Memorial Weekend (aka My Birthday)

I’m not sure how to start this blog post off so let me just say… I had a great birthday weekend. We had company visit which made it even more special. Nick, Travis and Abby (Joe’s brother’s and Trav’s girlfriend) made the trip to North Carolina. We must be special or something.

To sum up our weekend we ate, swam and had fun. I’m also happy to report our house was not damaged at all.

We got some great use out of the new grill. Almost every meal we made involved using it and eating our food outside on the patio. Our menu included beer butt chicken with foil potatoes. It took forever to cook, but was totally worth it.

We also made chicken, pineapple and green pepper kabobs. These included a glass of Olde Mecklenburg Brewery beer in a frosty mug. It doesn’t get much better on a hot day.

We enjoyed our community pool a couple times. Unfortunately we weren’t able to play tennis. Who knew you need a key to get into the courts? Well Joe and I did… we got locked in once before. We still haven’t asked the community association for said key, but that’s a long story… We all enjoyed a bit of sun, but Trav enjoyed it a bit too much. Ok there’s no way he could enjoy a sunburn, but it happens.

We spent one day at the US Whitewater Center. Remember when we went there with Joe’s parents? Well this time we actually got to white water raft. It was so much fun and refreshing on a hot day. I think each of us came away with some sort of war wound, but we also have some good stories. Here we got our harness on and are all ready to zipline.

The other fun activity at the center was the mega jump. This also wasn’t open when we were here previously. Basically you just jump from a platform, get the free fall sensation for about 2 seconds and then the cable lets you down slowly. I wouldn’t say I’m terribly afraid of heights, but this was a challenge. The whole mind game of making yourself jump got to me. Not to mention we happened to cut the entire line (people who were waiting to zipline) and so people were watching us and probably wishing I would just jump already. Abby and I were both pretty nervous, but we both conquered our fears and jumped.

We also got a little bit of use our of our fire pit this weekend. We have a great spot just off our patio to sit and enjoy. Unfortunately the wood we found in the backyard was a bit rotten and wouldn’t catch fire. No worries though, we made s’mores in the microwave instead. They taste just as good if you ask me.

Right when I was taking this picture the fire took off because Joe lit the newspaper below. I think it gives them a nice glow.

The last night we spent with our company we went out to eat. It also happened to be my birthday so I got to choose the restaurant. I have heard of this new BBQ place in uptown (Charlotte’s downtown… that was for you Jed). I figured we should give it a try since it was a local place and figured we’d all enjoy some Carolina BBQ.

The boys thought I needed to take a birthday shot (it was Sunday, but don’t judge… I didn’t have to work the next day). Luckily Abby was a good sport and joined me. The bartender gave me a shot that was pretty much a triple, but it was delicious.

Oh and remember the pleasant surprise I found the other day? Nick picked gave me one of the flowers to stick in my hair. How thoughtful of you Nick.

I think Joe enjoyed having his brothers visit and we both enjoyed having great company for the holiday weekend. Thanks for visiting!

Baked Pesto Chicken

Back when my parents came for a weekend visit we bought some herbs to grow and enjoy. I have wanted to grow basil for years and I was finally sucessful. The basil plants started growing out of control after a few rain storms. I couldn’t believe how big they got and how many leaves we had. Since I had time after our weekend company (more on that tomorrow) I decided to make some pesto. I had actually found a recipe for Baked Chicken Pesto on Pinterest just this last week and have been thinking about eating it ever since. The pesto recipe calls for 2 cups packed basil leaves. Let’s just say I have enough basil growing to make 2 more batches. But enough about the pesto, this post is about the Baked Chicken Pesto. The recipe was easy to follow once the pesto was made and boy was it delicious. Joe and I both cleaned our plate and wished we were hungry for more. This is such a simple summer time meal when the basil is fresh. I’m sure it’s great to make with store bought pesto, but once you make it fresh it’s hard to go back. Plus you can’t beat just 3 ingredients!!!! Click on the link to find the recipe or follow along below for my shortened version.

Baked Pesto Chicken
recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (or about 1 pound)
½ cup basil pesto
½ cup mozzarella cheese 

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice chicken lengthwise into long strips. Spread half of the pesto on the bottom of a baking dish. Lay the chicken on top and spread the remaining pesto on top of the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is almost completely cooked. Remove the foil and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake (or broil) for another 5 minutes until the cheese melts and browns a bit.

Here is the pesto I made. Don't worry, I'll share this recipe too!

Pleasant Surprise

This weekend I went to water our flower bed and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw on the side of the house. We have a tree next to our garden hose that usually just camouflages the trash can.

We moved our trash can inside the garage since we don't have our second car right now and have plenty of space. Or you can look at it as I'm just lazy. I shouldn't have to walk so far just to take the garbage out. Anyways, not to say I've never noticed this tree before, but this time I saw it I really noticed it. If that makes sense at all.

 It was blooming beautiful purple flowers. I took a closer look at it and I think we have a hibiscus tree! Correct me if I'm wrong, I just recognized the flowers from my mom's tree. I wish the tree was in our backyard so we could enjoy it more.

