Top 11 in '11

11- Shooting my first March of Dimes event.

10- And my first wedding.

9- Making the decision to start trying.

8- Being a part of someone's wedding.

7- Attending water zumba/loosing weight.

6- Going to Snoqualmie Falls.

5- And Leavenworth.

4- Working on myself.

3- Starting new traditions.

2- Celebrating our first wedding anniversary.

1- Bringing home our kitties.

Christmas 2011

What a fun Christmas weekend we had! This year the holiday was on the weekend so the husband didn't have to work! {he has to work the holidays unless they happen to fall on a weekend} Friday Rachel and I went out to do some last minute shopping and get food for our festivities, it was crazy out there! It felt like Black Friday!

The shelves at the Dollar Tree on Friday. Crazy!

I got everything I needed, got home and did some baking and got everything ready for the weekend. Saturday was Christmas Eve, we woke up earlier than normal, got some coffee and headed to my brothers house to give the kids their presents. When we got there he handed me a cowboy hat that my dad had worn all the time and some china that he had in his china cabinet. This meant SO much to me. I had always wanted his cowboy hat and the china he gave me is all I have left from the china cabinet because my sister threw it all out when she moved out of his house. {can you tell I am still a little really bitter about that?} I had the biggest smile on my face when I came home and displayed the china :) We stayed for about an hour, ate some fresh baked cookies and opened presents. Then we headed to Mom's house.

When we got to Mom's you could smell the turkey before you even opened the front door. We walked into her house and it felt so cozy! This is the first time since I moved that I had felt like I was "home" again. We unloaded the car, slipped into our Christmas pajamas and opened presents. It was just like Christmas morning!

Mom still puts "Baby" on my presents. Cute :)

I got some new sheets, gift cards and stuff from Bath and Body Works {my favorite store!}. We finished up the Christmas dinner and sat at the table and ate until we couldn't stomach any more food. We sat down to watch a movie and let our food digest, the new Planet of the Apes movie, it was reallllllly good! Then we played some board games, Mom gets a little out of control while playing Apples to Apples, she makes sure to rub it in your face when she has more cards than you. And who knew that one of Santa's reindeer's is NOT called Nixon?? I was baffled to hear this news. Guess I need to brush up on my reindeer names *hits hand on forehead*. We gorged ourselves on dessert, packed up the car and made our way back home. I use to spend every Christmas Eve with my dad, towards the end of his life my mom started joining us. When he passed Mom and I had said we would always spend Christmas Eve together. Last year we did not due to all the family drama. I am so happy we started back our tradition of spending Christmas Eve together, I think we had a really good time and I cannot wait to do it again next year.

Christmas morning the husband woke me up in a hurry, he was like a little kid! I barely had my eyes open before we were downstairs sitting around the tree. We finished out advent calendar, a ten dollar Starbucks card was in the last box! We sat around the tree and opened our presents. Watching the smile on his face melted my heart. The cats on the other hand, could care less about their presents! I got everything on my list, I sure am spoiled. We cleaned up and then made an amazing breakfast! Ben played a new video game that he had gotten while I did some stuff around the house and read a book. We then made some snacks and watched Polar Express. That is my absolute favorite Christmas movie! We finished the night with the classic...National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...and our new Christmas tradition, the GIGANTIC cup of hot chocolate! We barely finished it, but it was really good and warmed our bellies!

That is a penny next to the cup so you can see how big it was! The cup was about the size of my head, and the candy cane was about one foot long and two inches round. GIGANTIC!

It was really nice to have Christmas just the two of us {oh and the cats too!} starting new family traditions for us in our home means more to me than anything else in this world. At times I caught myself being sad that I did not get to see or hear from the boys, but I didn't let that consume me, I realize that they are adults and are old enough to make the decision to see us or not. I will no longer put guilt upon myself over this issue, does me no good. I had a great Christmas, it has been a long time since I have enjoyed myself on this holiday. Can't wait to see what next year brings us :)

The Gift of Giving

Like many this year, money was a little tight for the holidays. We decided to make a homemade gift for our loved ones. The time and thought you put into making something can mean more than a store bought gift, it shows that you took the time and put love into gift giving. I will not post this until after Christmas because I don't want anyone to see this before we give them their presents. I sure hope they like it :)

Record Bowls:

We hit the local thrift stores to look for old records. Most of them were 99 cents, the most expensive was $1.99. I tried to find bands that I knew people would like, but sometimes it was hard to find what I was wanting, so just make sure to find a vinyl with a pretty design on it!

First you have to find an oven safe bowl that is the shape and size you are wanting your record bowl to be. A glass bowl works best.

Preheat oven to 245 degrees. Do not put temperature any higher as the vinyl will emit fumes at a higher heat.

