The kitchen is my happy place

It's no surprise I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, which is funny because not long ago I wouldn't call myself much of a cook at all. In fact, I'd probably laugh at you if you asked me what I was cooking for dinner. Things sure have changed, though, because these days it seems I am at my happiest when I'm in the kitchen cooking (or baking, of course) up something delicious. Not only do I enjoy cooking and baking, but I get so much joy out of finding a new recipe I love.

It only makes sense that I'd like to pass these recipes on to you! After all, I'm sure most of you can relate to having hundreds of recipes pinned on Pinterest but not knowing which ones to try first. Trust me, I've been there. Maybe this list will save you from aimlessly scrolling through Pinterest trying to decide on a dinner recipe and realizing 3 hours later you totally forgot about dinner...not that this has happened to me before...

Lemon Basil Grilled Pork Chops

This is one of  those I knew Jonathan would go nuts over. He couldn't stop raving about how much flavor these had!

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I've tried a few recipes like this before but found they were too complicated for me and by that I mean they required more ingredients than I had the patience for. This recipe is simple, quick and yummy! 

Cucumber Watermelon Salad with Feta & Basil

Let's just say I know what I'm bringing to our next family gathering. This was a big hit in our house!

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

This is a Paleo recipe and the first meatball recipe I've ever attempted. It's super easy and delicious! 

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Blondies

I always get on a Snickerdoodle baking kick around this time of year, so I couldn't resist when I came across these babies. Jonathan looooves snickerdoodles so these treats were perfect to surprise him with when he came home from work yesterday. 

Last night, we did the Lemon Basil pork chops served with baked asparagus and the Cucumber Watermelon salad and all I could think to myself was how this was such a perfect summer meal. With each of these recipes only calling for a few ingredients, it was easy to pull together and everything tasted delicious! 

What have you been cooking up lately? 

How Shopping & Fantasy Football Are Basically the Same

Jonathan and I are going on a wee bit of a shopping spree tomorrow. We've been planning this for a few weeks now and have just been waiting for a free Saturday to go. We even have a set dollar amount for each of us to spend so we don't go out of control. If you're like me, you typically only buy things as you need them, rather than going on a shopping spree just because. So needless to say, I've been pretty excited for this day.

We were talking about it earlier this week and Jonathan goes, "I'm not sure what I'm going to buy...I doubt I'll even hit my budget." I laughed and told him I've been prepping for weeks and I'm more concerned about going over budget!

I was talking to a friend about this at work this morning and realized the time I've spent prepping for this shopping trip is about the same amount of time people are spending on their fantasy football team. Now, I don't know much about fantasy football, but I do know it seems like quite the commitment. How could fantasy football be anything like a shopping spree, you may ask?

1. Research. I have spent the last several weeks checking out the websites for my favorite stores. I've checked out the new arrivals and I've pinned some of my favorite items on Pinterest so I don't forget about them when shopping day comes. This is much like researching the stats of the players you'll want on your fantasy team, only my shopping version was much more fun.

2. Game plan. We have a lot of ground to cover in our one day of shopping. I want this necklace from Anthropologie and after doing my research, I know the only store in our area is at a different mall than the one we're planning on going to. I also know that Target got some really cute running shorts in recently, so we need to factor a Target visit into our day. Not to mention that while we're there, we'll need to grab coffee at Starbucks, so it only makes sense to go to Target first to fuel up for the day. Considering all this and trying to plan so we're not wasting time driving back and forth, I've had to develop a "game plan" for our day. I'm not quite sure how this relates to fantasy football, but I do know the term "game plan" is thrown around a lot in sports.

3. Back ups. Did your wide receiver get injured last week? Did your fantasy team quarterback get benched for the season? You've gotta have a backup plan for this stuff in fantasy football...players you're ready to trade for and whatnot. That necklace at Anthropolgie? I realized it is on Clearance and while I've already checked online to see if our store has them in stock, that's not a guarantee. I've already got a back up plan in place to order it online the moment we leave the store if they don't have it in stock. I know what stores sell the shoes I want so I know where else to look if I can't find my size. In fantasy football and shopping, you've just gotta have a backup plan.

