And We're..................

On Vacation!!!

I'll be back with all the details!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Blessed Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday 2011!

{He has RISEN!}

We got up bright and early

(I was hoping peanut would sleep in till at LEAST 7:30.. ok I'll take 7:10

(Most of her basket is in my carry on bag/diaper bag seen below)

But I pulled some things out that she could open on the morning, for tradition's sake!

Holding her new Barbie.. should i say very FIRST Barbie..
{she kind of didnt care about the Barbie.. which I was glad I didnt pack her then!}


Daddy made some eggs and hashbrowns and we got all pretty for Sunday Mass at 9:30.

She was so well behaved in Church, considering it was standing room only.. She had fun looking at all the "keeeds" in their Easter best.


{on our way to Church}

She wore an adorable "smocked"style romper with a sweet white sweater..

After that we came home, ate some lunch,

and Momma made a list (daily ritual for me) for what to bring to GiGi's house later..

My Mom had us all over, along with my two Aunts for a Traditional Easter Dinner.

My Grandma Betty Jane used to have Easter at her house when I was growing up, and Mom went to the famous "market" that everyone around here goes to for Easter and got all the traditional foods for the occasion. It was so yummy, and beautiful.

{Chruscki, Butter Lamb, Easter Bread, Chocolates}

Some of the traditions are a Butter Lamb, Easter Bread, Ham of course, we had a huge spread.. rosemary roasted veggies, potatoes au gratin, yummy fresh bread and traditional mustard used..

And.. This YUMMY smoked sausage.

And I was on dessert duty....

{Cut Out Cookies & Lemon Mousse Torte}


{Eating her Easter dinner...and wanting to be "done"}
Gigi's house is so fun for her.. she never sits still for long..
Here's one reason why..


Fat Kitty...

She's no spring chicken.. so this could be her last Easter.. sad.. Samantha loves her .. just such a sweet cat.. she lets her do anything to her..

{SJ and Gigi}

I told you she doesnt sit still EVER!

We played, ate, drank, laughed and even talked to my sis via Skype





It was a great Easter!!
Im enjoying reading about all of yours as well

Im busy packing away for our vacay in a few days! So if you dont hear from me... I'm at the beach!

I am bringing a journal, and plan to write in it the "old fashioned way" and I will document everything day by day when I get back.

SUYL - How I Stay Organized - {In the Kitchen}

SUYL - How you Stay Organized:

When I get into an organizing "fit," I REALLY get organized.

I love it.. I love organization, and labels, and things in their proper place..

Its so cleansing and self-fulfilling!

I was in my kitchen this morning and decided to focus Kelly's SUYL - Organized on my

kitchen organizing skills!

I'll divide it into 3 parts - Containers, Labels, and Binders!

{Containers}

When I lived in the South .. we had a pretty large pantry...and one day I opened it and found a gross large little fellow.. that we'll just call "Roach".. Gross.

I never really had to worry about sealing things as much

                                          as I did when we lived at the beach in NC.

When I was watching Ina Garten one day I noticed she always has things so organized and uses these amazing containers!

I found them online through a restaurant supply store, and bought 2 sizes one smaller one and one large.. and I've used them for EVERYTHING..

I never heat stuff up in them, but I use them to store crackers, spices, soups, leftovers, cereal, YOU NAME IT!! They are awesome!

I recently used them to organize a few odds and ends in my cupboards:

{organized chips, sprinkles, barley.. etc.}

Along with my favorite Martha Stewart Labels (Love!)

Which takes me to the next subject

{Labels}

I love these Martha Stewart Labels.

I keep the little box on my fridge, with Labels & a pen, so whenever im putting away things or trying to throw away the packaging, I slap on a label and voila!

 {got my little leopard recipe box at Hobby Lobby}

{Binders}

Recipe Organization is a task in itself.

I started this organization a LONG time ago.
Every time I see a recipe/idea in a magazine I rip it out.

If I see a recipe online at Food Network, Martha or a Blog even, I print it out

Then I put them in Clear Plastic Sheets and I bought a few pretty binders..

And between my love of baking, and my sweet tooth,

I needed 2 binders.. one for meals and one for sweets.

So thats a little glimpse into my organization when it comes to a few things in the kitchen,

and recipes.

Link up with Kelly's Korner to show us how you organize!
 

Fear of Flying & Chicken Curry

Keeping up with the Blogging!

{Well, Im trying to make up for my lack of blogging over the weekend


Just a few random thoughts

{Flying with SJ }

We're leaving on a jetplane soon for a MUCH needed family vacation.

