Showing posts with label bloggy friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggy friends. Show all posts

Saturday, December 1, 2012

It's a Giveaway!!!

Happy Saturday, loves!

All week long, one of my bloggy BFFs, Leigh, has been featuring "What's In My Bag?" posts from some lovely ladies. 

Now it's our turn to share our favorite things! 

I'm giving away a few of my purse essentials, and you can head over here to meet the other ladies participating. It's all going to come in a gorgeous purse courtesy of Leigh! 


ENTER HERE OR BELOW!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope everyone has a great weekend!



Friday, November 9, 2012

High Five for Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone!
What a week it's been!
Here are my high five from the week..

{1}
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. 'Nuff said

{2}
Finally settling in to our new apartment. It's definitely a process. I'm looking forward to the time I have off so I can set up the loft area... it's going to be an office/guest room and I'm so excited!
The view from above when we were moving in... it freaks me out but I love the tall ceilings!


{3}
TV. This can pretty much be included in every week's high five. I can't get enough of Revenge. It's been my favorite show since it began last year. I'm hooked. I want to start watching again from the beginning, and I usually hate watching things more than once. Also, Grey's this week! I missed it last week and it was great as always!

{4}
My bloggy friend Dani sent me a package! A glitter owl, herbs from her garden, and Scentsy samples! It totally made my week :)

{5}
I can't believe it, but this is my last day of work at my current job. I'm sure the day will be filled with tears. It's also full of nerves, excitement, and fear for my new opportunity, so I'm feeling a lot of different things at once.
I also get a full week of nothing next week before I start the new job. No work, no responsibilities... I've never had a vacation like this. No worrying about the things I have to get done at work when I return because I won't be returning. No checking work email on my phone and getting sucked back into it, no work cell phone on 24/7, NONE OF IT. It's going to be really hard to get away from all of it after 4 1/2 years. To get myself out of that "groove". To lose my downtown Inner Harbor parking. (Yeah, there were serious perks to this job I'll definitely miss! Ha!) Most of all not seeing the pretty faces of my amazing co-workers who had turned into a second family! I'm going to miss those ladies so much! I'm going to miss my kids who I've seen grow and change and am so proud of.
It'll definitely be an adjustment but I'm as ready as I can be... I'm also going to miss this lil office!


I hope everyone has a great weekend!!
Photobucket



Monday, October 8, 2012

An update...

Happy Monday! 
I hope those of you who had today off had a great day.
I was lucky to have a long weekend but got super sick today and was pretty much out of it all day! Ick.

This weekend was full of productivity! 
Chris and I were both off work on Friday. It was so nice!
We brought both of our cars in to get some needed work done, got my emissions done, and saw Finding Nemo in 3D! I love that movie and it was totally worth it to see the 3D version.
Gotta love those styling glasses.


We also got word that we'll be able to move into a different apartment next weekend (we're been dealing with these nightmare neighbors if you don't remember). So, we started packing. It looked something like this.
Then today, we get word that it's not a final thing. In fact, we might not be able to move at all. Insane. This whole ordeal has been going on since February and we're so tired of it. Hopefully we'll be able to get things straightened out tomorrow but in the meantime the place is a mess!

I also wanted to say thank you for all your supportive comments on Friday
It's tough to write about the tough times, especially when you're like me. I tend to act like things are going well, even when they aren't. It's a coping mechanism and one that's worked for a long, long time.
I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not afraid to put things out there, to seek support from loved ones, blog friends, and strangers who may read this if they so choose. 
I'm sick of pretending that everything is always okay when it's not. Although I can't reveal details all the time, I really want to be as transparent as possible.
We're going through several "life transitions" at this point, and although things aren't great I'm certainly thankful for the things that are: our family, friends, and health.

Life isn't perfect, but how boring would it be if it were?
I'm a strong believer that everything happens for a reason.
And no, I'm not just saying that. Even during tough times, I always have believed that.
So if I can help someone by revealing my feelings and how I've dealt with things, it'll be worth it.
We've all got our own struggles, but we also have a lot in common.
The past few months have been trying and a huge learning experience. 
I started to write about it in this post... and mentioning it today certainly won't be the last.

So, the point of today's post really wasn't to talk about my unexciting (but nice) weekend. I'm not linking up anywhere. I just wanted to get that all out there :)
I hope everyone has a GREAT week!



Thursday, September 27, 2012

Exciting Giveaways!

Hi everyone! 
I'm taking a little blogging break today, but wanted to stop in and let you know about a couple of amazing giveaways from a couple of my swappers!

Leigh @ Adventures in the Fort is hosting an Alice in Wonderland themed giveaway! She is so creative and this is one of my favorite giveaways in a while. Click here to head on over and enter! {Even though I hope I win} :)

Jen @ Rushing for Bagels is hosting her first group giveaway! I'm so excited to be giving away ad space! Click here to enter and meet some of her other lovely sponsors. 

