Office Space

I finally have my office all put together!  I say finally like I've been working on it for months, when really I painted my desk two weekends ago (see here for more) and Charlie brought it home on Monday.  So I spent last weekend working on things for my desk and this week putting it together.  It still isn't 100% complete because I still need a chair.  Right now, I squat at it and pretend like I am doing stuff.  I also want to hang something above it... I go back and forth between hanging something, and getting a white shelf for my binders.... Thoughts?

I'm kind of stuck in the corner next to the air conditioner and the radiator, but I am fine with that, since an office space in the corner is better than no office space at all (or laying in bed, pretending your bed is your office space).  

For my pens, pencils and sharpies, I took mason jars with handles (from Hobby Lobby) and put on the cute little stickers I made and tied my ribbon around the top. 

My magazine holder came from Target.

I was really excited when I found the notebook in a drawer that matched my office area colors.  And there is my new Elle magazine with my friend Lauren Conrad (I love her!!  We met once... really, I went to her book signing and all I managed to get out was a weird mumble of non-English words).  

I got the file folder holder from Target too.  I'm sad I don't have cute, matching file folders and when I told the hubs this, he just stared at me.  

Speaking of the hubs, look what he brought home for me yesterday!

Baby pumpkins!! My first halloween decoration!  I am so excited!! 

Halloween Planning

image from here

I love Halloween.  I have always loved Halloween.  My birthday is the day after, so it has always been a really fun couple of days.  Every year I watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," one of my favorites along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  However, I do not, repeat DO NOT watch scary movies.

I haven't dressed up in many years because we really don't do anything on Halloween, but Buddy and Lola always dress up!

The first year, Buddy was Batman, because of his ears.  I had to get him a little boy's costume because I couldn't find a dog Batman costumer anywhere.  

Lola was a princess.  We wanted her to be Miss America (we call her that sometimes), but there is no Miss America costume.  The closest we could think of was a princess.  Plus, I really liked the tutu.  She had to wear the pink tshirt because the skirt wouldn't stay right without it.  She HATED the hat.  

We took them to the Petsmart Party... it was kind of a disaster.  We didn't do it again. 

Last year they were Mickey and Minnie. 

I don't know what they are going to be this year.  I looked on Target's website and didn't like anything.  Then I looked on Petsmart's website and didn't like anything.  

Normally I wouldn't look at Walmart, but I decided to...

from here

Charlie wants Buddy to be a cop.  I like that idea (we call him Barney Fife, like from Andy Griffin, because he runs around and protects the apartment and my parents house and is a spaz), but I don't like this costume.  I want him to have a real belt with handcuffs.  

Then I saw the matching Sailor outfits (and I saw a sailor outfit on Petsmart or Target too)

here

here

I also really liked the Chef outfit... I call him my sous chef cause he is always in the kitchen with me

here

And I really want him to just wear this in October

here

Any thoughts?  Ideas?  Opinions?  What is your pet going to be for Halloween?  

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

I have quite a fantastic recipe to share with you today.  Charlie and I both LOVE Mexican food.  We used to go eat Mexican once a week (when we had little money, instead of no money).  And this is one of our favorite mexican dishes.  It is easy to make, and makes a ton, so you can eat on it for days.  Luckily, it is so good, you won't mind having all those leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 c sour cream

1 onion, chopped

1 can black olives  (I forgot this, so mine doesn't have any)

1 can black beans

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can corn

2 dashes tobasco

6 large tortillas, cut into strips

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

10 oz sharp cheddar

1.  Combine soup and sour cream, mix well.  

2.  Add olives, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, corn and tobasco.  Mix well.  

3.  Spread a small amount on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  

4.  Then a layer of chicken, tortillas, and cheese.  Repeat until all filling is used (I got 2 complete sets).  

5.  Bake covered at 350 for about 30 minutes.  

Hubby's Birthday Weekend

Friday was Charlie's birthday, so we had a birthday filled weekend (I believe you should get at least a weekend for your birthday, if not a week!)

