Twinkies

Let me just say that I love accidental Twinkies.  And I'm not talking about the delicious cream filled yellow things.  One thing that makes my heart smile is showing up to work and seeing that one of my best friends, Shurayah is wearing a very similar outfit.  It's as if we are sometimes on the same wavelength!  Today was one such day.

We decided that I was the country version and she was the rocker version with my cowboyboots and her studded ones.

Her brother showed up with a pleasant surprise!  It was a joy to see how much Shuraya's face lit up when this little cutie rounded the corner into her office.  Shurayah's brother found Snowflake under his car at the mall last night while it was snowing such cold wet snow.  He heard whining, looked down and there she was.  We could not get enough of her!  I hope that she gets to come over soon.  I know that her and our puppy, Bandit will fall instantly in love and become inseparable.

Grandma Date

This weekend was a fun filled weekend.  Saturday, my sister, Rachel and I went on a date with our Grandma to go see the movie 'Safe Haven'.  It's based off of the Nicholas Sparks novel.  It's about a woman who escapes from a physically abusive marriage and finds herself in Southport, North Carolina.  She tries keeping a low profile, in constant fear that her husband would find her.  She finds herself falling in love with a single dad with two kids and finds herself at a turning point in her life.  It was such a good movie full of hope of overcoming and of healing love.
  Afterwards we went and ate lunch at Coney I-lander.  So delicious!  It was good getting to spend the day with Grandma and Sister.  They are part of such a precious precious part of my family that I love getting to spend time  with.

This shirt was one of my favorite finds of my trip to OKC a few weeks ago.  I found it at a resale shop called the Daisy Exchange.  It's full of beautiful gently used clothing.  They buy or  trade clothes.

The jacket I got several years ago at Wal-Mart, of all places.  It was a 'make myself feel better' jacket after I came out of my apartment at the time to find the side view mirrors on my car bashed off.  It was been a faithful jacket.

This purse used to be my Mama's.  Actually I found it in ht back of the closet in my old room at their house and decided I wanted to use it.  I believe that it's hers from back in the day, maybe a gift from her mama.  I just found it while trying  to organize stuff in my house the other day and have been using it ever since.  When I carry a purse, I don't just carry it for a week.  I carry it for a couple of months.  I hate cleaning out my purse.  though since the purses I've been carrying have gotten smaller and smaller, I have less to clean out.  :)

Here's a close up of the fun print of the shirt.  I just loved it!  I still couldn't resist when I was told that it was accidentally placed on the $3 rack and was instead $8 or $12.  It's hardfor me to pay full price for clothes any more whehn I know there are places like Daisy Exchange or Platos closet just full of stranger's hand me downs!    I love the wildlife print.  Full of mooses (meese?), does, bucks, bunnies and geese.  It sure cheers me right up when I put it on!

Snow Day

I was so surprised and pleased when I opened up the back door to let Bandit out this morning and saw that it had begun to snow.  Little white specks that melted upon impact with the ground.  Bandot seemed to love running around in it.  Imagine my joy as the flakes began getting gradually bigger as I got ready for the day.  Bandit lounged on his favorite chair in the corner and gazed out the windows at the quickly gathering white blanket. 
  My joy escalated as my friend got to work and asked me if I wanted to fulfill one of my photo dreams.  A dream I'd had since getting engaged over a year ago.  I won't give anything else away, except that it involves snow!  It was hard to contain myself, so I just had to share a quick hint with you all.  All will be revealed in about a week or so!!

Bandit's Birthday

Today, our little puppy turned 1 year old!! Back in September, we adopted him from the SPCA. One of the best decisions we made! He is so precious. We couldn't have chosen a better dog. Actually, he's the first dog I've ever had, so naturally we spoil him rotten! Both of his grandmothers came over today with precious gifts for our precious puppy! I baked a cake for the special occasion. (None of the ingredients harmful to dogs.). And it was super easy to make!! And it didn't taste half bad, only a little bland: natural peanut butter, flour, shredded carrots, being the main ingredients.  The recipe can be found HERE. 

Valentines Day!

                                                      Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

So beginning February 1st, I began my 14 Days of Love for my husband.  For this, I decided to get a little crafty.  Last year, at Target, I bought a big box of different colored card stock papers and matching envelopes.  It was actually an impulse buy, but I have actually been able to find so many uses for them!

With the size of hearts that I wanted, I was able to get two hearts out of each piece of card stock.  I used an exacto knife and cut out a template to use for the rest of the cut outs.  It was a long and tedious process during which I had to throw a towel over my project a couple of times to hide it from prying eyes.

I then added little messages on the backs.  things starting with "I love you because...", "I love it when...", and I love how you..."

                                                      I had one heart for each of the 14 days.

And I hid them in all sorts of places; his car, his cereal box, the bathroom mirror... I finally taped the last one on the garage door today so that he would see it when he reached down to twist the knob to get into the house before we go out to dinner. 

I know I tell him every day, but I just love him so much and can't express enough how thankful I am for him and all that he does for me.  He is so Godly, patient, loving, kind, and handsome.  I love you, darling!!

Frisco

This weekend was a blast. One of mine and my sister Rachel's Christmas presents from our parents was a shopping trip to Frisco, Texas. Our main stops were Sam Moon (a giant accessories and jewelry store), Ikea (I could spend all day in the Swedish splendor), and the Container Store (which was full of every kind of organizational gadget and gizmo you could imagine). I went with Mom, Grandma, and sister Rachel.

