Flashback for a week

One week ago today I whisked off to beautiful & sunny southern California. My cousin Tami & my birthdays are 9 years and 359 days apart. This year was a big year for our birthday's b/c I was turning 30 and she was turning 40. I had a bit of a flight delay on the way there, thanks to some frost on the plane, but I made it with little trouble only about an hour later than expected. As soon as I arrived we went to Burke Williams for some R & R. Talk about luxury... Steam room, sauna, mist room, and the best 80 minute massage, 80 minutes of pure heaven!
Here is Tami & I right after our session, enjoying the warm Southern California sun in buttercup, her VW convertible. We are blissfully happy. We were on the way to PF Changs for a late lunch courtesy of our Aunt Peggy's birthday money :)
That day/night Tami had no idea that her big birthday surprise was on the way. I love surprises. I love to get them and I love to be in on them. Her sister Shannon came up from San Diego and told her that her gift was in the back of her SUV and she had to come get it... Little did she know that it was her mom who flew in all the way from Colorado Springs. I love her reaction!
What an awesome birthday surprise!Check back for more Southern California pictures and stories :) There are many but I can't tell all my secrets...

Halloween treats!

With all my free time on my hands, that is sarcasim Sheldon, I made up some little treat bags for the girls at work. I hope they enjoy them tmrw. I also got a recipe for gooey cake batter cookies from my friend Erin, and they are tucked under everything.

Gooey Cake Batter Cookies
Ingredients:
One box of cake mix (your choice)
1 Pkg of softened cream cheese
1 cup of Softened butter
1 tsp of Vanilla
1 egg
Directions:
In bowl, whip cream cheese, butter, Vanilla and egg together. Add cake mix. Blend. I added fun halloween sprinkles to the mix
Mixture is thick and gooey. Be prepared to lick the batter off your fingers.
Place on cookie sheet with average sized spoon (cookies will not expand much in oven)
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes (until barely browning at the edges). The less time they bake, the more gooey the results.

Happy Birthday Audra!

Just wanted to wish one of my best friends a very happy 30th birthday. I am "stuck" in CA still and do not have access to pictures. I will complete this post once I get home. Enjoy your day Audra. Love you!

Look at my wittle baby brother :)

This past week my baby brother had his senior pictures taken by one of my bestest friends and awesome photographer, Laura. I can't believe he is a senior in high school and graduating in May! I bet my parents are freaking out as well :) Last one to leave the nest, and of course the one that gave them the most gray hairs... Check out the sneak peek on Laura's blog HERE!

Birthday Surprises

A week ago I was no where ready to say I am 30... THIRTY. Sounds like a huge milestone. But after actually turning 30 I would have to say it is liberating. Finally. It is certainly is a new decade and a new milestone. So lucky to have such a great job, great place to live, great friends and great family. And today was no different in helping to remind me of that.

I started my morning (it was my day off) with some steaming hot coffee & the Today Show. I went to the gym and had a workout session with my personal trainer Abigail, which I really enjoy, even when I can't lift my arms anymore. After that I had a nice lunch from The Palace in Aggieville, then headed to the salon to have my hair cut & highlighted. It was there that I received my first birthday surprise. Flowers! My stylist is the daughter of my office manager, Mary, who made sure these flowers, lilies are my favorite, were there for me. Thank you so much Mary! I love them and they smell amazing!
I was suppose to go to dinner with my Aunt Peggy. She was going to meet me at my house after work. But when I opened my door I saw 3 of my best friends waiting with cameras in hand to surprise me and take me out to dinner. I will post those pictures later. It was a huge surprise since they drove 2.5 hours away. We went to my favorite place in Manhattan, Coco Bolos.

Here is Audra & Laura
And Me (with my new hair) & Megan After dinner we went back to my place for mini ice cream cakes. Thank you everyone for the awesome birthday wishes! I am such a lucky girl to have so much love and support in my life. 30 is going to be GREAT!

New idea for cupcakes

I always seem to be inspired when I shop at Hobby Lobby. Check out the cupcakes I made for my penthouse reunion tailgate.
I made red velvet & carrot cake
Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting of courseAll ready to rumble!

need a laugh

I found this new blog about cake wrecks. My favorites are the ones that the customer has requested that nothing be written on the cake and instead of it being blank, they put NOTHING on the cake... Idiots! Enjoy it :)

This is one of my favorite posts. So funny!

