it's in the details blog

My Next Must Have Pair of Shoes

2012-01-25T16:29:00.001-06:00

Have you ever seen a more fashionable pair of cupcakes?

via Cupcakes Take the Cake from the cookbook Cupcake, Cookies and Pie, Oh My!

Menu Monday

2012-01-23T18:57:00.001-06:00

I made a menu this week so I thought I would share.

Sunday:

Chicken Sausage, Orzo Pasta Salad and Brussell Sprouts

For you Tulsan’s, you MUST go to Siegi’s and get their spicy chicken bratwurst. It is seriously the best, assuming you like spicy. You can pick it up in their market and then stay for lunch or dinner. Get the spaetzel and their pretzel. You will thank me.

If you are not from Tulsa, I am sure any chicken sausage would do. :)

Monday:

Baked Pesto Chicken and Roasted Broccoli

photo via Kalyn’s Kitchen

I haven’t eaten this yet, but it was beyond super easy (and fast) to put together. I am tired, so this is already a winner in my book.

Tuesday:

Leftover Crockpot Salsa Chicken (I froze it, so hopefully it is as good reheated!)

Wednesday:

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Photo via She Wears Many Hats

Thursday:

I have a Habitat event, so dinner out.

Friday:

Let’s be honest, probably dinner out again.

Share your favorite recipes with me!

Weekly Faves

2012-01-22T18:26:00.001-06:00

What is wrong with my blog motivation??? I mean, I can totally watch four hours of DVR’d shows a night, but I can’t take it a step further and watch tv and put out a blog post. Oh well, I guess that is the beauty of blogging! I can pick and choose.

Here are my faves for this week:

This easy breakfast casserole from The Healthy Branscoms. I could totally go for this for breakfast or dinner.

(Also, typing this STARVING and I want it right now.)

Kara’s Party Idea’s featured two really cute parties this week. I am loving this Night at the Movies party.

And for those of us who are even close to 30, you have to love this Saved by the Bell Party.

The details are absolutely hilarious.

I want this cake batter dip. Like right now (did I mention I was hungry?) See the easy recipe on Lee, Me and the Girls. The best part is that the whole recipe only calls for three ingredients. Any “chef” could figure that one out.

I think bunting is so cute and, seriously, would go perfect with the cake batter dip above. Go download these free printable and invitations from Living Locurto! Then invite me to your cute party!

I love this headboard that Sixth Street Design Studio posted this week. I almost feel like I need to redo a room to get something with this fun fabric. Hmm…

I love an easy recipe. It couldn’t get any easier than this one from Simply Creative Insanity. You take Oreo Cakesters, roll them in sprinkles and serve for a custom look. Sold.

And that’s all she wrote. Xo!

Baby Gifts

2012-01-18T18:46:00.001-06:00

Today Amy posted some really cute pictures of my sister and I had to share. She is due in about 6 weeks and she just looks adorable!

I haven’t really bought too much stuff for Baby #2, but my coworker is now selling bows and I bought Finely and the new baby (yet to be named, ahem) a matching bow set:

You can view her shop here. Also, Finley’s bow is named after her. How cute is that??

(Sorry, Allison, you are finding out about this gift on my blog!!)

In other niece and nephew news, I found out I am going to have another nephew this summer. Tommy’s sister is having a boy! By the end of the summer we will have three nephews and three nieces.

Not niece or nephew related, but still on the theme of babies, my friend Iris is having another boy in just a few days. We went to dinner on Saturday and I got her a little gift for the baby that I found to be hilarious. Her husband and Tommy used to lift weights on a regular basis (before Tommy developed his neck and back issues) and Matt is still very into sports, so I thought this was very fitting:

It’s a rattle. Isn’t that hilarious??? You can get it at Perpetualkid.com or if you are in Tulsa, I bought this at the Snow Goose.

Let me know your most clever/fun/unique baby and kid gift ideas! As you can see, I have lots on my to buy for list!

Weekly Faves

2012-01-16T19:05:00.001-06:00

Favorite funny:

For some reason I remember my uncles and cousins doing this to me all the time, so I had a silent laugh. via FailBlog

Favorite Cake Ball Display:

I mean – isn’t this seriously so cute? I love the look! There are many other ideas for displaying cake pops at The Party Dress and are definitely worth checking out if you have any upcoming party! This one is via Sweet Lauren Cakes.

Best of Cooking:

For those of you who are on pinterest, you probably mark all kinds of recipes, but it is hard to determine what is a hit and what is a miss. Heather recently posted on some of her favorites (and not so favorite) recipes from Pinterest. Read it here.

Favorite Celebrity Blog Post:

So we have all heard of Blue Ivy. Check out pictures of Beyonce’s delivery room.

Check out the full photos at Elements of Style.

Favorite Easy Wall Décor:

My friend Daisi did a post on her easy kitchen décor! So cute and easy. Check it out here.

Favorite Invite Printables:

Loving these cute chevron invites from The TomKat Studio. Pretty sure they are free – so even better!

Favorite Valentine’s Day Printables:

Love these cute printables from Party Box Designs!

A dramatic transformation

2012-01-15T19:14:00.001-06:00

Okay so maybe it isn’t all that dramatic, but I am seriously super excited about my new purchase.

My bedroom has had a piece of furniture in it that I have had since I was probably seven:

It is a nice piece and we are using it in our guest bedroom now, but Tommy and I were sharing it, so we needed more space. Also, my wall in my bedroom is really long, so it could accommodate something larger.

We have an amazing woodworker that is a family friend that did tons of work in our old house (refacing our cabinets, building new cabinets, crown molding, etc.) and I called him up to see if he could create us something new for our bedroom.

We designed it together and I couldn’t be more happy with the outcome. I love it!

There is still a shelf we need to install and clean up the cords, but I do really love it. It is so nice to have space for my clothes (and Tommy’s)!

So, what do you guys think – hardware or no hardware? I could go either way...

Menu Friday & an App

2012-01-13T07:02:00.001-06:00

Um, since Menu Monday didn’t happen, maybe Friday will work better. That way you can plan for next week? Ha!

I will tell you that having a menu plan is such a time and money-saver for me. In an effort to eat more naturally, I bought all of my ingredients (that I didn’t already have on hand) at Whole Foods and my total bill was only $50. Several of these meals made enough for both dinner and lunch the next day. So, I am basically a walking value meal.

Sunday: Aja’s Crockpot Baked Potato Soup
Monday: Tomato & Sausage Risotto from Smitten Kitchen – we actually had this on Tuesday because my sister had us over Monday night. But this made enough for dinner both Tuesday and Wednesday night. It is delicious, too!
Tuesday: Turkey burgers and Roasted Brussell Sprouts from the Cooking Photography Blog Wednesday: Honey Balsamic Chicken and Pesto Orzo via Baked Bree
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Skinny Pad Thai via Skinny Kitchen

Another fun find, which you guys are all probably already using, is the MyFitnessPal app.

You basically put in your current weight, how much you would like to lose and then you can track your workouts and foods. I love the feature that you can just scan the bar code of what you are eating and it adds the calories for you. Awesome.

It is basically an online food journal and it does make you so much more aware of what you eat. I am someone who would have a piece of candy here and there while sitting at my desk and now that I am being “held accountable” I am making much smarter food choices – like cuties instead of cookies.

Instead of Message in a Bottle…

2012-01-09T21:06:00.001-06:00

How about Message on a Cookie? Saw this on pinterest and I just think this so clever:

Get them for only $20 at Williams Sonoma.

This and That

2012-01-08T10:46:00.001-06:00

When trying to think about something to blog about today, I realized I had taken a few pictures over the past few weeks of things to share with you guys.

I love making flower arrangements (as you guys know). I threw this one together all from the grocery section flowers. Very festive. Probably would have been nice to show you this in December, but think of it as inspiration of what you can do with grocery store flowers all year! :)

For Christmas my sister gave me these adorable babushka prints! Aren’t they cute?!! I want the perfect place to hang them, so I have been mulling this over for a week or two. I just love them!

A few years ago my friend Megan moved into a new house and has a wrapping closet. I envied her greatly. I was especially jealous of her wrapping paper solution. It was an old map stand. Probably two months ago Megan dropped by with a surprise – my very own map stand that she got for free at work! Isn’t that cool??

Remember at Christmas when I posted about the Paperjacks paper ribbon?

You guys, I loved it. It was so cute and I got tons of compliments on my gifts It is definitely something I would use year-round with craft paper. Also, her packaging was super cute.

I did a terrible job taking pictures of my gifts with the “ribbon,” but take my word for it – they were ridiculously cute!

Menu & Weekly Faves

2012-01-04T18:56:00.001-06:00

Obviously my New Year’s resolution has not been to blog more often. Oh well, there’s always next year ; ).

But since I have gotten better about planning my meals for the week, I thought I would share my menu. Feel free to share your favorite meals. I am always looking for something new!

Sunday: Hawaiian Roll Sliders • Asparagus • French Fries

On the sliders, I substituted the ham for turkey, the white rolls for Hawaiian rolls, eliminated the mayo/miracle whip and used Cabot White Cheddar instead of swiss. I got rave reviews.

On the asparagus, we intended to make brussell sprouts, but the store as out. Instead we made asparagus following these directions.

Monday: Well, I actually didn’t make this Monday. But this was my intention. I will probably make tomorrow or this weekend. Crock Pot Potato Soup via Aja’s blog.

Tuesday: Southwest quiche with a salad. I am actually making this tonight. I will let you know how it goes.

Wednesday (tomorrow, maybe?) Chicken meatballs with roasted cauliflower.

Thursday: Chicken tacos and corn

Now, for my weekly faves from last week. Well, there weren’t many. People weren’t blogging (maybe this is the cause of my lack of motivation to type.)

Loving this free printable posted on Chickabug via idea obscura. Great ideas for the New Year!

While this was a New Year’s party, you could definitely do a favorite thing’s party year-round via the Creative Orchard.

No picture, but I was loving this great post from Sarah at Life {Sweet} Life answering all of your design questions! You will definitely get some great tips on planning your next party!

Ringing in the New Year

2012-01-02T17:01:00.001-06:00

You know what’s awesome about having a bff with a blog? You don’t have to do a New Year’s post! :)

Check out my ridiculously wild new year's eve here. (That was written with my sarcastic font…I think the party broke up by 12:30 and it involved board games. But it was fun nonetheless! We, of course, had great company!)

Also, Megan, I am glad that you made me wait to change into my pajamas until after all the photos were taken. Good call on that one.

About Me

2011-12-31T09:45:00.001-06:00

My friend Christina at the Subfertile Frugalista tagged me in her recent post to tell you all a little bit more about me. I know, exciting, right?

Rules:
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post

About Me:

1- I am a self-proclaimed google wizard. If you want to find something on the internet, I am your girl.

2- My life travel goals are to visit all 50 states and go to Italy. I am about 28 states in. I would like to visit other countries, like Spain, France, Austria again, but I MUST go to Italy. It is my mother country after all.

visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or another interesting project

3- I have lip gloss on 24 hours a day. I am addicted and I cannot stop. If I were stranded on a desert island the lack of lip gloss would kill me before the lack of food.

My favorite:

4- I only have 6 six songs on my iPod. I am obviously very into music. In case you are wondering they are:

LMFAO – Sexy & I Know It
The Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
Cee Lo Green – Forget You (I did get the edited version)
Madonna – Like a Prayer
Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror
The Rolling Stones – Can’t always Get What You Want

5- I never make my bed unless I am having company over.

6- I have dessert after every meal, even if it just a small piece of chocolate.

7 – I haven’t eaten beef since I was 14.

8- I secretly wish Zumba would start a gym like Jazzercise so that I could go daily. Okay, so I guess that isn’t a secret.

9- I really don’t like movies. I go to maybe 3-4 a year and probably watch zero at home. I also will only watch romantic comedies. I think it is because movies are just so long. However, I will sit and watch 3 hours of tv in a row, so I am not sure how that works out.

10- My secret New Year’s resolution for this past year was to start flossing daily. I kept it a secret because I thought it was too embarrassing that I wasn’t already doing this. However, after talking to people, I have found out there are a lot of people that don’t floss. I will say, it has made my mouth feel so much cleaner AND there is the extra benefit that it adds years to your life. (Which, let’s be honest, was the real reason I started flossing more in the first place.)

11- I am the opposite of a procrastinator. When I get something in my head, I have to do it right then. This is both a blessing and a curse.

The 11 questions from Christina:

1. What was your favorite moment from 2011? Hmmm. This is tough. And kind of sad. I cannot pinpoint my best day this year AT ALL. I will have to get back to you on this.
2. What was your favorite Christmas gift? This is a tough one. I got so many great gifts. My favorite might be the new cricut cartridge I got to cut out cupcake wrappers. I have two showers planned to throw in 2012, so I am excited to use it.
3. What's on your list to accomplish in 2012? I want to keep track of every book I read. I think this is an attainable resolution.
4. In a pinch, what is your go-to meal to make? I make pasta, add pesto, steamed broccoli and throw it into one pot and I have a pretty decent dinner. If I am really wanting to cover all the food groups, I throw in some boiled shrimp.
5. What is your guilty-pleasure show? The Real World. Yes, I am still watching.
6. How many children do you want? 2
7. Flats or heels? Heels
8. Favorite brand of mascara? My everyday mascara is Mary Kay. My waterproof is blinc. Love them both.
9. Your greatest accomplishment? To date my most fun, rewarding and challenging accomplishment was owning my own flower business.
10. Who inspires you most? Even though he is gone, my dad. And my dogs ; )
11. Ever met a celebrity? I don’t think I have ever actually met one. In person I have seen Oprah (at her show), Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, and I think that is it. Every time I go to a large city, I always have my eyes peeled for one! However, in Tulsa my sister has seen Ben Stiller and yesterday Megan saw Kristin Chenoweth at Mi Cocina. I guess I need to be more aware!

Easy as Pie

2011-12-29T17:55:00.000-06:00

On Christmas I was asked to bring dessert to my sister-in-law’s house. I decided to go with an old faithful:

They were out of this one, my absolute favorite. The Cinnabon cream cheese topping is like the best thing you have ever put in your mouth. I promise I would not steer you wrong in the sweets’ department.

