My Fabulous Weekend!

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!

Including:

Bumpits

Fake Tattoos & Fake Eyelashes

Seriously, it was a fabulous trip! Lots of fun & lots of laughs! I was happy to win $90 on a slot machine, with a $10 lucky bill I found on the ground! Every night was a new adventure, including the Saturday that turned into Sunday that turned into my Birthday! 33 big ones! I spent part of my birthday singing, dancing, playing slots, on an airplane, sleeping, going out for Pad Thai and seeing Romeo + Juliet at the Guthrie. It was a great day! I'm happy.

a smorgasbord post

I have lots to say, but little time to say it.Tonight I will be leaving for Vegas! whoo whee! First I have to get through this work day. Then I can get my Oompa Loompa Mystic Spray Tan and a new pair of False Eyelashes. I want to look as unlike myself as possible.

But first things first, there are a few things I wanted to share before I leave.

I made Healthy Hot and Crunchy Chicken Cones with Mango - Jalapeno Slaw for dinner the other night. You can find the recipe here. (On that cool girl Teanna's blog) It was one of the best meals I've made in awhile! Extra spicy too!

I made Asian Style Beef Short Ribs in the Crock Pot last night. (recipe found here)They were good, but I don't like how fatty short ribs are. Like my thighs. Which by the way I heard cause people to live longer. I'm going to live forever then!!!!

I also made some cupcakes!



I'm in LOVE with photos that have these cute little heart lights all over. How do they do this? You can find the tutorial here! I might even try my hand at this in Vegas!

(photos courtesy of make do and mend)

Speaking of hearts... My heart and prayers go out to the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Such tragedy in an already burdened country.

And one last thing... I blogged over on If Life is a Highway. It's not light and chipper like this blog. It's just me being real. ugh. So don't say I didn't warn you.


Have a great weekend... I know I will.

TWD - Mrs. Vogel’s Scherben

I had great intentions of making this one, but I haven't been home since last Thursday night. This week is a little hectic, being that I leave for LAS VEGAS on Thursday! I'm so excited.

But I did want to make sure that you all check out one my favorite cooking blogs...

Teanna of Spork or Foon? picked today's recipe and she awesome! I've been following her blog for awhile now, and not only is she a great baker, she is very smart and funny too! Go check her out here!

If you are wondering what Scherben is, it's basically thin strips of fried dough! mmmmm! And then you sprinkle yummy things like powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar on them. Eventually I will make this recipe... and probably eat every last one!

Viva Las Vegas if you don't hear from me...

more random fashion thoughts...

Today I am wearing the dress over jeans look. I know it never reached complete popularity. I know that maybe only weird people do it, I know that some people think it's awful... but I had two dilemmas today:


1. No clean tights
2. A dress i wanted to wear but can't wear it like i used to. (as in I used to wear it when i was a lot littler and a runner)

So to solve that I am wearing jeans under my dress. Is this acceptable? Does it matter?
I am also wearing a long cardigan over the whole thing to tone it down. I am however, wearing purple shoes with a bow on front of them. I will not tone those down. I like bows.
I'm not usually clothes obsessed, because honestly I can only afford target\old navy\tj maxx, but I do want to look cute. The fun thing is, at this point in my life I am dressing to make myself happy. Lets face it some girls dress for boys, some (most) girls dress for other girls. I used to do both. Until I realized that boys never notice what you are wearing, or they do and don't tell you. And girls notice (everything), but I don't like the competition.
I am leaving for Vegas on Thursday night. And I want to look cute and funky and Za Za Zing! But I'm not there to impress anyone, I'm just there to have an incredibly fun weekend! I come back to my birthday (33!) gasp gasp gasp! Sounds older than I like, but I still feel and look 23! HUZZAH!

(images courtesy of Style Speaker)

Happy Clothes

In Minnesota, in the winter time, and especially in January, things start looking a little stark, gray and bleak. We bundle up in big coats, hats, mittens and scarves. And then we live in jeans and sweaters and sweatshirts. But I am trying to break the depressing doldrums and bring some cheeriness to my wardrobe. These are a few of my favorite things I'm rocking lately.

Colorful Cardigans (one for each day of the week)

Brown and pink boots (macy's)

Chunky Tear Drop Ring (Charlotte Russe)

Textured Tights (Target)



Yellow Scarf (Old Navy)

Small things that help me feel cute and chipper throughout the day. (Please hurry Spring!)

eeek!

I swear I am not a hoarder... It's just that I have one room in my house that i throw anything and everything in to hide it away. Am I the only one who does this? But part of my N.Y. Resolution was to clean up my craft room and start crafting. When I show these pictures, please don't call that show that is on A & E. I swear it's just one room!

Hey! I see you shaking your head at me!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Tarte Tatin

I am really sad that i took such a long Tuesdays with Dorie hiatus. I used to be so good at baking every week. But one of my New Year's resolutions is to bake once a week, so this is me, starting back up again. This week's recipe is a Tarte Tatin. After reading the recipe i realized 1 very important thing, i do not have a cast iron skillet, or one that can safely go into the oven. And believe me, i unknowingly tried one of my regular pans. After throwing a few dirty pan in the oven to hide them during my new counter top & sink installation, i turned on the oven to pre-heat it and TOTALLY forgot about the dirty pans. eeeek!!! what is that burning smell!!! Thankfully i got them out right in time. I blame my mom for this one. She said, Oh i always throw my dirty pans in the oven to hide them. gross. lesson learned. Back to the Tarte Tatin, without a skillet i had to improvise. I also got apples, but then decided to use pears. So i made the caramelized sugar and the pears in a sauce pan and then transferred them to a spring form pan, and covered it with the puff pastry dough.

I loved the sound of the sugar bubbling in the oven, and what a lovely smell of pears and caramelized sugar and buttery pastry dough all melding together. mmmmm....

When i pulled the tarte out of the oven, i flipped it onto a big serving plate and it was messy and gooey. But once i had that all cleaned up, it really looked pretty nice. And then when i tried it, wow! it was sublime. So maybe it didn't look exactly like Dorie's (because let's face it, when does my stuff ever look like Dorie's?) but it tasted wonderful and I'm happy to be baking again.