Friday, April 28, 2017

FRIDAY VOL. 17

It rained all last weekend which resulted in cancelling all of our plans for Saturday, which then resulted in a lazy day...and it was FANTASTIC! We watched TV, napped and I did a little cooking/baking...the perfect day! Sunday we left early and made it to Cookeville in time for church that morning. It was so good to visit our old congregation and to see all of our old friends! 
WE MISS IT SO MUCH. We spent the whole day in Cookeville, which was so nice for a change, and got to stop by a few of our favorite spots. After church that evening we had a going away party for one of our favorite ladies, Ms. Judy. She is moving to be with her family soon and we had a dinner to honor her and all of her hard work over the years!
I love Sno Shack and wish we had one here in Nashville!!
I made these strawberry white chocolate chip cookies to take to the dinner Sunday night and they were so good. I love anything with white chocolate in it!

Monday morning Matthew left early for a training all day in downtown Nashville and I headed out soon after him, only to realize my keys were locked in my car...womp womp womp. He couldn't leave training and I tried to get an Uber to work (lol) but they wouldn't be there for another hour. So I called the police department (not 911, I know better than that!) and asked if they offered that service...and they did. For FREE! Woo hoo! They were there within 10 minutes and my door was opened 5 minutes after that. The police department in our town is THE best! The office was super nice and she had hot pink handcuffs...girl.freakin.power. 

Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day and my company/office/coworkers spoiled me with the prettiest flowers!

I spent most of this week training a few different people at work and it has been exhausting lol. My throat was sore by Thursday afternoon and I have been hoarse all day today...I sound lovely ;)

 We use the app called OfferUp in our area and have successfully sold a quite a few things. I posted my vanity on there to sale because I don't use it anymore since I have one built into our bathroom counter and it sold very quickly! I was sad to see it go because it was one of my favorite pieces but I just don't use it anymore. It was still in great condition and I hope that the girl who bought it from us enjoys it as much as I did!
Here is a picture of it from back when it was in my apartment in Cookeville.

Matthew's car needed a little work done on it so I got to take him to work one day this week and I enjoyed our morning car date! 

My sister turned 20 on Tuesday, and here is a picture of a picture from the day she was born! #softsmiles for Mady's birthday. We are celebrating this weekend, woo hoo!

I snapped this at my parents house the other night...golden hour is my favorite hour!

Reagan and I went to my sister's first softball game of the season this past week. Everyone loved her outfit and of course, she loved all the attention! 

Happy Weekend!! 
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Thursday, April 27, 2017

PIONEER WOMAN RECIPES

I've mentioned it before, but I have recently been obsessed with The Pioneer Woman. I've been watching all of her episodes and I have even made a couple of her recipes recently. There are still a ton of her recipes that I want to try, and I am going to share all of those today! If any of you have made any of them, let me know how you liked them!

I made this pepperoni chicken last week and we both agreed that it was GOOD! It made for great leftovers too. I paired it with a salad and garlic and herb noodles. 
via

This recipe looks delicious! The more cheese, the better...right?
via

I am actually making this for dinner tonight! We love anything with Alfredo ;)

This looks simple and delicious! Can y'all tell that I'm a pasta lover yet?

I am making this triple layered confetti cake this weekend for my sister's birthday party! Fingers crossed it turns out as cute as her's lol.
via

This chocolate pie looks delicious and will probably be what I make my dad for Father's Day this year. He is the biggest chocolate lover that I know and his name is written all over this pie.
via

Do y'all love the Pioneer Woman?? I also want all of her products now too, ha!

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Friday, April 21, 2017

FRIDAY VOL. 16

THE PREDATORS Y'ALL.

Let's just say my husband is on cloud 9 right now and probably will be all weekend after last night. They beat the Chicago Blackhawks last night...and as their Facebook page says, "Call it a sweep!"

Last night I met my best friend, Rachel, her mom, and Amelia for free facials. Rachel had won them through a bridal show she went to recently and invited us. It was a fun night and we got to try out a lot of new products...my face is feeling extra smooth this morning. After the facials we had a late dinner at Qdoba and it was delicious! I completely forgot to snap any pictures but it was still a really fun girls night. We kept getting updates from the Preds game last night while we were together which made for an even more exciting night lol.

