Since Hubby is turning 25 this year, I wanted to make this an extra special birthday for him. We've never really had a party for him. We've made the day special sure, going out to eat, making cake, people singing him "Happy Birthday", but never a real full-blown party. So I'm super-excited that it's coming together. Another of our friends has a birthday the same day, so we're going to celebrate all together on Saturday. So far, I think there are going to be about 16 people coming. You can't believe how happy that makes me... but also a little nervous, will our apartment hold everyone? I choose to believe it will. Hubby and I are going to do some rearranging on Friday (we get the day off!) so we can move some things out of the way and hopefully open up our space more.
Starting tomorrow, after work, things are going to really get going I think. I'm planning on getting all the food, decorations, and his birthday gift, and I also have Easter cupcakes to make for someone and have them ready by Friday at noon.
Friday I don't have to work-- Praise the Lord! So I'm planning on baking and decorating the cake, cleaning the entire apartment, decorating, re-arranging, taking the cupcakes to campus, eating out early for his birthday, and hopefully fitting in a workout somewhere.
Then Saturday I'm planning on running in the morning, then starting to cook and prepare the food. I'm excited about it! Here's the menu for the evening:
Queso Dip
Chips and Salsa
Calico Beans
Hamburgers
Hotdogs
Fruit w/ dip
Ice Cream
Cake!
A couple of those items I chose because I can put them in the crockpot to keep warm for the length of the party and I won't have to be working on them right up until people are coming. I am really pumped because I like to make lots of food (as you can attest to from my Christmas meal), but usually don't have enough people around to eat it. This time, I think I do!! And I can't wait. I'll be sure to try to take lots of pictures and post them up here for you next week. I'll be sure to post at least once more before the long weekend. Until then...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Birthday Area
Earlier in March I went to a women's conference at church. One of the breakout sessions I attended was about Hospitality and Homemaking and I just loved it! She had so many great ideas for around the home and hosting parties. One suggestion she made was to decorate an area of the house for each person's birthday in your family. I thought that was a wonderful idea! The person gets to feel special for the whole month and things they enjoy are featured in your home. I decided to make Hubby's on Sunday. I wanted it to be up for awhile prior to his actual birthday. Here's the result:
I added one from each angle so you could see a bit better:
These items are so representative of Hubby! I actually had a lot of fun putting it all together. Here's a little run-down:
The cloth is from his trip to Senegal, Africa, as well as the carvings on the ends of the piano
"Red Moon Rising" and the candle are representative of his passion and interest in 24/7 Prayer
Ted Dekker is one of his favorite authors
The seashells are for his love of the ocean, I wanted to put up the "Finding Nemo" DVD but I couldn't find it anywhere in our apartment
I think everything else is pretty much self-explanatory. The only thing we'll be adding now are his birthday cards as they arrive. Four days left until party time!
I added one from each angle so you could see a bit better:
These items are so representative of Hubby! I actually had a lot of fun putting it all together. Here's a little run-down:
The cloth is from his trip to Senegal, Africa, as well as the carvings on the ends of the piano
"Red Moon Rising" and the candle are representative of his passion and interest in 24/7 Prayer
Ted Dekker is one of his favorite authors
The seashells are for his love of the ocean, I wanted to put up the "Finding Nemo" DVD but I couldn't find it anywhere in our apartment
I think everything else is pretty much self-explanatory. The only thing we'll be adding now are his birthday cards as they arrive. Four days left until party time!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Ten Reasons
Hubby's birthday is coming up this weekend, so I want to dedicate some posts to him this week because he is truly a special guy and I'm extremely thankful that God put him in my life! For today, I'm going to list ten reasons why he is so great. There are definitely more, but I'm going to do the first ten that come to me. I definitely can work on saying more nice things to him and about him, so maybe writing these down will cause me to think about, and, therefore, tell him more. Here goes:
1. He treats me better than I deserve... much better.
2. He is thoughtful and kind to others.
3. He is self-sacrificing.
4. He makes God his #1 priority.
4. On rare occasions, he can be very funny ;-)
5. He loves to read... even while he's in seminary and reading all those textbooks, he's reading other books... lots of them!
