Comfy Cozy

I can’t think of a better way to describe our weekend!  I had off work on Friday and was so excited to spend the wet and stormy day in the kitchen cooking and watching movies.  I set off to the grocery store in the morning with my menu in hand: homemade chili, garlic mashed potatoes and a gluten free vanilla cake.  My day consisted of chopping, stirring, mashing, baking and watching movie after movie.  It was heavenly!  And the chili was DELISH!!  I  was so pleased with how everything turned out, and I think Hubsy was just as excited to spend our evening chowing down on comfort food as I was.  I love that he loves to eat whatever I cook.  I am by no means a great chef, but I sure do love trying!  We nestled ourselves onto the couch and spent the night watching Australia, drinking vino and munching endlessly.  It was coziness at its finest!

Chili:

I chopped up a whole white onion and browned it in a pan with a little bit of ground beef (I like to use the juices from a little bit of the ground beef to brown the onion instead of oil).  Normally I would use ground turkey, but I wanted to make a hearty, true Southern chili.  The ground beef was the perfect ingredient!

Next I added the rest of the ground beef, tomato sauce, a can of salsa, a can of dark red kidney beans and a can of light red kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper – and pretty much anything else that came to mind. I kept adding more chili powder and cumin until I thought it was the perfect spicy-ness.  Then I turned the burner to low and let the chili simmer for about an hour.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

I peeled four russet potatoes, chopped them and put them in a pan of boiling water.  I let them boil for about twenty minutes until the potatoes were soft but still a little firm.

Next I added Smart Balance butter, low fat cream cheese, a little bit of parmesan cheese, salt, and roasted garlic I had just baked in the oven.  I used a whole clove of garlic that I peeled and chopped the ends off of, then I wrapped the garlic in aluminum foil and baked it at 375F for about 25 minutes.  Mmmmm, the smell was heavenly.  I mashed the garlic and the potatoes until the consistency was just right.  I had never made home made mashed potatoes before!  Hubsy said he liked them, and I believed him.  :o)

Cake, Betty Crocker Style:

Originally I wanted to make a homemade gluten free cake, but when I heard Ms. Betty Crocker came out with a new line of gluten free products, I had to try her vanilla cake mix.  I thought it was pretty good!  I frosted it with a butter cream chocolate icing.  I definitely think it tastes much yummier to those of us who are missing out on gluten!  Hubsy was a really good sport and enjoyed the cake with me, but I know he would prefer the “real” stuff next time.  Over all, dinner was a success!  And the chili and mashed potatoes were even yummier the next day.  Mmmm, I love comfort food.

Storm rolling in!

Last night Hubsy was out in the back grilling when he yelled for me to come quickly look at the sky. I couldn’t believe what I saw!  I grabbed my camera and snapped away.  The photos below contain ZERO photo editing.  The colors were this vibrant and BEAUTIFUL!

 

And if that sky wasn’t a more perfect ending to a cozy, rainy weekend guess what movie was on TV last night.  It featured Ms. Allie and Mr. Noah.

Le sigh.  Perfect.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  I’m off to NYC tomorrow for work and am so excited.  I’ll be back soon!  Enjoy your week – only a few more days until Labor Day weekend! YAYYYYYYY!!

Blessings/XOXO

A tisket, a tasket…

…a green and yellow basket.  That nursery rhyme was on repeat in my head over the weekend!  I just got back from our fabulous, girls-only, Maine-cation with my mom and sisters.  What a WONDERFUL time!  The memories we made will be held in my heart forever.  My grandmother takes a basket weaving class every summer at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor that is taught by a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine.  This year my mom, sisters and I did it with her.  It was so funny, we kept giggling at the fact that we were sitting around making baskets, but it was so much fun!  The whole experience was truly amazing.  Our teacher was Eric “Otter” and he was a riot.  It was so neat learning about their traditions and seeing his expertise in basket weaving come to life.  We had so much fun and were able to create some amazing little baskets that were made out of Ash (tree) and sweet grass.  Here are a few pictures I snapped of the process!

