Fantasy Football & What's a 4th Down?

When football season kicked off last year (pun intended!), I reminded you all just how much little I know about football. Here we at the start of another season and I could not be happier that Peyton Manning is back in my life.  He was really busy in the off season...

Shooting Rap Videos

                       

and NFL Promos

                        

but we are now back to our regularly scheduled, weekly dates :)

You are not going to believe this, but I am playing fantasy football this year - my cousin needed more players in his league and I volunteered! I think Justin was more excited than I was. He printed off worksheets and forced me against my will planned time to sit down and explain the ins and outs of football to the girl who barely understands what a 4^th down is. That lasted about 5 minutes (when Justin realized how little I actually knew and I realized that the website listed player rankings).

It turns out, I actually learned something by listening to all Justin’s football talk :) When draft time rolled around, I was really surprised at how many players I had heard of…I was even more surprised that I knew things about them!

Check out my awesome team…

I didn’t get Peyton (and I cried for 18 minutes), but I am still pretty sure I’m going to win the league with this hard working group of players. I called each of them this morning to give them a pep talk. Even though we have a bye week this week, there is no reason for them to take it easy. Justin and I have a bet on who has the better fantasy football team and every point counts!

Prepare yourself for 6 months of football talk…and watch these Peyton Manning Commercials.

Are you in a fantasy football league?

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a fantasy running league?

What’s your favorite Peyton commercial? 

Girl’s Night & Hot Soccer Players

Friday night was spent with some of my favorite people in the whole entire world. My favorite thing about these ladies is that even though we haven’t all gotten together since last summer, we can still pick up our conversations right where we left off. In case I haven’t done it yet, let me officially introduce you to my high school crew:

Jennifer: is currently living in Cincinnati working on her doctorate in Chemistry. She’s my maid of honor, I am the godmother of her cat Breezy, and she is the person who introduced me to my fiancé. She likes drinking wine, dancing in parking lots, and overanalyzing every situation. This is why we are besties.

Erin: got married last summer and recently moved to California. She is a pharmacist and probably the smartest person you’ll ever meet. She and her hubby are the cutest couple ever. If you ask nicely, you can convince said hubby to take a bazillion pictures during girls night so that you have them for your blog post
Jessica: recently got home from a Harry Potter convention and VidCon which both sounded amazing when she was telling me all of her stories. She does disaster relief work and is a youth minister so she always has great stories to tell!

Morgan: is planning a Valentine’s Day 2014 wedding and recently bought a house which is decorated with the coolest stuff. She is more stylish & trendy than I can ever dream of being. Her mom took our English class on a trip to Europe in high school and we nicknamed her dad Captain Christmas.

Girl's Night = Success

On Saturday, we drove down to Bardstown so that Justin could play in the Alumni soccer game at his high school. I have to admit, I know next to nothing about soccer (but I am really trying to learn!). What I do know is that soccer players are pretty good looking.  I know that you are all still swooning over Juan Pablo but not me! I have my very own smokin’ hot soccer player :) 

On Sunday, I got to go to lunch with another one of my favorite people, my cousin Taylor. I had a very important question to ask her, and she said YES! Our first wedding task is complete…now we just have to pick the date, the venue, the caterer, the DJ…..and on and on and on.

What did you do this weekend?

How often do you get to see your high school friends?

Does anyone have a soccer for dummies book I can borrow?

What’s this Hockey Thing Ya’ll Keep Talking About?

This past week has been very exciting - Balloon Glow, Mini Marathon, Bed Races, Pegasus Parade, Oaks Day, and of course, the Kentucky Derby (I was rooting for Overanalyzer today, because, well, story of my life!).

In Pittsburgh, people seemed to be excited for a very different reason this week – 
Hockey Playoffs. 

Since I know absolutely nothing about hockey, I thought I would do a little research so I won't look super confused every time someone brings up the topic. I got bored of researching after like, 10 seconds so I decided to look up fun facts instead.

10 fun facts about Hockey:

1. The earliest hockey games were played with chunks of frozen cow dung
2. The average NHL games uses a dozen pucks
3. The first year a formal ice hockey game was played on record was 1855
4. In 1917, the NHL began with the following "original six" teams: Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Redwings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs
5. The Stanley Cup was purchased in 1892 by the General Governor of Canada, Lord Frederick Stanley
6. The Stanley Cup is two feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 34.5 pounds
7. It takes 15,000 gallons of water to make a regulation-size rink ready before hockey games are played on them
8. The Montreal Canadians have won the most Stanley Cups in league history (23!)
9. Since 1914, the Stanley Cup has been awarded every year but two (1919 & 2005)
10. The Anaheim Ducks were named after the team in the Disney Movie, The Mighty Ducks

                                                                                                                                                                                Source Source Source

PS - Does anyone else remember when Mr. Potato Head yelled at the Hockey Puck?

PPS - GO PENS!

Fried Pickles & Butler Basketball

The Boy and I had THE BEST fried pickles yesterday. I had never had fried pickles until we started dating but Justin likes them so I tried them. It was a good decision. It was actually warm outside yesterday (a whopping 39 degrees!), so we went down to the South Side to explore and find a spot to watch the March Madness games.

