Farewell to Baby Love's 'LOVE'

We're making leaps and bounds in purchasing some land and starting to build our first house!! First big step... Selling TG's truck! WHOOOO!! :)

He put it up on craigslist Tuesday and Wednesday he sold it!

So we are saying Farewell, and to my surprise Todd is super excited about it!

He is so selfless, and wants to give me the world.

And I just love him for that.

Bye Bye pretty truck I promise you're going to a good home.

And I promise one day I'll allow my husband to purchase his big ol' Ford he so desperately wants...

After we build our house and stock it with all the pretty things in life!

I ONLY selected this picture because if you notice my baby girl is posing for the camera. :) I LOVE HER & I Love TG!

Wednesday Supper

I love to cook. Not only because I LOVE food, but because the whole aspect of entertaining and making people happy while filling their bellies brings a smile to my face. Unfortunately, since we've moved I've had to pack all my cool kitchen gadgets in a cardboard box. I'm patiently awaiting their return! Thankfully Julie has lent me her kitchen gadgets and kitchen when I prepare meals. Usually, when I cook I come up with the most complicated, time-consuming recipes. I just always want that 'WOW' factor. But every once in a while I'll put something together that doesn't take hours to prepare yet still has the same affect. Tonight I made a spaghetti bake. When I say ANYONE can prepare this I mean my 5-year-old nephew could have made this meal! Super easy!

I usually never make my own spaghetti sauce (little tip - no one can ever tell a difference anyways)

• I had 1.5 lbs of ground sirloin
• 1 large spaghetti sauce (my personal favorite is sauce w. mushrooms)
• I bought 2 - 2cup bags of Mozzarella cheese
• 1 box of Macaroni Noodles

Cook and drain meat. Then add sauce.

After I mix my sauce and meat together I usually add some necessities to the sauce. The trick is to take the store bought spaghetti sauce and add some fresh basil or other herbs. It gives it a unique taste. Tonight I added some salt, pepper, and dried basil.

After letting the sauce 'merry' for a little while I mixed the noodles and sauce together in the large sauce pot. Clearly, this recipes makes A LOT. So if you're not cooking for a large group you can either cut the recipe in half or freeze another dish for dinner another night. I had enough to make a large one for church supper and a smaller one for Todd's grandparents.

It was so YUMMY ( I had 3 servings... yikes), and super EASY!

Even had enough to make my baby boy some for his lunch tomorrow!

Liberty of London

Liberty of London: Preview

One of my favorite stores is Target. Seems everytime I walk in there I find something I just have to have. Kind of like me and Hobby Lobby, not such a good idea! Well I'm super excited for the English brand Liberty of London coming to Target stores March 14th! Usually, I'm the type of person who enjoys solid colors - black, white, grey... you get the point. Which is why it was so strage to me that I fell in love with many of the items from Liberty of London. COLORFUL FLORAL PATTERNS????!!! Yup, it's true, crazy as that seems. I love their preview of the items going to be in Target and I can't wait to purchase some of them! ENJOY....

Play Date in the SNOW

A White Winter...

In South Georgia?

Friday night it started snowing in Valdosta while I was working.

Needless to say, Red Lobster cleared out.

Everyone went outside to see the snow falling.

After getting off work I met Todd, Julie, Brian and the Boys and we had some fun in the snow!

Weird huh? Excited about snow. YUP! Doesn't happen often

& we were soaking it up!

A baby is on the way

My Best Friend is PREGNANT!

I'm so excited for her. She's going to be an

AWESOME

Mommy.

She asked me and Todd to hurry and get pregnant.

We always thought we'd be pregnant together.

I told her I'd have to catch her on baby No. 2

You know what this means....

Time to start planning her BABY SHOWER!!!

Heart-Shaped Goodies

Valentine's

I love holidays, mainly because you get to spend time with the ones

you love and show them how much they truly

mean to you!

Valentine's is EXTRA special because it's a holiday

surrounded by LoViNg things!

I love to entertain, love cooking, and love to be crafty!

So I thought I would share some heart-shaped food that I'll probably be making

for my special Valentine.

And hopefully you'll find something to make yours!

Breakfast

I'm hoping my husband brings me some KRISPY KREME'S

When I have a little precious kid I'll definitely be this

crazy mom making crazy lunches like that!

Baby Love's idea of Valentine's Dinner - Steak

Desserts

And how could I forget my angel, Quixote.

Dogie Valentine Treats :)

I hope everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day. Unfortunately I'll be working. But at least I'll be getting paid! :)

DIY Weekend

Splendid weekend again... busy but splendid! Babe's and I were crafty creatures the last couple days. After being inspired, I talked Todd in to embarking on a weekend filled with DIY (do it yourself) tasks! He got home early Friday and we spent Friday afternoon hitting up Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, and Michael's retrieving the supply list I had created to make the 'God' Pillars and the DIY Apothecary Jars, shown above.

