Just Call Me Betty...

Some of you may not know this, but I am not a chef. My idea of cooking usually entails me heating up something in the microwave or watching my more talented friends chop, mix and make magical goodness in an oven (what? It’s cooking if I am supervising, right?) Anyway a group at my job decided to set up a recipe sharing folder. So I was determined to bond with my fellow coworkers and try and whip up a meal in my very seldom used kitchen. And I vowed to only use the microwave as my timer!

So I told Mary Beth, that she would be my guinea pig for my kitchen experiment. I also used her since she is quite familiar in the kitchen and could answer all of my questions regarding the recipes. So after work, we headed to Whole Foods and Albertson’s to find all the necessary ingredients for the awesome dinner. Once at home we promptly located the fire extinguisher, number to Poison control and a back up microwavable meal, just in case anything went wrong. I also put on my brand new apron (bought especially for the occasion) and pearls because if I was going to be a Suzie Homemaker, I needed to dress for the occasion. So with a glass of wine in hand, I began the cooking process…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

White Sangria
All great meals must have a great drink to accompany them. Also, I figured everything tastes great after a few glasses of Sangria. I still considered the Sangria to be a part of my cooking experience since you actually have to chop things and mix. Lucky for me, I have made it before so I knew it was going to be hard for me to fail. Needless to say, it was a hit! You can now find my recipe for White Sangria uploaded to Dropbox. Great summer drink!

Beer Dip
All meals need an appetizer, so I chose a beer dip (once again thinking I could trick Mary Beth’s tastes buds into thinking everything tastes great). Not going to lie, I was a little nervous about adding mayonnaise, cream cheese and beer all into a dip and have it taste great. Thank goodness my fears were firmly washed away when I took my first bite! It was so good and quite easy to make. Even Mary Beth was having issues not eating too much before the main meal. We also decided to spice up half of it with some jalapeno juice, which if you like things a little spicy went quite well. That’s right, not even an hour into my cooking and I already think I can change up recipes. So everyone should definitely use this for munchies at any party!

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Turkey Burgers

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Time for the big boy recipe! First of all I had to consult with Mary Beth at the grocery store because I had no idea that coriander was a spice. I also discovered that I had a peeler in my utensil drawer… yes, I have been at my house for over year, but that doesn’t mean I have any idea what I own.

So with all ingredients and utensils ready, I went to work. The cucumber salad was so easy to make until I found out that there was mint I was supposed to add, unfortunately I didn’t see that at the store so I had to leave it out. Making the patties was simple as well. Then yes, for the first time at my house I personally used my grill. So many new adventures all in one night!

Can I just say the turkey burgers were AMAZING! And with the cucumbers, they were so refreshing and light. It is a perfect meal for the summer (yes, I consider it summer when we are already in 90 degree weather)! So big hit and even bigger hit was I didn’t burn down my house. :)

Mexican Corn

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Since I was only making corn for two people, I only bought two corns on the cob. Unfortunately for Mary Beth and me, I didn’t half the recipe of the rub though. So I mixed all of the spices together and started put the rub on the cooked corn. I didn’t know how much needed to be on there and also figured since both Mary Beth and I are from Texas we can handle some heat, I pretty much put all of the rub on both ears of corn. BIG MISTAKE! I let it cook again in my oven and when it was time to eat it, I am pretty sure I saw (out of tear filled eyes) smoke come out of Mary Beth’s mouth. The corn was like eating FIRE. So quickly we tried to rub as much of the spices off as possible and try again….yeah, that didn’t work either. Let me just say though had I been a little bit less excited about making the corn red with rub, this would have tasted amazing. It was so good, we actually stilled tried to eat as much of it as possible…but eventually we were ran out of Sangria to put out the fires in our mouths. So word of advice, don’t use all of the rub on the corn unless you are used to eating habanero peppers as a snack.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Ooey Gooey Cake

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

So to finish off the meal, I decided to make Ooey Gooey Cake. So I pulled out my brand new cake pan (yes, I had to buy one that day since I didn’t have one) and mixed away. Lucky for me, the recipe was so easy to make! All went well on the preparation and cooking portion, but when I pulled the cake out of the oven I accidently tipped it and spilled what felt like lava all over my foot and oven. Not all of the topping came off so I let it cool while Mary Beth and I finished our meal. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I served us up some slices of the sugary decadence. Sure enough it was ooey and gooey and quite tasty. It was the perfect ending to the night.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Lessons Learned

Aprons and pearls make everything taste better…as does Sangria.
Just because someone lives in Chicago does not mean they don’t know what spicy is…

Be very careful pulling cakes out of the oven. The topping will somehow slip between the glass and the actual oven making it so you have unscrew the oven door just to clean up…

All Executive Chefs should hire a Sous Chef that helps with clean up. :)

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

What an adventure! Stay tuned for more!

Chicago Show Week - Part II

Alright let’s see…

Cubs Opening weekend: It just so happened to be opening weekend for the Cubs while we were in town. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it to the game since we all had to work that day. We finally got out of the hall around 5 and decided to meet up with some of Joe’s friends who happened to be partaking in the festivities since 11 AM.

Now I didn’t really know anything about the Cubs prior to this trip, but apparently their fans are insane. They are very pro Cubs and even more pro drink everything in sight. So we finally make it to Wrigleyville. It was like entering a college campus after a game. Everyone was decked in Cubs gear and everyone was drinking and having a great time. We finally found Joe’s friends at one of the bars. We wanted to be at the same level of fun as them, so we started taking shots and downing our drinks immediately. Well in true form, we all got there or at least a little close. We ended up hanging out in the area for a couple of hours and even had dance party! The night ended with us getting another round or two at the hotel bar and then room service.

Then of course the next day was filled with a little bit of work and then we actually got tickets to game the next day! So exciting. So Dave, Joe, our San Diego buddy Mark and I all got to leave work and go to the game. Now all of my experiences at baseball games usually involve drinking beer, eating hot dogs and sweating my ass off. That wasn’t the case in Chicago. Did I mention it was 30 degrees the entire time we were there!?! Yeah, so we had our beer and hot dogs but it all had to be consumed while wearing multiple layers of clothes, gloves, winter jacket and a scarf. Needless to say we had a great time. I have even became insta-friends with a girl in front of us. Later when we walked out of the ballpark we saw her and she gave me a random free drink she had in her coat. Badass! We then walked to some cigar store and bought cigars! That’s right, I am so one of the boys. And by that I took one puff and decided that I would pass on that fun.

My awesome coworkers/Baseball buddies…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Me and ‘My Boys’

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Wrigley Field

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CUBS WIN!!!

