Tasty Thursday: Pot Roast

Happy Thursday!!!!

OK So as promised, it's recipe day.  Awhile back I decided to make a pot roast.  The recipe I based mine off of is from this blog.  I chose not to put onions in mine or celery.  You can see my ingredients listed below.  I used a rub that was a garlic and onion medley, salt, pepper, and flour and put it in a ziploc.  Then I browned it in a pan with olive oil first to get some of the fat off.   

 Clean CrockPot ready for cooking!

 Then I put everything in the crock pot on low for 9 hours (potatoes, carrots, and roast.)  I covered with beef broth and red wine and let it go.

 This is what the finished product looked like.  It was super moist and tender and just fell apart.  One thing that I really liked was that the potatoes didn't get too mushy.  The flavor was good and filling and it was enough to make 2 full meals for both of us so that was good.  I would highly recommend making this if you like good, Southern meals that don't take a lot of prep time!

Until next time....

Travelin' Tuesday...on Wednesday

Side note: I set this to post yesterday and it didn't. Boo! Nonetheless....

Hi friends!

Something that I'm super passionate about is traveling!  I absolutely love going to new places and seeing new things.  When I was younger, we went to the beach on vacation every summer and I went on field trips to Atlanta or Columbia to the zoo and I think I went to Charleston, SC once or twice on school trips.  I went to Washington, DC and San Antonio on choir tours in high school but I don't really remember much about them (or maybe I just didn't appreciate it at the time!!)  When I graduated from high school, I went on my first trip out of the country to Mexico.  This was absolutely the beginning of my newfound love for traveling and seeing the world.  

I mean how can you not fall in love with new places when you are in a place like this?!  So after that, I decided that I wanted to see all kinds of places.  In college, I would visit my college roommate in Charleston every Christmas break and got into going to concerts in Atlanta a lot.  

A little later on in college, I went to New York on a trip with a Maymester class I took.  I fell in love. 

View from the Top of the Rock

Old Yankee Stadium before they tore it down.

I went to Cancun on a trip with some family friends.  How beautiful is this?!

Isla Mujeres day trip

View from the hotel we stayed at

 I was really close with my freshman roommate, Brittany.  Her dad moved to Seattle to work for Boeing and she decided to go visit him the summer right before senior year of college.  She invited me to go.  I said YES!  It was an amazing experience!

Above: Mt. Rainier from the plane
Below: View from the top of the Space Needle and a view looking up at the Space Needle

Senior Year: Fall Break, I went with two close friends to New York again.  It was so amazing in the fall and made me think about the possibility of living in the big city someday....

Brooklyn Bridge

Central Park ice skating!

Last, but not least, Senior Year: Spring Break, 7 of my friends and I decided to go to Cocoa Beach, Florida for our last hurrah before we graduated!  It was an amazingly fun week and we even got to see one of the last Space Shuttle launches!  See the pics below.

I have been so lucky in my life to be able to see so much and have fallen in love with cities and different places I've been.  Since I graduated from college about 4 1/2 years ago now, I have traveled to visit college friends where they live now and gone to weddings of friends in new towns, and each trip is just as special and unique.  I will post some more in-depth looks at some of the cities I've been to (I recently went on a trip to Chicago with my husband and two of our close friends after a wedding we went to in Illinois!) which was amazing!  So keep an eye out if you're interested and love traveling as much as I do!  

Until next time....

Stylish Sunday: Work Attire

Hi friends!

I apologize for the lack of posts this week...I started my new job this past Monday so it's been a pretty crazy week--my new hours are (generally) 8-5 and then if we have late events, I have to stay late until the clients are gone and catering is cleaned up.  I had to come in early one day this week to meet a caterer so it was in general a crazy week to be a first week of work.  To be fair, I'd rather just jump right in and get involved rather than sit at my desk and "learn" so with that, so far so good!

Anyway, the point of this Stylish Sunday piece of my blog is to address the fact that I am having to adjust my work outfits because when I worked in Clemson, I wore khakis and cardigans and jeans a good bit!  Working at the Foundation office, everyone dresses up--as in guys in ties and girls in dresses and heels.  Well, if you know anything about working in events, you know heels are not a great thing to wear to run around and check on events.  So basically I've been wearing my flats with dresses/blazers/cardigans, etc.  I wanted to post some pictures of outfits that I have been wearing for work so I can maybe help some of those other newly employed women out there that are having some issues, like I was.  I did have to buy a few new pieces of clothing so I'll list where I got them and approx. how much they were.  (Side note: Today's post will be strictly about my interview outfits.)

Ok, so this outfit is what I wore on my first interview for my job.  I had recently bought this navy blazer at Gap ($88.00--one of the cheaper versions of the blazer so I finally gave in and bought this before we moved from Clemson.)  I knew that I wanted to wear it because it fits really well and looks super professional.  I went to Express here in Gainesville at the mall and wanted to get a pencil skirt so I ended up finding this brown-shade.  I knew I had a pair of brown crocodile pumps that I would wear.  I tend to like color (this is the understatement of the century!) so I told Kevin I wanted to get some kind of undershirt that had some color so I wasn't so blah.  I found this mint green button-up that happened to be on sale buy 1, get 1 for a lower price so I bought a cream colored one too.  

The top was $49.90 and I got the second one for $29.90.  The skirt was $59.90.  BUT I had a coupon that if you spent $150, you got $50 off so I ended up spending just over $100 for 2 new blouses, a new skirt, and a camisole to wear underneath.

Ta-Da!  This is the finished product.  I thought it looked very professional but also let me show my personality as well.  I left my sleeves rolled up on the blazer too.  

