Wednesday Wellness: Easy Green Beans

I try to stay away from canned veggies, as they are packed with all the sodium, but sometimes the frozen veggies need a little kick to them. I tried this to add a little something to our green beans and it turned out great! Still healthy, yet very yummy!

Ingredients:
one bag frozen green beans
olive oil, ~couple tbsp
salt
pepper
(sometimes I also add a little minced garlic to give a little more flavor)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line baking sheet with tin foil (I always do this for easy clean up!)
3. Place green beans in large resealable bag. Add olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (and garlic if you decided to add this). Shake bag to mix well.
4. Spread green beans on baking sheet.
5. Bake for 45 min - an hour, stirring occassionally.

ENJOY!

Mom's Hot Milk Cake

This is one of my VERY favorite recipes from my mom! She is not the worlds best cook, but she is an EXCELLENT baker! Try this recipe out...you will not be disappointed!

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup milk
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat milk and butter in saucepan until butter melted.

2. Mix together sugar and flour. Add baking powder and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well.

3. Add milk and butter mix to flour mixture, small amounts at a time and mix well.

4. Pour into bundt pan. I greased mine, but since it was a nonstick pan, I don't think I had to.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

TA DA! (I wish I had one of my many cake plates to display this on for you, however, as I have mentioned before, we are storing everything at MIL's as we do not have enough room at this time for all of our bakeware)

(See why I don't think it was necessary for me to spray my nonstick pan? Came out a little dark, but still tasted great and very moist!)

Let cool. Top with Cool Whip and fresh strawberries...YUM!!!

ENJOY!!!

Monogram Monday: Great Bridal Shower Gift

A personalized ice bucket. What bride doesn't like to get anything personalized with her new monogram or initial?! These are super cute and look great on a table when entertaining guests. You can pick the fabric color for the bucket and customize the ribbon to match the bride's personality! You can find all over internet, but I found these at Sewbizzy (cute name, huh?).

Gel Nails

A week ago today I tried the latest and greatest nail polish on the market...gel nail polish! I got a very natural color and so far not a chip on a single nail!

Being in the health care field, I must wash my hands a million times a day, or so it seems. And that does not help the nails! Nail polish was always peeling right off after what just seemed like a day after a manicure. And we are not allowed to have acrylics for fear of the germs they my host that we can in turn spread to our patients. So, needless to say, I was super excited to hear about this product!

All ten nails are as smooth and shiny as they were last Friday when I walked out of the nail salon. And I have put these babies to the test! I have washed my hands all day long at work, washed the dishes (without gloves), cleaned, and even bathed the dog (twice!). I also love how you cannot tell its gel on your nails or anything. It is as thin as regular nail polish!

There are only a select number of colors at this time, but they are the most popular colors, so I'm okay with that. I actually have a combination of colors on my nails now- my beloved "bubble bath" and "passion." The pink in "Passion" added just a slight hue of pink for a summery touch to the nails!

Supposedly, the gel nail polish is to last at least ten days, but sometimes 14 days. I have also heard of girls not getting their nails done again for about a month! I think that depends on the polish growing out. I will keep you posted and let you know how these continue to work out!

Jack of All Trades...

VINEGAR!!!!

Did you ever know all the wonderful things this condiment can do? Take a look...

