breakfast for dinner

(photo provided by someecards.com)

thankfully, michael does not. 

he loves to cook, and i love to let him cook. mikey has the night off of work tonight and we've decided on breakfast-for-dinner...my absolute favorite meal. and i love nights like this. quiet, relaxing, and not too hot outside.

mike cooking his delicious, think, juicy, bacon.

due to weight watchers, or "the watch" as i like to call it, my breakfast-for-dinner isn't as exciting as it could be. here's how it breaks down...

michael                                    

-egg whites with lots of cheese       

-6 pieces thick, juicy, bacon         

-5 jr. biscuits                       

-loads of apple butter                

-fruit

me

-1/4 c. egg whites with a sprinkle of cheese

-2 little turkey sausage links

-2 slices of 45-calorie, wheat bread

-around 10 sprays of lo-cal spray butter

-fruit

now, i'm not saying i'm jealous of his delicious meal...what the hell am i talking about??! of course i'm jealous of his meal! especially that bacon...my goodness! it smelled the whole house up with the scent of deliciousness! and what do i get? some freaking spray butter and turkey sausage. WOMP! 

whew! thanks for bearing with me while i threw my little temper tantrum. (michael really is a saint...i have tantrums quite often. he lets me get it all out, gives me a smile, and then goes about his merry way. i think he finds them endearing. i'm very lucky.) 

anyway, the watch will be proud as i held my ground and didn't give in...okay, i had half of a piece of bacon...but come on! that's pretty good! i mean, look at it!

(mike was already about half finished.)

now i'm off to try and persuade mikey to resume lost...we're on the second season and i loooove it! 

tomorrow's friday! cheers! 

b.t.c.

you guys...i feel the need...the need for speed to read!


that ridiculous play on a top gun quote is just my way of saying that i'm excited to announce i'm officially part of a book club! "between the covers" or b.t.c. is the name of the book club that i, along with several of my friends i've met through work, have created. 


one day at work, i overheard my friends, monica and erica, discussing how they wanted to read more. i quickly chimed in: "oh my gosh, me too!" obviously, the most logical answer to satisfy our "need to read" was to start a book club of our own. here's the rules...


1. we'll read one book per month, starting june 1.
2. each month has a theme:
       june- books made into movies
       july- biography/memoir
       august- hot and raunchy
       september- durgs/alcohol/addiction
       october- mystery
       november- a classic
       december- a choice from the best sellers from 2012
       january- comedy
       february- love
       march- oprah's book club choice
       april- fashion-esque
       may- still undecided, so tbd
3. we have a group on Facebook where all of the members can submit their choice for the       month and we all get to vote.
4. majority rules!


anyway, for those of you who don't know, i'm a chronic non-book-finisher, so i'm really hoping b.t.c. motivates me to continue reading and finish the books i start! so, what is june's read, you ask??

i'm so excited to read "girl, interrupted" by susanna kaysen. i've seen the movie several times, and absolutely love it! barnes & noble is calling my name...time to go make my purchase and dig in to my new read!

memorial day 2012

forgive me, as this post will be long. however, it's also filled with the best things in life--friends, family, love, celebrations, and lots and lots of pictures! first and foremost, though, i want to give a big thank you to the former and current members of our military to help defend our freedoms! especially my little brother, christian, who is currently serving in afghanistan as a medic for the marines. christian- i love and miss you!!

one of my favorite past times is going to my friend, amy's, lake house on lake cypress springs. so many of my best memories with my friends involve going out for a day on the lake at amy's house! we even talked about all of our "good ol' days" in jr. high with amy's mom, nancy, when we would take the boat out and think we were just the coolest thing. little did we know, our moms/friends of nancy would keep a distant eye on us at all times. it was really funny coming to this realization this weekend because looking back, i don't think any of us had ever felt as free/grown up/cool as we did when we would take the boat out at amy's house. 

i headed to mt. vernon on saturday morning to begin celebrating memorial day. michael had to work a double on saturday, so he couldn't come with me. bummer. at any rate, i decided to go visit my papa and his wife, mary lou, first thing because i hadn't seen them in such a long time. we got to be lazy and talk about weddings and work and friends and plays and concerts--all great things! we also had the best lunch! papa and mary lou started their own little garden and i got to make the freshest garden salad with veggies straight from their yard! i must say, i felt like quite the little hippie...and loved it. 

rachel's freshest. salad. ever.

