• Travel

    Long Weekend in Louisiana

    August 14, 2018 - By 

    Rob’s sister, Shawna, from Nevada was in Baton Rouge recently and since we haven’t seen her in 14 years, we knew we had to go for a visit. Our new favorite place to stop on the way to Baton Rouge is The Boiling Pot. Drew and I got the Shrimp & Grits. I had Gumbo and Broccoli Cheese rice as my sides. Rob and Alex got the Shrimp Po’Boys. Anyway, so when we go to Baton Rouge, we usually stay with Rob’s cousin’s house; the Lindsey’s. Their 2nd oldest son, Cameron, is about the same age as Alex so they…

  • Vacationing in the Mountains of North Carolina
    Travel

    Vacationing in the North Carolina Mountains

    August 10, 2018 - By 

    Mountains, waterfalls, and serene views were calling our names for 4th of July this year. You may recall that we had an annual 4th of July mountain trip tradition going for a while (2010 2011 2012 2013), but we have done other things the last few years. Saturday We got up early Saturday morning, hit D Square donuts on our way out of town for a little sugar, and then got on the road. Our first planned stop was Tallulah Gorge, but we saw signs for great views at the Tallulah Point Overlook, which is basically a tourist trap. They…

  • Chicken Pot Pie
    Chicken - Dinner - Recipes

    Chicken Pot Pie

    August 7, 2018 - By 

    School starts tomorrow, so again on my the hunt for some easy, make ahead comfort foods. Frozen Chicken Pot Pie was one of my favorites growing up. Around my house, I try to avoid frozen meals especially for dinner. These chicken pot pies with ready made pie crust in ramekins are easy to whip together the ahead of time. Servings: 6 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Ingredients: 5 cups of shredded chicken (about 3 chicken breasts) 4 sliced of bacon 2 9” pie crusts 12 oz. mixed frozen vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans) 26 oz. can…

  • Currently - August
    Life

    Currently – August 2018

    August 1, 2018 - By 

    Here’s the currently post for August. Follow along with Anne for the Currently link up each month. /following/ Here are 2 of my favorite instagrammers that I just love, who inspire me. A post shared by Susan (@susan.grimes) on Jul 17, 2018 at 7:08am PDT A post shared by Melissa Gibson Photography (@melissagibsonphotography) on Jun 2, 2018 at 8:45am PDT /ordering/ With school around the corner…All my money is going to towards, school stuff. Supplies, marching band shoes, instrument lyres, school lunches… /pinning/ I’m always pinning tons of randomness, but as of late I’ve pinned some super cute fall outfits…

  • Hiking Smith Mountain - Jacksons' Gap, AL
    Travel

    Smith Mountain – Jacksons’ Gap, AL

    July 24, 2018 - By 

    Sunday before Memorial Day we went over to Lake Martin (Dadeville, AL). Our usual tradition of camping at the lake with our friends got derailed mainly due to weather. However, Sunday turned out to be a hot sunny day. It’s crazy that as many times as we’ve been to Lake Martin, we had actually never been to Smith Mountain. There’s a .8 mile loop from a parking lot to the fire tower and back. Once you get up to the tower there are some beautiful views even if you don’t go up the tower. After hiking back down, we stopped…

  • Alabama Bucket List
    Travel

    Alabama Bucket List

    July 20, 2018 - By 

    Many travel lovers are always looking where to go next. So often we don’t stop and think about traveling our own state. Each state is unique and has good stuff to offer. I know my state of Alabama is rich in history and technology; from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the US Space and Rocket Center. It also not lacking in beautiful landscapes from falls to state parks. I’ve gathered up a list of 50+ things (hopefully I didn’t duplicate any of them.) What are your must do’s in Alabama? Did I leave anything off? Nocculula Falls Fort Gaines Monte…

  • Life

    August Scripture-A-Week

    July 17, 2018 - By 

    Here’s the next Scripture a week post for the coming month of August. I know for August much of the south will be returning to school. Teachers, administrators, janitors, bus drivers, and students gear up for another school year. While most parents are glad to have their kids back to a more structured schedule, many parents are reluctant to have to get back into all that comes with school and the after work activities that happen during the school year. With all that being said, I’ve gathered some more verses for us to pray over and possibly memorize during the…

  • French Onion Sliders
    Lunch - Recipes

    French Onion Sliders

    July 13, 2018 - By 

    I think summer is a great time to try new recipes. For us there’s less evening activities and that means I can come home and not have to run here and there before settling in to cook dinner. These French Onion Sliders are so amazing. I’ve seen several other bloggers do similar recipes, so it has been on my recipe bucket list. What I love about these sliders is that you can just use good ole hamburger meat. You don’t have to have the more expensive beef cuts which is great for the wallet. The beefy flavored butter topping that…

  • Life

    {Recap} Spring Bucket List 2018

    July 5, 2018 - By 

    Here’s my list of things that I wanted to accomplish before Spring was over. Take pictures of Cherry Blossoms Yes, here’s a close up of one that I got at Arlington Cemetery in DC Shop at a farmer’s market – didn’t happen Take Daisy for a walk Go to a museum Oh yes, watch for those posts Decorate for Spring – nope Find a four leaf clover – no Go to a Spring Training game See post here. Do something you’ve never done before Visit a new thrift store or consignment shop – didn’t do Skip rocks – didn’t happen…