The last vacation we took was our first as a family to Washington,D.C.

And we drove from NC.. we didnt have to get on a plane.

{eating at Cheesecake Factory in Arlington}

{October 2009}

SJ was only 3 months old. - She was an angel on this vacation.

{walking in Georgetown}

I didnt even take her out of her carseat on the way

... and it was about a 5 hour drive!

{such a daddy's girl from the start}

This time she's almost 22 months, and Im a bit nervous for the plane ride.

I've got a bunch of loot ready for her to occupy her time... Barbie Doll, Books, Yogurt Melts, Suckers, Stickers, Crayons, Fruit Snacks (yea .. all the bad stuff)

And our layover is not too bad...

We picked up one of these.. portable DVD.. just in case.

Im hoping it wont be as bad as I am imagining it to be. (please pray for us!)

I have been telling her "we're going on an airplane" .. and "what are you going to be on the airplane?".. she responds "a good girl"....Ahh... one can only hope & pray.

{Chicken Curry}

I got this recipe when I asked for help from my cousin Jeanne in Washington.

I've never made Chicken Curry before, and it was really really good!

I was in a severe recipe drought... I felt like I was making the SAME old thing every week, ever happen to you?

Chicken Curry was a hit!

here's how I made it:

pkg of chicken breast or thighs, or whatever meat you want,

cut into cubes, or at least bite-sized pieces

1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, chopped
a bunch of carrots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Before you start the curry, it's always a good idea to put the rice on, since that takes the longest.

Get a large pot heated with a drizzle of olive oil and cook the chicken until done (I usually add the garlic about halfway through).

Add about 2 1/2- 3 cups of water and vegetables and simmer until veggies are done,

about 10-15 min

{veggies cooking till tender}

After veggies are soft to your liking....

Turn off the heat. Break up the curry and stir it into the pot.

You can even let it sit for another few minutes with the lid on to let it thicken,

while you're waiting for the rice.

Serve curry over rice.

This was a pretty simple recipe, and if you can take the house "stinking" a little of curry.. I promise its worth it! Even Samantha liked it!

What Im Loving Wednesday

What Im Loving THIS Wednesday:

Putting the final touches on peanut's Easter Basket

{Easter Basket 2011}

Since she already got SO much candy in her first 2, I figured I'd stick to some books, new "anti-roll" crayons, stickers, Hello Kitty fan toy, bracelets, piggy pen and her FIRST Barbie Doll! I cant wait to see what she does with it!!

Next.. Im loving this cookbook!

Im kind of a cookbook junkie..

If there are pictures, it looks pretty, or someone

I like is on the cover, Im immediately drawn to it.

I actually bought this yesterday, but it is a gift for someone else..

But it looks like a pretty good book.

A lot of mexican type dishes, dips, and GREAT pics...

What are you loving?

Link up HERE and tell us!

Pita Pizza and Art

So yesterday SJ had a rough day as you can see from the previous post.

Suddenly after the 2nd round of tylenol kicked in, she had a burst of energy, and was playing and being so good..

I was looking around the kitchen and noticed a huge bag of Pita's that we didnt seem to even start to eat..

Parsley and Mushrooms that were going bad.. so I put together a little Pita Pizza!

I actually made THREE pizzas while SJ was being good..

{toppings before being cooked}

Heres the ingredients I used:

PITA PIZZA

- Large Flat Pitas

- Mozzarella Cheese -Shredded

- Olive Oil

- Fresh Parsley - Chopped

- Oregano - Fresh or Dried

- Mushrooms - Thinly sliced

- Salt & Pepper - as needed

- Minced Garlic - 1 clove per pizza

I brushed really good Olive Oil on the Pitas, Then added my spices (S,P, Garlic,Oregano and Parsley), COvered the spices with about 1-2 cups mozz cheese (eyeball it to your liking). Spread over that very thinly sliced Mushrooms.

Bake at 350 until cheese slightly browned:

{kind of had a rustic look to it}

It was sooo good and really thin and crispy.

Flat bread / Pita Pizzas are the new thing!

I made 3 pizzas .. and they are almost all gone!

This is such an easy recipe!! You can use almost anything you have layin' around

I cant wait to try a fresh basil/tomato/mozz one, if Summer can please get here soon!

Moving on...

I feel like its been ages since I picked up a paint brush.. sad.

My friend is expecting a Boy so I thought I'd make this little sign, and send it along to her with her baby shower gift.

I love the ball fringe .. I just stapled it to the back of the wood after I was done painting it!

