Graduation

A few weeks back I asked the admin at school when graduation was, she said April 3rd. So I told a few people… then I go to a graduation meeting Friday afternoon and find out it is March 27th. How do the employees at the school not know when graduation is? Oh well, now I have to have my parents change their day off for a week earlier. The news of being done earlier is good to me so I was only slightly irritated.

While in the meeting we were given four packets, three forms to sign and four more papers on information. One paper is a sheet that I have to have signed by 12 different people. 12 people not at this campus so I have to drive downtown several times to get this accomplished. There is also a manditory portfolio review where I have to plan a menu and make a display out of sugar or chocolate for whatever I decide to make. I have to make 6 different things and fill a 6′x3′ table. Hmmm. Not real sure what to do. Along with that I guess there is a new exit practical where I have to make four desserts of my teachers choice in two days. Apparently they are going to be very challenging and are from 6-11 at night the week I graduate.

So graduation not turning out to be so relaxing, I felt more overwhelmed by that meeting than any other I have been to. Along with all the above I also have to schedule 4 different meetings with four different Chefs here in order to complete and get my portfolio review approved. STRESS!!!!

On the plus side I only have 5 weeks left, YEAH!!!!

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Baby Ford

Welcome to Baby Ford! My newest nephew. He was born on January 20th. He was 5 lbs 15 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. I went to see him that night and he was a beautiful little baby. Some babies aren’t too cute but he really is adorable. His official name is Gifford Obney Seawright III. Because that is her boyfriends name I choose to call him Ford to keep them seperate.

I took this picture because I thought is was both funny and sort of cool that they put a lojack on the babies while they are at the hospital so no one can walk out with them.

His sweet baby toes!

I am hoping to go see him again tomorrow and I will take some new pictures of him, hopefully with his eyes open. I didn’t get a picture last time but his hair was thick and dark. So soft and sweet. What a little blessing.

Recent School Projects

This first one was fun to make, I believe it turned out well.

This one turned out a little dark for me but the components of the dessert tasted great.

Verrines were my favorite, they all tasted great and are a good size for a dessert.

Chocolate 6 ways was a lot of dessert for one person. These bite size chocolate desserts all tasted great but was a lot of work for one plate. This is one that has to be made for many people to be worth while.

Next is the wedding cake portion of the class. I will post some pictures when I have completed a couple.

First Day Back To School

After a three week break school starts for the last time yesterday. We had an opportunity to pick up our schedules early on Friday afternoon before three but I didn’t get back in town until four so that was out. At the time I was not concerned because everytime I picked up my schedule I had no problems. Yesterday morning I woke up at 5am, took a shower and came up stairs to take care of the dogs when I saw that there was about 1″ – 1.5″ of snow on the ground. Any snow and all the newbie Coloradans freak out and ruin it for the rest of us so I knew I was going to have to leave earlier than planned. I left a little before 6 and it took me an hour to get to school, even in traffic normally its only 30 minutes. The snow was coming down hard and fast. Thank God for my truck.

I got to school at 10 to 7 instead of 6:30 like planned but still early enough to be on time. I went to grab my schedule and the lady says “uh oh, you have a hold. You can’t go to class until you get this fixed you must go to the downtown office NOW”. In this snow, crap! So I get in my truck to go the six short miles into town, I had to go to 12th and Lincoln. About 8 I am just getting to 10th and Lincoln and 7 buses are facing different angles across the four lanes of Lincoln right at 10th. I sat at the 8th street light for 9 revolutions being the first car in line not getting through traffic was so bad. Finally the bus mechanic came and salted Lincoln so there dumb asses could open up a very busy road. 1 hour and 15 minutes later I get to the downtown office and up the elevator. The lady I need to talk to is sitting there waiting for me it seemed, no line, a glimmer of hope I thought trying not to lash out.

I give my blue paper to her, she looks up the problem, there isn’t one… “You didn’t need to come down here it was just an error on our part and the lady you need to see is back where you just came from”. Holy Hanna! Kill! Kill! Kill! is all I was thinking, stay calm, there is a reason for this madness, stay calm. I sad as calmly as possible, “you mean I drove here in this crap weather for there not to be a problem and now you are sending me back to the lady that sent me down here?” “Yes mam, I apoligize she states. I asked for my blue sheet back and called my dad to vent so I didn’t go postal on someone. I get in my truck and head back to the school I just came from an hour and a half ago.

