once upon a time...

About 5 years ago I was living in my first little apartment in Charlotte unfilled with furniture.
Mr. P and I were on a "break" and I had no real friends in Charlotte (my best buds and sister were all back in VA).
I remember being excited for bed each night because it meant I was closer to getting through another day.
It was a sad time.
Little did I know that in the years to come I would end up with some of the best friends a girl could ever hope for.
The kind of friends you know will be in your life for years and years to come (I'm talking about until we part Earth people).
I know that our kids will play together someday, I know that we'll all continue to take vacations together, I know we'll celebrate birthday's, anniversaries and births.
I know that I'll never ever take these friends for granted.

They are the kind of friends who bring you daisies to brighten your life when you've had a bad week.


*Thank you Barzees, they've made me smile all week.

They are the kind of friends who before leaving on their honeymoon, remember your birthday and send you the most precious little dessert bowls.


*Thank you Cheds!

They are the kind of friends I'm lucky enough to have near and far.
I love each and everyone of you to pieces.
You make me a better person and I hope you know it.
xo

practice

I've been doing a little research and trying out different online programs for making video slideshows.
I'm not too thrilled with any of them thus far, but it could be because I'm not utilizing all the tools and options properly.
Bear with me while I try and educate myself in the art of video making.
In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, here's a short one I put together today using animoto.

Emie's Favorite Salad

After eating chicken sandwiches, fries, gross pizza followed by more greasy fries on Sunday, it was time for our "diet" to start back up yesterday.

JD Rockers is a salad/sub shop close to our house that serves a salad appropriately called the 'Free Spirit' that we both love.
I thought it would be easy to recreate at home...turns out it was and I personally liked it even better.

Ingredients: baby greens, walnuts, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, chicken (I purchased a grocery-store rotisserie) and honey mustard balsamic vinagrette (mix 1/4 cup balsamic, 2/3 cup olive oil, 2 T. honey mustard, 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste).

Quick, easy and delicious!

Matt & Kim - Daylight

Don't you just love when you come across a song that you love so much you listen to it over and over, while bobbing your head every single time?
I sure do!
This song may possibly have cured my Monday Blues.
Thank you Matt & Kim.

the good with the BAD

The BAD:

I learned Whitey, my beloved Nissan Versa, and I may never spend another day together.
You see I was in accident. A stupid, stupid accident about 3 weeks ago.
Whitey was taken to a body shop where about $6,500 in work was done on her. She was cleaned up and ready to go except for resetting the airbag.
HELLO bump in the road.
They can't seem to get the airbag to reset. Not sure what that means, all I know is that if they can't figure it out, I won't be getting her back. :(
Say a prayer, if that's the kind of thing you do, if not keep your fingers crossed.

Next, I locked myself out of my office. It was almost time to head home and in an effort to be a good employee I decided to take out the garbage.
The door, it locks behind me.
I'm left standing in the 80 degree heat holding my rental car key and wondering how in the world I'm going to get back in my office where my purse, my house keys, my office keys and cell phone waited on me.
After unsuccesful attempts at trying to climb through a window and kicking a door down, I made a very embarrassing call to my boss.
Crisis averted, ego bruised.

I learned that I came in 4th place in our Survivor fantasy league, my third 4th place finish in this season's reality tv league.

I received a lovely property tax bill in the mail for Whitey. Poor, poor whitey.

I'm working 6 days. Yep, tomorrow, on what I'm sure will be a beautiful Saturday, I'll be sitting at a desk until 5pm.

The Good:

I have a very sweet husband who has been driving me to and from work up until I finally gave in and got a rental car yesterday. He drove at least 24 hours over the past two weeks. 24 hours! He could have easily gone to New York and back.

Today my birthday bathing suit arrives AND our new sheets. :)

Because I'm working so much this week I got a nice paycheck which will certainly help with the cost of poor Whitey.

After getting off of work tomorrow I have plans to meet best friends for good food, a blue moon or two or three and the first of our fall reality tv drafts.

I'd say the good definitely out weighs the bad, wouldn't you?

*This photo is COMPLETELY unrelated, but it's a photo of my husband the morning after our wedding eating the Hokie Bird that adorned his grooms cake.
It makes me happy!

dinner.

As most of us are painfully aware, bathing suit season is upon us.
Memorial Day weekend is usually the first and last time we find ourself out on the lake.
This also means we usually find ourselves in panic mode about 2 or 3 weeks before the boating adventure.
So not only are we trying to make it to the gym every night, we've also decided to cut carbs from our dinner menu. This is more of a challenge for me because I L.O.V.E bread! I love it people!
In order for this to really happen I knew we needed to have a menu planned for the week consisting of protein and veggies.
Monday I grilled corn, green onions and red pepper that I used for a grilled corn salsa.


