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GOD

I haven't written in a while, but lately I have been thinking about a subject a lot, and I just felt called to share these thoughts.

First, I want to share a little bit about my personal relationship with God.  I was raised in a Godly household and I attended church pretty much every Sunday until I was 18, and started working and had to work on Sundays.  I worked for about a year before I got a job where I didn't have to work Sundays.  I started going back to church then and I went pretty much every Sunday until I started a different job about 3 years later that I had to work Monday-Saturday, so Sunday was really my only day to myself and I didn't go to church as much.  Luckily, by this point in my life, my relationship with God was strong.  I knew what I believed, and my faith was and still is strong.  I have a great relationship with God, although I don't attend church as often.  When I do go, I always enjoy it, but I don't feel like I have to be there to be close to God.  I know many people don't feel this way, and that's fine.  I truly believe that you should do whatever you have to to keep your relationship with God great, and your faith strong.

Now, onto what I feel called to really write about.  The 23rd Psalm has always been one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  That being said, I think I have taken it for granted.  Yes, it's beautiful.  Yes, it is well known.  Yes, many of us have heard it so many times we don't even listen to it.  So, today, I really want to talk about a part of it.

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me." -Psalm 23:4 (this is not all of verse 4)

What an incredible thing!  How amazing is it that I will NEVER have to be scared of anything?  The only thing I have to fear comes simply from me.  And, what a blessing it is that I can overcome that if I can just rely on my God.  This beautiful promise has been on my mind a lot lately.  The past two years have been pretty rough on me, though they have had their high points.  Obviously I got married during that time, which was amazing and has been quite a blessing for me.  Our marriage is not perfect, but Matt has been supportive and amazing through it all.  Less than a week after we got married, my grandfather passed away (we were on our honeymoon).  That was incredibly hard for me, but God got me through it.  Later that year, my dog Maggie passed away.  This was another extreme hardship for me.  I have a REALLY big place in my heart for my animals, they really are almost people to me and they are certainly a part of my family.  God got me through that as well.  I was having several problems at work, nothing too serious, but stressful.  Right about that time, my boss, who I adored, got a promotion and told us she was leaving.  Hard.  It got harder when her replacement and I didn't really get along.  I was miserable, and I felt like God was testing me.  I prayed and prayed and prayed.  I asked for the situation to change, I prayed for another job.  Finally I stopped praying for what I wanted and started praying for God to show me what HE wanted.  And He did. 

I had been considering going back to school, but because of something that happened in 2007, I was unable to get financial aid.  I filled out the appeal, even though it seemed pointless.  I didn't have a medical reason or a death or any crisis to excuse my bad grades that year.  I was just burnt out on school at the time.  The appeal was denied during the first round.  I had completely given up on it, but I was praying, and I got an e-mail telling me my appeal had gone through on the second round and I  WOULD get financial aid!  Although I knew this was the right thing, I was still a little nervous because I also knew that it would put a financial strain on my little family.  But I did it and it's going great and even though I've had trouble finding a part time job, God is making it work. 

The moral of the story is, if God brings you to it, He'll get you through it!  As Christians, we really have nothing to fear because no matter where we go, God is with us, and he will protect us.  And that, my friends, is all we will EVER need.



June/July Goals

I failed to actually do any June goals and it is June 21st, so I don't really see a point in giving June it's own month at this point.  So here are my goals for the rest of June and all of July

HOME:

- Furniture musical chairs!  My parents are giving us their couch from their sun room that they hate, and I love.  It's microsuede and it goes with the rest of the furniture in our living room much better than the couch we inherited (although this one is MUCH better than the green giant with purple fringe).  We are giving them the inherited couch and the inherited recliner that Matt didn't like. 

- Buy pantry for the kitchen.  The people who built this house had some, well, interesting ideas.  We have no virtually no storage space for food, which means it sits on the counter, which leaves me no room to cook.  Target has a very nice little pantry for $60.00, which will give us lots more space to store our food!


HEALTH:

- Stay motivated!  I'm on Weight Watchers, but I'm having a lot of trouble actually losing anything this time around, which is making it very difficult to stay motivated.

- Try to fit in a walk or some kind of exercise at least 2 days a week.  I always have good intentions, but I've been having trouble sleeping and being tired has been my go to excuse not to do this.


MISC:

- See friends (this goal is going to be here pretty much always, b/c who doesn't LOVE to spend time with their friends?)

- Work on getting back in the habit of cooking instead of eating out, and PLAN MEALS!

- Go to Sam's Club.  We've been needing to do this for about a month now, hopefully this Saturday we can fit it in.  I've been putting off buying a lot of things that I know we can get there cheaper, but in the long run we're spending more money by eating out until we go (not to mention how much healthier it is to eat at home!)


Here's hoping July shapes up better than June ;)

May Goals Review

So May goals...yeah...I really didn't excel in May.  In fact, I didn't even write them down, and I here it is June, 21st, and I haven't done ANY for June either.  Oops...  Well anyway, here's the recap!



