Green Chile Corn Pudding

Well another event where I have to bring food to work means another recipe for you all. Today was our office thanksgiving pot luck. We were each asked to bring a side dish to accompany fried turkey and brisket. Yes that's right they fried turkeys at the office. It was the first time I had ever tried and I think it was ok but no better than regular turkey. For my side I decided to bring in something my grandma makes every year,a classic dish with a New Mexico twist, green chile corn pudding. It is yummy and easy to make which I'm all for. At the end of the lunch the entire dish was gone so I took that as a good sign.

What you Need:

• 3 cups creamed corn
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 3 eggs
• 9 TBS oil
• 1 TSP garlic salt
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup green chile (mild I would use less with a hotter chile)

1. Preheat oven to 350
2.Beat the eggs and mix in the oil
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients minus the cheese
3. Pour half of the batter into greased pan, top with cheese,
    pour in the other half and top with cheese
4. Bake for 45min- 1 hour
5. Enjoy

I hope this will make a great side dish for your families Thanksgiving and they enjoy it as much as mine!

Visitng the Dallas Reunion Tower

The Reunion Tower, a staple in the Dallas skyline (many may know it as the "light up ball") recently reopened its observation deck. I was eager to check it out and was very happy we did. Being new to Dallas it was a great experience to check out the city and one of its popular sites. From the observation deck you could see 360 views of the city, they were pretty incredible. Below the observation deck they also having a revolving restaurant that turns while you eat to give you the same 360 views without you having to move from your seat. Now that we know this I think we will be back to check it out. I highly recommend visiting the tower if you are a Dallas native or a visitor, its a fun experience. It also makes for a great date night.

Once we got up to the top of the tower the first thing they did was take our picture and let us choose our favorite backgrounds, all Dallas scenery. These were our favorite

  

These are the view of the tower from the outside, it was a slightly foggy evening which made for some cool pictures

 

And of course the awesome city views

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Chalkboard Frame and Lettering

I feel like chalkboards have recently made a comeback, but not in the traditional sense. Lately on Pinterest I see tons of pins about DIY chalkboards for events and for the home. I always liked the idea and finally decided to make one for myself. I thought now was a great time to make one for my apartment so that I could decorate it for the upcoming holidays. Overall it was a simple and fun process and I’m happy with the end result.

 

What you need:

·         Large picture frame of your choice
·         Glass chalkboard paint
·         Spray paint for frame
·         Chalk
·         Printed lettering (optional)

 First step I removed the glass from the frame (fun fact I actually broke the glass on my first frame and had to go buy another, so be careful) Then I spray painted the frame gold, you don’t have to do this if you like the look of your frame I just bought a basic one and wanted to make it a little fancier.

 

Next paint the chalkboard paint directly onto the glass from the frame. I ended up having to do about three coats to make sure none of the glass showed through. My suggestion would be to use a roller to paint it on rather than a brush like I did to avoid striping.

 

Once the paint is dry it’s time for the fun part, decorating with your message.  I was always curious about how all these people had such flawless handwriting on these chalkboards, thinking there was no way I could pull that off. Then I found a tutorial that showed an easy was to transfer words and designs onto the chalkboard. You start by printing off your desired lettering off the computer. You then coat the back of the lettering in chalk, a lot of it. I then cut out the wording and taped it to the chalkboard. Next take a pencil and trace the lettering from the print out. When you remove the paper the chalk should’ve transferred where you traced, like this.

 

Then you just go over it with another coat of chalk and clean up the edges. I found that a wet Qtip worked perfectly for cleaning up that extra chalk dust around the letters.

 

I did the same steps for each word and for a clip art picture of a leaf. I then put the glass back in the frame and there you have it a fun fall themed chalkboard for the season. I look forward to updating it again at Christmas time.

Apartment Hunting

As many of you know my new job has been a huge adjustment for several reasons the main one being my commute. I am from a decently small city, where you could basically get anywhere in about thirty minutes so I'm not used to heavy traffic or commutes. When I got this job I didnt think the drive would be too bad, of course I interviewed in the middle of the day when no one was on the road. I quickly learned I needed to give myself between forty-five minutes to an hour each day for the drive in the morning and it easily took an hour to get home each evening. Oh and did I mention that I have to be at work at 7:00? Yes you did that math right that means I'm leaving the house at about 6:10 every morning Naturally this driving and traffic has not been working for me so it is now time to move a little closer to the office. Plus the extra sleep in the morning will make all the difference.

