More updates, as per usual

• It is hot and sunny today, so Jaime invited me to go with her and her nephews to the WRC, yo! I am sunburned, and it feels great, I tell you.
• Miss Erica is in town tonight, and we're supposed to hang out, yay!
• The boys are out of town for Ryan's bachelor party, that means girls' nights all weekend long...
• I went to the Fresh Market today, Leah. It's a dreamlike world.
• I found out that only 7 or 8 people get into my program a year. Something I am GLAD I didn't know because I would have freaked out even more than I already did, ha ha.
• Chandle's coming home oh-so-soon!
• I finished Harry Potter... who wants to discuss? ;) Kat is borrowing the book TODAY.
  
• It's the weekend! Everyone behave yourselves. Talk to you soon!
  

And....!

I had my interview this afternoon for the school psych program, and I just got this email (an hour after the interview):

Dear Elizabeth

I just wanted to let you know that the school psychology committee would like to offer you a position in our masters program. You will be getting an official letter from Dr. Simon, but I wanted you to know now so you could plan accordingly. Congratulations and welcome to our program. If you need anything, let me know.

Dr B

Updates all around!

*Meet Charlie Henry, my wonderful friend Anne's new arrival. He has had to stay in the hospital a little longer than they expected, but they got to take him home Friday, and he's doing great! What a great lookin' fella! Congrats to Anne and Sean- love you guys!
*Harry Potter is phenomenal.... everything I expected. I am not nearly as far as I'd like to be, because...
*Saturday we packed up those doggies and hit up Lake Ouachita. We camped on an island and let Parker and Zoey run free. They LOVED it, and the weather was amazing.
*Something very yucky is going on with my eye. It's red and burning and watering like crazy and I can barely open it. Going to try to go to the doctor today. If I have to wear a pirate patch to my interview, I am going to be one upset lady.
*My cousin is doing much much better- he's been moved to another unit and is responding much more! Thanks for all the well wishes!
*Chandle has 11 days left- yeehaw!
*I'm going to call my eye dr. now.... Aaaaargh (she says in her best pirate voice)!

Good news...

Think of me at 12:30 on Wednesday... I have an interview for my program! I just got a call. Hooooooray!

Wine o' the week- a two parter!

A few months ago, Jeremy and I went to one of Bruce Cochran's wine classes (he's the local wine expert around these parts- he offers classes. Visit the website here and try one out!). We went to Satellite Cafe and did his cheap wines class, and this one was one of my favorites that he recommended. This week's wine is Chateau St. Sulpice's Bordeaux. I couldn't find a picture of the label, so you'll just have to do with the description. It has "layers of aromas - green peppers, raw oak, orange peel and leather. The greenness would go away if you waited long enough. In the mouth, it was very dry with berry fruit as opposed to cherry. It had a long finish." It retails around $10.99- go see JR and pick it up and Colonial!
Second, I am recommending a wine chiller for your home like the one pictured above. Melissa bought us one for Christmas from Sharper Image, and we've really enjoyed it. It will keep your bottles at an even temperature, and it's great for these summer months!
Today is Wednesday wine day at Colonial and Sullivant's and Cork and Bottle. Go try something and tell me about it.

Hello, all

Today is Wednesday, that means we're halfway through the week. Good job, everyone. You deserve a break. I have nothing very exciting to update today, if you can believe it. Zoey has been recovering nicely from her lady surgery. She still just wants to play alllll the time with Parker anyway. For the two days Zoey wasn't here, Parker was anxiously awaiting her return. It was sweet.
I have been checking the mailbox compulsively to see if I've heard from UCA... any time now, any time. But seriously, they could tell me now and I'd be just fine with that.
I was going to make curtains yesterday with my ma, but I got overwhelmed by all the fabric choices, and had to postpone. I couldn't handle it. :) Soon, though, I'll be just like Leah. HA.
Ooh, we went to Beaverfork on Sunday. It brought back old, wonderful memories of times in Conway... It's very close, and we should go again. I floated on a raft all day long. Yay.
Have a good day, everyone!

nataliedee.com

I realize I am teetering on the edge of obnoxiousness, however...

... I don't have a job. What am I to do besides completely obsess about how we have one week until the next and final installment of HP. So here's how I've been filling my days:
1. Get up, drink coffee.
2. Maybe clean a little, or try to talk myself into cleaning a little.
3. Check all blogs. What's this?? Erica commenting on my blog? Claus is returning state-side?? Holy goodness!
4. Pop in the 6th HP on CD.... I rented it from Blockbuster (and shhhh I will be making a copy of it). I am listening constantly while doing #s 1-3 now.
5. Try to do something otherwise productive (while still listening). This week it is knitting. Next week my mom is teaching me to make curtains.
6. Obsess more about Harry Potter and how it is being delivered on Saturday, and check the mail relentlessly (starting Monday) for my interview letter for school pscyh.

