What a day!

So I haven't posted in a looong time. Things have been super crazy! Working full-time, taking accounting classes, and starting my Mary Kay business back up! And still trying to find time for friends and family! But things are great!

Here's how today went. Got to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes, woo woo! Got to wake up with hubby, which was great, even though it was 7am. Went to the courthouse to apply for our passports. We thought we were applying for the passport cards, but the lady on the phone gave me the amount for the passport book, and since we were paying with a money order, we decided to just go for it. We agreed that we will need to fly somewhere internationally in the next 10 years to make it worth the money! ;) We are already throwing around ideas. Hubby suggested Ireland so he can see where they filmed part of Sons of Anarchy. We'll see. I'd like to go to an island in the Caribbean, or to British Columbia, or to Spain, or to Australia, or to...well, you get the idea! Anyways, the ladies at the courthouse were really nice and got things taken care of quickly. They said 2-3 weeks for the passport to come, which is good since we leave in 25 days!! I'm really going to have to work on my base tan over then next few weeks if I want to keep from burning while we're on the cruise!

So then we went to Starbucks so I could get breakfast because I'd seen this Cage-free Egg White, Turkey Bacon, & Cheddar sandwich they sell the last time we were there and really wanted to try it. It was ok, but not great. I love that they use cage-free egg whites and turkey bacon, but I have to be honest, the egg white & cheese english muffin from Subway is much better. Plus, then I can put tomato on it too.

Got to work a few minutes early, and got to save 15 minutes of my PTO time. Woo woo again! Work was crazy. We have so much work to do, and not enough time. But on the upside, my new Scentsy warmer came in today so I got to bring that in & set it up. Everyone LOVED it! I love it too! The scent I got is called "Be Still" and it was very relaxing which helped me keep the stress away almost the whole day. I did have a little freak out at the end of the day, but that's a huge improvement! Here's the picture of the warmer.

Very zen-like right? You can't really tell, but it actually glows when you have it turned on. Super cute! And I can use all the zen I can get while at work!!

Today is weigh-in day at Weight Watchers and I almost chickened out and took a no-weigh-in pass, but I sucked it up and weighed, and I lost!! I was really surprised because I haven't been doing great on tracking, and I had a lot of sodium today, plus half of a cupcake for a coworkers birthday. I only lost 0.4 lbs, but as my Weight Watchers leader says, there's a minus in front of the number and that's all that matters! Of course then I went to Moe's for Free Queso Day and totally blew it! LOL! But I will pick myself back up tomorrow and make up for it!

I also pledged to donate to SpiritFM which is the Christian radio station that is basically all I listen to anymore. They are doing Share-a-thon to raise money because they are a non-profit radio station and it just felt like the right thing to do. It isn't as much as I'd like to give, but I'll get there!

So I got home, ate way too much (chips & queso), and as soon as I'm finished, I get a text from my sister asking if I want to do The Color Run in St. Pete this year. I had no idea what it was, but looked it up and am now so excited for it! It's like God knew I needed that kick in the butt after eating all that junk food to give me motivation to stop over-eating and start losing weight. And what better way to do that than to train for The Color Run. I had found a program a year or so ago called the Couch To 5K, and did it for a little over a month, but then got too busy and didn't make the time to keep up with it. But now that I have a reason and a timeline, I will start again and I will be in great shape by the run in December! Training starts Tuesday! I can't wait!!

Wow, what a day! I think I'm going to go read a little bit in my textbook, write in my thankful journal, and call it a night! I'm exhausted! Can't wait for tomorrow though. My friend is having a Scentsy/31 Gifts party, where I will probably buy even more Scentsy stuff! Have a great one! xoxo

~Natalie

Healthy Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is a healthy twist on the typically mayonaise-doused pasta salad recipes.  The other great thing about this recipe is that you can adjust the amounts, add or delete ingredients, or basically change whatever you like based on your tastes.  Here is how I make it!

Ingredients
Bowtie Pasta (I used 1/2 of a box)
2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Everglades Seasoning (I believe this is only found in Florida, but you could use other seasonings if you can't get Everglades)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Freshly Grated Parmesean Cheese
2 Cucumbers
2 Tomatoes

Recipe Directions

Sprinkle Everglades Seasoning on chicken breasts

Bake chicken breasts in the oven at 350° (I had particularly thick ones and they took almost an hour)

Boil Bowtie Pasta according to directions on the box (I boiled mine for 14 minutes)

Drain and Rinse Bowtie Pasta until slightly cool

Peel skin off of cucumbers

Slice cucumbers and tomatoes into bite size pieces

Slice chicken into bite size pieces

Put Bowtie pasta, cucumbers, tomatoes, and chicken into large bowl

Pour 3 tbsp Olive Oil onto mixture

Add grated parmesean as desired (I tend to use a lot!)

