Adelei's Favorite Apps

Adelei LOVES all things technology. Of course that's not really surprising, most kids do. But don't leave your phone [or iPod, or Nook, etc] just lying around. She knows how to turn them on and how to unlock the simple lock screen. Baby genius or the product of a tech savvy generation? I'll let you decide. Anyway, here are a few of her favorite apps! 

Zoodles 

I was introduced to this app by a friend who's kids used it and loved it! Being a free download, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only does it have a ton of popular age appropriate videos, it also has an art studio, and a library [where you can record yourself reading for your child to hear!]. The best part, though? It's all in kid mode! Which means that once you get in the app, they can't get out! NO more random phone calls or asjdlkfjaks text messages! 

Netflix

I can't tell you how many times having this app has saved my sanity on a grocery trip. They have some really great shows on there that are not only fun, but full of learning! Some of Adelei's favorites include Sesame Street, Super Why!, and LeapFrog Phonics Farm.

Pandora

Every night at bed time, we turn on the nursery rhyme station on Pandora. We sing a little, dance a little, and before you know it, baby girl is fast asleep.

ABC Mouse

Adelei loves to 'play' ABC Mouse on the computer, but let's be honest, NO one wants to sit at the computer all of the time. Luckily, she can play a condensed version on the iPod. This definitely comes in handy on road trips!

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn

These apps have fun little songs to learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, & more! It's a nice change of pace from flash cards and workbooks.

What are some of your children's favorite apps?

He's going to kill me

If you've been around here for long enough, you know that my BFF in real life also has a blog.

A lot of you also read and follow his life. I've been thinking about doing this post for a long time, but I could never find the evidence.

Until today.

For those of you who know Mr. O,
meet Ms. O...



Don't worry, he's not a cross dresser. Our high school used to have "Foxy Lady" pageants. I'm not really sure why, but a lot of guys participated.

& No, he did not win.


ANYWAYS..
Today is the last day to sign up for the blogger mail swap. YOU know you wannnnt to.

Mmmm

Have ya'll tried the green bean fries from TGI Fridays?
They're amazing. Even if you don't like regular green beans, you will probably like these because they are well seasoned AND...they're fried :)

I think the only let down is that they're almost $7.

Last night I experimented, and made them at home. I had almost all the ingredients, so it only cost me $.55 to make 1/2 lb and the sauce.

4 servings

Wasabi Cucumber Ranch Dip

1/2 cup bottled ranch dressing (Hidden Valley is best)
1/4 cup cucumbers, peeled, seeded, minced
1 tablespoon milk
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon wasabi powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper


Green Beans

1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
6-8 ounces fresh green beans
1 cup flour
1 cup plain breadcrumbs or seasoned dry bread crumbs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
vegetable shortening, for frying or vegetable oil

Combine dip ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Place in bowl; cover and chill till ready to use. Dip will thicken as it chills.

Place beans in the broth. Bring to a boil and cook 15 minutes, then place in cold water to stop cooking process.

Mix beaten egg with milk in a shallow bowl. Measure 1 cup of flour into another shallow bowl.
Combine bread crumbs, 3/4 teaspoons salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder into a third bowl.

Take a handful of beans out of the water and shake off excess liquid. Coat the beans with the flour, shaking to remove excess flour. Dip the beans, one at a time, into egg/milk mixture, then dip in breadcrumb mixture. Place the beans on a plate until all are coated.

Heat the shortening or oil to 350*F in a heavy skillet(or use deep fryer). Use enough to cover the beans, about 1 1/2 inches. Fry until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

To serve, place on a large platter and serve with the wasabi cucumber ranch dip.

I can only tell you what it feels like....

Remember how I said I was going to be busy?
Wellllllll, I have been.

