That time I was the weirdo who asked for “Quinoa”

A few months back, I read Kaitlyn’s post where she had made Quinoa Pizza Bites.  I am a big fan of quinoa, but knew it may not be Brandon’s cup of tea.  I decided I would pick a day he was working late and I had the kitchen all to myself to try these yummy treats.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to grab the ingredients I would need.  I had almost everything in my basket when I went searching for the main ingredient, quinoa.  I scoured the isles to find the rice section.  I am new to this rural area, and was a little worried when I didn’t see my normal brand, or any brand of quinoa for that matter.  There was a helpful guy behind me stacking shelves, but it turned out it was his first week and he wasn’t quite sure where it was, or what it was for that matter.

We then walked the store asking every cashier/stocker for where the “quinoa” was.  I have never seen more blank looks in my life!  I felt so awkward as each one had me repeat the name numerous times, which I, of course, repeated louder each time.  Maybe they were hard of hearing.

(this is when the commercial for Bud Light popped in my head where the guy is cooking quinoa burgers at the tailgate so his team will win… have you seen it?, it’s pretty funny!)

I took another stroll down the market in the boonies, feeling like the weirdo these people now think I am, and luckily found the sad little box of quinoa tucked behind the rice, just where I thought.

 

Finally, I was headed home to try my new treat made with the ever illusive “keeenn-waah”.

The Recipe:

Ingredients –

-          ½ cup uncooked quinoa

-          1 egg

-          ½ cup shredded mozzarella

-          ½ cup chopped onion

-          ¼ cup diced bell peppers

-          1 teaspoon minced garlic

-          1 teaspoon diced oregano

-          1 tablespoon dried basil

-          Dash of salt

 

Directions –

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.       Combine quinoa with one cup of water and bring to a boil.  Once oiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 15 – 20 minutes (or until the quinoa is tender and has absorbed most of the water).

3.       Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring until well mixed.

4.       Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and using a spoon, divide mixture evenly among muffin tins.

5.       Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden on top.

 

{Recipe used was found on southerncurlsandpearls.blogspot.com}

Enjoy!!

It's what I love about Sundays

Oh Sunday!!

 

Sundays are meant for laundry and lounging, and that is exactly how I spent my day.  Add in a taco bar set up by in-laws that included Elk meat from my father-in-law's recent hunting trip (hey, you have to try everything once, right) and visits with Brandon’s adorable baby niece, and I would say you have one pretty nice day on your hands.

 

Sunday’s should happen more often!

Riding in Cars with Dogs

Brandon and I decided to take Hunter with us when we went to stay with my parents last week.  He would only be staying Friday night to Saturday, but obviously the idea of getting out of his own house was an awesome idea to him!

 

 

"Idea" being the key term here!

 

Brandon was still at work when I got Hunter in the car on Friday, which meant a car ride with just me and the pup!  He got in the car as soon as I opened the door and put his toy box in. (he is a big fan of his toys, so we don't travel without them).

 

 

Well we were barely out of the driveway when I quickly remembered, that while Hunter loves to ride in the car with Brandon and I, he loathes riding in the car sans Brandon.

And the crying and pacing began.

 

Things I learned while riding with my backseat co-pilot, Hunter:

 

i. he hates on-ramps, random I know, but homeboy freaked out every time we started to make the turn.  I never realized how many on-ramps there truly are between our house and my parents.

 

ii. Hunter has a 'car ride only' allergy to air.  the poor guy loves to stick his head out the window.  Every time he did though, a 30 second sneeze-fest followed.

 

iii. lastly, our fur-monster has no ability to sit still for more than 2 seconds, it was up - down - up - down and drove me bonkers!!  It was a very long hour and fifteen minute drive.

 

When the car ride was done, poor Hunter looked desperately for Brandon to waiting for him at my parents.  The hour more he had to wait killed him a little inside.  When that husband of mine walked through the door, that dog's life was complete!!

 

and you better believe he rode home with Brandon!

 

side note -  Hunter is a big toy fan, not only his, but every dog's around him.  my parent's dog Zoey lost one awesome bone to the jaws of Hunter (Hunter was sweet enough to leave a thank you note for letting him stay and a new bone for her though!)

Thanks mom and dad! :)

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!! 

I am definitely looking forward to a relaxing weekend, which are few and far between in the foreseeable future!

 

Happiness this weekend starts by catching up with the lovely ladies behind Five on Friday!
 

 

 Read along and link-up with your own.

 

{one}

Working for the City definitely has its perks when it comes to federal holidays, I am looking at you Columbus Day!  The gorgeous day was spent with my sister and littlest nephew at the Norfolk Zoo.

 

Little man made it a good hour and a half before he decided that "we go home" and then he bee-lined it for the exit and was asleep before we left Norfolk.

