Back To School?

The last few years I have been playing with the idea of getting a Master's degree to help further my education and career. It seems that the bachelor's degree has become the equivalent of a high school diploma in many industries. It is now required by many companies before they will even call you in for a phone interview. But will the Master's degree be that extra push I need to get my foot in the door? Is the $50,000 spent on the education and 2 years stressing out over grades and homework assignments going to be worth it when I'm done? Will it really pay off?

Reflections

It seems like yesterday that I was graduating college, stepping out onto the stage in Wells Fargo Arena in my maroon cap and gown. Yet, it was almost 3 years ago that I received my bachelors degree, and 7 years have past since I finished high school. It makes me think of everything I thought I would have accomplished by now and everything I actually have.

During the past 3 years, and after a long search, I was able to quit working as a teller to join a company where I can grow and develop the skills I need to be successful in the business world. Although I still haven't figured out exactly where I want to end up, I am working on my career plan one step at a time.

Not only have I gotten a "grown-up" job in the corporate world, I have taken the leap into homeownership by buying my 1400 square foot townhouse in Gilbert. After almost 2 years, the house almost doesn't look the same as it did when I signed my life away to the mortgage company. The place has new paint, new floors, new appliances, a completely new backyard, and next up is the master bathroom.

Several of my friends have gotten married, and even a few have started to have babies. Although this is somewhere I want to be....someday.... I am currently happy playing Auntie Sara, babysitting and spoiling and giving the bundles of joy back at the end of the day. I have found, after hearing parenting stories, that I am more thankful for my sleep and alone time that I can get every day.

 To replace any children in my life, I have my own baby....puppy... Zoe. She is so full of life and beyond spoiled with belly rubs and treats. Saturday morning, as I returned home with bagels for Mike and I, kept looking around and sniffing all of the paper bags looking for her doggy bagel she is accustomed to. As I had not got her one, and didn't realize how sad she would be without it, Mike made a point to buy her one today instead.... She is one spoiled pooch!

Which brings me to my new "roommate" Mike. I've always read statistics that say a majority of women meet their future husbands at work and thought they were very cliche. Then, I met Mike that fateful day walking into Business Banking training before the octagon took over my favorite bank. Three years, 6 months later, we are still together and learning something new every day about ourselves, and being fascinated with how in-tune we tend to be with the other's thoughts.

With 3 years since my college graduation, and another 3 to go before my 10-year high school reunion, I find myself looking forward to the challenges that await me... Bring It On Life, I Can Handle It!

Changes in 2012

I absolutely cannot believe February is almost over this year, time has seem to fly by these past two months. It seems like yesterday Mike had finally agree to move in and we were signing up to take our Scuba Diving certification courses. Now that it's President's Day, we are both officially Open Water Certified Scuba Divers. We can rent our own equipment and go diving with, our without, a professional local diver. Now all we have to do is plan a trip and go see the beautiful underwater habitat's in Cozumel and Hawaii!

On top of finishing our open water dives this weekend, Mike and I spent the better part of yesterday moving his furniture into my house. We now have the next week off to spend meshing our stuff together so it all fits nicely. The next few months will be an adjustment period as we both learn to truly live with eachother, but I am very much looking forward to living with him.

It has also been brought to my attention that I need to expand my Excel and Access skillset in order to move up in my fields of interest. I am now enrolled in an 8 week online course for Microsoft Excel at SCC. Next up, an Access class, if I can find one. I am suprisingly very excited to take this class, as I have a newer found infatuation for excel.

This will be a interesting few months, to say the least, and I am hoping they are everything I think they will be and more.

How I Coupon Without Being Extreme

Since I posted my original blog about my shopping trip a couple months ago, I decided to share with everyone how I coupon without being extreme and purchasing 50 bottles of toothpaste/laundry detergent when I am really buying for Mike and I, and occasionally my mom and brother. I learned to coupon by using CouponSense.com. It is a great website for those starting out and don't understand how coupons work and how to take advantage of sales and store coupon policies. After about a year, I felt it was necessary to try shopping without the help of Couponsense and my savings has been about the same, although I spend 2-3 times the amount prepping and grocery shopping every week. I still receive 1 Wednesday and 2 Sunday newspapers every week, so I can get double coupons to stock up for my house. I have hardly the room for a real stockpile, as seen on most Extreme Couponer's TV Shows.