Thursday night, we drove the 5+ hours to my sister's house.
Got up Friday morning and made it to the cheesecake factory for lunch. I got the spicy chicken chipotle pasta, and it was amazing--as usual!
For dessert, my sister and I shared the Tiramisu cheesecake. My mouth is watering as I type this, and I wish I could go back, now!
On top of all that, my sister MADE me a birthday cake.
It was sooo good!
That night, we went to see Salt. It was okay, but I was expecting it to be a lot better. At times it just seemed to go on forever, and ever.
Saturday morning we went to the local water park. It was smaller than what I'm used to, but it was really nice. It wasn't crowded, so we didn't have to wait to do things. It was fun seeing my lil nephew play in the water. But the best part, no doubt, was the lazy river. It felt so amazing just floating along without a care in the world.
Later, we went to see The Other Guys. It was so hilarious. I'm not going to lie, they showed some of the main funny parts during the trailers, but there were enough unexpected scenes to make up for it. I would definitely recommend it, and I will probably end up going to see it again when Aaron comes home.
Sunday, we made the long journey back home, and I spent the rest of the day lazing around baking cookies.
On Monday, myself and my friend Kelly headed up to Auburn to see our friends Matt and Frisco graduate. They aren't just any friends, they've been our best friends since high school, and pretty much the only people I've kept in constant contact with since.
Needless to say, I am very, very proud.

And now my journey continues....
Off to my MIL's today, then heading to north Alabama tomorrow for colorguard practice.
Hope you all are still enjoying the summer!

30 days of me::Talented

Day 19: A talent of yours


Call me crazy, but I think I'm pretty talented in the art department. Not that I'm being conceited, but if you don't have faith in yourself, no one else will either.

I draw,



I paint,



I make prints,



I also create ceramics and sculptures.

30 days of me::Favorite Movie

30 Days of ME

Day 2: Your favorite movie

I could go on and on about all the movies I love, because I really do LOVE a lot of movies. But, let's cut right to the chase. My favorite movie of all time is Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I have seen this movie many times, and could watch it a million more without getting tired of it. It's just so classic.

WW::My Best Friend

this pretty much sums it up

just me, my bff jill matt, and our love/hate relationship.

Starting the new year out right...

The past few weeks I have been in kind of a funk.
I had something similar to an Upper Respiratory Infection the week after we came home from the honeymoon, and Thursday I finally dragged myself to the doctor to find out I also had a sinus infection. Yipee.
Needless to say, we didn't spend our new year's eve partying like everyone else.

Since I had been sick, I hadn't cooked at all.
Once I finally got some antibiotics in my system and started feeling better, I have cooked a lot.
I hope this is a sign of how the rest of the year is.

There are two dessert recipes I wanted to share with you all, mostly because they are super easy, and you can really impress someone when you tell them you made it from scratch!

Orange Pudding Cake

2 eggs, separated

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp orange zest

2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup ap flour

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place a 9-inch cake pan, filled with about 3/4 inch of water, into the oven. Grease a 1 quart (4 cup) souffle dish and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Add in egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest, milk and vanilla, and whisk thoroughly. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Stir or fold egg whites gently into lemon mixture, until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared souffle dish and gently place in water bath. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and begun to pull away from the sides of the dish. Serve warm. Serves 4.

With this cake, I decided to make a chocolate sauce. It was really simple, but you must stay right by the stove, stirring, at all times!

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk
3 handsful [i know this isn't an accurate measuring tool, but i can't help it!] of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 heaping tbsp marshmellow fluff

Heat stove to very low, just above simmering. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter. Add milk and chocolate chops. Stir constantly, as to not burn the chocolate. If you think the chocolate is melting too fast, turn the heat down. Once chocolate is completely melted, add the marshmellow fluff. Stir until all the white has blended into the chocolate. If your 'sauce' is too thick, add 1 tsp milk and stir over heat. If your sauce is too thin, let sit for 10 minutes OFF of the heat. If it still isn't thick enough, add more chocolate chips over heat.