 4. Stress. The other day, I sat at lunch while my male coworker spent the entire hour negotiating back and forth with his friend via text about a fantasy football trade. It was stressful to watch, never mind the stress he seemed to be under trying to convince this dude to trade with him. I’ve obviously never been part of a fantasy football league, but from what I can tell it is pretty stressful. I’m half kidding on this one because in the grand scheme of things, planning a shopping spree is pretty darn fun. But when you think about it, trying to decide between spending money on shoes vs. clothes, jewelry vs. scarves, bottoms vs. tops, can be a little stressful. I mean, we’re not working with an unlimited budget here, so these are pretty serious decisions.

What I guess I'm trying to say is fantasy football people, I get it. I have a new-found respect for the work you put into this. Just like prepping for a shopping spree, it's not easy but it's worth it.

Oh, How Pinteresting

If you're anything like me, before Pinterest, you never knew there were so many uses for vinegar or that you can do so many different things with wine corks. You know the feeling of a good Pinterest find. Whether it's a new recipe, a hair tutorial or steps to tone your arms in 7 days, you get super psyched when you find it tell yourself, "I can't wait to try to this."

You keep pinning and pinning and eventually you realize you hardly ever follow through. Can anyone relate to this?

I sure can.

Since I started using Pinterest, I'd say the only pins I ever go back to try have been the dessert recipes. I bake a lot and really enjoy it, so I've been pretty good about going to my Pinterest board when I have an occasion to bake for or need a last minute recipe.

All of those dinner recipes, arm workouts, hair tutorials and other "good ideas" never get their time to shine. Don't get me wrong...I continue to pin this stuff, but that's about as far as it goes.

Over the last few weeks, I've tried to get better about actually putting some of the great ideas I pin into practice. I mean, honestly, just because I pin, "how to clean your glass cooktop with baking soda" doesn't mean my cooktop is going to clean itself. Even though I'm really bad at taking photos of my Pinterest projects (I'm going to try and get better about this), I thought I'd share some of my recent Pinterest projects/ideas and let you know how they worked.

• When I'm stressed or not feeling myself, cleaning is one of my go-to activities. It distracts me, makes me feel like I'm in control of things and relaxes me somehow. Earlier this week, while cleaning the kitchen, I remembered pinning "How to clean your hard water stains off your fridge water dispenser tray." I always try to clean this and nothing has ever worked. I made a quick trip to the grocery store for white vinegar and 20 minutes later I was easily scrubbing the stains off. Of course, I didn't take a before or after picture, but this worked like a charm!
• I'm desperately trying to pay off all the medical debt I've accumulated over the last few years. Kidney stones and hospital stays are not cheap, let me tell ya. Sometimes I feel like I am never going to climb out of this hole, but to help me feel like I have some control over this, I went ahead and made a bill binder to keep myself organized. I've seen so many different versions of this on Pinterest, so I kind of made my own to work for my needs, but this is the pin that I used to get a basic idea.



 

• Since I've been trying to cook more lately, I've finally started trying some of the dozens of recipes I have pinned. Here are a few I've tried...they were all super easy and turned out great!

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

zucchini bake

Bruschetta Chicken

Now that I'm finally cooking dinner on a regular basis, I'm so thankful for my Pinterest recipe board and I must say that Jonathan is loving it, too.

 

I'm on a roll lately, that's for sure. Who knows...maybe one day I'll be able to successfully follow one of the many hair tutorials I've pinned!

 

Linking up today for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday :)

 

 



It's Okay Thursday

It's been a while since my last It's Okay Thursday link up but first of all, how wonderful are these?

Okay, now on to what is more than okay in my world today...

It's okay to celebrate an awesome 3 mile run with a huge bowl of ice cream.

It's okay to have a minimal winter wardrobe when you live in Florida. It's not quite so okay when you are going to Buffalo for the weekend in the middle of winter.

It's okay to wear dresses to work even though I can wear jeans everyday if I want to. It feels nice to switch it up sometimes!

