Happy New Year

I just wanted to take a second to reflect on 2011.  It has been an interesting year for me, good in so many ways and not so great in others. 

I turned 30 this year and it has not been so easy, I think I finally realized this year that it’s true what you hear it doesn’t get any easier as you age! I really miss my 20’s! :) 

I have had a few life changes this year, a new job, I am settling in nicely to my new position as an outside sales rep. 

I started this blog and I LOVE it!  It has been a wonderful outlet for me and I have accomplished many projects.  I thank each of you readers!  It makes me so happy that you are interested in me. 

 

Will and I have built a new house in our subdivision to gain interest and we’ve had our house on the market for 6 months now.

 

I am so ready to start a new year, It always feels so refreshing to me, a new beginning a fresh start.  

This year I don’t want to say I have resolutions but I have high hopes and goals for bettering my life!  My motto this year, Live Simply. 

My two main goals are to get physically and finically fit. 

We have a trip planned to the Bahamas in June, WOOOHOOO!! I need to lose some pounds and tone up before breaking out the bikini and this is a great goal line!!  I am hoping to cut out the soda, eat more plant foods, and get back into a workout routine.

As for the finical side, It is really a necessary evil.  We have to be careful not to overspend.  We currently have two houses and land to sell so we are going to have to tighten up until we start selling.  I have prayed a lot about what to do and how to do things and recently I learned of Dave Ramsey and I am drinking his kool-aid and hope to put some of his ideas in place. 

What are your resolutions goals for 2012?

 

Hope everyone has a great year!!    

April

More Christmas Recap

Just two little things I wanted to share before I head back to work tomorrow…ugh.  Thanks goodness for a 3 day weekend next weekend!
My Mom made these little trees out of scrapbook paper this year.  They are adorable right!?!

So, she taught me how to make them and I love them!  They are pretty easy and super cute.  I’m looking forward to using these next year in my Christmas decor.


If you Google Origami Christmas trees you should be able to find the “how to”.

Also wanted to show you all the sweet little ornaments I picked up this year. Me and my Mom usually go shopping the day after Christmas every year and we did but I went on Christmas Eve morning and scooped these up at TJ Maxx for 50% off.  I cannot wait to use these next year. They are what I like to call new vintage and I LOVE them!  I am probably going to make a wreath out of the red and green ones and use the bright ones for a tree. 




And this guy loves his new toy :) Bells and feathers, it’s the little things in life!

April

Christmas Baking

Sorry this is late, I’ve been a little busy the past few days :)  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year.  I was busy in the days before Christmas baking goodies to take to our family dinners. 
I made some cupcakes and they were delicious but I had more fun decorating them. 
I used the white wedding cake recipe I mentioned here with a butter cream frosting as suggested by the recipe.  It was a moist cake and it was delicious.  Next time I would like to play around with different icing flavors for this.
Next I made Sugar Cookies.  This is an old recipe that I vowed to never share, sorry!!  I get request for these cookies every year and try to make them at Christmas time or Halloween. 




I’m betting these are all GONE by now :)  I hope everyone enjoyed them.  Did you guys do a lot of Christmas baking?  What is you favorite thing to make?  Most requested item?
April

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all and Happy Birthday Jesus! 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday with you family and that Santa is good to you.  I’ll be back Monday to post about my Holiday baking. 

April

Pinterest Eats

I’ve been trying out a few recipes that I found on Pinterest over the Holidays and I thought I would give a little review.  Some have been awesome finds and others so so. 
#1  I cooked a Birthday dinner for my Mom a few weeks ago.  We had Lasagna, pizza casserole, and this Olive Garden cloned salad.  It was REALLY good and pretty darn close to the real deal.

Original Pin From www.thesisterscafe.com

#2  I made these Buffalo Tacos for supper one night last week.  They were AWESOME!  I will definitely be making them again.  It was also a quick and easy weeknight supper.  They are on the spicy side but you could probably put a little less Frank’s Red Hot if you wanted a more mild bite.  I added blue cheese crumbles to one of my tacos and it added another flavor that was yummy.

