Christmas Trip

We went to Wilmington to visit family and friends for Christmas this year. Among other gracious gifts, we got a camera for Christmas. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Wes' parents got a Wii for their house so we played it the whole time we were there. Now Wes and I really want one.

The Priss Pot got dolls for Christmas and loved them!

Paul opened this gift first at Susu's house and played with it the whole day. I don't think he knew there were more. Wes and Paul were boys all day

We had oysters for Christmas dinner!

Hopefully on New Year's Day or this weekend we will be able to go out and take pictures to practice...I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Christmas Parties

My (ok, work's) Holiday Party was awesome. Everyone had such a good time and it couldn't have run smoother. We had it at one of those Dave & Buster's type places. Food was good, games were fun, great times were had by all.


If you've never seen a Dutch man ride a virtual reality skateboard, you're missing out!

We then headed back to the house and went to our neighbor's Tacky Sweater Christmas Party. Since I refuse to spend money on parties requiring costumes, I made ours. Well, I just hung ornaments on my red sweater but I made this for Wes:

It's Christmas time in the city...

At least it is in the 'burbs because we have not one but TWO Christmas parties this weekend. I'm so excited. My work party is Saturday night at Startime Entertainment in Roswell. It should be a lot of fun because this is the first time that our company has had a paid party off site in 2 1/2 years! Yay for European leaders.

Our second party is a neighborhood tacky Christmas sweater party in our cul-de-sac. It should be really fun too. I'm hoping that our camera makes it an I can post some pics.

Christmas Letter

I sent out our Christmas letter today but I think my address list in my Gmail is a little out of date. I've received some auto-replys that emails are old or not recognized. Therefore, if you didn't receive our letter, leave a comment with your email address or email me (alexis.hunter@gmail.com) and I'll send you one.

Merry Christmas!!!

The worst dental experience ever

Yesterday I went to a new dentist because I haven't been since we moved to Atlanta. I use to go every six months and need to get back on that schedule. I had an amazing dentist in Wilmington who I miss terribly, but my insurance will only allow for dentists in Georgia. Anyway, I won't give you the whole story, but I will say I was there for two hours and didn't receive a cleaning. After 18 x-rays and nearly gagging until I was sick, the hygienist came in to "measure" my teeth. After about 30 minutes, she decided I needed a special cleaning. The basic cleaning that insurance covers wouldn't suffice. She proceeded to tell me that I had all kinds of problems with my gums. I NEVER had any gum problems before this and my dentist raved about my whole mouth back in Wilmington. Anyway, after her sales pitch, I told her that I wasn't spending the money (which by the way was $170!!) I asked her to just give me a basic cleaning. She wouldn't!!!!! That's right, she said that she couldn't because that wasn't what she recommended as my "treatment plan". Grrrr....I was so upset by this point it was almost embarrassing. (OK, I was an embarrassment, but I'm never going back so I guess it doesn't matter). This dentist was Coast Dental. Run far far away if you ever have to go there. It's a chain apparently, maybe that has something to do with it. So, now I'm back to the old drawing board of finding a dentist. My insurance company sent a long list so I am going to call around and hopefully find a good one.

Nothing like dessert after a great meal...

Wes and Paul both loved the Vanilla Ice Cream. Wes loved the warm apple crescents too!

Conversations

This conversation took place last night while Wes and I were sitting on the couch, watching Heroes.

While watching the episode where the heroes lose their powers because of a solar eclipse, Alexis learns that this is how they originally gained their powers. Since Alexis only started watching the show this season, she had an important question to ask:

Alexis: Didn't this show just start a couple of years ago? How can there be two solar eclipses across the whole world within such a short time frame? I thought those things only happened like every 50 years...
Wes: (sarcastically) Every now and again on this show, they go just outside the realm of reality.

Actually, we learn a lot about Solar Eclipses here

Travels

We are leaving next Wednesday morning to go to Wilmington for Thanksgiving. I'm always excited to go back for holidays because the time always involves eating really delicious food with reckless abandonment. Here's what I've been assured is on the menu:
Oyster Roast
Stuffed Flounder with fresh crab meat picked out by Nana and DeDaddy
Crab Legs
Collards

I'm sure there will be many other delicious traditional feasts for the season. At least our families don't have the big meal on the same day so we get two straight days of a picnic table full of food. YES!

Also, I was promised the following to bring back:
Collards
Homemade Pickles
Hot Pepper Vinegar
Homemade pepper relish

'Tis the season to be Merry!! (well that's my name)

Winter is here

I haven't been blogging lately because sometimes I feel like my blogs are not worthy if not accompanied by photos. Alas...

