the mommas.

Momma Carter and Momma Rhonda came for a special weekend visit to San Angelo to see Ben and me!  

It was so fun to be with the two of them for the weekend & to tour them around town together.  They are two peas in a pod and are hilarious together, which made for a pretty entertaining weekend.  In a nutshell our weekend consisted of the following (in no particular order): touring downtown, visiting the airport to try to find the ever-elusive famous antique store, failing to find said antique store, eating mexican food, watching thriller & tear jerker movies, buying an old chair, window shopping, wii golfing, church going & lots of laughing in between.

Here's a picture of the two of them in Downtown San Angelo, while we did some girl shopping (Ben was able to avoid most of the girlie activities because of engagements he had with his class)

Ben and his momma, outside of Eggemeyer's General Store downtown---this store has everything flax seed chips to model fighter jets!

Me and the Benster

Me and the mommas in front of the soda fountain at Sassy Fox!  This was probably their favorite downtown store--- imagine Chico's type clothes topped off with a Blue Bell ice cream soda fountain :)  And it was called Sassy Fox--can't get much better than that. ;)

We love you mommas--you're the best mommas we could ever hope for!

every short girl needs one...

yes, that's right... a stool.

this was a gift from my mom & dad for my birthday--

they have found out from visiting us, and from the stories ben and i tell, that most of the top shelves in any closet or cabinet in our home are always quite a mess, because some little someone cannot reach the shelf. and being that this little someone is the primary cleaner/tidy-upper person in the household...well, her shortness presents a problem.   The bottom few cabinets or shelves always do pretty well, but it's the top cabinets and shelves that are always a terrible wreck, due to this short one's constant lobbing of items on top of them.    

i am glad to report though, that my disheveled shelf days are over, thanks to my handy dandy stool.  

not only is it cute (which was a serious requirement) but it is very practical, so any of you short ladies out there, or maybe i should say "petite", grab yourself a stool--i highly recommend it :)

feelin' the burn

I kind of feel a little lame admitting this....but, its true & there's no denying that I just purchased EA Active for the Wii.


I am a little ashamed to be doing video game workouts, but there are just some days when you really don't want to leave the house to go exercise---and especially being that we have had 100 degree + weather everyday for the past month. I think it is safe to say, this is one of those occasions where it is so much nicer to be working out INSIDE of the home instead.  Hallelujah for A.C.


It was a pretty good workout though, just 30 minutes long, but I got some good lunges, squats and even some in-line skating in (oh yes, you can in-line skate in the comfort of your own home.)   I don't think its an every day workout that would meet all your fitness needs, but doing it while alternating days with some more intense cardio, should suffice.  At least for someone with my fitness ambitions (I'm no marathon runner).    Oh and the little fitness trainer on the game makes you feel like a rock star.  She wins the award for most encouraging trainer--hands down.


However, I don't think I will be sporting my Wii EA active moves for Ben, or anyone else for that matter---sorry to disappoint...but it's possibly a little bit embarrassing to do in the company of others ;)   Seriously though, what interactive video game or workout dvd isn't?

pre-birthday celebrations in junction

Ben and I got to meet my parents in Junction, TX this weekend for a little pre-birthday celebration.

After eating lunch together, Mom & Dad took us to eat birthday cake on the lake.

Said cake being Angel Food cake with berries and heaps of whipped cream, of course.

  Can't go wrong with lots of whipped cream ;)

yummy birthday cake

me and my daddy :)

me & the hubs

mom, ben & me with a view of the pretty lake

Its soo exciting to be close enough to family for quick day trips!   

We also got to see Ben's grandparents, and my grandparents-in-love, Jim & Ida this weekend.  We tried out one of the many delicious Mexican food restaurants in San Angelo with them, and took a trip to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.  It was fun to explore some new things in San Angelo with them--we packed in a pretty good day's tour into all of four hours.

Shrimp Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I have had it in my head for the past few days that I really wanted to make some shrimp stuffed poblanos--I browsed several recipes online & although they looked tasty, none of them really seemed to fit with what I was desiring in my head.   I decided to try my hand at putting into action all the flavors that were floating around in my head, and here's what I came up with:

Shrimp-stuffed Poblano (the shrimp stuffing overflowed onto the side) paired with bulgar wheat & roasted red bell pepper sauce....deeeeeeelish.

It ended up being a really delicious meal--Ben & I both had pretty satisfied tummies in the end.  Always a desirable thing.

Here's what you do (ingredients in bold):

Heat oven to 350*

Char two poblano peppers over a gas burner or broil in the oven, until blackened on all sides.  Place the poblanos in a brown paper bag to rest for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add 1-2 cloves minced garlic, stir for about 1 minute.  Add ~1/2 lb small salad shrimp to the garlic & cook until shrimp is pink.

Add either 1/2 cup light sour cream (can substitute 1/4 cup of low fat milk & 1/4 cup of light sour cream) to the shrimp and continue stirring.  Pour a small amount of the melted sour cream into a bowl and mix in 1 tsp. corn starch or flour.  Stir well, and then add this mixture back into the skillet.  Stir until thick, reduce heat to med-low.  Add 1 tsp. basil (fresh is best) and 1/2 tsp of italian herb seasoning, stir until well blended.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  *I also add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes for a little kick*

Remove shrimp & sauce from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl.  Add 1 cup fresh spinach, 1/2 of a yellow squash (diced),  3-4 sundried tomatoes (cut up), and 4-5 pitted kalamata olives (diced) to the shrimp mixture, mixing well.

Remove poblanos from paper bag, deseed and cut out an opening big enough to allow for stuffing the pepper. Place poblanos in a small baking or casserole dish & spoon the shrimp mixture into each of the peppers and crumble queso fresco (or feta) over the peppers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Serves 2.  Pair with bulgar wheat, rice, or quinoa.

Enjoy.

sweet friend

To my great delight, Holly Southerland came to San Angelo for a visit last week!  She drove all the way from Waco, TX to spend a few days w/ the Carters & I thoroughly enjoyed it.   It was especially nice to have her here during the week, because that is the time that Ben is out working hard & I am still trying to figure out what to do with all my free hours in San Angelo.  So it was nice to have a buddy last week to just be with during the day & I had her all to myself which was nice for getting in lots of girl talk.  :)   All in all, we had a very restful week--I took her to the little area downtown that I like to shop around at, we looked at sewing books, crafted & I ended up teaching her some sewing basics.  Like most things that girl puts her hands to, I am sure she will master the sewing machine in no time!

Unfortunately we never took any pictures of the week, minus the time I tried and failed to use her super cool, technical camera, so I brought back a picture from her & me from my wedding. I am so thankful to have friends & family close by---its been soo good to catch up with close friends & family that I haven't seen in about 2 years, and I hope to do more of it!

---oh how I've missed you Holly!

high school reunion :)

Spent the weekend with some wonderful high school girlfriends!  We have been spread out all around the US over the past couple of years & amazingly, during the month of July, found ourselves all living in TX.  The girls all decided to come out to visit us for our little reunion---and so the fun began!

We spent the weekend staying up late chatting & snacking, shopping around the cute downtown area of San An, eating out & taking fun pictures!  It was so fun to have them here for the weekend, and it was a good excuse for me to learn more about our town in my feeble attempts to be their tour guide for the weekend :) Good thing Shannon had her iPhone to google map me to all our destinations, we might have gotten lost without her ;)

Ben was a champ of a host & husband during the weekend--he was quite outnumbered, 5 to 1, but did a great job of hosting & helping where he could & he really enjoyed getting better acquainted with the girls and hearing about all the crazy memories we have together!

Its amazing to come back together with these girls after living in such different parts of the U.S., doing very different things for the past couple of years, and to find that we can all just pick up where we left off.  I am thankful for friendships like that.

Thanks for coming girls---love you :)