Great pictures are not taken with a cell phone camera in a room with a chandelier and sparkling candles.  That’s a fact.  But great memories are made when family and best friends come together.  My baby brother turned 27 on Saturday.  How does time go by that fast?!?! So to celebrate Miss V, CoLo and I all headed to the playground of the stars to celebrate with him for the weekend.  Little did he know Chicago would be surprising him by driving down the day after we got there, too, and boy was he surprised!

So with the gang assembled, it was time to celebrate.  After a birthday breakfast, we drove to the big city to play goofy golf (and be hustled by CoLo), break the basketball game in the arcade and grab lunch at PeiWei before a quick stop to pick up the new Neil Casel photobook from his time in The Cardinals with Ryan Adams.  The drive home was filled with dissecting the chances of Ryan Adam’s returning to music, bad 80s music and naptime.  We arrived back at the parentals just in time to help mom finish up birthday dinner, meatloaf and mashed potatoes (and I took my first bite of meat loaf in 23 years! Let’s just say I had a bad experience.)

After dinner Z opened his gifts which included more pearl-snap button shirts, a GPS for those El Paso adventures, a gift card to expand his vinyl album collection and a knife that every guy would want and only a few should be entrusted to carry. Then before the hour got too late, Miss V packed up and headed east for Cruces, and those who remained capped off the evening with “The Hurt Locker” and Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” on vinyl in the manroom.

While this weekend was nothing like last year’s Zacapalooza with the huge bbq and trek to Texas for Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, for me there was something quaint and heart-warming about spending time with the people who mean the most to you.  I’m pretty sure the birthday boy feels the same way.  Happy birthday, brother.  May you have many more and may those you love be there to share each one!

After my mom served this cake for Zac’s birthday bbq, Cory decided he wanted it for his bday. I’ll warn you now… the icing is difficult to get on the cake (because it’s a tadbit runny and tastes so good you wanna just eat it out of the bowl).

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake
Makes 1 (9-inch) 2 layer cake
1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
1 (3-ounce) box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 large eggs
1/2cup vegetable oil
1/4cup water
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Garnish: sliced fresh strawberries
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 2 round 9-inch cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 4 cups
1/4cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream sheese,m softened
1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2teaspoon strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners’ sugar
In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup strawberry puree, reserving remaining for another use. Beat in extract. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth.
Note: For pinker frosting, add 2 to 3 drops of red food coloring to frosting.

Two Christmas ago, one of my favorite gifts was a year round quilt that my mom had mad for me. The quilt is one of the coolest I have ever seen especially for an apartment because there are twelve smaller quilts that can be hung in the frame of the large quilt depending on the season. So far I have seven of the smaller quilts and as mom finishes each one it becomes my new favorite. Today, she sent me a pix message sneak peak of my newest spring quilt. I can’t wait to get it! Don’t you love the hot pink rain boots?!?!

Sunday on the way home from Cory’s mom’s house, we stopped my my favorite Phoenix family’s place to meet the newest addition to their precious family, Bella.  The thing I love most about this family is how comfortable you feel as soon as you walk in the front door and how much like family they feel like to me.  M and A (the parents) have three beautiful munchkins that are more than a handful, especially the middle munchkin Mad.  This lil girl is one of the most adorable toddlers I have ever met, but don’t let her curls fool ya.  She’s the big girl in charge of this family (a place I understand).  You never can tell if she’s gonna cuddle with you or throw a football off of her brother’s forehead.  She’s a perfect combination of mom and dad, and I can’t help but adore her.   Without realizing it our hour visit had stretched into a over four hours, and it was time to head home.  We said goodbye and promised to see each other soon… a promise I plan on keeping.

Meet my new best friend, Lucy the Labradoodle. Lucy and I met and fell in love this past weekend when Cory and I headed to the valley to spend time with his mom and sister and celebrate his birthday. I had heard horror stories of Miss Lucy, but who couldn’t love a sweetheart like that?!? During our weekend we found time to relax, played (and was destroyed in my case) the family favorite card game Down You Go, watched the newest Bond movie, and just enjoyed each other’s company.  Plus, his mom made the most amazing birthday cake with this mocha coolwhip and toffee pieces frosting.  Can you say Ahhh-Mazzz-Ing!  Birthdays are meant to be spent with those you love, and it was great to spend his with his family.  From the first hello until we said goodbye, we had a phenomenal weekend and it was hard to say goodbye, especially to my doggie bff. But we’ll definitely play catch again soon.

