Spontaneous Sunday

So yesterday afternoon I finished up my weekly phone conversation with my family and when I hung up Chris said, "Ok, you have 15 minutes to get ready..."

Our surprise trip landed us at a cute park in downtown Overland Park where we listened to the "Dixie Doodlers". It was so fun! I think we might have been one of ten families that were not in their umm...70's...but thats ok! We had a really great time and got to listen to some fun music. It was truly one of those perfect summer nights.

Lawn chairs, live music, snacks...what else do you need?

exhibit A:

Paint by Numbers...

4...the number of miles I ran this morning.

12...the TOTAL number of miles run this week.

2...the number of weeks completed of my half-marathon training.

2...the number of cool metal art things I found at Hobby Lobby to hang above our couch.

I am really trying to go for "shabby shic" and I think these go perfectly! Its so simple too...I just love it!

2...the number of these drinks I consume each day! I try to drink only one but they are SO good. Diet Green Tea with Citrus from Costco. If you get the Costco coupons there was a $2 off one in there for this week! They come in a pack of about 30...well worth it! I think with the coupon they were $8 total.

And lastly....79. As in 79 degrees. As in the HIGH temperature for Kansas City today. Currently we have our doors and windows open enjoying the breeze! Yesterday Chris and I walked to the Starbucks close to our house and we actually got a little chilly sitting outside with our drinks! Its the middle of July but feels like October. Completely insane.

Well, I'm off to layout by the pool...and not sweat. I know. Its crazy.

Fish Tacos!

I decided to try something new for dinner tonight and I am glad I did! It was easy and delicious!

I bought some frozen Tilapia from walmart, marinated it in a ziploc with some lemon and lime juice. I just used enough to cover the fish, it wasn't swimming in it. (Pun intended : ) Marinate for 15-30 minutes then pat dry. Then I heated my pan with some EVOO, put the fish in some flour (to give it a crispy edge) then cook it up! It should have a golden brown outside and be white on the inside!

We put ours in some flour tortillas with avacado, tomato, cheese, sour cream and some salsa! Just anything you would put on a taco! I served it with some pasta salad and it was yummy!

Enjoy!

Seeing Red, White, and Blue

Well for the past week we've been in Arlington celebrating the Fourth of July with our families! We drove in on Sunday and left a week later on Sunday again. Sandwiched in the middle were lots of fun activities!!

I should say that the Fourth of July is my absolute favorite holiday. Yes, even more than Chrismas. I just love everything about it. The music, the fireworks, the food and most of all the family. I have such fond memories of going to the parade with my Dad as a little girl and even shooting fireworks in our backyard. The Fourth of July is also right around the time Chris and I started dating so its a really special time for us as well.

So each year we have tried our best to make it home to be with our families on this great holiday. (The first year we lived in KC we didn't come home and it was honestly one of the hardest things...so we don't make that mistake anymore)

I'm pretty sure that there are angels in heaven who rejoice when you cross the Texas state line...

Things we did consisted of 1. Eating 2. Shopping 3. Lots of Fourth of July festivities and 4. More eating.

When we come home we always like to eat at the places that we don't have here in Kansas so we ate at Spring Creek, Kitchen de Branigan, and Braums. (Confession: we may have eaten at Braums more than once...or twice. Who can resist a twist in a waffle cone?!)

We also go to do A LOT of fun things with our families...

We practiced making balloon animals...

We went to a Rangers Game

We sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas" at the top of our lungs...

We went to the Concert in the Garden, always a family favorite : )



We watched the best fireworks in town (at the Concert in the Garden)

We went to the Arlington Fourth of July parade. One of, or the biggest, Fourth of July parades in the nation! They aren't lyin that everythings bigger in Texas!

We danced when the Colt Drum Line came by playing their infamous song. Kick'em Colts!

And on Sunday we got to see Taylor, my little brother, get baptized!

My Dad got to baptize him which was really special.

And then we loaded up our truck, like the Clampetts, and were off to Beverly...err, I mean Kansas.

We had to bring back some furniture to go in our new apartment.

We really had a fabulous time with our families and were sad to say good bye (It just really doesn't get easier...) but will be glad to be saying hello again in just 3 weeks! Special thanks to Liz for getting married then!!

Up in 3D

Ok. Run...don't walk to go see this movie! And go with your husband! If it were up to me I would name this the "date movie of the year". Unexpected...I know. But you will not regret it. You will love your husband so much more when you walk out of this movie...trust me.

Oh yes. And you MUST see it in 3D.

Jalapenos

Ok, so the other day I was reading The Pioneer Woman's blog and I saw these:

So I thought "Wow! I can make those! And I bet I can even use fat free cream cheese and turkey bacon..." I was going to Target that afternoon for a few things so I picked up three simple ingredients along with my other purchases, Jalapenos, Cream Cheese, and Turkey Bacon. I cannot tell y'all how excited I felt driving home! I was thinking "Ouuhh...my husband is going to LOVE these and they'll be (somewhat) healthy!!"

As soon as I got home I immediately started on my project. I sliced those jalapenos like nobody's business. I took my spoon and "de-seeded" them and then I proceded to fill them with cream cheese and wrap with bacon. I even took step by step pictures y'all!! I popped them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350 and just waited with anticipation while my little cheesy poppers baked in the oven. I noticed then that my fingers were starting to burn a little while I was checking my email/facebook/ etc...(This should have clued me in...but no...) but I didn't really think anything of it.

After I took them out of the oven I decided I would go to the pool for a little while. Well, at the pool my fingers started burning with fury! And I even had them in the water!! This was only the beginning of a LONG 12 hours that were the WORST OF MY LIFE!! I literally ran home from the pool and tore my house apart looking for this spray aloe vera with lidocaine. It didn't help. So then I got a bowl with ice water. It didn't help. Nothing was helping!! The burning was the worst pain I have ever felt. All the finger tips on my left hand felt like they were on fire!! I finally googled "jalapeno skin burn" and there were 17,600 results. Ha. So after a long, long night of soaking my hand in milk, baking soda, vinegar, ice cream, cool whip, lime juice ( I tried it all) the pain FINALLY went away at 4am.

Now, I've never had kids...but I'm pretty sure this pain was worse than labor... : ) The moral of this story is WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU CUT JALAPENOS!! You would think a Texas girl would know that...

Oh, and my little "cheesy poppers"...terrible. They are so stinkin hot you can't enjoy them and next time (if there will ever be one) I will use real bacon...ugh...

Where have we been?!

Well...moving to be exact! Chris and I got this wonderful idea that we should move into a bigger apartment and so for the past two weeks we have been packing/moving/unpacking...UGH!! Actually now that we are mostly settled I am super loving our new apartment. We now have an actual dining room (crazy, I know) and as soon as we bring our desk from home, Chris will have his very own office. So...without further adue...welcome to our new home!

the before

and...after!!

actually have a place for our table...yes!!

the joy of two sinks...

I am hesitant to put this picture...but this is our office...aka the crazy room...its not quite as settled as the rest of the place...

and finally...Chris's beloved patio set...

So...there's our new place! We are really glad to have the extra space and finally be done moving!! Now we can actually start enjoying summer!! (Which is fitting since today is the "official first day of summer")