We ended up at Carson City Saloon and ordered the pickles. It's a great sports bar and even though this is a hockey town, they welcomed these Butler Basketball fanatics for the day.

Ok - more like one Butler Basketball fanatic and one boyfriend who now understands that he has to become a Butler Basketball fanatic in order to get the final rose some day (yep. that's a Bachelor reference :))

We were joined by my co-workers who also moved from Louisville to Pittsburgh last year. We were rep-ing our UofL and Butler gear all day. It was a nice little feel of home. Right before the Butler game we discovered that the bar sells these ginormous blue drinks. It's called the Papa Smurf. I renamed it Butler Magic for the night.

Even though we lost, I'm proud of the Butler team. The loss stung, but that's ok. We'll be back next year, continuing to play the Butler Way. After the Butler game, I became an instant Wichita St. fan. Ya gotta love the underdogs. I'm officially in last place in the bracket pool, but I don't even care :)

After a scrumptious double cheeseburger and french fry breakfast, we decided to watch the IU game from the comfort of the couch this afternoon. Let's go Hoosiers!

                    

What's your favorite bar food?

How's your bracket looking after this weeks' games?

What's your go to "recovery food"?

- Double cheeseburger & diet coke for this girl

Pinwheels

I made pinwheels for the boy and I to enjoy during the Beyonce concert...er...Super Bowl last weekend. It was an afterthought, and I whipped them together with random stuff from the fridge. I would probably never survive the first round of Chopped, but I was pretty impressed with how they turned out.

Here's What You Need:

Cream Cheese

Chopped green onions

Shredded Cheese

Sliced Ham

Sliced Turkey

Hot Sauce

Tortillas

Here's What You Do:

1) Mix the cream cheese, green onions, and shredded cheese

2) Spread the mixture on the tortillas

3) Add Ham, Turkey, or a Mixture of the two

4) Sprinkle hot sauce on a few 

5) Roll the tortillas

6) Slice into fifths

Seriously people, it's that simple. And they taste AWESOME! 

Food, Beyonce, & Football

This past weekend I finally got to explore a little bit of the city I now call home. Justin braved the snowy mountains and a nine hour drive to take me out to dinner on Saturday night. After a Google search, an Urban Spoon search, and a Groupon search, we decided on Penn Brewery. If you’re ever in Pittsburgh, I highly recommend it. The food was incredible and the beer was even better. We got the sampler, so we tried 10 different locally brewed beers. The most interesting beer was the Chocolate Meltdown. I swear it tasted exactly like chocolate milk! Justin preferred the Penn Dark (Dunkel…no surprise there!).

  

We tried out the famous (infamous?) Eat’n Park after Church for Sunday Brunch. It was surprisingly good! I ate more food than I should probably eat in a week…it was worth it. We thought about finding a bar to watch the Beyonce Concert…er…Super Bowl, but decided to make our favorite tailgate foods and watch it at home instead. Justin was representing the NFC in his Cardinals shirt & I decided to rep the AFC in my Colts shirt. 

Justin made his dad’s famous chicken wings & I made pinwheels. The chicken wing recipe can be found in my blog post from last March. I promise to post the pinwheel recipe later this week! 

Since you can’t buy your beer, liquor, and groceries at the same place in Pittsburgh (don’t get me started…), Justin and I took a tour of the Wine & Spirits shop near my house on Saturday. We found “DUDE” on the shelf and decided we had to try it. The all mighty internet told us that if we mixed it with Sprite, it would taste exactly like Mt. Dew. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is definitely an AWESOME drink. Seriously, this stuff is dangerous! 

It was a perfect weekend. The only bad part was watching the boy pack up his stuff and load up the Honda. This whole long distance thing is no fun. I’m ready for Spring Break!

What was your favorite commercial?

Which team were you rooting for?

Do you have a favorite Super Bowl snack?

Tailgating - Power T Style

When The Boy invited me to the UT/Missouri game earlier this year, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My thought process went as follows: football = tailgate = spinach dip…mmmm I love spinach dip…SURE! The day of the big event finally arrived and to my disdain, there was no spinach dip. There was however, breakfast casserole, chips & salsa, cornhole boards, and beer…lots of beer!

I've been to a few tailgates, but none as awesome as this one. We had a prime spot on top of the parking garage right across from the stadium. It was a little chilly when we got there at 5am (yea…you read that right…CRAZY BOYS!), but it turned out to be a perfect day for football.

We had great seats for the game. This is when it pays to date a Grad Student who gets tickets in the student section…no nosebleeds for us!

Even though UT lost in the 4^th overtime (yes…I actually sat through 4 overtimes), we had a blast.  

  

Fun fact about Neyland Stadium: When full, Neyland Stadium holds enough people to be the third largest city in the state of Tennessee. Also, Peyton Manning played there (SA-WOON!).

Did I mention that we tailgated with the best dressed fan at the game?

Or that I now know all of the words to this song after listening to it on repeat for 12 hours:

On a scale of 1-10, the day was a 16 (which was Peyton's number at UT by the way).

GO VOLS

Are You Ready For Some Football?!

