Champagne and Sprinkles

Product Review: Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair

2009-08-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to post about the wonderfulness of this product for several weeks now but I just keep forgetting. Something else I’ve been forgetting to do is actually use the product though so when I pulled it out last night and swept it over my sofa for the first time in few weeks and immediately saw the AMAZING results, I felt it was time to share.

As you know I have this furry little friend who loves to lay around and watch tv with me and cuddle on the sofa. However Ellie’s white hair plus a dark brown sofa:

is not the best combination.

When I first saw one of these products I was so excited. I thought “Wow! This is EXACTLY what I need! This will be great – how easy!”. I brought home the 3M Fur Fighter and got to work. It did the job but the teeth on the little sheets were just so thin. It didn’t really seem like the teeth were long enough to grab much or like the sheets would hold very much hair. I tried it a few times, luckily it had been purchased with a coupon, and then resorted back to just vacuuming the furniture every now and then. Not fun or easy.

So I was super excited when Pledge released their much improved solution to the pet hair/sofa problem – enter the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.

This product is the best thing ever! And so much better than the other version, sorry 3M. This one does a great job of picking up all the hair, lint, etc and then keeps it all in the little bubble thing on the top instead of it just being kind of ‘out there’ on the other one. Its got 2 rollers underneath with much better 'teeth' for grabbing the hair. Also, I’ve used mine several times and its nowhere near full. It’s a great thing to just swipe over the furniture before company comes over. I think it could even be useful if you didn't have a pet, just to clean things up a bit. I highly recommend it and you can click here for more information! (I was going to have you click there for a coupon but unfortunately its expired - sorry! I think its normally about $5 and so worth it!)

I know I'll be needing to use this tomorrow after Ellie and I watch Giuliana and Bill and the premiere of Top Chef Las Vegas tonight - yea! I really hope this is a fun group of chefs! I think it will be so much fun to watch them cook in all the fantastic restaurants in Vegas also. My friend Heather is going to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill in Las Vegas this very weekend and I'm so jealous! Hopefully she will post a great review for us next week... The cookbook is amazing; I can only imagine what the food would be like at the actual restaurant!

This weekend calls for...Sangria!

2009-08-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

{image courtesy of ibiza hotels}

Well actually probably not this weekend as I already have festivities planned that include champagne and margaritas for Julie's going away party. She's leaving us to head waaaaay across the state and start law school in a few weeks. Hopefully she'll be working here in the summers! But maybe your weekend plans call for sangria???

I made this sangria recipe a few weeks ago when my friend Lauren came to town for a girly weekend and to see The Fray in concert. I feel like I always see tons of sangria recipes, everyone seems to have one that they swear by, or one that is just SO easy. I've made a few and they always just seemed to be missing something. I ran across this recipe in a free neighborhood magazine that I ususally just toss in the recylcing bin but the promise of "cool summer cocktails" on the cover caught my eye this time.

As I read the recipe I saw one ingredient - that proves to be key - that I'd never seen in a sangria recipe before: frozen lemonade concentrate. My curiosity was peaked! (Plus I've been on the lookout for fun punch recipes ever since I finally gave in and bought one of those cool glass beverage jars...so this was just another excuse to use it.)

Luckily the meal I'd planned for that night would complement the sangria well so it seemed like the thing to do.

Sangria!

1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate
1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry red wine
1 lemon, sliced into rounds
1 orange, sliced into rounds
1 lime, sliced into rounds
1/4 cup white sugar
8 maraschino cherries (optional)

There really aren't any 'directions' for this - you just mix it all up and enjoy! They did suggest you mix it the night before for best results but I did ours right before we drank it and Molly, Lauren and I thought it was pretty tasty!

I made a double batch of this and we used Yellow Tail Shiraz as the red wine - it was fantastic! I was a little leery of the brandy taste but it really worked out and the frozen lemonade concentrate gave it this little extra zing that I feel like is usually missing from my other recipes. It was refreshing and light instead of sickly sweet, which is how I feel about some others.

For dinner that night we had Cumin Dusted Chicken Breasts with Guacamole Sauce from Cooking Light. YUM! This was so easy and I highly recommend it with sweet potato fries. (the frozen ones are actually really good!)

Hope everyone has a fast Friday and a great weekend!

This week...

2009-08-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

So not much has been going on with me this week. Work has been busy so that’s nice – love it when the weekends seem to get here more quickly! I did my duty as a Junior League volunteer on Monday night and helped make 1200 (yes that’s right twelve hundred) lunches to be delivered to the homes of underprivileged children on Tuesday and I have managed to do some form of exercise on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. All in all a pretty good week!

Tuesday was another appt to Shred it with Jillian. I still do levels 1 and 2 back to back. I just can’t seem to get into level 3 for some reason…but 1 and 2 seem to do the trick and deliver a pretty good, sweaty workout. Wednesday I went to my parents house and used their pool to swim laps. I was really good about doing this in high school and the first fall/winter that we had the pool my dad even heated it for me so I could keep swimming as the weather got cooler. It was great! Sadly, that was the one and only fall/winter we kept the pool heated – in fact, I think we shut that heater off as soon as we got that first bill…it was nice while it lasted though! With this weather being so HOT I thought I’d try and take up swimming again and I’m really enjoying it. I’m not sure if I’ll be shredding it or swimming this afternoon but I am determined to do something and try and keep this habit of working out 3-4 times per week up for the next few months. I’ve got a bridesmaid dress to fit into for my friend Lauren’s wedding in October! (Side note so Lauren does not freak out: I’m sure the dress will ‘fit’ – I just want to make sure I look as good as possible in all of your pictures – yea!)

I’ve also fallen into the trap of a few more tv shows this week. One has been on for a few weeks and I’d been recording it but hadn’t watched any episodes until this past Sunday when I decided I needed to try it out and either keep it going or delete all of them. The show is on Lifetime on Sunday nights and its called Drop Dead Diva. Its actually pretty cute! The basic premise is that this shallow model girl dies and ends up switching bodies with an overweight super smart lawyer who was also shot at the same time – so realistic, right? So she can tell she’s in this new body and has all of her same memories of her former life but also has all the skills of this lawyer now. Its kind of cheesy but they try a case on each episode so that is interesting. It kind of reminds me of Boston Legal in a way. It’s a keeper for now.

The other show I am now adding to my regular reality tv rotation is Giuliana and Bill on the Style network. I watched the premiere last night and just LOVED it! They are so cute together! And I love how they compete with each other on things, all in a cute way. Very good show. I’m excited to see what all is in store for this season! (I’m also fairly certain I’m going to have a major crush on Bill Rancic by the end of the season….or the 2nd episode…)

Check back tomorrow if you’re in need of a really good sangria recipe – mine’s been tested and approved!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2009-07-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday Dear Ellie.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Ellie is 3 today!

This was taken by the breeder when she was about a month old...she looks awfully innocent!

Ellie and her 'friend' the day she came home...7 weeks old

First encounter with Molly...

...soon to become her best dog friend

Playing on the tennis courts - about 3 months old

Running in the backyard - about a year old...I think

Happy Halloween! - 2008

...and Merry Christmas! - also 2008

The Birthday Girl! (today!)

She was a really good sport about wearing the bow and posing so nicely...

I guess she knew she would be rewarded!

Protecting her new zebra toy...

Happy 3rd Birthday Ellie!

You're now 'legal' in dog years!

Cupcakes and a Movie Sunday

2009-07-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was so excited when my grandmother gave me the new Martha Stewart Cupcakes book a few weeks ago. As soon as I started perusing the glossy pages, I was dying to make several of the recipes. Have you seen this book? It is GORGEOUS! Seriously – if you like cupcakes, you should buy this book. It would also be a great gift!

For my first endeavor, I decided to make the Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes. I invited my mom over to help and watch a movie and let me say it was MUCH easier and much more fun to make cupcakes with someone than by myself. This way we were both cleaning and splitting up the steps, it was actually pretty relaxing!

So we’ve done this “cupcakes and a movie” thing on a Sunday twice now. Might be a nice little tradition to start!

As I said, our first go round was with the Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes. I am a sucker for anything with mint and this recipe only makes 12 cupcakes so it seemed like a safe place to start. The recipe was easy to follow and the cupcakes were great! I do think we cooked them a tad too long though so be sure to watch yours starting at about 25 minutes if you try these at home. The peppermint patty candy ended up being kind of hard and chewy instead of soft, as in the pictures in the book.

Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

¾ tsp salt

3 large eggs

½ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (I used regular Hershey's)

12 small chocolate covered peppermint patties, such as York

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with paper liners. Place chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until just melted, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Whisk in the sugar and salt until mixture is smooth, whisk in eggs to combine. Gently whisk in flour and cocoa just until smooth.

Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into each lined cup. Place 1 peppermint patty on top, gently pressing into batter. Top with two tablespoons batter, covering patty completely. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted halfway into centers (above mint patty) comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

The movie that accompanied the Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes was “Last Chance Harvey”. It was alright. Good for something to have on in the background but not really something I’d want to watch over and over.

This past Sunday we had “Cupcakes and a Movie”, Round 2. This time it was Martha’s Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes and “27 Dresses”. We were going to watch “Confessions of a Shopaholic” but once we saw all the steps involved in these cupcakes, we thought it might be better to just have something on that we’d seen several times before.

As it turns out, the cupcakes were not that labor intensive. It was just the time spent waiting for them to cool and then frosting that took awhile but we just watched the movie during that time anyway. Really though, there is nothing to be intimidated about here, it was actually pretty easy and the end result is fantastic!

I love how the frosting looks like real peanut butter cookies!

Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes – Martha Stewart Cupcakes
Yeild: about 2 1/2 dozen (I only got about 2 dozen when I made them)

Cupcakes:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking soda

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter (I used Peter Pan)

3 large eggs

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ cup sour cream (I used light)

Frosting:

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat)

1½ cups powdered sugar, plus more for decorating

3 Tbs unsalted butter, softened

1½ cups creamy peanut butter (I used Peter Pan)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 3 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Prepare cupcakes: Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a regular mixer). Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Mix in sour cream.

3. Spoon scant 3 Tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup. Bake until pale golden and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely.

4. Prepare frosting: Put cream cheese, powdered sugar, and butter into the clean bowl of a mixer fitted with the clean paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Stir in peanut butter with a rubber spatula.

5. Spread 1½ Tablespoons frosting onto each cupcake. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Using tines of a fork dipped in powdered sugar, score each top in a crosshatch pattern.
6. Cupcakes can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 2 days.

These are good but they are RICH. I’ve still got several of these cupcakes left, even after taking some to work (this is when I wish my office had more people!), and I do have to fit into a bridesmaids dress in October so this "Cupcakes and a Movie" may not be an EVERY week occurrence but maybe every other week…there are lots more recipes I’d like to try!

Stuff White People Like #127...

2009-07-28T10:38:00.001-07:00

While perusing another blog for the first time today, Everyday I Write The Book, I ran across this hilarious account of how people feel when they know a book they want to read is about to be released as a film otherwise known as "Stuff White People Like #127":

"...these announcements create a ticking time bomb where by a white person must read the book in ADVANCE of the release of the movie. This is done partly so that they can engage in the popular activity of complaining about how the movie failed to capture the essence of the book. But more importantly, once a book has been made into a movie, a white person can no longer read that book. To have read the book after the movie is one of the great crimes in white culture, and under no circumstances should you ever admit to doing this. Literally dozens of white friendships have imploded when it was revealed that someone read Fight Club after 1999."

Once again, I could not have said it better myself...I cannot tell you how many conversations I've had with people EACH and every time a book based movie comes out.

"Oh yeah, I really want to finish the book so I can go see the movie...." - ALL THE TIME.

So of course with the impending theatrical releases of "Julie and Julia" and "The Time Traveler's Wife" I tell myself each day that I will start one of these books and work on finishing it quickly so I can go see the movie while it is still in the theater. I've been wanting to read "Julie and Julia" for some time now and just got my mom's copy from her last week but "The Time Traveler's Wife" has been on my to-do list for much longer. I think it was my book for book club last September... Maybe now that I've seen the amazing movie previews it will spur me on to actually start the book though. Love Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana is someone I could definitely stare at for a few hours.

Hopefully neither of these movies will end up being the great tragedy that was the "Confessions of a Shopaholic" movie or "My Sister's Keeper" whose theatrical adaptation can be described as nothing short of purely criminal. I did not see the movie but was told about the cheap-o ending, why Jodi Picoult signed off on that is beyond me.

