our weekend in pictures...

Warning: This post contains a LARGE amount of pictures, so if you are reading on a mobile device it may take a long time to load. Consider yourself warned!

We had a great weekend this past weekend. Friday night we had our usual grocery shopping and dinner date in Huntington. Before we left I snapped some pictures of and with Louie, just because he is cute. Also, I felt kind of guilty for leaving him...so here to to hoping that a shout out on the good ol' blog will cheer him up! I just hate leaving him at home...is anyone else like that with their pets?

I will say that it does melt my heart when we do come home and he is so excited to see us. It is the only time her gives kisses and I gladly receive them!

I can tell in this picture that he does not look happy, but he is still so cute and loved!

Our town has snowflake lights up on the street lights along Main St. I thought it was beautiful and tried to get a picture...but you can see that it did not turn out quite right. Maybe it was because we were driving 40mph? Better luck next time!

Saturday morning we had some errands to run, including getting the tires on my car balanced, rotated, and checked for winter. I was very happy when they told me they would be good for another year...that was not an expense I really wanted to deal with now. Not needing new tires mean that I can still go Black Friday shopping. Woo!

Our photo shoot in the car! :) 

After our Discount Tire appointment we went to the mall and grabbed lunch at Red Robin. I have to say, I have eaten there several times and I am just never impressed. Am I the only one?

I did get some things that I wanted at Kirklands...well, Stephen got my some things for Christmas. Which means, that I have to wait until Christmas to open and use them!

In the afternoon I did some Pinterest inspired baking:

Y'all, this was DELICIOUS and SO easy. Several people on Facebook asked for the recipe, so I will be posting that later this week. Or you can find it here.  Later in the afternoon Stephen's Dad came over to help move our living room furniture to make room for the new furniture that's coming! It ended up being more than a two man job, so they called in Adam for back-up. I was so thankful that they were available to help us because I know that Stephen and I could not have handled that on our own!

It was a tight fit into the new room...

And this is what our living room looks like now:

I will say that after spending our free time on Sunday laying on the floor watching football and movies, we will appreciate our new furniture so much! It really is so nice to have a sofa to sit on-don't take it for granted!

Louie looks for soft places to lay. All the time! These blankets were on the floor for no more than 1 minute before we found him looking pretty comfortable. He likes blankets, pillows and laundry. Sometimes I leave my PJS on the floor in my closet and I always find him in there laying on them (they are fleece for winter). It is just precious!

All the old furniture was moved to our "library" and arranged so we can now use this room for reading, crafting, and playing games. So fun! Here are some shots of the room with furniture in it:

This door goes into our half bath and laundry room that is also connected to the kitchen...it's one big circle!

While the men were moving furniture, Louie and I were taking pictures. The noise and activity was scaring him so we just stood back together and watched.

After all the activity and furniture movement, we headed to church for a donation dinner and auction. I had never been to an auction before (apparently that is weird, Stephen was shocked and called me sheltered, ha!) and it was so fun! I really, really enjoyed it and just listening to the auctioneer. I thought he was great, but I was told that others talk way faster...I cannot even imagine. At the end of the night we walked away with a tree stand that I got for $2. I call that a good deal, and I was thrilled that I was able to raise my hand and place a bid. Maybe I am easily entertained? Oh well, it was fun!

Last but not least, our updated bathroom downstairs. I forgot to post about this last week but we have made some improvements. Our first floor bath is a half bath and it has our washer/dryer in there. I did not like the way the room looked or felt with the appliances visible, so I scoured Pinterest for ideas to minimize the industrial feel. I decided the easiest way and cheapest way would be to hang shower curtains:  

Well, I did it and I LOVE it. To me it looks like a shower/tub now, so unless you already knew our washer/dryer was there you would have no idea! Score for that!

So that was our weekend in a nut shell. I hope that you too had a great weekend! New furniture comes tomorrow...I CANNOT WAIT!

Happy Tuesday!



the coals are ready!

