P-Dub and Hummus

I can't tell you how exciting it was to see/meet someone who I feel like I know so well (weird) from reading her blog... I think I was a little TOO excited at moments... I got goosebumps. That means A LOT. I'm not kidding. I get goosebumps when I'm nervous/anxious/excited... enough of that. Onto our fun night!!

I told you I was excited.

Before Ree (we are on a first name basis now) came out, we hung out in the book aisles... Ashley found another book she was excited about, so we decided to take a picture?? Ok, this part of the night was a blur...I couldn't think of anything else but The Pioneer Woman!

Roxanne didn't take me too seriously... I don't know the last "normal" picture I have of just us...

Obviously, Aly and Rox worked together on sabotaging my pictures...

(Excuse the terrible quality...a combination of really bad lighting and a 10 year old camera makes for a ridiculous picture.)

Ree came out which sent a wave a cheering across the crowd of women... and then, the announcement of a "special guest" caused a hush through the bookstore. "My husband is here!" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not kidding, the screams were hilarious! I think Marlboro Man got a bigger scream than she did!

By the time we got through the book-signing line and took our group picture with Ree, Marlboro Man had a line longer than Pioneer Woman to take pictures and get autographs... so we decided to be sneaky and take pictures from behind him! :) Great idea, Aly! Poor guy. I wonder if he knew he would have to endure such a crazy group of Memphis women...

All the girls! She was so sweet to take pictures with us!!

(Ashley, I'm not sure why I chose to post this picture...we actually have a really good one of us!!)

After the signing, we made our way to Las Delicias to fill our grumbling bellies. We ended up having to wait an HOUR. Yuck. But it was so worth it!! Amazing guacamole! I definitely hope to make a trip there again!

Finally, a good one! I love my seesters.

We had a really fun night! My biggest regret was not saying much about The Pioneer Woman coming to Memphis to my Oxford friends!!!! I'm hoping a trip to Square Books is in her future...

If you haven't noticed, I can't go TOO long without posting a recipe... So here it is...

HUMMUS! I found a recipe/tutorial/how-to for Tahini (for real!) from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and couldn't help but try it. My sister and I were just talking about how we hate buying Tahini from the store not knowing if we would finish the whole canister. Little did I know, it's not hard to make! (I also used her hummus recipe.) I still need to try my sister's Black-Eyed Pea Hummus recipe... tastes amazing!

I hope you enjoyed my rambling, and I hope you have an amazing day!

Twine Vases!

Want an easy project? Here you go: Twine Vases.

What you need:

A wine bottle or old vase (or in my case, an empty red wine vinegar bottle...), twine, glue gun, and extra glue sticks

Start by gluing the end piece of the twine ball (official term??) to the bottom of your bottle or vase. I guess you COULD start at the top, but I like to stick to what I know.

Glue a little bit at a time and wrap the twine around where you have glued. Be careful with the amount of glue you squeeze...you don't want gobs of glue between the pieces of twine AND you don't want to burn your flesh off. Been there. Done that.

You'll start getting in groove of glue and wrap, glue and wrap...and before you know it...

...you're done!!

Stick some fake flowers in your new vase...

...or add it to your collection!

Or not. Too many neutral colors. I think I liked the fake flowers better...I just wanted to show off my awesome sign my sister MADE me! :)

Learning.

Parker loved practicing with his fork today. I don't think he threw one piece one the ground! By the end of his green bean pile, he speared/forked/stabbed 3 green beans and put them in his mouth! Yay! It's crazy to see my little guy getting so independent!

This little guy LOVES the camera. Cheese-ball grins are his specialty!

Even though Parker hasn't been feeling too well today, we've had a good one so far! We played with choo-choo's and puzzles, and we played outside, read a couple books (Little Critter, my favorite!), and shared a snack with Copper in the sun! (Copper decided that he was going to steal Parker's animal crackers while I wasn't looking...sneaky.) Parker also learned what a drum does, today! When I ask him what it does, he bangs on his belly! :) I'm loving his silliness.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Parker loves...

Playing ball. Running. Being outside. His puppy.

Swinging. His boots. Cheesy smiles.

Most of all...his blankie!

Friends and Beautiful Weather

My good friend Mary and her son Isaac came down to Oxford this week, and we had SO much fun! Parker and Isaac are about 8 months apart. Mary and I (and her husband Josh) go WAAAYY back...we are all friends from youth group, and it's so fun to see old friends in new stages of life! I'm so sad we don't get to see each other very much, but I'm already looking forward to our next get-together/play-date! Thanks so much for coming Mary and Isaac!

