She was a woman who;

She was a woman who made mistakes, who sometimes cried on a Monday morning or at night alone in bed. She was a woman who often became bored with her life and found it hard to get up for work in the morning. She was a woman who more often than not had a bad hair day, who looked in the mirror and wondered why she couldn’t just drag herself to the gym more often; she was a woman who sometimes questioned what reason had she to live on this planet. She was a woman who sometimes just got things wrong.
On the other hand, she was a woman with a million happy memories, who knew what it was like to experience true love and who was ready to experience more life, more love and make new memories.

to be Loved ☆

I think one of the worst feelings is not being wanted by the one you love. Yet, you try to deny it. You’re putting your hopes up by remembering the slightest signals he gave you. 

And it fucks you up every time: knowing he doesn’t love you but not accepting it.

 

If you are going to fall in love with me, It’s only fair that you know what you are falling in love with. You are falling in love with my insecurities, and my obsession with trying to figure out what everyone thinks of me. You are falling in love with my immaturity, my constant need to feel loved and appreciated, my overactive tear ducts, my internet obsession, and my tendency to jump to conclusions. You fall in love with my troubled past, my unrealistic hopes and dreams, and how I’m a hopeless romantic at heart. If you fall in love with me, you fall in love with my self-hate and my perception that nobody could ever love me. 

But you are also falling in love with the way my eyes will smile when I’m with you, the way I’ll text you in the mornings just telling you I hope you have a great day. You’re falling in love with the occasionally humorous and/or thought-provoking things I say, and the way I blush when people ask me about you.  But to me, the most important thing is that you’ll be falling in love with who I am. And I hope that’s enough for you, I really do

 If she’s too good for you, my God, don’t leave her. Make an effort to be good enough instead.

A lot of people ask me what my biggest fear is, or what scares me most. And I know they expect an answer like heights, or closed spaces, or people dressed like animals, but how do I tell them that when I was 17 I took a class called Relationships For Life and I learned that most people fall out of love for the same reasons they fell in it. That their lover’s once endearing stubbornness has now become refusal to compromise and their one track mind is now immaturity and their bad habits that you once adored is now money down the drain. Their spontaneity becomes reckless and irresponsible and their feet up on your dash is no longer sexy, just another distraction in your busy life. 
Nothing saddens and scares me like the thought that I can become ugly to someone who once thought all the stars were in my eyes.

Birthday girl

It’s just about 10am and I’m about to crawl out bed. But I had to blog. Well, because, I’m afraid of forgetting. Forgetting what my birthday felt like, and forgetting what it feels like to be alive. To have a group of people ensure my birthday was filled to the brim with perfection. And it was.I give Thanks to my husband-in-training who gave me a birthday dinner I wouldn’t forget. Family, love and laughter. Followed up with singing happy birthday and cupcakes. Pretty much awesome. Squared.

 

(later today) it’s back to business as usual, but until then, here’s a few snapshots of dinner and the ending of my birthday night…

Just from the glimpse of these photos you can tell these things one it wasn’t my normal party for two, and We ate at Olive Garden. And what you can’t tell just by looking at these photos is these people are just my immidate family (Boyrfriend-mom-siblings-niece&nephews-and the 2 laws) and also my birthday was MAY 4TH A Wednesday which makes it perfect for celebrating the week almost being over 🙂 AND THAT MAKES ME A #Taurus

 

John Swansburg wrote, “Seems like a nice idea, the birthday dinner. It is not. It is a  ok, wretched affair. It is also an extravagantly expensive one. In these wintry economic times, we need to scale back. I hereby propose that the birthday dinner go the way of the $4 cup of coffee, the liar’s mortgage, and the midsize banking institution.”

That’s taking things a little too far. I had a great time celebrating my twenty-sixth birthday.  The food was great. And so was the company. But I got what the author was saying when he wrote,

“Your typical birthday dinner is around 10 guests strong. Given a group of this size, you can safely assume there will not be an itemized accounting of who ordered what come bill-paying time—it requires too much math and is usually adjudged to be not in keeping with the celebratory nature of the event.

That why Rusty took the liberty of paying for everyone at dinner tonight. He got so much joy out of seeing me smiling with my family surrounding me that it was more than a birthday gift it was an honor to him. That why I give Thanks to him for making my birthday wish to spend time with my loved ones come true. ♡

BESIDES- seeing my mama’s face like this as Rusty paid the check is priceless.

She thought she was paying for our $246.18 bill at the local Olive Garden for her babygirl and her other three children plus her Grann kids and not to mention her adoptive son-in-law and her own husband.. just a few days before Mother’s day.. haha I think not. You see I already knew my mom wanted to pay but no-no She deserves to be treated with a nice dinner with her family; just like I do. So, I didn’t mind sharing my Big day with her, especially because without this beautiful woman there would be nothing to celebrate.

