The Birthday Girl

I can't believe it but my little baby Riley Belle is 6 human years old today! It seems like just the other day I bought her as a puppy with my traded in school book money. I don't know how I could have gotten thru the past few years without her. She's my buddy, and as much as her hair and constant need for being touched annoys me, I couldn't make it through daily life without her. Here are a few images of our adventures together over the last 6 years!

This was taken a few years ago with her former roomie Ruby, the bagel. I've always thought that Riley thinks Ruby was her own baby puppy...she'd let Ruby pull and tug at her ears all day without so much as a growl or snap. I think she misses the Roo.

Here she is mortified and overall unsure about her new life jacket. Girls ready to go out on the boat!

Here she is being a good girl and sitting in her new bed so mom can take a picture. It was the first and last time her tail touched that bed...oh well, more beds for baby brother Axel.

Here she is enjoying a weekend retreat at grandma and grandpa's...girlfriend loves her some snow!



Happy Birthday Ms. Belle (even though you are blissfully unaware of birthdays much less your own)!! Momma and Bubby love you!


Just a Blonde's Take

The Big Unveil

I have been dying to share this with you all (all 3 of you who read this poor excuse for a blog, but I won't go into my hangs ups I have about my lack of posting), but out of respect for my sister-in-law (and my brother) I have waited until I was certain she was OK with me sharing these...without further ado, I would like to present to you...Sawyer, my first, favorite, most adorable baby nephew!

*Taken by Christine Burke, post processing by yours truly

This is my absolute favorite picture so far of him and his mom. She is one brave and tough gal. Her husband, my little bro, is over in Afghanistan with his fellow Marines and has been there through most of their marriage and her pregnancy, which means he has yet to meet his first child. God willing, he will be back in the states in mid April and will finally get to meet his little Sawyer! I'm sure Jamie will of course let him catch up on all the diaper changing he's missed. It's truly amazing to me to see this remarkable young woman deal with such a tough situation, for all intensive purposes she's been a single mom these past months, and I couldn't be more proud or in awe of her. She's had a lot on her plate and I can't imagine myself enduring the things she has. She is a lady, and a wonderful mom. My brother couldn't have picked a more fabulous girl to be apart of our family. Although I'll take her knees out if she throws a Wii remote through my flat screen**haha just kidding Jamie**

I am a little sad today though...Jamie and Sawyer will be leaving soon to meet my little bro in California and won't be back until August! I am however excited that Tony will be back and will get to be with Jamie and the baby. It will be so nice to know he's back and out of harms way. This blonde girl sends all her love, respect, and thoughts to all those soldiers over seas and their families they must leave behind. It's truly one of the most selfless jobs. Hooorahhh!

As for Tony, he's a pretty awesome dude and I can't wait until we get to go climbing together again. Although, since he has military grade muscles he makes me look bad hanging from the grabs and shooting up the wall like a monkey...on second thought maybe I won't go with him right when he gets back. **Jamie, if you could please fatten my brother up and make him loose all his arm and legs muscles my climbing ego would really appreciate it!**

Here are a few more baby pics to tear at your womb strings... (for those of you with wombs)

*Again, taken by Christine Burke, and post processing tinkered with by me

*Ditto

* This one is all Christine

Just a Blonde's Take

ReVisit

I thought I would revisit an old picture I took of one of my favorite subjects...my main man, Axel. Between my home and office you can find this picture in no less than 3 places. It's one of my favorites! And as I was playing around with the colors on it the other day, I somehow managed to make the new edited version my new favorite picture! It kind of has that cool old 70's vibe...which I'm finding to be a new favorite aesthetic.

