How does your garden grow?

For some reason I've had that nursery rhyme stuck in my head today. I have no idea where it came from but it did prompt me to take some pictures of my veggie garden and some of my flowers. I always say I'm going to do pictures every couple weeks to watch the progress but I never do. It's so fun to look back and see how much stuff has changed. Strange how you don't notice it til you look back at pictures!
This year I planted tons of different kinds of peppers (my favorite veggie of all time), some onions, tomatoes, cat nip, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkins. It's so fulfilling to eat what you grow. I get jealous of my sister-in-law in Florida because she can grow stuff year round!
Last year I built my veggie garden walls (went to home depot and found it all myself!) It sadly wasn't a very successful year last year because of the late May freeze which killed a lot of what I had. But this year is a different story!

Here is May:

And this was today:

It's so hot, you can see the haze!

And here are a few more pictures:

Some jalapenos : )

A little bell pepper : )

This is only about 1/3 of the pumpkin plant!

One of the flowers on the side of the house

 We also have a huge window box in the front of our house. I never plant perennials there because I like to have a different look every year. That has changed way more than I realized too.
May:

 And here was today:

When it comes to gardening, I still don't really know what I'm doing. I like the whole...'figure it out as you go' sort of thing. Most of the time it works out.

Today was one of those great, productive, happy days. I did most of the things on my to do list, spent time outside, and avoided doing dishes : ) Instead I am sitting here, listening to some Bon Iver and drinking cheap wine in a questionably clean glass. Good start to a Friday night if you ask me!

College Buddies

Happy Birthday to Crystal! It was very fun to see some of my college friends tonight. After work, we we went out to celebrate at a bar/grill that had a great live musician : ) We could chat for hours I'm pretty sure....and if you add in some wine or cocktails we could probably chat for days. It's so fun to enjoy ourselves now in our kid-less lives and dream about how fun and crazy it will be when we all have babies someday! Love you ladies! (and boys too I guess! ; )  )

The Birthday Girl!

Good 'ol Chicago Ave

After working 16 hours today, I was in a very tired, hazy, craving tater tots state of mind. As I pulled out of the parking ramp and onto Chicago Ave it took a triple take and a long stare to really process what I saw.
Now don't be fooled, I have seem plenty-o-action on my post evening shift car rides home. A police standoff with guns drawn and the suspect's hands in the air, people shooting up on the corner, drunk people fighting or just being obnoxious, police tape after a shooting in the McDonald's parking lot. There's never really a dull moment.
But today I saw this tall lanky shadowy figure and then I realized all I could see was a pair of long legs. And I thought to myself, "wow, he has some short ass shorts on!'' and then my eyes continued up until I finally saw the shiny fabric of his skin tight man panties! That's right, the only thing he was wearing were his undies...but the best part was, he was strutting cat-walk style down the side-walk. I am not sure what he was doing. I don't think that 1145pm on Chicago Ave is the best time/place to be discovered for your strutting skills in hopes of making it big in the modeling industry, but what do I know?
Let's just say I got in a good loud giggle. I wonder what I'll see next time! : )

Yum Yum!

So I finally bit the bullet and splurged on the ridiculously expensive gluten free corn flakes I found a few weeks ago. I have been wanting to make ''special k'' bars for awhile but every time I saw that small, almost $7  box of cereal, I chickened out. I mean, that's ridiculous. Aren't the regular old cheap corn flakes supposed to be made out of CORN? Turns out this gluten free experience has made me realize how much crap is in processed food. Almost all cereal even if it's made from rice or corn has malt added into it which contains gluten. Not saying gluten free substitutes are any better...but it's crazy how much stuff is added to these foods. But, I am happy to report that unlike some of my horrible gluten free recipe disasters (and there have been many, just ask my poor husband who has to try it all), this one turned out pretty dern good!

Half frosted for Jason, I'm not the hugest chocolate fan.

 Even though most people probably know how to make these, here is the recipe just in case! Thanks to the Nanc (my mom) for passing it on to me.