(Anyone know if authors actually have to 'approve' things when they make a movie? If I wrote a book that was being turned into a movie, script approval would be in my contract for sure.)

Maybe today will be the day I start one of these books - they are both coming out in 2-3 weeks so I need to get started!

NKOTB - Round 2

2009-07-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

When I heard NKOTB was touring last year I was beyond excited. This was a dream come true! How many times do you get one more chance to see your teen idols?

So back in October, Hailey, Molly and I braved the crowds for the NKOTB reunion tour and had a blast!

Needless to say we were SUPER excited when they announced that they'd be adding more tour dates for this summer! We were able to get awesome 10th row upgraded seats thanks to my dad and see what they're calling their last show! I wouldn't be surprised if they had a few more up their sleeve sometime in the not too distant future, but for now - we saw the last concert they will ever perform!

Sadly Hailey could not join us this time as she was vacationing, er working, in the south of France! (She really is working really hard there and not having a super duper 'vacation' time - hopefully she did have fun on her weekend trip to Nice though which is technically where she was while we were at the show....)

The concert in October was a little more fun because with this one they were all very aware that it was the 'last show'. They were even crying at one point! We still had a blast though and I think its safe to say that if they do decide to 'reunite' again - we'll be there!

Master Bathroom and Upstairs!

2009-07-17T07:15:00.001-07:00

This is the final installment in the 'home improvement series' - the master bathroom.

Here's a reminder of where it all began...remember this house had been vacant for about a year when we were looking at it - it was cleaned up when we bought it but it had a LONG way to go!

The first thing my dad wanted to do was demo that jetted tub to make room for a much larger shower on the other side...

So in this picture, the tub used to be there on the right and the old shower was on the left.

The original plan was to only demo the old tub and shower but somehow that got lost in translation and they took out all the old cabinets, sinks, etc as well.

So then we, ahem - my brother, had to learn to be a cabinetmaker and start from scratch on new ones.

Progress on the new shower...

And this is where the tub used to be - its now a dressing area.

We have countertops!

And paint!

Finally...the finished product!

I LOVE this shower!

The chandelier is my favorite part though!

And here's a few more pictures of the finished rooms upstairs, etc.

Upstairs bedroom #1 aka - my old living room

Upstairs Bedroom #2 aka "The library"

And finally upstairs bedroom #3 - its my old college room! It was during my 'shabby chic' phase. I love having the bedroom set up this way, something about it is so comforting and its so funny when friends come over and see it because they always say "Its just like your old room!"

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Housewarming Pics and Recipes!

2009-07-16T06:15:00.001-07:00

As promised here are pictures and recipes from the housewarming party I had several weeks ago. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get this together but better late than never I suppose! All of the recipes were a huge hit – especially the Mango Chevre Steak bites, I think we only had one or two left at the end of the night!

The dining room all ready to go before the food was put out...

Menu:

Mozzarella and Nectarine Skewers with Pesto
I wasn't really sure how these were going to turn out but I was so intrigued by the combination that I just had to try them. I wasn't able to find the right size skewers so I ended up using toothpicks instead and bought the mozzarella balls in 'pearl size' - they were perfect. I just put one piece of cheese and one piece of peach on each toothpick and then had a side dish of pesto for people to drizzle over their skewers. The taste was so light, summery, and refreshing!

Kahlua Pecan Brie
This is a recipe that my friend Angie has been making for years. Her best friend's mom wrote a cookbook, Confessions of a Kitchen Diva, that includes this recipe plus tons of other great food for any occasion. This recipe is always a crowd pleaser.

1 14 oz Brie round
1/4 cup Kahlua
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

Scrape white coating off brie. Place brie in oven safe pie plate.
In a small bowl, mix kahlua, pecans and brown sugar until sugar is dissolved.
Pour kahlua mixture over Brie and bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until Brie begins to ooze.

(I like to let mine go about 12 minutes so its really soft and gooey!)

Serve with Carr's Water Crackers.

YUM!

I guess the brie was still in the oven when I took this picture but it was all set to go right behind that blue plate of crackers with grapes in the middle!

Next up.....

Chevre and Mango Steak Bites

I first saw this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Elizabeth's Edible Experience. She is always cooking up something wonderful and I love seeing her step by step pictures and reading her extra tips and tricks. Seeing the pictures makes it all seem easier to me and really makes me want to cook!

(I'm sorry I didn't take close up pictures of everything - I guess I was too busy playing hostess! Head over to Elizabeth's blog to see step by step pictures of the process and the finished product!)

Hot Artichoke Dip

I'm not exactly sure where this recipe came from but my family has been making it for years. For some reason it always seems to appear as an appetizer on Christmas Eve but its so easy that I make it all the time.

1 can of artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup Parmesan cheese (the kind in the can)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp garlic powder

Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth. Spread evenly into greased pie plate and bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Serve with wheat thins or as a dip for vegetables.

The artichoke dip is pitctured in the square turquoise dish on the far right...the crab dip is in the other turquoise dish, a little to the left.

Crabmeat Dip

This recipe is from Southern Living but unfortunately its from one of their special holiday books and the recipe isn't available online. But luckily my friend Heather, sent me a copy via email. We made this a few years ago at Heather's house on one of our cooking club nights and all loved it. Since then I have made it a few times but usually reserve it for special occasions as it is a bit time consuming. Also, the original recipe suggests that you reserve one cup of the dip before baking and use it to stuff chicken breasts. We did this the first time we made the recipe and it was great!

Crabmeat Dip
From Southern Living
(can make a day ahead and then bake when ready to eat)
1 (8 oz) package 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 (5.2 oz) package boursin* buttery garlic & herb spreadable cheese
1/2 cup mayo (can use low fat)
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce (Tabasco)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp capers
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb fresh lump crabmeat, drained

Combined all ingredients (except crab), stirring well.

Gently fold in crabmeat.

Spoon dip into a lightly greased 8" square baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with crackers. Yeild: 4.5 cups

*A few tips - If you can't find the Boursin cheese, you could use Rondele or Alouette. Boursin is the highest in fat among these and the most expensive (at least at my store). Also, when I made this for the party, I used fake crab for the first time and it came out great. So if you don't have the time to sift through the real thing for pieces of shell or don't want to 'shell out' the money for genuine lump crabmeat, the fake will work just fine. There are so many other flavors in this dip that you can't even tell.*

Salmon and Cream Cheese Roll Ups

When I made these I really simplified the recipe and just used smoked salmon and 1/3 less fat cream cheese for the filling. I think I probably added a little salt and pepper also but I kept it all pretty easy so that the salmon flavor would be most prominent. These are pictured on the little stand in the picture above. As you can see, we made quite a few of these!

And now on to dessert!

I wanted everything to be easy to just grab and eat so these desserts were perfect.

For the chocolate lovers...
Oreo Truffles

And for the vanilla lovers...
Cake Balls

I believe Bakerella is really where this cake ball/cake pop craze came from. The recipe link above is for some red velvet ones with chocolate coating but you can sub in any flavor of cake mix, frosting and coating to make your own combo. For the party I used yellow cake with vanilla frosting and white coating. They were fantastic!

It was so much fun having everyone over and having a reason to make all this 'party food'!

General Observations

2009-07-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

So I saw an ad over the weekend for the new Sonic Chillers and while it does sound tasty to mix vanilla soft serve with a cherry limeade - isn't this just the same thing as the cream slush or blended floats they've always had? (btw: orange cream slush = yum) I guess I just don't understand what all the fuss is about for this 'new' product when its really not that new...

Also, I feel like the Black Eyed Peas could be very successful with a children's album if this whole hip-hop/dance thing doesn't work out. Usually I have a thing against songs that spell but they do it in a way that I can handle with "Glamorous" (now you're singing it, G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S........) Now they've got the days of the week going with "I Gotta Feeling": Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday to Sunday. Minus that little hiccup there with the two Saturdays in a row, it could help the little ones out!

I know I always get their songs stuck in my head and they seem to really put on a show that you can't take your eyes off of when they perform live - kids would love it! They would need to clean up their act a bit and watch the language but just think if they were actually singing about something you needed to pay attention to and could learn from instead of "My Humps"?

Song of the Moment

2009-07-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

I think I'm a little behind the times on this one but as I am currently without internet access at home, I went to my parents house for a little bit this weekend and was finally able to update my iPod with some new tunes. My current obsession is "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. I've heard the whole cd is really good but for now, this is on repeat...

Where have I been??? MIAMI!

2009-07-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

We were all so excited to see that we were actually staying on A1A - Beachfront Avenue!

So its been awhile since I posted and I know that I still need to post pictures of my bathroom redo and pictures and recipes from my little housewarming get together but I thought, for now, we'd go with Miami and save those things for another day!

This trip was amazingly planned in all of about 30 minutes via email. I still can't believe we were all able to get it together so quickly. We stayed at my friend Julie's parents place near South Beach and had the BEST time! Having never been to Miami, a lot of us, myself included, weren't really sure what to expect but now I think we're all hooked! We celebrated Julie's 27th birthday while we were there also - I think we're going to make this an annual trip!

We spent the days on the beach reading and talking. The beach was gorgeous and we even had a quasi-celebrity sighting!

Can you guess who is in the white hat in this picture???

And then we spent the nights out! Things in Miami don't get started until about midnight and then go until about 5 am, luckily we didn't have any problems adjusting to this routine!

Our first round of drinks in Miami - Strawberry Champagne Mojitos! YUM!

Before dinner for Julie's birthday

Out at Mynt celebrating the big 2-7!

Cool chair in the lobby of the Delano...I could totally live there...

We were so excited to finally find a place that played songs with words!

It was a blast girls - can't wait for the next trip!

Free Shipping at Anthropologie! Could it be?

2009-06-10T07:37:00.001-07:00

I was very surprised to find the following email in my inbox yesterday:

Since when have they EVER done anything like this??? “Simply link your anthro number to a new or existing online account to enjoy the summer off”! Crazy! Their shipping is always outrageous! (as is J Crew’s but that’s neither here nor there) I am so glad they are jumping on this free shipping bandwagon, even if only for a short while. They are actually offering a pretty good deal here since the promotion runs through September 7th!

Luckily I’ve already got one of those anthro cards but I never really thought it had much of a purpose – until now!

Now if only I had money to pay for the things in my imaginary shopping cart! If I were placing an order today, I would get:Yes, I know that would be one full cart but remember this is just an imaginary exercise!

Product Review: Suave Volumizing Shampoo

2009-06-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I bought this shampoo and conditioner on a whim while stocking up on some things at Ulta a few weeks ago. I was looking for the purple Sunsilk (I think its ThermaShine?) and looked everywhere in that store but they do not seem to carry Sunsilk anymore. I swear I've bought it there before but thats neither here nor there. When I couldn't find the Sunsilk, and armed with a 20% off my entire purchase coupon, I decided to try John Frieda's Root Awakening Shampoo and Conditioner. Over the years, I've tried to save money on my shampoo and conditioner and shy away from the $6 smaller bottles that I feel like John Frieda uses. Once again though, I'd heard something good about this, had my coupon, and decided to give it a whirl.

I really liked this product for the first 4 or 5 uses. The minty aromatherapy bonus was nice too but I felt like it made my hair really flat after the first day. Based on the name, I was expecting a lot of volumizing action but that was not the case. Nor do I think it is actually the point of the product, the name is a little misleading if you ask me. I do not wash my hair every single day unless I work out or am doing something special, etc. My hair is thick, not oily at all, and I don't sweat that much so I'm typically a wash every other day girl. By day 2 with this shampoo though, I was not impressed. (also, do any of you ever read those articles that say that people like Heidi Klum and Giselle prefer their hair when it hasn't been washed for 4 or 5 days? GROSS! I guess maybe they are on to something there because my hair will never look like theirs but if thats their secret you can count me out!)

Because I'd just spent more than I would like on the John Frieda duo I was out for a bargain with my replacements and decided to try the Suave Professionals Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner. And boy am I glad! I think these were $1.99 each and I LOVE it! Great bang for your buck. The website says that the shampoo/conditioner combo is formulated to work as a duo and provide results similar to those achieved with Matrix Amplify Shampoo and Conditioner. I have never tried the Matrix version but this Suave one is great! I feel like the shampoo gets my hair really clean and does not leave any build up and the conditioner isn't too heavy at all. Winner!
I'm all about trying to save where I can these days and while on the Suave website I saw that they also have a clinical strength deodorant. I may have to try this out also because that Secret Clinical Strength is $$$! I'll let you know how it goes...

