He called it a birthday train....

That's what Sweetheart called it.  It started the Saturday before my birthday and ended with a victorious Cardinal's football game and sushi on the Sunday following my birthday.   In between there were treats and concerts and surprise visits from my niece and cleverly hidden presents.  And sadly, even an end to a close relationship that spanned decades.

Here's a quick view of the week through the lens of my iPhone:

1.  On on way to pick up our friends the G's and attempting selfies at stop lights:

2. Flowers delivered to me at work as a pre-birthday treat:

and a sweet chocolate treat too:

3.  A Black Keys concert on Monday night that was so much fun!

Yep, wearing the same dress as earlier in the week; quickly becoming one of my fav's

4.  A birthday gift wrapped in tissue paper and foil (because Sweetheart claims he can never find the wrapping paper and/or tape:

The gift was one of my favorite gifts:  two Kate Spade bracelets! 

(they were on my wish list....)

5.  A new Kate Spade handbag and wallet (with gift cards!):

He actually bought this for me back in October 

and I've been patiently waiting to pull it out of the bag...

6.  Some new gloves and socks in a cute package with a keep calm sticker (my fav):

7.  On my actual birthday, Sweetheart took the day off with me so we could spend the day together.  We went to Tempe Town Lake and took a boat cruise around the lake.  Sweetheart at the helm:

He insisted we address him as Captain Miguel...just kidding.

My niece drove up to Phoenix with my great niece to surprise me on my birthday!  What a treat!!  She is the most darling little girl EVER.  Yes, EVER!  After the lake we had lunch then jumped on the light rail to downtown Phoenix.  

I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family.   My day was so great.  And I feel especially blessed to have Sweetheart in my life; he makes me feel special every day but on my my birthday (and birthday week) he made me feel incredibly special!

It was a wonderful week!

Week 9 - Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

I found this great recipe for slow cooker Italian Beef sandwiches on Pinterest here.      Instead of adding beer as the recipe calls for, I doubled the beef broth.

Sometimes I think I impress Sweetheart when I have Pinterest-inspired, recipe success.   I generally show him a picture of what I am planning to make for our Sunday football grub the day before as I'm planning my grocery list.   He will eat anything that I make so I never fear making something he won't like.  And he's always grateful that I spend time planning and cooking.  But sometimes he sees a meal on the plate and says "wow, that looks good" or "wow, that smells good" as it's cooking in the slow cooker.   Makes me giggle a little.  When he says "this is delicious!" between bites, well let's just say that makes me very happy.   That's Pinterest-inspired, recipe success at it's best!

I am often amazed at how simple it is to create a very tasty meal with very minimal prep and kitchen time.  This one was super easy because I just threw all the ingredients in the slow cooker, set the timer and went about my day.   I cooked it on high for 6 hours.   Prep time afterwards was next to nothing.   I toasted some wheat rolls, piled in the meat and provolone cheese, poured the au jus in a small ramekin and put some chips on a plate.   I topped the sandwich with pepperchini peppers.

This is one I will definitely make again!

Speaking of Pinterest,  l ran across a picture of hash brown cooked in the waffle iron one day.   Sweetheart and I both love a crispy hash brown so I tired it.  It was so simple.  I brushed on some melted butter to both sides of the waffle iron, added some shredded potatoes that I seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic.   I poured the potatoes into the waffle iron and let them cook for 10 minutes.  

This was the end result:

The BEST hash browns I've made and easily clean up!


BTW,  November is my birthday month and Sweetheart let me open one of my gifts.  It's the Kate Spade lenticular eyes iPhone 6 case.     Cute, yes?

TTFN

~Yolanda 

Fall in Arizona

It was 72 degrees in Phoenix on Sunday.   I'll repeat that in case you didn't catch that.  It was 72 degrees in Phoenix on Sunday!   Enduring what seems like endless months of very hot weather almost seems worth it when the temperatures drop into the 70's in Arizona.   Sunny skies and a cool 72 degree breeze is nothing other than paradise.  

It was a perfect time to pull out my Thanksgiving decor.   I always start with the front door:

I love airing out the house when the temperatures drop.   After a long summer of doors and windows closed and the A/C running, it's nice to be able to turn off the A/C and open all doors and windows and let the fresh air in.  The fresh, cool air flowing through the house inspired my warm holiday decor. 