How I Organize My Coupons:

I use a 3 ring binder. Mine is only 1.5 inches thick. I also ordered protector sheets that have 9 pockets to a page, and thick tabs. I have 4 sections in my coupons: Grocery, Household, Personal and Store/Restaurant. Inside the sections, I have organized my coupons into subsections based on the aisle/department in the store. This makes it easier to flip though the pages as I'm shopping if all of the coupons I need are on the same page(s). Every Sunday, I pull out all of my coupon inserts and collate the like inserts. Then I clip them (2 at a time). and sort them into my binder. This is the part that takes the longest. Send me a message if you have any questions on how to organize your coupons in the binder, I am more than happy to help.

The wonder of animals...

I was in a shop in San Diego back in December and went into a shop at Seaport Village. The shop sold pet paraphenelia and happened to have a car magnet shaped like a paw print. Inside the paw print, the magnent so boldy asked, "Who Rescued Who?" Well if that isn't a true statement, I don't know what is... I don't know where I'd be without my smart and clumsy Zoe. She who cuddles with me every chance she gets, is excited about the tiniest things, and makes me laugh when no othet friend can.

Halloween mixtacular

As another halloween passes, i see all of the adorable costumes my friends are dressing their kids in and remember trick or treating as a child. Amazingly, i was one of two different characters every year until i was 13. The first, i used my cousin's old dance costume and went as a genie or jasmine. My second, i wore an old dress sewn by my grandmother with its matching yellow bonnet and apron and went as Dr Quinn Medicine Woman. I was in love with that tv show growing up.

The other thing i remember about Halloween is caramel apples and candy corn. So when i saw this recipe online for Caramel Apple Cupcakes, i absolutely had to make them for halloween. These delicious cupcakes are made with shredded granny smith apples and filled with homemade caramel. They were a huge success and well worth the 4 hrs of hard work.

Holiday Baking

It's been a while since I've written anything, and you'll have to forgive me because I have been caught up in my kitchen. Mike handcuffed me to the stove so I could finish my holiday baking and get my goodie boxes out to my friends and co-workers. Over the past few weeks I have managed to make:

12 Dozen Snowflake Sugar Cookies (decorated)
8 Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies
6 Dozen Molasses Cookies
6 Dozen Snickerdoodles (Sorry Hillary, they all got eaten)
2 9x9 pans of peppermint fudge
1 9x9 pan of rocky road fudge
60 dark chocolate covered candy canes
24 white chocolate covered Hershey's candy canes
24 chocolate mint cupcakes with mint icing

48 egg nog cupcakes with rum icing

  36 vanilla bean cupcakes with chocolate orange frosting

If you are interested in any of the recipes, let me know and I'll post them up here. I've also had the joy of selling 3 photograph prints this month! So far, it's been a good December and I've had a lot of fun with the great people in my life! Also, if you are curious how I get the frosting so pretty, I bought a kit that comes with a pastry bag and giant decorating tips. See Best Ever Cupcake Icing Kit at BakeItPretty.com

Holiday Decorations

Thanksgiving is officially over, Black Friday come and gone, and tomorrow is Cyber Monday. This weekend is historically the "decorating weekend," at least in my family. As I pulled all of the tubs and boxes of decorations out of the garage and sorted through everything this year, I began to think about how much work I put into decorating my house every year, just to pull it all down a month later. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love decorating my house for the holidays and having friends and family over, I love putting up my tree and hanging the ornaments with my family. But I know that there are many people that start decorating in August just to get all of their ornaments and art up.

How much decorating is necessary to equip your house to host friends and family? Are you considered a scrooge if you don't put anything up beside your Christmas tree?

Just a thought as I go back to work hanging ornaments from my ceilings.

My Stock Up Shopping Trip

Today, I went all out and stocked up at Fry's, Safeway, and Albertsons. I bought 142 items for $113.85...which means I saved a total of $146.71. You gotta love coupons when you average $0.80 per item with meat and produce included. Now I am not a hoarder, nor do I have an extreme amount of space in my kitchen. I also don't have room for a stock room in my house. Therefore, I will be donated 30 cans of food that I bought to St Mary's Food Bank, through the canned food drive at my work. Everything else is just going to have to get used within the next 6 months. I did miss out on 4 tubes of toothpaste that would have been free, except somebody cleared all of it from the grocery store before I got there.

Here is my list of what I bought....

