Mother's Day Cook Off!!

Instead of just having a simple Mother's Day lunch we decided to have a cook off!  Nathan, Alex and I were the competitors.  The cook off consisted of an appetizer and a dessert.  We were judged on taste, originality, and presentation by 9 judges consisting of our closest family and friends. I had a really hard time deciding on what dessert to make because I love to bake so much.  I ended up making whoopie pies in three flavors, chocolate, red velvet and french vanilla.  My appetizer was a twist on classic chicken salad.  I tried to make each of my dishes sweet and simple.  I used pineapple instead of grapes in my chicken salad and it turned out yummy!  Nathan and Alex had amazing dishes as I had expected.  It was so much fun cooking with them and for everyone.  Check out pics from our day..

busy busy..

the cooks!

Nathan's appetizer, note the ridiculous plating!

Alex's appetizer, so stinking good!!

Here's mine!! It turned out quite tasty!

Nathan's dessert, again ridiculous presentation!

Alex's dessert, chocolate overload, in a very good way :)

Here's my dessert, I loved my little plating :)

After all the judges were finished eating the scores were tallied up and the winner was...me!  I really couldn't believe considering the amazing competition!  I will admit I am soo excited about winning but more excited about how much fun I had cooking with Nathan and Alex!

Mom loved her card from Those Three Words!  I also made her a wall art for her to hang in her office...

I hope you had a good mother's day with your mother. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Love, T

In case you are interested here is the recipe for my chicken salad cups I made today..

2 refrigerated pie crusts

2 cups chopped chicken

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 can of crushed pineapple (8 oz) drained

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1/2 t paprika

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Cut pie crust into 4 in circle and press into greased cupcake tins

3. Bake for 6 min

4. Mix all other ingredients together and put in the fridge until chilled, once chilled spoon chicken salad into pie crusts

ENJOY!!



Derby Day

The Kentucky Derby was yesterday and unfortunately I had to watch it on TV.  Looks like they had pretty weather and the usual massive crowd.  The horses are so impressive! Maybe I'll get to go next year. I've never had the drink of the derby, a mint julep, so we decided to celebrate the derby by making some! Not my favorite but I'm happy I tried it.  Here's the recipe we used..

Dad played bartender..

I hope you had a good Derby Day!

Happy Racing!

Love, T

Happy Nurses Week!

It's nurses week once again and my sweet little sister got me a card and a little surprise to celebrate my nursiness :) I really can't believe I have been a nurse for 4 1/2 years! It feels like yesterday I was in nursing school living with my book in a nose. I've experienced quite an array of nursing in the past 4 1/2 years, I have worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Labor and Delivery and Surgery.  Talk about night and day! I went from some of the most personal nursing care you can do to caring for my patients who probably wont even remember me, due to the lovely medication they are provided with :)  Even though they don't know me I know I helped them with a very scary situation.  It's been a great experience so far and I'm glad I am in a field where I can go from one extreme to the next because there is always the option of change!!

If you are a nurse take this time to realize how amazing your job really is and how much you impact other people's lives on a daily basis! Strive to be that nurse that you would want taking care of you or your baby or mother :) If you are not a nurse but know one make sure you tell him/her Happy Nurses Week!

Well.. Happy Nurses week!

Love, T

PS How great is it that snoopy is wearing scrubs on my card!! I find it quite amazing myself :)

Seis de Mayo

It was Cinco de Mayo this past Thursday which gives us an excuse to celebrate! Unfortunately I was on call on Cinco de Mayo so really we celebrated on Seis de Mayo..haha. This ended up working out pretty nice because Tara was home from just finishing finals, which gave us another reason to celebrate! I find a lot of fun in being festive and having a theme to a party or get together and our Seis de Mayo party was Mexican style all the way!  We made margaritas, enchiladas, chips and salsa and even Spanish music in the background! I snapped a few pics of our festivities!

I hope you had a fun and safe Cinco de Mayo!!

Happy May!

Love, T

Those Three Words...

I really do have a lot of talented friends, from photographers to clothing designers to card makers! I almost always hand make cards for all occasions but this mother's day is an exception.  When I opened my etsy shop I found out a girl a know, Candice, has an amazing shop herself, she owns a paper company!  I've wanted to purchase something from her for awhile now and I finally found the perfect excuse to purchase one of her works of art..Mother's Day! Check out this lovely creation by  Those Three Words Paper Company:

Wrapped with such care :)

It is so perfect for my mom! Antique sewing machine shabby chic card. She loves to sew like me, well I guess I like to sew like her because she taught me :)

Of course you need to check out Candice's shop!! She has so many cute things to see.  She will also be at Hanson Mule Days this coming weekend, if you are in the area check out her table, I'm sure it will be lovely. http://www.thosethreewords.etsy.com/

I hope you have your mommy something special for this special day, after all she did give birth to you:)

I love you Mom, but I hope you don't see this post until after Mother's Day, I just couldn't wait to post about this wonderful artist!

