The last one for 2008

First thing's first: Two blog entries ago, I mentioned that I got a really short haircut. This picture is about 3 weeks old, so it has grown just a bit. I hope you enjoy my new Dutch Boy-esque coiffure.

Best thing about a short 'do? -- Badass chicken hair in the morning.

If I were truly brave, I would leave the house like this.

Just like the rest of you out there, Sean and I are wrapping up the holiday season and preparing for 2009. Can you believe yet another year has passed? Where does time go so quickly? Sometimes the seasons seem to drag on and on, but in other ways they feel like they're gone in a flash. As I walked out of the grocery store tonight, the cold weather hit me like a block of ice. (Ok, so it was probably only 40 degrees...but I'm a wimp.) My immediate reaction was a shiver and I thought, "I can't wait until the warm weather arrives!" But I had to remind myself to let it soak in...to embrace the season and all that comes with it. I took a deep breath of chilly air and it stung just a bit, but that was ok. Warm weather will come soon enough.

It looks like the last week of 2008 will be dedicated to cleaning. Sean and I accumulated quite a bit of junk (boxes, trash, wrapping paper, ect.) between all the gift giving & receiving, and it's still lingering around our house. Plus, we have so many new gifts that will require new spaces in our "cozy" home. And the biggest chore of all still has yet to be completed - taking down the Christmas tree and putting away the decorations. *cringe*

Oh...and because Sean and I are really organized people, we decided to use Christmas money from my dad to buy brand new living room furniture...and we brought it all home today! Our poor little living room is now at maximum capacity. With TWO couches (old & new) a new chair, the existing tables and cabinets, and the Christmas tree there is absolutely no room left in which to move. It's a total freakin disaster! But oh well...such is life. Things will get moved some way, somehow.

I think it's pretty swanky, don't you? And I'm so thrilled that we aren't Boring Beige people anymore. We have color in our lives! It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but it's a gray-ish blue color.

Thankfully, I'm going to California in one week to visit Jolene (if my vacation is approved by my boss...I still haven't heard back from him. argh.) So, if things at home don't get organized by the time I leave, I figure Sean will just take care of it while I'm away. What else will he have to do? In fact, he should consider the junky house a favor since it will keep him plenty busy. Love you, honey!

Happy new year to you all!!!! I'll be back in 2009.

Becoming Gene Simmons

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and each year I find myself obsessing over a costume months in advance. This year I went with the most natural choice - Gene Simmons. With a tongue as long as mine, the transition is quite easy. I've used this costume in the past, but it had been a few years since anyone saw me in the paint. This year I added some metal flair to my all-black clothing, and I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Step #1: Tease Hair

I like to call this picture "There's Something about Stacey"

Step #2: Begin outlining The Demon face

Outlining is the most difficult step because you have to draw to scale. See, Gene has a tremendously large forehead, so when I draw on my face I have to adjust the scale quite a bit.

Step #3: Fill in the outlines with black and white paint. This is a very tedious process. The whole thing combined takes about an hour.

Sean rigged up a Lego Man costume the night before. His procrastination sometimes stresses me out. In the end, the costume came together and it was a big hit.

We took our costume show on the road and went to a Halloween party at The Greenhouse bar in Nashville. It was really poorly put together, but we had a good time with Sherri and Keith.

Sherri and Keith went as Skeleton Sweatshirt Man and Daphne from Scooby Doo.

Sean's costume came with many challenges. He had limited visibility, and no one could hear him talking. Needless to say, he felt isolated most of the night. This costume could also be called "The Yellow Helen Keller." Thank goodness he added a built in drink holder to his Lego hand.

One of my favorite costumes of the night was the Oompa Loompa. P.S. he didn't bring any chocolate with him.

My Whereabouts

Dear fellow readers,

After a long month (and 2 weeks) of no word from me, I figured I owed you some sort of explanation. Up until this point, I've been pretty good about keeping my real emotions out of this blog. The blog was created as a fun place for family and friends to check up on me, my husband and our life in the little yellow house. But tonight will be dedicated to some raw emotion. It's not meant to become a regular thing, so just bear with me this once...

My days have been mentally and emotionally draining, which means I don't have the desire to spend time on blog entries. I don't have the desire to do a lot of things right now. It's not that I don't think about you out there -- I do! I have new updates to share and lots of new pictures for you. It's just hard for me to focus on those things right now. So please be patient, and don't think I gave up on the blog altogether. I'm just taking a break.

I've been feeling a lot of daily frustration...which somehow, for me, turns into self-doubt...which is, of course, mixed with a healthy dose of anger. And there you have it -- I'm a big boiling pot of unhappiness! It's safe to say, I'm not a very fun person to be around these days. Maybe on the surface I could pass for normal, but I know what's going on inside me and it's not been very pretty. I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's the truth. I don't like the current version of me. I know it's getting bad when I lose my appetite...because Lord knows how much I love to eat!!!

