She cooks...???!!!!

I know I usually don't do this but I am experimenting with different types of post to see what my readers really want to hear about (as well as develop my niche, voice style, blah blah). It seems that my posts about my never ending weight loss struggle journey, crafts, my wedding, home management, and even this old recipe type post are a major hit.

I plan to spice it up around here (as time allows) and still stay true to the reasons I started blogging in the beginning.... all that to say this is a food post. Nope it is not healthy because when I made dinner this night I was off the proverbial wagon!

My husband usually does the cooking at my house. Perk to being married to a chef! However in his absence I had to dust off the old cook books... hey mini me and I have to live LOL. I was craving chicken quesadillas from a restaurant downtown and there were two reasons why I couldn't have it. One, its toooo far away from my house, the other is the never ending budget. I digress...

A friend of mine was like just make them they are easy. So that's what I did...

I grilled chicken on my George Foreman grill, and then proceeded to shred it as we discussed politics and making changes in the world gossiped like high schools girls and talked about the joys of being married.

It was really easy I used the chicken I had just shredded, shredded cheese, ranch, bacon bits, and quesadillas. I made varying quesadillas (she doesn't eat pork, mini me was apprehensive about the ranch dressing... blah blah)

 

I put all my ingredients near the stove because I can be so messy in the kitchen LOL

 

I placed the quesadillas in the skillet with minimal oil, on low heat, then loaded it up

 

 

 

Folded that baby in half, flipped it over a couple times so both sides would be brown and BOOM homemade quesadillas.... Of course there was salsa and sour cream but who really needs to see how much I ate when Im sure in a couple post I will be discussing my weight!!!

 

Oh and some ways to clean this up is to use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, wheat quesadillas, and low fat cheese, and SKIP the ranch and bacon.

Jumping The Broom!

Who would have ever guessed that I would fall in love with DIY? I'm not sure if its the thought of using a glue gun, saving money, or Hobby Lobby's 50% wedding items sale but I really enjoyed crafting for my wedding. I have never imagined my wedding without the "jumping of the broom." That is one tradition that I was really looking forward to. So the hunt was on. I scrolled through Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, my married friends boxes and even Pinterest searching for a broom. 

 

What I wanted was something simple, light and dark purple, and a hint of bling. I found some that were perfect but for 100 plus bucks I was like HEEEEECK NO LOL. I searched everywheere and the cheaper ones werent what I was looking for and it seemed like adding bling to a broom meant more bucks being removed from my checking account. Then it hit me DIY!!!!!!!! Once again my supplies come from Hobby Lobby who did not pay me nor do they have anything to do with this post.

 

 

 

 

Yep its the same blong from my wedding programs!

 

The flowers are from Hobby Lobby, Dollar General, Dollar Tree or maybe all three... I spent a lot of time in those stores so I am really not sure. They were in a bundle and I just pulled them apart.



I really wish I had a before picture of this broom. My husband bought it from Hobby Lobby in Detroit and there was a scarecrow attached. My hubby is not a blogger so before pics dont mean a lot to him... He spray painted the handle purple.

Wrapped it in ribbon...

Here are a few of the options I played around with.

 

 

Of course mini me helped, and she was very excited

 

 

We tinted the bristles purple just to be different LOL

 

 

 

This is the broom I jumped when I married my boo... I should start selling these things it was super fun to make!!

 



The Day Before...

I already posted some really fun photos but I wanted to be sure to capture a lot of how I really felt about the whole wedding thing. Hind sight is 20/20 right?  So today's post probably should have come before I reintroduced myself but eh oh well LOL...

No one tells you how stressed, tired, happy excited, and EVERYTHING else you will be the day before your wedding. In my mind I was going to show up, tell people what I wanted and then go and get my nails and toes done with my bridesmaids have rehearsal dinner and sleep. I secretly wanted a slumber party with my girls but that among other things didn't happen.

I had this fairy tale of events like a spa day with my sister, or people treating me like a princess for the day all pictured in my mind... blah... my family was having none of that. It seemed the more I expressed what I wanted on MY day the more people rebelled and called me a bridezilla. I'm sure it sounds selfish but it was MY day I was supposed to get a selfish pass right???

Lets see where to start we lost like three groomsmen a week before the wedding, one actually dropped the day before the wedding. The decor was not what I wanted I asked for tulle going down the isle and the lady my mother insisted on hiring used some fabric that resembled fake spider webs going down the isle...

I was late for EVERYTHING this day as I had to rely on others to get me where I needed to be because my husband and I drove one car to wedding city and he had other plans. I had 8 bridesmaids, 2 junior bridesmaid, and 3 flower girls. My husband had 5 groomsmen (we had a couple ppl fill in and their suits didn't match the tuxs).

The rehearsal was a HOT MESS. We forgot the music, half of the party wasn't there. We had hostess practicing with groomsmen... literally a hot mess. My friend Meyoshia (remember her from the bridal shower) came through and used her phone placing it next to a microphone so that there was some  music for this rehearsal.... I was stressed, and sad, my hubby was mad. We argued and I honestly didn't know what the next day was going to be like.

I would just like to say that as little girls we are brainwashed into these Disney fantasies and they just are not realistic. No matter how meticulous you are in planning the wedding or how much money you spend, when you hand over control people screw up! I don't think they do it intentionally but it just happens. I was blessed because I have amazing friends who stepped up and handled things but almost nothing aside from the I do's went according to plan.

Ok enough woe is me I will save that for a later post detailing what I learned from this whole experience.... On a positive side my wedding was amazing because my friends and family showed up. My wedding was spectacular because I married my best friend, and my daughter looked great... and I will leave you with some random pics I found in my phone...

