Royally Speaking

My friends... I have wedding envy.
I swore I wouldn't get sucked in, but the Royal Wedding was all over the internet, and I simply couldn't avoid it. After watching a few highlights, I was hooked. The bride was simply stunning, and, of course, the groom was incredibly handsome. The wedding was beautiful. So, it was only a matter of time before I was googling images and gifs.
Obviously what sets this apart is that it is a royal wedding, but also that Catherine Middleton is living out every little girl's dream. Every little girl, no matter where she lives, dreams of one day being a princess. And I'm not sure we ever fully let go of that dream.
Anyroyalty, after seeing how beautiful everything was, I could help but blog about it.


The dress was amazing. It was so stylish, yet so classic and elegant.


Absolutely gorgeous.


And the maid of honor wearing white also?


Bold move, but it worked. And Pippa looked very beautiful as well.


My heart skipped a beat when he first saw her and whispered that she looked beautiful.


The happy couple.


And the first kiss.


I'm afraid I may be a bit obsessed with their culture now. I apologize in advance for any future blog posts on my new obsession.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Key to My Heart is Cheese

Ok, guys, lean in really close, I've got a secret to share. You know those recipes on the back of food boxes? Ya know, like mashed potato boxes (don't judge, I make them from scratch at times!), or mac and cheese boxes? Well, I found out today that those recipes? Are actually pretty good! I know, I was shocked!
Let me set the stage. Lunch time rolled around and I found myself craving something cheesy. That's pretty much a daily occurrence around here. Anycheesy, I ventured off into the kitchen to whip me up some mac 'n' cheese. Now, I don't know how it works in your house, but we take the easy way out in ours. Which means I cook the noodles, and then we put cheese sauce in. Easy cheesy. So, I opened the box and dumped the noodles in the water. And then I saw it. There, on the back of that blue box, was a recipe. Complete with a picture. And it looked pretty good. I read the ingredients; mac and cheese, ham, peas, milk, and shredded cheese. Now, I'm like a 5 year old when it comes to peas, I absolutely despise them. But, I love broccoli, and I just happened to have a bag in my freezer. So, I decided to make my own version of this cheesy casserole.
And it turned out so delicious, I knew I had to share the recipe with y'all! You're welcome.
Now, it needs to be understood that when I cook, I don't "measure" things. I pretty much just eyeball it. But, for everyone else's sake, I'll post what the recipe called for. Ready?

1) 1 package mac and cheese (duh)
2) 1 cup chopped ham
3) 1 cup frozen peas (or broccoli)
4) 1/2 cup milk
5) 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Ok, after you've gathered all of your ingredients, start the noodles and your broccoli. Or peas. Whatevs. Once they're done, drain them both and then prepare the mac and cheese.
Forgive the crappy pictures, all I had was my iphone and the lighting in my kitchen is horrible. Oh, and my counters are blue. We like to keep things retro up this biznatch.


mmmm, cheesy


teeny tiny trees
I thought about adding more broccoli, but let's be honest, I was more concerned with more cheese than more veggie.


Next you add the chopped ham. Again, you can add as much as you like. I added about 2 cups. I like my ham.


Add the milk and mix together.


Scoop into a casserole dish and top with shredded cheese. The recipe calls for mild cheddar, but all I had was the Mexican four cheese mix. It came out tasting just as good! Then you throw it in the oven and cook at 400 for 15 minutes. What comes out is pure cheesy deliciousness.


excuse me while I wipe my drool
My batch made about 4ish cups. And let me tell you, it was soooooooo good! And extremely easy. I mean, so easy, my husband could make it. Easier than hamburger helper, easy. Easy like Sunday morning. Wait, what? Anyeasy, we loved it, and even Baby Butterbean loved it, which says a lot, seeing as how she only likes waffles, strawberries, and peeps. I'm totally serious. After we ate and I sat there in a cheesy food coma, I got to thinking about the endless possibilities that this dish offers. I mean, you could swap the ham with any meat (bacon, anyone?) and you could add tons of veggies to make it a bit healthier. (If you do, let me know. We all know I'm not doing that!)
So there ya go, folks. My new favorite cheesy recipe. Now, go forth and cook!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trend Watch Tuesday

Welcome to our second edition of Trend Watch Tuesday! This next lady has great style (duh!) and one of the most adorable dogs I've ever seen. She's insanely sweet, and always looks amazing. She knows how to accessorize like no one else, and she's incredibly funny! She's on the twit, and has a wonderful blog. So, after reading her TWT post, head over and give her some love. Ladies and gents, help me welcome, Katie.

When J asked me if I'd like to be part of Trend Watch Tuesday I was so excited and immediately agreed. Thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this, J!

I started blogging to have a place solely dedicated to my fashion and beauty obsession. I figured most of the people in my life were tired of hearing me talk about it. They probably were. Blogging about it hasn't deterred me from talking about it all the time. Oh well. It was a good idea in theory. Not only did it not stop my incessant talk of fashion, but pretty much all other aspects of my life have found their way into the blog at one point or another. Looking at it that way, it could seem like my blog is a bit of a mess and I have no idea what I'm doing with it, or in life. That's partially true. I'm not going to say which part.

What I've always loved about fashion and beauty is that there is something for everyone. You can find your own style, you can find a way to express yourself, you can do this a million different ways, in any city in any country, and on any budget. It's universal. It's for everyone. For the most part I'd say I have a laid back, potentially over accessorized style. I love my accessories. Bags, jewelry, sunglasses, scarves - I love it all. You can be wearing the most basic outfit but throw on a couple of accessories and you've got a whole new look. It allows you to constantly reinvent your wardrobe.

What I love about blogging is that it's such an interactive community. As much as I love reading magazines, and watching TV shows and movies, those experiences are very one sided. When you're a blogger, you write a post and get comments and feedback. You read other posts and get to post your comments and feedback. There's Twitter, and Facebook, e-mail, and every other social medium most of us are using. It's like a big, constant, ongoing conversation - and I absolutely love it.

Some days my life might feel like an unorganized mess, but I'm glad I have my blog and all my blogging buddies who are there as I document all the craziness. I wouldn't have it any other way.

More Thankful Than Ever

Sorry this is so long, but I think it's worth the read.

I like to think that I don't overreact very often. Sure, I can be a little melodramatic at times, but I try to keep my drama queen side in check. I also don't scare easily. Unless we're talking about watching horror movies by myself. Then I'm a big ol' baby.

Anyvajazzle, the point of telling y'all this is to make you understand a point. I don't exaggerate and I'm not easily spooked, so when I say something along the lines of "my life was threatened and I was scared to death" you can pretty much bet I'm being completely serious.

Let me set the stage. Early Saturday afternoon, Baby Butterbean and I loaded up in the car to drive the hour over to my mom's house. The road between our two towns is a small two lane road, what we here in Texas call an "FM road," or a "farm to market" road. It's basically a paved back country road. It's pretty peaceful and has amazing views. I go to see my mom at least once a week, so I drive the road at least 200+ times a year. I've never been scared to drive it alone, and most of the time, it's just the Babe and I. Saturday was no different. She stayed awake and sang and talked to herself for about half of the drive. Then, fell asleep, as she normally does. About 20 miles from my mom's house, there is a tiny town with a four way stop. When I came to the four way there were a couple of cars in front of me that turned and went in another direction, which put me behind a small sedan. Once we got outside of town, where the speed limit picks up, I noticed that they weren't speeding up. So, I got a little closer and waited for a chance to pass them. Now, mind you, I'm not a reckless driver, especially not when my daughter is in the car, so I was not tailgating this car at all. After a minute or two, I realized that there were 4 men in the car, and the two in the backseat were staring at me.

Let me pause for the cause for a minute and explain these "men". I've stated here before that I'm a bail bondsman. I've bailed guys out of jail that were clean cut good guys. But most of them are not. They're losers, bullies, thugs. And these men in this car would fit in with the majority of the people that I bail out. Are ya picking up what I'm putting down here?

Anygangsta, back to my story. I realized that the men in the backseat were staring at me. And then, one of them picked something up, showed it to me, and then waved it around. It took me a second to realize he was waving nunchucks. And then they started slowing down. Slower, and slower, and slower. I started to think that they wanted me to pass them, which I knew wasn't a good idea, since that would give them control and possibly put me in a situation to be chased. Finally, after 5 or so miles, the one who had waved the nunchucks started rummaging around in the floorboard. This is where I really started to get scared. There have been plenty of stories where enraged drivers have shot other people, so it's not like it's impossible.

Thankfully, by this point, I was only about half of a mile from a back road that cut over to my dad's place. I started slowing down even more to put plenty of distance between us. They continued to slow down with me. When I got to the turn off, we were only going about 15 MPH. I waited until the last minute, took the turn, sped up, and watched them drive off. I was in the clear.