Creating the bottom side of the basket.

A picture of my braided sweet grass. 

PS. Dig the purple nail polish? I wanted something different & am love’n it!

 

The bottom of my basket!  Ash and braided sweet grass.

Okay, so this is lame, but I actually don’t have a picture of my finished basket yet.  We ran out of time and there is a piece missing on my lid, so AS SOON as I finish it I will post a picture.  I’m excited to show you my finished little beauty!

After our class Friday evening, we went back to my Mimi’s house and came home to this…

…a massage table set up and a masseuse ready to give us ALL massages!  Ohhh my goodness, it was heavenly.  What an awesome gift my grandmother gave us!  We sipped wine when it wasn’t our turn and shared stories.  It was girl time at its finest!

On Saturday we went back to our class hoping to finish things.  Afterwards, we went back to the house and found THIS…

A 2 pound lobster waiting for each of us.  YUMMMMMMY!

It truly was such a memorable vacation.  I am SO blessed to have such an amazing family and feel incredibly thankful for the time we spent together.  What amazing women I have in my life!  Blessings all around me. 

As much fun as it was being gone, it is so nice being back home with hubsy and little T-dog.  I came home to steaks on the grill and a fresh fruit salad, made by the hubster himself!  It had every type of fruit you can imagine; I was so impressed.  Every time I’m away from my little family I am reminded of the song that my hubby and I danced to at our wedding, “Home” by Michael Buble.  WHICH, by the way, only a few more days until we’re in September, our wedding month!  Eeeek!  That means I have every excuse in the book to talk non stop about our wedding.  Haha, woo hoo!  Can’t wait to start those posts.  :o)

OH, and guess who is now going gluten free?  I’m in the process of trying to develop some super yummy recipes that TASTE like they are normal, ie. contain gluten.  It’s a fun challenge!  Definitely more on this to come.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I am excited to get caught up on your writings.  Happy Tuesday!

Blessings/XOXO

 

Tucker & Maine-cation

The concert was AMAZING!  I absolutely loveeee Brett Dennen and Matt Nathanson and both of them opened for O.A.R.  It was an incredible show!  I would highly recommend seeing them if they are in your area.  My apologies, this is going to be an extremely short post because I am leaving for vacation with my mom and sisters!  I am ECSTATIC!!!  We’re off to Maine for a fabulous girls-only trip.  I can’t wait to share stories and tell you all about it.  I hope everyone has an amazing rest of the week and weekend.  I’ll leave you with some pictures of our furry baby.  We’ve had Tucker for almost four weeks now.  Time is flying!

His first visit to the vet.  He did amazingly well and they LOVED him. 

He pretty much owned the place.

Seeing daddy after he had been gone on vacation.  Tucker was PUMPED! 

Road trip – he’s getting so big!

  Meeting his Uncles

 

 

Whispering sweet nothings into daddy’s ear while he’s driving.

So cute.  I just love these two SO MUCH!  My little family…*heart fluttering*…

Blessings/XOXO

O.A.R. & a piece of my heart

I know, I know – I’ve been slack’n on here.  I’ve been so busy!  I’m off of work tomorrow and am so excited for the weekend!  We’re going to NYC for an O.A.R. concert.  I have had a few people ask me who O.A.R. is….what?!????  To those questioning, here is a video to spark some recognition or at least some interest.  They are the best band to listen to in the summer, while sitting on the back porch with the smell of BBQ on the grill.  Mmmmmmmm.  Check it out!

