When things go bump in the night!

Let me preface by stating that we just watched "No Good Deed" earlier this week. I've been wanting to see it for a while and holy creep me out. I told Tarl that I shouldn't have watched the movie but Tarl also reminded me that we carry around these parts and we don't open the door without a gun in hand (true story!- A man came to our home one night, as he did with other neighbors, looking for a dog and we answered the door with a pistol in hand. I'm pretty sure if his dog gets lost again he'll skip over our house.) Anyways every morning around 6ish Rosie barks to be let out. I'm usually the one who lets her out. Well this morning I let her out and went and laid back down in bed. About five minutes later Rosie came running back in the house. I knew with 100% certainty that I didn't leave the door open. Keep in mind I still have thoughts of "No Good Deed" running through my mind and am now certain that some crazed maniac is hiding in our house. I shake Tarl and tell him that Rosie is in. He looked at me, half dazed and still asleep and said "no shit, she's an inside dog". After smacking his arm I told him that I had just let her out. All of this happened in mere seconds and all I could think of was Cadence so I got out of bed to run and grab her and that's when that little stinker came running inside our room. She scared us to death! We both jumped straight up in bed. Needless to say we did not need our alarm clocks that morning. Apparently she woke up when she heard me open the door to let Rosie out. When I went to lay back down she heard Rosie whining to get let back in and let her back in. She knew it was too early to wake up so decided to head in the kitchen and see if she could sneak a valentine marshmallow until our alarms went off - like I said sneaky little girl!

Lesson one: Never watch creepy movies, ever again!

Lesson two: Hide all evidence of Valentine's peeps!

Lesson three: Keep an ear out for little feet at the wee hours of the morning!

Last night I made homemade chicken and rice using my grandmother-in-law's recipe. It was delicious. It was the first time that I had ever seasoned something myself, without using pre-packaged products and I'll tell you, it is so much better. I served this with a side salad and biscuits.

Tonight we're having fried shrimp. Trick to our fried shrimp is we use a thick batter instead of just wetting the shrimp and tossing them in flour. The thick batter on our shrimp produces this airy, light, fluffy casing around it when you fry it and they are out of this world! I'm serving them with grits and broccoli au gratin flavored rice-a-roni. Yum!

Tomorrow night I'm doing garlic baked pork chops, served with a vinaigrette side salad and scalloped potatoes. I have this weeks meal planning covered #score

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I am obsessing over this DIY project! Ever since I first saw this on Pinterest I knew I wanted to replicate this for Cadence and since then have been on the hunt for this entertainment center.

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Luckily I found one on a resale page and am hoping that all works out. The only thing I plan to change is to possibly put some decorative wallpaper (in pink of course) to give it a little bit of depth and color where you see the mirror hanging on the above.

Cadence has numerous dress up dresses, all Disney princesses, naturally, so we are in desperate need of somewhere to store them because her closet is about | | this big and we need all the space we can get. If things work out I'll be sure to post the DIY process and let you know how easy, or lack there of, it is. 

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So I'm going to let you all in on a little secret.
Well maybe it's not really a secret but I can't contain my excitement so I wanted to share. If all goes well with taxes (because let's face it tax season is either really good or really bad) we're planning on a weekend trip to Disney in June. We would stay at the Yacht Club Resort, which would be our first time ever staying at a Deluxe resort on Disney property. The only way we're financially swinging it, is due to their Spring Promotion Offer where you get 30% off Deluxe rooms, essentially making them the same price as a moderate resort (where we stayed last time) and the fact that if we go, we're only going for two nights. We've always wanted to stay at a deluxe resort and the Yacht Club is absolutely stunning. It has a boardwalk feel to it, is literally just a short walk to Epcot and you can walk to Epcot through their 'Yacht Club Guest Only Entrance' as well as the fact that their pool bottom is not made of cement, but has sand at the bottom to give it that beach feel. Pretty amazing, right?

If all goes as planned we're going back to Disney for a week in June 2016 but being the Disney fanatics we are, we wanted to at least have a weekend trip this year and I sure hope we can do it.

With restaurants booking up 180 days in advance (if we go in June for the weekend like we want, we're already at that 180 day mark) I went ahead and made restaurant reservations this morning. You do not have to have a trip booked to make a restaurant reservation nor does it cost you a dime to make a restaurant reservation as long as you cancel up to a day prior.

