blog award!

I received my first EVER blog award! Yipeeeee!!

Thank you Janna at Perception is Everything!!!

Aaaaand another cool milestone for my little ol' blog is that this is my 100th post!!!!!!

I'm planning to do a giveaway when I reach 100 followers!!

Okay back to the award...

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. 

To keep this award going and pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

Here are the rules:
+ Copy and paste the award on your blog
+ Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
+ Reveal your top five picks and let them know that you gave them the award
+ Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers

I give this award to...
{1} Elizabeth @ The Stringers' Story
{2} Alyssa @ Wish You Were Here
{3} Megan @ The Adams
{4} Ashley @ Claudie Bell Designs
I know that's only 4, don't hate!


Hope you're having a great weekend!!

confession

As I was sitting in bible study Wednesday night, I read over a word on our study guide I have never seen typed out before.


prima donna.


After reading it to myself several times, reality struck me.


Yall, I thought this word was PRE-MADONNA. For real. 
I didn't really understand why people would say that, but maybe people were princesses and stuff before Madonna? #iknowitdoesntmakeanysense


I'm still trying to convince myself that is how you really spell it. And that it's not a phrase about a time before Madonna. Weird.


This is similar to the way I felt when I found out (in the past few years) that an ArmadillO was actually not pronounced ArmadillA (a sounds like uh). AND there's no such thing as a possum. It's an opossum. 


Man. They should really teach these things in school.

my night off

I had a night off work last night! 

I took care of some things things that been waiting on me since I've been working so much this past week.

First, went on a date.

Chris and I went and saw Real Steel. 

It was GOOD. (I'll admit, I was a little nervous it might be too much of a man movie.) Had a good story line, no blood-guts, kept us laughing. I didn't love the kid used some foul language, but overall a good movie.

Then we came home for bible study. We aren't the leaders, but we do host. Right now we are going through Love and Respect with other young married/engaged couples. 

I'll have to post about the study in a little more detail. It's good stuff!

After that, we went to the...GYM.

This isn't a big deal for some..but it's been a while since I've been to the gym.

Well, I'm feeling it today. All I did was walk 1.5 miles on the treadmill and do 1 or 2 reps on a few weight machines...but man. It was enough to throw my muscles into SORE.NESS. 

Maybe I shouldn't wait 6 or 12 months before I go again. :)

Then we came home and I finished up some Etsy orders.

And spent some time with this guy.

This is Scout's spot. He lays here more than anywhere else. He has a good view down the front hallway and most the kitchen/living room/dining room. 

Oh and he's good at flattening the cushions. :)


Aaand, I finished off a good night by sleeping until noon today. 
BUUUUT, I work all night tonight (6:30pm-7:30am), so that makes it ok, right?
Ok, good. :)


Hope your Thursday was great!

what we've been up to

And another week has gone by since I blogged last. I didn't have any exceptional blogs scheduled to post this week AND I've worked 52 hours since Wednesday. whew.

SO, I'm here to catch you up, since I'm sure all of you have been dying to know what we have been up to this week! :D

one

We started Financial Peace University this week. We aren't drowning in consumer debt, but have a small amount in addition to student loans, car payment, mortgage, etc. So, we took the plunge to focus on becoming debt free! I'll post more about this later.

two

After listening to some of Dave Ramsey's radio show, I kept hearing ads for e-mealz. After checking it out, it is (in theory) created EXACTLY for ME! For me, the worst part of dinner time is standing in the kitchen around 6pm and wondering what the heck I'm going to cook for dinner!

I found a Living Social deal that was half off for a 3 month subscription. So I paid $7 for a 3 month trial! I'm excited to try it out and see it if works for us. 

Anyone else used e-mealz? What are/were your thoughts?

three

Chris has been getting headaches almost daily the past several weeks. We decided to make him an eye appointment just to rule out the cheapest, least invasive solution for the headaches if it's his eyes. He has always had perfect vision, but hadn't had an eye exam in a long time, so thought it'd be good to check.

