Wine, Egg Hunts and BEST Oven Fries Ever!

So my night out was wonderful! I didn't end up having a cocktail, but did have plenty of white wine and raw oysters (oh, how I have missed you!).  It's amazing what nine months of abstaining can do for on'e tolerance- I have become quite the lightweight.

I was so excited to take Dell Harper to her first Easter Egg hunt at the church Sunday afternoon.  I got her all dolled up, replete with bonnet (which she was not a fan of), got Hubs and Mama to join us, and readied my camera.

To arrive in an absolute downpour!

We all huddled in the breezeway with the babies, while the older kids got sopping wet.  That's what I get for being vain and staying up late to straighten my hair the night before!  It cleared up when we got home, and we snapped some pics (ruined hair and all) on the front porch.

Saturday night I made the BEST oven fries! I am attempting to clean out the freezer, and I unearthed a huge package of ground tenderloin made from trimmings by the butcher.  Mama and Daddy came over and we feasted on tenderloin burgers and oven fries.

The recipe for the fries comes unsurprisingly from America's Test Kitchen- writers of Cooks Illustrated.  Their cookbooks are some of my favorite reading material, and appeal greatly to the Home Ec nerd in me.  Each recipe details the various incarnations and techniques tested to produce the very best recipe.  For one of my science requirements in high school I took Nutritional Science- besides English, probably my favorite class I have ever taken.  Cooks Illustrated is like that- edible experiments!

Anyway, here's the superbly simple recipe:

Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes (baking potatoes)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees
Cut the potatoes into evenly sized wedges (I got about 6 per tater)
Put the potatoes in a large bowl, and cover with hot water.
Let soak in the water for 15 minutes
Meanwhile, cover a rimmed baking sheet with 4 tablespoon of oil, making sure it is evenly distributed.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the oil.
Drain and potatoes and pat dry with paper towels.  Wipe out the bowl, and put the dry potatoes back in.
Toss the potatoes with the remaining oil, and lay out in a single layer onto the baking sheet.
Cover the baking sheet tightly with foil, and bake for five minutes
Uncover and cook for 20 minutes.
Using tongs, flip each fry over and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and try to let them make it to the table before devouring!

New Project- (dreams of grandeur and laundry)

So Hubs and I have decided to really redo our laundry-mudroom area.  Earlier we had discussed knocking out the laundry closet, adding some built-ins and leaving the basic room intact.  Well, in what seems to be the normal route of thing, we are now planning on knocking out walls, reorienting the powder room, adding a utility sink, and new floors.

So I present my pictures to Hubs and our contractor. (most are from Southern Living or  My Home Ideas).  They spluttered and laughed- apparently my mudroom ideas will result in the laundry room being the nicest area in the house. 

Well, why not?  Men!

These are what I'm really aiming for- I love the green, and think it could really make stock cabinets look interesting.  The piece on the right is where I would build in my desk organization area (a place to put my mail- what more could a girl ask for??)

Well, maybe a laundry organization island.

I think I would actually like to do laundry if I had this thing. I could iron on top!

Oh, who I am I kidding?  With my propensity for clutter, especially clutter of a clothes related nature, I wouldn't see the top of this thing much.

I still want one though.

And a utility sink.  So I can cut flowers from my (currently dead) garden.

The biggest proponent of this new mudroom?  Buddy Bear, of course!  He thinks that his room should most definitely be the nicest in our house!  After all, he is the dictator in training (I joke with Hubs that when we procreate and have a bunch of blonde kiddos running around, we will stage a blonde coup d'etat, overthrow Hubs as our leader, and Buddy will become our benevolent blonde dictator.  Obviously, Hubs thinks I am insane).

So we are waiting on the estimates, which I am sure will likely nip this in the bud.  Until then I will consult with Buddy and add more things to our mudroom wish list- Viva la Revolution!



Walking in a Winter Weekend

This is while decorating the Christmas tree.  If I only had my makeup and hair fixed, this could be a Christmas contender. If I only had a brain.  Which clearly I don't, as I mailed 10 invitations the other day sans postage.

