Weekending

I'm very thankful to report we had another restful weekend this past weekend. Stephen's been working a lot of (unpaid) overtime and it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while. Surprisingly, he had off on Friday so once I got home from work, he started grilling dinner for us. I picked up a steak and chicken kabob from Publix and added some veggies - they turned out really well! Afterwards, we relaxed and watched the end of Season 4 of Downton Abbey.

Saturday, we slept in and then took some pictures for a breakfast recipe that I'll be sharing next week. Afterwards, I got to work on a few embroidery orders before heading out. Since moving to our town, we've been told about a cute little downtown area nearby - I've always wanted to see it but we've never made it down there. We decided to go on Saturday and bring along the camera to capture some of the items I monogrammed (post is coming Wednesday ;)). We loved the area and had so much fun exploring and taking pictures! I had no idea all of that was there and I'm so glad we discovered it before we have kids because there's an amazing park and even a splash pad!

On our way out, we were too tempted by the smell of pizza coming from a nearby restaurant that we stopped in a had a bite to eat. We, then, saw a local donut shop and stopped in for a donut to split... apparently we were on the high of finding a great area because that is definitely not our norm lol After coming home, I cleaned some of the house before getting ready for bed and watching the Christmas special from Season 4.

Sunday was so dreary, yet the perfect weather for a lazy Sunday. We went to church, ran by Publix and then came home to finish our pizza before starting chores. I cleaned the house and did laundry, did some administrative items for PPE, watched another episode of Downton, did some embroidery, packed for my business trip to Houston today and then rested the rest of the evening.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend - it seemed like it was pretty cold everywhere. Today I'm off to Houston, TX for a week long business trip. If you have any tips for shopping or things to do after work, let me know :)

Linking up with Biana

Five on Friday

One

The most exciting thing that happened this week was when I won free chicken salad for a year from Chicken Salad Chick yesterday! I believe everywhere, Chicken Salad Chick hosted a customer appreciation day in which they gave out 1 free scoop of chicken salad to everyone. We rounded up all the girls at work and headed over for our free scoop and while we were there, we entered into a drawing for 1 free pound of chicken salad every month for the year. Literally, we were joking and saying if I won (not sure why it was only me since we all entered lol!) I'd run around the restaurant screaming... not 3 minutes later and I hear my name called! I told them I'd give them something to laugh at so I yelled and got all excited but left out the running around part ;) We all couldn't believe it and got the biggest kick out of it! Luckily for the girls, I will bring a little home for Stephen but will probably share with them for lunches.

Here's a video my friend captured shortly after they announced my name

So much laughter from this

Two

Since the beginning of the year, I've been wanting to clean out our pantry, one of our spice cabinets and my office closet. I finally cleaned out our spice cabinet (since our pantry is so small, we keep spices, baking items and random stuff in there) and pantry and I'm so grateful I did! I didn't realize how much expired stuff we had in there and things we just didn't need. I feel so refreshed and organized now! 2 things to note: please don't judge on some of the unhealthy things in there... Stephen can't gain a pound so he doesn't care what he eats and two: I forgot to get a before and after picture of the spice cabinet so I only have the pantry

I feel like we have no food now!

Three

A while ago, Shelby, shared a chicken parm recipe that looked delicious. I've never made chicken parm before but I wanted to try it. I finally made it this week and I was shocked at how easy it was - and delicious!

Four

Ever since losing my satellite radio, (they hooked me with that free trial in my new car... darn you, Serious XM) listening to the regular radio just isn't the same. I turned to podcasts in the morning and I've been enjoying them! Every week, I try to listen to a sermon and then I've been listening to don't keep your day job and stuff you should know. All have been very good but I wanted to see if y'all have any suggestions! I've been enjoying the mystery ones that aren't too gruesome. 

Five

After mentioning we booked our Charleston hotel last week (which didn't end up happening lol), a few of you mentioned how you're either going there or want to go there and wanted any suggestions I had. Well, I had to chuckle to myself when Julia shared a post this week on 6 things to do in Charleston. I will definitely be sharing what we did after we go there but if you're interested, here's a post that I wrote after we traveled there in 2014!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Mine should be filled with relaxing, watching Downton Abbey, monogramming and hopefully finally going to a cute downtown area near our house that I've been wanting to visit for a while. 

Weekending

I'm not going to lie, our weekend was pretty boring, blog wise - and I'm 100% okay with that! After a crazy fall and a busy weekend last weekend, Stephen and I both welcomed this non-eventful weekend with open arms.

Friday, Stephen had a launch later that night so I was on my own. It was great being real productive - I did a workout (never happens on a Friday), watched the inauguration, picked up around the house and I started The Girl on the Train (not very good, especially compared to the book). Thankfully, they got the rocket off and Stephen was home around 10 pm. We decided to be crazy because, you know, Friday night and watched an episode of Downton Abbey - we were having withdrawals because we hadn't been able to watch it for 3 nights #firstworldproblems.

I tried to get a picture of the rocket launch with my camera - super fail. This was the best shot I got lol

Saturday, we slept in and watched another episode before getting to work. Stephen changed his oil while I did a few embroidery orders. Before watching another Downton episode later that day, we got my camera out and played with the zoom lens for a while. That afternoon, we decided to head to Old Navy so I could scope out their 50% dresses. I walked away with this dress and this dress - I love how they're casual and comfortable but the black dresses them up. I'm hoping to do an applique on the tank top dress to wear to Disney but we'll see.

Before heading out, Stephen wanted to take a few photos to test the camera. I like how the lighting and the shadows are but it's a little grainy

Afterwards, we headed over to Walmart because Stephen had some deals he wanted to try to get. Meanwhile, I rampaged the store and got a few things to embroider - 2 t-shirts, a hat and a bag. I'm excited to get working on those and see how they come out! After 2 different Walmart stores, Stephen found everything he was looking for and we headed over to our friend's house for the first supper club of 2017! We had a great time and was in bed after 1 am that night.

