Itchy Butt.

Poor Brady has a case of itchy butt. When summertime comes around he starts scratching like CRAZY. He probably wakes me up atleast five times in the middle of the night. I've gotten him a steroid shot or two here and there, given him Benedryl, etc but nothing seems to work.

Before we moved into this house, Brady would "back it up" on the end of my bed. And by "back it up," I mean it looked like he was doing a backwards hump. You'll see what I mean when you watch the video. The brick wall has replaced the end of the bed and is now his favorite spot in the house.

While watching the video, put the song by Juvenile "Back That Ass Up" in your head.

Jessica & Jason Gregorie - 7.23.11



Ceremony - Bethel United Methodist Church

Reception - The Francis Marion Hotel

McBee Photography

McBee Photography

McBee Photography



Me and the beautiful bride!

self portrait

Cameron wanted this picture taken in memory of him and my mom dancing at Caroline and Andy's wedding back in 2009. (see below)

Caroline & Andy's wedding.

McBee Photography



I snuck a pic with the bride and groom's carriage horse who left after Jessica and Jason.

Tasty Tuesday - What's in my Crockpot.

I knew when waking up this morning to a rainy day, all I would want to do after work is come home and lay on the couch. Which is why I'm SO glad I was given a crock pot for my birthday last year. I found this recipe on Pinterest (imagine that) and am really excited to try it tonight! I do not, however, know where it gets its name.

Kansas City Sue's Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup low-sodium beef broth

In a large skillet, heat the butter/olive oil. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook them for 1-2 minutes on each side, until nicely browned but not cooked all the way through. (After reading her readers comments, it was clear that I could skip this step. Because I surely was not about to do this at 7am.) Remove the chicken to the slow cooker. In a large bowl, combine all the other ingredients. Whisk well. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with rice or noodles.

Serving with.....

Baked Brown Rice

*Makes about 3 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water (if using water, add 1 teaspoon salt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8X8-inch or 9X9-inch baking pan. Place the rice in the prepared pan and pour in the liquid. Stir to equally distribute the rice. Cover tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for five minutes before removing the aluminum foil and fluffing with a fork. If your rice still has a bit of liquid on the bottom or conversely, if it is dried out, adjust the baking time up or down to make changes.
Variations:
Before baking, slice one small yellow onion into dices or half moons and caramelize and brown in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until golden and soft (about 10 minutes in a nonstick skillet). Stir onion into rice and broth mixture and bake according to recipe.

After removing rice from the oven and letting it sit for five minutes, remove aluminum foil and stir in the zest and juice from 1 lemon, 1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 apple, finely diced.

Gallery Wall.

Gallery walls are all the rage these days. I have a big wall in the dining room that I have been planning on putting a gallery wall on, but it is taking FOR-EV-ER to collect frames (on sale, of course) and things to put in the frames. Cameron's only request is not to over do it of pictures of the two of us. I can handle that.

Here's what I've got so far:

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Do you have a gallery wall? Have any other ideas of what I could put up there?

Pickle Picks.

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Tasty Tuesday - Horseradish Crusted Ribeye

Confession: I worked at Outback Steakhouse for 4 years.

Started in college so I could have extra money for 5 points books and picked up shifts during my first year after college, as well. As many cheese fries, caesar salads, steaks, and brown bread that I ate while working there, I still love going to eat there.

When I saw this recipe yesterday while browsing the internet, I got REALLY excited. My favorite steak at Outback was the Horseradish Crusted Filet so after work I headed straight to Publix and picked up some sirloins that were on sale.

If your boyfriend / hubby likes horseradish, make these steaks for him immediately. You will win major brownie points.

Horseradish Crusted Ribeye



Her pretty picture.

 

My crappy Blackberry pic.



3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

1/4 cup panko Japanese breadcrumbs

2 ribeye steaks (or whatever kind of steak you like)

salt and pepper to taste

It doesn't say to, but I marinated my steaks in worcestershire, salt, pepper and some garlic powder for a few hours.

In a medium-sized bowl with a wooden spoon cream the butter. Once the butter is light and fluffy, add the horseradish and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the breadcrumbs and mix until they have been incorporated. Refrigerate for 5 minutes to stiffen up so its easier to crumble.

Preheat the broiler or the oven to the highest temperature.

Season your steaks with salt and pepper to your taste. In a hot cast iron skillet, sear the steak until a nice browned crust is formed, 2 to 3 minutes on the first side. Turn the steaks over and sear the other side. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes for medium rare. Crumble the horseradish breadcrumb topping over each steak and place in the broiler until the crust becomes golden.



Catching Up!

I had all intentions of updating my blog throughout the end of last week and this weekend, but it just didn't happen. My bad.

