High Five for Friday - Week #8

If anyone was ever excited to see a Friday roll around, it's on wonderful days like today, because not only is it Friday, but it's the Friday before a 3-day holiday weekend! And who wouldn't be excited about that?! I mean, I get that not everyone gets Monday off, but this State-worker and her husband both do, so that's important :) But before we just fly away and into the sunset of the upcoming weekend, let's do a little High Five for Friday with Lauren Elizabeth first!

1. Angie and I went to kick boxing last night for the first time in a couple weeks. Neither of us wanted to go, and we both pretty much hated it while we were there. It wasn't until like 9pm that we both decided we felt better and were glad we ended up going. High five for endorphins and exercise!

2. On Monday I took Primrose on a short walk around our neighborhood and found a couple of really gorgeous flowers. High five for pretties!

3. I cooked dinner in my crock pot two nights this week, and both turned out stinking delicious. And those "recipes" are always the easiest. Actually, one night I had a pre-seasoned pork roast, so all I had to do was dump that bad boy in there and go on about my business for the next 6ish hours. Easy and yum. High five for 'lazy' cooking and delicious dinners!

4. We had my parents over for dinner on Tuesday night, and it was so much fun. They're air conditioning has been out for the past week, so we invited them over for dinner and a night in the cool air. They enjoyed it, and so did we. High five for family time!

5. My sweet Primrose follows me everywhere y'all. And it's so cute and I love it. I won't be too 'graphic' and share what exactly she's waiting on, but just look at how cute she is :) High five for sweet doggies!

And a sixth one just for fun - I finished book four in the Game of Thrones series the other night. I'm only like one chapter into the fifth and final book so far, but it's good and I can't wait to see how everything wraps up! It's been a really good series, but it's also taking me FOREVER to read, so I'm ready to be done and move on to something else. So high five for finishing this series, in another month or so!

Happy Friday my friends. Hope you had a good week, but that you have an even better weekend! We have zero plans right now, but we do know we'll be heading down for a day at the beach one day this weekend. And that's all I need to know! Looking forward to some rest and relaxation, and also some productivity around the house... See y'all back here on Tuesday! :)

Cookout, Games, Kayaks & Food

Hey there fellow bloggers! I'm actually really excited about today's weekend recap, because of two reasons: 1. I used an actual camera this weekend, not just my phone, and 2. it was an awesome weekend, so there's good things to share today! I mean sure, there is always something good to share from the weekend, but this one was particularly good, so let's get to it, shall we?

FRIDAY

Some friends came over and we grilled hamburgers and corn for dinner. We sat out on the deck until after dark just having fun and talking, then finally moved inside once we couldn't see anymore. (We don't have a light out there...) Then we played some games for a while, and eventually they had to head home early, because she works the 7am-7pm shift at the hospital, so she needed some sleep! It was a great night though, and lots of fun for sure.

SATURDAY

Saturday we used our Groupon for Rum 138, and went kayaking down the Santa Fe River! It was gorgeous and sunny and we loved it so much. The current is pretty strong, so we hardly even had to paddle that much, so we basically just floated a lot of the time, and that was nice and relaxing. We packed a cooler full of lunch, waters, and some fancy giant cans of Arizona tea, and had lunch at the picnic tables at Poe Springs Park, about an hour down the river. It was so awesome! The trip was about four hours total, and it was gorgeous. We definitely loved it, and were glad we were able to go on this little adventure together! (And now I get to cross this off of our summer bucket list!)

On the way home, we took the back country roads instead of the interstate, and we came upon this super cute and absolutely delicious BBQ place in the tiny town of Mayo, Florida. The portions were huge, and everything is super fresh and homemade. She also makes her own desserts, so we enjoyed some peanut butter pie before heading back on the road.

SUNDAY
Sunday I accidentally slept in till after 10am, so we missed church yesterday. I was exhausted though after our big day on the river, so it felt good to get some extra rest. We lazed around for a bit, then decided to treat ourselves for lunch out somewhere, and I chose this new place I've really been wanting to try - Merv's Melt Shop. And y'all it was so good! I had a clubhouse sandwich, and absolutely loved it, with sweet potato tots. Jeff got a breakfast sammie of fried eggs and cheese, and his was really good too. We will definitely be back here many more times to come! (And this is new restaurant 1 of 3 for my summer bucket list!)

