sings like a bird and drives faster then me. She’s always had better hair (except when she selfishly volunteers as guinea pig to her friends going through cosmetology school….perms are seldom a good look, sister)

Me & my bestie, doing what we do best,

I gave her The Corrs, she gave me The Backstreet Boys
I gave her Downton Abbey, she gave me Veronica Mars
I gave her Twilight, she gave me Katie Fforde
I gave her The Pimpernel, she gave me Star Wars
We discovered Monty Python, The Marx Brothers and Robert Downy, Jr together
We share love-custody of Gilbert Blythe and Gerard Butler
She gave me Brad Pitt
She understands my fascination (and borderline obsession) of Deb, Ang and Jen
Even though I don’t quite get her enthusiasm for alternative rock and ska
We share a fear of circus freaks and a love for all-you-can-eat buffets and Brit Coms
We’re both going to marry Jedi Knights someday
And Mr. Big

We shared a room in college for one summer and spend those hot nights trying to sleep while cooking up alternate endings to Phantom of the Opera and “What was Mr Darcy really thinking…” scenarios. 


Nicknames: 
(Seinfeld) she calls me “Gammy,” I call her “Mulva.” 
(Gossip Girl) she calls me “Em,” I call her “Es.” 
(Ab Fab) we both answer to “Pats”


I love you mucho, sister! Enjoy your “Day of N.” And I’ll allow you….THIS TIME, to watch one of your crap movies. 
I’ll see you in California tomorrow!!!
ex-oh, ex-oh.

N is for (The) Neverending Story

18 Comments

Not! 
But stick with me….

The Neverending Story (along with The Dark Crystal, The Flight of the Navigator, and The Boy Who Could Fly) were my sister’s favorite movies when she was a little kid. 

Let me tell you about my sister.


She’s awesome
And tough and funny
She sings like a bird and drives faster then me. She’s always had better hair (except when she selfishly volunteers as guinea pig to her friends going through cosmetology school….perms are seldom a good look, sister)

Me & my bestie, doing what we do best,

I gave her The Corrs, she gave me The Backstreet Boys
I gave her Downton Abbey, she gave me Veronica Mars
I gave her Twilight, she gave me Katie Fforde
I gave her The Pimpernel, she gave me Star Wars
We discovered Monty Python, The Marx Brothers and Robert Downy, Jr together
We share love-custody of Gilbert Blythe and Gerard Butler
She gave me Brad Pitt
She understands my fascination (and borderline obsession) of Deb, Ang and Jen
Even though I don’t quite get her enthusiasm for alternative rock and ska
We share a fear of circus freaks and a love for all-you-can-eat buffets and Brit Coms
We’re both going to marry Jedi Knights someday
And Mr. Big

We shared a room in college for one summer and spend those hot nights trying to sleep while cooking up alternate endings to Phantom of the Opera and “What was Mr Darcy really thinking…” scenarios. 


Nicknames: 
(Seinfeld) she calls me “Gammy,” I call her “Mulva.” 
(Gossip Girl) she calls me “Em,” I call her “Es.” 
(Ab Fab) we both answer to “Pats”


I love you mucho, sister! Enjoy your “Day of N.” And I’ll allow you….THIS TIME, to watch one of your crap movies. 
I’ll see you in California tomorrow!!!
ex-oh, ex-oh.

L is for List

16 Comments

Where have the months gone? Time is seriously ticking away. But I’m getting closer to reaching my goal of 40 Things.

#11 – Retry 10 foods I always thought I hated.

Cottage Cheese

Since I’m such a texture freak, I assumed I would still detest this stuff. But because someone explained to me that it’s NOT supposed to be sweet like yogurt (which I thought it was), but is more salty….like ricotta (which I LOVE (see HERE)), I was pretty much hooked after the first bite. Now, I eat it practically daily; with pairs, or tomatoes, or blueberries, or straight out of the tub. I only hope its healthier than ricotta….for the amount I’ve been consuming! 
Side note: I prefer the small curds to large. But they’re both rather delish.

(This was my first attempt. Which explains the tiny amount. I was nervous. I eat much larger scoops now!)