Then, a minute later, I glanced in my rear view, and there they were. Speeding up behind me. At this point my flight response set in and I floored it. I managed to call my husband and have him call my dad and tell him to open there gate. You normally have to punch in the code on the outside, but thankfully they were at home and could call up to the front gate from their house. I was driving faster and faster, and by the time I reached their property line, the car was almost on my bumper, and we were going 100+ MPH. I knew I wouldn't make it to their gate. I knew that the gate would be open on the back entrance of their place, and I knew that if I put enough distance between the car and us, I would be able to get into the driveway and get to a valley in the front pasture where they wouldn't see me. I stepped on it and shot off. I made it to the back entrance and into the driveway. I'm really not sure how I managed to not flip my car. As I came to a stop I could see the car speed past my dad's place. I knew they hadn't seen me turn in. So, I turned and drove through the pasture and the woods and came up on the backside of my dad's house. By the time I made it to his house, I was in hysterics. Every scenario that could have happened played out in my head. The worst part was that I realized that they could have hurt my daughter. I ended up getting an escort into town, and made it to my mom's safe and sound. Thankfull Baby Butterbean slept through almost the whole thing. She woke up when we were bouncing through the pasture.

All day I kept an eye out for the car. Even though I was with my mom, I was terrified that they'd see me somewhere in town and they'd succeed in hurting one of us.

That was two days ago, and I'm still shaken up. I wasn't able to drive back down that road by myself. My body is still sore from being so tense that whole time. I've cried myself to sleep for the past two nights. I've never ever been scared for my life, simply because I knew that if it was my time to go, there wasn't anything I could do about it. But when you add my baby into the equation, everything changes. She is my everything. I live and breathe for her. I'd do anything to keep her out of harm's way. So when there was a brief thought in my mind that her life might have been in jeopardy, I couldn't handle it. I managed to stay calm enough to get us out of the situation, but I lost it afterward. Needless to say, I hugged her extra tight that night. I watched her run around yesterday and hunt Easter eggs with her cousins, and I thanked God for keeping her safe and for bringing her into my life. I'm not sure how I'd cope if she weren't with me. I am truly blessed.

ShanaLogic Love

As we all know, I'm always behind the times on all things popular, and it appears that once again, I'm late to the party on this one. I just happened to come across the ShanaLogic site today, and I've already fallen in love with everything on the site, and from what I hear through the grapevine, this little shop has been all the rage for awhile. Anyway, just in case someone who follows my little blog hasn't seen the awesomeness of ShanaLogic, I figured I'd post a few of the things that I'm currently coveting!

This camera ring is absolutely adorbs. And only $8!

Sprouting Seedling Necklace so simple, yet so beautiful

<3 these

Portable Robot Love

For my inner nerd

If you know about my twitter addiction, you know that I need these.

This would be soooo cute in Baby Butterbean's bed

See!? I told you their stuff was absolutely amazing! Now, what are you waiting for? Get over there and buy me something!

Pee Ess - The March of Dimes March for Babies walk is in two weeks, and this is me, begging for your help. I know, it's not pretty. If you can donate, please do, if you can pass the word along, please do. Anything helps! (And thank you in advance!)

*Let it be known that this "review" was not sponsored in any way. ShanaLogic has no idea who I am, or even that I'm writing about the site. I simply saw things that I adored and decided to blog about it. The End.*

A-Z Stuff You Wanted To Know About Me

Apparently this is circling around the Blogosphere, but I saw it over at my girl Ms. Salti's place, who snagged it from the lovely Jules, and thought it was cute, so I figured I'd play along. Mostly because I've got nothing else to do, but partly because I know y'all are dying to know more about me. Now pay attention, there will be a pop quiz at the end.

A. Age:

25

B. Bed size:

California King

C. Chore you dislike:

Washing dishes. And that includes unloading the dishwasher

D. Dogs:

Dixie (how redneck, no?) and Corona (how alcoholic, no?)

E. Essential start to your day:

As much as I hate to admit it, besides the normal trip to the loo, I have to have my social media fix. Twitter, email, and tumblr.