Original Pin From http://www.mrsregueiro.com

#3 Gooey Butter Cake has also proven to be a crowd pleaser.  I have made these several times over the past 2 months and I have received rave reviews each time.  Also SUPER easy!

Original Pin From http://tidymom.net/2011/st-louis-gooey-butter-cake-recipe/

#4 These peanut butter balls were a miss for me.  They are made with Nutter Butter cookies and cream cheese.  They sounded really good but they were just ok to me, nothing outstanding.  I like the peanut butter and powder sugar version much better.

Original Pin From http://www.bakerella.com/grocery-item-goes-gourmet-part-2/

#4 A little different here but this green tea recipe is tasty and I found a great healthy eating blog with this pin, be sure to check it out.  I have only made this as hot tea so far and it is tasty and something different for me.

Original Pin From http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/

So give some of these a try….I give my stamp of approval :)

Next up is to try is this cupcake recipe.  Made with a box of white cake mix but other ingredients mixed in to make them moist and more delicious.

Original Pin From http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/03/16/white-wedding-cake-cupcakes/

I want to decorated them like this….

Original Pin From http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/

I just have to figure out how to make the little North Pole signs??  I have the candy canes and M&M’s but this one does not have a tutorial.  I was just going to print them, but I am not sure how to stick them on without the icing bleeding through the paper.
Happy Baking and cooking this week.  I will be making cupcakes for work and cupcakes for Family as well as Sugar Cookies.  Hoping to share these later this week! 
April

Christmas Tree

This year we have another small Christmas tree.  We have had one big tree in 6 years of living in this house.  I just don’t see the point really…it’s just the two of us and it is such a pain to put it up.  I really do love real trees better than the fake one and I found this little one at Lowe’s this year and snatched it up so I could have that real tree smell.  It’s about 3 ft tall and I have it sitting on one of my plant stands. 
This one is decorated with simple white lights, blue and silver ornaments.  Most of the ornaments are vintage ones from my Great Grandmother.  

Now I just gotta keep this little guy out of the tree!


This is my other small tree, decorated with crystal ornaments and mercury ornaments from Pottery Barn.  



I have a small ceramic tree that my Mom made in a ceramics class several years ago in our living room. 



I also have this tree that I have decorated with crystals that I collected when I was a kid from trips we took. It is a great way to showcase those. 


Linking to….

April

Christmas Wreath

My little weekend project was putting up a wreath at the new house.  A realtor suggested this since it is Christmas time and all.  Just to make it look more inviting for the season.  I decided to go very traditional and I needed it to be cheap, but didn’t want it to look cheap. 
So off to Walmart I went… 
I bought a wreath for $4.98, some fake greenery, 2 at $3.98 ea, and a bow at $5.98.  I wish I could make bows, but this one looked good and it was glittery which I love :)
I thought the greenery was pretty and added some texture and color with the berries and pine cones. 

I simply tied everything on with twist ties.  And Viola!
It really looks awesome against the green door.  Very festive.  


This was a quick and easy project and for less than $20  it looks great!  I like the traditional look since my decorations at home are very non-traditional in color.  Hopefully we will sell this house just in time for Christmas…Santa Baby, bring me a buyer just in time!  ;)

Linking to....

April

Christmas Mantle

Are you noticing a theme yet??  I use the same two glass jars for all my seasonal mantles…what can I say, they just work!  We usually have a small Christmas Tree in the living room but the theme this year is keep it simple.
I added fake snow and ornaments to the apothecary jar and vase.  I used greenery from my yard to add some color.  

My little tree stocking hooks came from Target a few years ago.  

I continued with the same greenery around the room to tie it all together.  I have this vase and the bucket under the mantle.  
My Mom made this little lighted tree in a pottery class a few years ago.  

Well that’s it folks….simply, sweet, and easy to clean up :)  Holidays make me wish I didn’t have that big TV over the mantle…I could do so much more!
I’m linking to the following parties this week…be sure to check them out!