The lady I need to see is not in her office so I go talk to another lady and she told me she had to step out and wouldn’t be back until 10:30. “So what you are telling me is, I can’t sit in class to find out how my quarter is going to go until I get this fixed but she isn’t going to be in for 2 hours?” She responded defensively and then allowed me to go to class as long as I promised to leave at 10:30 to work it out. So I listened, I found the lady at 10:30, 5 clicks later the problem was fixed. Some moron simply put the wrong date of graduation in the computer and didn’t bother to check for accuracy before sending me on that very frustrating wild goose chase.

New Years 2009

The day after Christmas Billy and I got up early and headed to Texas at about 5:15 AM. We had the three dogs, us, and a book on CD to listen to on the way down. I have been looking forward to this trip for many months now and felt more than ready for a break from our recently crazy life. We only had to make 4 stops on the way to Austin and we arrived there about 8:30, well actually 9:30 there time but it looks better when you can subtract an hour. During our last stop I stepped out of the car and could instantly tell we were in Texas, the smell of the humidity and warmth on my skin was so calming and welcoming. Unlike most people I love the humidity, not every day I am sure but being from Colorado I welcome the chance to be in it.

I was very nervous about my aunts 6 dogs and our 3 dogs getting along for an entire week but we introduced them all slowly and it seemed to work out ok. Seeing my aunt is like seeing a long lost best friend, he smiling face and her voice just make me feel safe and at home. Even though I was tired from the trip I wanted to stay up and talk all night. We unfortunatley had to kick my cousin out of his room so we could have a bed and the dogs could have a little space of their own. We went to bed to wake up to a family filled day full of picture taking. The mornings like at home were still filled with responsibilities, the dogs needed to go potty, needed to eat, needed their viatmins, we needed showers, etc. Once all the nonsense was through we got to enjoy the company of Patrick and Lisa (my aunt and her hubby). Patrick is a wonderful man, he is funny, talented (he made this toy box for his new grandson that I wanted to steal and take home for myself), kind and just a pleasure to be around. Like my aunt Lisa! They are a great couple, a couple to look up to. That alone is rare these days, I can only hope Billy and I will stay like we are now, like Lisa and Patrick seem to still be after 20 some years of marriage. One bad thing about my aunt is she takes on too much. The only reason I notice is because I see a lot of who she is in me. We try to please everyone which is IMPOSSIBLE, we usually make the “responsible” choices and generally at the cost of our own happiness. Maybe this isn’t a bad thing for her or I we just need to learn how to control it and not let it effect our happiness. Any ways, sorry for the tangent…

Family started showing up for picture day, this day was for my grandma. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be, I prepared myself to see my mom. She was welcoming just like the rest and I felt like there maybe be a chance we could actually be friends one day, that would be so nice. Saying that I don’t know my mom makes me sad, I hope one day things will be a tad more normal. I was pleasently surprised by the pressence of my other cousin Sean, he is MUCH taller than me now but still the nicest kid. For some reason I feel like I can be myself around my Texas family more than my family here in Colorado, with the exception of a few of course. In my heart I think I will always be a Texan even though my time living there was very brief. Picture taking is not my favorite but I actually did ok, here I always seem to take pictures that make me look high, but my eyes were open and other than my multiple chins they turned out ok.

A friend of the family took the pictures so that no one was left out. Here are a few pictures from that day:

Billy, my brother Jonathan, his girlfriend Haeley, my Grams, me, my mom

 

My cousin Sean and aunt Elizabeth

Me, Jonathan & Mom

The boys, Jonathan, Ed, Patrick, Billy, Sean, Daniel, Aydan

Daniel, Patrick & Aydan

Billy, Me & The Doggies

Grams and Aydan

Billy and the dogs hiding from having to take more pictures.