After finding most of the items I needed, I told Todd we could leave Hobby Lobby. I spent less than an hour in there, which is totally unheard of for me. Usually I'm there for hours and can't get out spending under $100. We conquered both tasks, 40 minutes & 40 dollars! I think it helped I had a detailed list of the exact items I needed and didn't walk down every isle finding items I usually have to convince Todd I can't live without! He was truly impressed, however I did tell him we were only spending $20 and it ended up being a little more. When I told him you can buy the Apothecary Jars at Pottery Barn for me for $80 a piece he was very pleased with my DIY project! We spent the rest of the evening enjoying each others presence and the food and drinks we had at one of the BEST Chili's around! I love brand new things and I definitely enjoy brand new restaurants. We finished the night cuddling our little angel in bed watching Barbara Walters. Crazy Ole' Married Couple. :)

Saturday was my first work experience at RED LOBSTER. We had an employee meeting at 9 in the morning and we were served lobster tail, tilapia stuffed with lobster meet, and marinated shrimp. Sounds like a good work meeting except my appetite for lobster at 9 in the morning isn't very big. Who knew there were over 50 employees in one restaurant, who knows how I'll ever learn who everyone is. After the meeting I did a little shopping. Don't get excited it was no shopping trip to write home about. I was shopping for my amazing new Red Lobster uniform, I'll post a picture of my get-up someday. Before leaving Valdosta I went through Chik-fil-a and got me and sweet cheeks some lunch. Bad news about working at Red Lobster is Chik-fil-a is right next door, which pretty much means I'll be eating there probably every time I work!

I got home to an excited husband that couldn't wait to tell me about the house he found for us. I hear this often so usually it isn't something I take too seriously. Not sure if I don't take him serious or I try and keep from getting excited, only to be disappointed. The house was around 15 years old, was about to go in to foreclosure, and needed tons of work! But after looking at the pictures of the structure and layout of the house I was on the verge of getting excited too. I had Todd call our Real Estate agent to meet us at the house. The house is in Monticello which is about 20-30 minutes before Tallahassee, still very rural, which is a necessity to my apparently country lovin' husband. After pulling in the drive way and getting out of the truck Todd and I looked at each other and started laughing. It's funny because on the way over there Todd told me that I would have to be very open minded and envision what we could do when we remodeled this house. Before we even walked in the house Todd said he was second-guessing this house. HAHA funny how we had role reversal for a short instance in our life. I was imaging all the landscaping, new granite counter tops, new stainless appliances, wood floors throughout, even how I wanted to paint certain rooms. He thinks I'm close minded, but I guess he doesn't realize just how imaginative my little brain can be. Probably too imaginative when it comes to decorating! We're not jumping to any decision soon and we're going to keep our eye on the house seeings how it's going into complete foreclosure this week and the price is probably going to decrease.

As soon as we got in the truck Todd wanted to know what I thought. When I told him I thought it would be 'fun' I think he nearly fell out of his seat. He talked me in to driving to Lloyd a small town right outside of Tallahassee to look at some land he had seen while internet searching at work. Well, apparently my husband has too much time at work because on the way to look at the property we stopped and looked at around 6 others pieces of property Todd had seen during his 'work-time' investigation! None of them we were impressed with until we got to Heritage Hills in Lloyd. My goodness who knew living on lots of land could be to extravagant! It's a undeveloped residential area where their selling 3.2 acre lots. Good news there are paved roads and light posts throughout the neighborhood. Todd and I are now set in exploring this opportunity with the hopes of being able to build the house we want!! Todd's going to contact the developer tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed and we'll let you know how it goes! Here is a picture of the type of house we want to build! A wrap-around porch is a must for me....

Contemporary meets country, just what I enjoy. Only difference will be a detached garage/mother-in-law suite! Probably added down the road.

After leaving the great town of Lloyd we headed on to Tallahassee for dinner and a quick visit to Nancy & Blaine's. Their sweet baby Logan always gets Todd excited about having a little girl. She is so adorable and sweet and we will be very blessed if we have a little girl remotely as precious as she is! We also got to visit with Todd's cousin Bethany who was babysitting Logan while Mommy and Daddy had a date night at Melting Pot. YUM!

Sunday we went to Sunday School and Church. Always a treat. God is so powerful. We came home and made hot sandwiches with chips and dip. We were getting geared up for the snacking that would take place later on during the SuperBowl! After eating a lunch that didn't make Todd and I feel like we needed to nap for 2 hours we headed out to start our DIY projects! It was such a beautiful day, I will definitely miss the view at Julie and Brian's when we move. Their views are so pretty. Todd and I had such a good time working in the barn together today. I was busy working on the projects I showed earlier and Todd was busy working on my bench he's been promising to finish for about a year! I'll share a post when the bench is complete, of Todd's process. Here are some pictures of us working on the pillars and Apothecary Jars.

