Color of the Day: Orange

So here I am debating what I'm going to do today, drinking my cup of coffee, when I decide to figure out the menu plan for this week.  I was planning on doing a vegetarian chili (believing that I would like to add one non-meat dish into our diet a week) which I never got around to doing.  So, I go through my checklist of ingredients to make sure I have everything I need, and realize I need a butternut squash.  My husband is the one going to pick up these much needed supplies so I made sure to google "butternut squash" to make sure I knew which one to tell him to pick out (yeah I know, we don't make squash that often).  I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful colors I found through google which just happen to be ORANGE.

Amazing how many things can be done with squash!

♥

Happy Birthday To My Momma

The Family at HG Bistro

Wishing my mother a

Happy Birthday!!

♥

A Happy Post

So I am up early today {yes I know when I post this it's going to be much later...because thats how I roll}. I woke up this morning feeling like total crap {and no I'm not pregnant} and I had to get up after about an hour of battling with myself.  Jesse was sleeping in {I just heard an alarm or phone call} and I was enjoying a cup of coffee and the company of our four-legged friends.

Coffee makes everything better, or at least me happier, I think.  I don't know what it is, but I love it.  Whats even worse is that I absolutely love this weather we are having -- even though it seems more like fall than summer.  I do like this time of year:  the leaves changing, the weather becoming crisp, the fall decorations, baking treats, and Thanksgiving on the distant horizon.  But before that I am going to be going back to work {ick} for a little while at least.  In a couple of weeks I am going to be going with the husband, fam, and dogs {there will be four of them} to the beach {Long Beach to be exact} to the Rod Run to the End of the World that they host the weekend after Labor Day every year.  My husband, family, friends, sand, surf, {I would say sun, but this is Washington}, hot rods, and amazing seafood....I don't think it gets any better.  Thinking of a cool day at the beach with a cup of coffee in a sweatshirt and just....Peace.  I love it.

Yesterday we celebrated my mom's birthday, going to this place called HG Bistro in Puyallup {if you're looking for a new place to try I recommend it.  It gets busier as the night progresses so if you go on a weekend you might want to get a reservation}.  There was five of us and each one of us got something different.  I had the salmon, my mom had the stuffed chicken....It was pretty great.  We had dinner, came back to the house for some goofing around {led by my husband of course}, pictures, cheesecake, and ice cream {random, I know}.  Good times.

To round out this post, watch this video.  {I discovered this courtesy of Adventures of Superman and Mrs. S.}  You may have seen this, but it's pretty great....



Have an amazing weekend everyone!

Spiced Broiled Grapefruit

This was a pretty big hit with my husband and a friend.  

Simple & easy...

What's more to love?

Spiced Broiled Grapefruit

From: Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook

Ingredients:

- 1/2 grapefruit per person

- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup for each grapefruit half

- 1/2 tsp best-quality vanilla extract for each grapefruit half

- Pinch each ground cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon per grapefruit half

What to do:

1.  Position the oven rack so it sits four inches below the broiler element in your oven.

2.  Preheat the oven to broil.  Have a medium-sized casserole dish ready to set the grapefruit into.

3.  Cut grapefruit in half.

4.  Set each half in the baking dish and drizzle with maple syrup and vanilla.  Season with spices and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

5.  Enjoy!

♥

Mississippi Mud....Cookies, that is.

Guess what I made today?

Well, you've probably figured it out by now.  

I'm trying some new recipes from Southern Living's Best Loved Cookie Book (btw, some amazing looking cookies in this book) and this is the first one I've tried.  Let's just say, I didn't regret it!

Mississipi Mud Cookies

*Photo from Southern Living*

Prep: 25 min., Bake: 12 min. per batch

Yield: Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 1  cup  semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2  cup  butter, softened
• 1  cup  sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  chopped pecans
• 1/2  cup  milk chocolate morsels
• 1  cup  plus 2 Tbsp. miniature marshmallows

Preparation

1. Microwave semisweet chocolate morsels in a small microwave-safe glass bowl at HIGH 1 minute or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds.

2. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla and melted chocolate.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to chocolate mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in chopped pecans and 1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels.

4. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Press 3 marshmallows into each portion of dough.

5. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks.

Why Our Military is Awesome

Like you didn't already know ;)

This is a news article of a rescue that happened yesterday

after a young girl fell off a cliff

and the guys from NAS Whidbey {Navy} came to the rescue.

I tried to find it on youtube but it didn't work.

Read {or see} article

HERE

Post-It Note Tuesday

Blog Buttons

Does anyone out there design or know where I can get a blog button??

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Go Hawks

GO HAWKS!

