Thanksgiving Eats!

It's not Thanksgiving without documenting all the DELICIOUS food that I devoured and share with you all in "BlogLand"!  I am proud of myself for making sure that I got photos of all of the food too!!  :) 

Breakfast was at my mom's house.  On the menu:  bacon, beignets, cheese danishes, and breakfast tater tot casserole.  YUM!!

Dinner was at my in-laws house.  On the menu:  turkey, ham, carrots with a honey glaze, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cheesy potato casserole, sweet potato duffle, rolls to make sandwiches from the ham and turkey, and tropical fluff.

(Don't worry, I put seconds of the green bean casserole and cheesy potatoes on my plate)

(I also had a nice scoopful of those delicious carrots on my plate that I scarfed promptly)

Dessert was the homemade Apple Crisp that I made.  I used a mixture of granny smith and honey crisp apples.  It came out very tasty, but I was so full from both the breakfast and dinner that I couldn't eat much of the apple crisp.  :( 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

(Source for turkey image)

Happy Thanksgiving from my home to your's!

I hope you all enjoy the day with family, friends and lots of love!  I have so many things to be thankful for and will cherish this day with my family.

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I started my day off bright and early for work (good 'ol 5:15 AM always comes too fast when you go to sleep at 9:30 at night).  I decided to pick myself up 2 donuts from QuikTrip for breakfast and a Passion Fruit Iced Tea to drink with my lunch (the meal at work today is Spaghetti, YUMMO!)  

I have a fun day ahead of me.....filling paperwork and cleaning out new office upstairs.  The move to upstairs is going to OFFICIALLY happen on Tuesday, December 3rd!  I am excited to move upstairs, but then again it's going to be so different.  I plan on taking a photo of my office that I'm currently in and then a before and after shot of the new office for you all to see.  :)  Once I move upstairs, then I can decorate the office for Christmas!!!  I decided there was no point in decorating before I moved.  

When I get home this afternoon, it will be a quick stop to Target to pick up several items: hairspray, tater tots (forgot to get these Sunday while grocery shopping) and maybe browse those clearance racks....  I will then get home and start my prep for Thanksgiving and try to figure out something to make for dinner for Andy and myself.  

Last nights dinner was a bust for me, but good for Andy!  I picked up some calzone's for Andy and myself and then we realized there was sausage in them.  I do not know what it is, but I am not a fan of sausage.  I am OK with turkey sausage, but real sausage, I just do not like.  I can pick it out if necessary, which I will do tomorrow morning with the breakfast tater tot casserole, but it's all good.  Andy let me go out and pick me up some dinner for myself.  What did I get?

Panera's tomato soup and Fontina grilled cheese!

I may have had this for dinner two nights in a row.....BUUUUUUUT it's just sooooooo good!

Breakfast will be at my mom's.  I have a tasty spread of the following that I get to devour:  breakfast tater tot casserole, cheese danishes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and beignets.  (I need to get my Joey "fat pants" out!  HAHA! 

(source)

Dinner will be at my in-laws house.  The "usual" Thanksgiving items will include: Turkey (isn't it a must to have turkey on Thanksgiving!?!), Ham (because my husband and his grandfather are not a fan of Turkey), cheesy potato casserole, green bean casserole (a request of mine and one of the dishes I am bringing over), corn, and rolls.  I am also bringing over dessert, homemade Apple Crisp and vanilla bean ice cream!!

"Talking" about all of this yummy food is making my mouth water!  I am going to heavily dig into that green bean casserole.....YUM!  

Such a random posting today, but my mind is absent today.  I am at work, but would rather be at home, in bed, cuddling with those cute little animals of mine.

These are a few of my favorite things! {Stocking Stuffers}

What a happy Tuesday it is.  Not only do I have only one more early wake up for work until the 4 day weekend and good eating over Thursday, BUT today is the second installment of These are a few of my Favorite Things!!  Today I am linking up with Elise over at Cheers Y'all and Jen over at Down with the Dearmore's!  Both are such sweet girls and I highly suggest you click over at their pages and see what they are all about AND to see what is on everyone's stocking stuffers list!!  

ONE - EOS Lip Balm holiday pack!  How cute is this 3 pack of EOS lip balm (you can never have enough).  It comes in the following flavors Limited Edition Vanilla Bean, Pomegranate Raspberry, and Sweet Mint Smooth Sphere Lip Balm and you can get it here and in stores at Target.

