What I'm Loving!

Happy Halloween everybody! I hope y'all do something fun today/tonight! I grew up NOT celebrating Halloween because of our Christian faith, but as I've gotten older I've learned you can celebrate it but you don't have to emphasize things like witches, demons, etc etc...plus my husband grew up trick-or-treating so when we have kids it'll be a fun holiday to tackle...but I digress...back to the normal routine so today I'm linking up with Jamie for "What I'm Loving Wedneday!"

I'm loving these Halloween themed cupcakes I made for work today! They're Halloween funfetti with a homemade buttercream frosting! I was nervous to make my own frosting, but it turned out great and I was very impressed!

Ran out of sprinkles, hence the "balding" cupcakes!

I'm loving these fingerless gloves I found at Kroger! This week has been chilly (for Texas) and since my New England blood has thinned out these past 5 years, my hands we're freezing at my desk! The gloves make me feel like a 14 year old who shops at Hot Topic, but hey, they did the job I'm loving them!

I'm loving Macy's halloween costume! She's my little pumpkin! Yes I know I'm a crazy cat lady, but I don't children so I'm dressin' up my fur-baby :)

 

 

I'm loving these two amazing friends of mine! Taylor is a blog buddy and now an IRL friend! and Meredith is an IRL friend and now a blog buddy! These two have been especially encouraging and uplifting through sweet texts and facebook messages!

 

I'm loving that I voted early and it took a whole 5 minutes! Gotta love small town Texas on a Tuesday! Plus I'm loving that this election is about over! I'm so tired of reading people's facebook status with their overtly strong opinions and ideas...

 

 

I'm loving that I won a giveaway from Katie's blog! This is what my subway art looks like! Can't wait to frame it and hang it in our room!

So that's what I'm LOVING! How about y'all?!

-Kate

Skinny cooking & Pumpkin Carving!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope y'all had a nice relaxing fall weekend! We sure did. We spent Friday night at home relaxing after a long work day. On Saturday, the husband and I decided that we wanted to get a jump on Christmas shopping this year instead of waiting til mid-December to start rounding up everyone's gifts and getting overwhelmed. Andrew took me to breakfast then we shopped around town, mostly getting gift ideas for family/friends (I think that's a good first step) and quickly deciding we'll probably be online shopping for everything. Much easier! After shopping and grocery shopping, the rest of Saturday included rest, working out, and I made this amazing, delicious, skinny (lo-cal/healthy) recipe: Chicken pot pie soup! Yep, that's right! Here's what it looked like:

 

You can find the recipe here! It's basically A LOT of veggies and chicken! It's healthy AND tastes great! Andrew said it'll definitely become a staple in our house!

 

 

On Sunday, we devoted half the day to rest, cleaning, and cathcing up on Walking Dead. We went for a nice bike ride around town, took a coffee break, and headed up for yummy roast! (It cooked in the crockpot all day so our house smelled amazing!) After dinner, we carved pumpkins with our neighbors, which is progress from last year!( Last year, we both bought pumpkins and let them sit at our houses and never got around to carving them!) So here's a photo dump of the carving process!

 

Blank canvas!

 

The husbands cutting the tops out!

 

pardon the no makeup/weekend look: me pulling out the guts!

so attractive...not...

 

battery powered pumpkin carver! it cut the time in 1/2! sadly it died after one use!

 

Our finished product! "H" for our last name :)

 

Our neighbors did a "T" for their last name and we put them outside of our doorway!

 

So there ya have it! That's our weekend in a nutshell. Clearly we are some of the most exciting young married couples ever ;) I honestly live for the weekends that are low key, relaxing, and productive because then there are the weekends we are out of town, and going constantly that are exhausting. Here's the another productive week! How was y'alls weekend spent??

 

 

-Kate

 

FRIDAY'S LETTERS!

Dear Friday I'm glad your here, and clearly just in time given my morning (Long story short: coffee spilled on way out the door, went back in to change, realized I left my purse at home when I was halfway to work, turned around and got my purse, head back to work, gas light comes on...=10 minutes late)...so really not that bad...but thank the Lord it's the weekend! Dear cold front, I love you even more than Friday! I love coming to work in boots and a cute cardigan and not sweating to death! It's like Texas Christmas weather today! Dear fall boots,  I'm so happy I got to pull you out again! I forgot just how cute and comfy you are! Dear husband,  I love how sweet you are to me in the morning when you are leaving for work. Makes my day start off right :) Dear Taylor (y'all check out her awesome blog!), I had sooooooo much fun on our blate last night! You are beyond awesome and I can't wait to hang out more! oo and thanks for my wreath! It blessed me so much! Dear God thank you again for being in everything that has gone on this week. I can feel your grace and favor in our life and I'm so thankful for it! Dear husband, I'm so glad we have another low-ley *crossing my fingers* weekend ahead! I promise, we can finally carve our pumpkins this weekend! Also, I want to say how proud of you I am! A new job, a new desire for health, and a fresh focus! You amaze me everyday!

