This week in pictures

New cupcake liners! Found these brand new in the package at Value Village for $1.99, they are Paula Deen ones, am I the only one that finds it funny/ironic that it says "A well balanced diet is one cupcake in each hand" and these are from Paula Deen's line? haha Made me laugh. I think they are really cute though, I love them.

The husband helped me {by helped I mean he did all the hard work} make this clothes line picture frame. We had this frame that I had used on some photo shoots that I no longer needed, it had just been sitting around. We added some wire and mini clothes pins with a few of my favorite pictures. I love that I can change it up as often as I would like, change the photos, add notes or whatever my little heart desires.

 

Cute bicycle racks that were at the books store, I would like to have these at my house, although we do not own a bike...

Pioneer Woman!

The best friend is a fan of The Pioneer Woman, she loves her story and enjoys cooking things out of her cook books {and we like tasting all of those yummy goodies!}. Well a few months ago she had sent me and e-mail saying that Ree was going to be coming to our state for a book singing in April, I told her we HAD to go, how could we not go see her favorite person?? I did not have to twist her hand. Tuesday was the big day, we got to the book signing two hours ahead of time, thank goodness we did because it was like a mad dash, elbow flying spree to get a seat! We got two seats in the fifth row.

We survived the dash! Doesn't everyone like a self portrait that is blurry? Don't hate.

We had to wait about and hour and a half until her presentation, but it was worth it. I did not know much about Ree, I purchased her latest cook book and I do have to say that everything looks amazing and I cannot wait to cook! During her talk I grew to love this woman!! Should I dare say that I might even have a girl crush? She is down to earth, genuine, shy and funny {she sang Endless Love to a picture of her dog!} she has a super cute cowboy husband, she cooks great food and taught herself how to take amazing pictures with her Nikon *holla!* camera. Sigh...

Kicking myself for not bringing the nice camera. Still rolling with the Iphone 3GS I apologize for the picture quality.

She spoke for 45 minutes, afterwards you had to wait for your letter to be called so you could line up. We were letter F. After standing in line for what seemed to be forever, everyone was sweaty and hot and would have probably killed a small puppy for a cup of water. Six hours and twenty minutes since we had arrived it was finally our turn to have our books signed! We were so tired and nervous all that came out of my mouth was "I liked it when you sang!" really??? That is all I could come up with? I am such a nerd. She was super friendly and even said she would stay until every last book was signed. I am now a devoted fan and cannot wait to purchase her other books!

Bloom?

I had said that I would post pictures of the beautiful bouquet of tulips when they bloomed all the way. Well...

When I first brought them home.

A few days later.

And then this happened!!

I am not sure if it was a little too warm over the weekend, or if I put too many ice cubes in and they froze, or maybe the penny made this happen? Either way this was not what I was looking forward to, I was hoping they would bloom into big beautiful flowers! Insert sad face here.

This week in pictures

Saturday the husband and I had some much needed errands to get done. While out and about we took a lunch break to our favorite sandwich shop Jimmy John's! This was on their window...

It made us smile :)

In other news, my tulips that I had bough {$3 for a bouquet!} from the tulip festival are still blooming! I cannot wait until they open all the way. The lady at Tulip town had told us that if you place ice cubes into the vase every day that they will last longer, about ten days. Someone else had also told me if you place a penny into the vase that will keep the stems from drooping. Maybe these tricks actually work, because they still look amazing! Will post more pictures when they bloom all the way.

New dinner: Hot dog muffins, so easy to make, just prepare corn bread muffins like normal, insert half of a hot dog in the middle and squirt ketchup on top! They turned out good, however I think the hot dog soaked too much moisture out of the muffins so the bread was a little dry and crumbly.

My first attempt at tissue paper pom poms! I think they turned out really good, I can't wait to buy different colors! I found this amazing tutorial for these here.

The best friend and I headed out on an adventure on Friday to find a book store that the Pioneer Woman is going to be doing a book signing next week, we wanted to get our tickets in advance to make sure we had a spot!

On the way home we stopped for lunch. I love this place! The best food and super cheap prices! $1.50 for a cheeseburger and a two dollar shake?! Pretty much it is like heaven.

Classic photo booth picture. I just love this girl <3

Can't wait to spend the weekend with the husband, it is suppose to get into the 70's over the weekend! Time to work on my tan.



Tulips have bloomed!