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of the two of them playing... Parker was a little jealous of Isaac while they played. We are TRYING to teach Parker how to share toys, but it's still a work in progress. Parker kept walking up to Isaac and waving while saying "Bye-Bye". Thank goodness Isaac didn't know what he was saying! Isaac was such a good boy and was so sweet to put up with Parker!

Pictures + babies = you never know what you're going to get. I LOVE this picture anyway!

Parker, Kyle, and I enjoyed our AMAZING weather (I mean, amazing is an understatement. It's been beautiful!) with a trip to the park. We decided to try a new little park we'd never been to, and unfortunately the playground was for older kids. Parker could have cared less, though, and we enjoyed watching him run around SCREAMING.

This is probably the only time he stood still. His feet were constantly moving!

He's pretty good at staying on the path!

All the boys. We had a great time!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Zucchini Fritters!

I recently found a new cooking blog that I love! Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice has a lot of really good recipes! She has everything from Zuppa Toscana to Microwave Cake in a Mug (For real, y'all. It's a little too easy to have chocolate cake, now...) These Zucchini Fritters stuck out to me for some reason...as unappealing as that name sounds, I decided to give it a "GO". They are REALLY good! Kyle and Parker both liked them so that's an A+ in my book.... so here they are:

Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients:

2 small zucchini

1 tsp. salt

4 green onions, minced

4 Tbsp. dried parsley (1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped)

4 Tbsp. dried dill (1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped)

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup flour

canola oil or cooking spray

sour cream, feta, or Tzatziki sauce

-Grate zucchini into a colander in the sink. Toss with salt and let stand for 10 minutes. (The less water the better!) This is a GREAT chance to use your food processor if you have the grating feature. I'm always looking for excuses to pull that thing out, and this was perfect! I had two zucchini fully grated in about 5 seconds!

-Squeeze out liquid.

-Combine Parmesan, flour, green onions, parsley, and dill all nice and pretty in a bowl so you can take a picture of it...no, I'm kidding. But there is something about seeing the ingredients all nice and neat in a bowl like that...weird, I know.

-Beat egg in a separate bowl.

-Add egg and zucchini to the rest of the neatly arranged ingredients.

-Mix well!

-Cover the bottom of pan with canola oil or cooking spray. (Next time I make these, I will just use cooking spray. You just don't want them to stick to the bottom of the pan.)

-Turn eye to Medium heat.

-Pan-fry spoonfuls of the mixture flattening down with a spatula, 3 to 4 minutes on each side (or until golden brown. It just depends on how crispy you want the fritters to be!)

Mmmmm.

-Drain on paper towel...

...and serve with sour cream...

...or crumbled feta.

Enjoy!

Next time I will prepare Our Best Bites' Tzatziki Sauce to dip these tasty treats in!!

Weekend Recap...

We were so excited to spend some time in Jackson this weekend! Haley (Kyle's sister) and Chris (her fiance!) had an engagement party on Friday, and we had so much fun celebrating with them! We had to do a little primping first, though...we needed to look GOOD for the party!

Parker had his first "big boy" haircut at the barber shop... before this I had only trimmed his little hairs at home. This was WAY overdue!

Checkin' himself out in the mirror...this child LOVES to look at himself in the mirror. About 90% of the time that he's upset, we can put Parker in front a mirror and he'll immediately stop crying and smile...

Being a good boy!

His Nanna did a great job of entertaining him with her iPhone!

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got from the engagement party night... apparently the memory stick came out, and the pictures I took didn't save... so I caught myself acting like a dummy.

Parker enjoyed a heart-shaped piece of toast with grape jelly for breakfast!

Kyle woke me up yesterday morning with a box of Dove chocolates and a sweet card, and he gave Parker a sweet little "bouquet" of Valentine suckers!

Parker LOVED the sugar... hyper, hyper, hyper.

We decided to stay home for Valentine's Day dinner, and I'm so glad we did!! We were both SO tired from a weekend full of fun, and I love experimenting with new recipes! When Kyle and I have in-home dates, we usually wait until Parker is in bed... so we ALWAYS plan an appetizer! I found an INCREDIBLE Portabello Stuffed Mushroom recipe... I highly recommend it! It was SO easy to make, and it was in the oven for only 15 minutes! Please try!

I also made French Bread (from Our Best Bites) to go with the pasta I planned to make...we were SO stuffed from the mushroom that we decided to eat bread and oil and call it a night! I PLANNED to at least have a salad with it, but I had no room for more. Don't judge...you know you have those nights, too! I guess we'll have to make up for the unhealthy eating...Salads tonight!!!

YUMMY. The End.

(Oh, if you wondered what our main course was GOING to be...we love The Pioneer Woman's Artichoke and Tomato Spaghetti!)