Catching {Up}

 

So...since I have been MIA for just a couple of weeks,

I decided to catch everyone up real quick before we kicked off 2013!!!!

 

:: What I missed blogging ::

 

We saw Christmas lights

(this is my favorite because I keep telling Z I need a travel trailer like this)

 

Cut about 4 inches off of my hair and dyed it dark

 

 

Took the boys to have their picture with Santa for the first time

(don't mind me in the picture - Louie is not a fan of the fat bearded guy)

 

I made my first ginger bread house with Z

 

We celebrated Christmas

 

 

My best friend got ENGAGED!!!

 

(Super sweet - Chase painted that picture and when we were done with our byob painting class he pulled that out on stage! So romantic - every girl in the class cried!)

 

I did a little redecorating in our guest bedroom

 

Then my other best friend got ENGAGED!!

 

(Sweet Hiedi got engaged on Christmas Day! What could be better than a diamond ring and your man on one knee for Christmas?!?)

 

Then we had our girls annual Christmas ornament swap!

(PJ's required this year!)

 

and lastly we rang in the New Year!!!

 

 

Whew - that was a lot of catching up to do!

 

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and an amazing New Year's Eve!!

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"

 

Recipe of the Week {Chicken Pot Pie}

 

This is just not any Chicken Pot Pie this is

My Donna's Chicken Pot Pie!!

 

This recipe is super simple and its just the right comfort food to help with these cold nights!

 

I made this on Monday for my Grandma, Z and me! Hope you enjoy!

 

CHICKEN POT PIE

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

Store bought pie crust

1 can or half a bag of mixed veggies

1 can family size cream of chicken soup

1 small can cream of celery

2 stalk celery

1 small onion

cumin

garlic salt

chicken breast

salt & pepper

 

Cut boiled chicken into bite size pieces (I used left over smoked turkey from Thanksgiving, this would also be good with a rotisserie chicken)

Saute onion and celery (I added 2 tsp of left over bacon grease - I save mine like Paula Deen)

mix all ingredients in a bowl and seasonings to taste (about 2 tsp's of each seasoning)

Spoon into pie crust

 

 

top with another sheet of pie crust and poke holes on the top with a fork!

 

 

Bake until crust is brown (I probably cooked mine around 45 mins)

and enjoy!

 

Hope you all LOVE this recipe as much as I do!

 

Little side story on who My Donna is... when I was younger instead of calling my Aunt Donna, Aunt Donna - I would call her My Donna!

 

What are your favorite comfort foods during the winter?

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"

 



Just Call Me {Cupcake}

 

First things first....we mailed out our Christmas cards on Friday!!!!

 

Sorry for the bad iphone pic...google is threatening me that I need to buy more storage space for my blog so I had to take this with my phone...I have since figured out how to add without paying! yay!

 

Friday night we went to Z's so called company Christmas party....it was a bunch of drunks who drank for 3 hours straight and danced to someone's playlist on their laptop...not.even.kidding.

 

As soon as Z and I walked into the party, one of his co-workers, whom I have never met, yells "hey your the cupcake lady!!"

 

See I made these amazing Oreo Cupcakes for my Christmas Happy Hour and not one was eaten, so I made Z take all of them to work.

 

Needless to say everyone loved them, my new name is cupcake and I got asked 50 million times when I would make cupcakes again.

 

We did get some cute snapshots in front of the pretty Christmas tree!

 

 

Z's co-worker Michael, his wife Mintara and Z's Boss Mike.

The Maxfield's

 



 

I made two new friends at the party and one of the ladies has the cutest children's boutique that you can purchase from via Facebook called 3 Little Birdies Boutique - seriously if I had children they would be dressed in all of her creations!

 

However the best story of the night, thanks to my husband, since he decided to party like it was 1999 and drink like we are still in college. He could not understand while stumbling behind me to the cab why I did not think it was a good idea for us to go out with his co-workers after drinking for the past 3 hours....he also "thought" he could make it to the bathroom to throw up and that is why he did all of the household chores on Sunday!

 

I am the meanest wife in the WORLD!

 

Saturday I ran 10 million errands and drug Z out of bed to shop for our Angel Tree Child! This is something that is very special to us, we have been participating in Angel Tree since we very first started dating!

 

It also made both of us have baby fever even more as we were buying for the little two year old!

 

Sunday consisted of church, Z cleaning, eating some AMAZING blueberry biscuits and finally watching Love Actually for the very first time!

 

 

How was everyone's weekend??

 

It is officially cold in Texas and I am loving every bit of it!

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"



Do {You} Think I'm pINTERESTING??

