Our Weekend

It was a relaxing yet productive weekend in the Lunsford household. Friday we had dinner with family, Saturday we lunched and then did a little shopping. Saturday night we watched the Hokies beat Duke. (Needless to say that was a GREAT night!) Sunday I hung out with my little sister while Hunter checked MANY things off of his Honey-Do list!



1. Hunter fixed our WI-FI this weekend!!! Hip HIP HORRAY!! No more plugging up the computer in the kitchen, no more cords, and no more neglected office space.
2. Hunter fixed our under cabinet lights in the kitchen!! You have NO idea what a neccessity these little guys are until you have them and then don't! I guess the ones we had were so old Hunter had to completely install a new set. Handy Man Hunter!
3. STILL attempting to brighten our living room I got some pillows this weekend. I think they're purty! We also got our carpet stanley steamed! Best 100 dollars spent in a LONG time! They look like NEW!
4. Another pillow cover purchased...dropped this guy off to be monogrammed today. WANNA-BE, right here!
5. This is our calendar for March - we are BizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzEEE!!! You can't see the last weekend but thats booked up too with Hunter's BIG 30th birthday BASH!
6. This is the inside of our Shed - the organization of it has YET to be crossed off the Honey-Dew list but all in good time people! :)

Last Nights Dinner

Don't you just love it when a dinner turns out EXACTLY the way you expected it to taste. That was us last night. Hunter had the idea of BBQ chicken pizza and it turned out DELISH! Here's what we used...but of course I encourage you to make it your own and use whatever toppings you would like

1 Pillsbury pizza dough (the kinda in the same roll container as crescent rolls)
1 can/jar of pizza sauce
1 green pepper
1 red onion
1 can of sliced mushrooms
1 can of sliced black olives
Mozzarella cheese
Smoked Gouda cheese

Steps:
1. Cook your chicken breasts - we sauteed them in a pan with a little oil.

2. Roll the pizza dough out onto a cookie sheet, baste with olive oil and seasoning (we use garlic salt) and bake according to package)

3. While your chicken and dough is cooking slice your green pepper, and red onion, shred your cheese and open all the jars to the other toppings so they're ready to go! Also, mix your pizza sauce in a bowl with a little bit of BBQ sauce to taste however bbquey you want your sauce. YES bbquey is word :)

5. When you chicken is done, slice into pieces and cover with BBQ sauce in a bowl.

6. Pull pizza dough out of oven, cover with sauce/BBQ mixture and then layer on toppings starting and ending with cheese if you please! :)

7. Bake for another 15 mins or so, let cool, top with cilantro and...

YUM!!!!

The crust is thin, its chicken, veggies, sauce and a little cheese...it can't be THAT bad for us! Enjoy :)

Visiting The Stocks!

Oh how we LOVE our family!! Between my two brothers, their AWESOME wives and Hunters Sister and her GREAT husband, ALL who we get along with like friends we picked. I would be friends with all my sister-in-laws even if we weren't related :)

Friday after work we headed over to Greenville, NC (about a 4hr drive) to visit Hunter's sister Carter, Chad and baby Reagan for the weekend. They welcomed us with open arms and an open fridge of cold beer :)
Saturday we woke up relaxed and then enjoyed the beautiful weather watching and tailgating for the ECU baseball game.




Saturday night Carter and Chad invited some friends over and we had a little house party :) I got to meet The Dixon's who's blog I've been following. Always good to put a voice and face to face personality with the words you've been reading! So nice to meet you guys Nickie!!

Sunday we went to Church with them which was wonderful! Part of the reason for visiting family is not only to see and spend time with them but to experience a little bit of their everyday lives and weekends. After church we all went out to lunch and then Hunter and I got on the road shortly after.


We're excited to see them again soon in Charlotte for Hunter's 30th birthday party March 26th, and then for a whole week in May when we vacation together in Charleston :) It's going to be a FUN Spring and Summer!!

Supper Club Recipe

I was too busy hosting to take pictures but I didn't want to neglect posting the recipe for the Shrimp n Grits I made for supper club last week! I've made this several times and it's ALWAYS a winner!

You'll start makeing the shrimp mixture first, then make the cheese grits. When plated, serve the shrimp mixture poured over the cheese grits.