Well my husband is getting reading glasses! They'll come in sometime this week and I can't wait to see them! We are praying that these will be the solution for his headaches.

four

HardChord DynaMix is an a cappella student group at A&M, much like the groups on The Sing-Off. We went and watched them perform on campus this week and it was AWESOME! The things they can do with their voices is incredible!

five

This isn't what WE have been doing, but it's still exciting! My mom left last Wednesday for Uganda and she'll be there until this Saturday. She went with the same group Chris and I went with this summer! So excited for her and a little jealous. :)

Have a great and blessed week!!

winner winner chicken dinner

Chris and I don't win things very often. 

I can remember winning a CD once from the local Christian radio station when I was a teenager. I did win a Carmex gift set from blog giveaway a few weeks ago, so that's something. 

Last week there was a local raffle to raise money for Mercy Project. Towards the end of the contest, the founder of MP said that it hadn't had a great response so everyone's chances were pretty good to win. 

Well, on a whim, Chris bought $105 worth of tickets. (which equaled 7 entries because they were $15 each)

This wasn't just any 'dinner-for-two' or 'tickets-to-a-football-game' kind of raffle. It was big-ticket-item raffle! 

Still with me? Good.

So...Chris got a phone call Monday night saying we had WON the raffle! We could NOT believe it!!! 

Wanna know what we won?

You sure?

A KING-SIZED TEMPUR-PEDIC CLOUD SUPREME MATTRESS SET! 


For real. Still can't believe it.


I grew up with a full sized bed, and this is what I had until Chris and I got married. Chris had a queen, so that's what we've slept on for 2 years. When we went on our honeymoon cruise, we slept in a King sized bed and it was glor.i.ous. Not that Chris and I don't love sleeping next to each other...we just both love our space.
This means we also didn't have a frame/bed for this mattress. Think that made us change our mind? Heck no! 
We paid $70 (bed frame) + $105 (raffle tickets) for a $3500 mattress set! And with the tax we WOULD have paid...it is about a $3800 value! So..we made it work!
We moved our queen bed into the guest bedroom. (which my 6'2" dad is very happy about!) And the full bed that WAS in the guest bedroom is now propped up against the wall in the office. 

This was our queen bed setup (pic taken Dec '10)

This is our new special-amazing-dreamy bed! 

Scout approves :)

I sink!

It happened so fast that I really didn't even have a chance to research about this mattress, but I hear they are Tempur-Pedic's best seller. Chris tested it out the first two nights because I had to work, but we both slept on it the past 3 nights..and...I think we'll keep it. ;)

It's uhhhh-mazing! 
It's definitely different, so it'll take some getting used to, but we are okay with that!
THANK YOU SLEEP STATION!


Now...we are going to have to find or make some kind of headboard...or bed or something!
Here are a couple ideas that I love from Pinterest for headboards!

pinned here

pinned here

We aren't in a huge hurry to get something up, so we might just save our money for a bed with a head and/or foot board. 


Anyways, I'll update again after a few more weeks of sleeping on it. :)
Anyone else have a Tempur-Pedic bed?


Oh, and don't hate us for winning. It might never ever happen again!

it's a neice!

My middle sister, Katy and her fiancé, Cody are 19 weeks pregnant this week. On Monday they had their 'big' ultrasound to find out if we'll have a new niece or nephew! Katy, Cody, me and my mom all went to the appointment. Instead of having the doc tell us what he saw, we had him write down the sex and put it in a sealed envelope, which we delivered to our cousin, Angela, to make the cupcakes.

delivering the envelope! (we couldn't see through it...not. that. we. tried.)

The theme for the party was "Waddle it be?" 

This is the banner I made with my Silhouette.

And the cupcakes! I also made the duck cupcake toppers with my Silhouette with my mom's help.

We dropped off blue and pink sweethearts for Angela to add to the cupcakes depending on which one the baby was!

All the pretty details!

We had a chalkboard right inside the door for guests to make their boy/girl guess. 

The green chalkboard we made! It was a repurposed calendar holder. We spray painted the border white and the inside spray painted chalkboard paint.

ducky diaper cake :)

Time for the reveal! 

We gave everyone a cupcake and all took a bite at the same time!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Here is the note that the doctor had sealed in the envelope.

Me and Katy :) 

Katy is due March 7 and I'm so excited that we will have a niece soon! We have 2 nephews on Chris' side, so this is super exciting!! Can't wait to meet baby Brooklynn!!!!!