HOME:

- I'd like to continue working on our living room.  We have an old recliner that needs to go to the dump (Matt seems to be very attached to it, and I think that's why he hasn't managed to get it there yet).  We also may need to purchase a new recliner.  (We inherited a newer recliner, but it's not as big as the one we need to get rid of and Matt doesn't like it as well)
 
YAY!  The old recliner and all it's holes and stuffing went to the dump, along with our old dishwasher!  AND we bought Matt a new recliner as well.  Now I just have to get the small inherited recliner to my mom's house and our recliner situation will be completely resolved!  WOOHOO!

- Get the old couch out of the garage (donate to Chattanooga Furniture Bank).  This should be EASY.  The furniture bank will pick it up, I just need to schedule the pick up.  And considering how many people lost their homes I know someone needs it more than we need it sitting in our garage.

DONE!  It was picked up and hopefully someone is using it as we speak!

Truthfully there are SO many things I want to do with our house, but I just want to get the living room fixed up first.


MARRIAGE:

- I'm recycling this goal from last month.  Try to do at least one new thing with Matt.  Maybe at this point I should just put "FIND new thing to do with Matt" and mabye eventually we'll actually do it!

I don't know if a new movie counts, but we did see Pirates of the Carribean with Kelly, and a couple of other movies.  We got out of the house, which was really the point behind it, so I'm marking it as done.  But I'd also like to do something a little more out of the ordinary.

- Date night?  This one might be hard to fit in this month.  We've got Mother's Day, my birthday, and Memorial Day all this month and those tend to be very friend and family heavy occassions, so there may not be a whole lot of "us" time.  I also think date night is going to have to at least start out on the weekends because we both tend to not want to do anything after work.

FAIL!


- Daily Guidepost.  My Nana bought us a Guidepost book for Christmas, and we wanted to try to read it together, since we rarely get to go to church (he works every Sunday).  We're WAY behind though, and I'd like to catch up.  I really feel they help us put things in perspective and realize what GOD wants for us instead of what WE want for us.

FAIL again, I'm going to try to keep this upstairs in the bedroom in the hopes that it becomes a nightly ritual...although we don't always go to bed at the same time, so this may be a work in progress...


MISC:

I'm not really sure I have any of these this month.  I know I'll be seeing my friends fairly often this month, as Alex and I both have birthdays.  If I think of anything, I'll add it later!
We celebrated my birthday and Alex's birthday and had a blast!

My Love

It's been a LOOOONG while since I've blogged, and on this stormy night it just seems like the thing to do!  And I've been thinking a lot about one particular thing lately, my marriage and my husband.

He's such a goofball, one of my favorite things about him!

Believe when I say, we're not perfect.  I'm not perfect, he's not perfect, and we don't have the perfect marriage.  What we do have is an incredible friendship and a deep love for each other.  We don't go to church every Sunday (in fact Matt works almost all of them), but we are both very grounded in our faith.  For me, this makes it easy to believe that God brought us together and that He is rooting for us all along the way.  I've heard many people say "marriage is hard, it takes a lot of work", and although I knew that going in, I'm not sure I realized how much work and how different it is from dating.  It IS work, HARD work sometimes, and other times it's so easy and so great.  I know that all the work is worth it though, because I know God wouldn't have lead us down this path together if it weren't. 

As I look around our living room, I see many pictures of us, lots of them from our wedding day.  To me, those pictures are a constant reminder of the vow we made to God and to ourselves, and there is nothing more beautiful than that!

May Goals

I started sharing my goals last month and to be completely honest, I forgot about some of them until I did my recap blog.  This month I'm going to try to write them down and keep them somewhere I will see them frequently, like the fridge or our bedroom mirror.

HOME:

- I'd like to continue working on our living room.  We have an old recliner that needs to go to the dump (Matt seems to be very attached to it, and I think that's why he hasn't managed to get it there yet).  We also may need to purchase a new recliner.  (We inherited a newer recliner, but it's not as big as the one we need to get rid of and Matt doesn't like it as well)

- Get the old couch out of the garage (donate to Chattanooga Furniture Bank).  This should be EASY.  The furniture bank will pick it up, I just need to schedule the pick up.  And considering how many people lost their homes I know someone needs it more than we need it sitting in our garage.

Truthfully there are SO many things I want to do with our house, but I just want to get the living room fixed up first.


MARRIAGE:

- I'm recycling this goal from last month.  Try to do at least one new thing with Matt.  Maybe at this point I should just put "FIND new thing to do with Matt" and mabye eventually we'll actually do it!

- Date night?  This one might be hard to fit in this month.  We've got Mother's Day, my birthday, and Memorial Day all this month and those tend to be very friend and family heavy occassions, so there may not be a whole lot of "us" time.  I also think date night is going to have to at least start out on the weekends because we both tend to not want to do anything after work.

