Ten on Tuesday #11

Ten On Tuesday
Find questions at the Roots & Rings blog!!

1. What color are your toenails painted?
Fluorescent pink!  One of my summer favorites! J

2. What color are your fingernails painted?
Au naturel...  I haven’t been taking care of them lately.  I am trying to get them all one length, but I’m not putting on the clear coat to keep the long ones long and help grow the short ones.  So, I think I’ll file them all short and start again!

3. What is your favorite brand of nail polish?
Definitely OPI!

4. As the norm, do you DIY your nails or get mani/pedis?
I used to get bi-weekly manicures, but then some tragic stuff happened with my income, so now I do them myself.  And I get one pedicure a year, at the start of the summer season!

5. Have you ever had a gel mani? Do you recommend it?
Nope

6. What is the last movie you watched on television? (TV, Netflix, Redbox, etc.)
Holy cow, I can’t remember!?

7. What is the last movie you watched in the cinema?
I think it was Bad Teacher?

8. Is there a movie that everyone talks about as if it is a classic but you haven’t seen?
There are a lot of old classic movies that I have not seen. 

9. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?
I have a couple – My Best Friend’s Wedding, Lizzie McGuire Movie (don’t laugh), Lilo & Stitch, Music & Lyrics…

10. Have you ever seen a movie and thought it was better than the book it was based on?
Never!!  The book is always better!!!

Mushroom Blue Cheese Turkey Burgers

(I'm going to attempt to try a new recipe once a week... wish me luck!)

I had some ground turkey in the freezer, so I found a recipe on allrecipes.com (my favorite recipe website!) - Mushroom Blue Cheese Turkey Burgers.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground turkey

8 ounces fresh mushrooms 

1 onion

2 tablespoons soy sauce (I didn't have soy sauce, so I used worcester sauce)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat grill for high heat

2. Finely chop onion & mushroom

3. Mix together ground turkey, mushrooms, onion and soy sauce (or worcester sauce).

4. Season with salt and pepper and form into patties.

5.  Place patties on the prepared grill and cook for 10 minutes per side, or until well done.  Top with blue cheese during the last few minutes (I actually mixed the blue cheese in the burger mixture).

I used a little Chipotle Mayo & tomato on a whole wheat hamburger bun... it was pretty good!  Very tasty!  

Ten on Tuesday #10

A ToT about the Zoo!!  

1. What is your favorite zoo to visit?
I've been to the Maryland zoo, DC zoo and Pittsburgh zoo.  I don't remember the Pittsburgh zoo, not a fan of the DC zoo, so I choose the Maryland Zoo (in Baltimore).

2. Do you visit a zoo very often?
Nah, the last time I went was in 2009 with Meg.  We had so much fun!  We got to feed the giraffes!!! 

3. Do you have a membership to a zoo?
Nope

4. When you visit a zoo, do you stay all day or just an hour or two?
Enough time to see everything!!  Don't want to miss anything!

5. Do you buy food at the zoo or pack a picnic lunch?
Neither... last time we stopped at Cheesecake Factory (I think).

6. What is you favorite animal to see at the zoo?
The giraffes, elephants & big cats.

7. What is your least favorite animal to see at the zoo?
The snakes & spiders... ew.

8. What is your favorite memory of going to the zoo as a kid?
I can't remember any? :\

9. Do you visit the gift shop when you go to the zoo?
Yes, because I don't have any children! LOL!  I love playing with all the stuff, but I never buy anything.  Or did I?

10. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best and 1 being the worst) how nice is your city’s zoo?
Um... I don't have much to compare it to, but I guess a 7?  One day I would like to go to the San Diego Zoo... but that would be way in the future.

Ten on Tuesday - #9

Another ToT (on Wednesday) J

1. When you are on a plane and the kid behind you is kicking your seat, what do you do?
Probably nothing since I have no balls.  Unless it’s a really long plane ride and it’s really annoying, then I might be mad enough to say something or give the kid the evil eye through the seats! J

2. What food that you KNOW is bad for you and you shouldn’t have, but you love/eat it anyway?
Soda (specifically Diet Coke… I stopped drinking it for over a year, but now I’m drinking it again… only a couple a week, so that’s not too bad!), ice cream, pizza, french fries… yummm.  Why is everything that is GOOD so bad??

3. What is your favorite book of all time?
Sadly, all I can think of is Twilight!  I just started reading for pleasure again the past couple years so I have a lot of catching up to do.  I also loved Water for Elephants!