....winning their first pre-season game....

{even though they 

almost blew it 

led by 10 points until the 

last minute}

I know that this game didn't count

{as my dad likes to say}, but whatev.

First time at Quest Field and it was awesome.

We'll probably have to do a Sounders {soccer} game sometime soon.

So...

yay for my husband being home...

and yay for super cute Seahawks jerseys

{on sale!}

with rhinestones on them!!!!

Pineapple Galore

Pineapple.

I could talk for days about

evvvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy

thing we did while we were in Hawaii,

but don't worry I'll probably get bored after a few of these posts.

First, I'd like to talk about pineapple

I ♥ pineapple.

And so does Jesse,

even though Dole Whip is a close second for him.

I would recommend visiting Dole if you go to Hawaii,

except I feel like Dole could have a much greater upkeep on their property as they did.

{For pete's sake, they've sold millions of pineapples over the years...

Not counting all the food and Dole Whip!}

But, I have to say, you can't beat the pineapples from the US of A,

the fresh,

Hawaiian

pineapples.

So here are some photos to tell our {pineapple} story.

Pick where you wanna go...

We took the train.

You can see all the plants that are grown in Hawaii.

Here are just a few:

This is what Pineapple looks like when it's growing:

{red ones are for decoration only}

but....ya gotta have the

FOOD!

Dole Whip....With pineapple chunks.

Dole Whip Float!

{and a souvenir}

Share with me your pineapple adventures!

♥

Home Sweet Home

I feel as though a million things have happened since I have last posted, and yet I haven't a clue what to write about.  We arrived home from Hawaii on Sunday.  We left 6 days before, early in the AM.  Hawaiian Airlines was the airline we took {Side note:  flight attendants on Hawaiian = not friendly.  We'll be exploring our options next time around...}.  


So here are some of the things we did....

We visited the island of Oahu, staying at the Hale Koa {for those who don't know that is the military hotel on Oahu}.  We went to Dole {twice}, visited Schofield Barracks {Army Post in Hawaii}, went sailing, to a luau, boarded a plane to the big island, visited family, went to black sand beach, bought some amazing coffee, saw volcanoes {complete with lava tunnel..awesome!}, flew back to Oahu, went out for drinks, did lots of shopping {oh so much shopping!}, ate some great food, saw the Duke statue, visited Pearl Harbor {AWESOME}, drove to the North Shore, ate shaved ice, drove around the *entire* island, saw diamond head, drank lots of mai tai's, bought lots of souvenirs, drank a coconut frap {umm..YUM}, ate tons of pineapple, saw the sun rise above the clouds, saw Mt. Rainier, Mt. St Helens, and Mt. Hood all at once....and took more than 400 pictures

And yet with all of that...I'm sure I forgot to mention something.

Go BIG or go home, right??



Ps....Please mention if you're a new follower!  I have been so out of touch, and I feel like every time I look my followers have increased.  So let me know so I can follow you!

Playing Catch-Up with my Lovely Blog

Sorry all....Here is the new entry I've been working on for about two weeks.
Oops.
Here we go....


I didn't sleep well last night and into this morning,

{I know you don't really want to hear me wine but my allergies were acting up,

my throat was sore,

and my neck hurt....ugh}

and my husband got up bright & early to go fishing.

It's not quite salmon season so it all was catch & release.

We are the proud owners of a new treadmill

{thank you Costco}

Which I didn't get a chance to use yet this morning because I overslept.

So here I am trying to play catch up...

I'm going to try & get it together before my husband and I head out to the beautiful state of

HAWAII

next week.

So, here I go...to my blog award.

RULES of this award are:

1.  Thank and link back to the person {or people} that gave you the award.

Thank you to:

Elizabeth at Queen of his Castle

Lindsey at A Day in the Life of a Marine Corps Wife

Samantha at The Life as a United States Marine Corps Wife

2.  Share seven things about yourself.

-  Born in Arizona

- Have lived most of my life in Washington {and I LOVE every minute of it!}

- I LOVE animals.  If I could take my dog with me everywhere {and I mean everywhere} I would.

- I hate cleaning bathrooms.

- I LOVE Starbucks.

-I LOVE farmer's markets.

- I LOVE my husband {ok, I know that's a given...}

3.  Pass the Award on to 9 Bloggers that inspire you.

Because I can't pick just one...or in this case just 9, you all are more than welcome to take the Lovely Blogger award.  Every single one of you inspire me, dealing with the day to day life of a spouse/fiance/girlfriend of a military man.
This is one duty that isn't always appreciated or
realized by everyone as it should be, and you all are
lovely.
:)

4.  Let them know about the award.

{Done}