Tickets... FINALLY!

Sarah and I have been scouting out tickets for the Keith Urban and Very Special Friends - We're All for the Hall concert on October 13th.  We had to pay a little more than the original $25 face value but it's well worth it for the "and Very Special Friends" part of this concert.  So far, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Brad Paisley & Taylor Swift are all slotted to perform.  Also since it is a charity event (in Nashville) we're hoping others show up too!!!

Yippie!!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Better late than never... Happy Birthday Sarah!  Hope #27 was great!!!

Capitol Cinemas

On Saturday I went with Mom & Dad to this tiny movie theater in Princeton, Kentucky called the Capitol Cinema.  It has been around since 1939 but has undergone some changes since the original theater opened.  It has been modified to fit 4 screens.  We were in one of the upper theaters that seats a total of 77 in a very odd shape of 14 rows. Check out the link to see pictures of this Art Deco theater.  We saw Julie & Julia and I thought it was just great.  See it if you haven't before it leaves the theaters! :)

Las Vegas

My dad, when referring to Las Vegas always calls it Lost Wages.  Well when Jon and I went to Vegas in June I had lady luck on my side! Before we went to Zumanity, we were hanging around the New York New York casino.  I was playing various penny slot machines.  No one expects to win on those but at least they usually let you milk your money.  I put in $20 and by the time I was done had hit a 16820 penny jackpot!  We also did some shopping and saw the Phantom of the Opera experience at the Venetian!

Cake--- Fail

Last night I tried baking a cake for Sarah's birthday party tonight.  It was supposed to be a chocolate chip cake with milk chocolate chips and flakes of German chocolate in it.  I cooked it for at least 55 minutes and by all indications was done.  The crust was golden brown, the edges pulling away from the pan and the tooth pick came out clean.

I took the cake out and let it cool.  Once cooled, it looked funny because the whole middle had caved in on itself.  I tried to salvage it as you can see in the picture but the center was still completely gooey.  It has since landed squarely in the trash can and another, better cake was produced.  Picture of it to come but until then enjoy the sight of my cake fail!

Kathy's Breakfast Cake

This week was Eric's, our co-worker, last week in the department.  In his honor I made him a cake.  Kathy's Breakfast Cake to be precise.  It went over very well because by the time I could take the picture it was halfway gone!  This recipe is also from the Cake Doctor cookbook. I've included it below.

Ingredients:

• 1 package vanilla cake mix
  
• 1 package (3.9oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil -I used canola oil
•  2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 additional teaspoon vanilla extra

Steps:

1. Place rack in center of the oven, preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly spray Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour.  Shake out excess flour.
2. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl thoroughly and set aside.
   
3. Place cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, vanilla extract, water and oil in large mixing bowl. Blend with mixer on low speed for 1 minute then scrape the sides of the bowl.  Increase speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes.  Batter will look thick, fluffy and well combined.
4. Pour 1/3 of the batter in the prepared pan.  Then add 1/2 of the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Repeat until complete.
   
5. Bake the cake until it springs back when touched lightly and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45-50 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes still in the pan.  Run a sharp knife around the edge and invert it onto the rack to cool completely 30 minutes more.
7. Once the cake is cool, mix the confectioner's sugar, milk and remaining vanilla together until smooth and then spoon glaze over the top of the cake.
   

Big Bang

On Saturday night after Vanderbilt's abysmal loss to Mississippi State, I joined Chad, his girlfriend Erin, his sister, brother, brother's girlfriend and Dad downtown at Big Bang.  Yes, a family affair. We had been there a couple hours and were having a great time.  Chad and Erin had gone to Wine on the River that afternoon and were very "happy" by this time of night.  The Big Bang is typically a "get a table with some friends and enjoy the dueling piano's type of place" not a "get up and shake what your mama gave you type of place."  Well after drinking since lunch time, Erin thought it was time to get our entire group plus everyone around us up and dancing.  This picture is of me and Chad "shakin' it" right before Erin knocked his ENTIRE cup of Jack & Coke all down the front my shirt completely soaking it, my jeans and my flip flops.  That was the end of me shakin' it!

