Obsessed...if thats the right word...

Taking classes with a bunch of 18-20 year olds, you can't help to get a little sucked into the interests that they find appealing. Once I found out that many more ladies (ahem, MY age...) were talking about this series, I knew that I had to get involved.

Ah yes, I am speaking of the one and only Twilight Series.

I added it to my list of "ideas for gifts" for Christmas, and on December 21st, I got the first two books, Twilight, and New Moon. I started the first book on Monday evening, and Thursday morning (yes, you read that correctly - I was reading on Christmas morning - a girl can't help it, you'll have to peel these books away from my cold, bloody hands!) I finished the first two books. These are stories that are well over 500 pages a piece, mind you. Now, they are "teenage reading" so its not like I'm reading the classics here, where I often need to have a dictionary sitting next to me. But, if you like to read, READ THESE! A-MAZING.

I think, personally, the reason that I connect so well to these stories has to do with the fact that I am a newly married gal. I'm still in the "AWWW" stage of my relationship - heres wishing that stage NEVER goes away! :) Mike often tells me how important I am to him, and he often gushes over me, I'm not going to get into the mooshy (private) details, but we are absolutely one of those annoyingly in love couples. And this is what the relationship is with Bella and Edward that you feel from Bella's perspective in the story. I truly connect to these characters because this is where we are in our relationship, minus the whole vampire thing :)

I love these stories, they're so well written - I even dragged Mike to the movie theater and saw the first Twilight movie since its still playing - on Tuesday night after I finished the first story! haha!

So to make a long story short - no pun intended - read these stories (if you have not already) they are great, and the characters are so easy to connect with and love - and Edward isn't too hard to keep away from the imagination, come on look at that man, GORGEOUS.

(picture borrowed from google images)

The Christmas Story

Mike and I decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to go see our local theater group (Geva Theatre) in their first year of the performance "A Christmas Story" (You'll shoot your eye out kid!)
Last night, we got all decked out, and went to the showing of "A Christmas Story" at 7:00pm. We were lucky enough to get second row seats, on the aisle (nice). The show was great, it did a very good job of portraying the classic movie. The story was mostly all kids, and a "Ralphie" narrator. I love going to our local theater, I was in the drama club in high school, and so I've always had a love for theater, and I'm happy to support local theater especially.

If you have a chance (and an extra 50 bucks a person) I highly recommend seeing this play, the kids are really cute, and the acting is great!

6-Month Anniversary

Happy One Year Anniversary to my one and only.

I love you baby, today, tomorrow and always.

Happy Holidays

Finals (almost) Over!

Life Updates:

I can finally get ready to start celebrating Christmas (aka making cookies!!) Today I finished 4 of my 5 final exams (with the final exam to be on Tuesday morning at the ripe hour of 7:45 am.

And...I lost my job on Monday. I knew it was going to happen, it was inevitable. I was working part time making a full time rate per hour. How long COULD it last? I actually lasted the entire semester - interesting how things work out - I could have worked full time beginning Monday morning because classes are officially over as today. I never really liked the job, nor did I ever really feel like I had a place. It means something to me that this job was enough to force me back into school and decide that I need to make something more of myself then a glorified secretary. I am better then that and I know it.

Its going to be a different way to live, Mike and I are working out our bills to make sure we can afford for me not to work, as long as everything works out we should be O.K. We have no bills, and all we pay is our normal utilities and our mortgage, which is lower then a lot of peoples rent. I'm sure I'll get bored and eventually decide to get a job working PT while I finish school, but in the mean time, I'm not going to worry about it and I will finish my year out on a good note.

Needless to say, I'll have more time for blogging, and hopefully more time to spend with my FAVORITE cousin Amanda (my one follower of my blog! haha)

Grandma's Pizzelles

Today was a very big day for me - I finished the majority of my final exams today. I had 4 exams in ONE DAY! I have never taken that many exams in one day - ever. Considering I haven't been in school full time in almost 8 years, it was even more of an unbelievable feat. So anyway, I can finally get back to blogging! So here is another of my favorite holiday cookies...