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Me and a Cub

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

We ended up going to the same bar we were at the night before and saw the craziest magic tricks and I even had a dance party…again. All I can say is at one point and I had a circle around me with people exclaiming what amazing moves I had and even taking pictures…or once again, it could have been them warning others to stay away so that they wouldn’t get hit and taking pictures of the girl having a seizure in the middle of the floor. I am still thinking it is the first option. ;)So after our fun we finally made it back to the hotel…

Keith Urban: …where we eventually made it to a Keith Urban concert. Even though I don’t know any of his music, it was actually a pretty good concert. I was pretty tired from the day’s events so we didn’t get too crazy at the concert. Later we went out to a random bar where I got nachos and then pretty much begged to go home so that I could sleep. So crazy day, but very slow evening.

Big Girl Shots: On Sunday we had a big day ahead of us. We had to be on the show floor around 7 AM. It was a looooong day. Since it was the last day of show and the first day of move out we had an extremely busy schedule. Finally around 9:30 PM, we got to leave. Of course, I just had to have Café Bionda again so me and the boys planned on getting some food there. Only problem was the kitchen closed at 10. Let’s just say we were able to leave the hall, get a cab, get everyone’s order and sit down and get our first drink all within 20 min. The boys, two other coworkers and I all sat down for a huge feast. There was so much food! The restaurant finally kicked us out around 11 PM, so we did the next logical thing. We went to the hotel bar. After ordering a round of drinks, my coworker Dan (another Chicagoan) decided to get us a round of shots. What I didn’t realize was this was going to be my true initiation into being ‘one of the boys’. That’s right. Dan ordered Jameson…straight. Seriously, if I can’t take tequila or any other straight liquor, how did they think I was going to take the manly Jameson? Not wanting to disappoint, I took it. Like a champ. And like a champ, I kept it down. WIN! After that round we got another round of drinks and another round of Jameson. And with that we closed down the bar. So rather than just go up to our rooms, we left the hotel and went to another bar! Yay good decisions! Once again, more drinks and more shots later we finally decided to call it a night. Yay me I can take Big Girl Shots and still last all night long. :)

Dance Party USA: Once again our day was filled with work on the show floor and our night was filled with partying. Monday night we tried to mix it up a bit and went to a nice steak dinner. The food was amazing, the drinks were great and of course the company (my boys!) was fantastic. After dinner we met up with some more of Joe’s friends (I love hanging out with a local) and went to a few different bars. Then it was time for dance party extravaganza. The boys and I left once low key bar and went to an awesome dance party location. Since it was kind of early there wasn’t weren’t that many people, but the ones that were there were awesome. I didn’t do hardly any dancing, but still had a great time. Since it was kind of slow, we decided to go to another dance party location! I was in heaven, multiple dance parties in one night. I felt like I was back home in Dallas…..and did I mention that they were gay bars! Oh glorious! So we get to the next location where within 5 minutes I make a new best gay friend. This where the nights gets fuzzy…I remember tons of dancing, drinks , more dancing, getting fresh air, dancing some more and most likely some more drinks. Needless to say, we didn’t end up getting home till 4 AM. Thank goodness I was going home the next day.

All in all Chicago was so much fun. Probably one of my most favorite work trips to date. I ate tons of great food, had MULTIPLE dance parties, worked with amazing people and even got to go to a Cubs game. I couldn’t have asked for a better 11 days. So thanks to a wonderful city and to the awesome hospitality of my coworkers. Can’t wait for the summer….

Chicago Show Week - Part I

So it was a good thing I had a prequel to what Chicago was like for my work week, because what was in store for the actual show was definitely not anything I could have come into without training. And no I am not talking about work…imagine that.

So after a week in Dallas, I headed back to lovely Chicago. This time I left all of my really big sweaters behind since it was so nice the last time I was there. I also brought dance party outfits since I was assured I would be showcasing my fabulous moves in multiple locations. I was completely prepared for Chicago...or so I thought.
Rather than bore you with a day by day rundown of my trip, I’ll give you the highlights…

Check In: As soon as I arrived to my hotel I got in line for check in. Well, lucky me one of the employees suggested using the kiosks. Little did he realize that the kiosk wasn’t working. Somehow amongst me threatening to yell at him (in a joking manner, of course) and the growing line behind me, he decided to check me in himself. So after I berated him in front of his manager (all in good fun, I swear!), he decided to upgrade me for the week. This consisted of staying on the 33rd floor (Penthouse!), free breakfast and free internet for my entire stay…and of course the envy of all of my coworkers. What can I say? Some people just love me. :)

View from my Penthouse…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Viagra Triangle: One night the Dallas Crew headed over to the Viagra Triangle as it is referred to in Chicago. Apparently it is where old guys hang out and hit on the nubile ladies. Woo hoo sugar daddies! So we went to a little Irish pub and had a fun dinner with drinks. We decided to keep the fun going by heading over to a piano bar. Sure enough that is where all the Viagra poppers were hanging out. Although I think our entourage of people deterred them from getting too close. So no sugar daddy for me, but our San Diego coworker had to fend off a very hungry cougar. The night ended with me 'serenading' the table with Frank Sinatra and probably embarrassing the hell out of them. Then it was back to hotel in the dance party cab...

Dance Party in the cab...

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

The Beginning of Shots: So on Tuesday night we had a company dinner with client. With over 20 people in attendance and an open bar, you can only image how hefty the tab was… We all ate at Café Bionda (you HAVE to check this place out if you are ever in Chicago) and had some of the most amazing food. It was a great bonding experience for the team, but then me and my boys (Joe and Dave!) decided that we had not had enough fun for the night, so we headed to a little hole in the wall bar down the street. To get straight to the point of bad decisions, our wonderful leader Joe bought the first round of our favorite drinks and shot of Tequila. Oh. My. God. How did my nemesis Tequila find me!?! Rather than be a good girl and let one of the boys take the shot, I had to prove that I was just one of the boys and could handle anything that they were taking. So down the hatch it went.... and stayed! I win! The rest of the night continued with more bad decision making. Joe and I played pool against some locals. I am pretty sure he got all of the balls in while I tried to distract the other team with sexy moves....which I am sure consisted of me trying to give sexy looks and poses but probably just ended up scaring the other team instead. Then of course, there were the multiple Irish Car bomb shots...once again I am one of the boys. Finally we left only to run across the street to buy lotion at the grocery store. Apparently we had to have the lotion that night since all of our skin was completely dried out by the water in the hotel. So I apologize grocery store workers with having to put up with us that night. The lotion was great though! Needless to say 7 AM came very early the next day...

German Food: I also had my first German food while in Chicago. It was awesome. Me and the boys had dinner with my Chicago twin and her boyfriend as well as mini Pleepleus. Then MB made an appearance as well. It was a very relaxing night and I am pretty sure we were all in bed by 11 PM!

Me and my Twin...

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Pleepleus drinking!

