shop your closet.

i wish i did a better job of capturing images of some of my outfits.  my friend megan and so many other bloggers always seem to do such a great job of it, but me, not so much.  

i realized lately that i have been snagging quite a few more shots, so i thought maybe i would start posting them here in an effort to inspire myself to do a better job of capturing them to share on pinterest, etc.  my friend jen has a board on pinterst called shop your closet.  i'd like to create a similar board with my clothes and outfits. 

i actually took this picture because this dress felt much shorter than skirts that i normally wear.  my skirts typically touch the top of my knee and this skirt felt very flowy, breezy and short.  i sent kate and picture of it from work because i was worried it was too much. 

i don't know how others can wear super short skirts.

my mom says i'm special.

sierra always likes to say i'm weird, so today, when i came across this picture, i had to laugh and send it to her. 

 

her response? "yeah. and you're not weird ..." 

landscaping ideas.

I am terrible at outdoor landscaping.  I can drive past other properties and highlight things I like, but when I get to the store, I can never pick anything that I like.  Even though I can pull designs together on paper, I can't bring the idea of different plants together in my head. It comes pretty easily to both of my parents, but somehow that gene skipped over me.

Mom and Dad are going to come help us with the flowerbed this weekend.  We haven't planted anything in our front flowerbed yet, and if we're going to list the house, we need to make sure we have nice curbside appeal.

I started looking around online and here are a few images I came across on Pinterest.

Anyone have any brilliant ideas for how you go about planning out your landscaping?

apple kale muffins.

Right now kale is really popular, but I've never really eaten it.  Since we've been making smoothies and juices for Travis, kale is a frequent ingredient as part of the base, especially for green smoothies.  I bought a large bunch of it ... but then found that I didn't really know what to do with it.  It didn't go through our juicer very well, and when I put it in the blender, I couldn't get it smooth enough for either of us.  I like lots of other green smoothies, but I just can't get past the kale texture.

I started looking into other ways to use kale.  I made kale chips last night.  They were pretty good, but definitely not my favorite thing under the sun.  I thought I really liked them as soon as they were finished, but after a few I wasn't a big fan.  I stored them in a Rubbermaid container overnight and they were soggy today.  Ick.  No thanks.

I had seen these apple kale muffins by Lemon Stripes on Pinterest.  They looked really yummy so I decided to give them a whirl.

They made the house smell delicious while they were baking {and even though you're not supposed to, I couldn't help but sample the batter a few times while mixing them up}.

Don't let look delish?  They had moist chunks of apple in them and wonderful spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. I would definitely make these again, but will need to find other kale recipes that I like because it really didn't take much kale to make the muffins, and it always seems to come in such large bunches.

Do you have any kale recipes you love?

baked oatmeals cups.

last month haley and i spent a day making lasagna and oatmeal cups.  i posted the recipe for the lasagna, but never got back around to the oatmeal cups.  since i'm sitting in the hospital with travis, i thought i'd try to get caught up.

 

this is another pinterest recipe, and it's from sugar-free mom.  she asks that others not post the recipe on their personal blogs, so you'll have to click over to her blog for the actual ingredients and directions. 

for our toppings: we used white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, raisins, and blueberries

sugar-free mom uses 1/4 cup of flaxseed meal, but i didn't have it so we left it out and did not substitute anything for it

i think i would play with these a little bit if we make them again in the future.  i expected the oatmeal to be a little firmer, particularly in the center -- and maybe the additional flaxseed would have helped with that.  i think these could bake longer and be just about perfect.  they're not super sweet, but that's what i like about them.  i know exactly what's in the cups (and i approve of just about all of it). 

haley at these for breakfast every day the week after we made these, and we still have plenty in the freezer.

travis's surgery.

my poor guy.  about a week ago travis had surgery to have his wisdom teeth removed.  he had been in pain for weeks.  he had a regular cleaning the last week of february that just seemed to make everything so much worse.  he was supposed to go in on the 4th to have one particular tooth worked on {the walls of the tooth are really thin, and they were going to cap it -- or something like that}.  when he went in on the 4th, though, the dentist said there was too much trauma in travis's mouth already, and they would need to wait until after his wisdom teeth were removed and his mouth had healed a little better.  they also told him he needed to get in for surgery as soon as possible.

