Project Life 2014 {Week 3}

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday of the year! My bridal shower was even "love" themed because I love Valentine's Day so much :)

I know a lot of people think that its a silly holiday, because you should tell your friends and family that you love them all the time, and not just on a day in February. Which is true, but its also fun to have a special day to celebrate it too!

Plus, any day dedicated to pink and hearts and prettiness - especially in the middle of winter, when everything outside is dark and gray, and everything inside is bright and cheerful - is a wonderful wonderful day!


And, to maybe make my favorite holiday even better, or mess it up, depending on how this goes - we might be closing on our house today.

We were supposed to definitely close today, and were approved by the mortgage company earlier this month. But something fell down on their end near the end of the process, the part where they wrap everything up and send it all over to closing. They waited way too long, and didn't leave themselves enough time to get everything done.

Of course, up until last night, we were told everything was fine and we'd definitely close tomorrow. We didn't find out we might not until after everything we own was on a truck, basic services (like electricity and water) changes had been scheduled and we'd both taken time off from work (a bigger deal for me because a sub had to be scheduled, so now that's someone else who is getting her Valentine's Day messed up when I go into work today!)

Okay, I'm going to stop stressing out about this and try to calm down a bit so I can move on to Project Life now...

Week 3 of Project Life was a really exciting week! The Sunday before this week started, we put an offer in on a house (the one we are having so many problems with right now!), and this week, we had a signed contract! There was so much to do - like filling out tons of paperwork for the mortgage, and printing out every picture of the house I could find! Its new construction, so the only ones I could find were the floor plan and sketch of the outside!

And, of course, there was school. One day this week, I woke up early so I had time to actually blow out my bangs and put on real make up before school. Lots of my students noticed, which I thought was nice, but one 5th grader's comment was my favorite. He told me I looked so much prettier than I usually do! Um, thanks?

Well, I'm off to go to work and hope for a call that we are actually closing today! I really want everything to be delivered tomorrow as scheduled. What are you up to today?

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Valentine's Day Wreath

Happy Valentine's Week everyone!

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. And I love decorating our whole house with tons of Valentine's Day goodies. But this year, I had to hold back on the decorating, because we are closing on our house on Friday, so everything has to be packed up and ready to move.

But, I couldn't leave the apartment totally undecorated!

I decided to put together a quick wreath, so at least it looked Valentine's Day-ish from the outside.

And I totally plan on having the wreath in the car at closing, so when we get to the house, I can put it right up on our front door!

This was seriously so easy to put together. I used a wire wreath form (I usually use styrofoam bases for my wreaths, but this was on sale, and way way less expensive!) + burlap ribbon to make the base of the wreath. I just wrapped and wrapped the burlap until I liked how it looked :)

Then I painted and glittered a red heart - and now I'm seeing a few spots that can use some extra glitter once we are settled into the house!

And added these cute felt hearts that I found in the Target $1 Spot :)

Seriously, this project took me about a half hour total. I made it after work one day, when I was wanting something crafty to do, but didn't want to start a whole big thing. What is it about having to move and pack up all my craft goodies that makes me what to take them all out and play?!

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day, or do you let your winter decor do the talking in February?

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Valentine's Day 2013 {Scrapbook Layout}

Valentine's Day is next week!!!

I am so excited, it is one of my favorite holidays of the year. And its on Friday! So yay!!!

Okay, I'm going to try to contain my Valentine's Day related excitement, so I can show you this Valentine's Day layout!

Last year, on Valentine's Day, AJ took me to dinner at La Madia in Chicago. You know how much I love my pizza.

Seriously, its even the title of the layout :)

We decided to get two pizzas. Because really, the only thing better than one pizza is two pizzas!

Oh man guys, now that I'm looking at this picture, I want these pizzas again! The one on the left is a smoked mozzarella and mushroom pizza, and the one on the right is arugula, prosciutto and shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese...

