The Smiths

…and now you need to make them, too. This is probably my favorite cookie recipe. And guess what?? They’re fairly healthy! Minus the sugar. And butter. Oh, and white chocolate chips.

Ok, so they’re not really healthy. But forget about that, cuz they are delish.

And this is the reason that they are great:

{Please take a moment to thank the good Lord for cinnamon and nutmeg. Amen.}

So here it is:

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups dried cranberries

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat in the egg and mix well.

Add the oats, whole wheat flour, cranberries, nuts, and white chocolate chips. Mix on low until thoroughly combined.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the baking sheet and bake an additional 7 minutes. Cookies should be slightly brown at the edges, but still soft in the center. Remove from the oven, let rest a few minutes, and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

{The great thing about these cookies is how versatile they can be! Swap out the nuts / cranberries / white chocolate chips for any other fillers you like - raisins, dark chocolate chips, etc. - or just remove any ingredient you don’t care for}

And there you have it. The best oatmeal cookies you can make at home…guaranteed.

A little crunchy on the outside and a little gooey in the center. Fall perfection.

{3 weeks late} …So, in celebration of our house finally selling, and due to the fact that we NEVER take vacations, we decided to take advantage of a holiday weekend and go to Atlanta. The only reason this was enticing to me was because I knew we could go shopping at H&M and Zara (which now has online shopping - uhhhmazing), and I thought it would be cool to see IKEA as well. And Micah wanted to watch the Braves, which I was down for. Other than that, I had some strange notion that Atlanta was pretty dumpy and we could just relax at our hotel. Ummm, have you ever been to Atlanta?!? NOT dumpy at all - in fact, one of the most beautiful big cities I’ve ever seen! I loved it so much. And it’s only 3.5 hours from Nashville. So that’s pretty great.

The drive there was gorgeous. Raised in Kansas, I’m not used to highways with hills and trees. I realize this picture sucks…but just try and stay with me here.

And I’ve definitely never seen one of these before…

Literally a ramp to stop a truck that’s losing control because of a steep decline?!?…luckily we didn’t have to see that put to use.

After getting in late Friday night, we naturally decided to sleep in on Saturday, and then try a happenin’ breakfast place called West Egg Cafe. Well, we slept a little too late, and by the time we arrived, the wait was almost an hour. So that was a no-go, cuz we were HUNGRY. But we decided we’d get up earlier on Sunday and try again. :) So we hit up a Starbucks, naturally, and headed on over to H&M. I had prepped Micah that I was going to need approximately 2 hours in this store and another 2 in Zara. That turned out to be pretty accurate. He was pretty much ready to get all of that over with. So we did.

By that time, we were feeling famished again. Micah’s good buddy, Tad Carpenter, recently did some design work for an Atlanta burger joint called YEAH! Burger, so of course we wanted to see what that was all about! This is an insane gourmet burger place that uses only locally-grown, organic ingredients for their ridiculous burgers.

I got a bison burger on whole wheat with lettuce/tomato/onion and their hand-made fries…ridic. Micah of course got something manly with BBQ sauce and bacon or something… I don’t even know - mine was so good, it was hard to focus on anything else.

Then one of the co-owners asked if he could buy us dessert (Micah pulled the I-know-Tad card when we walked in…), and we were rude and refused. NOT. He said he had some ingredients left from their recent special - just a blueberry shake made with creme fraiche…no big deal. Oh, and we also ordered the Black Cow, I think, which was an ice cream float with black cherry soda. Both insane.

Here we are in front of the Wall of Tad:

After that, we decided to check out IKEA and some other local shops…and well, then, it was time to eat again! We found a hole-in-the-wall BBQ place called Daddy D’z BBQ. Our quest to find good BBQ is never-ending, but this place was pretty legit. The ribs were great (and would’ve been greater with some KC sauce), and the sides were just incredible. Here is my fat kid feast of ribs, fried zucchini, potato salad and cornbread. OH MY. 

There was just nothing better to do after this than go to the hotel pool. It was basically deserted by then, being about 10:00, and it was a perfect, relaxing time!