It's okay to believe with all of my heart that J and I could live happily ever after.

It's okay that I'm looking forward to 3 days of doing absolutely nothing in Buffalo. The quality time with my sister, parents, niece and nephews is going to so wonderful.

It's okay to be counting down the hours until 5:30. I'm reuniting with my girlfriends from college tonight and I can already tell this is going to be absolutely perfect.

It's okay that I plan on drinking too many mojitos and eating too many slices of banana pizza for dessert at Cafe Tu Tu Tango tonight. So worth it.

It's okay that I haven't been making it to the gym quite as often as I was in the fall. I'm still working out regularly, which is all that matters.

What is okay with you this week? Join the link up!

Random Thoughts #2

I already warned you that I have a lot to say this week. Unfortunately, I can't seem to pull a coherent post together. Do you ever have that problem? You have topics you want to write on and things you want to say, but you just can't seem to piece it all together. Instead, you end up rambling on about a variety of unrelated things. I've already done a post like this just recently, so I guess this is going to be a regular thing here on days I can't focus on one topic. So here goes...

Most importantly, I have a new nephew on his way into this world as we speak and I am esctatic! This is my sister's 3rd child and I cannot wait to get word that he has arrived. My sister lives way up in Buffalo so I can't be there to meet him which kinda stinks, but I am hoping to get up there sometime in the next few months to visit. I can't wait for that.

I pinned this on Pinterest today and actually said "oh shit" out loud at my desk because I was that overwhelmed by how wonderful and awful it was that I found this. Awful because my love for York Peppermint Patties is really intense and I don't think I have the self control to even make these. Good lord they look delightful.

Do you ever feel like negativity has become more common in this world than positivity? I come across too many people who don't know how to react to my attitude and I don't know how to respond. Some people even seem offended. What gives? Are there just too many bad things in the world getting people down and making them cynical?

I understand that it's easier to focus on the negative sometimes. It takes less energy to complain about things you aren't happy with than it is to find the bright side of that situation. I guess I just feel overwhelmed by this lately. Don't get me wrong. I have days that are not-so-great. But on those days, I certainly don't post "FML" Facebook updates or project my negativity onto others. That doesn't do any good. I don't spread happiness and positivity to people on a daily basis. Even I'm guilty of being pessimistic sometimes. But I catch myself. And I wish more people would catch themselves and turn their thought process around.  Maybe this needs it's own post. Maybe I need to blog about how you can cheer yourself up. I don't know.

Taylor Swift is coming to Orlando for two nights in April and I'm going to attempt to snag tickets on Friday morning at 10 a.m. Her shows sell out so fast so I usually don't even attempt to buy tickets. I've never seen her live and I know it would be amazing. If we are actually able to get tickets I am going to completely lose my mind. That's how excited I will be. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Has anyone else not even started their Christmas shopping? So many bloggers I follow said they were finished shopping Thanksgiving weekend. What? How did you do that? Thanksgiving weekend I went shopping and left the mall with two new sweaters, a sequin skirt and new aviators...all for myself. My dad totally judged me to my face. I just hadn't thought about what I wanted to get people yet and nothing jumped out at me. I need to get on this...

Speaking of Christmas, my coworker has Peppermint Kisses in her office. Why are these so delicious? I can't stop sneaking into her office to snag a few. It's getting out of hand. Have you tried these yet? If not, go pick yourself up a bag and proceed to eat the entire thing.

Is it frowned upon to tell your parents you want a flask for Christmas? I can't help but really, really want this one.

Speaking up, Sea World, Being Crafty and a Runaway Blake

Hello friends. I have a lot I want to say this week and I don't know where to start. I guess I'll start by telling you about my weekend and figure out the rest later this week.

Sometimes when I reflect on the weekend, it's hard to believe I crammed so many adventures, mishaps, awkward moments and good times into such a short time. This weekend was definitely one of those weekends.

