wait, really?!

We don't really have an official "pantry" in our house, so all four of us have just split up the cabinet space for our own grocery storage.  I've heard that "If you can organize your kitchen, you can organize your life," so I try to keep my cabinets really neat and separated by food I might need for a certain time of day.  But I store most vegetables that don't need to be refrigerated on the second shelf.

A few weeks ago, I bought a couple onions because I thought I might use them for fajitas, salsa, etc.  I'm not even kidding, I opened my cabinets the other day and found this:

Y'all.  That onion straight up SPROUTED.  It's not even damp in our kitchen or anything, it just decided to bust open.  I'm extremely OCD about having a clean kitchen (dishes in the sink make me absolutely cringe), but this was just too hysterical!  I'm thinking about planting it, because apparently onion flowers are quite pretty...

But seriously, how long does it take for an onion to sprout leaves that long?  I could have sworn they appeared overnight!

Oh well, Happy Friday!  And Happy Halloween!

it's getting festive around here...

I think I would sink into a deep hole of depression if I let a single Halloween go by without carving a pumpkin... so, this Halloween, I carved FIVE!  I loved every minute of it.  I know some people are grossed out by the "guts" of the pumpkin, but I think it's downright therapeutic to stick your hands in there and scoop out all the slimy pumpkin seeds.  I could do it all day.  Plus, my dad is the BEST and didn't let me leave home without a fully stocked toolbox complete with carving tools.

I got all five pumpkins at Trader Joe's, but they weren't all the same size... I had a very specific plan.  I think I just have to show you pictures.  Keep in mind that our address is 2740 and my roommates' names are Molly, Clara, and Stacey.

Times New Roman.  That's really all there is to it!  I just typed all the letters and numbers into a Word document as a reference and drew them on the pumpkins.  I love how they look all lit up!  Bring on the trick-or-treaters!

my (almost) party favors

I still can't believe I did this.  I drove to Raleigh last Friday afternoon to start preparing for Amanda's shower, and I decided it would be fun to give out party favors at the end.  But I don't do little boxes of candy... that's way too easy and cliche.  I have a small obsession with mason jars, so I decided, at 99 cents each, the favor needed to involve a mason jar.  Soon, the whole idea came together...

First, I filled each jar with about twelve jumbo marshmallows.

Then, I lashed together three cinnamon sticks with twine, leaving quite a bit of twine on either side of the sticks.



Next, I printed a recipe for Cinnamon Hot Chocolate using "scraps" of 4"x4" off-white cardstock and some fun fonts from dafont.com!  I punched a hole in the corner of each one.

Then, I threaded one side of the twine through the hole and tied the ends in a bow around the jar.

TA-DAAA!  Easy, inexpensive party favors, and I got all my supplies, except the marshmallows, from AC Moore!

Here's the bad part: I totally forgot to give them out!  So, now I have about twenty marshmallow-filled mason jars sitting in my room, but I figure I'll either pass them out to my coworkers as Christmas gifts or I'll write a Bible verse on the back and pass them out to my neighbors.  Either way, they're not staying here!

And if you're interested in the recipe, here it is!

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups nonfat milk powder

1 cup icing sugar

½ cup cocoa

½ cup nondairy creamer

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ cup hot milk

As many marshmallows (jumbo or itty bitty) as you like!

Preparation

In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together milk powder, sugar, cocoa, creamer, and cinnamon.  Gently stir in marshmallows.  Pour Cinnamon Hot Chocolate mix into an airtight jar.  Can be stored in a cool, dry place for about three months.



hosting amanda's bridal shower!

As you may remember from the invitations, the bridal shower that my mom and I hosted for Amanda was this past Saturday!  It was a 10:00 AM brunch, and it was such a fun time of laughter and fellowship.  Leanna also came home to help us host, and she was amazing!  She took a ton of pictures and pretty much did anything I asked, so I can't thank her enough for being there.  Mom did all the food, and people were seriously raving.  Amanda even took home a whole plate of it for later!