They called and asked me to come in for another meeting with my potential boss so I opted for an Old Navy dress that I LOVE--I mean, it's green, what's NOT to love!  It has cap sleeves so could be worn by itself as well.  I chose a simple black blazer but went a little more casual and wore my new black, peep-toe wedges from DSW.  I've had the dress for a while, but I think it was probably around $30 and I couldn't even begin to tell you how long ago I got that black blazer--it's from Belk.  I just bought the new shoes and I think they were around $30 on sale plus an additional percent off. 

Something I am learning is investing in blazers is never a bad thing!

1. You can wear them multiple times in a week and nobody is going to say anything to you

2. They can be worn with SO many different outfits--seriously, most versatile piece of clothing.

3. Hardly ever have to launder them--cardigans are a completely different story!

4.  Always look professional when sporting a blazer...you seriously can't go wrong!

Alright, I think that's all I've got for today's post.  I promise to TRY and do better this week and post another couple of recipes/cooking adventures as well as devote an entire post (or maybe two!) to our move from Clemson.  Until next time...

Tasty Thursday: CrockPot Pulled Pork

Hello friends!  This is my first Tasty Thursday post and I hope it won't disappoint.  When we lived in Clemson (which, if you haven't ever heard of or visited, you need to do this ASAP as Clemson is one of the greatest places in the world!), we frequented a barbecue restaurant called The Smokin' Pig almost weekly.  It's one of the places we would lunch at when we were still in the flirting stage of our relationship and so it's a place we remember fondly.  We haven't found a great BBQ place yet here in Gainesville so a couple of weeks ago on Thursday (because Smokin' Pig was only open Thursday-Saturday), I decided to recreate one of our favorite meals.  I went to the store and bought a Boston Butt that was the smallest they had (I'm only cooking for 2!) so if I remember correctly it was about 2.5 pounds.  The recipe I decided to use for the first one was found at this site!  It was super simple, not a lot to do but put it in the CrockPot and turn it on.  So that's what I did (except I put some BBQ sauce on top of it.)  I set the timer for 6 hours on high.

This is what it looked like when I first put it in.

About halfway through...

After shredding the meat.

Bon appetit!

I decided to make Velveeta mac'n cheese, corn on the cob, and Sister Schubert yeast rolls, as this is very close to what we normally would get at The Smokin' Pig.  We sprinkled some Old Bay seasoning on the corn and sipped on some sweet tea and it was pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself!  Now, there is always room for improvement....

Notes for next time:

-Brown the meat in a skillet before putting in the CrockPot--it helps drain some of the fat off first.

-Season the meat a little more, maybe overnight?  

-Drain the excess juices off before shredding--this cuts down on fat as well.

-Invest in some nicer BBQ sauces rather than the cheapest Kraft one--definitely has the fake smoky flavor in it--maybe experiment with making your own sauce if you feel so inclined!

Wordy Wednesday: Lately...

Well, I am sad to say that it has been a whole week since I first posted on the blog and thought about it multiple times, but never sat down to write a post.  Either way, here I am with lots of exciting news to share.  Since I wrote last week, I have accepted a job offer--I am the new facilities events coordinator for the University of Florida Foundation in the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs!  I got my first phone call for an interview on July 26, had my first interview on July 29, got a call on July 30 that they wanted to call my references, got a call on August 2 that they wanted me to come in and talk with the person that would be my boss again on August 5, and offered the job that day!  I, of course, accepted as it is a great job and I think I will really enjoy it!  It seems like a lot less crazy long/late days and nights and I will also be working closely with another coordinator so that will be a huge plus to not be working by myself all the time!  My official start date is August 16 but I will be starting earlier than that next week as long as my paperwork gets through a little faster.  These are the mascot statues outside of my new building--Emerson Alumni Hall!

Meet Albert and Alberta...

Kevin and I have been house hunting for the 'Burgess Bungalow', which has been a crazy experience so far.  We met with a realtor and now that I have a job, we have been pre-approved for a loan so we are going to start viewing houses next week!  I'm really excited about this part, but also really nervous and scared about making this kind of decision--it's a HUGE commitment financially and also something we will have to live with for many years to come so I don't want to jump into a decision just so we can get out of the apartment.  Either way, I will keep you posted on the progress and maybe do a "House Hunters" style post when we get to the point where we are down to a top 3.

Now that we know we are going to be buying a home, we have definitely gotten more frugal!  We discussed our weekly meal plan on Sunday and decided we would go out to dinner one night and eat in all of the rest, including lunches.  However, after I got my job offer we of course had to go out to celebrate so we went to Outback (one of our faves!) and splurged a little.  Also, since Ryan Newman came in the Top 10 of the Nascar race on Sunday, it was Free Bloomin' Onion Monday!  Who could say no to that?! 

Also, for those of you who just love to read blogs--check out my dear friend Nicole's blog over at the Lieutenant and the Lady! She and her husband moved to Arizona in June for his training for National Guard and will be there until October!  We discussed starting out blogs quite some time ago so we could keep up with each other while we were so far away, but since we have both been stay-at-home-wives for the past month or so, we didn't have much trouble in that area since we have texted each other pretty much all day, everyday!  When her husband is finished with his training, they will be moving back to Virginia in the D.C. area, so we are very excited about getting to visit them and be tourists for a few days!  Anyway, she is just getting started with her blog as well so I'm sure she would appreciate the support!

Alright, I think that's all for today.  I have been thinking of some clever titles for each day and I think I am going for 'Tasty Thursday', which will be where I share one of my cooking adventures along with the recipe I used and pictures along the way.  Tomorrow I will start with the Boston Butt pulled pork that I made in the CrockPot a couple of weeks ago.  I will leave you with this for today....don't ever say I didn't make you laugh!