Yup... that's pretty much it. Sad, huh? Or is it awesome? I think maybe it's awesome.

Wine o' the week- not so much a suggestion as a bit of hmmmmm....

I saw this on Good Morning America today....
Charles Shaw wine has been picked as the #1 Chardonnay in California, becoming a gold medal winner. The kicker is... it retails at a whopping $1.99. It's otherwise known as "Two Buck Chuck," and it beat out Chardonnays that cost over $100 a bottle. Another bit of interesting info... the silver medal went to a $17 bottle of wine. Just goes to show you, the price tag isn't everything when it comes to picking a tasty wine.
Unfortunately, we can't get ol' Chuck here. They only sell it at Trader Joe's grocery stores. But you can check out the Wiki here.
Now it's your turn. What's your favorite cheapo wine? ;)

Dance like a hippie!

Here we go with all the mad updates....! I shall bulletize them for you for easy reading.

• I went to my very first Widespread Panic show on Tuesday. I've always been pretty skeptical of the jam band.... you know, one song in two hours type of thing. But shhhhhhhhhhhhh..... I had a great time. Those hippies are adorable! I think Julie said it best. "Smell that? Patchouli and b.o. Ahhh!" Reminds me of our college acquaintance who smelled like patchouli "on the inside." Regardless, it was a lot lot lot of fun. The rain was welcomed. They made me take my camera back to my car. Boooo, security.
• Zoey had her lady surgery yesterday. She is a little sore and making baby noises, but she's doing well- she's a pup so she's bouncing right back.
• I WENT TO GO SEE HARRY POTTER LAST NIGHT. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamazing. I think it was the best movie so far. Not my favorite book, but I think the movie was really really well done. Dumbledore and Voldemort fought with their wand light sabers. Innnncredible, but I'll hush now for those of you who haven't seen it.
• I realized (via my counter over there....) that I have 8 days till #7 comes out. I am going to check out #6 on CD from the library today, listen to it alllllll day and knit. I'm unemployed!!
• Sunday (the 15th) is my school psych deadline, so that means I should be finding out any day now. I'm definitely doing the right thing, people. I'm pumped.
• Oh, my. Sam Champion from Good Morning America is riding a mechanical bull. Ohhhh my, my day is complete.
• I talked to Chandle this a.m. Felt like old times. Except she's a million miles away. 20-some days left! Yay!
  
• I'm going to eat a biscuit now. Peace out, loves!

Update! I'm a genius! I got an A in my summer class! :D

Giddy up!

Nashville.is.so.fun. Wow. Jaime's bachelorette party was a tremendous success. There were 15 of us ladies, and we had a blast. I have close to 90 pictures, and they're all funny. This here is Elvis, or Elvis Jr., I think. Saturday night we went to Robert's Western World, a bar (according to Jaime) that was opened by BR-549 and is now regulared by Brazil Billy (is that right, Jaime??) THE MOST incredible old-school country band that I know thus far. I think I was expecting the Electric Cowboy, but it was so, so much more. They played lots of Cash and other old greats. We danced ALLLLL night- never stopped! It was great. Thanks for getting married, Jaime! Congrats! I had SO much fun. Here come some of my favorite pictures...!





















Of course we played our favorite game of "1, 2, 3, be a (fill in the blank with a funny animal)!" We're a beaver here. YESSSSSSSSSSS, siree!

Visit Robert's Western World's website here. The history is neato. Yay, Nashville!

I done!

Wellllllll, almost. My final is today (think of me at 11:30). I get to return my $100 book and get an estimated $15 back (TOTALLY worth it, yeah?). Then I'm packing up my cowboy boots (well, Chandle's, anyway) and headin' to Nashville with a gaggle of ladies for Jaime's bachelorette party! Yeeeeehaw. Wish me luck on the test. And wish me luck with the boot scootin'. I will have pictures.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

It's been raaaaiiining the past few days- rainy and sunny at the same time. Which happens to create a rainbow at the park. Can you see it? Purty!


I am officially obsessed with the Wii. 4th of July was spent Wii-ing over at Kat and Karl's. And yes, I'm actually sore today. I find this pretty sad that I am sore from playing a video game. I'm pretty sure it was boxing that did it to me (shown down there). I was wailing on that thing! But seriously, seriously fun. I think I liked tennis the best. Now I need to get one. I told Karl he can go ahead and set aside a "Buy-Elizabeth-a-Wii" jar and start putting his change in it. He didn't seem to go for it. Not sure why.

