Spring Flowers have Sprung!

I realized the other day that I have not put a single flower picture up on here this year.  Usually I am snapping away at the first sign of floweryness...aka my snowdrops...but since it's been very un-Alabama this spring (which means we have actually HAD a spring this year), most of the flowers are taking their time; including my favorite smell-good flowering trees, which have YET to open.  They usually bloom mid-April, but since it's been cooler they have not quite bloomed out.

While walking the dogs last night I noticed a bright patch of pink on the shady side of the house that I had not noticed this year.  Upon closer inspection I saw that it was one of my amaryllis flowers and it is B-E-A-utiful!  I don't really remember it blooming last year, so I was pretty excited to see it.  While looking around on that side of the house (there are no windows or doors on that side of the house so I have to physically walk over to see the flowers on that side) I saw that one of my favorite bearded irises had bloomed, too!  After seeing those beauties I put the dogs in the pool fence and started snapping away at all of my pretties!

Left: Can't remember the name of this one, but isn't it pretty!?; Top Right: Bearded Iris; Bottom Right: Amaryllis

Left: Wildflowers behind our fence; Top Right: hybrid snap dragons; Bottom Right: can't remember the name of these either, but they're something that was sent from Mom's garden in MI.

Funny story about my snap dragons....4 summers ago when I first started growing flowers at our current location I bought 2 giant planters to go around the pool and put some snap dragons in them.  I put a yellow and a red snap dragon in each one.  The first couple of years I had yellow plants and red plants.  Last summer I noticed the snap dragons in one of my planters looked more orange-ish than red or yellow, but did not think anything of it.  Yesterday I was outside and saw the above snap dragons in the same planter.....they are bright yellow next to the stem, but the end of each flower is bright red!  I guess they cross pollinated over the years and now they are this really cool 2-toned flower!

I can't wait to see what else comes back this year!  Mom and I did some major flower planting last summer, so I am hoping that most of those pretties come back!

Weekend Recap: Football Reunion Weekend

If ever there was a weekend I needed another day to recover from, it was this one.  The sad part is that I had all day yesterday to recover and I still wish I was curled up in bed asleep.....but I'm not.  Since my mind is still in lala land I think reminiscing about the weekend is in order.

My weekend in pictures (the ones I have because I totally slacked on taking pictures and have NO pictures of us together or of us dressed up.):

Top: The CrossFit Competitors; Middle L to R: Eric competing, me chatting post workout, my awesome sunburn from being outside in my tank top for 4 hours; Bottom: Picnic time!

Saturday was the first annual Huntingdon College Football Alumni Reunion. This fall will mark the 10th year our Alma Mater has had a football team so the Alumni Association decided they would start an annual event in the spring to "induct" the graduation seniors into this "brotherhood."  I use that term loosely because it's not an official brotherhood, but these guys might as well all be brothers.  They certainly act like it.

The day started out with a CrossFit workout....or so we thought. When we got to the field at 10AM Saturday morning they had an entire CrossFit competition set up.  I have never done CrossFit before, but I do my fair share of workouts, and I figured if we had to be there that early I might as well participate and get a little workout in.  I made it through the first workout with no problems. It consisted of 5 rounds of a half gaser, 10 deadlifts, and 10 sit-ups.  I had not done deadlifts in several years but it was like riding a bike.  The second round was for the top 8 guys (about 50 guys participated), and since there were only 8 girls they let us all try it.  You had to do 30 squat thrusters to start the workout, and let's just say I made it through #15 and decided I wanted to enjoy the rest of my day so I bowed out gracefully.  That was another move I had not done since college and was a little more challenging for the tall girls since you had to squat down to a ball that was only about 18" off the ground.  Don't worry I am still feeling the effects of those 15 that I did.

After the competition they had a cookout.  Eric was the grill master and cooked up some delicious burgers and hot dogs for us.  After lunch the boys had an alumni association business meeting that they told us would last 30 minutes.  We [the girls] laughed and as soon as they went in to the field house took off to a restaurant right next to campus and had ourselves a drink and some girl time.  I know I have said it before but the girls in this group have all become really close over the years, and we look forward to these get-togethers as much as the guys do.

