{ slack-tastic }

I am such a slacker. Seriously.

Time has totally slipped away from me. Work has been crazy busy. Life has been crazy busy and it hasn't left much time for home decorating or crafting.

With that said, it's time to get back on the band wagon. I've got so many great ideas swirling in my head.

Can't wait to share!

{Toilet Paper tube Mini Album}

I've been saving toilet paper tubes lately. I saw this idea online and minutes later sent out a Facebook message to all of my friends, family and co-workers to save their toilet paper roll tubes for me so I could get started making these cute mini books!

I'm making another book - this time it's going to be filled with recipes!

It's getting cold here - I saw a snow flurry when I was looking out my window this morning. It's the perfect day to stay inside, search online for house and crafting inspiration, read a book and eat a big bowl of something yummy. I have some leftover filling from the bierocks I made last week. I'm thinking I might make some more of those yummy little fellas. They were yummy!

Stay warm!

{sick}

I've got the crud. Blah! I hate being sick.

BUT, while I've been sick, I spent some time today in my craft room and let me just say, I made the cutest little book. I'll take pictures and share them tomorrow.

FYI: If you have a Cricut machine, Michaels has the cartridges for $9.99 this week! EEEKKK! So excited! Guess who's going to Michaels tomorrow! THIS GIRL!

{Decorating for a Fresh Start}

The decorations are down and it's back to normalcy around here. I got a few new little treasures to put out and they're looking pretty nice.

Right now, it's all about the aqua blue, green, brown and silver. Isn't that little birdie adorable? I saw him today and he came home with me. (for those of you that know me, I'm terrified of birds, so this is the only way I like birds!) The nest with the fresh aqua eggs is new also.

Aren't these beadboard frames cute? I printed the words on white cardstock and then framed them in these 5x7 frames.

Still not all done with the decorating around here - the mantle is the only thing I'm happy with right now. Still gotta work on a coffee table vignette, sofa table decor and buffet decor for the kitchen.

{Recipe and a Project}

One of my most favorite foods is a German dish called bierocks. It's a bread filled with hamburger, sausage and shreaded cabbage. I've been on the hunt for a recipe for a good bierock for a while and finally stumbled across one recently, so I had to give it a try and the verdict is..... oh my goodness! Tastes just like I remember!

Bierocks

1lb ground chuck

1lb pork sausage (some like the hot kind, I just used regular)

1lb shreaded cabbage

2c shreaded cheddar cheese

2 tsp Lowry's Seasoned Salt

2 tsp black pepper

1 package Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls (follow directions on bag to thaw)

Brown the chuck, sausage and cabbage together in a large pot or dutch oven until cooked thoroughly. Drain grease. Add, seasoned salt, pepper and cheese.

Make a hole in the dinner roll and fill with meat mixture. Pinch to seal and place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bread is golden.

Fresh out of the oven...

Look at the meat filling poking out....it's saying "I'm so yummy!"

Finally, this is a little project I've been working on for the spring. It's a 12x16 painted canvas. Perfect for Valentines Day and spring time! I think it still needs a few extra touches, some lace maybe? Glitter?

The Christmas decorations are down and I always get sad taking them down. Putting each ornament away until next year always makes me sad. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend. The house looks so empty so I've been brainstorming for ways to make my stash of decorating accessories really pop and look new and exciting for the new year....stay tuned for another post tonight to see what I've come up with so far!

{one little word}

For the past several years I've participated in Ali Edward's "One Little Word" project. What is this one world project, you ask? You choose a word and you invite it into your life. You live it. you do it.

My word for 2011 is: seek

Seek happiness. Seek love. Seek new friends. Seek new places. Seek more opportunities. Seek my place in this world.

I'm excited to embark on 2011 with you! Care to join me?

{01.01.11}

Happy New Year! I wanted to make sure I got a post in on 01.01.11! I had to work last night and it was much more calm than I had anticipated. Working in EMS you expect certain days and holidays to be quite rowdy, and this New Years Eve was quite a let down in my books. Ran a nausea call at the nursing home, an assualt, and a car wreck with 2 refusals. The End.

However, since we're at work, on such a fun holiday, we have to have some fun, right? We had a sparkling grape juice toast at midnight in the ambulance (and red velvet cupcakes earlier in the shift). If you have to be at work, you might as well be with some of your closest friends and make the most of it!

{2010: My Life in Photos}

January: She Said Yes!

My sister and Wyatt got engaged (note: her ring is super gorgeous, this was taken with my iphone, so the diamond looks usper hazy)

February: Love Is In The Air

Well, it's in the deocrations at least!

