The reason I love Tuesdays...

American Idol Girl's Nights!

Almost every Tuesday night while some of our hubby's are at the homeless clinic in Harlem, the girls get together at Abbie's for American Idol. When SYTYCD was on, we watched that, now it's American Idol. We like to critique and comment on the performances and I love to hear everyone's opinions. We snack, and talk between performances, and sometimes during if the performance is boring. It's just an all around good time with the girls.

Tonight the top 7 will perform and I am very excited about that.

I'm going to make this official, my top 3 prediction for American Idol. I may be wrong, but it's fun to guess.

1. Lee
2. Crystal
3. Casey

I think that Lee Dewyze will/should win the entire competition. He is my favorite and he is very talented. There could be a shocker week like when Chris Daughtry got kicked off early, but if the votes go the way they should then Lee will win. If you watch American Idol let me know your predictions.

Requests for New Recipes!

What's for Dinner?

One of the things I was most excited about when getting married was having someone to cook for. I love to cook and thought it would be so fun to plan and make meals. I had this vision of Scott coming home and me having dinner all made for him. My dream didn't include the fact that both of us would both be busy with work and school. Anyways...I need some help! I feel like I am in a cooking rut and need some recipes to help me out. Does anyone else have this problem? If you have any recipes that you would like to share with me I would greatly appreciate it! I will post any recipes that I receive. I will also post any other recipes that I make to hopefully help others out that may have this problem.

Reminiscing

I was looking at some pictures of our wedding this morning, and wanted to post one of my favorites. That's all.... good times! I love wedding pictures! I know when I show my kids someday they'll think my wedding dress was ugly and old fashioned, but I love it:)

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Picture stolen from Abbie's blog. Isn't she an amazing photographer?

Here's the recipe: These cupcakes are really good and semi-homemade which are the kind of recipes I love! This recipe is from this book:

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes:
1 package white cake mix

2 eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups diced strawberries

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 recipe whipped cream

Add sugar to strawberries in a medium bowl. Stir and set aside. Mix together cake mix, eggs, whipping cream, vanilla, and salt and beat until light and fluffy. Pour 1-2 tablespoons batter into paper liners. Add 2 tablespoons strawberry mixture on top. Cover strawberries with more batter and fill 3/4 full. Save extra strawberries for garnish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Allow cake to cool slightly before serving with whipped cream and strawberries.

Frost with Whipped Cream:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar (depending on your preference)

Pour cream into large mixing bowl and start mixing at low speed. Gradually increase speed until cream thickens and soft peaks form. Turn off mixer and add sugar. Start slowly again--to avoid a mess. Beat until stiff peaks form.

*The stiffer the cream, the easier it is to frost the cupcakes. Keep refrigerated.

How many police officers does it take to catch a coyote in NYC?

Apparently 30...Dozens of squad cars... and a helicopter?

If you want to read the news story click here.

I have a love/hate relationship with the E train...today it is a hate

I usually leave to go to work around 8:35, and get to work about 10-15 minutes early. Today was a day like any other day... I got ready, left my apartment at 8:35, walked up to the subway stop, got there in time for the A train, got on the train, and stayed on until 42nd. I got off the train there to transfer to the E.

Side note: Usually I barely miss the E train so I wait about 30 seconds for the next one to come. I usually love the E train. It is so clean and new compared to any other train I've been on. There is a lit up list of the stops, and automated announcements telling you the stop it is and which stop is next. I feel like I'm in a different world when I get on the E after riding the A.

Today was a different day... When I got to the E---5 minutes passed, 10 minutes passed, 15 minutes past without so much as an announcement. There were a few C trains coming through but no E's. Finally there was an announcement saying there was a stalled E train up ahead so there would be delays (obviously). I didn't know of an alternate route because I only know 1 way to get to work (I need to look at the other options). I am terrible with directions and figured if I tried to get on another train or walk that I would completely get lost and it would take even more time. Finally the E train did come and I had 2 minutes until I was supposed to be at work so I knew there was no way I was going to be on time. At our work they give us a 7 minute leeway without being considered late, but even that didn't give me enough time. Once on the train it took the usual amount of time to get to my stop. I ran up the escalator, into the building, through security, up another escalator, and to the elevators going up to the 37th floor. By the time I made it into my office to clock in I was 2 minutes after the 7 extra minutes that we get. I was late, and had to use personal time to cover it....What a way to start the day. Good thing tomorrow is Friday!

