the next great food photographer...or something like that

I had every intention of taking pictures of my meals last week and posting this week with a mini review. I only remembered to take pictures of two out of the five...oopsies. This week will be better.

Turkey burgers, homemade fries, and broccoli

The turkey burger recipe I use is from a Weight Watchers cookbook and ironically it's the hubs favorite. I tried another turkey burger recipe and he requested I go back to WW. The fries consisted of cut up russet potatoes drizzled with EVOO and a hearty helping of Stax Seasoning and the broccoli was steamed with garlic salt, dried onions, and black pepper.

Ground beef, rice, and cheese stuffed peppers

I love stuffed peppers. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to boil the pepper a little before roasting in the oven. They were still a little crunchy. 

Garlic and herb pork tenderloin, broccoli and cheese rice, and broccoli

The garlic and herb pork tenderloin was pre-marinated from Kroger and unfortunately it was a bit too salty. Anyone know how to fix something that's too salty? We just dealt with it.

Chicken Pizzaioli with spaghetti and green bean casserole

Replaced with pizza cause I was not feeling cooking that night.

Crock pot beef stew

This is definitely one of my most favorite comfort foods and sooooo easy to put together. It's just a package of stew meat, baby carrots, red potatoes, yellow onions, green beans, onion soup mix seasoning, and two cups of water. Dump it all in the pot and turn on low all day. Ta da! 

This week's line up:

margarita chicken over black beans with spanish rice

spaghetti turkey pie

beef chalupas

chicken-white bean chili

mexican pork chops with white rice

want a cup of tea?

Once my family moved to the south, we quickly learned that phrase meant something completely different. In the south tea means sweet tea, cold over ice sweet tea. What we were used to was hot tea. The kind you flavor with a cinnamon stick and honey.

My grandmother, mother, and I have always been hot tea drinkers. I can remember going to my grandmother's house and always finding a tea bag sitting on the counter. She was a thrifty woman who insisted tea bags could be used more than once, more than twice even.

My mom always kept a honey bear in the cupboard ready to squeeze into a steaming hot cup of tea whenever needed and sometimes if it was a special cup of tea she'd even plop in a cinnamon stick.

Did you know a hot cup of tea can cure practically anything? Sore throat - cup of tea. Headache - cup of tea. Tired - cup of tea. Can't wake up - cup of tea. Bad day - cup of tea. Honestly though, it didn't matter the ailment that the cup of tea was needed for, it was the togetherness that really mattered. Whatever it was, sitting down with those women chatting over a cup a tea made it all better.

I even had my own special tea cup and saucer at my grandmother's house which now sits in my china cabinet, waiting on a future daughter to have tea with me. I have my grandmother's collection of tea cups and saucers {and trust me there are a tons of them} waiting to be used. I'd love to host a party where everyone dresses in their Sunday best and we sit and eat cucumber sandwiches and drink tea. The only thing missing would be some fun teapots.

I started searching around the internet and came across a whole slew of fun whimsical teapots.

Poodle Tea Time

Classic Century Teapot

Silver-Plated Engravable Teapot

Brown Sparrow and Friend Teapot

Fleur De Lys Teapot

Chester the Cat Teapot

Christmas House Teapot

Below are the two teapots that match our china. Surprisingly, I do not own either of them. I believe I need to remedy this situation.

Spode Woodland Teapot

unfortunately I don't believe there is a teapot in the Spode Woodland Hunting Dogs pattern

Wedgwood Ethereal Teapot

To this day my mother still offers me tea when I go to her house. There's a pretty good chance I will be greeted with those comforting words, "hey honey, want a cup of tea?"

latest obsession: card catalog

I can't remember where I initially saw this idea {so sorry I can't give proper credit}, but after a little searching it's popping up all over the place. Old library card catalogs used as craft supply storage. Brilliant!

I remember back in elementary school we would take trips to the public library {located right across the street from the school} and were taught how to look up a book in the card catalog. We were always warned not to pull the drawers out too far for fear of it falling and dumping all the cards on the ground.

Now because of computers there is no need for card catalogs. I can only imagine how many are out there sitting in storage or old basements unused. Such a wasted treasure!

Since I've moved my craft room I've been pondering exactly how I would like to store all my craft supplies. Of course my top priority is for it to look cute haha. I contemplated getting all the white storage at Michael's. My friend Allison even mentioned how everything was on sale 40% off plus another 25% off coupon was in the Sunday paper. I was almost sold on it until I remembered the card catalog. The vintage look, individual drawers, built in spots for labels...swoon!

Now I just need to find one {that doesn't cost an arm and a leg}. The hubs is going to check the state surplus. Keep your fingers crossed!

what I've been wearing

I realized that even though I had been randomly taking outfit of the day pictures I was never posting any of them. Here's my stockpile!

coral long sleeve tee - Gap

white fleece Columbia vest - Bass Pro

jeans - Gap

square coral earrings

black short sleeve turtle neck - Belk

charcoal dress - Gap

heart charm bracelet - Tiffany & Co.

monogrammed earrings - Hand Picked

black tights - Walmart

black flats - Zappos

chocolate long sleeve tee - Old Navy

white cable knit - Tommy Hilfiger outlet

pink floral skirt - American Eagle

chocolate leggings - Old Navy

chocolate boots

charcoal short sleeve turtle neck - Belk

navy wrap sweater - Old Navy

charcoal trouser dress pants - Gap

"sherlock homes" jacket - Belk

black short sleeve turtle neck - Belk

skinny jeans - Gap

Clemson class ring

white long sleeve tee - Lands end

pink fleece - Old Navy

chocolate boot cut khakis - Old Navy

pink pearls

white headband

purple sweater - Old Navy

charcoal turtle neck - Lands End

black dress pants - NY&Co.

