Lucky Charms Chex Mix

 

 

This weekend I decided to make a super, sweet dessert that I found on this site.  The recipe is below, but beware, my husband called it, "crack" so this is your warning that it is addicting!

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lucky charms cereal
• 24 oz bag of white chocolate morsels
• 1 box of Rice Chex cereal
• rainbow colored sprinkles

Step 1:  Separate the lucky charm marshmallows from the cereal.  This is the most tedious part of the recipe, but it is necessary, so the marshmallows don't melt when you add the white chocolate.  You will still use the marshmallows later on so definitely keep them near by.

 

 

Step 2:  Melt the white chocolate.  Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and melt the chocolate according to the package instructions. 

 

Step 3:  Mix the Chex mix and 2 cups of the Lucky Charms cereal.

 

 



Step 4:  Mix the melted chocolate with the cereal.  Coat the cereal so every piece has white chocolate on it.  Then pour on a pan with wax paper and add colored sprinkles on top.

Step 5:  Let dry and mix in marshmallows. 

Step 6:  Enjoy!

Oh, the Places We've Been {DIY Travel Map}

This DIY is something I've been working on since last year.  I originally came across this Pinterest post and just loved this idea since Danny and I love to travel within the U.S.  I decided to make a map of our own.

Supplies:

• U.S. Map (I got mine at Staples)
• Photos of places you've been (Most of mine were 4 x 6, but depending on the size of your state, you might need bigger or smaller photos)
• Foam board(s)
• Glue gun
• Tracing paper
• Box cutter
• Push pins

Directions:

Start with gluing your map to the foam board.  The map was so large, I had to use two foam boards.  Once you glue the map to the boards, use a box cutter to cut off any excess foam board.

Using tracing paper, trace the states that you have been to and cut it out.  Then, transfer that state shape to your picture and cut around the outline.

After your picture is the size of the state, hot glue pins on the back of it, so you get a 3D look from the map.  Lastly, push the pins into your map and hang somewhere you can enjoy!

Danny and I decided to hang our map in the upstairs hallway which is someplace that we past by often.  It's fun to look at and occasionally we use it to plan our next vacation!

Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica

Since Danny and I had a very relaxing weekend, we were able to cross an item off of my 30 before 30 list! We finally finished The Office series and I will say it was very bittersweet.  To commemorate this special milestone, I included my top 5 funniest moments on The Office.  Enjoy!

5.  Michael hitting Meredith with his car

One of the funniest scenes in the office is when Michael accidentally hits Meredith with his car.  It is so unexpected, making it even funnier than what it should be.

 

4. Dwight's Fire Drill

Dwight went over Fire safety in the office and since no one took him seriously, he decides to set the building on fire to teach them a lesson.  As you can guess, chaos ensues and ends up causing Stanley a heart attack.  Dwight's quirkiness definitely shows in this scene.

3.  Michael's hate for Toby

One of the funniest office relationships, but probably one of the most downplayed relationship is between Michael and Toby.  I always felt bad for Toby since he really didn't do anything to Michael, but you can understand Michael's hate in the unrealistic, but hilarious scenario below.

2.  Diversity Training

It's diversity day in the office and Michael wants to bring out some of the common stereotypes from different cultures and races.  He decides to give everyone a card and have people say stereotypes to push the envelope in this hilarious scene.

1.  Jim imitates Dwight

From a stapler in jello to Dwight's desk completely covered in wrapping paper, Jim and Dwight have a special relationship on The Office.  The pranks that both of these guys take part in are some of the funniest part of the show.  In this scene, Jim decides to imitate Dwight and nails it.  This makes Dwight completely frustrated and turns to Michael to put a stop to it like many of Jim's practical jokes.

The People that I Love

This seemed like the perfect Sunday to start blogging again with Sunday Social.  This week's topic is about the special people in my life.

1. Tell us about the family you grew up in, parents, siblings, grandparents.

I grew up with my parents and my older brother, Marc who is three and a half years older than me.  I grew up as a Daddy's girl and continue to be that way today.  Even in college, I would call home to tell my Dad how my day went and what was going on in my life at that time.  Nowadays, my Dad and I are actual pen pals! I love writing letters back and forth with him! My mom and I weren't as close as me and my Dad growing up, but that all changed when I went to college.  Now, my mom is my best friend.  She is always there for me when I need her and I am so thankful to have the relationship that we have today.

2. Tell us about your husband, fiancé, boyfriend, significant other.

My husband, Danny grew up in Southern Indiana (suburb of Louisville, KY).  He grew up playing baseball and continued playing in college at a school in Indiana.  After school, he continued to surround himself with baseball by spending four years working for baseball teams including in 2012 when he got a job with the Cleveland Indians.  We met just two weeks after he moved to Cleveland on eHarmony.  We got engaged 5 months later and the rest is history! (You can read our love story here).  Danny is kind, caring, sensitive, and everything I could ever imagine my husband to be.  I am so lucky that I truly found the man of my dreams and I can't wait to see what our life has in store for us!

