The Perfect Weekend

The only thing that could make a weekend like this past one better would be an extra day off, which is exactly what I am currently enjoying...thank you random state holiday. A relaxing morning with coffee in hand and exhausted pups snuggling up to me? Yes please, can I have another?

It doesn't get much better than this!

Our weekend had something for everyone and we took full advantage of it. We kicked off our Friday night cooking out with the neighbors. Saturday morning brought a nice round of thunderstorms aka the best sleeping weather known to man, and we did just that. We finally started moving around 9, which is super late for us and cooked ourselves a huge breakfast.  Since the rain came through early Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day.  Eric headed up to the lake to fish for a bit and I was able to get a nice long walk in with the boys an planted more pretties in the yard. I went to get some marigolds to put near my tomato plants and a few other plants jumped into my cart....I can't help it!

One of my new Fushia plants....they are gorgeous! 

We finished up our Saturday night cooking out with some friends. Sunday was a Sunday Funday for sure as we headed up to the lake with our neighbors. We couldn't have asked for a prettier day and we soaked up every bit of sun we could hanging out on the pier with the most beautiful view.

We took the boys with us and they wore themselves out swimming and playing with the other dogs that were there. I confirmed that they both have severe separation anxiety because we tried putting them in a fence about 100 yards and within view of us....Hawk opened the gate and let all the dogs out so we took him out and when Peanut was in it he stood at the gate whining and barking and trying to pull the gate open. Needless to say, they got to chill on the floating pier with us all afternoon.

This green house across the slew was the topic of conversation for quite a while. It was gorgeous (from the outside) and it took everything we had not to walk over there and ask for a tour of the inside.  I've decided that it would be the perfect lake home someday. I can imagine sitting out of the balcony on the second floor every morning drinking coffee and watching the lake....sigh...someday.

FRESH frind crappie, homemade hushpuppies, potato salad and fries....I can resist most fried foods but this meal?  I just can't say no, especially those hushpuppies!

We fried up some fish and hushpuppies for dinner and I couldn't help but smile at how perfect it was. We caped off our weekend with Dairy Queen and Pup Cup for each of the boys. They loved them! I don't think I've ever seen them eat anything faster.   I really hope that this weekend was a preview of what our summer is going to be like because if that's the case I can't wait!

Last but certainly not least I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to a very special guy...my Dad!

I hope you have the most wonderful birthday.....I love you!

Gettin' Springy with It

Hello again old friends.  It's been a minute or two or several tens of thousands since I've been around these parts [again]. Life decided to get crazy busy on me all of a sudden and for a while there I just kind of felt like I was along for the ride.  I didn't even have to teach dance last week and thank goodness because I had 150,000 other things keeping me occupied. Every day before I leave work I try write a to-do list for the next day and every day last week my to-do list multiplied even with me checking things off as I went.  Let's just say that this weekend was right on time. Since it's been monsooning for the past week around these parts we didn't have too high of hopes for the weekend.  We stayed in on Friday night, grilled steaks, and called it a night pretty early because well fishing season, nuff said. We were afraid Saturday was going to be a wash as well, but even though the sun never really came out, the rain held off and we were able to embark on our newest adventure......

Yep. We now have our very own vegetable/fruit/herb garden and I am stoked! But more on that tomorrow.  I spent most of my Saturday planting all of my baby plants. By the time I was done I was beat, but those puppies looked at me with their sweet faces and practically begged me to take them on a walk so naturally I obliged. We finished off our Saturday with a crawfish boil at some friends house, along with some of the worst pool playing I've ever seen. One game had went nearly 2 rounds of trying to hit the 8 ball in at the end....and they were playing doubles. Poor Eric ended up with a headache from laughing so hard. After a rainy start to Sunday we ended up having a beautiful afternoon.  We churched, took a trip to Bass Pro for some shopping (well Eric shopped) and some lunch (what I went along for). We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine. I think spring has officially sprung in Alabama and it feels great!

Some of my flowerbed pretties!

Quite possibly my most favorite little pops of color in our yard.

These two can talk me into a rainy walk any day...and they usually do. 