An hour and a half later the calls and texts from the boys started trickling in (we know them so well....30 minute meeting, yeah right!).  We got cleaned up (I was still in my disgusting workout clothes at this point 4 hours later) and got ready for dinner.  We had a really nice dinner and banquet to honor the graduating class of 2013, as well as some of the coaches.  Afterward everyone got to just hang out and enjoy each others company.  The place we had the banquet at was actually part of one of the bars downtown so everyone just stayed there after dinner.  I am not sure when but at some point total exhaustion hit me and I was done.  I actually told someone that my feeling would not be hurt if Eric came over and said he was ready to go. Not 30 minutes after that he found me and told me he was ready to go home.  After I did my little happy dance and we said goodbye to everyone, we headed to the house.  We had time to drive home, get something to eat at Huddle House and were in bed by 10:30pm.  10:30.....we're just that cool I guess.  I honestly don't think I would have made it another hour at the bar.  I would have been curled up in the corner asleep.

We both slept in on Sunday and I even took a nap Sunday afternoon.  I finally decided to get moving around 3pm.  We needed groceries for this week and the house looked like a tornado had swept through it.  It took all of my remaining energy to do that.  Eric grilled some chicken and steak for dinner, and we finished off the weekend watching a Discover Channel Special called Naked Castaway. The title of the show sucked us in and we watched all 3 hours of it.  It was actually really interesting.  The title comes from the fact that the guy was dropped off with no food, clothing, or shelter for 60 days on an island and had to survive.  It was fascinating.

This week is going to be a whirlwind, Eric starts spring practice for football this week and I have some traveling in my very near future.  I guess our downtime that we've been enjoying is over for a while.  It's time to get back at it!

One of my favorite pictures from this weekend:

One of the guys made this and sent it out.  These are the "old guys" from the 1st class who competed last weekend and one of their inside jokes.   I must say they held their own in the competition against all of the young guys.  Two of them made the top 8 and three others were very close to it.  

WARNING: This Post will make you Hungry...Very Very Hungry

I am proud to report that I had a rather productive day off yesterday.  There was a part of me that wanted to stay in my pajamas all day and watch trashy daytime television for a solid day, but luckily the sunshine peeping through the window and the dogs jumping on me caused me to do otherwise and my laziness only lasted until around 9:30.   The time that I didn't spend outside walking the puppies (they got 2 walks yesterday) I spent in the kitchen whipping up some oldie-but-goody and some soon-to-be-added-to-our-regular-rotation recipes.

Top: No-Bake Energy Balls; Bottom L to R: Avocado Chicken Salad; Guacamole

Instead of lunchmeat for lunches this week I decided we'd have Avocado Chicken Salad which has become one of my favorites.  If you have not tried this and you like avocados you're missing out.   Since I only needed one avocado for my chicken salad and I had an extra avocado I decided to make some guacamole....what else?!

Next up were No-Bake Energy Balls.  They're one of my favorite sweet treats. I went through a phase where I made them weekly but it's been a minute since we've had any in the house.  I have quite the sweet tooth and it's nice to have something somewhat healthy in the house to snack on.  I say somewhat because I did the math and figured up the nutrition facts for a batch (I am a nerd I know), and realized that there's about 90 calories per ball....yikes!  Eric was not to happy that he could only eat one, so I will try to make them smaller next time so he can eat more at one time and not feel so guilty.

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken                                                                Mashed Cauliflower

I decided that since I was home all day I should probably make something good for dinner, so I got on my recipe machine...aka pinterest...and quickly found a recipe that had my mouth watering.  It was a Honey Mustard Chicken that was super easy to make and was delicious! To go with it I tried out some Mashed Cauliflower.  I have been completely intrigued with the cauliflower recipes I have seen on pinterest the last several months and have actually tried out cauliflower bread sticks   Eric loved them....honestly I prefer the real thing.  I was skeptical of the mashed cauliflower and almost didn't make it because I figured it would take too long to rice the cauliflower and then prepare it.  I kinda got a late start on dinner because Eric and I went to the field to run right before dinner time, so I didn't start preparing dinner until 6:30...oops!  Luckily I was very wrong about how easy it was to make the mashed cauliflower.  It was soooooo easy! You cut it into pieces, steam it in the microwave, then put it in the food processor with what ever you want to add to it and bam it's done.  To me it tasted just like mashed potatoes (maybe not your grandma's mashed potatoes, but there was very little difference to the texture of the cauliflower vs.instant mashed potatoes).

And because what's a blog post without a good dog pic? This was the scene in our bedroom when I got out of the shower last night.  I'd say we have some spoiled boys on our hands.  FYI there are 3 dogs in this pic....can you find Hollow?

For the record this bed was MADE before I got in the shower. And Hollow is the large bump in the quilt on the right hand side of this picture....never underestimate the determination of a dog with burrowing tendencies.  I guarantee if Hawk weren't smack dab in the middle of the bed Hollow would have been under the actual covers.

Happy Tuesday!

P.S.  I am sending happy thoughts to my "little" brother who is giving his big engineering senior project presentation today!  You're gonna to great, bud!  I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Weekend Recap

Beautiful Sunset #lakemartin #nofilter

For once I am welcoming Monday, but only because it's still the weekend for me!  Thank you random state holidays! I have no plans for the day and the house is already clean so I plan on just seeing where the day takes me.  I see a few walks with the puppy dogs in the near future, but not much else and I am a-ok with that.  I would love to say that I am going to lay out by the pool today, but it's still not open yet and the high is only 67 today!  This time last year it was in the 80 on the daily.  I guess were getting an actual spring this year which I am not knocking....it's much nicer than going from winter to summer!

Clockwise from top left:  1)My new exercise heart rate monitor...$13 from woot.com...can't beat that!  2)Rolo Stuffed Cookies-1st batch of the year  3) wildflowers from the yard  4) CocaCola Chocolate Cupcake from Gigi's.  

Our weekend was a blast!  It was a warmer but not too terribly warm which made for perfect outside playing weather.  Friday night Eric and the head coach he works with went to a coaching clinic so it was just me and the boys.  I was planning on watching a movie, but then got completely distracted by the manhunt for the marathon bomber and ended up watching the coverage of that for  about 4 hours.  I am so glad they caught him.  I think my favorite part was how happy and appreciate the citizens of Boston were as they applauded the law enforcement vehicles that drove by as they were leaving the scene.  You have to be a nut case if you think you can do something like they did in America and think you can get away with it...I mean they SHUT DOWN Boston, Massachusetts to catch them.  That is amazing.

Saturday morning I got a jump start on cleaning the house.  I was in the mood to clean it for once-shocker I know-so I took advantage of that strange urge to clean and had the house sparkling by lunchtime.  It was a good thing, too, because not 15 minutes after I finished Eric called to say that we were hosting a fish fry that night. Instead of rushing to clean (like usual for me) I was able to enjoy my afternoon.  I took the boys on a walk, made some treats for the fish fry...you know fun weekend stuff.   Maybe there is something to getting the house cleaned early......maybe not.

Sunday I was up early and headed to church.  When I got back we got our stuff together squeezed in a quick puppy walk, and headed to the lake!  We have some friends who are getting married this summer in the Dominican Republic they had a wedding party/shower with everyone here this weekend.  It was a blast!  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day or better company!  I would say that it was the perfect end to our weekend, but I think having today off trumped that. =) I guess I am off to do whatever the heck I feel like today!

(Re)Growing Green Onions

A few weeks ago I was talking to my mom on my way home, as I so often do and she mentioned that she was (re)growing her green onions.  She saw on pinterest where you could take the base of your used green onions, place them in water and the onions would grow back.  Of course I was skeptical because #1) there's no dirt and #2) I don't have any windows in my house where I can put plants to get natural light, so I didn't think it was possible for me.

Last week I used the last of our green onions in a salad and decided on a whim to try it.  I left the bottom rubber band on them, plopped them into a cup filled with about an inch of water, set them on my sunless kitchen window sill and waited.

Much to my surprise, they started growing in just a day, and by the 3rd day it was quite obvious I was going to have green onions!

 They grew...

...and they grew...

...and they grew!

I should have put a pen or something next to them to show the growth, but that would have made sense, now  wouldn't it?  The growth is obvious if you look at the cup, and if you look a the onions you can see the distance the tips are from the original rubber band.