lime green cable knit - Tommy Hilfiger Outlet

green long sleeve tee - Old Navy

dark purple cords - Gap

monogrammed earrings - Hand Picked

white ponch - vintage, my mom's

chocolate long sleeve tee - Old Navy

blue straight leg jeans - Gap

red long sleeve tee - Gap

grey fleece - Old Navy

jeans - Gap

red pearls

Clemson class ring

orange tee - Target

navy wrap sweater - Old navy

trouser khakis - Gap

diamond earrings - Palmetto Gems

diamond necklace - gift from hubs

butterfly ring - vintage, my grandmother's

argyle cardigan - Old Navy

yellow tee - Ann Taylor Loft

jeans - Gap

heart charm bracelet - Tiffany & Co.

diamond earrings - Palmetto Gems

Clemson class ring

purple tunic - Old Navy

skinny jeans - Victoria's Secret

brown leather boots

chocolate long sleeve tee - Old Navy

orange sweater - Old Navy

chocolate boot cut khakis - Old Navy

orange earrings - The Beaded Tiger

purple fleece Columbia vest - Bass Pro

black turtle neck - Lands End

charcoal trouser dress pants - Gap

Clemson class ring

purple glass bead earrings - craft fair

happy birthday hubs!

Happy birthday to my number one hunky hubs. Another year has passed and I'm very glad we spent it together.

what a face

The hubs loves chocolate. The more chocolate the better, so when I made his chocolate cake with chocolate frosting I added chocolate morsels too. 

I got him jack stands to work on the mustang in the garage...after we build the gargage {details}.

menu planning is still going strong

Even though I may not be posting my menu in a timely manner, I'm still keeping up with it. Here's what's up for this week:

turkey burgers
homemade fries
broccoli

beef, rice, and cheese stuffed peppers
garlic toast

garlic and herb pork tenderloin
broccoli
broccoli and cheese rice

chicken pizzaioli
spaghetti
green bean casserole

crow pot stew
(stew beef, green beans, carrots, onions, & red potatoes)

I've decided to start taking pictures of each meal so when I post the next week I'll add a review and a picture of the previous week. Be excited haha!

weekend happenings

This weekend went all too quickly as it normally does. It was a mixture of house keeping and fun.

Saturday I woke up with an urge to clean clean clean. It happens every so often where I just need to organize, purge, scrub, etc. Since the hubs was asking for certain files for our taxes I decided to revamp our files all together. Does anyone else have a hard time keeping important documents straight? I never know how to categorize them and exactly what I should keep. Suggestions? I think that's a topic they should be teaching in high school. File keeping 101.

Another chore that always leaves me baffled - laundry. I do laundry every weekend. Most weeks I have three loads: mine, his, and bleachable whites. This week I had seven loads: mine, his, bleachable whites, towels, bedding, comforter, and thrown blankets. I'm still working on the laundry and won't finish till tomorrow. I can't imagine how many loads I'll have to do when little ones come along.

Saturday night we met up with two of our favorite couples, the Antleys and the Cegelis, for dinner. We went to Pawley's Front Porch to celebrate the hubs birthday. I sure do love hanging out with these people. I always get a good belly laugh listening to the stories. I'm sure the waiter wasn't happy that we took up one of his tables for two hours, but it was such fun!

Sunday started out with more house work: laundry, grocery shopping, cutting coupons, but I just couldn't make myself vacuum. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely hate vacuuming. I even have a fancypants Rainbow vacuum cleaner and I still have no desire to vacuum. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow...

Sunday evening we met up with the hubs parents for dinner as they were headed back to Greenville from Myrtle Beach.

friends

Friends, they come in and out of your life constantly. Friendships grow, maintain, or completely fizzle out. They’re our saviors and our enemies. I’m no stranger to the ever changing “best friend” although my current has been in my life for seven years and I’m pretty sure she’s here to stay. Before her there were four other best friends and countless close friends who jumped ship on me.

With New Year’s resolutions still fresh {since we haven’t hit February yet} I’ve seen some other bloggers post about how they want to cherish their true friends and let go of the ones that hurt them. You know the ones that never return your calls or make plans to have dinner, the ones that only want you when they need something. Those friends need to be let go.

I’m working on that goal myself, but I have to say I have a really hard time with that concept. When a friendship ends sometimes it’s really apparent why it ended. There was a huge fight or betrayal. The end. Other times though, it’s not so clear. She just stopped returning my calls. She turned down every invite I extended. It’s these friends I still think about.

What did I do wrong? Did I say something? Not say something? Forget something? What the hell happened to make you not want to be around me anymore? And the bigger question, why didn’t you ever give me a chance to fix it? Why didn’t we discuss whatever it was and try to resolve it?

I’ve read theories where people can only maintain so many relationships in their life. Maybe it’s true. Maybe I’m at my max. Maybe they’re at their max. This “fact” still doesn’t make it any easier. All I can do at this point is to do my very best at nurturing the current friendships I have. I believe I’ll still wonder though. 

snow day

It snowed in the south!!!! As much fun as snow is, when the white fluffy stuff visits the south the majority tend to hit the panic button {repeatedly}. 

Schools close before the first flake has made its way to the ground. 

The bread, milk, and eggs are so quickly cleared off the shelves that all I can think is, "a lot of people sure like making french toast on snow days." 

You can't find firewood anywhere.

Everyone's facebook status changes to "it's the snowpocalypse!"

the pups *love* the snow

gearing up to go outside

they get so excited over snowballs

not just a light dusting

pooped pups

Ella cut her paw :(

We had fun playing around but a week later there's still snow patches here and there. I'm ready for it to go away - ha!