This past weekend I ran a half marathon with my sweet friend Melissa. It was her first time running one and she did an awesome job! I, on the other hand, struggled through most of it and really needed her encouragement because my feet were hurting so badly and I couldn't figure out WHY. At mile 7, our marathoner friend Liz jumped onto the course (it was a very small race) and ran the rest of the way with us. I told Liz about my hurting feet, and she looked down and noticed some mysterious blood on my shoes. We found out later it was just from a few blisters and looked way worse than it actually was. However, Thomas was really excited that I ran a race with blood on my shoes, and he insisted that if I didn't post the photo he would. So, for your viewing pleasure......

Melissa and I pre-race. 

Appetizing, eh?

And on a side note, I saw in this week's circular that chicken breasts are $1.99/lb. We always buy when it is on sale and re-package the breasts into freezer portions. I texted Thomas and asked him to stop by the store. My text read: "buy a lot of chicken because who knows when it will go on sale again." My husband returned home with SIX family packs of breasts. 

I'd say our freezer is stocked for awhile. 

My Recipes.com

If you don't already, you should be like me and utilize myrecipes.com  as much as possible. Most nights, I type in whatever ingredient I have that I'd like to use up, and I find a Cooking Light recipe to go with it. For instance, on Thursday night we had haddock that we needed to eat, so I typed "white fish" into the Cooking Light search engine. It gave me this recipe, and we were delighted with how good it was. I did the same thing for quinoa and found this  awesome recipe. Who knew that cooking quinoa in white wine could be so wonderful?

And that my friends, is why I am so successful in life.

Buy Now

You should go on iTunes and buy this CD immediately.

Some of our sweet friends from church had it playing the other day, and we are currently obsessed. It has an amazing lineup of hymns AND singers, including some of our favorites: Bear Rhinehart from Needtobreathe, Ed Cash, Sara Evans, and Trevor Morgan.

I promise, its a $9.99 you won't regret spending!

Glory, Hallelujah

Brimfield Antique Market was epic. The people-watching was phenomenal, the furniture was every bit what I'd hoped for, and there were plenty of other oddities thrown into the mix as well. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Thomas begged me to buy this cheetah to put over our bed. Kidding. We'd have major nightmares. 

This reminded me of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. Hideous+awesome. 

I wanted to bring home half of what I saw, but have learned that less is more. I'm embracing it and learning to just appreciate pieces that I love. 

There were lots of Barbie Dolls and postcards being sold. Collectors items? Hmmm. Bedbugs? Definitely. 

These were...interesting?

The flea market went on and on and on and on down a stretch of road. Truly epic. A few times I almost started hyperventilating because there was no way we'd ever see everything there was to see. 

Side story: Thomas spotted BT's Smokehouse on the way to the market. Our conversation went a little like this:

T: Look! It says "southern style BBQ." We're stopping on the way back. 

M: I don't think BBQ that is sold next to a convenience store will be any good. That's gross and I don't want any. I want real BBQ. 

T: (rolling window down) do you SMELL THAT? That is real. Look at those smokers. I don't care if it is sold next to a convenience store. I know real BBQ when I see it. 

M: fine, but prepare yourself to be disappointed. 

Well, there are a few times when I can admit when I'm wrong, and today will be marked on the calendar. I was horribly, miserably, terribly wrong. BT's Southern Style BBQ was some of the best BBQ we have EVER  had. I might be wrong sometimes, but I cannot tell a lie. The meat simply fell off of the bone and and the sides were to die for. The homemade macaroni and cheese (made with orecchiette pasta!), potato salad and slaw were all gourmet versions and put Southerners to shame. We left incredibly pleased, and so full we've skipped supper altogether. 

And I cannot forsake my one purchase from the flea market. I am smitten with our new table! Thomas haggled with the seller and we ended up walking away with this beauty for a mere $165. I know it is an awesome deal because I've been stalking old tables on craigslist for months now. It is made out of an old door and it really is all I wanted! Now, we just need to find sturdy chairs to go with it......

Weekend Tasks

1. To make these frames look as good on our wall as these frames from Young House Love. 

2. To find a kitchen table that looks like the one these folks made at the Brimfield Antique Market. It was rated by Apartment Therapy as one of the top ten flea markets IN.THE.COUNTRY. I made Thomas look at the picture and memorize what the table looks like so we can be more effective at the flea market. Let the party begin. 

