Wordless Wednesday-Mountains and Donuts

I guess I've just been too busy to blog because I've been doing neat things like riding a train up a mountain to 14000 feet...

...then eating a donut as my reward (as though I actually hiked up it instead of rode a train).

AMERICA!

This is a little late but we had an Olympic Opening Ceremony Party a couple weeks ago.

Special guest Mo Young arrived from Las Vegas with this awesome gymnastic t-shirt for me and her own Olympic themed outfit.  I forgot to take pics of everyone else but there were some track and field stars and a very American themed baby. 

I totally could have helped the Fab Five win that gold.  Ok not really, but I can still do a roundoff.

We served Olympic themed food.  This is a really easy bean dip that I stole from my sister's Pinterest.  I added the American flag tortilla crumbles on my own.

 Shanzie brought Olympic Ring cupcakes.

 Mo made this almost American Flag Caprese salad.

 And Curly T always comes through with the fruit, this time British style.

Did you do anything to celebrate the Olympics?
What was your favorite part?

I love gymnastics and I got pretty in to swimming this year.

Salsa Competition

This past weekend my friends invited me over to participate in taco night and a salsa competition.  Once I made sure it was the food and not the dance I was psyched.   Since Farmer Gene has access to a lot of fresh veggies from his garden, I decide to try to win in creativity.  So after perusing the Internet, I decided to go with Watermelon salsa and a Mediterranean style salsa.

My watermelon salsa came from this recipe.  I eyeballed most of the ingredients (instead of measuring) and used red onion instead of green onion but everything else was the same.

I found the watermelon salsa to be really refreshing.  It was good with chips but probably not something I'd put on a taco.

For the Mediterranean salsa, I just made it up.  I thought of as many Greek/Mediterranean things as I could and put them together to make salsa.  (Sorry, no Kalamata Olives, since I'm an olive hater).

I'm not great at measuring but here's what I used in this salsa.


Mediterranean Style Salsa-
Cherry tomatoes
Red Onion
Cucumber
Green Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper-just a little
Pepperoncini Peppers- chopped (I used 2)
Chick Peas-chopped into smaller pieces, not too many
Italian Parsley
Dried Oregano Leaves
Feta Cheese-Crumbled
Lemon Juice
Red Wine Vinegar (just a couples splashes)

B and I arrived to table of salsas with an assortment of chips.  Everyone really pulled out all the stops.  Ingredients included....black beans, avocado, corn, peaches, strawberries, etc.  It was a great variety.  And we were super full before we even started eating tacos.

In the end, Farmer Gene took the top prize with his tomato, corn, peppers, onions, herbs, etc masterpiece.  Seriously there were like 20 ingredients in his salsa and it was amazing.  I won for most creative though.  Holla.

This was an awesome idea and everyone had a lot of fun.  I think everyone should have a salsa competition with their friends during the summer and maybe we'll do another one next year.

June Was Busy...

I'm-a Back.

It's been a busy June.

I travelled to Charleston, SC to see my parents' new home.

I visited our nation's capital and went on an awesome free walking tour.

I became BFF* with Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler.

I achieved one of my running goals (running a 5K in under 30 minutes!).

And I will probably die this weekend as I attempt my first ever 10K, being as the high for Saturday in Gboro is 104.  Please, please, please, please let it be in the low 70s at 8am.  Please.

If I survive the 10K, I'm competing in a very serious salsa (the food, not the dance) competition on Saturday night so I will update you on that and all these other June events next week.

*became BFF=saw from a distance

Weekending.....Tacos, Free Art and Downton

Happy Memorial Day.  I don't actually get this day off from work for some weird reason but I hope all of you who do are having a good one.

I actually made some things (other than wine charms) this weekend.  This pork took me about 4.5 hours total time to make (including the stove top simmering) but it was worth it. The pork recipe is from What's Gaby Cooking.

I even made fresh guacamole instead of going the Wholly Guacamole route like I've recently been known to do.  Then I added a little pepper jack cheese.  De-wait for it-lightful.