1. Cure for jellyfish stings
2. Stain remover on clothes
3. Fights foot odor and athlete's foot
4. Great for a bad sunburn
5. Pour on unwanted grass on sidewalks to kill
6. Add 2 Tbsp vinegar and 3 Tbsp sugar to each quart water to freshen cut flowers.
7. Eliminate animal urine stains from carpet by blotting up urine with cloth, apply mix of equal part water and vinegar. Blot up, rinse, and let dry.
8. Clean rust from tools: soak in vinegar overnight.
9. Relieve itching from mosquito bite by dabbing a little on the site.
10. Add 2 Tbsp to bath to relieve dry, itchy skin.
11. Soothe a sore throat by mixing one tsp vinegar in water, gargle, and swallow
12. Rub hands with vinegar to get rid of fruit stains.
13. Remove grease from suede by taking a toothbrush and dipping in vinegar, then rub on site.
14. Mix salt and vinegar to remove coffee and tea stains from china
15. Keep boiled eggs from cracking by adding 2 Tbsp vinegar to boiling water.
16. Deodorize kitchen sink: Pour a cup vinegar down the drain once a week. Let stand 30 minutes and then flush with cold water.
17. clean eyeglasses with drop of vinegar on each lens.
18. Deodorize a room full of smoke or paint fumes with a bowl of vinegar placed in the room. Or use as an air freshener and spray in room.
19. Clean windows with vinegar and wipe off with newspaper.
20. Get stains out of pots by filling pot with 3 Tbsp vinegar and pint water and bring to boil.

...AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Wednesday Wellness: Workout Gear!

Well, let's face it, I've been slacking off on working out again. But I'm baaack! And I wanted to share my favorite summer workout clothes with you.

I am in love with underarmor t-shirts! They are so lighweight and are the perfect length (for my very short torso). I have it in many colors, but I think I will need to give some to the goodwill and get some new ones soon, as I wear these babies out!

Nike shorts are just wonderful! I also have these in probably every color they make! They are also very lightweight and very comfy!
And as we all know, my love for Asics!!! I'm on the hunt for either a green or an orange pair soon!

I always put my sunscreen on before heading out for a morning jog ~ trying my best to avoid having old wrinkly skin at an early age after all my tanning mishaps in the past!

I also love love love Targets Champion racerback sports bras. I wear them all the time! And their $1 socks! I love how thin they are and how low they come on the ankle.

Now, what's your favorite workout gear?!

Tuesday Treats: Ice Cream

Ice cream is one of my very top favorite foods that I just cannot live without. So, how excited to you think I was when we found this cute little place in Cape Cod last week?! It was an old school house that they converted to an ice cream shop about 20 years ago.

All the flavors of the ice cream were written on the chalkboard!

You can sit at the desks and eat your ice cream, or you can sit at the counter like we did and talk to the owners for hours! What a sweet couple; they couldn't have been nicer and gave us such a warm feeling of a small town.

B always gets chocolate chip with chocolate sprinkles!

I will eat almost any kind, but this night I went with coffee ice cream and chocolate sprinkles!
So yummy!

If you ever get to Chatham, you really should check out this place!

Great Groomsmen Gifts!

Well, its officially wedding season! We had our first wedding this weekend for one of my very best friends and it was just lovely! CONGRATS, J &D!

I thought I would post some wedding ideas here and there during this time of year, as I absolutely LOVED planning our wedding and think its such a fun time!

A friend gave one of these Capcatchers to my husband for his birthday and he loved it! His has a magnetic back to it, so it hangs on our refrigerator and comes in handy when we have a cookout. It's just a beer bottle opener and has the little pouch for the caps to drop into for easy clean up! Hubby liked it so much he decided to get one for each of his groomsmen as a gift for the wedding. Each of their last names were engraved on it and they all looked great! We had so many compliments on them!

Then, hubby paired each capcatcher with a Vineyard Vine tie to match each of the guys' personality. For instance, the groomsmen who he played baseball with at Clemson, was given a Clemson tie; the groomsmen who he golfs with, was given a golf tie, and so on.

The gifts turned out great and super easy...not too time consuming for the groom!

Nantucket

Our trip to Nantucket was a little more chilly than we had originally expected, but we still had a great time visiting such a quaint little town.

Our ferry ride over...we tried to stay outside on the ferry for as long as possible to take in all the beautiful scenery. When we came inside B was staring at me like I had 10 heads....my hair was HUGE and looked like a true rats nest. Hey, it was windy out there! (Obviously, this is the "before" shot)

Look at this fun jeep outside "In the Pink," a cute little Lilly Pulitzer shop that was in both Chatham and Nantucket. And thank goodness for them so I could buy a new sweater to keep me warm!