With Ohana's being one of our all time favorites I went ahead and booked us a dinner reservation just in case we go the weekend we hope to go. If something happens and we can't make it, I'll just cancel the reservation. It's as easy as that. I'm glad I did too because there were only two time slots left - I made sure to get the one during Magic Kingdom's fireworks show.
This way we have dinner and a gorgeous view of Main Street's fireworks.

Here's the agenda if we book it:

Leave early Friday morning and check in at our resort.
Drop our bags and walk to Epcot.
Dinner at Ohana's.

Saturday - Magic Kingdom Day
Dinner at The Crystal Palace

I sure hope all works out because we're all feening for some Disney magic!

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Speaking of trips, our New York City planning is underway. Obviously this isn't a Disney trip where I need to plan FastPass reservations or obsess about dinner times, but planning doesn't hurt and will ensure we see a lot of what we want while we're there.

Our plane arrives noon and after we check into our hotel we're going to head straight to Times Square and grab a quick bite at a food truck or one of New Yorks infamous Hot Dog Carts. Then catch a bus to Ground Zero and Wall Street to see the Charging Bull sculpture. We'll also snap a few quick pics of Lady Liberty from Battery Park.

We're also going to see 64 Perry Street (Carrie Bradshaws apartment) and make a pit stop at the famous Magnolia Bakery for a sweet treat.

After that we're going to go back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner and in between our dinner reservations we're going to check out St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station and the NYC Public Library. We have reservations at Carmines the night we arrive. Yum!

The next morning we're going to set our alarms early and trek to Rockefeller Center to check out The Today Show. We'll also try to squeeze in Bryant Park, Macy's, Washington Square Park, FlatIron Building, FAO Schwarz, Tiffany's and Dylans Candy bar. Mind you when I say "check out" that's what I mean. A lot of these places we don't even want to go inside. We just want to see them face to face and snap some pics. After all these years of seeing these famous buildings on TV, I'm finally ready to see them in real life! So when people say you won't have time to do all that I think they don't understand we just want a few pics and they also underestimate my power walk, don't get me wrong though, these boots of mine will be walking into Tiffany's, Macy's, Dylan's Candy Bar and of course FAO Schwarz to get our little peanut something :)

We plan to have dinner that night at Bobby Flays restaurant, Bar Americain, and then after dinner go to the top of the Empire State Building. I can't wait to see NYC all lit up at night from a top that huge building!

On our last day we're heading to Central Park to walk around and take in all it's beauty. We also want to make sure and see the famous Bow Bridge and Belvedere Castle inside the park.

Some other must-eats that we have planned is Cake Boss Cafe in Times Square and of course a Sprinkles cupcake via their cupcake ATM. We also want to go to an authentic NYC coffee shop and get a pretty swirly design on a coffee. It may be nasty but I want to say I've tried one. We're still undecided on our final dinner. We don't know if we want to do celebrity steakhouse, STK or Chris Santos' restaurant, Stanton Social...all in all though I think it's not bad planning on our part.

All planning aside, any tips or suggestions are much appreciated!

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Just to clarify something while we're on the subject of vacations. Tarl and I are by no means wealthy. We live paycheck to paycheck like most of struggling America. We have a mortgage, car payments, credit card bills, medical bills, light bills, grocery budgets and more, just like most of the world, but we always take a little bit of cash out of each paycheck and stow it away. If can be something as little as $5 or some times, if the paycheck is good enough or we get another bill paid off, it can be as much as $75. On average we put around $20 each up. It adds up very quickly. So the fact that we get to go and do those things is easy because we put a little bit of cash away weeks at a time. Before you know it you have enough to get away. Vacations, in our opinion, are very important to us. Even if it's nothing more than a weekend trip, it's always nice to getaway and spend that quality time with your family. This is how we get to go to Disney and other places. We put aside the want for another pair of shoes, and put that cash into an account.

As far as the New York trip is concerned, that was a total surprise for me. I had no clue that he was planning or trip or even booked it until Christmas Day when I opened the gift. He said he had been saving for it for a while and after he paid off a credit card in November, he then knew he could officially book it because that was one less payment we have to pay each month.

