Pickles, Olives, and Slawsa...Oh My!

Last week, I had the opportunity to work at Second Harvest Food Bank with the bank. One of the other girls from my branch, Peggy, and I got to go together! It was so much fun! We started out sorting in the grocery recovery room, but decided we didn't like the fact we were having to decide whether or not the food was usable or not. I felt bad throwing food away!!!!

We then headed over to the packing, where we had to fill boxes with 20 pounds of "assorted food." The list included things like ketchup, pickles, Alfredo sauce, and other random food items. However, most of what we had were olives and pickles...yuck! There was even something called Slawsa which is apparently the only condiment you'll ever need. Together we packed 87 boxes. As a group, we sorted and packed over 13,000 pounds of food, which equates to about 17,000 meals for hungry people! It was so much fun and rewarding to do this and I'm so glad I was able to participate!

 

After I got done at Second Harvest, I headed over to the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up my bib and goody bag for the Music City Half Marathon. I am feeling less than thrilled about the weather forecast for Saturday, but I am somewhat excited about the race.

 

After the Expo, I met Chris at Outback Steakhouse for a yummy dinner. We then headed over to Flying Saucer, one of Chris's favorite places. Darts and a few drinks filled up the rest of our evening before we headed home to watch my favorite TV show, Grey's Anatomy! What a great date night with my hottie hubby!

 

On Friday, Mom and I hung out after work. She went and carb loaded with me at Olive Garden. I love that restaurant, but unfortunately Chris isn't a big Italian fan so I try to go with mom when I get the chance. Music City Half...here I come!

 

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times

This past weekend Chris and I went camping with our friends Alex and Amanda. We had such an amazing time! We just relaxed around the campfire, played cards, and ate like kings! I was in charge of cooking, so we had Greek chicken skewers, bacon and eggs, burgers, grilled chicken, pineapple, and corn, pancakes, and hot dogs! I was very surprised that all the food came out, but it did!

The best part was not only getting to spend time with our friends, but that the campsite was on a lake and our sites looked right out on it. I love spending time in God's beauty!

Bonnie and the Chocolate Factory

For my mom's birthday, Chris and I found a chocolate factory tour for her. I was able to go with her and it was so much fun! We got to eat some fruit and pretzels in their yummy chocolate fountain.

 We learned all about how chocolate is made, and then tasted different chocolates that were interesting to say the least. We started with chocolate that was 80% cacao and went down to normal milk chocolate, which is definitely our favorite!

We dipped oreos, marshmallows, and a cookie in chocolate.

And decorated our own chocolate bars.

 It was seriously so much fun and great to be able to spend time with mom! 

Chris and I have had another normal week, and I am so happy for normal sometimes. Work has been great and we are gearing up for a few busy weeks. The weather has been beautiful so we are trying to spend as much time outside as possible. 

We are also eating some lighter, summer meals. One of our new favorites is Grilled Salmon with a Cucumber Dill Salad. Yummy!

We are heading to Chattanooga next weekend to camp with some friends! I am so excited to spend a whole weekend away and can't think of a better way to spend it than enjoying God's creation!

Puts It in Perspective

Chris and I had a pretty crazy weekend! On Saturday, I planned on surprising Chris by taking him to Mayday Brewery in Murfreesboro. He's been wanting to go there for awhile and I thought it would be a fun thing for us to do. While on the way there, a guy (who kinda looked like Yoshi) rear ended us. We were in stop and go traffic, we were stopped, and then we were hit. It wasn't super hard, but it was hard enough to do about $1,000 in damage to my car. Everyone was fine and I am so thankful for that. It definitely is a reminder that we are not guaranteed our next breath. I'm just so glad that I know no matter what happens, I know God holds my future and he has it all under control!

 

 Needless to say, we didn't end up making it to our original destination.

 

We decided to go to Craft Brew Nashville instead. My husband beat me in darts, but I have to say, I did hold my own!

 

It was a fun to hang out there for just a little bit and then we headed home to watch Argo. It was nice to get out of the house and to come home and relax as well.

 

The weather has been starting to get beautiful here so we took Zeppelin to a park near our apartment for a hike on Sunday.

 

It was a nice hike in beautiful weather and I love spending time with my family outside! I am so happy spring is finally here. We are going camping with some friends in 10 days and I am so excited!

