Be bold.

Just a little inspiration for a Monday!

Friday Favorites

Today I decided to go with a traditional post and share some items I've come across this week that I have enjoyed and wanted to share!

Since the weather has been less-than-desirable this week, {zero points for sleeping in every day this week and making it to zero 6am workouts} I finally had a good excuse to break out my new Hunter Rain Boots from the hubs!

He picked out the color all by himself - the new Teal Lagoon Blue! Love them.

Also, on my top picks of the week, Flatout Foldit's! These suckers are delicious... and one Foldit has 7 grams of fiber and only 90 calories.  It's a great way to eat some more fiber on the go... and tasty too!

The Jean shirt.
So, for the past year I've been having a major mental conflict trying to decide if these are really back in style... and whether or not 'm ready to jump on the bandwagon yet.  Well this week, I found one at Ross for $14 and decided it couldn't hurt to add one to my wardrobe.  What do you think? Have you jumped on yet? I guess it will be a fun casual addition to the closet.

Mrs. Meyer's Hand Soap. 

I'm not sure where I have been for the past 10 years... but this soap is amazing!  I have had it at friends houses for years, but after hand washing every dish in the house... I now realize the quality behind a good hand soap. 

Uno - yes,  the card game. 

We're going old school here and throwing this one out there because last night, while we were "snowed in" we played Uno for hours on end... and had SO much fun! I just had to add it to the list today because I forgot how much fun a little bit of old fashioned games could be. 

So if you're looking for a fun relaxing night at home... invite a few friends over, have a delicious meal and break out some card games.  

It's the weekend folks... Cheers to RE Lee and MLK for Monday off! See you next week. 

xo, Trace

Happy Birthday Mal Pal!

Today, a shout out to one of my Mango's... Mal Pal turns 29!!!  Love you sweet friend!!!

I know you are having a fabulous Birthday in the Big Apple with your wonderful hubs... BUT I hate the Mango's can't be there to celebrate with you... so I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite memories {and a few laughs} with you...

Lynsey's Wedding... '09

Dance lesson from Mr. Jeff

Lyns' Rehearsal 

Mango 2012

Nashville

Your B'ette!

Dot's B'ette

DI Mango

AU '05

SB '06

Beautiful Bride!

{Will you please look at my face - weird. ha!}

War Damn Mango's!! and HAPPPY BIRTHDAY Mal, I love YOU!!!! 

Gumbo Mumbo!

Gumbo Gravy & Grits

For this Cajun, southern, low-country, Alabama girl - when it comes to Gumbo, I mean business.  Now, that's not to say that I'm a picky eater or that I would ever turn down a chance at seafood gumbo... or seafood of any type for that matter.  But, thanks to the Debster, I'm kinda a gumbo snob.  Let's be honest - real made-from-the-heart gumbo takes lots of choppin', stirrin', pickin' crab and way more hours than I really have left laying around on any given day. But, every time I head to the coast and get a taste of Momma's gumbo - it almost seems worth the 5+hours of work. Just for a little bowl of crab meat and shrimp goodness.  Now, this blog is not to share her recipe... I'll be darned if she ever gives it to me, much less shares it with the www... but, I did want to share a amazing Southern Living recipe that tasted almost as yummy and took just about 30 minutes to make. It's so simple... and you can have gumbo on any given night of the week. Just try it, I promise it won't let you down!

Original recipe and picture can be found here. 

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 teaspoons Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning

6 ounces {one link} andouille sausage, diced

Vegetable cooking spray

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 cup diced sweet onion

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons Browned Flour

1 cup reduced-sodium, fat-free all natural chicken broth

1 cup sliced fresh okra

2 large plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced

2 cups prepared grits

Garnish: sliced green onions & Louisiana hot sauce

First you will want to brown your flour and set aside. {see recipe above}

Next, be sure to peel your shrimp, coat with Tony's and set aside. 

Spray medium skillet with cooking spray and turn heat to medium. Slice sausage and saute for 5 minutes or until slightly browned. Add oil, onion, bell pepper and garlic. Saute 3-5 minutes until onions are transparent and garlic is roasted. Sprinkled browned flour over mixture and stir until well-blended. Stir in chicken broth and increase heat to bring to a boil. Stir continually until thickened. Add shrimp, okra and tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. 

Serve over grits {we used instant, but you can also use stone ground}, garnish with green onions, Louisiana hot sauce and serve hot french bread. Enjoy!

Hands on time: 15 minutes {plus flour & grits}

Servings: yields 4-6 

What to do with all those Christmas Cards

Every year, the hardest part of getting over Christmas is taking down all the beautiful cards from all our friends and family near and far that sent their wishes, updates, pretty faces, and holiday cheer...

