January Recipe Club

Meghan hosted Recipe Club this month and all the recipes she chose were from Barefoot Contessa...one of my faves.  I watch her show all the time and want to go live in her wonderful Hamptons home! The recipes were all around the best dishes we've had thus far.  Every single recipe that was prepared was devoured...I think we all went back for seconds and a few thirds!  Everyone go check our blog and cook some of these recipes!  I promise none of them will disappoint you...especially my potatoes!

I chose 'Fennel Gratin Potatoes' and it required a large fennel bulb..so I headed to Publix to see if I could find one...did y'all know it was this big?  It stuck completely out of the produce bag and for some reason it made me laugh! 

I added the satueed fennel and onion to this potato and cheese mixture

Voile!  'Fennel Gratin Potatoes'...everyone LOVED these.  If you're looking for an easy, yet tasty potato dish...this one will knock your socks off!

Caron's 'Green Green Spring Vegetables'

Sister's 'Lemon Chicken Breast'

Meghan's 'Kabobs'

Lauren's 'Couscous with Toasted Pine Nuts'

Liz's 'Rugelach '

Ashley's 'Pecan Shortbread'

Bon Appetit y'all!

Sunday Confessions

In an effort to actually cross off some resolutions on my 2011 list, I will hopefully be posting weekly Sunday confessions.  The confessions will be all over the place...just like me!  Today, I am here to confess my life-long (well, probably since I was about 10) infatuation with Mr. Colin Firth, a.k.a. 'Mr. Darcy'. 

My Aunt Jennifer introduced Sister and me to Mr. Wonderful one summer while watching 'Pride and Prejudice'.  Now, this movie was long...at the time it was a 6 tape VHS box set.  We would watch it for hours...I've probably seen it 20 times and know most of the words.  I daydream of being Miss Elizabeth Bennett and being swept away by the ever-so dashing, Mr. Darcy.  Or as the women in my family pronounce, "Mr. Daaaaarcy".  I mean, who doesn't love a man with a British accent?! 

When I heard there was a movie coming out with Colin Firth and it was all about speech therapy...I thought God was talking directly to me!  The King's Speech is a FABULOUS movie....I urge everyone to put down their DVR remotes, walk out the door, and head to your local theater.  It is definitely worth the insanely crazy ticket price of $9.25. 

The movie is based on the true story of King George VI and his difficulties with stuttering.  It tugs at your heart strings and for those of you unfamiliar with stuttering, it will give you an understanding of the great difficulties some people have....and make you appreciate the role of an SLP.  You will leave the theater screaming "Colin Firth for the Academy Award!".  In addition to the wonderful acting, Colin Firth is in a tux in multiple scenes....I.  About.  Died.  Soooooo dapper.  Right now, I am resisting going to Google and looking up his marital status.

Get out of your house and go see this movie!!

This was the man that stole my heart at the age of 10...oh Mr. Darcy, how I love you!

The Best of 2K10

Did 2010 fly by as quickly for y'all as it did for me?  For me, it has gone by in the blink of an eye.  My mom used to always tell me that the years fly by as you get older, but I thought she was exaggerating...she wasn't.  Maybe one of these days I'll learn to listen to her...(note to self: add to list of Resolutions!)

2010 was a fantastic year.  Below is my list of high-lights from the past year!

• These shows topped my DVR queue for the majority of the year...I was either watching one of these shows or reading about them in US magazine.

• I met Bill from TLC's "The Little Couple" while celebrating Britt's Bachelorette weekend in NOLA

• Brittany got married!!!!

• Allison got married!!!

• My Auburn Tigers had a perfect football season and are headed to the BCS National Championship...and yes, yours truly will be there cheering them on!

• I joined a Recipe Club
• I went from being in my mid 20s to being in my late 20s
• I got my ultimate dream job
• My DB/Hot Muffin turned two years old
• Stepped WAAYYYYout of my comfort zone and went on a few blind dates (btw, I'm still single, so if you know of any available bachelors, let me know!)
• Took a photography class...wish I had time to take another
• The Sexy Lexy was involved in her first car accident
• Became addicted to all things Jersey...Jerseylicious, Jersey Couture, RHONJ...if anyone is going to visit that area, can I tag along?  I'm dying to get a Jersey makeover!

2011 looks to be an equally fabulous year.  I'm starting things off with a trip to Glendale, followed quickly by a mountain trip with my Focker friends, and I'm running in my second 5K in February.  This will be the first year since I graduated college many moons ago that one of my friends isn't getting married....so my summer looks to be wide open!  If you would like to bring me along on your summer vacay, email/text/call me..I operate on all forms of communication.

