flower power

I love flowers. I love photography. Take a peek at what that equals....

 

 

 

 

Just to share a few :) 

Please comment if you like any of them!

the wonder women hit up cHiCaGo!

That's right! What started off as a fun girls get-a-way initiated by Brandon as a surprise to Maggie, turned out to be a fun weekend trip to Chicago with my two besties! Thanks for wanting to surprise Maggie, Brandon!

 I loved my hair that day... Rach braided it for me (I never get to do that hairstyle because I can't do it on myself! We all talked about that dilemma...can anyone seriously do this themselves?! If so... what's the secret?!)

If you can't tell by now, us girls like to save a buck whenever we get a chance. So, after a successful experience that Maggie and Brandon had on the Megabus, we decided that would be our transportation of choice. What a steal...$18 bucks round trip?!

We also decided to try our shot at Priceline for a hotel...and well....after many attempts, we landed a decent price at a hotel right along the main drag. It was fine, nothing fancy...but we were a little worried after reading some of the reviews. It was the Congress Plaza Hotel...historical, so a little creepy feeling at times...Rach said it reminded her of The Shining. Eeek.

We had some interesting moments throughout the weekend...including riding the L, shopping at some of our favorite stores (H&M, West Elm, etc.), getting lost after getting off the L and walking the streets of Chicago at night (along with a homeless man telling us to shake what our mommas gave us), taxi rides, a variety of restaurants, and lots of laughter. One of our favorite things we did was go to the comedy improv show, ComedySportz. Maggie's sis-in-law is part of the show and scored us some free tickets (thanks, Rebecca--you rock!). It was honestly the highlight of our trip! It was so funny...all of those people are so talented. Maggie, Rachel, and I had a fun time trying to recreate some of the show by trying a little improv of our own...let's just say we weren't as good. :) But it did allow for us to laugh at some of the not-so-funny moments of our trip! Acting goofy, laughing, and making a video of our attempts totally took me back to our high school days. That in and of itself was totally worth the trip.

Here are some more pics of the vacation...

Can't go without getting some pics with The Bean!

And what kind of trip would it be without checking out some of Chicago's finest junk shops?!

I'm actually really disappointed in the amount of pictures I took this trip (or lack there of). Usually I am the one to take a TON!

Thanks girls for a fun trip...although there were some interesting moments (lol) I wouldn't want to have shared them with anyone else!

Have you taken any summer trips? What is your favorite trip you've taken with your girl friends?!

Fresh & Easy

I'm not sure what to call this recipe...it's a really yummy-throw whatever you got in your cupboard-chicken salad. I got it from my mom, so here's the kudos to momma! It is seriously so simple, yet tastes so delicious and is a great summer meal option.

Ingredients:
*Chicken (I usually cook mine in the crock-pot the day that I'm making the chicken salad, and shred it. Use whatever amount you want--the more you make, obviously the more chicken salad you will end up with! There are no specific measurements to this recipe!)
*Whatever you want to throw in (nuts, grapes, craisins, water chestnuts, raisins, celery, etc...I'll show you what I put in mine this time around)
*Ranch dressing (until desired consistency...not too dry, not too saturated)...Ranch makes everything better, right?!
*Buns (my family loves it on croissants!!)

Here's pics of my most recent time of making it...(sorry they're so dark. I don't have very good lighting in my kitchen. I promise you it looks better in person and that it is very delicious!)

The chicken after it was cooked and shredded....ready for more ingredients to be added!

Craisins...

Cashews...

Water chestnuts (drained)...

 

 Grapes (halved)...

HyVee brand is just fine!

 Before adding the dressing...

After adding the Ranch...

And after completely mixing! I forgot to take a picture of it on an actual bun!

See how easy it is?! It is great leftover too...you can eat on it for quite a while! Pair it with chips and dip, fruit, etc., and it makes for such an easy-breezy, summer meal!

Let me know if you make it! Enjoy :)

Miscellaneous Monday!

First off, happy 4th! Hope you're enjoying the sun, good food, family, friends, and fireworks today!

Well, I thought I would do a few randoms for today, so excuse me if this post seems a little all over the place!!

Eric and I enjoyed the Downtown Farmer's Market on Saturday. It was such a great way to start off the day...we don't get to go down there a ton together due to Eric being so busy at Des Moines Golf during the summer, so we snag every chance we can get! Here's some snapshots of our time together:

 Nachos we've been wanting to try from the Dos Rios stand! We finally did and they were pretty good...the cilantro tops it off....I just love cilantro folks! It makes everything better!

There seemed to be quite a few new stands this year at the market. Mike's Old Fashioned Ice Cream was one of them. This reminded me of when my grandparents used to make homemade ice cream. Yum. 

 

 The Laughing Tree Tea was also new and I stopped to get a glass. Nothing more refreshing than a glass of iced tea!

 

 

One of my favorite stands at the market...the make your own flower bouquet stands! Specifically Howell's.

Eric surprised me by starting to make a bouquet for me! It was so adorable--he knows how much I love flowers. We finished it off together and the lady complimented our work! It was a steal...very decently priced for such a beautiful bouquet!

 We enjoyed some other food as well...we always have to get some crab-rangoons! Speaking of that...on our way out, we saw another new stand that said "There's more to rangoons than crab!" And it looked like there were a ton of different ways they made rangoons for you...PB & J, with powered sugar, etc. We will definitely have to try it next time...we were busting at the seams already as it was! It ended up being a gorgeous, perfect day weather wise for the market! And there's just almost nothing better than strolling with the one you love on a gorgeous day, with all the fun of the market surrounding you! Love you, Eric!

I put the bouquet in a ball jar when I got home...isn't it lovely?!

On a different note...remember me talking about Yo2Go?

It's ooooopeeeen!!

All the toppings...

 All the flavors....two on each machine, with one in the middle to mix the two (ex: chocolate and peanut butter were on one, and the lever in the middle of the two combined them both!)

The atmosphere was great!

You need to go! Open 7 days a week, and I believe the hours were 11am-9pm (don't quote me on that one). My favorite was blueberry (surprisingly to me), but all the flavors will be changed out often! They also had sample cups for you to try the flavors before you chose, and punch cards for buy 10 get 1 free! I think this will be a frequently visited place for E and I. 

Well, once again, have a great holiday! Hope you enjoyed the random post! :)