Happiness is...

It's been a long time since I've dabbled in cross stitch but this moth I have had the strongest urge to. So, first thought: "I'll find something on Pinterest!" Well, looking for one pattern soon turned into a whole board dedicated to cross stitch patterns.

I loved the message of the pattern on this pin. It reminds me not to overlook the blessings I do have in my life.

Thinking of West

As you may have heard on the news, last night the city of West, Texas was rocked by a fertilizer plant explosion. I cannot begin to imagine what those who live there are feeling and how they have been impacted by this tragedy.

My husband and I live about 20 minutes south of West. As I was leaving work last night I saw one...two...three...five police cars race down the freeway. Moments later more police cars and fire trucks raced northbound on the freeway. At that moment I wasn't aware of what happened but I knew it was something big.

Working for a major retailer, I went to work this morning expecting something out of the ordinary. As I walked into the building I ran a mental list of associates and checked to make sure they were at work, safe.  I spent the morning arranging the delivery of supplies that I knew our customers would come searching for. Next, we began searching for our associates who reside in West. Thankfully, we were able to locate everyone and learn that they were indeed safe.

At 9am a man came up to me asking where we kept the flashlights. On our way, he told me he used to live on the top floor of the apartment complex that was destroyed by the explosion. He had had just returned to town from a business trip that morning to discover his home was no longer there. What struck me the most was that he came into our store to purchase a flashlight and a jacket with the intent of driving back to West to help look for survivors. This man, who had just lost his home, was more focused on finding survivors than worrying about where he would sleep that night. I think that describes the attitude of the city of West pretty well; they are a town of people that sticks together.

The next time I looked at my watch it was 5pm. My day had flown by, filled with some of the most generous people I have met in my life. It was amazing to see how many people from the surrounding area came in to find supplies to take to West.

I don't know what the coming days will hold for West, but please continue to keep them in your thoughts.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Stew

My husband is Irish through and through so for St. Patrick's day we went to a local pub. Along with our festive green beer, we were served a delicious bowl of corned beef stew. Yummy! That meal inspired me and I got to pinning.

I found this pin and went to the grocery store straight away. The recipe is pretty simple; just gather the ingredients, them in a pot and wait (impatiently!). I made a few changes to the recipe from Skinny Taste in an effort to mimic what we had at the pub.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 leeks, chopped (whites and light green only)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 lb lean corned beef brisket (yields 9 oz cooked)
• 6 cups of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• 1 small head cabbage, cored and chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• fresh pepper to taste

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium low heat. Add leeks and sauté until soft, about 4-5 minutes; add garlic, carrots and yellow pepper and sauté about 2-3 minutes.

Add corned beef, peppercorns or seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef, bay leaves, parsley and water; cover and bring to a boil. Simmer covered on low heat for 3 hours, until the meat becomes tender.

Remove the corned beef, set it on a cutting board and shred with a fork cube. Return it to the pot then add the cabbage and potatoes, taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed. Cook until the potatoes and cabbage are tender, about 45 more minutes. 

 
The recipe makes about 6 cups so we even had leftovers. I know what you're thinking....leftover soup isn't always the best. But this was even better as leftovers because the flavors had time to mix and mingle overnight.

Our Pinspired Wedding

After nearly seven years of courtship (nine days shy to be exact) I married my best friend in December. We planned our wedding from out of state, but with Pinterest we were able to share our ideas with family and friends back home. Our family had joked that this was the "wedding of a century" but it truly went beautifully, without a hitch. Here's a sample of our pinspired wedding.

Hair: I adore the hairstyle in this pin. My sister-in-law always has the most gorgeous hair so she was my hair stylist for the day. I love how it turned out.

Guest Book: We had my husband's aunt take our engagement pictures in Old Town Scottsdale. We took the photos and turned them into a beautiful Shutterfly book (I 100% recommend them by the way). The pin uses lay flat pages (which cost much bucko) but I find the traditional style pages work just as nice for this.

Bouquet: I struggled for a long time deciding how I wanted my bouquet to look. We had already decided on hydrangeas and roses so I went to the grocery store and picked some up to start experimenting. 

As you can see my attempt was a FAIL. I decided to give up a little control on my mostly DIY wedding and contacted a professional florist with this pin. We changed a few things but it turned out great.

Centerpieces: Lots of Pinterest going on here; favor boxes (with custom ornaments inside), table, numbers, and floral vases. My husband thought I was crazy to put together 30 of these centerpieces on my own (well, me and 5 of my "volunteers") but the pin was so simple! The table numbers came form this pin and a little Microsoft magic.

Mr. & Mrs. Sign: These signs are all the rage on Pinterest but I especially liked the contrast this pin offered by using scrapbook paper. One of my bridesmaids and I busted out the Cricuit machine and this is what we got.

 
Thank You: We wanted a way to thank our guests for spending the day with us. Inspired by this pin, we sprinkled signs around the reception to show our appreciation. Amazing what a little MS Publisher magic can do.

All pinning aside, none of this would have been half as beautiful if I wasn't able to marry the man of my dreams that day. Love you babe!

You can view my entire Pinterest wedding board here.

Pot 'O Gold

When I saw this pin I couldn't get enough of how cute this was. A pot of leprechaun gold and the rainbow all in one jar. The tutorial, provided by Brook McClay gives simple step-by-step picture instructions; I knew this was something I could accomplish!

Well, after searching little Waco for a few days I was unable to find the gold coins shown in Brook's tutorial. I began searching the candy aisle of my grocery store until I ran across Rolos. I remember when I was six and my dad took me on my first plane flight, hanging me a roll of Rolos. It was then that I also remembered Rolos came in a gold wrapper. Tada! gold nuggets in place of gold coins!

So here you have it:

Before long this little cute will be on a journey to my 'lil sis in Arizona.

Total Cost < $10

Creamy Tortellini Soup

This pin made me salivate faster than I could repin. Creamy Tortellini Soup, yum! The recipe is extremely simple. Basically, throw some of this ad some of that into a pot and let simmer. The hubs isn't big on chunky tomato so we left out the sun dried tomatoes but I did decide to ass some ground beef for some added protein.

The soup turned out better than I could have imagined. We ended up with twice as much as what we wanted for dinner. Our leftovers for lunch today were just as delicious as the first time around.