A snap-shot of our cards taken before we left for the holidays... and came back to another stack of 20 or so... 

we were really feeling the love this year!

...just to toss them in the recycle bin come January 1? I can never do it!  An old colleague of mine used to collect cards and give them to a friend of a program who recycled them... Jesse's mom always used to send hers too. This year I decided to find a place of my own to send them {and Jesse's mom too}. With a simple google search you'll find lots of ideas... use them for gift tags, accents for bags, scrapbooking, or tree ornaments, but my favorite option was to donate them to The St. Jude's Ranch for Children.

A little history on the program from their website...

"More than thirty years ago, wishing to show our donors appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived to turn the previous year’s Christmas cards into “new” cards for the coming season. The recipients were so delighted when they received the unique “thank you,” that they requested to purchase the special cards. The program soon expanded to include all occasion greeting cards…as well as Thank You cards, Easter cards, Birthday cards and Just Because cards.

Support for the Recycled Card Program was so overwhelming that people from all over the world began donating to our program by sending in their used cards. The Program became so successful that soon we were receiving more than 1 million cards.

So, today we packed up a couple dozen cards from the office and over 100 of our own... along with a few tossed in from co-workers and send a huge package to the ranch.  If you're looking to put your family and friends beautiful cards to good use, send yours as well. 

Mail donations to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children

Recycled Card Program

100 St. Jude’s Street

Boulder City, NV 89005

Looking 4 fabulous in 2013!

I don't know about you but I'm pretty pumped about this new year ahead!! 13 has always been my lucky number... so to be in the actual year "13" this has to be like the luckiest year of all!  It's already started off pretty good... with great friends and a wonderful husband by my side - I really sometimes feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  We didn't make any big resolutions this year, but we have been working out better for the past week and eating better... drinking less and getting more rest... you know, all the things that come with a fresh start and the excitement of a new year ahead.  My #1 goal this year is to get more organized - at home, at work, in my volunteer roles and in everyday life.  I started off the year by cleaning out our closest... drawers, the kitchen, the linens, the shed... even went through the Christmas boxes and in the end, donated 7 huge bags and boxes of clothes and house-hold goods to Goodwill. After I dropped them off, I felt better already.  Then, we finally go our s*** in order and put plates on my car, added me to our car insurance and got the Jeepster back on the road.  We went a whole year with only one car - and it really was ok and saved us some good money, but I must say that I'm happy to have my own car back! Here is just a glimpse of my new plates that should arrive any day now...

{no worries, this is not my actual plate #}

Next on my New Year's List was to get my but organized in my volunteer roles... I have a big year ahead.. starting with 4 of my AOII chapters and recruitment in January and February. I mapped out time for AOII and my chapters and actually got emails out to all 4 VPMR's, RA's, NME's and NMEA's {or for those non-AOII's - Recruitment and New Member peeps}. I was surprised at the quick responses I got back too - feelin' better already!!

Next up in the volunteer world is FCA... and this year I am the annual conference chair. I mapped out time each week to devote to the conference and planning and got organized with my binder, materials and committee - we still have lots to do, but I'm confident we'll get it done come May!

My third big volunteer role this year is Chair of the our local Community Festival.  Today kicks off our first Jaycee's meeting of the year, and I'm excited to make the first call for my committee to get plans rolling. The festival is in late August - but we have lots of new changes this year, including the construction of the main bridge that runs into town and right through the heart of the festival. Not sure how that's going to play out... but we shall see. At least I've starting thinking about it - that's a good thing, right?

So far, 2013 is off to a pretty good start - we've already made donations to some of our favorite charities, made plans to spend time with family and good friends... found a way to actually have both of our rental properties fully rented for the time being and pay off a good chunk of debt.

What are some of your goals for the new year ahead?  I need to get to work on this  30b430 List... 11 months to go - and so much to do and see!

We have some good recipes to share tomorrow {we've been eating well this week} so stay tuned!

Happy AOII Day!

When I joined AOII at Auburn University 10 years ago, I really wasn't prepared for the wonderful adventurous ride ahead of me! To say that AOII has shaped who I am today would be an understatement. AOII has become more than just an organization that I joined to make friends... it's has given me more sisters... life-long friends... connections... jobs... travels and good memories than I ever imagined.  AOII is the reason I moved to Virginia, met my husband, got to call Music City my home, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Steel Magnolia House, Niagara Falls, Vegas, LA, New York, Texas, the mid-west... the west coast, experienced my first Chicago pizza and hot dogs, saw my first real cactus in the dessert and ate more types of food than I can even name. Today, I am ever so grateful for the 4 women above who gave me this joyous ride. To AOII's everywhere - Happy Founder's Day!!!

Keep your light shining!