Hip Hop It's Friday

Praise the Good Lord it's Friday! It has only been a four day week for me and yet it has still been the longest week ever! I haven't gotten one good night of sleep, everynight it seems I've had SOMETHING to do, with the holidays coming up it's been QUITE stressful (to put it nicely) trying to figure out families and travel and the works. Now please allow me to go on a small tangent- ok so we live in Atlanta now for hubs school- my family in in Nashville area, his family is west i don't even know how to explain how the heck to get there Tennessee and my mom lives in Ohio. So you see it's pretty much impossible to be everywhere at once. Well frankly its NOT possible. So as our first year married at the holidays was approaching I thought (KEYWORD: THOUGHT) I had this mess figured out. Yea- well that didn't go exactly according to plan and now there is a LOT of readjusting and my worst most NOT what I want to do over the holidays is coming true- we will be spending the Holidays- DUM DUM DUM- TRAVELING! All over the great state of Tennessee and oh yea AND we still have to plan a trip to Ohio.

Maybe some of yall can relate but it's like YAY I get 5 days off for Thanksgiving, oh but wait I will be in the car traveling the whole dang time with approximately NO time to just chill. Very, Very, VERY frustrating. Soo thats my tangent- I haven't been in the chipperest of moods the past few days and hubby has felt the wrath. Granted he does deserve it slightly but still- it's just a lose lose situation!

Now on to happier thoughts: Like the weekend and FINALLY being home for a change! Here are my happies after that BLAH of a start (sorry)

Check it out- I found these puppies at BIG LOTS- for $30 on sale for BOTH of them! I will be picking up these darlins' tomorrow asap! I'm going to add some silver glitter spray paint to make them pretty and wahla Topiaries here I come!

I ordered this sassy momma dress the other day and it's officially on its way to mi casa! I'm thinking maybe New Years or something spiffy! Anywho- Super excited

And this will be my weekend craft project this weekend which requires a visit to good ole Hobby Lobby :) results to come

And of course my sweet Vols play this Saturday in the in-state game against Vanderbilt! This is always a calm game for me because I always cheer for Vandy- unless they are playing Tenn of course. But of course, another fun filled Saturday of football completes my soul and I don't EVEN want to talk about the end of football is near. Ughh......

Tonight will include MUCH needed Mexican and Margaritas with the hubby to calm the waters of this week and then my happy tail is going to BED. Yep- Crazy friday night for me! But I'm just stinkin exhausted!!

As always, I hope you all have a blessed, happy relaxing weekend! We all have a lot to be Thankful for as the holidays approach- even through my ranting and pouting I truly am blessed beyond means by a gracious and wonderful God that constantly provides for me. What more could we ask for?!

BAM! It's hit me...

The Christmas spirit that is! Christmas Pandora is officially in FULL affect, hubby and I are decorating this weekend (but NOT turning on the outside lights until after Thanksgiving) that is my only justification and I'm feeling extra crafty! Soo since we have NO plans this weekend you better believe I'm going to be a decorating/ crafting/ Christmas music/ apple cider fool this weekend! BRING IT ON!

This is one of my projects- How cute and easy is this

Click Here for Instructions

Tonight is our small group Thanksgiving dinner! Its going to be LOTS of food so I will be breaking the wanna be diet and going all out. Hubs and I are bringing the Deviled Eggs and Green Bean Casserole. Hopefully both will be edible. Reviews to come-. Oh and did I mention we were watching Christmas Vacation?! And when you have an entire website devoted to THIS how can it not be a good movie?! EEKK I'm excited! Nothing says "BRING ON THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" like Christmas Vacation!

I'm now off to discover how I want to decorate my matle and staircase this year. Oh and I'm on the hunt for some topiary for outside. Here are my thoughts so far!

I WANTTTT These

Love the clean and prettiness of this!


OK soo now I'm asking- any ideas for great/ cheap finds for topiary/ Christmas decor?! I'm starting to become obsessive about how to decorate as this is the first year we have actually had a house!