TWO - Starbucks Gift Card!  You can't go wrong!  You can purchase one here

THREE - Target Gift Card!  {Like you thought I forgot about my favorite store of all!}  You can purchase one here.  How cute is the puppy/reindeer for the holidays also!  :) 

FOUR - Essie Nail Polish in First Timer.  You can purchase that gorgeous nail color here.

FIVE - Tangled on DVD.  What can I say, I am a kid at heart!  You can purchase this here from Target!  {Yeah, I just saved and closed out PicMonkey and then realized, I forgot to add Tangled on my photos.....but it's still on my list and you can still purchase it at Target.  Click the link above}

SIX - How cute is this Merona hat for the winter time?  With me having a big head, this fits great and actually looks cute on me too!  The hat is essential with me walking between buildings at work during the winter.  You can purchase this hat here at Target!

SEVEN - You can have a hat on your list and not have a semi-matching gloves!!  :)  Pink would be the perfect color, but these red one's would do just fine!

EIGHT - I can't forget about the furry one's in my life.  This adorable KONG alligator squeeky toy for Keeley would be just perfect from PetSmart!  

NINE - Of course Smokey needs a new toy too!  How cute are these holiday KONG cat nip mice from PetSmart! Smokey LOVES catnip and goes crazy over toys with it in it.

TEN - Last, but NOT least this fun game for Andy!  He has always loved the Final Fantasy games and this would be a great game for him to play in his new home theater basement!  You can get it from Amazon here.

Facts about my Weekend

I thought I would switch up my weekend recap for you all and list it out by giving you all the,

10 Facts about my Weekend:

1. It's November and wayyyyy too cold!  The weather we are experiencing is for January, not November.  

2.  I have an amazing husband who helped me clean all morning long Saturday.  The house was clean and vacuumed and the laundry was fully completed AND put away by the time we went to bed Saturday night. {Who's house was I in?!?!}  LOL

3.  The final Christmas decorations were put up Saturday.  The outside lights took some time since it was so cold out, but we ready to go and celebrate the holidays!!

4. My cat and dog like to hijack my heated blanket when I walk away from it.  Example below:  

5. My heated blanket is also now broken.  {Insert sadface here}  After the animals were done snuggling up in my blanket I lied down in bed and my blanket wasn't very warm.  It was plugged in and all and just not heating up like it did an hour ago.  I said something to Andy and he said when he lied down to pet Keeley he felt something "pop" on the blanket.  So my blanket no longer works and it's soooo cold here!  I told Andy, "Christmas present" and said if I didn't receive one for Christmas, I am going out on December 26th and purchasing one for myself.  He laughed.  You can get one from Target.  I am liking either the snowflake blanket or the red lattice blanket.

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6.  Went to Target twice this weekend and spent too much...what else is new!  :) 

7. Purchased some more Christmas presents this weekend for family.  I am slowly dwindling down my list.  Thank goodness for online shopping!! 

8. At the grocery store I found those ice cream cups with peppermint and white chocolate swirls and purchased some.  They taste like the holidays!!  Must get a photo to share with you all.  I am also trying to find the Ben and Jerry's new flavor "Scotchy Scotch Scotch" in honor of the new Anchorman 2 movie coming out over Christmas.  I am hoping to find this flavor soon!  

9.  Getting super excited for the Thanksgiving day food that we are about to devour in 3 days!!  I am planning on making 4 things (2 things for my moms and 2 things for my in-laws).

10.  I decided to try my hand at dying my own hair last night.  I had my mom help me pick out a hair dye that wouldn't make me look ridiculous.  I also had a fear of dying my own hair because I had a bad experience doing it myself once.  That's another story for another day.  I chose a semi-permanent color which means it will "wash out" in 28 shampoos.  It came out looking pretty good for a box dye.  A little lighter than it was before, but it is manageable and cheaper than going to a salon.  

Disney Girl at Heart

Friday, you are my HERO!!  I am so thankful for you to be here.  

Here are the reasons why:

1. Because my husband will be "off call" starting at 12 pm today and he is in desperate need of a break from "on call", especially after the week he has had.  

2. Because I am just plain tired.   Yesterday's rain filled day just makes your day go by that much slower.  This morning its still gloomy out and this weekends highs will be in the 30's.  UGH!

3. Because Thanksgiving is that much closer to be here!!  I am craving some green bean casserole.....I can eat so much of that in one sitting that it's sickening!

4. Because I keep seeing the commercial for the following movies: Disney's "Frozen" and "Anchorman 2" and am dying to see both in theaters!!  

