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Realization

Happy July, I'm 6 days late in wishing you well for the second half of the year, but better late than never as they say (whoever "they" may happen to be!!)

So being that this is the second half of the year it would be fitting to have some sort of goals in place. Well being me, I actually do have a few and today marked the beginning of one...I have always had this feeling of incompleteness when it comes to analyzing my life as a whole. I just feel as though there is something more that I should be contributing to this world and that I am missing my calling for this unknown path. As often as I say this I have never really looked into how to accomplish this goal until, well, today. This is my main goal for the remainder of the year....wish me luck! I'll try to give you monthly updates and maybe more frequently, but it is all dependent upon how this path develops before me.

Hope you enjoyed some sort of fireworks show to celebrate the 233rd birthday of this wonderfully beautiful country!

Happy Monday!

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Friday Random-ness

A lot has transpired this week...from the metro rail accident to the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. It's still a little hard to believe that MJ is no longer here. We have been singing and dancing to his songs since yesterday evening...just a state of shock, but time is promised to no one. It really just makes the statement "...live life to the fullest..." a little louder. Condolences to all those who have lost someone this week.

Wednesday, Jasmine and I ventured out to the garden across the street from my window at work to check out the sunflowers. If you don't know...SUNFLOWERS are my favorite flowers!! They just make me feel happy and cheery, and not to mention the giant ones are just amazing to look at. I heard from a co-worker that the garden is going to be replaced with a memorial for... ok I can't quite remember so it's either Roosevelt, Ford or another President, I just can't put my finger on it right now. Anyhow the point is we try to enjoy it every year that it's still around since we've been hearing rumors of the memorial coming soon for the last couple of years.

I also have a picture of Joey, our resident groundhog! He comes out often when Sarge (the dog) is not around...I'm not sure what it is that he eats in the backyard but he's hilarious to watch.

Father's Day Recap

In my family we have a tradition of preparing the birthday, anniversary, father's or mother's day meal of that particular persons choosing. Sooo when I asked my father what he would like to eat for Father's Day his unsurprising answer - a T-bone! I then became faced with options, where exactly was I going to by this T-bone? He started talking about the T-bones he saw at Costco they were 3 for $30, but I didn't want to go to Costco to get a steak. No offense to Costco, but I wanted a prime cut of beef as this was his only request and I wanted to find the best steak I could, I am a daddy's girl after all...so we needed QUALITY!! He then started talking about the Giant and how they may have some, but have any of you seen the steak selection at Giant? The meat is sooo then and the price is sooo high I knew I wasn't going there either. So I guess you're wondering where did I end up...well I went to my favorite store - Whole Foods Market! I chose Whole Foods for a number of reasons...

1. I know they have a butcher in the store


2. They have a huge selection of meats


3. I could get prime quality beef


4. I ♥ Whole Foods

When I arrived at the meat counter, they were 2 options of T-bones. They had Prime T-bones and the had Dry-aged Prime T-bones. Unclear of what exactly dry-aged meant I had to ask the guy to explain the difference and in his opinion which would yield a better taste. When I think dry-aged I'm thinking like drying the meat as in making beef jerky which is apparently the wrong impression. I ended up getting the dry-aged T-bone which was actually a porterhouse because there was more meat on the little side than what a T-bone cut would allow. That steak was $31...yes one steak $31...it was $19.99 a pound, but it's Father's Day so what the hay and as the worker at Whole Foods said..."Nothing says love like a good piece of beef!" For the rest of us, I prepared shrimp, scallops and broccoli over linguine with alfredo sauce. I took a stab at searing scallops and I think for the first try they turned out well, but I ended up just sauteing the rest of them.

Here's the proof!

These are the results of my attempt to sear scallops

This is the T-bone (actually porterhouse) prior to cooking, with the seasonings rubbed in

The results after being broiled

The shrimp, scallop and broccoli linguine with alfredo sauce

Tragic...

I would like to express my condolences and prayers for the the families that lost loved ones in the metro train accident yesterday. Words cannot and will never replace them in your hearts. I also would like to express well wishes for those that were injured in the incident as well.

Here is a link to the Washington Post

(no commercial today.)

Happy Father's Day!

Hopefully you dad's out there are kicked back and relaxed!