Sunday, September 16, 2012

Bestie's Baby Shower.

One of my best friends is due in October with her first baby...a sweet baby girl!
A few friends and I headed down to Nashville a few weeks ago to celebrate
 with her at her baby shower!
It is always such a great time to go back to Nashville. I grow homesick for it often and even more often for my friend Adi. The weekend went by too quickly, as it always does, but it was a great time! Other than the having the shower we spent time eating at some of Nashville's finest places, taking long walks at the park, and watching reruns of 'The Hills.' The thing I love about best friends, it doesn't how much time goes by between visits, once we are back together it is like yesterday we living together and spending time daily in each other's lives.
I can't wait to be an auntie to Brynn!
 Brynn's biggest fans!

 Sweet party favors (which I am actually about to go bake!)

Love this mama to be!
 
In other related news...
My sister is due with her third child on October 25.
Adi (above) is due on October 26.
Another friend from Nashville, Amanda, is due on October 27.
So crazy if you asked me!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

10 Random Facts.


10 Random Facts About ME!


1. My childhood nickname was Missy. I actually just got into a debate with my family last night about this name. Growing up I always thought I was given this nickname because while my parents wanted my name to actually be Missy, my sisters said no and picked Michele. However, after discussing last night my dad said that actual story was that They had all picked Michele and then my dad chose the nickname Missy. So, however it came about I went by this name and only this name until the 7th grade, when we moved to a new place and a new school and I decided that Missy just wasn't who I was anymore. My grandma, who is now deceased continued to call me Missy, along with my brother in law and now my nieces and nephews.
2. If you want to spoil me rotten, buy me a large gift card to Starbucks. I am constantly trying to add money to my Starbucks card without my husband noticing. This is a constant scheme and it would really help my cause to not have to worry about reloading in secret every couple of weeks!
3. The television character I most identify with is Winnie from The Wonder Years. She was always in the background, yet played a major role. She loved the boys and had no problem spending her days on her bike with the boys in the neighborhood. That pretty much sums up my childhood.
4. If I had a whole day to go shopping and money to spend, I would go to an outlet mall. I love the outlet. You can always get so many clothes for an amount so much less of what you pay at a normal mall. The outlet mall brings endless possibilities that make my money stretch so much farther than normal.
5. The most wild and crazy thing I have ever done (that I can admit to publicly) is many, many things I did in high school. These stories often consisted of dead animals being placed on people's cars, front porches, baby strollers, and one time even in my own bathtub;  feces placed on people's porches, usually on a thrown-away recliner and sometimes this even included being lit on fire; and that is only a minor glimpse at the gross pranks I did!
6. The one thing on my bucket list that I am most eager to do is travel, travel, travel. I love traveling abroad. There are so many countries I still have yet to visit and revisit.
7. My family will always be loyal to our faith and to each other. We were raised in an environment that fostered an open and close relationship to each other. I think a lot of the reason I can call my sisters, as well as my parents some of my best friends is because of the emphasis my parents placed on this growing up. This, in combination, with all of us walking in a daily relationship with God, is the key to our family. I hope that in the future as we begin our own family we can foster this same type of relationship between us and our children and our children and each other.
8. If I could spend a day with a celebrity I would choose Blake Lively. On this day (keep in mind my obsessions change often) I am obsessed with her. Maybe it is her recent marriage to Ryan Reynolds has peaked my interested but I would just love to walk a day in her shoes. Go where she goes, shop with her, get coffee together...I think you get the idea.
9. In my opinion, the best invention in the history of the world is the car. Although I would love riding around on horseback, I cannot imagine what life would be without cars. Not only cars, but planes, trains, etc. I think this is something we often take for granted but it is good to stop for a minute and think about what life would really be like if we couldn't drive from place to place. In case you don't know what it would be like...the answer is misery and it would completely change our way of life.
10. When life hands me lemons, I make anything that is unhealthy. My top choice is something dip-able. I think chips and dip are the ultimate anytime food, but especially comfort food!

And there you have it!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Overcome

Life has been pretty crazy the past couple of weeks. Sometimes though, it is good to just take a minute, slow down, and be reminded of God's greatness. I love the song "Overcome" by Jeremy Camp. I love the message in this song and the reminder that all glory is the Lord's.

