Happy Birthday Luther

Sunday was Luther's Birthday. It does not look at day over ------. Well as part of my gift I made vega carrot cake cupcakes and vegan ice cream. I thought I would share my prep. I actually enjoy cooking and always aim to be vegan. One thing I thought about as I was making this is ohhhhhhhhh the sugar but let's not think about that now, here is my pictorial of the prep.

The Carrot Cake Recipe came from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick - Goudreau.  It is a great cookbook and she just released two other books that I will definitely be buying soon since I already have her Vegan Table which is awesome as well.  One thing I defnitely notice when I look at this picture is the whiteness ( no grain) so the next time I make this I will be making it wtih half wheat flour to add a little heartiness to it along with raw sugar instead of the white.  Everyone really enjoyed them and would not have even  guessed it was vegan which is a compliment among my animal eating family and friends!

I really like the colors in the above pictures it is just awesome. I cut down on my prep time by buying shoestring carrots already cut for me.

Mad three dozen cupcakes for the party! All of them were able to travel nicely in this cupcake carrier that I got from Williams Sonoma.  If you aare a cupcake party making chef or a mom with kids and always tasked with making cupcakes this will be very handy for you.  I have used it twice and it is very handy and ensures the icing is untouched and can easily place the trays in the fridge if needed. 

I am not overly fun of icing hence the cupcakes are not engulged in it. It is a nice accent so you can actually taste the cupcake and the icing at the same time.  I oh so hate when the icing is as tall as the cupcake.  I end up cutting the icing off the top and trashing it and leaving thin layer of icing. 

Friday Night Dinner _ Butter and Jam Bar

For Friday Night Dinner this week I decided to have a butter and jam bar.  I  set out 4 different butters - almond, cashew, creamy peanut and crunchy peanut butter and four jams - mango, blackberry, blood orange and my favorite strawberry, Crofter's jam was on sale this week at Whole Foods which was a plus they are so good and they us fair trade products, which means a lot to me.  Topping included bananas, raisins and dates.  Also had the panini press available to grill the butter and jam sandwich if you choose.  It was fun and we were all able to experience an old time favorite with a twist.  On the way to and from San Francisco I bought the kid's meal on Delta which included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I had not had one in so long I thought it was the best thing since whole grain bread.  Hence my idea was born - have a butter and jam bar!!!

Trip to San Francisco

I have spent the last few days in San Francisco. I think it was a great trip to get away and have a break from work, pottery barn and Morehouse.  I get to just come back to work and pottery barn, if I choose and I get to start focusing completely on my triathlon and renewing my hobby of sewing this summer.  I am really looking forward to getting back  into that.  I took a few pictures but not as many  pictures as I had hoped.  Here are a few

 Over Colorado

 Over Arizonia

 Over something cool, do you  know what that could be?

 the amazing hills

 Me in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

 it is  massive and amazing!!

in Chinatown,  I got to ride the bus through on Sunday which must have been the shopping day it had thousands of people out and then I got to walk through it later in the week which was a little less hectic

 Me again at the Golden Gate it was very windy the average temperature the entire time I was there was 60.

 Little bite of the history of the bridge, it is .8 miles across

 Took this in Japantown.  I had never seen street signs in another language other than English in the United States.  Japantown was very different then Chinatown

Driving across the Golden Gate bridge.  Did I mention how massive it is?

This is me on the Presidio compound.  The guy that created Star Wars, George Lucas bought this old Army Base and has turned it into a movie production stuff of sorts.  Here I am in front of Yoda from Star Wars.

Graduation

Well yesterday Morehouse School of Medicine had their twenty seventh commencement exercises and I thus received my Master of Public Health in Epidemiology.  I am thankful that phase of my life is over and I am looking forward to the next.  I would give a review of the school like I do most other things however I thought I would do something that would be more helpful and that is provide tips on choosing the right school for your particular needs especially if you are over 25 years old or worked for a while before returning to school.  I will title those post Making the Right Choice.  Stay Tuned!!!

Wordless Post Dinner

Atlanta Case # 111280703

Well my Mother's Day did not go as planned

The plan was:

6:45 - walk Patches
7:00 - go on 14 mile bike ride (while listening to a few of my  NPR Podcasts from the week)
9:00 - wash car
10:00 - clean baseboard of living room and mop floor
11:00 - take nap
2:00 pm go see Jumping the Broom at Atlantic Station and pick up Mother's Day card for mom
6:00 pm take mom to dinner for Mother's Day

What actually happened

6:45 - walk Patches
7:00 - go on 8 mile bike ride
8:00 - bike ride interrupted by getting hit by a car on Martin Luther King in front of Texaco and Westview Cemetery
8:01 - laying on the ground in complete shock somebody just hit me on my bike next to a cemetery, Father save me am I going to die, save me a very surreal moment
8:10  People are crowding around me and Good Samaritan name Jackie help to call my mom and gets her and keeps her posted as events unfolded, attempt to call Donnie and Shecky to come to my aid since she is out of town finally get Shecky.
8:15 - Atlanta Police, Fire and Grady EMS arrive on the scene
8:20 - EMS trying to calm me down as I am crying and  hyperventilating and try to convince me to go to the Emergency I respectfully decline
9:15 - Shecky arrives, police, EMS and the lady that hit me leave
9:45 - arrive home really shaken feel like my insides are going to burst, take a shower I look horrible
9:50 - my brother arrives to take me Kaiser urgent care, Keondra and Nicole come over to check on me as well.  ( I had to do something to my hair it took a little longer than expected my hair was a HOT MESS after the morning activities and did not want to show up looking in such a state)
10:40 - head to Kaiser at Glenlake
11:10 - arrive at Kaisier, the doctor calls to make sure I am still coming he is worried about me
11:12 - bird flies into the building I actually catch it and release it back outside that was kind of a surreal moment #2 of the day
11:15 - had a very thorough exam kudos to the doctor for a job well done
11:30 - had Catheter done that was a first, no blood in my urine kidneys are ok, the doctor was concerned based on how the car hit me and how I fell and where I was having pain
11:45 - had X-rays done, preliminary look no broken bones just bruising
1:00 pm arrive back at home
1:30 - My dad arrives to check on me
2:00 - take a nap or at least try to I cannot find a comfortable position to lay down
3:30 - my mom and Luther arrive straight from Florida we know they were speeding
4:30 - go with them to Whole Food for a late lunch
5:30 - spend a little time with Darin
6:30 - try to get some rest, still cannot find a good position to lay down in
9:00 - talk to my dutifully lawyer Donnie

Review of Nordictrack 1900 Elite Pro

Well I have been able to run at least 3 days a week thanks to this little machine.  It is  a great treadmilll .  It is sturdy treadmilll not like the ones that move when you  run or walk on them.  The reason I got this one particularly was because it was sturdy and the added feature is that it has a browser on it and a touch screen.  However that's the feature I cannot even use that much or at least not functionally.  Because as you know when you are running your hands begin to sweat and the touch screen sensor cannot feel your touch or you keep having to push the same button 5-6 times which is frustrating and gets me off my stride.  So I end up quiting messing with it and just listen to my ipod.  It does have the iphod attachment which is standard on any good treadmill.  I was also thinking that I would watch streaming video thru the browser not so great considering I cannot adust the screen and the only way to seen the screen well is to turn off the lights not so good if you are not comfortable riding on the treadmilll in the dark. 

My Month In Review

The thing of notice on my month in review is the fact that I have been consistenly working out for my upcoming triatholon on June 5th. How exciting! Because I realize now that I uploaded the picture you cannot read it but everything in pick in my work out times~!!!

Friday Night Dinner

Compliments of a recipe I found in Real Simple - Chickpea with chard and pan roasted tomatoes

I will give it a 3 1/2 stars

Birthday Dinner

You know how I enjoy a well presented table. Well this is on minus the fact that I did not iron the table cloth.  I was kind of lazy on that note.  It was a great dinner with family and friends!

and a nice desert tops off all great dinners. and thanks for Nicole this pound cake was awesome.  I had two slices I think I will have to fast tomorrow to recoup for all I have eaten the last few days!

My Birthday Month Bed

For the last few months my bed has had themes and I have been waiting for April to put the Woodland Pattern theme from Pottery Barn. What do you think, do you think it is to busy!.  I just love the colors, they are just the picture of spring to me!!!!

My Birthday Weekend

Thursday, March 31st

My actual birthday is April 2nd however we started off a little early on March 31st I had an art party at Art and Soul it was Great.  The owner Lucy was awesome, very attentive and  would definitely recommend it and go again without the gang! The idea was for a group of my friends to paint a picture for me to hang in my excercise room.  What better way to decorate.  I have shared a few pictures of our evening of painting.

My Valentine's Day - Awesome!!!!