#15 – Take on a new leadership responsibility at work.
 United Way hotdog cookout (celebrating natural gas summer grilling…for a good cause!)

Planning this has been such fun, and the execution was far beyond my hopes. With the help of my fellow marketing team and some other lovely volunteers, I was put in charge of a relatively huge event.We raised a pretty huge amount for United Way.

Go Team Atmos Energy!
Pre-staging. A view of the grill and dining area.
“Big Tex,” the massive grill, with the two superheroes who run the sucker.

The first wave of fine diners. They were ready to eat!
 
One of the natural gas grills we raffled off. I did NOT win.
Me with some of the Marketing angels.
We had ice cream, yo.


#32 – Volunteer at a soup kitchen (or something similar in the community)

Donated surplus food (from the above cookout) to North Dallas Food Bank & to a local first station

Yes, I did happen to volunteer to take the food to the firehouse. And, I’m not gonna lie…a bunch of steamy firemen were outside playing shirtless basketball when we pulled up, and yes, they showed their appreciation in very intimate ways. Nope, no pictures included here. 



#31 – Renew my passport

(This is my expired one. Don’t I look 12?)

Because I still had the BROWN HAIR when I had my passport renewed, I opted to use a different passport-sized photo I had taken over the summer, for my CHL class. At that time, I had very blonde hair….as well as a pink stripe. My new passport will be rocking that picture for the next decade. Party on.

#24 – Learn to do a Sudoku puzzle
I didn’t complete as many as I thought I would; I guess I’m still a crossword puzzle girl. But, at least now I know how to do a Sudoku, and I’m no longer afraid to chat about them at the next Sudoku cocktail party I attend. And that’s what this is all about!

(My first lesson.)

brought to you  by……

L is for List

16 Comments

Where have the months gone? Time is seriously ticking away. But I’m getting closer to reaching my goal of 40 Things.

#11 – Retry 10 foods I always thought I hated.

Cottage Cheese

Since I’m such a texture freak, I assumed I would still detest this stuff. But because someone explained to me that it’s NOT supposed to be sweet like yogurt (which I thought it was), but is more salty….like ricotta (which I LOVE (see HERE)), I was pretty much hooked after the first bite. Now, I eat it practically daily; with pairs, or tomatoes, or blueberries, or straight out of the tub. I only hope its healthier than ricotta….for the amount I’ve been consuming! 
Side note: I prefer the small curds to large. But they’re both rather delish.

(This was my first attempt. Which explains the tiny amount. I was nervous. I eat much larger scoops now!)

#15 – Take on a new leadership responsibility at work.
 United Way hotdog cookout (celebrating natural gas summer grilling…for a good cause!)

Planning this has been such fun, and the execution was far beyond my hopes. With the help of my fellow marketing team and some other lovely volunteers, I was put in charge of a relatively huge event.We raised a pretty huge amount for United Way.

Go Team Atmos Energy!
Pre-staging. A view of the grill and dining area.
“Big Tex,” the massive grill, with the two superheroes who run the sucker.

The first wave of fine diners. They were ready to eat!
 
One of the natural gas grills we raffled off. I did NOT win.
Me with some of the Marketing angels.
We had ice cream, yo.


#32 – Volunteer at a soup kitchen (or something similar in the community)

Donated surplus food (from the above cookout) to North Dallas Food Bank & to a local first station

Yes, I did happen to volunteer to take the food to the firehouse. And, I’m not gonna lie…a bunch of steamy firemen were outside playing shirtless basketball when we pulled up, and yes, they showed their appreciation in very intimate ways. Nope, no pictures included here. 



#31 – Renew my passport

(This is my expired one. Don’t I look 12?)

Because I still had the BROWN HAIR when I had my passport renewed, I opted to use a different passport-sized photo I had taken over the summer, for my CHL class. At that time, I had very blonde hair….as well as a pink stripe. My new passport will be rocking that picture for the next decade. Party on.

#24 – Learn to do a Sudoku puzzle
I didn’t complete as many as I thought I would; I guess I’m still a crossword puzzle girl. But, at least now I know how to do a Sudoku, and I’m no longer afraid to chat about them at the next Sudoku cocktail party I attend. And that’s what this is all about!

(My first lesson.)

brought to you  by……