Month: May 2017

Weekend Recap 5.21.17… First Dinner Guests and Fresh Raspberries

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Good morning!! How is your week going?  I am pretty excited that we are halfway through the week because Friday we head to the lake (my husband’s aunt and uncle’s house) for our annual family reunion with my husband’s side of the family.  I am hoping for some good weather, fun times with family and time to unwind because it has been go go go the last few weeks for us.  

This past weekend was pretty relaxing though.  We were very productive, but also had time to relax and hang out with some friends.  We have been taking the dogs to a nearby dog park a couple times a week and they love it… for about 5 minutes.  Then both of the dogs come and lay down by us… We have been standing on opposite sides of the park and calling the dogs back and forth to get them a little exercise. 🙂

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Can you spy Riley?  If we ever can’t find him, we know to look where the sun in shining… this little pup loves sun bathing. 🙂

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On Friday we got a new couch my husband ordered… all the seats recline and while I must say it is not very pretty, it sure is comfy!  It’s in our basement, which has now become our movie room.  

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I made this salad for dinner the other night and my husband and I both loved it!  You make a grapefruit vinaigrette to go on top and it is just delicious.  I added the raw corn and goat cheese because… well why not? 

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Saturday we went to my mom’s house for some raspberry picking!  Besides getting pricked by the little thorns on the plant, it was kind of fun!  Fresh raspberries are the best!  The blueberry bushes are the ones behind the fence and I can’t wait for those to ripen in a few weeks! 

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Saturday evening our favorite couple, Rachael and Eric, came over for dinner.  The girls cooked and the boys played ping pong.  They brought over their sweet pup, Cooper, and another pup the were watching, Pierre.  It was doggie heaven, which always makes me soo happy!

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We may have cooked a little too much food.  We made salmon, chicken, roasted mushrooms, a huge salad, roasted asparagus and zucchini.  Leftovers for everyone!

The even brought us some flowers!  So many that I could make two arrangements.  Don’t you just love fresh flowers?  I sure do!

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The boys and 3 out of the 4 pups.  

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After a few games of pingpong and lots of chatting, we finally said goodnight around midnight.  Rachael took our picture on our new front porch. 🙂

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We have seriously been waiting forever to be able to live close to friends and family and now that the move is finally over, I can officially say nights like these make all the stress of moving worth it.  🙂 

Questions:

  1. Go-to meal to cook for guests?
  2. What did you eat for lunch today?
  3. Traveling for Memorial Day weekend?

 

Yummy Food and Exploring the New Neighborhood

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Hi guys!  How was your weekend?  I usually start my weeks by recapping our weekend, but this weekend when I got around to organizing my pictures, I realized I had quite a few piled up from the last couple weeks so I decided to show those today instead.  My weekend recap will be up soon! 

A couple weeks ago my husband suggested sushi for dinner (he would eat it every day if he could) and I was in the mood to try a new place.  My husband said he had tried Samurai a while ago with my dad and loved it so we decided to try it out together.  They have a lot of unique rolls and they were all so delicious! 

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Another delicious meal before a Preds game. 

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When my mother-in-law was in town we took her to Bricktops and all thoroughly enjoyed our meals.  I got the tuna and it was so so sooo good!

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I have been trying out some new recipes here and there and took a couple over to my mom’s house for a mother’s day lunch to enjoy by the pool. 

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We have been getting in soo many walks in our new neighborhood and are loving it more and more by the day.  Similar to Dallas, our neighborhood in Nashville is very walkable, which we are really enjoying.  My husband is like that guy on the commercial that says he is never moving to the burbs. 🙂  I have to agree that living near the city and being able to walk to dinner, the park, the coffee shop, and other places is really fun and convenient.  I promise to show you pictures of our place once we get it all organized.  We are almost there!!

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It really is nice being able to go to my mom’s on the weekends and use her pool. 😉  The company is pretty great too!

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I’m so thankful for this hard working guy and all he does for our family.  Without him, I’m not sure where I would be. 🙂  

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I hope you guys all had a lovely weekend!! I’m looking forward to a quick work week before we pack up the car (and pups) and head to the lake for our annual family reunion.  

Questions:

  1. Best part of your weekend?
  2. Any memorial day plans on the agenda?
  3. What was the best thing you ate this weekend?

Sports!! We Just Can’t Get Enough!