We woke up this morning to the electricity going on and off. Finally, after about 6 attempts at coming back on, the power was out. At first, I was so happy that we had gas heat so that we wouldn't be cold...then Wes said that the heat can't work because electricity has to run the fan that runs the heat through the house...rats! Well, we do have a gas heated hot water system so I took a very warm shower and got out into a 65 degree tile bathroom floor...yikes! After I got to work, Wes called and said the power was back on, so that's good.
I can't believe how cold it is here! The high is only 44 degrees. Luckily, we have a lot of firewood at the house and should have even more this weekend because one of my co-workers is supposed to come over and help us split some...yes! I love fires when it's cold outside.

p.s. We managed to have a Holiday Party! And it's going to be awesome. We're having something even better than we did last year. Now let's see if Honeywell let's us get our incentive bonuses.

Dogs/Gators

Living in Atlanta has given us a chance to see how SEC fans view football. It's like ACC basketball I think. Well, maybe just UNC vs Duke basketball. It's a culture here different from any other place and, perhaps, conference. Everyone in Atlanta is either a UGA or Georgia Tech fan. We haven't really picked a side but we did see this really awesome video story on College Game Day about Matt Richt (headcoach for UGA) about his family and their adoption story. The heartstrings were pulled and I cheered for Georgia this weekend against LSU (sorry, Ryan).

This Saturday is a big day in Atlanta and probably everywhere else in the South with a vested interest in football. Saturday is Georgia v Florida. I thought this picture was priceless on the AJC this morning:



I only know two people that actually went to Florida and they don't look anything like this but Kevin and Faydra, I think you should dress up like this for Halloween or at least get your kids to dress up like this!

Human Resources

Although it took some persuading on Wes' part, I really love the show "The Office". It's is extremely hilarious and after watching a couple of episodes, you'll be hooked. I'm not quite sold on Holly, the new HR rep but I am starting to be since Michael actually made a good move with her in the last episode. I loved the Michael/Toby relationship and miss that. I think it's crazy funny how Michael felt about Toby and HR. Ironically enough, my boss hates HR too. My boss, Ian is British and really likes the British version of The Office but I'm not sure if they play off the same scenario with HR on those episodes. Ian doesn't like our HR guy and doesn't make it a secret either. The thing that Ian has up over Michael Scott...our HR guy is in Phoenix. They have a weekly conference call and Ian just hounds him for anything. This week: HR wants to change payroll policies and Ian is not happy about it. So, HR guy should expect a beating.
When I reminded Ian a little while ago that their call is today (actually right now). Ian just sighed and said in his British accent, "Oh, I hate HR."

Ahh, Michael Scott!

Company

We had guests this weekend! The Medlocks stayed with us Saturday night. Crazy how small the world is: Mark and Susanne are pretty much like my brother and sister and their kids like my niece and nephew. Mark grew up in Roswell (north of ATL) and now his family lives down in Hampton (south of ATL). They were here for a wedding down there and then he had a high school reunion up here so Saturday night worked out perfectly. Wes and I had so much fun with the kids, Mark and Susanne. I only have pics of the kids:

I feel deflated today

I get to plan all events, caterings, parties, etc. at work. It's always so exciting and lately people have been giving ideas for our end-of-year (aka Christmas) party this year. Today, however, we received an email from the President of the company that all end of year parties must be canceled. STUPID ECONOMY!! The one thing we have to lift spirits up here at work when everyday, people on the production floor think their jobs may be going to India. Now, I can't bring in BBQ the Friday before Christmas week. I know, this is only a drop in a bucket full of major problems in the world today and I'm being really petty. But this blows! Now I have nothing to plan for the next two months...maybe we can still get away with Secret Santa!

Lettuce in a bag

A couple of weekends ago, my Mom and sister came to visit and one night, we went to the grocery store to get some food for dinner. We bought a rotisserie chicken, some salad fixings and baking potatoes. Once we got home, we put everything in the fridge because it was too early to eat. Well, after some time, Mom and I started pulling things out to prepare our meal. I pulled out the bag of lettuce that we bought and staring at me in the face was this:


(Ironically enough sitting right on top of "no preservatives"...yea, ok!)

Anyway, of course I freaked and then we kinda laughed and I was just glad that I noticed it BEFORE we opened the bag. My sister brought it back to the grocery store to get our money back and apparently, the employee just said, "Oh...sorry". It makes me think they've seen this before...

