so

i just checked out this book from the liberry. 

& mark my words...i will learn to sew something from the book before returning it. 

i think i can. 

i think i can. 

i think i can. 

-the little engine that could

i have decided...

that i really want these.

my life is sweet.

i just had a great weekend in the outer banks with our friends...here are a few snapshots of the weekend.

we stayed here...

 

played ridiculous games...

played more normal games...

enjoyed being together....

laughed a lot...

danced...

woke up very tired on sunday from staying up late all weekend...

but it was great.

{ fried fish tacos }

recipe credit

i made this delicious recipe for philip's birthday. i made my own fresh salsa (tomatoes, garlic, cilantro & salt) to top it & also fried the tortillas. it was delish.

{ Ingredients }

• 1 cup dark beer
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 pounds cod fillets, cubed
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
• 20 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 5 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

{ Directions }

1. In a shallow bowl, whisk together beer, flour, and salt.
2. Rinse fish, and pat dry. Cut into 10 equal pieces.
3. In a large saucepan, heat 1 inch oil to 360 degrees F (168 degrees C). Using a fork, coat fish pieces in batter. Slide coated fish into hot oil in batches; adjust heat to maintain oil temperature. Fry until golden, about 2 minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon, and drain briefly on paper towels; keep warm. Repeat to fry remaining fish.
4. Stack 2 tortillas. Place a piece of fish and 1/2 cup cabbage in the center of the tortillas. Garnish with mayonnaise, lime wedges, salsa & cheese.
   

jcrew factory lusts

{1} corwin cardigan

{2} skinny belt

{3} ombré pearl cluster necklace

{4} cotton nico skirt 

I get an email every weekend reminding me that the Jcrew factory outlet is open. I usually do not end up looking, but they have a great sale going on this weekend so I thought I'd take a peek. Here's a few of my favorites...

Happy Friday!

philip's birthday

I had a previous blog that I have canceled so I wanted to re-post one of my favorite memories of my wonderful husband in honor of his birthday today....{it was from July this summer}

So here I am...in the lovely state of New York. My life is so strange sometimes. My husband and I work for Young Life. And we get the privilege of working at the beautiful camps Young Life owns during the summer. Some would not consider this a privilege, but we do. We have to uproot and move our lives for a month, live in a house with other families, share meals together... And I love it...well usually at least.

Philip loves it, too. I think he feels more free to be himself here. Perhaps too free. While out to dinner last night, with some of our friends, we noticed it was karaoke night at a small local American bar on the river. Philip loves karaoke, but I have never seen him do anything like this before...he requested the song, "Pour some sugar on me" and as he approaches the mic he just goes ahead and takes off his shirt. What?

There were about 40 people in the bar, maybe more. And he belted out the song...a few of the waitresses brought some handfuls of sugar and threw it on him. A local woman came up to him afterward and said,

"That was a treat. I haven't seen that much skin in quite some time."

I haven't laughed that hard in awhile.

happy birthday philip! 

i love you. 

{ 2011 to do}

{2011 Perplexed Birdies Calendar by Collete Papiere}

I do not really like resolutions, but I do like goals & to do lists...so I have a few for 2011 & thought I would share. Perhaps this will help keep my accountable to doing some of them.

{1} learn to sew - I know the basics, but want to sew a pillow sham & learn how to do the basics
{2} only go to the grocery store once a week - odd goal, but I ALWAYS end up having to go several times & it takes so much time & energy.
{3} live a neater/cleaner life. okay, totally not measurable, but I have noticed that I have this cycle of my house/car/etc gets messy as I am busy during the week & then it takes me all day Saturday to clean it up. I want to figure out how to live a more organized day to day schedule where I am not letting everything pile up.
{4} read a book a month - could be a spiritual book or a book for fun, but once a month
{5} get into two more local boutiques with my button jewelry
{6} exercise 3x a week - enough said.
{7} continue to blog on a semi-daily basis
{8} journal & remember what God has done - my friend reminded me this week how important that is
{9} redecorate our master bedroom - we love the colors, but Philip wants to build a new bed with  storage & I love that idea.

...so that is a start...i'm sure there's more...