Time to go Desk Shopping...

....because check out my birthday gift from my wonderful husband!!!

Photo Credit

But here I am starting in the middle of the story and didn't we just talk about how starting at the beginning was the way to go?

Let's start over:

Jay had me open a couple gifts during the day Sunday - the first one being a roll of Necco wafers (it's one of my favorite candies from growing up), the second was new earbuds for my iPod (apparently the headphone thingys I have now are passe), and then after everyone was safely at the airport, he had me open my "final" gift:

Photo Credit

I have wanted Photoshop for a while now, and was so excited to finally be able to play around with photo editing and creating digital images to use for other projects! As I was asking him if it would work on our computer (which is a Powerbook that we just LOVE, but is getting a little slow because it's overloaded with photos that I am working on getting saved elsewhere), he disappeared. I sat there on the couch and then heard him coming back in the house from the garage area with a big box.

"This is your REAL gift" he said as he put it down in front of me.

OMG OMG OMG. It's a big box! And it's for me! It didn't take long for me to rip it open and find this:

(cue: angels singing)

Isn't it beautiful!? The screen is huge (24 inches!) and it's so shiny and pretty and fancy and OMG I CAN DO SO MUCH WITH IT!

Right now it's all set up on our coffee table which is pretty much just making me nervous because we use this coffee table for eating dinner, putting up our feet, etc. My new friend needs her very own special place, so I've started looking on Craigslist and Ikea for some ideas. We don't have a lot of room so we're thinking of a corner desk of some sort. The great thing is there is no need to worry about storing a CPU - it's all in one sleek package!

I'll be watching some Photoshop tutorials over the next few weeks and soon enough will be able to share with you some fun things I've learned!

Thanks Jay for topping off what already was the best birthday ever!

Weekend Update: Do They Have Air Conditioning? And Birthday Celebrations...

As you can imagine, it was a whirlwind of a weekend! We had such a great time with Stacy, Tricia & Sean I don't even know where to start...though I hear the beginning is always good, so let's give it a shot.

Thursday, I worked all day which was a challenge knowing my sisters were here in town! But I snuck out a little early and got home by around 3:00. They had slept in and spent some time at the pool, so by 3 they were refreshed! Jay had just gotten home from work too so we hung out for a little bit until Sean was ready to be picked up from his conference. It was super convenient because the event was only a couple miles from our house! After picking up Sean, we headed to the Rustler's Rooste for Happy Hour and to enjoy the sunset over the valley.

Sisters

Brothers (in-law)

I had planned to make chicken piccata - one of my favorite dishes - but when Jay suggested pizza, I didn't complain. The chicken wasn't thawed and we were all hungry! We went to our favorite pizza joint and caught up over a few slices. It was a pretty early night, but we had a busy weekend ahead of us!

Friday morning, the boys went to work and the girls and I headed to the Camelback Inn Spa. It is frequently ranked as one of the top 10 spas in the world! Tricia and I had Swedish Massages and the Desert Rain Loofah (highly recommended) and Stacy had the Desert Nectar Honey Wrap which she loved.

After our treatments, we let everything "soak in" in the sauna for a few minutes, then enjoyed lunch outside by the pool. The food was delicious! For dessert, we had chocolate fondue - making sure to cut all the dipping items into 3 pieces so nobody missed out! After lunch, we laid out by the pool for a while (Tricia & Stacy actually swam - they thought it was hot out!?) and then headed home around 4.

We picked Sean up from the conference and then I brought everyone to Tempe Marketplace to walk around while we were waiting for Jay to come home from work. Tricia & Sean liked our printouts from the "Gene Machine" at Dave & Busters, so we had them make their own. Basically, the machine takes pictures of two people and prints out an image of what your future child might look like. Someday I need to post them on here so you can see how petrified I am of having a girl. It's BAD! :)

Once Jay came home, we headed to Chino Bandito for dinner - it's a must for first time visitors. Tricia didn't like it last time we took her but this time she found something she liked. Stacy did as well, but it was super busy and the end of the night so they ran out of what she ordered! And they ran out of Snickerdoodles!? It was just wrong! But the Chino experience is a requirement and we checked it off our list.

