Neat idea...

My mom saw an article in The KC Star about a group of folks in Kansas City that have a group who go to different restaurants and rate the food. They blog all about it here. First, they went to different pizza places and are now trying out different burger places. One of my bffs Lindsay started a breakfast club in Wichita a year or two ago (I can't remember how long it's been going) but one Saturday a month they go to different restuarants and try out the breakfast menu. Love the ideas and inspired to do something similar here in my city! Nothing like enjoying a meal with friends and trying new places.

Internet intervention...

There was a time when I was a productive human.....that was before I recently discovered Jersey Shore. I'm embarrassed to admit how addicting it is. The last couple nights I have watched several episodes on Netflix, but tonight, the website is messing up and won't connect. Since other websites are working and it's not just my internet, I think God is hosting an intervention and telling me to resume my regularly schedule life programming....like doing laundry and washing the dishes, perhaps brushing my teeth....tasks that have clearly become imposing since I have become addicted to the ridiculousness that is JS. I can't even believe the things that the cast says or does and I seriously cannot believe how much I love to watch it! Hopefully I see all of the episodes soon so I can get it out of my system. :) If you can't get ahold of me, you now know why.

Happy St. Patty's Day weekend!...Minus that whole KSU loss thing...

I had a great St. Patty's Day weekend and hope everyone else did too! On the actual day of, I had to work. Boo. But afterwards, I met up with friends for a couple green beers and later got to see K-State win their first round game in the NCAA tourney. St. Patty's is also my friend Kristen's birthday, so it was fun to help her celebrate. Happy b-day KFan!

With two of my buds since high school. Glad Lacey and Andrea could both come join the fun!

The fun continued.....and the Kristen birthday celebration.....on Saturday night. We celebrated her 30th birthday but SADLY K-State lost their second round game....BUMMER! Kristen is a KU fan but everyone was being fairly civil about the loss and following sadness.

With Sharee and Megan and our K-State stickers!

Last night, I celebrated St. Patty's with my parents in our tradition style (minus Meg)....with mom's homemade reubens. They.are.awesome.!!!! Massive sandwich and tater tots.....only do it once a year but oh so worth it.

Aren't the napkins SO festive?!

Yep, Dad's got a tot in his necklace...

Mom and me....don't be mad I posted this. :) It was a casual evening....as in I had just got out of the shower after the gym! Btw, what's going on with my hand in this picture??

Oh yeah, and welcome spring! So ready for some great weather!!

God loves us and therefore created The Rotisserie Chicken

Monday night I picked up a rotisserie chicken on the way home from work and some salad stuff and it has totally rocked my face off all week! Can't beat it for a $5 purchase. I bought carrots, tomatoes, onions, an avacado and a hard-boiled egg, and made some great salads the last couple days with added protein from the previously mentioned bird. Tonight I made some chicken quesadillas (is there anything easier?!). I love how many things you can do with them and they're still pretty healthy. Cheers for easy, quick and healthy dinners as we welcome in some nicer weather and don't want to spend evenings cooking in the kitchen! :)

I can't believe.....

We're barely into Lent and as I mentioned before, I gave up "desserts" for these LONG 40 days. My friend Sharee gave them up with me and we went ahead and defined desserts as "cookies, brownies, cake, candy and ice cream, plus cinnamon rolls, etc". I've been doing pretty good with it; I definitely love some sweets but can go periods of time without them. However, 40 days without any is tough! You know you're desperate when sugar-free jello is sounding kinda awesome.

So, today at work there were some glorious looking donuts and THEY LOOKED SO GOOD! Ugh! Funny thing is when I was growing up I didn't really like donuts and especially not icing. My have times changed! It got me to thinking about all of the other foods that I didn't like when I was younger and now can't imagine not liking them!

