...impress them on your children

Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

The Best Fried Pickles in Oklahoma

{The best fried pickles I've ever eaten}

Ok, so the title of this post may or may not be a little deceiving...you see, I haven't actually tried every fried pickle in the state - but I do know where to find the best ones I've ever eaten, and I can't imagine ever finding some that are better. Fried pickles are one of my most favorite foods. I'm not even crazy about fried food, but these I make an exception for. I don't eat them very often because of their effect on the waistline dietary and nutritional value, but I make an exception anytime I pass through the town of Poteau.

{Downtown Poteau, OK}

Poteau is home to Warehouse Willy's Restaurant (you can view their menu on urbanspoon), which is considered the "nicest" place to eat in Poteau. It's located in their historic downtown area, on Dewey Avenue. It's a great place to eat, has a great atmosphere, and is some of the best food around. I usually get a steak there and Tyler really enjoys their crawfish. 

{Warehouse Willy's, image via Poteau.ME}

{Warehouse Willy's Entrance}

{Warehouse Willy's Pickle Chips appetizer}

{Warehouse Willy's ribeye and potato wedges with their delicious gumbo}

Warehouse Willy's fried pickles are some of the best I've ever eaten, coming in at a close second right behind Myers Drive-In, also located in Poteau (what are the odds?). I love this place! It's an old-Sonic-turned-local-drive-in and one of my favorite places to stop (Tyler works a lot in this area and so we are here from time to time). If you are ever in the area you must stop here and try the fried pickles, and I suggest ordering an Arctic Whirl to go with it (ice cream mixed with pretty much any candy bar of your choice, similar to a Sonic Blast but much better).

{Myer's Drive-In, image via Poteau.ME}

{Myer's fried pickles, Y U M!}

{Myer's Oreo Arctic Whirl and Cookie Dough Arctic Whirl}

My 'Levi' Necklace

Since before Levi was born, I had an idea of a necklace I wanted to find and have to wear every day as a reminder of what a blessing he is. I began my search not long after that, and kept finding necklaces similar to what I had envisioned, but just not exactly the one I wanted. I checked out different stores that I knew did stamping and engraving of charms, but had no luck. I began searching Etsy shops and different places online, and finally came across One Life Jewelry.

I found a necklace in this shop that was almost exactly what I was wanting (the closest I had come so far), and I was planning on ordering this necklace and settling for it because it was so great (pictured below). But before I ordered it, I sent a message to Arlyne, the owner and designer who creates and makes all the jewelry, to see if she would consider making the two tiny changes I wanted to make to create my perfect necklace, and much to my surprise she was very happy to do it.

{The necklace similar to what I wanted, image via One Life Jewelry}

The necklace I wanted was just a small gold, disc-shaped charm, with Levi's name stamped in the center (in a script font) and his birth date below it (in a regular font).

I am so happy with my necklace, and I will definitely be ordering from this shop in the future. Since this is something I wear most every day, I went ahead and invested in a 24 carat gold chain the size I wanted so that I know it will last for a very long time and at some point in the future I can add to it if I want. Here are a few other necklaces I love from her shop.

{Tree Branch Necklace, image via One Life Jewelry}

{Baby Monogram, image via One Life Jewelry}

{Family Tree necklace, image via One Life Jewelry}



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{Levi - 10/26/10}

 

Over the weekend...

{Getting ready to watch Uncle Thomas in the Homecoming Parade!}

We had a great and busy weekend that included (take a big breath).......................................welcoming Tyler home (he was in Colorado on a four-wheeling trip all last week), cooking for a funeral, attending homecoming festivities, running in a 5k race (me), working on our shop building (Tyler), going out to eat and doing a little baby-shower-shopping (all 3 of us), going to church, eating with my family, throwing a shower (me), going to church again and attending a meeting (Tyler)..........Whew! We all went to bed early last night and when Tyler woke me up to tell me bye this morning, I realized I had slept for about 10 solid hours and Levi must have too because I never heard a peep on the monitor.

{Hurry up parade!!}

{Still waiting!...with Nana}

{Finally! King (uncle) Thomas and Queen Jodi}

{This was one of my favorite "floats" - Levi liked them all}

{Watching Uncle Thomas in the Homecoming Pep Assembly}

{Baby Shower I helped give for a friend in my Sunday School class}

{Nicole (center) and the hostesses}

{It's a girl!}

Nail Spotlight - Fun with Sparkles

I've been known to try some crazy things on my nails. I usually stick with what is my interpretation of the classics, but I also like to try something fun every once in a while.

I saw this image floating around on Pinterest and pinned it to my Style pinboard as something to try (I had the nude color but needed to get the gold sparkle*):

*Confession: I already owned about 4 different "gold sparkle" polishes, but this one was unlike any of them and so I had to hunt it down. So if you ever need a gold sparkle polish, I'VE GOT FIVE.


{Seen here, originally here}

And here is my version of it. It's pretty much the same, except that girl's photos are better because she took them during the day with natural light (I meant to, but ended up doing it at night after the little one went to bed), and she is just a better photographer than I am (which is pretty easy to achieve - I'm no photographer).

{OPI Barefoot in Barcelona and Sephora by OPI in Only Gold for Me}

Corn Chowder

Corn chowder is my absolute favorite soup/chowder in the world. My version is similar to potato soup, but packed with a lot more flavor than potato soup. It's so great for a cool, crisp fall evening (although I could eat it year round).

Ingredients:
6 slices of bacon
6 small-medium potatoes, cubed
1 onion
1 C water
2 cans creamed corn
1 can evaporated milk
1 can regular milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
S & P to taste

Instructions:
Fry bacon in stock pot until crispy. Set bacon aside. Add potatoes, onion, and water to bacon drippings. Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft. Add remaining ingredients and heat through, stirring to prevent potatoes from sticking to bottom. Garnish with bacon pieces.

*For dinner, I serve this with garlic french bread that I make with hoagy buns - (I put melted butter on them, then some garlic powder and shredded cheddar and parmesan cheese, and toss them in the oven at 400 or 425 for 7-10 minutes). I made this batch for lunch, so in the pictures they are shown with saltine crackers instead of bread.