Conversations with a Pro

I've decided to start my own new weekly series, to be called....(drum roll please) 'Conversations with a Pro.'

If you are related to, close friends or have been around the Pro, you have learned that he LOVES to be funny (I tend to think he 'tries' although he would disagree), at times he can be extremely animated, is very much a smart-aleck, has a fabulous memory--which to the rest of us means you don't stand a chance in disagreeing with him on anything that may or may not have happened because he will not back down, an extremely talented writer, could talk about sports all day... literally, an analyzer if there ever was one and very witty.

With that said, you can only imagine that we have some interesting conversations from time to time. I'm sure you know someone that makes you want to remember the funny thing they said or did? Or even wonder what lead to the previous conversation. Well I have several, one of which I live with. This makes life very entertaining to say the least!

Here it is friends, the debut of 'Conversations with a Pro!'

Setting: On our way to Ruidioso, the Pro-Driving, me-looking through my Rachael Ray magazine. The topic of conversation...well who knows what lead to it, but the fact that I'd like to cook more but he thinks too many things are 'gross'! (Side note--is there such thing as a picky eaters' support group? I'm totally googling that!)

The Pro: Don't act like you 'like' everything

Me: Babe! I think most things are good. You're the one that's not very adventurous.

The Pro: Yes, (1 second pause with hesitation) within my own realm.

Me: (Thinking to myself... 'Within your own realm?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!????????)

Me: Oh what? You'll take ketchup with that or not?

The Pro: (Silence)

Me: (Waiting for a response)

The Pro: Low blow.

Ya hear?

I just found myself saying this exact quote to my dog..."This is the only bone you get tonight, ya hear?"

Did I just say that? Really? Ummmmm yes I did!

Where did that come from?

I instantly connected the saying, 'ya hear' to my nearly 100 year old nanny. While there is nothing wrong with the saying or my nanny....I just felt that I instantly went back a few generations with my phrase.

Have you ever said something different or unusual for you and as soon as if leaves your mouth you have no clue where that came from?

Huh?! Adults say the darndest things!  

God gave me another one...

Today I asked someone at work how it was going? His response, "God gave me another one." (with a smile)

I instantly thought, no matter what is troubling or bothering me really isn't important. If an answer like that doesn't put it into perspective, I don't know what does.

Maybe we should all take a moment and be thankful for God giving us another day.

Crockpot Apple Crisp

If you're household is anything like ours, one of you likes to cook sweets and the other REALLY likes to eat sweets. Unfortunatly here, I fall under both of those categories. The Pro likes sweets, but one is enough and he's done. Me on the other hand, well I could probably eat the entire dish and once I have I realized....yes, I've just finished it all, basically on my own. Of course I don't know how to make anything in small portions...oh no, always WAY more than is needed. We are a family of two, and I make sweets like we have a family of ten! (Seems like it anyways)

Tonight I tried a new receipe that I knew even the Pro couldn't resist. Crossing my fingers he'll actually come back for seconds!

I found this receipe in a cool 'Crockpot' cookbook that we were given. Now who doesn't love cooking anything in a crockpot? Other than the cleanup, it's super easy with no fuss!

Trust me, you have got to try this receipe! Enjoy!

-2 Cans of Apple Pie filling (or any other flavor you like..I like blueberry & cherry would be really  good together)
-2 1/2 Cups of any granola cereal
-1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
-1/3 cup sugar
-1/3 cup melted butter

All you do is place the pie filling at the bottom of your crockpot, pour cereal on top, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar and drizzle with butter. Cook on low for 3 hours and there you go! Spoon into a bowl and top with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Next time I make this I'll probably add more pie filling and less granola just to make it taste more like a crunchy fruit-filled cobbler, but for my first try it was pretty good.

I may or may not have already gone back for seconds!