This year we decided to make Grandma's *Secret Recipe* Pizzelles. Unfortunately, Mike's Grandmother is getting older and can't make cookies like she used to, so we decided to carry the tradition out on our own, so you are lucky enough that I will share this great recipe with you!

Grandma's Pizzelles

6 Eggs
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup butter or margarine
4 Cups all purpose Flour
4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract

Heat pizzelle maker (if this is the first time you have used it, spray with cooking spray, otherwise there is no need to spray the iron)

Beat Eggs in a large bowl, add sugar gradually, Beat with mixer until smooth. Add cool, melted butter (or margarine), and vanilla.

Sift flour and add to egg mixture slowly. Dough will be sticky enough to be dropped by teaspoon.

Follow directions on the pizzelle maker, you will drop the dough in teaspoon sized drops closer to the back of the maker, and close the lid, two pizzelles can be made at a time, and the recipe yields about 40 pizzelles.

The hubs hard at work makin' pizzelles

My Version of Buckeyes

Its not christmas time until we're making our holiday cookies! Here is the first of at least a half dozen recipes i'll be writing about...

Terri's Buckeyes

1 Jar Smooth Peanut Butter
1 large container Marshmallow Fluff
Approx. 3 Cups Rice Krispies
Chocolate for melting (we used about 2 lbs)

Mix entire jar of peanut butter with marshmallow fluff until blended well. Mix in Rice Krispies, I wrote approx. 3 cups because it depends on how crispy you will want your buckeyes. Roll balls into one inch diameter balls. Place on cookie sheet, and cool in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes or until chilled. Dip in melted chocolate and cool for approx. 1 hour on wax or parchment paper.

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes. They are AMAZING. The best (and easiest) truffles I've ever made. They are nice and smooth from the peanut butter and marshmallow mixture, but they have a nice crunch when you bite into them from the chilled chocolate and the rice krispies.

This recipe has always been on our "must-make" list, and was the first of two recipes that i've made this holiday season.

Enjoy!!

Finals are Looming!

I've reached that wonderful time of year - finals time! I can't believe that my first full time semester back to school is coming very quickly to a close. I have one last big paper to write, and 5 final exams next Thursday. Yesterday it felt very real when I was at school from 8am until 7pm working on a 13 page paper about Cesar Chavez...don't know who he is? He is a Mexican American who worked for farm workers rights in the 60's and 70's. Now you know :)

I came home last night after an exhausting day at school, where needless to say all i've eaten was an orange at 10am, to the house smelling like burning, Mike running around the kitchen, something in the broiler, something in the oven, two pots on the stove top, and the radio blaring in the background. I walked in took my jacket off, proceeded to ask where the dog was, and found out that he was at the dog sitters still, put my jacket back on and without a word left the house to pick up the dog. What i've learned is that it is best to pick and choose your arguments.

So thank you to all my family members (especially Mike) who are dealing with me the next two weeks - I am a veritable ball of stress, and i'm sure not much will change until Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm on December 11th.

In the words of Tim Gunn, "make it work."

What I am thankful for...

...wonderful friends and family.



Saturday we had our annual Thanksgiving party with our friends. The group has changed, but the core group has always remained the same. Its always crazy, fitting 18 people into a 1100 square foot house, people bringing their dishes to pass and needed oven space when there is a line to get into the oven, but we always laugh and drink lots of beers before we sit down anyway. Realistically, it never goes smoothly, but we have fun regardless.


Once we sit down for dinner, all at one table may I add - we pause to remember what we are thankful for this year. It has honestly been one crazy year. Two of us have gotten married, one of us moved in with their boyfriend (with the possibility a soon engagement! we'll see..), not to mention new jobs, *hopeful* pregnancy in the near future for one of us, and new friends.

Coincidently, Saturday was also Mike's birthday, so we semi-celebrated his birthday as well.

So, what are YOU thankful for this year??

Me? Pole Dancing??

Yes, pole dancing. That is how I spent my Friday night tonight. My BF Nichole and I traveled west to Buffalo, NY tonight to have a get together with her friends from college. Somehow, I got suckered into a pole dancing lesson. Needless to say, I was a tad nervous. There is no way that I can possibly lift myself up on one of those tiny poles like the strippers do! Well, it was nothing what I expected.

