Old Habits Die Hard....

The title of this post could not be more true. Seeing that I go a year or more/less without posting is insane. A lot has changed since that last time I blogged. I am actually hoping to keep it up this go around. I actually did have a baby, not go back to teaching, and am now juggling being a stay at home mom plus doing some other business ventures can take a toll on your girl.

Grafton is getting older now (WHAT!? I know...just a novel thing). I find myself wanting to express myself to more than just my 9 month old child and my 3 year old 4 legged child (Sophie). I started this blog when I went to college in hopes of allowing my family to keep track of my journey through writing. However- if you go back through my achieves, it won't take you long to see that I was not good at keeping up...hence again the title of this post. As little writing as I have done in the past- I hope to focus this blog more on to mommy life, food, and a cool discussion board about mommy life and being a stay at home mom. I will also use this blog as a means to discuss my new business adventure: selling Arbonne products. Let me know if you would like to learn more about this...I will be posting other posts about Arbonne at a later date.

I hope all you readers enjoy my posts upcoming. Please hold me accountable this time! :)

San Francisco Day 1......

It feels so good to be home after a fun filled weekend of vacation. Vacation is always fun no matter where you go. Can I get an amen? However, after about 4-5 days, I find myself thinking, "I'm ready to go home." Then you finally get home. You walk in the door, and you INSTANTLY wish you were back on vacation. haha It is never a true win win situation. Chad and I did go to San Francisco this past weekend. We had a complete blast. Chad had to go for business, and I went to play. (Summer break is AWESOME!) The first couple of nights we stayed at the Orchard Garden Hotel right off of Bush Street. It was a fantastic hotel. The staff were extremely nice as well as the room/hotel itself. One thing I learned from planning this trip is San Fran is similar to New York City as the city is broken down into little "neighborhoods." Our hotel was in the Financial district which was really great. We were able to be right in the thick of everything that was going on and were able to walk to everything that we wanted to get to.

The first morning we were there we woke up early, of course. Our bodies were still on Eastern time. We decided to walk to this little breakfast cafe that was a couple of blocks away. It turned out to be one of the most amazing breakfast places EVER!

Taylor St. Coffee Shop was definitely one of the cutest little breakfast places I have ever been to. There were about 8- 10 tables crammed into this little tiny place. They had the BEST food. Chad got a spicy bacon hash with eggs and an english muffin, and I got the most delicious croissant breakfast sandwich with bacon, egg, cheese, spinach, and tomato!  We also got a side of what they call Millionaire Bacon. Boy did it live up to its name. It was a thick piece of bacon smothered in this spicy spice mixture and brown sugar. It was absolutely the best bacon I have ever had. It was super sticky and just delicious!

After breakfast, we headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood and Pier 39. We walked around taking everything in until our audio tour at Alcatraz. 

I realized on this trip that I am horrible at remembering to take pictures. Alcatraz was so amazing and I do not have a single picture EXCEPT.......

We found out upon arrival to Alcatraz that there was a guest on the island. He actually used to be a prisoner at Alcatraz. He never told anyone that he was a prisoner except his wife. His name is Bob Luke. He was put on the island for robbing a bank using a semi-automatic weapon. However, he has been on his best behavior for the past 55 years. Mr. Luke decided to write an autobiography about his time at Alcatraz. Upon writing the book, he was forced to go back and tell his long life friends his most kept secret. Needless to say, everyone was excepting of him. He did write the book and happened to be signing copies of his book the day we were there. He and his wife were as sweet and cute as they could be. It was an extremely cool moment and experience. 

After walking about 6 miles that day, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a little nap. This momma needed a little break after all of that. We decided to go to dinner a little later. We went to the Tadich Grill. It had great reviews on multiple websites. However, we did not have a good experience. Everything from the service to the food was very non-impressive and disappointing. 

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and slept for a VERY long time......

It was heavenly!

Stay tuned for day two tomorrow! 

Schools Out For the Summer!

-Hello World-

Long time....no blogging, right? I fell into my similar routine of not blogging while in school. However, summer break officially started last Friday! I am ready to get back at it! I have missed blogging, sharing recipes, ideas, and my life with whoever wants to keep up with me these days!

Stay tuned for some exciting things going on in the life of the Cone's this summer! Some things to get excited about: 

• New Recipes
• The debut of our brand new NURSERY. (YES- it is true. Chad and I are having a 1st child towards the end of the year.) 
• Reviews of products
• Random Thoughts
• Possibly a child's book in the making
• More house projects
• and of course, VACATIONS!