These next two pictures are just some random ones from before lunch.... These cute little dandelions are growing all over our yard right now, and I'm loving them! Unfortunately they're only growing because the yard is overgrown and needs to be mowed, but that's okay, I'll enjoy them while they're here! And then the second one is just because my little Primrose is the cutest girl in the world!

After lunch, we didn't do too much except check out a townhouse for rent (we didn't love it...), and went to Winn Dixie. Jeff is dealing with a serious cough and severe allergy issues, so he pretty much slept the afternoon away, while I watched Parenthood on Netflix. I cooked us dinner, and played super-wife doing all the laundry, dishes, taking out the trash, and straightening up. Normally Jeff would have been helping with all that, but since he was sleeping, I just handled all of it, and I felt super accomplished!

It was definitely a good weekend, and I loved just about every second of it. (Except for the fact my pitiful little husband was feeling so awful yesterday.) Thankful for all these great things and blessings and people in my life! Hope y'all had a great weekend too. What did y'all do? And Happy Monday :)

High Five for Friday - Week #7

This feels like it's been a pretty long week you guys, so I for one am happy (as always) that today is finally Friday! Work has been good, but busy, and we even got some good news this week - which I'll tell you about as one of my high five moments in just a bit... Overall, it was a good week, but I'm ready to get the next eight hours of work over with, and head into the weekend! But first, let's head into my weekly installment of High Five for Friday, to link up with Lauren.

1. We made really yummy homemade vegetarian pizza for Meatless Monday. Here's the quick "recipe" - spread out some fresh dough (we got it from Publix), spread a layer of Classico pesto sauce, a layer of thawed frozen spinach, some red onion slices, and mine got mushrooms and tomatoes. Top all of that with a big handful of mozzarella cheese, then dollop on little drops of goat cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes or so, and viola - delicioso! Seriously y'all, it's sooo good. I made it again for my lunch on Tuesday, on a whole wheat Flatout, and it was just as good.

2. My mama tried a new recipe for making her own iced coffee, and so on Wednesday morning she picked me up before work, and brought me a cup of it! It's so good. And she even made her own creamer for it too. Here's the recipe she found from Pinterest if you're interested. 

My sister gave me this tumbler as part of my MoH present :)

3. We got good news at work this week. For my section, there are supposed to be 10 total positions that do what I do - right now however, we're only at six. And it's kind of killing us. But we found out on Tuesday that even though our whole Department is on a hiring freeze, they're allowing us to get new employees, and fill our empty OPS position as well! This is a huge deal guys, even if it doesn't quite sound like it - believe me, we're pumped about it.

4. I posted my summer bucket list the other day, and I'm excited to get movin' on it! Hopefully we'll be better at this one, than at the springtime one I made, because I didn't do hardly anything from that one... Oopsies!

5. Primrose is a really funny dog, and lately, she's starting refusing to eat by herself. So one night, we came home to find she had carried her bowl into the living room, leaving a trail of food behind her. We cracked up laughing when we saw it. Well now, if she hasn't eaten by the time we settle onto the couch for the night, we have to bring her food bowl in there with us so she'll eat her dinner. She's so funny and we love her so much :)

Tonight we might have a couple friends over (if one of them is up for it after her nursing shift) to grill some burgers and sit on the porch. There's a concert at the park by our house tonight, and we can hear it just by sitting outside! So that should be fun, and the weather is gorgeous today, so that will be nice to enjoy being outside for a while tonight. Then tomorrow we're going kayaking!! And I'm so freaking excited about that! Can't wait! Happy Friday y'all, see ya Monday!

Summer Bucket List 2014

I've been meaning to post my Summer Bucket List since May 1st yall, but obviously I didn't quite make it for that... But it's still fine, because they're is of course still of ton of summer-time left. I mean technically summer hasn't even officially begun yet, but us Floridian's don't pay attention to actual season, and just base it on the scorching temperatures.

