Fashionably Late Outfit Post

Isn't the back of this dress great? I love how the top part of the dress fits my body.

It's been well over a week since I wore this outfit and I think I have mentioned a "future outfit post" about two times. So here it is! I really love this fancy dress. I wore this for my sister's wedding rehearsal (though I did not originally buy the dress for that event) and then again last week for a special date with B. We went to dinner at Gustav's to celebrate being together for a year (actual date is sometime during the last week of March). We had a blast dressing up and eating delicious food. Oh my goodness! Ya'll must try Swiss cheese fondue!!! If you haven't you are seriously missing out. I tried it for the first time last week and oh wow. I have to say, if any food could compete with chocolate, that is it. Mmm mm...

Alright, here's the breakdown of my outfit, but with a few side notes: (1) Next time, I would like to try belting the dress-- I could see a gold, silver, or black belt with it. (2) I have to say, my legs look darn good. It's a modest outfit but I love how it showcases those (it's okay to be proud of your body once and awhile!). (3) Perhaps a different sort of cover-up instead of this cardigan?!?! -- Any suggestions are welcome! I would love to get more mileage out of these items.

Cardigan: Charlotte Russe
Dress: Target on clearance last year ($17.99- couldn't pass it up!)
Tights: Hanes @ Fred Meyer
Shoes: Merona @ Target -- nice shoes but don't fit my feet great, glad they weren't too much $
~~
Because I'm mean I am concluding with this picture..... ;-)

Mmmmm....

Homemade Peanut Butter Moo'd Smoothie

One of my new addictions is getting the tasty drink Peanut Butter Moo'd from Jamba Juice. I decided to try it one day and have been hooked since! I crave that combination of all natural peanut butter, chocolate, frozen yogurt, and banana. Absolutely delicious!

Earlier in the week I decided to give this drink a try since I had all of the ingredients. I have to say, I was quite pleased with the results but do need to tweak my concoction next time.

Ingredients

All-Natural Peanut Butter (usedAdam's)

Soy milk/Almond milk (used Almond)

Chocolate syrup or cocoa(used Hershey syrup)

Half a banana (you can use more depending on preference)

Vanilla frozen yogurt (used Haagen Dasz)

Recipe

1. Use about 1/4 cup of almond milk and pour it in the blender

2. Scoop 2-4 large spoon fulls of fro yo and add it in (honestly, you just have to guess on this part, depends on how thick you want your smoothie- I used 2 to start with then added 2 more when I discovered the smoothie was too thin, and blended a lil bit more to mix in)

3. Add chocolate to your preferred taste

4. Use 1/2 a banana or more and slice it up a little so it is easier to blend (unless you have a much newer snazzy blender-- ours is older than the hills but works fine)

5. Use about 1/4 or a lil less than 1/2 cup of peanut butter or more

6. Blend together!

This is probably the most vague recipe ever but smoothies sort of lend themselves to be that way. You have to add the ingredients to your liking, especially in this recipe. (if you search the internet for this drink you'll see lots of options)

Notes: 

*Make sure to use bananas have the first lil spots on them -- I used bananas that had lots of spots on them and I think that created a slightly funny after-taste. So, bananas in this case are better if they are close to ripe but not green and stiff. 

*My cup was 14 oz and the combination of ingredients filled to the top. This amount could serve 2 though because it is quite filling.

*Perhaps less peanut butter next time?! Not sure on this because I need to try it with different bananas. 

Ah... so good! I will have to make this again! 

Enjoy!

FPC, Day 27: Something You Ate

February Photo Challenge

Day 27

"Something You Ate"

I ate lots of nourishing food throughout the day* and I also enjoyed a couple Thin Mints. Did you know that there are 32 cookies in a box? The box itself costs $4.00, which means each cookie costs... approximately 13 cents (technically 13.5 cents)! I have been wanting to figure this out because I'm curious like that ;-). I am glad that I am helping lil girls out. It's a sweet deal (even if it does come with partially hydrogenated oil).