SHRIMP MIXTURE

Ingredients
2 bacon slices
1 pound unpeeled, medium-size raw shrimp
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Preparation
1. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 10 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tsp. drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon.
2. Peel shrimp; devein, if desired. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper; dredge in flour.
3. Sauté mushrooms in hot drippings with oil in skillet 5 minutes or until tender. Add green onions, and sauté 2 minutes. Add shrimp and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are lightly browned. Stir in chicken broth, lemon juice, and hot sauce, and cook 2 more minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Spoon shrimp mixture over hot Cheese Grits; sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

CHEESE GRITS

Ingredients
1 (14-oz.) can low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
1 cup fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
3/4 cup (3 oz.) shredded 2% reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Preparation
1. Bring first 3 ingredients and 1 1/3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in Cheddar cheese and next 3 ingredients.

Here's a quick pic I did snap the night before after I set the table. Planning ahead to put the shrimp mixture in the large center white bowl and the grits in the small one. I did it buffet style and left lots of room for the other dishes the girls where bringing to be placed on the table.

Sunday Night Dinner

This dinner looks fancy but you have to trust me when I say IT'S NOT!! We love the prepacked, preseasoned rack of lamb at Trader Joes. Literally all Hunter does is open the package, slice them, and grill em! The scalloped potato's are boxed, and the salad (which is my new favorite salad btw) is just cut up avocado, tomato, olives, red onion, chunks of really fresh mozzarella, and a simple dressing made of
4 tbsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (we added a little balsamic too), 1 tsp stone ground mustard, and salt & pepper to taste! TRY IT, please I'm begging YOU!









Tonights Dinner is SUPPER CLUB!! The third Thursday of every month a group of girls and I get together for dinner. We rotate who hosts and its the hostess's job to pick the theme and make the main dish. Everyone else brings an appetizer, side, dessert or drink that fits the theme. Tonight I will host 10 or so ladies for a "southern food" theme, with Shrimp n Grits as my main course. I mean, did you really think it would be something else? Really looking forward to a lovely evening with the ladies, along with tasting what they all bring! mmmmmm

What I Wore (like 2 weeks ago) :)

As you can see I need some practice in the self photography department and I'm also debating on whether or not to write where my pieces of clothing & jewelry are from. Most of my things are so old that you won't be able to find them in the stores anyways but if something is newer I'll write where I got it. WIW(whatiwore) is a WIP (workinprogress)! :)


Ivory Pants are fairly new from Ny&Co.




Flats are newer from Tory Burch

Jake's BFF

We are extremely lucky in the fact that we have several friends with dogs and we all rotate watching eachothers when someone's out of town. Last week we had our friends Melody and Jasons black lab, Carter. He and Jake are no joke BFFs!!! It's AMAZING watching them wrestle and play. They have so much instinct and trust between one another and you can tell by the pictures below. They'll go right for the neck but won't bite down and they have their calm bonding moments too. I just can't get enough of these sweet pups!!! :)

A Valentine's Memory

Happy V-day Part II - This ones for the HUBBY :)

Photo's curtosey of Kristin Vining Photography (minus the little fun with picnik)

Whoa! Was the last one too racy for blogger? Hope u readers are still with me here :)

Happy Valentines Day!

The concensus may be that Valentines day is made up "hallmark holiday" but I say why NOT use it as an excuse to break out the china, eat sushi in front of the fireplace, pull out the sofa bed in the living room and watch a movie, or just give your loved one a little EXTRA love!! I see no wrong in any of this :) Hunter and I will be celebrating tonight in some of the above ways but we are also celebrating US since it was 2 years ago yesterday that he asked me to be his wife :)
(well Jake actually brought me the ring and did his dirty work) :) but on bended knee Hunter popped the question, I said YES and our lives have gotten better and better every day since. I can't help but recall the details of that friday night and the weekend we spent in Charleston, SC celebrating our engagement and Valentines DAY!!





Don't be a Valentine scrooge give your loved ones extra smooch! And in my book girlfriends count just as much so being single is no reason to be sad on this day of love!! I remember several valentines in my past where my girlfriend came over we popped a squat on the couch, ate too much heart shaped cookie cake and watched sex and the city! Happy Valentines Day EVERYONE! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Friday Finds

I haven't let it go yet. I'm still on a mission to change our home. Maybe it's the mid-feb blues and since we aren't getting cheeriness outside of the house I'm compensating by bringing it inside. Either way I'm pretty happy with my Friday finds and think they will definitely do the trick!

