Friends With Benefits

Pretty funny. If you liked No Strings Attached, you will like this movie as well since they are pretty much identical. If you don't believe me watch this!

I think if you put Ashton with Mila you would have the best one yet! And you would only need one movie...ha ha

SYTYCD Season 8: Top 8

Favorite Dance: Performed by Melanie and Sasha. Choreographed by Sonya Tayeh

Favorite Girl: Melanie

Favorite Guy: Marko

Getting closer to the finale! Woo Hoo! National dance day is this Saturday, July 30! So get out there and bust a move!

Cookie Cake

Mexican Tortilla Casserole

Quick and easy dinner on a hot, rainy, summer night. Plus I got to try out my skills on photographing ugly food...ha ha

The recipe comes from The Cooking Connection at H.E.B (please excuse the food splatter)

It's not a bad recipe at all especially if you don't handle spicy well. However, I like spice in my life so here's what I would do differently...

1. Only use half the jar of soup and use hot enchilada sauce for the rest
2. Use rotisserie chicken meat
3. Add avocado on top once cooled

Letter Art

What do you get a 1 year old???? I kept asking myself this over and over again. Do I get clothes?!?! Nah everyone gives clothes. Do I give toys?!?! Nah everyone will give toys too. Can I give a gift that is more for the mom?!?! Sure!!!

I had seen letter art around and thought it was really cool and wanted to try it out. So I decided for Erica's son Evan's first birthday, I would make his name like that. Of course it would be more for Erica to look at now, but later on maybe Evan will like it too. Don't worry I got Evan some kid stuff as well.

Can you tell what everything is??? Everything is from around my house and in order it's...a lounge chair, mailbox, candle holder and basketball goal.

Isn't it amazing how you can look at stuff for years and never notice that it resembles a letter!! Crazy!!

Has anyone else tried this?

p.s. All pictures were filtered to the Sepia setting to go along with the brown wood and I added the green ribbon to the frame so that it would match his room.

SYTYCD Season 8: Top 10

Bring out the ALL STARS!

Favorite Dance: Performed by Sasha and Twitch, Choreographed by Christopher Scott

Favorite Girl: Melanie

Favorite Guy: Marko

Lady Gaga is guest judging next week...should be interesting. OH and there are new All Stars...woo hoo!!

Happy Birthday Mimi

Yesterday was my Grandmother's 81st b-day! So of course I had to make her a special b-day card!

I used my handy dandy cricut machine and the wild card cartridge.

Balloon Wreath

Can't decide if this should be for birthdays or summer or just when I feel like looking at a multitude of colors...ha ha

My ultimate vote is for it to be a birthday wreath (hence why I'm posting it now).

It's super easy to make...all you need are balloons, floral pins and a straw wreath. All of this can be found at Hobby Lobby and don't forget to use a coupon!

I saw how to make one here, but I ended up using 4 bags of 72 count balloons instead of 2...guess I like to make things fuller...ha ha. I also used a 14" wreath form.

All you do is take a balloon and pin it arround its middle to the wreath using the floral pins.

7 Gypsies trays

Saw these awesome trays and ideas on the Archiver's website a while back and knew I had to make one...ok maybe two.

This one I made for B. He loves baseball and has a couple of walls in his house dedicated to baseball pictures so I thought this would be really cute to have along side of all of them. I got the idea from this tray that was featured on the Archiver's website and used it as a reference. I already had all the stickers/supplies for this since I love baseball as well and scrapping about it...ha ha.

This one I made for my parents. It started out as a white tray, but that just doesn't fit our house. My Mom had just bought some sage green paint for a lamp and I decided I wanted that color for the tray (I also already had this color in mind from the picture I printed). I didn't want it to look perfect so I would spray a paper towel and then run the towel over the tray. I think it turned out pretty well. I picked up all the supplies for this one at Archiver's. You would be surprised how hard it is to fine wine paper! I got the idea for this tray from this picture on the website.

Ice Cream Pinata

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!!

When you usually feel old on your birthday, what's better than a pinata to make you feel like a kid again?!?! I made this one for Nancy who had a big birthday this past Sunday. We decorated her cube at work and this was the main attraction. We had some doubts about whether the hanger would hold until she got there, but it DID!

I found the idea and tutorial over at Simply Modern Mom! It was very helpful as this was my first ever paper mache project...I know, I know I was a deprived child...ha ha...just kidding.

The best part about this whole ordeal was breaking it yesterday! It was one tough pinata!!

