Some Serious Business then lets get GEEKY!

1. OK first things first. I would like everybody to take some time to send a little love to my blogger-friend (and real friend) Nicole. She and her family are going through a horrible time and could use a whole lot of love and support.

It is not really my place to talk about what her family is going through online,  I am sure she will share that with the world when she is ready. But please if you have even read her blog, send her a quick note of support.

2. Babies are everywhere update: I blogged just a few days ago about all my friends that are having babies. I am so happy to update everybody that Jessica (my twinsie) will be having a BOY! (she is very excited and her husband is pumped about camo everything.

Alison my former roommate is going to be having a GIRL!! Baby C. as she will be known on my blog will be joining a brother and will need to compensate with many tu-tus and plenty of bows.

Congrats to All

GEEK TIME

My friend Megan sent me a excellent text recently that has perhaps distracted me from many serious issues in life, it read "hey just found the neatest thing and I though you would appriciate it... a friend gave me a magazine and in it was a star trek pizza cutter!! they also make the enterprise in a bottle opener too." If you know a little bit about me, you know that this text pretty much brought my entire day to a stop. What can I say... I LOVE STAR TREK!!!!

I blame my mother, she has been a Trekkie as long as I can remember. She read the books, had the calenders, bought the Hallmark Christmas oriniments, watched every episode, and exposed her children to the joys of Star Trek as well. For a while... a long while I resisted (even though resistant was clearly futile) and I attempted to hold out but eventually like Picard to Guinan I was hooked.

I can't get enough, I watch them all Star Trek, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, the moives. (It is really sick.) There are some real life truths that you can learn by watching Star Trek religously.

• There are some problems that not even Scotty can beam you out of (occasionally engienierring is on the fritz and you might be stuck on a hostile planet for who nows how long)

•  Never trust somebody you don't know that well. They could bring any number of real problems aboard your vessile.
• Have faith in young people, they even let young Wesley Crusher drive the ship every once in a while.

•  Many, many problems, can be solved by sitting down and having your self a nice cup of Earl Gray.
• If it seems too good to be true it probably is, nothing on the holideck is real and it could be out to get you.
• Don't touch things that are sticky, and especially beware of goo while dealing with system controls.
• No matter what you put on sometimes you won't fit in, just ask Worf, there is no reason he should be going on missions where he goes back in time... they are just going to make fun of him. 

•  Its always good to have a buddy or a #1.

I could go on forever about this, you I wouldn't be surprised if this is not the first Star Trek dedicated blog ever. I promise I am a decent person, but I am a TOTAL STAR TREK GEEK.

For those who might be interested, this is the link of the magazine... http://www.thinkgeek.com/

Bethany Side-Note of the Day: Bethany absolutely hates, hates, hates Star Trek but since resistance is futile I know she will eventually come around.

Monday Morning Recipe

Well it has been a little while since I have given everybody the opportunity to see what Patrick and I have been eating lately. As I have stated on many previous occasions, I don't consider myself a good (or even) a decent cook, but I try hard. And according to my personal standards, trying matters so for that I give myself credit.

One of the things that I do make well, is a creamy tomato pasta. I need to make sure all are aware before preparing this that it is not in any way a healthy recipe. Somewhere deep in my soul I take pride in the fact that I like to make healthy meals for myself and Patrick. All that being said let me proceed with my delicious meal.

To start this I need to give you a little background, you see I created this reciepe shortly after Patrick and I got married. Part of the reason I liked it so much was because the sauce came out pink. (I am such a girly girl that even pink food makes me happy.) I used to only make it with shrimp or scaollops but Patrick refused to eat it. (I later learned that at first he didn't want to eat it because he doesn't care for seafood, then he kept holding out just because I made a big deal out of it.) But soon I cracked the code. I started making this recipe with sausage instead of seafood, so that is the form in which I will show you today.... PS Patrick now loves this pasta for dinner!

