Water for Elephants movie

I just saw that they're making a "Water for Elephants" movie. It's supposed to come out some time in 2011 and will star Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. I can't wait. I LOVED this book and hope the movie lives up to it.

http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2010/05/robert-pattinson-hones-his-circus-acting/

Another update on KC's Top 100 Restaurants

We got to add One80 to our Top 100 list last weekend.

Current List:

BB's Lawnside BBQ
Blue Koi
Blue Nile
Fritz's
Garozzo's
JP Wine Bar
Manny's
Minsky's Pizza
Nick & Jake's
One80
Thai Place
Zest

Lea Michele + Idina Menzel = The Perfect Duet

In this week's Glee episode, Rachel (Lea Michele) and her mom (Idina Menzel - from the original Wicked cast) end up singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. Ever since I watched that episode a couple days ago, I haven't been able to stop listening to this song. I've always loved the music from Les Mis and hearing these two PHENOMENAL women sing this song brings tears to my eyes.

Simply amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8B56AsKfJs

Apparently I sleep walk now

So I woke up a couple times this morning, once around 6:00 and again at like 7:50. Both times I rolled over and went back to sleep. I didn't end up getting out of bed until around 9:30. When I woke up, James was already downstairs making coffee and breakfast. He asked me what time I got up...and I told him "Just now." And he said "Really? When did you plug in your hair straightener?" Apparently at some point earlier in the morning (or maybe even in the middle of the night), I woke up and thought I needed to get ready for work, so I went DOWNSTAIRS and plugged in my hair straightener then came back upstairs and went back to bed. I don't remember this at all. Kinda scary. If this sleeping walking thing continues, I might end up burning down the house!

Update on KC's Top 100 Restaurants

My friend Paige and her boyfriend John are celebrating their birthdays tomorrow at Ernie Biggs Dueling Piano Bar in Westport. James and I were thinking of grabbing some dinner in Westport beforehand, so I decided to consult my "KC's Top 100 Restaurant" list to see if anything sounded good. While looking at the list, I realized I have a couple more restaurants that I can check off our list: BB's Lawnside BBQ and Zest.

We went to BB's for Jenni's birthday a few weeks ago. They had good food and a live band...it ended up being a fun night. Zest is where Rory, my brother-in-law, works. James and I have been there numerous times. The food is great...they have a really fun menu, sort of a gourmet comfort food. My favorite is their gouda macaroni and cheese. SO GOOD! We love that place so much that we had our rehearsal dinner there when we got married. Good times.

So my current list stands at:

1. Blue Nile
2. Blue Koi
3. Fritz's
4. Garozzo's
5. Manny's
6. Nick & Jake's
7. Thai Place
8. Minsky's Pizza
9. JP Wine Bar
10. BB's Lawnside BBQ
11. Zest

I'll update again if we end up eating out tomorrow night.

Random Act of Kindness

Today I got to be on the receiving end of a random act of kindness. This made my day for a couple reasons.

I've been sick on and off for about a week. Last Friday I got hit real hard with a nasty bout of death. Luckily it didn't last long and by Saturday, I pretty much felt all better. I felt good for a few days then on Tuesday, I started feeling sick again. Then yesterday and today it has pretty much been full blown sickness again. No fun.

So anyway, back to my RAOK story. This morning I was heading to work for my weekly 7:45 PLC meeting with my teaching team. It was about 7:42 and I was actually going to be on time, but I ran out of cold medicine and didn't think I could make it through the day without any. So I texted my teammates and told them I was going to be a little late because I was stopping at Walgreens. I get there and run up the door, only for it to be locked. I look at the hours...open at 8:00. Crap. There was no way I could wait for them to open. This is one of those situations where I just wanted to cry. All I wanted was some cold medicine and some cough drops. So I run back to my car and start it and I see one of the Walgreen workers run out to my car (in the pouring rain). I roll down my window and he says "If you need something, I can go ahead and open the store." HOW NICE IS THAT? So I go inside, thank him about 100 times, and get myself some cold medicine and cough drops.

It made my day...first off, because I didn't have to be miserable without meds. But also because someone went out of their way to do something nice for a complete stranger.

Thank you, Walgreens worker. You are a nice human and I appreciate you.

Eww, Jenny Humphrey

Okay, I'll admit it. I watch Gossip Girl. What was with Jenny's hair this past episode? It looked like a twisted up mass of owl vomit. It was disgusting.

Chicken & Artichoke Lasagna (easy and delicious)

Okay, so here's the recipe for the lasagna I made yesterday. It was delicious! All the measurements are estimated, since I kind of just made it up on the spot.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast
8 oz. part-skim ricotta
8 oz. fat free cream cheese (softened)
2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
2 eggs
6 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts (chopped)
1 jar Bertolli's roasted garlic alfredo sauce
1/2 jar Bertolli's sun-dried tomato sauce
1 package Barilla's no-boil lasagna noodles (saves a ton of time)
Your choice of spices (see below for the ones I use)

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
2. Cook chicken on stove top. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, and oregano. I go pretty light on the salt and pepper, a little heavier on the garlic, basil, and oregano. Cut into small pieces (or shred) and set aside.
3. Mix ricotta, cream cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, 1 cup parmesan (save remaining shredded cheese for layering), and eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add in a generous amount of parsley and the chopped artichoke hearts.
4. Mix the two sauces together.
5. Layer ingredients into a 9X13 baking dish. I believe I did mine in this order: sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, chicken, shredded cheese (repeat until ingredients run out). I think I did 3 or 4 layers, the top layer being noodles with shredded cheese on top.
6. Cover with foil and bake for 60 minutes. Take foil off for the last 5 minutes.

Ideas for the future...possibly add in spinach? I'd also like to try making my own white sauce, but I wasn't feeling quite that adventurous this time around.

Trying something new

I've decided I'm going to make a white chicken lasagna today. And...I'm just going to make the recipe up as I go. This is the first time that I've done this. Usually I'll find a recipe and then kind of make it my own by adding or taking certain things out. This time, I'm simply going off what I think will sound good. How hard can it be? I'm kind of nervous, but really excited too. I'll let you know how it turns out!

I've always thought this....

"You can take these four chords...repeat them...and pump out any pop song ever written."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

So true.

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and so today my room mom brought in a gift basket full of teachery supplies from my students...post-its, markers, paperclips, etc. One of my little girls got me a gift card and in it was this note:

than (thank) you Mirs. Ashre for tething (teaching) me evin win Im inoing (annoying). Love from __________ (her name).

I couldn't stop laughing. First of all, the spelling itself was pretty entertaining....and this girl is so far from being annoying. Too funny.