CRR

6 years ago today, the world lost an incredible soul.

It is hard to find the words to even begin this post, 

as it is one of the most memorable yet heart wrenching moments of my life...

and it will never leave me.

rewind to March 16th, 2007:

Clay was almost exactly a year older than me. His 18th birthday was on a Friday and it just so happened that our last class of the day had been across the hall from each other, mine being German and his was Speech. The bell rang and everyone flooded the hall. Had I known screaming 'Happy Birthday' and basically tackling him in the hallway would have been the last time... 

Since Clay did family things that Friday night, we decided to celebrate the following night.

Had I known that night would change my life forever...

Clay fell 4 stories down from a condo complex that night.

Me and 5 other of his closest friends witnessed.

It's so amazing how every minute, every little detail of that afternoon and night becomes such a vivid memory that will always seem like it was just yesterday.

Clay suffered major head injuries and spent the next 3 days on a ventilator fighting for his life.

We were all very hopefully in his recovery as we had heard nothing but good news about his progress

...until things took a turn for the worst. 

On March 21st, 2007, Clay passed away. 

The minutes following... the hours... the days...

it didn't matter. What mattered was that this perfect, amazing family had lost their perfectly innocent child and for some reason, I was one of the last people he saw.
These vivid images will never leave me because of that.

I was and will forever be deeply saddened but honored, in a way

and will always know he is watching us all and laughing his hilarious, uncontrollable laugh at all the dumb things we are doing down here.

A week after his passing, hundreds of people joined together to celebrate his life and lay him to rest.
It was my 17th Birthday. 

6 years ago today, Heaven gained one hell of an angel.

R.I.P. Clayton. Only the good die young.

Gawk me

Aside from wiping babies butts for a living, I like to think of myself as a Professional Foodgawker-er.  

For those of you who don't know of this magical net-land, it is and has been my addiction for ehhh probably about 3 years now. 

In simplest terms: It's food porn. 

Pages and pages and pages of food porn. 

As soon as I get any quiet time during my day, I find myself scrolling through picture after picture of the best looking burgers and sandwiches and chicken and fries and veggies and cupcakes imaginable. 

My amazing experience as a foodgawker-er has led me to favoriting over 600 glorious foods of all flavors and categories.  

Seriously, this wonderful creation has turned me into the foodie I am today.

Thanks to my gawking discovery, one of my most favorite things to do is to cook for the ones I love.

Allow me...

This is my babe: 

We love to eat.

In fact... eating is our favorite thing to do together.

Fortunately enough for us, we have good genes.

We try to limit ourselves to eating out only on the weekends.

You know... save a few cals and money...

So I've been cooking

Enjoy:

Hanks creation: Chicken Apple and Kale Salad

Amazing Avocado and Spinach Wrap

Healthy Turkey and Bean Enchiladas

 ...Enchiladas 

Hanks Fave Crockpot Bourbon Chicken

Steak Mash and Beans

Kale Caesar 

3way Shrimp on the grill: Creole, Lemon Pep, & BBQ

Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon & Kale

...

Recipes to come.

(But if they look too incredible and you just can't wait... just ask)

Successful Saturday

A.K.A

Mandi and I survived yet another overnight/day with the twins.

(and for those of you who don't know... 'the twins' = two 3year olds and two 9month olds. 

Yup, alllll from the same fam.)

It all started yesterday around 10 a.m. Mandi was still getting her shit together while I had arrangements to meet with half of our clients. Granted, they were asleep when I arrived

but of course, the moment their primary caretakers left the house, they awoke from their slumbers. 

They felt my presence... I just know it.

As I proceeded to feed them their gourmet lunch of cheerios, grinded up chicken and mac&cheese, some almond butter sammies and a buddy fruit, Hayes and Mandi showed up to relieve me only so I could go pick up the other half of our cliental. 

When I got back home from picking the older boys up from Pre-K... it was strictly nap time, as Hayes, Mandles and I had important business to attend to:

INSANITY.

They are die hard insanitarians. This was only my second time.

With the older 2 in bed, we caged the babes in the "playroom" and began what would soon be the death of us. 

After 40 minutes of heart-wrenching cardio, we were nasty, sweaty, and hungry.

Of course, we had to wait for the munchkins to wake before we could go anywhere... 

but when they FINALLY did (around 5pm) we packed up the troops and went straight to Players Grille.

All 4 kiddos were SO well behaved... it was unbelievable. 

Nothing else cool happened that night... we put all twinzies to bed and watched a couple movies.

Only to be woken up the next morning at 6.a.m.

I mean seriously... I haven't woken up that early since the 7th grade.

But hey, what are you supposed do when all 4 kids wake up ready party?

(very)Long day short, Moondles, Hayes and I took the twinsomes to the Avenues Mall.

After we all ate our fair share of Chick-fil-a, Subway, and Mandarin Express

we headed for Forever 21. 

To the public, I am sure it seemed as if Mandi was a mother of 2 baby twins, and Hayes and I both brought along our 3 year old sons as some sort of "play-date".

All went well until Hayes's child (for the day) and my child (for the moment) started stripping clothes from the hangers and looking up the mannequins skirt while proceeding to kick each other in the shins and screaming as loud as they could.