This made my day.

The one and only Kimmy P. emailed me today with this incredible, fabulous, amazingly geeky link to the Buffy musical "Once More With Feeling" extravaganza!
Listen up, folks. I am going. Chandle? Cody? Christy (I know you read this.)? We're going. Some genius out there has created an interactive movie-going experience for the musical episode a'la "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (which I've also always wanted to see, but I'll be very honest- I would MUCH rather see this one). They turn on the subtitles so we can sing along too (as if we need them, right?), and they give out goodie bags with finger puppet monsters to grrrrrrrrrrr.... arrrrgh! along with monsters. Also, "streamers pour over the audience during a 'climactic' moment, kazoos blow, vampire teeth are worn, people dance with their dry cleaning, and the audience boos the baddies, hoots at hottie vamp Spike, and implores Buffy’s little sister Dawn to just 'shut up!' And of course - evil bunnies! It all happens live along with your favorite television show in all its big screen glory!" PLUS, they have trivia before the show. Two of my loves: Buffy and trivia. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh goodness.
Ok, so they're coming to Tulsa, but Chandle won't be back yet, so that just won't do. That leaves us with Kansas City and St. Louis. Let's start planning.

Wine o' the week- a recipe

I took a couple weeks off from my wine o' the week, but here's something a little different for ya! This drink is deeeeeeeelish in the summer (or anytime, really). Try it soon.

Classic Spanish Sangria

1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
1 1/2 cups rum
1 (750 mL) bottle dry red wine
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white sugar

Chill the fruit, rum, wine, and orange juice. Slice the lemon, lime, and orange into thin rounds and place in a large pitcher. Pour in the rum and sugar. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
When ready to serve, crush the fruit lightly with a wooden spoon and stir in the wine and orange juice. Adjust the sweetness to taste (or the liquor level!).

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Very refreshing. Outside- very hot. Punch, good.

Check baby, check, baby, 1, 2, 3, 4

I swear to you, I'm alive and well! Sorry to everyone for being so MIA. I have not had computer access in... ohhh... forever. And school is keeping me oh-so-very-busy. My grandma was in town for a little while. Jeremy was OUT of town. Pooty and Zoey are still having the Smackdown daily. They also have started cuddling with each other on the couch. Right now, they are spooning. Like, for real.
I'm starting to feel pretty good getting into the school psych program. Feeling very optimistic. The summer is flying by already. I'm ready to get a move on with this school stuff!
Chandle called me the other day. It was great hearing from her, in spite of the slight delay over the thousands of miles. She seems to be doing well! :D
Ummmmmm it's sad that I haven't posted in so long and I have so very little to update you about. There is very little going on, and I think it's great. Oooh, wine and crunk juice will be done soon. So that's coming up soon.
I am going to go poke around the net now. I haven't gotten to look at Pink in weeks now. Sorry to be so quiet on my end! I will do better.

Arkansas misses Chandle, so do Ben and Corey

Wednesday night we went to dirty ol' Whitewater Tavern to see our beloved Ben Nichols play with Corey Branan. Once again, the show was great. The place was packed at first, with lots of 21 year-olds pretending like they know who Lucero is (whoops, there I go, being snobby again!) Christy is an exception to this group because she has loved them since she was 15. She's special. :) Anyway, we got to see some folks we haven't seen in a long long time, and the crowd finally cleared out so we didn't have to stand at the back to breathe. We had a blast. We stayed up until way too late for a Wednesday, and it was absolutely worth it. We missed Chandle. She'll be back soon, and I know Ben will be here, waiting for her. Here are some pictures from the show. I took like 30. :)
Jeremy snuck up to the stage and took this one for me. Best.Ben.picture.ever. Go ahead and steal you a copy, Miss Chandle.
They did a really great job (the songs got louder and more fun as the night went on). They were taking turns singing, and eventually sang a couple of each others' songs- God bless 'em. Enjoy the pics. I have many others.

Introducing...

Meet the newest member of our little family- Zoey! We borrowed her from CARE over the weekend for a trial, and we are keeping her through this week too. Looks like we're going to be keeping the little lady forever... who could resist? Parker and Zoey are in l.o.v.e. Their current favorite game is WCW Smackdown on the couch, where Pooty is Goldberg, and Zoey is Kevin Nash (anyone... get it? Kristen? Ha ha). Zoey rears up on her back legs and bats at Pooty, who stalks her and waits for just the right moment to pounce up there, and the wrestling commences. This continues for a good 30 minutes or so, until they are so tired they can't keep going. Pooty also enjoys (as she's doing right now) sitting on her.
She's a really sweet girl- about 10 pounds and probably 4 months old. Judith says she's probably a healthy mixture of rat terrier and Boston terrier. Who knows??
We were a little unsure about having two dogs... but they're just having too much fun to deny. Plus, she curls up and sleeps on my lap. :) Yay!

