Day 21: A Picture of Something that Makes Me Happy

Day 16: Another Picture of Myself

Since the one on day one had to be recent, here's an older one. This is from Halloween last year, I'm on the left.

Day 14: A Picture with My Family

None are recent, or whole. Here are a couple for ya.

Day 11: Another Picture of Myself and Friends

Dan and I have two best friends, but I don't have one picture with the three of us in it. I'll just have to show two pictures.

With Andy...

With Jeff...

Day 09: Something I'm Proud of in the Past Few Days

Well, I haven't done too much within the past few days beside relaxing. I am proud of myself and my team because we bowled great tonight. I'm also proud of this Pike I caught on Saturday.

Day 07: A Picture of Someone that has the Biggest Impact on Me

My boyfriend.

Day 05: A Picture of Somewhere I've Been

This one is kind of hard. I haven't visited too many places and the places I've been to have all been blogged about. I don't want to re-post a picture and be redundant.

This is a picture I took at Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Dan and I used to go there often when we lived in Michigan and had the Jeep. I haven't talked about going there too much in the blog because I didn't have a blog then.

If you're new to the blog and would like to see pictures of all the other places I've been to go here.

Day 03: A Picture of Myself and Friends

 

These are a of couple friends Dan and I hung around with when we lived in Illinois. I particularly like this photo because you can't see my face, haha. I'm in the black shirt in the front with Dan. To the left is Doug and to the right is Jared. Jared's girlfriend Jen was taking the picture. We were on our way back to Union Station.

Day 01: A Recent Picture and 15 Interesting Facts

30 Days of Me starts NOW.

1. I've only been to three others states other than where I live and one other country. I've gone through Indiana, only to get to Illinois. I lived in Illinois for 2 years. I visited Wisconsin a couple times during the time I spent in Illinois. And I've been to Canada, once. Just to go shopping, nothing special.
2. I am an Aquarius and my boyfriend is a Pisces.
3. My middle name is Rae.
4. I apply Secret pH Balanced Spring Breeze to my under arms.
5. I will beat you on Mario Kart Wii or Mario Kart: Double Dash. You're neither a threat or challenge. 
6. My favorite video game of all time is Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Bonus fact- My favorite character in the game has got to be Geno.
7. My dream car is a Grand National. 
8. I enjoy reading novels by Chuck Palahniuk.
9. I got a straight flush on Facebook Texas Hold 'Em before. A-5 hearts.
10. I get creeped out by automated robot voices on the phone, especially at night. 
11. I get annoyed when I go to a store and see that Princess Jasmine is not included in a Disney Princess toy set. She's an actual princess, unlike Tiana, Cinderella, or Belle.
12. My shoes size in 5 in women and 3 in kids.
13. My favorite pizza comes from Hungry Howies.
14. I never watched Titanic, and I don't want to.
15. I'm a huge Detroit Red Wings fan.
    

Dinner Ideas

One of my tasks each day is to come up with something for dinner. I like to keep it as simple as I can, but I need to come up with a variety of options besides spaghetti and chicken with brown rice.

Last night we had baked Tilapia and salad.

The Tilapia was bought fresh at the fish counter at my local grocery store. I brought it home and squeezed a lemon over it and then added McCormick Herb with Lemon Seafood Rub and McCormick Perfect Pinch Parmesan Herb seasoning. I baked it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The salad was just lettuce, orange bell peppers, dried cranberries, feta cheese and Garlic Expressions for the dressing.

I'd like to ask all of you for your simple dinner suggestions. I'm starting to run out of ideas on my own.

Lazy Summer Day

Lazy Summer Day
Originally uploaded by Pure Michigan

I entered a photo contest for Pure Michigan (just for fun) and decided to check out all the other entries. There were many beautiful photographs but this was one of the ones that caught my eye the most. I've never seen a squirrel hanging out like that before. I'm not sure who the photographer is but I'd just like to tell him or her that this is a great capture and thank them for sharing. :)

On This Day

I can't believe it's been almost 10 years. Time goes by fast. 

On this day nine years ago I was 11 years and starting my first year of middle school. The school year was still young and I hardly knew my way around the brand new building.