Oh and thepool cover came off this weekend, too!  It won't be long before we're taking a dip! (after it's cleaned of course)

High Five for Friday

1

We made it to spring!  I didn't even realize until I was driving in to work this morning that today is the official first day of spring.  Although it has felt like spring around here the past couple of weeks, we can now officially complain if it gets cold again.  The fog this morning kind of killed the springy vibe, but check out this beautiful sight I got to see earlier this week.  One of these days I am going to get up on the weekend early so I can watch a sunrise like that WITHOUT having to look back at the road every 2 seconds.

2

I guess the spring bug bit me early this year (or maybe it was because I actually got the flower beds weeded last weekend) because I am in full on flower planting mode.  We had carseat clinic at work this week and it just happens to be right next to the Farmer's Market which just happened to have a gorgeous array of beautiful flowers that were calling my name.  We had a couple of cancellations at one point so I ran over to take a look, and low and behold 3 little beauties jumped in the back of my car when I headed home. I ended up getting a Butterfly Bush, a Mexican Petunia, and a Reiger Begonia.   I have been talking about planting a Butterfly Bush for several years and have just never gotten around to it, but they other 2 were new for me (and my Mom AND my Grandma which was a total shocker).  They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see how they like our yard!

Reiger Begonia                                                      Mexican Petunia

3

I mentioned yesterday, the NCAA Tournament has started and my brackets already look like someone stuck a knife in them and just kept stabbing them.....there is so much red on them it makes me want to cry.  I usually pride myself in early round picks with some upsets here and there, but this year is not the case.  The upsets I picked have not happened, but the other games I where I was counting on the favorite to take care of business have seen the little guys pulling through. Maybe this means my brackets will hold up in the end? Maybe I 'm just telling myself that to save myself from admitting my brackets aren't my best work? That being said, the tournament has been quite exciting so far and I get to watch games ALL WEEKEND LONG.  I've already warned Eric and this is the one time of the year he will usually give up the remote and let me watch as much basketball as I want....until we're on game 4 or 5 of the night and then he usually hits a breaking point and we end up watching tv in separate rooms.

4

I made a deliciously superb dinner this week that I had to share because it's not nice to keep such wonderful concoctions to yourself.  Mom gave me a suggestion for a Pinterest recipe she found called Easy Greek Chicken Bake from this blog.  I tweaked mine just a bit.  I marinated my chicken over night in a Greek seasoning marinade (1 TBSP each of Greek seasoning, olive oil, water, and lemon juice) to give it a little extra flavor, and  swapped the roma tomatoes for halved grape tomatoes.  This dish was absolutely delicious! I will be making this again and again and again.  It says to pair it with rice, but since we are trying to eliminate carbs as much as we can during the week I paired mine with Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon from one of my most favorite recipe blogs, Plain Chicken. I seriously pin 3 out of 5 recipes she posts every week.  I told Mom that if Brussels Sprouts tasted like that when I was a kid I would have eaten them all the time.  She told me I was lying, which is probably true, I was Picky McPickerson about food when I was a kid. But seriously you need to make these 2 recipes.  They will make your taste buds sing!

5

I was so excited this week for the mail to come because my new most favorite short I think I have ever owned came in the mail!

Isn't it the best?!  It came from this awesome Etsy Shop and 20% of the proceeds go to animal shelters!  It's a win win if you ask me.  Just make sure you order a size up because I didn't and had to send it back to get a different size (which was super easy to do).  I ended up getting an XL which fits like most of my Medium t-shirts. I was so excited to finally have a shirt that expressed my feelings to toward life most days.  I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with these two cuties all day??

I sent this picture to Eric last night as I was walking out the door to teach dance with a caption that said, "Please take us on a walk tonight Daddy." I guess it worked because he said he let them play outside for at least 30 mins while I was at dance.

Happy Friday!  Now go watch some basketball!

A Beautiful Spring Weekend Recap

After the amazingly beautiful weekend we just had I am officially declaring it spring around here.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful weekend. Despite having quite a few things on my to do list, I managed to check off most of the items.

