This one's for the girls...

Yesterday was the long-awaited girlz day! The credit has to be given to Moo for having the idea of taking an entire day off work just to have a girlz day (you rock!). So the day was scheduled and yesterday it arrived! Me, La, and Moo met at City Cafe at 8:00 AM to start our girlz extravaganza! I had biscuits and gravy - Y-U-M! I love the City Cafe... it is "Murfreesboro" personified to me. It just encompasses that small town feel that I love so much about this town!

Anyway, after we ate to give us plenty of shopping fuel, we hopped in the expedition and hit the ground running! We shopped and shopped until we were starving again and then we headed to Mimi's cafe! Again... Y-U-M! While we were at Mimi's there was a little thundershower - which was good thing because it was about a thousand degrees yesterday and that really cooled things off a little! Also as we ate, David (La's hubby) brought her new car to us! It was SO fabulous! He switched the cars while we ate and we finished our girlz day shopping in the new ride!

After lunch we did some more shopping then headed to the theater to see Mama Mia! It was really cute and we enjoyed sitting for a while in the dark, cool theater munching on pop corn and chocolate!

Overall it was an absolutely marvelous day! I can't think of anything else I would rather have done with my last week of summer! Thank you beautiful girlz - I love you both so much and I don't know what I would do without you two in my life!!!!

Another note of business. A huge thank you to another beautiful girl - Betsy! Thank you so much for my blog award! I am honored! Those of you who have not checked out Betsy's blog - she is on my blog roll to the right - you should check her out! She is an elementary school teacher and she absolutely inspires me! She's a great mom, a wonderful wife, and she is so creative and talented! I am always impressed with all the projects she completes and all the things she has going on in her world. Betsy, thank you for the recognition. You are truly wonderful and I am honored to call you my friend!

Another recipe

I just thought I would pop on here and post a recipe that I tried tonight and enjoyed! I got it from Robin Miller's show on the food network! She called them Baked Ricotta Bowls... but I decided I like calling them Ricotta Cups better because "Ricotta Bowls" quite frankly sounded too much like "Ricotta Balls" and I didn't like the way THAT sounded at all! SO.... here is the recipe for Ricotta "CUPS" :-)

Preheat an oven to 375 while you cook up a couple chicken breasts in a skillet.

In a bowl mix up a cup of ricotta, 1/2 a cup of shredded cheddar, 1/4 cup parmesan, 2 eggs, 2 tbs dijon mustard, salt and pepper. When the chicken is done, cut it into small pieces or shred it and add it to the mixture.

I placed the mixture in pre-made mini pie crusts from the frozen food section. Robin Miller used refrigerated pie crust and pushed the dough into muffin cups - I figure you get about the same result ether way and my way was faster and I didn't have to dirty a muffin pan! :-)

At any rate, you fill up the cups (it makes 8), top with a sprinkle of parmesan, and bake for 20 min.

It was SUPER quick, SUPER easy and SUPER good! I was impressed with the recipe... it will certainly be added to my favorite quick meals list!

Weekend Rundown

I had a wonderful weekend with a good balance of social and solo time! I love it when weekends work out in such a balanced way!


Friday night I ended up meeting my friend Rondda at Santa Fe to have dinner. I don't know why I don't go there more often, it was good food and a good deal! Rondda (mother of three) was ready for break so we went to my house away from the cooking, cleaning, mothering, and drama of teenage kids to watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! She wanted me to see it so that we could go together to see the sequel. Have you seen that movie? It's really cute!

I slept late Saturday which made me drop my plans to go to an antique store in Woodbury, but I did manage to meet my friends Donnie and Julie for lunch at Olive Garden. It might be my last trip there... the food is good, but all three times I have been there the service was horrid! It's like the poor kids working there have no clue what they are doing! I was very patient, but it was difficult to say the least! For the rest of the afternoon hours I relaxed and enjoyed being at home.

Saturday night was 80's themed Bunko night! It was so much fun and I can't wait to post pictures (Mom's mailing my cord this week so I'll be way overdue for some long picture-y posts!). We had a wonderful time at Bunko and I wanted to share a recipe for these little bacon wrapped wienies they had! They were SO good and sure to be a party hit at my next game night or your next gathering! Perfect for football season (YAY YAY YAY... It's almost time!!!)

