Depressing day for football

All three of my football teams lost today. ALL three. And both the Redskins and Patriots were awful games to watch. Dropped balls, excessive turnovers (more the Patriots than Redskins), but overall sloppy play. Could be due to the fact that it was raining for both games, but still. 

I'm hoping the next four weeks turn out better. We've already beat Philadelphia once, and Cincinnati and San Francisco aren't usually much competition. My biggest worry is Baltimore- but we have the potential to win... It all depends on what Redskins team comes out. 

Hopefully it won't be the one from today. 

Read more...

Recap of Thanksgiving dinner

The Mr. and I were lucky enough to spend the holidays with some of my family. Sometimes I wish all our family was local, so we could have one big group celebration. But then one of us would have to buy a HUUUUGE house, so that may not be the best idea after all ;)

I remembered to document most of the cooking my sister and I did, so enjoy. And don't get too hungry.

Corn pudding, stuffing and homemade dinner rolls

Letting the dinner rolls rise (AWESOME to watch)

Mmmmmmashed potatoes

Big honkin' and deliciously moist turkey

Vermont ham. Yum.

The desserts waiting to be devoured

Brownies covered with powdery sugar goodness

Slammin' Sam hoping we drop some pork

Huckleberry is getting veeeery hungry

The pooches (minus Sam) all lined up, hoping for food

Celebratory champagne

Nifty bottle!

Carving the turkey

The feast (minus mashed potatoes and corn pudding)

My carb loaded plate (just the way I like it)

Champagne!

Toast to all that we're lucky enough to be blessed with

::Burp::

Aaaand nap time

Read more...

Black Friday!!

Anyone else masochistic and going shopping today? We're going out for a bit of window shopping, but we aren't strolling into the stores until 10am. After all the crazies leave :)

Last year we went to some local outlets for their midnight madness sales, but we agreed that is not our thing. It took us about an hour to park, and we got there 30 minutes before the first store opened!! Then it seemed like any store you went into had a two hour line to check out, so even if we found something we liked/needed/wanted, we had to weigh just how much we liked it. Good control mechanism, I tell ya!

After we got home we napped, and then went back out with P to shop for my sister. Black Friday is when he gets all her work suits for the year, and understandably- the deals are amazing! We will be repeating that process today, and a few other things. Both my sister and I are going to be looking for a nativity scene, and maybe a few Christmas decorations. Hopefully we'll be successful!

I forgot to bring my camera cord with me, so I am not able to transfer the Thanksgiving day pictures over to my computer yet... but I plan on doing it when I get home tonight or tomorrow. So prepare for some delicious food pictures!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Read more...

Happy Thanksgiving (2008)

I still can't believe it's already Thanksgiving. But no matter what I feel, it definitely is. So the Mr. and I are spending the day celebrating everything we are thankful for. Our families. Our friends. Our loving boxers. Our health. So much more...

And now for a few jokes... I couldn't resist :)

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Read more...

Preparing for Turkey Day!

Are you all excited? What are your plans?

I am making some gooey pumpkin cake bars later today, and I am really excited to eat them. Not to mention the ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and other desserts have me salivating as well. I love holidays where you're expected to eat until you can barely walk. The "free pass" is always welcome :)

Read more...

Dear future me:

A few of my friends got an email today that they wrote to themselves in 2005. Apparently Forbes had a program back then that would allow you to email yourself in x years. They were recounting what they wrote, what had come true, what hadn't... and it made me realize that this is a great idea.

I decided to send my future self an email for 2011. I have a lot of goals, and it would be great to hold myself accountable for those that I don't achieve. Plus who doesn't want to hear from their past self?

For those interested, I used FutureMe. And for those not interested, you should still go read some of the anonymous entries. Seeing what people wrote 8 years ago and received this year is mind blowing. Plus you could have so much to include- electing our first African American president, for example.

I guess I'll see how accurate and important my life goals are. :)

Read more...

I need to dress up more often

...because when I do, I get asked no less than ten times what it's for. Yes, you guessed it- I threw on a dress, some tights and heels and all of a sudden everyone is interested in my fashion choices. It's actually really sweet, so I don't mind it... but it cracks me up when men ask! 

At least I had an answer prepared this time- "Because it's a short week", and most people agreed that that is certainly a reason to celebrate. I think I may need to invest in some more clothing ;)

And can you believe that Thanksgiving is only three days away?! THREE! The Mr. and I will be spending the day over at my sister's house. We always eat well over there and they are great company, so I am really looking forward to it. Not to mention the dogs will be happy to spend some time with their cousins. Good day for everyone!

Read more...

Baby it's cold outside

Yesterday the Mr. and I took the pups for a loooong walk to get out their built up energy. We started out along our typical long walk path, but noticed Aspen was getting pretty cold all over. We already had a sweater for Macintosh, but didn't think it was fair to only keep him warm. (Yes, the guilt I feel is absurd sometimes.)

On our long walk, we walk past a local shopping center, which happens to have a PetCo in it. The Mr. suggested going to buy Aspen a sweater to keep her warm, and I couldn't disagree. We stopped in, and picked up a new sweater for both of them. Here they are modeling them:

They're very intent on the treats the Mr. has

Close up of Aspen's sweater

Detail of Macintosh's sweater

He's just loving this ;)

Say CHEESE!

