Weekday Woes

Why does it feel like the weekdays drag by, but the weekend is gone in a blink??? I guess that's why life seems to go so fast - we're always looking forward to the weekend. It's kind of sad, isn't it? Anywho, speaking of weekend, I had a super productive one. But this coming weekend, I am just going to C H I L L! I ended up being able to tackle the dining room "china cabinet". Here's some before and after. It was REALLY needing some color. I'm apt to make a few more changes, but for the time being, this will suffice :)

Before - boring!



After!






Much better, right?! I ended up using a plate left over from one of my bridal showers, cut it down to size & put it in a frame. The blue and black go perfectly with my theme here...And I was even able to use a wedding program to put in the monstrous teal frame at the top. Can you tell what my favorite color is?! :)

I'm trying to make my meal plan for the week (I usual do this on Sundays, but this Sunday was so busy that I didn't have time). If anyone has any recipe ideas they'd like to share, I am all ears! I'll start posting this on here & helping all of you out with some ideas :)

Tonight is plyometrics night for my P90X workouts. Ugh totally dreading that. It's a love/hate relationship - love the results, hate the hurt involved. Anyways, happy almost humpday!

TGIF & Chicken Spaghetti

Whew, TGIF, y'all! This week has been so crazy busy. I'm so pooped, but this weekend is slammed too. I thought it would slow down a bit after the wedding, but nope. Not yet anyways. At least I have some fun activities planned, not all work. My momma's birthday is Sunday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Momma! She's the best in the world :)

I have a feeling the majority of my weekend will be spent in the kitchen. It's my turn to bring breakfast to Sunday school, so I'll be making pumpkin muffins Saturday (see my post below for the recipe) along with cooking filets and baked sweet potatoes for dinner. I'm also baking my mom's birthday cake, but that can wait until Sunday afternoon. Her request is (of course) my carrot cake. I must admit, I make a mean carrot cake. I never even liked it until I had mine. It's 100% homemade with homemade cream cheese icing - YUM! Maybe I'll share that recipe too :)



OH! I almost forgot...I had many requests for the chicken spaghetti recipe, so here it is:

-2 chicken breasts with bone in or whole chicken (depending on how many people are eating)
-1 small pkg velveeta, cubed
-1 can rotel tomatoes
-package of spaghetti noodles (I use whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 350. Cover chicken with water, season with salt and pepper and boil for 30 mins. Remove chicken from water and tear it into little pieces. Meanwhile, bring the broth to boil again and cook spaghetti as directed on package (I only cook about 1/2 the pkg for me and Jared). Once finished, do not drain. Add velveeta and stir until melted. Add can of rotel and shredded chicken to noodles and cheese. Pour into 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 for 30 mins. I broil it for about 3 mins to brown the top.

If you don't want to bake it, you don't have to since it's already cooked. But I like it baked:) Also, you can chop up onions, bell peppers, etc. if you want to add those in. Hope you enjoy! Please let me know how it turns out. It's a family favorite for us. It should look something like this:



If I can squeeze it in this weekend, I was really wanting to redesign the dining room. We have this weird shelving in there - it's not quite a built in china cabinet and not quite a book shelf...but I think I finally have some ideas for it. Here's some inspiration...






I hope to have some before and after photos, but we'll see if I tackle this project this weekend.

In other news, our house is split this weekend - it's the Ole Miss/Arkansas game, GO REBS! I love the Hogs, but was born and raised on Ole Miss football. I mean, my dad went there when they were National Champs (if that gives you any sort of timeline), so his love for the Rebels has been around for awhile! I guess it kind of worked out that I have a 12:00 luncheon I have to attend on Saturday. But I am sad I will miss the game. Hey, that's what DVR is for.




Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Happy Fall Y'all!

I'm feeling pretty festive about the fall season - I love pumpkins, mums, wreaths, football, the warm colors, comfort foods & of course decorating the house. Now if only the weather would cooperate! I'm so cheesy, I know. So, to take advantage of the one time of year that I can make these seasonal muffins, I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins last night...YUUMMMMM, they are so good & moist! Jared had 3 after dinner. They're not Eat Clean, but they're not too terrible for you either. My cousin's wife, Jill, gave me this recipe a few years ago when I was in Oxford for the Ole Miss/Alabama game.

