Whatever happened to Jem and the Holograms?

I am a “Child of the ‘80’s” and being such  I played with all the essentials 80’s kids toys, seriously Teddy Ruxpin was disturbing!!! I had all the 80’s kids clothes . . .everything in NEON of course! I honestly remember layering my neon socks in elementary school. AND I watched all the 80’s cartoons and shows! Now I am sure that most of you have caught on to the latest movie trend of turning 80’s cartoons and toys into major motion pictures. The wildly popular Transformers, which I have blogged about on here before and now the latest 80’s cartoon turned movie G. I. Joe.

 

Now growing up and being a bit of a girly girl I never played with either GI Joe or Transformers, I considered both to be icky “boy stuff.” I feel a bit left out with all these nostalgic feelings people get about the Transformer’s and GI Joe movies. I just can not identify with them, I am not saying they are bad movies ( I have yet to see GI Joe so it is hard for me to comment) but just that an entire demographic of people is being left out. Specifically, the Barbie toting girls of the 80’s. I am not proposing a Barbie movie because lets face it would be REALLY bad!!! The cartoons were honestly never very good. Nor do I want to go see Care Bears or My Little Ponies.

All that being said I have found one cartoon that could potential be made into a film and would bring back that girly 80’s feeling . .  .(drum roll please) . . . .JEM and THE HOLOGRAMS!

Yes, lets bring back Jem and watch her duke it out with the rival  band the ever evil Misfits. It could even be a musical . . .ohh yeah!

I have attached a youtube video below for any of you that need a Jem refresher. And for now it is all we have till someone comes to there senses and makes the movie. I’ll be waiting!!!

I ♥ Picsee Studio

I decided at the beginning of the year that I wanted Nick and I to have some professional outdoor pictures made so I began scouring the internet and polling friends trying to find a good photographer.  Luckily for me my friend and co- worker, Stefanie, sent me a link to Picsee Studio. She had gone to King College with Jennifer, one of photographers/ business owners, at Picsee. I was hooked from the 1st time I clicked on the website! The images on the Picsee web- site were full of life and had beautiful light. They were truly  breathtaking!!! I talked to Nick and he was not totally jazzed about the whole picture thing (he hates having his picture made) but thought the images on the web- site were stellar so he gave me the go ahead. The things he does for me!!

Okay . . .before we go any further with this story let me explain why I decided we needed pictures. Well, pictures have always been very important to me I might be a little crazy over excited about having them all over the house. My Mom says whenever we have kids we will have the walls papered with there pictures. AND maybe we will :) Also I was very disappointed with our wedding photos, I kinda cheaped out on them in the wedding planning budget and well this was on instance where I got what I paid for. In my wedding photographers defense the lighting in the church where we got married was not great and he did not have all the professional equipment ( I knew this going in). So from me to all the bride’s to be out there- PAY FOR PICTURES! 

Now back to our regular scheduled programming . . .

I contacted Picsee via e-mail from there “contact info” on the web page and heard back from Jennifer within 24 hours. She and I talked on the phone and set up a date and time at the 1st of May,I wanted to have pictures made in the spring when the grass was green. Jennifer also discussed with me a location and I was totally clueless. She suggested Tipton- Haynes a historic site in Johnson City, but said we could leave it open since we were a couple a months away.

I was totally stoked about the pictures  and Jennifer was so helpful when I talked to her.  I even e-mailed her once to discuss outfit colors and selections and she was super helpful and sweet. I started shopping for tops for me (any excuse for new clothes right?) and then starting matching my shirts to something for Nick to wear (don’t think he got anything new out of the deal). Also while I waited for spring and the green grass to come I started to check out the Picsee Blog on a regular basis. And OMG there was and still is a lot of WONDERFUL stuff happening on the blog. Sweet babies, beautiful weddings, Picsee news, etc.  If you have never been to there blog you must go and join the addiction, and become a Picsee Blogstalker!