- Daily Guidepost.  My Nana bought us a Guidepost book for Christmas, and we wanted to try to read it together, since we rarely get to go to church (he works every Sunday).  We're WAY behind though, and I'd like to catch up.  I really feel they help us put things in perspective and realize what GOD wants for us instead of what WE want for us.


MISC:

I'm not really sure I have any of these this month.  I know I'll be seeing my friends fairly often this month, as Alex and I both have birthdays.  If I think of anything, I'll add it later!

Here's hoping this month goes a little better than last month!

April Goal Review

At Home:

- Get the living room "guest" ready.  Matt and I both have a terrible habit of setting things down and then leaving them there.  This creates a BIG mess!  My mom is helping me work on the living room to make it look nicer and more guest friendly, so I would LOVE to get this done in April.

Complete...ish!  We still have some ways to go to get it completely "guest ready", but we made some serious progress this month!

- Cook dinner at least 4 nights a week (I did this last month, but it's something I would really like to continue since it's healthier AND saves us money).

Complete!  This is a great goal, that I plan to continue. 

Marriage:

- Do something new with Matt.  By "new" I just mean something out of the ordinary.  We pretty much do the same things all the time, and we've been homebodies a lot lately.  I've read LOTS of articles that say doing things outside of your routine helps you bond.

Yeah we really didn't do this at all...but it's a great idea and hopefully we will get to it next month.  My birthday is in May, so I know we'll be doing a lot of things for that.

- Date night once a week.  I don't know if this will actually happen this month, but I love the idea, so I'm putting it here so that I won't forget!

Again, didn't happen.  There are LOTS of movies we want to see coming up soon though, so maybe we will make this happen in May.

Misc:

- Spend at least 3 nights with friends.  I know of at least one that is a given since Steph's birthday is next week!  And I guess I could count dinner with Sabrina and Tara Friday and Grayson's soccer game with Samantha Saturday, but I'm not going to!

Complete!  I actually spent MORE than 3 nights with my wonderful friends!

- Get some exercise (especially outdoors) 3 times a week.  Since I've rejoined Weight Watchers, I really need to start being more active.  And I love to be outside, so both I could easily kill two birds with one stone here!

This didn't really happen, however I did walk with my friends a couple of times and we are going to try to make it a weekly habit.  I've been standing up most of the time at work instead of sitting down now too, so I feel like that is a move in the right direction.



Well for my first time doing this, I felt like I did an ok job...now onto May!

Easter 2011

Matt and I had a wonderful Easter this year.  We split up for church services (he went to his church, and I went to mine), but we spent time with both of our families.  It was so wonderful to get to spend time with our families and to be reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made to save all of us. 

We had breakfast with my family at Cracker Barrel, which was delicious as usual.  Then I headed to my church for the 10 am service and Matt headed across Chattanooga to make his 11 am service.  After church, I headed over to my in-laws house for Easter lunch and an egg hunt with the kiddos!  It was SO much fun!

Anna's (Matt's cousins' little girl) first Easter Egg!

Matt and Anna, she ADORES him, and she loved shaking the Easter eggs



Look closely at the exhaust pipe on Matt's mohter's car.  My wonderful husband decided that would be a good place to hide an egg.  Well Ash tried to get it and it got stuck there.  Granted Matt did get it out himself when he hid it and put it back...

All the kiddos (Matt held Anna because she didn't like to sit on the grass)

Ashley, Elijah, Olivia, Matt, and Anna!

I hope everyone else's Easter was as wonderful as mine!

Livi and Ash running to get eggs

Meal Plan for 3/11 to 3/15

Well this week's meal plan is not exactly normal, but here it is none the less!

Monday: Hamburgers...and they were yummy!

Tuesday: Chuck E Cheese...we took Matt's little cousins today and it was SO MUCH FUN!  But not so healthy, but hey, that's what bonus points are for!

Wednesday: Spaghetti or Tuna and Rice, bascially whichever one I feel like making tomorrow...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!

Thursday: Vaudville Cafe (Murder Mystery Dinner Show) for Steph's birthday!

Friday: Probably we'll either have spaghetti, or tuna and rice, whichever one I don't make Wednesday!

That's it for this week...not much cooking at home, but I'm still going to try to be healthy!

Meal Plan for this week

Well better late than never I guess.  I made it yesterday, didn't post it, and we have already not followed it!  Oops!

Monday: Chicken Quesadillas - easy, quick, and delicious!  I am going to buy some wheat tortillas and try them out next time we have this.  I didn't have any defrosted chicken, but I had bought some Tyson grilled chicken strips (VERY handy to have around) so I heated them and cut them and they worked great!

Tuesday: BBQ in the CrockPot - well I made this tonight but I went grocery shopping after work (it was my early day) and Matt wanted Burger King for lunch, so I ended up not even starting it til about 3, so needless to say it wasn't ready!  But all I have to do for tomorrow is heat up the BBQ and we're all set!  We had sandwiches for lunch!

