1000 Awesome Things

So I found a website that I just HAVE to tell you about. I'm so upset that I haven't heard about this earlier. And I want to say that they stole my idea but I digress. The website is called 1000 Awesome Things and it just talks about the little pleasures in life. I started a list when I was young girl about little things that made me happy and a lot of them are on this list. I haven't worked my way through it yet but I love what I see so far. So below is the link to the website, and below that is the latest awesome thing to give you an idea of what it's about. Enjoy :)

http://1000awesomethings.com/


December 30, 2008
#863 The Perfect Egg Crack

the-perfect-egg-crackPut your hand up if you’ve ever tried to fish out some slippery, slathery egg shell pieces from a bowl full of raw egg.

Brother, I been there, too and we both know ain’t pretty. Yes, Shell Diving is high on the Kitchen Humiliation List, together with dropping a piece of toast jam-side-down on the floor, opening the oven door and having massive clouds of smoke blow out, or cracking an ice cube tray too strongly and sending rogue cubes scattering all over the floor.

Yes, the Awful Egg Crack is guaranteed to redden some cheeks and knock amateur chefs down a few pegs. Nobody wants to be That Guy, who cracks that egg, that badly, and that’s why it’s so sweet when you finally do master The Perfect Egg Crack. You can do it at home, by yourself, with a bit of practice. Just follow these three easy steps:

Step 1

Step 1. The Tap N’ Crack . There is some debate on where exactly the egg should be tapped. Most folks like to tap the egg against an edge, like the side of a mixing bowl, but some argue that you should only tap the egg against a flat surface, like a kitchen counter or cutting board. Whatever you choose, just be sure to only dent the shell lightly instead of giving it a career-ending stab wound. Pushing too hard will result in a Slime Explosion, and unless you want to be called Salmonella Hands for the rest of your life, you don’t want that.

Step 2 Big Thumbs

Step 2. Big Thumbs. This is the moment of truth. Stick your two thumbs in the dent you made and in one swift move just dig them in there deep and pull them apart. If you did it right, the shell should snap easily into two beautiful pieces, dropping its slippery plunder into the bowl below. Now, some people opt for the One-Handed move instead of ol’ faithful Big Thumbs, but I say that’s too risky. Besides, what are you really going to do with your free hand anyway?

Step 3 Inspection

Step 3. The Inspection. Go ahead, give it a once over. Grab a magnifying glass or hold it up to the light if you need to. But I’m going to guess it’s looking pretty pretty, my friend. Because you just performed a Perfect Egg Crack.

So beat that egg, fry that egg, whip that egg into some cake batter. It’s time to say goodbye to Kitchen Humiliation and hello to some well-deserved Kitchen Pride.

AWESOME!

Smash Into You

I really get this song. I really do. I want to smash into you J.

Spell Checker

As reiterated from my facebook status message"

"Shouldn't spellchecker get around to recognizing Obama by now?"

What do you all think?

Crocker Christmas 2008

So Christmas this year was officially a complete and utter success. NOTHING went wrong and everything was perfect. As unlikely as that seems, it's true.

Christmas morning was awesome. J and I slept in and he woke me up by cooking sausage for breakfast burritos. Best fiance' ever? I think so.

Then we went over to my parents house for the opening of Christmas gifts and this year we did something different. We all drew a name for Secret Santa and we could buy whatever we wanted for our person but it couldn't be over $50. Plus everybody bought everybody else one stocking stuffer. It worked out fine except some people told each other their secret santa's but enough stayed secret that it was still fun. The best present was given by J to Danielle. Danielle just asked for money for Christmas so J could have taken the easy way out and got her an envelope with money in it. But Danielle had to work for her money. He made her do a "quest" by putting an envelope under the tree with some money in it and a riddle that led to another envelope hidden in the house with money in it. There were six envelopes in all and it was so great seeing her scurrying around the house figuring out the riddles. I'm glad she liked it.

The questions that he wrote, per request of my fiance:

‪1) Man shall not live by bread alone...the next peice you seek shall be found where man breaks bread...sometime this is done
in "the down under"

2) The treasure you seek shall be found in the place where you left your "Permanent" mark on the floor in the basement.