5. A new color of sparkles for my nails today.  Today's color, "Pumpkin Spice" which is gold and red glitter.  I really wasn't much of a fan of how the polish comes out of the bottle.  Either is a TON of sparkles or not much at all.  Very un-even, but it's still pretty festive for Thanksgiving and I can't complain much since the polish cost me a whopping $1!  Now to just figure out what I am going to wear on Thanksgiving day.....  Is it just me, or does the outfit of sweatpants and a hoodie sound nice and comfy.....LOL!

1. Keeley was helping her mama write Monday morning's post posting.  We were patiently waiting for my Coffee Cake to finish baking and decided to write up my weekend recap on the blog.  I thought this photo was extra cute.

2. 25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family!!  They released the line up of all the Christmas movies they will be showing throughout November and December and I am sooooo excited!

3. New shoes from DSW came in Tuesday buuuuut I think they are a smidge too small so back to DSW they go and I will order the correct sizes.

4. My house is fully decorated inside for Christmas!  I will do a full posting next week on all of the decorations.  The breast cancer angel ornament was purchased as a tribute to my late friend who died from cancer back in August.  I wrote her name and birth/death date on it.  Now I will have her with me every Christmas for forever.  The sisters ornament my sister and I exchanged to each other.  I think it is so cute!  My sister has claimed the blue hat so that leaves me with the pink hat.

5. Smokey cuddling in the heated blanket.  He was so happy to see his mama pull that out this week.

Linking up with Lauren for High Five for Friday!

AND

Linking up with April at A Liz Adventures Darci at The Good Life, Christina at Carolina Charm, and Natasha at Hello! Happiness

15 Questions with my Husband!

Last week I found someone who posted: 15 Questions with my Husband!  {I apologize in advance to whomever I am borrowing this idea from, I just cannot remember where I got this from last week}.  So, I thought, "How Fun!" I talk about Andy all of the time, let's have him fill this survey out!  :)  So here we go, take it away Andy:

15 Questions with my Husband, Andrew

1. Describe your relationship in three words: Loving, Exciting, Trusting

2. What's your favorite thing to do with Jessica? Sit on my butt and watch TV/movies (will be much better when the basement is done!)

3. What is Jessica's biggest pet peeve? ME! I push buttons for fun... I'm sarcastic and know how to get her going. 

4. What's your favorite meal that she cooks? Hard to choose, she's a pretty good cook.

5. What is your least favorite meal that she cooks? Nothing, she knows what I will and wont eat. LOL

6. A day you never want to forget is: Day we got engaged, I had a blast watching her scramble through the scavenger hunt! Only to have her find the ring, look at me, and ask if I was kidding. 

7. Idea of the best date night: See number 2, might step it up and go to a restaurant and the real movies. 

8. What’s Jessica's favorite movie? Geez I really have no idea, probably Christmas related. Could be "Elf". 

9. Where did you meet Jessica? Best Buy (we worked together at Best Buy.  Her as a Front End Leader of Customer Service and me in the Geek Squad)

10. Where did you and Jessica go on your first date? Movies, we went to see, "The Hangover"

11. If you could travel anywhere, right now, where would you go? Beach, any beach, its flipping cold and I could go for a good beer. 

12. What do you love most about your wife? How much she cares. 

13.How many children do you want to have? 2 at most, we will see

14. What are Jessica's fears? Abandonment. 

15.What do you think about her blogging? I enjoy it, kinda fun to read the stuff that's been posted in the past. 

Keeping those portions small and include those vegetables!

Yes, the ever dreaded "diet" is being brought back up today.  I don't want to "diet" but rather I just want to eat healthier and get some cardio workouts back into my life.  I can enjoy those little things, like Christmas Tree Cakes from Little Debbie {addicting} and ice cream; but I need to remember the word MODERATION!!

At work we are provided with a free lunch.  I am all over anything that starts with the word free.  Especially lunch since I just give myself enough time to shower, get dressed, take the doggie outside and feed the cat and then it's off to a good 45 minute drive to work, so making lunch would cause me to get up even earlier, NO THANKS!  Our lunches are made out of a cafeteria kitchen {so you know the food isn't very healthy}, but sometimes it's the best choice to go with.  

Lately, I have been feeling "Fluffy" {Yes, I just called myself Fluffy} and not happy with myself.  Yes, I'd rather be pregnant right now, but I know that I have to leave that in the back of my mind and just remind myself that I am a strong individual who will get pregnant.  It's just going to take some patience on my part.  I decided that I wanted to get back to the gym on a regular basis and get my fitness going again.  