Wednesday: It was gonna be, well honestly I don't remember, but it's going to be BBQ!

Thursday: Marinated BBQ Chicken...honestly I can't believe I STILL haven't managed to make this, but somehow it just has not happened.  But I stuck the chicken in the fridge to defrost yesterday so as long as I can remember to dump some sauce in the bag tomorrow, we'll be good to go!

Friday: Burgers? - We have some buns b/c Matt like his barbeque on one, and I've got some ground beef, so why not?  Although there's a good chance we won't do this. 

Well that's it for this week.  I did make some brownies tonight that I'd like to share the recipe for...

I got this idea from HungryGirl.  It is SO easy.  The brownies do have a slightly different texture, but the taste is the same and that's what REALLY matters.  And doing it this way makes it a thousand times healthier (if you are on Weight Watchers doing PointsPlus they are only a point a piece if you make 18 pieces!), but you still get brownies! YUM!  Also, I used my Perfect Brownie Pan that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago...what a great invention!

Ok here's the recipe.

1 box of brownie mix (I used Pillsbury Reduced Sugar, which they have apparently discontinued, but they do have a sugar free version)

1 can of pumpkin

Mix the brownie mix and the pumpkin and bake as directed on the box.

Seriously.  That's IT!  I've never used reduced sugar mix before, but it really did taste the same to me, and I'm pretty picky about my sweets cause I love 'em so much!  Try and enjoy!  (FYI, if you don't like fudgy brownies, you can do this with cake mix as well and then you will have cake like brownies!)

April Goals

I stole this idea from my friend Sarah.  I think it's a great idea though.  It will be nice to be able to look back at my goals and whether or not I accomplished them!  So here goes...my April 2011 goals!

At Home:

- Get the living room "guest" ready.  Matt and I both have a terrible habit of setting things down and then leaving them there.  This creates a BIG mess!  My mom is helping me work on the living room to make it look nicer and more guest friendly, so I would LOVE to get this done in April.

- Cook dinner at least 4 nights a week (I did this last month, but it's something I would really like to continue since it's healthier AND saves us money).

Marriage:

- Do something new with Matt.  By "new" I just mean something out of the ordinary.  We pretty much do the same things all the time, and we've been homebodies a lot lately.  I've read LOTS of articles that say doing things outside of your routine helps you bond.

- Date night once a week.  I don't know if this will actually happen this month, but I love the idea, so I'm putting it here so that I won't forget!

Misc:

- Spend at least 3 nights with friends.  I know of at least one that is a given since Steph's birthday is next week!  And I guess I could count dinner with Sabrina and Tara Friday and Grayson's soccer game with Samantha Saturday, but I'm not going to!

- Get some exercise (especially outdoors) 3 times a week.  Since I've rejoined Weight Watchers, I really need to start being more active.  And I love to be outside, so both I could easily kill two birds with one stone here!


Ok April, I'm ready to take you on!!  Wish me luck!

Disney World 2011 - Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

The second day of our vacation (the full first day) was the Magic Kingdom, which to me IS Disney World.  I love all of the rest of it, but somehow, I never quite feel like I'm at Disney World til I visit the Magic Kingdom.  Afterall, it was the first park to open in Orlando!  It was a very rainy day, and it was also our anniversary, so we had a very special dinner with Pooh and his friends.  Here are some pictures!

Matt and I before going into the Magic Kingdom to watch the opening show.  It began to rain shortly after and my hair was a WRECK!

The Train Station at the Magic Kingdom entrance.  The opening show is done here.  A train arrives with Mickey and his friends, as well as a special family that is chosen each day to open the park.  I have a video somewhere that I will try to post eventually!

This is Mickey's house.  It was located in Toon Town Fair, which closed the day after we were there for an expansion of Fantasy Land.  The new Fantasy Land will have lots of new rides, but the sentimental part of me is sad to see Toon Town go.  We didn't even go by there on our Honeymoon, so we made sure to go this time so Matt could see it!

Matt after we rode Splash Mountain.  I had a poncho on but I still got pretty wet too.  Not nearly as wet as he did though!

Me and Piglet.  This was taken at our Anniversary dinner at the Crystal Palace.  We saw Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, but we didn't wait for Pooh, because we wanted to get a great spot for the Wishes fireworks.

This is Cinderella Castle at night.  It changes colors throughout the evening and it is just breathtaking.  I must have taken 20 pictures of it!  Then the fireworks started, and Matt and I enjoyed a beautful show that was the perfect way to end our 1st anniversary!

Up next, EPCOT!





My Favorite Kind of "Me Time"

So, everyone needs a little "me time".  I try to get some in everyday.  The best way for me to unwind is to take a bath.  I get a book, sometimes some bubble bath and spend about a half hour (or longer).  Some days that is the only me time I get and after a long stressful day at work, it works really great for me! 

So how do you get in YOUR me time?