More pics!

On a more serious note...

Please say a prayer for my cousin (on the Ross side), who was in a serious car accident over the weekend. He, his wife, and two kids were all on their way to the Buffalo River when they had a blowout. The car flipped three times and he was ejected from the vehicle. His wife and kids are all ok, but he is in intensive care. He's in pretty rough shape, but the doctors are amazed that he is alive and are pretty hopeful. Thanks, guys.

Wine o' the week

This week's wine is brought to you by a recommendation from Kristen and JR. from many months ago... Jeremy and I finally picked up a bottle of Bohemian Highway recently. We tried the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. A little research revealed that this wine is actually put out there by Food Lion, the grocery store (an interesting little fact). If I'm not mistaken, I think it only comes in magnums, but don't be fooled by the seemingly low-brow-ness of it. The color is deep, deep purple, and the smell is FANTASTIC (really stick your nose down in there each time you take a sip... mmmmmmmmmm). The back of the label says it has layers of black cherry, chocolate, and plum. Any wine that has chocolate-y taste is a-ok with me! It costs around $14.99. Seriously tasty- very surprising. Thanks for the suggestion, guys!
Anyone else have something I should try....?

On a side note, we have less that 2 weeks to go on our Grenache-Mourvedre that's a-brewing downstairs, and we are also (simultaneously) making what has been dubbed (probably appropriately) crunk punch. Details to come on that one when it makes its debut. Ohhhh, it's going to be a good summer! :)

Wait a second, how do I do this?

Am I done yet? No? Crap. Guess it's time for me to hit the proverbial books, eh? I finished my 8 page long (typed) list of definitions yesterday. 8 pages of definitions. Aaaand I'm officially in 10th grade again! Psst, I had a lot of fun writing out definitions. Don't tell. I'm a dork.
So I have a test on Monday. And this is officially the lamest post ever. Go ahead and get used to it people, I'm a student now! Booyakah!
My thesis adviser was supposed to write a recommendation for me (in May) so I can get into the school psych program. Buuuut, she didn't. So I had to rely back on the ol' faithful Honors College staff. They're good to me. UCA officially has all my stuff, so now we start the waiting game... Fingers crossed, everyone.
I promise to not post another lame-o post like this one. I'm going to go study now. :)

Mama's got a brand new bag

Awwwwwwwwwww yeaauuuhh... It's started! I went to my first Tests and Measurements class yesterday at UCA. It's a prereq for the school psych program, so I'm puttin' a lot of eggs in a $700 basket that I'm going to get in there. Fingers crossed! The class looks like it's going to be pretty interesting, not that difficult, but a lot of work. I already have a test over the first four chapters of the book (panic officially sets in! I don't know if I remember how to do this!) on MONDAY. Yowza. Which means, unfortunately, that I have to sit out of the Schirmer family reunion in Nebraska this weekend. Makes me sad because a whole gaggle of Schirmer cousins will be in attendance.... Sigh. Stupid education. :)
So things are going well. My class is every day in the afternoon, so I'm driving back and forth between here and C-town a lot. Bonus: gas in Conway is cheapo. That will help.
Alright, kids. I'm off to another fabulous day of taking notes! It feels grrrrrrrrrreat. I love it.

Wine o' the week- it's sparkly!

This week's wine is Gloria Ferrer's Blanc de Blanc. The website says it costs $25, but it's $20 at Colonial, and on sale this week for $15. An awesome deal....
It's a sparkling wine, which I didn't really care for all that much till we visited the vineyard (seen here in the pics), and this one is delish. Read the tasting notes- LOTS of flavors going on there! It's on sale now, so go pick one up and save it for a special day.

From the website....

Made from 100% Chardonnay, this medium bodied sparkling wine comes alive with crisp flavors of green apple, citrus, and Asian pear. Notes of toast and vanilla result in a clean finish on this exceptional sparkler.

The bouquet of the 2003 Blanc de Blancs is reminiscent of ripe pineapple and toasted biscuit, underscored by a distinctive citrus blossom note. Juicy pear, white chocolate and lemon zest flavors fill the palate, which expand through the wine’s vivacious stream of bubbles and firm structure.

Food Affinities
This Blanc de Blancs is delicious with seafood such as calamari, oysters on the half shell, cracked crab or roasted mussels and with Pan Pacific cuisine such as Thai satay or fresh Vietnamese spring rolls.