We got there at 6:30, and there were 5 poles, and one in the front (for the instructor) We all wore comfortable workout type clothes and had to take our rings and bracelets off (to not scratch the poles). The instructor is this tiny, little fireball of a woman and she is an amazing athlete. I seriously was amazed at how she was able to manurve herself - nuts!

We did a few stretches, tried to climb the pole (haha), and balance ourselves with our legs out. Amazingly, I could actually do that. Then we got into the swinging, the cat walk crawls, and all the specific moves. It was very fun, and quite a work out. Its amazing that I can actually type right now :)

We all had a great time, and a great workout - all and all it was a very cool (kinda-sexyish) experience and I highly reccommend anyone to check it out. (Pole Play in Buffalo NY)

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!!

My cousin, Jack's birthday was Sunday. He is an absolute doll and he has the best personality. We had such a great time getting together with the family - and of course the weather was amazing.

I made a fun little appetizer that I thought I would share with you...

Carmel Apple Dip

(recipe courtesy of "the new" nichole chaffee)

5-6 medium sized apples

1 bar low fat cream cheese

3/4 container Fat Free Carmel Apple Dip (T.Marazetti's)

4 Crushed Fun Size Heath Bars (optional)

1. Spread out cream cheese on serving plate, spread until cheese is about 1/4 inch thick or so, you don't want it to be too thin.

2. Pour caramel apple dip over top of cream cheese

3. Sprinkle broken heath bar over top of caramel. (for low-fat purposes, I omitted the candy)

4. Serve with apple pieces.

Sorry, no pictures - but its a low fat yummy snack - it was gobbled up quite quickly :)

BEAUTIFUL Weekend!

What a gorgeous weekend we had in Western NY. It was 70's and sunny and perfect weather for enjoying the outdoors.

Nicki returned home from her honeymoon in Riveria Maya, Mexico - so of course, we had a TON of catching up to do; and I couldn't wait to hear all about her trip. So, we decided to take a road trip to Letchworth.

Letchworth State Park is an amazing park SO close to where we live - the whole park has been carved out from glaciers a few years ago ;) and its filled with waterfalls, rapids, a dam and beautiful scenery. They were having their annual Craft festival, so we figured what better time to go then during peak foliage season AND to go shop!!

We had so much fun together, we were in such a "Fall Mood" we ended up deciding to stop at Gro-Moore Farms in Henrietta to pick pumpkins, apples and cider for our hubbies :)

Yay to having a fabulous Saturday with Nicki!!

Project Runway Season Finale

This is the first season that I've really gotten into Project Runway, I absolutely LOVE it! Mike and I do not have cable, so we have to mooch off of family and friends and we call it "PR Night" :)

I've been watching since episode one of this season, of course, i've changed who I wanted to win every week depending on who's design I like and who is getting kicked off.

I've loved Blake all along, he was fun - I didn't love his designs but I did enjoy his personality

But, I really want LeeAnn to win. Her style is impeccable. Its clean and beautiful. If I could have had her design my wedding dress, I would have absolutely had her! The dress that she made for this week was beautiful, and she absolutely should win this season.

GO LEANNE!! (I can't wait for Wednesday Night!!)

More Trash the Dress Pictures

I just got my proofs back for my trash the dress session, again, I can only say absolutely wonderful things about Sue Egan. I love my pictures so much - I actually like them better than my wedding pictures (of Mike and I alone) and its such a silly thing, but I am SO glad that I wore my veil, on our wedding day, I ripped that thing off so fast because everyone kept pulling it off during our recieving line, and I never got the chance to put it back on, and of course with the day flying by SO fast, I never even thought twice about it - until I got my pictures back and I was annoyed that my veil was not on. Oh well, I love these pictures and she did an absolutely fabulous job...enjoy!!

well, because the pictures are owned by our photographer, I cannot post them online, so follow these directions :)

http://www.seganphoto.com
click on "online orders"
click on "Terri Coffey"
type in email address
type in password "coffey"

Nichole and Jay's Wedding

Me and Mike's best friends Jay and Nichole were married this weekend . I absolutely love them and I am so excited for them. Mike and I were in the wedding and we had lots of fun helping to plan and celebrate their special day.