Ingredients:
-1/2 to 3/2 cup of sugar
-4 egg whites
-1 snack cup of unsweetened applesauce
-1 tsp of cinnamon
-1 can pumpkin puree
-1 pkg yellow cake mix
-1/4 cup water

Preheat over to 350º. Mix all of the ingredients together, except water, & beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add water last and continue beating until smooth. Batter will be thick. Pour into cupcake pans (makes 24) and bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in center is clean). They should end up looking something like this:




They are so good! You can eat them just like this for breakfast or a snack or whip up some cream cheese frosting and make them a desert :) Either way, you can't go wrong!

Also on the topic of fall, I am obsessed with candles, scentsy, or anything that will make my house smell good all year round. But at this time of year, I am especially partial to cinnamon and spice smells. Lo and behold, my weekly shopping trips to Publix (which never disappoint, I am obsessed) resulted in my new favorite smell - the Cinnamon Broom!




This little thing right here is amaaaaazzzzzzzing! And you never even have to light a candle or flip a switch to turn any warmer on. All you do is set it out and within minutes your whole house will smell like cinnamon. But beware, it can be a little overpowering in the beginning. I had to throw mine in the laundry room for a few days, haha! You can find them in the produce section or around the flowers. Just another reason why I love Publix so much :)

On my lunch break today, I went home to find a visitor outside my front door.




This is Limone, our neighbor's cat. It looks like his new hangout is our front porch:)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful day! <3

Let's Play Catch Up!

Well, life is back to normal! This post may be a bit long seeing as how I have hardly been on here since I started the blog.

I have been a married woman for 23 days. The wedding & honeymoon were both AMAZING! It's too bad that life can't always be as sweet as it was in St. Lucia - waking up to breakfast in bed every morning, dates every night, laying on the beach all day without a care in the world. Ahh, reality hit hard when our alarm clocks went off the Monday we returned signaling that we were back in the real world & it was off to work we go. Here are a few photos to share the beauty of St. Lucia. If you haven't been, you should seriously consider planning your next vacation there.


When we first arrived in St. Lucia




Isn't this beautiful?! Looks like my background image on my computer. This was taken while we were on a walk outside of our resort.




Sharing a kiss on top of a mountain we hiked :)



After zip-lining through the rainforest. We know you're jealous of our outfits!




Horseback riding on the beach.




And lastly, our beach at the resort - beautiful.



It was the trip of a lifetime. I have many more pictures and if you're my friend on facebook, stay tuned for a whole album (when I find the time).

Now, on to wedding talk...Our wedding day was everything I could have possibly imagined. It was so beautiful, small & intimate, emotional, and perfectly us. We are such saps, I tell ya. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when those vows were said. Pastor Traylor preached a beautiful ceremony & hopefully touched the lives of everyone in the church. The weather was gorgeous, although a little hot but thank goodness for no rain or hurricanes! I loved having all of our closest family and friends there, just wish I could have spent more time with everyone. Our vendors did an amazing job & everything came together perfectly. I couldn't have imagined it better! Here are a few pictures from our AMAZING photographer, Patsy Brown (A Thousand Words Photography). She is incredible!








Seriously, this picture is worth a thousand words! It totally captures the essence of the whole day






Man oh man, how blessed am I?!

For my wedding present, Jared gave me a new study Bible (NASV) with my married named inscribed on the front. He wrote the sweetest message on the inside panel that brought me (and his mom & sister) to tears. It is such a blessing to be married to a man that absolutely adores me and works as hard as I do to keep our relationship founded in Christ. I think we are a match made in Heaven ;)

Giving ourselves to God, living by his teachings, and consulting Him to help guide us has made an indescribable difference in our lives. Once you completely submit your life to God, he truly works in you. I'm so happy to say I reached this point in my faith about a year and a half ago. I was always a Christian and God was in my heart, but he did not dwell there. (Ephesians 3:16-19) That word dwell is so significant - think of your home and how you signify it as your dwelling. When God can dwell in your heart, He is truly at home & in return, you are at home with God. This was a topic in our Sunday school class yesterday & it really moved me.

We've been going to a Sunday school class designed for engaged/newlyweds at our church for about 5-6 months now. We absolutely LOVE it! It is so helpful and incredibly beneficial to our relationship plus we've made some really good friends. It's designed to teach lessons from the Bible specifically about relationships and marriage. I would recommend it to everyone who is at this point in their lives. It's at Olive Baptist Church at 9:30 Sunday mornings.

Now that life has slowed down a bit, I plan to post on here more often. You'll see much more of our everyday life plus more decorating and cooking tidbits from me (my true passions!) I'm making pumpkin muffins tonight (they're healthy & delicious!) so stay tuned for the recipe.




Hope everyone has a blessed Monday! =)