March Madness

If you've been following the NCAA Basketball tournament at all you know that tonight the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals played each other in one of the final four games. Needless to say living in Louisville this week has been almost as exciting as the week of Derby. People have been going crazy over this rivalry game, and the anticipation was almost too much for some people to handle.

I am not much of a sports person, but since I graduated from U of L, I thought I would cheer them on. However I did attend the University of Kentucky for the first year and a half of my college career. Sweet pea and I hung out at my parents and watched the game with them. We took a couple pics outside before the game started.

Sweet pea is so silly, because I told her to go stand by the flowers but instead she decided to sit in them.

Nana and her shadow :) It is so hard to get a pic of her now days because she will not stay still for anything!

We enjoyed a delicious meal from Salsaritas for dinner.

My dad (Pop) and sweet pea cheering on the CARDS.

Even though the score was 61-69 with the Cards losing, it was still a really good game and we had fun cheering them on. I am just glad that I was not out and about tonight because I have a feeling it's going to get crazy!

I plan to get an outdoor painting project done tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to share it with ya'll next week. Until next time, BYE!

Traumatized

Last night sister and I took our little ones to see the Easter Bunny. After the way sweet pea reacted to Santa I was wondering if she would do the same with the Easter bunny. When we arrived and were waiting in line she was doing really well and even waving to the bunny, but things quickly changed once we started approaching. She clung on to me like a spider monkey and I had to practically pry her off! I know what your thinking, what a terrible mom I am, but honestly people, all we wanted was a pic of both kids with the bunny. Of course Cooper did fine because he is only 4 months old and had no idea what was going on.

This was the best shot that we got, because in all the other ones sweet pea is crying hysterically. We picked this one because if you glance at it quickly it kind of looks like she is laughing, kind of! I put the picture on the table beside our couch and everytime she looks at it she says, "no no bunny". :)

I mean look at that face, she was terrified. Hubby said I was cruel for making her take a picture. Oh well, I think I learned my lesson.

Does anyone else out there have a child that is terrified of characters in costume??

Mmm Mmm Mondays #17

Tonight's post is going to be pretty quick because I have to finish the Hunger Games tonight, before we go see the movie tomorrow. The meal that I made tonight was something that I just threw together as I went. I had some chicken in the fridge that needed to be cooked, so I just took it from there. Here is what I came up with.

Lemon Pepper Chicken Pasta

You will need:

2 large chicken breasts

lemon juice

2 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp minced garlic

half package linguine noodles

Cook your pasta according to the package directions and drain when finished. (About 10 mins) Cut your chicken breasts into strips and cook them on medium in a skillet until they are cooked through.

Add your butter, garlic and lemon juice to the skillet. I used about 3 long squirts of juice.

Mix it all together until butter is melted.

Serve your chicken over your pasta. Add a couple more squirts of lemon juice to give it a but more kick. Grate some fresh parm over your pasta and enjoy! Serve it with a salad and a glass of wine and you've just made your dinner guest one happy camper.


Told ya'll it would be quick. Gotta go the book is calling my name. Until next time, BYE!

Easter Wreath Tutorial

Last week I whipped up a little Easter wreath for our front door. I had the egg garland on hand from last year but I purchased the wreath, sign, and ribbon from the Dollar Tree. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE that place!! :)

The first thing I did was cut the garland and then I un-strung (is that even a word??) all the eggs from the string. I then separated them into piles according to their color. After the hot glue gun was warmed up I started glueing the eggs onto the wreath like so.

Here is what it will look like when you get all the way around the wreath. I then started glueing another layer eggs on the outside and inside of the first layer. Kind of overlapping them as I went.

You should end up with something like this when you are finished.

I then took the sign and tied it around the wreath with the ribbon and glued it in a couple spots so it would stay put. I finished it off by tying a bow with the same ribbon to hang it from. Here it is on my front door. (Excuse my reflection in the window)

I am very pleased with the way it turned out and even more pleased that it only cost me $3 to make since I already had the eggs on hand. I will try and share the rest of my Easter decor very soon. See you later on for Mmm Mmm Mondays. Until next time, BYE!

