New Blog Location

Hey Everyone!

After much consideration, I've decided to transition this blog to WordPress and purchase my own domain.

You will now find this blog by visiting www.jackandthegiantpeach.com.


Save it in your favorites!

Kinsey

I Wrastled a Cat Once...

I know my photos of Jack and Charlotte have been lacking lately, so I took this video last night of their evening antics.

Enjoy, and happy Friday!

Kinsey

You know you're grown up when you become Costco members.

Happy Monday!

This weekend was a perfect mix of productive and relaxing.

On Saturday, I got my hair and eyebrows done, we explored Whole Foods, then had lunch with friends at Souper Jenny. We also got our first carwashes since moving (yes, we have lived here for 8 months), and paid an interesting visit to Cactus Carwash in Buckhead.

Buckhead is one of the wealthier areas of the city, and lets just say there were literally NO cars like ours (a 97' Camry and an 02' Sentra) in the vicinity. I can honestly tell you that I've never seen so many BMWs, Mercedes, Lexuses (Lexi?) or Audis as we saw this weekend, and I did feel a little embarrassed when the carwash guys popped my trunk only to find the mini-Christmas tree and snowman ladder I've had in there for over a month now:]

 These sunflowers from Whole Foods were so pretty. I resisted buying them, but not by much.

My lunch at Souper Jenny. I had My Dad's Turkey Chili, and the California Love sandwich (avocado, goat cheese, sprouts, tomato and spinach on a french baguette). 

 Thomas had the Creamy Cauliflower soup and a turkey sandwich with swiss and arugula. So good.

Sunday was a day of giftcard spending! We went to Bed Bath & Beyond (I spend my giftcard on a new coffee mug), Ulta (I spent my giftcard on the polish below), and Costco.

Becoming Costco members made us feel like such grownups. I've been stubborn about getting a membership, even dragging Addy to order contacts with me so that I could get a discount. This weekend we broke down, and decided to just join already.

We did set some strict spending boundaries (based on the time we used our Sam's membership to buy a lifetime supply of Toaster Strudel), and on our first trip we bought only some essentials. Also, hotdogs...

Left: Alpine Snow (a pure white used for nail design) and Did It On Em' (a bright green from the Nicki Minaj collection). 

A 'restaurant' after my own heart--two Costco dogs and two drinks for $3.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and that you start off the week well!

Kinsey

2011 Taxes: Check

Can you imagine sitting at home on a cool, cloudy February Saturday, with this going on in the background while you try to file your taxes (for the first time as a married couple)?

I didn't think so.

I'm proud to say, however, that our 2011 taxes are complete! Now, on to celebrate my birthday tonight:]

Enjoy your 3 day weekend!

Kinsey

Cube Livin'

A couple of weeks ago, our office space was reconfigured. This isn't the most exciting news in the world, but I was excited to get a new/revitalized space.

Here's a glimpse of my little cube.

Lets disect this a bit, shall we? Because what says more about a person than the way they've decorated the space they spend 8 hours a day in (pretty sure my space says I'm crazy--shocking I know):

1. Lets start with the normal stuff: Pictures of Thomas and the babies, and a purse shaped post-it holder.

2. I let this little gem escape out into the world by accident. Now there are roughly 7 copies floating around the office.

3. My Bad Cat calendar. This one is top notch.

5. My Clickie's award--I am truly Clark Griswold.

6. This handsome guy is a rock and roll nut cracker. He also has a Sheriff Kinsey badge.

7. I saved the best for last. This picture of the Jackson "7" was photoshopped by one of my very talented co-workers. See if you can find the 7th Jackson...

Unrelated, after a few days in my new cube, I got a new 23 inch HD monitor. It was love at first sight.

I hope you've enjoyed this in depth look at my crazy cube. Happy Friday!

-Kinsey

Na Na Na Na Na Na - You Say It's Your Birthday!

Na Na Na Na Na Na - It's My Birthday Too!

But seriously, today is my birthday. For those of you who don't know (probably no one because I talk about it all the time), I'm turning 22!

21 was an amazing year. I planned a wedding, graduated college, got married, went on an amazing honeymoon, moved halfway across the country, got a new job, and (I'm sure) much more. 22 will hopefully be much less hectic, but just as memorable.

Although this is out of order from my Valentine's Day post, Thomas and I celebrated my birthday last weekend with a date to Fogo de Chao, courtesy of a giftcard from my parents.

Sidenote: My last box of contacts ran out a couple of weeks ago, and I've been intending to order more while crossing my fingers that I didn't lose/destroy the final pair. Of course, on Friday night, I inadvertently closed my left lens in the lid of my contact case, ripping it in half. Contact lens drama: if anyone was bound to have it, 'twould be me. So, I've been wearing my glasses--and stumbling around blindly--since.

Here I am before the big date.

We didn't make reservations, so the wait was kind of lengthy. We didn't mind though--we'll never complain about getting to spend some extra time talking and people watching. Here's Thomas in front of the wine room.

I know this isn't the first thing people think of in reference to Fogo, but their salad bar is amazing. Here's Thomas' plate.

