These Boots Were Made for Textin'

When the work days get really long, and everyone is incredibly stressed, I am thankful that I can still take comfort in the little things in life.

Take, for example, today's conversation with my beloved Mrs. Chen.  It started over an email about her successful round brush endeavor (I told you, the little things keep us sane).  Which led to conversation about her final sale gray buckle boots that she wore in celebration of said endeavor.

Of course, I insisted that she take a picture rightthissecond and send it to my phone.

And of course, being the soul mates (soul sisters?  soul friends?) that we are, I also happened to be wearing my gray buckle boots...which led to her asking me to send a picture rightthissecond.

Several text-based squeals of delight later, we were back to the mundane solitude known as work.

...but at least we have each other for a quick pick-me-up.

3 Already?

A little over 3 years ago, I was sitting at a restaurant on a very, very snowy December morning, when I received a phone call that my little nephew was about to make his grand entrance into the world.

After running out of the restaurant like a crazy woman...and a long (and somewhat terrifying) drive in the snow to a hospital that was only supposed to be 20 minutes away, I rushed through the hospital doors to hear a tiny little cry...and then I saw him.

At first, I didn't know he was my nephew.  Quite frankly, he came over a month early, and I was expecting a baby that was quite a bit smaller.  We didn't even know if he would be able to breathe on his own at first.

So when I heard that cry...that beautiful, tiny, amazing little cry...I couldn't believe it.  Before me, on a table under a warming lamp, was little Jackson.  It was like time had stopped.  I remember gasping for air before realizing that I was bawling.  BAWLING.  (In fact, I am pretty sure Barry has a video right as all this was going on.  Greeaattt.)

This little baby was born back in December three years ago.

Minutes after he was born

Three years later, he is a vibrant and beautiful little boy.  And he had a John Deere-themed birthday party ( = AWESOME).

Ingy has some mad cake decorating skills

Playing trains rocks

He was even gracious enough to help Hubs open his Christmas present...

...after which he promptly took off with his gift card.

Smart kid.

I'd Rather Be Sunbathing

A year ago today, we were far, far away.

Enjoying this view...

And drinking lots of these...

 ...sigh.

Under (More) Construction

While I attempted to sort through all this...

This is what happens when I decide to go through ALL of our clothes in an effort to get ride of the things we don't need.  It can get a bit complicated when you marry someone who used to buy new clothes instead of doing laundry (which I have done, too).

...Hubs attempted to begin a ceramic counter top on these...


It seems like we're getting even closer to a final "before and after" post on the kitchen. Until then, my awesome husband (who is getting handier by the day) will be out on the snow-covered balcony with the miter saw. And Braddy's circular saw.

That's dedication.
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Does Your Grocery Store Have This?

Does your grocery store have live music, drinks, and dinner?


Ours does! We are a bit spoiled - I'm not gonna lie.

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A Few of My Favorite Things

Tonight combined a few of my favorite things:

1. Mrs. Chen
2. DG
3. An impromptu phone call to check out...
4. $5 martini night at...
5. Capri! (Is it bad that I ran into the owner yesterday at The Olive Tap and he recognized me?  And then asked me how my olive oil worked out last night?) (I didn't think so.)
6. Live singers
7. FLIRTINI!  (vodka + pineapple juice + champagne + PINK sugar around the rim)
8. Did I mention Mrs. Chen and Capri?  Yes?  Just making sure.

Flirtini!

Live singers!  Frank Sinarta FTW!

Buzzword Bingo

With the week I've been having at work ("Hey Amanda, put together a proposal to implement your dinky application across all of IT...by tomorrow."), I really wish this app was out for the iPhone already.  But since I don't have an iPad like everyone else I know, I'll just have to wait.

For anyone that works in IT, or anyone that sits in pointless conference calls all day, this app is just about the only thing that would make you excited to dial in.  Get this - you can connect up to 15 people through bluetooth to play a game of bingo.  But not just any bingo...

BUZZWORD BINGO!

So for all those times you have rolled your eyes as someone spouts off fluffy buzzwords like, 'streamline,' 'move the needle,' 'leverage,' and my personal favorite, 'stakeholder,' get ready to be happy to hear them for the first time EVER.  You can even add your own buzzwords - goodness knows my company has enough of them.