Bri's Gluten Free Special K Bars
Mix and melt over medium heat:
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup karo syrup
-1/2 cup butter
Bring those ingredients to a boil and then add:
-1 cup of peanut butter
Once all melted, pour over 6 cups of gluten free rice krispies or corn flakes.
Press into pan evenly.
Frosting: 1 package of milk chocolate chips, 1 package of butterscotch chips. Melt over medium heat and spread over bars. (I only used half this recipe since I only frosted half)
Let cool and enjoy!

Simple, Helpful

"Just start where you are"  ~ Pema Chodron

Monday Funday

I am convinced that the best thing about being a hospital nurse is that I get days off during the week. It's awesome. I can go to Target and the grocery store when hardly anyone is there (compared to the weekend at least) and I can just do whatever I want while most other people have to work. At times, my lazy tendencies get in the way and I accomplish absolutely nothing, but I do my best to do at least one productive thing per day. Two if I'm lucky.

Trip?
My husband has spent all of his summer studying for the bar exam which means I have had to entertain myself even more than normal. Usually he will jump around, act crazy, and entertain me so it's been kind of dull so far. So I have taken it upon myself to find ways to spend money we don't have and plan my dream trip to Peru. For some reason I have always wanted to go there and have been totally intrigued by the country and the ancient culture. I think I have found a way that we can afford to go, perhaps over our 2 year anniversary this winter? Time will tell and depending on what kind of job the hubby gets, that will really determine if we can leave for/afford a trip like this.
But in the meantime...I shall keep on plannin'!

Gluten Free
On a gluten-free note, today starts my ''recommitting" to the gluten free lifestyle. So far, so good. I know how to treat myself right which I learned in the beginning stages of this diet...so I am taking advantage of that and eating some of my favorite gluten free things to get me excited. It's a little easier this time since I have been mostly eating gluten free with some cheat days mixed in, but it's good to start off with something totally delicious to remind me that it's not so bad : )
My two magic ''food'' items come from Jamba Juice and Chipotle. Both gluten free and both so frickin' tasty!
Unfortunately since the hubs and I have decided to only allow ourselves one coffee/smoothie and one lunch from a restaurant per week (in an effort to save money and stop spending RIDICULOUS amounts on eating out), I have met my quota for the week after only being awake for 4 hours. Haha! Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do.
This was totally worth it...

The trifecta of awkwardness
It's HOT out today. When I left bootcamp today (my workout which I love), my car said it was 103* outside. That may have been a bit of a stretch, but it sure feels close to that!
Seems like a perfect day to enjoy my inflatable pool right? Sure!
I mean check it out...filled with cold water, 2 cup holders, and even a blow-up lounger built in to accommodate half-sleeping naps! Who wouldn't want to lay in this baby when it's a million degrees out?

  Well that's where the trifecta comes in. The trifecta I am referring to are the neighbors surrounding me. The ones to our left, right, and straight ahead. How fitting. A perfect triangle.