Now for the main event PICTURE DAY! First off kudos to Picsee for some heads up customer service. About a week prior to our pictures I get a call from Jennifer wanting to reschedule. She had been watching the weather map and there was a good chance of rain  the day we were scheduled.  So she asked to move our date up and asked if we would mind having our photos made at an old abandoned warehouse in down town Kingsport. I am going to be honest this was where I got a little skeptical, but Jennifer was so stoked about it and I loved all of Picsee’s creative images so I trusted her! On our picture day we got to meet the other 2 ladies that make up Picsee- Christy and Becky! Both were absolutely awesome and so sweet! Jennifer and Christy were our photographers for the session and the warehouse turned out to be part of the old Kingsport Foundry. Jennifer and Christy had us all over the property and took tons of shots. We even got some sun flare, which I learned that day and when I saw our images was a very good thing!  Nick and I were kinda nervous at the beginning (modeling does not come naturally to us) but totally loosened up at the end. Even camera shy Nick “smiled with his eyes” a tip he learned from all those ANTM reruns I made him watch.  We both had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Then came the anxious wait for our moment on the blog. Did I mention they post there favorites from your session on the blog as a sweet little sneak peek. Well, they do and ours were AWESOME!!!  So glad I trusted Jennifer on the warehouse location. What was equally AWESOME was when we got access to our full gallery a few weeks later. I had in mind where I wanted pictures in our house and even how many I might want, but when I got our gallery I was totally overwhelmed in a good way! I couldn’t pick! I had favorites but they were all so good, I wanted ALL of them! We met with Jennifer for our ordering session at Picsee’s studio a few days later and I found out I could get most of them! Let me just say that the ordering session was fabulous!!! Nick and I got to sit on a couch at the Picsee studio and see our images on a huge flat screen tv. We could see the image resized, in a collages, we could pick “yes, no, or maybe.” This was FABULOUS for the indecisive April.  And bless Jennifer she was so patient through all our indecision and showed us all options possible. At the end of about 2 hours (like I said bless Jennifer for her patience) we had settled on several 8x10’s and 5x7’s for ourselves and family members, our favorite image in a 16x20 to go in our master bedroom, and a slim line photo book (my anniversary present) where we could get about 45 of our favorite images! How awesome!

The slime line book was actually custom designed by Picsee and I got to preview and approve it prior to it actually being printed. I could not have been more excited when I got my photo book preview e-mail from Becky! She said that they had added some great vivid and moody colors and were really excited about the way it looked. I think the phrase “smokin’ hot” was even used, and she was so right!  Below are some pics of some of the great things we got:

The cover of our SMOKIN’ HOT slime line book designed by Picsee

A page in the book, I love how the pages lay flat!

One of our favs in a 8x10

The 16x20

 

If you are look to have professional photo’s done I highly recommend Picsee Studio. Jennifer, Christy, and Becky were so great to work with and the heart they put into what they do shines through in the finished product. They  have put a smile on my face not only looking at my own images but those of others on the blog. What more can I say . .  I  ♥ Picsee Studio!!!!

Ohhh Honey . . .Honey Bun Cake is AWESOME!

 So every now and then I get the hankering to bake something and well that happened this weekend.  Before I launch into my weekend baking story I would just like to clarify that I am by no means a professional cook or even a very good cook. I mostly cook out of a necessity to live. Growing up my Mom use to practically beg me to spend time with her in the kitchen so she could show me how to cooks, but I would have rather watched football with my Dad than stand around the kitchen. SO when I got married despite my Mom’s best efforts I could put together a mean mac’n cheese and that was about it. Unfortunately, as a newlywed you can only have man’ n cheese so many times before your waist line starts to reflect it. Thus, I had to embrace cooking and learn things trial by fire. There were a lot of panicked calls to Mom which I am sure she was amused by, but I have now developed a fairly good respect for cooking. The one thing I have always enjoyed is baking even in my younger non-cooking days I loved to learn about anything that would satisfy my sweet tooth. Just to reinforce I am not an expert, cook I mostly just have the right tools and know how to read from a recipe (I don’t even do that to well sometimes).

Okay, back to my baking urge I got this weekend. When Nick and I got married a former co-worker, Regina, gave us a Pampered Chef fluted/bunt cake pan and a customized cake recipe book. She had actually made the recipe book herself and bound it. Such a sweet gift. I have used the recipe book several times because like me Regina also had a fierce sweet tooth and I knew she would only give me excellent recipes. This weekend I made the Honey Bun Cake recipe from her book. OHHHH my it was FABULOUS!! Below is the recipe if you would like to also experience this awesomeness.

 

Honey Bun Cake

Cake:

1 Box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

8 oz sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix 1st 4 ingredients together until well blended. Spread 1/2 of the cake mix batter into a 9 x 13 cake pan. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Put 1/2 of this mixture over the cake batter in pan.  Add remaining cake batter and remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture. Swirl with butter knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

 

Topping:

1 pkg chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all topping ingredients together and pour over hot cake.

The cake is awesome! A special thanks to Regina for her wonderful Cake Book gift, it has come in handy many time.

Hope you have a fabulous time with your baking!

July 4, 2009- Long Weekend Events

 

Friday Night Double Date Night

Normally on Friday night Nick and I have date night but this Friday we got to have Friday Night Double Date night. We went with John and Nicole to seen Transformers Revenge of the Fallen at the Abingdon Cinemall and then dinner at Macado’s in downtown Bristol.