A few extra items found their way onto my list as Friday went on.....notice that nearly all of the items that did not get accomplished were the items that required me to be inside for prolonged periods of time, but when the weather is as nice as it was here "ain't nobody got time for that!" Those things will have to wait until next weekend when it's supposed to be rainy.  And no I didn't run all weekend, but I dog-walked all 3 days and spent about 3 hours on Sunday weeding our flower beds and hauling tree limbs to the backyard (and have the sunburn to prove it), so I'm going to use that as my excuse.

Eric spent as much time as he possible could fishing (what's new, right?), except for Sunday afternoon when we headed to Montgomery to visit his Dad.  He is still at the rehab facility trying to get back to where he can get around by himself. He said he's ready to go back home.  Hopefully he will improve enough in the next week or so that he can. On our way back we had a Moe's date, I think it was the most I've seen him in a week and a half, but I'll take what I can get!  I think the newness of fishing season has worn off and the lack of sleep is starting to get to him.  So maybe he'll cut back to fishing just 4-5 times a week for now. =)

Clockwise from top left: 1) the reason I don't mind him fishing so much.  We had our first fish fry of the year complete with Eric's homemade hush puppies (the only thing missing was him homemade coleslaw which was asked about by several people - myself included).  I am way to ashamed to admit how much fish and how many hush puppies I ate Saturday night.  Let's just say I splurged, like really splurged for the first time since Christmas and I didn't regret it one little bit.  2) I made the copycat Frosty Paws recipe for the pups Friday night and they LOVE it. I will post the recipe this week.  It's super easy and quite tasty (if I say so myself). 3) My flower beds are no longer covered in a thick layer of weeds and dead remnants from last year! It was a labor of love... 4) ...and I have the sunburn to prove it! To be honest I am just glad to have gotten some sun!

Weekend Recap: The Official Start of Summer 2014 Edition

And just like this gorgeous day lily in my garden, summer popped in to our lives this weekend and it didn't disappoint! 

We kicked off our weekend with some Little League All-Stars action on Friday night and we beyond grateful that the game was at 8pm and not 6pm.  I can't imagine how hot it would have been standing out in the sun.  But lucky for us a little breeze moved in and it was very pleasant.  Eric's best friend's nephew was playing in a tournament in the town we live in, against the hometown team so we went to support both teams.  I could not remember the last time I'd been to a little league game and I was quite impressed.  They may have been just 8 and 9 year olds, but a few of them were pretty good.  After the game we headed home and ended up going to the neighbors' house for a bit.  They were at the pool, but since it was late and I wasn't planning on swimming I didn't bother putting my suit on.  I didn't last 30 minutes.  In fact it only took about 3 minutes of the cutest kid on the planet asking Betsy Bop to come swim with her and I was in the pool...in my shorts and tank top.  Eric told me later he couldn't believe I got in.  I told him that there were very few people who could convince me to jump in the pool with my clothes on, and that kid just happens to be one of them.

The rest of our weekend looked something like this:

1. Seeing our pool like this makes me happy =)
2. Don't let him food you, he loves those pups!  I think the pups had as much fun swimming as we did.
3. Sweet Summertime!
4. The only time we left the house on Saturday was to go up to the lake to listen to a little live music.  That guy could play a guitar!
5. We had just finished cleaning up the pool when the rain hit on Sunday, so sipping mimosas while we watched the storm come through seemed like the appropriate thing to do.  That is until lightening struck a truck maybe 75 yards from us....we hightailed it inside after that.
6. Belgian Waffles for breakfast!
7. Eric got a craving for pizza on Sunday afternoon so in between storms we picked up a Garlic Parmesan Pizza and a Blake's (Shelton) BBQ Pizza from Pizza Hut.  Did I mention that Eric is a sucker for good advertising?  He was banned from watching infomercials years ago.
8. Mimosas seemed to be the theme this weekend.  This one was champagne, OJ ,and some San Pellegrino Blood Orange Sparkling Beverage.....I call it the Sunset Mimosa.  It's amazing.
9. 2nd day pool hair + Alabama humidity = braid it up!

