BOGO @ TGIF

It's BOGO @ TGIF! Here's another great offer that a really great friend [;)] sent me....it's a "buy one entree, get one free" deal from TGIF's, and it doesn't expire until March 1, 2009! Woohoo! I just think we'll have to run downtown to have a little lunch date with our daddy here soon!

http://www.tgifridays.com/promos/bogo_2009_02.aspx?fromhome

Thanks, Alma...via P-Daddy!

Stinky Brown Bag

If any of you are on the mailing list for Qdoba (one of our family's favorite eateries), then you've already received this email, but I just had to post it, for I think it's hysterical! As a business major in college, I appreciate great advertising, and this one is a memorable one! Besides, I'm also sharing this great deal! AngelWings and I especially love their Mexican Gumbo (one can pick either steak, chicken, or veggie)...hmmm! I'll warn you...it's a huge serving, so we usually share!
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Subject: Stinky Brown Bag

Attention All Employees,
There is a brown paper bag lunch in the break room refrigerator without a name. It’s behind the ranch dressing and it smells like bologna. If this odorous brown bag happens to be yours, PLEASE DISPOSE OF IT IMMEDIATELY.
Then go to Qdoba Mexican Grill for lunch. They’re now offering any chicken entree on their menu with handmade chips, a choice of salsas and a regular fountain drink for only $6.99 (click here for the offer). It’s a great value and you can choose from any of their 18 different chicken dishes. So, whoever you are, you no longer have to be the SAD PACKER.

Thank you,
Management
"Propelling work to the next level"

A lovely night on the town!

Last Thursday night, we had 'the' most amazing evening! But first...a little background history...

This year, I 'broke away from the mold' [AO curriculum] and scheduled our composer studies to follow the Masterworks Series being performed by our local symphony, and this year the Masterworks Series was going to open with the magnificent music of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony featuring the CSO orchestra and chorus and guest pianist Sin-Hsing Tsai. So we've been over-indulging ourselves in Beethoven's music...he was such a talented being that had such an interesting life!

Then I asked Ricci if we had already gotten our tickets, and he said that we hadn't....aghhh! So we frantically added up the costs, and it was going to be $70 for some cheap-o seats. Not exactly what I was dreaming of! Then the next day, Ricci called home from work and said that he had won us tickets! Not only did God give us tickets....He gave us Center Orchestra tickets!

So on Thursday night, when Ricci came home from work, the girls and I were dressed and ready to go...shocking to him, I know...and he took us down along the river to the Bluff View art district, which is a lovely unique neighborhood originally fashioned in the style of a small European Village. Very apropros, I do say! We ate some delicious food at Tony's Pasta before heading off to the symphony at the Tivoli theatre.

The music was unbelievable, and the girls loved it! They were sooo well behaved! And at intermission, it was great to see some friends that we haven't seen in some time.What a lovely evening it was! I'll always be thankful!

A fun CM week!

What a fun (and busy!) wrap-up to a great summer we have had!
As the leaves are already starting to fall and the rest of the growing season is wrapping up its final showing, we're relishing these last few days of summer! (After all, fall is my favorite season, and I'm eagerly awaiting it!)

One afternoon, a good girlfriend called upon several of us other gals to come and help her carry her burden of blueberries! Uh, yeah...we're there! So the next morning we all adorned ourselves with our buckets tied around our necks (like professional berry pickers) and met up with everyone to help out sweet Joanna! What a fun time we all had! It was so sweet of J to open up her yard and her home to all of us...and our kiddos in tow! The kids had the best time playing, and we would all pick for a while and then go outside and 'sit a spell' while we cooled off and had some tea, scones, cookies, etc. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Isn't this the cutest berry-picker you've ever seen?!?

And as we started off our new school year, two girlfriends and I hit the road for an impromptu over-night trip. We learned of a great SCM conference, settled our fams, and hit the road! We had a great time yackin' all of the way up there and back! We rushed out of town so quickly so that we could make it to our hotel in time for happy hour, and after enjoying some time relaxing, we went to a wonderful restaurant...I have no recollection what the name of it was, and I paid cash, so I have no receipt, but here's a photo of it...it's down on the bottom left! Oooh, and I'm still craving their chicken with capers! It was soooo good! It was served over a bed of angel hair pasta with a lemon and white-wine sauce and with the most gently sauteed green beans and red tomatoes on the side!

After we ate and laughed til we could eat and laugh no more, we giggled our way back to our hotel room, stayed up way too late, and got up way too early the next morning. After enjoying a scrumptious breakfast at the hotel, we were off to the conference! (Notes to be posted later!)

