Last Friday after work I headed to Atlanta to see my best friend, Perry! When I got there we were both hungry so we headed straight to dinner at Giovanni’s. Giovanni himself was there and came over and talked to us. He was really nice. I always like when the owner of a restaurant comes around.
We had a sweet red wine.
I ordered the Baked Ziti. It was very good! I was surprised at how much I liked this place. I am not a huge Italian fan but everything was really good. The best part was the garlic bread. It was so good I didn’t even take a picture ;).
After dinner we went back to her house and looked at engagement pictures and chatted for a bit until time for the movies. We went and saw The Five-Year Engagement.
I thought it was funny but not what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a lot more funnier. I thought the end was cute when they finally did get married.
I can’t wait to share the rest of the weekend’s events with you!
Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, who you were with a year ago today? I do. This day will forever be etched in my mind.
The terror and fear I felt will never be forgotten. Huddling in the basement of my parent’s home, praying, hearing my father pray and knowing it was serious and not just another storm that would just blow over us. Listening on the radio as reports of neighborhoods, apartments and businesses had been destroyed.
The happiness I felt when all my loved ones were accounted for. The shame I felt for being so happy for the safety of my family and friends when so many others had lost people they loved.
The days and weeks immediately after the storm showed me a lot of things. I got to see my town come together in a crisis. People from all over came to help strangers in need. Unfortunately, I also got to see terrible things. I got a small glimpse into what it might be like to live in a war stricken place. Army trucks and soldiers filed in. Driving down the street seeing soldiers with guns everywhere, looters, curfews.
For a few weeks I wasn’t sure if my hometown would ever be “normal” again.
A year later, it is not “normal” again. I still get sad driving by open fields where homes and businesses use to be but things are beginning to be rebuilt.
I didn’t take a camera but a couple of people I was with took the pictures below on April 28, 2011.
These are pictures of the house my dad grew up in were my nephew was living at the time.
“And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm”
– Casting Crowns
“But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away”
– Casting Crowns
“And tomorrow if the rain shall come we will not fear. We will not run from anything because we are standing strong, we are standing tall. We will not run we will not fall away from you because we love you.” – John Hayes
To remember the victims and honor the survivors, a historical marker was dedicated to the April 2011 tornado outbreak. The monument sits in downtown Tuscaloosa.
Text from the marker:
City of Tuscaloosa April 2011 Tornado Outbreak
In
April 2011, one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the
history of Alabama left an unprecedented path of destruction through the
City of Tuscaloosa.
On the street corners and in the
neighborhoods, thousands of citizens transformed into heroes by aiding
the injured, searching for the missing, clearing debris, and
volunteering from dawn to dusk. Called by circumstance, burdened by
tragedy, yet inspired by a confident hope, the fury of Mother Nature was
met by the best of humanity.
How we fought back, how we refused
to quit and how we united will ensure that we never forget our victims,
our survivors and our heroes.
For a list of those who were killed on April 27, 2011 go to Al.com.
Ichiban is one of my favorite sushi restaurants in Tuscaloosa.
My favorite sushi from here is the Tuscaloosa Roll. I have tried several other rolls here that are also really good but I always come back to this one.
Tuscaloosa Roll – crabmeat, fried shrimp, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado, with eel sauce and massago on top
One perk of having a good friend as a neighbor is you get to eat each others food. She made a chicken spinach pasta bake dish and had lots left so she fixed me a plate to take to work for lunch! Such a sweet friend.
The Lemon Cool Whip Cookies were just so good I had to try the recipe out with a different flavor.
I made these for our Relay for Life bake sale. I decided to only use 1 egg this time and I think they turned out better than the Lemon Cool Whip Cookies.
Strawberry Cool Whip Cookies
by Brittany Ray
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert cookie
6022754
Ingredients (48 cookies)
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
1 eggs
1 box strawberry cake mix
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk cool whip and egg together.
Stir in cake mix. Stir until dough forms and all ingredients are mixed well.
Place powdered sugar in a bowl.
Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.
Using a teaspoon, spoon a ball of dough up and place in bowl of sugar. Roll around and coat ball completely with sugar.
Place on cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.
Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack.
Saturday night Trey and I decided to have a relaxing date at home. We went to Sam’s to get my tires rotated and serviced. While waiting we perused every isle in Sam’s. I spotted some frozen Snow Crab Legs and decided that’s what we needed for dinner. The directions were super easy and it took a total of 10 minutes for them to be completely cooked and ready to eat.
Trey made Bloody Mary’s to drink while we cooked dinner. He loves to garnish it up! You can’t see it but there is okra in the glass too. I only like to eat the celery but its pretty with all the other stuff added too.
We had salads, baked potatoes and steamed snow crab legs. Don’t let my plate fool you. I had way more crab legs than that! :)
Question:
Do you ever just like to stay in and cook a fancy dinner or would you rather leave that to the restaurants and go out to eat?
Of course I had to get a picture with Big Al when I saw him walking around the track. Of my all my years in college I never once had my picture made with him. Now I can mark it off my list!
The track was lined with luminarias. Each luminaria had a name of a person who has fought cancer, is fighting cancer or who has lost the battle of this terrible disease. The luminaria ceremony was very emotional. They wait until 10pm when it is dark and shut off all the lights. The bags are then lit and you walk around the track as they read names aloud either in honor of or in memory of.
We decided to light our tents up with Christmas lights.
The lovely engaged couple! Aren’t they the cutest!
To attract attention to our tent, Stephen dressed in his Mardi Gras attire and brought our team mascot, Polo.
My ADX sisters Anna, Sarah, Ashleigh and me.
Twin, Big and me.
Me and Trey.
The plan was to stay until 6am but once the other tents started packing up and leaving we decided to leave a little early. We were one of the last 3 tents to stay. So at around 2am we packed up and went home.
It was a long but fun night. It was really great to hang out with friends and help raise money for such a worthy cause!
