New Arrivals - Clarendon

Twinkle by Wenlan dress, size 6
Boyy snakeskin and leather purse

Moschino leopard print blouse, size 6
Via Spiga suede wedges, size 7.5

All Saints silk dress, size 10

Chicken & Rice Bake Recipe

The other night I fixed a chicken and rice dish, served with broccoli and yeast rolls.  I cook pretty often, and just realized the other night that I need to start sharing my go-to recipes! Stephen and I both like this dish, and I probably fix it once a month or more.  We go through several recipes, and seem to eat the same dishes every week, and those have definitely become our dinner staples.  This recipe is super easy, healthy, and quick prep time.

Chicken & Rice Bake

Ingredients
- 1 can of Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup (I substitute the fat free for a healthier alternative.)
- 1 1/4 pound Boneless skinless chicken breasts 
- 1 cup of water (I use 1 1/3 cup, because I like my rice to be creamier.)
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of paprika
- 3/4 cup of uncooked long grain rice white rice

Directions
- Gather all ingredients

- In a 2 quart casserole dish, combine the soup, rice, ground black pepper, paprika, and water. Stir ingredients together.

- Add chicken on top.

- Place in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until chicken is done.

- And Enjoy!

What is a go-to recipe you love?



New Arrivals - Old Town

St. John embellished tunic, size 8
Alexander Wang booties, size 6
Banana Republic silver blouse with bow, size small

Miu Miu patent sling backs, size 8.5
Diane von Fursentberg belted dress, size 10

Wednesday Words

New Arrivals - Logan Circle

Philosophy Di Alberta Ferretti dress, size 4
Cynthia Rowley pony hair and leather satchel

Vintage Escada suede belt
Cynthia Vincent leather boots, size 8
Ark & Co sequin dress, various sizes

Mixing Browns & Blacks

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday it was around 69 degrees and raining, and today we have a high of 49...I can now bring out my warmer clothes, but I don't really know if it is here to stay.  I've got a lot on my plate today so it is going to be short and sweet, but I did want to share one of my favorite color combinations of the fall.

   black & brown

Black and brown? What do you think about it?  

I cannot believe that I have been listening to people when it comes to them saying that you cannot mix the two.  This has become one of my favorite combinations, as I often wear black leggings with my cognac boots.  I love the richness of the look, and it is perfect for these crisp, fall days.  I've been eyeing a Dooney and Bourke leather satchel for quite some time and have now officially added it to my Christmas list.  You know why I love it so much?  It is black leather with light brown handles! Perfect! 

How do you feel about this "new" color combination?  Are you loving it as much as I am, or do you feel like these two colors have no business with each other?

Black and brown....

Brown + Black <3

black + brown

Don't forget - I'm having a giveaway once I reach 150 followers to show my appreciation for my loyal readers!

All images are from Pinterest.

Sunny Day Preschool & Daycare

Ever since Heidi Barker can remember, she wanted to work with children and own her own day care business. When Heidi graduated from college, she started working at the Sunny Day Preschool and Daycare Center in Heber City, Utah. The school had been in existence since 1978, and housed children from 3 months up to 11 years old. Heidi had worked her way up from a teacher to the Director over a period of years.In November 2009,the previous owner decided to sell the business and the house that the Daycare Center was operated from; and she approached Heidi to buy it. The offer was fairly priced, and this was Heidi's chance to own her own business, and buy a house to live in at the same time. She needed to acquire a down payment and she approached the Orem SBDC Center to help her with a business plan to secure a loan.Heidi approached several banks and savings and loans over the next year and a half with her finished business plan, but was turned down. Her credit score was good, but she had no collateral and her income was insufficient to secure a bank loan. Heidi didn't give up - she approached the Utah Micro Enterprise Loan Fund and secured a loan from them; and scrapped together a small amount of cash from friends and relatives to make the down payment for the business only. She then worked a deal with the previous owner to lease the house until she could get a loan for the down payment on the house.On January 3, 2011, she registered the Sunny Day Preschool and Daycare, LLC in her name, retained the four employees, added more children to maximize capacity (she currently has a waiting list of children), updated her license with the State of Utah, and has made a profit ever since.When asked what role the SBDC has played in this, she states, "The Orem SBDC helped me write the business plan, value the business, secure the loan, and negotiate the lease. They made it all possible. When it seemed I would fail, they encouraged me to keep going forward."As a new business owner, Heidi overcame many challenges, like molding the former employees into a cohesive, motivated team, collecting past due invoices, and conforming to the myriad of State regulations.Heidi feels the secret of her success is lots of hard work (13 hour days, 6 days a week) and total "face time" with her employees, the kids, the parents, and the stakeholders. The school is her life and she loves it. Heidi feels the best part of being an entrepreneur and owning her own business is the difference she can make in children's lives. She tells them everyday, "you can overcome all odds - you can do anything you want, just like I did."When Heidi is asked for advice on opening a business, she responds, "Go see the Orem SBDC for help. They will help make your dream come true."
"The Orem SBDC helped me write the business plan, value the business, secure the loan, and negotiate the lease. They made it all possible. When it seemed I would fail, they encouraged me to keep going forward.""you can overcome all odds - you can do anything you want, just like I did."
Heidi feels the secret of her success is lots of hard work (13 hour days, 6 days a week) and total "face time" with her employees, the kids, the parents, and the stakeholders. The school is her life and she loves it. Heidi feels the best part of being an entrepreneur and owning her own business is the difference she can make in children's lives. She tells them everyday, "you can overcome all odds - you can do anything you want, just like I did."

Thanksgiving Break Catch-Up

Whew! I had a fantastic break and I'm not ready to meet the real world today.  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with your family and friends!

Here's just a short recap of my break: Wednesday mom and I went shopping and had dinner together, and it was great to able to relax and just shop with her.  I ended up picking up a few things on my Christmas list [teacher appropriate clothes from LOFT] and had fun trying on lots of different shoes in Belk.  On Thanksgiving day, Stephen's family came over for lunch with my family.  It was great to able to get together, and this was our first year eating together.  I can't believe next year at this time Stephen and I will have been married for almost 4 months.  On Friday, I enjoyed sleeping in and then my MOH, Jordan, came over and we headed to look at bridesmaid dresses.  This is by far the hardest part of wedding planning to me.  I hate making decisions for others, I have so many body types in my wedding that I want the dress to flatter everyone, and I just want the dress to be the perfect shade of light pink - almost impossible.  We stopped by Target and I snagged a few deals, but nothing special.  Once I got home I had to bundle up, because we were headed to the local high school's 3rd round playoff football game.  It was about two hours away and I was scrunched between my brother and my adoptive brother.  They both play football in college and there was about no room in my mom's SUV, because their thighs are huge! The team ended up losing - horribly.  Saturday, I ran around town with mom running errands and going to the grocery store, then did some homework for the rest of the night - boring!!! Sunday, we woke up, went to church, and I felt a cold coming on and laid down to take a nap. I couldn't believe it when I woke up 3 hours later! Stephen got into town later that night and we headed back to school.  Although I didn't have that exciting of a break, it was definitely a much needed slower pace, relaxing time.

I have taken vitamins, extra vitamin C, and Airbourne to try to combat this oncoming cold.  Have yall tried this stuff? It was absolutely disgusting, and I have no idea how I survived the 6 oz.  I've heard great things about it, and I'd really like some confirmation that it works, because it was a struggle earlier for me to even get it down!

The countdown for Christmas break has officially begun! 


Highlands

This Thanksgiving, Aaron and I trekked up to Highlands, NC, to meet my parents for a much needed weekend away. The trip was only about 2 1/2 hours so it was perfect with all the mountain views (would have been shorter without the dreaded Atlanta traffic).

Highlands is gorgeous... the most precious little town nestled in the mountains. The house was also perfect for the fam, the dogs, lots of food and football.

(This a warning that there are a lot of Winston pics ahead.) 
This captures his pure hatred of winding mountain roads. He is sprawled out for dear life.
Our stay started out with dinner at the local pizza joint and apparently every other visitor had the same plan (maybe because every other restaurant was closed)
The dogs are suited up for a hike to Dry Falls
This is Winston trying to avoid Aubie sitting on him 
Dry Falls which is ironically not dry at all
You can walk under the falls too!
My boys 
Our hike began here...
And ended at the top of Whiteside Mountain
My fear of heights wasn't too much of a problem
Gorgeous view
Couple shot
The parentals
Aaron was on a ledge at this point to capture the pic
We tried to capture a father/son moment but this was as close as Winston would get
Granite City 
Which was just a bunch of huge rocks, ledges and climbing places
Aaron captured my out-of-shape self scaling the hill
Sunset Rock (a little foggy but a view of Highlands)
And Winston thought he was a cat and lounged on the couch
And here is beggar Winston. He liked turkey and sweet potato casserole :)
And another picture of the fur baby morphing into a frog (or at least his face looks like that)

It was an amazing trip full of laughs, family and relaxation. Just what we needed!

Now back to the real world after a few days away from reality :(

Love,