Give thanks!

I am so truly blessed.  I have an amazing husband who would do anything to make me smile.  We have the cutest and sweetest puppy in the world (this is not up for debate) and together, we are living the American dream in our first home.  We both have wonderful, solid jobs with bright futures.  I am surrounded by a strong, supportive family (although many are states away... but close at heart) and the best friends I could ever imagine.  I am blessed.

Today, we pause to reflect on all of life's blessings, big and small as we celebrate with our loved ones.

Today is a day to give thanks.

Thanksgiving with my family is a day full of laughs, food and fun.  Turkey day with Kevin's family starts off with the annual "Turkey Bowl" (backyard football game) followed by a full day of feasting and visiting.

This year, we will celebrate on a smaller scale- just Kevin and Lucy and I.  Kevin had to work this morning, so I slaved away in the kitchen preparing our feast for two.  Ok ok... I didn't "slave away"... I actually love cooking and entertaining and I kind of wish that I was cooking for a crowd today.  Oh well... maybe next year.  Anyway, we didn't spare any traditions even though it's just us.  Turkey, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie... the works.

Tonight, my BFF and I will celebrate our annual tradition.  She will come over and we will enjoy desert #2 while we scour the newspaper ads.  Then we will embark on our annual epic Black Friday madness... midnight at the Waterloo Outlets.  I can't wait!!!  I will update tomorrow (after a nice, long nap) with all of my awesome deals and bargains.

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food and fun with their loved ones.

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice." 
- Meister Eckhart

My first 30 x 30 check!!!

I am super excited that I finally get to officially check something off my list.  Our half anniversary is coming up this weekend and we FINALLY got our wedding pictures framed and hung.  I wanted to hang them in a gallery style pattern, which is a DIY project I believe I have mastered, so I thought I would post instructions.

First we took a laid a piece of wrapping paper out on the floor about the size of the wall space we intended to use.  I like to use the wrapping paper that has grid lines on the back (great for wrapping pretty presents, but also great to use as a template for hanging lots of pictures).  We laid out the picture frames on top of the paper in the design we wanted them to be on the wall, then we were able to use the grid lines to make sure the frames were level and evenly spaced.  We also grabbed some letters from Hobby Lobby that spelled "LOVE" and painted them to coordinate with the wall color and frames.

Next I used a marker to trace the outline of the frames.  Then I measured the back of the frames to find out where the hooks should go.  I used a marker to place dots on the wrapping paper as a guide.  Finally I removed all of the pictures and used thumb tacks to pin the wrapping paper onto the wall.

Using the dots I had marked on the paper as a guide, we drilled/hammered in the photo hangers (through the paper).  Once we had all of the holes drilled and photo hangers in place, we tore the paper off gently, leaving the photo hangers perfectly placed.  : )  Then we started from the center out and top down, hanging the pictures and letters up.  Here we are about 1/2 way done...

And the finished product... a perfectly placed, spaced, level gallery style photo spread... Voila!!!

I can't wait to check something else off my list.

Its time...

for the wife chop.

I am desperately in need of a new 'do.  Seriously

My hair is insanely long... down to the middle of my back at least... and very fine/thin/limp.

My daily style routine involves getting out of the shower, towel drying for about 30 seconds and throwing my sopping wet hair up into a messy bun/ponytail sort of glob.  It is so long and fine that it won't hold a curl... and even trying to curl it is a nightmare.  I don't really like products that try to add body, because I think it makes it feel sticky and gross.

So I am getting it cut.  Chopped, actually.

I am thinking about going with a shoulder length bob... and hoping that a style like one of these two (below) won't require an enormous amount of styling time/products in the morning.

  

Thoughts?  Style tips?

My goal today...

... is to shop less, bake more.

Kevin has to work this weekend, which normally means I spend the majority of Saturday and Sunday wandering aimlessly around several nearby stores and spending ridiculous amounts of money on things I don't need.  Sounds like fun, doesn't it?  It is.

Since we are trying to save some money (and since I am planning to do some epic Black Friday shopping later this week)... I decided to try to take a break from my retail therapy habit.  Since I have to do something (and studying just doesn't sound like fun)... I thought I would bake instead.... and bake I did.

I enjoyed some delicious cookie brownies and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Oooh yes.  I would post recipes, but I cheated and used boxed mixes... no fun.  Tomorrow I might try my hand at some *real* baking... you know, the kind you actually have to measure stuff for.  We'll see how that goes.

For dinner, I made one of our favorites... Garbage Soup.  Yes, that's really what we call it.  Why?  Well, because it looks a lot like garbage.  But it tastes delicious.  It actually tastes a lot like Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden.

Garbage Soup

• 1 lb hot sausage, browned and crumbled
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 large container of chicken stock
• 2-3 large potatoes, diced and boiled until knife-tender (not too soft)
• 4-6 large kale leaves roughly chopped

Brown the sausage and onion together.  I use a potato masher to break the sausage down into little pieces.  Meanwhile, in a stockpot on med-low heat, add the chicken stock, boiled potatoes and chopped kale.  Once the kale is wilted, turn heat to low.  Add brown sausage to soup and let simmer on low until ready to serve.

I like to serve this with a loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Y3W: Lucy's First Snow

We knew it was coming… the weather man said it was… but still, we weren’t ready.  And neither was Lucy.  Well… last night, it came.

