Grammy's = BORING!

What an underwhelming awards show that the Grammy's are.  Seriously, so boring!  I thought about taping it and then said to myself, "Nah, I'd rather record 'Sister Wives' and '90 Day Fiance'".  Sad but true.  In fact, I thought that "Keeping up with the Kardashian's" and the "Bachelor Wedding" was wayyyyyyy more entertaining than the Grammy's.  

Did you know: The Grammy's gives out 82 awards and only 10 winners are shown live on TV!  10!!  Isn't that ridiculous!  The rest of the 3 hours and 30 minute show is filled with performances, which can be quite boring if you don't like a lot of the performers.  

Favorite performance of the evening: Pink!  Because she is awesome like that!  Katy's Perry's performance was good, but nothing too awesome.  Everything else was meh from what I saw.  

Favorite dresses of the evening:

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I saw that my boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) won an award, but wasn't present, BUMMER!!!

That's my take on the Grammy's.  Bring on the Oscars and let's hope they are way more entertaining than the Grammy's!!

Influenster: Jolly Vox Box

I was lucky enough to find out that I was selected for the Jolly Vox Box through Influenster.  I have seen so many bloggers lately who get to test of these fun products and couldn't wait until my first Vox Box!!  I was actually selected for the Rose Vox Box several months ago, but was denied it because they had selected too many people for it.  Luckily though, Influenster redeemed themselves with the Jolly Vox Box and has sent me one too!!

In my box was the following:

• Rimmel New York Show Off Lip Gloss
• NYC HD Color Trio
• Skinny Cow Divine Chocolate in peanut butter
• Puffs Kleenex with lotion
• Duck Tape Mini Ducklings

My thoughts, it was an OK box.  Nothing was too exciting, but it wasn't a total dud.

• The Lip Gloss I gave to my sister.  I do not like lip glosses because they make you lips feel sticky and they dry out my lips fast.  I am a chap stick kind of a girl.
• The eye shadows were really nice.  I loved the colors and plan on using this a lot.  
• The chocolates were good, but I have to be in the mood to eat peanut butter.
• The kleenex are my favorite to keep in my purse so this was nice to have an extra set to keep in my purse for the winter time.
• The duck tape was really cute, but I don't have any crafts that need something like this at this moment.  My cat likes to play with the duck tape and thinks its a toy....awesome.  :) 

In all, it was an OK box but I was happy to be selected to review it.  Thanks Influenster!!

If anyone would like to be a reviewer for Influenster, please send me an email and I will add you to their list.  I have 5 slots available, so be quick!  :) 

Blue and Green Cake with Dinosaurs

I hope those of you who had a 3 day weekend enjoyed your's as much as I did!  I decided to take a break on Monday on blogging also.  I really meant to post something, but the day just got away from me!

Saturday evening we went to Dave and Busters to celebrate my sister and brothers birthday with the family.  I made my their cake.  Jena requested a blue and green cake with blue icing and T-Rex dinosaurs on it.  And you know what, that is what she got!  The cake was a hit and tasted pretty good too!!  Andy and I played several games in the gaming area, but we always end up at the coin game.  You know, that game that you put a coin in the slot and it falls down and you want to push the coins down one level and onto the next level to get tickets?  We love that game and got my sister addicted to it years ago! 

Sunday during the day I took Andy to lunch to get his favorite, boneless chicken wings!!  We went to Wing Stop and I earned my wife points for the day!  :) 

Sunday night we went over to my brothers to celebrate Christmas with my dad, his wife Deb, my brother and his family and Andy and myself.  We opened presents (LOVE my Target gift card which I plan on saving for the time being) and ate delicious food.  Jackson and Claire were hamming it up for the camera so I got some cute shots me with with them.

Monday I met up with Ali for a Target shopping date.  It was so nice to browse Target with not that many people there and not feel rushed!  We have been addicted to Target since we were young (I'm talking like teenage years when we could walk to Target from our houses).  I picked up some awesome deals there too.  I then decided to pick my sister up and we shop a bit too.  We picked up lunch at Sonic (I always forget how delicious their Cherry Lime Aide's are, NOTE TO SELF OVER THE SUMMER) and then browsed Bed, Bath and Beyond and Old Navy.  Since it was such a nice day out yesterday we also took Keeley for a walk around my neighborhood.  She was a dog on top of the world with that walk!!  The rest of my day was spent on the couch, literally.....I was exhausted!  I caught up on TLC's "Bakery Boss", "Cake Boss", "Sister Wives" and "90 Day Fiance".  Exciting stuff, let me tell you.  :) 

Sisters waiting for our food.