I also decided to make a pie since I had a back-up. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it was just as easy (seriously, easy) and delicious as promised.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie from Snarky Sweets

Adapted from Nestle

1 unbaked 9-inch graham cracker crust (AllRecipes but I omitted the cinnamon) or deep-dish pie crust (This is Katie – I just bought a graham cracker crust, imagine that.)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup chocolate chips (I omitted the nuts, so I did 1 cup semi-sweet and 1/2 cupish of milk chocolate)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
ice cream (recommended!)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Beat eggs for about a minute, then add flour and sugars. Beat well. Add butter, beat, then stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if including).

3. Spoon mixture into unbaked pie crust.

4. Bake pie in oven on cookie sheet for approximately 55 minutes, or until knife inserted halfway from edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack completely, or until slightly warm. Top with ice cream and serve!

This was super-rich, but was so easy to make! I would definitely serve it to a group again.

Housewarming

2011-12-28T17:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went to an open house for my former flower partner who moved into a new home. I wanted to get her a little something, so I thought I would share some fun, not wallet-busting housewarming ideas with you guys.

Obviously, there is the bottle of wine, but my friend isn’t a huge drinker, so I wandered through Target and decided that I would get her this. It is one of my favorite scents and I LOVE mine. My favorite Caldrea fragrance is the Citron Ginger. Amazing. Buy it now. You will thank me later.

However, they were out. Ugh.

So I decided to go with the same theme and get her some Mrs. Meyers products. They are also earth-friendly and smell awesome. I love me a good candle, but think that a great smelling trio of goodies is more fun and a little less expected.

Also, online you can get an entire gift set for only $25!

I would have loved this when I moved into my new house!

Some other ideas:

A doormat -

Tea Towels (Williams Sonoma has my favorites – anyone else notice how they are far superior in absorbing moisture?), an oven mitt and cookbook

Another fun idea is something my sister got me for my birthday:

Custom address stamps

or personalized notepads, notecards, address labels. My sister got me this adorable Erin Condren notepad for Christmas and I love it. I almost don’t want to use it for anything mundane!

What is your most favorite housewarming gift to give or receive?

Also, as an aside, for those of you who have hard wood floors what cleaner do you use? I want to use something organic or with no fragrance because what we currently use burns my eyes for a full day from the strong odor. Thanks!

Weekly Faves

2011-12-27T13:26:00.001-06:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We were spoiled and it was so fun to see our nieces and nephews light up when they opened their gifts. And, seriously, could they be any cuter?

(Sorry for the phone pic. My sister took some with her camera that I am sure are far superior, but I don’t think my blogging is on the top of her to do list.)

Though I did have a blogging absence (I doubt anyone noticed), I still was marking my favorites for the week. (I also cooked some new recipes that I will share later this week!)

For those of you looking for a little something to refresh you after the holiday hustle and bustle, check out this Sugar Scrub recipe that my friend Daisi posted. Also, Daisi is an amazing cook and crafter, so you must follow her blog here!

I have been wanting an iPad…maybe not like this one.

For those of you looking for a craft project, check out this New Year’s kit from Tatertots and Jello.

I loved this Random Acts of Kindness idea that was featured on Party Wishes.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Can’t wait to see what Santa brought each of you!

Weekly Faves

2011-12-20T17:36:00.000-06:00

I am still on the Christmas train. Imagine that!

I am love, love, loving this cupcake snow globe featured on cupcakes take the cake from the shop Pinkabella. Mixes my two favorite things – packaging and cupcakes in one!

You know I love to read (er, listen), so I found this book tree featured on Fail Blog to be a total winner!

Megan’s sister-in-law, Erin, started a blog and I am in love with her homemade snow globes! Aren’t they awesome? Get the full tutorial here.

Kate with Elefantitas Alegres did a great post on brick bookends. Loved her final outcome!

You all probably love the blog Copy Cat Chic. Megan did her own rendition, only with shoes! She found some great deals, so check out her post here.

When I used to do flowers we would sometimes sugar fruit in class…only our fruit would no longer be edible because we used real glue. Cake did a great post on how to create sugared fruit that you can still eat!

Sarah from Life Sweet Life did a great Christmas (Tis the reason for the season) printable. It would be great for later this week! Visit her blog here to download it!

Hope you each have a wonderful holiday season!!!

Digital Holiday Fun

2011-12-19T20:12:00.001-06:00

Since I didn’t get around to doing a holiday card this year (for like the 4th year in a row—it amazes me I am still on anyone’s holiday list still…here’s to next year!), I decided to create my own card online:

I love this cheeky play on the holiday newsletter! You can create your own at Merry Newsinator.

Also, on yesterday’s post, I posted about how you can get Santa to send your child a customized message from The Portable North Pole. Look how cute Finley’s turned out! Sadly, I cannot embed the video, but it is super cute and worth watching (or doing on your own)!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

2011-12-18T17:10:00.001-06:00

I have had so much fun the past few weeks getting in the Christmas Spirit. My fun started with an ornament exchange at my sister-in-law’s house. Of course, no photos were taken. SHOCKER.

My next party was at Jane’s house for the 2nd blogger Christmas party! I love reading and keeping up with these girls and it’s even more fun seeing them in person.

(Back row)-Katie, Lynn, Lindsey, Jessica, Chesley. (Front row)-Ashley, me, Jane, Jackie.

(Thanks, Jackie, for letting me steal your photo!)

I have also hosted a party, been to a bunko Christmas party and I think that is pretty much it. I promise my social calendar is NEVER this packed. I am obviously the worst blogger ever since I didn’t take a picture at a single event.

And before I get more into the Christmas spirit, what could be sweeter than finding your dog enjoying your Christmas décor?

I have had so much fun celebrating with my nieces and nephews, too! My boss was sweet enough to give me a gingerbread house to do with Max and he had so much fun putting it together. His excitement was contagious. It reminds me of how magical Christmas was when I was a kid.

The finished project:

Finley also tried to help! Could she be any cuter??

Her little shirt says “I ♥ Santa.” For some reason I look like I am missing a tooth in this picture. I promise – they are all there!

I can’t leave out Baby Drew. He was having fun, too! (Look at those sweet curls!!)

Also, this weekend, Megan and I went to paint some pottery for a belated birthday gift. Megan passed her CPA a few weeks ago, so it is nice to have my bff back! (And congratulations, of course, to her!)

Megan found the whole experience to be very stressful. I thought it was quote fun! I have also done this before, so I knew not to do anything complicated. Painting is NOT easy.

My new creamer container:

I can’t wait to see it fired and glazed. (Don’t worry, I will for sure bring you an “after.”)

And Megan’s masterpiece:

Oh, also, I came across this fun site where Santa creates a customized message for your kids! My friend Julie told me about it this week and my nephew was beside himself with excitement when he got his message from Santa!

Recipe Share

2011-12-14T20:10:00.001-06:00

So the past few shindigs I have had hosted/attended I had some #winning recipes, so I thought I would share the love.

Please note, these likely all came from Pinterest, but I can totally vouch for them.

1- Not the prettiest meal ever (damn tortillas), but pretty darn good – Baked Taquitos.

Recipe and Photo from Our Best Bites:

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese
small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

2- OMG. You guys MUST Try this – Crock Pot Hot Chocolate. It was seriously amazing. Like, I loved it.

Recipe and photo from Mrs. Happy Homemaker (mine looked a lot like this, though):

1.5 cups heavy cream
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
2 cups milk chocolate chips
6 cups of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir all the ingredients together in your crockpot.

Cover, & cook on low for 2 hours - coming back to whisk it every so often.

I will share more soon!

Weekly Faves

2011-12-12T17:32:00.000-06:00

Guess what theme my weekly faves have again this week? Hmmm.

Loving these cupcake ornaments featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake from etsy shop Little Punkie Munkie.

Iowa Girl Eats has her own weekly faves and this week she featured this amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cake (can you imagine two better desserts together???) from Something Shiny.

For my Oklahoma friends, I read about this North Pole City on the Pencil Shavings Blog and it looked like the most amazing place for kids (and adults)!!

Cookies and Cups featured a really cute way to serve rice krispie treats this season!

My blogging friend Andrea is offering some really cute printables! Go check them here! She also gives a tour of her beautiful house and décor!

Let me know what amazing holiday finds you have come across!

Festival of the Trees

2011-12-11T13:31:00.001-06:00

For the past two years, Megan, Addie and I (and this year, Gina) have had lunch/brunch at the Philbrook Museum and gone to their Festival of the Trees. Basically, it is a fundraiser for the museum where local artists and students create Christmas trees and gingerbread houses that are sold with proceeds going to the museum. I love going! It is so artistically inspiring and puts you in the Christmas spirit!

I took pics of my favorites for you (of course they are with my phone, not my real camera, so just imagine how pretty and inspiring it was).

Tree made entirely out of tree bark.

This tree was made entirely out of blown glass. It was amazing!

I thought this tree was exceptionally creative. It is made with recycled frames. Even more impressive is that it was done by a high school art class.

I love stained glass, too.

Another fun thing to do at the museum is see their gingerbread house displays. It is just simply amazing to me the skill and creativity it takes to make these houses. Not to mention the inability to eat every piece.

Lastly, I wanted to leave you with this inspiration piece that was hanging on the wall. It is really fun and creative and I thought could be a fun holiday project. It is just beads rolled to make the shape of the Christmas tree.

Enjoy!

Impress Your Friends and Neighbors

2011-12-08T19:42:00.001-06:00

So a few weeks ago my sister-in-law was at Williams-Sonoma and somehow got talked into buying the Peppermint Bark from the store. I’ve had it, and it is good. I am not sure if it is $25 good, though. Yes, people, $25!!!!!!

I happened to be walking through Walmart a few days later and came upon this in the bakery section for a whopping $3, so I had to text it to her.

But that got me thinking….I bet I couldn’t even make peppermint bark for $3. Actually, I am almost positive I couldn’t.

Soooo…..guess what my neighbors will be getting? Some Walmart peppermint bark packaged in a very cute tin, of course.

All for under $5. I think I will be the most popular girl on the block!

Weekly Faves

2011-12-04T12:16:00.001-06:00

I took a week off on the Weekly Faves because I actually had something to blog about. Here are my faves for the past two weeks. Can you see a theme below? :)

You know I love me some printables. Tatertots and Jello has a list of 22 great holiday ones for your downloading pleasure. I will be downloading these from Mommy by Day Crafter by Night. I think it will go cute with my new Christmas Paper Ribbon.

Remember when I told you that I was loving Mindy Kaling’s new book? Thanks to reader Maria who let me know Mindy Kaling has a blog! Basically, it is a lot like mine. Only funny.

Chickabug featured several Starbucks inspired cupcakes from salted caramel mocha to peppermint mocha. (Photo featured from Inside Bru Crew Life.) Would love an afternoon coffee and one of these!

In case you aren’t on pinterest, I had to share these “elf” donuts from The Unconfidential Cook. Seriously, could anything be cuter? (They are really just cheerios!) Ha!

This week at Infarrantly Creative Amy from Positively Splendid created the cutest homemade gift card holders. I read the tutorial and I will be honest, even I think I can do this!

Jen at eighteen25 shared the cutest printable and recipe for a cheeseball. Spread a little cheer – ha!

Ashley and Ken featured one of the most creative Christmas displays I have ever seen. It comes from the blog Not Martha and is a Christmas Tree mobile. The ornaments are all hung from the ceiling. I am obsessed.

Swanky::Chic:Fete has a whole post an creative ways to serve appetizers this holiday season. I am especially loving this one!

Today I am going to try to attempt to get more Christmas gifts. I am so not on my game this year. Any ideas for a grandmother? Inlaws? Moms? Husbands? Leave your comments below!!

You Tube

2011-11-30T20:34:00.001-06:00

Today my friend Ben posted this HILARIOUS video on Facebook today and I was seriously DYING laughing. Wait for the last 10 seconds. It will be so worth it.

Last 10 seconds

My aunt yesterday was telling me about this You Tube Video where a jazz ensemble plays for a herd (is that what they are called?) of cows and they get mesmerized by the music. I pride myself on being “in the know” and had never heard of this before and it was a really cute video, so I thought I would share it with you guys who hadn’t seen in yet either. (Please tell me I am not the only one in the dark.)

Play music ‘til the cows come home

The video reminded me a lot of this story that was a sermon probably 3-4 years ago at church. The world’s greatest violinist, who sells tickets to his concerts for over $100 a seat, set up shop in the Washington Subway. He was greatly ignored. Most people who stopped and listened were children who were scurried on by their parents. The moral of the story was that we often overlook the beauty in our day, the beauty that kids still innocently see. (Read the full story at the Washington Post.) When you think about all the beauty we overlook each day, it helps give your day a little perspective. (I promise to be back to less self-helpy posts soon :).

Good Reads

2011-11-29T20:59:00.001-06:00

So I am currently reading (listening) to the most hilarious book and had to share it with you guys:

Freaking.Hilarious. You may recognize Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor on The Office. She is very self-deprecating and so, so funny. It is a quick read and perfect for this hectic time of the year.

Another fun book, if you haven’t already read it is:

And without sounding too much like you Amazon shopping cart, if you liked Bossypants, you will love “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” and vice versa.

Next up on my library audiobook queue is:

I guess I am in need of a laugh. Or just a fun read. Either way, I would recommend the first two and will let you know about Ellen’s book. However, based on the book she had in the 90’s (am I aging myself?), I am sure I will love it!

Packaging

2011-11-28T18:01:00.000-06:00

Since I cannot get seem to get the Christmas theme off of my blog, I wanted to share with you what I am thinking for my packaging this year.

I love the look! I saw this on Pinterest and loved the idea of the paper ribbon. It keeps your ribbon from getting crushed and still has a great look. I ended up purchasing it from etsy seller Paperjacks, along with some labels. I am thinking of doing kraft paper as my wrap with this as my color.

