The world’s easiest and most delicious recipe…

I mentioned Poppy Seed Chicken in my vlog awhile back and received a few requests for the recipe.  Sorry it took me so long to follow-through, but here it is!  This is my favorite childhood meal—the favorite thing my mom cooked growing up, what I always requested on weekends home from college, and now what I make for all of my friends who are sick or having babies {or both!}

Brace yourselves—it’s ridiculously easy and tastes even better.

{credit}

What You Need:

• Three to four chicken breasts, cooked and cut in small pieces {I usually boil it}
• One 16 oz sour cream
• One can Cream of Chicken soup
• One tbsp poppy seeds
• Ritz crackers
• Butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix cut up chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup together in a bowl and pour in a 9x13 baking dish. Cover with crushed Ritz crackers, dot with butter, and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake for 30 minutes.  Done.  Boom.

I typically use all reduced fat or fat free options for the ingredients and it makes no difference to the taste.  I serve this with white rice and a green vegetable {don’t try to go healthy with brown rice—it doesn’t work.  Embrace the southern—you’re eating a casserole!}.  It’s not the healthiest, not the worst, but SO, SO, SO good and easy.  It tastes like my childhood… Thanks Mom!

Barely keeping up!

Ahhhh!!  Life is busy guys… I’m finally getting back on here after a crazy few weeks.  In addition to a trip or two and visiting in-laws, I’m starting a new role at my job the first week of June which has me taking certification training modules that take MUCH longer than they say they do… I’ve also been running like crazy and I’m trying not to lose my mojo, so by the time I get home from work, run, have dinner, and sit on the computer for four hours every night, life has left little time for the ol’ blob.  I mean blog.

However, in the past fourteen days, a few things have happened…

Our peonies have come and gone…

I hosted another Stella & Dot party for a friend I know from work—is this stuff gorgeous or what?  Since I hosted my first party back in the fall, I have been thoroughly in love with this jewelry! 
Plus, it was the perfect excuse for girly desserts and cocktails! {I could write a whole blog post on my love of beer cocktails right now… }  I’m so excited to use my hostess rewards to buy this, this {in turquoise}, and this! {Okay, and maybe this…} Yes, it’s pricey but that’s what hostess rewards are for!  You’d be surprised what you get… Everyone should host a party {and nobody paid me to say that}!

I welcomed summer at this season’s first Truckeroo {or as I call it, Truckerooooooooooo!} with my friend Ashley.  When the baseball team is away, once a month all of the DC food trucks convene at the baseball stadium for a food festival-type atmosphere.  There are live bands, outdoor bars, and beautiful summer weather that encourages you to stay longer while you bounce from food truck to food truck.  You pay nothing to get in, just for the food you eat, which ranges from $3 - $15.

We shamelessly feasted on empanadas, mac & cheese {with cheez-it crumble topping—brilliant!}, pot stickers, cupcakes, milkshakes, and waited in THIS line for Korean BBQ tacos!  I believe my exact quote at the end of the night was, “Tooooooo muuuuuch delicious.”

We also traveled to Lexington last weekend to watch these guys get married!The ceremony was outside on the grounds of Spindletop and the weather could not have been more perfect {Five years later, I still find myself a little jealous of perfect wedding day weather!  You people and all your pretty outdoor wedding pictures…}.

The bride’s nephew—have you ever seen a cuter way to use a ring bearer??  I swear, they could rent that kid out for weddings…

We know Neal & Elizabeth from their time in DC, but they’re now back in Texas {the land that eats our friends} so it was fun to be back together with all of our Texas friends who all reunited in Kentucky for the festivities.

And THEN {see why I haven’t had time to blog??}, last Friday we braved the I-95 Memorial Day traffic and drove up to Baltimore for a Corey Smith concert.  I have been listening to this guy since college and this was my first concert of his.  Maybe I’d overhyped the concert in my mind OR perhaps I just had an entirely different image in my mind of what the concert would be like because I just wasn’t overwhelmed with love for the whole experience {or maybe it had something to do with Corey Smith changing the words to my favorite classic Georgia songs!! Hmmmm…}.  That being said, it was a good concert and really fun to just be out with Tyler.

{Adam Ezra grouped—great opener}

We stayed the night in Baltimore {in the most comfortable bed ever—thank you Sheraton}, slept in late and ordered room service, before heading to Annapolis for a cookout with friends.

Once back home, we spent the rest of the weekend doing a little of this…

And a little of that…

And today we went back to work….{wah wah}. But the best thing about a three day weekend is a four day work week!  We’re here for one whole weekend before we head off on another adventure… We’re busy but we’re definitely blessed—please don’t read a word of this as complaining.  {Some days I just think I take too much on!}

Happy Memorial Day!  Hope y’all had a great weekend.

Look who's here...!!

Miss Kathryn Grace Everette made her grand entrance into the world on May 17th, 2012 at 7:40 pm, weighing 6 lb, 9 oz. All ten fingers and toes have been accounted for and big sister Halley has been trying to cover her in kisses ever since! Becky had a long labor but a quick delivery and the Everettes are now recovering as a family of four!

I could not be happier for them, nor more honored at the name they chose {I'll be crying for a week...or year!}. They plan on calling her Grace but I'm pretty sure I'll just be calling her Kathryn and we'll eventually start our own exclusive KG club...