Never feel guilty for vacations. As long as you can pay your bills and support your family financially, never apologize for time away. It's important to do so.

Well that's enough talking for one day. I'm glad hump day is almost over because I sure am ready for the weekend!

Let's Do This (January Goals)

To be honest I'm not crazy about reading these blog posts when others blog about it, but I started thinking you know most likely they blog about their goals for their own personal selves and then it didn't seem like such a bad idea. Something to look back on. Let's get to it...

1 - Read a book

It's going to be my goal to read one book each month. I know it doesn't seem like that hard a goal but between work, Cadence being in school, your usual household chores and making sure I spend quality time with my family, it can often be a challenge. Luckily I've already completed this goal for January, but if I can squeeze another one in then #woohoo!

2 - Bring lunch to work

I aced this last week. I brought in my lunch 3 out of the 5 days and that's a huge improvement from the eating out 5 out of 5 days that I normally do. Today I bought my lunch, granted it only cost $7, that adds up, and quick! 7 x 5 = 35, 35 x 4 (weeks in a month) = 140

$140 just for some junk food each month is ridiculous and I hope to change that. $140 per month is a nice Disney vacation and if I think about it that way I'm pretty sure I can stick to it :)

3 - Visit Family

#1 kinda goes hand in hand, between work/school/etc. we don't get to see Tarl's parents that often during the month nor my parents, and they live next door! I (we) need to make this more of a priority, even if it's dinner once a week or something as simple as a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning.

4 - Me Time

I always feel guilty when I have time to myself. Tarl enjoys hunting and does so when he can. I don't mind him hunting and he enjoys it. However if I go and do something I always feel guilty about it. Tarl doesn't mind and in fact encourages time for myself, but I personally always feel guilty if I'm not home spending time with the two loves of my life. I always think, you know I could be spending quality time with my family but instead I'm shopping or out with my sister. Honestly, we should never feel guilty about "me time". It's great to get a way and have time to yourself. It relaxes you and keeps you sane. I'm not saying go out and party all weekend every weekend but a few hours one day a month isn't going to hurt and I need to try my best to have a little bit more me time each month.

5 - Meal Plan for Home

Huge time saver when you already know what you're cooking for dinner at night. It's even easier when you have all the ingredients at your house. I plan on making a grocery list accordingly to ensure we have all ingredients needed to make a delicious meal.

What are some of your goals?

First Getaway of 2015

Tarl, Cadence and I had a lovely weekend visiting with his Grandparents in middle Georgia in a little town called Ivey. (About 45 minutes East of Macon) We had such a great time relaxing around their beautiful home, playing board games, catching up, gossiping and staying up until midnight (both nights) talking about upcoming trips for everyone and dreams trips we hope to take someday. It was so nice getting away without going non-stop. I read three wonderful books this weekend and they were equally as great and must reads. But before I get to the book reviews let me catch you up on what we did. 

We arrived Friday night around 8 o'clock to open arms and a homey feel. 

Cadence was a champ and didn't go to bed Friday night until 9. Her usual bed time is anywhere between 8 - 8:30 so she was proud of herself, as were we. Around 9 my in-laws arrived. We listened to Tarls grandparents tell stories of the old days while we talked about our Christmases and how Tarl surprised me with a NYC trip. We gabbed a little bit more before hitting the hay.

On Saturday morning we were served a delicious homemade breakfast before the boys started work on the shed, which they promised to help Tarls grandfather with. It took them about 5 hours to complete the work and while they did that us girls stayed warm inside playing games and reading books. Cadence played with Domino's for hours. Lining them up and knocking them over. 

It was very cold in Georgia so we bundled up to walk outside and see how the boys were coming along at one point. We also looked at the chickens and played in the leaves which covered the ground. Cadence loved playing in the leaves - it was like southern snow to her. 

Needless to say we didn't stay outside long. Even with coats and boots and scarfs and gloves it was too chilly for my liking. When your toes go numb it's time to head back in and curl up with a good book.

Their home is absolutely breathtaking. Their master bedroom has huge windows overlooking the hills in their backyard and their back porch is three stories and goes on for days. When we visit in the Spring and Summer I can sit on their porch for hours just basking in the sun.

After the boys finished with the shed us lazy gals got dressed up and ready for the day. Tarl, Cadence and I went into downtown Milledgeville where they have the cutest antique shops and other little stores that are always neat to walk into.

