Girls weekend

I am travelling to Tulsa, OK this weekend to see this beautiful lady....Susan and I have been friends since we were 3 years old when we lived across the street from each other. We were side by side all through Elementary School...then my family moved us to Maryland, where I live now...but we continued our friendship through the years, through highschool, through college....and I am finally making the trip back 'home'. She has a wonderful weekend planned for us and I can't wait!! We are even catching up with some other girls we knew from Elementary School....and I haven't seen them in 21 years!! Can you believe it?!

I leave Thursday and will be back Sunday....I hope Hubby will miss me....but with a fishing trip planned I am not thinking he will so much ; )

HUGE catch up

This is the wonderful chalkboard that y hubby made for the hallway downstairs that leads to the garage and half bath.

This is the finished project with chalk!

These are the curtains that I MADE!! And....without a sewing machine! My friend Sara had a link on her blog and it inspired me!! Just a little no sew hem tape...an iron...some pre-bought panesl from Wal-Mart ($13 for 2) and 2.5 yards of fabric fro Wal-Mart at $5.88/yard....it was the cheapest project ever and I am so happy with the way they turned out. They are hanging in our office and look great!

My beautiful Golden Retriever, Marley in our backyard the day after Todd cleaned things all up. Marley has her 'summer-do' here and my house is so much cleaner without the dog fur!

Thanks, Daniel for sending out such a yummy piece of cake for dessert!

April and Todd....brother and sister who share a birthday one day and five years apart!! We met at Mason's for a delicious lunch to celebrate their Birthdays.

For Todd's Birthday this year, we ended up eating dinner at Scossa and then went to see Date Night together. It was a wonderful evening. Then, on Sunday we had a brunch with 10 of our closest friends and their kids down in Cabridge at Clearview. It was a delicious all you can eat and drink champagne brunch and of course I left my camera at home!

Relaxing weekend

Friday night we went to In Japan--the new Japanese Steakhouse restaurant in town--with some colleagues from work. It was a great night!! Then, Saturday we stopped by the Open House our realtor was having on the flip property we just finished in Denton. She had a lot of people threw the house and there were 3 showings today. I hope we get a contract soon!! We were then able to relax that afternoon and took a 2 hour nap! Wow, that felt great. We ate dinner at home then went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and Red Box to rent I Love You, Man.

This morning, we surprised a friend for brunch at Clearview in Cambridge to celebrate her Birthday. It was a delicious Champagne brunch, that I look forward to going back to again soon!! Her husband did a nice job of surprising her with our company...we had a great time!!

Now, I am relaxing, AGAIN, finishing up my Book Club book. This month we are reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. I am near the end and love how it is all starting to come together. We neet Wednesday night, and I can't wait. We don't stay on the book topic too long ; )

Hope your weekend was just as relaxing!!

Meal Plan for the week

I have been really SLACKING recently with posts....but for now, here is our meal plan for the week. I have been so good with the grocery bill (more on that later), that I haven't had to shop this week, at all!!

Saturday: Chicken Georgia with mashed potatoes

Sunday: crockpot pulled pork, Stouffers mac & cheese, cucumbers and onions

Monday: grilled tuna steaks, mashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday:pork chops, stuffing, green beans

Wednesday: On your own....BOOK CLUB

Thursday:stuffed chicken breast (tomato and mozzarella),brown rice, green beans

Friday:shepherds pie

**Shepherd's Pie Recide**
This is the easiest recipe ever....
1 lb. ground beef
potatoes
Vegetable Beef Soup
Milk
butter
Salt and Pepper

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain any excess fat (depending on what kind of ground beef you buy). Add the vegetable soup and simmer. Cook potatoes in seperate pan. I ususally use 3-4 medium sized for the 2 of us. Mash...we love our Kitchen Aid mixer for this...lots of butter, salt and pepper and some milk. Put the ground beef mix in an oven safe bowl....top with mashed potatoes and take a fork and drag across to texture the top. Bake in the oven at 400°F for about 30 minutes (or until the top of potatoes are just a little crusty).

ENJOY!

The ABCs on Friday

A is for Apples. I love the fall when you get wonderful varieties, apple cider, apple cake, apple crumble...I love it all!

B is for Babies...so many of our closest friends are expecting their first babies this year and we couldn't be happier for them!!

C is for Charleston....where our heart is and where we hope to call home one day soon.

D is for Date night. Todd is travelling to Chicago for business on Sunday and will be gone until Tuesday, so we are going on a dinner date tonight.

E is for Easton...the beautiful little town we live in and call home.

F is for Friendship. My eyes have been opened recently to who my true friends are and I couldn't be happier for who is in my life.

G is for Giada De Laurentis...I heart her cook books, tv show, and cooking style

H is for Happiness, something we all should strive for.

I is for Ice-Cream...Breyer's is on sale at Giant this week and we can't wait to stock up on some of our favorite flavors.

J is for Jewelery. I bought this beautiful Chinese enspired bracelet from the Pharmacy of all places the other day. Just one more item to remind me of my beautiful daughter that is waiting for me

K is for Kisses. There's nothing like coming home after a long day to get a kiss from my wonderful husband.

L is for Love. I am absolutely head over heels in love with my husband, Todd who I have been married to for just over 5 years.

M is for Money. There just is never enough...and I am trying to be more frugal because one day I want to stay home with my baby girl.

N is for Needs...something my husband asks me to consider before purchases...wants or needs?! We know which ones win for me, right??

O is for our Old English Sheep Dog, Winston. He got an early summer do today and thinks he is hot stuff!

P is for Patience, something that I always don't have enough of.

Q is for Queen...the Queen of England will always remind me of my Grandma.

R is for Reading...something I love to do, and really enjoy the book club I started. 7-8 women get together every month, and mostly it turns to gossip...but so much fun!

S is for Sunshine...something I really, really miss after all this snow we have received this winter!

T is for Travel...something I love to share with my husband.

U is for Underwear...something that I really need to shop for!

V is for Vision...I had Lasik eye surgery 4 years ago and I can still see 20/15 every single day!!

W is for work...something that is really overrated!

X is for keeping all things Crossed (X'd) as we enter the final stages of the paperchasing process to bring home our baby girl.

Y is for 'Y China??'....because that's where our daughter is.

Z is for Zoo...I want to go to the Zoo in China and San Diego when we travel to bring our daughter home.

We are officially SNOWED in!!

My sweet hubby shovelling the side walk

I think we have about 16 inches...our friends in Preston are without power. Thank goodness they have a woodstove to keep them warm. Todd went to get the kerosene heater yesterday, and we can access a generator if we absolutely have to now that the roads are plowed, a little.

The next round will produce 6-12 inches. Thankfully the wind has died down from last night and I think we are out of the blizzard warning. Oh and did I mention that we will be getting another 4-6 inches on Tuesday/Wednesday?!

That damn Groundhog! ; )

Exciting news

I have some good news about a very dear friend that I want to share, but I can't just yet...a few more weeks and then I can scream it from the roof tops!! I am so excited and so happy for this wonderful couple!! Stay tuned, it will be worth the wait, for sure!!