Lesson learned #7- Once you find a good hair dresser, never let her go

I have had the same hair dresser for as long as I can remember. She did my hair for every prom, every military ball, almost every wedding I have been in, my wedding, etc. I trust her without a doubt.

Lesson learned... once you find a great hair dresser you trust, never stop going to her (even if you move). I do not care if you live 13 hours away from your hair dresser, book a flight home and make an appointment with her. If not, you will end up with a new haircut that makes you look like a 12 year old boy.

I have been growing my hair out for at least a year so that it would be nice and long for the wedding. Once my hair gets to a certain length, it starts getting heavy and droopy and blah. Take this blah-ness and combine it with the 100 + degree heat in Alabama, I was more than ready for a hair cut and decided that I would try a salon here in Enterprise. BIG MISTAKE!

Here is the picture I gave the hair dresser to show her what a wanted... I just wanted some length taken off then add some layers to give my hair a little body. Cute, right?

Well, too bad that is not what I got. I currently look like a 10 year old boy. So thank you crappy hair cut lady. Because of you, I will not be leaving the house for the next month.

xoxo

Lesson learned #6- Just call me Paula Dean yall

Hello friends! I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I have learned that I actually enjoy cooking! This was not something I expected as I never cooked or had any interest in cooking while growing up. You can also ask my college roommates. My idea of cooking dinner for myself was ramen noodles and a tuna fish sandwich or my own personal invention of mini-chicken parm.

However, now that I have a kitchen of my own and my own pots and pans (I am obsessed with my calphalon pots and pans) I actually enjoy cooking. I love browsing the internet and cookbooks we received for wedding gifts to find something new and exciting to cook for dinner. This might be a reason why I take so many trips to the grocery store (refer to lesson learned #5). Greg and I also love to watch the food network every morning. Our favorites are Giada, The Neelys', and of course Paula!

As a result of discovering my new fondness of cooking, I decided that I will start providing you all with a recipe of the week. These will be recipes that I have tried and have given my stamp of approval. So here is recipe of the week #1- Italian Baked Chicken (recipe compliments on Giada at foodnetwork.com).

FYI- I added more sauce than what was recommended because I do not like dry casseroles and it turned out perfectly. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Our next big adventure in the kitchen...grilled lamb! Wish us luck :)

xoxo

Lesson learned #5- I have to go to the grocery store again?

Ok ladies, you have got to help me out on this one. Every time I turn around, I have to go to the grocery store again! What am I doing wrong? I mean, for those of you who know Greg and I, you know we like to eat :) But seriously...this is out of control.

Since I moved to Alabama with Greg we have made a weekly "major" shopping trip. These weekly trips consist of stocking up on fresh veggies, more frozen meats, milk, juice, etc. Each week this trip ends up costing about $100. What in the heck?! On top of that, I almost always end up making a couple runs to the store in the middle of the week because we ran out of coffee creamer, or eggs, or oops I forgot to buy spaghetti noodles.

Please! Help a lady out! How can I reduce the amount of trips to the grocery store and also reduce the amount of money spent?! Even shopping tax free at the commissary is going to make us broke at this point!

xoxo

Home Sweet Home

Lesson learned #5- I LOVE decorating

For those of you who know me, you know I love planning things. This might be why I love my job. Most of my "free" time outside of school is spent planning future lessons and activities for my students. I loved planning my wedding. I love planning mini-honeymoons for Greg and I.

My most recent planning obsession has been the decor of what will be our first home in Virginia Beach. Greg and I are very lucky to have a large 2 bedroom/2.5 bath townhouse here in Enterprise. However, we knew we would not live here long so we did not want to purchase all new furniture and have it moved to Alabama then a year later moved to Virginia. We were lucky enough to be able to borrow wonderful furniture from Greg's sister to use while we are here.

While we do love what we have now, we are excited to purchase our very own furniture that will complete the design we have in mind for our first home. We are very excited to move back home as we will be living at the beach. We will have a 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment 4 blocks from the oceanfront. We cannot wait to put some miles on our beach cruisers and cruise to dinner/happy hour/lunch/etc.

Obviously, living at the beach means we want a very relaxed environment in the apartment. Everyone knows how much I love my blues and greens and I really like the idea of painting accent walls in major rooms in the apartment. Unfortunately, I am not a professional and am not sure how all of the little ideas I have floating around in my head will fit together to create a relaxing home environment.

So here is what I am thinking. Please share your comments to let me know what you think!

Master bedroom-

Colors: light blue and light brown

Accent wall: some sort of light brown

And of course, the gorgeous Valencia II sleigh bed from pottery barn with rectangular bed side tables.

Living room:

Greg and I know we want a large wrap around couch of some sort. I would love one with an L shape or one that is curved like the one pictured below. We have not found one we are in love with yet, so if you know of any good ones please let me know!

Accent wall: sea foam green

All of the frames and shelves in the living area will be dark mahagony
Dining Room-

Accent wall:???