Chicken Enchilada Soup

I made this for dinner last night and it was DELICIOUS!  And since I wasn't feeling well, it was the perfect dinner!  I didn't take any pictures (gonna have to get better about doing that so I can be a better blogger) but here is the recipe and some notes I have on it!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can enchilada sauce

2 cups milk

1 cup of cheese

9oz bag of frozen chicken strips, cooked and cut

crushed tortilla chips

In a 3 quart sauce pan, combine all ingredients except tortilla chips.  Heat over medium heat until cheese is melted.  Serve and top with tortilla chips.

See?  Super easy and soooo good! 

A Few Notes:

- This soup was very runny, and I like mine much thicker, so I ended up having to add quite a bit of flour to thicken it up.  Next time, I will try only using 1 cup of milk.

- Also, I think I will try it with low fat cheese and 98% fat free soup to make it a little healthier.  It's not incredibly unhealthy as it is, but it could be better!

- Matt added a little sour cream to his and said that made it even better!

Try it and enjoy!  I love recipes like that, because they are SO quick and easy.  And I usually have all the ingredients on hand, so I'm sure it will become a staple in our house!

Disney Vacation 2011

Well I guess a month later is better late than never!  Matt and I had an amazing time on our vacation!  We arrived at Disney about 10:30 am and went to check in.  Our room wasn't ready, but we didn't figure it would be, so we got some lunch in the food court at the resort, then headed to Animal Kingdom.  I'll share some pictures from the room (which was refurbished a week or so before we arrived...everything even SMELLED new!) and from that first day at Animal Kingdom today!

YAY!  Finally at Disney!  Matt in front of the entrance to Animal Kingdom.

Baby Elephant, and a bigger elephant reaching for a snack!

Rhinos, I couldn't believe how close they were.  All of these pictures were taken on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride

Gorilla, sorry about the angle :)

The new bed/bedspread. The gold pillow is actually mine, but it fits in nicely doesn't it?  We had already unpacked a little before I remembered to take any pictures!

The dresser, fridge, and new flat screen TV.  The fridge is in the cabinet.  Also we have all kinds of things sitting on there.  The towel Mickey that was on the bed, wedding cake in foil, our toasting glasses from our wedding (we brought Sparkling Cider from the Apple Barn to bring with us) and some chips and salsa from Paradiso 37!

I have TONS more pictures and lots more stories, so I'll try to post those in the next few days!

Meal Plan for week of 3/28

I cooked every night last week except one, but I didn't really FOLLOW my meal plan.  We never had tacos (mostly because I don't like ground beef and Matt doesn't like ground chicken and I don't like to cook 2 meats and waste most of it), or the BBQ Chicken, and we had breakfast for dinner one night.  Anyway, here is the plan for this week.

Monday - Chicken Enchilada Soup
 - If I like this I will share the recipe, however I'm very picky about soup!
 - I will also probably prepare this tonight (Sunday) and reheat it tomorrow

Tuesday - Tacos
 - We'll try this again, maybe I will feel like eating ground beef!

Wednesday - Grilled Chicken Sandwiches
 - I bought some of these frozen at Wal-Mart for something quick, easy, and mostly healthy on nights I close.  They are pretty good!  I throw some honey mustard on them, and they're good to go!

Thursday - Quesadillas
 - Looks like it's gonna be a Mexican week at the Smith house!

Friday - Eat out or leftovers...or who knows, maybe I'll decide to cook afterall!

I appreciate the recipes you guys left last week!  I will definately be adding them to my collection and trying them!  I'm trying to find some recipes where I can "sneaky chef" myself.  I'm really picky about textures, so being able to puree or mince stuff will hopefully help me get some healthier things in my diet!

Any "Sneaky Chef" ideas?

Meal Plan for week of 3/21

Matt and I have been trying to come up with some ways to save a little money and eat a little healthier, and the best way to do both is to EAT AT HOME!  In the past we have a had a really hard time doing this, but the past few weeks, we've done a pretty good job.  So I thought I'd share my plan for this week.

I am by no means a chef, and I like simple recipes with only a few ingredients.

So here goes...

Monday - Tuna and Rice
 - this one is super easy and really good.  I don't like tuna, and I don't like rice, but I LOVE this.  Here is the recipe.

1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup minute rice
1 can of tuna, drained (I prefer in water)
1 cup of cheese (I like shredded but sliced will work as well)

Prepare rice as directed.  Add soup and tuna and mix well.  Spread tuna and rice mixture in a baking dish (I use a square pyrex dish usually).  Cover with cheese and cook for 20 minutes at 350.

Tuesday - French's Fried Onion Chicken
 - this is a first for me but it only has 3 ingredients.  Matt and I really liked it...especially with honey mustard and ranch!

1 lb chicken breast
1 1/3 cups French's Fried Onions
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400.  Crush onions in a bad.  Dip chicken in egg and then into onions.  Cook for 20 minutes.
 - A few notes:  I used chicken tenderloins, and they only needed 15 minutes to cook through.  I didn't spray the pan with cooking spray and I wish I had, the chicken did stick a little bit.