So cute to hang on baby's door, or your front door when baby comes home from the hospital.

Hope she likes it!!

I did get an email asking if I was still "open for business?"
And YES I am..

If you'd like any orders please just email me!

Joelle1026@yahoo.com

Also check out 3rd Floor Art's blog for my portfolio.

Link is on this blog on the right hand side.

Blog Slacking!

Geesh, I've been blog-slacking lately

we were actually not really around our house too much this weekend

Here are some of the reasons why:

We decided to paint our foyer which leads all the way up the stairway into the hallway on the 2nd floor. I wanted something cool and modern, like I see in all the magazines these days..

{terrible pic.. i know}

We went with a "mocha" type shade.. Its actual name is Carmelized Onion..

I think it looks pretty awesome!

And our baby gates are gone, so little miss has been loving going up and down...

Hubby and his friend did the painting.. so SJ and I were best friends all weekend and did lots of shopping, eating out, and playtime at Grandma's house... She even took a NAP at Grammy's!!

Grammy has been wanting to get a crib for a while, and I put it together for her last week, and SJ took a great 2.5 hour snooze in it on Sunday!

This was good practice for our upcoming vacation, where I rented a crib for her.

So I was kicked out of the house all weekend (jk).. and I have SO much laundry and organizing, baking for Easter, cooking, getting ready for vacay to do..

I cant function without my lists:

On Saturday we took Samantha to her FIRST easter egg hunt at our church!

It was POURING cold rain out.. so good thing it was inside..

{First Egg Hunt 4.16.11}

She didnt really get it.. she was more interested in the Flag on stage in our Ministry Center, and enjoyed walking up and down the stairs to the stage..

Grammy and Uncle came with us, and Aunt Kathy met us there too.. It was just a nice event to take her too .. they had coffee/cookies/donuts/goldfish crackers.. and coloring books and crayons for the kids

And yet another reason I couldnt get a post up yesterday:

{teething stinks 4.18.11}

SJ was teething REALLY bad. She's had 12 teeth for SO long

I kept thinking uh-oh, the 4 last ones will all come at the same time..

And they are...

So there was NO nap, and NO making her happy no matter what I did.

Finally I gave her a bath and she calmed down.. Went to bed pretty good, after some help from Good Ole' Ibuprofen..

So I hope she takes a nap today!

SUYL - Books Im Reading

This Friday its SUYL (Books You are Reading) over at Kelly's Korner

These are the 3 books I currently have on my nightstand:

The Power of the Praying Wife:

I have read this book over and over, highlighted areas I need to remember, its a nice little

"wife prayer bible" and definately puts things into perspective.

If Im having a bad day.. or hubby and I arent seeing eye-to-eye.. I find myself going back to this book for prayer/reflcection, and it also helps you realize to not sweat the small stuff, etc..

I highly reccomend it!

The Max Lucado Study Bible:

This bible is great, because it explains so much, and relates bible stories/verses/scripture to everyday life and how you are feeling day to day.

There's even an index in the back that you can find every emoition, and with it this book shows you where to go in the bible to make you feel better..

For example: If your current emotion is ANGER or FEAR.. you turn to the index - look under ANGER/FEAR - and there are a list of readings to go to.

Without a Word:

I have to be honest, I havent read this yet.

I recently met Jill Kelly at a MOPS meeting she spoke at.

She was amazing. Spoke right to my heart about God, her love for Jesus, raising children, being married, and her dear son Hunter who passed away in 2008.

This story I beleive is a testimony of all that they went through.

Hunter's condition kept him from being able to speak, but touched their lives in ways they never thought were possible - and that's where the title comes in.

I cant wait to start reading it!

As a Mom to a toddler I find I dont really have hours to spend reading books back to front, so two out of the three books I chose are books I can open at any point, and reference different things that are going on in my life, and I like that.

I dont think I'd ever finish a love novel right now in my life.. and I really love these books anyway!

What are YOU reading!

Link up and tell us!

Top 2 Tuesday - Favorite Drinks

Favorite Drinks!

I'll choose 1 alcoholic, and 1 non-alcoholic.

Immediately when I saw "Fav Drinks" for this week's Top 2, I knew exactly what #1 would be:

{1}

Bahama Breeze Pina Colada

{if you live near one.. or have had one.. you know how yummy they are}

{2}

Sweet Tea

Never ever tried it until we lived in the South for 3 years.

I haven't made it in a while, but with summer coming, Im all stocked up on my favorite

Southern tea!

Link up, and tell us what your Top 2 Drinks are HERE.