Car Seat Cover

For those of you who know my sister Whitney, she had a little baby girl this past Monday night!
That makes 14 for the Luke clan.  Welcome to the family, Penelope! 

Whitney requested that I make a car seat cover for her like this one:

It's supposed to be a quick 1 hourish project, but of course I have to make my life difficult and make it fancier than that.  So I learned how to do ric-rac, ruffles, and piping and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the result.  I almost hope Whitney doesn't like it and I can keep it for my future (DISTANT FUTURE) little girl. :)

For any of you who want to make one, I found the tutorial HERE.

Holy Flavor Explosion in my Mouth!!!

Wowzers.  Can I just tell you how much I love the blog Our Best Bites?  They have not failed me yet.  After browsing around today I decided to make both strawberry sauce and strawberry freezer jam with the 3lb of strawberries I bought the other day.  Then for dinner I made the Southwest Pasta Salad. 

UUUUH-MAZING.

The best part about the blog is its' pictures - it's jam packed with them!!  I have become a visual learner in my old age and for someone new to cooking, it's perfect! They have a lot of useful posts on basics like Handy Substitutes, Stocking the Kitchen,  and How-to's like Juicing Lemons and Limes, Cook Chicken Breasts, Make the Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg, and much more! And the recipes are seriously TO DIE FOR.

Seriously, check it out.  You will NOT be disappointed!

A Room Divided

I FINALLY got my craft stuff organized thanks to a little birthday money from Mom and Dad and a trip to the Home Depot.  I was shocked when all was said and done that I really don't have that much stuff!  And believe me, working at a craft store makes it very difficult to not fill those empty drawers and boxes.  Someday...

And I know it's stark white and boring.  That's a work in progress as well!

 For a brief moment in time my side of the room was as clean as Ryan's but not for long!

Popcorn Popping

I looked out the window and what did I see?

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Spring has brought me such a nice surprise,

Popcorn popping right before my eyes!

 

This little tree is my fav. :)

Alone on a Friday Night

After waking up at 5:30 a.m., taking Ryan to the airport, napping, running 6 miles then working 7 hours, I finally sit here on my lazy bum all alone on a Friday night.  I'm lovin' it. :)  I should be organizing my craft room, making a baby afghan for another friend,  looking for a new job, probably eating something, or doing one of the other 13 things on my to-do list but per request from my good friend Jenny, I blog instead.  Consider it a belated birthday present.

So first, a few of my wonderful wifely skills as of late...

I lose socks when I do laundry.  

It's just a fact of nature. 

Ryan, however, had never lost a sock until me.  

Luckily, since being married, the match always turns up (this did not always used to be the case).  

Sometimes we find it in the oddest places...

  

 Laundry is not a new adventure for me, but this, this was.  

A big ol' raw chicken - that LOOKS like a chicken!  YUCK.  

I'm a Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast kinda gal. 

BUT, when whole bird goes on sale for $0.59/lb I could not resist.  

With the help of a friend, we gutted him, boiled him and let him 

relax for a bit (as seen here) until we cut him up and had enough meet for 4 meals!

Ryan did a little bit of relaxing himself as last week was his spring break.

He took full advantage by sleeping in, taking naps, and eating very unhealthy foods.  

That is my kind of break.  Too bad I had to work.

But, I did have a few days off and we took advantage by going to the Museum of Life of Science.

We saw butterflies, bears, wolves, lemurs, dinosaurs, a LOT OF BUGS, and all sorts of other fun things.  

We had no idea how fabulous this place is!  

We finished off the day North Carolina style by eatin' some BBQ and 

going to Duke's last home game of the season.

We ended the week by going to our faaaaaaavorite restaurant - BUFFALO WILD WINGS!!!

We went to watch the Duke vs. UNC basketball game and 

LUCKILY got in despite showing up only 15 minutes before tip-off. 

Although the game was disappointing we had great food and good company.

This table is reserved for DUKE fans

Lastly, I got to see my little sister this weeeeeeeeeek!!

She flew into Charlotte on Tuesday night for a conference and we were able to spend the evening together.

I gave her a taste of North Carolina BBQ and a recommended French bakery.

We loved Charlotte and I would LOVE it if she went to grad school there as she's planning!

The only problem is that she would arrive as soon as we leave. LAAAAAAME.

THE END.