You can bet that the instant this comes out for the iPhone, I'll be sending a mass invite to my whole office.

Bear (Chow) Down!

I'm not the world's biggest Bears fan, but it took a lot for me to not take this little cake home.



Go Bears! Beat the Packers on Sunday to get to the Superbowl!

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Work those Leggings!

You may have noticed lately that leggings/leg warmers and ruffled tulle skirts seem to have returned in popularity.  And while many vehemently disapprove of this returned 80's trend (cough cough INGY cough cough), I challenge you to look at this picture and NOT immediately change your mind.

Our adorable niece, Emi, in her baby leg warmers and hot pink ruffled tulle skirt that we got her for Christmas.  (And when I say "we," I obvs mean "me."  Hubs prob thinks that "tulle" is an alternate spelling of "tool.")

Yeah, that's right.  I thought so.

A Shout Out to Girl's Nights

I've always been the type to have more guy friends than girl friends...probably has something to do with less drama and cattiness (who has time for that?).  However!  Even I realize the importance of having a few very close female BFFs.

Roasted cauliflower and shrimp pad thai.  Yes, please!

Thankfully,  I have been blessed with a long history of very close, very awesome girl friends (including two beautiful sisters that I would be lost without, and that I am proud to call friends).  As any good friend should, they challenge me to become a better person (and a better cook, as evidenced by Mrs. Chen's amazing dinner, pictured here), and to keep things in perspective.

Girl's nights do more than just getting you out of the house.  It's a time to decompress, share, laugh, and sympathize with the women you love the most.  In essence, it is free therapy.

So here's a shout out to all my female BFFs - thank you for being YOU.  Here's to many more girl's nights to come!

P.S. - See you tomorrow, Pin!  I'll bring the KDRAMA!

On Having a Bad Day

Earlier this week, my morning started out like this...

Completely stopped traffic on the way to work

Continued with this...

A flat tire a mile away from work

 ...And ended up with this...

A spare tire low on air

While I was pretty upset about this at the time (especially when the Hoffman cop was a pretty big jerk because I was "holding him up" and "blocking traffic" (NOT true) (and there was no traffic) and he made me cancel my roadside assistance and pay for theirs), and while it had all the makings of a bad, bad day, I had to force myself to keep things in perspective.  Mainly,

1. I didn't get a flat tire, or a blown out tire, on the 30 mile expressway commute I just made.
2. It was early enough in the morning that traffic was almost nonexistent at the time it happened.
3. My car, or myself, were not harmed
4. Hubs got 4 brand new tires for my car, so I'm even more safe than I was before.

In conclusion, I have a lot to be thankful for.

Birthday Dinner for the Birthday Boy

Since we went out the night before to celebrate Hubs' birthday, I decided to make him his favorite dinner for the night of his actual birthday - Individual Beef Wellingtons.





Annndddddd because I love you all, I posted the recipe over on the recipe site. Enjoy!

It's a Jubilee!

Theresa and I were featured today on the Jubilee Furniture blog!  Jubilee Furniture is a pretty awesome store run by a church in Wheaton, and is built upon furniture (and other) donations from the community.  Basically, you can find really unique items for really cheap, and it goes to a good cause.

The funny thing is - both Theresa and I submitted photos to the Jubilee general manager (Susan, who, btw, is the sweetest thing ever), and neither of us knew we submitted the photos.  Make sure to read the blog post for the full story.

I got this fantastic marble cutting board for $1!

And Theresa got these beautiful goblets (on the right) for super cheap.

If only we had bigger places to actually buy some furniture from Jubilee...

The Return of the Chicken Dance

Yes, we saw a repeat of the chicken dance for Hubs' birthday.  And yes, it was awesome.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

A quick picture before leaving for the night

Playing Funglish at Boochie's house (more challenging than you'd think)

Birthday cake made by moi - flavor was a special request from the birthday boy - FUNFETTI!

Presents!

Apricot brandy shots - NOT half shots, contrary to popular belief

A toast to the birthday boy!