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!


Friday, September 21, 2012

We Have a Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the group giveaway and to the amazing ladies that contributed! 
Here are the results.

Congrats, Ashley


Happy Weekend!!!


Friday, September 14, 2012

Surprise...

IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Welcome to my very first giveaway!
I'm a little excited.. can you tell?
Thanks to some of my lovely sponsor swappers for participating in my very first giveaway to celebrate my growing little blog passing 100 followers!
I'll save the sentiments about how much I love blogging, how great you all are, etc for another time. 
Let's get to my lovely sponsors...

Leigh @ Adventures in the Fort
I'll spare you the boring details like my name, it's Leigh, and the name of my blog, Adventures in the Fort, and an interesting fact or two about me, I have two kids and I am from the great state of Texas.  I know what you're really here for...the goods, which is a $25 gift card to Pier 1.  Which in my opinion is almost as good as gold.  Because you can seriously get this and this and even this killer pillow!  So stop by, say "Hi", and let's get to know each other.

Dani @ Inspire.Motivate.Love.
blog/twitter/pinterest/instagram {@danilee_}
I'm Dani and I blog over at Inspire. Motivate. Love.  It's the story of my life and happenings of a stay at home toddler mom and full time student, while trying to find my place in this crazy world. I'm a newly converted nail polish lover, coffee lover, and cozy outfit wearer.  Fall and Winter have oddly become my favorite seasons, and in honor of that, and Alyssa's Giveaway, I am sharing with one lucky person my favorite accessory! A handmade, crocheted infinity scarf.  I literally have one in every color, and I live in them during the fall/winter season.
Stephanie @ bourbon and glitter
I'm Steph and I blog over at bourbon and glitter.  You'll find a collection of all my favorite things there - cocktail cupcake recipes, latest shopping wants and pinterest finds, party themes and costumes, my bar crawl adventures, and tons of photos of my furry pup Hawkeye.  Come stop by!


Niki @ Glossy Blonde
Hi everyone!  I'm Niki and I blog over at Glossy Blonde.  I am a wife and pet mom to 2 dogs and a cat, and I'm working on my MBA in Marketing/Advertising. I hope to open a clothing/accessories boutique in the near future.  On Glossy Blonde, I'll share of-the-moment fashion and styling tips, great beauty products, and fun baking recipes; and on Fridays you'll get a little look into what makes me tick.  Stop on by and say hello, I'd love to meet you!

Rima @ Bolu by Rima
blog/facebook/twitter/instagram {@bolubyrima}
Hi Friends! This is Rima from Bolu by Rima. At Bolu, you can read about my ramblings about life, my love for food crafting and traveling, with occasional appearances of the 2 men in my life, The Pillow (aka Rob aka Boyfriend) and Chimichanga (the dog). Feel free to stop by and say hi!

Jen @ WhyyyJen
blog/twitter/pinterest/polyvore/instagram {@whyyyjen}
Hi! I'm Jen and I blog over at WhyyyJen. It's a life and style blog.. which is 3/4s life with just a little bit of simple style. I'm a working girl trying to make it big in the corporate world, at the same time, grounding myself by blogging about my feelings and experiences. I always aim for my posts to not only be an expression but also a benefit to my lovely readers. I love answering questions and thinking about what's around me. Check out Whyyyjen. Stay awhile. Ask ahead. I don't bite. ;)

Hilary @ Diaries of Do'ers
blog/twitter/pinterest/Instragram {@hilarysdoings}
Hi! I'm Hilary and I hold a small piece of this awesome blogosphere over at Diaries of Do'ers which I created to document me and the hubby's newlywed life and new home adventures. It's turned into a general lifestyle blog involving my love of frugal great finds - from décor to fashion, DIY successes & failures, furniture flips, and still-newlywed life {ahem, my trial & errors with meal-making for the hubs}. Please swing by and say hi, I'd love to 'meet' you!

Mia @ The Chronicles of Chaos
Hi there, I'm Mia from The Chronicles of Chaos.  No, it's not a comic book, but sometimes I do feel like SuperMom!  I started blogging to capture the chaos that reigns supreme when you have 2 parents who work full-time, 2 rambunctious boys, and a Black Lab who has never outgrown the puppy energy! And I sprinkle in some recipes, and other life ramblings in the mix as well.  Stop by and say hi sometime, I love meeting new people!