3) This treasure shall be found under the gift from JC Penny's that is dated but still functioning...but beware..."DO NOT TILT"

4) The next treasure shall be found behind your view...into the "World Wide Web" or into the "Book of Faces"

5) This is where one can come to see each member of the family frozen in time as well as our New President-Elect!!! YES WE CAN!!!‬

6) Congratulations! You are now a level 2 Questmaster! You have gained two talent points! Merry Christmas!

I also liked when I gave everybody chocolate for stocking stuffers and they immediately opened them. I love the Crockers.

Christmas dinner was soooooo good. As usual, all the Crocker women pitched in and made a fabulous meal of macaroni and cheese (deidre), dressing (kim -- she put her foot in it), iced tea and yams (danielle), and rice (me, but hey, I already made cookies!), and collards, ham, turkey, homemade rolls, green beans, and sweet potato pie (all mom). So dinner was delicious (getting more tonight.)

We all cleaned up the kitchen faster than my dad thought we would so we all ended up playing with Beckham (my sister's new puppy), and my cousins (Alana, Devonna, and Kannon). Then we went to see Seven Pounds. It's a good movie and I don't want to ruin it for anybody. Just hang in there if the beginning seems confusing.

Overall, this is the best Christmas ever. This was J's first Crocker Christmas and he gets to see how we do it. I can't wait to post the picture of our ornament that my mom got us. It's super cute. Happy Holidays to all of you all. May your days be as blessed as mine have been.

Wedding Dress Success

No this is no my wedding dress that I chose but I can't put it up here because J will see it. So if you want pictures of the dress, let me know and I'll send them to you.

Last night was a success with the wedding dress shopping! I found two potential dresses that I love and Danielle, Kimberly and Deidre all found dresses they liked. I'm excited that they are happy. I am letting everybody wear the style of dress they like as long as it's truffle brown. That way they can do their own sense of style and individuality. Just something I like to show.

But last night was soooooo much fun and I'm glad that I get the opportunity to share it with my family.

Today is Christmas Eve and I wish all of you and yours a wonderful holiday. I'm so glad that J is here on our first Christmas together. I remember thinking last year that I wish he could be here to experience how the Crocker's do it, and he's here this year. It's more than I ever could ask for. Sometimes I feel I'm living in a dream. Heck, all the time I feel like I'm living in a dream. I can't wait to become Renee N. Valentine. (Just saying that sends shivers). 2009 is going to be amazing! Merry Christmas!

The Secret to Good Cookies

From Recipe Pics

So I made Christmas cookies again this year (as I do every year). So far, I've made sugar free snickerdoodles, regular snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies. I still have to make peanut butter and jelly cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies. And I have discovered what the secret ingredient is to making cookies taste the best. Me! Yes that's right...me. You say I'm bragging. Probably, but everybody at my house has a dish that they can cook really well.

My mom? homemade rolls and iced tea.
My dad? Hot wings.
Kimberly? Dressing.
Danielle? Mac and Cheese
Deidre? Well....Dee has yet to find her dish but I'm sure it's out there.
Me? It's Christmas cookies. Yes, I can make tons of different kinds of food and I'm good at it. But where I excel is an item that can make me gain a ton of weight when just smelling it. I should make cookies all year 'round, but then my mom would be really mad at me because I would leave them over her house to eat. Happy baking and cooking to everyone. It's almost Christmas!

A Crocker Christmas

Well the Crocker Christmas traditions have begun. Last night, our undecorated tree sat waiting for us. One by one, we took out ornaments from boxes and put them on the tree. The difference from most families is that we get ornaments EVERY year from our mom. There's six of us. You can imagine what the tree looks like. Add in ornaments that we received from school, work, friends. The tree is pretty crowded and we have been talking about getting another tree for years. And then we all sit around and talk for awhile. It was great. The night was made even better having Alana, Ursula, Devonna, Kanon, and Deidre's new puppy there. Alana borrowed my camera and took several pictures. I'll post them this week. That girl is crazy. Hope your holidays are going as well as mine. I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday.

Graduation Pictures

Had a great time at graduation. Me in all my glory.

http://picasaweb.google.com/reneecrocker

Graduation Tomorrow

So I'm graduating with high honors tomorrow from the University of Louisville. J says I can brag this once so I'm going to. I know I couldn't have done it without the love and support of my better half and my loved ones and friends. They always encouraged me and told me I was smart when I doubted it sometimes.

