Chickens don't clap!

Well... I'm sick again. Have been sick since Wednesday. Its down to just a cough - but its a nasty cough. I think I pulled a muscle in my chest because I was coughing so hard yesterday. Yeah, so that sucks. Shannon has also come down with the sickness, we've been pretty much planted in the living room either reading, sleeping or watching TV. The good news is that we've almost made it through the first season of Arrested Development. We are going to try to knock out season 2 this week and then have a Season 3 Marathon Party within the next few weeks.

Yesterday, in preparation for my graduation party we built the smoker for the pig. Chris & I got started early - and hit Home Depot to do the shopping. We then dropped off everything at the Gantt's house and gave them a nice little alarm clock thanks to the trucks weight sensor going off.



I headed back over to the Gantt's around 1pm and Ron & I went to work on the pit while Paul and Laura did some yard work. Pretty soon Paul joined in on the pit and Cate arrived a little later and helped out as well. Shannon, unfortunately was home sick as was Michael, who really wanted to help out. It took about 3 hours to build and is a little lopsided, but I think it will do the job. That pig better be good!!!

Watch it sucka!

So in my last post I mentioned I have been watching a lot of TV... I'm going to list the shows I watch regularly in an attempt to completely embarrass myself. I know I watch a lot of shows, but I'm guessing this list is going to be longer than I thought.

• 24
• 30 Rock
• Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
• Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
• Chuck
• Crimnal Minds
• CSI
• CSI: NY
• Flight of the Conchords
• Flipping Out
• Good Eats
• Heroes
• High Stakes Poker
• Iron Chef America
• Kath & Kim (don't judge me)
  Kings
• Law & Order
  Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Lost
• Monster Quest
• The Office
• Paranormal State
• Pushing Daises (but I think this was canceled)
• Scrubs
• Simpsons
• Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chornicles
• Top Chef

That is nearly 24 hours of television a week. A full day in front of my TV. Granted not all of the shows are on every week, but still... wow... and don't worry dear friends, though many shows are nearing the end of the their season, there are several shows I am looking forward to taking their place (Parks & Recreation, The Unusuals, etc.)

I'm a TV junkie... and I love it

Life Goes On...

Life seems like it has been screaming by lately, but I have not really done that much. I have not learned to handle life after school, so many of my nights have been spent sitting on the couch watching TV. It hasn't helped that I had a cold for about a week, and then Shannon caught the cold and has had it for almost a week now.

Last night a few of us hit Whiskies of the World. I think this will be my last year attending... not enough bourbons. I will just go to WhiskeyFest in October and get my fix there. Last night was fun though because after leaving WofW we all went over to Bourbon & Branch and had a few cocktails. Good times.

Shannon and I just figured out how to be out of debt (except for school loans) in under 2 years. We are excited because that means a baby is just a couple years away.

It's a beautiful lazy Sunday - so do something relaxing - read a book outside or something... I'm going to!

Bourbon Dinner Recap

Well as my last entry (3 weeks ago) states, Mr. Barnes & I did the Bourbon Dinner. It was a whole lot of fun. We were at the house of Teresa C. and her boyfriend, Ermes. As soon as we arrived we knew it was going to be challenging... the license plate of the Jag in their driveway was "6Y CHEF" (sexy chef). While, I wasn't the one doing the cooking, I know the pressure of cooking for another chef, so I felt Michael's pain. Their house was amazing (they live on the "Victorian court" between Blackhawk and Danville) and the kitchen was beautiful - plenty of workspace. We started the prep, and just as we were finishing Teresa's friends, Julie & Steve arrived. We were ready to start serving. We started off the evening with a taste of the bourbon of the night, Eagle Rare. We wanted them to get to know the flavors of the bourbon so they would be able to identify it in the food they were tasting. We then moved on to a cocktail - a Whiskey Sour with Eagle Rare. As we drank Michael ran through the menu:

AMUSE BOUSCH
Endive with Eagle Rare Cream Cheese,
Grape and Balsamic Reduction

SOUP
Eagle Rare Onion Soup

SALAD
Mixed Greens with Eagle Rare Vinigarette

PROTEIN THREE WAYS
Filet Mignon with Eagle Rare Soaked Bacon
Eagle Rare Fried Chicken Breast
Pork Medalion with Eagle Rare Peach Reduction

DESSERT
Blackberrys with Eagle Rare Whipped Cream
BlackBerry Infused Eagle Rare w/ Ginger Ale

Once the menu was presented, we got down to serving. Michael and I were working our tails off in the kitchen, but we knew it was all worth it as the plates were coming back completely empty. Once we finished dessert, we poured Eagle Rare 17yr (part of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection) and sat down with everyone and chatted for about an hour. We had a fantastic time, and would certainly enjoy doing it again. Enjoy the pictures below...

