Valentine’s Day seems to be hurling its fluffy heart-shaped self directly in our faces at break-neck speeds this year. It’s time to celebrate the “US” portion of your life. If you’re reading this and thinking “I have NO clue what to do/buy for my significant other” Don’t fret, I got you!! This is a TWO idea concept. First is to BE HONEST, Second is to do what works best for your “US”.

I should be honest here, I think flowers are cute and all but there was a time when a certain holiday rolled around and I had hinted to a certain gift and i just knew that I was going to get it, until I didn’t and managed to get flowers instead. I (ashamed to say) acted like a brat, and told my s/o that I really would’ve appreciated getting that thing that I had hinted to before that would’ve saved money and wouldn’t have died in a week. His response you ask?? a calm and collected “….. why didn’t you just say so, I’m not a mind reader and I’m terrible at picking up on hints… you know that…” It’s true, he sucks at noticing anything other than the obvious. He was right though, why didn’t I just ask for what I wanted rather than dance around the truth in hopes he would Sherlock Holmes that mess and then be disappointed when he didn’t?? The truth of the matter is that I felt like if I said it upfront that would make me rude or pushy but that’s not the truth at all. There’s an old expression “It’s not what you say, it’s HOW you say it” that clearly applies here. I wouldn’t dare say “Get me ____ for a gift” that’s just not me. This next piece of advice though??? This is how I make gift giving (and receiving) fluid.

I’m about to give you the “SECRET” to gift giving in a relationship that works every single time!! Ya ready?? All you need to ask for a list from your s/o and give the same one in return, simple huh? Here’s the simple details, Ask your s/o to give you a list of items or activities. You can put a price range on it or they can all be free (think picnic, hikes, alone time). Not let’s go back to the whole “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” expression. By now my s/o know the drill we just hand over the list, but the first time or two it went a little bit more like this “Hey I’m wanting to get you something but I wanted to make sure it’s something that you’d actually want or want to do, could you give me a list of things that range in budget so that I can get an idea? If your s/0 doesn’t follow suit in asking for a list in return, take the reins and POLITELY manage to put out there that you don’t want them to feel obligated but IF they were thinking of getting/ doing something for you as well, that you would like ____ (<— fill in your own blank here). It’s important to add that if you’re not in a relationship it’s OKAY, in fact a good thing to go out and do something to make yourself happy this valentines day.

This can really work for any gift giving occasion and with any relationship brother, sister, mother, daughter, father or, son!! Give it a try and let us know how it works out for you and if you have any other advice to add we’d love to hear it!

We hope you get EGGSactly what you ask for this year 😉

With lots of Valentine’s Day love,

Your Chicks ❤

**Disclaimer: None of these chicks are counselors and can’t guarantee that any method works for anyone.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do for my first solo blog post. But this Mother’s Day weekend it came to me. I’m going to share Mamaw’s famous Meat & Lemon recipe! My Mamaw was from Thailand and moved to America when she was in her mid 20’s. This is one dish she made that we all loved and I mean almost anyone who tries it, (even my husband who despises cucumbers) cannot get enough. This is also the only dish she made that I really remember how to make (⇑insert kicking myself for not writing more down!). My whole family still makes this and it has sort of became a tradition for us, especially since we lost our sweet Mamaw several years ago. She was a sweet soul (most of the time) but she was also a feisty little Asian lady who easily captured the hearts of all who had the pleasure of meeting her. So, without further ado.. I give you Mamaw’s famous Meat & Lemon recipe.

(Disclaimer: There is actually no lemon in this recipe and I am not sure why we always called it “Meat & Lemon” but we will just go with it…:)

Ingredients:

Steak (I usually get thin sirloin but any steak will do)
Cucumbers (4-5 medium sized)
6-8 limes
Cilantro
Soy Sauce
Fish Sauce (don’t let this deter you, it is really yummy after all mixed together)
Rice

1. Start cooking your rice.

2. Peel and slice the cucumbers

*My beautiful mother just became a distributor for Pampered Chef and her handy dandy Simple Slicer worked like a charm for this task!

3. Add 1/2 Cup Soy Sauce, 3/4 Cup Fish Sauce, and squeeze in 5-6 limes to make the juice

*I didn’t get to snap a pic but the Pampered Chef Citrus Press was WONDERFUL for this!

4. Next go ahead and cut that steak into thin strips and cook it up! No seasoning necessary since it will soak in all the yummy juice you just made.

See my pretty assistant?! Also known as my awesome Mom!

5. Now cut up the cilantro and add the steak and cilantro in with your cucumbers

6.You are ready to eat this yummy goodness!

Use the rice as your base and the Meat & Lemon mixture over it and enjoy!

This is one of those recipes that is even better on day 2 after everything has had time to marinate. You can add more lime/soy/fish sauce to suite your taste as well but this should get you started.

I hope you love this super simple, quick, and easy recipe as much as we do! I plan to pass it on to my sweet daughter and hope that she grows up loving it just as much as I did!

In Loving Memory of my Mamaw

Mrs. Anong Wyrick, 1940 – 2007

Mamaw

Left: Mamaw with her Mother Bonnie. Right: Mamaw/Mom/Me

My Aunt Sue with her 2 boys Ian & Logan, My Mom, Me, Mamaw

And now a few pics for Mother’s Day 🙂

Left: My Mom & My beautiful daughter. Right: Me, My wonderful mother-in-law, and my super cool SIL #SpeckledChick

My precious daughter, husband and me.

Without them, I wouldn’t be a mommy myself so I had to give them a shout out!

Happy Mother’s Day to all those Mom’s and Mother figures out there!

You make such a difference in the lives of those you touch.

Oh yeah, and if you are interested in some of those awesome kitchen tools that make kitchen life so much easier such as the Simple Slicer or the Citrus Press Click Here.

My Momma will hook you right up!