Friday {Re}flection

Linking up with UK Kate today to share the past week's happenings.

Saturday:  BLACK, WHITE, & THRONES
Black & White Dress code birthday party was fun!  The guest of honor did a great job of looking surprised, although she admitted that she had an inkling about it.  She and her husband sat at thrones!  I danced a bunch, but my Marine was too busy conversing to dance.
    Awkward moment:  They had a photo area with a professional photographer capturing a photo of each group of guests (you buy the pictures after the party).  Being that it was almost all African Americans at the party (there was one Asian couple and us), the photogs must have had the lighting set in such a way that it ....didn't quite work out for us.  It was AWKWARD when they, cringing of embarrassment, showed us our pic and we appeared...well appeared is a strong word.  You could barely see us.  I believe they call it 'over-exposed'.  Heck, we looked like spirits.  Now that I can laugh about it, I kind of wish we'd have bought it before the swiped it away and made us take a new pic with adjusted lighting (at this time many guests were leaving and I think they may have presumed we were being finicky and forcing a re-shoot.
**gluten free note- the dinner was a buffet where I wisely chose to eat baked chicken, salad (no croutons) (Kraft dressing bottles were there so I could read label!), and fruit.  I googled Ciroc Red and found it was gluten free to drink.

Our Cat, Dahlia, with her stitches, as a result of Mr.Mittens attacking her on our porch.

Our cats enjoying the backyard, healthy cats.

Stitches.  They had to shave away her brilliant, shiny fur.  (The cats are brother and sister, half Russian Blue, which are known for their beautiful silky fur.  Hers is amazingly silky, a trait of RB fur, while his is the gorgeous blue coloring.

KITTY DRAMA:  Mr. Mittens (scroll to bottom for pic) is an orange tabby cat with white feet (hence the mittens moniker) belonging to the neighbors behind us.  He is talented, as in the way he jogs behind his owners on their morning walks, but infamous in our neighborhood for terrorizing other cats and dogs.  Our cats usually hiss him away, but Saturday, he ambushed Dahlia (we had just let her outside on our patio and seconds later heard screeching, only to look out and see Mr.Mittens fighting something, which turned out to be her, underneath him).  We chased him away, but she had to get stitches.  When the Marine found out his "baby girl" had to wear a kitty cone around her head, he was beside himself.  It was quite sad to see her banging around the hallway with it, trying to bang it off.  She did leverage it off once, but has since resigned herself to it.  A pristinely groomed cat, she is having a tough time not being able to lick her fur into it's normally ebony sleekness.  She is healing ok and we expect to take the cone off in 2 weeks.

Looking for hidden eggs

Eggs dyed with blueberries

Easter Loot

Sunday:  EASTER:  We enjoyed the sunny day in our big Georgia yard with our cats helping us hide and search for Easter eggs we hide from each other.  I dyed the eggs by placing frozen blueberries (I have on hand from making smoothies) and vinegar in the water while the eggs boil.  They looked cute!

Monday:  SPONTANEOUS BALLGAME:  I saw Chipper Jones (legendary Atlanta Braves retired baseball player) post on twitter that he was going to the game.  It was a gorgeous evening, partly sunny 70 degrees.  The game was to start at 7PM.  At  6:06 PM I texted my Marine (who usually works til 8PM or later) if we could go, figuring it would not happen.  Well, he said yes!  We arrived at the ballpark, got tickets at a deal ($17 for 2nd level), and were walking in at 6:50 PM.  I ate at the GLUTEN FREE CONCESSION STAND, which is still in section 112.  Each year the offerings are different and this year I had a Turkey Club sandwich (tasty and good texture, soft bread), a hot dog (yummy dog, poor dry bun), and a brownie (interesting texture, chalky outside, soft middle, good cocoa flavor, but not fudgy).   The game was tied and The Braves won in the 10th inning with a homerun!  I also learned Turner Field is nicknamed "The Ted".