Anyway, if you feel that I've been ignoring you recently, or haven't been kind to you, I'd like to extend my apologies. I'm here...and I'm thinking about all you friends & family out there, and sending my love your way tonight from my Blogging in Bed session.

Now, don't go thinking that anything is wrong with me and my wonderful husband! He is the absolute best. He's the only thing that holds me together sometimes. Sure, he might be the world's LOUDEST BREATHER at night, but I love him to pieces. In fact, I think I'm going to go hug him right now because just thinking about him made me smile.

And P.S. -- I got a really short haircut and I look like a boy.

Flash Back to Destin

Two months late...but here are the pictures from my Labor Day weekend in Destin.

First night out at The Village in San Destin - Free Drinks = Happy Girls

By this point, the free drinks forced me to lick a blow-up goat. The goat came with a group of Bachelors.

Our Bachelor Party Buddies

The Groom (in red) was from Nashville

Just the girls - Jennifer, me, Sherri

At the beach...


Our Beer Castle


Our view of the Gulf
(a.k.a. the chairs and umbrellas we didn't rent but wish we had!)

Jordano's - a little family-owned restaurant next to San Destin resort.

Lord only knows why Jen wanted pizza while we were at the beach, but I'm glad we went along with her wild craving! It was the most amazing pizza in the world. We ate so much that I think I had a food hangover the next day. Seriously.

At The Boat House, makin' Jen try Oysters on the Half Shell

Sherri & Ken

Stacey & Jen

The Gang: Our Bachelor Buddies and other random people we met from Nashville

AH! CLEAVAGE!!!!

My Husband is 30

Three whole decades of Mr. Sean P. Carroll.

Last Saturday many wonderful friends and family members joined us for a celebration at Buffalo Billiards in Nashville. The rough couple you see below -- Adrienne & Luca -- rescued a rat from a trash can just before arriving. Aren't they tough? Yah, he's Italian and she's just plain old mean...that's why we love them so much!

Crystal and Bobby shoot some pool

Phillip and Jimmy showing Sean how to be a dignified man

Bosom Buddies - Juan and Sean

This is where Monika tells Patrick they're getting married. Yah....awk-ward!

Gayness and merriment all around with Stephen and Harvie

Stace and Sean
Us with Bonnie and Ed
The birthday boy getting some chili in his new puffy vest

Emily surprised her big brother with 30 pink flamingos in the front yard.

Go Vols

I broke the law this morning. Yes, that's right -- broke the law. I was waiting at a red light for what seemed like forever. "Why is this light taking so long?!?!" I was literally speaking (or maybe yelling) outloud in the car. There were no cars, and therefore, the green light was giving the right of way to no one. I crept up a foot or two...and then again...inching my way towards that imaginary sensor that lives under the street. Unfortunately, this was a side street and I don't think it was equipt with the sensor. So, there I am sitting, starting at the red light, and NO CARS are passing. Not a single car. I am stopped for no good reason. Brentwood, TN is the sleepiest town ever at 9:00 on a Saturday morning. The only people who are awake and about are either at Starbucks or their kids soccer game.


I started to get The Rage. For those of you who don't know me well enough, I get easily worked up about things...actually, pretty much everything. My outsides look the same for the most part, but my insides turn into a 350 lb. sweaty mobster with high blood pressure about to blow your shit to pieces with a machine gun. So the mobster in me told me to run the light. Of course, I was very cautious about it...tripple checking that the coast was clear of other drivers and that the Brentwood Police was nowhere in sight. They are completely unmerciful.


Anyway, you may be wondering what I was doing in Brentwood at 9:00 on a Saturday morning. Given that it's officially Fall, I should have been at the knitting store, but instead I have other, more important obligations today. Today is Sean's 30th birthday party (although, his actualy 30th birthday isn't until Tuesday) so I was picking up his cake from the Flour Shop.


The Flour Shop has been around for as long as I can remember, and they're very well known for their delicious cakes. But I'd be willing to bet they're also known for the crotchity old lady that runs the place. Don't get me wrong -- I love the Flour Shop and I love Iris. I wouldn't change her for the world, and I've always had very good experiences with her. The Flour Shop is where we got our wedding cake without even considering anyone else. Iris is a good old Southern woman who could bake anyone under the table, but she's got a really hard edge...like she's had to deal with some tough shit, and she won't smile at you until you've earned it. This is why I like her so much, but she's also very intimidating.

As a first-time visitor, I was a little surprised that Iris didn't give me her undivided attention while I muddled over which wedding cake design to purchase. When I entered the small shop, I was asked what I wanted, and when I said, "I'm interested in a wedding cake" I thought I would be treated a certain way. You know, as a bride you get a lot of OOoos and Ahhhs from retail women. They start asking you questions about your wedding and your colors and the date and the chapel...But not a The Flour Shop. "Here, hon," she said...and she slammed down a giant photo album on the table. It had pictures and clippings from magazines falling out of every divider and it was all kinds of disorganize (probably from frequent use). "Come find me when you know which one you want," and then she disappeared into the kitchen. I realized she didn't mean any offense...she's just a busy lady and she means business. It didn't benefit her to sit down with me and browse through a million pictures of cakes that she could probably decorate in her sleep. She didn't need to schmooze me or upsell me or convince me that I needed something I didn't want. Her product sells itself.