Things that drives me bonkers - #1

Endless email forwards that have no value
Why is it that almost every time I open my email, I have at least one Forward of an email that contains one of the following:

* A dancing icon of an angel or domestic pet telling me to forward this to at least 13 people to have a "blessed" day or to show people you love them.
* A horror story about how you will get cancer from eating or drinking anything. New studies seem to show that we can get cancer a lot of ways now. I received one the other day about a girl that ate too much soy and that, combined with her birth control pills gave her cancer. (In the words of Amy and Seth on SNL Thursday last night, "REALLY? REALLY???"
* A petition for me to sign something to get a big company to stop selling something that has something in it that will kill us or bring danger to us or, once again, give us cancer.
* Political emails that provide false accusations of ANY candidate that you can always find on www.snopes.com: FALSE

From another blog

Well, last night it was made clear (I've only read it, not heard one of the candidates actually utter the words) that the McCain/Palin ticket will be taxing us on company provided health insurance. Wow! Now, I know that many people are Republicans because they are really wealthy or really conservative and that's all fine and dandy but aren't there conservatives who work 8 - 5 just like I do? My company pays about $150 a month for my health plan (I pay the difference), that's $1,860 a year that I've never been taxed on but would be should they win. When I worked at Dockside, they paid for ALL my insurance! There's no way I could have paid the taxes on that. $5,000 allowance will barely cover Wes and me, two healthy 20 somethings...let alone if we had children.

"The disturbing truth about John McCain's healthcare plan"
By Christopher Hass

Following the conclusion of tonight's debate, Obama-Biden Campaign Spokesman Bill Burton said the following:

Tonight, the American people heard the disturbing truth about John McCain’s healthcare plan: that while he would offer tax credits to help families pay for insurance, he would pay for them by taxing health care benefits for the first time in history. The McCain healthcare tax would come directly out of your pockets, but the tax credit would go directly to the insurance companies. It’s an old Washington bait and switch: he gives you a tax credit with one hand, but raises your taxes with the other. Barack Obama’s healthcare plan will cut costs, lower premiums for the average family by as much as $2,500, and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every American.

Learn the three facts that everyone should know about John McCain's healthcare plan.

***

Now, I know that many of you are voting with the GOP candidate and you probably heard things last night that you can't understand from the Democratic ticket, but this is a biggie for me.

It's a whole new ball game

OK, so I know I am a bit behind the times. I don't have a fancy iphone (although I'm so jealous of those who do!), we don't have unlimited texting or anything like that. To top it off, I work for a company that blocks all social networking sites like Facebook. But, because T-Mobile is running a deal on unlimited web access through my free phone I got with a two year subscription...I can surf the web (pardon the 1999 cliche) as long as I have a bar of service!!! YES!!!

Be on the look out for updated status on Facebook, we now have driving directions from the phone, no more printing out Google maps! I'm like a kid in a candy store right now!

2008: I finally made it into the technology age!!

This weekend

We're going to Asheville/Waynesville, NC tonight to go to Kelly Cutshall's wedding tomorrow. I'm so excited about going to Asheville, it's one of my favorite places in the whole world. I wish we were able to watch the debate live, but I think we will be enjoying downtown A-ville then. We'll Tivo it though. I was worried that we may not be able to swing the trip this week because I've been looking for gas for 3 days now. I finally found some this morning, YAY! Word has it that Ashville's gas is almost $5.00/gallon and you can only get 10 gallons at a time. Well, my little Saturn only holds 12 gallons, so I guess that's not the issue but I sure hope it goes down or we can find some in South Carolina (it's always cheaper there).
I'm taking our camera so I hope to post pics when we get back...I think it's going to rain the whole time! Hopefully it will stop long enough for the outdoor wedding and garden reception.

Interesting Article...

My friend Andy posted this article as well but I'd like some input from my readers. This small article tucked away in the Atlanta Journal Constitution has sparked many comments on a controversial topic. I'll let you read the article about the Southern Baptist Convention and some of the posted comments.

http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/09/18/gospel_magazine_pulled.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab#comments

As someone who grew up in a Cooperative Baptist Church which broke away from the SBC, it's difficult for me to understand why they are so against women preachers. There is one comment that I did find very interesting:

By walter
Sep 19, 2008 7:25 AM
Soooooo, Southern Baptist Convention will support Sarah Palin to be the President of the United States but won't support a woman to be a Pastor?

Comments? Thoughts?

Praise God for storms diminishing

But I don't think that's how the Weather Channel feels. Sometimes it's embarrassing to watch but I admit, I'm watching right now. I thought I'd check in this Labor Day morning and Lo and Behold, it's down to a Catagory 2. I've been through a Catagory 2. Yes, it sucks, but it's a blessing for New Orleans. I'm watching right now and Jim Cantore just said that we're down to a Catagory 2 here so it's not as bad as we thought BUT we're under tornado and storm surge warnings. And, he said this like he's disappointed. They just showed the Super Dome and other buildings that were torn apart during Katrina and they can't believe it. I mean, nobody has said, "THIS IS GREAT NEWS". I have to change the channel...

Today

I've worked at my job for one year. Yay!

Another new thing about living inland...

Tornado sirens.