I bet you are wondering what is up with the title of this blog. Well, I am here to explain that for you today. I can hear you all screaming "yay" as I type! :) So, tonight is our oldest nieces birthday party/campout/sleepover with friends. Emma had picked out what cupcakes she wanted me to make for the grand party at the beginning of September and I have anxiously been awaiting the time to make them since then!

Well, this week was that time!

They girls were planning on camping out in the backyard, complete with tents and lots of blankets. BUT, mother nature had other plans for Emma's party. Because it is going to be cold tonight...the low is 31, I think they will be sleeping inside. The cupcake she picked go with the former theme of her party; a campout. Emma wanted to stick with these cupcakes even though they will be sleeping inside tonight.

Okay, okay...are you ready for the unveiling?

Here ya go:

These cupcakes started with yellow cake, and then were died black for a coal looking cake. Since Emma asked for yellow cake that is what we did, but you could use chocolate too :) Once they baked I let them cool over night and began to decorate them the next evening. Before crumb coating the cupcakes with frosting I stuck them in the freezer to firm them up a bit and then crumb coated them. The marshmallows were cut in all different sizes and directions so not one cupcake would look uniform. I applied these with dollops of buttercream and stuck them back into the freeze for the time being!

The life stages of a coal cupcake! :)

Once all the marshmallows were applied I died some buttercream frosting to a gray color and then spooned it into a liquid measuring cup to heat it up. Yep, I heated up our frosting. Just stick it in the microwave for about 35 seconds. Trust me, it works!

Now it is time for dipping! I took each cupcake out of the freezer individually when I was ready to dip it. You want them to stay nice and cold so the hot frosting does not melt the marshmallows or pull them away from the cupcakes. 

Don't be afraid to push the cupcake in the frosting! I wanted good coverage so you could not see any white frosting or marshmallows. Once you have it dipped and covered, allow the excess frosting to drip off before setting it onto a cookie sheet to cool and harden.

Apply sprinkles before the frosting sets so they will stick. In these case you want orange and red sugar crystals or nonpareils. I also crushed some Oreo's to use as a topping too! `

And the finished product:

Cute huh?

I can tell you that Emma loved them when we delivered them last night. I was so relieved that she liked them and hope her friends do too! Now I am thinking up ideas for their next birthday...ha!

Hope you have a great Friday and weekend, we have our youngest niece staying the night with us tonight during Emma's birthday festivities. Wish us luck! :) We also might go furniture shopping tomorrow because we really need a new couch...probably more than I need a new Digital SLR Camera. Gotta prioritize, right? I think we will be going to Furniture Row: Sofa Mart first to see if they have a good selection. Anyone have experience with them? Let me know where you recommend shopping for furniture, I would love to hear!

Toodles!

Cupcakes and a Weekend Wrap Up!

First off, I need to blog about these cupcakes:

These cupcakes were made for our niece, Ainsley's birthday sleepover she had with friends on Friday. Her actually birthday was Thursday when we (Stephen & I) delivered the cupcakes. We arrived at her house just after she opened her new bike and mini penguin pillow pet from her parents. That and cupcakes? She was on cloud 9 I tell you! Ainsley picked these cupcakes out herself from one of my cupcake books, and made some changes to personalize them to her liking. She is so funny! She picked the purple icing, and asked for funfetti cupcakes :) I have not heard how she responded to the purple and pink funfetti when she bit into the cupcakes. I think she was expecting traditional boxed funfetti cake. I thought I was being sneaky and surprising her! :)

So that was Thursday night...this was Friday night:

Stephen and I had a long list of things to complete over the weekend and we decided to get our grocery shopping done on Friday evening. That also meant that we were going out to eat. I was pretty excited about this because recently I feel like we are never home. Between running errands on Saturday and going to church and grocery shopping on Sunday, there is little time left. But I did feel guilty about putting Louie back in his kennel since he had been in there all day, so I gave him lots of extra Mommy loving before we left! I don't think he minded us leaving though, he usually is pretty content in his kennel. Thank goodness for that!

We took some family pictures on Friday evening too. It was a wonderful, cool, fall night in Indiana and I was loving it!