3. Tell us about your children. If you don’t have children, talk about your fur children.

I don't have any children yet, but I have plenty of fur children to answer the question.  I have two kitty children and two puppy children, all who are special in their own way.  Teddy and Rosie (kitties) are four years old, Yogi is 18 months, and Zoey is 10 months old.  We love our babies and could not imagine our lives without any of them.

4. Tell us about your best friends. How long have you known them? How did you meet?

My best friends are Ashleigh and Kara.  I met them both through my job.  At one point, I worked with both of their husbands.  None of us are from the area originally which is why our bond is so strong.  They support me, love me, and I know they will be there for me for whatever I need.  They are my Cleveland family.

Me with Ashleigh and Kara

5. Tell us about any other special people in your life.

Below are some of the other special people in my life!

My Mother and Father-in-law.  My husband is an only child, so when we got engaged, his parents both invited me into their family with open arms and accepted me as a daughter of their own.  I am so glad they live closer to us now and I love the relationship that we have developed over the last two years!

 

My niece and nephew.  Even though they have been nine hours away from me, my niece and nephew hold a special place in my heart.  I am so excited for them to move back up to Ohio, so I can see them more often!

Clouds like Mountains

It's the end of a very long week.  There were a lot of things that I am thankful for after this week.  I'm summarizing some of the highlights in this addition of High Five for Friday!

1. I made a trip to Joann's to start off this week and it was WAY overdue.  I had so many crafts I have been wanting to work on, but little time or resources to do them.  I transformed some old vases that I've collected over the years and I do have to say, they look amazing now! And the craft was so fun to do!  I will feature this diy on a blogpost soon.

2. On Wednesday, I gave blood through the American Red Cross.  I like giving blood and making a difference and luckily my work hosts a drive every few months, so I don't have to go very far.  Not only do I get to do my good deed for the day, but I get a buy one, get one free movie ticket and movies aren't cheap these days!

3.  Also on Wednesday, my work had a company picnic.  It was a beautiful day and fortunately we work right across from a Cleveland Metro park.  I captured this amazing view from the park of the clouds just floating above the ground and even resembled mountains.

4.  On Thursday, I sat outside with the dogs and let the cats wander outside too.  Rosie loves the outdoors, but she is also very scarred of it.  She has to check it out by putting her front two paws on the edge of the doorway just far enough to sniff the outside air, but close enough to run back inside if she needs to.

5.  I made BBQ Chicken pizza this week and it was delicious.  I added one extra ingredient than normal and oddly enough it was Cinnamon! I never would have thought that it would go with the BBQ Chicken pizza, but it is very good, and it smells amazing when it comes out of the oven.  Check out the recipe here and don't forget to sprinkle Cinnamon on top!

Hello from Cincinnati

Today I'm recapping a throwback to Memorial Day weekend to describe our amazing travel adventure to Cincinnati, Ohio.  This is the second time we have visited Cincinnati (you can read about our previous trip here) because of ties that Danny and I have to the city.

We drove into Cincinnati on Friday and luckily were able to meet up with one of my best friends and bridesmaids, Kaela and her fiance Brad.  This was the first time seeing them after they got engaged and was so special to sit down with them and catch up on everything that had changed in our lives.  Kaela used to live in Cleveland, but moved to Cincinnati once she met Brad and they started dating.  It was great to see both of them.  After hanging out with Brad and Kaela for awhile, they went home to prepare for the weekend and Danny and I checked out a bar near our hotel called Frickers.  It was a fun place and the perfect end to our first night in Cincinnati.

The next day, we decided to explore the city.  I have been to Cincinnati numerous times over my lifetime and Danny has lived in Cincinnati, but we still like to see the attractions.  One of those attractions being Newport Aquarium which is technically in Newport, Kentucky.  The aquarium is one of the best and is always great to see all of the sea creatures.  We saw the shark tank and I even pet sting rays and starfish.

The Shark Tank

After the aqaruim, we went downtown to go to our first Reds game that weekend.  It was great to be at the ballpark and we even paid a visit to me and my Dad's brick (located outside of Great American Ballpark) that I got him when the ballpark was constructed.  Dad and I would root for the Reds when I was younger and my favorite baseball player played for the Reds for a short time.

My Brick at Great American Ballpark

During the game, Danny and I were able to go to the Reds pressbox to visit his old bosses from when Danny worked for the Reds.  Rob and Larry were very nice and even showed me the intern wall of fame where I saw Danny's picture from 2010. Even though the Reds lost, it was a fun night at the ballpark.

Danny in 2010 when he worked with the Reds

The next day, Danny and I headed downtown early to check out the Taste of Cincinnati.  They had a ton of restuarants and local breweries that were featured and even live music and tons of activities.  Among these activities were a magician.  He was amazing and even involved both of us in his tricks. After walking around for a bit, I was very excited to see that Great Lakes Brewery was a featured vendor since they are a local Cleveland brewery.  I had to get a Great Lakes beer to represent Cleveland down in Cincinnati!

