This is What I do on My Spare Time!

Allow me to introduce, the two most adorable little models in the world-- Meli and Jazi.  My niece and her best friend.  This was us playing grown up dress up, courtesy of aunties closet.  They picked a few pieces and took turns wearing it rocking it.  WE HAD A BLAST!

Then we picked something from her own closet, and funked it up with a cool hair-do and some accessories.  The last outfit (not pictured), turned the photo-shoot into a gymnastic party.  Meli has been in gymnastic for the past year or so, and she just loves showing me all the tricks she can do.  As a former cheerleader and PROUD auntie, I love pushing her to her limits and teaching her new tricks.  We've master front & back walkover and she is only 5.

  Yes, I'm that kinda of the cool auntie!  I'm a not-soon-to-be mommy in training.  For some reason I'm fairly certain Maurice Junior will come first, so I'll have to do my homework on how to get down and dirty with the boys.  I can also just watch learn from dad, he's been roughing me up for a while :-) and I always tell him he needs him a son!  I must tell you, it has payed off (and all our friends pressuring talking sense to him about kids), we now have a date for when we will get off the pill and start trying.

I can't wait to take weekly pictures, and plan a co-ed baby shower, decorate the nursery, the delivery,  bringing him home, a year of firsts... and the list continues.  I'm sooooo ready!!!!!!

My Very First Time in the Casino Scene

Super brownie points for the hubby!!!  He planed the whole trip on his own and manage to surprise me up to the point we drove up to our hotel.

We stayed at the Ameristar, which must I say, it was soooooo gorgeous!!  We had such a great time...  We got in late evening, had dinner, went to the pool and called it a night.  We slept in, went down for breakfast and the gambling begun.  We started off at the slots machine and made our way to the electronic roulette table, which was my absolutely favorite!!!

After burning a little $$$ we went exploring.  We crossed the street to the older part of Blackhawk, aka Central City.  Back to the slots machine, contemplated played on a real roulette table, and made it back to our hotel for some more roulette.

I'm not sure where the picture went, but this was all I could find :-(

August 2012

I'm Ba-ack !!!

Boy oh boy, it has only been what?? 2 years, 4 months and 28 days... but who is counting right?

I've been contemplating coming back for weeks, if not months, like what would my first post back be? should I write about what has happened in the past 2 years?  So much has happened, I wouldn't know where to start...the beginning would be a good a idea, but that would make it for a long boring uneventful scattered post.

Then I thought about why I started this blog (you can read about it here) and instead I've decided to just...start back off since I got to start somewhere, I'm sure I'll ramble write about it eventually, maybe even some now :-)

For starters, we are not in lil'o Hastings, Ne anymore.  We are now proud residents of Denver, Co.  We have new jobs, new neighbors, new friends, even a new couch :-)  I'll be sure to post random pictures of our pass 2 years to give you a glimpse of the time that has passed.

Gleenwood Springs, CO November, 2013

I've never been an apron kind of girl but...

I love looking at all the expensive fashionable apron from Flirty Apron, but I've never been an apron kind of girl; so, after ruining one of my favorite shirts, I decided to invest in one.  I went to several stores here in town and they were either a bit too pricey or plain Jane; so after google-ing easy apron patterns, I found out that I could make one out of placemats.  Now, I want my flirty apron to match my permanent kitchen, so getting one now wouldn't be a good idea. The girly lime green and pink wasn't exactly the look I was going for, but it fit the style I had in my head and I'll be able to give it to my niece once we move.  Besides it was a steal ( a whole 2 bucks) and will do the work for now :-)

So here it it:

Back to the Mirror

I tried taking my pics using the tripod I used too with my other cam, but it didn't turn out so well (i'm almost certain it was the poor lighting)... I'll be trying it with tomorrow's outfit outside.  Crossing my fingers it will work out better or else, BACK TO THE MIRROR.  Anyways, this is what I wore to go out for drinks with a  few of our friends!!  

top: dillards
jeggings: target
belt: thrifted
heels: maurices 

The Girls 

The Guys

1st in Months...