I don't think Emily was excited about this picture.

The bride-to-be and all her friends!

Beautiful roses that Mom picked as centerpieces...

DELICIOUS cinnamon rolls that everyone adored!  They're just the frozen mini rolls from Pillsbury, but they are a must for any brunch!

Apricots and dates for a seasonal touch...

Blueberry bran muffins.

All the attendees!

Gift time!

She got lots of beautiful holiday china!

And the amazing wine basket from Jessica!  This basket was so adorable... she included a bottle of wine for their wedding night, the birth of their first child, etc.  SUCH a cute idea and so thoughtful!

Me Ma, Angie (the wedding planner), and Jessica!

The cookbook Mom gave her... Mad Hungry!  This cookbook is amazing.  Mom made the BEST margherita pizza with it on Friday!

Maggie keeping all the bows for later...

Proud MOH!  Our first game involved everyone writing down a specific memory of or quote from Amanda.  We then were supposed to guess who wrote each one, but Amanda ended up just shouting it out most of the time, haha!  It was such a fun trip down memory lane.

Our second game involved everyone writing down a silly vow for Amanda to say to Nick.  She had to read them all at the end!  (I'm thinking I should switch this sheet of paper with her actual vows during the ceremony... what do you think?!?)

In a way, I'm sad it's over, because it was fun to plan (maybe because Mom did the hard parts)!  But we had such a fun time chatting and getting to know each other... I can't wait to see everybody again at the wedding!  LESS THAN TWO MONTHS!  Oh, and if you haven't checked out their wedding website yet, hop on over to http://www.amandaandnick.weebly.com/



you guessed it... more accessories!

This may be hard to believe, but I haven't owned a pair of boots since the crazy country music phase I went through in elementary school!  So, I decided this was the year my streak needed to end, especially with all the cute boots there are out there!  I found a pair on DSW.com that I LOVE, and they just arrived this past weekend!  They are, of course, cowboy-inspired (some things never change), but they're taller than most, which is good for my height.  Plus, they're super soft and fit perfectly!

And since I was in Raleigh this past weekend, of course Bekah and I went to our favorite accessory shop on Earth, Bijuju!  I found this adorable, military-inspired headband...

... and this Balmain umbrella!  I think the color will keep even the dreariest days from being so gloomy.

I don't think there's anyway the boots aren't getting worn at least once a week.

curbside cupcakes

One of the (many) things that are new to me in DC is the presence of food trucks!  They are literally just vans that carry around some of the best food in the city, and they just pick their locations for the day ahead of time and post them on Twitter and Facebook.  So, they don't pay expensive property rent or miss out on entire areas of the city... they just go where they please, park, feed the meter, and the rest of us pray they're near our offices soon!

One of my favorite trucks is Curbside Cupcakes!  In my opinion, these cupcakes are just as good as Georgetown Cupcake, they're just harder to pin down.  Well, today, they were one block from Union Station and my office, and I nearly ran to catch them!  I got two red velvet, two carrot cake, a pumpkin hazlenut and a dulce de leche.  (No, I did not eat all six cupcakes this afternoon.  You have to hoard them while you can.)  None of them disappointed!

If you live in DC, follow them on Facebook or on Twitter @CurbsideCupcake.  If you don't, I think I just gave you a profitable new business idea!

breakfast strata

Our family, like most, has holiday traditions that reach back farther than we can remember, and one of our Christmas morning non-negotiables is Mom's Breakfast Strata!  If we're lucky, we get to have it more than once a year, so I'd like to personally thank Miss Amanda Watson for providing a reason for Mom to make it on a day other than Christmas!  Since the shower Mom and I are throwing her is this weekend and Mom has graciously offered to "cater" the brunch food, I get to taste the deliciousness in just two days!  But this recipe is just too good to keep to myself, so I'm passing it along... for Christmas, for brunch, for Saturday morning... whenever!  Below is the recipe exactly as she emailed it to me my freshman year of college - with lots of love and exclamation points!  Enjoy!

