I'm a Mac!!!

Aren't long weekends just wonderful? Especially 4-day long ones? I'm loving that I feel like the long Thanksgiving weekend was more like a mini vacation... and I'm loving it even more knowing that thanks to my AWESOME company, there's just 3 and a half short weeks left before a glorious week and a half off. That's right, I get winter break! As if the holidays don't already make me giddy like a school kid, getting all that time off makes it all even sweeter.

I made a comment to my mom the other day about how I have a "handful" of readers, and she promptly stopped me and stated that there's probably a whole lot more people that read this than I realize. So, whether that's true or not, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I would just like to take this opportunity to let each and every person reading this know that I am thankful for you. This blog has been a great way for me to document my first taste of home-ownership, and knowing that anyone else cares enough to read along is a huge compliment to me.

Speaking of being thankful, I also need to make a little blog shout-out to my Uncle Joe and Aunt Marie and to the Lawlers, for welcoming us into their homes once again and stuffing us full of TWO delicious Thanksgiving feasts. As usual, the highlight for me was my late Grandma von Ebers' cheesecake, which my aunt and uncle make every year for Thanksgiving. This year was extra special for me though, because as an official homeowner my aunt presented me with a copy of the secret recipe, which I absolutely cannot wait to try out. Apologies up front though, the recipe really is secret, and therefore will not be appearing on the blog... per my aunt's orders. :)

So, after stuffing ourselves full of two amazing Thanksgiving dinners and stopping by two others, Dan and I headed home to scour the Black Friday ads and try to decide if anything was actually worth waking up before the sun. As per usual, nothing screamed "HAVE to have it"... but we got up in the middle of the night to go shopping with all the crazies anyways. I'm going to use the fact that Manda wanted to join us for her first Black Friday experience ever as the excuse for why we went, but in reality it's just because I absolutely do not have the will power to pass up a decent sale and buy a bunch of stuff that I don't need.

Like the little toaster-sized deep fryer I scored at Kohl's at 4am for $10. Yep.


Honestly though, since I refuse to listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, pumping Frosty the Snowman at 3:30 in the morning long before the sun comes up is my favorite way to kick off the holiday season. Being in the car with my two favorite people while we laugh at the lines of people hoping to get their hands on a plasma TV makes it all the better!

Other random finds of the morning included a hamper set (thrilling, I know) and 13' telescoping collapsible ladder from Menard's, a couple new tool toys for Dan at Home Depot, a new pair of shoes for each of us, and a $24.99 Sunbeam stand mixer that Dan grabbed for me at Fry's to replace my obnoxiously turbo-powered hand mixer from last Black Friday...


The only major "doorbuster" we went out for was a new monitor at Best Buy for Dan's computer, since his old one suddenly decided to stop working a few weeks ago. Thankfully, we did NOT have to stand in line overnight like hundreds of other people tend to do at the big box electronics stores, and we were able to just stop by Best Buy later in the afternoon to pick it up.

While all of the little random unnecessary things are fun and will definitely be put to good use, my major purchase of the year was actually on Thanksgiving, when I bought something online that I have wanted forEVER and (believe it or not) saved for... my very first, very own, Macbook!!!


Thanks to Dan being a savvy online shopper, he found the Black Friday Macbook deal that Best Buy was having available online on Thanksgiving, which saved us from having to battle the crowds at 4am when the store opened. The computer itself was the same price as always, but came with a $150 Best Buy gift card. He also found out that if I purchased through bing.com I would get 10% cashback, which comes to $100 when you're talking about a $999 Mac. Not bad!

So, the final deal breakdown: $999 retail price - $150 Best Buy giftcard - $20 Best Buy rewards - $100 Bing cashback = $729 plus tax and shipping.

The giftcards will be used to purchase a new camera I've had my eye on but wasn't quite ready to splurge on - the Nikon L100, which is currently on sale for $199 at Best Buy. I'm crossing my fingers I get the giftcards in the mail before the sale is over as it's regularly $229.

