two thumbs up.

what a fabulous 4 day weekend we had!
we spent the weekend munching on delicious food, sleeping in park city, celebrating this gal's bday and getting 99% of our christmas shopping done. it was so great.

now all i have christmas on the brain. school means nothing to me at this point...yikies.
i just can't wait to get our first christmas tree! but until we find the perfect tree, my mini pink tree from target will definitely do...

blessed.

isaac and i are on the young married activity committee in our ward and i've really loved it! (i wasn't expecting to...) we've made some great friends and last week we had the opportunity to take the fixings for a big thanksgiving meal to a widow in our ward. i get so wrapped up in our own little world that i honesty forgot how good it felt to serve another.I love this quote by president monson from october's general conference:

"That service to which all of us have been called is the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. As He enlists us to His cause, He invites us to draw close to Him. He speaks to you and to me: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” If we truly listen, we may hear that voice from far away say to us, as it spoke to another, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” That each may qualify for this blessing from our Lord is my prayer, and I offer it in His name, even Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen."

read more of this talk here.

i am truly blessed.
i have the best husband, family and friends. you guys rule.

happy thanksgiving!

oh how i wish...

i fell in love with j. crew back when i was searching for clothes for our engagement pictures. before i never even stepped foot in the store because it was just too expensive, and now it's my favorite. it embodies my style perfectly. here are a few items on my christmas wish list.

this look is perfect for a holiday gathering. pair with a cardigan and you're ready to go.

i am absolutely in love with this coat. why does it have to be $395? why!?

i am a sweater girl. i wish i had one from j. crew for every wintery day.

the list could go on and on. on the day after thanksgiving we're hitting up the outlets in park city and i'm crossing my fingers for some fabulous finds at the j. crew outlet!

let it begin!

i was grocery shopping yesterday and look what i found! the minute i saw them i knew the christmas season had officially begun for me. although i prefer homemade treats, these sprinkled trees hit the spot every time.

i also started my christmas shopping with my mom yesterday and we found so many goodies.
i'm ready to embrace the season...christmas here i come!

team jacob.

new moon.
totally made my weekend. kristen and i bought tickets for us and our lover boys about a month ago for saturday night and it was so worth the wait. we got to the theater a few minutes before our showtime and went right to our reserved seats, it was perfect.
and our husbands loved it just as much as we did.

are you team jacob or team edward?
i keep debating it in my mind...all i know is i can't wait to see it again.
then i'll really decide...

going nuts.

i have been such a mess this week. let me give you a few examples...

i haven't been home except to study and sleep. our apartment has been cluttered for weeks and my ocd self doesn't even care. my fingernail polish is so chipped (a pet peeve of mine) and i don't have "time" to remove it. i was coming home on the trax yesterday and i got so nauseous that i had to take seriously deep breaths to not barf. i was forced to take care of dummy patients for 16 hours on tues/wed in lieu of taking care of real patients in the hospital- wtf?! i had a crying fit wednesday night and isaac kept asking me what was wrong and i honestly had no legit reason for the tears. i went to turn on my computer at school yesterday and it wouldn't accept my password i've had for years - what!?!! oh, and i ate a giant bag of that delicious homemade kettle corn for dinner. sometimes do you ever just stop and think,
who am i?!!
i can't tell you how excited i am for the weekend. i need to relax, clean up, and take some time to get back to my normal self.

happy weekend!

bday love.

today is my favorite dad's birthday. i wish i could spend all day with him but unfortunately life doesn't stop and i have to be in the lab until late tonight. grrr. we'll celebrate in style soon!

i've loved him the most from the very beginning, can't you tell?
i love you dad, happy birthday!

weekenders.

we had a very busy weekend.
happy sumo. friends. hatch's hot chocolate.
hair appointments.
football. family time. shopping.
birthday celebrations.
sunday night concerts at the cathedral of the madeleine.

it was a great weekend. i can't wait for the next! 2 words: new moon.

ps: at happy sumo they have chocolate mints that we love, and no matter how hard he tries ike always gets it all over his lips. love it.

chocolate minties.

yet another cookie recipe coming your way! lately i have been obsessed with cookies. it just feels so good to have a yummy meal and top it off with a sweet homemade treat. this recipe was given to me by my sweet friend tiffany. it is super easy and combines my 2 favorite flavors: chocolate and mint.

chocolate minties
(my name for them)