 Since moving the tree is not an option I'll just try enjoying it when I water the plants. Better yet maybe I should move the garbage can back out there so I can get a peek at the tree each time I take the garbage out!

 I'll just try enjoying it when I water the plants. Better yet maybe I should move the garbage can back out there so I can get a peek at the tree each time I take the garbage out!

DMB in the Queen City

When Dave Matthews Band announced their summer tour Joe and I got super excited. Why? Because Charlotte was on the list. It doesn't get much easier to see our favorite band in our own city. No driving, no hotel room, no extra expenses. We bought our tickets right away and spent more money than usual to get better seats. Usually when we go to a DMB concert we are with a big group of friends and we sit on the lawn. This year we splurged and bought actual seats.

We also splurged and bought some big beers. Totally worth it!

The show was at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on the north side of Charlotte. We took off work an hour early and I was surprised to see how many people were tailgating for the show. I guess it makes sense because the weather was perfect to enjoy an outdoor event!

The opening band was The Head and the Heart. I had never heard of them before, but really enjoyed listening. An article I read described them as an indie folk group. I need to gets some of their songs downloaded.

Then Dave and crew came on stage. They started the set with lots of their older songs. It was a great set list, we were not disappointed. Our seats were right on the aisle and we enjoyed watching some crazy dancers. Let's just say it was very entertaining watching them dance, but also watching the venue staff tell them to leave.

Photo Friday #26

My new obsession are theese sheets I found at IKEA. I took some pictures to show Joe and see what he thought. The only question I have now would be wall color. What color would go well with these sheets? I was originally planning to paint our walls a blue gray color. Now these sheets have thrown a wrench in those plans. Help!

My Parent's Trip

The weekend after we moved into the house my parents drove down from Iowa to visit us and check out our new pad. We had such a fun time with them. Time always goes too fast!

My parents bought us a new grill as sort of a house warming gift. Unfortunately we don't own a car that's big enough to fit the fully assembled grill and our trunk also wasn't big enough to fit the box of grill parts. Always the problem solvers Joe and my dad took the pieces out of the box to get the grill to fit in the car. This meant assembling the grill on the patio while mom and I sat in the porch and snacked.

The finished product and what a beauty she is! It has already gotten used a lot. It's just natural to grill out when the weather is so nice.

We had a nice dinner at Upstream in the South Park are of Charlotte. We ate good food, drank local beer and laughed a lot.

We spent Sunday working in our backyard. The flower bed beside the patio was over grown with weeds. I mean this thing probably hadn't been touched for a couple years. Good news was the plants all looked in good shape so all we needed to do was weed in between. All four of us chipped in and got it done pretty quickly. We also moved some plants around and added some as well. The soil here is full of clay so it is not easy digging holes. You can tell Joe's working hard.

This is our finished product. Since the weekend my parents helped on this project we spent some more time weeding, added Preen to prevent new weeds and have made sure to water the plants well. If only I could remember what each one is named... I'm still working on that.

This is what I would call our "wooded" area behind the house. The sellers left some pots and benches for us. We transplanted some plants from this area and added to our flower bed.

Unfortunately our wooded area also has poison ivy. I'm glad my parents were able to point that out to us. Joe used some garden gloves to uproot the evil plant. Good news is no one was affected and broke out in hives or anything.

It was sad to see my parents leave, but I like to think that they had such a great time in North Carolina that they'll be back!

Apology and House Pictures

Boy, oh boy, we have been very busy lately. I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts. I would have posted pictures earlier, but we've been without internet for the last two weeks. Now that I cleared the air, let me fill you in on what we have been busy with. 

Joe and I got all of our stuff moved into the new house two weeks ago. We knew it was going to be a challenge with just the two of us, but it went pretty smoothly. We had all weekend to get it done which was a huge help. Needless to say we were both pretty sore afterwards. Of course that was expected after a weekend of lifting, carrying and pulling large items. Surprisingly I had bruises all over. I kept finding them randomly… my legs, hips, arms. You name it! Just some battle wounds from a successful weekend I guess.  

Physical condition aside, we are both so happy to get into our new place. It’s amazing how much room we have and how little furniture we have to fill that space. We’ll accumulate furniture over time and take out time picking out what we need. We did purchase a new couch and ottoman that was delivered this past weekend. It’s great to have a brand new couch after using our old one for way too long. It was past its prime, but will work great for our bonus room (or Hawk Cave as we’ll so appropriately refer to it as).  

We have already taken advantage of our outdoor space. What a difference it makes having a door to the outside. I use to open windows in our apartment just to get some fresh air or feel like I could enjoy the nice weather. Now we get to walk outside, eat on the patio and truly enjoy it! We bought a lawn mower off Craig’s List before we moved into the house in anticipation of a large yard. We’ll definitely get some good use out of that bad boy this summer. 

We have started a mental list of projects we will tackle down the line. These include simple ones like painting, hanging pictures, spray painting brass fixtures. The list also includes one major job… remodeling the master bathroom. That will be a big project and not something we plan on tackling ourselves. Maybe sometime down the line we’ll get more serious about that though.  

So that was an update on our move, now I'm sure you'd like to actually see some pictures! I'm just going to throw them all at you without comments. I'm assuming you can tell what most of it is.