Saturday I spent the day at Sea World with The Dog Whisperer, his roommate and a lady friend of his. I hadn't seen and hardly spoken to The Dog Whisperer in a few weeks so I was feeling a little anxious. We had a really fun day and got to hit up just about every attraction they have. The dolphin show is by far my favorite show there and everytime I see it I am completely overwhelmed by how amazing it is. I also cry tears of joy everytime I watch it and this time was no different. Did our whole group think it's weird and hilarious that I cry? I think so, but oh well. Sea World at Christmas makes me ridiculously happy. They have fake snow and do Christmas versions of some of the shows. We fed sting rays, which if you've never done is really awkward because they basically suck the food out of your hand. We also spent way too long in the game area of Sea World and The Dog Whisperer walked away with a creepy amount of small stuffed animal prizes. It was a really fun day.

While I had a really fun day, I have to say that The Dog Whisperer treated me like nothing more than a friend all day. Because he's been sending such mixed signals, I've already backed off quite a bit so if he just wants to be friends, that's cool. It would be nice though if he would just say so instead of leaving me to figure it out on my own. It's exhausting.

My goals for Sunday were simple: at least start to decorate the house for Christmas. I'm saving the Christmas tree for this weekend when my roomie and I can go pick one out and decorate together, but I wanted to get some lights up, get the Christmas candles out and finally pack up the fall decorations. As I tend to do, I got a little overzealous and decided I was also going to attempt to make one of those adorable yarn wreaths I see all over Pinterest.

I wouldn't describe myself as crafty, but I used to scrapbook a lot and I can pull off pretty basic DIY projects. The problem is, that no matter what I do, I always end up spending 3x as much on the supplies and the project takes about 2 hours longer than the tutorial says it should. This is why my crafting days are few and far between. The good news is that I'm pretty happy with the result.

I didn't really follow any specific tutorial because there are so many online and honestly, this is pretty easy to make. Wrapping the yarn around the wreath is really more of a two person job (it took me about 2 1/2 hours and it is not perfect by any means), but other than that, it's pretty self explanatory.

I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty exhausted and mentally checked out after the wreath was complete and I hadn't even gotten around to hanging any lights yet. This explains how I didn't notice Blake walking right out the front door somewhere between me trying to hang the wreath on the door and standing in my kitchen sink trying to hang Christmas lights in my front window (side note: you can't help but stop and laugh at yourself when you're using an ice cream scoop as a hammer for an hour before realizing you have a tool kit in the garage).

When I was finally finished, I realized I hadn't seen Blake in a while. He hadn't been feeling very well and I kinda figured he gave up on following this mad woman around the house and went to sleep on the couch. I walked through the house calling his name and he was no where to be found. I started to panic realizing he could have been gone for an hour or two at this point. I had been so wrapped up in what I was doing, I had no idea when he got out. I started freaking out, crying, calling his name and as I ran outside to look for him, my neighbor from a few houses down was walking up to the door with him.

I was so relieved and panic-stricken that I brought Blake inside and cried like a baby for a good 10 minutes. Before you judge my parenting, I am usually much more attentive. Blake is still a puppy, so I don't let him out of my sight most of the time. I honestly don't know how he got outside without me even realizing it and it really makes me worry about my mental health. He would've had to walk right past me to get outside when I had the door open for goodness sake! The good news is that thanks to my neighbor walking his dogs, Blake didn't go far and I didn't end up having to roam the streets hysterically looking for him.

So yeah, to summarize: Hot mess, party of one right here. I'll get it together soon, I'm sure. I do know that though I feel like I am kinda falling apart, it's making me say and do things that need to be done. I don't ever fall apart without coming out of it feeling better and more secure with myself. So, there's the bright side. Oh, and I'm sure you would all agree that succeeding in any DIY project can make you feel like you could take over the world, assuming you don't let your dog run away without you noticing in the process.

Holy cow that was long. Thanks for sticking around to read it if you did and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello friends. I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was delightful. Mine was so delightful that I'm having a really tough time getting my shit together this week.

