waffles

I used to always prefer pancakes over waffles hands-down.
Then Chris' mom introduced me to her amazing waffle recipe.

Tarr Waffles

1 3/4 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 beaten egg yolks
1 3/4 cups of milk
1/2 cup of oil
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 beaten egg whites

Beat egg whites until stiff.
Combine other ingredients & mix until smooth.
Fold in egg whites and mix well.
Pour batter onto griddle.

Makes 5-6 waffles, depending upon the size of your griddle.

Maybe you'll become a waffle kind-of girl too!

storing fresh produce

We picked up our 1st CSA box yesterday!!!

It was chock full of delicious fresh produce which quickly led me to the conclusion that I have no knowledge of how to properly store some produce straight from the garden.

Thank goodness for the internet!
I found a great chart for information on prepping, storing, & using garden fresh produce.
You can find it here.

More on our fresh goodies to come...

priceless...

We love our Sadie!
She's such a part of our little family.
She's also quite photogenic!

Chris is often amused by engaging Sadie in what I term "doggie torture" (evidence below).
I guess she doesn't look too tortured!

And in another moment of silliness, Chris put Sadie in the chair (our nice chairs) with him, so here they are chilling together. Chris was so amused with himself & the look on Sadie's face is one of absolute bliss. Not that she has any cares in the world anyway!

P.S. They (mostly Chris) got in trouble for this one after I snapped the pic.

shooting for 100!

I realized that I've been blogging for going on 4 years & I haven't yet wrote 100 posts in 1 year.


So, it's my new goal! (kind of late in the year to be setting such lofty goals, huh?)


I'm aiming for 100 in 2011...guess i better get to writing!

summer of the cicadas...

They're h-e-r-e....the cicadas that is.

Until just a week or so ago, I was entirely unfamiliar with cicadas.

Unfortunately, I have quickly been forced to become all too familiar with them.

Apparently...

*Cicadas are insects that thrive in tropical conditions (I wouldn't typically think of Nashville as tropical, but ok)

*The life-cycle of a North American cicada is 13 years. So, they live in the ground eating on tree roots for 13 years, and then burrow their way out to lay their eggs. They then shed their outer coverings and begin their adult life.

*Cicadas make a loud noise, a mating call, produced by tymbals on their abdomen. They produce one of the loudest insect sounds known.

*Fortunately, cicadas do not sting or bite.

This means...

*There are holes (about the size of a #2 pencil) all over our yard.

*On warm, non-rainy days all other sounds outside are drowned out by the sound of the cicadas.

*When you walk outside, you step all over their crunchy shells they leave behind.

*And worst of all, they apparently like to hover near the ground & hence when running will fly into your legs...GROSS!

Supposedly, the cicadas will be with us for about 6 weeks...yuck!

Atleast we won't have to worry about them for another 13 years.

one reason.

I love my job for so many reasons.

Last night, I was reminded again of just one of these reasons.

Belmont School of Nursing held our pinning ceremony @ 6 p.m. last night.

It was a lovely ceremony that holds so much meaning for our students.

As I sat with the rest of the faculty in the choir loft looking out at the graduates and their families and friends, I was so inspired knowing that I was looking out over 84 soon-to-be nurses...WOW!

I love knowing that as I work with these students that I have the power to impact the way they think about nursing and the care they will provide to their future patients.

It's just one of the many reasons that my job is great!

sometimes it's the little things

like...

squeezing in a morning run before work,

enjoying homemade blueberry pancakes with my co-workers,

getting great deals @ CVS & Walgreen's,

half-price caramel frappacino @ Starbuck's Happy Hour,

a nice chat with Mom,

an evening walk with Sadie,

delicious grilled steaks for dinner...

that make days like today so great!

adventures galore!

We have had some fabulous adventures over the last month and even more fabulous adventures to come over the summer!

To recap...

-Chris' parents & Erin came to visit in early April. In addition to showing them the sights of Nashville, Chris's dad, Chris, Erin, & I went zip-lining along the Harpeth River. It was unbelievably fun!!! We're already imagining our next zip-lining adventure.

-We were home in Atlanta this past weekend celebrating 2 wonderful occasions, Mom's graduation from Brenau (go Mom, MSN, RN, OCN!!!) and Mother's Day. It was a great weekend with lots of fun and celebration.

Between those fun adventures, it's been very busy with the end of the semester upon us.

I've also accepted a PRN position at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. I will be working on an oncology floor, very different from where I was at Duke, but I am nonetheless excited about the opportunity to get back in the hospital and work with patients without too much commitment (only 2 shifts a month, no weekends, no nights, no holidays, no on-call!!!).

We've also been quite busy planning our summer adventures.

-Cheri & Abbey will be arriving on June 9th for the CMA Festival. We've been planning it for quite some time & it's fast approaching. We have 4-day, all-access passes so we're looking forward to lots of great concerts by the river during the day and bigger concerts at LP Field in the evenings. Lots of great music by lots of great country music stars. Definitely can't wait for some sister fun!

-Destination: Stockholm, Sweden. We leave 6/18 & will return on 6/26. Our home base will be Stockholm, but we will take a couple of day trips out from the city to see more of the countryside & the Baltic Sea. Europe, here I come! Here are 2 gorgeous pictures of our destination...

