Myrtle Beach baby!

I am seriously SOOOO excited for my trip to Myrtle Beach in a few weeks! I've never been to Myrtle Beach before (let alone South Carolina). I am excited to have 5 days of bumming around, laying out by the pool, wading in the ocean - just maxin' and relaxin'. Randy & I need a break!

I have to admit, I'm not a huge "ocean" person. It may be due to my upbringing in the landlocked Midwest, where the biggest body of water I saw was Lake Petersburg. Maybe seeing "Jaws" one too many times has something to do with it as well. But I think the experience that tainted the ocean for me was the first time I ever tried surfing on a Carolina beach.

I was with a friend at her beach house and her brother & boyfriend tried to teach me how to surf. I had only splashed around in the ocean a bit but hadn't gone too deep out there - which obviously is a necessity if you're going to catch any waves. Before going in, I asked her about any creepy crawlies in the water and she mentioned that there are some jellyfish - but she never knew anyone who has ever been stung by one. So I took comfort in that and braved the deep ocean water (Ok so my feet could almost touch the bottom so it wasn't that deep...but it makes the story sound better, doesn't it?).

It was my first time trying to get up on the surfboard and I started screaming in pain - my left leg and right foot were on fire! The boys brought me to shore (I think they were half relieved to see that I had all my limbs intact) and examined my leg & foot. Sure enough - a jelly fish got me. Nobody wanted to pee on me to get the sting out (and even though it hurt SO bad I wasn't up for that either) so I had to hobble back to her beach house to get some meat tenderizer to rub on it (which, oddly enough, worked). I think that happened was that the jelly fish stung the back of my leg & then I kicked it. All I know for sure is that I had a huge painful welt for a few days.

Since then I've only stayed close to the shore. But who knows? Maybe this vacation I will decide to venture out in the deep water again. Then again I might just hang out by the pool and drink mai thais.

Things I used to believe ...

This morning on my way to work I was listening to my favorite morning show. They were talking about "what you used to believe" when you were a kid. I chuckled when I heard one lady said that she thought if you touched an "outie" belly button that it would make the person's legs fall off and one guy said that he used to believe winter was caused by too many kids leaving the refrigerator door open.

The innocence of a child is precious - it is something that you will never get back. In a world full of harsh realities, it's nice to think back to a simpler time - when the biggest thing you worried about was what you were going to have for a snack. Here are a few things that I used to think way back when:

- New Jersey was a far off kingdom with kings and queens. When people used to ask me where on the entire earth I wanted to go, I would say in a voice of wonderment "New Jersey."

- If you picked your nose a bug in your head might chew your finger off (I think I got that from a Shel Silverstein poem!)

- Everyone's teeth & gums were removable. My gramma has dentures & I remember one time she took them out & showed them to me - I thought everyone's teeth did that & I couldn't understand why I couldn't take mine out too.

- My ultimate goal in life was to be a waitress at Pizza Hut.

Here are some ideas that I had - that I think were pretty common:

- If you ate a watermelon seed that you'd grow one in your belly.

- If you crossed your eyes then they'd stick like that!

- Chocolate milk came from brown cows.



What are some of the silly things that you believed as a kid?

I knew it!!

My mom is a Photoshop Junkie ... this is how the "family picture" looked this year:


my momma is so creative!!

Family get-together

I live far away from my family - My parents are in Illinois, but I also have a sister that lives in Oregon (+3 nieces), one in Chicago (+1 nephew) and a brother in Indiana (+1 niece). It's not often that the entire clan gets together. So we designate Thanksgiving as our family get-together, but my oldest sister can't usually make it. So instead she comes during the summer.

That is what's going on right now as we speak. Janelle got into town earlier this week and the rest of the sibs are heading down to my parents' house for the weekend. This will be the first time that the entire clan (my parents, 3 siblings and the entire crew of nieces & nephews) will be together since 2005...and that wasn't even complete because I wasn't able to make it. Unfortunately I am not able to make it home this weekend either so I will be the odd man out. I'm super bummed!

The last time I saw Janelle was in 2006 - and I haven't seen her 2 oldest daughters since 2001!! They're growing up so fast and I hate that I have to watch them grow up through pictures! Family get-togethers like this are the main reason that I hate living so far away.

Last time everyone was together, they took a "family picture" and this is what it looked like:


Too bad that's not a framed pic of my Glamorshots that I got in 3rd grade. Now THAT would be a great family portrait!

BBQ

Depending on where you live in the country, there are different definitions to what "BBQ" is. There's Memphis-style (pork with a dab of cole slaw on top), Texas-style (brisket with sauce on the side) and then there's Carolina BBQ. The locals rant and rave about their barbecue - but I must say that I'm not too impressed. The meat is marinated in a vinegar-based sauce - with no red sauce to be found. People from all over the country live in our area, so many local joints have some sauce available on the side to try & appease us northerners - but it, too, is a vinegar sauce and I am just not a fan of the BBQ in this area.

I blame this on my upbringing - when living in TX it just didn't feel right eating brisket all the time. The BBQ of my youth is my preferred variation. This is something Randy & I both agree on - pulled pork with a sweet red sauce incorporated.

And we just found the best place for this kind - - our kitchen. Yes, ladies and gentlemen I am a barbecue goddess.

Last night I made the slow cooker pork BBQ recipe (posted on here earlier this week) and it is DIVINE. I mean seriously it is delicious. I made Randy a big sandwich heaping with the goods - which he promptly wolfed down. Not only was it SUPER easy to make but it was also very scrumptious - the sweet sauce was amazing. Randy is not a "left-overs" person - but he requested that we eat the remaining pork BBQ tonight.

**p.s. that recipe came from Cooking Light's sister magazine, "All You." I think I'll start looking for recipes in that magazine to try out. This was just THAT good.**

Restaurante Bethy

Wow, I just want to let everyone know that I tried THE BEST seafood place this weekend - it's called "North Seafood Bistro". It's in my friend Sara's new neighborhood and seriously this place was PHENOMINAL. I had one of the weekend specials - a peach/cranberry salmon with peach chutney on top. Wow. The salmon had this delicious crust on it - I even spoke with the chef before we left so I could rave about his cooking! They had a very extensive menu - I also want to try their coconut shrimp (I hear they're TO DIE FOR), crab cakes, and their shrimp quesadilla also looked delicious!

The menu at Restaurante Bethy isn't quite as exensive - - but these are the specials this week. This week I decided to do a main dish, a new side & a slow cooker recipe.

Fresh Tortellini with Mushrooms

Cheddar Grit Cakes w/Roasted Peppers

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

We're going to eat GOOOD this week!! And plus the chef rocks.

This is the greatest ...

This is HILARIOUS! Dogs really are special creatures - they keep us entertained (whether they know it or not!)

Read this - - you'll laugh your face off.

What "silly" thing do you do to keep yourself entertained at home?