It was a really hard degree to obtain and I didn't know how I got the grades I got sometimes but J always told me that he knew. It was because I was smart. I still have a hard time applying that label to myself but I will continue to try harder J.

So the graduation is in the Kentucky Convention Center if anybody wants to brave the hours of boring and drudgery to watch me walk across the stage, you can do so. I love that my dad is so excited. He's missing a UofL game to watch me walk across the stage so you know it's special. Woot! Go Me!

Official Jonathan Coulton Fan Girl

I am a fan girl of many things....The Instance, World of Warcraft, Blizzard, Marvel. And I have yet one more thing to add to the list. Jonathan Coulton. He's a musician. Wiki him. Below is one of my latest favorites by him. Baby got back. Don't mind the World of Warcraft video, this is the clearest version of the song I could find.

Getting In Touch With My Inner Code Monkey

I was doing some major coding at work and prompted me to put the title of this blog on my facebook status. A friend replied with:

If Renee=(working); Let Job=Complete

To which I laughed cuz I love code. I then posted my own reply:

haha I love it! Ummm except my code isn't like that, Kind of like...SEL='SELECT RENEE WITH WORK TO DO' ; EXECUTE SEL CAPTURING OUTPUT; IF @SELECTED THEN CRT 'RENEE GET OFF FACEBOOK'

I am such a nerd.

Don't Kiss My Ear

This is exactly why I don't like being kissed in my ears.

The kiss of deaf - Chinese man ruptures girlfriend's eardrum

BEIJING (Reuters) – A young woman in southern China has partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, local media reported Monday.

The 20-something girl from Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, went to hospital completely deaf in her left ear, the China Daily said, citing a report in a local newspaper.

"The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear," the paper quoted a doctor surnamed Li from the hospital as saying.

The woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months, Li said.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," the paper said.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Common and Musiq

Just got Common and Musiq Soulchild's new albums. I like them so far. They both bring their sound back to what it should be. I'll let you know more when I hear more.

My Indi's Fix

Indi's wedges, chicken, mac and cheese, collards, and McDonald's Sweet Tea and Apple Pie for lunch.......Priceless. There's my fix for the year.

Flip Flop Weekend

This weekend was a weekend of sad and happy. I was sad that the weather was bad and kept me from going to see my friend Kendra that I haven't seen in FOREVER!! But then I was happy because I was able to attend my good friend Adrienne and Cole's engagement party. And the best thing was I found out why they are the good people that they are. Their families are as loving and generous as they are. Plus there is no other couple that I'd rather share my pulled bbq pork with!

Then my sister got a dog and I'm totally in love with it already even though I haven't met him yet. Blog community and followers....meet Beckham: a pooch after my own heart. The question is...what is Deidre going to do when she comes home for the holidays. There is no way that my dad is going to let a puppy who's not housebroken into the house. That's something to ponder.

Bring on the Anime!

So this morning I got treated to something wonderful. I laid in bed watching Ghost In The Shell with J. Watching that anime made me remember my days of watching shows like Akira and Vampire Hunter D. Anime deserves more credit than it gets in the States if you ask me. But I enjoyed watching it.

It even made me want to play my console games again. I really need to get back into it. My console system is just sitting there lonely.

But I digress. I'm ready for more anime. Bring it baby!

Best Friday Treat

So for dinner tonight we had

1) Egg Nog
2) Christmas Tree Cakes
3) Buffalo Chicken Bites
4) Extra Crispy Crinkle Fries
5) Chicken Fries
6) Boneless Chicken Wings
7) Chicken Fried Rice
8) Egg Roll

O...M...G....so good. And I'm feeling so good. About my full belly. And the future.

Christmas with the Crockers

From Crocker Christmas 2007

This Christmas will be my last Christmas as a Crocker. By name, anyway. I love Christmas at my family's house. I feel like everything is alright and there is nothing bad.

This year we have decided to do a different approach. Instead of everybody buying gifts for everybody in my family we all pulled one name to buy gifts for. This will cut down on the costs for Christmas and allow us to spend more on those less fortunate. Our family buying gifts for two Angels and I love that as we get older, Christmas is becoming more on the focus of giving than receiving.