Wednesday - Tacos
  - Pretty self explanatory, although Bi-Lo has ground chicken, which I think is delicious on the tacos, but Matt doesn't like it.  I don't really like to prepare two kinds of meat, so I usually just use the ground beef.

Thursday - BBQ Chicken
 - I have several different ways that I make BBQ chicken...in the crock pot, marinated, etc.  This will be the kind that I marinate.

1 bottle of BBQ sauce (I like Honey BBQ)
about a pound of chicken
Shredded cheese

Put the chicken in a gallon size bag with half the bottle of BBQ sauce at least 1 hour before cooking(I usually do it the night before).  Cook 20 minutes at 350.  About halfway through, brush with BBQ sauce.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese.

Friday - eat out?


Well, there it is, and so far I've stuck to it!  Yay me!  I'm always looking for new easy recipes...do you have any?

A week (actually more) without cable...

After the huge storm we had a week ago Monday, we were left with an unscathed house, thank GOD for that!  We do, however, have 3 trees down in the front and back yards.  One was the huge pine tree from our front yard.  I haven't uploaded the photos of the damage yet, but it's pretty incredible.  All of our trees were pulled up by the roots, and we are talking BIG trees!  Well long story short, the pine tree in the front yard tore the cable out of our house, and we've been without cable and internet ever since.  (I'm writing this at my parents' house).  Between the rain and our tree guy havnig to put priority on those with trees on their houses, we still have all our trees.

I have never been so glad that we have a huge movie selection!  I thought I'd share some of the things we have watched this past week!

1. Harry Potter - we've seen these many many times, but they are always good, even the 5th or 6th time!

2. Waking Sleeping Beauty - we got this from Netflix, it's a documentary about Disney Animation in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.  I highly reccomend it to anyone who is interested in Disney history or loves Disney movies.  I love all things Disney, but this movie explored how Disney animation "came back" from a slump before The Little Mermaid turned things around and what happened after.

3. Community Season One - I love this show, but it doesn't come on at a good time for us to watch it (I think it conflicted with Bones).  Wal Mart had it for cheap the day after Thanksgiving, and I bought it.  I'm so glad that I did.  I've gotten lots of laughs from it!

4. Knight and Day - Another Netflix movie (we miss being able to watch them instantly on the X-box).  We liked it pretty well, although I have trouble watching Tom Cruise movies.  I tend to see him as the guy who jumped on Oprah's couch til about halfway through the movie.

5. Iron Man - a go to favorite.  We've seen it many times as well and love it every time!

We were so glad to have these movies!  What are some of your "go to" favorites?

Finally...an new post :)

It's been almost a MONTH since I updated my blog last...oops!  BUT, we had a WONDERFUL vacation and with that comes a lot of packing and unpacking and getting back into our routine. 

We're pretty much back to our normal lives, although I do still have a suitcase to unpack and the love seat appears to be where Matt dumped the contents of his.  Unfortunately, my sinuses decided that this week would be the best time to act up.  This is both good and bad; good because this is really the first time all winter that I've had a problem with them, and bad because I need to finish unpacking and finish washing all our laundry from the trip.  At this point getting through work is about all I can handle.  I haven't even cooked dinner ALL week!  I'm hoping that I can knock it all out with some Mucinex and avoid going to the Minute Clinic for an antibiotic.  Which I really hate because with as many sinus infections as I've had in the last few years, I can diagnose myself.  Maybe if we ever get around to finding ourselves and new regular doctor (my doctor changed the network he was on and of course is no longer covered by my insurance), and they knew me and my sinuses well enough, I might be able to solve that problem and save myself $30 everytime :). 

Hopefully in the next few days I can write a little about our trip and share some pictures (most of them are on facebook already).  We joined the Sam's Club and hope to head out there this weekend, and I think that will be productive AND save us some money!

Everyone enjoy your weekend!

Papaw

For those of you who know me pretty well, you know that February of 2010 was a very bittersweet month for me.  I got to marry my best friend and celebrate that with both our families and our close friends which was amazing.  We took our honeymoon to Disney World (and Matt got to experience it for the first time).  While we were there, however, my grandfather passed away. 

He had open heart surgery a few months before and had came through it really well.  The surgeon even told us that his heart came back like an 18 year old kid.  At first, Papaw had a great attitude and was prepared to work hard.  He was released out of the hospital into the care of a nursing home on the mountain to help him get back to his normal self.  Things didn't go as well or as quickly as he thought and he got very frustrated.  He couldn't walk or even get out of bed somedays and for a very independent man, this was heartbreaking for him.  Then we got the news that he had contracted MRSA.  After that, things went downhill pretty quickly. 

He was not able to go to my wedding, but I went to see him the day before and my grandmother went to see him right after.  She showed off her brand new outfit and told him all about it.  That was on Saturday.  He started getting much worse the day after that.

