writing....

Do you ever read my blog and think that I didn’t take English or Grammar classes growing up or in college? Because sometimes, I wonder that myself! I’ve mentioned several times that I’m not a writer, I’m not good at grammar, I can’t spell, and I know nothing about nouns, pronouns, punctuation, etc. AND YES, there are already spelling issues in just the above sentences that thankfully Microsoft word picked up:) BUT there’s other words that spelling check doesn’t pick up....The only person to ever point those out to me is my sweet, loving husband. Sometimes I wonder if he just laughs out loud when he see’s them because when he calls to tell me I’ve spelled something the wrong way, I can’t help but laugh! For instance, yesterday...Did anyone notice that I spelled my waist, my waste? Like trash. That’s just 1 example, but there were quite a few according to Kaz. 

My sophomore year of college, I took an English class with the HARDEST teacher at Francis Marion University. It was the only class still open so I didn’t really have a choice! Everyone told me going into it how hard core this teacher was! The first week of class she told us to write a rough draft of a personal experience in our life. We would have 3xs to show her our rough drafts and then the 4th time would be the final paper. No kidding, all 3xs she told me to keep the first sentence and start over! THANKFULLY, my sweet friend and roommate Anne had pity on me and helped re-write my whole paper! I don’t know what I would have done without her because this happened all semester long! My teacher, I know thought I was crazy because my favorite word[sometimes still is] was LEARNT. I used it all the time and finally she told me learnt was not a word! That has been a laughing joke amongst college friends since then BUT I still use it! AND I actually saw it in a book last year. I had to take a picture and send it to my friends:)

SO, PLEASE don’t think I’m a nut case when reading my blog! I use words wrong ALL THE TIME! I don’t even think about it. I probably spell them wrong all the time...I get quiet and quite, receipt and recipe, pen and pin, and a lot of other words confused all the time! AND I probably messed up somewhere in this post, BUT I LOVE TO WRITE! 

my sweet friend Anne....

sewing a skirt...possibly never again!

So, I woke up last Friday morning like any other morning. Before getting out of bed, I checked my email, facebook, E News, Groupon, Living Social, and Pinterest. How bad is that? Not only that I did it one morning, but I do it every morning:( Anyway, when I was looking at Pinterest I saw this skirt. 

It said, Easy to Sew skirt. I immediately fell in LOVE! We didn't have any plans over the weekend so I thought it would be the perfect time to make it! So, Friday morning I went to the fabric store, found the perfect fabric, got more than enough to make the skirt and as soon as I laid Annie Rice down for a nap I started working! I got about 1.5 hours into it and I was at a good place! We went out to dinner Friday night with some friends and after we came back home I decided to start working on the skirt piece. I knew it would be a challenge because I had to put a zipper in it and I have  never done that so I watched a few youtube videos and started to work....Not long after, I was in a horrible mood and just wanted to go to bed! I made it too small and was over the whole thing! Kaz talked me into trying again and he said he would go to the fabric store with me the next morning! 

Saturday, NEW day, picked up the fabric and got to work! The zipper was in, no problem! It seemed like I kept running into problem after problem with my sewing machine and I ALMOST GAVE UP! I kept fighting with it and finally finished the skirt! I tried it on and I was just PLAIN MAD! IT LOOKED AWFUL! IT WAS TOO BIG! AND TO TOP IT OFF, I WASTED SO MUCH OF MY WEEKEND TIME:( BAD MOOD, YET AGAIN!

A little later in the night, I decided to wash it and dry it! I knew it would shrink a little, I just didn't know how much. To my surprise, it shrank almost enough! I mustarded up the courage to wear it to church on Sunday and I actually really like it a lot! It's still a little big in the waste but I'll go with it! It doesn't look like the above picture at all, but still pretty cute! I don't know if I will be making any more skirts for ME anytime soon, but will continue making outfits for Annie Rice...at least until I get fed up enough;) Here's the finished product!

healthy living...

Remember last week when I told you that we were changing our lifestyle by eating more organic foods, etc. Well, it’s only been almost 2 weeks and I feel better than I have in a long time! I have so much more energy and I find myself daily wanting to make small changes to improve other eating/exercising habits. Take for instance last night, we had dinner and I’m a sweets girl. I love to have something sweet after I eat. In the last few months, I’ve gone from buying 2 boxes of 100 calorie packs every week to maybe buying 1 boxes a month! Literally, the last few months I’ve been slowing changing my eating habits but more so over the last few weeks. So after dinner, I asked Kaz if he wanted a chocolate chip cookie. With our food order, we got 4 containers of organic chocolate chip cookie dough and it is delicious! He said no he didn’t really want one, so instead of baking 1 for me, I ate a grapefruit! 