Creamy Tomato Pasta:

Like I said I start with sausage, any kind you like is fine. I prefer a Italian sausage but it is really up to you. You want to brown the sausage and break it up into as small pieces as possible. (Like I said earlier you can make this with whatever protein you like. (Top Chef talk...whatup!!!) 

In a separate pan, you want to take heavy cream, (this is the unhealthy stuff people so be prepared, one time I tried to make it with half and half to cut the calories significantly but the milk broke and while it tasted ok it looked really werid.) and cook it on low heat. The goal here is to reduce it down until it is thick. This will take a few minutes.

Once you have gotten the cream reduced then you add in your "special" ingredients"... first a can of tomato paste, this goes in first and you will have to mash it around and stir it a bit to help it mix in. Also add any sort of Italian type spices you like..."to taste" ... (Top Chef again, look at me.) Sometimes I add fresh garlic and some shedded Parmesan cheese as well and they are quite tasty.

Once you have the sauce how you like it mix in the sausage and toss it around a little bit.

 


Hopefully while you were busy making your sauce you took a couple seconds to start some pasta boiling. You can use whatever makes you happy. I am fond of tri-color tortalini because I think it looks pretty but can use anything you want.

Toss everything together and serve. I crusty bread and some white wine make for the perfect dinner.

Bethany side note of the day: I would dare Bethany or Tom Colicchio to try my pasta and tell me to "pack my knives and go"... plus I wouldn't go anyway, it is my house.

Babies are Everywhere

People always tell you that you will reach a point in your life when all your friends are getting married, and soon after that you will go through a phase when all your friends are having babies.

Well I am in phase 2 and the babies are everywhere.

My bestie friend Heather recently had a beautiful baby girl Quorra Noelle.  Quorra is almost 2 weeks old now and she is beautiful. Her new auntie Jessica, Lindsey and I waited for hours for her to come with her father's family and it was worth the wait.

Those of you who keep up with my blog may or may not have figured out that Quorra is not the first baby to be born in her family this year. She joins Broderick her cousin in a big family with plenty of other babies coming as well.

These babies are not even it. Both Heather and Nicole have sisters that are preggers. 

And wait there is more... Before I got married,  I lived with Alison. Alison had her first baby a couple of years ago Jude, and he is beautiful. And now she is "with child" again.

In a couple of weeks my cousin Marley is getting married. Patrick and I are super duper duper excited to take some time off and celebrate her wedding in her hometown in Florida. In addition to getting to see the wedding, I will get to meet my cousin Jessica son. Her son Liam is a couple of months old and because we are all so busy we haven't even met him yet.

I don't know who is next but I can tell you this.... I will be buying lots of baby gifts and soon.

Bethany Side-Note of the Day: Bethany works in a day care center, so you would think she loves kids... I believe deep down she does but seeing that many kids daily can wear you out... God bless you Bethany.

Hallow-O-Scream!?!?!?!?!

I HATE/loath/abhor/despise Halloween. It is truly the one time of year that I could do without. The truth of the matter is this, I don't like being scared. There are alot of things that I don't understand about this particular holiday.  I refuse to post a scary picture partially because I don't like scary pictures and partially because it might scare me and I would likely have a nightmare.

• Why do people like being scared?
• Is it really possible to look cute in a custom when it is cold outside?
• For what reason do you want to watch people get slashed/eaten/(something gross)/(something nasty) in a movie?

MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!

• Why do people actually spend money to visit haunted houses and forests and such.

In my area the popular thing is a horrible place call Fear Forest. I have never visited this particular establishment. And to make things even worse, my boss had the nerve to give me free tickets, like there is any chance in heck that I would actually attend such a horrible place. All this talk about Halloween and the Fear Forest made me think.... Why isn't there any type of place to  make you feel good about yourself.... Continue reading because I have thoughts.

