Goodbye Taurus, it's been a great 6 years!

I did it.  I sold the Taurus.  I can't believe it only took me a 1/2 day to find a really interested buyer, and today the guy made it official.  He bought my old car for his soon-to-be 16 year old daughter.  We had a great 6 years together! 

So here's to you Ford Taurus, aka Silver Bullet, aka Bomb, aka POS, aka "Chevy" Taurus!!  **raises imaginary beer while at work**

It feels great to have that stress off of my back, and to close that chapter!  On to the next... :)

Vintage Washboard & Chair find

As you all know, this past Saturday was my 25th birthday!  I know it's not "old", but it's a big milestone for me! 

Friday evening after we got home from our friends house, D just had to give me my birthday gift.  He got me a newer smart phone, HTC Incredible, which I wasn't expecting at all but I'm excited for it.  He also got me a couple of good smelling candles.  Saturday I woke up, D made me pancakes for breakfast (isn't he sweet?!), and then I decided to go downtown to the local antique store.  In the 1.25 years that we've lived here, I haven't been able to go in there.  They have really odd hours, so I never works out.  Saturday morning I had the chance, and I took it.  They had a lot of stuff, but only 1 thing caught my eye...an antique Washboard!  I've been wanting one forever, but most of the time they are way too expensive.  This one was only $8.50, which sat right next to one that was $15.50 (Happy Birthday to Me!).  I just had to get it! 

The chair is something I really wanted to get at Re-Store 2 weekends ago when Ash and I went.  However, I decided not to get it.  All last week I wished I would've got it; well because she is awesome, Ashley got it for me for my birthday!!  It was only $10, and I can already vision how I want to redo it!!  So hopefully I won't wait so long to spruce these 2 pieces up. 

It's funny, today I found a picture of an old washboard sitting with an older chair...love it!  I took my picture before seeing this, coincidence?!  The reverse side of my washboard is identical to the one below.


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Saturday evening we had family and friends come over to celebrate, it was such a fun evening!!  Went out for Pizza, had cupcakes and ice cream, had a few beers, and then late that night we went to the bar to watch and dance to the band that is playing at our wedding.  They were awesome as usual!!  All in all it was a fabulous birthday!!

4 Groupon Deals...Shoes, Sandwiches, Decals, and Air Fare!

Today there are some amazing online deals on Groupon, too awesome not to share them with ya'll!

Needing some new shoes?!  $20 for $40 Worth of Shoes, Apparel, and More from Shoebuy.com.  They also have FREE SHIPPING!  If you buy the deal it doesn't expire for a whole year.  Click here to check out the Shoebuy.com Groupon.

Do you love Quiznos or maybe you're looking for some cheap lunch?!  $6 for Two Regular Subs or Two Salads at Quiznos ($12.98 Average Value).  This is valid at 2,200 Quiznos locations and once you purchase the Groupon it expires October 30th, 2011.  Click here to check out the Quiznos deal.

Are you looking to redo/decorate your man cave, or your kids' room?!  $40 for a Customized Medium Wall Graphic, Including Shipping, from Fathead ($79.98 Value).  If you purchase today's deal, it is good until October 31, 2011.  Click here to purchase the Fathead deal.

Groupon started offering deals on getaways, called Groupon Getaways.  They are always offering great deals on Getaways.  Are you flying anywhere anytime soon?  They are offering a great deal on Frontier flights, $25 for $50 Toward Any Flight on Frontier Airlines.  If you purchase this Getaway deal, you have to use it by November 15, 2011.  Click here to check out Frontier Airlines.


I'll be back later today to share with you my 2 most recent finds, 1 from an antique shop, and the other was a bday gift from Re-Store. 

hApPy BiRtHdAy tO mE...holy crap I'm 1/4 of century years old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

It's official, I am 1/4 of a century years old today...

where has the time gone, seriously?!

I have family coming in to town this afternoon,

and friends coming over tonight.

It's nothing fancy; just going to drink a few cold ones,

and hang out...those are the best kinds of parties

if you ask me!!

If you're wondering what you can get me...

Source

-OR-

These are super comfy, my friend has these and I need some now!
Source

Ya'll are too sweet! :)

Have a good weekend!!

Re-Store Finds!

Saturday on my way back home, me and the bestie {Ashley} stopped at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in a town nearby (click here to find one near you).  I've seen all over bloggy land what people are finding at these stores, and it finally occurred to me that we had one nearby.  We.must.go.there.asap. is what I told her!  So off we went to look for whatever popped out at us, stuff we could redo and make fun projects out of. 


source

I ended up getting a couple of cabinet door frames ($1 each), 1 old shutter ($4 and it's totally awesome), and 1 little random piece of wood that looks like it was made out of board and batten or some type of paneling ($.50).  I spent a total of $6.50.  I have tons of idea's that I've seen around bloggy land, just needs to be thought out and put into action!!


