Sunday, September 11, 2011

Meeting New People

It's Sunday morning and I'm alone in the couch. I spent most of my day yesterday in the car driving to and back from Knoxville Tennessee. My friend Jessi just came home from spending the summer in the beautiful Montana working her butt off on a ranch  (yeah, she's cool like that) in the middle of nowhere. Instead of shipping her saddle home with the expensive help of FedEx another worker from the ranch living in Knoxville was kind enough to take it on his car ride home to his house when he left the great west to come back south. She asked me if I wanted to make the drive with her, it's quite far, close to four hours one way. Since I hadn't seen her since the beginning of May I said yes so that we could catch up and hear about each others summers. As the day drew closer I was kind of dreading the drive, I mean come on, how fun it is to sit in a car all day? But since I had said yes and I really wanted to see her I had to get into that car yesterday in the butt-crack-of dawn. 
Boy, am I glad I went. Not only did we talk for eight hours but we also got to meet some really nice people. The man who had brought home Jessi's saddle invited us, together with his wife, for lunch and dessert at their Tennessee home. The man is retired and decided that when he was done working he was going to become a cowboy. So every summer since his retirement he has gone to different ranches out west working and becoming a cowboy. His wife has gone with him on a few of his adventures and they have many pictures to tell of their travels. We only stayed for about 3 hours but when I got home I started thinking about the people we meet in life and how lucky I should be to have meet so many great people that has had such an impact on my life. 

I don't mean to get all deep and stuff this Sunday morning, but it's just interesting to think of the people I've meet. Some of them are more memorable than others, but they all surely have some what of an impact on me. An example; my friend Jessi I met in school, we had two classes together two semesters ago and we hit it off right away and been friends ever since. She is such an interesting girl, she grew up in the south, a true southern belle and I love it. Here we are, really good friends, but from totally different worlds and we could have just as easily never have met each other. But we did because we both made decisions in life that led us to that class two semesters ago. 

So what I'm trying to say here I guess, is that I almost made the decision to not sit in that car yesterday, but I did and I ended up meeting two wonderful people. People I probably wont see again, but that surely had an impact on me. I mean, how cool would it be to go and become a cowgirl after I'm retired? I would love that! Would I have ever thought about that if I hadn't said yes to the drive to Knoxville to go see these people and talk to them and look at their awesome pictures from their travels? I tend to think not. 

So, to the 5 people that read my blog; saying yes to things, even though they may seem not so exciting to begin with, thay may lead to you meeting new people and seeing new things. And who would not want to do that? 

Anyways, long blog post, but sometimes I'm just in awe of the people I've met in life and I hope to meet many more in my life.


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Recipes, recipes, recipes...

Yes, I feel that my blog posts are mostly about what I make to eat lately. Hmm. I guess it is a way to be creative but it's not like I come up with these recipes on my own or anything. I love to search the web for a good recipe and then make it and enjoy it. This afternoon I felt like something sweet, but was too tired to bake anything so I decided to try a recipe I found a while back. It turned out pretty good so here we go:


Peanut Butter & Chocolate Covered Banana Slices

Bananas
Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter
Coconut flakes

Melt the Chocolate chips with the Peanut butter in the microwave or on the stove in a waterbed. Cut the bananas in pretty thick slices and dip them in the chocolate. I dipped half the slice first and then put it on a piece of parchment paper on a plate and then covered the rest of the slice with chocolate/peanut butter mix with a spoon. However you do it is fine as long as the whole slice is covered with a yummy layer of chocolate and peanut butter goodness. Then sprinkle them with some coconut flakes before you put the plate in the freezer. Leave it in there for at least an hour before you enjoy it. The bananas almost taste like vanilla ice cream. 

I'm enjoying mine with some Chamomile tea. 

I did not eat all of them, although I could have, I just wanted it to look pretty for the picture..

Other than that, I'm watching the US Open (tennis) and I am very excited that tomorrow is Friday. I hope you are having a great evening!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Mexican Night

Tonight was Mexican night at our house when we had some Fajitas for dinner. It was really good. Not very hard or time consuming but who wants that on a week night anyways? We have actually gotten some peppers from our garden lately so it was time to put em' to good use. We had forgotten to buy the Fajita Spice packet so I had to turn to the very trusted Google.com to find a recipe and trust me, I will never spend $1.29 on one of those packages of spices again.

our own peppers and some store bought red onion

you need all the fixin's like: guacamole, salsa, sour cream and cheeeese..

finished product. Yum!