Bourbon Dinner

Tonight Michael Barnes and I are doing the Bourbon Dinner that we auctioned off at the SCM Santa Poker Night back in December.  We've got a great menu are really looking forward to serving it.  I will be taking pictures and will be posting the a full recap of the dinner sometime later this week.  It should be fun.

In other news, I'm working on putting together a comp of rockin' ballad-y songs by female artist.   So far I have:

• Total Eclipse of the Heard by Bonnie Tyler
• Angel of the Morning sung by Juice Newton
• Alone by Heart
• Hold On by Wilson Phillips
• Eternal Flame by The Bangles

Anyone with other suggestions please comment...

The Ups and the Down

Its been about a month since I last posted  and its been an insane month.  In the past month the following has happened:

• February 14th - Shannon and I drove down to San Luis Obispo to see Shannon's good friend Brooke get married.  It was a fun wedding and reception, and Shannon and I stayed down there an extra day to enjoy the SLO life.
• February 17th - Our good friends the John and Christina Argo welcomed their son Knox Jaxon into the world.  John has wanted to be a dad since the day I met him, and its awesome to see that his wish is now is reality
• February 18th - My Grandma passed away after being diagnosed with cancer 5 weeks earlier.  This was her second bout with cancer, and she knew that it was her time to go.  Shannon and I were glad that she had moved down to Manteca to live with my parents, as we got to see her quite frequently in the last 5 months of her life.  We were also blessed to be with her when her "earth suit" died, and she went to heaven.  In her last days she talked about all the beautiful colors she was seeing and my mom often found her in her room lying on the bed with her arms outstretched into the air.  While it could have been the morphine, we like to think she was getting to experience a little bit of heaven.
• February 23rd - Monday the 23rd was my last day of school.  I will be receiving degree's in Business Marketing and Business Management.  It's been a looooong road, but its finally come to an end and I am extremely happy
• February 26th - Shannon and I board a plane to take us up to Portland for my grandma's memorial service.  My parents and Charlie were up there as well and we had a chance to hang out with both my Mom's family and my Dad's family.  It was great to catch up with them.  We also spent time in downtown Portland, eating at good restaurants, shopping at Powell's and seeing the place my mom worked 40 years ago (now a Macy's and a hotel).  We flew home on Sunday, March 1st.
• March 3rd - Tuesday was my first day back at work (Monday I was laid out on the couch due to my back not liking the hotel's soft mattress and the hour of turbulence we experienced on the flight home) and I was pulled into my Director's office for my yearly review.  I did well - and while raises have been put on hold due to the economy, I got a 5% bump in salary (not technically a raise - its a long story) and a 1% bonus (not a lot I know, but when I was expecting nothing - I'll take what I can get).  As soon as my review was over I learned that my 5% bump in salary didn't mean much because our VP came in and offered my the job of  Category Manager of Tobacco.  While selling cancer isn't my favorite thing, the raise that came along is quite large and I happily took the job.

So as you can see its been a crazy month - and I'm excited for things to get back to normal, but alas in the next month I have a Bourbon Dinner to put on, The Big Lebowski to go see with a bunch of guys, a graduation party to plan and put on as well as making up to Reno for my good friend's birthday.  So things will continue to not slow down... at least I don't have to deal with school anymore!

The busy have no time for tears - Lord Byron

Well - the next month is going to pretty busy - and while I'm definitely looking forward to most things, there is at least one thing  that not going be fun, plus being so busy is going to wear me out.

Here we go with the breakdown:

2/11: Greg Dulli show in SF

2/13: Shannon and I are seeing Wicked in SF

2/14: Get up early and drive to SLO for Brooke's wedding

2/21: Cake show in Oakland

2/22: Far show in SF

3/7: My "Kevin's Finished with School" Party

In addition to the scheduled events above, I have the following things going on as well:

• 2 weeks of school left that will be fairly tough
  
• Work is insane right now so I'll be going in early and working late
• My Grandma is about to pass away - so trips to Manteca & a trip to Portland are probably going to happen
• Planning my "Kevin is Finished with School" Party
• Scheduling and planning a Bourbon Dinner we auctioned off for the SCM poker tournament

Just waiting for it all to be over so I can relax...