We sent this photo to Mom who was sad she couldn't be there also.

Snuggles, Birthday Surprises, and Fish!

I had every intention on blogging yesterday about my sister and brothers birthday on Wednesday and then work happened and it kept happening all day yesterday.....sometimes I really wish I could blog about work because yesterday was a brain killer!  By the time I had time to blog, I was too tired to do so and thought, "Ill just make Friday's blog that much better".  

First, I'd like to wish everyone a HAPPY FRIDAY!!!  If you have a work like me, you are chomping at the bit to get Friday over with and then enjoy a 3 day weekend ahead of you!  :) So let's get to one of my favorite link ups:

{ONE}

Sunday morning Smokey decided that he wanted to snuggle on the couch for a bit.  I snapped this photo of us cause I love him so!  He normally won't snuggle like this on the couch, it normally on my legs, but he was extra cuddly Sunday morning and I loved it!!

{TWO}

Wednesday marked my sister Jena and brother Joe's 15th Birthday!  I went over to watch them open their birthday presents and gave them their presents from Andy and me.  It was pulling teeth to get a photo of them together, but we got one!  

{THREE}

If you don't know me by now, you will know that I am a master "Googler".  No seriously, I am.  I Google everything!  My sister really, really, really wanted Fall Out Boy tickets to their concert this summer.  I googled and found out that the tickets go on pre-sale on Monday the 13th and on sale to everyone else Friday the 17th.  Monday morning I kept googling the pass code to get these tickets at the pre-sale time and finally after hours of searching and signing up my email address for Paramore emails.....I got the pass code and purchased tickets!  My mom and I decided to surprise her on her birthday with the tickets.  It was seriously the best surprise ever!!  She was SHOCKED!  Thank goodness I got video of her reaction because it was priceless.

{FOUR}

  This video says it all with her reaction!  I LOVE IT!  Jena isn't much for showing emotion but this took the cake in emotion for her!   I've probably watched this video 10 times and I still love her reaction every time!

{FIVE}

Something I forgot to share with you all is that we have new pets in our household....fish!  We had fish once before when we lived in our apartment and Smokey had been around them for 3 months before we moved.  Once the basement was finished, I told Andy he could set his tank up again.  I rolled a chair up to the fish tank and sat Smokey on my lap and he was enthralled with the fish!  LOVED IT!  He would try to catch the fish by putting his paw up on the glass.  I thought this was an awful cute photo of my Smokey looking for an evening snack.  hahaha!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Yesterday I decided that I wanted Macaroni and Cheese for dinner and not just the boxed kind, but the homemade kind.  I have never tried this before and thought why not.  If it comes out bad, there is always other options or fast food right around the corner.  

While searching with "Google", my "go-to resource", I found 2 recipes for this that looked good. One that used smoked paprika and the other from the Pioneer women that used dry mustard. Now if you know my husband, you will know that he is a picky eater and even though everyone said you cannot taste the dry mustard, I knew that he would have been able too.  So I decided to go with the Pioneer Woman's recipe, because lets face it, you cant go wrong with the Pioneer Woman, and substitute smoked paprika in for the dry mustard.

Ingredients

4 cups Dried Macaroni

1 whole Egg Beaten

1/4 cup (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter

1/4 cup All-purpose Flour

2-1/2 cups Whole Milk

1 teaspoon (heaping) smoked paprika

1 pound Cheese, Grated

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt

1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

 Preparation Instructions

• Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.
• In a small bowl, beat egg.
• In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.
• Pour in milk, add smoked paprika, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.
• Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.
• Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.
• Add in cheese and stir to melt.
• Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.
• Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
• Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese and bread crumbs, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

I decided that a couple pieces of bacon would go well with the mac and cheese too, and boy was I right!!  

~What recipes have you tried out lately?  

~Have you ever tried to make a homemade mac and cheese?  If not, I'd HIGHLY suggest it! :)

Giving up Caffeine

I wouldn't say that I was addicted to caffeine, per-say.  Sometimes I just needed a little something to wake me up at work, whether it be a cup of coffee or a Diet Coke.  It wasn't every day that I wanted a soda either, sometimes certain meals out just taste better with a Diet Coke or Diet Dr Pepper.  I liked the coffee in the morning because it was something warm to sip on while I started my day at work and lets be honest, I just love the taste!  I didn't need it to keep me awake, but once you start to drink a cup of coffee every morning, you begin to become addicted.  

