Fun at the Saster's

We went over to Maegan's house (that would be the Saster) last week for dinner. She texted me and said she had 20 sandwiches already made and needed help eating them. Free food. I'm in. Here are some pictures :)

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

I'm back!!! Miss me? It's Wednesday and that means it's time for Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday. It has been a while so I'll explain how it works. Every Wednesday I recap some of the weird/sad/crappy (wonky) and happy/funny/not crappy (woot-tastic) things that have happened throughout the week. Let's get to it!

Wonky
-    When did it become OK for people to call other people fat? It's not ok. It's rude and hateful. It's particularly rude and hateful when someone expresses to you that they don't appreciate your comments on their weight and you continue to do so. You're not funny, you're mean so stop.
-    It's summer here in the great state of Texas and that means it's pretty toasty. Not as toasty as usual but toasty none-the-less. Which means I sweat. A lot. Sorry but it's true and it's annoying.
-    Sharing a bathroom with a guy is gross.
-    I love to cook but I am in desperate need of some non-chicken recipes. You know you make chicken too much when your husband sends you this text:

-    My sweet little Jixer had surgery Monday. He went in to remove two cysts, one under his arm and one under his chest. When they removed the cyst under his arm they realized part of it was actually a tumor. The good news is the vet is pretty confident it was benign and he said they removed it all. Jixer should be just fine. He was VERY high his first day home and very pathetic. He is now back to his normal goofy self. If he jumps on or off the couch again I think Ryan might have a heart attack though. 

-    Any Game Of Throne watchers out there???? Do I really need to tell you why this is under Wonky? If you haven't seen the season finale.... you need to go watch it so you can cry and be depressed and hate the world with me. Go ahead. Watch it. Let me know your thoughts when you do.

Woot-tastic
-    Maegan came over with AJ and Kate to go swimming. We had LOTS of fun! Can't wait for them to come back.

 -    I love my Erin Condren Life Planner. People probably think I'm a little nuts but it motivates me to get things done. I decorate it so it's pretty and nice to look at which makes it more fun to check things off my to do list. I love my planner so much that I have corrupted my friend into getting one and she has started corrupting other people. It's a wonderful cycle.

 -    I almost put this under wonky but it's woot-tastic too. My sweet little niece is going to be one next week and I think I'm in denial. Wasn't she just born like a week ago? Anywho, I went over to Maegan's house and we did a trial run of her cake. I can't decide if it's cute or creepy. Or both.

-    I had such a healthy lunch the other day it was almost scary. In the bowl was cut up strawberries and kiwi and some blueberries. Then I had a hard boiled egg and an avocado. It was so yummy and filling! I think I had pizza for supper...

 -    I am getting back in to photography! I'm super excited about it. Now that my schedule is a little less hectic I'm going to work really hard so I can get more experience and hopefully eventually I'll actually be a decent photographer with a decent little business!

Alright, well that's this weeks Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday. I'm glad to be back and hopefully you're glad I'm back too. In the meantime, what do y'all have planned for Father's Day?

Newlyweds

Like most girls, I have spent most of my life wondering what my wedding day would be like. Where would it be? What would my colors be? What food would I serve? What would my bridesmaids wear? What would I wear? I finally know the answers to all of those questions. It’s amazing how much time and energy you spend on ONE day of your life. One day. I have been planning ONE day since before I even knew who I would be marrying on that one day. It’s amazing how quickly that one day passes by. I barely remember it! I remember a very sick flower girl. I remember feeling like I should be more nervous and then FINALLY my nerves hit me when I started putting on my dress. I remember taking more pictures. I remember lining up to walk into the church and wondering why on earth it was taking so long for it to be MY TURN. I remember wondering if we were walking to fast (we were). I remember thinking my feet were going to fall off. I remember taking more pictures. We ate at some point, although not very much. We said hi to people, danced a little, took more pictures and then we left and drove through Taco Bell (yep, Taco Bell. In my wedding dress). It was over. I was married. Now we start our lives together.

          

            For most people that means going on a honeymoon but for us, it meant staying home. We had a wonderful day-after party the day after we got married. We got to spend time with family and friends that we didn’t get to see as much at the wedding. Then, on Monday real life began. Ryan got sick and I really began my role as “wife” and care taker. He spent our first week of married with a double ear infection, sinus infection and upper respiratory infection. Who knew the “in sickness and in health” part of our vows would kick in so quickly?