I am calling this little experiment a success!  We use green onions like they are going out of style and I HATE having to buy them at $.70 a pop at our podunk grocery store because they go bad in a couple of days if you don't use them right away.  I am a sucker for savings, so even saving just $.70/week makes me happy.  I have heard that it works with lettuce and other veggies, too, so I may soon have a water garden in my kitchen!

In other news, did you see the #runforboston417 stuff going around yesterday?  I thought it was AWESOME! I was supposed to do the Pure Cardio Insanity workout last night (which is my LEAST favorite to do), so I decided instead to sport some yellow and blue and crank out some miles on the pavement.  It was the first time I have run this year (I've opted for Insanity workouts this spring instead), but it felt awesome and I ended up doing a 5K.  I am thinking I may need to work a couple of days of running back into my routine!

action shot....oh yeah!

Spicy Pimento Cheese

Somehow I have managed to go 28 years without indulging in many southern delicacies that I am just now discovering.  In my defense my mother (born in Indiana) learned to cook from her mother (born in Maine) which meant I know all of the wonderful recipes from those parts of the world and makes my recipe base is that much larger!  One of these delicacies is none other than Pimento Cheese.  In my mind, pimento cheese was eaten by little old ladies at their card games and proper southern women who had afternoon tea.  I also thought it was a processed cheese paste...I guess because I always saw it served as sandwiches that had a little bit of it spread on between 2 miniature bread slices.   But when we were at the beach for Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, my SIL showed me the light (and that it was much more than cheese paste that little old ladies ate) and now I can't get enough of it!

 She came across this recipe on Pinterest (where else?), tweaked it just a little, and ended up with an amazing dish that I had 3 batches of in the last 2 weeks.

Spicy Pimento Cheese 

What you need:

1- 8oz block sharp cheddar cheese

1- 8oz block pepper jack cheese

2/3 cup mayo

1 jar pimentos, drained

1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)*

1-2 tsp hot sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)*

*using the full amount of pepper and hot sauce makes it very spicy so be sure to add it gradually and taste test it if you don't like super spicy stuff!

cheese brand makes no difference....I went went Cabot because it was one sale.

How to make it:

1.  Grate the cheese.  You can use already grated cheese, but I think it tastes MUCH better when you grate it fresh.

2. Combine cheese with mayo, pimentos, pepper, and hot sauce  in a large mixing bowl.

3.  Stir well until combined.

4. Cover and refrigerate at least few hours and serve with pita chips or crackers.

We ate most of it on pita chips, but we did make sure to have at least one grilled pimento cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with each batch! This is going to become a weekend/summer staple at our house!  I may even get a wild hair and try a few more pimento cheese recipes, like the Master's Famous Pimento Cheese Sandwich (that they still sell for $1.50 at the tournament....crazy!).

Enjoy!

Prayers for Boston

It just doesn't make sense.  I don't know why someone would take advantage of a joyous occasion and turn it into a place of destruction.  My prayers go out to all of the runners and spectators and the people of Boston. I can't imagine what the runners and their families were feeling when this was going on and in the aftermath. I can't even let my mind go to what I would have done if this had happened during the Chicago Marathon this past fall, when my mom and uncle were running.  I would have been a complete mess, as I know so many people were yesterday.  I've come across this picture on facebook several time in the past 18 hours and I think it says so much about the human spirit and the way so many people react in crazy situations.

source: unknown

Random Thoughts from my Head

Wooo Wednesday!  I am happy to report that we've made it to the middle of the week relatively unscathed. Let's hope the rest of the week goes the same way.  I have a couple of busy days at work ahead so I am thinking it will, well hoping any way.

And now for a few random thoughts from my head.....

#1 Spring

I think it is safe to say that Spring has finally officially sprung in Alabama. It took us a little while to get there this year, but except for one night this weekend in the 40s, it looks like we are well on our way to warmer weather.  We actually turned the AC on 2 nights ago for the first time this year.  The pool is still covered, but if we keep having warm days like we've had I don't think that will be the case too much longer.  This time last year we'd had the pool open for almost a month because it got so warm so fast!