Football season in Texas

Well friends, it has begun...it's football season! Mild and avid fans alike look forward to this day for months, longing for the weekends where there is always a game on TV, a stadium seat to fill, the sound of the drum line and the smell of tailgate food. While I will say we here at TP&TP enjoy all of the above, I will also add the correction.....we don't look forward to this date for months. While it is probably always in the back of his mind, the PRO loves ALL sports. And I do mean all! (OK..there are probably 2 sports that I can probably name that he doesn't follow) Needless to say when football season rolls around, it hasn't just 'started' for us. This is not the 'beginning' of a great sports season. This is probably the middle. For us, (more specifically, Me) there is not one break in between sports. We go from baseball (PHEW...this is one long season) , straight into NCAA Football, NFL season, NBA, Golf tournaments, throw in some tennis, maybe some hockey at the appropriate times and WA- LA... 365 days of sports. Phew. Can you see my exhaustion at times?

While I am at times on sports overload, I know how much the pro loves it. I think if he wanted to he could probably host his own sports show, and trust me he'd never run out of things to talk about. Sometimes it's interesting just listening to him discussing a game with his friends...they are just so intense!

Although there are times that I just need a break from all the sports, I will be the first to admit, there is just nothing like the start of football season in Texas. It's our culture, it's our pastime. There is just something about the atmosphere that you instantly fall in love with. I may not always pay attention to the game and I may have had enough after the hours of discussing the game we just watched, but I will say, I love the smell, the sounds and the happiness it brings to this household.

Here's to listening to the first sounds of the fight song, the bright stadium lights, the much over-used 'wave', the smell of nacho cheese in the stands, to the occasional dirt storms that come our way- but we don't budge and to the pride-filled alumnus. We love our school. We love this game. Welcome to football season in Texas!

Playing Hooky?

Recovery week is over.

Week #5, day 1.....arms........ hurt...bad.......OUCH! Not sure I'll be able to make it through a whole work day on my computer. Lifting boxes of files, psh, forget it!

Hum? Does hurting arms classify as an officially 'sick day' ?

Thinking about it....thinking about it. And then my conscience kicked in. Geez. Now is about the time I wished my parents wouldn't have stressed so hard the importance of NOT playing 'hooky'!

Ha, I remember when my sister was really young she tricked our babysitter into thinking she was sick. So my parents made her tell her teacher the next day what she had done. Ha. It's kinda funny now!

1st mistake: getting caught.  Just kidding, I'm just living vicariously through her! I would never be brave enough.

Why did I have to be the rule follower in the family?!?!

Sometimes life seems to be more fun, ya know...if you can break the rules a little.

Oh Fall

MMMM just the thought of cooler weather, sweaters and scarves is making me SO eager for Fall!

Please hurry!

P90X.....

Have you ever tried this work out before? O...M....Gee. I like to think I'm a decently fit person, I take my trip to the gym on most days. (Ok before this I had a slump, but that's ok?!?! We all do!) So for the most part I keep up with my fitness.

We started P90X on August 1st, and have successfully (Nathan success = 23 days, Kaitlan success= 20.5 days....yes, it's true some days I don't feel like pushing myself, so I cheat. There I said it, I cheat!) completed 23 days of the program. This week we are on the 'recovery week' portion. Now I don't know about you but when I think of 'recovering' I think of a nice few hours of relaxing on the couch, watching some Bravo and possibly taking a little snooze. Recovery to me = means no exercising. Boy I was wrong.

Maybe it's the fact that every morning my alarm clock goes off at 5:45 and I'm dreading putting my workout clothes on, finding my tennis shoes (one of them is occasionally missing because Mr. Bentley decided he would be funny and run around the house with one, in hopes of me chasing him...either that or socks), pouring myself a glass of water, then having to drag a 90 pound dog out from under the coffee table because he knows us working out means he has to go into the kennel. I mean, come on.....who wants to go through this process at 5:45 in the morning?!

Maybe it's the fact that the work out immediately starts with jumping jacks or something else NOT slow or calm. Jumping jacks?! How about a slow stretch?! Now that sounds nice and relaxing! Who starts getting tired during the warm up. Yup, it's me.

