TEXAS

I'm headed to Texas on Tuesday. In fact, I should be in bed right now because my flight leaves at 7am, but here I sit. Anyway... it will be a very family-filled week. Jeremy won't be joining me on this trip because he has clinicals. I thought I'd showcase my sweet nephews who I can't wait to spend time with!

My sister Julie is a little over a year older than me, and she has 3 boys: Cade (3.5 years old), Reid (1.5 years old), and Cooper (born January 15). Julie and her husband Daron live in Houston.


Here is a picture of Cade and Reid visiting a fire station where my cousin works. Apparently Cade absolutely loved the fire truck, and Reid was way more interested in the dog!!









Here is Cooper having a very serious talk with my dad about the upcoming election.....










My sister Jennie is almost 3 years older than me and lives in Plano, TX (suburb of Dallas) with her husband John, their dog Shaft, and now their son John Landrum Loftis V, better known as "Landry". He is almost 8 months old, and he is quite the busy boy. Here he is applying moisturizer after washing his face. It's never too early to start taking care of your skin.




See you soon, boys!

A good meal

I attended a dinner party this week at my friend LouAnn's house. The intent was to eat dinner and watch the women's NCAA tournament (my Texas Longhorns got absolutely crushed by Connecticut, but the evening was fun regardless!).

I helped Lou make the dinner, and I thought I'd share the menu in case anyone is looking for something to try. It's pretty easy, but quite yummy. We got rave reviews from everyone who attended.

Chili Rubbed Flank Steak

1 1/2 lb flank steak
1 T chili powder
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t olive oil

Combine the spices, mixing well. Using a fork, stab the flank steak a few times. Coat both sides of the steak with the olive oil, and then rub the spice mixture all over it. Let sit for at least 30 minutes so the flavor gets absorbed into the steak. Broil (not bake!) for 10 minutes without turning for medium rare. Let sit 3-5 minutes, then slice very thinly and serve. Serves 2-4.

Herbed Basmati Rice

2 t margarine (I use real butter)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice (jasmine rice works too)
1 cup water
1/4 t salt
2 T thinly sliced green onions
2 t minced fresh basil (dried works too, but fresh is always better!)
1 t minces thyme (same comment as above)
2 T grated fresh parmesean cheeese
2 T toasted pine nuts

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add rice, stir well. Add water and salt, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in green onions, basil, and thyme. Sprinkle with pine nuts and cheese and serve. Serves 3-4.

Stawberry Spinach Salad

organic baby spinach
organic romaine lettuce
blue cheese crumbles
salted almonds
sliced mushrooms
sliced strawberries
Kraft Organic Raspberry Dressing

Add whatever quantities of each ingredient you want, and add the dressing just before serving.

I suggest a nice red wine to accompany the meal, but that is of course optional.

Enjoy!!

The Answer

The phrase Jat and Julie were trying to figure out (from a previous post.... you can watch the video if you don't know what I'm talking about) was....

A game of rummy.

HEPA What???

...I killed our vacuum cleaner. I didn't mean to, but I did.

We got this nice Eureka vacuum cleaner for our wedding back in August of 2001. I think it was from my in-laws. Can't remember. Anyway... it was one of those cool "bagless" kind, where you just have to dump out the stuff instead of changing a bag. I really liked it. And it advertised that it had a HEPA filter, which I really have no clue what that is but it's supposed to be a good thing.

No one told me you have to actually change out the HEPA filter from time to time!

So, 6 and a half years later, that filter had never once been changed. Apparently, it is supposed to be changed every 3 to 6 months! Oops!!!

Did everyone know this but me?

So.... when we realized this recently, we bought a new filter, but alas, it was too late. The motor burned up and started filling smoke in the whole house. So now we have a nice new vacuum cleaner and I let Jeremy be the first one to use it. (See how I just did that? I "let" him be the first one.... he thought he was being honored, but really it was just a ploy to get him to vacuum!)

Here's the new vacuum's inaugural use:

If you look closely, there's a beer on the table. Jeremy needed some refreshment from all that hard vacuuming work.

Birthday Reflections

...So I sort of sounded whiny in my last post about turning 35.

A couple of good things surrounded my birthday, however.

For one, I was taken to a wonderful restaurant called Four Square Restaurant in Durham by my sweet husband. It was quite delicious. Jeremy had antelope of all things! In addition, he had arranged in advance for this nice treat:


It made me feel special, and after dinner he took me to the UNC campus to listen to some awesome jazz.

Another fun thing that happened was that our friends the Thompsons and the Bensons came over for some games and fellowship. Here's a little peek at what our evening was like.

I promise we were all stone cold sober! I didn't get Jat and Julie's permission to post this, so maybe I'll have to ask forgiveness later. :-) (We were playing a game called Mad Gab - LOTS of laughs came from it!)

I'm Thirty Five

I turned 35 on March 1st. I've been waiting for inspiration to say something smart and insightful about being this old, but I got nothin'.

I'm kind of over it now, but I really did struggle for a few days with turning 35. I've never had any issues with getting older in the past... in fact, I looked forward to it. I LOVED turning 30. But 35.... well, this one got me. I don't feel old, per se, but my body is quite noticeably different than when I was 25. There are a few jiggles here and there, I am a couple of pant sizes bigger, and my skin isn't quite so smooth and tight. I have wrinkles on my forehead and around my eyes, and some veins on my legs that stand out. And I have hips - where did they come from? I never had hips when I was 25.

My husband will read this and will lovingly remind me that this happens to EVERYONE in the world and that I am beautiful to him. And I will appreciate it when he says it to me. But that doesn't mean I won't still notice all those things.

I want to embrace my age because God uniquely created me to be born on March 1, 1973 to Pat and Linda Daly. I just need some supernatural help embracing it.

Anyway..... no neat conclusion to this post. Just some thoughts on Thirty Five. And like I said, I'm mostly over it now. Mostly.