Smoke it

I'm now the proud owner (by inheritance through engagement to a man who loves BBQ with all his heart and soul) of an awesome grill and this thing called a "smoker," which apparently transforms meats in magical ways.  I have no idea how to use it, but I'd like to think I could figure it out if we had some kind of emergency that required smoking. 

To celebrate this device and the man who comes with it AND to ring in the season of "hey let's have people over and grill/BBQ and GOSH it's hot outside!!"...obviously pre-Memorial Day festivities were needed at the Erin/Craig/Harry/Zach residence with some good friends.  And plenty of meat.  At least two pounds per person.  Because that's what Craig believes.*  At least I also got him to believe in Texan seasoning for the brisket.  Go Texan!

Ok, and we also MADE BBQ sauce.  Craig went mustardy, and I went tomatoey.  Welcome to my new meaty, saucy life.**  Another new part of that life is a

In attendance at this bash?  A number of wiggly babies, both human and canine***...

...and sometimes the human and the canine come together when you realize that the massive couch-shaped dog bed is just perfect for the baby who needs a little bit of a prop to assist with self-bottle feeding.


Zach's good at sharing, Gracie - you're in luck.

Oh yeah, we also had plenty of hungry friends here, too, who did all they could with the massive amount of food taking up every inch of counter space in the kitchen.

So great to spend some quality time with good friends.  And some good meat.  Lots and lots of good meat.


*I was sending people home with meat bags.  We had a LOT of food.
** Yes, I realize how ridiculous this sounds.  Just go with it.
*** There's a feline wiggly baby, too, but you can believe he was in hiding or held captive in his room for the vast majority of this.Sam's Club membership, since we actually have room to store 28,000 rolls of paper towels AND they offer much more reasonable prices on giant slabs of meat.  Oh boy.

So we've taken care of all the big things, right?

Picking out cakes = FUN.  I mean, you walk into a bakery and are immediately hit with a wave of sugary baked goodness and then sit down and look at pretty things and eat cake.  How could that be bad?  And I'm so glad Kami could come with us for the cake adventure!  I remember doing this with Diana and Trinity (dang, did you know you guys have been married for years now?), and we just had so much fun with it.

Wedding ckes are coming from Romano's, and they're already 100% paid for, so we can definitely check those bad boys off the list.  Right now I'm totally in love with Romano's.  And I plan to stay that way in case the cakes don't show up.  Done.  I didn't know if they wanted me to take pictures or not...so I just snuck in a few while plates of cake were being prepped for us.  Which takes more than a moment when we're checking out sixteen flavors.  Love you, Romano's.

I will give them a little bit of grief for what I'm referring to as the archaic flavor divide - white cake for the bride and chocolate cake for the groom.  Craig is completely and totally weird and actually doesn't like chocolate cake, which makes me wonder why I would even marry him in the first place* - but don't worry, there will definitely be chocolate cake at our wedding. =)

I think one reason I loved this part of it so much...well, I love baked goods.  And all things chocolate.  And basically anything involving food at all.  This was basically a win-win situation for me - leave work early to go taste cake.  Please ignore the fact that I actually went BACK to work after this 4:00 appointment.  Sigh.  Temporary setback.

And as much as I love my morning baked goods...I love sleep a little bit more.  So this is the kind of bakery I want.  They head straight into dessert and don't leave it.  What bliss.

And the decision making process was surprisingly easy!  I mean, this wedding stuff can really drive you crazy...if you let it.  Did I spend hours looking at pictures of cakes?  Ummm...definitely probably yes.  Did it really matter in the end?  Not so much.  And it's going to be beautiful AND delicious.

Although after looking at that picture again I kinda want to do that ribbon thing that's going on with the pink number...oh boy, so much for decisiveness.

You know what else is fun?  Engagement pictures!  Did those with the wonderful Sara & Rocky last night in Deep Ellum and at White Rock Lake, and the little preview they shared has me all excited.  Coming to us in two weeks or less!

Oh, and "so we've taken care of all the big things, right?" - quote courtesy of Craig.  I just smiled in response.**

* Not really.  Love him lots.  We're all weird in our own special, loveable way.
** I may have also said something like "do you really think so?  I'll show you my list..."

Dandelions are devil spawn

A couple of weekends ago, my quads and hamstrings (are those the same thing??) and glutes and basically every muscle in that general area were screaming at me.  Not from some massive gym session, no, but it was definitely a workout.  Known as weeding.  Known as weeding flowerbeds that really needed to be weeded about two months ago.  Known as weeding "totally overgrown with every manner of evil plant not limited to but including massive amounts of dandelions which possess a remarkably stubborn root system" flowerbeds.  There are special tools out there, specifically crafted for those moments when you have to face down these Vicious Taproots.  I just wanted you to know what I was up against.