            Of course when you get married you usually change your last name to your husband’s last name. Why is this such a pain?  You would think they would make it easier. You have to go sit at the Social Security office, which is not an easy place to find, figure out what option corresponds with “I want to change my last name because I just got married” in their little computer check in thingy, then you have to figure out where on earth you’re supposed to sit because they have 3 different sections to the building and not a single sign that tells you what each section is for, and then you have to wait. Forever. Then you spend 5 minutes changing your name and you’re done with that part. Then, you have to go change your name at the DMV. THEN you have to wait for your new social security card to some in so you can change your name at the bank. OH AND you have to change your name at work which means you have to contact 565144891233 people to make sure it’s changed in all the different little thingys they need to change it in. Seriously. Also, when you’ve been signing your name a certain way for 23 years, it’s REALLY hard to sign it with a different last name! I had to practice because I kept signing my maiden name. And that first time you’re called “Mrs. Bonney”, and you look around for your mother in law and then realize that now YOU’RE Mrs. Bonney. Oh. Duh. That’s me. Don’t mind me I’m just a newlywed.

            Now I am learning how to juggle being a wife, having a job and having a social life. I'm learning that I may never eat some of my favorite foods again because my husband won't eat them. We are learning to enjoy the little things in life because, much like our wedding, it will go by quickly. We are enjoying our MUCH awaited life as a married couple.

            OK, that’s enough about the wonders of being a newlywed. Enjoy some pictures!

 

  

All photos were taken by Bayou Rose Photography.

Menu Monday: March 3rd-March 10th, 2014

It's Menu Monday! If you are friends with my on Facebook or follow me on Instagram then you know I was a busy little bee Saturday! We didn't end up doing a lot of last weeks menu because I was either working late or was at a photo shoot. I couldn't cook the food so it didn't get cooked. I'm sure y'all know how this goes. You work until 6 or 6:30, get home, change clothes, put the dogs out, get the kids settled down, make sure the hedgehogs are doing ok (ok, maybe y'all don't do the hedgehogs..). By the time you're ready to make dinner it's 7 o'clock at night and you're about to send kids to get ready for bed. BUT there is a wonderful little trick for those late nights. Two words: crock pot. Even better, four words: freezer to crock pot.

I went on a mission to either find crock pot recipes that would work with a lot of the same ingredients or to "convert" the recipes I was already doing into a crock pot recipe. I wasn't able to do this with everything but here's a look at the new menu!

Menu Monday

Creamy Crock Pot Lemon Chicken
     - Serve with asparagus and homemade french bread

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole
     - Serve with steamed broccoli

Slow Cooker Balsamic Pot Roast
     - Serve with potatoes, carrots (cooked in crock pot)  and asparagus

Meatloaf
     - Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli

Crock pot Chicken Fajitas
     - Serve with refried beans

Lemon Angle Hair Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
     - Serve with steamed broccoli\

Mac and Cheese
     - Serve with salad and french bread

Stir fry
     - Serve with rice

I have assembled the Lemon chicken, Pot Roast, Chicken Fajitas and Meatloaf. We actually had the pot roast last night because it smelled SO good when I was putting it together. We weren't disappointed. It was amazing. The chicken and wild rice casserole can also be made ahead of time and frozen and I could easily throw the stir fry together and put it in the freezer if I wanted to. More crock pot recipes to come!

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed this Southern Soapbox!

Another Bountiful Basket!

I'm drowning in asparagus and zucchini over here! And baby bell peppers. Don't mistake this for me complaining though! I'm excited about this weeks Bountiful Basket!

So what did I get for the grand total of $32.50? Let's see!

The Loot:

11 oranges

3 grapefruit

1lb of strawberries

1-ish pint of mini bell peppers

6 bananas

3 heads of broccoli

1 cabbage

1 head of romaine lettuce

3 bunches of asparagus

1 pint of grape tomatoes

2 giant zuchinnis, and

1 jicama (it's ok I had to Google it too)

But wait there's more!
I also did an add on of 8 -1 lb containers of strawberries, which I'm splitting between several different people.

GIANT zuchinni!

The jicama is a bit "odd" and I wasn't totally sure what the heck I was going to do with it but I googled and it's basically a REALLY yummy and sweet "mexican yam". Apparently it's very good on salads. With the strawberries I will end up with 3lbs. I am keeping 2 from the add on plus the 1 lb that came in the basket!

So, how do you think I did?! I hope you enjoyed this Bountiful Southern Soapbox!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

Guess what day it is!!!! It's HUMP DAY! (said in the annoying voice from the commercial. Yup. I went there.) And you know what hump day means?! It's time for some Wonky and Woot-tastic!

