A Wine Festival with a little Ike!

The band boys!

The newly engaged couple with hubs

Moi


Hubs aka the hottie!

Yesterday, we headed to the local wine festival with some old friends (who are newly engaged) and drank some beer (strange, I know, considering we were at a wine festival) and partied the night away. It was fabulous seeing the band mates again and partying with their gals!

Last night was also the first night B slept at Grammie and Grandpa's. I was hesitant but hubs assured me he would be in good hands, and when we arrived this morning, he was happy as he could be. He apparently slept well, ate well, and was an all around good baby. Go B! Thanks Grammie and Grandpa for letting us get a night out on the town!

The only unfortunate thing that happened that evening is the newly engaged couple was up from Galveston. They have a house down there and they drove up for a little vaca. The problem being that they didn't know Ike was about to hit them, so they boarded no windows, didn't take all their cars and had to leave their stuff.

We are not sure of the damage, but we are praying everything will be ok. I would ask you to keep them in their prayers that all their stuff was not lost in the flood!

Hurricanes Starting with I...

Back in 2004, when Hubs and I got married, Hubs planned this amazing honeymoon to Jamaica. It was at this beautiful 5 diamond resort in Ocho Rios, adult only, with only 70 rooms.

When we arrived, we drove down windy roads, and finally ended at this iron gate. It was the most beautiful hotel I had ever seen. It was quaint but grande. It had paintings and when we pulled to the entrance, 2 bellman came to greet us. One grabbed the bags, the other opened the door and asked what we wanted to drink.

"A pina colada" I said, and hubs followed suit.

As we sat in the lobby, we could hear the swish of the ocean. The cool breeze came in the through the back and we closed our eyes for a minute, just enjoying the moment. This was going to be awesome!!!

We were headed to a room (ocean front of course - that's all they had) and we saw this spectacular view!

It was heaven. The pina colada was slowly taking its effect, the breeze was the perfect temperature, and the room was gorgeous! We couldn't wait to head to the beach!

So, hand in hand, we walked down to the beach to scope it out! It was simply breathtaking.

After only 2 days there; however, we noticed we could be in for some trouble...
Hurrican Ivan was possibly heading our way.

Nah, we thought. It's not gonna hit us! What is the possibility of that?

But... on the night of the 3rd day, all the guests were called in the lobby for a "meeting." Hurricane Ivan WAS going to hit us, and it was quickly picking up speed. Possibly a catagory 5.

We were scared but calm, until we saw the owner of the hotel tell us, while gulping a glass of wine, if the weather man was right, we were in its direct path.

We all stared at the board and saw the path - DIRECTLY on top of us.

OMG!!! What are we going to do? Leave, stay?? We started freaking out.

We tried to get a flight, but unfortunately the airport had shut down due to the hurricane. We were stuck and we were in it for the long haul.

The 4th day quickly came and we really starting noticing the weather. While out on the beach, we saw men in trees cutting coconuts out of branches, we saw the chandelier being tied to the railing, and we saw the weather become darker and darker!

This is the day before it hit.

We had "meetings" every night to prepare us. We were supposed to take our clothes and put them in our suitcases and put them in plastic bags and lay them on the bed. We were supposed to bring all valuable items with us. We were to wait in our rooms until they told us we had to go into a bunker.

The hurricane was due to hit us in the middle of the night, so we were told to dress comfortably and for very warm weather. If the hurricane got up to winds of 60 miles an hour they were going to have to turn off the generator.

So... we waited. Then, shortly before 5 pm, all guests - including hubs and I - headed to the bunker.

At first, it was a blasts, we drank champange, ate shrimp cocktail, and talked with other guests. But soon, we could hear the wind ripping outside the doors. We heard things crash and things fall to the ground.

Then, at around one in the morning, they told us the winds had become too strong, they would have to turn off the generator.

The bunker

We sat, with 50 people, from all over the world, in blistering heat. It was the most uncomfortable I have ever been.

You couldn't sleep, because of the heat, and the people that did sleep were snoring so loud it was crazy!

Finally at around 10 am the next morning, we were able to grab our things and head to the room.

This is what we saw:

The damage had been done.

As we walked to the room, I thanked God no one was hurt and for keeping us safe.

The rest of the trip was just as amazing as the first days.

There were beaches, dinners and laughter, only now we knew every guest intimately!

We call ourselves the 04 bunker squad!

So, as hurricane Ike prepares to hit Texas, I say bring it ON!!! Catagory 3... you've got nothin' on us!

A Totally Random Blog

So many things happened this weekend, I just thought I would lump it all in one!

First, we got a very pleasant surprise! We had lunch with Chad and Bri on Saturday. It was so awesome catching up with both of them!! I miss hanging out with those guys. Here is a picture from Chad's last dinner in Dallas.

Then, unfortunately, Chad got a flat tire, but the good news was we got to spend all weekend with him. It is so funny to have a "brother like" figure hanging out to help us with stuff around the house.

On a totaly random note...

We grow Basil, Rosemary, and Bell and Jalepeno Peppers. The picture up there are all the peppers we just picked today. OH My Gosh! If you want some fresh Japs or Bell Peppers feel free to email me :)

And finally, I read this awesome blog called Ms Adventures in Italy. She is this American Gal in Italy and lets us know all about the difference in culture, not to mention all the cool places to visit!

So, as I was reading, I noticed there are all these awesome recipes! I clicked on

http://www.pinchmysalt.com/ and found an AWESOME recipe for Pumpkin Scones! Woo Hoo!

Here is the recipe from her page.

Pumpkin Spice Scones
1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. raisins (optional)
1/3 C. pumpkin puree
1/3 C. heavy cream
6 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refridgerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).
2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.
3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.
4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

Icing: For ginger molasses icing, stir together 1 T. molasses, 1-2 T. milk, and 1/4 - 1/2 t. ground ginger (to taste). Adjust the amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick. For cinnamon icing, mix together 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, 1/4 - 1/2 t. cinnamon (to taste). Again, adjust amounts to change consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.

Here's to you Chad...

I don't even know where to begin. I guess from the beginning...

I moved here in 2000, I got a job as a waitress and met my best friend, Steph. On my 19th birthday party we ran into a couple of guys, who happened to have gone to high school with Steph. Chad and M(aka HUBS). We all know what later happened with M:) Chad, on the other hand, is a different story... I remember we all meet, over a game of pool, and there was just something unique about him. Something I had never met in anyone, in Texas. He was wordly, had a great personality and loved the same things I did. We were the best of friends, from day one.

I remember we used to do everything together. We used to take Neil (his black lab) to the vet, & on walks. We used to go grocery shopping, out to eat and golfing. Litterally, we were inseperable. There was never a romantic connection, just an amazing friendship.

As I look back, I realize that Chad has been at almost every important moment in my life. He was the best man at our wedding, he was the first one we called when we found out we were pregnant, and he was the first one to comfort me (besides my loving hubs, M) when we found out we had lost the baby.

Chad has been an amazing friend to both M and I! M has known him for 30 years, I have known him for 7, but it would not have been the same had we all not shared those moments.

This Saturday Chad leaves for Med School, near Houston. Although it is only a 5 hour drive, I feel as though I am losing, one of my very best friends!

All the luck in the world, to you Dr H! You will be greatly missed!