Debatable Birthday Present

Guess what I'm getting for my birthday?  A vacuum!  Go ahead and laugh...I just might cry.  Not really, but this is how I know I'm getting old.  I need/want household appliances for birthdays and holidays.  J has assured me that he won't let this be my only present.  My parents have contributed to this fund, so I guess we could say this is their present to me.  Needs over wants, right folks?  My vacuum has bit the dust and with the mongrel roaming around the house, we need a good vacuum.  And alas, it's 20% off this weekend!  Putting those wedding giftcards to work!  I knew there was a reason I didn't spend them yet.

Source: bedbathandbeyond.com

I forgot to post about our father's day dinner and wanted to make sure I mentioned it.  I love family get-togethers.  This past weekend we had my family over for a late Father's Day dinner to celebrate my daddy and youngest brother.  I marinated some pork steaks and pork chops in the best marinade ever - Wickers.  Unfortunately, they don't sell Wickers around here (not that I can find anywhere, and if you've seen it, please let me know) so I bought a big jug of it when we were last in Arkansas.  OH and Publix is now cutting pork steaks too.  If you go buy all of my pork steaks, I will hunt you down. ;)  J grilled them for me while I cooked all of the vegetables, made Paula Deen's buttermilk coleslaw (which was a hit) and of course, baked everyone's favorite, buttermilk chocolate cake.  We didn't have any leftovers, thank goodness!  I hate that I'm this way, but I'm not big on leftovers...unless it's some type of pasta which usually tastes better leftover. We all had a great time visiting.  I am so thankful for my wonderful family - they mean the world to me.

When (and if) I have some free time, I'm going to revamp our office.  It is in desperate need.  It's the room that when guests come over we close the door and say, "Oh, you don't need to see that room - it's just another room."  It's bad.  We've been in this house since March...no.more.excuses.  My OCD is overwhelmed and I need to tackle it.  It needs organization.  I hope to implement these cute and easy ideas.

Burlap covered cork board - genius way to dress it up!

Source: cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Globe used as a decorative accent

Source: cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

If you're still here, thanks for listening to my ramblings!  I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs.

I Had a Plan...

I found my jump drive from high school/college last week and couldn't help but plug it in to see what was on there.  Oh boy...high school pictures, early college pictures and almost all of my coursework from my college classes.  I was smart, ha!  I don't remember half of that stuff.  Case in point...

What does that even mean?  At one point I did know.  Anyways, I had this class my junior year of college called 'Futures'.  Every college of business student was required to take this class before they graduated.  It was designed to make you think about your future, plan ahead, or so I thought.  Maybe it was designed to make me laugh out loud as I read back on my assignments years after the fact.  Wow, how so much can change!

I had a plan.  I had it all figured out.  Career was # 1 on my list.  I was going to travel the world and be a successful business woman, eventually becoming a VP at some major company. Ha!  I was going to get married and wait to have kids until I was almost 30 or over.  Not that there's anything wrong with any of this, it is just so not how my life has turned out and none of it was what I really longed for.  I was just cracking up reading this...thinking to myself how naive I was.  I was so lost.  Any of you ever do that?  Now, some of my "Life Plan/Inventory" was and still is dead on...like "Things I Would Like To Stop Doing" section reads:
1. Always having to be right (lol)
2. Being too self critical
I still struggle with those all of the time.  But overall, I was so off.  I was lacking God as the foundation of my life.  I was going about it my own way and I'd like to reach back and slap my 18 year old self.  I could have saved a lot of time and money had I consulted with God first, but that's okay.  He knew I had to go through all of that in order to be where I am now.  After all, had I not gone down that path, I don't know how I ever would have met my husband and some of the best friends I have.  So, maybe having "my plan" wasn't so bad after all.  He knew I'd eventually get it right .  I'm just thankful I got on "His plan" so I'd be led straight to the love of my life.  Ahhh...saved by the Grace of God. :)

Speaking of the love of my life, I just have to mention how proud I am of him and everyone that worked on this past case.  They were in trial all last week and the jury determined Friday night that the man they were representing was not negligent.  Such a great victory for them, I could have cried when I heard the verdict read.  They worked so hard and deserve to feel good about all their hard work.  Rosie and I sure were getting lonely without J around though.  Happy to have him back :)

Anyways, y'all want a meal plan?  Here it goes:
Monday: Pork tenderloin & steamed broccoli (since we didn't eat that Friday - went out to celebrate the defense victory!)
Tuesday: Blackened snapper and steamed asparagus
Wednesday: Grilled mustard lime chicken with grilled zucchini.  Recipe here.
Thursday: Eat Clean homemade pizza
Friday: Eat Clean tacos
Saturday: Green Chile turkey burgers (possibly)
Sunday: dinner with Meemaw
Monday: 4th of July!  I'll be making this fruit pizza

Source: pauladeen.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Hope y'all had a good Monday! XOXO

Pinterest

Have you heard about it?  It's the best thing since sliced bread.  I don't know if everyone does this or it's just me, but when I see a picture, recipe, or website I like, I save it to my favorites or download the picture.  I've always wondered what would happen if I had to get my computer wiped...I'd lose everything. Then I was invited to Pinterest...You "pin" anything and everything you like and it all gets stored to your own website. And you can browse millions of other pins for ideas, recipes, hairstyles, anything you can imagine. Maybe I'm a dork, no surprise there, but I've been pin happy.  You can even upload pictures you had saved on your computer.  Like this little gem here that I looooove.