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First Dance Party - Chicago Style: So Thursday night The Boys, the Dallas Girls and me (yes I am enough personality and fun that I don't get lumped up into a group :) ) all went out to eat Mexican food and then have dance party. The dinner was great until we started talking about dance moves and my unknown new nemesis chimed in. First of all her name is Stephanie. If you don't know me well, I hate sharing my name. I like to be the only Stephanie in the group. Anyway, right off the bat she was at a disadvantage with me and not because of her personality...but then her personality made her my new nemesis. So Stephanie brings up dance moves and asks me what I like to dance to. Techno baby! Then out of nowhere she says "Oh it's on!" Uh, what? Did she just challenge ME to a dance off? Um, does she not know about Santa Hat night? Is this bitch crazy? So rather than laugh it off and accept her challenge. I went into crazy mode and decided to hate her. Yay rational! Oh yeah because did I mention my other nemesis was at the table and in my system? Yep, tequila always sneaks in.
Anyway, so we end up leaving the restaurant and head to dance party. So we get through the door and into the bar. We have one round and decide this was not the right location for us. So we all cram into one taxi...there are 6 of us....all grown adults. Since I am one of the last ones in, I get to sit on Stephanie's lap. I kid you not, the minute I sit on her lap she screams in pain. WTF! That's right apparently my light as a feather body hurt her...or as she said, I was hitting her broken rib in some way. Too late...you are now my ultimate nemesis. Someone give me tequila so we can make it a brawl!
We finally made it to the next location where I was the least fun person to hang out with. In true form, my boys know the remedy. The liquor me up with anything but tequila. This brought back normal Stephanie and of course awesome dance moves. Then more liquor brought about loud, obnoxious Stephanie along with slippy, almost falling dance moves. Needless to say I left on a very happy note, along with everyone else. Oh yeah, 6 AM on the show floor the next day hurt. Oh the things we go through for some fun on the road.

The crew minus my nemesis...

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Since this became longer than I thought....stay tuned for Part II of Chicago Show Week....or as some of us like to remember it as Chicago Drunkfest 2011.

Chicago Work Week - Day 3

So I am finally going into Day 3 of my work week in Chicago and everything was looking good. I was well rested and ready to attack the day’s assignments. Thank goodness we didn’t go crazy the night before because we had a big day of meetings and work ticket writing. Finally around 7 PM we left the office… and did I mention that it was St. Patty’s day? Oh yeah…

So after leaving the office, I call up my Blonde Chicago Twin (me and this girl have tons in common and we heard from multiple people that we were the same person except for hair color. We met for the first time in person a day before this.) and make plans to meet up with her at a bar. Of course, in my mind we were going to go to the hotel, change out of our work clothes and then I was going to change into my perfect St. Patty’s outfit…but the boys had other plans. Rather than waste time going back to the hotel, we went straight to the bar…and straight to the drinks.

Earlier in the day, I found out that I had a 6:30 AM meeting the next morning. OK, no big deal. I will only have a few drinks with dinner and absolutely, under no circumstances was I to have any shots. As soon as I sat down I exclaimed that at no point would we be taking shots….yep, I did! As you may have already guessed, my plans were not to go as expected.

So I sit down next to my twin and we starting chatting up a storm and ignoring the boys, her boyfriend and his coworker. I am drinking my glorious cranberry vodka and we are checking out the menu. So we have our drinks, we are chatting, I am talking smack to the boys and overall having a great, low key St. Patty’s celebration. The next thing I know, a shot appears in front of my face. Ummm….apparently I wasn’t loud enough to be heard when I said no shots of the night. I know, shocking. So rather than being a responsible adult and refusing the drink (ok, I did at first) I took it. It was wonderful. The next thing I know, we are getting more drinks and somehow they are coming out doubles and more shots! I was in full on party mode!

We continued to drink and I decided to make the group new friends. We met a random chick outside on a smoke break (no, not me) and I yelled at/wrangled a Spanish guy over to our table minutes later. Then my twin and I decide to be matchmakers. There was more yelling, more declarations of undying friendship and then the realization that I went too far on socializing. Oh sweet dear Jesus, I was drunk. How does this always happen? So I go into “smartest person alive with the best ideas that always work” mode and I try to order bread from the bartender. Yeah, apparently the kitchen was closed and all he had to offer me were oyster crackers. So I took 5 packs. :)

Queue Time Travel trip #2…

*Apparently we got in the car to go home where I annihilated said oyster crackers (as they apparently were everywhere the next day)
*We made it to the hotel where somehow I was convinced to get another drink
*Since the bar was closing we got another shot and drink
*Once of my coworkers secured a cab for me for the next morning for breakfast
*Somehow made it to my room
*Somehow set my 13 alarms

Finally I find myself waking up at 5:15 AM. Oh what an early morning. While getting ready, I find out that breakfast is now at 7. I call and reschedule my cab, pack up all of my belongings, check out and head towards my early morning breakfast….all the while feeling like shit.

The rest of the day was filled with meetings, finding out about the $500 we spent the night before, waiting at the airport and finally coming home….still wondering how I managed to survive the last 3 days. What was I going to do when I had to go for 11 days in just one more week? At least I had a quick training session.

Chicago Work Week - Day 2...

So I woke up after a couple of hours of sleep ready to attack the day. I was a bit nervous going into the office because I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what any of my new job responsibilities were going to be....lucky for me, it was all things that I knew how to do. So workload wise I was good.

So to help me and boys with our hangovers, we went over to Portillo's and apparently this is cure all of all hangovers. Yeah, not so much for me. I had the beef sandwich and cheese fries. Now mind you it was good, I just think my body wanted to hurt me even more since I hadn't been eating fast food and greasy food for a while. So while it was amazing while I ate it, I felt even worse a couple hours later.

So after one of the longest days at work, we all finally made our way back to the hotel to rest. Yeah, I was at that point I was so tired that there was no way I could fall asleep. So after watching TV for about an hour, the boys and I all decided to head out for dinner. To one of Joe's friend's bar... oh no.

In shocking behaviour, we all were on our best behaviour. No shots. No drinking games. No crazy dance party moves. Just a nice relaxing dinner and drinks. And in true form we all headed home around 10 PM. I do was shocked that all 3 of us could walk in a bar and still have the ability to walk out...sober.

Chicago was looking up for me and being responsible. yay! :)

Chicago Work Week - Day 1....

So how do you get back into the groove of things? I like blogging, I really do if I have something funny to say or the most random story that I don’t want to forget. Then again, I also almost want to use this as a mini journal. As you can see nothing funny or interesting is happening, but I have been busy…

So the one thing I wanted most in my career is finally happening. I am traveling. In February, I spent a total of 8 days in Dallas. I was in New Orleans for the first part and then beautiful San Diego for the rest. All for work. Although some crazy shit went down, it is isn’t interesting to talk about unless you know the Trade Show industry. So I won’t bore you with details how I literally almost froze my ass off in New Orleans (seriously, I think I was on the verge of frost bite when I got back to my hotel one night) or how I had cursed booth in San Diego which I was sure was going to destroy my career. If you are truly interested in either story, then get with me later.