travis agreed, but the earliest the surgeon had been able to schedule him for surgery was march 19th.  at the time of the dentist appointment, that was still three weeks away.  the denist started calling around, and was able to get travis in with a surgeon in tulsa for the next week on the 7th. 

we made it through the week with travis's mouth still hurting every day.  the dentist prescribed lortab to help with the discomfort, but it didn't seem to help much.  i spent tuesday and wednesday {on an exhausting trip} in houston and then took the day off on thursday for travis's surgery.

until then, travis had never had any kind of surgery and had never been "put under."  he's my strong, tough guy, so he didn't act nervous about it {but i think he might have been because he brought it up a lot}.  i told him i couldn't wait to get funny videos of him.  one of my friends from stillwater recently had his wisdom teeth removed, and his wife posted the funniest videos of him to facebook. 

we woke up early and got to the surgeon about 30 minutes early.  we waited in the car for 15 and talked about trip ideas for my birthday. then we headed into the office.  we checked in, paid, and they immediately took travis back.  he later mentioned that he thought we would have time to sit.  i don't think he was quite ready to go back when he did.  i stayed up front in the waiting room and emailed on my phone, then spent the rest of the time on facebook and pinterest.

when they called me back to get him, i wasn't quite prepared myself.  i got to the recovery room and he was sitting on a table with his back against the wall.  his face was so swollen and his eyes looked a little black and blue.  his eyes tend to be a little squinty anyway, but they were even smaller and swollen.  he was wearing a baseball cap and they had a "sock" with ice packs in it wrapped around his head -- it reminded me of a little rascals or norman rockwell picture.

the doctor walked passed the room and travis through his hands up in the air awkwardly giving the man two thumbs up.  other than the clunky movements, he seemed to have his wits about it.  he hates being out of control of his brain so i think he was working extra hard to be aware.

we walked to the car and he told me he needed the pharmacy.  pronto.  we got him settled in to the car, and i thought he might pass out right there.

the office said our first stop was for something sugary and cold -- either an ice cream, frosty, or soda.  wendy's was just 1/2 block away so i pulled in and grabbed him two large frosty's and a large doctor pepper.  what can i say?  i wanted to make sure i had plenty on hand to get him through the day.

he started to eat the frosty with gauze in his mouth.  it hadn't been 30 minutes and our instructions were for him to take the gauze out every 30 minutes.  i assured him that the dr.'s office had given permission to remove it while eating, but he didn't believe me until i called the dr.'s office back {and the receptionist kindly said, "you don't want him to choke, do you?" to which i laughed and said, "of course not; i just couldn't convince him without a call to you."}.  we got a little bit of the frosty down him, then repacked his mouth, and he slept for the rest of the ride.

he woke up when we pulled into the pharmacy drive-thru window.  the pharmacy tech looked inside, laughed, and said "you've had a fun morning so far."  they said they would get it filled in 30 minutes or less.  since the pharmacy is just up the street for our house, i took travis home, got him settled into bed, and then headed back to cvs.  the prescription was ready so i paid for it and headed back home.

travis was ready for the meds when i got there.  he laid in the room for a bit with ice packs on his face and a heat pack on his head for an ongoing headache he developed.  poor guy.  he has just had such a rough go of it over the past few weeks.

he settled into bed, but he didn't fully rest for most of the morning/early afternoon.  he kept getting up to come see what i was doing in the living room and to kind of pace the house.  he did a funny little dance and said he wanted to make sure he didn't disappoint since he knew i was looking forward to him acting crazy.  then he said, "i'm sorry i'm not acting nuts. i'm just too STRONG!"  i love him.

