Then and Now

~ Then ~

~ Now ~

Today is our 14th anniversary.

We've known each other since 9th grade.

29 years is a long time.

I think there is a lot to be said about knowing someone for so long. 

Here's hoping for 29 more.

:0)

Entre Nous

Have you stopped by the Nester today? She is having a giveaway, that is very fun. She is partnering with Danielson Design for a custom designed sign. There are a ton of different styles to choose from and the best part you get to design it yourself. Here is the one I would get if I win.



When we were in HS, Joj wrote me a "love letter". He basically printed (on his dot matrix printer) the lyrics to the Rush tune Entre Nous. Oh, so very Joj.
So bop on over to the Nesting Place and have fun creating your own sign.
:0)

Awesome! Totally Awesome!

Who other than Jeff Spicoli to sum up last night events. It was the most amazing evening and Joji was completely blown away.

Here is a pic of him griping about having to drive all the way up to Seattle for dinner. Of course we hit traffic trying to exit at Mercer (for those of you who are not from Seattle, we have the WORST traffic problems) and it made us late. After getting the "where are you?" text I made Joji drop me off in front of the restaurant while he went to park. Thankfully, street parking is nearly impossible to find and I had a few minutes to get everyone settled. When Joji finally go to the restaurant, it was pretty packed (Homecommingers galore) and he was antsy to get seated. While on our way back to the table, we bumped into on of his buddies on his way back from the little boys room.
Joji was all "hey, what are you doing here?"
Poor Dave's response "having dinner"
Joji "we should get together soon"
Dave "okay" giving me the panicked look
Joji "where is out table, I'm starving and want to eat"
Me "Uh, turn around Joj"
And there, right behind him, was a table full of his bestest high school buddies. This little group of boys have not all been together in almost 20 years. Joj was speechless. I was practically jumping up and down doing "the girl clap" I was so happy to all worked out.

I had begun putting all of this together in May and for me not to tell Joji about this was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm NOT a good secret keeper and I knew how much he would like it. What made it more difficult was reconnecting with folks and not being able to tell Joji what all his buddies were up to. Of course, I told everyone else within earshot and still Joj never found out. Even Ben and Sam kept the secret (very impressive) For months I was emailing and calling to get everyone there. I almost got the whole gang, but a last minute business trip made the group one short. Still, 7 out of 8 isn't too shabby.
The plan for the evening was for everyone to meet at Bucco De Beppos for dinner and then the boys would be on their own. I had arranged for a room downtown so they would have a place to crash. I figured they would want to go out on the town and raise a little cain (the running joke was the goodie bags would contain cigars and singles) and I wanted to make sure no one would have to drive home. I had also arranged a ride home for myself so not intrude on all the male bonding. However, that isn't exactly the way the evening went.
Instead of whooping it up, the group decided to go straight to the hotel and play some cards and reminisce about the good old days. Now, when I picked this particular hotel, I chose it for a couple of reasons, most of them had been there before and it was a block and half from the restaurant. I sent them directions and we even stood out side the restaurant and pointed to it. You would think that 7 grown men would be able to find the place no problem. Well, guess again. After Joji and I were waiting in the lobby for almost an hour the cell phones started ringing and it seemed that they boys ended up at 3 different hotels. How? we are still unsure. One group ended up at Northgate which involved getting on the freeway (did I mention you could see the hotel from the restaurant?)
Eventually everyone found their way and it was just like old times. I managed to sneak Joji's zune and dock so we had some festive tunes to listen to. Van Halen, Rush, Ozzy, Scorpions... we had it all. Even a little Iron Maiden that stopped everyone in their tracks in order to sing along (not the prettiest of sights, but very funny) I had made some goodies for them, but I misread the room description and there was no oven. There was a microwave and that just did not work to cook the sausage balls. I was a little bummed. However, I did make a couple of pies and those were a big hit.
After I served up the pie and made sure everyone was settled, I called my friend to come and pick me up. However, there was no answer. I called a couple of more times and still no answer. Now, I have to say that I never really wanted to leave, but felt like the boys would be more comfortable without a girl in the room. Yeah, they didn't care, just the old days. As long as there was someone to fetch drink and dish up pie they were good. Needless to say, I was very glad I got to stay. Most of us managed to stay awake for quite a while, but when 4:30 rolled around it was time to hit the sack. Around 7:30 the cell phones started ringing with wives calling to make sure their husbands had survived. Soon everyone was packed up and going their separate ways.
I still can't believe it is over. It was such a great night. Chances are it won't happen again so I'm incredibly thankful I was able to be a part of it. For one night, we were all 15 again and it was great.

Lordy, Lordy! Joji's 40!!

Happy Birthday Joji!!

I've got a secret...

