Neglect.

Whew! Where have I been?!

Sorry for my lack of blogging. I blame a couple of things. Major writers block, lack of exciting news, yucktastic weather that doesn't seem to want to break, and a lack of my usually scheduled March trip to Florida for baseball, sun, and quality time with Sean.

But mostly, I blame tax season.

I work my normal 9-6 job, and then four days a week I jog over to the east side of Indy and put in a good three hours at an accountant's office. The money is nice, I couldn't ask for a nicer accountant (he's family), and it feels good to be back on the good ole east side for a little bit. But MAN am I tired when I get home! I usually get home around 10pm, plop myself in front of the TV and then crawl into bed around midnight.

So, please forgive me.

I could be totally shady about it and use the schedule feature in Blogger that allows you to date blog posts in the past, but that's a lot of work and I don't see the need. Although, I may do that one time so I can post about our awesome St. Patrick's day celebration with friends and Sean's family.

Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

I have made a lot of strides in the race to the wedding, but that'll be another post.

I am proud to say that even with all of this working, I am still managing to get a workout in here and there. Not as much as I used to, but as of this morning the scale is still moving in the downward direction which is very motivating to me! Eat right. Exercise when you can. Drink tons of water. Results will come.

Here's a picture of my beautiful red dress and red and white scarf that I'm sporting today. I've declared this an all-red week in honor of my beloved Hoosiers getting a number one seed in the east. The tourney starts Thursday, but we don't play until Friday. I'm so pumped!

That's all for today, friends!

Happy Tuesday!

Habeumus Papam

We have a new pope!

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina was elected pope today and will go by the name Pope Francis I.

As soon as I heard there was white smoke I searched the news sites for a live feed. Thankfully ABC was covering the event so I was able to see the white smoke, the crowd, the bells, and finally watch him come out from behind the red curtains. It's pretty incredible to see the amount of people in St. Peter's square waiting for him to appear , and it's pretty incredible to think that I have stood in that very square not that many years ago. I picked up a red rosewood rosary on that trip that I gave to my goddaughter (my niece), Lucy, on her first birthday. I saw it this summer while I was babysitting her, and it is just as beautiful as I remember!

What a special day.

I don't have sound on my computer, but my boss informed me that before he blessed the people, he asked for a blessing from the people. And he bowed his head as the people blessed him. I love him already.

God bless you, Pope Francis I!

Indiana Hoosiers - B1G Ten Champs!

So, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched every second of every game. Sometimes it's just too much for me - the stress, the up's, the downs, the you're-playing-terrible moments, the moments that look like high-light reels but it's really happening in right now, in real life, and everything in between.

But I'll also be the first to admit that I love my Hoosiers. The mountain they had to climb to get where they are now seemed impossible not that long ago. Riddled with sanctions and bad judgement calls, Tom Crean picked up the program and brought it back to life. I love that man. I love that mean even after he had a weak moment and called Jeff Meyers out after the game.

No team deserved it more. Albeit an ugly game, in a sea of bright yellow, a win is a win and a win is always earned.

Congratulations, boys.

Congratulations, fans.

Congratulations, Coach Crean.

Birthday Celebration x 2

Yesterday, Saturday, we celebrated Jenny's (Feb. 24) and Patrick's (yesterday!) birthday's. We got together at my parents house and ate delicious snacks that consisted of meatballs, taco dip, veggies, and of course - cake! We all ooo'd and aaa'd as they opened their gifts... which was mostly gift cards, and grilling stuff! It really put me in the mood for spring. Even though Carmel Landing doesn't allow grilling, I am still looking forward to grilled food from cookouts with family and friends.

Jenny made sure Pat didn't get to blow out the candles, and then we all enjoyed cake (Angel Food cake with whipped icing - yum!)!

They both turned 27 this year.

And of course, no gathering would be complete without a full-on wrestling match between at least one adult and Lucy & Eli. Patrick was the target this time!

This picture pretty much sums up the day - Mom admiring Graham, Cara hoping neither of her kids get another boo-boo and/or nothing gets spilled, Lucy sitting on Jenny, and Laura and Eli attacking each other.

Ah, good times.

I can't imagine Jenny's knee's being the most comfy spot in the room.

Also, my Mom and I started working on the flower girls dresses for the wedding. An update to come soon!

Friday Night Shenanigans

We started out at our current favorite go-to, Tomlinson Tap Room. It's a cool place because you can get food from the city market, which is just right downstairs. This was the first time we got food from there and we were very happy we did! Since it was a Friday in Lent, we played it extra safe and went for bread sticks.

Bearded Sean with our MASSIVE bread sticks from a cute pizza place at the Indianapolis City Market.

Did I mention they were massive? But scrumptious!

After enjoying some yummy Indiana beers with our best brew friends, we traveled back to the Carmel side of town and decided to check out Matt the Miller's Tavern. We were very happy with their beer selection and the servers were all very nice. We're definitely adding it to our list of places to go. However, we did manage between the two of us to spend $50 on beer! That's the thing about fancy beer, it's more expensive than your average Coors Light. But, I must say our time there was a good one and we found a new favorite beer so it was money well spent.

Sean admiring the beer list, me admiring... myself. Ha.

Well, isn't that the truth!

My new favorite beer, Matilda from Goose Island.

 

 

 

 

Stuffed Peppers

Happy Friday!

Last night I made stuffed peppers.

I followed this {click here} recipe from Table for Two.. for the most part. I used ground chicken instead of ground turkey. I don't know, there's just something about ground turkey that gives me the eebie jeebies.

