I’m PreTTy Random

I never should have told you guys I would C-ya tomorrow… I should have known better than that. It was a Tuesday and I never post on Tuesdays.  Tuesdays are Jake’s late days.  He doesn’t have to go into work until 11 so we usually go eat  breakfast together or hang out at home before he has to leave. Then by that time I’m not in the mood to write a post.. Gosh, sorry folks, I forgot all about that. Like you really care. LOL


For those of you who read my post on Monday, I probably should have mentioned that the new, exciting things happening in our life is NOT an adorable baby Frazier. ; ) Sooooo sorry about that. : O I bet you are still wondering what it is though…nope still not telling. I’m such a horrible person.


Back to babies.. My friend Rachel is about to pop any minute and I’m sooo excited and happy for them!! I am really hoping Baby S will be soon, so we can see him/her when we come in town this weekend!!! Ahhh I can’t wait to meet their beautiful baby and squeeze it’s little cheeks!!! Just kidding guys, I will not do that..when you are looking. ; )


So today I have to go take our car in to get the oil changed. Good news is it’s free! Yipeee. I can’t believe that we have already put 6,000 miles on it. Dang, thats what happens when you live 2 hours away from everything!!!


Speaking of oil changes. I never got to share with you guys my Lovely V-day gift for Jakeypoo.  I found this idea on the amazing Pinterest site and it was just too lovely not to make. I mean, how sweet is this?

Ta Da!

Pretty darn cute huh? It was a long, but fun process. I ended up giving it to him when we woke up V-day morning. I was going to wait and give it to him on the plane, but we were in our cabin room with a great view looking out into the mountains and I just thought it was the perfect moment. Okay, really I didn’t think the box would fit in my carry on, on the way home and I couldn’t wait any longer!!! It was a success!!! He looooovvveed it! Go meeee Go meee!  Later we walked around the adorable little ski town and a stocked up on chocolates. Chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered raisins, cookies oh yes, it all went into my belly. So on that note, I think I’m going to go for a run.


Oh, & have a lovely National Margarita Day!!!

Guess Who’s Back

No, not Slim Shady… ME!!
I know it’s been waaaayy too long since my last post, but I have very busy, sort of busy.. okay I have not been busy at all.


I really don’t want to make this a super long post about every detail in my life this past week, so I will really try not to…


So last Friday night we left the house around 6:00 and met the Smiths for dinner at 54th street around 8:00.


Okay, So I’m trying to be funny like Ellen, but it’s not as easy as I thought. ;) I do look up to her though.   She is such a positive person, and I could go on and on about her, but I’ll spare you. You should watch her show every day and read her books though.


Let’s see what do you really want to hear about? My awesome ski trip? Noo I don’t want to brag.


So we just got back from an AMAZING trip to the mountains. There is absolutely nothing more beautiful than being at the top of a snow covered mountain. I can’t explain how much fun it was.


Okay, there I go again, trying to be funny. It’s not really working.


We did have a fun trip. I want to go back, like tomorrow, but that can’t happen. I have some mighty awesome ski skills. I learned how to slow down and stop. What I’m really trying to say is that I’m an awesome skier and I can’t wait to go back. ; )

I felt like I was on top of a mountain ; )

One thing I did learn was that you should not listen to Teach Me How to Dougie on your iPod and sing aloud when you are working with your ski instructor. You learn some awesome things, but Dougieing down a mountain could get pretty dangerous. Not for me, but for beginners. 

See, I should just give up on this trying to be funny thing. 

So lately things have been going really good for us. Some exciting new things might be just around the corner, but I can’t say anything more than that. HA HA Don’t you hate when people do that to you. Well it’s true and I’m not telling.

My life isn’t all peaches and cream. The other night I burnt my arm getting a pizza out of the oven and now I have a gigantic wiener shaped burn on my arm.  If you think this is funny, you probably have never had a wiener shaped burn on your arm before.  It better not scar. Jake says it looks like a heart. I’ll let you decide. 