Last year, on one of those nights I couldn't sleep, I found myself watching reruns of The League on FX. After those first few episodes, I was hooked. Thanks to Netflix, coffee, & lack of a social life, I watched the entire show in one weekend.  I decided that I wanted to grow up and be just like Jenny MacArthur….until I remembered that my football knowledge revolved around Peyton Manning and the fact that we’re getting married someday (don’t tell Justin) and that usually by halftime of a football game, I am more focused on enjoying the spinach dip than what is happening on TV.

So I went back to Plan A: Cheering for the Colts and tweeting about how much I love the Drew Brees NyQuil commercials. It was working really well for me…and then I got myself one of those boyfriend people…who happens to know a lot about football.  

Which leads me to his Fantasy Football draft. I put on my Jenny MacArthur hat and reminded him daily, hourly in fact, that Peyton Manning was the way to go (no longer a Colt :( but still my future husband :) ). I can only imagine the number of eye rolls that happened over the phone & via text message that week. You can imagine my excitement when I received this text message on draft night…

 I got Manning….

In fact, my exact response was, “WHOOP WHOOP!”

I’m telling myself that my “statistics” helped him arrive at his draft pick (he’s so cute…did you see the Buick commercial…Eli is his little brother…I lived in Indy for four years...he likes oreos…of course that’s a real fact, just pick him!).

Jump ahead to last night’s kickoff game (fun fact: did you know that it was the first Wednesday night game since 1948?). I turned the game on for background noise while I was pinning new recipes, fabulous outfits, and decorating tips. I had just talked to Justin, and I swear I was listening when he told me who I should be rooting for. A few minutes into the first quarter, our texting convo went something like this:

Me: I already forgot who I’m supposed to be cheering for tonight…

 The Boy: Ahmad Bradshaw, number 44. Giants. Dez Bryant, number 88. Cowboys .

(What a good boyfriend, giving me numbers instead of positions so I would know who to watch for!)

                                               

…a few minutes later...

 Me: Eli is such a cutie. I think I’ll cheer for him instead :)

(I’m such a supportive girlfriend)

The Boy: Eli is a mouth breather

 (How rude! Talking about my future brother-in-law like that!!)

 Me: You’re cute. I’d cheer for you if you played football

 The Boy: I played in high school

 (Join the NFL, buddy, and we’ll talk)

Next thing I knew, it was halftime aka bedtime for yours truly. So I went to sleep dreaming about football season and all of the wonderful things that come with it…tailgating, chili, hot chocolate, hoodies, crunchy leaves, boots!, and snuggling with my awesome boyfriend on a chilly fall evening.

Who else is looking forward to Sunday? I sure am…Go Colts (and Go Peyton)

Celebrating Kentucky

It’s that time of year again…football is back! I don’t really consider myself a diehard fan of any team (although, I suppose I’m a UT fan this year!), but I always cheer for my hometown team, University of Louisville. Yesterday UofL kicked off their season playing the University of Kentucky for the Governor’s Cup. Justin and I went out to my uncle’s to watch the game. He was very brave rocking his blue shorts in a house full of Cardinal fans…luckily he forgot his UK shirt in Knoxville :) 

After we watched UofL kick some UK butt, we kept on celebrating the state of Kentucky. What a better way than having Kentucky Hot Browns for dinner followed by Derby Pie for dessert! I was a little nervous heading into the kitchen. No one wants to mess up the famous hot brown! Ours didn't turn out quite as amazing as The Brown Hotel's famous dish, but it was pretty freakin’ delicious. I used a slightly different recipe than what is on their website.

Here’s What You Need:

½ cup butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 pound roasted turkey

1 tomato

8 slices white bread, toasted

8 slices bacon

Here’s What You Do:

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Stir in flour with whisk & continue to cook and stir until it begins to brown. 

Gradually whisk in the milk until all lumps are gone. 

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. 

Mix in ¼ cup of parmesan cheese & then stir in the beaten egg to thicken. 

Do not allow the sauce to boil once the egg has been mixed in!

Remove from heat & stir in heavy cream.

Preheat the oven’s broiler. 

For each Hot Brown, place 2 slices of toast into the bottom of a casserole dish. 

Layer turkey and tomato slices over the toast. 

Cover with sauce & sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese.

Place the dish under the broiler and cook 5-10 minutes until the top is speckled brown. 

Remove from broiler and arrange 2 slices of bacon on top of each sandwich.

Serve immediately & ENJOY!

To Make the Derby Pie, Here’s What You’ll Need:

½ cup melted butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup of chocolate chips

¾ cup pecans

Pie crust  (9 inch)

This is such an easy recipe! Here's What You Do:

Here’s What You Do:

Combine all ingredients and mix

(Slip in an extra 1/4 cup of Chocolate Chips when Justin's not looking)

Bake in pie crust at 350 for 45 minutes

Serve & ENJOY!

Our Taste of Kentucky meal turned out wonderfully! The best part was the leftovers that we got to enjoy today. We took our Holiday seriously and spent the entire day relaxing and eating. I hope you guys all had a fabulous, relaxing Labor Day too :) 

We're really, really bad at taking pictures of ourselves :)