A Little Weekend

There are lots of advantages of having friends who are pilots...but one in particular is that sometimes (just sometimes) they are laid over in your city and can spend the whole night with you! I definitely took advantage of this at the beginning of this month and then again on Friday. That's right people, Miller was in town AGAIN and, as always, was ready to party! After a few drinks at my place, Miller, Christopher and I headed to the Reds/Indians game for a nice night at the ball park.

Things always get a little silly when Miller and I get together, but licking the moon and then snoting a moon out your nose???

Quite hilarious, but things definitely could have gotten crazier. I mean, last year I spent 4th of July with him and THIS is what happened at the end of the night.

Naked on top of a car???? Yeeeeaaaahhhh...I guess blowing a snot-moon out his nose wasn't the silliest thing he could have done that night!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with good people, eating LOTS of food, attending a little dinner party (check out what I made for dessert below), and playing cards all night...etc. It was a nice little weekend. And yes, I did infact receive more flowers this weekend...hydrangeas, calla lillys and roses. So so so pretty...even Paisley liked them! :)

xoxo

Chocolate Passion Bowl

I was invited to a little dinner party this weekend and ofcourse could NOT show up empty handed...so I whipped this little Chocolate Passion Bowl up. I'm not going to lie...it was absolutely delicious and got rave reviews! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix

2 eggs

2/3 cup of oil

1/4 cup water

3 cups cold milk

1 large pkg JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding (Sugar Free)

1 tub whipped cream topping, thawed, divided

2 cups raspberries & strawberries

Directions:
Heat over to 350 degrees. Combine brownie mix, eggs, oil and water.  Spread mixture into a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool 1 hour and cut into 1 inch squares. Beat milk and pudding mix with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup whipped cream.
Place 1/2 of brownies in trifle bowl. Top with layers of 1/2 pudding mixture and 1/2 whipped cream and fruit. Repeat all layers. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Mmmmmm...doesn't it look delicious? I can't wait to go home and dive into the left overs! :)

Criss-Cross Sauce

Well, if you've looked at my 101 list lately, you should have notice I've been sloooowly criss-crossing things off the list.

• #57 & #58 Order pictures and update all my picture frames in my house. CHECK!  I even bought a huge new collage frame with recent pictures to hang over my bed.
• #41 Clean out my closets and donate old clothes to charity. CHECK!
• #93 Update my alarm clock. CHECK! Well, I didn't actually buy a new one but it's a newer/better one, nonetheless. The old one will be donated along with all the clothes.
• I marked off #49 go on a picnic....but recently decided to put it back on the list. To be honest, the picnic I went on didn't really count and so...back on the list it goes. :)
• #99 Be a Vegetarian for one month is still holding strong...no meat for the past 22 days...only 8 more days to go. And believe me....July 1st I will be eating a huge meat sandwich. I can't wait! :)
• Even though I figured this was one I could easily cross off my list, I have yet to complete #34 Buy myself flowers. Mainly beause of the sweet guy who's been spoiling me with flowers lately. First, a dozen peach colored roses. Then, my personal favorite, calla lillys (along with a yummy chicken dinner)! And then a surprise delivery at work of birds of paradise. So beautiful. So fragrant. So thoughtful! Thanks Christopher!

AND hopefully soon I will have an update on #39 Volunteer at the Children's Hospital. I submitted my application in March and they just called me today for an interview! Eh....I'm surprisingly nervous.

Well, that's my update for now....stay tuned...

Volunteer Bust

On Saturday, I woke up at 7am, put some old clothes on and met with Give Back Cincinnati, a local volunteer organization, for their annual Paint the Town event.

What was on the agenda? 59 HOUSES! That's right...painting the exterior of fifty-nine houses!! (Luckily, my team was only responsible for the completion of ONE!) However...it was STORMING outside. How on earth are we expected to paint a WET house in the pouring RAIN! Sheesh! So....after about two hours of discussion, Give Back Cincinnati cancelled the event and rescheduled if for July. Looks like my good deed will have to be postponed for another month. Here is the house I will be painting...anyone available July 10th to help?

 

On a happier note, my pilot friend Miller, who lives in Tampa, was laid over in Cincinnati Friday night, so I was able to spend a few hours with him. I picked him up from his hotel and we went straight to the mexican restaurant by my house and starting throwing back margaritas, beers and tacos! (Shrimp tacos for me!)

It was so fun to catch up with him and chat about randomness...and after a few beers we even had a few deep conversations too. Miller/Jaxie Therapy Sessions, as he calls it. Haha.  Good times! I hope everyone had a fun weekend! :)

Pretty Sweet Suite

Last night, I ventured to the Great American Ballpark to watch the Cincinnati Reds play against the San Francisco Giants! It was the perfect night for a baseball game, minus the 5 minutes of rain and minus the fact that we lost. BUT, the Reds are still ranked first in our division, so no harm done!!

My company was nice enough to give away tickets to the game and I was a lucky winner!!! Two tickets to the company's reds suite. Free food (Although, I didn't get to eat the good stuff due to my do-not-eat-meat-this-month-deal). Free cocktails. Free parking pass. Pretty suite deal if you ask me. (Like my play on words?!?) Ha. Gotta love the perks that come with my job.

And a lil shout out to CV for being my hot date. Thanks kiddo. :)

P.S. I should really invest in some red colored shirts for game nights. My yellow shirt wasn't cutting it.

Butterflies = Whimsical

This weekend, Christopher and I ventured out to the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory. It was quite "whimsical", if I do say so myself. Thousands of butterflies flew around my head and I tried to avoid stepping on them and also tried to avoid them landing on me. I think I did pretty well...I didn't kill any and they didn't freak me out too much. :)

And while I was out having fun at the Butterfly Show...Paisley was at home doing this:

What a silly dog! :)

A Snapshot of June

Unfortunately (and surprisingly), I do not have any travel plans for the month of June, but l'm optimistic that it will still be a good month even without that lack of adventure. So, what do I have in store so far??? Well, my friend from high school who currently lives in Tampa will be in town THREE times this month!! Woohoo! It's only for a day at a time, but I am still pretty excited to see him. I also plan to do a little volunteering, redecorate my place, celebrate some birthdays, see some culture, maybe go to the zoo...and a lot more!

Oh....and I am going to be a vegetarian for the entire month! (#99 on my 101 list)! No meat. No chicken. Yes salad. Yes fruit. Yes fish. Yes cheese pizza! :)  It's only Day 2....so far so good.

Happy June Everyone! :)

She Moves! I'm Sad!

I spent most of the last days of May spending time with my one of my best friends, Erin. She is moving to San Diego and I needed to spend as much time with her before she left. A few of us went to the midnight showing of SATC2 the night it came out. (Horrible idea to stay up until 3:30 on a work night!)...we went to lots of dinners, karaoke, had little get togethers and chit-chatted lots of nights and mornings until she had to leave.
I plan to visit her this Fall...but that sure is a long time from now! Ahhhhh. I'm sure going to miss her!!!

(Jacqueline, Erin, Jessica, Emily)

Here is a little sample of the going-away present I made for her. It's a little scrapbook of all our memories together. Aren't I the sweetest???

Sadface.