Book Review: Change of Heart

2009-06-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

It took me longer than normal to get into this Jodi Picoult book - I did read My Sister's Keeper in three days DURING the work week. That was a book I could not put down, I took it everywhere I went and even stopped into Starbucks a time or two when I had 20 to 30 minutes to kill just to read more and see what would happen next. Talk about a pageturner! Sidenote: I don't know about you but while reading My Sister's Keeper I never in a million billion years would have pictured Cameron Diaz as the mom. Interesting casting choice. I guess she's got to break out of those silly, somewhat annoying, 20-something roles sometime. After all, the girl is going to be 37 this year - how is that even possible?? No wonder she needed to go ahead and get a more serious act, I think her days of being able to pull off a "What Happens In Vegas" or "The Sweetest Thing" are definitely over! (and in looking up her age I just realized she has the same bday as my mom...interesting...)

So back to the task at hand, Change of Heart. As I said before, it was a little harder to get into than your normal Jodi Picoult but it was so interesting and so worth it in the end. (And by the end I was rushing home at lunch and after work to keep reading...how does she do that EVERY time??) There isnt' a ton of action but in true Picoult fashion, she never diappoints with the twists and turns. This book also had a lot of issues involving law and religion. You could tell she really had to do her homework when writing this one. It left lots of room for discussion and really made you think about how you would react to certain situations.

Last night was our book club meeting to discuss this book. Of course there was not much actual 'book discussion' going on but we did manage to get a little more in than normal. We also surprised one of our book club members with a surprise baby book shower! Two girls in our club came up with the idea and we all thought it was so cute. We couldn't wait to go out and buy fun childrens' books. The hostess, Heather, even got all these fun teddy bear cookies with blue sprinkles and petit fours and pecan cookies with blue icing. She had all of it out on a table where everyone was putting their gifts when they waked in and luckily when the guest of honor, Ali, walked in, she didn't even notice! She was really surprised when we walked her back into the living room for her shower and she realized she'd missed the pile of gifts and blue desserts!

Everyone brought such cute books - it was so fun to see what each person brought and hear about what they remember reading when they were little. This will be a very well read baby boy!

Some of our favorites were:

The book club selection for next month is "Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwarz. I've got to start that soon...

(I'm taking a break from the house post today - I promise to do the master bath and the recipes from the housewarming party soon!)

Kitchen and Dining Room!

2009-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

So today we're moving on to the kitchen and dining room....as you can see in the pictures below, we had quite a project ahead of us!

The picture above is of an island that was sticking out into the kitchen and some cabinets that were above it. We felt like it really closed the room off and decided to take it out and open up the wall a little more between the kitchen and dining room.

And the wall is gone!

We also took down the furdown above the cabinets and redid the entire ceiling to accommodate more lights.

My happy brother aka "the contractor"

All of the wood in the kitchen was stripped and sanded. Then molding was added to the tops and bottoms of the cabinets as well as to the cabinet doors and drawers themselves.

Additional upper cabinets were built around the microwave as well as an additional lower cabinet to go on the other side of the stove.

My brother and dad also built this amazing bar/island from scratch!

This is the view from the inside of the kitchen. This is now my 'party cabinet'. I keep all my fun serving dishes, cocktail napkins and WINE right here! Love it!

Now we've got some color on the cabinets!

It was important to us to keep the island/bar looking like its own special piece of furniture so it was painted black instead of the dark brown and also is supported on little feet instead of being flush with the floor.

Almost done! The backsplash was another great addition that we almost skipped. I feel like it just makes a huge statement now and I love having the under cabinet lighting to show it off!

We've got can lights in the ceiling as well as under cabinet lights and lighting above the cabinets - apparently my contractor has a thing for lights!

This garden window was a real eye sore until we jazzed it up with some fun curtains and bright accessories. Now its just my "fun" window and gives me something cheery to look at while doing dishes.
The truly finished island/bar. We also put special hardware on this piece to distinguish it from the rest of the cabinets. You can't tell in this picture but there are little grape clusters on the hardware.

And this is what is lurking on the other side of the kitchen - the breakfast room! We did reduce the size from the original breakfast room but we gained a much bigger kitchen, more counter space and a much more open feel for the whole layout downstairs. I love the stained glass fixture above the table!

And now we move on to the dining room. As you can see whoever choose this floor was either very creative or very indecisive. We've got granite, marble and bamboo going on here!

As I said before, we opened up more of the kitchen my removing part of the wall in the dining room and creating that island/bar into the kitchen. So now the large green wall that you see in this picture is only about 2/3 of that size.

The window above looks out onto the screen porch and really took up a lot of valuable wall space that was lacking in the dining room.

So we closed it in....also if you look back at the picture above this one, you will see another window to the left looking out onto the screen porch...that one was in a wet bar that will soon be a computer nook so it was a goner too.

Here's a view of the 'after' from the screen porch:

And here's the finished dining room and screen porch!

I love love love spending time out here in the evenings and even occasionally eat lunch out here - it makes me feel like I'm on vacation!

House stuff!

2009-06-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I had an unveiling/housewarming party at my house! It was so fun to have people over and show them around and discuss all the projects we took on. I loved getting to play 'hostess' in the new place! The company was perfect, the food was great and we all had a really good time.

I know I've kind of been hinting around about a major before and after post on this house project and today I will begin! I had to do lots of cleaning before having people over so it was a good excuse to take some really good 'after' pictures. I do have to preface these 'before' pics because they are a MESS! The house had been vacant for about a year and was just trashed when we first looked at it. So they're all pretty bad! Makes for quite a transformation though...

I'm going to start with the living room and dining room today and then move to other rooms throughout the week and also post about all the yummy food we had at the housewarming party! I had so much fun cooking and planning everything and it meant a lot to me that my friends gave up their Sunday evening to come hang out and see what I'd been up to with this big project. I can't wait to have people over again!

Here we go!

The pictures above are of the living room "Before". As you can see it was quite a mess! The living room was carpeted and sunken in about 6 inches. One of the first things we did was rip that carpet out and fill in the 'hole' with concrete to make the whole house level.

Big change from before! My brother is quite the handyman and did all the carpentry/cabinet work in the house...here's how we got from the 'before' to the 'after' in the living room...

The stairs were another huge undertaking. We weren't quite sure what we wanted to do exactly but we did know that this was not the look we were going for...(I apologize for the dark picture!)

We toyed with keeping the stairs open but then ultimately decided that wasn't the best idea. We were all really pushing for the stained banisters/wrought iron look but weren't sure how that would work out with the budget. One day my dad just decided to go for it though and we walked in to find that he had removed the banisters!

Not long after that, my brother learned how to build a staircase all on his own and started this huge highly detail oriented carpentry project - lucky for me that is what he is best at!

And finally......TA DA!!!

This staircase really added a big 'wow' factor to the house - I LOVE it!

I think tomorrow I will move on to the dining room and kitchen - we did a LOT of work there!

The verdict is in....

2009-05-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

WINNER!

As promised, I tried the Murad Vitamin C Home Infusion Facial Kit last night and while skeptical at first, I must say I do believe it works!

I tried this last night after my shower and it was very easy and quick once I got the hang of mixing the powder with the gel. There is a lot more powder to work with than gel so some of it did fly out of the bowl at first, I'll have to be more careful next time. I love the little brush that it came with too, it seems so 'professional'. The directions warn that you may feel a slight tingling feeling or heat so I was ready for the worst but it wasn't too bad. I only felt the tingling for a minute and it wasn't anything awful that I wanted to immediately wash off or anything.

It wasn't quite as relaxing as this...but for 10 minutes it was just fine.

You keep the mask on for 10 minutes but be careful not to touch your face during this time. It isn't one of those treatments that hardens or anything, it just stays wet and thin on your face. When the 10 minutes were up, I rinsed my face with warm water and then immediately began inspecting it in the mirror for these fab results I'd read about yesterday. Right away I noticed that my pores were visibly smaller. It was hard to tell on the brightness factor as I'd just splashed warm water on my face and my face was still a little flushed from that and a shower. My skin also felt very soft and smooth.

The Sensitive Skin Smoothing Serum is the finishing touch to this process and I was very pleased with it as well. Its just a clear gel that goes over your face and neck to, I assume, calm things down from the vitamin C treatment. You get quite a bit of the serum in the kit so I may keep using it in between 'treatments'.

I was so excited to wake up this morning and assess the 'brightness factor'. I examined my face closely and, to me, it did appear a bit brighter but I may have just been hoping for that. I do feel like my face feels more 'alive' though and that my skin looks really clear, soft, and smooth so I guess thats a plus. It might be the kind of thing that gets better the more you use it so I'll keep you updated on Round 2 in a few weeks. For now I am a happy girl though and feel that I have at least taken one step in taking better care of my skin!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Wish me luck!

2009-05-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well today after work I'm off to Ulta to purchase this:

Its the Murad Vitamin C Infusion Home Facial Kit - said to "Restore Clarity for an Instant Glow". Sounds good to me!

After debating for a few months on starting the process of getting facials regularly I started looking into at home products that could do the job and this seems to be the best of the bunch. (That I'm willing to fork over the money for anyways) I saw this at Sephora over the weekend and was intrigued enough to check it out online today at www.murad.com.

I read tons of reviews and everyone just seems to love this and has amazing results. Once again, I'm sold. The instructions seem pretty foolproof too. The kit comes with 2 pouches that you mix in the provided bowl with the provided brush. Brush the mixture onto your face. Let sit for about 10 min then rinse off and follow with the included skin smoothing serum.

I can't wait to try this - I'll be sure to post a review tomorrow!

I'm a big girl now!

2009-05-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

I finally have real bedroom furniture! I am so excited to have a real grown up room! Before I moved I had been using the same dresser and one nightstand that I'd had since I was very young, probably about 4 or 5 years old. Lucky for me, my parents picked a very classic design and I was able to paint it and change the pulls through the years to get me through. However when I moved into this house I no longer needed the dresser because the closet came with all these built in drawers. I could have just used the nightstand in my room but I thought it was better to keep those items as a 'set' and move them into a guest room where they could be used together.

So, until yesterday my bedroom consisted of a bed and an entertainment center for my tv. And thats about it. For some reason I had the hardest time finding bedroom furniture! I think part of it may have been that I had my heart set on this:

I came very close to getting 2 of these at Tuesday Morning to use as nightstands - they were advertised for only $150 each - GREAT deal! Then I wavered, thought they were too trendy and didn't go that Tuesday so I totally missed my chance. And when that did not happen, nothing else would do.

While visiting every furntiture store within a 30 mile radius I also felt like it was so hard to see things in stores and imagine them in my room. Those showrooms they set up just have every single matching piece there together and its kind of overwhelming! Plus I didn't need the dresser and matching mirror, etc. I just needed 2 nightstands and a bed! I finally got over all of that, decided that the mirrored look probably would have been way too much, went to one final store on Saturday and found something perfect! It was delievered yesterday and I just love it. I feel like my room is a hotel now!

I'm also really glad I did not go with the mirrored furniture since apparently everything else in my room is shiny!

I really like these lamps - thanks Homegoods!

The picture above captured a very funny moment. That's Ellie pretty much throwing a temper tantrum in all my pillows. She is used to sleeping all day and lucky for me, my mom had been kind enough to come over and wait for the furniture delivery yesterday so she got there around 1 pm, totally cutting into Ellie's nap time. Then my brother arrived around 2pm and stayed until 8 pm closing in the bottom of my deck with lattice (see below), installing a fan on my screen porch, and hanging the lovely curtains you see in this picture. (THANK YOU!) Ellie, of course followed him around all day and by the time he left, she had just had it! As soon as he was gone, she jumped on the bed and started her little tantrum and then just passed out once she was buried in the pillows. This picture caught her mid-tantrum. Too funny!

The prior owners of this house had been nice enough to build this deck but not nice enough to really finish it off in any way. I am so glad to have this closed in because not only does it look nicer, it keeps Ellie from crawling around under there and running into who knows what! Steps, railings, and finishing touches to come - stay tuned!

Scented Handles?