I would like to call this fun loving place: Feel Good Forest (Not in a dirty way... keep your mind out of the gutter.)
What would happen at such a place: You might get to see friends hug, or they might give you a big thumbs up, somebody will tell you that you look pretty, maybe even some fun dance songs.
Will there be any crying involved: definately not, unless they are happy tears.
Will they chase you will chainsaws: ABSOLUTELY NOT
Will there be clowns: NO NO NO NO NO NO...they are still classified as creepy, scary, and will be placed in the Fear Forest category.
It is going to be a great time

Bethany Side Note Of The Day: This is a flashback picture from the last Halloween I thought was fun, she is the pumpkin.

NEXT BLOG POST DEDICATED TO THE NEW AND SOON TO BE NEW MEMBERS OF THE RHH!

Everyday I'm Shuffling....The CHANNELS

So it is that special time of year again, there is a crispness in the air, people are making pumpkin everything, kids are already tired of school, but most importantly the new TV shows are officially back on. You see as opposed to most of my friends, I am neither getting married (already done that) or pregnant so since I am not planning anything and have plenty of free time on my hands. I have time to watch TV.

I consider myself TV-Structure-Free, Patrick bought me a DVR a while back so I no longer feel constrained by the rigid rules set by networks. I watch TV on my own time and I haven't seen a real commercial since the last Super Bowl (GO PACK GO). So what have I been watching this past week with all the new options:

Some things never change, I am addicted to GLEE! So clearly I watched the new season and I was thrilled the they did, "You Can't Stop The Beat" from Hairspray. I sang along, Patrick shook his head.

I watched the New Girl... I thought it was funny I can admire a show where she gets to make up her own theme song.

Parks and Rec and The Office were especially funny to start out the new season. I was pulling for James Spader all along to replace Micheal Scott (If Micheal Scott had to go and all) and the part where they were planking and Dwight was breaking it up made me nearly cry.

I have been watching the incredibly trashy Desperate Housewives since the first episode, so I am clearly sad to see the last season start. But of course I will watch. It was good, Patrick hated it. (Years ago I made my roommate Alison watch it, she hated it too... 8 years later, I still love it.)

(Does Alison look like she likes this kind of trashy TV... let me make sure the facts are straight, she grew up without TV and doesn't care for trashy TV now.)

I watched PamAM, it seemed good but I was a little confused by it. I am not so sure if I can follow that much.

I watched Revenge, seems weird and I am not sure if I will hang around to see what happens.

Clearly I have been busy (lame but busy)

Bethany Side-Note of the Day: Bethany bailed on me for dinner this past weekend because she had a big surprise with her BF for her birthday... I don't know what she was up to, but I was sad she couldn't make it.... I can think of a good way to make it up to me.... READ MY BLOG

Birthday Week Wrap-Up

So I never got a chance to catch up with everybody about my birthday week so here is the recap.

Last Tuesday I went over to my preggo friend Heather's house for dinner and a movie. Her sister Jessica (also preggo) came over and we had a good time eating yummy food and making fun of the classic film "When In Rome".... it was cute but not exactly Casablanca or Clueless (This is my standard for excellant films)

Wednesday was Girls Night #2 and a birthday extravaganza... The girls of the RHH (Real Housewives of Harrisonburg) went out on the town to celebrate both mine and Angie's birthday. We had a great time, had some drinks and generally caught up on things.

Thursday was the big day, and here's a surprise Patrick and I were both off work together. Patrick is a genius and got me exactly what I was hoping for. I really wanted a big girl purse, my old purse was worn and I had been eyeing this one for a couple of weeks. Also (and this is exciting) Patrick got me a new bead for my charm braclet.

My mother bought me the beginning of a charm bracelet a couple of years ago and I love it. My mom and Patrick have both bought me a couple of beads on special occasions and now I have a good number of beads. I love to wear it for special occasions and it always makes me feel special to think about.

We had big plans for the birthday, we both slept in, we went to a nice lunch in town, we went to Barnes and Noble and read some magazines and got coffee. Then we picked up some groceries for dinner and went home to cook together and watch a movie.

