Meet Dillon

"Don't blink

 Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don't blink

You just might miss your babies growing like mine did...

Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink" 

- Kenny Chesney/ Casey Beathard

Meet my nephew Dillon.  He doesn't yet know how blessed he is to have the sweetest mama around, and I'm certain he's going to grow up to be this spitting image of his dad.  He's already got a strong pair of lugs and his cheeks are even chubbier now than they were during our photo shoot.  His sister loves him so much she can't be left alone with him because she'll squeeze him too hard.  She loves letting him "kiss" her and the first thing she does when visitors come to the house is point them towards Dillon.  Now to keep from blinking.

 

 

Maximum Utility

(The economic unit for measuring preferences or satisfaction is utility.  Each person's preferences are different, but I enjoy sharing things that have been impacting my utility lately.)

None of these things are too important or worth writing too much about, but I've always been one to appreciate good finds:

1. The Lumineers - I know this is really old news, but I've just started listening to their self-titled album, and I love it.  It makes me feel like I am on the beach... in California... wearing plaid.  I don't actually have any plaid.

2. Avocados in smoothies - one night in a fake attempt to be healthy I blended up some frozen bananas, milk, an avocado and chocolate syrup.  It was like a wonderful milkshake that still kind of made me feel good.

3. Zippered tote bag - My mom was right.  I need a bag with a zipper and with straps that I can sling over my shoulder.  Despite my mom's advice, I've accumulated a few non-zip bags because they were cute, but I never like using them, especially while traveling because I was afraid I'll get pick pocketed, stuff will fall or or sand will get in.  My usual beach bag does zip, but only has a short hand-held handle, and made it pretty impractical to carry that and a beach chair and a cooler.  (Oh my weak arms.)  I've been eyeing these for a while and finally sprung for the Banana Republic one in red when I got a 40% off coupon in my email.  I seems sturdy, has some inside pockets, and big enough to fit a few books and maybe even my laptop without being suitcase-sized.


1. ModCloth 2. Baggu 3. Banana Republic



4. Adoption - I know it's not a product but I have been encouraged recently thinking about what it means to be an adopted child of God.  I am also so excited to share in the joy of friends who have made adoption their life work and just adopted their first child.  Seriously, these pictures get me every time.

Freddie Awards

Fresh after graduating college, bright-eyed with dreams of making fast money buying and selling stocks, I bought stock in Freddie Mac and Washington Mutual Bank upon the recommendation of a friend in the industry.  A few months later, one of them was bailed out by the government and the other went bankrupt.  I have not bought stock since.  I kind of forget now where I was going with that story, but I think it is to say, I haven't always been good at managing and maximizing my return on investment, if you will.  It hasn't been until recently I've started to realize that I should be getting something for what I'm spending.  One big area I try to do that is travel. 

I usually used whatever airline and hotels were cheapest.  I thought the cost savings was better than keeping track of points.  However, the more I started looking into the potential for reward travel, the more I wish I had started sooner.  It definitely takes some time, but my favorite way to get help is by letting the professionals do the research and depending on them for special offer alerts.  In other words I follow The Points Guy blog.  "The Points Guy," whose real name is Brian, is extremely thorough in covering all the frequent flyer and hotel programs out there, alerting you to point deals such as lucrative credit card bonuses and providing solid analysis on what programs are worth (in terms of your money and in relation to the various options).  I can go into what methods I personally use later, but there is a story in all of this:  I've become an avid Points Guy follower, both of his blog and on twitter and sometimes even instagram, and in my constant quest to get free stuff I entered a contest of his and I won!

What did I win? Well, every year, there an award ceremony for frequent flyer and hotel programs called the Freddie Awards.  (Maybe that's why I started talking about Freddie Mac?)  Last year there was a contest for a reader to join The Points Guy for the awards ceremony, but it was in NY, and as fun as it sounded, traveling to NY on a weeknight sounded kind of stressful.  This year though, the awards were in DC (well... the tri-state area), so I entered and, along with four other readers, won!

I know most ceremonies aren't exciting to most people, but when you are as crazy about points as I've become, the combination of dinner, the chance to pick up some more travel tips, and meet someone who I basically online stalk, is definitely my cup of tea.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  It is true that I online stalk his blog and travel advice, but I actually get really nervous to meet people that are "celebrities" in my head.  (You thought I was going to take back the "stalking" part rather than the "meeting" part, right?  One time I met John and Sherry from Young House Love during a book signing and had to rehearse the one sentence I wanted to say who whole time I was in the book signing line.  "I always refer to you as 'my friends, John and Sherry' and my husband always has to remind me I haven't actually met you."  That was the line that was so hard for me to remember.  Although Sherry did reply, "Now you've met us.  You have this moment - forever." I think she had signed too many books and smiled for too many photos at that point.  I still loved it.)