As a result of the cursed booth, I actually was promoted on another show (I was just as shocked). This of course meant more travel! Yay! So lucky me, I spent most of March and some of April in Chicago. So my first trip up there was for only 3 days. I, of course, couldn’t think of how I was going to pack my electric blanket, 13 sweaters, tights, extra pants, hand warmers, gloves, snow boots and anything else to keep me warm in a small carry on piece of luggage. So I finally knocked down my packing list to a few sweaters and appropriate work clothes and my winter coat. And wouldn’t you know…the whole time I was there, we had like 50 – 60 degree weather. Really, Chicago? You call this cold. Please I can totally do this.

Anyway, being overdressed (as in too many layers) I started my new role in Chicago and it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. On the other hand, my social life had no idea what it was getting into. I didn’t realize that it was almost a city wide law that whenever you decide to have an adult beverage you must also have a shot to go along with it. Now I am fine with taking some girly shots , but since college I haven’t really trust myself to take big boy shots. Little did I know what was in store for me…

So my first night in Chicago, I called up my coworker Dave and told him to meet me in the hotel bar for dinner. Not wanting to get crazy, I decided to have a salad and nice little cranberry vodka. No plans to have a drink fest since I would be going to a new office the next day. So after 2 very nice sized drinks, I was ready to call it a night and make my way to my room for a good sleep. Little did I know a former Chicagoan/coworker would meet us at the table. Dave and I had already paid and were done. Not in the cards…

Once Joe sat down, he threw our paid tabs to the side and informed us that we weren’t done and in true Chicago form mentioned we should get shots. Well unfortunately for me, I was in a pliable mood and decided that shots was the best idea anyone had come up with in centuries! So off to the bartop I run to order some Flaming Dr. Peppers…wait, what? You can’t light things on fire!?!?! What kind of crap is that? At that point, I couldn’t think of anything easy and fun so I ordered jager bombs…ugh.

Needless to say at that point, my 11 o clock bedtime was soon changed and my time traveling commenced. Scenes from the night play out like so…

*Take shots! Laugh, make fun of each other
*Order another round. Apparently since it isn’t a double, we go back to the bar to ‘spice’ it up some more
*Almost done….oh wait what is this? A shot?
*Boys go on smoke break. Stephanie is about to die. So I decide to split my shot with theirs….and I think I poured some of my 6th round of cranberry vodka out underneath the table.
*Bar is closing. Let’s go to a room and drink there!
*Smoke break and drink break on the balcony
*Somewhere around 3 , I have made it to my room and have set all necessary 8 alarms….
*TIME TRAVEL!
*5:30 AM – Time to wake up, hid hangover and somehow make it to work….

Yeah, so this was night one of my first time in Chicago. Obviously all good decision making skills are thrown out the window when visiting. We all did make it to work the next day without any problem…except of course the feeling of wanting to die throughout the day. All I could think was, thank goodness this is only a 3 day trip…

Oh, What a Night...

So a couple of weekends ago, I went out for Dance Party USA with my new Go To Girl, Hanna. Once again, it was an official girl’s night out which includes bar hopping and amazing dance moves by all girls. The night started out innocent enough with us racking our brains to figure out the perfect dance party outfit and then it was off to dinner at Gloria’s with her and her five friends. Unbelievably we didn’t have to wait for a table and there were plenty of people to judge while we ate and drank.

After dinner we lost two girls to a random party and the rest of us trotted back to Hanna apartment for some pre drinks. In shocking form, Hanna didn’t have any vodka, or mixers… just my mortal enemy Tequila. Now Tequila and I have not been on speaking terms since my sophomore year spring break. If you were there, you know why. If you have seen me drink tequila after that episode, then you know why. For those of you who are blessed to not have been at any of those events, let’s just say it ends with me projectile vomiting the minute the liquid touches my lips.

Anyway, back to the story at hand. So we got back to her apartment to drink and for Hanna to change outfits. Just like an after school program, I succumbed to peer pressure to shoot the vile Tequila. And in shocking form, it stayed in my stomach! Score! The night was off to a good start for me… That was until round two of tequila taking which I was smart enough to not partake in… because of a simple little comment from me, I had one girl spitting up her chaser onto another girl who then projectile vomited in the sink. Oooops.

With a quick clean up we were off to drink at the Loon. Known in Dallas for its extremely strong drinks it was a great pre party location for us. While at the Loon, we happened to run into a Santa Pub Crawl where all of the guys were dressed as Santa. Badass. So after some conversation with them, we were invited to join them at their next location. Since we had drinks to finish, we let them continue on and told them we would meet up. Sure enough when we were finally leaving the Loon, we went to their next bar and they were on their way out. That didn’t stop them from ushering us all on their party bus for the next location of fun.

After downing a Dos Equis (seriously who was I?) in the party bus we ended up at Teddy’s. This is one of Hanna and I most frequented dance party locations in Dallas and in true form, we got straight to business. After a couple of awesome moves around the floor, I noticed that Hanna got her hands on a Santa Hat. After some of her awesome moves, she then gave me the Santa Hat. Of course not wanting to wear it, I thought about twirling it around. Then in what I thought was my greatest idea ever, I grabbed a second Santa Hat. And started dancing… like a rave kid with glow sticks. With Santa Hats. The worst part about it, I thought I was awesome. Sure enough the dance floor cleared and I continued my hopping and Santa Hat swirling. Finally after becoming breathless form the exertion, I gave up the hats to their rightful owners and walked to the side. Once I went to the side, some random guy looked at me and said “That just happened.” Yeah, it did. And a smart girl would have retired her awesome moves for the night…but not me!

After a few Santa Hat free dance moves, I saw the most glorious thing out of the corner of my eye. The head Santa had pulled out a package of GLOW STICKS! Yessss! The club was in for a treat. Sure enough, I grabbed two sticks and started wielding them around like a crazed Star Wars fan. Once again, the floor clears. And what I learned later was not to watch my awesome moves, but rather to avoid getting whacked in the face by my glowing whips. Trust me it is not a great feeling, since I whacked myself multiple times in my dance routine. Ooops.

To avoid further embarrassment, the pack of girls and I left Teddy’s and went on to another club. Once again I tried to re-live my glow stick dancing ways. Except this time the club was extremely packed and I know I hit a lot of people. Next thing I know. I am getting a stern talking to by one of the bar workers. It went something like this…”It’s not that I care that you have glow sticks. It’s that I care that you are hitting people with them. So if you aren’t careful, I am going to have to ask you leave.” Yeah, let’s just say the night just went downhill from there for me. We finished the night with a few more dance moves and then hanging out in a hotel lobby with fabulous drunk gays. Oh what a night…

Wha? I have a Blog!?!

Woah! What’s this? I forgot completely about this website. As you can probably tell since I haven’t posted in forever. Honestly, it’s not that I forgot about it, so much as I have never been so busy. Since the awesome trip to Cancun, I have been running around non stop for work it seems…

So here is a quick recap:

August: Went as saw the Toadies again. Fantastic as always. My little boy got his boys taken away. Went to my first Burlesque show. HOT!
September: Woohoo! A&M football game with a win! My Cancun friend Jessica came in town and we ran the Jailbreak. Pics on Facebook of course. Tore apart my house and had Ben build a new wall.