Last night was day one back at the gym.  How did I do?  I decided on Day one of Couch to 5K.  Start with a 5 minute warm up walk, run one minute, walk a minute 30 seconds, last 5 minutes cool down walk.  This lasts for 30 minutes.  Every run I increased my speed just a bit.  The fastest run I got out of me, 5.5.  That's pretty good for a girl who hasn't been the gym in over 2 months!  The goal, going to the gym every other day (3 days minimum).  

1. Today's lunch I decided on packing a favorite lunch of mine to take from home: Turkey and cheese roll up in a spinach tortilla (I only use half of a tortilla) and some baby carrots for the crunch factor and to get my veggies in.

2.  Oatmeal, my breakfast staple at work.  Right now I am loving this oatmeal from Oatmeal Revolution.

3. I still LOVE the Chobani Flips!  It's a great alternative for at night when I am craving something sweet rather than grabbing some ice cream or cookies.

4. I found this Bigelow herbal tea called "Perfect Peach".  It's perfect to sip on when we are having such cold mornings.  I love coffee but had the caffeine addiction I get from it, so this is a great alternative to my something warm to drink in the mornings.

5. Chobani Champions Tubes in Chillin' Cherry!  YUM!!  I highly recommend these for a quick snack or for them to be apart of your breakfast like they are for mine!

6.  The holidays would not be complete without Celestial Seasons Holiday teas!  I tried the Gingerbread Spice yesterday (so good) and had the Sugar Cookie flavor this morning!  I find these at my local Target, I can never find them in my grocery stores. 

These are a few of my favorite things! {My List}

Today I am linking up with  Elise over at Cheers Y'all and Jen at Down with the Dearmore's with the list of MY favorite things!  {Is it just me, or does the song "Favorite Things" get stuck in your head when you read "These are a few of my Favorite Things!"}

• Evecase Grey Digital Camera Case from Amazon.  I have a case for my camera, but at the moment, it is too small for my needs.  I am thinking that this would be an excellent camera case for me.
• AmazonBasics 60-inch lighweight tripod with bag  I have been wanting to really use my digital camera lately, but it's hard to take photos of yourself when you don't have a tripod or a husband near by!  :) 
• Rusk W8less hairdryer.  I am wondering if I get a nice hairdryer, than I would actually be more into doing my hair in the mornings, rather than just throwing it into a pony tail.
• Tervis Tumbler Mugs.  I love drinking coffee or hot tea out of these!  Of course the best deal you can score on these are at Bed Bath and Beyond with a coupon!  
• Black Sequin Cardigan.  Believe it or not, I have NO long sleeve black cardigans!  I am in love with sparkles and these black sequins would be the perfect amount of sparkle to the holiday season!
• Storage Cart.  I think this would be perfect for all of my sewing things to store in the basement.
• Red Toms  Enough said!  :) 
• Calphalon Kitchen Electric Griddle.  Our griddle is slowly dying and this one would be a nice addition to our kitchen!  I love that it can make panini's also and the plates are removable and can be washed in the dishwasher!
• Bluetooth Portable Speakers.  I need some speakers to play music around the house while I am cooking, cleaning, or just in the mood to listen to music.  I love how portable this speaker is.
• Ralph Lauren Perfume.  I love the fresh clean scent of this perfume.  I do not like over powering perfumes and this is perfect for my taste. 

A Weekend in a Nut Shell

Good Morning from home!  

No, I am not sick.  Unfortunately, my father's mother (my grandmother) passed away Friday morning and the funeral is this afternoon.  My boss let me take the day off (which I am ever thankful for) since the funeral is today and I hadn't been sleeping much all weekend.  I took 2 Tylenol PM's last night  and slept like a rock.  Thank you Tylenol PM!  :) 

Keeley is helping me write this post this morning! 

1. I come home Friday night from work to order some shoes from DSW and both animals want attention! How can you not love that! The love both Keeley and Smokey both show me just makes my heart melt!

2. Also on Friday night UPS shipped me the new cookbook from The Pioneer Woman! Reason why I ordered this, Ree Drummond is coming to St. Louis for a book signing Tuesday night. I did some research several weeks ago and didn't find much information except where it was a what time. Well I did some more research Friday night and find out that it is SOLD OUT! What!?!!! Bummer city dude! If I had known, I would have gotten tickets long ago. :(. So needless to say, I'm totally bumming. 