It took three hours.  I was very hot and sweaty.  The end.

I also went and bought MULCH.  Who am I??  Craig told me mulch would prevent weeds from cropping back up, and I didn't believe him, but then I Googled it and did believe him.  Thank you, magic Google machine.  And Craig.  I don't have much...or any...experience with this mulch business.  And by the way, sweetie, mulch doesn't exactly weigh the 20 pounds a bag you said it would...it's kinda heavy...

Pretty new red mulch = awesome.  Dead bits of worthless crap to the right = no good.  Time to buy more mulch.

...and it doesn't get quite the coverage I envisioned.  I knew two bags wasn't nearly enough, but now I'm planning on buying at least ten more.  Ick.  At least it's a good workout.  Oh, and I also added rosemary to the herb party while I was at it.  That was MUCH easier than the Flowerbed Taproot Extraction of 2011.

Shouldn't someone else take care of this while we're in a rental house?  My thoughts exactly.  But our landlord doesn't believe in hiring a lawn service; he believes in adding clauses to our lease that say things about watering the lawn and such silliness.  Hindsight.

Now that I have some space to work with that isn't overrun by every imaginable form of evil weed, I'd love to put in some pretty flowers...but I'm not going to go to the effort for this temporary house.  So you'll have to settle for the single pot of marigolds (in an inherited pot, I might add - I just pulled out whatever sad dead thing was in there and started over) greeting you at the front door.  Why marigolds?  Because they're so bright and cheery!  Also, they're practically impossible to kill - the things are basically like weeds with pretty flowers attached.  I figured if they could survive the Texas Panhandle's harsh conditions, they should do a-ok here.

Craig is in charge of grass while I'm in charge of everything else.  Which totally works.  For now.  Especially since our system for taking care of the leaves from the magnolia tree involves just mowing over them.  I love the magnolia flowers (did you know they kinda look like giant roses before they bloom?  It's so cool!)...all of those leaves, not quite so much.

Maybe we should just go live in a condo somewhere...except I do love our outdoor space.  And with Zachary running around, it's basically a necessity.

Time to go buy more mulch.

Getting married is extra fun when you have awesome friends who throw you fun parties

Also, longest blog post title EVER, but I really couldn't scale that one down.  It had to cover all the bases.

There's something to be said for running off to a beach and just getting married and not doing all the "stuff" that comes along with a wedding, but...I'm really enjoying this time with friends, celebrating and anticipating the biggest party we'll ever throw...I mean, when else do you hire a DJ?? wedding day festivities.  It's fun!!  Fun now that we have a lot of things planned and I'm not worrying about where to have this shindig - now I'm getting to do cool things like learn what craspedia are and how freaking cute they're going to be come November 5th.  Provided that florist proposal works with the budget.  Hmmmm...

Anyway, back to the partying!  Last weekend the Broussards and Petersons threw us a lovely bash - with a "sweet beginnings" them and desserts as far as the eye could see!  Do they know me or what?  I'm so, so glad that so many of our friends could come out for the afternoon and celebrate.  Enjoy some photo love. 

We believe in party guests of every age...especially when they're as adorable as babies Taylor and Rhett.  Could it be baby love??



Amazing cupcakes!!  There was this Almond Joy creation...oh my, we might need those again for the wedding.  Also, Jenny, that is a lovely tablecloth! =)



Rich, rich chocolate truffles (oh yum!) get a big thumbs-up from Diana

There were plenty of friends with smiling faces...



...and new friends with faces that weren't so smiling from time to time, but you know he still loved hanging out at the party with his sweet mom and dad.

Yes, there's also something to be said for that beach, but there's also something to be said for this - good times with great friends.  And there will be many, many more to come.

Check out my shots from the day's festivites here, and I'm going to track down some winners from Jenny's camera, too.  We're a fun bunch.

Please let me win, please let me win

Are more people than usual playing the lottery these days?  Or is it just the usual number of people dreaming about escaping their day-to-day?

Inspired by the New York co-workers who split a $319 million jackpot, we've now started a pool at work.  I figure the hope alone is worth contributing a dollar a week.  Although I had a minor heart attack when an email came across with "WE WON!!!!" - I mean, we did win...all of $3.  Sigh.  Please reinvest my $0.30 share in additional hope.