a romper for curvy girls!
i was at target the other day with the sole intent to buy new clothes. one may typically be in target for the necessities and just so happen to drop a hundred bucks on a new outfit (not that i know anything about that), but this time i was fully prepared to browse the racks in pursuit of something fun and light for these summer months. it’s been a sticky season down here in hotlanta, and on the weekends i try to avoid anything snug at all costs. gotta let your body breathe!
among the ten or so hangers i ended up taking to the dressing room, i was overjoyed when i found that the lace romper i’d warily picked from the rack actually fit and, if you can believe it, was flattering! there isn’t too much material that it looks frumpy, and the elastic waistband hits at the right spot, at least on my body. the only downside? the zipper is in the back and isn’t the easiest to undo yourself. i wore the romper saturday night to a friend’s house for grilling out and games and had some girlfriends who were kind enough to unzip me and rezip me after my visits to the ladies’ room. hehe!
i’ve always wanted a romper, and i think this one is the one for me. it has good coverage even though it is a little on the shorter side, and the size i got to accommodate my derriere was comfy without swallowing me up top. another plus? it didn’t show my sweat, even after four games of kan jam! it’s a keeper for sure!
creamy chicken & mushroom potpie
years ago my mom introduced me to a magazine called real simple, and my love for all things domestic turned into an obsession as i read about cleaning tips, gardening advice (not that i’ve put it to use just yet), crafting ideas, and, of course, cooking. i was trying to decide what to do for sunday dinner tonight, and as i flipped through the many pages of my cookbook, this crock-pot recipe popped right out at me: creamy chicken and mushroom potpie. um, yes, please! we might not be in the dead of winter, and in the hottest heat of summer this classic dish may not sound the most appealing, but i never turn down comfort food. i don’t remember the last time i had chicken potpie, and when i opened the kitchen door after church, the smells of childhood and home flooded my nose. it turns out that the dish was just as delicious as it smelled, and i hope you think the same!
p.s. the only thing i changed in the recipe was that i used biscuits instead of puff pastry because, you know, i’m in the south, and that’s just what we do.
p.p.s. i also whipped up a mountain of malted milk chocolate chip cookies. this is what i do with my sundays. 🙂
coconut water, round 2
vita vs. zico!
birthday getaway, west coast style
a few weeks ago phillip and i traveled to the great state of california to celebrate my birthday with extended family. phillip has visited places near and far, but this trip was his first to the golden state. ah, what a thrill! to share such special things with him made our vacation that much better. he couldn’t get enough of the weather and coastlines, and as such, he was the official picture taker of the weekend. i may have also secretly deemed him the official picture taker of all events, but let’s keep that between you and me. 😉
i knew we’d want to share some of the trip’s excitement with you, but i also didn’t want to spend my birthday vacation with my head down in my journal in an attempt to capture every emotion of each moment. so with that, we give you the highlights of our adventure as told through pictures. enjoy!
day 1: joy that we are going on vacation, misery after a rough flight, and phillip’s first in-n-out experience at nearly one a.m. pacific time.
ah, such bliss!
get me off this plane!!!
aw, yissss.
#dailyselfie – truett’s luau
truett’s luau in fayetteville, georgia. strange atmosphere. weird food. poor service. will not be back again. (bow and curtain close).
mm, the struts
a couple tuesdays ago i was working up a sweat at orange theory fitness when a killer song from trainer chris’ playlist came on over the speakers. its beat was timed perfectly with my push pace on the treadmill, and since i didn’t have my handy dandy notebook with me (blue’s clues reference, anyone?) to jot down some of the lyrics, i remembered just one line so that i could look it up later: “i wanna taste love and pain, i wanna feel pride and shame.”
i hopped online when i got home after class and typed it into my search bar, hopeful that not too many songs had these exact words in this exact order. luck was on my side (and by “luck” i mean google), and after a few clicks, i found it: “could have been me” by the struts.
you see, this is why i love music so much: you never know when you’ll discover your new favorite song or artist. this track is an excellent anthem, one of those songs that everyone, i think, can relate to on some level. me? i must see the world. i have a wild heart that loves to travel. i’ve conquered most of the united states, but nations like china and croatia and italy are calling out to me by name, and if my eyes never set sight on them, i’ll never forgive myself.
what about you? what’s the one thing that you refuse to miss out on in your lifetime? what do you want to say you did rather than what you wish you had done? please share! i’d love to know. 🙂
#dailyselfie – coconut water? bleck!