-hummus (I could literally eat my body weight in it!)
-guacamole (um, hello?!)
-grilled cheese
-tomatoes
-sushi (yum-o!)
-squash

I still can't get into crunchy peanut butter or coconut though! Any foods your taste buds have changed their minds about over the years?

If I were...

If I were a month, I’d be October.
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday.
If I were a time of day, I’d be the moment I wake up.
If I were a sea animal, I'd be a seal.
If I were a direction, I’d be East.
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a china cabinet.
If I were a liquid, I’d be Diet Coke.
If I were a gemstone, I’d be a pearl.
If I were a tree, I’d be an oak.
If I were a tool, I’d be a saw.
If I were a flower, I’d be a lilac.
If I were a kind of weather, I’d be a spring shower.
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a set of drums.
If I were a color, I’d be green.
If I were an emotion, I’d be excited.
If I were a fruit, I’d be a banana.
If I were an element, I’d be fire.
If I were a car, I'd be an SUV.
If I were a food, I’d be anything Mexican!
If I were a place, I’d be a Kansas wheat field.
If I were a material, I’d be cotton.
If I were a scent, I’d be fresh flowers.
If I were an animal, I'd be a giraffe.
If I were a facial expression, I’d be a blush.
If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be comfy slippers.

I found this random tid bit over at www.ohcaptain.com; it's a great blog I ran across and makes me desperately want to spend more time on our East coast! Until then, Happy Monday and hope everyone enjoyed springing foward, although I'm not sure Mother Nature got the memo. It snowed today!

Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers

I tried another recipe last week off of http://www.skinnytaste.com/; which is where I found the recipes for both the Chicken Parmesan and Zucchini Sticks that we loved. This was a recipe for Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers and is basically a twist on beef and rice stuffed peppers. We thought these we maybe a little bland but not bad. I would probably add some sort of spice if I made them again. They were definitely really filling and pretty low calorie, which is a plus. If green peppers are your thing, then you would probably like them!

Something new....verdict = Tasty

I've been wanting to try some new recipes lately and ran across this recipe for Chicken Georgia on another blog. If you like mushrooms and onions, you might like it. :) I cooked it for my dad when my mom was at her monthly bunko group, as he is on Team Mushroom with me and my mom wants nothing to do with them. Pretty tasty.

Resuming....

It seems like life (at least in blogging world, and kind of outside of it too) has been on hold for me lately. A lot has been going on in my world, namely someone that is one of the closest people to my heart has been diagnosed and begun a battle with cancer, as well one of my best friends since high school was killed in a car accident on Valentine's Day. I was Tisharria's maid of honor at her wedding in January and her sudden death has seemed so very surreal. Her husband was in the car with her and is recovering slowly back at his home. We've been in contact through phone/text; T couldn't have picked a better guy and his positive attitude is helping him through this awful time. Right before Tisharria walked down the aisle, she and I were alone in the dressing room in the church and I told her what an awesome guy she was marrying and how he the two of them set the bar for the kind of relationship I want in my life. It gives me comfort knowing that when she died, she was so truly happy and with the love of her life. I really want everyone to know that while it's definitely been a rough month, I have genuinely appreciated all my friends' support and loved my family even harder than usual. Times like these shock us into evaluating our lives and look at what we're doing and not doing....and most of all, remind us what's important.

So, I haven't felt like blogging but feel like it's a good way for me to vent/remember/document/process everything that has been going on. I also didn't feel like I could resume writing without at least briefly acknowledging what's really been going on in my life. It would seem fake/disrespectful to start posting about the usual....which honestly is a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter, without being truthful. I don't plan on my blog being a place to focus on my family member's cancer fight, as I want to respect their privacy or to focus on Tisharria, but I would like to start up again and see what inspires me. If anyone had ever met "T", they know that she was SO MUCH FUN and one of the happiest people I know. I want to honor her and our friendship by trying to include a little bit of her spirit in my life. To do that, it means finding/continuing what makes me happy and doing it with a huge smile on my face, just like she did every single day!