The Fault in Our Stars

I just finished the oh so ever popular book The Fault in Our Stars, which I don’t think I could say a bad thing about – well other than ruining my makeup. This was definitely a book I wasn’t able to put down. But seriously – it was a “couldn’t put it down so I stayed up until 2 in the morning reading it” kind of book. Finishing the love story of Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster was much more important to me than making sure I had the recommended 8 hours of sleep last night. It was an epic love story.

I couldn’t get over how pure their love was. But the thing that upsets me the most is the ending **SPOLIER ALERT** I couldn’t believe they ended the book like (at least in my mind) An Imperial Affliction ended. I mean we get to read this letter he write not to Hazel, but about Hazel… and that’s it. She was so upset that she could never get the answers as to what happened after her favorite book ended, yet where are our answers? What happens to her? Does she live, does she continue on with school and hanging out with Isaac? Does her cancer get worse, do they find a cure, and does she ever love again? I’m sure it was a symbolic thing ended the book the way they did, but I wanted answers.

Maybe she grieves past Augustus. She never forgets him, or his scent or the cigarette between his lips. But she eventually moves on and isn’t sad anymore but instead relishes in the wonderful things he said about her in the letter and their little infinite time together. Every guy should have to read this book. It should be a requirement so then they know how they should treat a girl. Augustus and Hazel never took a single day or any moment they had together for granted, and maybe that is something that having cancer teaches you. Now I wouldn’t wish cancer on my worst enemy, but maybe tragedy is what truly helps people live. Maybe that’s just the whole idea – learning to live life without having to go through something like cancer or losing the love of your life to realize you have been living life the wrong way.

That’s all my thoughts for now – before I start bawling at my desk thinking about this book.

To New Beginnings!

          It’s that time of year again where we all ring in the new year with family and friends, celebrating the previous year and enjoying the idea of a whole new year ahead of us.  We had a great NYE this year, bringing in the year with a New Years kiss, a shot of apple pie (yum) and hugs between us and all of our friends.  I couldn’t have pictured any better of a way to end the year.

          Every year we all know we make these ridiculous New Year’s resolutions.  I know that because I am one of them.  I tell myself I will go to the gym more, or I will eat healthier, save money, lose weight etc.  But let’s be real…it only lasts through January.  Sad, I know.  So this is what I have decided to do this year.  Instead of making these crazy, too hard to follow, just disappoint myself resolutions, I have come up with better ones.  This is what I have decided on:

1.     Keep my life simple.      

2.     Coupon more.

3.     Spend quality time with the ones I love.

4.     try to be more organized.

5.     Enjoy the moment.

          I think they are all pretty self explanatory.  But I feel like between working two jobs and working separate work schedules we just fly by through life.  And I just want to take a step back and enjoy more of it.  Spend more time with family, both his and mine.  Not trying to pack 15 million things I want to do in one day, but instead do things slowly.  It shouldn't be about rushing through one thing to do the next, but enjoying the time spent doing it.  It shouldn't be that big of a disappointment if I can’t complete my to-do list in one day.

          Basically my resolution for the year is to slow down and just enjoy the moment.  I think it’s going to be my best resolution of all time.

What did you decide on for a new year’s resolution?

Christmas is near!

Today I posted the first official recipe on our blog!! It has been a long time coming.  With holidays and family, work and still needing to sleep and eat I haven't had much time to write.  Let's be honest it's been over a month, which I promise will never happen again.  

Christmas time is near.  We don't have a tree, yet, if I have something to say about it we will have a small fake one this year.  I just need a Christmas tree, it's not Christmas without it!  I hate to say it but I can't wait to start wrapping Christmas presents.  I love wrapping them! 

I have procrastinated big time this year and I haven't bought a single Christmas gift yet this year.  Terrible, I know.  But it looks like just about every gift I am buying is going to be bought online! 

I will post next week and share with you all our Christmas tree, hopefully another recipe and some couponing!  Let's just keep our fingers crossed that time will allow me to write these posts and take pictures!! 

Life Needs to Slow Down

Lately life seems to just be flying by lately.  It’s like I just needed to take a step back and just breathe.  October is nearly over and winter is headed in.

In other news I won the nacho competition again thanks to my stepmom’s idea of adding banana peppers to it.  Totally changed the flavor of the nachos!

We went up north this past weekend only from Friday night through Sunday because I couldn’t get off of work Monday.  Normally we try to make it up there Friday midday and we leave Tuesday afternoon/evening.  It’s nice going up for the 5 days vs just the weekend since it’s a 4 hour drive each way.  Hunting was a bust, it was like all the wildlife knew to hid from us.  My turkey season is officially over but we are hoping for a better turnout for gun season! Fingers crossed!

I have become the avid couponer.  For some reason it calms me, plus I love seeing how much money I save and what products I can get for free.  My lastest (and best) haul was a little one, but it worked out well.  David’s Sunflower Seeds were on sale 10/$10 at Pick N Save and each bag had a peelie coupon for $1 off! They were free and since it’s food I didn’t have to pay tax! It was very exciting.  I have gotten 100% savings before from Walgreens and Target but its never been on food so I have always had to pay tax.  The best part of all was the look on the cashiers face when he said “Oh.. your total is $0.00”  YES. 

That's my little update for now.  Enjoy the last few days of October AND Halloween is near!! 

