–This is always my favorite post to both draft and read each week. Kathy freaking rocks! Also, Kathy is co-hosting the Hump Day Blog Hop with Liz…whom I also link up with every Wednesday so what what!!!!!!
–I sort of kind of feel like a bad ass that my weights got too light and I had to go purchase some new ones. #beast
–I want to know why so many people are riding the douche canoe lately. Seriously, pull your head out of your ass.
— I couldn’t pick which douche canoe ecard I wanted to use so you got two.
–I am really excited that spring is here. I really enjoyed spending time out on our deck this past weekend and look forward to many more weekends of wonderful weather. But seriously. Fuck you, pollen.
–This happens to me all the time! When I am invited to go and do something, after my initial excitement I start to panic and think….what will I wear?!?!?!?! I have a birthday party to attend Friday night and I have not a clue what I am going to wear?!? I need more cute clothes. ASAP.
And a few more confessions in ecards:
Now confess to us all the secrets and it will absolutely make you feel better. Happy Hump Daaaaaaaaaaay!
One of my favorite things to do is to go to a restaurant and enjoy some amazing food and perhaps an adult beverage or two. Inevitably with that comes spending money and consuming a lot of calories. Two of my un-favorite things. What is a girl to do?! Come up with her own recipes for those things that she craves! That’s what!
Plus, since I am making them I control what ingredients go into it and how it is made. Enter sweet potato chips. Trust me when I tell you that you NEED these in your life! Two of my favorite appetizers out is blue cheese sweet potato chips and fried pickles. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm.
(Chips and salsa goes without saying. Duh.)
I am not sure exactly how restaurants make theirs so freaking delish!? I had a feeling it was deep frying them and adding all of the calories. I knew that I could create something delicious and perhaps a little more calorie friendly.
What you need:
3 sliced sweet potatoes
You want to slice them VERY thin. I did this with a knife, but I know there is a device out there made specifically for this called a mandolin. Maybe I need to invest in one of those fancy items if I plan on making these more often.
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
Sea Salt to taste
Cooking Spray
What you do:
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
After you slice the sweet potatoes, toss them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder and sea salt.
Spread the sweet potatoes in a single layer on baking sheets. It took me two baking sheets to fit them all.
Bake the sweet potatoes for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.
Turn the oven off and crack the door a little.
Start the preparation for the blue cheese sauce.
What you need:
1/3 contaner of Blue Cheese
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter (you want to use REAL butter, low-fat or substitutes will not work, I tried.)
1/2 cup milk
What you do:
Melt the butter in a frying pan.
Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
Turn off heat, add milk and whisk for 1-2 minutes at a simmer then add blue cheese and stir until well mixed.
Take your sweet potatoes out of the oven, and spoon the blue cheese sauce over them.
Add toppings.
I chose:
bacon bits
green onions
blue cheese chunks
If they do not come out of the oven “crunchy” you can set your oven to broil for a few minute to get them to your liking. Sometimes they get crunchy on their own, sometimes they need a little push!
So I am not sure if any of you have noticed or not, but it is the middle of April. Um, what? Yeah…I am just as surprised as you!
Friday- On Fridays, I normally meet up with my “Lunch Club” and this Friday was no different. We met up at Urban Cookhouse in Homewood. Nothing will get your weekend kicked off better than a girls lunch! I ordered the Very Berry Salad with grilled chicken and it was DELISH!
After work, I met Chris and one of his new found friends over at On Tap for a beer and some chit chat on the patio. Then we came home and hung out on our deck with the dogs. I love the weather this time of year and we are taking full advantage of all the outside time!
Saturday – In the morning I made breakfast and we caught up with some of our shows. Chris headed outside to cut the front yard while I cleaned the house and did some laundry. Afterwards we ran some errands and picked up some groceries for dinner. My sister, her husband and two of their kids came over for dinner Saturday evening. It was so much fun! I made BBQ turkey meatballs, homemade baked sweet potato fries, baked beans and cheddar bay biscuits. My sister made chicken quesadillas, a veggie tray with her homemade ranch dip, a fruit tray and she brought some fritos with cheese dip, and tortilla chips with spinach dip. When was the last time you had a frito? Holy yum!
We basically just sat out on our back deck for several hours chatting it up while her boys played with my ipad and video games. We realized that we had never hung out as couples by ourselves for no reason other than to just hang out! We usually all get together for holidays and birthdays…and my sister and I have gotten together on our own before…but never all of us. It was so much fun and I hope that this becomes a regular thing!
