A Great Way to Bring in the New Year

Kate Spade 2011 Calendar! Love it!

And not to mention the totally awesome iphone cover.

Getting Crafty for the Holidays

Well, I don't even know where to begin, I pretty much fell off the face of the internet after Tuesday. I did a lot of cooking for Thanksgiving dinner, went Black Friday shopping (not the 3am kind, but the 8:30 breakfast and then shopping kind), watched a heart-breaker of a football game Saturday and put up Christmas decorations. All in all, it was a lot of family, a lot of festivities and a whole lot of fun!

After breakfast on Friday I found Sweet P's first Christmas stocking! It's pretty awesome and the bag it came in was pretty great too.

I decided to use the bag to make a little garland.

First I cut the bag cut apart.

Then I used my 1" circle cutter and cut out a bunch circles and got some thread and glued them on making a long string of circles.



I hung it on a shelf with some garland, ribbon and Christmas decorations.


Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Career Change

Let me start with a little Green Day:

"It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."

Well, I have decided to quit my job at the United Way and be a stay-at-home-mom/freelance designer.

This is big stuff for me because I always pictured myself as a working gal but it was just too hard leaving her on the days I did go into the office. I couldn't bear to even think how I would handle doing it 5 days a week. And the thought of daycare! Not for me.

I will miss so many things about working in a office but I would have missed watching my little girl grow up so much more.

So anyway, that's my big news, effective November 30.

Country Music Monday - Entertainer of the Year

Wow. The Brad Paisley concert was awesome! Saturday was the last stop for Paisley's H2O Tour and the Entertainer of the Year did not disappoint!

The show started with Justin Moore and then Darius Rucker took the stage. I cried when he sang, "It won't be like this for long." Big surprise there. Even the husband got a little teary-eyed. He ended his set with an awesome performance of "Purple Rain."

So good so far!

Then Mr. Brad Paisley himself took the stage!! I was giddy.

 

He played all my favorites including, Mud on the Tires, I'm gonna miss her, Then, Celebrity and Whiskey Lullaby.

Playing I'm Gonna Miss Her, remember this post :)

Cute little cowboy.

As a special treat, Roy Clark joined him on the stage and they played "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

What a night! We had so much fun!!

Does anybody else think it's funny how much bigger Eric's head looks than mine!? I know he was closer to the camera, but really, it cracks me up.

And a special thank you to Nana for watching my baby girl while we got to enjoy a date-night. She should also get Nana of the Year award for watching ALL 5 of her grandkids that night!

I have more pics from the night on my flickr stream.

Internet Down Again

Blah. Internet has been down again. I was going to make a post about our pre-concert festivities but my router or modem wouldn't let me. I don't know what the problem is, I just have to restart the darn things every time I want to access the internet.

Not fun.

I'm annoyed.

Anyway, here's a quick pic of part of our dinner last night.


Oh, and did you see the OK State game? We won! Time for BEDLAM!!

Daily Post for a Month = Fail

So this month I was attempting to do a post every day as part of a challenge. I had been doing good up until yesterday. But, I'm not without an excuse! Our internet was down yesterday and I was too busy to try to diagnose the problem until today.

I finally figured out the problem so here's yesterday's post.

Embrace the Camera Thursday

I chose this one because 1, P was looking right at the camera and 2, P was pulling my hair and it made me laugh. She has quite a grip now!

I Like these Glasses

I saw these on the Mrs. Lilian Styling Shop blog and thought they were pretty cute.

Which now has me thinking...maybe a DIY project?

Some Things Going On

So, update from last week.

Unite! was Thursday night and I'm happy to say the Tulsa United Way reached our goal an EXCEEDED it!

Here's a shot I got of the reveal. With the help of some local fire fighters and the use of their truck, we had a 30 foot banner unravel at the bucket lifted all 30+ feet.

It was pretty cool and a really great night. I have more news about that but it will probably come next week sometime. So stay tuned.

Also big news over the weekend, Oklahoma State University (my alma mater) beat The University of Texas 33-16! The first win at Texas in 66 years. My that's a long time. OK State is now #1 in the Big XII South!!!

Poor longhorns. Photo from NewsOk.com

Check out these pics from the game.

That's all for now.

Country Music Monday - I'm Gonna Miss Her

In honor of the upcoming Brad Paisley concert this weekend, I bring you this song, "I'm Gonna Miss Her."

Well I love her

But I love to fish

I spend all day out on this lake

And hell is all I catch
Today she met me at the door
Said I would have to choose
If I hit that fishin' hole today
She'd be packin' all her things
And she'd be gone by noon

Well I'm gonna miss her
When I get home
But right now I'm on this lakeshore

And I'm sittin' in the sun

I'm sure it'll hit me
When I walk through that door tonight
That I'm gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite

Now there's a chance that if I hurry
I could beg her to stay
But that water's right

And the weather's perfect
No tellin' what I might catch today

SO I'm gonna miss her
When I get home
But right now I'm on this lakeshore

And I'm sittin' in the sun
I'm sure it'll hit me
When I walk through that door tonight
YEAH I'm gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, ANOTHER bite

Yeah, I'm gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite 

I remember when I first heard this song, I was with Eric and he totally cracked up. Fortunately for him, I love to fish as well...

Happy Monday!!

Psalm 118:24

Homemade Tiramisu

So I've always wanted to try making tiramisu and I finally did it. I must say, I was VERY pleased with how it came out. I found a couple recipes online and kind of mixed them and edited it to make my "own" recipe.

So here's my recipe, by the way, I like a lot of whipped cream.

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 8oz packages mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
4 tablespoons kahlua
1 package (14 oz) ladyfingers
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

 And here's how I made it...

First I set out the mascarpone cheese so it would get to room temp while I made everything else. Then I brewed some espresso so it could cool as well.

Then, I started on the egg mixture.

Separate your egg yolks in a bowl (use a bowl that you can use as a double boiler) and then whisk in the sugar. Whisk for about 3 minutes until it kind of a pale yellow.





Then put the bowl over boiling water and whisk in the milk. Whisk constantly for about 10 minutes.



Then add 2 tablespoons of the kahlua and continue whisking for another minute. Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cooled, about an hour.


Once the egg mixture is cooled, whisk in the mascarpone cheese or beat on medium until creamy.



Set that aside and make the whipped cream. I always refrigerate the bowl I'm going to make it in, not sure why, just something my grandma always did. Anyway, pour the heavy whipping cream in a bowl and add the vanilla. Beat on high until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.



Now it's time to start assembling the tiramisu!! Line the bottom of a 9x13 pan with a row of lady fingers. I had to cut some to fit them in.


Then get the cooled espresso and add the remaining 2 tablespoons kahlua to it. Stir it a little and then drizzle half over the lady fingers.


Then spread half the mascarpone cheese-egg mixture over the lady fingers and then spread half the whipped cream over it. Sprinkle half the cocoa powder over it. (I did not take step by step pictures of this, I got too excited and forgot.)


Then start another layer by arranging the lady fingers, drizzle remaining espresso, then remaining mascarpone cheese followed by remaining whipped cream and cocoa powder.
 


Now comes the cruel part. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 48 hours. I am not joking here. One recipe I saw said to let it rest 5 hours. That is not enough time. I tested it at 5 hours and it was disgusting. It was okay after 24 hours, but AMAZING after 48.

It's tough to wait, but well worth it.