No Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
1. Position two oven racks in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Divide the dough into 24 portions, about 1 heaping tablespoon each. Roll each portion between your hands to form a smooth ball. Place the balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. You should get about 12 cookies per sheet. Using a fork, press on the dough in two directions to form a crosshatch pattern.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.

YUM!

Truly Blessed

This weekend was wonderful. Saturday morning I received my first ever professional massage and I must say it will not be the last time:) It was amazing! I was able to experience a complete salt scrub as well as a Swedish massage:) Both were awesome! It was wonderful being able to do this with my mom and sister. I don't think they realize how much getting to do things with them means to me. We followed that by lunch at the only restaurant I think my family knows of, the one and only; La Parilla:) We met my dad, Honey and Aunt Cathy. After that it was a day with the ladies. I was on a mission to find a fall work wardrobe. It has been a mission. When did clothing companies quit making brown work skirts? Did I not receive the memo? Silly of me to think that brown was a fall/winter color...After traveling for the past month near and far to find this amazing brown skirt that does not exist we ended up at Macy's. When I had lost all hope and it just seemed inevitable that I was going to have to do without a brown skirt; I see Jennifer (my sister) sprint to the right out of the corner of my eye. That's when I saw it, like a beam of light came out of the sky and landed on a brown skirt! There were two left and they were both on the mannequins. I had my fingers and toes crossed that one of them was my size! Praise Jesus one of them was!! Finding this skirt has been an act of congress. Finally, a brown skirt with no jacket...Almost there!

On Sunday, Chad had to work so I went completely domestic. I went to the grocery store for the week. Got home and unloaded. Started the laundry. Got a pot of homemade chili and baked peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies:) Both homemade! I wanted to have both ready for when Chad got home so we could enjoy them during the Falcons game. Falcons rocked that stadium on Sunday! After the game we went to WalMart to purchase extension cords and a pumpkin. We needed both to start the decorating process for Halloween on the outside of the house:) It looks so good! We carved the pumpkin Tuesday night and put up the decorations outside:) Pictures soon to come as well as the recipe for the chili and cookies!

Next Monday I will be in the new building Chick-fil-A is moving Marketing and Operations too, Oakmont. I will be the back desk Receptionist and I am really excited about moving to that building. It's not permanent but I am so excited about being able to be familiar with both buildings:) I am so thankful and blessed to work for such a wonderful Christ Driven company. Blessed to work for a corporate company that offers devotions to their staff every Monday. Blessed to work with the amazing women on my team. Blessed to be meeting all of the wonderful people that work here. Blessed to have lunch provided everyday. Blessed that God has given the opportunity for work for a company that I believe in. I am learning so much and meeting wonderful people. Our department has our outing next Friday and I am so excited! I'll be able to do an update on that next weekend:) I'll post pictures and recipes tonight:) Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

New Bachelor?

Jake Pavelka is the name rumored to be the next bachelor... They are going to officially announce it on Dancing with the Stars on October 13'th... I find this choice to be very interesting to say the least... Let me explain: I like Jake and he seems to show that chivalry is not dead however I almost find him to be too nice and perfect...I think he is going to have a hard time being on this show. After last season though anything is better than Jillian...She was so naive...I have a feeling Mr. Jake is going to be the same way... I wish I were a little more excited about this choice but I am indifferent... I will still be a fan of the show and watch to see what happens and keep my fingers crossed that it will be a good season...

What do you think about Mr. Jake as the next Bachelor????

Group Training/Those awful resistance bands/Easy Potato Soup

Today was my first group training session after work with Louis. I get off work at 5:30 so I was hustling to get down there in time. We worked our legs first with various exercises. We used the BOSU Balance Trainer and that was a first for me. Difficult starting out but then I caught my rythym and got the hang of it. We then worked the upper body. I thought I could get away from the resistance bands but I don't think that is going to happen with Louis:) I think he enjoys bringing them out!! I used a medicine ball for the first time which consisted of lunging and lifting. We finished with abs and lets just say my stomach was burning...

