the new girl

tuesdays have kinda of become my favorite day of the week. so much so that i'm not too grumpy on monday morning because i know it's so close to tuesday! and what you may ask gets me so bubbly for tuesdays? the new girl. as a fellow quirky girl, i have loved zooey deschanel for a long time and she & him is one of my favorite bands. (i've seen them in concert and she is even more loveable!) i really cannot pin it down to anything in particular that makes me love her so....maybe it's those big blue peepers, the quirks in her demeanor or even the velvety rasp of her speaking and singing voice.

i don't know if you have seen the new girl but i personally love it (obviously). i don't think i've ever wanted to wear thick, square-framed glasses so badly! her made up songs about daily activities, positive attitude and funny mannerisms make me look forward to the show each week. if you haven't, you really should at least check it out! i always watch it while i have some of my (new found) favorite ice cream...mmm!

get this! i don't even like strawberry cheesecake or any cheesecake for that matter! strange right? but i am bananas for this b&J flavor. maybe it's my kryptonite, as odd as it may seem! before i skedaddle, i have to tell y'all, the pup has started the cutest habit. he sleep barks and runs (or moves his paws really fast)...i always wonder what he dreams about...probably at cats and cute girl pups.

night!

a thankful weekend

typical to tradition, my thanksgiving was filled with giving thanks, yummy food and overindulgence. it was a little different this year because i normally make my way to the windy city with my family, but this year i spent it with T's family! i was so nervous to spend a holiday with his family, but things couldn't have gone better! my brother who had to stay in town came with which made it all the more better. there was lots of laughter, drinks and amazing food (T's mom is a wiz in the kitchen, oh my gatos) the next day i made sweet potato biscuits and we went to friendsgiving. i always love getting together with our friends since we spend most of the time joking around and playing games. jenga is my favorite! food-coma and movie watching ensued with T and our pup. to finish the weekend, T and i decorated the house for xmas (minus tree...that will be saved for another day) and raked the leaves in our yard. this of course leads to my favorite of all things, jumping in leaf piles!

it was the pup's first leaf pile to jump in, so he was a little hesitant. i'm pretty sure he was scared of it, he's a scaredy cat about most things!

but once i jumped in, he felt the need to rescue me....or lick me a bunch...whichever he thought helped most, haha. it's little moments like today, or even the whole weekend, that make me thankful for all the wonderful family and friends i have in my life; for T and i's sweet puppy and all the mischief he makes, for the quirkyness T and i share, the little moments that make me smile, for good health, for positivity, and to have, in tough times like these, a job that makes me feel like i am making a difference. this past year has changed my life quite a bit but has also been amazingly wonderful too. it has made me realize that you should be thankful for the big and small moments in your life.

hope y'all had a great turkey day and enjoyed the weekend!

i made caramel!

today i felt the need to make a yummy dessert pre-turkey day overstuffing, so i decided to make apple crisp. but not any old apple crisp.....CARAMEL apple crisp! so how you may ask did i get the caramel (well other than of course buying it)? i made it! at first i wasn't sure it would actually come together as i was stirring the melting sugar and butter but sure enough it became caramel. who knew! once the platter was popped into the oven, the most delicious scents of vanilla, caramel and apple began wafting through our house...mmmm! and here is the final product, i'm so proud!

i am so excited it came out so well and now i can say i've made caramel from scratch! yes! 



a perfectly grey sunday

today was one of those classically grey fall days and had it not been for the surprise breakfast made by T, i could have easily fallen victim to the blues. but after my yummy stack of french toast and eggs, i felt the urge to take boba out on a walk to explore! the grey skies helped the fall hues pop and i had to take a couple of snapshots...

i love the trees whose leaves pop more than others, i always think that they're probably showing off to the others....red and orange have always been my favorites! i think these walks i've had with lately boba also cross off one of my fall to-do's too! (not to say we won't be going on walks through the neighborhood, but now that i've gotten some great pics i am more than okay with all the trees shaking off their leaves)

by time we got home it started pouring rain so the pup and i vegged out while watching movies. (T was busy with papers and what not) pretty great lazy sunday if i don't say so myself!

hope y'all had a great weekend!

the food experiment

so many of you may not know, but i love to cook. i talk about baking more with friends and family but cooking has really started to become a passion of mine. i love food and love experimenting, half the time with recipes or ingredients i haven't tried! (must be my love for adventure, even on a basic level) the past couple of nights i have loved my new creations and feel the urge to share them.....

the cooler weather gets me excited for fall veggies, and one of my favorites is spaghetti squash! now if you haven't tried this out, you really should, it's so easy to make and so good for you especially if you are a big pasta lover like me :)

the recipe i use is crazy simple (if you want to hear deets about it, let me know, i'm happy to share) and my favorite part is forking the squash until it looks like angel hair pasta. to kick it up i added loads of garlic, scallions and shrimp.  the next night i attemped the yummy noodle bowl, one of my favorite dishes but can easily be over done.

a super easy recipe and great way to end a long week!

mmm, what a yummy way to experiment and i'm so excited T loved them too! hope you find ways to try out news things with food! 

the little things

so this morning i woke up in a little of a funk. my love for sleep and my bed was so strong, my inner voice was yelling at me for getting ready for work. today's fall chill didn't even help, it just made me crave my bed more! then my drive to work helped me feel SO much better...it seemed as if i were driving through a movie set for the fall season. all of the trees are finally changing colors and almost all at once shaking off their leaves with the wind! it was so beautiful i couldn't help but feel better and of course felt the urge to take a couple of snapshots....

 

 

 

 

then to help add to my day, my favorite taco truck stand was out in the parking lot of the office! it seemed as if nature was trying its best to make sure i'd have a good day.

 

 

i am bananas for big truck tacos' fresh guac and veggie tacos aka the wojo. now i am not a vegetarian, i am a big lover of meats and fish but the wojo is where its at! maybe it's their homemade salsa or the white bean puree but i am sold! to add to my love of all things big truck, their queso is to die for! i don't even like queso normally, but some how their full-flavored, buttery cheese sauce kicks my craving for it in overdrive! needless to say for all the little things, i ended up having a great day!

oh happy sunday

today i was so excited because my parents came to visit! now i normally don't relish the idea of waking up early, i am actually a huge night owl to the point that i seriously dislike chipper early birds. but today was different as my parents came to celebrate great news i received this week! so what better way to celebrate than have yummy brunch at T and i's favorite place, cafe nova. between the amazing shrimp and grits, crab benny's and the endless mimosas....it's the best way to end a weekend and start the upcoming week. brunch was delicious as usual, but something seemed to be missing....couldn't put our finger on it and then we figured it out. i am a huge dessert lover, as is my mom, and it seemed fitting that the way to finish a great meal was with something sweet. so we tried out the red velvet cake and boy, it did not disappoint!

cakes are one of my favorite sweets and really it's hard to celebrate any occassion without one in my opinion. and how happy was i to seize the moment! the only time i see cake and don't squeal for joy is if it's carrot cake....ick.

so all of this got me wondering to you all out there, what's your favorite dessert?

shades of purple

so last night after admiring the fall colors of nail polish i have in the bathroom cupboard, i finally decided i would actually try one out. i like to think of the color as the crayola color blue-violet and completely fall worthy.

i was so excited to sport my newly painted nails and even accidently dressed in shades of purple.

then as luck and clumsiness would have it, i chipped each nail until i was down to only four by noon! geez. maybe next time i will try to be a little gentler so that my girly nail polish stays until at least that night when i play with the pup at the end of the day. that i would feel better about!

side note, T was looking extra handsome and stylish today so i took some snapshots of him too...he's pretty dreamy (and yes, a baldy by choice!)

sigh, until i try again! hopefully next time my nail polish will last longer!

happy hump day everyone! 

and it only took a couple of days

after i made my fall to-do list earlier this week, i decided friday would be the day to try out the turkey sausage stew. T and i were going to have one of his close friends over to hang and the two are pretty great guinea pigs for any new recipes i try out. so my plan was set to start working on the stew after i finished at work with a little help from T on the prep work. then i got a phone call from him on a big step in the recipe i completely missed....the navy beans are to soak overnight prior to making the stew, eek! i thought i had read over the recipe but i guess i forgot that part! geez. so the stew was put on hold until sunday and boy, was it worth it! with a dash of this and a splash of that, our house was filled the most wonderful scents of yummy stew in the making. and after all that work, here was the final product....

it was so delicious that all we had left were empty pumpkin bowls and filled stomachs!

and to add to my excitement, i can now cross off one of my fall to-do's!

hope you had a great weekend!

first real day of fall

fall has technically started in september but as far as norman, ok is concerned, it has been summer temperatures during the day with the coolness of spring in the morning and night. today the temperatures will finally cool down to where wearing a sweater doesn't denote crazy looks from old people. most normanites may disagree but i love fall and am so excited for the cooler weather. this means the leaves will change colors to their beautiful hues and i will get to do my favorite of all fall activities - jumping in leaf piles! so in the spirit of all things fall, i decided to make a belated fall to-do list!

my fall to-do's:

1. take the pup on walks around the neighborhood to enjoy the changing leaves
2. re-create the delicious turkey sausage stew i saw in martha stewart living (yes, i occasionally take a peek at her recipes and crafts, don't judge) served in pumpkin bowls, yum!
3. make mini-bonfires in our firepit as much as possible to enjoy the cool night's breeze
4. enjoy lazy sundays with T making forts in the living room and watching movies
5. seizing the opportunity of a good rainstorm by splashing in big puddles with my rain boots
6. making the most of cooler tempers and having weekly patio happy hour with friends before the winter chill sets in
7. nightly bike rides with T to have late-night wine at our favorite wine bar
8. trying out homemade salted caramel hot chocolates on extra chilly days
9. actually trying out fall-themed nail colors rather than admiring them in the bathroom cupboard
10. indulging in all thanksgiving delights until i look like a turkey
11. have friends-giving the day after turkey day and falling into a food-coma
12. baking fall-themed treats like pumpkin whoopie pies and apple crisp (my favorite!)
13. try out making my first pizza completely from scratch - dough and all!

okay, so i admit, number thirteen isn't really fall related but i've been dying to make a pizza from scratch! although i am sure it will end in a big mess in the kitchen with the pup ever ready to catch anything that falls off the counter. my goal is to one by one scratch off all of these before december and i become bitten by the christmas bug.

this is the pup, boba, and his chew toy.....isn't he cute?!

happy hump day!