-Destination: Yellowstone. We leave on 7/1 for Jackson Hole, Wyoming where we will meet up with Chris' parents and Erin and head to Yellowstone National Park. Visiting Yellowstone is on my bucket-list, so I'm so excited about the opportunity to go and to go with people who have visited several times before and know the best places to see. We'll return home on 7/7. We're looking forward to it & I'm hoping to capture images half as awesome as these...

Summer, here I come!!!

i'm bad at this...

I've been a horrible blogger lately.

So, maybe April has flown by just as quickly as March.
I'm blaming it on it being the end of the semester and all that goes along with that.
The countdown to graduation is on though, 2 weeks from Saturday!

Between the craziness at work and the crazy weather (tons of rain & close calls with tornadoes), we've been busy planning our summer...
-4-days of fun with my sisters at the CMA Festival
-8 days in Stockholm, Sweden (more on that to come)!!!
-a week in Yellowstone with Chris' family

Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging soon and can share the details of our exciting upcoming adventures!

inspiring words...

Inspiring words from our pastor's daily e-mail devotion:

"I wonder how much of our anxious worry could be alleviated each day if we just remembered Who remains in control of our world. We worry and complain about the things that we need as though God is unable to meet those needs.
Paul offers these words to the church at Philippi... "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:19)
Just as the ancient Israelites had to learn the lesson of God dependency, we too must learn to trust God for the needs of our lives. Do we possibly think that the God Who gave bread in the wilderness can't help with our hunger? Do we think that the God Who led their steps can't provide us with direction? Do we think that the God Who heard their cries turns a deaf ear to ours?
The problem is not a lack of resources on the part of God, it is a lack of trust on the part of His children. If God gives you a vision, He will provide the means for its fulfillment. If God gives you a calling, He will provide a way for you follow His lead. If God gives you a talent, He will provide a place for it to be used.
Rather than worrying about what you don't have, learn to depend on the One Who possesses all things. Trust God for both the daily bread and for the supplies to fuel whatever dream He plants in your heart."

-Jon Roebuck

have you tried?...

It seems like there are a lot of new fun products out there these days (or maybe they're just new to me).

Thought I would share some of the new things we've tried...

*Blue Diamond Nut Thins- I can't get enough of these. I love, love, love them! There are several varieites made from various nuts, but my absolute favorites are the Hint of Sea Salt Almond Thins.

*Philadelphia Cooking Cream- I was so excited about trying this (especially because I got a coupon to get it for free from Kraft First Taste), but was somewhat disappointed. I used the Italian cheese & herb cream with pasta, chicken & broccoli. It wasn't bad, just didn't have as much taste as I would have expected.

*Jello Temptations-I also had a coupon for 1 free 3-pack of these from Kraft First Taste. I bought the raspberry cheesecake variety. 150 calories per container...pretty tasty too!

*Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese- I mentioned this recently, but we love the taste & ease of this as an occassional side dish. It's as close to homemade mac & cheese as I can get without taking the time to make the real deal. Y-U-M!*Kellog's Crunchy Nut cereal-Chris & I both love it. It comes in the crunchy 'o' variety & the flakes. We've only tried the 'o's, but love them! I've found coupons, rebates & great sales (@ Publix & Kroger) so we've been eating lots of it. I highly recommend trying it!

I'd love to know what your favorite new products are!

D-E-A-L-S!

You know that I love a great deal!

This week @ CVS:

-I got 1 Skintimate shaving cream for $2.94, but got $2.50 ECB back=$0.44

-I got 1 Colgate toothbrush for $1.99, but got $2 ECB back= FREE

Other deals:

-With the help of my work "lunch quad crew", I collected 20 Lean Cuisine codes & have ordered my FREE lunch bag...love it!

-I also just ordered a $25 Target gift card MyPoints...I take surveys & open e-mails from them to earn points that I can redeem for gift cards...I love it! I've got my eye on a summer dress @ Target, so i can't wait for the gift card to arrive!

-Best deal recently: I joined Groupon, got a $10 discount code for my 1st purchase. Got an offer for movie tickets for "The Lincoln Lawyer" (Matthew McConaughey) for $6 each. Bought 2=$12=$10 code= $2/2 tickets! Looks like date night this weekend!

out like a lamb...

I can't believe March is almost over...where does the time go?

This month has been so busy at work:
getting ready to wrap up clinicals (whew!),
planning 5 clinical simulation days,
grading concept maps (double whew!),
writing questions & an outline for an NCLEX review book,
getting final clinical evaluations done,
meetings, meetings, meetings...

We've been so busy at home too:
finishing our taxes,
spring cleaning,
decorating for spring/Easter,
Sunday night Bible study at WBC,
taking in NCAA tournament action,
house hunting,
looking for part-time summer jobs...

Here's to hoping the month of April goes by much slower than March!

2 years.

It was 2 years ago today that Peppes died.
Some days it still feels like it was yesterday and other times it feels like it was a forever ago that I talked to her last.

In keeping with the tradition I started last year, I'm making a from-scratch "Peppes Banana Pudding" for desert tonight.
It's just a small way that I can keep memories of my time with her alive.
Just like last year, I imagine the pudding will be mixed with a few tears.

My life is forever changed by her absence, but is forever better because of knowing and loving her.

coupons!

If you haven't already, click here to order your Publix coupon book worth $50 of savings.

You will receive the book in a few weeks and coupons are good for the month of April.

Just another way to save, save, save...