So it's unofficially summer down here now, and so I'm sharing my short little list of summer goals and plans. Can't wait get going on these, and share all the updates along the way!

1. Go kayaking (with our Groupon for a trip down the Santa Fe River!) wrote about it HERE
2. Start running in the mornings again, two days a week
3. Find a new house, maybe even one with a fenced-in yard for Primrose
4. Host a family BBQ out on our deck before we have to move
5. Visit a new beach in Florida, to collect another jar of sand and shells
6. Read 3 books (other than GoT, once I finish that series)
7. Get the second bedroom completely clean and ready for the boys to be here in June
8. Go to an FSU baseball game (since we didn't make it to one in time for my "spring" list...)
9. Go camping again (since we didn't make it in time for my "spring" list...)
10. Figure out the favorite books link-up idea I have swirling in my head, and do it!
11. Try three new restaurants around town (1. Merv's Melt Shop...)
12. Explore a new city nearby
13. Roast weenies & s'mores with the boys in our fire pit on the deck
14. Get snow cones from Big Easy Snowballs and eat them outside at Lake Ella
15. Set up a blate for a few Tally bloggers I haven't met yet

We are already planning to go on our kayaking trip this Saturday, and I'm super pumped about that. It's going to be so much fun! Did any of y'all make a list of summer goals and plans? If so, let me know so I can go check it out! Or if you haven't made one yet, you should! Because it's fun :)

Weekend in Atlanta

Hey there Monday, it's not so nice to see you again, but I guess I have no choice, so I'm not going to complain too much... Let's just do the typical blogger thing, and write us out a good ole weekend recap, shall we? Yes, let's do just that...

Friday after work we made our way up to Atlanta, to spend the weekend there for a wedding. We found this super random spot in Cordele, GA to eat dinner, and it was so yummy. Carter's Fried Chicken & Hamburgers has been around for years and years, and has quite the reputation. It's just a tiny little hole-in-the-wall kind of place, but the chicken sandwiches were sooo good!

Saturday morning, Jeff's best friend (who was his best man) picked us up, and we returned to a spot we found the last time we were up there, and had a super delicious brunch at Folk Art Restaurant. I got a build-your-own-omelette with caramelized onions, mushrooms, turkey sausage and cheddar cheese, with a side of grits (with corn in them - yum!), wheat toast, and their own house-made peach jam. Holy so delicious you guys. I want all of that to magically appear in front of me right now again, because it was so good and I'm hungry right now! This tiny yogurt just isn't cutting it...

We ran a couple of errands (had to buy new black shoes for the hubs) and then headed back to the house we were staying at for some rest time and some HGTV shows :) I took a tiny nap, and then it was time to start getting ready for the wedding. Some friends of theirs came to meet at the house, and there ended up being six of us, so we called an "Uber" instead of a cab. It's a much nicer car, and it costs less than a cab sometimes. An Escalade picked us up, and we made it to the gorgeous venue in just about 10 minutes.

The venue was gorgeous, and so was the ceremony. The bride Ellen was of course gorgeous, and their sweet vows made me tear up.

The reception was yummy salad and rolls, followed by your entree choice. I chose the vegetarian pasta option, and it ended up being Gorgonzola cheese ravioli - holy yummy. But of course I also taste-tested Jeff's choice of chicken and beef, and that was really good too. Very good wedding food :) After quite a few sweet speeches from lots of family members, they had a cool photo booth, and a fun DJ for some awesome dancing. I wasn't feeling very good though, so we got a cab back to the house kind of early, and caught some more HGTV before heading to bed.

Sunday morning we got packed up and headed out rather early, and grabbed coffee and croissants at a local spot before hitting the road. We took our time on the drive home, and just enjoyed some back country roads of Georgia. Jeff's dad was nice enough to let us borrow his convertible VW bug for the trip, so we had the top down on the ride home, just loving the wind and the sunshine! Although, Jeff did get a little sunburned since we didn't have any sunscreen, but it was still so nice!