Now, for those of you that grew up or have lived inland for years probably think I'm crazy. But I grew up on a beach with hurricanes that we saw coming for weeks (OK, days, but you get the point). Our siren was Jim Cantore on Wrightsville Beach with a big fan blowing on him for effect.

When I got into work today during the torrential downpour, I heard sirens. I'm thinking, "ambulance, police, fire truck". None of the above, apparently they ring sirens when severe weather is a foot. They did this a few months ago when the tornadoes went through Downtown Atlanta but that was on a weekend and nobody told us they were for the storm. We thought it was emergency officials. Today, people at work informed me that they go off whenever you should proceed with your drills. And, since I am co-chair of the Honeywell Health Safety and Environmental Committee (that's right!), everyone came to me! So, being the quick thinker that I am, I laid out an emergency plan for tornadoes. The sirens had been going off for about 30 minutes and by the time that we all actually thought, "maybe we should seek cover" and go into the middle of the facility, the sirens stopped. So, we'll be ready next time.

The Derby Alpharetta Team Trivia

Team Triva guy asks Final Question:
Put the following Magazine Titles in order from highest circulation to lowest in 2006:
1)Web MD
2)Woman's Day
3)Weight Watchers
4)Watercolor Magic

Alexis: Well, that's easy, Watercolor Magic is obviously lowest.
Wes: No, I think it's WebMd, who would by that when it's free online?
Alexis: OK, if you think so. So, Web MD is last, then Watercolor Magic?
Wes: Right, what do you think is first?
Alexis: Woman's Day
Wes: Ooo, I don't know, I think Weight Watchers, don't you?
Alexis: Well, I think it's Woman's Day because I have at least heard of it. I was in Weight Watchers and don't remember the magazine.
Wes: Weight Watchers seems like the answer, I think it would be more popular than Woman's Day.
Alexis: Fine. (Writes our answer on the card: Weight Watchers, Woman's Day, Watercolor Magic, Web MD) and then turns it in.
Music plays, we watch Olympic Volleyball on one screen and Braves on other
Team Trivia Guy: OK, answers in...the correct order is: Woman's Day, Weight Watchers, Web MD, Watercolor Magic!

...thank you and good night!

Olympics

I don't know what it is or ever has been that has so excited me about the Olympics. I have always LOVED the Olympics in both summer and winter. It doesn't even really matter which sport, somehow I get sucked in. I can't remember not loving them and I can't remember what initially drew me into watching as many games as possible. (Mom, Mere, maybe you can help me out there). But if you've ever lived with me during the Olympics, you remember my passion for the games.

My two favorite memories of watching Olympics happened while at NC State. The first was during the Sydney Olympics in 2000. This was the year that they were actually in the Fall for us because of the hemisphere difference. I was living in 303A Bragaw Hall with Morgan Murden (now Young) and I think I got her hooked too. (At least she let me watch them often on our 16" TV/VCR combo). But one night, I was watching at Chris Miller and Josh Jones' apartment when this guy made his Olympic debut:


Remember him? We didn't even see the heat where he ended up swimming by himself because everyone else false started. No, we didn't see it live, we saw the Bob Costas version with Eric Moussambani's life story attached. Bob Costas may have the best job in media. Even my husband, who is crazy about sports sort of agrees with me. He can call anything he wants and he goes to every Olympics anywhere in the world. They make these "tear jerker" short films about different athletes from all over the world and the one about this swimmer from Equatorial Guinea was a doozey. Everyone in the apartment, let alone the world was crying during the video. I wish I could find it, but work doesn't let me use YouTube and that's probably the best bet.

On a side note, before the Beijing Games started, I told this story to Wes, who vaguely recalls sob stories during the Olympics. But then, we both felt the heart strings Bob Costas and Chris Collingsworth pulled on during their story/video on Michael Phelps' mom.

Anyway, my second memory is far less sentimental but always makes me happy. I watched the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics from Lake Park and an apartment favorite for us was curling.

Now, I know what your thinking. It was kind of a joke that we liked it but we would turn the mute on and commentate ourselves. Let's just say there were 2:00am commentaries in our best Swedish accents, "Go Lars, go! You're not sweeping fast enough!"

I look forward to this weekend of endless games.

Breathe

I haven't stopped once today. Work has been crazy busy this week! I am leaving work in 5 min to head down to the first of three productions of "Family Night on Peachtree: The Beat Goes On" at Wieuca. This has been a crazy week but has flown by. I will post pictures of the craziness that is FNOP (that may explain a little if you seen that acronym on my Facebook). Here's hoping we get to chill a little this weekend!

Stay-cation

At least, that's what I keep hearing on radio/news/www that we can be taking since gas is so expensive. So, that's kind of what we did this weekend. Wes came across two Atlanta City Passes for a couple of things because one of his classmates wasn't able to use it all. I've used a City Pass in San Francisco when Landis and I were there but I havne't used one here in ATL.