About a month ago I decided that I really needed to give up the caffeine.  It started with a weekend day where I had a headache all day long and realized that I had not had a cup of coffee in the morning and it hit me, I was officially addicted to caffeine.  I won't lie, its tough to give up the caffeine.  If you can just get over the headaches and tiredness, you start to feel muuuuuuuch better!

With all this cold winter weather we've had lately, I've really been missing coffee.  I decided that I should look for some decaf coffee.  Not just an ordinary decaf coffee, it had to be vanilla flavored.  :)  Haha!  Target had nada, Bed Bath and Beyond had some K-Cups in vanilla decaf but I really wanted to try and save up some money instead of wasting my money on 15 K-Cups (even though I would still use a coupon.)  While walking around Dierbergs (a local grocery store) the ONLY vanilla decaf coffee was the Dierbergs brand and I thought, "what the heck, just try it".  You know what, it is awesome!!  It tastes the exact same but with way less caffeine in regular coffee.  I use 2 scoops of regular sugar and some creamer and I am in heaven every weekday morning.  :)

Let's raise our cups of coffee for a toast to giving up caffeine!!

Decaf vanilla coffee in my "Cat Table of Contents" cup!

Have you ever become addicted to caffeine and tried to quit?  

The Golden Globes

Oh how I LOVE awards season!  Most of the time I do not agree with the best picture winners, but love seeing the celebrities and their dresses.  Last night was no exception.  I was a little disappointed with my Direct Tv DVR though.  I set the Golden Globes up to record while at my in-laws house and it didn't warn me that I was recording 2 other shows at the same time as the Globes so it didn't record.  I missed the first hour of them  :(  Bummer since I really love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!! 

I'll be honest, I only watched about an hour of the show and then went to sleep.  I was exhausted and so ready to get some sleep in.  I did record the rest of the show and plan on watching it some more tonight.  I love the DVR for the fact that I can fast forward through all the commercials and through the winner that I don't know who they are..... (is that bad to say?)  Andy Sandberg winning over Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) was kinda weird, but Andy is pretty funny.  It is nice to see other people win rather than the same old people all the time.

The next awards show is: Critics Choice Awards and the SAG Awards (not that big of a fan, but love watching the fashion).  Then the Grammy's (which are really early this year) and finally the Oscars!!!  

I did get to watch some of the red carpet on E! though before we left my in-laws and saw my favorite dressed celebrities:

Olivia Wilde  (GORGEOUS!!)

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Love Julianna Margulies ever since she was on ER

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Jennifer Lawrence, she is too cute! 

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Spoiled Animals

It's the first full week in January, and it feels like the longest one in a long time.....Happy Friday! The snow, the traffic, the weather, and the extreme cold temperatures seem to be going away starting today!  Yippee!!  

1.  Keeley and I on Sunday in the snow.  I was shoveling the snow with Andy and we brought Keeley out with us so she could get some energy out.  

2.  Last night I was sitting on the floor and Keeley decided to lie on my legs.  My butt started to go numb, but was worth it seeing her face.  She was so relaxing and loving every minute of it.

3.  Sunday night we were watching TV in the basement and Keeley decided that she had to sit right next to me.  Normally she sits on my legs or feet, but I think Smokey kept picking on her (jumping up and whopping Keeley) and she was having none of it.

4.  Andy left his top dresser drawer open and Smokey found a new bed.  It was hilarious!!  That cat thinks that he can lie wherever he wants.

5.  Smokey got out Sunday from the house and hid under my car while we were shoveling.  One paw into the snow and he ran to the door wanting back inside the warm house.  Just a goof!

How many days till spring?

Today marks 19 days into winter......no that is not a typo.  I am officially counting down the days until spring is here: 69 LONG days!  Saint Louis has been just pounded with snow after snow this year and yet it is only January 9th.  It's hard to even keep track with how much snow we've actually received this year so far.  Thursday morning we woke up to another 1-2 inches.  Now I know that, that does not sound like a lot, however; we just received 10 inches, 4 days before and it's taking the road crews FOREVER to clear the roads.  I didn't see one snow plow Thursday morning while driving a whopping 20-30 mph to work the entire way there.  I hate to be a debbie downer and I know that MODOT has done an amazing job at trying to keep up with the roads, however; Thursday morning they totally let Saint Louis down.  