Anyway, Buddy does not like a Hubs-Samma hug.  No- if there is hugging going on he has to be right up in there.  We were laughing about it, and had to demonstrate for Mama.  

Saturday was a double header with Hayes one year old birthday party.

 His buddy Fletcher is almost one himself.

 Between having to change half the invites for my family's chili party to include new family members, and all the babies at the party, the amount of friends who have procreated in the past year was really brought into perspective.

Not pictured- Baby Benton, born Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and Baby Wiley, born Saturday after Thanksgiving (and their mamas).

So we scurried home and got dolled up for Christmas cocktails.  I said goodbye to my baby, who was dying to scratch up my polka dot tights.

And did not take a single picture at the party, which was very photo worthy.  Why?
Well, according to this pic ripped from Facebook, I didn't stop talking the entire time.  It looks like I'm in the middle of an excellent story here, no?  Hee.

Sunday night got super cozy with a fire, Christmas tree, hot chocolate, and SNOW!

This is what we woke up to Monday morning.  I was too much a weenie to drive the Barbie Dream Car, so Hubs had to take me to work.

I should have sledded there.

How was everyone's weekends?  I love parties, especially holiday ones!  Any snow in your neck of the woods?
And here is one more gratuitous picture of my sweet blonde boy-

He does not like holiday parties.  He likes his parents to be home playing with him at all times!

Cult Classics

Do y'all remember watching the same movies over and over again in early high school?  We would go out for a little bit- I can't for the life of me remember what in the world we would do (hang out at people's houses, I suppose) then all of girls would spend the night at one girl's house and watch movies.  Grease was a perennial favorite, which we watched constantly.  The other three were not quite such, um, classics. 

Dazed and Confused- Texas, last day of school, seventies and pot.  Love Parker Posey in this- "Fry like little piggies, bitches!"  It just made you want to haze people, no?

"SENIORS! SENIORS! S-E-N-I-O-R-S!  SENIORS! SENIORS! Seniors are the best!"

My "character" was played by Joey Lauren Adams.  Basically she was me because she was a squinty blonde with a squeaky voice.  MOH was Parker Posey's character- guess you were mean in high school, MOH?  I was Frenchie in Grease- squeaky voice again.

Have y'all heard this weird story about Jason London (aka Randall "Pink" Floyd)'s twin brother, Jeremy (who was never as good looking IMHO)?  There was a lot of smoking in the bathroom at my high school, just like the movie.  (Ahem, there was probably some pot smoking going on in my high school's bathroom just like the movie as well- I don't know from personal experience, Mama!).

Ah, then there was Mallrats.  Back when Kevin Smith was still funny, Shannen Doherty had a super cute shag hairdo, and motorcycle boots which I coveted with all of my super tough fourteen year old heart.  Oooh, Jeremy London was in this one!   The London brothers were so hot in the early-mid-nineties! And Joey Lauren Adams is in it also!

Now Mallrats captures that weird moment of 1994-1996 so well- those pictures that would turn 3D if you squinted at them, flannel, mini-florals, and the concept of mall rats in general.  Do people still just hang out in malls?

Ah, then when it was time for something scary-

"Mr. Walk-a, I'm here for your daughter."  So many good nineties clichés in this one too- I mean the rave in the warehouse in Seattle?  Incredible.  Hahahaha, when Marky Mark pounds his chest to make it look like Nicole's dad punched him?  Hilarious. 

Wonder why Reese never discusses this movie when she talks about her early work?  Maybe because she gets a hand up her skirt riding a roller coaster and trying to look orgasmic instead of uncomfortable since she's in public while a cover of Wild Horses plays?  Or maybe it's the dog head (shudder) that comes through the doggie door when Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch attack the house.  Unfortunately, Nicole gave him the code so he could swipe her v-card while her parents were out of town.  Don't you think you would be able to stay awake waiting for such a momentous occasion?  Such a great movie.  Alyssa Milano, the best friend?  Such a beee-yotch!  Never liked her since Fear.

So what were your repeat horrible yet wonderful high school flicks?  So many to choose from, but these were definitely my favorite.

