congrats cuz!

These are my cousin's, Jessie (left) and Lara (right)

We went to Shreveport for Jessie's baccalaureate service. She'll be going to Louisiana Tech next year. Lara just finished her first year there and loves it! They are one year apart and such sweet and beautiful sisters. Love them!



Scotty loves them too! :)



Here's me with the girl's after lunch at Strawn's. It was some good home cookin'! I can't believe it was my first time there!



And here's my lovely family.. plus Paul's new girl, Natalie.



Isn't she a doll? She is so sweet and makes Paul happy, so I'm happy. :)
** notice Lara in the back trying to ruin a cute pic ** haha gotta love her!

easy quick dinner!

I recently blogged about my love for basil and tomatoes. But what I didn't mention was this wonderful, easy and oh so delicious recipe I threw together!

When Scott was gone to Wichita Falls, I missed cooking and would sometimes just want to cook a little something that would make just one serving for me. This is what I came up with and made probably once a week. I got some yummy fresh tomatoes from a guy set up down the road from us and made it for Scott for the first time last night and he LOVED it!

Recipe for last night for 2

3-4 tomatoes diced
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
however much basil you like! :)
2-3 tablespoons of EVOO
crushed red pepper flakes
pasta (i don't know how much and it doesn't really matter what kind, I've used all different kinds but I prefer wheat angel hair noodles)
mozarella or parmesan cheese

Boil and drain noodles

Mix first 5 ingredients in a skillet, sautee over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes. It will smell heavenly!

Pour over pasta, sprinkle with cheese and enjoy!

This is also good with tilapia. I know us ladies don't have to have meat in every meal like our men do but if you are preparing it for him you may want to make some tilapia as well! I just season mine with a little lemon pepper because the pasta has so much flavor it really doesn't need much.

I wish I had pictures of this meal, but I don't so make it for yourself and see! :)

p.s. Farmer's market opens tomorrow!!!

around the house

Tonight I got a wild hair and decided to change up my dresser in our bedroom. It's really been bugging me for awhile and I haven't been able to figure out what to do with it. Katie posted pictures today of some changes she has been making around the house and what can I say.. she inspired me to figure something out for this dresser that I can't stand to look at! She also gave me the links to some other great blogs about decorating that I scoped out for awhile today so I guess decorating was just on the mind tonight.

No, I didn't take a before picture because I didn't really think I'd end up doing anything that I liked as much as I do. Plus the before is kinda embarrassing because it was just a bunch of picture frames really. I had the box on the left in a drawer full of junk and the photo albums in it in the top of my closet. I had the jewelry box in a drawer in my dresser. I use it everyday but somewhere along the way I got tired of it so I just stuck it in a drawer. The purple vase was on my mantel in my living room, but I didn't like it there. And the flowers in it were under my bed in a "decor box" and have probably been there for a year. So, not a penny was spent! Even better!



I got this pillow at Wal-mart a couple of weeks ago for $1 on the clearance aisle. It matches my room perfect and the rocking chair needed one! (Scott and I refinished this when we were very first dating! I'm sentimentally attached to it, no doubt.)



This cute little stool serves no purpose, but it's cute.. And free! My parents had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and one of mom's friend put some things in the garage sale that she just wanted to get rid of, so I snatched this up...



And these! I had the perfect spot for them. I love them. I thought about spray painting them but I couldn't decide what color so I just kept them as they were. Any ideas??



Stay posted for bigger changes going on OUTSIDE of our home! :)

i can't get enough of you...

BASIL!


And you...Caprese Salad


And my most beloved...


yuuuhhhmmm.. tomato! I CAN NOT WAIT for the crops to come in and farmer's market to open so I can get some good fresh veggies and some yummy ripe tomatoes! The tomatoes at Wal-mart and Albertson's just don't compare to the ones at farmer's market. Call me crazy, but they just aren't as good! Farmer's market is another one of my favorite things about spring! We love getting up on Saturday mornings, pouring a travel mug of coffee and going down to farmer's market and stocking up on goodies for the weekend. Hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer. :)

flower power

I'm pretty sure every spring I decide spring is my favorite season and then once fall comes around I think nooo.. maybe fall is my favorite. In the spring everything is blooming and it's baseball season and winter is finally over! But in the fall the leaves are so pretty and it's football season! Although I can't decide which is my favorite I am soaking up this nice spring weather while I can. Here's some flowers I've taken picture of around the yard. It puts a smile on my face to see the pretty flowers when I drive up to the house.






