Super Bowl Goodies

I can't believe the Super Bowl is already coming up in 5 days! Seriously, how is it already 2012, and how is January over?! Neither of the teams I was rooting for made it.. RIP Saints and Broncos.. and H's Chiefs didn't even make it to the playoffs. But we will be rooting for the G-Men on Sunday since I like Eli and we're both Yankees fans.. it's only appropriate to root for their football counterpart. 

Anyone have big plans for Sunday? We are going to go to a party where all the girls bring their favorite dip and all the guys bring their favorite drink. This way the hostess won't be overwhelmed with preparing tons of food and supplying all the drinks. I thought that was a great idea! I was going to bring my famous buffalo chicken dip, but since there are so many other savory dips accounted for already and nothing sweet, I decided I'll try out a cookie dough dip I found on Pinterest. Oh Pinterest.. how I love thee! 

1 eight oz. package of cream cheese (softened) -- I'll use reduced fat or fat free cream cheese

1/2 cup of butter (softened)

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla

1 cup of chocolate chips

Cream together the cream cheese and butter

Add all remaining ingredients and mix well until combined

Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, pretzels, and/or apple wedges

I'm excited to try this out! I've heard great things about this dip! 

What do you plan on making for Super Bowl Sunday? 

You can find my buffalo chicken dip recipe here. Every party I bring this dip to, the whole pan is demolished! I got the recipe from a friend a few years ago, and have re-gifted it to so many people I've lost count. It is definitely a crowd pleaser! H and I are finally throwing a housewarming party in a few weeks, and when I told him I was starting to put together my menu and wanted his input, all he requested was buffalo dip :-P

Recipe

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Going Back to Essie

First off, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all my wonderful followers! I finally hit 50 over the weekend, which means it's time for me to organize my giveaway.

This weekend went by pretty quickly, yesterday we went on a pub crawl for a friend's birthday and I wore a top from VS with my Gap skinnies. I also wore a black cardigan over it, because I got chilly like 5 minutes into the evening since the AC was up so high. Brrrrr!

I still need to work on smiling while taking these pics, I always look so mad! 

I also painted my nails with my new Sephora by OPI set

I cashed in my 500 point reward with my last Sephora purchase and got this set which includes a base coat, a new polish, a top coat, and polish remover. 

I've been loving a lot of Essie's new colors and would like to purchase: 

"As Gold as it Gets" (continuing my current obsession with anything gold and/or sparkly)

"A Cut Above"

Loving "Go Overboard"

"Trophy Wife"

Such pretty colors! I've been wearing so much Sephora by OPI and Muppets by OPI lately, I've been missing out on all the purrty-ness from Essie! 

Hope everyone had a fantabulous weekend!

Essie OPI

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Fill in the Blank Friday

Time for my Friday link up with fabulous new mama Lauren at The Little Things We Do

1.   My favorite place I've ever traveled to is  our honeymoon to Fiji was definitely a trip of a lifetime. We've also loved all the cruises we've been on. 

2. Europe, South America, and Australia is  are somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3.  I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by   reading or watching tv/movies. We usually fly Jet Blue that has tv's in all the headrests, if not we have our lap top or mini-dvd player. On our 10 hour flight to Fiji, I tried my best to get some sleep which helped pass the time. 

4.  My three must-haves when I travel are   something to read, something to watch, and earphones. Oh and my travel neck pillow that H laughs at me for! 

5.  My favorite travel companion is  my H of course! 

6.  The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is  other than flight delays/cancellations nothing really crazy to report thankfully. However, my mom and I were in NYC back in the summer of 2005 when the terrorist attacks on the subways in London were happening and we couldn't understand why everytime we got down to the subways in Manhattan they were shutting down. We were only able to take one train that day, and took cabs and the bus the rest of the day. My dad was horrified that we were "gallivanting" around the city trying to ride the subway, but we had no idea until we got home that night.