Cody and Katy actually got engaged at the party too! 

So I will have a brother-in-law soon too! So happy for both of them. :D

my weekend away

The past week has been non-stop! I went home-home this past weekend. It was so great to spend time with some of my family, but unfortunately I had to travel without Chris. I did have Scout though, he is the next best travel buddy! {Scout picture overload alert!}

on our way

On Sunday we went to church and then spent some time preparing for my pregnant sister's gender reveal party! Scout must have played a lot, because he was worn out when it was bedtime!

Monday morning my mom made us monkey bread. DELICIOUS! 

My middle sister, Katy and her fiancé are 19 weeks pregnant. So I came in to go to the ultrasound appointment with them on Monday and help with the gender reveal party Monday night.

Katy & Cody with pictures of the baby

I will post tomorrow about the gender reveal party!

We still had some leftover wedding cake in my parent's freezer, so I decided to bring some back with me. Reminder, I have Scout with me. So I get out of the car to run in for food for FIVE minutes max. I come back to find Scout was EATING THE WEDDING CAKE! In those 5 minutes, he had gotten through 2 walmart bags and several layers of saran wrap that it was wrapped in. He was determined! I was annoyed, but impressed.

here's the damage...

This cake is STILL DELICIOUS after over 2 years. I really can't believe it. Yummm.

And..on the way home Scout laid on a pillow, in my lap, with his head on my arm. spoiled? absolutely. :)

While we were at my parents' house I noticed Scout was shaking his ears a lot. Then when I greeted him Monday afternoon by rubbing his ears, he FREAKED out. I finally got a look at them and it was pretty obvious that he had some kind of infection in one of his ears. :( 

He continued to shake his ears/head constantly and yelped if someone touched his left ear. 

But you never would have guessed it the way he played with my parents' dog all weekend. 

I made the poor pup a vet appt for Tuesday afternoon and it was confirmed when the vet said "It is funky in there!" It was actually bad enough that he had to sedate him to clean out the ear. Sooo...I had to take him back the next morning for a whole day at the vet.

this is when I dropped him off, he was shaking like crazy!

I was definitely THAT pet owner, asking the girl if I could take a picture of dropping my dog at the vet...heaven help us when we have kids!

So...$195 later (ouch!) Scout is all better!

It was a great weekend and I'm glad I got to spend time with some of my family!! I'm taking Chris with me next time though. :)

I'll be back tomorrow to show you my sister's gender reveal party!

him or her?

Here's a fun little survey I got from Megan at Mackey Madness about me and my wonderful hubs! :)


How long have you been together?

As a couple-3 years
Married-2 years, 1 month

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

19 months

Who asked who out?

Chris asked me! (it was very mutual though!)

Did you go to the same school?

Nope. 
Chris was home-schooled K-12; attended Tyler Junior College, Dallas Baptist University and Texas A&M
I was home-schooled K-3, then public school; attended UT Tyler

Who is the most sensitive?

Uhh. ME.

What about pets?

Scout. :) He's our 11 pound Maltese.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?

Sonic, Chicken Express, and many other fast food places would take this one. 
But eating OUT out...probably Texas Roadhouse (that's where I always pick!)

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

Uganda, Africa

Who has the craziest exes?

Uhhh....I'm not sure!

Who has the worst temper?

chris.  ;)

Who does the cooking?

Cooking...? One of us is supposed to cook?
I guess we both spend a small fair share of time in the kitchen.

Who is more social?

Chris. Could depend on the situation though.

Who is the neat freak?

Well, I wouldn't say freak, but I'm the more organized one. Or I like to think I am, at least.

Who is the most stubborn?

Both of us! I can't say Chris when I know I am pretty stubborn myself!

Who hogs the bed?

Chris would say me. But I say we stay on our own sides!

Who wakes up earlier?

We both can sleep laaate. But I usually wake up first if we don't have an alarm set.

Where was your first date?

At the movies, saw The Express 
(Chris had to remind me because I couldn't remember!)

How long did it take to get serious?

Not long at all. Chris says he loved me and knew we would get married before we started officially dating.  

Who eats more?

Hmmm...sometimes that's a tie!