The white stuff

The cold, wet white stuff

S-N-O-W

On one hand, today marks the beginning of the most enjoyable yet aggravating season of the year.  Winter provokes anxiety about driving conditions and delayed travel times.  It means adding another 3 layers to every outfit and always trying to find that darn mysterious matching glove.  And here, in Upstate NY… it means the typical overabundance of white stuff is on the way, and once it starts, it seems as if the end isn’t even in sight.  In Syracuse, we average easily above a hundred inches of snow per year.  That’s kind of a lot.  As a matter of fact, according to City Top Lists, Syracuse is #1 for average annual snowfall.  I’m not exactly sure if that is something to brag about or make me pack my bags and head south.  Our winter usually lasts from Halloween to Easter (and sometimes until Mother’s Day… yeah… 2 years ago, we had snow on Mother’s Day… lots of snow).  At first, the snow is usually very pretty on the ground and a welcome sight.  After a month or two of hunting for your car in the grocery store parking lot every time you do your weekly shopping (because all car-size white blobs of snow look the same) and shoveling yourself out of your own house every morning when you are already running late for work… it gets old.  Very… very old. 

On the other hand, I do think that snow covered lawns and icicles on the bare tree branches are a beautiful sight.  Growing up in Florida, we strung lights from palm trees and spent Christmas at the beach, anything below 55 degrees was considered “freezing” and people panicked at the thought of frost.  I didn’t have a clue what I was missing.  When I moved up to New York, I learned to truly appreciate the seasons… all of them… even winter.  Having experienced a few “white” Christmases, I know I can never turn back.  Winter just isn’t winter and Christmas just isn’t Christmas without the white fluffy stuff.  I had an oncology patient tell me once that he enjoyed the snow because it “covered up all of the ugly in the world for a little while.”  That sentiment really resounded with me and I try to think of that every time I want to gripe about shoveling and ice scraping.

Anyway… so today was the first noticeable snow fall… stick to the ground kind of snow fall.  Our puppy, Lucy,

is only 6 months old, so she has never had the pleasure of playing in the snow.  This morning, when Kevin let her out to do her business, we both watched from the door giggling as she tried to figure out what the heck was all over the ground.  She walked very gingerly across the snow covered deck and paused for a minute or two before she went down the stairs.  Then she paused again at the bottom of the stairs and investigated the strange white grass before prancing over to her favorite spot.  She was hysterical to watch.  I wish I would have caught it on video.  Perhaps, when I get home, I will snap some pictures of my silly puppy in the snow.

I wonder what was going through her head.    

OOTD

Over the weekend, I browsed around Old Navy and grabbed some really cute summer-y shirts.  They were on sale for about $5.  Woot woot!  Score.  The plan was to put them away in my bin of summer clothes and pull them out next spring.  However... I just loved the bright coral color in this shirt and I couldn't help but wear it today.  I didn't care if it was only 50 degress... it made me a little extra cheery to wear it.

 Top:  Double V-neck dolman sleeve top from Old Navy
Bottom:  Navy blue sateen dress pants from Target
Shoes:  Nude pumps from Steve Madden

 Of course Lucy had to get in the picture.  She is such a ham.

This may come in handy in the near future.  :)

I'm in the mood

no... sicko... not THAT kind of mood.

I'm in the mood to cook up a storm and do something productive (as opposed to yesterday.  Yikes.  I was pretty much a waste of space yesterday... slug).  Anywho... I scored some killer deals at Wegmans yesterday (oh... I guess I did accomplish something... shopping!  I know... shocker, right?) on all sorts of meat, so I bought in bulk and stored everything in our deep freezer.  This way when we are buried under 5 feet of snow, I won't have to worry about grocery shopping.  Makes sense to me.

Last night I threw together a beef stew.  It wasn't exactly my best work, but Kev was starving so he gobbled it right up.  It worked.

Tonight, however, I am cooking an awesome Sunday family dinner for our family of two.  I am doing a whole chicken stuffed with sausage and pepper stuffing... yummy!!  And for desert... this amazing sweet potato pecan pie

(borrowed the idea from my fav Dinosaur BBQ... found the recipe here:  Closet Cooking's Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Here is my picture... not too bad, eh? 

So for the chicken, I use just a small roasting chicken (usually around $5).  For the stuffing (this is the same recipe I use for my Thanksgiving stuffing... if you have never tried sausage stuffing, you better get to it!!  There is no turning back, though, I have to warn you... once you have had sausage stuffing, plain stuffing will never do):

• 1 box stuffing mix (sometimes I do it the hard way, like for Thanksgiving I make my own stuffing with sort of stale bread and some seasonings... but not tonight)
• 1/2 to 1 lb ground sausage (I use hot sausage)... you can also use a flavored sausage... Wegman's makes an apple smoked one that is yummy
• 1/2 to 1 cup of diced peppers (I have leftover red, yellow and orange, so pretty)
• Sometimes I also use onion and celery, diced
• Chicken broth

I cook the sausage then add in the peppers/onion/celery to soften them.  I use the chicken broth to moisten the stuffing mix.  Then combine the sausage and pepper mix with the stuffing mix.  Stuff the bird and bake (time and temp varies depending on size).  I usually start out with the bird covered in foil, then remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to brown the skin.

Here's my yummy chicken...

I also like to inject my chicken or turkey.  There is an awesome injectable marinade (can't think of the brand right now)... but it is butter jalapeno flavor... it's AMAZING!!!  Injecting the bird gives it so much more flavor as opposed to just seasoning the skin... every single bite is bursting with flavor.  If you haven't tried injecting your turkey before, give it a shot this year... your guests will be wowed.