On this day nine years ago I was transitioning from Science to Choir. The hallways were silent and the atmosphere was heavy and tense. No one had heard the breaking news, but I think everyone had the same strange feeling. We sensed something wasn't right.

On this day nine years ago I sat down on a cold hard chair amongst my peers and waited for class to begin. Instead of warming up our voices, our teacher turned on the T.V. and we watched the events unfold. We listened to the reporters cover what little information they had.

On this day nine years ago I was confused. My teacher was distraught and everyone was mute. I had never heard of the World Trade Center or terrorists. We continued the school day on lock down. We were not aloud outside for recess. Some kids went home.

This day will never be forgotten. Though I was too young to understand the severity of the situation nine years ago, I remember where I was and how I felt. 

Where were you on this day?

It's Officially Fall When...

I have my Pumpkin ice cream. :D

I'm Home!

My vacation went over alright, though it could have been better.
Dan and I didn't get much fishing in. I caught a Crappie and he caught a Bass.

I tried to play with the camera a little. I had very little inspiration so this is all I got to.

All I can say is, I'm glad to be back home.
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Now that I'm back around I need to get working on my shop more. I'm in the process of thinking of a new name for the blog as well.

Monday Memories - Dash and Smokey

A few years ago I had taken in two brother cats from a friend.
They were outdoor cats and they went out one day and never returned home, so I'm not sure what happened to them. I'm just sharing some photos for today.

Dash

Smokey

Woodward Dream Cruise 2010

Dan and I didn't get to make it down on the actual day of the cruise, but we did get down on Sunday night.
It was pretty busy and we got to see a lot of nice cars. I took a few photos, enjoy. :)

Friday's Funny - PicHacks

via

Burgers for Dinner!

Dan and I made the most delicious burgers for dinner earlier. I talked about them before (Some Things Must Come to an End) and how we bought them from the Whole Foods Market. You can read all about their meat here.

Anyway, I took some pictures. :)

(the lighting wasn't too great outside for taking photos)

Crock-Pot Chicken Recipe

I experimented with my Crock-Pot again last night. I'm not exactly sure what the name of this dish is, because there are so many different variations. The three main ingredients I used were chicken breasts, cream of mushroom soup and cornbread stuffing.

My Crock-Pot is small and it's only setting is low, so keep that in mind when making this dish yourself.
I took two boneless skinless chicken breasts and set them on the bottom of the stoneware. I also sprinkled some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

You want to mix about two cans of cream of mushroom soup in a bowl with milk, but be careful not to make it too runny. I like to keep it thick. After you have your mixture, lay this on top of the chicken breasts. I made the mistake of only using one can, and after it had been cooking for awhile it evaporated and I added in the second can later.

After you put your soup on top, put in a box of your favorite flavored stuffing. I used cornbread.
It barely fit in my little Crock-Pot, and I'm sure if I had started off with two cans of soup I really wouldn't have been able to fit it in. I also put about a tablespoon of butter on top of the stuffing.

While the dish cooked, I stirred the stuffing a little bit so it could get moist. I didn't stir until about an hour and a half after it started cooking, and I only stirred it once in awhile. You don't want the stuffing to be too wet and mushy, but you definitely don't want it too dry. I wasn't even sure how long I should cook it for. I put it on about 12 in the afternoon and unplugged it when Dan came home at 6:30 for dinner. I think it could have been completely ready within 5-6 hours.

We weren't sure how to get everything out of the dish, so we just scooped it out. The chicken was delicious and it just fell apart. The stuffing and soup mixed together was AMAZING. I would definitely make this again and I think it's on the list of one of our favorite dishes.

Through Tired Eyes

I know, I skipped yesterday's weekly post. I'm busy getting everything ready for my sister's birthday party this afternoon. I don't think I've slept in the past couple days and all I want is a Full Throttle so that I can think and properly function. I'm getting ready to head out to the mall to find a present for her.
I was up late last night baking and decorating a gluten free cake. Did you know that Betty Crocker has a whole line of products that are gluten free? I baked a devil's food cake with whipped buttercream frosting and decorated it with icing and sprinkles, hello cavities. :)
I'm not a baker, nor do I play one on T.V., but hopefully the cake turns out well for the party.

Happy Saturday everyone.