Cankles, Chicken and Mullets. My weekend.

1. Sorry for the No Post Weekend, my friends! Lulu was dealing with Koenig's health (yay for dogs who make quick recoveries!) while I, among other things, was getting laughed at by a team of medical professionals. It's true. I went to the doctor's office the other day because Asia legit made me nervous about my fat feet and ankles. (Evidently Asia's opinion is held in higher regard than my own husband's, parents', and sister's opinions? Woopsies!) Anyway I went in and my fears were confirmed, I have issues.

It's so weird. I've only had the doctor I saw one other time (I rotate between 5 different docs), and she is just so blunt. Which normally I can get on board with (just call me Blunts McGee!)(Sike don't call me that. I sound like a drug dealer.), but not when it has to do with my vanity health.  She asked me why I was there, and I told her I'm not feeling 100%, and being that this is my first pregnancy I'm just trying to be overly cautious etc etc, and I showed her my gordo ankles. And this is her response, "OH MY WORD! THOSE?!?! ARE CANKLES!!!!" And sort of gives an elbow to the nurse in a, "Damn! Would ya look at those bad boys?!" way. Wait. Really? However accurate it may be, I'm pretty sure CANKLES is not medical terminology. Anyway long, and traumatic story short, I have really bad Edema in my feet/ankles/legs/soul. It may require me to go on a modified work schedule (read: more blogging! yay!), because sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day is making my anks worse.

As I was leaving I asked her if the next time I come in I should make the appointment with her. (Being that now we've bonded. And by bonded I mean she insulted me, and I sat there like a boob acting like it made sense.) And she's like, "That won't be necessary. Because ANYONE could see THOSE." And she points to my cankles (who are now weeping in the corner, wearing a dunce cap).

In the end my cankles and I took our business elsewhere. To Starbucks, duh. Where you cannot be judged based on race, creed, or cank size.

2. In more uplifting news, I made delicious tacos the other night. The recipe for the chicken is so simple (my bestie the crockpot helps) and definitely was a crowd pleaser! I served the tacos with sour cream, cheese, lettuce, etc and it was really easy!

Here is the recipe for the chicken (can't remember which blog I saw it on...sorry! I need to get better at that.):

Sweet and Spicy Slow Cooker Chicken
serves 4
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2) [Personally I don't think two breasts is enough. I did four because my cousin came for dinner. The guys each had two, and I had one. Always take into consideration that growing men eat twice as much!]
- 1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup crushed red pepper flakes [Kick it up a bit if you want more spice. I did 1/2 cup and ours were pretty darn spicy.]

Put chicken in the crockpot. Combine tomatoes, brown sugar and red pepper flakes in a bowl and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-9 hours. Shred chicken with a fork and serve on  soft tortillas.

Done and done! Sooo easy. Sooo tasty. Sooo makes you look like you know what you're doing.

3. This weekend was so nice. Friday night we went to dinner with one of our favorite priests, Father Ivany. He is the priest who celebrated our wedding and guided us through pre-Cana. He is the BEST! Saturday Joel went to a friend's bachelor party, so I was left to my own devices. A couple girlfriends (whose men were also at the bach party) and I decided to hit up the DC Big Flea Market at the Dulles Expo Center. We cleared out the car, loaded up on Starbucks, and made our way down to the show. It was the first time the three of us had been to something like this, and we were totally in sensory overload! SO. MUCH. STUFF.  And we made out like bandits!

(Unfortunately my computer is acting a fool and won't let me upload pictures right now. So I have to wait until tomorrow to post all of my sweet purchases.)

In the mean time I will leave you with this beaut...

Business in the front, party in the back.

You like how my sis-in-law and I are pretending to be super enthralled with the antiques so that this crazy beast could be captured on film?!

Sunday our cousin's family invited Lulu, me and our hubbies down to Fort Belvoir for some golf and relaxation. The men played golf while the ladies lounged and chatted. It was a great time! We had delicious Cincinnati chili, brownie sundaes and watched the heartbreaking 'Skins game :( They lost-- but it wasn't for a lack of effort!

The weekends are going by so fast, and the countdown to baby Sellier is getting lower and lower. 50 DAYS UNTIL MY DUE DATE. In the grand scheme of life, 50 days might as well be tomorrow. AYEYEYEYE!!!

Enjoy your Monday!!

-Charlie

P.S. Look at the cute pillows I won from Christina's Adventures!

I feel pretty lucky! Thank you so much Christina!! Here at ATOTS we endorse giveaways and everything they represent. If all goes well, Lulu and I will be hosting our own pillow giveaway at the beginning of October!

P.P.S. A bunch of people with super awesome taste have been asking me where I got the shoes I talked about here. The answer is DSW, girls! Click this link-----> Penny loves Kenny flats They come in black and copper too!

Koenig pulls through!!

UPDATE: Koenig is home from the animal hospital and doing much, much better! Thank the Lord that antibiotics work!! He (we) are taking it easy for the first few days home and have 21 days of oral antibiotics to go!

Oh and by the way, we got Koenig pet health insurance this weekend too-- so we never won't have this insane vet bill out of left field again.

Thank you for caring about my little puppy!!!

waaaaahhh

please say a little prayer for my little, sweet puppy koenig. he's 5 and a half months old.

after an emergency vet clinic visit @ 5am and then transfer over to our clinic...he's in the hospital with pneumonia and is getting IV fluids and antibiotics.

what the heck? whose dog gets pneumonia?? you know I am new to this pet-ownership and this has me pretty freaked out. can you even picture this adorable little guy with an IV all wrapped up in a hospital bed..hospital crate? Ugghhhh. I need to be there for him!! But no visitors today.

our vet says he needs to stay overnight and maybe thru the weekend.

not cool.

xoxo
Lulu

ASIA: The woman. The myth. The LEGEND!