Lots and lots of exciting things happening in the Cone house! Come join me this summer in making life FUN, LAUGHABLE, and YUMMY! 

Tootles......

I Scream, You Scream....WE ALL Scream for ICE CREAM!

I don't know about you guys and where you live....but in Atlanta it is SCORCHING HOT! It has been incredibly hot. All I really want to do is go lay out by a pool somewhere with a cold drink in my hand. However, I have no pool and do not know many people with a pool. PLUS....I start work soon. (depressing!)

I recently went to my favorite grocery store ever Fresh Market and stubbled upon some amazing strawberries. They were 2 for $4.00. I thought to myself...what better way to cool off on these scorching hot Atlanta days then ice cream!

So it all began yesterday....I decided to use 1 16 oz package of strawberries and cut them in half as shown in the beautiful yellow bowl. I then mixed them with the most delicious mouth watering combination of vanilla extract and sugar. I put them into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to soak in all of that goodness. 

I then gathered the rest of the materials to make the cream mixtures. Now I must say that I got this recipe from the Cuisinart Ice Cream Book. However, I like to tweak it here and there to give it a little extra love so stay tuned. 

The ingredients above are the ingredients that I used to make the ice cream mixture. I LOVE using sweetened condensed milk in my ice cream instead of heavy whipping cream. Some reasons....1. sweetened condensed milk is delicious. 2. It adds a thickness to the ice cream that I enjoy. 3. I usually do not have heavy whipping cream. It is a great substitute and makes the ice cream a lot sweeter which I also LOVE! However, I decided not to use it yesterday since I have heavy whipping cream. 

I mixed the ingredients above together. First the milk and the sugar to ensure that the sugar dissolves completely. Then I added the heavy whipping cream and vanilla to the mixture. 

Next I slowly blended the strawberries. I did not want them pureed but I also did not want huge chunks. The chunks get too frozen/hard in the ice cream, and I do not particularly like that texture. 

Next you mix the strawberries with the milk mixture. I put the mixture in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Then pour the mixture in the ice cream maker for it to do its thing! In about 30 minutes, you have the most cold delicious gorgeous girly pink goodness there is!

Recipe for Strawberry Ice Cream: 

1 16 oz package of Strawberries (Halved)

1 Tablespoon of Sugar (in with the strawberries)

1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract (in with the strawberries)

1 Cup of Whole Milk

1 1/2 Cups of Whipping Cream

2 Tablespoons of Vanilla

1 Cup Sugar

Happy Reading! 

New House means New Furniture....RIGHT???

I have been telling Chad since day one of house hunting that we need new furniture to go in this brand new house we were buying. Our furniture now are amazing hand-me-down furniture from our parents. However, this furniture has lived its glory days back in the day. It has taken its ride to Athens, GA and spent many wonderful years at college keeping many people happy including Chad and myself. It then moved to Atlanta, GA and has kept Chad, Sophie, and myself happy for a year and half. It is time.....it has GOT TO GO.

SO this piece of furniture is what Chad and I like to call, "The Magical Couch." 

The Magical Couch (Please excuse the queen...she was made I was disturbing her nap and would not get off her throne.)

The Magical Couch got its name WAY back in the day. It was located in Chad's parents house in their upstairs den. When Chad and I had first started dating (7 years ago), I would come over to his house, and our favorite place was The Magical Couch. It was magical because no matter what time of day whoever dared to sit down on the couch was destined to fall asleep. It happened ALL the time to many of this couches victims. It has been a fantastic couch, but has lived its glory days. The cushions on the back are all floppy and will not stay up. That absolutely drives me crazy. 

The next piece of furniture that is being replaced is my favorite chair in the whole entire world. I wish I had a clever name for this chair...but I just don't unfortunately. 

This chair is very loud and flowery but is the most comfortable chair EVER. We are actually going to put it in the sunroom because I cannot depart from this chair just yet. I just does not match any of the new furniture I bought! 

Out with the old and in with the new!!!

We went this past Saturday to Rooms to Go and got the most BEAUTIFUL stuff. I am absolutely SO excited!!! I did a little mix and matching from other "rooms," but eventually got everything that I wanted for new living room! 

The beautiful new couch!

My new accent chair!

I am so thrilled with these pieces. I am obsessed with the color gray right now. I went with the dark grey couch. We only got the couch. I was not too thrilled about the accent pillows that came with the couch, the rug, or the foot stool. I found this gorgeous chair in another part of the store and decided that it would look amazing with the couch. The dark grey and lighter grey on the chair really compliment each other well. I also bough accent pillows for the couch that are the pattern/color of the chair that I will be using in place of the ones that you see in the picture! I am taking comments on window treatment colors please!!!

