May Travels

Wow, I can't believe how fast May went by and now June's flying by, too.  May was a busy busy month!  Michael and I went to NYC for five days for our birthdays...his is May 8, mine is May 9.  The weekend we got back from NYC we packed up and went to Dallas to see Dave Matthews.  Then, the next weekend we flew to Kansas City to visit Michael's mom.  THEN, a few days later I headed to Tulsa with the fam to see Paul McCartney. THEN, I packed up and went back to Dallas for a girls weekend.  Oh, and did I mention we got a puppy somewhere in between the madness?

Birthday Dinner at Carmine's

Dave Matthews Concert

Paul McCartney!

Memorial Weekend in Kansas City

Andie

New York State of Mind

Get me here ASAP.  My 6 a.m. flight can't come soon enough.  Here's to celebrating the big 3-0 in style!

A Cinderella Story?

It's official, March Madness is underway and as we all know, the NCAA basketball tournament SO much more interesting when there's money on the line.  I'm hoping to pull a victory in my pool so I can pay off my NYC vacation coming up in May.  With a $20 entry fee, the winner should get a pretty good chunk of change.  Here's my bracket:

Keep your fingers crossed I win, friends!  

Peanut-Thai Pasta

I thought my days of pasta were over because there was no way I was going to find a recipe that was tasty AND clean.  Thank you 100daysofrealfood.com for proving me wrong!  A couple of coworkers made this recipe and recommended it, so I figured I give it a try.

The ingredients in the sauce may sound unusal, but trust me, you should give it a try.  When I originally made the sauce it was a little salty.  The comments suggested using a low sodium soy sauce, but I was already using a soy alternative with very little sodium, so I made a few tweaks (Side note: I use Bragg Liquid Aminos instead of soy sauce.  I started using it when I did the Daniel Fast last year and loved it, so it's now a staple at my house.)  To down play the saltiness, I added a little more peanut butter, some honey and olive oil  and it worked perfectly!  I will definitely be making this again.

Ingredients

• 8 oz whole wheat spaghetti noodles (1/2 box)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ cup chopped fresh basil
• ½ cucumber
• Optional: Crushed red pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and basil until combined into a smooth mixture.
3. Once the pasta is ready, drain and combine with the soy sauce mixture until pasta is evenly coated with sauce. Dice half of a cucumber and toss together with pasta. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Sunny Days

Do you remember seeing Sesame Street Live when you were a child?  Well, my brother Nick and I do, and even though we couldn't have been older than five, it is a childhood memory that we both cherish.  With that said, Nick and I wanted to share that experience with our niece, Lily, so yesterday we packed up the family truckster and headed down to the Cox Convention Center to see Sesame Street Live.

Lily doesn't watch much television, so I don't think she really knew who Elmo was going into the show, but that soon changed!  Once we got to the show we immediately headed to the overpriced toy kiosk where she picked out a lighted spinning Elmo toy. She loved it...for about five minutes.

Then came the anticipation of waiting for the show to start.  This is where she started to psych herself out.  She got really quiet, then when Big Birds voice came over the speakers telling us to turn off our cell phones, Lily let out a big, "no no no no" cry.  Nick and I looked out each other and thought, "this can't be good."  Thank heavens we were wrong.

Once the show started, Lily kind of just took it in.  She sat on my lap pretty subdued.  About ten minutes into the show she passed out.  Expensive nap!  We let her sleep through the first act and intermission, then we woke her up.  In typical Lily fashion she woke up in the best mood and ready for "Melmo".  

 She absolutely LOVED the second act.  She danced in the isle and got excited anytime "Melmo" sang.  So to recap, 30 minutes of uncertainty, 30 minutes of sleep, 30 minutes of unadulterated fun.

Talk Is Cheap, Literally

I'm not a fan of silence while I'm in the shower or getting ready, but I'm not a fan of morning news, either.  So my solution, when I'm not listening to Howard Stern (he's only live M-W mornings), is to listen to an array of podcasts. For anyone interested in checking one out, here are a few that are in my rotation:

Doug Loves Movies - Comedian Doug Benson invites his friends to discuss movies and play the Leonard Maltin Game.  If you don't know what the game is, I suggest you look it up.  It's pretty entertaining and I catch myself playing it when I'm the car with movie buffs.  Most of the DLM podcasts run about an hour, which is perfect for my morning routine!  My favorite guests are Jon Hamm (go figure!), Samm Levine, Sarah Silverman and Edgar Wright.  