After we explored downtown Milledgeville, we got a text from my in-laws saying they were attending an auction about 30 minutes away and asked us if we wanted to meet them there. Tarl nor I have ever been to an auction so we jumped at the invite. Cadence couldn't hang on the drive - she crashed :)

My mother-in-law texted us directions along with a picture of the building saying that it was in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere, USA. She wasn't lying! You have to go down a narrow dirt road with barns to your right and fields to your left. 

When we arrived we saw the coolest barn with a lot of antique signs gracing the entrance. When we walked in there were tons of people sitting on benches and a lot of treasures up front to bid on if you desired. The auctioneer started and I even bid on a couple things, but unfortunately I lost to bidder #30 who wasn't giving up the cutest little wishing well that would have looked perfect in our backyard. I stopped bidding at $17.50...oh well :)

We stayed for about an hour before we left to go back home for the evening. Cadence went to bed immediately when we got back to Tarl's grandparents. While we waited for everyone to get back from the auction Tarl and I sat in front of the fireplace while I read a book and Tarl dreamed of owning a house as nice as theirs one day. It was pure bliss. 

When everyone got back they told us of all the treasures they found and purchased and again, we stayed up late chit chatting.

Sunday we had the most delicious lunch before going back home. I'm still thinking about Mema's homemade chicken and rice!

This was us on the drive home - sad to leave but so ready to see our pets and sleep in our own bed.

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This weekend I read three books. One I was mid-read and finished and the other two I read cover to cover. I love going and seeing when we travel but it was nice to just relax and be able to read in such a peaceful place as a getaway. The Program and the second book in the series, The Treatment, are fantastic! Written by Suzanne Young, the books are about a nationwide suicide epidemic that this program is trying to stop. But are they really trying to help or is there some sketchy stuff going on? Mix that with two kids who are soulmates and it makes for a great read!

Sparrow, written by Sara Mack, was the last book I read this weekend and one of my most favorites I think I've read. It leaves you on the edge of your seat and that's a book I can truly get into. It's about two teenagers, Addison and Kyle, who meet during their annual stay at the lake during summer one year. They fall madly in love and plan to stay in touch, but when Addison disappears Kyle doesn't know where she went, how to find her or where to even look. Will they ever see each other again?

All great reads!

As usual the weekend came and went way too quickly.

Have a blessed week friends.

The First Five of 2015

It's Friday and that makes me one happy girl. We're taking our first little getaway of 2015 this weekend by venturing up to Macon, GA to visit with our grandparents.

Be sure to keep up with me on Instagram @BlueJeanMiranda or by searching the hashtag #GramFam2015

Let's jump right into my very first Five on Friday for 2015...

Valentine's decor is officially up in our house. I never go all out for Valentine's Day but it's nice to have a lot of girly colors floating around for a month or so. Tarl doesn't mind all the pink and Cadence and I sure love it.

Our entry table is always one of my favorite spaces to decorate. It's the first thing that guests notice when they walk in your home so I always try to have a nice little print out there to welcome them as they walk in. 

The printout I found online, free. I never pay for printouts because there are so many freebies online and on Pinterest. If you're like me and don't have a color printer just go to your local UPS store and print it out there on their cardstock for around $0.75 or have it printed at your local photo printer 

(i.e. Walgreens). I have a print out for every significant holiday in the year. 

The Live/Love/Laugh mini vase I found at the dollar store last year 

along with the foam hearts on a stick. 

One of my favorite scriptures, it was also read at our wedding.

The pink marshmallows and mints were leftover from Christmas and are still tasty so I left those inside the apothecary jars since they're pink and red as it goes with the Valentine's Day theme. I took the candy canes out of the mini jar and stuffed heart shaped peeps inside. As you can see some sneaky little six year old has snagged a couple. 

Our side table in the living room is a place we set our food, drinks, snacks, homework. You name it, it goes on this table during the day so I never load it down with too much, but a heart shaped vase and more foam hearts on a stick (all found @ Dollar Tree) and the little wooden Love sign (Target) fits just perfectly in the corner.

So if you don't already know I'm a Food Network junkie. In my past life I'm pretty sure I was some type of chef or food critic but we'll never know. My favorite show is Chopped. I love how you have to turn ingredients, that aren't very popular, into a beautiful dish and serve it to prominent chefs known throughout the world for them to judge it. Pressure much?

