Menu Monday randoms...

Well, I'm taking a page from Mrs. Smith's book this week and blogging about the things I cooked last week, because for once, I actually managed to cook a couple of things!

Here's the breakdown, with a few photos! (Go me!)

Bow Tie Fiesta
I snagged this recipe from Blue Eyed Bride's blog and it was a huge hit with the husband! You'll enjoy it for sure! It made for a perfect Sunday night dinner.

Spiced Mocha Cupcakes
Monday night was baking night at my house! I'd been craving cupcakes and milk, and the really good, homemade kind, so I pulled out this recipe that I'd blogged about ages ago. The cupcake part was delicious! I totally screwed up the icing, not use how. So I bought a can of frosting and let that be that. Oh well.

That's about it for this week. :-)
XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

The post-season....

Softball has been going 90-to-nothing for us lately!  It started two weekends ago with the SEC tournament championship! I got some great pictures as we celebrated with my sister. It was so great to watch them win an SEC title for the second time this year! (Regular season title came first!)

This weekend Alabama softball started NCAA Tournament play, and we cheered the Tide on at home to another regional title! Things get harder this week when Michigan comes to town to fight for the super regional title and a berth as one of six teams to the Women's College World Series. I'm so excited and nervous!

Roll Tide!
Mrs. Jones

Clearing my head...

Morning lovelies!

I'm sitting here absolutely beat, but in a good way. For the first time in about six weeks? I got a lot done to start my day! Victory is mine!

The garden is watered.
The tiny front porch is swept and the ferns are watered too.
Laundry has been going all morning.

In other news.... I got a haircut! Finally. It was needed after pulling my hair up for 3 1/2 weeks while so sick. And highlights. Oh the highlights! Not the best picture, but you get what I mean....

I've found another tea I love (another sick-time find!) and I want to try this new line of OPI nail polish for a mani-pedi soon.....

Happy Saturday morning everyone. I'm going to try to get caught up on all I have to share this week, so you'll be hearing a lot from me!

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

Opening Pandora's box...

While on a hunting expedition for the perfect gift for a friend, I also (finally) started looking at things I would love as additions to my precious Pandora bracelet (a lovely gift my Mom likes to add to!) I only have four charms right now, and no spacers, so I'm ready to add to it over our next few celebrations.... I just wanted to share what I'm in love with and see if any of you readers are Pandora fans as well!

Charm Lotsa Love

$35

Bead Pink Ribbon with pink enamel

$45

Bead Royal Carriage with 14K and white pearl

$90

Needless to say, I'm a fan! There are wayyyyyy to many cute options to choose from if you ask me! Do you love Pandora?

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

A couple of championships...

While April may have been the month from hell minus our trip to the Masters, there was one other shining moment...

On April 22, Alabama Gymnastics claimed the program's sixth national championship. I felt terrible, but I was so grateful I was able to be there to celebrate with my parents. I'm so proud of them and what they do as they lead such an amazing team! A week later, we gathered back on campus with 2,000 fans to celebrate again - I love my silly little iPhone shot of all the confetti and the six trophies!

As if that weren't enough to celebrate, two weeks after my parents' team won a national championship, my sweet little sister's softball team claimed the SEC regular season title with two victories over Florida. I don't think words can express how proud I am of my family!

I love this pic of my sister's "big head" that one of her friends made. I need my picture holding it at one of the post-season games!

I will have better photos and more of them when I gather them from friends, but for now, I had to share! I'm so very proud of my family, and just had to share! Roll Tide Roll!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Furbaby Friday: All in the Family...

Happy Friday everyone! We made it through another week and that is certainly exciting news! I'm linking up with Mrs. Monologues this week to share some puppy love for Furbaby Friday! EB has been a ham, and I snagged some cute pics of my parents' pups too!

This is EB's natural habitat. In our bed, on my pillow. Yep.

And then she's a silly little minx who adores sticking her tongue out at everyone.

I had to check on my parents' pups one day last week, and Ringo (above) and Louis (below) were both too cute. They are NOT friends with EB, so I go solo when I go to see them! Love these two though....

Yeah, Louis is a ham..... Happy Friday everyone!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Frugal Friday: Freebies!

TBIt has been forever since I've posted about my lovely couponing habit, and it's because I've been rather slow and behind with it. I haven't done a ton except for groceries, partly because we just haven't needed as much! That's the nice thing about having a mini stockpile, right?

I have gotten a couple of cool freebies in the mail! I do e-Rewards surveys for certain values, and you get "cash" you can redeem for gift cards and the like. I had $75 in e-Rewards values, so I snagged a $25 Starbucks card for nothing. I was excited. The surveys are simple most of the time and I do them when I'm bored. I like free money!
You can check it out here if you want to join!

