one of my favorite things

Obviously, there are have been many great/important inventions throughout history, but let's be real, one of the most awesome of recent years has to be the digital video recorder. That's right, your DVR. After having one, I could never not have one again! It's so convenient! The only downside to the DVR is that I'm sure in the end it makes me watch more tv than before, but since the shows are recorded they're not watched all in the same week- so really I think the time thing balances itself out, right? 

Since it's Sunday and two of my fav shows are on tonight (along with one of my greatest loves, Sunday night Football- did I mention how much I love this DVR?!) I'm going to give you my top three series that are set to record on my DVR.

3. Dexter.

For those of you who live under a rock, Dexter is a serial killer who makes his home on Showtime. I rented the first three seasons and watched them over a boring summer weekend. That's right, I said WEEKEND. It's. That. Good. I purchased Showtime specifically for Dexter. He's an awesome guy! I know what you're thinking- serial killer? awesome? He only kills bad people. He works for Miami Metro PD with his sister Deb (who is also one of my other fav characters). This is definitely a show that gets better with age, season 6 just started a few weeks ago and I'm thinking this is the best one yet!

2. Sons of Anarchy. 

This. Show. Is. Ah-mazing. Kurt Sutter is a genius! I really don't see how he comes up with this stuff week in and week out. It's unreal. Sons of Anarchy is centered around a motorcycle club in California who do all kinds of stuff like run guns for the IRA, back a porn studio, help organize community picnics for children (where one of the members plays Elvis dress-up with the kids), and drug running with a cartel. Plus they have family drama with girls, kids and old club history. I know what you're thinking, this sounds ridiculous! And it is... Ridiculously awesome! Trust me on this one. I do not know one person I've told about this show who has come back with a negative reaction. Even my sister, who was against it for several years has jumped on the bandwagon! 

And finally, for #1 - it's really a tie between SONS and the following but since this next gem is much newer I decided to move it to the head of the pack for now to see how it plays out. Hopefully this wasn't a horrible move.

1. The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead premiered last year on Halloween, with a small season of about 7 episodes. I didn't initially watch it. I'm definitely not a zombie kind of girl. I enjoy some scary movies and vampires and such, but zombies have always scared the bejesus out of me. Seriously, I Am Legend gave me nightmares. But, I kept hearing good things about this show. My brother-in-law told me what sold him on in (something that happens in the first 10 mins of episode 1) and I decided to check it out. And by check it out, I mean wake up super early on a beautiful Sunday morning with the sun shining and birds chirping to watch episode one around 9am. It wasn't too bad, so I watched the next 3 episodes that were available on demand immediately after. I was hooked. Season 2 premiered a couple weeks ago and even though nothing major has happened yet, I'm digging it. I think they're building for something big! You'll be happy to know it's really not that scary. I watch it Sunday nights when it airs (unless it conflicts with one of my teams playing). Even though these zombies are definitely more disgusting than the ones from Will Smith's movie I don't find them scary or anything like that. There definitely a few times when I look away from fleshy grossness, but that's just because it's gross not scary haha! I think anyone could really handle this show and you should definitely check it out! Since the first season was so short, you could be caught up pretty quickly. I highly recommend trying this one out! :)

What do you record? What are your fav shows?

Homemade Pinwheels

Here's the recipe for the appetizer (if you want to call it that) that I made for Candy's Labor Day BBQ.

I decided to try something new, rather than just buy the yummy frozen pinwheels at the lovely Walmart. I found a recipe online for homemade pinwheels using Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and I modified it a little. I decided to make bacon, cheddar, and jalapeno pinwheels and then also went for plain cheddar and bacon ones too. So, I did half and half basically.

I bought 4 tubes (cans, whatever you want to call them) of the Pillsbury Creations Dough, rather than Crescent Rolls since the sheets aren't perforated. Each tube makes 8-12 pinwheels depending on how you slice them.

I chopped up 2 fresh jalapenos. Make sure they're seeded, or deseeded. I can never remember which way it is.

Take the seeds out. Yeah, that's it.

Fry up some bacon, I essentially used a whole package - but I was making extra so you could get by with less. For the cheese, I went with Sargento's Mild Cheddar annnnd I totally cheated and bought the already shredded kind.

Eh, it's faster, cleaner, and basically much easier.

So, you take one roll of the dough (if you're using multiple tubes, keep the others in the fridge until you're ready - it'll help keep the dough from sticking to your fingers or the counter) and lay it out on the counter, pushing the edges out to make sure it's a rectangle and not some sort of space man circle.

