Dorky Tourist

I have been on a mission, to find a pair of shoes to wear to Europe in a few weeks. I really didn't think it would be that hard of a task. I have bought and returned two pairs of shoes in the past week. I have gone to every shoe store at the mall, plus the Belk in Spartanburg. I'm not being picky, I just can't find some comfortable, black leather shoes that will be good for walking a lot in. I guess I'm going to end up looking like a dorky tourist wearing Nike Sneakers. Any suggestions would be great. I've tried Clarks and my feet don't like them, or they don't seem to like my feet. It really shouldn't be this hard.

Imagine...Create

I made these to hang up in my Scrapbook room today. I've been looking for something to hang on the walls in that room, and just never found anything that I really liked. So, I made something that I knew I would like. They are framed in an acrylic "Box Frame" so there is a bit of glare. I bought all of the supplies to make these at Hobby Lobby, and everything was 50% off. I think they will make a nice addition to my room.

Ooey-Gooey Turtle Bars

This recipe showed up in my in box yesterday, and I just knew I had to try it out. So, I was going to the grocery store anyway last night, so why not pick up a few extra items. I have just one word to describe these - AMAZING! They were so easy to make too. The hardest part was waiting the 3 1/2 hours for them to cool completely. I didn't even get a chance to try them last night, I had to wait until today. The girls at Scrapbook night will love me for bringing these.

Here is the recipe. Let me know if you make them, and what you think.

INGREDIENTS
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies
1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
3 cups Chopped Pecans
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 jar (12.25 oz) Caramel Ice Cream Topping
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (16 squares)

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Press cookie dough evenly in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan.
2. Sprinkle 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of the pecans over dough; lightly press into dough. Set aside.
3. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar, caramel topping and graham cracker crumbs. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Pour over crust in pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups pecans.
4. Bake 25 to 32 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown and pecans are lightly toasted. Cool on cooling rack 30 minutes; loosen sides from pan, but do not cut. Cool completely, about 3 hours longer. (For firmer bars, let stand an additional 2 hours.)

New Look

How do you like my new look? I've been trying, for a long time, to make my blog a little more personal. I Love the free backgrounds you can get here, and now they have tips on how to personalize headers, and signatures, and all kinds of neat add ons for your blog. I also used this site for my signature. Pretty Neat!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all you love birds out there, I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Remember to show the person you love, just how much you love them.

As for me, I will be spending Valentines night alone, while Andrew is as work. But we went out last night instead. We thought by going out Friday night instead of Saturday, we would miss the crowds. Boy were we wrong. It was just as crowded. Here is a picture of us from our first Valentine's Day together (2002). Wow, how we've changed.

My Valentine's card

I wanted to post a picture of the valentine's cards I made last week. I only made 5, so if you didn't get one, I'm sorry. Hopefully I will make a bunch for Easter, and be able to send one to everyone on my list. If you're not on my list, but would like to get a card, just let me know.

Blackberry Crunch Cake

I made this cake for our Girl's night out last week, and it was such a huge hit, I thought I would share the recipe. Not only is it delicious, but it is super easy to make. You may have heard this referred to as Dump Cake (Because you just dump everything in a pan) but I'm not a fan of that name. Crunch Cake is much nicer sounding. Let me know what you think if you try it.

• 1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (in juice, do not drain)
• 1 can pie filling (I used Blackberry, but you can use cherry, blueberry, peach etc...)
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter (melted)
• 1 cup of chopped pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Pour un-drained pineapple into a 9x13" pan and spread it out evenly. Using a spoon, spread globs of pie filling evenly on top of the pineapple. Sprinkle the cake mix over the pie filling and pineapple layers and spread evenly with a fork. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the cake mix. Drizzle the melted butter over the cake. Cook for 35-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown, and the juices are bubbling. This is best served warm. I forgot to take a picture when I was making this, but here is a picture I got off Google. Mine looked just like this.

Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I made this cake for my sister's birthday yesterday, and she asked me to post the recipe on here.

I got the Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe from my MIL, and I found the Cream Cheese Icing recipe on line, but I can't remember which website. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but it didn't look that great anyway, but it tasted phenomenal.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

• 2 1/4 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 8 oz. Sour Cream
• 3 Eggs

Grease and Flour a Bundt Pan. Preheat oven to 325.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Blend at low speed. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Cool cake upright in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

• 2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all the ingredients together and Voila - you have icing. Very Simple, Very Yummy!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today, my oldest sister Sarah, turns 31!


Happy Birthday Sarah! I hope you enjoy the cake I made for you!

Here is Sarah Then

This is Sarah Now

What a wonderful Weekend!

