Five on Friday

Five on Friday couldn't have come at a better time for me. I looked through the photos on my phone to remind myself what I've been up to lately, and was quite disappointed to realize that I haven't done much. The most interesting photos were a few that I took through the front windshield while driving all over tarnation last week for work, but there wasn't a whole lot more to say about them. Somehow I managed to put together five separate thoughts.

If you're new to the tudor house, please come back again. I promise more interesting posts next week!

ONE

Six days later is an excellent time to write your post-Derby recap, right?

We went to Keeneland to watch the simulcast -- or should I say, we went to the Keerby this year. The number one perk is that they let you bring your own food and drinks and tailgate in the parking lot. The number one drawback is that you can't look the horses in the eye and gently encourage them to run fast by showing them a bottle of glue. Let's say that is why I did so poorly at the betting windows.

Without further ado, I present to you these photos:

When you ask Anna to take a picture of you, you may be lucky enough to get a few selfless first.

 I couldn't find a black hat that was both outrageously stylish and not outrageously expensive when I went shopping on Derby Eve. Thus, my headband. Evan, however, was quite pleased with the hat that he found in our basement

.

Traditional Derby attire includes big hats, big jewels and tiny mustaches.

We placed all of these bets on the Derby. Guess how much money we took home?

TWO

Speaking of the Derby, check out these delicious treats I brought:

Mac N Cheese Muffins
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Serves 24

4 cups uncooked macaroni
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups shredded parmesan
4 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (the recipe calls for store-bought, but if you're like me and threw away all of your breadcrumbs in a fit of pantry-cleaning-out rage, make them yourself with this recipe I found on Pinterest.)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix breadcrumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside. Reserve 1 cup of cheddar cheese.

Cook pasta (salting the water generously first), drain, and return to pan. Mix in butter and eggs until coating the pasta. Stir in milk and cheese.

Have faith. They will turn out delicious and beautiful.

Spoon into greased muffin tins and top with extra cheddar cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 30 minutes.

Impress everyone who eats them; thank me profusely for sharing with you this delicious treat!

THREE

If you follow me on Instagram (@allielynn27), you've already had the pleasure of seeing this. If not, please behold:

Nothing like a butt in your ice cream to make your little bro's birthday a success!

FOUR 

I'm old.

My 30th birthday is not till August, but I realized that I'm already officially old yesterday when I looked at the forecast for the next few days (all rain) and got excited -- because rain means I won't have to water my sod. 

Depressing, I know. Please just forget I ever made this confession.

FIVE

Can someone please explain to me how to make a romper look good? I desperately want one, but when I try them on … this happens.

AND

Thank the Lord, I've finally found the rest of my childhood diaries.

Coming soon: Excerpts, excerpts and more excerpts. Get pumped up.

Five on Friday

I am back for my second Five on Friday! I’ve had a little bit of writer’s block this week so I haven’t been posting too much, but have no fear, I have several excellent ideas for blog posts coming your way next week. You probably want to skip the weekend just to be able to read my next posts.  Don’t wish your life away, friends!

ONE

 

Let’s clear one thing up real quick. Does this speaker, or does it not, look like a cat? 

 

This is the giant speaker thing that hands in the middle of Rupp Arena, home of my beloved but not-so-good-this-year Wildcats. I have always thought it looks like lots of cat faces, but no one believes me. Here’s a little sketch to help you out:

 

Please tell me that you think it looks like a cat. You get ten points if you agree with me.

TWO

 

 

I don’t mean to brag, but I didn’t get home last night until after midnight. It was my half birthday, after all, so we celebrated by going to dinner, the UK game, and then to see Evanshine’s cousin’s boyfriend’s (that is a lot of ‘ss) band play downtown. They are called Buffalo Wabs and the Price Hill Hustle, but they were announced as “Buffalo Swabs,” which I kind of liked. I might start my own competing band called Buffalo Swabs. Will you be my groupie?

THREE

 

My hot yoga challenge ends tomorrow! Unfortunately, I did not reach my goal of 30 classes in 30 days. I blame Evan, who is the reason that I went to the UK game and a bar last night instead of yoga class. Technically, I only have been 25 times. I will go tonight and tomorrow for a grand total of 27 yoga classes. Whatever, I’m still having a celebration smoothie after class today.

FOUR

 

Last night while at the Swabs show, Evan’s cousin introduced me to a little game called “Classy or Trashy?” To play this game, you simply look around you and point at different things and answer the question: classy or trashy? Because writer’s block is a real disease, I have gone through my phone and found several pictures that we can use to play a quick round here on Five on Friday:

Cat as mantle decoration: classy or trashy?

