is your glass half-full?

"Retreat? Like hell! We're just advancing in another direction"- Oliver Prince Smith

i'm a firm believer that no matter what life throws at you, the way you handle it is simply a matter of having the right perspective. 

recently, adam and i have had to make quite a few decisions about our family, our lives & our future. when this stuff comes up, we try and help each other keep a decent outlook on the situation and we have a little story that helps us do that.
(this may not be the word for word story so please, a little latitude)
back when the chappelle show was in its prime, the star comedian dave chappelle went awol. everyone remember?
he went on a retreat to africa and at one point, he spoke to a local man about his lack of creative control on his show, the sudden influx of fame & money and all of the issues in his life that caused him to pack up and head across the atlantic ocean. the man listened and after he was finished, the man said "dave, i just want you to know something. I ate a dog for breakfast"

so while making enormous decisions that impact our family and the rest of our lives are hardly a barrel of laughs, at least i have adam to look at me and say "honey, at least you didn't eat a dog for breakfast"

like i said, it's all a matter of perspective. 

winner winner chicken dinner

i am a money making machine. 

no, i'm not talking about working two jobs (humblebrag), i'm talking about a little place i'd like to call Tunica, Mississippi and how i owned it on Friday night. 

adam's 28th birthday (yes, he's very old) is coming up this monday so had a momma and daddy date night in Tunica at Harrah's to celebrate.
i've only been to Tunica to gamble once before and I absolutely hated it. the frugal saver within me counted each dollar in terms of gallons of milk and toothpaste to the point of ridiculousness.

 however, in the spirit of adam's birthday and the fact that i was only gambling on the penny slots, i committed to having fun with it. 

And boy, did I. Not only did i dominate the Paula Deen Buffet, thereby assuring that I wouldn't be getting into my bathing suit this weekend, I owned my little penny slots all the way to turning $35 into $275. 

yeah, I did.
and as a non-gambling type, I also had the good sense to put it in my pocket and sip a free pina colada while adam played poker.

all in all, it was a good little mini-vacation. 

and if you're in memphis and you stop by adam's starbucks tomorrow before 1pm, make sure to say hi to the birthday boy. 

look at how cute he is :)
Happy Sunday Funday, all. 

Summer TV Time

every season i update the blogosphere about what is currently irritating adam on my dvr and it's time for the summer series. 

unfortunately, summer tends to be terrible for television. it's not always true but generally, reality tv and cable network shows are all that is out there. however sometimes that's wonderful- just look at Mad Men. However, there are no Mad Men's on this list so please, don't expect anything on this list to end up on the Emmy nominee list because sometimes terrible television is wonderful.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Yes, I know. It's alright, you can judge me for this one. I'm an adult and this show is clearly week one of an acting/writing workshop in Ohio or something. This show is the brainchild of Brenda Hampton, the woman behind 7th Heaven about teenagers who say the word sex and have it entirely too much. The parents are terrible (one of whom is Molly Ringwald), with each of them pretty much having a "kids will be kids" approach to the bed hopping of this group and then getting surprised when 2 of the 4 main girls on the cast have gotten pregnant. It's trash. And I love it. I will admit, I fast forward through about a third of it because some of the characters grate my nerves.
Just do it, my girl Katie also indulges and she's brilliant.
Secret Life airs on ABC Family on Mondays at 7pm. 

The Real Housewives of New York City

alright this one I'm blaming on my dear friend Heather who through feeding me lunch on breaks from school got me hooked on this and it's counterpart over in Beverly Hills. I refuse to get into the New Jersey, Miami or Orange County versions though. I do have standards, okay? This mess of a program is how my girl Bethenny Frankel got the bulk of her fame before leaving for her own show, featured in the spring tv blog by yours truly. It's basically the cattiest high school group of girls gone bad, in their forties and fifties, running around New York City with millions of dollars. It's a trainwreck, I've never seen women behave so badly and I went to an all-girls high school. However, if like me, you're amused by other peoples bad behavior then tune in. Just try not to think about how much money they have without actually working or you'll get upset.
It airs on Bravo Thursdays at 9pm.

Teen Mom

So technically the season hasn't started yet but I think everyone knows I'll be watching as the orignal four moms from the first season of 16 & Pregnant finally come back for the third season of the first spin-off. A lot has happened to these girls since we last saw them and most of them aren't even teenagers anymore.
Maci, the sweet redheaded girl from Chattanooga, went blond, got extensions and some pretty sizable fake boobs. Personally, as a mother, I don't think I'd risk plastic surgery when I had a young child at home and an unstable relationship with his father but hey, do what ya can.
Farrah...ehh i just can't with this one. I usually fast forward through her segments unless it looks like her mom is going to go apeshit.
Catelynn, through twitter (follow me @raquelhinson :) and the like, it appears that she's seen her daughter, whom she gave up for adoption, a few more times and has graduated high school after her pregnancy and maternity leave set her back a full year.
Amber. this girl is a hot mess. She lost (or gave up, depending on the source) custody of her daugher, currently has a restraining order preventing her from seeing her baby daddy, Gary, in the presence of their daughter and has felony assault charges pending. Clearly, she's MTV's bread and butter on this show.
Season 3 of Teen Mom begins July 5th on MTV.
 