So the next morning, we did get up a bit earlier to try West Egg Cafe. The wait was still half an hour, but it was definitely worth it. I had a cafe au lait, and their fried green tomato & egg wrap, with hash brown potatoes. Delish!

By the time we finished our breakfast, it was getting close to game time, so we headed to Turner Field.

What an awesome stadium! This place is huge, and just so pro. Micah was having the time of his life. And so was my friend, Lauren, vicariously through me (HUGE Braves fan). We had great seats, about 12 rows up behind the outfield.

And, I got my cotton candy fix, which is always my favorite part of going to baseball games! We ended up leaving a little early, because of rain, and of course the Braves came back from behind and won the game, after we left.

And that’s about it! We had a great little getaway, and definitely need to do things like that more often, which hopefully we can, now that we’re not paying on two houses! Amazing how that works. :)

So it’s been awhile since I blogged. Three months, in fact. A lot has happened. For one thing, the herbs & veggies I took pictures of in my last post are no more. Turns out I’m not a great gardener. The herbs did well; the veggies, not so much. I’m not even gonna go there. So next year, I will focus on my strengths and plant more/different herbs. I put to use a lot of the cilantro & basil, but not much of the parsley. Which is weird, because everyone says it can go in just about anything. I think I just forgot it was there. I really wished I had rosemary, too. I’ve discovered that it is amazing on sweet potato fries (which we have eaten too many of this summer!), and the dried stuff just isn’t the same. So there ya have it: the not-so-useful low-down on growing herbs.

So what else has been going on? Well, summer, for one thing. Which has involved many a visit to Baja Burrito, our go-to delicious, cheap dinner place…

an occasional gourmet popsicle from Las Paletas…

some free music in Centennial Park…that’s Matthew Perryman Jones right there, in all his angelic glory…

a couple-uh great visits from our good friend Kris Williams…who should move here with his little family, by the way…{the guys playing catch at the park}

some deck snoozin’…

a haircut…

an AWESOME Relient K show…

an even more insane U2 show (which some very generous and crazy people from work gave us FREE tickets to)…

the most amazing 4th of July fireworks show I’ve ever seen…

an extra-special sombrero birthday…

a day of frolicking at the waterpark…

a Nashville Sounds game with the Dave Ramsey folk (and spouses)…

a Leagues show - if you haven’t heard these guys, go ahead and get on that…

and most recently, another hair cut and new color!

How’s that for a quick re-cap of our summer??

The most exciting blessing that has recently come about is the sale of our house in Kansas City! After being on the market for over a year, and moving away without really knowing if it even would sell, it is finally a done deal. Which is even more confirmation to us that we are where we’re supposed to be. And I have to say…I have absolutely NO desire to own another home for a very long while. Cuz we are DEBT FREE and it feels amazing :)

So there it is folks…a quick update on the happenin’s in our house. And I’m about to go on a little blogging binge, so just get yourselves ready, if this wasn’t quite enough for ya.

Gosh I love food. I go through phases of trying out new recipes, until I can’t handle cleaning the kitchen another second. But, ultimately, my obsession with eating takes over again and I’m back at it.

Plus, I now have a [small] garden! I’ve planted a few herbs (basil, cilantro & parsley), cucumber, and tomato plants. Obviously, I have to put this fresh goodness to use.

See the baby pricklies in the bottom right corner? Yep, those will be cucumbers soon :)

Basil & parsley:

I’ll be using a buncha basil to make Pioneer Woman’s Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce…as soon as I can find pine nuts. Anyone ever bought those before? They’re not the most available ingredient. Anyhow, that’s for a later date.

My cilantro was going crazy and fresh salsa was just screaming my name. I’ve got this great healthy recipe app on my phone, called Spark Recipes. They also have a website…but who uses a computer anymore? Sheesh. So I found a salsa recipe that sounded interesting - Black Bean Avocado Salsa. I could say a lot about this….but the most important thing is that you must make this. TODAY. Here’s the recipe (even though you could just click on the link above; but we all know that’s too much work…plus I changed a couple of things):

Black Bean Avocado Salsa

1 can black beans, rinsed

chopped cilantro

1/2 large onion, chopped (I used a sweet white onion)

1 large tomato, chopped (I also sort-of squeezed out the seeds/slimy part)

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

juice of 2 limes

1 avocado, cut into chunks

sea salt, to taste

Toss together! It’s best if it has had some time to swim around together. Scarf down with your fave tortilla chips. And believe me, scarf you will.