We made it back in time to meet my family for Mother's Day dinner at Outback, and we all had so much fun together! There were lots of silly stories shared, and lots of laughs had by all. We had a great time being together, and I'm glad it worked out that way. Afterwards, we headed over to Jeff's parents house to pick up Primrose, and spend some Mother's Day time with them too!

All-in-all, it was another good weekend, and we were glad for a couple days off work, spent with friends and family who we love so much! Here's hoping the week isn't too awful, and it goes quickly, because we've got exciting plans to go kayaking this Saturday!

Slices As Big As Your Head

So I've been purposefully trying to not to start every single post with "good morning" because I started actually thinking about it, and not everyone reads it in the morning. Sometimes I don't even write these in the morning, and I would still do that, and what sense does that make? None. But the problem is, now I find myself struggling with how to actually begin the post... It feels weird to just jump directly into things sometimes, and I feel like it needs some sort of greeting or something. Is that just me?  Well, today this silly paragraph is what you're gettin' for an intro/greeting, and now we're just going to move on past it...

Last night for Jeff's birthday, we decided to keep it pretty low-key and simple. Most of you should know we're doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University right now (only one week of class left), and so we're trying to be more careful about our budget and finances. And so that's why we decided to plan a frugal date night, rather than blowing some unnecessary money on a "fancy" dinner or date night activity.

There's a pizza place here in town, and it's amazing - Momo's Pizza. And I used to go there a lot back in my high school days, but realized I hadn't been there probably since then. And that was like eight years ago! Jeff hadn't ever tried it before, even after living here for roughly seven years, so I decided we definitely needed to go there last night, and it was sooo good! And they make HUGE pizzas y'all. I mean huge. Their slogan is literally "Slices as big as your head," and they're not kidding about that. Check out this one slice...

Then after dinner, we caught ourselves a weeknight showing of The Amazing Spiderman 2. It was of course Jeff's request, but it ended up being really good. Like, way better than I was expecting. I actually can't remember if I saw the first one, but that was OK, because obviously I know the story of Spiderman anyways, so it's not like I was missing much. We saw the IMAX 3D version, and I'm glad we did. Usually, those don't impress me much, and I'm fine just seeing the regular version, but it was pretty cool. And the theater that seats like 500 or something, only had about 50 people last night, so it felt really personal.

So it was a nice, casual little date night for his birthday, but we both really enjoyed it. It's always nice to get to spend some quality time together in the middle of the week like that, just the two of us.

And now for a funny side story - when we got home, Primrose had carried her food bowl from the kitchen to the living room, and of course sprinkled a trail of all the food on her way there. So it was everywhere when we got home last night, and it was actually really funny. We both cracked up laughing at her when we first walked in the door. Our little doggie is just so silly :)

Pinterest Recipes I've Tried & Loved

Last night, I officially added a new dish into our regular rotation, after making it last night for the second week in a row. I found it on Pinterest a while back, and made it for Angie and I last week for our healthy girls' night dinner, and we both loved it. So I decided I needed to make it again last night for my husband on Meatless Monday, and he loved it too! So then this morning, I was inspired by Lauren's blog post where she shared some of her favorite Pinterest recipes. So I thought I'd do the same today.

Last night's delicious Mexican Quinoa, and also the picture I used for yesterday's photo-a-day prompt, "close."

Most of my Pinterest boards are food boards, because that's what I use it for the most. Of course I have some design and craft boards, as well as a few others, but the first like 15 or so are all different categories of foods! I like to keep it pretty specific so it's easier to find something when I'm craving something specific, or feel like making a casserole that day instead of soup or sandwiches. So for that, they all have their own board.

Well anyways, lets get to the recipe sharing!

One Pan Mexican Quinoa*
Crab Salad**
Ratatouille's Ratatouille
Slow-Cooker Lasagna Soup
Creamy Crockpot Chicken & Broccoli Over Rice
Loaded Mashed Potato Bake
Oven-Baked Chicken Fajitas 
Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Casserole

*The Mexican quinoa is what I made last night, and it's just sooo easy and yummy.
**I didn't use the radish in this, and it was still delicious. I also added in just a tiny bit of chopped up "tamed" jalapenos.