My three favorite judges are Scott Conant, Chris Santos and Geoffrey Zakarian. I just adore them. They are brutally honest, tell it like it is and don't mind hurting your feelings if the dish is less than perfection. All three judges own or have owned restaurants in New York City and Tarl and I plan on visiting one, if not two, of their restaurants while we are there (more to come on that later). 

Anyways, I tweeted Chris Santos last night and he retweeted me. I Instagrammed Scott Conant and he liked my Instagram picture that I posted. I'm still waiting on a tweet or retweet from Chef Zarakarian and my Chopped life will be made!

Now I get that a retweet and liking one photo isn't a big deal to some, but the fact that my most favorite chefs in the world took the time to push a button on their phone to recognize a fan - pretty damn cool if you ask me.

 Come on Chef Zakarian get to pushing that retweet button. Imagine if he responds?!

I pride myself on being a pretty crafty person. Especially when it comes to Cadence and all her little projects that she has to do for school. With this being her first year in school and Valentine's Day quickly approaching I want to do something really clever for the kids in her classroom and I thought this was the cutest idea.

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This outfit screams my style in the Spring. When the days are a mixture of warm and cool air so you still need something light on your arms - this is that for me! I love everything about this outfit, including the simple white sneakers, boyfriend jeans and a plain white long sleeve tee adorned with the plaid scarf. Absolute simple perfection.

Happy Friday Friends - I hope that each of you have a great and blessed weekend.

Hopefully Monday won't come too soon...

15 in 2015 {things you may or may not have known about yours truly}

1. I always have a notebook to jot down things. Lists, doodles, packing notes, travel notes. 

2. I'm a sucker for paper products. I get suckered in to cute stationery, planners, notebooks, notepads, cute post its. If it's pink, gold, silver, sparkly or in the Target dollar spot I'm totally going to buy it.

3. I waste a lot of money on a lot of shit I don't need. I never consider money wasted if it's spent on clothes or accessories (purses, shoes, etc.) because you're going to get your moneys worth out of it one way or another. 

Case in point; I was cleaning out our 'catch all' drawer last night and stashed away was my $50 Erin Condren planner. Remember that gorgeous planner I obsessed over last year in a blog post. Yeah, it was stashed away in that drawer with only about 3 months of planning used out of that entire book. What a waste of money. I was beyond mad at myself. I guess #2 on this list comes into play. Paper products, planners and such...it's a hard addiction to get rid of but I can promise you I will never buy another $50 planner again. 

Target collaborated with Sugar Paper and has some beautiful planners at a great price.

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4. I think that Jagermeister is the most disgusting thing. It's the first drink that I ever drank that actually made me sick/vomit. Sad thing is, it was only one shot and I have the picture of me doing the shot!

 

It was my parents vow renewal. I'm in the pink dress. Apparently at the time my sister and I thought it was awesome to dress alike. Gotta love looking back on fashion choices. Anyways, that little cup in hand was loaded with Jagermeister and I thought I was a badass drinking with my older sisters/family members. This badass right here made it another hour before yacking on the side of the road. I slept beside the toilet that entire night. Awful, just awful.

5. I burned my feet terribly when I was 3. So bad I had to wear bandages for months. The doctors all said that my feet would never look the same. The Pastor of my parents Church at the time came to the hospital and prayed over my feet and asked the Good Lord for my health. My feet look just as normal as everyone elses!

6. I have OCD very badly. Not the kind where I have to open and close a door three times but if I see something out of place I have to put it in it's place. If I get it in my mind to clean, I have to clean I can't let the mess just sit there. Each time I pray I blow a kiss to the Lord, Tarl and Cadence. Every.single.time.

7. I love reading with Cadence and Tarl. She'll pick out a book and I'll read the story giving each character their own unique voice. Cadence is now learning to read and it's so special having her read us stories. Our favorite books are pop up books and if you have never heard of Robert Sabuda you need to look him up! His pop up books are unbelievable. They bring the world of pop up books to an entire different level. Cadence received her very first pop up book last year from her Aunt Yvonne (my brother's GF whom we adore) and it's now an annual Christmas gift. Last year was Beauty and the Beast, naturally, and this year was The Little Mermaid. 

