Words for Wednesday

fabric via a new blog find!

I love, love, love this quote. It's been a favorite of mine since college. It's just so true.

Steal of the Week: Mat Kearney album on Amazon

I am in LOVE with the new Mat Kearney album, Young Love! I rarely buy a full album of just one artist and actually like all the songs, but this whole album rocks! I especially love "Ships in the Night" & "Count on Me." Good stuff. Liked this new stuff so much me and sis got tickets to see him at the House of Blues in November!

But, back to the steal -- right now you can get MP3's of the whole album for only $4.99 on Amazon. Such a good deal! I have been buying more and more of my music on Amazon because of the good prices. You can download the files and then easily import them to your iTunes. Go check out this deal here! I'm not sure how long this will last, so you better get on it :)

Here's one of my favs...

This is my happy place

I don't know about you but this image just takes me to my happy place. I was sipping this bloody last month, hanging out in Saugatuck after a perfect beach day. ::Sigh:: I don't want Summer to end. I need just one more perfect weekend in Pure Michigan.

Words for Wednesday

Background, Amy Butler fabric

In the Kitchen: Shrimp tacos with Chipotle

I've been loving Chipotle Peppers lately! I've made everything from pulled pork to pasta salad using chipotle peppers, seems like P Dubs is in a chipotle mood lately too, two of my recipes came from her! I found this awesome recipe for Shrimp tacos and the real kicker to them is the chipotle and sour cream sauce. It takes the tacos to a whole other level! These are very simple to make, here's the lowdown:

Ingredients

- Frozen Raw Shrimp, amount can be variable, figure 4-5 shrimp per taco

- 2 limes
- Old Bay seasoning, Pepper, Jane's Krazy Salt, Chili Powder
- One small chipotle from can, minced
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Corn tortillas
- Cabbage shredded or prepackaged coleslaw mix
- Avocado and guacamole seasoning, optional

Seasoning for the shrimp

Preparation
Begin by thawing the shrimp, this can easily be done by soaking in cold water for 5-8 minutes. When the shrimp are defrosted, pat dry and sprinkle the seasoning on them, you can be generous with your seasoning! I like them spicy personally, so I load on the spices.

 Set the shrimp aside for a moment so you can put the sauce together. Mix the sour cream, chipotle pepper and juice from half a lime in a bowl. (At this point I whip up the guacamole as well, that is completely optional though, I am just a guacamole freak and eat it with every meal possible!) Now set this aside and heat a skillet for cooking the shrimp.

Chipotle sauce

The shrimp will cook fast (about 3-4 minutes each side or less), when they are almost done sprinkle more fresh lime juice over them.

Now, time to assemble the tacos. I put a little of the special chipotle sauce and guac in the bottom, then throw in the shrimp and cabbage or coleslaw mix. Squeeze lime juice over the top and it's all done. Delicious and easy!

I'm linking up to Tasty Tuesdays, Delectable Tuesdays & Remodelaholic today! Head over to check out some other great recipes and link up your own.

Chicago by Sea . . .

TGIF. I'm so happy it's Friday! It's been a looong week. Last week I went on a really fun Boat Cruise on Lake Michigan. My friend and I sipped summer cocktails and took in the views of the city. Being on the water as the sun was setting and watching the gorgeous skyline was amazing! If you live in the city or are visiting I would definitely recommend one of the many sunset cruises offered on the river or lake, the one we went on was the Mystic Blue. I took a view pics last week to share.

 

How gorgeous is that sunset over the skyline? Those colors! Love it.

Such a fun night. Reminds me how much I love this city!

P.S. All photos taken by me with my HTC EVO.

Steal of the Week: The Patagonia half off sale!

My friend alerted me to a great sale going on for the next week, the Patagonia 50% off Sale!! There are so many great deals on their site right now. I don't even think I'm in the market for a coat and I still want to buy everything. The sale goes to August 25th, but I did notice a few colors and sizes I liked were already sold out. Head on over and check it out!

Here are a few of my favorites for Fall:

Snap-T Pullover

Down Jacket

My favorite color! The R2 Jacket

Blooms: Yellow Gladiolus

I haven't done a Blooms post in ages! I got some great Glads at Trader Joe's last week and thought I'd share a few pictures. I know, I should have gotten them at a local farmer's market, but you can't beat the TJ's prices -- only $3.99 for a huge bunch! Whenever I get something really tall like Glads, I like to put them on my mantle, they make the living room a happy place :)

Words for Wednesday

 

from my favorite, quotable cards.

What's Growing in the Front Planters

It's a little late to just be showcasing the summer planters at my place, but better late than never, right? Last year was the first year we had new pots out front of my condo building, you can take a look at what I did then. The planters are from Ballard Designs and I have been really pleased with their quality so far. The only thing messing them up is all the lovely dogs that live in the neighborhood who have found a favorite thing to go to the bathroom on. Not cool.

This year I decided to mix it up and opted for a lush, tropical feel. The big standouts this year are the giant elephant ears. I am in love with them! They add so much height to the pot and I can't get over their huge, gorgeous green leaves.

Do you see those holes in the leaves? I was so heart broken when I came outside after a freak hail-storm and saw they had ripped through the elephant ears, ugh. I've had a few challenges with the pots in July, that's for sure. We had record breaking rains all month, including a crazy 7 inches in one day. Needless to say the pots were flooded and the downpours knocked the elephant ears over. That's my only complaint about the EE's, it's been hard keeping them upright during the storms.

I'm really liking the tropical feel of the mix this year. The Kong Coleus are always beautiful and have grown really well. The pots are in a part shade/part sun area so it can be a challenge finding plants, although even the geraniums last year thrived with not that much sun. It's mostly lush greenery this year and then I added regular impatients and wave petunias.

Totally absent from the pictures are the New Guinea Impatients in each pot in a great coral color. They failed me. Big time. No blooms! What's up with that? I think I've discovered that they like more sun than your typical plant that's billed as a shade lover. Major bummer because I think the coral would have looked great.

Here's the breakdown of what I used in the planters:

I can't decide what I like better, I'm thinking this years...

Words for Wednesday

I love, love this quote from Mother Teresa. Especially the last two lines. I hope you guys like this one too. I found the print above on Etsy. I swear my walls could easily be filled with prints of quotes!