Bacon Wrapped Wienies:
Mix the following in a large bowl:
3 cups Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Garlic powder
3 tablespoons Cayenne Pepper
2 teaspoons Salt

Wrap cocktail wienies in bacon (My friend uses the hickory smoked and depending on the size, usually cuts the bacon slices into thirds) and secure with a toothpick. Roll each wrapped wienie in the above mixture. Place on a broiler pan (so grease drains) and bake until bacon is done.

They were Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!!!!

Today I went to the early service so I could grab lunch and then relax a little before Dawson came to visit! My sweet sweet boy! Lauren dropped him off and as soon as she hit the door he started crying... not a little... A LOT! I tried everything... we rocked, we sat, we laid, we played... we rolled, we got batteries for the vibrating chair - no luck. I tried diaper changes and diaper time, eating, juice, tv, and toys to no avail! Turns out... he just wanted his sweet Mama! I can't blame him, she's a pretty cool chick! I guess he is at the age where separation anxiety kicks in. Bless his little heart! Between cutting teeth, missing Mama, and being stuck with me, he was a mess! Luckily when Lauren finished her work and came back he brightened up and we met David, Web, Moo, and Vance at Red Robin for some friend-time and dinner!

Overall it was a good weekend with a nice balance of fun with friends and quiet home time! How was your weekend?

Relaxin' in the Rain...

After my wild bee experience, I have been takin' it easy the last couple of days! My battle scars are slowly healing, but far from gone, and life is returning to normal! Believe it or not, I found two more bees in my house over the last two days and the last one finally bit the dust last night! So, for the first time since Wednesday, I finally felt relaxed and at ease in my own home! Crazy, I tell you! I don't do bugs... I mean, seriously! Half the time when I find a bug in the house I don't even want to get close enough to kill it... so you can imagine how the bees traumatized me! Haha!

Wednesday I went to my school to work on my classroom! I had to move classrooms again this year, so there was much to be done! My room, unfortunately, is not in very good shape! I am having to move a bunch of stuff out that doesn't belong to me and clean and dust to get it back into working order, so I got a lot done Tuesday, but I still have a lot more to do!! Wednesday night I met my friend Jerri at the Pig (one of my favorite little places in the 'boro... it's kinda like Cheers where everyone knows your name!). Anyway, we went over there early, around 4:30, and enjoyed an appetizer and a glass of wine and caught up! That was enjoyable!

Yesterday was fabulous! I finally got to see my girlz! We got together at Top Nails for pedicures, cherry coke, and some sweet treats I brought back from Savannah! While there, Lauren and I got our treats from Leigh Ann! I wish I could load pictures... LAH sent the three of us a precious card and we each got a monogrammed hand towel! So cute, so us, an each one unique! She included surprises for the boys too! It was a wonderful surprise - thank you Leigh Ann!!! We enjoyed our girlie girl time so much that we decided to extend it by going back to Megan's for some pizza and then we all went out to "the farm" to see Megan and Web's house taking shape! I have to say it is absolutely beautiful! A dream home! Every window has a breathtaking view of the countryside, the layout of the home is wonderful... I can just imagine it finished and Vance running around in the yard and all the fun times and memories that will be made there! I was truly touched that Megan and Web wanted to share a preview of their home with me! It was beautiful and I can't wait to see it completed!

Today it is raining and I am relaxing! I woke up in one of those sappy moods that happens on a rainy day when you only have one week of summer left! I plan to clean a little, relax a lot, and enjoy the rest of my day!

Flight Of the Bumblebees...

...literally!



WARNING: LONG POST! :-)



Let's start with a lovely picture of my back yard... that would be the most pleasant part of the experience I am about to share with you and it will be the only picture I can provide given that I don't have my camera cable at the moment!


Many of you already know that yard work (despite my enormous and beautiful yard) is one of my least favorite things to do! In fact, I have been known to hire someone I affectionately call my "yard boy" to do it for me! I don't mind mowing so much, but the weed eating and pulling, etc. drives me crazy!



This afternoon I decided that IF I could get the weed eater to start I would do a little weed eating. After all, the weeds weren't high or anything, I just thought it would look nice to make them level with the grass, you know, just some shaping up around the edges of the yard! (Knowing my troubles with yard work and yard work equipment as of late, I should have known this would be no easy task!)




