A squeeze goes a long way.

 An easy and healthy way to treat yourself to freshness!

They've Got Soul

I would like to introduce you to the ones Lyla and I love:

Meet Fredrick:

He came into my life on my 2nd birthday.  He was a gift to me from my sister, Ellen, and my brother, Mason.  Fredrick has traveled the southeast, mostly during the 80's and early 90's.  He has seen Myrtle Beach, Memphis, numerous camp grounds, Camp La Vida, Charleston, Atlanta, and LITERALLY anywhere I have traveled (before the age of 15) and lived. He is happy to be relocated to the warm condo and out of the storage unit he lived in on the bottom floor of the building for the past 20 months. His heart is in great condition and still squeeks at age 25.

Meet Bowties:

Bowties became a part of the Martha Jane Journey in 1988 as a Valentine's gift from my Daddy.  Although his bowtie was misplaced, he enjoys wearing his souvenir "t" from Camp La Vida (our annual G.A. trip with church).  He also is happy to have relocated to the warm condo, although he is not fond of the 4 legged creature, Lyla, who often pounces on him.

Meet Big Mouth:

Big Mouth is getting used to things here in the city.  He joined the group Valentine's Day this year as a gift from my Daddy.  Currently he enjoys playing music when I squeeze his foot after a few cocktails and providing laughter for those who watch me dance (if you can call it that).

Meet Georgy and Georgy 2:

Georgy was Lyla's first toy(pictured on left).  Georgy has been to the Duluth Animal Hospital on two occassions (while Lyla's nails were so called "cut") and prefers not ever going back. Georgy 2 came into the picture shortly after when Georgy was misplaced in the bottom of the laundry hamper.  They enjoy acting as a fetching mechanism for Lyla's enjoyment and helping her show off her dog-like ways. 

Call me crazy - Call us crazy

but to Lyla and I

They've Got Soul

Baked Bacon

Have you ever wondered how to make bacon that is evenly cooked, not crinkled, with no oil splatters?  The answer is the oven! 

Place bacon on a double broiler, place in the oven at 350 (no need to even pre-heat).  Depending on your oven, it may take 20-30 minutes.  Just check the progress a few times on your first baking experience and you can figure out your timing.

It gets better - you do not have to flip the bacon, not even once.  The bacon will cook evenly on both sides.  The bacon grease no longer sits on your bacon, it drips nicely into your lower pan (save grease in a recycled jar and use with your collards or boiled peanuts).

I become overwhelmed with making sure everything is served at the correct temperature.  Now I have no more worries about eggs on the stove, bread in the toaster, fruit cut and chilled, while my bacon is burning and I am trying managing all of my other preoccupancies (I like that word - if it is a word). 

Bake your Bacon!

Lemon Ice Box Pie

• 
  
  7 - 8 lemons
• 
  
  1 can of condensed milk
• 
  
  5 eggs
• 
  
  1/4 cup of sugar
• 
  
  1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream
• 
  
  1 graham cracker pie crust (i like the deep dish)

Squeeze lemons and pour juice into mixing bowl with 1 can of condensed milk, and 5 egg yolks.  Mix thoroughly.  Pour into pie crust and bake for 45 minutes at 350.  

Allow pie to cool for 30 minutes and place in the refrigerator for one hour before serving.

Whipped Cream topping (NO, you cannot buy premade....this is easy and is your special touch)

Mix sugar and heavy whipping cream (keep cold until ready to mix) on high for 1-2 two minutes or until the cream is the right consistency of firm but awkwardly enough, fluffy.  Spoon onto pie and serve.

Endearing is "Monk"

Things I love are often referred to as Monk because since I was little, my sweet Daddy has referred to me as: Monk, Monkey, Monkey Jane, Monk Monk.

Forever endearing is "Monk."

Girls will be Girls

A few of the girls I work with get together often.  The most recent gathering was at my friend Kayte's who lives 1/2 of a block down the street on Piedmont.  Although she lives a rocks throw away, girls will be girls, we will still have slumber parties, and they never change: giggles, make-up, jewelry, and pictures you may regret:

At 5 I wanted a facial mole.  At 27 I want a facial mole.

Cessna 172

This past Friday, Ben cashed in on his Christmas present.  I had given him an introductory flight from the Peachtree DeKalb Flight Academy.  Little did I (or he) know that he was going to be able to FLY the plane.  Flying includes: taxi the plane to runway, take off, and FLY for the whole hour we were in the air.  He had the option of landing the plane, but passed the responsiblitly over to the flight instructor.

We had a wonderful time and it was such a wonderful experience.  Below are a few pictures I took from the back seat...

Goodbye Peachtree DeKalb Airport

Lake Lanier

Lake Lanier Islands

This should look familiar - Stone Mountain - Nice to see from this view, we hiked 5 days prior.

Its my home...my building is dead center!  Midtown

Buckhead

Ready to land...

Valentine's Weekend

Friday

It snowed and this is what it looked like from my home:

I picked these treats up from Buckhead Bread Company:

My best friend from home town, Corn, drove in for concert:

Our friend Jessica from home town (she also went to C of C) came too:

Saturday

For dinner I made a salad and we had pork tenderloin sandwiches on this:

Sunday - VALENTINES DAY

I found these items:

Ate this for breakfast:

While I made these:

We went to lunch with my WHOLE family, then my Valentine and I rode our bikes into stone mountain...and:

we hiked to the top.

Tip for Printing Photos

I constantly wish I had printed copies of the photos I post to facebook, put on blogs, email to friends/family members, etc...  I found an easy and fairly inexpensive way to do so tonight... CVS.com

CVS.com is a user friendly website, an extremely quick upload, and mindless order process.

I uploaded 87 photos, it took 15 minutes from start to finnish, and my photos are available to pick up tomorrow at 10... ALL for 16.57 (if I had chosen to pick up in 5 days, my cost would have been 13.28).

Quick Question

Hibachi dinner last night at Nakato's. It was time for the second couple to place their order...it went like this:

"Sir, what will you have tonight?"
"Quick Question.  On the surf and turf, where it says petite-is it really small?"

It was certainly one of those moments when you immediately look the other direction, try not to laugh, and your boyfriend reminds you not to forget....

After the Quick Question

I looked the other direction (you all know what I mean) I saw this:

This is when your boyfriend reminds you to stop staring.

2010 starts with a New Angel

My nephews make me melt and they have shown me a love like no other.  I am so excited because I am going to be an Auntie for the 5th time!!!!

New Year's Day I woke up to a text pic from Ellen showing a positive pregnancy test!

ELLEN's PREGNANT!

His and Her Cougar

COUGARS BEAT SAMFORD

MJ WINS WITH NEW PURCHASE

 BEN and MJ C of C SHIRTS!

Returning home (Atlanta...still strange) from a weekend in Charleston is always bitter sweet.  However, being able to bring a piece of Charleston home to the city, makes it much sweeter.  Not only do I have new Cougar gear, but so does GA Bulldog, Ben. 

We recently attended the Atlanta Chapter of  C of C Alumni to watch the College of Charleston vs Wofford Basketball Game.  So much fun to join fellow alumni celebrating the victory over Wofford.   

I am ready for the next game, alumni event or not, I've got my New Cougar Fan...

1/2 Cougar - 1/2 Bulldog

Coug-Dawg Ben!