Wordless Wednesday

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease

The folks over at Prop Insanity are having a last minute, end of 2011 $100 giveaway so go check them out

and if I win (which I really really hope I do so that I can keep growing my photography skills) I will definitely talk about what I get! :)

What I WISH other dog owners understood....

Hank & I have been going to individual dog training sessions since September now. And yes, there have been so many changes and improvements (with both him and me). But there are still issues we are working out, the above is a great example of our daily life. We live in a neighborhood where so many residents think it's ok to let their dogs be loose and worse let their dogs be loose but they themselves are no where around.

Having a dog that "needs his space" is a constant struggle. To have more enjoyable and less stressful walks, Hank and I no longer walk thru our neighborhood (sad I know). We walk the short 1/2 block out of the neighborhood to a busier road and walk on the sidewalk then up to the high school. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad walk and I'm happy we have a place to walk at all. But the fact that because other people don't understand that some dogs need their space, we haven't walked thru our neighborhood (which is surrounded by beautiful lakes) in over a year and a half.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because my goal is to have a better, more positive outlook on life. So the silver lining is that Hank and I are forced to explore other areas of our town/neighborhood. And on every walk we are provided with opportunities to practice what we are working on in his training sessions to help him deal with his "space issues"  :)

*Found on Pinterest*

Twist on Pinterest idea

So it's no surprise that I'm obsessed with Pinterest. I've talked about it many, many times. Well one of my boards, called "Puppy Love", is all about anything related to pets & canines. This board is where I store ideas, interesting products, techniques, or just adorable puppy pictures.

Well one idea I came across is from Bark Buckle Up which promotes safe traveling with your pets. One product that they offer is this Pet Safety Kit which includes: pet's emergency info, emergency contacts, shots/vaccine records, vet info, and a current pic of your pet. The idea is to create this In Case of Emergency (ICE) card/packet to keep in your car in the event you are in an accident with your pet in the vehicle.

GENIUS!!!

I can't believe I NEVER thought to have emergency info for our pets on hand. I mean it totally makes sense, if we're in an accident where either of us (the humans) can't communicate what to do with our pets it's a great idea to have it all written down somewhere so it becomes one less thing to worry about.

Well having the "I can totally make this" mindset...that's exactly what I decided to do. So I picked out a recent picture of each of the dogs and went to work adding all the info I thought would be necessary. Plus if either is ever lost (God forbid!) these could quickly be printed off.

So there you have it, for the price of 2 pictures printed, copies of their latest vet vaccines, & one envelope to keep it all in I have my own Pet Emergency Packet!

Wordless Wednesday

These pictures are from last year, but I love them :)

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Today is my sweet sweet baby Hank's 3rd birthday! My how the time has flown!

We brought Hank into our lives in May 2009 when he was 5 months old and I didn't realize it then, but he was sooo little!

May 20th, 2009 ~ 35 lbs

And the latest pic (taken today) with his new winter coat, which was a great birthday gift and fits him perfectly!

December 20th, 2011 ~ 78 lbs

He is one of the sweetest, friendliest, kiss-iest, protective dogs that tries so very hard to please us. Yes, we've had our trials (but that comes with any dog) but I wouldn't trade him for anything and can't imagine not having him in our lives. So I want to say a big "thank you" to Hank for being an amazing addition to our little family and providing us with so much unconditional love and unending amusement. You are a very "good dog"!

Pizza and a Movie

This past Friday Matt and I had a long overdue Pizza and Movie night. This pizza recipe is different from what we've been making lately. This time I decided to make a full-size pizza using a dough recipe I found on allrecipes.com and the same sauce recipe I used previously.

The dough turned out pretty good, but obviously I altered it slightly (I just can't help myself!). The only thing I did differently was that I dissolved the yeast in the warm water (in a cup) while I combined the flour, salt, & sugar together in a large bowl. I then added the oil and water/yeast mix to the dry ingredients bowl. After rolling out dough a fitting to pizza pan, I baked it for 5 min until I loaded the toppings.

I chose to top with: sauce, pepperoni, black olives, and a mixture of cheeses. Then bake for 20 min at 375F.

Ta-da!

yep nice and shiny greesy :)

Hair dilemma...

resolved :) So on Friday I had my haircut and had been debating what to do (as I talked about here). Well I decided that YES I am going to (attempt) to grow it out! Well in order to do so she didn't take off a ton of hair, but then again she always says "it's not about how much hair I take off , it's about the hair I leave on", so very true.

