My New Favorite Dress Outfit

I have never written a post about clothing or an outfit before, but there is a first time for everything.  There are two reasons that I am blogging this outfit. First, it is super cute and comfortable. Second, it was veeeery cost effective, everything was on clearance!  

I wore this outfit today when we went to get our groomsmen's tux measurements and for my bridesmaid Amy and I to pick up our shoes for the wedding at David's Bridal. I have worn a similar outfit, different cardigan and shirt, in the past, but I love the way that this one came together. I do admit, I wore shorts under the skirt. I apologize for the horrible quality of the pictures. I was home alone and our lights don't light up the living room in the new apartment well.

The best part about this outfit is the that the entire thing (excluding my watch) was less than $50 dollars, and all of the pieces are very versatile.  Everything except the necklace was on major clearance!

                                    Shirt: Sears a while back  ~$7.00

                                    Boyfriend Cardigan: Sears  a few weeks ago  ~$8.50

                                    Skirt: Fashion Bug, about 6 months ago  ~$5.00

                                    Shoes: Target, last year  ~$7.00

                                    Necklace: Fashion Bug, recently  ~$14.00

                                    Total cost for look     ~ $45.00

 

Here is a close look at the shoes. They are pretty comfortable for being as high of a wedge as they are.  The skirt has black, purple, gray, and light pink in it which gives you many options for tops, shoes, etc...

 

 Close ups of the necklace. I love this necklace because it is sparkly and because it goes with almost everything. It is a silver/gray color, but because it is clear it transitions well and picks up almost any color that you put it on.

I love this outfit and think that I will wear it again with my silver/gray flats for a post session for the incoming graduate students in about a week. Have a great week everyone!

Fireworks, Mountains, and Concerts...OH MY!

It seems like we did a lot more this summer than what I can find in photos. I guess that it just seems to escape my mind to take photos all of the time, even when my camera is usually in my purse.  I used to be sooo good at taking pictures! I guess that went out the window after my Doane days.  I guess I will post what I have pictures of and update if I find more later!

This summer we took in fireworks with our good friends Phil and Alena.  We love getting to spend time with them, but with as many nights and weekends as Phil and Adam work (both being chefs) it's hard for the four of us to get together. This summer we got to take in fireworks with them, which was a blast!
 

On a side note, Alena always wears dresses or a skirt when we go somewhere.  This may be a coincidence, but ironically enough I decided to wear a skirt tonight...She was in sweats this once! However, when I told her I dressed up because she usually did, she ended up changing into a dress anyways, lol.

Wow, he actually smiled...after a few attempts anyway!









Right after the 4th of July, we left the dogs with "sitters", packed up, and went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a long weekend.  We stayed in an amazing cabin and did so many things.  We used the time to "rekindle" and re-coop from our busy lives.

The first place that we hit up was the Mine Your Own Gems attraction.  Adam used to go to Gatlinburg as a child with his family, so he had a lot of memories that he wanted to re-create.

My care-free as a kid fiance with our finds! We ended up taking most of them home, but made a three stone ring for me out of a few of them.  It's silver with a garnet flanked by two topaz stone.  At first I was leery of Adam's choice, but then I realized they were our wedding colors and agreed that it would look fine.  It turned out beautiful! I don't have a picture of it, sadly. I may add one later.







We spent almost a whole morning and afternoon walking the "strip" of Gatlinburg.  We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, which was awesome.  We saw so many neat things...

Like this candy art picture of Sandra Bullock, amazing!

















Adam got to stand next to a life size statue of the world's tallest man.

 We went to see the Titanic museum later in the trip. There were so many amazing artifacts from the actual ship.  It was 3 hours well spent! I loved the touch of the iceberg on the outside.  Sadly, we couldn't take any photos inside :(

That night we went to Adam's favorite restaurant in Gatlinburg...Huck Finn's.  It was so good! Adam got the catfish and I had alligator.  They have all you can eat vittles, including: hush puppies, ham and beans, cole slaw, and pickles and onions. As you can see we were stuffed!







This was the view from the deck of our cabin.  It was beautiful! We spend a lot of time in the hot tub out there, listening to the crickets and cicadas.

 

On our last day we made the long, curvy drive to what was supposed to be an Indian reservation.  It turned out not to be what we thought, but the drive made the whole thing worth while!

Yikes! Talk about curves!

Pretty tunnel that we had to go through.

Our last night there Adam made an amazing supper and we spent time in the cabin enjoying the view...

and a little bit too bubbly of a bubble bath.  There was barely any water in the tub!  Oops!







We did so much when we were there that I won't mention it all. Needless to say we loved out stay at Bears Inn and plan on going back at some point before we leave Ohio.  The cabin was absolutely beautiful!  We had a great time getting away from reality for a few days.

 

In August I got to go see Rascal Flatts with  Adam's mom, sister, and his sister's friend.  It was an amazing show and we had great seats! Thanks Monica!

 

Sarah Evan's opened up, and she was fantastic!

