Foodie Friday: Chocolate Chip Reeses Blondies

If you're in the market for a big, fluffy chocolate chip cookie bar, you're in luck! I made these blondies a while back before I really knew what blondies were. To be honest, I still don't really know. I'm chalking them up to something like a chocolate chip cookie... bar. Whatever they may be, they surely are delicious!

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Chocolate Chip Reeses Blondies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yields: 16-24 servings [depending on what size you cut them]

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup Reeses peanut butter chips

Directions:

Whisk together melted butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Mix in remaining ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Pour batter into 9x11 glass pan and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and enjoy!

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Sick Obsession

Good morning [or whenever you're reading this] friends! Right now I am so excited to be vegged on the couch with my feet propped up and the TV on. I have forgotten just how tired I am the next day after working evenings on my feet.

Unfortunately Raymond is home with a toothache and let me tell ya, it isn't pretty. His entire jaw is swollen about an inch and he hasn't been able to eat anything for 2 days. For as big of a guy as he is... he is miserable. My heart hurts for him, but luckily he is on antibiotic and we can only go up from here! In the mean time, I'll just continue to boss baby him around.

Like I mentioned before, I'm excited to veg out and that's for mainly one reason only. I have a new sick obsession... The Real Housewives [New Jersey, Orange County, New York]. Okay, okay, I know I'm way behind the times and this show has been around for years and I've known that. The thing is, I swore I'd never watch it. I mean really, the show is freaking ridiculous! These people are living train wrecks and while my heart hurts for their children that have to grow up with parents like that, I can't turn the channel.

I.am.obsessed.

My absolute favorite is New Jersey. I mean, Teresa? I feel so bad for her. Her husband is so scummy! He is a major McDoucherson and I just cannot stand him. I can't figure out if she's really a nut and has lied so much that she actually believes her own lies, or if she isn't lying and the gods just aren't in her favor. Either way, I love her! [Disgusting, isn't it?]

via

 Um, I have that apron. Her and I are like one... except we're not really.

Any ridiculous shows you're crazy about??

The Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and Cold Beer

Saturday night I went out with some of my girlfriends to Fowler Fest [Texas country music concert with Kevin Fowler as the headliner]. If you're not familiar, here is one of his latest [and greatest] songs:

It had been a while since I hung out with most of these ladies, and I forgot just how awesome it is to have a girl's night! We all had so much fun singing, dancing, and of course having a maybe a few too many drinks.

Marcy, me, Megan, Val, Amanda

Amanda and I came to the conclusion that there really isn't anything better in life than faith, country music, and football.

I know I've said it before, but I could never imagine and never want to live anywhere other than Austin, Texas. I love my city and state and most of the people in it.

We don't take enough time to just stop and smell the roses. While at the concert dancing with my girls, I stopped and looked around at all of the people enjoying the same thing. It's funny how music can unite so many strangers. There are a lot of things in my life I could complain about, but all-in-all, I've got a darn good life and am extremely blessed!

Monday Randoms

Howdy y'all, happy Monday! Are we ready for this week ahead? I'm feeling good and ready to get it started!

+ I started my new old job on Friday and was just so busy that I didn't have a moment to fit a single tweet, let along a blog post in. I missed this little world I have here on the internet, but sometimes it has to take a back seat. I'm pretty sure I wont be able to keep up with 5 posts a week now, but am going to do my best.

+ Speaking of that ol' job, I "trained" all day Friday [9am-2am], and let's just say I felt like I got hit by a bus. My body is used to constant moving from taking care of the boys, but my feet are not used to non-stop walking for 17 hours straight. I came home, went straight to bed, and moaned myself to sleep-- I don't think my feet have ever hurt so bad! I know it's like riding a bicycle, my body will just have to get used to it again!

+ This is NOT how you put on deodorant. Ouch! And yes, I wear men's deodorant-- it works and smells much better than women's! Don't judge.

+ I think it's time for a hair cut [and time to clean my mirror]... I look like Cousin It [Adam's Family anyone?] PS- please excuse the trash hole that is the background of this picture, someone thought it'd be great to tinkle on our comforter so I was in the process of changing the bedding.

+ I am going through a candy phase. I picked up these babies as an impulse buy the other day and then somehow a few days later I ended up with a box of Turtles, Sour Patch Kids, and candy corn. Thankfully I think I got my fix because my waist does not appreciate all that sugar.

+ I got bit by something [pretty sure it was a chigger] last week at my aunt's house and woke up the next morning to this beautiful sight. WHAT THE HECK! It is the weirdest bite I have ever seen in my life!