Place the glass bowl onto a cookie sheet with the bowl upside down, place the record on top of the bowl centered. The side you want to be the inside of your record bowl should be against the glass bowl.

Place cookie sheet with bowl and record into the oven for 3-4 minutes.

At the four minute mark the record will begin to warp over the bowl, take out of oven with oven mits, flip the glass bowl over and place pliable record into the bowl shaping into how you want it to look. The record gets hard rather quickly, place back into over for 2 minutes if needed.

Let the bowl cool completely!

The husband and I then made some treats to place inside the bowls.
We took square pretzels {found them at Target} and place Rolo candies on half of them and Hugs onto the other half. Preheated oven to 350 degrees and cooked for 3 minutes. As soon as we took them out of oven we place an M&M on top to add some color! They were taking a long time to cool so we places in the fridge and they harded up just fine.

We then dipped caramel Bugles into red candy coating, set in white sprinkles and topped with a mini marshmallow to make little Santa hats to add to the mix!

These were a lot harder to make than I thought they would be, but we got a good handful to add to the bag.

We placed the goodies into a holiday Ziploc baggie, attached a bow and threw on a $10 Itunes gift card! Thought the gift card was a cute idea going with the "music" theme. Plus who doesn't like Itunes nowadays? Not too bad for our first attempt at a homemade present. Can't wait to see what we come up with next year :)

Finished product

Ugly Sweater/Baking Party!

Last Friday I had decided to host an ugly sweater baking party, mostly because I was tired of moping around being upset that my friends former friends were having holiday parties and it being rubbed in my face that I was clearly not invited. I cannot be upset that I am no longer invited to such things, I need to start hosting my own! {Which would be more fun and drama free anyways} Only problem? Who the hell would I invite? I don't have many friends anymore! So the invite went out {via Facebook post, because I am classy like that} the snacks were made {meat and cheese tray, pico with sour cream and chips, deviled eggs and cake batter dip with animal crackers and Nilla wafers!} the ugly sweater was on and goodies were ready to be made. Rachel showed up walking through the door with a cup full of Jamba. She seriously is the best thing ever. Andie walked in not too far behind. Rachel was wearing a Christmas shirt adorned with three rhinestone snowmen and Andie didn't wear anything ugly {party pooper} and I had borrowed a Christmas sweater from my mom that she thought was nice and looked "festive" it was perfect for my ugly sweater party, she asked that I please give it back to her in time to wear to work for the holiday haha! I opted for a baking party rather than a cookie party where you have to bring already made treats. Figured this would be more fun and we would get to spend some fun girl time together! It actually was a good idea, I think we had fun.

The kitchen was a mess and the floor littered with sprinkles but the treats tasted good and we really enjoyed ourselves. I made cake pops and frosting filled graham crackers, Rachel made white chocolate bark and sugar cookies and Andie made no bake cookies. My friend Kristy and her daughter stopped by later to enjoy our treats and visit. I will be making this a tradition and hosting a party like this every year! I was a little upset that not many people came, but think that three people in the kitchen baking was just the right amount without being too crowded.

My ugly sweater...it even had bells!

Rachel's ugly Christmas shirt

The cake pops that I made did not turn out how I thought they would. They were not hard to make though.

You will need:

1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor {I used yellow cake mix}

1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor  {I used classic vanilla}

2 (12 oz) packages of candy melts any color

Lollipop sticks {I used mini candy canes}

First you have to make a cake, just follow the directions on the back of the box.

Let the cake cool completely, place on a cooling rack for faster results.
When cake is cooled put the cake into a large mixing bowl and add one container of frosting.

Mix the cake and frosting together with hands, you could use a spoon but I felt that with my hands it was easier, although very messy. When mixed, form the mixture into balls, you want to make small balls because you will be dipping them later and the bigger they are, they harder it will be to coat.

Dip the end of a sucker stick {can purchase at any craft or party store} into your baking chocolate {also purchased at the craft store} and place the sticks into the formed balls and put into fridge over night.

Melt candy coating as directed and coat the cake pops entirely. Add sprinkles if desired :)

I do have to say that I think they look super cute. I feel as though the cake itself could be a little more firm, maybe put less frosting into mixture? Because I had used candy canes instead of sticks when I had placed the cake pops into the fridge over night the candy canes became sticky. Very disappointing. And they are not very easy to coat! They kept falling off the candy cane, so I set them in bowl and spooned the coating on. This however was my first time making cake pops, I will give them another try and see how it goes.

Lastly I will include the cake batter dip recipe! This was a big hit and really yummy :) I did not get any pictures though. Sad face.

