Summer is here and I am full of ideas of what I would like to do before Labor day. How many of these will actually get crossed off , well that's another story. I figure if I write them down and post them for the world to see then I have to hold myself to them.

1. Movie at the park : We are minutes from Federal Hill Park so I plan on cuddling under the stars with my guy and watching a good flick.  

2. Farmers Market : I'd like to make Saturday morning at the market a new tradition this summer since we can bike just about anywhere in the city I'd like to take full advantage of my Saturday morning.

3. Learn Calligraphy : I know this is quite the popular hobby right now I am jumping on the band wagon and going to try to learn calligraphy. Hopefully I will perfect it by Christmas for my holiday cards.

4. Go camping : I had been mentioning this to my hubby for quite some time and while eating dinner with a couple of friends we were invited to go camping in Sept. in Delaware and we happily excepted. 

5. Picnic-ing : I'd like to add picnic's to my list of new traditions, I hope to have a picnic in DC and Central Park in NYC.

6. Me & Nature : Since I've never really been the outdoorsy kind I'd like to change that about myself and start hiking and camping. Of course I will start to load up on OFF bug spray since i hate bugs.

While it's storming out...

Saturday afternoon it stormed for a while and I decided to go back to my childhood. Let me take you back... Growing up our TV time was very limited so our parents always played music. Since my Dad was/still is a musician we had instruments EVERYWHERE. We had drums or congas as end tables, my mother dressed up my Dad's piano with a doily and pictures of us as kids, and not to mention all the amps against the walls. My parents played records from morning til night. Photos can give you an idea of what happened or how things looked back then. However hearing or smelling are two major senses that instantly take me back. Hearing The Beatles , Billy Joel , Anne Murray, Steely Dan I'm instantly taken back to my youth. The smell of vinyl reminds me of my childhood home, the crackling of a record playing reminds me of my parents , the cord switching on a guitar make me miss my Dad tremendously. Hearing Anne Murray sing "Shadows In The Moonlight" gives me a huge lump in my throat because it reminds me of my Mom in the kitchen singing away. So while it stormed out I went back to my childhood for a bit and I enjoyed every second of it.

Mexican Soup

Here is one of the few recipes I will share on the blog, I wish I could share recipes however my cooking is pretty remedial but there are those times I come across a recipe that I want to try . I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest {here} and I finally decided to try it lets just say I have been making it every week since. The first time I made this it was delicious however not filling enough so the next day I added shredded chicken  to the left overs and it transformed it into the perfect dish- with approval from the Husband.  

Mexican Vegetable Soup

Serves four to six.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced 
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-rounds
8 ounces green beans, tipped and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
6 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup cooked hominy

3 skinless chicken breast
2 teaspoons chilpotle chilies, minced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
cilantro leaves, for garnish
6 wedges lime
Corn tortillas

Directions
- Warm the oil in a soup pot, add onion, garlic, oregano, and salt, and cook over medium-low heat until the onion softens.

- In a separate pot boil chicken breast for 20 min. then shred

- Add the carrots, beans, and tomatoes; pour in the heated stock and simmer.

- After 20 minutes add the hominy , shredded chicken  and then gradually stir in the   
chilpotle chilies to taste.

- Cook another 10 minutes; then taste for salt.

- Ladle the soup into bowls; garnish with the avocado and cilantro leaves. Serve the lime and corn tortilla on the side.

{recipe taken from Sacramento Street }

¡buen provecho!



The weekend that was...

 

This weekend was filled with beautiful weather and our first Nationals game. Since we've already been to an Orioles game we thought it would only be fair to see a Nats game. Both games we've attended Nats and Orioles they've won, we must be good luck or something. Our patio is also good luck because our tomatoes have been booming. Every Saturday as I sit on our patio to have my cup of coffee I notice a handful of tomatoes ready to jump in my salad. We were blessed with an amazing weekend and I'm excited for tomorrow and the next day I have some fun outfits for you this week. Hope to see ya back here tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July!

     

via Pinterest

Happy Birthday America !
Today we celebrate the freedom we have and those who have fought for it. Let's make them proud everyday and live life to the fullest.   Have a safe day !

Bahamas Part II

I figured I would give you guys a break in between my Bahamas pictures so here is the second leg of them. Our days were spent waking up around 8:00 a.m. , having breakfast , laying on the beach , lunch around 1p.m.  playing or napping by the pool till around 5p.m. , ending each day with dinner and drinks by the beach. You would think after day 2 we would have been over it , for me even after day 5 I wanted to add more days to our trip. I fell in love with the beach and I was heart broken when we left.

Friday {things} I'm loving ...

{Yellow is perfect for this summer especially with THIS J.Crew linen top }

 

Is it me or has June flown by ? It seems like every Thursday I find myself telling my husband "woosh it's already Thursday, has this week flew by or what?" This week was pretty relaxing especially with all the rain we have been getting it's forced us to stay indoors and ingest about 5,000 pounds of sugar. Ok exaggeration 2,500 pounds of sugar. This weekend we will be on the hunt for a new living room rug and going to see The XX & Grizzly Bear at Meriweather Post Pavilion. I hope you have a great weekend.

 

{My husband and I have our ups / downs with candy - this week was our down }

 

{Yesterday I was excited to come home to my new summer sandal from Zara }

 

{If you update your summer wardrobe why not your work out gear }

 

{We anxiously waited 4 business days to have our waterproof disposable camera developed . I miss the days of developing film - anticipation at it's best }

My garden

April came and so did my garden. Since we are currently in an apartment my garden is quite small this year I went with tomatoes, bell peppers and romaine lettuce. This was my first time growing lettuce and I'm so glad that I did, I didn't know how well they would do but I'm already on my 2 batch. My balcony gets great sunlight which my vegetables love and sadly my tulips didn't. Since I was a beginner with lettuce I wasn't sure at what point I should cut my lettuce and/or if they would grow back. I finally cut them with a small knife and left about an inch for more growth. It was so fresh I could definitely tell a difference from store bought lettuce and fresh lettuce. It's taken about 3 weeks to notice some regrowth.

 

As for my tomato and bell pepper plants those are still in the what I like to call "building" stage. My experience with tomatoes is once you pot them it normally takes a couple of months for you to start seeing tomatoes forming. However in those months you will notice the plant getting taller and wider. Since tomatoes are quite heavy once they began to grow the plant will began to droop, so I always put a tomato cage over the plant so that the plant will be anchored down.

 

This year I meant to take pictures of the plants when I first bought them but I get so excited to plant them that the thought crossed my mind at the plant store. By the time I made it home and planted them I unfortunately forgot all about me wanting to capture the process. Oh well there's always next year. I'm planning on adding a lemon or lime tree to my garden family in the next few weeks.

 Does anyone else have a garden or have any gardening tips for me?

**Last years garden see HERE **