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So NOT 21 Anymore

 Oh Wednesday, you give us hope. A light at the end of  the tunnel we call Friday. You are the half way point.
 
So today I am going to link up for the “I don’t know about you but I’m feeling 21.” We are supposed to talk about how awesome and epic our 21st birthday was.
 
Feelin' 21 Link Up
 
My 21st birthday party with my friends was so epic, that I don’t know that I have any pictures for it. It was August 17, 2004….so you can imagine that times were a little different then. Social media was just getting started, and you had to be a college student to join Facebook. In fact, I didn’t join Facebook until just a few months before I turned 22. I was more of an AIM person then. I had an extensive buddy list and an awesome away message and profile, OK!?
 
Oh to be 21 again. My friends had a party for me to celebrate my 21st birthday. School had just started back and it was my last year of college. (I graduated when I was 21.) I remember our friend Nathan brought over a HUGE ass bottle of absolute vodka. And that is all I remember. Ha, just kidding! Sort of. I just remember hanging out at the apartment, listening to music, dancing, drinking and having an awesome time. That was the one and only time that I had gotten so drunk that I could barely walk and didn’t feel so hot the next morning. I didn’t really ever have hang overs then. The truth is, I don’t like to be drunk. I don’t like losing control over my body. Some people call that being a control freak or OCD. I just call it being awesome, OK?
 
On the actual day of my 21st birthday I traveled out to Alabama to see my parents. They took me out for dinner to O’Charley’s in Oxford. You might be thinking, O’Charley’s? Really? Well it was the one of the only restaurants in the area so it was a big deal haha!  They bought me my first legal drink. It was a White Russian. Yum!
 
Since I don’t have any pictures of the said events, I am going to photo bomb you with 3 random pictures of when I was 21. Enjoy!
 

 
 

(This is why you should never go to the tanning bed. That is so not natural!)

 
 
 

 
The Hump Day Blog Hop
 
Because it is Wednesday, seriously, I cant get enough of the Hump Day Camel. Or Liz! So go link up and find some new friends. All the cool kids are doing it.
 

October 9, 2013 by
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Stuffed Pepper Soup

Last week I made stuffed pepper soup from Skinnytaste. You can find the original recipe here. It was delicious and rather satisfying, probably because of the rice. My husband even enjoyed it and said he wouldn’t mind having it again! Because I was completely excited about trying this soup, I went straight to eating it when it was ready and failed to take a pretty picture of it in my white bowl. Instead, I leave you with reheat in my glass lunch bowl at work.

What you need:

3 cups of cooked brown rice ( I just used brown minute rice because I had a box I needed to use up)
1 lb of ground beef (I used extra lean, I use extra lean in every recipe)
1 small to medium yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped (I forgot to buy fresh garlic, so I used minced and it was fine)
2 cans of petite diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)
1 and 3/4 cup of tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp of dried marjoram
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

What you do:

In a large pot, brown ground beef on medium-high heat. Once browned, add onion, pepper, and garlic and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for about 5 minutes.

While my ground beef was browning, I cooked the brown rice and let it sit in a pot with a lid to stay warm.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer on low for about 30 minutes.

Serve in a bowl topped with brown rice.

This was excellent left over! Make sure you store the rice separate, as you don’t want it to get soggy in the soup!

October 8, 2013 by
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Weekend Shenanigans

Well, hello there. It is another Monday I see. Drat! This weekend was very eventful and I feel I didn’t have enough couch time yesterday!

Friday evening – Chris and I went for Sushi at Konomi. It was wonderful, as always. Then we headed over to his parents house and hung out for a little while.

Photo: Sushi Time!

Saturday – It was time for me to get my hair cut! My goodness it has been WAY too long since I have had it done last! I got all over color instead of color and highlights because I was in a hurry. I had to make it to a surprise engagement party for some sweet friends!!

Chris and I left there and headed downtown to catch some games. We went to The Red Zone in Five Points. The place was set up cool, but it was just not the right fit for us. And the drinks were AWFUL! I got a beer that I have had lots of times at different places. I have had it in a bottle and on draught. They had it on draft and it was the worst thing I have EVER tasted. So gross. Chris has gotten on of his go to’s as well, and his was terrible also. I wouldn’t recommend this place! How do you mess up beer? 
We quickly left there and decided we were close to 65 N and so we got on and headed to Gardendale to check out Top Games. It is a vintage video game store that we have been meaning to check out forever. They didn’t have as much stuff as we were hoping, but still a great place to stop! We picked up a grab bag from there of some NES games. We knew there were 5 games in the bag, but had no clue what they would be. It was a dud, but still fun!

We got in the car and started to head back down towards Birmingham and then Chris said, I kind of want to go to Gamer’s Paradise in Huntsville. I was like well we are already sort of half way there….So we got off the next exit, and headed back on 65 N and went to Huntsville! We justified it by saying that we could check out Bargain Hunt, go to TGI Friday’s for dinner (we don’t have one in Birmingham anymore) and try and see our friend Amanda while we are there! And so we did!
Gamer’s Paradise is my favorite video game store in North Alabama. They have a ton of stuff, the guys there are really nice and they have fair prices. We picked up a few Nintendo 64 games that we lost or didn’t have. Chris also got another game as well that he was missing for his Sega Saturn.

