Celebrate...

Come celebrate a few firsts with me...

Today was the first time I ever had Apple Cider Donuts...

It is also the first time I have ever MADE donuts.

I find that Apple Cider Donuts are delicious, and...I really shouldn't have the ability to make donuts! It's very dangerous!!

Time to go make a green smoothie to undo this sin ;)

Summer once again

I love my job because I get the summers off.  Besides the fact that I enjoy helping children, I chose my job BECAUSE I get summers off.  Really can't beat it!

This past week was our 3 year wedding anniversary.  Yes, cue the collective "awwwwww..."  I can't believe it's been 3 years already!  Feels like just yesterday!

Yes, that is me giving a victory punch with my bouquet;)  Anyways...Thursday was the actual day of our annivegaversary (Friends?  Anyone?) but it was a low key evening since I worked that day and the day after.   Tomorrow is the real date where we are doing something special that Dave planned and then going to eat at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore.  I can't wait!  He really outdid himself this time.  He got the crazy idea back in January to save up for a Tiffany & Co. gift card for me.  He kept it a secret the whole time, secretly pulling money out every check to save up.  On Thursday, he gave me a blue bag with a blue Tiffany's box inside and I flipped out.  Its waaaay too extravagant!  I'm going to have a good time picking out some jewelry tomorrow!!

We made a weekend out of the anniversary and Father's Day and went to OC (Ocean City, MD for those non-MD readers, its the beach of choice for most Marylanders!) for the day yesterday.  It was a great way to kick off my summer vacation.  We ended up down at the inlet, and the water was so blue, we could have been in the tropics.  Usually our water is dark and sometimes even murky.  Not yesterday!

It was a lovely, relaxing day together!

These are my toes, all sandy.  Look at that water!

Hello Summer!  Hello sun burn!

There is Dave's cheesy face.  What a hubs...

After the beach time we wandered up and down the boardwalk and rode my favorite Haunted House ride.  We stopped for a drink in a little Mexican place to shield ourselves from the sun, we were pretty burned.  Then we decided to hop over to a crab house for dinner before the 3+hour drive home.  We ended up at this off-the-path place called Crab Alley.  We wanted to go to Hoopers but WOW was the wait long, we didn't even stop because we could see the line out the door.  I'm glad we kept going, because I loved Crab Alley!  Yum!!  We actually had leftovers so I need to make crab soup tomorrow.

Today is Father's Day and we spent the afternoon and a good part of the evening at my parents.  Mom always makes her teriayki this day, and we skewer the meat and cook it on little grills out on the patio.  It's a family favorite!  It was good to spend time with my family!  The guys were watching the Open the whole time, being golf lovers and all, poor Phil...:/

So, my summer has officially begun!  I can't wrap my mind around the fact I don't have to get up to go anywhere tomorrow, or the next day...I love it!

Happy Summer everyone!

New vibe

What do you think of the snazzy new look? We are getting all sorts of crazy up in here!

Soooo...we are due to get this huge storm tonight into tomorrow.  Everyone is saying to be prepared.   I am wondering what amount of prepared they expect me to be for a summer thunderstorm?  Isn't this a normal thing for June, July or August??  Or, is it going to be so bad that after the storm I'm going to wonder why the heck they didn't prepare more!?! All I really care about is that my basement does not flood again for the third time!  Is that too much to ask?  Is that being prepared enough?

Plus it's hard to care about preparing for a storm when, as an employee in the school system, there are just so many other things I could be worried about right now!  I feel like people in the county woke up on Monday and said "hey let's put our stupid pants on today!" because they are certainly acting like it!   If you need to get up to speed, just Google "Harford County cuts teacher positions" and you will see what I mean!

What a week!  Students finished yesterday, we finish on Friday and then summer is here, finally!  See you real soon! Let me know what you think of the blog design:)

xoxo,

I'll leave you with these adorable pics of Frodo, being such a ham!  Yes, he tucked himself into the blanket for bed!

10 truths

Hello,

I have some truths for you today! I know, I know...you can't wait, right?!? Lets dig in...

1. You never grow out of hypochondria.  I still worry like a maniac after all the years.  Last week I had tests done that show a teeny tiny ovarian cyst that apparently is nothing to worry about.  Easier said than done! I need to write a will and up my life insurance...

2.  I'm in a weird place.  My whole life I have always fit in, everywhere.  Now I find myself in a place where I feel like I don't fit in anywhere.  I'm in my early 30's with no biological kids (By choice, we want to live a little bit, travel, grow up some more before popping out those babies!) BUT we have a teenager at the house most of the time. So I'm not in the young mom club nor the teenager mom club, I'm too old or too young.  I have nothing in common with most of the people around me.  Plus I'm a school counselor in an elementary school which is awesome but = lonely without a true team.  Thank The Lord for my husband and stepdaughter, and the cat, because without them I would just be talking to myself all the time!