 

{two}

Had a little too much fun shopping on Saturday.  I picked up my wedding ring... finally (I have been wearing a temporary one from the jeweler since our wedding).  So as a treat to myself, I perused through New York and Company and made a killing with a coupon and reward dollars! Definitely stocked up on some amazing new fall pieces!

 

{three}

oh, and then I had a successful shopping trip at Target. (yea, my wallet will be welded shut by my husband in no time.) But I mean I am talking $20 king size sheets sets kind of successful.  It was a good day!

 

{four}

This was part of the target trip, but deserves it's own excitement... hello gorgeous!

 

 

Found one of these on a shelf, tucked behind some other bags!  Even had the choice between the taupe and black.  The taupe bag has a new happy home with me!

 

{five}

Looking forward to lunch plans with this pretty lady tomorrow! 

 

 

Can't wait to catch up with her and hear about her little one's Halloween costumes!

 

How was your week?!

Five on Friday

Five on Friday

 

link up with the lovely ladies and share your weeks up and downs!

 

 

{1.} This rain... not a fan! I know it is needed and all, but the road home on Thursday was flooded! :(  I am going to play a sad little song for myself over here...

 

{2.} High Five for Federal Holidays and working for the City! Woo hoo  My plans, if this rain ever stops, is to take my little nephew to the local farm for some apple pie and a petting zoo on Monday.  Thanks Chris C!

I mean, could this BE more "fall"

{3.} Loving mini bottles of wine!  These are perfect for those nights where downing the bottle by yourself just wouldn't make for a classy next day at work. I enjoyed myself a little fun-sized treat on Tuesday evening.

 



link
My set-up did not look nearly as classy... not even close!



 

{4.} Hurricane Emily was at it again (this is my brother's nick-name for me... apparently I am a bit of a disaster, I am sure he means it in the nicest way possible) on Tuesday.  Bambi took on a suicide mission and ran head first into the side of my car on my drive home from work, so not really my fault, but of course that would happen to me.  Thankfully not a signal sign of the "incident" on my car, and when I stopped to check on the little guy, he was nowhere to be found.

 

{5.} A few group messages, a dozen e-mails and 4 different proposed dates later, my girlfriends from college have a scheduled "Girls Weekend"!  Next month's DC meet-up can't come soon enough! :)

 

"The girls" (minus Jean) last December!    And why yes, my bag is the size of a small child! 

Happy Friday ladies!  Celebrate with a baby wine bottle, or two!!

My New Addiction

I think Netflix needs to post some kind of warning label, like cigarettes has the skull and crossbones, that says "please be prepared to waste whole afternoons and be extremely unproductive".  It would only be fair.

 

My recent new show on Netflix has been "Pretty Little Liars", I know, I know, only a million years late on this one. 

 

But as I have wasted away afternoons when I was supposed to be cleaning but ended up holding the cleaning towel and sprawled in front of my little ole' computer screen, I have a few unanswered questions about those little hotty toddys that live in this quaint little murderous town.

 

1. What time do these girls go to school?!  This one has bothered me the most!  I mean, my high school started at 7:25 am.  But these girls are primped and dressed and meeting for coffee before class starts!  They would have to be meeting at this coffee spot at like 6 am, right?  This seems outrageous to me!  I never looked that good for school and I wasn't hitting the "brew" before class!

 

2. Why do they drink so much coffee?  I mean who are these parents that trained their kids at 15 to chug so many lattes?

 

3. This may be a self-reflective one for me, but man I really didn't try as hard as I should to look better in high school.  I mean, most of my outfits involved jeans and my favorite pair of white clean reeboks! (I like to think I just didn't hit my prime in high school, which is fine by me)

 

4. Speaking of primes, if these girls are hitting their prime in high school, what does the college years hold for them. {and can we expect a "College Years" edition like Saved By the Bell?!}

 

5. Why is no one's parents around... ever.  I mean I am pretty sure if I had been under suspicion of murder and had almost been murdered on more than one occasion, my parents would have a little more of a watchful eye.

 

6. A teacher and a student is a crime.  Being in my mid-twenties, thinking someone my age would date a high schooler is pretty weird.  I mean, they slightly touch on the weirdness of this, but Mr. Fitz starts macking on the lovely Aria when she is 15... creeper status!! (though secretly I want them to last forever)

 

7. Speaking of creepy, there are a large amount of grown adult on high schooler relationships (I am looking at you Dr. Wren and Detective Wilden)

 

Besides the other million unanswered questions involving the plot, these are my random musings while watching this teenie-bopper obsession of mine!

 

Have you seen this show?  What are your random thoughts?!

 

Mixing Colors

I am now obsessed with this lovely little back drop!

