Celebrating Love and Friendship

Grant and I celebrated four years of marriage this past Thursday and had a very nice dinner at Flemmings. I highly recommend this restaurant for a special occasion. They even handed us a box of their homemade chocolate truffles at the end of the meal for a gift and they were delicious! It's hard to believe it has been four years. This picture is from our honeymoon and has always been a favorite of mine. Thanks for four great years, sweet husband. Here's to many more!


The day after our anniversary, I headed to Heber Springs (again!) for a different, and much needed celebration with friends. We have been trying to plan a small trip for more than 5 years now and thanks to Bubba and Debbie Edwards, this trip was quite inexpensive! Me, along with 4 of my lifelong friends from high school/college spent a relaxing weekend at the lake in a beautiful mansion!

Back of the house... simply gorgeous!

We threw Emily a small surprise shower on Saturday (yes, in our swimsuit attire!) and topped it off with Muddy's cupcakes. There's nothing like those sweet buttercream treats!

We even spent a little time with sweet Nora

And a lot of time on the boat!

We had the choice of our own room, but chose the "bunk room" instead. And why not, right? Who doesn't love reverting back to the slumber party years where laughter is uncontrollable, secrets are told and random games like "Name as many people as you can from our graduating class of 2000" are played (I'll have you know, we made it to 88/98 people before peeking at the annual!)

Emily's house in Bald Knob (short Eryn :) who returned to Memphis early). The weekend just wasn't long enough!

And now, off to the lake again tomorrow!

Game on

I don't know how it happened, but somehow Grant and I found ourselves engaged in the Belizean favorite, game of "Slaps" tonight.

Yes, this game dates back to the ages, as seen in this picture of Jonathan Jerkins and Grant Burke in Belize. Possibly 1997?
(Excuse the quality. We don't have a scanner)

For those of you unfamiliar with this game, let me explain. It involves two people standing face-to-face with hands positioned in a "stop" fashion, ready to slap hands together in hopes of throwing one's opponent of his/her feet and thus, becoming victorious. I might add that in the past, this has turned into " Ok, best of three" or "best of ten". When I was in Belize, this game would last forever.

And in tonight's match-up, let it be known that I dominated. But because I was victorious SO many times, Grant thought I might be cheating. Thus, our debate of the rules.

So the questions I pose to all you who love Belize and this game are:

1. What if one person loses his/her balance and begins to fall forward, but feet have not left the ground and one's opponent moves first. Who's out? (Grant votes the one who initiated movement first).
2. Is one disqualified for reaching forward with all his/her might and accidentally pushing the chest vs the person's hands even though the opponent still moved his/her feet first?
3. Is there a rule stated, " You are pushing too hard." (because this was Grant's comment each time he fell.)
4. What exactly are the formal rules, if any?
5. And really, how many of you think I cheated? Come on... I'm stronger than I look right?

So, if you could shed some light on the rules, that would be great because I think this will become a new game in the Burke house.

On a different note, make your way over to 6660 Poplar Ave(corner of Poplar and Kirby) to the newly renovated Kroger for some great deals and free stuff like :
-Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for $1.50 each
-California cherries for $2.88 lb.
-USDA choice boneless ribeye steaks for $5.97lb ( We had one tonight and it was great! One is enough for two people with sides)
-Beautiful flowers at various low prices.

And the best part: Free items (about 7) to the first 200 people each day between 4pm and 6pm. Also, just by using your Kroger card, you are automatically entered to win a gift card for $500, $750 and $1000. Given away June 13th, 20th, 27th and July 4th. Good luck!

Two years later...

and we finally finished painting our garage door! There are a few people in this world who realize what an accomplishment this is for us. We have many projects that are only 50% complete, but we are slowly making progress. Now, before you take a peek at the door, you must know how it came to be and the irony that exists with the finished product.

When we bought this house (2 years ago this week) there were all kinds of treasures to be had for someone in love with the 70's. Maybe I'll post pics of all those sometime :) Anyway, the garage door had a diamond-shaped stained glass in it and the kitchen door (which we removed for space sake) had a "beautiful" tree motif stained glass window. Unlike other friends and Grant, I was not particularly fond of this "Tree of Life" door. Did you give it this name, Leslie?! Well someone did, and it stuck. The door has been in hiding for 2 years because we weren't using it and quite honestly I never planned to.

So, Grant began his project this week of stripping the door, removing the diamond glass stained window, etc. And to make a long and dramatic story short, during the re-do process, Grant tripped over the stained glass and crushed it, rendering it useless.

Now, do you see where this is going? If you guessed that the "Tree of Life" window is now being used and adored then you are right. How's that for karma! But I'll have to say, I'm sorry I ever made fun of that window because I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Here's the door before, garage view and inside house view.

