Ready for S'more Fall?

Here is another yummy and delicious Katy Recipe! I love s'mores! They are one of the main reasons I am in weight watchers now. Chipotle and S'mores! To make my diet harder Katy has given us another yummy recipe!

1. Take a box choc cake mix and prepare it as normal, but add some chocolate chips in to the batter. (just to make it different... I don't like box mixes, so I try to spruce them up when I use them)
2. Then crunch up a sleeve of graham crackers and add 1/3 cup melted butter, and 1/4 cup sugar to the crackers. Spread this on the bottom of the cake pan, then add the batter. Bake cake according to box. 
3. When done throw some marshmallows on the top and put it in the oven. I like to use the broiler, but you will need to watch the marshmallows closely so they don't burn. 
Then I just threw some more graham crackers on the top and pieces of Hershey bar! Yum!

Favorite BHG Pumpkins for Fall

BHG is one of my favorite magazines. Every year I try out some of their pumpkin ideas and they are even manageable for a novice carver like myself. Here are some of my faves for this year. Can you guess which one I am trying this weekend?

This one makes me wish I had a big porch!

I feel like this one would be hard to mess up. I wonder what they used for the eyes?

Again, even I can handle this.

I feel confident this one is taller than me.

I love the kitty cat split in half. I can see this being great for all my cat- loving freinds. This may be the only kind of cat John ever lets me have.

This one just screams fall!

Flower Arranging

As I showed you earlier in the week Katy is an amazing floral designed. She has lent her skills to many friends and family since my wedding. Here are a few example of flowers she has done. If you have any questions about these projects please post in the comments and Katy will be happy to answer!

Here is a beautiful fall colored bride's bouquet. 

Don't you love these colors for a fall wedding?

Here is a simple yet elegant centerpiece that Katy did. The colors are so rich. It would be wonderful for a winter wedding. 

Here is our sweet cousin Lauren on her wedding day. 

This is a close-up of Lauren't bouquet.  

And Lauren't bridesmaids' bouquet. Gorgeous huh?

Recent Obsession: Hair Blogs

I am in the middle of growing my hair out. It's in that lovely not short, but not long middle length that looks super odd on me. As I anxiously await longer tresses I have been vicariously living through bloggers with beautiful hair. I vow once my hair gets long enough I will be trying all this gorgeousness. Here are a few of my faves.

The Small Things Blog: Not only does this chick have hair so gorgeous it doesn't look real, but she also crafts. A woman after my own heart. If I didn't love her so much I would hate her. She does great tutorials on hair and has tons of tips since she is a stylist herself. She swears by certain products and I am totally sold!

This haircut makes me want to cut my hair. I'm not gonna lie, I may give in and just have my hair cut like this. I'm not sure I can resist.

But then I look at this and think of the endless possibilities of growing my hair out. Life's great question; To cut or not to cut.

Split Ends and New Beginnings: This is my friend Mallory! She used to do my hair when I lived in C-Bus and I was so scared to have to leave her magic hands. She does amazing tutorials that make styling seem really simple.

What Hair blogs do you follow?

What I Wore Wednesday

I'm thinking of jumping on the WIWW bandwagon. I know I am obscenely late, but I think it may be a good way to visually track my weight loss. I don't think I need fashion help since I get dressed up for work every day, but you never know.

Being overweight, I hate seeing myself in pictures. Especially full body shots! So this may be a good way for me to keep it real and stay honest about how I really want to look. Stay tuned to see if I stick to this when I get home today.

More Wedding Gorgeousness!

Last week I showed you some invitations that my SIL Jen made for our cousins wedding. You can see that post here. This week I want to show you the beautiful flowers my other SIl Katy made for the wedding, as well. Katy can seriously do any flower arrangement you can think of. She could easily just become a florist and call it a day. Check out these flowers below.

Here are the supplies before Katy works her magic. 

This was the bride's bouquet. 

Here is a snapshot of one of the flower arrangements.

Here is the beautiful bride Lauren with her flowers.

Weight Watchers Weigh-In Week 1

So week one was up yesterday and I survived! It was especially tough since my birthday was on Sunday and all week long people were brining me treats and offering to take me to lunch. Somehow, I managed to stay within my points.

Weight Loss: -3.6 lbs
Current Weight: 191.4

What I ate:
1. Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins with Spray Butter
2. Asian Apple Pears
3. Adobo Seasoning- I love this stuff on beef, ground turkey, chicken or even veggies!

Only 1.4 lbs until I make my first goal of 5 lbs! Thanks for all of your encouragement and please continue to share your tips, successes, and goals!

Recipe: Lemon Cake with Raspberry Frosting

Katy has a reputation in our family for delicious desserts. Here is one of the more simple ones she has done. So yummy! I probably shouldn't post this while on weight watchers. Torture!

You will need:

1. One Package of Yellow Cake Mix

2. One Package of instant Lemon Pudding Mix

3. 1 3/4 c of Water

4. Three egg whites

5. One container of fresh raspberries

6. One can of raspberry pie filling

7. 2 containers of cool whip

8. One package of vanilla pudding mix

9. 1 cup of milk

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

2. Spray two 9 inch round pans with cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix and pudding mix

4. Pour in water and egg whites.

5. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Increase speed to high and beat for 4 minutes.

