molls's birthsday!

woop woop!  let's hear it for molly...it's her birthday!!!

last year molly got a special blog on her big day...its all still true.  she is still awesome, loyal, hilarious, uber creative, and really pretty. 

Molly is the perfect "go to" friend.  If you need fashion advice, decorating tips, want to go to the flea market, need the latest pop culture scoop, want to know what TV shows to watch (and not watch...but I promise Big Bang Theory is funny), take a road trip, learn a music video dance...for all these things...go to molly. 

but also...if you are having a bad day, need someone to just listen to you, make you laugh...make you smile, support you in decisions, encourage you through all of life's woes...go to molly.  Even though we can become your modern day Daria and Jane, we manage to have fun and keep smiling through all stages of life together.

can't say enough about such a dear friend. 

constant. compassionate (to all...mammals and sea life included).

a bestest friend you can have.

happy birthday molly!

here's to London in 2012...not turning 30...just London :)

party pasta!

oh...writing that title makes me think of how fun it would be to have a pasta party...like an Italian theme.  mmmm. that sounds delicious.  maybe we change josh's party theme to that...or there is always next year!!!

anyway...I'm trying to do my part to be a cost-conscience wife and watch for deals at the grocery store and find coupons, etc.  Part of that is also using what we have on hand and trying to not have to by every ingredient for every meal each week.  This week, we had Chicken Parmesan on the menu. (if you've ever eaten anywhere with the Drakes, you know they love them some Chicken Parm.)  Typically I serve it with pasta.

PASTA!  The past couple of times we've made recipes with pasta we have some pasta left over...usually about a 1/4 of a box.  Trying to save space in my kitchen I just pile all the pasta in one bin.  Like this...

ah ha! party pasta!  I love pasta and think this looks so fun.  SO, for dinner the other night, we just had different kinds of pasta, using what we had instead of buying something new.  Its not brain surgery but it seemed clever to us.  The Chicken Parmesan was really easy.  We used the Chicken cutlets (tenders) b/c they were on sale and ended up liking the smaller portions better - and they cook faster!

dip tender into egg, then into bread crumbs.  Cook in oil to brown on both sides.  Cook in the oven for 20ish minutes at 350.  After 10ish minutes add marinara sauce to the top of the chicken plus some grated Parmesan.  Allow to cook another 10ish minutes until chicken is done and cheese is melted!  Yum-o!

wednesday's sunset

the rain lately has made for some beautiful sunsets with the cloud patterns.  Last night (Thursday) in Nashville, the clouds looked exactly like how I picture them when Jesus comes back.  SO bright, fluffy, majestic...and the sun setting with perfect rays.  These are pictures from Wednesday's sunset.  The pretty colors were just amazing. 

The beauty of God is certianly not something we have to spend too much time looking for.  He places it all around us each and every day.  The sunsets have been such a great reminder of His power and provision.

doe, a deer...

the other day I looked out my office window and saw this pretty creature!

she was just prancing around and chillin'

 I went outside to try and get more pictures...it saw me and decided to cross the parking lot...

  still watching me it went down the hill...

 it came back up the hill with this little guy!!!

and off they went...

just another day on the farm...I mean office :)

oh boy!

"We buy so many diapers and we don't even have kids!" was Josh's response as we picked up another package of diapers at target the other day.  It's true...I've bought a lot of diapers in my day and we have no children.  but...I do love to make cakes! Diaper cakes that is!

we have some friend who are getting ready to have their 3rd child...but first boy in about a month!!!  can't wait to meet the little fella!  so when we brought them dinner the other night, we also brought a diaper cake!

boy cakes...always a little tricky.  Bow? No bow? are bows too girlie? The boy will actually never even see the bow so does it matter?  These are the big life questions I ask myself every time I make a diaper cake.  At first I thought...no bows, just knots (in my mind, knots mean boy).  So I just did two tiers with knots...

but it seemed lacking.  so I made a bow...

now where to add it?  top?

middle?