So since this weekend was the first free one in awhile we decided it was a good opportunity to go look at a couple places in the area we were considering to see if there was anything we liked. On Saturday we went and looked at four places and we very happy with what we saw. We looked at all apartments this weekend but will also consider rental houses in the area if there is something available. After looking at each of the places we sat down and wrote out what we liked and didn't like about each place. We quickly realized that the first one we looked at was our favorite.

 

One of the biggest selling points... this kitchen. What is not to love here? The apartment was brand new and the unit we would rent has had no previous tenants, which would mean we would be the first to live in it, a large plus for apartment living. It also had hard wood floors, big rooms and big closets.I quickly noticed that the places I liked the most tended to have a few things in common.

1.       A modern look

2.       Nice kitchen

3.       Big bath tub and plenty of bathroom storage

4.       Hardwood floors in the living room

5.       Apartment doors inside the building instead of outside (more secure) 

A fireplace would also be nice but most places didn’t have them. Also I’ve had one at my last two apartments and never used them so I’m sure that pattern would continue. Overall the hunting process was a fun one and got me very excited to move after seeing the great options and was a big fan of the area as well. Fingers crossed we can make this happen very soon!

Happy Monday!

-E

Halloween White Chocolate Crunch

For Halloween my office was hosting a "snack day" they asked that everyone bring something to share. Last night I was trying to decide what to bring and the idea came to me to try and alter a recipe my family often makes around Christmas time to a Halloween version. This recipe is very easy to make and a yummy treat. (People ask me every year if were going to make it at Christmas). This was simple because I used a lot of what I had on hand and what sounded good to me, its easy to alter this to your liking.
 
What you need:

• 2 cups rice chex
• 2 cups mini pretzels
• 3 cups popped popcorn
• 5 squares almond bark
• Candy/ mix- in of your choice

1. Pop the popcorn and let it cool
2. Measure out all dry ingredients, mix together
3. Melt almond bark in the microwave
4. Pour white chocolate over dry mixture until it is coated
5. Mix in candy or mix-in's, I put reese's pieces in half and candy corn in half
6. Lay out on baking sheet to harden

I doubled this recipe to bring into work but for a small group just one serving would work.

Hope you all enjoy and look out for the Christmas version in a couple months!

Easy Decorating for Fall

The never ending Texas heat has given me a bit of the "fall blues" as I wait for it to cool down enough to wear fall clothes. While it has cooled down some, its still warm enough where I often regret wearing boots out. Therefore on the first day it cooled down even slightly I decided it was time to decorate my apartment for fall, maybe I had hopes that it would encourage fall weather.

My thoughts going into the store for fall décor were simple: cozy and warm. That meant candles... lots of candles, so my first stop was the dollar store where I picked up about 10 in a couple fall scents. I also picked up three small glass candle holders while I was there. Next stop Michaels! Here I bought a large glass hurricane, some pinecones, fall berries and a few other odds and ends. I made one last stop at the grocery store to buy a couple baby pumpkins and headed home to start "fallifying" my apartment!

Here is some of what I ended up with:

I made this frame awhile back and never knew what

to do with it so I wanted to incorporate it into

my fall decoration plans  

 

I bought a gold plate, filed it with pinecones and

cinnamon apple candles for a coffee table

feature

I surrounded a tall candle in the

hurricane by orange berries

and gold accents

I wrapped the remaining berry trim around

a big candle I already had at the house

I was very happy with the end result and felt like the place was instantly cozier with the addition of all the candles and their fall smells. When at the store searching for items I made sure to buy things that could also be used for Christmas decorations, I will convert some of this over in a month or so, update to come!

How did you decorate for fall?

