Yay nails!

I've missed taking pics of my nails since my camera got stolen! I pulled out our old Canon Powershot & it looks like the girl's still got some life left in her after all. ;)

Here is the first stamping I've done in a while. The base color is Color Club "Cold Metal" - a really pretty, shimmery blue I picked up to replace the crappy blue from my patriotic manicure. And best of all - no staining! Blues like this are usually bad at staining your fingers & nails but this one came off clean. You can see some good swatches of the color here (though I don't think mine is quite so bright).



I stamped with my trusty Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes" and the Bundle Monster plate BM-201. I've been avoiding full nail prints because they are too small for my thumb (and even the width of my middle finger) but with this it was easy to just draw out the rest of the line to the edge of the nail. For more complex designs I think I'm just going to give up & buy some larger prints!


I'm currently wearing this insane pink glittery goodness from Claire's called "Candy Shop". I'm not a fan of pink but I couldn't pass up the cute overload. It reminds me of cotton candy crystals, cupcakes with sprinkles, and Disney princess bling.



With all of the glitter this one has been a little brittle & chippy but it's very easy to touch-up seamlessly.

Dinners for the Week(s)

The move went really well! We were able to set up the living room, kitchen, and the two bedrooms pretty quickly but 2 weeks later the rest of the house has not seen much improvement. But we have spent many of those days on the road (taking care of things back at the apartment, a slew of birthday parties, and more), then I spend most of the day catching up on work when we are at home. And Justin starts work on Monday! I feel like we lost half of our summer to the move but it will definitely be worth it in the long run.



Naturally we have been eating out a lot the past few weeks but are finally starting to feel 'at home' in the new kitchen & get some cooking done. All of the meals below were large enough to feed visiting friends or make 2 dinners.

► Tortellini & Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce - Always a winner! (and easy to make vegetarian) I do halve the amount of lemon & just use the bottled juice.

► Chicken & Rice Bake - When you just want something easy! Chicken, 2 ‘cream of’ soups, a box of instant wild rice all baked together. We used to add broccoli but roasted it on the side this time because it’s so much tastier that way!

► Doritos Casserole - This one is still a work in progress. It started as a tortilla chip casserole, but after the Doritos Taco came out we were inspired to switch. This time we tried it with Cool Ranch chips and ranch instead of taco seasoning. Good, but still needs tweaking!

► Chicken Satay Noodle Soup (pictured above) - One of the most incredible broths ever!

Unicoi Park (Ga)

I still have a few pictures to share from before the camera was stolen! While at Justin's parents about a month ago we decided to go on a hike at the local state park. We followed the path that wraps around the lake, enjoying the sights.











Orson very quickly decided there was no way he was going to stay in that stroller, or walk, and had to be carried the rest of the way. (grumble) He also screamed hysterically when sitting on Justin's shoulders, which he normally loves, so we think he was afraid of the drop-offs along the sides of the path. And no one was allowed to carry him but poor dada. (He's normally not so demanding!)

Dinners for the Week(s)

Justin’s mom and I traded off cooking the week that Orson and I stayed with her. I made ~

► Hearty Won Ton Soup - This recipe makes a bazillion won tons, so I hadn’t made it in quite a while. The folding takes a long time, but it’s worth it because you end up with lunches & dinners for days. I would recommend boiling the won tons & then removing them from the liquid & storing the two separately so they don’t fall apart in the broth.

► Asian Lettuce Wraps (pictured above)




Last week we made ~

► Sausage, Lentil, & Kale Stew (2+ dinners, pictured above)

And tried two new recipes!

► Skinny Onion-Barbecue Chicken (2 dinners) - Not sure what makes this one ‘skinny’ (the fact that it has Weight Watcher points listed? Wouldn’t mind seeing the calorie amount) but it was easy & tasty! The ‘onion’ is actually crushed French onions used for the breading.

I pretty much followed the recipe for this one but I spooned on & spread out the sauce & breading mixture instead of dipping it. No waste! And I didn’t particularly measure the BBQ sauce amount. Yummy.

► Potato-Fennel Hash (2 dinners) - We had this on the side with the chicken. I’ve never used fresh fennel before & was a little scared of the strong licorice smell as I sliced it up. We are not fans! Luckily that mellowed and it added a nice flavor with the potatoes & onions. I doubled the recipe except for the fennel -  it was a little pricey at $4 each and I think twice the amount would have been too much.




This week we are making ~

► Mini pizzas - We had friends over on Friday & did make-your-own pizzas with some nice dough from Publix. Now we’re just using up the leftover toppings!

► Chicken Merriam (2 dinners, pictured above) - with some roasted veggies on the side.


And then the big move! I bet we’ll be eating out more than normal next week. ;)