Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Is it Friday yet??

Just had to do a quick photo post because this guy is too cute. What a face!

I hope this helps your week go by quicker.

P.S. can you believe he's 5 months old today?! Wowza!


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Q&A with Photos

1. What are three words you would use to describe yourself?
Optimistic, Kind-hearted, Motivated






2. What is one piece of advice you would give to other ladies your age?
Don't wait for things to line up the way you picture, most likely they won't ever perfectly line up. Enjoy every day. Enjoy the little things each day brings. Dance to the radio in the middle of the grocery store. Who cares what other people think of you, that's their opinion and you should be confident in yourself. Confident women are beautiful, strong and have motivation. Don't stress about little things. Spend time with friends and family and really listen to what they have to say. ...Advice for myself as well :)




3. What is your favorite beauty product?
I really don't use much makeup at all, ever. So I suppose I do like mascara, since it seems to really make my eyes stand out. I also can not go without moisturizer on my face.




4. What is one food you can not stand?
I would probably say sauerkraut. I'm a pretty open person when it comes to food, I'll try about anything but for whatever reason I can not stand sauerkraut. 




5. Where would your dream vacation be?
Anywhere with sand, sun, water, good food and those I love. I really badly want to go to Italy, parts of Europe, Hawaii and Alaska (to see the Northern Lights).




6. Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
I don't know that I really have one, I've never been one to "crush" over a celeb. I suppose Patrick Dempsy from Grey's Anatomy, since I love that show!!






7. Who is your celebrity lady crush?
I really like Rachel McAdams (?) as an actress. She holds herself very well and does so many great things. 






8. What is your favorite cocktail? or if you don't drink how about a milkshake?
Gosh I don't drink much anymore, but I do like a good microbrew beer, I can thank Josh and all the guys in my life for influencing me with great beer choices and not just the domestic choices. I don't have "one drink" or "my drink" because I really like most types of mixed drinks. Also, I would have to say I would choose wine first. I love a great glass of wine, again thanks to some great influences in my life. Gosh, that kinda makes me sound like I drink a lot, I really don't. Have just tried a couple different things in my life :) Oh and I would most definitely take a milkshake, chocolate please.






9. What is your favorite blog link up?
I don't tend to do many blog link ups, just for the fact that I forget to blog lately. A daily must-read though is Hanna over at bouffee e bambini and she participates in many blog link ups. I really should start doing some of those!






10. If you cold have a super power what would it be and why?
Gosh, I could think of a few. I would like to have an unlimited energy supply so I could get all the things done each day without being tired and having to sleep. I would also wish that I could be in more than one places at one time or just travel super fast so we could be back seeing our family and watching our kids grow up together.






11. What is one thing you wish you could buy for yourself? I'm talking a selfish buy.
I'm not really one to make a list of what I want, I honestly can't think of anything. I have a good set of tools for my kitchen (cooking appliances, yes!), I'm not really a 'bag' or purse girl, maybe I don't have a good sense of fashion...I suppose I would like a house of my own to decorate, a backyard to play in and watch Jackson play in, a big enough kitchen to work in and not be crammed, a living room that has room to play and where everyone can gather and hang out. It's really the little things I suppose.




I got the idea for this fun Q&A Session from my beautiful friend over at {bouffe e bambini}. Please take a moment and go check her site out!


This little Q&A was a little tougher than I thought. Some good questions here! I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead. Can you believe it is the end of February already? This year is flying by already.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, some pretty random photos just picked from the camera :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

Sweet Tooth

We all get a sweet tooth every now and then, right??? Well maybe not my brother, he isn't a huge fan of sweets. That's ok. More for me. Well, not too many, I do have some baby weight to get rid of :)


Mine did NOT turn out looking like this! But they tasted just as good :)


I had a sweet tooth a while back and the first thing that came to mind (the first thing that always comes to my mind) is something peanut butter and chocolate. Upon scouring the web for recipes, I came across this one from Joys of Baking. I think I've used a few recipes from here before. This one is amazing. And SUPER easy too! FYI: use small/mini muffin pans or mini muffin size paper cups. I used a regular size muffin pan and they came out way too big. Talk about sugar rush!


Ingredients:
Filling

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons  unsalted butter, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
Chocolate Coating
9 ounces semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon shortening




Place the peanut butter, unsalted butter, and salt in a microwaveable bowl, and heat in the microwave for about 45 seconds or just until soft, but not melted (check and stir the ingredients every 20 seconds). Stir in the confectioners sugar.
Melt the chocolates and shortening in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.
Drop a teaspoon of the melted chocolate into each of the paper lined miniature muffin cups. Top with a scant teaspoon of peanut butter mixture. Then top with another teaspoon of melted chocolate. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 36 peanut butter cups. Preparation time30 minutes.*** Depending on the size of the peanut butter cups you make!


Yes, it says it should make 36. If you use the regular size muffin pan like I did, you'll get 15 maybe. Oops! Needless to say they lasted longer since that was way too much chocolate. But it tastes just like a store bought peanut butter cup. Must try!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

*Knock, Knock* Are you there?

Yes, I am still here. Alive and well. Scratch that, fighting a bit of a cold/allergies as we speak, but I am alive and well. It has been a while since I've blogged. I'm getting back to reading more blogs and hopefully writing some more. Life has just been on full speed lately and blogging has taken the brunt of the things that aren't on the top priority list. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love to blog & keep up to date with all of you but my little bean and hubby along with work take most of my time. 








Trying to keep up with pictures of my little guy. Gosh he is just getting so big and growing great! Rolling over and babbling all the time. We've been battling our first cold/allergies and he's been a trooper. Though the sleeping at night has back tracked and we've been very tired, I know we'll get back to the good hours we have had. We've tried to start on some solid foods but haven't had the best luck so we're backing off for now. All in due time I'm sure he'll like it and get the hang of it. 
{Taking a nap with mommy :) }

{Cousin Valerie visits in January}

{New Years Day, Grand Canyon, AZ}




Here in Phoenix, things have been pretty quiet. Enjoying the cool winter with days in the 60s and nights in the 40s. Almost forgot what it was like to wake up to snow and have to scrape the windshield and warm your car up before heading out to work. How lucky we've been!


I've been cooking and doing a lot in the kitchen, just haven't posted about it. I've been trying to focus on being more efficient in the kitchen and making things ahead of time and saving time. Time is key! Especially when you have a lot to juggle like working full time, an almost 5 month old child, husband, house to keep clean, laundry, kitchen to clean...oh and sleep somewhere in there maybe. Trying to keep the menu full of variety, fruits and veggies. 
{ First attempt at pot pie with homemade crust }




Until later...Have a wonderful weekend!