Since the flood and with school starting blogging has been the last thing on my mind but I love reading about people's weekly recaps so I finally got a post up. Let's get into some Good Week/Bad Week!

Bad Week

I have not worked out at all this week or last... I had been doing so well with getting in a 30 minute workout every night but it just hasn't happened lately. With school starting this week (I work at a university) I have left everyday exhausted! I was in bed, passed out asleep by 8:30 Monday night. It is time to get back on track next week!

Good Week

Today is National Dog Day, hello...that makes any week a good week! I am so lucky to have the two best babies in the world, Kolby and Max. Right now we are also doggy sitting for my sweet friend who was affected by the flood and we couldn't love Mr. Gumbeaux anymore, he has blended right in with our household and we'll be so sad when he leaves!





To the left: Kolby (back), Max (front) & Gumbeaux is to the right. It's seriously dog central in my house right now and I'm not mad about it.

Friday Thoughts & Favorites

1. I scored a pair of wedges from Target on sale for $8.00 and I may have worn them almost everyday this week, they are so comfy!

2. I'm a Brittney Spears fan, always have been, always will be. If you have not seen her carpool video with James Corden yet go WATCH it! You'll be singing "Oops, I did it again" all day.

3. I've been wanting a hair change for awhile now but I am the most distrusting person when it comes to finding a new stylist. In the 3 years I lived in Texas I got my hair cut only 2 times and never even thought about attempting color. I would wait until I went home to Illinois and schedule an appointment with my stylist then. It's time for a change though and I have no trips to Illinois planned soon so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just go for it. People, this is TERRIFYING!

4. Drew & I are currently trying to plan a road trip for sometime later this fall. What are some great places to visit in the southeast?

5.

I've honestly sat down several times within the past week trying to put into words what my new home of Baton Rouge, LA has gone through. As you read this please know this a correlation of how Drew and I experienced what is now known as, "The Great Flood of 2016."

There are no words, simply none for the devastation that has swept through Louisiana the past week. I had no idea when I went to bed on Thursday night that the rain that was falling would cause so much destruction. Friday morning we woke up to flood warnings, schools and businesses closing and the news stations warning us not to venture out unless it was an emergency. At the time Drew and I still had not been notified by our supervisors or LSU if we still needed to report to work. As we ventured towards campus there were no signs of flooding but you could tell the rain was not going to let up. When we made it onto campus we received notification that LSU would be shutting down for the day so we quickly drove by Drew's office so he could pick up something and then we went to breakfast. While at breakfast we enjoyed ourselves, decided to run to the store to pick up a few snacks to enjoy on our day off and even decided we'd make a quick stop into HomeGoods. We made it home, settled in and began to enjoy what we thought would be a relaxing 3 day weekend.

Saturday morning came and it was still raining and not a light rain, a hard steady rain. Flooding had begun but no major destruction had taken place yet from what we were aware of. There was no flooding taking place in our apartment complex so we thought all was fine. We didn't really see any effects of it until we ventured out to the store and we saw utter chaos ensuing of people stocking up on supplies. We however we're still lucky to be in an area that was seeing no signs of water pooling anywhere. However Saturday evening the rain let up and we woke up Sunday morning to no rain whatsoever. Sunday we started to venture out and what we saw left us speechless. There was simply no words and there were so many emotions that you didn't know whether to cry or laugh because you couldn't determine if this was really real life. As we drove out to try and save one of Drew's coworkers we soon realized that unless we had a boat there was no way to get to her. Once she was to safety we drove to the shelter they had put into place and I had never seen so many carrying what they had left of their life in trash bags. I witnessed a military chopper land, unload a large amount of people then rise back into the air to go and rescue more. I found out via Facebook that a dear friend and coworker had to evacuate her home and her out of state family was trying to get into contact with her but couldn't due to the fact that phone service was non-existent. Not knowing whether your loved ones are safe is one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. If i'm being completely honest though, the past week has been a complete whirlwind, it still doesn't seem real but sadly it is.

As the water has receded the rebuild now begins. Through all the destruction and devastation I can honestly say I have never been more proud to live somewhere. This city is simply amazing. Seeing total strangers come together to help those in need is the most heartwarming thing to witness. People aren't asking, they're doing...whatever it takes to help those in need. Baton Rouge and surrounding areas have a long road ahead of rebuilding. Families are putting their entire lives back together and even with all the help from the community we still need more.

If you would like to contribute financial assistance or donate items to those in need please see below.

Red Cross - text "LAFLOODS" to 90999
Salvation Army of Greater Baton Rouge - Click here 
Cajun Navy T-shirt - Click here
If you would like to send monetary donations or items to victims Drew and I personally know please email me at megancanblog@gmail.com and I'll provide you with additional information to do so.