+ Something else I can't get enough of? These bad boys... fantastic childhood memories for me right here in a little donut! [Can you spot a little beggar in the background?]

+ Two words: Sock obsession. I have always had a deep love of all things fun and/or fuzzy socks. Christmas  and holiday themed are my favorite hands down, but anything other than a plain color can make me dance out a happy jig! I always get socks for Christmas and am NEVER disappointed to find them in my stocking. Right here is 48 pairs of fun socks, and is only about 3/4 of my stash. I might have a problem...

+ I can't get over how big Guero is getting. He weighed in at 50 pounds 2 weeks ago and at the rate he is growing, he is probably 55 by now. Insane! I'm not sure what I'm going to do when he is full grown- I can hardly handle him now! Isn't he handsome?!

Have a beautiful Monday, friends!

Bringing it Back - Accent Vlog

Do y'all remember the accent vlogs that were floating around a while back? Well, I was totally in love with watching all of them but never hopped on the bandwagon myself-- until now. I know I may be a year late, but I figured that with a few new followers these days, it'd be cool for me to put voice behind these words. When I'm reading a blog I always look for videos so that I can see and hear how the author speaks, and thought y'all might be interested as well!


The words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

The Questions:

+ What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
+ What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
+ What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
+ What do you call gym shoes?
+ What do you say to address a group of people?
+ What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
+ What do you call your grandparents?
+ What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
+ What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
+ What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Notes:

+ The camera starts to shake a little bit because Guero bumped into the table it was sitting on.
+ I'm looking away to read the words, so forgive me for the lack of eye contact.
+ When I answer the question about soda, I made absolutely no sense. I meant to say: You can call a sprite a coke, but you can't call a coke a sprite. Not sure why that was so difficult for me to spit out haha!

Now, without further adieu....

So what do ya think? Big accent? No accent? I'm dying to know!

If you made a vlog feel free to leave the link the comments section-- I'd love to watch them!

Blessed

I'm going to be completely honest here, y'all. Today, I was totally planning to write a post about all of the things I'm unhappy with in my life [there aren't many].

What I was going to tell you:

+ I'm tired of living in a third story apartment with a dog and that I cannot wait to finally find a house with a yard where Guero can run wild.
+ I wish I had the time and extra money to decorate a new home.
+ My blog needs a make over badly.
+ I wish I could buy a DSLR camera to be able to take better quality photos.
+ My social life is lacking lately due to my work schedule.
+ I'm still not healed from my surgery and I'm dreading what the outcome may be.

What I am actually going to tell you:

+ I am blessed to have not just a place to live, but a nice place to call home.
+ I am starting a new [old] job and will earn the money to go to school, where I will then earn more money to buy and decorate the home we want.
+ I can still write out my feelings without a perfectly designed blog.
+ I have a digital camera that takes decent enough pictures for now.
+ I can make more time for friends, family, and fun.
+ I can and will heal and everything will be fine.

Clearly, I was going to give myself a pity party today.. and I kind of still did. That being said, I saw a wonderful quote on twitter and it put me in check, real quick.

"God is not likely to reveal more to you until you've responded to what He has already revealed."

I keep asking God for this and for that, but I forget to thank Him for what I already have-- I beautiful family, boyfriend, friends, home, vehicle, job, the opportunity to go to school to get what I truly want in life, and much much more.

Yesterday on my way home from work, I saw a homeless man standing on the corner of the road, wearing hospital clothes, covered in bandages with a smashed in face layered with scrapes, cuts and bruises. He looked sad and he looked alone. My heart ached. I tried my best to not look at him, and it was one of the times that I scrounged my entire car for any change I had, but found none. So instead I prayed for him. Maybe he is a bad man, maybe he asked someone to rough him up for sympathy. Who knows, but either way I asked God to heal him and help lead him down the right path. A good path.

In that moment I remembered that quote, and thanked God that that wasn't me. Not only did I just thank Him, but I was truly happy with what I have.

Have you counted your blessings lately??

Weekend Things

Hello, friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, we sure did over here in our neck of the woods.

As I mentioned before, Saturday was our 5 year anniversary. Unfortunately, Raymond had to work most of the day [the rain has his schedule all sorts of messed up], but I on the other hand, got to sleep in.

Naturally I spent the morning lounging around on the couch watching an Awkward marathon on MTV. Have any of you watched that show? I magically stumbled upon it during the first season and while it's about a girl in high school, the humor and dialogue are completely aimed for an older audience in my opinion-- that or my sense of humor is a touch on the immature side. <--- wouldn't surprise me!