Hopefully this will motivate me to wrap a gift this year. I usually just throw them in a bag. I could honestly win an award for world’s worst wrapper. No lie. Wish me luck!

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

2011-11-27T14:55:00.001-06:00

Love, love, love having my house decorated for Christmas. Hate putting it up and taking it down. Luckily, as I was silently cursing and coming to terms with the fact that this year we would not be putting up a tree, four angels came in and helped me decorate for Christmas.

My mom, two aunts and a friend rang my doorbell on Friday morning when I was about a quarter of the way through putting up my décor and helped me transform my house.

Here are some pics. I totally want to have people over all the time to make all of the decorating worth it!

Above my range:

My mantel:

Of course there would be Santa babushkas. These used to be my moms and I am pretty sure this where my love of them began.

The nativity scene:

Holiday even greets you when you come in…which reminds me, I didn’t take a picture of my front door and the really cute doormat I have. Hmm. I guess that gives me something to blog about later in the week. I know the suspense must be killing you.

And a totally blurry picture of the tree. Sorry about that. Looked great on the tiny screen on my camera. Actually, changed my mind. Shrunk it tiny so that it looks the same way for you guys. It is really pretty, promise.

I think next year I am going to do a Starbucks tree. You think? I kind of think I should get some endorsement fees for this, but I’d take some free gift cards as a trade.

Some other favorites:

My mom always had spode Christmas china, so when we got this dog ornament as a gift it was just perfect!

My dad used to love these toys. Or at the very least, he gave my sister and I one after a trip he took. We also used to get my dad Peeps every Easter. I think it was the Easter before he passed away he told us he hated them. Ha! So we may have just placed this toy in the same category as the Peeps - as a thing he “loved,” but it was really something he picked up in the airport on the way home. :) Either way, it is a good memory of him on my tree.

Love my baking ornaments! My mom and Aunt Angie gave me these.

These are Tommy’s favorites. We have a whole German section on our tree.

This is new décor this year. My Aunt Pam was very sweet and got me all of this and set it up for me. I love the way it looks!

The year before (or after) Tommy and I got married, my mom gifted me with my own Christmas china. It looks so pretty in my china hutch.

My mom and Aunt Pam also gave me these trees and church to go above my media console. It is so pretty when it is all lit up!

Can’t wait to see all of my fellow bloggers’ décor! Since I clearly don’t have enough ;), let me know what I am missing!

A holiday must-buy

2011-11-26T14:12:00.001-06:00

So a few years I took the plunge and bought a fake tree. It is soooooo much easier, but I miss the smell of a fresh cut tree. I also keep my tree in our office and close the doors because Carter eats the (fake) berries off the tree. However, this leads to a stale smell from the rug in the office that permeates the room. Sorry, TMI and totally gross, but true.

However, today I came across something that solves both of my problems (the lack of fresh tree smell and the stale air) – Scentsicles. I wish I was being paid for this endorsement, but I just wanted to share the love.

These are scented ornaments that you put in your tree and they let out a smell that is amazingly close to the smell of a fresh cut tree. I got mine at Lowe’s for $7ish, but they are available online here. Then, at the end of the season, you just throw them away.

Weekly Faves

2011-11-22T17:44:00.000-06:00

Check out this cute turkey appetizer featured by my friend Anne of A. Party Style. She gives directions on her blog to create this adorable cute turkey. (Anne, I tried to post a comment, but for some reason I couldn’t post from my computer!)

I have a weird love for capiz shells. Maybe it was because I got married on the beach. Maybe it is because they are cool looking. I am not sure. But I love these capiz shell Christmas Trees featured on Sand and Sisal.

If you are still looking for the perfect Pumpkin Pie recipe, I am totally drooling over this one – Caramel Pumpkin Pie – from The Farm Girl Recipes.

You know how I feel about Chex Puppy Chow Mix. LOVE. So I was especially intrigued by this Hot Cocoa Chex Mix created by Hoosier Homemade and featured on I heart Naptime.

Another creative idea featured on Anne’s blog this week was stamped cookies. Such a good idea! (Assuming the stamp has never been used. He, he!)

I love this idea of easy cookies to “bake” with kids like these acorn cookies featured on Sheek Shindigs.

Another great idea is this baked bread cornucopia featured on Taste of Home. I would so eat this.

If I don’t post before Thursday, I hope you each have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine will be full of desserts (forget the turkey!) and Breaking Dawn. Cannot wait!

Real Simple–Faves of their Faves

2011-11-21T22:39:00.001-06:00

So yesterday in the airport I was looking for a new magazine to pass the time and I remembered Ashley telling me that Real Simple was her favorite. I hadn’t picked it up in awhile, so I did and they had some of the cutest Christmas ideas. I picked my favorites of their favorites to share with you. I am so clever and resourceful (aka lazy).

But before I get into that, I have to share three of my real life favorites right now.

1- The Michael Buble Holiday Station on Pandora. Love it. I can tell you that they also played my favorite holiday song – Baby, it’s cold outside – within three songs of starting it. Let’s just hope they never play that terribly depressing Christmas Shoes song.

2- Why do I love LMFAO (the band, not the abbreviation)? Is it because I have been watching them since they were an integral part of Real World Cancun? Likely. (Confession: I have seen EVERY season of the Real World since it began. This is why this is a confession. It is like a deep dark secret.) Anyway, I love this song. It is likely because it is made for people 10 years younger, but I like to think of myself as very hip still. Clearly, I identify with the younger crowd since I am still watching the Real World. Also, I work out.

Katie, honorary member of the Party Rock Crew

3- Each time Tommy and I go on a trip we try to bring back one ornament for our tree. I bought this one in Chicago at Crate and Barrel. Can you think of a more perfect ornament??? I will confess, they had many different “looks” to their babushkas and I bought this one because it looked most like me. It also the same reason I wanted a Samantha American Girl Doll since I was 14. But this was much cheaper.

Okay, so for the Real Simple selections. They had lots of cute ideas. These were just my favorites.

I love mugs. Love them. Cannot fit one more mug in my cabinets, but thought this collection from Korin was super clever. Who wouldn’t want a squirrel tail mug?

Jackie, these next two items reminded me of things you might love. One is a makeup studio from Sephora and is only $50. It reminds me of those art sets from when you were a kid that I ALWAYS wanted and finally got from my sister about 4 years ago.

A few years ago my friend Megan gave me a Bobbi Brown makeup set for Christmas and I am still using it today. I am sure it was supposed to expire about a year ago, but I use it every day and still have tons left and I love it. This year Bobbi Brown has a holiday night out set for only $25.

In the magazine they had a really cute display of these scarf on a spool sets from Chloe In Style. I love packaging, and thought this was really creative and cute.

And the Best Idea Ever award goes to JCPenney for this cardboard box house. What kid wouldn’t love this? And the best part – it is only $20! It was such a good idea Christine featured it today, too.

Is this not hilarious? It is available on etsy store Burly Beard. They have them for adults, too!

And I will leave you with a stocking stuffer for your indecisive friends/family members – a Magic Eight Ball pen. Get all of your answers with a click of the pen. From Spoon Sisters. (Cute site if you have never visited. Lots of quirky items!)

Enjoy!

Weekend Away

2011-11-20T22:10:00.001-06:00

This weekend Tommy and I went to Chicago to celebrate my friend Mindy’s recent wedding. She got married in the Turks and Caicos and I so wish I could have been there in person. I hope she doesn’t mind, but here is a link to her photographer’s blog with some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. Click here to view.

This past weekend she had an amazing party in Chicago for the guests who couldn’t (and those who could!) to the islands.

And….guess who didn’t take a single picture at said reception? Ahem. Me.

Tommy and I got in Friday around one and went to our hotel, had lunch and then went shopping. I was having so much fun in Macy’s because it was all decorated for Christmas and the music was playing. I clearly don’t get out much.

I also had to have an afternoon snack:

When Kelsey and I went to Chicago last fall this cupcake shop (Sugar Bliss) was my favorite. This time I had the pumpkin and peach cobbler cupcake. Sadly, they weren’t as good as I remembered them.

Saturday morning we went to eat at Hannah’s Bretzels. I am a HUGE pretzel fan and the funniest thing is I always call them Bretzel’s since my husband is very German. So this was a must do for me.

Then we went shopping on Michigan Avenue. The gardens were amazing. They were so pretty! We shopped around a bit, but it was sooooo crowded. However, the Christmas season was in the air, so I loved every second of it!

One of the funnest things we did on Saturday was visit the specialty grocery store, Fox & Obel. Loved it. I could have walked around it all day. I told Tommy if I lived in Chicago I would want to work there. :)

A pic from their site is below. Kind of like a Dean & DeLuca if you have ever been to one.

That afternoon we went to Frontera Grill, again where Kelsey and I ate last year. It was good, but not nearly as good as I remember. I did, however, have a Rick Bayless siting for those of you who are Top Chef Fans.

We ended the day with a trip to Crumbs. OMG. You guys – these were awesome! They were HUGE cupcakes and worth the $3.75 price tag. Tommy got the Grasshopper, which is a chocolate cake with a peppermint and cookie icing. I got the pumpkin – imagine that.

I would give these a highly recommend. The store was cute, too.

That evening we went to Mindy’s reception, which was at Hotel Sax and was a blast. She had tons of dancing and it was so fun to see her in her dress!!!

Today we had breakfast with Mindy’s out of town guests and family, did a little shopping and flew home. The only down note was that my credit card company called while we were shopping (again) and said my card number had been stolen and was being used fraudulently in the outskirts of Chicago. UGH. Not a huge deal, just a huge hassle. But I am sure bad karma for the thief is even worse. At least I am telling myself that.

The fattened calves–an update

2011-11-15T17:48:00.000-06:00

So remember my post begging for help on “wide-calf” tall boots? Well, I took your advice and went to DSW.

I found a pair that actually fit and definitely didn’t break the bank:

It likely helps that they slouch a bit, but, hey, I am officially trendy now. I got these in black, but they look weird online. I promise they are just black.

I also found a pair of heeled ones at TJ Maxx:

They are also sold at Macy’s for $130, but I got them for $85. I love a deal.

I also got ankle boots from Zappos, but don’t think I should press my trendy luck by wearing skinny jeans with the ankle boots. Ask me again in about 2 years from now. When the trend is dying, I am sure I will be picking it up.

And if you happen to be in the market for slippers, I found the cutest ones ever from the Loft.

I may have a shoe problem. Don’t tell Tommy.

Nieces & Nephews

2011-11-14T18:15:00.000-06:00

Remind me when I say I don’t have anything to post about to just check out my cell phone pics. I am often reminded when I browse through them that I do actually get out sometime or at least have a picture to share.

I have some of the cutest pictures of my niece and nephews that I haven’t shared!

Seriously, could Max and Drew be any cuter?

Max is so funny and at that age that you can totally give him a hard time. In our house we have one room that is completely empty except for Tommy’s baseball cards, some toys for the kids and some random jerseys. (The epitome of a “junk drawer” only it is a whole room.)

I thought it would be fun to put a jersey on Max and have him go ask his Uncle Tommy if he could keep it. He was a good sport when Tommy laughed and told him no. Mean uncle.

A few weeks ago my sister and Finley came over to make pumpkin cookies. Isn’t this the sweetest picture? Ha!

In case you are in the market for a pumpkin cookie recipe with glaze, here you go:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Makes 36 cookies

Moving on to Halloween…nothing like being two weeks late. Drew went as a little German boy and wore the lederhosen we brought Max back from Germany. Honestly, have you seen anything more adorable ever??? Poor Max had strep, so he couldn’t do Halloween. Luckily, I think he was young enough that he didn’t know better.

Finley went as Olivia the Pig. She was not in the mood to have her picture taken, so this is as good as it gets. She was cute, though!

A better pic of her hat ;).

My sister and Emily threw an adorable party for the kids! Here are some of the details:

Pardon my inability to take a good picture. You can view much better ones here!

Weekly Faves

2011-11-13T18:15:00.000-06:00

There is definitely a theme this week with my favorites: food! It must be the Thanksgiving holiday coming up. Or not. I do love to eat. For example, if anyone so much as mentions Puppy Chow (the chocolate/peanut butter chex mix kind), I MUST have it. Can you guess who thought of it yesterday? Ahem.

This week Jane of Dissecting Jane featured her “fried” zucchini. I love friend zucchini, but never eat it, so I am excited to try this healthy version.

(Jane, hope you don’t mind I stole your pic!)

My favorite post this week was from Iowa Girl Eats. She posted about her recent trip to the Dole Headquarters and some of the Weight Loss Apps, information and healthy eating tips. Great post for you to check out if you are interested in healthy eating.

I haven’t had much luck with my crockpot recipes, but I think it might be time to give it another go. My friend Aja posted two great crockpot recipes this week: Baked Potato Soup and Salsa Chicken. They both look delicious and easy.

Another one of my favorite cooking sites is Elefantitas Alegres. Check out this Spinach Artichoke Chicken Casserole. She describes it as tasting like spinach artichoke dip and pasta. Um, yes. Sign me up.

And that’s all I have! Eat well this week, my friends.

Also, thanks on the glasses help. I think my favorites are #1 with #6 as a close second.

Clearly Indecisive

2011-11-12T23:09:00.001-06:00

(The title is my attempt at a pun….please tell me it was a success.)

This week I went to my brother-in-law for an eye exam (have I told you there are THREE eye doctors in my immediate family? The other two live in Nebraska. I have eyes covered.) With my insurance I get a free pair of frames or contacts each year. Last year I got some new contacts, so this year I am getting frames.

Annnnnd I cannot decide. Imagine that.

I have a favorite, but they don’t appear to be any one else’s that I have polled (in my defense, I have only polled two people).

What do you think?

1 - 2- 3-

4- 5- 6-

Or are they all basically indistinguishable from the other? Here are close ups if that helps:

1 -2-

3- 4-

5- 6-

A couple of secrets

2011-11-07T17:39:00.000-06:00

I like cheap candles and I cannot lie. (That is sung to the tune of Sir Mix-A-Lots I like Big Butts.)