The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons - The B.S. Report is for all of you who enjoy sports talk mixed with pop culture.  Simmons discusses sports and pop culture with celebrities and media personalities.  The best podcast guest he has is Chuck Klosterman.  If you don't know who Klosterman is, do yourself a favor and read his work!  Chris Connelly is another guest you should make sure and tune in to.

Grantland - This is probably my favorite of all the podcasts. Grantland was started by Bill Simmons (see B.S. Report) and is a varied collection of podcasts hosted by Grantland writers and friends of the site.  Grantland, like the B.S. Report, focuses on pop culture and sports.  The difference, besides the contributors, is one in every four podcasts is sports related on Grantland where the B.S. Report is three in every four.  My all-time favorite contributor is David Jacoby.  I could talk reality television with him ALL day EVERY day!

WTF with Marc Maron - WTF is a hit or miss for me.  Whether or not I listen to the podcast strictly depends on the guest.  Marc's a great comedian and interviewer, but I can't listen to an hour chat with a guest I don't have any interest in.  Luckily for me, I'm interested in 70% of his guests.

Mohr Stories - I debated putting this on the list.  A couple of years ago I was a big Jay Mohr fan.  I'm pretty sure it was based on his appearances on Watch What Happens Live and his Real Housewives of New Jersey Blog.  Actually, I'm 100% sure that's what it was.  I'm pretty sure I'm not the only fan he accumulated during that time because right as his fan base was growing, he started Mohr Stories. I tried to listen to every podcast, but finally, I had to cut it out of my weekly rotation. I got tired of hearing about hot his wife is and listening to his Barry Katz impersonation every episode.  Occasionaly I'll tune in, but it has to because he has a guest that really interests me, i.e. Andy Cohen.  

How Did This Get Made? - The title says it all.  Have you ever seen a movie so bad that it's amazing?  Two of my favorites from The League, Paul Sheer and Jason Mantzoukas, along with June Diane Raphael, break down that exact question about some of the classics that are so bad, they're...well, they're still bad, but in an amazing way. 

Fresh Air - Fresh Air is hosted by my favorite interviewer of all time, Terry Gross. The show features intimate conversations with politicians, public intellectuals and celebrities. 

I use the iPhone app, Instacast for all my podcasts, except Fresh Air (download the free NPR app). I think I paid $1.99 for Instacast and was DEFINITELY worth it! 

If anyone has a podcast they think I'd like, please pass it along!

Two-rific

This past weekend we celebrated Lily's birthday with family and friends.  She had an exotic animal petting zoo, complete with a kinkajou, large tortoise, lemur, hedgehog, coatimundi, and a ferret.  I wish I would've gotten some photos of the party decor.  We had a popcorn machine, along with cotton candy, a hot dog bar, cookies and cake.  It all turned out very cute.

Lily wasn't too sure of the animals in the beginning, but she warmed up to them.  Here she is giving the kinkajou a hug.

Like Lily, grandma Smith had to warm up to the animals.  Here she is reluctantly petting the kinkajou.

Lily loves her friend, Gus!

My favorite animal of the day was this guy.  He's a coatimundi, which I believe is part of the raccoon family...don't quote me on that!

Lily ended her big day with a soak in the sink with her cousin Cooper.  This is my mom with her sister Rita, Rita's grandson Cooper and my grandma Smith.  Don't the Smith women look alike?

Here are a few more pics...

 

Happy Birthday, Lily!

I can't believe my sweet little niece turns two tomorrow!  It's been so fun watching her grow up the past two years.  She is at such a fun age (for her aunt, anyway!)  I love when I walk through the door and she recognizes me, even though when she sees me, she always asks where her uncle Nick is. Oh well!  Happy Birthday, Lily!

My grandma Smith got to deliver her first great-grandchild