Anniversary

Saturday was Matt and I's one year wedding anniversary. I can not believe that 1 year ago we were in Jamaica with some our of family and best friends tying the knot. It was so romantic and beautiful to be in such an exotic and beautiful place making promises and comitting ourselves to one another. People say the first year is the toughest, and I think we must be lucky because it's been wonderful! I'm so blessed to have found such a great, supportive, and caring man. I can not wait to have many more years with him and look forward to what our future together holds. I love you babe!

Brunswick Stew

Okay Ya'll, I've been meaning to tell you about this super easy, yummy stew. I recently made a pot of Brunswick Stew and thought how quick, easy, and good it is. So why not share?! This truely makes a LOT of food, so be prepared to either have leftovers or have others over to share. I made this one time at a party and people loved it so much they were adding it to their burgers!

Ingredients:
1 tub of Lloyd's pork bbq (I just use the origonal)
1 10 ounce can of chicken, drained
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can of lima beans, drained
1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 can of creamed corn
1/4 onion finely diced (optional)

So basically, in a large pot or crockpot, combine all ingredients and let simmer until warm, stiring occasionally. Obviously if you cook it in the crockpot it will take a few hours, and on the stove less time. I've made it both ways and haven't been able to tell a difference in regards to taste. Hope you like it as much as we do! Enjoy!

Recovering.

Wow! 12 days since my last post!? I'm such a slacker! Well don't worry. You haven't missed too much. My life has been pretty boring until this past weekend. And ever since Friday came, it has been non-stop. We have had a great weekend, but I must admit that is nice to be relaxing and staying at home after so many days on the go.

Our weekend started on Friday night when we had tickets to go see Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw in concert here in Birmingham at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. I LOVE both Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw so it was perfect to get to see them together in one night. We rode down to the concert with our friends Mitch and Amanda and met our other friends Meredith and Ben at the concert. Traffic was horrible, so I started to become concerned that we would miss Lady Antebellum but we arrived right in time! Here's a pic of Matt and I when we were walking to our seats.

Saturday and Sunday Matt got us tickets to the Regions Charity Classic Golf Tournament played here at the Ross Bridge Golf Course in Birmingham. It is a golf tournament that is held for various charities in Alabama. It's played by the senior PGA tour golfers.

Matt had connections and got us 8 VIP Cocina Superior tickets for both Saturday and Sunday. We recruited (it wasn't a tough sell ;) ) some friends to join us and ended up having a blast! We got unlimited free food and drinks which was great. I'm now a huge fan of Pomegranate Margaritas and veggie Chimichangas. Saturday while walking out we ended up running into several of the players practicing on the putting green. We met golfer Fred Funk and a few of us got our picture taken with him.

Sunday the weather wasn't as nice, but we still stuck it out. It ended up raining a few brief periods of time but we were under a large umbrella so we were fine. It was great to hang out with good friends, eat some good food, and watch a good game.

By the way, Dan Forsman won.

What did you say??

"You're not listening to me." My husband said to me recently. And its true. I wasn't. I was focused on my Nook or playing on my phone or something (I know, I know after I wrote that damn blog saying how I wasn't gonna be that type on the phone not paying attention to what's around me!). How often to we sit down and think about how important it is to be a good listener? How often do we make sure we are truly being a good listener?

A lot of times when we actually listen to what another person is saying we find out a lot more information about them and what is really going on with that person. Listening helps to build rapport and relationships and can leave both parties feeling validated by the conversation that they've had. I know if I have something going on in my life and can find a good friend or family member to listen to me, and truly listen, not to butt in or give me a story about how that happened to them (which can be helpful, just wait until my story is over ;) ), I feel much better and happy to have been able to get what's on my chest, off. Sometimes all I need is someone to just hear what I have to say. No advice necessary. Or sometimes I do like advice, or just to hear that you understand what I feel--the tricky part is to give that at the right time. I believe the biggest part is that I feel listened to and that the other person heard all that I said and evaluated it before speaking.

One of my co-workers does this seminar/training on listening. He says there is 2 kinds of listening, active and passive. Active listening is when you sit down, clear your mind, and hear everything that comes out of the other person's mouth before speaking. This can be hard! You really have to push all your thoughts aside and focus only on the other person and what they say. Passive listening is when you are thinking thoughts as the other is talking (maybe about what they are saying, and maybe about something completely different). We have all been there, when you're talking and the other person looks like they aren't paying attention (cough, cough, me the other night with my husband) or when they interrupt you with questions or comments that could have been answered if they would've kept listening. This can leave the other person feeling frustrated and could potentially affect them coming to you in the future to talk. It's the active listening that we all want when we are in conversations with others. To feel heard and listened to.

I know I am in no way or shape where I should be in regards to my listening. But, I realize that and am working on it. I want to be a friend that others can feel comfortable coming to me, and that I will listen to them without judging, interrupting, or trying to one up their story with a story of mine (unless my story relates and I have advice from this experience--not to just to turn the attention on myself). I am going to consciously try to be an active listener frow now on because I realize how truly important it is. Sorry honey, for not listening to you the other day.

Beach trip

So after I wrote my post moaning and groaning about how I needed/wanted a vacation my good friend Maria emails me and invites me along for her mother's 60th birthday beach trip. I swear, I got the email while I was writing the post! Isn't it funny how things work out?! So of course I took the opportunity to hit the beach with a great friend, her mother, cousins, and a few other girls this past weekend.

Maria's cousin Daree owns a beach house in Sandestin, Florida. I honestly would have been more than happy to stay in a shack so long as we were near the beach, but this house was amazing!! Daree was so kind to let us stay there, and I'm glad she was able to come as well. She honestly made everyone feel so welcome and comfortable while we were there. She even made us homemade Biegnets and eggs Benedict one morning! How lucky were we?!

So it ended up being Maria, her mother, her cousins Daree and Dalana, Dalana's friend Jenny, and a couple of Maria's mothers friends, Lynn and Jennifer, and I. When we arrived Thursday night to Maria's mother and her friend's drinking wine and talking about having had some drinks bought for them earlier in the night, we knew we were in for a great time!

Unfortunately, even after many many prayers and requests for good weather we didn't see much sunshine. Friday morning it was windy and it began to rain hard that afternoon. Maria and I headed into Destin to do some retail therapy to take our weather woes away. We later checked out the restaurant Tommy Bahamas which was really good as well! Though the weather didn't look much better Saturday, sans rain, we still decided to head to the beach and hang out. Even though the sun wasn't out often, it ended up being a great day and we did get a little bit of sun. That night we ate at Mellow Mushroom, which Daree owns (by the way) and it was soo good! I highly recommend eating there next time your in Destin, or just near one. After dinner we headed to RumRunners, a piano bar in Sandestin. We told them it was Maria's mothers' birthday and the more than happily called her up on stage and sang to her. She was such a great sport! I'll tell you one thing, Maria's mom is NOT your typical 60 year old woman! She is beautiful. No really, she got hit on several times while we were at the bar, and no one else did. That's how beautiful she is! I really hope she had a great weekend celebrating her birthday. (I think she did.)

So yesterday we headed home and it was so nice to be at home relaxing on the couch with Matt, Gracie and Max (our fur children in case you didn't know). I had a great weekend and am so thankful to Maria for inviting me to this trip and to her cousin Daree for letting us stay with her. Though it has been a great few weekends, I'm now finally ready to settle down and stay at home for the next few weeks!