Announcement

Updated: Lash is into MUSC in Charleston.  Apparently how I worded it implied he got into Medical School at USC in Columbia.  Wrong.  He's going to be in Charleston :))

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I interrupt this non-blogging vacation to make a very important announcement:

LASH HAS BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF SOUTH CAROLINA!!!

What a blessing and a dream come true!! God is so good!

We are so excited.  Lash, you are going to be a wonderful doctor, and I can't wait to watch you live your dream.  I am so proud of you!!!!

The Little Boy and The Starfish

I'm in Beaufort for the night before we head off to the Keys tomorrow (WAHOOO!!).  As I was messing around packing, I came across a devotional book that I used to read from each night to my campers when I was a counselor at Greystone. This is a great story. 

The Little Boy and The Starfish

A little boy was walking down the seashore with his friend and sharing how the tides threw starfish out of the sea and onto the beach.  He explained that when the low tide came in, the starfish could not move fast enough to get back in the water.  Left defenseless on the beach, it would dry up and die.  As they continued to walk, the little boy finally saw a starfish.  He picked it up, and just as he was getting ready to throw it back into the sea, his friend asked, "Why are you doing that?  With all the hundreds of miles of shoreline around the area, there must be thousands of starfish that are dying rgiht now.  What good can throwing back one little starfish matter to the whole population of starfish?"

The little boy stood there holding the starfish in his hand and said, "I'm not sure what it will do for all the rest of the starfish in the world, but it will mean everything to this one."  He then threw it back into the sea, and the starfish regained its life and went on to do its thing.

Can you make a difference to just one person today?

-- I'm off to the Keys.  Looking for starfish :)  Have a great week, and hopefully I will have some awesome fish stories to report soon.  God Bless!

Amen

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2010-05-18-lostappreciate18_CV_N.htm?csp=outbrain&csp=obnetwork

Follow Losties.  Click the link from USA Today, because "even when it's over, LOST will stay with us for a long, long time." 

I'm already crying thinking about Sunday night.  The end of an era is upon us. 

Only 4 days!

In only four days, I will be here:

Enjoying a much needed eight days vacation with my family and Lash!!

Doing this . . .

Catching this . . .

Walking this . . .

And then at night, hopefully eating our fish,

having a cocktail . . .

and watching this

I am so excited!!!

WOW

I don't know how to describe the weekend.   The bride was stunning, the weather gorgeous, the setting magnificient. . . It was perfect in every way.

Before I go into the details of the wedding, I want to give you a little bit of an idea of where this all was happening.

Above is the entrance once to Laurel Spring from highway 17.  Every time I go under those oaks, a peace passes over me, and I know I'm home.

This is the house from the front.

Laurel Spring used to be an old rice plantation back in the day, so the backyard of the property overlooks the old rice fields.

Now to the wedding photos!!

Friday morning, my mom and aunts hosted the bridal luncheon. 

I know I certainly would not be the girl I am today without these wonderful, Godly women in my life.

What a beautiful, beautiful table setting!

The glowing bride and the mother of the bride during her toast at the luncheon.

All the bridesmaids minus me. :( Bummed I missed this!

Friday night, the rehearsal dinner was on the Spirit of the Lowcountry as we cruised around the Charleston harbor.  It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I do not have one picture from the entire night!  I'm going to do some serious Facebook stalking and hopefully find some to post.

Saturday, we were all giddy with excitement about the first wedding in our family, but I can not believe what peace there was throughout the day.  I'm sure the bride was a little nervous, but she did not show it one bit.  There were no tears (ok, only when we saw her in her dress, and they were "you look so beautiful!! tears :) ) and the air was very, very calm the entire day.   Everyone was so happy, excited, and eagerly anticipating 5pm!!  I'd like to think I'll be very calm and peaceful on my wedding day.  Dargan was such a rockstar.

The wedding was just more beautiful than I can say.  

My gorgeous sister and I in our bridesmaid dresses

My handsome date.  Behind us you can see the altar where they got married (right in front of the stump). Don't you love the benches? They were a great choice for an outside wedding!

The best family a girl could ask for.

And last but not least,  the dress and the bride and groom :)

MOH doing a great job protecting that veil from snags, haha!

So indeed, it was a fabulous weekend.  Dargan married Rob, who, though President of the Student Body at W&L who graduated with more jaw- dropping job offers than you can shake two sticks at, decided to give back to our country, and is an active Marine.  He has already been deployed once to Afghanistan, and has received his orders in October to go to Iraq for seven months.  I ask you to please join me in prayers for the newlywed couple as he honors his commitment to our country.  With training and deployment, Rob will be away from Darg for the greater of 8 months of their first year of marriage.  I applaud Dargan for her commitment and incredible strength and perseverance.   It is not going to be easy, but with their true love and dedication to God and to each other, I know they will triumph over their adversities and separation.  Congratulations Dargan and Rob! We are so excited for you to begin this chapter of life together!

A Wedding Affair

I have been looking forward to this weekend for so long-   My first cousin is getting married, and she is the first first cousin in our family to get married!  It is also very special fior the family because she included our 4 girl cousins in her wedding party. So this is also my first wedding to be in! :)

The rehearsal dinner tonight is going to be on the Spirit of the Lowcountry.  What fun to cruise around the harbor!  Dinner and dancing on a boat?  I'm in!

Tomorrow, the wedding is will be at Laurel Spring Plantation, our family place in between Charleston and Beaufort.  My family met out there last night for dinner and bonding before the big day and let me tell you, it is BEAUTIFUL out there this time of year.  We predominately spend our time at LS in the fall and winter, and not much towards the spring and summer because its so hot, so I've never really spent much time out there during the spring blooms.  Everything is so green and lush!  The actual ceremony is set to take place under a beautiful oak tree, with a view overlooking the mash and old rice fields.  I can't wait to share pictures, I just know it is going to be breathtakingly beautiful. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.  Happy Friday!

He Got Squirreled!

This is Lash's ceiling in his bedroom.  

YIKES!

Yesterday, Lash got home and noticed water dripping from the ceiling of his first floor bedroom.  He went to explore the leak . . . and quickly discovered that it was caused by a squirrel chewing through the waterline. . .  which in turn caused the ceiling to collapse this morning.

He and his roommate have the biggest mess over there with their wet floors, fallen ceiling, and other debris.  They've had to turn off the water, call a plumber, and deal with insurance folks.  What a nightmare!!  I hope the squirrels stay away from our waterline!

Cooking Light, You Win Again!

Have you SEEN this month's Cooking Light?

It is a winner!!  Do yourself a favor and go buy it right now.

This month spotlights Homemade Pizza (yum!), Risotto (yum!), spring vegetables (yum!) and this Rosemary Lemon Chicken breasts recipe below (yum!).  I began tearing out recipes to store in my recipe binder, but quickly realized I was tearing out about every single page!  So I stopped, and have saved the mag for future reference.

This recipe is so easy, explodes in flavor, and is only 230 calories per serving! What is not to love?!?

Photo Borrow from CL Website :)

Lemon- Rosemary Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
salt
pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons EVOO
4 (8-ounce) bone- in chicken breast halves, skinned (I used boneless)
1 1/2 cups fat- free, less- sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 rosemary sprig

Directions:
- Preheat oven 375.
- Heat EVOO in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Sprinkle chicken with S&P and cook 3 minutes on each side.  Place chicken in 9X13 baking dish.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.  Cover and let rest 10-15 minutes. (I only let mine rest for 5 minutes- I was hungry :) )
- Heat skillet over medium high heat.  Add broth, juice, and rosemary sprig.  Bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until broth mixture measures 1/3 cup.  Discard rosemary sprig; salt and pepper to taste.  Serve atop chicken.

Though I'm sure it is great as is, I made a few changes to CL's recipe.  I zested a lemon and put the zest in the broth as it reduced.  After I squeezed the lemon's juice out for the broth, I cut up the lemon and made the slices a "bed" for the chicken to sit on while it baked in the oven.  That way I really maximined all the lemony flavor I could. . . with little to no caloric addition.  To be "healthy," y'all it was good!

Whew

RE: Yesterday's post.

Clearly, its been a crazy week.  I've had set agendas at work and in my personal life of things to do, and different things have been popping up and I can't get anything accomplished that I want to.  That drives me nuts.  I only had the chance to work out ONCE this past week and  I'm headed to the Keys in 15 days so that has really frustrated me-- so much for my 30 Day Shredded beach bod!  And, I've had various activities around town I had to go to at night so I didn't have the chance to relax after work.  These activities included adult beverages.  So therefore I haven't slept as well or felt as sharp the next day.  Ugh.  Whine, whine whine. (or wine, wine, wine) hehe.