You will need:

1 package (about 18 Oz. Size) Cake Mix, Any Flavor {I used Funfetti}

1-½ cup Plain Yogurt

2 cups Cool Whip

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth and creamy. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving with your favorite crackers or fruit. This will store up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

I served with animal crackers, graham crackers and Nilla wafers, the wafers were the best!

Leavenworth

The best friend and I {along with her son} decided to take a day trip last Friday over one of our mountain passes to a small town called Leavenworth. We packed a lunch and some road trip snacks and headed on our way. It was such a beautiful drive, looking at the trees, the frosty grass, and the mountain tops.

We played trivia {apparently I am really bad at it!} and enjoyed the scenery as we continued our drive. Our first pit stop was at the top of the pass, we wanted to see the snow and take some pictures.

Stevens Pass

As we got back into the truck we realized that it was a lot colder outside that we had originally thought it would be. We knew it would be cold, but this was almost bone chilling!

Yes, that says nineteen!

We headed back on the road and made it a little further before we pulled to the side of the road to take more photos, these are some of my most favorite pictures I have ever taken. The snow is so pretty!



Our last stop before arriving was a little candy shop, we did not take any pictures there, which is probably a good thing because they had some sample hot sauces that you could try, I had grabbed one to smell it...but didn't read it first...as I held it to my nose I could feel burning in my nose and throat. I had smelt the XXX DANGER one!!! You know, there should be a WAY bigger sign stating that, for people like me who don't pay attention. I no longer have nose hair. But we did buy some yummy fudge!

After two hours of driving we arrived to a town full of Christmas!

Leavenworth, WA

There was a tree with stale pretzels hanging from it to feed the birds. It was really cute, and made it easy to remember where we parked!

You wonder what was the first thing we did when we arrived? Got ice cream of course! haha The town was cozy, it was touristy so the crowd got overwhelming at times and the prices were high, but we had fun none the less. We went into stores, window shopped, took pictures with Santa and watched as the town lit up with all different colors of Christmas lights!

Window shopping

We ended the night with some hot chocolate and headed back to the truck to thaw and make our way home. We asked each other what was the best part of the day and we all said it was the time that we spent together in the truck. That just goes to show you that it doesn't matter how near or far that you travel, what matters is who you have sitting beside you. I had such a great time and look forward to going back and bringing the husband with. We had been there before together but during the summer, it was a lot more fun during the winter with all the holiday festivities going on. I will always remember this trip! It was nice to do something different, to get out and get things off my mind! Thanks for the trip bestie!!

Star Wars!

We went to our local Kmart store this weekend and look who was outside collecting toys for a toy drive...

"May the blue light force be with you!"



Haha, I crack myself up. It looked like they did collect a lot of toys though! Remember to donate to a shelter, toy drive or food bank this holiday season :) They're are many in need, not only during the holidays but throughout the year as well! A little can go a long way.

New Tradition!

A few weeks ago I had gone to Value Village and saw something in the holiday section that I had been wanting to get for years! An advent calendar. I have never done a calendar but have always wanted to. I wanted one that was bigger than normal so I could fill the boxes with fun things! The one I found was $4.99 but some of doors did not have knobs, because the doors are magnetic you need a knob in order to open them. Off to the craft store I went. I found some wood circles that look like knobs and some gold paint {under six dollars for both items} because the wooden knobs I bought did not match the ones that were already on the calendar, I pulled them all off and replaced with the new ones I had boughten from the craft store, a little hot glue later and TADA! A brad new looking advent calendar. The sticker on the back said it was from Bed Bath and Beyond for $14.99. So I saved a good five dollars by finding it at the thrift store and fixing it myself. Not too bad!

Originally I was going to fill half of the boxes and have the husband do the other half, I was having so much fun that I filled them all except for five of them. I am a little controlling and like to do things myself. At least I gave him five...right? The boxes themselves are not very big, maybe two inches by two inches? It was hard to find things that would fit inside, next year I we will have more time to be more creative. I get the odd days and he gets to open the even days, we open one every day before he heads to work, we get really excited about it and the anticipation of what waits inside is always fun when we see the other person open the door. We are only seven days in so far {can you believe only seventeen days until Christmas?} we have had two peanut butter cups, a Reese's Christmas tree, a Lindor truffle, a few scratch tickets and today my box had four Kisses!

We are having a lot of fun with this calendar! I am so glad we started this new tradition and cannot wait to do it again next year. :) 



New Beginning

"Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins?

It's not on the calendar, It's not a birthday, It's not a new year,
 It's an event--big or small,

something that changes us, ideally it gives us hope,

a new way of living and looking at the world,

letting go of habits, old memories.

What's important is that we never stop believing

we can have a new beginning,

but it's also important to remember

amid all the crap

are a few things really worth holding onto."