D asked "What the heck did you buy this stuff for?!"
Little does he know whatever I do with them will be awesome!

It was so ridiculously HOT that day while we were shopping; it seemed that every store we went into we would break out in a sweat.  Their A/C's must not have been working.  On my way out of town I took at picture of the temp in my car...and it had been moving for awhile.  It's been scorching hot here in western KS, I'm starting to feel like we're in Arizona.  We've been having this heat for probably close to 1.5 months now.



Seems like there is no end in sight for this heat wave either... :(

To all of you that are experiencing hot weather, try to stay cool and drinks lots of water!!

Meet Maycee Ellen

This past weekend I finally met Ms. Maycee Ellen, and let me just tell you she is a doll!!  She is about 3 weeks old, and still pretty tiny, but growing!  Maycee Ellen was born 7/26/11 at 9:46am, she weighed 6lbs 12.8 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.  She has the prettiest blue eyes and blonde hair!


Shortly after Maycee Ellen was born!
She looks so much like her daddy!

Here are some pictures from their professional photo shoot at the hospital...


So peaceful!



One of my favs, such a doll!  That is one of the dresses I got her!

 

Love her!

 

Such a big yawn!



One of my other fav's, she's adorable!



Gotta love those K-State socks, and her tiny tootsies!

I got to spend a few hours with her Friday night.  Poor little girl has acid reflux, so she was a little fussy while I was there and couldn't go to sleep.  But it didn't matter, I just loved being around her!!  For as tiny as she is, she has some long hands and feet, and she has "rolls" even though she's small!  Everything about her is cute...she even makes a funny pirate face!


So precious!

Had to change into her pj's!

 

Maycee & Mommy!

 

  

love her to pieces!

There is her silly pirate face!!

That's all for now...I hope to see her and Danielle again soon!!

Snickers Ice Cream Pie!

So this dessert is seriously to die for, no joke!  If you're a calorie counter, you may want to just stop reading...unless you're BRAVE!!  muahahahaha *evil laugh* 

No but seriously, after D took one bite of this ice cream pie, he made sure I knew this was the best dessert he's ever had!  He doesn't even like dessert, he avoids sweets, so that's how I knew it was good.  Then when I sat down to take my first bite, I was like in heaven...I'm not joking!  I told D that we need to have friends come over and share, so I don't end up eating the whole pie by myself! 

I found this recipe over at How Does She (if you aren't a follower/subscriber, what are you waiting on, go check them out!) and right away I knew I had to make it.  Well the ingredients set in my freezer, pantry, and refrigerator for awhile now, and it was calling my name.  So I finally decided to take the calorie plunge and put it together!  It's pretty and it's tasty!  It's the best dessert, especially for the hot summer months...no baking required!!  The only things I changed was I didn't use an Oreo Crust, I used Chocolate Pie Crust, and I used regular Hot Fudge instead of Dark Chocolate, it was perfect! 



Snickers Ice Cream Pie

I'm already thinking of ways to change it up, it's that easy.  D said we should just buy the stuff for it, and make this pie all time so we have it, instead of just ice cream!  Count me in!!  Well maybe not all the time, we are planning a wedding here! ;)


Ingredients:
1 quart Vanilla Ice Cream, softened (you'll probably use 3/4 of it)
*1 package of Snickers Fun Size candy bars, chopped (more or less for your liking!)
*Hot Fudge Topping, warmed
Chocolate pie crust
Whip Cream & a Cherry (optional)

Directions:
1. Soften ice cream in a large bowl
2. Add in chopped Snickers, and stir together
3. Smear warmed Hot Fudge on bottom of pie crust and on the sides (be gentle)
4. Spoon ice cream into pie crust, cover, and freeze for at least a few hours until it's set.
5. Cut into pie slices, take a piece out, drizzle some warmed Hot Fudge on top, and dive right in!!


Look at all of that yummy!



It may or may not put you into a coma,
a good kind of a coma of course...just kidding! ;)

*Tips - Snickers are easier to chop when they have been refrigerated or frozen.  Warm the hot fudge for 15-20 seconds and stir.

Did you also know that July is National Ice Cream Month?!  What a perfect dessert for an awesome month!!


Linking up too...
At Home With Haley
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Paisley's Passions
Lovely Crafty Home
Just a Girl
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Little Brick Ranch - Foodie Friday
This Chick Cooks

She said yes, and meet Black Betty!!

Friday we went to the {big} city, and we had an amazing weekend!  Friday night we met up with a couple friends and had some drinks.  It was great to catch up, it had been probably close to year since we had seen one couple.  Saturday D and I decided to go car shopping; we were just going to check out a couple models, and maybe test drive a couple.  We didn't have any intentions of buying or leasing just yet...well they got us!!  After spending the afternoon at a Hyundai dealership, and many price discussions, we walked out of there with a new car for me!!  It is a Black 2011 Hyundai Sonata turbo, and it's awesome!  This is a HUGE deal for me, because I've never had a brand new car.ever. 
 

I shall call her "Black Betty"!!
Probably so I can say "Whoa Black Betty"!!

  Here is a run down with my first 2 vehicles.  My senior year I drove a 1985 Chevrolet Caprice Classic (yes it was older than me), and I loved it once I got over the fact it was an old beater car!  There were a lot of memories in that car!  When I left for college it sat for awhile, and then my grandpa drove it around for awhile.  My dad eventually sold it to some random in town.

I called him "Henry", so I could say "Oh Henry", like the candy bar!
source

My second semester of my 1st year in college, my grandparents picked out a 1998 Ford Taurus for me...but I had to pay them back, even though I had no idea they were getting this car.  It was a car and I didn't really care since I was in the {big} city...I needed to be able to get around town without having to share a vehicle with my mom.  I've had this car since December 2004 until now; it's been a great car, but I don't trust it on long road trips.  It has 169K on it, and it's not worth very much at all.  I didn't even have to trade it in, will sell it to some random I'm sure!

I called it all sorts of things..."Chevy" Taurus (I'm not a ford person),
Silver Bullet, The Bomb, POS, etc...
source

Ok, enough about my car history, on to more exciting news!  My friends Aimee & Ryan are FINALLY engaged!  They've been together for 7 years, and I've known them for probably close to 6.5 of them.  Ryan text me a couple weeks ago and let us in on his BIG plans, which were to take her on a Hot Air Balloon ride.  It is something they've always wanted to do, so they finally did it.  (But they almost didn't get to go, because of the wind.)  She just thought they were going out for some sushi with friends, and then going out afterwards.  Well after sushi, they headed over to their ride.  She had a feeling once she knew they were doing that he was going to propose, and she waited and waited.  Towards the end their pilot took them over a lake for a "skim" in the lake.  Ryan's iPad was on the floor of the balloon, and it got soaked, because he immersed them in water, not just a skim!  Not only was his iPad possibly ruined, there feet were soaked!  This made her forget about him proposing.  Right before they landed he asked her to marry him, and she said yes!!  The reason he had his iPad with them, he made a slide show of pictures with music, but it was too loud so he decided to wait until they got in the car.  She bawled at that point!  Once they left where they landed she assumed they would be going home, but he told her that it doesn't end there.  They pulled into this bar and grill, which she thought was weird, because they never go there.  They walked in and she said she thought she saw Dustin, but looked away...then she did a double take and realized we were there and part of his other surprise!  She started crying when she saw me, she couldn't believe we made the trip just for them!!  So the rest of the night, we and the rest of our friends had a few drinks and caught up.


Me and Aimee...the newest Bride-To-Be!!!



Ryan & Aimee!

Sunday afternoon, they had an Engagement Party.  However, D and I couldn't stay that late, so we went over early and help them set up and just to hang out.  They ordered a bunch of cupcakes, had some beverages, and then their families all brought food over to eat.  She text me Sunday night and said they had a great time and awesome turnout.


Pretty Cupcakes!

The couple at their engagement party!

So congrats to Aimee & Ryan...LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

{Nekked} Chicken Tenders with {Homemade} Honey Mustard!

I love to grill all the time during the summer!  One it doesn't heat up my house, two everything tastes so yummy, and three it's so simple and you don't dirty a bunch of dishes! 

Last week I laid out some chicken breasts and thought that grilled chicken tenders sounded fabulous!!  One of my favorite bar & grills to eat at in KC serves up "Chicken Lips" anyway you like 'em.  I always get them "Nekked" with Honey Mustard on the side.  I'm also sharing a quick and easy recipe for homemade honey mustard...it's probably my favorite! 

Ingredients:
4-5 Chicken Breasts halves, cut in strips (each halve makes about 3-4 strips)
Buttermilk (just enough to cover the chicken, to "marinate" in)
Seasonings of choice (I used salt, pepper, garlic salt, and some spicy meat rub)
Directions:  Marinate the chicken breasts in some buttermilk for a few hours.  Cut the breast halves into strips.  Spray BBQ grill with non-stick spray, and grill until done.


Nekked Chicken Tenders!

Honey Mustard Ingredients:
1/2 cup Mayo (don't use Miracle Whip, it won't turn out)
2-3 tbsp of Mustard (I start out with 2, and add more if I need it)
2-3 tbsp of Honey (same with the honey, start out with 2)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:  Add everything into a bowl and stir until it's well blended! 


Served with 3 choices of dip:
Honey Mustard, Hooters Hot Wing Sauce, and BBQ Sauce!


See both things are easy peasy!  You can use the honey mustard on anything: as dip, on salads, on a sandwich/wrap!  Yumm-o!  Sorry, the pictures don't do them any justice, they are super delish...trust me!

What is your favorite type of dipping sauce?!  What is your favorite thing to grill?  I love to hear your idea's, so don't be shy! ;)


PS - Did you miss out on the great 10% off deal from Expressions Vinyl?  That's ok, because I have another great deal for you and it's valid for the whole month of July!!  When you spend $50 or more, you will receive FREE vinyl!  It's that simple...spend 50 bucks and they'll send you 10 sheets of vinyl, no promo code needed.  They are 6"x12" sheets of vinyl and colors and types will be randomly picked to send with your order. 


Linking up too...
At Home With Haley
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
Peas & Crayons - What I Ate Wednesday
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Paisley's Passions
Not So Homemade
Lovely Crafty Home
Just a Girl
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Little Brick Ranch - Foodie Friday
This Chick Cooks

Attention all Vinyl Lovers...2 fabulous promotions going on!

Attention all Vinyl lovers....

Expressions Vinyl is offering 2 awesome deals...

1.) Recieve 10% off of all of their products, just enter in the promo code SHADY at checkout.  This offer is good until July 12th.

2.) When you spend $50 or more, you will receive FREE vinyl!  It's that simple...spend 50 bucks and they'll send you 10 sheets of vinyl, no promo code needed.  They are 6"x12" sheets of vinyl and colors and types will be randomly picked to send with your order.  This promo is good for the whole month of July, and you can combine it with other promo codes!

So what are you waiting for?!  Go stock up on some Printable Vinyl, Cricut Vinyl, and Silhouette Vinyl!!

I am an affiliate of Expressions Vinyl.  I did not receive compensation for this post.

Garden update

We finally have something producing in our garden!!  FINALLY!  Our Zucchini plant has been flowering for about a week now, and yesterday we found a small Zucchini growing on it!  It wasn't ready to pick this morning, so hopefully it will be ready tomorrow.  You have to watch those things, they like to grow into monsters over night if you're not careful!  Zucchini is seriously one of my favorites, and I hope this plant produces millions!  Ok, maybe not millions, because I wouldn't be able to keep up with it, but I would like it to produce a lot!  I like it grilled, sauteed, and LOVE Zucchini Bread!  I have a few new recipes I'd like to try, so if we get some good ones, I'll be sure to share.

Moving on to the rest of our garden...it's been kind of a rough and slow start for our poor vegetable friends.  Not even 3 days after we planted everything, we got a terrible hail storm (we're talking like baseball-softball size hail).  I'm sure you can imagine the damage it did to houses and vehicles, but it beat up our poor little plants pretty good.  We completely lost the Cucumber plants, so I ended up having to plant those by seed probably about a month ago.  Some of them are still hanging on, but won't be ready to produce for awhile...long road for them.  The Carrots and Radishes never came up...the rain may of washed them away when we got that nasty storm.  I ended up replanting the Carrots, but I'm not sure anything has happened (can't tell if they are weeds or Carrots yet!).  The Zucchini (as you know from above) and Watermelon are rockstars right now!  Soon we should have little Watermelon's popping up.  The Okra is doing great...the big ones are the originals I planted, and the smaller ones are ones I planted about a month ago.  I can't wait for those to start producing.  We planted 2 more Tomato plants, 1 more Jalapeno plant, and a Red Pepper plant.

Here is our garden...it got a late start, but I think we'll get some goodies out of it!



2 of the original Tomato Plants I planted

 

1 original Tomato plant, and 2 newer plants



Mighty Okra!



3 Jalapeno plants, and 1 Red Pepper plant

Well we're off for the weekend...going to surprise a dear friend of mine, who's boyfriend of 8 years or so, is FINALLY GOING TO POP THE QUESTION!!  I'm so very excited for her!!  She hasn't a clue we are coming into town, but he asked us to be there to celebrate with her (how awesome and sweet is he?!)!!  In addition to that, I think we're going to test drive some cars for me, do a little shopping, and catch up with some other friends we haven't seen in awhile.  I hope to have lots of pictures to share!!  Have a good one, ya'll!!  :)

PS - Next week I'll also have a recipe for Nekked Chicken Tenders!! ;)

Our 4th & Laundry!

