Happy Birthday Husband!!! And Thanks to The Talented Jamie!!

Brian turned 28 this past Sunday.  Tear.  We're almost to our 30's. Poor Brian, we never get to do anything super fun for his birthday since it's right in the middle of tax season. Oh and he had to take care of me the entire weekend when he WASN'T working. Poor Brian. 

So I wanted to get Brian a SUPER AWESOME GIFT.  I don't know how, but I kept my mouth shut about his present for almost 3 months!!!! That's a record!!!! I tried to steer clear from anything "practical" (his Christmas request was that he didn't want any practical gifts since we had just gotten a ton of wedding presents...that were more to my fancy than to his).  So here was his present:

Aren't they amazing?? Now our in home rivalry can continue!!

What I was the MOST excited about for this birthday present was that I got to call on an old acquaintance to do the painting.  I've been dying to find something for Jamie Givens Schneider to paint. 

Jamie is hands down one of THE MOST TALENTED PEOPLE I'VE EVER MET.  NO JOKE.
She NEVER seizes to amaze me.

I had the privilege of having Jamie be my Jr. Pro cheerleading coach in elementary school.  We all loved her.  She was an amazing cheerleader and an even greater role model.  She'd even come over to babysit lil brother and I and I'd always ask her to do a hair wrap for me.  Do ya'll remember those?? Every time we'd go to her house for practice, her kitchen table would be COVERED with containers of beads and threads.  She was always making jewelry.  She was ALWAYS making something, picture collages, paintings, etc...  She has been one of my FAVORITE people to follow on Facebook.  She hands down has the funnest career to follow.  But my favorite thing about Jamie is that she is no joke the sweetest and most genuine person you'll ever meet. 

I could post A TON of pictures of things Jamie has done...but ya'll know it takes forever to upload pictures on here.  (Sorry Jamie, I stole these off your facebook page.)

World Equestrian Horses 

Offices

The Cradle Will Rock

Bedrooms

And the list goes on...

This is my favorite and I hope to have her do one for a lil girls room...sooner than later of course =)

Her website will ABSOLUTELY AMAZE YOU.  Check it out here.  It's SOOOO much fun to look at her pictures.   You can also find her on Facebook here.

Happy Birthday to my sweet and hard working husband!!! My gift was a HUGE hit but I think the Cats making it to the Final Four definitely made this his best birthday yet!!!

And thanks again Jamie, we absolutely LOVE them!!!! I can't wait to call you again!!

If Your Looking For a Good Recipe...

Then this is NOT the blog for you.  I'm usually more into home decor, crafts, and party ideas.  But after the marriage nuptials, I think all newlyweds wants to learn to cook/cook more. 

This is an EASY PEASY recipe...well...more of a CONCOCTION I threw together awhile back to please the Mr.  It takes NO time to prep and less than 30 minutes to cook so I can spend more time crafting and less time in the kitchen.  

What you'll need:
-2 bags of frozen stir fry veggies (I use the Kroger brand and they're usually on sale for $1 every other week)
-Rotini Noodles
-Teriyaki Sauce

Sorry, Brian peeled the label off the teriyaki sauce, but it's Kikoman's Teriyaki Sauce. We use this stuff ALL the time on pasta, chicken, etc... just remember it's the one with the purple top.

-Boil water and cook rotini.

-Cook vegetables in a pan.  I pour a lil bit of Olive Oil on my veggies to get them going.

- Drain your noodles and make sure your veggies are COMPLETELY cooked.  Then pour the noodles in your veggie pan and drench it in your sauce.  And TA DA!!!!

Tonight  I was feeling super Rachel Ray and added cashews.  DARING!! I even tried a new sauce:

I had it on hand and wanted to switch things up a lil bit.  I've even added precooked chicken strips to this dish before.  I  REALLY suck at cooking chicken so I use the precooked stuff you throw on salads, but it can be a bit pricey. 

I'm sure if you follow me on twitter, you saw that I had a LIL surgery this past Thursday (I about had a Twitter breakdown on Friday morning, sorry Twitter followers).  Since I had some time to catch up on daytime television (BORING), I got COMPLETELY MESMERIZED by the Food Network.  Holy Pajamas!!! I'm officially addicted.  I even started a Food Network account and started adding recipes to my recipe box.  So far, I think the Barefoot Contessa is my favorite.  Who knows, maybe this will spark the Ina Garten in me.  

I did want to give a BIG THANK YOU to my BFF, Alyssa, for taking care of me this weekend while hubby was working and for CONSTANTLY checking up on me and putting up with me.

Thank You to Derrick and Sarah for the chocolate peanut butter and popcorn.  Does anyone else like peanut butter with their popcorn?? Well just add chocolate peanut butter and it's HEAVENLY!!!! Thanks for thinking of me during your busy tax season!!

And thank you to Mrs. D for sharing some of your 12 layer chocolate cake.  IT WAS AMAZING and I still can't believe you made it!!!! Lil "happys" on my front door step from Mr. and Mrs. D are my favorite =)

Keep On Truckin...

I'm almost to my 100th post...gotta...keep...on...truckin....

Gees, blogging is exhausting but I'm almost there!!

Long weekend for me, so hoping to catch up on my lack-o-blogging. 
Stay Tuned,
Joy D. 

Everyone's Irish on March 17th

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd take you on a tiny tour of Ireland via our honeymoon pics (don't worry, they are all G rated). 

The fishing town of Kinsale

I came home with bundles of "flake" bars - my absolute fav.  But there were tons of different candy bars to try!

Kensale

It really is good for you, I learned at the Guiness factory that it's only 140 calories a pint and contains mostly water so it's good for your belly!

The University where Dr. D (father-in-law) attended school

The Irish fam took EXTREMELY good care of us!!

I loved the train, and it was fun seeing my new last name displayed in red lights

Brian's cousin got us AMAZING tickets to the Rugby game: Ireland v. S. Africa

It was also the 1st game in the new arena in Dublin

Rugby anyone??

The Google building in Dublin

There were TONS of amazing old buildings in Dublin, if we had more time, we would have gone in all of them!

One of my fav pictures

The Dublin Castle

I spy Houndstooth!

The tile floor at Christ Church - we had a TON of other great pics from this church but they were on the camera I left on the plane =(

We NEVER got used to people driving on the wrong side of the road. 

St. Parick's Statue at St. Peter's Church

The Guiness factory, Brian's favorite part beside the Rugby game.

Or you can do what I did and marry into Irish =)

The view of Dublin from the top of the Guiness factory

Do you see the Shamrock in the Guiness??

Traveling Ireland was exhausting!!! We got to sleep a lil on the train

The Aran Islands

It would rain for 15 mins then the sun would be out for 15 mins...needless to say I did not get a tan on my honeymoon. 

The cliffs of Aran...Brian is afraid of heights so I got super up close and personal with my camera

I have soooo many great pictures but believe it or not...it took like an hour to upload all of these and I had to go to bed.  I have a few more pics here

I'm heading to a St. Patrick's Day themed wedding tonight. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I think everyone should wear GREEN everyday!!
Joy D.