Favorite Tinted Moisturizer...GO!

What is your favorite tinted moisturizer and why?



Tasty Tuesday - Italian Chicken Soup

With the weather cooling down as it has and a weather forecast of rain every day this week, I just had to post another soup recipe.

When I got this recipe in my inbox last week, I got REALLY excited. It sounds just like Carrabba's Mama Mandola’s Sicilian Chicken Soup, which is my favorite soup OF ALL TIME.

This is on the menu for Thursday night and I cannot wait to make it!

Pioneer Woman's Italian Chicken Soup

Picture and recipe found here.

Ingredients

1 box Ditalini Pasta (very Short Macaroni-type Pasta Noodles)

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 whole Cut Up Fryer Chicken

8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

2 whole Green Bell Peppers, Diced

2 stalks Celery, Diced

2 whole Fresh Jalapenos, Diced

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 can (28-ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes

2 cups Heavy Cream

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 Tablespoons Minced Fresh Oregano

Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper, To Taste

Parmesan Cheese Shavings, For Serving

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta in a pot according to package directions, being sure not to overcook it. Drain and rinse in cold water to cool. Toss in 1 tablespoon olive oil and set aside.

Place chicken in a large pot or dutch oven and cover in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer chicken, covered, for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and shred meat. Discard bones and set meat aside.

Dice canned tomatoes and return them to their juice. Set aside.

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil and oregano and turn off heat, stirring over the next minute to keep oregano from burning. Set this aside.

Either pour off chicken broth into a separate container or use a new pot to saute onion, green pepper, celery, and jalapenos in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add chicken broth, shredded chicken, and tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add cooked pasta, cream, and all the oregano and olive oil from the small skillet. Stir to combine. Turn off heat.

Serve with lots of Parmesan sprinkled on the top--the more the better! Crusty Italian bread is good, too.

UPDATE: I made this last night (9.21.11) and it was REALLY spicy, too many noodles and not enough juice. I would cut the amount of pasta in half and only use ONE jalepeno. Delicious other than that! :)

Jenny's Wedding Pics by Juliet Elizabeth Photography

I've pretty much been obsessed with Jenny's wedding photographer for quite some time now. And she (Juliet) knows it. So when Jenny got engaged, I immediately sent her all of my favorite wedding vendors. I knew that Jenny would love Juliet's vintage-y, relaxed, but FUN feel in both her pictures, and her personality. Jenny took a look around Juliet's website, fell in love with her pics, a few weeks later had a meeting with Juliet and fell in love with Juliet, herself. Do I know Jenny, or what? (I do.)

Jenny's first photoshoot was for her bridal portraits and they were taken at Legare Waring house (my fave!) on a HOT July day. Her two maids of honor and two bridesmaids, including myself, were there to lend a helping hand.

And on to the wedding day..

All images courtesy of the Juliet Elizabeth Photography.

Game Day!

Beat Navy! No, seriously.

First home game of the season. I'll be working, but watching from an elliptical tv.

I don't have any a lot of doubt in my Gamecocks, but you NEVER know.

So seriously, BEAT NAVY.

source



First Birchbox + Baby Mama Lunch.

On Tuesday, I received my very first Birchbox! After debating for months about signing up, I finally bit the bullet last month. Last Saturday, I received an email saying that it had shipped! Tuesday after work, voila!, there it was in my mailbox. I immediately ran inside and ripped open the box to see what was inside. Now, I'm not gonna lie. I was a tad disappointed. After seeing what was inside other bloggers' boxes, it wasn't what I expected. Don't get me wrong, there were a few things in the box that I couldn't wait to try, but some of the things I was like "really??" I'm hoping next month's is better (even though this box was supposed to be super awesome because it was their 1 year anniversary box!).

If you are signed up for Birchbox, did you get anything different in your box? What did you think of this month's box?

-----

Yesterday was a very busy and exciting day for me! First of all, I was at the grocery store at 7:45am. On my day off. That is just weird for me. But I can never fall back asleep once Cameron is up and moving and getting ready for work! So I went to the grocery store and did all my boring errands. Went home, attempted to sew curtains for my laundry room with the leftover fabric from my pillows. That was....interesting. Thank goodness my mom still had her instruction booklet for the sewing machine. The sewing machine kept messing up (totally it's fault, not mine), plus I was running out of time so I gave up. Dropped the sewing machine back off at my parents house, along with the curtains so my mom can finish them. :)

For lunch, I met up with Leslie, Becca, and their babies! It was Leslie's 28th birthday so I wanted to get her out of the house and treat her to lunch. All throughout her pregnancy, Leslie could not WAIT to eat sushi again. So that's what we did - ate sushi at Wasabi in Summerville. Just so happens that Becca lives right behind Wasabi so it worked out perfectly!

Davis and Emilee could not have been any cuter or quiet. They were angels. Emilee slept the entire time and Davis woke up hungry about halfway through our lunch. That boy is going to be a soccer player. Mark my words. He kicks so much!

I did not want to leave them and can't wait for my next baby mama date!

Davis, Me, Emilee (They are just 2 weeks apart!)

Birthday Girl (Leslie) & Me

Becca & Me



Tasty Tuesday - Greek Lemon Chicken Soup & Chopped Greek Salad

I could eat both of these every day for the rest of my life and be happy. I know Natalie is going to be a big fan of this post, too. :)

Both recipes and pictures are from Real Simple.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Serves 4| Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

6 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup orzo

6 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

black pepper

Directions

In a large saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the orzo and boil until tender, 8 to 9 minutes. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of the hot broth.

Add the egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the chicken and lemon juice; season with ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Chopped Greek Salad with Pita Chips

Serves 4| Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 15m

Ingredients

2 pitas, split horizontally

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

kosher salt and black pepper

1 small head iceberg lettuce, chopped (about 8 cups)

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 green bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 English cucumber, sliced

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and coarsely chopped

4 ounces Feta, crumbled (1 cup)

8 pepperoncini (optional)

1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives (optional)

Directions

Heat oven to 350° F. Place the pita halves cut-side up on a baking sheet, brush with 1 tablespoon of the oil, and bake until golden and crisp, 4 to 6 minutes. Let cool, then break into pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oregano, the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Add the lettuce, tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, chickpeas, Feta, pita chips, and pepperoncini and olives, if using, and toss to combine.

Miscellaneous Monday.

Ahhhh this weekend was so good. Had an event Friday night at work and was off both Saturday and Sunday! Love it when that happens.

On Saturday, Cameron, Brady and I took the boat out for a little while because it was absolutely beautiful outside. Stopped at the sandbar for a few minutes because there weren't that many people there. Brady wound up lifting his leg on two separate little girls so we decided it was time to move on. Oops.

Since Cameron's game (Clemson) and my game (Carolina) were so close in time, we decided to go to Kickin Chicken to watch the games since they have a ton of tv's.

Both of our teams walked away with a Win, although neither were very pretty.

-----

On Sunday, Cameron had to go into work for a few hours to oversee his project that is set to be finished this week! Woohoo! So proud of him. :) I can never go back to sleep once he gets up, so Brady and I just layed in bed, watching coverage of the 9/11 anniversary.

Once Cameron got home, it was time for Sandbar Sunday! There was a good crowd and I managed to keep Brady from lifting his leg on anyone. :)

-----

This week is a normal work week, except Thursday is Leslie's birthday! I'm taking her and little Emilee out to lunch. Can't wait to squeeze that little nugget (Emilee, that is.).

-----

Hope everyone has a great week!