I finally got the will to peel myself from the couch and into the shower so I could run a few errands and ended up hanging out at my parent's house for a few hours. I love that they live only 20 minutes from me & I can drop in and annoy them whenever I feel like it! Another good thing about hanging out at the 'rent's house is the fact that I don't have to worry about food. Does anybody else notice that even though you become and adult and are in complete charge of your own grocery shopping, your parent's always have the best snacks/food at their house? Not complaining, just acknowledging!

Because we're still dating [ahem- meaning not married], we don't go all out and crazy when celebrating our anniversaries. We spent Saturday evening/night BBQ-ing and hanging out with good friends. We ate delicious food and played quite a few games of the beloved corn hole while watching football and listening to music. Life really doesn't get much better than that, and being who we are, it really was a wonderful way to spend our special day evening together.

Of course Sunday was spent watching [more] football and an over-due visit to our favorite little hole in the wall, Crawfish Shack. I've mentioned this place before on the blog and I cannot recommend it enough! If you're a lover of all things seafood, GO! I promise you will not hate me for it.

The weekend was rounded out with snuggles from our handsome baby boy that is growing much too fast and lounging on the balcony watching the rain. A perfectly relaxing weekend if you ask me!

I love him!

Oh just sleeping on mom's pillow like I'm a human. No biggie.

This photo melts my heart. Sleeping on my tummy.

Rainy Days

Using R's safety glasses to chop onions

5

Tomorrow marks five years that Raymond and I have been together. It’s hard to believe that we’ve made it this far, but then again, it feels like forever.

We always hear it, “I cannot imagine my life without you”. Well, to be honest, I can imagine my life without him, but it sucks. My heart aches to even being to think about it. So I don't, and I wont.

We've had our fair share of ups and downs but right now in this moment, I feel like we've finally got it figured out. As mad as he can make me sometimes, I would absolutely never trade him for the world.

Raymond, I love you. I have learned from you, been loved by you [and probably hated at times]. You are my rock, my rhyme, and my reason for becoming a better person.

In a sea of people, my eyes will always search for you.

Five Reasons Why I Love You

+ You teach me to be a better woman
+ You can make me laugh at the drop of a hat
+ Your nick names for me are almost just as ridiculous as mine are for you
+ I have met an amazing family because of you
+ You encourage me to do what I love to do, solely for myself

Irrational Fears

For the past few months, I have been having dreams [err... nightmares?] about the world ending. These dreams are so ridiculously real and then I wake up freaked out of my mind. About a month ago I woke up from one of these dreams, assured myself that all the sun in fact did not implode right in front of my eyes, and went back to sleep. Unfortunately, I fell back into another dream where I had to take shelter on the side of the road with random strangers because there were oh I don't know, 8234485 tornadoes in sight, a gas station blowing up, and aliens dropping from the sky. Random and ridiculous? Maybe. Scary as heck? Absolutely.

While right now I can look back and giggle at myself for getting worried over a few silly nightmares, I really have started to think about all the irrational fears that I actually do have.

Besides the world blowing up in my face, I fear that--

-  One day, I'll be driving down the highway and someone will fire a gun somewhere and it will accidentally pierce through my window and into my head. One minute I will be driving down the road, belting out some Taylor Swift song at the top of my lungs, and the next, there I will be, splat dead in the fast lane of Interstate 35 with no suspect in sight. My murder will forever remain a mystery.

- Keeping with the whole gun/driving theme, my parents once had a guy on the road flash a gun at them through his window. That right there would probably make me faint and/or need a change of shorts. I forever wish I never knew this story, because it absolutely must be the route of my murdered while innocently driving home fear.

- My whole life, I have always known that at some point, I will lose a limb or become paralyzed. Don't ask me why [remember, these are irrational fears we're talking about] but I have a sixth sense about it happening.

Ok, so I know I'm insane and none of this stuff will ever happen, but IF I am ever found keeled over in the middle of the road with a Brittney CD in, just know that CD wasn't really mine.

What are some of your redonkulous fears??

Choices

source unknown

My entire life I have been a relatively happy person. Growing up, I cannot really remember much about my life that wasn't good. [Other than being a kid-- when everything isn't fair and life just sucks.] I have recently come to realize that there were a few [two] years of my life that I was never happy. From the age of  19-21, my life sucked. Now, when I say that, not everything sucked. I had friends, family, and Raymond, but I was also in a job that I hated, was learning who my real friends were, and had more than one hiccup in my relationship.