I started by making another burlap runner for the entrance table.  I chose a cream colored burlap from Hobby Lobby to add some lightness to the dark table.  I'm warning you right now, I'm 99.9% sure I'll be making another burlap runner for Christmas, Spring, Easter, etc.   I kind of heart burlap runners right now.

 .

The light table runner and orange pumpkins started the simple and basic palette that I carried throughout the house:

I made a runner for the coffee table in the family room and added some pine cones and orange pumpkins to a rectangular basket:

I've always been partial to neutral colors so being able to use these soft, pale colors just warms my heart.  See what I just did there?   I bought some plain burlap pillow covers from Hobby Lobby and added some embellishments to give the pillows a little flare:

the scratches on corner of the table are courtesy of Grievous and Naboo......

I contemplated added more embellishments to the pillows but decided to leave well enough alone.   See Grievous and Sweetheart's foot in the corner of the picture?  They were taking a nap while I was attempting to snap pictures.   All the commotion didn't seem to bug either one of them because they didn't budge.     

I added two orange pumpkins to the shelf in the family room and some beaded garland to the candles:

Simple and warm:

I usually put out all of my pilgrims (I have quite a few) but this year I decided to give them a break.  Although I did sneak this Mr & Mrs Pilgrim to the shelf in the hallway:

And while I was making runners for the entrance way and the family room I decided why not for the table as well?  I'm loving the cream color on the dark wood:

A simple blend of white pumpkins, pine cones and a few glittered pumpkins in a leaf-shaped bowl is perfect for a centerpiece:

I've had this wrought iron pumpkin for over 15 years.   I bought it at an after Thanksgiving day sale at Cracker Barrel's general store.   I added some beaded garland and a cream colored candle:

I added Thanksgiving subway art to the shelf on the kitchen along with some mini pumpkins and called it good: 

Does an owl speak Thanksgiving to you?   It does me, so I added one to the end table:

This is one of my all time favorite Target clearance finds.   I love the way the gold shimmers when the tea light is lit:

And that's it.   Next on the agenda:

Yep, Christmas plans are in full force.   Christmas holiday projects, Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, family time, etc.    It's my favorite time of the year!

Week 7 - Buffalo Chicken Dip and BBQ Ribs

I let the slow cookers and Sweetheart do ALL the work on Sunday.   I love when you can dump all the ingredients into the slow cooker and just sit and enjoy the games.   This week I made Buffalo Chicken Dip for our snack and BBQ ribs, corn on the cob and a salad for dinner.    Although very simple, it did not disappoint.   

I took the basic recipe and dumped it all into the slow cooker:  cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Frank's red hot wings sauce, shredded chicken and ranch dressing.  Start on high for about 1/2 hour until it all starts to melt so it's easy to blend.  Reduce to low and let it cook for about 45 minutes.    I usually start us with a light snack for lunch since we have breakfast after mass and are not really hungry when lunch time rolls around.  I started this about about an hour and a half before we would be ready to start snacking on it. 

It starts out like this:

And end ups like this: 

The ribs took 7 hours to cook on high.  I followed this recipe:  

As the recipe instructed when the ribs finished cooking, I carefully removed them from the slow cooker, slathered some BBQ sauce on them and then Sweetheart put them on the grill for about 5 minutes, each side (Sweetheart also prepared the corn on the cob and cooked it on the grill).    

They REALLY did come out looking like this:

And they were sooooooo good!!  And I forgot to take a picture of them.  And by "forgot" I really mean I didn't want to get BBQ sauce all over my new iPhone.  True story.   

One of my favorite things about at-home-football Sunday is this:

We all find a spot on the sofa and fall asleep....

p.s.  if you live in Phoenix you get 1/2 off of all drinks and slushes at Sonic the day after the Cardinals win.  And you know that after every win I am there.   At first it was for the 1/2 off, because this girl likes a good deal.  Now it's because I feel as if I don't stop and get our drinks, I'll jinx the team.  Just doing my part.

Go Cardinals!