I think a re-creation of these pizzas might be needed to celebrate Valentine's Day this year! What do you think?

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Project Life 25 {Week 40: February 11 - February 17}

Oh man, I am so excited that it is Friday!

This has been quite a long week, and I can't wait to relax this weekend!

Of course, it being Friday, I've got a Project Life page today!

This one is from way back over Valentine's Day...

Whenever I want to include cards that I would like to open, I adhere them on top of the page protectors. So  for this page, I filled up all the parts of the page that you would see with this fun banner paper, and glued my cards right on top. I love that I can open them up and read them easily.

The second page featured an amazing pizza dinner we had. AJ sure knows how much I love pizza! Oh man, looking at this page is making me hungry and making me miss this dinner!

I better make some pizza for dinner tonight or I'm never going to get rid of this pizza craving! Well, I guess we've established what I'm doing tonight! What are your plans for the weekend?

Project Life 25 {Week 39: February 4 - February 10}

I am so so happy that it is Friday!

AJ has been out of town all week and he is finally coming home today!

I really don't like when AJ is away, I really miss him!

But I do get to do a lot of scrapping done, but I also don't sleep very well...which is probably why I have time to do so much scrapping!

I actually didn't do much work on Project Life, but I still have lots of Project Life pages to share!

Top Row: Mailing all my paperwork to Louisiana to get my new teacher certification. Fortunately, everything worked out well and I am now certified in NY, IL and LA!
Bottom Row: A big big grocery shop after completely running out of food ~ Watching "Big Bang Theory", a Thursday favorite :)

This whole page is about Valentine's Day treats. The cupcakes were supposed to be these Heart Cupcakes, however, the inside was an epic fail. The outside was pretty though!

Oh man, that all seems so far away! Can you believe it is already almost halfway through April?!

Well, I'm off to work, and then to pick AJ up at the airport!! I hope you have some fabulous weekend plans!

Cranberry Tea Scones {Weight Watchers 4 PP}

Happy Friday!

How was your Valentine's Day?

Mine was a lot of fun - except for a technical problem that left me unable to post yesterday! Arg!

I know today is supposed to be a Project Life day, but I really wanted to post this, so that's what I'm going to do :)

For Valentine's Day this year, AJ and I decided we weren't going to do anything too big as far as gifts went. So I decided to get creative, and raid our kitchen for a little bit of help! I took a white tray, and loaded it up with all the fun brunch things I could think of (and left out one of our favorites - coffee cake, because AJ gave up sweets for Lent!)

Eggs, bacon (not pictured, because who wants raw meat sitting on a tray?), cinnamon brown sugar pancakes, cranberry scones, fancy coffee for AJ and of course, fuzzy pjs, because the best part of brunch at home is you can wear your pjs!

I'm most looking forward to the scones. They are delicious! I got this recipe from my mom, who got it from Weight Watchers. I've changed it up a little, based on the ingredients I have here at home. But its only 4 points, and with some fruit and a cup of tea, one of these scones is a very yummy breakfast!

Cranberry Tea Scones

You will need:
1/2 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use 1 cup a.p. flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup + 1 tsp skim milk
3 Tbsp Egg Beaters
1 1/2 tsp orange zest (or clementine zest...)
1/3 cup dried cranberries

What to do:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and 1 Tbsp sugar is a bowl. Stir in the butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Combine 1/4 cup milk, egg beaters and zest in a small bowl.
Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until just blended.
Stir in the cranberries.
Gather the dough into a ball and knead on a lightly floured surface for about 30 seconds (it will be very sticky at first!)
Shape the dough into a 1/2 inch thick disk.
Brush with 1 tsp of milk and sprinkle with 1 tsp of sugar.
Cut into 6 wedges and transfer to a baking sheet.
Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
Serve warm!

And since they are up there, I'll share my "recipe" for cinnamon brown sugar pancakes. I got it from the side of the Aunt Jemima box.


Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pancakes

You will need:
1 cup Aunt Jemima original pancake mix
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp brown sugar


What to do:
Heat up a skillet over medium-low heat.
Combine everything and mix until the big lumps go away. Let it stand for a minute or two to thicken up.
Use a ladle to pour about 1/4 cup (or one ladle-full) of batter onto the skillet for each pancake.
Flip when they bubble at the edges.
Enjoy with butter or syrup or both!

So there they are! All my fancy brunch recipes (except for the coffee cake). What is your favorite breakfast treat?

*The PointsPlus® values for these products and/or recipes were calculated by me and are not an endorsement or approval of the product, recipe or its manufacturer or developer by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.

{Valentine's Day} Treat Bags

Happy Tuesday!

Valentine's Day is in just 2 days! It is definitely my favorite holiday. I get so into Valentine's Day, decorating, sending cards, celebrating, everything!

One of my favorite things is to make treat bags for AJ.

This year, I bought these heart treat bags from Walmart and a whole bunch of candy - peanut M&Ms, heart shaped Reese's and Hershey's kisses.

Then, I used these K&Company Valentine's Tags. They've apparently been discontinued, but Michaels had a whole ton of them!

Every day, I find a cute place to surprise AJ with the candy. Usually I put them on his place mat on the dining room table, or by his wallet or cell phone before he leaves in the morning. Its such a fun tradition, and I can't wait until I have kids and can start doing this with my whole family :)

Some of the tags read:
You Make My {heart} Skip a Beat (Reese's Hearts)
I Love Your Hugs and Kisses (Hershey's Kisses)
you're aMazing
                 &
                 Magnificent (M&Ms)

Do you have any Valentine's Day traditions?

Valentine's Day Mirror

Hi everyone!

One of my favorite things to decorate is our bathroom mirror. Its a little unexpected, but cheerful!

This year, just like last year, I used gel clings from Michaels. They hold up well to the moisture from the shower, and they held up well in storage last year too!

And best of all - they make me smile in the morning!

What is your favorite unexpected place to decorate?

Top 5 {January} aka. The Valentine's Edition

Happy Weekend Eve!

I am so happy that it is Thursday, this week is just flying by. And so is the month of January! I can't believe that February is just around the corner!

At the end of the month, I usually take a few minutes to look back at what I've done, and look forward to what I am going to do. I thought that this would be a good time to make a Top 5 list - because who doesn't love a good list!

This month, in honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would share 5 pins that I love for Valentine's Day! Some I've made, some I plan on making, some I want to make, but my wedding dress thinks I should hold off on them (I'm looking at you Reese's blondies!)

5. Paper Heat Trees I haven't made these yet, but I think it would be so much fun! If I can find some construction paper, I may make one for my classroom!

Click Here to See Pin

4. LOVE I made this last Valentine's Day (but without the banner...because I don't like the Beatles. Please don't hate me forever!)

Click Here to See Pin

My version:

3. Sweetheart Wreath Confession: I probably won't make this (I want to, but with the move coming up, I don't think I should be making more decorations that will need to be packed up!) But, my mom, who is also super crafty, does plan on making this! If she does, I'll ask her to send me a picture!

Click Here to See Pin

2. Every love story is beautiful... I totally made this last year. It currently is on display in our apartment. I think it was my first pinterest project ever, now I think of it!

Click Here to See Pin

My version:

(Sorry about the weird camera angle, I'm not sure what I was doing!)

1. Heart Cupcakes I am definitely making these! I'll share pictures when I do!

Click Here to See Pin

And a bonus, because who doesn't love a bonus! All the Reese's desserts that I want to make, but will be good and not make!

Click Here to See Pin

Click to See Pin

I am already excited to get home and start creating after looking at all of these pictures! I hope work goes by quickly today!

Do you create lists or goals for things you want to create each month?

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {2 18 2012}

Well, I missed out on last week's scavenger hunt. I just needed a little break from everything last weekend!