Fun spending time w/ friends, new and old alike!

This past Saturday was a dear day for our good friend, RC, so she and I enjoyed getting out to spend "just you and me time" with one another! We did quite a bit of shopping, had a yummy lunch at Panera (I had their Baked Potato Soup and Strawberry Poppyseed Salad....it's made with fresh strawberries and blueberries, pineapple, Mandarin oranges, pecans and fat-free poppyseed dressing! I can't wait to re-create it here at home!), and then we went to see the movie, BabyMama, which I had been wanting to see for quite some time! It's hysterical! Yes, the humor at times would be slightly off-color for mixed company, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the many previews hadn't shown all of the hysterical parts in the film, as I was afraid would have happened!

Then after the movie, we did a little more shopping, and then we went home to rest before regrouping together with the guys for a rematch of MadGab. Of course, Eric and I gave it our best, but we still 'let them win' in light of being gracious hosts! But before we 'let them win' we had homemade pizzas, and while we were cleaning up after dinner, I just had to run and grab the camera when I saw Rob sitting with the girls as they had convinced him to read them 'just one more' story! It was so sweet!

Aside from his allowing them to hang out the side windows of his Beemer (hairbows flappin' in the wind and all!), the girls love him dearly!

Then on Sunday we had some new friends over for dinner! But first, a little back-story....last Sunday at church, we sat behind the cutest family! Their 2nd to youngest son, Calvin, kept peeking around to give me a face that would melt my heart...and those huge, brown eyes! As if they weren't enough to melt a girl's heart...his older brother and sister have them too! Then baby Silas...he's too cute for his own good...but with huge, blue eyes! So as soon as church was finished, we introduced ourselves to them...only to learn that we had met them before! So this week we gladly had them come over to eat after church! And all I have to say is that those kids are just as beautiful and well-mannered on the inside as they are on the outside! It's been a treat to get to know them once more! Their kiddos each have us wrapped around their little fingers already!

Happy Anniversary, Ricci!

It's been a wonderful wedding anniversary already! Ricci and I have been married for twelve years now...and each year seems to be only be getting better and better!

Earlier this week, one of our dearest friends, RC, knew that it was getting close to our wedding anniversary, so she told me that she wanted to watch the girls to allow Eric and I to go out alone together. I told her that would be wonderful, but this week we were being so rushed to do this and that. Then we received a phone call that my Aunt Rachel had passed away. So we cancelled most of our weekend plans, thinking that we would travel to LA (lower Alabama) to attend the wake and funeral. Then after we sat down and really forced ourselves to make a decision, we decided that it would wiser to stay at home now and travel down there when there would be fewer people around the rest of the family....so we stayed here. Then sweet, dear RC called to ask what we had decided to do, and when I told her that we were going to stay at home, she said that she was coming to get the girls and have dinner with them. What a wonderful, thoughtful friend she is!

So when I told Eric, he made us some reservations, came home early, brought me some beautiful flowers, and we headed out to dinner to Canyon Grill. Once we were seated, we immediately cracked open one of 'my' favorite bottles of wine from our favorite winery that mom and dad left with us as a hostess gift last weekend....oooh, thanks again! Then as we were enjoying our rajas, french bread and wine while awaiting our supper, we had to laugh out loud when some of our best friends were seated next to us! Of course, we got our 'usuals'...my chicken with capers (extra capers), garlic green beans and yellow squash...and Eric's grilled chicken with roasted red-pepper sauce, grilled portobello mushrooms and fried okra. Then our favorite dessert...apple-pecan bread pudding with a yummy bourbon sauce. Oooh...it's all so good!

After a while, Kendall & Shelley and Eric & I grew tired of communicating from table to table, so we ended up sitting together and began planning the rest of our evening! So after making plans to get two of our other good friends to join us (who brought our girls with them), we were off to the world's largest single screen outdoor theater!

It was such a wonderful evening...the drive winding down the mountain gave us a glimpse here and there of a spectacular sunset, and the weather was magnificent with a gentle breeze that often brought a slight chill! It was a perfect June evening! Now this was the first time that I can ever recall having gone to a drive-in movie (Momma, you can correct me, if I'm wrong!), but we had a blast...and I was probably too excited to even 'get' the whole movie (which was Get Smart). But we pulled out camping chairs, set out some blankets on the ground for the girls, turned on the car radios, and had a blast! I can not wait to go back again!

Boiled Peanuts and Foggy Pearls!