Because the clouds are so pretty!

Final product, we were so pleased with our DIY skills! Thank you Whitney & Ashley

Sunday evening we had a super fabulous SuperBowl feast. Didn't help me and Todd's expanding waist line but it surely did bring a smile to our faces. I'm starting my first week of work and I'm working 6 out of the 7 days and 3 doubles. Not sure how much blogging I'll be able to do but we'll see! I hope everyone has a good work week and I'm sure we're all in the same boat... wishing for Friday! Although this Friday and Saturday I'm working doubles so not sure if looking forward to Friday's are going to be a continuous thing.

Little picture to put a smile on your face!

My little blogging partner! :)

Blueberry Cream-Cheese Braided Loaf

As many of you know a huge passion of mine is cooking! I think more than preparing the food I enjoy hosting the guests that come to eat the food! Everything about the process gets me excited. While 'blog' reading today I found what looks to be a new Gillean household favorite.

Blueberry Cream-Cheese Braided Loaf

6 oz. cream cheese, softened (I think I used the whole 8 oz pkg, that’s me
1 large egg, separated
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar, divided
1 (11 oz) can refrigerated breadstick dough
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I used almost a cup)
2 tsp. water
2 tbl. orange juice

Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl at med. speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Add egg yolk and 1/4 cup confectioners sugar.

Beat until well mixed. Set aside.
Remove breadstick dough from can. Unroll and separate dough into rectangle.

Place dough horizontally on baking sheet.

Press seams together to seal.
Spoon cream cheese mixture onto center third of dough.
Wash, drain, and dry blueberries.

Sprinkle blueberries over cream cheese mixture.
Separate dough at perforations up to cream-cheese mixture slightly stretching dough strips. Beginning at top edge of dough, braid strips to cover filling (this makes more sense as you are doing it). Tuck last 2 ends under at bottom of loaf.

In a small bowl, beat egg white and water with fork until blended to form an egg wash. Brush egg wash over braided loaf.

Bake until golden brown, approx. 20 minutes. Cool for at least 45 min. or as long as you can stand it.

In another small bowl, combine remaining 1 cup confectioners sugar and orange juice, whisking until smooth. Drizzle glaze over braided loaf before serving. Slice with bread knife.

Needless to say Todd and I are going to be having this lovely treat Saturday morning! I'll let everyone know how it turns out for me. Hopefully as good as it looks above. Tomorrow's Friday and I can't wait! Todd and I are having date night! I LOVE HIM!

Workin on Our Fitness!!

Meet our Trainer - Jillian

In a previous post you read about how our honeymoon revolved around eating. Well Todd's everyday life has continued to revolve around what he was going to eat next!! I can't play innocent because I too was in the same boat a couple months ago until I got a little help from CR 253! OK maybe walking 4 miles a day down CR 253 helped a lot but I'm sure the appetitte suppresents helped a little too! So needless to say I lost the 15 pds I had gained since the wedding but my lovely husband had not! So last night I asked him to do the Jillian Michael's workout video with me. Months ago when I started the video Todd laughed at me, like the workout video was a joke. Well let me tell you the joke was definitely on Todd last night! To his defense he didn't stop nearly as much as I did, so that probably explains his text this morning telling me how sore he was! Ole Jillian means business and anyone looking for a trainer should invest in her DVD! I had to grab my camera last night and take a couple pictures because as we were in the living room working out Quixote was trying so hard to figure out what the heck we were doing kicking our legs all around and punching our fists in the air!

Babe & Jillian gettin busy!

Quixote didn't understand why Dad was on the ground and wouldn't plaY?!

So she gave him kisses for ignoring her!

Todd & Quixote stretching!! :)

She just wanted to play....

We'll see how this whole working out thing goes.... Todd has already asked if we have to do it tonight!! :) He is more of a weight lifting kind of guy! He doesn't enjoy the kickboxing stuff as much!

Our Weekend in a Nut Shell....

I spend the majority of the week at home, alone with my precious Quixote. Although I do treasure the time I get to spend with her (because I'm definitely her favorite), I do miss the interaction with an actual human being that can carry a conversation! So when Friday afternoons roll around I get antsy for Todd's arrival. I'll usually text him around lunch time to convince him to get all his work done and leave early. Todd is very fortunate in the sense that he works for a wonderful company that doesn't mind him leaving early every Friday! So I've become accustomed to getting to see him before 5! During the week I'm happy if he is home by 7. Todd is commuting from Madison to Tallahassee, which usually takes him an hour and 15 minutes. It would sadden me deeply that Baby Boy has to drive 3 hours a day, if he didn't enjoy it so much!