#2 Crappie

Warm weather in our house means the beginning of crappie season.  AKA, the month or 2 when Eric and I barely see each other (hard to believe given that we both coach at different times of the year and this is not one of our seasons) and tend to have time for nothing more than a hey-how-was-your-day in the hour and a half between when I come home from work and when he goes to bed.   This time of the year it's like he works night shift and therefore goes to sleep shortly after I come home from work.  Why?  Because he get's up somewhere between midnight and 2AM to go fishing, of course!  Doesn't everyone? Just kidding.  I am well aware that most sane people (like me) do not do this.  Why does he get up in the middle of the night to fish?  That's easy, so he can get back in time to put in a full day of work, of course!  Not my cup of tea, but it makes him happy.  And it means we'll have fish for fish frys all summer.  I have actually gotten to the point that I don't even hear him get up any more.  If it weren't for having to take the dogs out in the morning (which is usually his job) it would not really affect me.  Although I think he realized how little time we'd seen each other this week and walked the dogs with me last night. When I get my morning call with the catch report and hear the sheer joy in his voice, I know that it's worth it!

3. Green Onions

I have decided to grow my own green onions from ones that I have already used.  Mon told me about it a few weeks ago and I found a pin on pinterest that basically said put the bottom of the green onions in about and inch of water and they will grow.   I am anxious to see how well it works.  We go through green onions like crazy so it would be nice to not to have to buy them as often as I do.

4. VeryJane.com

I have a new shopping site obsession.....www.veryjane.com. I randomly stumbled across it a few weeks ago and it has quickly become one of my favorite sites.  The best way I can describe it is groupon (another favorite site of mine) for boutiques!  I have never been one to jump on trends (I've always a couple years behind on fashion because I hate spending a lot of cash on things that will be in season for just a year, plus it takes me that long to figure out how to wear them!), but thanks to pinterest that time frame has bene drastically reduced.  That's where veryjane comes in handy.  I can get trendy pieces for less! Can't beat that!  I've bought a couple of things, and been tempted to purchase several more things!

#5 College Basketball

 Last but not least, I am sad to report that the 2013-2013 college basketball season is officially over.  I really enjoyed watching both tournaments this year.  There were tons of great games, intriguing story lines, and of course exciting upsets! Every year they do a tournament recap to "One Shining Moment" that highlights some of the more emotional and spectacular moments of the tournament.  I am not going to lie, I tear up ever year when I see it.  This year was no different.

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Recap: It's Wedding Season!

Warm weather in the south means the start of wedding season, and we dove into it head first this weekend.

Clockwise from top: All of the HC couples @ Taber and Grace's Wedding.  Eric and I on the rooftop. One of the bridesmaid bouquets....the wedding colors were GORGEOUS!

Since we knew we had a lot going on we decided to stay in Friday night. Eric fried some crappie, and we had an eclectic dinner of fish, coleslaw, pimento cheese (recipe coming later this week!), and baked Brie. Apparently I did not get enough of the good stuff at the beach last week and have been craving some pimento cheese and Brie all week.  Eric had fishing plans first thing in the morning, and by first thing I mean 2AM, so he went to bed any and I watched Rock of Ages (finally). I give it 3 out of 5 stars.  The music was phenomenal, but the story could use a little work.  I am not going to lie, Tom Cruise as an 80's rock icon was intriguing to me.  He reminded me A LOT of  Bret Michaels, I guess it was the bandanna placement.

Clockwise from top: My Brie log.  Pimento on pita chips.  Crappie!

Saturday afternoon we headed to our first wedding of 2013! It was an absolutely perfect day for an outdoor wedding...mid 70s with no humidity.  The ceremony was at the bride's family farm, and it was absolutely beautiful!  They had a short reception at the farm where they had hors d'ouevres and cake, and left in a John Deere Tractor!  It was adorable! That evening they had a second reception downtown, where we danced danced and danced some more.  The band was awesome, and they even sang the Fresh Prince of BelAir theme song to a rock song ( don't remember which one). I was a GREAT time! We called it a night when the reception was over so Eric could get up and go fishing Sunday morning (shocker, right?).  We'll get to see our football friends again in a few weeks for the 10 year event, so I was not too disappointed that we headed home early.

The girls and the guys.