I’ve also been drinking a glass of carrot juice everyday for almost 10 days now and it really makes such a difference. Annie Rice has had a full sippy cup everyday now for 10 days and it makes me so happy! She LOVES it, although I don’t always love her diaper:)!

Kaz’s favorite dinner that I make is chicken casserole. It’s always been his favorite meal! I normally put in chicken, cream of chicken, chicken broth, and cover the top with ritz crackers soaked in butter. We eat that over pasta. The other night I decided to make it and made a few small changes that is healthier for us and tasted JUST AS GOOD! Instead of chicken broth, I added zucchini and added plain ritz crackers instead of soaking them in butter, over organic whole wheat pasta instead of plain pasta! I’m really seeing day by day how little changes make big differences. We also made a really big decision over the weekend...REMEMBER HOW I SAID I HAD NO DESIRE TO GIVE UP SODA! I’m going to be pretty honest here and tell you how bad my soda addiction has been. We would literally go through 4-6 2 litters a week! I would drink coke zero all day, every day from breakfast until I went to bed. The more I thought about my statement last week about not giving it up, the more I was convicted that Annie Rice sees me drink soda all day and I make her drink water. That’s not really the best example for me to be setting so Kaz and I made a deal. We decided to NOT BUY soda in our house ANYMORE! We have given ourselves 1 out a week BUT ONLY over the weekend IF we go out to dinner. We can’t bring it home, so it has to be if we go out to lunch or dinner on the WEEKEND! I actually was dreading doing this because I just knew my headaches would be awful but I have to say the Lord has honored our decision because I’ve had 1 headache that was yesterday and it maybe lasted 15 minutes. I’m on day 5 of no soda, just water and a little apple juice in my smoothie:) 

I’ve made a couple really good recipes lately that are very yummy! Here are 2 from this week that our family loved:)

Mexican Rice Bake

2 boneless skinless chicken cooked

3-4 cups of cooked brown rice[I use the rice in the bag so mine came out to be a little over 3 cups]

1/2 bag of frozen corn

1 cup of salsa

1 cup of plain greek yogurt[I used vanilla because we didn’t have plain and I couldn’t taste a difference]

1/2 cup of cheese

1 can of drained black beans

Mix it all together[make sure the chicken and rice are cooked, the corn is frozen]. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes! We ate it with tortilla chips! Very yummy!

Chicken Casserole

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cooked. Cut in cubs

2 regular cans of 99% fat free cream of chicken

1 zucchini cut in tiny cubs

Bake for 20 minutes at 350

Take it out and cover the top with crumbled ritz crackers[I used reduced fat]

Bake for 10 more minutes

Serve over pasta!

dock dogs and family...

This past weekend my parents came in town. Every year Charleston has a big Wildlife Expo and we decided to go to part of it this weekend. We went to see the dock dogs! I LOVE LOVE LOVE dogs but especially the retrievers:) I had a lot of fun watching these dogs. I really thought Annie Rice would like it too, but every time one jumped in the water she cried! I’m not sure what it was but she was fine until each dog jumped in the water. So mom walked her around in the stroller so we could watch a little more of the competition. There were several dogs that looked just like Miley but this one was almost identical! 

photo credit

The only difference is Miley is a tad overweight so she would probably sink in the water! JUST KIDDING:) She’s not that big...maybe only 5 pounds over weight:) We had a great time though, and since then I’ve wanted to do absolutely nothing, hence the lack of blogging:)

num yum num...

That's what Annie Rice says. Num num yum num! I told you lately she has started eating everything! We are loving this stage because since we got her she's been a picky picky little eater:) Last night, we cooked our first meal from Healthy Home Foods. Kaz had been asking for spaghetti so that's what we made! We loved it and I think from these pictures it's safe to say Annie Rice did too:)

healthy lifestyle changes...

