Halloween Fun!!!

So last night Beau and I threw our first big bash at the new house. Here are a couple pictures from the event. I've also attached a link to the recipes that I used (some I embellished on a bit) for the food. These are all super easy dishes that I suggest you try sometime.

Beau and I went as Beetlejuice and Lydia from their "would be" wedding. I have to say, I was a little nervous because I didn't get to spend as much time on my costume as I would have liked, but I think our costumes turned out great.

Recipes to try....p>

Pizza Bread-yum yum...you can't see this one in the pictures of the goodies because it and the pigs in a blanket were still baking but it was delicious. Just slice this guy up and it is a delicious party treat. I used just pepperoni and mozzerella cheese but if you follow the recipe on this site you can see a recipe with a lot more ingredients.

Source

Artichoke/Spinach Dip

-For this one I just used the simple recipe on the back of the Hidden Valley packet but I added artichoke hearts to it and served it in a bread bowl to really give it some "class". Just kidding. Actually now that I go back and look at the recipe they suggest you serve it in a bread bowl too so I guess I'm not as classy as I thought :-)-Hidden Valley Ranch dip people: 1, Jolie: 0

South Georgia Caviar-Let's be honest Paula Deen, everyone knows this recipe as Redneck caviar but I realize that isn't so PC. In any case this caviar super yummy and really easy to throw together and make substitutions to if you don't like a specific item.

Pigs in a Blanket-I just used a simple Pillsbury recipe for these but bought the jalapeno/cheddar mini sausages to spice things up a bit and they were delish!

Cake pops-These are (and I'm not afraid to use this expression here because the cake pops warrant it) thebomb.com. Check out Bakerella.com for all sorts of deliciousness including these red velvet cake pops. These get easier to work with as you get used to the cake "medium" that you are dealing with. I also found that chocolate bark is easier to deal with than the Wilton candy melts.

Rice Crispie Treats-I made some of these and added orange food coloring to them to make them festive. I had every intention of cutting them into pumpkin shapes with my cookie cutters but ran out of time. Oh well. They are always super yummy!

I hope you enjoys these delicious treats as much as we did!

Quick craft: Toilet Paper pumpkins

If you do a quick google search of toilet paper pumpkins you will find tons of tutorials, but I got this idea from my friend and fellow blogger Elisa. This is a great, cheap way to decorate for fall without spending a lot of cash (oh any cash if you use stuff around the house like I did). I made two different versions of this craft, but more on that later.

Supplies:

1/4 yard of fabric

Newspaper

Toilet paper (full roll)

Empty pill bottle (if you opt to make smaller pumpkins too)

Twigs

1. Lay your fabric right side down and center your toilet paper on the fabric. Surround your toilet paper with crumpled news paper. More if you want a fat pumpkin, less for a slightly less obese pumpkin.

2. Take and squish the edges of the fabric down into the toilet paper roll adjusting both the fabric and the newspaper as you go. Repeat until all fabric is squished into the roll hole and arranged in a way that resembles a pumpkin. (this part is important as it is easy to do this craft haphazardly and end up with something not resembling a pumpkin).

3. Finish it off by putting a twig down in the toilet paper roll with enough of the twig sticking out to resemble a stem. The fabric will keep the twig mostly in place.

*** If you want smaller pumpkins you can find smaller items around your house with a toilet paper roll size opening. For example I had just finished a prescription so I used the empty pill bottle to make a little pumpkin. Less fabric is needed for this too though you will need to be more careful with how you arrange the newspaper.

You'll notice that I also took front-porch sitting to a whole new level by taking a TV tray out on the porch so I could craft while enjoying this beautiful, fall day!

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall!

Hello readers!

Sorry for my long absence. I've had lots of exciting stuff going on since my last post. No, no, I'm not prego (the typical reason for long absences of female bloggers ages 28-32 who are nervous they will accidentally spill the beans before hitting the 12 week "safety" mark). Nope, we've just had tons 'o' stuff going on.

1. I decided to work on some classes I need to get licensed to teach. This is something I've always wanted but has become harder and harder to do as I get older. When Beau and I eventually have kids I would like to be on their schedule. I could have waited to get these classes in, but when would I do them? When I'm a new mom? When they go off to school? No, more than likely I would be freaking out 10-12 years from now when our kids go off to middle school going. Oh my goodness why didn't I do this earlier. So I decided for once in my life to make things easier on myself and get them done sooner rather than later.

Turns out I only need 6 additional classes so I am kicking myself for not having completed my minor in education when I was in college but grateful that I didn't totally slack off because it has made things easier for later on down the road.

School has been great but has kept me busy. I want to do this right so I'm devoting the majority of my time to this goal until it is completed. I'm happy about this but after work activites like blogging, running and much of my social life have taken a hit.

2. We've moved!!! This is a super fun announcement because we are finally settled in a house that we love. The dogs are happier, we're happier...LIFE IS GOOD! GOD IS GOOD!!!

Our new back deck view!

3. We've traveled a bit. We always wanted to do a cruise but were nervous/forced into doing something else for our honeymoon so we put it on hold. Nervous because neither of us had been on one before and what if we got super sea sick and forced because of a weird situation with Beau's old job. No biggie. We had an awesome honeymoon and both Beau and I love a good story and we certainly have one for our honeymoon.

In any case last year we decided to stop putting it off and booked ourselves a cruise as our Christmas present and finally went on it earlier this month! It was awesome. We loved it and definitely plan to cruise again, though this time someplace we are more interested in visiting. The Bahamas seemed more about shopping than really experiencing anything truly Bahamian. We're thinking New England or Canada next time :-)

Beau in front of the ship!

Beau coming down the water slide...

A beautiful sun getting ready to set.

Beau and I maxing and relaxing :-)

So that's that. I hope to be back up and blogging again soon but can't make any promises other than a quick craft later today because this is my last day of fall break from classes.

Until next time...Happy Fall Y'all!!!