I am pretty sure we took advantage of every bit of day light we had on the longest day of the year.  We were up early Saturday morning ready to welcome in summer. Eric threw some ribs, a Boston butt, some chicken, and even some bacon on the smoker (which is my new favorite way to eat bacon), while I set to work on my first potato salad of the summer.  Everything was delicious and we ended up with barely anything left.  We spent ALL DAY and most of the evening by the pool soaking up the sun and cooling off the in pool, doing summer the way it's supposed to be done.  

We had so much fun on Saturday, that we were both quite relieved to have the rain roll in on Sunday.  It stormed like crazy, setting us up for an afternoon of naps, pizza, and an SVU marathon--and a quick fishing trip for Eric of course.  It was the perfect end to the weekend.

We managed to celebrate Peanut's birthday with a canned dog food breakfast on Saturday morning, and I am afraid I have created monsters.  Since then, none of them have been too interested in their dry dog food, which is exactly why they only get wet dog food on their birthdays.  However it was so worth it to see them tearing up their breakfast like it was the best thing they'd ever had!

Weekend Recap

I am pretty sure making me come back to work after such a beautiful weekend is some form of cruel and unusual punishment.  Luckily we have an even more fun weekend to look forward to, so all I have to do is get through the next 5 days...luckily I should be pretty busy which I am hoping will make the time fly!

So this weekend....we could not have asked for more beautiful weather.  The humidity around here is still holding off which is making for some pretty incredible days and really nice evenings.  We spent the entire weekend outside and it was glorious!

1. Friday night dinner...a BLP (bacon, lettuce, and pickles--don't knock it til you try it) in a pita pocket...with the cutest photobomber licking his chops and hoping something to fall out of it.
2. The coaches in between quarters in the longest football jamboree in the history of the world.  There were four teams and they each played 4 quarters (3 varsity and 1 JV), which meant we ended played 7 quarters of football.  I enjoyed when we were playing but there were 2 stretches where we had to watch 2 quarters of other teams playing in between when we played that seemed to last forever.  The good news is we played well, again 3-7A teams (we're just 5A), which will really help the team out in the long run.
3. The grocery store where I get flowers from in town has had some really pretty flowers this year and this weekend I got suckered into getting some more, but who could resist those sunflowers!  They are absolutely gorgeous! I am going to have to re-pot them this week since the pots they are in are pretty small and have already blown over a couple of times. Apparently I was not the only one who liked them because I saw them all over town this weekend...a neighbor's house, another friends' house, and even at church!
4. This, my friends, is what true happiness looks like.  I was cleaning out the laundry room Saturday morning and put Hawk's trash bag of tennis balls that Mom gave him last fall on the back porch not thinking about the fact that the dogs were out there since I was cleaning.  I went back outside a little while later to find him surrounded by tennis balls with the goofiest smile on his face.
5. The pool is open and ready for some summer fun this year!  It was a bit cold after the rain and chilliness we had last week so I would not recommend jumping in unless you have a fur coat (like Hawk), but it was a pretty backdrop for laying out for sure!
6. Not to be outdone by his brother, Peanut stole several of Hawks balls and had a nice little stash built up by the time I was done cleaning.
7. I wish I could say that I had this kind of talent.  We hosted a graduation party for a family friend Saturday night and they had this made for her.  Apparently there's a lady who charges $30 for these in town.  I was super impressed and I've decided I need to learn to do this.
8. I guess it was the summery feel to the weekend that made me start craving my favorite dip of all time...Tex Mex Dip.  So I made it and all was right with the world.
9. We cooked out Sunday evening with the neighbors (and brought the Tex Mex).  I had my first Costco hot dog and it was delicious!  It tasted just like a Nathan's Hot Dog, but for a Costco price! And don't you agree the plate is smiling?

Not pictured (but worth mentioning): a clean house and perfectly manicured yard, puppy dog walks, a crawfish boil, and a Sunday afternoon nap on the porch that is quickly becoming one of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities.

...and now it's Monday and it's all over.  But the good news is the weekend is only 5 days away!

Recital Weekend Recap

Monday is off to a typical start...Eric left the key to his work truck in my car this weekend so I have already had to go meet him to give it to him so he could work today.  Let's hope the rest of the week goes a little smoother!

