Penne Franco

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have been enjoying your week so far.  The weather, here, has turned very cold and windy!  I actually sent my son to school in his heavy coat this morning. 

With the cooler months ahead, I'm sure we are all thinking about what good comfort foods we can cook up in the kitchen.  My husband loves to cook.  (Yay!) So, I wanted to share this recipe with you that he cooked the other night.  It is from Carrabba's Restaurant.  I will attach a link to the printable recipe at the end of this post.  

First, you start with these ingredients.

boneless chicken breasts, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, kalamata olives, garlic, penne pasta

You first want to prepare your chicken to go on the grill.

Then grill your chicken.

Cut-up your chicken into bite size pieces and cut-up your sun dried tomatoes.

Saute the mushrooms.

Begin boiling your pasta.

Saute your garlic and sun-dried tomatoes  in some olive oil.

Add the cooked pasta to all other ingredients to cook together in the pan.

After it's cooked it will look like this.

Then serve with garlic bread and top with shredded cheese if desired.

It was very good!  We didn't add any cheese to ours because we forgot to buy it!  LOL!  But, fresh shredded Parmesan cheese would've been perfect on it.

Click HERE for printable recipe.

Bon Appetit!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

Gold Rush Days Festival

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your words of support while my son is away at boot camp.  I really cherished reading them all.  I'm finally feeling better and able to cope with him not being home for awhile.  Last week was TOUGH!  I am trying to stay busy while he is away, so we all went to a Fall festival this weekend.

Have you ever heard of Gold Rush Days?  It's very well known if you live in GA.  It is in the North GA mountains of Dahlonega.  That is only about 40 minutes from our house.  It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and comfortable temps.

Warning!  Picture overload ahead!

This town is an old gold mining town.  That's why it's named Gold Rush Days.

Here are some people panning for gold!

There were lots of booths with crafts for sale.

I thought this lavender was a good price.

Cute bird houses for sale.

Fall decorations for sale.

There was plenty to eat too!  

Here is my son on his second helping of food!  He ate a hot dog and then asked for some chicken fingers.  I had a hot dog and fries and my husband had some BBQ.

The town is full of pretty old buildings too.

Here is a restaurant with  gorgeous greenery hanging off the balcony.

And the old courthouse is now a museum.

Many people brought their dogs too. They were everywhere!  We left ours at home though.

We found this pretty memorial garden in the town too.

Overall, it was a fun day to get out of the house and get some fresh air in the mountains.

What did you do this weekend?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Marines Bound

Hello everyone!

I've been out of commission for a while because we've been adjusting to the fact that our oldest son, Cody, is now Marines bound! We dropped him off for boot camp last Monday and won't see him again until after the new year. 

Here he is standing beside the van that took him to where he would load the bus to Parris Island, SC.

I treasure this picture now!

He arrived Tuesday night at Parris Island and gave me his "scripted" phone call of having arrived safely.  We were not allowed to have a conversation.  So, it was bittersweet.

Now, he is surrounded by images of this.

I know he is in his "element" though.  He has been preparing for this for awhile now.  I just hope that it is ending up being what he thought it would be.  I guess I'll find out once I receive the first letter from him.  We are not allowed to speak on the phone or send emails.  We can only communicate through old fashioned letter writing.  Remember that??  

We are looking forward to family day and his graduation so we can see images of this.

And to help us feel a bit connected to him when we're not getting letters or seeing him, we have THIS to look at now...........on my refrigerator!

That is his schedule.  It tells us what he will be doing each day.  

We've got A LOT of days to cross off before we will see him again!

If any of you have a child that went into boot camp, I would love to hear about your own experience.   

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~ 



Touches of Fall Outside

Hello everyone!

The weather here has been so nice lately.  I decided to go outside and snap a few pics to share with you of my Fall decor on my porch.  However, I must warn you, if you're looking for a lot of "cute" scarecrows, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and witches, you will not find them here.  Nor will you find anything very creative that will inspire you to go and craft something of your own.  Nope......sorry.  Not here this year.  

Instead, I am embracing a "less is more" approach.  I have just a few pumpkins scattered about and some pansies on my front porch.  We will carve the pumpkins on Halloween night though.  We still have a lot of summer greenery around, so there isn't much Fall color happening in my front yard either.
 

So, if I haven't sent you running yet, here is the view of my house from across the street.  

You can hardly see the house through all of the leaves still on the trees.  In November, it will be almost bare though.

It was very sunny this day and hard to get pictures without the sun glaring.  Notice our crepe myrtles have already been pruned.  I know it is early, but we never did it at all last year and paid the price this year with very few blooms.  

Here are the pansies on my front porch.

We usually have mild winters so they may still be around in a few months!

As you can see, my ferns are still doing well.

Our Fall color doesn't really peak until later in the month.  Also, it is still warm during the day. So, I can sit out here and enjoy the mild temps for a while longer.

Huh?  How did that get out here?  Ok, I lied.  Maybe there is ONE cute jack-o-lantern on the porch! 

 

Well................

I hope that I didn't disappoint you.  I know there are many in blog land that are going all out with their Fall decor.  I'm just wanting less this year.  Maybe when the trees start turning pretty colors, I'll feel like doing more.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Grey and White Fabrics

Hello everyone!  

Or maybe, I should say "Happy Hump Day".  

This week has been difficult because my youngest son has been sick with a fever and sore throat.  My husband is out of town, so I'm on my own this week.  He finally went back to school today though.  He is feeling better, but is still not completely well.  

On the bright side though, the weather here has been beautiful!  We haven't had to use our air conditioning in several days.  

Around the house, I've added some more grey and white to my decor.  

First, I ordered these wall baskets from Decor Steals.  They are made of chicken wire with a cute checked liner.

I knew I could find a place for them as soon as I saw them.  I decided to hang them in my kitchen above the grey table that holds baking staples.

Here's a close-up.

I also found this grey and white french striped ticking pillow cover from an Etsy shop in France.

It matches the beige ones I have in the dining room.  

And, in my bedroom, I decided to change up the bedding with just grey and white.

I liked how it looked in conjunction with the burlap already in the room.  I added some white ruffled European shams and a grey velvet pillow to the bed.

I haven't really done any Fall decor inside yet, but did manage to buy some pumpkins and pansies for my front porch.  I will share those in another post.

Hope you are having a good "hump" day and enjoying some pretty weather where you live.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:  Grey-Dey-Thursdey

Farmhouse Style in the Kitchen

Hello everyone!

Hope that October is starting out well for you.  

I wanted to share some farmhouse style I added to my kitchen.  

I found this bull head at Decor Steals several weeks ago and just fell in love with it.  

I hung it on my windows near the table in the kitchen.

It's a simple black and white color combination that goes well in here.

I changed up my centerpiece to be less summery too.  I moved a crate in here and filled it with faux herb plants.

It adds just enough warmth and interest without being too fussy.

On the adjacent wall, I hung my wire wall pockets and draped printed and striped pillow covers out of them. I like the subtle pattern they add.

Outside, we've been busy pruning and cleaning the leaves out of our yard.  It feels good to be getting everything ready for the cooler months.  I know my husband is glad that "lawn season" is winding down.

We literally spent all day pruning everything back, blowing leaves, edging, mowing, etc.  I even have a blister on my toe to prove it!  It looks so much better now. 

What have you been up to this week?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~