Dress Old Navy

Scarf Old Navy

Boots Vince Camutto

Bag Dooney & Burke

Watch Rolex

Pearl Earrings Stella & Dot

Football + Fall

Check out the great wreath I got from Celebrations last weekend at their Collegiate Football Kick-Off Weekend. Love that the Seminole have such great fall colors, it makes it not so obnoxiously football, but a nice mix of football and fall :)

 

 

Notice the lovely GREEN & ALIVE topiary flanking my steps?? I've managed to keep these suckers alive all summer, fingers crossed they keep doing so well, and don't end up dead brown like the last two sets ;) Can't wait for October to be here so I can bust out the Halloween decor!

Backflips and Cupcakes!

Well this past weekend we celebrated Miss B's 7th Birthday. Don't even get me started on how quickly 7 years flies by :( But, none the less, I had a fabulous party to throw for my little not-so-little girl. Miss Opinionated decided on a gymnastics party, and wanted the usual favorite colors, pink, black and maybe some zebra. Here's the result...

 

Quick & Easy (and Healthy) Dinner: Tortellini Primavera

I'm on the search again for quick and easy and healthy recipes, since Tuesday marked our start back into the hectic lifestyle of sports, with Grier's soccer, and Baylor's cheerleading and my coaching, ehhh! and school starts in two weeks too, let the exhaustion begin...lol.

via source

Ingredients

• 1 14-ounce can vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 cup shredded fontina cheese or 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, dill or chives or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups chopped vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots and snap peas, or 16-ounce bag frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 16-ounce package frozen cheese tortellini

Preparation

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
2. Meanwhile, whisk broth and flour in a small bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until just beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the broth mixture to the pan, bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in cheese, tarragon (or dill or chives) and salt.
3. Add vegetables and tortellini to the boiling water; return the water to a simmer and cook until the vegetables and tortellini are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain; add to the pan with the sauce and stir to coat.

Pinterest Try: Red White & Blue Berry Trifle

This recipe was a hit! Everyone at our Fourth of July BBQ loved it, it was refreshing, full of flavor, super festive and surprisingly light. I did mine in a compote bowl, so it looked slightly different, but made it a little faster and easier :)

via

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds raspberries (5 cups)
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 large orange)
• 10 ounces mascarpone cheese (1 1/3 cups)
• 1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Fine salt
• 20 to 24 ladyfingers (from a 7-ounce package), broken into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 pound blueberries (2 1/2 cups)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine raspberries with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and orange juice. With the back of a fork, lightly mash berries to release their juices and let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together mascarpone and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Whisk in cream, vanilla, and pinch of salt and whisk until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes.
2. Cut one or two pieces parchment 1 inch taller than side of an 8-inch spring form pan and line inside of pan. Place half the ladyfingers in pan and top with half the raspberry mixture. With a small offset or rubber spatula, spread half the whipped cream over berries. Tap pan gently on counter to remove air bubbles. Repeat with remaining ladyfingers, raspberry mixture, and whipped cream. Top with blueberries and refrigerate until whipped cream is stiff and cookies have softened, about
   3 hours (or, tightly covered with plastic, up to 3 days). To serve, unmold trifle and peel away parchment.

Want to see more great recipes, check out my board on Pinterest, Yum-Yum Gimmee Some! 

Tuesday's Three Things to Love

Great coffee table display at Pottery Barn Easter SHore

Orange French Milled soap, mmm!! Yay for having a French Aunt ;) 

Totally cool dog house at Home Goods, that the Hub gave me an affirmative NO on :( 

Snapper Fishing

While all our family was in town, my mom chartered a huge boat to take us all offshore fishing. We headed out of the marina about six o'clock in the morning, yes, that means we were up at four to get ready and drive to the marina, yikes! And went about 12 miles offshore. We caught 23 Red Snappers, 1 King Mackerel and 2 Spanish Mackerel, everyone had such a blast, it was a thrill reeling in the fish and all of us peering over the edge of the boat to see what kind and how big  the fish was :)

Weekend Recap

We had a great little bit of time off, that lasted all the way through yesterday, that was jam packed with celebrating the Fourth, my 10 year high school reunion, remembering my grandmother with all the family with a memorial, charter boat offshore fishing, eating and lots more :) During that time we had family in from Europe, Virginia, New Orleans, North Carolina, all over the place. I'll post pictures over the next few days of our fishing trip, family fun, and a very tasty dessert recipe I tried out.

Wednesday we celebrated the fourth with my mom, one of our kiddos previous teachers, some friends and their adorable baby.

Yes, our goofy Old Navy Shirts, I do them every year, but still ♥ them :)

Yummy goodies to nibble on, found the bell pepper dip holder idea on Pinterest, where else ;)

Kabobs ready for the grill....

....and the grill master in action!

Yes, that is my husband doing a toe touch over a firework....but you have to admit, it's a pretty good toe touch, lol

Kitchen Art

Look at these great Vintage fruit crate covers that have been framed that I found on One Kings Lane Tony Duquette's Tastemaker Tag Sale this week. There were a few other peices I would have like to have had, but most of it was sold or on sale within minutes of openeing, gotta be quick ;) Can't wait to get these in and add to the kitchen for a burst of color, I especially love the deep blues in the first and thrid one, what do you think?

Lemon + Lavender = Perfection

I took the kiddos by the mall last night to pick up a few things, and one of the things one my list was some Yankee Candle Wall Plug refills. I usually stick to my Clean Cotton, but this time something new caught my eye, Lemon Lavender, its got that great fresh citrus smell with very light undertones of lavender, so nice!!

Needless to say, I ended up with the plug-in refills, a candle, room spray, and a car hanging things all in the scent, love :)

Also, theses were too funny not to share, Man Candles, lol :)

The names are hilarious, First Down, Riding Mower & 2x4, but I'm not really thinking my hubby would be too excited if he received one of these!

Best. Camera. Ever.

So I've got a new toy, that I'm dying to share, it's the Nikon Coolpix AW100. This Little badboy is waterproof, shockproof, and takes really amazing pics....plus, an orange camera is so much easier to spot in the abyss of my purse than a black one :) 

I have to admit, I was more than a little bit nervous to actually take it underwater, but I took the dive, literally, in salt water no less, and it's still working perfectly. Aren't these some fun shots :)