Lately I've been attempting to try a new recipe at least once a week, in order to add some variety into our usually super simple meal plan. So when I found ones that we love, we can add them in to the normal rotation. The ones I shared above are definitely some of our favorites (well I'm the crab stuff was just for me, Jeff doesn't like the 'imitation' crab...), and they definitely get repeated.

What are some of YOUR favorite Pinterest recipes you've tried? (The easier ones guys, not the ones that require hours of work and a bajillion ingredients please...) I'd love to hear what other people have already tested out and loved too!

Easter Weekend

I'm back this Monday for a little weekend recap. Last Monday, I was feeling really bad and nasty, so I took the day off work, and I also took the day off from blogging. Instead, I stayed home and read my book literally ALL day long. Didn't turn on the tv at all, and read for like seven hours straight. It was awesome. But this Monday, I'm feeling much better, and so I want to share some quick clips from the weekend. 

Friday night, Jeff was still on his way driving back home, so I went over to hang out with my parents. We went out for dinner, and then got some dessert on the way home. Then we just sat around for a few hours chatting and laughing and telling stories. It was fun, and a good time for me to spend with just the two of them. But I sure was excited when my husband finally got home around 9:30 that night!

Saturday was the laziest day, and it was so glorious. Jeff is now in love with Taco Bell's new breakfast, but I hadn't tried it yet, so we went out that morning in our pj's to grab some. They accidentally gave us an extra bag of food in the drive-thru line (we assume it was for the car behind us), but we didn't realize until we were back home, and then it was just too late to do anything. So instead we got to sample a couple extra items as well! And y'all, that breakfast crunch wrap was delish. Please no one tell me the calorie count on that thing though, because I do not want to know....

We then sat around watching some Netflix for a few hours, and then decided to go see a movie at the cheap theater. We saw "Monuments Men" and it was really good! I've always had a fascination with WWII and the Holocaust, but that was a whole new part of history that I had never known. It was really cool though. We then forced ourselves to make a quick grocery shopping trip, but then called it a day and that was about all! Except for dinner I made grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches on cheddar-jalapeno bread my parents brought back from a little local place on their vacation. And it was so delicious! 

And then Sunday of course was Easter! We went to church that morning at Engage Tallahassee, and then met Jeff's parents for lunch at one of our favorites - Marie Livingston's. I had a delicious steak with a baked potato, and loved every single bite of it. (And of course dripped some of the sauce on my dress with the very first bite....) Then we went to the in-laws house and hung out there for a bit. Jeff helped put together their new patio furniture, then we all had dessert out on the porch to enjoy the new stuff! 

For dinner we met my parents at Buffalo Wild Wings, and we just split one of those appetizer sampler's since neither of us was super hungry. But it was delish. Their garlic Parmesan flavor is the jam. I think I'd like to have that stuff on everything! We sat and chatted for a while after we finished eating, but eventually wrapped it up and we headed back home for some movie-rest time. We watched "12 Years A Slave" and man what an intense story/movie. Some parts were really hard to watch, but overall, it's a great movie.

I'm so thankful that the Lord died for us and ours sins, but even more importantly that he rose again on the third day! What an incredible miracle! I hope y'all had a good weekend, and fun time celebrating Easter. Happy Monday ladies :)

High Five for Friday - Week #4

You guys, I'm really enjoying being back in the blogging world now. The five-month break I took was absolutely necessary, for a couple of reasons, but now that I'm back, I'm so glad to be here. I came back excited about writing, and about sharing my life, and reading about your lives. And I came back refreshed from all the silly blog-drama that goes on when thousands upon thousands of girls are all trying to achieve some level of popularity at this little hobby of ours. It's just silliness really. But it feels good to have gotten some perspective on that.

And now I just want to get back to documenting my life, and my interests, in whatever way I want to, without the pressure to conform or perform, or get 30 bajillion page views a day. So that's what I plan on doing. I just wanted to get that all out in the open now that I've been back for about a month now. Anyways, let's move on and get to the fun that is High Five for Friday with Lauren, because I really do like these posts :)

1. I went to a new kick boxing class with a friend from work last night, and it was killer! It's "cardio kick boxing" so it's very high energy. Thursday's is apparently arms day, and so we did a lot of pushups and little weight things too. Then at the end, she made us all go outside and run a lap around the center, which was probably less than half a mile, but it was still rough. I forgot to wear my Polar heart rate monitor, but I feel like I must have burned like 11,000 calories... Going back again next Thursday though!