Earlier, I posted on the place we stayed, "Robert House Inn." Our room was located in the Manor House. How cute is that little house with the beautiful flower boxes and flag hanging outside?! I loved it! I wish I could post more pictures, as you would love to see the rest of the inside and the little town itself!

What a great weekend we had! My only request next time is that its just a tad bit warmer! Overall, we cannot wait to go back!

Beautiful Cape Cod

Oh my, we just had a lovely time in Cape Cod! Our first stop on Friday was the cutest little town, Chatham. The hubby kept teasing me saying, "you are just loving every minute of this; you could live here, couldn't you?" Well, yes, I very well could!

We stayed here at the Bradford Inn. What a nice place it was! We had a room over the pool and the accomodations were excellent. The people were very friendly and helpful. They even send you on your way when you check out with homemade cranberry and white chocolate cookies...yum! Very hospitable I'd say!

Just some scenery in Chatham where we walked around at all the cute shops!
Gorgeous church right next to the Inn.

I love trollies!!!

B checking out the coast in the evening.

We had a great time here and it is definately on our list of places to come back to and spend some more time. I will be posting in the future about a couple special places here that we really enjoyed so stay tuned!

Leaving On A Jet Plane (again!)...

We are headed to Cape Cod today! We will be staying in Cape Cod tonight and then tomorrow heading over to Nantucket, where we will stay at this cute Bed & Breakfast, Robert House. Hubby leaves on Sunday while I stick around for a conference for work until Wednesday in Cape Cod. Poor me, a conference in Cape Cod, right? Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to post about our weekend getaway!

Threading

Image here

Threading is an ancient form of hair removal practice in the Middle East, which has now become popular in the U.S. I decided to give this a try after many waxings leaving the skin around my brows red, irritated, and even peeling at times. One of my friends told me it didn't hurt nearly as bad as waxing. I'm not going to tell you it does not hurt, because honestly, I still sit in that chair and unconsciously hold my breath while the girl threads my brows. However, the finished product is why I continue to go back. There may be a slight pinkness to the skin immediately after, but I have not had any peeling or irritation afterwards, and it looks SO much better! Plus, there are no chemicals involved, which makes the price better than waxing also! In my case, and I don't know if this is for everyone, I swear I have to go less often than if I waxed...yet another plus! As for me, Threading has become a beauty routine that I'm not planning on giving up anytime soon for the old goopy gloppy wax!

Personalized S & P shakers

My SIL gave these to us for Christmas last year and they are such a fabulous gift! They are perfect for dining outdoors on the deck and add a personalized touch to the table! To find these cute salt and pepper shakers and more fun gifts, visit Dabney Lee at Home.

Tuesday Treats: Summer Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

4 oz reduced fat cream cheese

8 oz fat free plain yogurt

4 splenda packets

1 tsp vanilla extract

11 oz canned mandarin oranges, drained

assorted fruit, sliced

Directions:

In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy. Add yogurt, vanilla, and splenda; beat until smooth.

Set aside three oranges (for garnish). In a small bowl, mash remaining oranges with fork; drain.

Stir oranges into cream cheese mixture.

Transfer to serving bowl. Garnish with three oranges.

Refrigerate until serving.

In the meantime, slice fruit and slide onto bamboo sticks.

ENJOY!

More Eye Candy

Tory Burch wedge shoes!!! I've always admired all the girls that get to wear these beautiful shoes, as I cannot wear flats for the life of me! I have tried and tried, but my feet absolutely KILL after a day on my feet in flats. Wedges are my best friend! I can wear them around all day at work without any pain and not have to be as careful walking as I would in heels. So, I've been eyeing up these babies for a while....and I might just have to buy a present for myself soon! What do you think? Are they worth it?

National Donut Day!!!