All Grams Grandkids, Grams, Me, Jonathan, Sean, Daniel & Great grandson Aydan

Right before we took the large group photo the dogs got board and decided to run the property. Dinky ran down the hill and started running circles around Lisa’s goats and Mickey decided it would be fun to eat one. Thank goodness Billy got down there quick, if Mickey wasn’t retarded or crippled he may have succeeded. He did hurt one real bad which made day one not so great. Lisa loves her goats and Mickey hurt one bad enough that it couldn’t walk for a couple days. I sure hope Patrick doesn’t shoot it, Lisa may be mad at Mick then. Sorry Lis!

People started to go away so we could breathe a bit. People overwhelm me. Mom was being cordial though which was nice, she was a pleasure to talk to. We played a couple games with her, Sean, Lisa and Patrick and had a great time. Off to bed… off to a much appreciated yet small bed. I have been spoiled since we bought our pillow top king bed and going from the to a double bed and Dinky still wanting to sleep with us like normal made for a not so great sleep.  Wake up to get the dogs taken care of and make sure they don’t attack any more animals. Then I got ready and Lisa, Patrick, Daniel, Amber, Mom, Billy & I went to see the Curious Cae of Benjamin Button.

We pulled up and my moms car was sitting there. I was prepared for another meeting like the day before, pleasant, human, cordial. Instead, she ran straight over to Patrick asking his help on some home owner issue and ran far in front of us all, bought he ticket, sat down, no hello, nothing. Normally I keep my feelings in check and bottled up inside but instead I stood back with Billy and made sarcastic comments I was secretly hoping she would hear, like: “Hello”, “Hi, its so nice to see you again”, “I am so glad you are hear and we can see each other again”. Stupid things like that, anyways Lisa finally found her and we sat next to her and she stared straight ahead like she had F off stamped on her forhead. The movie felt like it was 8 hours long and oh so boring. No blood, no guts, no action & no sex. Not the kind of movie I needed after that encounter with my mom, I needed to watch Die Hard  or something. Oh well, the movie was finally over and my mom ran out the door and to her car. I originally wanted her to come to dinner so I could get to know her a little but after that display I was relieved she decided to go home and throw her bitch fit there.

As I said before, normally I bottle my feelings inside. When she said she didn’t want to go to dinner, I made it to the car and broke down. I felt like a big fat baby, crying in front of people, how tacky. I don’t know why my mom has that control over my heart to break it every time, no matter how thick of a barrier I put up she can squeeze through with ease, its very annoying. On the way to dinner I had my breakdown and pulled myself together right as the hush puppies hit the table at the Catfish Parlour. What a great place and what great hush puppies. I could eat those for my meal and be perfectly happy. The company at dinner was pleasant, Lisa, Patrick, Daniel, Amber and Billy. My mom can break my heart but my Billy can put it back together just as well.

That night was low key, we had a bon fire with the cousins on the hill that Patrick built for us. I know I already told you how great he is but he is one of those guys you can just sit and be comfortable with, talk about anything and joke about anything. He cracks me up, I love it when he has little suggestive comments and Lisa calls him a perve. They are cute toghether. We went to bed once more, this time to the same double bed but with the stress of the day still weighing on my shoulders. Once again I didn’t sleep wonderfully but good enough to have yet another good day.

This morning I decided to go sit with Grams and talk with her while Billy slept in. It was nice to sit just the two of us, my Grams is the sweetest lady you could ever meet, and her voice just as soft and sweet. My grams, like Lisa, takes on too much stress. Sometimes you can see it in her eyes that someone or something is bothering her. I managed to make her cry which was so not my intention but also so easy. All we did was talk about when I was a baby and how she wanted me to stay with her but she thinks my dad did a wonderful job raising me anyways. I bet that was a hard time for her, just like its hard for my parents not to be able to see their grandchildren. We hugged and went our seperate ways for the day. I wish she liked to get out more and we could talk over a meal or driving some where. I just made sure I went to see her every morning after that so I didn’t miss too much time, and I didn’t make her cry anymore.