So Friday Todd got home a little later than usual, which was fine because I was trying frantically to finish my previous post. After finishing the post and getting ready Todd, Julie, Zachary, Braxton and I headed out to Quitman to meet Brian at the Mexican restaurant. I'm sure the majority of you are unaware of what 'Quitman' is. Well, it's this small stereotypical country town, population 453, that happens to have a great Mexican restaurant in it. We had a fabulous dinner and I was able to get my Mexican fix for at least the next week. Here are some pictures to help you conceptualize what I mean by 'small town' living!

Courthouse and only stop light

Main Street

Saturday was such a blessed day for many reason. One, Todd and I laid in bed till probably close to 11. After getting the energy to leap from bed I got up and made us some cheesy grits and toast with homemade jelly. As if we hadn't already been lazy enough we spent the majority of the day on the couch watching western movies and HGTV. We had a special missionary singing group performing at our church at 6 so we eventually had to make it up and off the couch. I think it's always a great thing to have a lazy day and it was even more special because Todd was lazy with me, which is unheard of! The biggest blessing happened while we were at church Saturday night.

The night started off great with a fish fry. I'm not gonna lie eating scaly fish is not my idea of a good meal. However, I do enjoy the sides that go along with scaly fish! Cheese grits, coleslaw, french fries, baked beans, and the best part HUSH PUPPIES are what I did enjoy about the dinner! The reason for the fish fry was because we were hosting the Arc Missionary singers. The Arc singers are from the Ukraine and come to the US to gain support to provide for the millions of people struggling to survive in the Ukraine and Russia.

A little history - The Ukraine was once part of Russia, a communist country up until 1991, which is when the Ukraine split from Russia and became its own entity. When members of the Arc singers first started meeting to read and learn the Lord's Word they met in houses with fear of being prosecuted or even killed if caught. After Ukraine became their own republic they were then giving government money and land to build a church of worship. The church now has over 500 members and reaches out to millions in neighboring cities. Their singing Saturday night was so moving, there was such a happy, Godly presence in that room it was truly moving. In the midst of their singing they showed a slide show of pictures of their organizations and different missions they have done with money raised in the US and as the tears rolled down my face I realized how truly blessed I am. Do you know that if you have a roof over your head, food in your refrigerator, and clothes to wear you're in the top 5 % of the wealthiest people in the world? I'm not sure about y'all but I NEVER look at myself as in the top 5% wealthiest people, nor anywhere close to that. Most of the time I think of all the things I don't have that I want. Wish I could be like this person or that person because they seem to have everything (money, nice house, good clothes, fancy things... etc...) but in reality we should all be blessed to have the comfort of not having to worry about finding our next meal or a place to sleep at night or even clothes to put on our back. After sitting there watching the slide show Todd and I felt moved to do something, help out somehow, just anything. We decided to sponsor a little girl from the Ukraine named Snejanna. Here is a picture and little description that we got about our little girl!

Snejanna Nikitina

Snejanna lives in Donezk on the Eastern side of Ukraine

'Snejanna is raised by a single mother who is an orphan. Snejanna's father left the family when Snejanna's mother became pregnant. Family does not get any government benefits. They do not have their own place of living. They rent an old house together with their friend. When Snejanna was 1 year old she fell ill with pneumonia. Mother didn't have money for treatment. She took ill Snejanna and went to ask for money and treatment in the streets. Snejanna goes to school. She is a calm, obedient girl. Her mother lost her job because of the crisis now. It is hard for her to find another one since she does not have an education.'

That's the only description we got, but we do have the opportunity to write to her and learn more about her and hopefully some day we'll have the chance to go on a missionary trip to the Ukraine and meet our little Snejanna! We are excited God has led us to this precious girl and given us the possibility to help make her life a little easier.

Our Sunday's are pretty routine. We go to Sunday School and then Church. Since moving to Madison and having to leave our amazing church FCB that accommodated our every need it has been hard to find a church relatable. We've been going to Todd's family church Concord Baptist. On the average we probably have 35 people in service on Sunday's. So going from around 800 people in a service to 35 has taken some adjusting! We visited First Baptist of Valdosta a couple weeks ago and weren't very impressed so we've been at Concord since. Don't get me wrong Concord is a great church. After church we went to Todd's grandparents house for lunch. Todd's grandad is 93 and his grandmother is 84, so we cherish all the time we've been able to spend with them weekly. We spent the afternoon watching football on the couch together, we're going to be very sad after next Sunday because we won't be able to spend the weekend revolving around football games!

Since Todd and I don't get to spend much time together during the week we truly count down the days and hours till the weekend because we get to be with each other all day everyday! Until next weekend....