October: Haunted weekend in Jefferson, TX. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any ghosts, but we definitely drank plenty of wine and cocktails. So just imagine us running around a small town at 3 AM looking for ghosts. Good times. I also went to Vegas for work and play. Wore Extra Small and partied my ass off with old friends and new friends/coworkers. Then home for a week, and then off to Orlando for another show. Met the ‘I Love You’ guy. Ridiculous.

November: Month started off with one of the best concerts of all time: Mumford & Sons. Completely blew me away. One of the best shows I have ever been to. Thanks, Erych! Then it was off to New Orleans for another show! Awesome dance party and awesome drinking with more coworkers. Then back home for the Margarita Ball where I became the world’s greatest Craps player. Which I am not sure if that counts since the dealer was making all of my bets and giving me free money. :) Then Austin for Thanksgiving. Great time with family and the discovery of one of the greatest shows: Lie to Me.

Parts of December: Clap turned 29! We celebrated with drinks and bar hopping with a little drama added in. I also came up with the greatest work schedule ever….no working on Fridays. December has also been filled with tons of Dance Party USAs as well…

Stay tuned…

Road to 29: TWENTY-NINE THURSDAY

It was here. I made it. I only had one more year to enjoy the fact that I was young and in my twenties. Mind you, I would have liked to have started it at little later than I did, but my Mom had to be the first person to wish me a Happy Birthday….by calling at 6:10 AM. Noooo! I still had 10 more minutes before my alarm went off. Oh well, this being my favorite day of the year I guess I could enjoy it for longer then I had anticipated.

After finally getting ready, I made my way to work where rather than just walk around and have everyone say Happy Birthday, I had to get straight to work. I put in a very productive 4 hours with no time wasted on reading stupid stuff on the internet or chatting about nothing with one of my coworkers. But you better believe when the clock hit 12 noon, I was out!

After my strenuous ‘day’ at the office, I went downtown to have lunch with Angel. Being the fantastic friend that she is, she took me out to lunch to a cute little diner/café. We gossiped, ate, made plans for future happy hours and Girls Nights Out. The next year was already looking up.

After lunch, it was time for Me time. I went to the nail place next to my house, got a pedicure (which as Angel so lovingly pointed out on Tuesday was much needed) and manicure. It was glorious, until the woman tried to cut my pinky toe off. Oh well, at least the nail polish remover didn’t hurt….oh wait. So after my kind of relaxing pedicure, it was time to shop. So I jetted around my housing area and but not so necessary clothes and shoes. Woo Hoo!

Finally after a couple hours of that, I made my way home. Where I was greeted with presents! Ben bought me some square bowls that I have been saying were needed for the kitchen. After that, I got ready and we headed off to Eno’s Pizza in the Bishop Arts District. Since we were super early for the reservations, we went to the soda shop across the street and had a Cherry Soda.

Then it was off to Eno’s where we waited at the bar for everyone else. We finally went up to our table for more wine, awesome appetizers, salad and pizza. It was soo good. I was so happy that Jessica, Brent, Randy, Erych, Jon and Mary Beth all joined me for the festivities. The food was great, the wine was great and the people were even better.

Later on Brigette met up with us and we made our way to a bakery for some milk and cake! Perfect birthday! Although it was a very non rowdy celebration, it is exactly what I wanted. I finally made my way home where I had to pack for the weekend… that I planned on spending in Cancun!

Road to 29: WINO WEDNESDAY

I had one more day to relish in my 28 year old status. So I figured I would enjoy it like a grown up. After work on Wednesday, I headed off the best wine bar in Dallas, Veritas. When I arrived there happened to a party/happy hour in full swing. Lucky for me, I know the bartender and without even having to utter a word, he had my glass of Reisling for me within minutes. Thanks, Ben!

Since the standing space around the bar could only fit heroin-esque models, I scooted myself outside and made the obligatory phone calls while I waited for the rest of my friends. I spoke with my sister for a bit and got to her how she was jealous of my upcoming vacation to Cancun and caught up for a bit.

After a few minutes, my coworkers arrived. So we made our way back into the bar and posted up around the fireplace with the big chairs. We split wine and, of course, had to bitch about work. Then we bitched about everything and anything that came to mind. I also got some advice from Rachel and Finula about what I can expect when I actually turn 30. Some of it was promising and the rest of it just sucked. What do you mean I’m not going to look like Jennifer Aniston in 10 years? Hangovers get even worse than they are now?

So after our bitchfest and doom and gloom you are almost 30 talk, we headed across the street for some Mexican food and margaritas. At least the conversation became more hysterical and less PG-13. It just makes me happy that not EVERYONE could hear us. After dinner, we all parted ways and I went home to prepare for my last year of being in my 20s.

Road to 29: TOP GOLF TUESDAY

Tuesday was Top Golf fun for my birthday week. After work, we headed over the driving range and prepared for awesomeness. If you have never been nor ever heard of Top Golf, here is the run down. It is a driving range with a bar and kitchen. What makes it special is that all of the balls have sensors in them. There are also huge holes out on the range and when said sensor ball actually goes into a hole, you get points! So for crappy golfers like me, it becomes more of a game rather than practice for hitting balls. :)

All the other times I have been to Top Golf, my game has been horrible. I would get excited when the ball fell off the tee, fell from the second story and then miraculously would go into a hole so I could get points. This time around, the ball hitting gods were with me.

So after we grabbed our free golf clubs, we met up with Angel and Andy in their golfing slot. Since they were in the middle of a game, Angel let me get in some practice swings. Unbeknownst to me, I had acquired professional golfing arms! At least in my head I did. The ball actually flew towards the middle of the range…in the air….and we weren’t even on the second floor!

After their game, we waited for Clap, Mary Beth and Sam. In the meantime, Angel being the fantastic person that she is, bought me 2 dozen cupcakes (don’t judge, I love cake)! She grabbed those and we annihilated about a half dozen in 2 minutes.

Strawberry goodness!

From Top Golf

Chocolate…yum…

From Top Golf

Once everyone arrived, the games began. Since Top Golf is stupid and only let’s five players go at once, the competition was amongst Andy, Mary Beth, Clap, Ben and I. Yep, apparently I lost all skill. I came in last place. Sometimes it looked like I knew what I was doing and other times, it was just embarrassment. Although the best play of the night came from MB, after 4 missed swings she finally made contact with the ball where it flew straight up, hit the ceiling and fell 10 ft in front of us. It was so close that not even golf ball collecting car came near.
On to round two, Sam, Angel, Andy, Clap/Ben and I competed. I am also happy to announce that I came in second place this time with a whopping score of 64! My all time before that was 40, so I am improving! I am thinking maybe Bar Golf helped out too! Watch out LPGA!

Me seeing my future as a professional golfer…

From Top Golf

Ben making a shot…

From Top Golf

Pretty sure this one got MB points!

From Top Golf

Angel this isn’t backwards golfing! She just looks evil.