-fresh garden lettuce
-fresh garden cucumbers (these were sweet, crisp and delicious!)-cauliflower (from the store)
-sweet bell pepper (from the store)
-strawberries (from the store)
-fat free raspberry vinaigrette
-seven grain toast

you guys. this salad was absolutely amazing. you should make it and be amazed (and super healthy!). papa, mary lou, and i got to have a great visit and i got to relax in front of this. don't think it gets too much better! :)

we got to watch the birds and ducks near their dock, too!

once we finished with lunch, i headed just down the road to amy's house. take a look at the shots below to see what we were up to on saturday!

first off, i was greeted by this little nugget.
meet mallory, amy's niece. my heavens
she's adorable!!

loved getting to catch up with my girls! from left to right,
that's kim, leigh anne, me and amy. you can hardly tell
(because leigh anne has the best body ever) but sweet
little layton is under that grey cover up. :)

leigh anne (+ layton) and kim on the boat relaxing

the 40 lbs. of crawfish we got after. we didn't put
much of a dent in it, but man did we try!

wild bill, tom, amy and jake getting down on some mudbugs!

kim, me and amy with our dinner. let me just tell you,
were it not for the several cocktails i'd had that day,
there's no way i would've been able to peel those crawfish.
i have issues with food that looks the same
dead as it did when it was alive. ick!

winona and tracy even made an brief appearance.

jill's summer brew of genius

-3 modelos
-tequila to taste (we used blanco and it was delish!)
-diet sprite
-fresh lime juice
(mix it all together and enjoy the wealth. thank me later.)

evening booze cruise with jill, jake, amy, tom and wild bill. 

beautiful sunset and the perfect ending to
another successful holiday at amy's!

sunday morning, we woke up and nancy fixed us some delicious pancakes and bacon. i headed back to plano around lunchtime so i could be home by the time mikey got off of work. we decided to take it easy sunday night and just watch some movies. there's a blockbuster close to our house that is going out of business, so we thought we could go by there and get some cheap rentals. much to our delight/surprise, they were no longer renting dvds, but had almost all their movies on sale for $0.49-$2.00!! to put it lightly, madness ensued.

we have problems. lol. and this isn't
even all of the movies we bought.

we enjoyed the second season of lost on sunday night and got up monday morning and hit up the outlets in allen. mike wanted to try and find a new swim suit and i ended up finding some super cute coral, linen pants and some fabulous printed shorts. (i wore the pants today and they are amazingly comfortable!)

headed to lunch with some friends at pluckers.

we ate with a group of our close friends and then headed to our house for a relaxing day by the pool. 

i write all of this when i really just mean to say: it was a great weekend!

how pinteresting!

yes, that's a corny dog, and yes, i'm 24.

so as i sit and enjoy my dinner corny dog, i'm catching up on some pinterest. everyone who's anyone knows that pinterest is the go-to site for, well, anything. i, myself, have been trying to narrow the scope of how i want to decorate for the wedding (302 days and counting). in doing so, i've realized that i really want our wedding to look, feel, and be like me and mike...simple, casual and fun. therefore, i've decided on a spring-y, rustic theme...wildflowers, nature-influence, candles, etc. more importantly, i want our friends and family to walk away thinking, "that was so much fun!" here's some things that i'm particularly drawn to right now...oh! and you can follow my pinterest here. 

we won't have table numbers, but my goodness
i LOVE those old books! perhaps covered in newspaper?

how wonderful are these??
outdoors-y, and sooooo romantic!

love these grey dresses! casual
and so fun! i wonder if they (or
something like them) come in navy?

my dream flowers! still haven't
decided how i feel about mason
jars. yes, they're adorable and
definitely rustic, but a tad-bit
overdone, wouldn't you say?

love this crudely mad crate!