Newest addition

Tuesday is always my day off and I really do try to keep myself busy so I am not tempted to shop but the idea got the best of me. I have actually been in the market for an area rug & love seat for my living room so I couldn't pass this up when I saw it and saw the price, $99!! I got the rug at Tuesday Morning, a great place to find something unexpected and for an awesome price. If you have never been to one I recommend finding one. So what do you think of it?

I think it matches my sofa perfectly.
Here is a closer view. I love all the colors: browns, greens, periwinkle, maroon. It is exactly my taste!
And here it is with my sofa. If anyone has a love seat they are wanting to get rid of please let me know!

It's still pretty

I took this picture on my way to work in Topeka Saturday. And it isn't the ocean but I think it is still pretty. It definitely made the drive more enjoyable too :)

Turn it up!

I just posted a new playlist. Hope you enjoy all the songs :)

It's official!

It's official b/c it is on the internet :) Check out my bio & awesome picture taken by Elephant Juice Designs and Photography!

Tasty Tuesday - Banana Bread

I love fresh fruit but sometimes I don't get it eaten in time before it goes bad, feel like I am throwing cash in the trash. But luckily "bad" bananas make for some great banana bread!

I tried out a new recipe in my baking bible which never fails to produce a great product. If you do not have this cookbook yet I highly recommend getting it. It reads like a book and tells you step by step why things work and why they do not. So if you have ever had a baking disaster you owe it to yourself to invest in this cookbook!

Banana Bread

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped course

3/4 cup (5.25 oz) sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5 inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping the excess

2. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts together in a large bowl; set aside.

4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Baking away... and smelling so good!

Fresh out of the oven

Looks perfect!

Wish list ideas - updated!

Just a few things that are on the top of my wish list... Please make sure the appropriate people see this post :)

Cuisinart food processor - No substitutions :)iPhone 3G[S]Tocca perfume in Cleopatra

Party at 600

Last weekend was filled with tons of fun with friends and family. It was the first KSU home game that I attended and the first party at my house. I was fortunate enough to get tickets thru work for the game that included passes to the luxury suite that they have. The suite was SWEET, complete with food and adult beverages, something that you can not have anywhere else in the stadium and technically parking lot.

This is me and my college roommate Jenn in the suite. After the game at my house - Audra, me, Abby (in back) and JennCutting my mom's birthday cake, I am not sure what I was thinking at the time...I was pretty proud of my homemade German chocolate cake!Happy birthday mom! I hope you had fun at your party... Or I hope you can remember it :)
me & Dina!

Jeff & Barry = handsome devils!

Fun times

Dr. Heptig & Dr. Kluttz trying to fix my mom's broken glasses... Didn't work. Had to send them back to Italee for repair :(
New friend Matt, my mom and me

Abigail & Nate (aka Dr. Kluttz)
Attempting to help Dina get rid of the hiccups... :)

The party was so much fun! Thanks to all who came. It was really easy to get things back in order the next day, surprise, surprise. I can't wait for the next party and KSU win! So I guess it will be this weekend :)

Laura's post

Please click here to check out Laura's post from her visit this past week. What great photos! I love that she circled my little sister at band practice. Made me laugh out loud!

Quickie in CA

It is hard to believe that it was almost 2 weeks ago that I left for my mini vacation to Southern California. I found a great little secret and could not resist to take the trip. I found out that American Airlines is flying twice a day in and out of Manhattan (the little apple). I found round trip airfare for $250! I did have a layover in Dallas but still... I love the 5 minute commute to the airport instead of the normal 2 hour drive to Wichita or Kansas City, both of which have flights for the same price or more.

It just so happened that my precious Kansas State Wildcats were playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl that very same weekend. It was meant to be for sure!

Here is the awesome Rose Bowl. It was gorgeous but I still prefer Bill Snyder Stadium... Best acoustics ever!
2 Kansas girls reunited in CA! Go CATS! With my friend Tyler at the game
Krista, Tami & Melanie at the beachWatching Monday night football at Saint Rocke

20

20 more days...