One thing is for sure, we're Baton Rouge proud and Louisiana Strong.


SaveSaveSaveSave

All of a sudden I blinked and it was Friday already. Did this week fly by for anyone else? Let's get right into this week's Good Week, Bad Week. (If you're unsure what that is click here & read last week's here.)

Bad Week

Feeling of sickness started to creep up on me yesterday afternoon. So I high-tailed it to Walgreen's for some EmergenC. That stuff is the best and I love that there is so many flavor options. Nobody has time to be sick right now so I'm currently doing everything in my power to keep it away.

Good Week

I had an entirely different good week moment written but something trumped it. If you've watched the news or weather at all today I'm sure you've heard about the severe rain fall that is happening in Louisiana right now. This morning I woke up thinking I was headed to work even though there was a flash flood warning in place, got to work only for it to close and they send everyone home. So here I am sitting on my couch, in my comfy clothes cuddled with my 3 boys watching the Olympics, hello 3 day weekend!

The rain and flooding is very scary right now so please say a prayer, send positive thoughts or whatever you may do to the state of Louisiana. We are lucky to be safe and the flooding not be too bad in our area but some areas and towns are seeing a lot worse. #turnarounddontdrown

Friday Thoughts & Favorites

1. Drew & I had an impromptu movie date this week and it was wonderful. If you haven't seen Bad Mom's yet GO SEE IT! It's husband approved even though you may have to drag him there. I also posted this week about how we keep date night/day exciting and fun. Check it out here!

2. This will be our first SEC football season we've ever experienced so I have been on the hunt for some purple and gold outfits for this fall. We have some great local boutiques here in the Capitol City and I am obsessed with some of the looks they are posting on their social media. I'm so excited to cheer on the Tigers and see what LSU football is all about!




3. Olympics - enough said. I think I get just as excited for the small countries who are winning their first medals as much as I do when USA wins.

4. Yuengling made it's way to Louisiana and it's a glorious thing. It has taken over our beer fridge and we're not mad about it.

5.

Rain, Rain Go Away; Come Again Another Day!

Rain - It's in the forecast for south Louisiana for the next week basically. After living in south Texas for 3 years where there was a severe drought for 2.5 of those 3 years you can imagine my amazement with how much it rains here! I used to long for a simple thunderstorm to happen but it never came nowadays there is a thunderstorm at least every other day!

Since I live in a flood zone now, you can imagine how hard it is for me to dress for the rain. So I took the ever so faithful Pinterest to get some rainy day outfit ideas.

Work, work, work, work,work

I have the hardest time putting together an outfit that's durable for the rain but still work appropriate. My office is business casual and it depends upon the day on how casual you can go. I have a pair of Hunter rain boots and they are truly worth the investment but I have the hardest time pairing them with an office appropriate outfit so I love the options shown below with rain boots. I also love the 3rd look that would be more appropriate for casual Friday, it's comfortable but still work appropriate and perfect for a light rainy day.





Sweet Summertime

One thing I haven't invested in is a good rain jacket. With two little boys (dogs)  to walk, I'm realizing that this is going to be something I need to invest in next. Typically when walking Kolby & Max I throw my boots on with a pair of athletic shorts, so I am loving these casual looks that you can wear out in public.




Fall - la -la -la

As mentioned in the beginning I live in south Louisiana so Fall is basically  non-existent but I love wearing great transitional pieces that can be fall like without suffocating you because, you know - heat.


All outfits + links can be found on my Pinterest page.

This weekend was all about closet clean out, which I decided to do randomly on Saturday. Every 6 months I get this itch to go through all of my clothes and decide what to keep, donate and sell. I also figured it was time to do it because Drew rolled his eyes at me when I bought some new clothes at Kohl's that morning. I don't feel the need to defend or justify myself when buying clothes but they were seriously on sale! I scored 2 great dresses for work and a pair of shorts all for $50 and had $150.00 in savings - I'm calling that a win.

So while everyone in my household was napping I spent my afternoon reorganizing all of my dresser drawers and my closet and purged a ton of stuff. I decided it was time to part ways with a lot of dresses I know I will never wear again, shirts and those skinny jeans from high school. sigh


While going through my closet I came across a bag of holiday wear that was my Grandma's. My Grandma was the QUEEN of festive Christmas shirts and sweaters. This past Christmas was the first Christmas without her and unfortunately I missed it as well so you can imagine my excitement and gratitude when I finally made it home and my Mom gave me some of her sweaters. Is it too early to be wishing for it to be Christmas?

