These Days

February was a blur! Preparing to close on our house, packing, classes, teaching, working, family in town, going out of town for work, a wedding, getting ready for Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras...Just thinking about it vexes me! (to quote Gladiator which Joe made me watch last night).

So far in March we have started off with a bang!

Mardi Gras. A wonderful whirl wind of king cake, beads, friends, floats, parties, parades, and indulgence. If you haven't experienced it, you should, and if you have a bad impression of it, you shouldn't. It's a wonderful time of celebration, but we are all a little excited to see it end. You can only have so much fun :)

This has nothing to do with March, but it's reason #14567 why I love Chick-Fil-A. I love ketchup almost as much as I love CFA, but I despise the packets. The solution, a dip and squeeze! Leave it to CFA to solve the packet dilemma :)

Last, but certainly not least, our cute new house! Well new to us, it was built in the late 1800's. We are officially New Orleans homeowners and we couldn't be happier! I sincerely apologize for the poor phone picture quality, it is in now way reflective of how I feel about the house.

More pictures to come, and pictures of the inside when everything is unpacked, if that ever happens :) We do have a nice guest room though for anyone wanting to visit!

pups on deck

happy monday! my mom sent me this picture and i can't look at it and not smile. since we have been living with family maple is staying with her grandparents and aunt lacey. at first aunt lacey would not acknowledge her existence, now they are quite the odd couple! my dad and uncle just redid my parents deck and the pups have been helping along the way. maple has become lacey's personal trainer and lacey has taught maple how to act like a grown up dog and that chewing on things, climbing on the furniture, and jumping on people is just not cool. although we can't wait to have her back, she will miss the deck, the huge backyard, and her new other half:

the odd couple :)

hello february

i'm not quite sure how it is already february, but then again so much has happened!

in ten days in 1/11 i started a new job, we bought a car, and we put an offer on another house. i think i'm pretty much done for 2011! we are trusting the Lord with this one and if this is the house for us we will make it to closing, if not we are learning a whole lot about trust!

as for my january goals:

-lose 5 pounds

- purge stuff

- budget

- exercise 4 times a week

- finish one book

i did lose the 5 pounds, which probably had a lot to do with meeting the exercise goal, every week i exercised 5 days so that goal was exceeded! as for purging stuff, budgeting and finishing that book that didn't happen. maybe because january was so exciting!

so for february i aim to:

-finish one book (it has to happen sometime)
-purge as we pack up our boxes to move into our new home (hopefully!)
-close on our new home, closing day is february 28th!
-budget as we prepare for home ownership and look towards the future!
-continue to exercise 5 days a week

since i don't have any creative pictures of goal oriented things i leave you with the beauty of carnival season...

a blog to come on this confectionery delight!

boot love

last year i was brave and bought my first pair of boots, other than my timberlands i had in 7th grade of course. i say brave because i thought boots were "trendy", and i'm not very good at pulling off trendy. i found this pair of boots on the clearance rack at tjmaxx for $30 and went for it! i thought, real leather and this cheap, it can't hurt! turns out they were sam edelman boots that were originally over $200, i had no idea but impressed my fashionista friends with my find.

after that i fell in love with boots. i realized they aren't trendy, well maybe they are, but for me they are practical, they keep my feet warm and add style. with such luck with my first find i was picky with purchasing other boots and wouldn't settle for less than a good deal.

enter target. i have a narrow foot and high arch so target shoes doesn't always work for me. however, i'd been wanting a pair of riding boots and ankle boots (yes my boot love is a little excessive) but didn't want to 1) buy some that weren't real leather or 2) spend a lot of money...i'm a high maintenance shopper.

my mom and i were in target a few days after christmas and she found these boots...real leather and for some reason 50% off on clearance. they are still regular price online so they must have just needed to make room for new inventory. check out my finds:

these riding boots are so comfortable and a great color. i've gotten numerous complements when i wear them, and yesterday a coworker asked if they were frye boots, the ultimate boot compliment!

