Recent Obsessions

So I tend to find something and then not be able to get enough of it... so here are a list of some of my recent obsessions:

1. Panera Bread
The other day I took Allie in to Petsmart and there happens to be a Panera right by the Petsmart and I made the mistake of going in. I became absolutely hooked! I have gone at least 3 times in the last few weeks to get a bagel before work. I first fell in love with Panera while at Baylor when Nicki and I would make trips there for breakfast or studying. Unfortunately, it's an expensive habit to keep up!


2. Barnes and Noble (or Borders!)
I have always loved book stores and have enjoyed looking around, but recently I have spent hours on end looking through all the books and trying to find what I might like most. I love looking through fiction books, cookbooks, inspirational books, but my favorite to look at recently have been books about children with special needs--I have found quite a few good books on this topic and I love reading different perspectives on certain illnesses, diagnosis, and disorders so I can learn more about the kids I work with.


3. Coffee and Hot Chocolate
So for those of you who know me well, you know I am not a fan of coffee. I do like various drinks at Starbucks, but very rarely like coffee I make at home, even with added sugar or creamer. But on cold mornings in the last few weeks I have found my new favorite drink--it's half coffee and half hot chocolate. I am a big fan of hot chocolate, so I tried mixing the two and I absolutely love it!

4. Cookbooks
I have recently found many new cookbooks and love looking for recipes of new things to make. My favorite things are things I can bake like breads, muffins, and cookies. But I am trying to find more recipes for meals and recently have made homemade chili and cornbread! I hope to try out some new things soon.

These are just a few of my recent favorite. And speaking of favorites, I absolutely love this commercial for Macy's that has come out recently! I'm sure you've seen it, but if you haven't check it out!

Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! On Wednesday I spent the morning baking desserts with my mom and then we packed up and headed to my Grandpa's house in East Texas. It was Allie's first trip to grandpa's house and she loved and hated it. She hated the fact that she was surrounded by lots of new people--when Allie was inside she turned into shy Allie who would curl up in my lap or Nick's or my mom's and not go near anyone else. In fact, everytime my Grandpa got up, Allie started barking and growling! We had to remind her that it was HIS house, so she just needed to settle down. Allie did however love the backyard. There was nowhere to escape, so she was able to run free around the yard without us worrying--and she found her first leaves. Allie spent an hour in the morning running along the side of the fence and sliding through the leaves. She wore herself out!

I enjoyed getting to spend the time with my family that was there. We played games and caught up on life. Enjoyed lots of good food too! My plate yesterday consisted of Turkey, Ham, Stuffing, Corn Casserole, Carrots, Cheese, and Artichoke dip. I also dipped into a couple of desserts (we had five different kinds) and had Chocolate Eclair and Sopapilla Cheesecake!

I am very thankful for my wonderful family and all of our good conversations! We are spending the rest of the weekend cleaning, going to the movies and decorating my mom's house for Christmas!

Puppy Adventures

I am Officially on Vacation for the next week! Last year during the holidays, I wasn't able to take any PTO, so this year I decided I should take as much as I could! So I am taking off this whole week for Thanksgiving and I am excited about resting and relaxing!


Allie and I decided to head to Mama Reed's for the week while we are off--we will be going to Palestine to my Grandpa's house on Wednesday and Thursday, but for now we are just hanging out at my mom's. And Allie has already spent lots of time running around trying to figure it all out! We put a gate up at the top of the stairs to keep her with us so she doesn't have too much room to explore. But if we leave her upstairs and we go down, she whiles, howls, and tries to get under the gate! It's pathetic, but I find it hilarious when she tries to get under, so I thought I'd share a picture for you guys to see too!
Poor Baby... she is trying so hard...I'm sure there will be many more stories of her adventures this week!

I Love Fall!

I have been absolutely loving the cooler weather this week! Last week I was out shopping and since all of the Christmas stuff is out already, the fall stuff was all on sale!! So while I was at Mardel I picked up Gooseberry Patch's Flavors of Fall Cookbook and was excited to look through it.

Today was a long day and my allergies are getting the best of me, so I was very tired when I got home--but one of my favorite ways to destress is baking. I don't do well with actually cooking, but give me bread, cookies, cakes, brownies to bake and I am a happy camper! So I decided to try out one of the recipes from this Flavors of Fall Cookbook and I'm glad I did!

Tonight I spent my evening making Apple Cinnamon Loaves. The bread turned out so well and warmed me up on this chilly night! It definitely hit the spot and is one of my new fall favorites!

A Day Off

Erin and I decided about a month ago that we should take a Friday off work and go enjoy the day when everyone else is working! We looked at our Calendars and decided that yesterday would be the best for both of our schedules.