Did you know today is National Donut Day?! It's always the first Friday in June! Created by the Salvation Army in 1938, in honor of the women who served donuts to the soldiers during WWI. The goal was to help the needy during the Great Depression and honor those women.
We are off to the beach this weekend and one of the most famous donut hot spots is the Fractured Prune! They have every donut imaginable. Some of their specialty donuts include Banana Nut Bread, Chocolate Covered Cherry, Creamsicle, French Toast, Lemonade, Reese Cup, Peppermint Patty, Rolo, Strawberry Shortcake, Trail Mix, and Sundae! I'm not a huge donut fan, but I love the Carnival ones (the colored sprinkle ones!). If you are a donut fan, you must try these!!!

Sangria!

I made this Sangria last night for a happy hour with some great friends! It was great! This picture does not show the fruit, but I swear there was a ton of it in there!

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine

1 lemon, sliced

1 lime, sliced

1 orange, sliced

1 apple, sliced

2 shots Triple Sec

1 small can diced pineapple

2-3 cups ginger ale

2 Tbsp sugar

Directions:

Slice and dice all of the fruit.

Pour the wine into the pitcher.
Squeeze the juice from the lemon, lime, and orange and toss fruit in wine. Add sugar, pineapple, and Triple Sec.
Chill over night.
Add ginger ale right before serving.
Serve over ice.
ENJOY!!!

My Southern Weekend Away!

What a wonderful Memorial Day weekend I had! I was lucky enough to spend it with my adorable cousin in South Carolina! She was the absolute best hostess ever! It was such a wonderful trip, I never wanted to leave!

My cousin lives in Columbia, SC where she went to college and what a cute little town that is! We were able to shop in all the little boutiques, have a nice lunch at The Gourmet Shop, and spend some quality time. Then, she took me to Cupcake, where we got these delicious treats! The store was so cute!

Later, that evening we went to dinner at Blue Marlin, where I had a delicious dinner of tilapia with green beans and a very southern side of grit cakes. Yumm!

The following day, after a nice morning walk with our Starbuck's coffee, we spent in Charleston, SC. What a BEAUTIFUL place! I wish I could live here!

The shops were all so cute and the scenery was to die for! To keep up our energy for some more shopping later, we stopped at Blossoms for lunch. What a cute little place that was! We were able to get a table outside in the beautiful, green courtyard.

We did a little more shopping and then my cousin introduced me to pralines...Mmmm! And in this cute little candy shop, we also got some Bear Claws for a sweet treat snack!

In between all of our shopping, we walked along the water...where my cousin and I decided we must have a boat one day!

We then took a break from shopping and stopped at a roof top bar that overlooked the city. Sipping on a mojito, looking over at all the beautiful buildings, shops, and houses, and calm water was just the perfect ending to our visit to Charleston!

Later that evening we went to dinner at a fun little place outside, Flying Saucer. This place had more beers than you could ever imagine, and even had their own menu, front and back, of just beer!

And our last day (tear!) we went for a nice walk along USC's campus where my cousin took me to "Greek Village." I am used to only having "Frat Row" at University of Tennessee, where we were not allowed to have sorority houses, so this was so exciting! And here is the beautiful Tri Delta house! The detail was amazing!

We then went to lunch at a cute little restaurant that is inside of an old train station, however, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name at this time. I will have to get back to you with that. It was so cute and the salads are huge and very tasty! I think after this trip, I should have brough elastic pants to wear home!!

I wish I took some more pictures, as these don't even begin to justify the wonderful weekend I had in South Carolina! We will have to make this an annual trip as I already miss them dearly!

Tuesday Treats: Peanut Butter Cup Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

~40 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in mixing bowl.

3. Cream butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and milk.

4. Add flour mixture and mix well.

5. Shape dough into ~40 mini balls and place each into a greased mini muffin pan.

6. Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes.

7. While cookies are baking, make sure to put peanut butter cups in freezer. (I did this before I even started making the dough so they do not melt as soon as you put them in the dough)

8. After 8 minutes, remove from oven and immediately press a peanut butter cup into each ball.

9. Cool and carefully remove from pan. ( I actually, placed the pan directly in the 'fridge for a little while to cool, as it helped them harden for easier removal from pan)

ENJOY!!!