This past weekend was one of the best weekends in a while. For starters, it was unusually warm all weekend. This warm weather has me in the mood for spring. Friday I only had to work 2 hours, so I got to sleep in. Then I went to get my hair done. I was in desperate need to get my highlights touched up, and a hair cut. After that, I went to my parents house to watch Grey's Anatomy. They have a DVR, and since I was scrapbookin' on Thursday night, I missed Grey's. I then headed home to make a dessert for our Girls Night out. I will share that in another post this week. But watch for it, because Blackberry Crunch Cake = Delicious! Girls night out was so much fun, and I was happy to be able to spend it with my sisters and my Mom.

Saturday morning, my sweet puppies woke me up before 8:00 am, so much for sleeping in on my day off. I had a some errands to run, so I was out the door at 9:00 to go to the post office. I had made plans with my MIL to have lunch with her and my Sister-in-law, and niece. So, I headed to Greenville to meet them for lunch. We had a great lunch at Adam's Bistro. After lunch, we went to AC Moore. They were having a Scrapbook Saturday event. They had some great sales going on, and were demoing some great products. My sweet MIL bought me some scrapbook stuff for my upcoming trip to Europe. We then headed to the Mall to stop by Belk quickly. Then back to their house. I have completed my scrapbook pages for our trip to Disney, and all of my Christmas pages, so I brought my albums for them to see. After a lovely afternoon with my in-laws, I headed home. I stopped by my parent's house on the way home, because my Mom had DVRed (is that even a word) Friday Night Lights for me, while we were at the Girls Night Out. So I sat and talked with her for a long time, and caught up on my shows. It isn't very often that there isn't anyone else at my parent's house. With 3 sisters, and 8 nieces/nephews, my parents house seems to be the gathering place for the family. It was nice just sitting and talking with my Mom, without being interrupted by children.

Sunday, I had plans to meet Andrew for lunch and a movie in Salisbury, NC. That is about half way from where we live to where he is working for the month. We didn't really know what was in Salisbury, so when we got there, decided to eat at the China buffet. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I'm not a big fan of Buffet's, but this one had such a huge variety, and everything I tried was good. After lunch we went to see Paul Blart Mall Cop. It was a funny movie. I don't think it will win any Academy Awards, but it was still good. After the movie, we went to Circuit City. It was having a major "going out of business" sale, so Andrew got 2 Cd's and a DVD. I would have loved to get a GPS, or new digital camera, but $130 is a lot to spend on an impulse buy. We had a great day, and it was nice to be able to spend time together. I will see him again this weekend for Valentine's weekend.

I have a busy week this week, so I will have lots to blog about.

Girl's Night Out - Stampin' Up! Style

Last night, I went to a Girls Night Out that was hosted by a Stampin' up! consultant, Susan. It was so much fun. They have a Girl's Night Out once a month. You can bring your own craft to do, participate in the project that she has available. I was able to complete my Valentine's cards, and make the two projects that she had for people to do. I will post a picture of my Valentine's cards after I mail them out next week. The two projects that she had for us to do were a Valentine's Card and a 4"x4" mini album. They both turned out great. There was also a door prize for the person who brought the most new people. Since I brought my sister and my mom, I won!! This is what I won. A stamp set and two mini ink pads.
I'm already looking forward to next month's Girl's Night Out!

Tax Time!

Well, it's that time of year again! Tax Time! This is the first year, that I have had all of my documents ready to take to the accountant so early. I dropped everything off yesterday, and hopefully in a week, I will know if we get any money back, or if we have to pay. Every year, we usually end up having to pay something to federal, but then we get a refund from state. If only we had kids... then we would get a huge refund! Not sure that is the best reason to have kids!

Girl's Night

Friday Night, my sister, Becky, and I had a girl's night out! Both of our husband's were out of town, and Grandma had Leilani, so we went to the movies and out to dinner. We saw Bride Wars - and let me tell you, it was hilarious! It was only rated PG too. I appreciate a good, clean movie. If you get the chance to see it, you should definitely go. After the movie we went to Applebee's. I had a gift card, and Andrew isn't a big fan of Applebee's, so this was the perfect time to go. I haven't spent time with Becky, just by ourselves, in a long time. It was a great Girl's Night Out!

Clean Sheet Day

Clean Sheet Day is one of my favorite Days! I bought these flannel sheets on clearance last week at Wal-Mart, and I have been so excited about getting to put them on my bed. Yesterday was the day, and let me tell you, I slept so good last night in my new clean sheets. Yes, I know, I live a very exciting life! The highlight of my week, is sleeping in clean sheets!