Flipping through the album, I came across a snapshot of a gorgeous cake, so I carried it to the counter with me. She looked at it, stapled it to an order form, and handed me a pen. When I was finished, she browsed the order and said "Payment's due 2 weeks before the wedding. Cash or check only. We'll get it to the reception at 4:00. Any questions?" Nope. So I bought a wedding cake in 15 minutes, and I thought to myself, "Now that's how you plan a wedding." I wish everything would've been that simple...

I originally wanted to bake a homemade birthday cake for Sean, and I asked him what flavor he wanted. When he said, "Red Velvet" I thought, "Ok...I can do this....maybe..." I've never made a cake from scratch before and Red Velvet sounds intimidating for some reason. Sure, I've used the boxed stuff, but this is Thirty, and Thirty is a Big Deal. And boxed cake, unfortunately, does not equal a Big Deal. I started browsing recipes and checking out equpment and ingredients, and realized I wasn't equipt to bake from scratch. There's not even room in our kitchen for all the pans and cooling racks. Plus, I don't have one of those fancy hands-free mixers. Too many things to buy, and too many techniques that I've never tried. In an effot to keep myself stress free (which is a neverending challenge), I decided to call the Flour Shop.

Wednesday I the shop on my lunch break. Iris answered in her hard-edge voice, "Flour Shop." To be honest, I wasn't even sure I had called the right place. I expected to hear a sweet, Southern greeting like, "Hello, and thank you for calling the Flour Shop on this beatiful day. This is Iris. What can we do for you?" Haha. Nope. So I said, "I need to place an order - do y'all make Red Velvet cake?"...as if a damn bakery in the South wasn't going to have Red Velvet. I'm sure Iris was rolling her eyes at me. "Yes, hon" she said impatiently. "Ok, then. I need a cake for about 20 people." "We have a cake for 24." So I said, "Yes, that'll do."

"What's the name?"

"Sean. S-E-A-N."

"Hold on." She said. I could tell someone had entered the shop, and now, for some crazy reason, I felt paniced to get off the phone. I felt like I was bothering her. This is how I am as a patron, and I can't explain it.

She picked up again. "Ok, Sean S-E-A-N," she repeated. "What kind of decorations?"

"Well..." I started off slowly as I pondered what to order. I hadn't even thought about how to decorate it so I said, "Well, not flowers because he's a guy..."

"Balloons? Does he want balloons? We can do balloons."

"No, no balloons...umm...."

"What kind of sports does he like? Does he like fisihing? Basketball? Baseball? Football?"
She was rattling off questions to me like I was on some 30-second gameshow, and I totally buckled under the pressure. I definitely did NOT want a sports-themed cake, but my head was completely blank.

"Football," I said. Shit! I didn't mean to say that!

"Ok, what's his favorite team?"

"UT." Double shit!!! I really really didn't want to say that!

"Alright, we have Red Velvet, Happy Birthday Sean, S-E-A-N, Football, UT. When do you need it and what time do you want to pick it up?

By this point, I realized I had made a terrible mistake, but I didn't know how to tell Iris that this wasn't what I wanted. So I said, "Saturday 9:00 a.m."

"Ok, see you at 9. Cash or check only."

I cannot bake, and apparently I'm not good at ordering either. It's a good thing Sean has a great sense of humor. We laughed for about 10 minutes when I came home with this jewel. He was a good sport about the whole thing (pun intended).

Breakfast

As a young child, one of my favorite breakfast meals was Eggs in a Basket. Mom would let us help out in the kitchen, allowing us to punch out the buttery bread circles and letting us eat those first. It was a little morsel before the meal, and the circles were the perfect size for our tiny fingers.

I made Eggs in a Basket for Sean for the first time last year. Imagine my surprise when he told me he had never heard of them before. I thought everyone knew about Eggs in a Basket!!! So, since that's apparently not the case, I wanted to share this childhood favorite with you.

First, melt some butter in a bowl. Brush the butter on both sides of your bread slices. Use a small cookie cutter to make a hole in the center of each slice.

Get your skillet nice and hot, and spray it with some non-stick spray for safe measure. Place your slices on the skillet, and then crack an egg in to the holes. Let that cook for a little while until the egg is firm enough to flip.

Coat your spatula with some more non-stick spray and then flip each slice. You have to be ninja-quick when flipping the "baskets" so your egg doesn't splatter all over the place (see egg spillage below). Cook a little longer until the yolk has reached desired doneness. I like my yolks extra runny, so this doesn't take long at all.

MMMmmmmm Mmmmmm - Enjoy!

When you're finished with your Eggs in a Basket, you can go outside and enjoy a beautiful Fall day. And if you're extra lucky, maybe you'll find that a giant branch will have fallen from the big dead tree in your yard and lodged itself into the earth.