hey, it's ok (tuesday) 11.15

hey, it's ok

...to not put up a post yesterday.  it was going to be another wedding post but i simply do not have the photos uploaded yet.
...to have JUST added to my to-do list: upload wedding photos
...to wish i could show you photos of the cuteness i just captured from baby g.  suffice it to say, she's adorable.
...to be having WAY too much fun with siri on my new iphone
...to be considering putting up a "what i'm wearing" post every week or so BUT
...to then realize that i dress quite casually at least 2 days a week so that would likely be boring for you all
...to feel a sense of accomplishment for getting all my food boards on pinterest organized this morning #dork
...to use hashtags outside of twitter as long as it's not #allthetime #likethis #seewhatididthere
...to be ready to have our crap organized and the house looking GREAT
...to realize that is not going to happen in the next week or two based on our schedules
...to have to be ok with that

please visit this great blog to see the original and link up with your own list of things that are ok!

weekly meal planning 11.13 - 11.19

unfortunately our week kinda went...crazy.  i'm updating to what we are ACTUALLY having :-)


sunday
lunch out with friends
dinner: bbq chicken cheddar pitas (recipe coming soon: these were GOOD!)


monday
dinner: on our own, i'm working late.  i'm having tortellini minestrone leftovers


tuesday
dinner: at the hockey game.  brats anyone?


wednesday
since we both worked past 8, we met for dinner at ChickFila


thursday
italian shells hamburger helper and salad


friday
pizza, salad and brownies for dessert


saturday
breakfast: blueberry crumb breakfast cake
lunch: chili cheese dogs
dinner: french onion soup (new recipe)

it's a great day to go to birmingham

so.

anthony is a nashville native.  but he went to school in texas.
and while he was there, he developed a love for whataburger.

especially the chocolate malts.

a couple of years ago we drove down to texas for a friends wedding and i had MY first whataburger

and yes, it was very good :-)

fast forward: last year a couple of girlfriends and i went to the beach.  destin, fl.
our hotel? right next to a...whataburger.  which until then, i thought only existed in texas.

this year when natasha and i planned out our trip
i specifically planned in a whataburger run
and asked anthony if he wanted me to bring him back anything
his request?
"if you can find dry ice, could you bring me a malt?"

on the way down there, we noticed something.
from birmingham to florida, there were whataburgers in nearly every city along the way.

whataburger is only 3 hours away from nashville.

anthony had NO idea.
when i brought him his malt, i let him think it was from florida.
he remarked on how well it had traveled
(3 hours in regular ice...but he didn't know that!)

meanwhile, my wheels were turning.

i planned this in freaking AUGUST, people :-)

but long story short, he now knows.
(it took 30 minutes of guessing on his part before he said
"wait...there's a WHATABURGER in BIRMINGHAM?!")

we're heading out this morning and hitting up whataburger for lunch.
followed by a visit to birmingham's zoo
(because we love zoos, and why not?)
and dinner at...whataburger again.

hey, we may as well make the most of the trip down there, right? :-)

have a wonderful day!

recipe (challenge) of the week: creamy pesto chicken over fusilli

i should do this sort of thing more often.  it most definitely stretched me to be a bit creative!


in mid october, we were freshly back from our honeymoon and i realized that although we needed to eat...we hadn't been to the grocery store since a week before the wedding.  which meant at least 2 weeks.


oops.


so, i decided that i would create a meal using only things that were currently in the fridge/freezer or pantry.


it turned out pretty well!  so...here's what i came up with.  very simple, and few ingredients...obviously!


creamy pesto chicken over fusilli


1 cup combined freshly grated asiago and parmesan cheese (i used 3/4 cup asiago, 1/4 cup parmesan)
3/4 cup half and half
3 tablespoons pesto
5-6 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins
cooked fusilli or pasta of your choice

in small saucepan over low-medium heat, combine half and half with cheeses and stir until cheese begins to melt and mixture is creamy.  add pesto and combine until well blended.

layer chicken tenders in a glass baking dish.

generously cover chicken with the creamy pesto misture, but reserve some of the pesto for pouring over pasta and chicken later.

bake at 350 for 30 minutes

serve over pasta, enjoy!

thursday's ten: the oops, i forgot editio

well, the time change happened, much to my dismay.

i have been a little off-kilter since sunday. we will blame it on the time change at least ;-)

so at approximately 8.29 am, i realized that i forgot to write today's thursdays ten.

oops.

so today is easy :-) please join me and catch me up on your lives! today is ten things that are going on for you right now, ten things you've done this week, or ten upcoming things that you're excited about :-)

i am choosing the first topic: ten things about my life at this moment. in complete and total randomness!