From Top Golf

We had a lot of fun and I am thinking we should incorporate some Top Golf fun in every month. Let me know if you ever want to join!

Road to 29: MOVIE MONDAY!

I thought I would give my liver a break so I planned a movie Monday for a birthday celebration. After work, I jetted off to the theater to buy tickets. There was no way I was going to let the city of Dallas buy all the tickets before I could. With tickets in hand, I met up with Whitey for some pre movie cocktails. Huh? What can I say? I was thirsty.

We went to Mi Cocina where I indulged in two margaritas and some not so awesome chips and salsa. That’s right, working hard on my Cancun body.  We stayed there for a bit until we walked over to the movie theater bar with Ben. Wait? Wasn’t I supposed to be letting my liver rest? Oh well, Ben and I bought a bottle of wine. By that time, it was time to get our seats.

So all day long I tried to avoid any talk about Inception. My coworker Courtney tried to talk to me about it and I had to banish her to her office and then reviews were popping up all over the interwebs. So beside one headline on CNN, I was able to go into the movie with an unbiased mind. Needless to say, I liked it… a lot. I actually don’t have any complaints whatsoever…which as we all know is quite strange. Leo was fantastic and I actually liked that kid from 3rd Rock too! So if you haven’t seen it yet, get to the theater and check it out! I recommend going in with a sharp mind though and not a hazy one from wine and margaritas. :D

Road to 29: SUNDAY FUNDAY!

What better way to rest your aching bones from a Dance Party then to laze around all Sunday in a craptastic pool? Well, that is exactly what we did… besides , of course, having to rest our aching bones.

So I bought one of those huge blow up pools for my backyard. After weeks of trying to get the thing operational, we finally were able to hang out in it. Whitey, Ben and I all jumped in before anyone got there. It was like hanging out in a huge bath tub. So thinking we were geniuses, Ben went off and bought 10 bags of ice to throw in the pool to cool it off. Genius! Yeah, that worked for all of 30 seconds and it only cooled you off if you were clinging to the bag of melting ice for dear life. Oh well, it was still pool fun.

Ben also fired up the grill and made the rest of the fajitas that we have had at the house. Once the food was ready, we all gathered inside around my mini kitchen island (because the table had too much room), ate some awesome food and enjoy another installment of “Hilarity of Clap’s Life.” We got to relive his playa days, his most recent mugging at a bar the night before (the bum stole his drink and ran off) and other captivating stories.

So after plenty of drinks, food and entertainment, everyone went their separate ways. We picked up the house a bit and called it a night by renting Alice In Wonderland…

Road to 29: DANCE PARTY USA!

My birthday celebration week began last Saturday. My first event was going to be a Dance Party USA. I figured what better way to get ready for Cancun, then busting out some awesome dance moves. Well, I guess in my old age and everyone else’s old age, Dance Party isn’t as exciting as it used to be.

So I opted for Roller Derby fun. There was a bout happening that night and figured a lot of people haven’t gone to one before and some people might consider girls body checking each other on a slick surface a dance party, right? So I go online Saturday to buy some tickets and lo and behold, everyone in Dallas must have heard I was thinking of going, so they bought all of the tickets before I had a chance. :(

So Plan C, hmmmm slick surfaces, awesome moves….let’s go bowling! Not as exciting as an actual dance party or girls skating around in circles, but it was a lot of fun. We started the night with some pre drinks at my house and then drove out to Main Event in Plano. Lucky for us, we got some lanes pretty quickly, not so lucky was our very slow waiter. We decided to bowl for two hours. Yay for me, I wasn’t the worst. That title actually was bestowed on Angel’s boyfriend Sam. It is good to know he isn’t good at one sport! With about 15 minutes left on the lanes, we all decided to end the night with trick bowling. I am pretty sure I tried the not so graceful split while hurling the ball down the lane (woo hoo dance move!) and I know I saw some soccer moves and backward throws. It was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with some great friends and even my Dad. :)

After bowling fun, everyone left but Ben, Whitey and I. So we decided to play the games. Whitey and I each ended winning a random stuffed animal in the grab machines, we all raced motorcycles and had basketball hoop shot fun (what! What! I won. Twice.) and pretty much wasted money on anything with a bright shiny light. Whitey and I also got a great workout playing the Japanese horse racing game. We even got some awesome picture fun.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

After all of the playing around, we all combined our points and bought a crazy hamster to let Sylvester play with, flashing mouth guards and some random foam disc gun. Yay presents!

After that, we went home and gave Sylvester most of our winnings. Only to get ready for the next day…

Ryan Turns a Year Older, Bar Golf Edition

The weekend after July 4th we all decided to celebrate Ryan’s 27 birthday with a little round of Bar Golf. Before the festivities could be begin, a couple of girls and I had a burlesque party where we let our inner sex kittens come out and play. So we all met up at the Burlesque studio, pulled out our slutty heels, put on some long gloves and prepared to learn the art of seduction….on a chair. Not going to lie, it reminded me of my very younger days and watching some Madonna video on MTV (I told it you I was young, there were still videos!) and trying to duplicate her dance with a chair while my sister and brother rolled around on the floor laughing at me after they caught me. So of course when we were asked if we had ever done a chair dance, I denied it! We learned an awesomely sexy dance to some blues music complete with pulling off the gloves, slowing hip rolls and even leg kicks while on the chair. It was soooo much fun. I really want to go back and learn some more moves.

Afterwards I went home, c hanged into my golf attire and headed to the ‘golf course’. So if you have never played here is a rundown: Just like golf you want to have the lowest score. At every bar you have to have one drink, each drink is a certain amount of points. So a shot of vodka counts as 1 point, a mixed drink is 2, a light beer is 4 and so forth. You can also get points by accidently breaking a glass (1 point), losing your putter (5 points) or not wearing the proper attire (10 points). Needless to say you need to have a good score keeper.

So our first stop was Primo’s in Uptown where we thought we would be smart and actually eat some food before the challenge. We also thought it would be smart to warm up our bodies to the idea of drinking by having pre drinks…yeah. I think I would have been better at the end had I just stuck with food.

Anyway, we hopped to 9 different bars. I started off strong walking in a straight line to the bars, having a vodka shot at 3 of the bars, speaking in coherent sentences and all in all having a good time. I obviously took a lot of pictures and managed to look sober…ish. As the night progessed, I got louder, broke a glass, stumbled around, broke my putter, lost my hat, gained a new one, yelled about losing the original and somehow agreeing with Ben and some point that we needed to go home. Oh yes, I also managed to send out text messages, forget I sent one out and then send the exact same one an hour later. And to make matters worse, it was “where you be?” …so we all know my grasp of the English language wasn’t very good either.

I hope Ryan had a great birthday, I know that for the celebration I had a great time. Now as for the passing out in my bathroom, not so sure if that means it was a successful night. :0 Feel free to check out Facebook for documentation and make your own judgements…

Happy Birthday USA!