Sunday the wedding-ness continued for me.  I went to a shower for the bride of Eric's "little brother".  He isn't really Eric's little brother, but he might as well be.  It was a beautiful shower and I can't wait to go to their wedding this summer!

We decided to finished up the weekend at the lake.  It was our first lake trip, and it did not disappoint. Several of our friends rent a condo there so we tend to go up there from time to time for some pool time (since our is not open yet....it's been too cold!) and cookouts.  We got a little sun and had a delicious dinner!  It was all fine and dandy until I looked a the clock and realized it was already 8:15pm!  For some reason I got really tired after that and was ready to head home...it's a 30 minute + drive home, so as soon as I looked at the clock I started doing the math in my head of how much sleep I would be able to get if we left that minute.....I know I am a dork, but 5:30am comes REALLY early on Monday morning. We ended up leaving shortly after that and were home in plenty of time for me to bed in bed by 10.  Eric was of course sawing logs way before I was in bed.  It really amazes me how he can just decide to go to bed and be asleep 5 minutes later.  It takes me at least 30 minutes from the time I say I am going to bed and when I actually get in bed.  Am I the only one this happens to?

It was definitely a successful and busy weekend....you know it is when I don't have time to remove the layer of dog hair that builds up on the floor during the week....oops!  Guess you know what I am doing tonight!

Have a great week!  I am hoping it goes by as quickly as last week did!

I will be imagining I am here all week =)

Spring Break at the Beach

I really wish I was back here right now!

We spent nearly all last week spring breaking down on the Alabama Gulf Coast last week.  Neither of us is a teacher or works at a school, but given the time of year and the people we were with, I'll call it spring breaking just for the fun of it.  My Chicago relatives told us that they were going to be down on the Gulf for Spring Break when we were all together for Thanksgiving, so Eric and I have had this little getaway planned for quite some time now (shocker I know when dealing with the king of can't-make-plans-more-than-a-week-ahead-of-time).  It just happened to fall on the same week that out SIL was out for Spring Break as well, so we made a fun trip of it!  The weather did not exactly cooperate the way we were hoping, but we still managed to have a blast and ended up doing a lot more than we would have otherwise if we had laid on the beach for 5 days straight.

We got there Saturday night (because Eric HAD to go fishing in his new boat on Saturday morning).  It was kind of nice not to be rushing out of town on Friday afternoon and being able to take my time packing and getting the house ready. Since we pulled in late, we opted for a late dinner, which was a great idea considering all of the spring breakers in town.  We ended up at an Italian restaurant called Cafe Grazie and had the most amazing dinner.  The bread/olive oil mixture was the best I have ever had, and my pizza was delicious!  We'd gotten in touch with my Chicago family earlier in the day and had planned to meet up with them after dinner since they were getting into town a little after we were, so we headed to the place they were staying to say hello and hang out for a little bit.

Row 1: Eric and I on the balcony. Tera and I at Bellingrath Gardens. Eric and Faith. Lily and I (You know we had fun when those are the only pics we have in 4 days with my Chicago family!).  Row 2: Bobby, Tera, me, and Eric on the dock on Bon Secour Bay.

The next day my SIL and I were DETERMINED to get in some beach time. It was warm and windy, although we did not realize exactly how windy it was until we got out to the beach.  Let's just say we felt like we were in the middle of a dust storm in the middle of a desert.  It was not pretty, but we were going to lay dangit! After a couple of hours of being beaten by the sand and having our towels buried in it we gave up and went home to lay out on their deck.  It was just as warm with 100% less wind.  I have never had as much sand on me as I did when we got back.  It took FOREVER to get it out of our hair.   When the boys got back from fishing we got cleaned up and headed back to my aunt and uncle's place for dinner.  We spent the evening hanging out and playing the most hilarious card game I have ever played.  I am pretty sure I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Clockwise from top left: Pizza from Cafe Grazie. Fried Shrimp and beer from Sea and Suds in Gulf Shores.  Chocolate pie and homemade whipped cream (made by my SIL). Chicken Salad and Pimento Cheese with pita chips....YUM! 

