A Haiku

*Not really because I'm not totally sure what constitutes a Haiku, and I don't feel like Googling it.

If I wrote a Haiku it would be about shoes

Not just any shoes but shoes by Great Loub

Shoes of black and white and red

Shoes that make the other women pout

Check these bitches out

Christian Louboutin

My Christmas present to my Mama because she loves shoes just as much as I do.  Late, but still great.  Enough of the rhyming.  When I figure out what is equivalent to Louboutins in the man world I will totally buy it for my Daddy.  My parents are the best.

Oh, and P.S., I wrote that Haiku myself.  Just in case you couldn't tell.

Wish You Were Here

*Please bear with me because this will be quite personal today and may not make a lot of sense.

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

~Pink Floyd

Same song, same liquor, different tears.  I love you, friend!

Since this only makes sense to two people in the world, I will say this to everyone else.  Being a good friend is the hardest and easiest thing in the world.  It will always make you a better person.  Hug your friends every chance you can, whether they think they need it or not.

Have a great weekend, everyone XOXO



Baby Food

Gerber got nothin' on me.  Little J still gets the jarred (actually plastic containered- if that is a word) stuff every now and again because it is easier, but we are trying to make his food.  Daddy Jax is the king of the emersion blender! 

I can't wait until we have fresh blueberries this summer.  We have blueberry bushes in our backyard.  And a pear tree.  And garlic plants... which are weird because I didn't know that they were garlic.  You pull them out of the ground like weeds!  Clearly, I did not grow up in a farm/garden-type environment.  Let's see, what else do we have?  Peaches, tomatoes, cuccumbers, squash (my absolute all time favorite), zucchini (second fave), spinach, snap peas, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, other kinds of peppers that I don't know what they are, have had watermelon but they didn't turn out too well, and a variety of herbs.

This post really took off in a different direction.  Whatever.  I don't live on a farm or anything, but I do live on a compound.  And I grew up on a plantation.  For real.  Okay, so it is a plantation that was turned into a golf course country club type thing, but it is still a real plantation with a Manor House.  And it is in a long line of old plantations.  Lowcountry SC, y'all!

So, as I was saying, now I live on a compound.  And there is a small garden.  But that is behind my In Law's house.  They live next door.

Wasn't I talking about baby food?  I can't wait for all of those fresh veggies!  I do wish I had a lime tree... that would be super awesome for vodka tonics, vodka sodas (sometimes with cranberry), Crown and ginger, and key lime pie.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is true stream of consciousness that you are witnessing.  You are welcome.  And sometimes I really talk like this.  Some find it irritating, some find it endearing.  Take your pick.  I just reread it and I find it highly annoying, so I apologize.  But I can't delete it.  I've come too far (Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle, anyone?)

Next week I will try to post something worth reading instead of having a brain explosion of useless bullshit all over my blog.  I hope you still love me.  Erm, nevermind, I won't get into the awkwardness of telling people you don't know that you love them.  Okay, I'm done.  I promise.

Restaurant Week- The Library at Vendue Inn

Restaurant Week starts this weekend!  Yay!  That means ridiculously low priced, three course meals at many of the fantastic restaurants all over the state.  And our pick is...

The Library at the Vendue Inn.

The menu is as follows:

1st CourseFried Green Tomato & Crab Cake Stack5-Herb Cream & Red Pepper Rouille
Tuscan Calamari
Tossed With a Balsamic Glaze and Chiffonade of Basil

2nd Course
Shrimp & Grits
Bacon Wrapped Pan Seared Shrimp, Jalapeño Cheddar Grits and Orange Horseradish Marmalade
Pan Seared Crab Cakes
Herb-Parmesan Jasmine Rice, Roasted Green Beans & Lemon-Chervil Beurre Blanc
Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Butternut & Apple Wood Smoked Bacon Hash, Collards, Apricot-Jalapeño Chutney
Greek Lamb Burger
All Natural Ground Lamb, Cucumber Salad, Feta Cheese, Rosemary Parmesan French Fries and Garlic Aioli

3rd Course
Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Selection of Homemade Gelato
Choose Three of the Daily Offerings

And we are doing the three courses with wine pairings.  AND, as if that weren't enough, we are getting a room downtown so that we don't have to worry about driving all the way home!  How exactly is this possible when we have an almost seven month old?  He is going on a big boy adventure.  My parents are taking him on vacation this weekend.  I'm sad because I will miss him desperately, but I'm excited because Jax and I have a very nice weekend planned, including a visit to one of the rooftop bars with friends after dinner.

