I love story time with pictures!

So, I'm about two weeks behind on posts. Over the next couple days be prepared for blog posts/picture overload. Especially in this one, I couldn't narrow down the pictures for Michael's birthday weekend. Looking back, I can't believe how much stuff we stuffed into one weekend! Yikes!

June 10th we celebrated Michael's 32nd birthday! Like we always say, you're only as old as the woman you're with! (Which would make him 6 years younger :-p) June 10th fell on a Friday this year, which kind of sucks for us to have a birthday on because 99% of the time we're flying on Friday's. So I let Michael open his presents Thursday night after our weekly Thursday-Chicken Parm-Night.

One of Michael's gifts was the new Garmin watch. I'm not into health-techy things, but this watch is pretty cool. Touchscreen, GPS... all the good stuff. I definitely recommend it as a gift for your active special someone. Michael is loving it!

Celebrating with a little Ponte Beverino. Our most favorite favorite red.

So, Friday we flew to Pittsburgh. We fly into PIT twice a year. Once for Highpoint Raceway in June and then for Steel City in September. It has become a tradition that no matter where we are going, we take a 30 min detour and make a pitstop at one of my childhood favorite places, the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe. Michael has grown to tolerate my unhealthy eating habits...

I always order the same thing: 2 hot dogs with sauerkraut, cheese fries, wedding soup and rootbeer. Yes, and I eats it all!

Coincidentally, one of my good friends from growing up Bridget was in town (her parents live about 30 paces from the Hot Dog Shoppe) so she and her husband Chris joined us for lunch!

Eventually we arrive in Morgantown, WV where the race is held. Michael always checks out the track the day before the race while I unpack and usually end up having a drink with my buddy Sheena. We usually would stay and cook some salmon with Brett and Sheena on their RV for dinner but since it was MB's birthday we joined up with friends at a restaurant called Madeline's. If you're in the Morgantown area ever you should check it out. Michael's friends own the place. I've always thoroughly enjoyed myself and their wine selection there.

On our way to dinner.

Thought this was just a cool idea! Wish all restaurants had it so we didn't need to put your utensils on the table!

Saturday always rolls around very early. We usually start our day on the road at 7 am. We get to the track and cook breakfast before Michael's rider's meeting at 8am.

Nick, MB's mechanic, and his bike all ready to go!

Highpoint is always a great track for spectators because you can see almost the whole track!

After the race the fun continued! I was so excited that Sunday morning I got to meet my new baby cousin Hunter James. He is such a cutie! I am so happy for my cousin Beth and her husband Brent on their new bundle of joy!! Can't wait to see him again in September!

Sunday night, after we got home from the airport we had a little birthday party for Michael. Poor thing, he was so tired he only drank 1 beer LOL. But we were all so excited to try my GF birthday cake I whipped up Thursday night before we flew out! I was pretty impressed with myself. It turned out great... the chocolate layer more so than the vanilla. But practice makes perfect!

Note to self: It's probably a smart idea to use the the firework candles outside considering you can't really blow them out.

A peak at the inside of the cake.

Day for the Dogs

One of the best things about where we live is that we are in prime location to so many great things. Just under and hour to the beach and to Disney/Universal. Just depends on whether we want to head North or South. Last Friday, we decided to pack a cooler and head South to Fort deSoto Dog Beach for the day. It's just south of St. Pete Beach. Zeus and Nina had never been to the beach before so we thought - What the heck!, we had the weekend off from racing might as well spend a little quality time with our babies.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day...

The beach is great for taking your pups. There's plenty of room for lots of pooches importantly so, because this is one of the only leash-free dog beaches around. We were able to put a decent bit of space between Zeus and Nina and the bigger dogs that were there.

Going near the water with Daddy. Keyword: near. LOL We quickly realized they weren't very excited to get into the water. Whenever we would wade out in the water carrying them the second we put them in the water they swam straight to shore.

Nina, our brave little girl, had a little bit of courage but wasn't a big fan when the tide came in.

My little man :-)

Someone always has her eyes on Daddy.

Meanwhile, Mama's boy never strays to far from me.

(My favorite pic of the day BTW)

After a while they did enjoy a little sand under their paws. On a little sprint.

Finally, the hubs and I before we left ♥

Not sure if we will be taking the dogs back to the beach anytime soon. But Michael and I will definitely be exploring Clearwater/St. Petersburg a little more!

denim Addition

(Let's hope my husband doesn't read this post! LOL)

So here's the new addition to my denim family. I've had these bad boys in the "Saved for Later" part of my nordstrom.com shopping cart for quite some time. Months actually. So I was pumped that they went on sale from $165 to $99 during the recent half-yearly sale. Even more pumped I actually got to them while they still had my size in stock... I always get there to late it seems. Well, not this time! Can't wait to wear these out. Hudson always makes a killer pair of jeans and I love the way they are cut.