The reception was held at Colgate Divinty School. It used to be a school for boys that were to become priests, but now its just rented out for big parties, and wedding receptions. It was a gorgeous day, and everyone had a fabulous time.

This has been a very big year for weddings for the both of us, so we are very excited to get back to "normal" life and just enjoy spending time together doing normal type things.

The Happy Couple cutting their cake

Mike and I

Cutting into one of the 16 cakes from the wedding (each table had their own individual cake with its own flavor) it made cake tasting VERY fun :)

Amanda and Andy :)

Twinkie Cake

So, I do promise that I make healthy food (sometimes!) but, I saw this recipe on Al Dente's blog, and I HAD to try it for Mike's family. You see, we all get together on Sunday's, kind of a family tradition, and they love when I make some of my yummy treats, so this was a must make!

Twinkie Cake

1 chocolate cake mix prepared as directed on box
6 twinkies
powdered sugar for dusting
cool whip for serving

Prepare cake as directed on box, and place twinkies around the circle of bundt cake pan. Cook cake mix as directed on box, and you have a crazy looking cake! The yummy cream filling in the cake is no longer in the yellow cake, so for a nice creamy taste, we added a dollop of cool whip for fun. Enjoy this recipe - it had rave reviews from all!

Garbage Plates

Tonight was Nichole's 28th Birthday. To celebrate we bought tickets for her fiance Jay, me, Mike and of course the birthday girl to go see Rusted Root. I met them at their home with dinner, we went unhealthy but SOOO good! I made garbage plates! Those that are not accustomed to garbage plates (must not be from Rochester!)

Basically, you take macaroni salad, baked beans, fried potatoes (aka french fries), basically anything and you pile it on a big plate with a cheeseburger or hot dog on top with lots of hot sauce! It tastes amazing, its not very appealing to the eye, but let me tell you - no one from Rochester has never tasted one of these buggers!

General Tso's Sesame Pork and Brussell Sprouts

OH YUM! I've been so busy lately that i've been neglecting my blogging - that doesn't mean that I don't have time to look at everyone else's blogs, I just LOVE following some of these fabulous blogs, but I cannot contribute nothing - especially if i'm reading all these other amazing blogs. So, heres quite a yummy meal that we made last week...

1/2 bottle Iron Chef General Tso sauce

3 pork tenderloins (no bones)

2 T. toasted sesame seeds

1 T. EVOO

Its pretty basic here guys, cut the tenderloins in thin strips and brown slightly, add the sauce and the seeds and you are good to go! We served this with some lovely brussell sprouts - I love those little guys, and of course some brown rice. Healthy and delicious, how can you not love it?!

Bachlorette Party!

My best friend Nicki is getting married on September 27th, I am in the wedding, and the non-offical photography of the events that lead up to the wedding day, that being said, I have plenty of pictures to share from the amazing adventure that is getting married. Its totally wedding-fever. After Nicki and Jay's wedding, I'm MOH (thats matron now!) in a wedding for my friend of forever Lynda (her's is in June thank goodness, I need a break!)

Trashed my Dress

Last week Mike and I spent the afternoon with photographer, Sue Egan, trashing my wedding dress. Its a new "fad" that brides are getting into, where they wear their wedding dresses one last time. Of course, I HAD to do it. So, we found an amazing deal (and an amazing photographer) to take these pictures for us.

We are so glad we did it for a few reasons...1. "The Day" goes by SO fast that you hardly have time to breathe, let alone take wedding portraits. This just felt like the right opportunity to get those pictures that we never had the opportunity to get on the wedding day. 2. What bride doesn't want to look like a princess for one more day??? and 3. We LOVED our wedding pictures, but as I said before, I didn't think we got enough. So this gave us the chance to get a lot more "bridal portrait" type of shots. Good stuff.

