It's Fall, y'all!

It's officially fall and I think our triple digit temps are over for the year (fingers crossed). So, I've got some fall wreaths and other decor out. Oh, apparently remote control monster trucks are included in fall decor:

Wedded bliss

As I write this post, we are driving towards the Georgia/Alabama state line headed back to Texas. Last night was my brothers wedding. It was beautiful and all the bridesmaids dresses looked perfect together! The wedding was in lake Lanier just north of Atlanta. The entire wedding party and guests took a boat over to a small island for the ceremony and dinner. Then we all boarded back on the boat for dancing and cake and drinks! My boys tore up the dance floor. Here are just a few of the pics I managed to get for now. More will definitely be coming.

I'm sorry, but do we know each other??

The other day my husband went to help my elderly neighbor move a chair in her living room. She bought a new one apparently and needed to move an old one. He made quick work and was back in 5 minutes... Pulling a recliner set precariously on top of our kids' wagon. I thought it was for the trash, but he walked right by the trash and went straight into our garage and set it down. Whaaat?? I asked him what he was doing with a blue recliner?? He said he was going to put it on the screen porch! Whaaat?? The screen porch?!? Seriously!! I know!! Can you believe it??! Me neither!!
I quickly told him NO and MAYBE he could put it up in the game room. Maybe. He responded that he wasn't hauling it up the stairs. Blah blah hideous blah. Long story short, I am about to list it on Craigslist.

I am just flabbergasted by this whole sequence of events. It's like he doesn't even know me. And I made sure when we were dating that there was full disclosure regarding my feelings towards recliners in my house.

Oh, and a side note: I asked what kind of chair the neighbor replaced it with and he said, verbatim, "some uncomfortable flowery chair."

Seriously, I almost asked him if we had ever met before.

The chair (shudder) in all it's glory:

Bathroom chandelier

One of the items on my list for redecorating my house was installing a new light over my tub. Since the month after we finished construction on our house, I have wanted to replace the lame can light over the tub. I kicked myself for not doing this while we were actually building the house, but it's hard to get every single thing right or perfect even when we built it ourselves and picked everything out. It gets a little overwhelming. Plus, most towns have a code that doesnt allow for light fixtures to be a below a certain height from the bath tub so as to prevent electrocution. Probably a good thing. I think my new light fixture is code worthy bc it's close to the ceiling and our ceilings are tall.

I found this chandelier on amazon and loved it. Bought it and my husband opened the box to install it and of course it came in 100 pieces. Literally
So he had one of his employees come over and put it together who did it much faster than we ever could.

Forgive the lighting in the second pic. Once again, I am blogging from my phone bc I'm too lazy to take pics with my nice camera and then upload them
On my computer.

Italian chicken recipe

I made the Italian chicken dish last night and it was delish! I recommend it for it's tastiness and simplicity in preparation.

Recipe:

-4-8 boneless chicken breast (depending on how many you are feeding. It really is this flexible)
- one can artichoke hearts chopped
- 5 large diced Roma tomatoes
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- fresh basil
- mozzarella (I used fresh mozzarella and used about one cup, although the bagged kind would be just as good)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 T flour
-extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper

Mix artichokes, tomatoes, garlic, sugar and flour in a bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and arrange over artichoke mixture

Bake at 350 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle/ cover with mozzarella cheese and bake 5-10 minutes until brown and bubbly. I actually turned on the low broiler to get it brown since I used fresh mozzarella.

Remove from oven and sprinkle sliced fresh basil over dish.

I served this over whole wheat spaghetti and thought it was SO good. Can't wait to eat the leftovers tonight!

Italian chicken

Pinterest. Gotta love pinterest for the recipes alone. I think I've added at least 6 new regular meals/ desserts to my repertoire thanks to pinterest.

Tonight, I'm making this Italian Chicken dish. It's a one dish meal with Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chicken and mozzarella sprinkled with fresh basil. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I will update you on how it turns out and post the recipe of its worthy!

My first 5k

In somewhat related news to the previous post about my hunt for a bridesmaids dress, I have signed up for my very first 5K. I gave myself one month to train. I'm in week two of training and have run 3 to 4 miles two to three times per week. I am determined to not look like I need to go to the emergency room when the real 5K is over. I'm pretty proud of myself for the distances I have run so far, but have avoided posting the runs on Facebook because I loathe when my friends perkily post things like "just finished up a 10 mile run today uphill against the wind in 95 percent humidity!". Blech. Besides, my posts would be more along the lines of "just finished up a 4 mile run inside on the treadmill in the air conditioning with the fan blowing directly on me." As my husband likes to point out, my body was not made to be a distance runner. Long, lithe legs I have not. But I played sports all throughout my school years and ran lots then. I may not be the fastest or that freak woman who runs a marathon after giving birth two weeks before, but I think I'm doing pretty good with a 5K five months after my third baby. Plus, helps me look better in my Forever 21 bridesmaids dress.

So far:
- I remember how much I like the way running makes me feel afterwards.
-I enjoy rocking out to ridiculously peppy music on my iPod when running
-It feels good to just sweat like crazy (weird, I know).
-I find it weird that 4 miles one day can be so easy and two days later it can feel like I am running through mud with lead feet.
-I am thinking I might want to do a 5K every month or every other month. It's been a great motivator for me. There's no way I'd be running like this now if I didn't have a 5K coming up.

Go me!