This was a crazy week, Valentine's Day on Tuesday, complete with a crazy brownie dessert and a crazy experience with my flowers :) The rest of the week flew by pretty quickly. AJ and I spent all day at an Oscar movie marathon. We saw War Horse, Moneyball, Tree of Life and the Descendants and we just got home! From 10am this morning! I'll give you all a review tomorrow when I can think again :)


Love

Well, this picture is actually from last summer. And I obviously didn't take it ;) but I love it, its one of my favorite pictures of AJ and I.

Duplicated

I duplicated this from this pin on Pinterest :)

Trend or Trending

1-800-Flowers was certainly trending on Valentine's Day, but not for very good reasons. These are my flowers from them, they came on February 16 :)

Paper and Plastic

Scrapbook paper in plastic page protectors...alittle bit of a stretch, I know, but I'm sure you'll let me slide since you're just so happy I'm back to the scavenger hunt ;)

Have a wonderful Sunday! I hope you have tomorrow off (Unlike me! Kind of upset about that!)

Project Pinterest: Chocolate Chip Oreo Brownies

The infamous Valentine's Day dessert. Chocolate Chip Oreo Brownies.

I pinned these a long time ago - and by a long time, I mean a few weeks, but seriously, that's a long time to wait for a dessert!

Now, chocolate chip oreo brownies does sound a bit extreme, but doesn't that just look fabulous! And the layer of brownies hasn't even gone on top yet!

You can find the original recipe here, on The Londoner.

I did make some changes:

• I used the cookie and brownie mixes that were in the bags instead of the boxed ones, because they were on sale this week. I guess I could have done the from scratched cookies and brownies, but that would have taken a lot longer, and it was a Tuesday! 
• I only bought one package of Oreos, because I didn't want any extra Oreos hanging around my kitchen, because then I would have eaten them! (As a side note - Oreos and potato chips...any one else love this combination as much as I do?)
• My oven took much longer to cook, about 45 minutes. But that could be my oven, I've been having trouble with everything I've cooked lately taking forever!

You can just see a few Oreos peeking up under the brownie. I couldn't wait to cut into them, but I did...because I was driving all over Chicago trying to track down my Valentine's Day flowers!

(Sorry this one is a little overexposed, I was flustered with the flower drama!)

This is what it looks like when you cut into them...chocolate chip oreo brownie goodness. I can't wait to have another one!

These turned out AMAZING! AJ had one bite and was floored by how yummy they are, then he ate up the rest of his piece! The only thing that would have made this better would have been if I was able to stop eating long enough to get myself a nice tall glass of milk or a hot cup of tea to go along with it, but it was too delicious and I couldn't walk away from my plate to go to the kitchen...also because I was afraid AJ would steal some of my piece! Definitely a win for Pinterest! I will be making these again...but not until after we get back from out vacation! I can't be eating these all the time and attempt to go outside in a bikini!

The Rules:


1. Decide which pin you'd like to recreate.2. Create it!3. Flop or success, create a blog post about your re-do and include the original pin's url.4. Add the Project Pinterest button to your post so others can join in too!

5. Link up and check out other bloggers' posts!

Have a great weekend eve! I will be back tomorrow with my finished A Day in the Life page for February 8 :)

WOYWW: Valentine's Day Edition

There isn't too much going on on my workdesk today. Mostly just a big mess!

Although I made this card for AJ. I used Rhoda Designs digital stamps from Etsy (so wonderful!)

But that was all, because I've been working in the kitchen! I'll give you a sneak peak of the yumminess :)

Well, I have to run and rescue my flowers from my closed and locked office because 1-800-Flowers didn't feel the need to deliver them before 5pm. But you can check out more desks over Julia's blog.

Update: Well, we will never be using 1-800-Flowers. The rescue mission didn't work, because the flowers that had been "delivered" according to their email hadn't been. As of right now, we don't know where they are.

