Huntin Deer and Christmas Cheer

Three days before Christmas and I am finished with my shopping list. Actually, I finished on Sunday! I admit, I went to the mall this past weekend and joined the crazies in their last-minute gift adventures, but I am done. Insert sigh of relief. All I have to do now is sit back and relax and await the arrival of Christmas...
I take that back. On Christmas Eve, I have a very big job in our family. A majority of my family gathers (weather permitting) at my parent's house for Christmas Eve pizza. We have been baking them for as long as I can remember. As a curious child, I always involved myself in the pizza-making process some how. I would sit on the counter in flour, play with dough, eat the pepperonis. As I grew up, I took on more important tasks, such as topping the pizza, watching the oven, and still eating bits of topping before it could make it to the raw dough. Now, with the help of a few others, I am the pizza nazzi. Pizza making takes skill. Each year, I get a little better and it's perfected one year at a time. I still use the original hand-written receipe Papa Bob (grandpa) passed down to my mom and me and he still supervises our efforts. Although I am sworn to secrecy, I have a couple secrets to share: dough is made about 4 hours before bake time and the sauce is made the night before. It has to set and settle so all the flavors can shine through. That's all. I might wind up missing if anymore slips out. All homemade. All delicious. All exactly how we like it. I look forward to blessing my family with another great homemade pizza dinner on Friday night.

I have already watched Christmas Vacation for the past 4 nights as I fall asleep and I can't wait until the 24 hours of Christmas Story. Those bunny pajamas and piggy troff, get me everytime! Love laughter.

On other notes...Blake has been enjoying his break from school and hunting...a lot it seems. I'm okay with it because he brings me the game for future dinners. I have yet to cook game, with the exception of dove nuggets for Ashley's wedding shower back in August, but I am looking forward to it. Dove and deer currently occupy a space in my freezer and I'm sure duck will make it's way in too. If you have any good receipes I should try, please share. Otherwise, I will be exploring the internet for them, and hope they are actually good!
In all the years Blake and I have been together, I have never been hunting with him. It's a guy thing, right? Well that might all change soon. We are trying to find a time, before duck season ends, where I can join him and the dogs and "pound some ducks" as he would say. I have used a shotgun once in my life at a skeet shoot where, I might add, I shot about 4 out of 50. If I shoot one duck, I will be a happy hunter. Blake will start back up in January for his last semester. What a great feeling to be graduating!

And for New Years, Blake and I will be going to Dallas for New Year's Eve/New Year's and spending some quality time with my best friend in the whole wide world, Kasey! I couldn't be more excited, especially since I haven't ever gone anywhere for NYE. YEAH!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May His love surround you always and especially during this special time of year.

movie date night

Blake and I treated ourselves to dinner and a movie last night. It was wonderful. We haven't been on a dinner and movie date night in a long time it seems. As a matter of fact, I don't even recall the last movie I watched in the theaters. Our date went a little something like this:

Dinner.
We landed on Zio's Italian Kitchen. I also can't recall the last time I ate at Zio's either, but it was just as I remembered. We each got an appetizer and shared a main course. It was romantic--just like Lady and the Tramp. We slurpped on spaghetti until we kissed while eating the same noodle.

Okay. I lied. It was nothing like that because we didn't get spaghetti, meatballs or rudely slurp our noodles. But it was nice to just sit, be served (by a nice waiter--those are hard to come by nowadays) and enjoy dinner conversations and laughs with Blake. Being the gentleman Blake is, he paid for dinner and we were on our way to the movies.

Movie.
The evening feature we attened? Due Date. With a couple good reviews from family and friends and no real chick flicks to drag Blake in, we "agreed" on Due Date.

Don't read any further if you don't want details revealed, although I'm not a very good movie spoiler, I would hate to upset anyone.

The movie was downright hilarious! I don't remember one part of last night where I wasn't laughing. Looking back, it's very similar to the Hangover. Men Boys on a quest to get home in one piece for a life changing event. Where as Hangover was for a wedding, Due Date was for a first-born birth. No explanation needed really. Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is tormented on a cross-country drive from Atlanta to L.A. Hollywood with an uncanny Ethan (Zach Galifianakis). These two characters managed to make a lifetime of memories on the highways and at the pit stops. While realizing dreams (or nightmares) really do come true, they promise to call e-mail and keep in touch. Sunny, the dog, is a constant laugh throughout as well. If you have a furry companion, there is good probability that one of their weird habits is played out by Sunny. I suggest everyone see this movie, even if you wait until it comes out on DVD, it's a must see. At least in my opinion.

Blake-
Thank you for a wonderful date night. Only next time, it will be chick flick and you will enjoy it.
Love,
Me

Love is the greatest refreshment in life. -Picasso

My best friend, Ashley, married the love of her life, Luke, on October 2, 2010. Many people know their love story, but for those who don't, here is my point of view.

Ashley and Luke met because we all lived in the same apartment complex. It was pretty much love at first sight. Jordan and I used to sit on the balcony just to see what he was up too when he pulled in the parking lot or we caught him leaving the apartment. We like to think we were Ashley's personal spies and looking out with her best interest in mind. Okay. I take all that back. We were just being creepers!

 Luke and Ashley loved each other and it showed with abundance. They had planned a trip to Colorado to visit Luke's brother and sister-in-law. There, in the Garden of the Gods, he proposed! See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Wbf8FGOY4

Close to 7 months later, they were walking down the aisle. Time flew by. The wedding was beautiful! I don't know that I can write about it. It was an experience that can't be explained or justified with words on this blog. Utterly perfect! But, I did include some pictures from the fabulous Saturday night affair. 

After the rehearsal dinner, we went back to Ashley's parent's house to have a last Ashley Stone slumber party. And what would a slumber party be without a trip to Wal-Mart? Not much beauty sleep, but a fun last night with Ashley Stone. The next morning was the bridal brunch. It was delicious. I brought my "infamous" sausage rolls--find receipe here: http://lindsayepps.blogspot.com/2010/10/infamous-sausage-rolls.html. After brunch, we kind of separated to get ready and reconvened at Ashley's to ride to the church together. We got ready, took pictures and they got married and we took more pictures. Forgive my lack of pictures, this is where the photographer's job came in.

After the wedding, we danced the night away at Five Oaks Lodge. Everything was esquisite and divine. To top it all off, Ashley and Luke escaped the wedding frenzy by HELICOPTER! Perfect ending to a perfect night. They spent the next week in the Dominican Republic.

 

 

...and they lived happily ever after!

More photos should be up soon at www.armasphotography.com/emert