Last week I made some homemade popsicles and they turned out so good! It was very simple and I'll share more about them next week!

My dad is having his stress test done this morning, so prayers for him, please! 

HAPPY WEEKEND!

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Thursday, April 20, 2017

PARMESAN CRUSTED PORK CHOPS | DINNER RECIPE


Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 TB Italian breadcrumbs (dried)
⅛ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dried parsley
½ tsp. garlic powder
2 TB olive oil
¼ tsp. pepper


Directions:
1. Mix Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, paprika, parsley and garlic powder and place on a plate.
2. Dip pork chops in the mixture (making sure mixture sticks) and sear in a pan of olive oil on medium-high heat. Sautee for 5 minutes on each side.
3. Place pork chops in a glass baking dish and cook according to thickness. I cooked mine for about 40 minutes. 

I had a little help in the kitchen the night I made these ;) 


Here they are when they were finished. I paired them with green beans, rice and a side salad!

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

LIFE LATELY

Let's back up all the way to the Saturday before Easter (4/8/17). I talked to my mom that afternoon and she told me that she thought my dad had caught a stomach bug. He had been out in the yard working that day and got pretty sick. Fast forward to following morning, I talked to my mom after church and she said my dad was feeling worse and had even had some chest pains, but was being stubborn and didn't want to go to the ER. I got off the phone with mom and told Matthew I thought we needed to go home so I could make my dad go to the ER to get it checked out and he completely agreed. So we changed out of our church clothes and got a few things for Reagan and headed home. We decided that I would drop Matthew and Reagan off at his parents house and I would go to my parents house and try to convince my dad to go to the ER. I honestly thought it was going to take me all afternoon to try and convince him but after 10 minutes I asked him if he was going to the ER in his house shoes or if he wanted to change shoes...he gave me the look...and I gave it right back lol and he changed shoes and off we were to the ER (he can be stubborn when he wants, but I learned it from somewhere ;)). Luckily I only had to tell a few white lies to get him to the hospital, but it worked and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I had to. My dad's side of the family has a very long history of heart problems/heart attacks so I was not going to chance anything. My mom and I waited with him at the ER and they immediately took him back- PSA: keywords to get you taken back immediately....high blood pressure, and chest pains. They were hooking him up to the EKG machine before I could even get him completely checked in. We ended up spending the whole afternoon in the ER while they ran some test and did blood work, thankfully everything came back perfectly normal and they said he was really healthy (PRAISE!), but it wouldn't hurt to start seeing a cardiologist regularly. So I called first thing Monday morning and scheduled him an appointment. What had made him so sick and caused chest pains- weed killer poisoning. He had just mixed up some weed killer that Saturday and stared spraying the yard when he got really sick. The doctors at he ER said there wasn't really anything to do but to just let it get out of his system. He had a weak stomach for the next couple of days but it finally was out of his system around Tuesday. He was wearing gloves but not a mask, so they think he just inhaled it (it was kinda windy) and it instantly made him sick...lesson learned, he'll be wearing a mask from now on when using it! Overall it was a scary couple of days, but we are so incredibly thankfully it wasn't worse. This picture was from last summer.

Monday night my BIL and girlfriend called us to let us know that they were ENGAGED!!!!! He had just proposed and they were calling all of their family and friends to let us know. Woo hoo! We are so excited to be adding to our family and I get another sister! I stole this picture from their facebook page, but look how gorgeous her ring is. They are planning on getting married this fall, so it's going to be an exciting next few months!!!!

I took the following Tuesday and Wednesday off from work. On Tuesday Matthew and I were supposed to go to Cookeville for $3 Tuesday with our college ministry that we were apart of when we lived in Cookeville, but Matthew ended up having to work so I just took the day off anyways lol. I did meet Matthew for lunch close to his client's office and after that I went and got my nails done for Easter. Since my Easter dress was pink and white and Matthew was going to be wearing green/navy I decided to go with a pretty pastel purple. It is Polly Want a Lacquer? by OPI and I love it!
I spent the rest of the afternoon taking Reagan on a walk in our neighborhood and letting her play in our back yard while I read and did things around the house.

