Tag: friends

Move Your Phi’t

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The basis for the name of my blog is my college sorority and the lovely little room where we convened to chat – the goon room. Alpha Phi (pronounced “fee” – the title of the post makes more sense now, no?) has given me a home away from home, wonderful friendships and amazing memories. And yesterday was no exception.

The ASU chapter of Alpha Phi hosted a charity 5K race raising funds and awareness for the national sorority’s cause, cardiac care. My good friend Kristin (featured in “I Do! I Mean, They Did!”) organized a group of the UofA Fall 2000 pledge class to walk for the cause. We met at the park, strollers loaded for bear and kiddos and were ready to roll. Pun intended.

We managed to maneuver 3 strollers over packed dirt (not ideal for stroller wheels) and while we were the caboose, we completed the walk in under an hour. More importantly, we got to catch up and actually talk to each other since our kiddos were preoccupied with the other runners and each other. It’s always nice when gossiping can be for charity.

The hero of the day was Carrlene who pushed her adorable nearly 2 year old, AJ – while 8 months pregnant! Thank you also to Stephanie for picking up our registration and “phi’t” shirts (check out Stephanie at her blog: http://www.babycross.wordpress.com). We also got to meet Cuatro – or better known as Carter. The newest of the Phi babies at breakfast with his momma, Michelle. Thank you ladies! As always, it’s never a dull moment!

AJ, Carrlene, Stephanie, Kelsey, Kristin, me and Baylor B

Eggy Deliciousness

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This past Sunday, we hosted a brunch for several of Peter’s coworkers – 18 to be exact. And 5 of their cute munchkins. We’re no strangers to large get togethers, but normally those parties include family and I task them out to bring a lot of the food. Not that I don’t like to cook, but to ease the work load.

Because our guests this weekend were not family, it didn’t feel right asking them to contribute. I was freaked out about having a festive and clean house, beautiful decorations and delicious food. As I placed the various food items into the oven and or fridge, I said a quick prayer to the patron saint of cooking (which, oddly enough, it Saint Elizabeth) and she came through for me. We had many brunch classics; spinach and also panchetta quiche, fruit salad, bagels and lox, french toast casserole and doughnuts – but I also included a dish I called Egg Cups. Mostly because they are made in a muffin tin but also because I couldn’t think of a better name. I thought they came out pretty good, but Peter raved and (claims) coworkers raved to him at work today. So I thought I would share the recipe. I made four variations, but the two clear winners were bacon and cholula hot sauce.

Ingredients:

1 box of frozen puff pastry

1 dozen eggs

1 package of center thick cut bacon – diced into small pieces

1 bottle cholula hot sauce

shredded cheese – Gruyère or swiss is great

2-3 good size shallots (small red onions) – diced

butter

salt, pepper and your favorite herb or seasoning (like Mrs. Dash)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thaw the puff pastry and cut into 4ths and then each quarter in half. This part is a little weird since it makes more rectangles than squares, but the goal is to line a muffin tin with the dough so do your best.  Mold the pastry into a VERY well buttered tin being sure not to have too much pastry sticking out over the top so it doesn’t burn. Brush each pastry with butter, salt pepper and a little sprinkle of your favorite seasoning, just something to add a little flavor. Also sprinkle in a small amount of cheese.

Next, break an egg into each cup being careful not to break the yolk. Sprinkle in the diced shallots, a little more salt and pepper and then the topping – either the bacon or the cholula hot sauce. Sprinkle on a little more cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the eggs are done. If you like them softer, cook the bacon before you add it to the egg and then bake for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye to make sure that the pastry doesn’t burn.

Pop them out of the tin and serve! Garnish the cholula hot sauce version with some sour cream and avocado.

 

*Another variation would be to beat the eggs with some heavy cream and then add to the cups following the same seasoning directions. Add in veggies, different cheese or meat combinations, or have your guests pick their own combination before baking. Enjoy!

 

 

What Christmas Cards Have Taught Me

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I have learned a lot from designing, writing, assembling, stuffing, stamping, sealing and addressing Christmas cards. Here are the highlights:

1. I am totally inept when it comes to accurately assessing how many cards I need.

2. No matter how many cards I think I need, I will always have more or less than what I need.

3. Putting a very cute picture of Baylie on the card only requires more work on my part.

4. The post office and the card people are in cahoots – 10 stamps in a book, 15 cards in a box.

5. 60 pictures centered and taped to cards, 60 envelopes stuffed and addressed (5 of which are still outstanding due to moved addresses) and the  taste of envelope adhesive on my tongue = we need less friends.

