A DAY OUT WITH THE BOSS.................

The Boss wakes me up the other day and announces that it's "My Special Day".....so get up and get dressed because he is taking me out for a sumptuous lunch and a day of shopping!!! That sounded good to me....I hadn't been treated to a day of shopping in a long time....This would be fun! Come along and live vicariously through me....Our first stop......Chick-fil-A.......not my idea of a fancy lunch but it is good for fast food.....They did let me take this adorable clock home.....So I knew the rest of the day was going to go well.....Let the Shopping Begin!!!!

Here's the Boss all dressed up with a belly full of fries gearing up to spend some money on me...


Wait a minute??? This doesn't look like someplace I would shop.....I didn't get up before noon for this!! Where's Lord and Taylor??? Where's Ralph Lauren?? What about Brooks Brothers...??

These look like motorcycles to me.....Hey wait, you have two of these at home..... Where is stuff for me.....It's suppose to be my day....where's the stuff????

Okay.....so I admit you have to give credit to a company that actually has a product called a

"Fat Boy"......yes, they actually sell a motorcycle called a Fat Boy, and no they didn't name it after the big guy...........Let's see what other gems they have for sale...

What every women needs....a T-Shirt with a skull.....

No shortage of skulls at the Harley Davidson....there were skulls everywhere.

and offensive dolls...............dressed in little leather outfits. Folks, this is how it was sitting in the display area.....Can you say "pervert shopper was here".......

The Boss suggested perhaps a leather Bustier......oh sure, just what I need, a piece of leather clothing is size XL................

of course more motorcycles......Unfortunately nothing appealed to me so we moved on to the next store.....

On to the Target' where we saw this cute little stool that would be great for Miss Baby....Notice the Harley sweatshirt on the big guy.....he wears it everyday....Like a freakin body tattoo

His idea of buying me a new piece of furniture for my upcoming bedroom re-do.

Worried that the Gourmet Lunch might not have been filling enough I was treated to a bagel on the way home.....

Followed by.....what else......a DQ sundae.......

I know your all jealous.....it's this kind of special treatment that has kept me married for almost 39 years.....

**to be fair the Boss treats me every year to a Hermes silk scarf and I do have a closet filled with Louis Vuitton....compliments of the husband.

GOOD FOOD.....GOOD CAKE....GOOD FRIENDS.....

I Love cake!! there I admit it...I especially like carrot cake with that wonderful cream cheese icing...I think it may just be the combo of butter and cream cheese but either way I can eat the icing with a spoon....I love to bake, but cakes is not my forte'....they always seem too heavy and I'm just never happy with the outcome. So when I do bake a cake I go the Sandra Lee route...Today we celebrated Mrs. Duval's birthday....I brought the food, Miss Necie did the driving. Mr. D had just gotten out of the hospital after having surgery and we were happy that he was feeling well enough to join us....Infact he hedged a bit when he was offered a slice of cake saying he would have a taste then save the rest for later...I think I saw him minutes later licking the plate....... We feasted on Ina's chicken salad on croissants, bow tie pesto pasta salad with red peppers, plum tomatoes and black olives and for desert the above carrot cake.....I had never made the chicken salad or the pesto pasta salad before so I was a bit worried that they wouldn't be up to snuff....But every last bit was eaten and I think they both tasted pretty good. The pasta salad very very tasty and next time I make it I will take a picture and post the recipe...It's very easy to make....Now about the cake.

Thank you Mr. Duncan Hines...

I always use Duncan Hines cake mixes they are the best. always moist always delicious. I was very happy to see the new carrot cake on the market. It's a bit more then the regular cakes but certainly worth it. It comes with freeze dried carrots and raisins that you soak it hot water before mixing it in with the batter. I used the cupcake recipe on the side of the box and added a small can of crushed pineapple, the recipe is slightly different then the one for the cake. The pineapple made it extra moist. I never use can frosting I think it's awful so I made my own ....I used 2 8oz. packages of cream cheese, 2 sticks of butter, 2 boxes of powdered sugar a hint of vanilla and a touch of pineapple juice. I beat the heck out of it in the Kitchen Aid and it was yummy....I added the walnuts and a little orange peel for color....You would swear it was all homemade....I recommend it highly....

Here's another favorite thing of mine....I love brown paper shopping bags. I always have some on hand and here's one way you can decorate it for a birthday....I just cut the letters out of an old Better Homes and Garden and glued them on....a little matching tissue and some colorful curly ribbon....which I buy for cheap at IKEA, and you have a great looking gift bag. I also use the bags when Boo is going off to the kennel.....I fill the bag with his toys, his box of biscuits and whatever else he'll need while he's away from home....On the bag itself I write all the info that the kennel needs.....the dates he'll be staying with them, any phone numbers for contact, his feeding schedule, when he gets his meds and the vet's phone number....