Okay, people, Walmart, as much as I hate to say it, has the best value on candles. They are fragrant, CHEAP, and last a good amount of time. I am really into the pumpkin spice one. It smells amazing and I light it almost every day. And it only set me back $5.

My favorite, favorite, favorite non-bargain candle (and the only reason I have it is because it was a gift from Megan) is the Thymes Frasier Fir candle.

This one will set you back a cool $26, but the smell is incredible. However, since I am buying it myself, I will shopping at Walmart this season :).

Also, another Walmart find (I promise I am a Target girl at heart!!!), but my friend Iris made me these Krusteaz Pumpkin Bars and they are freaking amazing.

They have a pumpkin filling with a gingerbread crust and are worth every calorie (only 180). You will love them! Assuming you even remotely like pumpkin. If not, I feel sorry for you. Enjoy!

Weekly Faves

2011-11-06T09:27:00.001-06:00

I woke up a little shaky this morning (pun totally intended) after our second earthquake in 24 hours. I didn’t feel the one the previous night, but last night’s was crazy. Our house was shaking, things were falling (okay, so only one thing fell), the dogs were seriously disturbed. I can now check earthquake off my bucket list (if it was ever really there).

So moving on from my not a weekly fave (earthquakes) to my weekly faves.

First up, chocolate chip cookie dough fudge from Bake at 350. I can’t imagine any kind of fudge that I might like more. I LOVE cookie dough and I really like fudge. Can’t think of a better mix.

As an aside, I so am in the mood for baking. This has never happened to me before.

On Swanky::Chic::Fete she posted this really cute party. What I really love is the chevron backdrop created by the husband of the host. It is just a wood board covered with fabric. That is something I think even I could do.

On I Heart Nap Times she posted a tutorial for this candy cane wreath. Love the look!

Remember when I said I was in the mood for baking (aka my sweet tooth is out of control)? Check out this Caramel Apple Cake from Lulu the Baker. Yum.

For those of you in the design world, you are likely very familiar with Pantone, the word in true color. Well, this week Copy Cat Chic did a post on the new line of wall color from Pantone that is available at Lowes!

You all know I love me some hot apple cider. (Here is the recipe I posted last year.) However, I came across this one from Cupcakes and Cutlery for comparison’s sake. (I am sure hers will win. It is an actual recipe.) I do love my caramel apple spice from Starbucks (you must try), but at $3.50 a cup, I can likely do better.

That’s all I got. Here’s to hoping for a stable day!

The Cutest Little House You Ever Did See

2011-11-02T17:50:00.000-05:00

A few months ago my in-laws embarked on fixing up what used to be a little play house in their backyard. They were going to tear it down, but their neighbor who is an amazing woodworker talked them into fixing it up. It was finished recently and I have to share because it is just so darn cute.

The house even has skylights!

Inside the house:

My father-in-law works for a place that sells windows and doors and they had some sample windows that they were just going to throw away. This play house has nicer windows (double-hung!) than I do!

The nieces and nephews love it!

And to top it all off – it’s a miniature and you know how I feel about a miniature ;).

A Transformation

2011-11-01T20:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday my yard took on a transformation. It wasn’t one of those design show moments where you are just shocked at the results, but it was fun to drive off in the morning and have a completely new front yard awaiting my arrival when I got home.

I will admit that I am totally embarrassed to show you our yard’s before pictures. It looked so lovely earlier in the year. I am going to blame the demise of the beds on our brutal summer, not my lack of a green thumb.

So before:

Truth be told, this view doesn’t look terrible. I promise, you will see how much help we needed below.

The after:

Yeah, so I couldn’t take a picture from the same angle because the sun was behind the house both yesterday afternoon and today. You will just have to use your imagination on the dramatic before and after scene.

Close up before:

See, I told you so.

Close up after:

Left flower bed before:

The dead tree was KILLING me softly.

Left flower bed after:

Right flower bed before:

Right flower bed after:

I am excited to see everything fill in. And beyond excited to not have a dead tree highlighting my house.

Weekly Faves

2011-10-31T17:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! I hope you all have had a very unspooky day. I am not a big fan of dressing up myself, but I am a huge fan of pets and other people in costume, especially my nieces and nephews. Hopefully I will get some good pics to share. Finley is going as Olivia the Pig, Max will dress up as a transformer, Drew as a little German boy (wearing the lederhosen we brought Max back from Germany) and Olivia will be a little cowgirl. So cute!

This week’s faves are a mixed bag. (Pun kind of intended.)

Loving the idea of this deconstructed Lasagna Soup featured on Iowa Girl Eats. Also, I love her blog if you guys are not following, you must. She has amazing recipes and a great weekly round-up post with such great ideas.

I have been following Mini Baker’s blog for some time and today she posted photos from her beautiful wedding. She made all of her own desserts for her dessert buffet and it looks absolutely stunning (and delicious). Click here to see all of her beautiful photos.

The next favorite doesn’t have a picture, but I loved the message. It is from Kathy at Mish Mash Mom and she shares the secret of happiness. I truly believe that if we followed this advice our lives would be much richer. Read here to get happy.

One of my blogging friends Nicole with the Wallace Word posted the most incredible dessert recipe this weekend – Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecake. Can you imagine any ingredients that would be more delicious together? Click here for the recipe.

Another favorite this week is from my real life friend Sarah’s blog. Her little boy has had quite a health journey over the past few months and her story shows the amazing healing power of prayer. It truly is a miracle story. Click here to read and be inspired.

Now that Halloween is almost over, I am on to the next holiday! These cookies from Our Best Bites would be so fun and easy (famous last words) to do with children.

I love the vintage milk and cookies parties. Likely because this girl cannot say no to a cookie, but that is neither here nor there. Check out this cute one featured on Kara’s Party Ideas.

I love, love, love caramel apples. I actually have a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory less than 2 miles from me. It is dangerous, very dangerous. My favorite is the caramel apple dipped in mini M&Ms because a caramel apple itself isn’t just good enough.

This week on Glorious Treats she did a tutorial on how to make your own. So for those of you without a RMCF within a couple of miles, this one is for you!

Enjoy eating your kids’ candy! When we were little my mom would “inspect” our candy. I think that was her way of assessing the good stuff. I also found out a few years ago that she would go into our rooms at night and throw away a handful each day. I always wondered how my neighbor’s candy lasted until Christmas and mine was gone the next week. Sigh.

So Crafty

2011-10-30T19:48:00.001-05:00

My mom is the crafting queen. She finds something she wants to do and makes it happen. No surprise to anyone who knows my mom. :) She is very creative and efficient.

A few weeks ago when we were shopping at Z Gallerie she came across these pumpkins for $10 – $18 a piece.

My mom wanted to see if we could do them ourselves for less, and today we did.

Please note – this project was a little messy. Okay, a lot messy. You will definitely want to do this outside.

Here are your supplies:

and

The pumpkins are from Walmart and the other items all came from Michael’s. We actually didn’t end up using the glass pebbles, so just disregard those. The glitter is kind of hard to see, but it is called tinsel glitter.

All you do is spray your pumpkin with the tacky spray, then dump tinsel glitter on it:

Cover the entire pumpkin with the glitter and tacky spray, then add a branch from the stem. And voila:

Here is my pumpkin. Mine was a little larger.

My mom is going to use these at every place setting for Thanksgiving. They are going to look great!

I have to say it is a pretty darn good knock-off!

My go-to recipe

2011-10-29T21:25:00.001-05:00

Probably a year or two ago my friend Megan had Tommy and I over for dinner and cooked the most amazing meal. I, at the time not really EVER cooking anything myself, asked her to share her recipe thinking I would likely never use it. However, it has become my go-to recipe when I want a good meal that I can do quickly and with enough to share or freeze.

The recipe is Giada De Laurentiis’ Italian Baked Chicken Pastina, and we all know she can do her Italian.

I promise it will look this delicious in person.

Ingredients

1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta) – Megan used Cavatappi and it the best!
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Let me know what you guys think. I love it and it is great with sautéed mushrooms or a salad! Enjoy!

Magazine Roundup

2011-10-27T18:20:00.001-05:00

I have great intentions at this blog to provide you with great content. That includes subscribing to at least 5 different magazines (this down from a high of about 12). However, you know what I never do – share with you the great things I find in said magazines. Today I dug a few out to share the love.

First, my two favorite magazines that I subscribe to are:

The Food Network Magazine

Everyday with Rachael Ray

As an aside, I am adding this to my Christmas list – The HGTV Magazine. I can’t imagine anything better!

In the August edition of Rachael Ray’s magazine they had a feature on her faves. One of her favorites was this ticket invitation. I love it because it seriously looks like the real deal. THe are available at specialeventticketing.com and start at $1.70.

Same issue of Rachael Ray had this cute party backdrop. It is just streamers and ribbons and would look great for a photo backdrop OR a dessert backdrop. Love it!

Another cute one was the chalkboard wall backdrop. In the magazine the photo is much, much larger and has cute little sayings that people wrote before they took their pics. Obviously the real deal would be much cuter, but this is all I could find:

And I am totally running late the party I am hosting, I must go! Let me know your favorite magazines. I am always looking for new ones!

Weekly Faves

2011-10-26T18:49:00.001-05:00

I just got back from a 6-day trip and couldn’t leave you guys hanging. So I am going to take the easy way out and leave you with my weekly faves.

Does anyone else go on a trip and immediately come home, unpack their bags, then clean the whole house and make dinner. Just me, no?

These past two weeks have been crazy busy and tomorrow night is my bunko hosting night. I was supposed to host here and had such grand ideas like adorable Halloween décor, themed food and making fall flower arrangements. Instead I scheduled it at a pizza place. I am sad I didn’t have it together enough to do it here, but glad I decided to not kill myself to get it all done. Sigh.

But you didn’t come here for what has been going on in my life, you clicked the link to look at what I was loving last week!

So speaking of themed food, I loved these clever ideas shared on Maddycakes Muse via Lisa Storms.

I come across weddings quite a bit on the blogs, but for some reason this wedding spoke to me. I love the color theme and the flowers were so simple, yet beautiful. Click here to see all of the photos on cake events blog.

I come across a lot of gender reveal parties and thought the “What will it Bee?” themed event on Hostess with the Mostess was sooo clever. See the full party at Libby Lane Press.

And I guess that is all I was impressed with this week because that’s all I starred.

Also, thanks for your help on my fat calves dilemma. I am especially thankful for Iris and Amanda Rose for pointing out that in actuality it isn’t that my calves are “thick” as it is that I am so much shorter, so the tall part hits me so much lower. Um, duh. And I am sticking to that theory. I am going to go to DSW first thing this weekend to try on boots in person and if all else fails, I will order the first pair I posted online. I will keep you posted.

Now, whether to read all 551 items in my Google Reader or just start fresh. Tough choices.

The fattened calves

2011-10-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have never seen me in person, I am a bit on the short side. 5’0” to be exact. I have never bought the tall boots that all the trendy people wear. One, because I am not that trendy and didn’t know how they would look on me. Two, because I have the HUGEST calves known to man.

Case in point, this weekend my sister talked me into buying my first pair of skinny jeans (I told you I am not trendy) and I wanted to get a pair of the tall boots to tuck them into. I go to Nordstrom and pick out boots with the biggest calf area thinking that I have just had bad luck in the past. Yeah, it’s not so much bad luck as it is having the biggest calves known to man. (There might have been blushing and humiliation when I had to tell the poor guy helping me that there was no way I could get those puppies to zip. But I am over it now. Kind of.)

So anyway, I need your help – are any of these “wide calf” boots from Zappos cute? (You really minimize your selection when you search for wide calf. Couldn’t they call it something more flattering? Like not so petite opening?)

Okay and that is pretty much it. I am not kidding. Unless I want to spend several hundred dollars. I am thinking $150 or less. Is that asking too much? (That is not a rhetorical question.)

I am already thinking of what tall boots would mean – leggings, more skinny jeans, the ability to actually wear skirts and dresses in the winter. Sigh. Any help would be appreciated!

A better understanding

2011-10-19T21:52:00.001-05:00

Sometimes over here on the ole blog I have NOTHING to share. So today I wrote down some thoughts (and when I say today, I really mean the last hour when I decided that I had nothing to blog about, but figured surely something would pop into my mind.)

1- I just discovered delicate on my washer within the past few months. Um, why did no one tell me about this wonderful setting and how it would save all of my clothes from ruin? Or at least from looking too worn, too shrunk, or too faded? Why?

2- This is a confession. Sometimes when I got a pop-up that the sender has requested a read receipt on my email, I hit the button that says “do not send a read receipt.” I am clearly not as nice as I look.

3- Remember how I told you my first Audible book was going to be Madeline Wickham’s 40 Love?

I have always loved her books. This one, notsomuch. I am not finished yet, but I am on Chapter 12 of 14 and am still waiting for the book to have a plot.

4- Another confession. I am completely immature. Last weekend I was out of town (4 hours away) and saw someone I knew in high school at Crate & Barrel. She was on the phone and didn’t see me, but instead of going up to her and saying “hi” I had my sister watch out for her in the store so that we didn’t cross paths and I wouldn’t have to pretend to be surprised if I did in fact run into her.

5- Please tell me I am not the only one who does this.

6- I always think it is so weird to run into someone you know out of town. What are the odds that you would be out of town and at the exact same place at the exact same time?

7- Actually, I think this is the first time this has ever happened to me.

8- On the same trip I ran into someone else I knew at the bathroom at the convenience store on the way home. This time I did say hi :).

9- To prove how exciting our life is, the past two evenings have been spent trying to figure out how to get our shower unclogged. After purchasing at least 8 different unclogging products over the course of the past two weeks, last night we decided on the “big guns” – sulfuric acid. After looking online and reading about it, I figured this might not end well, so we had to hire a plumber to come out and unclog it. I am now looking forward to a shower without standing water. (Just keeping it real.)

10 – And now you probably have a better understanding of why I don’t blog when I don’t have anything going on. BORING!

Weekly Faves

2011-10-17T19:05:00.001-05:00

My favorites have no theme this week (imagine that) except that they were my favorites. I am soooo creative and original.