    We headed down early Saturday morning at the wee hour of 7am. (Hey, that's early for a weekend!) our first excitement of the trip happened no further than Kiowa, OK. Where a very friendly policeman pulled us over. Apparently we had missed two speed limit signs tellin us that the speed was in fact 40mph, instead of our 50. He was super sweet and let us off with a verbal warning. A semi had actually blocked our views of the signs. We weren't intentionally speeding. He had hoped that that would serve as a lesson to someone who might not have gotten then license yet. Me. But sorry to disappoint him that I was indeed 26, not 12.

    We of course ate at the famous In-n-Out Burger for lunch, and at delicious Mama Rita's for dinner. All in all it was a good trip. We got to visit a couple of family members in Plano, Texas which was nice. (My grandma's late husband's brother and sister in law. So my great aunt and uncle?) It was an enjoyable visit that my sister and I appreciated very much. Thank you Mama and Grandma for such a great trip!!

Starbucks earrings from Sam Moon.  Something I wish I would have gotten!  But we all got some pretty great stuff!

And of course, a trip to In-N-Out Burger wasn't complete without one of their awesome hats!

Red Velvet

I love Red Velvet anyhting.  Red velvet, cake, cheesecake, funnel cake, Ice Cream, cookies.  You name it, I love it.

Imagine my surprise, when walking down the cereal aisle at Reasor's my eye zero in on the end cap display of Red Velvet pop tarts.  Limited Edition!  I wanted to grab twenty boxes of them!  But I showed restraint and only grabbed two.  I could hardly wait to try them.  I started at them longingly in my cart the rest of our way through the grovery store.
     I'd like to th ink that it was fate that brought me to these tasty morsels.  Normally I do our grovery shopping at Wal-Mart or very limitedly at Target. (Which is a whole other rant in itself.  Why in the world would they only put a Target and not a Super Target in as  heavy a shopping area as the one close to my home?!)  A friend of mine needed to go grocery shopping as well.  We are both procrastinators when it comes to pushing our carts through all of those delicious food covered aisles in order to line our shelves at home.  This time she brought me to Reasor's to do our shopping.  And I was glad that she did.  Not only was I introduced to these delicious delicacies, but I also bought twice as many groceries for a fraction ofthe price!  (Not to mention healthier choices.)  So I'd say it was a grocery trip well spent.  My tummy and bank account left happy.
  Fast forward to the next morning.  I could hardly contain my hunger as I carried the little silver wrapped treats to the office with me, went upstairs for my coffee, then back down to pop them in the microwave.  As I pulled them out of the microwave and inhaled their deliciously sweet scent, my mouth began to water double time.  And as I bit into their gooey, cream cheesy center I was more satisfied than I'd ever been with a pop tart.  Please, please pop tarts make them a permanent flavor!

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

This was one of my projects over the weekend. I've actually been meaning to make this pie since Thanksgiving but thing after thing had come up, preventing me from doing so. Things such as making the Thanksgiving turkey for my first time! And you know, it wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. The hardest things were getting up 5 hours early to start cooking the turkey and not being able to peek at its progress since it was in a covered turkey roaster. But it turned out deliciously nonetheless .   
    But enough about the turkey, this is about the pie. Now, to the naked eye this just looks like an every day pecan pie. But, lo and behold, when you cut into it and dish out a piece, it's actually a pumpkin pecan pie. Woah! I didn't even know that kind of pie existed until Hubby thought it up one day. Turns out, a lot of other people had had the same indecision between pumpkin and pecan pie so had settled it by making a two in one!! The original recipe can be found HERE, but I have also included it below, in case you don't feel like opening a new window.  :)

 

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, divided
• 1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• dash salt
• 2/3 cup light or dark corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (I ended up just leaving my pecans halved and didn't chop them up at all.  I think it turned out just as good.  Plus my Mama is a big pecan fan.)
• 1 prepared deep dish pie crust*

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. *If using a frozen pie crust, do not thaw; preheat a baking sheet in the oven and place the pie on the cookie sheet to bake.  (But be sure not to forget it in there.  It only takes a couple of minutes to dethaw in that hot over!)
1. In small bowl, combine one egg, pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Spread in pie crust.
2. In medium bowl, beat remaining two eggs slightly. Stir in corn syrup and remaining 2/3 cup sugar, the butter and vanilla; stir until well blended. Stir in pecans.
3. Carefully spoon over pumpkin mixture. (Careful not to overfill.  Because I'd initially left my crust in the over for too long a small side piece had broken off, leaving a hole for the filling to pour right out of.  I ended up putting a pecan in the hole to plug it up. I don't pride myself on being the tidiest cook.)
4. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until filling is set around edge.
5. Cool pie completely on wire rack. (This was the hardest step.  The pie smelled so good and we wanted to eat it right then and there!  though we didn speed the process up a bit by putting it in the fridgerator too cool more quickly.  It still tasted just as delicious!)

Twilight

I'm just going to get it out of the way. I like Twilight. Well, the later movies. Not the second one. But the Breaking Dawn portions. So what am I doing with my Friday evening, you may ask? Watching Breaking Dawn P1 with friends, while drinking champagne. A pumpkin pecan pie chilling in the fridge. Such a relaxing evening.
What are you all doin this weekend?