I am happy to report that I made it through the weekend!  By the time recital day rolled around on Saturday I think I was running on pure adrenaline.  The recitals were a smashing success!  The girls danced so well and I think everyone enjoyed them. We had everything cleaned up and were home by 10:30pm Saturday night which I am pretty sure is a record.  I came home to a carport full of people because Eric had cooked up some crayfish since his brother and his wife were in town.  We had a blast, despite the fact that yours truly was absolutely exhausted. On Mother's Day we slept in and went to spend a little time with Eric's Mom and Grandma. My goal on Sunday afternoon was to do as little as possible aside from a wonderful Mother's Day chat with my parents. I had aspirations of getting Monday's dinner together but that didn't happen and I am hoping my crockpot does it's job today so we'll have something to eat.

1. Friday's hair.  I have been experiemtning with French  braiding my own hair lately and I was very excited about this one I did on Friday.
2. Our beautiful backdrop on the stage.  We opted for an all-inclusive backdrop this year instead of a bunch of props which made for a super easy clean up...yay!
3. I clearly wasn't the only one exhausted on Saturday.
4. This would be Peanut's "I know I shouldn't be up here, but I did it anyway" face.
5. Sunday afternoon snuggles with my Hollow-Man.
6. I had several new garden pretties bloom this weekend.  I'd forgotten about this one until I saw it yesterday!
7. I have been waiting all spring for this baby to bloom.  This is one of our tea olive trees and they have the most fragrant little white flowers on them. They usually bloom in late April but were a few weeks behind this year because of the cold spring we had.
8. What better way to cap off a wonderful weekend than a big plate of BBQ nachos!?

On top of the exciting weekend we had I can finally let out a secret I've been keeping for a couple of months:

I'm going to be an AUNT!  

My brother-in-law and his wife are expecting a baby boy in October and I am beyond excited for them!  If you need me this summer I'll be in the little boys sections at Target and Old Navy shopping for cute little boy clothes!  I cannot wait to spoil him rotten!

This was their announcement they posted this weekend.

Let's get this week started!

An Amazing Weekend Recap

I am so thankful to report that we are still here and unscathed.  We had some crazy storms come through last night and spent from 2am-3am tracking the weather and trying to decide whether or not to hunker down in the closet with the pups.  Thankfully the rotation in the storms fell apart before they got to our area so we just had strong thunderstorms, but I had everything in the closet ready to go.  We are out of the woods for now but we have another round of storms coming this afternoon/evening.

What a way to be welcomed back from a 3 day weekend, right?  This one was right on time and boy did I need it.  Don't worry we made the most of it!  The first part was spent here:

That would be the beautiful Gulf Coast aka my happy place.  We decided last minute (of course) to head down to Orange Beach to see my BIL and SIL so the boys could go on another tuna trip.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day on Saturday, so my SIL and I decided we deserved a day on the beach. The place we usually go was packed so we drove down a little further and found a perfect spot that was nearly empty and spent the entire afternoon lounging and soaking up the sun!

Since not everyone had the luxury of a random Monday holiday, we headed back home Sunday morning and decided on the way home that the pool cover was coming off....if we didn't do it then it would have been at least another week before we could do it, and voila!

Don' t you wish your pool boy was as cute as mine?  =)

It's still a little green but the good news is that it was completely full so we didn't have to fill it up!  Ramon the Pool Boy made his first appearance of the year and promised to have it sparkling in a few days!  Sunday night we grilled up some fresh Amberjack and I found some new favorite recipes that I will be sharing this week because they're too good not to.