Sprinkle your cheese, jalapenos, and bacon. I added a little extra cheese on top - who doesn't like cheese?!

Roll up the dough, cinnamon roll style, and slice off the wheels. I cut mine at about 1 inch. That's a pretty good size for keeping the contents of the wheel from falling out while in transport to the baking sheet. It will also make biscuit size pinwheels.

Place them on a baking sheet you've sprayed down with Pam (or the cooking spray of your choice) and bake them at 350* for about 10-13 minutes depending on your oven and the pan you're using. Mine were done at 12.5 minutes flat.

After tasting the first batch, I realized the Pillsbury Creations dough didn't taste exactly the same as the Crescent Roll dough. It wasn't a buttery, flaky crust! So, I improvised and drizzled a teensy tiny bit of melted butter over the top of each one as they came out of the oven. This step is essential, as it makes them taste SO MUCH better and who doesn't love a little unhealthy butter added to their holiday weekend treat? ;)

In true fashion of my non picture taking self lately, I forgot to take some good pics of the pinwheel making process. I have two from George (my iphone). So yeah, don't judge the pics.

I thought they were pretty darn tasty! I also think they would be excellent with eggs for breakfast. Or with sausage and cheese rather than bacon. The possibilities are endless! If you try your own version, let me know what ingredients you use and how they turn out!

xoxo,
kris

Thank Goodness for 3 Day Weekends!

I just love long weekends, especially when they involve Monday. Not only do you get the awesomeness of having a 3 day weekend, but there's also the added bonus of a short work week until the next weekend! Hopefully you all took advantage of having the long weekend (so sorry for those who had to work Monday :/ ) and had some fun. 

I went to the football game Friday night with Candy to cheer on Caitlyn. We lost, but it was still fun - and the weather was great! The cool air/breeze was just blowing in that night so it was the perfect time to take in an outdoor game. 

On Saturday, Candy and I went to the 'land of the woods' - we were on the prowl for a good camera she could use to take action shots of Caitlyn cheering. After several hours at the mall and Best Buy, we decided it wasn't worth it... more research needed to be done. On the way home, we stopped at Chipotle in Conroe (LOVE this place!) Seriously, if you haven't tried Chipotle you are missing out!

Just typing those two sentences has me wanting to eat it for supper tonight!

Since we, well Candy, didn't purchase a camera, we started researching online and thought we had come up with a great camera choice; so we gave up the search and started watching the OU game with Candy's hubs - one of his former players is now a Sooner!

He's pretty good, and will probably end up in the NFL. I'm just saying, he's kind of a big deal.

Anyway.

So, on Sunday we were having a BBQ at Candy's house. She was supplying the brisket (and her mama brought ribs and sausage) so I brought an appetizer-ish item (recipe to follow in later post) and had my mama bake some snickerdoodles.

Because let's face it, her's Are. The. Best. I could literally eat the entire batch in one day.

Seriously.

We had a great time hanging out on the deck in the cool moderately warm air, eating great food, and having yummy drinks. We also watched the TAMU game that night. All in all an excellent Labor Day celebration. 

Monday it was actually even cooler, don't go too crazy it was just in high 80's- but considering the 5,000 degree weather we've had for months now, it was nice and refreshing. I met Heather and some peeps at the park near the city pool and attempted frisbee golf for the first time in my life. It was actually pretty fun! 

I was skeptical as to how much fun it would really be since I hadn't thrown a frisbee in say, 20 years. I also didn't realize how similar to golf it actually is! But since I love golf, it made it more enjoyable. I'm going to pick up a couple frisbees (special ones are required, not just the kind we tossed around when we were 5) at Academy this weekend. I've been told they're about $6-8 each and with the local course being free, I consider that a good investment. I love cheap, outdoor hobbies! :)

We didn't get to finish the entire course as it was fairly windy and for reasons beyond my understanding the City built the course with a rather large gully running beside several holes. The wind made it quite difficult to keep the frisbee away from the treacherous abyss. But, like I said it was pretty fun and I will definitely be buying a couple frisbees and playing more often.

Hope you had an excellent holiday weekend and were able to get out and do something fun!

xoxo,

kris

More Craftiness!

I had so much fan making the pillows in the previous post for Jo and her hubs that I've been in super crafty mode! I've been contemplating creating an Etsy page and selling my stuff, and I still haven't decided on that one yet...