I couldn't resist!

The show was amazing.  This was the first time that I had seen either in concert...but the best was yet to come! 

A few days later Adam and I went to see TIM MCGRAW with Monica and his sister Sarah.  Talk about awesome! The best part was that Monica ended up winning PIT PASSES for Tim!

The Band Perry was the first band to go on. They put on a good show with a lot of energy.

Then came Luke Bryan! I didn't think that I knew very many of his songs, I was sort of right.  However, Adam and I are now both HUGE Luke fans.  We are trying to go to another concert soon.  He was amazing.

He jumped and danced around the stage the whole time! I really think that he is going to be battling Sawyer Brown for entertainer of the year soon.  One of the best shows I have ever seen put on!

Sarah and I in the pit for Tim! VIP was amazing!

I have TONS of pictures of Tim McGraw. These are just a FEW of my favorites.

We ended up with 4 guitar picks, which was perfect for the four of us!

I even got to touch Tim's hand! I will always remember when my friend Whitney Wathor from high school swore her hand made it in a magazine.  I can't claim that, but it made me remember her and Rachel's obsession with Tim concerts.

 

All of us in the pit.  We had such a great time, despite the insane heat. 

The Band Perry came back out to sing with Tim....

and so did Luke!

 

Adam's way of thanking his mom. I couldn't resist, although I will probably catch flack if he ever sees this online.  Such an amazing concert even with Tim's bum foot in a cast!

Chicken Marsala

The weather here has been up and down and up and back down again, and you know what that means...COLD, as in I have one.  I've been sick about two weeks now, but it is getting better.  I, however, refuse to go to the doctor for something as minor as a cold. Adam has been working his tush off and is seldom home to cook in the evenings anymore (insert big sad face).  Much of the time I find myself (shamefully so) making frozen foods (chinese, pizza, etc), but every once in a while I actually remember to thaw something out and have the energy to make a real supper when I get home from a long day at school/work.

A few weeks ago I made Adam's amazing version of Chicken Marsala.  He was not home and I was therefore on my own making it for the first time.  When he got home he told me good job and that is tasted a little different that his, but it was really good.  Turns out the only reason that it tasted different was because I bought cooking marsala and not actual drinking marsala.  I looked for the real thing, but couldn't find it at Kroger and quickly ran out of patience.  The cooking marsala was much easier to find! I even cooked it in his "special skillet" that he loves and always makes it in.  I much prefer my nonstick or stainless steal varieties, but didn't want to jinx myself ;)

Adam used to make this quite a big at home and I always love it. Now I can make it all on my own, yum! The only difference other than the marsala is that we usually serve it with linguine.  I didn't have any on hand, so I used my usual whole wheat pasta. Give this beauty of a recipe a try!

Ingredients:


4 thin sliced chicken breasts
8 oz fresh mushrooms
8-10 ounces marsala (for cooking or drinking)
4 cloves of fresh garlic (sliced)
Pasta of choice
Oil

Chicken Marsala

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet.  Cook chicken on medium-high heat in oil with garlic cloves, salt, and pepper.













When chicken is half way cooked, flip over; Add mushrooms (sliced) and marsala.  Make sure that you add a decent amount of marsala to the pan. I used half a regular bottle of cooking marsala.









Continue to cook until mushrooms and chicken are done.  Continue still to cook, stirring regularly, until the marsala is reduced to the consistency that you like.  I prefer thicker sauces, so I tend to reduce mine quite a bit.  Serve with your favorite pasta and enjoy!  Super easy, but so tasty!

Chicken, Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Flatbread Pizza

Wow, I am really getting bad at this whole blogging thing. Not that it is really a big deal in the end because I am pretty sure that only 1 or 2 people read this blog. Life just gets away from you, and there have never been enough hours in the day or days in the week. Life has been busy for the both of us lately, so busy that we have been doing minimal wedding planning. About 6 short months until the big day (yikes) means that we should probably kick the planning in gear. My friend Tessa over at The Cookin' Chemist made flatbread pizzas one time long ago and I wanted to try them out for the longest time. Then, Adam and I went out to a restaurant in town called Kona Bistro. It is all organic and fresh foods and amazing, but a little pricey. They had this appetizer that was to die for. It was a flatbread with chicken and goat cheese that had an amazing pesto/sun-dried tomato creamy sauce on it. I really wanted to try my hand at making an easier at home version and thus this recipe was born. I combined Kona's appetizer ingredients with tessa's flatbread pizza idea to make an easy and delicious supper. Which Adam, my resident chef of a fiance, absolutely loved. I made this last year (long time, I know) and ended up making it 3-4 times in a little over a month. The pictures are not the best so my apologies. Obviously you can make this pizza with any toppings that you would like, but this was a great combination for us!