Unfortunately I have to wait for my snazzy new toy to come in the mail, but I absolutely cannot wait. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be blogging from my Macbook!

Halloween @ 9-oh-6

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving... so what better time than now to FINALLY blog about Halloween?? I know, I know, I'm waaaay behind. But, I can't complain. Although work has been a little crazy lately, with the holidays looming over us I'm thankful for my job and grateful that the company I work at has been able to thrive this year through some really crappy times. My insanely busy days haven't left much room for blogging, but I'd rather be busy than not have anything to do at all! Regardless, today is a wonderful half day before the long holiday weekend, and it's quiet and slow here. Apparently it is also pajama day, but I missed that email and got dressed this morning. Oh well.

Considering Halloween was our one year anniversary of living in the house, we decided to go all out and invited quite a few people, and ended up decorating both the house AND the garage, which made for a fun all-over party. Here's the pictures!

First up, our "blood covered sheets". These were an attempt to cover up the furniture in the house while creating a "murder scene" as part of our decorating. Great idea, right? Wrong. Our red wine, red food coloring and corn starch mixture looked really cool, and we even thought to put plastic down on the furniture before tossing over the sheets. However, throughout the night as people sat on the couch the plastic under the sheets shifted, leaving the sheets directly on the furniture... which left a nice pinkish cast of food coloring and wine on the light tan couch and recliner... not particularly cooperative ingredients in stain removal. Oops. Thankfully, Dan and Jeff noticed right away when the party cleared out and immediately took a bottle of seltzer water to the furniture which helped the stains to not set in too much.


Here's Bev and Dan "mounting" their leaf-stuffed dummy for the yard -


Some fun party pictures -

Bridget is finally 21!!!! -


Dan and Michael as Mario and Luigi... and acting out Mario moves. HILARIOUS -


Me and my Mary as the Blues Brothers... only cuter :) -


Flippy cup in the decorated garage -


Old friends = my 2nd family -


A big thanks to Bev and Mrs. Lawler for their help decorating, and another round of thanks to everyone that joined us for the party! We hope you all had as much fun as we did celebrating!

Wannabe

Let's be honest here, I am not trendy. My facebook status usually calls for a "hoodie day" at least once a week (or more in this crisp weather), and I think in my nearly 2 years at my casual dress code job I've stepped out of jeans a grand total of 3 times. If I ever were to move on and go somewhere that requires a dressier style, I would literally need an entire new wardrobe. All of that being said, I still have my moments once in awhile where I want something a little different than my norm, maybe something to stand out a bit - although "bit" is definitely the keyword there.

Manda and I trekked down to the DIY Trunk Show yesterday, and although a lot of the booths were the same crafters we saw over the summer at the Renegade Craft Fair, we were happy to find a few that we hadn't seen before. My one purchase of the morning came when we met Crafty Lady Anne Holub, who was selling a Kelly-priced version of the Necklush, a fun little necklace/scarf thing that I saw on Etsy awhile ago but wouldn't spend the money on. Anne was selling a soft gray version made out of jersey tees for $7, and although not as thick as the original Necklush, it's a perfect little subtle statement piece for me.

(Images are of the original Necklush)

On another craft-related note, I saw the perpetual calendar from Orange Beautiful that I was completely hooked on and was disappointed to find out that it was much smaller than I was expecting. Manda pointed out that from the pictures she saw, she was expecting it to be smaller than it actually was, so maybe my perception was just off when looking at it online. Regardless, although I love Orange Beautiful, I'm back to hunting for the perfect 2010 calendar.

Have to have it

Don't get too excited, I'm not planning a wedding just yet. But, I'm still fairly convinced that I NEED to have this handy little swatchbook in my possession.


For someone as hooked on color as I am, the thought of being able to plan a color palatte for a wedding based on true Pantone colors - and not on the handful of overused colors at, say, David's Bridal - has me giddy and getting that excited glazed over look in my eyes. Heck, wedding or not, being able to buy a dress (or matching accessories) just for kicks that matches one of my favorite swatches is thrilling to me. In fact, the callout on the cover of the guide looks strikingly close to Mimosa, the Pantone color of the year that I've blogged about before.



