30th Birthday continued or Jolie learns the mandolin

I don't know if I ever mentioned but I had no idea what I wanted for my birthday. Beau wanted my gift to be something special and so rather than get something just to get it, we decided to wait until we had figured out a gift that had some meaning that would last.

A couple weeks ago it hit me! I've been dying to learn to play an instrument...side note 1-I can play the clarinet, I was first chair throughout my 6th grade band experience prior to quitting and joining chorus. You may find this surprising but those clarinet skills don't really translate into day-to-day life as well. I wanted to be able to play something I could sing along with. So I've been wishy-washy about what to learn: guitar?, accordion? (yes, I've seriously considered it), or ukulele? (wouldn't it be fun to play, you'd feel like you are an a Hawaiian vacation anytime you pick it up). Finally though, we settled on mandolin.

I love it and I can't wait to start officially taking lessons. It is so much fun to finally be on my way to one of my life goals (to learn to play and instrument past the 6th grade level).

So here are some photos of our impromptu jam session Sunday evening. I can play all of one song right now...Yankee Doodle! So needless to say it was more Beau and his friend Blake playing but I hope to be able to hold my own soon after some lessons.



Side note 2: If you think I'm crazy for considering the accordion some things to consider are #1-I'm part Polish, it's in my soul to love the accordion and dance the Polka and #2-The BowerBirds. Check out their music and you'll dig the accordion too.
Side note 3: Truth be told, this was Blake taking a break from impromptu Yankee Doodle jam session to help Frankie recite some Shakespeare...Sunday evening it was decided that sitting Frankie upright and helping her to use her hands to recreate some of the Bard's famous monologues was hilarious. Chalk it up to one of those "you had to be there" experiences unless you have a Shih tzu of your own to try it with :-)

Memorial Day Fun In Asheville

Beau and I had some fun company in town all weekend. One of Beau's best friends, Blake, came to visit for a man's weekend (he and his beautiful wife are expecting a baby soon). The boys spent most of the weekend hiking, fishing, biking, etc. which meant that I got some serious downtime (lots of crafting and cleaning). I love my husband but sometimes it is nice when he finds other people to be active with on the weekends so I can do some relaxing.

Anyway Beau's BFF (funny picture post on Beau's facebook where he calls Blake his BFF) left early on Monday and because Beau had been pretty active earlier in the weekend, we decided to take things a bit easier and opted to go down to Asheville for lunch and some walking around.

I didn't snap a ton of pics but here are a couple shots from our trip. The shirt I'm wearing is a new fave. It's a reworked dress that I rescued from a thrift store and decided would make a cute top. I've got a before and after of it but it's stuck on my camera and I cannot find the cord to transfer photos from my camera to computer...boo.

Ft. Laud or bust

Have I mentioned lately how proud I am of my husband? Moving up to Asheville and starting up his own business was a big step out of Beau's comfort zone but he did it, and as if God hadn't blessed us enough by facilitating all of this, He also helped Beau to win a trip through work to Ft. Lauderdale! An unexpected, but much needed vacation. Blessed much?

We had our choice of activities and one of the options was to take a tour of the Everglades on an airboat. I think Beau and I both expected a little more swamp and a lot less tourism but it was fun either way, and when else are you going to get the chance to ride around on an aiboat? Plus the whole experience was very "old Florida". I long for the old Florida vacation days gone by of citrust scented erasers, plastic alligators, and oranges/grapefruit by the ton sold in rickety road-side stands.

What vacation memories are some of your favorite?

Yard Sales and Flea Markets and Mother's Day

Grandma and I at the Dino exhibit. After this she took me to Olive Garden where I tried and fell in love with Fettuccine Alfredo. I didn't know what to order and she said get the Fettuccine, it's like Macaroni and Cheese, you'll love it...and I did!

It's nearly Mother's day and that's got me thinking about all the great times I had with the wonderful women in my life. Now that it's getting to be the heart of spring, it has me thinking about all the fantastic times I used to have hitting up the yard sales and flea markets with my grandmother. We used to get up early, hit up the yard sales, find awesome treasures and reward ourselves with a nice Checkers hamburger when we had done all the damage we could for the day. I still order my hamburgers the exact same way lettuce, tomato, mayo and ketchup...it's a delicious combo!