P.S soo every Thursday if you go to House of Hepworths she does this link up thing and you can get the BEST ideas from everyone on different crafts and suches!! Happy Thursday- almost there.

Christmas Cards are ORDERED!

Most Wonderful Time Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's time to play What am I Loving Wednesday! And since this has been an exciting week I have lots of fun to share

{ONE} soo is anyone else loving all the media over Prince William and Kate getting engaged?! Ahh I love it! And umm she got Princess Diana's 18k Sapphire ring as an engagement ring! I mean WOW! A bit  jealous?! Yea maybe! I am soo super excited to follow this as wedding plans begin!

{TWO} I have finally got our Christmas Card picked out and designed! Now I just have to order- which requires probably the rest of the staring on the card to make sure it's PERFECT! Can't send out a bad Christmas Card now can we?! Since Shutterfly will not let me save the one I actually made here is the template- granted mine is much cuter with our wedding pictures and little saying :)

{THREE} Speaking of weddnig pictures! I brought my jump drive to work today to upload them and our dang security wont let me upload! Grrr! So this is all I got for now :) Pretty much LOVE

MMKKK before you say hmmm these are all similar- I know I know! I sent these to my email from home last night to use for our Christmas Card! We have a ton more and clearly I'll have to email those to myself for tomorrow and a little Thoughtless Thursday! I love how the one's from the reception and with our family came out! Just had to share :)

{FOUR} soo last night I made a new recipe and it was YUMMY! I highly highly reccomend it! I am still loving it today as I try to not eat my leftovers for lunch at 9:30 in the morning!

Lemon Basil Chicken with Basil Aioli

Ingredients:

Chicken:

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup chopped green onions(I hate onions so I used onion powder) 

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (more like 2 full lemons)

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper (I added extra on this too)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cooking spray

Basil Aioli:

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (another whole lemon)

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

3/4 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (I added more here too)

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation

To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken to basil mixture, turning to coat.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 8 minutes on each side or until done.

While chicken cooks, prepare aioli. Combine 1/4 cup basil and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Serve with chicken.

This was soo super easy and OH- MY-GOODNESS good! The sauce that you make (Basil Aioli) is freaking amazing and soo stinkin simple. I like a lot of seasoning and flavor soo I added extra on everything but seriously it was amazing! And with me getting home at 6 dinner was prepped served and donezo by 7! I highly reccomend this

PS Anyone have any awesome green bean casserole or deviled egg recipes?! I know the standard ones but looking to make something out of the box for our church thanksgiving tomorrow!!

{FIVE}I am loving loving loving my sweet husband. He just makes day to day worth going through. I still can't believe at times we are finally married and living together. That I get to come home and be soo happy at night with him and our "girls" everyday! Its truly such a blessing and for that I am truly thankful to our Almighty God for giving me such a wonderful husband!!

YOUR TURN- What are you loving this Wednesday?! Tis' the season to be thanksful! Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Top Two Tuesday- Jobs

Today over at Taylor's it is Top Two Tuesday Favorite Jobs! Hmmmm....

My last job I had I worked at Tractor Supply Company- their corporate HQ was in Brentwood, TN where I lived. I worked there a little over a year (until I got married and had to move). That job was such a love hate relationship. I loved loved loved the people I worked with- it truly made it enjoyable to go to work on those days that just seemed miserable. That job really taught me a lot about myself and who I was professionally. I grew so much in that job and so blessed I had the opportunity to work for such an amazing company

My other favorite job was not actually per-say a "job" but my senior year in college I was the Philanthropic Coordinator for the University. It was such a rewarding job and exactly waht I want to eventually do with my life. I got to plan events that would benefit the community and people in our city. It was so rewarding to get to help others and know that your day to day work wasn't just for the big guy getting the paycheck but it really was making a difference. EVENTUALLY I hope and pray I will get to do this again one day (sans hubby's school loans and 2 incomes) we will see... such a blessing that job was!

Not a very exciting post but cant wait to look at all your jobs! Hopefully a bit more exciting than mine! HAPPY TUESDAY