Happy Photos 94-100! The project is complete :-)

Happy Photo #94 - We took a picture by this exact butterfly on our first trip to Busch Gardens just about a year before our honeymoon :-)

 Happy Photo #95 - Virginia is for lovers<3  A very nice older gentleman took our picture and then we took one for him and his wife.

 Happy Photo #96 - it was a beautiful day in Yorktown... people were sunbathing on the beach.. we weren't that brave but we did break out the shorts.

 Happy Photo #97 - Winery kitty!  I saw a sign after petting (and getting what I like to think of as a love bite) this cutie that advised against socializing with her :-) She reminded me of Margo with her love hate relationship with people though so I was glad to share a "hi pet me while I nip at you" moment with her!

 Happy Photo #98 - The famous new triplets in Williamsburg: Willie, Yorkie, and Jamie.  I think I might have been the only tourist obsessed with finding them.... I expected some fanfare after seeing the announcement of their names on the Williamsburg facebook page, however we really had to ask around and search for these sweeties.

 Happy Photo #99 - Our first carriage ride.  Our driver said that as we were on our honeymoon I had to leap out of the carriage into his arms when the ride was over.  I think she was surprised when I followed her orders.  Luckily Henry knew me well enough to be prepared and he didn't drop me :-)

Happy Photo #100 - I love this photo from the wedding... lots of my favorite people are dancing and you can't really see it but Ashlynne and I are doing some pretty fancy moves in front of Henry :-)

Happy Photo #57 - Chicken Corn Chowder (with recipe)

Ingredients:

1 can chicken broth (I wound up using a tiny bit more than a can)

1 can corn (I drain the regular corn)

2 cans cream style corn

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Chicken breasts 

1 can Rotel (or can us a can of diced chili peppers or both)

Onion

Garlic

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Rice if you like a thicker soup

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Chop onion and saute in soup pot and then brown diced chicken.  Add stock and garlic and let cook for a bit.  Add all corn and rotel/peppers and let cook for 20 minutes or so.  Add whipping cream and bring to low boil.  Add as much rice as you like to thicken.  When almost done add cheese and stir in to incorporate into chowder  (I just eyeball this too.. depending on how fattening I want it).  

Serve with yummy bread... I added chopped garlic to the bread too... need to keep the vampires away :-)

Halfway through Happy :-) Photos #49-54

#49 - Outside the post office where I mailed packages off to a good friend deployed to Afghanistan right now.

 #50 A new stash of yarn.. because I didn't already have a closet full of yarn :-)

 #51 First Christmas present finished... it was a quick project that turned out pretty cute :-)

 #52 I've been meaning to make a wreath for my front door for like forever... it only took about 15 minutes but it's always extra fun to check something off your to-do list!

 #53 Shes hard to see but there is a Margo waiting for me to get home from work in the window... when she sees me get to the door she runs out of the kitchen and is right at the door when I open it, a nice welcome home!

 #54 Crazy pic of me but I have declared it fall and I am wearing cords! YAY!  <3 Fall!

Happiness come is bunches...Happy Photos 40-48

At least on my blog it does... because it seems I can't seem to regularly post one picture at a time :-)

#41 - State Fair Fun with Tyler

#42 - GOAT MOUNTAIN!  Need I say more!?

 #43 - Pretty flowers in DC :-)

#44 Dino-time!

#45 Pumpkin Spice

#46 - The Sandwich Fairy delivered a delicious sandwich!

#47 - Let there be light

#48 - Fierce!

Puppy Love: Happy Photo #40

Some good old fashioned puppy love.  Thanks Jen and Brian for sharing your pups, family and friendship today!

Happy Photos come in 3's (37-39)

Happy Photo #39 Chocolate - or what's left of it :-) Oh and Coffee... there is coffee too!

Happy Photo #38 Storytime...I love Shaking My Sillies Out and reading books to the little ones!  Great time was had by all, especially the librarian :-)

Happy Photo #37 -- I had forgotten that a friend of mine gave me this gift card so it was like a present all over again, and I bought a few cute things for the house so a big thank you to Stephanie!

Happy Weekend Photos!

Posting all my happy photos from the weekend is starting become a trend for me... so here goes again. Happy Photos 34 - 36.

Happy Photo #34.  Early Birthday fun from my big bro and family!  All kinds of fun goodies! And Margo desperately wanted to play with it all!

Happy Photos #35 Painting fun!  I'm a messy painter but the walls look so pretty now!  2 walls down.. 2 to go!

 

Happy Photo #36 My friend Hobbs.  I checked in on my sweet kitty friend while a neighbor watching him was out of town (and his owner is deployed)...I love Hobbles as his owner calls him.  He's such a sweet boy!  Happy to be able to send some pics of him to his daddy!

Happy Photo #33

I'm lazy about getting my mail.  There's never anything exciting in it so sometimes I will go days without even checking it, which I'm sure my mailman loves when it gets full of Kohls advertisements and Penny Savers making it hard to squeeze even another postcard in.  So this morning on my way to my car I realized I hadn't gotten my mail in a few days (mostly because it was dark out by the time I got home and I'm a scaredy cat and go straight inside when unseen scariness is lurking around my neighborhood late at night --I don't know what this scariness actually is as I've never actually seen anything frightening but you know... the dark is scary by itself!).  OK, so back to the point - I got my mail and it held a fabulous surprise!  

