Good food, good times, good friends...

The long awaited Martin Sexton concert was last night. It was the 2nd time I've seen him live and the 3rd time Mark has seen him live. He is ridiculously talented. I think during the concert I asked Mark 5 times "how does he do that"? Martin preformed alone last night but you wouldn't have known because AS HE'S SINGING he does percussion and bass..kind of like beat boxing.

With that said, I'll never see him at Knicker.bockers again. That venue is a sad reminder of the lack of nice venues for music in Lincoln. Mark's band has played there many times over the last 8 or 9 years and the owners are always less than welcoming and the place itself is a sh*t hole. I told Mark ahead of time that they'd over sell the tickets and it'd be a packed mess. Well guess what? It was PACKED with no air circulation in their tiny room. People we super rude and and pushy and I had to practice ultimate self control to not beat down some of the girls. Not an ideal situation for a clausto. We went with C & M and I'm sure M has some crazier stories than I do because she got stuck by some weirdos too (amazon woman, etc). Ha!

Before the concert we headed over to C & M's for dinner. Here's a run down of what she made (in under an hour because they were working):
-Chicken cooked in wine, lemon juice & capers
-Sugar snap peas cooked in olive oil and garlic, topped with sea salt
-Cous Cous with peas and lemon zest

It was absolutely delicious and I would take M's cooking over any restaurant. Yummmm!!

The night was a blast and, despite the crazy packed venue, it was super memorable and nice to have a night out in boring L-town.

This is the only pic I took and I had to doctor it up....


Us at the concert...isn't Mark just hot?!? :) The holding out the camera thing doesn't always work. :)

The life lesson of "Friday Night Lights"

My husband and I love Friday Night Lights. We had friends recommend it to us and we've been hooked ever since. One of the main characters, the football coach, has a lot of wise things to say. It sounds weird, but things he says really stick with me sometimes.

A couple episodes ago, the coach and his wife lost their new baby's nanny. The wife was really struggling with what to do because her career is really important but her baby is really important. The coach leaned in really close to her face and said "Gracie is not our burden...she is our blessing."

I think I really lose sight of my blessings some time. Managing and maintaining our home can be a huge pain in the butt, but we are so blessed to even have a home. Sometimes my job feels more like a life style than an actual career. BUT I am blessed to have a job.

This week we were told we are going to have to work from home until our new office is ready (3-4 months). I was really bummed to not have an actual office to go to, but the more I thought about it, working from home can be a huge blessing. I'm going to try to schedule my time working more effectively so I can work out more and keep my house more organized.

I'm going to try to remember things are blessings even when they feel like burdens.

Interesting acupuncture experience...

I went to acupuncture on Tuesday and I told the gal that everyone I know is sick and I'm bummed because my throat was starting to hurt. She did a lot of work on my sinuses and told me that I'd start draining that night. She said my cold would be super fast forwarded and to come back in 2 days and she bets I'll be better. I was confused because I hadn't really gotten a cold yet. My throat was just a bit sore.

So that night Mark and I went to Sam's Club and, on our way, I started blowing my nose. I blew my nose all night! I then woke up with a horrible sore throat and headache all day yesterday. Today, it seems my symptoms are quite faded and will hopefully be gone by tomorrow.

Strange. Coincidence? Acupuncture? Hmm...

I was tagged!

Neenie has one of the funniest blogs I've ever read (I Think We Made a Nugget). Somehow I stumbled upon her blog when she was doing injections at the same time I was. Her stories about the day to day joys (ahem) of the process were hilarious. She's now over 30 weeks preggo and on bed rest. (Stay put a little while longer, swimmy). Anywho...I was "tagged" and I have to list 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about myself.

So here I go...

