InstaFriday (2 weeks)

Another round of InstaFriday and still love Instagram.

This Instafriday full of busy holiday loveliness.

: Wine & Christmas tree..perfect combo :: Ol time memories at 50th anniversary basketball game :: Sewing lessons for Miss Whitney :: Sweet babe sleeping :: Neighbor Gifts :: Bestie in town! :: Girls night out :: Christmas tree..I miss it already :: Boots & Bows. My new favorite : 

recipe :: creamy artichoke dip

This was a new recipe for me before the holidays. I saw it here and thought I would give it a try.

Easy was in the title so I thought I could handle it.

We had a bunch of holiday parties this year and after taking it to the first, I knew that it would be on the agenda for the next few.

It takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare, throw in the oven for an hour and pull out right before you head out. I had almost all of the ingredients on hand which makes this even easier.

Easy enough.

Ingredients ::

2 cans of Artichoke Hearts (chop them)

2 -8oz packages of Cream Cheese

1 cup of Mayonnaise

1 tsp. of Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp of Lemon or Lime Juice

1 cup of Grated Cheddar Cheese

1 can of Diced Green Chilies

Dash of Garlic Powder

1 Sourdough Bread Bowl

1 loaf of Sourdough Bread (they didn't have sourdough so we used 

Ciabatta and it worked just as well)

Chop. Mix. Pour. Bake.

That is about the extent of what this takes.

Soften cream cheese and chop artichoke hearts. Then mix all ingredients together. Hollow out your bread bowl and pour mixture into bowl. (You are then suppose to put the bread bowl lid back on before baking but I overflowed my bread bowl so it wasn't possible, and it turned out just fine.) Wrap in foil and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Unwrap foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes so bread bowl and dip brown. While it is baking cut up your loaf of bread to use to dip. Take to a party and be the hit of the party! Enjoy!

Pin It

Enjoy!

Easy neighbor/teacher/coworker gift!

Each year you have those gifts that you have to give. The ones where you don't know the person so well to know what personal gift they would enjoy, but just enough to know something that would be useful and make them smile.

Enter a gift that requires little brain work and a cute outcome.

All you need is a candle (bottle of wine, liter of soda, etc), ribbon, a hole punch and a gift card.

Hole punch card.
Wrap ribbon through hole. (I used tulle and raffia).
Tie around candle.
Done.

Super easy and highly appreciated.

Pin It

Recipe :: cream cheese chicken enchiladas

I have a few rules when I do the cooking.
--Close to five ingredients or less.
--All ingredients I can get from a grocery store or Walmart, no special trips to Whole Foods or anything.
--Simple to cook.

Lately I have been on a new recipe kick but finding recipes that abide by these rules are difficult. This week I tried this one. It did not disappoint.

I have posted the recipe below with a few simple changes that I made. So amazing.

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas ::

2-3 chicken breasts, shredded {OR rotisserie chicken}

1 {8 oz.} pkg. cream cheese

1 28 oz. can green enchilada sauce 

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

2 cups cooked rice 

Tortillas 

1-2 cups shredded monterrey & colby cheese

Mix chicken, 1/3 of the enchilada sauce, and softened cream cheese.

Meanwhile cook rice and rinse and black beans.

Pour another 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into a greased 9x13 glass pan.

This is something I did not do and ended up with missing bottoms of my enchiladas.

Put rice, then beans, and then top with chicken mixture.

Put upside down in baking dish.

Once all in dish, top with cheese. The more the better!

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Turn on your broil and broil with the foil off for five minutes to 

get the cheese brown.

Enjoy with sour cream, salsa, or plain since they are so delicious already.

Pin It

(sorry for horrible dark pictures, we tend to not eat dinner before 8pm)

InstaFriday

Another edition of InstaFriday. The past couple weeks have been slow on the Instagram front.

Enjoy the few I have.

Love Christmas shopping in front of the Christmas tree and a 

Lifetime movie. Love me some free shipping.

10 orders of fabric. Stress city but the best kind of stress.

Four of the ten on the way to delivery.

Two yards of Amy Butler fabric for $8.62. 

Yes please.

Olivias room makeover complete. Run out of room in my house for 

all my ideas so I go for making over others houses.

First time I have craved a salad..best thing ever.

#ATB Never Forgotten. Love my West community I came from.

Cuptakes App..beautiful backgrounds for my iPhone. Next up...cute case.

Shooting for four posts in the next week. Stay tuned!

InstaFriday (a day late)

While I am running a few days behind, Fridays around here will be Instafriday! 

Instagram has become a new addiction. It has the ability to make simple, everyday pictures turn beautiful. Love it.

So here is the past couple weeks crammed into one post.

Massages and facials with mom! Groupon!

 Busy life is much more fun carrying this beauty.

Lovely view from the office. Besides Nashville getting dark at 4:15 in the afternoon, leaving the office staring at the Rymann isn't too shabby!

 I swear, the Etsy shop will be up and running soon. Many hours of work put into it.

When signing up for Pinterest, they should warn you of the addiction. It only gets worse when I put it on my iPhone also.

My neighbors are quite festive. I appreciate their Holiday goodness when finding my house in the dark.

Yes, this is what happens a half hour before quittin' time at work.