We've had a wonderful week....Meems and P-Daddy came through town twice, so we were able to visit with them while they were here! The last evening that they were here, my sweet daddy told us to invite Efrem to join us for dinner, and after I insisted that I just prepare dinner here at home, Dad went and picked up Efrem for a fun, enjoyable evening here at home. We enjoyed a wonderful meal (Eric prepared Mimi and Pawpaw's favorite...pan-seared tilapia with capers and a lemon wine sauce...it's really good! Macy made her famous dill cole-slaw, and I prepared mashed red-potatoes, a really good spring mixed salad with cranberries, mandarin oranges, bleu cheese and toasted/candied pecans), and then after dessert Dad and Annie drove Efrem back home, while the rest of us went for a little walk. We absolutely love having them here, for they are so easy to entertain. They always bring us really great goodies...like Mimi's special pumpkin bread for (one of her two) favorite son-in-laws, wine from our favorite vineyard, boiled peanuts from our favorite L.A. road-side stand (can you tell that I had a well-rounded childhood?) The girls put on little shows for them, scratch Pawpaw's back, get up early to visit with them...Annie rushes downstairs to "beat everyone else" so that she can have "just Mimi and her time" before the sun comes up, and Macy and Tressie usually snuggle up with Pawpaw while he reads to them one fairy tale after another! We'll have big breakfasts, and then decide what we'll do for the day! Generally, Mimi and the girls and I will go one direction while the fellas take off to either Northern Tool & Supply, Harbor Freight Tools or Sears. Then we'll meet back up with one another before heading back home....then on the tragic day that they leave, we all tear up. We love them so much and always hate to see them leave!

Thank you Mimi and Pawpaw for loving us the way that you do!

We love you too!

This last time when they left, we received a phone call from Aunt Jan and Uncle Eddie, who were traveling to Sewanee, and they wanted to see if we wanted to join them for a birthday dinner for Aunt Jan at Pearl's [Foggy Mountain Cafe]...uhhh, yeah! Reservations were at 5:30, so we had to get ourselves into high gear! So our sadness over Mimi and Pawpaw quickly turned to excitement to see Uncle Eddie and Aunt Jan while celebrating her birthday...woohoo...along with a strong desire for tasting really great food and wine! Eric and I enjoyed sea scallops with a port wine & pomegranate glaze, couscous and sauteed Napa cabbage (oh, I am craving more now!); the girls enjoyed chicken fingers (which we all agreed tasted just like Mother Simpson's...so good!) with white cheddar cheese grits; Uncle Eddie enjoyed the special, which was tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes and somethin' else...after tasting the wasabi mashed potatoes my thoughts disappeared; and the birthday girl enjoyed roasted chicken with Basmati rice and fresh English peas. For dessert (it doesn't matter where we are eating...), all Tressie has to do is give Uncle Eddie one look (and mind you...when he's around, she right there...I'm not sure if she's wrapped around his finger, or if she has him wrapped around her little finger!), for he will order her the moon! Eric and Eddie (and Tressie) enjoyed their bread puddings with a rich bourbon glaze while Macy, Annie and I took care of a triple-chocolate mousse, and the birthday girl enjoyed her favorite...a vanilla bean Crème Brûlée...oooh, it's all sooo good!

After enjoying such a wonderful dinner, Macy and I just had to take a ride in Uncle Eddie's new hybrid SUV, so we drove out to their "home away from home" and visited with them some out there. Of course, the girls feel right at home out there...we re-make friends with Prince Snarles (or Buddy as they call their sweet, darlin' and snarlin' yellow lab), and then the girls run to their favorite 'spots.' Annie always snuggles up on the big sofa and checks out the "Where's Waldo" books while Macy and Tressie race to call shot-gun and get up on the big comfy bed in "their" room....it doesn't take long to see why they like it so much...there's a huge TV at the end of the bed, and Uncle Eddie always finds something wonderful for them to watch! That evening, the waterfall was running so loudly, so the rest of us hung out on their sunroom, enjoyed good coffee, talked about "this and that" (eh'hem) and laughed 'til we could laugh no more. We always have such a great time going up there, and it's always hard to leave!

Thank you, Aunt Jan and Uncle Eddie, for such a wonderful evening!

We love you tons and bunches!

Mountains, Rivers, Oceans and Canyons!

Waking up to some yucky weather (lovely, spring thunderstorms), we decided that we would take the risk of getting to the IMAX in time to see the preview of their newest film, Grand Canyon Adventure 3D. We had been given an opportunity to go and see a free screening of the movie which is now showing. We made it there...just in the nick of time, and it was simply amazing! The 3-D film takes one down the mighty Colorado River on a thrilling, whitewater rafting trip. And I highly recommend it to anyone! Now, there was a global-warming slant to it; however, I just write that off easily as 'only time will tell'....until we are being warned about our global-cooling situation!