1. I'm super picky about food. I've tried to hide this from most people but I've gotten "called out" more in the last year or so. Some examples...I don't eat a lot of red meat b/c I don't like gnawing things like steaks, roast, etc. I'm really specific about how things are cooked. I like all my meat cooked all the way through (even seafood) and I about gag at people eating things rare. Along the same lines--I hate buffets. Too much food just sitting out getting nasty. Ew. If I eat something out of date by accident, I freak out for about 6 hours until I realize I'm not hurling my guts out so I must not have gotten sick. I should see someone about this.
2. I've never mowed. Ever. I've never even turned on or pushed a mower. My dad and brother always did this and, ironically, they now own a law business so they do my husband and I's yard. They rock.
3. If I could snap my fingers and have an instant career change, I'd be a photographer/graphic designer. I'd love to take pics of families and newborns and then create announcements, etc. I have no training and I don't see myself going back to school for these things but I just secretly want to do it so bad.
4. I'm really paranoid about my house being clean (especially when people come over). But, in reality, we live most the week in such a mess. We throw our clothes on the ground in the room and bathroom, the dishes pile up and smell like a**, we have piles of dust bunnies on our wood floors. Then, about once a week, I'll snap and I just HAVE to clean until it's spotless. Then we mess it up again. If we just maintained the cleanliness, life would be much easier.
5. I shave my arms almost everyday. I did it for my senior prom because some of my girlfriends decided it'd be fun. Once it grew in, I didn't like it because it was all wiry and weird looking. So I kept shaving them. That was 8 years ago.
6. I'm a TV addict. Some of my friends might have heard me say it before, but it's bad. I have so many shows that I DVR that it's crazy. I do most my watching pretty late but it's not uncommon for me to plop down at 8 or 9pm and not get up until 12:30am just so I can be sure to watch Regis & Kelly, Oprah, all my reality TV, LOST, Prison Break, Amazing Race, ER, etc etc. At least a couple times a year I tell my husband we should cancel cable and see what we'd do. He always tells me about when his family got rid of cable for a month and they spent so much quality time together. They didn't even miss it after awhile. Maybe some day I'll get the strength.

Ok, now that you all think I'm a weirdo, I'll go now. :)

Introducing the dog children...

I've recently decided to give my blog address to some friends and family so I'll be making some more personal references. So, the first thing I had to do was introduce our dog children!!!

Cap't Jack
will be 3 in June
We got him as a little baby from a breeder


Sophie Mae
will be 5 in May
We got her from a boxer rescue


They are best friends!

Juno

The hubs and I just got back from the movie Juno. It stirred some serious emotion in me. Don't let the reviews of "comedy of the year" fool you. There are some very deep situations throughout. With all that said, I thought the move was well done and it's definitely a new favorite. I'm sure it had a different meaning to me as an infertile myrtle and possible future adopter.

A couple scenes induced the "I"m about to cry throat lump". *If you haven't seen the movie, I guess my thoughts can be considered spoilers*

-There is a scene where Jennifer Garner (as the adoptive mom) asks to touch the belly of the preggo Juno (lead character). She talks to the baby and it kicks. The look on Jennifer's face was priceless.
-Juno makes a comment to Jennifer about how she's lucky to not be pregnant and having to deal with the symptoms. As someone dealing with infertility, I know I can say I would deal with every ache, pain, puke, fatness and sleeplessness just have a baby. Jennifer's face spoke my emotions.

There are other parts of the movie that tugged on my heart but those are a couple. It's really a great movie, I would encourage everyone to check it out. There are A LOT of laughs. The hubs and I both thought it was great despite the immature teenagers inappropriately yelling out and laughing. When we were driving home we discussed whether we were that annoying and we concluded that my group of friends probably were but his were most likely not. :) Ha.

I'd guess this film will get a lot of nominations...especially the main character. Go see it. Even if you're dealing with IF. I read on a blog from a preggo girl who dealt with infertility, and she said she couldn't have made it through if she hadn't recently gotten pregnant. I disagree. It's a great flick and, though it was emotionally stirring, it was worth it.

My first week of acupuncture

I had acupuncture twice this week. The first session was interesting because I didn't know what to expect. The office I go to use electric stim acupuncture. It is said to be more effective, quicker and less painful than the traditional chinese method. I was shocked it was so quick and painless. It's hard to know how quickly results would appear.

Later that night I had a HUGE deal fall through (I sell real estate) and normally I would freak out complete with yelling and crying and just plain frustration. But, for some reason, I was calm. WTF? Calm? Yes, my crazy a** type A personality was calm under pressure? There must be something wrong. It's then when I realized I had my first acupuncture treatment that afternoon. Coincidence? I don't know.

The next day at work was interesting because the word had spread that I had a ginormous transaction fall through and co-workers were upset for me. I was STILL cool as a cucumber. My boss actually asked if I was medicated! Ha!! They know me too well. I told him about the acupuncture and he said I should definitely keep up with it. He also told me that I should just relax and I'll get pregnant. In my mind I was like "oh no he did-ent" but I kindly told him that with my particular condition, it's not advisable to be off birth control for several reasons so it's hard to have a spontaneous pregnancy. I got him in trouble with his daughter (who works at my office and who is also TTC). Hehehehe.

My second treatment was quick and painless and easy. My stress still feels relatively under control so I'm a happy camper. We'll see if the results keep coming. Stay tuned.