A Late V-Day Post: Our Love Story

On Valentine's Day, my husband got me this latitude and longitude coordinate bracelet. When I shared it on social media, I posted it with a short 'our love story' and thought I would share here also.

Thirteen years ago, a 15 year old Casi was walking home from school. An 18 year old Lee was driving his bright yellow truck down her road and honked his horn. Casi was embarrassed. The next day on AIM LiLViXeN252 received a chat request from a Sup3rLee. Obviously Lee thought Casi was pretty cute and asked around til he got her screen name  This began a flirty friendship but nothing became of it then. Fast forward a couple years when Lee moved back home to Eden from Wilmington. He and Casi still talked occasionally and he decided to come to the Smart Citgo Gas station to the Subway Casi worked at and visit her. She gave him a free Chicken Bacon Ranch footlong and a bag of chips. Lee decided then that obviously Casi was the girl of his dreams. The next week he came over to her parents house and sat on their couch (never taking off his hideous camouflage Carhartt jacket) and they watched an episode of House and American Idol.

Now here we are, 2 kids and many years later. The happiest we've ever been. Our Love Story began that afternoon walk home from school. For Valentine's Day Lee gave me this bracelet with the latitude & longitude coordinates of where he first saw me. He still remembers the exact spot of the road I was on.
Thank you boo, it's perfect and I love you. Happy Valentine's Day <3 .

oh hey, Five Friday Favorites ~ Valentine's Edition

Valentine's Day is tomorrow! 
Here are a few things that I have been loving this Valentine's season.

1.| This sign that I got from Kohl's. All you need is Love and Wine. I bought this seriously like the day after Christmas and loved it so much I paid full price. Then of course a week later it went on sale for 40% off. *eyeroll* But I think it's cute and want to leave it up for awhile. I mean it's not too valentines-ish, right?

2.| This cheap heart banner from Target. This is absolutely childish but seeing it hanging on the kitchen island makes me smile. I am trying to find a mint and gold (possibly burlap) or maybe mint and other shades of teal simple banner to hang in it's place once Valentine's Day is over. {Now I need to find something to put in that outlet because it is an eyesore!}

3.| "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. This is not my typical kind of song but I have been loving it for the past few weeks. It makes me want to slow dance in the kitchen. Which I made Lee do on Saturday night even though he probably would deny. :p

4.| These Starbucks cups. It's the little things in life! I love the little hearts. I remember one year they had pink cardboard sleeves. They should do that again, *hint hint*.

5.| This book has nothing to do about a romantic love and is not Valentine's related at all, but I've been reading more lately and wanted to throw a book into the list. It's about a lifelong friendship love. I finally read this book after it had been recommended to me several times. Get ready for the tissues, it's a tear jerker! Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

Also have to throw in my Valentine's Day heart scarf I wore to work today :-p

It's date night tonight and we are going to see Fifty Shades of Grey -- Can't wait!! <3

Participating in a couple linkups todays.
Amanda @ Meet at the Barre with Friday Favorites.
Karli @ September Farm with oh hey, Friday.
Andrea @ Momfessionals with Friday Favorites.
Christina @ Carolina Charm with 5 on Friday.

Spaghetti Ricotta Bake and Homemade French Bread

Last week I made a dinner that was so good I wanted to share the recipes. I took a couple recipes and altered them to fit my family's tastes.

Spaghetti Ricotta Bake

Ingredients

• 1 pkg spaghetti noodles
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large 48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 16oz ricotta cheese
• 4 cups shredded cheese (I used part Mozzarella & part three cheese blend)

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Cook beef and onion over medium heat in large skillet then drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and salt.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan cheese and melted butter. Drain the spaghetti noodles and add to egg mixture, tossing to coat.
3. Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased baking dish and spread the ricotta cheese on top. Top with half of the meat sauce and 2 cups of the cheese. Then do another layer of the spaghetti noodles and meat sauce. 
4. Cover and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Uncover, add the remaining 2 cups of cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Homemade French Bread (makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients

• 1 packet of instant yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon oil
• 2 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups flour

Directions

1. Combine the yeast packet, 1/2 cup warm water and sugar in a small bowl. Sit aside and let proof for 10 minutes.
2. Using the dough hook attachment in your stand mixer, combine 3 cups flour, 2 cups water, oil with the yeast mixture. Mix until flour is incorporated.
3. Gradually add the remaining 3 cups of flour and knead for 5 minutes. Cover the mixing bowl with clear plastic wrap and let rise for 10 minutes. 
4. Sprinkle salt all over the top of the dough and mix for 15 seconds.
5. Flour the baking pan and shape dough into two loaves. Slash diagonal lines. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes to an hour, until doubled. 
6. *optional*  Brush loaves with a beaten egg white for a crisper crust.
7. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then at 375 for 20 minutes.

After several attempts at making bread I've found that it is a learning process. Do not get frustrated if this is your first time and it doesn't turn out right! Live & learn :) 

This time was the best my bread has ever turned out and it could have been because I had this super cute little helper!!

My latest obsession: Erin Condren Life Planner

So for nearly a year I have been eyeing the Erin Condren Life Planner off & on. Really loving it but not thinking I had enough of a life to need one or justify the cost. Then a few weeks ago some of my mom friends were talking about it and introduced me to the cult following facebook groups there are. I was in shock at WHAT these girls wrote in their planners and a little jealous of how cute they looked. There are stickers for everything you can think of.
So I finally bit the bullet and ordered mine. Once I decide on something I am pretty impatient and I ordered the Quick Ship version that has a generic cover, but once it is delivered it comes with a code for a free personalized cover! (just pay shipping) I thought that was a great idea so went with that.
I went kind of crazy and ordered stickers from etsy shops online and then made trips to Target, Hobby Lobby, Staples, Office Depot and AC Moore for "supplies".

The storage bin is perfect! I got it from Target. 

The Papermate Flairs are widely popular in the ECLP world and I found them on clearance at Office Depot for $7.92 for a 14 pack!

Hobby Lobby had a sale going on for 50% most scrapbooking supplies and I got a few punchouts, books of cardstock, stickers and a 1/8" hole punch. 

Sadly, my Target One Spot was wiped out of all the cute stationary.

I had a friend make me a file with the colors I've been loving recently (mint & gold).  I printed it out at Staples (because my printer sucks) then laminated it at home. Using the original ECLP cover as a guide, I used my 1/8" hole punch to hand punch holes and then using scissors cut little slits to the holes so that it could snap into the coils. Worked great! Now I'm going to use that Target gift bag to make a V-Day cover. It is the perfect size. 

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Here is my first week of decorating.

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I like how there is so much space. Plenty of room for decorations along with everything you could possibly need to write. From planning your meals, to keeping up with what needs done around the house, to when bills are due. It's great!

I would like to write down notes when my kids say or do something funny so I can look back on it later and smile. 

I've also seen other people who use the bottom portion to write down something good that happened each day or what they are thankful for. I think that is a great idea as well and may start incorporating that into my planning because I definitely need to learn to be more thankful!

**If you are interested in an Erin Condren Life Planner, you can use my link to sign up and it will send you a code that gives you $10 off your first purchase!!  ;) 

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/casimoore1215

Fall Bucket List

I recently made a Fall Bucket List and thought I would share!

The list:

I printed an 8 x 10 from the 1 hr photo at Walmart and put it in a frame. Now I can use a dry erase marker and check it off as we do something :)