New kitchen lamp - I mean the one we have now is a pineapple. A pineapple, really? Time to replace. Anthropologie

New kitchen rug in front of the sink - I'll probably wait til mid-march to put it out but gah the springiness of this just makes me smile - so ready! Urban Outfitters

New roman shade for the kitchen sink window, made out of this fabric. I feel like our whole kitchen, to kitchen table, to living room area is all green and yellow. So I'm changing that. This blue is so refreshing and I think transitions well with the yellow roman shades we already have in the kitchenette area. I bought the fabric from fabric.com. And Melissa on Etsy is making it for me!

And a few new little accessories to top off the kitchen refresh. Anthropologie here and here

A new chandelier for above our kitchen table. I actually saw this in person when Hunter and I were looking at hardwood flooring last weekend. It caught my eye immediately. The one up now isn't terribly unfortunate so we've lived with it but with the price tag on this guy, no longer! Home Depot
And in the midst of my hunt for new kitchen items I stumbled on these items that I'll sure be keeping in mind for future events :)

How cute would this be hanging in a little boys nursery. A reminder to Mom during those 2am feedings. ZGallerie


And these curtains for a nursery - I ADORE those little pom poms!!! :) Anthro

And for your hubby on V-day. I know my hubby would like this guy for those VT football games and Hunting trips. Urban Outfitters
Lilly
And for me because well...I deserve it!

Happy Friday! Nothing too big going on with us this weekend. Hopefully getting some homeowner type things done like ...fixing the under cabinet lights in the kitchen, buying the hardwood flooring for the living room, and getting a mouse trap for the garage. YES, we have a little mickey living in our garage!!! EEEK!

Here's a comical convo between Hunter and I on the subject. AND a little background to how it starts... I didn't try to kill our dog I just fed him a little to much popcorn the night before and his tummy was a tiny bit upset the next morning :)

15:02:20 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: did u get the picture i sent
15:30:29 HUNTER LUNSFORD: yeah. we get mouse traps
16:48:51 HUNTER LUNSFORD: can't beleive you tried to kill our dog with popcorn last night.
16:49:15 HUNTER LUNSFORD: bad mommy.
16:49:30 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: hahahahaha oopsie
16:49:50 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: the old bay was probably a bit much
16:50:01 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: although it could be the mice droppings he's eating too
16:50:07 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: your trying to kill him just as much
16:50:25 HUNTER LUNSFORD: I've done nothing. You and mickey.
16:50:48 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: we really need to get ride of those mice this weekend...they are drinking jakey's water in the garage too
16:50:56 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: he's drinking after mickey. gross
16:51:02 HUNTER LUNSFORD: i think it's one mouse babe.
16:51:10 HUNTER LUNSFORD: and he's cute.
16:51:16 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: wow, well that mouse sh*ts AlOT then
16:51:22 HUNTER LUNSFORD: maybe we can domesticate him.
16:51:29 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: cause there was like 10 droppings in his bowl
16:51:37 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: no mice
16:51:41 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: no mickey
16:51:53 HUNTER LUNSFORD: I could name him Jerry, instead?
16:52:07 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: im gettin a cat
16:54:52 HUNTER LUNSFORD: Tom?
16:55:00 KRISTEN LUNSFORD: yep tommy
16:58:44 HUNTER LUNSFORD: how bout no.
16:59:11 HUNTER LUNSFORD: you can get a cat....but I will torture it. And take great pleasure doing it.

Yeah, Hunter doesn't like cats. Sorry Mom :)

Weekend Recap

I apologize in advance for the obnoxious amount of collages in this post. As fore mentioned I'm learning my new photoshop program and this was a great way to learn the basics! I promise every post will not have this exact collage from now on :) I also realize its Wednesday (it is wednesday right?) and I'm just now doing a weekend recap but again it took me a loooooong time to put all these collages together :)

Anywho it was a GREAT weekend, one for the record books! To start Saturday we threw our dear friend Kristin Yager a bridal shower at Crave Dessert Bar!




And I did one more collage from KY's shower of her with her gifts but apparently its still on my computer at home :( So i'll have to amend this post later and tack it on!

After shower activies we all headed over to Lindseys to get ready for a girls night out at Runway for the Ballet. Runway for the Ballet was a runway show featuring spring fashions from Neiman Marcus with ballet performances in between. It was a fundraiser for the North Carolina Dance Theatre and a really cool excuse for a girls night out. Next time you have a GNO I highly recommend all getting ready together. Theres nothing more fun than clothes all over the bed, 3 sets of hot rollers plugged in, eye lash clue being flung on the bathroom mirror, all while helping eachother get ready....ahhhhhhh I love my girls!




To see pictures of the actual runway show, and our little after party head on over to Lindsey's blog! :)