#MealPlanningMonday # 1

Hey y'all!

It's here! #MealPlanningMonday! I had great plans last week. I had all 5 meals planned out and grocery shopped for and ready to go. Then? Life happened. I still feel pretty good about how we did and I carried over 2 meals from last week to this week. For my first week back in the kitchen, I will still call it a win. So what was the plan?

Monday was great! I came home, made dinner, took awesome photos with the big girl camera, it was yummy and all was well. I even made some garlic cheese biscuits and chocolate chip cookies from scratch a box.

Tuesday was good too. Veal Boursin is one of Matthew's specialties so I left this one up to him and I just got to sit back and enjoy.

Wednesday I threw the pork in the slow cooker and went about my work day. I came home, opened the lid and everything looked perfect. I shredded the pork up and it didn't taste a bit like lime. Not even a hint. So I called an audible and stuffed it into the tortillas with shredded cheddar and bbq sauce and we had pulled pork quesadillas. Not bad.

Thursday the stomach bug hit and I stayed home on the couch all. day. long. No cooking took place.

Friday rolled around and instead of carrying over Thursdays menu or making the chicken teriyaki, I voted for Outback. Much less cleanup involved for sure...

All in all, I call it a win and this week, I hope to hit at least 4 of my 5 planned meals. See y'all tomorrow for my super simply but delicious Brown Sugar Crusted Salmon and THE VERY BEST roasted potatoes ever.

I did it.

I moved across the country. I left my family and all of my friends. I left my business and all of my social ties. I packed it all into a truck, and here I am.

I just finished up my third week of my new job. It's been a process but I am slowly getting the hang of things. I had a few break through moments last week that were the push I think I needed. Hopefully the appointments I set last week will pay off this week and I can keep that momentum going.

I have almost all of the important things unpacked. There isn't enough room in the kitchen for both of our stuff so I need to consolidate and put some things in storage. I'm also still working out where I'm going to keep all of my/our clothes. 1 of our upstairs bedrooms doesn't have a closet so I currently have all of my clothes in the large walk in closet in the basement. I don't think that is going to work long term so I'm hoping to figure out a solution for that in the coming weeks.

I started decorating the house. The bachelor pad look has to go. I replaced the drapes and throw pillows in the living room. I also decorated the built in (partially) for fall. I'm not in love with it so it will likely change. My next big purchase is a dining room table. I'm in LOVE with The Benchwright Extending Dining Table from Pottery Barn. Unfortunately, my bank account doesn't love it as much as I do. Just the table is $1699. Plus chairs. Now, I know it's solid wood and I would be able to pass this thing down to my grandchildrens children but currently, it's too much to swallow.

Don't you love it though? Rustic. Modern. Extending. Perfection. I have a small space to work with so I need an extending table so I can extend it for family holidays. I need really want it. So I started googling. And I found this. The Tahoe by Liberty Furniture. Wood veneer instead of solid wood but less than 1/3 of the price. Similar size. Similar style. I think it will be a fine knockoff. I'm hoping to get it ordered this week! 

When the table arrives, I'll have to have the electrician out to install the light fixture. There is currently no lighting above where I want the table. I'm thinking something with Edison style light bulbs? I can't wait to share the before/after!

I'm finally getting back into the swing of cooking and meal planning. I'm cooking and photographing up a storm this week and next week, I'll bring you my first installment of Meal Planning Monday. I'm hoping that blogging what we eat will keep me out of the rut of making the same things over and over.

I think that about wraps it up y'all! Have a good week and Happy Monday! ;)