Preparation:  45 minutes

Cooking: 1 hour

Serves:  12 - 14 people   

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage    (Jimmy Dean for example)

12 slices white or wheat bread cut in cubes with no crust (If this fills your dish too much just leave some out. about one slice of bread worth... no more)

3 cups sharp cheese grated (buy the cheese already grated)

8 eggs

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (nice to have but not necessary)

1 teaspoon salt (yes, you need this)

1 teaspoon dry mustard (nice, but if you do not want to buy this let it go)

1 quart milk (2%)

Saute sausage until lightly browned.  Drain, dry(with paper towels) and crumble.  Butter a 10 x 14 dish (or 9.5 x 13 if that is all that is available).  Place one half bread cubes,  one half the cheese and all the sausage in casserole.  Cover with remaining bread cubes and cheese.  Beat eggs and add a small amount or Worcestershire sauce, the salt, dry mustard and milk.  Pour over casserole and refrigerate overnight covered.

*****  Do not overfill your dish with the egg and milk mixture.  Just fill your casserole dish the desired amount and stop.  Discard any leftover egg mixture.

In the morning preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.  Yummy!!!

This is great with cinnamon rolls and coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

winner winner chicken dinner

Our office has been pretty quiet this week since most of our staff members are at our annual conference in San Jose, so our HR team has gone above and beyond to show those of us left behind a good time!  Today, we had a big Mexican fiesta provided for lunch, and tomorrow, we're doing a Staff Scavenger Hunt, where we have to find the coworker who has worked there the longest, the coworker who has been published, the coworker with the highest SAT score, etc. 

Anyway, Monday's contest was a Sentence Slam where we were all emailed six random words and had to email back a sentence containing all six of them within ten minutes.  Then, everyone got to vote on the submitted sentences and the biggest vote-getter won a gift card to Au Bon Pain.  If there's one thing with which I'm obsessed, it's sentence structure and WORDS.  Seriously, I knew all my letters before I was two, and I still shudder when I read poorly constructed sentences.  So, I figured, of all the contests we have going this week, this one could be mine.  Here are some copies of the emails we got:

Ok, so given these words, most people came up with sentences about Silicon Valley and all the green innovation that takes place there.  For instance, here were a couple of the sentences:

 - The skies are sunny and the grass is green; it is an extraordinary day in Silicon Valley, where innovation and diversity thrive.

 - On sunny days, companies in extraordinary Silicon Valley devote their lives to innovation, diversity, and green building progress.

Maybe I'm just messed up in the head, but as soon as I saw the word, "silicon," I couldn't think of anything but boob jobs.  I need to stop watching The Bachelor.  So, here was my sentence.

 - In sunny, green California, one extraordinary silicon innovation, which knows no diversity, has kept both the Jersey Shore and the Playboy Mansion happy for decades.

I had to have one of my team members read that sentence to make sure I wasn't going to get fired for submitting it to HR, but it turns out it was a hit!  One of the HR ladies even voted for me!  So, now I'm the proud owner of a $20 gift card to Au Bon Pain... yum!  I'd like to thank Snooki and Hugh Hefner.

unc v. u.va.: part two

And now, the part we had been waiting for all day... the game!

Cavalier Drumline getting the crowd pumped up...

Forming the Rotunda!  Soooo much better than our attempt at the Old Well a few years ago!

WAHOOWA.

Dear Old U.Va...

Getting ready for the teams to run out!

Kickoff under a gorgeous sunset...

This was at halftime... I'm just so impressed.

Seriously.

 Clara and her boyfriend, Bob, came over to visit me at halftime!

U.Va. band's post-game show.  We won!

My aunt, uncle, and cousins post-game...

Final score: 44-10.  GO HEELS!

Love my baby cousin... who's not such a baby anymore!



What a fun day... I almost wish every game could be in Charlottesville so I could go there more often!  But it's back to Chapel Hill next year... we'll see what happens!