I also made some free art...well if you consider wine corks in an old apple cider jug, "art".

I am kind of obsessed with rearranging the items on this shelf.  It's right above the TV so I find myself frequently staring at it and making changes.  It's already changed from this picture.

I also decided to start on my summer TV schedule.  This usually involves me catching up on a few TV shows on Netflix Streaming.  I watched 3 episodes of Downton Abbey and I'm hooked. 

On Saturday evening I hosted a cookout at my house (although I didn't actually make anything for it).  There as also that brief incident where my car started smoking (it has since been repaired).  So, even though it wasn't a 3 day weekend, it was still a good weekend overall. 

What did you guys do?

Random Musings Friday-North Carolina Stuff, Y'all

I am linking up with Shana for Random Musings Friday.

OK.  ARRRRG.  So....the topic of Marriage has been in the news a lot this week.  On Tuesday, the majority of North Carolina voters voted to pass Amendment One.  Well for the record, I voted against it and was upset that it passed.  Although 61% of NC voters voted for it, my Facebook feed and the majority of my neighbors' lawn signs pointed in a different direction.  I suck at explaining things and my feelings on such things in an articulate manner.  Here (click on 'official explanation') is the official explanation of the amendment from the NC Voting website.  Just know that I'm sad but I appreciate all the people who tried and continue to try to fight it.  Also the President made me feel a little bit better on Wednesday.

On another note, let's not hate/threaten people who voted for the Amendment.  Let's discuss and educate and all get along.  OK?  OK.

And lastly, I got upset when I saw how many people said they were ashamed/embarrassed to be North Carolinians.  I'm not ashamed.  I didn't vote to pass the amendment.  Plus North Carolina is awesome* for many things...mountains and beaches, Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill (you know you watched it), college basketball, the Wright Brothers, Cheerwine, Krispy Kreme Donuts, BBQ, peach ice cream, Natty Green's Wildflower Beer, The Hunger Games Movie, Bojangles, Harris Teeter, Carowinds, The Andy Griffith Show,  Ken Jeong, Zach Galifinakas, many American Idol finalists, getting out of work/school for a tiny bit of snow or ice, NC State University, the city of Greensboro, etc.  I could go on, but I won't. *ok, a couple of those might be questionable on how awesome they are

North Carolina discussion over.  Start of really random musings.

On Monday we went to beer and cheese school at a local restaurant.  I never thought I'd get sick of cheese.  But the next day, even the thought of cheese made me feel a bit ill.  I thought it was a fun experience (and definitely the only type of school I'm currently interested in attending).  The first 4 cheese and beer pairings were amazing but by the time we got to the 5th one, I was about cheesed out.  Next time maybe they can give us smaller hunks of cheese and maybe a few more fruits and veggies.  Still fun though. 

ABC Family Rant-Shouldn't the girls on the "hit" show Make It or Break It be more focused on their gymnastics training for the Olympics instead of frolicking around with boys all the time?  Did they not learn last year how quickly your Olympic career can end if you get pregnant?  Come on.  Focus girls.  The Olympics is in a couple of months.  You can date boys after that.......Ok fine I guess this show wouldn't be that interesting if their was no boy drama.  Well, there it is.  Now you know I watch at least one ABC Family show.

Parks and Recreation is the best show ever.  KNOPE 2012!

That's all the deepness I can handle this morning.

Happy Friday and Happy Early Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

Big Weekend.....

Wow, it was a busy weekend.

It started with B and I babysitting our baby friend, KMU, so her parents could go out for a pre-birthday outing.

 Then on Saturday we road tripped up to VA for my sister's graduation.

I thought it would be funny if I wore the same dress I wore to her high school graduation

We road tripped back to NC to prepare for the Cinco de Mayo/Beezus5 birthday celebration.  KMU wore her finest baby pant suit.

And KMU and Hobie solidified their BFF status.

I'm pretty tired now and I think I have a case of the Mondays.

How was your weekend?