So those are my letters for this fabulous Friday! Who/what are you writing letters to this week? Do share!

-Kate

It's OK!

Ok, so I'm onto my 2nd linkup of the day! I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but I couldn't resist the pinterest linkup and I always love "It's OK Thursdays!" Plus who doesn't want to hear more from me?? (I kid.) 

Brunch with Amber * A Complete Waste of Makeup

 

 

It's OK...

 

-to have 2 blog posts in a day!

 

-that I left myself 20 minutes to shower, get ready for work/pack my breakfast and lunch, and get out the door

 

-that my hair is styled in an awesome wet braid this morning...due to said rushing.

 

-that even though there's 2 of us, we have 3 cars because inevitably only 2 work at a time...point made yesterday when we left for Bible study and the van decided it didn't want to cooperate...

 

-that I've been on a baking kick lately

 

-that I'm truly putting effort into my friendships in a way I haven't before...and it feels good!

 

-that I've had my DSLR camera for two days now and have yet to "play with it"...I think it's because I know I don't know what I'm doing yet :)

 

-that I have my first blate tonight with the fabulous Taylor

 

-that I feel dumb when I tell my non-blogging friends about my blate...and it's ok that they all say "are you sure it's not a 40 year old man?"...awesome, thanks for the encouragement.

 

-that I don't fully get the concept of validated parking and ended up paying for parking yesterday because I was panicked with people waiting behind me...wanted to yell, "but it was validated!"...yeah, I'm a mess.

 

-that I look up the calories in food at the restaurant before I get there (it's good to be prepared!)

 

-to fully recognize that God has complete control over this crazy life of ours and I'm so thankful!

 

-to already be thinking about what I want to take for food to our family Thanksgiving

 

-to be slightly dreading Christmas...only because it's my first one NOT with my family...oh marriage, why must we share Christmas??

 

-that I hit 50 followers yesterday! Wow, such a long way from the 7 I had going steady for a year! Thanks to everyone who reads!

 

What are you OK with today??

-Kate

 

 

 

 

 

 



Saw It. Pinned It. Did It!

This morning while catching up on blog reading, I came across this neat linkup and since I had a week of pinterest baking I thought it would be fun to participate! I, like everyone else, am addicted to Pinterest but definitely pin 90% more than I actually "do" the pin...So last weekend I attempted some pinterest recipes and that's what I'm sharing today!

 

On Pinterest I came across this:

 

 

OREO COOKIE BROWNIES (yes, that's right!) and I actually had them at a party and thought I saw this on Pinterest and I'm making them!

 

Here's my pictures of the process:

They were the hit of our friends game night!

 

Also, last weekend I attempted another dessert but this time...Lo Cal! (had to make up for those brownies!)

This recipe is great because it's so simple (you only need 2 ingredients -7up and funfetti cake mix dry- for the cupcakes! and the 2-ff cool whip and dry vanilla pudding mix- for the frosting) and it's SUPER lo-calorie!

Bonus: makes pretty pink batter!

 

My 1st attempt and making pretty frosting!

 

and Finally...I came upon this recipe and made it for our Bible study!

 

And here's how mine looked!

They came out more "bready" or scone like because I let the kitchen aid run, making them thick (but GREAT with coffee!)



 





 

Thanks for reading! Have y'all ever baked any of these before? I LOVE baking and since we eat pretty healthy in our house I don't bake that often...thank goodness for game nights, bible studies, and any other party reason to break out the pinterest goodies!

-Kate

What I'm Loving!

Happy Wednesday! I feel like this week is moving quickly and that's totally fine by me! Here's what I'm loving on this humid (in Texas) but pretty morning!

I'm LOVING...

 

The crafty/baking/pinterest side of me that I've embraced lately!

Pre-Glu Stage

 


Finished project! I may add more embellishment later!