2. One of the photo prompts this week for the April photo challenge on Instagram was "Hobby." So I took a photo of some of my very favorite books, and I just like it :)

3. My self-designed blog is so super cute, right? And the best part, it completely fit into our budget this month, because it cost a whopping ZERO dollars since I figured it all out myself. Still not perfect, since I need to tweak and fix a few things, but I'm still loving it :)

4. Speaking of the budget, we cut up some credit cards this week at our weekly Financial Peace University class, and that felt great! We completely paid off one of them last week, and now it will never have a balance again! (The other one was Macy's and it had only been used once in like, 2011, just to get 20% off my swimsuit purchase...)

5. I made this amazing SkinnyTaste Macaroni Casserole for dinner the other night, and it was so stinking yummy!! My pictures may not look magazine-worthy, but let me tell you, this was so delicious, and so easy! I modified the recipe a bit though, because I was scared of the whole not-cooking-the-pasta-ahead-of-time thing. So then once I put it all together, I just put it in the oven long enough to melt the cheese, so like 10-15 minutes.

And since more than just five things need high fives this week, here are a few more awesome things I just want to share today...
- Did y'all see the round robin giveaway on Instagram this week? Well, I won a $10 Amazon card from it!
- I printed a whole bunch of pictures last weekend for the house, and I also updated all the frames and stuff in my office, and it's making me happier.
- I've been reconnecting with a lot of my old blog friends this week and it's been a lot of fun.

So that's about it for today now. This weekend is sure to be fun, because it's the opening concert weekend at the new Cascades park! I won four tickets, so we invited two of our friends to meet at our house, then all go together, so we're looking forward to that. Tonight is also a big block party for the FSU spring game, which is tomorrow. And who knows what else the next few days might hold?! Looking forward to it of course :) Hope y'all have a had an equally good week, and wishing you an even better weekend!

Beautiful Bridesmaids Luncheon

Hello lovely blogger ladies and friends, today is another wedding recap. But I'm getting really excited about these, because now we're finally into the actual week of the wedding! After today I'll do the rehearsal dinner, and then I'll finally get to share more wedding photos!! So let's get to the beautiful bridesmaids luncheon, shall we...?

Friday, October 4, my Aunt Suzanne  hosted an extremely beautiful bridesmaids luncheon. (She also did Megan's back in May, and both of them were just perfect!) She is such a great hostess, and always makes sure everything looks amazing and tastes delicious. And my bridesmaids luncheon was of course no exception to that! We started with punch and appetizers in the back yard, then for lunch we had poppy seed chicken, bacon wrapped green bean bundles, squash casserole and a few other yummies.

Delicious food my aunt made

Jenni

My little sister and best friend, Megan, was my Matron of Honor; I met Bridget at Flagler and we became fast friends, then we were roommates our senior year '09-'10; I also met Jenni at Flagler, and roomed together for a quick summer in 2009. These three girls all mean so much to me, and I am truly blessed and grateful that each one of them were a part of our special wedding day. I love all of these ladies so much, and couldn't have asked for better bridesmaids!

Megan (sister), Bridget, BRIDE :) & Jenni

My super sweet Aunt Suzanne, who hosted my beautiful bridesmaids luncheon!

Their goody bags I had made for them (on Etsy), full of a few goodies for each of them :)

Me, my Grandmommie, and my Mama

Megan (sister and MOH), me and our Mama

It was a beautiful and lovely luncheon, and I'm so thankful for a great aunt who was sweet enough to host this for not only my sister a few months ago, but for me now as well! I am a blessed girl and a blessed bride. Looking forward to sharing a few more recaps of our wedding in the next few weeks!

Oh and P.S. - some of the pictures up there are blurry, and I have no idea why...but let's just pretend they're perfectly clear, mmkay? Thanks :)