Transformers- Revenge of the Fallen

I love seeing movies at the Abingdon Cinemall because normally the movies with more special effects you can see in digital in there theater with the “Lucas” sound system.  Most recently we had seen the new Star Trek there in digital and it was AWESOME! A direct quote from Nick about the picture clarity “It’s so clear I might cry.” Well, this Friday, July 3rd Nick, Nicole, John and I trekked out to the Cinemall in hopes of seeing Transformers ROTF in digital and were disappointed to find that they were not showing it in this format.  Needless to say this is only where the disappointment begins. I honestly had a few doubts about this movie going in especially after reading some of the reviews, but I keep some hope alive. However, the reviews were true the movie was short on plot but did have plenty of action! The one thing that bugged me the most was the ill-placed sexual innuendo that had nothing to do with the anything at all. It is hard for me to give this movie a solid “Bad” because my husband loves Transformers in general. We actually own the old animated movie. So I will just say I did not like the movie but liked the idea behind it.

Disclaimer- This is my opinion alone and I am sure there are people out there that loved this movie and I mean no offense.

Macado’s

After the disappointing movie we decided to check out Macado’s, a new restaurant in down town Bristol. Several of my co- worker’s had eaten at Macado’s in other cities and had sang its praises. So when John suggested we eat there I was really excited to try it out. Macado’s was FABULOUS! I got a chicken and Mac n’ cheese bake and it was awesome! Nick got a Ruben and said that he still has dreams about. So if you have not been to Macado’s I definitely recommend giving it a try.

All in all Friday Night Double Date Night was a success and as always we had a great time hanging out with John and Nicole.

 

Fireworks in Telford

For those of you who attended big city fireworks you missed a really great show right in the heart of Telford on July 4th. Nick and I gathered along with several others at his friend John David’s house and had our own fireworks show. No one was injured (to badly), nothing was burnt down, and we got to see some cool fireworks without fighting the crowds. I did not actually participate in any of the lighting of the fireworks but I did attempt to take pictures of the antics. And this attempt reminded me yet again that I am ready for a digital camera up grade. My shutter speed was just way to slow really capture the action. I got my digital in 2005 and it still works for the most part but the technology has come so far since then and I just really feel it is time for a new one. I need facial recognition!!!  Despite my camera issues we had a great time with great friends and below are a few of my feeble attempts at pictures.

 

A special thanks to anyone who has fought or is currently fighting to defend our freedoms! Happy Independence Day!!

2nd Anniversary!!!!

This past week on June 23rd, Nick and I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary! It's hard to believe that 2 years have gone by since we got married, time has truly flown by. Nick and I started a tradition last year that we plan to repeat for each of our anniversary's. On our wedding day a friend of ours gave Nick $50 and told him to take me out for a nice dinner that night. WELL . . .instead of doing that we got Zaxby's which is one my favorites (Nick's too) and took it back to our house. So in keeping the tradition we have Zaxby's for dinner on our anniversary. This year we picked it up and had a little picnic on Wing Deer Park, which was really nice.

Nick and I at Wing Deer Park on Our 2nd Anniversary- June 23, 2009

In celebration of our anniversary Nick and I took a little trip to Gatlinburg to do a little shopping and some hiking. My mother told me when I got married that I should have picked a wedding date later in the year so anniversary trips would be cheaper, but I was determined to be a June bride so Nick and I end up taking trips at peak tourist time every year. This year I got us a good deal on a cabin using VRBO. If you have not used VRBO you should give it a try it is FABULOUS! We rented a cabin called Bearadise- which I think is just so funny. But on VRBO it had lots of pics and great reviews, and we found everything to be as advertised for our stay. Below are a few pics for you to check out . . .

The Bearadise

Master bedroom

The Catwalk- this lead out to a really neat upper deck

 

View of the living room

We drove down to the Bearadise Friday after work. The cabin was located up in the mountains but still close enough to all life's necessities (downtown g-burg). One bad note was our Garmin the cut back turns seemed to confuse it and it took us 30 minutes Friday night to get back to our cabin from dinner. I think rain and darkness were also factor but it was still an unnerving experience.  Our Garmin has had a few other glitches recently so I think it might be time for a map update.

Saturday we took a hike on Little River Trail located in the Smokey Mountain National Park between Sugarland's and Cades Cove. I had actually hiked there years ago with my parents (1996 to be exact according to my Mom who keeps hiking records). The trails was pretty flat and nicely shades with tree cover, which I was thankful for since it was such a hot day. Nick and I had actually gotten all fancy and packed a huge back pack with a lunch but we did not hike as far as we expected so we lugged a backpack for nothing. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the hike.