i obviously am obsessed with centerpieces right now. haha. literally 80% of my attention automatically goes to centerpieces/flowers. is that normal?? 

i bought the newest john mayer album this morning. i've only listened to a couple of tracks, but so far, i'm liking what i hear! hahaha. i seriously just laughed out loud at myself because i'm SUCH a record exec. wannabe..."album?"..."track?"...who talks like that (mainly "track" is what gets me). 

anyway, it's definitely a different sound...more mumford-and-sons-ish. once i listen to the whole thing and form a real opinion (i'm sure that will be tough), i will post a review. in the meantime, let's enjoy one of my personal favorites...

oh, god bless you, john! happy weekend everyone!

"it's not the years in your life that count. it's the life in your years!" -abe lincoln

honest abe was quite a smart man and i could not agree with him more!


yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year: michael's birthday! i mentioned in my last post that i was excited for him to come home from work to open his gift i got him...not that i got him this amazing over-the-top present, but because i absolutely LOVE buying people presents. as a matter of fact, 9 times out of 10, i never wait to give them their gift. as soon as i buy it, i either give it to them right away, or tell them what it is, just because i'm so excited. 


case in point, christmas 2011. this was a christmas of many 'firsts.' it was:


1. mine and michael's first christmas together since we'd started dating again;
2. my first christmas living in the dallas-area;
3. our first christmas in our new apartment, and
4. the first time christmas came on december 4. 


december 4 is my birthday and michael and i went to dinner with my mom, step dad, tray, and my sister, becca. when we got home, we decided to each open one present early. 


"why did you open a christmas present? didn't he have a birthday present to give you?" you ask. well absolutely. he gave it to me about two weeks prior to my birthday. (you see, michael shares my problem with getting excited and giving people gifts early.)


at any rate, we decide to give each other one gift early. we opened them and just got SO excited! twenty minutes later we're surrounded by wrapping paper and ALL of our christmas presents were opened! don't ask me how it happened. i had an excitement blackout. 


so anyway, back to mike's birthday...


this is what was waiting for him when he got home from work!

don't worry, i will gladly give lessons on how to
make cards that look this fantastic. thank me later.

soooo, mike opened his sweet blue bag and found some new softball pants, a six-pack of boulevard ipa, and a small box of belgian chocolates with hazelnut pieces (okay okay, the chocolates might have been a gift for me, too). :) 

while i was at work the next day, michael and some of our new, good friends (SHOUT OUT! to collin, josh, jeff, and chase) got to hang out at the pool all day. words can not describe my jealousy. once i got off work, they changed clothes and we (minus josh and chase-the other birthday boy) went to eat dinner at outback, followed by drinks at kelly's. chase had a softball game, so we decided to go watch that so we could all go celebrate mike and chase's birthdays together after the game. don't ask me what happened at the game...i was busy reading fifty shades of grey. 

so i hopped on this trashy
read's bandwagon. sue me.

once the game was over, we headed to scruffy duffy's. so many of our friends came out to celebrate mike and chase's birthday! i can't tell you enough what great people michael and i have met since we moved to plano. they are the funnest, most down-to-earth people and are always down to have some fun. :) here's some shots from mike's (and chase's) birthday!

the boys. jeff (red shirt) was
having issues focusing.

neat, mike.

even better.

soooo happy to be 24.

so happy birthday, mike, and i hope 24 brings only good things!

until next time...

why i love my 'old' friends

when i say 'old' i mean it not to describe their age or former influence on my life, it is said as more of a term of endearment. i got to catch up with two of my oldest friends today and let me tell you...some things (or people in this case) you can just always count on. :) 

let's start with leigh anne. we met circa 2001 when she moved to mt.vernon from mt. pleasant, and we've remained in touch and close friends for over 11 (oh my goodness!) years. leigh anne is truly a graceful human being. she is (and always has been) a fun-loving, silly, wonderful person. somehow, we've always had something to do with each other's love lives. for example, in the 8th grade, a boy (who will remain nameless...leigh, you know who i'm talking about), wanted her to be his girlfriend. he asked her in a weird way, and she didn't really get what he was saying. i politely explained, and they lived happily ever after for a couple of months (you know how jr. high relationships go). :) on my end, as a matter of fact, it was sweet leigh anne's wedding that i was attending when i ran back into michael. (see the short version of that story here.) basically, i owe my upcoming marriage to her. :) now, leigh anne and her husband, landon, are married and live in waco where they're expecting their first child, a son, this fall. 

