Have any of you come across Brickyard Buffalo yet?
BB is an awesome online shop dedicated to sharing the coolest and newest products made by individual companies. Most that I've seen are usually a "ma and pop", mostly ma, shop and are super unique. They also feature a blogger or mom-preneur each week that picks their favorites to be sold. I love that they promote the little guys, a lot of things are really, really reasonable and honestly just plain cool.
It's similar to Groupon in that you only have a certain amount of time to purchase a product and they can sell out. You also have to sign up to be a member but there is no fee and you don't get an absurd amount of emails. It's totally worth it.
I'm not so sure that everyone is a fan of Led Zeppelin but they are definitely worth a shot if you're not on board yet. I've loved them forever and I can thank my dad for that. We grew up with random music and lots of silly dancing as kids.
Surprise, surprise! Luke Bryan has another spring break album out. It's Here to Party. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it. These are always his funnest jams.
Yes, funnest.
I wouldn't advise buying the entire album though because a few songs are repeats from other albums that you may already have. I only bought what I was missing.
I especially love this one because of all him "mmhmm-ing".
Justin Moore is definitely one of my favorites. He keeps it country. I also saw him in concert last summer and he was pretty darn good. I think he's releasing an album soon so keep him on your radar. His last few were really good.
I just realized I've already shared this one. Must mean I really like it? Here's a different one to make up for my lack of attention to detail.
Last week I was in the Big City for work. This week I'm in Dirty Jersey for work. Next week, I'm back in the Big City for work and the week after that, I'm in Beantown for a wedding.
I'm exhausted already.
So, I'm back tracking a bit. I wanted to share some pics and updates from last week.
I should be doing work, before work, instead of blogging but that just seems a bit ridiculous. I'll work tonight.
If you ever go to NYC, please, please go to this bagel place. Papa Bear hates it but it's literally the first thing I do when I get to town. I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before.
Whatever you do, do not let them put your cup of coffee in the paper bag with your bagel.
This was taken on my walk to the office. I love the flag the most. Last week was a shitty one for America.
Hotel view.
I totally have a love/hate relationship with New York. I love it because I was there for my entire pregnancy with The King and when I stay there, I walk the same route to work as I did every day while I was pregnant. It's nostalgic.
They also have pretty spectacular food. Yes, I used the work spectacular. Not to mention you can pretty much have anything you want delivered to your doorstep. Anything. I did all of my grocery shopping online and had it delivered once a week. I also ate a lot of buffalo chicken, pizza and Mexican food.
I really, really hate it because it's busy and disgusting. There are people everywhere and the stench when it's warm is pretty unbearable. I'm also going to generalize here but there are a lot of the people that strut around with a huge ego. Sort of a "I'm so important because I live in Manhattan and work on Wall Street and wear suits every day" kind of attitude. Gross. And yes, I know there are a lot of people that aren't like that. I work with a number of them. But you can literally see the attitude oozing out of these people. It's like it's in their hair gel.
So after my short, pointless trip, I rushed home to catch the Miranda Lambert and Dierks show. Which I'll write about in another post. It was disappointing to say the least.
I finally got home around 11 on Thursday night and tiptoed through the house, using my phone as a flashlight when I stumbled upon this little bastard.
No. It's not real. But it sure does look it. I am TERRIFIED of spiders. I hate them more than I hate NYC and cooked spinach. I found him just barely sticking out from under the couch and I nearly shit my pants. With cell phone light, that little effer looked like it might jump on me and eat my eyeballs.
Papa Bear, of course, thought it was hilarious.
I have officially banned fake bugs, along with real ones, in the house.
And just because I always find myself singing this song in the cab ride from the airport every time I visit. Here you go.
I am deeply saddened for all of the victims, their families, friends and all of the people who were at the marathon yesterday. What an unbelievably selfish and ugly act. I'm sad for the city of Boston and the people that call it, and Massachusetts, home. I'm mostly sad that these sort of acts have sort of become "the norm".
For those of you that are unfamiliar, each year Massachusetts reserves a holiday for what's called Patriots Day and Marathon Monday. Most people take the day off, if not mandated, to celebrate and recognize America, the Marathon, the Red Sox, New England and anything they darn well feel like celebrating really. It's usually a day of great fun, laughs, sports, beer, good food and friends. If I had to guess, a good million or so flock to the city just for this day.
Boston is like a second home to me, where I've made a lot of great friends and memories, so I'm going to end my posts here today.
I feel kind of sick to my stomach that this is the second post of this kind in just about four months.
Try to keep these people in your thoughts and prayers as we get on with our lives. A lot of people don't have that luxury today. Maybe we can also hold onto hope that this nonsense will some day end. If we stay on this path, it's going to be a pretty scary world for The King.
I have been whipping up cookies and cakes left and right lately. They are pretty darn good but not so good for the waistline when you eat a bunch, with ice cream, every night before bed.
I don't hate it. But I should work on limiting myself, for sure.
This week I tried a few different recipes. Two of which were good, that I'll definitely make again and a third, not so much. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm pretty darn awesome when it comes to making cookies. It's also helpful when I need a little bargaining power with Papa Bear.
I don't know how I pulled this off but this was SO good. The last time I tried braising, I burnt the shit out of everything in the pot. Papa Bear was not impressed and we ordered in a pizza. I don't know where I got the courage to try again but I'm sure glad that I did.
This is pretty darn easy to make. I don't have a huge pot, so I could only fit two chicken breasts and one drumstick. It was plenty for us though. I also cheated a bit and used canned artichokes instead of buying fresh. Artichokes scare me. I don't even know how I'd begin trying to make one of those. Just be sure you drain the chokes and squirt fresh lemon juice all over them. I served it with rice and it was delish. Papa Bear liked it, which is saying something.
Thiiiiiiisssss is probably not my favorite. It was good but not great. I thought Papa Bear would like it because it has pineapple and banana but he hated it. It wasn't necessarily because it was bad, he just hates cake. Which I totally thought I could overcome with the bananas but failed. Miserably.
He affectionately calls it "sand cake".
I should have followed my gut and shortened the instructed baking time. It honestly was a little on the overcooked side. Still edible but not too moist. Never, ever cook anything for as long as it says. Especially cookies.
This recipe also makes a HUGE cake. I've had two slices, Grace ate a quarter off the counter and we still have half of a cake left.
Did you notice how I mentioned Grace doing something bad and didn't curse? That's because I've come to expect she's going to mess with me. Sad day.
Anyway, I wouldn't make this one unless you are hosting a party and everyone loves cream cheese frosting and carrot cake.
That's the other thing. I don't have one of those counter mixer things, only a hand mixer and that son of a bitchin frosting was a nightmare to make. It was just too much to mix at once. My other mistake was trying to bake this damn cake and make the braised chicken. Stupidly ambitious.
And my absolute favorite this week, possibly this month.
These suckers taste EXACTLY like the Little Debbie's you can buy in the store. They are so friggen good. You know a cookie is going to be delicious when you seriously consider eating the entire bowl of dough instead of baking them.
This was really, really easy to make. Don't cook them for the entire nine minutes and you probably can cut the cream filling recipe in half. Unless you really like the middle, then I advise making it as directed. I threw out about half. I tried filling #2 but if you're feeling lazy, I bet filling #1 would be just as good.
This little bugger has a new album coming out in July. He's by far, one of my favorites. He tends to stay pretty "country" which is just how I like my country music.
This video is shotty, of course, so listen, don't watch.
A little dose of happy for you today because I'm feeling extra, super cheerful.
"Look for reasons to find things funny, to laugh out loud, and to appreciate other people's humor."
Ain't that the truth?
