It's March Already

YAY! March 1st!!

Spring is coming, and even more importantly summer is just around the corner, and that’s the only season that matters! ;) just kidding....but I do love summer so much!!!

So in honor of March this is my version of the popular pinterest post of the home-made truffle.

I have saved a box of thin mints just for this occasion!

I didn’t take photos of all my steps and this is the first time I think I have photographed food....enjoy

Ingredients:

One box thin mints (or Oreos)

4 oz Cream Cheese softened

6 oz White Chocolate

Green Food Coloring & Mint Extract

I used a food processor to chop up my thin mints, but you can easily stick them into a bag and beat them down to dust and crumbs. (I kept out four cookies and smashed these in a separate bag for the topping at the end)

Then I softened the cream cheese and added it into the thin mints, now it is best to use your hands to mix, you can add more cream cheese if needed but I felt I added to much, either way mix until you can't see the cream cheese any more.

Next use your hands to roll out 1 inch balls and set on a large pan with wax paper.

Let these set in the refrigerator for about half an hour to harden.

When these are ready go ahead and melt the white chocolate any way you feel best, I just melted mine in the microwave (little by little), then I colored it green and I forgot to add the mint extract (even though I went out and bought it for this project, oh well).

When the dipping them I used two forks and covered them then let them drip off the excess.

At the end I used my extra crushed cookies to sprinkle on top. (I also bought some white pearl sparkles...forgot to use those too)

I put them back into the refrigerator to harden for about an hour and they were ready to go!

Fun project for me, I watched Bridesmaids and drank vodka orange juice while making these! It was my first time to see Bridesmaids and OMG I can't believe one of my favorite nerds whom I LOVE is the cop and love interest!!! oh ROY you make me smile!

Roy is from the IT Crowd, I fall asleep watching these guys every night!!

Anyways I locked myself out this morning while doing a load of laundry downstairs, I have rewarded my silliness with a cup of coffee and a truffle...or two...good thing I was wearing shoes and appropriate cloths as I had to walk over to my land lords house and have him let me back in! (thankfully he didnt charge me the 50$ fee for a lock out)

HAPPY MARCH

*This recipe is not my own and I have adapted from many different truffle sites*

Time to be an ARTIST, not a TOURIST!

So my goal today was to make something creative, lol i spent my day looking for something to inspire me! So i'm not ready to make this but...


...I WILL BE MAKING THIS!

This site is where i got my IDEA, she did a fabulous job and if i can find a bag just like the one she used i will use it but right now i found another bag i am thinking of using!

Ok so my project is making my own camera bag, who wants to carry around a big black bulky bag when they go out and live life as an artist and not a tourist! LOL

Here is the bag i found to make my camera bag, the only thing i am concerned about is it might be too big or tall and the canvas might be to thin, altho i will make the foam panels for protection i am just not sure about the full protection and endurance this bag could be in the long run.

Here is where you can buy this bag, FABULOUS site!!

Here is what i would like to transform a bag like this into!

Once again this is the site you can refer to if you would also like to make your own CAMERA BAG

Ok there is one more piece to my puzzle....

I need to borrow someone’s sewing machine and also have them teach me how to do some basic sewing.

I am gladly able to pay for compensation, with some heartfelt girl time and a bottle of wine, hehe!

Our Day in Boulder

Yesterday Kreg and I spent an afternoon in Boulder, as our Valentines date. It was also something on Kreg's bucket list of things to do in Colorado before we leave. We had fun walking Pearl Street, visiting a couple book stores, the Giam store, Prana, Patagonia and a couple brewery’s. (I love that I got to wear my new boots...but man did they KILL my feet, haha)

The first brewery we went to was the Walnut Brewery. You can easily walk to it from Pearl Street if you like. We tried the 6 sampler! It’s a great way to sample many brews but not spend too much. I did like their stout and Kreg liked their Buffalo Gold and Indian Peaks Pale Ale. We ended up getting a growler of the St. James Irish Red Ale. A little pricy in our opinion for a microbrewery, but has a dark and cozy feel to it, a long bar and high ceiling. Above the bar you can see all the tanks for brewing which I hadn't seen before, but I really liked!

The second brewery we had to drive to. The Boulder Beer Brewery, it’s more popular and many people probably have seen their beer at the liquor store or bar. The oldest micro-brewery in Colorado started in the 1979 and was the 43rd brewing license issued in the United States. When we arrived there was no tour available on the weekend, but that’s ok, we found a table to sit at to watch the interesting people that came in. It is Boulder and no matter what anybody says there is just a different kind of person found in Boulder, unless you have been there you don't really know what I'm talking about, you just have to go for yourself. I loved the Mojo IPA and Kreg really liked their Hazed and Infused Dry Hope Ale, we really wanted to try the seasonal Double Black IPA, but it wasn't on special. We took home a growler of their Flashback Indian Brown Ale!

Overall I enjoyed the look and feel of the Walnut Brewery!

Interesting fact we found out, Buffalo Gold was at both breweries so when we asked about it we found out that the Buffalo Gold was an original from the Walnut Brewery. The owner of the Walnut Brewery bought the Boulder Beer Brewery and incorporated Buffalo Gold because it was so popular. So when you drink Buffalo Gold it’s brewed at the Boulder Beer Brewery. The only way to get the original Buffalo Gold is to actually get it at the Walnut Brewery on tap. Just another reason to go directly to a brewery to get that authentic flavor and feel.

All in all we had a great day and had so much fun sampling the tasty brews and talking about our own brewery we would love to open one day!!

Dreamy Dreams….

