Fun Friday: Concerts, Movies, Pictures and Thanksgiving Edition

Well, this post may be late, but, as you can see, there's a lot going on in my life right now.

First of all, I made the symphony chorus, YAY!! It's been a long time since I've been a part of a classical music group, and, since I spent four years of my young adult life engrossed in it, I kinda miss it. So, I'm excited. Plus, we're going to perform one of my all-time favorite classical works, Carmina Burana, by Carol Orff. Yeah, it's awesome...

Secondly, here are the promised pictures.

I'll start with the painting that I told you all I had to paint. It's OK for a strictly no-talent individual like myself.

Next, we have some pictures of the hotel and its surroundings.

First, there's the Main Broadmoor hotel building. Beautiful, is it not?

Next, we have The Broadmoor West, where we stayed. Lovely, yes?

Then, I'll share just some outdoors pictures of the lake between the buildings, the mountains, etc. Just breathtaking...

And, last but definitely not least, here's the wonderful spa. Heaven!

And, there are my promised pictures! I hope they were worth the wait, I'm no photographer...

So, for Fun Friday, I'm SO EXCITED!!! I'm going to see Breaking Dawn, Part 2, with my former teaching partner/good friend!!! Yes, I'm a Twilight fan, it's just the romantic in me, I guess, seeing as how I'm not a fan of blood. But, Erin and I read the books tegether and have seen the movies together, so tonight is something I've really been looking forward to: a girly movie with a great friend. You can't go wrong!!

Finally, for this week's recipe, I've chosen a famiy Thanksgiving favorite: Cranberry Jello Salad. This was my grandma's recipe. Some of you may already have a similar recipe, but everybody loves this dish, even your picky kids, so if you need a good Thanksgiving recipe, try this one out. Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

Cranberry Jello Salad

Ingredients:
1 lg. package red jello
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 sm can crushed pineapple, drained
2 medium bananas, mashed
2 C chopped nuts, optional
8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature
milk

Directions:
1. Mix jello with only 2 C boiling water. Stir well til dissolved, then refrigerate for 10 minutes. Save 1 Tbsp liquid in container
2. Add cranberry sauce, mix well, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. Mix pineapple, bananas and nuts together and add to chilled jello mixture, then pour in glass casserole dish. Refrigerate until set.
4. Add the leftover tablespoon of liquid to cream cheese, then add just a little milk to make mixture spreadable
5. Spread over top of salad. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

Well, we're home. And, honey, it was no small feat getting here.

I'll spare you the painful details, but our flight that was supposed to take off at 8:20am finally took off at around 1:45pm. For those of you, like me, who are a little slow with math, that's about 5.5 hours later than planned. And guess what? We didn't even get a bag of pretzels or peanuts for all of our trouble. Nope. What is this world coming to?

Then, the pilot proceeds to come on the PA system, while we're all strapped in, about to take off, and tells us how long and hard it was to repair our plane. Huh? What is that all about? Note to United Airlines: correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think calm passengers make for the more peaceful plane rides. I'm just sayin'...

On Friday I'm going to upload some breathtaking photos from my trip, but for now, just rejoice and be glad, with me, that I am home! I'm tired, people...

Plus, tomorrow is my audition for the symphony chorus. And, just In time, I went to 0% humidity Colorado and my nasal passages are so dry that I feel like I've had cotton stuck up my nose for 3 days. Yay, me.

If you're noticing a tiny bit of extra sarcasm tonight...people, I'm tired.

My take: I'm going to bed. Tune in Friday for a new recipe, beautiful pictures and a much more me version of myself. Or something like that except that makes more sense. I'm tired, people.

Alas, All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well, we're headed home...

Yep, it's just after 6:00am and I'm sitting on a shuttle, going to the airport, so I'm gonna make this quick...I get car sick, you know...

So, last night was really fun. Robert and his firm got their awards, yay, the food was amazing, Baked Alaska for dessert, and the after band was maybe the best we've heard at this event. In following the theme, they started playing swing music, not many true swing dancers present, however, so they shifted into typical oldies dance music and everyone thronged to the dance floor! Pretty fun...