 

 

 

 

 

Me before things started spiraling out of control

My boo thang!!! She was ride or die just like we discussed

My mom

My great aunt

I finally did get my pedicure, but it was rushed

My new beautiful niece

Me by the end of the night

 

 

 

 

 

My Dirty Little Secret

* FIRST  I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR THE QUALITY OF THE PICTURES*

 

I decided that I wanted to start sharing some things from my wedding and my programs seemed like a great place to start.

I AM A SECRET CRAFTER YALL LOL... I have always wanted to do stuff like this and never thought I was creative or talented enough to do so had the time. Then with the never ending crunch to keep the wedding budget in check this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

 

 

 

 

Let me just say it was very fun. If you have been following my blog then you know Im not regularly a crafty person. I did try the ever popular family command center, and I created a

Wedding Planning Binder  but that is pretty much it. Then my friend suggested I make a fan. I was thinking have you seen me make anything? LOL It was very fun and super inexpensive.I got EVERYTHING from HOBBY LOBBY (and no they did not pay me nor do they have any thing to do with this post). So my friend typed the program up on Word, my then fiance and mini me took it to staples and had them print it on grey card stock (we got two programs on one piece of paper... #WINNING LOL). From there she cut them in half, we cut the four corners with cute scissors to create the design.

 

 

Karin as she helped cut the programs in half

 

 

The paper was then glued to a popsicle type stick to create the fan look.

 

 

 

 Finally we glued on the accessories.

 

 

I made the bows using  ribbon, that I purchased while the stuff was half off! I used dark purple and lavender to match the colors of the wedding.

 

 

 

If you know me you know I LOVE all things shiny and blinged out...Its kinda an obsession. That said my wedding programs would not have been complete without some Sparkle!!!! My husband got a huge tub of varying sized stones.

 

 

 

If I do say so myself they came out PERFECT!!!!.... well the ones that made it to the wedding did LOL. There were a few practice programs that shall remain unseen. My mini me helped with this task as well... not sure how she missed her photo opt LOL. There it is!!! Special thanks to my then fiance whom is now my HUSBAND as he glued some things together as well. After completing this project I was hooked on DIY. We even made the broom that we jumped (post coming soon).



Its another Monday!!!!!!

Hello out there!!!! I am back!

Well let me start with saying Thank you to EVERYONE that participated in the giveaway (more to come) and have stuck around in my absence. Congrats to the winner Meyoshia, I have dropped it in the mail!!!!… so updates…

IM MARRIED!!!! It was awesome. Of course things did NOT go according to plan but  the reception was a huge party!!!!  I have truly married my soul mate so it’s all good. I will give more details later on through a series of posts I am working on.

I moved! Watch out Pinterest. I am pinning EVERYTHING home décor/organization related. Follow me on Pinterest and I will follow you back.

I wrecked my car and it was totaled out…

 

ugghh and it was super close to being paid off, now I feel like Im starting over blah…. Let me just say that the rental company is super petty because I pulled up in a wrecked Mazda from 2003 they put me in a 2013 Lincoln MKZ… be still my heart… Im in love with this car and will be placing it on my Vision Board!!!!



Remember I got a new job? Well I HATED it. I had that one good day but for the most part it was not great. It was simply not a good fit for me to say the least. So I am back at the therapy thing and honestly I couldn’t be happier. I went back with a raise and a bigger office. I also got some of my old clients back and a few made me cry because they were so happy to see me. One lady said “I’m sorry that whatever didn’t work but I am so dam happy you came back to me!”

I am restarting my weight loss journey. I am officially healed from my hip injury and have gained weight…again *insert as much shame as possible* I had a whole shameful post already but I thought I have said that before and I’m sure the blog world has heard all before. Instead of focusing on the bad I will tell you that last week was a great workout week. I have linked up with my best boo thang Val and she has this whole weekly accountability/motivating email thing going on and it really has helped.

Im not quite ready for scale pics again… hey I’m human and looking at numbers I never wanted to see again is killing me. But I will be weighing in on Mondays once again since that really seemed to work for me…. Stay tuned

Introducing Mrs. GILYARD!!!!!

Hello all.... here is the post you have all been waiting for, or at least that is what I'm telling myself!... Some wedding pics!!!! Since this post is picture heavy I will let them tell the story. You know how I do....

*These are pictures from Social Media and not my photographer. I will post those pictures when I do her review*... she is awesome by the way!
These are the pictures that I found, these pictures in no way represent all who were there. I have TONS and TONS more to show but they couldn't all fit on one post! So enjoy....

 

 

Yes I do squats!!!!!... I remember being very nervous as I read my vows...

 

My Husband and I

 

Mini me, My jr. Bridesmaid!!! She was so poised and cute!

 

My first love and I... The father daughter dance was you tube worthy I hope someone posts it LOL

 

My sister, my platonic soul-mate, My Maid of honor, she is amazing and words cannot describe how awesome she really is. I love her

My boo MIA!!!! she cam all the way from TX to see me. I cannot wait to return the favor!

I love this man

Look how lovely they are!!!

... I will let you caption this one LOL...

 

Bridesmaids, the Carter girls!!!!

I got an upgraded ring! BOOM!!!

 

My Matron of honor... she really deserves her own post because she came through last minute (kinda like I did in her wedding) after my previous matron of honor dropped out. She stepped right up to the plate and helped make my day great.

 

This guy has been my best friend since like freshman year in college. There are so many things I could say about him. Im so glad and blessed to know him.

 

Two of my favorite guys!!!

 

The hostesses for the evening!!! I'm not completely sure what they did aside from look super sexy in their black dresses!

 

 

Me and my babe... I love him