Weekend Recap- in mostly iPhone 4s photos!

So, I've pretty much been like a kid with a new toy with this phone. My palm did its job, but this phone is just SO COOL! (Yeah, I know... I'm way behind in the iphone discovery. Whatever.)

Okay, soooo Friday night was a girly dinner at the yummy Ciao followed by a rooftop bar for M's birthday! :) I may have gotten her a flashing birthday tiara with her gift.. :) 

I didn't turn the flash on for this pic. Bad call, Jackie. 

Saturday, had lunch and shopped a little with Maria and M for her birthday! Discovered these freaking hilarious hats at a local boutique, Must Stash! It's like a little mini Urban Outfitters in a lot of ways. Super cute and pretty affordable.. and well.. it has these hats. Can't go wrong with these hats. ;)

 Headed to a friend's birthday party, but those pics are on Eric's camera, sooooo we're skipping ahead.

Saturday, we had a home football game, so of course we went in true tailgate fashion! Duh! And speaking of fashion, I got this fabulous TU bracelet at the Rah Wear tent in tailgate alley. :) I've been wanting one and keep going back every game, but she's been out. It was just $10! She has tons of cute stuff, does online orders, and is at every game. If you need some cute TU gear, check her out. And her supply is constantly growing b/c this is her first year in business. :) She was telling me she's going to likely add some baby stuff, among other things! :) If you'd like to see something, let her know by just contacting her via the site or fbook b/c I'm sure she'd love to know what kinds of demand is out there for different things.

Today, I went on the hunt for an iphone case.

And got hit in the process. :(

I was driving straight out of a local shopping center and another car came through her stop sign and hit me. :( My poor Edge. When you see it, you think "oh, that's fine"...right? Yeah, me too. (it does look worse up close). But, it won't drive and won't respond to anything....not even my keyfab to lock/unlock the doors. Major boo. No idea what's wrong, but she hit me hard enough to spin me around. #scary

I'm really just so glad everyone was okay! Could have been a lot worse than just a royal pain in the arse, ya know. Now I just have to get some wheels tomorrow til my car's working again. *sigh*

Anyway, it really was a pretty good weekend aside from today. And honestly, I'm one of those people that thinks things happen the way they should. What if I'd been just a minute later? Does that mean I wouldn't have been hit? Or does that mean I would have had a WORSE accident? I mean, you just never know. I think my guardian angel had my back (and the other lady's, too). :) Besides, I had Siri to keep me company (my fav iphone feature for sure!)

Fall Blog Swap Reveal and Other Friday Schtuff!

Happy Friday, friends!

A few weeks ago, I signed up to participate in Mateya, Caroline and Molly's Fall Blog Swap! and Caroline are the fun blog friends who I vlogged with. (Vlog still sounds funny to me).

I was paired with the fantastic Neely and can't say enough positive things about our pairing! This swap allowed me to make a great new blog friend who I have TONS in common with...annnnnnd I got some fantastic treats! We live just a state away from each other and the next time I get my booty to Dallas, I will totally email her to see if she's free to meet up! (There's your warning, Neely! ha!) 

My package arrived Tuesday and I eagerly tore it open, trying to remember to take a few photos... :)

I saw earrings and candles first thing and was immediately thrilled! And I saw a card and realized I'd completely forgotten to enclose the one I got for her! Blerg. It's on my dresser.  Sorry, Neely. :(

As I took out my swap items, each one made me smile! Check out my treats!  Essie nailpolish (gorgeous color! Called wrapped in rubies), two yankee candles, three pairs of earrings, a burts bees lip gloss, a very Jackie-esque sign and a $5 Starbucks card!

I'm glad glad I snapped the photos right away b/c um.. one of the yummy smelling yankee candles has already been already  in my room, the earrings are in my jewelry box (and have been worn!), and the lip gloss is in my purse... I didn't waste any time...hah!

Many thanks to the swap hostesses and especially Neely b/c this package totally made my week last week! :)

*************
And another fun note on Friday...I have had a palm pixi for awhile now b/c I've been with Sprint. I didn't want to leave. I mean, that requires contract breaking, more expense, blahidy blah. And I've never disliked Sprint's network, just my phone. So, when I heard they were getting the iPhone, I was all.over.it. I've been waiting, people.

So, I got up this morning and headed to the Sprint store just to see if there was a crowd. There were only 15 people in line, so I opted to give it a shot. Glad I did! I am now the proud owner of a brand spankin new white iPhone 4s! So far, we're still getting to know each other, but I can tell I'm already falling in love. :)

Happy weekend, friends!

Weekend Recap!

Guess where Eric and I went this weekend! I'll give you a hiiiint....

 That's right! The pumpkin patch!

And not just ANY pumpkin patch! But a patch where we got to cut our own pumpkins! I've never gotten to do that before!

Grider Farm doesn't have a webpage, but here's some info. :)

For you Tulsa area peeps, I both love and hate to tell you about this place b/c a lot of the charm is that it's not swarming with people, buuuut we already have our punkins for the year, so I guess I'll let you in on it. ;) And after all, April is a great friend for passing on the info to us! :) It's located very close to Stillwater in Perkins, OK.

We got there and they told us to go ahead to the patch, get some pumpkins, and head back up the road to pay for them. :) (I love small southern/midwest towns b/c they're not all jaded and untrusting). :)

Saw this adorable little green guy still on the vine...

BUT... since it was a tough pumpkin year with the hundred degree summer weather, there weren't a TON of pumpkins... on the dry side that is. ;) We saw some mud...and the pumpkin promise land on the other side!

Okay okay... I'm being overdramatic, but there were definitely big ol bulbs of orange smiling at us from across the mud where others hadn't ventured. Eric was like "I can cross it" as he took off his shoes. So in my "Oh yeah?! I can cross it TOO" voice, I said something along those lines and took off...with my shoes on.

 ...and promptly got stuck. ha!

So, yeah, taking off the shoes was the better plan.

 hahahaha.. Awesome.

But, a little mud never hurt anyone!

We found some gorgeous pumpkins!

 ...and had a good time goofing around a little....

 I really wanted a photo with both pumpkins.. But uh... They were a little hard to manage...

 ...finally got em... haha!

Important to note that Eric found his gigantic pumpkin he was hoping for! :)

 A truly great day at the pumpkin patch....

 So gorgeous!

Our lot in the back of Eric's truck :)

For folks who like the big piles o pumpkins to select from (instead of cutting your own), they have that, too. :)

Other weekend activities included seeing Ides of March (good flick), celebrating a friend's birthday, and oh yeah... having Mexican food (and that well-deserved margarita I blogged about on Friday) ;) A fantastic long weekend thanks to Christopher Columbus. If there were some weekend rating system, I think I'd go so far as to give it five stars. :)

Tasty Tuesday: In-Your-Sleep Chili

Mrs. Eyecansee often posts Tasty Tuesday blogs annnnnd I thought I'd do one myself this week! Don't get used it though. This whole cooking thing is becoming more frequent, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it "regular" quite yet.. ;)

I was actually looking for a good beef stew recipe Sunday as a break in some serious deep cleaning of the casa (I went cleaning cray-cray on Sunday). I wanted the kind with the big chunks of carrots and potatoes and green beans and corn and... well.. I didn't trust myself enough to throw it in the crock pot without some guidance. (Feel free to offer tips on stew if you have any!)

And that's when I stumbled on the in-your-sleep chili on Better Homes and Gardens website! I thought "Hm.. I could go for some chili instead..." Eric's mom sent me a chili recipe this week, but it's on my work email and I couldn't get to it! Pppft! But, I've seriously been wanting to make some, so my stew idea was abandoned.

Okay, so all this rambling aside, this stuff is called in-your-sleep for a reason. It's SO easy, people. And it doesn't require a ton of ingredients...only FIVE! I love that b/c well.. as I've said before, I'm an inexperienced cook, SO I don't just have a pinch of this or that laying around. I likely have to go buy a bunch of this or that just to get the pinch it asks for. Slowly but surely acquiring a better spice supply. Anyway...

Mine turned out pretty yummy looking (and tasting) if I do say so myself! :)

Here are the instructions straight from bhg.com (with my added commentary)

• 1pound ground beef
• 1
  large onion, chopped
• 2
  15-ounce cans chili beans in chili gravy (aka chili "sauce" or anything else. I spend 10 minutes looking for "gravy" only to realize it's all the same darn thing). 
• 1
  14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained (I got two 10-ounce cans and estimated 14.5)
• 1
  11 1/2-ounce can hot-style vegetable juice (V8 juice-hot style)
• 
  
  Sliced green onions, dairy sour cream, and/or shredded cheddar cheese (optional) (Cheese should never be optional). 

directions

1.In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion until meat is brown; drain off fat.

2.In a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker (/crock pot). combine ground beef mixture, beans, undrained tomatoes and green chiles, and vegetable juice.

3.Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 6 hours on on high-heat setting for 2 to 3 hours. If desired, top each serving with green onions, sour cream, and/or cheddar cheese.

I went ahead and used one mild can of chili beans and one can of medium chili beans. Probably didn't need to do that b/c the hot-style veggie juice definitely gives it a little kick. :) I opted to cook it on high for 2 hours (instead of low for 4-6) and it was done perfectly. :)

If you're looking for an easy and yummy chili, this is a good one, friends!

San Francisco Trip- Wine Country! :)

 We arrived in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, toured Alcatraz Monday night, and headed to wine country on Tuesday. :)

We knew we wanted to take a little day trip up to wine country, but uh.. that's about all we knew. For two planner-type people, we really hadn't made any sort of plan at all for wine country.. It ended up working out pretty darn well b/c we had a great, non-scheduled, non-pressured time... :) 

Made our first stop at Rodney Strong in Sonoma. The weather was beautiful and we were ready for some vino and vineyarding. 

At our fabulous tasting (my first tasting ever!) at Rodney Strong, an employee in the tasting room asked us what our plans were for the rest of the day. Having no "plans" per se, he pulled out a map and highlighted some of his favorites. He even recommended restaurants along the way. I'd go back to Rodney Strong again and again thanks to that guy! (And I like their wine, so that helps). ;)

We decided to head north to Healdsburg and Geyserville.

First stop= Catelli's Italian Restaurant in Geyserville! We'd both been drooling thinking about their lasagna ever since our friend at Rodney Strong mentioned it.

 We weren't disappointed. :) Adorable place with fantastic food! The restaurant originally opened its doors in 1936 and has generations of family recipes on the menu. Highly recommend if you're headed to that area.

 On the way to lunch, I'd called another winery our friend had highly recommended in Healdsburg, Michel-Schlumberger. They typically offer a tour at 2pm, so we opted to head there right after lunch for the tour!

The architecture is very Mediterranean. I loved it!

Headed off for the tour with our guide (in pink) and her furry friend, Lollipop. :) Lollipop happily walked along with us on our entire tour... adorable. :) She was a rescue pup who had a hard start to life, but now lives her days surveying the vineyard and stealing apples from the orchard. :)

 Our guide told us all about which grapes were used for which wines and encouraged us to pick some and try them. Don't have to tell us twice...

 Couldn't ask for a better backdrop...

 The tour headed inside for a look at where the wine is processed and stored..

 ....and ended with a tasting in their gorgeous courtyard...

 Michel-Schlumberger was my favorite by far. I am so glad we went and made it in time for the tour. We both left with bottles of wine, unsure how the hell we were going to get them home.. but we didn't care. :) (Wineries can't ship to Oklahoma b/c we have super cool laws. *eye roll* Did you know we also can't get wine at the grocery stores here? Or on Sundays? Blerg. Anyway....)

Just down the road was a winery another friend recommended, Truett Hurst. Experts at wine tasting by now (haha), we grabbed some snacks and a tasting and headed out to the back porch to enjoy wine, weather and snacks. :) Everywhere is so fantastically casual; they just let you go wherever you want with your tastings. When guests are done with one, they just go back to the tasting room for another... :)

This is his wine tasting face.. or something... I dunno.

 The gardens behind me were gorgeous buuuut, like all of wine country, were infested with bees! Yikes! This girl is uber allergic to those pollinating creatures, so no gardens for me...

 Really wanted a photo with one of these signs. Many thanks to Eric for darting across traffic to oblige...

So glad we made the trip up to wine country. Definitely want to go back and stay up there for a few days next time. :)

Crazy to see the fog rolling in the closer we got to San Fran!

That morning, we'd checked out of our hotel in Union Square because we finished up our trip in Sausalito! We checked in to the beautiful Casa Madrona in Sausalito and were greeted with an amazing view of the bay from our room (below). Eric gets all the credit for finding this fabulous place. Perfect way to finish a very hustle and bustle trip. :)

More from our last couple days next time.... :)

TGIF

It's Friday and I'm ready....

Happy weekend, friends! :)

Weekend Recap and More!

(Yes, I realize it's almost the next weekend... haha.. Whatever). 

Last Thursday, I went to my first gender reveal party for my good friend, Kristy! It was kiiinda adorable... pink and blue decor everywhere, people all abuzz with their guesses... :) They cut the cake annnnnd it's a BOY!  So excited for her and her hubby! 

Saturday, it was tailgate time! And the weather was good enough to take Gracie dog! She loved being a part of the action!

Some of tailgate alley! Our tailgate is the white tent on the far right side of the photo. :)

We finished up the night with Luchapalooza! What is that, you ask? Well, it's luchador wrestling in the middle of the street! Luchador wrestling=Mexican wrestling. The back story: A fabulous little downtown restaurant, Elote, started doing luchador wrestling once a month and it's gained so much popularity, they do a whole street festival of sorts a couple times a year!

It's all in good fun. They wear masks and it's kinda like the WWF from the early 80s...haha.. By that, I just mean it's wildly entertaining, fun, and no one walks away seriously injured (to my knowledge). If a wrestler reveals his/her face, they're not allowed to wrestle again-Crazy! So, their identities are kept total secret...

If you live in Tulsa and haven't ever gone to see the luchador wrestling, you're missing out.

These are GIRLS! Bananas!

Proceeds from this Luchapalooza went to benefit the United Way. I've blogged about our United Way before, but it's definitely an organization near and dear to my heart. They do so much good in our community...

And from luchapalooza to craft night... haha.. Seems like an awkward transition.. Friends and I got together last night for girls night and we made pumpkins!

My pretty pumpkin!

For mine, I got a fake pumpkin at Michael's. I spray painted it white. It took like three-ish light coats. I had to learn that the hard way. I sprayed too much on the first coat and thankfully Ashley stopped me b/c if you spray too much, it'll drip a little. Blerg. So, almost like three coats of spritzing/misting the pumpkin, not fully saturating it.. haha... Oh, but don't forget to put foil or something around the stem to keep it from getting painted. Then, I added some glittered adhesive stickers to spell "BOO."I found those on the aisle with some other letters, not anything Halloweeny. (Yup... just said Halloweeny).  :) Those required some hot glue to stick. I got the fun black accents on the scrapbook aisle. The set had four little two inch adhesive segments of black beady goodness, so I just cut them how I wanted and adhered them to the pumpkin!  Basically, I stayed clear of the Halloween aisle and found better prices and better selection for the letters and black accents.

A spider sticker and a fun orange and black ribbon that was on major sale annnnnd done! No stenciling, no mess! I was pleased with how it turned out!

Ashley made the cutest mummy pumpkin, so I had to snap a quick photo! I'll let her tell you how she did it, but isn't it adorable?!

Sarah got us all creepy glasses...so it was a total craft night photo op.

One of the other awesome things on girls night was getting to skype with Kat and her new BABY! She just had Nora Kate in the wee hours of the morning and it was so awesome to see mamma and baby that same day! The interwebs and technology can be frustrating...but they can also provide such wonderful opportunities to connect from states away!

So yeah, that was really last Thurs, the weekend, and Tuesday girls night. I need to get better at blogging these things on time... haha...