a sweet summertime evening

while i love being able to work very part time as an rn

i almost always work weekends & holidays

this weekend i was at work all day saturday & sunday

meanwhile

dan was putting in some serious labor hours

packing up his parents home

both an emotionally tiring and physically overwhelming job

his parents were not hoarders by any means

in fact , they were minimalist before minimalism became chic

whew..

 a ginormous task even still

dan & i have also been dealing with a bit of an issue here on the home front

that has left me a bit drained

so we decided after all that 

to be wild & crazy

& did not set the alarm for our usual 5am

ended up sleeping until 7:30

 woke up to temps here in atlanta somewhere in the 50's!

& virtually no humidity

dan & i headed out to one of our fave breakfast places

(the flying biscuit)

and then on to our fave coffee house

( dancing goat in decatur)

i knew he'd spend the rest of the day packing up an attic

& i needed to tend to things back at the ranch

i told the girls everybody needed to be here at 6pm for an overdue home cooked meal

~ we eat alot on the weekends :)

i'm sure everybody has their own broccoli cheese casserole

but i'll share this one with you too

i cleaned the kitchen with my restoration hardware "shore" cleaner

opened the windows for the first time since probably april

& cranked up some lady antebellum on pandora

marinated the chicken in our fave marinade

marinated shrimp in some lemon juice & olive oil

boiled corn on the cob

baked the broccoli casserole

sauteed mushrooms

my madison came home from cheerleading

& whipped up some paula deen lemon bars

delish!!

i love setting a fun table

& enjoying meals out on our backporch

 a sweet summertime evening

i think its sorta sexy that he texts while grilling....

must have caught my vibe

texting again....

"a happy family

is but an earlier heaven"

ok back to the broccoli casserole

& let me redeem myself from my paula deen moment

one

only one stick of butter

not two, as pictured

broccoli cheese casserole~

2 10 oz pkgs frozen chopped broccoli

1/2 c butter

8 oz velveeta cheese

sleeve of town house crackers

cook broccoli according to directions & drain well

cut up 4T of butter and all the velveeta

add to hot cooked broccoli

place in a greased casserole dish & bake at 350 for 20 min

crush crackers and add to 4T melted butter

sprinkle on top & bake for 5-10 more minutes

hope each of ya'll had your own sweet summertime evening!