Just a Blonde's Take

Window Inspiration

If you haven't already heard, there is a big window design challenge going on at Bloomingdale's in good old NYC! Three home designers have accepted the challenge and you can see all 3 window displays and vote here! I have chosen to show you my personal favorite...Eddie Ross!! He created a fabulous window/room with modern and traditional elements. Eddie's blog is a frequent stop of mine. The man knows how to throw a party! He's my go to anytime I'm hosting an event...he's the hostess with the mostess! His ideas are inspiring and for the most part easily affordable. He has a wonderful knack for mixing and matching old china and dinnerware, while creating the most beautiful tables. He's definitely opened up my eyes for spotting treasures in thrift stores and flea markets! So it came as no surprise that I would just fall in love with his window...

Some of the elements are a little more traditional than what I normally would like, but I think he's made them all work in this space that I would have no problem with this being a room in my own house. Way to go Eddie! Which window do you like best?

Just a Blonde's Take

The Pioneer Woman

If I haven't mentioned it before I'm doing it now...I love me some PW! The Pioneer Woman, that is. Her name is Ree Drummond, but to her blogging family she is known as the Pioneer Woman, or PDub, or PW, or...well, you get the picture. She is a woman of many talents, she home schools her 4 punks (children), takes wonderful photos of her daily ranch life, has "like" the best blog ever, and she cooks. As a matter of fact she cooks up a hail storm! I believe she is one of the biggest influences I've had as far as becoming my own home master chef (still in progress)! I have developed a love for cooking, and a part of that has to do with Ree! She provides step by step instructions on her website along with...get this...wait for it...it's truly shocking...step by step PICTURES!! Yes that's right, in addition to putting things into lam eons terms for all of us she has pictures of everything she uses, how she does it, and most importantly the end result! It's really helped me in knowing what things should look like and if I'm on the right track. What exactly does a micro plane look like? What the heck is Welsh Rarebit? And how should roasted red peppers look in the oven? She has opened me up to a whole new world of food, and even better, how to make it MYSELF!

I've always loved food and trying new things, but sometimes I would be afraid of how I could possibly recreate some of my favorite "fancy" cuisine dishes at home. Cooking fish used to freak me out, along with any other type of meat for that matter. And sometimes not knowing what something should look like is a little unnerving. Now in addition to Ree's website, we now are going to have access to a wonderful cookbook of all the Pioneer Woman's favorite recipes! The Pioneer Woman Cooks: recipes from an accidental country girl; It's available for pre-order now! And this isn't your everyday cookbook with a few colored pictures here and there...no sir...her recipes are in full color and with her traditional step by step photos! Take a look at the layout:

And if things couldn't get any better she's going on a book tour!! You can believe that I'm going to be loading up on these and getting them signed for personalized Christmas gifts!! I can't wait to meet PW herself and all her red headed glory!

If you haven't visited Ree's site, please do. You won't regret it, well your waistline might, but it's so worth it! And as PW says...I love you more 'n my luggage!

Just a blonde's take

Face Lift

So for what ever reason, today I felt compelled to give my blog a little face lift. I'm not sure if all the black was getting me down or what, but I feel like I needed something to bring me out of my depressing sad cloud. It's strange but for some reason every fall...or in the words of my friend babalou, Autumn I feel the need to cleanse, make changes, start anew. Maybe it's because fall is my favorite time of year, or maybe it's because for so long fall marked the beginning of a new school year, and even though I haven't been in school for quite some time, the feelings still remain with me to get things going with something new and fresh. Please enjoy the new look and I will have a Halloween post up soon!

Just a Blonde's Take

THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA

I'm sorry folks, but I'm going to have to get on my soap box for a minute. I was just on PETA's blog and came across a story about a new sandwich that KFC is testing in a few states. It's called the Double Down. It consists of 2 pieces of fried chicken filet's (which serve as the "bread"), 2 different kinds of cheese (pepper jack and Swiss, I think), bacon, and some new creation called Colonel's sauce. Can you say NASTY? I've never really been a fan of the Colonel, especially after I found out how they treat their chickens, but when they came out with their mashed potato bowls filled with cheese, corn, chicken and all kinds of other nasty stuff, I totally wrote them off. Now KFC has sunk to an all new low, with this "please let me be obese" sandwich. KFC hasn't released the nutrition information on this sandwich yet, but it's estimated that there are over 1200 calories and 80grams of fat in this poor excuse of a sandwich.

