Awesome

Grace: I ate my whole plate at supper.
Scott: You did?
Grace: And my ice-cream too!
Megan: Grace got ice cream as a treat for cleaning her plate completely.
Scott: Good girl.
(Grace and Scott high-five)
Grace: It was awesome!

Not 3 minutes later...

Grace: I saw Mommy and Daddy on tv.
Scott: You saw Mommy and Daddy on tv?
Grace: Yep, it was awesome!

A photo of my awesome baby girl taken a little earlier this afternoon...

NYC

Scott and I are in New York for a long weekend! We've already had lots of amazing food, went to the Live with Kelly show, the natural history museum, a Broadway show, dinner with Scott's college roommate, and just tooled around Manhattan! We're having a great time!

This picture was taken on Thursday night in Times Square.

We're getting ready to venture out for another fun day, in the snow this time!

A little funny...

When I was in my Elf on a Shelf craze I came across a blog post: "Over Achieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies". While some of my friends probably would have called me that, I wasn't as crazed as some other people I knew or from other ideas I'd seen on the internet, which is why I found so much humor in her blog post.

The title of her blog is "People I Want to Punch in the Throat". Her blog is meant to be a joke: funny and satirical. She even says, "You don't have to take me seriously, because I don't take myself seriously."

Her latest post is called:

Rules for Parents with Daughters
I found this list of rules so very true and made me realize how thankful I am to have a Mom who taught me said things.

Since most of my closest friends have sons, this post is for you: Rules for Parents with Sons

Another Birthday...

While I'm blessed to have the most amazing Daddy who's always there and loves me unconditionally and Grace is blessed with a Daddy that loves her to the moon and back, this video is still really powerful. Just wanted to share it with you all.

I'm thankful for the birthdays I've share with my Daddy and the birthdays I've shared with Grace. I can't believe that she's turning 3 in just 4 short months.

iPad fun

Scott gifted an iPad to me for my birthday! I've just gotten around to really using it within the past week, as a matter of fact I'm typing this blog post on my iPad. I've finally gotten a few apps on it for me too. As soon as I got it I loaded it with quite a few apps for Grace. In turn she has used it WAY more than me and calls it "her 'puter". Other than her apps she loves to play with the iPad camera. It has some really cool features and can take some pretty funny photos!

Just wanted to share some of Grace's self portraits. :)

This funky setting seems to be her favorite!

2012 Goals...

I'm not a fan of new years resolutions, instead I have a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. I haven't been too successful getting that list completed yet but I did set a few goals for 2012: Blog More and Get Organized!

One of my goals last year was to blog more too, but I acutally blogged less last year than I did in 2010. 77 posts last year, 87 posts in 2010 and 100 posts in 2009. My goal this year is to have more than I did in 2009.

As far as the Get Organized goal goes I have a whole board on Pinterest devoted to really cool organizing ideas for when I finally find the time to get organized!





So far in 2012 I have:
*organized our pantry here in Raleigh
*the cabinet over our refrigerator at the bay
*my boots in my closet (more on that later)
*Scott's sweaters (using this method to folding, which is so much better than how I was folding them).

Nothing major quite yet. My closet is in TERRIBLE need of organizing, but that's going to be an all day event for sure and is going to need lots of planning before I start. I'm afraid I might fall in! ;) I've purchased plastic tubs, closet hangers with the clips on them, and shower curtain holders to be prepared when the organizing bug hits, so I'm getting prepared!

I've had this 21 day challenge on my pinterest "organizing" board for some time now I knew it was time to get going! Another blog I follow, Missi's Musings, (Missi was a teacher at Holly Springs when I taught there, she still teaches there) started her challenge and it's given me a push to start my 21 Day challenge too! There are also some things on the list that don't really apply to our home, so I'll probably do some substituting. I loved how Missi said, "I buy magazines and then only read part of them, so I keep them beside my bed or in the bathroom until I get the chance to read them, which then turns into a stack of magazines." I do the same thing! I have a stack of magazines on my desk, 17 high, that I haven't had the time to look at but I won't get rid of them because I hope one day I'll have the time to do so!

What's something you need to organize?

Want to join the 21 Day Organizing Challenge with me? If so here's the list:
Day 1 - Junk Drawer
Day 2 - Computer Desk
Day 3 - Tupperware Cabinet
Day 4 - Linen Closet
Day 5 - Under kitchen sink
Day 6 - Dresser Drawers
Day 7 - The Pantry
Day 8 - Coat Closet
Day 9 - Toy organization
Day 10 - Laundry Room
Day 11 - The Freezer
Day 12 - Spice Cabinet
Day 13 - Medicine Cabinet
Day 14 - Under bathroom sink
Day 15 - Medicine/Vitamin Storage
Day 16 - The Fridge
Day 17 - The Mail
Day 18 - Keepsakes
Day 19 - Master Closet
Day 20 - Photos
Day 21 - You pick!


Guess I better get busy and get to organizing my junk drawer(S)! ;)

Gobble, Gobble

I know everyone is always looking for new recipes, I for one LOVE new trying new recipes, but HATE when they don't turn out. Luckily I've been doing fairly well with them turning out pretty good lately. I know it may be a little too late after the holidays for a what to do with your leftover turkey, but I wanted to share with you 3 turkey dinners that we had last week. Yes, 3 turkey dinners in one week, and they actually were 3 days in a row! :) I never do that, but the turkey was just too good!

Scott's Mom bought a turkey fryer just before Thanksgiving and has enjoyed frying turkeys. Scott made a big deal to her how wonderful her turkey was at Christmas so she fried us one to take back to Raleigh with us. I picked it up on a Monday and we ate turkey Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday nights! :)

Monday night: Open-face hot turkey sandwich - this was so yummy and the key was BBQ bread. I toasted BBQ bread (no butter) in the oven while I heated up the Turkey Gravy and turkey. I'd never bought turkey gravy, but Heinz makes it and it wasn't bad at all. Poured the gravy and turkey over the BBQ bread, and voila!

Tuesday night: Basic Turkey Sandwiches - Whitewheat bread, mayo, lots of black pepper, and turkey! On this day I also made the stock for Wednesday nights dinner. In the crock-pot I cooked all day on low the turkey carcass in water with some celery and onion. Before bed I drained the stock into a bowl to save for Wednesday's Soup.

Wednesday night: Turkey and Wild Rice Soup - you can see the recipe here. Althought it was good it had a bit of a bite to it. I think maybe that was from the balsamic vinegar?



Complete with a grilled cheese, and BAM! What do you do with your leftover turkey?