I Take Way Too Many Pictures

I haven't just been baking lately, I've been doing plenty of cooking for my family too.  I've tried out some really delicious recipes and (of course) taken pictures.

I'll be honest…I love to cook, but I might love taking pictures of food even more.

Sometimes I'll make a recipe just to take a picture of it.

lol I'm not normal

Anyway, I just posted about all of the Christmas fun I've been having so I don't have much new to say, but I did want to share these pictures and recipes with you!  

My husband loves chili dogs.  Though he is quite a sport about putting up with a never-ending barage of new recipes, there are two things he consistently asks for- chili dogs and tacos.  I'd yet to find the perfect chili recipe for hot dogs, so I decided to try a new one.  This one came pretty close to perfect and is going to be my go-to recipe when he requests chili dogs in the future!

Scattered Thoughts and Christmas Craziness

I've been busy.  Really busy.  My house is a disaster, and now that I think I'm done with holiday crafts and baking it's time to get caught up on housework…but before I do that, I have to share with you what I've been up to!

First, the treats- this month, our Allrecipes Allstars partners were Nestle and Ladies Home Journal.  We were asked to participate by baking for the World's Biggest Cookie Swap.  The World's Biggest Cookie Swap is pretty neat- two cool reasons to enter the World's Biggest Cookie Swap on Pinterest. 1) For every board created, $1 goes to Cookies for Kids Cancer.  2) You and a friend might win an all expense paid trip to NYC to have lunch with Ina Garten! Get started here: http://bit.ly/AllrecipesWBCS

I Love This Wreath!

No joke.  This wreath is stunning.
It's a festive statement for my front door and gets compliments from everyone who sees it.  I'm absolutely in love!

New Laptops and Wonderful Husbands

I'll admit it- I'm far more attached to my laptop than it's rational for me to be.

I use it all. the. time.

I use it for recipes.  I use it to stay connected to friends and family back home.  I use it to waste time.  I use it for my many, many pictures of food.

I use it a lot- and receive a great deal of chiding from my husband because of it.

So, when my laptop broke (died, went kaput, went into the great laptop beyond) and was beyond saving I was a little...upset (freaked out, panicked, eek!)

After about a week of withdrawals, my husband came home from work WITH A NEW MACBOOK FOR ME!

A Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

When I was little holidays were the one time when everyone came together.  All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would come together at my grandparents' house.  Good smells filled the air, the kids had their own table, and the adults ate in the dining room (the ONLY times I remember anyone even going into the dining room were holidays...).  These days, life is different.  My grandparents have long-since passed and cousins have scattered across the country.  In fact, I haven't even been in the same state as my parents for Thanksgiving for 10 years now.  I've had to make my own memories and traditions with my own little family.  Every year my husband tries to convince us that it will be easier for everyone just to brave the crowds at a restaurant on Thanksgiving instead of going to the trouble of cooking a million dishes.  :-) Every year, I shoot him down.  

Cold Fall Days and Warm Treats From the Kitchen

Today felt like a warm, cozy kind of day right from the get-go.  It was a chilly morning and just as I was about to pour my daughter a bowl of cereal I decided to spend a few extra minutes and make her french toast instead.

Definitely the right call.

Click to see the recipe on Allrecipes.com!

Happy Halloween!

One of my favorite things about being a mommy is making memories with my daughter.  My mother was always great at making something out of nothing- 

including Easter dresses for my sister and I out of a shower curtain one year!

I have memories of picnic dinners in the park on weekeday nights, making homemade wrapping paper out of paint and potato stamps, and going on penny walks(more on that in another post).

Like my family, I grew up with a stay-at-home mom and a limited income.  Something for which I'm truly grateful.

Now, as a mommy myself, I know the tricks.  I know how much fun can be had with a small (and sometimes non-existent!) budget.  

Family Time

Although I haven't lived there for a good decade, I'm from California.  Having spent the first 20 years of my life there, I'm pretty sure it will always feel like home. 

I don't get out there nearly enough.

Thankfully, my little sister got married and gave me a reason to haul my family out there last week!  I've had some unpleasant experiences travelling cross-country with my daughter in the past so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that 

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ROCKS.

Mommy Time and Yummy Pie

Well, I've done it again- sucked at actually blogging on my blog.  Sorry about that.  It's been a busy summer, what can I say?  I was too busy doing stuff to write about doing stuff!

What a summer it has been, though!  Trips to the park, crafts, making friends with our neighbor, swimsuit fun, 

Early Mornings and Baking Bread

I have a confession to make- I am no more a morning person than my 6 year old is.

When she whines and stubbornly refuses to get out of bed, I get it.  Because I want to do the same thing.

*sigh* I have been SOOOO excited about this summer.  Summer is a lot more fun as a SAHM than it was when I was working and I'm loving every minute of it.  Or at least I WAS enjoying it until summer school started up.  Signing up for summer school seemed like a much better idea before I got a taste of sleeping in a little in the mornings!

Eneeways, my "run off and do fun stuff with the kids" time has been intruded upon for the past few days and will continue to be scarce for the next few weeks, so I've been doing stuff I enjoy less (like keeping my house clean).

Painted Sidewalks and The Perfect Biscuit

I turned 30 a little under a week ago, which I find neither good nor bad, just...weird.

Weird that I am living squarely in adulthood.

You would think that after getting married and having a couple of kids I would have felt like a grown-up long ago...but I don't feel old.  Time just flies by so quickly nowadays...it's so strange to say goodbye to my 20's, you know?  I don't know maybe you do, maybe you don't, maybe you're like my (older) husband and laughing at me as I contemplate all of this, but anyway...lol somewhere along the line I completely lost control of this paragraph.

My point (yes, I did have one) is that as I get older I've started paying more attention to what's important in life...

Lets Try This Again...

Well, here I go again, back for another attempt at blogging!

Truth be told, I'd forgotten that I'd deleted my last blog, which I suppose is a testament to just how irregularly I used it...

I'm definitely making it my goal to do much MUCH better this time!

So who am I?
 I'm a California transplant living in Tennessee.