Weekend WrapUp

Happy Tuesday!

 Since I did the link up yesterday for my favorite summer shoes, I'm here today to wrap up my weekend! And boy was it jam packed with fun stuff!!

 

On Thursday Ted & I babysat our nephews so my brother and his wife could celebrate their 10 year anniversary!

Their wedding was SO much fun!

~

Friday I had a half day at work because Ted's work had their open house and picnic.

So I ran to my brothers and scooped up my nephew to bring him with me.

It's a shame he had no fun at all :)

Love this boy!

~

It was super hot - but I wanted a pic of us, isn't that just the most attractive face :)

 

~

Afterwards, I had to run home and spruce up the house for a showing.

Then we headed to my brothers house to BBQ for my moms Birthday!

 

 

After we ate and had yummy ice cream cake, we took a bike ride around the neighborhood.

~

On Saturday... Ted & I went to the diner for breakfast then came home and did some relaxing. I had to go to a 50th Birthday with my mom for a dear friend of my dads.

On my way I scooped up a tea from Starbucks and a cookie :)

Yummm

 

It was at the place where our wedding reception was...so it was fun to go back and be there!

Love my Mama

I sent this to Ted - it's where our cocktail hour was :)

~

When we left, we were having SUCH a bad storm...

It was a total nightmare to drive home and took SO long.

Luckily that was all gone by Sunday morning...

~

We had another house showing Sunday morning so we pretty much spruced up the house again and waited - this time I have a good feeling....fingers crossed!

~

After all that, I got ready to pick up my mom for lunch and tea at a Victorian Tea Room in our little downtown.... We had both never been there, and it was so much fun!

 

Once you walk in, you pick out a hat and sit down

We had lots of yummy finger foods, amazing soup and the best tea I've ever tasted in my life!

Can't wait to do this again!

 

 

After I dropped mom off, I headed over to the beach to watch Ted surf....

Evidently the storm the night before (that I drove in) brought "epic waves" to our beaches

 

The clouds were dense and really pretty...

 

 

 Some dune grass with the waves in the background

 

The original house on this "footprint" was destroyed in Sandy...

They just finally finished rebuilding it and my goodness, it's amazing! 

How's that for a "beach house" ?! 

 

Another dune grass shot - I was being artsy 

 

This poor guy broke his surfboard...  

 

This is me trying to figure out which spec is my husband...  

 

I'm pretty sure I found him....

 

And I shared on Instagram my new favorite shirt from Tara Lynns....

 

Love it and LOVE that store!

 

Monday morning when I was getting ready for work...I checked the weather and was surprised to see that it was a bit chilly!

LOVING this kind of weather in the morning!!

 

Stop by tomorrow for What's Cookin' Wednesday!

 

:)

 

~Tiffany~

 

Favorite Things !

Favorite Summer Shoes!

Linking up with Andrea & Erika today to talk summer shoes!

My feet rarely see anything other than Uggs and Flip Flops and Sanuks.

I transition from flips to uggs then from uggs to flips. It's pretty lame. Haha

So for the summer... I pretty much wear Sanuks and the occasional sneaker. 

 

Chuck Taylor Shoreline

This summer I scooped up these awesome chucks and LOVE them!

 



 

 

Sanuks

...Usually you will see me wearing these though.

I have this exact pair and wear the crap outta them! 

The boys wore black Sanuks in our wedding :-)

 

 

 

Sanuk Yoga Flips

And of course, flip flops. But not just any flips... Yoga mat flips! Omg these are heaven! So comfy and tough. I've had my white ones for 3 years Andy black ones for 2 years and they hold up so great! I want a new color this summer!

Sanuk Yoga Slings

I got these last summer in black.

I love them. They are super comfy and can be worn with a sun dress to spiff it up a bit more than flip flops. 

~

 



And like pretty much everyone in my family, sometimes shoes just aren't necessary. I love being barefoot in the summer. I used to walk around with no shoes on all the time. I have some tough feet too. It's kinda strange :-)

Bare Feet...

No picture with this one because my feet are ew. Like for real... I was a ballet dancer and I have my fathers feet. I'll spare you all the awfulness that is my feet. You're welcome. 

So there you have it!

Go grab some Sanuk Flip Flops!

You won't be sorry!! 

Stop by tomorrow for my weekend wrap up! I'm chatting all about my mama's

Birthday weekend!

 

~Tiffany~

Life Lately

Nothing much has been different around here lately...

Just enjoying summertime with my family

 

Yesterday I hung out at my moms for a bit with my littlest nephew...

He's so cute... I love him to pieces...

 

 

The ducks were at my moms hanging out - so I fed them and gave them fresh water.

They are so funny... I loved living so close to the bay

Our next house is in the same neighborhood, so there will be plenty of duck visits :)

 

I saw this online and thought it was super informative!
I love watermelon in the summer...

Save it and reference it when you're grocery shopping!

 

I also saw this and found it interesting...

I'm going to have to remember to try this

 

On Tuesday night we had some crazy weather...

 We were expecting awful thunderstorms with rotation and damaging hail and lightning,

 but we really only had some rain and a few rumbles (fortunately)

Once the black skies moved out - this is what we had...

So pretty....

 

And about half hour after the orange sky, we had this...

 

We went to look at the house we are buying/want to buy for the third time.

We took Ted's parents and my brother and his wife this time.

Everyone loved it. So now we're talking about contracts and what not.

Exciting things happening...pray someone buys our current house sooner than later!

 

Here's the kitchen again....love love love 

 

And this is part of the back yard 

 

Another shot of the back yard 

And this is the dining room (and my bothers back side)

 

What I love about this place is that it's all updated beautifully BUT -

There is still tons of old school character and charm.

Knotty pine as an accent wall in most rooms and stuff...