A: Cats as decor are always classy. The other random stuff and mail on the mantle are not so classy, however. I am in the process of a mantle reno at the moment, plus I'm messy, so cut me a little slack, okay?

Roadsign to Boogertown: classy or trashy?

A: Classy. Everything in Tennessee is classy.

Wine and cheese in Gatlinburg: classy or trashy?

 

A: Classy. See above.  Also, goldfish pair very well with champagne served from a wine glass. If you had to ask, I'm worried about you.

Plastic deer head painted like a tiger: classy or trashy?

A: Sorry to all you fans out there, but this is trashy. First, everyone knows deer don't have tiger stripes. Second, it is a Hoosier deer head, and Hoosiers are trashy. (Ha, go big blue!)

FIVE

 

Something big is coming here on the old blog. I can’t tell you what it is, and I can’t tell you when it will happen (probably Sunday), but I can tell you that it involves royalty (but not too much royalty, because my brother tells me my blog talks too much about Kate Middleton and is “boring.” Too much Kate? There’s no such thing.), basketball, and prizes galore. Yes, I've resorted to teasers to up my readership.

Have a good weekend! I plan to spend a good bit of it at the movies catching up on some Oscar hopefuls. If you're lucky, I'll also be doing some photoshoots for ye olde blog. Stay tuned.

Five on Friday

Today, I branch out into a “link up.” This is where I write on the same topic as a bunch of other bloggers and somehow new readers find their way to my page. Facebook friends, if I can get some new readers, this may take a little of the pressure off of you!

New readers, Welcome! This blog is going to be right up your alley if you like the following: Kate Middleton, cats, cat videos, Pinterest, hilarity, and complaining. Also:sarcasm. If not, you may want to move on in the link-up. Right now, additional hot topics are the Olympics/Kristi Yamaguchi (because I am participating in a fantasy Olympics league which I was dominating but am now in an embarrassing 10 th place) and hot yoga (because I stupidly agreed to a 30-classes-in-30-days challenge at the suggestion of my friend Anna).

Anyway, today’s topic is “Five on Friday,” which seems to mean I can just write five random thoughts! This I can do. Here we go:

ONE

 

photo from USMagazine.com

 

Kate Middleton recently took her first trip with Baby Prince George out of Mother England. Like George, Mabel (my precious cat, for all you new readers out there) had a new experience recently, too! She got to take a walk into the polar vortex on a leash. She was not really a fan, and when she heard the neighbor shoveling snow, she started wailing and I had to take her inside. I bet George’s trip was equally unsuccessful.

 

TWO

 

I’ve got a new favorite saying. I heard it when I called a surveyor for something at work and asked him how he was doing. His response: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and I’m wearing Milkbone underwear.” Love it. That’s what I’m going to start telling people when they ask me how my life is.

 

THREE

 

Hot yoga is literally killing me. (Sidenote: I just went to a lunch seminar on why saying “literally” diminishes women’s speaking because it is rare that the word is used correctly. However, in this case, it really is literally killing me.) This 30-day challenge was a terrible idea! I have been every day since January 31, but I’ve missed two days that I have yet to make up. The instructors are starting to know my name, which means that they now correct me in class by name, which is much harder to ignore than “Hey, pink shirt! Lean forward more!” I’ve got a sore left knee and two sore mystery muscles in my posterior. I am not sure that I will make it to the end of the month … but they’re having free smoothies and snacks on the 28^th, so I’ve got to stick it out … right?

FOUR

 

As I have mentioned before, I'm in a Winter Olympics Fantasy League. You would probably say I was a phenom early on in the season, shooting out to an insane lead and having several members of the international press call me for interviews. You may read one glowing article about me here.

 

However, someone seems to have screwed with the results, because I have seen my position plummet from front-runner to tied for tenth place. This is obviously complete BS and I will not stand for it, League President Anna Girard! I blame you for your silly limit on the number of figure skaters a person is allowed on their team. I had both Ashley Wagner and Yulia the Russian skater on my team and both really disappointed me. Kristi Yamaguchi would not have treated me that way.

 

FIVE

 

Speaking of Kristi Yamaguchi, I am sad to report that I have not yet found the letter that Kristi and/or her assistants wrote me back in ’92. I will go ahead and re-post the autographed photo that she sent along with the letter here for all you new readers visiting for the first time:

However, I was able to unearth this letter that Mr. Rogers wrote to me and my brother – apparently in response to some fan mail we wrote him. I was big on fan mail in the 90s, apparently. If you can get past what dorks my brother and I were, I think you will agree that Mr. Rogers was the nicest man in the history of the world and we should all be more like him in our correspondence.

Well, this has been fun! Hope to see you again around these parts. There are some really great posts scheduled for next week, so stay tuned...