A CAREER CHANGING MOMENT.......

Back in 1991 I found myself with a career changing decision....My company was downsizing and my position was being done away with.....It was right at the holidays but always being optimistic I jumped at the chance for some career counseling.....The company was going to foot the bill to help find me a new, hopefully fun career, so I was prepared to try anything....Below are just some of the new professions that the Career Counselors suggested I try.......
My first try at a new career.....appliance repair person.....What women wouldn't want another
women fixing their clothes dryer.....but there was that whole electrical shock issue....plus I never
looked good in uniforms....

Tiffany's hired me to model their diamonds....but customers complained of too much cleavage....they asked...."Who does she think she is Giada?"

Knowing I love animals, especially chimps, they suggested animal wrangling......this didn't work out when they realized the enormous liability if the little bugger bit me.....that's the last thing they wanted....

I tried a short stint as a UPS driver.....again liability issues, I could lift a heavy package and the back could go out and of course there is always the chance of a dog bite....

Race car driver....the pay would be good but with whole depth perception problem driving that fast around a circle over and over and over again.........well, not good.

this was an interesting week, they had me working as a statue model....no chance of any injury...I just had to stand in one place....but they worried about blood clots forming in my limbs due to lack of movement....I really enjoyed this job though....Nice dress, very slimming...I look 50 pounds lighter!

They contacted the Food Network to see if they would take me off their hands and maybe make me the Next Food Network Star......Bob Tushman and Susie Folegsman didn't fall for this.....As Bob was heard saying....."She's perky enough to have her own show but who's the purple guy that she drags everywhere and what if she cuts her hand with a knife,.....we want no part of that".........

One week they shipped me off to the Waldorf.....I love New York....but I had to make beds..... Plus I was caught eating all the chocolates off the pillows....

Cover Girl......enough said.

They flew me off to L.A. to be an agent....I liked this but I missed home and insisted that they send me back to Atlanta.......Here I am schmoozing with Dustin Hoffman...He's even shorter then me in person..

And then there was George..............They asked George if he would take me off their hands...maybe I could read him his lines for his next movie..........George wanted no part of me...He said...."She's an accident waiting to happen plus her heads too big."

When all else failed me and the firm decided to part company.....I found another position as a personal assistant to some guy they only refer to as "The Boss"....the pay is bad but I get to sleep as late as I like....I can work in my pajama's........... but I am on call 24 hours for kitchen duty....All in all it's not bad and it does come with a pension.....

*cleavage compliments of Jennifer Love Hewitt.

SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.......a photo.

taken somewhere driving around Ithaca, New York......1999.

THE VIKING COOKING SCHOOL........A COOK'S DREAM.

Today's shopping tour is of the Viking Cooking School and Shop in downtown Atlanta on Peachtree Street...This is Maria, the Store Director and general "nice person"........Maria let me and Necie go crazy and take pictures all over this fabulous cooking school/store.... Well, I went crazy, Necie is a Southern Lady, she doesn't ever go crazy............Everyone has heard of Viking appliances but unless your lucky enough to live by one of their wonderful shops you might not know that they also carry a large selection of cooking tools and they have a cooking school.....Here are some great shots from inside the store...I hope you enjoy the tour!

This is the cooking "arena" where they have demonstrations.....They often have famous chefs and t.v. personalities.....We saw Rachel Ray give a demonstration and cookbook signing a few years back and it was alot of fun.....She is super cute and tiny in person. She had just gotten engaged the week before to her now husband John and she was extra bubbly that night..........if that's possible.

You can buy their wonderful stainless appliances and they have a large selection of their stainless cookware. The Boss treated me to a piece awhile back and I have to tell you, it's like All-Clad on steroids.....I love it....

Range tops and cooper cookie cutters.............

Stainless cookware sets...............

Miss Necie perusing the whisks and spatulas.......

lots and lots of kitchen do-dads...............anything you could want.

an overall view of the store.......

One of their kitchen displays.......I would kill for a kitchen like this.....

Actually.....this is the one I would kill for. How great is this blue porcelain. Hey, Boss....you better sleep with your eyes open!!

cookbooks.cookbooks and more cookbooks...........

You all know I love a good whisk......they have plenty of whisks.....

One of their "working kitchens"............I really need to sign up for one of their classes...They offer a 3-day extensive class on all sorts of techniques....

Big mixers just waiting to be used....

A bakers dream.....if you don't bake, this will inspire you to open up a cookbook and give it a try.

and every cook needs a good cutting board.....no shortage here. I just got a bamboo one and I love it....it doesn't show knife marks....

I hope you enjoyed the little tour. If you want to see if there's a Viking School near you go to http://www.vikingcookingschool.com/

DINER CHINA....A PETITE PANTRY AND AN AWARD!