Thanksgiving weekend is always wonderful. Celebrating Thanksgiving with my family is always special, emotional and full of joy. The long weekend is like a little mini-vacation from work and it's so relaxing to spend a few days at my parents' house. I even volunteered to give the Thanksgiving toast before dinner and I am a little embarrassed to say I wasn't even halfway through it before I started sobbing. Maybe next year.

It was my intention to take lots of cute photos of my family on Thanksgiving, but that didn't work out as planned. My brother acted like the paparazzi was trying to snap photos of him without his consent, my sisters weren't much more cooperative, then I started baking away and didn't really think of it again. I can, however, always count on my child to suck it up for a photo session with his momma, so there's that.

So thankful for this little boy.

I baked my ass off for Thanksgiving this year. I don't bring many cooking skills to the table (yet!), so this is how I contribute to Thanksgiving. These are all super easy to make and I loved how they came out. I linked to the recipes so you can try them for yourself.

Pumpkin Streusel Pudding Cookies

Apple Snickerdoodle Cobbler

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Even Blake was exhausted from all the excitement. He absolutely loves weekends at my parents' house....so much room to run and so many other friends to play with!



Sleepy boy.

Because my BFF Taryn was in Orlando visiting her family for Thanksgiving, I drive back to Orlando for Friday and Saturday to spend time with her, then went back to my parents' for Saturday night and Sunday. This resulted in my spending what felt like 80% of my weekend in the car, but it was totally worth it.

In less than 2 days, Taryn and I managed to squeeze in rasberry mojitos and banana pizza at Cafe Tu Tu Tango, meeting friends for a night on the town and a few hours of fun plus a photoshoot at Epcot. Best friend time is always good for the soul, even if we did get into a drunken argument about nothing on Friday night. When I get my hands on the rest of our photos from Epcot, I'll share them, but in the meantime, this is our time together in a nutshell.

As we typically do, we were running late to meet our friends downtown. I pulled up to the toll booth to find this guy parked there. I was obviously excited about the prospect of a random act of kindness falling into my lap and we couldn't really get around him, so I jumped out to help. He didn't understand English, was lost and didn't have any change, so we helped! I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't think for a second he could've thrown me into his car and driven away. Let's just say my dad wasn't thrilled...

"Every brunette needs a blonde best friend." This photo was taken at Epcot and we got the idea from this pin on Pinterest.

Yes we are almost wearing the same outfit. It wasn't planned, but we went with it anyway.

After dropping Taryn off at the airport and begging her not to leave....

Just causing a scene at the airport.

...I hit the road back to my parents' house to relax for the rest of the weekend. I spent Saturday night watching Elf with my momma and spent Sunday doing a little shopping with mom and dad. My weekend was the perfect combination of fun and relaxation/friend and family time. Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful and now I'm psyched to get ready for Christmas.

I'm probably due to update you all on other life happenings, but I'll save that for later. Hope all is well in your world today!

Miscellaneous

What's going on in my world right now:

I forgot to tell you all that Blake graduated from his beginner training class a few weeks ago. I really only share this with you because this photo is too cute not to. I am so glad I decided to sign him up for training when I did. He's almost a year old and while he is still very much a puppy, his behavior has improved so much and I'm so proud of him for catching on to the basic commands we learned so quickly. I'm pretty impressed that after 6 weeks of class I can get him to sit, stay, lay down, shake hands and drop toys or things he shouldn't have in his mouth.

I stumbled across these two quotes on Pinterest recently and I absolutely love them. I can't believe I still haven't read Eat, Pray, Love. I really need to add that to my Kindle.

In the last few weeks, I've started switching to morning workouts on the days I have evening plans. Depending on the week, I've been waking up at 5 a.m. 2-3 times a week to get to the gym. I know how awful this must sound, but I am finally at the point where it doesn't bother me too much. I used to hate it how I would get into a great gym routine, going 4-5 nights a week, but then a week would come where I had a lot going on in the evenings and I would hardly make it to the gym at all.

An active social life is no excuse to let all my hard work go to waste, so the only way to make this work was to workout in the morning on the days I have plans at night. I won't tell you hearing the alarm go off at 5 a.m. is a good feeling, but driving home from the gym at 7 a.m. feeling accomplished before I'd normally be awake is an amazing feeling.