I hate April Fool’s Day. How could I love after growing up with Capt. April Fool’s Zac? However, I do enjoy helping others prank people on this special day. This year was no exception when my Friend Mike called and enlisted me to prank his mom. Apparently she and her husband love the restaurant Pappadeaux and eat there all the time. So early this afternoon, I called her up and pretended to be from the Pappadeaux corporate office rewarding her for being a faithful customer with a free appetizer and dessert that evening at their local Pappadeaux restaurant. Just to push the boundaries of belief I called the reward program ‘Pappadeaux’s Frequent Feaster’. Amazingly enough she bought it and agreed to call the local restaurant to schedule her reward except I gave her her son’s cell phone number instead. Amazingly enough, she did not recognize her own son’s number.

After waiting a few hours for his mom to call, Mike finally broke and called his mom to see what was up. His mom then spent the next thirty minutes telling him how she had the worst day ever and nothing had gone right. Finally after she had vented and completely purged herself of her horrible day, she confided to him that the best part of her day was when Pappadeaux had called and offered her free food for being such a great customer. Oopsies! With a lil luck, Mike extricated himself from the phone call with his mom and hung up feeling a bit guilty. Within the next few minutes his phone rang with his mom’s number, and he decided to let the joke play out. After a few seconds, his mom recognized his voice and figured out the joke. Thank goodness, she enjoyed it and wasn’t upset. Otherwise, I would have felt horrible. Now I just gotta beware of retribution next year.

Zac sent me this gem today, and if I could find it, I’d buy it and wear it (but only when I’m alone and at home.)  ~

Last week when my family was up visiting, my mom and I were fabric shopping when I came across a fabric I couldn’t help but fall in love with.  White with black flowers and swirls highlighted by hot pink… what couldn’t be more me?  However, despite the perfection of the fabric, Mom and I couldn’t come up with a single use of it in my new bedroom.  Guess that’s how you know a room is just right when you can’t find a way to use a gorgeous fabric.  So with a tish of sadness we walked away from the fabric and decided if we came up with a use we could always go back.  Less than an hour before my family had to leave, Mom and I had the epiphany that my bed would look better if there were 7 pillows on it and not just 5.  So we raced back to the fabric store to but the beloved fabric to make pillowcases for pillows I already owned and kept in the closet until company showed up.  Well, it’s been about a week since they left and already Mom has made gorgeous pillowcases from the fabric below and mailed them too me.  Yeah, I’m spoiled

Pillowcase fabric

Completed bed with new pillowcases

My philosophy on Chinese food is simple…  there is no such thing as good Chinese food, just levels of bad Chinese.  So when Cory decided for his birthday dinner to go to his favorite Chinese restaurant in the valley, I didn’t have a huge hope for culinary brilliance.  Boy, was I wrong.  Flo’s Chinese was by far the best Chinese restaurant I had ever tried.  From the lettuce wraps to the honey beef, everything we ordered and shared with each other was phenomenal.  I just need to find a way to get my parents on the east side of town to try it out.

My family left today.  I swear everytime I have to say goodbye to them it gets harder and harder.  I cry more, and it takes that much longer to get my emotions back under control.  I’m not really sure why this is.  I wasn’t this way in college.  I’ve said goodbye to them and hopped in the car to drive home numerous times.  Maybe it’s because they all live six-hours away and as much as I love my life in Flagstaff, I miss them more than I can express most days.  Maybe because I feel like the odd family member out, the lone gun man, and don’t know how not to feel that way.  I’m almost controlling and selfish with the time I get with them, and that realization is a horrible feeling.  You’d think the older I get and more of a life I build here, the easier it would be to go back to that life when family time is over,  but that’s not the case.  Now don’t get me wrong, it was a great weekend.  We had tons of laughs, enjoyed two days of March Madness, did a good deal of shopping and spent quality time together, but still I’m sad and left wishing for more time together.