I broke from tradition this year and started a new one in regards to my July 4th plans. Instead of venturing out to the Simpson Lake house, I went down to Austin to spend time with my family. After work, Ben and I hopped in the car and made our way to my brother’s place and had dinner with the fam. It was quite uneventful, which is good, considering we were a little tired from the trip. We were supposed to stay at my sister’s for the weekend, but in a turn of events that even shocked me…we stayed at Jason’s. Why? Because we planned on working out with Jason and Theresa the next morning….at 6 AM. On Vacation. Huh?

Exactly. Needless to say, Ben and I woke up early, changed into work out clothes (not too sure how those bad boys jumped into my suitcase) and headed out into the neighborhood for some interval training. We walked 45 seconds and then ran 15 seconds for 2.5 miles. Surprisingly it was a really good work out. Directly after our jaunt around the neighborhood, we changed into our swimsuits and jumped in the pool. All before 8 in the morning. The rest of the day consisted of going to some garage sales, buying fireworks, eating, blowing up fireworks, buying some more to replenish our stock and begin the creative process for the Greatest Movie Ever Made. Oh, and then we blew up some more fireworks. :)

That night after gorging ourselves on lasagna, we went out to a random little bar and watched the UFC fight. Then back home, all before Midnight. Seriously, this was turning out to be the strangest vacation ever.

That next morning, we woke up early again….and guess what we did? You are right! We worked out again. This time we went on a 5 mile jog/run. What kind of vacation am I on? Then back in the pool and probably blowing up more fireworks. We did some last minute shopping for the party for that day and began drinking around 1. Jason and Theresa’s friends started coming over around 3 and by 6 the party was in full force. Also around this time, we started filming on GMEM.

It all started when I bought a firework that shoots out 10 parachutes at the same time. Joking around, I said when it went off I would dance around while all of my little soldiers flew around me….which then started Jason and Ben’s minds working. They decided it would be funny to film a 4th of July version of the 50 ft woman. We would have some of the tanks attack me and missiles go off.

So after eating tons of food and drinking copious amounts of liquid fun, my movie career began along with Morgan and Augie. It was a glorious fight of the US led by Augie against the 500 ft Woman (what? I’m a big girl!) and Mothra (Morgan with a towel wing.) Lucky for Augie, the US won and we were defeated. Needless to say, good times! Once my brother is done editing, I will post so you can make fun.
The rest of the night was spent in the pool, across the street at the neighbors’ huge blow up water slide and in the front yard watching about an hour of fireworks being blown up, both by the neighbors and our party. It was a great night. Needless to say, I will be coming back next year for more fun.

The weekend ended with brunch and Ben and I heading back to the Big D. And this time, we managed to make it home without a flat tire. So all in all, a very fun weekend.

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So another busy month has passed and I have once again neglected to update my blog. And to think I was doing so well the last couple of months. So here goes nothing.

Warrior Dash – Wow, probably one of the most fun days of May. If you hadn’t heard about Warrior Dash, you missed out. It was a 3.8 mile obstacle course out in Forney, TX. The obstacles consisted of mud pits, jumping over fire, swimming through a pond and other ridiculous things to make you get dirty. A big group of us ran it… or if you decided to keep pace with me, you ran, walked and photographed almost every step of it. Afterwards, we drank free beer and sported our muddy outfits. After washing off the mud, my skin was super soft. It felt like I went to the spa.

Quote of the ‘race’: “F*ck you, mud!” then .3 seconds later the mud took it’s revenge and I slipped and landed on my butt…once again getting my white tutu even dirtier.

Veiwing pleasure:

From Warrior Dash

From Warrior Dash

Party Boat - Some of Ryan’s friend decided to rent a party boat for a collective birthday celebration. It was decent weather that day, but by no means was it hot. That didn’t stop us from getting in the water. Mostly because we were warming our bodies with Riot Punch and beer. We also played beer pong, flip cup and ‘nourished’ ourselves with cake and pizza. So much fun! Angel and I even escaped for a bit on a speed boat and got in on some random gossip/drama. Funzies!

Viewing pleasure:

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

After the boat, Clap, Ben and I all headed over to Garland to help Katy celebrate turning 29. She picked an awesome place where they serve you mini pitchers of Sangria with a straw. Don’t mind if I do! We hung out there for a while and then all went our separate ways. Which consisted of Ben, Clap and I passing out the minute we walked in the door.

More boat fun and Roller Derby - This is definitely a contender for best day in May. Early in the afternoon, Ben and I headed over to Ryan’s house so we could go back out to Lake Lewisville and enjoy some lake fun. Of course the weather was crap for most of the day. It was overcast, but still warm enough to hang out and get in the water a little bit. Then we decided to try some wakeboarding fun…and lucky us the sun came out! So after a long day of boat fun, we all decided to check out the local Roller Derby bout that just so happens to be 5 minutes away from the house! It was bring your own beer and chair. We set up shop on one of the turns where proceeded to form the rules to the drinking game… Everytime the announcer said Lead Jammer, you had to drink. Every time he announced one of our favorite players, you had to drink. Did he just say Strategery? Yep, drink! Since we aren’t the slyest, nor quietest groups of all the announcer soon caught on to our plan. Needless to say, they repeated Lead Jammer everytime. It was fantastic! It also helped with us making the largest beeraymid at the bout! Afterwards, we hung out at the after party and planned to go again in the near future. So much fun!

River - Another week of work and we were off to New Braunfels/Austin for some river floating fun. We celebrated Whitey finishing finals and the beginning to summer. The river was freezing, but we had some pretty decent weather. We also had the worst dinner ever while we were there at Daisy Dukes… but then again, that place never seems to bring me luck. The rest of the weekend, I hung out at my sister’s house. It was surprisingly a relaxing weekend. Good times, nonetheless.

Memorial Weekend - The weekend started off wonderfully! Ben took me to go see Avenue Q at the new Opera house. It was gorgeous and their drinks are awesome which you can have in the auditorium! If you have never seen Avenue Q and you get the chance, you have to go. It was hilarious! Ben and I are still laughing about it. We then ended the night at Veritas for a bottle of Reisling and then back home. Fantastic date night.

On Saturday, we attended Adult Field Day. Yep, it is exactly what it sounds like… we reverted back to our elementary school selves and played games all of course while drinking. :D Some of the events were: Three Legged Race (Mary Beth and I kicked ass!), Egg Relay, Egg Toss, Tug of War, Tricycle Race and more. After all of the games, everyone played a round of kickball. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to the pool and grilled out. I am hoping we do it again!

Sunday I barely left the house. I went a got a pedicure and that was the most of my exposure to the outside world that day. Great day of relaxing.

Monday Ben and I went with my Mom and her friends to the new Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma. I lost all of my money, but we had a great time. The rest of the day was hanging out on the couch with Whitey and Ben making fun of the awesome acting in Pearl Harbor.

Kickball – And last but not least, I have revived the Balls and Snatchers for another season. We have actually won games this summer! We even got our act together and got shirts. Here is hoping with can continue to kick ass and win another championship!

