Weekend Rambles & Amazing Green Beans

Stephen and I enjoyed the perfect amount of relaxing and getting out of the house this weekend. Stephen worked late Friday night, so I got my hair cut after work and then after dinner, we enjoyed relaxing on the couch. Saturday we woke up early(ish) and headed over to the outlet mall to check out the Kate Spade sale. The sale wasn't as good as the one during Christmas, so I decided to wait on purchasing a fabulous purse. Super disappointing, but I got over it. We came home, ate lunch and relaxed until Stephen had to go back to work for a few hours. That evening, Stephen's co-worker invited us over to his house for a lovely dinner. It was so much fun and I made the most amazing crock pot green beans from this recipe. I made this for Stephen and I's Christmas dinner and since they were so good, I decided to make them again - everyone LOVED them. They are the perfect side dish and they're so easy to make (I'll post the recipe below). Sunday was spent catching up on the Bachelor, doing laundry, napping and baking cookies.

Finally got to wear my new monogrammed vest! Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of Stephen and I :(

Ingredients
- 5 cans of cut green beans
- 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 7 tsp soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions
1. Place the green beans and bacon pieces in a crock pot.

2. Melt the butter and then mix in the sugar, soy sauce and garlic powder. Pour on top of the green beans and mix together.

3. Cook in the crock pot on high for 1 hour.

Doesn't get any easier than that!!

Side note - I had to include a picture of the Christmas cookies I made last night. My brother-in-law's girlfriend is an amazing baker and so for Christmas she got us all a cookie-in-a-jar! I've never gotten one so I was super excited about this. She packaged it so cute, so I've been reluctant to open it and bake them. Well I bit the bullet and made them last night - they're super yummy!

Five on Friday

I am so thankful it's Friday! This week has been crazy - Stephen's been working and traveling and I was on late night airport pickup duty Wednesday night. Stephen will more than likely work this weekend so it'll be nice to relax and sleep in but I'm ready for a normal weekend again. Onto this week's 5!

One
This is going to be a long one - if you follow me on this story, I applaud you but I don't blame you if you skip to my last four items. Before Christmas, Stephen and I went to the outlets and the Kate Spade store was having 50% off the entire store and an extra 20% off bags. I found the most amazing pink purse and it was on sale for $88! I'm crazy and didn't buy it - I know I'm crazy but I didn't NEED a new purse so I didn't get it. Later that day, I regretted that decision and Stephen even thought about going to get it for me as a gift (so sweet!) but we were trying to be more strategic this year with Christmas gifts and so he followed along with the plan and didn't get it. Well, it's been a couple of weeks and I'm still kicking myself for that decision. This weekend the Kate Spade outlet is having 40% off the store and 20% off clearance - not as good but it's better than nothing! I'm going to run by there on Saturday since Stephen's working and see what I can find! Phew sorry for that long drawn out story...

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Two

I want to be serious about my health and making sure I'm exercising. Last year, I tried this plank challenge and got through about Day 5 before forgetting and never doing it again. I've decided to give it another shot and so I printed it out and posted it on the fridge. This way, I always see it and can mark it off when I finish a day. I'm going to try to start it Monday so we'll see what my success rate is this go round.

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Three
I've finally settled on a devotional and marriage book. I scoured the shelves of my local book store and picked out Team Us by Ashleigh Slater and Live Faithfully devotional by Leyna Heitzig and Penny Rose. I'm going to talk more about these books next week :)

Four
So I'm slightly obsessed with the show Chrisley Knows Best - please tell me I'm not alone. I just think this family is a riot! I just finished catching up on their first 2 seasons and can't wait for the third one to come on in the Spring.

Five

If anyone needs a quick meal this weekend, I talked about this Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad earlier this week. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

A little while ago, Stephen and I found this Asian Chicken Salad and have made it multiple times. It's delicious, lite and easy to make. After making it a few times, I've added my own twist to it making it "crunchy". The added "crunchy" items made this salad so delicious and it was hard to stop eating.

Ingredients
Dressing
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

Salad
- 1 bag of coleslaw (includes the sliced carrots, cabbage, etc.)
- Chicken breast
- 1 (2oz) package of sliced almonds
- 1 (3oz) package of ramen noodles (crushed)

Directions
1. Cook the chicken (this is how I cook mine). While the chicken is cooking, make the dressing by combining the soy sauce, ginger, canola oil, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and vinegar. After the chicken had cooked, I added the pieces to the dressing mixture for about 10 minutes to allow it to soak.

2. Crush up the ramen noodles and combine with the almonds on a baking sheet. Toast the almonds in the oven for about 15 minutes at 250 degrees.