Just look at the detail in that coral reef. See the right page with the mermaid on it, that opens up into more tiny intricate pop ups. This is just a small inch of what his pop up books are. The second page opened up into a huge boat that pertruded out towards us as we were reading the story. They are beyond amazing and I cannot wait for Cadence to continue to grow her collection.

His Website

8. I prefer cooler weather over hot weather. 

9. I have horrible road rage but when I'm a passenger I freak out when the driver does the same exact thing I'm guilty of.

10. When I get into a good book I read it cover to cover. When I get into a good book it's the only time of the year I enjoy the warm weather because I'll sit on my porch at night with a glass of sweet tea, a marlboro light and read until it gets dark. I know that it's terrible to smoke, but a habit that I truly need to break. Moving on...

11. Pink is my most favorite color but I think I look more pretty in white clothing.

 You damn blondes can pull anything off. 

12. My most favorite place to visit in SC is Myrtle Beach. I've been countless times and just love it. You can walk the boulevard for hours. Besides the beach there is so much to do and see and I just love it. Every time we have been we always splurge and get a hotel on the beach because other than "Broadway at the Beach", everything is on the beach. The most funnest time though, if I'm being honest, was the time that Emily and I went together. There was this old lady staying at our hotel and by old I mean 70+, in her black BIKINI, tanning and with an attitude like a 20 year old - we loved her. I don't have many pics from that trip, but this was our hotel view.

Not gonna lie - I like boot weather but I wouldn't mind this right now. It's freezing today!

13. My most favorite place in GA to visit is 30 minutes away, beautiful Savannah! Love it and living here all my life there is still so much to do and see and try. 

14. My hair used to be really short and SO easy to take care of. I love my long locks but sometimes...

(side note: this pic was taken in Myrtle Beach - the first time Tarl and I ever went together)

15. I have a few celebs that follow me on Twitter. I'm most proud of Florida Georgia Line though. They even Direct Messaged me one night @ their concert!

xo

Midweek Randoms

I'm ready to start on tattoo #8. Addicted? Maybe a little but I can honestly say that you can't see any of my tattoos by the naked eye. The only one that you can see (if I have on a short sleeved shirt) is the one on my wrist. I honestly don't care what people think about tattoos. Their opinion is just that, theirs. My opinion is I like 'em. I have two more spots I want tattoos then I'm all done and completely filled up with discrete yet sexy places and that is the side of my foot and my ribcage and the one on my ribcage is next on my radar. I want to get "may the simple things be amazing" written beautifully.

Via Pinterest

I don't want mine near that big, but you get the general idea.

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I shared this on FB last night and it's beyond true.

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We have our first little weekend getaway planned for this weekend and I cannot wait. Tarl's grandmother lives in upstate Georgia and we're venturing out to her place to visit for the weekend. Her house is gorgeous and her and Papa are the sweetest couple you ever did meet. Cadence adores them, as does Tarl and I. I'm ready to spend some quality time with them and venture out in their little town.

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Has anyone else been watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? I've been a fan of most of the Real Housewives franchises and the BH cast is one of my favorites but this season there is just no drama. Just seems a bit dull to me. Now Vanderpump Rules is a whole other story - love that juicy show and cannot stand Stassi. What do you think?

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We are still sticking with our at home eating. Last night was chicken in rice but to be honest we are stuck in a rut and need more meal ideas that don't require 100 ingredients to break the bank. If you have anything please share! The other night I made shrimp jambalaya for the first time and it was delicious so new changes in the food department are always welcome and at this point, needed!

That's all for today...

#GramFam2015

Wow - it's hard to believe that time off work, school and the holidays are over. Between Christmas and New Year I had two full weeks off and I'm not going to lie, it was a struggle setting that alarm clock Sunday night after not having to for two weeks. I will say this, the time went by so fast, but it was so much fun spending that one on one time with my girl while Tarl went to work. He wasn't near as lucky as me with time off. He only got a few days for Christmas and one day for New Years so Cadence and I did a lot of baking, crafts and snuggling watching our favorite show, Chopped. 

(I love that my 6 year old watches Chopped on Food Network and loves it!)