We had a FABULOUS time. It was probably the most fun i've ever had at the amazing Stony Brook State Park. Beautiful place, and made for a seriously gorgeous back drop. I had a huge smile on my face the entire time - you can certianly tell by the pictures!

check them out at http://seganphoto.blogspot.com/

Week 2 of School

I am offically in my second week of classes, yesterday I completed class 3, so I think its a good time for me to make my assumptions of how the rest of the semester is going to go.

I am taking 5 classes and working 24 hours a week, now, that doesn't sound like a lot - and it didn't sound like a lot to me at the time - but now that i'm knee deep in school work, spending time at work is certianly becoming a bit of a burden to my education. I have to work, I can't just quit, and I really do like the people I work with so I have no intentions on leaving, its all about time management though.

As of today, I have 6 short stories to read, a journal to write, and study for 2 quizzes tomorrow. YIPPEE! This is the stuff that I don't miss - AND I have to work until 5pm, and go to my lasik consultation this afternoon.

I'll get through all the work, I just think the hardest part is the time in between my Tuesday and Thursday classes, there is really not a ton of time for me to do work, and so the burden of finishing my school work is pretty heavy.

Anyway, enough about the homework - the 5 classes that i'm taking are: History after 1865 - right now we're discussing the time after the Ammancipation Proclomation, haha remember that?! We're discussing the end of slavery and the presidency of Johnson. Its VERY interesting and my teacher rocks. Then i'm off to "Short Story" again, something i'm very interested in, I wish the teacher was more into class participation, but the stories are exciting and fun to read. Then off to "Introduction to Ethics" ohmygod. Poke my eyeballs out with sticks please. This class not only is SO boring, it doesn't make ANY sense. I'm done talking about that class. ICK. Then i'm off to Adolesecent Psychology. The class is interesting, and the teacher great, my only issue is that it requires a lot of prior knowledge of Psych101, and I haven't taken that in well over 8 years - so needless to say, i'm a bit rusty. Lastly, I have, Literature of Horror. Its again, a very exciting class, we're reading Stephen King novels, reading about vampires and we get to watch a few great movies.

All and all i'm pretty excited about my classes, we'll see how they go for the rest of the semester.

Rest in peace dear doggy

(This is the only picture of Halley that I have at work - its on my MySpace, but its a good representation of her, eyeing the Christmas cookies!)

Saturday, September 6th 2008, my family had to put our family dog down to sleep. I got a call from my parents late in the evening on Friday, they thought she fell because she wasn't standing on her own anymore.

We had plans on going camping that weekend, my brothers and everyone else was already at the site, and we had plans on leaving that next morning. I didn't know what to do, should we drive down tonight to tell them? (there was no cell phone service) or should we stay here and be support for my parents? Should we go camping like originally planned?

I ended up leaving a message for the park ranger to tell our family that there was a "family emergency" and to call us as soon as they could. The ranger called me at 8am the next day and I got a call from my brothers in less than 30 minutes. They told me that we should still come camping - theres nothing else we can do at this point, shes lived a long life and if this is her time - then its time.

I contacted my parents, and they were planning on keeping her "around" until Monday so that the boys could say goodbye, I explained to my father that Halley is in so much pain, you have to bring her to the vet. He agreed, and scheduled an appointment for 11:40 that day.

They called me at 11:50 and told me that they agreed the best decision was to put her to sleep. Mike cried - and I tried to keep my composure. As of now, and now that I look back on the situation - I didn't really cry as I had expected I would, it hurt - don't get me wrong, but I know now that shes in no more pain and loving life in doggy heaven :)

I'm glad that we decided to go camping, it made the pain that much easier to deal with, and we all had dinner as a family on Sunday. My brothers are still upset, but i'm glad that we didn't wait it out, she was in so much pain, the vet said she was panting so hard because of the pain that she is in. Thats no way for a family pet to live, regardless of age or decisions that you have to make.

So, may our dear Halley rest in peace, she will always have a place in our hearts and I will never forget the wonderful years of unconditional love that she has given us.

A-Camping we will go!

This weekend Mike and I went camping with my cousins, Amanda her husband Andy, Rebecca, her husband Kevin, and my brothers Bob and Mark. We got there late Saturday afternoon and only camped overnight until Sunday morning.