Etsy is a huge step and requires either a large stockpile or a super speedy creation process - that is IF you get any orders. I've come to realize that the site is basically overstocked with a lot of the same stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love Etsy and will continue to check it out, but I'm worried that it would be rather hard to break into that arena. Possibly the equivalent of selling Mary Kay in a small town where 30 people already sell it kind of thing. Soooo, in light of my realizing this, I'm making baby steps and taking aim and buyers through this here blog, facebook, twitter, and good 'ol fashioned word of mouth from those people I like to call friends.

Hopefully you've already seen the pillow in the previous post, if not, UH scroll down and check'er out!

Sticking with the crafty theme, I need to add some pics from a baby gift I made and sold to a friend back in July. If you'll recall, way back in April I made this mobile for my friend Amy and her lovely baby Everleigh.

Doesn't Miss Caitlyn make an excellent Vanna White?

This is the mobile (along with a couple outfits) all packaged up, ready for the shower! I just loved the super cute basket that Candy let me use to wrap it all up in :)


Along these same lines, Amanda wanted a mobile for her gift at a shower in July so I made another one. She also brought me some baby fabric she picked out and made a couple burp cloths with the material. I made this mobile a bit different. I used the same size butterflies (as opposed to varying sizes like the previous pics) and also added some "crystal jewels" at the bottom of each strand for extra weight since the butterflies were smaller. I really like how this one turned out too!

These was taken at about 9pm, so the lighting in the house was pretty terrible. The only shots I could get to make the butterflies pop were in front of the ugly beautiful brown door here.

I was trying to show the little sparkling jewels in this one. Eh, maybe it kind of sorta worked haha!

Since the mobiles are rather hard to transport, I worked gift wrapping into the price and had it all packaged up for Amanda the night before the shower.

Here's everything all ready to go. The shower color was pink, so since I hate adore the color pink that's what I wrapped the goodies up in!

Anyone that might be interested in ordering a mobile, burp cloth, or pillow feel free to contact me! There will be varying pillow options coming soon, so keep checking back for updated pics of the pillows you'll be able to buy.  I have numerous color available for mobiles and can do varying options other than butterflies. The pricing obviously varies depending on what you're looking for so just let me know what you would like and I can get a price to you. For those of you who do not live locally, I can ship items to you as well!

You can leave a comment with inquiries, email me at klg2525 AT yahoo DOT com, facebook me, send a tweet, call or text, send a smoke signal, a message in a bottle...

Basically what I'm getting at is feel free to contact me in any manor you are able to!

As I finish the projects I'm currently working on, I will post pics of those as well. Until then, spread the word - I'd love to get some of my stuff out there!

Hope you're having a great week. Happy Hump Day!

xoxo,
kris

Project Reveal.

Remember when I told you about a project I was going to be working on and gave absolutely not details about it? Well, I finished it last weekend and delivered it last night, so I can now tell you about!

One of my oldest and dearest friends Jo, and her cooler than cool hubby, relocated to a much closer area - which is Ah-Mazing! I wanted to do something nice for them to commemorate the occasion and was having trouble deciding what to do. I didn't want to purchase any decorative accent pieces (ie wall hangings or vases etc) since the hubs is an artist and has decorated their space in a fairly rad manner. The obvious place to go from there would be a plant, eh BORING! Having visited several weeks ago and got a feel for the colors and decor I decided my best bet would be to make something. I settled on decorative pillows since I knew Jo had been looking for some. However, since I didn't want her to purchase any before I could complete the project and get it to her, I had to tell her I was making pillows. I know, I know it kind of ruined the surprise, but I didn't show her the fabric or anything so there was still somewhat of a shock value.

The first step was finding some super awesome material. I searched for several hours at numerous stores one day and ended up actually buying some upholstery fabric at Hobby Lobby of all places.

Before I share the photo let me just say, I seem to be relying a lot on my iphone camera rather than actually taking out my real camera.

Therefore, I apologize for the less than stellar quality/lighting/angles/overall goodness.

Here's the fabric, straight outta the shopping bag.

If you can't tell, it's black with a kind of tan-ish pattern. The pattern itself is actually flowers, but I love them because they look like starbursts :)

After talking to Jo and telling her my plan, she mentioned that she really needed pillows for her bedroom too. Since her bedding is dark, I decided to make the pillows larger than previously planned so she could use them in either the living room or bedroom.