Or Maybe it's the fact that while I'm doing the workout I notice the millions of little black dog hairs that have made it's way from Bentley's body to my living room floor. At this point my mind starts to think, ' I wonder if Nathan would let me quit the workout IF I decided to sweep the floor?' ' This would only benefit him from getting Bentley hairs all over him?' (Oh what a sight!) This would only mean that he potentially wouldn't need to help clean the floors later?! Well, it was a nice thought at least.

While I could think of a ton of reasons why I dislike doing P90X the minutes before and the usual 45 plus-minutes during, I will say I always feel good once I get to the 'after' portion. It is such a tough workout, but it definitely makes you feel good after.

It's been almost 30 days now. I'm not sure that I've noticed any results, but it's nice to have a workout partner to keep me accountable. And not to sound super cheesy, but kind of nice to share this experience with the hubs. I'm not sure what I would do without his persistence. That and the love-hate relationship we share for this workout plan.

If you're interested in starting this plan, I would definitely recommend it, but get ready. You will definitely get your workout! Physically and mentally. All you need is determination and drive and you'll make it through.

So here's to the next 60 days.

I can do this!

Oh yes, much overdue.

After my last post I was quickly reminded that I never posted the 'after' picture of our hutch. So here it is friends, a photo journey of the amazing transformation. We had a few hickups, but the pro did a wonderful job!

Hello New Backsplash

No too long ago Nate and I decided we needed a slight kitchen update. We decided that we might as well do what we can before the day comes that our expenses go to other more important things. We started with updating our kitchen cabinets. When we originally bought our house we attempted to stain them, but that didn't work out as planned. Plus once we started to stain one we didn't think the dark stain went all that well with our chocolate brown walls. So, needless to say we kept them just as they were for about a year. In true fashion we had project fever. Did I mention I have a love-hate with projects ? After a long weekend of transforming our cabinets, all was good in the world of the princess and the pro. (I will mention that we bought this awesome easy-but tiring cabinet painting kit....we stretched it enough that we were able to paint both bathroom cabinets as well as the one in our laundry room.)

Here is the before:

(I must admit I'm the world's worst 'before' pictured taker. I guess I just get so antsy for the final product that I forget the before stage and just look forward to the end. Please excuse the mess in the first few pictures. It was project time people! Clean, shmean psh!) You can see, certainly not bad looking cabinets, but we definitely are into the more 'updated' look.

And After:

 Okay, Okay you caught me again... I got a little over anxious just to take a picture of the after that I didn't even bother cleaning the counters. You get the idea though! Hard to tell from the pictures but the cabinets are actually an in between chocolate brown and black. We were afraid the dark color would make the room super dark since our walls are already dark, but we LOVE the look!

Now I'm sure you're wondering, 'I thought this was post was about a back splash?' You are right! Since painting the cabinets, flash-forward a few months and ta da.....I give you our new back splash! I would LOVE to take the credit of this project, but I must give ALL the credit to the PRO. He did this project all on his own. (Which is probably a great thing. While, we have very similar personality characteristics, one thing that I am not great at is: measurements, planning when measurements are involved and being patient when measurements are involved. Yup, you might as well not ask me because I am NOT the girl for the project. The Pro on the other hand.....GREAT at this! I'm talking about the man who literally mapped out- with measurements included how he would put up Christmas lights. And no, mapped out is not a figure of speech in this case, he actually drew a sketch of the roof and....ok, you get the picture, another story for another time. I digress.)