It's Thursday and I'm just now writing "Hope you had an awesome 4th!!" blog post.  No, but seriously, I hope you all had a great one!  Ours was awesome, but I didn't capture any pictures.  =( 

Friday my Mom came into town; we went out for supper and beers with some friends, it was a lot of fun!  Saturday I realized that our washer & dryer were almost capootz, and we should probably go see if there were any fabulous deals going on for the 4th.  I'm so glad we did, because we got an awesome steal from Sears!!  They had a "Hot Buy" for the weekend, washer and dryer were marked down to $699 each!  That price was already 40% off of the original price, plus we got an additional 5% off our total if we used our Sears Card (which also lead us to 0% interest for 6 months)...SCORE!  But the steal didn't stop there...D was looking online at the store and realized that online had a promotion going on for when you purchase the washer & dryer at the same time, they'll take even more off of the washer.  So online the washer was marked down to like $429 (in that price range anyways).  The store manager didn't really like the idea of giving us that deal in the store, so we were about to purchase our set online.  We wanted to put it on our new Sears Credit Card, but needed the info...the call center wouldn't give us the expiration date or the code on the back.  There is a really good reason behind that...they didn't want us to think they would just give our info out to anyone that called in.  So, yes, thank you Sears Credit Card company for protecting us.  But we were back at square one.  We were getting a little discouraged, and I think the salesperson was too.  The store manager was looking online to see what promo we were talking about...he finally saw it with his own eyes.  I kept asking (mainly just for fun!) "are you sure you can't give us that deal?!", until he finally broke down.  The deal steal was ours!!!  OMG...we couldn't believe it...he actually gave into us!!  We practically got the washer for free when you look at the original price!  Now that's what I call WINNING!!!  Moral of the story...it doesn't hurt to keep asking for something you may/may not get!


Kenmore Elite Top Load Washer and Electric Dryer


We went last night to pick it up and I can't wait to get our old set out, and to hook up our new set!  We aren't going to know what to do with ourselves...it will actually be really quiet in our house when we're doing laundry!  And no more washer scooting across the room!!

Back to our weekend...Saturday night on our way back we stopped at the Casino for supper with family and friends, and to do a little gambling.  We didn't do very good, but I didn't put that much money in either.  I'm not a huge gambler, so like in an hour or so I'm finished!  Sunday, Mom and I got our food together for the pool party, potted a new hibiscus plant for our porch, watched a movie, and finally went to the pool.  D worked on their new water truck for the fire department all day, and joined us for a little bit before having to leave to go work the fire show.  The pool was a blast, and the firework show was ok.  Monday, we didn't do a whole lot, mainly rested up from the long weekend.  D got called out on 2 fires Monday afternoon, thankfully they were the only ones the whole weekend.

Did you guys do anything fun over the 4th?

A little {Patriotic} Touch

I finally got around getting the few 4th of July decorations out that I have.  I try to keep the seasonal decorating to a minimum, because 1 I don't have a whole lot of space to decorate, and 2 I need to work on my seasonal decor stash!  Here is what I came up with...

   

Flag Tile - new fav project!

 

Lovin' the Stars!

Flag tea light candle holder and cute little birdy!

Found this at a garage sale for a buck!

 

I've had that picture frame foreva (thanks Ashley & Brett!)!
Those red roses are from my Grandparents 60th Anniversary a couple years ago

 

I love them and the bling!

 

another cute little birdie!!

I had some of the stuff already: white bottle with flowers, 2 birds, books, bundle of roses, and picture frame.  I found the star candle holder (yes, it holds a tea light) at a garage sale for $1, and made the Flag Tile (probably spent close to $5 on the materials).  It's not a whole lot, but I love it!

Have any fun plans for the 4th?!  I'm looking forward to the long weekend, it doesn't happen near enough!  My Mom is coming into town tonight, gonna do whatever we feel like tomorrow, pool Sunday and fireworks, and not sure on Monday (might get to see Danielle and Maycee...yes Maycee has joined the rest of the world and she is a doll!  I'll do a post on her next week!!)!!  D has to work the firework show Sunday, and they are anticipating a busy weekend for fires (heat, wind, dryness, and firecrackers)...so please say a prayer for all firefighters and rescue teams this weekend!!  Hope you all have a safe and fabulous weekend!!


Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Paisley's Passions
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Lovely Crafty Home
Just a Girl