I'm also super excited that yesterday I got up to a 4-mile run. This may sound silly to serious runners, but that is the farthest I've ever gone in one run. It took me 35 minutes and I seriously couldn't be more excited about this. When I started working out regularly and getting back in shape in August, I could hardly run a mile without struggling a lot. The fact that I've come this far in such a short time makes me realize that so much of our limitations are all mental. I'm not setting any specific goals, but this makes me so excited to build up my endurance even more.

 

Last but not least, if you don't watch Modern Family on ABC, you need to start. It's the perfect combination of funny and heartwarming. I'm obsessed with Phil's-osophy.

 

My favorite: "When life gives you lemonade, make lemons. Life will be all like "what?!?"

 

That's all for now. I hope everyone is having a great week!



Tell me...

Do you watch Modern Family? Who is your favorite character?

Do you prefer working out in the morning or evenings?

Still a Pinterest Addict & Wonderful Words

It's no secret I still have an unhealthy addiction to Pinterest. If you haven't fallen victim to the magical and life-changing time suck that is Pinterest, I respect you immensely and also feel really bad for you. I might go a few weeks without going to the site, then one visit gets me completely addicted again. I could spend hours on there planning my wedding that doesn't exist, decorating my house with items I can't afford and wishing every outfit I pinned could magically appear in my closet. It's the best and worst thing that's ever happened to me.

As a lover of writing, words, reading and quotations, I could spend hours perusing the quotes on Pinterest alone. I love the feeling of finding a really great quote or poem and when I find one that really speaks to my life, it's like hitting the jackpot.

Where was I going with this?

 

Oh, right. I wanted to share some of my favorite recent inspirational words and poetry finds. After all, I hope it isn't just me who feels like this week has d...r...a..g...g...e...d on, so I'm sure we could all use some inspiration.



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I love her, but this quote really struck me. People are always going to criticize you, but as a female I feel like we get especially criticized for being true to ourselves and our feelings. I know I've experienced a lot of this and her message to not let anyone or anything take those things away from us is so important.

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I loved this and we all need reminding sometimes that we are perfectly fine the way we are. I especially loved the "Sometimes I make a lot of mistakes" line.

Couldn't find a source, but here it is on Pinterest.

First of all, if you haven't seen the movie "We Bought a Zoo," you absolutely have to watch it. I can't remember ever seeing a movie that made me feel as inspired and overjoyed as this one did. I cried a lot; some were sad tears, but then most were happy and joyful tears. This is my favorite quote from the movie.

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Such romantic, yet simple words. I really look forward to feeling this way again someday.

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The importance of keeping things in perspective...it makes such a big difference when we are going through a difficult time in life.


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I've seen a lot of his poetry and quotes on Pinterest lately and I loved everything I've found. I found this poem to be so sweet and honest.

 

Tell me...

 

Are you still addicted to Pinterest or are you over it? What do you find yourself pinning the most?

A Dose of Inspiration

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in your world. Things are good, but I am dragging a bit this week...not feeling great and I find myself  day dreaming and overthinking things. I'll snap out of it, but until then...I'll turn to Pinterest for a little cheer and inspiration. :)

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Snapshots of Life Lately

I'm still obsessing over Instagram, so I figured it would be the best way to share a little of what I've been up to lately. 

I went ziplining for the first time a few weeks ago for a team building day with
my coworkers. More photos to come from that day!

I've officially made my "mark" at Johnny's Filling Station,
the bar I go to on Thursdays with all of Scott's friends

Speaking of Scott, one of his friends gave me this. 

Blake found a cozy nap spot in the days after our beach trip
because I was too lazy to unpack :)

Oh, I bought a new car last weekend. I'm obsessed!

Carrot cake cupcake at 4 Rivers BBQ. 

Wise words.

Sunshine cupcakes I baked for our potluck at work last week :)

Blake and I had a lazy, nap-filled afternoon today. He is such a good snuggler!

I hope all is well in your world!