My husband doesn’t really do salsa, so I basically ate all of this, in less than a week. Hey, it would’ve gone bad if it sat any longer. I don’t like to be wasteful.

That was last weekend. This weekend, I wanted to make a quiche that I could have in the fridge and heat up for breakfast during the week. Don’t panic - it’s not as fancy as it sounds. It’s a “crustless” quiche, with spinach, onion, tomato and feta, and it’ll make you happy. Check it:

Crustless Spinach, Onion and Feta Quiche

1/2 onion, diced

6-oz. fresh baby spinach, chopped

1 medium tomato, diced

4 large eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups non-fat milk

1/2 cup feta cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a pie plate.

In a medium frying pan, drizzle some oil and cook diced onion over medium-high heat until translucent and tender. Add in fresh spinach and cook until just wilted. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, then stir in spinach-onion mixture and tomato.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Top with feta cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until center is set and outside edge is golden brown. Let sit for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

This pic is post-eating. I was so excited to eat this that I forgot to take my final photo :) This works, though, right?

Delish.

Oh, and here’s a link to that recipe as well…again, I changed it a little by adding tomato…and I don’t buy egg beaters, either. Weird.

If you really wanna do it up nice, go get yourself some Folger’s Gourmet Chocolate Truffle flavored coffee, with Coffee House’s Dark Chocolate-Cream creamer, and make you a cup of liquid goodness. Ahhhh, weekends.

We’re finally somewhat settled enough to post some pics of the new place! I probably could have done it sooner, but hey, I’m Type A, so go with it.

Getting this house was…somethin. After our first option fell through, Micah went back to craigslist to find some more. We came across this little gem, and I was like, “YES. Wait, it looks too good to be true. Let’s not get our hopes up. But call now anyway!”

Micah contacted the owner, and through a series of phone calls/emails, worked out a way for our friends Billy and Allie to come walk through it for us. We were still in KC at this point, and wouldn’t be in Nashville for another week. The owner wanted to make a decision, though, before we would be in town. We begged him to wait a week. He said maybe. Billy and Allie went to check it out, and we basically went through it with them, via FaceTime. The landlord was kinda freaked. But, he also got a kick out of it, and decided to wait a week to make his decision, so he could meet us in person. During his correspondence with Micah, the subject of my new job at Dave Ramsey’s company came up. Let’s just say, it never hurts to mention that, around here.

So anyway, here are some shots! Again, please forgive my poor photo quality.

{Front}. Cottage Life.

Love this sidewalk. It’s like we’re in a storybook.

{Back}. The deck is huge and awesome. We’ll be doing some great BBQs here! Only with KC BBQ sauces, though.

Lucy loves her new backyard :) Minus the fleas she has acquired. We’re working on that.

This was formerly a playhouse. We’re told it’s infested with spiders. That’s enough for me to never go near it. It sure is cute, though.

{Front Room}

{Guest Bedroom}. Lots of custom-built cabinets in this place. The former owner was a carpenter. Fancy that.

{Funky Square Hallway} - This leads to the guest bedroom, dining room, main bath, and kitchen. Sometimes we just hang out in here and try to decide which way to go.

{Kitchen}. Here we’ve got some brick red counter tops and light yellow walls. Something must change. Probably the walls.

More awesome custom cabinetry.

{Laundry Room}. Small, but mighty.

{Dining Room}. Empty for now. Just picture a huge, awesome farm table with a bench on one side. That’s what will be there someday.

A life-saving closet. Most of my kitchen appliances are in here. I have way too many for the small amount of cabinet space in the kitchen. I also finally busted out the china! Now we’ll really find out if I’ll ever use it.

{Micah’s Office} - behind the dining room

{Main Bathroom}. Again, blame the camera, but you’re missing out on some awesome royal blue tile on the floor. Not sure yet what to coordinate with that color.

Now let’s go upstairs. Please take a moment to switch your mind to cabin-mode.

{Half Bath}. Cozy. Can’t even get the sink in a picture without standing outside the door.