Saturday: Took MARTA down to Midtown and walked around there. I always love walking around in the city because the buildings are just amazing to me...especially at night but we didn't stick around that late.


We ate lunch at the Vortex because they are supposed to have Atlanta's best burgers...they do! After that, we walked up to the High Museum of Art (click here) and had a blast. We've been to the High before but it was free family day and there were about 1,000 kids walking around so this was a little nicer. We didn't even know but there was a MLK exhibit that was incredible. It was a photo-journalism walk through the Civil Rights Act and the Freedom Walk. If you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it.




Sunday: Of course, we started the day with reChurch. Following that, we headed over to Decatur with Shelly & Josh Woodruff, Abby Griggs and Matt Rich to eat at Brick Store Pub (love that place!) Wes and I were so excited to go to Fernbank because it is a natural history museum. We've been there once for IMAX and we hear that Martini's & IMAX on Friday nights is awesome so we set our expectations high. Too high. It was lamazoid (yes, I made up that word). I think it is more for kids than adults. I felt like I was at a taxidermy or something.




I wanted to see dinosaurs and this is all they had:




When we use to take family vacations as a child, sometimes we would go on "educational vacations" and my Mom would ask us what we learned. Here you go:
-It's remarkable how much different our world is today than just 40-50 years ago. It was somewhat painful to look at the photos of segregation in the very city in which I live just because of the color of skin. I wonder what will be so socially different 40 years from now?
-I can learn more about polar bears and penguins from the Discovery and National Geographic channels and March of the Penguins than a museum.
-T-Rex's did not live in Georgia, it was too swampy for them. They lived on the West Coast. Smaller dinos and flying ones lived 'round these parts.
-It's too hot in Atlanta to be walking around exploring during the last week of July.

Job Security...I think

I've been a little worried lately because my boss is leaving our division of Honeywell. Also because many parts of our company are moving to India...don't get me started. Basically, since our merger, my boss's position is no longer needed. As of today, I am his executive assistant and report to him for approvals, goals, etc but also support everyone else in my office and six outside sales people. Everyone around here knows that my boss is going to be out of here soon but everyone has been walking around on eggshells for me because we didn't really know what that would entail for me. Today, the US Sales Director for an entire division of Honeywell called my direct line and asked me to do a few things for him. We chatted a while and he also basically asked me if I have everything I need to support the people I support. A call from higher up than my boss is a good thing, right?

Here's to keeping a job!

A long week for Baseball fans

If any of you knew me before Wes and I moved to Atlanta, you know that I didn't like baseball. OK, I hated it, despised it, even loathed it. I won't go into details other than say, it was for personal reasons. In fairness, I had never been to a real baseball game. I mean, I went to high school games that my friends played in, American Legion games and even some NC State games only because one of my friends dated the catcher. But I would never commit to enjoying the experience. Then, we moved here and everything changed. Before we moved last summer, Wes and I decided that we didn't necessarily have to love baseball but we should at least give the Braves a chance. We started watching games (there really is nothing else to watch on summer nights and when it's 100 degrees at sundown, why be outside?). We got to know the players and kinda liked the announcer guys but the games were still on TBS so they came on every night even in Wilmington but we only watched a couple of games a week and still didn't really think that we would like being baseball fans. One of the times that we came to visit for interviews, we stayed with the Tutterows and asked them, well, here's the conversation:

Me: So, will y'all be watching/going to a Braves game this week?

Vicki: Um, it's the All-Star break...

Me: Oh, yea, I knew that...

Of course I didn't know that. They get a break??? Then, we moved to Atlanta on August 3 and went to our first live Braves game shortly after...

...we left on MARTA changed forever... Thanks to Delta, we received our first Braves merchandise free on a hat giveaway night. This season, in April, we bought jerseys in Underground Atlanta (they're way cheaper there than anywhere else if you're looking). I don't really know how to explain our transformation other than being in a city with a team like the Braves is fun. Everyone talks about it at work the next day and everyone is a Braves fan. Everyone hates the Mets and Phillies. It's fun to be in a community like that...and it's actually cheaper for us to go to a game than a movie. That's right!

On Sunday, we were a little sad that we wouldn't be able to watch the Bravos for a week and since nothing else decent comes on TV anymore, we were forced into watching the Home Run Derby if we would watch anything. Fortunately for us, records were broken and it was actually entertaining. Until that guy that hit 28 home runs stopped, then it was boring until he came back on...but then he lost, weird.

I read this girl's blog often because it's about the Braves from a girl's perspective: http://braveslove.blogspot.com/
She kept up with the derby last night and I enjoyed these quotes:

8:12pm --

Chase Utley is a doll. I wish he wasn't a Phillie, so I could love him more.

8:15pm --

Erin Andrews' blouse is fit for a Disney Princess.