Source: restorationhardware.com via Carrie on Pinterest

But the catch is, you have to be invited to join or sit on a waiting list for who knows how long.  So, if you'd like to be invited to join the website, I have 6 invites to give out. Just send me your email address here on my blog, to my gmail account, or facebook me. First come, first serve :)  And "Happy Pinning" as the folks at Pinterest say.

Meal Plan Monday!

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I got to go to a dear friend's baby shower and catch up with some folks who are so close to my heart and play with the most precious baby.  Ahh, I love em!  Crystal is so gorgeous, she is the cutest pregnant woman ever!  I can't wait for little Makai to arrive!

Some of you are my friends on facebook and it was this friend right here that was the inspiration behind my status on Friday, which read, "...smiling just thinking about how great God is - His timing is just perfect and His plan is so much better than anything we could have planned."  People, I am not expecting.  I cannot tell you how many folks thought that!  Just thought I'd clear the air.  Sorry to disappoint, but I had been chatting with Crystal earlier in the day and got to thinking about her life and my life and how they've both turned out thus far and all the changes and heartache we've gone through.  I think it might be safe to say for the both of us that God's plan for our lives was so much better than either of us could have imagined.  I was catching up with my high school cheerleading coach Saturday and I told her that before, I was not living God's will for my life - I was living my own.  When I finally let go of that, He led me right to where I was supposed to be.  It's truly incredible and I thank Him for that every day.  I look at my sweet husband and I cannot help but tear up over pure joy that comes from knowing that God had a plan for me.  So, if you struggle with this in your life, pray for God's will to be done.  He will listen, I promise.

Father's Day was spent hanging out with my dad, grandpa and 2 brothers (both of which are fathers themselves).  It was a great day.  I am truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful loving men in my life.  I also got to catch up with another old friend - it was great to see her!  We exchanged a lot of great recipe ideas and got to visit for a good while.  Between my grandpa's house and Renee's, I got stocked up on some tomatoes!

So with that, let's get right down to the meal plan for the week.  It needs to include a lot of salads! We will for sure get a good intake of lycopene - no doubt. :)

Monday: Baked Rosemary Chicken, steamed broccoli & salad
Tuesday: Steaks (possibly with the avocado salsa, not sure yet), baked sweet potatoes & salad
Wednesday: Summer Salmon (from my Eat Clean Cookbook) with steamed asparagus & tomatoes - see below for recipe
Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner! - Stuffed Omelets
Friday: Pork tenderloin & steamed broccoli
Saturday: no plans yet
Sunday: I'm making a delayed Father's Day dinner - any ideas on a meal that needs to feed 6?  I've got some running through my head.  I'm just not quite sure.

Summer Salmon

Ingredients:
-salmon filets (I use 2 so I'll do the directions and measurements according to 2) note: I usually don't measure anything, I just eye it and see what it needs more or less of...so feel free to do the same.
-1 lemon
-1 to 2 tbsp(s) of green onion, chopped
-sea salt
-pepper
-1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp rosemary

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°
2. Meanwhile, prepare filets.  Lay them on a baking dish, skin side down & drizzle both filets with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, onions, and rosemary.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over both filets.
3. Bake for 15-20 mins (I cook it for 15 mins)
4. Remove from oven, squeeze the remaining half of lemon over both filets & serve


Have a great week!

I'm Back!

I'm back & I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with blogging regularly!

Whew, where to begin?!  This past week/weekend was a whirlwind.  All last week was spent gearing up for the wedding.  Julie's wedding was Saturday and it was just perfect.  Everything came together and the weather couldn't have been better.  There was a nice cool breeze blowing by the water and clear skies.  She was incredibly beautiful, the colors looked amazing together & it just flowed perfectly.  It was so nice to visit with Jared & Julie's family too.  I could not be more blessed to have such amazing in-laws.  They are just precious to me.  I always get so sad when they leave.  But it gives me something to look forward to the next time I see them!

 

 Me and Julie after her work shower (no wedding pics just yet!)

 

Me and Erin

 

Me and Tawnee

So, I think that is my last wedding for awhile.  I just love weddings and I am so thankful to have been apart of so many of my friends' weddings this year.  My prayer for all of y'all is that God will be the foundation of your marriage and you will seek Him in all circumstances and situations.  I love each and every one of you.  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of one of the biggest days of your life.

I'll start posting my meal plans again for 'Meal Plan Monday'. I know it's been awhile & I had such good feedback on that.  I promise to do better.  After how terrible we've eaten this past week, it is much needed - ha!  Here it goes:

Monday - Eat Clean Tacos
Tuesday - Pork Chops with zucchini & tomatoes
Wednesday - Lemon Pepper Chicken, steamed broccoli & baked sweet potatoes
Thursday - Mexican Pulled Chicken Stuffed Peppers (recipe from here)
Friday - Baked Tilapia with steamed asparagus
Saturday - Depends on Jared's work schedule - trial's coming up!
Sunday - Mom & dad's house!

Hope your Monday was as uneventful as mine! ;)