Award Winning Peanut Butter Pie

I was recently invited to a PIE PARTY and it was fabulous!! You can read more about it here. My dear friend asked for the recipe and since it's not really mine to begin with, here it is:

The Original Oyster House' 

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie

8 oz cream cheese
(1) 16-oz tub Whip Topping (thawed)
(1) cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon Kahlua
8 oz powdered sugar
3/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
(1) Oreo pie shell

Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, Kahlua and powdered sugar together. Add cool whip and blend well. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell. Should be mounded high in the middle.

Note: Keep refrigerated. Serve with a dollop of whip cream.

Yield: one pie 

ENJOY!!

It makes me so happy!!

I'm not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore award season! I love everything from the red carpet to even the speeches! Oh and I can't forget the fabulous fashion! 

Claire Danes and Emma Stone both looked fabulous in Calvin Klein Collection 

 I love when women wear such bold, fabulous colors!

You can't go wrong either with pale pink as seen on Lea Mitchell and Meghan Fox. 

And you can't forget the SPARKLES!!!!

Love it!!

Award Season begins tonight!!

In honor of the Award Season beginning:

Going on Day 3

This past weekened, my mother made the wise decision for me to spend the night at their house Sunday in case the snow and ice were as bad as they were anticipated to be. Well, I've been snowed in at my parents since Sunday (if it wasn't obvious by the previous post). Last night my mom got the call to go into work today as did my dad and myself. (Dad and I work together) So this morning, we all got up and got dressed for work. Mom left, Dad left, and then it was my turn. It is now 12:00 as I write this and I have been trying to get out of the driveway since 9 this morning. I finally got an email from my dad telling me to stay off the roads because they are still pretty icy and dangerous. Awesome! 

So here I am again, day 3 of being snowed in and can continue my Ancestry research. Last night my mom and I decided to go through my grandmother's many many pictures that she has boxed up over the years. Here's just a few of what we came across: 

My Great-Great Grandfather and his second wife circa 1954 in Bad Nauheim, Germany 

L to R: My Grandfather, John C Reynolds, his brother Homer, his sister Alice, and his parents in St. Simons Island in 1949. 

So sweet!! My Grandfather and my mom! October 1959. 

Again, my Grandfather and mom. 

Sadly, he passed away 11 months after this picture was taken. 

Oma and my mom, Easter 1961

My Great-Grandmother Frieda Balser Hussenetter

For those of you who know my younger sister, they apparently are very similar. 

My Grandmother (far left), Tante Karola, and my Great-Grandmother in Karl-Berg, Germany. 

Not sure if you can see it but Tante Karola is having a nice good laugh probably because of something witty and dry that my Great-Grandmother said. 

Not sure the details but I just like this one but I think my Grandmother (2nd from the left) looks so pretty!!

My parents, less than two months after their wedding, celebrating my mom's 21st birthday! 

My younger sister and I at a family reunion!

My younger sister and I at a family birthday celebration! 

Hopefully, I'll be able to uncover a lot more stories and memories today!!

Country Strong

I was given the opportunity recently to attend a free screening of Gwyneth Paltrow's newest movie Country Strong and I have to admit that I can't stop thinking about it!

There are several things that I love about this movie.
1: I love the fact that the actors are actually singing the songs in the movie!
2: I love that you would not normally think of Gwyneth to portray a character like Kelly Cantor but she is so wonderfully heartbreaking!
3: Oh and it doesn't hurt either that Garrett Hedlund is so easy on the eyes!

I don't want to give too much away with this movie so instead, I'll just let Ann McElhinney with Big Hollywood give her professional review on the movie:

‘Country Strong’ Review: Heart, Soul, Great Performances and Music

by Ann McElhinney

I can’t remember the last time I went to see a movie twice in one week. I did just that with Country Strong. 

Country Strong is very good, it’s sincere, it’s sad, it’s funny and the music is toe-tapping, hum-in-your-head-for-days good. It’s also a reminder of what being a movie star is all about. Gwyneth Paltrow’s performance as alcoholic country music star Kelly Canter is believable and heartbreaking and she can belt out a country song like she was born to it. Garrett Hedlund, however, steals the spotlight playing an aspiring singer-song-writer working in a rehab facility who befriends Paltrow. He is the real deal, he can do anything, even make you believe he is a professional singer, which he is not, and boy can he sing and act, brilliant. Country Strong is a morality tale, bad behavior brings serious consequences and the good find hope and happiness, all that morality doesn’t go down well in a Hollywood where the rape of a teenager can be dismissed as not really “rape, rape” and the rapist defended. 

I’ve seen so many appalling films lately, it was truly refreshing to see something with so much heart and soul. It probably didn’t deserve to be seen twice in one week but I felt so low after seeing “How Do You Know” with all it’s dialed in performances. 