3. Friday nights dinner: Steak 'n Shake. We have been really horrible about eating out this month....I did manage to get a shake with dinner (water too) but ordered a child size small Peppermint Chocolate Chip Shake.  YUM!!

4. Friday night we also picked up my new Christmas tree from Home Depot!!  We got this one.  Andy helped me put it up on Friday night also.  :) He received many awesome husband points!

5.  Friday night also was spent with cuddling both Smokey and Keeley on the couch once the Christmas tree went up (whew, what a busy Friday night it was!!)

6.  The Christmas tree!!  It still needs to be decorated (which I am hoping to do today)

7.  Campfire (S'Mores) cookies that I made Saturday!  I brought them with me to the wake for people to munch on.  They turned out so good!  Recipe to come this week (it is also posted on my Pinterst page if you are antsy for some yummy cookies to make)

8.  Sunday Missouri experienced some crazy CRAZY weather!!  The high was around 75 degrees with the wind blowing around 30 miles an hour!  Our house never received hail or rain, but farther up north saw this kind of weather.  In fact about an hour or two north of us, tornados touched down.  This photo came from a weather spotter that I follow on Facebook.  

9.  I made this cute little collage of my fur-babies last night.  LOVE them!  :) 

Hey hey it's Friday!!

Whew what a late post this is!  I apologize for this being so late, but it's been crazy busy at work lately.  In the next couple of weeks, I am moving offices and taking all of my stuff upstairs to the new office, this is going to be quite a task.  My boss and I were trying to figure out if we can move my desk upstairs and how we can fit my stuff in a much smaller room, etc.  Craziness going on over here!  

Let's get to my favorite post of the week:

{ONE}

Yep, that's right.  I have been playing Christmas music in my car all week long!  I even found out that today on my way home that 102.5 is playing Christmas music starting today until Christmas Day 24/7!!

{TWO}

Yes, I have a new obsession with glitter nail polish.....I purchased all 8 of these from Walmart on Sunday.  I am wearing the 3rd one from the right today.  It's my sparkle color of choice this week.  :) 

{THREE}

I picked these cute kiddos up on Wednesday from Day Care and spent the evening with them.  I'll post next week about our adventure to Chick Fil A and for the 1000 bonus points I earned being their Aunt.  :) 

{FOUR}

Smokey cuddling with me on the couch Monday night.  Isn't he just too cute!  My hair color looks black here too...it isn't.  I haven't dyed my hair in years which is another topic at hand because I really need to get it dyed (stupid grey hairs....)

 {FIVE}

Dear DSW shoes, thank you for sending me a coupon for $20 off a $49 purchase or more on shoes this week.  I picked up 2 pairs of flats to wear for work.  Woohoooooo!  I can't wait till they come in (free shipping too!)

Linking up with Lauren for High Five for Friday!

AND

Linking up with April at A Liz Adventures Darci at The Good Life, Christina at Carolina Charm, and Natasha at Hello! Happiness

Nail Care

I am in NO way a professional at nail care.  I've been a nail biter ever since I can remember.....(a good 29 years and 8 months, I am so not rounding till 30 until I have too).  There have been months when I am really good at not biting my nails and then something happens and we say, "bye bye" to the beautiful nails that I grew.  I love seeing you all post nail photos of your gorgeous nail colors and I become jealous.  So here I am, in November deciding to stop biting and start growing.  :)  

Weekly I typically trim up my cuticles.  I use a wooden cuticle pusher to push back those cuticles (obviously) and then trim off the excess skin with my nail clippers.  I use these here. A 4 pack for $0.89!  Score!!  I find that trimming my cuticles, it makes my nails look longer and less ragged.

Once my nails start to get longer, I like to use a nail file to keep them looking nice and not over growing.  I really love the Revlon nail files from Target.  They come in cute patterns too, which is fine by me!

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Next step is that I use a "nail-growth" nail polish as a base on my nails.  I find that these help my nails grow faster than normal.  (I also take pre-natal vitamins and that helps a lot too).  I use one coat of the Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle on my nails.  I then add 1-2 coats of whatever sparkle or color polish of my choosing.  I like to just use a sparkle on my nails because with color it chips so easily and I do not want to do my nails every other day.  (OCD problems. LOL)  To top off my nails I use Sally Hansen Complete Care as a top coat.  

Friday's sparkle choice was Elf's "Chic Confetti".  I purchased this nail polish along with 13 others in a variety pack from Target last year during their Christmas time goodies that came out.  I am really liking this cube set too.  I am wondering if Target will sell this one this year or not...