2009-05-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

A year or so ago I was buying razors and noticed that the ones I usually buy suddenly had the option of with or without “scented handles”. Maybe I just don’t get it but I’m not really sure why I would want to smell the handle of my razor or why I would prefer a scented handle over a non-scented handle. I go with the non-scented version. I have enough scents going on in my shower with shampoo, conditioner, face wash, shower gel, and the occasional sugar scrub, or facial treatment without throwing something else into the mix.
Yesterday I’m at the grocery store, buying a toothbrush this time, and see that there is something minty on the one I’m getting. They are also touting some ‘tongue refresher’ so I quickly assume that the plastic scraper thing on the back of the toothbrush must be mint flavored, drop it in my basket and head on my way.

Last night I open the new toothbrush package and am nearly floored by the minty scent. I look at the package more closely and it’s a mint scented handle! What does a scented handle have to do with dental hygiene? I read online that apparenlty its part of the new Colgate MaxFresh line and it is supposed to “enhance the brushing experience”. I don’t really get that. I’m hoping it will wear off over time.

This whole scented handle thing just baffles me. Who thought I’d have to look out for it in the toothbrush aisle? I guess I’m going to have to read the fine print a little better when purchasing any product with a handle. But for now I’ve got minty fresh breath and minty fresh hands…whatever plus that is supposed to be…

And on a sidenote, I am so glad Shawn Johnson won Dancing with The Stars! I had a feeling it might be Gilles after his stellar season but I think Shawn probably got more votes in the end. She has just been so good these past few weeks and her freestyle routine this week was so fun to watch. And I loved that she chose to repeat her dance to "Pretty Young Thing" as her final this week! That was by far my favorite dance of the season. She did such a good job and just looked like she was having so much fun out there.

I think Melissa pretty much sealed her fate with her freestyle routine. I think hers could be described as a 'halftime routine' at best. Not a good decision on her part but really who would have thought she'd make it this far anyways. After all she's been through, that girl's gonna be okay.... (and she looks AMAZING after all this dancing! Has anyone else noticed how she just keeps looking better and better from each week to the next?)

And YEA Shawn Johnson - she can do anything!

Product Review: MAC Lustreglass

2009-05-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does everyone else have multiple make up items run out at the same time? I am currently in need of blush, eyeshadow, bronzer and 2 lip glosses. Its fine if I have to buy one of these at a time but all FIVE! I’m trying to make do for now and get by with samples, etc but I think I am going to have to break down soon and get the lip glosses.

As I’ve said before, I am a sucker for a new product, a marketer’s dream, always willing to try something new – especially any sort of health/beauty product or make up. BUT over the years I have gotten much better about make up buys and have finally narrowed my lip glosses down to 2. These have been the only colors on my lips for a few years now and I just love them.

The first comes courtesy of my friend Lauren. She is a slave to MAC and happened to pick this up on a whim in the spring of 2004. At the time Lauren was coming to Houston quite a bit and we had regular weekend slumber parties. Because I saw her so often, I immediately noticed the new color she was sporting on her lips and had to try it for myself. I have to mention that Lauren and I do not have the same coloring at all. She has blond hair and blue eyes, I have dark brown (almost black) hair and brown eyes but I was sure this color would somehow magically work on me as well. And I was right! I LOVED it right away and bought it as soon as I could. It has also become a favorite of my friend Hailey, who does have brown hair and brown eyes like me, as well as several other people. This color seems to look great on everyone – if you’re looking for something new, check out MAC’s Decorative Lustreglass!

I know this picture looks like its a very grape-y purple gloss, but it is a very pretty color! Very similar to Clinique's Black Honey, its just got more of a 'kick'...

Once I fell in love with Decorative, I was looking for something a little more subtle and found Star Nova. This color is great for a lighter look; I find that I wear it at the office a lot and in the summer. Looks great with a tan!

Both of these products are from MAC’s Lustreglass collection and which I also think is just fantastic because the application wand has a little brush on the end of it instead of one of those sponge things. Not a huge deal but I highly prefer the brush. Lustreglass is pretty moisturizing, the color lasts a long time and its not too sticky. I’ve been running low on these items for a few weeks now, scraping the tubes for the last bit of gloss. I think today might have to be the day I restock…

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T09:40:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone has fun celebrating!

Things I Love: Sally Hansen Salon Hydrating Foot Cream

2009-05-01T06:33:00.001-07:00

I tried this the oher night and it is A-mazing! As you may know, I have been called ‘a marketer’s dream’ from time to time. If there is something new out there, chances are I’m going to try it, I get easily sucked in at the grocery store, ULTA, Sephora, whatever. I’m also an avid magazine reader so I’m always reading about the ‘best beauty buys’ and on the lookout to purchase them.

This product first crossed my eyes a few months ago in a magazine and I started looking for it from time to time at Target, ULTA, the grocery store. When I couldn’t find it there, I would try and remember to look at CVS or Walgreens whenever I happened to be there – still nothing. And lately this has been on some of the ‘best beauty buy’ lists in a few of my magazines and with sandal season fast approaching I was really on the hunt! I ran into Wal-Mart over the weekend hoping to find some bathroom accessories and while I was unlucky on my original mission there I did find this elusive foot care wonder!

I have only used this product once so far but let me tell you – it is fantastic! I woke up the next morning and it seriously felt like I had gotten a pedicure in the night. After just one use! I put the lotion on around 9 pm, with socks, and then took the socks off a few hours later when I was climbing into bed. I bet my feet would have felt even better if I had left the socks on all night!

Now if only you could put socks on and wake up with a polish change – that would be an amazing product! I highly recommend this one for those of you who are a fan of the ‘at home pedicure’!

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Update and Cinco de Mayo Recipes!

2009-04-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Once again, I’ve been absent from the blog for awhile (minus the DWTS post yesterday – I am still so sad that Chuck is gone!) and once again its for a very good reason! I am finally all moved into the house and had my first houseguest over the weekend so I spent all of last week getting things ready for company! I had one friend coming in on Thursday night and another on Friday so Mon – Wed was major crunch time! Usually I am in bed on a ‘work night’ by 11 pm at the latest but last week it was all 1 am or later for me. I was cleaning, decorating, unpacking, organizing – everything! I am very pleased with the way things turned out though and glad to have that process behind me so that now I can enjoy everything and not continue working when I get home at the end of the day.

(I was going to wait to post this until I had taken some more house pictures but thought you all might want the recipes (since they were all mexican food) if you were planning on anything for Cinco de Mayo –I will post house pics in a separate post next week!)

My friend Tiffany was in town last week from Austin for work and came by on Thursday. We got to catch up over a bottle of wine and some Texas Caviar – a recipe I got from the Four Fat Chicks. Its not often that I get to see my girlfriends when we have the time to just sit and talk without some other ‘event’ going on so it was so great to spend so much time just chatting and hanging out. I miss the times in college when that’s pretty much all we did! Its sad that we’re all so busy these days!

Here’s the recipe for the yummy Texas Caviar that we had for ‘dinner’!

Texas Caviar

(makes a LOT)

1 can corn (drained)
1 can pinto beans (drained)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can Ro-tel (I don’t drain this very much)
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 16 oz bottle fat free Italian dressing

Mix and serve!

Some recipes call for more Italian dressing so feel free if that’s the taste you’re after!

I find this to be especially yummy with Tostitos Baked Scoops and that it is better once it has had some time to chill in the refrigerator……

On Friday my friend Meredith came in town from San Antonio to stay for the weekend. I lived with Meredith in college along with another girl, Molly, who also lives here so she came over for dinner on Friday as well. It had been a long time since the three of us got to catch up together!

Meredith is not a fan of fruit (crazy, right???) but Molly and I enjoyed some pomegranate margaritas before dinner.

Photo Courtesy of The Food Network

Pomegranate Margaritas

(serves 2)

¼ cup lime juice
2 shots POM Wonderful juice
½ cup tequila
¼ cup triple sec

Serve over ice with a squeeze of lime.

And for dinner we had Chicken Tamale Casserole from Cooking Light. I first saw this recipe on Elizabeth’s Edible Experience and had made it once before. I made this using her advice on the recipe to leave out the creamed corn in favor of just regular corn and it works great. I read some reviews online and some people complain about the ‘too sweet’ taste but I think this must be cured by the normal corn because this does not seem too sweet to me. Also, some people have used green enchilada sauce instead of red and really liked it so use whatever you prefer!

Head over to Elizabeth's blog if you would like to see step by step pictures - you'll also find lots of other yummy recipes over there!

Photo courtesy of Cooking Light

Chicken Tamale Casserole
Cooking Light November 2008

and Elizabeth's Edible Experience

1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese ( I used reduced fat 2% blend)
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn ( I used regular corn - I hate cream corn)
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (I used Jiffy)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (I used a rotisserie chicken and used more than 2 cups…) 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream (optional topping)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. (I had to cook mine about 20-22 min) Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken (When I made this recipe the 2nd time I poured some sauce over the bread, just to coat it and then mixed the remaining sauce and the chicken together in a separate bowl and then placed that mixture on top of the bread);sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

4. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes.
Cut into 8 pieces and serve. YUM!

Our plan for the rest of the night was to watch the Sex and the City movie because Meredith had only seen it once – can you imagine? – but of course we ended up talking with the movie on in the background. We had a great night full of girl talk!

Saturday I proved to my hard core workout friend Meredith that walking really is a workout! I knew she thought I was crazy and even wore her heart rate monitor to see if she was getting a good workout – I was actually a little worried at what the official stats would be but luckily the walking workout got a good rating! We walked about 4.5 miles in just over an hour so we were moving!

That night we met some friends for sushi had a great time catching up and having some great food. That was pretty much the end of our girly fun-filled weekend. After Meredith left on Sunday I caught up on a LOT of tv (I am loving having my DVR back!) and ran some miscellaneous errands. This week has actually been pretty nice thus far and I’ve been able to work out and just relax in the evenings now that most of the house stuff is out of the way. I’m so glad I got a lot of that done last week so that now I can just enjoy it!

I tried a new Jillian Michaels workout dvd this week that I’ve had on Netflix for about a month now, “Banish Fat Boost Metabolism” – it’s a good one! I’ll post a review after I’ve completed it a few more times, so far I would recommend it though!

Tonight we’ve got our book club meeting for “Straight Up and Dirty” by Stephanie Klein – I’m looking forward to a fun night, and then the weekend is almost here!

DWTS

2009-04-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

(Otherwise known as...Dancing with the Stars)

SPOILER AHEAD! Do not read if you don’t know who got kicked off this week!!!

I know I have not posted in awhile and who would have thought that Dancing with The Stars would get me going again? Certainly not me! I’ve always heard great things about this show but this is the first season I have really gotten into it and watched it regularly. I look forward to it each week, love seeing the dances and the costumes, and love that its such a lighthearted/no drama source of entertainment next to the other drama-filled shows taking up space on my DVR. (Side note: I am convinced that Kelly Bensimon on the Real Housewives of NY is on drugs or has a chemical imbalance – she is CRAZY!)

I felt like last week’s episode of DWTS was the best one so far this season. They had weeded out all the people who didn’t really care to be there, everyone was more comfortable, confident, and had this whole ‘new dance routine each week thing’ down.

To me, Shawn Johnson totally STOLE the show with her performance – look how sassy she is! (I think I watched this three times before deleting the recording!)

And every week I am amazed by Chuck and Julianne. I even told someone yesterday that I think I’d like to be her in my next life. She is fun, talented (she can sing AND dance!), seems like a smart girl, great body, and have you seen her boyfriend??? H-O-T! I love watching her dance with Chuck each week because they get along so well and he always looks like he is having a good time but still takes the dancing/competition part really seriously and tries his hardest for a good score. They are so cute together; I totally think they should get married and have lots of cute little singing and dancing babies.

Melissa, aka ‘the jilted bachelorette’ has also been a crowd favorite. I didn’t watch her on The Bachelor but I have become a fan of her on this show. Unfortunately this week she was injured and could not dance for the judges in the live show so her scores were based on a rehearsal. The scores were not nearly as good as they would have been for the real show because they were taking it easy in the rehearsal and didn’t have the energy from the audience. Sadly, they ended up on the bottom for this week and I was pretty sure either she or Ty Murray would be sent home. At this point its sad to see anyone go but at the same time I feel like Ty is not going to win so he’ll have to go at some point.

Then last night they throw us a total curveball and Ty is the first person who is “safe” – what??? I started getting really worried that Melissa would be the one to go because of her scores or that maybe it would be Lil’ Kim’s week to go even though she is really good –never did I think it would be my precious Chuck and Julianne! And then, sadly, their names were called and they got the boot! So now I won’t get to stare at him through the tv each week, I guess I may have to check him out at his day job from now on!