Pumpkin Patch & Nachos

This weekend we decided to go pumpkin picking.  It’s like our favorite thing to do during the fall season.  We always go to the same pumpkin patch where you can either pick a pre-picked pumpkin, which is what we opted to do this year, or go out into the field and pick your own.  I picked a nice 14 pound pumpkin.  James ended up picking a good looking 22 pounder! Jeez!

We also ended up getting 2 bunches of corn stalks for the front porch.  This is the first year we can actually decorate the outside for the most part.  When we had our old apartment we set out our jack-o-lanterns outside but that was it.  We ended up getting gourds, and little pumpkins, Indian corn, white and orange munchkin pumpkins.  It was a blast.  Now someone has to build me a shelf under our tv in the living room to put all these festive little pumpkins.  I have them sitting on our tv stand right now in the order I want them on the shelf which is being patiently waited upon being built.

I will post pictures once I get everything situated!

On another note, we used to love watching cooking shows!  For a while we were watching Worst Cooks in America with Bobby Flay and Ann Burrell.  This prompted a friendly nacho cook off between the two of us back in March.  We both cooked ours separate and then we taste tested.  This is what the end results looked like…

(left is mine, right is his)

We both liked our own creation but there was a clear winner in the house…

…Someone still likes to say I cheated because I added bacon to mine, but hey what’s in the fridge is fair game to any cook!

Not to gloat but I am a damn good cook (when I want to be)!  I have the advantage of learning how to cook at a young age from one of those grandmas whose measurements were “a little, some, not too much” so I just had to learn how to wing it.

Well tonight is the rematch.  Apparently he has a “secret ingredient” all lined up to where we even have to shop separate.

Sunday's Original Post...

I had originally written this post on Sunday but when I tried to type it out into Blogger, it wouldn't work! Super frustrating!  I guess blogger thought it was inappropriate to blog at work, who ever said that was a crime?!  Anyways…now it has some adjustments since it’s no longer Sunday.

Sundays at our house during the fall season mean one thing, Packer games!  And of course with me it means yummy food to eat while he screams at the tv!  We always try to do something easy to eat during football games like Cowboy Sushi (ham roll ups), cheese and crackers or soup!

Did I mention Sundays are officially Soup Sundays this season?  I got the idea from Jessica over at Little Baby Garvin who does this at her house.  And what’s not to love about a different soup every Sunday? 

Our first soup we chose to do two Sundays ago was sweet corn & sausage chowder.  Yum, it was delish!  It was really easy too since we had made it in a crockpot.  At first when I picked this I was nervous because of the sausage since I am not a huge sausage person.  But guess what?? You use brat meat! We had made brats the night before so we decided to just chunk the brats up and throw ‘em in!  The recipe originally said to take uncooked brats and cut them out of the casing and fry the insides like ground beef, which I am sure would have given the soup an extra meaty taste but it turned out good just the way we made it too!  It also called for fresh ears of corn but again, it’s fall and now you will only find dried corn stalks for decoration around here!  So we put just a bag of frozen corn in, again just as good.  If you want the original recipe click here.

This Sunday, since we both worked I didn't plan as well as I wanted to with the soup ideas.  So on my way home from work I just picked up a package of chicken noodle soup from Costco.  I also bought some of their yummy chicken salad so it you could have some soup and a sandwich for dinner.  It was quick, easy and delicious.  This Sunday I think we will do the beer cheese and chicken soup.  Sounds like football to me!

Fall is Here!

It's {finally} F A L L

I am seriously in love with fall.  Summer used to be my favorite season until I graduated high school and no longer had a real summer vacation (growing up sucks).  But really...back to fall.  I love all that it has to offer.  Sweatshirts and sweaters.  Leggings.  Boots.  Iced chai tea lattes.  Pumpkin spice lattes.  Salted caramel mochas.  Holiday decorations.  Haunted houses and corn mazes.  Comfort foods.  Pumpkin bagels and cream cheese that taste like pie! I love it all.

Now if only the 50 degree weather would take place of our current 70-80 degree days so I could enjoy my sweaters, boots, leggings and chili... That would be great!

Recently I started decorating our house with fall decorations.  I haven’t gotten too far yet but I did get crafty enough and create a fall banner for our front door using my Cricut.  I have had this puppy in storage for a while and I don’t take it out too often but when I do man oh man do I have a blast using it!

For the banner project I just picked 4 fall like scrapbook papers I had laying around and cut them into equal sized rectangles using my Cricut.  Then I used just a brown paper and cut out the letters for FALL.  Super easy!  I ended up attaching the rectangle shaped paper to cardboard (I used an old pasta box) just so it was a tad bit more sturdy.  Then you just glue your letters to the rectangles.  For a little bit more of a decoration I ended up cutting the bottoms so they were a bit more festive.  I found some cute ribbon at Michaels and just strung that through some cuts a made on each one.

Now the only issue I am having is when I try to close the front door the little ribbon I have hanging down on the sides gets caught between the door.  NOT CUTE.  I tried using double sided tape but it won’t hold.  Suggestions?

I also have my pumpkin pie candle burning on my coffee table on the charger with the little balls of orange glitter.  And along side of those candles in my little rustic candle holders I have some vanilla caramel candles burning.  YUM, I love the smell of fall.  Unless fall smells like straight up cinnamon or apple cinnamon then gag me!

 I also found these cute little fall colored floral fillers.  In my little jar between the black and gem candles, I have brown and orange.  The gem bordered charger and the two black candles fit perfectly for Halloween.  The candles and charger stay on our dresser throughout the year though because they fit well with my neutral with a pop of orange theme for our bedroom.