Surprisingly we were pretty active on Sunday, in the morning I should say.  Thanks to two little boys who are programmed to get up at 6:30 a.m. every day there's not much sleeping in done in our household so since we are up, we get things done. We decided we needed to go to Costco and grab a few things. I was planning on making chicken and noodles for dinner and we knew their rotisserie chicken would be ready to go and I'm also obsessed with their salmon variety pack. Speaking of salmon, we went to one of our favorite spots to get sushi for brunch. Any place who does all you can eat sushi is a win in my book.



After eating my weight in sushi it was time to head home and take a nap. I made chicken and noodles for dinner, recipe will be up this week, and ended the night with a sweet treat.

Salted caramel cake ball, I wanted to eat all of them!

Have a great week friends!

I love dinner parties, hosting and attending. Put me in a room with great people, good wine and delicious food I'll be happy as can be. The thing I don't love is difficult and time consuming food prep and clean up. Anything that I can make that is simple but still delicious with minimal clean up time and more primping time is right my alley. Another thing I love is easy to eat bite sized food that I can eat with my fingers or off a skewer. So off to our local Fresh Market I went to see what I could find.

Let me introduce you to the EASIEST bruschetta and antipasto skewer recipes you will ever make. You will be a hit amongst your friends and you may or may not catch your husband sneaking into the fridge for some before the party nibbles. These two recipes will have you spending less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying yourself.

First up, antipasto skewers. If you love salty and sweet flavors mixed together then this is the appetizer for you! The sweet peppers along with the blue cheese stuffed olives give you the perfect flavor combination.


Putting food onto skewers is not only fun to make but even more fun to eat. Your party goers will love keeping their hands clean while not having to use utensils with these easy to pick up bites.

There you have it! The 2 easiest appetizers that will be a hit with any crowd.

What appetizers do you like to make for parties? Let me know in the comments below and make sure to follow along for more fun recipes!

Happy Monday friends! Did anyone else think this weekend flew by? It really is true when they say "time flies when you're having fun" because the Cantwells had a great weekend!

Drew picked me up from my office on Friday and we went straight to happy hour at one of our favorite bars, The Bulldog where we met up with his coworkers. We love The Bulldog because it has a great beer selection, perfect outdoor patio and it allows dogs seriously 3 of my favorite things all in one place. After a few beers, we picked up some Taco Bell on the way home and we were in bed asleep by 9:30. Apparently we can't hang anymore and to be honest if I'm out too late then I am worthless the next day, can you say grandma status?

Saturday morning was a quiet and relaxing morning. Drew was up early to head to a couple of car shows with some friends and I took my time getting ready for the day. There's nothing I love more than getting ready at your own pace knowing that you can take your time and you have nowhere to be.

These sweet babes are just like their dad when it comes to me taking pictures of them, they HATE it. But seriously how cute are my boys?

After our mini photo shoot I headed to the store where I was on the hunt for ingredients to make bruschetta and antipasto kabobs for dinner with friends. Recipes and pictures on the blog tomorrow on how to make the easiest + delicious appetizers ever!

Dinner plans ended up changing and to be honest we weren't mad about it because it meant more bruschetta and antipasto kabobs for us to enjoy for ourselves! We love food & we love good food! Speaking of food, this is what Drew and I split for dinner at a new restaurant called Roux 61.

I give you a seafood stuffed baked potato.  If you're questioning if that is the exact portion size of 1 entree, that is indeed the portion size of 1 entree.  This thing consists of 2 large potatoes put together stuffed with crab, shrimp, oysters and crawfish topped with a white wine lobster cream sauce. After a 1/2 dozen chargrilled oysters, an amazing side salad plus half of this potato (I could only finish half of my half of the potato) Drew was rolling me out of the place because I was stuffed but it was all so amazing!

We knew after dinner we weren't ready to go home yet so we decided to check out this new arcade called Quarters. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there to see this place was huge with a full restaurant, separate full bar area, bowling alley, arcade and laser tag. We got our card full of "tickets" and went straight to my favorite arcade game skee ball!

After getting a little too competitive and working up a sweat we played through all of our tickets and headed home. We will definitely be back for some more fun because what's better than reliving some of your favorite childhood memories on date night?

We take "day of rest" for Sundays a little to literally sometimes, okay like all the time. You'll find us making an early morning trip to the Target to prepare for the week, meal prepping, some light cleaning and laundry and relaxing on the couch all day as we watch our favorite Disney World Youtube videos.  We are obsessed with Disney World and love watching videos of other people's trips as we write down what we want to see and do when we return to the "most magical place on Earth".

A new week is here and I'm ready to dominate it so we can get to the weekend again for some more fun! Like I mentioned early come back tomorrow to see the delicious and easy bruschetta and antipasto kabobs I made, here on the blog!