Vacation Destination!

Drew and I have been mulling over different ideas of where we would like to go for our anniversary trip this year; we finally made a decision and booked our trip earlier this week! We discussed going to several different places but we finally decided on Costa Rica! We are going in mid-August because Drew's school schedule does not permit another break until November. We are flying directly from Atlanta into San Jose where a driver will pick us up from the Airport and deliver us to the resort. It is a 2 and 1/2 hour drive on treacherous mountain roads...eeek!

I have been working with a travel agency and doing a lot of independent research on the country and the area we choose to stay at is called Manuel Antonio; it is the only part of Costa Rica that has white sandy beaches in addition to the rainforest. Manuel Antonio is also only a 10 minute ride to the town of Quepos, which is one of the most popular sport fishing destinations in Central America... and I promised Drew that we would could spend at least one day fishing (I think he is the most excited about that part of the trip!). The resort we choose is called The Parador Resort and Spa (this might be the part of the trip that I am most excited about!).

Areal view of the property. 

View of the pools and Pacific Ocean.

We also plan to do a few other touristy activities like a canopy tour of the rainforest, zip lining, wildlife encounters and white water rafting. This will be our most adventurous vacation..yet!

Canopy tour!

Mommy and baby monkey!

I also hope to be finished with the last of my classes for my MBA by the time we leave for CR - another reason to celebrate!!

Lori & Aaron's House

Lori and Aaron are nearing the end of their house building adventure! They started building at the end on March and hopefully will be moving in within the next couple of weeks. They purchased a beautiful hardwood lot in Shadow Moss which is located just a couple miles north of Waynesboro. The house is 3 bedrooms with 2 baths and the main living area has an open floor plan which I think Lori and Arron are really going to enjoy...

          Here are some of Lori's pictures throughout the building process:

This is their lot; I am SOOO jealous of all of the beautiful hardwood trees!

This was a couple weeks after they started the building process.

Siding, porch, stonework... finished!

This is the stone they had installed to cover the cinder block foundation. I love all the different colors and it was a great choice to complement the siding!

Beautiful dark kitchen cabinets!

Adding the beauty panels in the dining area!

Floors being installed (this was taken this week!)

Yep...

Saw this on Pinterest this morning.. I can relate!

Japanese Steakhouse Inspired Zucchini and Onions

A couple of weeks ago I was at Bi-Lo in Waynesboro and I purchased a bottle of Makoto Ginger Dressing; not really sure of what I was going to do with it at the time. Last night Drew and I ventured out for a golf cart ride and picked a few (giant) zucchinis out of my parent's garden. That was when the thought hit me to saute the zucchini in the Makoto sauce!

  First, I cut the zucchini into long thin strips and diced 2 Vidalia onions. I'm not sure how much I ended up with, but it was a lot for just 2 people. Then I tossed them in a large bowl with kosher salt, black pepper and the ginger dressing (probably 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of dressing). I let the veggies marinade in the ginger dressing for appx 30 minutes before cooking.

I cooked the veggies in a wok with a little bit of EVOO on medium-high heat. It took about 10 minutes to get the zucchini tender. I added a little bit of corn starch at the end to thicken the sauce up.



The zucchini and onions turned out a lot better than I was expecting them too and I am looking forward to getting home and finishing them off! :)

Rainy Days

This rainy Sunday could not be anymore welcomed by the McCary household. Drew and I have been so lazy today AND I am between classes this weekend so I did not have any homework to do! Mama whipped up her famous international medley of food and peach cobbler for lunch! Other than that this day has been rather unproductive. As of 8pm we have already calculated over 3.5 inches of rain and man oh man did we need it.

We laid around most of the day...

..and played in the puddles when it cleared up for a few minutes.

Daddy's pond is FULL - fuller than I can ever remember it being.

Water running out of the field and onto the road.

"You mean to tell me that you let me play in the mud only because you were planning to give me a bath??!"

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Saturday was my sweet mother's birthday! We went out to eat as a family to Country Boy's in celebration and it was fantastic but a little on the spicy side for me. I won't say how old she turned; we can let the candles do the speakin'. ;)

Busy, busy, busy...

I have not had time to update this blog in a couple of weeks, sorry! I have been extremely busy with work and school (which has been anything but fun!). Here are some of the highlights from the past couple of weeks:

11. Save the Lake 5k. I walked it with Caroline, Kathryn and my sister-in-law Kristin and her sweet baby West. It was a good time and we got a t-shirt out of the deal!

22. Spring Thaw at the river.. This was my first Spring Thaw experience and from what everyone said it was very mild in comparison to past years. We just went for the afternoon and left before it got dark.

33. Drew and I have been reliving days of the past and have been taking advantage of cooler evenings by riding dirt roads! We can get from our house to Justin & Kim’s new house without having to get off a dirt road –that is nice!

4. Me, Deb, Kim and Parker went to Tampa last weekend for my cousin’s graduation. Although I forgot to take pictures of the graduate himself but I did get a picture of Parker in his adorable frog jon-jon.

We went to the Hard Rock Casino; here is a picture of Kim and my Uncle Wayne playing digital blackjack:

  

5. Advanced Strategic Management. This class ends on Friday and I still have 2 papers to write! eeekk - I guess I will get back to it..... :(