3. Once the almonds and ramen noodles have been toasted, add to the coleslaw and pour the dressing on top. Mix well and serve cold.

2015 Golden Globes Fashion Faves & Fails

This weekend was very relaxing and fun. Saturday, Stephen and I found this fantastic little park a few miles away from our apartment. We're so excited because we didn't know anything like this existed near us - we enjoyed a nice run there. 

Beautiful scenery

We wanted to try the trails but then we got a few feet in and turned back. Unfortunately, they don't keep these up very well.

Sunday, Stephen had to work so I cleaned the apt, did laundry and watched the Golden Globes. The shows bore me after about an hour - I'm all about the pre-show red carpet! I love seeing what the stars wore and how beautiful everyone looks - sometime's there are hits, and sometimes there are misses. Here are some of my favorites of the night, as well as some of the fails...

Favorites

Diane Krugar is always fantastic - I love how this dress fits her like a glove, is simple and is styled simply

I love this dress that Kate Beckinsale wore - the top adds pizzazz, the bottom is flowy and compliments the top very well. I also like that it is styled simple and her hair is up so that it doesn't distract from the dress.

Reese Witherspoon is just amazing and looks fantastic in everything... this dress is no exception and she didn't go overboard in accessories since her dress is all sparkle

Jenna Dewan-Tatum looks amazing in this yellow dress. I love the color and the dress is simple, yet has a fun design in the front. Once again, her jewelry and is simple so it doesn't distract from the dress/overall look (I'm seeing a pattern in my favorite looks with the simple accessories)

I just love Anna Faris' look - her dress is beautiful and the color surprisingly doesn't wash her out too bad. I also love her hair! Side note - loved that her and Chris Platt were presenters together.

Fails

Ugh I'm so upset Rosemund Pike wore this dress... it makes her look so frumpy! I love the bottom of the dress but the straps are too long and the cutouts aren't forgiving (she does look amazing for just having a baby) but her hair and makeup looks great!

Another one I'm upset about  - Keira Knightly's dress left me with one word "what?" There's so much going on with her dress, not to mention the HUGE butterfly that gracefully landed on her hand. She is my favorite actress and I loved her hair, makeup and that we could see her tiny baby bump but the dress was a total miss :/

Okay, so I've never seen anything with Lena Dunham in it but she always has the most odd outfits for award shows. I'm not a fan... it's always a hot mess. She could definitely find some flattering dresses, but she never seems to pick them. This time, her hair doesn't look like a mess and her jewelry is minimal so that's a start.

The belt? I don't understand the styling on this one for Kate Mara... The dress looks beautiful but then the belt killed it - it's not even dressy!

Poor Tina Fay.. I don't understand this dress in the least bit. I don't know any person this would look attractive on. Tina can kill a red carpet and did a great job hosting, but this dress was rough.

Do you agree with my picks? Are there any other looks you liked/didn't like? I'd love to hear y'alls opinions!

Five on Friday

One
I'm sure y'all have heard this already but I'm super excited that Lilly Pulitzer is teaming up with Target!! Seriously - so excited! I'm really hoping that these items will be more affordable because I can't justify spending $200+ on a cute sundress with no special occasion to wear it. Saving my Christmas money for a shopping spree at Target in April ;)

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Two
On Monday, I wrote about some of our goals for the new year. One of them was to read more books on being a better wife and to grow my relationship with God. I'm clueless as to which book is best, so before I go searching at the bookstore, I wanted to see if y'all had any suggestions!

Three
The Bachelor has started! Not going to lie, I didn't pay the most attention while watching it on Monday but a lot of these girls seem crazy! I'm not a huge fan of the first week because it's pretty boring and I get all the girls confused with each other, so I'm looking forward to next week. After watching the teaser commercial, this season seems pretty intense! Looking forward to seeing what happens.

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Four

Speaking of Monday night TV, a new season of The Celebrity Apprentice is on! I figured since it's usually on Sunday, we'd have a good routine with this Sunday and the Bachelor Monday. Well... two episodes are on every Monday night so we've decided to catch up on the Apprentice throughout the week. Love this show and I've gotten Stephen hooked as well. I've already got my favorites and the people I can't stand and hope they go home ASAP. Can't wait to see who wins!

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Five
Stephen and I decided it was time for a sneaker upgrade this Christmas so we both got new shoes. I love my new Nike's from Dick's Sporting Goods. I'm just now testing them out - granted, it was rainy and gross from Christmas to New Year's, but so far, I really like them! Stephen and I have decided to exercise at least twice a week so these new shoes are a great motivation. I also found out I have a month's membership left at my gym so I'm ready to get in there and break them in.

 Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lasagna Roll Ups

Usually when I cook, I like to find recipes on pinterest that are a little involved, yet easy and quick. Sounds like a big contradiction and in most cases, it is. I always feel a little more accomplished when I put "some" work into a meal. Most times when the meals are more involved (especially when cooking meat), Stephen will help me and cook the meat (I hate cooking meat). We really enjoy this time together because we get to spend time having quality conversations. I feel as though lately, I've been making quick meals that haven't required a ton of work - which is great but I'm ready to balance that out with some more involved meals. 

Monday night I decided to make lasagna roll ups from this recipe I found on pinterest. Christy claims that these rolls are 224 calories per roll (depending on if you add meat or not) which is a super win in my book, because I'm full after one roll. This recipe is so easy but I trick myself into thinking they're a little more involved (longest part was cooking the noodles). Even better is the leftovers taste better than the first night of eating them!

Ingredients

- 9 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

- 1 (10oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

- 1 (15oz) container fat free ricotta cheese

- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

- 1 egg

- 1/2 tsp minced garlic

- 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

- 1 (larger) jar of tomato/spaghetti sauce

- 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

- Optional: meat (chicken/hamburger meat) 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook 9 lasagna noodles in a pot.

2. Combine spinach (make sure it's drained really well), ricotta, Parmesan (we didn't add this cheese), egg, garlic, Italian seasoning and meat (if you want to add it) in a bowl (I used spaghetti meat sauce so I didn't have to cook my own meat - it turned out pretty good!). Pour about 1-2 cups of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. (I just made sure the bottom was covered.)

3. Dry your lasagna noodles with a paper towel and them place them on a piece of wax paper on the counter (I assembled mine one by one). Take about 1/3 cup of the ricotta mixture and spread it evenly over the noodle. Roll the noodle carefully making sure the ricotta mixture isn't pushed out of the noodle. Place the roll seam down on the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles.

4. Use the rest of your spaghetti sauce to cover the top of the noodle rolls. Top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes.

2015 Goals

I've debated on whether to set new years resolutions. Every year I feel as if it's the same old, same old goals - get closer to God, exercise more, etc. Every year I forget the actual goals by late January and continue living my life. I remember the year Stephen and I started dating, he came up with a phrase at which he tried to live his life towards and I really admired that about him. Even though it was fall, he still remembered it from January. We decided to set a few specific goals for ourselves and our marriage in 2015. I'm thankful for this little spot on the internet where I can document those goals rather than worrying about losing a piece of paper or deleting an annoying file on my computer.

We decided on 3 categories for our goals: relationship goals, physical goals & spiritual goals.

Our Relationship Goals
1. Be Real - Stephen is very big on making sure you are real with him and not fake. We've been very real with each other since we've met but we want to make a conscious effort to continue this. We also want to make sure we have real discussions regularly - not just the usual, "How was your day?". Those conversations are great and necessary (I can't handle deep conversations everyday) but we want to make sure to have those deeper conversations more often, which usually brings us closer to each other and God.

2. Disconnect & Reconnect - We decided we need more time together when we disconnect from the world and reconnect with each other. Between my phone, tv or video games it's hard to spend some good, quality time together. Of course we spend time together all the time (sitting on the couch while on my phone and he plays video games) but it isn't "quality" time together. We have decided to make sure there are times where we put everything down and be intentional about the time we spend together.

Our Physical Goals
1. Exercise - We both decided we want to have an quantitative goal of exercising at least twice a week. I know I need to exercise more than that (and I will try to) but 2 times a week is more attainable and (hopefully) able to accomplish.

Our Spiritual Goals
1. Ashley - I need to crack down on myself and get better at keeping up with my daily devotions. Lately, I've not been very good with keeping up with this and reminding myself to do them. I've started a 365 daily devotional on my Bible app which is nice because it's quick and I have access to it anywhere. I also want to focus on becoming a better wife. I want to find some good books on bettering my relationship with God and serving Stephen better. Please let me know if you have any good recommendations!

2. Stephen - Stephen's trying to read the whole Bible. He started in Genesis and is very dedicated at reading a chapter a day. I've been trying to keep up with him, but with my slacking, I've fallen behind. I want to continue to read with him and finish the Bible, but I know I grow better with devotionals rather than just reading so my goal is to focus on devotionals. I'd like to continune reading with him, but we'll see what happens.

I'm really excited to have tangible goals to help us grow this year. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us and how He grows and teaches us along the way.

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