And how’s this for some FUN – next week my mom, both of my sisters and myself are all going up to Bar Harbor (haha, yes, I’m going again) for a trip with just us girls!  I am beyond excited.  I know I just got back from Girlcation with my lovies, but this is going to be the first time, in a VERY long time, that it will be just my mom, two sisters and myself on a vacation together.  No kiddos, no men…just us.  Hubsy has a slew of things to get done, so he doesn’t mind that I’ll be leaving the nest, yet again.  Speaking of the hubsy, I wanted to share with you this quote that has become my new life slogan.  I found it while doing my devotional the other day and it has touched my heart in more ways than imaginable – want to share in case it does the same for you!

A wife’s submission requires intelligent participation.  Mere listless, thoughtless subjection is not desirable if ever possible.  The quick wit, the clear moral discernment, the fine instincts of a wife make her a counselor whose influence is invaluable and almost unbounded. – Charles R. Erdmen

Whew, words I want to live by!  I want to daily live a life that suggests clear moral discernment and the fine instincts worthy of being a counselor with invaluable and unbounded influence.  This stretches into SO many aspects of life!  Not only as a wife, but when I’m a mother, in my work place…everywhere.  I know what society thinks of the word “submission”, but I love how this brings to light the fact that Godly submission requires intelligent participation and quick wit.  Pretty much, I desire to be a rock star of a wife who practices this daily.  Here’s to praying God will mold me into a woman of invaluable and unbounded influence!

Oh wait, one more thing before I go.  I am on overload right now with figuring out several different business ideas I have up my sleeve.  None of them are even CLOSE to coming into fruition, but still, it’s taking over my brain.  Are you an entrepreneur?  Do you have any tips for me? 

Have an amazing weekend!

Blessings/XOXO

Honeymooners!

Okay, I decided to quickly sneak in a little post today. Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting the 'Show Us Your Life' tour and today's topic is Receptions and Honeymoons. Our two year anniversary is coming up next month (AH! So excited!) so I want to wait and do some fun posts about our wedding then. BUT, I definitely want to jump on the train and share a few of our honeymoon pictures! It was one of the best weeks of my life; so fun, so new and SO exciting. We went to Aruba and had the time of our lives. If anything, I just love having an excuse to sit back and gaze at the beautiful pictures of my then, brand new husband and the beginning of our new life together. These pictures are just another constant reminder to me of God's amazing love and faithfulness!

Happy Weekend!!

Blessings/XOXO

Girlcation ‘09 – Maine

Ahhh, I just LOVED all of your fun and sweet comments below about Tucker!  He really is SUCH a cutie and we are having so much fun with him right now.  Hubsy is back and we’re all together again!  I have found our evening walks to be the highlight of my days now.  It is so much fun and such a joy to all be together.  We have our own little family; I just love it.  Tonight we are taking Tucker to his first vet appointment!  I am praying he is healthy and flea free.  :o)  I’ll post some more pictures of the T-meister soon!

I’ve already said it once, but I’m going to say it again…my time in Maine with my lovies was AMAZING!!  We hiked, sailed, clammed, ate tons of seafood and blueberries, drank wine, relaxed and ENJOYED each other’s company to the fullest.  It was phenomenal!  I cherish these girls so much and feel so blessed to have been able to spend time with them in Maine.  Here are a few pics!

Friends for life

“C” in front of the boat we took out.  I loveeee sailing.

   Lobster…mmmm

MORE lobster…double mmmmm

Enjoying tea and popovers!

We went clamming!  Here is a shot of my lovie “J” digging away.  We were COVERED in mud when we were finished.

It was worth it!  We cooked them up and ate them.  DELISH!

Games and wine!

Homemade blueberry pies and muffins, super yummy.

And even MORE steamed clams

   

Lots of good ‘ol Maine frolicking took place.

Breathtaking scenery…

 

My mom and I had some time alone together at the end before we flew home.  We went to a butterfly release!  It was such a beautiful thing to witness.  Here is a picture of my mom’s butterfly; the little guy didn’t want to leave his box!

Girlcation ‘09 - cherishing ever minute together.  It truly was perfection.

Thanks for letting me share! 

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thursday and a wonderful weekend! 

Blessings!/XOXO