Happy Valentine's Day: A Baking Under the Influence Edition

Emily and I wanted to make a treat for Valentine's Day and check out how working with fondant would be.

Emily spotted this idea from Sweetapolita.We kindaaa cheated a bit and bought sugar cookie dough and icing becasue we were short on time but let me tell you the results were delish!

Here is what you will need:
Sugar cookie dough
Cookie Cutters
Icing
Fondant
Food coloring gel
Rubber stamp

Cut out the sugar cookies into whatever shape you desire. Bake them and let them cool.  Prepare the fondant, let me explain- ours was rock hard and had microwave instructions on the tub it came in.  We warmed ours up and it softened.  We kneaded pink food coloring gel into it and rolled it out into 1/8th inch thickness. We cut out the heart shapes and used a small bit of icing on each cookie to adhere the fondant to each cookie.  Once assembled we stamped the cookies with the rubber stamp to create the script effect.



We drank Pink Flamingo red wine which I cant find a picture of for some reason!

Anyway I hope you all have a great V-Day :)



Flasback (a bit) November 2010- Florida, Shades of Green, Universal Studios and Wine!

Wow I got so caught up in the holidays that I forgot to share with you all our trip to Florida.  We went to spend Thanksgiving with the hubs' grandparents (both sets) and he got me a pass to Universal Studios and Harry Potter World(!!!!!!) for my birthday.  I was excited to see the grandparents and explore the parks. 

Captain America Diner heck ya!!!

the whole park was decorated for Christmas which was awesome

things that make me wanna vom

We ate at Bubba Gump

Yum!

 

 

 

We spent two days at the parks and we stayed at Shades of Green for one night. The accommodations were great and I would recommended it to anyone!  For those of you who don't know you pay based on  your rank and you can also sponsor civilian families to join you.

On our way back to the grandparents house we stopped at an amazing winery called Keel and Curley.
We sampled all of their wines for $5 (which was taken off the amount of the wine we purchased) and had a great time. The staff was awesome and their wine is very fruity!

Stop back tomorrow to see the Harry Potter World post :)

Happy New Year!!!

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. Its now 2011 and our next big race is only 30 days away  eeeeek! With that being said this is really a shamless plug for our charity fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in cunjunction with our big race in Houston at the end of the month. 
This is from our fundraising page that the hubs runs.  You can also see the other charities we have supported in the past!

So 2010 proved to be a very interesting year for us. Marriage, Buying a House, Grad School, etc. Not to mention that in May I qualified for the Army National Guard's Marathon Team.

Jules and I had a few ideas of what we wanted to raise money for this year, and we were planning on a Fall Marathon to do so. One thing led to another and our schedule put us with a big race in July and one in January. After registering for the Houston Marathon, I saw that they had a charity running program called 'Run for a Reason.' When I saw that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation had pledged to raise at least $20,000 through the race, I knew we had found our event and charity for the year...even if it is technically in 2011.

---

Why Cystic Fibrosis?

I've always loved this picture, the two of us in the Fall of 2003

Many of you who are here to donate were lucky enough to know Katie but for those of you who hadn't the pleasure, I'll say a few words. She was definitely one of a kind.
Katie lost her lifelong battle with Cystic Fibrosis earlier this year, although I know she lives on in all the lives she touched.

I met her in August of 2003 before our senior year in High School. There are only a handful of people that I can truly say changed my life and Katie had a big impact. She was so full of life and just an amazing person. She really taught me the importance of living life in the moment.

It was the highlight of my trips back to Chicago to see her, and eventually, to see her and her husband Sean. She continued to beat the odds time and time again, I really started to think I'd always get to see her smile whenever I came to visit.
One thing that will forever remind me of Katie is a song from way back when. Whenever I hear Konstantine by Something Corporate, I am reminded of all the great times we had together and the wonderful life she lived. The song has a line in it that goes:

I always catch the clock, it's 11:11

I always remember her telling me that she wished for new lungs every time she caught the clock at 11:11--it was something that always stuck with me, especially after her wish eventually came true in the spring of 2004.

I know times are still tough, so I ask for those of you who don't have much to give, consider at least $11.11 in her memory. You can donate here. Thank you so much for your support.

It is in her memory this year that both Jules and I run. I can't wait to carry her through the race with me in January. Rest in Peace Roosha.

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Sean, Katie, Jules, and I at our wedding

Merry Christmas!!!

Secret Santa Thank You!

My Secret Santa package arrived yesterday from the Milspouse Secret Santa at Wife of a Sailor.
My Secret Santa was the Mrs. over at The Diary of a Mrs.  In the swap I received a delicious smelling apple pie candle, some hand sanitizer, Lindt chocolates, and a blanket to keep me warm!

Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!

Friday Fill-In

1. What do you see your life like in 10 years? Hopefully its less busy! But we will probably have a little one running around and I'd like to see myself settled into a career I enjoy.
2. What do you like most about your job? The vacation days
3. What are three things you do every day, no matter what day it is? I hope on blogger to at least read the blogs I follow, text and facebook ha
4. What would you do with an extra five hours in your day today?  Ugh bake more cookies for the units xmas party ha
5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whichever holiday  you celebrate) cookie recipe (please share!)? Oh these are sooooooo good. 

Something More.....

As some of you know, my husband and I do a bit of running. Once a year we try to raise money for charity in conjunction with one of our races. This has been happening for the last few years, in 2008 Dan was able to raise over $1500 dollars for the St, Jude Children's Research Hospital, in 2009 we were able to raise over $2000 dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project, and this year we are hoping to raise even more than that for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!
We will be running the Houston Marathon/ Half Marathon in memory of our friend Katie who lost her battle to the disease this year.  Please check out the story here.  You can also check out the stories from our past runs on that site.

If you would like to donate please do so here.

You support is very much appreciated!
Dan and I are both looking to set personal records at this race while our friend cheers us on from heaven.

Ok NOW its Christmas Time!

I refuse to do anything Christmas related until the day after Thanksgiving ha. So the first order of business is to get photocards from Shutterfly :).   There are so many cute ones to choose from. I have a few photos in mind and will share with everyone what the final choice is! We know that we want to include photos of us and our beloved puppies so I am trying to find cards with spots for two photos. For our family it is fitting to send photo cards because all of the hubs family is all over the US and we don't get to see them very often. So the photo card is a nice way for them to "see" us and for us to say "hi" to them!

Here are the final contenders:


Cute

Simple and Elegant



Merry and Bright

 I am leaning towards the first one because it makes me happy ha but the hubs might not want something so girly for the card.  Who I am kidding, he doesn't care!  We have used Shutterfly in the past for many items including calendars, thank you cards and our Christmas cards last year and have never been disappointed. Their products ship quickly so you can get them out quickly!

I am looking forward to sharing with you all the final product :)

Click here to learn how to get 50 free cards from Shutterfly also!

Thanksgiving

Hello all,
Sorry for being so quiet, we were off to Philadelphia for the weekend for a race and now we are leaving for Florida(visitng grandparents and Harry Potter World) in a few short hours.  Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  I will have lots of posts when I return from our trip :)

Halloween Carepackages!

I just sent off my Halloween care packages! Even though Im lucky enough to have my hubs home, there are still lots of soldiers that need packages. I am a member of soldiers angels, which is an organization that allows you to adopt a soldier to send packages and letter to.
This year I sent 15 little treat bags with various types of candy and other snacks and a little kit to make your own costume. I hope he enjoys it!