Goals, Goals, Goals.....

I have alot of Goals for April and I am pretty determined to meet them. One of them is by the end of April to Walk into my favorite store and buy a brand new size smaller outfit for my Nephew's Graduation!

Susan Godfrey - Geek Chic

I just fell in love with this fun Kit by Susan Godfrey named Geek Chic. This kit is so fun! I just loved using this kit. Make sure you stop by Susan's shop, pick up Geek Chic and do some other shopping while you are there: SUSAN GODFREY SHOP

This is one of my favorite pictures of myself in Maui Hawaii just a few weeks ago when we were in Hawaii to Celebrate the year of our 20th Wedding Anniversary.

This layout was so fun for me. I have always wanted to scrap about our silly Self Portraits:  Ron loves to take self portraits of us. I can’t count how many he has taken in the last 19 years. Some of our best pictures are these silly self portraits. I get the biggest kick of out them.
My comments usually include: “Don’t drop the camera” and “Did you get us”. Strangely enough they almost always turn out cute.
This one we took on our trip down the road to Hana in Maui on our Hawaiian vacation.  

A Recipe gone way good!!!

One of my favorite shows that I DVR or watch if I can is Mad Hungry. I love love love this cooking show. Over the last seven years my cooking has gone from making traditional recipes to walking right straight out of the box and I must say....I am pretty good at it. Just ask Ron.....yes some will say "Ron will eat anything" but when it comes to cooking I make him be brutally honest, and he has only hated one meal of mine :) 

First of all if you love to cook, visit the Mad Hungry Web Site: Mad Hungry there are amazing easy to prepare dishes. Yeah some are kind of fancy but most are made with stuff you have right in your cozy home kitchen. 

SO you don't have to watch the show. It is on the Hallmark Channel, but really go the website for recipes. Lucinda Scala Quinn is amazing. If you are my age, this is not your Momma's cooking, but it is close with a twist now and then. I have learned ALOT from Lucinda.........first and foremost. COOK SLOW the amazing recipes she makes are quick but also encourage you to let the flavors of all the spices and flavorings engulf your food. 

I have went from thinking and concentrating on cooking to really enjoying making food that my family and friends love. 

Tonight I made this along with half pieces of Rosemary Steak made on the Traeger Grill.  Ron and our friend Justin enjoyed it very much. They wouldn't lie to me. If you don't have Baguettes for the sauce in the bottom of the pan use french bread or any other bread. We actually had left over Biscuits from Breakfast and I cut those up and it was devine. I also made broccoli and rice as a side. 

SIDENOTE......DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE MAKE THIS RECIPE USING PRE COOKED SHRIMP........the shrimp my cook from a raw state and take in the amazing flavors.

My last little tip....I used a half a tablespoon of Tony Casher's Cajun Seasoning and it was perfect........ 

Mr Jim's Louisiana Barbequed Shrimp

Ingredients

• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons), rinds reserved and sliced
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 11/2 teaspoons hot sauce, such as Tabasco
• 1 pound (about 30) medium to large shrimp, peeled, heads (optional) and tails on
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Baguette, for serving

Directions

1. Heat a 12-inch skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium-high heat. Add butter, and cook until melted and foamy. Add garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice and rinds. Stir in Worcestershire and hot sauces, and bring to a simmer.
2. Season shrimp with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Cook until pink and firm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with pepper. Serve with baguette.
   
   

   Here is what mine looked like:

   

    Here is what Lucinda's looked like.....now remember she was in a TV studio and her lemons were turned sideways :) 

   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Susan Godfrey - City Spring

I created these two layouts using the beautiful and fun City Spring Scrap Kit by Susan Godfrey. Visit Susan's Website: www.susangodfrey.com for this kit and for her other beautiful kits. Here is the link to her store: SUSAN GODFREY SHOP

This first layout is one that I did about the flowers Ron gave me for no reason. Here is my journaling:             Ron brought me home these beautiful flowers for absolutely no reason. I was totally surprised and very grateful. They were so pretty and colorful. They totally made my day. What was cute about it was, Ron told me that he told the lady to make something fun, bright and cheerful like his wife and this is what she came up with. I loved them!!!  2-25-2011 

This second layout was just a fun one I did featuring Ron's first tropical drink in Maui. It was so pretty I couldn't resist taking a photo of it! 

Our Hawaii Tsunami story

Today started off as a usually beautiful day in beautiful Maui Hawaii. Our only second day on the Island and it ended very well.............eventful at the least. This is the story of Ron and Kristin during the Maui Tsunami as told by Ron and I.

It was a great Thursday in Maui. A day that Ron and I planned to take just to ourselves. Mainly to get oriented to our resort, enjoy the sunshine and take advantage our beautiful seaside room. It was perfect. We spent the day in the sun just laying on our chairs. Toward the end of our day, We both answered emails and checked messages on our phones and browsed our favorite internet sites. We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. Had a few cocktails and headed for bed.

Around 9:50 pm Maui time.  Ron woke me up with the news that a Tsunami watch had been turned in to a warning for Hawaii. BOY was I mad. I just wanted to go home. Here was my direct Facebook quote: "Oh hell Maui under a Tsuanami watch. Forget paradise. There is no place like Nebraska and I want to go home"  Even though just days before there was no way in hell you were dragging me out of here. It was the craziest, fastest, most panic stricken nut job I have ever done. I was nuts. (When I returned back later all I could so was laugh, about my packing procedures.......the TSA would have never let me through ANY check in line). There we so many funny thing I uncovered. Ron packed all our groceries in our Safeway bags we saved. But NOT me I put our small cereal boxes in the bottom of my suitcase. The Ginger cookies we bought in my computer bag and my underwear...in my purse :) 

So we spent the whole night at the West Maui Airport with many of our new Maui/International friends. I learned to leave VERY early if I had to tinkle. I learned that complete strangers can become the most comforting folks in times of stress. My learned most of all that ALOT of people care and love Ron and I. 

Day 62

Such a beautiful beautiful day. I whipped up my secret marinade and two beautiful ribeyes fell victim to our tummy's. Unfortunately, we never got to make them on the grill because just as I was going to clean the grill the wind came up and it turn cold :( booooooooooooo.

Some days are questionable....

and some days are just plain great. Today was a great one. It was so nice out and I was so happy to be able to do what I wanted to do on this beautiful day. I got a ton of stuff done on my to-do list and most of them outside which made me very happy!

I got to hang one of my first loads of clothes in 2011 outside to dry. I finally got a set of Christmas lights and garland thawed out enough to put away. I managed to set up and straighten and test my poor solar lights around my deck after being covered in piles of snow. I got to clean out one of my vehicles and load some stuff in it for the weekend today instead of tomorrow when it is freezing cold again.

and at 6:08 there come the NW wind and that was the end of the beautiful day :(  BUT every nice day is one day closer to more nice days........so much for this.....we are grilling inside!!