later in the afternoon, he passed out.  and slept for hours.  i woke him up a couple of times to take his medicine because i was terrified to let him sleep through his med time and then wake up later from intense pain.  {he told his surgeon about this yesterday at his one week check-up, and the two of them came to the conclusion that i just wanted him drugged up.  nice, guys}.

friday i had to go to work but made sure he had all of his meds and water close by.  my mom was coming up that day, and i knew she would be around to help take care of him.  when i got home that night he was going crazy because she had talked his ear off.  my dad always said she would talk to a telephone pole if she thought it would listen, so i really wasn't surprised.  she loves travis so much, though.  i know she just wanted to make sure he was alright.

yesterday was his check-up/stitch removal.  the doctor said everything was healing fine, and they would want to check him again in six months.  i guess i should have mentioned they were able to pull the top two teeth {but with how impacted everything was they were concerned that his sinus cavity would be punctured or partially collapse -- thankfully neither scenario took place}, and then they could only cut out part of the two lower teeth.  they pretty much cut them in half horizontally.  they were both lying over a nerve and they couldn't be certain just how they were lying on the nerve.  they couldn't guarantee safe removal without nerve damage {and permanent paralysis} so they had to cut out what they could and leave the rest.  we'll have to keep close watch that those don't get infected, otherwise they'll have to take them anyway, and of course all the risks remain.

for now, he's feeling better ... but this morning is concerned that he has strep throat.  and his tongue has been hurting because several of his tastebuds have swelled up. his poor mouth!  i just don't know what has happened in the past month, but it has been one thing after another for him.

keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  he's a tough one, but i know this has not been a fun time for him.

dinner tonight: honey butter pork tenderloin.

travis and i usually don't go out to eat a lot during the week unless we're meeting up with friends.  we haven't been to the grocery store lately (we did so much entertaining for all the holidays, i just haven't felt like going back).  we did have a pork loin in the freezer, though, that had come with the one i cooked at christmas.  i'm not a big pork person, and while i could appreciate that someone would have liked the rub i used on the pork at christmas, i just wasn't a fan.  i decided to try something a little different for tonight. 

i had pinned a honey butter pork tenderloin recipe on pinterest and decided to give that a whirl.  i didn't follow the recipe exactly, however.

i started out with the 4 tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of honey that the recipe calls for.  i pulled out our dutch oven {one of our wedding gifts that i hadn't gotten to use yet} and began melting the butter and honey together on the stovetop. 

then i put the tenderloin in the pot.  i was supposed to season it before putting it in the pot, but i didn't feel like dirtying another dish or cutting board, so seasoned it after it was in the pot.  i used onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, garlic & herb seasoning {because you can really never have too much garlic}, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.  i seasoned the first side pretty quickly {making sure to get the ends as well} and then quickly flipped to the other side to season it before it had cooked for very long. 

then i cooked the pork tenderloin on the stove for five minutes on each side {isn't that beautiful?}.  after that, i stuck it in the oven for 20 minutes at 375. 

the house.smelled.amazing!!

when i pulled the tenderloin out of the oven, i covered it with tin foil as momma hen's kitchen's recipe suggested.  i was supposed to be able to make an au jus-esque sauce, but i discovered my drippings had gotten a burned taste to them. 

i decided not to pour the juice over the tenderloin, but it was still so flavorful and moist without it.  i was just working with groceries that we had in the house, so i pulled out some rice to serve with the pork loin.  i put them on the same plate, which allowed the rice to soak up some of the juices.  i hadn't seasoned the rice because i was afraid the seasoning on the meat was going to be really powerful {and i also thought it would have the au jus poured over it}.  if i serve rice with this in the future, i'll make sure to season it a little bit.

travis and i both liked it {even though pork still isn't my favorite}.  we both decided it's something we would eat again in the future ... and it was super easy to do. 

happy birthday, mom!

as most of you know by now, my mom's birthday falls on valentine's day.  we try to steer clear of hearts, roses, and the colors pink and red.  this year we celebrated with a fun family lunch at our house.  it was so much fun.  i came up with quite a menu:

