Taco Pasta Salad

So I'm on a little bit of a food kick here.  Last night I made Taco Pasta Salad - recipe via Pinterest of course! Anyway, another hit :)  Hubby said "So I think you should be keeping track of these recipes and we can put them in a hat and draw out the week's meals once we get a big pile of them" :-)  So he likes 'em!

Ingredients: 

1 lb browned hamburger seasoned with 1 package of taco seasoning

1 box of rotini noodles, cooked and drained

1 small can of black olives, drained

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 bottle Western Salad dressing (I used Light)

Optional 2 cups shredded cheese (I forgot this)

Mix all together and enjoy!   We ate it warm.  Recipe technically says to eat cold, so I assume it will be delicious both ways.  Hubby ate his over a bed of lettuce and I ate mine plain, so again, tons of options with it! I loved it because it was a super easy one pot meal (Kind of, I had to brown the hamburger separate I guess) but overall, it was one pot once it was prepped and it was delicious and we have leftovers for tonight! 

Oh yes, and recipe also called for sriracha sauce OR Western dressing.  I don't like things TOO spicy so we opted for the dressing.  

BBQ Chicken, Apple & Avocado Salad

Last night I tried a new recipe.  I sometimes feel like we get in a rut of eating the same old things and wanted to try something new. So, I headed over to Pinterest to find a new recipe and came up with BBQ Chicken, Apple & Bacon Salad.....but when I made it I forgot the bacon :-/.  It was still delicious!  But I'm slightly bummed.  I looked at the recipe just once and didn't look at it again, so apparently bacon just slipped my mind.  We grilled the chicken, added the BBQ sauce, sliced up one granny smith apple and one avocado, added our lettuce and then topped it all with Bleu Cheese Dressing.  Highly recommended!  I'm happy to say I have a new salad to add to our "regular" menu :)

Here's the Pinterest pic:

4th of July - Part 2

Another post - crazy, right?!?!  

Well, the evening of the 4th was still wonderful, but it didn't turn out like I had planned.  The hubby didn't get home until 8:45, so basically my potatoes that I grilled were cold and my dessert was melted, but it all tasted good all the same. Ryan was pleased with dinner and super hungry, so it was appreciated.  

Our dessert (before it melted):

Check out my smiley side-kick. 

Today, we went strawberry picking with some new friends!  And then we went to the pool!  And then my trusty side-kick and I went down to RiverFest for some lemonade and cheese curds. 

Getting ready to go pickin'

At the patch! 

Bright sun! 

Reminds me of Little House on the Prairie

Lunch post pick!

The girls chatting up each other in the car! 

Funny pose!

The girls post swim!

Riverfest!

Watching the Dragon Boats at Riverfest!

And then we came home, had a bottle (or she did), talked to Daddy, and went to bed! We had such a fun and wonderful day.  And it ended nicely too.  Ryan thanked me for being a stay at home mom and told me how much he appreciated coming home to a fridge that actually has food (ready to eat) and a clean house and dishes put away and a kid well taken care of - awe! I told him that I felt a little bad because we have so much fun that I feel like I must not be doing it right, lol.  But we are both happy so I guess we are doing something right :)  I hope your weekend was great as well! 

Happy 4th of July!!!! Part 1.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY -  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM! 

WHAT WE DID: 

Well, it was our first Holiday alone since the hubby started residency - oh yea, forgot to tell you about that....it's been a little hectic...let's backup.

The hubby graduated Medical School on May 4th.  We packed up our entire apartment and prepped for graduation, celebrated graduation and promptly vacated the apartment on May 6th.  The hubby flew to Seattle, WA to work for a week on May 5th and was there until May 11th.  I took babygirl to my parent's place for a few days and then down to the in-laws for a few days and then met up with the hubby and went to the cabin for 2 weeks.  Starting June 1st (I think), he started work in Bemidji for an additional 2 weeks.  We lived in a hotel room.  Well, we spent about 4/5 days with my parents and then went to the hotel to stay with Ryan, but he lived in the hotel room.  The entire time we didn't have any internet and only part of our belongings...it was hard.  Mainly because I'm attached to the internet...now mind you, I had access via my phone, but it wasn't the same.  We were also trying to buy a house at the time so we had to make multiple stops at Coffee shops to use their internet to send specific emails.  We also made multiple trips to places like UPS and OfficeMax to use their fax machine and scanners.  It was a little bit of a chaotic mess.  But I'm happy to say there were minimal arguments between the hubby and I and babygirl did fairly well.  Then on June 13th, we closed on our house in La Crosse, WI.  Babygirl and I moved in and Ryan went back to Bemidji for ONE day :(  But that's how it goes sometimes.   Anyway, his family came to help us move everything in on June 16th (what a way to spend Father's Day) and we've been unpacking/settling ever since.  It's been good though!  We've met some amazing people, which I'm very thankful for since we will be here for the next 5 years!  So onto today......