And to make matters worse, as I was going through different articles people were actually saying they were disappointed that this sandwich wasn't in their city!!! SERIOUSLY?? Some even went on to comment that if you didn't try this sandwich that you were most definitely a G.D. terrorist! REALLY? I'm a terrorist now because I care about what goes in my body and I want to be healthy? This is what is wrong with America!! People are welcoming obesity into their lives with open arms. One lady even said her 5 year old loves sandwiches and he would love to try this!! What? Parents are so worried about their kids being exposed to Harry Potter books(because they supposedly encourage witchcraft and devil worshipping) and yet they are excited about feeding their children this crap? Way to teach some awesome life lessons! Don't read, just feed!! Ahhhh, I just cannot believe the kind of stupidity it takes to want to eat something like this and to encourage your children to eat it. And to be ignorant enough to say, well if you workout a lot then you can eat this and it won't matter. Hello?? Just because you work off the calories you intake doesn't mean that what you're eating isn't affecting your body in other ways! Not to mention there is practically no nutritional value in this besides protein, excuse me genetically-altered-growth-hormone-injected protein (that's really not good for you either, but that's a whole other story).

If you haven't seen or read Fast Food Nation, go pick it up and you'll have a new outlook on fast food chains in general. I'll leave you with these quotes from the movie...

"There's shit in the meat." "It is a sad fact of life, Don, but the truth is we all have to eat a little shit from time to time." -Not this blonde!

Just a Blonde's Take

FOOD INC.

My good friend babalou recently told me about a film that's going to be showing at our local museum theatre called Food Inc. Well, I'm always up for a good indie/documentary film so I went to their website and checked it out...only to find myself completely consumed by this film that I've yet to see (it doesn't start showing here until next week!). I've already bought the book that goes along with the film. I've only read the preface because it seems that they encourage you to see the film first and use the book as an added supplement, so I'm just dying to see the movie so I can race home and really start the book. The whole premise of the film is about our country's food industry. Where our food really comes from, how it's treated, how far it travels, how it's genetically altered, and basically how it's making us sicker, fatter, and poorer and what we can do about it. Here's the description from the film's website:


In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Now I've always been a person who wants to eat healthy and be healthy, but until this film was brought to my attention I never was really good about actually following through with it. Of course I would do things here and there, but until now I've never really adopted it as a lifestyle. I'm happy to report that I can barely remember the last time I ate fast food...which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment for this mademoiselle. I used my busy life as an excuse to eat fast food for lunch and sometimes dinner and I blinded myself to the truth (I didn't want to know) that fast food is really bad for you not only in calories, fat, and sodium; but the quality of the food is so poor. I have found a new joy/love for cooking. I can't wait to find new exciting recipes to make. Even the drummer is on board for the new lifestyle! I go to the farmer's market for my produce and buy local fruits and vegetables; you would not believe the difference in quality. I had some tomatoes from the farmers market and one leftover tomato from the grocery store, when I cut into each of them you would not believe the difference in color, smell, and taste. Local is the way to go if not from your own garden! And if I ever need something in between I always try to buy organic.

I have a friend who just this week found out she has colitis. She's only 27!! My age! My dad has the same issue and he's 56! There is no better time than the present to start taking care of our bodies! You're only issued one in life. Please check out the Food Inc. website and see if it's coming to a theatre near you. Here's the official trailer for the movie. Check it out!


What are you're thoughts after watching this? Is anyone else eating local and organic? Or do you grow your own veggies, fruits, and herbs?

Just a Blonde's Take

CHANGES EXPLAINED

Well, folks I'm back! Things haven't changed quite as much as I had originally anticipated. The drummer and I were going through some rough things. Moving out, breaking up, crying, being mad, crying some more were all apart of it. For now however we've managed to work things out. So hopefully no more melodramatic posts from me...unless of course it's about a new antique chair or something fabulous I've added to the house decor!
Some fun posts to follow.