2 1/2 lbs Jennie-O 93%Lean Ground Turkey
4 Cans Dole Tropical Fruit
4 Bags of Nestle Chocolate Chips
2 16oz Containers of Cornstarch ($0.29 each)
2 3-bar packages of Crisco Shortening Sticks
4 boxes Betty Crocker Cake Mix ($0.49 each)
2 2-lb bags of C&H Brown Sugar
1 4-lb bag of C&H Sugar
1 2-lb bag of C&H Powdered Sugar
8 cans of Campbells Chunky Soup
1 Gal Milk
20 6-oz containers of Yoplait Ligh
1.12lbs Gold Delicious Apples
3 1-L Smart Water
2 Tide Detergents
1 Axe Detailer (free)
1 Axe Body Wash ($1.38)
6 boxes Kleenex with Lotion ($0.66 each)
8 cans Campbells Homestyle chicken soup (0.75 each)
24 cans Campbells Cream of Chicken soup ($0.24)
4 jars Heinz Gravy ($0.75 each)
4 cans Hormel Chilli with Beans ($0.41 each)
6 cans Del Monte Veggies ($0.49 each)
6 cans Swansons Broth (FREE)
4 cans Ocean Cranberry Jelly ($0.49 each)
2 boxes Kelloggs Pop Tarts
1 20 oz Dr Pepper (Mike HAD to have soda even though it would have been cheaper to buy a 2 liter)
2 5-lb bags Kroger All Purpose Flour
2 Bags Dole Salad
2 Containers Kroger Whipped Cream
1.78lbs Banana's

Update: I went back to the grocery last night to stock up on some other deals I missed. The crest toothpaste was still out however, I picked up:

2 cans Pringles ($0.49)
2 Gillette Shaving Gel (Free)
2 Heinz Gravy (earned $0.50)
3 Swanson Broth (2 Free, 1 @ $0.50)
1 Bag Ricola Cough Drops (FREE)
1 36ct Reynolds Cupcake Wrappers ($1.59)

I had a $1.50 off purchase coupon from my last shopping trip, after tax this totaled $1.43, savings $16.99! 

Deep Fried....what?

In celebration of three amazing years together, Mike and I took the day off of work to be with each other. So far, we have signed up for Scuba Open Water Certification (one of his gifts to me) and travelled to the Arizona State Fair. If you look at the state fair website, you can find a link to everything they have deep fried. This includes: Deep Fried Snickers, Deep Friend Kool-Aid, Deep Fried Pudding, Deep Fried Beer, Deep Fried You-Name-It.

When did our society become so obsessed with deep frying everything? Just splitting Indian Fry Bread with Mike was enough grease to make me sick. It's no wonder such a high percentage of our population suffers from heart-disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. If we keep pumping ourselves full of grease, fat, and sugar, how do we expect to live long, full, and happy lives?

My October Blog of the Month...

Systems have been acting up at work, so I decided to take a little break, before I unplugged my laptop and throw it through the inoperable windows. Regardless of if they care I was looking at a cooking blog, I decided it was the option least likely to get me promoted to customer. As tomorrow is the halfway point to this month and we are approaching the 2 month countdown line for the holidays, I was considering what to give some of my friends and co-workers for the holidays. As I am flat broke and extremely good at one thing (cooking) I decided to look for fun holiday themed recipes. With that I introduce EggNog Cupcakes and Peppermint Mocha cupcakes via The Ungourmet blog. This blogger introduces us to fun recipes, awesome failures, and tempts us with pictures of delicious food. Check it out, let me know what you think! A new blog to come in November...maybe. The Ungourmet Blog

Hot Grease... Cool Glass..... Bad Idea and a Great BLT Recipe

This evening, Mike decided to make me BLT's (bacon, lettuce and tomato for him; bacon, lettuce and turkey for me). Because he doesn't like getting popped by the grease of the bacon...cooking the bacon naturally falls to me. After cooking 9 pieces of beautiful, thick cut bacon, I was trying to do the smart thing and dump the bacon grease without pouring it down my drain and garbage disposal. I took a glass out of the sink and poured the bacon grease straight from the stove into a nice cool glass.

.... thirty seconds later... POP! The glass split the entire way around the circumference just above the bacon grease line. Needless to say...if you're cooking bacon (or anything that creates grease) wait until the grease cools a bit before pouring it into a container to dispose of.