  • Currently - July 2018
    Life

    Currently – July 2018

    July 4, 2018 - By 

    Happy 4th of July!! /celebrating/ the 4th by driving home. Yeah, having 4th of July on a Wednesday didn’t work well with having to get to Baton Rouge on Thursday. We are leaving the mountains of North Carolina today heading home for the night only to have to get back in the car and drive to Louisiana tomorrow. /visiting/ family in Baton Rouge tomorrow. We will get to see Rob’s older sister, who we haven’t seen in about 15 years. Her and her 3 boys (our nephews) will be there. I’m excited to get the cousins together and see the…

  • Mock Shoe Corn
    Mexican - Recipes - Sides

    Mock Shoe Corn

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    I’ve got another great dish for you today from The Texas Cowboy Cookbook. Ever heard of Mock Shoe Corn or Maque Choux? It’s a spicy version of Indian succutash that became popular with the Cajuns in Lousiana. Well I love Tex-Mex and Cajun food, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this recipe. A little more background on the name, Maque is a Choctaw Indian word that means corn. Choux is a French word for cabbage. However, there’s nothing cabbage about this recipe. The book says that in East Texas this dish is often called Corn Pone. I made…

  • Heading to Maryland
    Travel

    Philly to National Harbor – Headed to Maryland

    June 26, 2018 - By 

    After spending the morning in Philly, we headed towards Baltimore, MD, but we had a couple planned stops along the way. One of our goals during our commute from Boston to D.C. was to drive through as many states as we could and see as many capitols as we could. Here’s the route we took. As you can see in the map above, we went a little bit out of the way to hit the Delaware capital, Dover. This is William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge in Delaware going over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal that we passed along the way.…

  • Life

    Summer Bucket List 2018

    June 19, 2018 - By 

    Summer officially starts this week. In case you wondered summer is from Thursday, June 21 through Saturday, September 22. Although, my 9th grader starts school August 8th and my college kid starts August 20th. And since both the boys have been done with school since May, I’ve let a several weeks go by. I need to get busy. – Make popsicles. – Make something off my Recipe Bucket List. – Make some bird feeders. – Go swimming. – Make root beer floats. – Go on a quick family trip somewhere fun. – Go on a family hike. – Visit family.…

  • July SQ Scripture - A - Week
    Life

    July Scripture-A-Week

    June 15, 2018 - By 

    While thinking of July, I think of how grateful I am to live in America. Even with all the drama and politics, I am happy to be free. So I was feeling a freedom theme. As an American, I know I take my freedom for granted, so I was thinking finding a couple scripture related to freedom would help me to remember something I don’t often think of. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ~2 Corinthians 3:17 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm,…

  • 24 hours in Philly
    Travel

    24 hours in Philly

    June 12, 2018 - By 

    Today’s post covers my trip from Montville, NJ to Philadelphia, PA; our 2nd day of exploring from Boston down to DC. If you missed my first post from this trip, you can read about our day in Boston here: Day in Boston. First thing was first. We got up and drove from our hotel in Mahwah, NJ to Montville, NJ which wasn’t too far. The significance of stopping in Montville was to go see where Rob’s grandparents lived back when he was a toddler. This is their house now: Then we thought it would be good to have breakfast at…

  • Life

    Currently – June 2018

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    I’ve missed one of my favorite posts the last couple months, so this month I’m so happy I remembered to do my Currently post for June. Be sure and check out Anne and Sarah for this month’s link-up. /traveling/ This month, I am staying home and enjoying (hopefully) getting stuff done around the house. Honestly, my Fibro is kicking my butt lately and I’m just not feeling like doing much of anything, but when I have the energy I have a new ‘toy’ that I hope to be sharing with you soon. This is a hint: /grilling/ I love to…

  • Mexican Pot Roast - Crockpot
    Beef - Dinner - Mexican - Recipes

    Mexican Pot Roast {Crockpot}

    June 5, 2018 - By 

    Happy June, y’all! Are your kids out of school yet? Both mine are and I am so glad. I love summer because we aren’t running here and there in the evenings after work. Most nights I can go home and relax. I just haven’t had much of the cooking vibes lately, so I decided to try a new crockpot recipe. This summer I’m pulling some cookbooks off the shelf to try. I’ll be tweaking them to make them as easy as possible, like this recipe which I got from The Texas Cowboy Cookbook, which I made into a crockpot recipe.…

  • Day In Boston
    Travel

    Day in Boston

    May 17, 2018 - By 

    Back in April, Rob had a conference in DC. Well we always like to extend it out so he can have a little vacation before he’s at work at the conference. Well, we got a crazy idea to start our trip in Boston. Being that Rob is a huge baseball fan, he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see the Red Sox. It worked out for us to fly into Boston and spend a little less than 24 hours there before venturing towards the DC area. We flew into Boston Logan International Airport late Friday night, got to our hotel…

  • June Scripture - A - Week
    Life

    June Scripture-A-Week

    May 15, 2018 - By 

    I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve posted a scripture a week. Not sure why that is. Maybe because end of April and May are just so busy. End of year concerts, ceremonies, recitals, etc. As I searched through scripture to memorize for June I found several that spoke to my heart. I think I say that every month, but it is so true. I really take quiet time and pray and ask God to place scripture on my heart for not only me but for you as my readers. I found this last month or so with my…

  • Mini Churros
    Dessert - Mexican - Recipes

    Mini Churros

    April 27, 2018 - By 

    Recently when I made some homemade dough in the bread machine, I had some dough left over. I didn’t want to waste it so Drew and I decided to try our hand at making some Mini Churros. They turned out great, so I’m afraid every time I make homemade dough we’re going to find a way to have some left over dough! If you don’t have any homemade dough, this would work great with refrigerated croissants or biscuits as well. These are definitely going on my menu for Cinco De Mayo! Servings:6-8 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes…