Thanksgiving Week

Tuesday evening my mom and dad arrived from Texas. We had dinner at Chili's and talked until it was time for bed. After their 11 hour car ride and our hard core apartment cleaning (not really) we were all tired. 

Wednesday my sister Alyssa got here! I hadn't seen her since last Christmas, almost an entire year! Before picking up Alyssa at the airport, mom and I went to Excelsior, where I work, so that she could see the place and meet some of the girls. Dad and Garrett went to a brewery. Afterwards we had lunch and shopped at 2 local favorites in Denver: Twist & Shout and The Tattered Cover. One's a music store and the other a book store. 

My husband is special.

I found this at the music store:

Isn't that one of the ugliest purses you have ever seen?

Then we went to get Alyssa at the airport, went back to our apartment for a little bit and then headed to dinner. It was so nice to catch up and to have their company.

Thursday, mom and I  finished cooking and we had Thanksgiving lunch. It was delicious! I put Garrett in charge of taking the pictures, he got some good ones when he was actually taking them. Boys. Afterwards we watched football, Alyssa and I took a nap, and then we had leftovers for dinner. We were so lazy! Thursday night Alyssa and I talked mom into gong to Target for their Black Friday opening. The line was long but inside the store wasn't bad at all. Alyssa and I went to Kohl's at midnight too! That place was CRAZY!

I made the cats a Thanksgiving plate too:

Friday we went to Boulder to shop around. We were planning on going to the Coors brewery but they were closed. Boulder is a pretty town with neat shops, we had fun looking around and going to a local brewery. Alyssa and I were sleepy and napped for 3 hours once we got back to the apartment. I was glad to have a napping partner, Garrett never wants to nap with me! Friday night we went to Jack and Grill for burgers.

I found a True Blood cookbook in one of the stores. It was neat, it had a recipe for Sookie's Gran's pie!

 
We had fun in this random junk store that had a great collection of sunglasses.

Saturday we slept in and then headed to Castle Rock to shop at the outlets. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun! Thank you mom for taking us shopping!! Dad and Garrett were nice and let us look around for a long time even though they were bored within the first 5 minutes. Luckily there was a liquor store and a Lowe's nearby. Saturday night we had leftovers and watched Christmas Vacation. After my parent's left for their hotel room, Alyssa and I watched my Taylor Swift Speak Now DVD. : )

On our way home after shopping:

My family headed out Sunday morning. It was so nice to have them here, we ate a ton, shopped, talked, and laughed. It was much needed! Alyssa and I were on eachother's nerves by the end of it all, just like old times!

Garrett and I are heading home to Texas for Christmas and we can't wait!

We hope you all had great Thanksgiving's too!!

Mom & Dad- Thank y'all for everything!

Crock Pot Apple Crisp

Hello Thanksgiving week!

And hello perfect Thanksgiving dessert!

I'm not a big 'fruit in dessert' fan  As a matter of fact I can't think of one dessert I like that has fruit in it. Except this one, and even then I was a little weirded out by the apple pieces. 

I know, I am strange.

 But, this apple crisp is delicious, it has the perfect touch of fall spices and sweetness!

I wouldn't exactly call this recipe easy because you have to peel, core, and chop apples. Once that's done, the recipe is easy.

What you need:

Walnut mixture:

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1 Pinch of Salt

 1/2 Cup Butter, cut into pieces

1 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Constarch mixture:

1/3 Cup Sugar, or to taste

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

6 Apples, cored, peeled, and chopped

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

What to do:

1. Mix flour, brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. Combine butter with this mixture using hands or a fork until crumbs form. Mix in walnuts and set aside.

2. Whisk together 1/3 cup of sugar, cornstarch, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in small bowl.

3. Place the apples into the crock pot and stir in the cornstarch mixture, toss with lemon juice. Sprinkle the walnut topping on top.

4. Cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 4 hours, until the apples are tender. Once tender, partially uncover the crock pot for 1 hour to allow the top to get crispy.

Oh, I guess I should add vanilla ice cream to the ingredients list, it makes it so much more delicious!

Original recipe here.

What are you in charge of for Thanksgiving? 

I, of course, volunteered to make the desserts. 

My family is coming to stay with us from Texas, we are SO excited!

S'mores Bars

If you are wanting the perfect winter dessert this is it, especially if you love traditional s'mores.

These are super easy and delicious!

I was going through my Delectable Desserts Pinterest board, that has 324 pins, and chose these and I am SO glad I did!

What you need:

1/2 Cup Butter, room temperature

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 1/3 Cups Flour

3/4 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

2 King sized Hershey's Bars

1 1/2 Cups Marshmallow Cream/Fluff

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until thoroughly mixed.

3. Mix in egg and vanilla.

4. In a small bowl whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Once mixed, add this to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until combined.

5. Divide the dough in half and press one half into the prepared pan.

6. Lay the Hershey's bars on top of the dough.

7. Spread chocolate with marshmallow cream.

8. Cover with the remaining dough. The easiest way to do this is to flatten it out in your hands in separate pieces and shape into a square the best you can. Once you lay them down on top you can mash them together and stretch them out. Try to not leave any holes.

9. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until browned. Let cool before slicing in!

Original recipe here.

These are great heated up in the microwave too if you want your chocolate to be softer when you eat them.

Garrett and I loved these!

#yesimwearingthis

I have been wanting to do a fashion post for awhile but have been reluctant to pose in front of a camera while my husband takes my picture. 

He would laugh. Big time. 

And I would probably spend most of the time laughing too, it would be awkward.

When Faith blogged about beginning a #yesimwearingthis day on Instagram, I decided I would cooperate. 

I have seen so many people take "fashion" pictures with their phone, and since I was home alone, I decided that would be the best route to take for this first post. 

WRONG!

 Taking pictures of your outfit with your phone, for me, was damn near impossible. I took 10-12 pictures and they were all blurry, too bright, too dark, or just didn't show much of my outfit. I couldn't get the position down, you know the one, where you are in front of a mirror and hold your phone up and snap a picture of your reflection. I couldn't figure that out, my phone was either blocking my face, my outfit, or the picture was awful! 

To those of you that always get great pictures with your phone...I am impressed! Any tips welcome!

Regardless, I am going to share a couple of these blurry pictures with you all. I'm not going to waste a good outfit! : )

Sweater & Scarf: Target Button Up: Ralph Lauren, thrifted Necklace: J. Crew

You should've seen me trying to take these pictures. You would've laughed. Hard.

I don't think I have ever felt more ridiculous!

I think next time, if I do another "fashion" post, I will give in and have my hubby take my pictures. 

Thanks in advance, babe!

Our Weekend

Our weekend was pretty uneventful. As usual. We tend to like them that way.

Friday night we decided we were going to start a board game competition to see who comes out as the victorious board gamer. As in, we are going to play every single board game we have, which is alot, and whoever wins the most is the King or Queen of board games. 

I know it. We are lame.

I won Bezzerwizzer. Then Garrett decided he couldn't handle me being in the lead and chose a game he knew only he could win...Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. He also won Skipbo.

Garrett 2 Whitney 1

During our intense gaming, I made myself a huge mug of hot chocolate.

I learned the secret(s) to making good hot chocolate:

1. Use plenty of marshmallows

2. Use a little whipped cream, too

3. Most importantly, use 2 packets of hot chocolate mix! 

These were made Friday as well!

S'mores bars. Recipe coming soon!

 

Saturday it snowed. It was beautiful! It didn't stop us from going out in it though. We had dinner at Jack & Grill, the place with the HUGE burgers, and then we went to a thrift store called Flossie McGrew's.

Flossie McGrew's is one of the weirdest, most eclectic stores I have ever been in. They have a huge selection of ugly Christmas sweaters, dresses from the 40's, 50's, and 60's, as well as old trophies, vintage shoes....you name it, they have it. 

They even had this.

 Is that creepy or what?

I know you can't tell much, but this is the outside of Flossie McGrew's. I told you they have everything!

Funny story: I found a sweater in the ugly Christmas sweater section that I actually liked. I tried to talk Garrett into believing it was cute and that beaded things are in style now but he wasn't having it. I didn't get it.

After Flossie's we went to Cherry Creek mall so I could spend my Forever 21 gift card that I found about a month ago randomly in my car.

 Now that is a good feeling. Finding an unused giftcard.

Sunday we watched football all day. 

And played with this little bundle of adorableness...

 

I hope you all had great weekends!

Back to work tomorrow...blah.

 

Sunday Confessions 3

Hi pretty's!

It's Sunday which means it's Sunday confessions time. 

1. I have a shopping addiction but not enough money to fuel it. I've loved shopping ever since I can remember. There's just something about buying things, particularly clothes, that can make a girl happy. I've tried to get more into fashion these past couple of years so maybe that's why? Regardless, I love to shop! 

I got these awhile back and am loving the pink heart necklace. Forever 21 has such cute, cheap jewelry! Just don't expect it to last forever. The clutch was on sale at Anthropologie. 

2. My blog really pissed me off just now. I started this post a couple hours ago and kept getting a message saying, "Whoops! You have ran out of space!" every time I tried to upload pictures. So I have a question for you...what do y'all use to upload pictures to your blogs?  I have always just uploaded straight from my computer but apparently my "Picasa Web Album" is full. I don't even know what that is. Please help!

3. I am so ready for Thanksgiving that I can hardly stand it. Yes, because of the yummy food, but more so because my family is coming to stay in Denver for several days. Garrett and I both could definitely use some family time. I haven't seen my sister since last Christmas, that is just insane!

Garrett's family came and stayed with us last Thanksgiving.

4. I LOVE to bake. Way too much. If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you probably already knew this. My biggest Pinterest board is called, "Delectable Desserts".
A couple of my favorite desserts:

Marshmallow and Peanut Butter Brownies

Triple Layer Mud Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

5. Garrett and I both REALLY hate going to the grocery store and because of that have nothing to eat. Ok, we have some things to eat, just nothing that my picky self wants. We even have giftcards that my sweet mom and dad sent us for Halloween and we still don't want to go. Lazy.

Linking up here:

Every Day is a New Adventure

Famous Tweets

I don't get Twitter. 

I have had mine for several months and still don't understand why people want to "follow" a bunch of strangers and "Tweet" back to them. Who cares what they have to say when you don't even know them?

Now that I think about this, it seems like what I do on Blogger. Psh...wait a minute...we are blogging FRIENDS! Not strangers! : ) Ok, I feel better...

Anyways, I use Twitter to follow certain celebrities and to see what they are up to because lets face it, their lives are more interesting than ours.

I started following Jef from last seasons, The Bachelorette, a month or so ago because I thought he was adorable and that he and Emily would last forever. Ok, not really. 

Yesterday I replied to one of his tweets and actually got a reply back! Imagine my surprise when I got a notification saying, " @jefholm has replied...". I was grinning from ear to ear. It was really pathetic. 

 Ok, that's my cool Twitter story. 

I'd like to say we had a cool conversation but in actuality I replied back, "'Atta boy!" and that was it. 

Do you guys use Twitter? Do you like it? If so, can you explain to me why you like it, maybe I am missing out on something! 

Happy almost Friday!

Starlight

"Oh my, what a marvelous tune..."

Just wanted to share this song with y'all! It's off of Red, Taylor Swift's new album.

I love the vintage feel of this song and the fact that it was written for/about Ethel Kennedy. Plus, it's just fun!

Sorry I'm not sorry about my Taylor Swift obsession. 

I was just jamming out to this album while doing laundry and decided I felt like writing a blog. So, basically, this is it. Just a song. But a good one! : ) 

Hope your weeks are off to a great start!!

Sunday Confessions 2

1. I already have Taylor Swift's new album, Red, pretty much memorized. It's an awesome album! My favorite songs are:

That was hard. Picking only 3. I love the whole album.

2. I got my butt kicked in fantasy football this week. By my brother in law. I'm no longer in first place. : ( 

 But, I'm in 2nd. : ) 

3.  I have a huge crush on Clay Matthews. I mean, look at his arms!

There's a second part to this Clay thing, the last time I tried to download a picture of him for my desktop background, we are pretty sure it gave my computer a virus. I like to joke that Clay Matthews gave me a virus. Garrett doesn't think it's as funny as I do.

4. I told myself that the next time I ate out I would order a salad. It didn't happen. Either time. So, to all of my blogger friends, I promise...next time I eat out I WILL order a salad. There, now I have to.

5. Candy corn is gross. There I said it.  (I'm sorry Brit, please forgive me and still be my friend. Please!?)

Ha these posts are so much fun!

 I hope you guys all had great weekends! I can't believe it is already over. They go by so fast!

Linking up here.

Searching for Fall Colors

About a month ago Garrett and I went on a scavenger hunt for Colorado's famous fall colors. 

Turns out we went a bit early and the fall colors were not in full bloom yet. However, Colorado's regular colors are beautiful too. At the suggestion of a friend, we went to a park known for it's beautiful foliage, particularly in the fall.

I'll admit I was a little disappointed that the trees were all still wearing their green leaves, but we still had fun exploring and enjoying the nice weather.

We even stopped at a cute little Cherry Cider store on the way home.

Garrett loved the cider, me not so much. If you can believe this, which you won't, it was too sweet for me!

A couple of weeks later the fall colors were here but we didn't take another trip to see them. Kind of wish we had now!

It's Friday! Have great weekends!