Not a day went by at work that I didn't curse the people around me for being [in my eyes] ignorant. I would go to work, do my job, bitch about it, then go home and be miserable for the rest of evening until I had to wake up and do it all again. I remember one of my managers telling me that they had performed our employee evaluations for the quarter, and he told me that the consensus for me was that "I had an attitude". I couldn't believe it. Me? No way! I was always the quiet, polite, don't step on toes kind of girl.

Then it hit me. I in fact, did have an attitude. And a bad one it was. I was so completely embarrassed and felt like I had let myself down. It was that moment that I realized where this bratty like behavior was stemming from. I worked with a girl that considered herself to be a "bad bitch". She was rude, snarky, wild, and basically didn't give a rat's you-know-what about anyone but herself [or so she pretended]. I wont entirely blame her for my issues, but it was in that moment that I realized how much a person can rub off on another. Before I worked with her, I was happy. I didn't complain about stupid little things, and let the small stuff roll of my shoulders. After working and talking with her every single day for months, I began to take on her life outlook. And boy I'll tell ya, it was a crappy one.

From that day, I realized life was about choices. You are the only person that can make yourself truly happy. The choices you make are the choices that will decide your fate in this world. It is plain and simple, you and God decide the road you will travel down.

Since realizing what a crap-tastic person I had become, my choices in life have changed. I have decided to do what makes me happy, because unless you can do that for yourself, you will never be able to make someone else smile. God has the road mapped out, and it's up to you to choose which turn to make.

In the words of Sheryl Crow, "If it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad?"

Peace Out, Summer

Every spring, I get so excited for summer. That first day where the sun is shining, the sky is clear of clouds, and the temperatures hit 70 degrees-- nothing feels much better.

This year, I feel like I can officially say I hated summer [the weather, not the events]. Other than the few weekends that we spent in the pool or on the lake, this season was miserable for me. Maybe it's because I am getting older. Maybe it was the humidity? I don't really know. Hell, I was too dang hot to be able to think straight. What I do know is that this summer wasn't even close to as hot as last year, but it felt 1000x worse. The thought of having to walk to my car made me want to cry. I don't think I have ever sweat so much by simply just breathing.

If you live some place where the highs only hit 80 degrees, I envy you. Here in Austin, we are thankful when the high is 95.

Friday night, a "cool front" came through bringing our high temps to 91 with a beautiful breeze from the North. Being that this past weekend was our first UT tailgate of the season, I was in heaven! Also, my insane craving for fall was only intensified. For a few months now, I have been on a soup and chili kick, and now I officially will be lighting my pumpkin spice and cinnamon apple candles.

I know the temperatures are going to spike again before the heat officially surrenders for the year, but I don't care. Pumpkin-this and pumpkin-that, I'm coming for you! Sweaters and fluffy socks? You betchya!

Raymond will be [once again] so annoyed by my immense love for the holiday season, and I can't wait to smother him and our home with decor.

Are you looking forward to the cooler/holiday season or do you live for sweet summer time??

Milo, Finn & My Achey Breaky Heart

My heart is absolutely about to burst into a million pieces.

With the start of a new job quickly approaching, I can't keep my mind from thinking about not seeing my boys every day. For the past almost three years I have had the pleasure of seeing their sweet faces. Sure, there are times when I absolutely want to rip out my [enter f-bomb] hair, and times that I have actually been brought to tears of frustration while they run wild around the house, but I cannot imagine my life with out them.

The other evening as I was putting them to bed, Finny grabbed my neck, hugged me, looked me dead in the eyes, and said "I love you Sam-Sam". My heart melted into a puddle of sticky goo and I balled my eyes out while squeezing and kissing the crap out of this once-tiny human. I never wanted to let him go.

There are days I thought would never end, moments I thought I just might lose it. Questions and doubts as to what the proper way to raise these boys was. I've poured my heart out to Raymond about how fantastic [and sometimes awful] they can be. I cannot begin to count the times I have texted Raymond the words "kill.me.now." due to some of meltdowns I have put up with. But the moment I lay my head down to sleep at night, a warm feeling comes over my body, thoughts of them fill my head, and my heart feels like it just might implode with love.

I have been so blessed to be able to create a bond with my cousins that I never would have been able to do without helping raise them on a daily basis. I pray that they have learned, grown, prospered, and will always hold me dear in their hearts. Obviously, they will never fade from mine.