Since I'm talking about cooking bacon for BLT's, I thought I'd publish Mike's awesome recipe for BLT's

Ingredients:

Bread
Roma Tomatoes
Thick Cut Bacon (enough for 2 pieces per sandwich)
Arugula
Mayonnaise
Fresh Basil leaves

Slice the tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. Cook the bacon until crispy. Mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise with 8 or 9 finely chopped basil leaves. Spread the mayonnaise on one side of the bread. Place 2 pieces of bacon on the bread. Layer with the tomato slices, arugula, and the second slice of bread. Cut in half and serve with your favorite sides.

We used regular white bread, as it was what was in the house, but a stiffer bread like a baguette or ciabatta bread would go well with the sandwich.

A Baking Blog to Entice You

Ok, I know I am not a mother, but that does not mean I cannot indulge in the stories of bringing up children that are followed by the most creative, delicious looking cupcakes! I must say, I fell upon this blog by accident, looking for a recipe for vanilla bean cupcakes and have yet to be able to log off of it. This website will pull you in with the allure of caramel apple cupcakes, vanilla bean and strawberry buttercream, Pinktastic cupcakes, and the list goes on and on. I have yet to try to make any, but I was just too excited about this website to not share it right away. See "My Favorite Things" to the left and click on Sophistimom Blog. Once you're at the page, "Well-Fed" is filled with ooey, gooey, yummy recipes. Check it out and let me know if you've been brave enough to try any of the recipes. I think the Vanilla Bean with Buttercream will be great for a friend's birthday and the Caramel Apple will definitely be made for Halloween.

Seasons Change..... Fashions Change....

It's that time of the year again, where summer fashions slowly fade out as we begin to dress for cooler weather. In Arizona, it never get's too cold to not wear open toes shoes. There are days, even in the dead of winter, where I'll wear sandals and flip flops in the daytime. And there are times, in the dead of winter, where I wish I lived somewhere cold enough to fully engage in the wondrous fall fashions. It is also at times like these that I wish designers like Christian Loubaton and Jimmy Choo were within my reach. Since they are not, I look elsewhere to Carlos, Guess, Jessica Simpson, and BCBGeneration. I am very excited to see the wedge heels are still in style on boots, and that they have new choices for over the knee boots out. I can't wait to wear some over the knee boots with leggings and a short long-sleeve sweater dress. I am even more excited to find a pair of over the knee boots that actually fit how they are supposed to without cutting the circulation off to my legs this year.

Well good luck and happy shopping!

Awesome Cupcakes - August and September

Cupcakes are maybe one of the most fun desserts to make. They are personal sized, easy to decorate, quick to make treats that will satisfy almost anyone with a sweet-tooth. I like them because they are particularly fun to decorate and share. If you work in my building or have ever worked with me, you will discover the countless different possibilities of recipes and frosting/topper combinations. Below are some of my favorite cupcakes I have either made or seen in the past 30 days.

This first one, we will call the Gravestone Cupcake....

Use any kind of cake mix with chocolate frosting. Dip the frosting in crushed oreos (I used the food processor). For the headstone, I used Milano cookies, cut in half, and piped RIP in green frosting on them. This was attached by covering the bottom of the Milano with more chocolate frosting and holding into place for about 5 seconds.

The second one here is..... a VEGAN cupcake!

This was also my first time using my tips I got from the Best Ever Cupcake Kit on BakeItPretty.com. I pulled a recipe for Vegan Dark Chocolate cupcakes and Vegan Frosting and substituted the sugar in the cupcake mix for Agave Nectar (substitute the sugar for 2/3 the measurement in Agave nectar...then make sure you decrease the liquids by 1/3 cup-ish).

Now this next one, I confess I did not make, but someone at my work did and I thought it was very pretty and creative.

They used Tye-dye cupcake batter, white frosting, then marshmallows to decorate in the pattern of flowers. The marshmallows are cut diagonally in half (this person used multicolored marshmallows), and then shaken with colored sugar or non-pareils. They will stick because the inside of the marshmallow is sticky.

Lastly, my most recent creation - Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting!

I found this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa on FoodNetwork.com and followed it pretty closely. If you use an ice cream scoop, you'll get 2 dozen cupcakes out of the recipe (the website says it will only yield 15). I was pretty shocked at how these turned out, as they call for coffee in the mixture. The frosting was piped on with one of my favorite tips from the Best Ever Cupcake Kit. Needless to say, 2 dozen cupcakes disappeared in less than 2 hours at 7 in the morning.

