fill in the blank friday

happy friday! i am exhausted today and ready to hop right back in bed. it doesn't help that it's really dreary outside - that always makes me sleepy. we have a big day tomorrow, so we're going to stay in and watch a movie tonight. i am pretty excited. if i could just get through the next 4 hours....

anywhoo, here are today's blanks...

1.  my first memory is   when we got our first family dog for christmas. when my brother burton and i were finished opening presents on christmas day, santa (my dad's friend) called us to say we had one more present upstairs in our closet. and there was a precious little white ball of fluff we named rudy. sadly, we had to give rudy back to santa after a couple weeks because rudy was not a good dog hahaha. but that's a story for another day!

2.  my first love was  our dog sam. i am a huge animal lover and once the fam recovered from the above event, we decided to give it a second try! we got sam when i was 6-7 years old, and he was the best. he passed away when i was a sophomore in college - in my mom's arms wrapped in my blanket. still brings tears to my eyes thinking about that :(

3.  my very first favorite color was  green. i went through a [short] phase when i was little where i wouldn't eat anything unless it was green. my mom had to food color my milk hahaha.

4. the first time i really felt like a "grown-up" was when    i moved to dallas after college and was officially "on my own" with a real job and a real salary and a "big girl apartment." though - i still don't really feel like an adult...

5. the first thing i do when i wake up in the morning is  take old bailey boy out and feed him - then hop in the shower with my hubs!

6. the first CD (cassette tape, record, etc...) i ever bought was  well, i used to have a record player back in the day and would rock out to "what's new pussycat" by tom jones and "crocodile rock" by elton john hahaha. my first cassette was selena - dreaming of you (the single), and my first cd was jock jams. yep. you heard that right. very eclectic, huh?

7.  my first car was a silver honda passport that all of my friends called the "poonport." the horn was hysterical - the wimpiest beep beep you can ever imagine! hence the name...poonport haha.

hope y'all have a great weekend! crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain all weekend in dallas. that will most certainly put a damper in our plans...

tasty thursday

for some reason, it has been one of those weeks that i couldn't leave the kitchen...literally, all i could think about and get excited about all week was cooking some of my pinterest recipes that have been calling my name! i wanted to share my creations for this week.

monday - crockpot cajun chicken

i've made this before (and posted about it last year), but it is still a favorite of mine. easy and delicious with a little bit of heat.

tuesday - homemade salsa

omg i am never ever buying canned salsa again. this was soo fresh and so delicious! totally worth it. not difficult either.

recipe

10 roma tomatoes

1 medium poblano pepper

1 medium jalapeño pepper

6 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium lime

1/2 bunch cilantro

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. sugar

heat oven to 450°F, and line a baking sheet with foil. rinse tomatoes and peppers. cut tomatoes in half and peel garlic. place tomatoes, garlic, poblano and jalapeno (leave peppers whole) on baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tbsp. olive oil. toss until well coated. roast for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through. remove from oven; cool.

place peppers on a cutting board. remove skin from poblano; remove tops and seed pods from both peppers.

combine all veggies (including juices) in a blender. if the veggies are still warm, place the blender in the fridge until they have cooled down. add cilantro, lime juice, salt, sugar and cumin to blender. Blend on low until ingredients are well mixed but still slightly chunky.

 joila!

wednesday - pumpkin muffins

it is officially pumpkin season, and if you know me, you know i am obsessed with all things pumpkin! so this was my first pumpkin recipe of the season, and i am in love. plus, they don't have any oil or eggs so they're only 100 calories each! if that's not something to celebrate, i don't know what is.

methinks i'm going to give cauliflower pizza another try this weekend...wish me luck.

oh, and tomorrow's friday. hollllaaaaaa!

my tv lineup

is anyone else soooo excited that the fall shows are finally starting up!? i for one am thrilled. while my staples - the office, glee, parks & rec and sons of anarchy - already started earlier this month, here are the other ones i'm looking forward to...

grey's - did anyone see the season finale in may? holy moly

i think this one has potential - looks kinda eerie!

 

this looks lost-like, which i dig. plus, scott speedman isn't terrible to look at

i'm a glee and smash fan, so this is an obvious watch for me!

 my sister-in-law is trying to get me into revolution, but the nonstop promos for the past 6 months annoyed me so much so i'm trying to boycott it haha. maybeeee i'll watch last week's ep on hulu this weekend and decide for myself.

any new tv shows you're excited about/just started watching and love?? do tell!

weekend and book review

happy monday! our lake weekend was pretty amazing, but i am extremely sore from water skiing for the first time in months. the good news is...i learned how to drop a ski! yes, it's a bummer that i learned the very last trip of the year, but i plan to master slalom skiing by the end of next summer :)

some instas from the weekend...

i heart the lake!