Saturday morning, Tricia & Sean got up early to run. Weirdos :) Sean took his own route by our house while Tricia went running with our friend Erin and her running group. Saturday's run happened to be up South Mountain, so Tricia was in for a (steeeeeep!) treat! She had a great time, enjoyed running in a new place, and I'm guessing worked on her endurance (now 11 miles on flat terrain should feel easy, right?!).

And, just in case that wasn't enough for them, we decided to take everyone on a hike up Squaw Peak. Here are the girls at the top:
Stacy got her Saguaro (cactus) pics on the way down and we headed home to "rest" before going out on the town for dinner. Sean and Tricia went to the pool, Stacy & I got ice cream and went shopping and Jay "rested at home" (turns out he was wrapping my birthday gifts!).

We went to Rula Bula for dinner on Saturday night. I love Irish pubs and this one is in downtown Tempe on Mill Avenue. I thought our guests would enjoy all the activity down there as it reminds me of Church Street back home. I was so happy to have so many friends come to celebrate with me! Here are all the girls:

Tara, Stacy, Kelley, Tina, Tricia, Krista, Kiera and Me

Here are all the boys...misbehaving as usual.

Sean, Joe, Jay and Jeff

Here is the whole group: And the birthday girl (that's me!) with her favorite man:

Sunday was my actual birthday and though it was such a happy feeling to wake up knowing my sisters were in town, it was sad because we had to say goodbye. We dropped Stacy off at the airport around 10 and then Tricia, Sean, Jay and I went out to lunch before dropping them off around 1:30. I kept my tears to myself until we were in the car and managed to hold myself together pretty well considering.

Wanna know the best way to distract yourself from sad things like saying goodbye? Laundry. It works like a charm. So laundry I did - 5 loads in fact! Towels, sheets, and clothes are now all fresh and sparkly clean. So I got home tonight and was able to take a nap - now how cool is that?

I have more to post about the rest of my birthday, but that will have to wait! Be back soon!

100th Post and OMG.

Wow. 100! Can you believe it? In just over a year, we have told 100 stories on this blog. Stories that we will remember forever - stories that reflect on the first year of our marriage. I love it.

And you know what else I love? Surprises. Last night at 11:00 - way past my bedtime- Jay and I went to pick up Tricia & Sean from the airport. Sean has a conference here in town and Tricia came along. I was so excited to see them - the first time since their wedding in May. Anyway - I was greeted with a huge hug from Tricia at the curb and there was Sean with his camera taking a picture? I'm thinking: What the heck? I figured it was for their blog. Maybe they were starting to get all picture-happy like I am here on this blog or something. Anyway, then Tricia announces, "Amers, I want to give you your birthday present". I'm thinking: WTF? It's 11pm and my birthday isn't until Sunday. Let's go to bed! I have to wake up in 6 hours!

And then something happened that I didn't even consider as a possibility.

This girl came out from behind a column at the curb and stood there all like YAY! LOOK! I'm here! And I was all tired and confused and all...WHO ARE YOU? I better hurry up and figure out who this girl is because I'm supposed to be surprised and stuff...this is my birthday present!

And then it clicked. HOLY SH*T. It's Stacy. My sister that is afraid of flying so horribly that she didn't dare rest her head on the window of the plane because she thought it would break and that would be the end of it. My sister who has never been to Arizona in the 7 years I've lived here. And when I finally realized it was her, I bawled like a baby. Because that's what I do. And still less than 12 hours later, I'm tearing up as I write this. I know, not a shocker.

Here are the ugly but very real photos that Sean captured. I like how in the first one you can see Jay's surprise too.