I was ready to start snapping pics of my outfits again and then the inevitable happened... our better cam stopped working.  Now story behind it is that we dropped it from a ride at the fair,  blahhhhh.  So the pic quality is prob going to suck for a while but i'll do my best to keep up.

blazer: thirfted
top: gifted
jeans: rue21
shoes: jsimpson

Meal Planning

I think I've been neglecting my blog enough and since I'm about to start getting into my routines, I thought it's time to sneak blogging into it too.  With student teaching and working, mine and the hubbie's schedule will get a little difficult to juggle and coordinate and i'll most definitely have to meal plan and strictly follow a schedule. SO.....

Here is my attempt (once again) to meal plan for the week.  It works wonders when I do keep up with it, but for some reason I just get caught up with everything else and get uninspired to just do it.  Now, I do have to warn you, I don't follow recipes to a "T".  I usually look it up and make sure there isn't any essential ingredients and make it up as I go to taste.

So here is what i'll be making this week (sorry, I didn't take pics this week but i'll be posting how I made it as the week progresses):

Shrimp Pesto Ravioli
I used wonton wraps for the shell and for the filling chopped ricotta, sauteed shrimp and spinach.  I boiled it and baked for no more than 10 min with pesto sauce and parm cheese as garnish.  It didn't think it look all that good so no pics but it tasted delish!!!  I did however Google'd pesto ravioli and it looked pretty similar to mine.  We ate it with a green salad.

Source

Fried Chicken
I usually don't fry my fried chicken, I bake it.  But this time, since the hubbie requested it, I thought i'd give in into the greasy goodness.  All i did was season the chicken, shake it into flour, and deep fry it.  I must say, i much rather bake it any day--I was so afraid it was going to be under cooked that I ended up cooking it too long, and it turned out kind of dry :-( We ate it with mac&cheese and peas and corn.

Source

Fish Tacos
So easy and yummy!  I sauteed cod fish on a bed of blend mixed veggies (onions, red and green pepper), and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  Since the fish was frozen, it collected lots of water, so I cooked it until it dried, shredded it and served on soft corn tortillas garnished with cheese and tomatoes.  We ate it with Cajun rice and beans.

Source

Buffalo Chicken Braid 

Simple and successfully delish!!!  Also pretty...  All u need is a few chicken breast sauteed in hot wing sauce (I sweetened mine with a little bit of bbq sauce), pizza dough, and cheese.  Now I embellished mine with spinach leaves as well as cream cheese.

before I braided

love, Nanda!!

Diaper Cake

This weekend was my sister's-in-law baby shower and for her gift, I made her a lady bug diaper cake.  This was my first time doing one and although it took me roughly 3hrs to make it, it was fairly easy to make.  

An Email From God (really cool thought i'd share)

God's Email

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
RE: LIFE

Dearest One,

Hi there! This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day.

I love you.

God

P.S. And, remember…

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the “SFGTD” (Something For God To Do) folder. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not necessarily yours.

Once the matter is placed in the folder, do not worry about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life right now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don’t despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it’s like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the man or woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed their children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes they had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking “what is my purpose?” Be thankful. There are those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse–you could be one of them!

Now, you go ahead and have a nice day.

–Author Unknown

God loves you!

Rainy Day & Meal Planning

Off with the snow, on with the rain... I don't know which one I hate dislike more.  I could say it's a love-hate relationship... I just hate having to leave and get soaked, but at the same time i love wearing my rain boots.(seriously, how cute are they???)  I seem to have this kind of relationship with all seasons.  I can't wait until the snow stops falling, but I miss wearing boots.  I can't wait 'til sumer is here, but I'll wine about being sweaty...  I like to think my favorite season is summer, but as of last summer (being that I didn't really go much to the pool/tanned) I think i like it now (Spring in Nebraska).  It's hot some days, but nice and cool on others.  

On another note, I decided to take meal planning serious and will be doing it from now on.  One day in and I've decided that I will be planning a weeks worth and shopping for it, but I won't be assigning the days in which I'll be making a certain meal because that is just what works for us.  The hubby is always having team dinners or bringing dinner home so I just cook around that.  For instance, last night we just had stuff he brought home from a bbq, but today I cooked what was for Monday.  I'm planning to post it here the menu and some of the dishes but I'll see how it goes first, maybe I'll start next week :-)

top: walmart (refashioned by me)
jeans: rue21
zip-up and boots: target