People at Walmart

Jayna pointed me to the People at Walmart website.  It's so funny I laughed all afternoon.  The best part is that this picture is from MY Walmart!  The address shown in the picture is 5824 and the one I use is 5824 Nolensville Road!  But no, I have never valeted my car at Walmart!! ;)

Wig--- FAIL

So I sat across from this lady at Logan's yesterday....  I don't know how to describe it aside from FAIL.  The picture isn't as good as it looked in real life, but you can get the point.  Her hair is really that grey and white and her hair "piece" is really jet black.  Wow!

Wicked

Last night Sarah, Jon and I went to see wicked.  It was my second time seeing it but I think I liked it better this time around.  It just amazes me how well Gregory Maguire was able to write this book that so perfectly tied up all the loose ends and made it so effortlessly flow into the real story of The Wizard of Oz.

I have learned a couple of tidbits of interesting information since the last time I saw the musical:

1. Gregory Maguire named the Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba as a tribute to the author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum. L. F. B. became El Fa Ba or Elphaba.
2. Due to copyright laws, they are not allowed to mention Dorothy's name in the musical, so they refer to her as "the girl who blew in on the cyclone" or "the little girl."

If you haven't seen it yet, GO NOW!! You won't regret it!

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 package plain devil's food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix -I used dark chocolate cake mix
• 1 package (3.9oz) chocolate instant pudding mix
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil -I used canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips -I used 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Place rack in center of the oven, preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly spray Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour.  Shake out excess flour.
2. Place cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water and oil in large mixing bowl. Blend with mixer on low speed for 1 minute then scrape the sides of the bowl.  Increase speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes.  Batter will look thick, fluffy and well combined.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips. -I used the hand mixer on low since the batter was so thick.
4. Pour batter in the prepared pan.
5. Bake the cake until it springs back when touched lightly and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45-50 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes still in the pan.  Run a sharp knife around the edge and invert it onto the rack to cool completely 20 minutes more.

You could serve warm after the initial 20 minutes of cooling and it would be amazing.  This cake is tasty and moist enough it does not need a glaze or icing.  Enjoy!

Jen's Birthday Cake

On Wednesday we celebrated Jen's Birthday at Big River Grille downtown.  I baked a "Darn Good Chocolate Cake." It really lived up to its name and was darn good and incredibly sinful tasting.  I got the recipe from The Cake Doctor cookbook.  Go buy it, it is awesome! :) I'll post the recipe.

Happy Birthday, Jen!!!

I wish you the happiest of 28th birthdays!  See you tonight!

Hail to the Victors!

Oh and I forgot to mention, Michigan won in glorious fashion.  Michigan's freshman QB, Tate Forcier, threw a TD pass with 11 seconds left in the game to give the Wolverines the W! I think Weis threw the game away with his terrible play calling but glad to see such a great game with the team I was cheering for getting the win!

PS: I'm also glad that Clasusen boy lost!  I've been rooting for his older brothers to lose for what seems like an eternity!

Maize Out

Darren bought us (matching) shirts so we could participate in the Maize Out too with our 110,276 closest friends.  Some Notre Dame fan thought we were under dressed and provided us with matching blue beads too. :)

Michigan Football

We had been looking for weeks for tickets to the game and finally decided on what we wanted to pay.  About that time Darren found buy it now tickets for good seats for significantly less than we were willing to pay.  We snatched up those tickets quickly.  Little did I know how good our 27th row tickets really were. 

I felt like I could reach out and touch the field.  They make my Vanderbilt season tickets kind of wimpy in comparison.  I couldn't have asked for better tickets for my first "Big House" experience. 

Oh and notice that huge cloud of yellow in the left corner?  That is the student section.  I was super impressed with their adherence to the "Maize Out!"

Tailgating... For real!