Today is July 4th.  It's also the first Holiday that Ryan is on-call. So, he's at the hospital all day 7am-7pm for sure and potentially longer if need be.  It's my first official Holiday as a resident's wife.  It's my first official holiday all alone.  But I'm okay with it.  It's a minor one (meaning, no Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter, which are all huge in our family), so it's kind of a nice transition I guess.  Ryan's worked on the 4th for many years so it's not too different...except we are in a new place and we have a baby.  So, babygirl and I have made the best of it so far.  This morning, we got up and went and bought a Caribou (you know, priorities) and then we came home and she napped.  Then, we went grocery shopping and bought supplies for a nice supper that we can have when Daddy gets off work.  Steaks are thawing and I bought stuff to make a broccoli salad, grill potatoes, and make a fun festive 4th of July dessert.  One thing I'm still missing is some sparklers - maybe I can run out and get some....??  Anyway, then we came home and got ready and went to the pool!  I've been wanting to take Gwen to the pool for awhile now and it's 2 blocks from our house, so there was really no excuse.  We slathered on the sunscreen, tied on our bonnet, grabbed a snack and hit the road.  She LOVED it!  And it wore her out :) So, we came home and she is now napping.  I was going to wait and write this post after we did all our festivities, but I was in the mood now, so I figured I better do it while the iron is hot.  Now that I did, though, I'm going to go and make that salad and cut up some potatoes for later, etc.  If we do anything else fun, maybe I can get it in another post ;)  

Hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July!! 

My Last Day

Today is a bittersweet day for me.  I'm currently working my last day at Children's.  I LOVE my job, but am very excited to be able to stay home with babygirl for the next *few years*.  I'm not sure if I will decide to get a job or not, definitely the right one would have to present itself before it would be worth it to me to go back to work. It's been a wonderful 2 years here and I've learned so much.  I am sad that I won't be able to utilize all the things I have learned, but maybe in their own way they will come in handy.  Maybe now I don't need to freak out *so much* if my baby catches something that I've seen before and know the course of. I will miss the structure of having a job where I had to be somewhere at a specific time, but on the other hand am so excited I can get dressed at 10am or 5pm if I want to.  I probably won't do that because I will be super unproductive if I don't start early in the morning, but it is nice to have the option.  I will miss my co-workers...each and everyone of them are wonderful people who really go out of their way to help one another. Well onto my last day of rounds - census is mediocore so I will definitely get in some good hours on my last day :) 

Heard this on the radio yesterday and am IN LOVE with it!  So motivational -

Sara Bareilles - Brave
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwTr_CRw3GY

I hope it inspires you today. 

Weekend Run Down!

Whew!  What a weekend!!  It's still Sunday, so it's technically not over, though I did have to work today.  I'm not complaining though because I was only there until about 3pm so I still have all afternoon/evening. 

We've had a wonderful weekend.  We started out on Friday by packing (like crazy) all of our stuff....okay, so that part of the day wasn't so fun, but anyway...we ended the evening on a River Boat Cruise down the Mississippi for an end of the year party put on by the U of M. We had a great time, although I think the music was a tad too loud.  I like to hear myself talk :)  They served hors'devours that were delicious too.  I just love social events with our friends!

Saturday we moved all of our stuff.  I was a little nervous because I was thinking it was going to take ALL day and that were weren't quite prepared (which we weren't) but overall it went fantastic.  The hubby's brother is a professional mover so he knew exactly what/where/why/when/how to get it all done.  He was the brains of the operation and had a lot of the muscle - we were super grateful he was there to do it! The whole process took about 3 hours.  Then we went out to the 5-8 Club for the famous Juicy Lucy's.  Delicious!  We came back home and sent out guests/helpers/free labor on their way and took a family nap.  Then, we went on a walk, ate some ice cream and watched some Downton Abbey...LOVE! 

Today, like I previously said, I worked but am hoping we will get to go on another walk this evening and I have a coffee date scheduled with a friend.  My mom is also coming down to watch babygirl for us while I work tomorrow and Tuesday.  This week will fly by - at least I kind of hope anyway because I don't have a real bed to sleep in. 

I saw this the other day on Pinterest and just love it....

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed is maybe not the appropriate post for this - or maybe it is.  We have so much stuff going on in our lives right now, it's crazy!  I really want to sit down and write a beautiful, long, inspired post, but I pretty much just don't have time. I want to write about more places I want to travel - basically planning family vacas on here because when I was previously planning our trips on here (or more dream trips) I really felt like I was learning and becoming more inspired to work towards my goals.  I want to write about my new house and all the remodeling I want to do...yea, new house...did I mention that?!?!  We are moving to WI in June so the hubby can start residency and we bought a house! We are super busy with packing and trying to figure out what should be packed right now and what can wait.  I want to write about the books I've read.  I want to write more about Little Miss G, she's getting so big and learning so much!  It's so fun - we took her to the zoo the other day for the first time.  She didn't pay much attention to the animals, but loved the flowers she got to touch and loved looking at the water in the sea lion and polar bear tanks. I also have crafts to start and people to write - and well, maybe that's it.  probably not. It feels a bit better to write it all out though - all the things I want to do....I also found this (which I kind of feel like I do - Nothing - but now that will change):

A few positive notes:

1)  The sun is shining today!  Seriously, it's a huge improvement.  We've had snow storms every two/three days for WEEKS!

2) A great friend of ours welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world yesterday. We couldn't be happier for them!  Can't wait to see him in May! 

3) I have been playing catch up on a few of my friend's blogs and realized another great friend is over halfway done with her pregnancy - can't wait for them to welcome their little one into the world!  

4) My Mom and Dad are visiting this weekend, I love seeing them!

5) I'm drinking my fav. Caribou drink right now - yum!