 

One pan Balsamic Chicken and Veggies

I’m always on the lookout for new easy dinners to try, plus I always love a new healthy recipe. This One Pan Balsamic Chicken and Veggies couldn’t get any easier! This is a a 20 minute meal that is sure to please! The flavor is spot on delicious and it has just enough versatility going on to keep things interesting. And the flavor? With the word balsamic in the title you know it’s got to be good right? It is so good! Who knew a dinner that was so easy could taste so incredible?

This is a dinner or lunch I’m definitely adding to my rotation! I loved everything about it, the flavor, appearance, simple prep and of course the easy clean up! All around win with this one!

For this recipe look for thinner stalks of asparagus. Not only does it cook faster and more evenly with the carrots, but it tastes better (if the thicker ones are all they happen to have they will work okay too). Also, I recommend using the Kraft light dressing with this recipe because it has a thicker consistency than most italian dressings which will help the dressing coat the chicken and veggies better (and bonus it’s skinnier than the traditional oil heavy versions).

Enjoy!

One Pan Balsamic Chicken and Veggies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes

Yield: About 3 – 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Italian salad dressing (I recommend using Kraft light Italian it’s the perfect consistency for this and it’s what I used)
• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp honey
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 1 1/4 lbs chicken breast tenderloins
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb fresh asparagus, trimmed of tough ends, chopped into 2-inch pieces (look for thinner stalks. Green beans are another good option)
• 1 1/2 cups matchstick carrots
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

Directions

• In a mixing bowl whisk together salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, honey and red pepper flakes, set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then place chicken evenly in skillet. Cook about 6 – 7 minutes, rotating once halfway through cooking, until chicken has cooked through (meanwhile, chop asparagus and tomatoes). Add half the dressing mixture to skillet and rotate chicken to evenly coat. Transfer chicken to a large plate or a serving platter while leaving sauce in skillet. Add asparagus and carrots to skillet, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer veggies to plate or platter with chicken.
• Add remaining dressing mixture to skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes to chicken and veggies and drizzle dressing mixture in pan over top (or return chicken and veggies to pan and toss to coat).

Chocolate Pudding Pie or my first pie

Yes, it is throw-down time again. Here we will separate the wheat from the chaff and find out if you are really a “foodie”. If you consider yourself to be a high brow food connoisseur of any sort, some of my throw-down recipes will horrify you and you will run away. The rest of us will be sitting here having a slice of Pudding Pie, made with a pile of very uncouth ingredients and loving every minute of it. This is why I don’t call myself a foodie, because I love this easy stuff and it disqualifies me from the hallowed and exclusive halls of dyed-in-the-wool food snobbery. If it is good, I eat it. I try to avoid processed foods for the most part, but when it is time for a throw-down…it is time for a throw-down.

In fact, this is the very first pie that I ever made. One must start somewhere. My grandmothers taught me many things, but pie making was not one of them. My life resonated with Americana summer spirit (albeit of an entirely non-Rockwellian nature) that conjures mental pictures of  pies cooling on window sills, but we were usually in the lake swimming and fishing, not perfecting pastry. My beloved siblings, and I made extravagant mud pies out of clay and moss, but no real ones.

And pastry crusts seem intimidating. They shouldn’t but they do. There are a few simple tricks that make them much more nicely behaved, but there is a definite learning curve. For those who have jumped into the deep end and made a perfect lattice crust cherry pie on their first time out…awesome! The rest of us start here.

Once you are a pie fanatic and make all pies from absolute scratch, there will still come a day when you need to feed dessert to a lake cabin full of twelve-year-olds. You will be standing about, sunburned, sweaty, stinky, and bedraggled and they will all be looking at you like, “if you really are the super-mom (dad…uncle…aunt, etc.) you seem to be…you will have taught us how to water-ski, washed all the beach towels, and you will have made dinner and a pie.” My friends, this is that pie.

This is a brutal shopping list (she says as she rolls her eyes at herself): graham cracker crust (yes, pre-made…baking aisle), two big boxes of chocolate pudding, Cool-Whip, and 2% milk.

Now, you can take many of these component parts and create them from scratch. You can whip whipping cream, you can crush graham crackers to make the crust with sugar and butter. You can. I know you can. You know you can. But if you do, you are cheating. Because this is a throw-down, and it needs to be in the fridge chilling in 15 minutes so that you and the hellions can have it for dessert, after the Taco Soup or the Mac ‘n Cheese. There are no prizes for going homemade on any of this. Embrace the throw-down. Give yourself a break from the unrelenting, competitive, over-wrought, pain-in-the-butt exercise that cooking for guests can sometimes be. Because, I’m telling you…this is good stuff. Save the three hour pie for a day when you can bathe in the beauty of the process and enjoy each step. Pie is supposed to feel good to make and to serve. And in a crazy world, sometimes that is going to be Pudding Pie.