We called home almost everyday while we were gone, just to tell our families what we had done and share our experiences.  For some reason, Wednesday, we didn't call home.  Looking back, I have to wonder if God was just looking out for me that day.  When I called Thursday, my mom said "are you back at the room?".  I immediately knew something was wrong.  She said, "I have some bad news" and I knew he was gone.  We had plans to go back to the park and see some fireworks that night, but needless to say, I was a wreck and we didn't.  Matt was amazing.  He went to the food court at the resort and brought us back a pizza and held me while I cried.  After I cried for a few hours, I realized how mad Papaw would have been at me if he had known I was spending my honeymoon crying for him.  I mean he would have been FURIOUS.  He was an incredibly selfless man.  I made the decision to put it in a drawer and deal with it when we got back, and I did a pretty good job.  I hope he would have been proud. 

My Papaw was an amazing man.  He loved Kentucky basketball and Tennessee football with all his heart, and I have inherited both those traits.  When Kentucky lost their final game in the NCAA tournament last year, I cried.  It would have been so fitting if they had won it all.  I still miss him every day.  I'll be in Disney World again on the anniversary of his death and it will be hard to be in a magical Disney mood, but I know that's what he will want.

Papaw, I love you and I miss you so much, but I know you're with God and so much happier, and not in any pain.  For that I thank God.  This picture was taken in December of 2007 and it's my favorite of us.

I LOVE YOU PAPAW!!!!

More Disney

This one is going to be mostly pictures.  These are all from our Honeymoon, but since we are going back in LESS THAN 3 WEEKS, I've pretty much got Disney on my brain 24/7!  Hope you enjoy!

This was during our character breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  Minnie made a huge fuss over my rings.  Even though we were two grown-ups, the characters spent as much time at our table as they did with the little kids. 

The sweetest people sitting next to us took this picture.  I wish I had more because Pluto took Matt over to an empty table and sat him down then got down on one knee and took my hand!  So cute!  The couple next to us had brought their baby and his grandmother.  The grandmother took our picture also and her daughter said "MOM!  You can't just take their picture!" and she repsonded "But they're so cute!".  Obviously, we told her it was fine that she took our picture!  It's one of my fondest memories from our trip!

We got a special cupcake because we were celebrating our Honeymoon.  We didn't eat it because a. it was breakfast, and b. we were STUFFED!

Park opening at Hollywood Studios.  Matt was giving all the cast members high fives.  And lots of them had on Mickey hands!  So fun!

Me with the Patch statue at Downtown Disney...I can't actually remember which store it was in.  But I do notice that I have 2 shopping bags in my hand :)

Matt at EPCOT for the first time.  This is ia classic picture.  It almost makes me cry!

Me putting money into the Cinderella Wishing well at Magic Kingdom.  This is the only place where Disney actually collects the money.  Everywhere else, the coins are left much longer and the money is not longer usable.  The money from the fountain, however, is collected and given to children's charities.

This may be my favorite picture of all.  It sums up how COLD it was during our trip.  We were on Dumbo and I was so cold that I couldn't stand the wind on my face...and being that I had almost my entire face covered, I had no idea Matt took this picture!

Well that's all for today.  I'm sure I'll have more Disney magic to share will you since I'm quite consumed by it at the moment!

New Year, New Goals

Oh New Year's Resolutions.  I usually don't make any because I find that I almost immediately stop trying to realize them.  This year, however, there are some things I would like to change and actually committ to.  Matt and I have both gained a significant amount of weight since we have been together.  We are both unhappy with it and would like to make it go away! 

So my goals for this month are:

1. Make my lunch and bring it to work at least 3 times a week. (I'd like to do it everyday, but I feel like I need to be realistic or I won't do it at all)

2. Start Couch to 5K program.  I really like the sound of this program because it lets you go at your own pace.  I am not really a fan of exercising, so having Matt do it with me will help motivate me.

3. Use the Kinect and play Dance Central 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.  I LOVE to dance.  And I don't care if I look stupid, and I LOVE Dance Central.  This one should be easy for me!

I have some "Disney" goals as I like to call them.  Really they are just things that I want/need to be accomplished before we leave (IN LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!!)

1. Clean out trunk.  I don't even open my trunk because it is so full of junk.  Seriously.  There is probably stuff that has been in there for years!  Who knows what I might find!

2. Clean out car.  I have this HORRIBLE habit of living in my car.  I have clothes, shoes, shopping bags, etc.  I actually even have a pair of pink, fuzzy, slippers in the floor of the passenger side.  AHH! 

3. Get all laundry for trip done at least a week ahead of time (because it will make my life MUCH easier!)j

Well I think that's all the goals for this month.  There are lots of things I'd like to get done around the house this year, but since we have a vacation coming up, I'm not really worrying about them right now. 

