A Really Good Recipe...

So I never posted my meal plan on Monday, but I did make one!

Monday: homemade version of Chili's quesadilla explosion salad
Tuesday: Garlic Chicken and Spinach Orzo
Wednesday: pizza
Thursday: Tuna Cornbread Cakes
Friday: Date Night!

Recently during our snow days, I organized our pantry. In doing so, I refreshed my memory of what I have stockpiled and resolved to choose recipes that use things that I have. I had lots of tuna and also cornbread mix, so when I stumbled upon the Southern Living recipe for Tuna Cornbread Cakes I know I wanted to give it a try. We had them tonight with spinach and lemon aioli and both LOVED it!

These were pretty quick and easy to mix up. I just used regular canned tuna (not herb and garlic flavored). I also didn't have Old Bay Seasoning, but just seasoned them myself. If you like crab cakes, you should give these a try for a new twist!

Ice, Ice Baby!

This morning we woke up to this:

A nice thick layer of ice coating everything

Making the roads look like this:

It meant a snow day at home for us!

We bundled up and explored a little, and then holed up inside our warm apartment to model...

and craft!

The inspiration for the little birdies came from here. The pattern isn't available free online anymore, she is charging for it on etsy so I made my own pattern. I didn't have the wire to add the legs on yet.

The pattern for this fellow is here and there are great step by step pictures here.

I have a few ideas for these little fellas. More to come later!

Back in the Saddle Again...

Cheesy title...the song popped into my head when as I was thinking about getting back into a normal routine. The tree is down, the decorations are packed away, the house is cleaned and we both started back work today. I am not so sad to get back into a schedule. I love a good structure to the day and I love my dance classes. However, I also loved every bit of the break! Ronnie and I made two lists during the holidays. One was a list of things we needed to get done like getting an AL tag, having a budget meeting, getting vision checked, going to the washing machine repair store and then making a service call (sigh, still not fixed...come on dude call us back!).

Ronnie on Christmas morning surrounded by his loot :)

The other list was things we wanted to do together for fun like going to the dollar theater (we saw Secretariat and loved it!), treasure hunting at the thrift store, checking out our new library (it is wonderful!) , catching up on some reading, hiking, having friends over to eat, and tagging along on the Great Birmingham Hot Dog Tour with my dad. We had lots of fun and also were able to get some stuff done!

Showing off my new slippers and jammies- I wore these a lot during the break

Something that I really enjoyed over the break was cooking. I tried some new recipes and enjoyed being in the kitchen. I was struggling with menu planning and cooking before the break...so much going on and not much organization or motivation. It really is so helpful to have a meal plan. So without further ado, my meal plan for the week:


Monday: Homemade Mac and Cheese with Ham and Peas
Tuesday: Homemade Pizza
Wednesday: Something involving chicken, feta and phyllo dough (i will let you know if it turns out good, I am not planning to grocery shop til Thursday so I am getting creative with what I have.)
Thursday: Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice
Friday: Taco Salad Bowls

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

We enjoyed a wonderful day on New Year's Eve! We set off to Ruffner Mountain for a morning hike since it was a beautiful and warm day.

It was really fun and a new place for both of us.

It was neat to look down on an old quarry.

Looks like I am close to going over- YIKES! No wonder Ronnie kept telling me to be careful.

Afterward, Ronnie got his eyes checked and I wandered the mall.

Belk had some deep discounts so I got a blinging shirt for $4 to wear to ring in the New Year.

We met up with Memo and Craig for some Pita Stop and then dessert at their place. Memo provided the headgear :)

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow.
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Hoping that your day has been filled with celebration!

Great Shutterfly Cards!

My friend and coworker Michelle over at Making the Frugal Life Fun posted about getting 50 free Shutterfly cards and I was excited to jump on this deal just in time for Christmas cards! I have never ordered from Shutterfly before, but have heard wonderful things about them and have seen lots of great promo codes that they offer from time to time.


I was excited to see that Shutterfly has a lot of cute options for creating a Christmas photo card! You can see the whole collection here. Last year I used another photo site and I must say that these options are a lot cuter than the options available on the other site. I think this folded card is especially cute and this flat card is great too!

I'm not sure which one we will choose but I am hoping to get some good pictures taken of us while we are at the beach. I am looking forward to experimenting with some of these fun card designs and our pictures!

If you want to get 50 free holiday cards you too can blog about Shutterfly's cards. Just go here for more info!

We're Still Alive...

Life is in high gear for us at the moment but we are still kicking! Ronnie started teaching 3rd grade on Nov. 1 and that has been a big transition. He is already doing a great job! I know though that it has been a little stressful to jump into teaching. Sounds like he has a really good group of kids though.

I am teaching lots of dance classes and have been doing a fair amount of subbing for other teachers so that has kept me hopping (literally at times :). I am also performing in a dance concert in December so that has added to my schedule with rehearsals. Ice the cake with 2 fender benders and you could say this has been a busy and sometimes stressful time- we are anxiously looking forward to the Thanksgiving break!

I hope to get back to some more regular blogging soon!