And that.... is why I am hating on the E train today. I don't know if it will regain my trust to take me home today...we'll see.

P.S. When I got to work I looked on the MTA website to see what trains had delays and it said the E train was having good service this morning. Ugh....Thank you MTA!

March Madness

I mentioned something to Scott about all the games and it being crazy, etc. Scott in response said, "that's why is called madness!" It's true it definitely is March Madness right now, I can feel it. Last year while student teaching I had a lot of luck with my bracket. This year Scott filled out his brackets, so I decided to also. A few people at work have also been talking about their brackets. That's the part of March Madness that I like: filling out the brackets, and counting the points you are earning from your choices. I like to watch the results and mark them on my sheet. It's funny because I don't watch any of the games, just the score. I think I'm doing all right so far. I feel like I am participating somewhat in all the "madness." I think I said the word "madness" a million times in this post---sorry.

I don't want to be a career woman...

Last night I worked overtime for an attorney that had a deposition today. I ended up staying until 9:30 pm, and I started work at 9:30 am= total 12 hour work day. The good thing about overtime is I get paid time and a half, if I stay past 7:30 I get dinner paid for, and past 8 I get a car to take me home. I decided that I didn't even have time to eat dinner so I just opted to get money which is nice and ate snacks in my bag. Then when I went home I didn't have to take the subway and it took 20 minutes to get driven home. One thing I realized is that I haven't been in a car since we were home before Christmas. It felt so different to ride in a car other than the subway or bus. Weird to say you haven't been in a car for 3 months...different life.

Working a long day made me realize more than ever that I do not want to be a career woman. In fact, I never have. I'm just working to pay the bills so we can take out less student loans for now. That's not so bad to say is it?

Top 12 of American Idol

I am still not over the fact that Alex was kicked off last week as well as Lilly. There are so many bad singers that are still on the show. It's sort of frustrating there aren't as many good people as there used to be.

This week was very boring. I'm not going to go through all of the performances because I wasn't all that impressed. For the first half of the show I was reading a book during it while I watched. My favorites are still Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox. Lee sang a weird song, but I liked his voice. Maybe I can convince Scott to like him because the judges compared his voice to Dave Matthews.

I didn't get to watch the results show because we had an Activities Committee meeting. I tried to record it, but I didn't set the timer right. I read online and Lacey Browne went home. I don't think she's good enough to win the competition, but there were others that deserved to go home before her. I'm okay with the results--my fav's were safe which is all that matters.

I hope next week is more entertaining!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Getting dressed this morning I realize that I don't own many green things. I found a shirt that has small light green polka dots, and a green clip I made. I have not gotten into St. Patrick's day as much as I usually do. I usually make a green jello cake like my mom makes, which I didn't make this year. I made some jello cupcakes on Sunday for our ward potluck---does that count? I read on facebook that my mom made her cake, and little sis Courtney had a green lunch. Next year, I'll plan St. Patrick's Day out better.

I hear it gets pretty crazy on the streets here in the city with everyone partying at the Irish pubs so I hope to get home before that all happens.

P.S. A coworker of mine went outside for lunch just barely and saw someone outside already throwing up from drinking today... he told me to be aware and cautious going home--oh great...

The problem with umbrellas in New York City...

When it rains anywhere else, umbrellas are very useful. Here in NYC it seems that most rainstorms are accompanied by wind which makes your umbrella useless.

Saturday, I went with Abbie to go up to 207th street to teach the YW in the ward to make hair clips. We were meeting up with a few other people to head up there. When we went outside it was crazy! It was so windy that we felt like we were being pushed along the way. It was also rainy so I had to make a decision: was I going to get wet? or sacrifice my favorite umbrella? I decided to get wet. I had straightened my hair for the day which was pointless because my hair got wet, and I had mascara on that was not waterproof which smudged up my eyes a little bit. We finally made it to the apartment we were meeting at while seeing sacrificed umbrellas along the way. On the way home it was the same story except it was raining harder. Again, I didn't want to sacrifice my umbrella so by the time I got home I was soaking wet. I looked like a wet dog coming inside the apartment. Needless to say I never left the apartment again on Saturday.

Here's the umbrella I didn't want to ruin:

There was a surprise waiting for me in our apartment when I did get home though... Scott did all the laundry when I was gone, so it was all done! I was very happy after that! Made up for the bad weather. Thanks again Scott!

P.S. Maybe I should get one of these... ha ha


P.S. I wish that I had taken these pictures, but I never have my camera with me. These are just similar that I found online.