4. If I came to visit you in your town, where would we eat?
Well I like Mexican, so I would go to El Rodeo or Fiesta Mexico or something along those lines.  Although I also like some restaurants in downtown York like White Rose, which is a bar that was just remodeled and has some decent food.  I can’t think of any other places off the top of my head right now…

5. You have 500 dollars and 40 minutes to spend it at any store you want. Where do you go?
Target… holy moley I could do some damage.

6. What blog do you read every day/the most often?
My mom (aka Judy)’s (http://judygruppstudio.blogspot.com/) to keep up on her art work!

7. What’s the longest you’ve ever been stuck at an airport?
I’m thinking it might have been during spring break on our way to Panama City Beach, FL in 2003.  I cannot remember how long we were stranded, but I remember it was a long time and the airline even offered to put people up in hotels (you know that was a LONG time ago).  We stuck it out though!

8. What’s your daily makeup/face/cleansing routine?
I wash my face twice a day (morning & evening) and always put on face lotion in the morning (with sunscreen) and then my makeup (with more sunscreen).  Nothing too exciting!

9. Where is your farthest away friend?
I have some friends that are far out there… hehe!  I do have a lot of friends that live too far away… Meg in North Carolina, Sandy in Missouri, Jayme in Michigan… I don’t know which is the furthest!?

10. Where is your favorite place to go hiking (or to enjoy nature)?
I never go hiking… sadly, I don’t even know where I’d go?  But I do like to take Shelby on walks in various locations.  Her favorite is Cousler Park.  But that is a paved course – nothing like hiking!

Flag Cake

I made a really yummy cake the other night and must share!  It's very popular this time of year and very easy to make! 

Ingredients:
1 package yellow cake mix*
1 8oz container whipped topping (thawed)
1 3.4 oz package vanilla pudding mix
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Cook cake as directed on the box.
2. While cooling, make topping:  Combine pudding mix with milk and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.  Gently fold in whipped topping until no streaks remain.
3. After cake has cooled completely, spread the whipped topping over cake and garnish!
*I wanted to try lemon cake mix, but they didn't have any at Target. :(

I choose strawberries & blueberries to make a flag of course!

Enjoy!! 

Ten on Tuesday #8

4th of July Version of ToT!

1. What do you traditionally do for 4th of July?

I actually do not have 4th of July traditions!  Back in the day when I was a kid, I would go lay on a blanket & watch fireworks with my parents.  Then in my college days, we went to Ocean City, MD every 4th of July holiday.  Now, every year it changes!  Last year I went to a York Revolution baseball game and this year I went to Pittsburgh to see Kenny Chesney!  If I’m able, I do go to my parent’s house for fireworks and/or cookout.



7/4/10 - York Revolution game



2. Did you follow your tradition this year? How did you celebrate yesterday (aka 7/4)?
Well on Sunday night I did follow some tradition and went to my parent’s house to watch fireworks and have dinner.  Monday was actually kind of laid back and boring!  Went to dinner with some friends and then read all night!  (Had 200 pages to read in 24 hours… oops!)

3. What’s the best fireworks show you’ve ever seen?

Lately I would have to say at my parent’s house!  They live on a small lake and one of the neighbors shoots them off over the lake.  Everyone has parties and cookouts around the lake in the afternoon and then watches the fireworks together – it’s really neat!

4. Have you ever been injured by a firecracker?

No – thank goodness!!  (knock on wood!)

5. Burger, Brat, or Hot Dog?

Definitely NOT a Brat… it depends on the day if I want a hot dog or cheeseburger (it has to have cheese!)  Normally I want both and I can schmooze someone into splitting one of them with me!

6. Do you sport red, white and blue on our Independence Day?

Sometimes… sadly this year I did not… I did wear white… does that count?  Last year I wore red - see question #1.

7. If you had to be from any country other than the USA, what country would it be?

I honestly have no idea?  I don’t think I would want to live anywhere else?!?  Plus, I can’t really make a truly educated guess, so I’ll plead the fifth.

8. Charcoal or gas?

Gas

Shout out to my grill! =P

9. What’s your favorite thing about this fair country of ours?

Freedom

And most importantly - I love our troops for protecting our freedom!

10. God Bless the USA, My Country Tis of Thee, or the Star Spangled Banner?
God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood
Although I do love singing the Star Spangled Banner at sporting events!

"What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for yourself the alternatives of choice. Without the possibility of choice and the exercise of choice a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."
     — Archibald MacLeish