I thought this pumpkin display featured on Attention 2 Detail via Country Living was so creative. And I think it would be decently easy to do with vinyl.

This one probably wouldn’t be nearly as easy, but it looks awesome.

This post has no photo, but Megan with Tales of the Trees linked to a great post that Lindsey from Sweet Simplicity shared with me about a year ago that has helped me tremendously – how to set up your comments to be replied to. Read it here. I would highly recommend this to all of your bloggers. I have made so many blogging friends from making this one little change! Also, while you are at it, you might change your comment form to a pop-up because so many people (including me) cannot comment on forms embedded in your post.

The design of this shower on Hostess with the Mostess really spoke to me. I absolutely loved the look of it. And she offers free printables! Get them here.

Check out this before and after how-to created by Beckie at Infarrantly Creative.

Kara’s Party Ideas featured the most adorable monkey party this week that was thrown by Paula Duarte of Hola Mama.

Have you ever seen a cuter cake?

More soon!

Is it safe to drink balsamic?

2011-10-16T21:01:00.001-05:00

If balsamic vinegar had a fan club, I might be the number one fan. I love it. I wish there was some health benefit to it. Maybe there is? I guess as balsamic’s number one fan I should know. So I guess I am really the number 2 fan.

In addition to a good balsamic (I swear I can taste those that are aged longer), I love me a balsamic glaze. You know, the thick balsamic that sometimes is used as a garnish on a plate at a nice restaurant?

My friend Catherine that has Sage and the Sage Melt Bar has an amazing glaze that they put on my favorite sandwich (the Caprese - Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato, Red Onion, and Basil Pesto on Sourdough with Balsamic Glaze) I swear she needs to sell it by the bottle.

However, until she does that I found an amazing substitute tonight at Target:

It retails for $5.99. Tommy and I drizzled it over warm focaccia bread and it was a total winner.

They had a little idea book included and it suggested making risotto (seriously, my favorite), adding a little mascarpone cheese and one tablespoon of this. Wouldn’t that be amazingly delicious? I will let you know as soon I make it!

Book Club

2011-10-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

I love to read. And when I say “read” I really mean listen to books on my iPod. It is a multi-tasker’s dream. However, it is what I was doing when my weight went through my sink. But I digress.

For my birthday my in-laws gave me some money that I am going to be using towards a subscription to Audible.com. Audible is a division of Amazon that offers a wide selection of audiobooks. I typically use the library and will continue to as I read about 3-4 audiobooks a month and my subscription only will cover one book a month. I am using this as a supplement to the library since they don’t carry everything in audio format.

My first download is Madeleine Wickham’s 40 Love. I love a feel-good, no-brainer, girly book and Madeleine Wickham is a perfect author for that. (She also writes under the pseudonym of Sophie Kinsella, the author of the Shopaholic series.)

Also on my list are:

Beth Harbison is another girly author. She wrote Shoe Addicts Anonymous and it was a cute book about women’s friendships. I always love the easy to “read” ones.

I saw the trailer for this movie and it looked cute, so I thought the book would be even better. We’ll see.

I also just finished Heaven is For Real. I was waiting for it for about 6 months at the library and just thought it was the best book. It was one of those that has stuck with me even weeks after I read it. Whether you have ever lost someone (or not), it is just such a great story about what to expect after this life.

For the record, I am always hesitant to read books that might be sad, and this book wasn’t sad at all. Just wanted to let you guys know that in case that was holding you back, too. Or am I just weird like that?

Brief synopsis for those who haven’t read it:

Young boy gets very ill and close to death from appendicitis
A few month’s later starts talking about his experience in heaven
He tells of people he met in heaven including Jesus and family members he has never met, heard of or even seen pictures of

One of the things that I thought was really interesting in the book is how the family would ask Colton (the young boy) every time they saw a picture of Jesus if that was who he met. They finally got to the point where instead of asking if it was Jesus they would ask him what was wrong with the picture they were viewing.

When the family came out with their story they received an email that night and were asked if they had heard of the child prodigy Akiane Kramarik. She is a child prodigy with a gift for painting who has had visions of heaven since she was four. She has painted amazing pictures including many of Jesus.

There was a CNN video about Akiane and the dad watched the video and paused it on the image of Jesus she painted. The dad called Colton in and asked him what was wrong with this picture of Jesus. Colton stopped in his tracks and was speechless. A few minutes later he told his dad that nothing was wrong with the painting.

I would embed the video, but for some reason that is not happening. You can view it here. Also on my reading list is the hard copy book of Akiane. (My sister-in-law let me borrow it.)

Anyway, fill me in on what you guys thought about these books and let me know if you have any recommendations for others!

Weekly Faves

2011-10-10T10:08:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite menu blogs is Elefantitas Alegres. This week she had a great menu this week including another delicious quiche. Check it out here.

My friend Anne from A. Party Style posted pics of her daughter’s 3rd birthday party and it was beyond amazing. You must go check it out here. Here’s a sneak peek!

No picture here, but Tip Junkie featured a tip on how to get your Facebook back to where you can see all the posts from your friends. Read here.

Another food blog I love is Iowa Girl Eats. She recently started doing her own Friday Favorites. She posted so many good ones this week like:

How to update mirrors without a frame. Read the whole tutorial on The Secret to Success is Support. You can do this for only $18! What a steal and a high-end look!

And the recipe for this roasted garlic pilaf from Annie’s Eats:

Another Iowa Girl Eats favorite this week was the post she did on her lighter baked potato soup from Skinny Taste. It includes one of my favorite veggies – cauliflower!

The TomKat Studio featured an adorable camping party this week. There are soooo many cute details. Check them out here.

And while we are on the subject of camping. This girly themed camping party featured on Kara’s Party Ideas is beyond cute! Makes me wish I liked camping. Sort of. Okay, indoor camping. At my house.

More next week!

Peeping Tom

2011-10-07T16:57:00.001-05:00

So this morning as I was showering I saw something on the tile. I swear it was a man looking at me.

See. I can’t see anything but this “person” now in my shower stall. Creepy!!!

If you need some help here is another visual.

And if you still need help, here you go:

Anyone know how to remove just one tile? ;) I am only kind of kidding. Please tell me you see it, too.

The biggest winner

2011-10-05T20:11:00.001-05:00

Well, ask and you shall receive. I am now the proud of owner (well, almost) of some dry shampoo via a contest I won on The Stories from A 2 Z. Ha!

I will be sure to do a full review once I try it.

I also won the UPrinting contest over at Scissors and Spatulas this week. I now am set to receive 500 custom notecards! You now know what all of my cards and thank you notes will be written on for the next century!

I decided to design my own notecards and don’t have the file, but I used these from Tiny Prints as my inspiration. I promise I will show them to you when I get them.

Next time you see me you can touch me for good luck! ;)

In other fun news, I am going to be an aunt again! My sister is having another baby and found out yesterday it is a girl! Finley will be the cutest big sister ever! She has no idea her little world will be rocked!

Weekly Faves

2011-10-03T19:27:00.001-05:00

I am kind of into crafting lately. (You know, I did that one wreath and all.) So here are a few easy ones that even I could do (and some other stuff).

I love these simple, easy and inexpensive cinnamon stick candles featured over at The Stories from A 2 Z. It is seriously easy. Like no crafting talent required. At all.

You know I love me a pumpkin spice latte. You know what I would love even more? A pumpkin spice latte cupcake in a starbucks cup. Aren’t these adorbs?!?? Check them out at Not Just a Housewife.

OMG. You know I love a babuskha. Love them. How cute are these cookies? I don’t even think I could eat them. Well, maybe I could eat one if I had three…wouldn’t it be even cuter if these were small, medium and large cookies?? Featured at Kara’s Party ideas. (Really cute site, by the way.)

I lurve the presentation of this pumpkin spice crème brulee featured on Better Homes & Gardens. It also looks amazingly delicious. Who wants to make?

And while we are on the subject of pumpkin spice, how about Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate? I think I could live with this. See the recipe at Cookies and Cups.

If you are looking for another easy Halloween cupcake idea, these are really cute- witch hats made out of cupcake liners. Get the full tutorial on Half-Baked.

And Everything Sweet featured this classic children’s book cake that they created. It brought me straight back to my childhood. This would make a great theme for a child’s party.

So I lied. I thought I had all kinds of great craft ideas. In fact, I had one great craft idea and a million dessert ideas. Welcome to my world.

Favorite Things Party

2011-10-02T22:00:00.001-05:00

Okay, so for all of you pinterest lovers I am sure you have seen the Favorite Things Party from A Bushel & A Peck posted all over (and over) on your boards.

The premise of the party is to bring five of your favorite things $6 or under and you will go home with five things.

Well, my friend Iris was hosting bunko last week and was looking for an idea and I shared this one with her. She thought it sounded fun, too, but we changed it up a bit. We had everyone bring a gift $5 and under and then traded them Dirty Santa style. It was so fun and everyone is really creative!

Here is what the group brought:

(what Iris and I both brought – ha!):

TreSemme Dry Shampoo. I would love a review on this! I wash my hair every day and it takes FOREVER to dry. Like 20 minutes.

EOS Lip Balm – dying to try this, too!

I went home with these two items and you know how I love me some coffee creamer!

These weren’t the exact tea towels, but one of the girls brought Halloween tea towels. Cute!

I think that was it…I am going off my poor memory here, so there may have been a few more things. Definitely a fun and inexpensive way to get the girls together!

Nothing a little hot glue can’t fix

2011-09-28T17:30:00.000-05:00

I had a lovely Fall wreath, but did you know that if you keep a wreath in your attic over the summer all of the little balls cute balls will pop and all that you will be left with is styrofoam? Well, now you do.

Case in point.

Needless to say, I was in the market for a new wreath. My mom ran across this one at a local garden store:

I liked. Price tag – $75. Yeah, not so much.

So we decided to make a knock off ourselves.

We took the form from above and cut off all the branches. (We also moved this project from inside to outside.)

Then started adding leaves that I got at Michael’s (two packs) for $7.50.

Definitely my most professional looking picture to date below. (Written with my sarcastic font.)

The final product:

Not an exact knock-off, but not bad for $7.50!

Finley’s birthday

2011-09-27T17:40:00.000-05:00

My sister threw the cutest Elmo and Sesame Street birthday party for Finley this weekend. It is hard to believe she is already two!!

Prepare yourself for cuteness!

My sister had these cute signs at all of the “stations” for the party.

The sweets table:

Isn’t the fruit tray so creative??

The Frosted Bowl did the cookies and cake. They are both so cute!

My sister had a bounce house for all of the kids as a station:

A cookie decorating station:

A friend of my sister’s dad made this little cut out for the kids. You probably recognize Cate from Living our Own Fairy Tale. :)

Some pics of the birthday girl!

Back in business!

2011-09-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

Three sinks later we are up and running! We had it fixed by Surfaces in Bixby. They were quick, awesome and affordable. They did the granite at my old house too.

Menu Monday

2011-09-26T17:31:00.000-05:00

So I am trying harder to make meals that are pretty healthy. I typically do, but I mainly looked up weight watchers/cooking light recipes this week.

So on the menu we have:

Sunday:

Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini and a side salad

Recipe: Skinny Taste

Monday:

Open faced chicken burgers on the grill with zucchini, squash, onions on the grill

Burger recipes: Skinny Kitchen

Tuesday:

Ground Chicken Tacos with corn

Recipe: All Recipes

Wednesday:

Skinnified Chicken Pad Thai

Recipe: Skinny Kitchen

Thursday:

Girls’ Night! Tommy is on his own for this one!

Weekly Faves

2011-09-25T18:27:00.000-05:00

My favorites for this week are a random mix. Imagine that. Enjoy!

I loved this photo shoot featured on Little Sooti of a Willy Wonka inspired wedding. Seriously, how fun would that wedding be? I wish my bouquet had candy in it. It would have married (pun totally intended) everything that I love – sweets and flowers!

I am loving this free thank you note download featured on Jones Design Co. I am always in need of thank you notes…I am also in need of a home printer, but that is neither here nor there.

I love me some pumpkin…except pumpkin pie. I am kind of just meh on that. Is that weird? Pencil Shavings featured this recipe for pumpkin bread that she says is the best recipe ever. I am so on this.

A Busy Nest posted this really creative no-bake cookie for kids. It is made of nilla wafers, peppermint patties, fruit roll ups and more. Get the “recipe” here.

Also, to those of you that have the comment form embedded in your post (rather than a pop-up), I apologize if I am not commenting. I can from my phone, but not from my computer. So odd. Super frustrating!!!

A step up

2011-09-24T22:35:00.001-05:00

I am still mourning the loss of my sink. It is driving me CRAZY to not have it up and working. I am hoping Tommy’s parent’s neighbor (who is a plumber) can help. Otherwise, I am sure I will be met with a huge hassle…and a huge bill. Sigh. I was only trying to get toned!

Anyway, moving on to my real post. Tomorrow is Finley’s 2nd birthday and today my sister had the most adorable party for her. (Pics soon.) But I had to share the adorable gift I got her:

Isn’t it the cutest? My friend Betsy makes them. You can see all the crafty things she does here. She made this one for my nephew’s second birthday, too.

Finley was so funny when she saw it for the first time. I picked up the stool on Thursday and thought it was so cute that I had to go show my mom. She was babysitting Finley and I didn’t think Finley would have any interest. She saw it and immediately took it out of my hands and brought it with her everywhere she went to sit on. I tried to take it home so that I could wrap it up since my sister hadn’t seen it yet (and, really, the only person who would really care about the cuteness when it was opened was my sister). But Finley refused to let me leave with it. Allison had to hide it and wrap it for her to open at the party today. So sweet!

Sinking feeling

2011-09-23T15:30:00.001-05:00

Note to my dear readers, while lifting weights it's never a good idea to put said weights on your counter while you walk away. FAIL.

Menu Monday

2011-09-19T19:27:00.001-05:00

I would say this would be a weekly feature, but let’s be honest – I don’t really have it all that together. However, I went shopping yesterday armed with a list and a menu, so I thought I would share.