The throne.

There are two bedrooms upstairs…and virtually no closets in the house. So, why not use an entire bedroom as our master closet? Oh yes, we did.

{His}

{Hers}

There’s even more room behind the clothes…so it’s much bigger than it looks. Freakin’ awesome :)

{Master Bedroom}. Loving a king-sized bed. Never mind that it takes up most of the room.

There she is! We love it, and still have a lot to do to get it just right. Oh yea, we still own that weird house in Gardner. Please continue to pray that we sell that soon! And come visit us here in Nashville. You saw the extra bed - it’s wide open!

It is not good for a gal who loves to cook to be without her kitchen. A month without my own pots and pans, spices, rolling pin and cookie cutters almost did me in. OK, that might be a little dramatic, but I may have gone into a bit of a recipe hoarding spell near the time of our move into our new place. I planned our first week’s menu… something like a week before the move. I was just getting prepared! You would do the same, right??

Needless to say, upon moving in, the kitchen was on the top of my priority list to unpack. I mean, who can even think of going to bed with dishes sitting in a box? Not me. 

I am loving my new kitchen. It’s not perfect, but it has a few fun perks that I’ve envied in other kitchens. Like a wall rack for my pots and pans. And glass cabinet doors. Oh, also a cute little chalkboard. I’m getting used to the gas stove. It cooks so much faster…I can deal with that!

Our new kitchen table and chairs…IKEA and Crate & Barrel did us well.

Once we get some new paint on the walls and some rugs/placemats, I think we’ll really be in business!

While stocking my fridge and pantry, I came across handmade lobster ravioli at Trader Joe’s…for $2.99! Thus, our first meal in our new home - lobster ravioli with homemade alfredo sauce, shaved parmesan and steamed broccoli - and of course, garlic toast :)

{Forgive my horrible photo quality, as my semi-decent camera was taken during the purse-snatching incident and I only have my phone camera}

YUM.

I also took on Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp that week…woah. I didn’t take a picture, but even if I did, I wouldn’t post it, because her photos just put everything else to shame. So do her recipes. MAKE THIS. So good. One tip, though…next time, I’ll actually melt the butter, chop everything else and then mix it together and pour it onto the shrimp. The butter/garlic/herb crumble turned into mush and it was hard to distribute. Did I mention delicious, though? I’ve also been making The Bread whenever possible, too, because it is super easy, and just delightful. It’s a little dangerous, though. I could eat a lot of it. And have.

Saturday morning brought French Toast. I don’t have a recipe for this (does anyone?) I just throw together eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a bowl, saturate my bread with it and let it sizzle away in some melted butter! Mmmmmm, it just soothes the soul.

I’m slightly obsessed with breakfast breads/waffles/pancakes having fresh fruit on top. Throw on some powdered sugar, and you just can’t go wrong. By the way, I do weigh 500 pounds now.

No need to stop with the breads there. On Sunday, I found a recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bread and decided we needed that sitting around for a week to add to our caloric intake. What an amazing recipe! I’m pretty sure it’s gotten better as the days go by. Next time, I think I’ll switch out the white flour with whole wheat flour, and the white sugar with brown sugar. That way, it’ll be completely healthy, no?

Feast your eyes:

Sunday evening, with the sun out and the grill unpacked, I just had to do some BBQ!

I like to keep grilling pretty simple, so I seasoned up some chicken breasts with some salt and chili powder, threw them on the grill, and of course slathered some KC Masterpiece all over them. Just keepin’ the KC memory alive in Nashville.

I also found these adorable “Teeny Tiny Potatoes” at none other than Trader Joes.

How cute are those?? After slicing a zucchini, I tossed all those great veggies in some olive oil and fresh herbs and roasted them in the oven while my chicken cooked. Now that is a great summer meal!

I’ll stop now. I’m sure you are now sick of reading about what we ate last week. I know I’m tired of writing about it :) Just get in your kitchen and have some fun. Your husband will (or should) appreciate it!

4 weeks in Nashville! Time’s just racin’ by. 6 days til my guy and my pup are here! Can. Not. Wait.

Today is my bro-in-law, Noah’s, birthday. He’s 13! It was weird not to be there to celebrate with him {and the entire family}. I wish I had a pic of him when Micah and I first started dating. He was the cutest, and funniest, little 5-year-old ever! Micah and Dustin would always tell him to go say things to his mom, like, “Mom, who is Monica Lewinsky?” …..and 10 seconds later, she’d be yelling, “MICAH!” Haha. He’s so great to have around. I’ve loved watching him turn into a mini-Micah. And I’ve loved watching Micah be such a great big brother to him. It’s the best. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOAH!

{siblings}

This past week marks the end of my first month at The Lampo Group! I’ve never had more fun at work before. Everyone I meet (and I’m still meeting someone new every day, there being 300 employees and all) is so friendly. Management is so caring and helpful. Dave kicks butt as a leader. Weekly devotionals are inspiring and refreshing. My co-workers are becoming great friends. The city of Nashville is awesome. I couldn’t be any more sure that I’m in the right place! 

Some crap has happened, though. Last Sunday, my purse was stolen from my car. As in, I left it on the floor, locked up while I went for a walk at a park, came back, and the window was busted out - purse gone. I freaked out for moment, naturally right?, and finally figured out to call 911 (I had a momentary thought of, “is this an emergency?!” …uhh, H-yes, to me it is!). While waiting on the policeman to arrive, I called the banks to cancel my debit cards and called the credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on my credit. Long story short, I got my window fixed the next day, and I think all the damage control is done. Oh, and all the guy got away with was a gas purchase from a Shell station, which I’m obviously not responsible for. And, there was like $5 in my wallet. Hope it was worth it, you idiot! Moral of the story: I’ll never leave anything of value in my car, ever again. And I would advise you to do the same. I was in a “safe” area, in daylight. It can happen to anyone, apparently!

{glass shards everywhere in my car}

Back to my amazing circle of coworkers…several key people really just went above and beyond to be there for me and help me get past the mess - it’s kind of an awful thing to go through. When people around me act like Jesus, it makes me wanna be more like Jesus. Now there’s a concept.

Back to my walk in the park…literally. This place called Ellington Agricultural Center - is. amazing. It’s a huge park with hiking trails, horseback riding, and all kinds of other awesome stuff, I’m sure. I hiked around for about an hour, just enjoying creation and a beautiful day! I’ll probably not go alone again, though, since now I’ll have a complex about being robbed or something worse while I’m there. And I won’t take my purse again, either. Although, it really is a safe place. I promise.

Back to my hike.

These were everywhere…

Just a duck in his stream…

Tennessee beauty…

A bridge over troubled water…

I mean, that place is amazing! Next time, I’ll bring Lucy. She will just have a blast. And then she’ll sleep, for a long time. Win-win situation.

All in all, things are wonderful. I’m making new friends, discovering new favorite places, and mostly being reminded that God takes care of us. Change is kinda fun, and kinda hard. But He knows what we need. He’s all I need. His promises are good!

Isn’t it about time for a post about Lucy?! I mean, I know you’ve all been waiting for this for, like, a long time. I apologize for the delay. She really is the best dog. If you’re not a dog person, well, you should be. Please read on; you’ll probably want her, and two more, by the time you’re done with this. I know I do.

There she is. Baring all for the world to see. No shame.

She likes to sleep. A lot.

And she doesn’t seem to enjoy my taking her picture. It’s like this huge inconvenience to her sleep time. Which is much-needed, by the way. Between waking up after noon, scarfing down her food like she’s about to die, going outside to pee, and looking out the window at an empty street, she’s pretty stretched for energy. I mean, I’m glad I don’t have to do that much stuff in a day. Sheesh.

She’ll be 4 years old on May 5. We got her on July 4th, the day before my birthday. Definitely a contender for best birthday present EVER (I may or may not have done some begging…) We brought her home from somewhere in Missouri, my chest covered in scratches from her being scared in the car :( So, to ease her fear, we took her to the Gardner fireworks that night :/ She couldn’t get far enough under the seat in the car. {We’re good parents…really…}

The rest of her life has been calmer. She quickly made herself at home, and now tells us all the time how much she loves us. Or, is it the other way around….? Anyway, we have a great relationship.

She likes being close.

She loves the dog park. I love giving her a bath after she gets all muddy. NOT.

She loves car rides. Never mind the tired/sad facial expression. It’s permanent.

She eats sticks and other earthy, tasteless things. But she looks dang good doing it!

She likes pillows. They’re all hers. Don’t even try using your own pillow; she sighs heavily if you make her move.

She follows us everywhere. It’s like she’s afraid we’re going to go off and do something crazy, like leave her forever. Don’t know where she gets that idea… {enter husband, staring her down and then running as fast as possible away from her. frantic whimpering as she races after him}

Outside the bathroom. Don’t worry, Lucy, I’m just brushing my teeth!

She goes by many names. Lucy, Luce, Baby Luce, Lucy Girl, Lucy Babe, Sleepy Luce. She actually doesn’t respond to most. Cuz she’s asleep.

Mostly, she’s just there, being a great companion. An oversized lap dog. A gal’s best friend. Just a part of our great life!

No, I’m not going to document every week of our new life here…don’t worry :)

Still can’t believe I’m working for Dave freakin’ Ramsey. This first week really was a blur. I’ll try to chronicle the week without forgetting too much.

Monday: Started out with our weekly staff meeting. Since there isn’t a meeting room big enough in the main building for 300 employees, we met in a building across the parking lot, which is actually going to be where the company expands in the next year. I traipsed across the parking lot (in pouring rain) and sat down with the few people I had already met. Before I knew it, Dave was up front turning his mic on and starting it up. {It’s gonna take awhile to get used to seeing him in person all the time. He’s kinda famous, if you didn’t know} First, he asked all the department heads to update the company on what’s going on in their area. There were a few legit updates, and a few “things are good”…which apparently isn’t acceptable. Because after they were all finished, Dave stood back up and basically kicked some butts. He said that he’s not gonna walk across the parking lot in the rain to hear that everything’s fine. He explained that there are many times when the staff meeting is the first time that he hears about stuff, not to mention the rest of the company. He asked everyone to come prepared and not waste his time and money being spent in payroll. REALLY glad I wasn’t one of those guys who said things were okay right then :) But also cool just to see a guy step up and own his company. In a completely non-self-righteous way. He’s the real deal. So then he went on to tell an inspiring story about orphans and a couple who are using their wealth to fund and build orphanages. Already an uplifting first hour at my new job! After the meeting, I met with HR to go through paperwork and get my pile of required reading books. Excited to get through these!

Before that all started, though, Dave came in and welcomed me to the company, and chatted with me for a few minutes, just trying to get to know me a little more. I was feeling a little starstruck still, but was able to carry on a decent conversation with him - he’s just a cool dude :) At lunch, about 6 of the girls from my department took me out, courtesy of the company. We ate at a great Mexican place (they let me pick) called Chuy’s. The rest of the day was just a blur of info about my new job, setting up my workstation, and tons of people being super nice and introducing themselves. SUCH a great place!

Tuesday: More learning about my department and duties, meeting more awesome people, and what’s called Lampo Lunch. Dave caters in lunch for the entire company about once a week. Start the free meal tally: we’re up to 2 by Tuesday. We had a huge awesome lunch from Jason’s Deli, and I made some more new friends. Back to my desk, more learning, and brain overload. :)

Wednesday: Wednesdays start out with Devos (devotionals) over in the same room as the staff meetings. A guest speaker is brought in to encourage and speak a word from the Lord! This week’s guest was Lynette Lewis, a speaker, corporate consultant, and author of “Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos”. She blew me away with her story of patience in waiting on God’s timing, and His plan for her life. I was so encouraged, even at a time where I’m seeing God’s hand working in my life very clearly. It was a great reminder that our journey is never over, and there is always something more we can be a part of and a bigger plan that God has for us. So cool! The rest of that day was more training and a team meeting - outside, since it was a beautiful 65 degrees. Wonderful!

Thursday: I will try not to be too repetitive…so I’ll just say this day was more of the same… They have been very patient and methodical in introducing new tasks to me so I don’t get completely overwhelmed :) But really, let’s just get to the fun part - we went out to lunch, courtesy of the company, again. Just another group of girls from our department, taking time to get to know each other and eat some Noshville (a great New York-style deli that I’ve come to love already). Free meal tally: 3! After work Thursday night, I went to the community center right down the street from where I’m staying and did some exercise. It’s been too long, people. Not really complaining, though. I have moving-to-another-state as an excuse, right?

