Good Morning Lord...

"He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep...The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul"

-Psalm 121: 3-4, 7

A quick recipe...

I REALLY need to go to the grocery store!  So what do you cook for dinner on a night like tonight? when there is NO food in the house?  Well, first you raid the leftovers, then you raid the pantry.

• 1 very large cooked chicken breast
• Handful of red/yellow/orange pepper slices (we always have these on hand for snacks & sandwiches)
• Some sliced onion (again, usually a staple in our fridge)
• Salsa & Taco Seasoning to taste
• Shredded cheese (found a package in the back of the freezer! yay!)
• Macaroni or any kind of noodles you keep on hand

 Put the noodles on to boil and heat some olive oil in a skillet.  Saute the peppers & onions until softened to your desire.  While those are cooking slice or cube your chicken breast.  I like to slice it thinly like you would get with fajitas.  My chicken was preseasoned with a bunch of garlic & black pepper.  Sprinkle your taco seasoning over the sauteed veggies and add a little bit of water to dissolve the powder.  At this point add your chicken to the pan and mix it all together.  Add some salsa on top and leave it covered on low until your pasta is done.  Drain pasta & add to skillet and toss to coat with the sauce you've created.  Portion on to plates and top with cheese and any other taco type toppings you may have on hand!  Easy as that :)

I wish I had a picture to show you how pretty the peppers made it look.  I love a good multi colored meal :)

Oh wedding registry...

...how I love thee!

I have finally decided up on the colors of dishes I want from Fiesta that will inspire the decor of the new kitchen that lives in my dreams.  Hey, c'mon now, if you can't have the whole thing at least you can fill your kitchen with pretty dishes, right?

So here is my color scheme:

source: www.fiestafactorydirect.com

I was inspired by these two rooms found via Apartment Therapy & the blog Hi Sugarplum! (see the very last picture of the kitchen).  I have been trying and trying to actually add the pictures in but blogger keeps crashing when I do, so you'll just have to do with the links.

Grama has my dream kitchen...

Well, not entirely, but my dream cupboards at least!  They built this house a few years ago and she got to have a lot of say in just how the kitchen was done, and did she ever make some great decisions!  And she looked at me a little funny when I asked if I could take pictures of her cabinets, but when I told her I wanted them for inspiration in my own home someday she smiled and said SURE!

She had to get 2 different sized pullout mechanisms to fit her cabinets perfectly.  But it makes the back of them so much more useful!

This one is set up for deeper items.

And who wouldn't want a custom spice rack built right onto the cabinet door?

The builder cut down the shelves inside of the cabinet to make sure it would close properly.

Now there is a place for everything and everything in its place!  Gramas are so smart.  I'm linking up with House of Grace on Organize my life to share my Grama inspiration!  Go check her out for some great cleaning & organizing tips.

What I did on my summer vacation Part 3 of 3: All the Random Stuff

Just to tie up loose ends, here are a few of the random pictures from the rest of our summer trip:

I had a hair appointment to get my lovely red hair back and to do a trial run of my wedding day style.  So here's a sneak peek just for you!

I visited my old High School where they have done some major renovations and was able to see my name up on the record boards still

They have also just began the Hall of Fame.  It would be such an honor to get inducted some day!

 

An impromptu dinner with whatever girls from my wedding could make it.  This is Beth, one of my bridesmaids.  We met in 4th grade in the Excel program and have been friends ever since.  We went to the same college and lived together for a few months before I took my job in NC

My maid of honor Amber also made it.  We met in college during Calculus II and it was the death of us, lol.  What can I say, she's my bestie :)

Also along for the day was my cousin Sam.  She had flown in from AZ for our family vacation and stayed a couple weeks with my grandparents.  She is 8 years younger than me, but the closest cousin in age that I have on that side of the family.  I'm so excited she will be able to make it back again in October for the wedding!

Back Story: Last year for Christmas my mom bought our 115lb. mastiff a bumble bee pillow pet for Christmas.  He loves it.  My mom, has a Yorkie.  So of course when I saw that they  now have pillow pet pee-wees I had to buy one for her!

What can I say, she loves it!

We ate dinner one night at Reg's 7 Mile Restaurant.  It is a great little restaurant inside a gas station.  You pay for your dinner at the gas station cash register which is surrounded by the bar.  Its great!  They also have much love for their local Husker players and my Dad's jersey is among those hanging from the ceiling!  Now to convince them they need my track uniform up there too!

Mom & I decorated a plain white pillow for my ringbearer...

...and a matching basket for my flowergirl!

We gave Bella a bath

She was less than thrilled

Chocolate chip cookie plus whipped cream? Yes, please.

What I did on my summer vacation Part 2 of 3: Tubing Down the Niobrara

As our summer vacation continued our next stop was home to Nebraska to visit family & friends.  It was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary & they wanted to celebrate with a full family vacation.

 Awwwww.  Look at the happy couple!

So they decided that they wanted to take the family tubing down the Niobrara River in Northern Nebraska.  I was a bit nervous, not being a water person, but after a minor freak out when we first got on the tubes everything went well.  We rented out a cabin from Friday through Sunday and enjoyed every minute of our cramped living situations.

 Oak Cabin - Capacity 24

When they tell you a cabin will sleep 24 they do not mean comfortably.  We had 17 and while there were free beds we were definitely squished in.

Hanging out on the river.  Does that hat look familiar!

Those hats came in very handy with the heat and sun

A hung out in the water most of the day

Mom will probably beat me for posting this pic of her :)

Dad didn't want to tube so he brought his kayak from home and paddled along with us

Family Pic at Smith Falls, Nebraska's largest waterfall.  I bet you didn't know Nebraska even had waterfalls did ya?

Before we left for home.  One last pic with the amazing view from our cabin.

For the rest of our pictures check out our slideshow here:

What I did on my summer vacation Part 1 of 3: Willie Nelson...

Summer vacation 2011 took us all over the country.

We drove from North Carolina, stopped overnight in Alabama and ended up in Texas for a couple days to see family & Willie Nelson.  Then we drove up to Nebraska for a tubing trip down the Niobrara River.  "A" left me after that and drove back to North Carolina with an overnight in Kentucky.  I stayed a week longer with my family and caught a flight back to North Carolina this week. 

 Whew.  A long trip.

So for today we'll start with Part 1 of 3 in our summer vacation recap:

 You can't go to a Willie Nelson concert without your cowboy hat!  Thank goodness for the Down 'n' Dirty hat company for setting up a booth right at the concert.  I love my new pink hat :)

 A's parents came down for the concert as well.  A's dad went to this same concert the very first year Billy Bob's of Texas was open in Fort Worth.  We heard some crazy stories.

 Opening act was at Noon-thirty...and it was H. O. T. HOT!  Thankfully every other act was on the indoor/airconditioned stage!  And did I mention there were CLEAN bathrooms inside too!

 We ventured out side during some of the smaller acts that we didn't care to see and wandered through the Fort Worth Stockyards.  I would love to go back when I had more time to visit all of the little shops they had.

 You never know what you'll see on the street corner.

 

 This train rolled right down the middle of what is now a "mini-mall" of gift shops & eateries at the stockyards

 Paula Nelson

 

A's Brother, Dad & Him all enjoying the concert

 

 One of my new favorite pics of the two of us

 Brantley Gilbert - One of the few artists at the concert I've actually heard on the radio

 My favorite musician of the day is the guy with his hands in the air on the right.  The silly smirk never left his face the entire time he played and you could tell he loved the music.

 This is what the outdoor stage set up looked like

 I don't remember who these people were! Oops!

 Jamey Johnson was the last headliner to perform before Willie came on.  Dear Jamey Johnson, you sing & write wonderful songs, but you are the MOST BORING PERFORMER I've ever witnessed.  Not the best act to put on at 9:30 at night when everyone has been in 107 degree temperatures all day and probably had one too many Shiner Bocks.  I about fell asleep.

 And the star of the evening, the man, the myth, the legend...Wille Nelson.

All in all a great day.  Coming up next...Part 2 of What I did on my summer vacation: The Niobrara River.

 

I'm back...

Ready to get back to normal life. Computer is updating and then there will be pictures galore!!!!

Limited Internet...

I have limited access to good internet this week while I'm back home smoothing out wedding details with my mom.  So just wait until next week and I'll have millions of pictures to share with you from our vacation!

Take care everyone!

Kaboom...

Happy 4th of July!  We're off to see Willie today, its going to be a LONG, HOT HOT HOT day.  Then its off to our next destination.  I should hopefully be able to post along our journey, but it may end up waiting until I'm back home.

So enjoy your time with friends & family and stay safe today.  

Let summer vacation begin...