7.  The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is nothing too exciting. I have a few food allergies, so I don't tend to branch out too much while traveling so I don't risk getting sick or having an allergic reaction. However, we did try Kava in Fiji. 

Picture of a kava plant I took while we were hiking to the waterfalls at Bouma National Park

8.  If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in  where we live now! Both of us always dreamed of living in Florida after growing up in Connecticut and our dreams finally came true a year and a half ago. No more complaining about the high cost of living and terrible weather. We couldn't be happier! :0)

9.  I have been to 33 

states in the U.S. My goal is to see all 50. I've gotten a lot of the "boring" ones out of the way by doing a cross country road trip a few years ago. 

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

Mid-week link up with Jamie from This Kind of Love for WILW.

I'm loving all the new recipes I've been trying from Pinterest and fellow bloggers. H thanks everyone too!

I'm loving that I'm 1 away from 50 followers! I sense a giveaway coming as soon as I reach it! :0)

I'm loving that I'm almost done with the 2nd book in the Hunger Games Series and can't wait to go on to Mockingjay!

I'm loving that I've been getting closer to H's sister lately with her upcoming wedding and just life in general. I'm so happy to finally have a sister!

Ooh my that's a small pic!

I'm loving my latest finds on Pinterest



I'm always loving my amazing H!

What are you loving today?



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Weekend Randomness

I haven't had the best past couple of days.. nothing major, but just annoyances and let downs. As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Home Depot and picked up the paint and supplies to paint the kitchen. We chose Behr's Berry Cobbler to go with the theme we already had going in the kitchen. Neither of us had ever really painted before, but how hard could it be?  Let's just say it was a complete and utter disaster :0(

We woke up early and I made us omelets with mushrooms, tomatoes, and fat free cheese and bacon. Yum!

Then... we started painting...

 Let's just say it didn't come out well... at all. We had issues with the lines not blending in from the paint roller even though we made the "W" and followed directions.

I took a picture of the "W" since it made me think of the "W" on Ron Weasley's annual Christmas sweaters

Oh.. and we got paint everywhere! We used painters tape, but it still dripped places it shouldn't.. got on the ceiling.. the cabinets.. you name it.. so we're NOT happy! We're going to have to pay someone to come in and fix it. We were planning on painting our master bedroom next.. not anymore! We've realized we're going to need to pay someone to paint going forward. Oy!

This is what it looks like right now.. it's tough to see the lines or the random paint splotches on the ceiling. The OCD inside me is having a REALLY rough time with this! :-P

Anyone have any DIY home projects that totally bombed? 

Then.. last night we got home and the cable and internet were both out since they're building on some of the lots near our house and the guys clearing the lots bulldozed into our cable box outside. Just in time for my Monday night guilty pleasure tv! It seems like other than Pan Am all my shows are on the same night! So not only could I not watch them, but the DVR couldn't pick any of them up either. So no Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Alcatraz, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and How I Met Your Mother. Not a happy camper! 

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Excuse Moi

At my last pedicure appointment, I got OPI's Getting Miss Piggy with It as it was a beautiful sparkly red and perfect for the holidays. I was long overdue for a pedicure today, so while H was getting his haircut, I went to get pampered at the nail spa and got another Muppets by OPI color. Today, I went with Excuse Moi. Another ode to Miss Piggy.

I know some people have a weird thing about feet so I'm warning you to look away now lest you get grossed out! 

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Alright you asked for it!

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Here's how it looks on:

Pretty soft pink with sparklies and it's from the Muppets OPI collection which I LOVE!

H and I also picked up paint and supplies to paint the kitchen at Home Depot today. We are planning on tackling that project tomorrow. Pics to follow!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend :0)

OPI

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Louboutins and Hair Loot Contest

I follow the fabulous Lauren Conrad on Twitter and she tweeted about a contest to win a free pair of Louboutins + $500 in Amika Hair Loot! Enter here.