here is leigh anne and landon dancing their first
dance at the, now infamous, wedding.
isn't she just lovely?

after finally catching up with leigh anne for a bit on the phone (we'd been playing phone tag for a couple of days), i went to dinner with amy (aka tracy powers) at bambu in richardson. 

first off, you guys...if you've never been there and you're in the dallas-area, i highly recommend it. amy and i split the cashew chicken with jasmine rice and the crying tiger beef (yes, that's the real name) with sticky rice. it was delish...the perfect amount of spicy, was filling without over doing it (you know how thai food can be), and was very decently priced. can you ask for more? i think not. 

anyway, back to amy. she and i became best friends back in the 6th grade and she's basically been there for me through it all (i'm sure an elaboration of the "it all" will come eventually, but today's not the day!). one thing particularly fabulous about amy is that she shares my disdain for domesticity. neither one of us can cook--nor do we wish to--we don't really clean, and the idea of having kids right now causes an anxiety attack. she's also my own personal carrie bradshaw (minus the finicky obsession with men, chain-smoking, and column-writing). she graduated from fit in new york and knows her shit when it comes to fashion. 

"the world is my runway, bitch."

as usual, we got to catch up on each other's lives and talk wedding things...namely my bachelorette party. :) details to come! sadly, though, i forgot to take pictures to document our girl time! fear not...there will be other opportunities!

so why do i love my 'old' friends? because some things never change. good night lovelies!

p.s. mikey-poo turns 24 tomorrow! i can't wait for him to get home from work and open his present! :) 

it's a date!

i will officially become mrs. michael lee on march 23, 2013! eek! we originally wanted to do march 30 (no particular reason, just picked it out), but then realized that that's easter weekend. we know a lot of our friends and family will have to travel to come to our wedding and that they also would probably like to be able to be at their home church for easter sunday, so we opted to move it up one weekend. 

i'm so stoked!!

i get to spend the rest of my life with this guy...

look at that face! he's adorable!

how could i not be totally pumped?! 

in other news...our lease is up on our apartment at the beginning of august and if we choose not to renew at our current complex, we have to let them know 60 days in advance (june 2). we're looking into our options, but so far, i haven't really had anything turn up. we'd LOVE to get into a house, but i haven't really found any decent rent houses just yet. any ideas, anyone?? worst case scenario, we can stay where we are, but i know it'd be amazing if we could get a little more space. (disclaimer: we love the neighborhood that we live in now. it's quaint, within walking distance to both of our jobs, and close to 75 and george bush. however, from what we've been told, the management likes to bump the rent up ridiculously when tenants renew. awesome. i guess we'll see what happens...)

lastly, incubus is coming back to town in september and i want to go soooooooo bad! michael, my sister, becca, her boyfriend, nik, and i went when they were in town last september and it was soooo fun!! they're my favorite band, hands down, and i'd love to see them again! here's some shots from that weekend!

nik and my sis.

ps. this photo was taken about 37 seconds
before nik convinced michael to be a hippy
 and take his shirt off for the concert.
needless to say, fun was had by all.

and since incubus has come up, i leave you with one of my favorite songs, "love hurts." 

enjoy...

our first-born son

well, in introducing myself, i suppose it's only appropriate to introduce everyone in my household. meet mine and michael's baby, benny. 