I went with the top.

I also made cute little canvas to hang in the soon-to-be boy nursery.  I LOVED the colors they picked out so I made the cake and canvas to coordinate.  I never took a "finished product" picture of the canvas...here you can see the first stage, pre-straightening of the lines...

and then I added a ribbon border, to make it look cute (and cover up the sloppy line drips over the edge!)

happy monday!

peach cobbler

millions of peaches...peaches for me...millions of peaches...anyone?!

Peaches are in season here in Nashville!  last weekend we got some at the farmer's market with the intention to make a fun dessert.  peach cobbler it was.  I'd never made a cobbler before (I'm not really a fan of cooked fruits, but the crust alone is good enough to pick around the fruit most of the time!) so I was excited about this adventure.

I used a really simple Betty Crocker Peach Cobbler recipe...and with the help of a great husband...wah-lah...

peach cobber

the recipe called for whip cream...but we figured this was better

it was actually pretty good...I may have actually eaten some of the fruit part too :)

a pineapple party

woah!  looks like this blog needs to have a party!

The Finer Things is one of my favorite paper and stationery blogs to read.  Yesterday they had a post including inspriration for a pineapple party!

check it out!

the dairy dip

Mondays seem a little better if I can continue to think about a fun weekend I just had!

and any weekend that includes the dairy dip...is going to be a fun one.

If you live in the Nashville area and have not been to Bobbie's Dairy Dip, you need to go...tonight!  It's a classic summer spot on my list.  Old Fashioned dipped cones and every possible Milkshake flavor possible.  Molly had not experienced the dip yet...so we all went for her first time...

survey says:

delicious...duh!

they have great "real food" (as I like to call it) as well. Josh and I got cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries...mmmmm

these cats came along and loved their delicious desserts as well!

good times at the dairy dip...as always.

I'm a happy girl!

it's friday!!! it's the weekend!!! I'm a happy girl!!! so I thought I'd share my "HAPPY" banner with you all.

ugh...I LOVE this banner!  everything lisa leonard designs is adorable and all her stuff makes great gifts for any occasion.

earlier this year she came out with the customizable banner.  I felt like a "happy" banner could go with most every occasion ...though I'll probably need a "merry" one for Christmas (hint hint!) ...or "hope" or "peace" or "joy" OOO! or "noel" ugh...obviously I would love anything and everything.

hope you all have a very happy weekend! 

be sure to check out all the fun new things lisa's got in her shop for the summer!

glimpses from gilling out!

Last Sunday it rained and made things just a bit cooler...meaning bearable...as in able to enjoy being outside and not instantly sweating.  AND these guys are finally starting to die off...

(those are cicadas for any non-middle tennessee folk)

So...we decided to grill...

its June, its hot, and its officially summer!

ps. the bottom left picture...that's the Mango Salsa from Costo.  Its worth the membership fee.

Have you grilled out yet? Any fun recipes you want to share?!

sean-asaurus!

birthdays seem to be the theme on the blog here lately (and we all know I'm ok with that!!!).  2 weeks ago we went to down to Atlanta.  Josh's wedding present was a Kenny Chesney concert.  That same weekend was my nephew's 4th birthday party so we were excited it worked out for us to be there.

it was a great afternoon at the park...filled with presents, pinatas, games, and cake...of course!

The dinasaur pinanta seemed like the size of an actual dinasaur. It was HUGE!  we started off with a bat...

but we all know you need a sword to slay a dinosaur...

PRESENTS!

 I had my friend Caitlin make Sean a dinosaur tail...it's just a little velcro belt that he can attach.  Everyone loved it!  so fun!

If you ever need an awesome dinosaur cake...publix is the place to go.  The top part had a motion sensored dinosaur that would pop out and roar when you got close it.

also while we were in atlanta .... sweet baby virginia was born!!!  check out my photography site for more sweet pictures of this "little" week old baby.