Fajita Spice Mix Recipe: 

  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch (maizena starkelse for er svenskar)
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon crushed chicken bouillon cube
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
Stir it all together and then mix it in with the chicken! Gott, gott i gott gott!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Delicious Dinner Date

Saturday night and me and my hubby is laying low. Mostly because I love to spend my weekends in our house fixin' with things and just being cozy in the couch. I know my hubby would rather jet around town from place to place, so I really do appreciate when he slows down and is willing to just BE. So tonight we decided to have a dinner date in front of the TV with some wine.

So we made an easy but yet SO delicious dinner. I found the recipe online and it is now one of my favorite dishes ever. Seriously. So yummy. I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys so you can go make it yourself. So here we go: 

Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp

1/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon, zested then half cut into thin slices and other half into wedges
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed
sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper
spaghetti/pasta
1 pound fresh shrimp, medium-sized, deveined with tails off
5 cloves garlic, minced
 
1. Preheat oven to 400 (200 Celsius) degrees F. In a 9x13 baking pan combine olive oil, lemon zest and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta.

2. Remove pan from oven, add shrimp, garlic and the thin sliced lemons (don't squeeze them), toss to coat with oil mixture. Bake for 8-10 more minutes or until shrimp turn pink and start to curl. Serve over pasta, with extra-virgin olive oil or butter and fresh-squeezed lemon with additional lemon wedges for serving.

picture from this blog  

 This is us enjoying every bite....




That is it for tonight. Have a wonderful weekend. It's Labor Day weekend here, so we're off on Monday. So great. 


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

New Bedroom

For some time ago I mentioned I wanted to redo my bedroom and I also shared a few pictures with you after I started my project. I have been fixin with things in there and we're almost done, there are a few more touch ups on our new crown molding and then I think I'm pretty much done. My friend Carro asked me the other week about the room and I think I'm now ready to show it off. 

I have a few "before pictures" to show first: 




Okay, so here are the "after-pictures": 

here is our bed. I only really changed the pillows. Some old IKEA pillows, two new ones from Homegoods and I made the long one in front with some old burlap I had lying around and some old pillows


this is our old dresser, I would like to have a white one, but I'm afraid painting it would be too much of a hassle. I changed the hardware on a few places and I think it's just fine. The mirror was given to me from a friend who had it lying in her basement collecting dust. I painted it white.

I framed the embroidery made by my mother in an IKEA frame I had forgotten I had. On the bottom is a wedding pic from our wedding.

another view of the bed

close up on all the pillows. The headboard is made by my hubby out of some old windows from his parents house.

one of my favorite dresses from Anthropologie hanging on display.

That is it people. Now it is time to share your home with me, okay? Do it! 

Sleep tight my friends

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Mys Kväll

Yes, that is the Swedish language lesson for tonight. It basically means "cozy night". I'm trying to teach my husband about "mysa", or being cozy, as it's called in English. Maybe it's the cold and dark winters in Sweden that has made us Swedes so obsessed with being cozy. It usually includes a couch with a blanket, something good to eat and a lot of tea lights lit. I love it and I'm trying to teach my husband the art of "mysa", or being cozy.. Tonight we made a bunch of yummy foods to eat and lit a candle and "myste" in the couch. :)

we had some brie cheese, veggies and ranch dip, spinach and artichoke dip and plain ole' crackers!




The coziness now continue in front of the MTV Video Music Awards.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Navarre Beach

We're back in town! We have been for a few days but I have been so very busy I have not had the time to do anything but work. We had a great time! The weather was so nice and the place we stayed at was beautiful. Here are some pictures from our little weekend trip:

view from the 16th floor

view to our left and the pier

the longest pier on the gulf coast

early in the morning there were a few dolphins swimming close by. We also saw jelly fish and a sea turtle.





trying to make a big splash!
Have a great weekend y'all!