Derby Days

Did you know The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday?

I have always enjoyed the events surrounding the Derby.  

I've never been, but I love the hats, the fancy drinks and the traditions.

Since we aren't making a trip to The Derby this year,

we will be enjoying some Derby Pie and a Blush Lily to drink

while we watch some Derby coverage on TV.

 My husband is the drink maker at our house and I like my drinks heavy on the fruity side :)  The Mint Julep is the traditional Derby drink, but we went in a different direction.  Churchill Downs serves 120.000 mint juleps and 40,000 Oaks Lily cocktails on race day.  We found this Blush Lily recipe in our latest Southern Living magazine and made a few changes for our preferences.  The Blush Lily is a different spin on the traditional Oaks Lily cocktail served at the race.  

Our Blush Lily was delicious so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Blush Lily Recipe

Fill a cocotail shaker with crushed ice,

add 6 T cranberry juice

3 T vodka

2 T fresh lime juice

1 T Triple Sec

1 T sugar

This recipe makes 1-2 drinks so feel free to multiply the recipe

I'm also going to make a Derby Pie for us to enjoy this weekend.

My Mom's Pie Recipe

If I were going to The Derby,

I'd wear a hat like this one:

via Dillards

Do you do anything fun for Derby weekend?

Happy Derby Weekend to you :)

I Couldn't Live Without... Toddler Tornadoes

Olive is almost TWO and she makes the biggest messes.

We jokingly call her The Toddler Tornado.

I used to stress about them and keeping everything nice and tidy.

Now, I try to laugh at the craziness, snap a picture and we clean it up together.

We are both much happier this way.

Here are some of her latest toddler tornado episodes:

 I was busy working on Olive's birthday party invitations while Olive was coloring/nibbling on her crayons, practicing her flash cards, organizing her spoons, watching Daniel Tiger and SMILING.

Crayons are her favorite and she's figured out that the windows are very fun to draw on.  

Thank heavens for those magic erasers that get crayon off of any surface.

 We've been practicing shapes lately... Olive snuck into my purse, found my BRIGHTEST shade of lipstick and drew a star on her face.  I was impressed so I showed her what she looked like.  She shouted STAR.  Not too bad for doing it without a mirror.  Again, thankful for baby wipes to get the red off before church.

I tried to take Olive's picture before church in a new spot.  She thought this grass was hilarious and kept pulling chunks out.  She looked shocked when I suggested she leave some grass for landscaping.

Toddler tornadoes ensure that there's never a dull moment at our house.

Linking up with ThoughtsforThursday and I Couldn't Live Without...

WIWW

Spring in the South is pretty warm.  I've been wearing layers so that I can adjust as the day gets warmer.  I'll often wear a scarf in the morning and ditch it later in the day.  My fashion goals for this week are: wear a variety of accessories, get out my summery footwear, wear bright colors and try some new pattern mixing (stripes and floral is my current favorite).

What's your go to item you're wearing a lot these days?

These two jackets have been my Spring staples.

Here are two of my favorite outfits from this past week:

// Outfit #1 //

jacket - Loft

top - Taret

jeans - Old Navy

flats - GAP

earrings - Francesca's

 // Outfit #2 //

jean jacket - GAP

dress - Old Navy (NEW)

earrings - Polka-Dotty Place etsy shop

flats - Target

Olive is wearing a dress from Gordmans & shoes from Target :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

Linking up with Trendy Wednesday, IFeelPretty, WhatchaWearingWednesday
RealMomStyle, LetitShine,
 StyleElixir, RacheltheHat, ThePleatedPoppy, CasualFridays

RandomWednesday,GetYourPrettyOn, TheBestofStyle, FavoriteFashionFriday

Local Eats

We've been trying new, local restaurants in Mississippi

so I thought I'd share them with you in case you're ever in the neighborhood.

Thai Tasty
Great take out options

4th Down Pizza
We got a groupon to try here and it was pretty tasty
They had live music and Olive couldn't take her eyes off of them :)

Nagyoa
Great hibachi and great take out
We used groupons to try this place and I have loved everything.  Ithink I preferred the Chicken Yakasoba over the hibachi, but they were both tasty.  Kevin says their sushi is delicious!!  The staff is SUPER friendly and are adorable with Olive every time we go - the hostess playing peek-a-boo across the restaurant and the sushi roll makers waving/making funny faces at Olive.

McAlisters
 I ate at McCallisters with my parents and it was good.  Their sandwiches were tasty and so were their giant rice krispie treats!!

Primos
A great lunch spot with tons of classic food.
We got burgers and they were tasty.
Be sure to upgrade to sweet potato fries and add some toppings to your burger.

Hunan Wok
Delicious chinese take out in Ridgeland.
It's always ready in less than 20 minutes, everything we've had is great (Garlic Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, Mongolian Beef and Hunan Chicken).
Their Cheese Won Ton appetizers are soooo good.
I never remember to take a picture of our food because we dive right in!!

Kevin tried The Cherokee Inn and said they have delicious fried pickles.
He also ate at Hal & Mals and liked their burgers.
He mentioned that they both had delicious fried pickles and that just doesn't sound appealing to me.  I like pickles on burgers, but I don't know about fried pickles.