And here's mine. The chicken salad was soooo good.

I promise you I ate more meat that night than I have ever before. This is a fraction of what I consumed. I couldn't even get a picture of Thomas' plate, because he was a ravenous beast.

Here I am sippin' my caipirinha.

And here's Thomas in a food coma.

Our waiter was so sweet. I mentioned early on--as I always do--that my birthday was coming up in a week (to my credit, he was checking my ID, so it came up in conversation). Without even being sneakily or obviously asked, he brought me a birthday flan! I'm not a huge fan of flan, but this one was great.

I'm sure I'll have more details after my actual birthday celebration(s), but this is all for now. I know 22 will be great!

-Kinsey

Valentine's Delight

Hi there!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Last week was crazy, and this weekend I didn't find the time or topics to blog about until it was too late! Oh well, fortunately this week will have lots of blog worthy subject matter, as Valentine's Day and my birthday are only one day apart:]

This Sunday, I got a wild hare to make homemade Valentine's. Fortunately, I have an amazingly sweet husband who gladly cooperated--even when I decided we needed to make Valentine's to and from Jack and Charlotte too.

Here's what we did:

First, we gathered the supplies. My Mother-in-Law has an amazing amount of fabric stored up from years of collecting. I'm really envious of her collection, but I realized while crafting this weekend that I have a similarly stocked craft supply selection. Just look at all of the stickers...and these are only the ones that applied to V-Day!

Here's the card Charlotte made for Jack. Two little known facts: Jack's (made up) middle name is Keats, and Charlotte has amazing handwriting.

Here's Charlotte's card from Jack. Turns out Jack has sad handwriting, and writes lots of his letters backwards. The paw print in the middle of the heart is really his (proof below).

Don't worry, animal people--the paint was non-toxic and safe.

Here is Jack's Valentine from us (Thomas hand painted it!)

And, here is Charlotte's Valentine from us, made with leftover paper from our envelope liners.

The others (ours to each other) are still a surprise as we won't be exchanging until tonight. Even if you aren't into Valentine's Day as a commercial, spendy holiday, we had lots of fun making all of these cards for free and spending time together doing it.

Enjoy your day!

-T, K, J & C

Turkey Puppets and a Tandem Slanket

Happy Sunday!

This weekend we've had lots of fun, starting Friday night. We have a quarterly work social every 3 months (aka quarterly), and this time I chose the venue--Ormsby's.

Ormsby's is famous for their beer selection. They also carry one of my favorite ciders, JK Scrumpy. It is amazing (mostly because it tastes just like apple juice).  

For dinner I went outside my typical 'comfort zone' and tried something I wouldn't normally get--a roast beef sandwich on a hoagie roll with pot roast gravy and horseradish sour cream. I also had a side of onion rings--I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but each ring was 4-6 inches in diameter. 

This wasn't my dessert, but I still thought it was pretty--Apple Cobbler.

Then, on Saturday, we did some chores and relaxing throughout the day, and headed up to Roswell (a suburb of Atlanta) in the afternoon. Roswell is unlike a lot of suburbs in that it's actually old and historic--it's not just cookie cutter houses and restaurants.

We went to have dinner with Addy and Glenard, my coworkers and our good friends, starting with a walk around the square.

 I got this cute little zipper ring at an antique store for $3! (I decided to try out one of this season's nail trends--one randomly colored nail on each hand).

One of the stores had lots of kids toys, including these lovely puppets.  

This is one of the historic homes/tour sites in Roswell. It was beautiful. 

This sign was just ridiculous. 

 After perusing the town for a couple of hours, we headed to a local coffee shop. Thomas and I split this 'small' french press--so tasty.

Next, we headed back to Glenard's place for appetizers and dinner. While we waited, Addy and I started the beauty-palooza.

 I did her nails...

 And she rolled my hair.

 Next, it was time for dinner. Lasagne!

And after dinner, Glenard taught us to play Mahjong. I'm not a huge game player, but this game was so fun. We literally stayed til 2:00 a.m. playing, and I even won once:]

I'll wrap up with this awesome picture of Addy and I in a tandem Slanket. Was your Saturday night this cool?

-Kinsey

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hey there!

This week, Thomas has been begging me to bake. So, finally, I agreed that if he would be my photographer, I would bake up some peanut butter cookies.

I love peanut butter, and this recipe is super super easy. I think I finished these cookies faster than any I've ever baked--the process took less than 45 minutes total.

You'll need:

First, soften the butter.

Next, mix the dry ingredients.

Blend together the butter and peanut butter, then add the sugars.

Add the egg.

Next, gradually add the dry ingredients.

The dough will be fairly sticky, and should form a ball.

Scoop the dough in 3/4 inch rounds onto an ungreased baking sheet, then gently press it down with a fork.

Sprinkle the raw cookies with sugar (I used sugar in the raw) and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Cream softened butter and peanut butter. Add sugars and egg. Gradually add dry ingredients. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet an inch apart. Flatten the cookies slightly with a fork, then bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F.

Enjoy!

Kinsey

p.s. Charlotte is a coat keeper.