I got the back yard done pretty effortlessly. Okay, maybe that's an overstatement, the weed eater isn't exactly a breeze to troop around the back yard with, but it started, and continued to work, and with my guidance did it's job quite nicely! It's when I moved to the front yard that the real trouble started!

Just when I was thinking - this isn't so bad, Meagan, you CAN do this and you SHOULD do it more often, I felt something prick my leg. This is where it all becomes a blur to me! I was weed eating around the ditch under my driveway and apparently, and VERY accidentally, I weed-"ate" right in, on, or over a bumblebee nest!




Lesson Number One: Those of you, like me, who have been told that bumblebees are not aggressive and do not sting - that is NOT TRUE! It would seem if you basically attempt to destroy their home with law care equipment they have no qualms about being aggressive OR stinging!




After the initial prick, I realized it must have been a sting. I don't know what clued me in to this fact... it might have had something to do with the mad buzzing noise in my ears of the frantic frenzy of bees around my feet that gave me an inkling of what was in store!




As the story goes, I ditched the weed eater - literally threw it in the ditch - and ran like hell (excuse the language, but there really is no other way to put this). I am confident that if I had it on video I might be the $10,000 winner! It would seem that as I retreated (oh so gracefully shrieking at the top of my lung and swatting over my head - By the way, I am pretty sure that is what you are NOT supposed to do) the easiest target must of been my lovely ghetto-booty as I had over 10 stings on... you guessed it... my lovely behind! As I realized the bees were in fact IN my clothing AND my hair I really got frantic! (Exit all rational thought)




As I ran for the house - because there is no water, pond, pool, or even puddle anywhere near - I lost my cell phone that I keep tucked in my bra while I do yard work "just in case." It seems a secure spot, but I now know that it's doesn't work so well when you are... well... "running like hell!"



As I reached the back garage door I flung it open and in my cool and collected thought process (yeah right!) neglected to close the door behind me (I didn't realize this until about 2 hours after the event). I ran, ripping at my clothes and feeling like the garments themselves were stinging me!




Lesson 2: Don't try to pull stretchy pants over tennis shoes while running like a mad woman! Result: REALLY bad scuffed knees and elbows, and arms... it seems pants seem to trip you up when you are running with them around your ankles!




I ducked in the bathroom and stripped the pants, but the buzzing and stinging was still going on so I tired to shut the bees in the bathroom and retreated to the guest bedroom! Same scenario - lose the shirt - still buzzing - leave that room, slam that door! I finally found myself in my "office" (and additional guest room) bee free, behind closed doors, AND... completely without attire!




After catching my breath and calming down (hey, gotta enjoy a sting-free moment after that frenzy... but by calming down don't envision me calm cool and collected, envision me bawling my eyes out, yelping, and then begin insanely quiet because "the bees might hear me!" What? I said all rational thought went out the window!) Anyway, I spied out the door to see 4 bees buzzing around the living room angrily. When they seemed contentedly in the window I made a mad dash for my bedroom! Here I put on some more clothes and plotted my next move!




With the bees in the living room I felt st ranted in the house and quite frankly still terrified and I needed to find my cell phone too! What's a girl to do! Oh, brilliant, I thought! I'll remove the screen from my window, climb out, and call for help... after I find my phone - hopefully several yards from the bees nest!

The story winds down from here! I found my phone, called a friend or two, waited a LONG while! Then did a clean sweep of my home with my brave soul! Good thing I left the back door and bedroom windows open! All the bees left on their own except for two!




The damage: 16 bee stings, two skinned up knees, 2 skinned up elbows, random scratches, bumps and bruises, and a vow to never weed eat again!




Note: I did go to the ER (it was the only place open by the time I decided to go) just to be safe. My mom recommended it just in case and Moo's mom (a nurse her whole life) said it was a good idea! Thanks to La's sweet hubby who both took me and picked me up from the ER (I was advised not to drive myself as I might get a shot that would make me sleepy!)




In the end, I am sitting here on a very sore behind, on three medications - just a precaution - and getting drowsy from all the excitement and from the meds! There is one lone bee in the living room window also pooped from the crazy day! You bet your behind I am leaving him be! (no pun intended!)