Greek BBQ Feast

So one of my absolute favorite things to do on a day off is watch Food Network. I usually only pay close attention to Barefoot Contessa and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and just keep the other shows on for background noise while I do things around the house. Today though, the key word Greek sparked my interest on 5 Ingredient Fix. It's a good show because all the recipes only have 5 ingredients which means 1) The meals will usually be affordable and 2) Pretty simple and easy to make.

I really loved Claire Robinson's lineup today for a "Mighty Aphrodite Meal" so I thought I'd share it with you all.

Cucumber, Tomato and Red Onion Salad

Easy Tzatziki

Grilled Greek Chicken

Grilled Lamb and Feta Burgers

The burgers, or sliders, would make the perfect appetizer to start the meal off right. All you need for a topping on it would be a generous dollop of the tzatziki sauce. And for the main course, the grilled chicken and salad with... TA-DA a side of tzatziki! My only addition to the salad would be some some feta cheese and kalamata olives. YUMMO.

If you've never had tzatziki sauce, don't be frightened. Give it a try! I'm a big fan on this creamy, cucumbery-greek yogurt goodness.

An interesting tip she shared was to soak the red onions in some ice water for a few minutes before adding it to the cucumbers and tomatoes to take the oniony/sharp edge off. I'm hoping it works. I'm really intimidated by raw onions. Not that I don't like the way they taste, they're usually just to strong. So maybe that might just be the trick to make me a raw onion eater.

Let me know if you give it a try! I plan on making this for some company soon!

Yikes

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted!

Because it's been like a year, I'm opting out for catching everyone up. Not really in the mood to write a novel tonight LOL so basically, to some the past 6 weeks (or so) up, it's been crazy busy with working, racing, laundry, cleaning and cooking.

Michael's motocross season started the 3rd week of May and so we are 2 rounds into the last season of the year. 10 rounds to go! Currently he's sitting in 11th, just 4 points out of the top 10 and I have a really good feeling for this season.

I had a very exciting weekend. Aside from Michael's race in Wortham, TX, m

y family was blessed with a brand new addition. My cousin Beth had her baby, Hunter James. He's a beautiful baby boy. I can't wait to meet him next weekend!

Then on Monday for Memorial Day not only did we pay our respects to our troops (Shout out to my cousin Jimmy who is my hero who serves in the Marines) we also had a little birthday party for one of our bestest friends, Ellie. Ellie, her hubby Chad and baby Tate are living with us anymore, but moved just down the street so we went to her house to celebrate. They just finished builidng a b!t*hin house on the lake in our subdivision. Here are a few pics:

Getting the toys out

Poolside with a lake view :-)

Michael and I with lil Taters

Crystal, Jenna and I

The boys catching a little air

Anywho. That's it for now. Pats on the back to me. I'd been meaning to brush the dirt of ma shoulders and get some more blogging going.

I'm alive, I swear.

I just have been going full-gas for a... I can't even remember how many weeks... a long time. I promise I'll start posting once I get a minute to come up for air!

five years flew by

*Insert standard apology for being absent from blogging, I'm a busy girl*

I can't believe today Michael and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary! Dating that is. Five years is a long time when you think about it, but to me it just seems like yesterday that Michael and I were "honeymoon" daters. I guess that's a good thing because for some five years can seem like forever. For us, it's flown by... and we're certainly enjoying the ride!

I've mentioned it before, but JIC, Michael and I met in Daytona Beach, FL the spring of 2006. I went down with my girlfriends for Spring Break and Michael was there for the Supercross race at the Daytona Speedway. I had no idea what Supercross really was or that there was such a race going on. But that night, when the girls and I were getting our drink on Michael and his friends just so happened to be at Razzles getting there drink on too... Michael's friend tried hitting on one my friends, offered to buy us all drinks, introduced us to his friends and TA-DA! That's how Michael and I met *insert sparkler affects and floating hearts*. It's been a fairy-tale ever since!

So tonight in celebration, and just because we'll use any excuse to try out a new restaurant, we've got reservations to try out Jackson's Bistro. We have yet to dine "waterfront" or in this part of Tampa so we're pretty excited about our miniature adventure out tonight. Love when I can get dolled up these days because the older I get the nights I actually get dressed up with makeup and hair done seem far and few between.

I'll let you know how it goes! Hopefully pictures to come!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Springtime!