Chocolate Banana Pudding

3 whole graham crackers
1 ripe banana
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup unsweeted cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup sugar

Use 6 single serve ramekins, or one large corningware. Crush up graham crackers into crumbs. Put enough graham cracker crumbs in the bottom to cover completely. Slice the banana into very thin pieces. Layer Bananas ontop of the crumbs, save some for the top. In a large saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in milk. Whisk over medium heat until pudding comes to a boil and thickens. [Do not leave the stove, you will royally mess this one up]. Cook for 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into the prepared dish(es).

Add leftover bananas on top. Chill. [I covered mine with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. Just long enough for us to finish dinner, and dessert was nice and cool.]

The Wedding Day

12/12/09

a day I'll never forget!

It was so great, although not flawless, everything seemed to work its self out.
As I mentioned here, my dad walked me down the aisle.
This was kind of a shock to me. I was totally not expecting it.

The wednesday prior to the wedding, Nanny told me that she asked my dad to walk me down the aisle and he ACTUALLY said yes. I did know whether to be happy, sad, or mad. She asked him without asking me if it's what I wanted--I should have been mad. But, he said yes, which was surprising, so I didn't want to call him back and refuse, I just went with the flow.

He actually showed up sober. I can't remember the last time I saw him that way, and at that point I knew I didn't make a mistake.



The ceremony seemed to go by so quickly. I didn't trip over my dress OR stumble over the words for the vows.....and I never shed a tear.

The reception was amazing. So many people came, and there was so much food! Mine and Aaron's favorite local restaurant catered [bbq], and it was delicious! I didn't eat much because I was ready to get up and socialize.
Too many people asked me if I felt any different now, and to be honest.......I don't....and I'm okay with that.

Did I mention how amazing my cake was?


And the groom's cake, too!

As if that wasn't enough sugar, we also had a candy bar :)


I am so blessed to have such good friends and family that support Aaron and I. Here are just a few:

Later that night, we decided to celebrate with our friends at a local bar.
Although there wasn't a very big turn out, it was fun.


After all the fun [and stress] of the wedding, we were ready to leave town for a while!

This time we're not giving up

Let's make it last foreverrrrr.

Guess what?

I'm married!

See...
And my dad even walked me down the aisle.........
but that is a story for another day.

I just wanted to update really quick to say 'hey' and let you all know that everything went well!
Expect a longer more detailed post at a later date.

Until then...a few pictures from the crowd until I get the professional ones back.

I will judge a book by its cover so break my binding and tear my paper

I saw this bumper sticker on a car yesterday when I was driving around, and it made me super happy.



Don't you just love it?!

Anyways...this weekend has been pretty chill.

Matt came down Friday night. We watched New in Town, which I thought was pretty good, and he thought was pretty lame. Debated on whether we could rent Fired UP! but ultimately decided not to.

Saturday began with home made donuts. That's right...home made. They were nothing shy of delicious, but honestly were more trouble than they were worth for just two people. I could definitely see trying it again if we have a bunch of friends over, though. Friends, please do not rent Ink Heart. I wanted it to be so good, I kept waiting for the goodness to come out, for SOMETHING to intrigue me, but that never happened. We watched it in it's entirety, and I would not do it again. They could have pushed it way farther. It was decent, but I wouldn't recommend wasting money. Just wait until it comes on HBO or something.

Any recommendations on what I should rent next time?!

I got a crazy craving for brownies, so I decided to make some. Yep, from scratch.
They turned out amazing! Obviously, they were better with a little bit of ice cream.

If you want the recipe, just let me know!



So, I'm coming up on my 100th post [6 posts away, to be exact] and I'm trying to come up with something fun to do. Keep an eye out!!

p.s. don't forget the sunday secrets!!

round my hometown

Hello Friends!

So much has been going on lately! This is probably going to be a big [picture] update. Beware :)

A few weeks ago was the Paramore/No Doubt concert. It was amazing:














Then my nephew turned 1!















And this I had made to show the world how proud I am of MY MAN :)




That's all!! Good night :)