Christ Is Risen From the Dead

How blessed am I to get to write about an amazing Easter Sunday?! First and foremost, because Jesus nailed my sin to the cross, I get to spend forever in Heaven with Him. I'm pretty sure this will continue to blow my mind as long as I am on earth. But that's okay. Because we need to spend every day being thankful for His sacrifice and longing for Heaven.

 

Chris and I got up early and ate a nice breakfast of French toast...one of my all time favorite breakfasts. We then got ready and drove to my parents house to drop off the dog before church. I am so proud of us because we made it there 15 minutes early. If you know me, you know what an accomplishment this is!

After a fantastic service at Long Hollow, we went home for Easter lunch. I am not normally one who gets excited about food waaaay in advance, but for some reason this year, I was literally dreaming about Easter ham. And it was a dream worthy meal...thanks to my super awesome mom!

After lunch we played a really fun game called Loaded Questions. It was a good way to enjoy spending time together and laugh too! I love spending time with my family and it is even better when it is focused on celebrating the real reason we can smile about our future!

I am always looking for new meals to make. I absolutely love Pinterest and always do my menu planning from there. Since my work schedule switches every other week (one week I get off early M-Th, the next I am late M-Th) I try to pick easier meals for my late week. Chris loves grilled cheese and I saw an awesome idea to add guacamole to it. In the words of my husband, "It was like I had been eating in a black and white world, and now I see color." He may have been exaggerating a little bit, but seriously it is pretty amazing!

 

I'm still training for the Music City Half Marathon in just 3 short weeks. I did a nice long run today and I am not quite sure how I will be able to make it. My goal is to finish! The week after that race, I am going to be running the 5k Foam Fest. I am super stoked! Its like a fun version of the Tough Mudder so it has obstacles, mud, foam, and I'm doing it with friends so I know it will be awesome!

 

We are so blessed and I am so thankful it is finally warming up!

Spring is Finally Here

We had a great week and an even better weekend! We headed to our friends house in Chattanooga for a Saint Patrick's Day party. It was great seeing old friends and just getting away, even just for the night!

We had a completely lazy day today. We literally just didn't nothing, until about 6pm, when we cleaned the house. We both felt fine, but apparently we are getting old because we were so tired from going to bed so late and sleeping on the floor. Oh the pains of getting old :)

I absolutely love decorating our apartment for different holidays. It is something my mom always did as a kid, and it helps the house feel like it is always changing. I love the outdoor door hangers I found for this year!

Never Need A Reason, Never Need A Rhyme

This past week was just another week here at the Gardner household. With the exception of a small unexpected bonus I got at work, it was a pretty normal week. I have really been enjoying my new job and I am finally getting in the swing of things and having a great month.

 

Friday night Chris had planned a date night for us and I had no idea where we were going. He took me to PF Changs, which was super yummy and then we got Flight from Redbox and enjoyed it at home with a glass of wine. Such a great time just being together.

 

 

On Saturday, Mom and I headed to Knoxville to see Mary Poppins. It's a loooong story, but it started out being four of us a few months ago, then Chris and Dad were going to go in their place, Chris couldn't get off, and Dad got really sick, so just Mom and I made the drive. It was at the Tennessee Theater which was so pretty!

 

Since we had an extra ticket, I invited my good friend (suite mate from college and mother of our ring bearer), Kristen. It was great to get to spend time together and I know she enjoyed having a girls night out.

 

 

The show was awesome and I loved the sets, music, and twists from the movie version.

 

After the show, we headed to the Melting Pot for dessert. We had to wait for the chocolate to warm up and we didn't want to.

 

I had such a great time spending time with both Mom and Kristen. It was such a great time of fellowship and I am so blessed that I got to spend time with both of them.

 

This morning before driving back to Nashville, Mom and I met up with Kim to have lunch. It was another great time of fellowship and old stories. I love that Chris and I have two sets of parents that we can look up to for great examples of a christian marriage. And sometimes it is just fun to hang out without the boys. So glad I got to see Kim and spend time with both her and my mom together!

 

Chris and I cleaned the house and both our cars when I got back and just had a scrumptious dinner of baked chicken, sweet potatoes, zucchini and squash. Now we are getting ready to watch The Walking Dead. Yay for relaxing nights with my hubby!