...while I still have my eyes open...

...but not betting on me being able to keep them open for much longer... ;)

Here's some shots of a few going on's in my world as of late...

I thought I already did a mention on this dish above...but I guess I didn't.  So, here ya go, guys! That is my Lemon battered and pan friend chicken atop a creamy, lemony, buttery, angel hair pasta.

Ryan wanted to do chicken piccata one night for dinner.  I do not like chicken piccata. I do however LOVE Lemon Pepper Chicken.  So, I fixed my chicken up the way I wanted and Ryan made his own.  (He ended up liking my dish more...oops :)

I don't know why, but I will buy a journal at the book store if it's in the clearance basket or sporting a decent price tag.  I might not have a use for it at the time...but I always end up finding a purpose for it!  Just like the one pictured above.  I started carrying it in my purse to keep for note taking, jotting down days I need to remember to take off from work, recipes I come across (so entirely handy to have on you when you are at the doctor's office and flipping through a magazine and end up coming across an awesome recipe but you don't have the guts to rip the page out...lol!), and keeping a record of when herb and flower seeds were planted in the last month.

Basically, I can use any "gardening" type notes to reference to when next year comes around.  It has been such a great little tool already.

One of my sisters was on a "crochet wash cloth" making spree.  I have always wanted to make a couple but never seem to have the time to do so.  I finally forced myself to sit down one morning and what is pictured above happened. :)

(Super easy pattern...but I can't link it at this time.  If anyone is interested, leave a comment and I'll link/comment back :)

FINALLY!!!

(Petunias, 10 different kinds of pepper plants, Strawberry plants, 

and various other flower/herb plants were picked up last Sunday!)

I got my flats of Petunias, ready and waiting...until the frost warnings dissipate...to be planted in the beds out front.  I did go ahead and plant a few pots today.  Lady Slippers and white/pink petunias are taking root as we speak.  My Moon Flower seedlings are in their own pot now too.

(I start the stubborn Moon seeds folded up in a paper towel, moisten it, and then slip into a sandwich baggy until the seeds crack open.)

Plus the Pineapple Sage and Lemon Balm herbs are planted next to the two foot high Catnip 

Perennial I have from last year.

I love Catnip/Lemon/Ginger tea.  

Have you ever had Catnip tea?

AMAZING stuff.  Instantly calms, soothes, and relaxes the body and spirit.    

I started these seeds over a week ago and still nothing has turned up.  I planted sunflower seeds the same day and those sprouted up with in three days!  I really hope something happens with my herb seeds.  I love being able to walk outside and grab fresh leaves to compliment a dish.

The Golden Doodle in my life.  Miss Sophie.  She's such a pretty girl, isn't she?  All 80 pounds of her! hahah. She loves, loves, LOVES her people.  And she's saying it's time for bed now...

I had something pretty awesome happen for me today...I will mention it soon in the next post.  Take care, everyone!  I have to finish my laundry for work tomorrow morning.

Take care,

Well hello there...

...I did not mean to be this absent!  So sorry, everyone!

Work.  Work has been such work!  I'm catching on quickly though so it's going pretty well.

Like, take this morning for example.  I get there right when the restaurant is suppose to open.  I look at the printer where the ticket orders come in and we have three of them already.  ALREADY...key word.

I look behind me and all five HUGE pieces of equipment...fryers, grills, ovens...are OFF.

Food needs to go down NOW.  But everything is cold to the touch.  Oh boy.

I get all the switches turned on and I start getting the plates set up.  I'm panicking...but not too bad.  Whatever that was going to happen was just going to happen because I still had to wait for the grills and fryers to warm up.  That kept me some what calm......ish.

I look over my shoulder after a few minutes and I see someone tying on an apron.

YES!  Thank the Lord...I have another cook to suffer through this with me! hahah.

Turned out to not be an absolute mess.  We managed to get all the orders out in a decent amount of time and all the guests were satisfied.  whew!

So...that's my most chaotic story from the work front so far.  This even topped the craziness of Mother's Day...so...that means things have been pretty super at the new job!

I am so incredibly blessed that this opportunity found it's way to me. 

So very thankful!

"Flash through Friday"...

Since the work week can sometimes come and go quickly, and since we may not always have a chance to keep everyone in the loop with what is going on in our day to day's...

...I would like to implement into this blog of mine "Flash through Friday"...which is essentially a photo/fact dump from the week coming to a close.

I will begin tonight! Why not?

A fun little fact about me:  I can NOT turn down a free book.  Even if I already have a copy of it.  My mom did not desire to keep all of the books pictured above so she passed them on to me.  She had them in a bag all set and ready for me saying "I know you'll take them". (hah!  I officially need another book shelf ;)   Looks like I am stocked for my summer reading this year.