The other piece of furniture that we bought Saturday were new mattresses. We currently have a queen size bed that we have completely "out grown" (if you will). Most everybody knows that it is not just Chad and I that sleep in our bed but also the queen of the house. 

I think I made my point loud and clear! :) So...we decided to get new KING size mattresses. I am very excited. However....now I need a new bed, linens, comforter, and probably curtains. The list is never ending! 

Happy reading! :)

Seafood and SEE FOOD: Tilapia Sliders

Blackened Tilapia Slider with Spicy Chipotle Slaw

One of my favorite hobbies lately in life has been cooking. I do not mean out of a box either! I mean beautiful, colorful, healthy, and delicious food! The meal Chad and I had last night was simply that. 

Excuse the paper plates.......

Chad asked me yesterday if I wanted a hamburger. I responded, "I would actually love a fish sandwich." Let me just say.....my husband is usually ALWAYS on board with food ideas. This one was no different. We set out to the grocery store. The only thing that we needed from the grocery store was tilapia (our fish of choice....usually very affordable) and shrimp. We also decided to have a spicy slaw to go with it! We picked up a bag of just plain coleslaw in the bag. It is in the produce department by the bagged salad.

Spicy Chipotle Slaw

It all started with the spicy slaw. Anybody that knows Chad and I knows that we LOVE spicy food!

Spicy Chipotle Slaw: 

   1 bag of Coleslaw (green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots)

   1 diced jalapeño (take seeds out)

   1 cup of Mayo

   1/2 lime (just the juice)

   2 tablespoons of honey

   1 1/4 teaspoon of Chipotle Chili Powder

   1/2 teaspoon of Cumin

I whisked the last 5 ingredients together in a bowl and poured over the top of the coleslaw and diced jalapeño. Mix all the ingredients together a refrigerate for as long as possible. The longer the slaw sits..the stronger the flavor!

After I made the slaw, I moved onto peeling and seasoning the shrimp and tilapia. We decided to buy half a pound of shrimp and 1 piece of tilapia. The tilapia fillet was really big, so Chad and I only needed one piece!

I wanted more of a blackened seasoning mix to put on all of the seafood. Below is the mix that I created and maybe should jar for next time!

Blackened Seasoning: 

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Oregano

1/2 teaspoon Paprika

1/2 teaspoon Dried Chopped Onion

1/2 teaspoon Thyme

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Old Bay (Lemon & Herb)

I based the seafood with melted butter and then poured all the seasoning on to the shrimp and tilapia fillet. Then I handed the seafood over to Chad and let him work his magic!

NOW....my new favorite obsession is grilling bread! I LOVE IT! We had leftover Publix baked dinner rolls found in the bakery section at Publix. I just slapped some butter on those bad boys and we put them on the top rack for about a minute to a minute and a half. Watch them...you would not want that buttery goodness to burn!

I split the tilapia into 4 pieces and it made 4 little sliders! Pile that spicy coleslaw on top of the tilapia piece and cap it all off with that beautiful buttery grilled bread! You will NOT regret it! 

Happy Eating!!!

Chastain Park Fun!

"All we truly need in this life is God, love, family, and food!" 

Seriously....could my quote not be anymore real/true? When I think about life this is seriously all I think about. Friday night I got all of these things into about 4 hours of fun! Allen and Diana (Chad's parents) got us tickets to see Idina Menzel tickets in one of the coolest and most intimate venues in Atlanta. We were joined by Lindley and Manning (Chad's sister and her husband). We all seriously had the BEST time! Of course the food, music, and laughs continued all night.

This particular venue is interesting in the fact that it has stadium seating but with long bench seats and tables spread through out. We just so happened to have gotten tickets that were seated at a table (purposely got the table seats). The open venue is picturesque after the sun has set and the stars come out and lay above your head. The place is relatively small for a nice intimate experience with the performer.

The food was spread out in a picnic style fashion and we all ate until we were stuffed. Of course, Allen brought champs that when popped went everywhere....including on the lady next to us! ;) However, she was cool with it....maybe.

The feast included the delicious pasta salad (recipe in previous post) and homemade crostinis!

Idina did an amazing job and sang all of the songs that she is most famous for singing in her famous Broadway shows. She even came into the audience and allowed other people to sing with her!! The grand finale was "Let it Go." The song that put her on the map outside of her Broadway stardom.

Chad and I seriously had the best time with everyone. The music, food, and company was fantastic!!!