The next day Gram’s relatives from Arkansas were stopping through to say hi, Betty and Jerrel. These are people we met last Thanksgiving when we went to the family reunion in Little Rock. The nicest people. Something about southern folks, they are all so decent. I told Grams I would cook so she could relax and enjoy their short visit. I got up early and made meatballs and got everything ready for the fettuchini and spaghetti. Not very culinary but I figured it would be good with not knowing my surroundings and what was available as far as kitchen supplies went. Everything turned out ok, maybe it wasn’t great because I don’t like to eat the food I cooked but I really can’t trust Gram’s and Lisa because they say everything I do is great. Ha Ha! Just kidding, I can trust them just sometimes I wonder if they are a little bias and it maybe wasn’t that great. It doesn’t really matter though because Grams got to visit with her family and that was all I was trying to help with. We unfortunatley had to run because that morning Dinky got sick and we had to take her to the vet, boy was that ever expensive, New Years Eve vet out of state, ouch! She just had a bad bladder infection and had to be on pills, at least we fixed it before having to drive home and stop every five minutes for her to pee.

The next afternoon we went to see Lisa’s new office, odd thing was my mom was there, and she said hello. I wonder why its so hard for her to talk to me but so easy for her to talk to Jonathan? I hope I don’t have that same F off stamp on my forhead… That day went much better. Lisa’s office was perfect, the smell was wonderful and homey, the furniture was cozy yet professional and her reading materials were all purposely selected and laid out. Her desk had pictures of dogs and my mom’s desk had wolves. My mom has liked wolves for as long as I can remember. Most people go back and forth between things, well maybe not most people, but I do. Horses, fish, monkeys. Monkeys will stick though, I love monkeys. (Monkeys have nothing to do with the day so lets get back to it).

Lisa took us to a little diner in Georgetown that was newly built, the diner is the same as years before just the building was new. My mom and I ordered the same thing, I guess likes and dislikes are hereditary and not learned. We talked about Motorcycles, school, tv shows, waiters, Lisa’s new business, mom’s knees, a whole bunch of topics, like we were all human again and learned how to be cordial overnight. This was another nice day. The weather was perfect also, sunny, warm with a cool breeze.

Patrick made us smoked hamburgers and then we went to the pool hall with Daniel and Amber for some kid time. I had fun messing around with Daniel, he is just as bad at pool as I was. I am pretty sure Amber wasn’t having fun though, she was texting the whole time and we kept having to remind her it was her turn. The evening got a bit awkward when she sar friends were going to meet up with us. I decided to play the old responsibilities card. I had to go check on the dogs because they were locked up in the room and probably needed to relieve themselves. That was the night of pool, Daniel is fun to be around. I wish we lived closer so we could spend more time together.

New Years Eve

The day wasn’t too eventful until the evening. Patrick and Lisa took us bowling. I am horrible at bowling and the shoes really hurt my feet but that was the best New Years I can remember. No worries, no people to make happy, just a low key stress free evening. No one even gave me grief about my style, if you can even call it that. My “form” is no correct and Billy says I slam it too hard but I did get the best score of my life, 68! Yes! A dramatic increase from my 7’s and 15’s. Patrick is a good bowler, he wiped the floor with us and earned bragging rights. I am pretty sure his rights expired shortly after we left as far as Lisa was concerned though.

A goofy picture of Lisa and I

Me, Billy, Lisa & Patrick

 

New Years day was also pretty uneventful but a strange thing started, an evil annoying eye spasm. My eye was twitching so bad it started to give me a headache. I went and showed it to Lisa and Billy and they said they could see it, I knew it was a bad twitch. Puzzle of the twitching eye continued…

Since it was such a nice day we decided to go to the river and let the dogs play. I really had a good time, it was sort of the bittersweet event before a long goodbye though. I was enjoying myself but sad I would be gone tomorrow.

Lisa admiring a thick green carpet of moss

Mick before we decided to let him off leash and he ran away. But head, Billy chased him and gave up when he started running back, Billy opened the car door and he jumped in. When Billy was walking back toward us empty handed I thought for sure Mick was a goner and Billy was relieved, but he was safe in the car. That way Billy could cool off before wanting to kill him. Stupid dog!

Peach was on the hunt of a wonderful smell, my aunt’s beagle.

