This weekend Chris & I went to the Knoxville Zoo for their annual Feast with the Beast. It's been years since I've been, so we didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be so fun and we had some very yummy food. I didn't take any food pictures, but we had some excellent bread pudding from New Orleans on the River. Even though it's in Sevierville, we WILL be making that long drive to get some more. Also, most of my friends know that I do not usually eat any meat off the bone. I'm not a picky eater (at all) but I do not like to chew and gnaw on bones. However, Texas Road House had some amazing ribs that just melted in your mouth.

The rhino's have the right idea. The only way to stay cool was to be submerged in water. It was only about 85 degrees, but it was so humid. Felt like Memphis to me. We ate our yummy ribs while the pleasant rhino odor drifted over us.

We moved on to the tent where they were playing some super loud country music. No wonder we found an empty table here. There was also some weird rice concoction with coconut that we didn't care for. Had to wash that down with a margarita. I'm hiding behind Chris in this picture so you can't see that I'm covered in sweat. I felt like I was melting.

Here's my mother-in-law and Steve trying the weird coconut rice. Notice the almost full plates. Once the sun went down it cooled off a bit and we were able to try foods from all the vendors. Not sure if we'll go back next year, but it was definitely a fun experience.

I'm joining in again over at Kelly’s Korner. I have had so much fun with these blog hops. Today is Vacation Spots. Honduras is my favorite place on earth. I've been blessed to go there several times. I've only been there specifically for vacation once, the other times have been mission trips. We worked in Tegucigalpa for 2 weeks each time and then spent a few days in Roatan, one of the bay islands off the coast in the Caribbean sea. Chris hasn't been there and I can't wait to take him! You might say to yourself, this is not much of a vacation, but I always come back so refreshed and relaxed with a renewed sense of where I'm going and what I want to do with my life.

All the girls from the trip, the teenagers and the adult chaperons. I love you all!

We build houses for families in the communities. On this trip, we built 10 houses in 12 days.

This is the sweet lady and one of her many children that will live here in front of the finished house. Notice there is no floor. This is basically a one room shack, but the people are always so grateful. I always come back with such a sense of not needing as much stuff.

The beautiful sunset viewed from Eagle Ray's, where I always eat the coconut grouper. YUM!


Touring the mangrove tunnels, where the pirates used to hide from the British Fleet.


The beautiful beach cabanas where we stay in the West End.

Darling picture of all our flippers before we went snorkeling. The water is amazing clear and calm. Because of the reef, the shoreline is more like a lake, very smooth, with no big waves. Great for walking in and viewing the underwater life.

I can't wait to go back!

****UPDATE***** I'm adding the recipe at the bottom so I can participate in the fun over at Kelly’s Korner. I'm not much of a measurer, but I'll give it my best guess. Happy Cooking!


My new sister-in-law is, (how shall we say)........... Green. She's sailed all over the world, lived in Central America, New Zealand and is now working on a coffee farm in Hawaii. Yes, we are going to visit. Soon. She's a vegetarian and is a very good cook. For a wedding gift, she gave us an annual subscription to a local CSA, which I just recently discovered stands for Community Sustainable Agriculture. We just call it Green Man Farm. Every Saturday, we go down to the Farmer's Market and pick up our weekly share of vegetables.

I didn't really know what to think of it at first, but thought it would be cool. Then the first week came. In our share, we got some greens that looked like, I kid you not, clover. Turns out they're pea greens. And they're quite tasty in soup. And it only got better from there. We had the tastiest broccoli I have ever eaten. We also got kale, which I had never tried before. Since I didn't know what to do with it, I googled kale recipes and mostly found soup. Some looked OK, but they weren't exactly what I wanted, so I modified. And came up with one of the best soups I have ever eaten. I felt like Giada De Laurentiis cooking in the kitchen.

Everything here except the broth, hot sauce, pasta and beans came from the CSA or my garden.

A little tour of what it looked like while cooking.

And yet I don't. In the past I have always disliked them. I'm kind of a germ-a-phobe. I don't like digging through other people's dirty, stinky, yucky rejects. I'm always amazed that you go to a sale and you see torn or stained clothes with a $3 price tag. NOBODY wants damaged clothes. From 1982. Not even for a quarter. That being said, Raechel was posting so many good finds, that it inspired me to give it another try. And I've learned a lot this summer. If you pick and choose the neighborhoods you want to go to, you can find quite a few nifty little treasures. For Example:

$5.00 - This only retails for around $30, but it was brand new, still had the plastic wrapped around it with the bubble wrap inside the box and I was planning on buying one before Thanksgiving this year anyways, so I went for it. That's a savings of $25.

$5.00 - I got this lovely apothecary jar that I immediately put on my mantel. Again, $5 is a little steep for a garage sale, but I was going to buy one from Pottery Barn anyways, and would have had to pay at least $50, so I consider it a steal!!!!!

$0.25 - I got this darling little turquoise (we all know how I love it) dress. I know I don't have a daughter yet, but I can dream can't I??? I want her to wear it with a pair of these Baby Legs. (no news on the baby front, still in the 2WW)

$3.00 - This is a full size wicker chair that will go perfectly in the guest room that I have set up for my niece. I didn't even have to bargain, she had it priced at $3. I'm going to spray paint it purple and recover the cushions in some funky fabric.

And the best deal that I got, sorry no picture, was an end table. I went to an "estate sale" in a gated community. They basically opened the doors to the house and everything inside was for sale. I got an end table for $30 that still had the $250 price tag on it. And it exactly matched our entertainment center. Score!

Now I'm hooked. I'll be treasure hunting every Saturday morning, schedule permitting, from now on.

The beautiful and tasty cake. Christy and I made the flower embellishments out of fondant. My friend Diana made the double chocolate amaretto cake with ganache icing. YUM. Check out the too cute napkins that I got at Swoozie’s.

He surprised me with this little kiss and it's one of my favorite pics.

We wanted the food to be GOOD. And different. So we had Taste of Thai (one of our favorite resturants) and Sushi. We loved it.

I embellished the take out boxes with our intial for the stir fry. Soooo cute!



We actually ate our wedding. Remember, I wanted it to be a party.

We did a bit better on the wine. My mother- in- law got these drink tubs at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $5 each. And she let me keep them!

I think Fred had more fun than anyone.

A Full Dance Floor.

My Dad with Flo.


Last Dance.

I've only recently discovered the blog world, and I have been amazed at some of the things I have read on blogs. At first, I was a little surprised at all the details that some people felt comfortable enough to share. Let me be the first to say, I'm not a private person. I don't mind talking about things. In fact, I find it helpful to talk things over with friends and family. The only thing is, very few people can really understand what I'm going through or how I feel when it comes to infertility.

Then I discovered blogs where people are not only going through some of the same things, they are going through things far worse than me. I was in complete denial and did not want to accept that I was one of the infertile. I didn't want to share because that would mean I was one of them. I didn't want to know what BFN, TTC, or CM stood for. They say that accepting something is the first step in overcoming it, right?

So I'm sharing. With the 3 people that read this blog. Infertility sucks. There, I said it. I wish someone could just tell me what to do. If they did I would do it. But the Dr can't find anything wrong, so I can't fix it. I just have to wait. Patiently. Yeah right.