Holiday Cards

Chris and I had a lot of fun with our holiday cards this year! In the past, we've used Costco's one-hour photo lab for our cards and they've always turned out awesome. 50 one-sided photo cards/envelopes for $14.99 and plenty of designs to choose from. It's also great because they're done in an hour and we always wait til last minute.

This year, Costco had something new and I was in the mood to be a little more extravagant! Greetings by Costco offers premium card stock double-sided photo cards, 50 for $34.50. Not only do they have a lot of beautiful designs but they also offer free rounded corners and free return address printing on the envelopes. I priced similar designs on Minted, TinyPrints and Shutterfly and couldn't get the price below $70 (using discounts)...at least double the price of Costco.

We had my parents take our photos when they were in town over Thanksgiving and I was able to design our Christmas card, using Adobe Photoshop Elements and upload it to Costco's site. I placed our order the Friday after Thanksgiving and had them in hand that next Thursday! I am incredibly pleased with the quality of the cards and envelopes. Perfect for our extra special Christmas cards this year!!

If you haven't ordered your cards, check out Greetings by Costco. They're amazing and quite a steal for what you get. *No, I'm not paid or compensated by Costco for this post. I'm just obsessed with our cards and wanted to share!

Without further ado...I present to you the best part of our 2013 Christmas card - the back!!

We couldn't possibly be more thrilled and excited. AND it feels so nice to finally let the cat out of the bag. :) We just couldn't pass up this fun opportunity to share the news with our loved ones and friends. More soon!

Formal Dining Make-Over

Just stopping by to share Chris's make-over of our formal dining room! Before, it was a very plain room. We punched it up a little by painting and adding more dramatic curtains, but it still wasn't a room we wanted people to see when they first entered our house.

Chris spent many weekends and weekdays after work adding chair rail AND shadow boxes to beautify this room. It was A LOT of work (for him) but SO worth it! Now we just need some art for the walls and our two front rooms will be complete!

Check out our paint colors here and my easy burlap curtains here!

Tomato, Basil, Cheddar Soup

What better way to fight the cold, icy weather blues than to whip up some comfort food! This recipe is super easy and amazingly delicious!

Unfortunately the blog that I originally found this recipe on no longer exists but I'll still give it credit on my recipe card. This soup is so much tastier than the canned version and pretty healthy too!

You can use a regular blender, but I highly recommend purchasing an immersion blender if you like this recipe. We have this one:

Target

The adorable vintage recipe card I used can found here in a printable version!

This soup is best served with a grilled cheese - possibly cut up into bite sized pieces for easy dipping. Enjoy!

2013 Christmas Decor

Hello, Blog World!

Well, life happens and before you know it, you've been on a blogging hiatus for 2 months. BUT, I'm back and hopefully for good! I'm looking forward to sharing everything we've been up to lately too!

We are on day 4 of being iced in here in Texas and day 2 of no school due to the weather, so what better topic to choose for today, than our Christmas decor. 

Last year, after just purchasing our house, we didn't have the cash to spend on all of the decor we wanted but we did end up scoring an epic deal on a pre-lit Christmas tree!

We scored this Martha Stewart LED Pre-Lit Christmas Tree for $60 from Home Depot. Up at 4:30 AM and back in bed by 5:30 AM - It was a perfect Black Friday experience and our only major Christmas decoration last year.

This year our Christmas decor has expanded!

Our Christmas tree w/ clear lights...

...and multi! Thanks to my mom and step-dad for sending my childhood ornaments and supplying Chris with plenty of his own. :)

Lit garland and our 4 ft tree from our apartment days. 

 A few dining room Christmas touches...

...and a few in the kitchen!

Free Christmas Printable can be found here.

We had to relocate our tree to the office...you know, now that we have furniture in our living room...so I decided to really go all out with our fireplace this year. Our vases are filled with Dollar Tree ornaments and our stockings were hand made by me last year! I absolutely LOVE those felt stocking kits, they are A LOT of work but so much fun! The pre-lit topiaries were my late step-moms and I think they look amazing on our fireplace.

My sister (Bubbles & Icing) made us this GORGEOUS candy cane wreath this year. I'm in love with it and I hope she'll blog about it soon! It's the first wreath that's actually the appropriate size for our giant door.

My mom got me hooked on this scent from Bath and Body Works. I'm obsessed and it makes our house smell amazing...no allergy inducing real tree necessary.

Last but not least, my childhood miniature tree has been found, thanks to my Dad, and is now proudly displayed in my classroom.

Needless to say, from meager beginnings last year, our house has exploded with Christmas cheer this year!! 

Thanks to the weather, I was even able to get our Christmas cards addressed and mailed (USPS came on Friday despite the ice!). This is the earliest I have ever gotten them out! I'll blog about these amazing cards from Costco soon.

That's all for now! Glad to be back in the blogging world. :)

Friday Favs

Happy, happy Friday!! It has been a week and I may have thought it was Friday on Thursday too. We made it though! Here are a few of my favs from the week. I'll be back next week with some new crafty things, a house project, and more crock pot recipes.

1. Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

We NEVER have ice cream in the house but I had to have some this week! YUM! There is definitely a reason why we can't keep it in the house often.