Gluten Free Turkey Club Sandwich at Turner Field

TUESDAY:  I didn't feel well from eating the gluten free food at the ballgame last night.  But, I still did 50 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym.

gluten free seared,baked chicken with salad and spaghetti squash (with olive oil, spices, parmesan)

WEDNESDAY:  WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER    I exhausted myself during a 3.6 mile run in my neighborhood.  There is a big uphill at the end.  My boyfriend happened to be driving home and saw me running, lol.  So, he made dinner (we usually work together to make dinner, but he made it ALL and cleaned, of course).  He seared gluten free chicken thighs in a pan and then baked them with spaghetti squash and salad.  The chicken skin was SO crispy and delicious, he made it again on Thursday.  Funny, because we don't eat fried chicken, mainly skinless chicken.  Chicken is not my favorite.  I'm a seafood girl.  But this was FAB.

The Assailant:  Mr. Mittens

THURSDAY:  POOL DAY  I exercised in the water (G.I. Jane crawls, ouch!) at the outdoor pool on this 82 degree sunny day, and who comes over to me?  The neighbor (owner of Mr. Mittens who injured my cat).  She said she owes me a check, and proceeded to needle me about when I'm moving (everyone ALWAYS asks us that, since we're a military family, the same people here in Georgia have been asking since we got here 3 years ago, they ask every time we see them) and how long I've belonged to this gym (well, she did say it as if it's HER gym and how did I get in).
I had emailed her when our kitty went to the vet and she offered to pay half of the $315 bill, which was fine, even though I told her at least 2 more vet appts were required (follow- up and stitches removal).  However, she still hasn't paid.  This is the same woman who loudly (so everyone at neighborhood gatherings can hear her hospitality) says she's going to invite us to dinner next week EVERY TIME we've seen her for the last 3 years, yet she never has ACTUALLY invited us.  It's not our dream to go to her McMansion for a meal (anyone who is gluten free knows the fright incurred by a dinner invitation), but we feel awkward and annoyed like she's looking for appreciation for a fruitless, feckless even(?) offer.

FRIDAY:  We plan on a simple dinner at home followed by planning our European vacation.  This weekend I plan to attend the annual neighborhood ladies' brunch.  Anything else will be spontaneous.  It's supposed to be gorgeous, summery weather.

Enjoy your weekend!

Another Week in Georgia Gone By...

The big bass I caught.  Boyfriend battered and fried it gluten free. num num

Weekend:
It was a small showing for the drawing class I teach at Hobby Lobby but my Marine finally had a Saturday off so he took me to a late lunch at Uncle Maddio's where we both ordered personal custom gluten free pizzas.  Later we got fro-yo at  Yogli Mogli where they have the allergens listed right on the flavor signs (I like salted caramel, peanut butter and mint- I prefer the milk-based yogurts, but, like many celiacs, I do need to chew up a Lactaid tablet with my first bite) and well-contained toppings (gluten free include Butterfinger crumbles, M&Ms, whipped cream, sauces, and fruit).
Sunday, I caught a BIG FISH!
When you're with a military man, there are strict grooming standards by which he must abide.  This means he gets his hair cut (with a razor fade) every 6 or 7 days (thank goodness it's tax deductible).  Inevitably, his barber becomes a good buddy.  In our case, a fishing buddy.  We went fishing with the barber, aka "Uncle Steve" for the second time this weekend at Lake Lanier and it was chilly but fun.

The piranha electric fillet knife made easy work of the gutting.

Uncle Steve, a "good ol' Southern boy", and his buddy taught us how to "shoot" the rubber lure by pulling it toward our bellies (bending the pole dramatically toward us), and then letting go, like a SLINGSHOT so the bait would propel under the dock where the fish are gathered.  Uncle Steve is pretty serious about fishing.  The boat has GPS to locate schools of fish!
We each caught four smallish crappie and I got the big bass, over a foot long, 2.5 lbs.  Last time the barber and I caught several fish, while the Marine only got one.  Uncle Steve filleted the fish quickly with his new electric knife called the piranha.  I know bass aren't known for "good eatin'", but since Mama caught the biggest fish, it was up to Daddy to fry it up in the pan!   My bf was intimidated by the task at first, but he found a simple recipe on Allrecipes and battered all the fish in a mix of Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix , spices, and corn meal.  We rarely eat fried food, so it was extra tasty.  The bass was the most substantial and not a fishy flavor, beating out the crappie that had too many bones for the speedy eating boyfriend.