What does water do for fun?

2009-04-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

I, like most people I know, am on a constant quest to drink more water. I used to be great at this. Never drank anything carbonated. I actually started this little quest during my senior year of high school, just to see if I could. I stayed strong for an entire year! The next year I upped the ante to include 'no french fries' that did last awhile but I am now back on the french fry bandwagon from time to time. On the carbonated beverages I usually do pretty well. I was lucky enough to somehow avoid the "I'm addicted to diet coke" phase that some of my college friends fell into and are still trying to work their way out of, and probably really only maybe have one carbonated beverage per day. So thats all fine and good but what I really need to do is DRINK MORE WATER. You feel better, you look better, your skin looks better, it aids in weight loss...need I go on?

I am also a big lover of pink lemonade. I have no idea what the flavoring is in pink lemonade that gives it that something special that regular lemonade does not have - well besides being fun and pink and girly - but it is just so much better to me than regular lemonade. So I was so excited when Crystal Light FINALLY came out with PINK lemonade on-the-go packets! They've had the regular lemonade, plus tons of other flavors for years now! Why not give us the pink lemonade a little sooner? I was so excited to spot this on the shelves of my local grocery store a few weeks ago. (I'm actually enjoying one as I type this!)

Lucky for me they were running a 2 for $5 deal that day so I also picked up this new flavor:

I'm not really sure how this will help my skin but I really enjoy the pomegranate lemonade flavor! Its a very light flavor, nothing too overwhelming. I am also a fan of the cherry pomegranate flavor which is supposed to do something to aid in immunity but I'm not sure quite sure if that works either. Also, if you try the cherry pomegranate one, it is VERY red when you mix it up. Be careful if you are wearing light colors!

Then I spotted the Ocean Spray on-the-go packs - they have fantastic flavors! Becuause I had not tried them before, I only got one pack, Cran-Lemonade, but they several that I would try. This one has a great flavor. I'm not sure if I like it or the pomegranate lemonade better.

There you have it! Some great things to add some zing to that boring old bottle of water! (Also, I recommend using these in a 20-24 oz bottle of water instead of the 16.9 oz size they suggest, They give plenty of flavor in the larger bottle size and then you're drinking more water anyways!)

Straight Up and Dirty

2009-04-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

...is how I always order my martinis - kidding! - is the title of the book club pick for this month! (I just realized I've never had a 'real' martini, guess its about time...)

From Publisher’s Weekly: (via Amazon.com)
One month after discovering her husband was having an affair, 20-something Klein made him her "Wasbund" and started trying to find a man to date again-or better, a "pair and a spare," as her telephone therapist advised. She "rodated" desperately, searching for someone to repair her wounded ego. She even found a reasonably suitable boyfriend-only she broke it off when he suggested living together. At one point she faced the truth she'd avoided from the beginning, that she had to learn to appreciate herself for her own accomplishments before she could have a healthy relationship with a man. While there's nothing new about that story line-indeed, it's curiously proto-feminist for a recent Barnard grad-Klein's sense of humor is downright wicked. Her ex-mother-in-law was a "shrub of a woman" who "sounded like she'd swallowed a southerner" and looked "like a transvestite who had a one-night stand with a disco ball." Then there's "Mr. Madras Pants," who "carried a degree in poplin with a minor in seersucker... the type of man who was at complete ease when sending his order back to the kitchen." In the end, Klein's is a great, fun read.

I have a friend who read it with her group a few months ago and raved about it so much that I went ahead and read it in February just to see what all the fuss was about. (Unfortunately she does not have a blog so I can’t link to hers on here – I’m hoping this comment in here will just be something else to make her start one though! I’ve been trying!) When her group read the book she told me that she really learned a lot about relationships and that she saw different aspects of several of our friends and things that had happened in their relationships. I was very curious to read this to see where I fell into this and it was all very interesting. One thing I know we have in common is a severe aversion to Chardonnay - don't get me started! - which comes up a few times in the book. But there were other things that she thought and felt that made me think of myself as well. The writer is witty and the language will probably catch you off guard at times but it’s a great girly read. Perfect for the beach!

This book is also a memoir of sorts which, to me, made it all the more interesting because I was actually thinking about this specific person the whole time and how these things actually happened to her. There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book saying that a few things were embellished to make things a little more humorous or exciting, but I think the big things are all true. (Smart move by her. We don't want another "Million Little Pieces" scandal on our hands!) Then when the book was over I found myself wondering what she was doing now and how things turned out. Luckily she has kept up with the daily updates on her life on her blog so you can still follow along and see how things are going for her now. So far everyone who has finished it for book club has really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to getting together with everyone and discussing the book later this month.

So, because I have already finished the book for book club this month, I started a new non-club book last night, “The Friday Night Knitting Club” by Kate Jacobs. I have been seeing this around for a few years now and finally bought it for myself with the last round of books I got on half.com. (By the way if you haven’t bought books on half.com yet you are missing out!) A few years ago (2003, I think) I decided I wanted to learn to knit and asked for yarn, knitting needles and some instructional books for Christmas. I taught myself, and my mom, to knit from a book and spent the better part of a week working on a scarf that I still love years later. I feel like I go through phases with knitting, sometimes I’m just totally addicted to it and then I’ll go for months, or even years lately without picking up the needles. I hadn’t made anything in at least 2 years (Its hard to knit when you get a puppy, then also when that puppy grows up and wants to be in your lap ALL the time!) and then started up again a few months ago during a long weekend at the beach with my family. It took me a little while to remember exactly how to start and I think I may have to get the books back out when the scarf is done to figure out how to finish it up but I just love it. The only thing I know how to knit is scarves which do not require much talent but something about it is just addicting. I have bags of scarves I’ve never even worn, I’ve just wanted to make them. I love picking out the yarn and imagining how the finished product will turn out.

I’m only about 20 pages into this book but just that little bit has me hooked. I read online that USA Today calls it “Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan” – sounds pretty good to me! Oddly I’ve heard a lot of other people talking about this book lately even though it was released 2 years ago. Its even the book club pick for my local Borders bookstore this month! I have heard some talk of it being turned into a movie with Julia Roberts so now I’m glad I’ll be finishing before the movie comes out – the books are always so much better. I’m hoping it will also inspire me to branch out beyond scarves. Guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one!

Lemonade Cake

2009-04-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

I’m sorry I didn’t post this over the weekend but this is a great spring/summer dessert that everyone will love! Its also very easy...

Recipe:
1 box lemon cake mix
1 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 cup powdered sugar
1 container lemon frosting

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare and bake cake as directed on package in greased 13 x 9 pan. Let cool 15 minutes.

Stir together thawed lemonade concentrate and powdered sugar. Poke holes on warm cake with fork. Drizzle lemonade mixture evenly over cake. Refrigerate cake until cold.

Spread frosting over cold cake and serve.

Cover and refrigerate leftover cake.

Ingredients: Yes, that is sprite and vanilla ice cream!

Prepare the cake according to package directions BUT I learned this little trick from my friend Heather who took a cake decorating class - use sprite in place of water and once everything is mixed, add in a scoop of softened vanilla ice cream and mix into the batter just before baking. It makes a very good cake! And you can do this with ANY cake flavor!

Bake the cake according to package directions - looks good to me!

While the cake is cooling, mix one cup of thawed lemonade concentrate and 1 cup powdered sugar.

Use a fork to poke holes in the cake while it is still warm.

Pour the lemonade/powdered sugar mixture evenly over the cake.

Then refrigerate until cake is cool. I prefer to do this overnight if possible but it will be cool after 3-4 hours.

Once the cake has fully chilled, spread lemon icing over the top and serve!

Unfortunatley this is not type of cake you can take out of the baking pan and put onto some cute serving dish. It must be served directly from the pan. Makes the whole thing pretty easy!

Enjoy!

Its been awhile...

2009-04-07T13:18:00.001-07:00

It was brought to my attention yesterday that its been awhile since I’ve posted…I guess my friends are a little bored at work and looking for something to do! I'm sorry for not updating more often but what can I say? Things have been pretty busy! Luckily they’ve also been very fun!

I attended the Britney Spears concert last Monday with some girlfriends and it was fabulous! It was really more of a ‘show’ than a concert. The Pussycat Dolls opened for her and they were amazing to watch as well. If you need some motivation to work out, watch those girls strut their stuff for a few minutes! Once PCD wrapped up their show, the “circus” began – seriously. Britney had crazy hula hoop people, gymnasts, jugglers, all kinds of traditional circus fare. And then the real show began! Brit Brit was lowered down from the ceiling for the first song and the show definitely did not disappoint. She seems to be back to her old self, dancing like crazy and just being an awesome entertainer. Granted I only think she ‘sang’ one song but they didn’t really even try and have you believe she was singing the rest of the time. You know how they will usually have screens at a concert with a close up of the performer so that you can still see if your seats aren’t that great? Well there was none of that here! I think if we could have seen her face during all of these songs, it would have been just highly focused on the next dance move! We didn’t really mind though, watching her dance was a lot more exciting than watching her sing!

The show was great. She changed clothes every chance she got and participated in a few ‘circus’ acts herself. There was getting lowered down from the ceiling, then getting sawed in half, appearing out of nowhere, disappearing through a trap door, fire, fireworks, you name it – it was in this show! Quite a spectacle!

The rest of the week was marked with me finally moving into the house my family has been working on redoing! I plan on posting some major before and after pictures, but for now here’s just a taste.

Here is the kitchen before and after:

And here is the view of the living room from the top of the stairs, before and after:

As you can see a lot of changes have been made!

This has really been taking up all of my time, both at work and after work. At work I’ve been trying to schedule deliveries, set up movers and find things online that we still need for the house as well as get all of my highly personal information to the mortgage company. I’ve never felt so violated in my life! Its been a lot of fun though and I think we’ve all learned a lot. Thankfully my brother and dad have a great vision for the finished product and are quite handy; otherwise none of this would have been possible!

I did take a break this weekend from all the moving hoopla to celebrate my friend Lacey’s birthday. Happy Birthday Lacey! We have become a huge fan of the birthday brunch and tried out a new place on Sunday called Bedford. We all loved our food and, of course the mimosas! Any excuse to drink champagne and I’m on board! We all had a great time wishing Lacey a fabulous birthday and getting to catch up for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon...

And now to my final fun event – I attended Opening Day for the Astros on Monday with my friend Hailey, aka my baseball buddy! It was also the 10th Anniversary of Minute Maid Park so there was a lot going on! 10 years ago Lyle Lovett sang the national anthem on opening day and they had him back yesterday to do it again! They also had people who had been season ticket holders for the past 10 years hold the big American flag out on the field and lots of special introductions for the new players we've acquired - namely Pudge Rodriguez - yea! We lost the game but still had a lot of fun! Go 'stros! Things have been a lot of fun lately and hopefully this weekend will be more of the same. Luckily my office observes Good Friday so its a short week - always a good thing! - and my cousin is coming in town to visit and help with some house things. I am also planning on making a fun springtime/Easter dessert so be on the lookout for a recipe and step by step pictures later this week!

Confession...

2009-03-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

I am loving this book so much that I went to Starbucks on my lunch break yesterday strictly to find out what would happen next! If you have not read “A Thousand Splendid Suns” I HIGHLY recommend it. The author, Khaled Hosseini, also wrote “The Kite Runner”. We read his first novel, “The Kite Runner”, for book club about a year ago. Book club is usually really code for ‘girls night at someone’s house with wine and appetizers’ without much talk about the book but “The Kite Runner” really sparked a lot of discussion and I have a feeling “A Thousand Splendid Suns” will do the same.

Our meeting is this Thursday and will be at my friend Heather’s house. She has a really cute blog, Tiny’s Treats, and is always cooking up something yummy in her kitchen. I’m excited to see what she has planned for our meeting on Thursday!

Taking an hour to read at lunch really was a nice break in the day, especially with the pretty weather. I usually take my lunch to work so coming up with something to do besides eat on my lunch break can be difficult at times. Of course I do have errands to run from time to time and its always easy to go shopping or breeze through Target. But that usually leads to me buying things I don’t really need and just spending money because I’m bored. I was so glad I had remembered to stick my book in the car yesterday morning. I may have to make this ‘reading lunch’ a regular thing!

I’m loving...