American Idol Results Last Week

I was shocked to find out the results from last week! I'm going to make this short and to the point.

Katelyn was the right choice to go home as well as Todrick. Lilly and Alex should not have been sent home. I sure hope they do a wildcard pick or something and bring at least one of them back. If not, the show will not be as good as it could have been. I'm going to start voting which I never do this early on. I don't usually vote until like the finale, but now I'm scared that my favorites will get kicked off...

Real Life Verizon Advertisement

An attorney that I work for was on vacation in Aruba the other week and he told me that he wasn't receiving e-mails on his BlackBerry, not getting service. I called our tech department and told them the problem. I received an e-mail today saying that the issue was resolved and this is what it said:

Ticket Information:

Call Type: Hardware
Description: User is not receiving e-mails on his BlackBerry. User is traveling abroad. User has T-Mobile.
Resolution: User switched to Verizon

Resolved: 2010-03-11

American Idol Guy's Night Review

I reviewed the girl's night of American Idol, now is time for the guys.

Lee Dewyze (23 year old from Illinois)
He sang "Fireflies" by Owl City. I really loved this song! There were a few not so good notes, but I don't think it matters with him. He's probably one of my favorites because he reminds me of David Cook. I like the rocker kind of voice he has. I think he will go very far in the competition.

Alex Lambert (19 year old from Texas)
He sang "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne. Even though he still seems scared to be on stage, I think he is really good! He has such an amazing voice, very different. He just needs confidence and that will come with time. I think he'll stay in for a while.

Tim Urban (20 year old from Texas)
He sang "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. I am not a huge Tim Urban fan, but this week I liked him more. He was a lot better than in previous weeks. I kept comparing him singing to Jason Castro when he sang that song a few seasons ago on idol, and they don't compare. I enjoyed Jason Castro's version a lot better.

Andrew Garcia (24 year old from California)
He sang "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera. I don't think this was the best song choice for him. The lyrics were a little awkward with him singing them, but then again I didn't like it when Christina Aguilera sang it either. I really like his voice though and I think he has a lot of talent.

Casey James (27 year old from Texas)
He sang "You'll Think of Me" by Keith Urban. He was all right. My favorite song that he sang was "Heaven." Nothing else has really compared. He needs to pick better songs.

Aaron Kelly (16 year old from Pennsylvania)
He sang "I'm Already There" by Westlife. I don't like Aaron Kelly at all... I just don't think he is anything different. He sings songs that are obviously too old for him, and don't even relate to him. This song he sang was about a dad and his kids. I think he could go home this week.

Todrick Hall (24 year old from Texas)
He sang "Somebody to Love" by Queen. I have never liked Todrick but last night I did. He was one of the only ones that actually moved to the music, and got into it. Everyone else was pretty stiff. I love Queen though so maybe that's why I liked it.

Michael Lynche (26 year old from Florida)
He sang "This Woman's Work" by Maxwell. He was really good last night. I'm not a huge fan of Michael but I do like his personality. Last night he was one of the best though. I think he's getting better and better. He doesn't really sing my style of music, but I'm growing to like him.

Wow, 50% of the boys are from Texas! Usually it's more spread out than that. Last night was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting more from the guys, but parts were a little boring. I would say my favorites are still Lee Dewyze and Alex Lambert.

Tonight, they will announce the Top 12. I'm excited for next week when the Top 12 will perform and that's when the competition I feel really begins!

I'm going to a Broadway Show with my hubby tonight, so I'll have to look online to see the results of tonight. We are going to see Next to Normal which I am so excited about! That's one thing I love about New York---Broadway!

Homesick

There are some days that I get homesick. Sometimes for no reason at all. I'm pretty good most of the time at being okay away from home but sometimes it just hits me.

I read on my sister Amber's blog today that my nephew Keller, is talking now. He says a bunch of words, when I left he wasn't talking at all. I am missing him learning to talk, I also missed him learning to walk. These are big milestones in his life that I missed out on. By the time I see him he'll be like a year and a half.

Sometimes I forget that people's lives back home are still happening. I guess I just think that their lives are on pause because I'm not there. I realize that is not the case. I know I'm going to miss out on a lot while we are living away from home. It's just hard sometimes.

We're taking a trip out in June when my little bro Cameron returns from his mission. I am super excited about this trip! It's the only thing that is getting me through this long stretch away from my family. I'm trying to figure out the maximum days that I can take off work to go. I guess for at least a week, I won't be missing out on so much.