Really, make The Salsa. Now.

Remember that salsa recipe I posted from Southern Living? Here it is in case you forgot. Or you thought I was crazy and it really couldn't be that good. But really, if you have a soul, go make it RIGHT.THIS.MINUTE. And if you don't have a food processor (and you also have a soul) then go buy one of those too. As an early birthday present to yourself. Or Christmas. Or late Valentines Day. And throw the salsa ingredients in that thing and MAKE THE SALSA.

And if you're a wimp like me and can't take the heat, leave the jalapeño out. I've now made the salsa 4 times in two weeks. We can't think of enough reasons to make salsa, but Cinco de Mayo seemed like a good one. Note the fact that Husband couldn't wait any longer to eat his taco+salsa, so he just stood to eat his supper. It really is THAT good.

Go forth and enjoy your salsa.

*please disregard the fact that our cabinet door fell off and our groceries are displayed for all to see.

Sunday Funday

Last Sunday, our church met at night so we set out to enjoy every minute of our lazy morning. We started out with chocolate chip pancakes, then a hike through the local state forest. We happen to live within walking distance of the forest, and I've been loving my runs through the neighborhoods on the outskirts. I feel like I'm in another world, but it is literally at our doorstep. I grew up in the woods, so I love all of the things I see:

One of three lakes that I can run over/around

Flowering plants! Green grass! Leaves! Goodbye snow!

I love this blue door

Beehives to reminds me of Daddy/home

This house reminds me of the secret garden

Thomas wore his Vibrams on our walk. I make fun of them. You would too, wouldn't you?

Camp Sew

Today, I confessed to Thomas something about my past. In the 6th grade, I attended a 4-H camp called "Camp Sew" with my cousin Elizabeth. It was a day camp featuring....sewing. At the time, I had miserably bushy blonde hair parted down the middle and spent a week creating a horrible red, white and blue vest with sequins on it. There is a picture somewhere to prove it, but thankfully I live 800 miles away from it and it cannot be featured here on the blog.

At any rate, Camp Sew+my Granny stirred up a love of sewing in my heart, so my parents bought me a sewing machine and off I went on my merry sewing way. I've never created anything too spectacular, although in high school I did make my Junior Marshall dress in Home Ec (aka my amazing teacher did most of the work). My sewing machine has been in storage for a few years now, but I decided to bring it back with me in order to create some sort of curtains for our unfortunate windows:

We live on the third floor of our building, so our vaulted ceilings make for windows that are close to the ground and abnormally sized. I've tried many combinations of curtains, blinds etc but nothing fits quite right. Add to the fact that I'm incredibly picky and cheap, and I haven't been satisfied with anything. So I took matters into my own hands and decided to have a CAMP SEW moment!

I bought tablecloths at Christmas Tree Shops for $3.99 (for those of you who haven't gotten to experience the wondrous joy that is Christmas Tree Shops--I feel sorry for you). 

I wiped the dust off of the old sewing machine and simply hemmed the top of the table cloth wide enough for a tension rod to slip through (I got the tension rod from Lowes for $2). 

I chopped off the remaining fabric--please note the kitchen scissors. I probably used them to cut herbs yesterday. Perfectionist? I think not. 

And I now have fabulous white curtains I approve of that fit perfectly into our strange windows! AND they only cost $6/window. Thanks Camp Sew!

Links you'll love

1. This month's issue of Southern Living had an amazing salsa recipe in it. Here it is. The food processor is CRUCIAL in this recipe. Also, I threw in a little canned corn.  I got the ultimate seal of approval from Thomas when he took one bite and said, "Margaret. This is why I married you. This salsa is comparable to Super Taco's salsa."

And now my life's work is finished. If I can make salsa as good as Super Taco (a dive in Clemson where we lunched every Friday in college) then I can do no greater thing with my life.

2. You'll love me as much as Thomas loves me if you love shrimp and you love easy recipes. This recipe from a recent Cooking Light was a huge hit at our dinner table, and was wicked easy to prepare. (Like how I'm turning into a true New Englander and using the word "wicked" appropriately?) I didn't have thyme so I used fresh parsley, and I threw some zucchini into the pot of boiling pasta noodles. Once again, Thomas proclaimed he was glad he married me.

3. Last but not least, if you regularly read my blog, please consider becoming a follower. Just click "follow" over there on the right-hand side, and you're done. It helps give me some motivation to update this thing!