Do you have any Mississippi restaurants to recommend for me??
We have a list of ones we'd still like to try :)

Exploring Vicksburg, MS

The weather was great on Sunday so we decided to take a quick road trip over to Vickburg, MS.  We'd heard all about it and there's tons of Civil War sites to see.

We timed things PERFECTLY with church, lunch at home and headed out right about the time Olive goes down for a nap.  We made a Starbucks pit stop and were on our way.  We weren't sure if things would go as planned, but were thrilled when we ended up with about 90 minutes of silence in the car for a little road trip date :)

We headed straight to Vicksburg National Military Park.

It was $8 to drive through the 16 mile park.

We enjoyed going on the battlefield tour and learning some new historical facts.

Kevin (the history major) gave me a little Civil War lesson as we drove through.

It was fascinating to see the battlefields and read all the plaques.

It also makes me realize that I should freshen up my US history knowledge.

We got out of the car to stretch our legs.  

Olive was very interested in the canons and picking flowers.

We toured the gift shop, tried on some souvenirs

and picked out a new Christmas ornament for our travel ornament collection.

We drove around Vicksburg and got a good view of the Mississippi.

We also got to see the USS Cairo which was very interesting.

We stopped in the outlet mall for a quick snack and tiny bit of shopping.

Then, we headed to the river front for our last stop.

Olive enjoyed watching the barges go by and yelling BOATS! or DUCKS! to all birds.

We watched the sun set and then headed home.

Crossing another Mississippi city off our Must Visit List :)

Tuesday Talk: French Toast Dippers

I made a delicious breakfast this weekend that was

EASY, TASTY and I had all of the INGREDIENTS on hand.

FRENCH TOAST DIPPERS

I just used my favorite french toast recipe and modified it a bit.

3 eggs
5 pieces of bread

a generous splash of milk

1 t vanilla

1 t sugar

2-3 t cinnamon

light maple syrup, butter, powdered sugar

Dip each piece of bread into the mixture and let soak for 30 seconds.  Pull out and lay on a plate to cut into strips.  Put the strips on a cookie sheet.  Repeat until you run out of egg mixture.  Bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.  You want them to be slightly crunchy, but not burned.  Let cool, top with your favorite toppings and serve.  I served them on small plate with syrup in a cappuccino cup.

Everyone loved them.

Time to link up with my favorite ladies!!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://polka-dottyplace.blogspot.com/" title="Polka-Dotty Place"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwfCFr9AXEgv3ETndnI3C_JCdTWaSGQwXVTve-oOCmkLLslJ1CQVNenqCb8uwChwspoznlUrtsuQvC-xZN5-IJRxUz_72ZAxTQVgafE1le_cD3Jw6kmaIVmHuxpFlREuoqf9bfiXIA6A/s1600/TuesdayTalk.jpg" alt="Polka-Dotty Place" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

An InLinkz Link-up

These Words Actually Came Out of My Mouth

I find myself saying some pretty strange things to or about my toddler...

Please don't squish the cats guts.  That hurts them.

Crayons don't go in your ears.

Dirty dishes don't belong in the cabinets.

We do not eat out of the trash can.

Please don't lick mommy's shoes.

Q-tips aren't supposed to go in noses.

Bath water isn't for drinking.

Oliver does not need his teeth examined. 

Let's color on the paper and not your teeth.

Bird seed is for birds and not little girls.

Let's not dig up the flowers we just planted.

Dirt stays in the pot.

Bees are not your friends.

Kevin and I were discussing Olive's recent resistance to going down for a nap or for bed.  He said, "Well maybe she's just ready to drop her nap time."  I responded with
Please don't ever say those words again.  We both need her to nap!

Turkey Veggie Meatballs

I have been trying to plan more meals with ground turkey lately and have tried several new recipes.  We love it in chili and anything mexican.  It's pretty bland so the more seasoning the better.  Olive loves meatballs so I was hoping these veggie meatballs would be a great way to sneak tons of veggies into her meals.

Turkey Veggie Meatball Recipe:

6 carrots

1 yellow onion

6 small sweet peppers - red, yellow, orange

2 zucchini

2 handfuls of spinach

3-4 cloves of garlic

2 eggs

1 c oatmeal

salt and pepper

Worcestershire sauce

1 lb ground turkey

Glaze: 1.5-2 c Ketchup & 1/2 c brown sugar

Run all of your veggies through the food processor.

I did them each separately and also ran the oatmeal through.

Put all shredded veggies in one big bowl.

Add in eggs, salt and pepper, raw turkey and Worcestershire sauce.

Mix with your hands until all combined.

Use a kitchen scoop to scoop out meatball mixture.

This will help keep everything the same size.

Roll the scoop into a ball and then put in a greased pan to bake.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Take out of oven and add a dollop of glaze to the top of each meatball.

Put back in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Recipe made 30 meatballs.

These turned out really tasty!

We all enjoyed them.

I served them with a warm kale salad and mashed potatoes.

You could easily use any veggies you have on hand, add more turkey and personalize them for your family.  It was a great dinner to get in TONS of veggies.

 Hope you enjoy these as much as we did :)

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