Add extra Everglades Seasoning onto mixture to taste

Stir and ENJOY!

"Sedimentary Rock" Cookie Bars

I first discovered this fabulous recipe while doing an internship with a 4th grade class.  The students were studying different types of rocks including igneous, metamorphic, and of course sedimentary rocks.  According to http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow1/oct98/create/sediment.htm "For thousands, even millions of years, little pieces of our earth have been eroded--broken down and worn away
by wind and water. These little bits of our earth are washed downstream where they settle to the bottom of the rivers, lakes, and oceans. Layer after layer of eroded earth is deposited on top of each. These layers are pressed down more and more through time, until the bottom layers slowly turn into rocks.  There's your little science lesson for this post! These cookie bars are layered and pressed down like sedimentary rocks, so it was a fun way to teach kids about the rocks.
Now for the delicious part!

Sedimentary Rock Cookie Bars Recipe

Ingredients
Cooking spray or other nonstick product
1/2 cup melted butter
2-3 cups vanilla wafer cookies (use as much as desired)
1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup broken pecan pieces
(If you really have a sweet tooth, you can use 1 cup each chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and pecans.  I prefer only the 1/2 cup each.)












Directions
1. Spray the bottom of 13x9 pan with cooking spray to avoid sticking (I always forget this step!)
2. Melt butter and pour into bottom of 13x9 pan
3. Crush vanilla wafers with rolling pin (it's okay to have a few small pieces)

4. Sprinkle broken vanilla wafers evenly on top of butter.
5. Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over cookies
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and nuts over condensed milk (add or delete amount as desired- I believe the original recipe calls for 1 cup of each, but it was way too much for me)
7. Gently press down the layers

8. Bake on 350°F for approximately 25-30 minutes (I usually only do 25 and they're great)
9. ENJOY!!

Oreo Brownies

This is a little bit late, but I just had to post about these amazing brownies! I wanted to make my husband something special for our first married Valentine's Day. He loves cookies & cream ice cream, and oreo pie, and brownies, so I got the bright idea to search on pinterest for "oreo brownies" but I didn't find anything that really interested me. I am not the best cook/baker in the world and I like things simple, really simple! So I googled it instead and found the most amazing, super simple recipe for Oreo Fudge Brownies. I didn't think about taking a "before" picture until most of the ingredients were already in the bowl.

So this is after mixing the brownie mix, eggs, oil & ice cream together. The fudge sauce came with the brownie mix, and while the recipe called for a 1/4 C. of hot fudge sauce, you can see it was not quite that much, but it still turned out great!

Looks good enough to eat right now doesn't it? I resisted the urge, because it has raw eggs in it. :-p

Pour in 1/2 the mix, layer with brownies, pour the rest of the mix over. Doesn't get much easier than that! But let me tell you, it is hard to take a picture and pour thick brownie batter at the same time!

Just follow the brownie mix directions for baking it.

I even made a cute little flag to stick in the top. The clip art came straight from Microsoft Word, I just copied & pasted it twice, spaced it so I could fold the paper over, printed it out, taped it to a toothpick & stuck it in the brownies.

You can see the oreos in the middle, yum! Word to the wise, if you use a disposable brownie tin like I did, don't cut the brownies while it is on the eye of the stove. The knife will go right through the pan and then you have to cut them all up & put them in a tupperware instead of being able to leave them in the pan. Just sayin'! And the best part was that hubby loved them!



Cookies ‘N Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies
1 box Brownie Mix (I used the kind that comes with fudge)
eggs & oil (as called for by the brownie mix)
1 heaping half cup (6 oz) Cookies & Cream ice cream (softened)
1/4 Cup hot fudge topping (chilled or room temp) (I omitted b/c my brownie mix came with it)

Preheat oven & spray an 8×8 baking dish generously with cooking spray. Combine brownie mix, eggs, and oil as directed on the back of the box, but do not add the water. Add ice cream and hot fudge to the brownie batter and stir to combine. Pour half of the brownie batter into the baking dish, layer with Oreos, then top with remaining batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes or as directed on the back of the box.


For the original recipe & blog that it came from: Cookies 'N Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies

Welcome

Well, after a few weeks on pinterest, and after seeing several interesting blogs, I started trying to convince my sister that we should start a blog too. She complained that she didn't do anything crafty or make any interesting recipes so she really would have nothing to contribute, but then a couple days ago she posted on facebook about making sedimentary rock cookie bars, so I called her out on it. She finally agreed and here we are today! :) Hopefully we will be able to bring you some fun & easy recipes & crafts that you will enjoy as much as we do! ~Natalie