(Bob, Kevin, Andy, and Mark on the balcony in the rain)

It rained - the ENTIRE day Saturday. ICK. So, basically we were stuck inside playing games and entertaining ourselves with adult beverages, a camera and one cool pair of sunglasses :) We still had a nice time, and the site we stayed was very nice too, we were in an "A-frame" cottage, it had two bedroom areas, a full kitchen, and a living room/dining room area, off the cottage was a nice deck, and off one of the bedrooms was a balcony. So being that we had 8 people staying with us, we had plenty of room for being cooped inside the house all day.

(Mike and his can of Corona)

I think we would return to Oquata State Park, and certianly stay in this cottage again.

As long as it was nice out this time!

(Rebe sportin' the rad sunglasses)

(Mike and I in my Subaru)

Flip Flopper

Thats me. I'm the flip flopper. Or at least thats how I feel. I am one of those people that has a really difficult time making a decision. It could be as simple as picking out something out of a menu for dinner at a restaurant or as huge as school? no school? family now? wait on family? I don't know why it has to be so difficult for me. I don't know if it has something to do with how I was raised - I constantly changed my mind as a young adult, first I wanted to dance, so I took dance for 8ish years, then I wanted to join girl scouts, that lasted for about a year, then I wanted to swim on the swim team, that lasted a year and a half. Am I a quitter? Do I get bored easily? probably a little of both. I would like to believe that i'm not a quitter, but I certianly get bored easily.

I always told myself after the wedding I would buckle down and finish school. Well, these past few weeks a few other ideas snuck into my head. When do we want to start a family? What about you incessant love for photography? Why don't you jump on that? What about Mike? What about work? and $$? You just got married two months ago, do you want to completely lean on your new husband or do you want to make money on your own? I guess I just doubt myself a lot, maybe its my lack of self-confidence in making change. I'm not good with big life changes like this. I have gone through a lot with my recent lay off with Beneficial, my new marriage, and now going back to school full time. Its not like this whole school thing is new, i've been taking classes part time for the past year, its just committing myself to leaving my job to go back full time. Thats the scary part.

But, i'm going to do it. I'm going to take the plunge and go for it. I'm going to at least finish my associates degree and see where I stand from there. This is it, no more doubts, no more questions, no turning back.

busy, busy!!

I always told myself (and others) that after the wedding my life would get back to normal - the problem was, that I couldn't remember what normal was. I have been planning this wedding for 2 years.

Right after the wedding I went through "withdrawl" the typical feeling that most brides deal with right after the wedding when the let down begins and normal boring life starts.

Little did I remember how busy my life really is. I'm NOW getting back into the swing of my real life. I am so damn busy! Every night i've got something going on - its fine by me, but I can't imagine planning my wedding and being so busy every night.

Maybe in the next few months Mike and I will get to enjoy our time together and make a good dinner and just relax - hopefully soon!

Vermont Maple Glazed Pig Candy

We didn't win, but our ribs took 3rd place out of 13 entries. Not bad in my books - considering our Beer Can Chicken didn't even place - not only did we NOT place - we got ZERO votes! We didn't even vote for ourselves!

This recipe for ribs is the very best i've ever had - I live in Rochester where we compete with the big boys (Dinosaur BBQ, Famous Dave's and Sticky Lips to name a few) for me to say these are they best i've ever tasted says a lot for this recipe. I highly recommend giving this one a shot...

1 slab ribs

4-6 tsp. Meatheads Magic Dust

1 C. apple juice

1 pinch salt

2 tsp. hot sauce

1/4 C. real maple syrup (the REAL stuff - not aunt jemimas!)

1. skim'n'trim your ribs (remove fat and funky skin layer on the backside) rub some EVOO all over the ribs, coat with Meatheads Magic Dust (aka rib rub)

2. cook ribs for 3 hours then wrap in foil with apple juice (you will need to create a "boat" so it will hold the juice and the ribs without spilling.