We started the day with breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana. This might not sound like all that fun, but for us it brings back some memories! Our last year at Baylor, our schedules were so busy that we didn't have a whole lot of time to get together. So one of main times to meet up was for breakfast tacos at Taco C before classes started. We would get up and meet around 7:30 and enjoy tacos, Dr. Pepper and great conversation! So that's how we started our day off :)

Then we headed to a 10:05 movie, which was nice because 1. It was "cheap" only $5! and 2. No one was there! After the movie we headed to pick up Tonya for lunch and she introduced Erin and I to Plano's Central Market. We looked around the store and then went to the cafe and enjoyed some sushi for lunch. It was so great to get to catch up with Tonya!

After that we spent the afternoon shopping--more like looking because neither of us have a whole lot of money to spend! But I did finally get a Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook! I have been wanting one for a long time, and they had them on sale, so Erin and I both picked one up!

It was a great day of hanging out with one of my best friends and enjoying some time off! And I still have a whole weekend to get things done!

A Birthday Celebration

This picture is in honor of my brother, Jeremy's, 29th Birthday! His birthday was on Friday, but we spent this afternoon celebrating with him. This picture is one of my mom's favorites...she thinks it's so funny because apparently when I was baby I was scared of Jeremy and he just wanted to hold me all the time--and then I got a little older and I wanted to follow him everywhere and he wanted nothing to do with me by this point. So she likes to remind me that once upon a time I wasn't so sure about him! And then I turned 4 and we decided it was the most fun to gang up on the kid in the middle, so all of our games we teamed up against Nick!

Anyway, I spent this afternoon at my brother's house hanging out with our family and Aja's. We ate fajitas and Texas Cake that my mom made (which is J's favorite!). Then after Aja's family left, we played Dominoes and hung out. It was a very relaxing afternoon and I enjoyed getting to spend so much time with my family!

We found out this weekend that Nick (my other brother) is probably moving back to Austin in January or February. He has been back home with my mom since this past January and we have all started to take it for granted having him around! J & Aja's house is just 10 minutes from my apartment and having Nick at mom's house made it easy for us all to get together frequently. But it looks like come 2009, he will be back in Austin and rare visits will become the norm again--so it was good to have today, and it will be good to enjoy the upcoming Holiday Season before he heads South!

Anyway, I digressed a little bit--this post was supposed to be about Jeremy. Happy Birthday to the brother who teased and tormented, but always loved me unconditionally!

Short Lived Splendor...

I have to say, it was amazing to watch the sunrise on my 6:30 walk with Allie this morning! Usually it is pitch black, but today we got to watch the sun come up!

But I have to enjoy it while I can because I know it's short lived--in a week it'll be dark at that time again!

But it was definitely a great way to start my Monday--hope you have a wonderful one!

Homecoming

What a wonderful weekend! First of all--I have to tell you that after my crazy post about how worried I was about Allie, she did very well at Beth's house! She never once tried to escape, she spent most of her day sitting with Beth's husband (which if you know Allie--you know that's strange because she doesn't like new people!), she played hard and wore all the puppies out, and she didn't try to tear anything up! I was so glad she did well :)

And Homecoming was great--it felt SO good to be back at Baylor. I don't really realize how much I miss it until I come back! Erin and I got up very early and left for Waco a little before 6:00. Made 1 stop for caffeine and then headed into town. We got there very early for the parade, and were surprised, but very glad, to find that the bookstore was already open! So we looked around at all the Baylor stuff and got some new shirts!

Then Mathis and Nicki and her parents joined us for the parade. It was so great to see my best friend again! We enjoyed the parade and then Erin and I went to Bush's for sweet tea and rolls. Came back to campus to find Dr. Pepper hour going on so had our Dr Pepper floats! Then we walked around a little bit, took some pictures with Judge Baylor, then headed out to lunch with Nicki's family!

After lunch we headed to the game, where Erin and I were so [not] fortunate to be sitting right in the middle of Mizzou fans! And an added bonus we got to stare directly into the sun (which attributed to my now wonderful tan lines...). After the first half of Baylor being down 21-7 and being amidst the Missouri fans, Nicki invited us to come join them! So we were very fortunate to return to the Baylor side! Where the game then turned exciting--Baylor tied it up in the 3rd, then Missouri scored and we tied it up again in the 4th. Mizzou ended up winning by getting a field goal in the last 3 minutes. But it was a good game! And I got to spend a lot of time catching up with Jenny (Nicki's mom) and hearing about her new job! Very fun!

Then Erin and I drove through Katie's Custard so I could fill my craving for a Harvest Cyclone and Erin was able to get her dirt and worms! Then we got back on the road to head back to Dallas.

It was a very fun day--got to spend it with some of my favorite people, the weather was beautiful, I was back on campus, and I ate lots of Waco's finest foods :) Coming home felt nice...