3.  Jesus loves me dearly, even though I don't deserve it and even though I sit around pitying myself:)

4. Having a sense of humor is so important in life, it gives me the ability to laugh at myself when I pity myself;)

5.  People who love you make time for you, and vice versa.  

6.  Loyalty and consideration for others are seriously important to me in my old age.  I can be silly about a lot, but I am serious about those things.  

7. Summer is almost here and I can't wait.  I have all these plans and to do lists and I will only get a few  of them done, but it will be lovely and relaxing.  I do love working in a school!

8. Only 43 days left until we are in Disney again!

9. I'm a terrible blogger, but I still love doing it.

10. I want to go read now...

NIGHT!

How to guide

So I am playing around with this new app called Snapguide and I really love it! Here is my first guide on how to create a gallery wall in your home:)

My gallery wall isn't 100% done yet, I am still adding photos and art and switching a few things around, but it is so cute so far! What do you think?

Spring Break

I am loving break! How about you? Even though our break is shortened by one day, thanks random March snow storm, I feel that I am getting a lot done. I am also getting quality time in with Dave and our families too. Also, I am getting some laziness in which is important, you have to make time to be lazy!

I finally reprinted our kitchen. I love the yellow I picked out last spring, but then...I painted the whole first floor gray at the end of August. It's a beautiful, light but pleasantly gray type of gray. So, the BAM IM YELLOW kitchen didn't blend as well. Mom, the retired interior designer, always says that the colors in your house need to to flow. This yellow started to bother me because it did not flow well into the gray. I knew I had to lighten it up, but it just a pain in the butt to repaint a room that I spent SO much time making perfect last spring break.

Alas, I caved in on Friday. After 2 months of debating yellows in my head again, I settled on a lovely light yellow called Haystack by Glidden. It is still a happy kitchen yellow, but has some green to it. Plus it matches all the artwork we brought home from Italy specifically for our "Tuscan" themed kitchen. It only took me about 5 hours on Friday night to repaint. Dave picked up an short extra shift and by the time he got home at 9:30, our kitchen was done.

I love the new color! It is so soft and sweet and it does flow much better with our beautiful gray. It is amazing what a new coat of paint will do to you:)

Yesterday we spend the entire day doing fun things together. We got up early, made breakfast, went back to sleep for a while, did some errands, went to Easter Service, took a walk, made dinner together and finally, spontaneously decided to go see Olympus has Fallen. Good movie!

Today we are sleeping in, and by we I mean Dave because I can't sleep much past 7:30 anymore;) I made a light Easter breakfast of French donut muffins, hard boiled eggs, fruit and yogurt and of course coffee. We have a big dinner at mom and dads today so I want to keep things light so we can enjoy it!

Now I am wondering what I should get into? Shall I go back to sleep and rest? It is spring break after all?!?! Or, should I go to them gym? Maybe I should work on the Gallery Wall up the stair well....hmmm...or maybe I should read a book. So many choices! Maybe I can fit them all in today!

Pinterest Nums

In the Bland house, we use the word "nums" a lot.  It originated from my mother, in feeding pets as I grew up...num nums was the name for food to all cats and dogs.  Dave and I adopted the word apparently.  We used say it just to Frodo when we put his food out but now it pops up in our everyday language when talking food.  Hence, the title of my post this evening - Pinterest Nums!

I hate for our food to be bland, ironically enough;) I don't like making the same thing twice in a few weeks time, and I really enjoy trying out new things when I have the energy.  Today was one of those days.  I wanted to make a yummy yet healthier type meal, so instead of finding new recipes on Pinterest, I looked at my own boards to try to make something I have already liked and pinned.

Here are the two I have tried:

Cheeseburger Wraps



Pinned from here.

To go with it...

Black Bean and Corn Salad



Pinned from here.

These are pics taken from Pinterest.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food because we ate it quickly. Both recipes turned out amazing!  I used whole wheat tortillas for the wraps and since we don't have a GF grill, I just pressed them in a warm skillet to make them golden all over.  I also used organic ground beef from Wegmans.  Gotta make sure our meat is healthy and grass fed, no extra junk in there!

My family loved the wraps and there is so much you can do to change them up...I am thinking mushrooms, Dave is thinking bacon...lots of variety possible.  The corn and bean salad was light and yummy and even though I didn't have any avocados, it was tasty.  Avocados would have made it yummier though!  You could even break out some tortilla chips and get your salsa on with this salad, or serve it on tacos, or even put it INSIDE your cheeseburger wrap!  WHY didn't I think of that earlier?!?!

So that was my culinary adventure for the evening.  Lets see what else I can get into!