That's my story... and from now on my excuse to get out of yard work! :-)

Beach Bum...

...back in action!

Well, as you probably figured out we ended up not having an Internet connection in our condo at the beach! Therefore I was unable to blog, which was sad because I was all pumped about blogging while I was gone and now I sit here in the sweltering heat of Tennessee without much inspiration! Perhaps that is because the cord that allows me to load my pictures onto my computer is somewhere in Mom's stuff in Chattanooga! :-) It is, so far, the only thing I discovered that I had "forgotten" when I packed up and headed back home! I am just thankful it made it home in her stuff and didn't get left on Tybee! This just means that you have to wait for fun pictures and stories from the beach! Mom is mailing my cable back to me, so sometime this week or next I'll share pictures from the beach!

In the mean time, I have just been catching up on all of your blogs and all of my emails! Great fun!!

I just recently had a friend from "way back" in high school join the blogging world. Ariel and I were practically inseparable in high school. As we moved on to college and then careers we haven't stayed as close as we once were, but we do manage to catch up on email about once a year or so! We will certainly stay in better touch now that she has joined the blogging world. You can click here to check out her page! And from her page I also discovered another great high school friend, Melissa, is on blogger as well! Melissa just added a new addition to her little family, so you can go check out her little princess by clicking on her name!

I will wrap up with a shout out to two of my bestest blogging beauties!!! Please check out Lauren's blog if you get a chance! She did a wonderful post about Leigh Ann's sweet Evan and the Walk for Autism we are helping with in September! It's not too late to get involved, walk, donate, or just pray for a big success! Click "here" to link to our page about "For The Love Of Evan" walk team! My other shout out goes to Evan's mom and a dear friend of mine, Leigh Ann! I am so, so, so proud of her! This past week she spoke at the capital building in Arkansas about Autism and shared Evan's story to help raise awareness and further the cause! I know it took a lot of courage to get up there in front of all of those legislators and others and bear your heart LAH, I am so proud of you!

Stay tuned for beach stores and pictures, they'll be coming soon! In the mean time I am retreating to the coolness of my living room where I will likely park my behind on the couch for a little bit to enjoy some fruit tea and the ceiling fan! Is is so so hot and humid where you are, because here in the 'boro it is quite uncomfortable!!

"Good In Bed"

Do you ever have a week where you read all of your friend's blogs faithfully, and want so badly to have a great post, but... nothing? Writers block? Nothing going on? The dreaded, "slow blog week?" It is inevitable during these times that I begin to think that everyone else's blog is much more dynamic than mine, funnier than mine, more interesting than mine! (Don't get worried people, I'm not in a funk, not in a slump, and not trying to be over critical of myself or my poor little blog!) Just being real... some days I think my blog is not quite up to snuff! I also think, however, I don't blog for everyone else - that's just a perk - I blog for myself and to document and as an outlet and to keep in touch and all of those other productive things. So what is your relationship like with your blog?

Okay, change of topic! My weekend! In brief, it's been busy but good. Friday night was Beth's "Mojito Monday" which ironically we ended up having on a Friday! We had Mojito's on her patio with several friends from work - in a word, fun! Saturday night I attended a backyard barbecue at my friend Rebecca's! She and her hubby just adopted their third child, Alex, from Russia! (See her blog "Floyd Family Journey" linked on the right). And today I decided to have a Sofa Service at home and spend my day cleaning and getting ready for my trip... which takes me to my next topic...

...my upcoming week! Tomorrow I will head to Chattanooga so that I can hitch a ride to what is, quite possibly, my favorite place in the world other than my home in Murfreesboro and the home I grew up in! Tybee Island. It used to be one of the best kept secrets ever - largely un-commercialized (is that even a word?) - and I love that about it! A classic, quaint beach town on a little island off the coast of Savannah, GA. In recent years it has been somewhat discovered but is still much less developed than other popular beach vacation destinations like Destin, Panama City, etc. I still get "where is that?!?" occasionally when I mention Tybee and I LOVE that!

