This lil' goober was in a package I got in the mail today!
Today seemed to be full of little things gone wrong...nothing bad enough to be called a "bad day", but big enough to annoy the heck out of me.

1. I got salad dressing on my white shirt & didnt have my Tide stick with me


2. I went to get a Diet Coke from the soda machine and it gave me a Dr. Pepper


3. I spilled Dr. Pepper on my white shirt


4. Got a call from my dr, my triglycerides are high--meeting Monday


5. Realized that I sent Lisa's lkf03 gift to Angela canadagirl by accident after I dropped it off at the post office yesterday


6. The contractor repairing my ceiling is coming tomorrow instead of next week like I thought--had to rearrange plans

See? Nothing too bad, but just very irksome.

Anyway, I baked 2 batches of peanutbutter pumpkin doggie biscottis and wrapped them up for friends with doggies--I do this every year :o) I finished packing the other 3 packages I'm sending out (making sure it's to the correct people), printed postage online and dropped them off at the post office. And, I was badass and left the house with slippers. No worries, it was dark and I was just dropping off the packages at the post office after hours.

So, now I'm home and I'm exhausted. The kitchen needs cleaning, but I dont know if I have the energy. Bed soon since the contractor is coming at 8am and working all day. Joy.

My picture of the layered peppermint bark I made last week made Allrecipes.com's front page!
You can imagine my surprise when Liz informed me that a picture I took was on the top voted photo for the day over at Allrecipes.com! It was of the layered peppermint bark that I made this past weekend. I had no idea it was even up for voting, but I was really flattered to find out that people gave it so many votes :o)

I also submitted my first recipe ever--it's for the Oreo cheesecake that's kind of become my signature dessert. Right now, it's under review, but hopefully some people will enjoy it as much as my friends and I have! And if you just want a plain cheesecake, omit the Oreos and sub graham crackers for the crust. Voila! Seriously, best cheesecake recipe ever.

I have 2 photo shoot this weekend to do! Tis the season for holiday photos, I guess, which is fine by me! I'm definitely getting my fair share of practice.

Tonight is my fav instructor at Zumba...whoot!

I did a DIY muslin background, did a mini photo shoot & Salado approved of it all.
The next order of things on my list is to have a home photography studio. Now that I have my top lenses, it's time to move onto other equipment. I found a very beginner studio set up with basically a stand, muslin backgrounds and lighting. I already have a strobe and a tripod, but I think I broke it so I'm on the market for another one. Until then, it will do.

I started looking at more muslin backgrounds and saw that they were pretty expensive! We're talking $75-100 for a pretty plain background and they only go up from there. Then I found a DIY tutorial where you can do you own dye jobs on plain muslin (aka tie dye) among other techniques so after work, I went to JoAnn Fabrics, bought 6 1/2 yards (though next time, I will go with only 5 yards) and in 1 hour from start to finish, I had a custom background for $30! I'm quite proud...

I wanted to test it out so I used binder clips and push pins to tack it to the wall and let it drape down and beyond. I set up my tripod, but broke the handle *pouts* I used my Gorillapod instead which worked fine and bounced light off from the ceiling. For what I was able to whip together, the results weren't bad. I think once I get more equipment, have a better set up and clear out the loft from the futon and some bookshelves for starters, I'll have more space to work with.

( pics of the process and some more of the practice photo shoot )
So, who wants to come over for a photo shoot? I want to make more background :o)

Pictures from the last month...( Read more... )

So I missed posting her 6 month pictures. I posted the ones we got done at Sears, which actually were taken on the day she turned 6 months, but I never posted the sign/bear pictures. So this post will have both her 6 month and 7 month ones :)

( Read more... )

I got tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Alegria when they come into town in Feb (Steve will back to be my date)!
I'm so glad the weather has warmed up again--it's supposed to be 60-70's all week--whoo hoo! Now shutting off the heat...

Anyway, I heard a commercial about Cirque du Soleil coming into town and so I decided to Google it when I got to work. I saw the preview and thought it looked awesome! I've seen LOVE in Las Vegas and La Nouba at Disney/Orlando so I was definitely all for seeing another show. I was emailing back and forth with Steve about going and he said to go for it! So, I opted for the cheap seats (sometimes the best view is from way above--at least that was true in Vegas) and we're set!

Speaking of Steve, he officially got his orders for Baylor University (Fort Sam Houston) today! He has to report in on June 1st so he's really excited. It's nice to know that he really will be going to school full time, getting paid his regular salary to be a student, make out with a dual masters degree and not deploy for a few years :o) Yay for stability!

More packages arrived when I came home from work today so I got busy wrapping. I'm still waiting for a few pieces for people so once everything is in, I can start mailing out the ones that need to be shipped out of state.