these beauties are not as cheesy as they look in the picture. they are a little lighter and more distressed. they look cute with jeans or a skirt!

i'm glad i waited for something that met my shopping standards and with both being 50% i got two pairs for the original price of one. that is my kind of bargain!

blog love

i love blogs. i love the learning, reading, and sharing of life that happens. this year i got many ideas for christmas gifts and it gave me an opportunity to bake, craft, and save!

design a-peele blogged about these great etsy earrings which i ordered for a friend! so cute!

imperfect provided the instructions and printable tags for these smore jars, they were a hit!

also from imperfect these totebags or "treat bags" as my niece called them were a perfect inexpensive gift. with 5 young nieces and nephews we are always looking for gift ideas. these were the most popular, or at least the most entertaining gifts and hopefully useful!

my dear friend is living in russia doing college ministry. she is a fellow dietitian and a fabulous baker! she posted this recipe that she adapted from betty crocker and they were delicious!

i'm thankful for blogs in this season to keep me creative and thrifty!

two thousand eleven

eleven is my number. it's my birthday and anniversary (neither my due date or our planned wedding date) so it kind of chose me. silly as it may be, it fits me. it's prime so it's indivisible yet it's symmetric. all the mathematical rambling to say, i think it's going to be a good year :)

starting the year off right with mini chocolate fudge cakes with ganache frosting

historically (that sounded a little dramatic) i am not good at keeping resolutions that i make for the new year. i'm a little better at those that i make at my birthday, but still not the best. so i'm trying a new idea, monthly goals. several blogs i've seen do this, and it seems like it would be better for me. so for 1/11...

-lose the 5 pounds i didn't have room to gain over the holidays (this is really so i have room to gain for all the king cake i will be eating :)

- purge stuff. it's not my nature to do this, but when i do it reminds me of what is really important and makes me feel better in general! check out this blog for challenge to purge 111 things in 1/11. with us in temporary housing i think this is a good a time as any!

- budget. this is something we haven't prioritized and i'm excited to become more disciplined in this area. did i just use excited and disciplined in the same sentence?

- exercise 4 times a week. not my ultimate goal but starting at a tangible goal is key for me.

- finish one book. i have this issue of starting books and never finishing. let's go as far to say that there are dozens of books i've started.

so that's it. i have overall 2011 goals of taking more pictures, being better at getting birthday cards/presents to people, learning how to be a better wife, and being more disciplined in general but let's stick to the january goals for now!

happy 2011!

secrets to an award winning cookie

at work each year we make cookies, have a cookie swap for ourselves and then box up goodies for faculty and staff to be nice/bribe them to be nice to us the rest of the year. we also have a contest to see who baked the best cookie, fun is had by all and you get to go home with an assortment of goodies.

two years ago i made these reese's peanut butter cup cookies that one first place! if you know me, this was a feat two years ago because that was probably the first thing in 2008 i cooked.

1st place winners

last year we didn't have the cookie exchange, but this year we did. i decided to go for my old standard. call me a cheater, i call myself resourceful :) one slight problem, i couldn't find the recipe! i looked for literally hours, sad i know, but couldn't find it!

i settled on this peanut butter cup cookie recipe from allrecipes.com, with 1,600 5 star reviews i thought i couldn't go wrong, so i thought. when they were done they didn't look as good as the other ones but they would have to do. well, what do you know these cookies took 3rd place overall and were the only cookie in the top three so i say they won first in the cookie division :)

i'm still looking for that first place recipe and i am determined to find it, but until then i will share my secrets on how to bake award winning cookies:

1) choose an easy recipe. don't spend hours breaking candy canes to make perfect peppermint fudge. go with easy favorites, for some reason at christmas it get's peoples attention.

2) put candy in your cookies. people will be distracted by the candy goodness and won't notice if you didn't put the right amount of flour in them.

3) use a kitchen aid mixer if you are lucky enough to have one. it does all the work and you get all the credit

my secret weapon

the first place winner was a brickle made out of saltines and chocolate, i'm telling you go with easy favorites and you are sure to win!