Happy Birthday, Gammy!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful grandmother, Gammy!  I am so so so blessed to be one of her 12 grandchildren (her favorite, actually)!  She never ceases to amaze me with her wit, trendiness, servants heart, intelligence, and love for our Lord & family.  She is absolutely incredible- she pours herself into our family and community day in and day out seemingly effortlessly.  Gammy is an awesome cook, florist, decorator, and host, she gives great advice and is so fun to be around!  Happy Birthday, Gammy!  Karl & I wish we could be in Arlington to celebrate such a blessed day with you.  We love and miss you!  Also, thanks for being one of my few loyal blog readers :)

Love,
Hannah Kate Davis Cuppett Burton
(OK Davis isn't technically apart of my name but it's my mom's maiden name and Gammy's last name so I may as well throw it in here since I've been into switching up my name lately... I'll always be a 'Davis' girl anyway.)

The Burton's list of loves

So I have worked on a post of "Things I've learned about Karl Since saying 'I do'" multiple times.  This list is so short it's not even worth posting.  I guess I'll keep adding to it and post it once it's actually worth reading.  In the mean time, I've noticed myself saying to Karl that, "Oh, you & I love that!" So apparently since saying 'I do' we have quite the list of joint loves...

-Sarah Palin & her show that we are absolutely watching every episode of (TLC, premieres November 14)
-Walking around our neighborhood
-Falling asleep to HGTV
-Homemade Mexican food
-Taylor Swift (Karl says "not that much" but I know he does) & John Mayer
-Cooking
-DIYs and decorating (Karl has incredible taste, seriously)
-Impromptu traveling (and more specifically, going home)
-Family time... I think we both have an unhealthy attachment to our families, see above.
-Antique, thrift, & retail stores
-Yard work (I like to pull weeds... Karl does the rest)
-SEC football, more specifically the RAZORBACKS
-World Market
-Camping (I use this term loosely... I like blow-up mattress/RV/clean bathroom camping, Karl likes "real" camping)
-Colorado

I love that Karl & I have so much in common (although we still have our own VERY DIFFERENT interests) and I can't wait to grow this list in the coming months & years!!  Now to work on the list of things I've learned about Karl...

Happy Wednesday!
Hannah K.C. Burton

Sweet Pork Tacos

I have really, really enjoyed cooking these first couple months of marriage!  My parents really started to cook new, exciting, and ambitious meals as my sisters and I got older so that coupled with the rest of my family's incredible kitchen skills have given me some serious kitchen confidence.  I find some major inspiration from my grandmother (hello, she has authored and published a cookbook), my parents (who I would describe as "fun" in the kitchen- homemade pizza, lots of fried food, and attempting to make their fave restaurant meals- so fun), and one of my best friends, Maggie (who cooks the most savory food that makes company feel like royalty, every time).  I've had a couple of dinner blunders but for the most part Karl has been eating pretty well, if I do say so myself.  I think all it takes it being able to follow a recipe, I certainly don't come up with dinner ideas or concoctions myself.   So, in honor of my self-professed success in the kitchen, I'm going to share one of mine and Karl's new favorite dinners!  We had this last night and it was sooooo good.  One of my favorite restaurants in Arlington is Habanero's because they have such great Sweet Pork Tacos but their service pretty much sucks and I no longer live in Arlington... so I found this recipe and it was a hit!

Photo & Recipe courtesy of DishingWithDish

Sweet Pork Taco Meat

1 2-3 lb. Pork Roast

2 8 oz. cans of El Pato (I found this in the Mexican food aisle, it's in a yellow can)

1 8 oz. can of Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

Salt & Pepper to taste (I used Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper)

Note- if you're like my mom and can't eat ANYTHING with ANY amount of spiciness, just use 1 can of the El Pato and crank up the amount of regular tomato sauce a touch to substitute.  The El Pato has some kick to it.

Second Note- you could easily cut this recipe in 1/2 if you're cooking for 2 or 3 because it makes A TON of food.

Place meat in crock pot with just enough water to cover.  Cook until fork-tender (about 8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high).  Remove meat, drain water.  Place roast back in crock pot and shred with two forks.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Combine shredded pork with all remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

1/2 envelope dry Ranch dressing

3/4 cup fresh Cilantro

2 small Tomatillos

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1/2 cup of sour cream

juice of 1/2 lime

combine all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth- tah dah!