and again, if anyone is interested Adam is currently getting into a new summer show:

Franklin & Bash

Travis Birkenstock and Zach Morris have grown up into wise cracking lawyers who handle their cases in atypical fashion. It looks pretty funny and I'll likely check it out when I stop watching trash television during reed's naps. 

adventures of raquel & reed: part 4

I haven't posted in over two weeks and I'm literally forcing myself to do it now. it seems like all I've done lately is work (my job at the radio station and then my new marketing internship) and I'm not sure that anyone wants to read about that right now.
I have had a few times in the last few weeks where reed and I have had some time to do fun things together and I thought I'd focus on those. 

reed and I caught up with robyn and ellie a few weeks ago for some yolo midtown and reed opted for something from the bakery rather than the self-serve frozen yogurt.

clearly, he thought it best to just dive right in. 

that's pretty much the best face ever. 

we've frequented a few memphis redbirds games so far this season, a summer favorite of reed's. he doesn't so much care that baseball is happening as much as he likes rockey redbird, the playground and the food.

and here's a throwback picture of one of his first meetings with rockey. note the crazy faced woman in the crowd.

back in the day, adam and his older brother andrew had a fort in their parents back yard.

reed has since claimed it in the name of thomas the tank engine.

during yesterdays trip out to Collierville to register for this years St. Jude Dream House, reed fell in love with the boys room set up in the house.

just in case anyone thinks i have adam locked in a basement, we did manage to sneak away a few weekends ago for a movie and lunch, our first date in a few weeks (and come to think of it, we haven't had one since) and of course, we saw Thor.
(side note: 5 days until X-Men First Class,  19 days until The Green Lantern, 47 days until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II and  54 days until Captain America. it's going to be a summer of nerd movie heaven for me & adam).


adam with mjolnir (thor's hammer).

and lastly, and in related movie news, i saw Bridesmaids with robyn last week and it was pretty funny and definitely not a chick flick. 

happy memorial day weekend everyone :)

healthy & yummy aren't mutually exclusive

when i'm feeling less that inspired to blog but somehow have the time and the inclination, i have a few fall back topics to whip out: celebrities, babies (and any combination of the two), memphis happenings and food.
guess what? tonight i'm facing a writers block so we're talking about the latter: food!

i posted some weeks ago here about how i've never been very good at dieting so my best bet lately has been to make what i love healthier. and frankly, it's just ridiculous not to share if you've managed to do that so here are some recipes for dishes that i've modified.

guacamole

america should apologize to the avocado for ruining its signature dish with sour cream, particularly when it's really unnecessary to make the dish yummy. 

this recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups. i recently made it for a girls night of eight girls and i tripled it (but i should have made more).

two avocados
a quarter cup of chopped fresh tomato
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of chopped red onion

2 teaspoons of lime juice

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

half a teaspoon of black pepper

three quarters of a teaspoon of any hot sauce

three quarters of a teaspoon of salt

combine in a bowl. if your avocados are ripe enough, you shouldn't need to bother with a food processor, a fork and the strength of a four year old should be all you need. i also chopped up some extra cilantro to use as a garnish for the girls night but it's not totally necessary. 

french toast

one of the best things my mom ever taught me how to cook was french toast. i makes really awesome french toast. trust me. but back in the day, powdered sugar and syrup being a topping on breakfast wasn't a huge concern and now i figure, cut the corners where i'm not really sacrificing flavor. so here it is, healthier. oh and adam and reed love this and don't really know the difference.

four egg whites
a teaspoon of vanilla extract

a teaspoon of maple syrup

4 slices of whole or multi grain bread (it helps if it's a tad stale, but it's fine if it isn't)

combine the first three ingredients in a (shallow) bowl and whisk
coat bread on both sides in the egg white mixture

cook on a nonstick pan on medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side.
top with fresh fruit (anything in the berry variety is my favorite) and a little bit more (real) maple syrup.

another pasta recipe

it's no secret, i love pasta. 

this love affair began when i used to actually need carbohydrates because i was so physically active. now i need carbs because i have an inner fat woman that gets pissed off when she isn't fed. however, not every pot of boiling water needs to end up being white fettuccine noodles with alfredo sauce made with heavy whipping cream. 

there are healthy alternatives. 

i made this particular recipe (same portions) for ellie and i a few weeks ago and it passed muster for her and i always figure if I please a Haire, well then now i can breathe again. 