2009-03-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Kelly Clarkson’s new cd!!! I’ll admit I have seen her in concert and I did download the new album on iTunes the night before it was released so chances were pretty high that I was going to like this album. But I truly like it more than I was expecting! I have read some reviews that say this is much like her debut album “Breakaway” and they are right. I even liked “My December” despite the harsh reviews, but this new album “All I Ever Wanted” has more radio friendly tunes. After listening to the whole album I think “My Life Would Suck Without You” may even be one of the weaker songs. I find myself skipping over it now and playing the following A LOT:

I Do Not Hook Up
All I Ever Wanted
If I Can’t Have You
Whyyawannabringmedown ***especially this one – very fun!***
Impossible
Ready

I need to check and see if her concert schedule is out so that maybe I can catch her again. Luckily I have a friend who also likes teeny bopper music as much as I do so hopefully she will want to go again this time around. We had a great time at the last one! We’ve also attended a Ryan Cabrera concert, NKOTB, and will be going to Britney in a few weeks so we are pretty familiar with this teeny bopper circuit– fun times! NKOTB was fantastic! I hope Britney lives up to the hype – those tickets were $$$!

NKOTB was definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. And I go to a lot of concerts. I went with 2 of my best friends and we had the best time singing along with all the songs and remembering the days when we used to watch the concert videos at home and sing and dance along. (come on, you know you used to do that too...) I hope some of you were lucky enough to go. It was so much fun being there with people who were really just there to have a good time. No one was worried about being ‘too cool’ – we were at New Kids after all – it was as though we were all already friends and had this common interest. Everyone was so friendly to each other all night, all you saw were smiling people everywhere, it was almost like being a kid again I guess! Of course it was about 95% women; I think the only guys we saw were accompanying pregnant wives. The guys put on a great show and I would totally go again if I had the chance.

I love that not many people are in my office today so I can listen to Kelly while I work - and enjoy it a little louder than normal. Now we just need to work on getting that clock closer to 5 pm!

For some reason I keep thinking tomorrow should be Friday….if only it were true!

"A True Ab-Original"

2009-03-17T07:25:00.001-07:00

I'm not really sure where they come up with the names of these colors but I've got "A True Ab-Original" on my fingers AND toes as we speak! Its a bright coral color with a bit of a metallic sheen. Its great for the summer months and looks even better once you get a tan.

I had a major do-it-yourself mani/pedi session on Sunday night and was only planning on painting my toes but then went out on a limb and painted my fingernails as well. I am so glad I did too. I don't usually take the time because I feel like they are messed up before they even have time to dry but I've really enjoyed looking down at my bright nails this week! (even as I type this!)

So far I only have a teeny tiny smudge on the tip of one nail. I cut them pretty short before painting them, which I think helps a lot with a color this bright - we don't want them looking scary! I went ahead and took the extra steps of a base coat and chip resistant top coat so that probably has something to do with the way they are holding up too. Usually I reserve the brights for toes only but I may have to keep it up with the fun colors on my nails too! Let me know if you have any favorite color suggestions!

And - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The long dresses are back!

2009-03-16T07:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday! I am The weather was pretty yucky here this weekend – cold, rainy, dark – not your typical March day in Texas, but the bad weather did give me some time to rearrange my closet for the upcoming months. I don’t know about you but whenever the seasons change, so does the organization of my closet. I don’t want to look in there and see a bunch of turtlenecks and coats when its pretty and warm outside! I want to see bright tops, white jeans, sandals and cute dresses! So this was the weekend. Luckily I found a lot of great things I had forgotten about so hopefully I won’t be tempted to shop quite as much!

One thing I am really excited about though is the return of the long dress, otherwise known as the ‘maxi dress.’ I am a huge fan of this style and have been sporting it for a few seasons now. This seems to be THE season for it though as I feel like they are truly everywhere this year. These dresses are super comfortable, flattering and can be effortlessly elegant.

Here are a few of my favorites from Old Navy:

I actually ordered both of these dresses about 2 weeks ago and was so excited when they arrived but they seem to be a bit long. Looking at this picture now, the pink one even seems long on the model. I need to try them on again with shoes and see what I think. I know they'd be okay if I wore heels with them but I'd like to have the option of wearing flats with them too. Other than the length though, they are super soft and have lots of nice detail.

And here are a few more from Target:

I love the little extra ruffle at the bottom of this one and I think the color is great.

I am a sucker for a black dress - always. I have a similar dress from Target from last year that I wear all the time. I think this brown one is a great style. I love the skirt on it. I guess everyone else thinks so too though because right now its sold out on Target.com!

And here's a few more from Nordstrom:

Have a great day!

It IS a Genius!

2009-03-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

So I will admit I was a little slow to jump on the iPod/iTunes train. I know some people have been in LOVE with their iPod and the whole iTunes thing since they came out in full force about 5 or 6 years ago. They quit buying cds, immediately started buying everything on iTunes and never looked back. I was intrigued by a few friends having them and caved and got a mini in the summer of 2004- I think it was an 8GB. My mini served me well as a workout buddy and I even went so far as to have one of those iPod connector things installed in my car so it would play through normal speakers and charge while I was driving. Of course some of that was the result of having a brother with a serious car audio hobby, but all in all its very handy indeed!

Of course in time I filled up the 8GB on the mini and it became pretty much strictly used for working out. This was at about the same time that they started making iPod compatible everything and so I got a bigger iPod for Christmas. I think it was 2006 and at this time the smallest video one you could get was 80GB - big upgrade from the 8GB I was dealing with before! Now I was determined to upload more music and really use the thing. I even started buying more things on iTunes instead of on cds. I still feel kind of bad about this from time to time and do purchase some cds but for the most part I'm an iTunes girl now.

And now my very favorite part of iTunes is this new Genius feature! As I said before, I was slow to get into all this and therefore I never really paid attention whenever my software had an available update. One day though I decided to go for it and here was this handy little Genius feature. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time and just went about my way. Then my brother got an iPhone and he was just raving about this Genius thing so I tried it out the other night. Its A-mazing!

If you're not familiar with this feature I highly recommend it. All you do is pick one song in your library, push the Genius icon and it automatically generates a playlist of songs in your library that will go well with that song. The first song I happened to pick was "Be Here Now" by Ray LaMontagne and the Genius created a fantastic playlist in moments!

The folks at Apple think one of the best things about the feature is that it "helps you discover songs in your library you never knew you had — and rediscover forgotten favorites". I really got to listen to the playlist based off of "Be Here Now" while working on a project at work today and I found myself checking my iPod several times to see just what song was playing. I had so many good things on there that I had forgotten about or just did not realize I had downloaded!

Some of the things Genius picked for me were:

"23" by Jimmy Eat World

"See the World" by Gomez

"On The Radio" by Regina Spektor

"So Here We Are" by Bloc Party

"Breathe In" by Frou Frou

"Somewhere a Clock is Ticking" by Snow Patrol

"I Feel It All" by Feist

"Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez

I can't wait to see what it gives me when I put in some Britney or NKOTB for a fun road trip or girls weekend or maybe some Kanye West and Fergie for a great workout mix. I realize I am probably really behind on the times with this and that most of you have been enjoying this great feature for months but if you're like me and haven't checked it out yet - please do, it will not disappoint!

Maybe you could make a great playlist for this weekend??? Hope its a good one!

Welcome to Miami…Buenvenidos a Miami

2009-03-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Yep…I’m heading to Miami for 4th of July weekend! I've had Will Smith's "Miami" in my head all weekend and it hasn't been annoying at all. (side note: I just checked online and that song is from 1998 - yikes!) I cannot believe how quickly my girlfriends and I were able to get this together. Julie’s family recently acquired a condo there and July 3rd is her birthday. This past Friday, she sent an email about the idea of going to celebrate her bday and the holiday weekend and I think by 11 am there were six of us on board! I am so excited about another girls trip with great friends – most of us also traveled to Costa Rica together last summer – and so excited about going to Miami for the first time!

I know the months to come will be spent looking for fun beachy clothes, the perfect swimsuit (which also means a new diet/workout routine – Jillian and I need to become better friends asap!), cute cover up dresses and flip flops, and planning where to go eat, go out, and shop. I have a few friends who have been so hopefully they will have some great recommendations and Julie and another good friend, Molly, are going in a couple of weeks so they can get the lay of the land for our return in July!

I just love having something like this out there to look forward too. I think having this goal/threat of a beach vacation will also make the workouts easier – we’ll see! My goal this week is to get on track with that.

I am not excited about it being Monday but the extra hour of daylight will be nice!

Have a great day!

Things I love....

2009-03-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year. Days of warm (or in Texas, hot) weather are just around the corner, daylight savings time is about to kick in (why we can't use this timetable year round completely baffles me - it is SO much better to have more daylight!), bright clothes are hitting the stores, its time to get some pretty new polish on those toes and slip your feet into cute sandals instead of boring closed toed shoes - spring has sprung!!!

And Easter is also right around the corner which means: Easter candy. I love pretty much all things fruity and all things sour so I love it when one of my favorite things hits the shelves for a few short weeks a year. I have been eyeing the Easter candy displays for about a week now, waiting for their arrival and then last night I finally spied them at the grocery store....

Yea!!! Starburst Sour Jelly Beans! I LOVE these and may or may not have bought three bags and may or may not also buy a few more 'extras' before they're off the shelves to keep stashed throughout the year. They only come along ONCE a year - what's a girl to do???

Dinner and a Chick Flick!

2009-03-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I got together with a group of lovely ladies at a local restaurant for their version of "Dinner and a Chick Flick"! We had so much fun! This restaurant reserves its party room each Tuesday night during 'low party season' for the event. Some of the movies they have had on the list are "Sex and The City", "Serendipity", "Beaches", "Steel Magnolias", "My Best Friend's Wedding", "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Mona Lisa Smile". Luckily my group had the most interest in seeing "My Best Friend's Wedding" - some of those other ones are real tear jerkers!

There were cards on each table with a menu for the evening as well as trivia and fun facts about the movie. One of the fun facts was that Julia Roberts had hand picked both Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney for their parts - who knew?? The menu was set in advance and was seafood ravioli for the entree and "PBJ" for dessert. As it turns out, they had a few other options available for dinner as not everyone likes seafood. One of the girls we were with ordered a mushroom risotto that she said was fabulous. Dinner orders were taken before the movie started and our entrees were delivered shortly after the movie began. They were also great about getting our checks taken care of before the movie ended so that we could leave once the movie was over. After all, we did have to be at work the next day! They had definitely done this before!

It had been awhile since I had seen the movie and really enjoyed watching it in this setting. The table behind us was REALLY enjoying the movie - they sang along with nealy every song!

Including this all time fave...

It was tons of fun - I had a great time and I am sure we will do it again soon!

Top Chef Season 5 Finale Recap

2009-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD!!!

Do not continue reading if you don’t want to know who wins!!!

Okay, now that that is out of the way – let’s talk about the Top Chef Season 5 Finale! It all started last week with a challenge I really enjoyed. Fabio, Hosea, Carla, and Stefan traveled to New Orleans where they were greeted by Padma, Tom, and special guest Emeril Lagasse! Then, in true Top Chef fashion, the freshly eliminated Jamie, Jeff, and Leah magically appear. Oh and weren’t we all so thrilled to see whiny, needy, clingy Leah once again? Not so much. I swear that girl had an excuse for everything. If she made a mistake it was never “Oh, okay, good to know”, it was always this whiny “Oh really? Okay well see I didn’t know that so I just did the only thing I knew how to do because I didn’t want to risk messing it up….” Blah. I’m over her. Anyways, so then the past contestants had a quickfire challenge to see who would be rejoining the competition. They had one hour to cook a dish using crawfish with Emeril as a judge – talk about pressure! I was hoping for Jamie but Jeff managed to walk away with the win and get back in the game. Once again, see ya Leah!

And next, we move on to the real challenge in this episode, which I loved. I think I actually liked this more than the actual finale. Jeff, Hosea, Carla, Fabio and Stefan were catering a Masquerade Ball for Mardi Gras. They had to make two appetizers, one of which had to be Creole, and then also a signature cocktail. I thought this was great and really let them showcase their creativity. I also like it when the contestants get to interact with ‘real people’ instead of the judges because I feel like the judges can be overly critical at times and the ‘real people’ just like what tastes good and aren’t as worried about technique, etc.