Greg and I want a table that is small enough that we will not be at opposite ends of the room eating when it is just the two of us, but something that can also turn into something larger for when family/friends come to visit. I just found this table that seems to fit that and also has a lazy susan built into the center of the table which I find incredibly fascinating.
So what do you think? We are moving back home the end of August and cannot wait. I hope to get everything painted before we start moving things in. I expect lots of visitors once we are all settled in :)

xoxo

Lesson learned #4

Lesson learned #4- I LOVE coffee

Ok boys and girls...get excited! I have to thank one of my girlfriends for my recent obsession because I did not discover the best coffee maker ever until I visited her in Boston.

Anyways, when it came time for Greg and I to register for wedding gifts I knew without a doubt what coffee maker I wanted. It took some convincing on Greg's part... he did not see what was so great about a coffee maker that only made one cup of a coffee at a time. I think he has come around though and enjoys the awesomeness that is our coffee maker :)

I gave up coffee before the wedding because I felt like I was consuming pointless calories. However, now that I do nothing all day long I find that I need caffeine in my system. Some how doing nothing makes me more tired???

So let me walk you through my simple morning routine:

- Wake up

-Come downstairs and kiss my husband good morning :)

-Walk into the kitchen and take my little carousel for a spin and select my coffee of choice for the morning

-Place the "k cup" in the top of the coffee maker

-Place my "Army Wife" coffee mug below the dispenser

-Push the button for the medium cup of coffee

-Enjoy :)

How simple and awesome is that?

I LOVE it :)

xoxo

Lessons learned thus far...

Ok friends...I will share with you my lessons learned thus far. While many of you may find the following events common sense, I unfortunately did not have the prior knowledge necessary. Oh well, you live and learn right?

Lesson #1

When going to the local pool, make sure you not only take the key to get into the pool but also the key to your house! I spend my days here in Alabama doing absolutely nothing while Greg is off learning how to save the world. As a result, I have decided that this summer I will reach my goal of becoming tan by turning into one giant freckle.

So off I go to the pool (which is walking distance from the house). After a few hours I decide I am way too hot and way too hungry so I head back to the house. I get all the way back to the house before I realize I have no way of getting in the house. I have no where else to go but back to the pool, so back again I walk and text Greg to let him know the situation I have gotten myself into.

Luckily, Greg says he will be off work soon and can come pick me up (after laughing at me for being an idiot of course). So I sit and wait for Greg to come get me, all the while watching a very large and dark thunderstorm cloud come a rolling in. Luckily, Greg picked me up just in time and all was right again.

Lesson #2

When cooking tacos for your husband, make sure you do not leave grease in a pan on high on the stove for an extended period of time. IF you do, you will most likely cause a grease fire, or in my case, fill the entire downstairs of your house with smoke so much so that you cannot sit inside without your eyes stinging and tears dripping down your face.

For any of you who have ever eaten at my house, you know that the all time favorite dish at the Culpepper house is Momma's Tacos. So I decide to be the best wife ever and cook these tacos for Greg. My mom makes soft shells and "hard" shells by taking corn tortillas and cooking them in oil. I call my mom to ask her how to make these "hard" shells and am ready to go. She told me to make sure that I do not cook the shell until the oil is bubbling.

In my mind this meant put the oil in the pan, turn the burner on, and wait for the oil to bubble (with nothing in the pan). Eeeeekkkkk! WRONG! For those of you taking notes, make sure you put a corn tortilla in the oil before it begins bubbling. If not, the smoke filled room/potential grease fire will occur.

Lesson #3

When you fill your entire house with smoke, the Japanese Steak House makes a lovely alternative for dinner.

For anyone who is learning along with me, please feel free to comment to reassure me that I am not the worst cook/wife ever.

xoxox

Let's give this another try...

Ok friends, I know I have been here before and promised more blogs and I obviously failed with that promise. This past year was crazy between first year teaching and planning a wedding. It is amazing how much time these things take up. At the end of the day, if I did have free time, all I wanted to do was relax.

I am happy to say though, that I survived both big events in my life. I survived my first year teaching and loved every minute of it. Some days were more challenging than others, but at the end of the day I went home with a sense of accomplishment knowing that I gave my students the best I had.

I also survived wedding planning and the big day! I believe the wedding was a huge success and am sad it is already over. It was truly amazing to sit back and watch all of our friends and family come together and celebrate such an important day with Greg and I. I wish we could do it all over again every weekend, although I seriously doubt I (or anyone really) could afford that.

Anyways, as my brief introduction says, I have quickly realized that I am at a loss here in the world of newlyweds. Everyone always talks about the big day and then the joy of having children. Have you ever heard anyone talk about the time period between these two major events??? I certainly have not and as a result have found myself learning a little here and there as Greg and I venture out on our own.

I am officially an Army Wife while Greg completes flight school here in Alabama. I am sure many of you are laughing to yourself thinking, how hard can it be? Well, honestly, it isn't hard, just a lot of uncertainty. I will be the first to admit my mother spoiled me rotten while I lived at home with everything she did to clean, cook, do laundry, work, etc. As a result, I have a lot to learn out on my own....so here it goes.

Please join me for my journey into my own little happily ever after :)