"and if the bright lights don't receive you, you can turn yourself around and come on home" -- matchbox 20

Overview of the week:
*finished my level 1 class and did "very well'
*made dinner for 6 people including Chris's parents = success! (Thanks to the help of my mom and even my dad who helped me peel shrimp)
*got one of my Christmas presents early..or 5...new makeup? yes please!
*had HH with haileyj!
*missed my husband! long distance when you're married is like 20x worse than normal, I guess because you get used to that person, who knows? What matters is, I miss him and I can't wait til he gets here! Only 3.5 2.5 (i can't do math! so that's actually working in my favor!) weeks to go!
*Had my yearly physical - checking up on all of my blood levels and cholesterol, (101 goal) etc. V. important in my opinion.
*Finished my Christmas list! Hurray! Maybe next week I'll post some of my wish list items.

This weekend should be good, in a bit, my mom and cousin and I are headed to the outlets, then going out tonight for Amy's birthday and then Sunday, going to Laura's baby shower!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
xoxo

Tasty Tuesdays!

Last week, I wrote a post about baking and specifically for my in-laws 2nd family. I was going to be making Sopapilla Cheesecake. I wasn't 100% happy with it for minor reasons, but in the end, after everyone had 2nds, I realized, actually it wasn't as bad as I'd once thought.

Without further ado, here is my Sopapilla Cheesecake (I'm not sure where it's from, I thought from my mom but she'd actually never made it and kept that a secret til after I finished it because "she wanted someone else to make it")

Sopapilla Cheesecake

(feel free to edit ingredients for low-fat, etc)

Ingredients

• 
  
  2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
  2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
  1 1/2 cup sugar
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract (um, I definitely thought it said 1 TABLESPOON, but don't fret, it tasted delicious)
  1 cup margerine or butter, melted (you could probably use less)
  1 tsp cinnamon (I didn't measure this)
  
  
  
  
  Directions:
  
  1. Using a 9 x 13 baking pan, spray non-stick cooking spray on the bottom (note: I used a glass pan and probably didn't need to do that) unroll one package of refrigerated crescent rolls and line the bottom of the pan. Flatten and pinch seams together. (At this point I baked this layer for about 6 minutes, as per my mom's request. I would recommend doing it for longer, as it makes sure your bottom layer is fully baked, since sometimes it might not get baked enough)
  
  
  2. Mix together the cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar and vanilla (add more if you want - really that's what my recipe said...and I did..obvs)
  
  
  3. Spread over the crescent rolls. (If you baked the rolls before, make sure to let it cool before you spread it)
  
  
  
  
  4. Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.
  
  
  
  
  5. Pour one stick of melted butter or margarine over the top. Combine leftover sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. (The more the better!)
  
  
  
  
  6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool, slice and serve!
  
  Voila!
  
  The result was delicious-ness. 
  

  
  

   
  

  Note: it did not tell me how long to cool for, I would recommend putting it into the fridge for awhile because, cheesecake should be cold, and the inside was a bit creamier than I would have liked. But otherwise, it was great!
  
  
  
  
  Enjoy!
  
  xoxo
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Music Mondays!

Since I was just talking about Christmas and finalizing my list, here are some CDs that I'd like to place on my wish list.

Play On - Carrie Underwood - Her 1st CD was good, her 2nd? Fantastic! Here's hoping her 3rd album fits the bill

Battle Studies - John Mayer - If it's anything like Continium, I want it!

Kris Allen - Kris Allen - Nice album name, lame. I also heard the 1st single, not SUPER impressed, but he was my favorite Idol from this season so I feel like I should support him.

Other than that, an iTunes gift card will suffice as well ;)

xoxo

"it's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark" -- michael jackson

This weekend was full of fun! Friday, after lunching with my dad and going to Best Buy to drool over Macbooks, I had coffee with Carosa at Mozart's - the weather was a-maz-ing! I met my mom for dinner and then we went to see This Is It!