F. Favorite color:
Purple and green. But not together. Unless it's Mardi Gras!

G. Gold or silver:

Silver

H. Height:

5'7

I. Instruments you play(ED):
I can play a bit of the piano and I play the sax in junior high

J. Job title:
Bail Bondsman. Just like my white trash hero, Dog The Bounty Hunter and his big boobed wife.

K. Kids:
Just the one.

L. Live:
Live, what? Like, where do I live? Texas. We've been over this.

M. Mom’s name:

Gran. At least, that's what the grandkids call her. She also answers to DeeDee

N. Nicknames:
Butterbean and Nana

O. Overnight hospital stays:
One night after my knee surgery, one night with gallbladder troubles, and a few nights when I had Baby Butterbean.

P. Pet peeves:
People who don't mind their own business, procrastinators, unanswered texts, way too many others to list.

Q. Quote from a movie:
"It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."

R. Righty or Lefty:

Righty Tighty

S. Siblings:

4 brothers and 2 sisters

T. Time you wake up:
When I have to work I'm normally up by 5:30 or 6, when I'm off it's closer to 7

U. Underwear:
Under where?

V. Vegetables you don’t like:
Beets

W. What makes you run late:
Everyday life!

X. X-rays you’ve had:
Too many to count!

Y. Yummy food you make:
Spaghetti, pork chops, and pork roast. Obviously not at the same time.

Z. Zoo Animal Favorites:

If I had to pick a favorite, it'd be the penguins or the pandas.

Trend Watch Tuesday

So, remember the big thing that I hinted at last week? Well, guess what!? It's time to reveal it! I've been working on a new weekly segment for The Bee's Knees for a little while, and I'm so excited that I can finally tell y'all about it! It's called Trend Watch Tuesday. I'm wanting to showcase all of the bloggers who have awesome style. They're basically going to do a little guest post and talk about their style. Basically, I'm wanting all of my favorite fashionistas in one place! So, ladies and gents, we have our first featured blogger today! This chick is insanely funny, has the most adorable boston terrier, and has amazing style. She's an incredible thrifter, and can DIY like no one I know! So, without further adieu, please welcome Brandy!

I can't tell you how honored I was to have J ask to feature me on her blog. She is so funny and even though I only know her in Blogolopolous Town or Twitterville she seems so down-to-earth. My name is Brandy and I have a blog and etsy shop. I am married (no kids as of yet) and together we have a pompous boston terrier dog named Frederick Biggie Franklin. She asked me to talk about my style even though I'm not technically a fashion blogger. I have a lifestyle blog and fashion posts pop up almost weekly. I get very anxious about taking full body shots so I rarely do it and just stick to bits and pieces of what I'm wearing. I think I have a few different styles but most of all I would describe it as a comfortable, go-with-the-flow type of style. I like punk, bohemian, and sweats. Doesn't everyone? Sweats are the best that's why when dresses and leggings became popular I jumped right on that bandwagon. Any style that keeps with the un-restriction of my belly is something I'm going to hold on to. Leggings are just sweats masquerading as something less of a fashion faux pas.

Most of my clothes come from either thrift stores, gifts, or the sale rack. I even like to DIY some items too. The only thing I've purchased recently for myself at full price were my Minnetonka moccasins. I had my eye on those puppies for a long time. I waited out a few different holidays to see if anyone would have been awesome enough to buy them for me but alas I just had to do it myself. Which I'm fine with. I'm a pretty independent person albeit cheap, which is why thrifting works out for me.

I was asked what my favorite outfits and accessories are so here they are in pictures. My dream piece is a vintage quilted Chanel bag.

Thanks for having me

Peace out Beatrices!

-Brandy

The Blog - brandy-son Zen master flash

The Shop

Since We Last Spoke....

• I tumbled
•  I kinda took a twitter hiatus
• I spent a day hanging out with almost my entire family
• I worked on that huge project that I was telling y'all about (come back tomorrow for the big reveal!)
• And I had adorable spring photos taken of Baby Butterbean 

Over all, I'd say it was a pretty successful weekend! Hope all of you had amazing weekends! See ya tomorrow for the surprise!

Family Days

Psst... Hey y'all. I know, I know, I haven't been around here for the last week or so. In my excuse, the babe has had a wicked virus and a fever that wouldn't quit, so we've been just hanging out around these parts. Anyway, she started feeling better Thursday morning, so we hung out with daddy and put together her new play house. We love the days that we get to hang out with daddy.


It took us awhile to get everything sorted out and in the right places.


Then, as soon as we had it completed, not only did the babe love it, the cats did also. It was pretty much a hit with everyone in the house.


Including daddy.

Hopefully everyone had a great week, and will have an even better weekend!

