So what's with my name?

With my bad day I decided a litle blog hopping would be fun and I saw this on someone else's blog and though...so what is with my name. Do I match what they say?? I agree with some, but not all......feel free to leave your comments! What Courtney Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Every day has been a Monday lately!

So I need to vent a little. Over the past few weeks it seems that everyday has been a Monday. Last week had it's highs and it lows. The great things were that I was able to spend Tuesday night with my dearest friend and have a sleep over at her new apartment. That was FUN! We did have to attend the National Notary Training and that wasn't fun, but home life and friend life and church life has been perfect..........it is just work!

Nothing has seemed to go right. It has been two full weeks of everyday being a Monday no matter how hard i try to get things going on the right path. I just have no idea how to get the partners to be attentive and do their job. I am just an employee, I don't have the power to make final decisions, all I can do is send the information their way and get them to make the decisions, right? Wrong..I feel like they don't care. And needless to say, one of the partners is my father! So how do I get them back on track. How do I get them to fix this stuff!!

And then to top it off, Brandon called me this morning and asked me to call the dentist. The tooth that we have been "watching" per the dentist orders is all messed up and about to fall out. So I had to clear my schedule for tomorrow so that Brandon can have emergency dental work done.....which I am sure the insurance will not pay for :-)....oh happy day!

Thanks for listening to me complain. Maybe I will feel better after getting it all out!

Yummy Chicken and Great Deals!

Friday night I decided to venture into new territory and try a new chicken recipe that I saw Idn Garten prepare on the Food Network. It came out great, but my roasting pan is in the trash can! For some reason all the non-stick coating peeled off! So here is the recipe!

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken
Copyright, 2004, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
Show:
Barefoot Contessa
Episode:
Chicken Story
This recipe is available for a limited time only. Why?

1 (5 to 6-pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper 1

large bunch fresh thyme

4 lemons

3 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 pound sliced bacon

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, reserving enough thyme to garnish the chicken dish, 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Cut 2 of the lemons in quarters and scatter the quarters and remaining garlic around the chicken. Lay the bacon slices over the chicken to cover.
Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon slices from the top of the chicken and set aside. Continue roasting the chicken for an additional 1/2 hour, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.
Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.
Slice the chicken on a platter. Garnish the chicken platter with the bacon slices, roasted garlic, reserved thyme and 1 lemon, sliced. Serve with the gravy.

I was not able to make the gravy due to my pan issues, but I doubled the bacon and it was amazing with the extra pork fat!!

So the great deal of the weekend....I use my chicken roaster a lot and was having a major panic attack as to what I would be roasting my chickens in....so my mom said that Kohl's was having a great sale with extra clearance on the clearance prices so we braved the rain and found a great deal!! I was able to purchase a Kitchen Aid Roaster that was marked $59.99 for $17!!! It is so nice and I am so excited to roast my next chicken! The picture at the top of this post is my proud new purchase! Why is it the chicken roaster that makes me so happy these days.......

Hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend!!

Thanks for the Day....... President's!!

Brandon and I decided that with Monday a holiday we needed to get out of dodge for the day. We have been working on the house so much that sometimes it is hard to remember to take time for us.

So thanks to the Presidents we jumped in the car, which I loaded with snacks and a dog named Ralf and hit the road. We had no idea where we were going and we weren't going to decided till we hit the road and we ended up going north and heading over to Half Moon Bay. We ended up going on more of a drive and less of a picnic or adventure because it was so cold and foggy, but we finally found a beach that would allow dogs on a leash on the beach and we had the best time.

I was so happy when we saw this sign and there was even parking available!



So we spent some time at the Point Pigeon State Beach. Ralf wasn't allowed on the State Beach near the Lighthouse, but he was allowed on the bigger beach!!!



Ralf had never felt sad on his feet....and well he loved it and I had the best time watching Brandon play with him on the beach. They went running down the beach to get some energy out oafter a long drive to find a beach that was dog friendly and had parking.


Ralf was so excited to see people (everyone is his friend) and have sand and rocks and water and all the things he gets busted for playing in at home!



This is Ralf smelling a hole that Brandon had dug. We wanted to see if he would dig in the sand, but being a true Jack Russell he just wanted to investigate everything!

So that is a snap shot of our little family outing. It was so fun. It was great to get away...to a place that cells didn't ring and play a little! How funny how our little dog is our first "child"!!

Have a great week everyone!

Valentine's Day as Husband and Wife.....

It is so wonderful to be married and be able to spend our first Vanetine's Day as husband and wife in our home. We decided to not go out to diiner. We both wanted steak and we are a little picky about how it is cooked, so I have had two Filet Mignon in the freezer and we decided that tonight was the special night to BBQ the. So Brandon cooked the steaks and the Asparagus and I made his FAVORITE red potatoes in the over. I set the table, I really wanted to use our wedding china, so I dug it out, found a few broken place settings which I need to return over the weekend, Bed, Bath and Beyond is awesome when it comes to returning and this is what our table looked like!!

It really was beautiful if I do say so myself. And then I made my plate of food and had to take a picture of it because I never wanted to forget his meal. It was AMAZING. I think it was the best BBQ I have ever had and well it was just awesome!!

We used our wedding china that was a gift from so many people, our silverware that Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob gave us as well as the my husbands favorite wedding gift, the steak knives in the beautiful wood box from Adrienne and Adam. My husband loves his bbq steak. Even the serving pieces were wedding gifts from Brandon's bestman Aaron and his wife. It was a table for two that was filled with love from so many wonderful people in our lives!

To the end of the day I have come. Brandon is in bed asleep. He is getting up at 4:45 am so he is going to bed REALLY early for us and I stay up and watch TV, but Happy Valentine's Day to all of you and I hope everyone was as blessed as us this year!

Our little piece of trouble

This is my little piece of trouble! He didn't eat anything major today, just enjoyed checking a nosel for the garden hose, but man it is like watching a toddler! His hair is OUT OF CONTROL! I am not getting it cut until the 17th of March, the day after his first birthday. Brandon doesn't want me to cut it, he thinks it looks cute, but I feel like I have a "child" that looks like rag muffin! This is what our little guy likes to do after we have dinner. Sit on his Daddy's lap. It is so funny! He is loves his Daddy so much. It is so darn cute how much a little dog can love his daddy and how much his daddy loves him!
Well this is me and my baby. I am so attached to this little 12.5 pound dog!!!! It really is unconditional love. No matter what has happened during the day I walk through the door and Ralf is SO happy to see me. It just takes a bad day and turns it into a wonderful day!!!!
And this is Ralf's addiction. His soccer ball! Thanks to Jeffrey, our neighbor for the donation and for all the hours of play with Ralf and his beloved ball.
Hope you all have enjoyed a little look into our lives with Ralf. Our evenings after dinner are spent with playing with the dog and laughing so darn hard!!

My little splurge

Here is my little splurge......I really wanted a new table for my Foyer. We had money from Christmas that we hadn't used, so my wonderful husband told me to go and find something I liked and get it. I think I have issues because I have such a hard making decisions! But, I found this wonderful table for under $200 at Cost Plus World Market. I am so jazzzed! I really like my table. I think it will look even better once we remodel the entry and the living room. So excited over such a little thing!!!