Well I guess I have something to blog about now

Christmas Eve morning we piled up the dogs in the car and drove up the Kern Canyon to go on a little hike.

We stopped at a little place where a creek was supposed to be (it was kind of dried up). We'd been there once before.

And Chris asked me to marry him!!!!

SO HAPPY AND EXCITED!!!

Christmas Fatness Post #1

I thought I'd share with you an AMAZING cookie recipe. If you haven't done any holiday baking yet, need to do some, or just want some yummy cookie you definitely need to make these!

I was going to just bake some plain 'ol gingerbread cookies, but while I was browsing for the ultimate recipe, I found this and just had to try it out. Enjoy!

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies
Via allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup light molasses <--(I used dark)
1 (11 ounce) package Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

Directions:

• PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F.
• COMBINE flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in small bowl.
• BEAT butter, sugar, egg and molasses in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
• BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Lovely Things

Ah, so much going on...yet so little blog about. Let me share with you all a few (or a ton) of recent purchases that I L.O.V.E.

More importantly, NEW CARPET! We used to have those ugly white tiles under there, so gross and COLD! Can you guess what the first thing I did when it was installed? Rolled on it, like a 5 year old. I'm cool.

This whole carpet buying thing was kind of a long process, but OH SO WORTH it. Unfortunately, we still have ugly white tile. Pray for us to save money soon for wood floors :)

They love it, too.

I didn't actually buy this, I WON it from a contest that Michelle Woo had on her blog. The lovely frame was from a company that her sister started, Name That Frame. I got to pick what it said and obviously I gave her some cheesy word ;)

Are those not the cutest little winter birdies you've ever seen? (have you even ever SEEN winter birdies? Probably not!). I got them at a little gift shop at Shaver Lake.


I also got these adorable salt and pepper shakers at the same place as my winter birds :) CUTE.


The best shoes, ever. I had a brown pair of these Sanuk's, but they may or may not have got covered with an explosion of purple nail polish when we went to Michigan.


This big, yellow, warm scarf from Target. I'm kind of obsessed with this color lately, not gonna lie. And I just LOVE this scarf. I'm one of those people that wears something new that I buy basically all. the. time.

I bought this headband from an Etsy shop a bit ago. Seriously so cute. Of course, I do make my own headbands but I just loved this fabric/color combo. Plus, Etsy seller love ftw. I also bought this yellow one. I'm such a sucker for cute hair things.

Oh and just for good measure, a picture of the lovely Sadie McWhinerson.

Hope you all are having a lovely winter! :) Stay tuned for more posts, I promiseeeeeeeee!!!

Fabric & Feathers, Oh My.

Just a little shameless update on my Etsy shop, PinnedUp.

I have been working on a few new things, and I've recently added some headbands (finally!) and a new feather hair pin design. See pics below, I hope you guys like them!!!

I also have been working on a few non-hair things that I've been adding in yet another Etsy shop for just random things I make. I won't share that with you yet though because I'm not all there yet :)

Pink & Black Flower and Feather Headband

Black & Green Flower and Feather Headband

Powder Blue & Black Hair Pin

Because I have nothing more exciting to talk about

A series of random little conversation's between Chris and I over this past weekend:

Whilst at Target...

Me: Ohhh I need new mascara!

Chris: That stuff you put around your eyes?

Me: No, that's eye-LINER...get it..it LINES your EYES.

Talking about the dog...

Chris: Tundra has pretty mascara around her eyes.

Me: Um, it would be called EYELINER. Her eyes, they are lined.

i may or may not have uploaded this picture saying "not eyeliner"...apparently I don't even know what eyeliner is!

Getting ready in the AM...

Me: (Putting on mascara)

Chris: (looking at me) Put some of that eyeliner on my lashes!

Me: Dude. It's MASCARA!

/punch

I'm not even kidding. this all took place over the span of two days.

A Doggie Love Story

One of the first things we wanted to do when we bought our house was fix our fence that was falling over so we could have a dog. Chris had always talked about wanting a Siberian Husky, but we definitely wanted to adopt - it's the right thing to do and hey, it's a lot cheaper! I wanted an Australian Shepherd. Anyways, We kept our eyes on the various local shelter's websites (they post pictures of animals as they get them in). One day we happend to see TWO huskies at the kill shelter (sadface), so we rushed down there right after work to take a look.

We walked down the first building of dogs, looking for those two dogs we'd seen online. We saw the first one, a black and white husky that was basically going nuts-o, jumping up and down on the chain link fence and barking. Poor thing. Then we walked down a ways and found the second, a sweet red/white husky with one blue and one brown eye - she was in a cage with 3 other dogs who were going nuts, but she was sitting calmly in the back. Both of the dogs had just arrived to the shelter, so they had a TWO WEEK waiting period before they could even be adoptable. If they were not claimed by their owners, they would have health and behavioral test done to make sure they were adoptable. So, we put our names down on a "waiting list" for each dog. Honestly, I didn't get my hopes up...I definitely though they would be claimed.

About a week passed and I receive a call that the red/white husky was adoptable, and that if we wanted her, we could take her. Um, YES! But, they had to do her behavioral test and make sure she was fixed, or have her fixed..it would be a few days. Of course it was more than a few days...it's always LONGER!!! Finally, finally, we were able to get her.

Chris picked her up after work one day, and when I got home they were sitting in the yard waiting for us. That was a year ago, today!

Tundra has pretty much been the greatest dog (doesn't everyone say that about their dogs?). She is ridiculously sweet, LOVES to be pet constantly, gives you kisses ALL THE TIME, and she is so smart! I was scared of the breed because of the time I knew they would need and the habits they can have. Now I absolutely want ANOTHER one...as soon as we get a bigger yard :p

She lovess-errr-tolerates, her lil' sis!

Fall Flavors

I don't think I have posted a recipe in a very, very long time. Now I'm ot chef, but I love food and both Chris and I love cooking! We usually start off with a recipe, but change most of it to suit what we have on hand. Here are a couple of EASY and yummy fall dishes that we cooked up this weekend:

Parmesan-Roasted Butternut Squash

via Epicurious

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream
3 sage leaves
2/3 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Toss squash with cream, sage, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, 30 minutes.

Stir in half of cheese and sprinkle remainder on top. Roast, uncovered, until squash is tender and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving (cream will thicken).

My notes: I've never cooked with butternut squash, but I picked a big one up for $1.50. It was really tough to cut into! Make sure you are prepared to put some muscle into that :) With the size of my squash, I ended up using a 13x9-inch pan, but followed these very instructions and it was SO delicious!!!

Yummilicious Pot Roast - Crock Pot Style!
(Yep, named that myself! Hah. Adapted from a lil' crock-pot book we have)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 chopped onion (I prefer red)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2-1/2 lbs. boneless chuck roast
1- 14.5 oz. can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp. chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
Heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add onions and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Set aside.

Heat remaining oil in same skillet. Add chuck roast and brown on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Place roast in your crock-pot.

Combine tomatoes with juice, broth, chocolate, chipotle peppers and salt. Puree mixture in blender until smooth. Pour puree over roast in slow cooker.

Cover; cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

My notes: You can also use a pork roast for this recipe (we just had the beef on hand). The meat was a bit spicy, so add less if you prefer to..or even more if you can handle that! The chocolate/chipotle combination is is sooo tasty! This is definitely a yummy recipe.