Okay, so this blog is supposed to be about lovely things.. I guess we will say it looks like a heart.

I hope you all are excited as I am to be back to the bloggity blog world. I will make sure I post again tomorrow. Love you all!!! C-ya tomorrow!!!!

“Fresh Pow Man"

It’s Finally Friday!!!
My husband is a huge dork.  He is more than excited to head to the mountains to ski.  All week long he has been checking the snow reports and walking around the house saying “Fresh Pow Man”. LOL Gotta love him. So today we leave for Colorado, so pumped.  Our last ski trip was to Park City, Utah and it was a blast.  I’m really hoping I learn how to slow down and stop on this trip..haha jk kind of.  No, I’m an okay skier, for a newbie I guess.  I can’t wait to improve my skills and ski on that “Fresh pow man”!

So I finished Jakey’s V-day gift yesterday! I already told him I’m making him something, to not get his hopes up on a really cool gift or anything. LOL I hope he likes it ; ) It took me about 20 years to make, so he better. I will post pics when I get back. I’m going to give it to him on our trip. = ) While I was waiting for my things to get printed at Staples yesterday, I was perusing through the store and stumbled across chalkboard labels!!

Rn’t They Neat?!

Jake was teasing me and asked if I was going to label the fridge and T.V. next.. haha so funny. ; )

Well, I still have some things to finish before we leave. I hope you all have a Lovely Lovely Valentine’s Day!!!

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

I had extra Hersey Kisses from the cookies I made the other day, so I thought these would be a good choice. Found them on Pinterest, rn’t they cute? 

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened, but still cool

1 cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons maraschino cherry “juice”

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

Granulated sugar, for sprinkling the cookies

36 milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.

3. Reduce the speed to the lowest setting and slowly add the powdered sugar and salt.

4. Add the cherry juice and the almond extract until combined.

5. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

6. Increase the mixer speed to medium and add the cherries.

7. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, and place the balls on a baking sheet, approximately 2 inches apart.

8.  Using your thumb, gently press each cookie in its center until the cookie is about 1/2-inch thick.

9.  Sprinkle each cookie with a little granulated sugar.

10.  Bake the cookies until the bottoms are lightly browned, about 14 minutes.

11. Once removed from the oven, immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie’s center.

12.  Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

I can’t believe it’s almost Friday!! Thank goodness! I am sooo ready to hit the slopes and see those beautiful snow covered mountains. Last night Jake was so excited about our trip he packed our bag for us! Score! Now all I need to do is throw in some more of my things and were done with that! 

Last night for dinner, I decided to try this new recipe I found online. I made some Yummy Quesadillas

Click on the link, if you want to check out the recipe. They were really tasty.  Jake said they were the best yet. When we first got our quesadilla maker as a wedding gift, we were eating quesadillas almost every night. LOL So, they got old pretty fast.  Once I saw that recipe my taste for them came right back.  It’s supposed to be a healthier version of them, so hopefully they weren’t too fattening.  Anywho, this morning I have a dentist appointment with the hottest dentist in town! I’m really not looking forward to it, but Jake is making me go. : O Then I’m going to head to Staples to get some things printed off for Jakey’s V-day gift! I can’t wait to finish it and give it to him on our trip. Im also looking forward to seeing The Vow once we get back! Woohoo!!!

Well, that’s all for now. I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to write a post tomorrow or not, so if I don’t get the chance to say it, Have a very very LOVELY Valentine’s Day!!

My Yogurt Parfait & Weekend Photos

Cin’s Yogurt Parfait

1/2 cup Light & Fit nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup organic french vanilla almond granola (I use Cascadian Farm brand)
handful of organic blueberries ( Or more! I love my blueberries!)
3-4 organic strawberries
3-4 dashes of cinnamon 

Our weekend in iPhone Pics

Friday night, we met my parents in Staunton to eat at one of our favorite places, Decamp Junction. 