Monday the wind was still hanging around and our warm weather decided to go away making the beach impossible, so we did what any level-headed women would do....we shopped!  We took on the Tanger Outlet Mall in Foley, and scored some GREAT deals!  40% off everything at Old Navy and 60% everything at Ann Taylor...don't mind if I do! That night we went to visit one of the guys Eric coaches with and his family and check out their new camper. They just happened to be staying at and park right across the street from my aunt and uncle, so after we hung out there for a couple of hours we headed back across the street for some more cards and good times!

Tuesday was a little less windy but just as cold. The boys set to work painting the house (one of the reasons we went down there in the first place), so my SIL and I decided to find something else fun to do. We ended up at Bellingrath Gardens right outside of Mobile, AL.  We were hoping to catch the azaleas blooming, but were about and week late to see them at full force.  Don't worry, we still got to see lots of beautiful flowers! That night we drove over to Pensacola to have dinner with Eric's aunt and uncle. We had not seen them since last summer so it was great to spend an evening with them.  His aunt is an amazing cook and we left there with full bellies!

And now we interrupt our regularly scheduled SB recap post for some beautiful garden pics....post resumes below =)

Clockwise from top:  Mirror Lake.  Orchids in the green house. Hydrangeas, hydrangeas, hydrangeas (and a baby pineapple)!

Clockwise from top left: Decorative cabbage...who knew!? One of the surviving azaleas.  The backside of the garden entrance.

Clockwise from top left: Cow koi! Not sure what these pink flowers are but they were so pretty! I thought this tree trunk looked like an elephant foot...so cool!

Clockwise from top left: Me by the lake.  Pretty waterfall pod. Tera and I with the azaleas. 

Clockwise from top left: Bamboo trees. A really cool succulent. The azaleas may have been finished blooming, but the tulips were still going full force!  

Ok non-flower lovers are you still with me?! As promised....the rest of the recap:

Since it was still not quite beach weather on Wednesday we opted to just hang out while the boy finished up painting. I think the most productive thing we did was make some homemade pimento cheese (which is one of my new favorite things to eat).  Eric and I were actually supposed to come home on Weds, but they boys had to finish up the painting while we were there, and they were not quite done, so we stayed.  That night we went to Eric's coaching friend's camper again for a crawfish/shrimp boil!  The food was AMAZING and the company was great.  We even got the boys to take some sunset pictures with us on the bay (We bribed them for beach pics, but ran out of time to go to the beach before we had to be there.  We got much better pics on the bay with the sunset anyway!).

Clockwise from top left: My new coozie:  A Little Bit Yankee, A Little Bit Yall...I am pretty sure it was MADE for me!  The Carnival Triumph (aka the poop ship) is STILL docked in Mobile (although it apparently started floating away yesterday after it hit something!).  A horned owl and one of it's babies in their nest in the RV park we went to.  My beach towel after our windy day at the beach...I was LAYING ON IT while this happened.  

Since we like to prolong our beach trips as long as we possibly can, and since we're just 3.5 hours from there, we took full advantage of the only decently warm, non-windy day we had.  My SIL and I headed to the condo where my aunt and uncle were staying to lay out at their pool and get to see them one last time while the boys did some fishing.    We got packed up and headed home around 5pm.  As much as we enjoyed our trip, nothing compared to the 3 wiggly butts that greeted us with happy whines and barks when we got home!

Sunset on the bay.....absolutely beautiful!

Chicken Pot (No Pie)

The other night after my Winn Dixie incident, I really did not feel like cooking. Being the sweet man that he is Eric decided he would cook dinner and set to work in the kitchen. I plopped myself down on the couch to watch basketball and about 15 minutes later he told me I HAD to come see what he'd made. I walked in the kitchen and he was grinning from ear to ear as he showed me his Chicken Pot Pie without the pie. I must say I was impressed with his culinary creation. I asked if that was what he planned on making and he said no, but that was what he ended up with.

As quick and easy as it was we will most likely make this again....

1 bag Steamfresh mixed vegetables
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 can Progresso Creamy Roasted Garlic Soup Starter
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook veggies according to instructions on the bag. Set aside. While veggies are cooking, sauté chicken pieces in a skillet with olive oil. When chicken is done, add in veggies and soup starter. Stir frequently, and cook until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Done.  I don't think it gets much easier than that....and oh my was it delicious!