How to tie a tie

No, I still don't know how to tie a tie. My son Caleb however, still looks absolutely dashing in his clip-on tie from Grandpa Ron and Grandma Cindy. He was meant to wear this shirt and tie for Easter festivities, but hadn't quite grown into this ensemble.

This kid cleans up well, wouldn't ya say?

Female bonding

I decided that this past Saturday night would be the perfect night for some female bonding. Yes I missed my hubby and my baby during these few hours, but I needed this opportunity with the girls for my sanity and for a chance to remember my former self.
The evening began with a strawberry martini and a dirty martini at The Cheesecake Factory.
We all wore some of our finest attire and had girl talk around our table of drinks, food, and red velvet cheesecake.

Yum.

Double yum.

Misty was the one who suggested we make a night of watching the new Sex and the City movie.
I suggested cocktails and dresses pre-movie.

Me, Kathryn, Scarlet, Misty, Adrienne, and Irene. What a fun group of girls!

The four of us who attended the show. We decided to make our outing a regular affair. Perhaps going dancing instead of to the movies.
What a perfect night out. Thanks ladies! I had a blast.

Photos of the Day

Is there anything better than the angelic face of a sleeping baby?

Caleb was quite sleepy when I visited him during lunch today. I got to do our regular feeding and then rock him to sleep, which he never lets me do. It was such a tender and much-appreciated moment.

He must have been relieved to be in his mommy's arms and away from his little baby girlfriends at daycare who were pulling his hair all day, or so one of the daycare instructors informed me.
Yes, his blond locks have grown quite long but I can't bare to give him his first haircut before he turns one year old.

First Bloom Celebration 2010

I had the honor once again this year, to judge the photo contest at Witherspoon Rose Culture's Annual First Bloom Celebration. I LOVE this job!
They had a really good turnout this year, even though the skies spelled rain. The photos were all so beautiful and I always have such a difficult time narrowing down the winners. Luckily I get to select a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner within each category and then a grand-prize winner.
After I'm done judging I get to go wind my way through their tremendous rose garden. I only brought my little point-and-shoot Canon along for the ride, but am very pleased with the photos it takes (Thank you Kristin for the camera recommendation).

Photo of the Day

Slobber – the best thing since sliced bread.

Congrats to an old friend

This past Saturday I had the rare experience of witnessing a friend getting proposed to. This wasn't just any friend either, it was Misty, one of my best friends in the whole wide world. We've been through everything together and I couldn't be happier for this girl for getting the man of her dreams!
Misty's graduation dinner at Pop's in Durham had just begun to unfold when I noticed her standing by the window opening a gift from a friend. (Double congrats – by the way – for her graduation from the MSN Nurse Anesthesia Program at Duke). I felt a quiet stir of commotion as I glanced over to see Misty's boyfriend Brandon holding his fireman hat. He kept saying, "Don't turn around, don't turn around."
I couldn't actually believe this moment had arrived. I saw the ring-sized box in his hand. I started bawling like a little baby.

Here you can see Brandon a little sweaty, doubling over with nerves
as Misty continues to VERY SLOWLY open her gift.

Blowing off some steam, pre-preposal.

Oh, it's official...he's down on one knee as Misty opens the last box of the present, which contains a note that says, "Turn Around."

I can't imagine what Misty was feeling here.
Relief? Ecstasy? Joy? Nerves? All those combined?

But here her smile says it all. Will you marry me?

That looks like a yes!

Elated firefighter and future wife!

Upon closer inspection of the ring, Misty is truly a happy girl.

One of the most special parts about this proposal was that a large part of Misty and Brandon's family got to be there, plus a number of their closest friends.

Brandon looks extremely relieved to have gotten a YES out of this beautiful girl! I love that he looks like he is wiping the sweat from his brow. Misty made a firefighter sweat! I guess she really set his heart afire. hehe

Now presenting, Fiances Misty and Brandon – Wedding date TBD.

The perfect ring. Fantastic job Brandon! And congrats to the two of you.

A tough vegetable

Again with the experimentation?! I know I'm insane. I have little experience cooking and even less experience eating artichokes, yet last night I attempted cooking artichokes for hubby and myself.
I bought one giant artichoke, which ended up being the perfect size to serve two people. With this lovely, difficult-to-understand vegetable I followed a recipe from the Joy of Cooking – Roasted Artichoke Stems and Hearts – though the recipe called for 5 medium artichokes instead of one large one.

The most difficult part in the preparation was the cleaning and gutting of the artichoke. It involves cutting back all the leaves, continually spritzing with lemon juice, hunting down the spiny center, scraping, scraping, and more scraping, and then more cutting. I felt as if I were going in blind. I had never seen an artichoke being prepared before and I was basically just poking around inside of it.

After cleaning the artichoke and cutting it into about 8 pieces, I boiled them in water, lemon juice, and salt for about 5 minutes.

I then tossed the pieces with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh garlic and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

We tossed them with fresh parsley and served with couscous and sage-marinated, cast-iron seared pork (the meat prepared by hubby).
Though cooked artichoke isn't a thing of beauty, it tasted wonderful. It even met and surpassed hubby's approval. SUCCESS!