Before:

The Pro hard at work:

TA DA:

Doesn't it look so much better?!?! We love it so much! Please remember I helped pretty much, well not at all....but this was such an easy project!! Okay, so it seemed! Very affordable too! If you're on a budget and wanting a simple update, let me know, I'm willing to negotiate manual labor straight from the pro himself. Ok, just kidding. (Sorta, I already tried to quote my mom...the pro wasn't too thrilled to know I contracted him out!) But seriously, it was very affordable, we got everything at Home Depot, started and finished the project in just one weekend. It looks amazing (Yes, I am a little biased) and the Pro did such a wonderful job! Good thing for husbands who are willing to plan, measure and have patience!

hhhmmmmmm

Tomorrow morning we start P90X. When that alarm goes off I think I will rethink this 6am workout idea. I will miss that extra 30 (sometimes plus) minutes of sleep, I will miss you diet coke and I will miss you fried foods. But it's time for a lifestyle change! It's been nice knowing you. While I'm sure we'll meet again, we can no longer be so close.

Hello more healthy life, I'll meet you in the morning!

Weekend Project

This past weekend my mom was in town to help my sister out with a few things around her apartment, pretty sure she ended up helping me a bit more than anticipated.

Isn't that what moms are for?!

When I was a sophomore in college my mom helped me make a headboard for my bed, after about 5 years you can imagine it definitely needed to be refreshed. We have it in our guest room, along side a bedspread that absolutely does NOT match. However, if you are a homeowner, and newly married you quickly prioritize what needs to be done and what can probably wait. The headboard was certainly classified under the 'probably can wait' category for sure.

For some reason while my mom was in town (and let me me add this conversation took place as I'm sure she was getting ready to leave for home) I started to ask her advice on decorating our guest room. Well one thing lead to another and next thing we know we're at the fabric store shopping for material. Less than $60 and about 4 hours later our project was complete. While I'm still not 100% done with the room, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Enjoy.

Ketchup or is it Catsup?

So one thing you will quickly learn here at The Princess and the Pro is that we buy more ketchup than anyone I have ever met. The reason?  Simple....The Pro. He eats it on pretty much anything and everything. While he would kindly disagree, it is true. He eats it on some random things if you ask me.

When coming up with the idea of this blog post (yes there is a reason why I'm talking about the tasty condiment) I decided to google the word ketchup. When doing so, you also see it referred as 'catsup.' Why? Well, I'm still not too sure other than certain dialects use this spelling. Anyways...the official use of ketchup is to be used with: french fries, hamburgers, sandwiches, grilled and fried meats.

Does the pro follow the official uses of ketchup in his diet? Let's find out.....

French Fries - check, check and double check
Hamburgers- Well of course
Sandwiches- Um, actually I think this one is a no
Grilled meats- Maybe some
Fried Meats- Depends

Oh, let's just go ahead and add a few more to the list:

Eggs- Check (Some think this is odd, but I personally like this too)
Fajitas- Check
Breakfast burritos- Check
Soft Tacos- Check
Hot Dogs- That's a given
Tater Tots- Psh
Roast Beef- Oh Ya

Ok, you get the picture! The man LOVES his ketchup! As you can probably imagine, we go through a lot of it in our house. I generally buy the largest bottle Wal-Mart will carry.....until now! Yes, maybe I am the last to notice this but I am SUPER excited to share that I found a double pack! 2, three pound bottles! That's six pounds people! Yikes, that sounds like WAY too much, but in our house as often as it is used, this value pack is perfect! Now it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

So I'm sure you're wondering why a post about such a random subject? Well, it was inspired by a recent newspaper add my mom sent with our anniversary cards. I'm pretty sure the card was addressed only to Nate with a message that read, "Do you eat ketchup like this kid?"

To answer your question mom, NO. Out of all the things you could put ketchup on, a waffle is not one of them.

Phew.

7 years and hundreds of miles apart....

Hello followers! I know I know, it has been too many days since you've seen anything from me! After a surprisingly busy week I'm finally finding the time to recap on my last *blast from the past* extremely fun weekend!

Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with two of my best friends from high school. While my best friend Emily still lives in my hometown, we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like too. Pathetic since we only live less than 2 hours away from one another. My other bestie from HS, Stephanie is now living in LA so we seriously don't get to see each other.

