Preppy

Do you guys remember when the word 'preppy' was thrown around like an insult in Jr. High? i.e.: "Ugh, he's such a prep!"

Well...I never really understood that whole thing b/c I love being preppy! {maybe I was the target of those insults and I was just oblivious, lol} It's such a clean, classic style that I'm so attracted to. If you ever want to know where to get me a good gift just start at JCrew and Banana Republic.

I added some preppiness to this blog today. Hip colors: check. Chevron: check. Monogram:check.

Pepper stuffed chicken and corn casserole

Both my paternal grandmother and my mom have made me little scrapbooks of their favorite recipes. As someone who needs to build my cooking skills, these have come in handy so often! The other night I made these two dishes for dinner and they were SO good!

Corn Casserole:

1 can cream style corn

1 can regular corn, drained

1 box jiffy corn bread mix

1 cup sour cream

1 egg, beaten

Mix all ingredients together and bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Pepper stuffed chicken:

Pepperjack cheese

Banana pepper slices

Chicken breasts

Bacon

Pound out chicken breasts, put slices of pepperjack cheese and a few banana peppers in the middle then roll up and wrap with bacon. Use toothpicks to hold it in place.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

The banana peppers give it such an interesting flavor -- not something I have cooked with before. They're not spicy, which I appreciate. Craving it again right now. :) Hope you enjoy!

Insecurity

Not really even sure where to start with this post. Insecurities are so crippling and are only intensified in this fast-paced, completely 'wired-in' culture we live in today. Everyone has their own insecurities they battle with, but even defining mine has proven to be difficult! I know that my insecurities bring up feelings of inadequacy, jealousy, and self-pity. Who wants to live with those feelings?! Not me! Sometimes I think the blog-o-sphere and Facebook help contribute to my insecurities -- I'm sure that's true, but I also have a responsibility to believe the truth about how God made me and the ability to choose not to act on my insecurities. I picked up Beth Moore's book called So Long, Insecurity and loved it! She gets down to the core of insecurities and empowers us to do something about them. Here's a few excerpts to suck you in. :)

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"Insecurity is more than a complex emotion. It is a lie about our God-sanctioned condition. While something may cause us to feel sad, angry, or threatened, we have the power to choose whether or not it gets to assault our security."

Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will recieve what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

"We don't feel threatened all the time. Just too much of the time. We're up to our ears in social networking, in touch with a hundred women yet especially close to none."

"When we work from an activated mentality of God-given security, we are fully capable of thinking another woman is beautiful without concluding we are ugly. We can esteem another woman's achievements without feeling like an idiot. We can admire another woman's terrific shape without feeling like a slob. Where on earth did we come up with the idea that we have to subtract value from ourselves in order to give credit to someone else?"

We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. - The Message, Galatians 5:26 ******************************

What a tough subject...one I certainly can't tackle on my own. Thankfully, God is good. He's gracious. He's forgiving. He loves me.

This week's meal plan

Monday- Chili, cornbread

Tuesday- Chicken stir fry

Wednesday- Bible study cook out

Thursday- Chalupas

Friday- Homemade Corn Dogs, mac n' cheese

Saturday-Bacon pepperjack chicken, corn casserole

Sunday- leftovers

Our cute dog

Wyatt is a funny, funny dog. 3/4 of the time he's super cuddly and chilled out, but the other 1/4 of the time he wants to play fetch. He's seriously obsessed with it! It's fun that he knows how to fetch, but if we don't feel like playing he makes it well known that he's frustrated. See example below:

He really does bring a lot of joy for Sean and I -- he's always doing something cute or silly. He's also served another very important purpose in my life: delaying my baby fever. :) That baby fever, might I add, tends to spike about every other month.

How we celebrated

The traditional gift for a 3rd wedding anniversary is leather. Sean got me these cute boots - can't wait to wear them! My gift to Sean? The go-ahead to purchase an iPad2. {which I am conveniently blogging on now} Not a leather gift, I realize, but more fun than any wallet I could have found.


After football practice, Sean brought me a flower then we headed out to dinner.


We hit up a local placed called Theo's -- SO GOOD!


We enjoyed having dinner out, eating leisurely and talking about all that has happened since we got married.


Thanks to my parents for treating us to a nice dinner on our anniversary. It was fun to put on some heels and go on a date with Sean!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Our 3rd wedding anniversary

Thanks, Facebook, for the reminder!

