Holiday 2011

December 28, 2011 | Filed under Eric Food Holidays Mandee

Mandee prepping a beverage in the background.

On Friday I headed down to the Atlanta area to join Mandee for Christmas. We met up at Mike and Melissa’s for a wonderful dinner crafted by Melissa and Mandee (Although Mike and Mandee’s mom laid claim to the fixin’s)… YUM! Eric definitely had a little too much holiday spirit and Saturday morning was a slow start for me. We then went to David and Angie’s for Christmas Eve festivities and again, had a spendid meal and company. I got to meet more of the extended family. The real surprise of the evening was given to Mandee’s mom. She was given a little scroll from Angel and when she unrolled it, we (and most of the neighborhood) heard “We’re having a baby!!”

Cee Lo Green lives about a mile from Mike & Melissa!

Hahaa… Angel and Jason are expecting a bundle of joy in the Summer and everyone is so excited. Best present for sure! Sunday morning was present opening at Mike and Melissa’s beautiful home. I received lots of great goodies as did everyone else. Mandee got me a great trenchcoat that I’ve been wanting and her big gift was a first Edition version of Julia Child’s Art of French Cooking. Then we were off to Granny D’s (I mean Mandee’s mom).

We had a relaxing day and a half there and dinner with Angel and Jason as well. It was nice to relax a bit. Mandee made a fantastic dinner (even though I forgot half the ingredients at Mike and Melissa’s… that’s how I roll). Then we started the long drive back to Knoxville.

Tuesday we went to my sister and brother-in-law’s house for what was expected to be a lighter lunch…I, of course, ended up in a chair asking someone to cut the stack cake and buckeyes out of my stomach to bring me some relief. My sister’s big gift to Mandee and I was a 2-year project she had been working on. A 3-volume collection of our family’s favorite recipies. What a great treasure.

So all-in-all it was one of the best holidays ever! Now, it’s time to eat healthily and get 2012 started!!
(sorry about the weird image rotation problem in this post)

Cut Throat!

December 22, 2011 | Filed under Eric Life Mandee

Momma Lasseter with the Grandkids

So Mandee walked across the stage (Part 1…Part 2 is in a year) for her White Coat Ceremony this weekend. In attendance were myself, of course, her mom, sister, friend Heather, my sister and brother-in-law, and cousin Brian. Mandee pretty much covered the details, but I felt like saying how proud we are that she has over half of this trial behind her and is heading into the final year before getting more initials after her name.

Playing Angry Birds before Surgery!

The following Monday, we were up early and preparing for her to go into the hospital to have her thyroid out. Momma Lasseter and I shuttled her to the hospital… as for me, I was in major stress shutdown mode and basically trying to run on autopilot so as to not show how truly stressed I was. The surgery was brief compared to what we were told and the surgeon reported great results. On that note, I have to comliment her excellent surgeon, Dr Zirkle. He did an outstanding job and every person that we mentioned his name to in the hospital was extremely complimentary. The staff at Ft Sanders was also very good. The food, not so much. I stayed the night with her even thought she came out of surgery smiling and joking. She refused to share her percocets with me btw. After a good review by Dr Zirkle, we came home and spent the day feeding her meds (more for recreation than anything). Her staples were removed on Wednesday and she and Momma Lasseter were on their way to Atlanta for the holidays.

Post-Surgical Morphine Bliss!

There were a couple minutes during the process that made my heart sputter, but it all worked out well and I’m anxious to get to Atlanta to see her for a long weekend. -E

What a crazy few weeks!

December 20, 2011 | Filed under Career Engagement

Ok guys, this is my first ever blog post and oh boy there’s a lot to share! The engagement on December 10th totally blew me away and I am so happy that I just can’t stand it. I can’t believe that Eric absolutely thought of everything when he was planning the surprise. (see previous posts to understand what I’m talking about). I love him so much!

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for me, I had to spend the next week in all out stress mode participating in my didactic summative evaluation. For those of you that don’t know what that is it is three days of testing that covers 15 months of classroom instruction in a physician assistant program. Total craziness is really what it is! Good for us, everyone survived and we all got to walk in our white coat ceremony to celebrate!

About the white coat ceremony, I am so glad my mom, sister, and best friend Heather were able to attend as well as Eric’s sister, brother-in-law, and cousin. It meant so much to me that everyone wanted to be there to celebrate with me. I walked across the stage at the Tennessee Theater without tripping and then we walked down Gay St. to Sapphire for brunch. Brunch was fabulous but Sapphire was so dead it appeared as though we had rented out the entire space for ourselves. Please consider it when you are making your weekend brunch plans. They have a delicious waffle and biscuit menu in addition to their regular menu. SO GOOD!!!

The weekend came to a fast close with Angel and Heather leaving and mom staying here because the time came to have my pesky thyroid removed. Yesterday morning I went to Fort Sanders Regional and Dr. Zirkle, whom everyone had nothing but wonderful things to say about, removed my over active thyroid in an uncomplicated approximately 50 minute long procedure. I surprisingly felt really good after getting woken up and in my own pajamas then Eric brought me dinner of a cheeseburger, hush puppies, and an eggnog milkshake from Cookout. I know you’re thinking,”this girl just had surgery, right?” and you would be correct, but I was starving and I was not the least bit nauseous so I said politely, “FEED ME!’ Finally, after a few Percocet and a couple of visits from super sweet nurses my mom was itching to leave so Eric stayed with me and we watched “The Layover” with Anthony Bourdain…great show. I got to sleep a whole 4 hours then more visits from nurses and eventually Dr. Zirkle telling me I could go home but I had to eat a couple of Tums because my calcium is a little too low. Yes, Tums!

And now, I am home. My mom and Eric are here and I am much more sore today than yesterday but the painkillers and ice are amazing. My mom and I are going to the doc tomorrow to get my staples removed and check the old calcium again then we are headed to the Atl so I cane continue my recovery and celebrate the holidays with the family…Eric will be coming down on Friday ( a.k.a. Not soon enough!).

Merry Christmas!!!!

Another busy week

December 16, 2011 | Filed under Eric Mandee

This coming week is sure to be hectic. Tomorrow, Mandee is participating in her White Coat Ceremoney (Meaning, it is the end of her strictly classroom studies and she’s about to embark on clinical practice for a year). So happy that her mom, sister, and close friend Heather are going to be able to make a trek up from GA. As well, my sister, brother-in-law, and other close friends will be able to attend. In preparation, Basil helped up prepare a huge batch of my mom’s chili last evening. Yum! I can’t wait to try it!!

Then on Monday, Mandee is due to have her over-active thyroid removed. No fun there! But we are all sure the recovery will be smooth. -E

An Anniversary

December 13, 2011 | Filed under Eric Mandee

Yesterday marked a year since Mandee and I met in person during the snowstorm. We celebrated the evening at the Grill at Highlands Row. I lovely fine dining experience and the atmosphere is great. Several of our friends had complimented the establishment and they were right! We started out with signature Moonshine Martinis. Mandee’s choice was the Apple Pie Martini and mine was straight-up. After having a taste of her’s, I quickly asked if mine could be adjusted and they obliged. Mandee’s Medium-Rare steak was slightly over cooked but my Medium-Well Filet was perfect inevery way along with grilled asparagus and mandee had Okra fries. To finish the evening, we were presented a fabulous Chocolate Souffle with not quite enough Raspberries…but again, our server graciously brought more to the table. The staff of the Grill seemed excellent and even take your coat for you when you come in. That gesture seems to be a lost art these days.

It was a lovely dining experience to mark a year together.

Slideshow of our engagement

December 12, 2011 | Filed under Engagement Eric Mandee

Courtesy of Lauren Ladd.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Video

December 12, 2011 | Filed under Engagement Eric Mandee Uncategorized

For those of you having trouble accessing the video, here’s a YouTube version:

Mandee gets a surprise

A few more pix

December 11, 2011 | Filed under Engagement

I’ll put together a gallery soon but here some pix that my niece took

And the answer is…

December 10, 2011 | Filed under Uncategorized

Got it in real time. CLICK FOR VIDEO!!!

Here we go!!

December 10, 2011 | Filed under Uncategorized

Headed downtown!

Almost time!

December 10, 2011 | Filed under Uncategorized

It’s almost time! Mandee was headed to the Jingle Bell race at 4:55 this morning and i was up shortly afterwards, theres no chance that i could go back to sleep. I finished up some yummy stuff for the party. Now i’m off to drop the dogs at the kennel and will head down to Market Square soon for brunch.