Dinky and Peach playing.

Gizmo being the lone ranger he likes to be.

Patrick cooked for us again, he made us baked potatoes and smoked steaks. He is a good cook, I do wish I wasn’t late from the store for dinner because my steak was well done and I like it medium rare but the flavor was still good and it was my own fault for being late. Right before dinner I decided I needed to get baby stuff for my sisters shower the day I got back because I didn’t have time to shop at home. Billy and I had loaded up the car earlier that day with everything but the clothes we needed so we could just shower in the morning and leave.

I could barely keep my eyes open on the drive home and usually I am a wonderful passenger. It was probably a good thing though because I was too tired to be too sad. The stupid twitching eye was back also, ugg! It was super foggy when we left also which was sort of erie looking:

We made it home safe and the puzzle of the twitching eye was solved. Saturday morning after sleeping in my big comfy bed the twitching stopped and hasn’t returned. Apparently it was exhaustion. Good exhaustion though!

I had a great time, appreciate everyone letting us inconvience them. (Daniel’s room, I bet he needed his bed back too, Lisa & Patrick’s house, allowing us to bring our dogs, etc.)

 I miss everyone already and hope to see them all again soon.

Christmas 2008

So this Christmas was not quite what I had in mind but I learned a few things. This year has been a challenge for me with a new job, full time school, starting my own catering company, etc. I was tossing the idea of a Christmas in our house with the families coming to us. Of course we would keep the usual time frame, B’s mom in the morning, my dad’s side + Billy’s dads side in the afternoon. You would have thought I asked everyone to come and live with us forever. My aunt was excited, I had to ask dad to come since we normally see him Christmas Eve and not Christmas but I knew having my aunt and dad together would be a gift for my grandma. Since she doesn’t like money spent it was perfect. Then Billy’s dad couldn’t come which was sad but we were able to see him Christmas Eve. He is now moving back to New York. That is so far away but honestly I think we may see him more often now. He visits more and won’t be tied down to responsibilities because they will be left in New York, all fun. Finding this out on the day before New Years Eve however did make more added stress because it was something else to think about, be sad about…

The problem, Billy’s mom refused to come to our house. She was going to be here without my family but I guess she didn’t trust I wouldn’t do that to her.  I had thought since we were driving for 16 hours the next day not driving on Christmas Day would have been nice, people coming to us, having time to pack and do laundry between folks… many many reasons. That was all unacceptable, so I went the high road and conceeded and we went to his moms house like she wanted. I really had no intention of manking anyone angry and I couldn’t stand the thought of her and Ken being alone all Christmas. We are their family and it is our job as kids to make sure they are taken care of, I guess in this case that meant me now getting my Christmas at home which was fine. I am pretty sure just trying to have Christmas a different way put a wedge where it doesn’t need to be but because that was never my intention I tried to fix the situation. I will probably never know but with all of this going on Billy and I were at each others throats all week. That is not supposed to happen, especially around Christmas. I think the fact he had to work 21 hour days for 10 days before Christmas and I had finals made our breakdown worse.

The good news, we survived, Christmas was decent looking back. Christmas Eve we went to the Bone Fish Grill with Billy’s dad for dinner then headed to my dads for presents and chit chat. Christmas morning we had no presents because we had been so busy we couldn’t make it to the stores but Billy’s dad came over and we showed him Rock Band which was fun. Then we headed to Billy’s moms and I believe that went pretty well. I think she may have been irritated we didn’t bring the dogs but Gizmo was being wierd all morning like he didn’t feel well and I wanted them all to travel well the next day to Texas. We did have coffee cake there which was good as always, opened presents then headed back home for the 2nd wave of people. My aunt, uncle, cousin, grams, dad & mom all came over for some Italian Nachos (a new thing I tried). Those turned out well I think. My Fiber Optic Christmas tree broke right as everyone was coming in the house so I decided to take the decorations down.  Sitting at the table after everyone left we decided to take Mickey to Texas with us. We finished packing and went to bed.

Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Although things turned out in the end I think next year we will go on a cruise. Ha Ha, just kidding!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Most everyone who knows me knows that I have to work on Thanksgiving. I have a large catering gig on Friday, a wedding for 325 people and I have to make 600 rolls on Thanksgiving day for this wedding. Because of this we are unable to participate in family activities so we decided to have an early Thanksgiving. My only free day was Saturday. Unfortunatley this made it to where I had to miss a good friends baby shower but it was the only day everyone could come over and the only day I had time to cook anything.

Being in school has given me the confidence to take on such a task but everyone was still making me nervous with the Turkey mentioning all the bad things that could happen. My aunt talked me into using a bag to cook it in and until Friday night that was the plan. Friday was a long day, early to rise and late working at the schools restaurant, I got home late and decided I didn’t want to get up early. I also decided I have spent thousands of dollars to learn to cook, I should at least see if I could make a turkey the old fashioned way. The only research I did on Turkey cookin’ was that it takes approx. 18 minutes per pound to cook. I had a 22lb turkey so that meant over 6 hours and everyone was coming at 2 in the afternoon. I cleaned, dried, buttered and seasoned my turkey Friday night because Billy said he would throw it in the oven early so I could sleep. He got up and put the turkey in right when I asked at the right time. When I did wake up the turkey smelled amazing. One thing though, I cook by smell. I realize this is not the “right” way to cook but there is something in my nose that tells me when an item is almost done and my nose was already telling me it was done. Because I know the “right” way I temped the turkey to make sure it was at least 155 because I knew the carryover would raise a bit more. I stuck my turkey and it was 165 at 10 in the morning. Crap, could you imagine if I would have followed the “directions”? Other than that tiny miscalculation (4 hours) … the food all turned out great. I didn’t get to make the desserts I wanted but the ones I did make were very tasty.

The turkey was amazing and my homemade gravy was fantastic. This knowing how to cook is sort of cool. Check out this beauty!

Waiting to eat…

The spread

I love this picture because I love my dessert snowman stand

The desserts I had time to make were a toffee butter cake variation, without the powedered sugar like most recipes, it was a cross between a cake/cookie/cheesecake but to die for in my opinion and then the pecan pumpkin tarts which I still need to try. Everyone said they were good though.

Everyone had to leave pretty quick but overall it was a decent meal. We had all the usual thanksgiving suspects. Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade bread, desserts, dressing, cranberry sauce (jellied for Billy and homemade), sweet potatoes casserole, garlic/almond green beans & gravy.

Who Am I?

            I will be perfectly honest; I think this assignment is frustrating. I was asked to sum up who I think I am in a statement. This seems almost impossible for several reasons. I have many words or statements that could explain me or what I like: A Christian, hardworking, loyal, a daughter, a wife, a sister, a niece, an auditor, goofy, love movies, love dogs, possibly infertile, impatient, loves monkeys, has a heart for the children of Africa, daddy’s girl, a baker, has problem with authority but respects it, wishes I had a green thumb, photographer, Texan, the opposite of sentimental, loves the beach, has the best husband, likes the dark, and so much more. None of these things alone are who I am. These things can give a person an idea of what I like and a bit about my life but will never explain in a statement, who I am.

            My goals, my job, what I want to be, is NOT who I am either. My goals are how I want to make my life enjoyable. I am going to make goals to make a life I think is worth living.  I am a product of my experiences, my mistakes, the lives around me. So how does a person explain who they are in a simple statement? They don’t! A person is more than a statement a person is a life, a creation of God. So after deep contemplation that is what I am left with, but because I ALWAYS complete assignments I came to a conclusion. I am a fallible survivor! I make mistakes and survive life.

For Lisa

Because I know my aunt Lisa loves animals as much as I do, this blog is for her.

Saturday I went to a sheep/goat farm to take photos for a Christmas play. The children were pretty well behaved I guess but 20+ kids was just too much for me. I did have a moment that was peaceful though, I got to hold one of the three baby goats. They were adorable, I wanted to take one home. Lisa would have wanted all three I would imagine.

The cute little goat was so calm and warm in my arms, I didn’t want to let him go back into the child mob! But… I was good and let him back with his family and said good bye to the sweetheart. One day I think I am going to have a goat.