First Saturday in May!!

Do you know what the first Saturday in May is? You don't?! Let me enlighten you...it's probably is one of my most favorite days of the year!! It's the day of the "Fastest Two Minutes in Sports" or better known as THE KENTUCKY DERBY!!!

Sorry! I get a little excited about it! As with most girls, I've had a love for horses FOREVER...I horseback rode for about five years from middle school into high school. In 11th grade I had to decide between horseback riding and athletic training...I chose athletic training. To say I regret giving up horseback riding would be a huge understatement. I should've figured out a way to do both and just been super super busy! I won't go all nostalgic on y'all but let's just say I really really miss it...like every day! I keep promising myself that one day I will get back into it, but just for fun and for the enjoyment I got out of it. ONE DAY! {Hopefully sooner rather than later!} So my love of horses has carried over through the years and in college I started watching the Kentucky Derby EVERY year...it coincided with dead days most years and so I would be sitting on my bed studying and watching the Derby from the very first race until the climatic final race! And at the end of the actual Derby race I'd usually have tears streaming down my face! {I'm that girl...sorry, but I am.} My roommates all thought I was nuts, but the sheer happiness always got the best of me, haha!

Fast forward to when I've graduated and am living back in my hometown. My family is always down to throw a party...any reason! My mom and I love hosting and preparing everything! So I decided to throw a Kentucky Derby party! Everyone was instructed to wear their best Derby hat and come ready to pick a pony! The first year my brother was still living close by and we made it the 1st Annual Kentucky Derby, Cinco de Mayo, Herbie's birthday! Since then, we stick to Kentucky Derby...it's just easier and we can stick to certain food and beverages. We weren't fans of the famous Mint Julep so we made the Oaks Lily {which is the drink of the Oaks race which is ran the day before the Derby} it's got Cranberry and Vodka and some other stuff...I'll post the recipe later on...it's delicious! We also make a Bourbon Slush which is also fabulous!!

I still have my saddle and other riding apparel so I use that to decorate the porch and garage. I also have red roses everywhere! I may go a little overboard! The last few years we make pulled pork and coleslaw and some kind of desert. We play washers in the yard and everyone bets on the big race!

This year, I'm going to go a little bit further and use signs and even my pull out my old show ribbons and hang them around. The ladies do not disappoint with their hats at all! The hats are my favorite part of the whole thing! I have several and have been instructed to not buy any new hats this year!  

Now for some recipes!

Oaks Lily

1 oz. GREY GOOSE® Vodka 
1 oz. Sweet and Sour Mix
3 oz. Cranberry Juice
Splash of Triple Sec 
 

Garnish with an orange slice! We make a few gallons of it and use a big drink dispenser. It's best with crushed ice!

Bourbon slush

Makes 3 Quarts

2 ½ cups of tea (2 ½ cups of water and 2 small tea bags)
1 12- ounce can frozen lemonade, thawed
1 6-ounce can frozen orange juice
2 cups Maker’s Mark™ bourbon
1 cup sugar
6 cups water

We make this in a big metal pot the night before and freeze it...The next day just fluff it up and put the pot in a tub of ice to keep it cold. It's super refreshing.

Now for the famed mint julep!

Mint Julep

2 Cups sugar
2 Cups water
Sprigs of fresh mint
Crushed ice
Early Times Kentucky Bourbon
Silver Julep Cups

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of Early Times Kentucky Bourbon. Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

So dust off your best derby hats, find your prettiest dress, print out the lyrics to My Old Kentucky Home, place your wagers and have a great time watching the Derby!  Try throwing a derby party this year...it really is a fun time and everyone gets into it! I'll be doing a post once we've had the party with tons of pictures!

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane

Oh, How Pinteresting! 1st Edition

I've decided to link up this Wednesday with Michelle over at The Vintage Apple. I found her link-up via my friend Megan. I've seen her link-up multiple times and I thought since I've been home sick and spending multiple hours cruising through the Pinterest universe!

 

Here's what I've been loving lately

Join the link-up y'all! It's fun!!

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!

A few weekends ago I made some homemade spaghetti sauce that my friend Caitlin makes that is supposedly "Ah-maze-ing!". And it was!! It makes a ton and I have lots left in the freezer that I'm planning on using to make baked ziti one night! Here's the recipe straight from the source herself:


Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
Medium onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1lb of ground beef 
2 links of Italian sausage (I like to use one hot and one mild. Depends on if you like spicy or not)
4 cans of tomato paste (6 oz) 
1 can of tomato sauce (8 oz) 
(I use hunts for both)
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper
pinch of sugar 

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion(diced small). Season it with a little salt. Let that cook for about 2 minutes and then add the garlic(diced small). Let that cook for about 2 minutes. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook until browned. My mom pours out the grease but I leave it in :) now here's the tricky part. Add the 4 cans of tomato paste and 2 cans of water for each can. Then add the can of tomato sauce and can of water. Add all the spices. Bring it to a boil and then simmer on low heat covered for about 2 hours. Voila! 

Y'all this sauce was seriously yummy! Funny story, I didn't get basil at the store because my mom said she had some...she DID NOT! So I texted Caitlin and said okay I left the basil out because we don't have any, she FLIPPED on me and ordered me straight to the store to get basil! Glad she did because it really did need it! My daddy even approved of it and he's one picky tough critic! I did use lean ground beef and instead of italian sausage {said tough critic doesn't do spicy} I used beef smoked sausage. It was still good and unlike Caitlin, I drained the grease! :)

The recipe was super easy and didn't really take that long! Make it on Sunday and if you're a real italian lover you could use it all week to make meals! :) If not, then freeze it use it later!