TTFN

~Yolanda 

Halloween

It's what I've been waiting for!  The craft stores bring their Halloween stuff out earlier and earlier each year.   I think it was still August when I spotted the first Halloween decor at Joanne's.  But as tempting as it is, I always wait until October 1st to put everything out.

I try to move my stuff around so it looks different from year to year but sometimes the inspiration to do that is not there.  Sometimes my house looks like a cyclone hit because I can't decide what to put where.  Sometimes, there are three (possibly four) bins sitting in the middle of the living room for days as I work through my creativity blocks.   Sometimes, even Grievous and Naboo are annoyed by the bins that they need to navigate around.   Sometimes, I tell everyone to relax and just move along.   True story.

Does anyone else love the Target dollar section as much as I do?  I always grab at least $5 worth of stuff when I go there.  I can't help it, they have the cutest stuff!

The orange and black string I wrapped around my candles is from the Target dollar section.  Cute, yes?  And the feathers in the tray are mini boa's from HobLob:

During the last storm that left tree debris all over the streets, I grabbed a few branches with the anticipation of using them for my Halloween decor.   I spray painted the dead branches black and was looking for a good vase to use when I ran into one of Sweetheart's beer bottles in the recycle bin.  With a creepy pumpkin on the label, it was screaming for some creepy branches to accompany it on my shelf:

Personally, my favorite.  Sweetheart did one of those double-take deals when he walked by and saw it on the shelf.   I know he was thinking "that crazy girl went through the recycle bin".....

My witch shoes are one of my favs:

And this little end table sits to the right of my chair in the living room.   See the "oh my stars" plate?  Sweetheart got it for me because it's my favorite saying.   And I used wrapping paper from the Target store to make book covers:

I did the same thing here with the wrapping paper on the books on this shelf.  I love it so much I may keep the wrapping paper on even after Halloween:

To get the spider webs to the top of the wall I had to ask Sweetheart to pull the ladder out for me.  It was hard for me to get a good picture of it.  It looks really cool - you'll need to trust me.

And I made a table runner for the entrance way table.  It was so easy I decided to make a mini runner for the table in the hall:

There's my runner.  I bought the polka-dotted burlap at HobbyLobby.  I always thought burlap was hard to work with until I saw a how-to video online.   It's messy to work with but the process was very easy:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

End of Summer

For Arizonans the end of summer means we can all venture back into the great outdoors!   The temperatures start to drop (just a little) so we can now elect to eat in the patio of a restaurant,  we can take evening strolls and we can start spending time in the backyard patio!   With the temperatures starting to drop little by little -- it was our queue to start getting the patio ready!

click to enlarge

Earlier this year we bought a pergola at Lowe's and Sweetheart and his dad installed it in the back patio.   We added lights to it to give it a little bit of outdoor charm.   This weekend we washed down the patio furniture and added new flowers to the pots that sat sans flowers for too long.    I don't know about anyone else that lives in Phoenix but keeping flowers alive during the hot summer months is next to impossible.  It's just too hot.   

It's a work in progress.  I want to get an outdoor rug for the patio and you see the orange extension cord along the left side of the picture?   We are looking for a black one that we can tack down so it blends with the column.  

Sweetheart and I love Talavera Pottery.   We started buying it years ago and we add a little to the mix every year.   We go to a little shop in Guadalupe called Mercado Mexico.  It's a quaint shop and if you are ever in the area stop there -- it's quirky but we always find good stuff there!

We added a cactus and some succulents to the planter on the wall.   Fingers crossed that they will thrive there.    This picture doesn't really show the charm of this planter with Talavera pots -- it's one of our favorites.

We're hoping that the cooler temps and the covered patio will keeps these flowers happy.

We stopped by Mercado Mexico today to buy some saucers for the pots we have on the spiral planter in the corner:

They were waiting on a shipment to come in so hopefully within the next two weeks or so we can give the pots below a proper saucer.....

When it gets a little cooler, we can have breakfast and dinner in the patio on the weekends.

Sweetheart did a great job of cleaning the patio and getting it ready for us.  

That's why I call him Sweetheart. 

:)

We have a home game against the 49er's tomorrow.   Look for us in the Red Sea -- we'll be there!

Go CARDINALS!