Wonderful Wednesday!

What a wonderful day I had today. I left the house around 10:30 today to take a 45 minute ride to the Bare Escentials Boutique. I had two filled cards that were worth $20.00 and a 15% birthday discount that I had to use by today or I would lose it. I brought my camera to take a picture of the boutique but do you think I remembered???? No!!!!!!! Maybe next time. I did take a picture of the fun items I did pick up. Some of these came from the boutique and some came in the mail today. Here is what I got: Foundation -Summer Bisque - Clear Radiance - Blush Pearl - Glimmer Herbal Tea and Glimmer Jasmine Tea - Handi Buki Brush - Heavenly Face Brush - Buzz Latte for lips - Heavenly Eyeshadow/Buffing Brush, Mascara. FYI - when you purchase at the boutique you receive a $10.00 credit for every $100.00 you spend. After leaving the boutique I checked my email on my phone. My friend Brenda emailed me last night saying she had cleaned out her closet and had some clothes for me. (Thankfully, she calls me when she cleans out her closet.) I had emailed her back saying I would be on her side of town today and that I could stop by during a certain time frame but I found out later tonight she didn't get my email until it was too late. You all might know Brenda . . she was on home shopping network for YEARS. She develops and sells exercise equipment. She has since left HSN and has been with QVC for a few years. She is the one who came out with the Ab-Roller years ago and the Lateral Thigh Trainer.

Here is a more recent picture of Brenda! She has been a very good friend over the years. It's funny because we have little in common - I have 5 kids and I am a stay at home mom - she is a celebrity in her own right and does not have children (yet:-) She is a tremendous business women who is very street savvy. I am a "domestic engineer". Even though we are totally different . .. when we get together all the differences fade away and we just become Emily and Brenda. We get a long great! We laugh at the same things . . we both love our families dearly. . so inspite of the differences there are many similarities too! The sad thing is we do not get to see each other very much because of our schedules but when we do we have a great time. We have done a little traveling . .we traveled to New York City and London. We hiked up Diamond Head in Hawaii a few years ago. She is a great motivation to keep me working out! Thanks Brenda for your generosity but most of all thanks for your friendship! Love ya B!!

On my way home Lisa called me and said she was going to head toward her house that is under construction. She wanted me to meet her there because she was unsure about one of her light fixtures. I got to her house around 2 pm and she did decide she wanted to change one of her fixtures so we dropped off her kids at her inlaws and we headed to Lowes to pick something else out. She did get some exciting news from her builder (who was also the builder of my house)! He told her that they should be closing in about 3 weeks! Yea!!!!!!!!! On the way home from Lowes we stopped at Planet Smoothie - Yum!.

After arriving back at home I started dinner. I had a new recipe for Greek Soup . . which is actually Lemon Chicken Rice Soup. This recipe is a little different from the one I grew up on but I wanted to give it a try to see how I liked it. This recipe calls for rice but we use Orzo. Also, we do not usually add carrots and celery but this new one does.

CHICKEN LEMON RICE SOUP/GREEK SOUP

6 c. chicken broth 1/3 c. rice, uncooked 1/2 c. celery, finely diced 1 c. chicken, cooked, cubed 2 tbsp. flour 3 tbsp. lemon juice (or more to taste) 1 cube chicken bouillon 1/2 c. carrots, finely diced 1/4 c. onion, finely diced 2 tbsp. butter 3 eggs Salt and pepper to taste .
In large pan, combine chicken broth, bouillon cube, rice, carrots, celery and onion. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in chicken. Remove from heat and set aside.

In small pan, melt butter and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add in broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

In small bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Beat in lemon juice and 2 cups of thickened broth mixture. Slowly add egg mixture to broth mixture in large pan, stirring constantly. Heat gently until soup thickens enough to coat spoon. DO NOT BOIL.

My friend LeAnna gave me 3 Florida lemons. I forgot to tell my kids that she did. Well, my kids LOVE oranges - especially Taylor. Well, I put them in a dish on our counter and forgot about them. Yesterday Taylor came up to me and said, "Mom, I thought those lemon's were oranges. I peeled one and was shocked when I took a bite - it was a LEMON and not an ORANGE!" I thought I would post a picture of a Florida lemon for those who have never seen one. I only have one left. They do look like Oranges.

The soup was good! I have to admit it was not as good as our original family recipe. I also think I like using orzo instead of rice like this one called for. The great thing about this soup is that it was very fast to make but tasted like you spent all day making it!