Inside view after Grant shattered the window. I still can't believe it took us this long to re-do this thing! As you can see, we painted inside the house around the door, but somehow never reached the door itself. :) Don't miss the 2-tone quality... brown when you come in and primer white as you leave! (Yep, this is the main door for the house)



And the finished product with our "Tree of Life"



Not too shabby with the sunlight, right?

Thank you, Mom!

This year for Mother's Day I thought it was time my mother (and mother-in-law) enjoy a meal they did not have to slave in the kitchen over. And what better way to honor them than with a dainty brunch! Since brunch is one of my favorite things, it was very difficult to nail down the winning recipes, but it all came together fairly well. Overall, the food turned out great, with the exception of the blueberry muffins, that Grant re-named scruffins (mixture of scones and muffins). Oh well, that's the joy of new recipes!

The breakfast casserole was simple, yet not like any other I've had before, so I thought I'd share it with you:

Country Club Breakfast
10 slices bread, cubed and divided
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups sausage or ham (I used sausage)
8 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup butter, melted

Line bottom of greased 9x13 dish with 3/4 bread cubes. Layer cheddar cheese with sausage or ham over bread cubes. Combine eggs, milk, salt and mustard in mixing bowl. Pour over casserole. Top with remaining bread. Pour melted butter over casserole. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.This may similar to a recipe you've made before, but I think its the crunchy bread on top that really makes this extra delicious!

Thank you, Mom for all the love, sacrifice, hugs, advice, long phone calls, shopping adventures, prayers and of course, your most amazing cooking over the past 26 years! I hope your Mother's Day was special. You are loved and appreciated!

No Babies Allowed

Yes, I have decided to join the blogging world and no, I am not with child. In fact, this blog was only approved by my husband with the promise that the Burke house (and we all know Grant speaks for himself here) would continue with the theme of "No babies allowed."

Thanks to Sara Garner for inspiring me that I can create a blog even though I am not pregnant! And as previously mentioned to others (Jesse, Leslie, Martha...) even though you girls don't have children, you know you are in a different category when it comes to blogs. :) So, just as babies are not allowed in the Burke house, your judgement of my grammar skills is not allowed as you read this blog!

To begin this blog I thought I'd share a few things about myself in the form of 25 things, as many others have already done.

1. If there is something to buy with the word "coffee" in it or on it, I will buy it: drink, candle, candy, ice cream, t-shirt, anything.
2. I lived in Italy for a summer studying with Harding University and would give anything to go back to Europe.
3. Thanks to my Dad, I was a champion bowler in elementary school, equip with my own bowling ball, bag, shoes, and gloves . We won the Father and Daughter league twice at Billy Brunswick.
4. I never hit the snooze button.
5. I want to yell not-nice things when someone does not use their turn signal.
6. I do not tolerate ridiculous rants from UT fans and it almost got me in trouble last year.
7. Besides our honeymoon, I consider our trip to the 2008 Final Four the most exciting thing Grant and I have ever done together.
8. I also answer to these names: Mando and MeMandi
9. As a freshman at David Lipscomb, I won a mock-MTV dating contest wearing leopard pants in front of the entire school.
10. That very same year, I fell flat on my face after tumbling down about 20 steps as chapel let out. Backpack over head and all.
11. I have a new-found love for the NBA now that I married to a Grizzlies fanatic.
12. In fact, because of Grant's obsession we were given the opportunity to travel with the Grizzlies to D.C. for an away game this year and I guess it's the 3rd most awesome thing we've done.
13. I'm pretty sure I win the prize for the wife with the most "stadium cups" present in the kitchen cabinets.
14. I love my profession of Occupational Therapy and can now say that all 7 years of school was completely worth it.
15. I am in love with stationary. And it works out perfectly that one of my friends has beautiful things for sale (If I knew how to link you Leslie, I would)
16. I like to go shopping by myself.
17. I love brunch anywhere I can get it.
18. I once trained for a half marathon and honestly forgot to register for it. Then I registered for a different one, and bailed on it voluntarily. I know, I'm awesome.
19. I love giving "happies" to friends and family.
20. I was tagged a "freak" in the 7th grade. I guess a pair of vans, Gadzooks t-shirts and Nirvana did the trick.
21. I am disgusted that I ever wore the color orange and sang along to rocky top. (thank you for helping me see the light, Grant.)
22. I love Memphis and wish others would appreciate the good that exists.
23. I wish I was more organized.
24. I love gospel and bluegrass music.
25. Grant and I frequently have dance parties to Prince "Lets go Crazy".