On the other hand and just in time to cheer me up, Lauren is back from her overseas trip and should be arriving on my doorstep soon.  I can’t wait to hear stories of her trip and just give her a huge hug.  I’ve missed her immensely the past two weeks and will be relieved to know she is home and safe.  Plus, two weeks of life is a lot of catching up to do.  Then, to add more fun to the proverbial pot, my old and dear friend Emily is bunking at my casa tomorrow night as she drives through Flagstaff.  I’m sure we’ll spend our time together catching each other up and gossiping about the old gang while feating on Oreos and ice cream.  I haven’t seen her in almost two years, and it’s been months since we truly had a good chat.

Life is funny like that.  As sad as I am to say goodbye to three of the people I care most about, God has provided me with hellos and hugs of others that I’ve been missing.  I know deep down that even when I say goodbye to Emily Monday morning or remember the three hundred mile distance that separates me from my family, I am still loved and still love, and that’s more than enough to get by.

March Madness is finally here. Our brackets have been decided and submitted to Zac’s “weirdsowithbeardos” ESPN group. Just in case, you wanna follow along… here’s the official Men’s 2009 Division 1 Tournament Bracket. Go Wildcats!  (PS – No matter what any one tells you.  I did NOT take today and tomorrow off to watch the games.  I swear.)

My family is on its way to visit me, and to be honest, I’m having a hard time focusing on anything because I cannot wait for them to get here.  Zac has visited me a handful of times since I moved, and dad was up here after Christmas.  But mom has yet to see my place finished, and I blame her for my Christmas decorations staying up as long as they did.  Part of me just kept hopping if they stayed up, she’d eventually come and see them.  Yet, apparently, she has a full time job and has to take care of the boys… so no visits for Laurel until now.  I have spent way too much time as of late meticulously making sure everything is as it should be in my house.  I’ve grocery shopped for everything they liked, planned meals, and have visited Target four separate times to ensure I have everything they could possibly need to be comfortable.

What is it about our parents that even as grown adults we have an obsession with pleasing them?  Will it really matter to them that every picture and decoration on the wall is level?  No, you say?  Then why did I have to check every single thing on every wall with a level last night?  I’m sure Cory thought I was losing my mind as I checked and rechecked my parental preparation list 15 times yesterday and today to make sure everything was just right, but you only get one chance to make a first impression.  Even as I think about this afternoon, it seemes laughable to spend that much time focusing on details they won’t even notice.  People come in and out of my place all the time and probably couldn’t tell you what colors the throw pillows on my couches are, and yet I went so far as considering ironing the wrinkles in them that I noticed late last night.  Maybe I’ll just turn off all the lights and light candles, so that the room has a nice glow when they get there without shining a spotlight on anything I might have missed.  Yeah, that’s a good plan.  Then they’ll think their daughter is holding a seance and not critique her decorating, cleaning, or living as an adult skills.  Whew, I feel so much better.

There’s an easy test here in Flagstaff to see if it’s still Winter.  Look at my hands.  If they are dry and irritated, Winter has yet to say it’s goodbyes and depart so that we can be blessed by Spring.  Last fall my mom traveled to Michigan for my cousin’s birthday and found this amazing hand cream somewhere along the way.  The smell is pleasant without being overpowering, and it leaves my hands feeling refreshed and hydrated.  As much of my day is spent typing and working on other people’s computers, I hate the slimy and greasy feeling left behind by most lotions, but this one is AH-MAZ-ING!  You can buy it on Amazon, and I’ve even found it in a boutique downtown.  If you run across it, treat yourself to a tube.  Your hand will thank you.

I really can’t think of a better way to end a long and emotionally taxing week than to pull up to your house and see a bright green and purple box on your front steps that you know is full of flowers.  Without even pulling the door shut behind me, I rushed into the house and ripped the box open to find two dozen blood red, pink, and cream roses and the most amazing card from Zac.  Lucky me, I have the world’s best friend/brother who cares enough to do the things in life that remind me how blessed I really am.  Every day I think these roses have finally reached their peak of beauty, but today I’m sure they just can’t possible be any more wonderful… kinda like Zac.