Tanya over at The Sunday Baker had a challenge recently about pantries.....I thought I would share my petite, yet over filled pantry with you today even though it is more china closet then a true pantry......Atleast it got organized for the photo shoot....It started as a closet, a kitchen should not have closets....so we took off the ugly door and replaced it with a French 10 light door....Once you can see inside any kind of kitchen storage area your forced to keep it neat...... so instead of food stuff I dressed it up with my vast collection of diner china....Yes, those big heavy white plates, sometimes with names on them, that you find in diners of the 1940's....I love this stuff and have enough plates, bowls and coffee cups to feed an army.......It's really very fitting since I'm from Jersey and everyone knows that Jersey is the "Diner Capital of the World"......I have been buying pieces at flea markets for years and just recently picked up a big haul over at the Goodwill thanks to Manuela at the Pleasures of Homemaking who has made an art out of transforming finds from Goodwill into fabulous decorating pieces.....I also want to thank her for giving me the Georgia Friends Award and I am happy that we have become friends through the blogging world.....

6 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME MEME.........

Thanks to Deb at Driven 55 I've been tagged with the meme that is making the rounds......The Six Random Things Meme. Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you, that would be me...

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Write six random things about yourself

4.Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them....(notice I was not able to do this, both Deb and Alice and daughter have tried to explain to me how to do this link thing....I'm totally unable to follow simple instructions....have pity on me...it brings back memories of the first time I tried to load the old fashion 35mm cameras......the directions simply said....."load film"..I was thrown for a month!

5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog..

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.....

Sorry I always have the need to post some kind of picture...the above one goes with the first random thing and that is how I got my name "Suzanne"......It seems back in September of 1950 Suzanne Page was born....her brother Leslie was in my brothers grade school class......When brother heard Leslie had a new baby sister named Suzanne he came home and told my mother that if she had a baby girl he wanted it to be a Suzanne too......a month later I came into the world and my mother who changed her story years later did the lamest thing and named me Suzanne.....I guess she didn't think that later in life I might end up in the same classroom with the other Suzanne and this would be a problem for the teacher..... She later changed the story and told me I was named after perfume that my Father had bought her......Nice try!

Speaking of giving birth, the second random fact would be that the daughter was born on my birthday......let it be known that we didn't name her after some stranger.....Not only was she born on October 8th. but we were born in the same hospital and only 3 minutes apart.......Now that is good timing.....ever since we have been like the "Gibb twins".....we live 1,000 miles apart but always seem to be doing the exact same things at the same time.....We can finish each others sentences and when she's sick I feel it and vice-versa......Weird Huh???

Number three...and another visual..... would be by unusual attraction to Chimps.....Oh, not just any chimps....No, they have to be Hollywood Chimps.....You know like the ones in the movie Buddy....Where they dress them up in pants and little Tam O' Shanter hats with the little roller skates.....I hope none of you are Peta fans.....I swear that before I die I will travel to California and spend the day interacting with these adorable little creatures......that would be for a small fee of $600.00 and that also depends on how soon the animal cruelty police shut down the few remaining sanctuary's in the state....

As a child my mother would dress me in wool pants underneath my dresses.....I looked like an idiot but she said if I didn't wear the pants to keep my legs warm I would get sick.....Did you have a mother like that?? She also cut my hair once into a "Pixie" and another time permed my hair and left the solution in too long.....I looked like Rosanne Rosannadanna.....did I mention she would lay me up on the ironing board up against the sink to wash out the perm stuff.....I know.

A senior prom random thing.....I'm sorry I turned down the invitation from Richard "Crow" Porbansky to go with him to the prom....he was very nice and we were friends but his parents had died and he lived with his sister and I thought he wouldn't have anyone to tell him what to wear and what kind of flowers to buy.....NO.....I had to ask the town gigolo....the "professional prom escort"......what a horrible night that was....First of all, you know how the guy always would ask what color dress you would be wearing so the corsage could match.....Not this guy...I think he went to 5 or 6 proms that season, I'm sure they all got the same thing I did....a white orchid.....He probably got some kind of professional discount. Half way through dinner he leaned over to me and said "Are you going to eat that?" and proceeded to take the plate right out from under me........it was certainly memorable...only not in a good way.... picture a 1960's version of Wedding Crashers..............and I have no idea what "Crow" meant....some things you just don't ask......

And my gosh #6 would have to be that I had an e-mail and "cards in the mail" friendship with Tom Snyder......of the Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.....he was a lovely man and he died way too soon.....we miss you Tom!!

and now I will tag......

Weef from Rue de la Clef

Alice from Simply Decorated

Liz at Mabels House

Donna at Donna's Art

and....Manuela at The Pleasures of Homemaking