8:19pm --
I'm still not tired of "the most interesting man in the world". Love those Dos Equis commercials.

That Dos Equis guy really is amazing...

If you like Enchiladas (or just want something different)

...Then I have the recipe for you. Wes and I love this recipe and I made it last week for Andy and Samantha when we brought dinner over and got to see Madison for the first time. It's not hard to make, it just takes a little time and you pretty much have to get your hands dirty. I make my own tomatillo salsa because I like to, but you can buy the green salsa (salsa verde) in the store on the salsa isle. I definitely recommend this recipe from Tyler Florence; I really enjoy everything that I have made from his show.

Here is the link (but check out other recipes from him, they're all great):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35924,00.html

It looks long, but it's not really. The first time it seems tedious but I make them a lot now and it's really easy. These are seriously the most delicious Mexican food I make at home and we love them.
Here is the recipe with my amendments (in bold):

Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa:
1 pound tomatillos, husked (make sure you wash really good because they are sticky)
1 white onion, peeled, sliced, quartered or whole
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapenos (leave these in even if you don't like it hot...once you roast them they loose some of the kick. if you don't like spicy, take out the seeds)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 lime, juiced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos (toss a little oil on so it doesn't stick) for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.

Enchiladas:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock, storebought
Chopped cilantro leaves
1 deli roasted chicken (about 3 pounds), boned, meat shredded (I usually use all but wings)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 large flour tortillas
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (if you like it extra spicy, use pepper jack)
2 cups sour cream (we don't use this because Wes is anti-sour cream)
Chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves, for garnish(this just makes it pretty)

Heat a 2 count of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized - this should take 5 to 7 minutes (Mine never takes this long but I have a super hot gas stove...just heat until golden). Add the garlic and cumin then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to ensure the flour doesn't burn then gradually add the chicken stock to make a veloute (I don't know what that word means but basically, until it gets thick...like making mac-n-cheese). Continue stirring over a low simmer until the flour cooks and the liquid thickens. Turn off the heat, add half of the roasted tomatillo chile salsa, some additional fresh chopped cilantro and fold in the shredded chicken meat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. (Don't fret if runny, the liquid will absorb)

Change the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F and begin assembling the dish. Take a large baking dish and smear the bottom with some of the reserved tomatillo salsa (First spray with cooking spray...they can stick). Now take the flour tortillas and briefly flash them over the stove-top flame (or put them briefly under the broiler if using an electric stove)(Or just throw the bag in the microwave for minute until soft). Using a shallow bowl, coat each tortilla lightly with the reserved salsa mix. (This is where it can get messy, I just put on a cookie sheet and keep turning). Put a scoop of the shredded chicken-enchilada mix on top of the tortilla followed by a sprinkle of the shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it. Using a spatula place the tortillas in the baking dish and continue to do the same with all the tortillas. (I get between 8-10) Finally pour over some more of the salsa and top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until bubbly and cracked on top. Garnish, cilantro and tomato.

Enjoy!!

And now it's gone

Honeywell blocked Facebook :(.

So much for social networking...

Another one bites the dust

Well, I've done it, I've fallen for the biggest gimmick on the world wide web: Facebook.com
That's right, you can find me there with the millions of other like myself who have a strange obsession with finding people that I went to Elementary school with or played church league basketball with or those that I see on a daily basis but still crave to know what they're up to each hour. Fortunately (actually, unfortunately) for me, Honeywell stopped blocking Facebook and Myspace about a month ago...shhhhhhhhhhh! Don't tell corporate!! Nobody really knows why around here but I think it's so they can look up job candidates' profiles. So, on days that I don't have a whole lot going on (which seem to be the majority since all of my employers travel 85% of the time and I'm extremely diligent ;)), I'm on Facebook. It's amazing how the wonder that is Facebook can find people that you may know. I wouldn't have thought to search for these people but FB thinks I should look at their profiles. I love it. I'm new to it so I don't have a whole lot in my profile of interests or anything like that, but that will come. I've only been on for a week and already I have 110 friends. I didn't know I knew that many people!! Anyway, if you're not on it, I recommend it.

In case you've wondered about the people to the right of this post...

Let me tell you about them.