Oh, and none of these are original. I am really good at starring my favorites.

Sunday Evening – Last night we had Tommy’s parents over for dinner. I made Spicy Chicken Quiche and a salad. People who loved it – 3. People who didn’t – 1 (Tommy’s dad).

Recipe: Elefantita’s Alegres

I made this before, actually. You can read about it here and here. Seriously, freaking awesome.

Monday Night (Tonight) – Chicken meatballs with spaghetti and mushrooms. I do have to tell you that I make amazing mushrooms. I buy baby portabellas, sauté them in butter and garlic, add a bit of garlic salt and white wine – delish.

Tuesday Night – Orange Chicken with brown rice and broccoli. Oh my gosh, you guys, this recipe is soooo good and soooo easy. It tastes like Pei Wei’s or PF Changs’ Orange Chicken – only like a 100 times healthier.

I also have to tell you – I make some pretty good broccoli too. I buy frozen, put it in a microwave safe container, add Brummel & Brown butter (if you guys haven’t tried it- you must- you will thank me), and garlic salt. I heat for about 4.5 minutes and it is perfect.

Recipe and photo: Iowa Girl Eats

Wednesday Night – Nacho Enchilada Casserole. This is actually a new recipe for me. I have loved everything I have made from the Iowa Girl Eats site so far, so I am guessing this one will be a hit. I will keep you posted.

Recipe and photo: Iowa Girl Eats (Are you sensing a theme here?

Thursday – Chicken Parmesan with Orzo pasta and cauliflower. This is a new recipe for me as well, but the ingredients look good. Also, I have made Megan’s cauliflower before and it was so amazing that Tommy asked for it back as more than a regular. (Photo below of my first attempt. Yum.)

Chicken Recipe: MyRecipes.com

Cauliflower Recipe: Sugar and Spice…Cooking in this wonderful life

I am always on the hunt for new cooking blogs/sites. Let me know your favorites! Bon Appetit!

Weekly Faves

2011-09-17T21:44:00.001-05:00

I had lots of faves this week. Let’s see if we get through them!

This week on Swanky::Chic::Fete she did a post on clever Halloween costumes. Isn’t this one from Teresa Jacinto Design adorable? I mean seriously, what handbag loving mother (or toddler) wouldn’t want this?

Sheek Shindigs had these really, really cute free printables offered by Delightful Distractions. She has a whole collection that you can use as place cards or little gift tags!

You guys have read all about my Birchbox, right? Well, this week the Hollywood Housewife posted on Citrus Lane. It is similar to the birchbox concept in that you can purchase a subscription and a box of goods are sent to you or a friend – only this box is full of baby items. Read more about it here. It would make such a great gift!

Since birds still seem to be all the rage, I saw this cute idea on the Bride’s Café about to make these bird cage lanterns. These would be so cute as a centerpiece at a baby shower!

Okay, you guys MUST go to Living Locurto and see the creative vegetable trays she has featured for Fall. Loving this one! And how easy would it be?!

More soon!

Birchbox Month 2

2011-09-15T21:13:00.001-05:00

So this month’s birchbox was just meh. (See last month’s here.) My friend Kelsey called me with the news yesterday, but I didn’t get my box until today. I was hoping for a better fate.

Here is what all was included:

I do have to give them credit – they do pretty packaging.

This was kind of cool. It is nail polish that you just press onto your fingers and then use a nail file to file off the excess. Not really feeling the color, but the concept is cool.

Also included was a Ferragamo perfume that I actually haven’t smelled yet, a loose powder, a lip plumper and a rose hand cream. I have to admit, the hand cream smelled pretty amazing.

I am looking forward to trying the powder. I currently use Mary Kay and really like it, but am curious to see what this one is like.

I am also curious about this lip plumper. I’ll review tomorrow!

Now, I must go watch Project Runway. Carry on :).

Dinner & Faves

2011-09-14T19:42:00.001-05:00

Tonight for dinner for reason I was dying for Rachael Ray’s Buffalo Chicken Chili. So much so that Tommy is out for the evening. I am home alone, but I still made it. Actually, scratch that, I am waiting for it to simmer for 8-10 minutes, so this will be quick. I think it is the slight chill (ha – it is 73 degrees) in the air.

I made this last year and it was enough for dinner for that evening for several of us and I was able to freeze it and reheat it for another full meal later.

I was going to insert a picture here, but I’ll be honest, they all were pretty unappetizing looking. So take my word for it -if you like spicy chili, you will like this.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds all-white meat ground chicken breast
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
5 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon smoked paprika (you can substitute with chipotles or chipotle chili powder)
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 to 1/2 cup hot sauce, depending on how hot you like it
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce (if you have a big can of tomatoes, don't go to the store to get the sauce, it's fine. Just use what you have)
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 7-ounce bag yellow corn chips
1 7-ounce bag blue corn chips
3/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled, recommended type Maytag Blue
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped (a couple of handfuls)

Yields: 4 servings

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F or broiler to medium
Place a large pot over medium-high heat, add 1 turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon, and the butter. Once the butter has melted and the pot is hot, add the ground chicken. Brown it, using the back of a wooden spoon to break it up in to small pieces, about 5-6 minutes. Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, paprika, bay leaf and some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken stock and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the hot sauce, tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes, and bring up to a bubble. Simmer for 8-10 minutes to let the flavors come together.
While the chili is simmering, spread the yellow and blue corn chips out on a cookie sheet. Top with the crumbled blue cheese and transfer to the oven to melt the cheese, about 4-5 minutes. If using the broiler, 2-3 minutes should do the trick. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.
Top each serving of buffalo chicken chili with a few blue cheese-topped corn chips.

So now for my faves from last week.

Loving this moss letter tutorial featured on Crafty Southern Mama.

My next faves are cupcake related (imagine that) all featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Do you not LOVE these onesies??? I mean, they are cupcakes AND onesies. Presh. From Etsy Shop Yummy Wear Diaper Cakes.

Utter cuteness – cake pops that look like miniature ice cream bars from Pop Bakery.

As you all know, I LOVE a double entendre. These cupcakes are a “sweet tooth.” Ha!!! From Erica Sweet Tooth a baking dental student.

For those of you who love the onesie stickers, Tip Junkie offered a free printable on her blog from Parties by Hardie. They come in blue, red, pink and purple.

Don’t people who come up with some of these crafts just kill you? How is it possible that someone can see paint chips and think, “that would make a perfect chandelier”? Loving this ombre one from Hey Gorgeous.

Side note, I have a funny story about Ombre. A few weeks ago I was at dinner with Jane, Lindsey and Ashley and I said something about “gradiating colors from light to dark, you know, chambray.” Kind of like ombre, right? Luckily, no one laughed at me. Too hard.

I heart felt flowers. I wish I could make them and wear the in my hair and not look like a 12 year old. Which I totally would. But I love this this wreath featured on Nest of Posies. I want. (See more wreath ideas at Tatertots and Jello.)

That’s it for last week. I already have so many fun faves for this one!

Back to blogging

2011-09-13T21:28:00.001-05:00

> Too funny. I thought no one would miss my brief absence from blogging. I have been in DC this week and have gotten tons of fan mail asking where I have been.
>
> Okay, so only two people have asked. But still. I feel like a pretty big deal.
>
> One thing I learned on this trip is worth noting. If you fly American and check two bags it is $60 (ouch). But you can upgrade to first class from Tulsa to Dallas for only $45 and check up to three bags for free. So for the record, I will be taking my first first class flight in t-40 minutes. Like I said, I'm kind of a big deal ;)! Xo
>

Google + Me = BFFs

2011-09-08T20:16:00.001-05:00

Remember when I did a google post a while back? You remember – the one with the mini-donkeys?

Since I am all about educating my readers I thought I would share my most recent google posts that are stored on my phone. Get excited.

Google Search #1: Avant Garde

Anyone else watch Project Runway? Well, I try to pretend I am so fashion forward and like I totally know what it means when they do an “avant garde” competition. Truthfully, I have no freaking clue what avant garde is. (Please tell me I am not the only one.)

So, for the record, avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.

Oh, okay. So that explains this:

Definitely pushing the boundaries.

Google Search #2: Don’t Tase Me, Bro

Yes. I was going around the house telling Tommy, “Don’t Tase Me, Bro.” Funny thing is, I have no idea why this saying popped into my head. Then it led to a discussion about what year this was. I was convinced it was 2008; Tommy - 2007. Tommy won.

Google Search #3: Giant Crocodile

My mom emailed me to Google “giant crocodile.” I did. It is giant.

It was captured alive in the Philippines and is 21 feet long and weighs 2,370 pounds.

Google Search #4: Chumlee

Tommy and I love Pawn Stars (wow, I watch a lot of tv) and as we were watching the other day I started thinking about whether “Chumlee” was really Chumlee’s first name.

Well, all you Pawn Stars fans, it isn’t. His first name is really Austin and he got his nickname when friends in elementary school took the name from cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo’s sidekick, a walrus named Chumley.

Google Search #5: Awesomesauce

I have seen this word used around the web a lot lately. No clue what it really means and how it became a part of the every day vernacular.

For those of you who have not encountered “awesomesauce” here is how it would be used in a sentence: “I have a full year of paid vacation.” Response: “Awesomesauce.”

According to Urban Dictionary: The origin of 'awesome sauce' is probably from Strong Bad, although in that case he refers to a cleaning product with the trade name of Awesome Sauce. 'Awesome sauce' has been adapted for use both as an exclamation or reserved sign of approval.

Which then led me to Google Search #6: What is Strong Bad?

Apparently, this is Strong Bad. And according to wikipedia Strong Bad is one of the major characters of the Homestar Runner series of animated Flash web cartoons. Of course.

Please tell me you learned something new today!

Weekly Faves

2011-09-05T18:11:00.001-05:00

I kind of fell off the Weekly Faves bandwagon. Never fear, I am back on. It got derailed, clearly. And I will stop here so as to not put you through any more ridiculous puns.

This weekend we had a great Labor Day. I could totally get used to weekends like this – great weather, seeing all of our family and friends, relaxing, getting every piece of laundry done and a clean house. Ah. Remind me how refreshed I am in about a week? Mmkay?

So my Weekly Faves. I’ll just jump right in.

Loved these gift tags featured at Party Perfect. First, loved that they are homemade and I secondly love that they look like the gift givers. Don’t you think all non-reading children could benefit from this at a party? Not to mention they are ridiculously cute.

Beth from The Stories from A2Z featured these napkins she made used Martha Stewart’s new stencil craft line. I love these and I cannot imagine they would be terribly expensive to make. Then again, I never use cloth napkins because I loathe ironing them. Hmm…

Now that I can actually feel fall in the air it is easy to think about Halloween coming up next month. I thought these free printables from I Heart Naptimes were adorable.

And do you know what tomorrow is???

For real.

Week in pics

2011-09-04T15:12:00.001-05:00

Sometimes coming up with a title for a blog post is even more difficult than writing the post itself. So, this title = lame. I think I used up all of my creativity on last week’s bedroom project.

Okay, so I HAD to share this pics with you guys. My sister took my niece to get a cupcake after “school” one day this week and this she captured this reaction:

Is that not priceless? Apparently, loving cupcakes runs in the genes.

With the end of summer upon us, I had an odd hankering for a fruity beverage on Friday evening. I have THE best drink ever and it only requires three ingredients – ice, Malibu rum and frozen pineapple juice. For the alcohol, I just take the pineapple juice container and pour it 1/2 to 3/4 full of Malibu and then just dump it in the blender.

Just blend it in the blender and you get this delicious concoction. You will thank me.

Earlier I mentioned my bedroom project (read more here) and yesterday my mom and I finished it by adding more “tiles.” I love how it turned out and it is so nice to actually have something on my walls.

On another note and not so fun, my friend’s four month old son is in the hospital right now fighting for his life. They are praying for a miracle, so if you guys could say an extra prayer for him (Cohen is his name) to be restored to full health, I know it would be appreciated.

Room with a (new) view

2011-09-01T19:15:00.001-05:00

When we moved into our house…oh, 17 months ago…we didn’t change out the blinds that were already in the house. They were old school mini blinds, but they did the job. (Well, sort of…not all of our doors/windows had coverings.) But today was a big day – we got new shutters installed. I love them!

Here are the befores and afters:

This door would drive me absolutely crazy from my dogs’ nose prints. Totally worth the cost of the shutters :).

Another thing that bothered me is that anyone who came to our door could see right in. That and the dog nose prints.

I totally wish this was a sponsored post, but for the locals, we got our shutters at Rossi Brothers. They do amazing work! We are repeat customers – they did all of the shutters in our old house as well!

Speaking of Knock-Off Decor

2011-08-31T21:57:00.001-05:00

I am obsessed with this drapery makeover from Home Stories from A2Z.

She loved these curtains from Ballard (which I am kind of feeling, too), but the price tag is $468 a window. Seriously. Do people spend that much on drapes????

But here is where I am so impressed and wish someone would do this for me.

She took these $30 curtains from Ikea:

And turned them into this:

I want.

Do I have any friends who want to do this for me? Aja?? Mom??? :)

Go see the full tutorial here.

Featured

2011-08-30T20:56:00.001-05:00

Guess who was featured on Knock Off Décor today? Um, me! Go check it out here! Knock Off Décor is one of my daily reads. She features designs that are knock-offs of much more expensive items that you can buy in stores.

Speaking of “featured,” I thought I would feature some of my favorites for the past week.

I love lunches that are creative and I also love Angry Birds, so this lunch caught my eye. Eighteen25 featured so many cute kid lunches like this one from Lisa Storms.

I love beverage containers. I have several and have given several as gifts. I especially loved this one that you can fill with three different beverages. Get it at ZGallerie.

I also loved this Cake Pop “cake” for a Hungry Caterpillar party. It is so easy, but makes such a cute statement. Featured on the Pottery Barn Kids website.

Look how cute these cookout invites are from PaperSource! I love them. They would be so easy to do as well…famous last words :).

I will feature more soon!