2. NCTM Card

This is so nerdy but I'm officially a card carrying member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. I feel impressive.

3. New School T-Shirt

We're allowed to wear jeans and school t-shirts on Fridays and I have a TON of t-shirts for my school already but I couldn't resist this one. I apologize for the poorly framed picture, I had to obscure the school name. Excited to wear it today!

4. Belated Birthday Card

I've been an aunt for a while but this is the first Aunt Birthday card I've ever received. It totally made my day!! LOVE my nephews. :) Sorry sis, I did love your card too! Thanks!

5. Fall Wreath

I have to share my fall wreath again. I pinned it on Pinterest when I originally blogged about it and it kind of took off! Does anyone else get a really smug and satisfied feeling when something you create catches interest on Pinterest?

Source

Have an amazing Friday everyone! I'll see you next week. :)

Linking up with some favs!

Hiatus

Hello, friends!

I've been on a hiatus from blogging after a few VERY busy weekends. Unless you'd like to learn about Greatest Common Factors or Similar Figures...I don't have anything cool to tell you about today but I did want to stop by to tell you that I have not given up my blog! I'll be back this Friday for Friday Favs and I'll be back all next week with new crock pot recipes and a few other crafty things. 

Until then, here are a few favs from the past few weeks...

Birthday gift from my favorite - Amazing containers for my baking supplies from the Container Store. He even did some research to find the best ones. :) No more holey bags of flour and sugar!

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook - a birthday gift from my sweet friends. I will definitely be trying some of these recipes as the premier of Catching Fire draws near! 

A sweet friend got me a fresh Blueberry Pumpkin Patch candle for my birthday, along with a new one called Fall Leaves. Fall is so yummy and my friends are so awesome!

I am obsessed with BLTs at the moment...I think I could eat them for all 3 meals. SO GOOD!

The winter OU gear I ordered came just in time for the coldest gameday of the season!

Here we are wearing it and getting ready to cheer on OU against TCU last Saturday.

That's about all of the excitement I have to share today!

Thanks for hanging in there my faithful readers!

Crock Pot Freezer Meals - Part 1

As I mentioned in last week's Trial Tuesday post, we've gotten back into crock pot cooking now that the weather has cooled down. So as I officially enter my late twenties today, let me share with you my love of crock pot cooking.

A lot of people shy away from crock pot cooking during the week because there is usually a lot of prep involved. If you're not a morning person it's hard to handle a full dinner prep, eat breakfast, and get dressed and be on time for work. 

Prepping for an hour or two over the weekend and freezing those meals makes crock potting a breeze! 

I usually start by picking 5 or 6 recipes and gathering all of the ingredients. 

Then I cut and prep all of my meat, then veggies, then sauces. 

I label everything and freeze it.

It takes about 2 hours to make 6 of these by myself but then it takes just 5 minutes to make dinner during the week! Worth it!

Here are some tried and true crock pot recipes we've discovered over the years. All frozen and cooked to perfection. Of course there are a bevy of recipes out there and we're trying new ones all the time, so expect a part 2, 3, etc. of this post. What freezer meals work for you?

Chicken & Rice

2 Cups Wheat Minute Rice
1 Can Reduced Fat Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Water
1 Packet of Dry Onion Soup Mix
4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up into strips or chunks

I usually start by cutting up my chicken and placing it in a freezer Ziploc bag, then I add the rest of my ingredients, mix it up and freeze it! Thaw it in the freezer overnight and cook in the crock pot on low for 8 hours. Be sure to label your Ziploc with the name of the recipe and how long to cook it.

Creamy Chicken and Chives - Betty Crocker
1 Can Reduced Fat Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 8 oz container of Chive and Onion Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Packet Italian Dressing Mix
4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
1 box Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta

Again, I start by cutting up my Chicken and placing it in a freezer Ziploc bag, then I add the rest of my ingredients. With this recipe, you'll need to melt the butter in a sauce pan and combine your cream cheese, dressing mix, cream of chicken soup and white wine - stirring until well combined. When the mixture has cooled, pour it into your freezer bag with your chicken and freeze. Defrost in the fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over pasta.

Chicken Curry

4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
2 Bottles of Trader Joe's Yellow Curry
4-5 Red Potatoes sliced or cut into chunks

This one is easy - Cut up your chicken and potatoes, toss them in a Ziploc freezer bag and pour in your ready made sauce. Freeze. When ready to cook, defrost in fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with Trader Joe's Microwave Jasmine Rice.

The Most Amazing Pork Chops Ever - Crockin' Girls

You must make this one...they truly are AMAZING Pork Chops. I added potatoes to the mix this time - I'll let you know how that turns out. The gravy is so, so good! I imagine they would be incredible with mashed potatoes.

Crock Pot Hawaiian Chicken - Saving You Dinero 

This one is also quite delicious and so easy to put together! Try it!


Most people recommend freezing your bags flat for more freezer room but I like to freeze mine upright so it kind of takes the shape of my crock pot. I find it doesn't defrost that much overnight and its hard to make it fit in the crock pot if it's frozen flat. Just a thought.

Happy Crock Potting! I'll be back with more recipes soon!