*I could have done a collage of what I ate! I had a delicious breakfast of cottage cheese and bananas (oh SO good!), after an appointment I had a another bowl of that goodness, snacked on several handfuls of almonds, had meat and cheese roll-ups for lunch and grapes. So a few cookies is alright! Speaking of food is making me hungry again. I'm having quite the appetite these days-- must be the "phase of the Moon." On to dinner folks!

FPC, Day 6: Dinner

February Photo Challenge

Day 6

"Dinner"

Tonight's dinner was left overs from Saturday (my birthday dinner request). Stew over mashed potatoes. Mmm so tasty! It's always fun when you bite on a pepper corn unexpectedly! 

Happy Monday :)

Southwestern Chipotle Salad

Tonight we had a delicious Southwestern salad... mmm... Oh, SO good! Mom got the idea from two sources: Pinterest and surfing the web. This will be a repeated recipe for sure!

Pinterest ~ Southwestern salad here at this awesome food blog, "For the Love of Cooking" :

Mom's version has black beans, corn, grape tomatoes (yum!), Romaine lettuce & mixed greens, and if one wanted- a lil Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Web  ~ Chipotle dressing recipe here from another great food blog, "Pinch My Salt" :

1 chipotle chile from a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste (used regular salt)

Take a bite of this... mmm...

I think this salad will be even better in the summer when there's fresh corn and tomatoes. My avocados aren't ripe yet but they would certainly be a wonderful addition to this salad. :) I'd like to try the cilantro lime vinaigrette that's on the For the Love of Cooking blog sometime too. Such an awesome salad!

Enjoy!

Sweetest Thing

This was such a fun day!! Mom, Sarah and I got together with a friend of ours, an "ex-neighbor." We met her (Christy) her daughter and granddaughter at a lovely cupcake shop called the Sweetest Thing. Oh, and it is the sweetest thing. These delightful treats are made with high quality natural ingredients. They also look too good to eat!

I will tell ya'll, I am not a big fan of cake or cupcakes for that matter, but the moment I tasted the "Lady in Red" my mind changed instantly. These cupcakes are so good! Not something I could eat all of the time because they are quite sweet, but certainly perfect for a get together with a dear friend. :)

Lady in Red

After having delicious cupcakes we went to see Christy's house and then went with her to CAT Adoption Team to see her newly adopted kitty. We enjoyed chatting and catching up :) What a wonderful day-- and it was full of sunshine too!

The darnest thing is though... I had my camera and did I get a picture of us together?! Guess that's what happens when you get up in chatter. Oh well. More of an excuse to see each other soon. ;-)

iCan Bake!

Yesterday was a day filled with goodies! Baking goodies and one big treat. :)

Mom and I spent the day baking all sorts of delicious cookies and truffles. iMade lots of tasty things! iCan't wait to try the truffles....

Notice my funny [cheesy] writing?

iGot an iPhone!!!!

Sarah and her fiance got the iPhone 4G (since they are getting married soon they wanted their own plan). Mom thought the iPhones looked neat and decided to "invest" in them. She was able to score 2 iPhone 3G phones for 99 cents each. Of course, the service is what costs quite a bit. Ah... I have been forced to go to the smart phone age! This is something I have resisted for some time now. I think smart phones are neat but have not been able to come to terms with paying for the service. Generously, I am not paying for service now, thanks to Mom, but if I had to, I would still be with my text-only phone. Anyhow... I am thoroughly enjoying my new phone and used it to document the baking experience, which of course I documented on FB throughout the day! ;-)

So.... to unveil the sweet goodies:

Mom actually baked these per my request. M & M cookies! Just use the  typical recipe for chocolate chip cookies but substitute with M & Ms. :) Delicious!!!

Oreo Balls! Basically, a truffle and it is amazing.  A cousin made these awhile ago and I have been hooked ever since! I added some  Christmas sprinkles for an extra touch. And yes, iDID these! haha

Coffee Bon Bons... delish!