6. He's willing to watch chick flicks with me!
7. He is willing to try new things.
8. He is not a picky eater.
9. He is a good driver.
10. He tries to eat healthy and exercises from time to time and that tells me he not only cares about himself, but about our life together.
I think I've got quite a catch :-)
I'm going to try out this new sign-off... To Life! (What do you think?)
1. He treats me better than I deserve... much better.
2. He is thoughtful and kind to others.
3. He is self-sacrificing.
4. He makes God his #1 priority.
4. On rare occasions, he can be very funny ;-)
5. He loves to read... even while he's in seminary and reading all those textbooks, he's reading other books... lots of them!
6. He's willing to watch chick flicks with me!
7. He is willing to try new things.
8. He is not a picky eater.
9. He is a good driver.
10. He tries to eat healthy and exercises from time to time and that tells me he not only cares about himself, but about our life together.
I think I've got quite a catch :-)
I'm going to try out this new sign-off... To Life! (What do you think?)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Aldi is here
It's been a week and I haven't posted anything, so I thought I could come up with at least something to write as an update. Let's see, the Aldi store has come to town, several places around town as a matter of fact. They opened up last week and we already went shopping there on Saturday. We got some fresh produce as well as some frozen goods and everything was actually pretty great! We are going to have to do some comparison shopping to see what's actually worth buying off-brand, tastes good, and is cheaper vs. buying the on-brand, tastes better, and is worth just a few more nickels. But so far we've been happy with the quality of food they have. Happy Wednesday! The work week is half over :-)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Green Velvet, if you please
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I really don't know all the legends and tales that go along with St. Patrick's Day, but I sure do like to wear green and make fun food! So that's what I started last night and plan to continue today.
On Monday, I showed you some pictures of the ingredients of what I'm planning to make tonight for supper. Did any of you guess? If you guessed REUBENS, then you are correct. I love reuben sandwiches! I never thought I would because I honestly don't like any of the ingredients separately, but put them together and that is one yummy sandwich. I also like to get reubens from restaurants and that's how I "judge" if a restaurant is really good or not. Aren't I just a superior food critic? Ha! Anyway, Hubby and I get to look forward to those tonight.
As for dessert? Last night I got to have some fun in the kitchen. I was looking at Bakerella's blog and she made these... Green Velvet Cupcakes. I thought-- those look fun, I want to make them too! So I printed off her red velvet cake recipe. Before Biggest Loser started, I put Hubby in charge of making supper and I set about to making the cake. This is one of the first cakes I've made entirely from scratch and it was really cool to watch. I put all the wet ingredients together and didn't mix them at first and it looked like a big science experiment. Then I got to add an entire bottle of green food coloring (Fun!) and stirred it up. Here's what I got:
Doesn't it look so cool? I've never made red velvet cake before, even from a box, so starting with green was definitely an adventure.
Next came the dry ingredients:
Then I mixed it all together and got a little of this action:
Cool huh? I did love science in school! I decided to make cupcakes, so I could at least share some of my cake. The rest I poured into an 8" cake pan for Hubby and I to enjoy after our awesome Reubens.
In The Oven
Freshly Baked Green Velvet Cupcakes
Our Cake
It wasn't quite as pretty as the cupcakes, it got a little brown on top. But that's the beauty of eating it at home, it doesn't matter!
A Wee Bit O' Cake
And we did. We both bit right into these cupcakes last night and they were SOOO good. I almost could have eaten the cake by itself. But I did make some frosting. I knew the typical frosting of choice is cream cheese, but I didn't have any on hand, so I did some browsing. If you can believe it, I picked one recommended by the one and only Pioneer Woman :) She had recently made some and loved it. The frosting was "The Best Frosting I've Ever Had". To be honest, I could tell the potential was there, but I don't think I let the cooked part, cool down enough prior to mixing it all together. So it was pretty thin and runny. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it on my cake or cupcakes either. I ended up pretty much pouring it on the cake and just letting it drip down the sides. As for the cupcakes, I just dunked the tops of each one into the frosting and then sprinkled some bright green sugar sprinkles on top! Even though I typically like a good amount of frosting on my cakes and cupcakes, this time the cake is definitely the standout and it definitely shines through with a little less icing. I would like to try making the frosting again and hope that it sets up a bit more because of all the rave reviews it received.
Hope you enjoyed my little "green" post and have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
And someone, please, for goodness sake, tell me what the song is that I'm thinking of in the title! Now that I wrote the words, I can only hear "Green Velvet, if you please" and can't think of the actual words. Anybody? Anybody? Ease my mind!!!!
On Monday, I showed you some pictures of the ingredients of what I'm planning to make tonight for supper. Did any of you guess? If you guessed REUBENS, then you are correct. I love reuben sandwiches! I never thought I would because I honestly don't like any of the ingredients separately, but put them together and that is one yummy sandwich. I also like to get reubens from restaurants and that's how I "judge" if a restaurant is really good or not. Aren't I just a superior food critic? Ha! Anyway, Hubby and I get to look forward to those tonight.
As for dessert? Last night I got to have some fun in the kitchen. I was looking at Bakerella's blog and she made these... Green Velvet Cupcakes. I thought-- those look fun, I want to make them too! So I printed off her red velvet cake recipe. Before Biggest Loser started, I put Hubby in charge of making supper and I set about to making the cake. This is one of the first cakes I've made entirely from scratch and it was really cool to watch. I put all the wet ingredients together and didn't mix them at first and it looked like a big science experiment. Then I got to add an entire bottle of green food coloring (Fun!) and stirred it up. Here's what I got:
Doesn't it look so cool? I've never made red velvet cake before, even from a box, so starting with green was definitely an adventure.
Next came the dry ingredients:
Then I mixed it all together and got a little of this action:
Cool huh? I did love science in school! I decided to make cupcakes, so I could at least share some of my cake. The rest I poured into an 8" cake pan for Hubby and I to enjoy after our awesome Reubens.
In The Oven
Freshly Baked Green Velvet Cupcakes
Our Cake
It wasn't quite as pretty as the cupcakes, it got a little brown on top. But that's the beauty of eating it at home, it doesn't matter!
A Wee Bit O' Cake
And we did. We both bit right into these cupcakes last night and they were SOOO good. I almost could have eaten the cake by itself. But I did make some frosting. I knew the typical frosting of choice is cream cheese, but I didn't have any on hand, so I did some browsing. If you can believe it, I picked one recommended by the one and only Pioneer Woman :) She had recently made some and loved it. The frosting was "The Best Frosting I've Ever Had". To be honest, I could tell the potential was there, but I don't think I let the cooked part, cool down enough prior to mixing it all together. So it was pretty thin and runny. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it on my cake or cupcakes either. I ended up pretty much pouring it on the cake and just letting it drip down the sides. As for the cupcakes, I just dunked the tops of each one into the frosting and then sprinkled some bright green sugar sprinkles on top! Even though I typically like a good amount of frosting on my cakes and cupcakes, this time the cake is definitely the standout and it definitely shines through with a little less icing. I would like to try making the frosting again and hope that it sets up a bit more because of all the rave reviews it received.
Hope you enjoyed my little "green" post and have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
And someone, please, for goodness sake, tell me what the song is that I'm thinking of in the title! Now that I wrote the words, I can only hear "Green Velvet, if you please" and can't think of the actual words. Anybody? Anybody? Ease my mind!!!!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Upcoming Food Feature
As you know, St. Patrick's Day is coming up on Wednesday. I wanted to make something "traditional", but am not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage. So I jumped on to the lovely Kraft food site and they had a few ideas. I took some pictures of the ingredients I bought this weekend... can you guess what I'm making?
Any guesses? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited to eat on Wednesday now!
The Crunchy Caramel Reese's Bars over the weekend turned out awesome! I didn't get any pictures, but you should definitely refer back to my last post and get the recipe.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. After church, Hubby and I went to the park and had a picnic. It was in the mid-70s and sunny. It was wonderful! We played frisbee, played catch with the football, and took a walk along Trinity Trails. It was great to be warm outside and get some sun! Definitely a great start to the week!
Any guesses? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited to eat on Wednesday now!