I took off Wednesday because my sister was receiving an award at school later that afternoon. Since I had the morning open I decided to take Reagan to Lowe's with me and look at flowers. It was my first time taking her and I was a little nervous that she would freak out but she did great and LOVED all of the attention from the workers and other shoppers lol. 
 
I ended up just getting a hanging pot of impatiens for our back patio. I do plan on getting some ferns soon for out two planters out in front of the house.

That afternoon I went to my parents house and we headed out for Mady's award ceremony. It wasn't at her campus but at another campus that was about an hour away. It was just the four of us, since my youngest two sisters were still in school. We hate that they had to miss it and that Matthew couldn't be there for he had to work but we still had a good time!
She was awarded "most outstanding student" for the education department- she was actually the only one in that department out of all three campuses. And to make it even better they surprised her with a small scholarship for when she transfers to the university in the fall! 
 After the award ceremony we made the drive back home and stopped at Olive Garden for dinner. It was a really fun day and I was sad it went by so quickly!! I am so proud of my sister, she has worked so hard and is at the top of her class there. She is transferring to the university in our town in the fall and I know she will excel there as well! All of her professors had many great things to say about her and it's great seeing her so passionate about her future and future career!!

Friday afternoon (Good Friday) our best friends, Ethan and Rachel, got ENGAGED!!!!! We are so excited for them and can't wait to plan all the couples trips together in the future!!!! She had no idea it was coming and it was the best surprise. Ethan told her they were having family pictures that afternoon at his families lake house and that he wanted to have a couple of them taken before. So sneaky but the pictures were absolutely adorable!! We met them later that night for ice cream and to hear all about it! They are planning on getting married next year sometime. 

Saturday morning Matthew did some yard work while I cooked breakfast and worked on our dessert to take to our Easter celebrations. I let Reagan play in the backyard while he mowed the front yard and she watched him the whole time lol.
Then she watched from inside while he mowed the backyard. Girl was having a fit because she couldn't go outside while he was mowing lol.

You can read about our Easter weekend here.

- I have been obsessed with Pioneer Woman lately and trying to watch all the shows that I can. I have a few recipes of hers that I have saved and want to try over the next few weeks. I made her cinnamon rolls for family and friends back at Christmas and they were delicious. I am trying this recipe from her blog this week!

- We dropped cable last week too! When we first got married we didn't have cable for the first few months and then decided to get it. We've been noticing over the past couple of months that we really don't watch a whole lot cable so we decided to cancel it. We have Netflix and Hulu, but really only watch TV via Netflix, so we were just wasting money each month. We've been without cable a week and haven't missed it once!


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Monday, April 17, 2017

EASTER 2017

It was a very happy Easter weekend spent with our families!
Saturday morning I made Easter crack for dessert for our Easter celebrations. I ended up making two batches and it made a ton!
Insta story stickers...I can't lol

Saturday afternoon we had Easter with my side of the family. There were plenty of sub sandwiches and desserts, and the kids did an Easter egg hunt. I am almost positive that when I was growing up the prize egg definitely didn't have that much money in it lol. 
We had the most perfect weather all weekend long, which is a nice change for once! I feel like the past few Easters it has been cold and rainy. Sunny and 80 is my favorite!
Saturday night we headed to Matthew's parents house to stay the night. We got there in time for the Pred's second playoff game- they won! It was a good game, but I definitely struggled staying awake for the whole game ;) 
Sunday morning we went to church and lunch with Matthew's parents. They took us to a new (to us) place in town called Slim Chickens, and it was so good! It was the cutest place and we can't wait to go back.
Sunday afternoon we headed to my mema's house for our last Easter celebration of the weekend. It was good to see everyone and get to hang out with them for the afternoon!
sisters with our mom
 The whole family with mema
Reagan was loving all of the attention this weekend!

The weekend definitely wore our girl out though...she slept like this for at least an hour while we sat around talking, and then on the way home she was standing in Matthew's lap while he was driving and she kept falling asleep standing up lol. 

Reagan definitely enjoyed her Easter basket this year. It was filled with all her favorite treats and some new toys. The cutest little bunny!


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