*

A Pinterest idea. All you need is Hershey Kisses, M & Ms and pretzels. Here's the link to the blog post,  "Our Favorite Christmas Treats." *

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! 

*Taken with my camera, wish the iPhone was that snazzy! haha

Smoothie, Subbing & Sinks

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if you try!"                   --Dr. Seuss

Okay, this is my mixed bag post! I have a little list of things I want to write about, but don't want to do two or three separate posts.

As I am writing this, I am sipping on a smoothie, thinking about this whole discombobulated week (love that big 'd' word, for its looks, it is Angela-ish - not real fond of feeling this way tho). I will be honest in saying that I have been disorganized, fairly lazy (I have been joining in with my sister as she is on her break in between terms), distractable, and strangely, all that the same time, very inspired. How that all goes together, is beyond me! ha ha

Well, okay, I may have one itty bitty idea... Um, I am going to confess something here: I have just discovered the wonderful world of PINTEREST. Yes, I don't normally write things in caps as that means you are yelling, but this is worthy of those big letters. I have seen this website mentioned on a few blogs (believe Flower Patch Farmgirl was one of them...) and decided to check out... Oh my, I am not sure if that was a good idea or not!! On one hand I feel incredibly inspired and mentally rejuvenated, on the other hand and foot-- I am so horribly addicted... So bad that I even got my sister hooked on it! ;-) Anyhow... at least I did end up making something, the smoothie:

This is called a Green Monster Smoothie, which comes from Sing For Your Supper blog via Pinterest. For the most part I like this smoothie, I mainly taste the banana and strawberries (I used 5 big strawberries). I think next time I will add more yogurt (I used honey flavored Greek yogurt since we don't use honey much). Also, this would be much better if mango was added. I think this needs more sweetness and tanginess. Overall though, not bad. You don't taste the spinach at all!

Now that you know what I am sippin' on (actually it is all consumed now), I will continue with the rest of what I have to say: Today was a subbing day! I subbed in the same classroom from last time (4th grade), but only in the afternoon. I was a bit apprehensive about it being Friday and the afternoon, but the kids surprised me! They were pretty good for the most part- I was the one that made them get riled up at one point... ha. ;-) So, the kids were working quietly on their writing and one suggested that I put on music. Knowing that their teacher has done that in the past, I thought it would be a nice idea. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any calming tranquil CDs.... Sooo I made the huge mistake of putting on a CD with the first song being the "YMCA." Um, yeah. As Sara says, fail. Okay, it wasn't that bad though they all started doing the hand motions.. obviously, not writing... So I let them have about a minute of it and then told them if they continued to do their work and stay on task, they could have music time later. Whew.... Rest of the afternoon was just fine, thank heavens.

... On to a totally different topic, sinks. As a way to procrastinate on writing an annotated bibliography and other homework, I decided to unclog the bathroom sink that my sister and I share. I have been wanting to deal with it but hadn't decided how to go about fixing the problem. So, thanks to Tidy Mom via Pinterest I was reminded of an easy, simple, green cleaning solution: vinegar and baking soda! I knew I needed something that would effervesce (in college I unclogged a drain with Mentos and Coke). Unfortunately, our sink was very clogged so I had to use a few tools in addition to B & BS. It took big tweezers, a flashlight, little tweezers, and some hot water (and several B & BS rinses). I am still not completely done with it. Last night my uncle gave me this nifty tool to dig under the plug. I think I will go mess with that now...

Isn't it beautiful?! I should have done a before pic but just know that it was very clogged. 

Always good: Vinegar and Baking Soda. Natural  & economical.

*Dad came over on Saturday and showed me how to take out the plug. Now our bathroom sink flows even better!

Happy Friday to all!!!

Solution to an All-Day Problem

Heavenly days, I don't know what is with me. I am into long titles today. It's good though- a break from my usual neat, crisp and tidy ways on here...