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Hi friends!! Happy Friday!!  Hallelujah, the weekend is here! It has come at the perfect time because I am in need of a little break.   What about you guys?  How has your week been so far?  I got off work a little early yesterday and thought I would go home and finish getting our house organized… I was so wrong.  I went home to take a quick “nap” before attempting some cleaning and awoke 4 hours later.  I got up and ate dinner and watched the Preds game 😦 then went back to sleep a couple hours later and slept straight through the night.  I guess my body just really needed the rest.  I am feeling well-rested and ready for a nice weekend.  

As you all know by now, my family is really into sports.  I grew up going to Titans games, Predators games, minor league baseball games, MLB spring training, the list goes on and on.  As much as I like attending sporting events, I am definitely not the athlete of the family.  I grew up playing soccer, softball, basketball, swimming, and cross country, but truly, I was never really good at any of them (and I didn’t really care ;)).  I played sports for the social aspect and the exercise aspect… definitely not the competitive aspect.  My sister was the pro soccer player and my little brother is the pro hockey player… you do not want to be in the car with them after they lose a game. 😉  

Anyway.. the last few weeks have been filled with lots of sporting events so I thought I would show you a few!

My dad and I went to Bricktops for a quick dinner before the Predators game.  I got a delicious spicy tuna roll and a kale and quinoa side salad.  

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This was the second round of the playoffs… I will say the playoffs were a whole new experience compared to regular season games… the crowd was standing almost the entire game.  It was reallly fun!

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My and my sweet daddy!

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Nashville’s minor league baseball team, the Nashville Sounds, opened a new stadium recently and we hadn’t been yet.  My husband had a tennis match he couldn’t miss so I took my mother-in-law, my dad, and my little brother last Thursday.  

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The weather was just perfect!  This little boy LOVES getting pictures with the mascots.  My dad joked that we could make a whole book of pictures with my little brother and mascots from teams around the country.  

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Reba, Johnny Cash and George Jones decided to show up too. 😉

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After a few innings, this little dude got bored so we walked around and decided to play mini golf.  They have a little course in the stadium, which is really nice for families with kiddos who can’t sit still for an entire baseball game.  

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Each hole was uniquely designed.. this guitar shaped one was my favorite!

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As my dad always said growing up, “It’s a beautiful day for baseball!”  And last Thursday it sure was!

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Riley wants you guys to know that he is rooting for the Preds to win the Stanley cup… that game last night was a little hard to watch, but I am glad we at least made it to overtime. 

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Thank you for letting me ramble on and on about how much my family just loves sports.  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!! See you guys next week!!

Questions:

  1. Did you play any sports growing up?
  2. What professional sport do you watch/attend games most often?
  3. Any fun plans for the weekend? 

A Quick Catch Up: Long Time No Talk

~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 5 Comments

Hi friends!! I have missed you all in these past few weeks!! We officially have internet in our new house so expect to see me poppin in a little more regularly from now on!  I still haven’t quite figured out a blogging schedule yet, but hopefully I will get into a grove these next couple weeks.  

I need to take a minute to say Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all you fabulous momma’s and momma’s to be!  My mom has spent the last two weeks getting our new house organized and furnishing it with all kinds of new stuff we needed.  My mom event went shopping with us on mother’s day for our house.  She is truly one of a kind.  My mother-in-law visited us for a week (she left on Friday) and helped us get together a few rooms in our new house too.  If it weren’t for my mom and MIL we would seriously be living out of boxes for at least the next 6 months.  Mary and Cathy, we owe you our firstborn. 😉

See, here’s the proof that it took a village to get through these boxes…. this was probably 1/4 of them! 

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This is what our kitchen looked like during the move… I can’t even count the hours my mom spent measuring and cutting shelf liner to line all 253 shelves and drawers in our kitchen and bathrooms.  😉

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I have to show you guys this picture for a couple of reasons.  1. I told you about how one of my dogs was putting my shoes on the bed while I was away when we were staying at my dad’s house… well I found the official culprit!  My husband took our other dog, Riley, to work last week and Callie was home alone for the day.  I came home to a few of my clothes (dirty workout clothes) pulled out of my hamper and strewn about on my bed along with a few of my shoes.  I went looking for Callie and found one in the basement and when I went into the guest room, I found Callie along with my other running shoe right next to her.  My husband keeps telling me to close our bedroom door when I leave, but I kinda think it is really funny to see what she has moved each day when I get home. 2. This is our old second guest bedroom set and we found a great deal for new sheets at Bed Bath and Beyond this weekend so we decided to give our guest bedroom a makeover.  

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Here is the new look! I am loving whites and grays and anything neutral for this new house.   

