Lazy Hump Day

This is my outfit of the day when my husband makes 8 a.m. dental appointments and the we have a three hour drive back to my hometown. But it ended up being a fun drive, quick lunch with a friend and then a nice run (literal run) around town (literally around the town) when I got home. I sometimes miss this place!

comfy jeans

representing the school (quick change for the road)



thankfully my MIL borrowed me a jacket. it was SO cold on Wednesday



Mint for you?

I don't think I need to even mention how popular mint green is right now. So when I came across this great oversized mint green sweater at Gap a few weeks ago I snatched it right up and have been wearing it non stop since we got back to the frozen tundra. Please cross your fingers it warms up for us!

Canadian Tuxedo

It's been an while since I've updated the ol blog. After three weeks away for work and now another 10 days away from home I think I have good reason. But while I'm home I decided I'll update you with what I pack for a trip up North. First, North Dakota is a state all in its own. It's not the home of Mt. Rushmore it's not the badlands. It's home of plains and a lot of nice beer drinking folk. Second, it's not Canada, eh. But like Canada ,and since we're neighbors, I did decide to rock a Canadian Tuxedo while here. Most would require something fancy like graduation (which was this last weekend so congrats grads) or a wedding but I decided to keep my ensemble a little more cas and went with the light/dark contrast in my denim and accessorize it with some owls and teal. Not to mention (I actually don't think I need to mention) my fav new "boots". (I still can't believe I was complimented on my shoes as though I was wearing some Cowboy boots! They're my "kicks" for crying out loud!)
But with our further ado my tux.

Happy Memorial Day

Just wanted to stop by for a quick sec to say Happy Memorial Day and thanks to all who served for our country.

Soups On!

Soup is amazing! Anyone else think so?! I can eat it for almost any meal and sometimes I get on kicks where I can't stop. Here is a super easy and really good recipe I got from B's Grandma.
It's fast, easy and AMAZING!

Chicken Tortilla Soup


What you need..


1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup
1 can milk
1 can enchilada sauce (red)
Chicken, you can either cook it and cube it, crock pot it and shred it (my fav) or if you are in a big hurry use the cans of chicken. 
Toppings
Sour Cream
Shredded cheese
Frito's
(and what ever else you want)


Mix all together, heat and serve! So simple!

*it's really easy to cook the chicken during the day in the crock pot. when you get home then shred it and turn to high when you add the rest of the ingredients. Use the amount of chicken you desire. Also it's super easy to double. It can get spicy (for me) with the Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup and the enchilada sauce, so when I double it I use one Fiesta Nacho Cheese and one Cheddar Cheese soup.  

High Five Friday

Yay, another week over and the weekend is here!

My fav's from this last week. 

1. Done with three straight weeks of work and starting my vacay!

2. New hair do!

3. Seeing my pups. Missed them so much. 

4. Catching up on my DVR's...Sadly Desperate Housewives finale was in that, will miss those ladies. 

5. And most importantly, getting to see my boo boo again. Three weeks is a long time! Luckily we have a nice trip home planned and my brother's wedding!

Don't forget to link up with Lauren From My Grey Dress!!

Wedding Wear

OK ladies. I need some help. I have my brother's wedding next weekend and need to decide which dress I want to wear. Of course I got B's opinion but I want some more. Just so you know B will be wearing a grey suit with a purple shirt (the purple was picked by my brother, he told me the extent that it's not light but not Viking purple, hope that helps!).




*PS. these pics were taken last summer when I was getting ready for another wedding. I have some more but wanted to decide between these as I haven't worn them as much.

I wore this dress to my rehearsal dinner, but with the purple sash and shoes like below. What do you think about this top look with the tan belt and tan shoes?
 Don't mind the mess, it was crunch time while packing if you can tell. 

*PPS.I also have a couple back ups, one of this lace number I wore last summer to a friends rehearsal dinner and another 3/4 length sleeve dress I wore to another wedding last summer if it is chilly out. You never know what will go on during a NoDak summer.

yep, those are our friends. We Had A BLAST OBV!!

Summer Woredrobe

When I started this blog it was intended to be used to keep family updated with our going-on's since our family lives no where near us. Then it became my outlet for my training for a half marathon. Since I have been using it for expressing any and all of my current interests. For the summer I have a feeling that most outfit posts will dwindle down as the majority of my work clothes for summer will be a T-shirt and pants. My summer routine for the morning is pony tail, moisturize with SPF, then SPF, then a tinted SPF, then mascara...you get my drift. Fairly boring. (Hopefully) we will have other things going on in the summer that I can keep you updated on.

In the mean time here is an idea of how one of my more "funky" summer outfits will look.

see the sequins on the shirt...funky

Izzie was sneaking in the photos!

*also I am happy to report I have officially moved my "winter"clothes and cleaned up my closet with my "summer" shirts.

B's Favorite

Who doesn't like to try new recipes and it's even better when someone enjoys your cooking. I am lucky and maybe a little mis-informed when I try a new recipe. You see B likes almost anything I put in front of him. It's great and boost my ego when I ask him if he likes it and he give me an enthusiastic YES. But also he doesn't tell me if it is just OK. I think there was only one thing he didn't like and I would never do again (I tried to make chili on my own and threw in everything including an entire bag of rice, it was no bueno).


But this recipe is one of B's favorites and the easiest, and I seriously mean easiest, thing I make. From my aunt here is her recipe for stroganoff. I like to call it...