A Bedroom Project

2011-08-28T20:47:00.001-05:00

Today my mom and I started working on a project for her guest bedroom, which then turned into a project for my master bedroom.

You guys remember when I got my big girl bed, right?

Well, I have been dying for some artwork for our room but haven’t really found anything I liked. Enter my mom.

The other day she was at Ross and picked up these vinyl adhesives for her guest bedroom for $15. (I went to all of the Ross stores in Tulsa and they do not have anymore, but you can buy them off Amazon for $28 here.)

My mom got the inspiration for how to use these from Ballard Designs:

My mom went to Michael’s and had foam board cut exactly to the size of the vinyl. That was a grand total of $8. If you look closely at the second picture below, we just took the foam board and painted the edges with Folk Art Italian Sage paint.

You obviously don’t have to be perfect:

Then we took the adhesive and just put them on to the foam board:

Then my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law were nice enough to hang them for us.

I really like how it turned out. We have decided to order another set and do 3 more on each side. My interior designer (ahem, Tommy) think it needs a little more.

I do love how it turned out and thanks to my mom who let me highjack her project and use it as my own! Love you!

First Day of School

2011-08-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

I think I might have forgotten how to blog. Oops. This week has been crazy busy – girls night, movies, dinners out, Tommy taking the laptop for a fantasy football draft (ahem). Maybe next week will be better?

One of the cutest things did happen this week. My niece started “school” again and my sister posted these adorable pictures on Facebook and I had to share for those of you who aren’t “friends” with her.

She is very sweet. She is also going to the same school as my nephews! My sister-in-law showed me a picture of Max yesterday of his first day of school. Bless his heart…it wasn’t all smiles :). Though, she did get some after school pictures where he was feeling much less anxious.

In melt your heart/adorableness news, on Friday I ran to an outdoor shopping area (Utica Square for the Tulsa readers) around lunch time. I was walking out of a store and I heard someone call my name. It was my brother-in-law and he was with my niece who was running around on a little grassy area. She saw me and ran all across the lawn yelling, “KK, KK.” Seriously, adorable!

A Boy Beer Birthday

2011-08-22T19:55:00.001-05:00

I have to brag on my sister. She threw her husband a really, really cute 30th birthday party this weekend. She definitely covered every detail and we all had a fun time. My husband especially.

The party was a beer tasting theme. The invites were made by Luna Petunia Designs and the image was used throughout the party.

When you walked in the door, my sister had a set up with instructions on how to rate the beers and a koozie for each guest. (Remember, you don’t come here for my photography skills :).

I think this was one of my sister’s most brilliant ideas:

Kyle is an optometrist. Get it??? Love it!

I loved also what Allison did for Kyle’s cake – it’s a beer bottle cap. For the Tulsa people, she got it at The Frosted Bowl in Sand Springs.

In the backyard she had several beer set-ups. One was for local brews, one for was summer ales and one was for international beers.

One of the really fun things that she did was have a Food Truck come and custom take everyone’s burger order.

Definitely wishing for a great year for Kyle!

Allison, amazing job! It was definitely the most fun party we have been to all year!!

The only thing I can craft

2011-08-20T09:31:00.001-05:00

One of the things that kept me so busy this week is that I helped host a shower for my good friend Mindy that is having a destination wedding this Fall. And when I say “helped host” this is my only contribution.

I do love doing flowers and it was really fun to do this arrangement. I typically don’t work with foam because I am not doing large arrangements anymore, but it was really fun to get to do this one. I actually miss being creative in this way. I may need to help host more parties. Ha!

I did a step-by-step for you guys because it really is doable, especially for you crafty types. All of this was done for about $45 (not including the container).

Items Needed:

- 2 bricks of Floral Foam – it needs to be wet foam specifically for fresh flowers (it looks really similar to the dry foam). You can get this at Michael’s, Walmart or Hobby Lobby.

- Container – I got mine at Hobby Lobby while we had the flower business when they had a 1/2 off sale for about $13

- Wet floral tape – You can get this at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. (This just keeps your foam in the container. If you wedge it tight enough, it isn’t necessary.)

Flowers (all from Sam’s):

- One bunch of leather leaf – $4

- One bunch of seeded eucalyptus – $6

- 5 stems of white lilies $7

- 5 stems of white snapdragons – $7

- 1 large bunch of white spray roses – $15

First, soak the floral foam for about 30 minutes in warm water. Then place into your container. I like to tape mine in there so that it doesn’t move around. Also, my foam was way too high, so I cut it with a knife to leave only about three inches of foam over the top of the container.

The next step is to add the leather leaf to the foam. You just stick it right in there. It is actually pretty fun!

Men are funny. Tommy told me I didn’t even need to add flowers. It looked pretty like this.

The next step is to add your flowers. I started with the lilies. I placed one in the center of the container and then put the other four facing upward around the “four corners” of the container.

Note, you do have to cut quite a bit of stem off the lilies.

The next step was to add the snapdragons. I just added them in between the lilies.

The arrangement is still looking pretty sad. Don’t let that discourage you. We still have plenty more to add!

Next, I added the spray roses to fill in throughout. I wanted full size roses, but Sam’s was out. I improvised and got spray roses (just tiny clumps of roses on one stem) instead and it was definitely a blessing in disguise.

Ah, much better. But it still needs a little something else. This is where I went back in and added the seeded eucalyptus.

I was happy with the finished arrangement. (Isn’t it amazing the difference that extra greenery made?) It took about 40 minutes to arrange total and would definitely be a significant savings over what a florist would charge.

The one thing about flowers, too, is that they don’t photograph as beautiful as they are in person. So imagine this a little prettier :).

That evening at the shower everyone thought they were artificial, so I took that as a compliment!

Weekly Faves…either really early or really late

2011-08-19T21:35:00.001-05:00

Wow, this week was busy. Next week looks even busier. Since when did I get a life?

I have still been reading all of my blogs, so I do have some stuff to share. But, believe it or not, blogging actually takes some effort. Le sigh.

I laughed when I saw this today. Wouldn’t that make life easier? Not that I would eat a human…but, you know? :) via mind.body.soul.

Yesterday I saw a contest on Facebook for Starbucks that will start on Monday – it is a Bring the Pumpkin Spice Latte to your City First. Tulsa, we can totally win this. If you don’t live in Tulsa, this contest isn’t open to you. ;)

Speaking of Fall, I loved these cute pumpkins made with old timey keys featured on Maddycake’s Muse. I mean, I could even do this project.

And while I am pining for Fall, it is, alas, still summer. I did love this summery and citrusy wedding featured on Celebrations at Home.

Speaking of weddings, I loved this really elegant and inexpensive centerpiece featured on Perpetually Engaged.

And I have no good segue here, but I am a huge fan of fruit pizzas. Like LOVE. (I think it is the cream cheese icing.) I actually make these a lot on a small scale with individual cookies from the package, but a large fruit pizza is so pretty. Here is a recipe from I Heart Naptimes for those of you that actually make your own dough and don’t buy your frosting in a can.

More soon while I have some downtime this weekend!

Tuesday Reviews

2011-08-16T21:02:00.001-05:00

So I am still pretty excited about my Birchbox! I thought I would first review the mascara that was included.

First, I love the name – blinc. Very clever.

The mascara is really unusual. It puts “tubes” around your lashes to prevent caking, smudging, running and flaking.

However, once on it just looks like normal mascara.

To remove it you just wash your face like normal with warm water and then rub your eyes softly and the “tubes” come off. They describe the product as tubes. I didn’t see any in my sink or anything. It just looked like normal mascara when it came off.

Plusses:

1- Much, much better than waterproof mascara. It isn’t impossible to get off and it isn’t heavy at all.

2- Goes on smoothly and made each individual lash stand out.

3- Dried quickly and didn’t smudge all day. Also, I typically wake up with raccoon eyes because I can NEVER get all of my mascara off during at night. This came off really easily and left no residue over night.

Minuses:

1- Didn’t feel like my lashes looked as thick.

2- A little pricey if you were to purchase it.

Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend if you are in need of a good waterproof mascara.

I have been waiting for this day for so long!

2011-08-12T17:43:00.001-05:00

First, this is not a pregnancy post. (I may have a slight flare for the dramatics.) But I seriously have been looking forward to receiving my first Birchbox ever since I signed up. I think this is as close as I will get to a celebrity swag bag. Only I am pretty sure they don’t pay for theirs…

Birchbox is basically a subscription service where you pay $10 a month and you are sent a box of beauty samples. Each box has a theme (this one was beauty innovations) and includes several samples and one full size product.

Today it came:

A box within a box:

All of the goods!

My full size sample was this blinc mascara which retails for $24. I only paid $10, so clearly this is a great deal, right?

The next two items were from Befine – an exfoliating cleanser and a night cream. I need all the aging help I can get, so I am pretty excited about the night cream.

I love a present within a present – more anticipation!

Included in the mini present was this Lift Lab Fast Fix. This is a serum you put on to help red/sensitive skin. The description is very la-ti-da and uses big words like Cell Protection Protein and Arctic-derived ingredients. It also retails for $85. It must be good, right?

My last “gift” was this Kate Spade Twirl perfume. So far this is the only product I have used since ripping the box open 5 minutes ago. I actually rarely wear perfume, but really like this fragrance. It is light, sort of sweet, floral and fresh. The closest perfume I could relate this to would be Clinique’s Happy. Though, obviously, it is different.

When I signed up for Birchbox online, I took a little survey about my hair and skin, so I think the boxes are each different based on your profile.

Also, you don’t have to blog or blog about the box to sign up. I am just really excited about it! :)

I will post reviews on these products soon. I am excited to get ready for bed and wake up tomorrow. (Clearly my life is VERY exciting.)

Tuesday Tip…On Wednesday

2011-08-10T18:01:00.001-05:00

So a few months ago my friend Lindsey let me in on a little blogging secret that I really had no idea about (and I call myself a blogger)! So I thought I would share it with you all because it has opened up new friendships and actually helps me get answers to my questions.

1- For those of you with blogs, if someone posts a comment and they have their email address listed in their profile, you can just hit “reply” and answer their question, say thanks or otherwise engage in conversation. How did I not know this???? I thought the only reason that people had their email address in their blog was so that people could contact them directly. No clue. But it is soooo much easier to respond to someone!

2- I also used to not have my own email address in my profile. I didn’t want the crazies contacting me. (Which, by the way, has never happened…though, it might now that I have written this.) So I opened up a Hotmail account and just have it autoforwarded to my regular email. That way I don’t have to check 80 email accounts, but can still screen out what I don’t want to get. Pretty much genius.

3- So for those of you that don’t have your email in your profile, consider doing it! You will interact more with your readers and then also get more responses to your questions from other bloggers.

4- To add your email, just go to the settings in blogger and put your new address in!

Now we can chat more often! :)

In other news…remember when I posted about Birchbox?

Well, I got an email on Saturday that my first box has shipped. I feel like a kid waiting for their pen pal to write…checking the mail, checking my tracking, checking my front door. (Is this what modern day pen pals would do…yeah, probably not. They would just facebook and text. Remind me to tell you about my pen pals I used to have. Seriously.)

Anyway, my excitement level is over the top. I cannot wait to share!

Weekend Update

2011-08-08T17:16:00.000-05:00

It is funny. As you guys can see, I always carry a camera in my bag. Do I ever actually use the camera? Um, pretty much no. It is so much easier to use my phone. And when it comes to taking photos I am lazy. But I thought I would share the few photos I did take this weekend. (Of course, all from my phone.)

A few weekends ago my former flower business partner called me from Sam’s and asked if she could borrow some vases for a baby shower she was throwing. (She is in the process of selling her house and hers were all in storage.) It happened that I was at home hanging out and Tommy was out of town, so I told her to come over and we could do them together.

We had so much fun doing them again and they lasted for at least two weeks, so she sent me an email Friday asking if I wanted to do them again this weekend. Um, yes!

This time I went to Sam’s and picked out the flowers. I hadn’t been there in ages and they had so many amazing, high-end flowers! I couldn’t believe it.

Here is what I picked up: orange asiatic lilies, yellow snapdragons, red alstromeria, white lisianthus, and purple mums.

One of the fun things about flowers is that both Brenna and I had the exact same flowers, but our arrangements turned out so different. Each beautiful (if I do say so myself), just completely different.

Here is my final arrangement:

And here is hers:

We got all of the flowers for $44 and split the cost. Not bad for $22!

This weekend we also had Vic’s heart birthday party. We spent a ton of time getting ready and had a lot of cute details. I didn’t get any good pics (imagine that), so I will get some soon and share with you all.

This is the banner we made for the wall:

I made these and then cut them out with a punch and we adhered them to all of the cups.

Nieces and nephews:

The birthday boy arrives!

We had a great time, however, about 30 minutes after Vic arrived the lights went out and didn’t ever come back on. Sigh. Fortunately, the facility had flood lights at the emergency exit and it was still slightly light outside, but it was not the party we all had imagined.

My brother-in-law carrying the leftover cake. Not sure if my inlaws will ever get through this. It was huge!

Happy heart birthday, Vic!

Weekly Faves

2011-08-07T18:37:00.001-05:00

The internets did not impress this week. I only starred four things all week. I guess I am becoming harder to please. Ha! So I guess these truly are the best of the best.

Y’all know I love me some cooking shows. (Is this not the ultimate irony?) So I loved that I stumbled upon this really amazing Top Chef party from a day with lil mama via swanky::chic::fete. The only thing that would be funner – a Chopped party. I love that show. Click here to see all the photos. You will love!

I apparently have food on the brain because now that I look at my favorites I just realized that they are all food related. Hmmm…

Iowa Girl eats featured this Baked Ziti that I must try. I think this would also work well pre-made and frozen.

I Heart Naptimes posted her monthly food menu. Oh, how I wish I was this organized! She posts an entire month’s worth of menu items and most of them have links to recipes.

And no meal would be complete without dessert. Aren’t these cupcakes featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake adorable? (I think it’s the straw.) Get the full recipe for each on A Little Cuppa Tea.