Kayla @ The Rural Knitter
Hi! I'm Kayla. I'm a small town girl with memories of the big city who decided to move to rural Newfoundland, Canada in hopes of slowing down and appreciating life. I blog over at The Rural Knitter. I write about my new found passion -- knitting, but also crafting, the world of books, and music. I also like to share what it's like to live in the most easterly part of Canada, where people live on an almost constant island of fog but boast a colourful and fantastic culture and history. As a knitter, I'm trying to bridge the gap between my Grandmother's generation and my own in a land where knitting is not a hobby, but a way of life. So grab a cup of Tetley tea and put on a pair of wool socks and join me at The Rural Knitter.

Of course, I'm giving away a few things...
~Medium Ad Space for 1 month
~LC Lauren Conrad Pearl Earrings
~Small Journal (Target)

*******************
So, here's the deal. Enter the giveaway. 
Visit some of my friends and give them some love!
1 winner takes all
Giveaway ends on Friday, September 21, 2012.
Good luck! 
*Please fully complete each task that you submit.
When a winner is chosen, I will fully review all entries and validate each one. If the winner does not complete each task they submitted, a new winner will be chosen. 
Please play by the rules.Thanks! :)  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, August 27, 2012

Weekend Update!

Well, that weekend went fast!
I got so much done... I always feel so behind when I come home from a trip. This weekend consisted of catching up on cleaning, laundry, and some diy projects I've been wanting to do.
I was on-call for work this weekend, so couldn't really do much else but it was so nice to just chill.



I can't wait to show you what I made- the yellow flower is a hint! 
I also made a couple bracelets... I used to love making jewelry and haven't done it in a few years so I decided to get back to it.

I went shopping... and found an adorable lace top that I'll no doubt be wearing to work this week. I've really tried to cut down on the shopping this month (and done a decent job) but I found clothes I actually liked at Kohl's and just had to.

Can you believe the amount of sprinkles I got on my soft serve? I ate the whole thing... of course!

Sunday evening I baked some fluffy chocolate chip cookies that were amazing! I used this recipe found on Pinterest... usually I don't like to stray from the regular Tollhouse recipe, but I decided to try this one and am so glad I did!

I finally feel like I'm back in one piece after a relaxing weekend.
This week will be a short one... the Baltimore Grand Prix is in town, and my office is located right downtown... so I'll be in the office the first half of the week, working from home on Thursday, and off work on Friday! 
Chris bought us tickets to the practice rounds on Friday... I'm hoping to either meet Patrick Dempsey or Arie from the Bachelorette. I probably won't, but I'll be stalking them down  keeping an eye out! Kidding, kidding, Chris...
(That's how he got me to go last year. Told me Patrick Dempsey would be there. I looked and couldn't find him anywhere... It was sad)



That's last year.
I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Chris' life thus far. Hoping this year will top it!

A couple bloggy notes...
In case you missed it, I'm taking ad's via Passionfruit. Check out my sponsor page for more information.
Don't you love my new banner? Dani made it! She's the best! 

Of course, I am linking up with Sami, Dana, and Leeann for Weekend Update!



How was your weekend? I hope it was great!



Friday, August 17, 2012

Meet Dani and her Whipped Cream Carrots!

Happy Friday!
I'm still on vacation but wanted to leave you all with a special something from one of my bloggy favorites, Dani!
Dani lives all the way across the country from me in Washington. 
That's too bad, because if we lived closer we would probably hang out all the time and drink wine and bake. At the same time, obviously.
Anyway, here she is!

~~~

Whipped Cream Carrots.
Doesn't that sound appetizing? 
No?
You're mistaken then, because it's delicious.
That word....delicious...I feel like I've been using it a lot lately.
Maybe I've just been eating/cooking really good food. 

First of all, let me introduce myself to you all.  My name is Dani, and I ramble blog about my life over at Inspire. Motivate. Love. 
There is no single focus.  
Just my life. I never thought people would find it interesting, but since I find others lives, like Alyssa's interesting, I thought I'd share my own too. 
Thus...I blog. 
And met Alyssa.
And am now going to share this ridiculously yummy dessert recipe with you all while she is gallivanting around Disney World. 
I'm not jealous. At all. 
That's a lie. 

So...on to this delicious concoction.  
My mother has always made weird stuff with jello.  Most of the time, I like it.  I never would have thought to put fruit in my own jello, yet it comes in cups at the store, right?  Well, lets take that a step further.  Fruit isn't so unheard of, but vegetables? I thought I had misheard her the first time she told me. My other half, his grandmother does the same thing.  
And oh my goodness....these recipes are amazing. You would never think. 
I grow my own garden. It's full of goodies.  You can head over and click through if you want. 
This year, I have an over abundance of carrots. 
So....I went searching for a carrot salad recipe, and I found carrot jello. 
I'm sorry, what? 

Here you go:
1 (6 ounce) package orange flavored gelatin mix
2 cups boiling water
1 package Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup finely grated carrot
2 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (8 ounce) tub Cool Whip, softened.

Start by boiling the water, and then dissolving the gelatin in a large bowl. 
In the mean time, cube the cream cheese, or Neufchatel, whichever you prefer, and whip it in your food processor or blender.  I have a small food processor, and since you're going to add your gelatin liquid, I have found it works better in a blender. 
Add the gelatin, and cream together until the cheese is all blended in. 
Pour back into your bowl. 
Add carrots (I grate mine in the food processor), pineapple, and cool whip, and mix together. I just use a wooden spoon or plastic spoon.  The cool whip may be a little lumpy, but it's ok. Once it's set, it's like marshmallows. (Ohh...those might be good to add.....)
Let sit in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  I usually cannot wait for this to be done, and dive in after two hours.  And then proceed to not share the whole thing, and eat it over the next few days. 

I promise. You will love this. 
Unless you don't like carrots, or pineapple, or orange jello. 
Then you might have a problem. 
Because who doesn't like cool whip?
I personally much prefer the real thing to cool whip on my occasions, but for things like this, it's acceptable. 

I hope you all enjoy!
~~~
Isn't she the best? 
I never would have thought to put carrots in a dessert but she makes it work. I can't wait to try this recipe!
Thanks, Dani!
Don't forget to go give her some love at Inspire.Motivate.Love. :)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Meet Leigh and her Apple Custard Tart!