Who does the laundry?

I do 98% of it.

Who drives when you are together?

Mostly him. 

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?

I'd like to say me, but I'm not great at this. I'd say it's another tie.

Who wears the pants in the relationship?

I'd like to think I do sometimes, but definitely Chris.

Who eats more sweets?

Another win for me. He doesn't even really love sweets. Ugh. 

pinterest eats

Like most of you, I love Pinterest.

Probably unlike most of you, I dislike cooking. A lot.

Buuuut, since I am a wife and I don't want my husband to starve, I try to cook occasionally. Pinterest has made that task not AS bad! 

I always wonder if the glorious pictures are reeeally as good as the recipes! (for someone like me making it, that is!) So I thought I would let you know what has worked (or hasn't) for us so far!

cinnamon sugar crescent rolls

These were DELICIOUS. I made this for breakfast one day last week (when we were out of bacon. my husband LOVES bacon!) and we both loved them. I only used half a package of the crescent rolls like the recipe used, but wished I had used them all! Will be making this again soon!

pizza casserole

The pizza cassarole was pretty good. My only complaint is that it doesn't have any added seasoning, so if it wasn't a bite with a pepperoni it was kind of bland. It was also a little dry when we re-heated it, but I noticed later that I wasn't using the big size of sauce like the recipe says. Oops. Got the husband's approval and would make again (with some extra seasoning!)

bacon cheeseburger chicken

Mmm...I love chicken. You'll notice that from what I chose to try! This recipe was pretty good. I didn't make quite enough bacon bits, so I would make more next time. But we also thought it might be better with BBQ sauce instead of Teriyaki sauce. Weren't feeling the Teriyaki. Probably won't try this exact recipe again. 

chicken bacon pasta

Sooo...this is my FAVORITE one so far!!! Like I said, I love chicken. I also love bacon (as does my husband). I really like pasta. So this was just meant to be!! I actually didn't grill the chicken. I just baked it in the oven while everything else was cooking. Oh yes, I also cooked the bacon Pioneer Woman's way, as mentioned in the post. Ho. ly. Cow. It was so yummy and cooked so quick! Won't ever cook whole pieces again. 

Ok, I'm getting sidetracked (and hungry!) So for this one...I wouldn't change a thing and it reheated great. Will definitely make again.

crispy shrimp pasta

I made this one night that Chris ended up working late or something and didn't get to try it. I was kind of glad! It was not great. The shrimp was great, but the overall dish was a little bland and very runny. I'm not sure if I put too much or too little of something, but it did NOT look like this picture!! Would probably try again just to see if I could make it less runny!

chicken cordon bleu

Oooy oooy. (that's leisha-speak for...delicious!?) Anyways! This recipe Chris and I made back BP (that's before pinterest for those that aren't following..). We've have made it probably 5 or 6 times and loved it every time. 

Our "seasoned bread crumbs" are just regular plain bread crumbs with a LITTLE garlic salt and Lawry's. I pinned this particular one because it had a good picture, but here is the actual recipe we use. I would HIGHLY recommend this one!! :)

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 slices Muenster cheese

4 slices cooked ham

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a 7x11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Butterfly each chicken breast then pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Place 1-2 cheese slice and 1-2 ham slice inside each breast. Beat the eggs in a dish and dip each breast into the eggs and then bread crumbs. Then arrange them on the baking dish and bake in oven for 25 minutes. 

sausage tortellini

I'm cheating because this one actually isn't pinned. But I got it from our cousin, Tracey. This one is great too, and even reheats well!

1 lb breakfast sausage

1 tsp chopped parsley

2-3 garlic cloves minced

20 oz cheese tortellini (you can find it in the refrigerated pasta section)

1 can chicken broth

1/2 pint heavy wipping cream

1 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs

Brown sausage. Boil water for pasta and add garlic. Cook pasta for 7 minutes. Drain pasta but save garlic. Add garlic to sausage. Stir pasta into sausage. Add parsley, chicken broth, cheese and cream. Pour into 9x13, sprinkle bread crumbs. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Well there you have it, folks. My first edition of Pinterest Eats. Hopefully there will be many more to come. I'd love to hear if you try/have tried any of these!!