'All authority, every victory is Yours 
All authority, every victory is Yours

Savior, worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all our praise, 
You overcame 
Jesus, awesome in power forever,awesome and great is Your name, 
You overcame'

This song makes it easy for me to remember the praise the Jesus deserves. He is powerful, He is in charge of my life, and every victory in my life belongs to him. His name is great. 

Enjoy!



Thursday, August 30, 2012

Thursday's Thoughts.

- I LOVE the drive in! Hubs and I went a few weeks ago and it was so wonderful. We usually go once a year but I always love every second of it. (Even though this year Coy fell asleep at the very beginning of the second movie and I ended up coming down with a miserable fever).

- It drives me almost crazy when it rains and people act like they don't know how to drive. I know rain can be dangerous but at the slightest sprinkle traffic becomes atrocious. This makes me want to hit something.
- I have anger management issues sometimes. (obviously seen in the previous thought).
- I have been trying to increase my creativity and crafting ability. This was my first experiment.
 - There is not much more I love then watching Coy be the best uncle in the whole world. He is going to be an amazing dad one day. However, the downside of this is that my nieces and nephews don't even care about me anymore; as soon as they get in the house they can't stop screaming out of excitement for seeing 'uncle Toy.'
- Having fun coworkers is great. It keeps me on my toes at work.

- This week I made the quickest $50 ever for doing a health screening at work which took all of 12 minutes. One of the great perks of my job.
- Sometimes I get so down by the state of our country with no positive end in sight. I have to shut my brain off from thinking about.
- I have been breaking out in hives when I work out! Hopefully I didn't gain an allergy to sweat and/or exercise because as much as I hate it before I start I feel so much better afterwards.

So ready for the weekend & so glad that I always get a three day weekend. (especially this weekend when my three day weekend turns into a four day weekend!)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

I am always look for new recipes, which is why Pinterest quickly became my new best friend. I have not had many recipes that I have gotten from there disappoint, and this was no exception. I made this cake this past week for book club and it was amazing! It took a little bit of work; however most things that are homemade do so I can't complain!
Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 Tb. lemon juice, divided
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt
  • 12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
  2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
  3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
  4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  5. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.
 Make sure that you allow the cake to cool completely to avoid it sticking to the pan!
 I accidently doubled the recipe for the icing. It worked out great though since the icing was amazing!
Seriously...this icing is my new go-to!
 Heaven. 
Another recommendation I have is to allow to cake to cool completely once it is out of the pan. I was inpatient and while the cake was still delicious the presentation wasn't as magnificent as it is above because the hotness of the cake made the icing all sink down into the cake! 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Fair Fun.

I love the fair! The food, the rides, the animals...all of it! I especially loved going last night because we not only received $2 admission but there was also the added bonus of $2 food and $2 fair rides! This made our fair experience a little more crowded but SO much cheaper so I can't complain too much! The only downfall of the night was the credit card machines being down for ride tickets we had to use cash for this and therefore ran out before the end of the night and missed out on fried girl scout cookies, fried Oreo's, and pineapple whip! There's always next year though and I know I have something to look even more forward to!












Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Camping.

This past weekend Coy and I headed a few hours south to Santa Claus, IN. Although typically I steer clear of manual labor and anything where I could get dirty, we went camping and it was such a great time! We spent the weekend with hubby's bestie (he would never use this word) and his fantastic girlfriend. We had a great time sitting around the fire, roasting marshmallows, hashbrowns, apple pies, hotdogs, eggs, and sausage. We tried swimming but it was entirely too cold so we opted instead for a row boat ride. I never grow tired of seeing hubs and Derek act like little school boys...they are the definition of bromance. Not to mention they are two of the funniest people I know, so it was a weekend full of laughs! We topped the trip off by a day at Holiday World, which was SO much fun!

It is always nice to get away and spend some time doing something we normally don't do! However, after this trip I think we may try to add short camping trips to our agenda more often!

Enjoy some of the weekend in Instragrams!

 This gorgeous winery, Monkey Hollow, we stopped at on our way there!
 "Girls, go take care of girly things." - I'm fine with avoiding manual labor!
 The final product!
 First fire of the day!


 I dropped four eggs on the ground while trying to make breakfast! Oops. 
So delicious! Our only causalities of the weekend were one of the sandwich makers (that oddly got warped in the fire) and Coy's contact, which he lost on a water ride at Holiday World.