2pm: AJ calls 1-800-Flowers because I have not called him about getting flowers at my office. They tell him flowers are delivered up until 7pm. He asks to change to address to the apartment, since my office closes at 5pm. They say no.

Sometime after 2pm: AJ calls 1-800-Flowers again, customer service is unavailable. They are not answering phone calls. He attempts to check the order status online, and is told that order statuses are not available on Valentine's Day, but he can check tomorrow.

4:30pm: AJ calls me to see if I got the flowers. I have not. I try calling 1-800-Flowers to see if they are close and I should keep the office open a little past 5pm. According to the recording at their phone number, customer service is "too busy" to answer phone calls right now.

4:53pm: After a series of tweets, I get the attention of someone at 1-800-Flowers. They say they will work with me to get the address changed.

5:22pm: They say the address has been changed to my apartment address.

6:30pm: AJ receives an email stating that the flowers have been delivered to my office address. We don't actually receive this email until 7:30pm, after we finished dinner.

7:30pm: We call the front desk to see if the flowers are in our building. They aren't. Brownies are still in the oven.

8:00pm: Go downstairs, get my car and head to my office.

8:30pm: We arrive at my office to pick up the flowers. A co worker who was working late is still there. She said nothing had been delivered in the time we were not there. She said she hadn't even left to go to the bathroom.

10:00pm: Finally get customer service on the phone. They say the flowers have been to delivered, but no one signed for them, and no one can get in touch with the florist. I am told they are either a. on the truck, b. sitting outside my building (because the driver probably didn't have time to walk inside and give them to the door man, yes, that's what 1-800-Flowers told me) or c. sitting outside my office (they aren't, I was there). No one can tell me where they are. It was insinuated to me that its "unfortunate" that my building is on the street because they were probably left outside and taken! Then I was yelled at by the customer service rep for getting upset. AJ got on the phone, and was told I would still receive the flowers, but due to the fact that they had not honored the terms of the contact (guaranteed delivery on Valentine's Day, signature required for delivery).

10:05pm: I go downstairs just to make sure they weren't left outside my building. They weren't. My doorman took pity on me and gave me a rose because at this point, I was in tears. I'm going to make him a thank you card today.

10:28am: I receive a message on Twitter saying my order was canceled. Read: despite what AJ was told, I will not be receiving my flowers, on Valentine's Day or any day.

8:52am (Wednesday): I receive a response from 1-800-Flowers on Facebook saying they will do anything they can to rectify this situation. I private messaged them as requested and am now waiting for a response.

9:43am (Wednesday): After speaking to a customer service rep on the phone, AJ will be receiving a full refund, and my flowers will be delivered before 5pm today. Thank you very much to 1-800-Flowers for rectifying this situation. Now that we have a happy resolution, I can take pictures of my flowers and make a pretty scrapbook page detailing this debacle!

12:50pm (Wednesday): Was just told that a delivery attempt was made but no one was there so my flowers were brought back to the shop. It is a lie, as I have not left my desk all day! I have been on hold for 7 minutes waiting for a manger.

1:20pm (Wednesday): Finally spoke with a manager, was put on hold again while she contacted the florist. It seems the order for my flowers was never even placed, so it never went out for delivery, so they were not delivered. Now they are going to my apartment sometime today. We hope. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but I'm not going to count on it, because I really don't feel like crying any more than I have already. On the bright side - crying makes me not hungry, kicking off my new Weight Watchers week and I haven't used any points yet...I did manage to drink a cup of tea though.

5:31pm (Wednesday): Just got home from work, shockingly there are no flowers here. I'm on hold with 1-800-Flowers again. This is more than just about the flowers now, this is about principle. I do not like being lied to. The funny thing is, if they'd just fessed up to messing up yesterday, I wouldn't have cared at all. Its the lying and treating me like an idiot that I cannot stand.

5:51pm (Wednesday): Still on hold...I'm "next". I've been "next" for almost 10 minutes.