Now, off to eat. Imagine that. :)

Look inside my makeup drawer

2011-08-04T17:39:00.000-05:00

I thought while we were being nosey we could go ahead and look through my makeup and getting ready routine. (I have obviously hit an all time low on things to blog about.) However, I am always interested in what other people use and love, so maybe this will be of interest to someone.

I have to say, though, my getting ready process doesn’t have anything nearly as interesting as my purse.

So for my bedtime and morning routine, I love my Mary Kay soap and moisturizer. My mother-in-law sells it and I feel like it does a good job of keeping me from breaking out. Also, I have written about the 3D White toothpaste before, but I will repeat. This stuff is amazing.

My shower routine – very plain. I will tell you, I used to use Biolage and I loved it. That smell. Mmm. Anyway, I switched over to shampoos you can get at the drug store because do I really need to pay $24 to wash my hair? (Don’t answer that.) However, Pantene seems to rock my locks. I usually switch it up, but I keep coming back.

This is my makeup container.

But this is all I use – concealer, mascara, blush and eye makeup.

Megan gave me this eye makeup for Christmas a year and a half ago and I love it. I use the dark color as my liner and the others for shadow.

Here is the final product this morning.

I told you the whitening toothpaste works. (Ha!!! I am cracking myself up over here!)

Let me know your beauty faves!!!

What I’m Reading Wednesday

2011-08-03T22:15:00.001-05:00

I read quite a bit. And when I say “read” I really mean I listen to books on tape. Same thing, right?

Right now I am actually reading a book on my kindle. This is Jen Lancaster’s first novel (the others have been autobiographies) and it has not disappointed so far. Her writing style reminds me so much of my friend Janie, so I definitely get a good laugh every time I read her books.

I just downloaded two books to my phone from the library. (For more on how to do that, read this post. I am in love.) However, I just found out that Amazon has a subscription service called audible that you can do the same thing if you aren’t in the Tulsa area. There is a 3-month intro rate of $7.50 and then it is $12 a month after that. They have more options than the library, but I haven’t bitten the bullet and subscribed yet.

My picks for this week were actually biographies/autobiographies. I haven’t gotten those in awhile. My last one was actually Paula Deen’s autobiography. The funny thing about her is that she is a smoker with a potty mouth. Who knew?

I was intrigued about this one on Oprah. I honest to goodness used to be her number one fan. I got all of the email alerts, watched EVERY show, watched the tv biographies, etc. After going to her show I just didn’t feel like she was the same person as we saw on television. I am curious to know if my gut feeling was right or not.

The next book, ironically, I became interested in after seeing President Bush on Oprah’s Behind the Scenes show (do you guys watch??? It is seriously fascinating. You definitely see a different side of Oprah than you do on tv.) Anyway, the way he described what actually happened with Hurricane Katrina made me have so much more perspective in the fact that we really don’t know what is going on behind the scenes.

If you missed the interview, he talks about how when Hurricane Katrina happened he wanted to send troops down to New Orleans. However, the governor has to declare a state of emergency in order for troops to be sent. Behind the scenes there was a power struggle going on between the governor and New Orleans’ mayor. He could have still sent troops down, but they would have to be unarmed and he didn’t want to send unarmed troops when the reports were that there was complete chaos in New Orleans. Finally, there was a state of emergency request sent and that is when the troops came in.

I guess the moral of the story is that things sometimes are not as straight forward as they seem…or what the media makes them out to be.

I just finished these books:

This book was cute and an “easy read.” (Can you still call it that when you listen to it on tape?) I have read two other books by the author – Shoe Addicts Anonymous and Secret of a Shoe Addict. It was similar to those, so if you have read those you can kind of guess what happens.

I had heard about this book on several blogs. I didn’t read anything about it, but heard it was cute. I thought it was “meh” at best. I finished it, but was bored and not really feeling it. However, all of that said, I think I would be friends with the author in real life.

I liked this book. The library has A LOT of Jane Green books and they are all easy, enjoyable, light reads. This book is about a girl who is trying to get pregnant with her boyfriend, but can’t. She decides to take a break from him and moves to NYC. They both find someone new in the meantime and….the rest is history.

This is probably going to be blasphemy to a lot of you, but a few months ago I tried to start the Hunger Games. I heard it was as good as the Twilight series. And you know I loved me some Twilight. Um, I HATED this book. I honestly couldn’t get past chapter 2. What the hell was going on? It was freaking weird. (I know. And vampires aren’t?) I will definitely not be waiting in line for this movie.

Okay, so what are you guys reading and any recommendations?

Take a Look Inside My Bag

2011-08-02T18:23:00.001-05:00

Don’t you always wonder what people keep inside their enormous bags? Oh, is that just me? Hmm..

I promise I don’t snoop in drawers or medicine cabinets. I actually have THE guiltiest conscience on earth (see, mom, Catholic school was not a waste), so I could never live with myself if I were to snoop. I can’t even read a postcard sent to my address on mistake. Clearly, I am highly ethical. Too bad I don’t get bonus points for this.

Okay, so the bag.

Just for fun I just went and weighed my bag – 7 pounds, people. No wonder I need a massage constantly.

I think I may need to scale back on the glasses. You think?

As far as makeup, I don’t bring much in my bag. I am ADDICTED to that C.O. Bigelow lip gloss and I have been wearing the same Laura Mercier lip color since probably 1999. And that is not an exaggeration. Does this mean I am going to be one of those people who people are like “oh, she would be cute, but she will not update her lipstick!” I guess since they are still selling it in the store it must be okay. Right? Someone?

Then there is the miscellany. I am telling you, if you need it, I likely have it. Right down to the rubber gloves. (I know. I am weird. But you never know when you might have an incident where you need to have your hands completely covered.)

Okay, so what weird stuff is hiding in your bag?

Weekly Faves

2011-08-01T18:19:00.001-05:00

Um, if you are reading this from outside of Tulsa, please tell me it as hot there as it is here (111). It is like I need someone else to feel my pain. The funny thing is I cannot wait for the day it is 95 outside. I know it will feel like a cool front.

This week I came across a few cute things, so let’s get started.

I love me a cake pop. I actually have had several lately, but have not taken pictures because they were inhaled so fast. I may have a problem. Now, can you believe that this is a cake pop??? They were featured on Maddycakes Muse and were made for a vintage sewing party. Pure Joy Events, the host of the party, has posted a full tutorial on her blog so that you can make them too.

This week my friend Anne at A.Party Style posted photos of her Christmas in July wish list. One of her “must haves” are these Pantone markers. I died! How cool are these??? Now, I have no clue what I would ever do with them, but….they are every designers dream!

She also posted these address stamps from Paperwink. They are all really cute. And I am in the market for a new address stamp…

I really like this one:

You guys know I love FailBlog and this Autocomplete Fail cracked me up. But also had me wondering…what is the answer?

When I did my Pioneer Woman Book Giveaway, my question to win was what was your favorite blog. Several of you mentioned 6th Street Design School. It is a really great blog and I love her aesthetic. This week she posted these cute rugs from Pottery Barn Teen. First, when did teens get so stylish and two, I want one. I am loving the turquoise.

So that’s it for this week! Check back tomorrow for a look into my personal life. (Oooh the mystery!)

What I’m Loving Wednesday

2011-07-27T20:32:00.001-05:00

Did Wednesday come fast for everyone this week? Not that I am complaining.

I have picked up a few new items in the past week and I thought I would share because, really, they deserve to be shared.

First, Megan got me these ADORABLE storage containers. I was so excited. You guys know how I love the babushkas. It was very sweet of her to do this. I made an invite for her dad’s 60th birthday party and she got me these as a thank you. (For the record, I would have done it for free, but I do love me some nesting dolls!)

Earlier this week I went to a local store, Daley’s, with a friend. It isn’t a store I would typically go in because she described it as “western.” However, it totally reminded me of the Pioneer Woman. They had home furnishings, clothes and jewelry and I picked up this little owl necklace.

It did have an incident with the shopping cart at Walmart, but I was so in love that I picked up the pieces off the floor and let my inner jeweler come out to fix it. Good as new.

I also picked up a new pair of kicks. I felt that they would fit in perfectly at Zumba. And I got two shoes…only photographed one for some reason. I have no future in photography.

Lastly, is anyone else as excited as I am about Project Runway coming back on tomorrow? I think not!

Menu Monday

2011-07-25T17:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, so posting that I was going to actually cook my meals for the week did hold me accountable. Mental note: must do this with other aspects of my life.

Here is my menu for this week:

And since my own mother has trouble reading my handwriting, the menu says:

Sunday: Chicken Burgers with Roasted Garlic Cauliflower via Megan’s cooking blog

Monday: Lasagna Rollups & Salad

Tuesday: Enchiladas and corn

Wednesday: Lemon Shrimp with Zucchini Bites

Thursday: Chicken Macaroni & Cheese with Broccoli

Not all meals I premade – like Sunday’s dinner was just made on the fly. But Monday’s, I made and had plenty to freeze for another time. I love those nights-where I just take something out of the freezer and put it in the oven. Those are my favorites.

I have never tried these lasagna rolls before, but I saw them on Pinterest and they looked good and freezable. (I can only hope.) I will give you a review later.

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/4 cup milk

1 cup Ricotta cheese
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups Prego Spaghetti Sauce

In medium bowl, combine chicken, cheeses, milk, and pepper

Spread 1/2 cup mixture on each lasagna noodle; roll jelly-roll fashion

In a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce

Arrange lasagna rolls, seam-side down in sauce in baking dish

Top with remaining spaghetti sauce

Cover

Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until hot

Serve, if desired, with additional Parmesan cheese.

Note, on this recipe the filling wasn’t nearly enough for 8 rolls. I had make more of it. So you might just double everything but the chicken.

With the substitutions above, this was enough for 8 rolls. I am making three for dinner tonight and froze the other five.

Tuesday:

Megan made these enchiladas a few months ago when we had dinner at her house and they were beyond amazing. This recipe says it will make 20 enchiladas…enough for 10 servings. However, I was able to freeze two extra dishes in addition to the one we will have this week…so I guess it made 25 enchiladas.

Spinach Sauce:

1 package of frozen spinach, thawed

3-4 chopped green onions

2 jalapenos chopped and seeds removed

1 can of cream of chicken soup

2 cups low fat sour cream

salt & pepper to taste

Drain the spinach and remove excess moisture. Combine all ingredients (except the sour cream) in the blender until well mixed. Add the sour cream and blend until smooth.

Enchiladas:

20 6” tortillas

4 cups of monterey jack cheese shredded

1 onion chopped

shredded cooked chicken

3 cups of cheese for topping (I didn’t use this much)

Combine cheese, onion and chicken and spoon into the center of the steamed tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down in the greased pan. Pour spinach mixture over the enchiladas and top with additional cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly.

Here are the tortillas I used. Very authentico.

My last meal that I premade was a macaroni and cheese shown on Katie Lately’s blog.

What you Need:
1 (10.75 oz) can of Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 (10.75) can milk
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups of hot cooked corkscrew-shaped pasta (or shells)
1 tablespoon of dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of butter
1 cup of Cheddar Cheese

Instructions:
1. Mix soup, milk, black pepper, cheddar cheese and pasta in 1-qt baking dish
2. Mix bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over pasta mixture (I always end up adding more bread crumbs to the mixture...you just have to play with it until it's sprinkle-able) I also like to add more shredded cheese to the top...you can never have too much cheese!
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes...or until HOT!

Notes, I added chicken and broccoli to this. I was going to just do the broccoli on the side, but everyone loves it better cheesy, right?

For each meal that I froze, I put the instructions on the top, along with the baking time.

In total, I yielded 7 meals in two hours!

As a timesaver, it would be easier to buy rotisserie chickens and just use the breast meat. I decided to just boil chicken for use. I have done this before and it works well and probably saves about $10.

Weekly Faves

2011-07-24T09:53:00.001-05:00

I have had a nice weekend. Don’t you love the ones where you can just catch up on everything? My plan today is to make all of my meals for the week. It is a little ambitious, so those recipes and photos may or may not show up on my blog later… (I am hoping if I put it out there I will have SOME accountability. Ha!)

So anyway, for my favorites this week, believe it or not, they are all mainly party related. I actually have a surprise party I am throwing with Tommy’s family in the next few weeks and have done pretty much nothing but the invites. Go figure.

Here is a sneak peek of what we are working on:

My father-in-law is celebrating his 10th anniversary of his heart transplant, so if you guys have any heart related ideas, please send them my way! When I say we haven’t done much as far as décor, that would be an understatement. It is hard to make a heart party manly and not look like a Valentine’s Party. All ideas/links appreciated!

Moving on to what I loved online this week. I Heart Naptime had a really cute feature on all things polka dot. You know I love me some polka dots. Like, LOVE. I especially loved this cake from Ladies’ Home Journal. It is just a regular iced cake with meringue cookies. Now, I know you are thinking – “where can one get meringue cookies?” Target and Reasors typically have them in the bakery section. I know this because I used to be OBSESSED with meringue cookies. They are so light and airy. This cake is totally doable!

Not party related at all, but this headline and photo on Fail Blog this week cracked me up.

Hiding Your Identity Fail:

I came across this DIY chalkboard on Celebrations at Home and thought it was super cute. It used to be a mirror that she just painted with chalkboard spray paint. (The full tutorial is on her blog.) Maybe a project when it isn’t 110 degrees outside?

Each year Threadless (they make t-shirts that are submitted by people in their online community) has a contest where cake decorators are invited to make cakes that look like their t-shirts. Bakerella is a judge and included some photos of the masterpieces on her site. People are so talented and creative!

For example, here is a t-shirt design.

And here is the cake based on the shirt.

View all of the 2010 shirts and cakes here.

You know how typically a veggie tray is about as appealing as it looks when it comes from the grocery store? (Is that just because I am not a huge fan of raw veggies?) I thought this idea of restyling the typical veggie tray was so visually appealing and creative. Photo from Eddie Ross via The Party Dress.

This week on Second City Soiree she had a great tutorial on how to throw a theme party that is cohesive from start to finish without going over the top. And you know I love an owl theme.

Hope you guys had a great weekend!