the monday update

good morning everyone! it's nasty, rainy, cold, etc. here. i am so over winter. if it weren't for the cute winter clothes i recently got and my new love of skinny jeans and boots, i would be practically sobbing for summer to get here. yesterday was so beautiful, sunny and slightly warm. i told chris yesterday that i think i hate spring even more than fall because the weather just teases you into thinking it's going to be warm and pretty and then it turns icy cold the next day!

ok--enough complaining.

last week on one of the pretty days we had, i went on a little adventure to find a vera bradley store. i don't venture out of my neighborhood much. everything i need is in a 5-10 mile radius and i just don't feel the need to explore busy highways if i don't have to. so i googled this store and proceeded to follow the directions until i realized they were wrong. so i called the store twice (even though i'm trying to do oprah's no phone zone thing), drove the wrong way down 75 for quite a while (i have absolutely no sense of direction at all) and finally made it to this beautiful little shopping village in allen. i only went into vera bradley and sephora, but i must go back soon and spend the day exploring all these cute boutiques.
stop by tomorrow for project life tuesday and i'll show you what i got at vera bradley. (i must say i had the best shopping experience i have had in a long time at this beautiful store--will definitely be going back here!)

friday was the last day of the book fair and this is what all we ended up with
(the poster was obviously bought by mckinlee with her own money on the day i didn't work. ha!) we got several books that we're going to read together at night before bed and a couple darling books for sadie!

the last time we were in waco, mckinlee bought a cake decorating kit with some money she had saved. saturday she decided to spend the afternoon baking and decorating.

this was the final creation. she worked so long on it and it turned out pretty cute. she made it for chris and he had for dessert that night!

today is grocery day for me. it seems like every monday it is cold and rainy...maybe i should change my grocery day. i hate going grocery shopping without a list. i just wander around putting random things in my cart and end up at home with cartons of turkey gravy, greek yogurt, ground beef, protein bars and olive oil. (try and make a meal out of that!)
so i've been trying every sunday night to make my meal plan and grocery list. the trouble is i get SO tired of coming up with meals that everyone will eat. i finally finished it up last night while chris and mckinlee were watching the olympics. i printed off a weekly meal planner and a grocery list and that helped a lot.

here's this week's meals:

monday~chicken piccata (danielle's recipe), sauteed broccoli, french bread
tuesday~spinach & mixed greens salad with sauteed salmon on top; salmon patties and spinach for mckinlee
wednesday~tacos, spanish rice, refried beans
thursday~hot headed chicken * recipe below, wontons with sweet chili sauce
friday~homemade pizza
saturday~eat out
sunday~best beef dip ever, chips


hot headed chicken

1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion
1/3 c. diced red pepper
1 egg
1 T soy sauce
hot sauce to taste
1 3/4 c. cooked brown rice
1 1/2 c. diced cooked chicken

heat oil. add onion & red pepper. saute for 3-5 minutes. add egg, stirring often. cook until egg scrambles. add soy sauce, hot sauce, rice and chicken. stir and cook about 3 minutes, until dish is well blended and evenly heated.

this is a recipe out of the abs diet book (chris bought it years ago) and we just love it!

have a good day! come back tomorrow for project life tuesday week 8!