Linking to:

Kim at Savvy Southern Style

ONE YEAR!

Well lets go ahead and make it official, I have been blogging for an entire year as of today. Happy Blogiversary to me! It is really amazing and shocking to me that an entire year has flown by just like that. A lot has happened since I started this little blog of mine, and I wouldn't change anything for the world.

I have come a long way since the day I sat down to write my first ever blog post, and I hope to continue to grow in the future. My writing, decorating, and personal style have changed a bit since the beginning, but I strive to remain the person that I was when I first started this little venture. It's easy to get sucked in to the blogging world and become someone your not based on the things that you see and the way that you compare yourself to others, but I vow to always remain true to myself and my family the best way I know how.

I am going to be celebrating this little milestone of mine tonight by getting together with my best friends for some much needed girl time, with a few cocktails and games. I'll be sure to have a glass for you! :) I wanted to share these picture of my little sweet pea because I can't believe how big she has gotten since starting this venture one year ago. Makes this momma's heart

sad :(

Sweet pea at age 9 months (picture from my first blog post)

Sweet pea at age 21 months. (one year later) Still has the same infectious smile!

It's been a fun ride and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me and my family. Thanks to those that have been following me since the beginning and I hope you will continue to stick with me to see what I have up my sleeve. Until next time, BYE!!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #16

This post is going to be short and sweet because this momma has a headache and is about ready to go to bed. Tonight for dinner we had hamburgers, coleslaw and potato salad. We ended up having to cook the burgers inside because hubby was unaware that the propane was out on the grill and he had already made one trip to the gas station. I always love a burger straight from the grill, but they were still tasty. I used a recipe found on pinterest by littlemissmomma.com. You can find the original recipe here.

Monterrey Jack Barbecue Burger

You will need:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup shredded monterrey jack cheese

1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

season salt to taste

black pepper

onion powder

Mix all ingredients well and then form your patties. Grill/Cook them to your liking and (viola!) you just made a delicious burger. Add your toppings of choice and enjoy!

Sorry I do not have any pictures, but head on over to little miss momma and check her out. I'm gonna go take something for this headache and head towards my bed. Until next time, BYE!

Luck of the Irish

Hope everyone has had a wonderful St Patty's Day! I know we did, and the weather here was beautiful until about 4 hours ago. Did you all get to pinch anyone that wasn't wearing green today?? I got a few people. He he :)

This morning a leprachaun got ahold of our breakfast and turned our cinnamon rolls green. Can you believe that!? They were still every bit as delicious though. Didn't find any rainbows with gold at the end of them though, which was kind of disappointing.

Sweet pea looked precious as ever in her St. Patty's duds. It breaks my heart that she is getting so big.

She got to play at Nana's house while mommy and daddy worked. Her and Nana are best buds!

To top off the great day, I made fish and chips for dinner, and what goes better with that, well green beer of course! It was delicious and the first time sweet pea had ever had fish and she loved it!! She even asked for more after her plate was empty. I was throughly impressed.

Tomorrow my leprachaun wreath will be coming down and the Easter decorations will be going up. Easter will be quickly upon us and I want to be able to enjoy them for a little while.

Gonna try and take a much needed break from the computer tomorrow and spend some quality time with the fam. I will hopefully see all of you for Mmm Mmm Monday.

Until next time, BYE!

Master Bedroom Makeover

I have been working on my bedroom makeover off and on for about 8 months now, but in the past couple weeks I have really been focused on finishing. I never realized how hard it was to find specific items within a specific price range. I feel like every time I saw something I liked it was either too expensive or I didn't have any money to spend at that time on home decor. I still have a few things that I would like to get for the room, but it is about 90% finished, so I thought I would go ahead and share the transformation.

I of course didn't take any pics of what the room looked like right before I recently started changing things, so all I have are pics from when we first moved into our home 3 1/2 years ago. I am kind of embarrassed to show you these pics because my decorating style has come a LONG way since then, but it will give you a better idea of a before and after.