6:00pm (Wednesday): The flowers had never been sent (really? no way!). They will be sent tomorrow to my apartment.

2:41pm (Thursday): MY FLOWERS ARE HERE!

Take 12: February

Yay! I just love Valentine's Day! Yesterday, I posted about our Saturday Valentine's date. Tonight, we are just going to hang out at home, I am going to make dinner and a crazy dessert :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed the dessert goes well, but I'll keep you updated...it is my Pinterest Project this week, since I found the dessert on Pinterest!

I don't have a Valentine's post for today, but Sunday was time for another Take 12 with Ella Publishing Co., and there are some Valentine related items in my 12 pictures!

1. Taking out my up do from Saturday night.
2. Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts for breakfast!
3. Watching tv in our pjs.
4. Walking to CVS to pick up pictures and water.
5-6. Baking sugar cookies.
7. I finished my "A Day in the Life" page from last Wednesday! (I'll share the whole page later this week!)
8. Watching trashy TV.
9-11. Dinner!
12. Dishwasher is on, which means the kitchen is closed for the night!

I hope everyone has an awesome day today! I'll see you all tomorrow for WOYWW!

Valentine's Day Surprises

AJ and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on Saturday this year. He made reservations for dinner, but wouldn't tell me where we were going!

I really wanted to get my hair done for Valentine's Day, but I knew it was going to be expensive, so I was putting off making the appointment. But then, Mops Beauty Shop was having a contest on facebook where you sent in the story of how you met, and you could win a free up do for Valentine's Day! Of course, I sent in our story.

Which I'll now tell you! (Aww, see how excited I am. I'll even give you two versions to chose from depending on how much time you have!)

The short version:
AJ and I met in a flash riot.

The long version:
I was in Philly with a co worker at the National Science Teachers Association conference, and we had gone to South Street for dinner and to hang out. We were on our way back to our hotel when she said she needed to use the bathroom, so we stopped in this slight sketchy bar and bought a beer so she could use the bathroom there.


The next thing I knew, the big open windows were shut and locked, and the front door was shut and locked, and the bouncer wouldn't let anyone leave! 


I went over to the bouncer to find out what was happening - a riot had broken out. Philly had a rash of flash riots in early 2010, they are sort of the same thing as a flash mob, only instead of dancing or having a pillow fight, these are actually dangerous. I heard this one started because Rita's ran out of italian ices. We were put into lock down to keep us safe!


When I came back, the boys who had been sitting next to us asked us what the bouncer had said, and we all started talking. AJ was one of those boys.


We met up for brunch the next day before I had to go back to New York, and he started texting me on the drive back (disclaimer: I wasn't driving, my co worker was!) Almost two years later, here we are in Chicago!

Our story won! I got a free up do for our Valentine's Day date!

I loooved how Khloe did my hair, I was worried that shorter hair is harder to put up, but she did a great job and I loved how it turned out!!

After I got home, we got dressed up to go to our secret dinner reservation! I felt very fancy with my special up do and my sequins on the top of my dress. You can't really see them here, but the whole top part was sequiney.

(My camera died right after I took this picture!)

When we got in the cab, I found out where we were going for dinner - AJ had made reservations at Benny's Chop House! I was so excited, I just love steak houses, the food is always so good, and the atmosphere is usually so cool! It was so much fun. The food was absolutely delicious and the restaurant was so beautiful and played the best music (all classic rock!). We had such a great time. And when we got home, we had ice cream!

And on Sunday...we did nothing! We just sat around and watched trashy TV and baked sugar cookies! It was so nice to have a relaxing weekend, perfect to celebrate Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow, I'm going to make a special dinner (AJ's favorite chicken parmesean) and a crazy dessert I pinned on Pinterest...I hope it turns out yummy! But if it doesn't, there's always extra sugar cookies for back up!

I hope you all had a nice weekend too! I can't believe its Monday already!