Fall Weekend October 5th

The husband and I love when October rolls around. It marks the beginning of our holiday shenanigans! We begin the month with a trip to our local pumpkin patch. Don't be fooled, we don't actually walk down into the fields in hopes of finding the perfect pumpkin. We dig through the boxes of pre-picked ones nears the entrance. Don't judge us. 

After washing off our pumpkins, we head to the store to purchase homemade pie and honey sticks. Our favorite part was lunch that included a hot dog, nachos, baked potato and slushy apple cider. Bring on the carbs! 

Once we got home, we got to work on decorating the house. We have a holiday closet full of all our decorating goodies. Towards the back of the closet are some boxes that we have neglected since moving. Considering that it has been four years since we have been in our home, we figured it was good time to unpack them. We found a lot of treasures, including my original Garbage Pail Kids cards collection! I love finding old things that you forgot you had. 

We made sure to take a break from decorating to order pizza for dinner. Papa John's has a new cookie that is to-die-for. You can add it to your order for only $5! I would rather order five of those than the actual pizza. The warm cookie added the perfect touch to our fall weekend. 

And now for the flooding of pictures from around the house after we decorated. 

The husband was not happy about hanging my bats. I sat comfortably from the coach and gave orders,

See? His hard work paid off!

The "boo" is from the dollar section at Target and the spiders were leftovers from a friend's Halloween themed baby shower. 

Those cute little pumpkins were under a dollar at Walmart and they even light up! The orange glass pumpkin is also from Walmart but took us three different stores to track it down. 

The best friend's parents gave us this electric heater/fireplace. We are not going to use it to heat the house, but the fire feature is cozy. We always wanted a fireplace!  

The front door. We used hot glue to attach a small piece of magnet to the back of plastic spiders. 

After looking all over for a wooden crate, I ended up finding one at Goodwill for eight dollars! 

This little guy was also a Walmart purchase ($15). If you haven't noticed, a Walmart just opened a few blocks from our house. I am loving all the deals that I have found for the holidays! 

Pillsbury Maple Glazed Donut Bites

Pillsbury did it again. They managed to fit heaven into a box. Maple donuts are my absolute favorite! Not only were they easy to make, but they also tasted great (however a tad dry). All you had to do was roll the dough into balls, bake and cover with the included maple glaze after they cooled. The sprinkles were my favorite part. Clearly my days of eating better and trying to lose weight are long gone, get back to me after the holidays.

*This post is not a paid review for Pillsbury*

Annual Free Museum Day September 28th

Yes, I am still playing catch up. With a pinched nerve in my back, this will be the norm for awhile. 

This was our second year that we have attended the annual free museum day. Don't worry if you missed it, most museums in our state offer free admission every Thursday! As we had a benefit that day to attend in Seattle, we chose to find a museum in the area as we were crunched for time. We both decided on the Experience Music Project, better known as the EMP. My husband had went there on opening day back in 2000, but I had never been. No surprise, it happened to be raining that day. Que the, "It always rains in Seattle jokes". It wasn't your average rainy day though, we were close to sounding the tsunami alarms. (Do we even have such a thing here?) The wind was gusting and the streets were quickly filing with water. Needless to say, it was a perfect day for my boots to rip away from the sole, causing my socks to become soaked with water.

Upon arrival, we first went to the gift shop. Because I like shopping. It was easy to refrain from buying everything as the prices were sky high. We walked away with a guitar pic and some post cards. I was surprised to find that there were not as many music exhibits as I thought there would be. After all, we were in a music museum. We got to see such things as Jimi Hendrix's smashed guitars, Kurt Cobain's handwriting and pictures as well as many other items from Paul Allen's personal collection.   

Jimi Hendrix wore this on his London tour. 

A postcard to his dad.

One of his famously smashed guitars.

From the In Utero album.

The yellow sweater worn in the "Teen Spirit" video.

This reads, "If anyone has a problem with his dick we can remove it." 

Because we went so close to the month of October, there was an amazing horror exhibit set up. We had more fun looking at all the different movie props than we did looking at anything music related. 

Chair from Hostel

The Shining

Blair Witch Project

Jason! Ch Ch Ch Ah Ah Ah

Alien!

Michael Jackson's Thriller

Live long and prosper? 

Yoda he is

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! 

Teddy from  A.I. Artificial Intelligence.  I wanted to reach in an grab him. He looks so sad and needs to be saved.

After fighting the large crowds of people and taking a fair share of photos, we ventured back into the storm to get some lunch at the local food court. Hot pizza on a cold day was just what we needed.

Mod Pizza where the food is made fresh right in front of you and you can ask for as many toppings as you would like for only $7! And the garlic knots? Pure heaven. 

