Bonus Prizes:
Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Ok, so I didn't make the muffins or icing from scratch but I did come up with a great way to create pumpkin-flavored cream cheese icing and it was a hit!
Ingredients:
Trader Joe's Pumpkin bread & muffin mix
Trader Joe's Pumpkin bread & muffin mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 eggs
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Icing:
1 container Pillsbury Cream Cheese icing
4 tbsp. pumpkin butter (from Trader Joe's)
What To Do:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin pan.
2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and then add in water, vegetable oil and muffin mix. Mix well.
3. Pour batter into muffin pan filling each to about 2/3 full.
4. Bake 18 minutes and remove from oven to cool.
4. Bake 18 minutes and remove from oven to cool.
5. To prepare icing, mix together cream cheese icing with pumpkin butter. Wait until the muffins have cooled and then spoon about 1 tbsp of icing on top of each muffin.
Enjoy!
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Just What The Doctor Ordered
Monday, September 22, 2014
This weekend was the perfect break I needed to de-stress from a crazy week. I cancelled all big plans and decided to lay low, catch up on some sleep and get things done around the house before my parents come to visit on Friday for a couple weeks.
On Friday, K and I went to Texas Roadhouse for some dinner. This place is easily becoming one of my favorite spots for good BBQ and yummy drinks at a decent price. We also got a free appetizer for signing up to their mailing list.
After dinner we picked up a movie from Redbox and relaxed at home. We rented Mom's Night Out which wasn't exactly great but I was just happy to be home relaxing on the couch.
On Saturday morning, I went to get my hair done at my hairdresser's new salon. She has a love for zombies/vampires/voodoo so they new salon is decorated to suit. It's not your typical salon but I think her style is interesting and we always have a fun time chit chatting while I get my hair done. I got some low lights done to tone down the blonde for Fall and the colder months ahead.
Later, I got a bunch of errands done and some retail therapy at Old Navy & Kohl's for some new work clothes. My pumpkin-scented candles and sweet smelling goodies also arrived from Bath & Body Works.
I baked pumpkin muffins (recipe on the blog tomorrow). I love cooking but have never been particularly good at baking so decided to try my hand at it and they came out really good.
Saturday night pretty much resembled Friday night and was spent relaxing and watching movies from Redbox with some wine.
I watched The Other Woman which was actually pretty good considering the crappy selection at Redbox.
I watched The Other Woman which was actually pretty good considering the crappy selection at Redbox.
I finally got to sleep in on Sunday, which felt AMAZING and was everything I needed to re-energize for this week. I spent the day blogging, doing laundry and organizing stuff around the house for our visitors this week.
I also enjoyed some Elder Betty beer from Magic Hat on the patio to cap off the weekend while K was glued to the TV watching football.
Baked chicken quesadillas were on the menu for dinner. I posted a recipe a couple weeks ago and they're quickly becoming a favorite go-to meal for us.
It was the perfect weekend and just what the doctor ordered :-)
Not So Typical Friday
Friday, September 19, 2014
This week has drained every ounce of energy out of me so no fun Friday post today. Just a random vague post about a shitty week so I'm going to use this weekend to re-energize and regroup.
Five things that got me through this week:
~ Coffee by day
~ Wine by night
~ Crap television
~ Breakfast from Chick Fil A
~ Retail Therapy
LC Bow Sweater
Five things that got me through this week:
~ Coffee by day
~ Wine by night
~ Crap television
~ Breakfast from Chick Fil A
~ Retail Therapy
Catch you next week and have a great weekend!
Fall Scents & Savings
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
I caved and bought some pumpkin and fall scented candles yesterday from Bath & Body Works. It was hard to resist at 50% off plus I used a coupon code to receive an additional $10 off $30 or more.
The code is SUNNY30 and is valid until September 30, 2014.
I chose the Pumpkin Sugared Doughnut and Pumpkin Pecan Waffles scents after reading different reviews and some of the more popular ones were already sold out. These are also great as gifts.
I chose the Pumpkin Sugared Doughnut and Pumpkin Pecan Waffles scents after reading different reviews and some of the more popular ones were already sold out. These are also great as gifts.