Three Ingredient Stroganoff


What you need


Meat or chicken, your choice (meatballs or ground meat or turkey is what we usually use)
  cooked, it's nice to throw the meatballs or chicken into the crock pot and let them cook during the day


Now your three ingredients
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 container of Sour Cream
1 packet of French Onion Soup Mix (the dried seasoning)

Mix together with meat, heat and serve over noodles.
Seriously that easy. We really like using meatballs with it.

i had some mushrooms to use so i threw some into my meat as well

Enjoy!

High Five Friday

It's that time of the week again!

1. Being able to be a tourist for a WHOLE day!

2. Having a blast with these people I've been meeting. Getting Iced!

3. Freezies. Enough said.

4. Bloody Mary's on a roof tap bar working on my base tan. Again, enough said.

5. Work through the weekend until Monday, home Tuesday and then back to NoDak for a few fun filled weekends!! Seriously can not wait! This weekend will go by fast!

Link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk and let us know your fav's from this past week!

Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

OK, so this outfit was lined up for a girls night out. I haven't actually wore this yet, but will be taking it with on the trip to NoDak at the end of the month. You never know what the weather will be like in NoDak so it's better to pack more than less! 

But doesn't this totally look like that outfit Baby wore in Dirty Dancing! That movie was my fav back when I was little, and I still don't know why it was when I was so young, but I LOVE their high heels and dresses!!

Floral It Is

Love me some funky pants.  I may have an addition to any type of pant other than jeans or khaki (I actually don't like khaki pants, but for work I do have a few, rarely worn)

I bought these pants a while ago from H&M and wore them out to eat with my in-laws. Since they have been sitting in my closet but I have a feeling they will make their way our this summer quite a few times!

Peppers and Rice

Bell peppers have become a favorite of mine (as far as veggies are concerned) so when they are on sale I like to buy in bulk. That's where this recipe comes in handy. 


From my mother...
Stuffed Peppers
1 lb hamburger
1 can tomato soup
1 can of water
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cup instant rice (cooked)
4 bell peppers (or as many as you want) tops cut off and gutted
optional (yeah right, you know you'll use it) cheese


Brown meat, mix with rice and rest of ingredients. Spoon into peppers.


My way...
1 box of Spanish or Mexican rice cooked according to directions
1 lb of turkey or ground beef, browned
4 bell peppers 
Cheese (of course)


Mix rice and cooked meat together, spoon into bell peppers. Top with cheese


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

*you can also broil this, but the peppers can get mushy so you will need to watch them closely. 

High Five Friday

Seriously it's Friday?! I guess when you're working for weeks straight it all blends together!

1. Missing my pups but at least I get cute update pics like this!

2. Cute new military jacket is helping me out during this week.

3. New JLO for Kohls work pants, hard to photograph but super cute zipper from the ankle to the knees!

4. Got to visit with a long time family friend yesterday! It's good to catch up.

5. Booked by tics for a wedding in Mexico! I don't think October could come fast enough!

Link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk and tell us what you loved about this week!

SMoothIE SEasON!

After my run the other day I didn't want to eat a full meal and I didn't just want my protein shake. It's getting warm out finally and I remembered the ingredients I have on had for smoothies so I thought I would try something out.



First off when I make stuff I don't usually follow a recipe exactly or measure a lot of stuff. But I got my idea from Leigh Ann's post and used it as a guide.


What I used:


1/2 cup cooked oatmeal with Almond Milk (my fav!)
About 2 handfuls of frozen fruit mix
1 Scoop of protein (I used B's cookies and cream flavor and not quite a full scoop)
1/3 cup Greek Yogurt
Almond Milk (unk amount, I just poured it in until my smoothie was the texture I liked)

Cook oatmeal and start mixing rest of ingredients into blender.
Blend and add the Almond Milk until the smoothie is how you want it.

Enjoy!

Hump Day

Just wanted to stop by and say happy Wednesday! Only 4 more days until my off day!



Cute pic of the dogs. Ours are the outer two. B was dog sitting last weekend...good man



J Bella Styled

A few weeks ago I attended the What Women Want expo here in Utah at the South Towne expo center. It's a Friday and Saturday packed full of great activities and booths for women! I had a blast with a good friend, and best part was meeting the Founder of J Bella, Jamie. I found a link to the J Bella Web site through a blog I was reading (I read so many I don't remember which one!) but while looking around I found Jamie's Blog and started following her as well. J Bella is a "contemporary clothing boutique and online shopping" and because I get a little leery about purchasing pants online I was so excited to meet them in person!
I had been on the hunt for the perfect peach pants. I found some at Express, but they didn't fit my boot-ay. Luckily J Bella had some great peach pants there at the expo and I was able to try them on and found out they fit perfectly!! Also, I got a great little white (I can not, not buy something white) and some cute bangle bracelets! It seems all were on sale as I got a great deal and even got a nice t-shirt for B.


Luckily I had a fun little girls night a few weeks ago and the Spring weather dropped down a little so I was excited to pair my peach pants and light sweater together.


Don't forget to check out the J Bella store as well as Jamie's blog to follow her inspiration.

Jacket added for a cool PC night

cute bangles from J Bella

If you can't tell I love my MK heels!!

I'm Going Bananas!!

Muffins are one of my favorite things. That and soup. I go on huge binges when that is what I crave and want all the time. Because of this of course I have the best Banana Muffin recipe. 




What you need..


3-4 bananas
1/2 cup white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup melted butter
Mix these ingredients together in medium bowl 
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix these ingredients together in small bowl


Add flour mixture into bananas mixture. Mix well and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

Makes 12 slightly large muffins. 

*I sometimes add a handful of nuts