Mixbook Pet Album

Part of my 30 before 30 list was to make a digital photo album of our pets. This may sound like a small task but if you know me then you know I have hundreds of pictures of our babies. I put this on my to do list because I wanted to make sure it got done! However, as I was starting to gather all of my digital pictures I've taken of our pets over the years, our cat George became very ill and passed away. I postponed making this album for many months mainly because it just made me sad to work on it. Knowing that George was no longer living and looking through hundreds of pictures of his sweet little face was just more than I could handle.

But with the help of Mixbook, I have finally finished our 30 page album of our little fur children: Hazel, our calico cat, Conner, our cocker spaniel, and Scooter, our border collie/lab mix. And I couldn't leave out Georgie. The last page of the album is a spread of our favorite pictures of George in memory of our favorite "fat cat."

I'm so happy I can mark this item off my list. Not only is it one less thing to accomplish between now and my 30th birthday, but now I have this great little album to put on our coffee table to show to our family & friends. :)

(Mixbook is not paying me in any way to write this post. I just like their website!)

Zucchini Fries

As y'all probably all know, Pinterest has taken me captive. It has a hold of me and won't let go. I have found a few yummy looking recipes that I pinned. Included in those recipes is this amazing recipe that I just have to share with my blog friends. Zucchini fries...and lemme tell ya, they are amazing!

Here is the recipe I found from Pinterest and I slightly adapted it to make it gluten free for me.

Baked Zucchini Fries

About 1 lb. zucchini

1/2 c. Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs (I used what I had available - Gluten Free Crispy Chicken Coating Mix. You could use any sort of gluten free bread crumbs. )

I added about 1 tbsp of onion powder, 1 tbsp. garlic salt and 2 tbsp. of Cajun Italian Seasoning we just picked up on our New Orleans trip.

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (the crumbly stuff, not shreds)

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Whisk 2 eggs together in a shallow pie plate and set aside.

Cut the ends off the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half so you have two short, stubby pieces. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half, making 2 planks. Repeat with the remaining halves (so you’ll get 16 planks per zucchini).

Stack 2 planks on top of each other and cut into strips. Thicker strips will yield “meatier” fries with more zucchini flavor while thin strips will be crispy and taste virtually nothing like zucchini. When all the fries are cut, blot the pieces with a paper towel.

Working with a small handful at a time, dip the zucchini sticks in the egg, shake them to remove any excess, and then roll them in about 2-3 tablespoons of bread crumbs at a time, adding more as needed; you just don’t want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because they’ll soak up moisture from the egg and won’t stick to the zucchini. Place the coated strips on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini strips have been coated.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in the prepared oven then remove from oven, flip the fries, and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the zucchini is not soggy and the coating is crisp and golden brown. Serve immediately with Pizza Sauce or Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

Follow me on Pinterest! :)

New Orleans

The Buies just returned from one of my favorite cities, NEW ORLEANS!

I mean, who doesn't love New Orleans?! We have been wanting to go for years! I have been several times but Buie had never been to downtown NOLA... EVER! He had only been to the Superdome for a Chiefs game years ago. I was in shock when he told me this bit of info. and I immediately put NOLA on our list of cities to visit together because what's a visit to New Orleans without visiting the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. Am I right?

As I began planning this trip I thought how cool it would be to have our pictures taken in the French Quarter. The history, the architecture, the culture, the people, the art...I could go on and on about the reasons why I love this city. So we had our very own photo shoot by the gorgeous and talented Jen Amato. I found her through Facebook (don't you love Facebook?) and fell in love with her work. We met Jen in front of the Cathedral our first day in the city and had a fun but oh so muggy shoot in the French Quarter.These pictures will be an update from our last pictures we took almost two years ago. They will also serve as our Christmas card pics so be watching for them on the blog as well as in your mailbox! :)Buie & I thoroughly enjoyed this trip mainly because we just enjoyed each other. This was the first trip we have been on that has been JUST US TWO since our honeymoon in 2008. We drank excellent coffee, ate amazing seafood every meal, had our palms read in Jackson Square and listened to breath taking jazz music.

One thing that I told Buie was a MUST for him was to eat beignets from Cafe Du Monde. Of course, since they are made with wheat flour and not at all gluten free, sadly I could not partake in the deliciousness, but this didn't stop me from watching Buie enjoy his first French doughnut! Yum! I remember the days (before I was gluten free) when I could eat these lovely treats and I remember just how yummy they were. I sipped on iced coffee and snapped a few pics of the monumental occasion while B drenched himself with powdered sugar. :)

One of the main reasons we went down South this weekend was for my college roommate's engagement party. Her parents threw her a big party at their house complete with a live band, big white tents and lots of her closest friends and family. Their family owns a bit of land in South Louisiana and recently they had spotted a 4 foot gator in their pond. We didn't see Mr. Gator on this trip but we did have a great time.

I'll leave you with this clip of New Orleans jazz that I shot one night downtown. Ahhh, I swear they will be playing music like this in heaven. Enjoy!

28 years

I've been in this world for 28 years. It's been a good 28 years. I was born to 2 wonderful parents. I have 2 pretty cool brothers who married 2 pretty cool ladies, giving me 2 pretty cool sister in laws, who then gave me 2 adorable kids to call my nephew and my niece. :) I married a wonderful man named Brent Buie. I have the best in laws a girl could ask for. My husband and I have 3 awesome pets. I have the best friends in the world who would do anything for me. I have the best job in the world, taking pictures of wonderful people like YOU! Yup. I'd say these 28 years have been pretty darn good! :)

Today was a great day filled with gifts, sweet texts and calls, a new hair cut, and plenty of gluten free pizza and donuts! :) Thanks, friends, for making my 28th birthday so special.