Anyway, more importantly, I finally solved my cravings. All day long I have been needing something sweet, maybe chocolately, and preferably cool. Although despite those specifications I have also been wanting this delicious cobbler from a great soup place nearby.... Too lazy to go get some. Then... after going back and forth on what I want it hit me: frozen yogurt. OF COURSE!

When I went to the movies yesterday with B, we got frozen yogurt...and that only intensified my cravings today. Oh, how I wanted that smooth tasty creamy cool vanilla-y flavor with M & Ms on the top. Not regular M&Ms but mini M&Ms... minis are the best combo with fro yo in my opinion. ;-)

Thanks to my sister and her friend needing a ride this evening, it finally dawned (funny looking word- if you think about it too much... 'dawn' is early and this idea did not come early by any means- yes I am messing with the word, I know it) on me...

Why not get some Haagen Daz Vanilla frozen yogurt and a few small bottles of mini M&Ms?!!

Such a simple solution.

And yes, I feel much better.

------
For the record, I not only posted the picture with this post but also edited it... I am on fire ;-)

Relaxing Memorial Day

"I thank God for my life, and for the stars and stripes, may freedom forever fly, let it ring... Salute the ones who died, the ones who give their lives so we don't have to sacrifice everything we love...." - Zack Brown Band, Chicken Fried

This has been a fabulous day! I feel so relaxed and refreshed. Really, since Friday, I have had a really good few days and feel so blessed. I'll talk about the overall weekend tomorrow-- right now I'm going to talk about Memorial Day through pictures.

About 9am I met up with a friend and we spent some time hiking/walking in Forest Park. I have been wanting to get up there in the worst way! Thank goodness, the weather was just right... partly sunny and no rain. Also the temperature was good even as we walked underneath the tall, tall trees. I just loved it when the sunshine illuminated all the ferns, little yellow flowers, and leaves on the trees. So beautiful! :) Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera with me (gasp!), but I will make sure to have it with me next time.

I have to note though, I am impressed with how well I did considering I haven't had much physical activity for awhile. My friend walks fairly fast (I do too normally but this was over a variety of terrain) but I was able to keep up with the pace. The hardest part was the little section getting on to the main trail-- it was somewhat steep and uneven. Once my body was warmed up (legs, heart and all), I was able to do just fine. We walked on the main trail for about 30-35 minutes and then turned around at one point to head back. Ah.... so refreshing. Yes, I feel cleansed even if my legs feel like Jello! I'm fairly confident I'll have a good sleep tonight!

Alrighty.... Rest of the day has pictures! In the late afternoon, we had a family barbecue, a Memorial Day tradition.

All the fixings for hamburgers and the tasty sides-- fruit, chips, potato salad and baked beans!

My plate! Mmmm...

I even managed to spill on myself-- I'm a pro at this, FYI.

Nothin' like some Vanilla Cream Root Beer to wash it all down!

Not your average dessert for this All American meal but who can say no to  Dr. Otker's Creme Brulee?

Our evening entertainment consisted of letting the baby cat (who we're now calling Cocoa Puff, will let you know of her official title soon) out of my sister's room or as we call it, the nursery. We haven't been letting her out as much lately because she has been a little meanie to Cheese Puff. We're trying to let them work things out but she seems to be bullying him. Yes, that whipper snapper is beatin' up on our extra large boy! I feel bad for him-- he's been a trooper through this whole integration process. Anyway- I thought that it might help to keep the baby busy playing so she wouldn't bother her brother... So we all played and played with her! Cocoa can do some amazing tricks! At one point she was practically doing flips as she jumped to catch the toys. I got some of her playing on video. Really funny! 

Wild girl!!! 

Cheese Puff appreciated his lil sis being occupied- he dozed off all evening.

 And there you have it!! Now I am going to get ready for bed and crash... Hope you all had a wonderful day and also took time to remember our amazing military men, women and their families. The lyrics by the Zack Brown Band say it all. Thank you.