Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all!
Happy to spend it with my family. 
We actually opened presents on Christmas Eve night. Before that we had a delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse (thanks Grandma & Grandpa for the giftcards :) ). 

On Christmas we went to mass and then had a chill afternoon. Can you say Parks and Rec Marathon?!? Nick came home for only 24 hours since he had work, but it was good that we were all home together!

Here are some things I got for Christmas, and loved them all!

Yoga mat
Dress (see below)
Whitening strips and electric toothbrush
Running pants and jacket 
Phone case
Pig Bag Clips (Chris knows me so well ;)) 
and a few other things! Thanks Santa!


Pen likes her new bed for Christmas


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

On the Way home for Xmas Break

I made it home!! It was a long trip..let me tell you. My flight arrived in Hartford around 4 and I didn't end up getting in the car until almost 7. It took Mom, Chris, and Penny almost 6 hours round trip to pick my up (usually a 2 hour deal). All because of SNOW!! Darn you snow. I knew it was supposed to snow and I couldn't believe that my plane actually landed. And it really did land in the snow and I survived. I'm home and happy now!

Snowy at the terminal
Outside the plane window
Penny lounging in the car on the way back 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Texts that make me smile

I love getting picture texts, those are the best kind! Lately I've been getting picture texts that make me happy! I receive lots of Penny which I love. Today I got some pictures of my cousins with the Christmas presents we got them. They are too cute! I just thought I would share some picture texts that I've gotten recently that make my day

Sean got Game of Life
Allison got a baking kit

Penny with the Charlie Brown Christmas tree at home 

Exhausted
Penny sleeping with Chris's Camel 

Speech Christmas Party

The party last night was a success and a lot of fun! 

Katie and I spent all afternoon getting ready for the party. We made the house look great in our opinions :) We hung a lot of lights (a lot!) and got all the food/drinks ready. We were thinking about become party planners and dropping out of grad school. Our decision was to drop out....just kidding! 


I invited all the people in my class and their husband/boyfriend/girlfriend if they wished to. I think there were around 25 people that came last night, which was a great crowd. We ate lots of food, talked, played catch phrase, and had a white elephant gift exchange. I ended up winning scratch offs. I didn't win anything though boo! I thought the best gift was a Beta fish. It was too funny and Sarah opened it thought it was dead. It wasn't though, but they did name the fish "Dead Fish." Katie ended up with a new pet at the end of the night after stealing. 


It was a lot of fun to mingle with everyone in my class and not be stressed about classes or studying. 


Here are a couple of pictures from the night.



Katie, Me, Jenna, and Sarah 

Andrea, Lydia, Katie, Me, Sarah, Jenna, and Sarah 


The Decorations....








The entire group!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Heath Carmel Cheesecake





Another post for the week. Woohoo! Tomorrow is my last final of the semester and then I'm hosting a Christmas party at my house for my class. I'm very excited. I needed to make something, and of course I chose to make something sweet.

I decided to make a cheesecake but with a twist. I add heath and carmel on top to make it a Heath Carmel Cheesecake

It was great to be back in the kitchen baking again. I don't even remember the last time I did that! Afterwards it was major clean-up time since I have lots of company tomorrow. 

Adapted from here

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups Graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla 
4 eggs
carmel for drizzling
heath piece


Directions: 
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix graham crumbs, 3 Tbsp sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch or 8-inch springform pan. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust. Bake 55 min or until the center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Add the heath to the middle of the cheesecake and then drizzle carmel. ENJOY :)))




Monday, December 9, 2013

Friday, December 6, 2013