Hair and Dress Questions

Ugh, scanner is broken, so y'all will have to wait to see pics of MOH doing important stuff together like prom and going to Sonic.  Also, she wanted me to clarify that the first picture in yesterday's post is from an eighties party.  We were not that old in the eighties and victims of mass amount of botox and surgeries.

Thanks for all the dress compliments ladies!  I wish I had taken a pre-alterations picture, because is was cute but veering dangerously close to MOB territory.  The dress is from Dillards, and the brand is Cachet.  It's not online, and the brand's dresses that are on the website are frighteningly middle-aged.

The dress was taken up about an inch, a fussy belt was removed, and more crinoline was added for extra poof and Betty Draper-ness.  I kept the rest simple with pearls (including the coveted South Sea pearl ring of my grandmother's mother's soon to be mine), and sleek (but big) hair.

Yes, I teased the hell out of my hair (much like I used to do to all the boys, hee- uh, Hubs if you're reading, just kidding!). With the use of a massive amount of hair spray, I was about an inch taller and ready to dance!

It's Ball Time

So, after a post where I talk about not wearing makeup for four months, let's talk makeup.  Since y'all have helped me choose my dress-

Hair-

Now it's time to talk makeup- I love a red lip like Michelle is sporting above, but the thing is I never remember to reapply lipstick.  Just this morning I rocked out Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks, complete with interpretative dancing perfected freshman year of college, and not performed since.  Why I can remember all those lyrics and gestures, and not to put on lipstick is a mystery best left unsolved. So that leaves me dramatic eye.  What do y'all think about these?

1.

2. 

3.

What do y'all think? Should I take these pics in, and which one do you like best?

Evening Gowns Galore

Before tackling the mass amount of superficiality contained within- please know you can help earthquake victims in Haiti through Wyclef's organization by texting "Yele" to 501501.  It's legit (I discovered through NY Times, which is publishing excellent updates online), and a $5 dollar donation which takes about 3 seconds. Now on to clothes.

So, cotillion is the third weekend in February and I recently decided to confuse the matter by ordering another dress from Sak's (it was half off and only in my size, such is my lack of willpower). Between MOH and myself, no decision could be reached! So she took some snaps, and put the decision to the world wide web.  Background info- in these pics I am wearing both grannies and tights, so excuse any lumpiness caused by such under-attire.  Also, I am obviously going to be tanned and groomed, and the dresses will altered appropriately- both taken up, and the blue needs to be taken in.

Also, excuse my messy room at my parents' house.  As MOH puts it- it's a bit of a black hole.

So ladies- I can't decide!  One is far pricier than the other, but they are both good deals.  Girls are pretty split between wearing blue or red dresses.  Red is my signature color (seriously, hahah it is), but everyone will expect me to be in red.  The things that occupy my brain are sometimes frightening in their vapidity.

Teen Witch!

I adore this movie. So strange, yet late 80's good. Somehow, although Louise possibly does naughty things with the popular guy in an abandoned house, (because she has cast a spell on him, naturally), this movie escaped the ban imposed on similar slut-tastic films such as Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman.

Teen Witch made an indelible mark on the cinematic world by its ground breaking implementation of rap in a movie set in white bread suburbia.

Just kidding. Top That is pretty awesome though.

So anyway, imagine my distress when I read this. Ashley Tisdale- blergh.

I have a far better suggestion- Blake Lively. This sounds odd, but the perfect interpretation of Louise Miller is in her genes. Her sister, Robyn Lively, starred as the title teen witch in the original. Crazy, huh??

Celebrity Lookalikes- my doppelgangers

So everyday I am asked "Has anyone ever told you . . " The answer is "Yes. Yes, they have."

The reply is in response to my uncanny resemblance to Leann Rimes.

me

her

I would not mind having her tummy!



However, sometimes people switch it up to two other squinty blondes.

Michelle Williams

The hairdresser on Dawson's Creek must have hated her, btw.

Or Renee Zellweger (obviously immediately before or after a Bridget Jones movie when she is sandwich eating size)

So what do ya'll think? Which squinty blonde do I most resemble? I'm not sure- probably Leann without her nose? Weird.