First off, how crazy is this? Lindsay from Life of a Charleston Wife and I somehow discovered that we played soccer together in the 5th grade! How's that for a small world! Ever since I discovered her blog a few months ago, I knew she looked familiar and her name sounded familiar, but I just couldn't figure out why. Then, I found a picture from a soccer tournament that year and we are sitting right next to each other! Spooky.

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Wednesday after work Cameron and I took his boat out to test out our new fishing rods!

We weren't having much luck catching anything..and we ESPECIALLY didn't have any luck after Brady decided to jump in the marsh / water and try to chase down a jet ski..

There's always next time..

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Friday night, Cameron and I went out to eat with some friends to Taco Boy and ran into Caroline and her family! They were celebrating her mom's birthday. Caroline mentioned that she liked tequila so I decided to buy her a birthday shot.

Olé!

True story: Caroline's mom and my mom were bridesmaids in each other's wedding. Awww.

After Taco Boy, we headed to Midtown, where I'm always bound to run into friends that I haven't seen in a while. Case in point: Erin, Jennie & Christina!

Summerville reunion

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Saturday was full of celebrations! First up, Leslie's baby shower! Surprise surprise, I accidentally left my camera at home.

Then later that night we celebrated my cousin, Amanda's, 20th birthday! Can't believe she is going to be starting her sophomore year in college next month! The weather was so awesome that evening so we spent most of the time on the porch.

Birthday girl.

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Yesterday I worked the majority of the day and then went to an evening boat ride with Cameron, Brady and some of Cameron's friends. Brady always like to stand at the front of the boat so he can see what's going on. This was all fine and dandy until yesterday when he jumped off the front of the boat and almost got eaten up by the prop. My worst nightmare! Luckily Scott was paying attention and immediately cut the motor off when he saw Brady go overboard. Close call!

Before.

After.



Buds.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sunday Surprises.

This past Sunday held lots of surprises for me. Scary, exciting and happy surprises!

Scary

I had a work wedding on Sunday night and on my way home I was driving down a really dark four-lane highway at about 12:45am. I see what at first looks like a stick in the road, but as I get closer, realize it's a little alligator, about 2 feet long! It was too late to swerve so I "straddled" it with my car tires but unfortunately the under carriage of my car got ahold of it. RIP lil' baby gator.

Then yesterday morning, as if I didn't feel bad enough for hitting that lil' guy, this BIG guy decided to cross the street right in front of me. Like he was trying to make me feel bad or something.

Exciting!

Right before I left work I checked my Facebook and was surprised to see that my friend, Becca's, water had broken! She was originally set to be induced today, but Baby Davis decided he wanted to come before that! I was very tempted to drive straight to the hospital since it was only five minutes from my house but decided to go home and see them in the morning. Good thing I did because he wasn't born until 7am Monday morning! I met Davis just 5 and a half hours after he was born and he is SO adorable! They were trying to get him to eat for the first time while I was there so I wasn't able to hold him, but once I do, you can be sure there will be pics!

Happy!

While I was at work Cameron texted me saying he had a surprise for me once I got home. Surprises are my FAVORITE, especially when they are from him! I walked in the door and saw this beauty in the living room..

My very own fishing rod! Love the pink accents. :)

Can't wait to catch my first fish with it!

Tasty Tuesday - Zucchini Cakes!

Make.these.immediately. Or when you get home from work. I made them for the first time Friday night when we had friends over for dinner and then again last night. So so good. I orginally found the picture on Pinterest (still obsessed) but the actual recipe and photo are from this blog.

Zucchini Cakes

Makes 7-8 cakes

-1 large zucchni grated, excess water removed (Note: To do this, after you grate the zucchini, put the grated zucchini into paper towels and squeeze to release the water)

-1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

-1 cup panko bread crumbs

-sprinkle of ground nutmeg, about 1/8 teaspoon (Note: If you add too much it can quickly take over the taste, less is more)

-1/4 teaspoon paprika

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1 egg

-salt and pepper to taste

-1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Using a heaping tablespoon form the mixture into 8 patties.

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Once heated, add patties and cook until golden brown. About 3-4 minutes per side. Serve.

I served with a really easy to make aioli, but you could also serve with ranch.

Kiawah Dog Beach.

On Saturday a group of us ventured out to the dog beach on Kiawah Island. It was my first time out there, even though I work on Kiawah. The seven humans and six doggies all had a great time. It confirmed how much I like the boat more than the beach, but I'm still glad we went!

Brady and Birdie

my chicken brings all the boys to the yard.

Bennett

"It's so hot out here, Mom!"

Buster, Napoleon, Brady (and Richard)

Annabelle

Pauly D?