Has anyone else ever made a pinata?

Thursday Night Softball

Pretty much every Thursday you will find me out at the softball fields cheering B onto victory...well that is when I'm not distracted by new apps or good stories from the rest of the wonderful ladies I "cheer" with...ha ha

My Kind of Apron

So with all the baking I'm doing these days I need a cute apron right?!?! Well sadly this wasn't for me...boo.

I made this apron for the bride to be/now wife to go along with her kitchen shower at my house. I left the top blank so all the ladies could write on it.

Don't be mad, but I forgot to take pictures of making the apron and then after everyone signed it...next time I'll be better I promise.

So to make this I just bought a plain apron, the trim and the flower buttons from Hobby Lobby. The zebra fabric I already had from when I re-covered my vanity chair. I traced the out line of the bottom of the apron onto the zebra fabric and cut it out then I glued it on...didn't know and still kind of iffy on how to use the sewing machine. To keep it looking clean, I also cut slits at the pocket seems and tucked/glued the fabric in.

The trim and buttons I sewed by HAND!! Like I said...no sewing machine skills. Luckily I had thread that matched perfectly. And that's all! Now she has a cute apron to wear with lots of sweet messages on it. Hopefully it won't get dirty...don't know how well my sewing job will hold...ha ha

Blackberry Crisp

YUM!

My mom had ordered some gorgeous organic blackberries from our neighbor's friend and when I went to pick them up I mentioned that I wish I had a recipe to make using some of these. And wouldn't you know she had a recipe for me to try! My favorite part is the crumble on top...mmmm.

Blackberry Crisp
from the kitchen of the lovely Ms. Carmel

The Fruit:
4 cups blackberries
1 T flour
3 T light brown sugar
1 tsp orange rind

The Topping:
1/2 cup flour
6 T light brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375F

Toss fruit with 1 T of flour, 3 T of light brown sugar and 1 tsp orange rind. Put in 8" glass pie plate. Combine dry ingredients, cream in butter. Put mixture over berries and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the top is light brown and the juices rise

SYTYCD Season 8: Top 12

This week all the couples performed 2 routines and there were only a couple of dances that I really liked...a lot looked kind of sloppy, but nevertheless they all can out perform me ha ha.

Favorite Dance: Performed by Jordan and Tadd, Choreographed by Travis Wall (I love the darker performances...so edgy)

Favorite Girl: Melanie (her trick at the end of the tango...WOW and her contemporary equaled amazing)

Favorite Guy: Tadd and Marko (it's a tie at this point...what can I say...oh and Jess also surprised me last night)

Next week the couples split up and the All-stars are back! I love watching Allison and Twitch, but sadly no Neal this year...boo.

What I see from 7 to 5...

Look at all that stuff! And that's my desk clean!! You can't tell in the pic, but I realized today that I have 7 calendars around me at work. You would think I would always know what's going on, but sadly I still forget stuff.

This would be the picture for July on the calendar I like to look at the most and where I would like to be at this very moment! Hopefully one day soon I'll have my "toes in the water, ass in the sand"

This is just because I discovered Instagram for the iPhone yesterday and had nothing else to take pics of...ha ha...this app is so awesome and it's FREE!

Shirley Temple Cookies

Who loves Shirley Temples? ME!! When I saw this recipe for Shirley Temple Cookies, I just knew I had to make some!

These are some tasty cookies!! They are very soft and not as sweet as you might think.

Learned some interesting stuff while making these...

1. The cherries will stain your fingers if you cut them up by hand, but don’t worry it fades rather quickly

2. The dough gets really thick, so if you are using an old school mixer get ready for it to start smoking (mixing by hand seemed much easier)

3. Parchment paper is a must! (unless you want deformed cookies like mine because they will stick)

4. When it says keep dough cool in between batches…do it! Makes the dough so much easier to handle and I think it also helped the cookies stay puffy (my last batch was warmer dough and ended up making a giant cookie)

5. A regular cookie scoop is a little too big…unless you like bigger cookies then its fine…ha ha

Shirley Temple Cookies
June 19, 2010
Bakesewsing.com

1 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 Cup Superfine Sugar (I used Vanilla Sugar. See "Pure Vanilla Cake" in June archives)
1/4 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar (dark brown is fine in a pinch)
1 Egg (room temperature)
1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
3 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 Cup Maraschino Cherry Juice (most of the juice from the average-sized jar)
4 1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Chopped Maraschino Cherries (the entire jar's worth)