I let this sit overnight so that all the flavors could meld together.
Yesterday morning before leaving for work I threw chicken breasts, fat-free italian dressing, chipotle hot sauce (my new favorite condiment) and fresh garlic in our slow cooker.
Before serving it I added lime juice and cilantro and the results were pretty darn amazing!

Recipes:

Corn Salsa:
3 ears of corn
A bunch of green onions
1 red pepper
4 T. Olive Oil
2 Garlic cloves
1 t. cumin
1 Lime
Chipotle hot sauce
1/2 cup fresh Cilantro (we like a lot!)

Grill vegetables (I used my indoor grill); corn for about 15 minutes, red pepper for about 10 mins and green onions for 5 mins.
Cool veggies completely, then remove kernels from the cob and dice green onions and red pepper.
Heat 2 T of Olive Oil in skillet and add garlic and cumin, cooking for 2 minutes and then add to a large bowl.
Add vegetables, 2 T. olive oil, juice of lime, chipotle hot sauce and fresh cilantro.


Zesty Chicken:
3 1/2 lbs. Boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups of fat-free Italian dressing (I used Kraft, half zesty and have original)
2 Garlic cloves
Chipotle Hot Sauce
1 Lime
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (again, we like a lot)

Place chicken in slow cooker with a few dashes of hot sauce, italian dressing and fresh garlic.
Cook on low for 7 hours (or on high for 3-4).
Once done shred chicken and allow to cook in juices for an additional 30 mins.
Add juice of 1 lime and the cilantro before serving.



*I served the chicken on top of a heaping spoonfull of the corn salsa. We topped the dish with red onion, jalapeno for Mr. P and low-fat mexican cheese blend.

detroit in photos

oops

While trying to upload photos from our trip to Detorit the camera battery died and I didn't even get half way through. Boo!
I couldn't even tell you where the battery charger currently is. All I know is that I stuffed it into some crevice of my suitcase that now lies on the bedroom floor where I plan to give it dirty looks until it decides to unpack itself.

Until then you'll have to use your imagination because let me tell you this, Detroit was wonderful.

Our trip was filled with lots of laughs, late night trivia, the best enchilada dish I've ever eaten courtesy of uncle Rock, coney dogs, pizza, MLB, a trip to the planetarium and the IMAX, mummies, an art festival, cupcakes, the best brunch I may have ever had that consisted of jalapeno pork shoulder, fingerling potatoes and poached eggs (YUM!), black jack at the MGM Casino, jazz, and lots of quality time with new family.

I also had a chance to start Stones into Schools on the flight to and from.
I adore Greg Mortenson and I have the greatest admiration for the work he is doing to build schools, mostly for girls, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I highly recommend reading this book as well as his first, Three Cups of Tea.


Now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a Samoa Cupcake and chapter 3 of this marvelous read.

so soon.

Tomorrow I'm heading out of town with my hubby and mother-in-law.
We're heading to Detroit to visit Pepe's super cool uncle, Pete Loren.

I'm going to try and post a few times while we are gone, but I can't make any promises.
We have an itinerary that includes a Tigers vs. Red Sox game where I plan to indulge in chili dogs, Jazz music, cards, lots of yummy food (Pete is an AMAZING chef), museums, IMAX, the Eastern Market, gambling at the MGM Casino, oh and didn't I mention eating lots of yummy food?

Be back soon...and with lots of photos!

a dream.

Every morning on the way to and from work I pass fields with cows, some wtih horses, and a river with ducks that I've made a habit out of counting each day (I'm sad when it's too hot and they are no where to be seen).
I wish these animals were all mine.

In fact I'd love to someday have a modestly sized farmhouse on a big piece of land.
I'd for sure like to have chickens and cows, maybe pigs.
I'd love to spend my mornings gardening and then fill the kitchen with fresh flowers and bake all afternoon while the kiddies and Tucker played in the yard.
I'd want a windowsill large enough for me to cool fresh baked pies.
I'd want a bay window with a bench where I could sit, read and watch for husband to come home from work.
Actually Mr. P would probably have to work from home to take care of the cows and chickens.
Honey, how do you feel about being a farmer? :)

A girl can dream, can't she?

*Photos courtesy of Country Living.

strawberry babycakes

I experimented with Strawberry Babycakes this weekend.
I thought strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream icing would taste best but Mr. P suggested we try white cake with strawberry icing as well.
The results...we both favor his suggestion. The other is quite yummy as well, but it's pretty sweet. My hubs said it tasted like a fruit loop and I think he's right.


I'm 1/3 of the way through with this week's order of 300 and it's gone so smoothly, let's hope writing on these little guys for the first time is as easy as it is in my head.

saturday.