Chocolate Pudding Pie (a.k.a. My First Pie)

Print

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: MOM

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 8

This pie takes no time at all to prepare, but it does require ample refrigeration time. So, factor in a few hours in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 1 (9 oz.) 10 inch Pre-Made Graham Cracker Crust
• 2 boxes (5.9 oz) of Jell-O instant chocolate Pudding
• 1 (8 oz.) container of Cool-Whip
• 4 cups 2% milk

Instructions

1. Prepare the crust according to package directions by baking it for a short period of time. Allow the crust to cool completely.
2. Combine the pudding mix and the milk and whisk it vigorously for two minutes, taking care to eliminate any lumps. Allow the pudding to sit for an additional two minutes.
3. Scrape the pudding into the prepared pie shell and smooth it with a rubber spatula. Cover the pie and place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Note that the plastic pie crust liner can be flipped over to make a nifty cover for the pie.
4. Approximately 30 minutes before serving the pie, stir the Cool Whip until it is nice and creamy. Place all of the Cool Whip on top of the chocolate pie and spread it around evenly. Place the pie back in the refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes. Enjoy.

Note: If you cannot find the bigger pie (10”) crust, you can still easily make this pie. Just adjust the amount of pudding and Cool Whip accordingly and save the rest for a snack for the next day. Also, if you like a creamier filling, you can whisk some of the Cool Whip into the pudding for a lighter (in color and flavor…not in calories obviously) filling. Feel free to throw some chocolate sprinkles on the top if you are feeling ambitious…but this is perilously close to cheating, too.

And finally, sometimes these crusts crumble a bit. Sometimes the pudding has little lumps. And sometimes your daughter will try to remove this five pound pie from the fridge on her own and fold it like a taco. Don’t sweat it. Don’t worry. It is a throw-down. Just enjoy it.

 

 

 

Midnight ramblings

Hello world,

Today’s post is a recap on the most current events happening in my world. Which is definitely shifting..
Not that I am having a bad day, because I’m not but this week has brought on some road bumps. For starters my Granny ( the glue of the family) got diagnosed with sever phenomena, than my eldest nephew had to go to the er; where he got diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. And with Granny being sick I had to make the arrangements for the younger nephew to be picked up from school for next several days until she is better. My mom’s having to not only work her job, but she is having to help keep my Granny’s business (the bar) afloat and running, stocked with beer and I’m right along side her busting tables, popping tops off and calling for last call..  And with all that going on was like let me stop for a moment and pray for their health, my health and thank God for my life, because I am definitely not into the bar scene and lucky for me this gig of filling in is temporary. To know my grandparents have owned their own bar my entire life has really opened my eyes to where I want to be and not be when I am a senior citizen.  Other than that things have been the norm with me working cash wrap at Victoria’s Secret, Rusty working and Scooby-Doo doing whatever he does.

But, how about you?

Hope each of you had a fabulous Wednesday. I know I am now. Tonight I cooked dinner; for myself and Rusty.

Zesty chicken, potatoes, green beans

It turned out amazing. Was only my second time making the dish.. Very simple and the time to prep and cook was perfectly timed with the load of laundry I had started and finished as dinner was served.  BOOM! Talk about multitasking skills. (Giggles) kidding..

After dinner I drew myself a bubble bath, it was extremely soothing. I detoxed my body of the stress that this week has brought forth to me. It gave me time to rest my mind, and close off the world to it’s chaos..  for one solid hour.

I filled the bathtub with my Tease bomb gift set by Victoria’s Secret.

It’s a very seductive fragrance. The gift set I have here includes six bath bombs, and is priced at $28.00
Victoria Secret also carries this fragrance in other gift sets as well as the body mist, lotion and the perfume.
During my bath I applied my bi-weekly face mask which consist of your typical mud masks and I drifted away to paradise.
Ah- needless to say.. A bubble bath works wonders.

Rusty and I decided to go to the local Redbox. The movie of choice Southpaw was actually a 5star rating. Rarely happens that I give a movie a full five stars, but this movie had me laughing, crying. It has suspense, romance and was packed with action; being the movie is based around boxing. Ladies looking for a movie for your man this is it. Don’t have a man, still give it a watch for the eye candy.

Add to your must watch list

And now, I am sitting at the table.. It’s approximately 12:10am and I’m blabbing on about my day.. Which ended a heck of a lot better than I expected..
And that’s all I got for you to read about today. Toodles

Ms. Krystal Lea