We look very sleepy. haha Also, it was national wear red for heart disease day. ; )

Then Saturday morning we got up super early because Jake had some business to attend to in STL then we met the Kleins for breakfast at IHOP.  Then we headed to Fairview and ate at Shogun with Jake’s sister Erin and her fiancee Jeremy. Do you see a pattern here..all we do is eat out!! Ahhh!  I did get to try some sweet potato sushi though... Sooooo yummy!!!

After lunch, I took some engagement pictures at the City Museum. Not really the best time for that, but hey what can ya do.  After a long day,  I was so ready for a shower and some fun!

We went to Rosalitas for dinner and to celebrate Kent’s b-day! I’ll have to add those pics later because they are on Jake’s phone.


My margarita was TOO good. ; ) Then we headed to Jive & Wail, a neat piano bar on Washington. Since we had a big group with us we did the bottle service, which was nice because we got the whole upstairs to ourselves. The bad thing is I drank too many vodka and cranberries and this is what happened…

LOL Jane took that pic of us and sent it to my phone. I saw it the next morning and it made me giggle.  I woke up with a killer headache, but we had breakfast plans with my parents so we had to get our butts up.  We all went to Crackerbarrel, and even though Jake, me and my sister all were hungover, it was a lot of fun.

My dad had too much fun…he isn’t allowed back there. haha So we headed back to my parents house to hang out and play Xbox Kinect.  Some of us played, most of us slept..

Nicky and Lilly snuggling ; )

Sleepy heads

Once we got out of our comas, we drove to Mt. Vernon and watched the Super Bowl with Jake’s parents and Erin & Jeremy.  I don’t have any pics of that boooo! I was the only one rooting for the Patriots, so that was fun, until they lost. lol

Well, thats our weekend in iPhone pics…I need to come up with a cute way to display this. I’ll start working on that. ; )

Hope you all have a lovely hump day! 

Chocolate Nutella Smooches

February 5th was world Nutella day. Unfortunately, I was unable to celebrate on that day so I decided I would celebrate today! Happy be-lated world Nutella day!!! I thought these seemed appropriate considering V-day is only a week away!! Lovely 

Chocolate Nutella Smooches 

I added pink sprinkles to a few of them

Ingredients

•   1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

•   1 teaspoon baking soda

•   1/2 teaspoon salt

•   1/2 cup butter, softened

•   12 cup sugar

•   1/2 cup light brown sugar

•   1/2 cup Nutella

•   1 egg

•   1 teaspoon vanilla extract

•   1/2 cup sprinkles or colored sugar

•   1 (9-ounce) package of dark chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2.            In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

3.            In another bowl, place the Nutella, butter and both sugars.  Using a hand mixer, cream the ingredients together.

4.            Add the egg and vanilla and blend until incorporated.  Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated.

5.            Shape the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls.  Roll the balls in the sprinkles, pressing to adhear.  Place the cookies on a heavy cookie sheet about 4 inches apart.  Bake for 6-7 minutes and remove the cookies from the oven.  Quickly place a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie.  Return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 2-3 minutes.  Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

I sent them off with Jake today and he told me he would make sure all the girls got a smooch today…funny guy. 

 Good news! Lillian’s test results came back negative!! She is a healthy healthy pup! Love her! ; )

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

So, I usually eat the same old maple oatmeal with blueberries on top, but I felt adventurous this week so I found a recipe for peanut butter oatmeal and thought, what the heck.  I was shocked when I felt full after a couple bites, but then I noticed the recipe made 2 servings. LOL Durr It was pretty tasty, here is the recipe if you want to try it for yourself! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

 Peanut Butter Oatmeal
(Makes 2 servings) duhhhh Cindy

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups cooked oats (I cooked mine with half water half almond milk)
2 tbsp. natural peanut butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. organic honey

I used rolled oats and cooked them over the stove.  Then I added all the ingredients in the pot while it was still warm.  There you have it, peanut butter oatmeal! Easy peasy. 

Sweet Potato Please!

I’m addicted to sweet potatoes.  I’m not sure if I just never noticed them much in Edwardsville, but it seems like they are everywhere around here.  Almost every place to eat has sweet potato fries or baked sweet potatoes on the menu. One of our favorite restaurants here, The Hideout has baked sweet potatoes and they are sooo yummy!!  I am addicted to their salmon with a lovely sweet potato on the side.  ; ) Mmmm mMM! 


 I’m even addicted to sweet potato tortilla chips, which I discovered at The Neighborhood Co-op. 

They are sooo good, especially with some yummy organic salsa to go with them!! Yummo!


Here is one of my favorite sweet potato recipes if you are interested...


Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Arrange sweet potatoes in an even layer in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Combine maple syrup, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper in small bowl. Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes; toss to coat.
3. Cover and bake the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes. Uncover, stir and cook, stirring every 15 minutes, until tender and starting to brown, 45 to 50 minutes more.

I’ll add a picture the next time I make them. 


I almost forgot to add that Crackerbarrel now has Sweet Potato Pancakes! They are AMAZING!! Oh my gosh, don’t knock it, till you try it. 

Plus these lovely little orange cuties come with some great health benefits! Health Benefits Click on the link if you want to see for yourself! It makes me feel a little better about eating them all the time ; )

Update on Lillian

She is doing fantastic! She seems like she is in a little pain at night. She whimpers in her sleep, but when she wakes up she is her silly little playful self! She is a trooper. ; )

Well, we are heading back to E-ville tonight and staying the weekend over there. Last weekend we stayed in Marion so we need a little get-a-way. My mom came down Saturday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  It was nice spending time with her.  We took her out to eat a lot, rented and watched some movies and did a little shopping! I’m excited for this weekend though, hopefully we will get to spend some time with our friends! ; ) I hope everyone has a great super bowl! I’m hoping that my appetite doesn’t get the best of me! Wish me luck!! and go Patriots!! I really don’t like football, but you have to root for someone during Super Bow. I chose the Patriots because that is who Ellen is rooting for. hehe ; )

One Sick Puppy

Happy Groundhog day! I don’t even know if he saw his shadow or not…lol Oh well, who cares. ; )


Yesterday I had to take my sweet, innocent puppy to the doggy doctor.  The poor thing had to get shots, a dental cleaning and a lump removed from her belly.  As we were on our usual 2 hour trip to Edwardsville, I looked over at her sweet little face just enjoying the car ride and couldn’t help but feel like I was betraying her. I know she probably thought we were heading to “Grandma & Grandpas’ house, because we usually are.  She LOVES going to grandmas and grandpas house. All you have to do is say those words and she flips out. I’m sorry Lilly.

Before: Happy Pup

Mom, where am I? Let’s get outta here!!!

After I dropped her off I went to my parents house and hung out with my silly father and played with his new toy. It was such a gorgeous day!

 I couldn’t stop worrying about my lil squirt though. I went to go wash the car to keep my mind off of her and then I finally got the call that she was ready to be picked up!! I couldn’t wait to see her!!!!

Gosh, doesn’t this just make your heart melt.  As soon as I put her in the car, I looked at her and started crying.  I couldn’t help it, she was still out of it and looked like she was so confused. She would whimper every once in a while and I choked me up ever time.  My baby was in pain and it broke my heart. We get her results back in a week. Jake says he is positive it’s not cancer, but I would appreciate if you kept Lillian in your prayers. 

This was here when we got home.. : (

She is out of it…lol

Love her

Daddy kissing and rubbing her little tummy ; )

Okay, so we are a little obsessed with our dog, she really is our child, what can I say. 

My lovin must have helped because she is acting like she feels a lot better today. Hehe ; ) She still can’t bark and she isn’t supposed to jump or run, but she tries to.  She got all her toys out today and played with them for a little bit.  She is seriously the cutest thing ever and tough like her mommy!

Thought I would share some sweets that I made the other day.  They are not healthy at all, but they sure are scrumptious! 

Raspberry Pocket Pies

Lovely

I’m going to go enjoy another gorgeous day and hopefully get by butt outside for a nice run!! Have a lovely evening everyone!!