I saw Country Strong in Hollywood and when a particularly powerful song was being performed and two American flags were unfurled, some audience members laughed. The NYT reviewer scoffs at another poignant moment when Paltrow kisses a cross she is wearing, they hate Christians almost as much as they hate America. How very smart and clever of them. Unfortunately, the NYT can crush a film. 

I am very curious to see how the film does at the box office and I wish the producers well. The reviews in all the urbane sophisticated outlets are panning it. I can’t recommend it enough, silly me.

I too cannot recommend this movie enough! I'd go see it again right now today if I weren't snowed in! I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs from the film -- Give in to Me by Leighton Meester & Garrett Hedlund. Enjoy!!

Winter -- Southern Style

Today marks another day of no work/no school due to the snow that fell Sunday night. Us Southeners aren't used to this type of weather but oh how we do love it! 

Here are some pictures from Monday morning!! 

Pretty front yard! 

Snow covered Hydrangeas

My parents house

Duke loves playing in the snow -- not the ice though!

It's like Beauty and the Beast! :)

It's a Brand New Year

New Year’s Eve 2009 was a pretty lame evening. One of closest friends was recently married the month before and all of my friends and I were all looking to have a fairly low-key and boring night. I ended up spending it with my parents and siblings at the house of one of our family’s closest friends. 

As lame as that night might have made me feel, I still had a strong feeling that 2010 was going to be “my” year! I had just accepted a position at Merrill Lynch, leaving my retail job behind, and I had a feeling that this was the ‘’break’’ that I was looking for needed. A few months after that, I moved out of my parents house, again, and into a one bedroom apartment by myself! Life was good! I officially considered myself a successful, independent woman! There are still a few things that I did not ‘’accomplish’’ last year as I had hoped but I still have a feeling that 2011 is going to be just a good!!

Most people make resolutions but this year I decided to venture down another road of making goals for the year. And to make it permanent, I sat down on NYE night before heading out and I wrote them down! So now I am letting you know as another form of accountability. They are:

1. To start and complete Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.

I have never been very good at budgeting. When I was younger, it was easier for me because if I didn’t have the green, then I couldn’t spend it! Now I’ve just become lazy in keeping track of my spending and it hasn’t really worked out for me that well! I also have several big purchases that I need to make hopefully in the next year or so. One of them being a new car to replace the one I’ve been driving since I was 17! She’s been good to me, even if she’s missing a few hubcaps, but the inevitable is peeking around the corner.  Plus, I so want to live like no one else now so that I can live like no one else later! I’ve already taken the first step – Mom and I have signed up for his Financial Peace University classes!

2. To have a closer relationship with God/To pray daily/To start a personal devotion

Growing up in middle school/high school, I was very involved with my church. I went on mission trips, I went on church choir tours, and was very involved with the youth group. There was a combination of things that lead me astray from my daily walk but needless to say, it’s taken me a while to find a happy medium and come back around. Don’t get me wrong, I would not change the way I was raised! I met some of my closest friends during this point in my life and contribute it to the way I am today! I also think that it helped me conclude my own theories on religion and a relationship with God. Towards the end of this last year, I felt a tugging to become involved in a Bible study and now I’m longing for a daily relationship with Him.

3. To pass the Series 7

After being at Merrill for less than a year, I was offered a promotion. Yay!!! The only stipulation – I have to get serious about the 7. I’ve had the material to study for the 7 for several months now but between weddings and birthdays and holidays, it just felt impossible to study. Well, now the time has come where I really need this now for my job and plus there is a ‘reward’ for passing the exam.   Between this and saving money, I’m going to have a lot of self-discipline in my future!

4. To become more active/lose some weight

Yes I just admitted that on the internet for everyone and their mother to read. That’s fine! Like everyone, I have my own personal problem areas and I’m ready for them to go away! The constant dieting before a big event is not only tiring but also totally unavoidable! I have also been toying with the idea of running a race. Again, something always comes up and gets in the way of training that I would need to do. To avoid taking on too much too soon! I’m going to forecast a race for the second half of the year. This way I will have worked my fat butt up to a place where I feel comfortable running 3 miles because anyone who knows me knows how much I despise running regardless of how good it is for you!

5. To be more social and make new friends

I was recently awakened to the real reason of why you don’t want to be the last one in your group of friends to get married: After they get married they are busy starting their lives together and it’s not as easy for them to drop everything and go do something. This is the truth! Within the last year, I have had 3 of my closest friends get married and with that went my social life! It’s no one’s fault, that’s just life! But it occurred to me that I need more people in my life who are, for the time being, in my same stage of life. So…I have decided (between saving money, studying, and working out) that I am going to be more social with my current friends while branching out and meeting new people. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to go about and do that but I am! 

I read an article this morning from Self magazine telling me that there is a 75% chance of these personal goals lasting a week and only a 40-46% chance of them lasting for six months. Here’s hoping they just made that up and these goals will be completed come this time next year!