I had good intentions when I first started making these peppers, but things went down hill pretty quickly.

I got a little confused about what she meant when she said "place the peppers on the baking sheet up right"... what the heck? Up right as in the inside of the pepper is up, or up right as in the outside of the pepper is up? I tried to call my Mom for clarification, but she was busy so she couldn't answer. I was prepared to go down the list of my sisters until someone answered. I figured Cara or Jenny may have made stuffed peppers in the past so they might know, and if neither of them answered I knew I could laugh with Laura about how I was totally confused over such a simple thing. Thankfully Cara answered, technically Joe answered, but handed the phone over to Cara. I explained to her my confusion and she said, "well, how did you cut the peppers? long ways or side ways?"

DANG IT.

I cut the pepper long ways. You're supposed to cut them in half on the side, "to make little cups" as Cara explained it.

We decided it would still work, the cups just wouldn't be as deep as they normally would be. I thanked her for her time, and got back to cooking.

I decided since I had already kinda screwed things up, this was going to be a process that needed wine.

I drizzled the peppers (inside UP!) with olive oil and stuck them in the oven.

While the peppers were roasting, I diced 3/4 of a red onion and cooked the ground chicken and onion together. Once the chicken was thoroughly cooked, I added I cup of frozen corn and 1 and 1/2 cup of black beans.

I piled the mixture into the peppers, covered them with cheese (hey! the recipe said to "sprinkle a good amount of cheese"! I was just doing what I was told.) and plopped them in the oven. The recipe says to turn on the broiler and allow the cheese to melt, but I have a gas stove which means you basically have to lay your food on the floor to use the broiler... not happening! I miss using an electric stove like whoa.

The result was... they were okay. I felt like I put a TON of cumin, salt, and pepper in the mix but it was just kind of bland. I liked the yellow pepper better than the green pepper.

I think next time I will use pepper jack cheese instead of Monterrey Jack, and I would have added some other veggies to give it some more flavor. I dosed mine in Frank's Red Hot and that really kicked the meal up a notch.

Cheers to the weekend!

Wedding Dreams

I haven't felt much stress yet when it comes to wedding planning. I have a pretty good plan, and all of the big stuff is already addressed. You already know the bridesmaid dress caused me a little bit of stress, but once that was resolved I haven't really felt much anxiety. I love the details in things, so even the little things haven't really got my stress levels rising.

However, I've already had THREE wedding nightmares. Two I remember, one I do not. I expected these to start creeping in once we get closer to the wedding, but they seem to know no timeline. No matter how relaxed I am about the process, my subconscious or whatever my dreams are made of just doesn't care.

The first one came pretty early, right after the holidays. I was roaming around our reception venue and I couldn't find Sean, or any of my immediate family. All of our wedding guests were lounging around all over the place - there was no music, no food, it was chaos. I remember at one point Elizabeth and I were walking around with presents wondering where I was going to put them. She decided it would be best to lock them in her car for safety reasons, and that's the last I saw of her. I remember thinking, "this is a disaster!" ...And then I woke up.

The second nightmare happened not long after the first, but I honest to goodness cannot remember what happened. And I think I'm okay with that.

{Source}

The third nightmare happened last week. I went to pick up my dress and they told me the dressmaker couldn't make it and had sent a different dress for me to wear. It was AWFUL. It looked like something that a beginner sewer had attempted to make from a pattern she found on Pinterest. The material was that super shiny fake-looking satin material, and it had no train. No bling, either. It was either suck it up and wear that dress or, they said I could try on a dress that I had previously tried on and just sorta-kinda liked. It looked almost exactly like Khloe Kardashian's wedding dress but my curves were not being accentuated in the nice womanly way that Khloe's are... and it most definitely was not Vera Wang like Khloe's dress. But I knew it was better than the shiny fake-looking satin dress they had presented to me. We paid the rest of the bill (in real life, they had better given me that dress for close to nadda!), and as we were leaving the store I stepped down a stair and turned to say something to my oldest sister... and then I woke up.

I've just laughed these wedding nightmares off, mostly because I don't put much stock into what my dreams mean. I know every bride-to-be has them, and they typically never come to fruition.

Besides, as I've said before I have been feeling pretty darn confident about wedding planning...

Until last night.

I realized we are only six months and one week away.

Six months doesn't seem like enough time to get everything done that I want to get done. I could feel the knot in my tummy growing, so I made a list for myself to complete this month (with the help of The Knot wedding app on my phone). I told myself to relax, that I have a great support system in my family and friends, and it would all be perfectly fine. I rolled over, and fell asleep.

My last thought was, "Well, here comes another wedding nightmare..."

Nope.

Instead I dreamed about my sisters and I having a cookout at some house that I have never been in before, and they were grilling mice. Mice. To eat.

To me, mice are single-handily the grossest creatures on earth. I don't think they're cute. I don't think they should be kept as pets. I don't see anything good about them. I think they're sneaky, dirty, and ratty.

And my sisters were going to eat them, grilled & seasoned.

As they were beginning their feast, I remember walking into the back room thinking "this is NOT happening..." ...And then I woke up.

On my drive into work I let this all sink in.

No, no wedding nightmare. No dream about the bridesmaids dresses being the wrong color, or the ice cream cake melting before anyone gets to take a bite... not even a dream about the flowers dying before I walked down the aisle. No wedding nightmare at all the night I had my first mini anxiety attack over wedding details.

Instead, I dreamt that my sisters were eating mice for dinner.