Laying Low

Believe it or not, I have absolutely no pictures of this weekend. Not a single one. So you will have to imagine the delicious Wanchai Ferry we ate Friday night while finishing out the Grisham movie week with The Pelican Brief.

Paint a picture in your mind of us running the Jingle Bell 5k Saturday morning. Of course in this picture my hair looks fantastic and I'm just glistening, rather then drenched in sweat, ok?

Then shift to the look of dissapointment in journalism as a whole when Tracy Wolfson chugged back some Cammy Cam juice. (There's an image I'm glad I dont have digitally).

Can't you just see my TV taken apart all over the living room floor in surgery to replace the color wheel only to find out I ordered the wrong color wheel?

We layed low this weekend. There's a point in most months budgets which I, and a friend who shall remain nameless, have dubbed "NOM" - No One Move. After all the obligations, there just isnt much room to move that week. So besides hustling that 3.1, we spent a lot of time as a family relaxing at home. It wasn't much of a sacrifice.

A Little Something for your CD Player

We're headed into the weekend with plans to finish our John Grisham saga, get some exercise, do some wedding gift exchanges and watch some South Carolina football.

It may be 60 degrees in Birmingham, but we've been getting in the Christmas spirit. I'm not a big Christmas music fan, but someone ran across this group a few years ago...the details are foggy. But, they don't matter because they are fantastic.

A little intro to Straight No Chaser. If this doesn't make you laugh, then I really can't help you.



Five Golden Rings!!!

Happy weekend!

What's for Dinner?

One of the skills I'm working on post wedding is menu planning. Specifically, making our menu off of what is on sale that week. Also, not gaining 15 lbs. Piece of cake (cooked with splenda with a coupon), right?

One month in, here's how meals on a budget have been shaking down so far. Sit back and soak up all the knowledge I've gleened in a months time. It's staggering, really. I kid.

1. Familiarize yourself with recipes and ingredients - We all love allrecipes.com, but I've really started utilizing it. As I read more recipes, I've gotten a good idea of what ingredients are good to always have on hand, so I can stock up on them when they are on sale and be on the lookout for coupons. (cream of xxx soups, extra virgin olive oil, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, garlic, spices, sour cream, etc.)



2. Doubling the recipe - If the recipe isn't large enough for leftovers and can easily be doubled, its a must. We did this for the baked potato soup, and were able to eat off of it for 3 meals. Makes the effort much more worthwhile and gives me a night off so I'm not so burnt out on cooking (I know its only been a month, thanks).



3. Branch Out - Speaking of allrecipes.com, I signed up for their daily recipe e-mail. Usually stuff like this drives me nuts and is a waste of space in my inbox, but so far these recipes have been really good and simple. If nothing else, they have helped me with point one. One day, hopefully not too far from now, I can just make dinner from what's on hand and what I've learned about cooking (not just a hat rack, my friend.)



4. Frozen Food is your Friend (on Fridays) - I'm not a big fan of frozen dinners during the week. I feel better having real meals, not to mention frozen food isn't great for you. But on the weekend, they are my friend. As much as I love to eat out, we try to be intentional with our 'entertainment' budget, so usually at least one night of the weekend we'll eat in. Great time to splurge on that pizza or Wanchai Ferry. Which, if you have not tried, I highly recommend. It feels more festive, and I figure I wouldnt have eaten great had we gone out. Justification is a strong suit of mine.

5. Not breaking the scale - This one is tough. It's that time of year when its cold outside, dark after work and you just want to sit on the couch with a bowl of mashed potatoes and fried everything. I do what I can here. We try to make healthier substitions when possible, but a big part is keeping breakfast and lunch healthy so some nights we can have more leeway at dinner. The treadmill is also a key player in point five.

So far, I've enjoyed trying new things and cooking for our little family. Matt is a great help in the kitchen, which is so wonderful! Don't you worry, Namath eats pretty good too. We can all sleep easy now. Especially since this food has odor reduction.

I love a good recipe, so please feel free to share!

Happy Thursday kids! It's Grey's and Private night...which means time to break out the adult beverages and OPI. I'm not letting this tradition die.

Where's the Confetti?

A few small milestones for the Searsons these past two days.

One month anniversary yesterday.

100th blog post today.

Fifth birthday for our favorite bulldog.

We decorated our first Christmas tree.

It was fun to pull out the ornaments and remember what we have.

See the resemblence?

Namath working security on the tree. It just thrilled my soul he didn't try and pee on it. NILIF!

I was so excited to find the champagne ornament! Thank you, past self, for buying this.

Matt's parents bought this for us at the beach. I thought it was hysterical.

We got this last year at a Christmas party dirty santa. We're trying to find the perfect spot for it.

In the meantime, now that you mentioned it....an eggnog and Kahlua would hit the spot.

After pulling out all our ornaments and putting the tree up, we realized we only had three ornament hooks. Well, we got in the spirit anyways. Pictures of the finished product to come.

What better way to end a holiday themed evening than with a movie about the vicious rape and beating of a little girl in a newly integrated Mississippi?