The Crunchy Caramel Reese's Bars over the weekend turned out awesome! I didn't get any pictures, but you should definitely refer back to my last post and get the recipe.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. After church, Hubby and I went to the park and had a picnic. It was in the mid-70s and sunny. It was wonderful! We played frisbee, played catch with the football, and took a walk along Trinity Trails. It was great to be warm outside and get some sun! Definitely a great start to the week!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Spring Forward
It's been a week since I've posted, and I'm really trying to update at least once a week, so I wanted to write at least a little something. I haven't done any baking this week, had to eat all those mocha brownies myself and decided I should probably take a couple of days off after that. But tomorrow I'm baking with my friend Tara and we're making Crunchy Caramel Reeses Cookie Bars! Whoa! Talk about delicious-- at least we hope. The good thing is, we'll be sharing these, the pan won't be laying around for Hubby and I to snack on for a week!
Hope you come back and see how they turned out!
P.S. Don't forget to move your clocks forward this weekend!
Hope you come back and see how they turned out!
P.S. Don't forget to move your clocks forward this weekend!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Shortcake's Brain Blurts
I'm having a hard time focusing. Right now all I can think about are the Mocha Brownies I made last night. They didn't even turn out right, and I STILL want them!! So today you will get a few random thoughts before I try to finish up a few things before the weekend officially begins.
If you haven't seen it on Facebook yet, here's Courtney, Phil, and I starting our half marathon!
It's been beautiful outside the past few days and it makes me want to run. But I'm trying to be good to my body and give it a full week of rest. So nothing intense until Monday. But today I will have walked 4 miles. Hopefully that's ok!
If I make these mocha brownies again and they turn out right, I will definitely share the recipe.
I am signing up with a team to run a 10K at the Fort Worth Zoo on April 17th. We are going to be the Southwestern Squirrels and we have a mascot and everything!
I am going to a Women's Conference at church tomorrow and am really looking forward to it!
I'm planning to go to Romania for a mission trip July 15-27, this summer. It's something I've always wanted to do and I can't believe how great it's working out. I will be sending out a letter soon!
I miss my family ... a LOT!
I wish I could spend more time outside, gardening, playing softball, playing tennis, camping, taking care of animals, running, breathing in fresh air, being warm...
I am thankful for my job. I love the people I work with. I know there are many, many people who are un-employed, so on the days that it's hard to be sitting inside at work, instead of complaining or whining I thank God for providing me with a job.
I love to bake, but I'm still deciding if that's something I'd want to do as a job the rest of my life.
I am only 8 lbs. away from my goal weight. I can't believe I am so close!
The octopus is the most intelligent animal in the world that does not have a backbone. Studies have shown they can solve fairly complex problems and are considered to have approximately the same intelligence level as a dog. *From the Amazing Fact Generator
Hope you all have a great weekend!
If you haven't seen it on Facebook yet, here's Courtney, Phil, and I starting our half marathon!
It's been beautiful outside the past few days and it makes me want to run. But I'm trying to be good to my body and give it a full week of rest. So nothing intense until Monday. But today I will have walked 4 miles. Hopefully that's ok!
If I make these mocha brownies again and they turn out right, I will definitely share the recipe.
I am signing up with a team to run a 10K at the Fort Worth Zoo on April 17th. We are going to be the Southwestern Squirrels and we have a mascot and everything!
I am going to a Women's Conference at church tomorrow and am really looking forward to it!
I'm planning to go to Romania for a mission trip July 15-27, this summer. It's something I've always wanted to do and I can't believe how great it's working out. I will be sending out a letter soon!
I miss my family ... a LOT!
I wish I could spend more time outside, gardening, playing softball, playing tennis, camping, taking care of animals, running, breathing in fresh air, being warm...
I am thankful for my job. I love the people I work with. I know there are many, many people who are un-employed, so on the days that it's hard to be sitting inside at work, instead of complaining or whining I thank God for providing me with a job.
I love to bake, but I'm still deciding if that's something I'd want to do as a job the rest of my life.
I am only 8 lbs. away from my goal weight. I can't believe I am so close!
The octopus is the most intelligent animal in the world that does not have a backbone. Studies have shown they can solve fairly complex problems and are considered to have approximately the same intelligence level as a dog. *From the Amazing Fact Generator
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Knock! Knock! Who's There?
My sister and brother-in-law!!!! That's who! What a surprise that was. On Friday, Courtney and I went down to pick up our registration packets for the Cowtown. Then Hubby came and escorted me away to Johnny Carino's for my pre-race pasta. When we got there, what to my eyes did appear? But my sister and her husband sitting at a table waiting for us!! It was so awesome! I was shocked and so happy they made the drive down! We ate wonderful food at Carino's and then went home. My sis helped me make cake pops for the baby shower I had the next day.