Wonderful tastings with Miss Sara Fried before Thanksgiving. A big thank you to Chef's Market..so tasty!

 Ahhh. Many, many labor of love hours spent on this beauty. Now just waiting for Baby Stuhr to make her big debut.

Home sweet home for Thanksgiving. The early morning flights come with gorgeous sunrises.

The wonderful wedding of two amazing people. So perfect for the two of them.

Going to start collecting clear ornaments after the holidays. Inspirational DIY.

And the sad departure of this lovely red door. I will miss that cute Nashville apartment.

Linking up with Life Rearranged.

what 70 years looks like.

70 years with the same person is a huge accomplishment. It takes love and patience and kindness. It takes understanding and accommodating. It takes strength and courage and carrying on when sometimes it doesn't seem possible.

I had the privilege of seeing this love in full force a couple weeks ago. My mom and I surprised my Granny, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa in California. It was a fast few days filled with love, laughter, and LOTS of food. (Seriously, lots of food. I felt like we were eating every hour on the hour.) 

They were so surprised I felt like we had accomplished a great mission. We ventured to the apple orchid, flea market, multiple restaurants, and many hours of Farkle. It was a wonderful culmination of four generations that produced memories I will cherish forever.

 

For spending 70 years together and living 90 glorious years these two are still smarter then a whip. Seriously. In Farkle you add all your points to 10,000. Lets just say that my brain was glad my Grandma was keeping score, and kept and recorded score in record time. All while we overheard conversations from my Grandpa about nuclear war, politics and religion. Things that smart, intelligent, well respected men speak of.

All in all, it was a trip that will forever be remembered. We don't make it out to California much, so it was a long overdue trip that did not disappoint. 

It was a true testament to what love and family will do to two people. 70 years later and still going strong. 

a good day..

When I get up before 11am, I wake up in a bad mood.

I love my sleep. It is no secret. If you know me and I have stayed at your house, you know I love my sleep.

But those days that I wake up before 11am and I do not have to work, I feel better.

I feel better about the day, about life, and about the amount I can get accomplished.

I wake up in a bad mood and have to consciously tell myself to "perk up, buttercup!"

So when I wake up on days like these, exhausted but having things to do, I find ways to make it a good day.

Today it was this..

Blogs, website designing (news to come!!), coffee, and donuts.

Happy Friday!

cute for a little while

Last night, I spent hours holding a sweet, sweet sleeping baby while laughing uncontrollably with his momma, his momma’s momma, and my momma. It was one of those nights that you remember the importance of a lot of things in life.

These past two weeks have been spent catching up with some very important people. It has been so great to see everyone that means the most to me. I have gotten to see one of my best friends baby for the first time, two wonderful people get married, catch up with dear friends, and work a few more Royals games.

When you are away for a while, you can convince yourself you are not missing that much. I was the master of that this summer. I would do my best not to think about the things I was missing at home. Kidding like that to yourself only lasts so long.

Once you come to the realization of it and venture home for a little, peace and joy come over your heart realizing all of the love that surrounds you at home. Those are good, good moments.

Hollywood with a Touch of Twang..

A mix between busy, not busy, and the inability to explain the past few months is the reason for the long hiatus. Life has been incredible and full of changes in the past month. Just a quick recap before I post about all of these events, my life has consisted of finishing my internship, getting HIRED!, visiting home for a short time, and buying a house!

I have become so exhausted by all the happenings that when there is two seconds to even think about a post, I become too tired to write.

But here I am! Back and ready to fill you in on the past few months.

Starting with the CMT Music Awards. Now, those two weeks are kind of a blur. My hours were 9-6 in which I spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off. The closer the awards show became, the longer my hours became. Some nights it would not be surprising to be there till midnight. Was I asked to be there till midnight, no. Did I do it because I felt it was necessary to show my level of commitment to my internship, yes.

While all of the days weren’t rainbows and roses, it didn’t matter after you stepped back and looked at the situation I was in. My favorite part of the entire awards show process was dress rehearsals. This was when I could meet the artists and watch them perform from 5 feet away. I had a job that allowed me to roam, I found myself roaming often into the arena, watching rehearsals.

It was surreal to be there. After years of knowing every song and attending every concert possible, I had the opportunity to stand feet from the people I had sang my lungs out to in the car with the windows down.

My job during the actual show was to grab the talent from their seats and take them backstage to their dressing rooms. It was a rough job, let me tell you. Grabbing Luke Bryan and taking him to his dressing room..I almost protested and told them my job was too hard. It was fun to meet everyone and get to talk to them without standing in a meet-n-greet line.

(Ya..just chattin it up with Joe Don)

The most stand-back-in-awe moment I had was during the music awards. I had just taken one of the artists back stage and had a few minutes to stand around and watch Keith Urban perform. I remember standing there, arms crossed, looking around, huge cheesy grin on my face, realizing that I had made it. I had done what was needed to atleast get my foot in door. All of the years of busting it. All of the hours upon hours of work had paid off. They had all led me to that moment and I was so grateful.  It is unreal to stand back and realize you have so far still to go but your wildest dreams are possible of coming true.

P.S. Holly…Jake Owen is as good looking in person! ;-)