Labor Day....rest and sales

I hope you are set up for a long and restful weekend.  I am very much looking forward to it.  I plan on just chilling out as much as possible....and of course doing just a little shopping.  If you are retailing make sure you catch some of the following sales:

Anthropologie is having an additional 50% off clearance prices.

Also Wayfair has some serious markdowns like this set of two chairs for under $125.


or this set if velvet is not your thing for just cents over $125



And at Bath and Body Works


HSN is having a clearance event


I glanced briefly and found these

Born Queens Leather

We all know how hard a good navy shoe is to find.....but it also comes in brown and black.

and check out Madewell's offer

This is a great way to rid yourself of the "I have so many jeans" guilt.  Recycle a pair that "shrunk in the dryer" and get a new pair that fits great.

Also my favorite skincare line , Colleen Rothschild, is having a great Labor Day Sale


If you have never tried it, try the discover kit to sample several of her best products.

And lastly


It is time to stock up on the best personalized notebooks and planners at May Designs.

Oh and if you need something to do on Sunday night, Hallmark will be previewing this years Christmas movies......Yay!!!

I hope enjoy a great long weekend.  I will meet you back here on Wednesday!

Football is back

Yay!!!!

That is totally sarcastic just in case any of you missed it.  Totally.  Like I feel that we just finished talking about playoffs and championships and who was staying in college and who was trying to go pro.....wasn't all of that just last week?

Truly this is waaaayyy to early for all this talk to start again.  Here is what I don't understand...... there are at least 324 ESPN channels so why do sports come on regular network TV?  Can't we have all of our normal shows and people who actually care about sports find it on ESPN?

So you know me, I am all about making the best of whatever the situation is.  If  you need some football alternatives, I am your girl.

Here's a quick list of things to do while other people are watching football

1) Retail - ok, you knew this was going to be on the list.  I fully support on line and brick and mortar shopping.  Might I recommend a few local shops like Vintage West and Sweet Pineapple.  Or something more traditional like Hobby Lobby which is super fun to browse this time of year.

2) Classes - Check out both Art & Soul and University Pickers class schedules. Maybe you could find a fun class to take and learn something new in the process.

3) Napping - When all else fails, grab a throw and make yourself comfy on the couch

4) Reading - Check out any of my book reviews and curl up with a good book

5) Watch some other really good TV.  There are so many good things to binge watch.  I am sure you can find something that will take you through the whole season.  I still cannot get enough of Downton Abbey, The Crown and Call the Midwife.

Now if you actually enjoy watching football, I wish you well - May your team win big and may you not talk to me about it all season :)

Meal Prep for a busy week

The past couple of months have been super busy.  So I have been doing tons of meal prep on the weekend to ease what has to be done on weeknights.  This week I thought I would bring you along

First up, let me say Saturday morning Food Network is the best.  If I am home on Saturday mornings, I usually have it on AND I usually end up making something that I saw for the next week.  I can't help it....everything looks so good....and so easy.  This Saturday I happened to be home and well......

The Pioneer Woman made this Sheet Pan Curry Chicken.  Just click here for the whole recipe.
So to prep I cut up the carrots and prepped the green beans.

Then mixed up the curry sauce

Both of these went into the fridge with a pack of drumsticks.  Now all we have to do is throw everything on the sheet pan and bake one evening.  It cooks in about 30-45 minutes at 450 degrees.  While that is cooking we can prepare some rice and the meal is all done.

The Pioneer Woman also got me with these BBQ baked potatoes.  Click here for that whole recipe.

She cooked her chicken in a One Pot.  I cooked mine in a traditional slow cooker.  Saturday night before bed I put everything in the slow cooker and let it cook all night.  I got up Sunday morning and pulled all the chicken, peppers and onion out and put them in a bowl.  I shredded everything with two forks and left it to cool on the counter.  About the time I was dressed and ready for church it was cool enough to be popped into the fridge so we can warm it up one night this week.  So this night we will bake potatoes and have a quick salad.  

I went ahead and sliced some green onion and shredded the cheese

Now all this is ready for a quick meal during the week.

The next thing I decided to make was also from the Pioneer Woman.  She made these Teriyaki Ribs in the slow cooker.  Click here for the whole recipe.  Again, I put these on Saturday night right before I went to bed.  Sunday morning I pulled them out and put them into a 9x13 dish. I followed the remainder of the recipe to strain the slow cooker liquid and made the teriyaki sauce

Once the sauce was made, I added it to the ribs and put the dish in the fridge to heat up this week.  We are going to have roasted veggies with it.  I went ahead and prepped some onion, brocolli and red potatoes so they are all ready to roast while the ribs heat up.

The last inspiration came from Trisha Yearwood cooking turnip greens.  Her recipe is here.  

I cut back on the Apple Cider vinegar.  I only added a couple of tablespoons.  Plus I added a little cayenne pepper and a teaspoon of sugar.  Personally I do not like greens but everyone else in my house likes them.  So I cooked them up and asked for a volunteer to taste and make sure they were seasoned correctly.  Now these are also in the fridge.  I picked up a couple of pork tenderloins to cook on the night we have the greens.

So there you have it.  A little weekend prep to help the week run smoother.  Plus it is just super nice to know that all the meals are planned and there will be no stress each evening.  

You might wonder why only 4 meals.  Well I typically take Friday nights off.  I cook 6 nights a week.  I feel like I have earned Friday night off.  We used to have pizza every Friday night....and then some of us turned 50 and can't handle all the calories.  So now Friday night varies.  But to be honest, I don't fret too much over the calorie count because for the most part we are eating fairly healthy every other night.

Share any tips and tricks you have for feeding you family or yourself through the week.  I am always looking for new ideas.

Hope you have a great week!

Hawaii - Part III and done

Thanks for coming back. We are wrapping up this trip review in this post.  To see Part I click here.  To see Part II click here.

At some point in the week we picked up pizza from Lahaina Pizza

I loved it.  They must only offer one crust because they did not give us a choice.  I loved it and thought it tasted a lot like the old Godfather's Pizza.

The last day we had breakfast at Dukes on our resort where we had French Toast

Pancakes with coconut and maple syrup

an omelet

and some fresh squeezed juice

Then we loaded up and drove about an hour to the mountain area where we visted a cute little Lavender Farm

We bought scones and tried out their Lavender honey and Lavender jelly

both were delicious.

Then we went to a little general store and got some chips and popcorn because the sign at the beginning of our next adventure read:

No Food

No Gas

22 miles

It was 22 miles of twists and turns but it was really pretty.  We drove up this mountain until we were 10,000 feet above sea level.  At first glance you might think that is the sun settng over the water.  

But those are clouds. Yep, we were above the clouds!

I took a picture every 60 seconds so you could enjoy watching the sun go down too

Ready?

It was absolutely beautiful.  I'm ashamed that God does this beautiful work every morning and every evening and I very rarely pause to see it.  A good reminder to slow down a little bit.

It was cold up on this mountain but we were prepared with long pants and heavy jackets.  We went back down the mountain and rejoined the warm temps.

Maui did not disappoint!

I hope you enjoyed the trip review.  It kind of extended my vacation by getting to talk about if for another week.

Have a wonderful weekend.