Fill in the Blank Friday

Play along HERE!

1. My favorite color is YELLOW!! It just puts a smile on my face. Always has. Always will. You should have seen my room when I was in jr. high. It was so bright yellow, the room couldn't even get dark with the lights off.

2. My travel destination of choice is the beach!! I could sit on the edge of the water, in a low chair, letting the waves hit me, all day every day. BLISS

3. My favorite food is ooo I am a fan of pretty much all food, except mushrooms and jello. But I'd have to say my favorites are garlic bread, shrimp, spaghetti and cheese. (Can you tell I eat healthy?? yea right)

4. My happy place is at home with Kendol or in Greenwood at my parents house. It's just beautiful out there.

5. My favorite saying is "When everything else changes, God's presence never does." This was said my preacher, Brother Jim Phillips. Think about it!! He's ALWAYS there for you!

6. My dirty little secret is I play with tape and scratch the back of my head CONSTANTLY. Not sure where the tape thing came from, but the head scratching came from test taking in school, I think. Now I just do it and don't even know I'm doing it. I guess they are both nervous habits. Maybe I'm A.D.D. and just don't know it. Call me crazy. And yes, I have a piece of tape in my hand right now ha!

7. Something friends might say about me is that I like fashion, decorating and hosting parties??? I don't know.. What do you say friends??

WHY I LOVE YELLOW!!



For the Cooking Impaired

Ok, so I have tried two new recipes this week that went fantastically well. If you live with someone like Kendol, cooking is no easy task. He can cook anything and everything and is pretty partial to his and his parents cooking styles and recipes. So for me,  finding something that Kendol actually really likes is a task!! And in my opinion, I'd say I'm a pretty good cook, I just cook "country" food as Kendol calls, but that's all I know! Thank goodness he cooks almost everyday. (Yes, I know I'm super lucky!)

So here are the two new recipes I tried that ANYONE can cook. They require no culinary skills WHAT SO EVER!!

First up, Shephards Pie. I have always turned my nose up at the thought of this, but WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I guess since my momma never cooked it, I just didn't know what it was. Well, Renee that I work with, talked me into making it on Tuesday. Kendol even dared to say "Callie, this might just be better than your meatloaf.." which is a huge statement. He loves the meatloaf!

SHEPHARDS PIE

1.5-2 lbs of hamburger meat

2 Cans of Whole Kernel Corn

4-5 Red Potatoes

( and milk/butter.. whatever you need for mashed potatoes)

(or boxed mashed potatoes if that's what you prefer)

1 bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 onion (chopped)

1 bell pepper (chopped)

~Boil Water for potatoes- Boil potatoes for 20 minutes or so- make mash potatoes as you please

~Sautee onion and bell pepper (I always throw in some minced garlic)

~Add in hamburger meat

~Once meat is cooked, drain out the grease.

~At this point, I put the meat back in the skillet and added some Tony's and "Montreal" Hamburger Seasoning and let it soak in for a few minutes.

~Put meat in the bottom of a good sized casserole dish

~Drain Corn and layer on top of meat

~Layer Mashed Potatoes on top of corn

~Salt and Pepper

~Sprinkle as much shredded cheese on top as you'd like

~Bake for 20-30 minutes on 350.

S-I-M-P-L-E!!!

and delicious for those of you who love southern comfort food!

Next on the list is "Woman's Pulled Pork," as I like to call it. Why do I call it this, you ask?

NO. GRILL. NEEDED.

Get the handy dandy crock pot out!!

CROCK POT BBQ

5-7 lb. whole pork shoulder (Pork Butt, Boston Butt, etc.)

1 medium to large onion

A few (3 or 4) cloves of garlic

BBQ Rub Seasoning

BBQ Sauce  of your choice

Salt and pepper

Water

First off, I used a 5 lb piece of meat. Just make sure whatever size you get will fit in your crockpot.

1. Season your meat with a dry rub of your choice.

You can do this at cooking time or the night before. I (well Kendol) seasoned ours the night before with Rendezvous Seasoning, Tony's and salt/pepper, wrapped it in saran wrap and stuck it in the fridge.

