Weekend

Well this weekend was pretty eventful.

Friday I worked my last shift at Ivars becuase I start my new job at one of two chefs in the daycare on campus. We bake everything from scratch and get to be really creative with our food for the kids. I am really excited.

Saturday we all woke up early and since it was our weekend to have my stepdaughter we took her shopping for some new clothes and shoes cuase she is growing so fast and her clothes cant keep up. Audrey had a melt down about store 3 so I decided to have Nathan take me to my Moms house so I can play with the baby she was babysitting all weekend and Audrey can see her Nana.

We topped the night off by going to Red Robin for dinner with my best friend Sam.

Sunday was another early morning becuase we had to be at Nathans Grandparents house around 12:30 and we were picking up lunch on the way. We spent a few hours visiting and his Grandma gave me a lot of really great platters that she was wanting to get rid of. Plus I scored a huge bag of wine corks which is awesome seeing as I want to make this.

Sunday also came a day of change.I cut about 8 inches off of my hair and it felt great. When my hair gets too long it is crazy to maintain and a pain.

Before

After.

For dinner Sunday night I made Chicken and Cheese Stuffed Shells before we had to take Hayley to church! It was so yummy.

Half a tub on Ricotta

Half a tub on Cream Cheese

I cup of grated parmesan

1/4 cup chopped green onion

4 chicken nuggets(i used left overs from the night before)

I just put it all in my grinder mixed it up

Cook the shells Al Dente then spoon any sauce you choose over them, I used a Mushroom and Garlic Tomato Sauce, top off with about a cup of Parmesan

Bake for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melted.

I forgot to take a picture cuase I was in a hurry so here it was in normally looks like

My Shoes came with what?!?

These badass shoes are called Sketchers Fitness. Not to be confused with the ugly sister shoes Sketcher Shape ups. These shoes have two toning sections on the bottom of the shoe that tone your lower half.

They normally run for about $80 but I got them on sale at Foot Locker for $30.

The best part besides the price is that when I got home and took them out of the box I found a little gem inside. A fitness DVD, little exercises that help maximize the potential of the shoes.

We are going to start going for walks as a family now that the weather is starting to warm up enough to be outside for long periods of time, so these shoes are perfect to give me a little help!

Check out your local Foot Locker to see if they have a sale on these in your area!

Pinterest

I have officially joined Pinterest the other day! Thank you for the invite Robyn! 

You have to be invited to use pinterest due to its popularity.

It is super easy to use. 

Once you have joined you create boards, just like a corkboard but its online.

You name them for example mine are, food and drinks, party ideas, hair and makeup, my closet.

Once you have named your board you surf the site and find pictures to pin to each board.

Each picture has a website attached to them for either the recipe, the website where you can purchase the item or the blog they came from where you can find more inspiration. 

If your friends from facebook are on pinterest it automatically links your pages with thiers so you can repin things they have found to your boards and visa versa.

I recommend joining it has so many great ideas and inspiration for everything!

Happy Pinning!My link is below to see what I have pinned!

My Pinterest

I can't believe I forgot to mention

The Cheesemonger!!!

This place had cheeses from all over the world including Head cheese, caramelized onion cheddar, Lindbergh and Butter Cheddar. Our goal this weekend was to not say NO and try everything, and that's what we did. So Nathan, Angela and I tried the Head Cheese and loved it. It is made of beef blood, pork tongue, cheek and hip. My favorite was the caramelized onion cheddar so I bought 1/2 pound!

Here is the website where you can order all kinds of cheese and imported wine! I guarantee you would all love it!

Leavenworth

Where do I even begin when it comes to our trip to Leavenworth?!? On Friday afternoon Nathan and I along with 4 of our best friends took the Train to Leavenworth for a much needed mini vaca.

The train was a lovely 4 hour ride, our only problem was that it left at 5pm and since it was dark we couldn't see the gorgeous views but we still had a lot of fun!

We arrived in Leavenworth at 9pm and immediately went to our condo to check in and drop off all of our bags. 

Our first stop was called The Post Office Tavern where we shared a few pitchers of beers and Angela and I sang Karaoke!!

We then ventured to another hole in the wall bar called The Loft! It was filled with snowboarders and drunk girls attempting to sing Beatles songs but they butchered them but it was all in good fun!

Saturday we woke up to this!!

It just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. It was gorgeous.

We had breakfast at Cafe Verona and Bakery, a cute little bakery with the most delicious Strudel we have ever had.

We spent the rest of the day going shop by shop and exploring the town. We were mostly there for all the Bavarian food and Beer! Enjoy the next few pictures of all the yummy places we stopped at.

This was at the Gingerbread Factory, a cute little bakery will everything Gingerbread. I bought Audrey these cute little Ginger tiny tots! You can order all of these delicious things HERE!

Next came the Fudge Hut. Click HERE to view their website and order some fudge for yourself!

Then came The Taffy Shop with over 50 flavors! SHAW!!

You can order some for yourself HERE! Nathan and I finished off a pound of Taffy before we got home last night! Im ready for a detox, but it was worth every bite!

By this time we were ready for a drink so we headed over to The Icicle Brewery for a tour and a tasting! 

It was the highlight of our trip, we had so much fun at the Brewery and recommend you all stop in and try it!

It was only $9 for 6 4 oz tastes! So worth every penny!

From there we headed over to the most amazing Bratwurst place called Munchen Haus which is owned by the owners of the Brewery! It was the most amazing sausage we have ever had. So good in fact we had it for Breakfast the morning we left.

