Pecan Pumpkin Butter Bars

So I was finally able to bake for the first time in a couple of months. It definitely felt good to be back in the swing of things with my favorite hobby. And since it's fall, and one of the best things about fall is pumpkins, I decided to make some Pecan Pumpkin Butter Bars. I wait every year for Williams-Sonoma to sell their Pecan Pumpkin Butter because it makes a perfect bar! 

Since the jars are small, I usually make half the size of what I normally make for apple butter bars, so I just use an 8x8 pan. I make the same crust that I do for the apple butter bars because, let's face it, it's pretty awesome and perfect and really delicious. 

You start with flour, baking soda, and salt.

And then you add in the quick cooking oats

And then sugar, and my special addition of cinnamon!

And once you melt the butter...

You stir it in to the oat mixture to create the crust!

I packed half of the mixture onto the bottom of pan. You want to make sure it's thick enough for you to be able to pick it up and eat the bar without using a fork.

And then you take one jar of the deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious Pecan Pumpkin Butter and spread it across the bottom crust.

And top it with the rest of the oat mixture. You want to make sure the lightly press it into the butter because it helps to create a more solid top crust which is also better for handling.

And then after baking for an hour, it's time to eat!!

The amazing thing about these bars is the pumpkin taste is ever so slight. It's not overpowering or intense, it is just the right amount of fall in your mouth. I'm definitely a huge fan of these. And I bought two jars so that means there's another batch in my future. The ones I made this time around I'll be taking to work, so hopefully they will enjoy them!

Pinterest Crafting - Fall Wreath

One of my favorite websites is Pinterest. It's a website where you can save anything you find on the web and have pictures for reference. It's great for saving craft ideas, recipes, decorating ideas, party planning ideas, and other random categories. Anything you can think of. It's also a huge community where you can search and see what other people are pinning and get ideas from them as well.

It's so helpful because it links back to the site that the pin is on, so you can get to the directions for whatever it is, or buy it if it's a product you love. It's much better than either printing ideas, or saving them in some other form on your computer. Plus, when you look at your boards, having the pictures for reference is an exciting way to be inspired.

Because of Pinterest, I've gotten really into wreaths. There are so many out there beyond Christmas ones! You can make yarn ones, spring themed ones, burlap ones, etc. I found a fall wreath that I absolutely loved that I just had to make. There's something so homey about coming home to a door with a nice festive wreath on it. Here is the link to my inspiration: Fall Wreath.

So armed with an AC Moore coupon, I headed out to buy my supplies. I bought a 14" grapevine wreath, four fake ranunculus flowers (I've recently become obsessed with the shape of them), and instead of plain berry springs, I got fake leaf and berry sprigs.

I started by cutting the ends off the flowers, but leaving a chunk of the stem so I could shove it through the wreath. I used some floral wire to try and secure it too (let's hope how I did it worked and I don't wake up to a bare wreath).

And then I broke up the leaf and berry sprigs to shove bits randomly into the other side.

And here's the completed wreath!

And here it is on my door!

Now, the only real problem is that the wreath is a tad small. It tries to hide my apartment number, but I luckily got it set so it's just barely below the peep hole so I can see the number while still seeing out my peep hole. Next wreath I make will be a bit bigger so I don't have to worry about those things, but all in all, for a simple craft project, I think it turned out well! It'll definitely make me happy to come home and see that on my door. 

Deep Fried Goodness

Last night after getting my new phone, Kia and I headed to the state fair. I always love going to the state fair because it's fantastic people watching, the food is delicious, and it's just a tradition you always want to partake in. We didn't feel like doing any rides or playing any games, but we did walk around, saw the ridiculously large pumpkin and watermelon, and ate really good food.

Almost every time I go to the fair, I have to get a red hot dog. I have no idea why, but I love them. I don't get them very often because not a lot of places serve them in general, so I went on a hunt for one at the fair. I found one and it was ah-mazing. After walking a bit more, we decided to stop for some deep fried goodness. I always allow myself one deep fried thing every year at the fair because you truly never get that at any other time. This year I voted to go with a deep fried Snickers. Kia got the deep fried cookie dough. I just love that melty chocolate and all the powdered sugar that ends up all over you.

After that, I was pretty full, so I didn't get any more food, but I definitely would have if I was still even slightly hungry. There's always such great and different foods at the fair. Kia was at least healthy and got some corn. I was not so healthy haha.

We watched the fireworks, which the finale ended up being overkill, and then they had an encore (which looked more like they forgot to set some fireworks off), but overall were very pretty. And after walking around some more, headed home. I think the only disappointing thing about the fair this year was that I did not see one mullet, NOT ONE! That's a rarity. I did see plenty of fanny packs though. I can't wait for the fair to come back again next year.

Welcome to the 21st Century

For so long I fought getting a smartphone. I didn't want to always be connected to my email and the internet and  I liked using my huge hard copy planner. Plus, I feel these days, we spend too much time playing with the apps on our phones, and not interacting with the people around us.

While I still believe that, as time went on, I realized just how beneficial a smartphone would be. Mostly for the navigation because I tend to get lost easily, and I still would write down directions on paper and hopefully find my way. Plus, when I'm waiting for someone by myself and it can turn into a long time, I really need something to occupy my mind.

So yesterday I went to the Verizon store and bought my very first smartphone! I debated for a minute between the new iPhone4s and the HTC Rhyme. While iPhones are super popular, get almost all the best apps first, and are super easy to use, I just couldn't bring myself to get one. I didn't like how the front screen would always have those blocks with your apps in them. I like being able to see a background image and not having my main screen feel cluttered (even though organized). And I didn't want to spend lots of money on apps.