April: Going Wedding Dress Shopping

Every dress she tried on was stunning!


April: Schenanigans at Work
In order to get the full effect of CPAP - one my CPAP themselves

May: Caught on TV by the NBA

This prompted my weight loss challenge....see how full my face looks?! Yikes!

May: Working with Drew

Work is so much more fun when you work with one of your best friends.

June: Focusing on Heritage

My mom cross stitched this for my grandmother - now it's on display in my house.

July: Family Reunion

Headed to South Dakota to visit family and have a wonderful family reunion! these are all of my dad's brothers and sisters.

August: Shedding the Pounds

So far, 20lbs thinner! No more fat face!

September: Aloha!

In Maui for Whitney and Wyatt's wedding!

October: Autumn is here!!

Pretty fall wreath I made - tutorial is on the right side bar!

November: Thanksgiving at work

If you can't be with your family, your friends are the next best thing!

December: Merry Christmas!

Fortunate enough to have a friend work for me so I could spend Christmas with my family!

Hope you have a very Happy and Healthy 2011! See you next year!

{More Christmas Decor}

Buffet side table in the kitchen with Santas and ornaments hanging from the vintage window.

Living room: colors are red, celery green, light blue, pink, white and silver. So lovely.
Close up of the mantle.

The tree

moved the glittered "believe" into the kitchen buffet table and added the apothecary jar with glittered bulbs

{gobble gobble}

Holiday decorating has begun! Let's have a little peek, shall we?

My Christmas mantle: I'm loving the cool aqua, crisp white and the shimmery silvers and gold. So refreshing and tranquil!

"joy" ornament on my standing chalkboard, along with 2 "warty" glittered candles! Love this!

Glittered "believe".

My end table, loving the glittered holly garland, and the snowflake branches

There is just a tiny looksy into my winter wonderland. Iv'e got so much more to post! Working on the stree still, stay turned for something spectacular!

Happy Thanksgiving my sweet friends! Much love and blessings!

{Ideas and Inspirations}

Just a few things I'm currently loving right now...

Decoupaged pumpkins. This pumpkin is painted white and then decoupaged with leopard print tissue paper. Add some foliage to the top and you've got yourself a cute little autumn decoration. (I'd use artificial pumpkins for this!)


I'm loving anything with houses on it right now and aren't these house pillows precious? fun fabric, poly-fil, felt, buttons, etc. Looks pretty easy to me!

Love love love this. Paint and some pumpkins. Too cute! I'm going to try to re-create this!

Love this right now. I've been really learning a lot at BSF (my Bible study group) and trying to apply what I learn to my daily life.

{Just Some Random Stuff}

It's funny, I always have these great ideas swirling in my head. I see something and think "I need to write about this on my blog". Then, I get busy and forget. So, without further ado...


This is a perfect example of why texting and driving is a bad bad thing. 6 cars involved! Here is my fantastic partner, Jenn. Funny thing is, we actually saw the accident and stopped to help before someone called 911 and called it in.


More funny schenanigans from work. My co-worker brought a patient into the hospital. Apparently the patient was drunk and passed out in the street. The police told us to take him to the hospital to be checked out before they took him to Detox. Well, after the patient was placed in the waiting room (because there were sicker people waiting to be seen) our little friend decided to leave. My co-worker chased him down the street and kindly escored him back to the waiting room. Pure silliness!

Lastly, I went to Jessica's house yesterday. Let me tell you what a kind and good friend she is. I have the craziest work schedule. I wasn't going to be able to get my hair done for at least a week because our schedules are totally incompatible right now (except for every Monday when we go to Bible study together). Anyway, I got off work at 4:15 in the morning and she told me to come over when I got off work and she'd do my hair so I wouldn't have to wait another week. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? I am so blessed to know her. She's such a good person, very selfless and lives a godly life. What do you think of my new 'do?

I'll admit, the curls are hard for me to re-create. I tried, but it just wasn't working for me. I got a lot of compliments on it though. Thank you Jessica!

{aloha}

Hawaii was absolutely beautiful. I took this picture on our last day. I went to the beach and sat and watched the sun come up. So peaceful, so relaxing.

My mom and myself at one of the scenic outlook spots. Pretty, huh?

Guess who we met in the airport? Yes, that's Rob Schneider ("You can do it! All night long!"). He was so nice and was in Maui doing a comedy show at a hotel down the road. So cool.

My dad was so jealous that we met him. Hmm, maybe if he had gone to get the luggage instead of sending the girls to do it, then he could have met him too. Am I right?