The Party Is Picked!

I can now show off the cards I made for asking the girls to be my Bridesmaids, my Maid of Honor, and then a thank you card for my Mom for all that I know she's going to do for the special day!! I've been waiting patiently to post these as I wanted to make sure I gave them out to everyone before showing them off to the blogger world!

Here's a snapshot of them all lined up on my desk.

The cards for the girls. I did three exactly the same for the bridesmaids and then one slightly different one for the Maid of Honor, A.K.A My Seester :-) And yes Pink and Green will be the colors :-)

Here is a close up for the Maid of Honor card!

And a close up of the bridesmaid cards!

I could have swore I took a close up of the one for my Mom but unfortunately I can't find it :-(.

I was so excited about these cards since it helped solify my color choice and because cards are not my specialty. I was on a roll one night and was able to do all of these in one evening. I was so happy and so proud!!

So a huge thank you for saying yes to my Seester, besties JBug and Alycia, and my future sister in law Jenny!! I couldn't be happier to have you girls up there with me :-)

Another One?? Seriously?

Yes I seriously finished another book this week. Another short easy read but another book down off the list YAY!! I just finished reading Favorite by Karen McQuestion.

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I thought again that I would read something uplifting after the last two books being somewhat weird downers but nope. I chose another free book I got from Amazon and it was yet another abduction style book. I gotta be honest I am OVER them at this point. I am determined to read fluff for my next two books, possibly the next three books. But as for this one it's about a 16 year old girl who gets attacked and almost abducted. They do catch the man who did it but that opens a can of worms that revolve around her mothers disappearance 5 years earlier. To be honest the book was pretty good but the ending wrapped up so quickly that I was kind of let down. I would tell the author to keep it up though cause her writing is intrigueing and I didn't want to put the book down but to work on the ending some more. It could have been better, but the overall grade of this B-. Another book I wouldn't recommend to those unless you are okay with these types of happenings.

Next up....something happy and fluffy :-)

Still Missing.............

I am so excited to announce I was able to finish another book this week! Obviously it was a shorter simple read since it only took me two evenings to finish it up. I chose to read a book that I had gotten free off Amazon awhile back. I am always looking at the free books and if one catches my eye I download. The one I chose to read was "Still Missing" by Chevy Stevens.

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This book was interesting and depressing. I thought for sure after reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I wanted to read something cheery and light but for some reason I chose this book. While the book was interesting, I would only recommend those who are interested in mysteries and murders check it out. It is somewhat hard to stomach the book and its completely sick and twister so for those interested be warned.

I should mention that I really like reading about and watching documentaries about murders and mysteries. It's very weird because I always am sickened by people and wanting something horrible to happen to the murderer or sicko but I still find myself interested. Well this book is definitely along those lines. This book is about a young woman who gets abducted and held in a cabin up on a mountain. Sound somewhat familiar?? The story of this young woman's abduction and being held against her will reminds of a combination of stories I've read on CNN or popular ones that have been broadcast on the news Nationally. Essentially it's all about her time being held by her captive and the emotional "rollercoaster" she goes through. Don't get me wrong the end has a twist but this book was very depressing to read.

Overall grade is a B. While I think the topic will always be considered depressing the writing was well done and the story never felt rushed to finish. Good job to Chevy Stevens for covering a sick topic as best someone could without being extremely gruesome.

Bon Appetit'

I tried another new recipe from my Taste of Home Guilt Free Cooking - here's link if you are looking for the book (Yup for you Tracy) :-) Get it Here. Unfortunately it looks like Taste of Home does not sell the specific one I have but they do have another one that you can check out (I might even buy it).

This recipe is super easy and has ingredients that any pasta loving Chef should have: Ground Turkey, Non-Meat sauce, Mozzarella cheese, onion powder, egg noodles, and mushrooms!

First things first you need to brown your ground turkey and then add in the mushrooms (After you've sliced them of couse).

Once your ground turkey is completey browned add in your pasta sauce and onion powder.

Mix all together and keep on the stove top until it's heated up thoroughly.

I should have mentioned that while you are putting together your sauce mixture you should boil your egg noodles. Once you've boiled the noodles drain them and then put into a casserole dish.

Pour your sauce mixture over your noodles.

Top with cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil or if you have a top to your dish you can use that.

Then pop into your preheated oven (350 degrees) just until the cheese has melted.

Doesn't that look delish?!?!? And look at all you get!! You can divide the casserole up into 6 sections and then that's only 8 points per serving! Yes only 8 points!! I was shocked too because it's big serving!

This dinner was AWESOME! It's a great Weight Watchers meal too! And let me tell you that this is going to be filling! I was STUFFED!!