We also liked to hit up the flea markets. Grandma would always take me to the gem-mining booth and sit patiently with me as I sifted through the muck in hopes of finding precious jewels. We'd snack on elephant ears or funnel cakes and have an absolute blast. I'm super excited because I hear there is actually a decent flea market up here in WNC. A friend has offered to take me out and show me around and while I'm sure it will be fun, nothing will compare to the times I spent scouring the booths with my Grandma.

I was blessed to grow up so close to my grandparents. I spent as much time as possible with them. My grandparents and I had some awesome times. She, my grandpa and I were the best of friends and I'll never forget those amazing times we spent together. She and I live several hours away from each other now, and my Grandpa or "Papa" as I called him, has gone on to be in a better place but I am so thankful for the time we spent together when I was younger.

Those memories will always be some of my favorites to think back on and I always get a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart when I pass a yard sale sign and think of how lucky I am to have her as my grandmother.

It's already been a super busy spring...

Beau and I have been busy, busy this spring. We've been doing lots of hiking, a little traveling and a little bit of giving back. We participated in the March of Dimes with the University of Phoenix-Asheville Team two weeks ago and had a great time. This is a great event and I found out after the fact can be made into a run if you're up for the challange.

I'll do several other posts this week hopefully with some more details about our busy weeks. I've got a little break from school and I'm taking advantage of the time to get caught up on my blogging :-)

Old favorite/New Favorite: Whole grain deliciousness

Old Favorite: So I've always been a big rice, pasta, basically whatever type of carb you could throw at me, type of person. I ate mostly white rice and regular pasta. Lately though I've been trying to be more health conscious. I'm trying to replace the nutrient empty foods in my diet with foods that pack more of a nutritional punch. Beau and I are doing this my eating more fruits and vegetables, cutting out unnecessary carbs and making healthy substitutions of items we can't stand to live without (in my case...rice).

Picture source (and a great article on the many health benefits of quinoa)

New Favorite: Enter quinoa...this is like my new fave! I've never really been a huge brown rice fan so I was a little late to try this out but it is so delicious. If you haven't tried it, you have to go out and buy some. Quinoa is a delicious whole grain and while it's a bit pricier than brown rice, it's totally worth it because it tastes so good. Even if you aren't as sold on it as I am, you'll at least be able to agree that it's a nice way to mix up the whole grains in your diet.

Picture source

I bought the Eden brand of quinoa which was available at my grocery store, but there are also bulk grains available at your local co-op, you can even purchase it online at Amazon.com.

So here are a couple of the ways I've served quinoa in my house over the last week.

1) Instead of black beans and rice, try black beans and quinoa. Beau and I make a dish with black beans, diced tomatoes, onions, kielbasa and usually rice but quinoa made for a delicious substitution.

2) What about cabbage rolls? Okay, okay, Beau gave me that look too but the minute he saw these guys come out of the oven he was hooked and has been raving about them ever since. I saw this recipe on the Ingles site. I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly. I forgot to get fennel and celery. I am not a huge almond fan so I left those out and subbed Oyster sauce for Soy sauce. Even with all the changes these things were amazing. Trust me! Oh and this Nantahala sausage is awesome...not to mention local.

Picture source

3) Stuffed peppers. I actually had quite a bit of the quinoa/sausage mix left over from the cabbage rolls so I used it in stuffed green peppers...delish!

4) Next up is this recipe...how delicious does that look?

Little Bradley Falls aka Beau's waterfall

Several months ago Beau and a friend went on a hike out in Green River Cove and were psyched to discover a beautiful waterfall. For awhile they thought they were like Lewis and Clark but as it turned out, they had really just found an alternative path to a somewhat popular fall called Little Bradley Falls. Beau may not have been the first to discover it but to me it will always be Beau's waterfall.

Beau's been dying to go back so this morning we decided that this would be how we'd spend Sunday afternoon with the pups. And I'm so glad we did. We had a blast and literally every weekend that we go out hiking more and more signs of spring are popping up to let us know that March 20th (first day of spring) will be here before we know it.

The first day of spring is not just exciting for us because we go stir crazy in the winter time (Beau more than me). March 20th marks the 3rd anniversary of the day Beau asked me to be his wife and made me the happiest little lady in the world.

I hope you're enjoying these last few days of winter with someone you love!

A little mid-hike smooch

Fearless Frankie seems just as pumped about the view as we are!

I love this tough little pup!

Rocky was thrilled to be out running around.

In my book, butterfly = spring

A little love from Frankie...

If Frankie can see her shadow, spring is here!

Pwetty flowers!