Well the pictures I brought her was this one:

My hair grows pretty fast so I think in no time it'll get there. And of course I brought her this one (as motivation to stay on this path):

Man I just love her! Well later that day I also found this picture that I think will help me in the stages between those 2 pics above:

I think this will be a good transition cut to help some of the choppy layers grow out also. So without further ado, here is some pics I took of my fabulously styled hair (and yes, no matter what I do, it ends up taking me forever to figure out how to style my hair like she did at the salon, which is why I try to take pics before I mess it up haha)

Yes, the back is still pretty short, but I like how the front is getting longer. And yes, I was wearing an apron :) it was a gift from my momma and it's adorable. Here's a close up of the fabric:

Holiday Happiness

(Warning: this is going to be a long post)

I so love getting all fancy-fied and what better reason than a holiday party??? So for some inspiration I turned to a really fun website (which I've mentioned before) Polyvore and like other boards everything included here is under $50...even the dress!

The Left Side: contains some items that are a little more "traditional" (I use that term loosely) by incorporating red, green, and gold. Take your favorite LBD (because what woman doesn't feel sexy in a LBD???) and add some fun, furry boots or some bright Christmas-red heels and your favorite standout gold jewelry.

The Right Side: for that woman who wants to feel glitzy but doesn't want to rock the red and green so the alternative...pick a jewel tone! I personally LOVE LOVE LOVE purple. So again, take the same LBD throw on a super adorable pair of glittery pumps and then add your jewel tone items.

Key Take-Aways:
~Wear hosiery (tights or nylons) because not only does it look adorable, but it's super functional, will keep you just a little warmer, and cover up those winter-pale legs. But remember, if your shoes are fancy, keep your hose toned down and vise-versa if you are wearing your favorite (plain) black pumps, feel free to wear polka dots, fish nets, or even lace prints.

~Paint your nails! Get a good polish (in a color that you love) that advertises that 1 coat does the trick. And here's a secret that I do, get completely ready: dressed, hair, makeup, shoes, coat, AND get in the car (I ask hubs to drive) and before we drive away, paint your nails. If you get a fast drying polish, before you get to your destination your nails will be dry and in perfect "just-stepped-out-of-the-salon" manicure.

~To feel INSTANTLY glamorous and pulled together wear false lashes! I know they can seem intimidating, but seriously get a pair that are supposed to be worn more than once and a few days before the party PRACTICE. This way you won't feel rushed or panicked that you're going to mess up and end up saying "forget it". If you can put on eyeliner you can wear false lashes!

~Wear lipstick! Even if you're nervous and not really a "lipstick kind of girl"...wear lipstick! You will look sooo much more pulled together and your face will photograph better if you have color on it. But...

~Choose ONE facial feature to feature. Choose your eyes OR your lips to enhance. DO NOT DO BOTH! Trust me, you may think it looks "fun" for a party but you will look too made up and at some point regret it. So either do the smokey eye and a pale lip OR bold lips and minimal eye color.

Another great thing I love about this style board is that it provides a variety of outfit options if you are so lucky to have multiple engagements this holiday season. And because you are wearing a simple LBD no one is going to say "hey, didn't you wear that zebra stripe dress to last Saturday's party???" :) And because I always pick out my "wish product" from the boards, today's is the LBD. It's perfect and a great price and you know what????

I bought it!!! :) I'll have to write about it when it come in.

Holiday Happiness by lauramegan featuring a gold necklace

Bwahaha!

no idea why, but every time I have read this (about 20 times now) I can't help but laugh. 

Yep, it's ridiculous and immature but I'm still smiling.

mmm mmm mmm

I have been on a new recipe kick lately and the of course that means I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas, not to say I don't have recipes already pin'd...I do have 85 already pin'd to my "yummy eats & treats" board. Well Wednesday's new recipe was Braided Spaghetti Bread. I saw this image:

and thought "spaghetti, sauce, AND bread all in one??? genius!" So yep this was my challenge today. No, I was not going to settle for "jar sauce" like the recipe calls for (don't get me wrong, in a pinch I am a huge fan of "jar sauce", of course with a little "doctoring" as Matt calls it) but with the fact that I have nothing BUT time on my hands now why not go all in and make the sauce too :)

This time around I tried to take pictures as I went

I combined the noodles, sauce, and meat in a big bowl before putting it all on the bread and topping it with the cheese chunks (which got good and melty)

at first I thought I hadn't rolled the bread out thin/big enough but then as I closed up the bread and transferred it to the pan I realized it was actually pretty big...hence curling up the sides of the pan

there's

and mine...I think it turned out pretty similar. And btw it was super good and totally made it's way into the "Make Again" recipe box.

Side note about the sauce...I used this recipe as a starting off point but didn't really follow the recipe (because we didn't have an onion or white wine, which was the real shocker haha), but rather this is what I did :

30 oz thawed, blanched tomatoes from my in-laws' summer garden
6 oz can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh crushed black pepper
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1) saute the garlic in the EVOO over med. heat
2) combine the rest of the ingredients, stir and simmer for 30 min

Yep definitely not as many steps as the originally recipe but it still turned out great! And personally we really liked the chunks in the sauce rather than putting it all thru the food processor.