Oh what I wouldn't do for a free pair of Loubies! 

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

Hump Day link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love

I'm loving that I was surprised with another short week. I thought it was going to be a WHILE before another 3 day weekend, but I completely forgot I finally work for a company that gives us MLK Day off! Refreshing!

I'm loving that H and I are planning a trip to Punta Cana in the spring. Hands down my favorite thing is traveling with the hubs :0)

I'm loving our new coach lights on the garage! When I pull up the driveway now our house looks complete.. now if we could just finish the inside.. lol



I'm loving that we finally picked what colors we're going to paint the kitchen and master bedroom, so our house won't be blah and all the same color anymore. Hurray for pops of color!

I'm loving my finds on Pinterest this week!

Hilarious caption was 50 degrees in Florida (top pic) and 50 degrees in Wisconsin (bottom pic) After having lived in Connecticut and Florida, I can definitely say that this is SO TRUE!

I'm always loving my adorable H!



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Yummy Goodness

Last month at my work's Christmas party, everyone was doing shots, and I just couldn't stomach the thought of a tequila shot with everyone else and poured myself a shot from a bottle that was sitting around and it happened to be Smirnoff's new flavor "Whipped". It was delicious! So smooth, and it's not harsh at all.

So, H picked up a bottle of it today for the house and we each had a glass of it tonight, and I mixed it with my Diet Cranberry juice.. YUM!

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Happy MLK Day!

This is the first job I've had that actually gives their employee's MLK Day off and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's very important though for us all to remember why we have the day off, and I'm very thankful that I was raised in a home where I never looked at others different due to the color of their skin. I'm so glad for how far our country has come the past few decades.

H unfortunately, didn't have the day off. So there was some griping this morning when he had to get up about how unfair it was that I got to stay in bed and not go to work today. But, then I quickly reminded him how I get up every day while he gets to sleep in as I leave the house to go to work before he even gets up! Now THAT is unfair! :-P

I had a productive day off, I worked out, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, baked a cake, and took Roxy for a nice walk. I also finally de-cluttered my vanity area, and hope I can continue to cut back on more of the clutter and keep it that way.

I also cleaned my makeup brushes which I've been majorly slacking on the past several weeks. I use this cleaner from Sephora and it even smells pretty! 

Now.. onto my organization take-over of our master bathroom. I had done this a few months ago, but then before you know it, Target and Sephora have exploded all over my vanity.

This is a before pic of my vanity:

Before pic of H's vanity:

His wasn't too bad, but it definitely needed to be cleaned.

Before pic of the linen closet:

I pride myself in channeling my inner Monica Geller so something HAD to be done! So, I when we were at Target the other day, I finally picked up a mini-set of drawers to put in the linen closet to help organize my nail polishes and various samples from Sephora and soaps, etc..

Now the linen closet looks like this:

Still not perfect, but much better!

H's vanity now looks like this:

I cleaned the sink area and stored away his clippers and shaving stuff underneath the sink.

My vanity now looks like this:

I got rid of some old perfumes, organized my makeup better, and stored my clarisonic and face washes under the sink. I also moved some random products to the linen closet to help maximize the space. It still is a bit too cluttered for my taste, but it's much better and I can live with this for now. 

I also set up H's new bedside lamp we picked up at Target on clearance. Originally $20, and we got it for $10. 

I also baked a fabulous pistachio cake this afternoon and it is DE-LI-CIOUS!

In a mixing bowl combine 1 box of yellow or white cake mix, 2 packages of pistachio pudding, 1 cup of water, 3/4 cup of vegetable oil, and 4 eggs. Then add to a greased and floured bundt or a cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. Very simple and oh so yummy! 

Neither H or I like nuts, so I sifted out the nuts in the pistachio pudding mix before adding the pudding mix to the batter. 

For frosting you can make your own using 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tbsp of melted margarine or butter, and 2 tbsp. of milk and drizzle on top of the cake. 

Recipe

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