And that led me to the HTC Rhyme. I'm not the kind of person who needs a super teched out phone. I just want something that works well, looks pretty (yes, pretty, or in other words, clean) has good features, and allows me to have awesome apps. I always liked the way HTC's looked, so when they came out with the Rhyme, it was the kind of phone that catered to me (they don't call it the lady phone for nothing).

Yes. It's purple. I love purple. It's very clean looking, the main screen is uncluttered, and I love having such an easy connection to all my Google stuff. And you know what's really awesome? I got the full Angry Birds...for free! And I now have Words with Friends! The camera is pretty decent, it has NFL Mobile (also free), and in general, it's just plain fantastic. I can use talk to text if I need to text while I'm driving (since normally that would be illegal), and it's so much easier to see my text conversations with people.

The phone came with a few extra goodies, which is nice. It came with a dock that you can put your phone in to act as a clock or music station, some tangle-free headphones, and this little charm thing that while your phone is in your purse, it can hang outside and flash when you get a call or text (told you it was a lady phone).

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my new phone. And I'm pretty excited about having moved into the 21st century! And it's a good thing I wasn't turned off by the SUPER CREEPY commercial they have for the phone.

This is the super creepy octopus lady from the Rhyme commercial. EEK!

Apartment Meet Penny, Penny Meet Apartment

For the past three years, I had two great cats. I never realized I was a cat person until they came along. Cats are pretty low maintenance, are typically very calm, and they're very cuddly. When you get the right ones, they're super playful and overall lots of good fun. Plus they're so cute! So when they were no longer in my life, I knew I wanted and needed to get my own. It breaks my heart a little to think of "replacing" them, but I know in the end, having my own kitty will help me on this path, wherever it leads me. I'm a firm believer in the thought that pets help lower your stress level. Plus, they keep you company and will always love you (you control the food, you control the love).

So when one of my mom's friends needed someone to adopt a cat they found a year ago, I was definitely interested. The only reason they needed someone to adopt her was because their other two cats just did not get along with her because they're old and have some health issues. So she wasn't able to really come out and play all day like she needs to. She's somewhere between two and three years old, and is a Torbie (tortoise/tabby mix).

The whole time I was there to meet her, she just wanted me to pet her. She circled around me and just loved having the attention. She was so friendly to someone she just met, and didn't run scared. My kind of cat. So after a few minutes, I knew I wanted to take her home. I needed her, and with her story, I think she needed me too (not that she was in an unloving home, but she needs to be able to not have other cats picking on her).

The name they gave her was Bella, but I'm going to change it because it's just a weeeeee bit close to my niece's name. After thinking on it and asking some opinions, I decided on Penny (partly because once I get a second cat, I'm hoping to get a boy and name him Sheldon).

I got her home, and let her explore a little. At first she went around sniffing everything, finding her way around her new home. I'm sure she's confused right now. Not really sure what to think about the place. Hopefully she'll get used to it soon, I know it might take a couple days. I would post pictures, but she's hiding under my chest right now. But in the future, be prepared for random kitty stories!

Trivia!

Tonight I had a couple friends invite me to go play trivia at a local pizza place. I've always liked trivia, and always wanted to go and play, so I was definitely looking forward to it. I feel that I read a lot of news stories (well, mostly headlines...I have to work most of the day!) and I am definitely up on my celebrity gossip...but I feel random facts, as much as I love them, I can never remember them. So I was very interested to see how this went.

There was probably about 20 teams, and since we didn't have a ton of faith in ourselves, we decided to name our team "And In Last Place." They had three rounds and this week the categories were random facts, Bravo (the TV channel), and Two and a Half Men (the TV show). Those categories did not instill a lot of confidence in my ability to help our team. Like I said, I suck at remembering random facts, I don't ever watch Bravo (I only used to when Project Runway was on), and even though I've seen Two and a Half Men, I never paid close enough attention because I thought it kind of sucked.

The random facts category turned out better than we thought. Some of the questions were pretty easy to figure out...and it helped that they were multiple choice. We got six out of 10 (plus an extra point for the bonus question), so not a bad start. During the second round, the only questions I knew were about Top Chef, and that's because it's the only food show on Bravo. Every other questions was pretty much about the Real Housewives, and I've only watched about two minutes of one of those shows before I had to change the channel. Luckily, Jessie knew what she was doing, so we got 8 out of 10 that round. And then somehow during the Two and a Half Men round, we became trivia masters. We somehow guessed 9 out of the 10, plus I knew half of the bonus question.

So "And in Last Place" never was actually in last place! We ended up tied for 6th place (and with the 4th highest score). Who knows, maybe I'll have a better memory when it comes to random facts and I'll start randomly spouting them in conversation.

New Beginnings

Sometimes in life, things happen. Things that shake up what we thought our life would turn out to be. You think you know who you are, where you're going, what your life is now and is going to be like. And then, something happens that shakes that to the core and forces you to re-evaluate. This is where I am now.

I'm pretty much starting from scratch. Literally. I got rid of a ton of stuff and have had to buy completely new things. In general, I'm okay with that because it helped me declutter and allowed me to redefine my living space and helped me to feel like I'm starting new. I bought a brand new couch and chair, new lamps, new bathroom textiles, etc. I still have a ways to go, but hopefully it'll be more complete soon. My every day is much different now than it had been for the past four years. I'm starting from scratch in terms of figuring out what to do with my time now. 

I'm in the process now of finding my life and sharing what I discover and what I'm enjoying, and that's what this blog is for. I'll have posts about baking (as this is replacing my former baking-only blog), crafts that I'm going to make, trips I'll go on, and other daily adventures or thoughts that help me in finding the life that is waiting for me.