1 box devil's food chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 bag andes chocolate mints

mix all ingredients and divide into teaspoon (or if you like big cookies like me - tablespoon) size balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. remove from oven and place one andes mint on each cookie. let the mint sit and melt for a minute and then use a toothpick to swirl the melted mint.
can you say yum?!

help.

right now i'm feeling downright icky. i have a few hours before we go out tonight and my gut says to lay on the couch watch the latest episode of glee (my fav!) but i know i should get up and do something active. i've been reading the blog have your cake and i'm thinking about taking this challenge. who's with me?!
i think i'll start today.

p712.

pizzeria seven twelve.
my cousin brian took us out for such a night on the town saturday night. he introduced us to this restaurant back when it opened and we have loved it ever since.

after trying every appetizer and 2 pizzas, we got all 3 desserts. my very favorite part of the meal.

remember our chili's meal? going to a non-chain delicious restaurant felt so good.

after dinner we had a pretty adventurous night...i can't disclose any details...

yuck.

sometimes, and only sometimes, i am a sucker. a sucker for a deal. and when i heard about the chili's 2 for 20 a million times i got sucked in. i mean, i love their chips and salsa and their molten lava cake but i never go there because i think everything else is disgusting. and my hubby knows i hate it (and so does he) but he loves me and instantly agreed when i proposed friday night as 2 for 20 night. gaaaaaaaaaaaah. bad choice.

there were so many people there, children screaming in our ears, and our waitress barely had time to notice us. sorry chili's, you are now on our no, no, no list.

thank goodness saturday night was a whole different story...

love.

look what isaac brought home from work with him last night to celebrate our 6 month anniversary! i was so surprised. i was just cooking dinner in my pj's and in he walked with these beauties. and chocolate! he knows me so well.

love him!

retail therapy.

lately when i go to get dressed in the morning i want to die. i am sooo sick of my wardrobe. and winter has only just begun! so i went on over to forever21.com to see if i could find some cheap pick-me-ups and it did the job nicely.

i have been looking for the perfect flannel top and i found this beauty for only $12.50!

these pumps are perfect. all the pairs i currently have seem to be dating fast.

this is my favorite shape of shades. i only buy my sunglasses at f21 because i lose/break them so much and since they're only $5.80 i can get a few different styles each year guilt free.

i love sweaters. i can't wait until this slouchy number comes in the mail!

i already have 2 pairs of these jeans and i rave about them. how can you argue with great fitting skinnies that only cost $12.50. seriously, you can't.

turquoise has always been a favorite color of mine, i can't wait to paint my nails with this.

it felt good to do a little retail therapy and boost my wardrobe a bit. it is necessary every so often don't you think?!

where is your favorite place to find a steal?

party.

my mom's bday party was such a success! i was a stress case all day making all the goods but it was definitely worth it. the sweet pork and fixins' turned out really yummy (let me know if you want the recipes) and the cupcakes were my best yet.

the birthday kids.
isaac helped me pull everything together, i couldn't have done it without his skills.
cricket came to celebrate!

such a great night. i love parties.

snickerdoodle doos.

i am so in love with chocolate that i often forget about these goodies. they are the perfect treat to celebrate the beginning of november.

snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking soda

for coating:

5 tbs sugar

2 tbs cinnamon

with an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and creamy. add the sugar and vanilla and continue until fluffy. beat in eggs, then the milk. sift the flour and baking soda over the butter mixture and stir to blend. refrigerate for 15 minutes. preheat the oven to 375 degrees. grease 2 baking sheets. to make coating mix the sugar and cinnamon. roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into walnut size balls. roll the balls in the sugar mixture. place the balls 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets and flatten slightly. bake for about 10 minutes, until golden.

fluffy and delicious.

halloween spooktacular.

what a weekend. friday night i decided to surprise isaac with one of my favorite halloween traditions...
what could it be?so excited to surprise ike. we were approaching kingsbury hall and heard screams...

screams because these creepers were hobbling around and getting in peoples faces...
thriller!
such a fabulous dance spectacular. some of my favorite dances are of course thriller, salem's mass, and river of blood dance. oh man, it made me miss dancing so much. do any of you dancers out there take an adult jazz class? i need to find one and get dancing again. anyway...isaac loved it and it really got us into the spirit of halloween.

saturday night we had friends and family over for chili and cornbread. it was yummy. then off to michael jackson's this is it. i loved it. if you grew up singing and dancing to his music like i did, you must see it. i was dancing in my seat the whole time. read ike's take on our weekend and listen to our favorite mj songs here.