6. Pour batter into prepared pans

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. 

Topping Directions:

1.  In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix with milk and 1/2 cup of raspberry filling.

2. Mix until smooth

3. Gently fold in whipped topping until no streaks remain

4. Spread evenly over cake. 

Then all you do it assemble the cake, and put raspberry pie filling between layers!

Meet Katy! Baker, Florist, Sister Extraordinaire!

Last week I introduced you to my sister-in-law Jen and her card creations. This week I'd like you to meet my baby sister-in-law Katy!

Katy was the person who really introduced me to crafting as I know it today. Katy has no fear of serious redo projects like headboards, reupholstery,  cooking, and decorating. I was lucky enough to get to live with Katy before I got married to John and I think it really gave us a bond not shared by many sisters-in-law. Katy is so sweet and so tough all at once. She will help anyone anytime. Did I mention Katy did my amazing wedding flowers?

This is my neice Mikaela. Don't you love the kissing ball Katy made for her?

Here is Jen, my father-in-law David, the hubs, my brother-in-law Nate, and Katy herself! I know you love my flowers!

Here you can see the centerpiece Katy designed with orange slices in the bowl. My wedding was over 5 years ago so we were totally ahead of this trend. It got huge the next year. I love being a trendsetter!

Here is my brother-in-law Brian. He is married to Jen. I love this pic of this huge guy holding his wife' bouquet for her.

It hard to see, but my amazing katy ordered these cones to hold the flowers that were perfect on so many levels. 1. they matched the red dresses perfectly. 2. The little jewel on them matched the bridesmaids' necklaces. 3. They came with little stands that allowed the bridesmaids to leave their bouquets standing up to keep them pretty and allow our front table to have tons of flowers!

I'll be showcasing more of Katy's projects throughout the week. She is super duper talented so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 28th birthday! I had a nice relaxing day of crafting with my birthday spoils which I will post tomorrow. Also, my friends Di and Tracy came to partake in a crafty evening. I took lots pictures of my take. You will be entirely jealous! lol

Also, my husband is writing a blog post for me tomorrow. And my baby SIL Katy will be showcasing some of her projects so it's going to be a fun week! Make sure you stop by!

Book Review: The Wolves of Mercy Fall Series

I recently finished reading Forever, the final book in the Wolves of Mercy Fall Series by Maggie Stiefvater. I have to say this series was up and down for me. I flew through the first book Shiver. I was addicted to the characters and was thrilled when I found out there would be a sequel.

Next when Linger came out it was torture. It took me months to finish and I am the kind of girl that reads a book in about three days. It is definitely the middle child of the series. It was bogged down with forced character introductions and a plot with a personality disorder. The bottom line was the main character was going to turn into a werewolf and you knew this in the very first chapter. Too bad it didn't actually happen until the last page.

Finally, Forever was the finale this series needed. The characters went back to basics and the characters had real emotions. I ate this book up. Then ending was absolutely perfect. I was satisfied, but I still had some thing to think about with the characters.

If you love the supernatural and are interested in seeing a unique twist on the concept of a werewolf this series is for you. I wouldn't put it on my favorites list, but it is still a solid series for YA fans.

Have you read it? Tell me your thoughts.

I'm Hangry Yo!

So it's day 2 of weight watchers and I'm hangry! Ok, I'm hungry, but maybe not angry. I'm mostly cranky. Yesterday gave me a false sense of full. Today I am struggling. I just want some comfort food and it's only day 2! Although I did stock up on some 1 point soups today so maybe that will do the trick.

I'm still determined to stay on the plan, but I think the reality of how hard it is going to be has hit me. I need to do some meal planning for next week so I'm not so dumbfounded about what to eat. I think it is a tough transition to the new point system because I have been wating things thinking that they are a certain point value then I plug it in and it's way more! Oh cereal, will we ever meet again?

Wordlessly Wednesday

More Cards by Jen

Yesterday I introduced you to my amazing SIL. Today I wanted to showcase a few more of her paper creations.

Here is a sweet little card she made, I love how she used the buttons for the center. Her cards are always so multi-dimentional with different textures that really make them stand out. 

Here is a wedding program she created that was also a fan. This is such a clever idea for hot outdoor weddings. 

Here is the front of one another wedding invite. I love the color contrast. 

Here is another wedding invite similar to the one I posted yesterday. They are so well constructed. Oftentimes, homemade invites can feel flimsy or cheap, but Jen's are so professional. 

Here is the invitation Jen made for her son's first birthday. Sorry for my poor job of blocking out information. I thought it looked festive, but now I think it makes me look slightly colorblind! lol

This summer we celebrated grandpa's 80th birthday. This invite really personifies grandpa. He is so laid back and this definitely reminds me of him.  

One of the things that I think really sets Jen's paper crafts apart is that she really captures the people she is making them for. A lot of time when you use a larger company for wedding invitations their products looks decidedly them. With Jen, the end result always reflects the couple she is making them for. 

Thanks for stopping by!