I didn't think I would get to go to the beach this summer... just too expensive to travel right now, have a trip planned with the girls to the Spa this fall - saving for that... but then Mom called a week or two ago and told me that her book group was going to the beach, possibly Tybee! I was so excited for her and almost afraid to be hopeful, but I shouldn't have been because, of course, my sweet mom extended the invite! That's how I ended up with this trip on my agenda. I can't tell you how excited I am! Excited to go to Tybee. Excited to get to spend that time with mom in one of our alltime favorite placed, and one where we have lots of fun family memories! And, excited to meet her girlfriends - what I have come to understand, through her, is a very diverse group of women brought together by their enjoyment of reading! They are diverse in age and in personality as well as in their reading choices! The hostess for the month picks the book (everything from memoirs to beachy-girly-books, from seriously deep to light and fluffy!) Some they enjoy, some are enriching, and some they might not care for, but they expose each other to a wide variety of material and experiences and I can't wait to be a part of the whole thing, if only this once!

And this brings me to the title of my post, which undoubtedly is what has kept you hanging in there and reading this far! It's the Title of the book I just finished that was chosen for this month's book group meeting... on Tybee! Here is picture of the cover (there is an alternative cover as well, so if you look for it in stores it might not look exactly like this one)


It sounds, and looks, more provocative than it actually is. Here is the synopsis I gave my sister in an email earlier: It's about a girl's life... she's a size 16 (which really bothers her), is a columnist in Philadelphia, and decides to "take a break" from her 3 year relationship with an unmotivated free-lance writer. He ends up getting space in a magazine (similar to Cosmo) and his column is called "Good In Bed" which is funny to her because she's the only person he's ever been with, and he really wasn't that good - she taught him all he knows... and his first article is entitled "Loving a Larger Woman" and is all about her - she's humiliated and devastated! The story goes from there... I highly recommend it... it pulls you a long and although it is a quick fun read, there is some depth to it as well!

So that's it for today... and probably for a couple of days... although I hope mom will pack her computer and take it with us and hopefully we can pick up some connection at the beach so that I can blog from there!

P.S. Moo and La, I will miss you terribly on Tybee! I am sure my mind with be overrun with memories from last years girls trip... in fact, it already is! I wish so badly that the two of you were coming as well!!!!! I will think of you both, and probably laugh, every single day I am there!!!

20 Things I Will Never Do...

... well, probably never do! I borrowed this idea for Leigh Ann's blog a long time ago and saved it for a slow blog week! I thought I would do my own list of 20 things I'll never do... in random order!


1. I will never pass up a good glass of wine.

2. I will never bungee jump, sky dive, or do any other extreme thing that flirts with major injury or death.

3. I will never enjoy scary movies – not a feeling I enjoy getting in touch with.

4. I will never give up girlz nights with high calorie food, high voltage laughs, and high heels (or flip flops).

5. I will never enjoy using a public restroom.

6. I will never just sit on the shore and watch others play in the ocean… I’ll play too!

7. I will never lose sight of the value of good friends and of diversified relationships.

8. I will never have a bed (for me) that is smaller than a king size!

9. I will never not get freaked out by bugs, and spiders, and anything creepy crawly!

10. I will never lose my love of travel.

11. I will never enjoy pulling weeds and doing yard work.

12. I will never stop enjoying art, museums, and tours (aka: I’ll never stop being a nerd!).

13. I will never not love old houses (although I am not sure I would ever want to live in one).

14. I will never lose my desire to see the Hawaiian Islands... even after I have been I am sure I will have the desire to go again and again.

15. I will never stop enjoying summers off.

16. I will never enjoy being uncomfortably hot and sweaty.

17. I will never love working out.

18. I will never give up cooking and enjoying good food.


19. I will never enjoy mopping and scrubbing the bathtub!


20. I will never leave home without my cell phone.


Well, there's my 20 Never will do list... If your blog week is as S-L-O-W as mine, why don't you tell me what some of yours are?

A long holiday weekend...

For such a long weekend, I managed to take very few pictures, but I will share the ones I did take as I tell you about my extra-long holiday weekend!

I headed out of town Thursday and got to Chattanooga, well Ooltewah, around 1:30 I guess. Mom and I went to Couch's for a late lunch, ran out for little shopping, and then picked up Bentlee! Thursday is always Bentlee day at Grandmommy and Papaw's! When we picked her up she was READY to go and wanted to to directly to Grandmommy's house, but we stopped back by Couch's for desert first! When we go to Grandmommy and Papaw's we played school, of course, with all the Bitty Babies and American Girls! And then took them on a field trip to the "beach." Here is "everybody" at the Bitty Baby Beach Party!