Oh wait, one more goal.  Take down the Christmas garland outside.  This has not been done, not for lack of motivation but because of all the SNOW!  I don't want to put away WET garland.  Ew!  But hopefully soon we can take it down.  Half of it is now not working so if I have to throw it away I guess it won't be the end of the world, but still!

Snow Day January 10, 2011

I thought we had a lot of snow on Christmas, but then I woke up yesterday morning and we had EVEN MORE!

This was on Christmas Day....

This was yesterday! 

Now I love snow, I think it's beautiful and wonderful.  I do not, however, like being stuck at home!  I didn't go to work yesterday and I can't go today either.  So we're hoping my dad can bring us a snow shovel (we had no idea we would need such a thing), so that we can shovel our cars out! 

The Most Magical Place On Earth

Walt Disney World. 

It truly is the most magical place on Earth for me.  (Just for a bit of Disney trivia in case anyone is a Disney nut like me, Disney WORLD is "the most magical place on Earth", whereas DisneyLAND is "the happiest place on Earth")  There is something so amazing to me about this place.  I love every single moment I'm there.  I can't really explain how much I love it.  I'm going to try to write a series of blogs about it, but for now, I'll just show some of my favorite pictures from our honeymoon there February 2010.

At the Magic Kingdom.  This (as are all the other pictures in this blog) is a Disney PhotoPass picture.  We bought the Photopass CD which gave us all the pictures that the photographers, who are all around the parks, took and the rights to all the photos.  To us, for our honeymoon, it was TOTALLY worth it!

At Epcot.  This is a TERRIBLE picture of me, and not a super great one of Matt, but SpaceShip Earth just looked so beautiful at night, I made Matt stop.  I think this was the day it rained and was INCREDIBLY cold and I was wearing capri pants under sweatpants and 3 jackets!

In front of the Rockin' Roller Coaster.  The lady who took this picture was so much fun!  I added Stitch because I thought it was quite fitting :)

This was taken at Animal Kingdom.  Simba was added in by the Photopass photographer later.  I had heard about these pictures, and had read that it was pretty rare that they did them anymore, so I was SO excited that someone would congratulate us on our marriage this way.  Matt and I ADORE this picture!

Well that's all the Disney I have today.  Don't worry, I'm a Disney freak, so there will be SO much more!

Oh yeah, and we're going back in 27 days...YES!

Rocky Top will ALWAYS be home sweet home to me!

Since it's January 1, 2011 (FINALLY!) and football is ALL over the place, I'm going to write about one of my passions!  I know Tennessee played a couple of days ago (and had ANOTHER win stolen), but since there is SO much football on, I'm reminded of MY team!

I love Tennessee football!  I mean LOVE it.  To the extent that most of my friends don't even ask me to make plans when a game is on because they just know better!  Love as in I have bought special clothing in orange and white just to wear to work the Friday before a game.  Love like I own 3 jerseys and about a million t-shirts and sweatshirts.  Love so much that my mother buys me at least one Tennessee stocking stuff EVERY year!  And that I have a Christmas tree dedicated to it (although a few other teams are represented as well: The Colts, Titans, and Cowboys, as well as Tony Stewart).  That's how much I love it!

I will love them forever.  I do not care if we have 15 losing seasons in a row (although hopefully that will not ever happen!).  I will still wear my orange out in public proudly and I will still scream my head off during every play.  It's just a part of who I am!

I guess I have to address the Lane Kiffin debacle too.  I hated him before he left.  I thought he was a horrible fit at Tennessee and I missed Phil Fulmer immediately (truthfully I thought the was he was booted out was distasteful to begin with).  I never got on the "Lane Train" and I'm so glad, because even though it made me mad when he left us in a lurch, I wasn't nearly as hurt and betrayed as some people were.  I still rooted for Tennessee, but I was glad when he left!

Now on to the future.  I think Derrick Dooley is a wonderful fit for Tennessee.  He is young, which was one good thing about Kiffin.  He can make a career as a Tennessee head football coach.  Also he was born and bred in the south and has a wonderful pedigree in the SEC.  I mean Vince Dooley is his daddy!  One thing that really drove me crazy about Kiffin was how he ran his mouth SO much.  Dooley understands how we play ball in the South and how to conduct himself.  So I see GREAT things coming for Tennessee in the next few years and I CAN'T WAIT!!! 

I'll leave you with some pictures showing my love!

My first game!  I was 18!  With me are Alex, Joan, and Katie.  We had a blast!

Alex and I at Qdoba.  I'm not totally certain what year this was but I was going to UTC and it must have been on a Friday.  While I was at UTC I always wore a TN tshirt Thursday, my white jersey on Friday, and my orange jersey on Saturdays.  Sad but true!

Joan and I.  I know this was at Applebee's and I know it was the first game of the season for what ever year this was.  Notice how faded that jersey is, I think I got a new one shortly after.

Matt and I before the Florida game last year.  We watch it at the lake every year with our family friends Bill and Jean, who are big Florida fans and have the boat next to my parents' boat.  So much fun!

GO VOLS!!!!