So yesterday I was having a bad day. A terrible no good, very bad day! I don't even know why really. Well I do. I'm pregnant and my hormones were sucker punching me, but still.

Just call me Alexander

(Sidebar: If you're ever bored Google "no good very bad day". Amazing pictures like these come up:

Trust. You won't be disappointed.)(You're welcome.)

Anyway, I was a hot mess. I ended up leaving work early and crying to Lulu and Mama Nixonsleeve about nothing and everything. It was just one of those days, you know? So I decided that I needed a pedicure to help me feel better. A pedi always lifts my spirits! I went to my usual place, only to find my girl Helen didn't work there anymore. BOO HISS. Annoyed, I asked that whoever gave me the pedicure be really good at giving foot massages. Because my dogs? They were barkin'!!!

Enter: Asia. 

No, not the world's largest and most populous continent. No, not the 80s rock group with hits such as "Heat of the Moment". The amazing nail lady with the hands of a Grecian god. She should seriously consider insuring her hands like JLo insured her butt. Because those are her money makers, people. Her hands, or as I like to call them, Cash & Money, worked wonders on my swollen, fat, feet. Things were looking up.

From the moment I laid my baby blues on Asia (I can guarantee that's not to be her birth name. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate what she was doing in choosing that name), I knew I'd like her.

Reason #1- She was dressed like B Spears in the Hit me Baby One More Time video. 

I like it. And I respect it.

Something along the lines of this. Of course she didn't JUST have a sports bra on (what kind of nail tech do you take her for?!) but it was close. And yes, she had her hair done like that too. I wasn't even mad, I was impressed.

And things only got better...

Reason #2- She asked me if I wanted an eyebrow wax just one time!!! ONE. TIME. 

Let the record show that it is NOT a requirement by the Institute of Nail People to make them ask you 598094839x if you "want eyebrow wax?", "want lip wax?" or worse, "chin wax?" thereby making you feel like the hairiest person this side of the Mason Dixon.

Update: I told Joel all about Asia. And do you know his first question? "Did she ask you, 'you want eyebrow wax?'" SEE! Even HE knows that nail ladies ALWAYS ask that. (By talking so much about this question I realize it might sound like I'm implying I'm really hairy. But I'm not. For real.)

Reason #3- Her mitts.

Did I mention she had the hands of an Asian Incredible Hulk? (In a good way.)

Just take it as a compliment, Asia.

Reason #4- She gave me unsolicited pregnancy advice. That I actually liked.

Asia was seriously concerned regarding my feet and cankles ankles. As I was paying she whispered to me that I needed to go to the store and buy salt scrub and throw it in some hot water, soak them, then, (and this is the key), have my husband rub my feet for long time. BOOM goes the dynamite! She also said stuff about drinking milk, not eating junk food, blah blah whatevs...HUSBAND. MASSAGING MY FEET. FOR AN INFINITE AMOUNT OF TIME. What Asia wants, Asia gets.

Needless to say if I'm willing to do an entire post dedicated to Asia, you know she pulled on the ole' heart strings. Asia basically brought joy to my otherwise terrible day! God Bless Asia (the continent, the band AND the lady)! 

Oh yeah. And buying these helped too...

Cute and comfy. Just want Asia would want.

It's Wednesday! Which means it's almost Thursday, which is basically Friday. Sooooo T.A.I.F!

-Charlie

news that may raise your blood pressure

there are 102 days left until Christmas!!!!

and on a lighter note..don't you wish Suri Cruise still looked like this?
xoxo
Lulu

just kidding 102 days is an eternity. heck, a week can do the trick in terms of shopping. we know this here at ATOTS. no one should be stressin' now. and we LOVE Christmas too.

Special DotMine Offer For ATOTS Readers!!

DotMine Day Planners has offered a special discount exclusively for A Tale of Two Sisters readers!!!

Between now at the 24th of September, you will receive 10% your order from dotmine by using the code 910TOTS10 when you check out!

Run, do not walk, to http://www.timemine.com/ and get your planner today! Organization never looked so good :)

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Thanks to everyone who entered the dotmine planner giveaway! We thought it was very successful for our first giveaway at A Tale of Two Sisters!

And the winner is......

                                        Sara Tinoco!!!!!!

Sara from Life with Our Girls was assigned number 1! (I'd take a picture of the paper where the numbers were assigned but I'm feeling really lazy.)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Email us at luluandcharlie@gmail.com with your address, and which planner you like best and we will send it your way!

Thank you for entering!

Happy Monday!

-Charlie

Sunday Funday

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. A winner has been chosen for our dotmine giveaway, and we will be announcing her name tomorrow! Thank you to everyone for entering!! We will (hopefully) be hosting another giveaway at the beginning of October, so look out for that! :)

Joel is off to the Redskins/Cowboys game, so I'm having a nice evening to myself. Here's what my Sunday night is looking like:

I've got one of these burning

I'm surrounded by a couple of these

I'm perusing this to find things to make this week

I'm contemplating driving to Sbux to get one of these

I'm going to give myself a manicure with this

I'm scaring the crap out of myself by watching a marathon of this

I'm eating this for dinner. (The dinner of champions! Or lazy people.)

And I'm hoping to see a little bit of this!! Go Skins!

Hooray!! Have a great night!

-Charlie

Happy Birthday Charlie!!!!

On behalf of ATOTS and the family Nixonsleeve, we hope you have a great day!!

Love you!

xo,

Lulu

Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel

Gordon Gekko is back September 24th. If you haven't seen the movie Wall Street you better just clear the queue on Netflix and move it to #1.