Patrick made me some cupcakes, while I cooked our crazy special dinner.

The cupcakes were super yummy and well you might not be impressed with my fancy dinner, it was so good and we had a good time doing it together.

Bethany Side-Note of the Day: Bethany's birthday is tomorrow... I am so proud of my baby sister

Funday Sunday

Well this is going to be a busy week. But so far it is starting off great. Yesterday Patrick and I both had the day off so we decided to make it awesome. So what where we crazy kids up to on a beautiful day.

We went for lunch with Patrick family, it was super fun. I had the Cajun Shrimp Pasta. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be but I thought it was very tasty. This is B-day week for me so I am hoping to eat a lot of yummy food, this was a great way to start.

 

Then we went to play a round of golf. When it comes to golf I see the entire day as a success if I walk off the course with more golf balls then I brought with me... AKA I like it when I find random golf balls and I take them. Plus I am quite frankly a TERRIBLE GOLFER, I am not exaggerating. I am horrible. And to make matters worse I think it is kinda funny how terrible I am. Don't get me wrong, I would like to be a good golfer, and I would like maybe even take some lessons to improve my game. 

Just like Tiger,  I need to improve my short game (putting.) Unlike Tiger I also need to improve my long game (drives), mid-game (whatever that is called), and everything in between. So I have taken some small steps to improve my golf game. 

• I bought hot pink golf balls... they are easy to spot when I accidentally end up in the rough, trees, tall grass, creek, various other places you are not supposed to play golf. (I accidentally hit the golf cart... hahahahah)
• I got some encouragement from my good friends... the ducks... clearly I was focused on playing golf.
• I brought along a Arnold Palmer (half sweet tea, half lemonade.) If you spend some time around me you will know that I have alot of theories one is that you are either from a sweet tea family or you are not... I am not, but Patrick is, that boy can drink A LOT of sweet tea. I can't stand the stuff with 1 major exception.... I have a soft spot in my heart for Arnold Palmer's, so I figured bringing along a drink named after a golf great could only make me a better golfer.

  

Overall it was a awesome day!!!!!!!!

Bethany Side-Note of the Day: I wish Bethany would read my blog already, that would be a great... and free birthday gift.

Staring Down the Big 3-0

September is pretty much my favorite time of year. I am pretty selfish is admitting that the reason I am a September fan is because it is my birthday month. But this year I am a little apprehensive. I am turning 29 which is just a hop (no skip, no jump) to 30.

I have done a lot of things in my soon to be 29 years that I am very proud of.

•  I have traveled the world.
• Watched my mother suffer and overcome cancer.
• Graduated college (in 4 years)
• Gotten married (6 1/2 years and counting)
• Bought a home of my own with my hubs.
• Been to Times Square for New Years Eve
• Went to the top of the World Trade Center 
• I have beaten a video game
• Flown a airplane (thanks mom)
• Seen every James Bond movie
• Seen nearly every episode of Star Trek... (don't you judge me!!!)
• Been kicked out of the Alamo (because you are not allowed to take pictures of Davy Crocket's gun)
• Went to casino... and walked out broke
• Seen Kenny Chesney many many times
• Proudly served as a candy stripper.
• Fired a gun... didn't like it
• Been in a triathlon
• Establish a pretty amazing PINK golf club set and outfit
• Seen Neil Young in concert
• Seen Mt. Mckinley and glaciers in Alaska

To close out I want to post some fun pictures from the past nearly-29 years so you have more of idea what I have been up to.

Bethany Side Note of the Day- Bethany's birthday is in September too.... 9/23 so for 8 days every years I am 3 years older then her not 2... #suckitbethany

Just Call Me Martha

Clearly I am not so much a summer-blogger but as school is starting in my area again I am ready to get serious about my blogging again.

