Baseball!

How did you spend your Memorial Day? I hope you were able to spend some time with family and friends relaxing (and eating) and remembering those who have served and are serving us in our military. We are a truly blessed people.

The Husband and I spent our Memorial Day at the baseball park. I'll admit, it was a little on the warmish side of things but it wasn't unpleasant, actually it was really nice. We were able to get 2 club leve tickets for the price of 1 through groupon {click here} and as it turns out our tickets were right behind home plate and they were in the shade! :) Yes, we were very happy! Not much of a better place to sit and watch a ball game!

Hope your holiday was restful and fun!

polka dots

Confession time: I love polka dots! Why? Because they are happy! I mean, how can you not smile when you see something that is all polka dotted???!?!? Exactly. I rest my case. I love polka dots so much that I have polka dotted dishes and coffee mugs. (My wonderful in-laws found them and gave them to me at Christmas. And the dishes are oven, freezer, microwave safe- happiness!) Here are pictures:

I only have the mugs but aren't they cute?!? They are from Pier One but I don't know if they were a seasonal item or something. 

These are awesome! I love these dishes! In addition to the oven/freezer/microwave safe features, they are also dishwasher safe and come clean really easily. You can find them {here}. 

I found this hand towel on Pinterest. LOVE IT! You should really check out Pinterest {here}.

What about you? Do you have a pattern, a color, etc that never ceases to make you smile? Do tell! 

Coffee

I have to buy a new coffee maker today. I've needed a new one for a while but I've been putting it off. I hadn't planned on buying the one I chose today, but no regrets. My old coffee maker kept leaking and that's very annoying in the mornings when I'm not caffeinated and trying to pour the coffee and not make a mess. You see, the coffee that had leaked out would pool under the carafe and drip into a big puddle on my counter- very messy. So, today the husband and I went and bought a new one. This one.

It's a Keurig Elite and it brews 1 cup of coffee at a time. It really makes sense since I'm the only one who drinks coffee on a daily basis. But I had been avoiding buying one because they are expensive. Now that I've got one, I'm happy with it. No regrets :) And, perhaps best of all, no mess!

Laundry

Laundry. Its my sworn enemy. In the past 3 days I have done 12 loads of laundry. 12. Twelve. One dozen. That's a LOT of laundry! I didn't think that two people could accumulate that much laundry but it's true. To be fair, five of those loads have been linens or towels but that's still a lot of clothes to be washed, dried, folded, and put away, and that's a lot of linens and such too!

There is a confession under all of this laundry: I haven't been caught on up laundry since D and I got married three months ago. Yes, this is essentially THREE MONTHS worth of laundry. Epic fail on my part. Now, I have done laundry since we got married but I haven't been caught up on it. This means that as of now I am caught up on laundry! Yay! I should have a party! Ok, not really. Next week will probably put me a little more behind again (Working and house sitting all week) but for right now, I'm caught up! It's a beautiful thing! 

I don't know if you have a laundry detergent that you absolutely love, but I do. I'm in a sharing mood so I'm sharing my favorite laundry detergent with you. Here it is: Arm and Hammer Liquid Launrdy Detergent, Clean Burst

My mom had been using it (before I got married) and I knew it worked well but thought that it was just of the new front loader HE washers and dryers, but it's not! I was thrilled to learn that it was for the traditional top-loader washers too! I really do love the way this detergent cleans and smells! I love for my clean laundry to smell fresh and clean, in my book, there's not much else that smells as good as fresh, clean laundry. I know, I'm weird. 

Someday, I am going to have a legit laundry room. I currently have a laundry cubby (comes with living in an apartment) but someday I would like to have a laundry room like this: 

I wouldn't need the 3 machines, 2 will be fine (1 washer and 1 dryer) and yes, I want front-loaders. I like the cleanness of the room, it's soothing... Do you have a laundry issue? A dream laundry room? A favorite washer/dryer? Do tell!!!!

Adorable Mirrors

Ok, so the sunburst mirrors that are so popular right now and are totally fabulous? Well, today I stumbled across this cute take on the idea. 

And here it is with close pins: 

Aren't these cute! If I was a teacher I would use one of these, probably the pencils, in my class room! Love it! 

Hats

I have to say that it is nice to have a chance blog again. This past week has been C-R-A-Z-Y! But here I am, back in front of my computer, sitting on my couch with my cup of coffee- it's a happy place.

I have a friend coming over at lunch to do a trial run of her makeup for her wedding this weekend. I love doing makeup for people, especially weddings! That to say, I should probably be getting the laundry out of the living room and stashing it away till I have time to finish folding hanging everything, but it can wait a little bit longer.

Oh! And the Moroccan grilled chicken kabobs were WONDERFUL last night! The veggies weren't a new favorite, and the couscous was ok (my cooking error that made it just 'ok') but the chicken is officially on the list of go to recipes!

Ok. Hats. I wish I could wear them. But I'm afraid that I don't really know how to truly wear a hat. I understand that it belongs on your head and that it should complete an outfit but that's about where my hat knowledge ends. Sad, I know. But if I did wear a hat then I'd wear something like this...