This past weekend I was up in Ann Arbor visiting Darren.  He thought now that football season was here that it was only in my best interest to attend a true Michigan tailgate and then go to what he calls a "real" football game.  Little does he know that I think I've attended a few of those before. ;)

We showed up at the tailgate before 11am and things were already underway.  I had my fill of Bloody Marys, beer, donuts, burgers and hot dogs! I even partook in games of flip cup and beer pong.  I was so on a role during beer pong but then we completely fizzled out and ended up losing badly! Oh well, fun times.  I did however politely refuse to use the beer bong... Sometimes you just have to say no!!

Here is a picture of Darren's friend Pete with me at the tailgate.

Say wha???

Ellen DeGeneres is replace Paula on Idol.... Not sure what I think of this change.

Soon to Come...

I had a great weekend with my Elizabeth! You're big day is up next. Miss you already!

Contraband

What is a wedding in East Tennessee without a little Moonshine.... Apple pie moonshine to be precise. I had my first taste of this illicit drink and it was actually pretty tasty!  No pictures exist as proof but here is the Bride taking a swig!

Fun Times

I've known Dan since we were young little high school kids.... At least 14 years now.  He was always there for me in college whenever I needed anything.  I'm so glad he found someone as awesome as Mary to spend the rest of his life with!!

Caketastic

The wedding was outdoors and September in Tennessee is quite humid.  The cake unfortunately didn't fare too well.  It was nicknamed "The Leaning Tower of Tazewell."  They got to cut the cake and managed to get it disassembled before disaster struck.  Was it tasty though!

Dan & Mary's Wedding

In other weekend festivities, Elizabeth and I traveled to New Tazewell, TN for Dan & Mary's wedding! The both looked amazing and incredibly happy! Congrats to the new Mr.& Mrs. Cypra!!

Speaking of Black & Gold Victories!

My parents and cousin joined us for the football game this weekend to cheer the 'Dores to a 45-0 victory!!! Vandy, Vandy, Oh Hell Yeah!!

L to R: Elizabeth, Mom, Jane, Stephanie, Heather, Daddy.

Black & Gold

Tonight I met Jen for dinner at Zumi in Hillsboro Village for yummy sushi.  I could not resist ordering the "Black & Gold" in honor of Vanderbilt's big win this weekend! Highly recommend!

End of Summer

The best thing about the temperature cooling and the leaves slowly dying is that fall is coming.  The reason this is most significant is it signifies the beginning of college football season! You bet that every Saturday (and sometimes on Thursday) you will hear me cheering for the SEC and my Vanderbilt Commodores!  Here's wishin' for another bowl game this year!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend was up next in my scrapbook.  Darren had Friday off so I went up early and we spent the day at the Henry Ford Museum. We gave Alex & Anna a grill for their wedding so on Sunday they had a BBQ to christen it. The burgers were as good as the company was!

Graduation Night

That night, following Steven's graduation, we met up with some of his friends and their families at Tin Roof 3.  The bar was fun but not nearly as good as the original in Nashville! =) What was significant about this evening was it was the first time that the Pollock's, as a family, went out to a bar and all had drinks together.  Our parents don't drink much so this was a HUGE accomplishment to get my dad, especially, at a bar with a drink, other than White Zinfandel, in his hand.  He upgraded to Whiskey and Ginger Ale.  I was super proud of him.  Mom even shared some pitchers of beer!

Steven's Graduation

In May Steven graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Economics.  Taking after his big sister, aww! ;)  He had a lot of setbacks along the way but we could not have been more proud of him walking across that stage.  You could just tell by his huge smile how excited he was to have accomplished so much!  Brother, I'm very proud of you and love you so much. Congratulations!!  

Elizabeth, my PhD!

So Elizabeth finished her PhD in Biomedical Engineering last fall but was not able to walk in Vanderbilt's graduation until this May.  She and her family came into town for graduation.  That afternoon we wandered around campus and took a few pictures and then spent the evening at the Broadway Brewhouse hanging out just like old times.  Dang I miss that girl a lot!

Cake Artist

My coworker/friend Jayna is one of the craftiest people I know. Her youngest daughter's birthday is next week and they are having a Barbie and the Diamond Castle Tea Party for her tomorrow. This is the cake she made. How stinking cute is this? Kudos to you, Jayna and Happy Birthday to Lydia!