My family puts a heavy emphasis on being together for the holidays so I'm sure I will be over there. Plus I have cookies to bake! I make the best cookies! I wish you could have tasted my peanut butter and jelly cookies and my snickerdoodles were better than ever last year.

So I'm ready for another fairy tale holiday. I love my family.

Beautiful Skin

This used to be one of my favorite songs. Was on many of my playlists. I came across it on my iPod yesterday and wanted to see if you remembered it. Brilliant selection from Goodie Mob. Now vibe...I command you.

Ringing In The New Year With Lynn's

I am so excited!!! J and I will be ringing in 2009 at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. They are having a Pajama Party and we are so excited to be going. Plus I look so good in PJs, how can anybody resist? I should bring more people...I'll have to ponder on this.

I'm also excited because I've chosen Lynn's for my rehearsal dinner. It just fits our personality so well. Quirky and goofy...I'm quirky...and J's the more goofy one I think. You all remember our trip from Lynn's before right? If not, see the link below for all the goofiness.

From J and Renee's Fabulous 4th of July Weekend

Laughing at Twilight

Last night, J and I went to see Twilight with our good friends Adrienne and Cole. I loved the book and I had heard some damaging reviews of the movie. The critics likened the movie to two hours of watching the CW.

It wasn't THAT bad but there were some parts where we cracked up laughing where we weren't supposed to. But we did laugh so we got some entertainment out of it. The movie was cheesy in some places but I like a little cheese. It's my guilty pleasure. And seeing the preview for Harry Potter was worth it in itself. I want to have a movie festival and watch all of the movies so I can get caught up. That makes me want to read the books all over again too. So I like Harry Potter...sue me lol.

And the night was made better gushing with Adrienne about our upcoming weddings. I am going to cry at her wedding, I just know I will. They are so perfect together. Yay for good times.

Set the Mood To Music

Riding home, I decided my next ongoing wedding business will be choosing songs for the wedding. I'm excited about the music and dancing at the reception because I loooove to get down on the dance floor.

But I also have to consider songs for the ceremony, our first dance, father/daughter dance, etc. I am going back and forth on our first dance. There are so many songs that define us. Ben Fold's The Luckiest...Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars or Signal Fire...Jason Mraz's I'm Yours or Lucky. I really like Ben Folds but I'll have to discuss it with J. I want him to definitely have as much of a part in this as I do.

I already know I want to dance with my dad to Ben E. King's Stand By Me. I loved when he used to sing that song to me. Other songs for the reception will come. All I have to do is look down my playlist. I have to have the Cupid Shuffle in there. And the obligatory Electric Slide? That one I might have to ponder.

The Fabulous Thanksgiving 2008

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I didn't take as many pictures this year. I was having too much fun to take pictures!

The drive up to South Carolina was fun. I'm amazed I actually stayed awake the whole time but it was like an extended time just being close to J so it was worth it.

Thanksgiving Day was the best day. I loved that J met all of my family and he instantly gelled with all of them. He immediately felt like one of the family which is what I knew would happen. He got to experience fried turkey for the first time and I got to discuss my upcoming wedding with my family. I love that everyone is excited about it and I can't stop talking about it either!

Every time I get around my family, I'm reminded how extremely lucky I am. Some people don't have extended families like mine who love each other like we do. So whenever my uncles say something that make me crack up laughing or I'm teasing one of my cousins, I remember all that I am grateful for.

We watched Soul Men the day after Thanksgiving (I don't have the funds to do the Black Friday Thing...maybe next year). I thought Soul Men was hilarious but be warned!!! This is NOT a regular Rated R movie. Extreme amounts of cussing don't bother me but they might bother others...plus partially nude shots don't help (Hey I love the female body as much as anybody but some shots should never see the light of day). Just a quick warning. But it was fun anyway.

The most fun was the traditional Saturday cookout that my Uncle Bobby gives. Here is where I learned that I'm not so bad at Phase 10 but if you want to play, make sure you have tons of time.

And the ride back was great, if only because I got to sleep a lot. I'm glad this trip gave J and my family a greater chance to bond. Family is so important to me and I'm glad that he's just as eager to be a part of my family.