BEFORE

Terrible isn't it?? Hopefully you will enjoy the after much better.

AFTER













So what do you think?? I happen to LOVE my bedroom now, and can't wait to get it 100% complete! I am still looking for a round pedestal table to replace the current nightstand. I would like to find one that is in not so great condition because I want to paint it a pale blue color to match the blue in the bedspread. I am also needing some storage baskets for the closet and a new hamper, because the one I am currently using used to be my parents and they had it when I was little, so it is pretty much falling apart. I just haven't seemed to come across one that I really love.

Here are some details on the room:

Bedspread and accents pillows- TJ Maxx last year

Lamp- Hobby Lobby

Frame and "G"-Hobby Lobby (spray painted white by me)

Botanical prints- free printable found here

Jewelry Box- JC Penney (gift from hubby and painted white by me)

Dresser-hubby's that I painted and distressed

Wall Art- Canvas covered with fabric

Shutters- re-purposed from mom and dad's house

Ball Jar candle holder-made by me

Fleur de lis hooks- Hobby Lobby

Bird Dish- purchased at a local consignment shop and painted by me (inspired by this at PB)

Framed Picture- wedding gift (watercolor painting of our wedding venue on our wedding invitation)

If you have questions about anything else I didn't mention or you would like to know further info. about something I did mention, just shoot me a message and let me know. Thanks for stopping by and touring my bedroom. Until next time, BYE!!

Partying at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Mmm Mmm Mondays #15

I promised you all that I would have a recipe this week, and I am not one to break promises. I am super excited to be sharing this recipe with you all this week, because it is probably one of my favorite recipes that I have made in a while. You all already know that this girl LOVES pasta, but what you didn't know is that I also love seafood! Not quite as much as pasta, but it comes in fairly close. When I came upon this recipe from The Pioneer Woman on Pinterest, I knew right away that I wanted to try it. Here is what you will need to get started.

Penne Shrimp Pasta a la Betsy

You will need:

3/4 lb penne pasta

1 lb shrimp

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth

1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)

1 cup heavy cream

fresh parsley-to taste

fresh basil-to taste

salt and pepper to taste

To get started boil a pot of water and cook your pasta as directed on the package. I usually cook mine about 10 mins.

While your pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet, then add 2 tbsp olive oil.

Chop your whole onion finely and add it to your skillet along with your garlic. Begin cooking, stirring occasionally.

While that's cooking, pull the tails off all your shrimp and then cute them into bite sized pieces. (*In the original recipe she bought uncooked shrimp and then cooked them herself, I opted to buy fresh pre-cooked shrimp to skip a step, plus for some reason it is cheaper than the uncooked frozen stuff)

Now back to your skillet. Once the onion and garlic have cooked down a bit add your white wine. I opted to use chicken broth because I didn't have any wine on hand, which I wish I had, but next time I will for sure use the wine. The chicken broth still did the job though, so if your not a wine drinker don't worry about it.

Next add your can of tomato sauce.

Stir together well.

You will then add your 1 cup of heavy cream.

Stir that together well. You have just made a tomato cream sauce, give yourself a big pat on the back just like I did!! :)

Add your shrimp to the cream sauce and stir together.

The recipe called for fresh herbs but to be honest I forgot to pick them up at the grocery store before making this meal, so I just used the good ol' dried stuff I already had at home. It still worked, just didn't give it that punch of fresh flavor. Add some salt and pepper to taste as well.

Go ahead and drain your pasta and add it to your skillet.

Give your skillet a big stir. Go ahead and taste it one more time to see if any salt or pepper need to be added.

Once your done, serve it up add a little fresh grated parm on top and Enjoy!

Like I said this dish was a BIG hit with me and hubby quite enjoyed it too. I will definitely be making some more of the Pioneer Woman recipes in the future. I will definitely be adding this one to our "go to" dinner ideas. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Until next time, BYE!!