 

I have not linked up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple in a while and I have been pinning Christmas like crazy lately to get ready for my 2nd Annual Christmas Happy Hour!

 

Here are some ideas I am kicking around!

 

(via)

 

I love these chalk boards and will definitely be stealing one to decorate our chalk board!

 

(via)

 

This cheese ball is so stink'n cute!! It does not look too difficult but it may be too cute to eat!

 

(via)

 

The most perfect play list to be on repeat!

 

(via)

 

(via)

 

And yummy Christmas treats!!!

 

What are you pinning for this Christmas??

Do you have any fun things you do for your friends around the holidays??

 

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"



 

 

 

 

 



Our {Thankful} Thanksgiving

Happy MONDAY!!!!

 

I have seriously not ever been so excited it is Monday because I had a very busy holiday weekend!

 

Thursday after stuffing our belly's 2 times, I sweet talked Z into taking on the crazies at Walmart at 8 pm on Thanksgiving night!

 

Needless to say I got everything I wanted!!!

 

 

Friday morning I headed out to get some of the good deals at other stores since dealing with the crazies on Thursday night was just not enough!

 

I found this little gem at Hobby Lobby for only $2.99!!!

What is a southern crafting girl without her leopard glue gun?!?!

 

My 3 Christmas crafts included these pretty bottles!

 

The how-to here.

 

 

The very easy but very time consuming ornament wreath!

It looks so good on my front door!

 

how-to here.

 

 

AND this super cute Christmas card holder!

(I am going to keep it up all year long!)

 

how-to here....and no I didn't drink all of those bottles of wine in one night, it was two.

 

 

We even got all of our Christmas decorations up and I wrapped all of the presents!

 

 

Our two favorite ornaments - Ace and Louie!

 

 

Saturday night we met Alyssa and Chase in Downtown Fort Worth for the Parade of Lights!

 

Our favorite two floats were the motorcycle riding Elvis and Babe's Chicken House old bus!

 

 

On Sunday after church, we celebrated our babies 5th birthday!!!

 

Sweet Little Ace turned 5 years old yesterday!!!

 

How was y'alls Thanksgiving??

Did anyone else do any Christmas crafts or decorate your tree?

 

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"

My {Favorite} Thanksgiving Sides!

 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of all of the FOOD!!

I am so thankful to be apart of families that the women can cook so well!

Needless to say my waistline loves Thanksgiving as well!

 

In case anyone is wracking their pretty little head on something to bring for Thanksgiving below are two of my favorite sides!

 

Pumpkin Upside Down Cake

 

 

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon sale

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 pound yellow cake mix (1 standard box)

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1/4 cup butter melted

whipped topping (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, mix together sugar, eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and milk. Pour mixture into a 9X13 baking pan and sprinkle dry cake mix on top, then sprinkle nuts. Pour melted butter evenly over the cake mix and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes.

 

This cake is normally better once it has time to sit and cool down. When you pull it out of the oven it is not going to be pretty but I promise you it is a HUGE hit! My family loves it and Z loves it as long as I do not put nuts! recipe can be found here.

 

Paula Deen's BLT Deviled Eggs

 

 

6 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, plus more for garnish if desired

2 cherry tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Halve the eggs lengthwise, remove the yolk and add them to a medium bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork and stir in the mayonnaise, bacon, tomatoes, and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste and blend well.  Fill in egg whites evenly with the yolk mixture and garnish with bacon is desired.

 

I made deviled eggs for the first time last Thanksgiving and they definitely are a lot easier than I always thought they were! I made this recipe for Easter and I seriously could have eaten every single egg by myself! They are sooooo good! But it is a Paula Deen recipe so I should have expected that at the least!

 

If anyone is in a bind I really hope this helps y'all out!

Do you have any go-to recipes for Thanksgiving??

 

Please share!

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"

Halloween {Crafting}

In an attempt to get into the Halloween Spirit and get my Pinterest crafting fix for the month, here are a few Halloween crafts I did this past week!

 

Halloween mix! My boss and I handed these out to our clients!

 

 

We kind of took a few mixes we liked from different Halloween mixes on Pinterest

 

Halloween Mix

~1 bag stick pretzels

~1 bag caramel pop corn

~2 bags candy corn

~1 bag candy corn flavored M&M's

~ 1/2 bag plain bugles

~ 1/2 bag white chocolate dipped bugles sprinkled with Halloween sprinkles

 

Last night I decorated the pumpkins I got this weekend at the farmer's market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I am not the best at the Chevron design, Z thought I was trying to make it look 3D.....

 

What Halloween crafts have you done?

 

Xoxo,

 

"E"