While I'm away on vacation, I'm so excited to have a few lovely guest posters. Leigh is my first and I am so happy she agreed to post over here! She is so sweet and has the most adorable babies. She also knows her way around the kitchen... those kids and boyfriend of hers are very lucky! Obviously I love desserts so Leigh has prepared something pretty awesome for you all. 
Enjoy!

~~~
First let me start off by saying I am so incredibly jealous of Alyssa for getting to vacation with Mickey & Minnie Mouse and all the princesses!  I have an almost 3 year old little girl who would be beside herself with glee to go see Cinderella's castle;  and I mean she would probably pass out because she forgot to breathe ecstatic.
Make sure to take a picture with the Princesses just for her, Alyssa!

I'm so excited that Alyssa is letting me guest post while she's away, and boy do I have a treat in store for y'all!  But before I do that, I bet you'd like to know who the heck I am.

My name's Leigh and I get comfy over at Adventures in the Fort.  In a nutshell, I write about our life.  I've got 2 extremely busy little babies, who aren't so little anymore, and a wonderful boyfriend.  We reside in the most exciting city in the great state of Texas, Fort Worth, and there is always some kind of new adventure going on for us to get in the middle of.  I love feeling pretty, drinking sweet tea, and making/eating desserts.

What I'm going to share with y'all today is hands down, the best dessert to make when you're really trying to impress people.  You know when I'm talking about;  high stakes family functions...dinner parties...guest posting on someone's blog...I could go on, but I digress.
With fall and party season quickly approaching, this is the perfect time to make this decadence.
First you've gotta have a crust.  I highly suggest this recipe for a Sweet Pastry Crust I posted a few days ago, but you could always just use a store bought one which would make things much simpler...but remember, you are trying to impress someone(s) so the extra effort is well worth it.
Once you've gotten your crust together, you've got to glaze it.  This will keep it from getting soggy when the custard is poured in.  I used fig preserves because I had them on hand, but apricot works out all right too.
See the difference?
This is the hard part.  Peeling and slicing apples, 3 Granny Smith to be exact.
Here's a funny story.

That's right.  I peeled and sliced waaaay too many apples.  
Wanna know when I realized it?  Right now.  As I'm typing this.
So save yourself some time and only use 3 apples instead of 5.
Go cook your apples

Now for the custard!
At this point I would also probably preheat my oven to 350 degrees and put a rack in the middle.
Make sure while you whisk constantly while adding the hot liquid to the paste or you will end up with scrambled eggs.  And that is not tasty in a tart.
This is the part that will really make your tart look impressive.

Sprinkle the stop with cinnamon sugar and pop that sucker in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the custard has set up and the top is a glorious brown color.
Let me tell you how fabulous your home will smell while this is cooking.
It is so enchanting I almost forgot to listen for my kids...
then I realized they were being too quiet...
then I found this...
Twenty seven minutes and a Resolve-d carpet later, voila!
You can now impress all your friends and family with a dessert fit for royalty.
For the full recipe, click here and visit Joy of Baking.


~~~
Oh my gosh. That looks amazing. 
I can't wait to try this recipe... or maybe I'll just have to pay Leigh a visit because I don't think I could make something that pretty!
Don't worry, Leigh, I'll get plenty of princess pictures for Pretty Girl :)
You'll have to follow my Instagram (@alyssalianne24) for pictures of princesses and much more!
Thanks again, Leigh!
Don't forget to pay lovely Leigh a visit @ Adventures in the Fort!


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