                (80's prom our soph. year of college)

*S*was in town visiting her sister so we all made plans to meet up and have an old fashion sleep over! I had not seen *E* in probably a month or two and had not seen *S* since our wedding, a year ago! Days before I left for Midland I was excited! And I mean as excited as you are as a child waiting for Santa to come, waiting in anticipation as you did when you knew your birthday party was coming up and that's all you could talk about, counting down the days until school was out for summer vacation excited! You get it people, I was excited!

So was it everything I hoped it would be?!?! YOU BETCHA! While I love love love weekends with the pro and of course my buddy bent...it was really nice to have a girls weekend! I didn't have to worry about doing laundry, cleaning the house, throwing the ball to bent for hours, I got to enjoy catching up with two of my best friends! I also got to spend some time with my parents, which was nice too!

Friday night we stayed up really late just talking, laughing, and best of all (oh ya, wait for it) watching our senior dance video. We're cool, we know! We had the best time re-living old memories.

I can't believe it has been seven years since we graduated high school. It honestly seems like just yesterday that we were all together! While we all spent about a year together in college, after graduating we all went our separate ways. *S* moved to LA to attend grad school at UCLA, where she is studying costume design. (Yeah, she's awesome!) *E* moved back to our hometown, finished school and just recently got a really awesome promotion and is now a Community Director for an apartment community. Oh ya, she rocks!

I just love the fact that we can go weeks, sometimes months or even longer without talking or seeing each other but once we finally do it's as if nothing has even changed. I'm one lucky girl to have such wonderful and fun friends!

Such a great weekend! And to top it all off, when I got home Sunday night I walked into a sparkling clean house, all the laundry done and one happy puppy waiting for me at the door. So thankful for my girls weekend and such a helpful and considerate husband!

Three hundred & Sixty-Five

This weekend we celebrated a milestone in our journey together. That's right, this past Sunday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. 365 days of living in the same house, learning how to adjust, picking our battles, finding new annoyances, discovering which chores belong to whom. 365 days full of laughter, stories, a few failed dinners, projects around the house, many interactions with the lawn mower, trips to the grocery store, accidentally setting off the house alarm, hair left on the shower wall, forgetting to put the toilet seat down. Most importantly, 365 days of memories.

How did we celebrate our milestone you ask? Well, we went right back to one of the places it started. We spend the evening of our anniversary at The Watson Building. The place where our wedding reception was held. No, the doors were not unlocked and no, nothing was going on there. In fact it almost looked like a ghost town. The lights were turned off, the curtains were closed and the tables were pushed up against the windows. But exactly 365 days from that evening it was anything but. It was full of energy and excitement and most importantly love and happiness.

We have such fond memories of the building itself that we couldn't image being anywhere else! We asked our friend Brittany Strebeck, who was our amazing wedding photographer to join us on this monumental day. Brittany is one of the sweetest people and so much fun to work with. I remember when we scheduled our engagement session. We were a little nervous just because we didn't know if it would be awkward or not, but she made us feel so comfortable. She is very talented and such a nice person to be around.

We started our photo session in front of the Watson Building. We sat on the curb in front of the doors and cut our first piece of anniversary cake. It was so special to us to have Brittany documenting such a special occasion and so much fun, after 365 to participate in the special tradition!

So here's to MANY MANY more 365 days to come! I hope when we're 75 years old we can spend our anniversary outside the same place where it all started!

2000-2001 in review

This post is 100 percent dedicated to the hubs. This weekend at The Princess and the Pro, we traveled to my husbands home town for his, wait for it....10 year high school reunion! WOW!

(I like to give him a hard time about this. When he was graduating high school I was just starting high school, a freshman at the time. When you think about a senior guy dating a freshman girl you wonder how that came to be, BUT when you think about a little freshman girl dating a senior guy, oh ya....she's cool, or so I like to think!) 