(As I typed that, I immediately started singing "S S Salt n Peppa's here and we're in effect. Want you to push it... ok moving on)

2. Quarter your onion and garlic cloves- Throw in Crockpot with some Salt and Pepper (Singing once again)

3. Put meat in crockpot

4. Fill the crockpot with water (or beer) 2/3's up to the top of the meat.

You have options here. I used one dark beer (shock top), the rest water.

All beer/ No Water.

All Water/No Beer.

Half Beer/Half Water..

Whatever suits your fancy.

5. Cook on Low for 8+ hours

While you sleep. While you work. Seriously people this is simple.

6. Once cooked, remove meat and shred it (remove fat... most should have cooked out)

You can stop here and just have pulled pork!! Perfect for bbq sandwiches or bbq nachos!

But if you want your bbq sauce cooked into your pork, like I do, then continue on!

7. Empty the crockpot of the stock.

8. Place shredded meat back into crockpot and add bbq sauce of your choice.

I used an 18 oz. bottle of "Sweet Baby Rays" Sweet and Spicy.

FYI: This wasn't quite enough!!

So I added in some "Rendezvous" bbq sauce that we already had.

Get a bigger bottle.

9. Let this cook on low (stirring occasionally) until you're ready to serve.

S-I-M-P-L-E!!!

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!

HAPPY COOKING!!!

O How Pinteresting

Just a few of my favorite things from pinterest this week morning.

For the Home

Love this idea for the entrance from the garage!! If anyone has on old bench/church pew just laying around. I'd love to have it.

I have a red couch very similar to this. It is in much need of some funky pillows. And these days I'm LOVING yellow!!

Gorgeous!! Love all of the windows. The view sure would make washing dishes a lot more fun!


Pary Ideas

So Cute!

LOVE!

GENIUS!!!

RANDOM AWESOMENESS

If I had a store, this would definitely be on my door!

Fourwheelers, Firearms and Fanny Packs

Talk about a Sunday Fun Day!

On Sunday morning we had plans to go down to our friend Ben's deer camp in Cato, MS, for a day of fun out in the country.

First thing's first, get out the 4 wheeler. UH OH 4 wheeler won't crank. Get to work boys.

Next thing I know, there are 4 boys in the yard working on it. Funny thing is, they are dressed in their best "mud bustin" attire. Kendol has on jeans with holes all in them and a Dale Earnhardt shirt with the sleeves cut out and Ben has on a "Waffle House" shirt with the sleeves cut off that says "No Grits No Glory" and has on a giant belt buckle. Brad's already shirtless and Cody is the only normal one. Needless to say, I found this hilarious... The neighbors have no idea that they are dressed like this as a joke. Next thing I know, I look out the front door and Ben has his truck backed up to our front yard (which is a hill) and they are loading the 4 wheeler on to the truck from the yard... not with 4 wheeler ramps, like normal people. I'm sure they think we are the modern day Clampett's.

Since I have some time on my hands, I go in search of my very own "best mud bustin" attire. My outfit consists of cut offs, rainboots and my "beer goes here" t-shirt from Talladega. T-shirt? I can't wear a t-shirt, then I'll have a "farmers tan." So I, of course, cut the sleeves off. Then I find "the fannypack." Yes, you read that right, fan-ny-pack. Like from the 90's, except this one is new and is nascar... yes, nascar. (Let me explain: Kendol and I went as Nascar Fans for Halloween 2 years ago and while looking on Nascar.com for our outfits, we ran across $5 Ryan Newman fannypacks. MUST HAVE.) So I added the fanny pack to my outfit for the day, as a joke. Make fun of my fanny pack all you want, but by the end of the day, I was carrying everyone's dip, cameras and sunglasses. All of which, made it back safely and mud free.

 Please meet Fanny Pack:

Us as Nascar Fans... Yes the mustache, mullet & barb wire tatto are fake.

Now on to the rest of the day!! It was so much fun!

We acted complete fools.

Monday, Monday

My Monday started like this...

I would have a flat tire on my anniversary.
Thank goodness for Kendol's Daddy!!!



