Eating: Pinterest menu

I am blogging from the road...one of the marvels of modern technology and the luxury of a smart phone.

Quick little planning post to help me get ready for the week. I have been pinning on Pinterest while my husband takes his turn at the wheel.

Casa Swann weekly menu

-Crockpot chicken, kale salad, roasted veggies
- roasted zucchini with romas and basil, Greek salad, pork chops
-apple and spinach salad, frittatas
-grilled chicken and veggie pitas

Many if these recipes can be found on my "Foodie" Pinterest board @ http://pinterest.com/Booksgirl/

A little view from the road...somewhere in the middle of Kentucky...best mullet EVER!

Dirt: kids

My posts this week have been where my mind has been. On my marriage.

I have a great one. We all know that by now.

The by product of that is great kids.

I have two really great kids.

They are smart and funny. Compassionate and silly.

One is finding her way to being a grown woman with relationships that are complex and hopefully, uplifting. I watch as she struggles with "mean girls" and I struggle not to make hot headed calls to other mommas. The other is growing as an artist and trying to figure out her place in the world outside elementary school.

We are lucky as can be to have these great girls. 

They truly have made our lives full. We both thought we did not want to have a family, as we both are very selfish people with our selves.

There is never a serious picture of us...

But, as my husband once put it, we needed a family. Actually his words were " You just needed a family." He was talking about me needed closure on a sometimes difficult childhood.

And he was right, of course. I did. 

I needed someone to be selfless for. 

And as babies, they needed me. Now, they need me less and more, in different ways. But everyday, I am amazed by how truly rewarding it is to be an exhausted mom who has driven 100 miles in one day, who has stayed up late making cookies, gotten up early to hem a dress, make a lunch and find a gym shirt.

I never would have known the rewards and I probably would have been fine. We would have done something else with our time and, us being us, would have had fun. 

But, not like this.

Whatever: Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to the boy I married on the beach...

14 years ago today!

I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Life has been one great party with you...

Thanks for bringing me along for the ride...

I love you!

Gratituesday: 17 years

Today is the 17th anniversary of my first date with my husband.

That sounds like such a long time ago, but it seems like three days ago. At least,most days it does. I look at him every day and I still see the cutest boy in the world who has the very best laugh.

We dated for a long time (three years) and still date as often as we can. 

When we first started going out, I was almost sick, I was so excited to be around him.

I realize now, that is what true love feels like. He would show up to pick me up at my apartment wearing black socks with Birkenstock sandals just to  mess with me. I thought he was adorable. He had the strongest shoulders and the most hilarious sense of humor. I was a goner!

Now, 17 years later, I don't feel sick when I am around him. Instead, I feel calm. He makes me feel like everything is going to be fine. He still makes me laugh, really laugh, from my belly.

 I still think he is adorable, even more so  now that I really and truly know him. He is one of the most generous people I know, and will give anyone the shirt off his back or his bike shoes, tools, last piece of gum, whatever.  He expects the same in return and often has the most generous friends.

 I am one lucky girl to have him in my life.

We are going on a date tomorrow night to celebrate our 14 years of marriage. Three years and one day after our first date, we gathered a few of our nearest and dearest and stood before them and God. We said to each other..."Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." -Ruth 1:16 

I am so grateful that we did.

Cooking: Sunday/ Funday

This week, my goal is to blog four times

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We have accidentally started a tradition at my house. Accidental traditions are the best kind, I think. 

Accidental means not contrived, spontaneous and a matter of fate.

Starting on Easter Sunday, we have spent every Sunday cooking,eating and being outside. 

Usually we are with our friends and family, twice we have been to an event. One week it was our

 Four Bridges Art festival and yesterday to the opening of the local farmer's  market. 

We relish hanging out. Truly hanging out and relaxing with friends. We have been using our smoker and cooking chicken, pork and salmon. Delicious! I have made easy favorites, kitchen sink salad,key lime pie, black eyed peas, and homemade slaw. Easy and quick has been my motto.

My husband and I were talking earlier in the week as to how we used to hate not having anything to do on a weekend day. When our kids were little, we tried to cram as much into our weekends as possible.Now, we look forward to a calm Sunday to end our crazy week. Now, don't get me wrong, we still go hard on the weekends. This weekend alone, we went to two separate dinner parties, out to dinner with our kids, chauffeured a kid to a dance, a plant sale,  the garden center, a musical, church, mountain biking, the farmers market and Home Depot.  We planted our garden, mulched flower beds and mowed. The difference is now, we schedule our down time instead of trying to make up for it on Monday.

Yesterday, by mid afternoon, we were relaxing and hanging out with friends. Smoking a wild pig, cooking other treats and eating. The kids played wiffle ball and hide and go seek. The adults stood around and swapped stories and laughed hard. Relaxing and rejuvenating for the week ahead.

This week, we are going to my sister's and Sunday/Funday will be on hiatus, instead spent in the car, driving home. But it will return, in two weeks and we will be ready to do  what we now know we do best...cook, eat and relax.

Via my favorite way to waste time on Sunday/Funday

Post Sunday/Funday menu

* We over indulged yesterday. For instance, I ate about 10 pounds of goat cheese covered with this on lavash. THEN ate home made mac & cheese, corn bread salad, home made coconut cake and rosemary rolls. SO this week, we are going Spartan.

Taco Salad

dinner out due to kid's schedules (salad bar at Greenlife)

baked chicken, baked sweet potatoes, salad

Egg salad or turkey & cheese sandwiches