I'm wearing the Norwegian flag headband.  My Marine ordered it- the same one  Norwegians wore in the Winter Olympic Games.

Mandag (Monday):  I am learning more conversational sentences with my Norwegian instructor.  I can do future words and am using memrise.com to practice adding vocabulary.  Flott (wonderful)!
Did you know only Danish and Norwegian use the ø?  It sounds like "eu".  So the word bjørn (bear, the animal) sounds like be-yeurn' or be-yearn'.

Tirsdag:  After a couple weeks of putting it off, I got my Marine to do some planning (reserving the movers, choosing dates) for the pcs move to California.  This used to be achieved via an office appointment at a nearby military base.  It's our first time using the website move.mil and we did not have the very first item required on the form (ugh!), but worked through the rest of it.  After I lost patience about him not knowing anything about the mystery number, I politely emailed the Sergeant Major.  The next morning, voila!
It can be embarrassing for the Marine when a significant other emails the Sergeant Major, and he was not enthused about it.  But after waiting weeks for my Marine to find time to begin this process, I needed to make progress.  The email worked and afterwards the boyfriend said it did not actually bother him because the number was not on any paperwork he had been given, so he was not at fault.

Tasty, light textured carrot cake gluten free cupcake at Cupcakelicious in Woodstock, GA.

Onsdag:  Fourteen members of the HIKING group met at the Old Rope Park in Woodstock, GA,  and hiked 3.5 miles (in under 2 hours) and then went to lunch.  It was a lovely, breezy day and the company and conversation was fun.
The lunch was at J. Alexanders (a breakfast & lunch place) that has several locations around here.  I have never been there before, and there was no GLUTEN FREE menu.  Online gluten free searching did not help, so I ordered grits, bacon (after the waitress assuring me they don't soak it on bread to drain the grease), and fruit.  Afterward, I hopped across the street in the quaint dining district to Cupcakelicious and was lucky enough to find a carrot cake gluten free cupcake.  It was light in texture and flavor, although a bit heavy on frosting, a lovely snack.  The friendly,chatty guy at the counter explained they have one different gluten free flavor each day.
Tersdag (Literally Thor's Day.  I had a grandfather named Thor.  I'm SO Norwegian!!):
I was disappointed to discover I had overlooked an email delivered Sunday asking me to work as an "extra" on a VINCE VAUGHN MOVIE being shot here in Georgia.  They needed me Thursday and Friday, so it was too late at this point.  I guess my email inbox was too clogged and I hadn't seen it.  Not meant to be, but a note to self to clean the emails out better so the good ones are more visible.  I can sort it on my laptop, but not as easy to sort on the phone.

At the gym (I've been going 4 to 5 times per week, yay!), there was an obnoxious-sounding sub teacher for my "Flirty Girl" fitness dance class so I joined the swim class instead.  It was such a sunny and lovely day, the class was in the outside POOL this time.  If you think water class is easy, I have two words for you:  Water. Resistance.  G.I. JANE is what they call the move that is like a belly crawl across the top of the water from one side to the other that I hope tones as much as it feels like it should.  My instant reward was to relax at the pool while getting bronzed (and absorbing Vitamin D, since I've moved here the Dr. said I'm deficient!).

Fredag:  My second attempt at the über-challenging "FITNESS QUEST" class.  This time I made it through, but felt dizzy and headachy from all the up, down:  overhead press squats, then down for mountainclimbers, etc.  Not sure how often I'll do that one.
I plan on advertising my art class more in hopes for a bigger showing tomorrow.   The Dogwood (beautiful trees) festival is this weekend as well as a big field meet with 500 poolees (future Marines), running and flipping tractor tires, etc.  I also plan on enjoying my latest gluten free find:  Blue Bell All Natural Fruit Bars 70 calories and bits of real fruit in there.  Super yummy.   I'll bid you adieu with a crafty creative Easter favorite of mine.  Deviled eggs that look like chicks emerging from eggshells.
Enjoy your weekend!

Here are the deviled eggs I made one Easter.  Some of the whites are jagged like shells.  It's easier (and turns out less messy-looking) when you have time to chill the mixture before stuffing the egg shells.