Just to confirm the arrival of fall in Indiana:

Our front yard Friday evening...

After walking Louie and getting our grocery list (yes, I always make a list), we were headed out!

Yay for car pictures! I don't think Stephen will ever really like these, oh well. Also, I am really liking my new nail polish color, Piper by Zoya. It is easy to apply and stays chip free for about 2 days. I think it dries pretty quickly too, since I have been painting my nails during my lunch break, while reading and eating. I am sometimes an extreme multitasker. Guilty.

Saturday we had a long list to tackle at home. Buying an older house means that anytime we want something to do or work on, we probably don't need to look very far. Stephen and his Dad got a TV antenna installed on one of our chimneys (we have 3) so we now get some local channels. I am really excited to be able to watch The Amazing Race and a few other shows. The first thing we watched was the Florida/Alabama game on Saturday night. Let's just say the game started out well for the Gators but they did not hold up. I fell asleep around half time. We also got a bunch of other things done at the house, like taking the boxes from our move to the recycling center so I can now park my car in our garage. Stephen and his Dad also installed some hooks/nails so we can hang some things in the garage. Having things like shovels, rakes, and other yard tools hanging instead if laying in a heap on the floor makes a world of difference. We also mowed the grass and spread some fall grass seed. Hopefully we see the results of that soon! There were some other things accomplished at home too, and I am so thankful for that!

Louie spent most of the afternoon outside with us and he was great. He just followed me or Stephen around the yard, even when we were not holding his leash. We just let him drag it around so if he did take off running it would be easier to catch him. If we stopped in one spot for longer than a minute he would just lay down in the grass. So sweet!

Saturday night while watching the Florida game we broke out our year old wedding cake. The verdict? Well it is a toss up; I did not like it but Stephen did. He ate a good portion of it and put the rest in the fridge which I think he is looking forward to eating during the week. I just thought the cake was too dry, but the icing was not all that bad. I started feeling pretty icky after eating it, but since Stephen did not get sick I think it was just me being tired and having blood sugar issues. Oh the joys of type one diabetes...NOT.

On Sunday, I still not not feeling 100% and after almost getting entirely ready for church I decided that I could not do it. I just felt icky and my blood sugar was too high for comfort so we stayed home and relax for a bit. We watched Nights in Rodanthe and made taco soup that was delicious. Our oldest niece, Emma was playing in a softball tourney a couple blocks away from our house so we decided to enjoy the lovely fall weather and take a walk with Louie to the ball park. Honestly? I was worried about how he would handle bats and balls and lots of people around him. He took it like a champ though! When he was not sitting on the grass watching the game like he knew what was going on, he was curled up on my lap to stay warm. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Because Louie's exercise has to been monitored and kept under a certain amount since his heart worm treatments, we had to carry him for parts of our walk. He looked so funny with the wind in his face/fur!

I just love how he is sitting and watching the games. So cute and sweet! Have I mentioned how much we love him?!

So that's it folks. Our anniversary weekend all wrapped up. Nothing too special or celebratory, just spending a weekend together and doing normal things. Well, normal minus eating year old cake. It's not everyday we do that!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies :)

PUMPKIN SNICKERDOODLE COOKIES!

Via: Pinterest, via: Annies Eats

INGREDIENTS: For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg ( We left this out, too)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree ( I modified this and used 1 heaping cup for extra moistness and pumpkin flavor!)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger (We did not have this, so I left it out-still tasted delicious!)
Dash of allspice

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the pumpkin puree.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.  With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour (I only chilled for 10-15 min, and then while I had cookies baking I had the dough in the refrigerator, too).

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.   Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball.  Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  

We baked these cookies this weekend and they were delicious and perfect for the cooler fall weather we are having in Indiana right now! The hubs helped me bake them and we had a great time working in the kitchen together, cooking with your spouse is fun! These cookies were inspired by Pinterest, but I did modify the recipe a little bit. These cookies are the perfect combination of tradition snickerdoodle, with a hint of pumpkin flavor. And you know what? They are delicious with a warm cup of tea! Let me know if you give them a try!