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We aren’t quite done organizing yet, but we did get our bedroom put together finally!

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We may still need a couch or two, but don’t worry, my husband came home with a ping pong table the other day…. men… We went to Southeastern Salvage on Saturday and got 4 new rugs!  I just love the color of this outdoor rug for our deck!

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Since our new yard is fenced from the front to the back, we can now just let the dogs out and not worry about them.  The other day I couldn’t find Riley and went looking for him and found him just lounging in the grass in the backyard.  It is safe to say he is loving the new house  yard.  

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I have lots more to show you guys, but I have to wrap up this post now.  I talk to you all soon!! Thank you so much for sticking around through this crazy hectic time right now.   I truly appreciate each and every one of you. 🙂 

Questions:

  1. Favorite place to shop?
  2. Any trips coming up?
  3. What is new in your life? 

Weekend Recap Continued

~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 5 Comments

Hi friends!!! Back to the rest of our weekend!

Sunday morning after a home workout, we packed up the pups and headed to a new-to-us hiking trail just north of town.  We ventured out to Fontanel hiking trail for a quick 2 mile hike.  

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I love well-marked trails! 🙂

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Here we go!!  We went Sunday morning to beat the storms Sunday afternoon.  

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The trail was pretty muddy, but we had fun running around in the woods with our doggies.  They were both pretty happy too. 🙂

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Sunday afternoon while we watched the Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues (!!!!), I meal prepped for the week.  I used lettuce from my momma’s garden that we picked up on Saturday.  I am usually pretty indifferent about lettuce, but wow… this stuff is sooo good.  

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After making some salads for the week I made some homemade banana bread and dark chocolate peanut butter coconut bars!!  So yummy!! 

Does anyone else have a little doggie that loves to burrow?  We can always find Riley under a couch/blanket.  🙂

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Off to go do some more organizing at the new house!  Talk to you all soon!

Questions:

  1. Do you have a favorite walking/hiking trail?
  2. What did you have for dinner last night?
  3. Do you like to bake? 

 

Weekend Recap 4.30.17 …. It’s Moving Week!!!

~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 2 Comments

Hi friends!  Happy Monday!! How was your weekend?? Mine was really good!  I am unusually happy and chipper for a Monday morning because I am just a little excited about moving into our new house later today!  We have had to push back our closing several times, but it should happen today or sometime this week.  We are still able to move into our house today as our movers were scheduled so we are very happy about that! 

This weekend was pretty productive and relaxing.  Let’s back up a bit to Friday.   One of my co-workers shared this sparkling water with me and it was pretty tasty.  It is very flavorful which was a nice change up from regular water.  

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My husband loves to order from Uber Eats.  We usually only do one night out a week for dinner, but I worked late last week and my husband called in for back up since he was in charge of dinner. 🙂  He ordered from Eastern Peak and it was delicious!!  Uber Eats has helped us to discover new favorite restaurants so it is good when you are in a hurry or don’t want to cook.  

On Friday I met my momma and husband for a lunch date!  We went to Granite City and were all happy with our meals!  I love having lunch dates throughout the week to have something to look forward to.  

On Saturday after a quick workout and a walk in the park, we headed outside for some fun.  Did any of you play with sidewalk chalk when you were young?  I have so many childhood memories of playing with sidewalk chalk with my sister and getting sad when the rain would wash away our creations. 🙂  We decided to play 4 square and had so much fun making up different rules each round.  

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Love this sweet boy. 

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My husband is a kid at heart.  He loves riding my little brother’s scooter and playing with all of his games. 😉  Notice Riley running in the grass beside him… it is a great way to get our doggies all tired out. 🙂

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This little guy just LOVES being outside.  His sister… she gets really excited about going outside… but then instantly is ready to come back in.  

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She would rather just chill on the couch… with her tongue out. 😉

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On Saturday night my husband and I took out my dad and brother for dinner to celebrate us moving into our new house this week and thank them for taking us and the dogs in for the last 3 months!  

We went to Peter’s for some sushi and thai food!  I got two sushi rolls and loved them both.  They were both so fresh and unique!

The movers are scheduled to come today and my mom is already at the new house getting things ready.  We are so excited and I will be sure to share pictures as we get things unpacked!!  I will be back tomorrow with the rest of our weekend recap!

Have a wonderful week!!

Questions:

  1. What was the highlight of your weekend?
  2. Did you play with sidewalk chalk during your childhood?
  3. Have you ever tried Uber Eats?