Let me provide an illustration for you:

For dinner tonight: I fixed it Sunday evening in the crock pot:)

Easy Potato Soup from 5 ingredients or less:

4-5 Yukon potatoes (Peeled and cubed)

1 can cream of celery

1 can cream of chicken

milk

7.6 oz Mashed potato flakes

After getting the potatoes ready place them in the crock pot with both cream of celery and cream of chicken. After adding fill one can with water and add to crock pot. Cook on high 2-3 hours until potatoes are tender. Then add 1 can of milk and 7.6 oz of mashed potato flakes. Add salt and pepper. Cook another 2-3 hours on low.

Wonderful soup!!

However: In the future I will not add 7.6 oz of the flakes. I will do less. These make the soup very thick so I will just add until I have the desired consistency. And if I have time next time I will probably cook 2-3 slices of bacon and add that as well.

Brandy's Wedding

One of my girlfriend's, Brandy Walker, tied the knot September 19'th. I was up at 6:15 am for our 8:00 am hair appointment...I was basically comatose...
I absolutely LOVED my hair! We had our makeup done as well:)
It rained all day but instead of fighting the rain we worked with it. We could tell Brandy's heart was set on having her wedding outside in the backyard. We made it happen. We had the idea of getting umbrellas to match the flowers and dresses; black, orange, and green. The guys escorted us down carrying the umbrellas over us. The rain had stopped by that point but we already had the umbrellas, might as well use them. Brandy looked absolutely amazing and so did Chris. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. I was happy to be a part of it. They went to Mexico for their Honeymoon and I'm sure it was amazing. The website alone was gorgeous. I'm sure they had a wonderful time!!

Two Weekends Ago and jalopenos

We had such a wonderful weekend!! Friday night we went to dinner with Chad's mom and his brother. We went to Southern Pit which is a favorite of ours. So much so they catered our Rehearsal dinner:) I was really looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning but I was wide awake at 8:30!! I got up and I had some of my mint green tea that I love in the morning and starting decorating for Fall/Halloween:) I was really excited to get started and kept trying to put it off so that I wasn't one of "those" people. You know what I am talking about. I gave in...

It's not all finished. There are some things I would like to buy for the mantle but I can't find them. I tend to get ideas or decorations in my head but really they don't exist. However, I will keep looking:) Then Chad and I cleaned and did an outstanding job!

Samantha came over after work and we ran to Walmart so that we could get what we needed for our dips that evening. Samantha was making Spinach-Artichoke dip. I made homemade guacamole and pizza dip. The pizza dip is compliments of Brigid and might I say a big hit:) Jennifer, my sister, and her boyfriend Daniel were coming over to watch the game as well. She made pigs in a blanket. We had so much food and it was "Oh, So good!" We got back from Walmart and we watched our wedding video. Our wedding video is 2 hours and 45 mins long so there was def some fast forwarding. Then we made our dips....

I have never cut an avocado before...What an experience...My finger was a little cut up but the worst was cutting the jalopeno. In my mind, I kept thinking put some gloves on but I didnt have any so I didn't. I was going to be really careful. After I sliced it and the guacamole was finished I felt something burning under my nose. OI googled how to get rid of jalopeno. After trying to wash under my nose and pour lemon juice under it. The end result was aloe. Which took it away thank goodness! But it wasn't over...under my fingernail started burning. Burning bad. I couldn't get it out. I tried everything from cutting my nail, fingernail brush, baking soad and water paste, and alcohol. End result=hydrogen peroxide. I guess it brought the oils out from my skin. I was in agony but thank God for hydrogen peroxide!!

Fall Fashions and other random findings...

A couple weeks ago I had a wonderful day filled with lunch and shopping with two of my favorrite people; Mom and Jennifer. I invited them down to Ashley Park in Newnan to spend the day. We haven't had the opportunity to do this in a long time. It was just fun spending the day with the girls:) We started at Ashley Park and this blog is dedicated to the, "Oh so very interesting finds of the day." Things that make you go hmmmm:) I consider myself somewhat trendy however some new fall fashions make me confused.

Our first finds were these humungous bracelets at Dillards. I love bracelets but these however were a little "too" big for our taste. If I were to wear these at work I think my Wrist would come up 4 inches above the keyboard. Not good ergonomics for the work place...
Next, we found a purse at TJ MAXX that was brown fur and we basically just found tacky honestly. If you have this purse I apologize.

We found this extravagant, ginormous hat at TJ MAXX. I believe if you cannot walk and see with a hat on it can lead to serious health complications...