So last Thursday, I found myself at the Gannett/USA Today building in Tyson's Corner, VA.  It's actually quite a nice building with a peaceful lake out front.  The only bummer was that it was only one ticket, so I had to go without Jason.  It was quite a pleasant surprise to roll up to valet parking and a red carpet.  Before we go any further, let's talk about this red carpet.  I think before winning a chance to go to the Freddie's, I had heard them described as the "Oscar's of the travel industry." So naturally when I won, I was totally unsure what to wear (#girlproblems). Maybe this was my chance to wear the long, formal gown I had bought for 90% off sale "in-case-of-emergencies."  (Quick! We need to attend this gala ASAP! It was during a lot of the inaugural balls, and it was cheaper than most normal dresses, so can you blame me?)  Alas, though the event was very nice, it was not quite Oscar-level formality, which meant I will save my dress for another day.

you can see the red carpet a little as well as our somewhat dry but pretty dinner

I checked in after my walk down the red carpet (no, no paparazzi). There was a nice spread of charcuterie and passed hors d'oeuvres.  Everyone was very friendly, though when introducing myself, I felt a bit out of place since everyone else was a points blogger, super frequent traveler, worked with an airline or hotel, or worked for one of the former. I chatted with a lot of people who were experts at the points systems. Some people were retired and traveled for leisure. Someone else lived on one coast and worked on another. Everyone was an expert on points.

Brian was an extremely kind host, so I got over my talking-to-"famous"-people-anxiety immediately. He was easy to find even before getting to my table since he's 6'7". I got to sit by him during the dinner and award portion of the evening and really enjoyed chatting with him and the other guests. It was hard to hear much of the ceremony, but the big winners for North America were American Airlines and Marriott.  At the end of the night there was a dessert bar and some goody bags to bring home filled with nice swag.  More free stuff!

The more I travel and read blogs like The Points Guy, the more addicted I find myself to the points systems.  Seriously, can I get a job planning travel for other people and managing their points accounts?  Because I love it!  I've started doing things like checking fares constantly, strategizing where and how to get elite status, and doing my best to maximize rewards any time we spend money (especially online).  Everyone's priorities may be different, so do what's best for you, but even if you travel a little, it's worth at least signing up for the free loyalty programs.  So now that I've become a travel nerd (I definitely track my points on a spreadsheet), and because you know I like free stuff, it was a fun evening.  And now I can associate the word "Freddie" with something way better than my Freddie Mac stock failure.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I like chicken. I like pizza.  But I never really liked the idea of mixing the two.  I think it was based on a bad frozen pizza I had as a child.  But one day when Jason lived in Baltimore, we ended up eating at a place called Joe Squared.  Maybe it's owned by two people named Joe? I'm not sure, but we were there with a friend and the guys decided they wanted this BBQ chicken pizza.  I didn't want to be a naysayer, so went against my instincts and ordered it and I ended up finding my favorite pizza.  I'm not a pizza connoisseur per se, but their pizza is so good that whenever we go to Baltimore, I never want to get anything new and just want this pizza at Joe Squared.  Their thin crust with just a little bit of charred bits is something I have not figured out how to replicate, but I did my best to imitate the pizza toppings themselves.  Honestly, I just let Trader Joe's pre-made crust rise for a few hours then roll it out as thin as I can, because making things with yeast intimidate me. 

 

This is one of my few recipes not originally from a cooking blog (ie: the Smitten Kitchen), so I figured I'd share mine and at the very least you now know where you can go in Baltimore for the original, better version.  I think the real secret is the white sauce.  I actually didn't have parmigiano cheese that original white sauce recipe calls for, but it turned out fine. Plus, I thought it would have been a bit too cheesy to have the sauce cheesy and cheese on top.  The quantities for everything else are rough estimates, and the nice thing about pizza is you can kind of put your own spin on it really easily.

Please forgive the quality of the "after" picture.  It was so good that I forgot to take a shot the night we baked the pizza, so this is lunch at work the next day.  The avocados and spinach were really much more green when it was fresher.  At least the light is better than it would have been.

 

White Sauce (loosely based on: http://www.food.com/recipe/white-pizza-sauce-279060):

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced

Heat butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Slowly whisk in milk, adding gradually. Stir in remaining ingredients. Will thicken upon standing.

BBQ Chicken Pizza (adapted from Joe Squared):

Pizza dough

1 cup shredded chicken

BBQ sauce

1/2 cup corn

1 avocado

1 small onion, or half large onion

A handful or two of spinach

1 cup mozzarella cheese

white sauce (above)

Make or prep pizza dough according to your own methods or package instructions.

With the chicken in an oven-proof dish, mix in enough BBQ sauce to cover it and put it in the oven while you are working on everything else (chopping avocado, making white sauce and caramelizing the onions, about 15-20 minutes). 

Slice the onions, then caramelize them by adding them to a pan over medium heat with a little oil, stirring occasionally until they get nice and browned.

Everything else you can just add after putting the white sauce on the pizza dough.  I like to put the spinach on before the cheese, otherwise it falls off/apart more easily.  If you are using frozen corn or spinach, it works better to cook them first, or the pizza gets a little watery as the vegetables thaw.

Cook according to directions on crust (usually 450 degrees for about 20-30 minutes). Yum.

Cherry Blossoms

Quick! I need to post cherry blossom pictures while they are still seasonally relevant!

For a few weeks every April the DC area is in a frenzy over the beautiful cherry blossoms, the most famous of which line the Tidal Basin.  It can get pretty crowded but really is pretty. 

this was actually a few days before peak bloom