Just a Blonde's Take

CHANGES

My life is about to be torn upside down. It's exciting, it's scary, it sucks, it's a good thing. There are so many emotions flowing through me right now, I'm not sure if I'm OK or if I'll bust into tears at any moment. My stomach is upset. I feel unsure and relieved. There are changes coming, and they are good and they are sad. I'm not ready to share what's going on yet, but I will soon. I'm still trying to wrap my own head around it all and waiting to see how it all plays out. Just keep me in your thoughts and send some good vibes my way. I need them...

Just a Blonde's Take

A MESS

I'm a swollen puffy mess today. Boo to allergies, boo to over sunexposure, and boo to sodium. I'm going to go drink some water now and blow my nose. Love you all...some fun posts comming soon...

Just a Blonde's Take

Sample of Some Favorite Spaces

Here are a couple of my favorite spaces...I pull inspiration from them (and sometimes I completely rip them off by getting the exact rug or duvet or picture frame) I'm trying to open myself up to more color. Can you tell?

I love this room and all the mixed matched colors...the rug is to die for!

Even though this kitchen is a little all over the place, I love the different plates hanging together

Perfectly Zen

Well hello there little fella...and beautiful white chairs!

I'm so retro/traditional/modern/old world/classic/bohemian

Ahhhh...damask. And bright blue walls...I die!

I love the Navy walls and farmhouse feel of this bedroom

Yet it has subtle modern undertones

The best Yellow ever!

That headboard rocks my socks!

Bright Blue walls...I'm trying to find a place for them in my house!

I'm not even sure what that art piece is, but somehow I loves it!!

I love when folks group framed art and photos together on a wall, yet something else I'm working on incorporating!



***All Photos taken from Apartment Therapy

Just a Blonde's take

Cafe 7

This is one of my new favorite lunch spots! Cafe 7 Delicatessen and Pastaria is a wonderful place to score a quick and easy lunch (in no way am I sponsored by, endorsed, or given any type of compensation from Cafe 7 for saying any of this...I am just a mere peon to them, to them I don't even exist).

Here's the concept. They have seven items in each category (sandwiches, salads, pasta, and pizza), that come out in seven minutes or less, seven days a week, and everything is $7 dollars or under (and that's out the door, tax included!). They even have a create your own section in every category so you can special order your meal! That's what I did...

I got Rigatoni noodles, the creamy tomato sauce, black olives, red peppers, spinach, and artichokes! Yum! And they serve it with a piece of toasted bread. What a deal, for $7 bucks! The way you order is they have 4 different cards. One for each of the 4 different categories. One for sandwiches, one for pasta, and so on. You pick which one you'd like. You then can select any of the specialty sandwiches or you can create your own. You write your name on the card, and designate if you would like it to-go or dine-in and mark any sides you'd like (note the sides are extra, but only a dollar more for each). You take it to the cashier and they verify your order and ring you up! So easy, and so fast! And with all the quirky marketing schemes, one would think that the food wouldn't be quality. But not here. The food is great for the money and I find myself wanting to go back for "Bridget's specialty meatless pasta" dish!

Here are the menus you order from:

Hopefully there's one near you so you can try it out! If you've already been let me know what you thought!

Just a Blonde's Take

I'm Going To Be An Aunt!!!!!

My brother and his girlfriend are having a baby! Tony called me last night! They were planning on getting married after his military duty was up, but with the baby coming they are going to go ahead and wed it up this Friday at the courthouse. A sister-in-law and a baby niece or nephew all in one week, the family is really excited! I could hardly go to sleep last night! I don’t feel old enough to be an aunt…but I guess I am.

Just a Blonde's Take

THE AXEL YEAR: A SHORT LIFE IN REVIEW

Well, after posting about my lovely golden girl Riley, I had to dedicate a post to my man Axel. Bubby, as I like to call him, came into our lives last year in early June. I can't believe we've almost had him for a year! We adopted him from our local animal shelter, The Central Oklahoma Humane Society. They have a wonderful group of volunteers and I must say our experience adopting through them was wonderful.