Lo-cal Funfettin Cupcakes and Lo-cal frosting (ff cool whip and dry vanilla pudding mix!)

 

Pumpkin Streusel Cookies! (so NOT lo-cal)

 

I'm Loving...

My New DSLR Camera (and the deal I got on it! just had to really look)! Even though I have no clue WHAT I'm doing and just got it yesterday so I still haven't had much time with it...but hey, my blogger pics are about to improve! and I love learning new things!

 

I'm Loving...

that I have my first Blate ("blog date") this week! It's so neat meeting new people and I just know it's gonna be fun!

 

I'm Loving...

My flat iron! I know I talked about it last week, but seriuosly y'all...took 10 minutes to do my hair! (I have thick, curly/wavy hair) and it STAYED straight! AND...it was an amazing deal!

You can find it at Sally's!

I'm Loving...

that at the end of the day, God is in control! I feel so much peace knowing that!

 

I'm Loving...

My husband!

What are y'all loving today??
-Kate

 

 



A Productive, Restful, Creative weekend!

That sounds like a lot to cram into a weekend but it really was ALL of those things! I tapped into my creative juices (which are pretty much non-existent...so I'm trying) as well as got things done around our house, and fit in some great naps and relaxation!

On Friday night, we had a game night with some friends and I decided to make this insanely sinful amazing dessert I had at a football party a few weeks ago, which is also on pinterest. It's a 9X13 chocolate chip cookie, with a layer of oreos, with brownie batter on top! Yes, it was fantastic! Which is why I made everyone take some home because I knew we COULD NOT bring that back with us! Here's the pictures of the process! (sorry for the poor quality, my camera will be here soon!! ahhhhh!)

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, the hubs had work for a little while in the morning and I enjoyed some sleeping in! The rest of the day was spent watching the Aggie play (thanks to my parents, I watched it online via they're comcast since we don't have ESPN...as a sports fan, it kills me.), cleaning up the house, then getting in some P90X legs. We also reunited with some of my friends for our friend's birthday dinner! It was so good to catch up, and made me realize just how much I miss these sweet girls!

Macy watched the Aggies with me, while playing peek-a-boo!

On Sunday, we devoted most of our day to football. First watching the Texans obliterate the Ravens (hallelujuah!) then the Pats play the Jets and also win! My friend Brittny and I hit up Michael's, determind to make some pretty fall wreaths, and found some super cute stuff! She made us and our husband's chili for dinner and we pinterested AGAIN these low-cal funfetti cupcakes (recipe HERE)! Plus, I am determined to learn how to frost pretty cupcakes...and it was a semi-success :)

Here's my wreath! I'm thinking of painting the tips of the leaves gold or adding more, but for my 1st one, I say it definitely screems FALL :)

 

Lo-cal funfetti cupcakes with lo-cal frosting!
 

So that was our weekend! I leave you with a picture that is sure to make you smile! We bought Macy a Halloween costume (yes I know she's a cat) but it was precious to see her in it! Especially with the hat!

My little pumpkin!

FRIDAY'S LETTERS

 

Dear Friday, we meet once again! You are welcome anytime! Especially when you bring such amazing brisk weather like I woke up to this morning! ahhhh Dear A&M please beat the hell out of LSU this weekend! Dear Texans & Patriots, we need you to also win your games this weekend since BOTH of you lost last Sunday...not cool. Dear Argan flat iron, you are a give from the heavens! I know that sounds stupid, but when you have naturally curly, thick hair between drying and styling, it can take 40 minutes! Last night...it took me 10 (15 with drying)! Saved years of my life and I woke up with nice hair :) Dear DSLR camera, you are FINALLY going to be mine next week! After months of researching I found you (and an amazing deal!). Can't wait to start using you in this little corner of the blogosphere! Dear God, thank you for your incredible timing. Even when we don't always see it at the moment, looking back your timing is absolutely perfect. Just knowing that adds a certain peace and calm to my life! Dear mom, can't wait to see you again in a month!! I don't know how we're going to go on living 2000 miles apart but I'm so glad we've gotten more time this year than the last 5 years combined! Dear Husband, thank you for making such an amazing dinner last night! Those shishkababs were awesome! And you were so thoughtful to pick me up an Italian soda (that you made sure was lo-cal) and put the camp chairs by our grill so we could sit outside together! Props to you hunny! I am blessed!

 

Hope y'all have a great weekend! Who are you writing letters to today?? Do tell, I love a good read!

 

-Kate