{memories.michaeljackson.com}

She really wanted to see it and is gunning for MJ's number 1 fan slot, so I thought why not? I enjoyed it, it was really cool to see all the rehearsals, my favorite parts were the effects they had planned for the concert and all the dancing! Not only did the backup dancers make me wish I was a much better dancer than I am, but MJ had not lost any moves. It was great, anyway I heard they were extending the showings longer than 2 weeks. I however, did not realize that movie tickets are almost $10 now! WTF? Hi, recession?

Saturday I headed out to Houston to celebrate Shea's birthday and L*bo's in spirit, since hers is actually today! Happy birthday L*bo! Oh, and Halloween. After Shea's surprise birthday lunch, we went shopping, I bought a pair of shoes for my costume (and life) and 2 dresses at Express. After Alice in Wonderland and Sexy Kitten got ready, we headed out to the boonies to a Halloween party at some of L*bo's friends' house. The food was good, company was great and costumes were hilarious! It was great to be together with 2 of my besties and thanks to GoogleTalk convos on a daily basis, it was like we had never even been apart!

Tinkerbell, Alice, Kitten

After breakfast on Sunday, I came back to Austin to find out our pipes were broken and we had no water. Ah, should have showered immediately in the AM, right? Oh well. Target was calling my name, mostly because I had to return things* and I only left with absolute necessities, which was shocking actually.

I've noticed that since Halloween is now over, Christmas is about in full swing. Decorations are being sold everywhere, and although the weather is not super crisp and cold (please don't go anywhere mid-70s and sunshine, we love you!) it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Why, just yesterday I was beginning to finalize my xmas list, and beginning my lists for other people (more about giving than receiving? what? maybe that's true for people who aren't only children...haha...j/k...sort of). I also started designing our Christmas cards! I'm so happy we've planned our yearly trips home to be for Christmas so I can send them out at a normal time instead of 2 months in advance. I'm just waiting for a shipping code or coupon code to order them - anyone got any? ;)

Enjoy your week!
xoxo

*story of my life

say cheese!

So if you don't know, I'm not a huge dessert fan. I used to say I didn't like sweets, but let's be honest, I eat  Gummi Bears, those Sour Punch bite things, Sour Skittles, my mom's [amazing] chocolate cake, cupcakes, and if you take me to the Cheesecake Factory, no matter how full I am, I will always order a piece of Dulce de Leche cheesecake. Luckily, I don't eat those things everyday, nor do I crave them. But..I still eat them from time to time, I've just had to revise my dessert statement. "I don't like dessert very much, but I'll eat it from time to time."

In any case, my absolute FAVORITE dessert, as mentioned above, is cheesecake. Of any kind. Now, as you know, every Tuesday I do my Tasty Tuesdays and I enjoy cooking and I'm not bad at it, but baking? My extent of baking is adding water, oil or an egg to Betty Crocker's brownie or cookies bag. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie...thanks Betty! (Hence why I'm struggling to get a Kitchen Aid Mixer..I don't bake, but my kitchen would be SO pretty with one!) I have trouble with baking, I either over bake or under bake things, leaving me or the guest subjected to my baking with either a burnt taste in their mouth or salmonella. (Hopefully not) I'm still perfecting the whole baking thing. My mother, however, is an amazing baker, everything that comes out of her oven = heaven, and why can't my stuff look or taste like that. Perhaps it's something I will grow into, but fingers crossed it's genetic and I just haven't hit that point in my life yet.

In any case, tonight I'm going to Chris's parents' house for our weekly dinner date and this time I offered to bring dessert, which was supposed to be pumpkin bread but my mom convinced me otherwise. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now waiting for my Sopapilla Cheesecake to finish baking. And while the inside is pretty tasty and my dad finished off the last bit in the bowl (yum!) and said it was delicious, I'm a bit worried about the crust. In any case, looks like I have plenty of material for next week's Tasty Tuesday! Stay tuned!

xoxo

Tasty Tuesdays...

I'm not doing too well on keeping these weekly blogs on their given day, but it's mainly because yesterday WAS Tuesday and I had a whole blog planned for after I came back from happy hour at Casa Garcia's, because hello...what's more tasty than Mexican food and margaritas? I don't know, you tell me. Thank you Jill for organizing and thank you, Amelia, jmo, Vicki Smalls, Christine, Jennifer, Kelly, and Selina, for all coming. It was a good time and full of hilarious stories.We shall do it again before too long I hope!

In any case, I figured what I would do is keep you up to date on my list of places to eat/things to drink is going. Sufficed it to say, I have been home only about 10 days and covered most of them. You will find said list below:

Places to eat/things to drink
My mom's kitchen - check, she made tacos, obvs
Chris's mom's kitchen - check, she made veggie lasanga and sausage with peppers and cream puffs and...ok, there will be more tomorrow! yum!
Moonshine brunch
Casa G's - check! It was just as delicious as I remembered it, and I guess the margaritas were too as I told asked the waiter through a full mouth of chips, "I'm gonna need another one of these" and I guess drunkenly pointed to my glass.
Which Wich - check! During the day of the pups' costume contest, we ate here
Thundercloud
Pita Pit
Patty's (SA) - check! In SA last weekend...
Pho - last Sunday with Laura!
Garden Spot Deli
McAllisters
Sweet Tea - I drink Iced Tea, sweet or not at all meals now
DP - Yes, although not as exciting as I would have hoped, kind of jumped off the soda bandwagon here
Big Red
Margaritas - Yes. 


Well it's no wonder my Wii Fit is telling me I've gained weight.
xoxo

Music Mondays!

Well I promised not to stop my usual weekly posts, they'll just be a bit different while I'm home. This week, it wasn't hard to come up with an idea. I feel like 96.7 plays the same.five.songs.over and over. I know I've complained about the radio overseas, but first of all, they don't play the same songs over and over and secondly, is it possible I'm ahead of the music curve? We watch music videos a lot and we get a lot of the same songs, but we also get a bunch of songs that I guess haven't hit the airwaves over here yet? I'm just wondering why they're not playing the new Sean Kingston song (Face Drop) [I don't like Fire Burning], or why Good Girls Gone Bad is on repeat, why they are playing You're the F***ing Best when that video was all over our TV 2 months ago? ... are these songs really that "new"? Am I being a music snob? I don't get it. On the other hand, good to know I'm not missing out on the whole music thing over there.

The 5 songs I hear over and over (and yes I know I need my FM transmitter and I need to listen to my iPod in the car, it's in progress)

1. Good Girls Gone Bad - Cobra Starship - Yes, this song is quite catchy, I love that Leighton Meeser (aka Blair from GG) sings in it, but really? Every 30-45 minutes? Luckily I'm not sick of it, yet. But it's no wonder we tire of songs so quickly.

2. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga - Why yes, I jumped on the Gaga wagon quite awhile back, and this is actually the song where I fell in love with her (only took me those first 3 songs on the album and I was a believer) and I love every.single.song. on her album. Pokerface is on my workout mix, and it's probably one of my favorite songs of all time. I don't get tired of Gaga, ever. But I can imagine everyone here does - at least mix up the songs you play from her. Also, this new one of hers? Something about a romance? Boo.

3. Whatcha Say? - Jason Derulo feat. Imogen Heap - I was very happy to hear this song when Chris downloaded it awhile back, I love the Imogen Heap sample and grew to love this actual song. Anyone else here tired of it? Yeah, I thought so.

4. Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus - First of all, when I first heard this song I was not impressed. Of course, the more I hear it here, they more I understand why you would bop your head to it.

5. You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift - Oh Taylor, how you make me cringe, how your songs are so catchy. I distinctly remember hearing this song back in June when Chris's friend Alex came to visit and how he said how much he liked it. In June people! It's almost November. Get a new song!

I think I'm done hating on the radio, I enjoy hearing these songs...sometimes, but I also enjoy hearing Revenge of the 80s on 94.7, at least they're songs I haven't heard in awhile ;)

What are the songs you're tired of hearing?

xoxo