3. take meat out of foil after 30 minutes, pour the juice into a sauce pan. It will be heavily flavored w/ rub spices - reduce to 1/3 C. Add 1/4 C. maple syrup and boil gently until it foams. Turn down heat until it stops foaming and boil until it reduces to almost the consistancy of honey.

4. add salt and hot sauce

5. paint ribs w/ one coat of pig candy - it should make a thick shiny glaze, heat for a few minutes and serve.

(recipe found on http://www.amazingribs.com/)

The ribs are nice and sticky and sweet. The rib rub creates a nice gingery flavor to the ribs - honestly I would use any old rib rub though - the recipe online makes wayyyy too much rub (see previous blog)

Ribs, Ribs, Ribs

This coming weekend is the 1st Annual "Ribs, Ribs, Ribs" competition. Unlike the previous "Beer Can Chicken" competition, we are slightly ahead of the game this time. Last night we decided to find our recipe for the competition, run to the grocery store and prepare the rub for the ribs beforehand. I'm glad we did, but we were mixing seasonings at 11:45pm on a Thursday night. Certianly not what I had intended on happening.

We decided on a "Vermont Maple Pig" recipe. There is actually no bbq sauce used in this recipe, its simply a basic rub, with apple juice and pure maple syrup. The rub recipe, as Mike started mixing ingredients came out HUGE. Hopefully the rub is good, because we have enough of it to last the rest of our lives. When Mike was about to put 1/4 cup of Salt in the recipe - I stopped him in his tracks and said, "how much does this make?!" Damn Olympics - I get so distracted!

So anyway, we've got a huge tub of Rub now if anyone is interested...chicken, pulled pork, ribs, anyone, anyone, bueller??!

I'll let you know how the recipe comes out!

2-Month Anniversary

Just had to share - today is our "two month wedding anniversary" I can't believe our wedding was two months ago today. Time flies, eh?

Part time Job with a Full time Education at 28

I worked at finance company for 5 LONG years, I enjoyed what I did, it was high stress, my blood pressure was way higher than it should have been for a twenty-something female - but the thrill of a big sale, and the excitement of exceeding your end of month goals made it completely worth it.

Well, unless you have been living in a closet, you would know that the economy is not doing so well, and a lot of peoples jobs have been effected by the changes that are taking place. Including me. I was the casulty of a layoff on November 30, 2007. I couldn't believe that I was 27 years old and getting laid off. You hear so much about Kodak doing layoffs, you never expect it to be you.

I ended up being "unemployed" for two short weeks. I was getting paid from Beneficial (my previous employer) and paid by my new company Sentinel Security, at the same time. It was nice for the wallet, and even nicer for christmas expenses!

Ever since the big layoff, and really honestly, for the past few years. I have been very serious about finishing my education. I never finished college. I am the only member of my husbands family that does not have a four-year degree. Not that it matters, but I feel like now I'm not so commited to my job, i'm married, so there are no distractions of wedding planning, and we can technically "live" off of my husbands income alone. This is my time. My time to finish school and to be in a career doing what i've wanted to do.

So today, I took the plunge. I told my boss today that I want to go part time so I can finish my education. He listened, and told me, "We'll talk about this when I come back from vacation." SOOO, we'll see how it goes. If he won't go for it - then its been a nice ride, but I don't think its going to work out with Sentinel. If he does - great, I will have the best of both worlds, an education and a job making more than $7/hour!

Wish me Luck!

Life after tab

SO, this is my firt real time "blogging" but I figured no time like the present. I am at a very interesting transition in my life, hence the title "Life after tab."

My nickname for years an years has been TAB. Its my initials. Everything I use somehow associates "tab," my email address, my screen names...but now i'm TAC. I got married in June to a "C" So, this is my life after TAB.

I have always loved reading through other girls blogs while I was in the planning stages of our wedding, and now gives me the opportunity to share my interests in life, and my recent endevor - finishing college. Yup, thats a big one! Beginning September 2nd, I am offically a college gal again! I hope you enjoy my writings, i'm more of a write as your thinking then a have actual structure to my writing so i'll make sure that I start proof-reading...haha! Enjoy, I hope this takes off well for me and I continue to write as my life continues to grow.