1. I had an envelope addressed to Jenny (never-mind it has my old last name on it... not everyone realizes I changed it back). The only people that call me Jenny are family members or really old friends so just seeing that made me smile!

2.  It was full of pictures of my beautiful niece and her beautiful family.  I'm not biased, they are for real an awesome family!  This started my morning off perfectly!  Happy Thursday everyone!

Happy Happy Weekend Full of Happy Photos!

Busy weekend: After I was finally feeling better last week I had a pretty busy weekend here in happy photo land :-)

#28: On Thursday I bought a new perch for my favorite kitty.  Watching "My Cat From Hell" while laid up on the couch sick inspired me to give my sometimes aggressive girl some more high up space to take in the world from.  She's still a little skeptical of it's suitability for her needs but she's checking it out regularly and then dive bombing whoever is relaxing on the couch.  Note to self: do not leave beverages on that end table.

#29: I went on a nice walk on Friday with some friends and we did a little off roading on some of the dirt trails at Kinder Farm Park.  It was a fun time exploring... I had no idea these beautiful little nooks were tucked back in the park.  

#30: Concert Time!  My best concert bud (and friend extraordinaire in general) Tammy and I drove down to Southern Maryland to see Cole Swindell and Lee Brice.  The show was great and the fans were absolutely crazy for their Lee Brice but the most entertaining moment of the night might have come when we were waiting in line for the port-a-potty.  Picture a long line of port-a-potties each with their own line of patiently waiting (ok not everyone was patient) concert goers who have probably drank too much beer and suddenly one line just stops moving (our line of course!) All of the other lines keep moving but ours just keeps on standing still and no one is exiting our nice little portable bathroom.  And then about 15 minutes later a man AND a woman come out and quickly exit stage right.  WHAT!?!?  REALLY?!?  I have to say that aside from my absolute shock (and the gross factor) half of the entertainment came from the potty mouthed yet adorable young woman behind us in line who was indignantly angry that they were taking up our potty while she really had to pee. "Priorities People!"

#31: Nature walk on Sunday -- an awesome and incredibly silly person taught me that you can take seed pods (we called them helicopters) and pop the seed out of the one end and then magically the sticky parts can be stuck to your nose!  or wherever I guess, but its fun having a seed pod nose :-)

#32: a karate class full of 4 year olds... need I say more.  So much cuteness in one room I could hardly stand it.  I think the most skilled little ninja of course is the one pictured :-) He gets all of his coordination skills from his Aunt Jenny!

Many Happy Photos!

Happy Photo #24 - Someone super nice made me a perfect first meal after being sick for days.  SOO delicious!

Happy Photo #25 - I picked up a scarf I've been working on for like forever while watching TV last night.  It was good to feel the knitting needles in my hand.  Unsurprising added level of difficulty came into play though.  Her name is Margo and she LOVES yarn :-)

Happy Photos #26 - OK - it's three photos but one lovely experience.  The wallpaper removal magician came and visited me while I was sick and pulled down all the wallpaper that I have been loathing FOREVER while I laid on the couch and interrupted wallpaper pulling for more gatorade and tylenol. I am a lucky lucky girl.  Both below the chair rail and border (not pictured but equally yuck) are gone forever! AND I get to cross it off my Rocking 2014 List!

Happy Photo #27 Tiny Origami Frog! My awesome co-worker made this very tiny, very adorable froggie. It makes me smile sitting there looking at me while I work.

Music To My Ears and Happy Photo #23

One of my awesome friends and I have hit a few concerts recently with another one on the way next week and we are having a blast as always.

This past Saturday we hit up the Delaware State Fair to see Lady Antebellum and Joe Nichols and for the first time in our concert going dates we had PIT tickets... and let's just say it's going to be hard to want to buy normal seats EVER AGAIN!  It was so much fun to be standing in the very front row and we found there was actually much more space to move around in the pit then we have ever had in our assigned seats or even on the lawn... we had plenty of room to dance around and somehow there were no overly intoxicated fans running into us... this had been an ongoing problem for us in the past...I was beginning to think we were magnets :-)

Anyway - Lady A is incredible live... one of the best concerts I've ever seen... they sound great and and they do a lovely job interacting with their fans, something I find country musicians are lots better at doing than other genres.  So go see them.  Or go see any live music, there are plenty of free summer concerts happening and it's a lovely way to spend an evening.  If you're local to Anne Arundel County, check out the Dept of Recreation and Parks Summer Concert Series or if you are a Carroll County native check out Sam Hunt at the Carroll County Fair this Saturday evening (this one isn't free- but it's a nominal $15 fee and it's a great organization).

So get out there and enjoy some tunes... at the very least turn on your boom box (is that still an actual thing or is it all just ipods now) in the back yard and enjoy some music under the stars... It's good for the soul :-)

Just for fun... here are some pictures from our awesome time last weekend!

Happy Photos #19, 20, 21, & 22 - AKA Catching Up!

My favorite reading spot: my mom's chair with a cup of coffee!

Chocolate Blizzard with Peanut Butter Cup!  Yum!  Delivered to me after a long day by an awesome person.. even better

I signed many many papers with this pen! And now I own my very own house.

My favorite sneaks with hot pink accents... the pink makes me run faster :-)