welcome fall

i am a very seasonal person.  for anyone that knows me, knows that i get excited about each of the 4 seasons.  in my mind i have the months divided accordingly to fit with the seasons.

december, january, february = W I N T E R

march, april, may = S P R I N G

june, july, august = S U M M E R

september, october, november = F A L L

so, according to my schedule, it is officially FALL and i am way excited.  there is just something about his time of year that i love.  the chill in the air {not quite there}, the smells {crisp apple, cinnamon}, the food {chilli's and soups}, the colors {orange, red, green, brown, gold}, the clothes {lots of layers and textures}and a crackling fire.  so very nice! 

i love every season for different reasons.  this summer seemed to go by incredibly fast and i feel like i missed a lot of blogging opportunities!  i may have to try and catch up on some events in the coming days.  we had our high school 10 year reunion, mine and mymichael's 6 year wedding anniversary, and i'm still working on europe trip pictures.  it has been a busy few months to say the least!

do your self a favor and celebrate the beginning of fall by going to bath and body works and buying this candle:

it is FALL in a candle.  it smells oh so wonderful.  but hurry b/c last year they sold out and had me searching every bath and body works in the surrounding areas...including dallas!  i promise that it will make you smile and make the 95 degree days feel not quite so warm {although i am very thankful we are past the 105 degree weather around here!}.

Happy Fall!

spring has sprung!

i love all 4 seasons and i love oklahoma because we get a little taste of each.  this past week as been absolutely beautiful.  70 and 80 degree weather, a spring thunderstorm, flowering trees and greening grass.  this time of year color starts to blossom everywhere.  everything from bright purples, yellows and pinks to thousands of shades of green.  absolutely beautiful.  the next time you are outside see if you can count how many shades of green you see...one of the reasons it's my favorite color....there are thousands. 

you can definitely see god's work when you look outside on a beautiful spring day!  hope everyone has a wonderful easter sunday!

grandma nita's soup

monday was a little on the cool side and cloudy which put me in the soup mood for dinner.  last year for christmas my mom gave me an awesome gift...a binder with all of her and many of my grandmother's recipes.  this is awesome b/c i am constantly calling here asking for one recipe or another...i am typically in the grocery store at the time.  not to say i don't still do that...she has a great memory...she almost always knows exactly what i need!  sooo...monday night i pulled out my recipe binder and flipped to the soup section and say "grandma nita's soup" and thought that would be perfect. 

now, if you haven't figured out already, you soon will...i never really follow a recipe to the 'T'.  i almost always end up tweaking it some way or another.  sometimes it's b/c i don't have the ingredients and sometimes it's just b/c i think it sounds good.  so....below you will find the actual recipe and then i will explain what i changed. 

grandma nita's soup......

1# {pound} ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

2 cans whole kernel corn {or you can use frozen}

1 jar of V8 vegetable juice

3 or 4 potatoes diced

1/2 bag of shredded or sliced carrots

1 can peas

salt, pepper & garlic salt to taste

brown ground beef and drain off fat.  return beef to pan, add onion, celery, potatoes and carrots.  cook for 5 minutes.  add V8 juice and 2 cups of water.  cook until potatoes are almost done, then add corn and peas.  serve with cornbread.

now, on my soup, i used 1 sweet potato instead of 3 or 4 regular potatoes b/c mymichael absolutely hates regular potatoes....i know...weird!  but, let me tell you, those sweet potatoes were AMAZING in the soup!  i also used frozen corn and only put 1/2 a can of peas...b/c really....i hate peas.  i also addes bell pepper to the list of veggies and a can of regular stewed tomatoes.  i bought the 6-pack of V8 cans and used two of those cans instead of the 1 jar.  other than that...i added lots of garlic salt, kosher salt & black pepper b/c we like our food well seasoned! 

as mentioned before, this is great to serve with cornbread....and that folks is a completely different post!

we give this recipe:

*****

to get you in the fall mood

check out some   b e a u t i f u l   fall photography from Pioneer Woman's Photography Assignment. 

http://www.flickr.com/groups/pwphotoassignments/

makes you want to go out and capture the beauty of nature, doesn't it?

the first colorings of fall

i * L * O * V * E * fall

the colors

crisp air

spices

smells

pumpkins

cozy fires

chilly football games

blue sky w/ red and orange leaves

soup

hot starbuck's drinks

the list could go on and on......

what do you love about fall???