Friday Night Dinner

Eggplant Bolognese, broccoli and corn and toasted rosemary wheat bread

Honoring those before me - Emmett Till

Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American boy who at 14 years old was murdered in Mississippi after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till was from Chicago, Illinois visiting his relatives in the Mississippi Delta region when he spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the married proprietor of a small grocery store. Several nights later, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam, arrived at Till's great-uncle's house where they took Till, transported him to a barn, beat him and gouged out one of his eyes, before shooting him through the head and disposing of his body in the Tallahatchie River, weighting it with a 70-pound (32 kg) cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. His body was discovered and retrieved from the river three days later.


Till was returned to Chicago and his mother, who had raised him mostly by herself, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were published in black magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the country critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually transformed into support for the killers. The trial attracted a vast amount of press attention. Bryant and Milam were acquitted of Till's kidnapping and murder, but a year later, protected by double jeopardy, they admitted to killing him in a magazine interview (in Look Magazine the Article titled  "The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi,". Till's murder is noted as one of the leading events that motivated the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

referenced from Wikipedia

Sabbath Sermon in Review

Well this past Sabbath we had Pastor/Chaplain Barry Black to speak.  He is the chaplain to the U.S. Senate.  He had a really good sermon, the title was Surviving as Lambs in Wolf Country, and the points were

1.  Release the power of prayer
2.  Expect trials and difficulties
3.  Travel light
4.  Concentrate on the task
5.  Take care of people's physical needs
6.  Don't let rejection stop you

Week in Review

Well the last 7 actually 8 days have been pretty eventful for me in numerous ways.

First on last Sunday my Master plumber finished putting in a new water line for me.  He had to uproot my plants however he cut a nice line into my parking pad, which all the other plumbers just said they would essentially destroy the parking pad and I would need someone to come and lay me another concrete pad. Thankfully that did not happen and he was able to fill it in nicely. 

I must say the new water line makes all the water outlets in the house work with added pressure.  It is kind of nice.  He finished just in time before the Atlanta snow storm of 2011 hit. 

Patches did not like the snow to much and she especially did not like it when it turned to ice and all fours kept slipping.  Add to that she could not smell where she wanted to use the bathroom.  I had to dig up snow in  two places in the yard for her to relieve herself.  The snow lasted unbearabley till Wednesday. I was home Monday thru Wednesday however I was hard at work.  Nothing like teleworking.  I can appreciate the government 's encouragement of it for its employees, it keeps businesses going, if only more companies had policies in place that would keep them functioning even when employees cannot physically come into work.

While I was essentially home bound I did have a lot of time for introspection.  I came to a conclusion about getting SCRAPS.  I do not want any more of anyone's SCRAPS, I deserve more.  So I finally got rid of what first introduced me to SCRAPS and I feel a weight lifted.  I had my own eye opening experience and I did not need a psychologist to do it if anything he/she would have prolonged my dependence on them before I had my break through.  Oh the wasted years.  FATHER please restore what the Locust has eaten.

Also by Wednesday a good friend was finally able to get out of NY and we got to hang out for the next couple of days.  It was really nice, it was a sweet spot!!!

By Sabbath the roads were clear and I went off to church and home.  Sunday and Monday were dedicated to working on my thesis. I have read every article that I referenced againt to see if I could add anything more and started setting it up to be printed.  I have more data analysis to do, the snow days kept me from meeting with two data analyst.  Initially, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed, but then I remembered no weapon formed against me shall prosper and I started getting thru it with the help of googling SAS codes and the numerous SAS books I have.  I see the end of this tunnel.  Come on Feburary 15th!!!   

Park Edge Atlanta

This morning while all manner of noise was happening outside my door as the plumbers were laying my new water line I decided to go to brunch we a friend.  We visited the Park Edge in Inman Park.  It is in  a location that has been home to numerous restaurants over the past five years including a vegetarian restaurant that I enjoyed.  Well my review of the Park Edge is uhmmmmmm I am looking forward to see what restaurant replaces it.  My friend ordered fish and grits and the grits were hard (as if they had been sitting for while, you  know how grits turn stiff when they sit) and the fish was warm at best.  That was surprising to say the least because we saw people around us continually get their food however we thought well it must be his fish that is holding up delivery of our food.  I only ordered what amounted to was pinto beans, rice and fried eggs with wraps to put it in, I bought it home for my dog Patches. I try to get something different when I got out however this was a major disappointment.   My friend sent his fish and stiff grits back for pancakes.  The menu stated pancakes with strawberries and chocolate chips.  You know how I LOVE strawberries and chocolate imagine my disappointment to learn that they did not have it but submitted the strawberries for blueberries.  I am thinking to myself  stores are still selling strawberries why the substitution ( oh and we got their when they opened they did not run out, they opened not well stocked) Who has ever said I want blueberry and chocolate pancakes does that even sound good. Hence we just got the blueberry pancakes without the chocolate.  They were as good a pancakes  can be, you can not mess them up to much however when you bring  them out with in 2 container that hold about 2 tablespoon of syrup that is cold it kind of turns you off.  We were trying to bare thru it let the semi hot pancakes warm up the syrup.  We had a little and left the rest I did not even bother to  get a to- go container for Patches.  After we talked about it we realized it was worth a little less than we paid for it.  My friend got a groupon of sorts that was $15 for 35 worth of food.  We could not imagine spending more than that  for food that was a little above the local Waffle House.    