So, I'm taking my teacups spinning self HOME for the weekend :)

This is the image that popped up yesterday after I googled "Spinning Teacups." I laughed out loud at work for a solid 30 seconds.  I LOVE his facial expression.

Anyways, I can't wait to get SPOILED ROTTEN, and then spoil my momma back for Mother's Day.  Thank the Lord Beaufort is so close.  I'm going out in the boat, sitting out by the pool, having fried soft shell crab for dinner tonight. . .   { Insert really, really big sigh of relief here!! }

Life is good.

Spinning Teacups

This past week, my life has felt like a ride on the Mad Hatter's spinning teacups- quickly gaining speed, spinning faster and faster as I go round and round. . .

It's not me sitting forward and turning the wheel, hand over hand, stroke by stroke.  I'm instead the passenger, stretched out backwards, head toward the sky, arms in the air, and trying to make sense of the chaos.  I watch all the once familiar surroundings blur as they pass and struggle to remember my surroundings.

Soon, I hope, the ride will be over, and I will get off with whobbly legs and slowly make my way over to a railing on which to stand.

I need to breathe.

Cinco De Mayo

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!

I LOVE this holiday!  What better excuse to eat your body weight in chips and queso, and drink margaritas!! :) 

Though I will not be cooking this evening, I wanted to share this fabulous enchilada recipe by the Food Network's Tyler Florence.

I take a particular likin' to Tyler because his family is from Greenville, SC and his brother was my tennis coach throughout middle and high school.  So though I've actually never met Tyler, I totally talk like I have!  A girl can dream, right?

Anyway, this recipe for Roasted Green Chile- Chicken Enchiladas is just so great.  Disclaimer: you will make a huge mess in your kitchen BUT the results are totally worth it.  I cheat a little bit and use canned green tomatillo salsa.  Its just too easy . . . and I don't know a thing about  tomatillos and jalapenos. Though I'm sure I'm missing some of the "kick" and authentic Mexican flair, my milder, less fussy version is still great!  You have got to try it!

Restaurant Rants

I've been eating out a lot lately because I have been traveling for work and got home to nothing in my kitchen.  So this post is inspired by some of my less than pleasurable experiences and by my friend Natalie's blog post on Restaurant Rants.

-  After ordering, I really enjoying having a delicious piece of bread while sipping on my cocktail and conversing with the table.  But, I can't stand when restaurants serve ice- cold, refrigerated butter with warm bread.  You can hardly cut the butter with your butter knight without making a mess or a loud noise, and more importantly, it does not spread well on the bread! Please, don't refrigerate my butta!

-  This is a big rant.  Let me taste my food before you offer me the fresh ground pepper.  How am I supposed to know if I need pepper if I have not tasted the dish yet?

-  Why is wine 200% more expensive??  If we're paying premium dollars for my Chardonnay, don't let our glasses get empty OR make us refill our own glasses.

-  I hate when servers bring everyone's entrees in shifts.  As my momma taught me, you wait for everyone to have their food before you begin eating.  I understand a kitchen is busy, but someone's meal is sitting on the table getting cold while other's are still on the grill.  ?

-  Why are vegetables sometimes the weakest link on the plate?  I love veggies, and think they can totally complement the flavors of the dish and provide a lower calorie bite than the other accompaniments.  Leave the waxy green beans in the kitchen and serve me something good!

-  Totally agree with Natalie on this one:  Don't remove the plates before everyone at the table is finished eating.  I think it is so rude.  Everyone eats at difference paces, and no one should feel rushed or awkward because they are a slow eater.  My grandmother, I swear, is the slowest eater I know, and while the rest of my family could probably be through with our salad and entree before she completes her salad, we patiently wait for her and swat at our server's hands as he tries to take our plates away.  Plus, the pickers of the world like myself, we like to nibble at our last bites throughout conversation.  

Ohhh, Tassimo, you have ruined me!

Our office uses a Tassimo single- serve coffee maker.  I love it.

but now, I'm so used to it, that I hardly know how to make an old- fashion pot of coffee at home.

Pathetic!

In my defense, I don't make coffee during the week at home, a cup of OJ satisfies me until I get to the office.  But now, Saturday and Sunday mornings require my foggy brain wayyy to much thinking to try to measure out the right amount of grounds to water.  Sometimes, I don't even bother.

This morning I read the directions on the back of the coffee bag (so sad), and while my beverage is okay, I'm totally missing the single-serve, press a button and voila, the perfect cup of Joe.

Woe is me!!! :)