Here are a few more pics from the weekend:

1. This is my I'm so excited I am on my way to the beach face...and I'm pretty sure this is my first ever car selfie.
2. My SIL and I decided we needed pedicures on Saturday night so we did. Just because.
3. The deliciousness that was our dinner on Sunday night: Grilled Amberjack, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli, and Pecan Pilaf...recipes coming....I promise.
4. Sunday night's dessert that didn't make it to Monday night because we ate the entire 9"x 13" pan in less than 24 hours....Rolo Cake Mix Bars....don't worry this one's coming, too!
5. Pretty spring flowers to brighten up the kitchen.
6. One of my Monday Day-Off projects: shoe organization. I realized the other day a couple of months ago that we had exactly a 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot space in our walk in closet that we could stand in because of the overflow that was our shoes.  It started out with just my side, but Eric's gradually expanded until it mirrored mine. I had no idea how many pairs of shoes I had until I pulled them all out and OMGness.  I had completely forgotten I had about half of them. They have all since been sorted and organized....I even decided to chuck some.
7. Monday's lunch was my favorite BLP: bacon, lettuce, and pickle sandwich.  I figured out how to get Eric to come home for lunch....text him and offer to make him a BLT for lunch.  I got a "be there in 20" text response back almost immediately.
8. My other Monday Day-Off Project: Antiqued Mason Jar Vases. I've seen these floating around pinterest for a couple years and decided I needed some this weekend.  An hour later they were done and sooooo cute!
9. I ending up making two varieties of the mason jar vases.  I saw the American Flag Mason Jar Vases on pinterest this weekend so while I was at the store I picked up some red, white, and blue paint and got a jump on my summer vases. =)

We finished off the evening with a delicious home cooked meal that I failed to take any pictures of because we didn't sit down to eat until 8:45pm and we were both starving which meant we inhaled the meal, but in case you're interested we had Balsamic Marinated Chicken, Yellow Squash and Tomatoes with Parmesan leftover Pecan Pilaf.  It was all deliciously amazing and I am so excited we have leftovers. =)

I will leave you with my new discovery this weekend....our dogs LOVE squash.  I had a yellow squash that was a bit soft and had a few spots on it, so I gave it to Hawk to play with. Next thing I knew he'd chomped the end off of it and was eating it! Gah!  I freaked for a minute and took it away from him.  After a quick google search I learned that yellow squash is actually really good for dogs...it's on several Top Human Foods to Feed your Dog lists. Naturally I sliced that baby up and gave it to them piece by piece.  They LOVED it and made google-eyes at me as I sliced the other two squash up for our dinner.

Nutritious AND delicious!

If you're in the South, stay safe today!

Weekend Recap

These Mondays are really starting to cramp my style. Just when I get into the flow of the weekend Monday rolls around and I have to abandon my tank tops, shorts, and tennis shoes and go back to work....ugh.  The good news is once we get through the next 5 days we have a really fun extended weekend coming up!

Around here on Friday it rained and rained and rained a little more.  It was raining when I left for work at 6:15am, it poured while I ran errands at lunchtime, it poured on my way home, and it was still raining when we went to bed.  After fishing a tournament Friday morning (in the pouring rain) Eric was exhausted and soaked to the bone.  Needless to say we opted for dinner and a movie at the house Friday night.  We rented Grudge Match, which was a pretty funny movie-and I tried out a Papa John's copy cat recipe.  We loved the sauce, but the crust was just alright. I think we'll go back to the Mellow Mushroom crust recipe next time. We called it a night pretty early and slept in on Saturday.  Somehow I ended up spending the majority of the day in the kitchen getting things ready for the cookout we had Saturday night.  I whipped up a couple more buttermilk pies, some pimento cheese (which we will have in the form a grilled cheese tonight-FINALLY!), and some Buffalo Chicken Dip-per Eric's request. The conversation went like this:

Eric: Can you make some kind of a dip for tonight?

Me: Sure. I can put something together.  What kind do you want?

Eric: Whatever you want to make.

Me: I think I have everything for some spinach dip like a made last weekend.

Eric: (halfheartedly) Yeah, whatever you want to make.

Me: Is there a certain dip you want me to make?

Eric: Just make whatever kind you want to make.

Me: Do you want me to make some Buffalo Chicken Dip?

Eric: (excitedly) Oh yeah that'd be great!  

Me: Stop by the store and get me some cream cheese, some ranch dressing, and some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  You better be glad I picked up a bottle of Budweiser Wing Sauce the other day.  

