Whatta Guy!

You know you've got yourself a keeper when you walk up to check the mail and find a SUPRISE! subscription greeting you...



Of course, after discovering my copies of Real Simple in the mailbox, I had to return the gesture by whipping up a hearty feast for my knight in shining armor who clearly understands a woman's need to know "why eating all day is actually good for you" Really?! Good for you? Thank you, dear, sweet Real Simple magazine; bless your little heart.



I know you're just dying to know the recipe, so here it is:



Apparently, my glory days of domestication and jelly making have left me. Not only evidenced by the fabulous recipe above, but also by the pile of laundry still sitting in the washing machine from last night. Oops.

If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to reading my new subscription and browse the ads for more great recipes- of the frozen food nature, of course. =)

31

That's all. 31 days until we set sail on a… [insert drum roll here]

 

7 day Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise!!!

31 days until we leave the north- Florida bound for a second Honeymoon with the man of my dreams (very cheesy. You're welcome.)

31 x 1,000,000,000. The number of times I told the Bossman I would never join him on a cruise due to my obsessive compulsive tendencies that reveal themselves anytime my feet leave solid ground. Airplanes, roller coasters, and monkey bars included.

31. The number of times a week I watched Titanic in middle school –partially probably entirely to blame for my fear of sailing. I am currently online shopping for one of these to wear throughout the duration of our cruise.



31. Speaking of Titanic…the number of times I wrote about Leonardo DiCaprio in my diary. Ahem.

31. The number of "Chillaxin' Cruise Tunes" I already have lined up for my ipod on my mental playlist.

31. The number of dollars I will need to buy myself one of these before we leave. Finally an excuse to wear an outrageous accessory! Happiness!


31. The number of room service orders I will make within the 7 day time period. Thank you sweet all-inclusive meal plan.

31. The number of medicine bottles and other first aid related products I will be bringing on board in the event all my fears are realized and TJ and I both contract some sort of stomach-virus-rash-itch-swelling-sting-ache-tapeworm-cruise-wrecking-illness. We will be prepared, my friends.

31. The number of times I am most certainly guaranteed to ask the Bossman "are you sure we're not gonna sink?!?" in the first 5 minutes after boarding the craft. Additionally, the number of times I am most certainly guaranteed to ask the Bossman "are you sure I'm not gonna be seasick?!?" each 30 minute interval from now until the day we return to dry land in early September. It must be a pretty fun job to be my husband. Who wouldn't want to have a job description that requires one to calm irrational fears on an hour by hour minute by minute basis???

31. The number of classy and expensive cliché and tacky souvineers I plan to bring home with me from the Caribbean.

31. The number of days!!! We positively cannot wait!

And don't worry, we might have every intention of storming the front of the ship to effectively execute the scene below:



And yes, I'll take pictures. =)

SOS Please!

We've narrowed down our party-like-its-August-2009-and-your-hubby-just-finished-his-last-college-class-EVER-and-your-wife-is-turning-24-! options...

tHiS for 4 days:





4 Day Disney Cruise with stops in:
Nassau, Bahamas
Castaway Cay

oR

tHaT for 7 days:





7 Day Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean Cruise with stops in:
Le...something,Haiti
Ochos Rios, Jamaica
Grand Caymen
Cozumel, Mexico


We need help deciding!
The kid in us wants to go on the Disney cruise, and the vacationer in us wants to take the longer Caribbean cruise.
What do you think?

Just about time for an excursion...

Today we are imagining the possibilities.




The hubby finishing his final class after going to college for 5 years (not to mention 4 days a week of night classes for 6 weeks this summer-ugg!) and my 24th birthday calls for a celebration of mass proportions, don't you think?

We think so.

And we're imagining the possibilities.







Any suggestions?!?

LoViNg Us SoMe SuMmErTiMe

Today feels like a beach day.

Sprinkles & Wrinkles Book Club

I added a new gadget to the right sidebar of my blog featuring books I've recently read or am currently reading. This is mostly in an effort to motivate me to carve out more time in my day for reading, but also in an attempt to share my love of books. I love love love to read, but rarely take the time to curl up on the couch with a good book. I'm working on reading through the Bible in a year- 4 chapters a day, and then working at carving out some time to read another "D.E.A.R."(Drop Everything And Read- inspired by the time I spend in the elementary classroom throughout the school year =])book. So I'm hoping that the fun of posting the cover of the book I'm reading on my sidebar will encourage me in my literary endeavors. =)

This new gadget is additionaly in part due to the fact that I just finished reading an incredibly humbling novel by Patricia McCormick that I must share with you. I swallowed this book whole in 48 hours and find that my heart is just aching for women who share the tragedy of this story. The novel is beautifully written in a series of short poems and is a quick, though heavy, read that has pushed me to be in prayer for women at risk across the world. A story like Sold puts life in perspective and makes me so grateful for organizations like Women At Risk International (warinernational.org) whose mission is to "offer a safe place to turn crisis into a story of hope by wrapping arms of love and whispering the message of worth." Ministries like WAR International allow one to read a novel like Sold and then do something to help those whose stories squeeze your heart til it aches. Sold is definitely on my list of recommended adult summer reading, and WAR International's WAR Chest is definitely on my list of recommended summer shopping. =)



If you've read any of the books under "Sprinkles & Wrinkles Book Club" please comment and let me know what you thought! And I'd love to hear of any books you've read that have made it to your "Recommended Summer Reading" list! =)


Next book on the shelf: Crazy Love by Francis Chan..."a book about being overwhelmed by a relentless God." I'll let you know how it goes. =)

A Blueberry Apron

Since our house has been put up for sale, I have packed away just about everything we own that wasn't stowed away in a cupboard or closet.