A pretty view of  “Little River”

Another pretty spot

Ain’t he cute??

Saturday night we had a nice dinner at Calhoun’s one of our favorite “out-of-town” restaurants. Although we still enjoyed our meal we did find that the overall service at the restaurant had gone down hill and so had some of our favorite menu items. Despite that we did have a FABULOUS dessert- Banana Pudding, but this was not just any Banana Pudding. Instead of the usual vanilla wafers it was made with white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. It was just wonderful, absolutely yummy! I am getting hungry just thinking about it right now.

Sunday we hit the Outlet Malls for a little SHOPPING one of my favorite past times. Now in general I am not a huge outlet shopper I do not feel like you truly get the best deals. They lure you in with that “outlet” word but then everything is still full price or close to it. However on this little outlet excursion we did really well. I got a great deal at the Gap Outlet on some shorts, Nick got several things from Old Navy and they were so cheap I felt like we were stealing or something. We also found some really good deals on kid clothes, but not having any kids yet not being able to pass up a good deal we bought a couple of things for our nephews.

All in all it was a FABULOUS trip and a Happy Anniversary!!

I  am happy to be married to Nick, he is truly the love of my life and my best friend. We have had a wonderful 2 years and I look forward to many, many more!

 

Picking out Paint

When Nick and I got married we bought a foreclosure that needed some work. Luckily, Nick is pretty handy and I like picking out new stuff :) (I paint some as well). Thus, we have been able to do most of the work ourselves. We are currently finishing up a master bathroom project and I am prepping for our Master Bedroom by picking everything out so we will be ready to go.

So for about about 3 weeks now I have been trying to pick a paint for our master bedroom, and I must confess that anytime I go to pick a paint color it is challenging. HOWEVER this one has been the biggest challenge yet. I was wanting a beige/taupe/brownish color . . .little did I know that there were SO MANY options on that. Luckily, Glidden (our paint of choice which can be purchased at Home Depot) now has one of the most FABULOUS home decorating/renovating things I have ever seen, tiny bottles of paint sample. They are only about $3.00 and come with a brush! For those of us who are incapable of making a decision and like choices, choices, choices this is FABULOUS!

Despite the fabulous new sample bottles, I have yet to be able to pick out a color. I have tried three samples (see photo below) and have not liked any of them. I have mad some really BAD choices so far:

• Whispering Wheat- looked a bit flesh tone
• Soft Suede- a nice color just to dark for us
• Warm Carmel (had high hopes for this one)- looked like clay mud
• Mixing Whispering Wheat and Soft Suede- just bad
• 

So I guess it is back to Home Depot to get some more little sample bottles and give it another go. I am confident that I will find the perfect color! And then it will be on to picking out floor :)

Good, Bad, and Fabulous!

So I started this blog over a month ago and then got a little lost as to what to do . . .I mean I could not fathom what I could write about that would really interest other people. THEN this week I had an epiphany, I could use this blog to fine tune my writing skills and talk about things I like and of course things I do not like on a variety of topics. I am talking everything from restaurants, stores, clothes, food, recipes, books, movies . . .the possibilities are endless. Thus . . .The Good, the Bad, & The FABULOUS!

So in the interest of starting this new blog epiphany off right here is something I had this week that was FABULOUS! (Cue drum roll) BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIES! Ohhhh my, these were truly FABULOUS! My sister, Jennifer, actually shared the recipe with me with a warning that they were quite addictive and she was Ohhhh Sooo Right! I made them for Nick and I Thursday night and well I think we have already ate half a 9x13 pan, ooops! They were fairly simple to make and did I mention that they were FAT FREE . . .okay not really but that were very tasty and lets face it we all deserve a treat now and then. And I am choosing to pretend they are fat free ;)

Here is the recipe for anyone else that would like to join in the fabulousness . . .

Butterscotch Brownies:

Prep: 25 Min Bake: 30 min Oven: 350°

Cool: 2 hours Makes: 24 brownies

1 cup butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Maple Icing:

1/2 cup softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons maple flavoring (maple syrup works 2)

1. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 – inch baking pan: set aside
2. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar, stirring until combined. Cool mixture for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
3. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in egg mixture. Stir in chopped nuts. Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes.
4. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Frost with Maple Icing. Let stand until icing sets. Cut into bars.

Maple Icing:

In a medium mixing bowl beat ½ cup softened butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add ½ cup powdered sugar; beat well. Beat in 4 teaspoons milk and 2 teaspoons maple flavoring. Add 2 ½ cups additional powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition. If necessary, add a little more milk to reach spreading consistency.

I know that the recipe is long but it is simple and FABULOUS! I hope you enjoy it!