I thought everyone’s food looked great, especially Carla’s. In order for Jeff to move on to the real finale, he had to win this challenge. So the winner of this challenge not only got to move on to the finale, they also won a Toyota Venza! (I know I wouldn’t have any idea what this car was if they did not advertise it during every commercial break…) Once they got back to judge’s table I really thought Jeff was going to win. Emeril seemed to really enjoy his food and had great things to say. They were just really taken with Carla though and she got the win – and the car! They had to eliminate one more person also and in the end it came down to “Team Europe”, Stefan and Fabio. As I was watching I was sure they were going to send cocky Stefan home but they sent poor sweet funny Fabio home instead! He was so determined and had such a good attitude through the whole competition. I was really sad to see him pack his knives and go.

So on to the finale! Side note: I feel like this may have been the worst Top Chef Finale EVER. I felt like the whole episode was so rushed, they didn’t show much of their prep work or planning out of their menus, and the judges hardly showed any commentary on the food itself. I was ready for more Rocco DiSpirito! Come on! AND, whatever happened to the part of the finale episodes when the talk to the contestants about what they’ve been doing since other episodes of the show finished taping? I seem to remember them going to people’s homes and talking to them about the recipes they’d been practicing, discussing offers they’d gotten, etc. And haven’t they been able to bring special ingredients back to the finale in past seasons also? None of that this time – I’m not sure what was going on.

Here’s a little more Rocco for you though, just for fun. Oh how I heart him! And really how could you not? LOOK at him!!!!

And now on to the finale. Tom and Padma greet the remaining contestants, Hosea, Carla and Fabio, and Tom announces their final challenge. “Cook us the best three course meal of your life.” He is quick to add that they can use any protein they like and that their three course meal is not required to have a dessert. Everyone seems excited about the challenge. Nothing weird has been thrown in; they can finally just relax, cook a normal meal and showcase their talent. Then a surprise! Out of a dark tunnel, appear three shadowy figures. They get closer and closer and we see that its Marcel from Season 2, Casey from Season 3 and Richard from Season 4! The Season 5 contestants draw knives to see what order they will get to choose who they work with. Hosea gets to go first and chooses Richard. Then Stefan is up and in a move that I thought would be lucky for Carla, he chooses Marcel which means that Carla gets to work with Casey. I was so excited because I really liked Casey in Season 3. This is shaping up great.

They have 2 hours to prep that night and then 3 hours to cook the following day. They get into the kitchen and get to work. Carla already has a plan for some of the things she would like to do and then unfortunately Casey talks her into come changes. Carla has never used the sous vide method of cooking but Casey thinks it would be great for the ‘meat and potatoes’ course Carla has planned so they go with that. Then Casey also talks her into a blue cheese soufflé – I’m not getting a good feeling about this Carla! Go with your gut – don’t listen to Casey!

Everyone is busy busy in the kitchen and the 2 hours seem to fly by. When they arrive back in the kitchen the next day Tom is waiting for them with another twist. They now have to add an appetizer to their 3 course meal and they must use one of the proteins on the table in front of him: alligator, red fish, or crab. They draw knives to see who picks first – its Hosea. And in another twist, Hosea not only gets to pick his protein, he also gets to assign the other 2 to Carla and Stefan. Hosea picks red fish, gives Carla the crab and sticks it to Stefan by giving him the alligator.

Moving on. I thought Hosea’s appetizer looked amazing! I would have totally ordered that if I’d been in a restaurant. Stefan and Carla both did soups which I thought was really odd for an appetizer that was assigned to them as ‘something that could be passed’. So you know this isnt’ something people are going to be sitting down to eat, they’re going to grab it off a tray. That situation doesn’t really call for soup to me but they both did it and they’re on this show and I certainly am not so maybe there’s something there. Everyone seemed to really be impressed with all of the appetizers and things were off to a good start.

Side note: Did anyone else notice the additional guest at the party? Otherwise knows as Gail’s b00bs! Hel-lo! What was going on with that dress???? And where was Emeril in this episode? I was hoping he’d stick around for both parts of the finale.

For the first course, it seemed that Carla had it in the bag. Unfortunately Casey’s idea for the meat ruined her second course and no one really liked it. The third course was interesting because Hosea did venison instead of a dessert of any kind. Carla chose to do a cheese course but accidentally curdled her blue cheese soufflé and was unable to serve it and Stefan made a banana lollipop and some ice cream. Not very impressive.

Once they are at Judges’ Table it is clear that Carla is not going to be the winner. They hardly even talk about her food at all, she is quickly dismissed from conversation and they begin comparing Stefan and Hosea. They do note that it didn’t really seem like some of the dishes Carla made were her normal style and wondered what was going on. Um, Casey was the problem there! The judges decide that Stefan’s dessert just wasn’t that special, and they didn’t really care for his watery fish first course either so the winner is……..Hosea!

I was honestly shocked. I felt like surely it would have been Carla until Casey got in the way and ruined it for her. And I really liked Casey before this! I felt like Hosea was always kind of under the radar this season. He only won a few challenges here and there, always just seemed to skate by. I guess he did something right in this finale though! I also felt like this finale was more rushed than others have been. I wish they would have given them a little more time in the kitchen so they could really produce something they were comfortable with and proud of.

I think the reunion next week will be really interesting. I really hope Hosea and Leah are not dating in real life!

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day looming over us and my love for champagne very apparent, I thought I'd share a few easy desserts that will go with any bottle of bubbly you choose!

One that may sound kind of odd but I promise is especially good involves the following ingredients:

Just clean and cut the tops off the strawberries and using a fork, dip one side lightly into the sour cream and then into the brown sugar and Y-U-M! I know it sounds weird, sour cream and brown sugar...but I promise its really good! And tastes fantastic with champagne! I don't know anyone who has ever tried this and NOT liked it, give it a try this Valentine's Day! (It also comes off seeming like you are a real 'foodie' and into the weird combos, maybe you could impress your sweetie with this interesting dessert!)

I even managed to find a picture of this online so I know I'm not the only one who likes this!

My other super easy dessert is a chocolate raspberry brownie fondue. This recipe is adapted from the Betty Crocker website. I have taken this to numerous watchings of The Bachelor, book club meetings, even Superbowl parties and it never disappoints!

For this recipe you will need:

Bake the brownies according to the package directions. Let cool and cut into 1 inch squares. (Don't forget to use a plastic knife to cut your brownies - it makes a much cleaner cut!) If you have one of those fondue bowls with a tealight underneath (I think you can get them for about $10 at Crate and Barrel...) you can use it for this to keep the mixture warm or just any normal bowl will do you just may have to heat it up again from time to time. For the icing to preserves ratio I use about 3 parts icing to 1 part preserves. I usually start with about 1/3 to 1/2 the container of icing and then add a few spoonfuls of preserves - or peanut butter, its pretty good with the chocolate also! Stir this up in a bowl and then heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Then let the dipping begin!

For a little variety, you can add some berries, marshmallows, or maybe pretzels to dip also!

Most importantly, don't forget the bubbly.......

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sparkly AND Turquoise? I'm in LOVE!

2009-02-06T09:37:00.000-08:00

With the weekend approaching and not much going on at work I decided to peruse some of my favorite websites and do a little planning for a much needed retail therapy session that will be taking place this weekend.

I'm not sure who is in charge of designing Banana Republic's jewelry these days but they are doing everything right in my book. Those of you who know me know I'm a sucker for anything sparkly and anything turquoise so the items below are totally speaking to me.

Here are a few things I'm going to have to check out in person:

Rings can be tricky so I'll have to try this one on and see how it works - could be a great new friend though! If the earrings are pretty colorful in person they may come home with me as well...

I'm also loving this bracelet but I'd like to wear it to work and I'm a little worried that it might be too noisy and I do have another gold and turqoise bracelet so I probably shouldn't - we'll have to see how the rest of the day goes..

I also came very close to buying this watch earlier - something about that turquoise gets me every time! I think its a sign I need to spend more time on the beach!Hope you all have a great weekend!

Workout DVD Review

2009-02-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

I heard about this dvd from the Four Fat Chicks blog and after seeing their amazing progress with this video and their Weight Watchers diet pact, I just had to give it a try for myself. I had been putting working out on the back burner the past few months because of a work commute but now that I've moved and have more time for things like that, I've become more motivated and I'm looking for new ways to workout. I can finally actually USE the 24 Hr Fitness membership that is so conveniently autodrafted from my bank account each month but the start of the new year also means the start of a new program for lots of people and the gym has been a little crowded. Also, there are just those days when you want to mix it up a little or save some time and workout at home.

So when I read about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred dvd I added it to my Netflix list and thought "how hard can it be?". The dvd is made up of 3 20-minute workout segments. Levels 1, 2, and 3. The dvd is designed with the idea that even if you only have 20 minutes to work out, if you do one of these 20 minute workouts each day for 30 days, you will see results. Each 20-minute segment is divided into a warm up, 3 different 6 minute workout routines, and then a cool down. Each workout routine is 3 minutes weight training, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute abs. Jillian keeps you busy the whole time with all that switching between exercises! The first level includes push ups, jumping jacks, squats, punches, jumping rope, crunches, reverse crunches, and I can't even remember what else. By the end of it I was a little sweaty but wanted to keep going and see what Level 2 was all about...

Level 2 was a little more of the same with some lunges, high kicks, and planks thrown in for good measure. Jillian doesn't let you take a water break but man I was reaching for mine every chance I got between the cardio and abs portions! This is a total body workout for sure! Its fast paced and Jillian seems focused and pretty serious about delivering results. I was able to do all of it, sans weights on the first go round, and Jillian is there cheering you on along the way which helps a lot too. She knows just what to say to keep a girl going "Picture yourself going shopping for jeans - or even better bathing suits!" - definitely got me going a little harder! There are 2 other girls in the video also, one doing an advanced version of each move and one doing an easier version so you just do what you can - the important thing is to keep moving. After I had finished I didn't feel like it had been the hardest workout in the world or anything but upon waking up the next morning and even still today, 2 days later, I am feeling those squats, lunges, chest presses. This dvd is about $10 and totally worth it. I think I'll be bringing Jillian home for good and adding her to my workout video library pretty soon! After my trial run of Levels 1 and 2 I wasn't up for Level 3 - honestly after Level 2 I'm a little scared of what is in involved in Level 3! Maybe I'll get there once I own the dvd and have mastered the other 2...

The only complaint I have is that you can't set the workouts to play all in a row. So if you want to do more than one, you have to go back to the menu, select the next one and then go from there. Not a huge thing but a "play all" feature would be nice. And the music selection isn't the best but what workout dvd really has music that is that great? Not many!

There are only 2 other workout dvds that I really like. One I've had since college and even though Billy Blanks has been around the world and back at this point and probably has about 100 dvds, I'm still a fan of the original. The dvd I have has 3 workouts on it and once you are familiar with the moves, the Advanced one is great. It runs about an hour and has great moves for strength and toning. There is a good section at the end for abs and butt/legs too. I can do this one over and over without getting too annoyed with the music and/or people also. I started doing Tae Bo in high school and still, 10 years later, I would be happy to pop this in and kick and punch with Billy for an hour!

The other dvd I regularly do at home is MTV Pilates Mix. This dvd is made up of 2 30-minute workouts and a 12-minute bonus routine for whenever you're in a real time crunch. On the 30-minute workouts, one concentrates on lower body and one concentrates on upper body. To me, the workouts are timed perfectly. They're not too long or too short. This dvd does have a "play all" feature so I usually select that and do both 30-minute workouts. This is the perfect workout for those times when you don't want to so hot and sweaty that you have to take a shower but you do want to get a good workout in. The toning and ab moves are great and I feel like it does help you lengthen your muscles and improve your overall posture. The instructor for this also does a Power Yoga dvd for MTV but I haven't tried that one just yet. It is coming up in my Netflix queue so I will let you know what I think pretty soon!

Also, none of these dvds require any additional equipment. You could use some light weights for the 30 Day Shred, but thats about it. You just need to make the space on the floor in front of the tv! And Jillian and the Pilates Mix dvds are listed for about $10 each on Amazon.com and qualify for their great "Super Saver Shipping" so you could add on something fun to make up the $25 minimum order and have these in your home by next week! Sadly, I just realized that the Tae Bo dvd I mentioned is pretty hard to come by these days. I think all of his workouts are probably great, the original advanced one is just one that I prefer. He must be doing something right if he's still able to make and sell all these new dvds!