Happy Crafting!

Love, T

Wonderful Weekend...

All I had planned for this past weekend was to run 13.1 miles and it turned into an entire weekend of festivities! Johnny and I started the weekend by leaving early Friday morning and headed to Makers Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY.  We have both been there once before and are both Makers Mark ambassadors so we thought it would be a fun mini detour. The distillery is set way out in the country and has a beautiful drive leading up to it.  The weather was amazing which made that day even better.  When we got there just in time to start the tour immediately. It;s so neat how they take such pride in their bourbon and what they stand for!  visit the website! http://www.makersmark.com/

After the tour is finished they have a tasting of the original Maker's Mark and the new Maker's 46

Johnny couldn't resist the urge to dunk his own bottle, he did a "super dunk"!

So proud..

Had to buy the t-shirt, I mean it's amazing!

We went to the sweet little Toll Gate Cafe at the distillery, Johnny had Bourbon BBQ and I had chicken and bourbon baked beans!  I loved the umbrella's, they looked like the wax on the bottle.

Such a sweet little lunch :)

 Once we finished at Maker's Mark we headed towards Louisville.  When we got into town we went to a neat little street called Frankfort St that had all types of vintage shops along the way.  Went into a fresh flower shop and even got a free glass of wine! After a little shopping we headed to our friends Ryan and Mae's house, which was right around the corner.  Their house is super adorable! We all met up with my running buddy Tara and her boyfriend Ryan and had dinner at an Italian restaurant across the river which gave us an amazing view of Louisville. Trying to carb load for the race the next day :)  Saturday was race day and like I described in my previous post the race was great.  After a warm shower and some RR we headed to lunch at a yummy Indian buffet.  Bardstown rd was next, we shopped all day, I found an adorable vintage dress that I can't wait to sport and some locally made earrings that a sported that day!! We wondered on to an Arts Fair that was going on, tent after tent of amazingly talented local artists!  I was pretty much inspired and re inspired every time I walked past a new both. The evening concluded with yummy ice cream, sushi, German beer and wonderful company!  The weekend was topped off today with a stop a a HUGE flea market on our way home!  And last but not least a home cooked meal for my sweet hubby of turkey meatloaf, green beans and baked potatoes! Such a wonderful weekend! Wish I had more pictures for you but I'm sad to say I don't :(  I hope you enjoyed the rare dry weekend too!!

Happy weekend!

Love, T

Derby Half..Check!

I made it to the finish line and in better time than I had expected.  Didn't beat my ultimate goal of 2 hours but I ran it in 2 hr and 5 min!  Dang that 5 min:) Not bad considering the lack of training on my part.  It makes me super excited for my next one when I will be prepared and will train properly!! The weather was perfect and the route was flat, I'm sure both helped aid in my decent time!  I believe I hit "the wall" around mile 11!  "The wall" in the running world is when you say to yourself, "just stop, give up, and walk off the track and go home," ask any runner IT HAPPENS!! Once you make it over the wall your body pushes you on, but it was a really high wall this weekend! My running buddy for this race, Tara finished her first half marathon and I am so proud of her!! She did so good! There was a certain vibe of fun throughout the race, lots of people smiling, chatting and cheering each other on, I loved it!  Like I told you in my previous post Johnny went with me for the first time!!  It was so awesome to see him on the sideline, I actually got to see him 3 separate times and at the finish!  He had a tone of help form his buddy Ryan who lives in Louisville and knew right where to take him. The race took us through Church Hill Downs, which was really neat because there wasn't anybody but the runners and a few horses there, so pretty! Great half! Congrats to all who ran in Louisville and in Nashville this weekend!  I hope you had a lovely race too!

cute derby tee!!

johnny and me before the race, bright and early!

my running buddy tara pre race!

at the finish line:)))))

13.1 complete!!

I had the perfect place to rest my body after the race.  Johnny's friend Ryan and his wife Mae opened up their adorable house to us and we had a blast with them this weekend!! I'll be posting about our weekend next :)

Happy Running!

Love, T