They offer over 10 different mustard's plus Apple Cider Sauerkraut.

You can buy all their mustard's HERE, I recommend the Apricot Mustard and the Garlic and Onion Garlic!

After all of these adventures we ended our night at Ducks and Drakes for dinner and then headed back to the condo for some hot tub time!

Sunday, after a horrible snow storm, 2 late busses and a 9 hour trip we finally came home! We had an amazing time and we are planning another trip for the summer time. PLEASE PLEASE check out this cute little town and enjoy the taste of Germany right in the U.S!

Going Stir Crazy

If you don't count Tuesday which is the only day I ventured out of the house for 4 hours of work then today marks day 4 of being cooped up indoors due to this crazy storm. Thank goodness we leave for Leavenworth tomorrow on the train with 4 of our closest friends for a much needed vacation. So what have we been doing for the last 4 days you ask? A whole lot of nothing. We have done your typical cleaning and homework but nothing worth talking about. Audrey has been diagnosed with Hypersensitivity and she hates the snow. She is scared of it because it is the unknown for her. We have taken her outside twice to build a snowman and she has cried and screamed both times. 

 This was the only time she smiled!

So our only option has been to stay inside and play and watch movies and try and stay sane.

A lot of these guys

  And Celtic Thunder of course.

So with no real end in sight to this crazy weather what do you recommend we do to stay busy??

I look forward to hearing your ideas! 

Stay tuned Monday for my post of all the exciting things we will be doing this weekend in Leavenworth!

Home Tour

Sit back and relax while I take you on a tour of our new Townhouse.

This is our living room. Cozy which is perfect seeing as we spend most of our time in here.

The sconces were $10 at Walmart

The 2 small frames on the wall on the left were $5 at Target

The large frame was a wedding gift but you can get it at Target for $24

The 2 floor lamps were $10 each at Walmart

The dresser the TV is on was $20 at Value Village that we refinished

 This is our Dining Room. We found a dining room table but its a hefty $300 so we are saving for it.

The framed Paris picture is from Overstock.com and was a gift from my brother

The circular iron peice was from Goodwill for $2

The Bar stools were a gift from my Grandma

 Our Kitchen is small but when its only me in there cooking you don't notice the size.

The 3 Hanger Photo was a gift from my Culinary School teacher

The Wine Rack on the fridge is from Target, it was a wedding gift

The Rug which you can barely see was $9.99 from TJ Maxx

This is looking into our bedroom from the hallway.

The Sconces were $2 from Goodwill

The Picture was $20 from Target/A gift from Nathan for Mothers Day

The bed spread was $100 from Bed Bath and Beyond/ Wedding Gift

This is our Bedroom looking towards the hallway

The Chair was made by Nathans Grandma Gunderson/A gift after he died

The Dresser is from Ikea $50

The Bookcase was $39.99 from Walmart

The Paris Picture is from Ikea for $10 

 This is the Girls room. Still need a bed for Hayley so right now she sleeps on an Air matress, which is the most comfortable bed EVER.

The Fish Rug was from Ikea For $2

The Princess Picture was from Ross for $8

The girls use the pumpkin for a night light from Target for $5 on clearence

The Bookcase which is seriously multipurpose was $20 from Shopko

The Ballpit was a gift from my sister for Audreys 2nd Birthday

The coat hanger was a gift from my Grandma

 The Bookcase was from Ross for $9

The Princess artwork was from Goodwill for $2

The Blanket was my from Grandma that she made for Audrey, goes perfectly with the room

Snowmaggedon

I wish I was joking but this is what it looks like here in Tacoma and all around Western Washington. Every single school and most businesses have closed down and there is no real end in sight. People are saying this is the worst snow storm since 1985. Luckily I get to stay home and be with my Husband and Audrey but I also seem to work for the only company that doesn't close even in this weather. For more information about this snowmaggedon visit Tacoma News Tribune.

Just in case you were wondering

I have been the biggest slacker...EVER on keeping up with this blog. My excuses?? Life. I know that sounds lame but I have a serious problem balancing my time these days. I did start a new foodie blog over on wordpress if you are interested in following that but I have some catching up to do on that blog too. You can find me at goodtaste4you.wordpress.com

Since our last meeting our family has moved into a townhouse just a hop skip and a jump away from Lakewood in Tacoma. We are right behind the Tacoma Mall and 2 streets away from the busy 38th street. Stay tuned for a Home Tour which I hope to start this week. It is a cute 2 bedroom and although we are still making it home we really like it!

Audrey is 2 1/2 now and turns 3 in May, holy crap where has the time gone? We are throwing a Candy Land theme party and spare me the, "she is only 3, whats with the huge themed parties?" Birthdays are special no matter how old you are and she will get to see the pictures and love looking back at all the fun times she had each birthday! She is no longer in PT but now we go to OT every week becuase she has been diagnosed with Hypersensativity which can and will be detramental to her learning if we don't get a jump start on working on it now. Other then that she is gorgeous and growing so fast and we are loving every minute of it.

Nathan is now in college for HVAC Heating and Air Conditioning and is hoping to get a job working at SAFECO and Century Link Stadium once he graduates next June. I on the other hand will graduate this June once I am done with my last few classes. Right now I am in Psych 200 which studies Lifespan, Algebra because I am really dumb when it comes to Math and English 102 which is Argumentative and Research. I thought this was my last quarter but I realized I need one more math class after this so while I am here for one more quarter I thought I would take another Culinary class that is not required but highly recommended and a another class just to fill my schedule!

Please stay tuned for more and I will do my best to stay on top of this thing better! :)