8 ounces of whole wheat/grain pasta (i used angel hair)

two cups of bell peppers in a combination of colors, sliced in thin strips

half a cup of chopped onion

a cup of halved grape tomatoes 

basil

olive oil

two teaspoons of salt and pepper each

teaspoon of crushed red peppers
a quarter cup of parmesean cheese

(i'm not going to explain how to make pasta but do know that the whole grain/whole wheat variety take a minute of two longer to become tender).

saute onion and peppers in olive oil over medium heat and season with salt and pepper

add tomatoes, crushed red pepper and more salt/pepper if necessary. 

add noodles, top with parmesean cheese and sprinkle basil on top. 

i hope someone enjoyed that because my stomach is growling now and it's 11:30pm so it's officially too late to eat anything :)

And Baby Makes Five

Yesterday my dearest friend, Heather & her husband Ryan had a gender revealment cook out to unveil and announce the gender of the newest addition to their family.

they're already parents to these two handsome fellas, who are Reed's BFF's for life:

Buchanan (Buck) Bates & Theodore Earl 
Buck is 3 and will be 4 in September. Theodore is 2 and will be 3 in December. 

Heather & Ryan are mine and Adam's best friends as a couple. Honestly. Ryan was a groomsmen in our wedding and Heather would've been a bridesmaid if she weren't so ridiculous. with Buck ten months older than reed, they very graciously let us experiment with parenting by babysitting baby Buck, always doling out parental advice without being condescending like the women in the grocery store who like giving out assholish unsolicited advice on how to raise my child.
we love them. very much. 

Anywhoo, for those of you that don't know the concept of a gender revealment party (i thought everyone did until I told my friend Megan while she was in town and she questioned the sanity of the practice) it's where you have a cake and when you cut the cake open, if there's blue cake, it's a boy and if there's pink cake, it's a girl.
here is Ryan & Heather's cake:

aside from looking amazing, it was also delicious. 

since I found out that she was pregnant, my money had been on baby number 3 being a girl. I predicted a boy with theodore and I'd been right so I felt pretty confident in my gender pick. Adam disagreed with me but where's the news there.

here's heather with an inside slice of the cake:

it's a tiny picture but it's definitely pink so it's a girl! 

proving, once again, that adam should stop betting against me.

Ryan reacting to the happy news that he's finally getting a daddy's girl.
heather told me afterwards that the only reason she was disappointed in finding out it was a girl was because that meant Ryan was right. Ah, maturity :)

with buck, reed & theodore constantly running around, playing in mud, sword fighting and the like, a little girl will be nice to have around. although knowing that pennel blood, she'll probably kick their asses in sword fighting at some point.

but BIG congratulations to heather, ryan, buck & theodore on the sweet baby girl!

and this has nothing to do with the above post but how bout them Memphis Grizzlies!! Grizznation!!

this week in Memphis

As part of my job on the morning show, I'm up to date on the things that are of interest to Memphians in general (particularly females 18-34).
with Memphis in May, this month is always pretty happening for the Bluff City but this year things are just plain ridiculous. 

You'll see what I mean.

MemFlood

if you're on "the twitter" you have probably seen this hashtag, along with the MemStorm during all the tornado watches/warnings. Things are getting serious. with all the rain fall we've been having the missisippi, loosahatchie and wolf rivers have no where to go but up. As of noon today the mississippi was at 42.3 feet & rising ahead of the predicted schedule as are the wolf & loosahatchie rivers. Follow @memflood on twitter and go to staysafeshelby.us for the latest information. 

ps thank you weather lords for holding off on the floods over Music Fest weekend. I still needed rain boots & the tornado sirens did go off on Sunday but otherwise, it was all good. I'd hate to see what it looks like today after 86 thousand people (maybe more?) stomped around for three days.

Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis is a basketball town, there's really no doubt about it. In years past, the Tigers have been the root of the basketball fandom but the Memphis Grizzlies have come from the bottom with a vengeance. Over the weekend, the Grizz defeated the Spurs in the first round of NBA playoffs and won game 1 of the second round against the oklahoma city thunder. grizz fever is literally contagious in the city of Memphis, with the home games 3 & 4 already sold out.

if you're ready to hop on the bandwagon, the radio station I intern for, the Q is having a game 2 watch party at Maria's Cantina in Southaven tomorrow night. 

Memphis In May Celebrate International Week

supposedly this is a huge point of Memphis In May, to pay tribute to an international county. this year Memphis is honoring Belgium. though fellow blogger amanda referred to me in high school as "a rolling scroll of information" I don't know tons about Belgium so if you're interested in partaking, trot on over to the i love memphis blog where Kerry Crawford has all kinds of ways you can celebrate all things Belgian. 

in other Memphis In May News...
all of the flooding leads the powers that be to thing that Tom Lee Park, where most of the MIM festivities are hosted, will be underwater in the new few weeks. our pretty famous, and awesomely tasty, barbecue fest is going to be moved for this reason. word on the street is that it'll be moved to Tiger Lane, where University of Memphis students tailgate for football games (as seen below).

anything else in Memphis going on that I left out?