Monday, November 25, 2013

Surprise Date Night-NAILED IT!


Sweet Sarah has deemed this one her favorite yet!  [It's hard to believe anything would surpass The Big Lebowski, but I did it.]

Sweet Sarah joined me for the last half of my week in Vegas.  So I thought I planned a fun night out while she was there.

We had reservations for dinner at the Eiffel Tower with guaranteed window seating.  Our seats were perfect!  Front row for the Bellagio Fountains.

Our view!

Creme Brûlée  Perfect!
Finale!

We finished the evening with center seats at Jersey Boys.  If you haven't seen it, put it on your list.  It's a fun show---though I'm pretty sure we brought the median age down quite a bit!

Yep, nailed it!


Sunday, November 24, 2013

14. Take a BFF trip---it finally happened

We are literally one week away from my 40th birthday and the list completion has been, ......well, that'll be a post for next week.

For today I'm posting about the GREAT trip Kerry and I took to celebrate our birthdays.  It must first be said that had it not been for Sweet Sarah and Kerry's competent husband [they have two VERY busy children], this wouldn't have happened.

Thankfully it did.  And it was awesome!

We met up in Vegas on Saturday.  In typical Spann/Pinion fashion we had an itinerary and a list of other things we wanted to do.

People!!!!  Admit it.  How FUN does it sound that two BFF's are in Vegas celebrating their 40th birthdays starting on a Saturday night?!!!!  Dreamy, right?  Right out of Hollywood!  Oh yeah!  So here's how it went down.....I picked up Ker mid-afternoon.  We checked in to our hotel, got the lay of the land and then headed out in search of some dinner.  It was about to get CAH-RAZY!!!!!

Starting with a cocktail
So crazy that we had dinner, walked the strip and I was asleep by 8:30!!!!!!  PM!  Yep.  That's right.  Wild and Crazy.

It also meant that we were awake at 5:30 AM the next morning!  WIDE AWAKE!

We did settle in to the time change, but man, oh man, it's a killer.

Sunday we headed out to Red Rock Canyon.  Holy Moly!  Amazing.  We spent the entire day driving and hiking in the canyon.  [note....this color has not been enhanced in these pics.  that's how beautiful it is there!]


a timer shot from the hood of the car!


Kerry is a 1st generation Slovak basketball player!  Oh wait.....no she's not.
She's a whopping 3 inches taller than me.  What's happening in this picture?

The new Pinion family mascot.  The fighting Pinyons!

A Pinyon and a Pinion

It's B.E.A.U.tiful
Look closely over Kerry's left shoulder, you'll see about a dozen rock climbers.
Crazy, cool people.  I'm jealous.


I gave it a shot.  It was awesome!

I decided to sit up for a picture  :)

Enjoying the view

This is 40 people! 


Ok, this is higher than it looks!

not posed.  not posed at all.

In the winter this is a waterfall


Another timed shot.  One of my favorites from the day.

A dry creek bed in the middle of an old canyon fire.  The re-growth is beginning
The ONLY flower we saw all day.


On Monday, we headed out to the Hoover Dam.  To be honest, I was totally blown away by the entire visit.  I mean, I really had no idea how large and impressive and ingenious the entire thing is.  If you ever get a chance, you must go!

this is as close as we got to Lake Mead.
They charge $10 to put your toes in the water, so we opted out.

Kerry attempted to go over the edge to touch it!


Such a rule breaker!

Seriously!!!!  Look at that thing!
Can you make out the cars down on the right?

Two states, two time zones.
When we scheduled time to meet back up it was SO confusing!

On the new bridge.  Whoa it's high.

See?  Very high!



On the damn dam.  After the Dam Tour

Yes.  Yes, that's right.  That's THE bridge we were on.

Can you see the cars?

We thought this sign was funny


"Alabam" the guy in charge of the latrines during the construction of the Dam.  Poor guy



 And we even enjoyed the Strip a bit.  Japanese, Italian and Spanish PAELLA!