The out takes from getting the picture for our card. Note the marker, angel from the nativity scene, my phone and yes even the camera were used to get her to A. smile,  B. pose in a way that wasn’t weird and C. hold still long enough to get a good picture. The winner was actually a little soft, but it met criteria A and B so it wins!

So Much to be Thankful For

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I hope all of you lovely readers had a great Thanksgiving. We had one of the best yet. We hosted for the 4th year in a row and had 18 guests. And I think it’s safe to say we’ve finally worked out a lot of the kinks we’ve run into in the past. The weather cooperated (I rented two heaters, just to be sure) and our family and friends were in festive and happy moods!

One of the things I’m so very grateful for is my sweet little niece and nephews. Well, they’re not so little any more, but still. They are all at the ages and stages where a 17 month old could very much be in their way, but they all choose not only to be nice to Baylor, but they include her in almost all their activities. It makes my heart happy to see her face light up when she sees them and for them to be so sweet to her is something I think everyone loves. Here are a few pics from this year’s dinner:

Dear Mother Nature…

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Dear Mother Nature,

I find it adorable that you decided to make it finally feel like fall THIS week. I’m sure you remember Thanksgiving ’08 where you thought it would be cute to make it cold and rainy. I can fit 20+ people into our house for dinner, but it’s not pretty. You know what is pretty? Our backyard. Which is where I intend to feed 18 people a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Now, MN, you know most of us are natives or have lived in AZ so long, we’re considered natives. We can deal with 110, but 60…60 is just too cold. My mom can’t eat dinner with gloves on.

So let’s make a deal: you make it 70+ for Thanksgiving and you can do whatever you want for the rest of the year. Sound good?

Kisses,

Beth

Highschool Reunion

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Peter and I had our high school reunion a few weeks ago. Truthfully, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Not for any other reason than it just really didn’t register that we had been out of high school for 10 years. I blame the 4 really good years of college for that….

To my surprise, it turned out to be very fun. It was nice catching up with people and finding out that a few of them (not all of them) grew up and became nice people. It was fun to hear what people were up to and think of how far we’ve all come in the last ten years.

This week, a friend sent me a message on facebook. He said he was flipping through his yearbook after the reunion and was reading what all his friends and classmates had written. I got credit for being quite funny – my entry went something like “I wish we could have been better friends. But you were mean so I blame the fact that we weren’t better friends on you. Have a great summer!”.

Apparently I was a decent comedic, albeit snarky, writer even then.

I Do! I Mean, They Did!

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Gorgeous, right?

I had the distinct honor of attending my good friend and Alpha Phi sister and her lovely fiance’s wedding this past weekend. Kristin and Jack tied the knot (literally – I’ll get to that) this past weekend in Prescott. To say this wedding was typical couldn’t be further from the truth. While it appeared to be a traditional event, there were too many amazing details that made it nothing short of fantastic.

To start, Kristin anticipated every guests needs. There was a shuttle to take you from the hotel to the ceremony. Got a heavy gift? The gift table was 1 step away from where the bus stopped. Chilly? An array of pashminas (spelling?) in deep purple, copper and cream, the colors of the wedding. Shoes killing your feet? Yup, there were copper sparkly flip flops so you could kick off your heels and keep dancing. Thirsty? I literally almost knocked over a guy with an entire tray full of wine selections. Not sure what kind of cake you’re in the mood for? Don’t worry, there were at least 4 different and delicious varieties to choose from.

While all of these things alone would make any event special, it was the usual things that Kristin and Jack made perfect. Most couples when getting married at sunset would have the guests face the sunset. But these two had the guests face away so you could watch the landscaping change from tan to warm pinks and oranges, thus providing an amazing back drop for the beautiful bride and groom. And the knot tying business; Jack’s sweet sister, Stormy, was the officiate of their wedding. Part of the ceremony including taking several silk ribbons and tying J and K’s hands together. There are several theories on where the term comes from, but many believe this old Christian ritual is the origin. Not to mention adorable and very pretty! The couple also held a stone from a mountain they visited in Switzerland, thus setting their vows in stone. The guests were all given a bell tied with ribbons to shake and the couple was pronounce husband and wife – you can see them in the picture above. It is so far, Baylie’s favorite toy this week.

The best part, in my opinion, was that Jack and Kristin did a lot of their pictures prior to the ceremony. And also because it was a smaller wedding, we got to see them! They were at cocktail hour, dinner and dancing – not being whisked away for pictures. It was so nice to get to tell them how beautiful it all was and dance the night away, rather than wondering when they would join everyone.

Due to the excessive amount of wine and dancing, Tyler husband of Megan, left his coat at the table. When we retrieved it to take with us on the bus back to the hotel, we realized he left his glasses in the pocket. And thus, a sunglasses montage ended what was a truly memorable evening.

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Thomson!