Friday night we ate dinner at the Rendezvous.  Neither of us had ever been.

We, of course, ordered ribs.  I'm not a fan of dry ribs, but Charlie enjoyed them and we had a nice time.

Saturday I prepared Charlie a surprise birthday dinner.  We had salad, chicken parmesan, Italian spinach and Key lime cupcakes.

I made this cute Birthday sign from colored paper, card stock and those cut out letters kids use for science fair projects.

It would have been cuter if I didn't have to tape it up... apparently you can't put thumb tacks in our walls because they are, like, concrete or something.  

Step 1:  Cut colored paper in different sizes (mine ranged from 4x5 (smallest) to 5x7 (largest)) and glue/ tape on top of each other for the layered look.
Step 2: Glue/ tape your letters on
Step 3:  Punch 2 holes in the top for ribbon
Step 4:  Thread ribbon through holes.  Start under for the first hole, so it makes a little loop between the two holes.

from here

I splurged and got the cutest cake/cupcake tiers (Martha Stewart, natch!).  I got the smallest and the medium, so now I am dying for the large one!

Don't they look so cute on there?? I was pretty excited. Recipe is from Ming Makes Cupcakes

I used Giada's chicken parmesan recipe (here), which is delicious.  I like it because the chicken isn't breaded.

My fancy set up... ok maybe not so fancy, but we did eat at the table!

I think he had an OK weekend.  I tried, which is what counts, right?  Buddy wasn't happy about us sitting at the table.  It was hard for him to sniff our food.  When we eat on the couch, he sits on the floor and rests his head next to me and stares longingly at my plate.  

Hope on a Sunday

I've never been a fan on Sundays... primarily because it meant the next day was Monday.  Normally, just the thought of Monday can send me into a downward spiral of depressed thoughts.  Monday means it is a really long time to the weekend.  Also, it means I have to get up early.  To top that all off, every Monday at work we have a painfully long (and, might I add, unnecessary) meeting (I can say that freely because everyone, seriously everyone, knows how pointless they are).  

The only two good things about Mondays are:

image from Meg's Mingle Monday post from last week here

1.  Mingle Monday over at Life of Meg is tomorrow.  And I LOVE Mingle Monday!  I have found so many great blogs I love, and I feel if I knew these lovely ladies, we could totally be friends in real life!  I was so honored that Meg chose me and my silly little blog to be a must read  (what, you want proof? See here).  Have you Mingle Monday-ed yet?  No?  I suggest you do it... you know, tomorrow is Monday!

Gossip Girl images from here

2.  Gossip girl!  I love me some Gossip Girl!!

Might this picture be a sign of things to come?  Who knows, but my hopes are high for a Blair and Chuck reunion...


Even though these things are wonderful, I have a few more reasons I have hope on this Sunday...

1.  The weather is finally cooling off!  I walked out my door this morning and didn't immediately break out into a sweat.  We rode to Starbucks with the windows down, no air conditioner needed.  Even the leaves are starting to change.  The highs this week are in the mid 80s (instead of 100s), and I can finally say I think fall is within reach.

Buddy is really enjoying the change in weather too.  We took a nice long walk yesterday and today.  He likes the leaves, too.

And his neighbor friends (I used the term loosely since the two Weenie dogs bark at Bud, and he just stares at them) seem to be enjoying the weather too (if not the visitor).

2.  I know that after the long, exhausting, painful work week I had last week, that this week will be a piece of cake.  I have one really really busy week a month (I'm talking, working like a crazy person, staying until 11 or 12 at night, insanity week).  Luckily for me, that week was last week.  So glad it is behind me.

image from here

3.  Its almost October, which means it is almost time to celebrate Halloween!  I love LOVE Halloween!! It is one of my favorite holidays (is that the right word for it?).  I don't have any Halloween decorations, but I have every intention of doing some DIY projects- so be looking for those soon!!  Plus, Charlie said we could get a pumpkin and carve it!  Halloween party, anyone?