Original trim and hardwoods...

It was my goal to find a home that embodied all the things I want, and this one has it!

Please pray that this all works out - I know God has a master plan, and if it's meant to be it will work out the way we want, but keep your fingers crossed!

 

Have a fabulous afternoon!!

~Tiffany~

Recipe Club & Whats Cookin' Wednesday

What's Cookin' Wednesday

&

Recipe Club

 

Cajun Jambalaya

 ~This recipe is compliments of Mr. Emeril Lagasse, with my slight twists :)

 

Photo Credit

 ~

 

What You Need:

12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

2 large chicken breasts, diced

1 ring of Andouille sausage, sliced

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning (recipe below) or store bought

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic

1 can petite diced tomatoes

3 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce

3/4 cup rice (I used brown)

3 cups chicken stock, more or less to your liking

Salt and pepper

 

What You Do:

In a bowl combine shrimp, chicken and Creole seasoning, and work in seasoning well.

In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat, add onion, pepper and celery...

Sauté for about 3-5  minutes.

 

Add in your garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves.

Then splash in the Worcestershire and hot sauces.

 Stir in rice (yes rice first) then slowly add broth.

 

Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. This is the point where you may need more liquid, if so add a little, if not, proceed to the next step...

When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and sausage.

Cook until meat is done, about 10-15 minutes more.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

**This is spicy - taste as you go along!**

 

Creole Seasoning

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast)

1 1/2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoons garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1/2 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

*You can double this if you want more spice... I halved Emeril's original recipe

~

I made this last week for Ted & I

It's typically a fall/winter dish, but I was in the mood for it for some reason.

So I whipped it up pretty quickly and we enjoyed it on our bistro table outside one night with an iced cold beer. It was a nice change up/break to all the grilling we've been doing.

 

Linking up with Andrea today

 

 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

 

~Tiffany~

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday was the last day of school for the kiddos.

I was hoping to get out early, but did not (insert mad face)

I headed home and laid low while Ted went surfing.

This big mama gave me kisses...

Ted brought home a meatball parm for dinner....heavenly!

I watched The Best of Me - again.

Love that dang movie!!

 

 

I made chocolate chip M&M cookies for my nephews 6th birthday party...
and only managed to eat some of the dough....

 

The finished product!

 

Our neighbors dug a MASSIVE hole....

Turns out they are leveling their yard...

but that dirt pile was HUGE!

 

Saturday,  I dropped the cookies off for my nephew and hung out with my mom for a bit then headed back home.

Ted & I grabbed dinner and headed to our friends house for some drinks and card games.

 

The ducks are still chillin' at my mom's house in the front yard....

Naturally I feed them :)

 

I call Teds dad Pops...

So I made him a cake for Father's Day...

This day has been hard for me for the past 4 years, but it was nice to celebrate my father in law this year

 

I'm a huge Phantom of the Opera fan.

I've seen it a few times on Broadway and I LOVE IT!

Texas Manda and I sing the music all the time.

I sent this to her last night and laughed out loud.

 

 

We have a showing for our house tonight...keep your fingers crossed!

 

Have a great week!

 

~Tiffany~

Friday Favorites ~ Getting in to Summer

Happy Friday!

Happy Last Day of School!

 

Today is the last day of school for students!

My summer hours officially begin next week and I'm so happy I get an extra hour in the morning and Fridays off! Since summer is officially kicking off this weekend, I'm sharing some of my summer themed favorites right now...

 

Linking up with Andrea & Erika to share my faves:

~
 

Chuck Taylor Slip-On Sidelines

Find them here

Shay wrote about these shoes a few weeks ago, and I totally impulse bought them.

I'm so happy I did ! I love them.

They are such a comfy cute shoe for summer!

 
~
 

Starbucks Unsweetened Iced Tea

I'm a huge fan of unsweetened iced tea.
I love it from Dunkin' Donuts and from Starbucks.
I also make my own and drink Pure Leaf all the time..
but Starbucks in the summer is a fave for sure...

 
~
 

Ice Cream Sandwiches & Chipwiches
It's no secret that I love ice cream.
But in the summer, I love old school Ice Cream Sandwiches and a big ol' chipwich

 

I made my own chipwich's last year and brought them to a BBQ - they were a huge hit and SUPER easy. I just grabbed a big box of cookies from Costco and put different yummy ice cream in the middle of them. I got pints of Hagen Daas and cut cirles right through the container and stuffed it between two cookies. Easy peasy!

 
~
 

Hot Dogs on the grill

I love all things grilled.

But I love a grilled (almost burnt) hot dog in the summer.

They have to be the all beef Thumanns hot dogs and I have to grill them myself (or Ted)

but I loooove them in the summer! With a whole lotta ketchup!

 

~

 

Kayaking
Ted & I have only gone once this summer, well Ted went twice... but it's so fun!
We have a huge bay right down the road from my mom and a few creeks.
So we've been really loving the option to get in the water and paddle around!

 
~
 

The Beach

 I'm going to sound like such a snob right now, but I like the beach in early June and September and October. The beach in the summer is such a mess.
It's full of BENNIES, vacationers, people who trash it, all kinds of crazy stuff...
so us "locals" love the summer in the "off" months.
Local summer starts the day after Labor Day and it's kind of a big deal around here.
We like to walk Jake on the beach and let him run free and jump in the water.
We do this on a huge beach where we can drive on.... it's so fun.

There it is.... Ocean on the left, Bay on the right...
 

 We also love to go down to the inlet and watch the boats come and go.
There's the Barnegat Lighthouse

 

Don't get me wrong - I'll go to the beach in the summer and I love living so close but it's so nice in the off months. And it's super pretty in the fall...that sounds weird, but it is.

 

~

 

Have a fantastic weekend!!

 

~Tiffany~