That boy LOVES some Buffalo Chicken Dip!  He told me that night that he was pretty sure he could eat the entire 9" x 13" pan by himself in one sitting....I think it's safe to say he has a mild obsession with the stuff.  The cookout was a success.  We had deer burgers, deer tenderloin, plus everything else I made that morning-except for the pimento cheese which we hid in the back of the fridge because we're food hoarders.  =)

Easter morning we slept in and then headed to Eric's grandma's for lunch.  She had an amazing spread for lunch, of course.  When we got home I played in the flower beds. During my grocery store excursion on Saturday I drove by the store that has the best plants in town and had 2 flats of flowers jump into my car.  It's amazing how that happens. I decided to do some flower borders this year since I lost several plants due to the cold winter we had. I ended up planting 42 baby plants Sunday afternoon and I could not be happier with the result.  We finished off our Easter with dinner with Eric's parents and a puppy dog walk....the perfect ending to what ended up being a gorgeous weekend!

1. Our trash can on Friday night...It started out on the other side of the driveway and it was upright.
2. Papa John's copy cat pizza; it's whats for dinner.
3. Eric getting a guitar lesson on Saturday night.
4. No we didn't adopt another pup.  This sweet face belongs to Eric's Dad.  Her name is Lady Belle and she is precious!  It's a miracle that I got a decently clear picture of her because she is a ball of energy and does NOT like to sit still!
5. My haul of garden pretties that I put in the ground on Sunday.
6. One of the borders I did with the flowers....this one is Sun Coleus and Salvia.  Because of the trees and how our house is situated I have to abandon my symmetry obsession when it come to flower beds because one half of the house gets shade most of the day and the other half gets sun, which means I have to use different flowers on different sides.
7. I realized Sunday night that I need to spend more time relaxing outside. So far this year I have been either working in the garden or walking the boys which means I am wearing socks and tennis shoes.  This has resulted in quite the farmer's tan on my feet. Hopefully the weather will stay warm from now on so we can open the pool and I can get some sun on these babies!

Here's to a quick-paced week (which will never happened now that I said that).  Bring it on Monday!

A Crazy Busy Weekend Recap

I really hope that your weekend was a pretty as ours was.  If it wasn't I feel sorry for you.  We had probably one of the most beautiful fun weekends we've had in a while. It started off Friday with house cleaning--but don't worry it only got better from there!

Any weekend I can spend with this guy is a great weekend in my book!  P.S. Check out the cutest photobomber ever in the background!

Saturday morning we hosted my PEO group for a meeting and lunch.  I say we because Eric, being the sweet, wonderful man that he is fried fish for us. We put out a spread of fish and grits, coleslaw, spinach dip, buttermilk pie, and pecan pie.  The only thing left was a little bit of coleslaw (which was understandable considering Eric made a triple batch), and a small container of spinach dip. The ladies loved it and said they could not wait to come back again! But brunch was just the beginning of our day because an hour after we had everything cleaned up we headed down the road (literally) to a "Good Ole Southern Style Hitchin'" according to the invitation, and that's exactly what it was.  The wedding was in the middle of a field and the seats were rocking chairs, gliders, stools, and Adirondack chairs that were all made by the groom's dad. Eric opted to dress down for the wedding and wear just khakis and a polo and ended up being one of the nicest dressed guys there, we figured that out pretty quick when we realized the groom was wearing shorts. It was a short and sweet ceremony and then everyone rode the tractor across the street to the reception that was in their front yard.  Eric got to see several friends from high school that he had not seen in 10 years and we had a great time.  Next up was Eric's Dad's 60th birthday celebration.  We left the wedding and headed to a restaurant that had some of the best seafood I've had around here.  I got one of the biggest and most delicious grilled grouper filets I've had, while Eric tore up some oysters.  I think his dad had a great time with friends and family.  With everything he's had going on health wise for the past year I know he was glad to see 60.  He's been on the mend for the last couple of months and I think things are only going up from here for him!

The wedding ceremony set-up. I mean how gorgeous is this!?