Don't forget...

Taco shells or tortillas

whatever taco fixing's you like... Karl & I just enjoyed avocado on ours!

Yay!!  Enjoy this SUPER easy meal (like REALLY easy)!

Love,

Hannah K.C. Burton 

(yes, that's because I had my name officially changed this week to Hannah Kate Cuppett Burton... "Kate Cuppett" is now my legal middle name.  Ha.)

Venom.

Well, I'd like to think I don't use my blog to vent (at least I try and disguise it) but no, not this time...

Dear "Precious Moore" (if that really is your name) in Nigeria,
You nasty fraudulent skeeze.  How dare you buy my husband's PSP 3000 off Ebay, not pay for, then buy it again when I reposted it.  Then you sent us a fake PayPal email saying you had paid for the item.  I loathe you.  You don't even have an account with PayPal you nasty.  I hope the Nigerian mean people get you for this.  You aren't worth my energy or words.  I'm praying to forgive you and to love you... even though I don't want to.

distastefully signed,
Hannah K.C. Burton

P.S. If you were planning to visit Karl & I anytime soon, count on not having a bed as our funds from selling this were going towards our "Buy a guest bed" fund.  You can thank Precious for that.

update...

so, an update on my climb towards socialization in Sumter: Karl & I are going to a meeting tonight at a church we've been visiting to hear from 3 local ministry organizations on their need for volunteers and how we could get involved with each of them; one of them is the pregnancy center :)

I'm waiting on a call back from a different church's Mother's Day Out program... a delightful way to spent one day a week although I may or may not get paid for it- at least it may lead to babysitting (I never thought I would be babysitting as a married woman- hello humble pie).

Still waiting on that email reply from the professor I contacted for career advice...

Annndddd... I may or may not have responded to a craigslist ad for a reading & math tutor... Oh.my.gosh.

Love,

desperate for something to do with my life besides watch TV, blow dry my hair, grocery shop, and blog (no offense)

Digging my feet in

I got Karl an iPhone for his birthday.  When I was at the AT&T store setting up his service they were asking me all these questions for our account... they asked me where I am employed.  Normally I just say, "I'm a student," and I feel cool and educational and stuff... this was the first time I couldn't say that so I just stared blankly, like an idiot, at the salesperson and blurted out, "unemployed." Ha.  I have no excuse for not having a job at this point- I've been in this town for 5 weeks now, I have a college degree and a license to practice nursing, I'm not a mom, my home is clean and every ounce of laundry is done, our home is "settled."  Well there's this thing... I do not want to be a nurse.  Oh, that's just great.  So, here I am, a newlywed pining for a second income, in a town where I know like 4 people (Karl and 3 of his friends), with a degree I have no interest in using in it's conventional way, desperate for friends and social interaction, with no reason to get out of my PJs at all.  TIME TO DIG IN and get acquainted with Sumter.  So, I contacted the local Pi Phi alum club for it's meeting schedule (and by local, I mean 45 minutes away), have penciled into my planner the next volunteer information meeting for the local pregnancy center because I always wanted to volunteer at the one in Fayetteville and never did, and have emailed an old professor for career advice.  SO, here is my desperate attempt.  I wish there was an eharmony for friends because I would totally do it...

Also noted: If you are an employer in Sumter, SC- you want me bad.  I'm interested in being like a nurse educator or a makeup nurse.  The "makeup nurse" is a title I made up and also a position I made up.  I would test out tons of makeup on myself and tell you if there was anything clinically wrong with it.  So, I can send you my resume in a hot second and I could add in head shots if you want.  I'm totally qualified, swear.

So, while I'm waiting for the perfect Makeup Nurse job, I'm going to find basically everything I can do to get me out of my PJs... on my list includes: pregnancy center volunteering, switching out our summer clothes for our winter clothes, becoming active in the Columbia Pi Phi alumni club, wishing I could be on AAC for USC Pi Phi, shopping online daily for home decor, thinking about how I will decorate for Christmas, and finding other ways to get out of the house.  Thank you.

Love,
Mrs. Burton