Wes Hunter: The hubs. Check out his page if you haven't, he has songs that he's recorded there.
Penny Mann: The BFF. Penny and I met through Winter Park 10 years ago and she's chillin' in Charlotte right now
Montana Tuckers: Ryan and Courtney are our amazing friends from Wilmington/Winter Park. We were in "That's Crap!" (small group) together for three years. They live in Montana now and are starting a church there. Their little girl, Avery is awesome, check out their pics.
Lauren & Garin K: Lauren is one of my great friends from the fabulous NC State University. She and her hubs, Garin are living on the NC coast because he's in the Coast Guard.
Sarah Walden's Baking: Not to be confused with the other two Sarah Walden's, this Sarah is married to one of Wes' best friends, Dan. Sarah loves to bake and she posts recipes that look amazing. I'm going to try one of these one of these days.
Dan Walden: the a fore mentioned Dan goes way back with Wes. He and Sarah are uber-intelligent and working on PhD's at Ole' Miss.
Felony Melanie: This is one of my great friends since I was but a teenager. I first fell in love with this girl on a mission trip to Weaverville, NC in 1997 where she was scarred for life by her roomate/chaperone. Melanie lives in Charlotte now. (Wow, I just realized that, Penny, get up with Felony!)
Melissa & John Partin: Melissa was in my Bible Study that I co-led with Kelly Cutshall at NCSU. She was one of the "LoveLees" and we met every Monday night for 3 years. She and John have an adorable little girl, Meredith.
Ryan & Maria Jessup: Maria was another LoveLee at NCSU who now lives in Winston-Salem with her hubs, Ryan. Maria, Maria does what seems to be awesome things through her career.
Samantha & Clif Sult: More representation from the LoveLees. Samantha is in seminary and she and Clif live near Charlotte.
Jennifer & John Clark: Jennifer was another LoveLee who I had the priviledge to meet with on a weekly basis outside of Bible study. She and John live outside of Raleigh and do engineering stuff there.
Orange Tiger/Red Wolf: Erica & Andy live in Garner, NC with their precious one, Viv. Erica was also a LoveLee and met with Jennifer and me as well. Erica lived with us in Lake Park and we were able to share many El Rodeo and Rock o' la nights together.
Daniel & Mandy Smith: Daniel was one of my best friends in college and now he and his wife have a little boy, Braydon. They live in Raleigh.
David & Katie: Another LoveLee! David and Katie live in Raleigh and have really cool sounding jobs. Despite Katie's 4-year stint with the Mighty, Mighty Wolfpack and living with ME for a summer, she remains a Tarheel fan. David, I feel your pain...I live in a house divided as well.
Brian Harrison: Brian is a fellow Wieucan here in the ATL. Brian plays bass in the reChurch praise band. His wife, Tammy sings as well. They both work for a printing company in Midtown. We enjoy delicious Mexican Food with them.
reChurch: This is basically why we moved to ATL. This is the worship experience at Wieuca that Wes leads music for (and I'm the "stage manager"...:)). It's awesome. If you are in Atlanta on a Sunday, you should come.
Winter Park Baptist Blogs: Different people from WPBC in Wilmington blog about their mission opportunities around the world. It's pretty interesting to read from different people.
Stuff White People Like: The name speaks for itself. If you haven't ventured to this site, you should...it will give you a good laugh.

If you're reading this and you have a blog that I don't know about, let me know!

A shout out: I would have the Strattons on here, but they have a private blog for their lives in Texas. They have one adopted sun from Russia, Kaden and a foster kid, Blue. Trust me, they are presh.

Texas

Sorry for the posting hiatus. I just realized that my last post was in May...that seams like forever ago! I just got back from my first business trip. (Well, I technically went to Greensboro when I worked for Next Media Radio for a night, but that didn't involve flying, my own hotel room or company paid meals). I went to Houston to the ILTA Trade Show (http://www.ilta.org/). I've always thought it would be so official and important and career-like to go to a trade show. My brother-in-law has the opportunities quite often but he works for the surf industry, which is way cooler than the oil industry. It was OK...but better than my predictions, so it was a nice surprise to half-way enjoy myself.

First off, if you don't know (see previous posts), I work for a Honeywell-owned company that manufactures and sells products to oil companies. Yes, I know gas is crazy expensive and I agree that the oil mongols are the most corrupt business people in our country, and no...I can't do anything about that. I still have to pay for gas just like you do, there are no gas discounts at Honeywell. Besides, someone has to provide them with products that blend, inject, prove, gauge and make cleaner the gasoline that we all put in our cars everyday. And I support those involved in Sales and Marketing :).

I was pretty much in charge of our exhibit at this show. It was pretty great because all of the responsibilities were given to me about 5 months ago and my bosses just told me to run with it. I worked with one guy in our Houston office and two people in our Delft, Netherlands office to get everything together and it turned out swimmingly. Our booth looked awesome, we had a ton of traffic through, and I received great kudos from my employers. The Americas VP even said that he was considering sending me to Rio de Janerio to the Rio Oil & Gas show! I'm not holding my breath, but that would be an amazing opportunity.

The best part about this show is that there were people from all over the world there with us. We have 5 folks from the Netherlands (go Holland soccer team!!), one from Venezuela and one from England and I had the most fun with all of them. It is so humbling to be around people from other countries in the States because they always put us in our place. Darren, from the UK could not believe how big our American portions are at restaurants and how much we waste here. I could say nothing because he's spot on; in his words, "it's a bugger that you have so much and waste it". What can you say to that?