Needless to say..
it was time to go.

By the time we got home, it was 2 p.m. and to be honest... I couldn't tell who needed a nap more:  Moonsie and I or the boys and babies.

 As soon as we walked in the door, all hell broke loose. 

I won't go in to detail but it was not pretty on both accounts. 

But fear not... it was a quiet house by 2:30.

And it was all smooth sailing from there.

So here we are now... 10:10 p.m. sitting on the couch enjoying a TALL glass (or bottle) of Pinot, eating our weight in cookies and popcorn while watching our 2nd movie of the night.

Don't believe me? 

See for yourself:

Healthy Foodie?

Ahhh I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and relax after suffering from a serious case of the Mondays. Although this past weekend was an amazing time, it wasn't the best for Hank and I as our poor bodies were probably going through shock.

Why, you ask?

...rewind to 2 Sundays ago.

After spending way too much money drinking and eating our asses off (like, literally I scarfed down 20 wings, fries and steamed shrimp + beer at Hooters one night. But whose counting? They were buy 10 get 10 free. Obviously we had to take full advantage of the half-off situation) Hanky came to me with a brilliant challenge: 

We would not go out to eat or have a single drink until 5 p.m. Friday.

Challenge Accepted.

Being the health freak I am, I quickly fell in love with this idea. So naturally, I put my happy ass in the car and headed to Publix. So many healthy dinner recipes were running 500 mph through my brain, I could hardly keep up with myself. 

The following is a glimpse of what my cart consisted of:

Kale, spinach, onion, tomatos, broccoli, deli meat, healthy oat nut bread, oatmeal, cracker chips, ground chicken, beans, rice, nuts, low fat cheeses, fiber tortillas, milk thistle, fish oil, multivitamins, and tic tacs.

MMMmmmmmmm.

Although it was not easy, I am proud to say we survived the challenge. All our meals were healthy, we drank a ton of water, and we took our vitamins every single morning. So refreshing and between the 2 of us, we saved a good chunk of change.

It was bitter sweet. I had gotten used to the whole detox thing and it felt good.

And then there it was, the hour we had been waiting for all week. 5. FIVE. fiiiiiive.

How could I pass up the happiest of hours?

Our healthiness was soon forgotten.

 We started our weekend off with the usual at Lillian's and it was delicious as always.

After that is when things started getting weird.

Who would have thought that taking 1 week off alcohol would have such an impact on tolerance?!

Anyways...

Saturday rolls around and Mandi and I absolutely needed a bagel filled with creamy, fattening cream-cheese from Bagel Love and boy was it good. It might be my new go-to on Saturdays. 

Then, of course Hankalicious decides an hour later that he too needs food. 

Where do we go next?

La Nop. Duh.

After my second breakfast we just sit around and do random things all day.. blahh blahh blahh.

And then we had a wedding to attend. Let's just say we had a blast.

Sunday morning came around and all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed with a gallon of water, watch endless episodes of Friends, and forget about all the awful (but delicious) junk food I had consumed over the weekend.

And then, I was quickly reminded that it was Superbowl Sunday. Great.

After all, it turned out to be a good day spent pigging out with 3 of my best friends while watching football and Beyonce (...but mostly Beyonce).

So, here I am now... drinking water, eating a grapefruit and

 writing out my grocery list for this weeks meals.

Here's to another week of saving, detoxing, and healthifying.

Mojo's Friday

Ohhh Bagel Love

Like father, like daughter

My healthy burrito creation

How us girls celebrated the Superbowl

TBT: Moonsicle and E-Slice Edition

Well, what do you know...

it's already Thursday again.

If you're on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter,

you know what that means...

TBT!

The other night, Mandi and I were reminiscing on the days where we painted the town red (literally... sometimes there was blood). There came a point in time where her parents should have claimed me as one of their own. 

A typical day: wake up, go to work, work until 6, drive to Mandarin, meet Mandi at Chili's, have 2 rounds of 2-for-1's, eat bottomless chips and occasionally order a meal, leave, get a bottle of wine each, meet back at the Parete house, make 3 bags of popcorn (1 for me, 1 for her, and 1 for Momma P), head straight to the Wine Room, sit on the couch, turn on the T.V., open our computers, stalk the shit out of Facebook, and Pinterest our little hearts out. 

Sad... but good times.

We weren't always losers though.

 Here are some never-before seen pictures to prove it:

Valentines Day circa '10

Test driving my rental... a minivan

                                              

 The passport days
(disregard the fact that I look with child)

 Moonsicles 22nd

Moonsie's graduation party

Late night Taco Bell

... apparently Elvis had the same idea

'Team Awesome'

Tracking down 'Team Awesome'

The Wine Room

Performing at The Pier 

My favorite picture

Mandi making me manually open the gate to her house... 

in the rain

After the U.S. soccer game... we made our cab driver go through TacoBell so we could get our 12 pack

Also after the soccer game... trying to track down my life

 

'The Boss' chillin' in The Wine Room

Lastly, I leave you with this... 

the time we attempted a blog

http://eandm-ourtwocents.blogspot.com