Welcome to the Gallery.

As you may remember, a while ago I (Stuart) made a piece of art out of pallet wood. Since then, Anna hosted small group at our house.  One of the girls mentioned she really liked it and asked Anna where she got it.  Her husband, who is also a minister at our church, found out and asked if I could make one for his wife for Christmas. So I did.

Mine is on the right, the new one is on the left.

Then a few of our friends made some requests for their parents for Christmas. It started off with another state...

Mississippi

Then it got a little different.  Someone from work asked for a "Fast P".

AKA the Purdue Logo

Then came the Braves fan.

A-Town

Then a reference from the church office came in. People say word of mouth advertising is where it's at...who am I to argue.

Kentucky

And finally, I made a South Carolina for my dad.

One of my personal favorites

Apparently, people like these things.  I already have two more orders pending - Indiana and a Tennessee. Once they are complete, I'll post those here for your viewing pleasure. 

And in related news, Anna, who doubles as my manager, signed me up for an Arts and Crafts festival at our church.  Hopefully, this will generate more interest.  But all orders will have to go through Anna because I think it could ruin my reputation as an artist if I show interest in selling them for CA$H MONEY.

-Stuart

Orlando 2013

Day In.

We recently took our annual McKaskle family vacation to see Braves Spring Training and Disney. As always, it was a lot of fun!

Stuart and I before the game.

Everyone!

With Mom at the first game...it was a little warm!

Boys.

Hello, Huddy!

Stretch it out.

Boys will be boys...rally cap time.

And we played some putt putt...

As always, we laughed a ton and had a blast! 

Here's to next year!

AC

Girl's Night

Day In.

My sister and I try to do something together on Wednesday nights, since the guys do trivia. We opted to dine in with food from our favorite Mexican place (Verde) and do some cooking.

Rebecca made some delicious and healthy granola with peanut butter. Yum!

And because we never follow a recipe, she added dried cranberries and pecans.

I made more of that strawberry jam that I love. Plus, we were out of jam from the store so I thought it would be a nice treat on Stuart's PB+J sandwiches.

Wine is a must-have at Girls Night.

Note: I keep my strawberries in bigger pieces, so it's more of a preserves, I would say.

Also, since we both have puppies, they enjoyed some time together....which included:

-Lady being the instigator of all trouble.

-Lady "falling" into our pond.

-Lady getting dirty...and smelling really bad.

-Cotton being the perfect dog (hehe).

...and ended with both dogs getting a much needed bath.

There's a stinky shoe of Stuart's for everyone!

Til next Wednesday!

Day Out.

AC

Bench Makeover

Day In.

When Stuart bought the house, it came with an old black bench out front. Nothing was necessarily wrong with it...but of course, I was itching to change it. I needed some color!

Here's before. A little blah.

I used a bright blue outdoor spray paint (with a glossy finish). I love how it turned out!

Now I just need some outdoor pillows and next thing you know, I will be out on the front porch drinking my hot tea each morning.

Also, the box next to it is an old grenade box that our neighbor gave to us (sans grenades). Neat!

Day Out.

AC

Detox Smoothie

Day In.

One Sunday, I decided to try a "detox smoothie" for lunch. We've never tried one, and we usually aren't smoothie peops. I have to say, it wasn't that bad! :) Stuart has since made others.

Bottoms up!

Detox Smoothie

1 1/2 cups of fresh spinach

1 apple, chopped with peel on

1 clementine, peeled

juice of a lemon or lime

1 frozen banana

2 T. Greek yogurt

1/2 cup pineapple

Ice

Blend together. 

Day Out.

AC

New Year's Resolution: Try new recipes

Day In.

I never really follow through on my New Year's resolutions...maybe ever. So I thought I would make one that would be pretty easy to stick to. Since we love food, and I (Anna) love to cook, I would try new recipes this year.

I don't have any pictures, but I thought I would share some of the recipes I have tried so far!

Sweet Potato Pancakes
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/40-a-day/sweet-potato-pancakes-recipe/index.html

Verdict: I realized that I am not a fan of pancakes all that much...especially making them. Especially when you have guests, and pancakes forbid you to leave their side. These were ok...a little dense for my liking. But a nice way to use a sweet potato!

Homemade Pizza Dough
This always seemed scary for me...using yeast and making dough. But it was super easy! And now I shall never go back to that stuff in the twist can.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/fig-prosciutto-pizza-with-arugula/

Stu and I love figs so this combo of fig spread with prosciutto was amazing. (p.s. Fresh Market had the BEST fig spread. You could spread it on a shoe, and it would be tasty....)

Tomato-Glazed Meatloaves from Smitten Kitchen
I love her blog so I bought her new cookbook...it's pretty awesome. I don't think the recipe is on her website. Stu LOVED this. I did not...maybe it would taste better to me if I didn't have to make it. The flavors were good.

Fried Chicken with White Gravy from Tupelo Honey Cafe
After we spent our anniversary in Asheville, my mom gave me a cookbook from the Tupelo Honey Cafe. So I decided to whip up my first ever fried chicken...delicious! It has crushed nuts as the batter...really good with the gravy. And most importantly, I got to use my new thermometer to fry the chicken.

Chicken Salad with Cilantro and Avocado
http://relishscd.blogspot.ca/2012/11/avacado-chicken-salad-scd-paleo.html

This was yummy...and super healthy. Anything with avocado or cilantro is fine with me.

Slow-Cooker Herbed Balsamic Pork Roast
http://www.cafejohnsonia.com/2013/01/slow-cooker-herbed-balsamic-pork-roast.html

This was good. It actually tasted better the next day. We just shredded the meat in the sauce, after I strained and reduced it. Yum!


~~~~~~

Sorry that there are no pictures...I failed to take them. Let me know if anyone wants a recipe that I didn't have a link to.

Day Out.
AC

Happy 2013!

Day In.

Remember when we started to write down memories from last year? Well we got to open the jar and read them out loud! It was a lot of fun...though judging from the picture, it looks like we didn't make many memories last year. hehe

Ah, memories. 

 Also, a new addition. I have really wanted a cool, old, industrial cart to use as a bar in the dining room. So until I find one, I have subbed out this round table from Nadeau. It works for now!

Martini, anyone?

Day Out.
AC