Joji is turning 40 on Thursday (poor guy)
To make the passing of his youth a little more bearable I have gotten him a really great gift. I have been working on this for 5 months. I am now only days away from seeing the look on his face when he sees it and I'm going insane.
I am not one for keeping secrets so this has been sooooooo hard for me. He has absolutely no idea what it is and if he didn't read this blog, I would spill the beans here. Even though his actual bday is on Thursday, he has to wait until Saturday. I'm hoping this gift will make him feel like a kid again. Any guesses??
:0)

Man Camp

Joji returned from a week in NC only to rush out the door one and half hours later for a weekend of MAN CAMP. Joji is heading up to our cabin to spend the next two days doing manly things, like chopping wood, eating, sleeping, eating and partaking in a white wine spritzer or two. I'm very proud of Joji for going since he didn't know most of the guys who were going to be there. Hopefully Joji will have a good time and return with both eyebrows.

For some reason I really enjoy making "manly food". I do not like to eat it, but it is fun to make and the guys usually really appreciate it. So for this weekend I made the stuffed jalapenos. I have never worked with them before I must say I was a little scared. I have seen enough Food Network to know that one wrong move and you will be covered in welts and writhing in pain. I took no chances and donned my latex gloves. Ben asked if I would like the face shield Joji uses with his lathe, but I declined. I will say that those suckers are a lot of work to clean out and it reminded me of opening an orange the way the seeds would kind of spew everywhere. After 2 hours I had prepared 3 Costco salad container full of stuffed peppers. I really they hold together on the grill. (Just a quick side note on the salad containers... they are the best!! They alone make my Costco membership worthwhile. I put everything in them, they hold a lot and they stand up to numerous trips to the dishwasher. Seriously, start saving these babies, totally worth it)
As I mentioned in my last post I was on the look out for a really good PB recipe. I googled "the best" and "killer" peanut butter cookies and this recipe kept coming up. I made them and I think the only thing I would change would be adding a dash of vanilla. It felt very odd for me not to put vanilla in, but I wanted to follow the recipe. I really missed that little hit of sweet. When the cookies were "taste tested" they got good remarks. Joji thought they were "good" (that is about a excited as he gets) Matt gave them a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
(I would consider a 1/2 t vanilla)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
(I added 2 cups of peanut butter chips for a little extra umph)
DIRECTIONS
Cream together the shortening, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; gradually stir into the peanut butter mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Make small balls of dough. Flatten with fork dipped in flour to form cross-wise pattern.
Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just set. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

A quick note on cookies.
I like a nice chewy cookie. This requires that the cookies are not cooked too long. I take my cookies out of the oven before they are browned on the edges. The time to take them out is just as the cookie looks "set". While the cookies are cooling on the sheets (a very important step) they will continue to cook. Below is a photo of a properly browned cookie and one that is a little more "Cajun" (aka "blackened") It isn't totally burned, but just a lot darker than it should be for a chewy cookie. If you like a crispier cookie, then that would be the desired doneness.

As we were rushing around getting all of the last minute items packed, Joji was getting down his tent when Matt asked him if it would hold 2 queens?
Here is a pic of Matt and Joji before they left. Suddenly I'm a little worried :0)

10th Anniversary: Mars vs Venus

He said...

She said...

...and the universe continues in complete harmony.

Old Man River

I have been feeling really old as of late.
Last night was Joji's 39th birthday. It was a mellow birthday, but it made me feel old.
It didn't help that this past weekend, Joji's cronies from "back in the day" got together. Even though I have know these guys since I was 13, I was informed it was a "no wives" dinner. Whatever. Of course, when Joji got home I kept him up until 2am making him recite every conversation that took place.
There are so many stories that involve this little group of boys. The kind of stories that involve situations you never find yourself in now. When was the last time you were grounded all summer, only to be left unsupervised the weekend before the start of your Sr. year? How could you not invite a couple friends over for a small get together? How could you possible predict the entire FW student body would show up? Every week there was always a new adventure. For some I had a front row seat and others I got the juicy details Monday at school.
Now I realize you get to a point in life where friends passed out under the neighbor's tree isn't funny and I'm glad my Monday morning conversations don't involve evading the police, but it sure is fun to revisit a time when the pressing issue of the day is NOT the broken water pipe at the rental house, but how to recover from eating too much fruit from the spodey before you had to go home.

Boys and Manners

Every month, Joji has the boys over. I take my wifely duties very seriously and I really take a lot of pride in putting out a big spread. Typical menus include 2 rounds of appetizers (pre dinner and midnight) some type of manly meat dish with a couple of sides and dessert. I really enjoy doing it, however, it does take a little planning and prep. Whenever I am planning a more fancy-ish meal (this week were going to have Bloody Mary London Broil)I like to get a headcount. I HATE running out of food so I like to be prepared. I usually send out an email and ask the guys to let me know who is coming. This time around the wives had been invited as well, which could potentially add 5 more folks for dinner (not a big deal, all were welcome, I just want to have enough food) So today is Thursday and only half of the folks responded. Joji got a response from one of the guys who said that so and so never responds, but you know they are most likely to come. Joji responded (and I quote)"I would expect a reply one way or the other when a specific request is made for head count. So, I'm cancelling for this session." Wow, I can't believe he said that. Of course, I was thinking that, but I was very proud of him and it made me feel like he really appreciates what I do for him and his friends.
Thanks for sticking up for me :0)