We saw Cirque de Soleil's Beatles Love show.  Fantastic.  [in spite of the fact that I ordered tickets for a date two weeks prior to when we were actually there.  Ummmm, yeah.  Nov 4 and Nov 14.  VERY different days.  I should NEVER be trusted with details.  EVER.  Absolutely, never.  How does Kerry not know this by now?]



chocolate anyone?
This says it all

The trip was an A+ success.  Great laughs.  Great QT.  Rest and Relaxation.  We're already planning the next one!


Friday, November 15, 2013

Mr. Suave

This is Teddy practicing his best "belly up to the bar on a Friday" pose.


(No comments on the sea foam green carpet!)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

It's what I do

I conquered this bad boy today!

That's right.  I single handedly diagnosed the problem on the furnace.

Yep. Yep. 

Most women couldn't handle this. Luckily I'm not most women. 

Anyone else need a fuse replaced?  I have extra.  They come in a 4 pack. :) 

I admit nothing!

That moment when you're casually flipping through pictures on your phone and are taken aback when you see a photo of yourself you have absolutely zero recall of it being taken.

Yeah. Pretty sure that's this one. 



Yes, those are wine glass doohickeys. Yes they're on our forehead. Yes, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Yes, there may have been wine involved.  

Enough questions. 

It was worth it!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Overheard at The Drayer


From someone I know telling the group a story about a woman who is having a hard time as a single mom with one of her children.

Someone:  It's so sad.  She's just really having a hard time with him.  And she's tried everything?

Me:  Well, what about her husband?  Where is he in all of thise?

Someone:  Oh, I didn't tell you that part?  Yeah, it's so strange.  One day he went out to buy a book or something.....

[insert pause, in which of course I immediately finish the sentence in my head with: he was hit by a car, keeled over of a heart attack, ran away with the cashier, etc.]

                   and he came back a Muslim.


Huh?  

Is the local Muslim community down at the Barnes and Noble recruiting?

Were they running a special, "By the NY Times best seller and get a lifetime Muslim membership for free?"

oh, I could go on and on with this one!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Note to self...

must.  wear.  glasses.  to trim fingernails.  [sniff, sniff, Do we have any band-aids?]

Yep, my total denial came crashing to a nail quick nipping end as I was clipping my nails today.

First, it must be said that I view nail trimming as a sheer compromise to my otherwise unwillingness to submit to the pain of permanent nail removal, else they serve little purpose in my life.  I am not one of those women who enjoy manicures or nail color changes every other week [which, now that I'm thinking about it is strange, since I do enjoy a fun hair color change every 10 weeks.]

Yeah, I pretty much prefer to keep all routine maintenance as low maintenance as possible.  So fingernail trimming in my world follows the same gardening theology of the man from whom I bought my last house.  The old foursquare house stands on a corner with a double lot.  Many years ago, in an effort to provide some backyard privacy, a hedgerow of privet bush was planted.  Privet is a fast growing hedge, meant to provide......yep, savvy reader, you are QUICK.  Privacy.  It grows fast and it grows in every direction.  As a result, you can have a very nice and thick privacy green screen.  And the privet is happy, happy, happy.  The fellow who owned this house for a long time, however did not see eye to eye with the growing habits of the privet.  His solution?  Cut them low and cut them square and top those suckers with a table top trim!  The tighter the cut the better because that meant fewer trimmings.  Nothing wrong with that!