Did I mention that I'm going to miss him desperately?  No amounts of fried green tomatoes or wine will change that.  But I am certain that he will have a great weekend and be so excited to see his Mama and Daddy on Sunday.

I will tweet y'all, complete with pics, over the weekend to let you know how I'm holding up.  Anyone want to take bets now on when I crack?  Other than the obvious, when he leaves... oh God, I might just start the tears now!

I've Been Away Because

Of this...

That is not snow, that is ice.  Snow would have been way more fun.  And that is our fire pit.

And this...

PS.  Thank you Liz for the book.  I am FINALLY reading it!



I couldn't get to work yesterday because of the ice storm we had.  Constant sleet for hours.  However, it was the perfect day to snuggle down with coffee and warm jammies and read Twilight.  Obviously, I took care of Little J, but he has been napping well lately and likes to play on this floor with his Daddy.  Awesomesauce.

So I'm approximately 200 pages in and I have one burning question...

When do I decide if I'm Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Do I have to finish the whole book to even be worthy of an opinion?  Is it something that will gradually take over my soul like that ocher eyed, bronze haired, stealth figure captivated the clumsy schoolgirl?  Seriously, I'm so over the word "ocher" and I'm not even halfway through the book. 

I'm not thrilled with it so far, but it is pretty good.  This coming from someone who has only read school books for the last three years- well, until I graduated to "Guess How Much I Love You" and "Where The Wild Things Are."  Good stuff.

So I want to know, since of course we have already established the fact that I'm the last person on the planet to read the series, what Team are you on?  And when do I get my T-Shirt, damn it?!

Detox

I mentioned in an earlier post that I wasn't drinking for a while.  Two weeks, approximately.  Why?  I guess I just felt the need to kind of detox from the holidays and hopefully jump start my weight loss. 

Wine is just empty calories.  Why hasn't someone invented Diet Wine?  We have Diet Coke, Bud Light, and various other low-cal beverages.  Maybe this can be my million dollar idea.  Don't any of you steal it!

Anyway, last night I almost caved.  Three days in, yikes.  Not that I was craving it or anything, but we were having spaghetti.  And what is a good Italian meal without wine?

Well, maybe it was Italian (which is kind of besides the point, I guess).  I actually cooked a spaghetti squash.  Squash and spaghetti are two of my favorite things, so how awesome would it be to combine them?!

Not, really.  The squash was so hard, I swear I thought I was going to lose a digit or slit my wrist or something.  The cooking and scraping out the insides wasn't bad.  Overall, it just didn't really seem worth the trouble.  It isn't like it is hard to do, but it is SO much easier to just throw a handful or whole wheat angel hair pasta in a pot.

I'm getting hungry....

Let's Talk About Weight, Bay-Bee

When I got pregnant I weighed... I was a size... I was a lot smaller than I am now.  Here is the truth, I gained 50 pounds with Little J.  Sometime after the first trimester I lost weight instead of gaining and a certain someone (Mama) plied me with cheesecake and cupcakes and cookies until I became obssessed with sweets.  I mean, I have always loved them, just never really ate a lot of them.

And then, low and behold, around week 29 my body went ape shit crazy and the doc told me I could no longer walk on my treadmill or wash dishes.  The latter did not hurt my feelings AT ALL.  Therefore, I put on way more than I should have- because of the treadmill, not the dishes, duh. 

So now I'm eating better and blah, blah, blah.  I hate to exercise.  There, I said it.  I don't want to do it.  I tried to get myself psyched up for Couch 2 5K, then I got strep throat.  I see it as an omen or something.  I truly think I would rather just not eat than exercise.

The bottom line is that I have a little less than 20 pounds to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I would be super happy with a loss of 10.  I'm not making it a goal for 2011 because.....  Just because.  Losing weight is stressful enough, I don't want to put a time limit on it- though I would like to be comfortable in a bikini this summer.  Woe is me.  What to do?  I'm tired of squeezing into pants that don't fit me.  Buy some new ones, I know.  Fucking boo!

When does the "baby weight" excuse start getting flimsy and just downright ridiculous?  How do you eat a salad when that cheeseburger on tv is staring you down?  Maybe I should just start eating in my bikini....

All Your Base Are Belong To Us still makes me laugh.  I'm a big nerdface. 
On YouTube if you haven't seen it.

*Disclaimer:  I know that you gain weight when you have a baby and I would very willingly do it all over again even if I weighed a glorious 300 pounds.