And to all you who think the sweaters are just for fashion, I guarantee you they are not. After a two hour walk, I can rest easy that they weren't freezing and cursing us under their doggie breath.

Read more...

Fall decorations

I figured it's about time to document the fall decorations I have up this year. In about two weeks they'll be coming down and Christmas decorations will be going up. I still can't believe that November, and subsequently 2008 is almost done. Crazy!

One of my origami boxes, some candles and a new "P" decoration

Closer detail of the box and (obviously very old) candles

Wall shelves with an origami box hiding

There it is!

Some candles and candle holders I got on clearance

I like the simplicity of them

Another origami box (they're everywhere!)

Multi-holiday sign

Welcome sign on the guest bedroom doors

My cheap CVS wreath

I've made a decision not to buy any more house decorations for a few months, so I didn't do a ton of fall decorating (and hence the origami boxes). Luckily I already have quite a bit of Christmas stuff, so I should be fine. I'm really excited to get the Christmas decor out, but am a bit worried about where we'll put the Christmas tree. Aspen's crate is in the corner where we had it last year... I guess we'll figure it out when the time comes!

Read more...

Merry (early) Christmas to me!

So you all know I am a sucker for Etsy. I could (and do) spend hours just searching listings. Everything from cards, to purses, to household decorations, to journals. If you want something homemade, chances are Etsy has it. 

Well, it just so happened I came across an Etsy store called Multiple Pursenalities. My first thought was "Cute name! How clever!", so I decided to take a look. I am glad I did! Monika, the genius behind the store, makes adorable purses that can fit all my crap,  and look cute throughout the year.

I asked her if she would make a custom purse for me, since I had been drooling over an Amy Butler fabric for a while. She obliged, and even helped me pick out an interior fabric. (Quickly and efficiently.) The end result? This beautiful purse:

Absolutely gorgeous! 

The interior (with key hook and extra pockets!)

I started searching around Etsy some more (it's an awful addiction I tell you), and came across another fabric set that was gorgeous. So she made me a second one. 

I think I'm starting to really like yellow

So cute!

I feel so honored, because she has put this design combo in her store for other people to buy. Now if I could just get the Mr. to take me out so I can show them off, we'll be good :) Technically one of these was supposed to be a Christmas present, but the Mr. forgot he agreed to it, and spent all his budget for me already. Too bad... I guess I get them early!! 

All photos are from her website (she spent a much longer time taking pictures, and as such they are much better than any I could produce).

Read more...

Paid off our kitchen cabinets!

Instead of paying for our kitchen cabinets up front, we decided to open a store credit card and take advantage of their no interest and no payments deal until December. Our plan was to keep the money in ING and accrue interest on it for those eight months, and that is what we did. But I got so antsy about paying off that debt, that I decided to pay it off a few weeks early. As in, this week.

So now we own our cabinets outright! And it's so exciting! :) Apparently when the Mr. called to cancel the credit card, they tried everything to keep us as members. No interest on any purchase over $299, 10% coupons, etc. But he was a smart hubby and didn't cave in. There is no reason for us to keep that card since the interest rate is sky high (15%!!), and we use our everyday credit card to get points. This one had no benefits to speak of.

It did kind of stink having our savings account drop by that much at one time, but we knew when it would happen. That makes it a bit easier to stomach.

Read more...

A post about food!

Last night I made a deliciously cheesy macaroni and cheese casserole. It's a spin off of most macaroni and cheeses, but the baking and extra cheese make it extra gooey. Yum!

I'm drooling again

A sea of cheesy noodles

Macaronilly delicious

Then Wednesday (yes, the order of this post is backwards) we had a charity bake sale at my work. I volunteered to bring in a baked good, and I chose a chocolate chess pie. One of my chocoholic friends made it and said it was to die for, so why not give it a test run. (And for what it's worth, it is to die for!) I raised $8 with this pie, but that pales in comparison to the $41 for huge plate of cookies, $35 for gooey pumpkin bars, and $30 for blueberry-peach pie. 

My presentation scored an A+

Adorable gift tag I bought on Etsy

Are you hungry now? I am!

Read more...

Good entertainment on a cold day!

I would probably buy a cat *and* a roomba, just to see this happen in real life!

Read more...

Origami boxes

I saw some origami boxes on a blog I read, and they were too cute not to make. I have the paper, the ribbons and the glue, so it's a cheap (pretty much free!) way to decorate the house. What's even better? You can make new ones to coordinate with the seasons. I chose to make all fall colored ones, but plan to make some new ones when Christmas season comes around.

All the supplies

After all the folding

All done, and ready to decorate our house!

Close up of the ribbon

Perfect combination of colors

And my beverage of choice for the evening (shocker, I know!)

I decided to try some wine from a company I've had previously and liked. I didn't remember the actual type of wine I had tried, so now I'm trying a couple different ones here and there to find one I like. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon by Ravenswood. I'm so-so on it... will try more later :)

Read more...