It's been a month...

Well, it's been a month so I guess it's time for another blog post! Mark graduated from law school this month!

I've been working on getting him to do a post - but that hasn't worked out very well so far!! [I promise I would post more if I could from work...sorry to all of you who don't have Google Reader and actually check the blog!]

I don't have great pictures from graduation - I was counting on the professionals to take the really good pics - but it was a fun time! Mark was decked out in doctoral regalia - complete with purple velvet stripes (indicative of the school of law), a funny hat (not a mortar board - he's too advanced for that!), and he was hooded with a hood of purple, green, and gold. He looked very distinguished in the highest level of regalia! I promise I'll post pictures soon!

We also enjoyed a "mini-vacation," as I like to call it, last weekend at the Reitmeier's while they were visiting Lindsay in South Carolina. We took Rocky out to McGregor, I laid out by the pool all weekend and got a nice tan, Mark took full advantage of the media room, we grilled by the pool, and a good time was had by all. You can bet that we'll be back at our free vacation home (only 15 min away!) Memorial Day weekend while they are at Nick's sister's wedding.

In other new news - I LOVE the market tote that Lindsay got Edith for Mother's day. Apparently they are all the rage in the south (but you have to monogram yours, of course!)...and actually they are from the same company of the reusable bag I got in my stocking. Look how cute this is...I can already think of a million uses for it! Lindsay - what a cute idea! Find it here.

And you all know I love recipes - here is a great one for margaritas on the rocks:

1 can frozen limeade
2 cans of water
1 can tequila
1/2 triple sec

Mix and pour into glasses with ice. Enjoy!

Spring Activities

It looks like I'm a good once-a-month blogger! I've had a few posts that I keep meaning to put up, but with blogger blocked at work, it's a little bit harder to get motivated to look at a computer after I've mindlessly stared at one for 8 hours (and we all know what Mark's posts are like!)

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I went to the Hillcrest Hospital Gala to mark the opening of the new hospital building. We ended up getting there a little earlier than most people and were able to tour the hospital on our own. The new building is amazing - with talking hospital beds, state of the art lights in the ORs that change colors, and tons of other neat new features. We had a great time getting dressed up and having run of the building. Not to mention that we got to hear the great speaches by the important people - like Mark's dad!

I've looked for pictures of the new hospital, but can't find any right now. I promise I'll post some when I find them - it really is very impressive (and I know most people could care less about what facilities a new hospital has...what can I say, I'm a dork).

In other news, I had part of my toenail removed last Friday. All in all it was uneventful, and the spot we were worried about turned out to be no big deal. I'm still clear on the melanoma front here! My toe looks a little funny, but it doesn't hurt anymore - and might be back to normal in a year...


We've also been to many of the Baylor Baseball games - we're in 2nd in conference right now and the team is fun to watch. Friday was military appreciation night, complete with camo hats and veterans throwing out the first pitch. Of course Edith did a great job organizing her veterans (she's in the perfect Baylor yellow pants and green sweater).



Finally, we had a great Easter in Dallas. Mark and I went to the King Tut exhibit at the DMA yesterday - which was a lot of fun. We really emjoyed our cultural outing. We also stopped by the Flying Saucer in Addison. Lindsay and Nick first introduced us to the bar in South Carolina and we thought it would be fun to return last night. I had my first Snakebite (apparently famous from Baylor in Great Britain) and Mark had some really dark beers (yuck!).

We enjoyed church at Park Cities this morning...and then Easter Brunch on the indoor tennis courts at Royal Oaks - yum!

I'm already planning my next post - a tour of our first apartment - so hopefully I'll be back before the middle of May!

Happy Spring to everyone!

Montana

Mark's last Spring Break was last week - so we went to Montana!! We had a great time - mainly lounging on the couch and looking out at the snow on the mountains and the frozen river...

But we did spend 2 days skiing...here we are in our ski get-ups:



If you look closely in this picture you can see Mark snowboarding:

We also had great homemade meals almost every night thanks to Mom's great frozen meals waiting for us. Thanks for cooking, Mom!

One afternoon we made it over to the Great Northern Brewery - Mark tried a few of the beers on tap and I had a Huckleberry Beer. It was a fun afternoon, something we'll definitely have to do again in August.

And we tried a few local restaurants, Mackenzie River Pizza and Wasabi - the sushi restaurant. Both we wonderful...and we will be returning!


Best line of the week: "If we're not back in the morning, we're stuck in Canada" - Michael.

Fun Website

I ran across this website today - I know it's basically an ad for fritos...but I played around on it for 30 minutes! Go take a look!

http://www.madeforeachother.com/

Nutella Ravioli & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last night we made some nutella ravioli to complete movie night (we downloaded Body of Lies on our TiVo...it was good, not great).

They weren't hard to make and tasted great. Giada's recipe is here.

And in case you can't find wonton wrappers - they're in the Asian section of the refrigerated produce...who knew such a section existed. The Wooded Acres HEB surprises me sometimes - but I'm still holding out for a Central Market!

Here are some pictures:




And tonight I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - I was trying to use up some pantry stuff. They turned out great. The recipe is here.

A Tribute to A True Red Devil

The one, the only, the incomparable Wayne Rooney...

Time Well Spent...

The blind love affair the media (FOX News excluded) has with Barack Obama is overt, obvious, and irrefutable. To give credit where credit is due, the media makes no attempt to hide their unabashed love and admiration. Throughout the campaign, and these first several weeks of his presidency, Obama has come to expect blind, no questions asked loyalty from the media. The media, for the most part, has acted in conformity with Obama's expectations. That is until yesterday...

Yesterday afternoon, Rick Santelli, an analyst for CNBC, was reporting from the floor of the Chicago Commodities Exchange. Mr. Santelli asked the traders what they thought about Obama's recently proposed housing bailout plan, to which the traders responded with a chorus of boos. Mr. Santelli then went on to voice his disapproval of the plan and the many reasons he felt supported his position. Pundits, and their many criticisms, have been around for decades. They just come with territory, as do their criticisms. That is unless you are Barack Obama. Throughout the campaign and his presidency to this point, political pundits have essentially given Obama a free ride. That being the case, one cannot be surprised that Obama would not have expected to hear any criticism about his housing proposal. The Whitehouse's reaction to the criticism, however, was quite surprising. In the press briefing today, the Press Secretary took several minutes to specifically address Mr. Santelli's criticism of Obama's proposal. The Press Secretary held up a copy of the proposal and told Mr. Santelli to read it. A great argument, because we all know that someone who lives and breathes the stock market on a daily basis could not possibly understand the fundamentals...

Let's all hope that none of Obama's remaining plans and proposals over the next four years are crticized in any way shape or form. If they are, all we will get to hear during Whitehouse press conferences are responses to the individual opiners of each and every criticism.