Bawling:

Anyway -the three of us will be together all weekend! And with no wedding or big family event to worry about. Jay and Sean better watch out. This is one for the history books and it is just beginning.

xoxo
A

Oh, and P.S. we have spa day tomorrow and Stacy already booked her treatments too so it's all worked out. They've been planning this for weeks.

Weekend Update: Celebrating 7 Years and More...

What a whirlwind of a weekend at home!! We started it off by rooting for the Cornhuskers at our local Nebraska bar on Saturday afternoon. We don't really want to talk about how the game ended, but the good thing was that I was sporting my new red Nebraska t-shirt that I have been waiting for YEARS to get! I ordered one for myself and surprised Jay on Saturday morning. I finally felt like I belonged in the sea of red!

Saturday night, Jay surprised me by taking me out to dinner at Chompies.

It was such a special date because 7 years ago Friday was our very first date there. I wish I had a picture of us back then, but instead I'll tell you that he asked me out for soup. Not for dinner, or a drink, but soup. And I said yes and the rest is history. And now here we are all happy and married! I can't believe how time flies!
And now for the food pictures because what is our blog without food pictures? Jay insisted I try something new so I had the Monte Cristo sandwich. It was good but a bit too sweet for me - at least for dinner. I think it would be a great breakfast because the bread was actually french toast....and you dip it in strawberry jam!
Jay had two appetizers for dinner - the chopped liver with bagel chips and the stuffed cabbage roll. Can you believe those are appetizers? Their portions are huge!! Lots of leftovers for breakfast Sunday morning though and apparently the chopped liver was even better in the morning. *ick*
I don't know why I didn't take pictures of dessert because it was delicious! Jay had a fruit tart and I had a mini eclair & a mini cannoli. You gotta love Jewish delis - delicious food and even better pastries!

Thanks, honey for a wonderful surprise!! I love you!!


On Sunday, we headed to North Scottsdale to celebrate Tara's 30th birthday. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and enjoyed beer, wings, and friends! It was so much fun and the birthday girl had a great time! Here she is with Kate looking rather serious:
The girls - Kiera, Me and Tara
I had to get some good Kate time in. Kiera got her to smile at just the right time!
And for those of you who know about Jay's 6-month rule, he finally got to hold Kate for the first time - way past the 6-month mark. Better late than never!
I just had to post this one because look how sweet she is all cuddled up to her mommy!
Tara and I needed a break from the football, so we went next door and got some gelato. MMMmmmm it was so good!
After the games, we headed over to the movie theatre and watched "Couples Retreat". It was really funny and we all laughed - especially at the other "show" we saw while the movie was going on! All I have to say is our 12-year old daughter will never go to the movies without an adult! Holy Moly!


We have some very special guests coming this week, so look out for another fun-filled post soon!! xoxo

From our Kitchen: Going Green(er) Part Deux

My husband cooked this up last night:

Well, it's barely cooked. Just enough to give it a soup vs. salad feeling when you eat it. I took some to work for lunch today accompanied by a snack-size bag of Doritos and must say it wasn't that bad. And it's pretty. I've never had purple soup before!

From our Kitchen: Going Green(er)

Well, let's just say our kitchen is looking a little GREEN these days. Jay is on a healthy/detox kick and therefore we have cucumbers and kale growing out of our ears. I am throwing a leg (and maybe a big toe) up on the bandwagon and have been increasing my veggie intake, but will not be going all out like Jay due to many reasons - one being that my soy and nut allergy severely limits my protein sources.

Anyway - this week is liquid veggie and vitamin week, so Jay's "meals" consist of blended up veggies. Check out this delicious dinner:
Oh how I wish computers were scratch & sniff! The raw GARLIC is...well...let's just say I think my nose hairs burned off while he was blending this up.


Monday he'll be back to real food - just mainly in raw form. Until then, he's "enjoying" (??) experimenting with different veggie combinations and pushing through. The great thing is that there are a TON of veggies in our house and I have plenty to take to work with me for afternoon snacks!


We've always been great veggie eaters, but so far this has been a great boost for both of us.


Anyone have any good salad recipes??