The Woes of Maintaining a House

Well for the past week and a half I have had 5 so called plumbers and 1 master plumber come by my house to figure out where the water is coming from that was creating a stream down my driveway.  It actually sickened me everyday to watch it waste down the street consdering there are millions of people in the world that do not have clean water and here I am  wasting water.  Where actually not intentionally initially we/ the plumbers could not figure out where the water was coming from and if it was actually my water or if it was water or sewage.  I had the water tested and it was confirmed that is was clean chlorinated water thus my water.  Once I realized I decided to take it upon myself and cut the water off wtih the the water shut off key during the times I was not using to to minimize on the wasted water.  All of that being said today I officially hired the Master Plumber to come and fix what turned out to be a busted water pipe.  He had determined two things were going to happen he could fix it where the pipe broke seen here

or he would have to replace the line.  Well he was wrapping up and we thought he was finished and that it was just the pipe that he replaced seen here


however upon looking at the meter we realized there was another leak, initially we thought it was in the meter box that was not it then he decided to start digging further up the line and then we found this little spring of water poop up




So you know what that means he will now have to replace the entire line.  He could just fix the two holes but the concern is that once he does that I will be calling him out again in a few weeks to fix another hole so I  have to get a whole new line. He stopped (will finish up Sunday before our little snow storm hits) after we realized that since he took the half the day digging up my tree that facilitated the broken line seen here.  My poor crape myrtle. 




But according to Reggie (the Master Plumber)   trees in your front yard  are a financial hit waiting to happen in terms of their roots wrapping themselves around all the possible lines you have in the ground.  Lesson Learned at a cost of about $2000 and counting!!!!

Year in Review - Happy New Year!!!

Well, how do I capture the year in review. I’ll just start at the beginning.  The year started by ending a relationship that had reached its max.   I have learned a lot through this experience which resulted in us being better friends for it.  He even said to me while we were getting to know each other and reminded me soon after we stopped dating that he was a better friend than boyfriend.  That statement has been oh so true.  That reminds me to listen to what men say, they really do know what they are talking about when they speak about themselves.

This year I bought a bike and have been biking and running regularly.  I had planned to do a triathlon this year that did not happen.  However, I plan to participate in one in June, stay tuned.  I feel accomplished to be biking on a regular and developing a love of running and the resulting figure is a nice bonus! 

Everyone in my family is doing well.  My mom and Luther are great.  They are my example on what I hope my marriage relationship with my husband will one day be.  I will add my brother and his wife to the mix as well.  They are starting off the year going on a three week European cruise, I am so excited for them and look forward to getting postcards from their every stop.  I am happy that my brother has found someone that compliments his personality and truly appreciates the wonderful man he is and that he is able to do the same. 

Patches is doing well she did not have that many ear infections this year.  She has had some skin issues but they would heal if she would only stop licking herself.  I may have to get her a cone for her head to aid her but I hate how it makes her uncomfortable.  We shall see how she does over the next couple of weeks.

I got  a chance to hang out with some of my high school and college friends this year more than normal.  Friends from this era of my life I realize are life friends.  They knew you when you were unsure of yourself, immature, materialistic, obnoxious and still stuck with you and you them.  They are priceless – so shout outs to Joseph, Keondra, Nicole, Symet and Tara.  Extra special mention for Dacia who is my resident relationship counselor.  Thanks for all of your wise advice, I look forward to seeing the end  result – do you all know what that is SMILE!!!!  I learned to appreciate my life friends more as a result of experiences I have had with individuals I realized were not friends at all. 

The new year (2011) will bring a better relationship with God,  the completion of my MPH and I pray a job as an epidemiologist with a great company, doing great work , with dedicated people and awesome compensation.  I am looking to travel more and maybe just maybe.