How do I do what I love and make money?

I am sitting here watching 30 Rock, browsing through pinterest....I realize I have a lot on my mind.

How in the world am I going to do something I love in life and make money!?!? I know that kind of sounds dumb out loud, but isn’t that what we all really want? Well that’s where I am at...sigh...I want to do something I LOVE. I make money now, but I don’t in any way love what I do! Kreg and I have financial goals and so that is what keeps me going, but one day, once we hit that goal I need to do something else!! Something creative and benifical to others.

How do people make money with blogs online? I have seen so many amazing blogs about Wedding Planners, DIY artists, Fantastic Cooks, Photographers, Artists, Home Designers and so many more. They are all very creative and inspiring to me, I suspect they make money...not sure how much, but it’s gotta be worth it and they love what they do! 

How do people start their own businesses? I would love to run my own little running shop or something in the fitness field. Or my own brewery...lol, I know these things are not even close but both things I would LOVE to do...the brewery more because that’s something Kreg would love too. If I wanted to start my own business, should I go back to school and take business classes? I will have to research this.

I laugh at Liz Lemon, Leslie Knope and Michael Scott, but they do what they love and I find that I want to be them.

I went to a manager training college for my work this week, I found out what kind of personality I am and how I deal with conflict. I am a relater/expresser and I avoid/accommodate conflict.....well crap! HAHA, every type has its pro's and con's but how does that fit with what I want to do that I love!

Relaters can be:

Patience

Team Players

East going and calm

Concern for the group and team

More asking and emotive then telling and reserved

How to influence the Relaters:

Seek their help

Emphasize your faith in them

Praise their contribution

Express your appreciation of them

Be open about problems/issues 

What matters most to Relaters:

Harmony

What attracts Relaters:

Relating

What Relaters need to practice:

Initiating 

Perceived excesses during stress:

Inconsistent

Avoids confrontation

Lacks conviction

Aimless

Over compromising

Pliable

Unstructured

Undisciplined

Minimizes risk in relationships 

Most comfortable pace:

Leisurely, deliberate 

Climate or atmosphere for comfort:

Cooperative, friendly, relationship-oriented 

Information expected:

Some detail, relationship impact, evidence of trust

Kind of support needed in decision making:

Offer opinions, assurances

Planning preferences:

Pulls pieces into creative outcome

Involves others in plan

Shows concern over acceptance of plan 

Just some of things I find to be me to the T, like WOW this is so me. I also fall into the expresser but I didn’t add anything to this list from them. They are very creative, which is the part of them that I tested into. 

With that said why did I write this out? Why bore you with my issues? 

Because I need help, haha if anyone has anything to help me out please let me know! Maybe a way to research how to start my own business, or how to make money blogging….or maybe from my personality some insight on what kind of job I would excel at….I don’t really know. Maybe I just need to vent and write it out so I can process it all. Either way thanks for reading! 

Becky

DIY hair mask and my life back in the blogging world

Yay, my first real post since Xanga(middle school). I don't foresee me updating this as much as some other fabulous bloggers, but when I do, I hope it’s interesting and actually worth posting....lol we shall see.

So thanks to my beautiful sister-in law Laura, I am officially in love and addicted to pinterest!

I have found it very relaxing, inspiring and a useful tool if you take the time to actually do the DIY or recipes. I find its like a big magazine that is never ending! While every magazine leaves me unsatisfied and mostly depressed after spending WAY too much money. Pinterest leaves me in a happy, go-get-em mood!

So I have made a couple of the crafty things, cleaned a couple appliances and today I am doing a DIY hair mask. I really have been interested in doing one since its winter and I have been coloring my hair every two or three weeks. At the moment I have my hair wrapped up in a target plastic bag, while I wait for an hour for my beautiful mask to sink in and make my hair silky smooth and deeply conditioned!

So after surfing the web looking through many many different hair mask recipes I have chosen this one today.

Jilly's Hair Mask

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 banana
1 tablespoon of honey
1 egg
2 teaspoons of plain yogurt (if available)

1. Combine all the ingredients and blend well. (I HATE HATE HATE bananas but I went ahead and added 1/2 of a banana.). Now I tried my hardest to blend it all to be smooth but it was a bit chunky with the banana.

2. I parted my hair in the middle and pulled my hair into two sections. I put an old towel around my shoulders to catch any drips and messiness.

3. Starting at the top I applied the mask to my dry hair and worked it from roots to tips. As the majority of my dryness is in the body and ends of my hair I focused most of it there. As repairing damaged hair is impossible, adding moisture will help it look better and keep it from becoming damaged as fast.

4. As I finished the mask I took the two sections and clipped them up, sexy Princess Leia look I promise ;) ;). Since I have never owned a shower cap I used a plastic bag to cover my messy banana hair.

5. Set the timer for an hour and blog away or do laundry or do more DIY spa things to make a day of it.

6. Wash out as normal.

As I am sitting here I am wondering if a real shower cap would seal it better since I had to go grab that old towel and use it to catch the drips. Maybe this is normal tho.

Here are some of the other DIY masks I have found that may be easier or more to your liking if you decide to try it.

Homemade Hot Oil Treatment

Conditioning Hair Masks

(If you continue to read my blogs I only ask that you don’t judge me on grammar, spelling and if I decide to vent just go with it and know it’s a natural girl pastime we all need every once in a while)

New Blog

Starting a blog, not sure what my spin on it will be....maybe a place to vent or post photos, lol - Who Knows =) LOL AND I CAN NEVER GET THIS TO POST!!! LAURA HELP ME!!!!