Viewing pleasure:

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Housewarming Fun

A couple of weeks ago, Ben and I threw our housewarming party. Miraculously, everything came together at the last minute. Even the guest bedroom that I decided had to be painted 2 nights prior. Not much really to tell except that I had so much fun and enjoyed seeing all of our friends a family. I did get multiple requests for the recipes so here they are:

Black Bean Dip

--1/2 onion finely chopped
--Cumin
--Paprika
--Cayenne
--Garlic Powder

--Pureed Beans in blender w/onions w/ liquid
--two tblsp of oil in pan
--pour beans in pan, add seasoning to taste
--reduce on low heat, stir occasionally

Avocado Sour Cream

--2 pints of sour cream
--1 bunch of cilantro
--2 fresh jalapenoes
--juice of 6 limes
--2 avocados
--puree all i blender
--Seaon garlic powder and salt to taste

We blended everything in the blender. Serve with Santitas!

Salsa

--8 Core tomatoes
--1/2 onion medium chop
--4 de-stem jalapenoes
--drizzle with olive oil
--roast in oven at 375, until tomatoes are charred
--let cool for 15 minutes
--peel tomatoes and jalapenos
--1 bunch of cilantro chopped
--Dice and mix everything
--Add leftover juice to mixture
--Season with salt/pepper

White Sangria

-- White Box wine
-- 2/3 Cup Sugar
-- Peach canned drink from Mexican Supermarket
-- 2 Gala Apples Chopped
-- 2 Granny Smith Apples Chopped
-- Couple of Drops of Vanilla
-- 3 cans of Sprite/7 Up
-- Strawberries for Garnish

Chop up all of the apples and add to white wine. Also, add sugar, peach drink, vanilla. Let sit overnight. When ready to serve, add Sprite and serve over ice.

Let me know if you guys need any other recipes! I am sure I can get some more out of Fernando.

Fort Worth Zoo Run

In two days I will be partaking in the fun known as Warrior Dash. If you know nothing about it, look it up. To prepare for said fun, a group of us decided we would participate in the Fort Worth Zoo Run. It is a 5K that takes you through the Zoo and the surrounding neighborhoods. I have participated in one other 5K before this. That was the Susan G Komen 5K about 3 years ago. I wanted to run it, but I wasn’t in the right area and walked for most of it.

This time I decided I was going to run and not stop. Mind you, the farthest I have ever run nonstop has been 2 miles and that was for boot camp. Did I mention I haven’t really worked out or even ran since I stopped in November? So yeah, the 5K was going to be fun.

I asked Ben about a week before how long a 5K was. He told me it was 2.5 miles. Awesome! I could totally do that. So I met up with my team the morning of…we were called the WolfPack and had all planned on getting fantastic wolf shirts to run in. Since my team was also made up of slackers, we never got the shirts. So I decided to make my own, at 10 o clock the night before...true slacker style. Yeah, apparently Michael’s does not sell Wolf patches or anything of the such! So I was stuck with a shirt that said Wolf Pack with two painted paw prints (I thought they were glittery patches, but ended up being stencils). Me so SMRT!

Needless to say, I got out there early with my perfectly made Running Fun playlist and stood around in the rain while we waited for out turn. It is always so exciting right before a run. There really is a weird energy of anticipation, fear (at least for me) and all around good spirits. There were also a crap load of kids...some parents are geniuses. Little Susie, this will be so much fun...here eat all of this sugar and go run to your hearts content. Make sure you annoy all of the other people here and not me though. Damn, those parents.

Finally, we lined up and started the ‘fun.’ I put my playlist on shuffle and was pleasantly surprised by the perfect first song: Animal by Miike Snow. That’s right, people! I am an animal running through the zoo! Watch out…

That was until I got to the first hill. Sweet Jesus! Where did that thing come from? I used to work at the zoo and I didn’t remember a hill. I magically got over it without stopping my run and continued. I passed all of the water areas, mostly because I figured I would never run again if I stopped. I even came to another awful hill, even bigger than the first. Once again, I made it over and didn’t stop.

I weaved through the neighborhoods and honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it. I kept my pace the entire time. Now mind you, an old man on a walker could have passed me but I still didn’t stop ‘running.’ Finally, I got to the best thing of all. The downward hill. I seriously almost started crying. I saw one of the volunteers shouting something so I took out my headphone and heard that I only had ½ mile left. Once again, tears almost came. Now I know this is nothing like a marathon, but it really is a big thing for me. I am not a runner and my body does not want me to be a runner, but somehow we both got through it.

Finally, I am almost to the end and I can see the finish line and that is when my iPod changed to the most perfect song ever….. Wolf Like Me by TV on the Radio. At this moment, I thought of my awesome friend Tara who finished her second marathon recently and had the most perfect song for her play at the end. This was mine. Without even knowing where the energy came from, I increased my speed to Old Man on Scooter and finished my first running 5K. And it only took me about 40 min! Haha, I told you I was slow. Later on that day is when I actually learned that I ran 3.1 miles. Had I known that going in, I probably would have walked.

So in true Warrior Dash training mode, I soon sped off to Dallas for the Pub Crawl for Cancer…

Ugh, Why Me?

When I was in high school, I worked at the Zoo for a bit. While there I formed a crush on one of my coworkers. Nothing ever came of it and I went off to the glorious world of College. While in college, my Zoo Crush got in contact with me and we ended up going on a date and in true Stephanie style I never talked to him again.

Fast forward to after college… with the beauty of Myspace and putting all of your information out the web, my crush found me when I was working at Neimans. We emailed back and forth for like 2 days. He wanted to go out but I was already in a relationship…so it wasn’t going to happen.

Then I don’t hear from him for another year… then the same story. Out of the blue he emails me and I try to have nice innocent conversations with him and he wants to meet up. Once again, not gonna happen.

So almost every year, I randomly hear from him. The last time, I think he hit me up on Myspace through his friends account. I asked him what he was up to and he said he had gone into the world of dancing at private parties. Oooook. I , of course, laughed it off. He then proceeded to say he was serious and asked if I wanted to see pictures. At that point, I stopped responding.

Tuesday while I was taking a break from working, I checked my personal email. I saw that I had my random, yearly email from my ‘friend.’ That is when I did the worst thing you could ever do….I opened the email. Only to have my eyes accosted by a man standing at his bathroom mirror……BUTT NAKED!!!! AGH! How is it possible that now I have a cyber flasher!?! I mean really…who does that?

Needless to say, I immediately starting hyper-ventilating that I just accidently looked at porn at work. Then I told my coworker, called another coworker and told her….then we called another coworker and told her. I then got on the phone to Mary Beth (didn’t want to have an HR violation) and told her. Then, of course, I called Ben.

In conclusion, my inbox is now clean from said flashing incident. Everyone I know now knows about it, including my poor Mom.

Although, it makes me wonder….could this have been my flasher from the downtown parking garage? Thank God, I moved. :D


And you are very welcome that this post did not include pictures!