Life Lately

June has always been a crazy month.

When I was teaching, it'd be the end of the year, wrap everything up insanity.

On top of that, my husband works two weeks straight, 9am-10pm at his job each June.

It's a huge Tent Event at the mall where lots of cars are for sale for the dealership he works for.

I miss him dearly, but I know how important it is to him, so I support him as much as I can!
On Sunday, he actually got home a little after 5, so we were able to have dinner together!

I spent the morning in the garden, still weeding away!

And then worked in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of homemade hummus,

Vanilla Cupcakes 

{the ones I made for V-Day, hubs kept requesting again!}

Homemade Over the Rainbow Mac & Cheese {Seriously, hands down best ever.}

It was on Oprah Winfrey as one of her favorites, it's Patti LaBelle's recipe

I also threw together one of my famous salads.

I picked up some hormone/antibiotic free babyback ribs from BJ's

and we decided we were going to try them a different way.

Smoking them for a bit:

Then tossing them on our fire pit with charcoal:

 It was so nice to have my husband home with me before sunset!

Yes,  I was totally rocking the housewife look.

{Apron from my friend Alison! So cute!}

My brother & husband loved the ribs.

I should have gotten a snapshot of their faces covered in BBQ sauce.

Dinner was fantastic.

Over the Rainbow Mac & Cheese 

 Blurry salad pic.

I still prefer them in the oven, slow cooked all.day.long.

 Just 5 full days left of the tent sale!!
I'm getting my niece later today, and we're going to visit Uncle Joey & Uncle Ty Ty...

and a clown.
We'll see how this goes!!
It's raining here today, which is quite a reprieve from the 92 degrees we got up to yesterday!
My flowers needed the water, and now I don't have to do the work!

What have you been up to in the kitchen/grill??

Have fabulous Tuesday.

Are you a Dirty Girl?

And by that I mean, ahem, gardening, ladies. 

My mother-in-law refers to a club in which her friends and her shared gardening tips,

and they call themselves Dirty Girls.

Love it.

I have faint memories of helping my mother and grandmothers in their gardens when I was little.

I also have many memories of me killing plants throughout my life.

I do not have a green thumb.

However, like most things I'm not great at, I try not to give up.

My ability to bake and cook did not develop on the first batch of cookies, or the first time I made pasta.

Practice makes perfect, and small victories build confidence.

It also helps to have really good gardeners in my life!
My friend Jill helped me pick out flowers that would work best in part sun/shade,

since we don't get a lot of sun on the back deck, which is where I wanted to put the pots.

I also had her come over and give me some tips on how to keep the front gardens looking better.

My mother-in-law is the greenest person I know {in more ways that one!}

She has huge gardens with all fresh veggies and lots of pretty flowers and plants.

She's very good at it.

So this was me yesterday...

I am still working on the front gardens and they are not ready for viewing;

once I pull all the creeping Myrtle out and finish weeding, we're mulching, and then I can share.

My six pots came out pretty darn nice if I may say so!
As I put them together, I think of it as styling an outfit.

Which colors look best together?

You don't want too much filler, but you need enough to look put together well.

Don't pair all big fluffy plants all together, but rather  mix and match.

It really is like clothing/jewelry, but they're flowers!

Here are the looks--errr--potted flowers, I came up with!

[Note: You're getting a sneak peak of our deck, since we don't have patio furniture yet,

I haven't unveiled what it looks like. Also, the spindles are in the process of being painted]

This one is my favorite!

 Joe said this is his favorite;

it reminds him of fireworks shooting out.?

So it probably took me two hours, to plant/figure out how I wanted it to look.

I am so, so happy with them!
So, if you're still not plant savvy, just get a pot, some dirt and pick out some flowers/fillers

and play around!
The worst that can happen?

They die.

The best?
Beautiful flowers to smile at over a cup of tea, and a sense of accomplishment.

If you use Miracle Grow potting soil, water them, give them sunlight, and love them, 

you'll make a fabulous dirty girl.

My neon mani may be a bit ruined, but that's OK.

My pretty new flowers are worth it!

My other new mini project:
Decorating the Mantle

I love changing up the looks of things around here.

So, with the help of photos, I put away/pull out from storage

and a quick trip to the Dollar Tree,

a fun & festive mantle to last up through early July!

Bird: Gift from my MIL

Star: $1 store

Garland: $1 store

 Sun: $1 store

Flip Flop photo frames: My sister's bridal shower favors I bought

 Frame: a gift from my step-mom

Photo: Vegas--summer 2008

So there's my Suzie Homemaker update for the week!
What are some fun things you're doing around your home?
I love inspiration.

Happy Digging!!

Cruise Review

One of the fun parts of being on a cruise, is that each night they make a towel animal.

I'm sure it's way fun for kids, but honestly, I get a kick out of them too!!

Although I can't always figure out exactly what it is...

Crab?

Dog?

Gorilla?

My husband punched this one
{jokingly}

not realizing I was taking pictures, like a big dork, every night!
So I'm not sure what it was supposed to be!

A bird of sorts??

A rabbit

For the rabbit!