Recipe Swap: Warm Crab Dip
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Ingredients:
1 6 oz. can crabmeat, drained
1 8 oz. pack of cream cheese
5 tbsp light mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 clove of garlic, peeled and diced
Optional:
Sriracha sauce or cayenne pepper (to add spice)
1 green onion, chopped
What To Do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray small baking dish with cooking spray. Soften cream cheese in the microwave and mix all ingredients in a medium bowl
3. Transfer ingredients to baking dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the dip is melted in the middle.
4. Enjoy!
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Weekend Fun & Relaxation
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday meets us too soon again but after reading this article yesterday about 5 Things Successful People do on the Weekends, I'm attempting to put a positive spin on Monday mornings, for the first time ever!
I had a pretty relaxing weekend and nothing too exciting to share. On Friday night, we went out on a dinner date with friends to check out the new Firebirds restaurant in town. My friend Emily and I both showed up wearing the same outfit and got plenty of funny stares from people at the restaurant. Awkward but we got a good laugh out of it....
On Saturday, I Skyped with a friend to start planning our best friend's wedding in February and did a bunch of errands before meeting up with K and some friends who were downtown watching the UCF game (we lost). We went to a couple bars and stopped at Lizzy's for some of their famous pudding shots. I got the vanilla fudge swirl which was delish!
We hopped around to a few other bars to celebrate my friend Chrissy's birthday and drink away the UCF loss before calling it a night.
Sunday was a nice lazy day!
How was your weekend?
Friday's Favorites: Weekly Recap
Friday, September 12, 2014
Happy Friday!
Although it was a short work week for me, it's been tough trying to get back into the swing of things after our Chicago trip and I'm also running on little sleep so definitely looking forward to the weekend.
Did you hear that U2's new album, Songs of Innocence, is now available for download for free from iTunes? I heard about it on the radio and sure enough all of the songs were sitting in my iCloud. I haven't listened to any songs yet but what do you think of this? Some people are pissed because they don't want the album. I'm totally cool with free music and how terrible can U2 be? Anyways, if you want to find out how to get the songs over to your iTunes from iCloud, click here.
Did you hear that U2's new album, Songs of Innocence, is now available for download for free from iTunes? I heard about it on the radio and sure enough all of the songs were sitting in my iCloud. I haven't listened to any songs yet but what do you think of this? Some people are pissed because they don't want the album. I'm totally cool with free music and how terrible can U2 be? Anyways, if you want to find out how to get the songs over to your iTunes from iCloud, click here.
Image via
Favorite Buys:
All my souvenirs from Chicago. I think I made out pretty good.
Favorite Quote:
Get it? I think it really applies more so to my professional life and the business person in me ;-)
Get it? I think it really applies more so to my professional life and the business person in me ;-)
Favorite Recipe:
A healthier version of Indian butter chicken from the ladies over at Bump & Run.
Favorites from Chicago:
Fun with friends at Wrigley Field (Cubs vs Pirates) and drinks in Wrigleyville after the game.
And of course all the great restaurants we visited...
Fun with friends at Wrigley Field (Cubs vs Pirates) and drinks in Wrigleyville after the game.
And of course all the great restaurants we visited...
Favorite Funny:
Have a great weekend!
What's in my Rocksbox?
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Thanks to Biana for introducing me to the Rocksbox designer jewelry program where you can try out new pieces of jewelry and either buy them or return them for a new box of jewelry as many times as you want. I'm a sucker for pretty accessories so I decided to try it out and see what my Rocksbox stylist surprises me with.
They sent me the gold Sunburst bib necklace, Gumdrop earrings in Blush and Mixed metals Zara rings (set of 5). I love the pairing of this set.
I typically wear silver more often than gold pieces but I do like how these pieces look together and individually so I wore them out and about to work, happy hour and a few other occasions over the past two weeks as well as in Chicago last weekend.
Peplum Top: Forever 21 (similar) --- Lace Legging Pants: Express (similar, similar)
Dinner in Chicago with a dirty martini blocking the full view of my necklace. (typical)
Looking forward to getting my second box of goodies and hoping for some silver and colorful pieces to try out this time.
Let me know if you're interested in trying out Rocksbox and I can send you one free month of jewelry. You can read more how it works here.
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