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17

Guest speakers get a bad wrap…

Our church is in the midst of a sermon series called “Voices”—a series of guests each Sunday speaking on their own respective topics.  I went into it with a blasé attitude, like “Okay, I guess the teaching pastors deserve a few weeks off…I’ll tolerate this for them.”

So far I’ve been blown away!  I wearily took a friend with me week 1. “It’s a guest speaker…just to warn you.”  But Bob Goff was amazing and exuded more energy in three minutes than I could muster in three days. {Proof.}

Week 2: The Tiller Family.  I had no idea who these people were and was half-expecting the Von Trap Family singers part 2 to share their story through pantomime and black lights. And maybe some hand puppets.

Fortunately, this was not the case.

Just one man came out. John Tiller came and shared the story behind his son’s disability… Their happy, healthy, Bible-verse quoting three year old fell from a second-story window suffering severe head trauma and brain injury.  I think everyone was captivated with the story, and with my professional background, I was especially entranced. The sermon, however, did not focus on Eli’s rehabilitation {spoiler alert: he survived!!}.

The overarching theme: we all have a vision for our lives. Expectations and dreams.  And when our story goes off script, we want to revolt.  To run or complain or cry foul to God.  But we’re in or we’re not.  We believe or we don’t. If we say we believe, commit to the Lord’s script, even if it’s not what we would write. “Burn the ships, there’s no going back.”  He told it without frills or fancies or drama—just plain Truth spoken by a man who’s life had gone way off his own script.  And how he now sees God’s work in everything, though he still struggles with the dreams he’ll not realize.

He wrapped it up by returning to Eli’s story, providing a brief description of his current state:  He’s now 12 years old.  He’s weak on his left side.  He speaks with a stutter.  He walks with a cane.  I was moved by the sermon, happy with the update…and now my brain began to wonder what I would order for brunch.

But then… Eli walked out.  With the help of his mother and his cane.

There was some fuss to adjust the microphone and then in the sweetest voice you can imagine, he proceeded to share how God had worked in his life through his recovery.

You could hear a pin drop in that theater.

And then he began to sing.  {As if I could handle that!}

He sang Chris Tomlin’s song, “I Will Rise…”

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

At this point, I lost full composure of myself—I’m not sure anyone could hear him singing anymore over my gulps for air. 

It was the realization that HE was the one fighting. HE was the one with the limp and the stutter.  And HE was the one singing, “It is well…”  I could write 20 blogs on my respect for parents of children with disabilities—how hard they fight, how they manage their time, their emotional strength… But look at this boy!  He’s the one with the real fight… Sometimes I just forgot.

I was so moved by God’s ability to work through this family and their ability to allow it and respond to it.  The video is below—if you have time, are sitting at your desk or cleaning out your inbox, it’s worth your time to watch or listen.  You will be blessed…

{And these are teasers meant to entice you to do so!}

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Some days…

Some days, I just want to sit behind a computer and answer a phone… To not be energetic or talkative or making up a game at 8am.

Some days, I don’t want to deal with crazy parents.  Or clean baby vomit out of my watch.

Some days I don’t want to share or be flexible or accommodating with my office space…

Some days, I don’t want to remind a kid one. more. time. to SIT CRISS-CROSS APPLESAUCE!!

…but some days, you’re playing with a child rescued from a dumpster in Armenia who has only been in the States for a few months and is just learning English.  He is fascinated with every new word he learns and belly laughs at the site of bubbles.

…and some days, you watch parents gasp and choke back tears as they watch the child they desperately worry for stand up all by themselves for the first time.

…Or you show a 10 yr old boy how one year ago they were in the 4th percentile for strength and now they’re in the 50th!! And a huge smile shoots across their face. {Or say, “Was I tired that first day of testing??”}

…and some days a high maintenance parent you’ve struggled with for a year, brings you a giant bouquet of flowers.  Or you receive an email from an old patient full of thanks and pictures of their growing baby.  Or your boss gives you a Starbucks card just to say thanks…

And most days fall in between that emotional spectrum!  But today was a doozie and I was tired and grumpy, so I need to remember those some days…

Pros & Cons…

Tyler’s been out of the country for work over the last week… I typically don’t mind when T travels—I enjoy the down time, making my own schedule, staying up too late… But after a few days, I’m ready for the man to return to the castle… This long trip got me thinking, just what are the pros & cons of my husband being out of town?

Pros

1. I get the parking spot everyday.

2. As much Late Night as I want—without the passive aggressive tossing and turning from the guy to my right.

3. The house stays clean and I don’t skip workouts. {I don’t want to imply my husband makes me lazy buuuuut….}

4. Cheaper grocery bills!

5. Unlimited Bethenny Ever After instead of unlimited Storage Wars {I swear—I like that show but it is always. on.}

Cons

1. No one to pick up the scary jumpy things.

2. No post- work chitchat—I can easily go for more than twelve hours without saying a word until I get back to work the next morning.

3. Who’s going to set the coffee pot?? I have no idea how to work that thing…

4. No one’s around to make fun of my local news habit.  “Yes!! Doug Kammerer is on!”

5. I worry.  Especially when he’s in sketchy parts of the world.

6. Being out of touch—secondary to busy schedules and the time change, we’ve only spoken twice since he left.  Almost everything about his trip I know from Facebook, Twitter, and the Saudi newspapers…

{I’d know that bald spot anywhere!}

7. I miss him! I’m ready for my BFF to come home…

{In case you were keeping count, the cons outweigh the pros.}