It's been a Grisham themed week at the Searson's. Mainly because it's been a Grisham themed week on TNT. We've watched The Rainmaker, The Client and A Time to Kill. Its hard to find movies we both enjoy, so it's been nice to have three straight nights of unisex movies, although this one kept me up way past my bedtime.

I'll get over it.

Now Returning to our Regularly Scheduled Life

It's Monday after a holiday weekend and it's hard to return to places like work and the groomer. Can you sense the excitement?! (Note - Matt is not choking him. Just directing him towards the camera. Did I mention he is STUBBORN?)

After a great Thanksgiving with our families, we headed down to Tuscaloosa. (see the distinction: familes that love us, raised us and consistently support us day in and day out vs. the college we attended. While I LOVE the University, there IS a difference people).

It was frigid. Nothing a little cheese dip and a bloody mary couldnt cure.

Kudos to the man who had the foresight to buy some Wal-Mart gloves and sell them around to tailgates to people who while getting dressed said, "It's not THAT cold".

Pledge sisters! I think we see eachother more during football season than any other time of the year. Hands down.

We played a great game. Just not a whole game. Losing by a point was heartbreaking, but we were all still proud of our Tide! You can't win a national championship every year. I'll take every other year.

The weather here has jumped from cold to hot to back again. We took advantage of a recent cold night to make some baked potato soup. It was divine - virtually mashed potatoes in a bowl. I doubled the recipe so we would have leftovers. What's the point of doing all that work if you don't get a couple nights off in return?

Baked Potato Soup

3 bacon strips, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.


Of course I made some tweaks. I think I used 7 potatoes to double, because they weren't "large". We also used turkey bacon instead of pork, and used reduced fat sour cream in place of the half and half. This was an easy recipe to change up according to your preferences. I might use some milk next time as well to make it a little creamier. The hot sauce really made this recipe - we sprinkled extra on top with some grated extra sharp cheddar.

I ate the leftovers last night while seeing what this was all about.

I love reality TV. I love bad reality TV. But this was really horrendous TV. I'm not sure if it was even reality as much as Slater cheeses it up. And he calls his baby mama by her last name BECAUSE HE DIDNT THINK HER FIRST NAME WAS EXOTIC ENOUGH. Team Zack Morris all the way.

Nothing In Life Is Free

Let me tell you a story about the first time Namath Clark Grizzwald Wolfe Searson came to our new apartment. He sniffed around, checked the place out, then promptly lifted a leg up on our new Pottery Barn duvet. Matt caught him just in the nick of time, but it sent us straight to google where I typed in every variation of "how to stop territorial peeing" I could think of.

We came across a training program called "Nothing in Life is Free", or as Matt says, "NILIF". Long story short, Namath has been 'working' for everything he gets. Wants petted? Has to sit. Wants to go out the door? Has to sit. Food? Sit. Toy? Sit. And the bedroom is totally off limits.

If nothing else, this is the most stubborn dog you'll ever meet. He is not eager to please - unless its pleasing himself. All that said, he's catching on, and we can tell a big difference in his behavior. He is also considerably less anxious and restless.

But, one good turn deserves another. He has discovered the wooden back massager and he'll sit for that in a heartbeat.

And don't you try and take it away.


We are so thankful for Grizz and the laughter he brings to our home!

Lessons from a Morning Run

This morning, I got a good reminder from T.I. on my morning run.

'Errbody right here

What you need to do is be thankful for the life you got, know what I'm saying?

Stop looking at what you ain't got and start being thankful for what you do got

Good point, buddy.

With it being Thanksgiving week, what better time to do just that? All joking aside, this is something I've been trying to work on the past few months. There will always -every single day-be someone to compare yourself to that has more things, better things, a bigger house, a nicer car. If I focus soley on those things, it really cultivates an attitude of discontentment and ungratefulness.

Our run this morning took us by a few important landmarks in my life. I think God wanted to drive the point home with me. Chance? I think not.

We ran past my work. People there can drive me crazy. Things don't always go my way. A lot of days, I'd rather just be in bed. Yet, I was reminded how grateful I am for my job. There are so many wonderful people there that I get to spend my days with. I'm encouraged to branch out in my career. And let's face it, Public Relations is the whip cream of the economy, yet in the midst of the economic crisis, I never once feared losing my job. What a huge blessing for me, and now for our little family as we start our lives together.

We ran through the park. I love seeing the sun rise over the skyline in the morning and being able to enjoy God's creation before starting a busy day of work.

We passed the bread factory, which was pretty tortorous (excuse my bunk spelling). I read something a long time ago that has stuck with me. How neat that God gives us food to enjoy? Something we need to live we also get to take pleasure in preparing, serving and sharing with our friends and family? Tonight we will be enjoying some baked potato soup. Recipe to follow.

Then, there's this guy. So grateful to have him as my running partner. I really love that we have a hobby that we can enjoy together. It's been beneficial to our relationship and our health and thinking about how far we've come in each area makes me so grateful. I could drone on about the similarities in running and life, but I think you can make those comparisons yourself. I love that this is something we share.

Life is pretty good right now, so its easy to be thankful. My hope is that as we go through the hard seasons too, we will have learned to always be looking for the blessings in our lives. More often than not, you don't have to look very hard.

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!