I'm Still Here and Broquet DIY

I just realized it has been almost 2 months since my last post... way too long I know! For some reason in the past few months I have been lost as to what to post about, guess I've been having long term writers block. A lot in my life has changed in those last couple months, I moved to Dallas and started a new job. It has been crazy adjusting to my new schedule and new home but I'm finally getting into a good rhythm.

Here is a project I worked on a few weeks ago. As our anniversary was approaching my boyfriend and I decided to not go all out on expensive gifts for this one and put a $25 dollar limit on what we could get each other. I liked this plan because it took the pressure off and gave me the opportunity to get creative. What did I think I would get, my guess was of course roses and I was correct. Therefore I figured I would make a "broquet" as my gift, made of candy bars, slim jims, suckers and gum. It ended up being an easy and fun diy.

 

What you need:

• Wooden bbq skewers
• Hot glue
• Candy/snacks/ gifts of your choice (other options include alcohol minis, cigars, snacks, etc. whatever your guys favorites are)
•  Vase with a filler, I used tissue paper

 

The process is as simple as hot gluing the wooden skewers to the back of each treat, I cut the skewers into several sizes to make them display better in the vase. Let the glue dry and arrange in the vase and tie with a bow and you are finished. This gift was a huge hit with the boyfriend!

 

Happy Monday everyone!!

 

-E

DIY Tufted Style Headboard

I have been wanting a headboard but just cant get on board with the $200 price tag, so I decided to try and make my own. I looked up several tutorials on Pinterest and used a mixture of all of them to make my own. Here's what I did:

What you need:

• Plywood 40x60 for Queen size, they will cut it to size for you at Home Depot $13
• Foam- I used a twin size egg crate foam $10 
• Fabric of choice- 2 yards, mine was 40% off from Hobby Lobby about $12
• Staple Gun and staples
• Buttons 
• Hanging option of choice- 2x4's to attach to frame or headboard hangers to hang on wall

 Here are the steps I took:

1. Size foam to the size of plywood, staple to the back side of plywood. (make sure to pull it tight so it stays smooth with no creases)

 

 2. Once you have foam fully stapled. Cover with your fabric and staple to the back as well, pull as tight as possible

3. Now I loved the tufted style but have heard the actual process of tufting is a huge headache. However I found this little tip on Pinterest- use the staple gun to staple down where you want your buttons, it will gather similar to tufted threading

 

4. Now cover those staples by hot gluing your buttons on top. Then you're done. Simple 

5. I think it came out great now all that's left is to hang it up.

-E

Baked Peaches

Here is a recipe for some amazing baked peaches. A simple, healthy and yummy summer treat.

 Baked Peaches: 

- Peach

-Agave

-Cinnamon

-Brown sugar

1. Take the peach cut it in half and remove the pit. 

2. Drizzle with agave (honey would work too) 

3. Top with LOTS of cinnamon (I will use more next time) and a little sprinkle of brown sugar

4. Bake for 20 min on 375

My Long DIstance Relationship

Boston, MA

As of today I have been in a long distance relationship for a little over a year and couldn't be more thrilled that it will all come to an end by the end of June. Like I'm sure you can all imagine, long distance is not fun and its certainly not easy. People ask me all the time how I make it work? Well I think its different for every couple but there are certain things I think were important to maintaining my relationship.

For me the most important was making sure we got to see each other as often as we could reasonably make happen. For the first half of the year apart we were only a 3 hour drive away, so we made a deal to see each other every other weekend and we ended up sticking to it. At this point we both had flexible schedules and long weekends were common. Then the second half of the year apart we were about a 1.5 hour plane ride away. Therefore we decided we would shoot for visits every three weeks, this was decided mostly based on budget. For this time frame our schedules were much less flexible and most visits were from Friday evening to Sunday evening. I wont lie and say those short visits weren't frustrating, because they were I would get upset every time we had to say goodbye.

Albuquerque, NM 

This is why I think the next most important thing is making sure you already know when your next visit will be before saying goodbye. This always made it a little easier to leave, already knowing I could start the countdown to our next weekend together. Never having to wonder when the next time you will see each other will be makes it much more manageable.