So my nails?  Yep, you got it.   Cut them low, cut them square, the tighter the cut, the fewer the trimmings.  I have no patience to trim and file and snip and nip and round and buff.  Nope.  Nadda.  None.  When I'm finished trimming my nails, like a nicely mowed lawn, you can see exactly where the clippers have been.  Who has time for rounding and filing?  For about the first three days, it's pretty much inconsequential because the nails aren't long enough to see the Toro like tacks.  But once those suckers start growing [why can't we control that growth by the way?  There should be a dial somewhere in which we could dial up/down hair and nail growth, don't you think?]  oh it's crystal clear where the grounds crew has been.  Like a 7th inning stretch, my 10 digits show clear evidence of a grounds crew gone awry.  A clubhouse party gone bad, with a late night double dog dare you to try the 2nd setting on the zero turn mower behind second base.  There are points and edges.  Uneven white with a jagged turn back to quick.  It's not pretty, friends. --This I know.  Yet, for some reason, I just don't care.   [It should be noted that this is a habit that drives Sweet Sarah crazy!  She can't understand how I can be so anal about so many other things, but not my nails.  I absolutely agree with her by the way.  Why am I so anal about other things, but don't care about my nails?  I don't know.  And I don't care....even when it's pointed out to me.]

But I digress.  Today, I learned that if I'm going to be able to maintain the 'cut 'em back until 2014 philosophy', first I must commit to wearing my glasses.  Because DANG if it doesn't hurt when the quick begins to bleed.

Sigh.  Is this a sign that I am indeed, less than one month from the big 4-0?

Let it commence that today begins the day whence I shall be stashing readers in every room of The Drayer, less I get the urge to buff and file.



Friday, November 1, 2013

Chopped, Surprise Date Night and an Anniversary

Around here in these parts, we LOVE to watch the tv show Chopped.  We even DVR it.

Well it just so happened that our two year wedding anniversary was coming up AND I needed to plan a surprise date night.  I had been wanting to do a Chopped Surprise Date Night, but wasn't exactly sure how to pull it off.

After extensive research, menu planning and preparation, multi-store shopping, re-arranging the kitchen cabinets, fully stocking the pantry and fridge and buying new knives......ok, seriously, none of that happened.  I did a quick google search, totally copied a few ideas of other Chopped parties and put together a shopping list.

I gave myself an hour to shop and set up before Sweet Sarah arrived home from work.  And I think I pulled it off pretty well.  More importantly, Sweet Sarah rocked it out in the kitchen and we had a blast.

This was waiting for her when she arrived home

Yes, you can read the reaction, "What the H?"

Sweet Sarah's instructions


Opening the Appetizer Basket

Pretzel Rolls

Water Chestnuts

Pepper Jelly

Brussel Sprouts.  And this is where she began thinking!

She's rockin' the stove here

She roasted those almonds.  [from the freshly stocked pantry, of course!]

Pan Fried Brussel Sprout with water chestnuts, cranberries and roasted almonds.
[and yes, points were deducted for not transforming the pretzel roll.
Oh come on!  It's a competition!!!!]

Round 2.  The Entree Round.  Still smiling!

Not Smiling.  Whole Bean Coffee

Oats

Longboard Lager

Fresh Filet Mignon

Check it.  The beginnings of deconstructed sweet potato casserole.
Chopped apples from the pantry!

Chef Sarah presenting her entree plates.

Coffee crusted, grilled filet, deconstructed sweet potatoes and spiced corn.
She killed it.

Pure exhaustion.  She kept saying she blew her creativity in the appetizer round.

Yes, yes.  the photographer stinks.  FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT PEOPLE!
Ice cream topping

You can read.

Aaaannnnnddddd Dragon Fruit.  [muwhahahaaaaa]

Dare I caption this?



There she is.  The beautious dragon fruit.

Hot chocolate was the 4th ingredient

Chef Sarah OWNING the dragon fruit



Tossing strawberries and dragon fruit in a brown sugar glaze.



Plating her creation

A little topping for the shortcake

Check. It. Out!  Dragon Fruit and Strawberry shortcake with hot chocolate compote.

So proud.  And oh, by the way.  It was delish!

It all wore her out.


Overall, I'd say this was a two thumbs up for SDN.  We had a lot of fun.  And it was a great way to create some memories.