Cake Pops!
The next morning we got up early... like 5:20 am! Crazy! And headed to the Cowtown in downtown Fort Worth, TX. I got to eat a wonderful jelly doughnut for my Race Day breakfast! It was great. There were sooooo many people there, over 20,000 participants this year. Traffic was terrible and it was hard to get anywhere. Courtney, Phil, and I had a hard time even getting into the starting area for the half marathon. There was just too many people. Finally we hopped the gate because they were already starting to start the first corral of racers. Our corral didn't even start until 7:45, about 15 min. late. I'll try to link a video of the start of the race that hubby took on our camera. We were all so revved up and ready to go.
10 Miles Down!
The race was awesome!! It was a beautiful day, started out a little chilly, but it was sunny and got plenty warm for running 13.1 miles! Courtney and Phil really helped me keep my pace. Courtney did amazing-- she was pure adrenaline and competition and seemed to have a wonderful time! Being there with so many people running in the same race is an awesome experience. We had a great time and I was so glad to get to run with such great friends! How did I do you ask? Well I'm glad you did. My goal was to finish in 2 hrs. and 30 min. as you know. But I totally beat it! My time ended up being: 2 hrs. 17 min. and 22 sec. I had a 10:29 min. pace and placed 146 out of 256 for Females 18-24 yrs. old. It was so awesome! And I'm proud of myself for this accomplishment. I'm officially able to check off one of my New Year's Goals!
Courtney and I with our Finisher Medals!
I decided that I really like this race. At the end I felt like I had just floated through-- not literally because it was hard and I was definitely tired and sore-- but it just went so much faster than I expected. And it felt so good! I think I will defintely be doing more half marathons in my future. I'm so glad I'm discovering this at age 23 when I have many more years to be able to race! I can't wait! Thank you for all of your support and encouragement during my time of training. I appreciate all of you so much! I'll post a few more race day pictures now. Enjoy!
Bananas are good to prevent muscle cramps
Ice cream is ALWAYS a good snack!
Until next time...
Cake Pops!
The next morning we got up early... like 5:20 am! Crazy! And headed to the Cowtown in downtown Fort Worth, TX. I got to eat a wonderful jelly doughnut for my Race Day breakfast! It was great. There were sooooo many people there, over 20,000 participants this year. Traffic was terrible and it was hard to get anywhere. Courtney, Phil, and I had a hard time even getting into the starting area for the half marathon. There was just too many people. Finally we hopped the gate because they were already starting to start the first corral of racers. Our corral didn't even start until 7:45, about 15 min. late. I'll try to link a video of the start of the race that hubby took on our camera. We were all so revved up and ready to go.
10 Miles Down!
The race was awesome!! It was a beautiful day, started out a little chilly, but it was sunny and got plenty warm for running 13.1 miles! Courtney and Phil really helped me keep my pace. Courtney did amazing-- she was pure adrenaline and competition and seemed to have a wonderful time! Being there with so many people running in the same race is an awesome experience. We had a great time and I was so glad to get to run with such great friends! How did I do you ask? Well I'm glad you did. My goal was to finish in 2 hrs. and 30 min. as you know. But I totally beat it! My time ended up being: 2 hrs. 17 min. and 22 sec. I had a 10:29 min. pace and placed 146 out of 256 for Females 18-24 yrs. old. It was so awesome! And I'm proud of myself for this accomplishment. I'm officially able to check off one of my New Year's Goals!
Courtney and I with our Finisher Medals!
I decided that I really like this race. At the end I felt like I had just floated through-- not literally because it was hard and I was definitely tired and sore-- but it just went so much faster than I expected. And it felt so good! I think I will defintely be doing more half marathons in my future. I'm so glad I'm discovering this at age 23 when I have many more years to be able to race! I can't wait! Thank you for all of your support and encouragement during my time of training. I appreciate all of you so much! I'll post a few more race day pictures now. Enjoy!
Bananas are good to prevent muscle cramps
Ice cream is ALWAYS a good snack!
Until next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)