Anyway, I'm going to work out and watch The Biggest Loser!

no, your eyes aren't kidding you--it's a bacon on chicken (like my lattice work? hehe)
So, last night I mentioned that my friend Liz invited me over for dinner for a bacon roasted chicken. It was amazing! Today, I was supposed to babysit V-lo kiddo (who took his 1st steps last week) while she went to her hubby's football game. Then, she started having second thoughts about going because the weather wasn't all that greate so I decided that I would pay it forward and make her this delicious chicken. She was excited to try it so when I came over, the football game ended up being cancelled so I made them dinner tonight which included the bacon roasted chicken, broccoli/cauliflower & mashed potatoes.

The recipe for the chicken can be found here. I made a few changes like stuffing it with a lemon and onions (which were delicious) and of course the fancy lattice work of the bacon instead of sticking it on with a toothpick. I also didnt do the whole beef broth thing--I basted it with the drippings from the bacon/chicken itself. The end result was sooo good and the lattice thing was nice because it stuck together and was super crispy. The chicken was very flavorful and so moist--Veronica is now going to pay it forward and make this chicken for work :o) Spread the love, everyone!

( some more pictures of this glorious chicken )
If anyone makes it, let me know how it turns out!!

Last night sucked ass. All day yesterday I had a huge headache. I'm assuming I had a migraine b/c it was hard to function and lights made it worse. Never really had one. Anyway, Night come and Lizzy doesn't want to sleep. It turned into me crying while Lizzy cried. So Steve took her and told me to go to bed. I went to bed (after taking 800mg of something or other, I forget) and stayed in bed for about 30 minutes. I could finally function, plus Lizzy was screaming her head off, so I went back out to the den and took over so Steve could get to bed. She finally went down, but then was up every 2-3 hours. Then one the cats, Kit we think, made our laptop fall over somehow from the TV tray it was on (as well as other stuff that was on there) and made us freak out thinking that the swing had fallen over with Lizzy in it. I don't think I've ever moved that fast from a dead sleep. Woke Lizzy up too (thank you Kit) so I had to get her calmed down and back to bed. Yeah, now we're up for the day. Fun. I really hate teething.

Made some pumpkin peanutbutter doggie biscottis for Liz's dog, Oscar today
I spent a good chunk of the morning writing out my Christmas and Chanukkah cards out. I'm surprised my hand didnt cramp up because I do like to include a handwritten message in each card. With exception to 10 or so cards, everything else is stamped and ready to be shipped!

I got a text from Angela canadagirl early afternoon to pick up an Austin American Statement newspepper because of the UT win. I got ready and headed out since I had to go grocery shopping anyway. While I was checking out, I remembered the newspaper and asked the cashier where they were located. He said to me, "uhhh, we probably have them somewhere...it's a big store". Yeah, BIG help. I ended up stopping by CVS who had them and headed back home.

Liz had invited me over for dinner since she was making a bacon roasted chicken. I always offer to bring something, but she said they had everything already. So, I decided to make some homemade doggie biscottis for her dog, Oscar, who they rescued a few weeks ago. Well, if I can't bring anything for the humans, then I will bring something for the doggies. It's got fresh pumpkin puree, oatmeal, peanutbutter and flaxseeds--good stuff! I haven't bought commercially made dog cookies in over a year ever since I got my Kitchenaid...love it!

Anyway, I'm going to stop by Target before heading over their house for dinner since the gift I got for Kellen, my friend's son, for Christmas is HUGE and I dont have enough wrapping paper to cover the darn thing! Other than that, I spent 2 hours last night wrapping all the gifts I had so far...still waiting for about 5 more shipments to arrive!

I made some layered peppermint bark today!
Last week on Black Friday, I went to Harry & David and loaded up on things--among them were 2 bags of peppermint bark because my mom had sent Steve some for Christmas one year while he was in Iraq and he really liked it. So, I got him some for his care package. It was $15 for 2 bags that had 5 sizeable pieces, but still--it was pretty pricey, but I still got it since I knew for sure that he liked it. I wanted to go home and try to make some on my own.

Then, the other day Letty ducks posted a picture where she had made some peppermint bark so I decided to make some this weekend. It seemed simple enough and who doesnt like mint & chocolate altogether?

While I always make a mess melting chocolate in a make shift double broiler (steel mixing bowl over a sauce pan), I some how burnt my oven mitt not once, but twice! I had it too close to the flame (gas stove) and I had to blow the fire out on my mitt...boo. I guess it's a good enough reason to go shopping for some new oven mitts though!

( the recipe and some more pics )
I haven't had time to wrap gifts, but I will after dinner. I spent 4 hours going from store to store for the last few people on my list and also to get wrapping supplies. Between last weekend and this weekend, I am shopped out--seriously! But, once I got home, I made the bark and Steve called righ in the middle of it. He said that the last care packages should be sent out by Dec 15th so the end is near!!

