Homemade Chicken Fried Rice

2 packages garden veggie whole grain rice (90 seconds microwavable rice)

1 package frozen stir fry veggie mix

minced garlic

ginger

light soy sauce

w sauce

onion powder

black pepper

water

4 eggs

2 to 3 chicken breasts (cooked and cut up into small pieces)

Cook your chicken. Let rest for 10 min or so then cut up. (or make your chicken a day ahead and cut up so it's ready to go) In a frying pan scramble 4 eggs, then set aside. Add pam spray to your skillet and cook up the frozen veggies. While the veggies are cooking, cook your microwaveable rice. Add some water, w sauce, light soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger, onion powder and black pepper. Add your cooked rice, mix up and then add your chicken and scrambled eggs. Cook on medium, adding water when needed to keep from drying out. Then enjoy! My husband enjoyed this very much. He told me he never needs to order Chinese again since I'm doing an awesome job making our own. :)

New Things Monday

Today, I'm talking about Wegmans Fruit Flats. It's a fruit roll-up or fruit leather. Whatever you want to call it. I got the strawberry and the grape since I love those the best. I was very disappointed in the strawberry one. It was really bland. No real taste to it at all. I won't be getting that one again. I tried the grape one today and I really like it. It tastes good. It's a quick and no mess snack. :)

Handmade T-shirt Quilt

A few years ago, Kristen made Nate a t-shirt quilt for his birthday using all his old t-shirts from Stafford High School. It's so comfy to snuggle up in. Kristen promised Ashley and me that she would teach us how to make one.

Here is a picture of Nate's t-shirt quilt!

First off, you need a big area to work in. A lot of table space is key. Kristen rented out a room at a church right near her house. It was the perfect little room to get stuff done in. Good idea K! :)

Some of your fabric will need to be ironed so make sure you have an iron and ironing board.

I brought along Nate's t-shirt quilt to use as a guide to lay my pieces as they were measured and cut out.

Once you get your strips done you can go ahead and cut out your shirts. It's good to use shirts that are worn out, or no longer fit. I used a bunch of old station shirts. Either the shirts are too big for me, have old logo or are just old. I also used some headphone tees I had.

I didn't have enough regular shirts so I cut some of the logos from the corners of shirts to use piece together into one large square. :)

Always remember when sewing to sew pretty side to pretty side. :) I ended up having some issues with the way I measured but Ashley and Kristen helped me fix it where only we know the imperfections. :)

You need fleece and quilt batting. The batting goes inside your quilt and the fleece is your back.

Add your quilt face down onto the fleece and pin down.

Then sew along the edge of the quilt.....

Ashley is helping me out here. She's really fast on the sewing machine and she just whipped along finishing the sewing. You have to make sure you leave a medium size opening at one end so you'll be able to turn it inside out. :)

Once you turn it inside out.......

Ashley's VCU Quilt:

Kristen's JMU Quilt for Dave:

All 3 finished Quilts:

It took us from 9am until about 12am. haha But it was worth it. It feels good to start a project and end it all in the same day. It was an awesome day. Thanks Kristen and Ashley! :)

New Things Monday

Have you tried Wendy's Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt? I don't typically eat at Wendy's but one day I stopped in with some radio peeps to grab a quick lunch and tried the new fries for the first time. They were good. Then the other day after the Taylor Swift concert, Kristen and I grabbed a quick dinner from Wendy's. The fries were really HOT and I really liked them. Def like them hot better then warm. I would get again if I'm ever craving Wendy's. :)

Birthday 2011 Fun

Yesterday, was a fun-filled day on the Rappahannock River. To celebrate Sharon's and my birthday we got some friends and family together to all take a River Brunch Cruise.

Welcome aboard. (some pics are taken from Kristen's flickr)

Here is the boat parked at the Fredericksburg City Dock.

Paddle Wheel :)

Chatham Bridge with a train sitting on tracks.

There was a live band playing 90's cover songs. I thought they sounded nice.

Sharon's niece and nephew. Soooo cute and very well behaved. :)

River view from boat

One of the guys steering the boat. Sharon's niece and nephew went up and they let them steer the boat and also blow the horn. So cute! :)

We had a buffet brunch. On the buffet was salad, dressing, rolls, fruit (with pineapple, passion fruit, peaches and papaya) carrot cake, Macaroni salad, Green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes, quiche (sausage, egg and cheese) and then some roast beef.

Gene (Nate's dad) getting ready to eat. :)

Kristen made cupcakes!! They were so awesome and tasted so good. They are perfect for a summer birthday. :) They were orange and yellow inside. I think rainbow cake mix inside would be cute too. These def put a smile on everyone's face. :)

Group shot.....Kristen, Joe, Nate and his parents are missing from shot.

A blue heron. :)
The pillars inside the boat were covered with rope. LOVE!

And a picture of Nate and me. :D We had a terrific time and one that will always be memorable.

Taylor Swift in DC

My boss surprised me with a pair of Taylor Swift tickets and a pair of meet n' greets. It's nice to work in radio! :) I got to take last night off at work and went to DC for the concert. I took my BFF, Kristen with me. We parked at Franconia-Springfield and rode the metro to the Verizon Center. (Gallery Place Chinatown) The meet n greet was awesome. Taylor is very tall and she likes to hug everyone. :) We got our picture taken with her people. And then we found our seats. Hunter Hayes and NeedtoBreathe opened for her. It was a fantastic night to remember.

Here are my favorite pics.....

She's so cute! I love her music. I'm glad I was able to meet her and I'm glad Kristen did too. :)

New Things Monday

My new favorite salad.....Panera's Strawberry Poppy Seed and Chicken salad. But at $10 a salad I knew I could make it myself and tonight for dinner I did.

You will need the following:

Lettuce

Poppy Seed Dressing

Strawberries

Blueberries

Mandarin Oranges

Pineapple Tidbits

Pecans

Grilled Chicken Shortcuts

Harley Shave

Harley got a shave today. He's still a little groggy from the sedation but look how cute he is! :)