Even thought all the babies had to pretend to swim, Bentlee decided she would swim for real! She cracks me up... her little lip was quivering, but she swore she was not cold!


Thursday night when Sarah came to pick Bentlee up to go to Collegedale to watch the fireworks' show (they do theirs on the 3rd) we decided instead of meeting them there we would just all ride together!


Bentlee, never one to perform on command, said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Park" for us as we waited for the fireworks!

Here are Bentlee and Sarah waiting for Ken to arrive after work! We played the color game (I spy) a lot - she is REALLY good at it and never cheats. Seriously, you don't even have to pick easy stuff for her... she held her own playing with the adults!
Here are "Grandmommy an Papaw" waiting for the fireworks to start! Papaw walked to Domino's and got us a pizza fresh from the oven because we were hungry!!!

I managed to get through the actual 4th with almost no pictures at all... just a few of Bentlee playing with her friend Landon. It was a great day. Ken, Sarah, and Bentlee came over in the early afternoon and we hung out at the pool, sunning and swimming. Then about 4:30 Mom, Sarah, and I went in to start preparing food. Before we knew it everyone was arriving! Mostly it was Aunts, uncles, and cousins from both mom's side and dad's side! My grandparents came and a friend of Ken's and his little boy who is Bentlee's age! We had badminton, corn hole, horseshoes, swimming, and all kind of activities to go along with our BIG spread of hamburgers, hot dogs, sides, and homemade ice cream! Then we had a REALLY BIG AND FABULOUS fireworks show that my brother, Dink, and my Daddy put on! It was a GREAT 4th!!!

The 5th was very productive for me and mom with sunning by the pool , a mid-morning nap, and pedicures! Then I headed back to the 'boro!

And finally, I ended my weekend with a girlz night in honor of La's birthday! We had pina coladas, pizza, cherry coke, oreos, peanut butter M&Ms, and white cheddar popcorn while we talked, laughed, and started season one of Sex and the City!

What an action packed, all around, great weekend! I hope yours was just as grand!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Do you think I look like these folks? I was inspired by Lauren and Leigh Ann to see if I had any cool celebrity look-alikes! I never would have picked this line up myself - I guess I have never thought about it, but I was pleasantly surprised! What do you think?

(It cuts off Diane Lane and maybe Faith Hill... those are the ones on the far right side! :-)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family history software - Family history

Southern for sure!

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my great friend Jerri! She wanted to know if I wanted to come over and play cornhole! For those of you not from the south, or those of you who have just never heard of this great game, it looks something like this...





...there are two game boards, two teams, the rules are a lot like horseshoes! Anyway, I was certainly up for it... after all, what do I have to do... go to work? NOPE! So I headed to Jerri's. We went to the store to pick up a Pizza and the makings of summer sangria and headed back to her house for dinner! Afterwards friends (Kenny, Kathy, and Lewis) came to join in on the cornhole fun! We had a great time!



It began to grow dark and instead of moving into the screened in porch we settled for chairs in the back yard! But what should one do about all those bugs? Ah, ha! Here is a solution and some cheap entertainment... it only costs a wee bit of electricity...

...that's it! A bug zapper! Nah, you don't need to hang it up, just grab a ladder, that'll do! I thought it was a particularly "southern" moment when I found myself in lawn chair, talking about war movies, watching a bug zapper, pouring sangria out of a milk jug into a giant plastic up with a bendy-straw! And I LOVED IT!

I enjoyed last night tremendously - it was a great way to spend such a nice summer evening!!!! However, today I classed it up a little for a big BIRTHDAY lunch! My dearest La turned 26 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a wonderful lunch at The Front Porch! Yumm! Lots of laughs and delightful conversation as always. This, in truth, was just the "birfday" kickoff as we are getting down to the real celebration Sunday night at mi casa for some Pizza and a cold one with gifts!!!

D-word joined us at Lunch! Can you believe how much he had grown! He absolutely melts my heart with his big 'ole toothless grin! :-)