Sunday, we went to church, Publix, finished Season 3 of Downton Abbey and then got to work. I finished up a bridal order and got that ready to ship out. We also finally booked our hotel in Charleston for Stephen's friends wedding in March. We cannot wait to go back to my favorite city!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great week! Linking up with Biana

Five on Friday

I'm excited that it's Friday but I'm bummed Stephen's going to have to work tonight since his launch got scrubbed last night. We were both really looking forward to watching a few episodes of Downton Abbey tonight, especially since it's been 3 nights since we watched it - we're having serious withdrawals ;)

One
I've been busy, busy embroidering all sorts of things - it's been so much fun! I can't wait to really have time to work on orders tomorrow. I finished a bridal robe set for one of my sorority sisters and they turned out great!

I also did my first applique bib for one of our friends who had their first little boy last week! He's been in the NICU since his birth but is doing really well! I cannot wait to meet him and I hope that Tristan's first monogrammed item put a smile on his parents' face :)

Two
So was it just me or was I the only one who didn't realize we were only on season 1 of This is Us? I guess with the Christmas break, it felt like season 2 started already. I'm really excited to hear they renewed for 2 more seasons, although I really wonder what the plots will be.

Three
I've been really impressed with the flowers from Publix, lately. If we have guests, I like to get some hydrangeas to put in a vase on our coffee table, so when my sister and her boyfriend came to town last weekend, I had to get some fresh blooms. They didn't have hydrangeas so I got some fun flowers to put in the vase together. I really like how it turned out and they still look brand new a full week later!

Four

I'm hoping to try to get a good picture of Stephen's launch tonight with my new camera... this is going to be very interesting since I have no clue what I'm doing. If you have any tips for night photos with a bright fire, please send them my way :)

Five

Well, I'm watching the newest episode of This is Us and it's a sad one, so I keep getting distracted and can't come up with a 5th item lol! I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm looking forward to sleep, embroidery and supper club :)

Weekending

This past weekend was so much fun... in fact too much fun and I wish we had tomorrow off to recover ;) My sister and her boyfriend decided to come down and stay with us for the weekend so they could go to Disney with us on Saturday. They came in Friday after I got home from work - Stephen grilled an amazing steak for dinner and then afterwards we played a few different games. We definitely had to get my sister's boyfriend, Keith, up to speed with the Sorrick family games. We called it an early night since we wanted to get to the park before it opened.

Saturday we headed out before the sun was up and made it into the park 10 minutes before it opened which was perfect. We had the best day, even though it was super crowded. We were able to do everything we wanted - thankfully, Caroline and Keith had some fun games to pass the time while waiting in lines. Stephen and I ended up breaking out my new camera while they used their fastpasses to try some new things - we're trying to learn how to shoot in manual and I feel like we're starting to figure it out.

Stephen legit got 999999 points... I did horrible

We found an empty area near Dumbo to take a few pictures of my new shirt for PPE

We stayed at the park until an hour before it closed then waited in an hour long line to get back to our car. Thankfully, Stephen was a champ and got us home safely. 

Sunday, Caroline and Keith headed back home before we went to church and then I spent the whole day finishing up some embroidery orders and doing laundry. By the end of the night we were wishing for more hours in the day ;) 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and if you have today off, enjoy it!! Linking up with Biana

Five on Friday

Remember when I said that this year was going to be slower and how we'll have more time to ourselves? Well that lasted all but a week... granted, I have to admit our 1-2 episodes a night of Downton Abbey don't help ;) Thankfully, my attention has been on a few different embroidery orders so I'd much rather that take up my time. But since we've been so busy, blogging has once again, been put to the side.

One
Since I did not blog one time this week, I need to share our weekend. I spent a lot of the weekend behind the embroidery machine which was great! I finally learned how to do applique which I'm SO excited about - I may even have some new Disney additions coming... ;) (I would be showing those Disney additions sooner but the shirt I got from Old Navy to do one on, got super twisted in the wash so I'm returning it)

Other than embroidering, we watched Downton Abbey #whatelseisnew and I had a girls night to see the movie Hidden Figures and dinner at Panera. We were surprised that the movie was actually really good and inspirational! Although, I did get some heart palpitations at seeing those equations and the thought of having to do those again, and without a calculator ;)

We had to get a picture because it was the first really cold, rainy day in FL so naturally, we all wore boots

Two
For dinner earlier this week, I decided to make Christina's minestrone soup because it's cold in Florida. It turned out really good - very hearty and delicious. Stephen didn't even notice there wasn't any meat in it ;)

Broke out my new camera for this one ;) We still have a long way to go with learning manual...

Three

Speaking of embroidery from above, I did a bridal shirt for a co-worker's friend and I just love how it turned out! The light pink button down and the white thread just looks so feminine and classy. Also, did you know that Goodwill gets any leftover clothes from the dry cleaners? I was told you can find some great men's shirts there with the cleaners tags still on them!

Four
I decided a while ago I will not be watching this season of the Bachelor. I think Nick is so skeezy and from what I've heard, these girls sound like real winners. But, I couldn't swear off my Bachelor fun 100% - I still love reading Sheaffer's recaps. She just cracks me up!

Five
I'm super excited because my sister and her boyfriend decided to come stay the weekend with us and we're all going to Disney! I can't wait to see them and spend a full day at Magic Kingdom. I'm going to bring my camera and try to test out a few different settings, so we'll see how that goes. Also, if you have any Nikon DSLR camera tips, please send them over! I really want to learn to shoot in manual but it's so confusing to me.