More superfine sugar for rolling

Place butter and sugars in your mixer bowl and 'Beat Until Fluffy.' Beat in egg and vanilla until 'fluff' returns. Sift dry ingredients together over another bowl, add to batter and mix well. Beat in cherry and lemon juices. Beat in cherries. Cool dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until you can handle it fairly easily. Heat your oven to 375 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough by rounded teaspoon full, roll into a ball, roll ball in a small bowl of superfine sugar and place on cookie sheet. (Store the dough in the fridge while batches are baking.) Bake for 8 minutes. Cool cookies on wire rack. Depending on how big you make them you'll get anywhere from 4 - 6 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

My New Satchel

I'm not the type of girl who likes carrying around a purse when I go to a sporting event, concert, festival, etc. So instead I carry a satchel/cross body bag/slingpack...whatever you want to call it.

Well a few weeks ago I had plans to go to a baseball game after work, but had left my satchel at home...NOOOOOO! What was I going to do?!?! Buy a new one of course!!

So I ran over to Charming Charlie real quick and found one that suited my taste...woo hoo. And here it is...

I just love all the buckles and zippers on it...actually I don't know if I own a purse with out these features...ha ha. When I met up with my peeps I showed my new purchase to Elizabeth (she is always up to date on all the latest fashion trends) and she told me my new satchel resembled a Balenciaga bag. Well I had no idea what that was so she showed me a picture...

I'm like hmmm...it does have some of the same features...so then I was all excited. It's the little things in life right?!?!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Mmmmmm...just looking at these makes my mouth water.

We were having some family over for mother's day and I thought it would be nice to make everyone a chocolate covered strawberry. This was my first time making chocolate covered strawberries and actually letting the chocolate harden (let's just say chocolate doesn't last long around me...ha ha)

Tip: Make sure your strawberries are completely dry before dipping them

Does anyone else have tips for these or any other fun strawberry ideas?

Mother's and Father's Day Cards

So I'm a little late on these posts, but better late than never right?!?!

Disclaimer: Please excuse my handwriting...sometimes I think I write like a 5 year old.

Mother's Day:

Father's Day:

Can't take credit for the wording on the Father's day card...got that from Hallmark online

Horrible Bosses

Funny! It wasn't non-stop laughter, but it was still really funny. If you want a good laugh I would definitely recommend you go see this movie.

Jason Sudeikis + Charlie Day + Jason Bateman = hilarious

Oh and Jennifer Aniston is HOT with a darker do and darker personality...ha ha...not saying she isn't other wise but it was nice seeing her play something different for a change.

SYTYCD Season 8: Top 14

Favorite Dance: performed by Melanie and Marko, Choreographed by Ray Leeper

Favorite Girl: Melanie (she really is the best dancer...I don't know why it took me so long to like her)

Favorite Guy: Tad (so here's the thing...I do think the guys have loads of talent, but they don't impress me as much as the girls...so that's why I don't have much to say about them)

The Social Network

Finally watched The Social Network. I'm not a big fan of Facebook, but there was so much hype surrounding this movie and it was nominated for so much and won some that I felt like I needed to see what it was all about.

I was annoyed the whole movie, but looking back I guess that was good. That meant the actors were doing their jobs. Jesse Eisenberg's character (Mark Zuckerberg) was suppose to be a butt-hole and I truly felt as if he achieved that status. There was a line at the end of the movie where someone told him "you're not a bad guy, you just try really hard to be one."

Overall, I think it was interesting to see how everything started since I was in school at the same time and witnessed the craziness that ensued when a school finally got Facebook.

Birthday Cards

Here are a few birthday cards I've made so far this year. I don't know many people with birthdays at the begginning of the year so I don't have much to show in this category but there will definitely be more soon...

This was for my baby brother. Okay so he's 20 now, but he will always be my baby brother! The ticket theme had to do with his present...rodeo tickets (I'm such an awesome big sister...ha ha)!!

This was for Erica's birthday. I really like the little cupcake and I was testing out some new pattern paper I got.

So I can't tell you who this is for because they haven't gotten it yet, but I thought I would feature it anyways. I got the idea to thread the ribbon through the cut outs from B's mom. She's quite the card maker! This was also the first time I used my new color pens! Woo Hoo!!!

Celebrity Encounter!!!

I met J.R. Towles last night!!!!!!

Ok so he’s not a huge celebrity, but he’s famous to me!