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane

5 for Five

Good Tuesday Morning!!

I'm linking up with Jenn and Jessica for my 5 for FIVE!

Just a reminder: Purple = accomplished, Blue = almost accomplished and Red= a big fat failure! 

I'm a little late on my post...I caught a stomach bug this weekend and am finally beginning to feel like myself today, which is good because I have a HUGE Girl's Soccer Playoff Game to cover tonight! Let's see how I did last week...

1. Blog more consistently! Whoo! I got a couple posts up last week and still have some in the works.

2. Track my food and workouts. My trainer is doing a challenge with her family,friends and clients for two weeks. This has been AWESOME!! It's nice to see that my trainer isn't "superhuman" like I make her out to be!

3. Finish my book I've been reading. Okay, I didn't finish the book I've been reading, but I finished a different book. Josh Hamilton's Book it was amazing!! He has such a strong testimony and it had me tearing up in the hallway! It's a quick read, I finished it in a day.

4. Get in my quiet times!  I got in a few...

5. Clean,Clean,Clean! My house is a disaster! Umm...yeah I was busy at work and then this lovely bug hit...

 

Not too bad this past week!

 

1. Quiet times!! I MUST do this...I've had to miss my bible study and church the last two weeks and I've felt a difference...which is not okay, because I need to find that peace myself in my alone time with God.

2. Keep tracking my food/ exercise. I need to stay on track...since Saturday I've only eaten: 4 cups of broth, 20 crackers, 4 pieces of toast and a plain baked potato...I'm starting to introduce food back now that I'm feeling better but I can't go back to what I was eating right away...need to stay bland for a bit. But bland doesn't mean unhealthy! As for exercise...well this week was meant to really kick things into gear... but I may be just doing a little cardio here and there...

3. "Move back home". When I'm sick, I just want to be at my parents...I've been here since Saturday. I need to go home and do laundry...I'm going to for-go the grocery store this week and just go with what I have in the pantry. Depending on the game tonight I may be headed to Round Rock for Regional Tournament on Thursday.

4. Finish one of my books...I'm currently reading two books on my Kindle, I've never been one to do this but I needed a break from one of them.

5. Get back to 100% health wise.

I really had to think hard about my goals this week because my week has been thrown for a loop! I usually think about them on Sundays and on Sunday I didn't even want to think about the next hour let alone the next week!

 

Hope y'all are having a great week and achieve everything you've set for yourselves!

 

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane

 

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I went to high school from 1996-2000. During this time, the tv show F.R.I.E.N.D.S was extremely popular! Like we used to meet at a house and all watch it together on Thursday nights, and were all slightly obsessed.

It's always been my favorite show of all time. I was completely bummed when it ended and am longing for a reunion show! Over the past seven years of working in a high school, the kids of today are discovering F.R.I.E.N.D.S thanks to re-runs! I love it because some of them are just as enthusiastic as I was am about the show. I've seen every episode and can quote them all! It's a sickness really, a couple of my friends and I just have to send one line in a text and a whole episode of text messages will ensue! It's the best!! I can seriously laugh so hard just thinking of an episode {Like I said, it's a sickness people!}.

All this week at school the kids are testing and the schedule is all kinds of jacked up! So today athletic periods were at the beginning of the day and I didn't have bathroom duty for testing so I decided to watch some bloopers on YouTube to pass a little time. I had been doing stuff to wrap up physicals and needed to take a break so this was the perfect way to relax for a bit!

Here are a few of my favorites!!

And some of my favorite episodes...

I still watch the show every day! It's on TBS and the on Nick at Nite, I don't miss it!

Any of y'all share the same sickness as me?!

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane

Blog Lovin

Follow me on Bloglovin!
Alright, I've decided to drink the Bloglovin juice and use it! I really have no clue what it's about and I don't think I use google reader, but I may. I mean I have a reading list on the front page of blogger and maybe that's google reader, but I really don't think it is! So like I said I'm jumping the bandwagon and am going to use BlogLovin!

Sorry for the short and sweet post but I just thought I'd alert the handful of people that read my thoughts! I'm working on some posts... just have to download pics off of my camera!

xoxo,
Samanthadiane

5 for Five!

 Good Monday morning! I had a fabulous Easter break! A little work with lots of fun is always the ticket! 

I'm linking up with Jenn and Jessica for my 5 for FIVE!

Just a reminder: Purple = accomplished, Blue = almost accomplished and Red= a big fat failure! 

Let's see how I did last week!

1. Read the whole book of Mark this week, as we prepare for Easter. I definitely just finished it morning,but it was still done and very powerful! 
2. Workout!!! Wednesday is going to be nuts with physical day, so I need to get some physical activity in so I can get some stress relief in before and after that day!
3. Put aside time for God each and every day...even if it's just 15 minutes!
4. Write at least two other blog posts...I've got some ideas so hopefully I can get them prepared!
5. Cook dinner twice this week.

Not a great week,but not too bad. It was a messed up week because we only had a three day work week {not that I'm complaining about that!}.

Ok, here's this week's goals... I'm shooting for a perfect score!

1. Blog more consistently! I've got posts planned, I just need to write them! I'm tired of saying "oh I got too busy!“ No more...just need to make time.

2. Track my food and workouts. My trainer is doing a challenge with her family,friends and clients for two weeks. There's no winners or losses it's just for accountability and to get more ideas!

3. Finish my book I've been reading. The students are testing this week so while I'm on potty duty I can read!

4. Get in my quiet times! I download Jesus Calling on my kindle so I've got no excuse!

5. Clean,Clean,Clean! My house is a disaster!

I fully promise to most more this week! Hope y'all have a fabulous Monday!

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane