T'was the Day Before Christmas (Eve)

I realize that it's lame that the only times I post are when people tag me, but I also feel guilty if I don't do this stuff after I've been tagged. So merry Christmas to Wendi, Elizabeth & Kim, your gift is my post. :)

8 things I did today:
1. Snoozed about 10 times total (but only for about 15 minutes - we use a LOT of alarms!)
2. Folded laundry
3. Did my couch to 5K run
4. Pumped some iron
5. Listened to Christmas music
6. Researched mountain biking trails near Farmersville for Cody
7. Hugged my husband
8. Work... well, not so much yet, but it's coming...

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Moonshine
2. Firebowl
3. Nordstrom Bistro
4. Phil's Ice House
5. Chez Zee
6. Great Harvest Bakery
7. Central Market Cafe-on-the-Run
8. Whole Foods salad bar

8 shows I watch:
1. Gossip Girl
2. 30 Rock
3. The Biggest Loser
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. Private Practice
7. Samantha Who?
8. Scrubs

8 favorite stores (I'll add this too, Wendi!)
1. Nordstrom
2. DSW Shoe Warehouse
3. Banana Republic
4. Target
5. Whole Foods
6. Central Market
7. Barnes & Noble
8. the MAC store

8 things I wish for:
1. to be able to run a 5K without walking!
2. to rock at yoga
3. for my hair to stay naturally blonde... too late!
4. for Cody to get a great State Farm agency location
5. the Toss & Chop! (http://www.silvermk.com/product_detail.cfm?id=1)
6. to get to stay home
7. a house with lots of kitchen counter space!!
8. a couple of cute kids (in a few years!)

8 things I look forward to:
1. Christmas at Poogie Ranch!
2. dinner tonight with Austin friends, plus Weldon
3. Cody opening his presents!
4. baby Jake Lawson!
5. meeting Dishman baby #2 (Colt Jr!) in March
6. the cinnamon roll Christmas tree
7. Lindsey's wedding and all the fun it brings!
8. Cody's duathalon! he's going to kick some butt!!

I politely declined to sit on his knee...

Santa took time out of his busy December schedule to come to State Farm's family Christmas party at Gattiland last Saturday.


This guy is actually a personal Santa-for-hire - you can get him to come to your house on Christmas Eve or day and freak out your kids. I can't imagine how much something like that might cost, but it sounds awesome!!

Tagged by Myra

Here's the rules:

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
Tag five other people to do the same.

Here's my quote from "Beginning in Jesus: 6 Small Group Session on the Life of Christ" by Doug Fields & Brett Eastman:

"The next time you meet, the group will discuss Jesus as a servant, and there's a potential activity that will require some extra work before you meet again."

We did not do this activity, FYI. Footwashing on 15-year-old boys would be kind of awkward... plus we didn't have time. :) Yay, huddles!

I don't think many people read this blog, but I'll tag Briana and Kellie (maybe this will motivate her to post again!!)

Recent Visitors

We've had an unusually high number of visitors to Austin recently!

First, Cyndi came to visit us before she heads to England for the year!

Here's me, Cyndi and Cody making funky faces at Mighty Fine. Check out Cyndi's brand new lipstick from the Mac Store!

And here's Cyndi and I looking more normal.

Then my mom came in to help host Catherine's wedding shower! Not sure how my mom and I didn't get a picture together, though we did spend a lot of time in the kitchen, not looking our cutest.

Here's the shower hostesses with the guest of honor:

And the college friends who came to the shower!
Note: in an unusual oversight, I'm not making the Wildcat symbol. What a shame.


And finally, two of the best roommates ever came to town for the weekend! Susan, Lauren and I had a great time eating, talking, and watching Troop Beverly Hills! It was "fabulous, just fabulous!"
Coming soon: Melanie Jan Knox Larson!

Mmm Mmm Good

This is the most tasty snack I've found in ages.

Purchased at Central Market Westgate, Tom Sturgis Cinnamon Stiks Pretzels:

4 More Years!

Cody and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary this Thursday. Since I'll be at Hyatt Lost Pines sleeping, eating, swimming, and the like, I thought I'd post a few pictures in advance of the big day.

Here we are chillin' out at our wedding:

Getting jiggy with it on the honeymoon:
Our first anniversary, at Driskill Grill:

On our second anniversary, about to row, row, row a boat:

On our third anniversary, at Alamo Drafthouse for The Simpsons Movie:

I've had more fun in the past 4 years being married to Cody than I ever could have imagined! He is: hilarious, sweet, random, smart, tall, smiley, hungry, romantic, helpful, exciting, silly, complimentary, thoughtful, and... in the words of Van Montgomery (from Reba, our brainless syndicated sitcom of choice for 2008): well-emBROWed. I'm so glad his crazy eyebrows won me over back in 2001. What would this millenium be without my favorite person in the world?!!