When I finished, Liz texted to see if we wanted to meet up at the dog park. So, I brought Coco and got to meet Liz's dog, Oscar. The dogs had a blast running around and sniffing butts...lol.

Once it got dark, I headed back home to make dinner--I'm really into soups now that the weather is cooling down. Today, I made a turkey, pasta, veggies & bean soup! I basically put whatever was in my cubbard since I need to go grocery shopping :o)

I got a camera backpack from Kimmy for Christmas!
The issue with ordering so much from Amazon is that when my friends order things off my wish list and have it shipped to me, I think it's something that I ordered! Well, I opened the box thinking it was one of the 3 I am expecting and lo and behold, it's a camera backpack that Kimmy bought off my wishlist!

I opted for a camera backpack for when we travel to China next year (and forgoing a purse altogether). I currently have a large messenger style camera back, but it pulls my shoulder when all of my gear is in it. I'm definitely not bringing everything with me over there and since part of the trip will involve hiking 8 hours to the Simatai and Jinshanling areas of the Great Wall which is by the mountains aka STEEP, I definitely wanted to be comfortable with my equipment. I chose this backpack because it's not too big (but fits the 4 lenses with room for 1 more, my camera, wallet, memory card, etc), is a backpack style to distribute the weight with chest and waist straps (the waist strap lets you wear it and access your camera/lenses w/o having to take off the bag and putting it down), and most importantly, it opens from the backside (so no pickpockets will make off with my stuff). It's also got a strap for a tripod and some external pockets, but I dont plan on bringing one nor an external flash either (I've read that flash photography isnt allowed in temples, musuems anyway--good thing I got some fast glass).

The backside and straps are very padded and it's comfortable. It's definitely the perfect traveling camera bag for me!

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Today was a chilly, chilly day in TX! The high was only 39*f and it actually snowed! Just a lil' flurry and nothing stuck, but still, people were overreacting. Schools had early releases so people with kids left early. And some people left early anyway because of the snow. One manager called me at 3:30pm and was actually surprised to hear me still there. He asked why I didnt leave early--I asked why I should have? He said because of the snow and I just laughed. Nothing stuck, it snowed for 20 mins and then the skies were blue & the sun came out.

After work, I checked out a new pizza place in town called Garlic Breath Pizza. I thought the name was clever so I orderd a pizza to go. It was just ok--I still miss Papa Gino's *sigh* Just something about the crust didnt really work for me.

I think I'm going to heat up some of my soup for dinner--it's going to be in the 20's tonight and the house is freezing!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm watching Jersey Shore & I'm ashamed of it. P.S. I HATE this guido hair do.
Today was an employee apprecation day at work and while I was in the garage about to park, the engine shuts off and goes straight to battery aka going into stealth mode. Well, I scared the bejesus out of a guy who was walking in front of me. When I parked and went into the building, we ended up sharing the sam elevator so it as kind of awkward. It was later on I found out he was a Schwab big wig that had flown in to speak to the company...oopsies!

Anyway, there was a lunch, but they were basically serving a Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, green beans, etc. I wasn't in the mood for Thanksgiving anymore especially since I ate it for 5 days so I met up with Liz for lunch at Kerby Lane to catch up since it had been a while since we had spoken. She recently got a dog and asked if I could take Christmas pictures of her, her hubby and their new dog so I said, "of course!"

After work, I met up with V-lo to go to Zumba again. It's so nice to have my gym buddy back! She holds me accountable and vice versa. Thursday's instructor is definitely our favorite so we had a lot of fun, sweat soo much and get a good work out. I grabbed a few boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios on the way out so I may start eating cereal again--I seriously haven't had a bowl in 1 1/2 years at least.

Ok, back to this ridiculous show...such a guilty pleasure :oP

I farted and it stinks really bad. I wanted all of you to know.

got the MJ CD for $5!
I finally got around to opening the Amazon boxes I got yesterday and in one of them was the This Is It Michael Jackson CD. This brings back memories--I remember being a kid (4 or 5 maybe? I know my bro Leon was around dancing with me and we're almost 3 years apart...) and dancing around to my mom's Thriller record :o)

So, Austin's been pretty chilly lately and now they're talking about snow for Friday (people of Austin, please don't freak out and start raiding the grocery store shelves)! Say it ain't so...we're only talking about 0.5-2", but we'll see. It was in the 70's only a few days ago--I'm not ready to bundle up just yet...

But, I did get to make another batch of chicken noodle soup with homemade chicken stock. I find that cornish game hens are the perfect size!

Went to bed, it was raining.

Woke up, it's snowing!

( Pictures and video! )

Of course, by the time I uploaded the video, it's melting and will soon be gone :(