{please ignore the makeup and look only at the hat}

{isn't this cute?! I love the vintage look! Perfect for the winter!}

Both of these hats are classy and oh so very retro, the following are NOT things that I'd ever wear and I don't think that anyone else should either... 

{ridiculous}

{Lovely color. Hideous outfit, esp the hat}

I understand the British tradition of wearing hats to certain events, including weddings and I understand wanting to make a fashion statement but these last two hats, seriously?!? Why would you want to look like a cartoon at such a glamorous event as the Royal Wedding? I would have gone with something a little more classic and elegant and less... crazy. 

Sight... I wish I could wear hats, but sadly I'm just not a hat person... However, I like the idea of hats, that has to count for something.

Menu Monday

First things first: It has been a crazy week and an even crazier weekend!
Next, this week's menu:

Monday: Homemade lasagna with salad and garlic bread
Tuesday: Moroccan grilled chicken kabobs with Moroccan roasted veggies and Israeli couscous
Friday: Roast beef with mashed potatoes, gravy and carrots
Sunday: Omelets

I know that's not a full week of food but the nights that are omitted are that way because I'm not cooking.

More blogging to come soon, but for now it's time to sleep!

Blessed

I have to admit that there are a lot of times in the business of my life that I forget to count my blessings. Yesterday was a reminder of just how blessed I am. We celebrated Mother's Day and a birthday with my husband's family (my family was out of town, not on purpose, it just happened that way) and it was really wonderful- lunch out and then a simple, family and close friends gathering that evening~ completely perfect!

Long before I even knew who I would marry, I began praying for my future husband's family to be godly, kind and loving people. I know, weird. I had heard stories of in-laws that were less than great and decided that I would pray that God would bless me with wonderful in-laws. Guess what? The Lord answered my prayers and has given me the BEST in-laws in the world! And I'm not just talking about my husband's immediate family, but his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and so on. I absolutely could not imagine marrying into and being part of a more wonderful, more Jesus-loving family that this! They are such a blessing to me!

God has also blessed me with a WONDERFUL husband! I had also been praying for a godly husband, lest you think that I only prayed for good in-laws. And once again, the Lord has showered blessings and grace upon my life (shocking, I know). My husband loves the Lord Jesus with all that he has, he loves me and provides for our family (the two of us and our kitties) and he loves my family. He is such a blessing to me!

In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says, "If you the, being evil, know how to give good girts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" I am a daddy's girl, always have been and always will be. I know my dad loves me but when I think about how much he loves me and how much my husband loves me, I cannot help but think and realize that my Heavenly Father loves me even more and it blows my mind! My Father in Heaven continues to shower blessings upon my life in all kinds of forms and each time I am amazed. Amazed by Grace. Amazed by Love. Amazed by Provision. My God is Amazing.

It is easy to get caught up in looking at the works of God's hands and forget that it is He we are to worship, not the things that He does. And it is equally as easy to look past to works of His hands at the day-to-dayness of our lives and get bogged down. There's laundry. There's cooking. There's cleaning. There's homework. There's work. There's... the list goes on and on. But I want to stop and take inventory of where I am in my life and the blessings that have been rained down from my Heavenly Father and in taking inventory, I find that I don't want to worship what He has done but that I want to worship Him.

My life is not perfect. My house is not clean (not all the time). My cooking doesn't always turn out like I plan it. My laundry pile is getting bigger (true fact). But I wouldn't trade even one dirty sock or poorly cooked meal or anything else to have another life. This life and this place God has me in my life journey with Him is mine, it is a blessing He has given me and I wouldn't trade it for all the clean dishes or vacuumed rugs in the world. I love me life! I love my Lord who gave it to me!

Shannon

PS: The Menu for this week:
monday~ smothered chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and beef over rice with steamed green beans
tuesday~ (friends coming over- yay!) shrimp appetizer, beef stir-fry over rice and homemade cheese cake for dessert
saturday and sunday~ pizza quesadillas and ? (I'm one meal short right now)

Wedding

What a crazy week! I can honestly say that I am glad it's over! No school for 3 months! I can clean my house! I can bake and cook! I can decorate our home! Yay! So excited!

Last night, my husband had to run sound for a wedding at our church so I did the only natural thing... I tagged along! :) You'd think I'd be sick of weddings since I've just gotten married, but no, I'm not. I have weddings to attend for the next two weeks and I'm SUPER excited! All that having been said, in honor of recent weddings (including the royal wedding) and the upcoming weddings, I am posting a few of my favorite weddings photos!

My dress! Wish I could wear it again!

I love shoes!

My wonderful friends! So blesses they could be part of that day! 

One of my favorite pictures of my husband!

As kids, we used to try and do this without getting caught...

Yes, that's a sound board... we spend a lot of time there.


Hope you enjoy these picture!

Also, partial menu from this last week:

monday: shrimp etouffee with garlic bread

tuesday: homemade chili w/ grilled cheese sandwich
{the chili recipe can be found in "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" by Ree Drummond}

Happy Week Beginning!

Shannon