First things first, I laid out the fabric and cut it into 4 matching panels (each measuring 21"x 21"). I then pinned the edges, right sides together. I reeeeeally need to purchase a serger - hopefully soon! But, since I don't have one yet, I did a double seem for extra strength (hence the 21", the pillow itself is 20"). I also backstitched on every corner to ensure major stability. I left about 3" open on one side of each pillow, this is where I will turn it right side out.

Here's what they looked like at this point. (They look brown because they're inside out!)

Before turning the material right side out, I pressed open the seems so the pillow would have better shape once stuffed. So, once they're pressed open, turn the fabric right side out by carefully pulling it through the 3" opening.

They should now look like this!

Now, comes the fun part. Stuffing. Fiberfill. Yay. Since these bad boys were rather large, I had to use 3 16 lbs bags of fiberfill on each pillow. It actually took me longer to stuff the pillows than it did to complete the entire previous section! It's not as bad as it sounds, just tedious. I planted myself on the coffee table and watched some baseball while stuffing and stuffing and stuffing.

Did I mention it took 3 bags for each pillow?

No? Ok, just checking.

Once they pillows are nice and plush with fiberfill, it's time to close up the 3" opening with a good 'ol needle and thread. I actually went over the opening twice to ensure stability, especially since I did a double hem on the rest of the edges.

Here's the finished product!

Again, I've become a horrible picture taker and forgot to get a shot of both pillows together.

I had a ton of fun making these for Jo and the Hubs and already decided on my next project! You'll have to wait and see for that one as well because I'm thinking of gifting it too ;)

Hope you've all had a great week and are planning a super awesome weekend! I'm heading to watch Candy's daughter cheer at a high school football game tonight. LOVE the Friday night lights - can't wait for some fall weather to go with it! :)

xoxo,
kris

Sacrifice Saturday

Since I was late with last week's post, I decided to be uber punctual this weekend and post a day early.

On Wednesday, mom and I went down south in search of provisions for my new project. We stopped at several stores along the way, the second of which being Joann's Fabric. I had an AH-mazing coupon and was really hoping to find what I needed there, but alas, no such luck. I did however find a cute little family that was shopping for a ton of fabric and gave them the fantabulous coupon. So, even though I had not found any of the supplies I needed after 2 hours of searching, I felt good about sharing with those peeps. (More about the project to come after the weekend)

I've been doing the usual daily/weekly chores of recycling and whatnot and realized while at Walmart yesterday we need reusable bags. I have a large, canvas Fossil Eco bag which I take on shopping trips to the mall or just for quick errands at Kroger. However, I do not have a set of reusable grocery bags for actual grocery shopping. Mom was with me at Walmart too, and we had a discussion in the car about how we BOTH need reusable bags (although she's a little hesitant to commit to using them religiously). The big task at hand was finding ones we liked that were machine washable and not $20+ each. I remembered one of my fav ladies Sophia Bush did a blog post about eco friendly gift ideas around the holidays, so I searched her site and found the post. She listed two brands, one of which was super cute and definitely looked the part of an eco friendly grocery bag but was rather pricy. The second option was terrific as well and perfectly priced! 

Let me introduce you to BAGGU. These guys are amazing! They're made of ripstop nylon so they are not going to stretch out/tear and after you send them through the washing machine they will dry extremely fast hanging on the line. The bag itself comes in a teeny tiny little 5" by 5" pouch, so you don't have to lug around a bunch of empty bags before you start your shopping trip! The little pouches will fit nicely in your purse/handbag or even a pocket for small trips. The Baggu itself opens up to be 15" wide by 25" high by 6" deep. About 5 Baggus can pack up an entire cart filled with groceries! The best part is, they can each hold up to FIFTY POUNDS! Now, I don't know what kind of groceries you're buying, but I know I would not need that much weight in each bag. But it would most definitely be useful for many other things, the possibilities are endless. They come in a variety of colors and have several patterns as well if you want to be a little different (I love the polka dot and stripped patterns). As I mentioned earlier, they are perfectly priced. One regular Baggu is $8, however to encourage everyone to use the bags more often, the price goes down as the order increases. If you order 6 or more Baggus, they're only $6.50 each! The company also has a great shipping option - standard flat rate shipping within the U.S. is only $5, and you will receive the Baggu within 5 business days. For those of us who know we want several bags, they offer the "X5" pack. The "X5" comes with 5 Baggus in a nice little drawstring pouch. I think this is a great way to always have reusable bags with you, just leave the pouch (and the 5 Baggus inside it) in your trunk, that way no matter what your plans are, you will always have reusable bags handy. 