But, I was able to learn some Dutch, how much Europeans live, eat and drink soccer and how Holland beat Italy for the first time in 30 years at the Euro Cup. Let's just say there was a Heineken/Amstel Light celebration courtesy of my Dutch friends. I decided that Americans are missing out because we don't use the word "bloody" and "bugger". You should expect me to start using both in everyday vocabulary.

I came back Wednesday night through the terrible storms that passed through Atlanta. We were delayed 2 1/2 hours and then flew through a rain cloud, which was terribly frightening! By the time we finally landed, we taxied for 45 minutes to find a gate and then I took the 50 minute MARTA ride to the 'burbs to be graciously welcomed by Wes and the appropriately named Kiss 'n Ride parking lot at North Springs Transit Station.

I'm glad to be back in the ATL.

Some pics from Wilmy

1. On the Gypsy headed to Mason's Inlet...our favorite boat spot.

2. Precious D'side

3. Priss and I on the beach

4. Paul and I on the beach

5. The Priss Pot likes to have her picture taken.

6. Banks channel view from WLI Club

7. Doesn't this look like a postcard? This is Paul and Avery, they are BFF's.

8. WB on Memorial Day Sunday

9. Amy, Josh, G, Wes, Lex

This week

We are going to Wilmington tomorrow and will come back Tuesday. If you're in Wilmington, let us know. I'm really excited about seeing family and friends because I haven't been there since Christmas. I will try and remember to take a lot of pictures and post them upon return.

Last night, we had a crazy storm here in the ATL. For the first time ever, i saw some serious hail. Our camera is at home with the pictures so I'll have to post them later...if they came out all right. I would say the hail at our house was about "nickel" size. There were reports of baseball size hail in Woodstock, but we didn't see anything like that. How scary would that be?

Some things I love about my job...

1) I work in an office and I'm wearing flip flops...and it's not Friday. Call me crazy but it is the little things that make a difference. Seriously, I am wearing a t-shirt, jeans and flip flops and nobody cares. I think the most I have ever seen anyone dress up was when I tucked an oxford shirt into a dressy skirt. Maybe that's one of the reasons that people are laid back around here. None of the men wear ties...ever. Everyone wears jeans. There is this really metro guy here that dresses nice but still, never wears a tie.

2) I have been given some extra responsibilities that are solely mine. It's nice because people keep coming to me and asking me to help them because only I have been trained on some new policies that Honeywell has installed. For example, we have a new expense reporting solution and I am the "SuperUser". That's right. It's a Honeywell word, no space, capital S-capital U. I'm her, the SuperUser. One guy around here calls me the "Super Used" because everyone comes to me to help them with the reporting. At first, I was not excited that the Controller volunteered me for this position because there was 5 hours of training with a guy named Venkat and it was all tele- or webconferencing. But now, I realize that this is another key on my chain for job security and something great to put on my resume. I mean, let's face it, I can make this little part of my job sound amazing (I did major in Public Relations, which is basically making the mundane sound stupendous and the terrible sound mundane). Besides, the Controller told me he would get me a Super Woman shirt...but I haven't seen it.

3) This place is super diverse. I love that about not only my job, but Atlanta. There are more colors of the rainbow than I've ever seen anywhere. (Yes, I've only lived in Wilmington and Raleigh, but still) Here in our office the following countries are represented: United States, United Kingdom (he wins the best accent award), The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Belarus, Russia, and Venezuela. Everyday I call out to or get calls from all over the world. Yesterday, I called the UK, India and Colombia. Maybe I will be able to travel to one of these places sometime!

4) The people I report to are never here so I have a lot of time to cruise around on the Internet. There is one bad thing about that though: Honeywell blocks a lot of websites (anything that streams video, myspace, facebook, etc.). Oh well, I can't complain.

Obama represents the Pack!

He may have been at the Dean Dome last week, but... He represents the Mighty Mighty Wolfpack after the win!

The big 3

...Years that is. Today is Wes' and my third year wedding anniversary. I know to many of you that have been married 10, 30, or more years, you are thinking..."oh those kids". But we are really excited about it. In three years, a lot has happened. I've had three jobs (four if you count the two I had at Dockside), Wes has graduated from one degree and moved on to another, he's grown his hair out to his shoulders since this picture, we've lived in two houses and two different cities. Today at work, someone said, "so I guess you aren't newlyweds anymore". Is that what three years does? Make us old??? Well, I don't feel that old...(unless it's raining and my chipped kneecap hurts really bad)...but I do feel like we've been together a long time...a great time! Another thing to consider, we've been married half of the Priss Pot's life! This picture is something I made to give to her mom last Christmas...