B and I went to Genghis Grill after his softball games and Towles was in line in front of us…ahhhhh! And get this…little ol’ shy me struck up a conversation…oh yeah!!

He’s was really cool and he even waited for B to go get a baseball out of his car for him to sign with a sharpie I just happened to have in my purse…woo hoo!

You probably won’t see him on TV much these days, as he was sent back down to AAA in OKC since Quintero is back…booooooo

Now…if only I could run into Pence…he he he

Party Rock Anthem Shuffle

So my bother decided I should be able to watch this video by LMAFO (that I've never seen before) ONCE and be able to teach him the shuffle!! And he wanted me to do this at 10:30 at night when I had to go to work the next day!! Crazy boy! At least he has confidence in me right?!?!

Needless to say I didn't learn it that night or try to the following 2 weeks. However, I finally decided I wanted to learn it...well ok I saw him trying to do it in the kitchen so I figured I'd learn it to give him a helping hand...ha ha...ok so maybe I thought it looked fun too...ha ha

Anyways, I found a tutorial on youtube and started shufflin' away. Once I had it I decided to watch myself dance it in the mirror...I'm sad to report that I think I've lost some of my mojo from my teaching days where I spent 5 hours a week teaching kids how to do this stuff...ha ha...still had fun though and if you do it over and over again it's a good workout since it's fast.

p.s. The shuffle starts around 3:40 in the video...I think

More Cards

Made these cards a while back using my Wild Card Cartridge and my Cricut machine.

Made the above Thank You card for the lovely Erica (that's why there's an E on the card) who helped out with a bridal shower at my house.

Made this card for the honoree of the shower who is now a wife!! Like I said made these a while ago.

This was for the same Bride to be/now wife at her second shower. The heart at the top of the cake cut out just kind of fell together (literally!) I had cut out the squiggly things and set them aside and realized they made a heart! What a nice coincidence!!

Oyster Crackers (seasoned)

Whipped up some of these bad boys over the weekend…yay! They are soooo addicting and quite delicious. They are super easy to make(unless you get stale crackers it’s pretty hard to mess up) and takes no time at all.

The recipe is from Hidden Valley and you can find it here and you can also look at all the other ideas of how to use the seasoning mixture.

I pretty much know the recipe by heart and skip putting everything in a bag to mix it all up (why dirty up a perfectly good bag) and just mix it in the baking pan. The one variation that I know of for these, per my Mimi, is not to bake them. Really it’s a matter of preference…I prefer baked but they are good either way.

Hope you make them too and enjoy!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

B and I saw the new Transformers movie today in the new XD (extreme digital) theater in 3D! I usually don't go to 3D movies b/c I feel like the glasses are really distracting and that so far the movies that I've seen aren't that impressive in 3D.

However, we are so glad we saw this one in 3D. I guess they've really stepped their game up. I actually felt like things were popping off the screen!

If you like the 2 previous Transformers, you'll like this one as well (like me!). If you liked the first one, thought the second was ok...you should give the 3rd one a try...just saying.

4th of July Ribbon Wreath and Tree

This has been the first year my Mom and I have decorated for every holiday and it has been so much fun putting everything together.

For the 4th of July I decided to make a ribbon wreath and a ribbon tree after seeing these super cute ones made on She's Kinda Crafty and Tatertots and Jello.

Here is my finished wreath...

I used 11 different ribbon rolls and cut about 16 strips of each ribbon 4.5 inches long and sewed them into loops (my mom helped with the sewing). Then I wrapped the wreath (I used a 10 inch wreath form) in 15 ft of ribbon and went to town pinning all the loops on. And that's it!

For the ribbon tree (inspired by this one from She's Kinda Crafty), I used the left over ribbon from the wreath (cut the same way, minus the sewing) and pinned them on a styrofoam cone. However, I forgot to take pictures of this process...my bad.

I plan on making more of both of these things AND I already have the supplies to start my Halloween wreath...just have to find the time.

Hope you enjoy and maybe get a little inspired yourself. They are so much fun to make and look at!!

SYTYCD Season 8: Top 16

It was hard to choose my favorites this week...ahh! There were three dances that I just loved!!!

Favorite Dance: Performed by Melanie and Marko, Choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon (reminds me of this dance from season 4 with Chelsea and Mark also choreograhed by T and N)

Favorite Girl: Sasha (Ryan is a close second for me still) They also performed my other two favorite dances...click on their names to watch

Favortie Boy: Tad