To our right we have some new neighbors who are living there until the owner's foreclosure goes through. There are several random people (all very friendly and nice) who do a variety of questionable jobs at all hours of the night to make a living. I don't know what's worse, the horrible stench of rotting animal flesh coming from their bonfire pit which has yet to be burned after a good 2 weeks of flies infesting whatever is buried under the pile of crap or the fact that one of the guys told me he was going to come join me in the pool. No thanks.
Straight ahead we have an older man who has a beautiful yard. He has a kick ass vegetable garden and is always very helpful in answering my gardening questions. But the only problem is, when he starts talking it takes a good 30+ minutes to break away from conversation. Last week he got me when I was watering my veggie garden so I couldn't pretend like I was busy (sounds mean, but trust me...it's necessary sometimes). He proceeded to tell me all about how he was dreading the weekend and how he always has to hang out with his mother-in-law when he'd rather be doing something more fun. He continued to tell me how he was sure she would have been dead by now since she was in her 90's and asked me when it was his turn to do something fun. I didn't quite know how to respond to that and just nodded and continued on with the never-ending conversation. I think he feels like he can talk to me about this now since he has brought it up on several other occasions since then. Needless to say, when he drove by today, I pretended I was sleeping. Do I want to talk about your mother-in-law and how you wish she would just die already, again? No thanks.
And last but most certainly not least...to our left we have a guy who is in his 40's and lives with his mom. He sits in his garage all day smoking pot and drinking beer....and staring into our yard. Last week when I was lounging in my luxury pool he stopped over three separate times in less than 2 hours to talk. Once to offer me a pop (which I clearly had my own in my hand already), another to offer me a pair of his huge glaucoma sunglasses because he thought it looked like I was squinting (I had my sunglasses on already), and another to ask me where my 'boyfriend' Jesse was. I don't know how many hundreds of times I have told him we are married and that his name is Jason, but it never quite clicks. So I don't even correct him anymore. Although he is nice enough, he is also the same man who waters his mom's lawn by hand, several times a day and took it upon himself to come into our yard last summer and 'trim' our lilac bush into what mostly resembled a bonzai tree afterward. So in addition to his 'friendliness' I know he is staring into our yard judging me for not mowing our lawn today, despite the 100* heat. No thanks.
So as I laid in the pool today, sunk as low as possible hoping no one would notice me, I wondered if a privacy fence might be a better investment than a trip to Peru for the time being : )

Louie
Our cat Louie has only one purpose in life. To get outside. It's especially bad in the summertime when he knows it's not cold. When he's not sleeping, he literally meows all day long at the door, hoping we will let him outside. It's obnoxious.

Please Mommy?

Luckily, our sweet Pierre is very polite and doesn't ask for much.











A good day
Overall, today has been a great day so far. I can't wait to hang out with my hubby later and relax....because I have worked my ass off today ; ). Oh and my veggie garden is finally starting to be fruitful (or veggieful). I am going to find a way to incorporate these bad boys into our dinner!

Hope everyone is having a great day : )
~ Bri

Shout Out

I'd like to give a shout out to Amy from work for inspiring my blog title. I have been wanting to start a blog for a few years and haven't really been able to decide what to call it. And thanks to the many nicknames given to me by said co-worker Amy (who very well might be one of the most hilarious people ever), I have my title. I don't even remember where bri-licious came from or what the story is behind it. But I do know there is bri-yonce and many other names that come out of her mouth most of the times we work together.
This blog is meant to be my self modge-podge (if that's a word) of things I like, struggle with, am trying to change, yummy recipes, horrible recipes, and just random crap I feel like writing about! : ) I don't frankly care if anyone reads it but in an effort to have something funny to look back on (like my 4th grade diary), basically I'm pretty much doing this for my future entertainment.
So if you happen to be reading this, welcome! Happy to have you.


And instead of writing about my attempted gluten-free lifestyle and other random goings on, I better just go to bed since it is after 3 am on a Sunday.                Right?
Nah.
Here's the short and bittersweet:
I have been trying to eat gluten-free since February of this year. The reason I attempted this way of eating is because of feeling fatigued and having major abdominal pain/digestive issues. I have been tested for celiac disease twice and those tests have come back negative. So I am under the assumption that I am gluten intolerant rather than straight-up celiac. The reason I feel this to be true is when I eat gluten free I am much more energetic, clear-minded, happy, and don't have stomach aches. All huge bonuses. I was kicking ass on the gluten free diet for a good 4 months when I started slipping. It's not an easy diet to follow. Especially for me...the all kinds of bread lover. Pasta, breading on fried food, pizza, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.!  I have allowed myself some cheat days...some with bad reactions by my body others with none. So the inevitable point has come where I need to recommit myself to being totally gluten free because cheating once or twice a week isn't doing me any good and I am starting to feel like my old, tired, sluggish self again.
So writing this down will hopefully help me to hold myself responsible for eating better. : )

And now that it's nearly 330, I suppose I better actually get some sleep!