I can send copies of the recipes I have if anyone is interested. Hope you enjoyed my Wednesday Treat!

Etsy Account First Success!

I haven't really promoted this much, but I do have several of my favorite photographs I've done for sale on Etsy... I really have not done much marketing, which is strange as that's what I went to school for. After 4 months and no sales, I figured it was going to be a wash being on Etsy. It's a great place to go to find homemade stuff, but it's pretty hard to be a seller on Etsy. It's an over-exuberant amount of people out there trying their hand at selling what they're good at.

Well, tonight I logged on to my email to see an email titled "Etsy Order Confirmation." That's right, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I sold my very first photograph! This makes me stop and think, maybe I could make this successful! Maybe I really could sell copies of the photographs I have so lovingly decorated my house with. Maybe I am not the only one who finds these pieces interesting and beautiful in their own way... we shall have to wait and see.

If you want to check out my shop, there's a link on the right side of my blog home page. Tell your friends and family, share the shop, and let me know what you think! Feedback is key to any successful venture in life.

The Chicken is Cooked!!!

I finally got around to making that chicken I was talking about and man was it a challenge...I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! But then again, that is what mothers and cell phones are for, right? I've never cleaned out a chicken and was not about to put my hand inside of it to pull the insides out to the cavity. Good thing I didn't...I filled the cavity with water and flipped it over in a strainer and out pop ALL of the organs.... not bagged like a turkey... just cut out, mushed in a ball, and shoved back into the chicken. What a wonderful surprise!

After cleaning it out and tossing the insides, patting it dry with a cutting board and moving it to a cutting board, it was pretty simple to dress the 5.5 lb bird and get him going. I cut up and apple and used some garlic and butter on the inside, rubbed olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the outside, stuck it in a 9x13 pan with some chicken broth. Into the oven it went at 350 degrees. The temperature was checked at 90 minutes, and it was about 20 degrees shy and juices running reddish. Two hours in, still not done. Two and a half hours in oven and the bird was finally done.

I served the chicken with garlic mashed potato casserole, roasted veggies, and salad. Yum! Chicken was a little dry and next time, i think i'll crush the garlic before stuffing the chicken. I'll also plan out better, as my oven seems to take forever to cook the chicken.

Happy cooking and Happy Labor Day!

Hanging Out Taking a Bath

 After 90 minutes and still not done.

 Dinner is served....

Roasting Chickens....

Ladies and Gentleman...Boys and Girls...I am about to do a magic trick, a fantastical feat no mere mortal has attempted before!!!

Ok, so maybe it isn't a magic trick, and maybe I'm not going to do this exactly right now, but it is an extraordinary task I have yet to try! Tomorrow evening, I will be attempting to roast my very first whole chicken in my oven. Yup. A WHOLE chicken! With all the tips and tricks I have been given by my awesome friends and co-workers (as well as the internet and all of it's usefulness), I am hoping and praying I succeed in producing the most delicious chicken ever tasted. And after bragging so much, I hope I don't get grossed out cleaning out the chicken and dealing with the skin, causing me to back out of my challenge.

I do have one question for all of you... What in the world do I serve with my magnificent, moist, tasty chicken? 

UPDATE: Due to feeling like my head was going to explode and my eyes were going to pop out of my head, the chicken did not happen. Maybe next weekend?

Cupcakes, Shoes, and Photography

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the things that I really enjoy in my life, other than my family and friends. After seriously considering everything that I do and partake in, I have whittled it down to three things: Cooking, Shoes, and Photography.

Cooking: I will really try any recipe once. I find mixing ingredients different ways and substituting to create different unknown results quite entertaining. I can say my boyfriend is a very brave guinea pig, testing everything that comes out of the oven and off the stove. Dare to challenge me to make something?

Shoes: Well this is a given if you know me or have seen my closet. While I may not be able to afford Jimmy Choo's or Christian Loubitan's that are more than twice my mortgage, I find the style I love in more attainable brands, and hopefully on sale. There's something about the perfect shoes that just completes the outfit.

Photography: Believe it or not, I standard taking photography a little more seriously when I was working on a DIY art project for my house. Since then, I have added a handful of pictures here and there and have been able to decorate half of my house with black and white photography. Each photo is something I found beautiful, unique, and worthy of capturing.

While a majority of this blog will cover the three things mentioned above, there may be a few other topics that slip in from time to time.