 

I am a big fan of mixing brown and black, and thought, why not throw some blue in to and just make this outfit an all over hodgepodge!   

 

The Hottest Weekend in October

October's normally call for cool weather and cuddling under blankets, but mother nature decided it was not ready to let go of summer quite yet and the thermostat shot up to a sweltering hot 92 degrees!

Brandon and I spent the morning taking the adorable  puppies to the vet for their first visit and booster shots (they took them like champs!)

our little runt.. that little baby tongue gets me every time

And we ran into town and grabbed beers at b-dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings, if we are being formal) to watch Virginia Tech win!

 

I couldn't help but pull the shorts out of the closet for the heat wave that hit, and of course I couldn't help but top the outfit off with a fun fedora!

 

 

After an unsuccessful search for warm weather hunting gear, Brandon sweated his butt off while wearing his not so warm weather gear.  But not having comfortable clothing was not keeping that country boy out of the woods on the opening day of hunting season.

 

 

and don't worry, his ring didn't give him away to Bambi... it is camo too!!

 

 

Ah Ha Moment

Warning: It’s a sappy one!

 

Saturday evening I ran into 7-eleven on our way home from my sisters to grab a mega millions lottery ticket.  Brandon stayed in the car while I popped in line.  I caught a glimpse of the man in front of me and I recognized him right away as my history teacher in 10^th grade, but I could not place his name. 

 

 I didn’t want to be rude and say “hey you” because I felt if I couldn’t think of his name, I couldn’t hold out much hope for him remembering mine.  While I racked my brain to think of it, I started to think of how I would respond if he asked about what I have been up to. 

 

Then my ah-ha moment happened, not the ‘oh that’s his name’, but an ah-ha about how pretty perfect  life is.  I thought about how I could truly say “Things have been going great!”  I could go on about how, since high school, I have graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelors in Exercise and Health Promotion.  How I have recently been promoted to a pretty sweet Special Events Coordinating job and on the side started a fashion boutique with my sister.  And I could talk all about how I just married the man of my dreams, and how that hunky firefighter of mine was waiting for me in the car.  I could say how we were building our home together where we will raise our children one day.  How wonderful our family and friends were doing and how those other students of his, who sat right beside me in his class, stood right beside me on my wedding day and how our school aged friendships have lasted through college days, moves, marriages and babies. 

 

I looked out the window to Brandon waiting in the car and thought how lucky we are.  How lucky I am to have him beside me and how hard I will work every day to keep our lives just as amazing as they are at this moment!

 

I am not sure if I am living on a honeymoon high, but if so, I think honeymoons should happen more often!!!

 

 

Ways I Wore it Wednesday... dreaming of warm beach days

This weeks Ways I Wore it Wednesday has me pretending I am back on my honeymoon and planning for dinner on the beach.

Using this WIWIW to show off one last summer look before jumping head first into fall!!

Simply Style Boutique's - Strapless Corseted Coral Dress

wearing a small

 

Simply paired with a delicate necklace, chain linked bracelet and nude pumps this coral dress is so sweet and comfortable!  The corseted top is fitted and soft.  The perfect mix for an effortless look!

 

What outfits are you sad to pack away as cooler weather rolls in?  And what are you looking forward to most for fall?

October's to-dos!

Happy 1st of October! 

desktop calendar anyone?

It appears that October may be the most loved month of the year based on all the loving it's getting on Instagram!  So I thought in honor of this loveable month I would start it off with a little to-do/want to-do/need to-do list!

 

October list:

• blog more often (it is such a fun, amazing hobby and I want some fun this month!)
• devote more of myself to Simply Style Boutique (wedding is over people, be on the look out for some fun collaborations and new items)
• cook a huge batch of chili for the first Saturday of hunting season (it's a national holiday in our home
• have a bonfire with the hubs (he has been working hard on a landscaping job and all the kindle is building up in the side yard... smore time)
• organize my overwhelmingly large amount of boxes in my parent's attic (I am married now and my dad want's it outta there... so sweet of him, right?!)
• book our after-wedding couple shoot (another shoot with our amazing photographer!)
• organize my new office space at work
• train myself to stop hitting snooze and have at least one productive morning before the end of the month
• learn at least one new feature on photoshop (I need to learn about one billion, so one should be a good start)
• figure out a way to get internet at the house (Starbucks may make me pay rent if we don't remedy this problem soon)
• have at least one whole dug in the ground for our new house (post about this coming soon... building our own home may be the death of me!!)
• go to a pumpkin patch (this will have to wait till a Sunday if I expect Brandon to join, hunting season starts Saturday and tree stand beats pumpkin patch every time)
• plan and book one fun trip to take before summer

What goes on your to-do list?  Any need to-do's that I am missing?!