And ended like this:

Sweet flowers and GiGi's Cupcakes from Wally & Stephanie
(I promptly called Kendol to ask why he put "The Collins" on the card, instead of Callie, only to discover they were from our sweet friends)

Lee Michaels wrapping is ALWAYS a good sign!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to me from my Sweet Kendol!!
YYYIIIPPPPEEEE!

And I got Kendol some Columbia shorts and some Maui Jim Sunglasses!

Followed by dinner at Nicks in Fondren!!
Yummy

Well, we made it through the first two years (with ease).

Everyone says they are the hardest.

(So, the rest will be a breeze, right?!? ha) 

I look forward to many many many more!!

HAPPY 2nd ANNIVERSARY KENDOL!

Fill in the Blank Friday

Play along HERE!

1. One of my happiest moments ever was my wedding day!!! 2 years on Monday!! CRAY CRAY!!

2. Summer is wedding season and weddings are my favorite!!! I love everything about weddings. I want to be a wedding planner when I grow up.


3. This summer has been perfect. I've been to the beach twice, eaten more crawfish than I care to think about, spent as much time outside and on the water as possible, spent time with family and friends... PERFECTION!


4. My summer food of choice has been BLT's!! I feel like that's all i've eaten and that's perfectly fine with me!

5. My summer uniform has been work clothes :(


6. If I could spend the entire summer in one location I would choose oooo on the beach sipping on a margarita!! Maybe in Cabo or Hawaii!! Yea, that would be perfection.

7. My summer anthem is "Take a Backroad" by Rodney Atkins. I just love everything about this song. It takes me back to "home" and fits me perfectly! This is exactly what I think of everyday on my 45 minute commute on Lakeland Drive. There's nothing better than riding backroads!

I've been cooked up, fried down, 'bout forgotten

What a field looks like, full of corn and cotton

If I'm gonna hit a traffic jam,

Well it better be a tractor man

So sick and tired of this interstate system

I need a curve and wide-a-twistin'

Dusty path to nowhere

With the wind blowing through my baby's hair

Yeah, makes me wanna take a back road

Makes me wanna take the long way home

Put a little gravel in my travel

Unwind, unravel all night long

Makes me wanna grab my honey

Tear down some two-lane country

Who knows

Get lost and get right with my soul

Makes me wanna take

Makes me wanna take a back road.

 

 
"Get lost and get right with your soul"
I Love that line. It is so true.That's what I think we should all do.
 
Get lost!
Cal

Ridiculously Fabulous

Recently I have realized that I have become a little obsessive about some random/ridiculous yet fabulous things and I thought I should share.

First of all, I have become (overly) obsessed with pinterest! If you are not on there yet, you should! At first I really didn't get the point, but that's the point... there is not point. It's just a place to get AWESOME ideas, through pictures, for everything from home decorating, to organizing, to decorating for the holidays, to fashion... and on and on and on and on... Anywho, you can find so many amazing things on this website. Just type in any word you want and you are guaranteed to find something fabulous.

(I just challenged myself in my head. For the rest of the post, I will only use pictures from pinterest. GENIUS!)


Secondly, I think it's safe to say that I have a major obsession wtih Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton. Sometimes I feel like we really would be best friends, if they were to ever meet me. Here are a few reasons why I love them!

Reason 1: Because they are the cutest things ever, obviously

Reason 2: Bc they are about as normal and down to earth as celebrities can get. How many other celebrities can you think of that would let this happen at their wedding?
LOVE!

Reason 3: Like I said, normal little country girl!
Hilarious

Reason 4: She's a bad B#$@*... obviously

Reason 5: They just don't care about what any body thinks or how they are celebrities, so they "must be perfect." Obviously,  Blake doesn't care.

Great, now you're obsessed too! You're welcome.

O, and have I mentioned... Going to see Miranda tonight!! Woo Hoo!! This will be my 4th time to see her. And I'm just as excited as I was the first time, when I saw her in the streets in Starkville at Bulldog Bash! Anybody else remember this? Most people didn't know who she was yet. I was front and center.

Thirdly (is that a word) (maybe I should just start numbering...), I have two new tv shows that I have become obsessed with.