• corn chowder (for which i could not find a single soup toureen all through tulsa!)
• individual chicken pot pies
• mac'n'cheese cups (thank you pinterest)
• caprese skewers
• white chocolate-filled raspberries
• outside-in chocolate covered strawberries
• steamed asparagus & steamed green beans
• oh!  and of course, yummy cake from seana hon

i started off making the corn chowder.  i've been dying for a good corn chowder.  i used to get chili's sweet corn chowder, but they took it off the menu!  i don't know if i'll ever get over the loss.  ree drummond made a corn chowder on her show, so i thought i would give it a whirl.  you can find her version of it here. 

to start the corn chowder you beign by sauteeing chopped onion in butter.  ree adds bacon, but i did not.  then you add diced bell pepper.  ree doesn't do this in her recipe, but i added celery and carrots.  these vegetables smell amazing when they're cooking.  

after everthing is nice and soft, you add just enough flour to coat the vegetables and then add the corn.  ree used corn from the cob, but i already had quite a lot going on, so i used canned sweet corn, and drained the juice before adding. doesn't it look lovely all mixed together?

after that, you add chicken stock and then half-and-half.   if i were making this for dinner, i would probably use a lighter milk, but for this special occasion, i wanted everything to be decadent.  after you let it simmer for about twenty minutes or so and really thicken, you then add cheese to it (i used a colby jack mixture).  the finishing touch?  sliced green onion.  it was super easy to make -- i just really need to get a food processor.  chopping all the veggies is what takes the most time.

next up -- the mac & cheese cups.  they were a pinterest recipe and weren't as divine as i had hoped ... so i probably won't make them again.  i was really hoping they would be good for travis and me to take for lunches to work.  they just weren't as rich and creamy as i had hoped, but would still probably be a good option for mom's trying to meal plan lunches -- you can whip up a batch, freeze them, and use them over time.

our main entree was the chicken pot pie.  i made individual pies for everyone -- and they were amazing!!! so rich and delicious.  i started with a martha stewart recipe, and made a few tweaks.  martha's recipe makes about 5 pies and i needed eight because we had my family plus my aunt brenda, so i doubled martha's recipe in some areas.

my ingredients:

• 3 whole chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds each) -- great tip: i used rotisserie chickens
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 teaspoons salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 quart homemade or canned chicken stock
• 4 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 medium coarsely chopped yellow onions
• 2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 packages of frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Frozen pie crust
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash

since my chickens were already cooked, i used a fork to pull the meat from the bone.  i didn't worry about dicing unless the piece was exteremly large. i heated the chicken stock and bouillon cubes in a medium pot until the cubes were dissolved.  in a large pot, i melted the butter and sauteed the onions.  this took a while since there were so many onions.  next i added the flour and cooked as martha directs for 3 minutes (stirring constantly).  that's what you see here. 

after that, i added the chicken stock and let it simmer until it was pretty thick.  then i added salt, pepper, cream, vegetables, parsley, cheese, and chicken. 

i love how gorgeous this looks as you're making it!  once everything was well heated and combined, i divided the mixture among my eight large ramekins.  i rolled out my dough and cut circles large enough to cover the tops of the pies with a little overhand.  i brushed the rims of the bowls with the egg wash and placed the dough over the top of the pies. the egg wash helped glue the dough to the side of the ramekin and kept everything in place. 

i cut letters out of the dough to place on top of each pie.  i used the egg wash to stick the dough letters to the dough crusts.  for mom, sierra wanted to add little hearts to make the birthday girl's pie special (hearts because we love her, not because of valentine's day).  then i cut two slits in each crust, brushed the tops with egg wash, and placed all of the ramekins on the cookie sheet.  they baked at 350 for about an hour to an hour and twenty-five minutes.

below are pictures from the rest of the festivities including the sweet cake.

isn't that baby boy's smile just so sweet?  he melts me.

travis decided it would be funny to put conor in the fridge (we didn't close the doors).  conor, on the other hand, did not think it was so funny.  he pouted a little bit and then decided to cuddle close to his ornery daddy.

happy birthday, momma!  we love you!