Today is our third wedding anniversay and I am filled with a thankful heart. What a blessing marriage is! The Lord wrote our names on eachother's hearts early -- I was just 16 when we started dating. From a very young age Sean was my protector and provided an example of how to live a Christian life. How special that my sweet husband help lead me to Christ! My marriage is full of laughter, comfort, understanding and redemptive love that no other human can provide. Of course, marriage is not always sunny. There are times of miscommunication, anger and disappointment -- all of which serve as a reminder of how sinful we can be as individuals and a couple when Christ is not at the center. I am his and he is mine.

Here's a photo recap of our relationship:

This picture was in 8th grade - last day of school. Sean really liked me and I liked him too, but he was too scared to ask me out. :)

This is that same summer on a Youth Life trip to Colorado. My birthday was on that trip and Sean gave me a really sweet card and letter. lol...Sean hates this picture. It's a high school dance -- look how short his tie is! And what's up with my makeup?!

We were so fortunate to attend college together at Mizzou!

We attended a lot of sorority parties -- this is a formal from freshman year. Sean proposed on Good Friday in '07 -- he sent me on an easter egg hunt all over Mizzou's campus, complete with a friend in an easter bunny costume. I'll post on that soon.

We both finished college a semester early -- just in time to get ready for the wedding.

We said our wedding vows on March 15, 2008. The whole day was so wonderful!

We honeymooned in Mexico

We lived in Branson for a short time before moving back to Columbia so I could attend grad school.

Visited Chicago for our 1st anniversary

Had a great week together out at Sean's family cabin in Colorado.

I finished graduate school

Went to Aruba last summer -- so beautiful!

We moved to Razorback Country for Sean to complete his masters in athletic training.

and we added Wyatt to our family!

That brings us to today -- we have no idea where we will be in a little over a year and are so excited to see what the coming year will bring. God has been so faithful in our marriage that it's almost overwhelming. What an awesome God He is! Our marriage is also supported by a great network of family and friends and we are ever so grateful for that. Looking forward to many more years to come with my sweetheart.

BBQ pulled pork

BBQ Pulled Pork

1lb pork loin

1 cup BBQ sauce

2 tbsp cider vinegar

1. Cut pork loin into large chunks, place in pan with BBQ sauce and vinegar.

2. Bring to boil, then simmer, covered for about 20 minutes

3. Shred the pork (with sauce) using a fork
4. Serve on a bun, garnish as desired.

Experiment with different BBQ sauces for the flavor you like best! I was really surprised at how easy it is to make pulled pork!

Taco pie

Here's a good, quick meal idea. If you're looking for healthy, I might pass this one up. {or make some substitutions}

Taco Pie

1 lb ground beed

1 can crescent rolls

1 pkg taco seasoning

8 oz sour cream

shredded cheese

1. Line pie pan with cresent dough, bake as normal

2. Brown ground beef, add taco seasoning

3. Fill shell with beef, sour cream and top with cheese

4. Bake at 375 for 10 mins, or until cheese is melted.

5. Enjoy!

You can top with salsa, fresh tomatoes or whatever strikes your fancy. :)

Easy goodwill refashion

My sewing machine and I have missed eachother recently! Lack of time and inspiration are to blame. I needed some quick projects to help get me back in the game. I found this dress at the thrift store the other day for $4. Pardon the terrible before picture -- the camera battery died after this shot and I was too impatient to wait for the recharged batter before sewing. You get the idea, though -- frumpy dress that hit mid-calf {not flattering on me!}

I just cut off some length, sewed a ruffle around the neckline, hemmed the bottom and added a waist tie. I can wear it w/o a jacket when it warms up {warm weather can't come soon enough!}

The back...

Close up of the neckline. Clearly wasn't wearing the right bra. Sorry about that.

Super fast and easy -- just what I needed!

Pins you can see

When I'm sewing, I always manage to lose one or two pins. They are really hard to find in our carpet! Since I have a puppy at my feet at almost all times, the dropping of pins issue has escalated. Enter Sculpey - clay you bake in the oven. {I got these on sale at JoAnn for .97 each) I just formed it into little shapes, formed it around the end of a straight pin, then baked them at 275 for 20 minutes.

These shouldn't be hard to find in the carpet...or my dogs mouth. win/win.