(1) we have been married over a month! in some ways that doesn't seem possible...but in other ways i think i feel more "right" than i ever have in my life. :-)
(2) we are finishing up this week cleaning out grandpas house (where i lived the months between foreclosure and marriage). there's really not that much left to do, which is why we've been putting it off. ha!
(3) i got back from the honeymoon to find out that the office i had been working 10 hours/week in was asking me to work more hours. this was a huge blessing and gift from God...fulfilling my hearts desire. i now have 24 in-office hours and 5 at home hours per week. yep, my hours tripled!
(4) if i haven't mentioned what i actually DO there, the basic rundown is that it's a non-profit online university that literally gives away (to international students and prisoners in the US) a religious studies degree to those who wouldnt ordinarily be able to afford it. i work in student services/registrar most of those hours, but i also get the privilege of grading prisoners work.
(much more about that in another post!)
(5) i hate colder weather, but i do so love dressing in layers and wearing cute scarves and boots. i guess that keeps me sane this time of year?
(6) if i never have to hear the handy manny toolbox toy that baby g plays with again i will be so happy.
(7) next weeks list will be ten things from pinterest i have actually completed! i would LOVE to see lists from those of you who are similarly addicted... :-)
(8) i love children's books and definitely want to get a couple for the kids i nanny for as part of their christmas. do you have any recommendations? (they are 3 and 1)
(9) we have found a church that we LOVE. it's nearly an hour from our house. i have lots of time to apply my makeup and clip each weeks coupons though...
(10) about a month ago, i told A that i was taking him on an "adventure" this saturday--a one day trip out of state. he finally decided this past sunday night that he wanted to know what it was. so we played a (very long) guessing game until he got it. he's really excited about it, and i can't wait to share with you what it is! it's small...but it's one of those little things i can do for him that'll make him happy :-)

(look for a post on it saturday...and i will post pictures next week)

that's not all that's going on, but it covers some serious ground! what about you??

what i'm loving wednesday (11.9)

i'm loving that i got to spend the weekend with two sweet boys, 4 and 2

(my standard "respecting privacy" explanation for the backs of heads and through mesh photography)


i'm loving that i'm HOME now


i'm loving that my husband joined us for part of the weekend...and i'm loving that he had the kitchen SPOTLESS when i walked in the house last night for the first time in 4 days.

said husband carrying one child into church while walking next to the oldest. p.r.e.c.i.o.u.s.

i'm loving that our team was the winner for most money raised at the hike for the homeless that i wrote about last week.  i'm SUCH a fan of this organization and i'm grateful that they exist to serve the families who desperately need them.


i'm loving our house, as it comes together slowly but surely.  hopefully i can take you guys on a virtual tour of it soon!


i'm loving "friend dates" that i get to have with my amazing girlfriends!


i'm loving that i have an appointment at the apple store tonight to pick up something else i'll soon be loving!


i'm loving that emi was so happy when i got home last night that she snuggled for a full 5 minutes :-)

it seems like a short list this week, but most assuredly, i'm loving my life and the rich blessings my Papa continues to pour out on us!

monday's memory: so many dresses!

i think one wedding post a week should be enough, right?

so today i'll take you on a journey of finding the dress.

i actually went to david's bridal less than a week after becoming engaged
stopping with a friend to get donuts on the way, because while i wanted to lose at least 25 pounds before the wedding (and i DID!) i was determined not to be completely overwhelmed and driven by that.

i tried on a few dresses that day.  here are a few of them:

 (thank goodness for my lovely friends brittany and natasha who were there for me in spades!)

after my front-runner for that day was spotted several times on facebook by myself, i decided i wanted no part in that dress.  and i didn't REALLY love it that much anyway.  so back to DB i went...several months later and about 10 pounds lighter...with my friend natasha.

several dresses were tried on.  we had a list of favorites, and we texted pictures of the ones we really liked to people who weren't able to be there.

the top runners were these:

and two days later i was back.  and not only was natasha there, every one of my local bridesmaids joined us.  plus anthony's mom, two of his aunts, and his granny.  oh, and plus two of my cell group girls.  if anyone is counting, that's 11 people including the 2 year old flower girl!  quite a party :-)

only 3 of our top 5 dresses were no longer there.  i decided to put a dress back in the running that *i* had loved, natasha had loved, and everyone hated in the picture.  i thought i may as well give them a shot of seeing it in person.  here's the picture we had sent:

i tried on 2 dresses which were received with "oh, that's pretty..." and then put this one on.  as soon as i walked out of the dressing room i heard gasps from everyone.  it was THE dress, and we all knew it.

natasha and i had a lot of fun telling them that they had ALL voted no on the picture of that particular dress.
;-)

and then it was time for them to find theirs.  i had always wanted matching bridesmaids, but i had such an array of height/weight/body shape in the 7 girls that were standing with me that i knew it wasn't a possibility.  i told them the color, and they all went searching.

5 girls came back.  5 identical dresses in the right color fit them all perfectly and looked GREAT on all of them.  and they all liked the dress.

at that point i texted the two out of state girls and told them the dress was chosen.  if 5 girls in nashville ranging from size 4 - 20 could look amazing in the same dress, 2 girls from indiana could as well.

the flower girl dress was easy to pick, although they didn't have it in the right color.  but we got the general idea ;-)

and the day of?  it was perfect.  the dress was the perfect weight, length and style for our outdoor wedding, the red was the perfect accent, and the bridal party looked GREAT together.  if i do say so myself :-)
(about half of these are candids.  i have SO many great professional pics to show you...but unfortunately do not have the cd of them with me at the moment!)

(i would apologize for this being picture heavy, but really...i think that's the point of the post, right?)

xoxo