Representing Cleveland in Cincinnati!

After the taste of Cincinnati, we headed to Mooreland Lagerhouse for our fancy dinner before the game started.  I ended up getting a really good tofu dish and Danny had crabcakes.  After dinner we headed to the game for yet another fun night at the ballpark, but unfortunately another loss from the Reds.  All in all, it was a great weekend filled with so many great memories! Cincinnati will always be a great place for us to visit.

Tofu and crabcakes

Happy America!

This weekend was a long, amazing weekend celebrating our country's independence, but it was not long enough! Even though I am halfway through the week, I don't know how my 4 day weekend escaped me already!? Anyways, here is a recap of what occurred this past weekend.

On Thursday, Danny and some of our friends headed to the Lake County Captains game.  This was our second summer going to "Thirsty Thursday" night at the ballpark (You can read our adventure from last year here.)  Thirsty Thursday is a night of 25 cent beers and baseball, however, we did not watch a single pitch of the game this time contrary to last time. 

On Friday, Danny and I had our annual fourth of July party.  We decided to buy a few more patriotic items (below) to add to our collection from last year.  The collection now includes a few flag varieties, matching puppy handkerchiefs, a patriotic clock, and Danny even bought a "Back to Back World War Champs" tank top.  We had a cookout and even made a fire later in the evening.

On Saturday, Danny and I had the whole day free so we decided to do something outside the normal routine.  It was the perfect opportunity to use our "Date Night" jar that my sister-in-law made us for our wedding to decide what to do.  We chose a few different ideas, but then ultimately decided on putt putt golf and a Mexican dinner.  At putt putt golf, Danny pulled ahead in the last few holes to pull off the win.  We are usually both super competitive with games like putt putt, but we put our competitive natures aside and just focused on having fun and enjoying each other's company.

DIY: Family name Frame

Below is one of the easiest DIYs I have done for our house so far.  This project cost under $20 and almost no time at all.  I had always admired the family name frames that you see at the mall.  These personalized frames can cost upwards of $100, but I will show you how to get the look without the hefty price tag.

I came across a Pin on my Pinterest board that had hundreds of different pictures for each letter (the site can be found here.)  I had fun picking out each letter and seeing which letters went well with each other-- I had 3 E's to pick out, so that was an adventure in itself.

After that, I went on a search for a picture frame with six spaces for each letter of our family name.  Some sites actually used separate picture frames, but I didn't like that look as much as having all of the letters in the same frame.  Luckily, I found this frame at Michaels and it was on sale too!

After choosing the perfect letters to fit in the frame, I ordered the prints from Walgreens and then fitted them into the picture frame and voila!  Now, it sits in our entryway and will represent our family for years to come.

My 250 day long break from Blogging

After 250 days of not a single blog post, I've decided to come back to Blogland. I was somewhat torn between the decision-- a part of me had enjoyed the break, but there was another part of me that missed the experience.  I took less pictures, found myself less motivated, and still searching for an outlet that blogging previously gave me.  Since this is my first post in 250 days, I wanted to update you on some of the big changes that have happened in my life since my last blog post.

Let's begin with one of the biggest changes to my life (and sanity).....

We adopted another puppy! Remember that cute little dog that we adopted from the Amish last year?  Well it was WAY too hard not to get him a best friend and life partner.  Below are the stats on our newest addition!

Zoey- the first week we brought her home

Birthdate: September 21, 2013
Adoption date: Mid-November 2013
Breed: German Shepherd, Labrador, Beagle mix
Likes: Raw hides, branches, and pine cones. Acting like a victim when her BIG brother plays with her even though she is the culprit.  She LOVES to cuddle and takes naps.
Dislikes: Thunderstorms, big bodies of water (Pool, Lake Erie, etc.)

We are so lucky to have a puppy like Zoey! It's sometimes hard to think she is still a puppy since Yogi (16 months old) is more hyperactive than she is...

Next is not as big as caring after another living creative, but it was a big step for me.  I have had a few physical changes in the last 250 days.  For one, I dyed my hair back to some form of brunette.  My real genes and the sun has kicked in to lightened it up to the point that I actually think it is my natural color!

Lastly in June, I underwent Parathyroid surgery to remove a parathyroid gland that was acting up.  In medical terms, it was extracting calcium from my bones and putting it into my bloodstream, making me hypercalcemic.  They removed the bad parathyroid and I have been fine ever since.  Luckily, I had no symptoms before surgery, just elevated levels of calcium in my blood.  It is actually a pretty rare condition for someone so young.  Most patients are way into their 60's or 70's because it can cause Osteoporosis and be a serious condition when you're older.  Luckily, they caught it early and I was able to have this pretty painless surgery to get rid of it.

A week after surgery with my bandage still in place.

I hope Blogland has been treating you well! I'm excited to be back!