Again at TJ MAXX we found this vest that I of course had to put on. Hot pink fur and zebra? It just doesnt get any better than this....
I understand that Halloween decorations are supposed to be Halloweenie. I get it but this witch shoe had Jennifer and I scratching our heads.
Another Halloween find; this is just a flat out strange idea. To put a baby in a black cat costume and place it on top of a pumpkin...Really?
These Thanksgiving decorations just flat out scared us. The chipmunks had creepy smiles and the pilgrim well it was scary as well.
We couldn't determine what this was for to be exact. We were thinking ring holder but really it seemed kinda not girly enough to be one. So instead we titled this one ?.
I personally would not want this mask hanging in my home....

Most interesting find of the day.... Drum Roll Please....

A golden Angel Frog with wings..... If I offended any readers that was not my intention. We all have our own taste and these do not fall in my catagory. Please know that Jennifer, Mom and I had a wonderful time creating this blog entry:)

First Official Day of Fall

Today is first official day of Fall and I must say here in Georgia it looks nothing like it. I'm sure that many of you have been watching the news if you do not live here have heard about all of the rain and flooding going on. We caught a break today but there is still a storm heading this direction from Mississippi. I am hoping it fades away. One major plus for me in the Fall is not only the cool and beautiful scenery but all of my favorite shows come back. I always look forward to Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Brothers and Sisters. There are some others but those are the ones coming back and I am super pumped!!

Chad and I purchased an XBOX about two weeks ago. I am pretty sure that I have lost my husband to it. He is set up online where he can play with Matt, Jeremy and Clay. He plays his football and dirtbike racing. Of course I got to pick out a game:) What? You thought I would let him have all the fun. I don't think so. The game of my choice....Drum Roll Please......

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!! Laugh if you wish but I thoroughly enjoy this game and it's on my skill level so far...

Now I leave you to go to sleep for a 6:45 am meeting tomorrow morning! I have some entries coming up once I upload some pictures tomorrow evening they will be up! Good night!!

Cucumbers and Onions

This is a very tasty topping from my Great Grandmother (Mam-Maw-Lou). It's been in our family for years. Chad has been begging me to make some so I gave in and made some last week. Not that I didn’t want to make them I just kept forgetting every time I went to the grocery store. We call it cucumbers and onions:

4 large cucumbers (Peeled)
1 large onion
½ cup of distilled vinegar
3 tbls of Oil
2 tsp salt
6 tbls of sugar (You can do less if you would like)

Slice cucumbers about a quarter inch thick. Slice onion (do not dice). Add everything to large bowl (atleast 4 inchs deep) that seals well. Stir everything together and refrigerate for 24 hours. And you can put it on top of salads or be like Chad and eat them right out of the container:)

Whew! What a week...

My apologies for not posting in awhile. It's been pretty busy. There hasn't been a whole lot going on. Last weekend we basically spent the whole weekend with my family which was wonderful!! I love getting to spend time with them:) This weekend we are heading down to Valdosta!! Why you ask? Family reunion for Chad's dad's side of the family. I have been every year but this will be the first one as Chad's wife:) I'm really looking forward to it. It's non-stop outdoor games and activities. Everything from Volleyball, wiffle ball, bocce' and the list continues. We have a really good time. I am sure that on Saturday we will take a break from the outdoors to watch UGA beat some Oklahoma Bootay! I have always enjoyed college football and def looking forward to it starting up this weekend. This will be the first football season living with my husband who is shall I say...OBSESSED!! I have certain teams that I love to watch play but Chad will watch whatever game is on just to watch.

Hopefully, we won't be playing too much, Battle for the Remote;)

As far as the kitchen goes, last week I had a really good success and one mess. The chicken and rice in the crockpot was on the dry side. I followed the recipe exactly but it was just dry. Chad had to go back to work so I was thrilled to have dinner ready for him when he got home. He had to be at work at 6:00 and I got off at 5:30. I expected to get some sort of text or anything telling me, "Great dinner babe!" or "Thanks for having dinner ready!" By the time I got off I heard nothing. So I called and he was heading back up to work and still nothing. Finally, I said, "Was dinner that bad?" He started laughing and followed with, "it was pretty rough babe." He just said it was really dry. Note to self: Scratch that recipe. He said it in love and he knows I am experimenting and trying new things...He's my guinea pig ;)

My success I will post tonight when I get home:) Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend and GOOOO DAWGS!!!!