Other than the regular Baggu, they also make several other sizes and models that very in price, color, and  pattern. I will definitely be getting one of the Baby Baggus, which is only $6, because it will make an excellent lunch sack. Baby Baggu would also work great for a last minute trip to the store for the 3 items you forgot to buy misplaced for tonight's supper.  What's even more great about Baggu is they really encourage local business, you can call their 800 number (or send an email) and they will be happy to tell you any stores in your area that sell Baggu so you can support local vendors. I called in yesterday and spoke with Joe (who answered right away, no "Press 3" business here!) who was extremely nice, and found out there's a store in Houston who carries them. I've sent my pal Melissa on a mission to check them out this weekend so I can decide if I want to order or just go visit the store. Baggu also offers a recycling program. Once your bag is "old" you can return it for recycling and they will give you a credit toward a new Baggu! 

And did I mention they are machine washable?! So, after you bring home all that meat you're going to grill up you can just throw that bad boy in the washer and not worry about germs.

Sophia is the one who introduced me to the Water Bobble, which I absolutely LOVE, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to dig Baggu as well. I will definitely keep you posted once I have one in my possession. But in the meantime, you should at least check out their website and hopefully get a couple Baggus of your own! 

Let me know what you think!

xoxo,

kris

I Love Veggies!

There are a lot of people out there who will not eat their veggies, for reasons beyond me. Veggies are so yummy! There are so many ways to go about obtaining your daily requirments, I actually think it's fun! ;)
Since I've been on a huge vegetable kick lately, some might think I've tried the vegetarian angle again, I'm going to post the first ever food/recipe section on this here blog.

The pills I've been taking for my eye make me SUPER hungry, as in I imagine my hunger is exactly how a preggo woman feels just before meal time. In the hopes of not becoming a cow with these meds, I've been trying to eat extremely healthy the past few weeks. This entails cooking up a ton of veggies at the beginning of each week and using them for lunch/dinner throughout the rest of the week. This typically involves roasting some of my fav veggies in the oven, after tossing them with olive oil and select seasoning. I then eat them over steamed brown rice and sometimes add a dash of Salt Lick BBQ Sauce (if you haven't tried SL BBQ, you are most definitely missing out!).

Last night I had a hankering to try something different, here's what I did:

I took a good amount of broccoli, carrots, asparagus, and onion and cut it all into bite size (about 1" pieces) and placed them in a large mixing bowl. Then, take a bottle of olive oil (evoo, whichever) and do a couple of passes over the veggies, and then add your seasoning - I used only cracked pepper last night. Lay the veggies out on a jelly roll pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray and back at 425* for about 25 minutes, stirring them halfway through.

Next, I decided on a whim to make homemade salsa for a topping. After rummaging through the cabinets I decided there were some ingredients that could possibly make an OK salsa. I used a can of tomatoes that had green chilis in it, along with a can of Rotel. (Pour all juice from cans!) I added a small handfull of chopped onion, about a tablespoon of cilantro, and 3 garlic cloves. All this went into my trusty mini-prep mixer and was all blended together. I then added a little lime zest and lime juice and did a quick spin of the mixer again. I was pleansantly surprised that my little "made-up" salsa actually had some spice and was pretty darn tasty! Some of you know, I'm definitely not a chunky salsa kind of girl so if you are, this version is not for you.

The third and basically final step in the process was the black beans. Over the last few weeks I've been on a huge edimame kick, but wanted to try black beans this week - hence the salsa idea. I've never made black beans before and my favorite ones to eat are from Chipotle so I decided to go with a cilantro/lime black bean mix. I just used a can of black beans (I hear cooking the real thing takes forever). In order to add my extra flavor to the canned beans, I sauteed half a large onion in some EVOO with a little cracked pepper and then added the beans, 1 cup of cilantro, zest and juice from 1 lime. I brought the mixture to a good simmer and then turned the fire off and let it sit while the veggies finished roasting.

I use frozen brown rice that comes in microwavable bags, that way I can heat it up easily and then divide the leftovers into single serving containers for future use. Once everything is ready, just scoop the rice onto a plate, top with veggies, and then cover with salsa.

I know what you're thinking.

Salsa on broccoli, carrots, and asparagus?!

Trust me though, it's really good!

I have one picture, next time I'll try to take pics throughout the process, but it's not a super nice picture. In fact, it's rather bad and doesn't really do the meal any justice. Also, please excuse the paper plate and platsic fork - I was tired from working out and ready to eat my food so I just grabbed the first thing available ;)