TV Schedule

2009-02-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

So I've seen this post on a few other blogs lately and thought I'd share mine as well. Here's my weekly tv rundown. I don't usually watch these shows when they air, I'm a fan of the DVR and usually get all of this in in one or two marathon sittings....

Monday:
Gossip Girl
Jon & Kate + 8
The City/The Hills

Tuesday:
90210
One Tree Hill
The Real Housewives of the OC

Wednesday:
The Real World (I've heard this cast is great but honestly they're still on my dvr - I will catch up soon hopefully!)
Top Chef

Thursday:
Grey's Anatomy (also WAY behind on this...)
The Office
Ace of Cakes

Sunday:
Desperate Housewives
Brothers & Sisters

So you see its a lot of reality tv and teenage drama with some things that are more appropriate for my age thrown in for good measure. I will also usually watch any type of "challenge" show that is on The Food Network and can easily get sucked into a Lifetime movie. I am also so excited for the return of The Millionaire Matchmaker, The Rachel Zoe Project, and The Real Housewives of NY - I'll watch pretty much anything on Bravo apparently. I'd also LOVE to get into The Biggest Loser because I have heard such fantastic things about it, maybe next season....

Love Lessons

2009-02-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

This article was on msn.com last Friday and all weekend I've been thinking about how true it is - you dog lovers will understand!

Here's the link to the full article: http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/articlematch.aspx?cp-documentid=16947053&gt1=32023

And just to sum it up...
1. The reasurrance of forgiveness: In order to have a successful partnership, letting bygones be bygones is crucial. An inability to get over issues and move ahead is a key roadblock to happiness. If humans could let the little things go as easily as dogs do, their relationships would be better for it.

2. The security of unconditional love: Forbes says that as a rule, when a dog loves his owner, that bond is lasting and real. When it comes to romantic relationships, humans should strive to emulate a dog's focus on what a person really offers in terms of love, kindness and warmth, he advises.

3. The comfort of consistency: In a romantic relationship, consistency can be quite comforting. What's not to love about a partner who is never moody or capricious? ( I will say that it would be boring to be in a relationship with someone who never had a change in their mood BUT I never get tired of seeing how excited Ellie is to see me at the end of the day, or even when I just go get the mail and come right back. There she is, ALWAYS, greeting me with a huge smile and wagging her butt like crazy! I know I can count on that every day, without question, and who wouldn't love to get a similar reaction from their partner each time they walked into a room???)

4. The need to be playful: Forbes notes that most dogs want to have a good time, keeping things light and not so serious all of the time. In police-dog training, Forbes explains, training is balanced with play and fun. "The harder you go at it in a training phase, the more you have to counterbalance it," he says. "It's the same with a relationship — you have to relieve the pressure through play and good times."

5. The importance of effective communication: (PS If this were my list, this would be much higher than #5!) While communicating with your partner is important in a relationship, it's not merely the act of communicating that will ensure your relationship's success, but finding the way to do so that best matches your partner's needs. Essentially, no one person or dog communicates the same way — each individual has a unique style, and taking the time to learn about your partner's needs is the key to a strong bond.

And, because I'm new to the blogging world and not quite sure about reprinting something someone else wrote here is some more info on where you can find this: Chelsea Kaplan's blog, "The Momtourage" can be found at http://www.themomtourage.com/

I wish.....

2009-01-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

I wish I was back here today!!!

Movie Review: Enchanted

2009-01-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! I don't know about you but I am VERY ready for the weekend. Last night I finally gave in and watched "Enchanted". I remember seeing previews for it and being somewhat interested but wasn't just dying to see it. Then came all the award nominations which peaked my interest a bit more so I added it to my Netflix queue. Finally this week it made its way to the top and arrived in my mailbox.

The premise of the movie is that Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in an animated fairytale world where she sings all the time, believes in true love, all the animals love her - and even do her hair and get her dressed in the morning. (Imagine birds tying bows in her hair and the whole bit - thats her) Her "one true love" in fairytale land turns out to be a prince (James Marsden). Upon meeting her, he rescues her from a troll and they immediately decide to get married. The prince has a wicked stepmother (Susan Sarandon) who has never wanted the prince to get married because it would jeopardize her status as queen. So on their wedding day, the wicked stepmother convinces Giselle to make a wedding wish and pushes her into a well that leads her to New York City.
Once in New York, Giselle is completely lost but luckily runs into Patrick Dempsey. He is annoyed with her at first because she still behaves as if everything were a fairytale but eventually he realizes that she truly is not from around here and needs his help. He lets her stay with him and his daughter at his apartment as she waits for her prince to come and save her from New York and take her back to their fairytale world. Once the prince realizes what has happened, he pops up in New York also, along with his servant and a chipmunk who steals the show in several scenes. The servant is in love with the queen so he follows the prince to try and deter him from finding Giselle.

Overall the movie is really cute and I would highly recommend it. Its very entertaining, heartwarming and funny. I found myself laughing out loud several times. Amy Adams did a fantastic job also. I had no idea what an amazing voice she had! I will say that the beginning is a little slow but once they're in NYC it gets really good. So if you haven't seen Enchanted you're missing out - I give it 5 stars!

Have a great weekend!

Guilty Pleasures

2009-01-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

So I have to admit, I am a fan of reality tv. And one of my many guilty pleasure reality tv shows is The Real Housewives of the OC. Please tell me you watch it also! Somehow I'm only getting into it in these past two seasons but now I am totally hooked! Seeing the reruns from previous seasons kind of makes me glad I didn't watch it before though - how annoying are Jo and Slade???

So, did anyone watch it last night? W-O-W! Tamra's fancy dinner party was so scandalous they needed to bring last week's antics into this week's episode as well! I do feel bad for Gretchen and think that she probably just really needed to cut loose a bit but I wish she could have been a little more graceful about it. I am so glad she did not end up hooking up with Tamra's son Ryan though and that they also did not keep filming her through the night (probably getting sick) and rolling around on her couch the next day fighting what must have been a monster hangover. And I must give her credit for returning to 'the scene of the crime' so quickly for Tamra's neighborhood pool party - she wasn't ashamed at all! I wonder what the reunion will be like though when Gretchen sees all the sneaky things Tamra tries to do to her to get her in trouble or just find out some dirt on her. Tamra needs to GROW UP - come on! I'm sure she's just jealous... And how inappropriate was Tamra's outfit at the kids pool party - those boobs are huge! She so did not get a reduction between seasons like she originally said, there is just no way!

This week the girls also traveled in a pack by limo once again to some fabulous salon/spa/shopping mecca and had yet another wonderful meal that I'm sure they didn't pay a cent for. Fred Segal was the location of choice this time and don't tell me that 'free perfume' they got wasn't just a big commercial for whatever that company was. There's tons to do in Fred Segal - did anyone else think it was weird that they just seemed to get the perfume and go?

The lunch conversation was a little more serious than normal when the girls began discussing what Gretchen would do for money if/when Jeff, her fiance, passed away. Vicki went into full on business mode and tried to give her advice but this just started a fight between Lynne and the rest of the girls and yet another situation where the old girls treat the new girls like a lowly pledge or something. Its so weird how they continue to act like that at their ages. They are all on this show together, yes, but its not like they've really done anything to be on the show or really proven themselves in some way that makes them more worthy to be there than anyone else. Oh well. Did anyone catch that Gretchen went to Baylor though??? Interesting!

The introduction of Lynne's business was also new for this week and lucky for her, she was able to make some headway in the process of getting her bracelets into Fred Segal. The bracelets are cute but definitely not worthy of the $225-$375 price tag she claims to be selling them for. I tried to find some info online but after a few attempts at searching the name of her company, "Cuff Love", on my work computer and coming up with all kinds of "love handcuff" references, I decided to give that up.

And now we must stay tuned for next week when Vicki and Jeana go visit Jeana's son and attend one of his baseball games. I must say that I think Jeana and Vicki are my two faves on the show. I hope that Jeana has some fun things happen for her soon!

I'm looking forward to Restaurant Wars on tonight's episode of Top Chef!

Things I Love: Nivea SOS Lip Care

2009-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

This will hopefully be the first of many beauty product reviews on this site. Today its all about the lips. Living here in Texas where the high can be in the 80s one day and the 50s the next and where we switch back and forth between the a/c and the heater (sometimes more than once a day) - it can take a toll on a girl's smile! I've tried other lip balms over the years, some I felt I became addicted to because of some weird ingredient in them, you know the ones you just have this compulsion to reapply as soon as the teeniest bit wears off? That is not the case with this one! Nivea SOS Lip Care is fabulous! After just one night of wearing this stuff, I woke up with a totally new set of lips! Now I am addicted to piling it on before I go to bed and when I wake up my lips don't feel the least bit chapped and the feeling lasts throughout the whole day. There have been a few times that I've had to break it out during the day but its not really a nice clear shiny color like some other lip balms are so its not the best for daytime or out of the house wear. Don't get me wrong, its not awful by any means but its not the kind of thing you'd just use as a gloss on its own. But I do highly recommend it - if your lips are chapped now try it tonight and I promise they will be transformed by tomorrow!

Product Details: http://www.nivea.com/products/show/232

Movie Review: The House Bunny and The Women

2009-01-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

So, I am a Netflix addict. Actually it may be more of a 'mail addict' thing. I love getting things in the mail, especially magazines and since becoming a Netflix member I have found little that compares to seeing that red envelope in my mailbox. I am on the '2 at a time' plan just to raise the chances of having something in my mailbox each day. I watch the movies and then send them back asap to ensure another one is waiting for me sooner rather than later! I'm also an avid magazine subscriber and LOVE it when I have 3 or more magazines arrive on the same day. One of my favorite things to do is curl up on the sofa with a blanket and a pile of magazines - call me boring but I am very well read and up on most of the trends!

And now back to the movies. I am currently in the process of moving - details to come in another post - and therefore I'm crashing with my parents for awhile and my mom and I have had 2 girly movie nights this week.

Monday Night Movie Review: "The House Bunny"
The premise was funny, having occasionally caught myself watching "The Girls Next Door" on E! I found it a bit humorous that she was being kicked out of the mansion for being too old at 28. And having lived in a sorority house for one year in college, I also found it funny that she figured the next best thing to The Playboy Mansion was a sorority house. Seemed like a sure thing and entertainment-wise it did not disappoint. (I'm pretty easy on the mindless chick flicks....) Anna Farris is "The House Bunny" and although her fake voice does get a bit old the story is funny and there are some moments where I'm sure anyone would find it hard not to laugh out loud. Anna gets kicked out of the mansion and must find a new job. She hears a group of girls talking about a party and follows them home which happens to be their sorority house. It is here that she learns about being a house mother and about one chapter in need of a new one. She trots down the street and after some convincing is hired due to her ability to attract boys. The House Bunny successfully turns the "dorky" girls into supermodels and has them wearing lingerie to parties in no time. Totally normal, right? Their upgrade in looks also means an upgrade in popularity and they begin fighting with the other sororities for pledges. Also in this movie are a few Hollywood kids - Rumer Willis plays one of the dorky sorority girls and Colin Hanks plays a love interest for Anna Farris. All in all, I'd give it 3 stars....

Tuesday Night Movie Review: "The Women"
Now I did not have high hopes for this one. I had read a review somewhere that said to not even waste your time getting it On Demand, which to me is pretty bad since all it requires is pushing a button, no travel to the actual video store or anything. So I went into it with low expectations and ended up really liking it! It has a stellar cast including Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Cloris Leachman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes, Candice Bergen and Bette Midler. The premise is that Meg, Annete, Jada and Debra are all best friends and then they learn that Eva is having an affair with Meg's husband and devise a plan of revenge. My mom and I both enjoyed this one a lot, its full of great things about strong friendships among women and the things we do for each other without even asking. I would recommend this for most anyone. And afterwards we realized that there was not a single man in the entire movie! Not even a male voice was heard - it was all about the women! I would give this one 4 out of 5 stars...

I just checked my queue and I have "Enchanted" heading my way tomorrow!

Welcome!

2009-01-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well I have long been resisting jumping on the blogging bandwagon but as I sit here for yet another day at work with not much to do, I've caved. I'm not sure if I'll really be a regular poster or how often it may happen but I'm hoping to fill these pages with recipes, reviews of books, movies, makeup/beauty products and tv shows, as well as decorating ideas and whatever else strikes me. Champange and Sprinkles are two of my favorite things - I may post on them from time to time also......welcome and thanks for reading!