Last year the drummer and I had been looking at adopting a Great Dane. The drummer really wanted a huge dog (bigger than our now 94lb. Golden) so we started looking at different adoption websites and even put in an application for one. Well, as you can tell that didn't pan out, and we ended up with Axel Bubby! He's a Great Pyrenees-Daschund-Rhodesian Ridgeback-Rottweiler-Airedale Terrier-German Shepard!! Wow, we were surprised when we got those DNA results in let me tell ya! Although, the German Shepard and Ridgeback are definitely noticeable...not too many other breeds sport permanent eye liner and beauty marks!




From day one Axel has been a joy (now don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of times that I wanted to kill him. Let's not forget the guest room, or Pottery Barn duvet dramas). When we first brought him home he was very timid and shy. He would cower and tinkle anytime someone new came over. He had definitely been abused and neglected. However that all soon changed. He came out of his shell with the help of his sister Riley and some tender loving care and attention. He's still continuing to learn his manners, but overall he's doing great for a 1 year old!






Some of my favorite things about Axel are:







1. Pouncing-this 85lb. dog pounces like he's a freaking garden cat! He has his favorite black ball (that came out of a toy he destroyed) that he plays with and there's almost always some pouncing going on when he does. He's so cute! I don't think a picture could do it justice, something you've got to see for yourself. It always makes me smile and laugh when he does it!

2. Pretending like he doesn't have the use of his legs-he's so clumsy. I think he's still growing...dear God, looks like we have a 100lb. plus dog in our future...and his legs are just so long and mess him up sometimes.

3. His ability to get me with his nose on my face no matter what I do to hide from him-I will be laying in bed and he'll come put his paws on the side of the bed and just start nosing me in the face. I try to hide with the use of the covers, but he always manages to get his little nose in there and get me.

4. His crotch/bare butt obsession-I actually find this pretty annoying, but I can't help but laugh sometimes. Every time I'm wearing a skirt or dress or robe, that dog is able to get his whole wet nose up underneath it and either get me in the crotch or hinney or BOTH! He's so fast and just flicks the material up enough so he can get in there. He doesn't lick or anything he just wants to goose ya!

5. The way he lays down-he lays down with both legs spread eagle on the floor. It's so funny looking to me.

Even though our history together is short and just starting, I don't know what the drummer and I would do if we lost him. He's such apart of our family now I can't image our household without him. He definitely spices our lives up! And as the drummer would say "He's a boy-ee".

**Please note that this green pillow no longer exists due to a certain boy-ee. RIP antique green pillow.**

Just a Blonde's Take

JURY DUTY HELL

****UPDATE! I've been Excused!!!!! Yay, now I can stop searching eBay for a DIY clone kit or teleportation machine!*****

I'm in jury duty hell right now! Now don't get me wrong, I'll all about doing my civic duty. My dad raised us to serve our country and take pride in it, but my little "civic duty/responsibility" is getting out of hand.

Several weeks ago I received a summons for Jury duty for the Federal District court. That was just fine and dandy! I was kind of excited...I'd never served jury duty before. And maybe I'd get on some awesome Erin Brockovich, O.J. Simpson, take 'em down kind of case. So Monday I reported to the courthouse, did the orientation, got sworn in and sat in on the beginnings of a case. Except this case was not as glamorous as I had originally thought. Something about an employer not paying overtime. Anyways, I didn't get picked. So they excused us to go home. Then the next day I was to come in and try to get called on for another case. We walk into the courtroom and there's tons of lawyers and boxes of "evidence". I think...Oh boy, this is the big one! We're gonna take these suckas' down!! Not so much! Again something uber boring about Anti trust laws, someone prohibiting competition or something about metal stuff. Anyways, again didn't get picked for that one either (which I was glad because it was supposed to last 2-3 weeks, and I don't know how much "evidence" I could take about sheet metal and aluminum).

