Hooray for Tea Parties!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for my recent slacking. Law school is taking over my life at this time of year. I have 1 paper and 3 exams standing between me and summer vacation! Cannot wait for May 5th...and then I can look forward to Germany on the 8th!!!

Since last time I posted hubs and I have been to Destin and back for Molly and Jason's wedding....which was the fabulous fairytale wedding that I forecasted it would be. And one of the best parts was the perfect weather...considering how bad it had been the week before and the day after. Molly looked absolutely stunning and it was a true honor for me to be a part of their big day.

We got custom aprons for our bridesmaid gift! How cute are these?!

I was very flattered when Molly asked if she could borrow the hair brooch I wore in my wedding for her something borrowed. :)

The old newlyweds with the new newlyweds!

For Easter, I baked a delish carrot cake...my 1st two-tiered cake! Although I had a problem making the icing pretty (thank you Kristin who made it pretty for me!), I was very proud of my cake.

Best Carrot Cake Ever

• 6 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

1. In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10 inch cake pans.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting.

And how 'bout those Tea Parties?! I was a little unsure of going because I knew I would have to be going by myself as I would be stopping by between classes, but I am SO happy to have attended a nationwide protest to the current administration RIDICULOUS and IRRESPONSIBLE spending! In case you haven't heard, President Obama has spent (and put us into generational debt) more money than every single U.S. President in history, combined. This is no way to get our country out of this recession. Not sure about you, but when I am in a difficult financial situation the last thing I do is go out and spend money I don't have...this is precisely what Obama and Congress is currently doing. Additionally, I would like to note that this was a protest against ALL of Congress...not JUST Democrats and not JUST Republicans...that has voted to act so irresponsibly, contrary to what the whacko CNN reporter says here. There was a great video on YouTube that had the scene after the CNN camera was cut off showing a lady telling the CNN reporter (who got rejected by FoxNews twice mind you!) how biased her report was and how incredibly factually unfounded it was, however it has since been taken down by YouTube ...surprised?! Nope...I guess YouTube is a part of the liberal media too. Anyways, the Tea Party attendance nationwide (over 1 million!) was so inspiring to see people take a stand, and unlike liberal protests, to do so peacefully! I could go on and on about this for days and days, but I am supposed to be writing a paper for my White Collar Crime class right now. So enjoy a few great quotes and some awesome pictures that I took at Tampa's Tax Day Tea Party...they pretty much say it all! :)

Ronald Reagan once said:

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

As government expands, liberty contracts.

"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. (Actually a Gerald Ford quote, but it's very Reagan-like.)

And my personal favorite, although this picture is from the NYC Tea Party:

On Sunday night, hubs was a sweetie and he explored his emerging inner chef and tried a new recipe. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo delish and healthy!

Alaska Salmon Bake with Pecan Crunch Coating (sorry for the blurriness)

• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 5 teaspoons honey
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
• 6 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 lemon wedges

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, butter, and honey. In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, pecans, and parsley.
2. Season each salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with mustard-honey mixture. Cover the top of each fillet with bread crumb mixture.
3. Bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until salmon just flakes when tested with a fork. Serve garnished with lemon wedges.

Awesome Weekend!

What a great weekend!

Hubs and I helped out with my sister's Sweet 16 Scavenger Hunt and drove around two of the teams for two hours while they completed the crazy list of things I had made up for them. It was quite the flashback to be around a bunch of 16 year olds. They get so excited about the smallest things! Even though hubs' team beat my team (they were a bunch of little cheaters), I think all the girls had a great time getting guys to put on lip stick, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" in cofee shops, getting a stranger to buy them a hot dog at a gas station, getting a hair stylist to hair spray them a mohwak for free, etc. And then of course, hubs treated my sister to a little birthday brotherly love while her friend tried to save her:

I don't think she will ever learn to stop egging him on lol.

On Saturday, I had my final fitting for my bridesmaid dress for Molly's wedding next Saturday in Destin. The dress is gorgeous and her wedding is sure to be a fairy tale. Molly is a sorority sister of mine from UF and I had the pleasure of having her as a bridesmaid in my wedding. This girl is one of the most genuine and beautiful persons I have ever met. And watch out because she is bound to be the next Paula Dean. Her fiance is one of the sweetest guys I have ever met and we have all decided to forgive him for being a Bama fan. Everyone has their faults, right?! ;) I will never forget when Molly's fiance came down to Tampa to visit with her for the first time. Hubs and I had just gotten engaged the night before and he and Molly had just started dating not too long before that. Well the second he walks in the door, it was announced to him that we were engaged and the look on his face was priceless and the poor guy had to hear and rehear the proposal story about 343,548 times that weekend. But we had the best time celebrating! Here's to the future Mr. and Mrs. C!

Saturday afternoon, hubs and I drove up to USF for the USF Track and Field Alumni Reunion. I could not have been more proud to be his wife. We were not even there for 60 seconds before his old coach found hubs and was showing him off to recruits, telling them how many records he still holds in the Big East. Made me a proud wifey! Hubs was so excited to see how nicely they have renovated the track and field stadium and as we were walking around we found this:

Yay Hubs!

The reunion continued well into the night at Channelside. It was so great to meet some of hubs' old teammates and to catch up with the ones I had met before. Hopefully we will be better at staying in touch with everyone in the future.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Not ready at all for my Spring Break to end!!!