Kaz and I have been doing a lot lately to change our lifestyle to become healthier. There are some habits that we have, that have needed changing for a long time...and the more Annie Rice grows up, the more we want her to see better eating/exercising habits from us! My biggest weakness is COKE ZERO! I honestly have no desire to give it up. I don’t know that I ever will but I literally drink it like I have a coke zero IV hooked up to me! I drink it all day long! Everyday! Even when I was training[well, the little that I did] for the half marathon, I drank coke zero all the time! Little to no water! It’s A REALLY REALLY BAD HABIT! I have been TRYING...TRYING being the key word to only drink soda at night for dinner. Some days, I do really good, others like today I had it for lunch! BUT I AM GETTING BETTER! I’ve made it a goal to drink at least 3 glasses of water a day. In the past, I would be lucky to drink that in a month! SEE, I TOLD YOU IT’S BAD! I told Kaz last night there needs to be a soda rehab!

I’ve mentioned several times on here, some of my eating habits...We have both been really convicted over the last several months about what we eat! More specifically, the amount of processed foods that we eat! Organic wasn’t even a word in our vocabulary. I ate Smart One’s for lunch and sometimes dinner for almost 3 years...EVERY SINGLE DAY! I cut those out all together back in September. I haven’t had one since! I’ve started replacing those lunches with healthier versions...chicken salad made with greek yogurt, PB and banana wraps, etc. A couple weeks ago we heard about a company called Healthy Home Foods[located in NC and SC]. I took a look at the website automatically thinking it would be outrageous because it’s all natural, organic foods, but I almost fell in the floor when the representative told me for our family it would be about $60 a week! I called to get a better understanding and a food representative came out to our house and cooked there food for us! It was DELICIOUS! I was pretty much sold before they came out, but I was definitely sold after tasting the food and seeing how affordable it is! We received our first shipment last night, which is a 6 month supply of food:) It’s A LOT! I’m so excited to be making these healthy changes...As I was looking through the food, I noticed that my husband added in a few items that I didn’t know about...like chocolate peanut butter! HaHa! 

I’ve been trying to add 1-2 fruits/veggies with every meal that I eat! For breakfast, I have eggs every morning! I made some homemade granola over the weekend and I’ve been having a small cup of granola + fresh strawberries with the eggs! It’s yummy yummy! 

I’ve been keeping a food/exercise journal to keep me on track! The reason I decided to do this for at least a month is because the last few months I have had little motivation and it’s my accountability partner:) 

We have been jumping up and down and praising the Lord this week for Annie Rice’s new eating habits! I don’t know where my old picky picky picky Annie Rice went BUT I HOPE she doesn’t come back:) Everyday, Annie has floored me more and more! She has been drinking at least 1/2 a sippy cup of carrot juice everyday! She’s been eating eggs, veggies, subs, really anything we give her without a fight! Normally, we have to fight her on at least the first couple bites and then once she finally starts eating it herself she says ALL DONE, so the fight starts back over! I have been really really proud of her eating this week! 

With some of the changes we’ve made, I honestly feel so much better! I have so much more energy! I pray that I can continue making healthy lifestyle decisions:) 

Here’s the recipe to the granola I made! It’s really yummy!

4 cups of oats

1 1/2 cups of flax seeds

1 cup of sliced almonds

2 cups of honey

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Mix the oats, flax seeds, and almonds together. Let the vegetable oil and honey warm over the stove. On a baking sheet[I put tin foil over mine so it’s not as messy] lay out the  granola mixture and pour the honey mixture over it. Mix it all together and add cinnamon to taste! Bake at 200 for 10 minutes!

I used the honey, to make it a little healthier. I also did not put any dried fruit because I really enjoy fresh fruit in mine:) 

the rest of the date...

 Yesterday, I told you about the little date that Annie had planned for Kaz...it started with a daddy/daughter photo shoot. After the photo shoot, Kaz walked into his own little private "restaurant" with Annie Rice! It literally took me all day to decorate! I wanted to go all out, and this really excites me for years down the road when she will look forward to helping and planning this special night with her dad! First, they decorated cookies! She LOVED them and the icing! Then they ate dinner, her favorite food chicken nuggets, along with Kaz's favorite food, mashed potatoes! After dinner, they watched Cinderella and she sat in his lap the whole time! I think he could have melted! It was a very special night! I left the decorations up so we are all going to have dinner under the lights tonight:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

 a wall of hearts...all the reasons she loves Kaz!

 LOVE this picture!