And from a reward I had already entered, I won a big prize this weekend! I had to sign for my mail and I had no idea why on Saturday.... imagine my surprise when the Disney Car Land Adventure Sweepstakes sent me a $100 Target card! Super excited to take care of a few house things with it, that's for sure. (Like a new back door mat!)

Just wanted to share these little things today. I'll get back to posting coupon fun and deals soon, I promise!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Primal Update #3

Well, I started this post with all these pictures in early April before pneumonia hit... I still want to share a few fun pictures of my spaghetti squash and stir-fry! I did not stick with this plan while barely eating for a few weeks when I was sick, but this week we are transitioning back to primal eating slowly.

Chicken salad is one of Mr. Jones' favorite lunches. I need to make it for him again soon. There are tomatoes galore growing on our plants, and I can't wait until we are just picking and eating straight from our garden. That will be so enjoyable, and we'll be eating oodles of tomatoes then! :-)

The only good news from this month was the weight loss - even while eating mainly carbs and junk that was all I wanted - my weight dropped, so now I'm down 18 pounds and the goal is to keep on going!

XOXO and I'll be back with a more "real" update soon,

Mrs. Jones

A little glimpse of Augusta...

Good afternoon lovelies!

In the spirit of catching up on all things in blog-land, I have to share our amazing day at the Masters in Augusta! We had tickets for Thursday, and I had never been, so it was certainly a huge treat!

Mr. Jones had been once before, on a Sunday, and he said he loved being able to see the whole field play. Apparently there is a lot more to watch and a lot more action going on early in the tournament.

I'm learning more about golf, and my sweet husband adores it - playing and watching - so we had a blast running around together! We arrived 15 minutes before the gates opened, which means I had to be up and at 'em for the drive at 5:30!

This was our view as we arrived on the grounds....

Photos aren't allowed during tournament days, but oh, it was beautiful. The grounds were stunning and I couldn't believe I was walking through a place filled with so much tradition and history. It was truly a treat and I hope we get to enjoy this together again one day!

We watched the honorary starters, and Mr. Jones was so excited to see legends hitting a golf ball. (He was kind of cute to watch). Then we took off to walk the back nine holes while no one was playing them. We stared at Amen Corner, lounged around as he told me stories from past years, and more. It was fun.

We hit up the souvenir shop and I think our favorite purchase was a pair of Masters Tervis Tumblers. We have quite the collection and felt the need to add a pair from this trip to it! The shopping was CRAZY! People could spend so much money in the blink of an eye.

Our breakfast and lunch were the cheapest they could possibly be! Drinks and sandwiches under $2? Yes please!

I was a HUGE fan of the egg salad sandwich and the pink lemonade. We snagged some for the road and I snapped pictures in the car - I had to have some pictures!

As we drove away around 4 to begin our trip home, I managed this iPhone shot of Magnolia Drive. Simply stunning...

To give you an idea of what a warm and busy and long and tiring and amazing (haha, yep all of the above) day it was, here are the "before" and "after" photos of us!

I know I had fun, and my sweet husband had an absolute blast. I love that we got to share such an amazing experience together! These are things that you'll remember for the rest of your life.

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

The Wine Chronicles: Australia love

I believe the last wine tasting I attended before I got sick was one of my all-time favorites. A friend was interested in Australian wine, so we headed to check it out and I have found two wines that are in my all-time top 10 list. (I want to make a list at some point - to show what my favorites have been since I've been keeping track.... I'll get there eventually!)

Anyways, I have fallen in love with these two! The Yalumba Viognier ($10) from South Australia is a delicious white. The Schild Estate Barossa GMS (about $15) is one of the best red's I've ever had. It was amazing, and my husband loved it as well!

They both have really pretty labels too. :-) I know that's silly, but I like it.

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Adventures in garden prep...

The weekend before Easter, I spent two full days hauling massive 27-pound bricks from Lowe's to my house to build our raised garden bed. It took forever, and I did most of it myself, but I couldn't be happier with the results!

The first try was a little small, so I lengthened it and kept going! The second attempt was much better!

I love this picture showing the house in the background - and EB! She hated the garden at first, but she hasn't torn anything up since that first weekend, thank heavens!

 

I had started some precious little seedlings, but they all died while I was sick. Oh well, that's what plants are for, right? I would have loved to have started some stuff from seeds, but next year!

We also have two tomato planters that are amazing for keeping tomato plants watered the right way. I'm such a fan! The first one is already growing amazingly! It's got about 10 tomato buds already! The second planter was just done this weekend!

This is what the garden looked like until last weekend. I've planted a few more things, so I need some updated pictures, but I'll get there! I'm just so excited to see how everything grows, because I've only grown tomatoes before, so I'm ready to see how everything else does!

That's all for adventures in garden prep!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones