Monday, August 31, 2009

Ms. Merriam-Webster

Dear Student of Vocabulary,

I just received an email with the subject line "Just a reminder." I found it to be a slightly confusing intro because the content of the email was new to the recipients.

The word remind means: cause to remember. This definition indicates that someone is already aware of this information.

I'm happy to clear this up for you. Please let me know if you find any other common English terms confusing.

Thank you,
Ms. Merriam-Webster

Sunday, August 30, 2009

First Week of School

This week was the first week of school and, like most teachers, the weekend after is used as a time of rest.

Some wonderful friends of mine had pretty important events in their lives going on this weekend, though, so I wasn't able to completely veg out...

Friday was a great birthday party at a fun new restaurant, RDG, with a scrumptious strawberry cake at some friends' house afterwards. The evening included much laughter and many stories...including a new word for birds and broadening the men's vocabulary with the term 'valet shoes.' (Happy Birthday, AJ!)

I arrived home about 11:30 and proceeded to make decorations for a baby shower I was co-hosting the next morning. I went to bed about 1:30 and my alarm went off at 6:05. I was in charge of picking up the cupcakes and had arranged to do that at 7:45 to arrive at the baby shower by 8:30 so we could set up before the shower began at 10am. At 6:45 I receive a text that more than half of our order was unedible and Plan B (yet to be created) was put into action. I quickly finished getting ready and loading the car with punch bowl, carefully made (partially slushy, partially frozen) punch, stayed-up-late-the-night-before-to-make decorations, coffee (but no coffee pot...ugh!), gingerale, 7up, and papergoods and rushed out the door. As I drove I called my mom and asked her to start calling grocery stores in my area looking for possible cupcakes. I picked up the cupcakes that were edible (and they were scruptious! Mmmm!) and then stopped by Randall's to see what they had available pre-made and ready to go. Crisis averted! Found what I needed and headed to Katy. The shower was a huge success! The mom-to-be received a lot of wonderful things and the food was all yummy! Many commented on my punch recipe, so I thought I'd share:

Baptist Champagne
1 can frozen white grape juice
1 1/2 cans water
mix

Add:
1 2L of gingerale
1 2L of 7up

So easy and so yummy! I stored the punch in FREEZER (super, important word) gallon Ziploc baggies. You don't want the punch to be totally frozen, but kinda slushy. I also poured some of it in ice trays. I wanted to use cranberry gingerale for the ice cubes, but couldn't find any in grocery stores...I think it's only sold during the holiday season. Anyway, so good! Enjoy! :)

After the shower, I came home and CRASHED! I had another friend's birthday party that night in Galveston, but I needed some serious rest time first. Two and a half hours later, I woke up to my alarm and groggily crawled out of bed. Some caffeine was definitely on the 'must-intake-now' list. I chose a cute outfit that allowed for uber comfortable shoes (my feet were done with heels for awhile!) and headed out to meet my carpooling friends. I was able to see Jalen's made-over bedroom (seriously GREAT JOB, KINDALL!) and we headed to the island for some yummy seafood and a moonlit walk on the beach. 4 ladies and 1 man in a car for a road trip made for some quite humorous conversation. The ladies were glad to find out pregnancy only lasts for 6 months. A manslaughter bail can be raised through surrogacy. I have a Sonic radar I didn't know existed. I could go on...can you tell we had fun? :)

Casey's was yummy (as always) and the beachwalk continued our laughter. We slid into Marble Slab ten minutes before closing to the horror of the employees and enjoyed the creamy treat on the sidewalk outside. Apparently I have a 'tired sway' and DJ commented that I'd started it while everyone was finishing up their ice cream, so Mark convinced me to let Kindall drive home. (Happy Birthday, Mark!)

Today is a day of rest. I've planned it for a little over a week and am so excited about it! The past few weeks have been a little crazy so today is a day I am taking slow. I'm staying home all day. Literally, all day! Yay for days off!

Ok, this was way longer than I thought for a 'welcome back to the world of blogging' post, but eh. For those of you that made it to the end (aka: me only) enjoy!