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bad day/good day

Yesterday was a crazy day. I play Bunko every month with a fun group of girls. There are about 12 of us, so each girl takes one month out of the year to host Bunko at her house. The host is in charge of cooking dinner and buying the Bunko prizes who the winners, along with everything else that goes along with having company. Well, July was my month and yesterday was Bunko. Yesterday was also the day my husband's truck decided it needed a new battery. We had JUST loaded up about $250 worth of groceries into his truck, when he put his key in the ignition and nothing. Click. Completely dead. Today of all days I did not need a dead car battery in the middle of Kroger's parking lot when it's 98 degrees outside AND I have 12 people coming over to my house in 4 hours for dinner. ARG! We were seriously frustrated.

But we called a tow truck, hopped into the creepy tow truck dude's big truck and headed to the Ford dealership where they told us it was just the battery. We ended up picking up Bar-b-q to go and had a wonderful evening with friends.

But at the end of the day, I would have seriously lost my mind without my wonderful husband who helped me clean the house, pick up food and get everything ready for my guests.

After everyone had gone home and we sat down on the couch exhausted, Buie said, "You know, today has been a really good day." :) It's funny how when you go through bad days together, they don't seem all that bad anymore.

Weekend Review: I'm Alive

While hundreds of bloggers out there are posting about their fabulous weekends on the lake or their kid's birthday party or traveling to the beach, I woke up this morning just happy to be alive. Ok. I'm probably being a tad bit dramatic. But the hole I wore in our sofa this weekend from literally not moving off of it, might say otherwise. I'm really not even sure what hit me. I thought it was sinus stuff again so I had my sweet husband load up on the good stuff: a Netti Pot, (which all my friends on Facebook apparently swear by- it's still in the box, by the way. I can't bring myself to stick anything up one side of my nose that pours liquid out the other side. Gross. But it's here. In case of an emergency, I guess.) some M&M's and Mucinex DM.

Sunday morning I woke up with 105 temperature! Holy moly! Where did that come from!? Who knows. But I took a lukewarm shower and drank up all the liquids in the house. It came down to 103.5. It stayed somewhere between 102 and 103 for most of the day.

My husband came home from work and brought me more magic pills, aka M&M's. This brought my fever down to 101.4. Did anyone know that M&M's are also a fever reducer. They really should put that on their label!

I woke up this morning, still in tact and happy to be alive. I haven't even taken my temp this morning but I have a package of M&M's handy just in case. ;)

So that was MY weekend! What did YOU do this weekend?

Worth Celebrating

This weekend marks one of my favorite times of the entire year for many reasons: the Fourth of July, our anniversary, Landon's birthday are just a few of the reasons I love this first week in July. This weekend I went to our favorite family restaurant, Port au Prince, to get our fill of catfish, fries, family and fellowship. I snapped a few pics of my mom holding Makaylan that I thought were cute.

On the Fourth, we were excited to find out Buie got off work and could join my friends and I on Lake Hamilton. We loaded up our car with our ice chest, towels, food enough for the day and headed to Hot Springs. I grew up going to the lake with my family so I LOVE being on the water! There were 8 of us who rented a party barge and had a great time! That night B & I lit sparkers on our back porch and watched the neighbors's fireworks from our backyard.

The best part about the lake, I thought, was the snow cones that delivered to the boats on the lakes! Genius idea!

Today, the 5th, is our wedding anniversary. We are celebrating being married for 3 glorious years. Our first wedding anniversary we were on vacation with my entire family in Branson for the Fourth. Last year on the 5th, we celebrated the birth of Landon by spending our anniversary at Baptist Hospital. Both ways are excellent ways to celebrate marriage & family, but this year we are being bums and staying in our pajamas all day! ha!

Happy Anniversary, baby!

And Happy Birthday to Landon! We love you so much!

Landon's 1st birthday party

What a whirlwind weekend it has been already and it's not over yet! Friday evening I drove down to Minden to be in town for our nephew's first birthday! Landon's family & close friends celebrated his first birthday at his GiGi's house Saturday morning. We all gathered early before the Louisiana heat set in. GiGi has a nice pool, fun pool toys & plenty of room for the whole family!

Nicole did such a great job on all the decorations. The theme was "Under the Sea" - there were pictures of Landon from each month so we could see how much he has grown!

Landon's little buddies were all there. They had fun swimming, laughing, playing with new pool toys.
Landon loves to ride on his big jet ski! :) I LOVE this picture of my brother, Craig and Landon. He's waving at my daddy who is standing by watching him play. So sweet.
And of course you can't have a birthday party without CAKE! Landon had his very own cake. We all watched intently to see what he would do. He gingerly poked his fingers around in the sweet treat unsure of what to do with it.
Then he dove in, covering his hands and arms in yummy icing.
After his mom took his shirt off, he really got down and dirty. :)
After cake we watched him open presents and play with all his new toys. Happy Birthday, Landon! You are loved! I can't wait to continue to watch you grow up!
Here is our whole family minus Buie who had to work back home in Arkansas.

One of Nicole's friends made this cute video from the party & I thought I'd share the link with y'all! It's so cute! Click here to see it!