Chicken, Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:
Flatout flatbread Boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 3-4 ounces per pizza) Pesto (we use store bought)
Goat cheese
Sun-dried (dry not in liquid) tomatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Cut chicken and cook until done. Lay flatbread on pizza stone or sheet, spread pesto over the entire flatbread. Add diced sun-dried tomatoes and chicken. Crumble goat cheese on top of the pizza. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and flatbread is crispy. Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry Balsamic Salad with Basil and Feta

I made this recipe months ago. In all honesty, I think it was before summer actually hit. Trust me when I say that we haven't completely stopped cooking, although lately we have not been adventurous by any means. Unfortunately, life gets in the way of the things that we all enjoy and for me those things are reading, cooking, and blogging (to name a few). Now that my last PhD exam is over with, hopefully I can start getting back into my life's routine.

I found this recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod, one of my two favorite food blogs. I will admit that I was a little skeptical at first. It just seems like a very odd combination to me. However, I pushed my mind open a little bit and decided to try it since Maria (and Josh) has yet to steer me wrong! I love everything that I have tried from her (their) blog.

This recipe was definitely interesting, but was also amazing at the same time. I love all of the individual ingredients alone, but together they made a wonderful, light, and healthy summer salad. The flavors come together well and I could easily eat this for breakfast, lunch, or supper. I did not change Maria's recipe at all. You can see her original post here. Enjoy!

On another note: Am I the only one that is addicted to all of the amazing dishes that would be great for food photography. I feel like every time I go to Kroger or Walmart I see one that I want to buy just one of in every color!


Strawberry Balsamic Salad with Basil and Feta

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced strawberries
2-3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
5 basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese

*Place sliced strawberries in a medium bowl. Drizzle strawberries with balsamic vinegar and stir until well coated.

2. Sprinkle fresh basil and feta over the strawberries and stir.

3. Serve cold.

My attempt at returning to the blogging world...

I finally went to look and see when the last time that I blogged a recipe was. Imagine the loud *gasp* that came out of my mouth when I realized that it had been almost a year. The sad thing is that it doesn't seem like that is even a remote possibility. The last year has gone by so fast, it is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since we got engaged. This makes life even scarier since I really need to buckle down and begin actually planning a wedding...what a concept. My goal is to start blogging at least once every week or two. Maybe even just doing a few recipes at a time once or twice a month. We have been making so many good things over the past year. Thankfully, even though I have been failing at the blogging, I HAVE been keeping up with pictures of all the tasty things that we have been eating. In my attempt to seem less pathetic for "not finding time" I am going to list a few of the reasons that cause me to seem to never have the time or energy to blog...

1.) Addition to the family-#1
Gus Gus
Puggle
Born: August 1, 2010
Brought Home: Early October
Nicknames: Guster Buster Douglas, Buster Stevenson, Gus-a-Bus, Bubby-Do
2.) School and Work:
Finally my research life will be settling down just a tiny bit, not near enough for my liking
though. Just this past Friday my boss submitted our grant to the NIH. This would give us funding for the next 3-4 years, longer that I plan on being here. Therefore, it has been really been crunch-time since January. I also started the process of cumulative exams (written doctoral exams) in January. You must pass 4 out or 10. Thankfully, my hard work paid off and I was able to pass 4 for 4 and be done! One of only 2 students in my year to do this, the other being my Ohio BFF :) Now, with great sadness, I have to start working on my ORP (oral doctoral exam) where I have to write an original research proposal, bleh. There things plus the normal stress of work have left little time to do much else.


3.) Trips and Travels:
August brought an opportunity to travel to Milwaukee, WI for an EPR workshop for my area of research. It was a really good experience and a lot of good talks where there.

We met up with Mom and Grammy in St Louis back in September to spend a few days. We had a great time and got to see a lot of really neat places. We also had some AMAZING Italian food, saw the arch, Zoo, Botanical Gardens (Complete with a few Chihuly pieces), and Anheuser Busch Brewery (with complimentary beer), among other things



In November Adam and I made an emergency trip home to Nebraska to see my Great Grandfather (93) who was very sick. Thankfully he pulled through and is currently doing well. We drove there and took Mr. Gus Gus with us, he was really good on the ride and super cute!


Christmas meant another trip back to Nebraska for me, sadly this time without Adam and Gus. However, this gave us girl time to go wedding dress shopping.

March brought with it a trip to Baltimore, MD for the Annual Biophysical Society Conference. It was a really good time and a friend and I even got time off to see the aquarium and Dolphin Show!


On top of this we had visitors a few times, needless to say, it has been a very busy year for us!

4.) Addition #2 to the family:
Bella
Cairn Terrier
Born: October 28, 2010
Brought Home: beginning of February
Nicknames: Bellzer, Bella-Rella, Bells,

I am hoping that this gives everyone a little bit of insight into what we have been up to lately and also will cut me a little slack for not blogging ;) I have a busy summer planned with work and research, let along real life. In July we will be heading up to Michigan for three days with Adam's Step-Dad's family at their cabin and lake. We are looking forward to the three day reality break to say the least! I will try to post a new recipe as soon as I can! Lord knows we have lots to post!