While I was leaving the grocery store yesterday a 40+ year old man was saying goodbye to some people it seemed like he hadn't seen in a while. Totally normal adult behavior, right? Well, right after he waved that little bugger took off in a sprint, jumped onto the back of his grocery cart and cruised across the parking lot all the way to his car. How freakin awesome is that? It was totally something an eight year old boy would do and I thought "good for him". He didn't give a rats ass what anyone thought about him and to be honest, it looked pretty liberating.
So I challenge you to do the all of the above today. Take a cruise on the back of a cart, have a dance party in the bread aisle or do something childish and silly simply because it feels good to let loose just a bit. We don't always have to be mature and we might actually have fun doing it.
And by we, I mean my best-est gingerbread friend in the whole, wide universe!!!
(You thought I was pregnant didn't you? Hahahaha)
I am beyond excited for Bethel and Jessticles this morning!!!!! Beth's water broke in the middle of the night and they are now waiting for Jensen to make her grand entrance!!
Holy exclamation points!
There is nothing on the planet that holds a candle to the first time you look into your child's eyes. It's like you are finally whole but didn't know anything was missing until you saw them. It's so weird and awesome and perfect. If you have a child, you totally know what I'm talking about. You can't write what it feels like.
Plus a brand new, fresh outta the womb newborn is just so friggen awesome. They're all squishy and snuggly and smell yummy. And maybe, most importantly, they sleep.
Then they quickly become a version of The King and life becomes a back and forth sprint between being over the moon happy and contemplating jumping off a bridge at 3am when you've been up for the 10th time since midnight.
If you have a baby that didn't sleep for the first five months, you know what I'm talking about.
I'd say I'm kidding, but I'm sorta serious. It's like being bi-polar or something.
But for real, having a kid is the best. I swear.
Anywho! They're excited. I'm excited. Their friends and family are excited. The universe is excited. It's just a damn exciting morning. This little nugget is going to be an awesome human and I can't wait to watch her grow. And then someday marry The King.
Good luck Bethel and Jessticles! But mostly, Bethel. I hope your vagina doesn't tear into a million pieces and you only push for five minutes.
And because every major moment in your life must have a song to go along with it...here's an inspirational little diddy to get you through today.
I've wanted to post this song for a solid two weeks and I couldn't find the damn thing to share.
And by couldn't find, I mean my search ended at youtube because let's be honest, it's not that important.
So without further ado, here is an excellent get your ass out of bed, dance around the kitchen jam.
The Band Perry is killing it lately, huh? I'm not usually a fan of her genre of what I like to call "yelling singing" but I can get on board with the last two singles.
Instead of a long winded post about where I've been and why I haven't been writing, here's a quick summary of what the last week has looked like. You can draw your own conclusions.
1. Hives. Hives. Hives.
2. Trip to the Emergency Room from said hives and a swollen face/throat.
3. Trip to the Allergist.
4. Lots of Medicine, some of which makes you insane. Steroids are bad.
5. New job = overtime and a terrible, rotten project.
6. Trying like hell to keep up with The King, Papa Bear, dogs, chickens and housework. I'm somewhere near the bottom of that list. Did I mention overtime?
7. Lou Lou and her inevitable aging. This included a long bout of crying, snuggling and more crying.
8. Zero sleeping. See reason number nine below.
9. We're now battling pink eye and an ear infection. Pink eye, BLECK. I also had no clue he had an ear infection which makes me feel pretty darn rotten.
10. This list is wicked long and I couldn't end at nine, so number 10 is just going to be a big ole' WTF was that week about?
Spose that's just "life", huh?
Through all of that crappiness, I realized my days are just going to have to start at 5am if I want to keep up. I'm on Day 1 of the new routine and it's really not so bad. Of course, it is only 6am but I have high hopes for today. I can definitely see this working out for us all.
Plus I'm actually enjoying a hot coffee right now which is totally worth waking up an hour or two earlier.
So thanks for your patience amigos. Lots of posts coming your way!