4.  Charlie is bringing my desk from my parents to the apartment tomorrow!  And I finally get to set up my work area!

5.  I've got some wonderful smelling Blueberry crumb bars (which I'll post about soon) in the oven and my timer just went off.  I think I have some tasting to do...

Happy Sunday, everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBS!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday! YAY! What did he get for his birthday 3 years ago?? ME!! We went on our first date on Sept. 22, 2007 and then his birthday was the 24th, could a man be any luckier? I kid... sort of...

I wanted to show you all what a precious little tot he was.

Wasn't he adorable?? Look at those cheeks!  

The one where he is in the raft is one of my very favorite pictures of him.  He is still like that at the beach (only he has his 2 front teeth now).

This is when Charlie turned 21. See his little beer mug necklace? 

 He is not even a year younger than me and do you know someone once accused me of "robbing the cradle"??  I was really offended.  

For his 21st bday, I surprise kidnapped him, took him to Tunica and we saw the Allman brothers.  He was SO surprised!  He loves to be surprised! 

We are going to the Rendezvous tonight for a little birthday dinner with the fam, and then tomorrow night I am cooking a special Surprise birthday dinner! (I've got big plans, but I can't tell what it is, because I told him to make sure to look at my blog today!)  So I will definitely have Charlie's birthday recaps on Monday.

Happy birthday, Husband!  I love you more that you will ever know.  Buddy and I are so lucky we have you!!!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Last week, I bought myself a present- The Martha Stewart Cupcake book! I was super excited to try my first one this past weekend. I decided to start with Snickerdoodle cupcakes (the way I found out about the cupcake book). I quite love Snickerdoodle cookies, as does everyone that I have given cupcakes to (except Charlie, who had never heard of snickerdoodles and I responded with a blank stare).

If you are interested in baking, I highly recommend the book. There is just so much in it! I do have one thing to say about this recipe... I am currently having a love affair with Martha (read here). I actually told the hubs if I was going to leave him, it would be for Martha. But that was before this weekend... now, my trust has been broken. This recipe suggests using Martha's Seven Minute Frosting. It is suppose to be easy and take 7 minutes (thus the title). I did not find this to be the case.

This is what Martha's Seven minute frosting looks like:



This is what mine looked like:

Liquid failure

So, I kind of got really really angry that I failed at her frosting. So instead of trying it again (I really didn't feel like wasting another 6 eggs on a second fail), I decided to just make her vanilla frosting (here) which is also in the cupcake book, and I found to be much more pleasing. I don't think I would like the 7 minute frosting anyway (this isn't coming from a defeated, proud angle). Apparently, it is kind of like merangue... and I don't really like that, so something tells me I wouldn't like this either. I like my frosting creamy.

Here is the recipe for the Snickerdoodle cupcakes.

Here they are in the cute cupcake carrier!

Gossip Girl Style

One reason I am so glad it is fall (even though it doesn't feel like it) is Gossip Girl! I started watching Gossip Girl during the first season because they wore such fabulous outfits. Then I was totally drawn in to the Upper East side drama. I love Blair Waldorf like you wouldn't even believe. I want her entire wardrobe.

So in honor of the new season, I wanted to share some spectacular Gossip Girl fashion from this season and a few from seasons past.

You can't see it here, but there is a large exposed zipper in the back... love it!

Ahh... Chanel!

This dress is fantastic. It was in last night's episode.

Even Chuck's new girl that doesn't have a name (if she does, I don't care cause I like Chuck and Blair together) gets to wear really cute clothes.

I decided I'm going to start wearing ball gowns just for the heck of it (Blair was actually going to a ball). And roaming Paris.

image from here

I WANT THIS DRESS!

Do you love Gossip Girl?

*all images are from the cwtv.com, unless otherwise noted