When you're together for the weekend, make the most of your visits. While you don't need to schedule out every minute of your time together its nice to have some activities planned. We have always made a point of trying to schedule visits around certain things we would like to do together such as events, weddings, etc. If something like that isn't on the horizon than we pick one "big" thing we would like to do together for that visit.

Cruise to the Bahamas 

In addition to seeing each other in person I think it helps to stay in contact as much as possible; text, call, and Skype. Its easy to feel like you're distant from your relationship if you feel like your not a part of your partner's life. I always feel better after a long phone call or Skype session. Technology has made this really easy there are so many opportunities out there.


While all of these are ways to help maintain the relationship when you're apart the real factor that makes long distance work is the relationship itself. If you don't have a trusting relationship to begin with, the distance sure isn't going to change that, it will likely make it worse.

Las Cruces, NM

Every couple is different, but for all of you out there trying to make a long distance relationship work I hope this helps and answers some of your questions. Its hard, but remember if you think you found the right person you can make it work and it will be worth it in the end.

- E

Update on my Recent Life

First let me say, that I once again apologize for my blogging hiatus. I really need to set myself reminders or set aside a designated time for blogging. I am always mentally thinking of great posts and then forget to sit down and write them out. I think that needs to change NOW. Today seems like a great day to say that since it is my last day at my current job and I will have at least the rest of June off work. Yes my vacation before starting my “big-girl” full time career. So what’s happened in the last few weeks?

1. I “Graduated” – what’s with the quotation marks, well I walked in the ceremony and it was great but I have one last summer online class. Here are some pictures from the event.

 

Picture my Grandma insisted on so you

could see my hood

Ultimate support through my program

 

2.       Went on our girls trip to Las Vegas, before we all move away (insert sad emoji) we had a great time… a little too much. For future reference to anyone out there 3 nights and 4 full days is a little too much for Vegas

First night out, and my Birthday

 

Wet Republic Beach Club

 

Our super expensive cabana

 

  Brittanys Bachelorette night

Ovbiously only a few of the many pictures! Can you believe I have been friends with these girls since middle school? Now the first of us is getting married and were starting to move to different states, man growing up is tough!
 

3.    I set my moving date to the Big D- June 27^th, it’s a week later than I originally wanted but at least I’ll have the extra time to pack and prepare

 

Yeah moving is a pain.... packing, looking for jobs, looking for apartments all at the same time... no thank you! Hopefully some of these get resolved quickly

 

That’s my update and I have already started tomorrows post so that my vicious cycle won’t continue!

-E

DIY Jewelry Board

I get a ton of questions about this board. People always ask where I bought it and are shocked to hear that I made it. Not only that but its simple and cheap

You would typically see this board used this way:

When I got the idea for the jewelry board I went and bought a standard pegboard from Home Depot, it came about twice the size I wanted so it had to be cut down, but my sister used the other half to make one for herself. Then I spray painted it and picked up a bunch of the pegboard hooks and started hanging! (This was not the original color I repainted it to match my new bedroom stuff)

It has been a great way to organize and display my jewelry. Hope you enjoy

-E

Painting with a Twist

This post coming to you from the Library at school.... I should be working on a paper but I needed a break! This is basically how I have spent my whole weekend, exciting I know. However I cant even be mad because I know I am sooooo close to being finished for the semester! 2 more weeks, I can totally do it!

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile and somehow keep spacing it! I wanted to tell you all about my recent awesome experience doing Painting with a Twist in Dallas, if you have never been, you need to like immediately! Date night idea, check! Im going to be honest, the boyfriend was iffy about if he was going to like this but ended up loving it and even said he would take me again.

For those of you wondering what Im talking about it is a group painting class where they teach you step by step how to paint the picture they have picked for the evening. You can bring wine and snacks and enjoy a good time.

All Possible Paintings for the Class

Wine and Snacks

Setting up our Canvas

Me and E, don't mind my hair it was pouring outside :(

The Painting

My Final Product... I was happy

Let me add, I am not an artist, far from it actually! The concept is set up for people who don't have painting experience so don't let that stop you

Happy Sunday Everyone

Oh and I FINALLY got my Google Friend Connect working (no idea why I had trouble with that) So you can follow the blog now, please do :)

-E