My parents are retired so when I have time off work I spend it with Cadence but a lot of the days we'll walk to my parents house and we'll all sit outside around a fire. That's when this happened. A girl, her dog, a wheelbarrow and her Grandaddy pushing her around. Priceless memories.

We baked a lot of goodies over the break. Our two favorites are meringues and what we call "mexican chips" which is basically a tortilla cut up into triangles, spread with a little butter and fry in some hot oil. It only takes them about 10 seconds to get golden brown. Take them out the oil and as soon as they come out coat them with cinnamon sugar. It's quick and absolutely delicious. 

My meringues are amazing, if I do say so myself. They are also incredibly easy to make but they do take a while to bake. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Using my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer with the whisk attachment, I whisk 3 egg whites along with 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. When the mixture gets thick to the point of soft peaks, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. With the mixer on slow slowly add 3/4 cup of granulated sugar. Once the sugar is incorporated turn the mixture on high until hard peaks are formed or the mixture is really thick. Usually about a minute or a minute and a half. Put in a pastry bag with a pretty tip and pipe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. No need to spray the parchment paper as the meringues do not stick. 

Bake in the oven for two hours. They are light, fluffy and incredibly delicious!

I'm honestly not a "stickler" for New Year's resolutions but I have made a few this year. One being to post a daily picture on Instagram along with a lot of other bloggers and people in general. This one is probably my favorite I have posted thus far. This face of hers is a trip!

 You can keep up with our daily life by searching the hashtag #GramFam2015 

or looking me up on Instagram @BlueJeanMiranda

When Tarl and I became serious after moving in together we went to Church every Sunday. After we got married and became pregnant we became really slack about getting up early on Sundays to get ready for Church. Although we are raising Cadence in a Godly home with prayers, morals and teaching her about Jesus we don't go to Church like we should so another resolution of ours is to start going back to Church regularly and it was such a blessing going on Sunday. Seeing all of our Church members again and Cadence thoroughly enjoyed Children's Church, she even said the prayer at the end for all the kids - I was beyond proud when her teacher told me that! It's the same Church we got married in so it's always amazing to walk down the center of the Church to find a pew knowing that almost 7 years before I walked down that aisle to marry the love of my life, now here we are with so many blessings the Lord has given us.

My final resolution is to read the Bible. It was on my list last year and I didn't stick with it. I'll be honest the Bible is a hard book to get through because of the way they spoke back then and translated it in the Good Book. Especially through Genesis when they go through their lineage explaining whose who, who they married, how many kids and their names. I'm not ashamed to say it's hard for me to understand because it can be, but with 365 days in a year I feel I can take my time and truly comprehend the Lords message. However, if you know of a Bible that you thought was a little easier to get through please let me know. There is a Christian Book store in Savannah and we're going to go check it out this weekend. 

I don't want to say this is a resolution, but more of a goal for 2015 and then on towards the rest of our future, but making dinners each night and bringing my lunch into work with me as well as dinner table sitting instead of watching TV in the living room while we eat. We've done great with this so far and I sure hope we stick with it. I've also brought my lunch into work the past two days so I'm giving myself a little tap on the back. Don't get me wrong I still plan to splurge every now and then but eating out each day (even eating cheap) adds up quick.

I have started decorating our house for Valentine's Day and I'm loving it. Pinks and reds and hearts are adorning our entry table and dining table and as soon as I have all of the decor up I'll be sure and share some pictures with you all. I'm hitting up Dollar Tree today for some cheap decor. Can't beat the price, let's be honest!

Let's talk about New York for a minute. I still cannot believe that I'm going! It truly was unreal to me until I put up my "thankful chalkboard" that I got for Christmas (pics to come) and used that as a countdown to NYC. As of today we are only 79 days away. I know it seems like a lot, but really it isn't. Between work, weekends, TBall coming up, school and functions I know the time will pass and March 26th will be here before I know it. Tarl booked us in Times Square and splurged to get us a city view room. We also have made dinner reservations at Carmines and STK. Our third dinner is still up in the air so suggestions are much appreciated! We're definitely going to do lunch one day at Lombardi's to try their famous pizza as well as Serendipity 3 and the famous Shake Shack to grab one of their burgers. I have my list of places that I 'must see' and I can't wait to see them in person. 

Well I'm off to work...I hope each of you had a blessed and Happy New Year!

xo