After filling our stomachs, we made our way to a benefit to honor my dear friend Heather following her double lung transplant. It has been five months since her surgery and she is doing well. She has had a few hiccups along the way, but have shown us the true definition of strength. You can read more about her story and receive current updates at www.facebook.com/HeathersLungs. Our plan is to have an event each year to honor her accomplishments. A fact that many people are not aware of is that the life expectancy of a double lung transplant recipient is ten years. Each year will be a blessing and we want to be there every step of the way to celebrate with her. 

Short handed at the benefit, I volunteered to pour drinks for a few hours. It only took a couple of cups full of foam to get the hang of it.  

  

Baked Fettichini Alfredo

I try my hardest at being creative with our dinners. Not wanting to make the same things over and over again, I turn to Pinterest for ideas. I make sure to only pin things that I would actually make with ingredients that we would actually eat. Many times I see people pin recipes that call for outlandish things or that require two days to prepare. No thanks, ain't nobody got time for that. I joined Pinterest a couple of years back before it had become popular. I love how much is has grown and the variety of things that are now on there, bringing my pinspiration to a whole new level.

With that, I give you my latest dinner creation; Baked Fettichini Alfredo. 

Ingredients needed:

1 (16 oz) package of Zitti noodles. *I cannot find these anywhere and went with Rigatoni noodles instead, Penne would work fine too* 

2 (10 oz) refrigerated Alfredo sauce

1 (8 oz) container of sour cream

1 (15 oz) ricotta cheese *I used cottage cheese instead*

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese

2 cups (diced) cooked chicken *optional*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While waiting for that to heat up, put your multitasking skills to good use. 

Throw the chicken into a pan with a dash of oil and some minced garlic. While that is cooking, prepare the pasta as directed on the box. Let that boil while you mix together the Parmesaun cheese, cottage cheese and two eggs in a large mixing bowl (add chicken once cooked thoroughly). Once the noodles are drained, add the sour cream and Alfredo sauce  in with the pasta. 

Grease a 13x9 dish heavily as this will help to the prevent the cheese from sticking. 

Place half of the pasta mixture into the dish and press firmly. 

Spread the cheese and egg mixture evenly over the pasta. 

Top with remaining pasta. 

Sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese on top and throw in the oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. 

This is one of our favorite dinners and made enough to have leftovers the following night! I made garlic bread as a side. Enjoy! 

Snoqualmie Falls September 7th

Please excuse all spelling/grammar errors in this post as I am currently fighting the plague and it is against by better judgement to write at this time.

And yes I am still playing catch up.

With that, I give you our trip to Snoqualmie Falls! Even though the summer was technically over, we continued on with our adventures on a budget. I had gone to the falls a couple years back with the best friend for her birthday. Since then, I have been waiting for the opportunity to take the husband. He had never been before! Considering that we are both Washingtonians, it is a shame that neither one of us had been as kids. The drive was a little under two hours. It was doable, but we started getting antsy towards the end. We are definitely not a road trip kind of couple. Before long, we finally approached our intended destination. (Free Parking!)

Apparently there is a one mile trail that leads you the the base of the falls. Both times I have gone, it has been shut down for construction. I would love to go back once it is open! Even though I had been to the falls before, it didn't fail to take my breath away again. There was a little less water than last time and the sun came out to play this time around.

I love hearing the rush of water and seeing mist in the air. Last time I went, I had a pinched nerve in my back so it was not an enjoyable trip. This time I had fun running to the different lookout points and taking in all that there was to see.

After checking out the gift shop, we made our way a mile or so down the road to the little town. Our first stop was to check out the Northwest Railway Museum. I was not quite sure what to expect, but what we saw was definitely not it. I guess I thought we were going to enter a large room full of old train parts. What we entered, was one of the oldest running train stops in our state. There was literally trains running right past us as we wandered around. (Watch your step!) The "museum" is a total of five miles long and consists of a variety of trains parked near the tracks. We did not have the energy to walk the five miles, so instead we went into the gift shop and bought a train whistle. Toot Toot.

We then walked a block to check out a 320 TON log! It was big and made of wood. Pretty exciting. 

In dire need of feeding ourselves, we crossed the street to dine at the local candy shop/diner. I will have to refrain from drooling as I write this. Not even kidding, this was hands down the best food that I have ever had. My basket came with a luscious cheeseburger, the kind of cheese that is thick and sticks to your ribs. Next to my burger was some perfectly crisp tater tots, fry sauce and a piece of salt water taffy. It was pretty much what I picture heaven to look like.The fat girl in me would consider the long drive just to eat there again. 