Our day started with breakfast at Bobby E's (the hip name for Bob Evan's) and was followed by a semi-successful run at Jetton Park (80 degree heat=hard to breath!).

Afterwards Mr. P and I made our way to Mooresville, NC to visit Carrigan Farms.
When you see houses that have actual yards you know you aren't in the city anymore and I love it. Makes me think of home.
*side note: my parents won 'Yard of the Month' back in Norton, VA! CONGRATS!
We pulled up to Carrigan Farms and there were rows upon rows of strawberries growing and parents with little kids trying to stuff strawberries in their pockets and down their pants. It was bliss!
We walked up to the cart, grabbed a basket and set out on our way.
There were so many beautifully ripe berries begging to be picked that I could have stayed there for hours.


If Mr. P wasn't there to tell me "I think we're good" I just might have.
So we headed home were I spent much of the afternoon baking strawberry breads.



Hubby also surprised me by suggesting we sit on the back porch and enjoy the beautiful day (I say surprised because he typically avoids the heat).
Mr. P read his Popular Science, me my Rachel Ray Magazine and Tucker, well he tormented some poor bumble Bee who was injured to begin with.





Later that evening we headed out with friends to the Ocho de Mayo party benefitting Relay for Life and it was the perfect way to end a perfect day...good friends, Mexican food and an open bar.
I wish every Saturday could be so perfect.

Weekend in Pictures

Yesterday I received over 6 pounds of vanilla candy melts in the mail from Bakers Nook, my new favorite online baking supply store, for the almost 300 baby cakes I have to have done by next Tuesday. :)
I'll be spending a lot of my weekend working on these lil' guys.


Saturday morning Mr. P and I are planning to have breakfast with our best buds 'The Barzees' and then my June Buggie and I are going for a run around Jetton Park and I can hardly wait.



Later that afternoon my sweet, most wonderful husband, has agreed to accompany me to Carrigan Farms so I can pick fresh strawberries. They should be perfectly ripe and ready to use in one of my favorite recipes, Strawberry Bread.
Try this! and if you do add extra strawberries and you won't regret it!



Saturday evening we'll be attending an Ocho de Mayo party at the Avenue with best buds.


Great thing about this party...money for drinks and food goes to a good cause, Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society.

Then Sunday I anticipate I'll spend much of my day missing my mother and wishing I could be with her on Mother's Day.
Love you Mama San, like a whole, WHOLE LOT! Mean it.

Happy Weekend!

lunch and taking a stand

It's 12:30 PM, the most anticipated time of the day for me, LUNCHTIME!
I practically skip to the break room, grab my "lunch bag" and skip back to my desk.
As I go to take out my sandwich and chips I'm so disgusted with said lunchbag that I almost loose my apetite. Can we say counterproductive?
Let me paint you a picture...
It's a paper American Eagle bag that I must have received ages ago because that's how long it's been since I've purchased clothing, much less something from American Eagle. I use it almost everyday. I put it in the pantry when I get home from work and I take it out in the morning as I prepare for work.
The bottom of the bag is stained with grease spots from my chips and there may or may not be a tiny piece of turkey or two in the bottom.
It was time to take a stand!
So I turned to Etsy (yep, still addicted!) and ordered this beauty!


Sure to put an extra spring in my skip. ;)

pressed

So I bet you thought I was going to blog about taquitos and chips and salsa today, didn't you?
Nope!
My hubs informed me many years ago that Cinco de Mayo is not actually celebrated in Mexico. It's just another one of those cheesy made up American holidays (which I happen to secretly love and wish didn't fall on a Wednesday this year).
So we broke out one of our favorite kitchen appliances, The Griddler, and had apricot chicken paninis.
They consisted of: sourdough bread, grilled chicken, spinach, apricot spread (mayo, dijon mustard, apricot jam and chives), red onion and mozzerella.
They certainly weren't as good as my now perfected, barbecue chicken panini, but they've possibly earned a spot in our panini rotation.



For tonight I've dreamt up a southwest chicken panini that I think will be muy delicioso, I'll let you know!

P.S.- Many thanks to you friends that are already reading this blog. You make my heart sing! :P

Title

Why did I choose this blog title?
"Up a creek without a paddle" is of course a negative saying, especially if you are canoeing (buh-DUM-dum-CHING).
Try if you will not to view this blog title that way.
If I had to pick a marriage motto "Up a Tree Without a Ladder" would probably be it (probably not, but it has a good ring to it). You know, kinda like "in it to win it".
Mr. P and I are in this for the long haul. There is no exit door.
There is truly no place I'd rather be than with my Mr. P and I look forward to sharing many of those times with you.

Wanna know what the Diaz-Llaneza's have for dinner on Cinco de Mayo? Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post...