When we left Gamer’s Paradise we realized there were only a few minutes left in the Georgia vs Tennessee game and I am a Georgia fan (after the Tide of course) so we decided to find the nearest bar with a TV and crash for the last few minutes. The game was basically tied so we figured it would go in to overtime. And it did. We found an Outback and hung out at the bar for a few minutes. The Dawgs pulled it out, heck yes! Alabama won their game earlier that day, so I was happy both my teams won. 
We left Outback and headed to Bargain Hunt to check out what deals they had. We found a few little things then it was time for dinner! I love TGI Friday’s and this was my cheat meal for the weekend! I got a Mojito too! Yummy! We ordered appetizers. We got Bacon Macaroni and Cheese bites (pictured below), the sesame Jack Daniel’s chicken and a side of sweet potato fries. Everything was amazing.

After dinner we were to meet up with our friend Amanda in the Providence area of Huntsville. It is this very cool live/work/play community that had tons of fun restaurants. We met up with her at Mellow Mushroom because they have lots of great beers on draft there. We hung out there for a few hours and then headed back home. We didn’t get home until 1:30 am! 
Sunday morning we met up with some friends for breakfast at Waffle House and did our grocery shopping for the week. Then we came home, I did a little light cleaning. Yesterday was my mom’s birthday so I called and talked to her for awhile. We made plans to have lunch next Sunday to celebrate because my sister wasn’t available this weekend. Then it was time for some video gaming. I played several of the new games we got this weekend, and then tried out Raymond for the Xbox. It was so awesome! I love it! 

After a few hours of gaming, we cooked dinner and watched a movie. Then I pouted like a 5 year old that I didn’t want the weekend to be over and have to go to work in the morning. Then pouted some more and went to bed. 
Overall we had a fantastic weekend and I am sad and depressed that it has come to an end! Back to it peeps. Focker out.
Sami's Shenanigans
October 7, 2013 by
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Friday Five

It is Friday people! About time, am I right?! That means it is time to link up with Joy for the Friday Five!

1. My oldest niece Haven is the homecoming queen this year!!! How awesome is that? My sister texted me this picture and I couldn’t be more proud. How cute is she in her little uniform and crown? She looks so tiny next to that football player!

2. I have officially pulled out my fall and winter nail colors, and I couldn’t be more excited! I have been on a kick about having my finger nails painted. Normally I never paint them because they usually chip immediately from typing, but I have managed to paint my nails two weeks straight. Maybe a new thing for me…I dunno? I haven’t been biting them since painting, so it can only be a good thing! (That doesn’t mean that I don’t still bite around them….baby steps people. Baby steps.)
3. I have had a few people ask me what I put in my green smoothies in the mornings. In this order, I put about 3 huge handfuls of spinach, 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (and usually a splash more than half a cup), 2-3 tablespoons of vanilla yogurt (regular fat free kind, I cant stand that Greek yogurt shit it is too sour cream tasting for me), a cup of frozen strawberries and a banana. Sometimes I do half a cup strawberries and half a cup pineapple to switch it up. Just blend it until it looks lean, mean and green! That is a regular Ninja blender that I am using. It is AWESOME and much cheaper than those $300 nutro-whatever blenders. Gotta save those dolla dolla bills!
4. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! I am sure you have all seen the one pan chicken dinner on Pinterest. I have made this meal once before and it was pretty good so we did it again last night! All you do is take chicken breasts, green beans (canned and drained or fresh) and some new potatoes and place them all in one 9 x 13 pan. You then sprinkle one pack of Italian dressing on it and pour a little melted butter over it and place it in the over for one hour at 350 degrees. Bada bing bada boom winner winner chicken dinner!
5. And because I haven’t photo bombed you with cuteness lately, Mac and Gracie! Or shall I call them hoarder of the dog toys. Gracie loves to use their stuffed toys as pillows. Cracks me up!
 
the Sowell life
October 4, 2013 by
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40 x 40 and Construction Mess

So you may notice things are looking a little different around here….and not quite “together” yet. I started my design transformation but didn’t have time to complete it. Also, just this week I recently decided to change even more, so be on the look out for bigger better things soon. In the mean time, please don’t mind my mess!

I have taken interest lately in all of the 30 by 30 lists that people have posted. It got me thinking, there are a LOT of things that I would love to do…but just haven’t done or gotten around to. Sooo I figured, what better way to accomplish these things than to do a 40 by 40 list! I have 10 years (well 9 years and 10 months) to accomplish all 40 things on my list! I haven’t compiled the whole list yet, and it is sort of a work in progress, however, I have made it public to start holding myself accountable.

My twenties were all about finishing up college, getting myself into the real world on my own, figuring out who I was, trying to become financially stable (or at least be able to pay my bills and have some pretty things), and decide what I want in life. I went from being a college student, to a responsible adult, to a married woman. Now that I have those aspects of my life down, I want to enjoy living! I want to do some things that I have always wanted to do. I want to go to Disney World, I want to shop in New York City, I want to pick up some new hobbies, see new things, live my life and have fun doing it!

My 40 x 40 list will be public page on my blog at all times, and I will update it as I complete the list of things to do, and cross them off when I finally get to do them! Below is what I have so far:

40 things I want to accomplish by the time I turn 40:

1. Go to Disney World
2. Design my very own webpage
3. Visit a new state that I have never been to
4. Go to 5 concerts
5. Finish reading all of the Harry Potter series and watch all the movies
6. Get another tattoo
7.  Hit my goal weight
8. Start my own business (even if it is just on the side or an Etsy store)
9. Become a “runner” (or at least be able to run a mile)
10. Purchase a Kitchen Aid Mixer
11. Go to New York City
12. Learn a new hobby

I am so excited at even the thought of doing just a few of these things in the next ten years!!! I am going to try my hardest to accomplish them all. What are some things you would like to do?

October 3, 2013 by