After a long and exhausting day at work on Thursday I got home and immediately changed into some comfy clothes.  Comfort food was made for dinner which was followed by some snuggle time with Bailey.  Doesn't he look thrilled?  He really is very passive with me.  He primarily wants attention.  That keeps him happy.

The chef training me this week has passed on a few tips and tricks she's learned over the years.  This has been inspiring...so inspiring that even though the last thing I wanted to was stand in my kitchen at home after being on the clock in a kitchen all day...I still managed to whip up some fresh baked goods.

I do not have a recipe for the Lemon Bunt Cake above...because I just kind of threw all the ingredients together.  Figures that it turned out beautifully and I didn't think to write down the amounts as I went... :\
It is officially the best cake I have ever made when it comes to texture and sweetness.  All sorts of "light and fluffy" with just the right amount of lemon flavor.

Picture above was found on Pinterest while I was in bed and trying my hardest to fall asleep the other night.  I'm pretty sure this is going on my project "bucket list".  It might not turn out as sleek as the one above, but I think I could make it happen with some help.

In all seriousness...I'm being completely serious about wanting to attempt building one.  It would be a dream come true to haul something like this up north and use it during my camping trips.

I can just picture it...laying in this little nook...all wrapped up in a thick, heavy comforter with several pillows surrounding me...waking up to the smell of the fire from the night before that is lingering in the morning mist...

~~~

That will do it for now.  I am mentally strapped.  Auto correct has been flagging darn near every other word I've typed so far....hahah! ;)  I am off of work for the weekend (I know, right!) sooooo........I will get much needed time with my computer then.

Good night, sleep tight...and have a great weekend, everyone!

Y is for "YAY!"...

Today's A-Z post is going to be a mushed up ramble of a few celebrations I had these last couple of days.

First, I will start off with the biggest deal to me...

Today was my first day of work at the new job!  woohoo!

I was sooo incredibly nervous about my first day that I got maybe an hour of sleep last night.  Verdict of said first day:  awesome.  The chef who trained me in the kitchen reminded me of me from five years ago when I was cooking at my previous restaurant   She was very simple, direct, laughed, and still joked a bit here and there.  Just great.  She caught on quickly that I was a little freaked out because one of the first things she said to me was "don't worry! It's going to be alright".  hah.  

I work mornings the rest of this week (with the weekend off! yay!) and then next week I will start my solo schedule which will be primarily nights.  This means I will have to change my personal schedule around a bit since I do most of my "me" stuff in the afternoon/evening.  When this A-Z challenge ends I am going to stick to, as best I can, blogging at least three days a week.  I'm shooting for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  (Just a little heads up for you wonderful followers of mine :)

Next on the "yay!" list:

This little can of magic is some of what saved me through this stomach bug battle.  (This bug is still lingering.  Very frustrating!  I just want it to go away.)  Ryan went up to the grocery store this evening and picked up a special treat for me...

Vanilla ice cream + Vernors Ginger Ale =

BOSTON COOLER

Guys.  In all seriousness...this soda/shake is a gift from the angels above!

When I was a little girl my mom would order one every time we would go out for ice cream.  I never understood why she would choose this over an ice cream cone or sundae.  I never really tried it until last Friday when I was at a Coney Island with Ryan for dinner.  I finished my cooler in no time.  Over the weekend I've probably had a handful more at my parents house. 

My mom thought it was the funniest thing.

Some laughs, just because...

...these were the photos floating around the chat room my siblings and I share on our smart phones...

(when you find him below, that's exactly what my cat "Bailey" looked like when he was a baby)

This is Mr. Bailey now-a-days...

 ...he is the most laid back kitty I've ever come across...(lol)...

 ...and he loves yarn...LOVES IT.

My brothers, sisters, and I all love to "kid" around in our chat room via our phones.  Becky, the youngest of us, does not have a phone (*yet*) so she will hijack one of ours if she catches it unattended.  Below, she picked up our sister Jenny's phone and the following took place:

(The order of us "kids" goes like so...me, Missy, Jenny, Cassie, Matt, Joe, Jeremy, and Becky.  Ages range from 29 to 13. Just to give you a little idea ;)

Well, that'll do it for now.  Since I have to work tomorrow morning and then go to Ryan's hockey game afterwards I am going to get started on the last post of this challenge.  I am so excited that it's about to be complete, this A-Z Challenge...but I am sad at the same time.  Some pretty awesome things have happened during this challenge and I am going to miss it for sure.

Thanks for the read...

Take care,

R is for....

...I was not prepared for the letter R.  I looked at my fiance today and said "what should I write about?"

He gave me this "duh" look and then said "um, RYAN!"

(His name is Ryan, if you missed that from prior posts ;)

So, here we go.  I'll give y'all the low down on my soon to be hubby:

Ryan is a HUGE hockey fan.  He has been playing roller hockey for 8 plus years.  No ice hockey yet though.  He is 24, a September baby....(which means after I turn 30 in August I will be 6 years older than him until his birthday the following month!)

He was born and raised in Michigan, about a hour south of where I grew up.  He is a devout Michigan State fan.  Both of his parents graduated from the school.  That mixed with my family of U of M fans....it can be a fun rivalry...(at times ;)

Pictures!!!

Ryan and I at a Red Wings game on St. Valentine's day this year.

(He won suite tickets...lots of fun!)

Because of him, I've gone to a ton of Wings games since we started dating almost 3 years ago.

Ryan and I, watching Aladdin on St. Patrick's day....

Us again below...we tend to match without even trying...a lot...

My nephews and niece take to him just fine...

:)

And, as a special treat for my Mr. Ryan...this is the dinner I fixed up for him tonight.

Spicy kielbasa, pasta, jalapeno sauce, and "roll" dough braided to make the plate look pretty.

(He really likes spicy food)

((& I really like to cook for him!))

That'll do it for today's Challenge post, as I only have a couple more hours to post it! 

ah!

Have a wonderful day off tomorrow.  We'll be outside enjoying the weather...we are looking at 50 degrees here, in southern Michigan......................(hopefully)

At least we aren't suppose to get snow.  I saw a few flurries today and my heart sank!  Come on spring...

Take care,

N is for "no-bake"...

...today will be a quick little A-Z Challenge post of a "no-bake" recipe I tried and fell in LOVE with over Easter weekend.

I use my oven quite a bit.  Even come summer, I believe a "happy kitchen" is a one that offers fresh baked goods on it's counter tops at all times.  But, every now and then, my sweet tooth does not have the patience to work through the fixing dough up and baking process.  Sometimes, we need sugar and we need it A.S.A.P.  (lol)

So, what I share below is a quick and easy recipe for

JELLO cheesecake squares

Site for bars can be found HERE

(the picture above was taken directly from the website I linked :)

((The website offers very easy to follow instructions for these cheese cake, lemon, cherry jello bars))

Now...here's where I changed things up a bit.  Instead of following the instructions for the crust in this recipe I used a Lemon Bar "short bread" recipe.  For this, you can look up pretty much any recipe for Lemon Bars and follow the directions for the crust.  OR, you can buy already made pie crust from the baking aisle at your favorite grocery store and then add the filling to that. (That would 86 a third of the process in making the bars...!)

You will need, for the filling: 

1-8 oz package of Cream Cheese

1 small package of Lemon Jello mix

1 large package of Cherry (or your favorite flavor!) Jello mix

1 pint of heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar

and, of course, hot water to add to the Jello as the recipe instructs.

This is the ultimate summer "no-bake" recipe, I believe.  Quick, super easy to put together, and oh so tasty! And cheap.  We all like that, don't we?! 

If you like you some cheesecake or Lemon bars, or are just a Jello fan in general, these will not disappoint!   Even my brother who "hates Jello" LOVED the batch I brought over for Easter dinner!

Thanks for the read! If you do end up whipping up a batch please let me know how you liked them!

Take care,

Meanwhile, here in Michigan on the 25th of March...

we welcome into our home the first Oberon of the season.

Happy Oberon Day to those who enjoy this fantastic brew!

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION

An American wheat ale made with European ingredients. Belgium wheat malt and Czech Saaz hops provide a spicy, fruity balance to this seasonal ale. (Formerly known as Solsun)

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Oberon lovers gathered at Bell's Brewery Inc. to raise a glass to a seasonal rite: The annual release of kegs of the summer beer. 

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports 51-year-old Brenda Mulder showed up a half hour before Bell's Brewery opened at 9 a.m. Monday to keep her record — three years in a row — of enjoying the first Oberon served at the brewery during its annual release. 

Michigan saw freezing temperatures on Monday. But Mulder says Oberon Day is "a holiday" and makes her feel as if summer is on the way.  Dozens of Oberon kegs are ready to be tapped at the Kalamazoo brewery. The beer is sold seasonally in most markets, but is available year-round in Florida, Arizona and Puerto Rico.

Read more at: www.monroenews.com

For a bunch of us Michiganders it means spring and"opening day" for the Detroit Tigers is quickly approaching.

I'm not a beer drinker...

but I'll find a way to celebrate this special day...

Oberon Beer Bread! 

 A fairly standard beer bread recipe with cheddar cheese and chives added to the mix.

A-freaking-mazing stuff, guys!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...

Oberon Cupcakes

(recipe linked above)

(My cupcake above, made with the yummy, citrusy beer)

The cupcakes turned out really soft and moist with just the right amount of sweetness and the perfect accent of orange flavor.

If you like you some beer...and like to try out new recipes and such...I totally recommend checking out the Michigan Beer Blog recipe section.  I'm not even that big of a beer fan and I still want to make everything listed!

That will wrap it up on the release of this product...

(as I have a Red Wings game going into the third period :)

Take care,

-Michelle