Awww!  (Note the Hawaiian shirt)

Beer, of course

The Schnitzel Platz was PACKED!

The return of the chicken dance!!

Lots of German music

Cheers again!

All in all, it was quite a bit more tame than last year.  There was no Das Boot this year...but that's probably a good thing.  We're getting too old for this.

Happy Birthday!

A huge "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" goes out to Hubs today!



I love you, baby!

Hoping for a Repeat

Originally uploaded by amandaandsteve

Tonight we're out for Stephen's birthday, and hoping for a repeat of last year.

I'll leave you with this little gem from 2010.

New URL!

In case you were observant enough to notice, I finally registered my own URL so you don't have to type the annoying ".blogspot.com" extension anymore.

http://www.digitaldutchess.com/

I also chose to leave off the "the" - who wants to type in more than necessary?  Unfortunately, dutchess.com was already taken by the county of Dutchess in New York (the only way I would EVER move to NY is if I moved to that county!).


If you were SUPER observant, you may also have noticed that I added a "favicon" to the blog (if you use Safari, it might not show up due to it being cached).

Instead of a "W," you should see a pink square with the letter "D" in your address bar

Teeny tiny, but cute!

But don't worry - even if you don't feel like updating your bookmark, I set up all the usual forwarding so it will redirect you to the new address automatically.

I feel pretty accomplished for one day!

Too Cute to Eat

Yesterday, Aki posted a story about Cole not wanting to eat the rest of his Peep because it was "too cute."

Benton chose to have a piece of his chocolate B, and Cole chose to have one of his Christmas Peeps. He was happily enjoying his Peep (Did we ever mention that Cole has a major sweet tooth?), when he exclaimed, “I can’t eat anymore! He is too cute. I can’t eat his head, it’s too cute!”

Oddly enough, I found myself in the exact same situation this morning.  A coworker brought in these ADORABLE gingerbread cookies to share, and I found myself unable to eat it for at least 15 minutes.  I mean, look at that heart!  The whole cookie was just too perfect (and cute!) for words.

So I decided to take the route that Aki proposed, and took a picture to make it last.

...And then I ate it.

And then there was a suckling pig...

I suppose I'll do the right thing here and give fair warning that this post contains rather...graphic? gross? interesting? images. So if you don't want to see a baby pig (already dead, of course) being cooked and consumed, I'd suggest that you don't click the link below to read more.


I'll start from the beginning.

(The Day After) Christmas in the DG

Since we ended up staying in Urbana an extra day, we ended up having our Christmas dinner on the day after Christmas.

The stockings were hung by the heater with care...

Hubs started the party by posing with "Joey" in front of the Christmas tree (Suckling pig for New Year's. Long story.).

Sorry to those of you who are faint of heart!

Come to think of it, posing with raw meat in front of the tree became pretty popular.

Before dinner, we opened presents. You may notice a few things here:
1. Our mouths are open a lot. This is due to us all screaming "OHHHHHHH!!!!" as we open every. single. present.
2. Braddy and Hubs got matching marshmallow guns (awwww) from Boochie, so there are a lot of marshmallows in the background of these shots. Everywhere. (Still.)
3. The Hawaiian shirt made another appearance at yet another family gathering.

Notice: Hawaiian shirt, mouth open

Braddy's sniper head shot

Action shot

Notice: mouth open

Notice: mouth open

Notice: mouth open

Boochie was really, really happy about this rug (if you couldn't tell)

Notice: Hubs is shooting marshmallows over our balcony, braddy is loading ammo

Notice: Hubs is still shooting marshmallows outside, and Braddy is aiming for me

Notice:  marshmallows EVERYWHERE

After presents, we sat down to an AMAZING prime rib dinner.

Notice: wedding crystal!

Braddy and his 4-stitch thumb

DROOLLLLL...prime ribbbbbb

A toast to a wonderful Christmas dinner

Salad greens with candied walnuts

Prime rib, sauteed spinach, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Before everyone went home for the night (and before Braddy dropped an entire box of presents behind him on the way out), we played our old time favorite - CATCHPHRASE!!

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