Happy Birthday to ME!

Yes, yes...I'm officially O-L-D! Thirty was never supposed to come, but it has and I guess I'll deal with it! I did however have a wonderful birthday, which I celebrated with my friends Clarissa & Jason, Jenn, Sheri & her husband Chuck. Unfortunately, others weren't able to make it due to family obligations, illness or office Christmas parties, but that's to be expected when your birthday is in December. Damn Christmas wins every time! lol

Anyway, Corey & Clarissa cooked up a surprise dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhosue downtown in Nashville where we had a wonderful hibatchi dinner. I was surprised to see my friends waiting for me when we got there. I'm so glad they were able to come!!

After dinner, Clarissa, Jason, Corey and I headed over to Opry Mills to find a parking place in order to go to the Opryland Hotel and see the Christmas decorations. Corey & I hunted for a parking place for literally 30 minutes! It was INSANE how busy the mall and Opryland were! We finally managed to find a spot and we met Clarissa & Jason inside the hotel. The decorations were beautiful and we snapped some great photos!

All in all, I had a wonderful birthday and I'm glad I could spend it with such good friends. I took a video of our hibatchi experience as well as some fun photos of our night! Enjoy!


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Let the Birthday Dinners Begin!

My birthday is December 6. I will be turning - gulp - THIRTY! This day was NEVER supposed to come...it's all downhill from here! hehe

Luckily I have a great bunch of friends and family who celebrate all month long with me! On Thanksgiving my parents surprised me with gifts, which was awesome! Then, on Friday we met up with some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings for wings and beers. Dusty and her family gave me a beautiful hand-crafted necklace from her home studio. Click HERE to check out more of her beautiful pieces. After dinner, Corey and I went to Best Buy to pick out my new iPod! Of course I had to get the orange one - DUH! I have played with it all weekend!

Saturday night, Corey's parents came to Murfreesboro to take us to dinner for my birthday. We went to Five Senses. If you have never been, I HIGHLY suggest you go for your next "special event." It is pretty pricey, but delicious! We started with the always yummy cheese & olive platter, then unique salads using local lettuces, and for the main course I had filet with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions and mushrooms, for dessert Corey and I had an upside-down pear cake and coffee. That was the best dinner I have had yet from Five Senses. We have been 3 times now and it's totally worth the money! To top off the evening, Corey's parents gave me a check to help out with paying for the iPod and a beautiful necklace and earrings set. His brother's family gave me iTunes gift cards, so I've been racking up the music all weekend! My new favorite is the "Single Ladies" song by Beyonce. I've been going around the house all weekend singing, "...if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!" It's my new jam! ha!

Corey also got me some cheddar and caramel mix popcorn from Garrett Popcorn in Chicago. This is THE BEST popcorn you will ever douse with saliva! Trust...

I am looking forward to seeing what my students do for my birthday. Each year they all try to out-do each other with pictures and homeade gifts. They are too funny!

It's supposed to snow some this week, so bring it on! That will be a lovely pre-birthday gift as well! I'll keep you updated on what happens on my actual birthday! Should be good times...

Have a lovely week!

Thanksgiving Dinner

On Thursday, my mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner - or lunch - or whatever you want to call it. We ate around 2:00. We had all the usual goodies: stuffing, turkey, ham, escalloped corn, sweet potato casserole, green beans, gravy, pies, cake, you name it! I took a few pictures of the family just hanging out waiting to eat...or sneaking a bite.

It was nice to see my parents and my grandpa. Corey and I trade off years for Thanksgiving and Christmas on the actual day with our families. This year is my year and it's always more special to see my family on the actual holiday. We stayed with them from Wednesday to Friday. We enjoyed our extended vacation away from school!

Monthly Dinner Menu: December

This month is going to be crazy with all we have to do for school (my birthday, programs, Corey's grad school, parties, etc...) so the menu is a little less planned, but we'll still eat! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas - or whatever you celebrate - and a happy New Year! I'm ready for summer!
(Please click on the menu to enlarge)

New Toy!

Yeah, I know...I'm a bad blogger. My mother has already chastized me!

Anyway, my birthday is coming up soon, and this week while I was home for Thanksgiving, my parents and grandpa decided to surprise me with birthday gifts! That's always a plus! My parents gave me some cute orange bracelets, a snowman t-shirt and my new favorite orange toy: a FLIP! This one is mine! And, I also recieved a snazzy little carrying case with it!

I'll post more about Turkey Day later, but I wanted to share my first video experience with you! This is a video of my mom and my grandpa right after Thanksgiving dinner. My grandpa is TOO stinkin' cute!

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Monthly Dinner Menu: November

Happy Thanksgiving!

Feel Sorry for ME!

I am sick. I have strep throat. I'm sure one of my twenty-two darling dears in 4th grade gave it to me. They are so generous like that!!! They are REALLY good at sharing!

I did go to work the day I was pretty sure I had it and then confirmed it with a strep test at the dr.'s office last night. Luckily, today I was scheduled for a meeting at the county office, so I didn't have to actually teach. I got to sit on my butt all day, after sleeping in, taking my time getting ready and even had time to take a long relaxing lunch! AND the best part was getting home by 3:00! That NEVER happens! So, I guess being sick this time had it's rewards.

I know I've been a bad blogger, but I really don't care. I have been SOOOOOOOOOOOOO extremely busy with school that I just don't have time. And, nothing exciting has happened in my life - other than buying a new refrigerator - that I didn't want to bore you with mundane life. You're welcome :-)

On a side note, my friend is having a Murder Mystery party at her house this weekend for Halloween and I couldn't be more excited about going. I'm playing the part of the Maid of Honor in this wedding catastrophe! Perhaps I can get some awesome pictures and actually blog about that!!

What about you? Do any of you have any exciting Halloween plans? What are you or your kids dressing up as?

Monthly Dinner Menu: October

Say It Isn't So!

Can I just say that I (along with the rest of the world) am SHOCKED that Clay Gaykin, oops I mean Aiken is G-A-Y! And by shocked I mean how the hell have you lived on planet Earth and NOT known he was gay?!

Ladies, the Claymates must die now - he's strictly dickly. Let the record show...