When Geeky Meets Awesome

I love this so much.

Friday Nights Are For Laughing

So last Friday, Cody and I headed out to Blockbuster to pick up a movie or two. Lately, I've been disappointed with the selection in the new release section. I guess it makes sense that there are good and bad periods of DVD releases, just like there are in theaters, but it's still annoying to me when we can't seem to find anything that gets us excited in the entire new release section. This is how we ended up renting No Country for Old Men, which I'm sorry, I just didn't get. If I wanted to be bored and slightly depressed, we would just stay home and watch 20/20 for free.

I digress. I was pleasantly surprised upon this trip to Blockbuster to see a fresh batch of new releases. We ended up renting Charlie Bartlett, which I had seen some funny trailers for, but never heard much more about it. I loved it. A lot. So much that I made Cody's dad and brother watch it with me less than 24 hours later. And it was still just as funny. Two thumbs up from me and Cody!


Top 5 things about Charlie Bartlett (more easily understood if you've seen the movie):
5. Anton Yelchin is the cutest! Like, I want him to marry my sister.
4. Red lipstick on teenage girl - so fun!
3. Robert Downey Jr. (I've loved him since Ally McBeal)
2. "Hell Comes With Your Own Locker" = greatest name of a play ever!
1. Yankee Doodle!

Spreading the Word

I'm not actually a huge fan of Old Navy flip flops - I prefer to stick with my old Reefs - but I know many, many people are. And I must say, I have respect for people that have flip flops in every color. So I thought I'd spread the word on this sale:

My Favorite Things

So I haven't blogged in a while, and I really don't have any stories or deep thoughts that I feel compelled to spread to all the masses. But I do have a few things I love. Besides the obvious ones like Jesus, Cody and coffee, I thought I'd ease into blogging by sharing my thoughts on a few things that are dear to me.

The Magic Bullet



Okay, I've owned the original (pictured here) as well as a knock-off. I love them all. A skeptic might think, "I'll never use it" or "why not just use the blender I already have?" I'm here to tell you, this Bullet will change your life. Or at least make you a little happier. It's space-efficient. It blends really well. It grinds coffee. It makes hummus. It cleans up in about 5 seconds. And it has a clever name. What more could you want?

What I use my Bullet for is primarily fruit smoothies. I'm not big on eating fresh fruit, even though I know I should. But the FDA says I need 3-4 servings a day, so what can you do? Fruit smoothie! Throw some frozen fruit and some juice in a blender, and you've got your 3 servings of fruit in one delicious beverage. The Bullet is awesome because you stick your ingredients in the cup, screw on the blender attachment/lid, and stick the cup into the blender base. 15 seconds later, you've got a fruit smoothie you drink straight from the cup, and all you have to clean is the lid, which I must confess we usually just rinse off and use the next day. I love these smoothies and if you're around me much, you've probably seen me toting one around.

What's my favorite recipe, you ask? I'll tell you. It's the strawberry-peach smoothie. Fill the cup halfway with frozen strawberries, and the other half with frozen peaches. Add about half a cup of OJ and half a cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze (mmm, a post for another day). You can use milk instead of Breeze but it kinda foams up during blending, which I'm not a fan of. Blend it up and there you go - a tasty, nutritious and portable snack for about 150 calories.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure no one cares about this nearly as much as I do. So I'll end with my top 5 Magic Bullet recommendations:

1. Use frozen fruit in your smoothies.
You can use fresh fruit and just add ice, but I think frozen fruit does double duty and keeps the smoothie from being watered down. Plus, it's so darn convenient.
2. Make hummus.
The Bullet is the perfect size for a recipe of hummus. It's really fun to make, plus you feel kind of hip that you're the kind of person who makes your own hummus. Plus, hummus has healthy olive oil and good fiber and protein. So it's healthy and cool!
3. Grind coffee in your Bullet.
No need to have a separate coffee grinder, what a waste of valuable kitchen cabinet space! The Bullet has you covered.
4. Make your own baby food!
My sis-in-law is making all of my nephew's baby food because she's the best mom ever. I think it's cheaper, plus you know exactly what goes into the food. Which in her case involves millet, because, again, she's awesome.
5. Buy the generic brand.
No need to go hoity-toity to buy the original from the infomercial or Bed Bath and Beyond. Macy's and JC Penny both make excellent generic versions, and they both have a 1-year warranty, so if you wear out the motor (as we did on our original Bullet), you can return it easy peasey.

So I'll leave you with some links to buying your very own Magic Bullet!
The Official Magic Bullet Website
Amazon - the original Bullet, but cheaper
The JC Penny knock-off (my bullet of choice)
The Macy's knock-off