Friday: Started out with me being {a little} late because of a huge wreck on the highway. Gotta get used to driving more than 3 minutes to work. We had a team meeting that morning, which was a mixture of work-related and social conversation. This place is so laid back! Then back to work, doing a bunch of random projects that have been left untouched while they searched for a replacement (which is me). Lots of organizing and data management, which I love. After work, I was invited to dinner with a bunch of girls…and, you guessed it, it was paid for by the company. What?! We enjoyed a delicious {free} dinner at Carrabba’s - food always tastes better when it’s free, right? Free meal tally by Friday: 4, plus leftovers = about 6 or 7 meals :) Crazy!

So, that’s what my first week at The Lampo Group was like! As I write this, I am sipping on a delicious blackberry mocha at Crema Coffee - another new fav. I’ve also visited Trader Joe’s for the first time today…yep, I think agree with everyone’s obsession!

So far I’m loving Nashville. The people are great, the scenery is beautiful - the only things missing are my husband and pup. Hurry up April 1st!

We left Kansas City today. Me for good, Micah for a few days before he goes back to KC for a few weeks and then moves our stuff to Nashville! It’s weird to think I’m not going back. Very bittersweet.

It’s funny what moving away will do; over the past couple weeks, we’ve hung out with more people than we have in the past 6 months combined. I’m not exaggerating. I blame it on living in the remote village of Gardner. And crazy winter blizzards. Yep, that’s what it was…

Anyway, here are some snapshots of our recent shenanigans with all our pals. We’ve had so much fun! And eaten so much! And if we didn’t get to see you, SORRY! We will be back to visit. Someday. We love you and will miss you. ;)

We couldn’t leave KC without indulging in our absolute favorite BBQ joint. Seriously, best BBQ on the planet. Mmmm, those fries…

We met up with our good friends, Tad & Jessica Carpenter. Quality people. Wish we’d seen you more than like 2 times in the past year. Love u two!

Another fav: Jose Pepper’s. Just the best chips & salsa & espinaca dip. Can someone please mail me some from time to time? Thanks. This is me with Aunt Dianna and Melanie. So sad I won’t be living down the road from you gals anymore :(

Micah with Uncle Greg & Aunt Cheryl. They’ll probably move to Nashville someday soon, too. Wishful thinking.

Aaron & Heather Hale coordinated a great pal get-together at Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill. It was delicious. Our waiter…strange. Here are the guys {Aaron, Micah, Jordan, Tyler} - wish Ryan Cork could’ve joined…his beautiful wife did.

The girls {Amy, me, Claire, Heather}

Claire made me this amazing card…which I brilliantly left at the restaurant. Dangit!

Ashlee came over to the house a couple nights ago for pizza and a little crafting session. Had to fit that in before leaving! Gosh I love this girl.

And then there was this…Barq’s and Lucy. It doesn’t get better, folks.

Got to grab some breakfast this morning with little Steph. It was great. No one should ever be up as early as we were, though. 

Then, of course, my last day at work. Surprisingly, I had a hard time leaving. I’ve really made some great friends there over the last 4 years. GDC girls - you will be missed! Kalie, you crazy nut. I will miss your singing and dancing around the office on a daily basis. This pic of me is creepy. Just sayin’.

Mae, with the most infectious laugh I’ve ever heard…a party is to be had wherever this girl is!

Dr. Markway and Jerrica: real live gangsters. And Lindsay, you sweet thing with all of your innocent vocabulary mishaps…

Bre and Jenn: two of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. My life will not be the same without you two in it every day!

And another of Jenn and I. Special shout-out: just the sweetest friend. We have so many great memories together and I will miss you like crazy. {tear}

There it is! KC, you have treated us well. There will be lots to accomplish when we come back to visit…like trying to visit all these fine folk! And anyone reading this, take note: we will welcome visitors to Nashville anytime. Flights are cheap and the drive is short, so no excuses! Just do it.