My Blogger Persona

Has anyone else noticed that my blog has multiple personalities? Is it a cooking blog? A family blog? Diet blog? Well my blog, like myself, is quite eclectic... and by eclectic I mean very inconsistent. I like to tell people that I don't know a lot about anything, but I know a little about everything. I also have ADHD (attention deficit) which means that my mind bounces around like crazy from one thing to another and a lot of the time I become "obsessive" about something and do that one thing for a while and then quickly burn out. Then I'll bounce to something else and then burn out and sometimes I'll go back to one thing that I have previously burnt out on and the cycle continues. While this is great if you are a believer that "variety is the spice of life" it can sometimes be cumbersome if you are trying to be consistent at something. Unfortunately my life has never been consistent so that's something that I'm trying to work on. While thinking about my New Year's Resolutions, I really figured out that my real goal this year is to be more consistent. The things I want to be consistent in are all things I've tried, but never made a habit in my life. Here are things that I would like to be consistent in:

1. Photography and taking more pictures and better pictures.
How I will achieve this consistent goal: Making it a point to take pictures every week. Also I am planning on going to my cousin's studio this summer to shadow him.

2. Staying fit. Story of most womens' lives. I just want to quit fluctuating so much so that ALL of my clothes fit ALL of the time and I don't have to have 3 different sets of clothes (really skinny clothing, normal happy size clothing, and "fat" clothing). Currently I am straddling the normal happy size and fat clothing so I want to work on shedding a few pounds on top of staying in better shape. I don't think that I will ever be one of "those" girls that has 0% body fat and looks awesome in everything, but I can be happy with my weight and size and that's what I truly want.

3. Have consistent hobbies. Did you know that I used to be a competitive inline speed skater? On the golf team in high school? A theatre geek? In junior high choir? President of the Home Ec club? An archaeology major? Highly involved in Student Government? A huge movie buff? A budding photographer? A really good cook? A Fashion Merchandising major? An avid doodler and painter? The list goes on. Do I do any of these things on a regular basis these days? Nope. I just want to be more consistent in my hobbies and doing something twice a year does not a hobby make.




In other news, the new Kings of Leon album is phenomenal. I am also really obsessed with the Cee Lo song "Forget You" (but the unedited version). Check them out.

MudQuest!

"It's time to get Mudieval!"

That was the tag line for the MudQuest Adventure Run we did this weekend and boy was it fun! You may be thinking to yourself, "Mudieval?"... well this wasn't just any muddy adventure run, it was medieval themed! Being someone who loves anything "themey", I was all about this!

We arrived in West around 11:00 to check everything out and get ready for our heat which started at 12:45. We found Carl, Jennifer, and Natalie and headed in the gates. We were surprised to see that everyone who had already run their heat was completely soaked and then we quickly found out that you actually had to swim down the creek for part of the course. We weren't exactly prepared for that, but we were all kind of pumped.. and maybe a little scared. :)

We ended up making "custom" shirts on the fly when we got there because we wanted to be a little more unified and I'm so glad we did - it's amazing what a old tank top and a Sharpie can do! Our team was called the "Bad Axes" because a. We're all Lumberjacks (even you Carl - you're honorary!) and b. It worked with the medieval theme!



By the time we got registered and our little "camp" set up, it was time for the race. Can you tell how excited I was?


The course was SO much fun and I'm so glad we did the 3.5 mile instead of the 2 mile - it was really great and the obstacles were challenging enough to push our limits, but not too difficult for everyone to do (especially me and Casey who didn't train for this - oops!). We can't wait to do MudQuest again next year!




After the race we hung out and listened to some of the bands and then headed to our hotel to get ready to go out. We had dinner at Cricket's and then headed to Austin on the Avenue for drinks and more live music. It was my first time dressing up since cutting my hair and it really gave me such an ego boost to see how different I looked - I love my bangs! Here's me and Jennifer!

I picked this handsome guy up at the bar.

A week bit sunburned. :)

And this is how the night ended after a few margaritas...

Not to brag, but my husband won the silly arm wrestling challenge! I am always so surprised at how strong Casey is because he rarely works out, but he still manages to stay strong and fit. Love him!

We had such a fantastic day/night with our wonderful friends - can't wait to see the Waddills in Longview next weekend!

Back to Basics

Now that the wedding is over and I have myself a new husband, I am trying to embrace my role as a wife and partner to Casey. I've always been a very headstrong independent person and even though Casey and I have been together for 6 years now, it's still sometimes difficult for me to let go and let someone be my life. Luckily I found Casey and I want nothing more for him to be my life so I've been in full on "nesting" mode since the wedding. We have completely unpacked all gifts and hung up all of the framed pictures we had/got, I have started making a menu each week so I can stay on track with cooking (thanks for the idea SB!), and I'm trying to find new and exciting things to do with my new hubby. :)

Last week I made Gnocchi from scratch as well as chocolate covered marshmallow s'more cookies that were so yummy! Casey helped with the gnocchi - I usually have no need for a food mill, but this was a time that I needed one, so we had to improvise by pushing the potatoes through a colander... not very easy. Here are some pics:





In the past two weeks I have cooked more than I have cooked in the last 6 months - crazy huh? Here are some of the things I've made so far:

Cuban Red Beans & Rice
Potato Gnocchi with marinara
Casey's favorite enchiladas
French Dip sandwiches
Corn tortilla chicken tenders with spanish rice
Cajun skirt steak with homemade creamed corn
Margherita pizza

As far as the new and exciting things to do, we registered for the MudQuest run in Waco for October 2nd and we are so excited to get to do something so fun with all of our friends. Pictures to come!