For those of you who like Ground Turkey I highly recommend this meal which lets' be honest is spaghetti with ground turkey :-)

First One Down....45 To Go...

I have finally finished my first book off my 2011 Book List!! The very first book off the list I read also happened to be our January Book Club Book which was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

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Now I am sure most of you have heard the rave reviews about this book and the 2 others that followed it but if you haven't this book is supposed to be phenomenal. While I didn't hate this book I didn't love it either.

It took me forever to get into this book and I can't say that I ever really got into it. Granted it is a mystery novel so there is that part of me that was interested to finding out what happened but I never got that excited feeling. I never was anxious to read the book to find out the big answer, I was just anxious to finish it so I could start another book that I am hoping gets me really involved and excited.

This book is heavy on the verbiage which is why I feel it took so long for me to ge through it and there was a lot that could have been left out. But if you can see through that or if maybe you don't mind that then I would recommend that you give this book a chance. I can see why people like it so much, I just could never get to that point with it.

Overall grade is B.

All Wrapped Up!

I'm still here I promise! Life has been so crazy busy that not only have I not had time to blog I haven't had much time to do anything to blog about! I have gotten an opportunity to cook up another recipe from my Guilt Free Cookbook though and it's a WINNER!!

I cooked up the Chuck Wagon Wraps one night for dinner and it really combines everything I love!! You need: Cheddar Cheese, Baked Beans, Lettuce, Ground Beef, Worcestershire Sauce, Tomato, Sour Cream, and Tortillas!

First you want to brown the ground beef, drain and then put back on the stove. You will then add in your entire can of baked beans! YUM!

While thats cooking up on the stove go ahead and chop up your lettuce and tomatoes!

Once your meat and bean mixture has been heated thoroughly top with some cheese and cook a little bit longer. I cooked it until my cheese got nice and melted!

Now it's time to put everything together. I chose to warm up a tortilla before topping it with the baked bean/ground beef mixture, then lettuce and tomatoes, and then a dollop of sour cream! Doesn't it look super delish?

This not only looks yummy and smells yummy but it tastes so GOOD!! This meal would be perfect for camping if you could pull it off because I seriously felt like I should have been sitting around a campfire. I'm not sure if it was the baked beans that gave me that feeling but this is a repeat for sure! The only thing I need to do is cut it down to serve just me because it cooks up quite a bit and I'm the only one in the house who will eat beans!

Another successful low in fat meal! I'll have to come back and update with the WW points!

Kissy Kissy

Back in December I found a recipe for Kiss Pies using the season Mint Truffle Kisses but I never had a chance to make them before I started Weight Watchers. Unfortunately I love dessert and I couldn't resist making these. I figured I'd make them figure the points out after.

You will only need 4 ingredients: 12 Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses, 1 refrigerated pie crust, 1 egg white, and confectioners sugar.

Roll out your pie crust and place your kisses around. Or if you are me I used a drinking glass and cut out as many circles as I could. Then take the kiss and place it in the center of your circle of crust.

Then fold up the sides to form a cute little package!

Adorable right?? They seem so Asian to me :-)

Brush them with an egg white wash (egg white and some water).

Sprinkle some confectioners' sugar over all your little goodies! Then pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes.

YUM! Your house will quickly fill up with a chocolate mint scent!

These are so good! They aren't as rich as I thought they would be which is a plus! Another plus each one is only 2 Weight Watcher points!! YAY!! They are the perfect size too, just enough to curb the craving and not feel like you are overindulging!! I highly recommend these and I can't wait to try them with regular Kiss's.

California LOVE!!

I've started working on my 2011 Goals and part of that is losing 2 dress sizes :-). How am I going to achieve this you may ask? Eating healthier and of course becoming more active. But first things first I needed to get back into healthy eating before tackling the gym, I don't want to over do it so I'm taking two weeks to get into healthy eating. This week I made an excellent recipe from Guilt Free Cooking called Chicken Pasta Primavera. Can that really be healthy? Oh yes it can and on top of that you get a large amount to eat which only amounts to 8 Weight Watchers Points!! SCORE!!

Like a flake I totally forgot to take a picture of the ingredients but you will need: Reduced Fat Cream of Chicken Soup, Basil, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, California Style Veggies, Chicken, Spaghetti, Water, Lemon Juice, and Parmesan Cheese.

First step first I started boiling my water for the spaghetti, then grab a sauce pot.

Put your cream of chicken soup, basil, salt, pepper, water, lemon juice, and garlic powder in a sauce pan and stir it all together. Then heat to a bowl.

While thats heating cook off your chicken in a pan and then set aside.