I've taken the time to put together my own little year '2000-2001 in review', when the 'Pro' was graduating high school, these were some of the fads, trends and important events:

-Harry Potter  & Lord of the Rings were the box office hits

-Wikipedia launches on the Internet

-Anthrax scare

-iPod first released

-Popular TV shows in 2001: Will & Grace, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, 7th Heaven, Survivor, Gilmore Girls

-Billboard #1 Songs:

    * It's Gonna be Me, N'sync

    * Independent Women, Destiny's Child

    * With Arms Wide Open, Creed

    * Ms. Jackson, OutKast

    * Lady Marmalade

    * All for You, Janet Jackson

    * U Remind Me, Usher

-Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.36!!
-Children's scooters were a huge fad!
-DVDs, YouTube and text messaging become popular.

(Stats are not scientific or factual based, simply based on numerous google searches)

We had a great weekend reuniting with old friends, meeting new ones and spending time with family. On Friday night we went to a BBQ, Saturday morning Nate participated in the annual parade with his reunion class and that evening we went to a dinner. It was a great weekend and I know he really enjoyed catching up with old friends! 

While I am a few years away from my own 10 year reunion, it is a surreal feeling that it has been that long since high school! Just googling facts from 2000-2001 really took me back to what seems not so long ago! Time really does fly by!  

I leave you with the 'outake' of the weekend. While driving to the venue where the dinner was held, we come across a sign that reads, '(Last name) Family Reunion' taped to a telephone pole. We look to our left and see several different RV's parked in the middle of a field behind an industrial building. Please note: We were not outside of town, in the middle of the country or at any sort of camp ground! Oh ya, keeping it classy!

oh projects....

Tonight we will quit dragging our feet, put our productive pants on and start on the long dreaded journey of giving our china cabinet a much needed makeover.

I keep telling myself, 'you will love it when it's done, it will look great, you need the extra storage space, it will give the kitchen a new look, it will be awesome, you'll feel so accomplished, just do it, start it, do it now, right now, not tomorrow....NOW'

Well friends, 'NOW' has come! Why is it that I enjoy thinking up these projects but once we start it feels like the project will never end, it's like the paint won't dry fast enough and that my house will never been clean again?!?! Oh projects! Projects and I, we have a love-hate relationship! But tonight we will start the next one on our list! (....why is it again that we decided to start a project that will take place in our garage when it's over 100 degrees outside? You see, there I go again, trying to put it off...NO not anymore! Today is the day!)

Wish me luck, I may need it! Luckily I have such a go-getter hubs, this project should be done in no time!

Pictures to come soon!

Water Dog

While we were home this weekend, we took our puppy (yes, he is indeed still a puppy although he looks like a horse) swimming for the first time.

 **Side note: I have quickly become one of those dog lovers who thinks of their dog as they would their own child, talks about it all the time, thinks it is the cutest on the planet, can talk in disgust towards it but no one else can, worries about it if I'm away, pretty much gives it whatever it wants because it can do no wrong in your eyes, doesn't understand when others don't love it as much as you, etc. You know the type, that is completely and flat out obsessed. Hello, that is me now. If those type of people rub you the wrong way, well this is my disclaimer. I have completely become that person. I digress...**

Bentley has never been in the water before, minus the fact that he took it upon himself to jump from the ground straight into the hot tub one night! But there isn't much room for a 80 pound lab to do much swimming in a hot tub. Needless to say we were really excited to see how he would take to the water. (Plus we were secretly hoping that it would wear him out for the night.)

Well, I am happy to say after many scared attempts of even getting in the water, Bentley made it! He is an official swimmer now! He brings true meaning to the term, 'water dog.' In true (Obsessed dog lover) fashion, we were so proud of him! As you can see, we only took just a 'few' proud 'parent' pictures of the monumental occasion. Now it's just a shame that we don't have a pool at our house!

Someone should totally come up with a public swimming pools for dogs! It would be a win win for all parties!

We clearly had a great weekend! Bentley learned to swim, like clockwork the boys came up with their usual last minute pool games, we went to Summer Mummers later that night and came home with a consignment store find, a china cabinet that we will be giving a little face lift!

Great weekend spent with family and friends!