i was on my way to the produce section of disco kroger last week when i passed by an end cap full of zico coconut water. i feel like i’ve been seeing coconut water everywhere lately! it’s the new “in” thing. there are commercials for it left and right it seems. even beautiful jessica alba is promoting it. their branding is so clean and coconut water just sounds so refreshing that i figured i’d give it a try myself. if it’s good enough for jessica, it can be good enough for me!
yes? heh, hardly. the cold reality of my experience with zico coconut water is that i didn’t like it one bit. it’s not thin like tap water, which is what i expected, and almost has a slimy texture. harsh, i know, but wait til you hear what i have to say about the taste: i was completely prepared for some coconut flavor, which i quite like in subtle moderation, but i was harshly mistaken. the standard zico coconut water tastes like salt water and pool water combined, not what you want to be chugging down on a hot summer afternoon if you ask me. i tried with all my might to drink it all and drink it quickly, but i was only able to put down a third of the bottle. perhaps i need to try one of the flavored coconut waters? maybe that will help? maybe, but until someone i know happily backs this beverage, i’ll be steering clear.
amy’s spicy asian shrimp with rice noodles
last week my friend amy posted a recipe for spicy asian shrimp with rice noodles on her facebook wall. the picture looked divine, so i sweetly insisted she give me the recipe right away! she kindly obliged, admitting that she actually thought of this dish all on her own. i asked if, after making it, i could post it on the blog, and she gladly agreed. thanks, girl!
before i get to the actual recipe itself, though, let me introduce miss amy. it was a hot august afternoon back in 2006 when amy and i met at band camp for the university of georgia redcoat marching band. yes, we were both band geeks in the absurdly lame mellophone section, and although we may have refined ourselves in the many years since, i think we will always have a bit of a music nerd tendency in us. we spent our fall semesters side-by-side as we cheered on the georgia bulldog football team through some dismal losses and glorious victories. i guess it’s not always about the outcome but the experience and journey, right? sure. whatever will help your championship-less heart heal, kels.
mm, nerdy.
selfie!
what else did we do? oh, yeah, we (and larissa and justine!) danced around my freshman dorm room like crazy ladies who belonged in an asylum. those were the good ‘ole days when brumby hall was an all-girls dorm, when homework only took me a couple of hours, and when all was right with the world. ah, where did the days go?
before getting this post together, i asked amy if she remembered the video we were watching when we were going out of our minds that night. her memory almost escaped her, but then she saved the day by recalling it was this video:
now, why were we so obsessed with this video? i have no idea! all i remember is that we watched it probably 20 times in a row, laughing just as hard the last time as we did the first. it’s one of those videos where you think it’s hilarious but then you show it to a friend and their level of laughter response is not nearly through the roof as you would expect it to be. that, honestly, happens to me quite often. i find myself slightly embarrassed and then remember that i don’t care, that if i think it’s funny, i’ll watch it over and over again until my sides hurt with stitches.
for example, this video usually gets a decent laugh, but i remember having tears in my eyes when i saw it the first time.
oh, and then here’s another. actually, now that i think about it, my mom and brothers always laugh at this one with me because we had a corgi growing up. oh, sweet casper, we miss you so much!
another hit that caused me to fall off a cooler as i became victim to the silent laugh is bizkit. i’ll admit, i’d had a few to drink. thank goodness the cooler wasn’t tall and there was carpet on the floor!
this next one, warning, does have some explicit language. however, i couldn’t help but include it! credit for this video goes to my old roommates kellie and aja when we lived in alpharetta. man, those were the good times!
and who can forget kittens inspired by kittens!!! i love to quote this one and am unstoppable when i remember just how hilarious it is.
wait, is it interesting or embarrassing that most of these videos are animal-related? to save face, we’ll say it’s interesting, although we all know that when someone says something is “interesting” they really mean they don’t approve or like it. whatever! this blog is mine, so i’ll post whatever funny videos i like! God bless the internet! (okay, i don’t mean that in the rude way it may have just come across. please still like me!).
okay! so, now that i’ve got all of that out of my system, shall we make some spicy asian shrimp with rice noodles? sure, why the heck not!
#dailyselfie – super phillip!
i had an eventful couple of days this weekend. friday night our friend gregory came in town for a quick overnight visit and stay, saturday was family night at the braves game (look at how cute we all are!).
phillip & me!
sibling photo!
and today phillip and i lounged around after a successful meet-the-parents brunch at max’s wine dive in midtown. by “lounge around” i mean that we came home, put in a couple loads of laundry, and then slept for a few hours straight. having fun can be tiring! phillip woke up out of a sleepy stupor and walked in looking like a regular super hero. i almost rolled off the sofa in laughter. enjoy phillip’s first #dailyselfie!
kelsey v 