Once your soupy mixture comes to a bowl toss in your veggies, reduce the heat and simmer until the veggies are softened. And can I say that the California style veggie mix is awesome. It's a combo of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. The only thing that'd make it better would be water chestnuts! I am so excited to finally try the California style veggie mix and it will now be a regular in our house!

You will find that everything finishes up around the same time so I am lacking a few photo's, but once your veggies are done you will want to toss your chicken pieces into the pot and just heat the mixture long enough to get the chicken hot again. Drain your pasta and then combine everything together in a casserole dish!

The recipe calls to sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top of the mixture but since Chuck isn't a fan I left it off until I made my plate. Give yourself 1 1/3 cups of the pasta mix (that equals the 9 WW pts) and we added a slice of Texas Toast (delish by the way) for a total of an 11 point dinner that doesn't leave me hungry.

This was so yummy! I made just a little too much pasta (don't you always) so next time I make it I'll be making a lot less but overall it was a good meal. Somewhat bland so if you like you can add some heat. Chuck would have preferred some spice but I was fine with the way it was. I think this meal will be best in the summer. It's super light and as Chuck said "it feels like we are eating something healthy"...well duh it's supposed to be :-)

Anywho I highly recommend this recipe and the Guilt Free book, it's awesome. Be prepared to see a bunch more recipes from this book as our menu is overloaded with them :-)

Side note - my first week of Weight Watchers and I lost 4 lbs so far (and I technically don't weigh myself until Monday WOO HOO)!! It's a small step but that's how these long journeys began!!

Cutie McCute!

Man oh man have things slowed down since Christmas!! I miss having postings for every day :-( But I must admit it has been nice to relax this week and just spend time with my honey!

And part of relaxing means reading for me! Last night I finished reading Giuliana and Bill Rancic's book "I Do, Now What?" and holy cuteness!! First off let me tell you that I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE their tv show on the Style Network! I find them to be both to be extremely likeable and very real on their tv show and it shines through in their book.

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I didn't realize at first this book had so much guidance towards relationship and marriage as I thought it was just going to be a collection of stories from their marriage and some background on their lives. While they do include a bunch of funny stories they also give some guidance on what has made their relationship as successful as it is. And I don't mean successful as in monetary and fame, I mean successful as in what makes their marriage work, what keeps the spice alive, and what they make a priority! While I'm not married (YET) I still find this book highly enjoyable!

This book technically is not on my 2011 Book List, partly because I was hoping to finish it in 2010 but that didn't happen. So let's call this my transition book from 2010 to 2011!! But the next and first book for 2011 to read will be "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for our book club this month. I've heard so many mixed reviews about this book, but both my Mom and Sister flew through it so I am looking forward to getting started!!

Another Goal for 2011!!!

 

Well I am so excited to announce that on New Years Eve Chuck and I got ENGAGED!! We are so excited! But now I get to add Plan a Wedding to my 2011 goals!! YAY!

Here we are at my parents house! Of course we had to go down there after dinner!!

And here are a couple pictures of the ring!!

Isn’t it just GORGEOUS!!! Chuck did AMAZING!

I am so happy to announce our engagement and I am so happy to become a Mrs. “Chuck”!!

2011 New Year GOALS!

I am so not a fan of resolutions but I am a fan of goals. Back in August I started thinking about the 2011 goals that I want to accomplish and I am determined to make 2011 the best year it can possibly be! I am actually very excited about 2011! I think its going to be the year to finish up our home improvements and get time to RELAX!!! So here are my GOALS for 2011:

1. Dress up for work 4 days out of the week. (We have a pretty lax dress code but I want to start dressing more business casual instead of jeans everyday)
2. Work 40 hour workweeks!! I am sick of working extra hours so this year it's 40 hour work weeks (Overtime ONLY when absolutely NEEDED and NEVER on a Friday)
3. Lose 2 dress sizes by Summer (3 by Christmas)
4. Read 2011 Book List
5. Clean the house top to bottom every week!
6. Take Buster to Camp Bow Wow twice a month
7. Finish my bookkeeping certificate
8. Finish up the Home Improvements (List coming soon)
9. Scrapbook 2 layouts a month
10. Finish my Hawaii album
11. Spend more time with friends
12. Date night EVERY week!
13. Take a FUN vacation - like Hawaii, Vegas, Disneyland, or a Cruise
14. Go camping at least 4 times
15. Celebrate our Anniversay (we never do cause I am so not into those things)

I am pretty positive I have not set myself up for failure because I refuse to fail! :-) I am very excited for 2011 and am entering the new year with the most positive attitude I can!! Happy New Year Everyone!!