In his Lucky Striped shirt, as always.

Bruce, my favorite... in his cut off overalls, with no shirt!

And my other favs, the squirrel hunting brothers.

As if you can't tell by the hilarity of the pictures, this show is hysterical. Their accents and speech are so bad they have to show words at the bottom. I just recently ran across an episode and now I am hooked.

CHOOOT' EM

Now on the other show... Sweet Home Alabama!

I ran across this on Tuesday night. I was flipping through the channels just trying to find something to leave on the tv, in the background. (Kendol's daddy was over to eat supper) I thought it was the movie. Turns out, now I am hooked on another reality tv show. She, of course, will pick a country boy.. not a yankee. And just from my one episode I've seen, I predict Adam Moyer to win.

I will start numbering now so I wouldn't make a fool of myself by making up words and what not..

4.) I made funfetti cupcakes with cream cheese icing... big mistake.. HUGE... HUGE MISTAKE... They were so delicious, that's all I think about now.

Great!! Now you want one too and I'm not alone... You're welcome!

5.) I have re-connected with my long lost best snack food friend... vinegar and salt chips... I could eat the whole bag in one sitting.

6.) I am now obsessed with the fact that I am done with my 24 (actually 27) hours of continuing education for work, as of 11:30 a.m. NO MORE FOR TWO YEARS!! WOOOHHOOOOO

Now, I shall leave you with just a few of my favorite "pins" from pinterest this week!

Precious Idea for Bar Stools

Precious decorations for a Party

Awesome Island!

Precious Shelf and Idea for no head board

If you need an invite to pinterest, just leave your email address..

Happy Pinning!!

Smiling

O what a weekend it was in the delta. I'm sure nobody else gets as excited as me about going home. I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it.

On Friday we headed to Greenwood and went strait to Lusco's! YUMMY!! There we spent our time waiting on Liz (45 minutes, 2 drinks and an order of onion rings later, she put her rolly brush down and decided to show up hehehe... just picking Liz) and catching up with Mallory, Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Chris (Nashville), who was on his first trip ever to Greenwood. Don't worry guys, he experienced Lusco's to the fullest. He had the onion rings (a must), the house salad (a must) and he chose the broiled shrimp with crabmeat (excellleeennt choice)! I even made him go outside to go to the restroom and he used the buzzer a time or two for more beer!! All in all, I would say it was a successful first trip to Greenwood's finest!

What is a trip to Greenwood without a little downtown shopping and lunch at the Delta Bistro?? So, of course this is what Momma, Kendol and I did on Saturday. Then we spent our afternoon on Roebuck Lake!!! O, how I have missed that place. Then it was back to the house with Colby, Tiffany and Elise for a fish fry with the fam (my daddy was in heaven cooking for everyone) and back to Itta Bena to scoop up Havis for a night full of backroads riding!

My favorite boys!!!! YIPEEE

Other fun things about the weekend:

MY NEW "31" BAGS CAME IN

New Tailgating bag!!!!

O, just ANOTHER bag for myself... Like I needed it.

I also got Ann-Hamilton and Momma precious "large utility totes" since they are both starting their new jobs in August! My mother has retired from the public school system and will be teaching 2nd grade at Pillow Academy. Ann-Hamilton has decided to take a new career path and will be teaching 5th grade at Florence Elementary!! So proud of both of them. I felt they deserved a prize. I didn't get pictures of their bags, bc I was too excited to give them to them!

Seriously, if you have never heard of or have just never taken the time to check out 31 Gifts, do yourself a favor and do so HERE!!

WE MADE PICKLES

You know your getting old when you spend your sunday afternoon pickling.

I CAME HOME WITH THESE

Now that's a what a window seal is supposed to look like in the summer time.

Plums... yummy!!
(Christin, please notice my plum holder. PERFECT!)

And last, but certainly not least, I spent Sunday morning with my Daddy and Kendol, Sunday afternoon watching Hayes swim and we had dinner at Ann-Hamilton and Ryan's.

 

 

After a weekend like this, I feel like a whole new person. I have a little extra pep in my step. Everything about it made me smile!! I am one lucky chica!! I am blessed beyond words.