This is Laura, we have discussed Laura before she is a good friend but she has a big problem, you see Laura's tummy does not care for basil (and she will tell you all about it.) So Laura this recipe is not for you,

I call this Pesto-cheta, (inspired by bruschetta) and i created it in my kitchen when I was in desperate need of a tasty-flavorful treat.

So here is the recipe and the low down on how to make it.


Start with a yummy loaf of bread, I prefer wheat bread but you can use whatever you like.

Go ahead and slice the loaf down the middle, and shmear on a light layer of butter. (please note my heart shaped cake pan, come to my house and I will make you a heart shaped cake.)

Find your favorite pesto sauce (or you could make your own if you are really motivated... me not that motivated, I buy mine at Food Lion.) Take a big spoonful of the pesto and shmear it on each slice.

Next layer on whatever type of Italian type cheese you like best, put a thin layer on each slice of bread.

Last step, pop the whole thing into the oven under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes depending on how toasted you like it. (I like my cheese and bread really toasted so you might think it is a little burnt but trust me it was delicious.)

WHAT A WONDERFUL TREAT!!!!!

Bethany Side Note of the Day: Bethany is a really good cook, our grandmother taught her how to make lots of yummy stuff.... me I was always in trouble so I got to learn how to mow the lawn... I can mow a mean lawn but she knows how to make Fried Apples Pies

BEACH

At the beach!!! Be back soon with blog pics

Ode To My Friends

So it has been a little while since I posted something, and I have been thinking long and hard about what to share with the world. And this is what I have, hopefully this is a great tribute to my friends.

I would say that I am a person that has a lot of good friends, so that is a little much for a blog post, if I forgot to mention you don't take offense, trust me I still love you too.

Heather

This is Heather, we met a couple of years ago when she got a job in my office.. and I hated her. Then through a combination of spending time together and having a lot in common we started to bond. Then I realized that she was awesome.

Then Heather and I started to spend a ton of time together and she is now one of my favorite people on the planet. Currently she and her husband are expecting a baby, who I have lovingly named Pippa (royal fever see previous blog post) Anyway Heather is great and everybody should now that.



Megan and Jackie

This is the gruesome twosome. They are currently separated but they used to be roommates and besties (still besties, no longer roommates). I met both Megan and Jackie at summer camp. (I can't tell you what year, I worked there along time.) Megan is one of the nicest people I know. Seriously she never says no to me, and I asked her to pick me up in the snow so we could go to pedicures. Jackie and her husband Josh are super funny and close to both Patrick and I.  Jackie and Josh recently moved away to Roanoke for Josh's work. I hope they have a great experience down there, but I seriously want them to move back ASAP.


Jessica, Michelle, Angie, and the rest of the RHH
This is a growing group that I have recently fallen into. I think my mom would say that I have gotten in with the fun crowd. I met these girls through Heather and her sister Jessica. Most of the RHH were roommates that Jessica had before she got married and still keeps in contact with.

You should know we are all adults, we have homes, jobs, husbands and relationships, babies on the way and lots of big things to come. However there are definitely things that keep us grounded, we love to take trips, shop, and drink good wine.

Laura
I have known Laura forever, I met her at camp a long long long time ago. I can't believe that we have all come so far.  Laura and I don't talk as much as we should but she is still wonderful and a great friend. Laura went on vacation with my husband and I to visit my family in Philly and New York, we nearly died in Times Square on New Years Eve 2009 (it was 6 degrees warm out and we both really had to pee after 8 hours in standing in NYC.)



K. Riegal

No blog post about my friends would be complete without K Riegal, K Riegal and I have been best friends for years. We have definitely had our ups and downs over the years but at the end of the day she and I will always be connected. K. Riegal lives really far away, down south in SC where she just bought a awesome new house and a cute puppy. I can't wait for the day that we all live close by again and we can hang out on the regular.



That is just a few, I have a lot more friends so sorry if i forgot somebody... I love you all

Bethany side note of the day: She just dyed her hair red and it is super cute.