Sunday – In the morning I made breakfast and once again we watched a few more of our shows. Then it was off to the grocery store and food prepping!
Sunday evening we started watching Surviving Jack. It is a new show with Christopher Meloni….whom you might better know as Detective Stabler from Law and Order SVU. The show takes place in the 90’s and I really enjoyed it so far. Maybe because I love the 90’s and the music?!?! Yes, probably…that and HELLO it is Stabler! If you need some new shows to watch now that the regular season is coming to an end for most shows, you should check it out!
Then you have these two sassy kids…
I hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Monday! (If there is such a thing?!)
My best birthday is my 30th birthday last year. I got to see my mom, sister, brother in law and two of my nephews for lunch and a sweet date night dinner with my husband, sister in law and brother in law for dinner. Then the following day, we had a lunch with my mother in law, father in law, sister in law, brother in law and nephew. I liked that it was low key and filled with all of the people that mean the world to me.
2. What was your best vacation?
I have two favorite vacations for two different reasons. Last year’s Gulf Shores trips with my husband, sister in law, brother in law and nephew. We had so much fun and they were so relaxing. We just hung around the condo, hung out at the pool, and visited the beach. All of our lunches were simple sandwiches pool side, we cooked together most nights and went out for a nice dinner once each trip. It was perfect!
My other favorite vacation is the time that my mom and I went by ourselves to Orange Beach when I was in college. It was the only trip we have ever taken just the two of us and it was so much fun! We just did whatever we wanted to each day, enjoyed lunch and dinners at new places and did some shopping.
Ironic that all of my favorite trips revolve around the Alabama Gulf Shores? I think not! They are not to be missed!
3. What is the best date you’ve ever been on?
Well this is easy! The first date with my husband! In short, he drove from Birmingham to Atlanta to meet me. We went to Steak n Shake for lunch, Perimeter Mall, a few other random places around Atlanta, and Felini’s for dinner. We were both nervous, but it just felt right. I remember laying on my living room floor talking to Chris for hours.
You can read about how we met and our engagement story in this post.
4. What is the best movie(quality) you’ve seen?
Hmmmm it is hard to pick one movie as my favorite! I really like Because I Said So. And, as cliche as it is, The Notebook. Then you have the classics, like Dirty Dancing and The Breafast Club. See how this is hard?
5. What is the best TV show ending of all time?
Hmmm.
This is a hard one, as I am usually left disappointed during the season finale. Like How I Met Your Mother, The Lying Games, and Betrayal. All of the endings left much to be desired. Especially seeing as how The Lying Games and Betrayal left us with so many questions!!!
I really liked the ending to Wings. Do you remember that show from the 90’s about the two brother pilots that ran Sandpiper Air?
It is FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s get pumped!
1. Today was day 3 of Body Beast. I feel like a freaking bad ass! I can feel myself riding the douche canoe and am all like yeah…it was leg day today. Ain’t no thang. Speaking of leg days, you have freaking squatzilla screaming about one more rep and I am all “yeah, I got this!!!!” That was yesterday morning. This morning I be like, “You want me to climb the stairs? No thanks.” Don’t mind me, I am just waddling around today.
2. As you saw yesterday, I finished reading The Longest Ride. Next up? I never did get around to reading The Best of Me. I have had it for quite some time.
3. Energy. I have had ridiculous amounts of energy the last two days. I don’t even know what to do myself. It is not natural. I don’t know if it is the change up in work outs, my thyroid level actually being normal….or maybe…just MAYBE my body has finally decided to stop fighting its absorption of vitamin B after giving myself shots. I am hoping it is number 3. I hate having the same conversation with my doctor over and over again about how my levels are dangerously low and blah blah blah.
I feel like this:
Which makes it difficult to sit at a desk for eight hours!!!!
4. Nothing makes my day happier than having two OVERLY excited dogs waiting for me when I get home. They act like they haven’t seen me for weeks and they can barely hold themselves together. It is jumping and kissing and crying of excitement. And Mac being an asshole and trying to steal both of my hands so Gracie doesn’t get her pets. This is them when they heard Chris open the garage door last night. They ran downstairs and waited by the door…he didn’t come in right away so they ran back up and looked at me like WTF?!?!?! Then they stood by the stairs and waited and waited. It was too precious. Mac is looking back at me like “so um….where is he?!?!?!?!?!”
5. I made my own meme today. My little Gracie says she is a PUGGLE not a MUGGLE!