The best part was that while eating we got to gawk at the shelves of candy, mentally making a shopping list. Before heading back to the car, we loaded up on the above said candy and got chocolate malts for the road. Perfection. 

Eagles and Ducks...Oh my!

This year was all about crossing things off of our bucket list. When summer had just begun the best friend informed me that my favorite band in the entire world, The Eagles were coming to town. THE EAGLES! We are talking about the Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, Desperado band! I HAD to go, there were no if, ands, or buts about it. I would mortgage my home, sell a kidney and even auction off my first born. I counted down the days until tickets went on sale. When the day came, I was sad to see that the tickets were costly, way more than I had to spend. Not wanting to pass up this opportunity, the best friend surprised me with tickets and so generously let me pay her back at a later time.

Before this year, I had only been to a hand full of concerts. The list goes as follows:

Dixie Chicks
Insane Clown Posse
Tweet
Rob Zombie
Wu-Tang Clan

Be jealous of my concert selection ;) Can you tell that I like a variety of music? You can imagine my excitement to add Bruno Mars, Melissa Etheridge and REO Speedwagon to that list this past summer. Aside from Journey, Pink and Rhianna, The Eagles are one of those on my concert bucket list. I remember driving around in my brother's Camaro, wearing our ray-bans and blasting The Eagles. I give all credit to him for my great taste in music.  Not knowing how much longer The Eagles will be touring, I felt the urgency to go see them.

Knowing that we would be spending a majority of the day in Seattle for the concert, we decided to cross one more things off the bucket list while there. Ride the ducks! Seattle is known for having an amphibious vehicle that takes you on a tour of the city. I have always wanted to go! We decided to book it for the same day as the concert, making the most out of our time in the city.

We had the entire summer to prepare for this epic day. As time got closer, I was a little apprehensive about going on the duck tour. After all, I hate the water AND riding in boats. What was I thinking? As the best friend would say...YOLO!  You only live once. Be adventurous and make lasting memories while we can, right? The day soon arrived and my anxiety could not have been any higher. As we boarded the boat/car I was surprised to see that the best friend was the one to have a panic attack!

She had a hard time composing herself before our departure. I do have to say, that she did a great job of distracting me. My nervousness went right out the window as I basked in the enjoyment of watching her laugh and cry all at the same time. Maybe this was her tactic all along? Either way, it worked like a charm.

It was also comforting to see the large selection of life preservers overhead. 

Before we knew it, we were heading on our way. The captain was approximately 7 feet tall and looked to be twelve years old. His name was "Han Soslo". It would take me entirely too long to tell you about the whole tour, but I will include some of the highlights. We knew we were in for a fun time when the first thing we had to do was to make a U-turn (twice) in our large boat/car and the captain blasted "Right Round" on the speakers. The tour was almost two hours long. We got to see some historical things around Seattle including the Space Needle, the water front and the famous car wash where Elvis had is Cadillac washed twice a day while visiting! Being that we are the coffee capital of the world, we made sure to yell "CHA-CHING" every time we passed a Starbucks (there is one on each corner in Seattle, literally).

Seattle is not know for being the most friendliest of places. We used our little quackers to grab the attention of people walking along the sidewalks. Some people shot us a friendly hand wave and a smile, while other glared and scowled our way. The captain thought it would be fun for us to show them our anger by using "Viking tools" to express ourselves. Our tools were Badminton racks. Super intimidating.

We sang "Call Me Maybe" to passerbys in hopes of getting a number for our cute captain. Oh and that famous car wash? We got someone to get down on the ground and break dance for us! We saw a homeless person with a sign that read "Sugar Mama Needed". We proceeded to dance and sing our way all around town.



Soon enough, we were approaching the water portion of the tour. My heart skipped a beat as we got closer. Expressing my concern to the captain, he handed me an oar. Not kidding.

We are getting good at this whole "selfie" thing. 

It was all fun and games until a professional rowing team passed us and shot me a dirty look when I flung the oar out the window and tried to keep up with them. Some people just don't enjoy humor. I have to admit that the water was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The water was calm and our boat/car maxed out at 5 miles per hour. We got to drive by Gasworks Park and also saw the famous Sleepless in Seattle house boat. Before long, we were out of the water and making our way back. I had never laughed so hard in my life. It was an adventure that I will remember for a lifetime.

We then grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the concert. I have a hard time finding the right words to describe the concert. It was PERFECT. They sang amazing live. Some people said that they sang just as good as they did back in the 70's! The concert was three hours long and had three different encores. The guitar solos were jaw dropping. And the way Joe Walsh used that mouth guitar was enough to bring me to my knees. Instead of boring you with details, I will attach videos for your enjoyment.


 

This day was one that I will always remember and cherish. It could not have gone any better and I am sure it will be hard to top.