(me and benny boy the day we got him...
don't mind that full face of mine...
it was almost 25 pounds ago)

shortly after michael and i moved in together, i mentioned that i wanted a dog. because michael is a server at a local restaurant, he and i are on opposite schedules 99% of the time. i do the 8:30ish to 5, and he generally works at night time. by the time i get off of work and come home, he's already left for work and doesn't get back until i'm already asleep. (sadly, sometimes this is as early as 10 pm...oh, single days of staying up super late and not having it phase me, where have you gone??) 


i started getting kind of lonely at night while michael was gone at work and began pestering him about getting a dog. the initial conversation went a little something like this...


me: babe, i really want a dog.
mike: i don't think so, we're not really home enough.
me: okay, well i really want one.
mike: i really don't think it's a good idea. 
me:  well, i really want one.
mike: i don't know...
me: well, i'm lonely so it's either a dog or a baby and we both know what the right answer is.


we talked about adopting a dog to try and save some cash but never found one that really "spoke" to us. But that's when the stars aligned (gag, i know.), and through a friend of michael's through work, we adopted gizmo benny. (the name "gizmo" was immediately gotten rid of. ick!) 


luckily for us, he was 2 when we got him, and he was already potty trained (thank god!). he's super laid back, loves to snuggle, and has the shiniest. hair. ever.


now, along with being a cynic-turned-romantic(ish), i'm also totally obsessed with benny-boy. it's kind of ridiculous. but seriously...take a look below...who COULDN'T fall in love with him?! 

(our first family photo.)

(waving hello.)

(helping me drive.)

(bed-head benny.
this is one of my favorites!)

okay, now i'm getting a little out of control. you get the picture...he's precious. try to control your jealousy. 

even i can't believe i'm getting married...

any one of my friends who are close to me will tell you that of all people, i would be the last to get married. honestly, i just never really thought i'd do it. 

in my mind, people are categorized into "types." you know, like when you see a random stranger on the street and you can just tell that they're the "type" that doesn't wash their hands after they use the bathroom? well, i just never thought that i'd be the "type" that got married.

maybe when i was younger, i did (or perhaps it was because i felt that getting married was what you're eventually supposed to do), but then i came to the realization that life is messy, unfair and unpredictable, so i just figured i would not subject myself to something that only opened the door for life to come in and totally kick my ass if it wasn't absolutely necessary. 

around that same time, i came into this "no bullshit here" independence, which eventually evolved into "i like who i am when i'm single/alone." i became a "pusher," if you will. (and no, contrary to lindsey lohan in mean girls, i do not mean a "drug pusher.")

long story short, for me, independence + contentment + mild emotional vacancy = complete and total cynicism towards relationships.

but then i "met" michael.

i use quotes (which unfortunately are already overdone in this post) around met because michael and i have known each other since the 2nd grade and were high school sweethearts (class of '06, HOLLA!). 

(throwback to prom 2006)

in a nutshell, after we broke up after high school graduation, we went our separate ways. i went to college at texas tech and he eventually ended up in the air force. while we would randomly see each other from time to time, we really didn't keep in that great of contact with each other.

fast forward five years later to april 22, 2011. i was home for my friend, leigh anne's, wedding and since michael was living in a town close by, we, along with several of our friends we hadn't seen in a long time, decided to go for drinks to catch up. after that weekend, we began talking every day (i was living in the houston-area at the time) and i began to realize, and much to my delight, that this was not the same guy from high school. i think he, too, realized that i was very different, too. we started dating long distance, and on may 14, decided to see where our relationship would go. (pretty quick, i know, but that's generally how it goes down when you've know someone for upwards of 17 years.)

we've been together ever since. i moved to take a new job in the dallas-area, and ultimately to be closer to him, and we moved in together shortly after that. 

then, on april 29, 2012...

he asked....

and i said "yes!"

i'm a firm believer that everybody has the relationship that they want. if someone is in a bad relationship and they won't get out of it, they can only blame themselves. it's their choice. for me, i guess since i've had some emotional bombs dropped on my over the years, i eventually got it in my head that i would never find someone i loved to the point that i had to spend my life with them (and vice-versa), because stuff like that just doesn't happen to me. i began to choose cynicism and shut out the idea of being in a relationship. 

i chose cynical for a long time. now, thanks to michael showing me love everyday, despite myself, i am able, and more importantly, willing to choose love. 

this blog will chronicle my journey to the alter and beyond, and will hopefully inspire one of my fellow cynics to try love, too. 

until next time...