This was an unfortunate truth for my plans to be domesticated and make blueberry muffins this morning with the blueberries the little ladies I nanny for and I picked this week. In addition to the blueberry muffins, I had big plans to wear the blueberry apron my sister sewed for me as a wedding gift. Because who doesn't love a batch of blueberry muffins baked by a girl in an adorable blueberry apron?

Big plans.



As I pulled the eggs out of the fridge to check the expiration date before I got my hopes up, it dawned on me that all of my cookbooks are packed away and in storage. Sigh. Devested that my attempt to be domestic this morning had failed before I even had my coffee, I began sulking, ready to resort to a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats. Before all hope was dashed, I remembered the beauty of the internet, and logged onto Food Network to find this life saver of a recipe. Not my grandmother's recipe like I had hoped, but she's spunky and southern, and so is my grandmother, so that has to count for something. Right?

Paula Dean's Blueberry Muffins (abridged)

2 c. flour *
2 T baking powder *
1/2 c. sugar *
1 stick butter, melted #
1 egg, slightly beaten #
3/4 c. whole milk #
1 1/2 c. fresh blueberries
1/2 c. granulated brown sugar

Preheat @ 350
Combine all *'s
Pour in all #'s
Fold in blueberries
Bake 10 min.
Remove, sprinkle tops with brown sugar and return to bake for 10-15 min.
Cool 10 min., Serve.

My kind of recipe. Less than 10 ingredients and a mix it/bake it/serve it action plan. Throw in a little Frank Sinatra on the radio and a cute apron, and you've got yourself a domestic homemade breakfast.

Thank you, Paula. You saved the day!

For an unabridged version of this delicious muffin recipe, visit http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/blueberry-muffin-recipe/index.html












Have a super Saturday, y'all!



*Freckles*

Have I told you about the theme dinner nights?

For over a year now, me and the Bossman along with our siblings have been getting together and throwing "Theme Dinner Nights." These came about last summer when we found we all had an excessive amount of time on our hands and needed something more interesting to do than watch one episode of Lost after another for hours on end...not that I didn't enjoy that- there were just some in the party who didn't find it to be a legitimate way for one to spend an entire summer.

So the scoop is, for a year we've been doing this- one of the four of us hosts the night, we rotate turns as host/hostess, and there are three simple rules we follow:

1) There must be a theme

2) The host must serve a theme-related dinner

3) The host must plan various theme-related activities

So it's kinda like a 6 year old birthday party, only for 20 something year olds that could most definitely find something better to do with their time, but tend to resort to a theme dinner night every once in a while because it makes for some great scrapbooking pictures and is relatively inexpensive.

Anyway...

Tonight was the Bossman's turn to host, and he did not let us down.

The theme: Artsy Evening

The dinner: frozen pizza (Another rule I forgot to mention...no complaining is allowed on theme dinner nights. So in the event the host fails to follow rule #2 by providing a theme-related dinner (ahem), one must bite his tongue and hold out for a pb&j following the end of all theme dinner night related activities.)

The activity: a visit to the local Art Museum to get some culture

We had a rip-roaring good time, which may mostly be attributed to the funky-artsy outfits we adorned and the mini-photo shoot we had prior to arriving at the museum.

Like I said, valuable scrapbooking potential! =)









Artsy.

Wishing you and yours a very artsy weekend...and dinners consisting of more than processed cheese and high fructose corn syrup.

*Freckles*

Thrifting

Once upon a rainy Thursday...



we went thrifting



at a flea market



with our southern company.



A delightful day,



boasting fluffy bunnies



and potbelly pigs.



We came home with sacks full of treasures.

And no bunnies.

Or pigs.



The End.

Woe is the Starbucks Classic Sausage English Muffin

Back in action after a weekend in Chicago and lots of plum jelly. And ice cream.



Let's just say, the segways didn't exactly work out. Partially because we're on the Dave Ramsey plan, and it's not exactly in the envelopes, and partially because I'm obsessed with the larger than life American Girl store, and we spent more than our fair share of time there on Saturday. So the segways were out. But window shopping and Italian dining were in. Fantastic photography by my brother-in-law =)











Lots of sprinkles this weekend, the only wrinkles emerging when I began to seriously regret downing that hearty breakfast sandwich and vanilla latte I grabbed at Starbucks on our way out of Chicago. The Classic Sausage English Muffin is, as it turns out, not the world's best traveling companion.

Despite the wrinkle that was a poor choice of breakfast, we had a blast! Thanks to our Chicagonian(?)! Uncle for showing us a great time!





In other news, I finally finished 24 Season 7, meaning I am officially caught up, and can say with full confidence that January 2010 is too far away to find out what happens next. I already miss being able to pop in a DVD to quench my curiousity.

I'm not sure I'll make it.


*Freckles*

Almost Wordless Wednesday

"If you can give your daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm."
-Bruce Barton





































7 hours and 20 jars of jelly later...

"Making jelly is a pain in the butt. That's why they sell it in the store." -Mom