 

 has anyone read this? holy moly. if you're looking for a good read that you can't put down, buy this book immediately. i started it 3 weeks ago and just finished yesterday. i can only read books that grab me from the very beginning, and boy does this one do that! i highly recommend.

nothing else to report. feeling sore but refreshed today and excited for the week and weekend ahead!

hope everyone has a blessed week.

tis the last day of summer

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

juuuuust kidding. it just felt right? 

anyyyway, it's officially the last day of summer, and i gotta say...i'm kinda ready for fall. the gorgeous weather we've been having certainly helps persuade my opinion :) dallas has been gorgeous this week. i officially started half marathon training and have run outside twice this week - both days were perfect. keep it up, dallas! i've also been busy pinning my favorite fall recipes and outfits. hey, i'm not wedding planning anymore, okay? i gotta find something to do with my spare time! 

well, this week was a long one. one that felt like it was never going to end. so i am thrilled it's finally friday and i have a couple days to relax. hubs and i are headed to the lake after work for our final lake trip this year. tear.

1.  something i am very proud of is   the fact that i am still so close with my high school and college friends. keeping in touch isn't easy - especially when everyone lives hundreds of miles away, but my friends are truly amazing and one of a kind. they're the kind of friends you could not see for months or years, but once you get together, nothing has changed. hence why i had 11 bridesmaids. yes, you read that correctly.

2.  my favorite thing about myself is  my ability to get things done. i get easily overwhelmed and stress myself out over things, but i am dependable to a fault and never miss a deadline. i am totally a list maker, and i love crossing things off that list!

3.  my favorite color for fall is  normally i would say black, but i've been really into tan/creme/gold lately (at least my pinterest boards have been...)

4. something i've been learning lately is    that i need to be more patient. it's something i will have to work at every single day, but i let little things (i.e. traffic, long lines, etc.) get to me wayyyy too much.

5. a book i am reading now/have read recently is  gone girl - i've actually had it on my kindle for a while and finally started reading it a couple weeks ago. it is pretttttty addicting. i am 80% done and hope to finish it this weekend!

6. my favorite pandora station is  ooohh, totally depends on my mood. at work, i go for coldplay, garth brooks or mumford & sons. roadtrips/partytime calls for kenny chesney, justin timberlake or rihanna.

7.  this weekend i will   be relaxing by the lake! truly can't wait to get my last [true] tan of the year.

hope you all have a fantastic weekend and are getting ready for fall!

rent the runway

have any of you tried it? i have used it three times...the first time, i wasn't a fan of the dress. good thing i had a backup. the second time, they called 2 days before the weekend and said the dress i ordered was "damaged," and i needed to pick out another dress [that they had in stock] in place of it. the dress i ended up getting was pretty, but that little glitch gave me a minor panic attack since i had no backup for the black tie wedding i was attending. so far, i was not so impressed with rent the runway. anyway, i tried it this past weekend for a wedding and absolutely looooooved the dress i chose/they sent me! it was the first time i could be a true advocate for rtr. i'll let you decide...

 

i'm pretty into it. maybe i just got lucky and chose a really cute/great fitting dress, but i'm a fan! if you've never heard of rtr, i urge you to check it out. it's a web site that rents out designer dresses for a fraction of the cost. i.e. the above tibi dress costs $675, but i rented it for $50 (normally it rents for $100, but i had some credit to use so it was only $50 for me). anywhoo, quite a bargain if you're looking for something nice for a wedding or black tie event and don't feel like spending hundreds of chedda on a new dress that you'll probably never wear again. i don't know that i'd spend $100 on a dress, but $50 is a pretty good deal! has anyone else used it and love/hate it?

sidenote, the wedding was so much fun! i had mixed feelings about it since i'm really not "over" hubby and i's wedding yet, but it was a blast to catch up with friends, eat good food and dance the night away in fort worth.

p.s. is it friday yet?

boring week / exciting weekend

good morning and happy almost weekend! this week has been pretty uneventful, aside from some delicious cooking and a super fun girl's night out last night. trey and i have a wedding in fort worth tomorrow, and this will [obviously] be our first wedding since OUR wedding. i wasn't very excited about it because i'm really not ready to stop celebrating our marriage but i realized that was silly, and i needed to get over it haha. weddings with friends are always fun...and it's in a different city so we get to stay overnight in old funky town woop woop!

1.  my favorite grade in school was   senior year of high school...it was so fun being the "big guns" on campus

2.  my favorite teacher was  mr. cook   because,  well, he used to date my aunt back in high school, so we always had a funny/quirky relationship because of that. but he was a great teacher and i loved playing "buzz" every friday in algebra.

3.  the highest level of education i have completed is   a bachelor's of arts degree in public relations and a minor in business.

4. school lunches for me were usually    nasty in elementary school because we weren't allowed to bring a homemade lunch and had to eat the disgusting cafeteria food. much better in middle and high school (chick fil a, papa johns, etc.), and we got to leave campus for lunch when we were seniors. holla!

5. the amount of money you'd have to pay me to go back to high school would be  not much. i loved high school! i went to a small prep school, so our class was very close and i had amazing girlfriends that are still best friends of mine today (4 were in my wedding!)

6. a few things that will always remind me of going back to school are  backpacks, office depot, tax-free weekend and new clothes.

7.  the first day of school was always   so exciting! almost like butterflies in your tummy. i would always pick out my outfit weeks in advance, wake up early to do my hair and makeup and get to school early to meet all my girlfriends.

hope you all have a fab september weekend!