The scenery was beautiful, and I can tell you that everyone in the theatre blinked (or even wiped!) the water away from their eyes...it is so real! It's just amazing to me how 3-D videography can trick one's brain! You must go and see it!

After the movie, we went back home to get ready for Aunt Jan and Uncle Eddie. We readied the house and then drove down to meet them at the Aquarium. We spent a fun day walking through the exhibits and checking out every plant and animal that there is!

Oh, how these girls love their Aunt Jan & Uncle Eddie!

Annie checkin' out the stingrays...yes, all but Macy and I were touching them!

After we had seen all that there was to see, we went back to our house and enjoyed a "quick" appetizer (Alal's 7-layer dip) and then headed out to Canyon Grill for dinner. Thankfully, we had a reservation so we didn't have to wait...and man; it was good! After enjoying some rajas and french bread with our Layer Cake Shiraz and Hogue Riesling, we all ate til we could eat no more. Jan and I enjoyed the chicken with capers (my "usual"); Uncle Eddie had the grilled salmon; Eric enjoyed the chicken with roasted red pepper sauce; and the girls always get the chicken with the creamy herb dip, garlic-mashed potatoes and lima beans...I know, I know...lima beans have never tasted as good as they do out there! And their water with the tiny bites of ice is enough to make me drive out there...just for their water...it's so highly purified...it's all sooo good!

All in a day's work!

This morning, the girls and I got right down to business, for this afternoon Macy and her daddy had the pleasure of going to a field trip together.

After breakfast and a few chores we settled right into working on our prayer journals (which I'm proud to say that the younger two are now writing their own prayers of thanksgiving and requests into their own prayer journals! I was spending the time to write them down for them, but now they are writing their own, and one day we'll look back and be even more grateful for their sweet, little penmanship and silly misspellings!) Then we completed our math, language and some of our history readings. Then for some of our extracurricular reading, we continued our Family Under Fire, A Story of the Civil War, which is so good, and we just "needed" to read some more of it!

After lunch, our sweet daddy left work a little early to come and pick up Macy to take her to a little field trip with some of our homeschool group. They went to visit Niedlov's, which is a quaint, little bakery...I hope the word 'little' doesn't' offend them...if so, sorry! They learned lots and had a fun time bringing us home some of the most wonderful, chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies and had fun telling us all about what/where/who they saw! Macy had a good time catching up with some friends of hers, and Eric enjoyed getting to see how a bakery produces their baked goods on such a large scale and large equipment!

Later that evening, I had the pleasure of meeting some girlfriends (from the same homeschool group) out for a dinner at our favorite, local Mexican restaurant! We got together to eat, catch up with one another, encourage each other, and just laugh at what has/hasn't worked for us as individuals teaching our children and our homeschool group as a whole! I have to say that I left those gals feeling sooo refreshed about how I'll continue rearing our little family as well as how excited about how we'll continue leading our homeschool group! We have lots of little changes which I feel for sure will have lots of necessary, positive impact! I just love those gals!

Stephy's Restaurant Review - Shenanigan's in Sewanee, TN

Shenanigan's in Sewanee, TN
"Atmosphere is laid-back...waaay laid back, as in the front porch or door isn't even standing straight!
Table and room decorations are at a minimum, as in you must have a minimum of sticky spots on your dining surface, a minimum of "lovelies" in the window sill...even THEY had apparently died from their experience there!
Food is surprisingly really palatable and even quite tasty.
Service is just barely (e'hem) "below" average, with little to no interest for the customer (or the sake of their health) who is peer-pressured with morbid curiosity of how to "bus their own table."
The only way that I would return as a happy customer is if they met me as I was getting out of my car with a nice, tall pitcher of whatever they have on tap (those selections did look good!) with a large, sippy straw. And I'd have to have enough "spirits" in me to not be able to notice the crooked, splintered entrance.
My recommendation for one that's considering visiting Shenanigan's is to be sure to BYOP (Bring Your Own Plate), stock up at Sam's or Costco with an abundant supply of Purell wipes for your hands, Clorox wipes for the tables, and stop by a local doctor for an updated tetanus shot!

With all of this said, I do highly recommend Jump Off Fall's Pizzeria, locally owned and operated by our one and only J and E! "Atmosphere, food, and service is impeccable! And I have to strongly suggest that one tries the Puttanesca and wide selection of organic juice boxes! When one's there, they feel as if they're family! Pets welcome."