We got bikes! Scotty has been wanting a bike for awhile now. We finally got us new bikes a couple of weeks ago. This was one weekend we went out to Lake Wright Patman and rode. It was a blast. We felt like kids again. And it was a great workout!



HAPPY SPRING! :)

best.pedi.ever.

That's Hot! Pink.

hehe.. love the name! I've gotten it several times before. I like telling people what color is on my toes because it's fun to say.



There's nothing like a pedicure, so I thought.. until I had a deluxe pedicure yesterday. I've had deluxe pedi's before and just felt like I got ripped off and all they did extra was wrap my legs in hot towels for another $8. But yesterday was different. I went to O.P. Nail that is located in front of Wal-mart because I was in a hurry and I didn't have time to drive across town to my usual place(s). I was kinda scared to try this new place because I hadn't heard much about it. The TV was on Animal Planet so I didn't have to listen to something loud, obnoxious or stressful like the news. It was quiet and peaceful. The employees were quiet but friendly. They weren't speaking to eachother in their language and laughing to make you wonder what the heck they are talking about and if they are laughing at you. And with this deluxe pedicure I got the hot stone massage AND the hot towel wrap AND they massaged my legs and feet for probably 85% of the time. I LOVED IT! I was in total relaxation mode.

Which leads me to my next point.

My.Hubby.Rocks!!!

He told me he was going to guy's night which he does about once a month. Guy's night consists of Hooter's, wing's and beer. They're pretty low key from what I've gathered and it always makes him happy to get to go have his "guy time" and be boys.

He knows I've had a long week at work, I haven't been sleeping good and I didn't have the money in my "allowance" for a pedicure. (We started this about 3 months ago and I HATE IT. $125 each every 2 weeks into each of our seperate accounts and our joint account goes to bills and any extra, to savings. Great plan, but I like to spend money and he likes to save! It has definintely shown me how much money I used to waste!) So, he told me to take money out of our joint (bill) account and go treat myself to a pedicure and relax. This was a pretty big deal because we don't even go out to eat with that extra money. We have been pretty tight about using our own money and treating eachother to dinner. It's has been kinda fun because like I ask him on lunch dates and I actually pay with my money.

So, when he got home from guy's night I made sure to tell him about how I had the best pedicure ever and gave him all the praise he deserved for being so kind to "let me" go get one and being sweet about my "needs". HA-HA :)

sweet sixteen

Sixteen years ago today this young man came into this world...



When I was ten, Luke Anthony was born. As soon as I found out Mom was pregnant I started hoping and praying for a sister! I already had two brothers, I didn't need another one! Or so I thought. The idea of having a sister to share clothes with, steal her shoes & have girl talks with seemed perfect to me. Mom and Dad didn't find out the sex of the baby with Luke or the rest of us. This I think is crazy because everyone finds out these days! I know I will want to! Anyway, I will never forget Dad coming to pick us up to take us to the hospital for us to meet our new sibling. He didn't tell us if it was a boy or girl. He wanted us to wait and see when we got there. I still remember looking through the window and seeing the sign "It's a boy!". I teared up, big time. I never cried, but I was pretty disappointed. Another boy.. seriously? Luke cracks up when I tell him how disappointed I was at that time that he wasn't a girl.

We went into the room with Mom and later on they brought this new precious baby in the room. We all sat around and talked about what to name our baby boy. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad had already decided Anthony would be the middle name because that was her Father's name and her brother's name. We narrowed it down between Luke or Mark. I wanted Mark and I guess everyone else agreed on Luke. Thank God they didn't go with Mark. He would get sick of being "Mark McGuire"!

I love all of my brothers to pieces and would do anything for them. Now that I've grown up and matured I know I wouldn't trade any of them for a sister! Luke and I have had some fun memories together. I still love dragging him out of the house to run around with me and jammin' to some good tunes while driving the shuffle. Who knew it'd come so soon that he'd be driving me around the shuffle! He's an amazing athlete, awesome musician, smart student, whitty, unique, great artist and a cutie, but above all, he's just got a heart of gold.

Happy 16th Birthday to my baby brother!!!