So, it's been a great trip. See you tomorrow, Texas side!

Breakfast of Royalty

So, I've decided that I'm going to live at The Broadmoor. I mean, why not?

The people are so nice here and treat you like you're royalty from another country...I never get that at home...the scenery is just breathtaking, deer walking all around, ducks on the lake, snow covered mountains as the backdrop. And the room, gorgeous! So, why wouldn't I stay? OK, I'd miss Riley. Probably. OK, I would.

Just finishing up a buffet breakfast here, maybe the best ever! Made-to-order omelets, every type of pastry you could ask for, thick, crispy bacon, even this bread pudding that melts in your mouth. AND, my personal favorite: cheese biscuits covered in sausage gravy. Now, the biscuits are great, bit the gravy-well, let's just say I could eat the gravy by itself, from a bowl, like soup. Uh-huh, I really could...so, yep, I'm having fun and eating well, which is a big part of fun for me.

I've been trying to upload pictures unsuccessfully, but I'll upload them on Thursday...if I go home.

Tonight is our formal event. Robert will be in his tux and I'll be in a ball gown. It's an awards thing with a live band afterwards, lots of fun.

My take: I love The Broadmoor! Did I mention I might just live here?

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Coming to you LIVE from the distinguished Broadmoor Hotel in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. And, people, it's cold.

No, seriously, the high yesterday was somewhere around 25 - Fahrenheit, not Celsius. When we walked back to our room last night, the Broadmoor grounds are quite extensive, different buildings for different events, my face was actually hurting from the wind. Now, that's cold.

Anyway, we are having a great time so far. This is the company's 20th anniversary, so the theme is "The Great Gatsby" and "The Roaring 20's." After our speaker, which was a retired military man turned VERY motivational speaker, we went to dinner where all the ladies were given feather boas, longs strands of pearls, and headbands with flowers standing up on them, while the men were given gangster hats. Robert looked so cute as a gangster...heh, heh...yeah...

In just a few minutes I'll be leaving with "the spouses" - this company always plans things for the spouses to do while the financial advisors are in their meetings during the day. Most of the ones I've been on are super fun. Today, will be a challenge, however. Today, they are going to want to teach me how to paint a picture.

Something you may not know about me yet, is that I have NO artistic ability. None. Na da. Zip. When I signed up to go on this little excursion, I missed the part about the painting. The only part I saw was the part about shopping, lunch and cocktails, and I thought that was right up my alley. So, last night I notice the painting part. And, I'm immediately distressed.

My husband says, "Babe, you'll be fine. It's just for fun." Uh-huh. Dude, it's never just for fun. I love women, I really do, but you and I both know how women are: everything is a competition. I'm just praying I can sit in the back.

My take: At the least the shopping and lunch are first, which should give me some momentum. And the cocktails should help

Fun Friday: Cultural Edition

Well, I'm sure you're all wondering about my doctor's appointment yesterday. And, I'm going to tell you about it. But not today. Because I might burst into tears if I try to tell you about it today. People, it was traumatic...

On a happier note, guess what WE'RE doing for Fun Friday this week??? If you're struggling, check out the above picture. Yep, that's right! We're going to Houston tonight to see Les Miserables!!! Robert surprised us, well, it's really all for Riley, who's never seen it, and got us tickets. Riley and I are both drooling, we're so excited! I've seen it twice before, but it is my all-time favorite musical...and, that is a long, distinguished list, by the way, because I love musicals!! Another favorite is The Sound of Music. But, I regress...

So, we're leaving early enough, all dressed up in our best duds, to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Pappasito's, then head to Hobby Center for the performance. Yay!!!

My take: a little culture in cow-town is a good thing! I spent 4 years of my life in the music department at Lamar University surrounded by fantastic musicians, going to and performing in concerts and the truth is, I really miss it. So much, in fact, that I'm trying out for Sympony of Southeast Texas Chorus next week...hope I make it...

