Gymnastics Meet

Flipping Over Gymnastics
My friend from Alabama, Courtney (who happened to move to Dallas also), and I went to a NCAA gymnastics meet last night at the Fort Worth Convention Center.  I love watching gymnastics and used to compete myself, so you can imagine how excited I was to see some of the best college teams compete! 

On our way to Fort Worth, we ran into some traffic on I-30.  About twenty minutes later, we found out what the hold-up was --- a small fender bender between, well, how to say this and be "pc"... I'll just say that there were four people out of their cars, yelling at each other in the middle of the interstate, one without a shirt on (yes, she was wearing only a bra that appeared to be too small) and a strappy, black pleather shoe was thrown in the middle of the interstate.  Ah, south Dallas... 
*Sorry, but I do not have a photo of this most interesting event.

We decided to get Mexican food for dinner at Joe T Garcia's, a very popular Fort Worth restaurant.  Well, plans changed once we saw the line.  If we had waited then we wouldn't have seen any of the gymnastics meet!  We found another Mexican restaurant around the corner and had a nice meal.

To The Meet
Courtney navigated us all around town on her i phone, I'm not that fancy so I'm glad she was in charge of directions!

I haven't ever been through downtown Fort Worth at night, but it was so cute!  It was so lively and full of people. There were trees lit up with little lights all in them and an outdoor concert going on.  I'll have to go back one day.

There were four teams at the meet: Alabama, Nebraska, LSU, and Missouri.  Alabama dominated the meet (probably because they had the cutest outfits).  Watching all the events brought back so many good memories for me and made me wonder what I could still do (if anything!).  I enjoyed my gymnastics experience so much and if I had a daughter, I would definitely enroll her in classes. 

Thanks for a great time, Courtney!

2011 Wedding #1

Sarah Payne & Tor Erickson

Our invitation count for 2011 weddings is at three so far. Last night we attended the first one of the year, my co-worker's wedding.  It was a very grand affair, with about 600 guests total.  The wedding was at First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas and the reception was at the Belo Mansion, also downtown.  Sarah looked beautiful and the flowers were absolutely gorgeous.

Next up on the wedding agenda: Heather Murray (my cousin) and then my other cousin, Jennifer Murray.

Candy bar. So cute!

Thanks Katherine for letting me borrow your dress!

I forgot to mention that she had a wonderful candy bar set up that was wonderful and also a photo booth (complete with props!).

Take Me to Six Flags

No words are needed for this post really. It is self explanatory...one of my favorite You Tube clips of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85yop7aV6FY

I feel bad for the kid, but it's too funny not to share!
Happy Saturday!

All Girl Get Together

Fire + food + wine + girl friends = FUN
Yesterday I hosted a small get together with some girl friends of mine.  Will is in NYC for work this week so I thought it would be fun to entertain myself with a party!  The weather has been extremely cold (20's today) so playing outside isn't really an option.  I got really creative with my cooking and made another...yep, soup! I've been in such a soup mood lately.  The menu consisted of: white bean and artichoke bruschetta, creamy potato and corn soup, and chocolate honey pie.  My friend Meredith brought a wonderful cheese and cracker spread, Caroline brought a salad and everyone brought wine!

We had a lovely time and I couldn't have asked for better company :)

(L to R) Katherine Griffith, Caroline Lancaster, Meredith Hubble, Liz Bayless, Kendall Cramer, Ashleigh Range

Caroline, Liz, Kendall, Ashleigh

Ashleigh, Katherine, Meredith

Soup Soup Soup

This cold weather has put me in a soup mood.  Last weekend I made a delicious and hearty soup that happened to be a vegan recipe. It was delicious and filling.

I don't have the recipe on-hand, so if these pictures entice you and you think "Hey, I want to make that" then post a comment and I will find the recipe for you. 

PSP Interviews

For those of you who did not attend Georgia Tech (which I am assuming is a majority of my readership), they have a program called the Presidential Scholarship Program.  It is varying levels of scholarship money, from a quarter tuition up to a full ride.  Melissa got a full ride (much smarter than me!).  Anyways, Will and I offered to host the interviews of two candidates this past weekend.  He and two other Tech grads (both PS's) conducted the interviews and I played 'hostess' for the parents who showed up.

Long story short, I don't want to divulge too much information since it's probably confidential, but the two candidates who came have done more in their 18 years than we've done in our combined 56 years (me 27 + Will 29 = 56... I used a calculator).  Both candidates were interested in majoring in Biomedical Engineering... it's so hot right now!

But, I bet if I interviewed at their house, they wouldn't have had a tea and coffee station set up and table decor ;)

Vegan Update

I confess, I ate chocolate...non-vegan chocolate. It's so hard for me to avoid the milky, sweet chocolate I enjoy so much!  I cooked a delicious vegan soup and have been able to be a vegan except for the chocolate part. So, I'm trying to decide... do I continue with this challenge and be a vegan who eats chocolate or do I forget the experiment all together and eat as a regular vegetarian again?

Here is the vegan soup that I made:
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T minced, fresh ginger
2-3 cups vegetable broth (depends how thick/thin you want the soup)
1-2 cups almond milk (or alternative to milk - coconut etc)
1/2 pack extra-firm tofu, cubed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T coriander
Dash of cayenne pepper
2 T soy sauce (or similar, I used Bragg's)
Veggies, of your liking.  I used fresh spinach leaves and mushroom; but broccoli, cauliflower or even a grain like quinoa would be good in this.  Also, bok choy would be delicious.

Saute shallot, garlic and ginger in a big pot (I used my Le Creuset and it worked great b/c there's a lot of liquid to add).  Add broth and almond milk. Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer.  Add tofu, lemon, coriander, cayenne, soy sauce and veggies of your choosing.  Let simmer until hot, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. 

Pour into bowls and add a handful of fresh spinach leaves.  They will get limp with the heat of the soup.

Enjoy!

The Vegan Experience

January 2011
For the month of January, Will and I have decided to try a vegan diet.  For those of you who may not know exactly what a vegan diet is, here is what my friends at dictionary.com have to say:

veg·an

   /ˈvɛdʒən; especially Brit. ˈvigən'

[vej-uhn; especially Brit. vee-guhn]

–noun

a vegetarian who omits all animal products from the diet.

Use vegan in a Sentence.  "Melanie and Will are vegan."

 

"Why would someone want to do this?" is probably what you are asking yourself at this point. Good question.  The answer is "I don't know."  Will convinced me to try being a vegan because he read about Rich Roll, an ultra-endurance athlete, who is a vegan, and he is apparently... awesome.

 

I agreed to try it for the month of January.  How hard can it be, right?  I'm already a vegetarian.  Well, let me tell you that after one trip to the grocery store, it is proving difficult and expensive. Let's just say that I can't have any of my Lean Cuisine pizzas or pastas that I love so much, nor can I have milk chocolate (except for the Hershey Kisses that are already in the freezer, I mean, I don't want to be wasteful!).  But I'm willing to go with it for a test-period and if I get positive results, i.e. my weight decreases, my face and skin become clearer, or my energy level skyrockets, then it might be worth something.

 

So here goes... check back on me in a month and I'll let you know how it went.

 

Happy New Year!