Dessy Group is HERE, originally spotted HERE

Beat down

You know those days when everything that could possibly go wrong does, and everything that could possibly stress you out does, and everything that could possibly tick you off or put you on the verge of tears... does? Well, that's how this entire WEEK has been for me, and I couldn't be happier that it will be over after this last long afternoon. I have not left work until around 7 every night this week, I continue to feel like I'm coming down with something although so far (knock on wood) no real sickness has surfaced, I'm worn out and tired, and the winter blues are kicking in despite the mild weather... all in all I feel like I got in some kind of major fist fight with my own life this week.

That being said, I have clearly done a whole lot of NOTHING (like blogging) after getting home from work in the evenings. Dan has had meetings every night, so I skipped cooking and ate things like cereal, Trader Joe's fried rice, and a solid half-pint of my favorite Ben&Jerry's Cinnamon Bun ice cream. Nothing like well balanced dinners to round out the day, huh?

Today, I'm grateful that it's Friday, the casual dress code at work allows me to be in a comfy fleece and flats, and I don't have any concrete plans for the weekend. Hopefully a couple days off will rejuvenate me and I'll be able to snap out of my funk and get back to my usually self AND finally catch up on my blogging. Fingers crossed!

Step by Step Caramel Apples

Perhaps the only thing I like about Dan having overnights at work is that usually means a sleepover for Manda and I. Last month was no exception, and since it was in the midst of my apple encounters, we decided to try our hand at homemade caramel apples. All of the recipes I saw were insanely simple - mix a couple tablespoons of milk in a bowl of caramels, melt it in the microwave, and dip. I think I knew better than to expect that this would NOT be a huge mess, but overall the project was a little more frustrating than I would have thought. Either way, the end product was delicious.

Here's a step by step in pictures of mine and Manda's Caramel Apples.

1. Get out all of your supplies - a large bowl, Kraft caramels, wax paper, popsicle sticks, and apples of your choice (we used red delicious).

2. Have your helper unwrap all of the caramels and put them in the bowl with a couple splashes of milk.

3. Wash and dry the apples, remove stems, and insert a popsicle stick into each on the stem side (so they will stand upright).

4. Melt caramels in microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring once. Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet with the wax paper.

5. Let caramel cool a bit, then dip apples one at a time, rotating slowly so all sides are covered. You can use a spoon to drizzle some caramel over the top of the apple (where the stick is).

6. Immediately roll in toppings of choice, if desired. We used crushed cashews and graham cracker crumbs.

7. Refrigerate until caramel dries.

A couple things we learned while making caramel apples:
1. Letting the caramel cool is an important step. We dipped the first couple of apples before the caramel cooled, and it slid right off and made a huge mess.
2. Patience is key. On her last apple, Manda stood outside on the back deck where it was cool and slowly turned the apple so the caramel didn't drip off before drying. We didn't take this level of care with the others, and it showed with how messy they ended up.


YUM!

Neglecting my blog

Last time I wrote I mentioned that I was bored at work and wishing I had more to do. Well did my wish ever come true. Last week was INSANE and from Monday through Thursday I did not leave the office before 7. I even managed to get myself up and moving early one morning and talked Dan into giving me a ride, which got me here an hour EARLY as well. Wow. Thankfully, this week has been a bit more manageable and I've been getting home at a decent hour, which is good since I feel like I'm coming down with something.

I always get a little bummed out when I realize I haven't written in my blog in ages, especially when I have a bunch of things I want to update about! Here's the list of entries I'm hoping to find time for in the next several days and over the weekend:

- Caramel apples with Manda

- Roasted garlic chicken for Manda's Confirmation dinner

- SUPER easy ravioli bake

- Browsing for new living room lighting

- Finding a creative outlet... designing my own Christmas cards?

and finally... Halloween at 9-oh-6... here's a preview!