Pee Ess? I'm rolling out something *huge* next week. Like, huge, huge. Huge. So, be sure and come by next week. I'd say Tuesday or so. See ya then!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Chair

Just a head's up, I'm skipping this week's Fitness Friday post because I wanted to post this, and I'm not sure I've got time to do a second post. But! I'll be back next Friday with an all new check-in post. Hopefully with link ups to the rest of the Shred Crew!

While my mother was pregnant with me, she and my brother went to an estate sale. My brother, who was 5 at the time, and was apparently very excited about the upcoming arrival of his sister, found an old rocking chair at the sale that he insisted my mother buy. He said it was the perfect chair to rock his newborn baby sister in. It was solid wood, with scrolled arms. The cushions were a yellow and brown mix of tweed threads. Very... 70s-ish. But, my brother loved it, so my mom bought it.

For the next 18 years that rocking chair sat in our house. It never fit with our decor, but it was so comfy and held a special place in our hearts. Eventually we wore the straps on the seat out from sitting in it too much. When I graduated from high school, I moved off and never gave any thought to that old rocking chair.

Fast forward to about a year and a half ago. I was pregnant with Baby Butterbean and neck deep in designing her nursery. The old rocking chair was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I'd almost completely forgotten about it.

I knew I wanted her nursery to house special things, not just all brand new store bought furniture. Her crib was going to be new, but as for the other furniture, they were going to be things that I had when i was a kid, and a very close friend of the family was hand making her a cradle. Basically, I wanted everything in her room to have memories. To be meaningful. To tell a story.

When I finally came around to deciding on a rocker or a glider, I just couldn't pick one from the store. None of the new one's fit just right. Then my mom stepped in and said that she wanted the rocker to be a gift from her, so, I forgot all about it. Then came the day that Baby Butterbean arrived. We spent 6 days in the hospital, and by the final day, I was so ready to come home. When we got to the house, my mom was there waiting on us. Along with a surprise. She had taken that old, forgotten rocker, and had it restored. And it was beautiful. I rocked my baby to sleep that night in that old rocker. I spent many nights in that rocker the first couple of months. I was either rocking her, feeding her, or just watching her sleep. She was so tiny that she could lay in the rocker and not touch the sides.

Last night she woke up crying around 3. I got up and went in to her bedroom to see if I could soothe her back to sleep. I ended up rocking her for an hour in that chair. I thought back on all of those sleepless nights, and I found myself crying after a minute or two. Just in the past 15 months my little girl has grown so much. She can now climb into the chair all on her own, and when I rock her in that old chair, she sits up in my lap. It's a lot different than that first night.

I look at that old chair, and I'm overwhelmed by it's specialness. There is no telling how many memories that old thing holds. The countless nights that I spent rocking my baby in it, and that my mom spent rocking her baby in it, as well as the memories of the family who had it before she did. I look at everything in Baby Butterbean's nursery, and I see a story in every piece of furniture. Everything is special, just the way I wanted it. But the most special piece, the one with the greatest story, is that old rocking chair. That's the piece that I'm most proud of.

Sunday Confessions

Happy Sunday loverlies!! Guess what? It's time again for a little Sunday confessional.

1) It's currently 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm still in sweats and a tshirt. I win at weekend lounging.

2) Today I'm a big ol' healthy eater failure. I've had eggs and bacon, and popcorn. And I don't regret one bit of it.

3) I still haven't done the dishes from breakfast this morning. That may not be a big deal to some, but that never happens around here. Except on lazy days like today.

So tell me, what's your Sunday Confession? Promise I won't judge!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fitness Friday

This is going to be a quick update seeing as how it's already 8:30 at night and I'm at dinner.

This week? Wasn't that great. I went four days (Saturday-Tuesday) without working out. I fell off the bandwagon. But, I climbed right back up on Wednesday. I'm most likely going to have to restart my ten days on level one, but, I'm ok with that because I know that even though I bit the dust, I got right back up and started again. And, I know that I'm making progress because it's getting easier.

I've also noticed that I'm feeling better. Not just healthier, but, honestly, more fit. And? sexier. Shhh, don't tell. (And don't laugh!) Eating healthier is getting easier and I'm finding myself making better food choices without even thinking about it.

So, even though I technically was a shredhead failure this week, I'm still considering this week to be a success. Now hopefully I can stay on the shred wagon instead of on the ground behind it!!

Here's hoping all of you have a great weekend!

Xoxo

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone