Day 13 – a fictional book

Day 13 - a fictional book - I posted about my favorite one a few days back.  Right now I am totally loving this Christian novel series I am currently reading - the Mark of Lion.  It started off a little slow, (took me over a month to read the first 100 pages) going back and forth between 3 different characters that would eventually converge. I seriously have not been able to put it down and have considered bringing it to work so I can see what happens next!

apple pie

I need to catch up on weekend posts, but first things first, I made this apple pie on Thursday for our Aunt and Uncle who had a very short visit. I used this crust I already had in the freezer, which I loved because the recipe makes 2 double crusts, freezes easily and is really flaky.  I watched this video a while back with tips on how to make the pie dough.  I loved the spices in the pie filling too!

Apple Pie
Recipe from Sugar Plum

2 1/2 lbs. Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon clove
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, for dotting pie

Cream, for brushing
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1 double crust pie dough, or see Sugar Plum's site for her pie dough recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove until well combined.

Remove pie dough rounds from refrigerator, and allow to warm up a bit before you start rolling. Roll out one of your pie dough rounds, thinly, on a floured surface, and fit into a 9-inch pie plate; pour 1/2 of the apples into pie plate, and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Cover with remaining apples.
Roll out the second pie dough round and slice it into wide strips, using a pizza cutter. Weave strips into a lattice, covering pie. Trim away the excess dough, and make the crust look all pretty. Brush cream evenly over lattice-top, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake pie for 1 hour and 10-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown, and apples are bubbly. Do NOT underbake - you want the apples tender. If your crust starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil.

Cool pie on a wire rack, to room temperature (or still a little warm!), before slicing.

Yield: 8-10 slices

Day 12 – something you are OCD about

day 12- I'm not really OCD about much, except when it comes to washing clothes. I don't generally let my husband do any laundry because I am super paranoid about my clothes shrinking or turning pink!

Day 11 – a photo of you recently

day 11 - this photo was taken this weekend of us at our friends potluck wedding reception they had for those family and friends that couldn't make it to Hawaii.  I was under the influence of DayQuil. Gotta love colds!

day 10: photo taken over 10 years ago of you

day 10 is a photo of me I think I was about 2 or 3. Look at that fro!

day 9 – a photo you took & Fun Fridays!

Day 9 – a photo you took is going to double as my fun friday for today! After seeing this sweet guest tutorial on Kevin & Amanda's blog I decided to make a few of my own.  I didn't realize she used plastic pumpkins, so I decorated some of the ones we picked up from the pumpkin patch.

Happy Friday!

day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad is hard to find as I don't really have many photos that make me sad or angry. But THIS PHOTO is a reminder of my first attempt at Thanksgiving dinner and how it was the only thing that kept it from going smoothly  Read more about it here.

day 7 - a photo that makes me happy

photo by rockstar jenny j

day 6 - a photo that makes me happy is from our wedding day.  My family is my rock; we are there for each other no matter the miles and I'm so happy they've welcomed my husband with open arms.  Now, we just have to teach him Spanish and he'd be able to understand what they are saying half the time!

day 6 - twenty of my favorite things

All about me day 6 is 20 of my favorite things in no particular order:

1.  my cup of coffee in the morning

2.  our pups

3.  listening to bebel gilberto

4.  the crispness of autumn

 5.  pretty peonies

6.  a night of playing board games with friends

7.  getting manis & pedis

8.  turbo kickboxing at the gym (when I'm not injured)

9.  a nice glass of red after a long day

10. baking cookies

11. a challenging job

12. wearing a cute apron

13. reading a good book that is hard to put down

14. singing my little heart out

15. my grandma's flour tortillas

16. childhood friends

17. lazy Sundays

18. fresh peaches

19. holding hands with my hubs

20. tea time

fall lovin

We had our friends over this weekend and stopped by the local u-pick farm for some pumpkins, apples and fresh cider! It was so much fun; although I'm not so sure the hubby was super happy about loadng up our 90-pounder!

Oh, and I got to wear this super cute scarf I got from Jessica for the scarf swap! Thanks Jess, I love it!! Be sure to stop by her blog, she is one month away from wedded bliss :))

day 5 - favorite quote

All about me day 5 favorite quote - one of my favorites comes from the Bible.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." 

Proverbs 3:5,6

day 4 - favorite book

I've been doing a lot of reading while I continue to let my injury heal (yep, it's still often painful to walk) and one of my favorites I finished a few weeks ago was Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb. It was so hard to put this one down. This is a story about a young woman in her 30s finding herself after losing 170 pounds, along with finally dealing with her past. I absolutely loved this book! 

Interested in joining the all about me series? It's not to late to link up!

Happy List - 10-10-10

My happy list is short and sweet this week! My husband and I are celebrating 6 years of hugs, kisses, laughter and joy today! It's fun to think back to the night we started dating and where we are today, I just love him to pieces! 

Ooh, and bonus, he surprised me with flowers earlier this week. just because :)

photo by my favorite jenny j

Want to link up? Make sure to grab mamarazzi's happy list button!

day 3: favorite television program

All about me day 3 favorite television program, hands down would be Grey's Anatomy!  I've been following Meredith, Derek & gang since season one.  The writers almost lost me around season 4, when the story line started going south but with last season's finale I'm totally hooked once again. Each week, I can't wait until Thursday night to see what happens next!

 

day 2 - favorite movie

Happy Friday! Today's all about me is another hard one to narrow down! So I've picked two of my go-to favorite movies :)


The Sandlot - I used to have the hugest crush on Benny "the jet" Rodriguez! I've seen this movie so many times I can still recite every line.  My other pick is Corrina Corrina.  I just love the little girl and all the one-liners.

Day 1 - Favorite Song

Last week, I posted something similar to this for Top Two Tuesdays and I mentioned how hard it is to pick a favorite song because there is so much good music out there!  So, for All About Me Day 1, my favorite song (for today anyway:) is: 

All About Me in 30 Days

I saw this on Simply Stacie and thought it would be fun to play along.  Nollie's Place is featuring a fun meme called All About Me in 30 Days.  Want to join too? Make sure to link up, the fun starts today!

The Line Up:
Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 – your favorite movie
Day 3 – your favorite television program
Day 4 – your favorite book
Day 5 – your favorite quote
Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 – a photo you took
Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 – a photo of you recently
Day 12 – something you are OCD about
Day 13 – a fictional book
Day 14 – a non-fictional book
Day 15 – your dream house
Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 – your wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 – a talent of yours
Day 20 – a hobby of yours
Day 21 – a recipe
Day 22 – a website
Day 23 – a youtube video
Day 24 – where I live
Day 25 – your day, in great detail
Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Day 27 – my worst habit
Day 28 – what’s in my handbag/purse
Day 29 – hopes,dreams, plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 – a dream for the future beyond the next year

Wordless Weekend

 

Top 2 Tuesdays - Favorite Songs

I thought it'd be fun to play along this week to Taylor's Top 2 Tuesdays, this week featuring favorite songs. I love such a wide variety of music; it's hard to narrow it down to just 2!! 

One of my all time favorites is Motownphilly by Boyz II Men




And one of my current favorites is Tightrope by Janelle Monae -  totally gets me dancing every time I hear it and this girl is SERIOUSLY talented!

Fun Giveaways!

Simply Reading Kindle Giveaway hosted by Simply Stacie & Luxury Reading are giving away the latest generation kindle.  I've been wanting one of these so bad!!

Brittany at Unexpected Suprises is offering a piece of jewelry from Barberry and Lace - winner's choice up to $25. There are tons of ways to enter, and your have until Thursday, Sept. 30 (Thanks SIL for the heads up!). 

Snuggle Up Scarf Swap!

Mateya and Chelsea are hosting their first annual scarf swap. If you're interested, you'll have to sign up fast, deadline is Sunday Sept. 26 and scarves will need to be in the mail by Oct. 1 so that we can all have them before the weather gets too cool! Thanks to SIL for sharing this fun swap!

Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool Giveaway!

Twig & Thisle is giving away a Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool! Go check it out!

Happy List

My SIL has been posting her Happy List from Dandelion Wishes and I thought it'd be fun to play along this week. So many things to be thankful for it's nice to be able to take a moment and reflect on it :)



1. My mom has been in the hospital all week with an infection she developed from a cyst she had removed.  She's hoping to be released this morning, and I'm just thankful she and my dad caught it early enough it didn't become something more serious.

Feb 2008



2. I'm super excited for my little sister - she starts her first day of college this week. It's so hard to believe I was in her shoes 7 years ago!! Hoping all goes well for her, especially during her piano auditions! They are mostly a formality - she had an impromptu audition with the music teachers (one was my high school band teacher!) last spring and they told her she's in :)

3. My husband's aunt & uncle and uncle's mom came to visit us this weekend. From the first time I met them, they have welcomed me with open arms and I just love them to pieces! I paint Aunt's nails and she shares classic movies with me. It's perfect.  It was her birthday yesterday and she chose Indian cuisine.  Naan and dal makhani, YUM.

4. I'm super excited for all my favorite shows to premiere this week: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice & Glee!! I don't watch TV except for these shows so it has been a long summer without them.

Want to play along? Grab the Happy List button, add it to your post and join the linky party.

Hawaiian Love Affair

Our friends got married in Hawaii last week and here is a sneak peak she emailed me today. Doesn't it just look dreamy ♥♥

Jam Exchange

Last Thursday, I received a package from my jam exchange partner, Leslie from Spilling Buckets and all I can say is she totally outdid herself!!! Leslie mailed Cinnamon Peach Jam, Spiced Blueberry Peach Jam, and a BONUS can of Salsa, YUM!! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am, especially since I never got around to preserving peaches this year.

Thanks so much Leslie, I hope you enjoy the Tayberry Jam and Strawberry Jam :)
And thanks to Steph for hosting this awesome event. I can't wait until next year!