My dad has encouraged me to sit down and write out my goals for 2011...personal/financial/etc. My Aunt Vicki gave me a cute owl journal (shocker!) so I thought I would start a new tradition and actually write down what I hope to achieve in 2011. Here are a few of the things I hope to achieve this year: (And I'm sharing these with y'all to hold myself accountable...and in hopes to be a more honest blogger)

• Become a more frequent blogger
• Find some amazing buffalo check curtains that are remotely affordable...and find some curtain rods for my beautiful, yet hard to figure out what to do with, bay windows
• Perfect my nighttime pictures
• Eat dinner at Highland's
• Become less addicted to all forms of chap stick (Carmex/Vaseline/Chap Stick)
• Read more books
• Splurge on some form of pampering for myself...facial/massage/manicure
• Join a church
• Save more and spend less

One of my best friend's motto is: "Whatever makes a girl happy!" and I intend to apply that to 2011.  So, bring on 2011 and all the drama and shenanigans that comes along with it...I'm ready! (or I think I am)
Happy New Year everyone!

A Perfect Day

Today was one of those days that you daydream about when you're stressed out at work.  Today was the perfect day for a PJ day with Sister and the DB (A.K.A. Hot Muffin!)...and staying in our pjs is exactly what we did.  We watched Dora and Diego and snuggled in the bed, played with PlayDoh, cooked lunch in DB's kitchen, played 'hair shop', and ended the afternoon watching my all-time favorite 'Kid Songs' DVD.  This time next week I'll be back at work, so I'm trying to soak up as much of this PJ time as possible!

Snuggled up watchin' Dora

Talking to Dee Dee on the phone while wearing her mommy's socks...her bed-head hair is hilarious!

Time for Play Doh! 

Katherine made me the best lunch of broccoli, lemon, and cookies

Cheese!!

The DB got her 'hair-did'!

A Day at the Circus with the 'Kid Songs' gang!

If you've read my blog since the early days, then you know I'm a huge fan of the DCC (Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders)....I am always on the countdown to when the next season is airing on CMT.  My parents were here yesterday and surprised me with a Christmas present they had forgotten about (my mom is notorious for this!).  When I opened the box, this is what I found...

AAAHHHHH!!!!!  I have my very own DCC shorts...I think my screams were heard throughout my entire neighborhood!  Now all I'm missing are some silver and blue 'poms'!!    :)

Christmas: Part 2

Another Christmas is over...now we have to wait 365 days until we can do it again..is anyone as depressed about that as I am?  The only thing keeping me out of full depression mode is that in two weeks I will be in Glendale, AZ!!! 

Most of you who know me, know that I love to give presents.  Around Christmas, I often find myself getting caught up in all the hoopla of presents and often forget the true meaning of the holiday.  Our candlelight Christmas Eve service at First Pres in A'ville was beautiful and reminded me of the holiday's true meaning.  I am still the child 26 year old adult who wants to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and get up around 6 am to see what Santa dropped off.  I have the best memories of Sister and me anxiously sitting at the top of the stairs waiting on our parents to say, "Ok, you can come down now!"  We would bolt down the stairs and into the living room searching for our designated "piles". 

I can assure you I still get as excited opening presents today as I did when I was 10 years old!  I scream, yell, cry, and rip open every single present.  Sometimes, it's the smallest presents that get me the most excited.  This year, the Decker's biggest present is our upcoming trip to the BCS Championship...I tried to make a sign that said, "Glendale or Bust" for us to pose with, but Sister didn't have a sheet of poster board in her closet.  :)   Below are our pics from Christmas Day.

Before the presents were opened. A.K.A. The calm before the storm!

Santa came to see DB!!

DB loved her 'medical kit'! 

This brown headed little girl (a.k.a. Dora) goes everywhere with Katherine

I have been searching for this veggie steamer for over 5 years...not sure how Santa found it but I screamed when I opened it!  This is my equivalent of a small child looking outside and seeing a jungle gym!

As one of my presents from Sister, she gave me the Perfect Brownie Pan!  I have been DYING for it and I can't wait to try it out!

Can't wait to replace this pic with a pic of our fam from Glendale!

Our family has collected Christopher Radko ornaments for years...my dad gave me this one to comemmorate the trip we took together to London in '06...I teared up when I opened it!

Sister and I were told to open these presents at the same time...can you tell I was excited when I saw the box?  I was praying it wasn't a 'fake off'!

Sister and Blake were the hostesses with the mostess'!  This table contained all the appetizers we munched on throughout the day...enough food to feed 20 ppl...it was delish!

A Decker Christmas wouldn't be complete without someone getting an owl present!

Mom attached this beautiful monogram to one of my presents...I can't wait to find a spot for it in my house!

Watching 'Christmas Vacation'

GrandBobby and DeeDee got DB a kitchen!  It's the cutest thing ever!



I hope Santa found everyone and that you and your family had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.  I spent the majority of today 'taking down Christmas' and I have to admit my house looks kind of bare...wish we could leave our trees up all year long!