I have no clue.

Help?

Since the boat was semi new, 2009 I believe, things were in good condition.

Here is the Serenity Deck--NO KIDS allowed.

 The Lido Deck

aka where a lot of people hang out

 View on our balcony room

 Our room:
It was decent.

Cleaned twice a day.

No complaints here.

 With the balcony room you get two chairs out on a little balcony.

 We were on Deck 7, and below us there was a deck you could walk/eat on.

We weren't used to that, as we usually like to leave our door open and hear/smell the ocean.

However, when you have people walking around below, you hear them.
I didn't love that.

 Drinks were good...

Mango & the Miami Vice

As with any cruise, they can add up quickly.

Dining room

You could definitely feel the boat a rockin down there at night!

 Our waiter busted his bottom.

Francis worked hard to please all twenty of us and even sang while doing so.

 My sis got up and danced with him!

 The girls laying out on our last day

 Mango Swirls!

 Hubs & the boys played basketball then hopped into the pool.

There were 2 pools and I thought they were kind of small.
There were 2 water slides too, but I didn't go on them.

So my humble and quick opinion:

I don't believe my husband and I will ever go Carnival again.
Maybe it's because I had been on 3 Royal Caribbean Cruises prior to this trip and loved them,

but I honestly just wasn't all that impressed.

I felt that the food lacked, the service was slower, and just because it was a bigger boat did NOT

mean that there was more to do.

I think it just held more people.
I also think I need a break from cruises, since we went on one last year too..
I just feel like we get a little taste of each island and I want to see more!

The cruise itself was also one I wouldn't pick again, as there were too many days at sea.
I love stopping at the islands, not being stuck on a boat.

I'm happy to have had the time with my family and the most important part was my sister's wedding.

However, if I were to give advice, if you want to do a destination wedding, maybe stay on an island.

I think you'd get to experience more of the culture and not feel so rushed that way.

If you love drinking, eating, gambling, and laying out in the sun, and don't care so much about 

the culture or island life, then sure, a cruise would be perfect for you!

I must say that I think Carnival did a good job when dealing with an emergency.

We were supposed to be heading back to Florida, when something happened to a person....

So many rumors, a heart attack, appendix, not real sure...

but we had to turn around and back track towards Puerto Rico so that a coast guard

could come in and do a helicopter rescue.

It put us back a few hours, but I hope everyone is okay.

My step-brother took a video:

Sint Maarten/St Martin

Bonjour!! 

 Our last island on the cruise was the beautiful 

Sint Maarten/St Martin.

There is a Dutch side {where the port is}

and a French side, oui oui!!

I of course love love love the French side.

We stopped here on a cruise last year, and knew exactly what we wanted to do.

Rent Dune Buggies & Stop at Paradise View Restaurant/Bar

Look how cute the decor is

{and my lil bro}

The views

Hubs sippin on some bubbl-ay

{I'm obsessed with these champagne flutes. I have not bought any flutes because I want these so badly.

Sadly, they're made in France and are like 80 Euros for one or something crazy.
Aren't they beautiful though???}

LynDz

moi

Je t'aime!!

Lyndz & Tyler's ride

It was hot and a bit on the rugged side, but we were safe.

Cute little boutiques

And after that we went to Orient Beach...

on the way my battery died and I didn't get any more pictures.

We ate at a little french restaurant on the beach that had the BEST pizza

seriously tasted like we were over in Europe.

Thin.
Crispy yet a nice chew to it.

Perfect amount of oregano.

Cheese.

Heaven.
Even mr picky pizza eater enjoyed it!! 

Lyndz and I laid out on the beach while the boys surfed the waves on rented jet skis.

It's probably ok my camera died, since Orient Beach is topless/half nude.

I wouldn't want to be that creeper paparazzi with all the tanned bubbies and butts hangin out!

We made our way back slowly to the cruise ship and sadly got back on.

We so badly wanted to just stay on the island.

That night we did have a nice fancy dinner at the Chef's restaurant.

You have to pay $30 extra per person (all meals are usually included)

and you get an upscale menu with fancy foods.

I gave the service and food a 6.5 

since I'm a chef and all.

: )

Being in the sun all day, it got me. I got a little burned on my chest/arms.

And one purchase that was made was my very first Michael Kors Watch.
I love that when I wear it/look at it, I'll always be reminded of our beautiful day
on Sint Maarten

I thought I wanted the rose gold, 

but after I saw this beauty, I was in love.

It has rose gold accents around the face.

 The last two days of the cruise we were stuck at sea, so I'll share more pictures of the ship

and what I thought of our overall experience using carnival. 

Oh, I'll be sharing an emergency medical helicopter mission that happened on board.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!
I've already made homemade sauce, eggplant parm casserole for lunch and beer bread.

I'm excited to get some gardening tips from my friend Jill, so I can get out front and beautify our gardens!

It's also my husband's last evening off until June 18. 

His annual tent sale starts Thursday and he works 9-9+ every.single.day.

He loves it though, 

so I'm a good wifey and make him food and keep him company when he's not too busy.

Have a beautiful Tuesday!!