Sunday I was up early while Eric's night fishing marathon finally caught up with him and he slept in.  I had to time to go to church, walk the dogs, play in my flower gardens for a little while before he poked his head out the back door.  We then proceeded to spend the entire day outside and it was glorious!  We started off with a traditional Brazilian lunch cooked by our friend (who is from Brazil) and his Mom who is visiting from Brazil.  It was amazing!  Brazilians definitely know how to eat! I think my favorite part is that they put pico de gallo on almost everything! The Master's was up next, I wish we'd actually been there, but sitting in the carport watching it outside was the next best thing.  We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing with some friends in the pond in our neighborhood, and ended the evening with a grilled chicken and Saturday brunch leftovers for dinner on the back porch. I told Eric I didn't think we could have packed anything else into the weekend if we'd tried.  I am so glad that spring is here for real and we can start doing this ever weekend!

1. Friday night's dinner...Shrimp Tacos. I picked up the shrimp at Costco Friday afternoon, it's already cooked and marinated in cilantro-lime marinade....so good!
2. A close up of the ceremony space...check out the chairs!
3. The super creative, hilarious groom's cake. If that's not country, I don't know what is.
4. Our birthday boy blowing out the candles on his cake.  The cake was some kind of pound cake with cream cheese icing and was sooooo good!
5. Peanut "helping" with the flower beds.
6. After the birthday celebration on Saturday night we stopped by the local watering hole so Eric could play a little pool.
7. I love love love swings, so while we were waiting on lunch to get ready on Sunday I took advantage of the kids' swing set behind the house.
8. Our traditional Brazilian lunch: boneless chicken thighs stuffed with ham and mozzarella cheese, rice, Brazilian Potato Salad with carrots and peas in it, pico de gallo, and a root filler topping. It was all so good!  I am usually a pretty picky eater, but I am so glad I just decided to go for it and get a little bit of everything.
9. I got in on the kids' fishing action and caught 3 blue gills on 3 casts.  When you're good, you're good.  What can I say?

Needless to say I crashed quite early last night after all of the fun we had. It's supposed to thunderstorm all day here and get cold tomorrow which made going back to work a little bit easier this morning.  I might have had to extend my weekend if it had stayed nice!

32 Things that Make me Happy

The past few days have been nothing short of absolutely beautiful around here.  I think it's safe to say that spring has officially sprung and we have been taking advantage of every minute of it!  I feel like it's my duty to be outside after work enjoying every possible minute of it with the puppies, and Eric has gone fishing every day this week...I don't see him breaking that streak any time soon.

There's something about beautiful spring weather that puts a smile on my face, so this seemed appropriate....32 things that make me happy!

1. The weather lately...sunny, low 80's, no humidity...can it stay this way forever?!

2. Walks with the puppy dogs.

3. Flower beds that have been weeded.

4. Fresh clean sheets.

5. E-cards that hit the nail on the head.

6. This guy.

7.  These little monsters.

8. English muffin sandwiches.

9. Deals on Jane.com...I have an addiction to that site!

10. Goat cheese....especially on a pizza.

11. March Madness...despite my bracket being completely blown this year...thanks Michigan State.

12.  Spending time with family.

13. Cooking out with friends, especially while watching college football!

14. Making other people smile.

15. Waking up late and still getting out the door on time in the morning...it does happen (about every other week).

16. Tap dancing.

17. Teaching a new step to my dancers and watching their delight when they "get it"

18. Singing at the top of my lungs to the radio in my car.

19. A clean, pollen-free car.

20. Show tunes.

21. Finding a new project or recipe on pinterest, trying it, and having it come out perfectly.

22. Having no unread notifications on my messages/email/facebook/etc.

23. Exploring a new city.

24. Arni's Pizza and a Junior with Ranch on the side.

25. Driving by the houses I grew up in.  I am a total creeper when it comes to this.  I can't help it!

26. Beautiful scenery.

27. Fun walls...seriously you'd think a kid worked in my cubie.

28. Checking off an entire to-do list.

29. Peppermint Mocha Creamer in my coffee.

30. Saving more than I spend at the grocery store...it happens from time to time!

31. Telling old stories with friends you only see a couple of times a year.

32. Did I mention this guy? =)

Happy Thursday!