So our little jury duty lady tells us that we'll need to call on Friday after 5 to see if we need to come in on Monday. Which I'm sure I will since I haven't been assigned to anything yet. Well, now I've got a little problem...I'm supposed to report for jury duty to the County courthouse on Monday! So I get the number from our Federal jury duty lady and call the county to inform them that I'm already serving jury duty for the Fed's and will they please reschedule me (mind you I'm super busy at work right now and this really isn't the time for all this jury duty stuff). He tells me that I have to come up there on Friday at 2 to fill out an excuse form and go before the judge to explain why I can't report for duty on Monday! REALLY?? Can't I just fax in my summons and letter stating I'll be tied up at Federal court until June 5th!! REALLY?? Just reschedule me...I don't care, I don't mind but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I can be in 2 places at once! Why the freak do I have to come up there and explain all that to the judge?? Can't you just mark me off the list and move me to a later time? Ahhhhhh! So frustrating...

So now I'm going to have to leave work early on Friday, probably report on Monday, possibly report on Tuesday (which will cause me to have to cancel my womanly yearly exam, which I won't be able to get another appointment for at least 2 months b/c my doctor is awesome and every "freakin A" person goes to her, which will cause me to have to call up there at least once to get a BC script called in to the pharmacy, b/c I'm gonna run out before my rescheduled appointment...grrrrrrr).

Calm...find your center...hommmmmm...namaste.

Ok, I'm OK.

So no Erin Brockovich coolness for me...more like Melba toast duty. I'll keep you posted, in the meantime make me feel better by telling me your jury duty horror stories...Anyone?

Just a Blonde's Take

Lake Season

Almost nothing can beat sipping on drinks enjoying a relaxing dinner on a patio just off the shore of an Oklahoma lake at sunset (Ok, so it's no bahama beach with white sand and waving palm trees, but we cherish what we get)!  Lake season is upon us and I can't wait to enjoy more scenes like this one. 

Just a Blonde's Take

Lettuce Wraps

Sorry everyone I've been so late at getting this recipe to you all. It actually turned out rather well. It was kind of a pain to cut the chicken up so small...I'm looking into finding another way to mince it; and I forgot to make the rice sticks. Overall it's awesome and we'll definitely be making it again! I combined 2 different recipes on sparkrecipes to make this one (don't forget this is a low cal, low fat meal; which makes it even more yummy). Enjoy!

Asian Lettuce Wraps


Ingredients:
8 ounces of minced chicken mix (see below)

Chicken Mix:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup of water chestnuts
2/3 cup shitake mushrooms


3 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon wok oil
2 ounces of minced chicken sauce (see below)
1 cup of rice sticks (prepared)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil


Minced chicken sauce:
1/4 cup of mushroom soy sauce
1/4 cup of oyster sauce
1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/4 cup of cooking rice wine
T of sugar

Heat mixture on medium high heat at low boil for about 6 to 8 minutes.
(can cool and refrigerate additional sauce)

Preparation:

Cooking Procedure

Heat wok until white whisk of smoke appears
add 1 tbs of wok oil
add garlic 5-10 seconds
add minced chicken mix and sear
add 1/4 ounces of minced chicken sauce, stir and incorporate
add 2 tbs of diced green scallions
add 1tps of sesame oil and plate

This recipe serves 2.
Multiply accordingly for additional guests.

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 119.9
Total Fat: 0.4 g
Cholesterol: 27.5 mg
Sodium: 122.2 mg
Total Carbs: 17.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.5 g
Protein: 13.1 g

Just a Blonde's Take

New Favorite Blog!

I have a new favorite blog folks! K.Reid over at Reid All About It is funny, witty, and thrifty! She IS the COUPON QUEEN (in my humble opinion)! She buys loads of stuff for pennies! I'm not even joking. She is truly inspiring with her DIY tips and homemade meals that look absolutely delicious (I'm making her Salmon turnovers soon, the drummer will die)! Go check her out and show her some love! I know her site will be a regular stop for me!