With all this cold weather comes cabin fever, frustration, and down right anger.  My siblings were to go back to school last Thursday, but snow caused them to have a snow day Thursday. They did end up going to school Friday and have yet to go back.  They have had the longest winter break in history!  I'd hate to be in school or be a teacher and have to make up all these snow days.....

My sister posted this photo on instagram 2 days ago and I joked her face may stay that way permanently if we don't get to school quick......looks like it may be permanent.  HAHA!  Poor Jena!  

Have I mentioned that I miss my sister and mom?  I didn't get to see them last weekend due to the snow.  Looking forward to seeing them and the 50 degree weather that is suppose to invade here.  Here's hoping!!!

Turn that Frown, UpsideDown!

I never win things, like EVER!  I was always one of the last kids picked in gym class, never been a huge academic nerd, and I was always falling somewhere in the middle or at the end.  I always see some really cool giveaways on blogs and enter to win because well why not, you can't win if you don't enter.

 Ricci over at Ricci Explains It All was reviewing the ever awesome, Temptu Airbrush Makeup System.  How cool!  I have an obsession with Bare Minerals makeup and decided that this would be a nice change up of makeup if I won.  I was being realistic and never thought I would actually win, but HEY HEY HEY, look down below

THAT'S MY NAME THERE!

I was sent a gift card from Temptu and picked out the following: Deluxe Signature Kit.  I received this about a week ago!  It came with a concealer stick, foundation, highlighter, blush, bronzer and last but not least, the whole airbrush system.  I picked out the white airbrush system because I get bored with the color black and my bathroom could use a pickme up color in it. :) 

I'll be honest, I haven't tried it out yet.  I am kinda afraid to try it out and really I don't want to waste the really nice makeup on stupid work.  I'd like to save it for the nice date nights or something special rather than wasting the makeup for work when no one really cares how my makeup looks there.  

Thanks to Ricci for the awesome giveaway!  :) 

Are we in Alaska?!?

I am seriously starting to wonder if I am in Alaska for the past 2 days.  The temperature right now, -7.  No that is not a typo, negative 7 is the actual high temperature at the moment.  With the wind chill, -29 degrees!  YIKES!!

Friday night, Andy and I went out to get the animals some more food.  We decided to switch up Keeley's food since she has problems with itching and scratching at all time.  We have brought this is up with her vet several times and was prescribed a medication for her to take.  Honestly, I am not a fan of keeping an animal on medication.  Maybe it's because I worry about everything, but if it could be as simple as changing her food and the scratching goes away, then I am game!  We talked to the cashier at Pet Co and she suggested to us, Natural Balance food.  She said that some dogs are allergic to winged animals (chicken and duck) and suggested that we try out lamb for her to eat.  When we came home we mixed the new food with her old food.  She LOVED the new food!  She even went out of her way to eat all of the new food and left the old food to eat at a later time.  So far we have seen no issues with her eating the new food.  Here's hoping this works and no more medication!

Saturday I spend the majority of the day with my friend Ali!  We had a Chick Fil A date, went over to Kohl's (which was pretty crowded) and then went out to the mall to do a little more shopping.  I picked myself up some fleece pants that were on clearance.  3 pairs for $19!  I then realized that they are fleece leggings, even better!!!  I've spent the last 2 1/2 days in them and am obsessed!!!  :)  Saturday night we ordered in pizza and watched a movie, an awful movie at that!  It was called, "Take Shelter" and I HIGHLY suggest not watching it.  

Sunday was spent in jammies, watching movies, eating left over pizza, sewing, and laundry.  It was a good day to spend inside because of the blizzard conditions that we were experiencing.  I don't exactly know the amount of snow we received because of the wind.  I think we got around 8-10 inches.  We shoveled 3 times and with the wind blowing, it didn't help.  St Louis pretty much shut down, and I am not exaggerating.  The malls closed, the movie theaters closed, we were ordered not to drive on the road ways, etc. 

This morning we woke up to extreme cold and it was decided that I work from home today.  As long as my meeting is cancelled, then I am working from home all day.  That means, 2 laptops, a huge screen TV, 2 animals and a heating blanket while I work.  I think I can handle this.  Please hope that my meeting is cancelled so I don't have to attempt to drive in these horrible road conditions.