Wonky
- Am I the only one that is TOTALLY over winter? I didn't think so. Texas needs to figure out what side of the fence it wants to be on because I'm tired of this freezing cold one day and sweating hot the next day. Pick a side, Texas. Preferably the warmer side.
- Why does the conditioner ALWAYS run out before the shampoo? Every time. I'm pretty sure I could use a measuring cup or something to measure it out and the conditioner would still run out faster! UGH!
- I rarely proof read posts on here. And by rarely I mean I may have reread one like once. Mostly, I just wait for my sister to text me and tell me there's a typo and come back to fix it. That's probably not a very good process when writing a blog but it's what I do.
- Looking back at the Fashion Friday: Mellow Yellow post, I had to laugh when I reread it. "Welcome to Texas, where summer never ends". HA! This winter has totally sucked dude! Seriously. We were iced in for FOUR DAYS! It has been miserably cold (at least for us). And I don't want to here all you northerners making fun of me for not being able to take the cold. Come July you'll be complaining about your 80 degree summer and we'll be down here with 100+ degrees!
- Alright... for those of you who watch Game Of Thrones (and if you're not caught up WARNING: SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!)......(seriously stop reading if you're not caught up MAJOR spoiler) O.M.G! The second to last episode in season 3. Ya. You know what I'm talking about if you've seen it. THAT episode. I had no idea it was coming! None! Not going to lie, I gasped and yelled "no!". It was awful! (and yes, I intentionally tried not to actually give anything away for those of you that just can't help yourself and kept reading. Go watch and you will learn!)


Woot-tastic
- I can't totally decide if this is wonky or woot but I'm all caught up on Game Of Thrones. It's kind of sad. I don't know what to do with my nights now.
- My Mammaw is here! She came in on Friday as a surprise for my aunt's birthday! Very exciting!
- The little boy I babysit cracks me up! He's a little over 1 year old. He's trying to walk and can if he's holding on to his walker. He also really enjoys playing with his little Batman toy and has very intense conversations with him. Saving Gotham is seriously work, after all.

- If you haven't already seen my post on Bountiful Baskets you should definitely check them out! Great produce for a great price!
- I went over at Maegan's house and played with AJ in the backyard. It was very interesting and you could definitely tell his father is a policeman. I was AJ's partner and he was walking running around the backyard yelling "We gotta find dem drugs!". I know at least one of their neighbors was outside and I'm sure is now wondering why a 3 year old little boy is looking for drugs in the yard. We did find several bricks, by the way.

- I am, almost, officially a photography business! I am going to the tax office, or where ever it is I'm supposed to go, to become "official" (get an assured name so other people can't use it and I can be legit which is required in the state of Texas). Is it odd that I'm a tad bit nervous about actually being a business? More so than I would be if I were just taking pictures of people. It's a good nervous though. Oh, my business name it Primrose & Ivy Photography! Obviously, the hedgies helped me name the business by donating their names. It's a tad bit long but I like it anyways. Originally I was going to just have the business named Julie Anne Photography but apparently my name is extremely popular. I will be doing some mini sessions soon to build my portfolio so stay tuned and feel free to email me at primroseandivytx@gamil.com if you want to model!
- Speaking of photography, I have my first "shoot" by myself tonight! My sister's friend is having a gender reveal party and wants me to take pictures! I'm very excited, and a tad bit nervous but it's going to be so much fun!

Well, that's about it for this Wonky and Woot-tastic Southern Soapbox! I hope you enjoyed it and sorry for the lack of pictures (ironic since I'm becoming a photographer, huh?)!

Menu Monday: February 23rd-March 2nd, 2014

It's menu time! After getting my bountiful basket Saturday I had to come up with a menu that would incorporate, at least, some of those ingredients I got!

This menu is only for a week. I usually make menus for two weeks but I am hoping to get another basket this coming Saturday so I'll probably do another menu when I get the next basket. Also, please remember that I don't necessarily assign a particular meal for each day.

Menu Monday

Lemon Chicken
     asparagus
     homemade french bread

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Roast
     potatoes
     carrots

French Dip
     chips

Meatloaf
     salad

Lemon Angel Hair Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
     broccoli

Mac and Cheese
     broccoli
     corned beef

Chicken fajitas

Spaghetti
     french bread
     salad


I have made all of these recipes, except the lemon chicken recipe. It is similar to one I recently tried though, just written a bit more clearly. The homemade french bread is really not that hard, although if you decide to make it, I suggest not using flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. A friend of mine told me to use oil instead, otherwise your bread will taste a bit "floury" (thanks Miss. Sarah for the tip!). The meatloaf recipe I posted is one of two meatloaf recipes that I like. The last time I made meatloaf I made extra and froze it so this will be one meal I won't actually have to make! Hopefully I will get some of my own recipes up here soon!

Happy eating and thank you for dropping by this Southern Soapbox!