While watching the news last night they had said that because of the sunny weather we have had these last few days, that the tulips were finally in  bloom! The best friend's mom is here from out of town and has never been, so we headed back to the fields in hope of seeing some pretty flowers {other than all yellow daffodils!}.

We tried a different place than we went to last week, it was the same price but seemed a little smaller and a lot more crowded, more commercialized? It was really neat to see all the tulips that had bloomed in just a weeks time!

I love this picture, the evolution of a tulip!

There were some red, orange and yellow ones as well, but these were my favorite. I would love to take the husband there, I think he would like it and would have fun taking pictures. So glad we decided to do the tulips this year! Very pretty :)

A day in the life

The husband and I unfortunately do not get a lot of time together during the week. Last week we came up with an unusual idea...text a picture to each other every hour of whatever you are doing in that moment. It felt like we were spending the day with each other and it was really neat to see what the other persons day looked like.

Two thirty

Him: Desktop picture at work

Me: Total description of Washington, traffic and rain!

Three thirty

Him: Security rove.

Me: Don't judge me, doesn't everyone go to the sex store in the middle of the day?

Four thirty

Him: Doing work

Me: RAWR!

Five thirty

Him: Securing Drugstore.com

Me: @ Hobby Lobby. I so should have bought this bag! Team Jesus?! PERFECT!

Six thirty

Him: Still working...

Me: @ Target, the place we all go to spend money on things we don't really need ;)

Seven Thirty

Him: Office essentials, a microwave and boom box!

Me: Heading home, this is the backseat of my friends car. A mixing bowl with spoon, a Beatles book and a club? We could survive anything!

Eight Thirty

Him: I totally picture him singing "Moving on up!" while riding in the elevator. ;)

Me: Finally home, watching my shows before getting dinner ready.

Nine thirty

Him: Getting ready to end the day and head home.

Me: Checking Facebook.

And that my friend, is the day in the life of a hard working private security husband and a housewife.

Tulip festival?

Last week was spring break for most people. I normally try to plan something fun to do during this time. This year me and the best friend made plans to go to the Tulip Festival, it is about thirty minutes from where I live. Neither one of us had ever been and we thought it would be a great photo opportunity! When we got to town we headed to the information building to get directions. The guy that worked there was really nice, he gave us a map and told us the best places to go. He even told us some interesting facts; the Skagit tulip festival is the biggest bulb growing place in all of the nation, they even distribute the flowers to Holland! Apparently the tulip festival is even aired on a local television station in Tokyo. We grabbed out map and continued on our way. As we were driving through this little town we were admiring the old buildings and keeping an eye out for the tulips. All of a sudden BAM!! Nothing but yellow, it was so bright!!! Hundreds, thousands, probably millions {ok, maybe not millions} of daffodils! We knew we were going in the right direction. As we arrived the anticipation of what we were going to see was building up. We paid the admission {$5} and headed in...

These were the first flowers we saw, the smell was absolutely amazing! I wish I could bottle it up. The aroma instantly put a smile on your face.

As you enter the grounds, there is a cute little gift shop you can go into, they also have some food vendors, hot dogs, funnel cakes, fudge, hot chocolate and other amazing goodies. They have some small tulip gardens spread throughout the walking areas.

As you make your way through the grounds, you approach a fence that leads you to the tulip fields, it was extremely muddy!! Luckily we came armed with our fashionable rain boots!

As we made our way through the wet mud we fastly approached the tulip fields...this is what we saw.

None of the tulips had bloomed yet!!! The weather here in Washington has not been the best, the rain has stuck around longer than normal and the sun has not been out much. Yes, we actually do have sun here, it does not rain every single day!! We made the long journey to the other fields, I braved the mud! This is what we saw there...

YELLOW!!! I have never seen so much yellow in my life!! It was so bright and vibrant! It put an instant smile on my face! The flowers seemed like they went on for miles and miles. I wanted to pick every single one and bring them home!

And in case you think I am just being a wimp about the mud...I am not exaggerating! It was MUDDY!

Although I wish the tulips would have been in bloom, the view was spectacular, I can't wait to go back!

Cute baker!

For my birthday two of my friends made me an apron to wear during all my baking mishaps adventures. I have never loved something so much! I want to wear it everyday. To the grocery store, bank, yard work, I want to where it everywhere!!!

Did you see the bow?!

Seriously the cutest thing ever! Thank you ladies :)