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend. I am leaving Sunday for beautiful and COLD (yay!) Colorado Springs, Colorado with Robert for a conference, but I'm going to take my iPAD and will hopefully be able to post. Meanwhile, check out this week's recipe. It's one of my favorite desserts because it's SUPER easy and EVERYONE raves about it. It's called Dump Cake because you just dump all the ingredients in and bake. Enjoy!

Dump Cake

Ingredients:
1 can pineapple chunks
1 can cherry pie filling
yellow or white cake mix (I prefer yellow)
1 stick butter
chopped pecans, optional

Directions:
1. Dump pineapple chunks, WITH JUICE, into 9x12 baking dish, spreading over entire bottom of dish
2. Dump cherry pie filling on top of pineapple chunks
3. Dump cake mix over fruit, covering
4. Cut butter into small pats and spread over cake mix
5. Sprinkle pecan pieces, if desired
6. Bake at 350 degrees for abou 45 minutes or until browned on top and bubbly

A New Doctor: oh Happy Day

So, I'm going to the doctor today. Yep. Going to the doctor. I can hardly wait...OK, that might be a slight exaggeration...

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know I'm having an issue with my right foot. (OK, I just have to stop here and say that when I first typed that last sentence, I typed "root fight" instead of "right foot!" Ha, the things I do before I've completed my cup of coffee!)

The truth is, my foot is extremely painful. I can barely walk. I'm trying to walk on the ball of my right foot and just not even put my heel down because of the pain. You know what I look like? I look like one of those mythical creatures whose body is too big for his goat legs, so he sways back and forth and does a little hop when he walks. Uh-huh, that would be me. And, honey, that ain't the look I'm going for...

I'm going to see a new podiatrist, one that my mom, who is 71 goes to. I mention my mom's age because she is probably younger than the average patient's age in a podatrist's waiting room. Podiatrists and retina specialists, yeah, mostly for the elderly. And, just as I have to go to a podiatrist, Riley has to go to a retina specialist yearly due to an injury he sustained a few year ago. It's a good thing we are fans of old people.

Anyway, my mom really likes this doctor and he is the son of some friends of ours, which is a big thing for Robert. He is a huge fan of "supporting friends' businesses," which usually translates into his clients. He always wants to purchase things at the stores where "so-and-so owns that store, he is the son-in-law of a cousin of a brother-in-law of a niece of a client of mine." Uh-huh. I usually don't argue because I usually don't even understand what he is saying. I'm fine with shopping at clients' establishments most of the time. It's the part where he wants to wait until "said establishment" (see long list of relatives above) has a sale. Yeah, and that may never happen. And, that's just what my husband is hoping for. Probably. Although I should tread carefully here, hence my new refrigerator and dish washer. Love you, Babe!

So back to the doctor, first of all, he looks like he's about...12. Now, we've all seen the show "Doogie Houser, MD," but really, it's a little discouraging to me when I realize that this doctor doesn't even know most of my favorite 80's music, BECAUSE HE WASN'T EVEN BORN YET!

But, my mom says he's very personable and funny and that I'll like him. Let's hope so, because I hate trying new doctors. The thing is, I am a Google enthusiast. I have Googled this foot pain probably 20 times and I have narrowed it down to about 2-3 possible diagnoses. Yes, me with no medical degree. I'm so bad that my family doctor, who has treated me for 20+ years, usually ends our appointments with "I know you're going to Google this, so let me give you the correct spelling." See? An enthusiast, I am. The thing with new doctors is how long do I have to wait to interject my thoughts from Google? What if he doesn't mention one of said 2-3 diagnoses I have come up with on my own? It's very tricky with new doctors, you see. I mean, you want to put your best foot forward and not be blacklisted on the first visit, but, seriously, who has time to play?

My take: I have to wear heels next Tuesday night in Colorado Springs at a formal event - we need to get this show on the road! The above picture is from last year's event. We clean up pretty good, right?