Fieeeeeeeeeeeesta Island!!

So last night I tagged along with Frank and Emily and saw When in Rome. I thought this was going to be an average, maybe kind of cute movie. Wrong! This was one of the funniest movies I had seen in a while! And the romance was not overdone at all, it was just right. This is definitely a movie that I will buy when it comes out on DVD.

And today, to celebrate Mike and I paying off a credit card (had to come up with an excuse!) we went with the Longley's to Fiesta Island! Here there is a dog beach and Willow had never been to anything of the sort. I was worried about letting her off the leash because she isn't yet fixed and has gone into heat once. This trip turned out so much better than I expected! Willow knew to stick with Molly and Ellie but she ran around and had a ton of fun. She played with huge and small dogs, and best of all, she surprised me and took pretty well to the water. She only went in as far as her shoulders, because that was the point where the waves started smashing her in the face haha. But she did so well! I was very pleased. Here are a few pictures.

Willow just about to step foot in water.

Frank playing fetch with the dogs.

This is definitely a trip I would like to take with Mike. We were there for maybe an hour and a half and it was the perfect timing. We had plenty of good times and were all very satisfied when we left.

Satisfying purchase? I think so!

Well today was grocery shopping day! Sadly, this was the first time since we've been married that Mike hasn't been there to shop with me. I'll have to get used to it, and the shopping itself wasn't that difficult. However, carrying the ton of groceries upstairs all by myself was no fun! I couldn't bat my eyelashes and get out of it. By the time I was done, I was exhausted.

Anyways, that's not the point. The point is this. I found a coupon for the new Renuzit brand Crystal Elements air freshener. It was buy one get one free, and at 4.50 a bag, that's a good deal. I visited a friend who had these in her bathroom and they seemed to work for her. Because I babysit now, during the day dirty diapers are thrown into the bathroom trash, and even though it is emptied every day, I've been burning candles to keep the area from getting musty or stinky. I like burning candles, but if I could get the effect without the flam, that'd be perfect. May I say, I have never been so instantly satisfied with a product! I got the Amber Vanilla fragrance, and after it made the bathroom pleasant I decided to put a bowl on the entertainment stand while I went over to a friend's for dinner. When I walked in, the house smelled amazing! I can also say I have been sitting here for a few hours working on some homework and the fragrance is still here and noticable to me. This stuff is definitely a good buy!!

Love them!!

On another note, tonight I was kind of a creeper. When I headed over for dinner, I kinda peeped up into the open windows so see how people had their furniture arranged, since all the one bedroom apartments have the same layout. I'm so so sick of this arrangement in our living room. What I saw confirmed our research. There is no other way to arrange the furniture. One apartment had a different arrangement, but an entertainment center covered the bar, and we love love love having our bar open. Also, during the day when I babysit, I need to be able to see the living room from the kitchen to supervise, so that's not an option what so ever.

One day, we'll have a nice little cape-cod, with hardwood floors, a built in grill in the back, a white picket fence and huge rooms to be arranged however my heart desires!! One day.

Strawberry Bread (finally!) and Apple Dumplings

Once, many moons ago, I created a wonderful strawberry bread that I told you about here. I've been wanting to make it again but I got careless and lost the recipe, never to find it again. Well after numerous attempts at making one just as tasty, I finally had a successful attempt. The thing that made this bread stand out was that it was crumbly on the outside and moist on the inside. I got the recipe here.

Today I realized that this pay period was shorter, since it's February. That means that when I went shopping, I got a lot of fruit to bake with over the pay period that was going to go bad if I didn't use it soon. So there's been a lot of baking. Emily lent me some of her Costco cookbooks a few weeks ago and I stole some recipes I thought I could work with. Today I made a really easy but delicious desert. These apple dumplings were simple but unique and oh so tasty.

 

Apple Dumplings::

2 granny smith apples

8 crescent rolls

Ground Cinnamon

1 cup orange juice

1 cup sugar

2 tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350*. Peel and core the apples, and cut them into fourths. Un-roll the crescent rolls and wrap one peice of apple in every one. Place in 8x8 baking pan. Next, mix sugar, butter, and orange juice together and bring to a boil. Take off heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over the rolls and bake for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the rolls are golden brown.

I swear this was the easiest and tastiest thing i've made. I also had Spaghetti with Butter and Parmesian from the same book, but I didn't exactly measure anything out so maybe next time I will post the recipe.

Sea World and a Steal from Emily!!

So we finally got around to our trip to Sea World! Mike got himself stuck taking me; he had told me that he wanted to take me, but the forecast all weekend was rainy and gloomy. So when I finally decided to mosey out of bed, I checked the forecast and lo and behold, they were only expecting morning showers for the day, and it ended up getting hot and sunny! Although he really didn't want to go at first, he put up with it for me, and ended up having a great time. The first thing we did was watch the Shamoo Show, and he was already in awe before it got good. The absolute best part was feeding the sea-lions- I think they're Mike's secret favorite animal haha. Sooo cute! Here are some pics that turned out.

So I wanted to blog but didn't feel like Sea World was enough, and I saw Emily's stolen post ( :P ) and thought it would be a great addition to follow up our satisfying trip to Sea World, and my night that's followed a few rough days.

I beleive in::

• 
  
  Needing to be held and to hold
• 
  
  Hearty meals
• 
  
  Fragrance
• 
  
  Playing 'boat' on Sundays, and never getting out of bed
• 
  
  Nights out on the town
• 
  
  Late-night conversations with people you miss
• 
  
  Decorating!
• 
  
  Full House
• 
  
  Central air and heat
• 
  
  Destiny.
• 
  
  The thinks you never could have imagined happening, that completely changed your life
• 
  
  Family, Friends, and having Faith in yourself.

((Mike's family 2009))

((Mom and Dad 2009))

Each of those photos represents something that brought us where we are today, and is taking us forward to tomorrow.

Mikey's Best Banana Bread!!

I'm back!! I've had a hard time getting motivated to blog because I missed so much, and I just couldn't decide what to start up with again. But now, I've been blessed with a fabulous idea so I'm going to write a quick blog about it before the hubby makes me finish my homework!

The other day I made white chocolate chip cookies and banana bread to break in some new baking pans. The white chocolate chip cookies were good but nothing beyond average. The banana bread, however, was a shocker. I've never made a successful banana bread in my time. I did once make a strawberry banana bread that turned out fabulous, but I can't seem to replicate it. When I pulled this loaf out of the oven, it looked attrocious. I even took a picture to show you all how horrible it looked. I thought for sure it was dry, burnt, and trash material. But of course I wanted to see how horrible it tasted first. It was amazing! The center was moist and full of flavor. I think that the flavor was from the secret ingredient- white chocolate chips.

I modified this recipe from this one, http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx. All I did differently was add 1/2 cup chocolate chips. I also used half whole wheat flour and half white, but I am waiting to hear from Emily to see if that really mattered or not!

All in all it turned out wonderful, and I think the way it looks is just a fluke.